General
Reference Glossaries
Of
Interest to Theosophists
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24 -1DL
Searchable
Directory
of
Christian Bible
Events
and Terms
CONTENTS.
PART I.
Introductioniii
List of Authorities,
and Books Quoted fromxi
CHAPTER I.
The Creation
and Fall of Man1
CHAPTER II.
The Deluge
CHAPTER III.
The
CHAPTER IV.
The Trial of
Abraham's Faith
CHAPTER V.
Jacob's
Vision of the Ladder
CHAPTER VI.
The Exodus
from
CHAPTER VII.
Receiving the
Ten Commandments
CHAPTER VIII.
Samson and
his Exploits
[Pg
viii]CHAPTER IX.
Jonah
Swallowed By A Big Fish
CHAPTER X.
Circumcision
CHAPTER XI.
Conclusion Of
Part First
PART II.
CHAPTER XII.
The
Miraculous Birth Of Christ Jesus
CHAPTER XIII.
The Star Of
CHAPTER XIV.
The Song of
The Heavenly Host
CHAPTER XV.
The Divine
Child Recognized, and Presented with Gifts
CHAPTER XVI.
The
Birth-place of Christ Jesus
CHAPTER XVII.
The Genealogy
of Christ Jesus
CHAPTER
XVIII.
The Slaughter
of The Innocents
CHAPTER XIX.
The
Temptation, and Fast Of Forty Days
CHAPTER XX.
The
Crucifixion of Christ Jesus
CHAPTER XXI.
The Darkness
at the Crucifixion
CHAPTER XXII.
"He
Descended into Hell."
CHAPTER
XXIII.
The Resurrection
and Ascension of Christ Jesus
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Second
Coming of Christ Jesus, and the Millennium
CHAPTER XXV.
Christ Jesus
as Judge of the Dead
CHAPTER XXVI.
Christ Jesus
as Creator, and Alpha and Omega
CHAPTER
XXVII.
The Miracles
of Christ Jesus, and the Primitive Christians
CHAPTER
XXVIII.
Christ
Crishna and Christ Jesus
CHAPTER XXIX.
Christ Buddha
and Christ Jesus289
CHAPTER XXX.
The Eucharist
or Lord's Supper305
CHAPTER XXXI.
Baptism316
CHAPTER
XXXII.
The Worship
of the Virgin Mother
CHAPTER
XXXIII.
Christian
Symbols
CHAPTER
XXXIV.
The Birth-day
of Christ Jesus
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Trinity
[Pg x]CHAPTER
XXXVI.
Paganism in
Christianity
CHAPTER
XXXVII.
Why
Christianity Prospered
CHAPTER
XXXVIII.
The Antiquity
of Pagan Religions
CHAPTER
XXXIX.
Explanation
CHAPTER XL.
Conclusion
PART I.
THE OLD
TESTAMENT.
CHAPTER I.
THE CREATION
AND FALL OF MAN.
The Old
Testament commences with one of its most interesting myths, that of the
Creation and
Fall of
of Genesis,
the substance of which is as follows:
After God
created the "Heavens" and the "Earth," he said: "Let
there be light,
and there was
light," and after calling the light Day, and the darkness Night,
the first
day's work was ended.
God then made
the "Firmament," which completed the second day's work.
Then God
caused the dry land to appear, which he called "Earth," and the
waters
he called
"Seas." After this the earth was made to bring forth grass, trees,
&c.,
which completed the third day's work.
The next
things God created were the "Sun,"[1:1] "Moon" and [Pg
2]"Stars," and
after he had
set them in the Firmament, the fourth day's work was ended.[2:1]
After these,
God created great "whales," and other creatures which inhabit the
water, also
"winged fowls." This brought the fifth day to a close.
The work of
creation was finally completed on the sixth day,[2:2] when God made
"beasts"
of every kind, "cattle," "creeping things," and lastly
"man," whom he
created
"male and female," in his own image.[2:3]
"Thus
the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on
the
seventh[2:4] day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the
seventh day,
from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh
day, and
sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which
God created
and made."
After this
information, which concludes at the third verse of Genesis ii.,
strange
though it may appear, another account of the Creation commences, which
is altogether
different from the one we have just related. This account
commences
thus:
"These
are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day
(not days) that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens."
It then goes
on to say that "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground,"[2:5]
which appears to be the first thing he made. After planting a
garden
eastward in Eden,[2:6] the Lord God put the man therein, "and out of the
ground made
the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and
good for
food; the Tree of Life,[2:7] also in the midst of the garden, and the
Tree of [Pg
3]Knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water
the garden, and
from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." These
four rivers
were called, first Pison, second Gihon, third Hiddekel, and the
fourth
Euphrates.[3:1]
After the
"Lord God" had made the "Tree of Life," and the "Tree
of Knowledge,"
he said unto
the man:
"Of
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the
knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou
eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die." Then the Lord God, thinking that it would
not be well
for man to live alone, formed—out of the ground—"every beast of the
field, and
every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he
would call
them, and whatever Adam called every living creature, that was the
name
thereof."
After Adam
had given names to "all cattle, and to the fowls of the air, and to
every beast
of the field," "the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam,
and he slept,
and he (the Lord God) took one of his (Adam's) ribs, and closed up
the flesh
instead thereof."
"And of
the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and
brought her
unto Adam." "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and
they were not
ashamed."
After this
everything is supposed to have gone harmoniously, until a serpent
appeared
before the woman[3:2]—who was afterwards called Eve—and said to her:
"Hath
God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
The woman,
answering the serpent, said:
"We may
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the
tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it,
lest ye
die."
Whereupon the
serpent said to her:
[Pg
4]"Ye shall not surely die" (which, according to the narrative, was
the
truth).
He then told
her that, upon eating the fruit, their eyes would be opened, and
that they
would be as gods, knowing good from evil.
The woman
then looked upon the tree, and as the fruit was tempting, "she took of
the fruit,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband, and he did eat." The
result was
not death (as the Lord God had told them), but, as the serpent had
said,
"the eyes of both were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they
sewed fig
leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
Towards
evening (i. e., "in the cool of the day"), Adam and his wife
"heard the
voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden," and being afraid, they hid
themselves
among the trees of the garden. The Lord God not finding Adam and his
wife, said:
"Where art thou?" Adam answering, said: "I heard thy voice in
the
garden, and I
was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."
The
"Lord God" then told Adam that he had eaten of the tree which he had
commanded him
not to eat, whereupon Adam said: "The woman whom thou gavest to be
with me, she
gave me of the tree and I did eat."
When the
"Lord God" spoke to the woman concerning her transgression, she
blamed
the serpent,
which she said "beguiled" her. This sealed the serpent's fate, for
the
"Lord God" cursed him and said:
"Upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life."[4:1]
Unto the
woman the "Lord God" said:
"I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt
bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule
over
thee."
Unto Adam he
said:
"Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
tree, of
which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the
ground for
thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns also,
and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the
herb of the
field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou
return unto
the ground, for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and
unto dust
shalt thou return."
[Pg 5]The
"Lord God" then made coats of skin for Adam and his wife, with which
he clothed
them, after which he said:
"Behold,
the man is become as one of us,[5:1] to know good and evil; and now,
lest he put
forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
forever"
(he must be sent forth from Eden).
"So he
(the Lord God) drove out the man (and the woman); and he placed at the
east of the
garden of Eden, Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every
way, to keep
the way of the Tree of Life."
Thus ends the
narrative.
Before
proceeding to show from whence this legend, or legends, had their origin,
we will
notice a feature which is very prominent in the narrative, and which
cannot escape
the eye of an observing reader, i. e., the two different and
contradictory
accounts of the creation.
The first of
these commences at the first verse of chapter first, and ends at
the third
verse of chapter second. The second account commences at the fourth
verse of
chapter second, and continues to the end of the chapter.
In speaking
of these contradictory accounts of the Creation, Dean Stanley says:
"It is
now clear to diligent students of the Bible, that the first and second
chapters of
Genesis contain two narratives of the Creation, side by side,
differing
from each other in most every particular of time and place and
order."[5:2]
Bishop
Colenso, in his very learned work on the Pentateuch, speaking on this
subject,
says:
"The
following are the most noticeable points of difference between the two
cosmogonies:
"1. In
the first, the earth emerges from the waters and is, therefore, saturated
with
moisture.[5:3] In the second, the 'whole face of the ground' requires to be
moistened.[5:4]
[Pg
6]"2. In the first, the birds and the beasts are created before man.[6:1]
In
the second,
man is created before the birds and the beasts.[6:2]
"3. In
the first, 'all fowls that fly' are made out of the waters.[6:3] In the
second 'the
fowls of the air' are made out of the ground.[6:4]
"4. In
the first, man is created in the image of God.[6:5] In the second, man is
made of the
dust of the ground, and merely animated with the breath of life; and
it is only
after his eating the forbidden fruit that 'the Lord God said, Behold,
the man has
become as one of us, to know good and evil.'[6:6]
"5. In
the first, man is made lord of the whole earth.[6:7] In the second, he is
merely placed
in the garden of Eden, 'to dress it and to keep it.'[6:8]
"6. In
the first, the man and the woman are created together, as the closing and
completing
work of the whole creation,—created also, as is evidently implied, in
the same kind
of way, to be the complement of one another, and, thus created,
they are
blessed together.[6:9]
"In the
second, the beasts and birds are created between the man and the woman.
First, the
man is made of the dust of the ground; he is placed by himself in the
garden,
charged with a solemn command, and threatened with a curse if he breaks
it; then the
beasts and birds are made, and the man gives names to them, and,
lastly, after
all this, the woman is made out of one of his ribs, but merely as
a helpmate
for the man.[6:10]
"The
fact is, that the second account of the Creation,[6:11] together with the
story of the
Fall,[6:12] is manifestly composed by a different writer altogether
from him who
wrote the first.[6:13]
"This is
suggested at once by the circumstance that, throughout the first
narrative,
the Creator is always spoken of by the name Elohim (God), whereas,
throughout
the second account, as well as the story of the Fall, he is always
called
Jehovah Elohim (Lord God), except when the writer seems to abstain, for
some reason,
from placing the name Jehovah in the mouth of the serpent.[6:14]
This accounts
naturally for the above contradictions. It would appear that, for
some reason,
the productions of two pens have been here united, without any
reference to
their inconsistencies."[6:15]
Dr. Kalisch,
who does his utmost to maintain—as far as his knowledge of the
truth will
allow—the general historical veracity of this narrative, after
speaking of
the first account of the Creation, says:
"But now
the narrative seems not only to pause, but to go backward. The grand
and powerful
climax seems at once broken off, and a languid repetition appears
to follow.
Another cosmogony is introduced, which, to complete the perplexity,
is, in many
important features, in direct contradiction to the former.
"It
would be dishonesty to conceal these difficulties. It would be
weakmindedness
and cowardice. It would be flight instead of combat. It would be
an ignoble
retreat, instead of victory. We confess there is an apparent
dissonance."[6:16]
[Pg 7]Dr.
Knappert says:[7:1]
"The
account of the Creation from the hand of the Priestly author is utterly
different
from the other narrative, beginning at the fourth verse of Genesis ii.
Here we are
told that God created Heaven and Earth in six days, and rested on
the seventh
day, obviously with a view to bring out the holiness of the Sabbath
in a strong
light."
Now that we
have seen there are two different and contradictory accounts of the
Creation, to
be found in the first two chapters of Genesis, we will endeavor to
learn if
there is sufficient reason to believe they are copies of more ancient
legends.
We have seen
that, according to the first account, God divided the work of
creation into
six days. This idea agrees with that of the ancient Persians.
The
Zend-Avesta—the sacred writings of the Parsees—states that the Supreme being
Ahuramazdâ
(Ormuzd), created the universe and man in six successive periods of
time, in the
following order: First, the Heavens; second, the Waters; third, the
Earth;
fourth, the Trees and Plants; fifth, Animals; and sixth, Man. After the
Creator had
finished his work, he rested.[7:2]
The Avesta
account of the Creation is limited to this announcement, but we find
a more
detailed history of the origin of the human species in the book entitled
Bundehesh,
dedicated to the exposition of a complete cosmogony. This book states
that
Ahuramazdâ created the first man and women joined together at the back.
After
dividing them, he endowed them with motion and activity, placed within
them an
intelligent soul, and bade them "to be humble of heart; to observe the
law; to be
pure in their thoughts, pure in their speech, pure in their actions."
Thus were
born Mashya and Mashyâna, the pair from which all human beings are
descended.[7:3]
The idea
brought out in this story of the first human pair having originally
formed a
single androgynous being with two faces, separated later into two
personalities
by the Creator, is to be found in the Genesis account (v. 2).
"Male
and female created he them, and blessed them, and named their name Adam."
Jewish
tradition in the Targum and Talmud, as well as among learned rabbis,
allege that
Adam was created man and woman at the same time, having two faces
turned in two
opposite directions, and that the Creator separated the feminine
half from
him, in order to make of her a distinct person.[7:4]
[Pg 8]The
ancient Etruscan legend, according to Delitzsch, is almost the same as
the Persian.
They relate that God created the world in six thousand years. In
the first
thousand he created the Heaven and Earth; in the second, the
Firmament; in
the third, the Waters of the Earth; in the fourth, the Sun, Moon
and Stars; in
the fifth, the Animals belonging to air, water and land; and in
the sixth,
Man alone.[8:1]
Dr.
Delitzsch, who maintains to the utmost the historical truth of the Scripture
story in
Genesis, yet says:
"Whence
comes the surprising agreement of the Etruscan and Persian legends with
this section?
How comes it that the Babylonian cosmogony in Berosus, and the
Phśnician in
Sanchoniathon, in spite of their fantastical oddity, come in
contact with
it in remarkable details?"
After showing
some of the similarities in the legends of these different
nations, he
continues:
"These
are only instances of that which they have in common. For such an account
outside of
Israel, we must, however, conclude, that the author of Genesis i. has
no vision
before him, but a tradition."[8:2]
Von Bohlen
tells us that the old Chaldćan cosmogony is also the same.[8:3]
To continue
the Persian legend; we will now show that according to it, after the
Creation man
was tempted, and fell. Kalisch[8:4] and Bishop Colenso[8:5] tell us
of the
Persian legend that the first couple lived originally in purity and
innocence.
Perpetual happiness was promised them by the Creator if they
persevered in
their virtue. But an evil demon came to them in the form of a
serpent, sent
by Ahriman, the prince of devils, and gave them fruit of a
wonderful
tree, which imparted immortality. Evil inclinations then entered their
hearts, and
all their moral excellence was destroyed. Consequently they fell,
and forfeited
the eternal happiness for which they were destined. They killed
beasts, and
clothed themselves in their skins. The evil demon obtained still
more perfect
power over their minds, and called forth envy, hatred, discord, and
rebellion,
which raged in the bosom of the families.
Since the
above was written, Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum, has
discovered
cuneiform inscriptions, which show conclusively that the Babylonians
had this
legend of the Creation and [Pg 9]Fall of Man, some 1,500 years or more
before the
Hebrews heard of it.[9:1] The cuneiform inscriptions relating to the
Babylonian
legend of the Creation and Fall of Man, which have been discovered by
English
archćologists, are not, however, complete. The portions which relate to
the Tree and
Serpent have not been found, but Babylonian gem engravings show
that these
incidents were evidently a part of the original legend.[9:2] The Tree
of Life in
the Genesis account appears to correspond with the sacred grove of
Anu, which
was guarded by a sword turning to all the four points of the
compass.[9:3]
A representation of this Sacred Tree, with "attendant cherubim,"
copied from
an Assyrian cylinder, may be seen in Mr. George Smith's "Chaldean
Account of
Genesis."[9:4] Figure No. 1, which we have taken from the same
work,[9:5]
shows the tree of knowledge, fruit, and the serpent. Mr. Smith says
of it:
"One
striking and important specimen of early type in the British Museum
collection,
has two figures sitting one on each side of a tree, holding out
their hands
to the fruit, while at the back of one (the woman) is scratched a
serpent. We
know well that in these early sculptures none of these figures were
chance
devices, but all represented events, or supposed events, and figures in
their
legends; thus it is evident that a form of the story of the Fall, similar
to that of
Genesis, was known in early times in Babylonia."[9:5]
This
illustration might be used to illustrate the narrative of Genesis, and as
Friedrich
Delitzsch has remarked (G. Smith's Chaldäische Genesis) is capable of
no other
explanation.
M. Renan does
not hesitate to join forces with the ancient commentators, in
seeking to
recover a trace of the same tradition among the Phenicians in the
fragments of
Sanchoniathon, translated into Greek by Philo of Byblos. In fact,
it is there
said, in speaking of the first human pair, and of Ćon, which seems
to be the
translation of Havvâh (in Phenician [Pg 10]Havâth) and stands in her
relation to
the other members of the pair, that this personage "has found out
how to obtain
nourishment from the fruits of the tree."
The idea of
the Edenic happiness of the first human beings constitutes one of
the universal
traditions. Among the Egyptians, the terrestrial reign of the god
Râ, who
inaugurated the existence of the world and of human life, was a golden
age to which
they continually looked back with regret and envy. Its "like has
never been
seen since."
The ancient
Greeks boasted of their "Golden Age," when sorrow and trouble were
not known.
Hesiod, an ancient Grecian poet, describes it thus:
"Men
lived like Gods, without vices or passions, vexation or toil. In happy
companionship
with divine beings, they passed their days in tranquillity and
joy, living
together in perfect equality, united by mutual confidence and love.
The earth was
more beautiful than now, and spontaneously yielded an abundant
variety of
fruits. Human beings and animals spoke the same language and
conversed
with each other. Men were considered mere boys at a hundred years old.
They had none
of the infirmities of age to trouble them, and when they passed to
regions of
superior life, it was in a gentle slumber."
In the course
of time, however, all the sorrows and troubles came to man. They
were caused
by inquisitiveness. The story is as follows: Epimetheus received a
gift from
Zeus (God), in the form of a beautiful woman (Pandora).
"She
brought with her a vase, the lid of which was (by the command of God), to
remain closed.
The curiosity of her husband, however, tempted him to open it,
and suddenly
there escaped from it troubles, weariness and illness from which
mankind was
never afterwards free. All that remained was hope."[10:1]
Among the
Thibetans, the paradisiacal condition was more complete and spiritual.
The desire to
eat of a certain sweet herb deprived men of their spiritual life.
There arose a
sense of shame, and the need to clothe themselves. Necessity
compelled
them to agriculture; the virtues disappeared, and murder, adultery and
other vices,
stepped into their place.[10:2]
The idea that
the Fall of the human race is connected with agriculture is found
to be also
often represented in the legends of the East African negroes,
especially in
the Calabar legend of the Creation, which presents many
interesting
points of comparison with the biblical story of the Fall. The first
human pair
are called by a bell at meal-times to Abasi (the Calabar God), in
heaven; and
in place of the forbidden tree of Genesis are put agriculture [Pg
11]and
propagation, which Abasi strictly denies to the first pair. The Fall is
denoted by
the transgression of both these commands, especially through the use
of implements
of tillage, to which the woman is tempted by a female friend who
is given to
her. From that moment man fell and became mortal, so that, as the
Bible story
has it, he can eat bread only in the sweat of his face. There
agriculture
is a curse, a fall from a more perfect stage to a lower and
imperfect
one.[11:1]
Dr. Kalisch,
writing of the Garden of Eden, says:
"The
Paradise is no exclusive feature of the early history of the Hebrews. Most
of the
ancient nations have similar narratives about a happy abode, which care
does not
approach, and which re-echoes with the sounds of the purest
bliss."[11:2]
The Persians
supposed that a region of bliss and delight called Heden, more
beautiful
than all the rest of the world, traversed by a mighty river, was the
original
abode of the first men, before they were tempted by the evil spirit in
the form of a
serpent, to partake of the fruit of the forbidden tree Hôm.[11:3]
Dr.
Delitzsch, writing of the Persian legend, observes:
"Innumerable
attendants of the Holy One keep watch against the attempts of
Ahriman, over
the tree Hôm, which contains in itself the power of the
resurrection."[11:4]
The ancient
Greeks had a tradition concerning the "Islands of the Blessed," the
"Elysium,"
on the borders of the earth, abounding in every charm of life, and
the
"Garden of the Hesperides," the Paradise, in which grew a tree
bearing the
golden apples
of Immortality. It was guarded by three nymphs, and a Serpent, or
Dragon, the
ever-watchful Ladon. It was one of the labors of Hercules to gather
some of these
apples of life. When he arrived there he found the garden
protected by
a Dragon. Ancient medallions represent a tree with a serpent twined
around it.
Hercules has gathered an apple, and near him stand the three nymphs,
called
Hesperides.[11:5] This is simply a parallel of the Eden myth.
The Rev. Mr.
Faber, speaking of Hercules, says:
"On the
Sphere he is represented in the act of contending with the Serpent, the
head of which
is placed under his foot; and this Serpent, we are told, is that
which guarded
the tree with golden fruit in the midst of the garden of the
Hesperides.
But the garden of the Hesperides was none other than the garden of
Paradise;
consequently the serpent of that garden, the head of which is crushed
beneath the
heel of Hercules, and which itself is described as encircling with
its [Pg
12]folds the trunk of the mysterious tree, must necessarily be a
transcript of
that Serpent whose form was assumed by the tempter of our first
parents. We
may observe the same ancient tradition in the Phśnician fable
representing
Ophion or Ophioneus."[12:1]
And Professor
Fergusson says:
"Hercules'
adventures in the garden of the Hesperides, is the Pagan form of the
myth that
most resembles the precious Serpent-guarded fruit of the Garden of
Eden, though
the moral of the fable is so widely different."[12:2]
The ancient
Egyptians also had the legend of the "Tree of Life." It is mentioned
in their
sacred books that Osiris ordered the names of some souls to be written
on this
"Tree of Life," the fruit of which made those who ate it to become as
gods.[12:3]
Among the
most ancient traditions of the Hindoos, is that of the "Tree of
Life"—called
Sôma in Sanskrit—the juice of which imparted immortality. This most
wonderful
tree was guarded by spirits.[12:4]
Still more
striking is the Hindoo legend of the "Elysium" or
"Paradise," which
is as
follows:
"In the
sacred mountain Meru, which is perpetually clothed in the golden rays of
the Sun, and
whose lofty summit reaches into heaven, no sinful man can exist. It
is guarded by
a dreadful dragon. It is adorned with many celestial plants and
trees, and is
watered by four rivers, which thence separate and flow to the four
chief
directions."[12:5]
The Hindoos,
like the philosophers of the Ionic school (Thales, for instance),
held water to
be the first existing and all-pervading principle, at the same
time allowing
the co-operation and influence of an immaterial intelligence in
the work of
creation.[12:6] A Vedic poet, meditating on the Creation, uses the
following
expressions:
"Nothing
that is was then, even what is not, did not exist then." "There was
no
space, no
life, and lastly there was no time, no difference between day and
night, no
solar torch by which morning might have been told from evening."
"Darkness
there was, and all at first was veiled in gloom profound, as ocean
without
light."[12:7]
The Hindoo
legend approaches very nearly to that preserved in the Hebrew
Scriptures.
Thus, it is said that Siva, as the Supreme Being, desired to tempt
Brahmá (who
had taken human form, and was called Swayambhura—son of the
self-existent),
and for this object he dropped from heaven a blossom of the
sacred fig
tree.
[Pg
13]Swayambhura, instigated by his wife, Satarupa, endeavors to obtain this
blossom,
thinking its possession will render him immortal and divine; but when
he has
succeeded in doing so, he is cursed by Siva, and doomed to misery and
degradation.[13:1]
The sacred Indian fig is endowed by the Brahmins and the
Buddhists
with mysterious significance, as the "Tree of Knowledge" or
"Intelligence."[13:2]
There is no
Hindoo legend of the Creation similar to the Persian and Hebrew
accounts, and
Ceylon was never believed to have been the Paradise or home of our
first
parents, although such stories are in circulation.[13:3] The Hindoo
religion
states—as we have already seen—Mount Meru to be the Paradise, out of
which went
four rivers.
We have
noticed that the "Gardens of Paradise" are said to have been guarded
by
Dragons, and
that, according to the Genesis account, it was Cherubim that
protected
Eden. This apparent difference in the legends is owing to the fact
that we have
come in our modern times to speak of Cherub as though it were an
other name
for an Angel. But the Cherub of the writer of Genesis, the Cherub of
Assyria, the
Cherub of Babylon, the Cherub of the entire Orient, at the time the
Eden story
was written, was not at all an Angel, but an animal, and a
mythological
one at that. The Cherub had, in some cases, the body of a lion,
with the head
of an other animal, or a man, and the wings of a bird. In Ezekiel
they have the
body of a man, whose head, besides a human countenance, has also
that of a
Lion, an Ox and an Eagle. They are provided with four wings, and the
whole body is
spangled with innumerable eyes. In Assyria and Babylon they appear
as winged
bulls with human faces, and are placed at the gateways of palaces and
temples as
guardian genii who watch over the dwelling, as the Cherubim in
Genesis watch
the "Tree of Life."
Most Jewish
writers and Christian Fathers conceived the Cherubim as Angels. Most
theologians
also considered them as Angels, until Michaelis showed them to be a
mythological
animal, a poetical creation.[13:4]
[Pg 14]We see
then, that our Cherub is simply a Dragon.
To continue
our inquiry regarding the prevalence of the Eden-myth among nations
of antiquity.
The Chinese
have their Age of Virtue, when nature furnished abundant food, and
man lived
peacefully, surrounded by all the beasts. In their sacred books there
is a story
concerning a mysterious garden, where grew a tree bearing "apples of
immortality,"
guarded by a winged serpent, called a Dragon. They describe a
primitive age
of the world, when the earth yielded abundance of delicious fruits
without
cultivation, and the seasons were untroubled by wind and storms. There
was no
calamity, sickness, or death. Men were then good without effort; for the
human heart
was in harmony with the peacefulness and beauty of nature.
The
"Golden Age" of the past is much dwelt upon by their ancient
commentators.
One of them
says:
"All
places were then equally the native county of every man. Flocks wandered in
the fields
without any guide; birds filled the air with their melodious voices;
and the
fruits grew of their own accord. Men lived pleasantly with the animals,
and all
creatures were members of the same family. Ignorant of evil, man lived
in simplicity
and perfect innocence."
Another
commentator says:
"In the
first age of perfect purity, all was in harmony, and the passions did
not occasion
the slightest murmur. Man, united to sovereign reason within,
conformed his
outward actions to sovereign justice. Far from all duplicity and
falsehood,
his soul received marvelous felicity from heaven, and the purest
delights from
earth."
Another says:
"A
delicious garden refreshed with zephyrs, and planted with odoriferous trees,
was situated
in the middle of a mountain, which was the avenue of heaven. The
waters that
moistened it flowed from a source called the 'Fountain of
Immortality'.
He who drinks of it never dies. Thence flowed four rivers. A
Golden River,
betwixt the South and East, a Red River, between the North and
East, the
River of the Lamb between the North and West."
The animal
Kaiming guards the entrance.
Partly by an
undue thirst for knowledge, and partly by increasing sensuality,
and the
seduction of woman, man fell. Then passion and lust ruled in the human
mind, and war
with the animals began. In one of the Chinese sacred volumes,
called the
Chi-King, it is said that:
"All was
subject to man at first, but a woman threw us into slavery. The wise
husband
raised up a bulwark of walls, but the woman, by an ambitious desire of
knowledge,
demolished them. Our misery did not come from heaven, but from a
woman. She
lost the human race. Ah, unhappy Poo See! thou kindled the fire [Pg
15]that
consumes us, and which is every day augmenting. Our misery has lasted
many ages.
The world is lost. Vice overflows all things like a mortal
poison."[15:1]
Thus we see
that the Chinese are no strangers to the doctrine of original sin.
It is their
invariable belief that man is a fallen being; admitted by them from
time
immemorial.
The
inhabitants of Madagascar had a legend similar to the Eden story, which is
related as
follows:
"The first
man was created of the dust of the earth, and was placed in a garden,
where he was
subject to none of the ills which now affect mortality; he was also
free from all
bodily appetites, and though surrounded by delicious fruit and
limpid
streams yet felt no desire to taste of the fruit or to quaff the water.
The Creator
had, moreover, strictly forbid him either to eat or to drink. The
great enemy,
however, came to him, and painted to him, in glowing colors, the
sweetness of
the apple, and the lusciousness of the date, and the succulence of
the
orange."
After
resisting the temptations for a while, he at last ate of the fruit, and
consequently
fell.[15:2]
A legend of
the Creation, similar to the Hebrew, was found by Mr. Ellis among
the
Tahitians, and appeared in his "Polynesian Researches." It is as
follows:
After Taarao
had formed the world, he created man out of arća, red earth, which
was also the
food of man until bread was made. Taarao one day called for the man
by name. When
he came, he caused him to fall asleep, and while he slept, he took
out one of
his ivi, or bones, and with it made a woman, whom he gave to the man
as his wife,
and they became the progenitors of mankind. The woman's name was
Ivi, which
signifies a bone.[15:3]
The prose
Edda, of the ancient Scandinavians, speaks of the "Golden Age" when
all was pure
and harmonious. This age lasted until the arrival of woman out of
Jotunheim—the
region of the giants, a sort of "land of Nod"—who corrupted
it.[15:4]
In the annals
of the Mexicans, the first woman, whose name was translated by the
old Spanish
writers, "the woman of our flesh," is always represented as
accompanied
by a great male serpent, who seems to be talking to her. Some
writers
believe this to be the tempter speaking to the primeval mother, and
others that
it is intended to represent the father of the human race. This
Mexican Eve
is represented on their monuments as the mother of twins.[15:5]
[Pg 16]Mr.
Franklin, in his "Buddhists and Jeynes," says:
"A
striking instance is recorded by the very intelligent traveler (Wilson),
regarding a
representation of the Fall of our first parents, sculptured in the
magnificent
temple of Ipsambul, in Nubia. He says that a very exact
representation
of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden is to be seen in that cave,
and that the
serpent climbing round the tree is especially delineated, and the
whole subject
of the tempting of our first parents most accurately
exhibited."[16:1]
Nearly the
same thing was found by Colonel Coombs in the South of India. Colonel
Tod, in his
"Hist. Rajapoutana," says:
"A
drawing, brought by Colonel Coombs from a sculptured column in a cave-temple
in the South
of India, represents the first pair at the foot of the ambrosial
tree, and a
serpent entwined among the heavily-laden boughs, presenting to them
some of the
fruit from his mouth. The tempter appears to be at that part of his
discourse,
when
'——his words,
replete with guile,
Into her
heart too easy entrance won:
Fixed on the
fruit she gazed.'
"This is
a curious subject to be engraved on an ancient Pagan temple."[16:2]
So the
Colonel thought, no doubt, but it is not so very curious after all. It is
the same myth
which we have found—with but such small variations only as time
and
circumstances may be expected to produce—among different nations, in both
the Old and
New Worlds.
Fig. No. 2,
taken from the work of Montfaucon,[16:3] represents one of these
ancient Pagan
sculptures. Can any one doubt that it is allusive to the myth of
which we have
been treating in this chapter?
That man was
originally created a perfect being, and is now only a fallen and
broken
remnant of what he once was, we have seen to be a piece of mythology, not
only
unfounded in fact, but, beyond intelligent question, proved untrue. What,
then, is the
significance of the exposure of this myth? What does its loss as a
scientific
fact, and as a portion of Christian dogma, imply? It implies that
with
it—although many Christian divines who admit this to be a legend, do not,
[Pg 17]or do
not profess, to see it—must fall the whole Orthodox scheme, for
upon this
MYTH the theology of Christendom is built. The doctrine of the
inspiration
of the Scriptures, the Fall of man, his total depravity, the
Incarnation,
the Atonement, the devil, hell, in fact, the entire theology of the
Christian
church, falls to pieces with the historical inaccuracy of this story,
for upon it
is it built; 'tis the foundation of the whole structure.[17:1]
According to
Christian dogma, the Incarnation of Christ Jesus had become
necessary,
merely because he had to redeem the evil introduced into the world by
the Fall of
man. These two dogmas cannot be separated from each other. If there
was no Fall,
there is no need of an atonement, and no Redeemer is required.
Those, then,
who consent in recognizing in Christ Jesus a God and Redeemer, and
who,
notwithstanding, cannot resolve upon admitting the story of the Fall of man
to be
historical, should exculpate themselves from the reproach of
inconsistency.
There are a great number, however, in this position at the
present day.
Although, as
we have said, many Christian divines do not, or do not profess to,
see the force
of the above argument, there are many who do; and they, regardless
of their
scientific learning, cling to these old myths, professing to believe
them, well
knowing what must follow with their fall. The following, though
written some
years ago, will serve to illustrate this style of reasoning.
The Bishop of
Manchester (England) writing in the "Manchester Examiner and
Times,"
said:
"The
very foundation of our faith, the very basis of our hopes, the very nearest
and dearest
of our consolations are taken from us, when one line of that sacred
volume, on
which we base everything, is declared to be untruthful and
untrustworthy."
The
"English Churchman," speaking of clergymen who have
"doubts," said, that any
who are not
throughly persuaded "that the Scriptures cannot in any particular be
untrue,"
should leave the Church.
The Rev. E.
Garbett, M. A., in a sermon preached before the University of
Oxford,
speaking of the "historical truth" of the Bible, said:
[Pg
18]"It is the clear teaching of those doctrinal formularies, to which we
of
the Church of
England have expressed our solemn assent, and no honest
interpretation
of her language can get rid of it."
And that:
"In all
consistent reason, we must accept the whole of the inspired autographs,
or reject the
whole."
Dr. Baylee,
Principal of a theological university—St. Aiden's College—at
Birkenhead,
England, and author of a "Manual," called Baylee's "Verbal
Inspiration,"
written "chiefly for the youths of St. Aiden's College," makes use
of the
following words, in that work:
"The
whole Bible, as a revelation, is a declaration of the mind of God towards
his creatures
on all the subjects of which the Bible treats."
"The
Bible is God's word, in the same sense as if he had made use of no human
agent, but
had Himself spoken it."
"The
Bible cannot be less than verbally inspired. Every word, every syllable,
every letter,
is just what it would be, had God spoken from heaven without any
human
intervention."
"Every
scientific statement is infallibly correct, all its history and
narrations of
every kind, are without any inaccuracy."[18:1]
A whole volume
might be filled with such quotations, not only from religious
works and
journals published in England, but from those published in the United
States of
America.[18:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[1:1] The
idea that the sun, moon and stars were set in the firmament was
entertained
by most nations of antiquity, but, as strange as it may appear,
Pythagoras,
the Grecian philosopher, who flourished from 540 to 510 B. C.—as
well as other
Grecian philosophers—taught that the sun was placed in the centre
of the
universe, with the planets roving round it in a circle, thus making day
and night.
(See Knight's Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 59, and note.) The
Buddhists
anciently taught that the universe is composed of limitless systems or
worlds,
called sakwalas.
They are scattered
throughout space, and each sakwala has a sun and moon. (See
Hardy:
Buddhist Legends, pp. 80 and 87.)
[2:1] Origen,
a Christian Father who flourished about A. D. 230, says: "What man
of sense will
agree with the statement that the first, second, and third days,
in which the
evening is named and the morning, were without sun, moon and
stars?"
(Quoted in Mysteries of Adoni, p. 176.)
[2:2]
"The geologist reckons not by days or by years; the whole six thousand
years, which
were until lately looked on as the sum of the world's age, are to
him but as a
unit of measurement in the long succession of past ages." (Sir John
"It is
now certain that the vast epochs of time demanded by scientific
observation
are incompatible both with the six thousand years of the Mosaic
chronology,
and the six days of the Mosaic creation." (Dean Stanley.)
[2:3]
"Let us make man in our own likeness," was said by Ormuzd, the
Persian God
of Gods, to
his WORD. (See Bunsen's Angel Messiah, p. 104.)
[2:4] The
number SEVEN was sacred among almost every nation of antiquity. (See
ch. ii.)
[2:5]
According to Grecian Mythology, the God Prometheus created men, in the
image of the
gods, out of clay (see Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 26; and
Goldzhier:
Hebrew Myths, p. 373), and the God Hephaistos was commanded by Zeus
to mold of
clay the figure of a maiden, into which Athęnę, the dawn-goddess,
breathed the
breath of life. This is Pandora—the gift of all the gods—who is
presented to
Epimetheus. (See Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. ii., p. 208.)
[2:6]
"What man is found such an idiot as to suppose that God planted trees in
Paradise, in
Eden, like a husbandman." (Origen: quoted in Mysteries of Adoni, p.
176.)
"There is no way of preserving the literal sense of the first chapter of
Genesis,
without impiety, and attributing things to God unworthy of him." (St.
Augustine.)
[2:7]
"The records about the 'Tree of Life' are the sublimest proofs of the
unity and
continuity of tradition, and of its Eastern origin. The earliest
records of
the most ancient Oriental tradition refer to a 'Tree of Life,' which
was guarded
by spirits. The juice of the fruit of this sacred tree, like the
tree itself,
was called Sôma in Sanscrit, and Haôma in Zend; it was revered as
the life
preserving essence." (Bunsen: Keys of St. Peter, p. 414)
[3:1]
"According to the Persian account of
Arduisir
nourishes the Tree of Immortality, the Holy Hom." (Stiefelhagen: quoted
in Mysteries
of Adoni p. 149.)
"According
to the Chinese myth, the waters of the
the fountain
of immortality, which divides itself into four rivers." (Ibid., p.
150, and
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i., p. 210.) The Hindoos call their
the
[3:2]
According to Persian legend, Arimanes, the Evil Spirit, by eating a
certain kind
of fruit, transformed himself into a serpent, and went gliding
about on the
earth to tempt human beings. His Devs entered the bodies of men and
produced all
manner of diseases. They entered into their minds, and incited them
to
sensuality, falsehood, slander and revenge. Into every department of the
world they
introduced discord and death.
[4:1]
Inasmuch as the physical construction of the serpent never could admit of
its moving in
any other way, and inasmuch as it does not eat dust, does not the
narrator of
this myth reflect unpleasantly upon the wisdom of such a God as
Jehovah is
claimed to be, as well as upon the ineffectualness of his first
curse?
[5:1]
"Our writer unmistakably recognizes the existence of many gods; for he
makes Yahweh
say: 'See, the man has become as ONE OF US, knowing good and evil;'
and so he
evidently implies the existence of other similar beings, to whom he
attributes
immortality and insight into the difference between good and evil.
Yahweh, then,
was, in his eyes, the god of gods, indeed, but not the only god."
(Bible for
Learners, vol. i. p. 51.)
[5:2] In his
memorial sermon, preached in
of Sir
Charles Lyell. He further said in this address:—
"It is
well known that when the science of geology first arose, it was involved
in endless
schemes of attempted reconciliation with the letter of Scripture.
There was,
there are perhaps still, two modes of reconciliation of Scripture and
science,
which have been each in their day attempted, and each have totally and
deservedly
failed. One is the endeavor to wrest the words of the Bible from
their natural
meaning, and force it to speak the language of science." After
speaking of
the earliest known example, which was the interpolation of the word
"not"
in Leviticus xi. 6, he continues: "This is the earliest instance of the
falsification
of Scripture to meet the demands of science; and it has been
followed in
later times by the various efforts which have been made to twist the
earlier
chapters of the book of Genesis into apparent agreement with the last
results of
geology—representing days not to be days, morning and evening not to
be morning
and evening, the deluge not to be the deluge, and the ark not to be
the
ark."
[5:3] Gen. i.
9, 10.
[5:4] Gen.
ii. 6.
[6:1] Gen. i.
20, 24, 26.
[6:2] Gen.
ii. 7, 9.
[6:3] Gen. i.
20.
[6:4] Gen.
ii. 19.
[6:5] Gen. i.
27.
[6:6] Gen.
ii. 7: iii. 22.
[6:7] Gen. i.
28.
[6:8] Gen.
ii. 8, 15.
[6:9] Gen. i.
28.
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[7:1] The
Relig. of
[7:2] Von
Bohlen: Intro. to Gen. vol. ii. p. 4.
[7:3]
Lenormant: Beginning of Hist. vol. i. p. 6.
[7:4] See
Ibid. p. 64; and Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 31.
[8:1]
"The Etruscans believed in a creation of six thousand years, and in the
successive
production of different beings, the last of which was man." (Dunlap:
Spirit Hist.
p. 357.)
[8:2] Quoted
by Bishop Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 115.
[8:3] Intro.
to Genesis, vol. ii. p. 4.
[8:4] Com. on
Old Test. vol. i. p. 63.
[8:5] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 158.
[9:1] See
Chapter xi.
[9:2] Mr.
Smith says, "Whatever the primitive account may have been from which
the earlier
part of the Book of Genesis was copied, it is evident that the brief
narration
given in the Pentateuch omits a number of incidents and
explanations—for
instance, as to the origin of evil, the fall of the angels, the
wickedness of
the serpent, &c. Such points as these are included in the
cuneiform
narrative." (Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 13, 14.)
[9:3] Smith:
Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 88.
[9:4] Ibid.
p. 89.
[9:5] Ibid.
p. 91.
[10:1]
[10:2]
Kalisch's Com. vol. i. p. 64.
[11:1]
Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 87.
[11:2] Com.
on the Old Test. vol. i. p. 70.
[11:3] Ibid.
[11:4] Ibid.
"The fruit, and sap of this 'Tree of Life' begat immortality."
(Bonwick:
Egyptian Belief, p. 240.)
[11:5] See
Montfaucon: L'Antiquité Expliquée, vol. i. p. 211, and Pl. cxxxiii.
[12:1] Faber:
Origin Pagan Idolatry, vol. i. p. 443; in Anacalypsis, vol. i. p.
237.
[12:2] Tree
and Serpent Worship, p. 13.
[12:3] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 159.
[12:4] See
Bunsen's Keys of St. Peter, p. 414.
[12:5]
Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 153.
[12:6]
Buckley: Cities of the Ancient World, p. 148.
[12:7]
Müller: Hist. Sanskrit Literature, p. 559.
[13:1] See
Wake: Phallism in Ancient Religions, pp. 46, 47; and Maurice: Hist.
Hindostan,
vol. i. p. 408.
[13:2]
Hardwick: Christ and Other Masters, p. 215.
[13:3] See
Jacolliot's "Bible in India," which John Fisk calls a "very
discreditable
performance," and "a disgraceful piece of charlatanry" (Myths,
&c.
p. 205). This
writer also states that according to Hindoo legend, the first man
and woman
were called "Adima and Heva," which is certainly not the case. The
"bridge
of Adima" which he speaks of as connecting the island of Ceylon with the
mainland, is
called "Rama's bridge;" and the "Adam's footprints" are
called
"Buddha's
footprints." The Portuguese, who called the mountain Pico d' Adama
(Adam's
Peak), evidently invented these other names. (See Maurice's Hist.
Hindostan,
vol. i. pp. 301, 362, and vol. ii. p. 242).
[13:4] See
Smith's Bible Dic. Art. "Cherubim," and Lenormant's Beginning of
History, ch.
iii.
[15:1] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 206-210, The Pentateuch Examined,
vol. iv. pp.
152, 153, and Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 38.
[15:2]
Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 31.
[15:3] Quoted
by Müller: The Science of Relig., p. 302.
[15:4] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 409.
[15:5] See
Baring Gould's Legends of the Patriarchs; Squire's Serpent Symbol, p.
161, and
Wake's Phallism in Ancient Religions, p. 41.
[16:1] Quoted
by Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 403.
[16:2] Tod's
Hist. Raj., p. 581, quoted by Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 404.
[16:3]
L'Antiquité Expliquée, vol. i.
[17:1] Sir
William Jones, the first president of the Royal Asiatic Society, saw
this when he
said: "Either the first eleven chapters of Genesis, all due
allowance
being made for a figurative Eastern style, are true, or the whole
fabric of our
religion is false." (In Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 225.) And
so also did
the learned Thomas Maurice, for he says: "If the Mosaic History be
indeed a
fable, the whole fabric of the national religion is false, since the
main pillar
of Christianity rests upon that important original promise, that the
seed of the woman
should bruise the head of the serpent." (Hist. Hindostan, vol.
i. p. 20.)
[18:1] The
above extracts are quoted by Bishop Colenso, in The Pentateuch
Examined,
vol. ii. pp. 10-12, from which we take them.
[18:2]
"Cosmogony" is the title of a volume lately written by Prof. Thomas
Mitchell, and
published by the American News Co., in which the author attacks
all the
modern scientists in regard to the geological antiquity of the world,
evolution,
atheism, pantheism, &c. He believes—and rightly too—that, "if the
account of
Creation in Genesis falls, Christ and the apostles follow: if the
book of
Genesis is erroneous, so also are the Gospels."
[Pg
19]CHAPTER II.
THE
DELUGE.[19:1]
After
"man's shameful fall," the earth began to be populated at a very rapid
rate.
"The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they
took them
wives of all which they chose. . . . . There were giants in the earth
in those
days,[19:2] and also . . . mighty men . . . men of renown."
But these
"giants" and "mighty men" were very wicked, "and God
saw the
wickedness of
man . . . and it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the
earth,[19:3]
and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said; I will destroy
man whom I
have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the
creeping
thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them. But
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (for) Noah was a just man . .
. and walked
with God. . . . And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is
come before
me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and, behold,
I will [Pg
20]destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood,
rooms shalt
thou make in the ark, (and) a window shalt thou make to the ark; . .
. . And
behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy
all flesh,
wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven, and every thing
that is in
the earth shall die. But with thee shall I establish my covenant; and
thou shalt
come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons'
wives, with
thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort
shalt thou
bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male
and female.
Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every
creeping
thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come in to
thee, to keep
them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and
thou shalt
gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee and for them.
Thus did
Noah, according to all that God commanded him."[20:1]
When the ark
was finished, the Lord said unto Noah:
"Come
thou and all thy house into the ark. . . . Of every clean beast thou shalt
take to thee
by sevens, the male and his female; and of beasts that are not
clean by two,
the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the
male and the
female."[20:2]
Here, again,
as in the Eden myth, there is a contradiction. We have seen that
the Lord told
Noah to bring into the ark "of every living thing, of all flesh,
two of every
sort," and now that the ark is finished, we are told that he said
to him:
"Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens," and,
"of fowls
also of the
air by sevens." This is owing to the story having been written by
two different
writers—the Jehovistic, and the Elohistic—one of which took from,
and added to
the narrative of the other.[20:3] The account goes on to say, that:
"Noah
went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into
the ark. . .
. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls,
and of every
thing that creepeth upon the earth, there went in two and two, unto
Noah into the
ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah."[20:4]
We see, then,
that Noah took into the ark of all kinds of beasts, of fowls, and
of every
thing that creepeth, two of every sort, and that this was "as God had
commanded
Noah." This clearly shows that the writer of these words knew nothing
of the
command [Pg 21]to take in clean beasts, and fowls of the air, by sevens.
We are
further assured, that, "Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded
him."
After Noah
and his family, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle
after their
kind, the fowls of the air, and every creeping thing, had entered
the ark, the
Lord shut them in. Then "were all the fountains of the great deep
broken up,
and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the
earth forty
days and forty nights. . . . . And the waters prevailed exceedingly
upon the
earth; and all the hills, that were under the whole heaven, were
covered.
Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail; and the mountains were
covered. And
all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of
cattle, and
of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,
and every
man. And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the
ark."[21:1]
The object of the flood was now accomplished, "all flesh died that
moved upon
the earth." The Lord, therefore, "made a wind to pass over the earth,
and the
waters assuaged. The fountains of the deep, and the windows of heaven,
were stopped,
and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters decreased
continually.
. . . . And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah
opened the
window of the ark, which he had made. And he sent forth a raven,
which went
forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
He also sent
forth a dove, . . . but the dove found no rest for the sole of her
foot, and she
returned unto him into the ark." . . .
At the end of
seven days he again "sent forth the dove out of the ark, and the
dove came in
to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf,
plucked
off."
At the end of
another seven days, he again "sent forth the dove, which returned
not again to
him any more."
And the ark
rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month,
upon the
mountains of Ararat. Then Noah and his wife, and his sons, and his
sons' wives,
and every living thing that was in the ark, went forth out of the
ark.
"And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, . . . and offered burnt
offerings
on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his
heart, I will
not again curse the ground any more for man's sake."[21:2]
[Pg 22]We
shall now see that there is scarcely any considerable race of men
among whom
there does not exist, in some form, the tradition of a great deluge,
which
destroyed all the human race, except their own progenitors.
The first of
these which we shall notice, and the one with which the Hebrew
agrees most
closely, having been copied from it,[22:1] is the Chaldean, as given
by Berosus,
the Chaldean historian.[22:2] It is as follows:
"After
the death of Ardates (the ninth king of the Chaldeans), his son Xisuthrus
reigned
eighteen sari. In his time happened a great deluge, the history of which
is thus
described: The deity Cronos appeared to him (Xisuthrus) in a vision, and
warned him
that upon the fifteenth day of the month Desius there would be a
flood, by
which mankind would be destroyed. He therefore enjoined him to write a
history of
the beginning, procedure, and conclusion of all things, and to bury
it in the
City of the Sun at Sippara; and to build a vessel, and take with him
into it his
friends and relations, and to convey on board everything necessary
to sustain
life, together with all the different animals, both birds and
quadrupeds,
and trust himself fearlessly to the deep. Having asked the deity
whither he
was to sail, he was answered: 'To the Gods;' upon which he offered up
a prayer for
the good of mankind. He then obeyed the divine admonition, and
built a
vessel five stadia in length, and two in breadth. Into this he put
everything
which he had prepared, and last of all conveyed into it his wife, his
children, and
his friends. After the flood had been upon the earth, and was in
time abated,
Xisuthrus sent out birds from the vessel; which not finding any
food, nor any
place whereupon they might rest their feet, returned to him again.
After an
interval of some days, he sent them forth a second time; and they now
returned with
their feet tinged with mud. He made a trial a third time with
these birds;
but they returned to him no more: from whence he judged that the
surface of
the earth had appeared above the waters. He therefore made an opening
in the
vessel, and upon looking out found that it was stranded upon the side of
some
mountain; upon which he immediately quitted it with his wife, his daughter,
and the
pilot. Xisuthrus then paid his adoration to the earth, and, having
constructed
an altar, offered sacrifices to the gods."[22:3]
This account,
given by Berosus, which agrees in almost every particular with
that found in
Genesis, and with that found by George Smith of the
on terra
cotta tablets in
But, says Mr.
Smith:
"When we
consider the difference between the two countries of
It was only
natural that, in relating the same stories, each nation should [Pg
23]color them
in accordance with its own ideas, and stress would naturally in
each case be
laid upon points with which they were familiar. Thus we should
expect
beforehand that there would be differences in the narrative such as we
actually
find, and we may also notice that the cuneiform account does not always
coincide even
with the account of the same events given by Berosus from Chaldean
sources."[23:1]
The most
important points are the same however, i. e., in both cases the
virtuous man
is informed by the Lord that a flood is about to take place, which
would destroy
mankind. In both cases they are commanded to build a vessel or
ark, to enter
it with their families, and to take in beasts, birds, and
everything
that creepeth, also to provide themselves with food. In both cases
they send out
a bird from the ark three times—the third time it failed to
return. In
both cases they land on a mountain, and upon leaving the ark they
offer up a
sacrifice to the gods. Xisuthrus was the tenth king,[23:2] and Noah
the tenth
patriarch.[23:3] Xisuthrus had three sons (Zerovanos, Titan and
Japetosthes),[23:4]
and Noah had three sons (Shem, Ham and Japhet).[23:5]
As Cory
remarks in his "Ancient Fragments," the history of the flood, as
given
by Berosus,
so remarkably corresponds with the Biblical account of the Noachian
Deluge, that
no one can doubt that both proceeded from one source—they are
evidently
transcriptions, except the names, from some ancient document.[23:6]
This legend
became known to the Jews from Chaldean sources,[23:7] it was not
known in the
country (Egypt) out of which they evidently came.[23:8] Egyptian
history, it
is said, had gone on [Pg 24]uninterrupted for ten thousand years
before the
time assigned for the birth of Jesus.[24:1] And it is known as
absolute fact
that the land of Egypt was never visited by other than its annual
beneficent
overflow of the river Nile.[24:2] The Egyptian Bible, which is by far
the most
ancient of all holy books[24:3], knew nothing of the Deluge.[24:4] The
Phra (or
Pharaoh) Khoufou-Cheops was building his pyramid, according to Egyptian
chronicle,
when the whole world was under the waters of a universal deluge,
according to
the Hebrew chronicle.[24:5] A number of other nations of antiquity
are found
destitute of any story of a flood,[24:6] which they certainly would
have had if a
universal deluge had ever happened. Whether this legend is of high
antiquity in
India has even been doubted by distinguished scholars.[24:7]
The Hindoo
legend of the Deluge is as follows:
"Many
ages after the creation of the world, Brahma resolved to destroy it with a
deluge, on
account of the wickedness of the people. There lived at that time a
pious man
named Satyavrata, and as the lord of the universe loved this pious
man, and
wished to preserve him from the sea of destruction which was to appear
on account of
the depravity of the age, he appeared before him in the form of
Vishnu (the
Preserver) and said: In seven days from the present time . . . the
worlds will
be plunged in an ocean of death, but in the midst of the destroying
waves, a
large vessel, sent by me for thy use, shall stand before thee. Then
shalt thou
take all medicinal herbs, all the variety of feeds, and, accompanied
by seven
saints, encircled by pairs of all brute animals, thou shalt enter the
spacious ark,
and continue in it, secure from the flood, on one immense ocean
without
light, except the radiance of thy holy companions. When the ship shall
be agitated
by an impetuous wind, thou shalt fasten it with a large sea-serpent
on my horn;
for I will be near thee (in the form of a fish), drawing the vessel,
with thee and
thy attendants. I will remain on the ocean, O chief of men, until
a night of
Brahma shall be completely ended. Thou shalt then [Pg 25]know my true
greatness,
rightly named the Supreme Godhead; by my favor, all thy questions
shall be
answered, and thy mind abundantly instructed."
Being thus
directed, Satyavrata humbly waited for the time which the ruler of
our senses
had appointed. It was not long, however, before the sea, overwhelming
its shores,
began to deluge the whole earth, and it was soon perceived to be
augmented by
showers from immense clouds. He, still meditating on the commands
of the Lord,
saw a vessel advancing, and entered it with the saints, after
having
carried into effect the instructions which had been given him.
Vishnu then
appeared before them, in the form of a fish, as he had said, and
Satyavrata
fastened a cable to his horn.
The deluge in
time abated, and Satyavrata, instructed in all divine and human
knowledge,
was appointed, by the favor of Vishnu, the Seventh Menu. After coming
forth from
the ark he offers up a sacrifice to Brahma.[25:1]
The ancient
temples of Hindostan contain representations of Vishnu sustaining
the earth
while overwhelmed by the waters of the deluge. A rainbow is seen on
the surface
of the subsiding waters.[25:2]
The Chinese
believe the earth to have been at one time covered with water, which
they
described as flowing abundantly and then subsiding. This great flood
divided the
higher from the lower age of man. It happened during the reign of
Yaou. This
inundation, which is termed hung-shwuy (great water), almost ruined
the country,
and is spoken of by Chinese writers with sentiments of horror. The
Shoo-King,
one of their sacred books, describes the waters as reaching to the
tops of some
of the mountains, covering the hills, and expanding as wide as the
vault of
heaven.[25:3]
The Parsees
say that by the temptation of the evil spirit men became wicked, and
God destroyed
them with a deluge, except a few, from whom the world was peopled
anew.[25:4]
In the
Zend-Avesta, the oldest sacred book of the Persians, of whom the Parsees
are direct
descendants, there are sixteen countries spoken of as having been
given by
Ormuzd, the Good Deity, for the Aryans to live in; and these countries
are described
as a land of delight, which was turned by Ahriman, the Evil Deity,
into a [Pg
26]land of death and cold, partly, it is said, by a great flood,
which is
described as being like Noah's flood recorded in the Book of
Genesis.[26:1]
The ancient
Greeks had records of a flood which destroyed nearly the whole human
race.[26:2]
The story is as follows:
"From
his throne in the high Olympos, Zeus looked down on the children of men,
and saw that
everywhere they followed only their lusts, and cared nothing for
right or for
law. And ever, as their hearts waxed grosser in their wickedness,
they devised
for themselves new rites to appease the anger of the gods, till the
whole earth
was filled with blood. Far away in the hidden glens of the Arcadian
hills the
sons of Lykaon feasted and spake proud words against the majesty of
Zeus, and
Zeus himself came down from his throne to see their way and their
doings. . . .
Then Zeus returned to his home on Olympos, and he gave the word
that a flood
of waters should be let loose upon the earth, that the sons of men
might die for
their great wickedness. So the west wind rose in its might, and
the dark
rain-clouds veiled the whole heaven, for the winds of the north which
drive away
the mists and vapors were shut up in their prison house. On hill and
valley burst
the merciless rain, and the rivers, loosened from their courses,
rushed over
the whole plains and up the mountain-side. From his home on the
highlands of
Phthia, Deukalion looked forth on the angry sky, and, when he saw
the waters
swelling in the valleys beneath, he called Pyrrha, his wife, and said
to her: 'The
time has come of which my father, the wise Prometheus, forewarned
me. Make
ready, therefore, the ark which I have built, and place in it all that
we may need
for food while the flood of waters is out upon the earth.' . . .
Then Pyrrha
hastened to make all things ready, and they waited till the waters
rose up to
the highlands of Phthia and floated away the ark of Deukalion. The
fishes swam
amidst the old elm-groves, and twined amongst the gnarled boughs on
the oaks,
while on the face of the waters were tossed the bodies of men; and
Deukalion
looked on the dead faces of stalwart warriors, of maidens, and of
babes, as
they rose and fell upon the heavy waves."
When the
flood began to abate, the ark rested on Mount Parnassus, and Deucalion,
with his wife
Pyrrha, stepped forth upon the desolate earth. They then
immediately
constructed an altar, and offered up thanks to Zeus, the mighty
being who
sent the flood and saved them from its waters.[26:3]
According to
Ovid (a Grecian writer born 43 B. C.), Deucalion does not venture
out of the
ark until a dove which he sent out returns to him with an olive
branch.[26:4]
[Pg 27]It was
at one time extensively believed, even by intelligent scholars,
that the myth
of Deucalion was a corrupted tradition of the Noachian deluge, but
this
untenable opinion is now all but universally abandoned.[27:1]
The legend
was found in the West among the Kelts. They believed that a great
deluge
overwhelmed the world and drowned all men except Drayan and Droyvach, who
escaped in a
boat, and colonized Britain. This boat was supposed to have been
built by the
"Heavenly Lord," and it received into it a pair of every kind of
beasts.[27:2]
The ancient
Scandinavians had their legend of a deluge. The Edda describes this
deluge, from
which only one man escapes, with his family, by means of a
bark.[27:3]
It was also found among the ancient Mexicans. They believed that a
man named
Coxcox, and his wife, survived the deluge. Lord Kingsborough, speaking
of this
legend,[27:4] informs us that the person who answered to Noah entered
the ark with
six others; and that the story of sending birds out of the ark,
&c., is
the same in general character with that of the Bible.
Dr. Brinton
also speaks of the Mexican tradition.[27:5] They had not only the
story of
sending out the bird, but related that the ark landed on a mountain.
The tradition
of a deluge was also found among the Brazilians, and among many
Indian
tribes.[27:6] The mountain upon which the ark is supposed to have rested,
was pointed
to by the residents in nearly every quarter of the globe. The
mountain-chain
of Ararat was considered to be—by the Chaldeans and Hebrews—the
place where
the ark landed. The Greeks pointed to Mount Parnassus; the Hindoos
to the
Himalayas; and in Armenia numberless heights were pointed out with
becoming
reverence, as those on which the few survivors of the dreadful scenes
of the deluge
were preserved. On the Red River (in America), near the village of
the Caddoes,
there was an eminence to which the Indian tribes for a great
distance
around paid devout homage. The Cerro Naztarny on the Rio Grande, the
peak of Old
Zuni in New Mexico, that of Colhuacan on the Pacific coast, Mount
Apoala in
Upper Mixteca, and Mount Neba in the province of Guaymi, are some of
many
elevations asserted by the neighboring [Pg 28]nations to have been places
of refuge for
their ancestors when the fountains of the great deep broke forth.
The question
now may naturally be asked, How could such a story have originated
unless there
was some foundation for it?
In answer to
this question we will say that we do not think such a story could
have
originated without some foundation for it, and that most, if not all,
legends, have
a basis of truth underlying the fabulous, although not always
discernible.
This story may have an astronomical basis, as some suppose,[28:1]
or it may
not. At any rate, it would be very easy to transmit by memory the fact
of the
sinking of an island, or that of an earthquake, or a great flood, caused
by overflows
of rivers, &c., which, in the course of time, would be added to,
and enlarged
upon, and, in this way, made into quite a lengthy tale. According
to one of the
most ancient accounts of the deluge, we are told that at that time
"the
forest trees were dashed against each other;" "the mountains were
involved
with smoke
and flame;" that there was "fire, and smoke, and wind, which ascended
in thick
clouds replete with lightning." "The roaring of the ocean, whilst
violently
agitated with the whirling of the mountains, was like the bellowing of
a mighty
cloud, &c."[28:2]
A violent
earthquake, with eruptions from volcanic mountains, and the sinking of
land into the
sea, would evidently produce such a scene as this. We know that at
one period in
the earth's history, such scenes must have been of frequent
occurrence.
The science of geology demonstrates this fact to us. Local deluges
were of
frequent occurrence, and that some persons may have been saved on one,
or perhaps
many, such occasions, by means of a raft or boat, and that they may
have sought
refuge on an eminence, or mountain, does not seem at all improbable.
During the
Champlain period in the history of the world—which came after the
Glacial
period—the climate became warmer, the continents sank, and there were,
consequently,
continued local floods which must have destroyed considerable
animal life,
including man. The foundation of the deluge myth may have been laid
at this time.
[Pg 29]Some
may suppose that this is dating the history of man too far back,
making his
history too remote; but such is not the case. There is every reason
to believe
that man existed for ages before the Glacial epoch. It must not be
supposed that
we have yet found remains of the earliest human beings; there is
evidence,
however, that man existed during the Pliocene, if not during the
Miocene
periods, when hoofed quadrupeds, and Proboscidians abounded, human
remains and
implements having been found mingled with remains of these
animals.[29:1]
Charles
Darwin believed that the animal called man, might have been properly
called by
that name at an epoch as remote as the Eocene period.[29:2] Man had
probably lost
his hairy covering by that time, and had begun to look human.
Prof. Draper,
speaking of the antiquity of man, says:
"So far
as investigations have gone, they indisputably refer the existence of
man to a date
remote from us by many hundreds of thousands of years," and that,
"it is
difficult to assign a shorter date from the last glaciation of Europe
than a
quarter of a million of years, and human existence antedates that."[29:3]
Again he
says:
"Recent
researches give reason to believe that, under low and base grades, the
existence of
man can be traced back into the Tertiary times. He was contemporary
with the
Southern Elephant, the Rhinoceros-leptorhinus, the great Hippopotamus,
perhaps even
in the Miocene, contemporary with the Mastodon."[29:4]
[Pg 30]Prof.
Huxley closes his "Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature," by
saying:
"Where
must we look for primeval man? Was the oldest Homo Sapiens Pliocene or
Miocene, or
yet more ancient? . . . If any form of the doctrine of progressive
development
is correct, we must extend by long epochs the most liberal estimate
that has yet
been made of the antiquity of man."[30:1]
Prof. Oscar
Paschel, in his work on "Mankind," speaking of the deposits of human
remains which
have been discovered in caves, mingled with the bones of wild
animals,
says:
"The
examination of one of these caves at Brixham, by a geologist as trustworthy
as Dr.
Falconer, convinced the specialists of Great Britain, as early as 1858,
that man was
a contemporary of the Mammoth, the Woolly Rhinoceros, the
Cave-lion,
the Cave-hyena, the Cave-bear, and therefore of the Mammalia of the
Geological
period antecedent to our own."[30:2]
The positive
evidence of man's existence during the Tertiary period, are facts
which must
firmly convince every one—who is willing to be convinced—of the great
antiquity of
man. We might multiply our authorities, but deem it unnecessary.
The
observation of shells, corals, and other remains of aquatic animals, in
places above
the level of the sea, and even on high mountains, may have given
rise to
legends of a great flood.
Fossils found
imbedded in high ground have been appealed to, both in ancient and
modern times,
both by savage and civilized man, as evidence in support of their
traditions of
a flood; and, moreover, the argument, apparently unconnected with
any
tradition, is to be found, that because there are marine fossils in places
away from the
sea, therefore the sea must once have been there.
It is only
quite recently that the presence of fossil shells, &c., on high
mountains,
has been abandoned as evidence of the Noachic flood.
Mr. Tylor
tells us that in the ninth edition of "Horne's Introduction to the
Scriptures,"
published in 1846, the evidence of fossils is confidently held to
prove the
universality of the Deluge; but the argument disappears from the next
edition,
published ten years later.[30:3]
Besides
fossil remains of aquatic animals, boats have been found on tops of
mountains.[30:4]
A discovery of this kind may have given rise to the story of an
ark having
been made in which to preserve the favored ones from the waters, and
of its
landing on a mountain.[30:5]
[Pg 31]Before
closing this chapter, it may be well to notice a striking incident
in the legend
we have been treating, i. e., the frequent occurrence of the
number seven
in the narrative. For instance: the Lord commands Noah to take into
the ark clean
beasts by sevens, and fowls also by sevens, and tells him that in
seven days he
will cause it to rain upon the earth. We are also told that the
ark rested in
the seventh month, and the seventeenth day of the month, upon the
mountains of
Ararat. After sending the dove out of the ark the first time, Noah
waited seven
days before sending it out again. After sending the dove out the
second time,
"he stayed yet another seven days" ere he again sent forth the
dove.
This
coincidence arises from the mystic power attached to the number seven,
derived from
its frequent occurrence in astrology.
We find that
in all religions of antiquity the number seven—which applied to the
sun, moon and
the five planets known to the ancients—is a sacred number,
represented
in all kinds and sorts of forms;[31:1] for instance: The candlestick
with seven
branches in the temple of Jerusalem. The seven inclosures of the
temple. The
seven doors of the cave of Mithras. The seven stories of the tower
of
Babylon.[31:2] The seven gates of Thebes.[31:3] The flute of seven pipes
generally put
into the hand of the god Pan. The lyre of seven strings touched by
Apollo. The
book of "Fate," composed of seven books. The seven prophetic rings
of the
Brahmans.[31:4] The seven stones—consecrated to the seven planets—in
Laconia.[31:5]
The division into seven castes adopted by the Egyptians and
Indians. The
seven idols of the Bonzes. The seven altars of the monument of
Mithras. The
seven great spirits invoked by the Persians. The seven archangels
of the
Chaldeans. The seven archangels of the Jews.[31:6]
[Pg 32]The
seven days in the week.[32:1] The seven sacraments of the Christians.
The seven
wicked spirits of the Babylonians. The sprinkling of blood seven times
upon the
altars of the Egyptians. The seven mortal sins of the Egyptians. The
hymn of seven
vowels chanted by the Egyptian priests.[32:2] The seven branches
of the
Assyrian "Tree of Life." Agni, the Hindoo god, is represented with
seven
arms.
Sura's[32:3] horse was represented with seven heads. Seven churches are
spoken of in
the Apocalypse. Balaam builded seven altars, and offered seven
bullocks and
seven rams on each altar. Pharaoh saw seven kine, &c., in his
dream. The
"Priest of Midian" had seven daughters. Jacob served seven years.
Before
Jericho seven priests bare seven horns. Samson was bound with seven green
withes, and
his marriage feast lasted seven days, &c., &c. We might continue
with as much
more, but enough has been shown to verify the statement that, "in
all religions
of antiquity, the number SEVEN is a sacred number."
FOOTNOTES:
[19:1] See
"The Deluge in the Light of Modern Science," by Prof. Wm. Denton: J.
P. Mendum,
Boston.
[19:2]
"There were giants in the earth in those days." It is a scientific
fact
that most
races of men, in former ages, instead of being larger, were smaller
than at the
present time. There is hardly a suit of armor in the Tower of
London, or in
the old castles, that is large enough for the average Englishman
of to-day to
put on. Man has grown in stature as well as intellect, and there is
no proof
whatever—in fact, the opposite is certain—that there ever was a race of
what might
properly be called giants, inhabiting the earth. Fossil remains of
large animals
having been found by primitive man, and a legend invented to
account for
them, it would naturally be that: "There were giants in the earth in
those
days." As an illustration we may mention the story, recorded by the
traveller
James Orton, we believe (in "The Andes and the Amazon"), that, near
Punin, in
South America, was found the remains of an extinct species of the
horse, the
mastodon, and other large animals. This discovery was made, owing to
the assurance
of the natives that giants at one time had lived in that country,
and that they
had seen their remains at this certain place. Many legends have
had a similar
origin. But the originals of all the Ogres and Giants to be found
in the
mythology of almost all nations of antiquity, are the famous Hindoo
demons, the
Rakshasas of our Aryan ancestors. The Rakshasas were very terrible
creatures
indeed, and in the minds of many people, in India, are so still. Their
natural form,
so the stories say, is that of huge, unshapely giants, like
clouds, with
hair and beard of the color of the red lightning. This description
explains
their origin. They are the dark, wicked and cruel clouds, personified.
[19:3]
"And it repented the Lord that he had made man." (Gen. iv.) "God
is not a
man that he
should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent." (Numb.
xxiii. 19.)
[20:1] Gen.
iv.
[20:2] Gen.
vi. 1-3.
[20:3] See
chapter xi.
[20:4] The
image of Osiris of Egypt was by the priests shut up in a sacred ark
on the 17th
of Athyr (Nov. 13th), the very day and month on which Noah is said
to have
entered his ark, (See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 165, and Bunsen's
Angel
Messiah, p. 22.)
[21:1] Gen.
vi.
[21:2] Gen.
viii.
[22:1] See
chapter xi.
[22:2]
Josephus, the Jewish historian, speaking of the flood of Noah (Antiq. bk.
1, ch. iii.),
says: "All the writers of the Babylonian histories make mention of
this flood
and this ark."
[22:3] Quoted
by George Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 43-44; see also,
The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 211; Dunlap's Spirit Hist. p. 138; Cory's
Ancient
Fragments, p. 61, et seq. for similar accounts.
[23:1]
Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 285, 286.
[23:2]
Volney: New Researches, p. 119; Chaldean Acct. of Genesis, p. 290; Hist.
Hindostan,
vol. i. p. 417, and Dunlap's Spirit Hist. p. 277.
[23:3] Ibid.
[23:4]
Legends of the Patriarchs, pp. 109, 110.
[23:5] Gen.
vi. 8.
[23:6] The
Hindoo ark-preserved Menu had three sons; Sama, Cama, and Pra-Japati.
(Faber: Orig.
Pagan Idol.) The Bhattias, who live between Delli and the Panjab,
insist that
they are descended from a certain king called Salivahana, who had
three sons,
Bhat, Maha and Thamaz. (Col. Wilford, in vol. ix. Asiatic
Researches.)
The Iranian hero Thraetona had three sons. The Iranian Sethite
Lamech had
three sons, and Hellen, the son of Deucalion, during whose time the
flood is said
to have happened, had three sons. (Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, pp.
70, 71.) All
the ancient nations of Europe also describe their origin from the
three sons of
some king or patriarch. The Germans said that Mannus (son of the
god Tuisco)
had three sons, who were the original ancestors of the three
principal
nations of Germany. The Scythians said that Targytagus, the founder of
their nation,
had three sons, from whom they were descended. A tradition among
the Romans
was that the Cyclop Polyphemus had by Galatea three sons. Saturn had
three sons,
Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; and Hesiod speaks of the three sons
which sprung
from the marriage of heaven and earth. (See Mallet's Northern
Antiquities,
p. 509.)
[23:7] See
chap. xi.
[23:8]
"It is of no slight moment that the Egyptians, with whom the Hebrews are
represented
as in earliest and closest intercourse, had no traditions of a
flood, while
the Babylonian and Hellenic tales bear a strong resemblance in many
points to the
narrative in Genesis." (Rev. George W. Cox: Tales of Ancient
Greece, p.
340. See also Owen: Man's Earliest History, p. 28, and ch. xi. this
work.)
[24:1] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 198, and Knight's Ancient Art and Mythology, p.
107.
"Plato was told that Egypt had hymns dating back ten thousand years before
his
time." (Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 185.) Plato lived 429 B. C. Herodotus
relates that
the priests of Egypt informed him that from the first king to the
present
priest of Vulcan who last reigned, were three hundred forty and one
generations
of men, and during these generations there were the same number of
chief priests
and kings. "Now (says he) three hundred generations are equal to
ten thousand
years, for three generations of men are one hundred years; and the
forty-one
remaining generations that were over the three hundred, make one
thousand
three hundred and forty years," making eleven thousand three hundred
and forty
years. "Conducting me into the interior of an edifice that was
spacious, and
showing me wooden colossuses to the number I have mentioned, they
reckoned them
up; for every high priest places an image of himself there during
his
life-time; the priests, therefore, reckoning them and showing them to me,
pointed out
that each was the son of his own father; going through them all,
from the
image of him who died last until they had pointed them all out."
(Herodotus,
book ii. chs. 142, 143.) The discovery of mummies of royal and
priestly
personages, made at Deir-el-Bahari (Aug., 1881), near Thebes, in Egypt,
would seem to
confirm this statement made by Herodotus. Of the thirty-nine
mummies
discovered, one—that of King Raskenen—is about three thousand seven
hundred years
old. (See a Cairo [Aug. 8th,] Letter to the London Times.)
[24:2] Owen:
Man's Earliest History, p. 28.
[24:3]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 185.
[24:4] Ibid.
p. 411.
[24:5] Owen:
Man's Earliest History, pp. 27, 28.
[24:6]
Goldzhier: Hebrew Mytho. p. 319.
[24:7] Ibid.
p. 320.
[25:1]
Translated from the Bhagavat by Sir Wm. Jones, and published in the first
volume of the
"Asiatic Researches," p. 230, et seq. See also Maurice: Ind. Ant.
ii. 277, et
seq., and Prof. Max Müller's Hist. Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p.
425, et seq.
[25:2] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 55.
[25:3] See
Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. p. 30, Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p.
205, and
Priestley, p. 41.
[25:4]
Priestley, p. 42.
[26:1] Bunce:
Fairy Tales, Origin and Meaning, p. 18.
[26:2] The
oldest Greek mythology, however, has no such idea; it cannot be
proved to
have been known to the Greeks earlier than the 6th century B. C. (See
Goldzhier:
Hebrew Mytho., p. 319.) This could not have been the case had there
ever been a
universal deluge.
[26:3] Tales
of Ancient Greece, pp. 72-74. "Apollodorus—a Grecian mythologist,
born 140 B. C.,—having
mentioned Deucalion consigned to the ark, takes notice,
upon his
quitting it, of his offering up an immediate sacrifice to God."
(Chambers'
Encyclo., art, Deluge.)
[26:4] In
Lundy's Monumental Christianity (p. 209, Fig. 137) may be seen a
representation
of Deucalion and Pyrrha landing from the ark. A dove and olive
branch are
depicted in the scene.
[27:1]
Chambers' Encyclo., art. Deucalion.
[27:2]
Baring-Gould: Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 114. See also Myths of the
British
Druids, p. 95.
[27:3] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 99.
[27:4] Mex.
Antiq. vol. viii.
[27:5] Myths
of the New World, pp. 203, 204.
[27:6] See
Squire: Serpent Symbol, pp. 189, 190.
[28:1] Count
de Volney says: "The Deluge mentioned by Jews, Chaldeans, Greeks
and Indians,
as having destroyed the world, are one and the same
physico-astronomical
event which is still repeated every year," and that "all
those
personages that figure in the Deluge of Noah and Xisuthrus, are still in
the celestial
sphere. It was a real picture of the calendar." (Researches in
Ancient
Hist., p. 124.) It was on the same day that Noah is said to have shut
himself up in
the ark, that the priests of Egypt shut up in their sacred coffer
or ark the
image of Osiris, a personification of the Sun. This was on the 17th
of the month
Athor, in which the Sun enters the Scorpion. (See Kenrick's Egypt,
vol. i. p.
410.) The history of Noah also corresponds, in some respects, with
that of
Bacchus, another personification of the Sun.
[28:2] See
Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 268.
[29:1]
"In America, along with the bones of the Mastodon imbedded in the
alluvium of
the Bourbense, were found arrow heads and other traces of the
savages who
had killed this member of an order no longer represented in that
part of the
world." (Herbert Spencer: Principles of Sociology, vol. i. p. 17.)
[29:2]
Darwin: Descent of Man, p. 156. We think it may not be out of place to
insert here
what might properly be called: "The Drama of Life," which is as
follows:
Act i.Azoic:
Conflict of Inorganic Forces.
Act
ii.Paleozoic: Age of Invertebrates.
Primary
Scene i. Eozoic: Enter Protozoans and Protophytes.
Scene ii. Silurian: Enter the Army of
Invertebrates.
Scene iii.
Devonian: Enter Fishes.
Scene iv. Carboniferous: (Age of Coal Plants) Enter
First Air breathers.
Act
iii.Mesozoic: Enter Reptiles.
Secondary
Scene i. Triassic: Enter Batrachians.
Scene ii. Jurassic: Enter huge Reptiles of Sea,
Land and Air.
Scene iii.
Cretaceous: (Age of Chalk) Enter Ammonites.
Act
iv.Cenozoic: (Age of Mammals.)
Tertiary
Scene i. Eocene: Enter Marine Mammals, and
probably Man.
Scene ii. Miocene: Enter Hoofed Quadrupeds.
Scene iii.
Pliocene: Enter Proboscidians and Edentates.
Act v.Post
Tertiary: Positive Age of Man.
Post Tertiary
Scene i. Glacial: Ice and Drift Periods.
Scene ii. Champlain: Sinking Continents; Warmer;
Tropical Animals go
North.
Scene iii.
Terrace: Rising Continents; Colder.
Scene iv. Present: Enter Science, Iconoclasts,
&c., &c.
[29:3]
Draper: Religion and Science, p. 199.
[29:4] Ibid.
pp. 195, 196.
[30:1]
Huxley: Man's Place in Nature, p. 184.
[30:2]
Paschel: Races of Man, p. 36.
[30:3] Tylor:
Early History of Mankind, p. 328.
[30:4] Ibid.
pp. 329, 330
[30:5] We
know that many legends have originated in this way. For example, Dr.
Robinson, in
his "Travels in Palestine" (ii. 586), mentions a tradition that a
city had once
stood in a desert between Petra and Hebron, the people of which
had perished
for their vices, and been converted into stone. Mr. Seetzen, who
went to the
spot, found no traces of ruins, but a number of stony concretions,
resembling in
form and size the human head. They had been ignorantly supposed to
be petrified
heads, and a legend framed to account for their owners suffering so
terrible a
fate. Another illustration is as follows:—The Kamchadals believe that
volcanic
mountains are the abode of devils, who, after they have cooked their
meals, fling
the fire-brands out of the chimney. Being asked what these devils
eat, they
said "whales." Here we see, first, a story invented to account for
the
volcanic
eruptions from the mountains; and, second, a story invented to account
for the
remains of whales found on the mountains. The savages knew that this was
true,
"because their old people had said so, and believed it themselves."
(Related by
Mr. Tylor, in his "Early History of Mankind," p. 326.)
[31:1]
"Everything of importance was calculated by, and fitted into, this number
(SEVEN) by
the Aryan philosophers,—ideas as well as localities." (Isis Unveiled,
vol. ii. p.
407).
[31:2] Each
one being consecrated to a planet. First, to Saturn; second, to
Jupiter;
third, to Mars; fourth, to the Sun; fifth, to Venus; sixth, to Mercury;
seventh, to
the Moon. (The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 269. See also The
Angel
Messiah, p. 106.)
[31:3] Each
of which had the name of a planet.
[31:4] On
each of which the name of a planet was engraved.
[31:5]
"There was to be seen in Laconia, seven columns erected in honor of the
seven
planets." (Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 34.)
[31:6]
"The Jews believed that the Throne of Jehovah was surrounded by his seven
high chiefs:
Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, &c." (Bible for Learners, vol.
iii. p. 46.)
[32:1] Each
one being consecrated to a planet, and the Sun and Moon. Sunday,
"Dies
Solis," sacred to the SUN. Monday, "Dies Lunae," sacred to the
MOON.
Tuesday,
sacred to Tuiso or Mars. Wednesday, sacred to Odin or Woden, and to
Mercury.
Thursday, sacred to Thor and others. Friday, sacred to Freia and Venus.
Saturday,
sacred to Saturn. "The (ancient) Egyptians assigned a day of the week
to the SUN,
MOON, and five planets, and the number SEVEN was held there in great
reverence."
(Kenrick: Egypt, i. 238.)
[32:2]
"The Egyptian priests chanted the seven vowels as a hymn addressed to
Serapis."
(The Rosicrucians, p. 143.)
[32:3] Sura:
the Sun-god of the Hindoos.
[Pg
33]CHAPTER III.
THE TOWER OF
BABEL.
We are
informed that, at one time, "the whole earth was of one language, and of
one speech.
And it came to pass, as they (the inhabitants of the earth)
journeyed
from the East, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they
dwelt there.
"And
they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them
thoroughly.
And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
"And
they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach
unto heaven,
and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the
face of the
whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower,
which the
children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one,
and they have
all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will
be restrained
from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down,
and there
confound their language, that they may not understand one another's
speech. So
the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the
earth: and
they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called
Babel,
because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and
from thence
did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the
earth."[33:1]
Such is the
"Scripture" account of the origin of languages, which differs
somewhat from
the ideas of Prof. Max Müller and other philologists.
Bishop
Colenso tells us that:
"The
story of the dispensation of tongues is connected by the Jehovistic writer
with the
famous unfinished temple of Belus, of which probably some wonderful
reports had
reached him. . . . The derivation of the name Babel from the Hebrew
word babal
(confound) which seems to be the connecting point between the story
and the tower
of Babel, is altogether incorrect."[33:2]
[Pg 34]The
literal meaning of the word being house, or court, or gate of Bel, or
gate of
God.[34:1]
John Fiske
confirms this statement by saying:
"The
name 'Babel' is really 'Bab-il', or 'The Gate of God'; but the Hebrew
writer
erroneously derives the word from the root 'babal'—to confuse—and hence
arises the
mystical explanation, that Babel was a place where human speech
became
confused."[34:2]
The
"wonderful reports" that reached the Jehovistic writer who inserted
this
tale into the
Hebrew Scriptures, were from the Chaldean account of the confusion
of tongues.
It is related by Berosus as follows:
The first
inhabitants of the earth, glorying in their strength and size,[34:3]
and despising
the gods, undertook to raise a tower whose top should reach the
sky, in the
place where Babylon now stands. But when it approached the heavens,
the winds
assisted the gods, and overthrew the work of the contrivers, and also
introduced a
diversity of tongues among men, who till that time had all spoken
the same
language. The ruins of this tower are said to be still in
Babylon.[34:4]
Josephus, the
Jewish historian, says that it was Nimrod who built the tower,
that he was a
very wicked man, and that the tower was built in case the Lord
should have a
mind to drown the world again. He continues his account by saying
that when
Nimrod proposed the building of this tower, the multitude were very
ready to
follow the proposition, as they could then avenge themselves on God for
destroying
their forefathers.
"And
they built a tower, neither sparing any pains nor being in any degree
negligent
about the work. And by reason of the multitude of hands employed on
it, it grew
very high, sooner than any one could expect. . . . . It was built of
burnt brick,
cemented together, with mortar made of bitumen, that it might not
be liable to
admit water. When God saw that they had acted so madly, he did not
resolve to
destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the
destruction
of the former sinners, but he caused a tumult among them, by
producing in
them divers languages, and causing, that through the multitude of
those
languages they should not be able to understand one another. The place
where they
built the tower is now called Babylon."[34:5]
The tower in
Babylonia, which seems to have been a foundation for the legend of
the confusion
of tongues to be built upon, was [Pg 35]evidently originally built
for
astronomical purposes.[35:1] This is clearly seen from the fact that it was
called the
"Stages of the Seven Spheres,"[35:2] and that each one of these
stages was
consecrated to the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and
Mercury.[35:3]
Nebuchadnezzar says of it in his cylinders:
"The
building named the 'Stages of the Seven Spheres,' which was the tower of
Borsippa
(Babel), had been built by a former king. He had completed forty-two
cubits, but
he did not finish its head. From the lapse of time, it had become
ruined; they
had not taken care of the exits of the waters, so the rain and wet
had
penetrated into the brick-work; the casing of burnt brick had bulged out,
and the
terraces of crude brick lay scattered in heaps. Merobach, my great Lord,
inclined my
heart to repair the building. I did not change its site, nor did I
destroy its
foundation, but, in a fortunate month, and upon an auspicious day, I
undertook the
rebuilding of the crude brick terraces and burnt brick casing,
&c.,
&c."[35:4]
There is not
a word said here in these cylinders about the confusion of tongues,
nor anything
pertaining to it. The ruins of this ancient tower being there in
Babylonia,
and a legend of how the gods confused the speech of mankind also
being among
them, it was very convenient to point to these ruins as evidence
that the
story was true, just as the ancient Mexicans pointed to the ruins of
the tower of Cholula,
as evidence of the truth of the similar story which they
had among
them, and just as many nations pointed to the remains of aquatic
animals on
the tops of mountains, as evidence of the truth of the deluge story.
The Armenian
tradition of the "Confusion of Tongues" was to this effect:
The world was
formerly inhabited by men "with strong bodies and huge size"
(giants).
These men being full of pride and envy, "they formed a godless resolve
to build a
high tower; but whilst they were engaged on the undertaking, a
fearful wind
overthrew it, which the wrath of God had sent against it. Unknown
words were at
the same time blown about among men, wherefore arose strife and
confusion."[35:5]
The Hindoo
legend of the "Confusion of Tongues," is as follows:
There grew in
the centre of the earth, the wonderful "World [Pg 36]Tree," or the
"Knowledge
Tree." It was so tall that it reached almost to heaven. "It said in
its heart: 'I
shall hold my head in heaven, and spread my branches over all the
earth, and gather
all men together under my shadow, and protect them, and
prevent them
from separating.' But Brahma, to punish the pride of the tree, cut
off its
branches and cast them down on the earth, when they sprang up as Wata
trees, and
made differences of belief, and speech, and customs, to prevail on
the earth, to
disperse men over its surface."[36:1]
Traces of a
somewhat similar story have also been met with among the Mongolian
Tharus in the
north of India, and, according to Dr. Livingston, among the
Africans of
Lake Nganu.[36:2] The ancient Esthonians[36:3] had a similar myth
which they
called "The Cooking of Languages;" so also had the ancient
inhabitants
of the continent of Australia.[36:4] The story was found among the
ancient
Mexicans, and was related as follows:
Those, with
their descendants, who were saved from the deluge which destroyed
all mankind,
excepting the few saved in the ark, resolved to build a tower which
would reach
to the skies. The object of this was to see what was going on in
Heaven, and
also to have a place of refuge in case of another deluge.[36:5]
The job was
superintended by one of the seven who were saved from the
flood.[36:6]
He was a giant called Xelhua, surnamed "the Architect."[36:7]
Xelhua
ordered bricks to be made in the province of Tlamanalco, at the foot of
the Sierra of
Cocotl, and to be conveyed to Cholula, where the tower was to be
built. For
this purpose, he placed a file of men reaching from the Sierra to
Cholula, who
passed the bricks from hand to hand.[36:8] The gods beheld with
wrath this
edifice,—the top of which was nearing the clouds,—and were much
irritated at
the daring attempt of Xelhua. They therefore hurled fire from
Heaven upon
the pyramid, which threw it down, and killed many of the workmen.
The work was
then discontinued,[36:9] as each family interested in the building
of the tower,
received a language of their own,[36:10] and the builders could
not
understand each other.
[Pg 37]Dr.
Delitzsch must have been astonished upon coming across this legend;
for he says:
"Actually
the Mexicans had a legend of a tower-building as well as of a flood.
Xelhua, one
of the seven giants rescued from the flood, built the great pyramid
of Cholula,
in order to reach heaven, until the gods, angry at his audacity,
threw fire
upon the building and broke it down, whereupon every separate family
received a
language of its own."[37:1]
The ancient
Mexicans pointed to the ruins of a tower at Cholula as evidence of
the truth of
their story. This tower was seen by Humboldt and Lord Kingsborough,
and described
by them.[37:2]
We may say
then, with Dr. Kalisch, that:
"Most of
the ancient nations possessed myths concerning impious giants who
attempted to
storm heaven, either to share it with the immortal gods, or to
expel them
from it. In some of these fables the confusion of tongues is
represented
as the punishment inflicted by the deities for such
wickedness."[37:3]
FOOTNOTES:
[33:1]
Genesis xi. 1-9.
[33:2] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 268.
[34:1] Ibid.
p. 268. See also Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 90.
[34:2] Myths
and Myth-makers, p. 72. See also Encyclopćdia Britannica, art.
"Babel."
[34:3]
"There were giants in the earth in those days." (Genesis vi. 4.)
[34:4] Quoted
by Rev. S. Baring-Gould: Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 147. See
also Smith:
Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 48, and Volney's Researches in
Ancient
History, pp. 130, 131.
[34:5] Jewish
Antiquities, book 1, ch. iv. p. 30.
[35:1]
"Diodorus states that the great tower of the temple of Belus was used by
the Chaldeans
as an observatory." (Smith's Bible Dictionary, art. "Babel.")
[35:2] The
Hindoos had a sacred Mount Meru, the abode of the gods. This mountain
was supposed
to consist of seven stages, increasing in sanctity as they
ascended.
Many of the Hindoo temples, or rather altars, were "studied
transcripts
of the sacred Mount Meru;" that is, they were built, like the tower
of Babel, in
seven stages. Within the upper dwelt Brahm. (See Squire's Serpent
Symbol, p.
107.) Herodotus tells us that the upper stage of the tower of Babel
was the abode
of the god Belus.
[35:3] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 269. See also Bunsen: The Angel
Messiah, p.
106.
[35:4]
Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 484.
[35:5]
Legends of the Patriarchs, pp. 148, 149.
[36:1] Ibid.
p. 148. The ancient Scandinavians had a legend of a somewhat
similar tree.
"The Mundane Tree," called Yggdrasill, was in the centre of the
earth; its
branches covered over the surface of the earth, and its top reached
to the highest
heaven. (See Mallet's Northern Antiquities.)
[36:2]
Encyclopćdia Britannica, art. "Babel."
[36:3]
Esthonia is one of the three Baltic, or so-called, provinces of Russia.
[36:4]
Encyclopćdia Britannica, art. "Babel."
[36:5]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 27.
[36:6]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 204.
[36:7]
Humboldt: American Researches, vol. i. p. 96.
[36:8] Ibid.
[36:9] Ibid.,
and Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 204.
[36:10] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 272.
[37:1] Quoted
by Bishop Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 272.
[37:2]
Humboldt: American Researches, vol. i. p. 97. Lord Kingsborough: Mexican
Antiquities.
[37:3] Com.
on Old Test. vol. i. p. 196.
[Pg
38]CHAPTER IV.
THE TRIAL OF
ABRAHAM'S FAITH.
The story of
the trial of Abraham's faith—when he is ordered by the Lord to
sacrifice his
only son Isaac—is to be found in Genesis xxii. 1-19, and is as
follows:
"And it
came to pass . . . that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him:
'Abraham,'
and he said: 'Behold, here I am.' And he (God) said: 'Take now thy
son, thine
only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and
offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which
I will tell
thee of.'
"And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of
his young men
with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt
offering, and
rose up and went into the place which God had told him. . . .
(When Abraham
was near the appointed place) he said unto his young men: 'Abide
ye here with
the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come
again to
thee. And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and laid it
upon (the
shoulders of) Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand, and a
knife, and
they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his
father, and
said: 'Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the
burnt
offering?' And Abraham said: 'My son, God will provide himself a lamb for
a burnt
offering.' So they went both of them together, and they came to the
place which
God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the
wood in
order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
And Abraham
stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And
the angel of
the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said: 'Abraham!
Abraham! lay
not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for
now I know
that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only
son from me.'
"And
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught
in a thicket
by his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up
for a burnt
offering in the stead of his son. . . . And the angel of the Lord
called unto
Abraham, out of heaven, the second time, and said: 'By myself have I
sworn saith
the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
withheld thy
son, thine only son, . . . I will bless thee, and . . . I will
multiply thy
seed as the stars in the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the
sea shore,
and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed
shall all the
nations of the earth be blest, because thou hast obeyed my voice.'
So Abraham
returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to
Beer-sheba,
and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba."
[Pg 39]There
is a Hindoo story related to the Sânkhâyana-sűtras, which, in
substance, is
as follows: King Hariscandra had no son; he then prayed to Varuna,
promising,
that if a son were born to him, he would sacrifice the child to the
god. Then a
son was born to him, called Rohita. When Rohita was grown up his
father one
day told him of the vow he had made to Varuna, and bade him prepare
to be
sacrificed. The son objected to being killed and ran away from his
father's
house. For six years he wandered in the forest, and at last met a
starving
Brahman. Him he persuaded to sell one of his sons named Sunahsepha, for
a hundred
cows. This boy was bought by Rohita and taken to Hariscandra and about
to be
sacrificed to Varuna as a substitute for Rohita, when, on praying to the
gods with
verses from the Veda, he was released by them.[39:1]
There was an
ancient Phenician story, written by Sanchoniathon, who wrote about
1300 years
before our era, which is as follows:
"Saturn,
whom the Phśnicians call Israel, had by a nymph of the country a male
child whom he
named Jeoud, that is, one and only. On the breaking out of a war,
which brought
the country into imminent danger, Saturn erected an altar, brought
to it his
son, clothed in royal garments, and sacrificed him."[39:2]
There is also
a Grecian fable to the effect that one Agamemnon had a daughter
whom he
dearly loved, and she was deserving of his affection. He was commanded
by God,
through the Delphic Oracle, to offer her up as a sacrifice. Her father
long resisted
the demand, but finally succumbed. Before the fatal blow had been
struck,
however, the goddess Artemis or Ashtoreth interfered, and carried the
maiden away,
whilst in her place was substituted a stag.[39:3]
Another
similar Grecian fable relates that:
"When
the Greek army was detained at Aulis, by contrary winds, the augurs being
consulted,
declared that one of the kings had offended Diana, and she demanded
the sacrifice
of his daughter Iphigenia. It was like taking the father's
life-blood,
but he was persuaded that it was his duty to submit for the good of
his country.
The maiden was brought forth for sacrifice, in spite of her tears
and
supplications; but just as the priest was about to strike the fatal blow,
Iphigenia
suddenly disappeared, and a goat of uncommon beauty stood in her
place."[39:4]
There is yet
still another, which belongs to the same country, and is related
thus:
"In
Sparta, it being declared upon one occasion that the gods demanded a human
victim, the
choice was made by lot, and fell on a damsel named Helena. [Pg
40]But when
all was in readiness, an eagle descended, carried away the priest's
knife, and
laid it on the head of a heifer, which was sacrificed in her
stead."[40:1]
The story of
Abraham and Isaac was written at a time when the Mosaic party in
Israel was
endeavoring to abolish idolatry among their people. They were
offering up
human sacrifices to their gods Moloch, Baal, and Chemosh, and the
priestly
author of this story was trying to make the people think that the Lord
had abolished
such offerings, as far back as the time of Abraham. The Grecian
legends,
which he had evidently heard, may have given him the idea.[40:2]
Human
offerings to the gods were at one time almost universal. In the earliest
ages the
offerings were simple, and such as shepherds and rustics could present.
They loaded
the altars of the gods with the first fruits of their crops, and the
choicest
products of the earth. Afterwards they sacrificed animals. When they
had once laid
it down as a principle that the effusion of the blood of these
animals
appeased the anger of the gods, and that their justice turned aside upon
the victims
those strokes which were destined for men, their great care was for
nothing more
than to conciliate their favor by so easy a method. It is the
nature of
violent desires and excessive fear to know no bounds, and therefore,
when they
would ask for any favor which they ardently wished for, or would
deprecate
some public calamity which they feared, the blood of animals was not
deemed a
price sufficient, but they began to shed that of men. It is probable,
as we have
said, that this barbarous practice was formerly almost universal, and
that it is of
very remote antiquity. In time of war the captives were chosen for
this purpose,
but in time of peace they took the slaves. The choice was partly
regulated by
the opinion of the bystanders, and partly by lot. But they did not
always
sacrifice such mean persons. In great calamities, in a pressing famine,
for example,
if the people thought they had some pretext to impute the cause of
it to their
king, they even sacrificed him without hesitation, as the highest
price with
which they could purchase the Divine favor. In this manner, the first
King of
Vermaland (a province of Sweden) was burnt in honor of Odin, the Supreme
God, to put
an end to a great dearth; as we read in the history of Norway. The
kings, in
their turn, did not spare the blood of their subjects; and many of
them even
shed that of their children. Earl Hakon, of Norway, offered his son in
sacrifice, to
obtain of Odin the victory over the Jomsburg pirates. Aun, King of
Sweden, [Pg
41]devoted to Odin the blood of his nine sons, to prevail on that
god to
prolong his life. Some of the kings of Israel offered up their first-born
sons as a
sacrifice to the god Baal or Moloch.
The altar of
Moloch reeked with blood. Children were sacrificed and burned in
the fire to
him, while trumpets and flutes drowned their screams, and the
mothers
looked on, and were bound to restrain their tears.
The
Phenicians offered to the gods, in times of war and drought, the fairest of
their
children. The books of Sanchoniathon and Byblian Philo are full of
accounts of
such sacrifices. In Byblos boys were immolated to Adonis; and, on
the founding
of a city or colony, a sacrifice of a vast number of children was
solemnized,
in the hopes of thereby averting misfortune from the new settlement.
The
Phenicians, according to Eusebius, yearly sacrificed their dearest, and even
their only
children, to Saturn. The bones of the victims were preserved in the
temple of
Moloch, in a golden ark, which was carried by the Phenicians with them
to war.[41:1]
Like the Fijians of the present day, those people considered their
gods as
beings like themselves. They loved and they hated; they were proud and
revengeful;
they were, in fact, savages like themselves.
If the eldest
born of the family of Athamas entered the temple of the Laphystian
Jupiter, at
Alos, in Achaia, he was sacrificed, crowned with garlands, like an
animal
victim.[41:2]
The offering
of human sacrifices to the Sun was extensively practiced in Mexico
and Peru,
before the establishment of Christianity.[41:3]
FOOTNOTES:
[39:1] See
Müller's Hist. Sanscrit Literature; and Williams' Indian Wisdom, p.
29.
[39:2] Quoted
by Count de Volney; New Researches in Anc't Hist., p. 144.
[39:3] See
Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 104.
[39:4] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 302.
[40:1] Ibid.
[40:2] See
chapter xi.
[41:1]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 368.
[41:2]
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 448.
[41:3] See
Acosta: Hist. Indies, vol. ii.
[Pg
42]CHAPTER V.
JACOB'S
VISION OF THE LADDER.
In the 28th
chapter of Genesis, we are told that Isaac, after blessing his son
Jacob, sent
him to Padan-aram, to take a daughter of Laban's (his mother's
brother) to
wife. Jacob, obeying his father, "went out from Beer-sheba (where he
dwelt), and
went towards Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried
there all
night, because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of the
place, and
put them for his pillow, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he
dreamed, and
behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to
heaven. And
he beheld the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And,
behold, the
Lord stood above it, and said: 'I am the Lord God of Abraham thy
father, and
the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give
it, and to
thy seed.' . . . And Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and he said:
'Surely the
Lord is in this place, and I know it not.' And he was afraid, and
said: 'How
dreadful is this place, this is none other than the house of God, and
this is the
gate of Heaven.' And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took
the stone
that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured
oil upon the
top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el."
The doctrine
of Metempsychosis has evidently something to do with this legend.
It means, in
the theological acceptation of the term, the supposed transition of
the soul
after death, into another substance or body than that which it occupied
before. The
belief in such a transition was common to the most civilized, and
the most
uncivilized, nations of the earth.[42:1]
It was
believed in, and taught by, the Brahminical Hindoos,[42:2] the
Buddhists,[42:3]
the natives of Egypt,[42:4] several philosophers of [Pg
43]ancient
Greece,[43:1] the ancient Druids,[43:2] the natives of
Madagascar,[43:3]
several tribes of Africa,[43:4] and North America,[43:5] the
ancient
Mexicans,[43:4] and by some Jewish and Christian sects.[43:5]
"It
deserves notice, that in both of these religions (i. e., Jewish and
Christian),
it found adherents as well in ancient as in modern times. Among the
Jews, the
doctrine of transmigration—the Gilgul Neshamoth—was taught in the
mystical
system of the Kabbala."[43:6]
"All the
souls," the spiritual code of this system says, "are subject to the
trials of
transmigration; and men do not know which are the ways of the Most
High in their
regard." "The principle, in short, of the Kabbala, is the same as
that of
Brahmanism."
"On the
ground of this doctrine, which was shared in by Rabbis of the highest
renown, it
was held, for instance, that the soul of Adam migrated into David,
and will come
in the Messiah; that the soul of Japhet is the same as that of
Simeon, and
the soul of Terah, migrated into Job."
"Of all
these transmigrations, biblical instances are adduced according to their
mode of
interpretation—in the writings of Rabbi Manasse ben Israel, Rabbi
Naphtali,
Rabbi Meyer ben Gabbai, Rabbi Ruben, in the Jalkut Khadash, and other
works of a
similar character."[43:4]
The doctrine
is thus described by Ovid, in the language of Dryden:
"What
feels the body when the soul expires,
By time
corrupted, or consumed by fires?
Nor dies the
spirit, but new life repeats
Into other
forms, and only changes seats.
Ev'n I, who
these mysterious truths declare,
Was once
Euphorbus in the Trojan war;
My name and
lineage I remember well,
And how in
fight by Spartan's King I fell.
In Argive
Juno's fame I late beheld
My buckler
hung on high, and own'd my former shield
Then death,
so called, is but old matter dressed
In some new
figure, and a varied vest.
Thus all
things are but alter'd, nothing dies,
And here and
there the unbodied spirit flies."
The Jews undoubtedly
learned this doctrine after they had been subdued by, and
become
acquainted with other nations; and the writer of this story, whoever he
may have
been, was evidently endeavoring to strengthen the belief in this
doctrine—he
being an advocate of it—by inventing this story, and making Jacob a
witness to
the truth of it. Jacob would have been looked upon at the time the
story was
written (i. e., after the Babylonian captivity), [Pg 44]as of great
authority. We
know that several writers of portions of the Old Testament have
written for
similar purposes. As an illustration, we may mention the book of
Esther. This
book was written for the purpose of explaining the origin of the
festival of
Purim, and to encourage the Israelites to adopt it. The writer, who
was an
advocate of the feast, lived long after the Babylonish captivity, and is
quite
unknown.[44:1]
The writer of
the seventeenth chapter of Matthew has made Jesus a teacher of the
doctrine of
Transmigration.
The Lord had
promised that he would send Elijah (Elias) the prophet, "before the
coming of the
great and dreadful day of the Lord,"[44:2] and Jesus is made to
say that he
had already come, or, that his soul had transmigrated unto the body
of John the
Baptist, and they knew it not.[44:3]
And in Mark
(viii. 27) we are told that Jesus asked his disciples, saying unto
them;
"Whom do men say that I am?" whereupon they answer: "Some say
Elias; and
others, one
of the prophets;" or, in other words, that the soul of Elias, or one
of the prophets,
had transmigrated into the body of Jesus. In John (ix. 1, 2),
we are told
that Jesus and his disciples seeing a man "which was blind from his
birth,"
the disciples asked him, saying; "Master, who did sin, this man (in some
former state)
or his parents." Being born blind, how else could he sin, unless
in some
former state? These passages result from the fact, which we have already
noticed, that
some of the Jewish and Christian sects believed in the doctrine of
Metempsychosis.
According to
some Jewish authors, Adam was re-produced in Noah, Elijah, and
other Bible
celebrities.[44:4]
The Rev. Mr.
Faber says:
"Adam,
and Enoch, and Noah, might in outward appearance be different men, but
they were
really the self-same divine persons who had been promised as the seed
of the woman,
successively animating various human bodies."[44:5]
We have
stated as our belief that the vision which the writer of the
twenty-eighth
chapter of Genesis has made Jacob to witness, was intended to
strengthen
the belief in the doctrine of the Metempsychosis, that he was simply
seeing the
souls of men ascending and descending from heaven on a ladder, during
their
transmigrations.
We will now
give our reasons for thinking so.
The learned
Thomas Maurice tells us that:
[Pg 45]The
Indians had, in remote ages, in their system of theology, the
sidereal
ladder of seven gates, which described, in a symbolical manner, the
ascending and
descending of the souls of men.[45:1]
We are also
informed by Origen that:
This descent
(i. e., the descent of souls from heaven to enter into some body),
was described
in a symbolical manner, by a ladder which was represented as
reaching from
heaven to earth, and divided into seven stages, at each of which
was figured a
gate; the eighth gate was at the top of the ladder, which belonged
to the sphere
of the celestial firmament.[45:2]
That souls
dwell in the Galaxy was a thought familiar to the Pythagoreans, who
gave it on
their master's word, that the souls that crowd there, descend and
appear to men
as dreams.[45:3]
The fancy of
the Manicheans also transferred pure souls to this column of light,
whence they
could come down to earth and again return.[45:4]
Paintings
representing a scene of this kind may be seen in works of art
illustrative
of Indian Mythology.
Maurice
speaks of one, in which he says:
"The
souls of men are represented as ascending and descending (on a ladder),
according to
the received opinion of the sidereal Metempsychosis in Asia."[45:5]
Mons. Dupuis
tells us that:
"Among
the mysterious pictures of the Initiation, in the cave of the Persian God
Mithras,
there was exposed to the view the descent of the souls to the earth,
and their
return to heaven, through the seven planetary spheres."[45:6]
And Count de
Volney says:
"In the
cave of Mithra was a ladder with seven steps, representing the seven
spheres of
the planets by means of which souls ascended and descended. This is
precisely the
ladder of Jacob's vision. There is in the Royal Library (of
France) a
superb volume of pictures of the Indian gods, in which the ladder is
represented
with the souls of men ascending it."[45:7]
In several of
the Egyptian sculptures also, the Transmigration of Souls is
represented
by the ascending and descending of souls from heaven to earth, on a
flight of
steps, and, as the souls of wicked men were supposed to enter pigs and
other
animals, therefore pigs, monkeys, &c., are to be seen on the steps,
descending
from heaven.[45:8]
"And he
dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it
reached to
heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it."
[Pg 46]These
are the words of the sacred text. Can anything be more convincing?
It continues
thus:
"And
Jacob awoke out of his sleep . . . and he was afraid, and said . . . this
is none other
but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
Here we have
"the gate of heaven," mentioned by Origen in describing the
Metempsychosis.
According to
the ancients, the top of this ladder was supposed to reach the
throne of the
most high God. This corresponds exactly with the vision of Jacob.
The ladder
which he is made to see reached unto heaven, and the Lord stood above
it.[46:1]
"And
Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for
his pillow,
and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of
it."[46:2]
This
concluding portion to the story has evidently an allusion to Phallic[46:3]
worship.
There is scarcely a nation of antiquity which did not set up these
stones (as
emblems of the reproductive power of nature) and worship them. Dr.
Oort,
speaking of this, says:
Few forms of
worship were so universal in ancient times as the homage paid to
sacred
stones. In the history of the religion of even the most civilized
peoples, such
as the Greeks, Romans, Hindoos, Arabs and Germans, we find traces
of this form
of worship.[46:4] The ancient Druids of Britain also worshiped
sacred
stones, which were set up on end.[46:5]
Pausanias, an
eminent Greek historian, says:
"The
Hermiac statue, which they venerate in Cyllenę above other symbols, is an
erect Phallus
on a pedestal."[46:6]
This was
nothing more than a smooth, oblong stone, set erect on a flat
one.[46:7]
The learned
Dr. Ginsburg, in his "Life of Levita," alludes to the ancient mode
of worship
offered to the heathen deity Hermes, or Mercury. A "Hermes" (i. e., a
stone) was
frequently set up on the road-side, and each traveller, as he passed
by, paid his
homage to the deity by either throwing a stone on the heap (which
was thus collected),
or by anointing it. This "Hermes" was the symbol of
Phallus.[46:8]
[Pg 47]Now,
when we find that this form of worship was very prevalent among the
Israelites,[47:1]
that these sacred stones which were "set up," were called (by
the heathen),
BĆTY-LI,[47:2] (which is not unlike BETH-EL), and that they were
anointed with
oil,[47:3] I think we have reasons for believing that the story of
Jacob's
setting up a stone, pouring oil upon it, and calling the place Beth-el,
"has
evidently an allusion to Phallic worship."[47:4]
The male and
female powers of nature were denoted respectively by an upright and
an oval
emblem, and the conjunction of the two furnished at once the altar and
the Ashera,
or grove, against which the Hebrew prophets lifted up their voices
in earnest
protest. In the kingdoms, both of Judah and Israel, the rites
connected
with these emblems assumed their most corrupting form. Even in the
temple
itself, stood the Ashera, or the upright emblem, on the circular altar of
Baal-Peor, the
Priapos of the Jews, thus reproducing the Linga, and Yoni of the
Hindu.[47:5]
For this symbol, the women wove hangings, as the Athenian maidens
embroidered
the sacred peplos for the ship presented to Athęnę, at the great
Dionysiac
festival. This Ashera, which, in the authorized English version of the
Old Testament
is translated "grove," was, in fact, a pole, or stem of a tree. It
is reproduced
in our modern "Maypole," around which maidens dance, as maidens
did of
yore.[47:6]
FOOTNOTES:
[42:1] See
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration."
[42:2]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration." Prichard's Mythology, p.
213,
and Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 59.
[42:3] Ibid.
Ernest de Bunsen says: "The first traces of the doctrine of
Transmigration
of souls is to be found among the Brahmins and Buddhists." (The
Angel
Messiah, pp. 63, 64.)
[42:4]
Prichard's Mythology, pp. 213, 214.
[43:1] Gross:
The Heathen Religion. Also Chambers's Encyclo., art.
"Transmigration."
[43:2] Ibid.
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 13; and Myths of the British
Druids, p.
15.
[43:3]
Chambers's Encyclo.
[43:4] Ibid.
[43:5] Ibid.
See also Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, pp. 63, 64. Dupuis, p. 357.
Josephus:
Jewish Antiquities, book xviii. ch. 13. Dunlap: Son of the Man, p. 94;
and Beal:
Hist. Buddha.
[43:6]
Chambers, art. "Transmigration."
[44:1] See
The Religion of Israel, p. 18.
[44:2]
Malachi iv. 5.
[44:3]
Matthew xvii. 12, 13.
[44:4] See
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 78.
[44:5] Faber:
Orig. Pagan Idol, vol. iii. p. 612; in Anacalypsis, vol. i. p.
210.
[45:1] Indian
Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 202.
[45:2] Contra
Celsus, lib. vi. c. xxii.
[45:3] Tylor:
Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 324.
[45:4] Ibid.
[45:5] Indian
Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 262.
[45:6]
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 344.
[45:7]
Volney's Ruins, p. 147, note.
[45:8] See
Child's Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 160, 162.
[46:1]
Genesis xxviii. 12, 13.
[46:2]
Genesis xxviii. 18, 19.
[46:3]
"Phallic," from "Phallus," a representation of the male
generative
organs. For
further information on this subject, see the works of R. Payne
Knight, and
Dr. Thomas Inman.
[46:4] Bible
for Learners, vol. i. pp. 175, 276. See, also, Knight: Ancient Art
and
Mythology; and Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. and ii.
[46:5] See
Myths of the British Druids, p. 300; and Higgins: Celtic Druids.
[46:6] Quoted
by R. Payne Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 114, note.
[46:7] See
Illustrations in Dr. Inman's Pagan and Christian Symbolism.
[46:8] See
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp. 543, 544.
[47:1] Bible
for Learners, vol. i. pp. 177, 178, 317, 321, 322.
[47:2] Indian
Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 356.
[47:3] Ibid.
[47:4] We
read in Bell's "Pantheon of the Gods and Demi-Gods of Antiquity,"
under the
head of Baelylion, Baelylia or Baetylos, that they are "Anointed
Stones,
worshiped among the Greeks, Phrygians, and other nations of the East;"
that
"these Baetylia were greatly venerated by the ancient Heathen, many of
their idols
being no other;" and that, "in reality no sort of idol was more
common in the
East, than that of oblong stones erected, and hence termed by the
Greeks
pillars." The Rev. Geo. W. Cox, in his Aryan Mythology (vol. ii. p. 113),
says:
"The erection of these stone columns or pillars, the forms of which in
most cases tell
their own story, are common throughout the East, some of the
most
elaborate being found near Ghizni." And Mr. Wake (Phallism in Ancient
Religions, p.
60), says: "Kiyun, or Kivan, the name of the deity said by Amos
(v. 26), to
have been worshiped in the wilderness by the Hebrews, signifies God
of the
pillar."
[47:5] We
find that there was nothing gross or immoral in the worship of the
male and
female generative organs among the ancients, when the subject is
properly
understood. Being the most intimately connected with the reproduction
of life on
earth, the Linga became the symbol under which the Sun, invoked with
a thousand
names, has been worshiped throughout the world as the restorer of the
powers of
nature after the long sleep or death of winter. But if the Linga is
the Sun-god
in his majesty, the Yoni is the earth who yields her fruit under his
fertilizing
warmth.
The Phallic
tree is introduced into the narrative of the book of Genesis: but it
is here
called a tree, not of life, but of the knowledge of good and evil, that
knowledge
which dawns in the mind with the first consciousness of difference
between man
and woman. In contrast with this tree of carnal indulgence, tending
to death, is
the tree of life, denoting the higher existence for which man was
designed, and
which would bring with it the happiness and the freedom of the
children of
God. In the brazen serpent of the Pentateuch, the two emblems of the
cross and
serpent, the quiescent and energising Phallos, are united. (See Cox:
Aryan
Mythology, vol. ii. pp. 113, 116, 118.)
[47:6] See
Cox: Aryan Mytho., ii. 112, 113.
[Pg
48]CHAPTER VI.
THE EXODUS
FROM EGYPT, AND PASSAGE THROUGH THE RED SEA.
The children
of Israel, who were in bondage in Egypt, making bricks, and working
in the
field,[48:1] were looked upon with compassion by the Lord.[48:2] He heard
their
groaning, and remembered his covenant with Abraham,[48:3] with Isaac, and
with Jacob.
He, therefore, chose Moses (an Israelite, who had murdered an
Egyptian,[48:4]
and who, therefore, was obliged to flee from Egypt, as Pharaoh
sought to
punish him), as his servant, to carry out his plans.
Moses was at
this time keeping the flock of Jeruth, his father-in-law, in the
land of
Midian. The angel of the Lord, or the Lord himself, appeared to him
there, and
said unto him:
"I am
the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. . .
. I have seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and
have heard
their cry by reason of their tormentors; for I know their sorrows.
And I am come
down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to
bring them up
out of that land into a good land and a large, unto a land flowing
with milk and
honey. I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth
my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
Then Moses
said unto the Lord:
"Behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, the
God of your
fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me: What is
his name?
What shall I say unto them?"
Then God said
unto Moses:
"I am
that I am."[48:5] "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I
am
hath sent me
unto you."[48:6]
[Pg 49]And
God said, moreover, unto Moses:
"Go and
gather the Elders of Israel together, and say unto them: the Lord God of
your fathers
. . . appeared unto me, saying: 'I have surely visited you, and
seen that
which is done to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring you up
out of the
affliction of Egypt . . . unto a land flowing with milk and honey.'
And they
shall hearken to thy voice, and thou shall come, thou and the Elders of
Israel, unto
the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him: 'the Lord God of the
Hebrews hath
met with us, and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days journey
in the
wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.'[49:1]
"I am
sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
And I will
stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I
will do in the
midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. And I will give
this people
(the Hebrews) favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come
to pass, that
when ye go, ye shall not go empty. But every woman shall borrow of
her neighbor,
and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver and
jewels of
gold, and raiment. And ye shall put them upon your sons and upon your
daughters,
and ye shall spoil the Egyptians."[49:2]
The Lord
again appeared unto Moses, in Midian, and said:
"Go,
return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And
Moses took
his wife, and his son, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to
the land of
Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God (which the Lord had given him)
in his
hand."[49:3]
Upon arriving
in Egypt, Moses tells his brother Aaron, "all the words of the
Lord,"
and Aaron tells all the children of Israel. Moses, who was not eloquent,
but had a
slow speech,[49:4] uses Aaron as his spokesman.[49:5] They then appear
unto Pharaoh,
and falsify, "according to the commands of the Lord," saying:
"Let
us go, we
pray thee, three days' journey in the desert, and sacrifice unto the
Lord our
God."[49:6]
The Lord
hardens Pharaoh's heart, so that he does not let the children of Israel
go to
sacrifice unto their God, in the desert.
[Pg 50]Moses
and Aaron continue interceding with him, however, and, for the
purpose of
showing their miraculous powers, they change their rods into
serpents, the
river into blood, cause a plague of frogs and lice, and a swarm of
flies,
&c., &c., to appear. Most of these feats were imitated by the magicians
of Egypt.
Finally, the first-born of Egypt are slain, when Pharaoh, after having
had his heart
hardened, by the Lord, over and over again, consents to let Moses
and the
children of Israel go to serve their God, as they had said, that is, for
three days.
The Lord
having given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, they
borrowed of
them jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and raiment, "according to
the commands
of the Lord." And they journeyed toward Succoth, there being six
hundred
thousand, besides children.[50:1]
"And
they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of
the
wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day, in a pillar of a cloud, to
lead them the
way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light to go by
day and
night."[50:2]
"And it
was told the king of Egypt, that the people fled. . . . And he made
ready his
chariot, and took his people with him. And he took six hundred chosen
chariots, and
all the chariots of Egypt, . . . and he pursued after the children
of Israel,
and overtook them encamping beside the sea. . . . And when Pharaoh
drew nigh,
the children of Israel . . . were sore afraid, and . . . (they) cried
out unto the
Lord. . . . And the Lord said unto Moses, . . . speak unto the
children of
Israel, that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch
out thine
hand over the Red Sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel shall
go on dry
ground through the midst of the sea. . . . And Moses stretched out his
hand over the
sea,[50:3] and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east
wind that
night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the
children of
Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the
waters were a
wall unto them upon the right hand, and on their left. And the
Egyptians
pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all
Pharaoh's
horses, and his chariots, and his horse-men."
After the
children of Israel had landed on the other side of the sea, the Lord
said unto
Moses:
"Stretch
out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the
Egyptians,
upon their chariots, and upon their horse-men. And Moses stretched
forth his
hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength. . . . And the
Lord
overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned,
and covered
the chariots, and the horse-men, and all the host of Pharaoh [Pg
51]that came
into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
But the
children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the
waters were a
wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. . . . And
Israel saw
the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people
feared the
Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses."[51:1]
The writer of
this story, whoever he may have been, was evidently familiar with
the legends
related of the Sun-god, Bacchus, as he has given Moses the credit of
performing
some of the miracles which were attributed to that god.
It is related
in the hymns of Orpheus,[51:2] that Bacchus had a rod with which
he performed
miracles, and which he could change into a serpent at pleasure. He
passed the
Red Sea, dry shod, at the head of his army. He divided the waters of
the rivers
Orontes and Hydaspus, by the touch of his rod, and passed through
them
dry-shod.[51:3] By the same mighty wand, he drew water from the rock,[51:4]
and wherever
they marched, the land flowed with wine, milk and honey.[51:5]
Professor
Steinthal, speaking of Dionysus (Bacchus), says:
Like Moses,
he strikes fountains of wine and water out of the rock. Almost all
the acts of
Moses correspond to those of the Sun-gods.[51:6]
Mons. Dupuis
says:
"Among
the different miracles of Bacchus and his Bacchantes, there are prodigies
very similar
to those which are attributed to Moses; for instance, such as the
sources of
water which the former caused to sprout from the innermost of the
rocks."[51:7]
In Bell's
Pantheon of the Gods and Heroes of Antiquity,[51:8] an account of the
prodigies
attributed to Bacchus is given; among these, are mentioned his
striking
water from the rock, with his magic wand, his turning a twig of ivy
into a snake,
his passing through the Red Sea and the rivers Orontes and
Hydaspus, and
of his enjoying the light of the Sun (while marching with his army
in India),
when the day was spent, and it was dark to others. All these are
parallels too
striking to be accidental.
We might also
mention the fact, that Bacchus, as well as Moses [Pg 52]was called
the
"Law-giver," and that it was said of Bacchus, as well as of Moses,
that his
laws were
written on two tables of stone.[52:1] Bacchus was represented horned,
and so was
Moses.[52:2] Bacchus "was picked up in a box, that floated on the
water,"[52:3]
and so was Moses.[52:4] Bacchus had two mothers, one by nature,
and one by
adoption,[52:5] and so had Moses.[52:6] And, as we have already seen,
Bacchus and
his army enjoyed the light of the Sun, during the night time, and
Moses and his
army enjoyed the light of "a pillar of fire, by night."[52:7]
In regard to
the children of Israel going out from the land of Egypt, we have no
doubt that
such an occurrence took place, although not in the manner, and not
for such
reasons, as is recorded by the sacred historian. We find, from other
sources, what
is evidently nearer the truth.
It is related
by the historian Choeremon, that, at one time, the land of Egypt
was infested
with disease, and through the advice of the sacred scribe
Phritiphantes,
the king caused the infected people (who were none other than the
brick-making
slaves, known as the children of Israel), to be collected, and
driven out of
the country.[52:8]
Lysimachus
relates that:
"A
filthy disease broke out in Egypt, and the Oracle of Ammon, being consulted
on the
occasion, commanded the king to purify the land by driving out the Jews
(who were
infected with leprosy, &c.), a race of men who were hateful to the
Gods."[52:9]
"The whole multitude of the people were accordingly collected and
driven out
into the wilderness."[52:10]
Diodorus
Siculus, referring to this event, says:
"In
ancient times Egypt was afflicted with a great plague, which was attributed
to the anger
of God, on account of the multitude of foreigners in Egypt: by whom
the rites of
the native religion were neglected. The Egyptians accordingly drove
them out. The
most noble of them went under Cadmus and Danaus to Greece, but the
greater
number followed Moses, a wise and valiant leader, to Palestine."[52:11]
[Pg 53]After
giving the different opinions concerning the origin of the Jewish
nation,
Tacitus, the Roman historian, says:
"In this
clash of opinions, one point seems to be universally admitted. A
pestilential
disease, disfiguring the race of man, and making the body an object
of loathsome
deformity, spread all over Egypt. Bocchoris, at that time the
reigning
monarch, consulted the oracle of Jupiter Hammon, and received for
answer, that
the kingdom must be purified, by exterminating the infected
multitude, as
a race of men detested by the gods. After diligent search, the
wretched
sufferers were collected together, and in a wild and barren desert
abandoned to
their misery. In that distress, while the vulgar herd was sunk in
deep despair,
Moses, one of their number, reminded them, that, by the wisdom of
his councils,
they had been already rescued out of impending danger. Deserted as
they were by
men and gods, he told them, that if they did not repose their
confidence in
him, as their chief by divine commission, they had no resource
left. His
offer was accepted. Their march began, they knew not whither. Want of
water was
their chief distress. Worn out with fatigue, they lay stretched on the
bare earth,
heart broken, ready to expire, when a troop of wild asses, returning
from pasture,
went up the steep ascent of a rock covered with a grove of trees.
The verdure
of the herbage round the place suggested the idea of springs near at
hand. Moses
traced the steps of the animals, and discovered a plentiful vein of
water. By
this relief the fainting multitude was raised from despair. They
pursued their
journey for six days without intermission. On the seventh day they
made halt,
and, having expelled the natives, took possession of the country,
where they
built their city, and dedicated their temple."[53:1]
Other
accounts, similar to these, might be added, among which may be mentioned
that given by
Manetho, an Egyptian priest, which is referred to by Josephus, the
Jewish
historian.
Although the
accounts quoted above are not exactly alike, yet the main points
are the same,
which are to the effect that Egypt was infected with disease owing
to the
foreigners (among whom were those who were afterwards styled "the
children of
Israel") that were in the country, and who were an unclean people,
and that they
were accordingly driven out into the wilderness.
When we
compare this statement with that recorded in Genesis, it does not take
long to
decide which of the two is nearest the truth.
Everything
putrid, or that had a tendency to putridity, was carefully avoided by
the ancient
Egyptians, and so strict were the Egyptian priests on this point,
that they
wore no garments made of any animal substance, circumcised themselves,
and shaved
their whole bodies, even to their eyebrows, lest they should
unknowingly
harbor any filth, excrement or vermin, supposed to be bred from
putrefaction.[53:2]
We know from the laws set down in Leviticus, that the
Hebrews were
not a remarkably clean race.
[Pg 54]Jewish
priests, in making a history for their race, have given us but a
shadow of
truth here and there; it is almost wholly mythical. The author of "The
Religion of
Israel," speaking on this subject, says:
"The
history of the religion of Israel must start from the sojourn of the
Israelites in
Egypt. Formerly it was usual to take a much earlier
starting-point,
and to begin with a religious discussion of the religious ideas
of the
Patriarchs. And this was perfectly right, so long as the accounts of
Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob were considered historical. But now that a strict
investigation
has shown us that all these stories are entirely unhistorical, of
course we
have to begin the history later on."[54:1]
The author of
"The Spirit History of Man," says:
"The
Hebrews came out of Egypt and settled among the Canaanites. They need not
be traced
beyond the Exodus. That is their historical beginning. It was very
easy to cover
up this remote event by the recital of mythical traditions, and to
prefix to it
an account of their origin in which the gods (Patriarchs), should
figure as
their ancestors."[54:2]
Professor
Goldzhier says:
"The
residence of the Hebrews in Egypt, and their exodus thence under the
guidance and
training of an enthusiast for the freedom of his tribe, form a
series of
strictly historical facts, which find confirmation even in the
documents of
ancient Egypt (which we have just shown). But the traditional
narratives of
these events (were) elaborated by the Hebrew people."[54:3]
Count de
Volney also observes that:
"What
Exodus says of their (the Israelites) servitude under the king of
Heliopolis,
and of the oppression of their hosts, the Egyptians, is extremely
probable. It
is here their history begins. All that precedes . . . is nothing
but mythology
and cosmogony."[54:4]
In speaking
of the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, Dr. Knappert says:
"According
to the tradition preserved in Genesis, it was the promotion of
Jacob's son,
Joseph, to be viceroy of Egypt, that brought about the migration of
the sons of
Israel from Canaan to Goshen. The story goes that this Joseph was
sold as a
slave by his brothers, and after many changes of fortune received the
vice-regal
office at Pharaoh's hands through his skill in interpreting dreams.
Famine drives
his brothers—and afterwards his father—to him, and the Egyptian
prince gives
them the land of Goshen to live in. It is by imagining all this
that the [Pg
55]legend tries to account for the fact that Israel passed some
time in
Egypt. But we must look for the real explanation in a migration of
certain
tribes which could not establish or maintain themselves in Canaan, and
were forced
to move further on.
"We find
a passage in Flavius Josephus, from which it appears that in Egypt,
too, a
recollection survived of the sojourn of some foreign tribes in the
north-eastern
district of the country. For this writer gives us two fragments
out of a lost
work by Manetho, a priest, who lived about 250 B. C. In one of
these we have
a statement that pretty nearly agrees with the Israelitish
tradition
about a sojourn in Goshen. But the Israelites were looked down on by
the Egyptians
as foreigners, and they are represented as lepers and unclean.
Moses himself
is mentioned by name, and we are told that he was a priest and
joined
himself to these lepers and gave them laws."[55:1]
To return now
to the story of the Red Sea being divided to let Moses and his
followers
pass through—of which we have already seen one counterpart in the
legend
related of Bacchus and his army passing through the same sea
dry-shod—there
is another similar story concerning Alexander the Great.
The histories
of Alexander relate that the Pamphylian Sea was divided to let him
and his army
pass through. Josephus, after speaking of the Red Sea being divided
for the
passage of the Israelites, says:
"For the
sake of those who accompanied Alexander, king of Macedonia, who yet
lived
comparatively but a little while ago, the Pamphylian Sea retired and
offered them
a passage through itself, when they had no other way to go . . .
and this is
confessed to be true by all who have written about the actions of
Alexander."[55:2]
He seems to
consider both legends of the same authority, quoting the latter to
substantiate
the former.
"Callisthenes,
who himself accompanied Alexander in the expedition," "wrote, how
the
Pamphylian Sea did not only open a passage for Alexander, but, rising and
elevating its
waters, did pay him homage as its king."[55:3]
It is related
in Egyptian mythology that Isis was at one time on a journey with
the eldest
child of the king of Byblos, when coming to the river Phśdrus, which
was in a
"rough air," and wishing to [Pg 56]cross, she commanded the stream to
be dried up.
This being done she crossed without trouble.[56:1]
There is a
Hindoo fable to the effect that when the infant Crishna was being
sought by the
reigning tyrant of Madura (King Kansa)[56:2] his foster-father
took him and
departed out of the country. Coming to the river Yumna, and wishing
to cross, it
was divided for them by the Lord, and they passed through.
The story is
related by Thomas Maurice, in his "History of Hindostan," who has
taken it from
the Bhagavat Pooraun. It is as follows:
"Yasodha
took the child Crishna, and carried him off (from where he was born),
but, coming
to the river Yumna, directly opposite to Gokul, Crishna's father
perceiving
the current to be very strong, it being in the midst of the rainy
season, and
not knowing which way to pass it, Crishna commanded the water to
give way on
both sides to his father, who accordingly passed dry-footed, across
the
river."[56:3]
This incident
is illustrated in Plate 58 of Moore's "Hindu Pantheon."
There is
another Hindoo legend, recorded in the Rig Veda, and quoted by Viscount
Amberly, from
whose work we take it,[56:4] to the effect that an Indian sage
called
Visvimati, having arrived at a river which he wished to cross, that holy
man said to
it: "Listen to the Bard who has come to you from afar with wagon and
chariot. Sink
down, become fordable, and reach not up to our chariot axles." The
river
answers: "I will bow down to thee like a woman with full breast (suckling
her child),
as a maid to a man, will I throw myself open to thee."
This is
accordingly done, and the sage passes through.
We have also
an Indian legend which relates that a courtesan named Bindumati,
turned back
the streams of the river Ganges.[56:5]
We see then,
that the idea of seas and rivers being divided for the purpose of
letting some
chosen one of God pass through is an old one peculiar to other
peoples
beside the Hebrews, and the probability is that many nations had legends
of this kind.
That Pharaoh
and his host should have been drowned in the Red Sea, and the fact
not mentioned
by any historian, is simply impossible, especially when they have,
as we have
seen, noticed the fact of the Israelites being driven out of
Egypt.[56:6]
Dr. Inman, speaking of this, says:
[Pg
57]"We seek in vain amongst the Egyptian hieroglyphs for scenes which
recall
such
cruelties as those we read of in the Hebrew records; and in the writings
which have
hitherto been translated, we find nothing resembling the wholesale
destructions
described and applauded by the Jewish historians, as perpetrated by
their own
people."[57:1]
That Pharaoh
should have pursued a tribe of diseased slaves, whom he had driven
out of his
country, is altogether improbable. In the words of Dr. Knappert, we
may conclude,
by saying that:
"This
story, which was not written until more than five hundred years after the
exodus
itself, can lay no claim to be considered historical."[57:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[48:1] Exodus
i. 14.
[48:2] Exodus
ii. 24, 25.
[48:3] See
chapter x.
[48:4] Exodus
ii. 12.
[48:5] The
Egyptian name for God was "Nuk-Pa-Nuk," or "I am that I
am."
(Bonwick:
Egyptian Belief, p. 395.) This name was found on a temple in Egypt.
(Higgins'
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 17.) "'I am' was a Divine name understood by
all the
initiated among the Egyptians." "The 'I am' of the Hebrews, and the
'I
am' of the
Egyptians are identical." (Bunsen: Keys of St. Peter, p. 38.) The
name
"Jehovah," which was adopted by the Hebrews, was a name esteemed
sacred
among the
Egyptians. They called it Y-ha-ho, or Y-ah-weh. (See the Religion of
Israel, pp.
42, 43; and Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 329, and vol. ii. p. 17.) "None
dare to enter
the temple of Serapis, who did not bear on his breast or forehead
the name of
Jao, or J-ha-ho, a name almost equivalent in sound to that of the
Hebrew
Jehovah, and probably of identical import; and no name was uttered in
Egypt with
more reverence than this Iao." (Trans. from the Ger. of Schiller, in
Monthly
Repos., vol. xx.; and Voltaire: Commentary on Exodus; Higgins' Anac.,
vol. i. p.
329; vol. ii. p. 17.) "That this divine name was well-known to the
Heathen there
can be no doubt." (Parkhurst: Hebrew Lex. in Anac., i. 327.) So
also with the
name El Shaddai. "The extremely common Egyptian expression Nutar
Nutra exactly
corresponds in sense to the Hebrew El Shaddai, the very title by
which God
tells Moses he was known to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob." (Prof.
Renouf:
Relig. of Anc't Egypt, p. 99.)
[48:6] Exodus
iii. 1, 14.
[49:1] Exodus
iii. 15-18.
[49:2] Exodus
iii. 19-22. Here is a command from the Lord to deceive, and lie,
and steal,
which, according to the narrative, was carried out to the letter (Ex.
xii. 35, 36);
and yet we are told that this same Lord said: "Thou shalt not
steal."
(Ex. xx. 15.) Again he says: "That shalt not defraud thy neighbor,
neither rob
him." (Leviticus xix. 18.) Surely this is inconsistency.
[49:3] Exodus
iv. 19, 20.
[49:4] Exodus
iv. 10.
[49:5] Exodus
iv. 16.
[49:6] Exodus
v. 3.
[50:1] Exodus
vii. 35-37. Bishop Colenso shows, in his Pentateuch Examined, how
ridiculous
this statement is.
[50:2] Exodus
xiii. 20, 21.
[50:3]
"The sea over which Moses stretches out his hand with the staff, and
which he
divides, so that the waters stand up on either side like walls while he
passes
through, must surely have been originally the Sea of Clouds. . . . A
German story
presents a perfectly similar feature. The conception of the cloud
as sea, rock
and wall, recurs very frequently in mythology." (Prof. Steinthal:
The Legend of
Samson, p. 429.)
[51:1] Exodus
xiv. 5-13.
[51:2]
Orpheus is said to have been the earliest poet of Greece, where he first
introduced
the rites of Bacchus, which he brought from Egypt. (See Roman
Antiquities,
p. 134.)
[51:3] The
Hebrew fable writers not wishing to be outdone, have made the waters
of the river
Jordan to be divided to let Elijah and Elisha pass through (2 Kings
ii. 8), and
also the children of Israel. (Joshua iii. 15-17.)
[51:4] Moses,
with his rod, drew water from the rock. (Exodus xvii. 6.)
[51:5] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 191, and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19.
[51:6] The
Legend of Samson, p. 429.
[51:7]
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 135.
[51:8] Vol.
i. p. 122.
[52:1] Bell's
Pantheon, vol. i. p. 122; and Higgins: Anacalypsis vol. ii. p. 19.
[52:2] Ibid.
and Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 174.
[52:3]
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 190; Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. under "Bacchus;"
and
Higgins:
Anacalypsis ii. 19.
[52:4] Exodus
ii. 1-11.
[52:5]
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 191; Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. under "Bacchus;"
and
Higgins: p.
19, vol. ii.
[52:6] Exodus
ii. 1-11.
[52:7] Exodus
xiii. 20, 21.
[52:8] See
Prichard's Historical Records, p. 74; also Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p.
40; and
Cory's Ancient Fragments, pp. 80, 81, for similar accounts.
[52:9]
"All persons afflicted with leprosy were considered displeasing in the
sight of the
Sun-god, by the Egyptians." (Dunlap: Spirit. Hist. p. 40.)
[52:10]
Prichard's Historical Records, p. 75.
[52:11] Ibid.
p. 78.
[53:1]
Tacitus: Hist. book v. ch. iii.
[53:2] Knight:
Anc't Art and Mythology, p. 89, and Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p.
447.
"The cleanliness of the Egyptian priests was extreme. They shaved their
heads, and
every three days shaved their whole bodies. They bathed two or three
times a day,
often in the night also. They wore garments of white linen, deeming
it more
cleanly than cloth made from the hair of animals. If they had occasion
to wear a
woolen cloth or mantle, they put it off before entering a temple; so
scrupulous
were they that nothing impure should come into the presence of the
gods."
(Prog. Relig. Ideas, i. 168.)
"Thinking
it better to be clean than handsome, the (Egyptian) priests shave
their whole
body every third day, that neither lice nor any other impurity may
be found upon
them when engaged in the service of the gods." (Herodotus: book
ii. ch. 37.)
[54:1] The
Religion of Israel, p. 27.
[54:2]
Dunlap: Spirit Hist. of Man, p. 266.
[54:3] Hebrew
Mythology, p. 23.
[54:4]
Researches in Ancient History, p. 146.
[55:1] The
Religion of Israel, pp. 31, 32.
[55:2] Jewish
Antiq. bk. ii. ch. xvi.
[55:3] Ibid.
note.
"It was
said that the waters of the Pamphylian Sea miraculously opened a passage
for the army
of Alexander the Great. Admiral Beaufort, however, tells us that,
'though there
are no tides in this part of the Mediterranean, considerable
depression of
the sea is caused by long-continued north winds; and Alexander,
taking
advantage of such a moment, may have dashed on without impediment;' and
we accept the
explanation as a matter of course. But the waters of the Red Sea
are said to
have miraculously opened a passage for the children of Israel; and
we insist on
the literal truth of this story, and reject natural explanations as
monstrous."
(Matthew Arnold.)
[56:1] See
Prichard's Egyptian Mytho. p. 60.
[56:2] See
ch. xviii.
[56:3] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 312.
[56:4]
Analysis Relig. Belief, p. 552.
[56:5] See
Hardy: Buddhist Legends, p. 140.
[56:6] In a
cave discovered at Deir-el-Bahari (Aug., 1881), near Thebes, in
Egypt, was
found thirty-nine mummies of royal and priestly personages. Among
these was
King Ramses II., the third king of the Nineteenth Dynasty, and the
veritable
Pharaoh of the Jewish captivity. It is very strange that he should be
here, among a
number of other kings, if he had been lost in the Red Sea. The
mummy is
wrapped in rose-colored and yellow linen of a texture finer than the
finest Indian
muslin, upon which lotus flowers are strewn. It is in a perfect
state of
preservation. (See a Cairo [Aug. 8th] letter to the London Times.)
[57:1]
Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 58.
[57:2] The
Religion of Israel, p. 41.
[Pg
58]CHAPTER VII.
RECEIVING THE
TEN COMMANDMENTS.
The receiving
of the Ten Commandments by Moses, from the Lord, is recorded in
the following
manner:
"In the
third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land
of Egypt, the
same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai, . . . and there
Israel camped
before the Mount. . . .
"And it
came to pass on the third day that there were thunders and lightnings,
and a thick
cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the tempest exceedingly loud,
so that all
the people that was in the camp trembled. . . .
"And
Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it
in fire, and
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole
Mount quaked
greatly. And when the voice of the tempest sounded long, and waxed
louder and
louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
"And the
Lord came down upon the Mount, and called Moses up to the top of the
Mount, and
Moses went up."[58:1]
The Lord
there communed with him, and "he gave unto Moses . . . . two tables of
testimony,
tables of stone, written with the finger of God."[58:2]
When Moses
came down from off the Mount, he found the children of Israel dancing
around a
golden calf, which his brother Aaron had made, and, as his "anger waxed
hot," he
cast the tables of stone on the ground, and broke them.[58:3] Moses
again saw the
Lord on the Mount, however, and received two more tables of
stone.[58:4]
When he came down this time from off Mount Sinai, "the skin of his
face did
shine."[58:5]
[Pg 59]These
two tables of stone contained the Ten Commandments,[59:1] so it is
said, which
the Jews and Christians of the present day are supposed to take for
their
standard.
They are, in
substance, as follows:
1—To have no
other God but Jehovah.
2—To make no
image for purpose of worship.
3—Not to take
Jehovah's name in vain.
4—Not to work
on the Sabbath-day.
5—To honor
their parents.
6—Not to
kill.
7—Not to
commit adultery.
8—Not to
steal.
9—Not to bear
false witness against a neighbor.
10—Not to
covet.[59:2]
We have
already seen, in the last chapter, that Bacchus was called the
"Law-giver,"
and that his laws were written on two tables of stone.[59:3] This
feature in
the Hebrew legend was evidently copied from that related of Bacchus,
but, the idea
of his (Moses) receiving the commandments from the Lord on a
mountain was
obviously taken from the Persian legend related of Zoroaster.
Prof. Max
Müller says:
"What
applies to the religion of Moses applies to that of Zoroaster. It is
placed before
us as a complete system from the first, revealed by Ahuramazda
(Ormuzd),
proclaimed by Zoroaster."[59:4]
The disciples
of Zoroaster, in their profusion of legends of the master, relate
that one day,
as he prayed on a high mountain, in the midst of thunders and
lightnings
("fire from heaven"), the Lord himself appeared before him, and
delivered
unto him the "Book of the Law." While the King of Persia and the
people were
assembled together, Zoroaster came down from the mountain unharmed,
bringing with
him the "Book of the Law," which had been revealed to him by
Ormuzd. They
call this book the Zend-Avesta, which signifies the Living
Word.[59:5]
[Pg
60]According to the religion of the Cretans, Minos, their law-giver,
ascended a
mountain (Mount Dicta) and there received from the Supreme Lord
(Zeus) the
sacred laws which he brought down with him.[60:1]
Almost all
nations of antiquity have legends of their holy men ascending a
mountain to
ask counsel of the gods, such places being invested with peculiar
sanctity, and
deemed nearer to the deities than other portions of the
earth.[60:2]
According to
Egyptian belief, it is Thoth, the Deity itself, that speaks and
reveals to
his elect among men the will of God and the arcana of divine things.
Portions of
them are expressly stated to have been written by the very finger of
Thoth
himself; to have been the work and composition of the great god.[60:3]
Diodorus, the
Grecian historian, says:
The idea
promulgated by the ancient Egyptians that their laws were received
direct from
the Most High God, has been adopted with success by many other
law-givers,
who have thus insured respect for their institutions.[60:4]
The Supreme
God of the ancient Mexicans was Tezcatlipoca. He occupied a position
corresponding
to the Jehovah of the Jews, the Brahma of India, the Zeus of the
Greeks, and
the Odin of the Scandinavians. His name is compounded of Tezcatepec,
the name of a
mountain (upon which he is said to have manifested himself to man)
tlil, dark,
and poca, smoke. The explanation of this designation is given in the
Codex
Vaticanus, as follows:
[Pg
61]Tezcatlipoca was one of their most potent deities; they say he once
appeared on
the top of a mountain. They paid him great reverence and adoration,
and addressed
him, in their prayers, as "Lord, whose servant we are." No man
ever saw his
face, for he appeared only "as a shade." Indeed, the Mexican idea
of the
godhead was similar to that of the Jews. Like Jehovah, Tezcatlipoca dwelt
in the
"midst of thick darkness." When he descended upon the mount of
Tezcatepec,
darkness overshadowed the earth, while fire and water, in mingled
streams,
flowed from beneath his feet, from its summit.[61:1]
Thus, we see
that other nations, beside the Hebrews, believed that their laws
were actually
received from God, that they had legends to that effect, and that
a mountain
figures conspicuously in the stories.
Professor
Oort, speaking on this subject, says:
"No one
who has any knowledge of antiquity will be surprised at this, for
similar
beliefs were very common. All peoples who had issued from a life of
barbarism and
acquired regular political institutions, more or less elaborate
laws, and
established worship, and maxims of morality, attributed all this—their
birth as a
nation, so to speak—to one or more great men, all of whom, without
exception,
were supposed to have received their knowledge from some deity.
"Whence
did Zoroaster, the prophet of the Persians, derive his religion?
According to
the beliefs of his followers, and the doctrines of their sacred
writings, it
was from Ahuramazda, the God of light. Why did the Egyptians
represent the
god Thoth with a writing tablet and a pencil in his hand, and
honor him
especially as the god of the priests? Because he was 'the Lord of the
divine Word,'
the foundation of all wisdom, from whose inspiration the priests,
who were the
scholars, the lawyers, and the religious teachers of the people,
derived all
their wisdom. Was not Minos, the law-giver of the Cretans, the
friend of
Zeus, the highest of the gods? Nay, was he not even his son, and did
he not ascend
to the sacred cave on Mount Dicte to bring down the laws which his
god had
placed there for him? From whom did the Spartan law-giver, Lycurgus,
himself say
that he had obtained his laws? From no other than the god Apollo.
The Roman
legend, too, in honoring Numa Pompilius as the people's instructor, at
the same time
ascribed all his wisdom to his intercourse with the nymph Egeria.
It was the
same elsewhere; and to make one more example,—this from later
times—Mohammed
not only believed himself to have been called immediately by God
to be the
prophet of the Arabs, but declared that he had received every page of
the Koran
from the hand of the angel Gabriel."[61:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[58:1] Exodus
xix.
[58:2] Exodus
xxxi. 18.
[58:3] Exodus
xxii. 19.
[58:4] Exodus
xxxiv.
[58:5] Ibid.
It was a
common belief among ancient Pagan nations that the gods appeared and
conversed
with men. As an illustration we may cite the following, related by
Herodotus,
the Grecian historian, who, in speaking of Egypt and the Egyptians,
says:
"There is a large city called Chemmis, situated in the Thebaic district,
near
Neapolis, in which is a quadrangular temple dedicated to (the god) Perseus,
son of (the
Virgin) Danae; palm-trees grow round it, and the portico is of
stone, very
spacious, and over it are placed two large stone statues. In this
inclosure is
a temple, and in it is placed a statue of Perseus. The Chemmitć (or
inhabitants
of Chemmis), affirm that Perseus has frequently appeared to them on
earth, and
frequently within the temple." (Herodotus, bk. ii. ch. 91.)
[59:1] Buddha,
the founder of Buddhism, had TEN commandments. 1. Not to kill. 2.
Not to steal.
3. To be chaste. 4 Not to bear false witness. 5. Not to lie. 6.
Not to swear.
7. To avoid impure words. 8. To be disinterested. 9. Not to avenge
one's-self.
10. Not to be superstitious. (See Huc's Travels, p. 328, vol. i.)
[59:2] Exodus
xx. Dr. Oort says: "The original ten commandments probably ran as
follows: I
Yahwah am your God. Worship no other gods beside me. Make no image of
a god. Commit
no perjury. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Honor your
father and
your mother. Commit no murder. Break not the marriage vow. Steal not.
Bear no false
witness. Covet not." (Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 18.)
[59:3] Bell's
Pantheon, vol. i. p. 122. Higgins, vol. ii. p. 19. Cox: Aryan
Mytho. vol.
ii. p. 295.
[59:4]
Müller: Origin of Religion, p. 130.
[59:5] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 257, 258. This book, the Zend-Avesta,
is similar,
in many respects, to the Vedas of the Hindoos. This has led many to
believe that Zoroaster
was a Brahman; among these are Rawlinson (See Inman's
Ancient
Faiths, vol. ii. p. 831) and Thomas Maurice. (See Indian Antiquities,
vol. ii. p.
219.)
The Persians
themselves had a tradition that he came from some country to the
East of them.
That he was a foreigner is indicated by a passage in the
Zend-Avesta
which represents Ormuzd as saying to him: "Thou, O Zoroaster, by the
promulgation
of my law, shalt restore to me my former glory, which was pure
light. Up!
haste thee to the land of Iran, which thirsteth after the law, and
say, thus
said Ormuzd, &c." (See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 263.)
[60:1] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 301.
[60:2]
"The deities of the Hindoo Pantheon dwell on the sacred Mount Meru; the
gods of
Persia ruled from Albordj; the Greek Jove thundered from Olympus, and
the
Scandinavian gods made Asgard awful with their presence. . . . Profane
history is
full of examples attesting the attachment to high places for purpose
of
sacrifice." (Squire: Serpent Symbols, p. 78.)
"The
offerings of the Chinese to the deities were generally on the summits of
high
mountains, as they seemed to them to be nearer heaven, to the majesty of
which they
were to be offered." (Christmas's Mytho. p. 250, in Ibid.) "In the
infancy of
civilization, high places were chosen by the people to offer
sacrifices to
the gods. The first altars, the first temples, were erected on
mountains."
(Humboldt: American Researches.) The Himalayas are the "Heavenly
mountains."
In Sanscrit Himala, corresponding to the M. Gothic, Himins; Alem.,
Himil; Ger.,
Swed., and Dan., Himmel; Old Norse, Himin; Dutch, Hemel; Ang.-Sax.,
Heofon; Eng.,
Heaven. (See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 42.)
[60:3]
Bunsen's Egypt, quoted in Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 367. Mrs. Child
says:
"The laws of Egypt were handed down from the earliest times, and regarded
with the
utmost veneration as a portion of religion. Their first legislator
represented
them as dictated by the gods themselves and framed expressly for the
benefit of
mankind by their secretary Thoth." (Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p.
173.)
[60:4] Quoted
in Ibid.
[61:1] See
Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 175.
[61:2] Bible
for Learners, vol. i. p. 301.
[Pg
62]CHAPTER VIII.
SAMSON AND
HIS EXPLOITS.
This
Israelite hero is said to have been born at a time when the children of
Israel were
in the hands of the Philistines. His mother, who had been barren for
a number of
years, is entertained by an angel, who informs her that she shall
conceive, and
bear a son,[62:1] and that the child shall be a Nazarite unto God,
from the
womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the
Philistines.
According to
the prediction of the angel, "the woman bore a son, and called his
name Samson;
and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him."
"And
Samson (after he had grown to man's estate), went down to Timnath, and saw
a woman in
Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up and told
his father
and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the
daughters of
the Philistines; now therefore get her for me to wife."
[Pg
63]Samson's father and mother preferred that he should take a woman among
the daughters
of their own tribe, but Samson wished for the maid of the
Philistines,
"for," said he, "she pleaseth me well."
The parents,
after coming to the conclusion that it was the will of the Lord,
that he
should marry the maid of the Philistines, consented.
"Then
went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to
the vineyards
of Timnath, and, behold, a young lion roared against him (Samson).
And the
spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him (the lion) as
he would have
rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand."
This was
Samson's first exploit, which he told not to any one, not even his
father, or
his mother.
He then
continued on his way, and went down and talked with the woman, and she
pleased him
well.
And, after a
time, he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the
carcass of
the lion, and behold, "there was a swarm of bees, and honey, in the
carcass of
the lion."
Samson made a
feast at his wedding, which lasted for seven days. At this feast,
there were
brought thirty companions to be with him, unto whom he said: "I will
now put forth
a riddle unto you, if ye can certainly declare it me, within the
seven days of
the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets,
and thirty
changes of garments. But, if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye
give me
thirty sheets, and thirty changes of garments." And they said unto him,
"Put
forth thy riddle, that we may hear it." And he answered them: "Out of
the
eater came
forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness."
This riddle
the thirty companions could not solve.
"And it
came to pass, on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife:
'Entice thy
husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle.'"
She
accordingly went to Samson, and told him that he could not love her; if it
were so, he
would tell her the answer to the riddle. After she had wept and
entreated of
him, he finally told her, and she gave the answer to the children
of her
people. "And the men of the city said unto him, on the seventh day,
before the
sun went down, 'What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than
a
lion?'"
Samson, upon
hearing this, suspected how they managed to find out the answer,
whereupon he
said unto them: "If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye had not
found out my
riddle."
[Pg 64]Samson
was then at a loss to know where to get the thirty sheets, and the
thirty
changes of garments; but, "the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he
went down to
Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and
gave change
of garments unto them which expounded the riddle."
This was the
hero's second exploit.
His anger
being kindled, he went up to his father's house, instead of returning
to his
wife.[64:1] But it came to pass, that, after a while, Samson repented of
his actions,
and returned to his wife's house, and wished to go in to his wife
in the
chamber; but her father would not suffer him to go. And her father said:
"I
verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her, therefore, I gave her to
thy
companion. Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray thee,
instead of
her."
This did not
seem to please Samson, even though the younger was fairer than the
older, for he
"went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and
turned (the
foxes) tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two
tails. And
when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing
corn of the
Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and also the standing
corn, with
the vineyards and olives."
This was
Samson's third exploit.
When the
Philistines found their corn, their vineyards, and their olives burned,
they said:
"Who hath done this?"
"And
they answered, 'Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken
his wife, and
given her to his companion.' And the Philistines came up, and
burned her
and her father with fire. And Samson said unto them: 'Though ye have
done this,
yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.' And he
smote them
hip and thigh with a great slaughter, and he went and dwelt in the
top of the
rock Etam."
This
"great slaughter" was Samson's fourth exploit.
"Then
the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in
Lehi. And the
men of Judah said: 'Why are ye come up against us?' And they
answered: 'To
bind Samson are we come up, and to do to him as he hath done to
us.' Then
three thousand men of Judah went up to the top of the rock Etam, and
said to
Samson: 'Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What
is this that
thou hast done unto us?' And he said unto them: 'As they did unto
me, so have I
done unto them.' And they said unto him: 'We are come down to bind
thee, that we
may deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines.' And Samson
said unto
them: 'Swear unto me that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.' And
they spake
unto him, saying, 'No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee
into their
hands: but surely we will not kill thee.' And they bound him with two
new cords,
and [Pg 65]brought him up from the rock. And when he came unto Lehi,
the Philistines
shouted against him; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily
upon him, and
the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burned
with fire,
and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jaw-bone
of an ass,
and put forth his hand and took it, and slew a thousand men with it."
This was
Samson's fifth exploit.
After slaying
a thousand men he was "sore athirst," and called unto the Lord.
And "God
clave a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water
thereout, and
when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived."[65:1]
"Then
went Samson to Gaza and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her. And it
was told the
Gazites, saying, 'Samson is come hither.' And they compassed him
in, and laid
wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all
the night,
saying: 'In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.' And
Samson lay
(with the harlot) till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the
doors of the
gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar
and all, and
put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a
hill that is
in Hebron."
This was
Samson's sixth exploit.
"And it
came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Soreck,
whose name was
Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and
said unto
her: 'Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by
what means we
may prevail against him.'"
Delilah then
began to entice Samson to tell her wherein his strength lay.
"She
pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed
unto death.
Then he told her all his heart, and said unto her: 'There hath not
come a razor
upon mine head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my
mother's
womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall
become weak,
and be like any other man.' And when Delilah saw that he had told
her all his
heart, she went and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying:
'Come up this
once, for he hath showed me all his heart.' Then the lords of the
Philistines
came up unto her, and brought money in their hands (for her).
"And she
made him (Samson) sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and
she caused
him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to
afflict him,
and his strength went from him."
The
Philistines then took him, put out his eyes, and put him in prison. And
being
gathered together at a great sacrifice in honor of their God, Dagon, they
said:
"Call for Samson, that he may make us sport." And they called for
Samson,
and he made
them sport.
"And
Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand. Suffer me that I may
feel the
pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.
[Pg
66]"Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the
Philistines
were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men
and women,
that beheld while Samson made sport.
"And
Samson called unto the Lord, and said: 'O Lord God, remember me, I pray
thee, and
strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at
once avenged
of the Philistines for my two eyes.'
"And
Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and
on which it
was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with
his left. And
Samson said: 'Let me die with the Philistines.' And he bowed
himself with
all his might; and (having regained his strength) the house fell
upon the
lords, and upon the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew
at his death,
were more than they which he slew in his life."[66:1]
Thus ended
the career of the "strong man" of the Hebrews.
That this
story is a copy of the legends related of Hercules, or that they have
both been
copied from similar legends existing among some other nations,[66:2]
is too
evident to be disputed. Many churchmen have noticed the similarity
between the
history of Samson and that of Hercules. In Chambers's Encyclopćdia,
under
"Samson," we read as follows:
"It has
been matter of most contradictory speculations, how far his existence is
to be taken
as a reality, or, in other words, what substratum of historical
truth there
may be in this supposed circle of popular legends, artistically
rounded off,
in the four chapters of Judges which treat of him. . . .
"The
miraculous deeds he performed have taxed the ingenuity of many
commentators,
and the text has been twisted and turned in all directions, to
explain,
rationally, his slaying those prodigious numbers single-handed; his
carrying the
gates of Gaza, in one night, a distance of about fifty miles, &c.,
&c."
That this is
simply a Solar myth, no one will doubt, we believe, who will take
the trouble
to investigate it.
Prof.
Goldziher, who has made "Comparative Mythology" a special study, says
of
this story:
"The
most complete and rounded-off Solar myth extant in Hebrew, is that of
Shimshôn
(Samson), a cycle of mythical conceptions fully comparable with the
Greek myth of
Hercules."[66:3]
We shall now
endeavor to ascertain if such is the case, by comparing the
exploits of
Samson with those of Hercules.
The first
wonderful act performed by Samson was, as we have seen, that of
slaying a
lion. This is said to have happened when he was but a youth. So
likewise was
it with Hercules. At the age of eighteen, he slew an enormous
lion.[66:4]
The valley of
Nemea was infested by a terrible lion; Eurystheus ordered Hercules
to bring him
the skin of this monster. After [Pg 67]using in vain his club and
arrows
against the lion, Hercules strangled the animal with his hands. He
returned,
carrying the dead lion on his shoulders; but Eurystheus was so
frightened at
the sight of it, and at this proof of the prodigious strength of
the hero,
that he ordered him to deliver the accounts of his exploits in the
future
outside the town.[67:1]
To show the
courage of Hercules, it is said that he entered the cave where the
lion's lair
was, closed the entrance behind him, and at once grappled with the
monster.[67:2]
Samson is
said to have torn asunder the jaws of the lion, and we find him
generally
represented slaying the beast in that manner. So likewise, was this
the manner in
which Hercules disposed of the Nemean lion.[67:3]
The skin of
the lion, Hercules tore off with his fingers, and knowing it to be
impenetrable,
resolved to wear it henceforth.[67:4] The statues and paintings of
Hercules
either represent him carrying the lion's skin over his arm, or wearing
it hanging
down his back, the skin of its head fitting to his crown like a cap,
and the
fore-legs knotted under his chin.[67:5]
Samson's
second exploit was when he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty men.
Hercules,
when returning to Thebes from the lion-hunt, and wearing its skin
hanging from
his shoulders, as a sign of his success, met the heralds of the
King of the
Minyć, coming from Orchomenos to claim the annual tribute of a
hundred
cattle, levied on Thebes. Hercules cut off the ears and noses of the
heralds,
bound their hands, and sent them home.[67:6]
Samson's
third exploit was when he caught three hundred foxes, and took
fire-brands,
and turned them tail to tail, and put a fire-brand in the midst
between two
tails, and let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines.
There is no
such feature as this in the legends of Hercules, the nearest to it
in
resemblance is when he encounters and kills the Learnean Hydra.[67:7] During
this
encounter a fire-brand figures conspicuously, and the neighboring wood is
set on
fire.[67:8]
[Pg 68]We
have, however, an explanation of this portion of the legend, in the
following
from Prof. Steinthal:
At the
festival of Ceres, held at Rome, in the month of April, a fox-hunt
through the
circus was indulged in, in which burning torches were bound to the
foxes' tails.
This was
intended to be a symbolical reminder of the damage done to the fields
by mildew,
called the "red fox," which was exorcised in various ways at this
momentous
season (the last third of April). It is the time of the Dog-Star, at
which the
mildew was most to be feared; if at that time great solar heat follows
too close
upon the hoar-frost or dew of the cold nights, this mischief rages
like a
burning fox through the corn-fields.[68:1]
He also says
that:
"This is
the sense of the story of the foxes, which Samson caught and sent into
the
Philistines' fields, with fire-brands fastened to their tails, to burn the
crops. Like
the lion, the fox is an animal that indicated the solar heat, being
well suited
for this both by its color and by its long-haired tail."[68:2]
Bouchart, in
his "Hierozoicon," observes that:
"At this
period (i. e., the last third of April) they cut the corn in Palestine
and Lower
Egypt, and a few days after the setting of the Hyads arose the Fox, in
whose train
or tail comes the fires or torches of the dog-days, represented
among the
Egyptians by red marks painted on the backs of their animals."[68:3]
Count de
Volney also tells us that:
"The
inhabitants of Carseoles, an ancient city of Latium, every year, in a
religious
festival, burned a number of foxes with torches tied to their tails.
They gave, as
the reason for this whimsical ceremony, that their corn had been
formerly
burnt by a fox to whose tail a young man had fastened a bundle of
lighted
straw."[68:4]
He concludes
his account of this peculiar "religious festival," by saying:
"This is
exactly the story of Samson with the Philistines, but it is a Phenician
tale.
Car-Seol is a compound word in that tongue, signifying town of foxes. The
Philistines,
originally from Egypt, do not appear to have had any colonies. The
Phenicians
had a great many; and it can scarcely be admitted that they borrowed
this story
from the Hebrews, as obscure as the Druses are in our own times, or
that a simple
adventure gave rise to a religious ceremony; it evidently can only
be a
mythological and allegorical narration."[68:4]
So much,
then, for the foxes and fire-brands.
Samson's
fourth exploit was when he smote the Philistines "hip and thigh,"
"with
great
slaughter."
[Pg 69]It is
related of Hercules that he had a combat with an army of Centaurs,
who were
armed with pine sticks, rocks, axes, &c. They flocked in wild
confusion,
and surrounded the cave of Pholos, where Hercules was, when a violent
fight ensued.
Hercules was obliged to contend against this large armed force
single-handed,
but he came off victorious, and slew a great number of
them.[69:1]
Hercules also encountered and fought against an army of giants, at
the
Phlegraean fields, near Cumae.[69:2]
Samson's next
wonderful exploit was when "three thousand men of Judah" bound him
with cords
and brought him up into Lehi, when the Philistines were about to take
his life. The
cords with which he was bound immediately became as flax, and
loosened from
off his hands. He then, with the jaw-bone of an ass, slew one
thousand
Philistines.[69:3]
A very
similar feature to this is found in the history of Hercules. He is made
prisoner by
the Egyptians, who wish to take his life, but while they are
preparing to
slay him, he breaks loose his bonds—having been tied with cords—and
kills
Buseris, the leader of the band, and the whole retinue.[69:4]
On another
occasion, being refused shelter from a storm at Kos, he was enraged
at the
inhabitants, and accordingly destroyed the whole town.[69:5]
Samson, after
he had slain a thousand Philistines, was "sore athirst," and
called upon
Jehovah, his father in heaven, to succor him, whereupon, water
immediately
gushed forth from "a hollow place that was in the jaw-bone."
Hercules,
departing from the Indies (or rather Ethiopia), and conducting his
army through
the desert of Lybia, feels a burning thirst, and conjures Ihou, his
father, to
succor him in his danger.
[Pg
70]Instantly the (celestial) Ram appears. Hercules follows him and arrives
at a place
where the Ram scrapes with his foot, and there instantly comes forth
a spring of
water.[70:1]
Samson's
sixth exploit happened when he went to Gaza to visit a harlot. The
Gazites, who
wished to take his life, laid wait for him all night, but Samson
left the town
at midnight, and took with him the gates of the city, and the two
posts, on his
shoulders. He carried them to the top of a hill, some fifty miles
away, and
left them there.
This story
very much resembles that of the "Pillars of Hercules," called the
"Gates
of Cadiz."[70:2]
Count de
Volney tells us that:
"Hercules
was represented naked, carrying on his shoulders two columns called
the Gates of
Cadiz."[70:3]
"The
Pillars of Hercules" was the name given by the ancients to the two rocks
forming the
entrance or gate to the Mediterranean at the Strait of
Gibraltar.[70:4]
Their erection was ascribed by the Greeks to Hercules, on the
occasion of
his journey to the kingdom of Geryon. According to one version of
the story,
they had been united, but Hercules tore them asunder.[70:5]
Fig. No. 3 is
a representation of Hercules with the two posts or pillars on his
shoulders, as
alluded to by Count de Volney. We have taken it from Montfaucon's
"L'Antiquité
Expliquée."[70:6]
J. P. Lundy
says of this:
[Pg
71]"Hercules carrying his two columns to erect at the Straits of
Gibraltar,
may have some
reference to the Hebrew story."[71:1]
We think
there is no doubt of it. By changing the name Hercules into Samson, the
legend is
complete.
Sir William
Drummond tells us, in his "Śdipus Judaicus," that:
"Gaza
signifies a Goat, and was the type of the Sun in Capricorn. The Gates of
the Sun were
feigned by the ancient Astronomers to be in Capricorn and Cancer
(that is, in
Gaza), from which signs the tropics are named. Samson carried away
the gates
from Gaza to Hebron, the city of conjunction. Now, Count Gebelin tells
us that at
Cadiz, where Hercules was anciently worshiped, there was a
representation
of him, with a gate on his shoulders."[71:2]
The stories
of the amours of Samson with Delilah and other females, are simply
counterparts
of those of Hercules with Omphale and Iole. Montfaucon, speaking of
this, says:
"Nothing
is better known in the fables (related of Hercules) than his amours
with Omphale
and Iole."[71:3]
Prof.
Steinthal says:
"The
circumstance that Samson is so addicted to sexual pleasure, has its origin
in the
remembrance that the Solar god is the god of fruitfulness and
procreation.
We have as examples, the amours of Hercules and Omphale; Ninyas, in
Assyria, with
Semiramis; Samson, in Philistia, with Delila, whilst among the
Phenicians,
Melkart pursues Dido-Anna."[71:4]
Samson is
said to have had long hair. "There hath not come a razor upon my
head,"
says he, "for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb."
Now, strange
as it may appear, Hercules is said to have had long hair also, and
he was often
represented that way. In Montfaucon's "L'Antiquité Expliquée"[71:5]
may be seen a
representation of Hercules with hair reaching almost to his waist.
Almost all Sun-gods
are represented thus.[71:6]
Prof.
Goldzhier says:
"Long
locks of hair and a long beard are mythological attributes of the Sun. The
Sun's rays
are compared with locks of hair on the face or head of the Sun.
[Pg
72]"When the sun sets and leaves his place to the darkness, or when the
powerful
Summer Sun is succeeded by the weak rays of the Winter Sun, then
Samson's long
locks, in which alone his strength lies, are cut off through the
treachery of
his deceitful concubine, Delilah, the 'languishing, languid,'
according to
the meaning of the name (Delilah). The Beaming Apollo, moreover, is
called the
Unshaven; and Minos cannot conquer the solar hero Nisos, till the
latter loses
his golden hair."[72:1]
Through the
influence of Delilah, Samson is at last made a prisoner. He tells
her the
secret of his strength, the seven locks of hair are shaven off, and his
strength
leaves him. The shearing of the locks of the Sun must be followed by
darkness and
ruin.
From the
shoulders of Phoibos Lykęgęnes flow the sacred locks, over which no
razor might
pass, and on the head of Nisos they become a palladium, invested
with a
mysterious power.[72:2] The long locks of hair which flow over his
shoulders are
taken from his head by Skylla, while he is asleep, and, like
another
Delilah, she thus delivers him and his people into the power of
Minos.[72:3]
Prof.
Steinthal says of Samson:
"His
hair is a figure of increase and luxuriant fullness. In Winter, when nature
appears to
have lost all strength, the god of growing young life has lost his
hair. In the
Spring the hair grows again, and nature returns to life again. Of
this original
conception the Bible story still preserves a trace. Samson's hair,
after being
cut off, grows again, and his strength comes back with it."[72:4]
Towards the
end of his career, Samson's eyes are put out. Even here, the Hebrew
writes with a
singular fidelity to the old mythical speech. The tender light of
evening is
blotted out by the dark vapors; the light of the Sun is quenched in
gloom.
Samson's eyes are put out.
Śdipus, whose
history resembles that of Samson and Hercules in many respects,
tears out his
eyes, towards the end of his career. In other words, the Sun has
blinded
himself. Clouds and darkness have closed in about him, and the clear
light is
blotted out of the heaven.[72:5]
The final
act, Samson's death, reminds us clearly and decisively of the
Phenician
Hercules, as Sun-god, who died at the Winter Solstice in the furthest
West, where
his two pillars are set up to mark the end of his wanderings.
Samson also
died at the two pillars, but in his case they are not the Pillars of
the World,
but are only set up in the middle of a great banqueting-hall. A feast
was being
held in honor of [Pg 73]Dagon, the Fish-god; the Sun was in the sign
of the
Waterman, Samson, the Sun-god, died.[73:1]
The ethnology
of the name of Samson, as well as his adventures, are very closely
connected
with the Solar Hercules. "Samson" was the name of the Sun.[73:2] In
Arabic,
"Shams-on" means the Sun.[73:3] Samson had seven locks of hair, the
number of the
planetary bodies.[73:4]
The author of
"The Religion of Israel," speaking of Samson, says:
"The
story of Samson and his deeds originated in a Solar myth, which was
afterwards
transformed by the narrator into a saga about a mighty hero and
deliverer of
Israel. The very name 'Samson,' is derived from the Hebrew word,
and means
'Sun.' The hero's flowing locks were originally the rays of the sun,
and other
traces of the old myth have been preserved."[73:5]
Prof. Oort
says:
"The
story of Samson is simply a solar myth. In some of the features of the
story the
original meaning may be traced quite clearly, but in others the myth
can no longer
be recognized. The exploits of some Danite hero, such as Shamgar,
who 'slew six
hundred Philistines with an ox-goad' (Judges iii. 31), have been
woven into
it; the whole has been remodeled after the ideas of the prophets of
later ages,
and finally, it has been fitted into the framework of the period of
the Judges,
as conceived by the writer of the book called after them."[73:6]
Again he
says:
"The
myth that lies at the foundation of this story is a description of the
sun's course
during the six winter months. The god is gradually encompassed by
his enemies,
mist and darkness. At first he easily maintains his freedom, and
gives
glorious proofs of his strength; but the fetters grow stronger and
stronger,
until at last he is robbed of his crown of rays, and loses all his
power and
glory. Such is the Sun in Winter. But he has not lost his splendor
forever.
Gradually his strength returns, at last he reappears; and though he
still seems
to allow himself to be mocked, yet the power of avenging himself has
returned, and
in the end he triumphs over his enemies once more."[73:7]
Other nations
beside the Hebrews and Greeks had their "mighty men" and
lion-killers.
The Hindoos had their Samson. His name was Bala-Rama, the "Strong
Rama."
He was considered by some an incarnation of Vishnu.[73:8]
[Pg
74]Captain Wilford says, in "Asiatic Researches:"
"The
Indian Hercules, according to Cicero, was called Belus. He is the same as
Bala, the
brother of Crishna, and both are conjointly worshiped at Mutra;
indeed, they
are considered as one Avatar or Incarnation of Vishnou. Bala is
represented
as a stout man, with a club in his hand. He is also called
Bala-rama."[74:1]
There is a
Hindoo legend which relates that Sevah had an encounter with a tiger,
"whose
mouth expanded like a cave, and whose voice resembled thunder." He slew
the monster,
and, like Hercules, covered himself with the skin.[74:2]
The Assyrians
and Lydians, both Semitic nations, worshiped a Sun-god named
Sandan or
Sandon. He also was believed to be a lion-killer, and frequently
figured
struggling with the lion, or standing upon the slain lion.[74:3]
Ninevah, too,
had her mighty hero and king, who slew a lion and other monsters.
Layard, in
his excavations, discovered a bas-relief representation of this hero
triumphing
over the lion and wild bull.[74:4]
The Ancient
Babylonians had a hero lion-slayer, Izdubar by name. The destruction
of the lion,
and other monsters, by Izdubar, is often depicted on the cylinders
and engraved
gems belonging to the early Babylonian monarchy.[74:5]
Izdubar is
represented as a great or mighty man, who, in the early days after
the flood,
destroyed wild animals, and conquered a number of petty kings.[74:6]
Izdubar
resembles the Grecian hero, Hercules, in other respects than as a
destroyer of
wild animals, &c. We are told that he "wandered to the regions
where
gigantic composite monsters held and controlled the rising and setting
sun, from
these learned the road to the region of the blessed, and passing
across a
great waste of land, he arrived at a region where splendid trees were
laden with
jewels."[74:7]
He also
resembles Hercules, Samson, and other solar-gods, in the particular of
long flowing
locks of hair. In the Babylonian and Assyrian sculptures he is
always
represented with a marked physiognomy, and always indicated as a man with
masses of
curls over his head and a large curly beard.[74:8]
[Pg 75]Here,
evidently, is the Babylonian legend of Hercules. He too was a
wanderer,
going from the furthest East to the furthest West. He crossed "a great
waste of
land" (the desert of Lybia), visited "the region of the
blessed," where
there were
"splendid trees laden with jewels" (golden apples).
The ancient
Egyptians had their Hercules. According to Herodotus, he was known
several
thousand years before the Grecian hero of that name. This the Egyptians
affirmed, and
that he was born in their country.[75:1]
The story of
Hercules was known in the Island of Thasos, by the Phenician colony
settled
there, five centuries before he was known in Greece.[75:2] Fig. No. 4 is
from an ancient
representation of Hercules in conflict with the lion, taken from
Gorio.
Another
mighty hero was the Grecian Bellerophon. The minstrels sang of the
beauty and
the great deeds of Bellerophon throughout all the land of Argos. His
arm was
strong in battle; his feet were swift in the chase. None that were poor
and weak and
wretched feared the might of Bellerophon. To them the sight of his
beautiful
form brought only joy and gladness; but the proud and boastful, the
slanderer and
the robber, dreaded the glance of his keen eye. For a long time he
fought the
Solymi and the Amazons, until all his enemies shrank from the stroke
of his mighty
arm, and sought for mercy.[75:3]
The second of
the principal gods of the Ancient Scandinavians was named Thor,
and was no
less known than Odin among the Teutonic nations. The Edda calls him
expressly the
most valiant of the sons of Odin. He was considered the "defender"
and
"avenger." He always carried a mallet, which, as often as he
discharged it,
returned to
his hand of itself; he grasped it with gauntlets of iron, and was
further
possessed of a girdle which had the virtue of renewing his strength as
often as was
needful. It was with these formidable arms that he overthrew to the
ground the
monsters and giants, when he was sent by the gods to oppose their
enemies. He
was represented of gigantic size, and as the stoutest and strongest
[Pg 76]of the
gods.[76:1] Thor was simply the Hercules of the Northern nations.
He was the
Sun personified.[76:2]
Without
enumerating them, we can safely say, that there was not a nation of
antiquity,
from the remotest East to the furthest West, that did not have its
mighty hero,
and counterpart of Hercules and Samson.[76:3]
FOOTNOTES:
[62:1] The
idea of a woman conceiving, and bearing a son in her old age, seems
to have been
a Hebrew peculiarity, as a number of their remarkable personages
were born, so
it is said, of parents well advanced in years, or of a woman who
was supposed
to have been barren. As illustrations, we may mention this case of
Samson, and
that of Joseph being born of Rachel. The beautiful Rachel, who was
so much
beloved by Jacob, her husband, was barren, and she bore him no sons.
This caused
grief and discontent on her part, and anger on the part of her
husband. In
her old age, however, she bore the wonderful child Joseph. (See
Genesis, xxx.
1-29.)
Isaac was
born of a woman (Sarah) who had been barren many years. An angel
appeared to
her when her lord (Abraham) "was ninety years old and nine," and
informed her
that she would conceive and bear a son. (See Gen. xvi.)
Samuel, the
"holy man," was also born of a woman (Hannah) who had been barren
many years.
In grief, she prayed to the Lord for a child, and was finally
comforted by
receiving her wish. (See 1 Samuel, i. 1-20.)
John the
Baptist was also a miraculously conceived infant. His mother,
Elizabeth,
bore him in her old age. An angel also informed her and her husband
Zachariah,
that this event would take place. (See Luke, i. 1-25.)
Mary, the
mother of Jesus, was born of a woman (Anna) who was "old and stricken
in
years," and who had been barren all her life. An angel appeared to Anna
and
her husband
(Joachim), and told them what was about to take place. (See "The
Gospel of
Mary," Apoc.)
Thus we see,
that the idea of a wonderful child being born of a woman who had
passed the
age which nature had destined for her to bear children, and who had
been barren
all her life, was a favorite one among the Hebrews. The idea that
the ancestors
of a race lived to a fabulous old age, is also a familiar one
among the
ancients.
Most ancient
nations relate in their fables that their ancestors lived to be
very old men.
For instance; the Persian patriarch Kaiomaras reigned 560 years;
Jemshid
reigned 300 years; Jahmurash reigned 700 years; Dahâk reigned 1000
years;
Feridun reigned 120 years; Manugeher reigned 500 years; Kaikans reigned
150 years;
and Bahaman reigned 112 years. (See Dunlap: Son of the Man, p. 155,
note.)
[64:1]
Judges, xiv.
[65:1]
Judges, xv.
[66:1]
Judges, xvi.
[66:2]
Perhaps that of Izdubar. See chapter xi.
[66:3] Hebrew
Mythology, p. 248.
[66:4] Manual
of Mythology, p. 248. The Age of Fable, p. 200.
[67:1]
Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 200.
[67:2]
Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 249.
[67:3] Roman
Antiquities, p. 124; and Montfaucon, vol. i. plate cxxvi.
[67:4]
Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 249.
[67:5] See
Ibid. Greek and Italian Mythology, p. 129, and Montfaucon, vol. i.
plate cxxv.
and cxxvi.
[67:6] Manual
of Mythology, p. 247.
[67:7]
"It has many heads, one being immortal, as the storm must constantly
supply new
clouds while the vapors are driven off by the Sun into space. Hence
the story
went that although Herakles could burn away its mortal heads, as the
Sun burns up
the clouds, still he can but hide away the mist or vapor itself,
which at its
appointed time must again darken the sky." (Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol.
ii. p. 48.)
[67:8] See
Manual of Mytho., p. 250.
[68:1]
Steinthal: The Legend of Samson, p. 398. See, also, Higgins: Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p.
240, and Volney: Researches in Anc't History, p. 42.
[68:2] Ibid.
[68:3] Quoted
by Count de Volney: Researches in Ancient History, p. 42, note.
[68:4]
Volney: Researches in Ancient History, p. 42.
[69:1] See
Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 251.
"The
slaughter of the Centaurs by Hercules is the conquest and dispersion of the
vapors by the
Sun as he rises in the heaven." (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p.
47.)
[69:2]
Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 257.
[69:3]
Shamgar also slew six hundred Philistines with an ox goad. (See Judges,
iii. 31.)
"It is
scarcely necessary to say that these weapons are the heritage of all the
Solar heroes,
that they are found in the hands of Phebus and Herakles, of
Śdipus,
Achilleus, Philoktetes, of Siguard, Rustem, Indra, Isfendujar, of
Telephos,
Meleagros, Theseus, Kadmos, Bellerophon, and all other slayers of
noxious and
fearful things." (Rev. Geo. Cox: Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxvii.)
[69:4] See
Volney: Researches in Ancient History, p. 41. Higgins: Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p.
239; Montfaucon: L'Antiquité Expliquée, vol. i. p. 213, and Murray:
Manual of
Mythology, pp. 259-262.
It is evident
that Herodotus, the Grecian historian, was somewhat of a skeptic,
for he says:
"The Grecians say that 'When Hercules arrived in Egypt, the
Egyptians,
having crowned him with a garland, led him in procession, as
designing to
sacrifice him to Jupiter, and that for some time he remained quiet,
but when they
began the preparatory ceremonies upon him at the altar, he set
about
defending himself and slew every one of them.' Now, since Hercules was but
one, and,
besides, a mere man, as they confess, how is it possible that he
should slay
many thousands?" (Herodotus, book ii. ch. 45).
[69:5]
Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 263.
[70:1]
Volney: Researches in Anc't History, pp. 41, 42.
In Bell's
"Pantheon of the Gods and Demi-Gods of Antiquity," we read, under the
head of Ammon
or Hammon (the name of the Egyptian Jupiter, worshiped under the
figure of a
Ram), that: "Bacchus having subdued Asia, and passing with his army
through the
deserts of Africa, was in great want of water; but Jupiter, his
father,
assuming the shape of a Ram, led him to a fountain, where he refreshed
himself and
his army; in requital of which favor, Bacchus built there a temple
to Jupiter,
under the title of Ammon."
[70:2] Cadiz
(ancient Gades), being situated near the mouth of the
Mediterranean.
The first author who mentions the Pillars of Hercules is Pindar,
and he places
them there. (Chambers's Encyclo. "Hercules.")
[70:3]
Volney's Researches, p. 41. See also Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p.
357.
[70:4] See
Chambers's Encyclopćdia, Art. "Hercules." Cory's Ancient Fragments,
p. 36, note;
and Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 201.
[70:5]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Hercules."
[70:6] Vol.
i. plate cxxvii.
[71:1]
Monumental Christianity, p. 399.
[71:2] Śd.
Jud. p. 360, in Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 239.
[71:3]
"Rien de plus connu dans la fable que ses amours avec Omphale et
Iole."—L'Antiquité
Expliquée, vol. i. p. 224.
[71:4] The
Legend of Samson, p. 404.
[71:5] Vol.
i. plate cxxvii.
[71:6]
"Samson was remarkable for his long hair. The meaning of this trait in
the original
myth is easy to guess, and appears also from representations of the
Sun-god amongst
other peoples. These long hairs are the rays of the Sun." (Bible
for Learners,
i. 416.)
"The
beauty of the sun's rays is signified by the golden locks of Phoibos, over
which no
razor has ever passed; by the flowing hair which streams from the head
of Kephalos,
and falls over the shoulders of Perseus and Bellerophon." (Cox:
Aryan Mytho.,
vol. i. p. 107.)
[72:1] Hebrew
Mytho., pp. 137, 138.
[72:2] Cox:
Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 84.
[72:3] Tales
of Ancient Greece, p. xxix.
[72:4] The
Legend of Samson, p. 408.
[72:5] Cox:
Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 72.
[73:1] The
Legend of Samson, p. 406.
[73:2] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 237. Goldzhier: Hebrew Mythology, p.
22. The
Religion of Israel, p. 61. The Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 418.
Volney's Ruins,
p. 41, and Stanley: History of the Jewish Church, where he says:
"His
name, which Josephus interprets in the sense of 'strong,' was still more
characteristic.
He was 'the Sunny'—the bright and beaming, though wayward,
likeness of
the great luminary."
[73:3]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 237, and Volney's Researches, p. 43,
note.
[73:4] See
chapter ii.
[73:5] The
Religion of Israel, p. 61. "The yellow hair of Apollo was a symbol of
the solar
rays." (Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 679.)
[73:6] Bible
for Learners, vol. i. p. 414.
[73:7] Ibid.
p. 422.
[73:8]
Williams' Hinduism, pp. 108 and 167.
[74:1] Vol.
v. p. 270.
[74:2]
Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 155.
[74:3]
Steinthal: The Legend of Samson, p. 386.
[74:4]
Buckley: Cities of the World, 41, 42.
[74:5] Smith:
Assyrian Discoveries, p. 167, and Chaldean Account of Genesis, p.
174.
[74:6]
Assyrian Discoveries, p. 205, and Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 174.
[74:7]
Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 310.
[74:8] Ibid.
pp. 193, 194, 174.
[75:1] See
Tacitus: Annals, book ii. ch. lix.
[75:2]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 92.
[75:3] See
Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 153.
[76:1] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 94, 417, and 514.
[76:2] See
Cox: Aryan Mythology.
[76:3] See
vol. i. of Aryan Mythology, by Rev. G. W. Cox.
"Besides
the fabulous Hercules, the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, there was, in
ancient
times, no warlike nation who did not boast of its own particular
Hercules."
(Arthur Murphy, Translator of Tacitus.)
[Pg
77]CHAPTER IX.
JONAH
SWALLOWED BY A BIG FISH.
In the book
of Jonah, containing four chapters, we are told the word of the Lord
came unto
Jonah, saying: "Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against
it, for their
wickedness is come up against me."
Instead of
obeying this command Jonah sought to flee "from the presence of the
Lord,"
by going to Tarshish. For this purpose he went to Joppa, and there took
ship for
Tarshish. But the Lord sent a great wind, and there was a mighty
tempest, so
that the ship was likely to be broken.
The mariners
being afraid, they cried every one unto his God; and casting
lots—that
they might know which of them was the cause of the storm—the lot fell
upon Jonah,
showing him to be the guilty man.
The mariners
then said unto him; "What shall we do unto thee?" Jonah in reply
said,
"Take me up and cast me forth into the sea, for I know that for my sake
this great
tempest is upon you." So they took up Jonah, and cast him into the
sea, and the
sea ceased raging.
And the Lord
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the
belly of the
fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
out of the
fish's belly. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out
Jonah upon
the dry land.
The Lord
again spake unto Jonah and said:
"Go unto
Ninevah and preach unto it." So Jonah arose and went unto Ninevah,
according to
the command of the Lord, and preached unto it.
There is a
Hindoo fable, very much resembling this, to be found in the Somadeva
Bhatta, of a
person by the name of Saktideva who was swallowed by a huge fish,
and finally
came out unhurt. The story is as follows:
"There
was once a king's daughter who would marry no one [Pg 78]but the man who
had seen the
Golden City—of legendary fame—and Saktideva was in love with her;
so he went
travelling about the world seeking some one who could tell him where
this Golden
City was. In the course of his journeys he embarked on board a ship
bound for the
Island of Utsthala, where lived the King of the Fishermen, who,
Saktideva
hoped, would set him on his way. On the voyage there arose a great
storm and the
ship went to pieces, and a great fish swallowed Saktideva whole.
Then, driven
by the force of fate, the fish went to the Island of Utsthala, and
there the
servants of the King of the Fishermen caught it, and the king,
wondering at
its size, had it cut open, and Saktideva came out unhurt."[78:1]
In Grecian
fable, Hercules is said to have been swallowed by a whale, at a place
called Joppa,
and to have lain three days in his entrails.
Bernard de
Montfaucon, speaking of Jonah being swallowed by a whale, and
describing a
piece of Grecian sculpture representing Hercules standing by a huge
sea monster,
says:
"Some
ancients relate to the effect that Hercules was also swallowed by the
whale that
was watching Hesione, that he remained three days in his belly, and
that he came
out bald-pated after his sojourn there."[78:2]
Bouchet, in
his "Hist. d'Animal," tells us that:
"The
great fish which swallowed up Jonah, although it be called a whale (Matt.
xii. 40), yet
it was not a whale, properly so called, but a Dog-fish, called
Carcharias.
Therefore in the Grecian fable Hercules is said to have been
swallowed up
of a Dag, and to have lain three days in his entrails."[78:3]
Godfrey
Higgins says, on this subject:
"The
story of Jonas swallowed up by a whale, is nothing but part of the fiction
of Hercules,
described in the Heracleid or Labors of Hercules, of whom the same
story was
told, and who was swallowed up at the very same place, Joppa, and for
the same
period of time, three days. Lycophron says that Hercules was three
nights in the
belly of a fish."[78:4]
We have still
another similar story in that of "Arion the Musician," who, being
thrown
overboard, was caught on the back of a Dolphin and landed safe on shore.
The story is
related in "Tales of Ancient Greece," as follows:
Arion was a
Corinthian harper who had travelled in Sicily and
[Pg 79]Italy,
and had accumulated great wealth. Being desirous of again seeing
his native
city, he set sail from Taras for Corinth. The sailors in the ship,
having seen
the large boxes full of money which Arion had brought with him into
the ship,
made up their minds to kill him and take his gold and silver. So one
day when he
was sitting on the bow of the ship, and looking down on the dark
blue sea,
three or four of the sailors came to him and said they were going to
kill him. Now
Arion knew they said this because they wanted his money; so he
promised to
give them all he had if they would spare his life. But they would
not. Then he
asked them to let him jump into the sea. When they had given him
leave to do
this, Arion took one last look at the bright and sunny sky, and then
leaped into
the sea, and the sailors saw him no more. But Arion was not drowned
in the sea,
for a great fish called a dolphin was swimming by the ship when
Arion leaped
over; and it caught him on its back and swam away with him towards
Corinth. So
presently the fish came close to the shore and left Arion on the
beach, and
swam away again into the deep sea.[79:1]
There is also
a Persian legend to the effect that Jemshid was devoured by a
great monster
waiting for him at the bottom of the sea, but afterwards rises
again out of
the sea, like Jonah in the Hebrew, and Hercules in the Phenician
myth.[79:2]
This legend was also found in the myths of the New World.[79:3]
It was urged,
many years ago, by Rosenmüller—an eminent German divine and
professor of
theology—and other critics, that the miracle recorded in the book
of Jonah is
not to be regarded as an historical fact, "but only as an allegory,
founded on
the Phenician myth of Hercules rescuing Hesione from the sea monster
by leaping
himself into its jaws, and for three days and three nights continuing
to tear its
entrails."[79:4]
That the
story is an allegory, and that it, as well as that of Saktideva,
Hercules and
the rest, are simply different versions of the same myth, the
significance
of which is the alternate swallowing up and casting forth of Day,
or the Sun,
by Night, is now all but universally admitted by scholars. The Day,
or the Sun,
is swallowed up by Night, to be set free again at dawn, and from
time to time
suffers a like but shorter durance in the maw of the eclipse and
the
storm-cloud.[79:5]
Professor
Goldzhier says:
[Pg
80]"The most prominent mythical characteristic of the story of Jonah is
his
celebrated
abode in the sea in the belly of a whale. This trait is eminently
Solar. . . .
As on occasion of the storm the storm-dragon or the storm-serpent
swallows the
Sun, so when he sets, he (Jonah, as a personification of the Sun)
is swallowed
by a mighty fish, waiting for him at the bottom of the sea. Then,
when he
appears again on the horizon, he is spit out on the shore by the
sea-monster."[80:1]
The Sun was
called Jona, as appears from Gruter's inscriptions, and other
sources.[80:2]
In the
Vedas—the four sacred books of the Hindoos—when Day and Night, Sun and
Darkness, are
opposed to each other, the one is designated Red, the other
Black.[80:3]
The Red Sun
being swallowed up by the Dark Earth at Night—as it apparently is
when it sets
in the west—to be cast forth again at Day, is also illustrated in
like manner.
Jonah, Hercules and others personify the Sun, and a huge Fish
represents
the Earth.[80:4] The Earth represented as a huge Fish is one of the
most
prominent ideas of the Polynesian mythology.[80:5]
At other
times, instead of a Fish, we have a great raving Wolf, who comes to
devour its
victim and extinguish the Sun-light.[80:6] The Wolf is particularly
distinguished
in ancient Scandinavian mythology, being employed as an emblem of
the
Destroying Power, which attempts to destroy the Sun.[80:7] This is
illustrated
in the story of Little Red Riding-Hood (the Sun)[80:8] who is
devoured by
the great Black Wolf (Night) and afterwards comes out unhurt.[80:9]
The story of
Little Red Riding-Hood is mutilated in the English version. The
original
story was that the little maid, in her shining Red Cloak, was swallowed
by the great
Black Wolf, and that she came out safe and sound when the hunters
cut open the
sleeping beast.[80:10]
[Pg 81]In
regard to these heroes remaining three days and three nights in the
bowels of the
Fish, they represent the Sun at the Winter Solstice. From December
22d to the
25th—that is, for three days and three nights—the Sun remains in the
Lowest
Regions, in the bowels of the Earth, in the belly of the Fish; it is then
cast forth
and renews its career.
Thus, we see
that the story of Jonah being swallowed by a big fish, meant
originally
the Sun swallowed up by Night, and that it is identical with the
well-known
nursery-tale. How such legends are transformed from intelligible into
unintelligible
myths, is very clearly illustrated by Prof. Max Müller, who, in
speaking of
"the comparison of the different forms of Aryan Religion and
Mythology,"
in India, Persia, Greece, Italy and Germany, says:
"In each
of these nations there was a tendency to change the original conception
of divine
powers; to misunderstand the many names given to these powers, and to
misinterpret
the praises addressed to them. In this manner some of the divine
names were
changed into half-divine, half-human heroes, and at last the myths
which were
true and intelligible as told originally of the Sun, or the Dawn, or
the Storms,
were turned into legends or fables too marvellous to be believed of
common
mortals. This process can be watched in India, in Greece, and in Germany.
The same
story, or nearly the same, is told of gods, of heroes, and of men. The
divine myth
became an heroic legend, and the heroic legend fades away into a
nursery tale.
Our nursery tales have well been called the modern patois of the
ancient
sacred mythology of the Aryan race."[81:1]
How striking
are these words; how plainly they illustrate the process by which
the story,
that was true and intelligible as told originally of the Day being
swallowed up
by Night, or the Sun being swallowed up by the Earth, was
transformed
into a legend or fable, too marvellous to be believed by common
mortals. How
the "divine myth" became an "heroic legend," and how the
heroic
legend faded
away into a "nursery tale."
In regard to
Jonah's going to the city of Ninevah, and preaching unto the
inhabitants,
we believe that the old "Myth of Civilization," [Pg 82]so
called,[82:1]
is partly interwoven here, and that, in this respect, he is
nothing more
than the Indian Fish Avatar of Vishnou, or the Chaldean Oannes. At
his first
Avatar, Vishnou is alleged to have appeared to humanity in form like a
fish,[82:2]
or half-man and half-fish, just as Oannes and Dagon were represented
among the
Chaldeans and other nations. In the temple of Rama, in India, there is
a
representation of Vishnou which answers perfectly to that of Dagon.[82:3] Mr.
Maurice, in
his "Hist. Hindostan," has proved the identity of the Syrian Dagon
and the
Indian Fish Avatar, and concludes by saying:
"From
the foregoing and a variety of parallel circumstances, I am inclined to
think that
the Chaldean Oannes, the Phenician and Philistian Dagon, and the
Pisces of the
Syrian and Egyptian Zodiac, were the same deity with the Indian
Vishnu."[82:4]
In the old
mythological remains of the Chaldeans, compiled by Berosus, Abydenus,
and
Polyhistor, there is an account of one Oannes, a fish-god, who rendered
great service
to mankind.[82:5] This being is said to have come out of the
Erythraean
Sea.[82:6] This is evidently the Sun rising out of the sea, as it
apparently
does, in the East.[82:7]
Prof. Goldzhier,
speaking of Oannes, says:
"That
this founder of civilization has a Solar character, like similar heroes in
all other
nations, is shown . . . in the words of Berosus, who says: 'During the
day-time
Oannes held intercourse with man, but when the Sun set, Oannes fell
into the sea,
where he used to pass the night.' Here, evidently, only the Sun
can be meant,
who, in the evening, dips into the sea, and comes forth again in
the morning,
and passes the day on the dry land in the company of men."[82:8]
Dagon was
sometimes represented as a man emerging from a fish's mouth, and
sometimes as
half-man and half-fish.[82:9] It was believed that he came in a
ship, and
taught the people. Ancient history abounds with such mythological
personages.[82:10]
There was also a Durga, a fish deity, among the Hindoos,
represented
as a full grown man emerging from a fish's mouth[82:9] The
Philistines
[Pg 83]worshiped Dagon, and in Babylonian Mythology Odakon is
applied to a
fish-like being, who rose from the waters of the Red Sea as one of
the
benefactors of men.[83:1]
On the coins
of Ascalon, where she was held in great honor, the goddess Derceto
or Atergatis
is represented as a woman with her lower extremities like a fish.
This is
Semiramis, who appeared at Joppa as a mermaid. She is simply a
personification
of the Moon, who follows the course of the Sun. At times she
manifests
herself to the eyes of men, at others she seeks concealment in the
Western
flood.[83:2]
The Sun-god
Phoibos traverses the sea in the form of a fish, and imparts lessons
of wisdom and
goodness when he has come forth from the green depths. All these
powers or
qualities are shared by Proteus in Hellenic story, as well as by the
fish-god,
Dagon or Oannes.[83:3]
In the Iliad
and Odyssey, Atlas is brought into close connection with Helios,
the bright
god, the Latin Sol, and our Sun. In these poems he rises every
morning from
a beautiful lake by the deep-flowing stream of Ocean, and having
accomplished
his journey across the heavens, plunges again into the Western
waters.[83:4]
The ancient
Mexicans and Peruvians had likewise semi-fish gods.[83:5]
Jonah then,
is like these other personages, in so far as they are all
personifications
of the Sun; they all come out of the sea; they are all
represented
as a man emerging from a fish's mouth; and they are all benefactors
of mankind.
We believe, therefore, that it is one and the same myth, whether
Oannes,
Joannes, or Jonas,[83:6] differing to a certain extent among different
nations, just
as we find to be the case with other legends. This we have just
seen
illustrated in the story of "Little Red Riding-Hood," which is
considerably
mutilated in
the English version.
[Pg 84]Fig.
No. 5 is a representation of Dagon, intended to illustrate a
creature half-man
and half-fish; or, perhaps, a man emerging from a fish's
mouth. It is
taken from Layard. Fig. No. 6[84:1] is a representation of the
Indian Avatar
of Vishnou, coming forth from the fish.[84:2] It would answer just
as well for a
representation of Jonah, as it does for the Hindoo divinity. It
should be
noticed that in both of these, the god has a crown on his head,
surmounted
with a triple ornament, both of which had evidently the same meaning,
i. e., an
emblem of the trinity.[84:3] The Indian Avatar being represented with
four arms,
evidently means that he is god of the whole world, his four arms
extending to
the four corners of the world. The circle, which is seen in one
hand, is an
emblem of eternal reward. The shell, with its eight convolutions, is
intended to
show the place in the number of the cycles which he occupied. The
book and
sword are to show that he ruled both in the right of the book and of
the
sword.[84:4]
FOOTNOTES:
[78:1] Tylor:
Early Hist. Mankind, pp. 344, 345.
[78:2] "En
effet, quelques anciens disent qu' Hercule fut aussi devorŕ par la
beleine qui
gurdoit Hesione, qu'il demeura trois jours dans son ventre, et qu'il
sortit chauve
de ce sejour." (L'Antiquité Expliqueé, vol. i. p. 204.)
[78:3]
Bouchet: Hist. d'Animal, in Anac., vol. i. p. 240.
[78:4]
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 638. See also Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i.
p. 306, and
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Jonah."
[79:1] Tales
of Ancient Greece, p. 296.
[79:2] See
Hebrew Mythology, p. 203.
[79:3] See
Tylor's Early Hist. Mankind, and Primitive Culture, vol. i.
[79:4]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. Jonah.
[79:5] See
Fiske: Myths and Myth Makers, p. 77, and note; and Tylor: Primitive
Culture, i.
302.
[80:1]
Goldzhier: Hebrew Mythology, pp. 102, 103.
[80:2] This
is seen from the following, taken from Pictet: "Du Culte des
Carabi,"
p. 104, and quoted by Higgins: Anac., vol. i. p. 650: "Vallancy dit que
Ionn étoit le
męme que Baal. En Gallois Jon, le Seigneur, Dieu, la cause
prémičre. En
Basque Jawna, Jon, Jona, &c., Dieu, et Seigneur, Maître. Les
Scandinaves
appeloient le Soleil John. . . . Une des inscriptions de Gruter
montre ques
les Troyens adoroient le męme astre sous le nom de Jona. En Persan
le Soleil est
appelč Jawnah." Thus we see that the Sun was called Jonah, by
different
nations of antiquity.
[80:3] See
Goldzhier: Hebrew Mythology, p. 148.
[80:4] See
Tylor: Early History of Mankind, p. 845, and Goldzhier: Hebrew
Mythology,
pp. 102, 103.
[80:5] See
Tylor: Early History of Mankind, p. 345.
[80:6] Fiske:
Myths and Myth Makers, p. 77.
[80:7] See
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, pp. 88, 89, and Mallet's Northern
Antiquities.
[80:8] In
ancient Scandinavian mythology, the Sun is personified in the form of
a beautiful
maiden. (See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 458.)
[80:9] See
Fiske: Myths and Myth Makers, p. 77. Bunce: Fairy Tales, 161.
[80:10]
Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 307.
"The
story of Little Red Riding-Hood, as we call her, or Little Red-Cap, came
from the same
(i. e., the ancient Aryan) source, and refers to the Sun and the
Night."
"One of
the fancies of the most ancient Aryan or Hindoo stories was that there
was a great
dragon that was trying to devour the Sun, and to prevent him from
shining upon
the earth and filling it with brightness and life and beauty, and
that Indra,
the Sun-god, killed the dragon. Now, this is the meaning of Little
Red
Riding-Hood, as it is told in our nursery tales. Little Red Riding-Hood is
the evening
Sun, which is always described as red or golden; the old grandmother
is the earth,
to whom the rays of the Sun bring warmth and comfort. The
wolf—which is
a well-known figure for the clouds and darkness of night—is the
dragon in
another form. First he devours the grandmother; that is, he wraps the
earth in thick
clouds, which the evening Sun is not strong enough to pierce
through.
Then, with the darkness of night, he swallows up the evening Sun
itself, and
all is dark and desolate. Then, as in the German tale, the
night-thunder
and the storm-winds are represented by the loud snoring of the
wolf; and
then the huntsman, the morning Sun, comes in all his strength and
majesty, and
chases away the night-clouds and kills the wolf, and revives old
Grandmother
Earth, and brings Little Red Riding-Hood to life again." (Bunce,
Fairy Tales,
their Origin and Meaning, p. 161.)
[81:1]
Müller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 260.
[82:1] See
Goldzhier's Hebrew Mythology, p. 198, et seq.
[82:2] See
Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 277.
[82:3] See
Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 259. Also, Fig. No. 5, next page.
[82:4] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. i. pp. 418-419.
[82:5] See
Pilchard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 190. Bible for Learners, vol. i. p.
87. Higgins:
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 646. Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 57.
[82:6] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 646. Smith: Chaldean Account of
Genesis, p.
39, and Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 57.
[82:7]
Civilizing gods, who diffuse intelligence and instruct barbarians, are
also Solar
Deities. Among these Oannes takes his place, as the Sun-god, giving
knowledge and
civilization. (Rev. S. Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 367.)
[82:8]
Goldzhier: Hebrew Mythology, pp. 214, 215.
[82:9] See
Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 111.
[82:10] See
Chamber's Encyclo., art "Dagon."
[83:1] See
Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, and Chambers's Encyclo., art.
"Dagon"
in both.
[83:2] See
Baring-Gould's Curious Myths.
[83:3] See
Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 26.
[83:4] Ibid.
p. 38.
[83:5]
Curious Myths, p. 372.
[83:6] Since
writing the above we find that Mr. Bryant, in his "Analysis of
Ancient
Mythology" (vol. ii. p. 291), speaking of the mystical nature of the
name John,
which is the same as Jonah, says: "The prophet who was sent upon an
embassy to
the Ninevites, is styled Ionas: a title probably bestowed upon him as
a messenger
of the Deity. The great Patriarch who preached righteousness to the
Antediluvians,
is styled Oan and Oannes, which is the same as Jonah."
[84:1] From
Maurice: Hist. Hindostan, vol. i. p. 495.
[84:2]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 634. See also, Calmet's Fragments, 2d
Hundred, p.
78.
[84:3] See
the chapter on "The Trinity," in part second.
[84:4] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 640.
[Pg
85]CHAPTER X.
CIRCUMCISION.
In the words
of the Rev. Dr. Giles:
"The
rite of circumcision must not be passed over in any work that concerns the
religion and
literature of that (the Jewish) people."[85:1]
The first
mention of Circumcision, in the Bible, occurs in Genesis,[85:2] where
God is said
to have commanded the Israelites to perform this rite, and thereby
establish a
covenant between him and his chosen people:
"This is
my covenant (said the Lord), which ye shall keep, between me and you
and thy seed
after thee; every male child among you shall be circumcised."
"We need
not doubt," says the Rev. Dr. Giles, "that a Divine command was given
to Abraham
that all his posterity should practice the rite of
circumcision."[85:3]
Such may be
the case. If we believe that the Lord of the Universe communes with
man, we need
not doubt this; yet, we are compelled to admit that nations other
than the
Hebrews practiced this rite. The origin of it, however, as practiced
among other
nations, has never been clearly ascertained. It has been maintained
by some
scholars that this rite drew its origin from considerations of health
and
cleanliness, which seems very probable, although doubted by many.[85:4]
Whatever may
have been its origin, it is certain that it was practiced by many
of the
ancient Eastern nations, who never came in contact with the Hebrews, in
early times,
and, therefore, could not have learned it from them.
The Egyptians
practiced circumcision at a very early period,[85:5] [Pg 86]at
least as
early as the fourth dynasty—pyramid one—and therefore, long before the
time assigned
for Joseph's entry into Egypt, from whom some writers have claimed
the Egyptians
learned it.[86:1]
In the
decorative pictures of Egyptian tombs, one frequently meets with persons
on whom the
denudation of the prepuce is manifested.[86:2]
On a stone
found at Thebes, there is a representation of the circumcision of
Ramses II. A
mother is seen holding her boy's arms back, while the operator
kneels in
front.[86:3] All Egyptian priests were obliged to be
circumcised,[86:4]
and Pythagoras had to submit to it before being admitted to
the Egyptian
sacerdotal mysteries.[86:5]
Herodotus,
the Greek historian, says:
"As this
practice can be traced both in Egypt and Ethiopia, to the remotest
antiquity, it
is not possible to say which first introduced it. The Phenicians
and Syrians
of Palestine acknowledge that they borrowed it from Egypt."[86:6]
It has been
recognized among the Kaffirs and other tribes of Africa.[86:7] It
was practiced
among the Fijians and Samoans of Polynesia, and some races of
Australia.[86:8]
The Suzees and the Mandingoes circumcise their women.[86:9] The
Assyrians,
Colchins, Phenicians, and others, practiced it.[86:10] It has been
from time
immemorial a custom among the Abyssinians, though, at the present
time,
Christians.[86:11]
The antiquity
of the custom may be assured from the fact of the New Hollanders,
(never known
to civilized nations until a few years ago) having practiced
it.[86:12]
The
Troglodytes on the shore of the Red Sea, the Idumeans, Ammonites, Moabites
and
Ishmaelites, had the practice of circumcision.[86:11]
The ancient
Mexicans also practiced this rite.[86:13] It was also [Pg 87]found
among the
Amazon tribes of South America.[87:1] These Indians, as well as some
African
tribes, were in the habit of circumcising their women. Among the Campas,
the women
circumcised themselves, and a man would not marry a woman who was not
circumcised.[87:2]
They performed this singular rite upon arriving at the age of
puberty.[87:3]
Jesus of
Nazareth was circumcised,[87:4] and had he been really the founder of
the Christian
religion, so-called, it would certainly be incumbent on all
Christians to
be circumcised as he was, and to observe that Jewish law which he
observed, and
which he was so far from abrogating, that he declared: "heaven and
earth shall
pass away" ere "one jot or one tittle" of that law should be
dispensed
with.[87:5] But the Christians are not followers of the religion of
Jesus.[87:6]
They are followers of the religion of the Pagans. This, we believe,
we shall be
able to show in Part Second of this work.
FOOTNOTES:
[85:1] Giles:
Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. i. p. 249.
[85:2]
Genesis, xvii. 10.
[85:3] Giles:
Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. i. p. 251.
[85:4] Mr.
Herbert Spencer shows (Principles of Sociology, pp. 290, 295) that
the
sacrificing of a part of the body as a religious offering to their deity,
was, and is a
common practice among savage tribes. Circumcision may have
originated in
this way. And Mr. Wake, speaking of it, says: "The origin of this
custom has
not yet, so far as I am aware, been satisfactorily explained. The
idea that,
under certain climatic conditions, circumcision is necessary for
cleanliness
and comfort, does not appear to be well founded, as the custom is
not universal
even within the tropics." (Phallism in Ancient Religs., p. 36.)
[85:5]
"Other men leave their private parts as they are formed by nature, except
those who
have learned otherwise from them; but the Egyptians are circumcised. .
. . They are
circumcised for the sake of cleanliness, thinking it better to be
clean than
handsome." (Herodotus, Book ii. ch. 36.)
[86:1] We
have it also on the authority of Sir J. G. Wilkinson, that: "this
custom was
established long before the arrival of Joseph in Egypt," and that
"this is
proved by the ancient monuments."
[86:2]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, pp. 414, 415.
[86:3] Ibid.
p. 415.
[86:4] Ibid.
and Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 89.
[86:5]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 415.
[86:6]
Herodotus: Book ii. ch. 36.
[86:7] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 114. Amberly: Analysis Religious
Belief, p.
67, and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 309.
[86:8]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 414, and Amberly's Analysis, pp. 63, 73.
[86:9]
Amberly: Analysis of Relig. Belief, p. 73.
[86:10] Bonwick:
Egyptian Belief, p. 414: Amberly's Analysis, p. 63; Prog.
Relig. Ideas,
vol. i. p. 163, and Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. pp. 18, 19.
[86:11]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 414.
[86:12]
Kendrick's Egypt, quoted by Dunlap; Mysteries of Adoni, p. 146.
[86:13]
Amberly's Analysis, p. 63, Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 309, and
Acosta, ii.
369.
[87:1] Orton:
The Andes and the Amazon, p. 322.
[87:2] This
was done by cutting off the clytoris.
[87:3] Orton:
The Andes and the Amazon, p. 322. Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 563,
and Bible for
Learners, vol. i. p. 319.
"At the
time of the conquest, the Spaniards found circumcised nations in Central
America, and
on the Amazon, the Tecuna and Manaos tribes still observe this
practice. In
the South Seas it has been met with among three different races,
but it is
performed in a somewhat different manner. On the Australian continent,
not all, but
the majority of tribes, practiced circumcision. Among the Papuans,
the
inhabitants of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides adhere to this custom. In
his third
voyage, Captain Cook found it among the inhabitants of the Friendly
Islands, in
particular at Tongataboo, and the younger Pritchard bears witness to
its practice
in the Samoa or Fiji groups." (Oscar Peschel: The Races of Man, p.
22.)
[87:4] Luke,
ii. 21.
[87:5]
Matthew, v. 18.
[87:6] In
using the words "the religion of Jesus," we mean simply the religion
of Israel. We
believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, in every sense of the
word, and
that he did not establish a new religion, or preach a new doctrine, in
any way,
shape, or form. "The preacher from the Mount, the prophet of the
Beatitudes,
does but repeat with persuasive lips what the law-givers of his race
proclaimed in
mighty tones of command." (See chap. xi.)
[Pg
88]CHAPTER XI.
CONCLUSION OF
PART FIRST.
There are
many other legends recorded in the Old Testament which might be
treated at
length, but, as we have considered the principal and most important,
and as we
have so much to examine in Part Second, which treats of the New
Testament, we
shall take but a passing glance at a few others.
In Genesis
xli. is to be found the story of
PHARAOH'S TWO
DREAMS,
which is to
the effect that Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by a river, and saw
come up out
of it seven fat kine, and seven lean kine, which devoured the fat
ones. He then
dreamed that he saw seven good ears of corn, on one stalk, spring
up out of the
ground. This was followed by seven poor ears, which sprang up
after them,
and devoured the good ears.
Pharaoh, upon
awaking from his sleep, and recalling the dreams which he dreamed,
was greatly
troubled, "and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt,
and all the
wise men thereof, and Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was
none that
could interpret them unto Pharaoh." Finally, his chief butler tells
him of one
Joseph, who was skilled in interpreting dreams, and Pharaoh orders
him to be
brought before his presence. He then repeats his dreams to Joseph, who
immediately
interprets them to the great satisfaction of the king.
A very
similar story is related in the Buddhist Fo-pen-hing—one of their sacred
books, which
has been translated by Prof. Samuel Beal—which, in substance, is as
follows:
Suddhôdana
Raja dreamed seven different dreams in one night, when, "awaking from
his sleep,
and recalling the visions he had seen, was greatly troubled, so that
the very hair
on his body stood erect, and his limbs trembled." He forthwith
summoned to
his side, within his palace, all the great ministers of his council,
and [Pg
89]exhorted them in these words: "Most honorable Sirs! be it known to
you that
during the present night I have seen in my dreams strange and potent
visions—there
were seven distinct dreams, which I will now recite (he recites
the dreams).
I pray you, honorable Sirs! let not these dreams escape your
memories, but
in the morning, when I am seated in my palace, and surrounded by
my
attendants, let them be brought to my mind (that they may be
interpreted.)"
At morning
light, the king, seated in the midst of his attendants, issued his
commands to
all the Brahmans, interpreters of dreams, within his kingdom, in
these terms,
"All ye men of wisdom, explain for me by interpretation the meaning
of the dreams
I have dreamed in my sleep."
Then all the
wise Brahmans, interpreters of dreams, began to consider, each one
in his own
heart, what the meaning of these visions could be; till at last they
addressed the
king, and said: "Mahâ-raja! be it known to you that we never
before have heard
such dreams as these, and we cannot interpret their meaning."
On hearing
this, Suddhôdana was very troubled in his heart, and exceeding
distressed.
He thought within himself: "Who is there that can satisfy these
doubts of
mine?"
Finally a
"holy one," called T'so-Ping, being present in the inner palace, and
perceiving
the sorrow and distress of the king, assumed the appearance of a
Brahman, and
under this form he stood at the gate of the king's palace, and
cried out,
saying: "I am able fully to interpret the dreams of Suddhôdana Râja,
and with
certainty to satisfy all the doubts."
The king
ordered him to be brought before his presence, and then related to him
his dreams.
Upon hearing them, T'so-Ping immediately interpreted them, to the
great satisfaction
of the king.[89:1]
In the second
chapter of Exodus we read of
MOSES THROWN
INTO THE NILE,
which is done
by command of the king.
There are
many counterparts to this in ancient mythology; among them may be
mentioned
that of the infant Perseus, who was, by command of the king (Acrisius
of Argos),
shut up in a chest, and cast into the sea. He was found by one
Dictys, who
took great care of the child, and—as Pharaoh's daughter did with the
child
Moses—educated him.[89:2]
[Pg 90]The
infant Bacchus was confined in a chest, by order of Cadmus, King of
Thebes, and
thrown into the Nile.[90:1] He, like Moses, had two mothers, one by
nature, the
other by adoption.[90:2] He was also, like Moses, represented
horned.[90:3]
Osiris was
also confined in a chest, and thrown into the river Nile.[90:4]
When Osiris
was shut into the coffer, and cast into the river, he floated to
Phenicia, and
was there received under the name of Adonis. Isis (his mother, or
wife)
wandered in quest of him, came to Byblos, and seated herself by a fountain
in silence
and tears. She was then taken by the servants of the royal palace,
and made to
attend on the young prince of the land. In like manner, Demeter,
after
Aidoneus had ravished her daughter, went in pursuit, reached Eleusis,
seated
herself by a well, conversed with the daughters of the queen, and became
nurse to her
son.[90:5] So likewise, when Moses was put into the ark made of
bulrushes,
and cast into the Nile, he was found by the daughters of Pharaoh, and
his own mother
became his nurse.[90:6] This is simply another version of the
same myth.
In the second
chapter of the second book of Kings, we read of
ELIJAH
ASCENDING TO HEAVEN.
There are
many counterparts to this, in heathen mythology.
Hindoo sacred
writings relate many such stories—how some of their Holy Ones were
taken up
alive into heaven—and impressions on rocks are shown, said to be
foot-prints,
made when they ascended.[90:7]
According to
Babylonian mythology, Xisuthrus was translated to heaven.[90:8]
The story of
Elijah ascending to heaven in a chariot of fire may also be
compared to
the fiery, flame-red chariot of Ushas.[90:9] This idea of some Holy
One ascending
to heaven without dying was found in the ancient mythology of the
Chinese.[90:10]
The story of
DAVID KILLING
GOLIATH,
by throwing a
stone and hitting him in the forehead,[90:11] may be [Pg
91]compared
to the story of Thor, the Scandinavian hero, throwing a hammer at
Hrungnir, and
striking him in the forehead.[91:1]
We read in
Numbers[91:2] that
BALAAM'S ASS
SPOKE
to his
master, and reproved him.
In ancient
fables or stories in which animals play prominent parts, each
creature is
endowed with the power of speech. This idea was common in the whole
of Western
Asia and Egypt. It is found in various Egyptian and Chaldean
stories.[91:3]
Homer has recorded that the horse of Achilles spoke to him.[91:4]
We have also
a very wonderful story in that of
JOSHUA'S
COMMAND TO THE SUN.
This story is
related in the tenth chapter of the book of Joshua, and is to the
effect that
the Israelites, who were at battle with the Amorites, wished the day
to be
lengthened that they might continue their slaughter, whereupon Joshua
said:
"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of
Ajalon. And
the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had
avenged
themselves upon their enemies. . . . And there was no day like that
before it or
after it."
There are
many stories similar to this, to be found among other nations of
antiquity. We
have, as an example, that which is related of Bacchus in the
Orphic hymns,
wherein it says that this god-man arrested the course of the sun
and the
moon.[91:5]
An Indian
legend relates that the sun stood still to hear the pious ejaculations
of Arjouan
after the death of Crishna.[91:6]
A holy
Buddhist by the name of Mâtanga prevented the sun, at his command, from
rising, and
bisected the moon.[91:7] Arresting the course of the sun was a
common thing
among the disciples of Buddha.[91:8]
The Chinese
also, had a legend of the sun standing still,[91:9] and a legend was
found among
the Ancient Mexicans to the effect that one of their holy persons
commanded the
sun to stand still, which command was obeyed.[91:10]
[Pg 92]We
shall now endeavor to answer the question which must naturally arise
in the minds
of all who see, for the first time, the similarity in the legends
of the
Hebrews and those of other nations, namely: have the Hebrews copied from
other
nations, or, have other nations copied from the Hebrews? To answer this
question we
shall; first, give a brief account or history of the Pentateuch and
other books
of the Old Testament from which we have taken legends, and show
about what
time they were written; and, second, show that other nations were
possessed of
these legends long before that time, and that the Jews copied from
them.
The
Pentateuch is ascribed, in our modern translations, to Moses, and he is
generally
supposed to be the author. This is altogether erroneous, as Moses had
nothing
whatever to do with these five books. Bishop Colenso, speaking of this,
says:
"The
books of the Pentateuch are never ascribed to Moses in the inscriptions of
Hebrew
manuscripts, or in printed copies of the Hebrew Bible. Nor are they
styled the
'Books of Moses' in the Septuagint[92:1] or Vulgate,[92:2] but only
in our modern
translations, after the example of many eminent Fathers of the
Church, who,
with the exception of Jerome, and, perhaps, Origen, were, one and
all of them,
very little acquainted with the Hebrew language, and still less
with its
criticism."[92:3]
The author of
"The Religion of Israel," referring to this subject, says:
"The
Jews who lived after the Babylonish Captivity, and the Christians following
their
examples, ascribed these books (the Pentateuch) to Moses; and for many
centuries the
notion was cherished that he had really written them. But strict
and impartial
investigation has shown that this opinion must be given up; and
that nothing
in the whole Law really comes from Moses himself except the Ten
Commandments.
And even these were not delivered by him in the same form as we
find them
now. If we still call these books by his name, it is only because the
Israelites
always thought of him as their first and greatest law-giver, and the
actual
authors grouped all their narratives and laws around his figure, and
associated
them with his name."[92:4]
As we cannot
go into an extended account, and show how this is known, we will
simply say
that it is principally by internal evidence that these facts are
ascertained.[92:5]
[Pg 93]Now
that we have seen that Moses did not write the books of the
Pentateuch,
our next endeavor will be to ascertain when they were written, and
by whom.
We can say
that they were not written by any one person, nor were they written
at the same
time.
We can trace
three principal redactions of the Pentateuch, that is to say, the
material was
worked over, and re-edited, with modifications and additions, by
different
people, at three distinct epochs.[93:1]
The two principal
writers are generally known as the Jehovistic and the
Elohistic. We
have—in speaking of the "Eden Myth" and the legend of the
"Deluge"—already
alluded to this fact, and have illustrated how these writers'
narratives
conflict with each other.
The
Jehovistic writer is supposed to have been a prophet, who, it would seem,
was anxious
to give Israel a history. He begins at Genesis, ii. 4, with a short
account, of
the "Creation," and then he carries the story on regularly until the
Israelites
enter Canaan. It is to him that we are indebted for the charming
pictures of
the patriarchs. He took these from other writings, or from the
popular
legends.[93:2]
About 725 B.
C. the Israelites were conquered by Salmanassar, King of Assyria,
and many of
them were carried away captives. Their place was supplied by
Assyrian
colonists from Babylon, Persia, and other places.[93:3] This fact is of
the greatest
importance, and should not be forgotten, as we find that the first
of the three
writers of the Pentateuch, spoken of above, wrote about this time,
and the
Israelites heard, from the colonists from Babylon, Persia, and other
places—for
the first time—many of the legends which this writer wove into the
fabulous
history which he wrote, especially the accounts of the Creation and the
Deluge.
The
Pentateuch remained in this, its first form, until the year 620 B. C. Then a
certain
priest of marked prophetic sympathies wrote a book of law which has come
down to us in
Deuteronomy, iv. 44, to xxvi., and xxviii. Here we find the
demands which
the Mosaic party at that day were making thrown into the form of
laws. It was
by King Josiah that this book was first introduced and proclaimed
as
authoritative.[93:4] It was soon afterwards wove into the work of the first
Pentateuchian
writer, and at the same time [Pg 94]"a few new passages" were
added, some
of which related to Joshua, the successor of Moses.[94:1]
At this
period in Israel's history, Jehovah had become almost forgotten, and
"other
gods" had taken his place.[94:2] The Mosaic party, so called—who
worshiped
Jehovah exclusively—were in the minority, but when King Amon—who was a
worshiper of
Moloch—died, and was succeeded by his son Josiah, a change
immediately
took place. This young prince, who was only eight years old at the
death of his
father, the Mosaic party succeeded in winning over to their
interests. In
the year 621 B. C., Josiah, now in the eighteenth year of his
reign, began
a thorough reformation which completely answered to the ideas of
the Mosaic
party.[94:3]
It was during
this time that the second Pentateuchian writer wrote, and he makes
Moses speak
as the law-giver. This writer was probably Hilkiah, who claimed to
have found a
book, written by Moses, in the temple,[94:4] although it had only
just been
drawn up.[94:5]
The principal
objections which were brought against the claims of Hilkiah, but
which are not
needed in the present age of inquiry, was that Shaphan and Josiah
read it off,
not as if it were an old book, but as though it had been recently
written, when
any person who is acquainted, in the slightest degree, with
language,
must know that a man could not read off, at once, a book written eight
hundred years
before. The phraseology would necessarily be so altered by time as
to render it
comparatively unintelligible.
We must now
turn to the third Pentateuchian writer, whose writings were
published 444
b. c.
At that time
Ezra (or Ezdras) added to the work of his two predecessors a series
of laws and
narratives which had been drawn up by some of the priests in
Babylon.[94:6]
This "series of laws and narratives," which was written by "some
of the
(Israelitish) priests in Babylon," was called "The Book of
Origins"
(probably
containing the Babylonian account of the "Origin of Things," or the
"Creation").
Ezra brought the book from Babylon to Jerusalem. He made some
modifications
in it and constituted it a code of law for Israel, dove-tailing it
into those
parts of the Pentateuch which existed before. A few alterations and
additions
were [Pg 95]subsequently made, but these are of minor importance, and
we may fairly
say that Ezra put the Pentateuch into the form in which we have it
(about 444 B.
C.).
These
priestly passages are partly occupied with historical matter, comprising a
very free
account of things from the creation of the world to the arrival of
Israel in
Canaan. Everything is here presented from the priestly point of view;
some events,
elsewhere recorded, are touched up in the priestly spirit, and
others are
entirely invented.[95:1]
It was the
belief of the Jews, asserted by the Pirke Aboth (Sayings of the
Fathers), one
of the oldest books of the Talmud,[95:2] as well as other Jewish
records, that
Ezra, acting in accordance with a divine commission, re-wrote the
Old
Testament, the manuscripts of which were said to have been lost in the
destruction
of the first temple, when Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem.[95:3] This
we know could
not have been the case. The fact that Ezra wrote—adding to, and
taking from the
already existing books of the Pentateuch—was probably the
foundation
for this tradition. The account of it is to be found in the
Apocryphal
book of Esdras, a book deemed authentic by the Greek Church.
Dr. Knappert,
speaking of this, says:
"For
many centuries, both the Christians and the Jews supposed that Ezra had
brought
together the sacred writings of his people, united them in one whole,
and
introduced them as a book given by the Spirit of God—a Holy Scripture.
"The
only authority for this supposition was a very modern and altogether
untrustworthy
tradition. The historical and critical studies of our times have
been
emancipated from the influence of this tradition, and the most ancient
statements
with regard to the subject have been hunted up and compared together.
These
statements are, indeed, scanty and incomplete, and many a detail is still
obscure; but
the main facts have been completely ascertained.
"Before
the Babylonish captivity, Israel had no sacred writings. There were
certain laws,
prophetic writings, and a few historical books, but no one had
ever thought
of ascribing binding and divine authority to these documents.
"Ezra
brought the priestly law with him from Babylon, altering it and
amalgamating
it with the narratives and laws already in existence, and thus
produced the
Pentateuch in pretty much the same form (though not quite, as we
shall show)
as we still have it. These books got the name of the 'Law of Moses,'
or simply the
'Law.' Ezra introduced them into Israel (B. C. 444), and gave them
binding
authority, and from that time forward they were considered
divine."[95:4]
From the time
of Ezra until the year 287 B. C., when the Pentateuch was
translated
into Greek by order of Ptolemy [Pg 96]Philadelphus, King of Egypt,
these books
evidently underwent some changes. This the writer quoted above
admits, in
saying:
"Later
still (viz., after the time of Ezra), a few more changes and additions
were made,
and so the Pentateuch grew into its present form."[96:1]
In answer to
those who claim that the Pentateuch was written by one person,
Bishop
Colenso says:
"It is
certainly inconceivable that if the Pentateuch be the production of one
and the same
hand throughout, it should contain such a number of glaring
inconsistencies.
. . . No single author could have been guilty of such
absurdities;
but it is quite possible, and what was almost sure to happen in
such a case,
that, if the Pentateuch be the work of different authors in
different
ages, this fact should betray itself by the existence of
contradictions
in the narrative."[96:2]
Having
ascertained the origin of the Pentateuch, or first five books of the Old
Testament, it
will be unnecessary to refer to the others here, as we have
nothing to do
with them in our investigations. Suffice it to say then, that: "In
the earlier
period after Ezra, none of the other books which already existed,
enjoyed the
same authority as the Pentateuch."[96:3]
It is
probable[96:4] that Nehemiah made a collection of historical and prophetic
books, songs,
and letters from Persian kings, not to form a second collection,
but for the
purpose of saving them from being lost. The scribes of Jerusalem,
followers of
Ezra, who were known as "the men of the Great Synagogue," were the
collectors of
the second and third divisions of the Old Testament. They
collected
together the historical and prophetic books, songs, &c., which were
then in
existence, and after altering many of them, they were added to the
collection of
sacred books. It must not be supposed that any fixed plan was
pursued in
this work, or that the idea was entertained from the first, that
these books
would one day stand on the same level with the Pentateuch.[96:5]
In the course
of time, however, many of the Jews began to consider some of these
books as
sacred. The Alexandrian Jews adopted books into the canon which those
of Jerusalem
did not, and this difference of opinion lasted for a long time,
even till the
second century after Christ. It was not until this time that all
the books of
the Old Testament acquired divine authority.[96:6] It is not known,
however, just
when the canon of the Old Testament was closed. The time and
manner in
which it was done is [Pg 97]altogether obscure.[97:1] Jewish tradition
indicates
that the full canonicity of several books was not free from doubt till
the time of
the famous Rabbi Akiba,[97:2] who flourished about the beginning of
the second
century after Christ.[97:3]
After giving
a history of the books of the Old Testament, the author of "The
Religion of
Israel," whom we have followed in this investigation, says:
"The
great majority of the writers of the Old Testament had no other source of
information
about the past history of Israel than simple tradition. Indeed, it
could not
have been otherwise, for in primitive times no one used to record
anything in
writing, and the only way of preserving a knowledge of the past was
to hand it
down by word of mouth. The father told the son what his elders had
told him, and
the son handed it on to the next generation.
"Not
only did the historian of Israel draw from tradition with perfect freedom,
and write
down without hesitation anything they heard and what was current in
the mouths of
the people, but they did not shrink from modifying their
representation
of the past in any way that they thought would be good and
useful. It is
difficult for us to look at things from this point of view,
because our
ideas of historical good faith are so utterly different. When we
write
history, we know that we ought to be guided solely by a desire to
represent
facts exactly as they really happened. All that we are concerned with
is reality;
we want to make the old times live again, and we take all possible
pains not to
remodel the past from the point of view of to-day. All we want to
know is what
happened, and how men lived, thought, and worked in those days. The
Israelites
had a very different notion of the nature of historical composition.
When a
prophet or a priest related something about bygone times, his object was
not to convey
knowledge about those times; on the contrary, he used history
merely as a
vehicle for the conveyance of instruction and exhortation. Not only
did he
confine his narrative to such matters as he thought would serve his
purpose but
he never hesitated to modify what he knew of the past, and he did
not think
twice about touching it up from his own imagination, simply that it
might be more
conducive to the end he had in view and chime in better with his
opinions. All
the past became colored through and through with the tinge of his
own mind. Our
own notions of honor and good faith would never permit all this;
but we must
not measure ancient writers by our own standard; they considered
that they
were acting quite within their rights and in strict accordance with
duty and
conscience."[97:4]
It will be
noticed that, in our investigations on the authority of the
Pentateuch,
we have followed, principally, Dr. Knappert's ideas as set forth in
"The
Religion of Israel."
This we have
done because we could not go into an extended investigation, and
because his
words are very expressive, and just to the point. To those who may
think that
his ideas are not the same as those entertained by other Biblical
scholars of
the present [Pg 98]day, we subjoin, in a note below, a list of works
to which they
are referred.[98:1]
We shall now,
after giving a brief history of the Pentateuch, refer to the
legends of
which we have been treating, and endeavor to show from whence the
Hebrews
borrowed them. The first of these is "The Creation and Fall of Man."
Egypt, the
country out of which the Israelites came, had no story of the
Creation and
Fall of Man, such as we have found among the Hebrews; they
therefore
could not have learned it from them. The Chaldeans, however, as we saw
in our first
chapter, had this legend, and it is from them that the Hebrews
borrowed it.
The account
which we have given of the Chaldean story of the Creation and Fall
of Man, was
taken, as we stated, from the writings of Berosus, the Chaldean
historian,
who lived in the time of Alexander the Great (356-325 B. C.), and as
the Jews were
acquainted with the story some centuries earlier than this, his
works did not
prove that these traditions were in Babylonia before the Jewish
captivity,
and could not afford testimony in favor of the statement that the
Jews borrowed
this legend from the Babylonians at that time. It was left for Mr.
George Smith,
of the British Museum, to establish, without a doubt, the fact
that this
legend was known to the Babylonians at least two thousand years before
the time
assigned for the birth of Jesus. The cuneiform inscriptions discovered
by him, while
on an expedition to Assyria, organized by the London "Daily
Telegraph,"
was the means of doing this, and although by far the greatest number
of these
tablets belong to the age of Assurbanipal, who reigned over Assyria B.
C. 670, it is
"acknowledged on all hands that these tablets are not the
originals,
but are only copies from earlier texts." "The Assyrians acknowledge
themselves
that this literature was borrowed from Babylonian sources, and of
course it is
to Babylonia we have to look to ascertain the approximate dates of
the original
documents."[98:2] Mr. Smith then shows, from "fragments of the
Cuneiform
account of the Creation and Fall" which have been discovered, that,
"in the
period from b. c. 2000 to [Pg 99]1500, the Babylonians believed in a
story similar
to that in Genesis." It is probable, however, says Mr. Smith, that
this legend existed
as traditions in the country long before it was committed to
writing, and
some of these traditions exhibited great difference in details,
showing that
they had passed through many changes.[99:1]
Professor
James Fergusson, in his celebrated work on "Tree and Serpent
Worship,"
says:
"The two
chapters which refer to this (i. e., the Garden, the Tree, and the
Serpent), as
indeed the whole of the first eight of Genesis, are now generally
admitted by
scholars to be made up of fragments of earlier books or earlier
traditions,
belonging, properly speaking, to Mesopotamia rather than to Jewish
history, the
exact meaning of which the writers of the Pentateuch seem hardly to
have
appreciated when they transcribed them in the form in which they are now
found."[99:2]
John Fiske
says:
"The
story of the Serpent in Eden is an Aryan story in every particular. The
notion of
Satan as the author of evil appears only in the later books, composed
after the
Jews had come into close contact with Persian ideas."[99:3]
Prof. John W.
Draper says:
"In the
old legends of dualism, the evil spirit was said to have sent a serpent
to ruin
Paradise. These legends became known to the Jews during their Babylonian
captivity."[99:4]
Professor
Goldziher also shows, in his "Mythology Among the Hebrews,"[99:5]
that
the story of
the creation was borrowed by the Hebrews from the Babylonians. He
also informs
us that the notion of the bôrę and yôsęr, "Creator" (the term used
in the
cosmogony in Genesis) as an integral part of the idea of God, are first
brought into
use by the prophets of the captivity. "Thus also the story of the
Garden of
Eden, as a supplement to the history of the Creation, was written down
at
Babylon."
Strange as it
may appear, after the Genesis account, we may pass through the
whole
Pentateuch, and other books of the Old Testament, clear to the end, and
will find
that the story of the "Garden of Eden" and "Fall of Man,"
is hardly
alluded to,
if at all. Lengkerke says: "One single certain trace of the
employment of
the story of Adam's fall is entirely wanting in the Hebrew Canon
(after the
Genesis account). Adam, Eve, the Serpent, the woman's [Pg
100]seduction
of her husband, &c., are all images, to which the remaining words
of the
Israelites never again recur."[100:1]
This
circumstance can only be explained by the fact that the first chapters of
Genesis were
not written until after the other portions had been written.
It is worthy
of notice, that this story of the Fall of Man, upon which the whole
orthodox
scheme of a divine Saviour or Redeemer is based, was not considered by
the learned
Israelites as fact. They simply looked upon it as a story which
satisfied the
ignorant, but which should be considered as allegory by the
learned.[100:2]
Rabbi Maimonides
(Moses Ben Maimon), one of the most celebrated of the Rabbis,
says on this
subject:—
"We must
not understand, or take in a literal sense, what is written in the book
on the
Creation, nor form of it the same ideas which are participated by the
generality of
mankind; otherwise our ancient sages would not have so much
recommended
to us, to hide the real meaning of it, and not to lift the
allegorical
veil, which covers the truth contained therein. When taken in its
literal
sense, the work gives the most absurd and most extravagant ideas of the
Deity.
'Whosoever should divine its true meaning ought to take great care in not
divulging
it.' This is a maxim repeated to us by all our sages, principally
concerning
the understanding of the work of the six days."[100:3]
Philo, a
Jewish writer contemporary with Jesus, held the same opinion of the
character of
the sacred books of the Hebrews. He has made two particular
treatises,
bearing the title of "The Allegories," and he traces back to the
allegorical sense
the "Tree of Life," the "Rivers of Paradise," and the other
fictions of
the Genesis.[100:4]
Many of the
early Christian Fathers declared that, in the story of the Creation
and Fall of
Man, there was but an allegorical fiction. Among these may be
mentioned St.
Augustine, who speaks of it in his "City of God," and also Origen,
who says:
"What
man of sense will agree with the statement that the first, second, and
third days,
in which the evening is named and the morning, were without sun,
moon and stars?
What man is found such an idiot as to suppose that God planted
trees in
Paradise like an husbandman? I believe that every man must hold these
things for
images under which a hidden sense is concealed."[100:5]
[Pg
101]Origen believed aright, as it is now almost universally admitted, that
the stories
of the "Garden of Eden," the "Elysian Fields," the
"Garden of the
Blessed,"
&c., which were the abode of the blessed, where grief and sorrow could
not approach
them, where plague and sickness could not touch them, were founded
on allegory.
These abodes of delight were far away in the West, where the sun
goes down
beyond the bounds of the earth. They were the "Golden Islands"
sailing
in a sea of
blue—the burnished clouds floating in the pure ether. In a word, the
"Elysian
Fields" are the clouds at eventide. The picture was suggested by the
images drawn
from the phenomena of sunset and twilight.[101:1]
Eating of the
forbidden fruit was simply a figurative mode of expressing the
performance
of the act necessary to the perpetuation of the human race. The
"Tree of
Knowledge" was a Phallic tree, and the fruit which grew upon it was
Phallic
fruit.[101:2]
In regard to
the story of "The Deluge," we have already seen[101:3] that
"Egyptian
records tell nothing of a cataclysmal deluge," and that, "the land
was
never visited
by other than its annual beneficent overflow of the river Nile."
Also, that
"the Pharaoh Khoufou-cheops was building his pyramid, according to
Egyptian
chronicle, when the whole world was under the waters of a universal
deluge,
according to the Hebrew chronicle." This is sufficient evidence that the
Hebrews did
not borrow the legend from the Egyptians.
We have also
seen, in the chapter that treated of this legend, that it
corresponded
in all the principal features with the Chaldean account. We shall
now show that
it was taken from this.
Mr. Smith
discovered, on the site of Ninevah, during the years 1873-4, cylinders
belonging to
the early Babylonian monarchy, (from 2500 to 1500 B. C.) which
contained the
legend of the flood,[101:4] and which we gave in Chapter II. This
was the
foundation for the Hebrew legend, and they learned it at the time of the
Captivity.[101:5]
The myth of Deucalion, the Grecian hero, was also taken from
the same
source. The Greeks learned it from the Chaldeans.
We read in
Chambers's Encyclopćdia, that:
"It was
at one time extensively believed, even by intelligent scholars, that [Pg
102]the myth
of Deucalion was a corrupted tradition of the Noachian deluge, but
this
untenable opinion is now all but universally abandoned."[102:1]
This idea was
abandoned after it was found that the Deucalion myth was older
than the
Hebrew.
What was said
in regard to the Eden story not being mentioned in other portions
of the Old
Testament save in Genesis, also applies to this story of the Deluge.
Nowhere in
the other books of the Old Testament is found any reference to this
story, except
in Isaiah, where "the waters of Noah" are mentioned, and in
Ezekiel,
where simply the name of Noah is mentioned.
We stated in
Chapter II. that some persons saw in this story an astronomical
myth.
Although not generally admitted, yet there are very strong reasons for
believing
this to be the case.
According to
the Chaldean account—which is the oldest one known—there were seven
persons saved
in the ark.[102:2] There were also seven persons saved, according
to some of
the Hindoo accounts.[102:3] That this referred to the sun, moon, and
five planets
looks very probable. We have also seen that Noah was the tenth
patriarch,
and Xisuthrus (who is the Chaldean hero) was the tenth king.[102:4]
Now,
according to the Babylonian table, their Zodiac contained ten gods called
the "Ten
Zodiac gods."[102:5] They also believed that whenever all the planets
met in the
sign of Capricorn, the whole earth was overwhelmed with a deluge of
water.[102:6]
The Hindoos and other nations had a similar belief.[102:7]
It is well
known that the Chaldeans were great astronomers. When Alexander the
Great
conquered the city of Babylon, the Chaldean priests boasted to the Greek
philosophers,
who followed his army, that they had continued their astronomical
calculations
through a period of more than forty thousand years.[102:8] Although
this
statement cannot be credited, yet the great antiquity of Chaldea cannot be
doubted, and
its immediate connection with Hindostan, or Egypt, is abundantly
proved by the
little that is known concerning its religion, and by the few
fragments
that remain of its former grandeur.
In regard to
the story of "The Tower of Babel" little need be said. This, as
well as the
story of the Creation and Fall of Man, and the Deluge, was borrowed
from the
Babylonians.[102:9]
[Pg
103]"It seems," says George Smith, "from the indications in the
(cuneiform)
inscriptions,
that there happened in the interval between 2000 and 1850 B. C. a
general
collection of the development of the various traditions of the Creation,
Flood, Tower
of Babel, and other similar legends." "These legends were, however,
traditions
before they were committed to writing, and were common in some form
to all the
country."[103:1]
The Tower of
Babel, or the confusion of tongues, is nowhere alluded to in the
Old Testament
outside of Genesis, where the story is related.
The next story
in order is "The Trial of Abraham's Faith."
In this
connection we have shown similar legends taken from Grecian mythology,
which legends
may have given the idea to the writer of the Hebrew story.
It may appear
strange that the Hebrews should have been acquainted with Grecian
mythology,
yet we know this was the case. The fact is accounted for in the
following
manner:
Many of the
Jews taken captive at the Edomite sack of Jerusalem were sold to the
Grecians,[103:2]
who took them to their country. While there, they became
acquainted
with Grecian legends, and when they returned from "the Islands of the
Sea"—as
they called the Western countries—they brought them to Jerusalem.[103:3]
This legend,
as we stated in the chapter which treated of it, was written at the
time when the
Mosaic party in Israel were endeavoring to abolish human
sacrifices
and other "abominations," and the author of the story invented it to
make it
appear that the Lord had abolished them in the time of Abraham. The
earliest
Targum[103:4] knows nothing about the legend, showing that the story
was not in
the Pentateuch at the time this Targum was written.
We have also
seen that a story written by Sanchoniathon (about B. C. 1300) of
one Saturn,
whom the Phenicians called Israel, bore a resemblance to the Hebrew
legend of
Abraham. Now, Count de Volney tells us that "a similar tradition
prevailed
among the Chaldeans," and that they had the history of one
Zerban—which
means "rich-in-gold"[103:5]—that corresponded in many respects with
the history
of Abraham.[103:6] It may, then, have been from the Chaldean story
that the
Hebrew fable writer got his idea.
[Pg 104]The
next legend which we examined was that of "Jacob's Vision of the
Ladder."
We claimed that it probably referred to the doctrine of the
transmigration
of souls from one body into another, and also gave the apparent
reason for
the invention of the story.
The next
story was "The Exodus from Egypt, and Passage through the Red Sea,"
in
which we
showed, from Egyptian history, that the Israelites were turned out of
the country
on account of their uncleanness, and that the wonderful exploits
recorded of
Moses were simply copies of legends related of the sun-god Bacchus.
These legends
came from "the Islands of the Sea," and came in very handy for the
Hebrew fable
writers; they saved them the trouble of inventing.
We now come
to the story relating to "The Receiving of the Ten Commandments" by
Moses from
the Lord, on the top of a mountain, 'mid thunders and lightnings.
All that is
likely to be historical in this account, is that Moses assembled,
not, indeed,
the whole of the people, but the heads of the tribes, and gave them
the code
which he had prepared.[104:1] The marvellous portion of the story was
evidently
copied from that related of the law-giver Zoroaster, by the Persians,
and the idea
that there were two tables of stone with the Law written thereon
was evidently
taken from the story of Bacchus, the Law-giver, who had his laws
written on
two tables of stone.[104:2]
The next
legend treated was that of "Samson and his Exploits."
Those who,
like the learned of the last century, maintain that the Pagans copied
from the
Hebrews, may say that Samson was the model of all their similar
stories, but
now that our ideas concerning antiquity are enlarged, and when we
know that
Hercules is well known to have been the God Sol, whose allegorical
history was
spread among many nations long before the Hebrews were ever heard
of, we are
authorized to believe and to say that some Jewish mythologist—for
what else are
their so-called historians—composed the anecdote of Samson, by
partly
disfiguring the popular traditions of the Greeks, Phenicians and
Chaldeans,
and claiming that hero for his own nation.[104:3]
The
Babylonian story of Izdubar, the lion-killer, who wandered [Pg 105]to the
regions of
the blessed (the Grecian Elysium), who crossed a great waste of land
(the desert
of Lybia, according to the Grecian mythos), and arrived at a region
where
splendid trees were laden with jewels (the Grecian Garden of the
Hesperides),
is probably the foundation for the Hercules and other corresponding
myths. This
conclusion is drawn from the fact that, although the story of
Hercules was
known in the island of Thasus, by the Phenician colony settled
there, five
centuries before he was known in Greece,[105:1] yet its antiquity
among the
Babylonians antedates that.
The age of
the legends of Izdubar among the Babylonians cannot be placed with
certainty,
yet, the cuneiform inscriptions relating to this hero, which have
been found,
may be placed at about 2000 years B. C.[105:2] "As these stories
were
traditions," says Mr. Smith, the discoverer of the cylinders, "before
they
were
committed to writing, their antiquity as tradition is probably much greater
than
that."[105:3]
With these
legends before them, the Jewish priests in Babylon had no difficulty
in arranging
the story of Samson, and adding it to their already fabulous
history.
As the Rev.
Dr. Isaac M. Wise remarks, in speaking of the ancient Hebrews: "They
adopted
forms, terms, ideas and myths of all nations with whom they came in
contact, and,
like the Greeks, in their way, cast them all in a peculiar Jewish
religious
mold."
We have seen,
in the chapter which treats of this legend, that it is recorded in
the book of
Judges. This book was not written till after the first set of
Israelites
had been carried into captivity, and perhaps still later.[105:4]
After this we
have "Jonah swallowed by a Big Fish," which is the last legend
treated.
We saw that
it was a solar myth, known to many nations of antiquity. The writer
of the
book—whoever he may have been—lived in the fifth century before
Christ—after
the Jews had become acquainted and had mixed with other nations.
The writer of
this wholly fictitious story, taking the prophet Jonah—who was
evidently an
historical personage—for his hero, was perhaps intending to show
the
loving-kindness of Jehovah.[105:5]
[Pg 106]We
have now examined all the principal Old Testament legends, and, after
what has been
seen, we think that no impartial person can still consider them
historical
facts. That so great a number of educated persons still do so seems
astonishing,
in our way of thinking. They have repudiated Greek and Roman
mythology with
disdain; why then admit with respect the mythology of the Jews?
Ought the
miracles of Jehovah to impress us more than those of Jupiter? We think
not; they
should all be looked upon as relics of the past.
That
Christian writers are beginning to be aroused to the idea that another tack
should be
taken, differing from the old, is very evident. This is clearly seen
by the words
of Prof. Richard A. Armstrong, the translator of Dr. Knappert's
"Religion
of Israel" into English. In the Preface of this work, he says:
"It
appears to me to be profoundly important that the youthful English mind
should be
faithfully and accurately informed of the results of modern research
into the
early development of the Israelitish religion. Deplorable and
irreparable
mischief will be done to the generation, now passing into manhood
and
womanhood, if their educators leave them ignorant or loosely informed on
these topics;
for they will then be rudely awakened by the enemies of
Christianity
from a blind and unreasoning faith in the supernatural inspiration
of the
Scriptures; and being suddenly and bluntly made aware that Abraham,
Moses, David,
and the rest did not say, do, or write what has been ascribed to
them, they
will fling away all care for the venerable religion of Israel and all
hope that it
can nourish their own religious life. How much happier will those
of our
children and young people be who learn what is now known of the actual
origin of the
Pentateuch and the Writings, from the same lips which have taught
them that the
Prophets indeed prepared the way for Jesus, and that God is indeed
our Heavenly
Father. For these will, without difficulty, perceive that God's
love is none
the feebler and that the Bible is no less precious, because Moses
knew nothing
of the Levitical legislation, or because it was not the warrior
monarch on
his semi-barbaric throne, but some far later son of Israel, who
breathed
forth the immortal hymn of faith, 'The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not
want.'"
For the
benefit of those who may think that the evidence of plagiarism on the
part of the
Hebrew writers has not been sufficiently substantiated, we will
quote a few
words from Prof. Max Müller, who is one of the best English
authorities
on this subject that can be produced. In speaking of this he says:
"The
opinion that the Pagan religions were mere corruptions of the religion of
the Old
Testament, once supported by men of high authority and great learning,
is now as
completely surrendered as the attempts of explaining Greek and Latin
as the
corruptions of Hebrew."[106:1]
Again he
says:
[Pg
107]"As soon as the ancient language and religion of India became known in
Europe it was
asserted that Sanskrit, like all other languages, was to be
derived from
Hebrew, and the ancient religion of the Brahmans from the Old
Testament.
There was at that time an enthusiasm among Oriental scholars,
particularly
at Calcutta, and an interest for Oriental antiquities in the public
at large, of
which we, in these days of apathy for Eastern literature, can
hardly form
an adequate idea. Everybody wished to be first in the field, and to
bring to
light some of the treasures which were supposed to be hidden in the
sacred
literature of the Brahmans. . . . No doubt the temptation was great. No
one could
look down for a moment into the rich mine of religious and
mythological
lore that was suddenly opened before the eyes of scholars and
theologians,
without being struck by a host of similarities, not only in the
languages,
but also in the ancient traditions of the Hindoos, the Greeks, and
the Romans;
and if at that time the Greeks and Romans were still supposed to
have borrowed
their language and their religion from Jewish quarters, the same
conclusion
could hardly be avoided with regard to the language and the religion
of the
Brahmans of India. . . .
"The
student of Pagan religion as well as Christian missionaries were bent on
discovering
more striking and more startling coincidences, in order to use them
in
confirmation of their favorite theory that some rays of a primeval
revelation,
or some reflection of the Jewish religion, had reached the uttermost
ends of the
world."[107:1]
The result of
all this is summed up by Prof. Müller as follows:
"It was
the fate of all (these) pioneers, not only to be left behind in the
assault which
they had planned, but to find that many of their approaches were
made in a
false direction, and had to be abandoned."[107:2]
Before
closing this chapter, we shall say a few words on the religion of Israel.
It is supposed
by many—in fact, we have heard it asserted by those who should
know
better—that the Israelites were always monotheists, that they worshiped One
God
only—Jehovah.[107:3] This is altogether erroneous; they were not different
from their
neighbors—the Heathen, so-called—in regard to their religion.
In the first
place, we know that they revered and worshiped a Bull, called
Apis,[107:4]
just as the ancient Egyptians did. They [Pg 108]worshiped the
sun,[108:1]
the moon,[108:2] the stars and all the host of heaven.[108:3]
They
worshiped fire, and kept it burning on an altar, just as the Persians and
other
nations.[108:4] They worshiped stones,[108:5] revered an oak tree,[108:6]
and
"bowed down" to images.[108:7] They worshiped a "Queen of
Heaven" called the
goddess
Astarte or Mylitta, and "burned incense" to her.[108:8] They
worshiped
Baal,[108:9]
Moloch,[108:10] and Chemosh,[108:11] and offered up human
sacrifices to
them,[108:12] after which in some instances, they ate the
victim.[108:13]
It was during
the Captivity that idolatry ceased among the Israelites.[108:14]
The
Babylonian Captivity is clearly referred to in the book of Deuteronomy, as
the close of
Israel's idolatry.[108:15]
There is
reason to believe that the real genius of the people was first called
into full
exercise, and put on its career of development at this time; that
Babylon was a
forcing nursery, not a prison cell; creating instead of stifling a
nation. The
astonishing outburst of intellectual and moral energy that
accompanied
the return from the Babylonish Captivity, attests the spiritual
activity of
that "mysterious and momentous" time. As Prof. Goldziher says:
"The
intellect of
Babylon and Assyria exerted a more than passing influence on that
of the
Hebrews, not merely touching it, but entering deep into it, and leaving
its own
impression upon it."[108:16]
[Pg 109]This
impression we have already partly seen in the legends which they
borrowed, and
it may also be seen in the religious ideas which they imbibed.
The Assyrian
colonies which came and occupied the land of the tribes of Israel
filled the
kingdom of Samaria with the dogma of the Magi, which very soon
penetrated
into the kingdom of Judah. Afterward, Jerusalem being subjugated, the
defenseless
country was entered by persons of different nationalities, who
introduced
their opinions, and in this way, the religion of Israel was doubly
mutilated.
Besides, the priests and great men, who were transported to Babylon,
were educated
in the sciences of the Chaldeans, and imbibed, during a residence
of fifty
years, nearly the whole of their theology. It was not until this time
that the
dogmas of the hostile genius (Satan), the angels Michael, Uriel, Yar,
Nisan,
&c., the rebel angels, the battle in heaven, the immortality of the soul,
and the
resurrection, were introduced and naturalized among the Jews.[109:1]
Note.—It is
not generally known that the Jews were removed from their own land
until the
time of the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar, but there is evidence that
Jerusalem was
plundered by the Edomites about 800 B. C., who sold some of the
captive Jews
to the Greeks (Joel, iii. 6). When the captives returned to their
country from
"the Islands which are beyond the sea" (Jer. xxv. 18, 22), they
would
naturally bring back with them much of the Hellenic lore of their
conquerors.
In Isaiah (xi. 11), we find a reference to this first captivity in
the following
words: "In that day the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to
recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria,
and from
Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar,
and from
Hamath, and from the Islands of the sea;" i. e., Greece.
FOOTNOTES:
[89:1] See
Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 111, et seq.
[89:2] Bell's
Pantheon, under "Perseus;" Knight: Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 178,
and Bulfinch:
Age of Fables, p. 161.
[90:1] Bell's
Pantheon, vol. i. p. 118. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 190. Higgins:
Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. p. 19.
[90:2] Ibid.
[90:3] Bell's
Pantheon, vol. i. p. 122. Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p.
174.
Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 179. Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19.
[90:4] Bell's
Pantheon, art. "Osiris;" and Bulfinch: Age of Fable, p. 391
[90:5]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, i. 159.
[90:6]
Exodus, ii.
[90:7] See
Child: Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 6, and most any work on
Buddhism.
[90:8] See
Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis.
[90:9] See
Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 128, note.
[90:10] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 213, 214.
[90:11] I.
Samuel, xvii.
[91:1] See
Goldzhier: Hebrew Mythology, p. 430, and Bulfinch: Age of Fable, 440.
[91:2]
Chapter xxii.
[91:3] See
Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 188, et seq.
[91:4] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 323.
[91:5] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19.
[91:6] Ibid.
i. 191, and ii. 241; Franklin: Bud. & Jeynes, 174.
[91:7] Hardy:
Buddhist Legends, pp. 50, 53, and 140.
[91:8] See
Ibid.
[91:9]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 191.
[91:10] Ibid.
p. 39.
[92:1]
"Septuagint."—The Old Greek version of the Old Testament.
[92:2]
"Vulgate."—The Latin version of the Old Testament.
[92:3] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. pp. 186, 187.
[92:4] The
Religion of Israel, p. 9.
[92:5]
Besides the many other facts which show that the Pentateuch was not
composed
until long after the time of Moses and Joshua, the following may be
mentioned as
examples: Gilgal, mentioned in Deut. xi. 30, was not given as the
name of that
place till after the entrance into Canaan. Dan, mentioned in
Genesis xiv.
14, was not so called till long after the time of Moses. In Gen.
xxxvi. 31,
the beginning of the reign of the kings over Israel is spoken of
historically,
an event which did not occur before the time of Samuel. (See, for
further
information, Bishop Colenso's Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. ch. v. and
vi.)
[93:1] The
Religion of Israel, p. 9.
[93:2] Ibid.
p. 10.
[93:3]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Jews."
[93:4] The
Religion of Israel, pp. 10, 11.
[94:1] The
Religion of Israel, p. 11.
[94:2] See
Ibid. pp. 120, 122.
[94:3] See
Ibid. p. 122.
[94:4] The
account of the finding of this book by Hilkiah is to be found in II.
Chronicles,
ch. xxxiv.
[94:5] See
Religion of Israel, pp. 124, 125.
[94:6] Ibid.
p. 11.
[95:1] The
Religion of Israel, pp. 186, 187.
[95:2]
"Talmud."—The books containing the Jewish traditions.
[95:3] See
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Bible."
[95:4] The
Religion of Israel, pp. 240, 241.
[96:1] The
Religion of Israel, p. 11.
[96:2] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. p. 178.
[96:3] The
Religion of Israel, p. 241.
[96:4] On the
strength of II. Maccabees, ii. 12.
[96:5] The
Religion of Israel, p. 242.
[96:6] Ibid.
p. 243.
[97:1]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Bible."
[97:2] Ibid.
[97:3]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Akiba."
[97:4] The
Religion of Israel, pp. 19, 23.
[98:1]
"What is the Bible," by J. T. Sunderland. "The Bible of
To-day," by J. W.
Chadwick.
"Hebrew and Christian Records," by the Rev. Dr. Giles, 2 vols. Prof.
W. R. Smith's
article on "The Bible," in the last edition of the Encyclopćdia
Britannica.
"Introduction to the Old Testament," by Davidson. "The
Pentateuch
and the Book
of Joshua Examined," by Bishop Colenso. Prof. F. W. Newman's
"Hebrew
Monarchy." "The Bible for Learners" (vols. i. and ii.), by Prof.
Oort
and others.
"The Old Testament in the Jewish Church," by Prof. Robertson Smith,
and Kuenen's
"Religion of Israel."
[98:2] Smith:
Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 22, 29.
[99:1] Ibid.
pp. 29, 100. Also, Assyrian Discoveries, p. 397.
[99:2] Tree
and Serpent Worship, pp. 6, 7.
[99:3] Myths
and Myth-Makers, p. 112.
[99:4]
Draper: Religion and Science, p. 62.
[99:5]
Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 328, et seq.
[100:1]
Quoted by Bishop Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, iv. 283.
[100:2]
"Much of the Old Testament which Christian divines, in their ignorance
of Jewish
lore, have insisted on receiving and interpreting literally, the
informed
Rabbis never dreamed of regarding as anything but allegorical. The
'literalists'
they called fools. The account of the Creation was one of the
portions
which the unlearned were specially forbidden to meddle with." (Greg:
The Creed of
Christendom, p. 80.)
[100:3]
Quoted by Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 226.
[100:4] See
Ibid. p. 227.
[100:5]
Quoted by Dunlap: Mysteries of Adoni, p. 176. See also, Bunsen: Keys of
St. Peter, p.
406.
[101:1] See
Appendix, c.
[101:2] See
Westropp & Wakes, "Phallic Worship."
[101:3] In
chap. ii.
[101:4] See
Assyrian Discoveries, pp. 167, 168, and Chaldean Account of Genesis.
[101:5]
"Upon the carrying away of the Jews to Babylon, they were brought into
contact with
a flood of Iranian as well as Chaldean myths, and adopted them
without
hesitation." (S. Baring-Gould; Curious Myths, p. 316.)
[102:1]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Deucalion."
[102:2] See
chapter ii.
[102:3] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 185, and Maurice: Indian Antiquities,
vol. ii. p.
277.
[102:4]
Chapter ii.
[102:5] See
Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 153, note.
[102:6] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 254.
[102:7] See
Ibid. p. 367.
[102:8] See
Ibid. p. 252.
[102:9]
Goldzhier: Hebrew Mythology, pp. 130-135, and Smith's Chaldean Account
of Genesis.
[103:1]
Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 27, 28.
[103:2] See
Note, p. 109.
[103:3] See
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 685.
[103:4]
"Targum."—The general term for the Aramaic versions of the Old
Testament.
[103:5] In
Genesis xxiii. 2, Abraham is called rich in gold and in silver.
[103:6] See
Volney's Researches in Ancient History, pp. 144-147.
[104:1] The
Religion of Israel, p. 49.
[104:2]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 122. Higgins: vol. ii. p. 19.
[104:3] In
claiming the "mighty man" and "lion-killer" as one of their
own race,
the Jews were
simply doing what other nations had done before them. The Greeks
claimed
Hercules as their countryman; stated where he was born, and showed his
tomb. The
Egyptians affirmed that he was born in their country (see Tacitus,
Annals, b.
ii. ch. lix.), and so did many other nations.
[105:1] See
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, pp. 92, 93.
[105:2]
Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 168 and 174; and Assyrian Discoveries,
p. 167.
[105:3]
Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 168.
[105:4] See
The Religion of Israel, p. 12; and Chadwick's Bible of To-Day, p.
55.
[105:5] See
The Religion of Israel, p. 41, and Chadwick's Bible of To-Day, p.
24.
[106:1] The
Science of Religion, p. 48.
[107:1] They
even claimed that one of the "lost tribes of Israel" had found
their way to
America, and had taught the natives Hebrew.
[107:2] The
Science of Religion, pp. 285, 292.
[107:3]
"It is an assumption of the popular theology, and an almost universal
belief in the
popular mind, that the Jewish nation was selected by the Almighty
to preserve
and carry down to later ages a knowledge of the One and true
God—that the
Patriarchs possessed this knowledge—that Moses delivered and
enforced this
doctrine as the fundamental tenet of the national creed; and that
it was, in
fact, the received and distinctive dogma of the Hebrew people. This
alleged
possession of the true faith by one only people, while all surrounding
tribes were
lost in Polytheism, or something worse, has been adduced by divines
in general as
a proof of the truth of the sacred history, and of the divine
origin of the
Mosaic dispensation." (Greg: The Creed of Christendom, p. 145.)
Even such authorities
as Paley and Milman have written in this strain. (See
quotations
from Paley's "Evidences of Christianity," and Dean Milman's
"History
of the
Jews," made by Mr. Greg in his "Creed of Christendom," p. 145.)
[107:4] See
the Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 321, vol. ii. p. 102; and Dunlap:
Mysteries of
Adoni, p. 108.
[108:1] See
the Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 317, 418; vol. ii. p. 301.
Dunlap's Son
of the Man, p. 3, and his Spirit Hist., pp. 68 and 182. Inman:
Ancient
Faiths, vol. ii. pp. 782, 783; and Goldziher: Hebrew Mythol., pp. 227,
240, 242.
[108:2] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 317. Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 3;
and Spirit
Hist., p. 68. Also, Goldziher: Hebrew Mythol., p. 159.
[108:3] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 26, and 317; vol. ii. p. 301 and 328.
Dunlap's Son
of the Man, p. 3. Dunlap's Spirit Hist., 68; Mysteries of Adoni,
pp. xvii. and
108; and The Religion of Israel, p. 38.
[108:4]
Bunsen: Keys of St. Peter, pp. 101, 102.
[108:5] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 175-178, 317, 322, 448.
[108:6] Ibid.
115.
[108:7] Ibid.
i. 23, 321; ii. 102, 103, 109, 264, 274. Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p.
108. Inman:
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 438; vol. ii. p. 30.
[108:8] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 88, 318; vol. ii. pp. 102, 113, 300.
Dunlap: Son
of the Man, p. 3; and Mysteries of Adoni, p. xvii. Müller: The
Science of
Religion, p. 261.
[108:9] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 21-25, 105, 391; vol. ii. pp. 102,
136-138.
Dunlap: Son of the Man, p. 3. Mysteries of Adoni, pp. 106, 177. Inman:
Ancient
Faiths, vol. ii. pp. 782, 783. Bunsen: The Keys of St. Peter, p. 91.
Müller: The
Science of Religion, p. 181. Bal, Bel or Belus was an idol of the
Chaldeans and
Phenicians or Canaanites. The word Bal, in the Punic language,
signifies
Lord or Master. The name Bal is often joined with some other, as
Bal-berith,
Bal-peor, Bal-zephon, &c. "The Israelites made him their god, and
erected
altars to him on which they offered human sacrifices," and "what is
still more
unnatural, they ate of the victims they offered." (Bell's Pantheon,
vol. i. pp.
113, 114.)
[108:10] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 17, 26; vol. ii. pp. 102, 299, 300.
Bunsen: Keys
of St. Peter, p. 110. Müller: The Science of Religion, p. 285.
Moloch was a
god of the Ammonites, also worshiped among the Israelites. Solomon
built a
temple to him, on the Mount of Olives, and human sacrifices were offered
to him.
(Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. pp. 84, 85.)
[108:11] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 153; vol. ii. pp. 71, 83, 125.
Smith's Bible
Dictionary art. "Chemosh."
[108:12] The
Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 26, 117, 148, 319, 320; vol. ii.
pp. 16, 17,
299, 300. Dunlap's Spirit Hist., pp. 108, 222. Inman: Ancient
Faiths, vol.
ii. pp. 100, 101. Müller: Science of Religion, p. 261. Bell's
Pantheon,
vol. i. 113, 114; vol. ii. 84, 85.
[108:13] See
note 9 above.
[108:14] See
Bunsen: Keys of St. Peter, 291.
[108:15]
Ibid. p. 27.
[108:16]
Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 319
[109:1] The
Talmud of Jerusalem expressly states that the names of the angels
and the
months, such as Gabriel, Michael, Yar, Nisan, &c., came from Babylon
with the
Jews. (Goldziher, p. 319.) "There is no trace of the doctrine of Angels
in the Hebrew
Scriptures composed or written before the exile." (Bunsen: The
Angel
Messiah, p. 285) "The Jews adopted, during the Captivity, the idea of
angels,
Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Gabriel," &c. (Knight: Ancient Art and
Mythology, p.
54.) See, for further information on this subject, Dr. Knappert's
"Religion
of Israel," or Prof. Kuenen's "Religion of Israel."
[Pg 110]
[Pg 111]PART
II.
THE NEW
TESTAMENT.
CHAPTER XII.
THE
MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS.
According to
the dogma of the deity of Jesus, he who is said to have lived on
earth some
eighteen centuries ago, as Jesus of Nazareth, is second of the three
persons in
the Trinity, the Son, God as absolutely as the Father and the Holy
Spirit,
except as eternally deriving his existence from the Father. What,
however,
especially characterizes the Son, and distinguishes him from the two
other persons
united with him in the unity of the Deity, is this, that the Son,
at a given
moment of time, became incarnate, and that, without losing anything
of his divine
nature, he thus became possessed of a complete human nature; so
that he is at
the same time, without injury to the unity of his person, "truly
man and truly
God."
The story of
the miraculous birth of Jesus is told by the Matthew narrator as
follows:[111:1]
"Now the
birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was
espoused to
Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make
her a public
example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought
on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying,
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for
that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a
son, and thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. Now all
this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the
Lord by the
prophet, saying: Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a
son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted
is, God with us."[111:2]
[Pg 112]A
Deliverer was hoped for, expected, prophesied, in the time of Jewish
misery[112:1]
(and Cyrus was perhaps the first referred to); but as no one
appeared who
did what the Messiah, according to prophecy, should do, they went
on degrading
each successive conqueror and hero from the Messianic dignity, and
are still
expecting the true Deliverer. Hebrew and Christian divines both start
from the same
assumed unproven premises, viz.: that a Messiah, having been
foretold,
must appear; but there they diverge, and the Jews show themselves to
be the
sounder logicians of the two: the Christians assuming that Jesus was the
Messiah
intended (though not the one expected), wrest the obvious meaning of the
prophecies to
show that they were fulfilled in him; while the Jews, assuming the
obvious
meaning of the prophecies to be their real meaning, argue that they were
not fulfilled
in Christ Jesus, and therefore that the Messiah is yet to come.
We shall now
see, in the words of Bishop Hawes: "that God should, in some
extraordinary
manner, visit and dwell with man, is an idea which, as we read the
writings of
the ancient Heathens, meets us in a thousand different forms."
Immaculate
conceptions and celestial descents were so currently received among
the ancients,
that whoever had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of
men was
thought to be of supernatural lineage. Gods descended from heaven and
were made
incarnate in men, and men ascended from earth, and took their seat
among the
gods, so that these incarnations and apotheosises were fast filling
Olympus with
divinities.
In our
inquiries on this subject we shall turn first to Asia, where, as the
learned
Thomas Maurice remarks in his Indian Antiquities, "in every age, and in
almost every
region of the Asiatic world, there seems uniformly to have
flourished an
immemorial tradition that one god had, from all eternity, begotten
another
god."[112:2]
In India,
there have been several Avatars, or incarnations of Vishnu,[112:3] the
most
important of which is Heri Crishna,[112:4] or Crishna the Saviour.
[Pg 113]In
the Maha-bharata, an Indian epic poem, written about the sixth
century B.
C., Crishna is associated or identified with Vishnu the Preserving
god or
Saviour.[113:1]
Sir William
Jones, first President of the Royal Asiatic Society, instituted in
Bengal, says
of him:
"Crishna
continues to this hour the darling god of the Indian woman. The sect of
Hindoos who
adore him with enthusiastic, and almost exclusive devotion, have
broached a
doctrine, which they maintain with eagerness, and which seems general
in these
provinces, that he was distinct from all the Avatars (incarnations) who
had only an ansa,
or a portion, of his (Vishnu's) divinity, while Crishna was
the person of
Vishnu himself in human form."[113:2]
The Rev. D.
O. Allen, Missionary of the American Board, for twenty-five years in
India,
speaking of Crishna, says:
"He was
greater than, and distinct from, all the Avatars which had only a
portion of
the divinity in them, while he was the very person of Vishnu himself
in human
form."[113:3]
Thomas
Maurice, in speaking of Mathura, says:
"It is
particularly celebrated for having been the birth-place of Crishna, who
is esteemed
in India, not so much an incarnation of the divine Vishnu, as the
deity himself
in human form."[113:4]
Again, in his
"History of Hindostan," he says:
"It
appears to me that the Hindoos, idolizing some eminent character of
antiquity,
distinguished, in the early annals of their nation, by heroic
fortitude and
exalted piety, have applied to that character those ancient
traditional
accounts of an incarnate God, or, as they not improperly term it, an
Avatar, which
had been delivered down to them from their ancestors, the virtuous
Noachidć, to
descend amidst the darkness and ignorance of succeeding ages, at
once to
reform and instruct mankind. We have the more solid reason to affirm
this of the
Avatar of Crishna, because it is allowed to be the most illustrious
of them all;
since we have learned, that, in the seven preceding Avatars, the
deity brought
only an ansa, or portion of his divinity; but, in the eighth, he
descended in
all the plentitude of the Godhead, and was Vishnu himself in a
human
form."[113:5]
Crishna was
born of a chaste virgin,[113:6] called Devaki, who, on account of
her purity,
was selected to become the "mother of God."
According to
the "BHAGAVAT POORAUN," Vishnu said:
"I will
become incarnate at Mathura in the house of Yadu, and will issue [Pg
114]forth to
mortal birth from the womb of Devaki. . . . It is time I should
display my
power, and relieve the oppressed earth from its load."[114:1]
Then a chorus
of angels exclaimed:
"In the
delivery of this favored woman, all nature shall have cause to
exult."[114:2]
In the sacred
book of the Hindoos, called "Vishnu Purana," we read as follows:
"Eulogized
by the gods, Devaki bore in her womb the lotus-eyed deity, the
protector of
the world. . . .
"No
person could bear to gaze upon Devaki, from the light that invested her, and
those who
contemplated her radiance felt their minds disturbed. The gods,
invisible to
mortals, celebrated her praises continually from the time that
Vishnu was
contained in her person."[114:3]
Again we
read:
"The
divine Vishnu himself, the root of the vast universal tree, inscrutable by
the
understandings of all gods, demons, sages, and men, past, present, or to
come, adored
by Brahma and all the deities, he who is without beginning, middle,
or end, being
moved to relieve the earth of her load, descended into the womb of
Devaki, and
was born as her son, Vasudeva," i. e., Crishna.[114:4]
Again:
"Crishna
is the very Supreme Brahma, though it be a mystery[114:5] how the
Supreme
should assume the form of a man."[114:6]
The Hindoo
belief in a divine incarnation has at least, above many others, its
logical side
of conceiving that God manifests himself on earth whenever the
weakness or
the errors of humanity render his presence necessary. We find this
idea
expressed in one of their sacred books called the "Bhágavat Geeta,"
wherein
it says:
"I (the
Supreme One said), I am made evident by my own power, and as often as
there is a
decline of virtue, and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the
world, I make
myself evident, and thus I appear from age to age, for the
preservation
of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment
of
virtue."[114:7]
Crishna is
recorded in the "Bhágavat Geeta" as saying to his beloved disciple
Arjouna:
[Pg
115]"He, O Arjoun, who, from conviction, acknowledgeth my divine birth
(upon
quitting his
mortal form), entereth into me."[115:1]
Again, he
says:
"The
foolish, being unacquainted with my supreme and divine nature, as Lord of
all things,
despise me in this human form, trusting to the evil, diabolic, and
deceitful
principle within them. They are of vain hope, of vain endeavors, of
vain wisdom,
and void of reason; whilst men of great minds, trusting to their
divine
natures, discover that I am before all things and incorruptible, and
serve me with
their hearts undiverted by other gods."[115:2]
The next in
importance among the God-begotten and Virgin-born Saviours of India,
is
Buddha[115:3] who was born of the Virgin Maya or Mary. He in mercy left
Paradise, and
came down to earth because he was filled with compassion for the
sins and
miseries of mankind. He sought to lead them into better paths, and took
their
sufferings upon himself, that he might expiate their crimes, and mitigate
the
punishment they must otherwise inevitably undergo.[115:4]
According to
the Fo-pen-hing,[115:5] when Buddha was about to descend from
heaven, to be
born into the world, the angels in heaven, calling to the
inhabitants
of the earth, said:
"Ye
mortals! adorn your earth! for Bôdhisatwa, the great Mahâsatwa, not long
hence shall
descend from Tusita to be born amongst you! make ready and prepare!
Buddha is
about to descend and be born!"[115:6]
The womb that
bears a Buddha is like a casket in which a relic is placed; no
other being
can be conceived in the same receptacle; the usual secretions are
not formed;
and from the time of conception, Maha-maya was free from passion,
and lived in
the strictest continence.[115:7]
The
resemblance between this legend and the doctrine of the perpetual virginity
of Mary the
mother of Jesus, cannot but be remarked. The opinion that she had
ever borne
other children was called heresy by Epiphanius and Jerome, long
before she
had been exalted to the station of supremacy she now occupies.[115:8]
[Pg 116]M.
l'Abbé Huc, a French Missionary, in speaking of Buddha, says:
"In the
eyes of the Buddhists, this personage is sometimes a man and sometimes a
god, or
rather both one and the other, a divine incarnation, a man-god; who came
into the
world to enlighten men, to redeem them, and to indicate to them the way
of safety.
"This
idea of redemption by a divine incarnation is so general and popular among
the
Buddhists, that during our travels in Upper Asia, we everywhere found it
expressed in
a neat formula. If we addressed to a Mongol or a Thibetan the
question,
'Who is Buddha?' he would immediately reply: 'The Saviour of
Men.'"[116:1]
He further
says:
"The
miraculous birth of Buddha, his life and instructions, contain a great
number of the
moral and dogmatic truths professed in Christianity."[116:2]
This
Angel-Messiah was regarded as the divinely chosen and incarnate messenger,
the vicar of
God. He is addressed as "God of Gods," "Father of the
World,"
"Almighty
and All-knowing Ruler," and "Redeemer of All."[116:3] He is
called
also
"The Holy One," "The Author of Happiness," "The
Lord," "The Possessor of
All,"
"He who is Omnipotent and Everlastingly to be Contemplated,"
"The Supreme
Being, the
Eternal One," "The Divinity worthy to be Adored by the most
praiseworthy
of Mankind."[116:4] He is addressed by Amora—one of his
followers—thus:
"Reverence
be unto thee in the form of Buddha! Reverence be unto thee, the Lord
of the Earth!
Reverence be unto thee, an incarnation of the Deity! Of the
Eternal One!
Reverence be unto thee, O God, in the form of the God of Mercy; the
dispeller of
pain and trouble, the Lord of all things, the deity, the guardian
of the
universe, the emblem of mercy."[116:5]
The
incarnation of Gautama Buddha is recorded to have been brought about by the
descent of
the divine power called The "Holy Ghost" upon the Virgin Maya.[116:6]
This Holy
Ghost, or [Pg 117]Spirit, descended in the form of a white elephant.
The Tikas
explain this as indicating power and wisdom.[117:1]
The
incarnation of the angel destined to become Buddha took place in a spiritual
manner. The
Elephant is the symbol of power and wisdom; and Buddha was
considered
the organ of divine power and wisdom, as he is called in the Tikas.
For these
reasons Buddha is described by Buddhistic legends as having descended
from heaven
in the form of an Elephant to the place where the Virgin Maya was.
But according
to Chinese Buddhistic writings, it was the Holy Ghost, or
Shing-Shin, who
descended on the Virgin Maya.[117:2]
The
Fo-pen-hing says:
"If a
mother, in her dream, behold
A white
elephant enter her right side,
That mother,
when she bears a son,
Shall bear
one chief of all the world (Buddha);
Able to
profit all flesh;
Equally
poised between preference and dislike;
Able to save
and deliver the world and men
From the deep
sea of misery and grief."[117:3]
In Prof.
Fergusson's "Tree and Serpent Worship" may be seen (Plate xxxiii.) a
representation
of Maya, the mother of Buddha, asleep, and dreaming that a white
elephant
appeared to her, and entered her womb.
This dream
being interpreted by the Brahmans learned in the Rig Veda, was
considered as
announcing the incarnation of him who was to be in future the
deliverer of
mankind from pain and sorrow. It is, in fact, the form which the
Annunciation
took in Buddhist legends.[117:4]
"——Awaked,
Bliss beyond
mortal mother's filled her breast,
And over half
the earth a lovely light
Forewent the
morn. The strong hills shook; the waves
Sank lulled;
all flowers that blow by day came forth
As 'twere
high noon; down to the farthest hells
Passed the
Queen's joy, as when warm sunshine thrills
Wood-glooms
to gold, and into all the deeps
A tender
whisper pierced. 'Oh ye,' it said,
'The dead
that are to live, the live who die,
Uprise, and
hear, and hope! Buddha is come!'
Whereat in
Limbos numberless much peace
Spread, and
the world's heart throbbed, and a wind blew
[Pg 118]
With unknown
freshness over land and seas.
And when the morning
dawned, and this was told,
The grey
dream-readers said, 'The dream is good!
The Crab is
in conjunction with the Sun;
The Queen
shall bear a boy, a holy child
Of wondrous
wisdom, profiting all flesh,
Who shall
deliver men from ignorance,
Or rule the
world, if he will deign to rule.'
In this wise
was the holy Buddha born."
In Fig. 4,
Plate xci., the same subject is also illustrated. Prof. Fergusson,
referring to
it, says:
"Fig. 4
is another edition of a legend more frequently repeated than almost any
other in
Buddhist Scriptures. It was, with their artists, as great a favorite as
the
Annunciation and Nativity were with Christian painters."[118:1]
When Buddha
avatar descended from the regions of the souls, and entered the body
of the Virgin
Maya, her womb suddenly assumed the appearance of clear,
transparent
crystal, in which Buddha appeared, beautiful as a flower, kneeling
and reclining
on his hands.[118:2]
Buddha's
representative on earth is the Dalai Lama, or Grand Lama, the High
Priest of the
Tartars. He is regarded as the vicegerent of God, with power to
dispense
divine blessings on whomsoever he will, and is considered among the
Buddhists to
be a sort of divine being. He is the Pope of Buddhism.[118:3]
The Siamese
had a Virgin-born God and Saviour whom they called Codom. His
mother, a
beautiful young virgin, being inspired from heaven, quitted the
society of
men and wandered into the most unfrequented parts of a great forest,
there to
await the coming of a god which had long been announced to mankind.
While she was
one day prostrate in prayer, she was impregnated by the sunbeams.
She thereupon
retired to the borders of a lake, between Siam and Cambodia, where
she was
delivered of a "heavenly boy," which she placed within the folds of a
lotus, that
opened to receive him. When the boy grew up, he became a prodigy of
wisdom,
performed miracles, &c.[118:4]
The first
Europeans who visited Cape Comorin, the most [Pg 119]southerly
extremity of
the peninsula of Hindostan, were surprised to find the inhabitants
worshiping a
Lord and Saviour whom they called Salivahana. They related that his
father's name
was Taishaca, but that he was a divine child horn of a Virgin, in
fact, an
incarnation of the Supreme Vishnu.[119:1]
The belief in
a virgin-born god-man is found in the religions of China. As Sir
John Francis
Davis remarks,[119:2] "China has her mythology in common with all
other
nations, and under this head we must range the persons styled Fo-hi (or
Fuh-he),
Shin-noong, Hoang-ty and their immediate successors, who, like the demi
gods and
heroes of Grecian fable, rescued mankind by their ability or enterprise
from the most
primitive barbarism, and have since been invested with superhuman
attributes.
The most extravagant prodigies are related of these persons, and the
most
incongruous qualities attributed to them."
Dean Milman,
in his "History of Christianity" (Vol. i. p. 97), refers to the
tradition,
found among the Chinese, that Fo-hi was born of a virgin; and remarks
that, the
first Jesuit missionaries who went to China were appalled at finding,
in the
mythology of that country, a counterpart of the story of the virgin of
Judea.
Fo-hi is said
to have been born 3463 years B. C., and, according to some Chinese
writers, with
him begins the historical era and the foundation of the empire.
When his
mother conceived him in her womb, a rainbow was seen to surround
her.[119:3]
The Chinese
traditions concerning the birth of Fo-hi are, some of them, highly
poetical.
That which has received the widest acceptance is as follows:
"Three
nymphs came down from heaven to wash themselves in a river; but scarce
had they got
there before the herb lotus appeared on one of their garments, with
its coral
fruit upon it. They could not imagine whence it proceeded, and one was
tempted to
taste it, whereby she became pregnant and was delivered of a boy, who
afterwards
became a great man, a founder of religion, a conqueror, and
legislator."[119:4]
The sect of
Xaca, which is evidently a corruption of Buddhism, claim that their
master was
also of supernatural origin. Alvarez Semedo, speaking of them, says:
"The
third religious sect among the Chinese is from India, from the parts of
Hindostan,
which sect they call Xaca, from the founder of it, concerning whom
they
fable—that he was conceived by his mother Maya, from a white elephant, [Pg
120]which she
saw in her sleep, and for more purity she brought him from one of
her
sides."[120:1]
Lao-kiun,
sometimes celled Lao-tsze, who is said to have been born in the third
year of the
emperor Ting-wang, of the Chow dynasty (604 B. C.), was another
miraculously-born
man. He acquired great reputation for sanctity, and marvelous
stories were
told of his birth. It was said that he had existed from all
eternity;
that he had descended on earth and was born of a virgin, black in
complexion,
described "marvelous and beautiful as jasper." Splendid temples were
erected to
him, and he was worshiped as a god. His disciples were called
"Heavenly
Teachers." They inculcated great tenderness toward animals, and
considered
strict celibacy necessary for the attainment of perfect holiness.
Lao-kiun
believed in One God whom he called Tao, and the sect which he formed is
called
Tao-tse, or "Sect of Reason." Sir Thomas Thornton, speaking of him,
says:
"The
mythological history of this 'prince of the doctrine of the Taou,' which is
current
amongst his followers, represents him as a divine emanation incarnate in
a human form.
They term him the 'most high and venerable prince of the portals
of gold of
the palace of the genii,' and say that he condescended to a contact
with humanity
when he became incorporated with the 'miraculous and excellent
Virgin of
jasper.' Like Buddha, he came out of his mother's side, and was born
under a tree.
"The
legends of the Taou-tse declare their founder to have existed antecedent to
the birth of
the elements, in the Great Absolute; that he is the 'pure essence
of the tëen;'
that he is the 'original ancestor of the prime breath of life;'
and that he
gave form to the heavens and the earth."[120:2]
M. Le Compte
says:
"Those
who have made this (the religion of Taou-tsze) their professed business,
are called
Tien-se, that is, 'Heavenly Doctors;' they have houses (Monasteries)
given them to
live together in society; they erect, in divers parts, temples to
their master,
and king and people honor him with divine worship."
Yu was
another virgin-born Chinese sage, who is said to have lived upon earth
many ages
ago. Confucius—as though he had been questioned about him—says: "I see
no defect in
the character of Yu. He was sober in eating and drinking, and
eminently
pious toward spirits and ancestors."[120:3]
Hâu-ki, the
Chinese hero, was of supernatural origin.
The following
is the history of his birth, according to the "Shih-King:"
[Pg
121]"His mother, who was childless, had presented a pure offering and
sacrificed,
that her childlessness might be taken away. She then trod on a
toe-print
made by God, and was moved,[121:1] in the large place where she
rested. She
became pregnant; she dwelt retired; she gave birth to and nourished
a son, who
was Hâu-ki. When she had fulfilled her months, her first-born son
came forth
like a lamb. There was no bursting, no rending, no injury, no hurt;
showing how
wonderful he would be. Did not God give her comfort? Had he not
accepted her
pure offering and sacrifice, so that thus easily she brought forth
her
son?"[121:2]
Even the
sober Confucius (born B. C. 501) was of supernatural origin. The most
important
event in Chinese literary and ethical history is the birth of
Kung-foo-tsze
(Confucius), both in its effects on the moral organization of this
great empire,
and the study of Chinese philosophy in Europe.
Kung-foo-tsze
(meaning "the sage Kung" or "the wise excellence") was of
royal
descent; and
his family the most ancient in the empire, as his genealogy was
traceable
directly up to Hwang-te, the reputed organizer of the state, the first
emperor of
the semi-historical period (beginning 2696 B. C.).
At his birth
a prodigious quadruped, called the Ke-lin, appeared and prophesied
that the
new-born infant "would be a king without throne or territory." Two
dragons
hovered about the couch of Yen-she (his mother), and five celestial
sages, or
angels, entered at the moment of the birth of the wondrous child;
heavenly
strains were heard in the air, and harmonious chords followed each
other, fast
and full. Thus was Confucius ushered into the world.
His
disciples, who were to expound his precepts, were seventy-two in number,
twelve of
whom were his ordinary companions, the depositories of his thoughts,
and the
witnesses of all his actions. To them he minutely explained his
doctrines,
and charged them with their propagation after his death. Yan-hwuy was
his favorite
disciple, who, in his opinion, had attained the highest degree of
moral
perfection. Confucius addressed him in terms of great affection, which
denoted that
he relied mainly upon him for the accomplishment of his
work.[121:3]
Even as late
as the seventeenth century of our era, do we find the myth of the
virgin-born
God in China.[121:4]
[Pg 122]All
these god-begotten and virgin-born men were called Tien-tse, i. e.,
"Sons of
Heaven."
If from China
we should turn to Egypt we would find that, for ages before the
time of Jesus
of Nazareth, the mediating deity, born of a virgin, and without a
worldly
father, was a portion of the Egyptian belief.[122:1]
Horus, who
had the epithet of "Saviour," was born of the virgin Isis. "His
birth
was one of
the greatest Mysteries of the Egyptian religion. Pictures
representing
it appear on the walls of temples."[122:2] He is "the second
emanation of
Amon, the son whom he begot."[122:3] Egyptian monuments represent
the infant
Saviour in the arms of his virgin mother, or sitting on her
knee.[122:4]
An inscription on a monument, translated by Champollion, reads
thus:
"O thou
avenger, God, son of a God; O thou avenger, Horus, manifested by Osiris,
engendered of
the goddess Isis."[122:5]
The Egyptian
god Ra was born from the side of his mother, but was not
engendered.[122:6]
The ancient
Egyptians also deified kings and heroes, in the same manner as the
ancient
Greeks and Romans. An Egyptian king became, in a sense, "the vicar of
God on earth,
the infallible, and the personated deity."[122:7]
P. Le Page
Renouf, in his Hibbert Lectures on the Religion of Ancient Egypt,
says:
"I must
not quit this part of my subject without a reference to the belief that
the ruling
sovereign of Egypt was the living image and vicegerent of the Sun-god
(Ra). He was
invested with the attributes of divinity, and that in the earliest
times of
which we possess monumental evidence."[122:8]
Menes, who is
said to have been the first king of Egypt, was believed to be a
god.[122:9]
Almost all
the temples of the left bank of the Nile, at Thebes, had been
constructed
in view of the worship rendered to the Pharaohs, their founders,
after their
death.[122:10]
On the wall
of one of these Theban temples is to be seen a picture representing
the god
Thoth—the messenger of God—telling [Pg 123]the maiden, Queen Mautmes,
that she is
to give birth to a divine son, who is to be King Amunothph
III.[123:1]
An
inscription found in Egypt makes the god Ra say to his son Ramses III.:
"I am
thy father; by me are begotten all thy members as divine; I have formed
thy shape
like the Mendesian god; I have begotten thee, impregnating thy
venerable
mother."[123:2]
Raam-ses, or
Ra-mé-ses, means "Son of the Sun," and Ramses Hek An, a name of
Ramses III.,
means "engendered by Ra (the Sun), Prince of An
(Heliopolis)."[123:3]
"Thotmes
III., on the tablet of Karnak, presents offerings to his predecessors;
so does
Ramses on the tablet of Abydos. Even during his life-time the Egyptian
king was
denominated 'Beneficent God.'"[123:4]
The ancient
Babylonians also believed that their kings were gods upon earth. A
passage from
Ménaut's translation of the great inscription of Nebuchadnezzar,
reads thus:
"I am
Nabu-kuder-usur . . . the first-born son of Nebu-pal-usur, King of
Babylon. The
god Bel himself created me, the god Marduk engendered me, and
deposited
himself the germ of my life in the womb of my mother."[123:5]
In the life
of Zoroaster, the law-giver of the Persians, the common mythos is
apparent. He
was born in innocence, of an immaculate conception, of a ray of the
Divine
Reason. As soon as he was born the glory from his body enlightened the
whole
room.[123:6] Plato informs us that Zoroaster was said to be "the son of
Oromasdes,
which was the name the Persians gave to the Supreme
God"[123:7]—therefore
he was the Son of God.
From the East
we will turn to the West, and shall find that many of the ancient
heroes of
Grecian and Roman mythology were regarded as of divine origin, were
represented
as men, possessed of god-like form, strength and courage; were
believed to
have lived on earth in the remote, dim ages of the nation's history;
to have been
occupied in their life-time with thrilling adventures and
extraordinary
services in the cause of human civilization, and to have been
after death
in some cases translated to a life among the gods, and entitled to
sacrifice and
worship. In the hospitable Pantheon of the Greeks and Romans, a
niche was
always in readiness [Pg 124]for every new divinity who could produce
respectable
credentials.
The Christian
Father Justin Martyr, says:
"It
having reached the Devil's ears that the prophets had foretold the coming of
Christ (the
Son of God), he set the Heathen Poets to bring forward a great many
who should be
called the sons of Jove. The Devil laying his scheme in this, to
get men to
imagine that the true history of Christ was of the same character as
the
prodigious fables related of the sons of Jove."
Among these
"sons of Jove" may be mentioned the following: Hercules was the son
of Jupiter by
a mortal mother, Alcmene, Queen of Thebes.[124:1] Zeus, the god of
gods, spake
of Hercules, his son, and said: "This day shall a child be born of
the race of
Perseus, who shall be the mightiest of the sons of men."[124:2]
Bacchus was
the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Semele, daughter of Kadmus,
King of
Thebes.[124:3] As Montfaucon says, "It is the son of Jupiter and Semele
which the
poets celebrate, and which the monuments represent."[124:4]
Bacchus is
made to say:
"I, son
of Deus, am come to this land of the Thebans, Bacchus, whom formerly
Semele the
daughter of Kadmus brings forth, being delivered by the
lightning-bearing
flame: and having taken a mortal form instead of a god's, I
have arrived
at the fountains of Dirce and the water of Ismenus."[124:5]
Amphion was
the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Antiope, daughter of
Nicetus, King
of Bśotia.[124:6]
Prometheus,
whose name is derived from a Greek word signifying foresight and
providence,
was a deity who united the divine and human nature in one person,
and was
confessedly both man and god.[124:7]
Perseus was
the son of Jupiter by the virgin Danae, daughter of Acrisius, King
of
Argos.[124:8] Divine honors were paid him, and a temple was erected to him in
Athens.[124:9]
Justin Martyr
(A. D. 140), in his Apology to the Emperor Adrian, says:
"By
declaring the Logos, the first-begotten of God, our Master, Jesus Christ, to
be born of a
virgin, without any human mixture, we (Christians) say no more in
this than
what you (Pagans) say of those whom you style the Sons of Jove. For
[Pg 125]you
need not be told what a parcel of sons the writers most in vogue
among you
assign to Jove. . . .
"As to
the Son of God, called Jesus, should we allow him to be nothing more than
man, yet the
title of 'the Son of God' is very justifiable, upon the account of
his wisdom,
considering that you (Pagans) have your Mercury in worship under the
title of the
Word, a messenger of God. . . .
"As to
his (Jesus Christ's) being born of a virgin, you have your Perseus to
balance
that."[125:1]
Mercury was
the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Maia, daughter of Atlas.
Cyllene, in
Arcadia, is said to have been the scene of his birth and education,
and a
magnificent temple was erected to him there.[125:2]
Ćolus, king
of the Lipari Islands, near Sicily, was the son of Jupiter and a
mortal
mother, Acasta.[125:3]
Apollo was
the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Latona.[125:4] Like Buddha
and Lao-Kiun,
Apollo, so the Ephesians said, was born under a tree; Latona,
taking
shelter under an olive-tree, was delivered there.[125:5] Then there was
joy among the
undying gods in Olympus, and the Earth laughed beneath the smile
of
Heaven.[125:6]
Aethlius, who
is said to have been one of the institutors of the Orphic games,
was the son
of Jupiter by a mortal mother, Protogenia.[125:7]
Arcas was the
son of Jupiter and a mortal mother.[125:8]
Aroclus was
the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother.[125:9]
We might
continue and give the names of many more sons of Jove, but sufficient
has been
seen, we believe, to show, in the words of Justin, that Jove had a
great
"parcel of sons." "The images of self-restraint, of power used
for the
good of
others, are prominent in the lives of all or almost all the Zeus-born
heroes."[125:10]
This Jupiter,
who begat so many sons, was the supreme god of the Pagans. In the
words of
Orpheus:
"Jupiter
is omnipotent; the first and the last, the head and the midst; Jupiter,
the giver of
all things, the foundation of the earth, and the starry
heavens."[125:11]
The ancient
Romans were in the habit of deifying their living and departed
emperors, and
gave to them the title of Divus, or the Divine One. It was
required
throughout the whole empire that divine honors should be paid to the
emperors.[125:12]
They had a ceremony [Pg 126]called Apotheosis, or deification.
After this
ceremony, temples, altars, and images, with attributes of divinity,
were erected
to the new deity. It is related by Eusebius, Tertullian, and
Chrysostom,
that Tiberius proposed to the Roman Senate the Apotheosis or
deification
of Jesus Christ.[126:1] Ćlius Lampridius, in his Life of Alexander
Severus (who
reigned A. D. 222-235), says:
"This
emperor had two private chapels, one more honorable than the other; and in
the former
were placed the deified emperors, and also some eminent good men,
among them
Abraham, Christ, and Orpheus."[126:2]
Romulus, who
is said to have been the founder of Rome, was believed to have been
the son of
God by a pure virgin, Rhea-Sylvia.[126:3] One Julius Proculus took a
solemn oath,
that Romulus himself appeared to him and ordered him to inform the
Senate of his
being called up to the assembly of the gods, under the name of
Quirinus.[126:4]
Julius Cćsar
was supposed to have had a god for a father.[126:5]
Augustus
Cćsar was also believed to have been of celestial origin, and had all
the honors
paid to him as to a divine person.[126:6] His divinity is expressed
by Virgil, in
the following lines:
"——Turn,
turn thine eyes, see here thy race divine,
Behold thy
own imperial Roman Sine:
Cćsar, with
all the Julian name survey;
See where the
glorious ranks ascend to-day!—
This—this is
he—the chief so long foretold,
To bless the
land where Saturn ruled of old,
And give the
Learnean realms a second eye of gold!
The promised
prince, Augustus the divine,
Of Cćsar's
race, and Jove's immortal line."[126:7]
"The
honors due to the gods," says Tacitus, "were no longer sacred:
Augustus
claimed equal
worship. Temples were built, and statues were erected, to him; a
mortal man
was adored, and priests and pontiffs were appointed to pay him
impious
homage."[126:8]
Divine honors
were declared to the memory of Claudius, after his death, and he
was added to
the number of the gods. The titles "Our Lord," "Our
Master," and
"Our
God," were given to the Emperors of Rome, even while living.[126:9]
[Pg 127]In
the deification of the Cćsars, a testimony upon oath, of an eagle's
flying out of
the funeral pile, toward heaven, which was supposed to convey the
soul of the
deceased, was the established proof of their divinity.[127:1]
Alexander the
Great, King of Macedonia (born 356 B. C.), whom genius and
uncommon
success had raised above ordinary men, was believed to have been a god
upon earth.[127:2]
He was believed to have been the son of Jupiter by a mortal
mother,
Olympias.
Alexander at
one time visited the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which was situated in
an oasis in
the Libyan desert, and the Oracle there declared him to be a son of
the god. He
afterwards issued his orders, letters, decrees, &c., styling himself
"Alexander,
son of Jupiter Ammon."[127:3]
The words of
the oracle which declared him to be divine were as follows, says
Socrates:
"Let
altars burn and incense pour, please Jove Minerva eke;
The potent
Prince though nature frail, his favor you must seek,
For Jove from
heaven to earth him sent, lo! Alexander king,
As God he
comes the earth to rule, and just laws for to bring."[127:4]
Ptolemy, who
was one of Alexander's generals in his Eastern campaigns, and into
whose hands
Egypt fell at the death of Alexander, was also believed to have been
of divine
origin. At the siege of Rhodes, Ptolemy had been of such signal
service to
its citizens that in gratitude they paid divine honors to him, and
saluted him
with the title of Soter, i. e., Saviour. By that designation,
"Ptolemy
Soter," he is distinguished from the succeeding kings of the Macedonian
dynasty in
Egypt.[127:5]
Cyrus, King
of Persia, was believed to have been of divine origin; he was called
the
"Christ," or the "Anointed of God," and God's
messenger.[127:6]
Plato, born
at Athens 429 B. C., was believed to have been the son of God by a
pure virgin,
called Perictione.[127:7]
The reputed
father of Plato (Aris) was admonished in a dream to respect the
person of his
wife until after the birth of the child of which she was then
pregnant by a
god.[127:8]
Prof. Draper,
speaking of Plato, says:
[Pg
128]"The Egyptian disciples of Plato would have looked with anger on those
who rejected
the legend that Perictione, the mother of that great philosopher, a
pure virgin,
had suffered an immaculate conception through the influences of
(the god)
Apollo, and that the god had declared to Aris, to whom she was
betrothed,
the parentage of the child."[128:1]
Here we have
the legend of the angel appearing to Joseph—to whom Mary was
betrothed—believed
in by the disciples of Plato for centuries before the time of
Christ Jesus,
the only difference being that the virgin's name was Perictione
instead of
Mary, and the confiding husband's name Aris instead of Joseph. We
have another
similar case.
The mother of
Apollonius (B. C. 41) was informed by a god, who appeared to her,
that he
himself should be born of her.[128:2] In the course of time she gave
birth to
Apollonius, who became a great religious teacher, and performer of
miracles.[128:3]
Pythagoras,
born about 570 B. C., had divine honors paid him. His mother is said
to have
become impregnated through a spectre, or Holy Ghost. His father—or
foster-father—was
also informed that his wife should bring forth a son, who
should be a
benefactor to mankind.[128:4]
Ćsculapius,
the great performer of miracles,[128:5] was supposed to be the son
of a god and
a worldly mother, Coronis. The Messenians, who consulted the oracle
at Delphi to
know where Ćsculapius was born, and of what parents, were informed
that a god
was his father, Coronis his mother, and that their son was born at
Epidaurus.
Coronis, to
conceal her pregnancy from her father, went to Epidaurus, where she
was delivered
of a son, whom she exposed on a mountain. Aristhenes, a goat-herd,
going in
search of a goat and a dog missing from his fold, discovered the child,
whom he would
have carried to his home, had he not, upon approaching to lift him
from the
earth, perceived his head encircled with fiery rays, which made him
believe the
child was divine. The voice of fame soon published the birth of a
miraculous
infant, upon which the people flocked from all quarters to behold
this
heaven-born child.[128:6]
Being honored
as a god in Phenicia and Egypt, his worship passed into Greece and
Rome.[128:7]
[Pg 129]Simon
the Samaritan, surnamed "Magus" or the "Magician," who was
contemporary
with Jesus, was believed to be a god. In Rome, where he performed
wonderful
miracles, he was honored as a god, and his picture placed among the
gods.[129:1]
Justin
Martyr, quoted by Eusebius, tells us that Simon Magus attained great
honor among
the Romans. That he was believed to be a god, and that he was
worshiped as
such. Between two bridges upon the River Tibris, was to be seen
this
inscription: "Simoni Deo Sancto," i. e. "To Simon the Holy
God."[129:2]
It was
customary with all the heroes of the northern nations (Danes, Swedes,
Norwegians
and Icelanders), to speak of themselves as sprung from their supreme
deity, Odin.
The historians of those times, that is to say, the poets, never
failed to
bestow the same honor on all those whose praises they sang; and thus
they
multiplied the descendants of Odin as much as they found convenient. The
first-begotten
son of Odin was Thor, whom the Eddas call the most valiant of his
sons.
"Baldur the Good," the "Beneficent Saviour," was the son of
the Supreme
Odin and the
goddess Frigga, whose worship was transferred to that of the Virgin
Mary.[129:3]
In the
mythological systems of America, a virgin-born god was not less clearly
recognized
than in those of the Old World. Among the savage tribes his origin
and character
were, for obvious reasons, much confused; but among the more
advanced
nations he occupied a well-defined position. Among the nations of
Anahuac, he
bore the name of Quetzalcoatle, and was regarded with the highest
veneration.
For ages
before the landing of Columbus on its shores, the inhabitants of
ancient
Mexico worshiped a "Saviour"—as they called him—(Quetzalcoatle) who
was
born of a
pure virgin.[129:4] A messenger from heaven announced to his mother
that she
should bear a son without connection with man.[129:5] Lord Kingsborough
tells us that
the annunciation of the virgin Sochiquetzal, mother of
Quetzalcoatle,—who
was styled the "Queen of Heaven"[129:6]—was the subject of a
Mexican
hieroglyph.[129:7]
The
embassador was sent from heaven to this virgin, who had two sisters,
Tzochitlique
and Conatlique. "These three being alone in the house, two of them,
on perceiving
the embassador from heaven, died of fright, Sochiquetzal remaining
alive, to
whom the [Pg 130]ambassador announced that it was the will of God that
she should
conceive a son."[130:1] She therefore, according to the prediction,
"conceived
a son, without connection with man, who was called
Quetzalcoatle."[130:2]
Dr. Daniel
Brinton, in his "Myths of the New World," says:
"The
Central figure of Toltec mythology is Quetzalcoatle. Not an author on
ancient
Mexico, but has something to say about the glorious days when he ruled
over the
land. No one denies him to have been a god. He was born of a virgin in
the land of
Tula or Tlopallan."[130:3]
The Mayas of
Yucatan had a virgin-born god, corresponding entirely with
Quetzalcoatle,
if he was not the same under a different name, a conjecture very
well
sustained by the evident relationship between the Mexican and Mayan
mythologies.
He was named Zama, and was the only-begotten son of their supreme
god,
Kinchahan.[130:4]
The Muyscas
of Columbia had a similar hero-god. According to their traditionary
history, he
bore the name of Bochica. He was the incarnation of the Great
Father, whose
sovereignty and paternal care he emblematized.[130:5]
The
inhabitants of Nicaragua called their principal god Thomathoyo; and said
that he had a
son, who came down to earth, whose name was Theotbilahe, and that
he was their
general instructor.[130:6]
We find a
corresponding character in the traditionary history of Peru. The
Sun—the god
of the Peruvians—deploring their miserable condition, sent down his
son, Manco
Capac, to instruct them in religion, &c.[130:7]
We have also
traces of a similar personage in the traditionary Votan of
Guatemala;
but our accounts concerning him are more vague than in the cases
above
mentioned.
We find this
traditional character in countries and among tribes where we would
be least apt
to suspect its existence. In Brazil, besides the common belief in
an age of
violence, during which the world was destroyed by water, there is a
tradition of
a supernatural personage called Zome, whose history is similar, in
some
respects, to that of Quetzalcoatle.[130:8]
The
semi-civilized agricultural tribes of Florida had like traditions. The
Cherokees, in
particular, had a priest and law-giver [Pg 131]essentially
corresponding
to Quetzalcoatle and Bochica. He was their great prophet, and bore
the name of
Wasi. "He told them what had been from the beginning of the world,
and what
would be, and gave the people in all things directions what to do. He
appointed
their feasts and fasts, and all the ceremonies of their religion, and
enjoined upon
them to obey his directions from generation to generation."[131:1]
Among the
savage tribes the same notions prevailed. The Edues of the
Californians
taught that there was a supreme Creator, Niparaga, and that his
son,
Quaagagp, came down upon the earth and instructed the Indians in religion,
&c.
Finally, through hatred, the Indians killed him; but although dead, he is
incorruptible
and beautiful. To him they pay adoration, as the mediatory power
between earth
and the Supreme Niparaga.[131:2]
The Iroquois
also had a beneficent being, uniting in himself the character of a
god and man,
who was called Tarengawagan. He imparted to them the knowledge of
the laws of
the Great Spirit, established their form of government, &c.[131:3]
Among the
Algonquins, and particularly among the Ojibways and other remnants of
that stock of
the North-west, this intermediate great teacher (denominated, by
Mr.
Schoolcraft, in his "Notes of the Iroquois," "the great
incarnation of the
North-west")
is fully recognized. He bears the name of Michabou, and is
represented
as the first-born son of a great celestial Manitou, or Spirit, by an
earthly
mother, and is esteemed the friend and protector of the human
race.[131:4]
I think we
can now say with M. Dupuis, that "the idea of a God, who came down on
earth to save
mankind, is neither new nor peculiar to the Christians," and with
Cicero, the
great Roman orator and philosopher, that "brave, famous or powerful
men, after
death, came to be gods, and they are the very ones whom we are
accustomed to
worship, pray to and venerate."
Taking for
granted that the synoptic Gospels are historical, there is no proof
that Jesus
ever claimed to be either God, or a god; on the other hand, it is
quite the
contrary.[131:5] As Viscount Amberly says: "The best proof of this is
that Jesus
never, at any period of his life, [Pg 132]desired his followers to
worship him,
either as God, or as the Son of God," in the sense in which it is
now
understood. Had he believed of himself what his followers subsequently
believed of
him, that he was one of the constituent persons in a divine Trinity,
he must have
enjoined his Apostles both to address him in prayer themselves, and
to desire
their converts to do likewise. It is quite plain that he did nothing
of the kind,
and that they never supposed him to have done so.
Belief in Jesus
as the Messiah was taught as the first dogma of Christianity,
but adoration
of Jesus as God was not taught at all.
But we are
not left in this matter to depend on conjectural inferences. The
words put
into the mouth of Jesus are plain. Whenever occasion arose, he
asserted his
inferiority to the Father, though, as no one had then dreamt of his
equality, it
is natural that the occasions should not have been frequent.
He made
himself inferior in knowledge when he said that of the day and hour of
the day of
judgment no one knew, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son; no
one except
the Father.[132:1]
He made
himself inferior in power when he said that seats on his right hand and
on his left
in the kingdom of heaven were not his to give.[132:2]
He made
himself inferior in virtue when he desired a certain man not to address
him as
"Good Master," for there was none good but God.[132:3]
The words of
his prayer at Gethsemane, "all things are possible unto thee,"
imply that
all things were not possible to him, while its conclusion "not what I
will, but
what thou wilt," indicates submission to a superior, not the mere
execution of
a purpose of his own.[132:4] Indeed, the whole prayer would have
been a
mockery, useless for any purpose but the deception of his disciples, if
he had
himself been identical with the Being to whom he prayed, and had merely
been giving
effect by his death to their common counsels. While the cry of agony
from the
cross, "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"[132:5] would have
been quite
unmeaning if the person forsaken, and the person forsaking, had been
one and the
same.
Either, then,
we must assume that the language of Jesus has been misreported, or
we must admit
that he never for a moment pretended to be co-equal, co-eternal or
consubstantial
with God.
[Pg 133]It
also follows of necessity from both the genealogies,[133:1] that
their
compilers entertained no doubt that Joseph was the father of Jesus.
Otherwise the
descent of Joseph would not have been in the least to the point.
All attempts
to reconcile this inconsistency with the doctrine of the
Angel-Messiah
has been without avail, although the most learned Christian
divines, for
many generations past, have endeavored to do so.
So, too, of
the stories of the Presentation in the Temple,[133:2] and of the
child Jesus
at Jerusalem,[133:3] Joseph is called his father. Jesus is
repeatedly
described as the son of the carpenter,[133:4] or the son of Joseph,
without the
least indication that the expression is not strictly in accordance
with the
fact.[133:5]
If his
parents fail to understand him when he says, at twelve years old, that he
must be about
his Father's business;[133:6] if he afterwards declares that he
finds no
faith among his nearest relations;[133:7] if he exalts his faithful
disciples
above his unbelieving mother and brothers;[133:8] above all, if Mary
and her other
sons put down his prophetic enthusiasm to insanity;[133:9]—then
the
untrustworthy nature of these stories of his birth is absolutely certain. If
even a little
of what they tell us had been true, then Mary at least would have
believed in
Jesus, and would not have failed so utterly to understand
him.[133:10]
The Gospel of
Mark—which, in this respect, at least, abides most faithfully by
the old
apostolic tradition—says not a word about Bethlehem or the miraculous
birth. The
congregation of Jerusalem to which Mary and the brothers of Jesus
belonged,[133:11]
and over which the eldest of them, James, presided,[133:12]
can have
known nothing of it; for the later Jewish-Christian communities, the
so-called
Ebionites, who were descended from the congregation at Jerusalem,
called Jesus
the son of Joseph. Nay, the story that the Holy Spirit was the
father of
Jesus, must have risen among [Pg 134]the Greeks, or elsewhere, and not
among the
first believers, who were Jews, for the Hebrew word for spirit is of
the feminine
gender.[134:1]
The immediate
successors of the "congregation at Jerusalem"—to which Mary, the
mother of
Jesus, and his brothers belonged—were, as we have seen, the Ebionites.
Eusebius, the
first ecclesiastical historian (born A. D. 264), speaking of the
Ebionites (i.
e. "poor men"), tell us that they believed Jesus to be "a simple
and common
man," born as other men, "of Mary and her husband."[134:2]
The views
held by the Ebionites of Jesus were, it is said, derived from the
Gospel of
Matthew, and what they learned direct from the Apostles. Matthew had
been a hearer
of Jesus, a companion of the Apostles, and had seen and no doubt
conversed
with Mary. When he wrote his Gospel everything was fresh in his mind,
and there
could be no object, on his part, in writing the life of Jesus, to
state
falsehoods or omit important truths in order to deceive his countrymen. If
what is
stated in the interpolated first two chapters, concerning the miraculous
birth of
Jesus, were true, Matthew would have known of it; and, knowing it, why
should he
omit it in giving an account of the life of Jesus?[134:3]
The
Ebionites, or Nazarenes, as they were previously called were rejected by the
Jews as
apostates, and by the Egyptian and Roman Christians as heretics,
therefore,
until they completely disappear, their history is one of tyrannical
persecution.
Although some traces of that obsolete sect may be discovered as
late as the
fourth century, they insensibly melted away, either into the Roman
Christian
Church, or into the Jewish Synagogue,[134:4] and with them perished
the original
Gospel of Matthew, the only Gospel written by an apostle.
"Who,
where masses of men are burning to burst the bonds of time and sense, to
deify and to
adore, wants what seems earth-born, prosaic fact? Woe to the man
that dares to
interpose it! Woe to the sect of faithful Ebionites even, and on
the very soil
of Palestine, that dare to maintain the earlier, humbler
tradition!
Swiftly do they become heretics, revilers, blasphemers, though
sanctioned by
a James, brother of the Lord."
Edward
Gibbon, speaking of this most unfortunate sect, says:
"A
laudable regard for the honor of the first proselytes has countenanced the
belief, the
hope, the wish, that the Ebionites, or at least the Nazarenes, were
[Pg
135]distinguished only by their obstinate perseverance in the practice of
the Mosaic
rites. Their churches have disappeared, their books are obliterated,
their obscure
freedom might allow a latitude of faith, and the softness of their
infant creed
would be variously moulded by the zeal of prejudice of three
hundred
years. Yet the most charitable criticism must refuse these sectaries any
knowledge of
the pure and proper divinity of Christ. Educated in the school of
Jewish
prophecy and prejudice, they had never been taught to elevate their hope
above a human
and temporal Messiah. If they had courage to hail their king when
he appeared
in a plebeian garb, their grosser apprehensions were incapable of
discerning
their God, who had studiously disguised his celestial character under
the name and
person of a mortal.
"The
familiar companions of Jesus of Nazareth conversed with their friend and
countryman,
who, in all the actions of rational and human life, appeared of the
same species
with themselves. His progress from infancy to youth and manhood was
marked by a
regular increase in stature and wisdom; and after a painful agony of
mind and
body, he expired on the cross."[135:1]
The Jewish
Christians then—the congregation of Jerusalem, and their immediate
successors,
the Ebionites or Nazarenes—saw in their master nothing more than a
man. From
this, and the other facts which we have seen in this chapter, it is
evident that
the man Jesus of Nazareth was deified long after his death, just as
many other
men had been deified centuries before his time, and even after. Until
it had been
settled by a council of bishops that Jesus was not only a God, but
"God
himself in human form," who appeared on earth, as did Crishna of old, to
redeem and
save mankind, there were many theories concerning his nature.
Among the
early Christians there were a certain class called by the later
Christians
Heretics. Among these may be mentioned the "Carpocratians," named
after one
Carpocrates. They maintained that Jesus was a mere man, born of Joseph
and Mary,
like other men, but that he was good and virtuous. "Some of them have
the vanity,"
says Irenćus, "to think that they may equal, or in some respects
exceed, Jesus
himself."[135:2]
These are
called by the general name of Gnostics, and comprehend almost all the
sects of the
first two ages.[135:3] They said that "all the ancients, and even
the Apostles
themselves, received and taught the same things which they held;
and that the
truth of the Gospel had been preserved till the time of Victor, the
thirteenth
Bishop of Rome, but by his successor, Zephyrinus, the truth had been
corrupted."[135:4]
Eusebius,
speaking of Artemon and his followers, who denied the divinity of
Christ, says:
[Pg
136]"They affirm that all our ancestors, yea, and the Apostles themselves,
were of the
same opinion, and taught the same with them, and that this their
true doctrine
(for so they call it) was preached and embraced unto the time of
Victor, the
thirteenth Bishop of Rome after Peter, and corrupted by his
successor
Zephyrinus."[136:1]
There were
also the "Cerinthians," named after one Cerinthus, who maintained
that Jesus
was not born of a virgin, which to them appeared impossible, but that
he was the
son of Joseph and Mary, born altogether as other men are; but he
excelled all
men in virtue, knowledge and wisdom. At the time of his baptism,
"the Christ"
came down upon him in the shape of a dove, and left him at the time
of his
crucifixion.[136:2]
Irenćus,
speaking of Cerinthus and his doctrines, says:
"He
represents Jesus as the son of Joseph and Mary, according to the ordinary
course of
human generation, and not as having been born of a virgin. He believed
nevertheless
that he was more righteous, prudent and wise than most men, and
that the
Christ descended upon, and entered into him, at the time of his
baptism."[136:3]
The Docetes
were a numerous and learned sect of Asiatic Christians who invented
the
Phantastic system, which was afterwards promulgated by the Marcionites, the
Manicheans,
and various other sects.
They denied
the truth and authenticity of the Gospels, as far as they related to
the
conception of Mary, the birth of Jesus, and the thirty years that preceded
the exercise
of his ministry.
Bordering
upon the Jewish and Gentile world, the Cerinthians labored to
reconcile the
Gnostic and the Ebionite, by confessing in the same Messiah the
supernatural
union of a man and a god; and this mystic doctrine was adopted,
with many
fanciful improvements, by many sects. The hypothesis was this: that
Jesus of
Nazareth was a mere mortal, the legitimate son of Joseph and Mary, but
he was the best
and wisest of the human race, selected as the worthy instrument
to restore
upon earth the worship of the true and supreme Deity. When he was
baptized in
the Jordan, and not till then, he became more than man. At that
time, the
Christ, the first of the Ćons, the Son of God himself, descended on
Jesus in the
form of a dove, to inhabit his mind, and direct his actions during
the allotted
period of his ministry. When he was delivered into the hands of the
Jews, the
Christ forsook him, flew back to the world of spirits, and left the
solitary
Jesus to suffer, to [Pg 137]complain, and to die. This is why he said,
while hanging
on the cross: "My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me?"[137:1]
Here, then,
we see the first budding out of—what was termed by the true
followers of
Jesus—heretical doctrines. The time had not yet come to make Jesus
a god, to
claim that he had been born of a virgin. As he must, however, have
been
different from other mortals—throughout the period of his ministry, at
least—the
Christ must have entered into him at the time of his baptism, and as
mysteriously
disappeared when he was delivered into the hands of the Jews.
In the course
of time, the seeds of the faith, which had slowly arisen in the
rocky and
ungrateful soil of Judea, were transplanted, in full maturity, to the
happier
climes of the Gentiles; and the strangers of Rome and Alexandria, who
had never
beheld the manhood, were more ready to embrace the divinity of Jesus.
The
polytheist and the philosopher, the Greek and the barbarian, were alike
accustomed to
receive—as we have seen in this chapter—a long succession and
infinite
chain of angels, or deities, or ćons, or emanations, issuing from the
throne of
light. Nor could it seem strange and incredible to them, that the
first of the
ćons, the Logos, or Word of God, of the same substance with the
Father,
should descend upon earth, to deliver the human race from vice and
error. The
histories of their countries, their odes, and their religions were
teeming with such
ideas, as happening in the past, and they were also looking
for and
expecting an Angel-Messiah.[137:2]
Centuries
rolled by, however, before the doctrine of Christ Jesus, the
Angel-Messiah,
became a settled question, an established tenet in the Christian
faith. The
dignity of Christ Jesus was measured by private judgment, according
to the
indefinite rule of Scripture, or tradition or reason. But when his pure
and proper
divinity had been established on the ruins of Arianism, the faith of
the Catholics
trembled on the edge of a precipice where it was impossible to
recede,
dangerous to stand, dreadful to fall; and the manifold inconveniences of
their creed
were aggravated by the sublime character of their theology. They
hesitated to
pronounce that God himself, the second person of an equal and
consubstantial
Trinity, was manifested in the flesh,[137:3] that the Being who
pervades the
universe had been confined in the womb of Mary; that his [Pg
138]eternal
duration had been marked by the days, and months, and years of human
existence;
that the Almighty God had been scourged and crucified; that his
impassible
essence had felt pain and anguish; that his omniscience was not
exempt from
ignorance; and that the source of life and immortality expired on
Mount
Calvary.
These
alarming consequences were affirmed with unblushing simplicity by
Apollinaris,
Bishop of Laodicea, and one of the luminaries of the Church. The
son of a
learned grammarian, he was skilled in all the sciences of Greece;
eloquence,
erudition, and philosophy, conspicuous in the volumes of Apollinaris,
were humbly
devoted to the service of religion.
The worthy
friend of Athanasius, the worthy antagonist of Julian, he bravely
wrestled with
the Arians and polytheists, and though he affected the rigor of
geometrical
demonstration, his commentaries revealed the literal and allegorical
sense of the
Scriptures.
A mystery,
which had long floated in the looseness of popular belief, was
defined by
his perverse diligence in a technical form, and he first proclaimed
the memorable
words, "One incarnate nature of Christ."[138:1]
This was
about A. D. 362, he being Bishop of Laodicea, in Syria, at that
time.[138:2]
The recent
zeal against the errors of Apollinaris reduced the Catholics to a
seeming
agreement with the double-nature of Cerinthus. But instead of a
temporary and
occasional alliance, they established, and Christians still
embrace, the
substantial, indissoluble, and everlasting union of a perfect God
with a
perfect man, of the second person of the Trinity with a reasonable soul
and human
flesh. In the beginning of the fifth century, the unity of the two
natures was
the prevailing doctrine of the church.[138:3] From that time, until
a
comparatively recent period, the cry was: "May those who divide
Christ[138:4]
be divided
with the sword; may [Pg 139]they be hewn in pieces, may they be
burned
alive!" These were actually the words of a Christian synod.[139:1] Is it
any wonder
that after this came the dark ages? How appropriate is the name which
has been
applied to the centuries which followed! Dark indeed they were. Now and
then,
however, a ray of light was seen, which gave evidence of the coming morn,
whose
glorious light we now enjoy. But what a grand light is yet to come from
the noon-day
sun, which must shed its glorious rays over the whole earth, ere it
sets.
FOOTNOTES:
[111:1]
Matthew, i. 18-25.
[111:2] The
Luke narrator tells the story in a different manner. His account is
more like
that recorded in the Koran, which says that Gabriel appeared unto Mary
in the shape
of a perfect man, that Mary, upon seeing him, and seeming to
understand
his intentions, said: "If thou fearest God, thou wilt not approach
me."
Gabriel answering said: "Verily, I am the messenger of the Lord, and am
sent to give
thee a holy son." (Koran, ch. xix.)
[112:1]
Instead, however, of the benevolent Jesus, the "Prince of Peace"—as
Christian
writers make him out to be—the Jews were expecting a daring and
irresistible
warrior and conqueror, who, armed with greater power than Cćsar,
was to come
upon earth to rend the fetters in which their hapless nation had so
long groaned,
to avenge them upon their haughty oppressors, and to re-establish
the kingdom
of Judah.
[112:2] Vol.
v. p. 294.
[112:3] Moor,
in his "Pantheon," tells us that a learned Pandit once observed to
him that the
English were a new people, and had only the record of one Avatara,
but the
Hindoos were an ancient people, and had accounts of a great many.
[112:4] This
name has been spelled in many different ways, such as Krishna,
Khrishna,
Krishnu, Chrisna, Cristna, Christna, &c. We have followed Sir Wm.
Jones's way
of spelling it, and shall do so throughout.
[113:1] See
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 259-275.
[113:2] Ibid.
p. 260. We may say that, "In him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead
bodily."
(Colossians, ii. 9.)
[113:3]
Allen's India, p. 397.
[113:4]
Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 45.
[113:5] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 270.
[113:6] Like
Mary, the mother of Jesus, Devaki is called the "Virgin Mother,"
although she,
as well as Mary, is said to have had other children.
[114:1] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 327.
[114:2] Ibid.
p. 329.
[114:3]
Vishnu Purana, p. 502.
[114:4] Ibid.
p. 440.
[114:5]
"Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel,
and the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery,
which was
kept secret since the world began." (Romans, xvi. 15.) "And without
controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in
the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on
in the world,
received up into glory." (1 Timothy, iii. 16.)
[114:6]
Vishnu Purana, p. 492, note 3.
[114:7]
Geeta, ch. iv.
[115:1]
Bhagavat Geeta, Lecture iv. p. 52.
[115:2]
Ibid., Lecture iv. p. 79.
[115:3] It is
said that there have been several Buddhas (see ch. xxix). We speak
of Gautama.
Buddha is variously pronounced and expressed Boudh, Bod, Bot, But,
Bud, Budd,
Buddou, Bouttu, Bota, Budso, Pot, Pout, Pota, Poti, and Pouti. The
Siamese make
the final t or d quiescent, and sound the word Po; whence the
Chinese still
further vary it to Pho or Fo. Buddha—which means awakened or
enlightened
(see Müller: Sci. of Relig., p. 308)—is the proper way in which to
spell the
name. We have adopted this throughout this work, regardless of the
manner in
which the writer from which we quote spells it.
[115:4] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 86.
[115:5]
Fo-pen-hing is the life of Gautama Buddha, translated from the Chinese
Sanskrit by
Prof. Samuel Beal.
[115:6] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, p. 25.
[115:7]
Hardy: Manual of Buddhism, p. 141.
[115:8] A
Christian sect called Collyridians believed that Mary was born of a
virgin, as
Christ is related to have been born of her (See note to the "Gospel
of the Birth
of Mary" [Apocryphal]; also King: The Gnostics and their Remains,
p. 91, and
Gibbon's Hist. of Rome, vol. v. p. 108, note). This idea has been
recently
adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. They now claim that Mary was born
as immaculate
as her son. (See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 75, and The
Lily of
Israel, pp. 6-15; also fig. 17, ch. xxxii.)
"The
gradual deification of Mary, though slower in its progress, follows, in the
Romish
Church, a course analogous to that which the Church of the first
centuries
followed, in elaborating the deity of Jesus. With almost all the
Catholic
writers of our day, Mary is the universal mediatrix; all power has been
given to her
in heaven and upon earth. Indeed, more than one serious attempt has
been already
made in the Ultramontane camp to unite Mary in some way to the
Trinity; and
if Mariolatry lasts much longer, this will probably be accomplished
in the
end." (Albert Réville.)
[116:1] Huc's
Travels, vol. i. pp. 326, 327.
[116:2] Ibid.
p. 327.
[116:3]
Oriental Religions, p. 604.
[116:4] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah.
[116:5]
Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 309, and King's Gnostics, p. 167.
[116:6] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 10, 25 and 44.
[117:1] See
Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 36, note. Ganesa, the Indian God of Wisdom,
is either
represented as an elephant or a man with an elephant's head. (See
Moore's Hindu
Pantheon, and vol. i. of Asiatic Researches.)
[117:2]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 83.
[117:3] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, pp. 38, 39.
[117:4] Tree
and Serpent Worship, p. 131.
[118:1] Tree
and Serpent Worship, p. 212.
[118:2] King:
The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 168, and Hist. Hindostan, vol.
ii. p. 485.
R. Spence Hardy says: "The body of the Queen was transparent, and
the child
could be distinctly seen, like a priest seated upon a throne in the
act of saying
bana, or like a golden image enclosed in a vase of crystal; so
that it could
be known how much he grew every succeeding day." (Hardy: Manual of
Buddhism, p.
144.) The same thing was said of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Early
art
represented the infant distinctly visible in her womb. (See Inman's Ancient
Pagan and
Modern Christian Symbolism, and chap. xxix. this work.)
[118:3] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 34.
[118:4]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 185. See also Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 162
and 308.
[119:1] See
Asiatic Res., vol. x., and Anac., vol. i. p. 662.
[119:2]
Davis: Hist. China, vol. i. p. 161.
[119:3]
Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 21, 22.
[119:4] Squire:
Serpent Symbol, p. 184.
[120:1]
Semedo: Hist. China, p. 89, in Anac., vol. ii. p. 227.
[120:2]
Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 134-137. See also Chambers's
Encyclo.,
art. Lao-tsze.
[120:3] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 204, 205.
[121:1]
"The 'toe-print made by God' has occasioned much speculation of the
critics. We
may simply draw the conclusion that the poet meant to have his
readers
believe with him that the conception of his hero was SUPERNATURAL."
(James
Legge.)
[121:2] The
Shih-King, Decade ii. Ode 1.
[121:3] See
Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 199, 200, and Buckley's Cities
of the
Ancient World, pp. 168-170.
[121:4]
"Le Dieu La des Lamas est né d'une Vierge: plusieurs princes de l'Asie,
entr'autres
l'Empereur Kienlong, aujourd'hui regnant ŕ la Chine, et qui est de
la race de
ces Tartares Mandhuis, qui conquirent cet empire en 1644, croit, et
assure
lui-męme, ętre descendu d'une Vierge." (D'Hancarville: Res. Sur l'Orig.,
p. 186, in
Anac., vol. ii. p. 97.)
[122:1] See
Mahaffy: Proleg. to Anct. Hist., p. 416, and Bonwick's Egyptian
Belief, p.
406.
[122:2]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 157.
[122:3]
Renouf: Relig. Anct. Egypt, p. 162.
[122:4] See
the chapter on "The Worship of the Virgin Mother."
[122:5]
"O toi vengeur, Dieu fils d'un Dieu; O toi vengeur, Horus, manifesté par
Osiris,
engendré d'Isis déesee." (Champollion, p. 190.)
[122:6]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 406.
[122:7] Ibid.
p. 247.
[122:8]
Renouf: Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 161.
[122:9] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. pp. 67 and 147.
[122:10]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 248.
[123:1]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 407.
[123:2]
Renouf: Relig. of Anct. Egypt, p. 163.
[123:3] See
Herbert Spencer's Principles of Sociology, vol. i. p. 420.
[123:4]
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 431.
[123:5]
Spencer's Principles of Sociology, vol. i. p. 421.
[123:6]
Malcolm: Hist. Persia, vol. i. p. 494.
[123:7] Anac.
vol. i. p. 117.
[124:1] Roman
Antiq., p. 124. Bell's Panth., i. 128. Dupuis, p. 258.
[124:2] Tales
of Anct. Greece, p. 55.
[124:3] Greek
and Italian Mytho., p. 81. Bell's Panth., i. 117. Roman Antiq., p.
71, and
Murray's Manual Mytho., p. 118.
[124:4]
L'Antiquité Expliquée, vol. i. p. 229.
[124:5]
Euripides: Bacchae. Quoted by Dunlap: Spirit Hist. of Man, p. 200.
[124:6]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 58. Roman Antiquities, p. 133.
[124:7] See
the chapter on "The Crucifixion of Jesus," and Bell's Pantheon, ii.
195.
[124:8]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 170. Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 161.
[124:9]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 171.
[125:1] Apol.
1, ch. xxii.
[125:2]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 67. Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 19.
[125:3]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 25.
[125:4] Ibid.
p. 74, and Bulfinch: p. 248.
[125:5]
Tacitus: Annals, iii. lxi.
[125:6] Tales
of Anct. Greece, p. 4.
[125:7]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 31.
[125:8] Ibid.
p. 81.
[125:9] Ibid.
p. 16.
[125:10]
Bell's Pantheon, ii. p. 30.
[125:11] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, ii. 45.
[125:12] The
Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 3.
[126:1]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 78.
[126:2]
Quoted by Lardner, vol. iii. p. 157.
[126:3]
Draper: Religion and Science, p. 8.
[126:4]
Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 37. In the case of Jesus, one Saul of
Tarsus, said
to be of a worthy and upright character, declared most solemnly,
that Jesus
himself appeared to him while on his way to Damascus, and again while
praying in
the temple at Jerusalem. (Acts xxii.)
[126:5] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 345. Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp.
84, 85.
[126:6]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 611.
[126:7] Ćneid,
lib. iv.
[126:8]
Tacitus: Annals, bk. i. ch. x.
[126:9] Ibid.
bk. ii, ch. lxxxii. and bk. xiii. ch. ii.
[127:1] See
Middleton's Letters from Rome, pp. 37, 38.
[127:2] See
Religion of the Ancient Greeks, p. 81, and Gibbon's Rome, vol. i.
pp. 84, 85.
[127:3]
Draper: Religion and Science, p. 8.
[127:4]
Socrates: Eccl. Hist. Lib. 3, ch. xix.
[127:5]
Draper: Religion and Science, p. 17.
[127:6] See
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 418. Bunsen: Bible Chronology, p.
5, and The
Angel-Messiah, pp. 80 and 298.
[127:7] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 113, and Draper: Religion and
Science, p.
8.
[127:8]
Hardy: Manual Budd., p. 141. Higgins: Anac., i. 618.
[128:1]
Draper: Religion and Science, p. 8. Compare Luke i. 26-35.
[128:2]
Philostratus, p. 5.
[128:3] See
the chapter on Miracles.
[128:4] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 151.
[128:5] See
the chapter on Miracles.
[128:6]
Bell's Pantheon, i. 27. Roman Ant., 136. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 150.
[128:7] Ibid.
[129:1]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. xiii.
[129:2] Ibid.
ch. xiii.
[129:3] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
[129:4] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 32, Kingsborough: Mexican
Antiquities,
vol. vi. 166 and 175-6.
[129:5] Ibid.
[129:6] See
Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176.
[129:7] Ibid.
p. 175.
[130:1] See
Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176.
[130:2] Ibid.
p. 166.
[130:3]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, pp. 180, 181.
[130:4]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 187.
[130:5] Ibid.
p. 188.
[130:6] Ibid.
[130:7] Ibid.
[130:8] Ibid.
p. 190.
[131:1]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 191.
[131:2] Ibid.
[131:3] Ibid.
[131:4] Ibid.
p. 192.
[131:5]
"If we seek, in the first three Gospels, to know what his biographers
thought of
Jesus, we find his true humanity plainly stated, and if we possessed
only the
Gospel of Mark and the discourses of the Apostles in the Acts, the
whole
Christology of the New Testament would be reduced to this: that Jesus of
Nazareth was
'a prophet mighty in deeds and in words, made by God Christ and
Lord.'"
(Albert Réville.)
[132:1] Mark,
xiii. 32.
[132:2] Mark,
x. 40.
[132:3] Mark,
x. 18.
[132:4] Mark,
xiv. 36.
[132:5] Mark,
xv. 34.
[133:1] Matt.
and Luke.
"The
passages which appear most confirmatory of Christ's Deity, or Divine
nature, are,
in the first place, the narratives of the Incarnation and of the
Miraculous
Conception, as given by Matthew and Luke. Now, the two narratives do
not harmonize
with each other; they neutralize and negative the genealogies on
which depend
so large a portion of the proof of Jesus being the Messiah—the
marvellous
statement they contain is not referred to in any subsequent portion
of the two
Gospels, and is tacitly but positively negatived by several
passages—it
is never mentioned in the Acts or in the Epistles, and was evidently
unknown to
all the Apostles—and, finally, the tone of the narrative, especially
in Luke, is
poetical and legendary, and bears a marked similarity to the stories
contained in
the Apocryphal Gospels." (W. R. Greg: The Creed of Christendom, p.
229.)
[133:2] Luke,
ii. 27.
[133:3] Luke,
ii. 41-48.
[133:4] Matt.
xiii. 55.
[133:5] Luke,
iv. 22. John, i. 46; vi. 42. Luke, iii. 23.
[133:6] Luke,
ii. 50.
[133:7] Matt.
xiii. 57. Mark, vi. 4.
[133:8] Matt.
xii. 48-50. Mark, iii. 33-35.
[133:9] Mark,
iii. 21.
[133:10] Dr.
Hooykaas.
[133:11]
Acts, i. 14.
[133:12]
Acts, xxi. 18. Gal. ii. 19-21.
[134:1] See
The Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 57.
[134:2]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 3, ch. xxiv.
[134:3] Mr.
George Reber has thoroughly investigated this subject in his "Christ
of
Paul," to which the reader is referred.
[134:4] See
Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 515-517.
[135:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. pp. 488, 489.
[135:2] See
Lardner's Works, vol. viii. pp. 395, 396.
[135:3] Ibid.
p. 306.
[135:4] Ibid.
p. 571.
[136:1]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 5, ch. xxv.
[136:2]
Lardner: vol. viii. p. 404.
[136:3]
Irenćus: Against Heresies, bk. i. c. xxiv.
[137:1] See
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. pp. 492-495.
[137:2] Not a
worldly Messiah, as the Jews looked for, but an Angel-Messiah,
such an one
as always came at the end of a cycle. We shall treat of this subject
anon, when we
answer the question why Jesus was believed to be an Avatar, by the
Gentiles, and
not by the Jews; why, in fact, the doctrine of Christ incarnate in
Jesus succeeded
and prospered.
[137:3]
"This strong expression might be justified by the language of St. Paul
(God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, &c. I.
Timothy, iii.
16), but we are deceived by our modern Bibles. The word which was
altered to
God at Constantinople in the beginning of the sixth century: the true
meaning,
which is visible in the Latin and Syriac versions, still exists in the
reasoning of
the Greek, as well as of the Latin fathers; and this fraud, with
that of the
three witnesses of St. John (I. John, v. 7), is admirably detected
by Sir Isaac
Newton." (Gibbon's Rome, iv. 496, note.) Dean Milman says: "The
weight of
authority is so much against the common reading of both these points
(i. e., I.
Tim. iii. 16, and I. John, v. 7), that they are no longer urged by
prudent
controversialists." (Note in Ibid.)
[138:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. pp. 492-497.
[138:2] See
Chambers's Encyclopćdia, art. "Apollinaris."
[138:3]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 498.
[138:4] That
is, separate him from God the Father, by saying that he, Jesus of
Nazareth, was
not really and truly God Almighty himself in human form.
[139:1] See
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 516.
[Pg
140]CHAPTER XIII.
THE STAR OF
BETHLEHEM.
Being born in
a miraculous manner, as other great personages had been, it was
necessary
that the miracles attending the births of these virgin-born gods
should be
added to the history of Christ Jesus, otherwise the legend would not
be complete.
The first
which we shall notice is the story of the star which is said to have
heralded his
birth, and which was designated "his star." It is related by the
Matthew
narrator as follows:[140:1]
"When
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, of Judea, in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there
came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying: 'Where is he
that is born
King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are
come to
worship him.'"
Herod the
king, having heard these things, he privately called the wise men, and
inquired of
them what time the star appeared, at the same time sending them to
Bethlehem to
search diligently for the young child. The wise men, accordingly,
departed and
went on their way towards Bethlehem. "The star which they saw in
the east went
before them, till it came and stood over where the young child
was."
The general
legendary character of this narrative—its similarity in style with
those
contained in the apocryphal gospels—and more especially its conformity
with those
astrological notions which, though prevalent in the time of the
Matthew
narrator, have been exploded by the sounder scientific knowledge of our
days—all
unite to stamp upon the story the impress of poetic or mythic fiction.
The fact that
the writer of this story speaks not of a star but of his star,
shows that it
was the popular belief of the people among whom he lived, that
each and
every person was born under a star, and that this one which had been
seen was his
star.
All ancient
nations were very superstitious in regard to the influence of the
stars upon
human affairs, and this ridiculous idea [Pg 141]has been handed down,
in some
places, even to the present day. Dr. Hooykaas, speaking on this subject,
says:
"In
ancient times the Jews, like other peoples, might very well believe that
there was
some immediate connection between the stars and the life of man—an
idea which we
still preserve in the forms of speech that so-and-so was born
under a lucky
or under an evil star. They might therefore suppose that the birth
of great men,
such as Abraham, for instance, was announced in the heavens. In
our century,
however, if not before, all serious belief in astrology has ceased,
and it would
be regarded as an act of the grossest superstition for any one to
have his
horoscope drawn; for the course, the appearance and the disappearance
of the
heavenly bodies have been long determined with mathematical precision by
science."[141:1]
The Rev. Dr.
Geikie says, in his Life of Christ:[141:2]
"The
Jews had already, long before Christ's day, dabbled in astrology, and the
various forms
of magic which became connected with it. . . . They were much
given to cast
horoscopes from the numerical value of a name. Everywhere
throughout
the whole Roman Empire, Jewish magicians, dream expounders, and
sorcerers,
were found.
"'The
life and portion of children,' says the Talmud, 'hang not on
righteousness,
but on their star.' 'The planet of the day has no virtue, but the
planet of the
hour (of nativity) has much.' 'When the Messiah is to be
revealed,' says
the book Sohar, 'a star will rise in the east, shining in great
brightness,
and seven other stars round it will fight against it on every side.'
'A star will
rise in the east, which is the star of the Messiah, and will remain
in the east
fifteen days.'"
The moment of
every man's birth being supposed to determine every circumstance
in his life,
it was only necessary to find out in what mode the celestial
bodies—supposed
to be the primary wheels to the universal machine—operated at
that moment,
in order to discover all that would happen to him afterward.
The
regularity of the risings and settings of the fixed stars, though it
announced the
changes of the seasons and the orderly variations of nature, could
not be
adapted to the capricious mutability of human actions, fortunes, and
adventures:
wherefore the astrologers had recourse to the planets, whose more
complicated
revolutions offered more varied and more extended combinations.
Their
different returns to certain points of the Zodiac, their relative
positions and
conjunctions with each other, were supposed to influence the
affairs of
men; whence daring impostors presumed to foretell, not only the
destinies of
individuals, but also the rise and fall of empires, and the fate of
the world
itself.[141:3]
The
inhabitants of India are, and have always been, very superstitious
concerning
the stars. The Rev. D. O. Allen, who resided [Pg 142]in India for
twenty-five
years, and who undoubtedly became thoroughly acquainted with the
superstitions
of the inhabitants, says on this subject:
"So
strong are the superstitious feelings of many, concerning the supposed
influence of
the stars on human affairs, that some days are lucky, and others
again are
unlucky, that no arguments or promises would induce them to deviate
from the
course which these stars, signs, &c., indicate, as the way of safety,
prosperity,
and happiness. The evils and inconveniences of these superstitions
and
prejudices are among the things that press heavily upon the people of
India."[142:1]
The
Nakshatias—twenty-seven constellations which in Indian astronomy separate
the moon's
path into twenty-seven divisions, as the signs of the Zodiac do that
of the sun
into twelve—are regarded as deities who exert a vast influence on the
destiny of
men, not only at the moment of their entrance into the world, but
during their
whole passage through it. These formidable constellations are
consulted at
births, marriages, and on all occasions of family rejoicing,
distress or
calamity. No one undertakes a journey or any important matter except
on days which
the aspect of the Nakshatias renders lucky and auspicious. If any
constellation
is unfavorable, it must by all means be propitiated by a ceremony
called
S'anti.
The Chinese
were very superstitious concerning the stars. They annually
published
astronomical calculations of the motions of the planets, for every
hour and
minute of the year. They considered it important to be very exact,
because the
hours, and even the minutes, are lucky or unlucky, according to the
aspect of the
stars. Some days were considered peculiarly fortunate for
marrying, or
beginning to build a house; and the gods are better pleased with
sacrifice
offered at certain hours than they are with the same ceremony
performed at
other times.[142:2]
The ancient
Persians were also great astrologers, and held the stars in great
reverence.
They believed and taught that the destinies of men were intimately
connected
with their motions, and therefore it was important to know under the
influence of
what star a human soul made its advent into this world. Astrologers
swarmed
throughout the country, and were consulted upon all important
occasions.[142:3]
The ancient
Egyptians were exactly the same in this respect. According to
Champollion,
the tomb of Ramses V., at Thebes, contains tables of the
constellations,
and of their influence on human beings, for every hour of every
month of the
year.[142:4]
[Pg 143]The
Buddhists' sacred books relate that the birth of Buddha was
announced in
the heavens by an asterim which was seen rising on the horizon. It
is called the
"Messianic star."[143:1]
The
Fo-pen-hing says:
"The
time of Bôdhisatwa's incarnation is, when the constellation Kwei is in
conjunction
with the Sun."[143:2]
"Wise
men," known as "Holy Rishis," were informed by these celestial
signs that
the Messiah
was born.[143:3]
In the
Rāmāyana (one of the sacred books of the Hindoos) the
horoscope of Rama's
birth is
given. He is said to have been born on the 9th Tithi of the month
Caitra. The
planet Jupiter figured at his birth; it being in Cancer at that
time.[143:4]
Rama was an incarnation of Vishnu. When Crishna was born "his
stars"
were to be seen in the heavens. They were pointed out by one Nared, a
great prophet
and astrologer.[143:5]
Without going
through the list, we can say that the birth of every Indian Avatar
was foretold
by celestial signs.[143:6]
The same myth
is to be found in the legends of China. Among others they relate
that a star
figured at the birth of Yu, the founder of the first dynasty which
reigned in
China,[143:7] who—as we saw in the last chapter—was of heavenly
origin,
having been born of a virgin. It is also said that a star figured at the
birth of
Laou-tsze, the Chinese sage.[143:8]
In the
legends of the Jewish patriarchs and prophets, it is stated that a
brilliant
star shone at the time of the birth of Moses. It was seen by the Magi
of Egypt, who
immediately informed the king.[143:9]
When Abraham
was born "his star" shone in the heavens, if we may believe the
popular
legends, and its brilliancy outshone all the other stars.[143:10]
Rabbinic
traditions relate the following:
"Abraham
was the son of Terah, general of Nimrod's army. He was born at Ur of
the Chaldees
1948 years after the Creation. On the night of his birth, Terah's
friends—among
whom were many of Nimrod's councillors and soothsayers—were
feasting in
his house. On leaving, late at night, they observed an unusual star
in the east,
it seemed to run from one quarter of the heavens to the other, and
to devour
four stars which were there. All amazed in astonishment [Pg 144]at
this wondrous
sight, 'Truly,' said they, 'this can signify nothing else but that
Terah's
new-born son will become great and powerful.'"[144:1]
It is also
related that Nimrod, in a dream, saw a star rising above the horizon,
which was
very brilliant. The soothsayers being consulted in regard to it,
foretold that
a child was born who would become a great prince.[144:2]
A brilliant
star, which eclipsed all the other stars, was also to be seen at the
birth of the
Cćsars; in fact, as Canon Farrar remarks, "The Greeks and Romans
had always
considered that the births and deaths of great men were symbolized by
the
appearance and disappearance of heavenly bodies, and the same belief has
continued
down to comparatively modern times."[144:3]
Tacitus, the
Roman historian, speaking of the reign of the Emperor Nero, says:
"A comet
having appeared, in this juncture, the phenomenon, according to the
popular opinion,
announced that governments were to be changed, and kings
dethroned. In
the imaginations of men, Nero was already dethroned, and who
should be his
successor was the question."[144:4]
According to
Moslem authorities, the birth of Ali—Mohammed's great disciple, and
the chief of
one of the two principal sects into which Islam is divided—was
foretold by
celestial signs. "A light was distinctly visible, resembling a
bright
column, extending from the earth to the firmament."[144:5] Even during
the reign of
the Emperor Hadrian, a hundred years after the time assigned for
the death of
Jesus, a certain Jew who gave himself out as the "Messiah," and
headed the
last great insurrection of his country, assumed the name of
Bar-Cochba—that
is, "Son of a Star."[144:6]
This myth
evidently extended to the New World, as we find that the symbol of
Quetzalcoatle,
the virgin-born Saviour, was the "Morning Star."[144:7]
We see, then,
that among the ancients there seems to have been a very general
idea that the
birth of a great person would be announced by a star. The Rev. Dr.
Geikie, who
maintains to his utmost the truth of the Gospel narrative, is yet
constrained
to admit that:
"It was,
indeed, universally believed, that extraordinary events, especially [Pg
145]the birth
and death of great men, were heralded by appearances of stars, and
still more of
comets, or by conjunctions of the heavenly bodies."[145:1]
The whole
tenor of the narrative recorded by the Matthew narrator is the most
complete
justification of the science of astrology; that the first intimation of
the birth of
the Son of God was given to the worshipers of Ormuzd, who have the
power of
distinguishing with certainty his peculiar star; that from these
heathen the
tidings of his birth are received by the Jews at Jerusalem, and
therefore
that the theory must be right which connects great events in the life
of men with
phenomena in the starry heavens.
If this
divine sanction of astrology is contested on the ground that this was an
exceptional
event, in which, simply to bring the Magi to Jerusalem, God caused
the star to
appear in accordance with their superstitious science, the
difficulty is
only pushed one degree backwards, for in this case God, it is
asserted,
wrought an event which was perfectly certain to strengthen the belief
of the Magi,
of Herod, of the Jewish priests, and of the Jews generally, in the
truth of
astrology.
If, to avoid
the alternative, recourse be had to the notion that the star
appeared by
chance, or that this chance or accident directed the Magi aright, is
the position
really improved? Is chance consistent with any notion of
supernatural
interposition?
We may also
ask the question, why were the Magi brought to Jerusalem at all? If
they knew
that the star which they saw was the star of Christ Jesus—as the
narrative
states[145:2]—and were by this knowledge conducted to Jerusalem, why
did it not
suffice to guide them straight to Bethlehem, and thus prevent the
Slaughter of
the Innocents? Why did the star desert them after its first
appearance,
not to be seen again till they issued from Jerusalem? or, if it did
not desert
them, why did they ask of Herod and the priests the road which they
should take,
when, by the hypothesis, the star was ready to guide them?[145:3]
It is said
that in the oracles of Zoroaster there is to be found a prophecy to
the effect
that, in the latter days, a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and
that, at the
time of his birth, a star would shine at noonday. Christian divines
have seen in this
a prophecy of the birth of Christ Jesus, but when critically
examined, it
does not stand the test. The drift of the story is this:
Ormuzd, the
Lord of Light, who created the universe in six periods of time,
accomplished
his work by making the first man [Pg 146]and woman, and infusing
into them the
breath of life. It was not long before Ahriman, the evil one,
contrived to
seduce the first parents of mankind by persuading them to eat of
the forbidden
fruit. Sin and death are now in the world; the principles of good
and evil are
now in deadly strife. Ormuzd then reveals to mankind his law
through his
prophet Zoroaster; the strife between the two principles continues,
however, and
will continue until the end of a destined term. During the last
three
thousand years of the period Ahriman is predominant. The world now hastens
to its doom;
religion and virtue are nowhere to be found; mankind are plunged in
sin and
misery. Sosiosh is born of a virgin, and redeems them, subdues the Devs,
awakens the
dead, and holds the last judgment. A comet sets the world in flames;
the Genii of
Light combat against the Genii of Darkness, and cast them into
Duzakh, where
Ahriman and the Devs and the souls of the wicked are thoroughly
cleansed and
purified by fire. Ahriman then submits to Ormuzd; evil is absorbed
into
goodness; the unrighteous, thoroughly purified, are united with the
righteous,
and a new earth and a new heaven arise, free from all evil, where
peace and
innocence will forever dwell.
Who can fail
to see that this virgin-born Sosiosh was to come, not eighteen
hundred years
ago, but, in the "latter days," when the world is to be set on
fire by a
comet, the judgment to take place, and the "new heaven and new earth"
is to be
established? Who can fail to see also, by a perusal of the New
Testament,
that the idea of a temporal Messiah (a mighty king and warrior, who
should
liberate and rule over his people Israel), and the idea of an
Angel-Messiah
(who had come to announce that the "kingdom of heaven was at
hand,"
that the "stars should fall from heaven," and that all men would
shortly
be judged
according to their deeds), are both jumbled together in a heap?
FOOTNOTES:
[140:1]
Matthew, ch. ii.
[141:1] Bible
for Learners, vol. iii. p. 72.
[141:2] Vol.
i. p. 145.
[141:3] See
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 52.
[142:1]
Allen's India, p. 456.
[142:2] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 221.
[142:3] Ibid.
p. 261.
[142:4] See
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 456.
[143:1] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 22, 23, 38.
[143:2] See
Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 23, 33, 35.
[143:3] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 36.
[143:4]
Williams's Indian Wisdom, p. 347.
[143:5] See
Hist. Hindostan, ii. 336.
[143:6] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 561. For that of Crishna, see
Vishnu
Purana, book v. ch. iii.
[143:7] See
Ibid. p. 618.
[143:8]
Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. p. 137.
[143:9] See
Anac., i. p. 560, and Geikie's Life of Christ, i. 559.
[143:10] See
Ibid., and The Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 72, and Calmet's
Fragments,
art. "Abraham."
[144:1]
Baring-Gould: Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 149.
[144:2]
Calmet's Fragments, art. "Abraham."
[144:3]
Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 52.
[144:4]
Tacitus: Annals, bk. xiv. ch. xxii.
[144:5]
Amberly's Analysis of Religious Belief, p. 227.
[144:6] Bible
for Learners, vol. iii. p. 73.
[144:7]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, pp. 180, 181, and Squire: Serpent
Symbol.
[145:1] Life
of Christ, vol. i. p. 144.
[145:2]
Matthew ii. 2.
[145:3] See
Thomas Scott's English Life of Jesus for a full investigation of
this subject.
[Pg
147]CHAPTER XIV.
THE SONG OF
THE HEAVENLY HOST.
The story of
the Song of the Heavenly Host belongs exclusively to the Luke
narrator,
and, in substance, is as follows:
At the time
of the birth of Christ Jesus, there were shepherds abiding in the
fields,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord
appeared
among them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and the
angel said:
"I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people; for
unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is
Christ the
Lord."
And suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host, praising
God in song,
saying: "Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, good will
towards
men." After this the angels went into heaven.[147:1]
It is
recorded in the Vishnu Purana[147:2] that while the virgin Devaki bore
Crishna,
"the protector of the world," in her womb, she was eulogized by the
gods, and on
the day of Crishna's birth, "the quarters of the horizon were
irradiate
with joy, as if moonlight was diffused over the whole earth." "The
spirits and
the nymphs of heaven danced and sang," and, "at midnight,[147:3]
when the
support of all was born, the clouds emitted low pleasing sounds, and
poured down
rain of flowers."[147:4]
Similar
demonstrations of celestial delight were not wanting at the birth of
Buddha. All
beings everywhere were full of joy. Music was to be heard all over
the land,
and, as in the case of Crishna, there fell from the skies a gentle
shower of
flowers and perfumes. Caressing breezes blew, and a marvellous light
was
produced.[147:5]
[Pg 148]The
Fo-pen-hing relates that:
"The
attending spirits, who surrounded the Virgin Maya and the infant Saviour,
singing
praises of 'the Blessed One,' said: 'All joy be to you, Queen Maya,
rejoice and
be glad, for the child you have borne is holy.' Then the Rishis and
Devas who
dwelt on earth exclaimed with great joy: 'This day Buddha is born for
the good of
men, to dispel the darkness of their ignorance.' Then the four
heavenly
kings took up the strain and said: 'Now because Bôdhisatwa is born, to
give joy and
bring peace to the world, therefore is there this brightness.' Then
the gods of
the thirty-three heavens took up the burden of the strain, and the
Yama Devas
and the Tűsita Devas, and so forth, through all the heavens of the
Kama, Rupa,
and Arupa worlds, even up to the Akanishta heavens, all the Devas
joined in
this song, and said: 'To-day Bôdhisatwa is born on earth, to give joy
and peace to
men and Devas, to shed light in the dark places, and to give sight
to the
blind."[148:1]
Even the
sober philosopher Confucius did not enter the world, if we may believe
Chinese
tradition, without premonitory symptoms of his greatness.[148:2]
Sir John
Francis Davis, speaking of Confucius, says:
"Various
prodigies, as in other instances, were the forerunners of the birth of
this
extraordinary person. On the eve of his appearance upon earth, celestial
music sounded
in the ears of his mother; and when he was born, this inscription
appeared on
his breast: 'The maker of a rule for setting the World.'"[148:3]
In the case
of Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, at his birth, a voice was heard
proclaiming
that: "The Ruler of all the Earth is born."[148:4]
In Plutarch's
"Isis" occurs the following:
"At the
birth of Osiris, there was heard a voice that the Lord of all the Earth
was coming in
being; and some say that a woman named Pamgle, as she was going to
carry water
to the temple of Ammon, in the city of Thebes, heard that voice,
which
commanded her to proclaim it with a loud voice, that the great beneficent
god Osiris
was born."[148:5]
Wonderful
demonstrations of delight also attended the birth of the heavenly-born
Apollonius.
According to Flavius Philostratus, who wrote the life of this
remarkable
man, a flock of swans surrounded his mother, and clapping their
wings, as is
their custom, they sang in unison, while the air was fanned by
gentle
breezes.
When the god
Apollo was born of the virgin Latona in the Island of Delos, there
was joy among
the undying gods in Olympus, and the Earth laughed beneath the
smile of
Heaven.[148:6]
[Pg 149]At
the time of the birth of "Hercules the Saviour," his father Zeus, the
god of gods,
spake from heaven and said:
"This
day shall a child be born of the race of Perseus, who shall be the
mightiest of
the sons of men."[149:1]
When
Ćsculapius was a helpless infant, and when he was about to be put to death,
a voice from
the god Apollo was heard, saying:
"Slay
not the child with the mother; he is born to do great things; but bear him
to the wise
centaur Cheiron, and bid him train the boy in all his wisdom and
teach him to
do brave deeds, that men may praise his name in the generations
that shall be
hereafter."[149:2]
As we stated
above, the story of the Song of the Heavenly Host belongs
exclusively
to the Luke narrator; none of the other writers of the synoptic
Gospels know
anything about it, which, if it really happened, seems very
strange.
If the reader
will turn to the apocryphal Gospel called "Protevangelion"
(chapter
xiii.), he will there see one of the reasons why it was thought best to
leave this
Gospel out of the canon of the New Testament. It relates the
"Miracles
at Mary's labor," similar to the Luke narrator, but in a still more
wonderful
form. It is probably from this apocryphal Gospel that the Luke
narrator
copied.
FOOTNOTES:
[147:1] Luke,
ii. 8-15.
[147:2]
Translated from the original Sanscrit by H. H. Wilson, M. D., F. R. S.
[147:3] All
the virgin-born Saviours are born at midnight or early dawn.
[147:4]
Vishnu Purana, book v. ch. iii. p. 502.
[147:5] See
Amberly's Analysis, p. 226. Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 45, 46, 47, and
Bunsen's
Angel-Messiah, p. 35.
[148:1] See
Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 43, 55, 56, and Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p.
35.
[148:2] See
Amberly: Analysis of Religious Belief, p. 84.
[148:3]
Davis: History of China, vol. ii. p. 48. See also Thornton: Hist. China,
i. 152.
[148:4] See
Prichard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 56, and Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i.
p. 408.
[148:5]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 424, and Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 408.
[148:6] See
Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 4.
[149:1] See
Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 55.
[149:2] Ibid.
p. 45.
[Pg
150]CHAPTER XV.
THE DIVINE
CHILD RECOGNIZED AND PRESENTED WITH GIFTS.
The next in
order of the wonderful events which are related to have happened at
the birth of
Christ Jesus, is the recognition of the divine child, and the
presentation
of gifts.
We are
informed by the Matthew narrator, that being guided by a star, the
Magi[150:1]
from the east came to where the young child was.
"And
when they were come into the house (not stable) they saw the young child,
with Mary his
mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened
their
treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, and
myrrh."[150:2]
The Luke
narrator—who seems to know nothing about the Magi from the east—informs
us that
shepherds came and worshiped the young child. They were keeping their
flocks by
night when the angel of the Lord appeared before them, saying:
"Behold,
I bring you good tidings—for unto you is born this day in the city of
David a
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
After the
angel had left them, they said one to another:
"Let us
go unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the
Lord hath
made known to us. And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph,
and the babe
lying in a manger."[150:3]
The Luke
narrator evidently borrowed this story of the shepherds from the
"Gospel
of the Egyptians" (of which we shall speak in another chapter), or from
other sacred
records of the biographies of Crishna or Buddha.
It is related
in the legends of Crishna that the divine child [Pg 151]was
cradled among
shepherds, to whom were first made known the stupendous feats
which stamped
his character with marks of the divinity. He was recognized as the
promised
Saviour by Nanda, a shepherd, or cowherd, and his companions, who
prostrated
themselves before the heaven-born child. After the birth of Crishna,
the Indian
prophet Nared, having heard of his fame, visited his father and
mother at
Gokool, examined the stars, &c., and declared him to be of celestial
descent.[151:1]
Not only was
Crishna adored by the shepherds and Magi, and received with divine
honors, but
he was also presented with gifts. These gifts were "sandal wood and
perfumes."[151:2]
(Why not "frankincense and myrrh?")
Similar
stories are related of the infant Buddha. He was visited, at the time of
his birth, by
wise men, who at once recognized in the marvellous infant all the
characters of
the divinity, and he had scarcely seen the day before he was
hailed god of
gods.[151:3]
"'Mongst
the strangers came
A grey-haired
saint, Asita, one whose ears,
Long closed
to earthly things, caught heavenly sounds,
And heard at
prayer beneath his peepul-tree,
The Devas
singing songs at Buddha's birth."
Viscount
Amberly, speaking of him, says:[151:4]
"He was
visited and adored by a very eminent Rishi, or hermit, known as Asita,
who predicted
his future greatness, but wept at the thought that he himself was
too old to
see the day when the law of salvation would be taught by the infant
whom he had
come to contemplate."
"I weep
(said Asita), because I am old and stricken in years, and shall not see
all that is
about to come to pass. The Buddha Bhagavat (God Almighty Buddha)
comes to the
world only after many kalpas. This bright boy will be Buddha. For
the salvation
of the world he will teach the law. He will succor the old, the
sick, the
afflicted, the dying. He will release those who are bound in the
meshes of
natural corruption. He will quicken the spiritual vision of those
whose eyes
are darkened by the thick darkness of ignorance. Hundreds of
thousands of
millions of beings will be carried by him to the 'other shore'—will
put on
immortality. And I shall not see this perfect Buddha—this is why I
weep."[151:5]
He returns
rejoicing, however, to his mountain-home, for his eyes had seen the
promised and
expected Saviour.[151:6]
Paintings in
the cave of Ajunta represent Asita with the [Pg 152]infant Buddha
in his
arms.[152:1] The marvelous gifts of this child had become known to this
eminent
ascetic by supernatural signs.[152:2]
Buddha, as
well as Crishna and Jesus, was presented with "costly jewels and
precious
substances."[152:3] (Why not gold and perfumes?)
Rama—the
seventh incarnation of Vishnu for human deliverance from evil—is also
hailed by
"aged saints"—(why not "wise men"?)—who die gladly when
their eyes see
the
long-expected one.[152:4]
How-tseich,
who was one of those personages styled, in China, "Tien-Tse," or
"Sons of
Heaven,"[152:5] and who came into the world in a miraculous manner, was
laid in a
narrow lane. When his mother had fulfilled her time:
"Her
first-born son (came forth) like a lamb.
There was no
bursting, no rending,
No injury, no
hurt—
Showing how
wonderful he would be."
When born,
the sheep and oxen protected him with loving care.[152:6]
The birth of
Confucius (B. C. 551), like that of all the demi-gods and saints of
antiquity, is
fabled to have been attended with allegorical prodigies, amongst
which was the
appearance of the Ke-lin, a miraculous quadruped, prophetic of
happiness and
virtue, which announced that the child would be "a king without a
throne or
territory." Five celestial sages, or "wise men" entered the
house at
the time of
the child's birth, whilst vocal and instrumental music filed the
air.[152:7]
Mithras, the
Persian Saviour, and mediator between God and man, was also visited
by "wise
men" called Magi, at the time of his birth.[152:8] He was presented
with gifts
consisting of gold, frankincense and myrrh.'[152:9]
According to
Plato, at the birth of Socrates (469 B. C.) there came three Magi
from the east
to worship him, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and
myrrh.[152:10]
Ćsculapius,
the virgin-born Saviour, was protected by goatherds (why not
shepherds?),
who, upon seeing the child, knew at once that he was divine. The
voice of fame
soon published the [Pg 153]birth of this miraculous infant, upon
which people
flocked from all quarters to behold and worship this heaven-born
child.[153:1]
Many of the
Grecian and Roman demi-gods and heroes were either fostered by or
worshiped by
shepherds. Amongst these may be mentioned Bacchus, who was educated
among
shepherds,[153:2] and Romulus, who was found on the banks of the Tiber,
and educated
by shepherds.[153:3] Paris, son of Priam, was educated among
shepherds,[153:4]
and Ćgisthus was exposed, like Ćsculapius, by his mother,
found by
shepherds and educated among them.[153:5]
Viscount
Amberly has well said that: "Prognostications of greatness in infancy
are, indeed,
among the stock incidents in the mythical or semi-mythical lives of
eminent
persons."
We have seen
that the Matthew narrator speaks of the infant Jesus, and Mary, his
mother, being
in a "house"—implying that he had been born there; and that the
Luke narrator
speaks of the infant "lying in a manger"—implying that he was born
in a stable.
We will now show that there is still another story related of the
place in
which he was born.
FOOTNOTES:
[150:1]
"The original word here is 'Magoi,' from which comes our word
'Magician.' .
. . The persons here denoted were philosophers, priests, or
astronomers.
They dwelt chiefly in Persia and Arabia. They were the learned men
of the
Eastern nations, devoted to astronomy, to religion, and to medicine. They
were held in
high esteem by the Persian court; were admitted as councilors, and
followed the
camps in war to give advice." (Barnes's Notes, vol. i. p. 25.)
[150:2]
Matthew, ii. 2.
[150:3] Luke,
ii. 8-16.
[151:1]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 129, 130, and Maurice: Hist.
Hindostan,
vol. ii. pp. 256, 257 and 317. Also, The Vishnu Purana.
[151:2]
Oriental Religions, pp. 500, 501. See also, Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p.
353.
[151:3]
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 157.
[151:4]
Amberly's Analysis, p. 177. See also, Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 36.
[151:5]
Lillie: Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 76.
[151:6]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 6, and Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 58, 60.
[152:1]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 36.
[152:2] See
Amberly's Analysis p. 231, and Bunsen's Angel Messiah, p. 36.
[152:3] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, p. 58.
[152:4] Oriental
Religions, p. 491.
[152:5] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 200.
[152:6] See
Amberly's Analysis of Religious Belief, p. 226.
[152:7] See
Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. p. 152.
[152:8] King:
The Gnostics and their Remains, pp. 134 and 149.
[152:9]
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 353.
[152:10] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 96.
[153:1]
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 150. Roman Antiquities, p. 136, and Bell's
Pantheon,
vol. i. p. 27.
[153:2]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322.
[153:3]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 213.
[153:4] Ibid.
vol. i. p. 47.
[153:5] Ibid.
p. 20.
[Pg
154]CHAPTER XVI.
THE
BIRTH-PLACE OF CHRIST JESUS.
The writer of
that portion of the Gospel according to Matthew which treats of
the place in
which Jesus was born, implies, as we stated in our last chapter,
that he was
born in a house. His words are these:
"Now
when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there
came wise men from the east" to worship him. "And when they were
come into the
house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother."[154:1]
The writer of
the Luke version implies that he was born in a stable, as the
following
statement will show:
"The
days being accomplished that she (Mary) should be delivered . . . she
brought forth
her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid
him in a
manger, there being no room for him in the inn."[154:2]
If these
accounts were contained in these Gospels in the time of Eusebius, the
first
ecclesiastical historian, who flourished during the Council of Nice (A. D.
327), it is
very strange that, in speaking of the birth of Jesus, he should have
omitted even
mentioning them, and should have given an altogether different
version. He
tells us that Jesus was neither born in a house, nor in a stable,
but in a
cave, and that at the time of Constantine a magnificent temple was
erected on
the spot, so that the Christians might worship in the place where
their
Saviour's feet had stood.[154:3]
In the
apocryphal Gospel called "Protevangelion," attributed to James, the
brother of
Jesus, we are informed that Mary and her husband, being away from
their home in
Nazareth, and when within three miles of Bethlehem, to which city
they were
going, Mary said to Joseph:
"Take me
down from the ass, for that which is in me presses to come forth."
[Pg
155]Joseph, replying, said:
"Whither
shall I take thee, for the place is desert?"
Then said
Mary again to Joseph:
"Take me
down, for that which is within me mightily presses me."
Joseph then
took her down from off the ass, and he found there a cave and put
her into it.
Joseph then
left Mary in the cave, and started toward Bethlehem for a midwife,
whom he found
and brought back with him. When they neared the spot a bright
cloud
overshadowed the cave.
"But on
a sudden the cloud became a great light in the cave, so their eyes could
not bear it.
But the light gradually decreased, until the infant appeared and
sucked the
breast of his mother."[155:1]
Tertullian
(A. D. 200), Jerome (A. D. 375) and other Fathers of the Church, also
state that
Jesus was born in a cave, and that the heathen celebrated, in their
day, the
birth and Mysteries of their Lord and Saviour Adonis in this very cave
near
Bethlehem.[155:2]
Canon Farrar
says:
"That
the actual place of Christ's birth was a cave, is a very ancient
tradition,
and this cave used to be shown as the scene of the event even so
early as the
time of Justin Martyr (A. D. 150)."[155:3]
Mr. King
says:
"The
place yet shown as the scene of their (the Magi's) adoration at Bethlehem
is a
cave."[155:4]
The Christian
ceremonies in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem are
celebrated to
this day in a cave,[155:5] and are undoubtedly nearly the same as
were
celebrated, in the same place, in honor of Adonis, in the time of
Tertullian
and Jerome; and as are yet celebrated in Rome every Christmas-day,
very early in
the morning.
We see, then,
that there are three different accounts concerning the place in
which Jesus
was born. The first, and evidently true one, was that which is
recorded by
the Matthew narrator, namely, that he was born in a house. The
stories about
his being born in a stable or in a cave[155:6] were later
inventions,
caused from the desire to place him in as humble a position as
possible in
his infancy, and from the fact that the virgin-born Saviours who had
preceded [Pg
156]him had almost all been born in a position the most
humiliating—such
as a cave, a cow-shed, a sheep-fold, &c.—or had been placed
there after
birth. This was a part of the universal mythos. As illustrations we
may mention
the following:
Crishna, the
Hindoo virgin-born Saviour, was born in a cave,[156:1] fostered by
an honest
herdsman,[156:2] and, it is said, placed in a sheep-fold shortly after
his birth.
How-Tseih,
the Chinese "Son of Heaven," when an infant, was left unprotected by
his mother,
but the sheep and oxen protected him with loving care.[156:3]
Abraham, the
Father of Patriarchs, is said to have been born in a cave.[156:4]
Bacchus, who
was the son of God by the virgin Semele, is said to have been born
in a cave, or
placed in one shortly after his birth.[156:5] Philostratus, the
Greek sophist
and rhetorician, says, "the inhabitants of India had a tradition
that Bacchus
was born at Nisa, and was brought up in a cave on Mount Meros."
Ćsculapius,
who was the son of God by the virgin Coronis, was left exposed, when
an infant, on
a mountain, where he was found and cared for by a goatherd.[156:6]
Romulus, who
was the son of God by the virgin Rhea-Sylvia, was left exposed,
when an
infant, on the banks of the river Tiber, where he was found and cared
for by a
shepherd.[156:7]
Adonis, the
"Lord" and "Saviour," was placed in a cave shortly after
his
birth.[156:8]
Apollo
(Phoibos), son of the Almighty Zeus, was born in a cave at early
dawn.[156:9]
Mithras, the
Persian Saviour, was born in a cave or grotto,[156:10] at early
dawn.
Hermes, the
son of God by the mortal Maia, was born early in the morning, in a
cave or
grotto of the Kyllemian hill.[156:11]
Attys, the god
of the Phrygians,[156:12] was born in a cave or grotto.[156:13]
The object is
the same in all of these stories, however they may differ in
detail, which
is to place the heaven-born infant in the most humiliating
position in
infancy.
We have seen
it is recorded that, at the time of the birth [Pg 157]of Jesus
"there
was a great light in the cave, so that the eyes of Joseph and the midwife
could not
bear it." This feature is also represented in early Christian art.
"Early
Christian painters have represented the infant Jesus as welcoming three
Kings of the
East, and shining as brilliantly as if covered with phosphuretted
oil."[157:1]
In all pictures of the Nativity, the light is made to arise from
the body of
the infant, and the father and mother are often depicted with
glories round
their heads. This too was a part of the old mythos, as we shall
now see.
The moment
Crishna was born, his mother became beautiful, and her form
brilliant.
The whole cave was splendidly illuminated, being filled with a
heavenly
light, and the countenances of his father and his mother emitted rays
of
glory.[157:2]
So likewise,
it is recorded that, at the time of the birth of Buddha, "the
Saviour of
the World," which, according to one account, took place in an inn, "a
divine light
diffused around his person," so that "the Blessed One" was
"heralded
into the world by a supernatural light."[157:3]
When Bacchus
was born, a bright light shone round him,[157:4] so that, "there
was a
brilliant light in the cave."
When Apollo was
born, a halo of serene light encircled his cradle, the nymphs of
heaven
attended, and bathed him in pure water, and girded a broad golden band
around his
form.[157:5]
When the
Saviour Ćsculapius was born, his countenance shone like the sun, and he
was
surrounded by a fiery ray.[157:6]
In the life
of Zoroaster the common mythos is apparent. He was born in innocence
of an
immaculate conception of a Ray of the Divine Reason. As soon as he was
born, the
glory arising from his body enlightened the whole room, and he laughed
at his
mother.[157:7]
It is stated
in the legends of the Hebrew Patriarchs that, at the birth of
Moses, a
bright light appeared and shone around.[157:8]
There is
still another feature which we must notice in these narratives, that
is, the
contradictory statements concerning the time when Jesus was born. As we
shall treat
of this subject more fully in the chapter on "The Birthday of Christ
Jesus,"
we shall allude to it here simply as far as necessary.
[Pg 158]The
Matthew narrator informs us that Jesus was born in the days of Herod
the King, and
the Luke narrator says he was born when Cyrenius was Governor of
Syria, or
later. This is a very awkward and unfortunate statement, as Cyrenius
was not
Governor of Syria until some ten years after the time of Herod.[158:1]
The cause of
this dilemma is owing to the fact that the Luke narrator, after
having
interwoven into his story, of the birth of Jesus, the old myth of the tax
or tribute,
which is said to have taken place at the time of the birth of some
previous
virgin-born Saviours, looked among the records to see if a taxing had
ever taken
place in Judea, so that he might refer to it in support of his
statement. He
found the account of the taxing, referred to above, and without
stopping to
consider when this taxing took place, or whether or not it would
conflict with
the statement that Jesus was born in the days of Herod, he added
to his
narrative the words: "And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was
governor of
Syria."[158:2]
We will now
show the ancient myth of the taxing. According to the Vishnu Purana,
when the
infant Saviour Crishna was born, his foster father, Nanda, had come to
the city to
pay his tax or yearly tribute to the king. It distinctly speaks of
Nanda, and
other cowherds, "bringing tribute or tax to Kansa" the reigning
monarch.[158:3]
It also
describes a scene which took place after the taxes had been paid.
Vasudeva, an
acquaintance of Nanda's, "went to the wagon of Nanda, and found
Nanda there,
rejoicing that a son (Crishna) had been born to him.
"Vasudeva
spoke to him kindly, and congratulated him on having a son in his old
age.[158:4]
"'Thy
yearly tribute,' he added, 'has been paid to the king . . . why do you
delay, now
that your affairs are settled? Up, Nanda, quickly, and set off to
your own
pastures.' . . . Accordingly Nanda and the other cowherds returned to
their
village."[158:5]
Now, in
regard to Buddha, the same myth is found.
Among the
thirty-two signs which were to be fulfilled by the mother of the
expected
Messiah (Buddha), the fifth sign was recorded to be, "that she would be
on a journey
at the time of her [Pg 159]child's birth." Therefore, "that it
might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets," the virgin Maya, in the
tenth month
after her heavenly conception, was on a journey to her father, when
lo, the birth
of the Messiah took place under a tree. One account says that "she
had alighted
at an inn when Buddha was born."[159:1]
The mother of
Lao-tsze, the Virgin-born Chinese sage, was away from home when
her child was
born. She stopped to rest under a tree, and there, like the virgin
Maya, gave
birth to her son.[159:2]
Pythagoras
(B. C. 570), whose real father was the Holy Ghost,[159:3] was also
born at a
time when his mother was away from home on a journey. She was
travelling
with her husband, who was about his mercantile concerns, from Samos
to
Sidon.[159:4]
Apollo was
born when his mother was away from home. The Ionian legend tells the
simple tale
that Leto, the mother of the unborn Apollo, could find no place to
receive her
in her hour of travail until she came to Delos. The child was born
like Buddha
and Lao-tsze—under a tree.[159:5] The mother knew that he was
destined to
be a being of mighty power, ruling among the undying gods and mortal
men.[159:6]
Thus we see
that the stories, one after another, relating to the birth and
infancy of
Jesus, are simply old myths, and are therefore not historical.
FOOTNOTES:
[154:1]
Matthew, ii.
[154:2] Luke,
ii.
[154:3] Eusebius's
Life of Constantine, lib. 3, chs. xl., xli. and xlii.
[155:1]
Protevangelion. Apoc. chs. xii., xiii., and xiv., and Lily of Israel, p.
95.
[155:2] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 98, 99.
[155:3]
Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 38, and note. See also, Hist. Hindostan, ii.
311.
[155:4] King:
The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 134.
[155:5]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 95.
[155:6] Some
writers have tried to connect these by saying that it was a
cave-stable,
but why should a stable be in a desert place, as the narrative
states?
[156:1] Aryan
Myths, vol. ii. p. 107.
[156:2] See
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259.
[156:3] See
Amberly's Analysis, p. 226.
[156:4] See
Calmet's Fragments, art. "Abraham."
[156:5] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 321. Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p.
118, and
Dupuis, p. 284.
[156:6] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 150, and Bell's Pantheon under "Ćsculapius."
[156:7] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 218.
[156:8] See
Ibid. vol. i. p. 12.
[156:9] Aryan
Mythology, vol. i. pp. 72, 158.
[156:10] See
Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 124, and Aryan Mythology, vol. ii.
p. 134.
[156:11]
Ibid.
[156:12] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 255.
[156:13] See
Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 124.
[157:1]
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 460.
[157:2] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 133. Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p.
130. See
also, Vishnu Purana, p. 502, where it says:
"No
person could bear to gaze upon Devaki from the light that invested her."
[157:3] See
Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 43, 46, or Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 34,
35.
[157:4] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322, and Dupuis: Origin of Relig.
Belief, p.
119.
[157:5] Tales
of Anct. Greece, p. xviii.
[157:6]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 27. Roman Antiquities, p. 136.
[157:7]
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 460. Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 649.
[157:8] See
Hardy: Manual of Buddhism, p. 145.
[158:1] See
the chapter on "Christmas."
[158:2] It
may be that this verse was added by another hand some time after the
narrative was
written. We have seen it stated somewhere that, in the manuscript,
this verse is
in brackets.
[158:3] See
Vishnu Purana, book v. chap. iii.
[158:4] Here
is an exact counterpart to the story of Joseph—the foster-father,
so-called—of
Jesus. He too, had a son in his old age.
[158:5]
Vishnu Purana, book v. chap. v.
[159:1]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 34. See also, Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 32,
and Lillie:
Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 73.
[159:2]
Thornton: Hist. China, i. 138.
[159:3] As we
saw in Chapter XII.
[159:4]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 150.
[159:5] See
Rhys David's Buddhism, p. 25.
[159:6] See
Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. ii. p. 31.
[Pg
160]CHAPTER XVII.
THE GENEALOGY
OF CHRIST JESUS.
The
biographers of Jesus, although they have placed him in a position the most
humiliating
in his infancy, and although they have given him poor and humble
parents, have
notwithstanding made him to be of royal descent. The reasons for
doing this
were twofold. First, because, according to the Old Testament, the
expected
Messiah was to be of the seed of Abraham,[160:1] and second, because
the
Angel-Messiahs who had previously been on earth to redeem and save mankind
had been of
royal descent, therefore Christ Jesus must be so.
The following
story, taken from Colebrooke's "Miscellaneous Essays,"[160:2]
clearly shows
that this idea was general:
"The
last of the Jinas, Vardhamâna, was at first conceived by Devanandā, a
Brahmānā.
The conception was announced to her by a dream. Sekra, being apprised
of his
incarnation, prostrated himself and worshiped the future saint (who was
in the womb
of Devanandā); but reflecting that no great saint was ever born in
an indigent
or mendicant family, as that of a Brahmānā, Sekra commanded
his
chief attendant
to remove the child from the womb of Devanandā to that of
Trisala, wife
of Siddhartha, a prince of the race of Jeswaca, of the Kasyapa
family."
In their
attempts to accomplish their object, the biographers of Jesus have made
such poor work
of it, that all the ingenuity Christianity has yet produced, has
not been able
to repair their blunders.
The
genealogies are contained in the first and third Gospels, and although they
do not agree,
yet, if either is right, then Jesus was not the son of God,
engendered by
the "Holy Ghost," but the legitimate son of Joseph and Mary. In
any other
sense they amount to nothing. That Jesus can be of royal descent, and
yet [Pg
161]be the Son of God, in the sense in which these words are used, is a
conclusion
which can be acceptable to those only who believe in alleged
historical
narratives on no other ground than that they wish them to be true,
and dare not
call them into question.
The Matthew
narrator states that all the generations from Abraham to David are
fourteen,
from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen, and from
the carrying
away into Babylon unto Jesus are fourteen generations.[161:1]
Surely
nothing can have a more mythological appearance than this. But, when we
confine our
attention to the genealogy itself, we find that the generations in
the third
stage, including Jesus himself, amount to only thirteen. All attempts
to get over
this difficulty have been without success; the genealogies are, and
have always
been, hard nuts for theologians to crack. Some of the early
Christian
fathers saw this, and they very wisely put an allegorical
interpretation
to them.
Dr. South
says, in Kitto's Biblical Encyclopćdia:
"Christ's
being the true Messiah depends upon his being the son of David and
king of the
Jews. So that unless this be evinced the whole foundation of
Christianity
must totter and fall."
Another
writer in the same work says:
"In
these two documents (Matthew and Luke), which profess to give us the
genealogy of
Christ, there is no notice whatever of the connection of his only
earthly
parent with the stock of David. On the contrary, both the genealogies
profess to
give us the descent of Joseph, to connect our Lord with whom by
natural
generation, would be to falsify the whole story of his miraculous birth,
and overthrow
the Christian faith."
Again, when
the idea that one of the genealogies is Mary's is spoken of:
"One
thing is certain, that our belief in Mary's descent from David is grounded
on inference
and tradition and not on any direct statement of the sacred
writings. And
there has been a ceaseless endeavor, both among ancients and
moderns, to
gratify the natural cravings for knowledge on this subject."
Thomas Scott,
speaking of the genealogies, says:
"It is a
favorite saying with those who seek to defend the history of the
Pentateuch
against the scrutiny of modern criticism, that the objections urged
against it
were known long ago. The objections to the genealogy were known long
ago, indeed;
and perhaps nothing shows more conclusively than this knowledge,
the
disgraceful dishonesty and willful deception of the most illustrious of
Christian
doctors."[161:2]
[Pg
162]Referring to the two genealogies, Albert Barnes says:
"No two
passages of Scripture have caused more difficulty than these, and
various
attempts have been made to explain them. . . . Most interpreters have
supposed that
Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, and Luke that of Mary. But
though this
solution is plausible and may be true, yet it wants evidence."
Barnes
furthermore admits the fallibility of the Bible in his remarks upon the
genealogies;
1st, by comparing them to our fallible family records; and 2d, by
the remark
that "the only inquiry which can now be fairly made is whether they
copied these
tables correctly."
Alford,
Ellicott, Hervey, Meyer, Mill, Patritius and Wordsworth hold that both
genealogies
are Joseph's; and Aubertin, Ebrard, Greswell, Kurtz, Lange,
Lightfoot and
others, hold that one is Joseph's, and the other Mary's.
When the
genealogy contained in Matthew is compared with the Old Testament they
are found to
disagree; there are omissions which any writer with the least claim
to historical
sense would never have made.
When the
genealogy of the third Gospel is turned to, the difficulties greatly
increase,
instead of diminish. It not only contradicts the statements made by
the Matthew
narrator, but it does not agree with the Old Testament.
What,
according to the three first evangelists, did Jesus think of himself? In
the first
place he made no allusion to any miraculous circumstances connected
with his
birth. He looked upon himself as belonging to Nazareth, not as the
child of
Bethlehem;[162:1] he reproved the scribes for teaching that the Messiah
must
necessarily be a descendant of David,[162:2] and did not himself make any
express claim
to such descent.[162:3]
As we cannot
go into an extended inquiry concerning the genealogies, and as
there is no
real necessity for so doing, as many others have already done so in
a masterly
manner,[162:4] we will continue our investigations in another
direction,
and show that Jesus was not the only Messiah who was claimed to be of
royal
descent.
[Pg 163]To
commence with Crishna, the Hindoo Saviour, he was of royal descent,
although born
in a state the most abject and humiliating.[163:1] Thomas Maurice
says of him:
"Crishna,
in the male line, was of royal descent, being of the Yadava line, the
oldest and
noblest of India; and nephew, by his mother's side, to the reigning
sovereign;
but, though royally descended, he was actually born in a state the
most abject
and humiliating; and, though not in a stable, yet in a
dungeon."[163:2]
Buddha was of
royal descent, having descended from the house of Sakya, the most
illustrious
of the caste of Brahmans, which reigned in India over the powerful
empire of
Mogadha, in the Southern Bahr.[163:3]
R. Spence
Hardy says, in his "Manual of Buddhism:"
"The
ancestry of Gotama Buddha is traced from his father, Sodhódana, through
various
individuals and races, all of royal dignity, to Maha Sammata, the first
monarch of
the world. Several of the names, and some of the events, are met with
in the
Puranas of the Brahmins, but it is not possible to reconcile one order of
statement
with the other; and it would appear that the Buddhist historians have
introduced
races, and invented names, that they may invest their venerated sage
with all the
honors of heraldry, in addition to the attributes of divinity."
How
remarkably these words compare with what we have just seen concerning the
genealogies
of Jesus!
Rama, another
Indian avatar—the seventh incarnation of Vishnu—was also of royal
descent.[163:4]
Fo-hi; or
Fuh-he, the virgin-born "Son of Heaven," was of royal descent. He
belonged to
the oldest family of monarchs who ruled in China.[163:5]
Confucius was
of royal descent. His pedigree is traced back in a summary manner
to the
monarch Hoang-ty, who is said to have lived and ruled more than two
thousand
years before the time of Christ Jesus.[163:6]
Horus, the
Egyptian virgin-born Saviour, was of royal descent, having descended
from a line
of kings.[163:7] He had the title of "Royal Good Shepherd."[163:8]
Hercules, the
Saviour, was of royal descent.[163:9]
[Pg
164]Bacchus, although the Son of God, was of royal descent.[164:1]
Perseus, son
of the virgin Danae, was of royal descent.[164:2]
Ćsculapius,
the great performer of miracles, although a son of God, was
notwithstanding
of royal descent.[164:3]
Many more
such cases might be mentioned, as may be seen by referring to the
histories of
the virgin-born gods and demi-gods spoken of in Chapter XII.
FOOTNOTES:
[160:1] That
is, a passage in the Old Testament was construed to mean this,
although
another and more plausible meaning might be inferred. It is when
Abraham is
blessed by the Lord, who is made to say: "In thy seed shall all the
nations of
the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genesis,
xxii. 18.)
[160:2] Vol.
ii. p. 214.
[161:1]
Matthew, i. 17.
[161:2]
Scott's English Life of Jesus.
[162:1]
Matthew, xiii. 54; Luke, iv. 24.
[162:2] Mark,
ii. 35.
[162:3]
"There is no doubt that the authors of the genealogies regarded him
(Jesus), as
did his countrymen and contemporaries generally, as the eldest son
of Joseph,
Mary's husband, and that they had no idea of anything miraculous
connected
with his birth. All the attempts of the old commentators to reconcile
the
inconsistencies of the evangelical narratives are of no avail." (Albert
Réville:
Hist. Dogma, Deity, Jesus, p. 15.)
[162:4] The
reader is referred to Thomas Scott's English Life of Jesus,
Strauss's
Life of Jesus, The Genealogies of Our Lord, by Lord Arthur Hervey,
Kitto's
Biblical Encyclopćdia, and Barnes' Notes.
[163:1] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 130. Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p.
259, and
Allen's India, p. 379.
[163:2] Hist.
Hindostan, ii. p. 310.
[163:3] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 157. Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah.
Davis: Hist.
of China, vol. ii. p. 80, and Huc's Travels, vol. i. p. 327.
[163:4] Allen's
India, p. 379.
[163:5] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 200, and Chambers's Encyclo., art.
"Fuh-he."
[163:6]
Davis: History of China, vol. ii. p. 48, and Thornton: Hist. China, vol.
i. p. 151.
[163:7] See
almost any work on Egyptian history or the religions of Egypt.
[163:8] See
Lundy: Monumental Christianity, p. 403.
[163:9] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 152. Roman Antiquities, p. 124, and Bell's
Pantheon, i.
382.
[164:1] See
Greek and Italian Mythology, p. 81. Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 117.
Murray:
Manual of Mythology, p. 118, and Roman Antiquities, p. 71.
[164:2] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 170, and Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p.
161.
[164:3] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 27. Roman Antiquities, p. 136, and
Taylor's
Diegesis, p. 150.
[Pg
165]CHAPTER XVIII.
THE SLAUGHTER
OF THE INNOCENTS.
Interwoven
with the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus, the star, the
visit of the
Magi, &c., we have a myth which belongs to a common form, and
which, in
this instance, is merely adapted to the special circumstances of the
age and
place. This has been termed "the myth of the dangerous child." Its
general
outline is this: A child is born concerning whose future greatness some
prophetic
indications have been given. But the life of the child is fraught with
danger to
some powerful individual, generally a monarch. In alarm at his
threatened
fate, this person endeavors to take the child's life, but it is
preserved by
divine care.
Escaping the
measures directed against it, and generally remaining long unknown,
it at length
fulfills the prophecies concerning its career, while the fate which
he has vainly
sought to shun falls upon him who had desired to slay it. There is
a departure
from the ordinary type, in the case of Jesus, inasmuch as Herod does
not actually
die or suffer any calamity through his agency. But this failure is
due to the
fact that Jesus did not fulfill the conditions of the Messiahship,
according to
the Jewish conception which Matthew has here in mind. Had he—as was
expected of
the Messiah—become the actual sovereign of the Jews, he must have
dethroned the
reigning dynasty, whether represented by Herod or his successors.
But as his
subsequent career belied the expectations, the evangelist was obliged
to postpone
to a future time his accession to that throne of temporal dominion
which the
incredulity of his countrymen had withheld from him during his earthly
life.
The story of
the slaughter of the infants which is said to have taken place in
Judea about
the time of the birth of Jesus, is to be found in the second chapter
of Matthew,
and is as follows:
"When
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, there
came wise men
from the East to Jerusalem, saying: 'Where is he [Pg 166]that is
born king of
the Jews? for we have seen his star in the East and have come to
worship him.'
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled and
all Jerusalem
with him. Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men,
enquired of
them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to
Bethlehem,
and said: 'Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye
have found
him, bring me word.'"
The wise men
went to Bethlehem and found the young child, but instead of
returning to
Herod as he had told them, they departed into their own country
another way,
having been warned of God in a dream, that they should not return
to Herod.
"Then
Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding
wroth, and
sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in
all the
coasts thereof, from two years old and under."
We have in
this story, told by the Matthew narrator—which the writers of the
other gospels
seem to know nothing about,—almost a counterpart, if not an exact
one, to that
related of Crishna of India, which shows how closely the
mythological
history of Jesus has been copied from that of the Hindoo Saviour.
Joguth
Chunder Gangooly, a "Hindoo convert to Christ," tells us, in his
"Life
and Religion
of the Hindoos," that:
"A
heavenly voice whispered to the foster father of Crishna and told him to fly
with the
child across the river Jumna, which was immediately done.[166:1] This
was owing to
the fact that the reigning monarch, King Kansa, sought the life of
the infant
Saviour, and to accomplish his purpose, he sent messengers 'to kill
all the
infants in the neighboring places.'"[166:2]
Mr. Higgins
says:
"Soon
after Crishna's birth he was carried away by night and concealed in a
region remote
from his natal place, for fear of a tyrant whose destroyer it was
foretold he
would become; and who had, for that reason, ordered all the male
children born
at that period to be slain."[166:3]
Sir William
Jones says of Crishna:
"He
passed a life, according to the Indians, of a most extraordinary and
incomprehensible
nature. His birth was concealed through fear of the reigning
tyrant Kansa,
who, at the time of his birth, ordered all new-born males to be
slain, yet
this wonderful babe was preserved."[166:4]
In the Epic
poem Mahabarata, composed more than two thousand years ago, we have
the whole
story of this incarnate deity, born of a virgin, and miraculously
escaping in
his infancy from the reigning tyrant of his country, related in its
original
form.
[Pg 167]Representations
of this flight with the babe at midnight are sculptured
on the walls
of ancient Hindoo temples.[167:1]
This story is
also the subject of an immense sculpture in the cave-temple at
Elephanta,
where the children are represented as being slain. The date of this
sculpture is
lost in the most remote antiquity. It represents a person holding a
drawn sword,
surrounded by slaughtered infant boys. Figures of men and women are
also
represented who are supposed to be supplicating for their children.[167:2]
Thomas
Maurice, speaking of this sculpture, says:
"The
event of Crishna's birth, and the attempt to destroy him, took place by
night, and
therefore the shadowy mantle of darkness, upon which mutilated
figures of
infants are engraved, darkness (at once congenial with his crime and
the season of
its perpetration), involves the tyrant's bust; the string of death
heads marks
the multitude of infants slain by his savage mandate; and every
object in the
sculpture illustrates the events of that Avatar."[167:3]
Another
feature which connects these stories is the following:
Sir Wm. Jones
tells us that when Crishna was taken out of reach of the tyrant
Kansa who
sought to slay him, he was fostered at Mathura by Nanda, the
herdsman;[167:4]
and Canon Farrar, speaking of the sojourn of the Holy Family in
Egypt, says:
"St.
Matthew neither tells us where the Holy Family abode in Egypt, nor how long
their exile
continued; but ancient legends say that they remained two years
absent from
Palestine, and lived at Mataréëh, a few miles north-east of
Cairo."[167:5]
Chemnitius,
out of Stipulensis, who had it from Peter Martyr, Bishop of
Alexandria,
in the third century, says, that the place in Egypt where Jesus was
banished, is
now called Matarea, about ten miles beyond Cairo, that the
inhabitants
constantly burn a lamp in remembrance of it, and that there is a
garden of
trees yielding a balsam, which was planted by Jesus when a boy.[167:6]
Here is
evidently one and the same legend.
Salivahana,
the virgin-born Saviour, anciently worshiped near Cape Comorin, the
southerly
part of the Peninsula of India, had the same history. It was attempted
to destroy
him in infancy by a tyrant who was afterward killed by him. Most of
the other
circumstances, with slight variations, are the same as those told of
Crishna and
Jesus.[167:7]
[Pg
168]Buddha's life was also in danger when an infant. In the southern country
of Magadha,
there lived a king by the name of Bimbasara, who, being fearful of
some enemy
arising that might overturn his kingdom, frequently assembled his
principal
ministers together to hold discussion with them on the subject. On one
of these
occasions they told him that away to the north there was a respectable
tribe of
people called the Sâkyas, and that belonging to this race there was a
youth
newly-born, the first-begotten of his mother, &c. This youth, who was
Buddha, they
said was liable to overturn him, they therefore advised him to "at
once raise an
army and destroy the child."[168:1]
In the chronicles
of the East Mongols, the same tale is to be found repeated in
the following
story:
"A
certain king of a people called Patsala, had a son whose peculiar appearance
led the
Brahmins at court to prophesy that he would bring evil upon his father,
and to advise
his destruction. Various modes of execution having failed, the boy
was laid in a
copper chest and thrown into the Ganges. Rescued by an old peasant
who brought
him up as his son, he, in due time, learned the story of his escape,
and returned to
seize upon the kingdom destined for him from his birth."[168:2]
Hau-ki, the
Chinese hero of supernatural origin, was exposed in infancy, as the
"Shih-king"
says:
"He was
placed in a narrow lane, but the sheep and oxen protected him with
loving care.
He was placed in a wide forest, where he was met with by the
wood-cutters.
He was placed on the cold ice, and a bird screened and supported
him with its
wings," &c.[168:3]
Mr. Legge
draws a comparison with this to the Roman legend of Romulus.
Horus, according
to the Egyptian story, was born in the winter, and brought up
secretly in
the Isle of Buto, for fear of Typhon, who sought his life. Typhon at
first schemed
to prevent his birth and then sought to destroy him when
born.[168:4]
Within
historical times, Cyrus, king of Persia (6th cent. B. C.), is the hero of
a similar
tale. His grandfather, Astyages, had dreamed certain dreams which were
interpreted
by the Magi to mean that the offspring of his daughter Mandane would
expel him
from his kingdom.
Alarmed at
the prophecy, he handed the child to his kinsman Harpagos to be
slain; but
this man having entrusted it to a shepherd to be exposed, the latter
contrived to
save it by exhibiting to [Pg 169]the emissaries of Harpagos the
body of a
still-born child of which his own wife had just been delivered. Grown
to man's
estate Cyrus of course justified the prediction of the Magi by his
successful
revolt against Astyages and assumption of the monarchy.
Herodotus,
the Grecian Historian (B. C. 484), relates that Astyages, in a
vision,
appeared to see a vine grow up from Mandane's womb, which covered all
Asia. Having
seen this and communicated it to the interpreters of dreams, he put
her under
guard, resolving to destroy whatever should be born of her; for the
Magian
interpreters had signified to him from his vision that the child born of
Mandane would
reign in his stead. Astyages therefore, guarding against this, as
soon as Cyrus
was born sought to have him destroyed. The story of his exposure
on the mountain,
and his subsequent good fortune, is then related.[169:1]
Abraham was
also a "dangerous child." At the time of his birth, Nimrod, king of
Babylon, was
informed by his soothsayers that "a child should be born in
Babylonia,
who would shortly become a great prince, and that he had reason to
fear
him." The result of this was that Nimrod then issued orders that "all
women
with child
should be guarded with great care, and all children born of them
should be put
to death."[169:2]
The mother of
Abraham was at that time with child, but, of course, he escaped
from being
put to death, although many children were slaughtered.
Zoroaster,
the chief of the religion of the Magi, was a "dangerous child."
Prodigies had
announced his birth; he was exposed to dangers from the time of
his infancy,
and was obliged to fly into Persia, like Jesus into Egypt. Like
him, he was
pursued by a king, his enemy, who wanted to get rid of him.[169:3]
His mother
had alarming dreams of evil spirits seeking to destroy the child to
whom she was
about to give birth. But a good spirit came to comfort her and
said:
"Fear nothing! Ormuzd will protect this infant. He has sent him as a
prophet to
the people. The world is waiting for him."[169:4]
Perseus, son
of the Virgin Danae, was also a "dangerous child." Acrisius, king
of Argos,
being told by the oracle that a son born of his virgin daughter would
destroy him,
immured his daughter Danae in a tower, where no man could approach
her, and by
this means hoped to keep his daughter from [Pg 170]becoming
enceinte. The
god Jupiter, however, visited her there, as it is related of the
Angel Gabriel
visiting the Virgin Mary,[170:1] the result of which was that she
bore a
son—Perseus. Acrisius, on hearing of his daughter's disgrace, caused both
her and the
infant to be shut up in a chest and cast into the sea. They were
discovered by
one Dictys, and liberated from what must have been anything but a
pleasant
position.[170:2]
Ćsculapius,
when an infant, was exposed on the Mount of Myrtles, and left there
to die, but
escaped the death which was intended for him, having been found and
cared for by
shepherds.[170:3]
Hercules, son
of the virgin Leto, was left to die on a plain, but was found and
rescued by a
maiden.[170:4]
Śdipous was a
"dangerous child." Laios, King of Thebes, having been told by the
Delphic
Oracle that Śdipous would be his destroyer, no sooner is Śdipous born
than the
decree goes forth that the child must be slain: but the servant to whom
he is
intrusted contents himself with exposing the babe on the slopes of Mount
Kithairon,
where a shepherd finds him, and carries him, like Cyrus or Romulus,
to his wife,
who cherishes the child with a mother's care.[170:5]
The Theban
myth of Śdipous is repeated substantially in the Arcadian tradition
of Telephos.
He is exposed, when a babe, on Mount Parthenon, and is suckled by a
doe, which
represents the wolf in the myth of Romulus, and the dog of the
Persian story
of Cyrus. Like Moses, he is brought up in the palace of a
king.[170:6]
As we read
the story of Telephos, we can scarcely fail to think of the story of
the Trojan
Paris, for, like Telephos, Paris is exposed as a babe on the
mountain-side.[170:7]
Before he is born, there are portents of the ruin which he
is to bring
upon his house and people. Priam, the ruling monarch, therefore
decrees that
the child shall be left to die on the hill-side. But the babe lies
on the slopes
of Ida and is nourished by a she-bear. He is fostered, like
Crishna and
others, by shepherds, among whom he grows up.[170:8]
Iamos was
left to die among the bushes and violets. Aipytos, the chieftain of
Phaisana, had
learned at Delphi that a child had been born who should become the
greatest of
all the seers and prophets of the earth, and he asked all his people
where the
babe [Pg 171]was: but none had heard or seen him, for he lay away amid
the thick
bushes, with his soft body bathed in the golden and pure rays of the
violets. So
when he was found, they called him Iamos, the "violet child;" and as
he grew in
years and strength, he went down into the Alpheian stream, and prayed
to his father
that he would glorify his son. Then the voice of Zeus was heard,
bidding him
come to the heights of Olympus, where he should receive the gift of
prophecy.[171:1]
Chandragupta
was also a "dangerous child." He is exposed to great dangers in his
infancy at
the hands of a tributary chief who has defeated and slain his
suzerain. His
mother, "relinquishing him to the protection of the Devas, places
him in a vase,
and deposits him at the door of a cattle pen." A herdsman takes
the child and
rears it as his own.[171:2]
Jason is
another hero of the same kind. Pelias, the chief of Iolkos, had been
told that one
of the children of Aiolos would be his destroyer, and decreed,
therefore,
that all should be slain. Jason only is preserved, and brought up by
Cheiron.[171:3]
Bacchus, son
of the virgin Semele, was destined to bring ruin upon Cadmus, King
of Thebes,
who therefore orders the infant to be put into a chest and thrown
into a river.
He is found, and taken from the water by loving hands, and lives
to fulfill
his mission.[171:4]
Herodotus
relates a similar story, which is as follows:
"The
constitution of the Corinthians was formerly of this kind; it was an
oligarchy, (a
government in the hands of a selected few), and those who were
called
Bacchiadć governed the city. About this time one Eetion, who had been
married to a
maiden called Labda, and having no children by her, went to Delphi
to inquire of
the oracle about having offspring. Upon entering the temple he was
immediately
saluted as follows; 'Eetion, no one honors thee, though worthy of
much honor.
Labda is pregnant and will bring forth a round stone; it will fall
on monarchs,
and vindicate Corinth.' This oracle, pronounced to Eetion, was by
chance
reported to the Bacchiadć, who well knew that it prophesied the birth of
a son to
Eetion who would overthrow them, and reign in their stead; and though
they
comprehended, they kept it secret, purposing to destroy the offspring that
should be
born to Eetion. As soon as the woman brought forth, they sent ten
persons to
the district where Eetion lived, to put the child to death; but, the
child, by a
divine providence, was saved. His mother hid him in a chest, and as
they could
not find the child they resolved to depart, and tell those who sent
them that
they had done all that they had commanded. After this, Eetion's son
grew up, and
having escaped this danger, the name of Cypselus was given him,
from the
chest. When Cypselus reached man's estate, and consulted the oracle, an
ambiguous
answer was given him at Delphi; relying on which he attacked and got
possession of
Corinth."[171:5]
[Pg
172]Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were exposed on the banks of
the Tiber,
when infants, and left there to die, but escaped the death intended
for them.
The story of
the "dangerous child" was well known in ancient Rome, and several
of their
emperors, so it is said, were threatened with death at their birth, or
when mere
infants. Julius Marathus, in his life of the Emperor Augustus Cćsar,
says that
before his birth there was a prophecy in Rome that a king over the
Roman people
would soon be born. To obviate this danger to the republic, the
Senate
ordered that all the male children born in that year should be abandoned
or
exposed.[172:1]
The flight of
the virgin-mother with her babe is also illustrated in the story
of Astrea
when beset by Orion, and of Latona, the mother of Apollo, when pursued
by the monster.[172:2]
It is simply the same old story, over and over again.
Someone has
predicted that a child born at a certain time shall be great, he is
therefore a
"dangerous child," and the reigning monarch, or some other
interested
party, attempts to have the child destroyed, but he invariably
escapes and
grows to manhood, and generally accomplishes the purpose for which
he was
intended. This almost universal mythos was added to the fictitious
history of
Jesus by its fictitious authors, who have made him escape in his
infancy from
the reigning tyrant with the usual good fortune.
When a
marvellous occurrence is said to have happened everywhere, we may feel
sure that it
never happened anywhere. Popular fancies propagate themselves
indefinitely,
but historical events, especially the striking and dramatic ones,
are rarely
repeated. That this is a fictitious story is seen from the narratives
of the birth
of Jesus, which are recorded by the first and third Gospel writers,
without any
other evidence. In the one—that related by the Matthew narrator—we
have a birth
at Bethlehem—implying the ordinary residence of the parents
there—and a
hurried flight—almost immediately after the birth—from that place
into
Egypt,[172:3] the slaughter of the infants, and a journey, after many
months, from
Egypt to Nazareth in Galilee. In the other story—that told by the
Luke
narrator—the parents, who have lived in Nazareth, came to Bethlehem only
for business
of the State, and the casual birth in the cave or stable is
followed by a
quiet sojourn, during which the child is circumcised, and by a
leisurely
journey to Jerusalem; [Pg 173]whence, everything having gone off
peaceably and
happily, they return naturally to their own former place of abode,
full, it is
said over and over again, of wonder at the things that had happened,
and deeply
impressed with the conviction that their child had a special work to
do, and was
specially gifted for it. There is no fear of Herod, who seems never
to trouble
himself about the child, or even to have any knowledge of him. There
is no trouble
or misery at Bethlehem, and certainly no mourning for children
slain. Far
from flying hurriedly away by night, his parents celebrate openly,
and at the
usual time, the circumcision of the child; and when he is presented
in the
temple, there is not only no sign that enemies seek his life, but the
devout saints
give public thanks for the manifestation of the Saviour.
Dr. Hooykaas,
speaking of the slaughter of the innocents, says:
"Antiquity
in general delighted in representing great men, such as Romulus,
Cyrus, and
many more, as having been threatened in their childhood by fearful
dangers. This
served to bring into clear relief both the lofty significance of
their future
lives, and the special protection of the deity who watched over
them.
"The
brow of many a theologian has been bent over this (Matthew) narrative! For,
as long as
people believed in the miraculous inspiration of the Holy Scriptures,
of course
they accepted every page as literally true, and thought that there
could not be
any contradiction between the different accounts or representations
of Scripture.
The worst of all such pre-conceived ideas is, that they compel
those who
hold them to do violence to their own sense of truth. For when these
so-called
religious prejudices come into play, people are afraid to call things
by their
right names, and, without knowing it themselves, become guilty of all
kinds of
evasive and arbitrary practices; for what would be thought quite
unjustifiable
in any other case is here considered a duty, inasmuch as it is
supposed to
tend toward the maintenance of faith and the glory of God!"[173:1]
As we stated
above, this story is to be found in the fictitious gospel according
to Matthew
only; contemporary history has nowhere recorded this audacious crime.
It is
mentioned neither by Jewish nor Roman historians. Tacitus, who has stamped
forever the
crimes of despots with the brand of reprobation, it would seem then,
did not think
such infamies worthy of his condemnation. Josephus also, who gives
us a minute
account of the atrocities perpetrated by Herod up to even the very
last moment
of his life, does not say a single word about this unheard-of crime,
which must
have been so notorious. Surely he must have known of it, and must
have
mentioned it, had it ever been committed. "We can readily imagine the
Pagans,"
says Mr. Reber, "who composed the learned and intelligent men of their
day, at work
in exposing the story of Herod's cruelty, by showing that,
considering
the [Pg 174]extent of territory embraced in the order, and the
population
within it, the assumed destruction of life stamped the story false
and
ridiculous. A governor of a Roman province who dared make such an order
would be so
speedily overtaken by the vengeance of the Roman people, that his
head would
fall from his body before the blood of his victims had time to dry.
Archelaus,
his son, was deposed for offenses not to be spoken of when compared
with this
massacre of the infants."
No wonder
that there is no trace at all in the Roman catacombs, nor in Christian
art, of this
fictitious story, until about the beginning of the fifth
century.[174:1]
Never would Herod dared to have taken upon himself the odium and
responsibility
of such a sacrifice. Such a crime could never have happened at
the epoch of
its professed perpetration. To such lengths were the early Fathers
led, by the
servile adaptation of the ancient traditions of the East, they
required a
second edition of the tyrant Kansa, and their holy wrath fell upon
Herod. The
Apostles of Jesus counted too much upon human credulity, they trusted
too much that
the future might not unravel their maneuvers, the sanctity of
their object
made them too reckless. They destroyed all the evidence against
themselves
which they could lay their hands upon, but they did not destroy it
all.
FOOTNOTES:
[166:1] A
heavenly voice whispered to the foster-father of Jesus, and told him
to fly with
the child into Egypt, which was immediately done. (See Matthew, ii.
13.)
[166:2] Life
and Relig. of the Hindoos, p. 134.
[166:3]
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 129. See also, Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p.
134, and
Maurice: Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 331.
[166:4]
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 273 and 259.
[167:1] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 61.
[167:2] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. 130, 13-, and Maurice: Indian
Antiquities,
vol. i. pp. 112, 113, and vol. iii. pp. 45, 95.
[167:3]
Indian Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 112, 113.
[167:4]
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259.
[167:5]
Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 58.
[167:6] See
Introduction to Gospel of Infancy, Apoc.
[167:7] See
vol. x. Asiatic Researches.
[168:1] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, pp. 103, 104.
[168:2]
Amberly's Analysis, p. 229.
[168:3] The
Shih-king. Decade ii, ode 1.
[168:4]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, pp. 158 and 186.
[169:1]
Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 110.
[169:2]
Calmet's Fragments, art. "Abraham."
[169:3] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 240.
[169:4] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. "Religions of Persia."
[170:1] In
the Apocryphal Gospel of the Birth of Mary and "Protevangelion."
[170:2] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 9. Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 58,
and Bulfinch:
The Age of Fable, p. 161.
[170:3]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 27. Cox: Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p. 34.
[170:4] Cox:
Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p. 44.
[170:5] Ibid.
p. 69, and Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xlii.
[170:6] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 14.
[170:7] Ibid.
p. 75.
[170:8] Ibid.
p. 78.
[171:1] Cox:
Aryan Mytho. ii. p. 81.
[171:2] Ibid.
p. 84.
[171:3] Ibid.
p. 150.
[171:4]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 188. Cox: Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p. 296.
[171:5]
Herodotus: bk. v. ch. 92.
[172:1] See
Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 60.
[172:2]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 168.
[172:3] There
are no very early examples in Christian art of the flight of the
Holy Family
into Egypt. (See Monumental Christianity, p. 289.)
[173:1] Bible
for Learners, vol. iii. pp. 71-74.
[174:1] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 238.
[Pg
175]CHAPTER XIX.
THE TEMPTATION,
AND FAST OF FORTY DAYS.
We are
informed by the Matthew narrator that, after being baptized by John in
the river
Jordan, Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness "to be tempted
of the
devil."
"And
when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an
hungered. And
when the tempter came to him he said: 'If thou be the Son of God,
command that
these stones be made bread.' . . . Then the devil taketh him up
into the holy
city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto
him: 'If thou
be the Son of God, cast thyself down.' . . . Again, the devil
taketh him up
into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms
of the world,
and the glory of them, and saith unto him:' All these things will
I give thee
if thou wilt fall down and worship me.' Then saith Jesus unto him,
'Get thee
hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only
shalt thou serve.' Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels
came and
ministered unto him."[175:1]
This is
really a very peculiar story; it is therefore not to be wondered at that
many of the
early Christian Fathers rejected it as being fabulous,[175:2] but
this,
according to orthodox teaching, cannot be done; because, in all consistent
reason,
"we must accept the whole of the inspired autographs or reject the
whole,"[175:3]
and, because, "the very foundations of our faith, the very basis
of our hopes,
the very nearest and dearest of our consolations, are taken from
us, when one
line of that sacred volume, on which we base everything, is
declared to
be untruthful and untrustworthy."[175:4]
The reason
why we have this story in the New Testament is because the writer
wished to
show that Christ Jesus was proof against all temptations, that he too,
as well as
Buddha and others, could resist the powers of the prince of evil.
This
Angel-Messiah was tempted by the devil, and he fasted for forty-seven days
and nights,
without taking an atom of food.[175:5]
[Pg 176]The
story of Buddha's temptation, presented below, is taken from the
"Siamese
Life of Buddha," by Moncure D. Conway, and published in his "Sacred
Anthology,"
from which we take it.[176:1] It is also to be found in the
Fo-pen-hing,[176:2]
and other works on Buddha and Buddhism. Buddha went through
a more
lengthy and severe trial than did Jesus, having been tempted in many
different
ways. The portion which most resembles that recorded by the Matthew
narrator is
the following:
"The
Grand Being (Buddha) applied himself to practice asceticism of the
extremest
nature. He ceased to eat (that is, he fasted) and held his breath. . .
. Then it was
that the royal Mara (the Prince of Evil) sought occasion to tempt
him.
Pretending compassion, he said: 'Beware, O Grand Being, your state is
pitiable to
look on; you are attenuated beyond measure, . . . you are practicing
this
mortification in vain; I can see that you will not live through it. . . .
Lord, that
art capable of such vast endurance, go not forth to adopt a religious
life, but
return to thy kingdom, and in seven days thou shalt become the Emperor
of the World,
riding over the four great continents.'"
To this the
Grand Being, Buddha, replied:
"'Take
heed, O Mara; I also know that in seven days I might gain universal
empire, but I
desire not such possessions. I know that the pursuit of religion
is better
than the empire of the world. You, thinking only of evil lusts, would
force me to
leave all beings without guidance into your power. Avaunt! Get thou
away from
me!'
"The Lord
(then) rode onwards, intent on his purpose. The skies rained flowers,
and delicious
odors pervaded the air."[176:3]
Now, mark the
similarity between these two legends.
Was Jesus
about "beginning to preach" when he was tempted by the evil spirit?
So
was Buddha
about to go forth "to adopt a religious life," when he was tempted by
the evil
spirit.
Did Jesus
fast, and was he "afterwards an hungered"? So did Buddha "cease
to
eat,"
and was "attenuated beyond measure."
Did the evil
spirit take Jesus and show him "all the kingdoms of the world,"
which he
promised to give him, provided he did not lead the life he
contemplated,
but follow him?
So did the
evil spirit say to Buddha: "Go not forth to adopt a religious life,
and in seven
days thou shalt become an emperor of the world."
Did not Jesus
resist these temptations, and say unto the evil one, "Get thee
behind me,
Satan"?
So did Buddha
resist the temptations, and said unto the evil one, "Get thee away
from
me."
[Pg 177]After
the evil spirit left Jesus did not "angels come and minister unto
him"?
So with
Buddha. After the evil one had left him "the skies rained flowers, and
delicious
odors pervaded the air."
These
parallels are too striking to be accidental.
Zoroaster,
the founder of the religion of the Persians, was tempted by the
devil, who
made him magnificent promises, in order to induce him to become his
servant and
to be dependent on him, but the temptations were in vain.[177:1]
"His
temptation by the devil, forms the subject of many traditional reports and
legends."[177:2]
Quetzalcoatle,
the virgin-born Mexican Saviour, was also tempted by the devil,
and the forty
days' fast was found among them.[177:3]
Fasting and
self-denial were observances practiced by all nations of antiquity.
The Hindoos
have days set apart for fasting on many different occasions
throughout
the year, one of which is when the birth-day of their Lord and
Saviour
Crishna is celebrated. On this occasion, the day is spent in fasting and
worship. They
abstain entirely from food and drink for more than thirty hours,
at the end of
which Crishna's image is worshiped, and the story of his
miraculous
birth is read to his hungry worshipers.[177:4]
Among the
ancient Egyptians, there were times when the priests submitted to
abstinence of
the most severe description, being forbidden to eat even bread,
and at other
times they only ate it mingled with hyssop. "The priests in
Heliopolis,"
says Plutarch, "have many fasts, during which they meditate on
divine
things."[177:5]
Among the
Sabians, fasting was insisted on as an essential act of religion.
During the
month Tammuz, they were in the habit of fasting from sunrise to
sunset,
without allowing a morsel of food or drop of liquid to pass their
lips.[177:6]
The Jews also
had their fasts, and on special occasions they gave themselves up
to prolonged
fasts and mortifications.
Fasting and
self-denial were observances required of the Greeks who desired
initiation
into the Mysteries. Abstinence from food, chastity and hard couches
prepared the
neophyte, who broke his fast on the third and fourth day only, on
consecrated
food.[177:7]
The same
practice was found among the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians. Acosta,
speaking of
them, says:
[Pg
178]"These priests and religious men used great fastings, of five and ten
days
together, before any of their great feasts, and they were unto them as our
four ember
weeks. . . .
"They
drank no wine, and slept little, for the greatest part of their exercises
(of penance)
were at night, committing great cruelties and martyring themselves
for the
devil, and all to be reputed great fasters and penitents."[178:1]
In regard to
the number of days which Jesus is said to have fasted being
specified as
forty, this is simply owing to the fact that the number forty as
well as seven
was a sacred one among most nations of antiquity, particularly
among the
Jews, and because others had fasted that number of days. For instance;
it is
related[178:2] that Moses went up into a mountain, "and he was there with
the Lord
forty days and forty nights, and he did neither eat bread, nor drink
water,"
which is to say that he fasted.
In
Deuteronomy[178:3] Moses is made to say—for he did not write it, "When I
was
gone up into
the mount to receive the tables of stone, . . . then I abode in the
mount forty
days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water."
Elijah also
had a long fast, which, of course, was continued for a period of
forty days
and forty nights.[178:4]
St. Joachim,
father of the "ever-blessed Virgin Mary," had a long fast, which
was also
continued for a period of forty days and forty nights. The story is to
be found in
the apocryphal gospel Protevangelion.[178:5]
The ancient
Persians had a religious festival which they annually celebrated,
and which
they called the "Salutation of Mithras." During this festival, forty
days were set
apart for thanksgiving and sacrifice.[178:6]
The forty
days' fast was found in the New World.
Godfrey
Higgins tells us that:
"The
ancient Mexicans had a forty days' fast, in memory of one of their sacred
persons
(Quetzalcoatle) who was tempted (and fasted) forty days on a
mountain."[178:7]
Lord
Kingsborough says:
"The
temptation of Quetzalcoatle, and the fast of forty days, . . . are very
curious and
mysterious."[178:8]
The ancient
Mexicans were also in the habit of making their [Pg 179]prisoners of
war fast for
a term of forty days before they were put to death.[179:1]
Mr. Bonwick
says:
"The
Spaniards were surprised to see the Mexicans keep the vernal forty days'
fast. The
Tammuz month of Syria was in the spring. The forty days were kept for
Proserpine.
Thus does history repeat itself."[179:2]
The Spanish
monks accounted for what Lord Kingsborough calls "very curious and
mysterious"
circumstances, by the agency of the devil, and burned all the books
containing
them, whenever it was in their power.
The forty
days' fast was also found among some of the Indian tribes in the New
World. Dr.
Daniel Brinton tells us that "the females of the Orinoco tribes
fasted forty
days before marriage,"[179:3] and Prof. Max Müller informs us that
it was
customary for some of the females of the South American tribes of Indians
"to fast
before and after the birth of a child," and that, among the
Carib-Coudave
tribe, in the West Indies, "when a child is born the mother goes
presently to
work, but the father begins to complain, and takes to his hammock,
and there he
is visited as though he were sick. He then fasts for forty
days."[179:4]
The females
belonging to the tribes of the Upper Mississippi, were held unclean
for forty
days after childbirth.[179:5] The prince of the Tezcuca tribes fasted
forty days
when he wished an heir to his throne, and the Mandanas supposed it
required
forty days and forty nights to wash clean the earth at the
deluge.[179:6]
The number
forty is to be found in a great many instances in the Old Testament;
for instance,
at the end of forty days Noah sent out a raven from the
ark.[179:7]
Isaac and Esau were each forty years old when they married.[179:8]
Forty days
were fulfilled for the embalming of Jacob.[179:9] The spies were
forty days in
search of the land of Canaan.[179:10] The Israelites wandered
forty years
in the wilderness.[179:11] The land "had rest" forty years on three
occasions.[179:12]
The land was delivered into the hand of the Philistines forty
years.[179:13]
Eli judged Israel forty years.[179:14] King David reigned forty
years.[179:15]
[Pg 180]King
Solomon reigned forty years.[180:1] Goliath presented himself forty
days.[180:2] The
rain was upon the earth forty days at the time of the
deluge.[180:3]
And, as we saw above, Moses was on the mount forty days and forty
nights on
each occasion.[180:4] Can anything be more mythological than this?
The number
forty was used by the ancients in constructing temples. There were
forty pillars
around the temple of Chilminar, in Persia; the temple at Baalbec
had forty
pillars; on the frontiers of China, in Tartary, there is to be seen
the
"Temple of the forty pillars." Forty is one of the most common
numbers in
the Druidical
temples, and in the plan of the temple of Ezekiel, the four oblong
buildings in
the middle of the courts have each forty pillars.[180:5] Most
temples of
antiquity were imitative—were microcosms of the Celestial Templum—and
on this
account they were surrounded with pillars recording astronomical
subjects, and
intended both to do honor to these subjects, and to keep them in
perpetual
remembrance. In the Abury temples were to be seen the cycles of
650-608-600-60-40-30-19-12,
etc.[180:6]
FOOTNOTES:
[175:1]
Matthew, iv. 1-11.
[175:2] See
Lardner's Works, vol. viii. p. 491.
[175:3] Words
of the Rev. E. Garbett, M. A., in a sermon preached before the
University of
Oxford, England.
[175:4] The
Bishop of Manchester (England), in the "Manchester Examiner and
Times."
[175:5] See
Lillie's Buddhism, p. 100.
[176:1] Pp.
44 and 172, 173.
[176:2]
Translated by Prof. Samuel Beal.
[176:3] See
also Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 38, 39. Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp.
xxviii.,
xxix., and 190, and Hardy: Buddhist Legends, p. xvii.
[177:1]
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 240.
[177:2]
Chambers's Encyclo. art. "Zoroaster."
[177:3] See
Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 200.
[177:4] Life
and Relig. of the Hindoos, p. 134.
[177:5]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 341.
[177:6] Ibid.
[177:7] Ibid.
p. 340.
[178:1]
Acosta: Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 339.
[178:2]
Exodus, xxiv. 28.
[178:3] Deut.
ix. 18.
[178:4] 1
Kings, xix. 8.
[178:5]
Chapter i.
[178:6] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 272.
[178:7]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19.
[178:8]
Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. pp. 197-200.
[179:1] See
Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 223.
[179:2]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 370.
[179:3]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 94.
[179:4] Max
Müller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 279.
[179:5]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 94.
[179:6] Ibid.
According to Genesis, vii. 12, "the rain was upon the earth forty
days and
forty nights" at the time of the flood.
[179:7]
Genesis, viii. 6.
[179:8] Gen.
xxv. 20-xxvi. 34.
[179:9] Gen.
i. 3.
[179:10]
Numbers, xiii. 25.
[179:11]
Numbers, xiii. 13.
[179:12] Jud.
iii. 11; v. 31; viii. 28.
[179:13] Jud.
xiii. 1.
[179:14] I.
Samuel, iv. 18.
[179:15] I.
Kings, ii. 11.
[180:1] I.
Kings, xi. 42.
[180:2] I.
Samuel, xvii. 16.
[180:3] Gen.
vii. 12.
[180:4]
Exodus, xxiv. 18-xxxiv. 28.
[180:5] See
Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 798; vol. ii. p. 402.
[180:6] See
Ibid. vol. ii. p. 708.
[Pg
181]CHAPTER XX.
THE
CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS.
The
punishment of an individual by crucifixion, for claiming to be "King of
the
Jews,"
"Son of God," or "The Christ;" which are the causes
assigned by the
Evangelists
for the Crucifixion of Jesus, would need but a passing glance in our
inquiry, were
it not for the fact that there is much attached to it of a
dogmatic and
heathenish nature, which demands considerably more than a "passing
glance."
The doctrine of atonement for sin had been preached long before the
doctrine was
deduced from the Christian Scriptures, long before these Scriptures
are pretended
to have been written. Before the period assigned for the birth of
Christ Jesus,
the poet Ovid had assailed the demoralizing delusion with the most
powerful
shafts of philosophic scorn: "When thou thyself art guilty," says he,
"why
should a victim die for thee? What folly it is to expect salvation from the
death of
another."
The idea of
expiation by the sacrifice of a god was to be found among the
Hindoos even
in Vedic times. The sacrificer was mystically identified with the
victim, which
was regarded as the ransom for sin, and the instrument of its
annulment.
The Rig-Veda represents the gods as sacrificing Purusha, the primeval
male,
supposed to be coeval with the Creator. This idea is even more remarkably
developed in
the Tāndya-brāhmanas, thus:
"The
lord of creatures (prajā-pati) offered himself a sacrifice for the
gods."
And again, in
the Satapatha-brāhmana:
"He who,
knowing this, sacrifices the Purusha-medha, or sacrifice of the
primeval
male, becomes everything."[181:1]
Prof. Monier
Williams, from whose work on Hindooism we quote the above, says:
[Pg
182]"Surely, in these mystical allusions to the sacrifice of a
representative
man, we may perceive traces of the original institution of
sacrifice as
a divinely-appointed ordinance typical of the one great sacrifice
of the Son of
God for the sins of the world."[182:1]
This idea of
redemption from sin through the sufferings and death of a Divine
Incarnate
Saviour, is simply the crowning-point of the idea entertained by
primitive man
that the gods demanded a sacrifice of some kind, to atone for some
sin, or avert
some calamity.
In primitive
ages, when men lived mostly on vegetables, they offered only grain,
water, salt,
fruit, and flowers to the gods, to propitiate them and thereby
obtain
temporal blessings. But when they began to eat meat and spices, and drink
wine, they
offered the same; naturally supposing the deities would be pleased
with whatever
was useful or agreeable to themselves. They imagined that some
gods were
partial to animals, others to fruits, flowers, etc. To the celestial
gods they
offered white victims at sunrise, or at open day. To the infernal
deities they
sacrificed black animals in the night. Each god had some creature
peculiarly
devoted to his worship. They sacrificed a bull to Mars, a dove to
Venus, and to
Minerva, a heifer without blemish, which had never been put to the
yoke. If a
man was too poor to sacrifice a living animal, he offered an image of
one made of
bread.
In the course
of time, it began to be imagined that the gods demanded something
more sacred
as offerings or atonements for sin. This led to the sacrifice of
human beings,
principally slaves and those taken in war, then, their own
children,
even their most beloved "first-born." It came to be an idea that
every
sin must have
its prescribed amount of punishment, and that the gods would
accept the
life of one person as atonement for the sins of others. This idea
prevailed
even in Greece and Rome: but there it mainly took the form of heroic
self-sacrifice
for the public good. Cicero says: "The force of religion was so
great among
our ancestors, that some of their commanders have, with their faces
veiled, and
with the strongest expressions of sincerity, sacrificed themselves
to the
immortal gods to save their country."[182:2]
In Egypt,
offerings of human sacrifices, for the atonement of sin, became so
general that
"if the eldest born of the family of Athamas entered the temple of
the
Laphystian Jupiter at Alos in Achaia, he was sacrificed, crowned with
garlands like
an animal victim."[182:3]
[Pg 183]When
the Egyptian priests offered up a sacrifice to the gods, they
pronounced
the following imprecations on the head of the victim:
"If any
evil is about to befall either those who now sacrifice, or Egypt in
general, may
it be averted on this head."[183:1]
This idea of
atonement finally resulted in the belief that the incarnate Christ,
the Anointed,
the God among us, was to save mankind from a curse by God imposed.
Man had
sinned, and God could not and did not forgive without a propitiatory
sacrifice.
The curse of God must be removed from the sinful, and the sinless
must bear the
load of that curse. It was asserted that divine justice required
BLOOD.[183:2]
The belief of
redemption from sin by the sufferings of a Divine Incarnation,
whether by
death on the cross or otherwise, was general and popular among the
heathen,
centuries before the time of Jesus of Nazareth, and this dogma, no
matter how
sacred it may have become, or how consoling it may be, must fall
along with
the rest of the material of which the Christian church is built.
Julius
Firmicius, referring to this popular belief among the Pagans, says: "The
devil has his
Christs."[183:3] This was the general off-hand manner in which the
Christian
Fathers disposed of such matters. Everything in the religion of the
Pagans which
corresponded to their religion was of the devil. Most Protestant
divines have
resorted to the type theory, of which we shall speak anon.
As we have
done heretofore in our inquiries, we will first turn to India, where
we shall
find, in the words of M. l'Abbé Huc, that "the idea of redemption by a
divine
incarnation," who came into the world for the express purpose of
redeeming
mankind, was "general and popular."[183:4]
"A sense
of original corruption," says Prof. Monier Williams, [Pg 184]seems to
be felt by
all classes of Hindoos, as indicated by the following prayer used
after the
Gāyatrī by some Vaishnavas:
"'I am
sinful, I commit sin, my nature is sinful, I am conceived in sin. Save
me, O thou
lotus-eyed Heri (Saviour), the remover of sin.'"[184:1]
Moreover, the
doctrine of bhakti (salvation by faith) existed among the Hindoos
from the earliest
times.[184:2]
Crishna, the
virgin-born, "the Divine Vishnu himself,"[184:3] "he who is
without
beginning,
middle or end,"[184:4] being moved "to relieve the earth of her
load,"[184:5]
came upon earth and redeemed man by his sufferings—to save him.
The accounts
of the deaths of most all the virgin-born Saviours of whom we shall
speak, are
conflicting. It is stated in one place that such an one died in such
a manner, and
in another place we may find it stated altogether differently.
Even the accounts
of the death of Jesus, as we shall hereafter see, are
conflicting;
therefore, until the chapter on "Explanation" is read, these myths
cannot really
be thoroughly understood.
As the Rev.
Geo. W. Cox remarks, in his Aryan Mythology, Crishna is described,
in one of his
aspects, as a self-sacrificing and unselfish hero, a being who is
filled with
divine wisdom and love, who offers up a sacrifice which he alone can
make.[184:6]
The Vishnu
Purana[184:7] speaks of Crishna being shot in the foot with an arrow,
and states
that this was the cause of his death. Other accounts, however, state
that he was
suspended on a tree, or in other words, crucified.
Mons.
Guigniaut, in his "Religion de l'Antiquité" says:
"The
death of Crishna is very differently related. One remarkable and convincing
tradition
makes him perish on a tree, to which he was nailed by the stroke of an
arrow."[184:8]
Rev. J. P.
Lundy alludes to this passage of Guigniaut's in his "Monumental
Christianity,"
and translates the passage "un bois fatal" (see note below) "a
cross."
Although we do not think he is justified in doing this, as M. Guigniaut
has
distinctly stated that this "bois fatal" (which is applied to a
gibbet, a
cross, a
scaffold, etc.) was "un arbre" (a tree), yet, he is justified in
doing
so on other
accounts, for we find that Crishna is represented hanging on a
cross, and we
know that a cross was frequently called the [Pg 185]"accursed
tree."
It was an ancient custom to use trees as gibbets for crucifixion, or, if
artificial,
to call the cross a tree.[185:1]
A writer in
Deuteronomy[185:2] speaks of hanging criminals upon a tree, as
though it was
a general custom, and says:
"He that
is hanged (on a tree) is accursed of God."
And Paul
undoubtedly refers to this text when he says:
"Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us;
for it is
written, 'Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.'"[185:3]
It is
evident, then, that to be hung on a cross was anciently called hanging on
a tree, and
to be hung on a tree was called crucifixion. We may therefore
conclude from
this, and from what we shall now see, that Crishna was said to
have been
crucified.
In the
earlier copies of Moor's "Hindu Pantheon," is to be seen
representations
of Crishna
(as Wittoba),[185:4] with marks of holes in both feet, and in others,
of holes in
the hands. In Figures 4 and 5 of Plate 11 (Moor's work), the figures
have
nail-holes in both feet. Figure 6 has a round hole in the side; to his
collar or
shirt hangs the emblem of a heart (which we often see in pictures of
Christ Jesus)
and on his head he has a Yoni-Linga (which we do not see in
pictures of
Christ Jesus.)
Our Figure
No. 7 (next page), is a pre-Christian crucifix of Asiatic
origin,[185:5]
evidently intended to represent Crishna crucified. Figure No. 8
we can speak
more positively of, it is surely Crishna crucified. It is unlike
any Christian
crucifix ever made, and, with that described above with the
Yoni-Linga
attached to the head, would probably not be claimed as such. Instead
of the crown
of thorns usually put on the head of the Christian Saviour, it has
the turreted
coronet of the Ephesian Diana, the ankles are tied together by a
cord, and the
dress about the loins is exactly the style with which Crishna is
almost always
represented.[185:6]
Rev. J. P.
Lundy, speaking of the Christian crucifix, says:
[Pg
186]"I object to the crucifix because it is an image, and liable to gross
abuse, just
as the old Hindoo crucifix was an idol."[186:1]
And Dr. Inman
says:
"Crishna,
whose history so closely resembles our Lord's, was also like him in
his being
crucified."[186:2]
The
Evangelist[186:3] relates that when Jesus was crucified two others
(malefactors)
were crucified with him, one of whom, through his favor, went to
heaven. One
of the malefactors reviled him, but the other said to Jesus: "Lord,
remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom." And Jesus said unto him: "Verily
I say unto
thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." According to the
Vishnu Purana,
the hunter who shot the arrow at Crishna afterwards said unto
him:
"Have pity upon me, who am consumed by my crime, for thou art able to
consume
me!" Crishna replied: "Fear not thou in the least. Go, hunter,
through
my favor, to
heaven, the abode of the gods." As soon as he had thus spoken, a
celestial car
appeared, and the hunter, ascending it, forthwith proceeded to
heaven. Then
the illustrious Crishna, having united himself with his own pure,
spiritual,
inexhaustible, inconceivable, unborn, undecaying, imperishable and
universal
spirit, which is one with Vasudeva (God),[186:4] abandoned his mortal
body, and the
condition of the threefold equalities.[186:5] One of the titles of
Crishna [Pg
187]is "Pardoner of sins," another is "Liberator from the
Serpent of
death."[187:1]
The monk
Georgius, in his Tibetinum Alphabetum (p. 203), has given plates of a
crucified god
who was worshiped in Nepal. These crucifixes were to be seen at
the corners
of roads and on eminences. He calls it the god Indra. Figures No. 9
and No. 10
are taken from this work. They are also different from any Christian
crucifix yet
produced. Georgius says:
"If the
matter stands as Beausobre thinks, then the inhabitants of India, and
the
Buddhists, whose religion is the same as that of the inhabitants of Thibet,
have received
these new portents of fanatics nowhere else than from the
Manicheans.
For those nations, especially in the city of Nepal, in the month of
August, being
about to celebrate the festival days of the god Indra, erect
crosses,
wreathed with Abrotono, to his memory, everywhere. You have the
description
of these in letter B, the picture following after; for A is the
representation
of Indra himself crucified, bearing on his forehead, hands and
feet the signs
Telech."[187:2]
P. Andrada la
Crozius, one of the first Europeans who went to Nepal and Thibet,
in speaking
of the god whom they worshiped there—Indra—tells us that they said
he spilt his
blood for the salvation [Pg 188]of the human race, and that he was
pierced
through the body with nails. He further says that, although they do not
say he
suffered the penalty of the cross, yet they find, nevertheless, figures
of it in
their books.[188:1]
In regard to
Beausobre's ideas that the religion of India is corrupted
Christianity,
obtained from the Manicheans, little need be said, as all scholars
of the
present day know that the religion of India is many centuries older than
Mani or the
Manicheans.[188:2]
In the
promontory of India, in the South, at Tanjore, and in the North, at Oude
or Ayoudia,
was found the worship of the crucified god Bal-li. This god, who was
believed to
have been an incarnation of Vishnu, was represented with holes in
his hands and
side.[188:3]
The incarnate
god Buddha, although said to have expired peacefully at the foot
of a tree, is
nevertheless described as a suffering Saviour, who, "when his mind
was moved by
pity (for the human race) gave his life like grass for the sake of
others."[188:4]
A hymn,
addressed to Buddha, says:
"Persecutions
without end,
Revilings and
many prisons,
Death and
murder,
These hast
thou suffered with love and patience
(To secure
the happiness of mankind),
Forgiving
thine executioners."[188:5]
He was called
the "Great Physician,"[188:6] the "Saviour of the
World,"[188:7]
the
"Blessed One,"[188:8] the "God among Gods,"[188:9] the
"Anointed," or the
"Christ,"[188:10]
the "Messiah,"[188:11] the "Only Begotten,"[188:12] etc. He
is
described by
the author of the "Cambridge Key"[188:13] as sacrificing his life
to wash away
the offenses of mankind, and thereby to make them partakers of the
kingdom of
heaven. [Pg 189]This induces him to say "Can a Christian doubt that
this Buddha
was the TYPE of the Saviour of the World."[189:1]
As a spirit
in the fourth heaven, he resolves to give up "all that glory, in
order to be
born into the world," "to rescue all men from their misery and every
future
consequence of it." He vows "to deliver all men, who are left as it
were
without a
Saviour."[189:2]
While in the
realms of the blest, and when about to descend upon earth to be
born as man,
he said:
"I am
now about to assume a body; not for the sake of gaining wealth, or
enjoying the
pleasures of sense, but I am about to descend and be born, among
men, simply
to give peace and rest to all flesh; to remove all sorrow and grief
from the
world."[189:3]
M. l'Abbé Huc
says:
"In the
eyes of the Buddhists, this personage (Buddha) is sometimes a man and
sometimes a
god, or rather both one and the other—a divine incarnation, a
man-god—who
came into the world to enlighten men, to redeem them, and to
indicate to
them the way of safety. This idea of redemption by a divine
incarnation
is so general and popular among the Buddhists, that during our
travels in
Upper Asia we everywhere found it expressed in a neat formula. If we
addressed to
a Mongol or a Thibetan the question 'Who is Buddha?' he would
immediately
reply: 'The Saviour of Men!'"[189:4]
According to
Prof. Max Müller, Buddha is reported as saying:
"Let all
the sins that were committed in this world fall on me, that the world
may be
delivered."[189:5]
The Indians
are no strangers to the doctrine of original sin. It is their
invariable
belief that man is a fallen being; admitted by them from time
immemorial.[189:6]
And what we have seen concerning their beliefs in Crishna and
Buddha
unmistakably shows a belief in a divine Saviour, who redeems man, and
takes upon
himself the sins of the world; so that "Baddha paid it all, all to
him is
due."[189:7]
[Pg 190]The
idea of redemption through the sufferings and death of a Divine
Saviour, is
to be found even in the ancient religions of China. One of their
five sacred
volumes, called the Y-King, says, in speaking of Tien, the "Holy
One":
"The
Holy One will unite in himself all the virtues of heaven and earth. By his
justice the
world will be re-established in the ways of righteousness. He will
labor and
suffer much. He must pass the great torrent, whose waves shall enter
into his
soul; but he alone can offer up to the Lord a sacrifice worthy of
him."[190:1]
An ancient
commentator says:
"The
common people sacrifice their lives to gain bread; the philosophers to gain
reputation;
the nobility to perpetuate their families. The Holy One (Tien) does
not seek
himself, but the good of others. He dies to save the world."[190:2]
Tien, the
Holy One, is always spoken of as one with God, existing with him from
all eternity,
"before anything was made."
Osiris and
Horus, the Egyptian virgin-born gods, suffered death.[190:3] Mr.
Bonwick,
speaking of Osiris, says:
"He is
one of the Saviours or deliverers of humanity, to be found in almost all
lands."
"In his efforts to do good, he encounters evil; in struggling with that
he is
overcome; he is killed."[190:4]
Alexander
Murray says:
"The
Egyptian Saviour Osiris was gratefully regarded as the great exemplar of
self-sacrifice,
in giving his life for others."[190:5]
Sir J. G.
Wilkinson says of him:
"The
sufferings and death of Osiris were the great Mystery of the Egyptian
religion, and
some traces of it are perceptible among other peoples of
antiquity.
His being the Divine Goodness, and the abstract idea of 'good,' his
manifestation
upon earth (like a Hindoo god), his death and resurrection, and
his office as
judge of the dead in a future state, look like the early
revelation of
a future manifestation of the deity converted into a mythological
fable."[190:6]
Horus was
also called "The Saviour." "As Horus Sneb, he is the Redeemer.
He is
the Lord of
Life and the Eternal One."[190:7] He is also called "The
Only-Begotten."[190:8]
Attys, who
was called the "Only Begotten Son"[190:9] and "Saviour,"
was
worshiped by
the Phrygians (who were regarded as one of the [Pg 191]oldest races
of Asia
Minor). He was represented by them as a man tied to a tree, at the foot
of which was
a lamb,[191:1] and, without doubt, also as a man nailed to the
tree, or
stake, for we find Lactantius making this Apollo of Miletus (anciently,
the greatest
and most flourishing city of Ionia, in Asia Minor) say that:
"He was
a mortal according to the flesh; wise in miraculous works; but, being
arrested by
an armed force by command of the Chaldean judges, he suffered a
death made
bitter with nails and stakes."[191:2]
In this god
of the Phrygians, we again have the myth of the crucified Saviour of
Paganism.
By referring
to Mrs. Jameson's "History of Our Lord in Art,"[191:3] or to
illustrations
in chapter xl. this work, it will be seen that a common mode of
representing
a crucifixion was that of a man, tied with cords by the hands and
feet, to an
upright beam or stake. The lamb, spoken of above, which signifies
considerable,
we shall speak of in its proper place.
Tammuz, or
Adonis, the Syrian and Jewish Adonai (in Hebrew "Our Lord"), was
another
virgin-born god, who suffered for mankind, and who had the title of
Saviour. The
accounts of his death are conflicting, just as it is with almost
all of the
so-called Saviours of mankind (including the Christian Saviour, as we
shall
hereafter see) one account, however, makes him a crucified Saviour.[191:4]
It is
certain, however, that the ancients who honored him as their Lord and
Saviour,
celebrated, annually, a feast in commemoration of his death. An image,
intended as a
representation of their Lord, was laid on a bed or bier, and
bewailed in
mournful ditties—just as the Roman Catholics do at the present day
in their
"Good Friday" mass.
During this
ceremony the priest murmured:
"Trust
ye in your Lord, for the pains which he endured, our salvation have
procured."[191:5]
The Rev. Dr.
Parkhurst, in his "Hebrew Lexicon," after referring to what we have
just stated
above, says:
"I find
myself obliged to refer Tammuz to that class of idols which were
originally
designed to represent the promised Saviour, the Desire of all
Nations. His
other name, Adonis, is almost the very Hebrew Adoni or Lord, a
well-known
title of Christ."[191:6]
[Pg
192]Prometheus was a crucified Saviour. He was "an immortal god, a friend
of
the human
race, who does not shrink even from sacrificing himself for their
salvation."[192:1]
The tragedy
of the crucifixion of Prometheus, written by Ćschylus, was acted in
Athens five
hundred years before the Christian Era, and is by many considered to
be the most
ancient dramatic poem now in existence. The plot was derived from
materials
even at that time of an infinitely remote antiquity. Nothing was ever
so
exquisitely calculated to work upon the feelings of the spectators. No author
ever
displayed greater powers of poetry, with equal strength of judgment, in
supporting
through the piece the august character of the Divine Sufferer. The
spectators
themselves were unconsciously made a party to the interest of the
scene: its
hero was their friend, their benefactor, their creator, and their
Saviour; his
wrongs were incurred in their quarrel—his sorrows were endured for
their
salvation; "he was wounded for their transgressions, and bruised for their
iniquities;
the chastisement of their peace was upon him, and by his stripes
they were
healed;" "he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his
mouth."
The majesty of his silence, whilst the ministers of an offended god were
nailing him
by the hands and feet to Mount Caucasus,[192:2] could be only
equaled by
the modesty with which he relates, while hanging with arms extended
in the form
of a cross, his services to the human race, which had brought on him
that horrible
crucifixion.[192:3] "None, save myself," says he, "opposed his
(Jove's)
will,"
"I
dared;
And boldly
pleading saved them from destruction,
Saved them
from sinking to the realms of night.
For this
offense I bend beneath these pains,
Dreadful to
suffer, piteous to behold:
For mercy to
mankind I am not deem'd
Worthy of
mercy; but with ruthless hate
In this
uncouth appointment am fix'd here
A spectacle
dishonorable to Jove."[192:4]
[Pg 193]In
the catastrophe of the plot, his especially professed friend,
Oceanus, the
Fisherman—as his name Petrćus indicates,[193:1]—being unable to
prevail on
him to make his peace with Jupiter, by throwing the cause of human
redemption
out of his hands,[193:2] forsook him and fled. None remained to be
witness of
his dying agonies but the chorus of ever-amiable and ever-faithful
which also
bewailed and lamented him,[193:3] but were unable to subdue his
inflexible
philanthropy.[193:4]
In the words
of Justin Martyr: "Suffering was common to all the sons of Jove."
They were
called the "Slain Ones," "Saviours," "Redeemers,"
&c.
Bacchus, the
offspring of Jupiter and Semele,[193:5] was called the
"Saviour."[193:6]
He was called the "Only Begotten Son,"[193:7] the "Slain
One,"[193:8]
the "Sin Bearer,"[193:9] the "Redeemer,"[193:10] &c.
Evil having
spread itself
over the earth, through the inquisitiveness of Pandora, the Lord
of the gods is
begged to come to the relief of mankind. Jupiter lends a willing
ear to the
entreaties, "and wishes that his son should be the redeemer of the
misfortunes
of the world; The Bacchus Saviour. He promises to the earth a
Liberator . .
The universe shall worship him, and shall praise in songs his
blessings."
In order to execute his purpose, Jupiter overshadows the beautiful
young
maiden—the virgin Semele—who becomes the mother of the Redeemer.[193:11]
"It is I
(says the lord Bacchus to mankind), who guides you; it is I who
protects you,
and who saves you; I who am Alpha and Omega."[193:12]
Hercules, the
son of Zeus, was called "The Saviour."[193:13] The words
"Hercules
the
Saviour" were engraven on ancient coins and monuments.[193:14] He was also
called
"The Only Begotten," and the "Universal Word." He was
re-absorbed into
God. He was
said by Ovid to be the "Self-produced," the Generator and Ruler of
all things,
and the Father of time.[193:15]
[Pg
194]Ćsculapius was distinguished by the epithet "The Saviour."[194:1]
The
temple
erected to his memory in the city of Athens was called: "The Temple of
the
Saviour."[194:2]
Apollo was
distinguished by the epithet "The Saviour."[194:3] In a hymn to
Apollo he is
called: "The willing Saviour of distressed mankind."[194:4]
Serapis was
called "The Saviour."[194:5] He was considered by Hadrian, the Roman
emperor
(117-138 A. D.), and the Gentiles, to be the peculiar god of the
Christians.[194:6]
A cross was found under the ruins of his temple in Alexandria
in Egypt.[194:7]
Fig. No. 11 is a representation of this Egyptian Saviour, taken
from Murray's
"Manual of Mythology." It certainly resembles the pictures of
"the
peculiar God
of the Christians." It is very evident that the pictures of Christ
Jesus, as we
know them to-day, are simply the pictures of some of the Pagan
gods, who
were, for certain reasons which we shall speak of in a subsequent
chapter,
always represented with long yellow or red hair, and a florid
complexion.
If such a person as Jesus of Nazareth ever lived in the flesh, he
was
undoubtedly a Jew, and would therefore have Jewish features; this his
pictures do
not betray.[194:8]
Mithras, who
was "Mediator between God and man,"[194:9] was called "The
Saviour."
He was the peculiar god of the Persians, who believed that he had, by
his
sufferings, worked their salvation, and on this account he was called their
Saviour.[194:10]
He was also called "The Logos."[194:11]
The Persians
believed that they were tainted with original sin, owing to the
fall of their
first parents who were tempted by the evil one in the form of a
serpent.[194:12]
They
considered their law-giver Zoroaster to be also a Divine Messenger, sent to
redeem men
from their evil ways, and they always worshiped his memory. To this
day his
followers mention him with the greatest reverence, calling him "The
Immortal
Zoroaster," [Pg 195]"The Blessed Zoroaster," "The
First-Born of the
Eternal
One," &c.[195:1]
"In the
life of Zoroaster the common mythos is apparent. He was born in
innocence, of
an immaculate conception, of a ray of the Divine Reason. As soon
as he was
born, the glory arising from his body enlightened the room, and he
laughed at
his mother. He was called a Splendid Light from the Tree of
Knowledge,
and, in fine, he or his soul was suspensus a lingo, hung upon a tree,
and this was
the Tree of Knowledge."[195:2]
How much this
resembles "the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from
generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints."[195:3]
Hermes was
called "The Saviour." On the altar of Pepi (B. C. 3500) are to be
found prayers
to Hermes—"He who is the good Saviour."[195:4] He was also called
"The
Logos." The church fathers, Hippolytus, Justin Martyr, and Plutarch (de
Iside et
Osir) assert that the Logos is Hermes.[195:5] The term "Logos" is
Greek, and
signifies literally "Word."[195:6] He was also "The Messenger of
God."[195:7]
Dr. Inman
says:
"There
are few words which strike more strongly upon the senses of an inquirer
into the
nature of ancient faiths, than Salvation and Saviour. Both were used
long before
the birth of Christ, and they are still common among those who never
heard of
Jesus, or of that which is known among us as the Gospels."[195:8]
He also tells
us that there is a very remarkable figure copied in Payne Knight's
work, in
which we see on a man's shoulders a cock's head, whilst on the pediment
are placed
the words: "The Saviour of the World."[195:9]
Besides the
titles of "God's First-Born," "Only Begotten," the
"Mediator," the
"Shepherd,"
the "Advocate," the "Paraclete or Comforter," the "Son
of God," the
"Logos,"
&c.,[195:10] being applied to heathen virgin-born gods, before the time
assigned for
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, we have also that of Christ and
Jesus.
[Pg
196]Cyrus, King of Persia, was called the "Christ," or the
"Anointed of
God."[196:1]
As Dr. Giles says, "Christ" is "a name having no spiritual
signification,
and importing nothing more than an ordinary surname."[196:2] The
worshipers of
Serapis were called "Christians," and those devoted to Serapis
were called
"Bishops of Christ."[196:3] Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian,
says, that
the names of "Jesus" and "Christ," were both known and
honored among
the
ancients.[196:4]
Mithras was
called the "Anointed" or the "Christ;"[196:5] and Horus,
Mano,
Mithras,
Bel-Minor, Iao, Adoni, &c., were each of them "God of Light,"
"Light of
the
World," the "Anointed," or the "Christ."[196:6]
It is said
that Peter called his Master the Christ, whereupon "he straightway
charged them
(the disciples), and commanded them to tell no man that
thing."[196:7]
The title of
"Christ" or "The Anointed," was held by the kings of
Israel. "Touch
not my Christ
and do my prophets no harm," says the Psalmist.[196:8]
The term
"Christ" was applied to religious teachers, leaders of factions,
necromancers
or wonder-workers, &c. This is seen by the passage in Matthew,
where the
writer says:
"There
shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs
and wonders,
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect."[196:9]
The
virgin-born Crishna and Buddha were incarnations of Vishnu, called Avatars.
An Avatar is
an Angel-Messiah, a God-man, a Christ; for the word Christ is from
the Greek
Christos, an Anointed One, a Messiah.
The name
Jesus, which is pronounced in Hebrew Yezua, and is sometimes Grecized
into Jason,
was very common. After the Captivity it occurs quite frequently, and
is
interchanged with the name Joshua. Indeed Joshua, the successor of Moses, is
called Jesus
in the New Testament more than once,[196:10] though the meaning of
the two names
is not really quite the same. We know of a Jesus, son of Sirach, a
writer of
proverbs, whose collection is [Pg 197]preserved among the apocryphal
books of the
Old Testament. The notorious Barabbas[197:1] or son of Abbas, was
himself
called Jesus. Among Paul's opponents we find a magician called Elymas,
the Son of
Jesus. Among the early Christians a certain Jesus, also called
Justus,
appears. Flavius Josephus mentions more than ten distinct
persons—priests,
robbers, peasants, and others—who bore the name of Jesus, all
of whom lived
during the last century of the Jewish state.[197:2]
To return now
to our theme—crucified gods before the time of Jesus of Nazareth.
The holy
Father Minucius Felix, in his Octavius, written as late as A. D. 211,
indignantly
resents the supposition that the sign of the cross should be
considered
exclusively as a Christian symbol, and represents his advocate of the
Christian
argument as retorting on an infidel opponent. His words are:
""As
for the adoration of crosses which you (Pagans) object against us
(Christians),
I must tell you, that we neither adore crosses nor desire them;
you it is, ye
Pagans . . . who are the most likely people to adore wooden
crosses . . .
for what else are your ensigns, flags, and standards, but crosses
gilt and
beautiful. Your victorious trophies not only represent a simple cross,
but a cross
with a man upon it."[197:3]
The
existence, in the writings of Minucius Felix, of this passage, is probably
owing to an
oversight of the destroyers of all evidences against the Christian
religion that
could be had. The practice of the Romans, here alluded to, of
carrying a
cross with a man on it, or, in other words, a crucifix, has evidently
been
concealed from us by the careful destruction of such of their works as
alluded to
it. The priests had everything their own way for centuries, and to
destroy what
was evidence against their claims was a very simple matter.
It is very
evident that this celebrated Christian Father alludes to some Gentile
mystery, of
which the prudence of his successors has deprived us. When we
compare this
with the fact that for centuries after the time assigned for the
birth of
Christ Jesus, he was not represented as a man on a cross, and that the
Christians
did not have such a thing as a crucifix, we are inclined to think
that the
effigies of a black or dark-skinned crucified man, which were to be
seen in many
places in Italy even during the last century, may have had
something to
do with it.[197:4]
[Pg 198]While
speaking of "a cross with a man on it" as being carried by the
Pagan Romans
as a standard, we might mention the fact, related by Arrian the
historian,[198:1]
that the troops of Porus, in their war with Alexander the
Great,
carried on their standards the figure of a man.[198:2] Here is evidently
the crucifix
standard again.
"This
must have been (says Mr. Higgins) a Staurobates or Salivahana, and looks
very like the
figure of a man carried on their standards by the Romans. This was
similar to
the dove carried on the standards of the Assyrians. This must have
been the
crucifix of Nepaul."[198:3]
Tertullian, a
Christian Father of the second and third centuries, writing to the
Pagans, says:
"The
origin of your gods is derived from figures moulded on a cross. All those
rows of
images on your standards are the appendages of crosses; those hangings
on your
standards and banners are the robes of crosses."[198:4]
We have it
then, on the authority of a Christian Father, as late as A. D. 211,
that the
Christians "neither adored crosses nor desired them," but that the
Pagans
"adored crosses," and not that alone, but "a cross with a man
upon it."
This we shall
presently find to be the case. Jesus, in those days, nor for
centuries
after, was not represented as a man on a cross. He was represented as
a lamb, and
the adoration of the crucifix, by the Christians, was a later
addition to
their religion. But this we shall treat of in its place.
We may now
ask the question, who was this crucified man whom the Pagans "adored"
before and
after the time of Jesus of Nazareth? Who did the crucifix represent?
It was,
undoubtedly, "the Saviour crucified for the salvation of mankind,"
long
before the
Christian Era, whose effigies were to be seen in many places all over
Italy. These
Pagan crucifixes were either destroyed, corrupted, or adopted; the
latter was
the case with many ancient paintings of the Bambino,[198:5] on which
may be seen
the words Deo Soli. Now, these two words can never apply to Christ
Jesus. He was
not Deus Solus, in any sense, according to the idiom of the Latin
language, and
the Romish faith. Whether we construe the words to "the only God,"
or "God
alone," they are equally heretical. No priest, in any age of the Church,
would have
thought of putting them there, but finding them there, they tolerated
them.
In the
"Celtic Druids," Mr. Higgins describes a crucifix, a lamb, and an
elephant,
which was cut upon the "fire tower"[Pg 199]—so-called—at Brechin, a
town of
Forfarshire, in Scotland. Although they appeared to be of very ancient
date, he
supposed, at that time, that they were modern, and belonged to
Christianity,
but some years afterwards, he wrote as follows:
"I now
doubt (the modern date of the tower), for we have, over and over again,
seen the
crucified man before Christ. We have also found 'The Lamb that taketh
away the sins
of the world,' among the Carnutes of Gaul, before the time of
Christ; and
when I contemplate these, and the Elephant or Ganesa,[199:1] and the
Ring[199:2]
and its Cobra,[199:3] Linga,[199:4] Iona,[199:5] and Nandies, found
not far from
the tower, on the estate of Lord Castles, with the Colidei, the
island of
Iona, and Ii, . . . I am induced to doubt my former conclusions. The
Elephant, the
Ganesa of India, is a very stubborn fellow to be found here. The
Ring, too,
when joined with other matters, I cannot get over. All these
superstitions
must have come from India."[199:6]
On one of the
Irish "round towers" is to be seen a crucifix of unmistakable
Asiatic
origin.[199:7]
If we turn to
the New World, we shall find strange though it may appear, that
the ancient
Mexicans and Peruvians worshiped a crucified Saviour. This was the
virgin-born
Quetzalcoatle whose crucifixion is represented in the paintings of
the
"Codex Borgianus," and the "Codex Vaticanus."
These
paintings illustrate the religious opinions of the ancient Mexicans, and
were copied
from the hieroglyphics found in Mexico. The Spaniards destroyed
nearly all
the books, ancient monuments and paintings which they could find; had
it not been
for this, much more regarding the religion of the ancient Mexicans
would have
been handed down to us. Many chapters were also taken—by the Spanish
authorities—from
the writings of the first historians who wrote on ancient
Mexico. All
manuscripts had to be inspected previous to being published.
Anything
found among these heathens resembling the religion of the Christians,
was destroyed
when possible.[199:8]
The first
Spanish monks who went to Mexico were surprised to find the crucifix
among the
heathen inhabitants, and upon inquiring what it meant, were told that
it was a
representation of [Pg 200]Bacob (Quetzalcoatle), the Son of God, who
was put to
death by Eopuco. They said that he was placed on a beam of wood, with
his arms
stretched out, and that he died there.[200:1]
Lord
Kingsborough, from whose very learned and elaborate work we have taken the
above, says:
"Being
questioned as to the manner in which they became acquainted with these
things, they
replied that the lords instructed their sons in them, and that thus
this doctrine
descended from one to another."[200:2]
Sometimes
Quetzalcoatle or Bacob is represented as tied to the cross—just as we
have seen
that Attys was represented by the Phrygians—and at other times he is
represented
"in the attitude of a person crucified, with impressions of
nail-holes in
his hands and feet, but not actually upon a cross"—just as we have
found the
Hindoo Crishna, and as he is represented in Fig. No. 8. Beneath this
representation
of Quetzalcoatle crucified, is an image of Death, which an angry
serpent seems
threatening to devour.[200:3]
On the 73d
page of the Borgian MS., he is represented crucified on a cross of
the Greek
form. In this print there are also impressions of nails to be seen on
the feet and
hands, and his body is strangely covered with suns.[200:4]
In vol. ii.
plate 75, the god is crucified in a circle of nineteen figures, and
a serpent is
depriving him of the organs of generation.
Lord
Kingsborough, commenting on these paintings, says:
"It is
remarkable that in these Mexican paintings the faces of many of the
figures are
black, and that the visage of Quetzalcoatle is frequently painted in
a very
deformed manner."[200:5]
His lordship
further tells us that (according to the belief of the ancient
Mexicans),
"the death of Quetzalcoatle upon the cross" was "an atonement
for the
sins of
mankind."[200:6]
Dr. Daniel
Brinton, in his "Myths of the New World," tells us that the Aztecs
had a feast
which they celebrated "in the early spring," when "victims were
nailed to a
cross and shot with an arrow."[200:7]
Alexander Von
Humboldt, in his "American Researches," also speaks of this feast,
when the
Mexicans crucified a man, and pierced him with an arrow.[200:8]
[Pg 201]The
author of Monumental Christianity, speaking of this, says:
"Here is
the old story of the Prometheus crucified on the Caucasus, and of all
other Pagan
crucifixions of the young incarnate divinities of India, Persia,
Asia Minor
and Egypt."[201:1]
This we
believe; but how did this myth get there? He does not say, but we shall
attempt to
show, in a future chapter, how this and other myths of Eastern origin
became known
in the New World.[201:2]
It must not
be forgotten, in connection with what we have seen concerning the
Mexican
crucified god being sometimes represented as black, and the feast when
the crucified
man was shot with an arrow, that effigies of a black crucified man
were found in
Italy; that Crishna, the crucified, is very often represented
black; and
that Crishna was shot with an arrow.
Crosses were
also found in Yucatan, as well as Mexico, with a man upon
them.[201:3]
Cogolludo, in his "History of Yucatan," speaking of a crucifix
found there,
says:
"Don
Eugenio de Alcantara (one of the true teachers of the Gospel), told me, not
only once,
that I might safely write that the Indians of Cozumel possessed this
holy cross in
the time of their paganism; and that some years had elapsed since
it was
brought to Medira; for having heard from many persons what was reported
of it, he had
made particular inquiries of some very old Indians who resided
there, who
assured him that it was the fact."
He then
speaks of the difficulty in accounting for this crucifix being found
among the
Indians of Cozumel, and ends by saying:
"But if
it be considered that these Indians believed that the Son of God, whom
they called
Bacob, had died upon a cross, with his arms stretched out upon it,
it cannot
appear so difficult a matter to comprehend that they should have
formed his
image according to the religious creed which they possessed."[201:4]
We shall
find, in another chapter, that these virgin-born "Saviours" and
"Slain
Ones;"
Crishna, Osiris, Horus, Attys, Adonis, Bacchus, &c.—whether torn in
pieces,
killed by a boar, or crucified—will all melt into ONE.
We now come
to a very important fact not generally known, namely: There are no
early
representations of Christ Jesus suffering on the cross.
[Pg 202] Rev.
J. P. Lundy, speaking of this, says:
"Why
should a fact so well known to the heathen as the crucifixion be concealed?
And yet its
actual realistic representation never once occurs in the monuments
of
Christianity, for more than six or seven centuries."[202:1]
Mrs. Jameson,
in her "History of Our Lord in Art," says:
"The
crucifixion is not one of the subjects of early Christianity. The death of
our Lord was
represented by various types, but never in its actual form.
"The
earliest instances of the crucifixion are found in illustrated manuscripts
of various
countries, and in those ivory and enameled forms which are described
in the
Introduction. Some of these are ascertained, by historical or by internal
evidence, to
have been executed in the ninth century, there is one also, of an
extraordinary
rude and fantastic character, in a MS. in the ancient library of
St. Galle,
which is ascertained to be of the eighth century. At all events,
there seems
no just grounds at present for assigning an earlier date."[202:2]
"Early
Christian art, such as it appears in the bas-reliefs on sarcophagi, gave
but one
solitary incident from the story of Our Lord's Passion, and that utterly
divested of
all circumstances of suffering. Our Lord is represented as young and
beautiful,
free from bonds, with no 'accursed tree' on his shoulders."[202:3]
The oldest
representation of Christ Jesus was a figure of a lamb,[202:4] to
which
sometimes a vase was added, into which his blood flowed, and at other
times couched
at the foot of a cross. This custom subsisted up to the year 680,
and until the
pontificate of Agathon, during the reign of Constantine Pogonat.
By the sixth
synod of Constantinople (canon 82) it was ordained that instead of
the ancient
symbol, which had been the Lamb, the figure of a man fastened to a
cross (such
as the Pagans had adored), should be represented. All this was
confirmed by
Pope Adrian I.[202:5]
A simple
cross, which was the symbol of eternal life, or of salvation, among the
ancients, was
sometimes, as we have seen, placed alongside of the Lamb. In the
course of
time, the Lamb was put on the cross, as the ancient Israelites had put
the paschal
lamb centuries before,[202:6] and then, as we have seen, they put a
man upon it.
Christ Jesus
is also represented in early art as the "Good Shepherd," that is,
as a young
man with a lamb on his shoulders.[202:7]
[Pg 203] This
is just the manner in which the Pagan Apollo, Mercury and others
were represented
centuries before.[203:1]
Mrs. Jameson
says:
"Mercury
attired as a shepherd, with a ram on his shoulders, borne in the same
manner as in
many of the Christian representations, was no unfrequent object (in
ancient art)
and in some instances led to a difficulty in distinguishing between
the
two,"[203:2] that is, between Mercury and Christ Jesus.
M. Renan
says:
"The
Good Shepherd of the catacombs in Rome is a copy from the Aristeus, or from
the Apollo
Nomius, which figured in the same posture on the Pagan sarcophagi;
and still
carries the flute of Pan, in the midst of the four half-naked
seasons."[203:3]
The Egyptian
Saviour Horus was called the "Shepherd of the People."[203:4]
The Hindoo
Saviour Crishna was called the "Royal Good Shepherd."[203:5]
We have seen,
then, on the authority of a Christian writer who has made the
subject a
special study, that, "there seems no just grounds at present for
assigning an
earlier date," for the "earliest instances of the crucifixion"
of
Christ Jesus,
represented in art, than the eighth or ninth century. Now, a few
words in
regard to what these crucifixes looked like. If the reader imagines
that the
crucifixes which are familiar to us at the present day are similar to
those early
ones, we would inform him that such is not the case. The earliest
artists of
the crucifixion represent the Christian Saviour as young and
beardless,
always without the crown of thorns, alive, and erect, apparently
elate; no
signs of bodily suffering are there.[203:6]
On page 151,
plate 181, of Jameson's "History of Our Lord in Art" (vol. ii.), he
is
represented standing on a foot-rest on the cross, alive, and eyes open.
Again, on
page 330, plate 253, he is represented standing "with body upright and
arms extended
straight, with no nails, no wounds, no crown of thorns—frequently
clothed, and
with a regal crown—a God, young and beautiful, hanging, as it were,
without
compulsion or pain."
On page 167,
plate 188, are to be seen "the thieves bound to their [Pg 204]cross
(which is
simply an upright beam, without cross-bars), with the figure of the
Lord standing
between them." He is not bound nor nailed to a cross; no cross is
there. He is
simply standing erect in the form of a cross. This is a
representation
of what is styled, "Early crucifixion with thieves." On page 173,
plate 190, we
have a representation of the crucifixion, in which Jesus and the
thieves are
represented crucified on the Egyptian tau (see Fig. No. 12). The
thieves are
tied, but the man-god is nailed to the cross. A similar
representation
may be seen on page 189, plate 198.
On page 155,
plate 183, there is a representation of what is called "Virgin and
St. John at
foot of cross," but this cross is simply an upright beam (as Fig.
No. 13).
There are no cross-bars attached. On page 167, plate 188, the thieves
are tied to
an upright beam (as Fig. 13), and Jesus stands between them, with
arms extended
in the form of a cross, as the Hindoo Crishna is to be seen in
Fig. No. 8.
On page 157, plate 185, Jesus is represented crucified on the
Egyptian
cross (as No. 12).
Some ancient
crucifixes represent the Christian Saviour crucified on a cross
similar in
form to the Roman figure which stands for the number ten (see Fig.
No. 14). Thus
we see that there was no uniformity in representing the "cross of
Christ,"
among the early Christians; even the cross which Constantine put on his
"Labarum,"
or sacred banner, was nothing more than the monogram of the Pagan god
Osiris (Fig.
No. 15),[204:1] as we shall see in a subsequent chapter.
The dogma of
the vicarious atonement has met with no success whatever among the
Jews. The
reason for this is very evident. The idea of vicarious atonement, in
any form, is
contrary to Jewish [Pg 205]ethics, but it is in full accord with
the Gentile.
The law ordains that[205:1] "every man shall be put to death for
his own
sin," and not for the sin or crime committed by any other person. No
ransom should
protect the murderer against the arm of justice.[205:2] The
principle of
equal rights and equal responsibilities is fundamental in the law.
If the law of
God—for as such it is received—denounces the vicarious atonement,
viz., to
slaughter an innocent person to atone for the crimes of others, then
God must
abhor it. What is more, Jesus is said to have sanctioned this law, for
is he not
made to say: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I
am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you,
Till heaven
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law."[205:3]
"Salvation
is and can be nothing else than learning the laws of life and keeping
them. There
is, in the modern world, neither place nor need for any of the
theological
'schemes of salvation' or theological 'Saviours.' No wrath of either
God or devil
stands in man's way; and therefore no 'sacrifice' is needed to get
them out of
the way. Jesus saves only as he helps men know and keep God's laws.
Thousands of
other men, in their degree, are Saviours in precisely the same way.
As there has
been no 'fall of man,' all the hundreds of theological devices for
obviating its
supposed effects are only imaginary cures for imaginary ills. What
man does need
is to be taught the necessary laws of life, and have brought to
bear upon him
adequate motives for obeying them. To know and keep God's laws is
being
reconciled to him. This is health; and out of health—that is, the perfect
condition of
the whole man, called holiness or wholeness—comes happiness, in
this world
and in all worlds."
FOOTNOTES:
[181:1]
Monier Williams: Hinduism, pp. 36-40.
[182:1]
Monier Williams: Hinduism, p. 36.
[182:2] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 303.
[182:3]
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 443.
[183:1]
Herodotus: bk. ii. ch. 39.
[183:2] In
the trial of Dr. Thomas (at Chicago) for "doctrinal heresy," one of
the charges
made against him (Sept. 8, 1881) was that he had said "the Blood of
the Lamb had
nothing to do with salvation." And in a sermon preached in Boston,
Sept. 2,
1881, at the Columbus Avenue Presbyterian Church, by the Rev. Andrew A.
Bonar. D. D.,
the preacher said: "No sinner dares to meet the holy God until his
sin has been
forgiven, or until he has received remission. The penalty of sin is
death, and
this penalty is not remitted by anything the sinner can do for
himself, but
only through the Blood of Jesus. If you have accepted Jesus as your
Saviour, you
can take the blood of Jesus, and with boldness present it to the
Father as
payment in full of the penalties of all your sins. Sinful man has no
right to the
benefits and the beauties and glories of nature. These were all
lost to him
through Adam's sin, but to the blood of Christ's sacrifice he has a
right; it was
shed for him. It is Christ's death that does the blessed work of
salvation for
us. It was not his life nor his Incarnation. His Incarnation could
not pay a
farthing of our debt, but his blood shed in redeeming love, pays it
all."
(See Boston Advertiser, Sept. 3, 1881.)
[183:3] Habet
ergo Diabolus Christos suos.
[183:4] Huc's
Travels, vol. i. pp. 326 and 327.
[184:1]
Hinduism, p. 214.
[184:2] Ibid.
p. 115.
[184:3]
Vishnu Purana, p. 440.
[184:4] Ibid.
[184:5] Ibid.
[184:6] Aryan
Mythology, vol. ii. p. 132.
[184:7] Pages
274 and 612.
[184:8]
"On reconte fort diversement la mort de Crishna. Une tradition
remarquable
et avérée le fait périr sur un bois fatal (un arbre), ou il fut
cloué d'un
coup de flčche." (Quoted by Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 144.)
[185:1] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 499, and Mrs. Jameson's "History of
Our Lord in
Art," ii. 317, where the cross is called the "accursed tree."
[185:2] Chap.
xxi. 22, 23: "If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and
he be to be
put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: his body shall not remain
all night
upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he
that is
hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord
thy God
giveth thee for an inheritance."
[185:3]
Galatians, iii. 13.
[185:4] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 146, and Inman's Ancient Faiths,
vol. i. p.
402.
"The
crucified god Wittoba is also called Balü. He is worshiped in a marked
manner at
Pander-poor or Bunder-poor, near Poonah." (Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol.
i. p. 750,
note 1.)
"A form
of Vishnu (Crishna), called Viththal or Vithobā, is the popular god at
Pandharpur in
Mahā-ráshtrá, the favorite of the celebrated Marāthi poet
Tukārāma."
(Prof. Monier Williams: Indian Wisdom, p. xlviii.)
[185:5] See
Lundy: Monumental Christianity, p. 160.
[185:6] This
can be seen by referring to Calmet, Sonnerat, or Higgins, vol. ii.,
which contain
plates representing Crishna.
[186:1]
Monumental Christianity, p. 128.
[186:2]
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 411.
[186:3] Luke,
xxiii. 39-43.
[186:4]
Vasudeva means God. See Vishnu Purana, p. 274.
[186:5]
Vishnu Purana, p. 612.
[187:1] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 72.
[187:2]
"Si ita se res habet, ut existimat Beausobrius, Indi, et Budistć quorum
religio,
eadem est ac Tibetana, nonnisi a Manichćis nova hćc deliriorum portenta
acceperunt.
Hćnamque gentes prćsertim in urbe Nepal, Luna XII. Badr seu Bhadon
Augusti
mensis, dies festos auspicaturć Dei Indrć, erigunt ad illius memoriam
ubique
locorum cruces amictas Abrotono. Earum figuram descriptam habes ad lit.
B, Tabula
pone sequenti. Nam A effigies est ipsius Indrć crucifixi signa Telech
in fronte
manibus pedibusque gerentis." (Alph Tibet, p. 203. Quoted in Higgins'
Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p. 130.)
[188:1]
"Ils conviennent qu'il a répandu son sang pour le salut du genre humain,
ayant été
percé de clous par tout son corps. Quoiqu'ils ne disent pas qu'il a
souffert le
supplice de la croix, ou en trouve pourtant la figure dans leurs
livres."
(Quoted in Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 118.)
[188:2]
"Although the nations of Europe have changed their religions during the
past eighteen
centuries, the Hindoo has not done so, except very partially. . .
. The
religious creeds, rites, customs, and habits of thought of the Hindoos
generally,
have altered little since the days of Manu, 500 years B. C." (Prof.
Monier
Williams: Indian Wisdom, p. iv.)
[188:3] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 147, 572, 667 and 750; vol. ii. p.
122, and note
4, p. 185, this chapter.
[188:4] See
Max Müller's Science of Religion, p. 224.
[188:5]
Quoted in Lillie's Buddhism, p. 93.
[188:6] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 20.
[188:7] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 20, 25, 85. Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i.
p. 247. Huc's
Travels, vol. i. pp. 326, 327, and almost any work on Buddhism.
[188:8] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 20.
[188:9] Ibid.
Johnson's Oriental Religions, p. 604. See also Asiatic Researches,
vol. iii., or
chapter xii. of this work.
[188:10] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 18.
[188:11]
Ibid.
[188:12]
Ibid.
[188:13] Vol.
i. p. 118.
[189:1]
Quoted in Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 118.
[189:2]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 20.
[189:3] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, p. 33.
[189:4] Huc's
Travels, vol. i. pp. 326, 337.
[189:5]
Müller: Hist. Sanscrit Literature, p. 80.
[189:6] See
Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 95, and Williams: Hinduism,
p. 214.
[189:7]
"He in mercy left paradise, and came down to earth, because he was
filled with
compassion for the sins and miseries of mankind. He sought to lead
them into
better paths, and took their sufferings upon himself, that he might
expiate their
crimes, and mitigate the punishment they must otherwise inevitably
undergo."
(Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 86.)
"The
object of his mission on earth was to instruct those who were straying from
the right
path, expiate the sins of mortals by his own sufferings, and produce
for them a
happy entrance into another existence by obedience to his precepts
and prayers
in his name. They always speak of him as one with God from all
eternity. His
most common title is 'The Saviour of the World.'" (Ibid. vol. i.
p. 247.)
[190:1]
Quoted in Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 211.
[190:2] Ibid.
[190:3] See
Renouf: Religions of Ancient Egypt, p. 178.
[190:4]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 155.
[190:5] Murray:
Manual of Mythology, p. 848.
[190:6] In
Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 171. Quoted in Knight's Art and
Mythology, p.
71.
[190:7]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 185.
[190:8] See
Mysteries of Adoni, p. 88.
[190:9] See
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. xxii. note.
[191:1]
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 255.
[191:2] Vol.
ii.
[191:3]
Lactant. Inst., div. iv. chap. xiii. In Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 544.
[191:4] See
chapter xxxix. this work.
[191:5] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 114, and Taylor's Diegesis, p.
163.
[191:6] See
the chapter on "The Resurrection of Jesus."
[192:1]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Prometheus."
[192:2]
"Prometheus has been a favorite subject with the poets. He is
represented
as the friend of mankind, who interposed in their behalf when Jove
was incensed
against them." (Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 32.)
"In the
mythos relating to Prometheus, he always appears as the friend of the
human race,
suffering in its behalf the most fearful tortures." (John Fiske:
Myths and
Myth-makers, pp. 64, 65.) "Prometheus was nailed to the rocks on Mount
Caucasus,
with arms extended." (Alexander Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 82.)
"Prometheus
is said to have been nailed up with arms extended, near the Caspian
Straits, on
Mount Caucasus. The history of Prometheus on the Cathedral at
Bordeaux
(France) here receives its explanation." (Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol.
ii. p. 113.)
[192:3] See
Ćschylus' "Prometheus Chained." Translated by the Rev. R. Potter:
Harper &
Bros., N. Y.
[192:4] Ibid.
p. 82.
[193:1]
Petrćus was an interchangeable synonym of the name Oceanus.
[193:2]
"Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying: Be it far from
thee, Lord;
this shall not be unto thee." (Matt. xvi. 22.)
[193:3]
"And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which
also bewailed
and lamented him." (Luke, xxiii. 27.)
[193:4] See
Taylor's Diegesis, pp. 193, 194, or Potter's Ćschylus.
[193:5]
"They say that the god (Bacchus), the offspring of Zeus and Demeter, was
torn to pieces."
(Diodorus Siculus, in Knight, p. 156, note.)
[193:6] See
Knight: Anct. Art and Mythology, p. 98, note. Dupuis: Origin of
Religious
Belief, 258. Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102.
[193:7]
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. xxii. note.
[193:8] Ibid.
[193:9]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 169.
[193:10]
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 135.
[193:11]
Ibid.
[193:12]
Beausobre quotes the inscription on a monument of Bacchus, thus: "C'est
moi, dit il,
qui vous conduis, C'est moi, qui vous conserve, ou qui vous sauve;
Je sui Alpha
et Omega, &c." (See chap. xxxix this work.)
[193:13] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322. Dupuis: Origin of Religious
Belief, p.
195. Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 152. Dunlap: Mysteries of Adoni, p.
94.
[193:14] See
Celtic Druids, Taylor's Diegesis, p. 153, and Montfaucon, vol. i.
[193:15] See
Mysteries of Adoni, p. 91, and Higgins: Anac., vol. i. p. 322.
[194:1] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 153.
[194:2] See
the chapter on "Miracles of Jesus."
[194:3] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 254.
[194:4] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 186.
[194:5] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 15.
[194:6] See
Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 86.
[194:7] See
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 15, and our chapter on Christian Symbols.
[194:8] This
subject will be referred to again in chapter xxxix.
[194:9] See
Dunlap's Spirit Hist., pp. 237, 241, 242, and Mysteries of Adoni, p.
123, note.
[194:10] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
[194:11] See
Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 20.
"According
to the most ancient tradition of the East-Iranians recorded in the
Zend-Avesta,
the God of Light (Ormuzd) communicated his mysteries to some men
through his
Word." (Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 75.)
[194:12]
Wake: Phallism, &c., p. 47.
[195:1] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 258, 259.
[195:2]
Malcolm: Hist. Persia, vol. i. Ap. p. 494; Nimrod, vol. ii. p. 31.
Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p. 649.
[195:3] Col.
i. 26.
[195:4] See
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 102.
[195:5] See
Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 89, marginal note.
[195:6]
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was
God." (John, i. 1.)
[195:7] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. 69 and 71.
[195:8]
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 652.
[195:9] Ibid.
vol. i. p. 537.
[195:10] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 119. Knight's Ancient Art and Mythology,
pp. xxii. and
98. Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 71, and Spirit History, pp. 183,
205, 206,
249. Bible for Learners, vol. ii. p. 25. Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. pp.
195, 237, 516,
besides the authorities already cited.
[196:1] See
Bunsen's Bible Chronology, p. 5. Keys of St. Peter, 135. Volney's
Ruins, p.
168.
[196:2]
Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, p. 64, vol. ii.
[196:3] Ibid.
p. 86, and Taylor's Diegesis, pp. 202, 206, 407. Dupuis: p. 267.
[196:4]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. iv.
[196:5] See
Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 78.
[196:6] See
Ibid. p. 39.
[196:7] Luke,
iv. 21.
[196:8]
Psalm, cv. 15. The term "an Anointed One," which we use in English,
is
Christos in
Greek, and Messiah in Hebrew. (See Bible for Learners, and Religion
of Israel, p.
147.)
[196:9]
Matthew, xxiv. 24.
[196:10]
Acts, vii. 45; Hebrews, iv. 8; compare Nehemiah, viii. 17.
[197:1] He
who, it is said, was liberated at the time of the crucifixion of
Jesus of
Nazareth.
[197:2] See
Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 60.
[197:3]
Octavius, c. xxix.
[197:4] See
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 116.
[198:1] In
his History of the Campaigns of Alexander.
[198:2] See
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 118.
[198:3] Ibid.
[198:4] Apol.
c. 16; Ad Nationes, c. xii.
[198:5] See
the chapter on "The Worship of the Virgin."
[199:1]
Ganesa is the Indian God of Wisdom. (See Asiatic Researches, vol. i.)
[199:2] The
Ring and circle was an emblem of god, or eternity, among the
Hindoos. (See
Lundy: Monumental Christianity, p. 87.)
[199:3] The
Cobra, or hooded snake, is a native of the East Indies, where it is
held as
sacred. (See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 16, and Fergusson's Tree
and Serpent
Worship.)
[199:4] Linga
denotes, in the sectarian worship of the Hindoos, the Phallus, an
emblem of the
male or generative power of nature.
[199:5] Iona,
or Yoni, is the counterpart of Linga, i. e., an emblem of the
female
generative power. We have seen that these were attached to the effigies
of the Hindoo
crucified Saviour, Crishna.
[199:6]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 130.
[199:7] See
Lundy: Monumental Christianity, pp. 253, 254, 255.
[199:8] See
Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. pp. 165 and 179.
[200:1] See
Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 166.
[200:2] Ibid.
p. 162.
[200:3] Ibid.
p. 161.
[200:4] Ibid.
p. 167.
[200:5] Ibid.
p. 167.
[200:6] Ibid.
p. 166.
[200:7]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 95.
[200:8] See,
also, Monumental Christianity, p. 393.
"Once a
year the ancient Mexicans made an image of one of their gods, which was
pierced by an
arrow, shot by a priest of Quetzalcoatle." (Dunlap's Spirit Hist.,
207.)
[201:1]
Monumental Christianity, p. 393.
[201:2] See
Appendix A.
[201:3] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 390, and Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi.
p. 169.
[201:4]
Quoted by Lord Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 172.
[202:1]
Monumental Christianity, p. 246.
[202:2]
History of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 137.
[202:3] Ibid.
p. 317.
[202:4] See
Illustrations in Ibid. vol. i.
[202:5] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 252. Higgins: Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. 111,
and Monumental Christianity, p. 246, et seq.
[202:6] The
paschal lamb was roasted on a cross, by ancient Israel, and is still
so done by
the Samaritans at Nablous. (See Lundy's Monumental Christianity, pp.
19 and 247.)
"The
lamb slain (at the feast of the passover) was roasted whole, with two spits
thrust
through it—one lengthwise, and one transversely—crossing each other near
the fore
legs; so that the animal was, in a manner, crucified. Not a bone of it
might be
broken—a circumstance strongly representing the sufferings of our Lord
Jesus, the
passover slain for us." (Barnes's Notes, vol. i. p. 292.)
[202:7] See
King: The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 138. Also, Monumental
Christianity,
and Jameson's History of Our Lord in Art, for illustrations.
[203:1] See
King's Gnostics, p. 178. Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p.
xxii., and
Jameson's History of Our Lord in Art, ii. 340.
[203:2] Jameson:
Hist. of Our Lord in Art, p. 340, vol. ii.
[203:3]
Quoted in Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. xxii. note.
[203:4]
Dunlap: Spirit Hist., p. 185.
[203:5] See
chapter xvii. and vol. ii. Hist. Hindostan.
[203:6] See
Jameson's Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 142.
[204:1]
"It would be difficult to prove that the cross of Constantine was of the
simple
construction as now understood. . . . As regards the Labarum, the coins
of the time,
in which it is especially set forth, prove that the so-called cross
upon it was
nothing else than the same ever-recurring monogram of Christ" (that
is, the XP).
(History of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 310. See also, Smith's
Bible
Dictionary, art. "Labarum.")
[205:1] Deut.
xxiv. 16.
[205:2] Num.
xxv. 31-34.
[205:3] Matt.
v. 17, 18.
[Pg
206]CHAPTER XXI.
THE DARKNESS
AT THE CRUCIFIXION.
The Luke
narrator informs us that at the time of the death of Christ Jesus, the
sun was
darkened, and there was darkness over the earth from the sixth until the
ninth hour;
also the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.[206:1]
The Matthew
narrator, in addition to this, tells us that:
"The
earth did quake, and the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, and
many bodies
of the saints which slept arose, and came out of their graves . . .
and went into
the holy city and appeared unto many."[206:2]
"His
star" having shone at the time of his birth, and his having been born in a
miraculous
manner, it was necessary that at the death of Christ Jesus, something
miraculous
should happen. Something of an unusual nature had happened at the
time of the
death of other supernatural beings, therefore something must happen
at his death;
the myth would not have been complete without it. In the words of
Viscount
Amberly: "The darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour, the rending of
the temple
veil, the earthquake, the rending of the rocks, are altogether like
the prodigies
attending the decease of other great men."[206:3]
The Rev. Dr.
Geikie, one of the most orthodox writers, says:[206:4]
"It is
impossible to explain the origin of this darkness. The passover moon was
then at the
full, so that it could not have been an eclipse. The early Fathers,
relying on a
notice of an eclipse that seemed to coincide in time, though it
really did
not, fancied that the darkness was caused by it, but incorrectly."
Perhaps
"the origin of this darkness" may be explained from what we shall now
see.
At the time
of the death of the Hindoo Saviour Crishna, there [Pg 207]came
calamities
and bad omens of every kind. A black circle surrounded the moon, and
the sun was
darkened at noon-day; the sky rained fire and ashes; flames burned
dusky and
livid; demons committed depredations on earth; at sunrise and sunset,
thousands of
figures were seen skirmishing in the air; spirits were to be seen
on all
sides.[207:1]
When the
conflict began between Buddha, the Saviour of the World, and the Prince
of Evil, a
thousand appalling meteors fell; clouds and darkness prevailed. Even
this earth,
with the oceans and mountains it contains, though it is unconscious,
quaked like a
conscious being—like a fond bride when forcibly torn from her
bridegroom—like
the festoons of a vine shaken under the blast of a whirlwind.
The ocean
rose under the vibration of this earthquake; rivers flowed back toward
their
sources; peaks of lofty mountains, where countless trees had grown for
ages, rolled
crumbling to the earth; a fierce storm howled all around; the roar
of the
concussion became terrific; the very sun enveloped itself in awful
darkness, and
a host of headless spirits filled the air.[207:2]
When
Prometheus was crucified on Mount Caucasus, the whole frame of nature
became
convulsed. The earth did quake, thunder roared, lightning flashed, the
wild winds
rent the vexed air, the boisterous billows rose, and the dissolution
of the
universe seemed to be threatened.[207:3]
The ancient
Greeks and Romans, says Canon Farrar,[207:4] had always considered
that the
births and deaths of great men were announced by celestial signs. We
therefore
find that at the death of Romulus, the founder of Rome, the sun was
darkened, and
there was darkness over the face of the earth for the space of six
hours.[207:5]
When Julius
Cćsar, who was the son of a god, was murdered, there was a darkness
over the
earth, the sun being eclipsed for the space of six hours.[207:6]
This is
spoken of by Virgil, where he says:
"He (the
Sun) covered his luminous head with a sooty darkness,
And the
impious ages feared eternal night."[207:7]
It is also
referred to by Tibullus, Ovid, and Lucian (poets), Pliny, Appian,
Dion Cassius,
and Julius Obsequenes (historians.)[207:8]
[Pg 208]When
Ćsculapius the Saviour was put to death, the sun shone dimly from
the heavens;
the birds were silent in the darkened groves; the trees bowed down
their heads
in sorrow; and the hearts of all the sons of men fainted within
them, because
the healer of their pains and sickness lived no more upon the
earth.[208:1]
When Hercules
was dying, he said to the faithful female (Iole) who followed him
to the last
spot on earth on which he trod, "Weep not, my toil is done, and now
is the time
for rest. I shall see thee again in the bright land which is never
trodden by
the feet of night." Then, as the dying god expired, darkness was on
the face of
the earth; from the high heaven came down the thick cloud, and the
din of its
thunder crashed through the air. In this manner, Zeus, the god of
gods, carried
his son home, and the halls of Olympus were opened to welcome the
bright hero
who rested from his mighty toil. There he now sits, clothed in a
white robe,
with a crown upon his head.[208:2]
When Śdipus
was about to leave this world of pain and sorrow, he bade Antigone
farewell, and
said, "Weep not, my child, I am going to my home, and I rejoice to
lay down the
burden of my woe." Then there were signs in the heaven above and on
the earth
beneath, that the end was nigh at hand, for the earth did quake, and
the thunder
roared and echoed again and again through the sky.[208:3]
"The
Romans had a god called Quirinius. His soul emanated from the sun, and was
restored to
it. He was begotten by the god of armies upon a virgin of the royal
blood, and
exposed by order of the jealous tyrant Amulius, and was preserved and
educated
among shepherds. He was torn to pieces at his death, when he ascended
into heaven;
upon which the sun was eclipsed or darkened."[208:4]
When
Alexander the Great died, similar prodigies are said to have happened;
again, when
foul murders were committed, it is said that the sun seemed to hide
its face.
This is illustrated in the story of Atreus, King of Mycenae, who
foully
murdered the children of his brother Thyestes. At that time, the sun,
unable to
endure a sight so horrible, "turned his course backward and withdrew
his
light."[208:5]
At the time
of the death of the virgin-born Quetzalcoatle, the [Pg 209]Mexican
crucified
Saviour, the sun was darkened, and withheld its light.[209:1]
Lord
Kingsborough, speaking of this event, considers it very strange that the
Mexicans
should have preserved an account of it among their records, when "the
great eclipse
which sacred history records" is not recorded in profane history.
Gibbon, the
historian, speaking of this phenomenon, says:
"Under
the reign of Tiberius, the whole earth,[209:2] or at least a celebrated
province of
the Roman empire,[209:3] was involved in a perpetual darkness of
three hours.
Even this miraculous event, which ought to have excited the wonder,
the
curiosity, and the devotion of mankind, passed without notice in an age of
science and
history. It happened during the life-time of Seneca[209:4] and the
elder
Pliny,[209:5] who must have experienced the immediate effects, or received
the earliest
intelligence, of the prodigy. Each of these philosophers, in a
laborious
work, has recorded all the great phenomena of nature, earthquakes,
meteors,
comets and eclipses, which his indefatigable curiosity could
collect.[209:6]
But the one and the other have omitted to mention the greatest
phenomenon to
which the mortal eye has been witness since the creation of the
globe."[209:7]
This account
of the darkness at the time of the death of Jesus of Nazareth, is
one of the
prodigies related in the New Testament which no Christian commentator
has been able
to make appear reasonable. The favorite theory is that it was a
natural
eclipse of the sun, which happened to take place at that particular
time, but, if
this was the case, there was nothing supernatural in the event,
and it had
nothing whatever to do with the death of Jesus. Again, it would be
necessary to
prove from other sources that such an event happened at that time,
but this
cannot be done. The argument from the duration of the darkness—three
hours—is also
of great force against such an occurrence having happened, for an
eclipse
seldom lasts in great intensity more than six minutes.
Even if it
could be proved that an eclipse really happened at the time assigned
for the
crucifixion of Jesus, how about the earthquake, when the rocks were rent
and the graves
opened? and how about the "saints which slept" rising bodily and
walking in
the streets of the Holy City and appearing to many? Surely, the faith
that would
remove mountains,[209:8] is required here.
[Pg
210]Shakespeare has embalmed some traditions of the kind exactly analogous
to the
present case:
"In the
most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere
the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves
stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak
and gibber in the Roman streets."[210:1]
Belief in the
influence of the stars over life and death, and in special
portents at
the death of great men, survived, indeed, to recent times. Chaucer
abounds in
allusions to it, and still later Shakespeare tells us:
"When
beggars die there are no comets seen;
The heavens
themselves blaze forth the death of princes."
It would seem
that this superstition survives even to the present day, for it is
well known
that the dark and yellow atmosphere which settled over so much of the
country, on
the day of the removal of President Garfield from Washington to Long
Branch, was
sincerely held by hundreds of persons to be a death-warning sent
from heaven,
and there were numerous predictions that dissolution would take
place before
the train arrived at its destination.
As Mr. Greg
remarks, there can, we think, remain little doubt in unprepossessed
minds, that
the whole legend in question was one of those intended to magnify
Christ Jesus,
which were current in great numbers at the time the Matthew
narrator
wrote, and which he, with the usual want of discrimination and somewhat
omnivorous
tendency, which distinguished him as a compiler, admitted into his
Gospel.
FOOTNOTES:
[206:1] Luke,
xxiii. 44, 45.
[206:2]
Matthew, xxvii. 51-53.
[206:3]
Amberly: Analysis of Religious Belief, p. 268.
[206:4] Life
of Christ, vol. ii. p. 643.
[207:1] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 71.
[207:2] Rhys
David's Buddhism, pp. 36, 37.
[207:3] See
Potter's Ćschylus, "Prometheus Chained," last stanza.
[207:4]
Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 52.
[207:5] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 616, 617.
[207:6] See
Ibid. and Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 159 and 590, also Josephus:
Jewish
Antiquities, book xiv. ch. xii. and note.
[207:7]"Cum
caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit
Impiaquć
ćternam timuerunt sćcula noctem."
[207:8] See
Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 159 and 590.
[208:1] Tales
of Ancient Greece, p. 46.
[208:2] Ibid.
pp. 61, 62.
[208:3] Ibid.
p. 270.
[208:4]
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 822.
[208:5] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 106.
[209:1] See
Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 5.
[209:2] The
Fathers of the Church seem to cover the whole earth with darkness,
in which they
are followed by most of the moderns. (Gibbon. Luke, xxiii. 44,
says
"over all the earth.")
[209:3]
Origen (a Father of the third century) and a few modern critics, are
desirous of
confining it to the land of Judea. (Gibbon.)
[209:4]
Seneca, a celebrated philosopher and historian, born in Spain a few
years B. C.,
but educated in Rome, and became a "Roman."
[209:5] Pliny
the elder, a celebrated Roman philosopher and historian, born
about 23 A.
D.
[209:6]
Seneca: Quaest. Natur. l. i. 15, vi. l. vii. 17. Pliny: Hist. Natur. l.
ii.
[209:7]
Gibbon's Rome, i. 589, 590.
[209:8] Matt.
xvi. 20.
[210:1]
Hamlet, act 1, s. 1.
[Pg
211]CHAPTER XXII.
"HE
DESCENDED INTO HELL."
The doctrine
of Christ Jesus' descent into hell is emphatically part of the
Christian
belief, although not alluded to by Christian divines excepting when
unavoidable.
In the first
place, it is taught in the Creed of the Christians, wherein it
says:
"He
descended into hell, and on the third day he rose again from the dead."
The doctrine
was also taught by the Fathers of the Church. St. Chrysostom (born
347 A. D.)
asks:
"Who but
an infidel would deny that Christ was in hell?"[211:1]
And St.
Clement of Alexandria, who flourished at the beginning of the third
century, is
equally clear and emphatic as to Jesus' descent into hell. He says:
"The
Lord preached the gospel to those in Hades, as well as to all in earth, in
order that
all might believe and be saved, wherever they were. If, then, the
Lord
descended to Hades for no other end but to preach the gospel, as He did
descend, it
was either to preach the gospel to all, or to the Hebrews only. If
accordingly
to all, then all who believe shall be saved, although they may be of
the Gentiles,
on making their profession there."[211:2]
Origen, who
flourished during the latter part of the second, and beginning of
the third
centuries, also emphatically declares that Christ Jesus descended into
hell.[211:3]
Ancient
Christian works of art represent his descent into hell.[211:4]
The
apocryphal gospels teach the doctrine of Christ Jesus' descent into hell,
the object of
which was to preach to those in bondage there, and to liberate the
saints who
had died before his advent on earth.
[Pg 212]On
account of the sin committed by Adam in the Garden of Eden, all
mankind were
doomed, all had gone to hell—excepting those who had been
translated to
heaven—even those persons who were "after God's own heart," and
who had
belonged to his "chosen people." The coming of Christ Jesus into the
world,
however, made a change in the affairs of man. The saints were then
liberated
from their prison, and all those who believe in the efficacy of his
name, shall
escape hereafter the tortures of hell. This is the doctrine to be
found in the
apocryphal gospels, and was taught by the Fathers of the
Church.[212:1]
In the
"Gospel of Nicodemus" (apoc.) is to be found the whole story of Christ
Jesus'
descent into hell, and of his liberating the saints.
Satan, and
the Prince of Hell, having heard that Jesus of Nazareth was about to
descend to
their domain, began to talk the matter over, as to what they should
do, &c.
While thus engaged, on a sudden, there was a voice as of thunder and the
rushing of
winds, saying: "Lift up your gates, O ye Princes, and be ye lifted
up, O ye
everlasting gates, and the King of Glory shall come in."
When the
Prince of Hell heard this, he said to his impious officers: "Shut the
brass gates .
. . and make them fast with iron bars, and fight courageously."
The saints
having heard what had been said on both sides, immediately spoke with
a loud voice,
saying: "Open thy gates, that the King of Glory may come in." The
divine
prophets, David and Isaiah, were particularly conspicuous in this protest
against the
intentions of the Prince of Hell.
Again the
voice of Jesus was heard saying: "Lift up your gates, O Prince; and be
ye lifted up,
ye gates of hell, and the King of Glory will enter in." The Prince
of Hell then
cried out: "Who is the King of Glory?" upon which the prophet David
commenced to
reply to him, but while he was speaking, the mighty Lord Jesus
appeared in
the form of a man, and broke asunder the fetters which before could
not be
broken, and crying aloud, said: "Come to me, all ye saints, who were
created in my
image, who were condemned by the tree of the forbidden fruit . . .
live now by
the word of my cross."
Then
presently all the saints were joined together, hand in hand, and the Lord
Jesus laid
hold on Adam's hand, and ascended from hell, and all the saints of
God followed
him.[212:2]
[Pg 213]When
the saints arrived in paradise, two "very ancient men" met them,
and were
asked by the saints: "Who are ye, who have not been with us in hell,
and have had
your bodies placed in paradise?" One of these "very ancient men"
answered and
said: "I am Enoch, who was translated by the word of God, and this
man who is
with me is Elijah the Tishbite, who was translated in a fiery
chariot."[213:1]
The doctrine
of the descent into hell may be found alluded to in the canonical
books; thus,
for instance, in I. Peter:
"It is
better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for
evil doing.
For Christ also hath suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the spirit:
by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in
prison."[213:2]
Again, in
"Acts," where the writer is speaking of David as a prophet, he says:
"He,
seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption."[213:3]
The reason
why Christ Jesus has been made to descend into hell, is because it is
a part of the
universal mythos, even the three days' duration. The Saviours of
mankind had
all done so, he must therefore do likewise.
Crishna, the
Hindoo Saviour, descended into hell, for the purpose of raising the
dead (the
doomed),[213:4] before he returned to his heavenly seat.
Zoroaster, of
the Persians, descended into hell.[213:5]
Osiris, the
Egyptian Saviour, descended into hell.[213:6]
Horus, the
virgin-born Saviour, descended into hell.[213:7]
Adonis, the
virgin-born Saviour, descended into hell.[213:8]
Bacchus, the
virgin-born Saviour, descended into hell.[213:9]
Hercules, the
virgin-born Saviour, descended into hell.[213:10]
Mercury, the
Word and Messenger of God, descended into hell.[213:11]
[Pg
214]Baldur, the Scandinavian god, after being killed, descended into
hell.[214:1]
Quetzalcoatle,
the Mexican crucified Saviour, descended into hell.[214:2]
All these
gods, and many others that might be mentioned, remained in hell for
the space of
three days and three nights. "They descended into hell, and on the
third day
rose again."[214:3]
FOOTNOTES:
[211:1]
Quoted by Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 46.
[211:2]
Strom, vi. c. 6.
[211:3]
Contra Celsus, bk. ii. c. 43.
[211:4] See
Jameson's Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. pp. 354, 355.
[212:1] See
Jameson's Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. pp. 250, 251.
[212:2]
Nicodemus: Apoc. ch. xvi. and xix.
[213:1]
Nicodemus: Apoc. ch. xx.
[213:2] I.
Peter, iii. 17-19.
[213:3] Acts,
ii. 31.
[213:4] See
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 237. Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p.
168, and
Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 85.
[213:5] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 286.
[213:6] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 256, Bonwick's Egyptian
Belief, and
Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, pp. 125, 152.
[213:7] See
Chap. XXXIX.
[213:8] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 12.
[213:9] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322. Dupuis: Origin of Religious
Belief, p.
257, and Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 33.
[213:10] See
Taylor's Mysteries, p. 40, and Mysteries of Adoni, pp. 94-96.
[213:11] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 72. Our Christian writers discover
considerable
apprehension, and a jealous caution in their language, when the
resemblance
between Paganism and Christianity might be apt to strike the mind
too cogently.
In quoting Horace's account of Mercury's descent into hell, and
his causing a
cessation of the sufferings there, Mr. Spence, in "Bell's
Pantheon,"
says: "As this, perhaps, may be a mythical part of his character, we
had better
let it alone."
[214:1] See
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 169, and Mallet, p. 448.
[214:2] See
Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 166.
[214:3] See
the chapter on Explanation.
[Pg
215]CHAPTER XXIII.
THE
RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF CHRIST JESUS.
The story of
the resurrection of Christ Jesus is related by the four Gospel
narrators,
and is to the effect that, after being crucified, his body was
wrapped in a
linen cloth, laid in a tomb, and a "great stone" rolled to the
door. The
sepulchre was then made sure by "sealing the stone" and "setting
a
watch."
On the first
day of the week some of Jesus' followers came to see the sepulchre,
when they
found that, in spite of the "sealing" and the "watch," the
angel of
the Lord had
descended from heaven, had rolled back the stone from the door, and
that
"Jesus had risen from the dead."[215:1]
The story of
his ascension is told by the Mark[215:2] narrator, who says "he was
received up
into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God;" by Luke,[215:3] who
says "he
was carried up into heaven;" and by the writer of the Acts,[215:4] who
says "he
was taken up (to heaven) and a cloud received him out of sight."
We will find,
in stripping Christianity of its robes of Paganism, that these
miraculous
events must be put on the same level with those we have already
examined.
Crishna, the
crucified Hindoo Saviour, rose from the dead,[215:5] and ascended
bodily into
heaven.[215:6] At that time a great light enveloped the earth and
illuminated
the whole expanse of heaven. Attended by celestial spirits, and
luminous as
on that night when he was born in the house of Vasudeva, Crishna
pursued, by
his own light, the journey between earth and heaven, to the bright
paradise from
whence he had descended. All men saw him, and exclaimed, "Lo,
Crishna's
soul ascends its native skies!"[215:7]
[Pg
216]Samuel Johnson, in his "Oriental Religions," tells us that
Râma—an
incarnation
of Vishnu—after his manifestations on earth, "at last ascended to
heaven,"
"resuming his divine essence."
"By the
blessings of Râma's name, and through previous faith in him, all sins
are remitted,
and every one who shall at death pronounce his name with sincere
worship shall
be forgiven."[216:1]
The
mythological account of Buddha, the son of the Virgin Maya, who, as the God
of Love, is
named Cam-deo, Cam, and Cama, is of the same character as that of
other
virgin-born gods. When he died there were tears and lamentations. Heaven
and earth are
said equally to have lamented the loss of "Divine Love," insomuch
that Maha-deo
(the supreme god) was moved to pity, and exclaimed, "Rise, holy
love!"
on which Cama was restored and the lamentations changed into the most
enthusiastic
joy. The heavens are said to have echoed back the exulting sound;
then the
deity, supposed to be lost (dead), was restored, "hell's great dread
and heaven's
eternal admiration."[216:2]
The coverings
of the body unrolled themselves, and the lid of his coffin was
opened by
supernatural powers.[216:3]
Buddha also
ascended bodily to the celestial regions when his mission on earth
was
fulfilled, and marks on the rocks of a high mountain are shown, and believed
to be the
last impression of his footsteps on this earth. By prayers in his name
his followers
expect to receive the rewards of paradise, and finally to become
one with him,
as he became one with the Source of Life.[216:4]
Lao-Kiun, the
virgin-born, he who had existed from all eternity, when his
mission of
benevolence was completed on earth, ascended bodily into the paradise
above. Since
this time he has been worshiped as a god, and splendid temples
erected to
his memory.[216:5]
Zoroaster,
the founder of the religion of the ancient Persians, who was
considered
"a divine messenger sent to redeem men from their evil ways,"
ascended to
heaven at the end of his earthly career. To this day his followers
mention him
with the greatest reverence, calling him "The Immortal Zoroaster,"
"The
Blessed Zoroaster," "The Living Star," &c.[216:6]
[Pg
217]Ćsculapius, the Son of God, the Saviour, after being put to death, rose
from the
dead. His history is portrayed in the following lines of Ovid's, which
are
prophecies foretelling his life and actions:
"Once,
as the sacred infant she surveyed,
The god was
kindled in the raving maid;
And thus she
uttered her prophetic tale:
Hail, great
Physician of the world! all hail!
Hail, mighty
infant, who in years to come
Shalt heal
the nations, and defraud the tomb!
Swift be thy
growth, thy triumphs unconfined,
Make kingdoms
thicker, and increase mankind.
Thy daring
art shall animate the dead,
And draw the
thunder on thy guilty head;
Then shalt
thou die, but from the dark abode
Shalt rise
victorious, and be twice a god."[217:1]
The Saviour
Adonis or Tammuz, after being put to death, rose from the dead. The
following is
an account given of the rites of Tammuz or of Adonis by Julius
Firmicius
(who lived during the reign of Constantine):
"On a
certain night (while the ceremony of the Adonia, or religious rites in
honor of
Adonis, lasted), an image was laid upon a bed (or bier) and bewailed in
doleful
ditties. After they had satiated themselves with fictitious
lamentations,
light was brought in: then the mouths of all the mourners were
anointed by
the priests (with oil), upon which he, with a gentle murmur,
whispered:
'Trust, ye
Saints, your God restored.
Trust ye, in
your risen Lord;
For the pains
which he endured
Our salvation
have procured.'
"Literally,
'Trust, ye communicants: the God having been saved, there shall be
to us out of
pain, Salvation.'"[217:2]
Upon which
their sorrow was turned into joy.
Godwyn
renders it:
"Trust
ye in God, for out of pains,
Salvation is
come unto us."[217:3]
Dr. Prichard,
in his "Egyptian Mythology," tells us that the Syrians celebrated,
in the early
spring, this ceremony in honor of the resurrection of Adonis. After
lamentations,
his restoration was commemorated with joy and festivity.[217:4]
Mons. Dupuis
says:
"The
obsequies of Adonis were celebrated at Alexandria (in Egypt) with the
utmost
display. His image was carried with great solemnity to a tomb, which
served the
purpose of rendering him the last honors. Before singing his return
[Pg 218]to
life, there were mournful rites celebrated in honor of his suffering
and his
death. The large wound he had received was shown, just as the wound was
shown which
was made to Christ by the thrust of the spear. The feast of his
resurrection
was fixed at the 25th of March."[218:1]
In Calmet's
"Fragments," the resurrection of Adonis is referred to as follows:
"In
these mysteries, after the attendants had for a long time bewailed the death
of this just
person, he was at length understood to be restored to life, to have
experienced a
resurrection; signified by the re-admission of light. On this the
priest addressed
the company, saying, 'Comfort yourselves, all ye who have been
partakers of
the mysteries of the deity, thus preserved: for we shall now enjoy
some respite
from our labors:' to which were added these words: 'I have scaped a
sad calamity,
and my lot is greatly mended.' The people answered by the
invocation:
'Hail to the Dove! the Restorer of Light!'"[218:2]
Alexander
Murray tells us that the ancient Greeks also celebrated this festival
in honor of
the resurrection of Adonis, in the course of which a figure of him
was produced,
and the ceremony of burial, with weeping and songs of wailing,
gone through.
After these a joyful shout was raised: "Adonis lives and is risen
again."[218:3]
Plutarch, in
his life of Alcibiades and of Nicias, tells us that it was at the
time of the
celebration of the death of Adonis that the Athenian fleet set sail
for its
unlucky expedition to Sicily; that nothing but images of dead Adonises
were to be
met with in the streets, and that they were carried to the sepulchre
in the midst
of an immense train of women, crying and beating their breasts, and
imitating in
every particular the lugubrious pomp of interments. Sinister omens
were drawn
from it, which were only too much realized by subsequent
events.[218:4]
It was in an
oration or address delivered to the Emperors Constans and
Constantius
that Julius Firmicius wrote concerning the rites celebrated by the
heathens in
commemoration of the resurrection of Adonis. In his tide of
eloquence he
breaks away into indignant objurgation of the priest who officiated
in those
heathen mysteries, which, he admitted, resembled the Christian
sacrament in
honor of the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, so closely
that there
was really no difference between them, except that no sufficient
proof had
been given to the world of the resurrection of Adonis, and no divine
oracle had
borne witness to his resurrection, [Pg 219]nor had he shown himself
alive after
his death to those who were concerned to have assurance of the fact
that they
might believe.
The divine
oracle, be it observed, which Julius Firmicius says had borne
testimony to
Christ Jesus' resurrection, was none other than the answer of the
god Apollo,
whom the Pagans worshiped at Delphos, which this writer derived from
Porphyry's
books "On the Philosophy of Oracles."[219:1]
Eusebius, the
celebrated ecclesiastical historian, has also condescended to
quote this
claimed testimony from a Pagan oracle, as furnishing one of the most
convincing
proofs that could be adduced in favor of the resurrection of Christ
Jesus.
"But
thou at least (says he to the Pagans), listen to thine own gods, to thy
oracular
deities themselves, who have borne witness, and ascribed to our Saviour
(Jesus
Christ) not imposture, but piety and wisdom, and ascent into heaven."
This was
vastly obliging and liberal of the god Apollo, but, it happens
awkwardly
enough, that the whole work (consisting of several books) ascribed to
Porphyry, in
which this and other admissions equally honorable to the evidences
of the
Christian religion are made, was not written by Porphyry, but is
altogether
the pious fraud of Christian hands, who have kindly fathered the
great
philosopher with admissions, which, as he would certainly never have made
himself, they
have very charitably made for him.[219:2]
The festival
in honor of the resurrection of Adonis was observed in Alexandria
in Egypt—the
cradle of Christianity—in the time of St. Cyril, Bishop of
Alexandria
(A. D. 412), and at Antioch—the ancient capital of the Greek Kings of
Syria—even as
late as the time of the Emperor Julian (A. D. 361-363), whose
arrival
there, during the solemnity of the festival, was taken as an ill
omen.[219:3]
It is most
curious that the arrival of the Emperor Julian at Antioch—where the
followers of
Christ Jesus, it is said, were first called Christians—at that
time, should
be considered an ill omen. Why should it have been so? He was not a
Christian,
but a known apostate from the Christian religion, and a zealous
patron of
Paganism. The evidence is very conclusive; the celebration in honor of
the
resurrection of Adonis had become to be known as a Christian festival, which
has not been
abolished even unto this day. The ceremonies held in Roman Catholic
countries on
Good Friday and on Easter Sunday, are nothing more than the
festival of
the death and resurrection of Adonis, as we shall presently see.
[Pg 220]Even
as late as the year A. D. 386, the resurrection of Adonis was
celebrated in
Judea. St. Jerome says:
"Over
Bethlehem (in the year 386 after Christ) the grove of Tammuz, that is, of
Adonis, was
casting its shadow! And in the grotto where formerly the infant
Anointed (i.
e., Christ Jesus) cried, the lover of Venus was being
mourned."[220:1]
In the
idolatrous worship practiced by the children of Israel was that of the
worship of
Adonis.
Under the
designation of Tammuz, this god was worshiped, and had his altar even
in the Temple
of the Lord which was at Jerusalem. Several of the Psalms of David
were parts of
the liturgical service employed in his worship; the 110th, in
particular,
is an account of a friendly alliance between the two gods, Jehovah
and Adonis,
in which Jehovah adorns Adonis for his priest, as sitting at his
right hand,
and promises to fight for him against his enemies. This god was
worshiped at
Byblis in Phśnicia with precisely the same ceremonies: the same
articles of
faith as to his mystical incarnation, his precious death and burial,
and his
glorious resurrection and ascension, and even in the very same words of
religious
adoration and homage which are now, with the slightest degree of
variation
that could well be conceived, addressed to the Christ of the Gospel.
The prophet
Ezekiel, when an exile, painted once more the scene he had so often
witnessed of
the Israelitish women in the Temple court bewailing the death of
Tammuz.[220:2]
Dr. Parkhurst
says, in his "Hebrew Lexicon":
"I find
myself obliged to refer Tammuz, as well as the Greek and Roman Hercules,
to that class
of idols which were originally designed to represent the promised
Saviour
(Christ Jesus), the desire of all nations. His other name, Adonis, is
almost the
very Hebrew word 'Our Lord,' a well-known title of Christ."[220:3]
So it seems
that the ingenious and most learned orthodox Dr. Parkhurst was
obliged to
consider Adonis a type of "the promised Saviour (Christ Jesus), the
desire of all
nations." This is a very favorite way for Christian divines to
express
themselves, when pushed thereto, by the striking resemblance between the
Pagan,
virgin-born, crucified, and resurrected gods and Christ Jesus.
If the reader
is satisfied that all these things are types or symbols of what
the
"real Saviour" was to do and suffer, he is welcome [Pg 221]to such
food. The
doctrine of
Dr. Parkhurst and others comes with but an ill grace, however, from
Roman
Catholic priests, who have never ceased to suppress information when
possible, and
when it was impossible for them to do so, they claimed these
things to be
the work of the devil, in imitation of their predecessors, the
Christian
Fathers.
Julius
Firmicius has said: "The devil has his Christs," and does not deny
that
Adonis was
one. Tertullian and St. Justin explain all the conformity which
exists
between Christianity and Paganism, by asserting "that a long time before
there were
Christians in existence, the devil had taken pleasure to have their
future
mysteries and ceremonies copied by his worshipers."[221:1]
Osiris, the
Egyptian Saviour, after being put to death, rose from the
dead,[221:2]
and bore the title of "The Resurrected One."[221:3]
Prof.
Mahaffy, lecturer on ancient history in the University of Dublin, observes
that:
"The
Resurrection and reign over an eternal kingdom, by an incarnate mediating
deity born of
a virgin, was a theological conception which pervaded the oldest
religion of
Egypt."[221:4]
The ancient
Egyptians celebrated annually, in early spring, about the time known
in Christian
countries as Easter, the resurrection and ascension of Osiris.
During these
mysteries the misfortunes and tragical death of the "Saviour" were
celebrated in
a species of drama, in which all the particulars were exhibited,
accompanied
with loud lamentations and every mark of sorrow. At this time his
image was
carried in a procession, covered—as were those in the temples—with
black veils.
On the 25th of March his resurrection from the dead was celebrated
with great
festivity and rejoicings.[221:5]
Alexander
Murray says:
"The
worship of Osiris was universal throughout Egypt, where he was gratefully
regarded as
the great exemplar of self-sacrifice—in giving his life for
others—as the
manifestor of good, as the opener of truth, and as being full of
goodness and
truth. After being dead, he was restored to life."[221:6]
Mons. Dupuis
says on this subject:
"The
Fathers of the Church, and the writers of the Christian sect, speak
frequently of
these feasts, celebrated in honor of Osiris, who died and arose
from [Pg
222]the dead, and they draw a parallel with the adventurers of their
Christ.
Athanasius, Augustin, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Minucius Felix,
Lactantius,
Firmicius, as also the ancient authors who have spoken of Osiris . .
. all agree
in the description of the universal mourning of the Egyptians at the
festival,
when the commemoration of that death took place. They describe the
ceremonies
which were practiced at his sepulchre, the tears, which were there
shed during
several days, and the festivities and rejoicings, which followed
after that
mourning, at the moment when his resurrection was announced."[222:1]
Mr. Bonwick
remarks, in his "Egyptian Belief," that:
"It is
astonishing to find that, at least, five thousand years ago, men trusted
an Osiris as
the 'Risen Saviour,' and confidently hoped to rise, as he arose,
from the grave."[222:2]
Again he
says:
"Osiris
was, unquestionably, the popular god of Egypt. . . . Osiris was dear to
the hearts of
the people. He was pre-eminently 'good.' He was in life and death
their friend.
His birth, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, embraced the
leading
points of Egyptian theology." "In his efforts to do good, he
encounters
evil. In
struggling with that, he is overcome. He is killed. The story, entered
into in the
account of the Osiris myth, is a circumstantial one. Osiris is
buried. His
tomb was the object of pilgrimage for thousands of years. But he did
not rest in
his grave. At the end of three days, or forty, he arose again, and
ascended to
heaven. This is the story of his humanity." "As the invictus Osiris,
his tomb was
illuminated, as is the holy sepulchre of Jerusalem now. The
mourning
song, whose plaintive tones were noted by Herodotus, and has been
compared to
the 'miserere' of Rome, was followed, in three days, by the language
of
triumph."[222:3]
Herodotus,
who had been initiated into the Egyptian and Grecian "Mysteries,"
speaks thus
of them:
"At Sais
(in Egypt), in the sacred precinct of Minerva; behind the chapel and
joining the
wall, is the tomb of one whose name I consider it impious to divulge
on such an occasion;
and in the inclosure stand large stone obelisks, and there
is a lake
near, ornamented with a stone margin, formed in a circle, and in size,
as appeared
to me, much the same as that in Delos, which is called the circular.
In this lake
they perform by night the representation of that person's
adventures,
which they call mysteries. On these matters, however, though
accurately
acquainted with the particulars of them, I must observe a discreet
silence; and
respecting the sacred rites of Ceres, which the Greeks call
Thesmyphoria,
although I am acquainted with them, I must observe silence except
so far as is
lawful for me to speak of them."[222:4]
Horus, son of
the virgin Isis, experienced similar misfortunes. The principal
features of
this sacred romance are to be found in the writings of the Christian
Fathers. They
give us a description of the grief which was manifested at his
death, and of
the rejoicings at his resurrection, which are similar to those
spoken of
above.[222:5]
[Pg 223]Atys,
the Phrygian Saviour, was put to death, and rose again from the
dead. Various
histories were given of him in various places, but all accounts
terminated in
the usual manner. He was one of the "Slain Ones" who rose to life
again on the
25th of March, or the "Hilaria" or primitive Easter.[223:1]
Mithras, the
Persian Saviour, and mediator between God and man, was believed by
the
inhabitants of Persia, Asia Minor and Armenia, to have been put to death,
and to have
risen again from the dead. In their mysteries, the body of a young
man,
apparently dead, was exhibited, which was feigned to be restored to life.
By his
sufferings he was believed to have worked their salvation, and on this
account he
was called their "Saviour." His priests watched his tomb to the
midnight of
the veil of the 25th of March, with loud cries, and in darkness;
when all at
once the lights burst forth from all parts, and the priest cried:
"Rejoice,
Oh sacred Initiated, your god is risen. His death, his pains, his
sufferings,
have worked our salvation."[223:2]
Mons. Dupuis,
speaking of the resurrection of this god, says:
"It is
chiefly in the religion of Mithras. . . . that we find mostly these
features of
analogy with the death and resurrection of Christ, and with the
mysteries of
the Christians. Mithras, who was also born on the 25th of December,
like Christ,
died as he did; and he had his sepulchre, over which his disciples
came to shed
tears. During the night, the priests carried his image to a tomb,
expressly
prepared for him; he was laid out on a litter, like the Phśnician
Adonis.
"These
funeral ceremonies, like those on Good Friday (in Roman Catholic
churches),
were accompanied with funeral dirges and groans of the priests; after
having spent
some time with these expressions of feigned grief; after having
lighted the
sacred flambeau, or their paschal candle, and anointed the image
with chrism
or perfumes, one of them came forward and pronounced with the
gravest mien
these words: 'Be of good cheer, sacred band of Initiates, your god
has risen
from the dead. His pains and his sufferings shall be your
salvation.'"[223:3]
In King's
"Gnostics and their Remains" (Plate XI.), may be seen the
representation
of a bronze medal, or rather disk, engraved [Pg 224]in the
coarsest manner,
on which is to be seen a female figure, standing in the
attitude of
adoration, the object of which is expressed by the inscription—ORTVS
SALVAT,
"The Rising of the Saviour"—i. e., of Mithras.[224:1]
"This
medal" (says Mr. King), "doubtless had accompanied the interment of
some
individual
initiated into the Mithraic mysteries; and is certainly the most
curious relic
of that faith that has come under my notice."[224:2]
Bacchus, the
Saviour, son of the virgin Semele, after being put to death, also
arose from
the dead. During the commemoration of the ceremonies of this event
the dead body
of a young man was exhibited with great lamentations, in the same
manner as the
cases cited above, and at dawn on the 25th of March his
resurrection
from the dead was celebrated with great rejoicings.[224:3] After
having
brought solace to the misfortunes of mankind, he, after his resurrection,
ascended into
heaven.[224:4]
Hercules, the
Saviour, the son of Zeus by a mortal mother, was put to death, but
arose from
the funeral pile, and ascended into heaven in a cloud, 'mid peals of
thunder. His
followers manifested gratitude to his memory by erecting an altar
on the spot
from whence be ascended.[224:5]
Memnon is put
to death, but rises again to life and immortality. His mother Eos
weeps tears
at the death of her son—as Mary does for Christ Jesus—but her
prayers avail
to bring him back, like Adonis or Tammuz, and Jesus, from the
shadowy
region, to dwell always in Olympus.[224:6]
The ancient
Greeks also believed that Amphiaraus—one of their most celebrated
prophets and
demi-gods—rose from the dead. They even pointed to the place of his
resurrection.[224:7]
Baldur, the
Scandinavian Lord and Saviour, is put to death, but does not rest in
his grave. He
too rises again to life and immortality.[224:8]
When
"Baldur the Good," the beneficent god, descended into hell, Hela
(Death)
said to
Hermod (who mourned for Baldur): "If all things in the world, both
living and
lifeless, weep for him, then shall he return to the Ćsir (the gods)."
Upon hearing
this, messengers were dispatched throughout the world to beg
everything
[Pg 225]to weep in order that Baldur might be delivered from hell.
All things
everywhere willingly complied with this request, both men and every
other living
being, so that wailing was heard in all quarters.[225:1]
Thus we see
the same myth among the northern nations. As Bunsen says:
"The
tragedy of the murdered and risen god is familiar to us from the days of
ancient
Egypt: must it not be of equally primeval origin here?" [In Teutonic
tradition.]
The ancient
Scandinavians also worshiped a god called Frey, who was put to
death, and
rose again from the dead.[225:2]
The ancient
Druids celebrated, in the British Isles, in heathen times, the rites
of the
resurrected Bacchus, and other ceremonies, similar to the Greeks and
Romans.[225:3]
Quetzalcoatle,
the Mexican crucified Saviour, after being put to death, rose
from the
dead. His resurrection was represented in Mexican hieroglyphics, and
may be seen
in the Codex Borgianus.[225:4]
The Jews in
Palestine celebrated their Passover on the same day that the Pagans
celebrated
the resurrection of their gods.
Besides the
resurrected gods mentioned in this chapter, who were believed in for
centuries
before the time assigned for the birth of Christ Jesus, many others
might be
named, as we shall see in our chapter on "Explanation." In the words
of
Dunbar T.
Heath:
"We find
men taught everywhere, from Southern Arabia to Greece, by hundreds of
symbolisms,
the birth, death, and resurrection of deities, and a resurrection
too,
apparently after the second day, i. e., on the third."[225:5]
And now, to
conclude all, another god is said to have been born on the same
day[225:6] as
these Pagan deities; he is crucified and buried, and on the same
day[225:7]
rises again from the dead. Christians of Europe and America celebrate
annually the
resurrection of their [Pg 226]Saviour in almost the identical
manner in
which the Pagans celebrated the resurrection of their Saviours,
centuries
before the God of the Christians is said to have been born. In Roman
Catholic
churches, in Catholic countries, the body of a young man is laid on a
bier, and
placed before the altar; the wound in his side is to be seen, and his
death is
bewailed in mournful dirges, and the verse, Gloria Patri, is
discontinued
in the mass. All the images in the churches and the altar are
covered with
black, and the priest and attendants are robed in black; nearly all
lights are
put out, and the windows are darkened. This is the "Agonie," the
"Miserere,"
the "Good Friday" mass. On Easter Sunday[226:1] all the drapery has
disappeared;
the church is illuminated, and rejoicing, in place of sorrow, is
manifest. The
Easter hymns partake of the following expression:
"Rejoice,
Oh sacred Initiated, your God is risen. His death, his pains, his
sufferings,
have worked our salvation."
Cedrenus (a
celebrated Byzantine writer), speaking of the 25th of March, says:
"The
first day of the first month, is the first of the month Nisan; it
corresponds
to the 25th of March of the Romans, and the Phamenot of the
Egyptians. On
that day Gabriel saluted Mary, in order to make her conceive the
Saviour. I
observe that it is the same month, Phamenot, that Osiris gave
fecundity to
Isis, according to the Egyptian theology. On the very same day, our
God Saviour
(Christ Jesus), after the termination of his career, arose from the
dead; that
is, what our forefathers called the Pass-over, or the passage of the
Lord. It is
also on the same day, that our ancient theologians have fixed his
return, or
his second advent."[226:2]
We have seen,
then, that a festival celebrating the resurrection of their
several gods
was annually held among the Pagans, before the time of Christ
Jesus, and
that it was almost universal. That it dates to a period of great
antiquity is
very certain. The adventures of these incarnate gods, exposed in
their
infancy, put to death, and rising again from the grave to life and
immortality,
were acted on the Deisuls and in the sacred theatres of the ancient
Pagans,[226:3]
just as the "Passion Play" is acted to-day.
Eusebius
relates a tale to the effect that, at one time, the Christians [Pg
227]were
about to celebrate "the solemn vigils of Easter," when, to their
dismay, they
found that oil was wanted. Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, who was
among the
number, "commanded that such as had charge of the lights, speedily to
bring unto
him water, drawn up out of the next well." This water Narcissus, "by
the wonderful
power of God," changed into oil, and the celebration was
continued.[227:1]
This tells
the whole story. Here we see the oil—which the Pagans had in their
ceremonies,
and with which the priests anointed the lips of the Initiates—and
the lights,
which were suddenly lighted when the god was feigned to have risen
from the
dead.
With her
usual policy, the Christian Church endeavored to give a Christian
significance
to the rites borrowed from Paganism, and in this case, as in many
others, the
conversion was particularly easy.
In the
earliest times, the Christians did not celebrate the resurrection of
their Lord
from the grave. They made the Jewish Passover their chief festival,
celebrating
it on the same day as the Jews, the 14th of Nisan, no matter in what
part of the
week that day might fall. Believing, according to the tradition,
that Jesus on
the eve of his death had eaten the Passover with his disciples,
they regarded
such a solemnity as a commemoration of the Supper and not as a
memorial of the
Resurrection. But in proportion as Christianity more and more
separated
itself from Judaism and imbibed paganism, this way of looking at the
matter became
less easy. A new tradition gained currency among the Roman
Christians to
the effect that Jesus before his death had not eaten the Passover,
but had died
on the very day of the Passover, thus substituting himself for the
Paschal Lamb.
The great Christian festival was then made the Resurrection of
Jesus, and
was celebrated on the first pagan holiday—Sun-day—after the Passover.
This Easter
celebration was observed in China, and called a "Festival of
Gratitude to
Tien." From there it extended over the then known world to the
extreme West.
The ancient
Pagan inhabitants of Europe celebrated annually this same feast,
which is yet
continued over all the Christian world. This festival began with a
week's
indulgence in all kinds of sports, called the carne-vale, or the taking a
farewell to
animal food, because it was followed by a fast of forty days. This
was in honor
of the Saxon goddess Ostrt or Eostre of the Germans, whence our
Easter.[227:2]
[Pg 228]The
most characteristic Easter rite, and the one most widely diffused,
is the use of
Easter eggs. They are usually stained of various colors with
dye-woods or
herbs, and people mutually make presents of them; sometimes they
are kept as
amulets, sometimes eaten. Now, "dyed eggs were sacred Easter
offerings in
Egypt;"[228:1] the ancient Persians, "when they kept the festival
of the solar
new year (in March), mutually presented each other with colored
eggs;"[228:2]
"the Jews used eggs in the feast of the Passover;" and the custom
prevailed in
Western countries.[228:3]
The stories
of the resurrection written by the Gospel narrators are altogether
different.
This is owing to the fact that the story, as related by one, was
written to
correct the mistakes and to endeavor to reconcile with common sense
the
absurdities of the other. For instance, the "Matthew" narrator says:
"And
when they saw
him (after he had risen from the dead) they worshiped him; but
some
doubted."[228:4]
To leave the
question where this writer leaves it would be fatal. In such a case
there must be
no doubt. Therefore, the "Mark" narrator makes Jesus appear three
times, under
such circumstances as to render a mistake next to impossible, and
to silence
the most obstinate skepticism. He is first made to appear to Mary
Magdalene,
who was convinced that it was Jesus, because she went and told the
disciples
that he had risen, and that she had seen him. They—notwithstanding
that Jesus
had foretold them of his resurrection[228:5]—disbelieved, nor could
they be
convinced until he appeared to them. They in turn told it to the other
disciples,
who were also skeptical; and, that they might be convinced, Jesus
also appeared
to them as they sat at meat, when he upbraided them for their
unbelief.
This story is
much improved in the hands of the "Mark" narrator, but, in the
anxiety to
make a clear case, it is overdone, as often happens when the object
is to remedy
or correct an oversight or mistake previously made. In relating
that the
disciples doubted the words of Mary Magdalene, he had probably
forgotten
Jesus had promised them that he should rise, for, if he had told them
this, why did
they doubt?
Neither the
"Matthew" nor the "Mark" narrator says in what way Jesus
made his
appearance—whether
it was in the body or only in the spirit. If in the latter,
it would be
fatal to the whole theory [Pg 229]of the resurrection, as it is a
material
resurrection that Christianity taught—just like their neighbors the
Persians—and
not a spiritual.[229:1]
To put this
disputed question in its true light, and to silence the objections
which must
naturally have arisen against it, was the object which the "Luke"
narrator had
in view. He says that when Jesus appeared and spoke to the
disciples
they were afraid: "But they were terrified and affrighted, and
supposed they
had seen a spirit."[229:2] Jesus then—to show that he was not a
spirit—showed
the wounds in his hands and feet. "And they gave him a piece of a
broiled fish,
and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before
them."[229:3]
After this, who is there that can doubt? but, if the fish and
honeycomb
story was true, why did the "Matthew" and "Mark" narrators
fail to
mention it?
The
"Luke" narrator, like his predecessors, had also overdone the matter,
and
instead of
convincing the skeptical, he only excited their ridicule.
The
"John" narrator now comes, and endeavors to set matters right. He
does not
omit entirely
the story of Jesus eating fish, for that would not do, after there
had been so
much said about it. He might leave it to be inferred that the "Luke"
narrator made
a mistake, so he modifies the story and omits the ridiculous part.
The scene is
laid on the shores of the Sea of Tiberias. Under the direction of
Jesus, Peter
drew his net to land, full of fish. "Jesus said unto them: Come and
dine. And
none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was
the Lord.
Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish
likewise."[229:4]
It does not
appear from this account that Jesus ate the fish at all. He took the
fish and gave
to the disciples; the inference is that they were the ones that
ate. In the
"Luke" narrator's account the statement is reversed; the disciples
gave the fish
to Jesus, and he ate. The "John" narrator has taken out of the
story that
which was absurd, but he leaves us to infer that the "Luke" narrator
was careless
in stating the account of what took place. If we leave out of the
"Luke"
narrator's account the part that relates to the fish and honeycomb, he
fails to
prove what it really [Pg 230]was which appeared to the disciples, as it
seems from
this that the disciples could not be convinced that Jesus was not a
spirit until
he had actually eaten something.
Now, if the
eating part is struck out—which the "John" narrator does, and which,
no doubt, the
ridicule cast upon it drove him to do—the "Luke" narrator leaves
the question
just where he found it. It was the business of the "John" narrator
to attempt to
leave it clean, and put an end to all cavil.
Jesus
appeared to the disciples when they assembled at Jerusalem. "And when he
had so said,
he shewed unto them his hands and his side."[230:1] They were
satisfied,
and no doubts were expressed. But Thomas was not present, and when he
was told by
the brethren that Jesus had appeared to them, he refused to believe;
nor would he,
"Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put
my finger
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will
not
believe."[230:2] Now, if Thomas could be convinced, with all his doubts,
it
would be
foolish after that to deny that Jesus was not in the body when he
appeared to
his disciples.
After eight
days Jesus again appears, for no other purpose—as it would seem—but
to convince
the doubting disciple Thomas. Then said he to Thomas: "Reach hither
thy finger,
and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into
my side; and
be not faithless, but believing."[230:3] This convinced Thomas, and
he exclaimed:
"My Lord and my God." After this evidence, if there were still
unbelievers,
they were even more skeptical than Thomas himself. We should be at
a loss to
understand why the writers of the first three Gospels entirely omitted
the story of
Thomas, if we were not aware that when the "John" narrator wrote
the state of
the public mind was such that proof of the most unquestionable
character was
demanded that Christ Jesus had risen in the body. The "John"
narrator
selected a person who claimed he was hard to convince, and if the
evidence was
such as to satisfy him, it ought to satisfy the balance of the
world.[230:4]
The first
that we knew of the fourth Gospel—attributed to John—is from the
writings of
Irenćus (A. D. 177-202), and the evidence is that he is the author
of it.[230:5]
That controversies were rife in his day concerning the
resurrection
of Jesus, is very evident from other sources. We find that at this
time the
resurrection of [Pg 231]the dead (according to the accounts of the
Christian
forgers) was very far from being esteemed an uncommon event; that the
miracle was
frequently performed on necessary occasions by great fasting and the
joint
supplication of the church of the place, and that the persons thus
restored by
their prayers had lived afterwards among them many years. At such a
period, when
faith could boast of so many wonderful victories over death, it
seems
difficult to account for the skepticism of those philosophers, who still
rejected and
derided the doctrine of the resurrection. A noble Grecian had
rested on
this important ground the whole controversy, and promised Theophilus,
bishop of
Antioch, that if he could be gratified by the sight of a single person
who had been
actually raised from the dead, he would immediately embrace the
Christian
religion.
"It is
somewhat remarkable," says Gibbon, the historian, from whom we take the
above,
"that the prelate of the first Eastern Church, however anxious for the
conversion of
his friend, thought proper to decline this fair and reasonable
challenge."[231:1]
This
Christian saint, Irenćus, had invented many stories of others being raised
from the
dead, for the purpose of attempting to strengthen the belief in the
resurrection
of Jesus. In the words of the Rev. Jeremiah Jones:
"Such
pious frauds were very common among Christians even in the first three
centuries;
and a forgery of this nature, with the view above-mentioned, seems
natural and
probable."
One of these
"pious frauds" is the "Gospel of Nicodemus the Disciple,
concerning
the
Sufferings and Resurrection of our Master and Saviour Jesus Christ."
Although
attributed to Nicodemus, a disciple of Jesus, it has been shown to be a
forgery,
written towards the close of the second century—during the time of
Irenćus, the
well-known pious forger. In this book we find the following:
"And now
hear me a little. We all know the blessed Simeon, the high-priest, who
took Jesus
when an infant into his arms in the temple. This same Simeon had two
sons of his
own, and we were all present at their death and funeral. Go
therefore and
see their tombs, for these are open, and they are risen; and
behold, they
are in the city of Arimathća, spending their time together in
offices of
devotion."[231:2]
The purpose
of this story is very evident. Some "zealous believer," observing
the appeals
for proof of the resurrection, wishing to make it appear that
resurrections
from the dead were [Pg 232]common occurrences, invented this story
towards the
close of the second century, and fathered it upon Nicodemus.
We shall
speak, anon, more fully on the subject of the frauds of the early
Christians,
the "lying and deceiving for the cause of Christ," which is carried
on even to
the present day.
As President
Cheney of Bates College has lately remarked, "The resurrection is
the doctrine
of Christianity and the foundation of the entire system,"[232:1]
but outside
of the four spurious gospels this greatest of all recorded miracles
is hardly
mentioned. "We have epistles from Peter, James, John, and Jude—all of
whom are said
by the evangelists to have seen Jesus after he rose from the dead,
in none of
which epistles is the fact of the resurrection even stated, much less
that Jesus
was seen by the writer after his resurrection."[232:2]
Many of the
early Christian sects denied the resurrection of Christ Jesus, but
taught that
he will rise, when there shall be a general resurrection.
No actual representation
of the resurrection of the Christian's Saviour has yet
been found
among the monuments of early Christianity. The earliest
representation
of this event that has been found is an ivory carving, and
belongs to
the fifth or sixth century.[232:3]
FOOTNOTES:
[215:1] See
Matthew, xxviii. Mark, xvi. Luke, xxiv. and John, xx.
[215:2] Mark,
xvi. 19.
[215:3] Luke,
xxiv. 51.
[215:4] Acts,
i. 9.
[215:5] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 240. Higgins: Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. pp.
142 and 145.
[215:6] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 131. Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p.
168. Asiatic
Researches, vol. i. pp. 259 and 261.
[215:7] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 72. Hist. Hindostan, ii. pp. 466 and
473.
"In
Hindu pictures, Vishnu, who is identified with Crishna, is often seen
mounted on
the Eagle Garuda." (Moore: Hindu Panth. p. 214.) And M. Sonnerat
noticed
"two basso-relievos placed at the entrance of the choir of Bordeaux
Cathedral,
one of which represents the ascension of our Saviour to heaven on an
Eagle."
(Higgins: Anac., vol. i. p. 273.)
[216:1]
Oriental Religions, pp. 494, 495.
[216:2]
Asiatic Res., vol. x. p. 129. Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 103.
[216:3]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 49.
[216:4] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 86. See also, Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol.
i. p. 159.
[216:5] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 214.
[216:6] Ibid.
p. 258.
[217:1]
Ovid's Metamorphoses, as rendered by Addison. Quoted in Taylor's
Diegesis, p.
148.
[217:2]
Quoted by Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 114. See also, Taylor's
Diegesis, pp.
163, 164.
[217:3]
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 164.
[217:4]
Prichard's Egyptian Mythology, pp. 66, 67.
[218:1]
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 161. See also, Dunlap's Mysteries
of Adoni, p.
23, and Spirit Hist. of Man, p. 216.
[218:2]
Calmet's Fragments, vol. ii. p. 21.
[218:3]
Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 86.
[218:4] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 261.
[219:1] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 247, and Taylor's Diegesis,
p. 164.
[219:2] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 164. We shall speak of Christian forgeries
anon.
[219:3] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 2.
[220:1]
Quoted in Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. vii. See also, Knight: Ancient Art
and
Mythology, p. xxvii.
"From
the days of the prophet Daniel, down to the time when the red cross
knights gave
no quarter (fighting for the Christ) in the streets of Jerusalem,
the Anointed
was worshiped in Babylon, Basan, Galilee and Palestine." (Son of
the Man, p.
38.)
[220:2]
Ezekiel, viii. 14.
[220:3]
Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 162, and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii.
p. 114.
[221:1] See
Justin: Cum. Typho, and Tertullian: De Bap.
[221:2] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 16, and vol. i. p. 519. Also,
Prichard's
Egyptian Mythology, p. 66, and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 163.
[221:3] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 166, and Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni,
pp. 124, 125.
[221:4]
Prolegomena to Ancient History.
[221:5] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102.
[221:6]
Murray: Manual of Mythology, pp. 347, 348.
[222:1]
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 256.
[222:2]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. vi.
[222:3] Ibid.
pp. 150-155, 178.
[222:4]
Herodotus, bk. ii. chs. 170, 171.
[222:5] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 263, and Higgins:
Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. 108.
[223:1] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 169. Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p.
104. Dupuis:
Origin of Religious Belief, p. 255. Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p.
110, and
Knight: Anct. Art and Mythology, p. 86.
[223:2]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99. Mithras remained in the grave a
period of
three days, as did Christ Jesus, and the other Christs. "The Persians
believed that
the soul of man remained yet three days in the world after its
separation
from the body." (Dunlap: Mysteries of Adoni, p. 63.)
"In the
Zoroastrian religion, after soul and body have separated, the souls, in
the third
night after death—as soon as the shining sun ascends—come over the
Mount
Berezaiti upon the bridge Tshinavat which leads to Garonmana, the dwelling
of the good
gods." (Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 216, and Mysteries of Adoni, 60.)
The Ghost of
Polydore says:
"Being
raised up this third day—light,
Having
deserted my body!"
(Euripides,
Hecuba, 31, 32.)
[223:3]
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, pp. 246, 247.
[224:1]
King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. 225.
[224:2] Ibid.
p. 226.
[224:3] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102. Dupuis: Origin of Religious
Belief, pp.
256, 257, and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 169.
[224:4] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 135, and Higgins:
Anacalypsis,
vol. i. 322.
[224:5] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 294. See also, Goldzhier's Hebrew
Mythology, p.
127. Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322, and Chambers's
Encyclo.,
art. "Hercules."
[224:6] Aryan
Mytho., vol. ii. p. 90.
[224:7] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 56.
[224:8] Aryan
Mytho., vol. ii p. 94.
[225:1]
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 449.
[225:2] See
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 85.
[225:3] See
Davies: Myths and Rites of the British Druids, pp. 89 and 208.
[225:4] See
Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 166.
[225:5]
Quoted in Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 174.
[225:6] As we
shall see in the chapter on "The Birth-day of Christ Jesus."
[225:7]
Easter, the triumph of Christ, was originally solemnized on the 25th of
March, the
very day upon which the Pagan gods were believed to have risen from
the dead.
(See Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, pp. 244, 255.)
A very long
and terrible schism took place in the Christian Church upon the
question
whether Easter, the day of the resurrection, was to be celebrated on
the 14th day
of the first month, after the Jewish custom, or on the Lord's day
afterward;
and it was at last decided in favor of the Lord's day. (See Higgins:
Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. p. 90, and Chambers's Encyclopćdia, art. "Easter.")
The day upon
which Easter should be celebrated was not settled until the Council
of Nice. (See
Euseb. Life of Constantine, lib. 3, ch. xvii. Also, Socrates'
Eccl. Hist.
lib. 1, ch. vi.)
[226:1] Even
the name of "Easter" is derived from the heathen goddess, Ostrt, of
the Saxons,
and the Eostre of the Germans.
"Many of
the popular observances connected with Easter are clearly of Pagan
origin. The
goddess Ostara or Eastre seems to have been the personification of
the morning
or East, and also of the opening year or Spring. . . . With her
usual policy,
the church endeavored to give a Christian significance to such of
the rites as
could not be rooted out; and in this case the conversion was
practically
easy." (Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Easter.")
[226:2]
Quoted in Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 244.
[226:3] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 340.
[227:1] Eccl.
Hist., lib. 6, c. viii.
[227:2]
Anacalypsis, ii. 59.
[228:1] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 24.
[228:2] See
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Easter."
[228:3] Ibid.
[228:4]
Matthew, xxviii. 17.
[228:5] See
xii. 40; xvi. 21; Mark, ix. 31; xiv. 23; John, ii. 10.
[229:1]
"And let not any one among you say, that this very flesh is not judged,
neither
raised up. Consider, in what were ye saved? in what did ye look up, if
not whilst ye
were in this flesh? We must, therefore, keep our flesh as the
temple of
God. For in like manner as ye were called in the flesh, ye shall also
come to
judgment in the flesh. Our one Lord Jesus Christ, who has saved us,
being first a
spirit, was made flesh, and so called us: even so we also in this
flesh, shall
receive the reward (of heaven)." (II. Corinthians, ch. iv. Apoc.
See also the
Christian Creed: "I believe in the resurrection of the body.")
[229:2] Luke,
xxiv. 37.
[229:3] Luke,
xxiv. 42, 43.
[229:4] John,
xxi. 12, 13.
[230:1] John,
xx. 20.
[230:2] John,
xx. 25.
[230:3] John,
xx. 27.
[230:4] See,
for a further account of the resurrection, Reber's Christ of Paul;
Scott's
English Life of Jesus; and Greg's Creed of Christendom.
[230:5] See
the Chapter xxxviii.
[231:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 541.
[231:2]
Nicodemus, Apoc. ch. xii.
[232:1]
Baccalaureate Sermon, June 26th, 1881.
[232:2] Greg:
The Creed of Christendom, p. 284.
[232:3] See
Jameson's Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii., and Lundy's Monumental
Christianity.
[Pg
233]CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SECOND
COMING OF CHRIST JESUS, AND THE MILLENNIUM.
The second
coming of Christ Jesus is clearly taught in the canonical, as well as
in the
apocryphal, books of the New Testament. Paul teaches, or is made to teach
it,[233:1] in
the following words:
"If we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Jesus will
God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not
prevent them
which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and
the dead in
Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever
be with the Lord."[233:2]
He further
tells the Thessalonians to "abstain from all appearance of evil," and
to "be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."[233:3]
James,[233:4]
in his epistle to the brethren, tells them not to be in too great
a hurry for
the coming of their Lord, but to "be patient" and wait for the
"coming
of the Lord," as the "husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of
the
earth."
But still he assures them that "the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh."[233:5]
Peter, in his
first epistle, tells his brethren that "the end of all things is
at
hand,"[233:6] and that when the "chief shepherd" does appear,
they "shall
receive a
crown of glory that fadeth not away."[233:7]
John, in his
first epistle, tells the Christian community to "abide [Pg 234]in
him"
(Christ), so that, "when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not
be ashamed
before him."[234:1]
He further
says:
"Behold,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he
is."[234:2]
According to
the writer of the book of "The Acts," when Jesus ascended into
heaven, the
Apostles stood looking up towards heaven, where he had gone, and
while thus
engaged: "behold, two men stood by them (dressed) in white apparel,"
who said unto
them:
"Ye men
of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is
taken up from
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him
go (up) into
heaven."[234:3]
The one great
object which the writer of the book of Revelations wished to
present to
view, was "the second coming of Christ." This writer, who seems to
have been
anxious for that time, which was "surely" to come
"quickly;" ends his
book by
saying: "Even so, come Lord Jesus."[234:4]
The two men,
dressed in white apparel, who had told the Apostles that Jesus
should
"come again," were not the only persons whom they looked to for
authority. He
himself (according to the Gospel) had told them so:
"The Son
of man shall come (again) in the glory of his Father with his angels."
And, as if to
impress upon their minds that his second coming should not be at a
distant day,
he further said:
"Verily
I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of
death, till
they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."[234:5]
This, surely,
is very explicit, but it is not the only time he speaks of his
second
advent. When foretelling the destruction of the temple, his disciples
came unto
him, saying:
"Tell us
when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy
coming?"[234:6]
His answer to
this is very plain:
"Verily
I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be
fulfilled (i.
e, the destruction of the temple and his second coming), but of
that day and
hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father
only."[234:7]
[Pg 235]In
the second Epistle attributed to Peter, which was written after that
generation
had passed away,[235:1] there had begun to be some impatience
manifest
among the believers, on account of the long delay of Christ Jesus'
second
coming. "Where is the promise of his coming?" say they, "for
since the
fathers fell
asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation."[235:2]
In attempting to smoothe over matters, this writer says:
"There
shall come in the last days scoffers, saying: 'Where is the promise of
his
coming?'" to which he replies by telling them that they were ignorant of
all
the ways of
the Lord, and that: "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a
thousand years as one day." He further says: "The Lord is not slack
concerning
his promise;" and that "the day of the Lord will come." This
coming
is to be
"as a thief in the night," that is, when they least expect it.[235:3]
No wonder
there should have been scoffers—as this writer calls them—the
generation
which was not to have passed away before his coming, had passed away;
all those who
stood there had been dead many years; the sun had not yet been
darkened; the
stars were still in the heavens, and the moon still continued to
reflect
light. None of the predictions had yet been fulfilled.
Some of the
early Christian Fathers have tried to account for the words of
Jesus, where
he says: "Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which
shall not
taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom,"
by saying
that he referred to John only, and that that Apostle was not dead, but
sleeping.
This fictitious story is related by Saint Augustin, "from the
report,"
as he says,
"of credible persons," and is to the effect that:
"At
Ephesus, where St. John the Apostle lay buried, he was not believed to be
dead, but to
be sleeping only in the grave, which he had provided for himself
till our
Saviour's second coming: in proof of which, they affirm, that the
earth, under
which he lay, was seen to heave up and down perpetually, in
conformity to
the motion of his body, in the act of breathing."[235:4]
This story
clearly illustrates the stupid credulity and superstition of the
primitive age
of the church, and the faculty of imposing any fictions upon the
people, which
their leaders saw fit to inculcate.
The doctrine
of the millennium designates a certain period in the history of the
world,
lasting for a long, indefinite space (vaguely a thousand years, as the
word
"millennium" implies) during which the kingdom of Christ Jesus will
be
visibly
established on the earth. The idea undoubtedly originated proximately in
the Messianic
[Pg 236]expectation of the Jews (as Jesus did not sit on the
throne of
David and become an earthly ruler, it must be that he is coming again
for this
purpose), but more remotely in the Pagan doctrine of the final triumph
of the
several "Christs" over their adversaries.
In the first
century of the Church, millenarianism was a whispered belief, to
which the
book of Daniel, and more particularly the predictions of the
Apocalypse[236:1]
gave an apostolical authority, but, when the church imbibed
Paganism,
their belief on this subject lent it a more vivid coloring and
imagery.
The unanimity
which the early Christian teachers exhibit in regard to
millenarianism,
proves how strongly it had laid hold of the imagination of the
Church, to
which, in this early stage, immortality and future rewards were to a
great extent
things of this world as yet. Not only did Cerinthus, but even the
orthodox
doctors—such as Papias (Bishop of Hierapolis), Irenćus, Justin Martyr
and
others—delighted themselves with dreams of the glory and magnificence of the
millennial
kingdom. Papias, in his collection of traditional sayings of Christ
Jesus,
indulges in the most monstrous representations of the re-building of
Jerusalem,
and the colossal vines and grapes of the millennial reign.
According to
the general opinion, the millennium was to be preceded by great
calamities,
after which the Messiah, Christ Jesus, would appear, and would bind
Satan for a
thousand years, annihilate the godless heathen, or make them slaves
of the
believers, overturn the Roman empire, from the ruins of which a new order
of things
would spring forth, in which "the dead in Christ" would rise, and
along with
the surviving saints enjoy an incomparable felicity in the city of
the "New
Jerusalem." Finally, all nations would bend their knee to him, and
acknowledge
him only to be the Christ—his religion would reign supreme. This is
the
"Golden Age" of the future, which all nations of antiquity believed
in and
looked
forward to.
We will first
turn to India, and shall there find that the Hindoos believed
their
"Saviour," or "Preserver" Vishnu, who appeared in mortal
form as Crishna,
is to come
again in the latter days. Their sacred books declare that in the last
days, when
the fixed stars have all apparently returned to the point whence they
started, at
the beginning of all things, in the month Scorpio, Vishnu will
appear among
mortals, in the form of an armed warrior, riding a winged white
horse.[236:2]
In one hand he will carry a [Pg 237]scimitar, "blazing like a
comet,"
to destroy all the impure who shall then dwell on the face of the earth.
In the other
hand he will carry a large shining ring, to signify that the great
circle of
Yugas (ages) is completed, and that the end has come. At his approach
the sun and
moon will be darkened, the earth will tremble, and the stars fall
from the
firmament.[237:1]
The Buddhists
believe that Buddha has repeatedly assumed a human form to
facilitate
the reunion of men with his own universal soul, so they believe that
"in the
latter days" he will come again. Their sacred books predict this coming,
and relate
that his mission will be to restore the world to order and
happiness.[237:2]
This is exactly the Christian idea of the millennium.
The Chinese
also believe that "in the latter days" there is to be a millennium
upon earth.
Their five sacred volumes are full of prophesies concerning this
"Golden
Age of the Future." It is the universal belief among them that a
"Divine
Man"
will establish himself on earth, and everywhere restore peace and
happiness.[237:3]
The ancient
Persians believed that in the last days, there would be a millennium
on earth,
when the religion of Zoroaster would be accepted by all mankind. The
Parsees of
to-day, who are the remnants of the once mighty Persians, have a
tradition
that a holy personage is waiting in a region called Kanguedez, for a
summons from
the Ized Serosch, who in the last days will bring him to Persia, to
restore the
ancient dominion of that country, and spread the religion of
Zoroaster
over the whole earth.[237:4]
The Rev.
Joseph B. Gross, in his "Heathen Religion,"[237:5] speaking of the
belief of the
ancient Persians in the millennium, says:
"The
dead would be raised,[237:6] and he who has made all things, cause the
earth and the
sea to return again the remains of the departed.[237:7] Then
Ormuzd shall
clothe them with flesh and blood, while they that live at the time
of the
resurrection, must die in order to likewise participate in its advantage.
"Before
this momentous event takes place, three illustrious prophets shall
appear, who
will announce their presence by the performance of miracles.
"During
this period of its existence, and till its final removal, the earth will
be afflicted
with pestilence, tempests, war, famine, and various other baneful
calamities."[237:8]
[Pg
238]"After the resurrection, every one will be apprised of the good or
evil
which he may
have done, and the righteous and the wicked will be separated from
each
other.[238:1] Those of the latter whose offenses have not yet been
expiated,
will be cast into hell during the term of three days and three
nights,[238:2]
in the presence of an assembled world, in order to be purified in
the burning
stream of liquid ore.[238:3] After this, they enjoy endless felicity
in the
society of the blessed, and the pernicious empire of Ahriman (the devil),
is fairly
exterminated.[238:4] Even this lying spirit will be under the
necessity to
avail himself of this fiery ordeal, and made to rejoice in its
expurgating
and cleansing efficacy. Nay, hell itself is purged of its mephitic
impurities,
and washed clean in the flames of a universal regeneration.[238:5]
"The
earth is now the habitation of bliss, all nature glows in light; and the
equitable and
benignant laws of Ormuzd reign supremely through the illimitable
universe.[238:6]
Finally, after the resurrection, mankind will recognize each
other again;
wants, cares, and passions will cease;[238:7] and everything in the
paradisian
and all-embracing empire of light, shall rebound to the praise of the
benificent
God."[238:8]
The disciples
of Bacchus expected his second advent. They hoped he would assume
at some
future day the government of the universe, and that he would restore to
man his
primary felicity.[238:9]
The Esthonian
from the time of the German invasion lived a life of bondage under
a foreign
yoke, and the iron of his slavery entered into his soul. He told how
the ancient
hero Kalewipoeg sits in the realms of shadows, waiting until his
country is in
its extremity of distress, when he will return to earth to avenge
the injuries
of the Esths, and elevate the poor crushed people into a mighty
power.[238:10]
The suffering
Celt has his Brian Boroihme, or Arthur, who will come again, the
first to
inaugurate a Fenian millennium, the second to regenerate Wales. Olger
Dansk waits
till the time arrives when he is to start from sleep to the
assistance of
the Dane against the hated Prussian. The Messiah is to come and
restore the
kingdom [Pg 239]of the Jews. Charlemagne was the Messiah of medićval
Teutondom. He
it was who founded the great German empire, and shed over it the
blaze of
Christian truth, and now he sleeps in the Kyffhauserberg, waiting till
German heresy
has reached its climax and Germany is wasted through internal
conflicts, to
rush to earth once more, and revive the great empire and restore
the Catholic
faith.[239:1]
The ancient
Scandinavians believed that in the "latter days" great calamities
would befall
mankind. The earth would tremble, and the stars fall from heaven.
After which,
the great serpent would be chained, and the religion of Odin would
reign
supreme.[239:2]
The disciples
of Quetzalcoatle, the Mexican Saviour, expected his second advent.
Before he
departed this life, he told the inhabitants of Cholula that he would
return again
to govern them.[239:3] This remarkable tradition was so deeply
cherished in
their hearts, says Mr. Prescott in his "Conquest of Mexico," that
"the
Mexicans looked confidently to the return of their benevolent
deity."[239:4]
So implicitly
was this believed by the subjects, that when the Spaniards
appeared on
the coast, they were joyfully hailed as the returning god and his
companions.
Montezuma's messengers reported to the Inca that "it was
Quetzalcoatle
who was coming, bringing his temples (ships) with him." All
throughout
New Spain they expected the reappearance of this "Son of the Great
God"
into the world, who would renew all things.[239:5]
Acosta
alludes to this, in his "History of the Indies," as follows:
"In the
beginning of the year 1518, they (the Mexicans), discovered a fleet at
sea, in the
which was the Marques del Valle, Don Fernando Cortez, with his
companions, a
news which much troubled Montezuma, and conferring with his
council, they
all said, that without doubt, their great and ancient lord
Quetzalcoatle
was come, who had said that he would return from the East, whither
he had
gone."[239:6]
The doctrine
of the millennium and the second advent of Christ Jesus, has been a
very
important one in the Christian church. The ancient Christians were animated
by a contempt
for their present existence, and by a just confidence of
immortality,
of which the doubtful and imperfect faith of modern ages cannot
give us any
adequate notion. In the primitive church, the influence of truth was
powerfully
strengthened by an opinion, which, however much it may deserve
respect for
its usefulness and antiquity, has not been [Pg 240]found agreeable
to
experience. It was universally believed, that the end of the world and the
kingdom of
heaven were at hand.[240:1] The near approach of this wonderful event
had been
predicted, as we have seen, by the Apostles; the tradition of it was
preserved by
their earliest disciples, and those who believed that the
discourses
attributed to Jesus were really uttered by him, were obliged to
expect the
second and glorious coming of the "Son of Man" in the clouds, before
that
generation was totally extinguished which had beheld his humble condition
upon earth,
and which might still witness the calamities of the Jews under
Vespasian or
Hadrian. The revolution of seventeen centuries has instructed us
not to press
too closely the mysterious language of prophecy and revelation; but
as long as
this error was permitted to subsist in the church, it was productive
of the most
salutary effects on the faith and practice of Christians, who lived
in the awful
expectation of that moment when the globe itself and all the
various races
of mankind, should tremble at the appearance of their divine
judge. This
expectation was countenanced—as we have seen—by the twenty-fourth
chapter of
St. Matthew, and by the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians.
Erasmus (one
of the most vigorous promoters of the Reformation) removes the
difficulty by
the help of allegory and metaphor; and the learned Grotius (a
learned
theologian of the 16th century) ventures to insinuate, that, for wise
purposes, the
pious deception was permitted to take place.
The ancient
and popular doctrine of the millennium was intimately connected with
the second
coming of Christ Jesus. As the works of the creation had been fixed
in six days,
their duration in the present state, according to a tradition which
was
attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed to six thousand years.[240:2] By
the same
analogy it was inferred, that this long period of labor and contention,
which had now
almost elapsed, would be succeeded by a joyful Sabbath of a
thousand
years, and that Christ Jesus, with the triumphant band of the saints
and the elect
who had escaped death, or who had been miraculously revived, would
reign upon
earth until the time appointed for the last and general resurrection.
So pleasing
was this hope to the mind of the believers, that the "New
Jerusalem,"
the [Pg 241]seat of this blissful kingdom, was quickly adorned with
all the
gayest colors of the imagination. A felicity consisting only of pure and
spiritual
pleasure would have been too refined for its inhabitants, who were
still
supposed to possess their human nature and senses. A "Garden of
Eden,"
with the
amusements of the pastoral life, was no longer suited to the advanced
state of
society which prevailed under the Roman empire. A city was therefore
erected of
gold and precious stones, and a supernatural plenty of corn and wine
was bestowed
on the adjacent territory; in the free enjoyment of whose
spontaneous
productions, the happy and benevolent people were never to be
restrained by
any jealous laws of exclusive property. Most of these pictures
were borrowed
from a misrepresentation of Isaiah, Daniel, and the Apocalypse.
One of the
grossest images may be found in Irenćus (l. v.) the disciple of
Papias, who
had seen the Apostle St. John. Though it might not be universally
received, it
appears to have been the reigning sentiment of the orthodox
believers;
and it seems so well adapted to the desires and apprehensions of
mankind, that
it must have contributed in a very considerable degree to the
progress of
the Christian faith. But when the edifice of the church was almost
completed,
the temporary support was laid aside. The doctrine of Christ Jesus'
reign upon
earth was at first treated as a profound allegory, was considered by
degrees as a
doubtful and useless opinion, and was at length rejected as the
absurd
invention of heresy and fanaticism. But although this doctrine had been
"laid
aside," and "rejected," it was again resurrected, and is alive
and rife at
the present
day, even among those who stand as the leaders of the orthodox
faith.
The
expectation of the "last day" in the year 1000 A. D., reinvested the
doctrine with
a transitory importance; but it lost all credit again when the
hopes so
keenly excited by the crusades faded away before the stern reality of
Saracenic
success, and the predictions of the "Everlasting Gospel," a work of
Joachim de
Floris, a Franciscan abbot, remained unfulfilled.[241:1]
At the period
of the Reformation, millenarianism once more experienced a partial
revival,
because it was not a difficult matter [Pg 242]to apply some of its
symbolism to
the papacy. The Pope, for example, was Antichrist—a belief still
adhered to by
some extreme Protestants. Yet the doctrine was not adopted by the
great body of
the reformers, but by some fanatical sects, such as the
Anabaptists,
and by the Theosophists of the seventeenth century.
During the
civil and religious wars in France and England, when great excitement
prevailed, it
was also prominent. The "Fifth Monarchy Men" of Cromwell's time
were
millenarians of the most exaggerated and dangerous sort. Their peculiar
tenet was
that the millennium had come, and that they were the saints who were
to inherit
the earth. The excesses of the French Roman Catholic Mystics and
Quietists
terminated in chiliastic[242:1] views. Among the Protestants it was
during the
"Thirty Years' War" that the most enthusiastic and learned chiliasts
flourished.
The awful suffering and wide-spread desolation of that time led
pious hearts
to solace themselves with the hope of a peaceful and glorious
future. Since
then the penchant which has sprung up for expounding the
prophetical
books of the Bible, and particularly the Apocalypse, with a view to
present
events, has given the doctrine a faint semi-theological life, very
different,
however, from the earnest faith of the first Christians.
Among the
foremost chiliastic teachers of modern centuries are to be mentioned
Ezechiel
Meth, Paul Felgenhauer, Bishop Comenius, Professor Jurien, Seraris,
Poiret, J.
Mede; while Thomas Burnet and William Whiston endeavored to give
chiliasm a
geological foundation, but without finding much favor. Latterly,
especially
since the rise and extension of missionary enterprise, the opinion
has obtained
a wide currency, that after the conversion of the whole world to
Christianity,
a blissful and glorious era will ensue; but not much stress—except
by extreme
literalists—is now laid on the nature or duration of this far-off
felicity.
Great
eagerness, and not a little ingenuity have been exhibited by many persons
in fixing a
date for the commencement of the millennium. The celebrated
theologian,
Johann Albrecht Bengel, who, in the eighteenth century, revived an
earnest
interest in the subject amongst orthodox Protestants, asserted from a
study of the
prophecies that the millennium would begin in 1836. This date was
long popular.
Swedenborg held that the last judgment took place in 1757, and
that the new
church, or "Church of the New Jerusalem," as his followers
designate
themselves—in other words, the millennial era—then began.
[Pg 243]In
America, considerable agitation was excited by the preaching of one
William
Miller, who fixed the second advent of Christ Jesus about 1843. Of late
years, the
most noted English millenarian was Dr. John Cumming, who placed the
end of the
present dispensation in 1866 or 1867; but as that time passed without
any
millennial symptoms, he modified his original views considerably, before he
died, and
conjectured that the beginning of the millennium would not differ so
much after
all from the years immediately preceding it, as people commonly
suppose.
FOOTNOTES:
[233:1] We
say "is made to teach it," for the probability is that Paul never
wrote this
passage. The authority of both the Letters to the Thessalonians,
attributed to
Paul, is undoubtedly spurious. (See The Bible of To-Day, pp. 211,
212.)
[233:2] I.
Thessalonians, iv. 14-17.
[233:3] Ibid.
v. 22, 23.
[233:4] We
say "James," but, it is probable that we have, in this epistle of
James,
another pseudonymous writing which appeared after the time that James
must have
lived. (See The Bible of To-Day, p. 225.)
[233:5]
James, v. 7, 8.
[233:6] I.
Peter, iv. 7.
[233:7] I.
Peter, v. 7. This Epistle is not authentic. (See The Bible of To-Day,
pp. 226, 227,
228.)
[234:1] I. John,
ii. 26. This epistle is not authentic. (See Ibid. p. 231.)
[234:2] I.
John, v. 2.
[234:3] Acts,
i. 10, 11.
[234:4] Rev.
xxii. 20.
[234:5] Matt.
xvi. 27, 28.
[234:6] Ibid.
xxiv. 3.
[234:7] Ibid.
xxiv. 34-36.
[235:1]
Towards the close of the second century. (See Bible of To-Day.)
[235:2] II.
Peter, iii. 4.
[235:3] II.
Peter, iii. 8-10.
[235:4] See
Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 188.
[236:1]
Chapters xx. and xxi. in particular.
[236:2] The
Christian Saviour, as well as the Hindoo Saviour, will appear "in
the latter
days" among mortals "in the form of an armed warrior, riding a white
horse."
St. John sees this in his vision, and prophecies it in his
"Revelation"
thus:
"And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow;
and a crown
was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer."
(Rev. vi. 2.)
[237:1] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 75. Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. pp.
497-503. See
also, Williams: Hinduism, p. 108.
[237:2] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, i. 247, and Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 48.
[237:3] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 209.
[237:4] See
Ibid. p. 279. The Angel-Messiah, p. 287, and chap. xiii. this work.
[237:5] Pp.
122, 123.
[237:6]
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." (Rev. xx.
12.)
[237:7]
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it." (Rev. xx. 13.)
[237:8]
"And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars." "Nation shall
rise
against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines,
pestilences,
and earthquakes in divers places." (Matt. xxiv. 6, 7.)
[238:1]
"And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate
them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." (Matt.
xxv. 32, 33.)
[238:2]
"He descended into hell, the third day he rose (again) from the
dead."
(Apostles'
Creed.)
[238:3]
Purgatory—a place in which souls are supposed by the papists to be
purged by
fire from carnal impurities, before they are received into heaven.
[238:4]
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil,
and Satan,
and bound him a thousand years." (Rev. xx. 2.)
[238:5]
"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. xx. 14.)
[238:6]
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first earth, and the
first heaven
were passed away." (Rev. xxi. 1.)
[238:7]
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be
no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the
former things are passed away." (Rev. xxi. 1.)
[238:8]
"And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven,
saying,
'Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord,
our
God.'" (Rev. xix. 1.) "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
(Rev. xix. 6.)
[238:9]
Dupuis: Orig. Relig. Belief.
[238:10]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 407.
[239:1]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 407.
[239:2] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
[239:3]
Humboldt: Amer. Res., vol. i. p. 91.
[239:4]
Prescott: Con. of Mexico, vol. i. p. 60.
[239:5]
Fergusson: Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 87. Squire: Serpent Symbol, p.
187.
[239:6]
Acosta: Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 513.
[240:1] Over
all the Higher Asia there seems to have been diffused an immemorial
tradition
relative to a second grand convulsion of nature, and the final
dissolution
of the earth by the terrible agency of FIRE, as the first is said to
have been by
that of WATER. It was taught by the Hindoos, the Egyptians, Plato,
Pythagoras,
Zoroaster, the Stoics, and others, and was afterwards adopted by the
Christians.
(II. Peter, iii. 9. Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. pp. 498-500.)
[240:2]
"And God made, in six days, the works of his hands, . . . the meaning of
it is this;
that in six thousand years the Lord will bring all things to an
end."
(Barnabas. Apoc. c. xiii.)
[241:1] After
the devotees and followers of the new gospel had in vain expected
the Holy One
who was to come, they at last pitched upon St. Francis as having
been the
expected one, and, of course, the most surprising and absurd miracles
were said to
have been performed by him. Some of the fanatics who believed in
this man,
maintained that St. Francis was "wholly and entirely transformed into
the person of
Christ"—Totum Christo configuratum. Some of them maintained that
the gospel of
Joachim was expressly preferred to the gospel of Christ. (Mosheim:
Hist. Cent.,
xiii. pt. ii. sects. xxxiv. and xxxvi. Anacalypsis, vol. i. p.
695.)
[242:1]
Chiliasm—the thousand years when Satan is bound.
[Pg
244]CHAPTER XXV.
CHRIST JESUS
AS JUDGE OF THE DEAD.
According to
Christian dogma, "God the Father" is not to be the judge at the
last day, but
this very important office is to be held by "God the Son." This is
taught by the
writer of "The Gospel according to St. John"—whoever he may have
been—when he
says:
"For the
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son."[244:1]
Paul also, in
his "Epistle to the Romans" (or some other person who has
interpolated
the passage), tells us that:
"In the
day when God shall judge the secrets of men," this judgment shall be
done "by
Jesus Christ," his son.[244:2]
Again, in his
"Epistle to Timothy,"[244:3] he says:
"The
Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing and
his
kingdom."[244:4]
The writer of
the "Gospel according to St. Matthew," also describes Christ Jesus
as judge at
the last day.[244:5]
Now, the
question arises, is this doctrine original with Christianity? To this
we must
answer no. It was taught, for ages before the time of Christ Jesus or
Christianity,
that the Supreme Being—whether "Brahmá," "Zeruâné Akeréné,"
"Jupiter,"
or "Yahweh,"[244:6]—was not to be the judge at the last day, but that
their sons
were to hold this position.
The
sectarians of Buddha taught that he (who was the Son of God (Brahmá) and the
Holy Virgin
Maya), is to be the judge of the dead.[244:7]
[Pg
245]According to the religion of the Hindoos, Crishna (who was the Son of
God, and the
Holy Virgin Devaki), is to be the judge at the last day.[245:1] And
Yama is the
god of the departed spirits, and the judge of the dead, according to
the
Vedas.[245:2]
Osiris, the
Egyptian "Saviour" and son of the "Immaculate Virgin" Neith
or Nout,
was believed
by the ancient Egyptians to be the judge of the dead.[245:3] He is
represented
on Egyptian monuments, seated on his throne of judgment, bearing a
staff, and
carrying the crux ansata, or cross with a handle.[245:4] St. Andrew's
cross is upon
his breast. His throne is in checkers, to denote the good and evil
over which he
presides, or to indicate the good and evil who appear before him
as the
judge.[245:5]
Among the
many hieroglyphic titles which accompany his figure in these
sculptures,
and in many other places on the walls of temples and tombs, are
"Lord of
Life," "The Eternal Ruler," "Manifester of Good,"
"Revealer of Truth,"
"Full of
Goodness and Truth," &c.[245:6]
Mr. Bonwick,
speaking of the Egyptian belief in the last judgment, says:
"A
perusal of the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew will prepare the reader for
the
investigation of the Egyptian notion of the last judgment."[245:7]
Prof.
Carpenter, referring to the Egyptian Bible—which is by far the most
ancient of
all holy books[245:8]—says:
"In the
'Book of the Dead,' there are used the very phrases we find in the New
Testament, in
connection with the day of judgment."[245:9]
According to
the religion of the Persians, it is Ormuzd, "The First Born of the
Eternal
One," who is judge of the dead. He had the title of "The
All-Seeing,"
and "The
Just Judge."[245:10]
Zeruâné
Akeréné is the name of him who corresponds to "God the Father" among
other
nations. He was the "One Supreme essence," the "Invisible and
Incomprehensible."[245:11]
Among the
ancient Greeks, it was Aeacus—Son of the Most High God—who was to be
judge of the
dead.[245:12]
The Christian
Emperor Constantine, in his oration to the clergy, speaking of the
ancient poets
of Greece, says:
[Pg
246]"They affirm that men who are the sons of the gods, do judge departed
souls."[246:1]
Strange as it
may seem, "there are no examples of Christ Jesus conceived as
judge, or the
last judgment, in the early art of Christianity."[246:2]
The author
from whom we quote the above, says, "It would be difficult to define
the cause of
this, though many may be conjectured."[246:3]
Would it be
unreasonable to "conjecture" that the early Christians did not teach
this
doctrine, but that it was imbibed, in after years, with many other heathen
ideas?
FOOTNOTES:
[244:1] John,
v. 22.
[244:2]
Romans, ii. 16.
[244:3] Not
authentic. (See The Bible of To-Day, p. 212.)
[244:4] II.
Timothy, iv. 1.
[244:5] Matt.
xxv. 31-46.
[244:6]
Through an error we pronounce this name Jehovah.
[244:7] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 366.
[245:1] See
Samuel Johnson's Oriental Religions, p. 504.
[245:2] See
Williams' Hinduism, p. 25.
[245:3] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 120. Renouf: Religions of the Ancient
Egyptians, p.
110, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 152.
[245:4] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 151, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i.
p. 152.
[245:5] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 151.
[245:6] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 154.
[245:7]
Egyptian Belief, p. 419.
[245:8] See
Ibid. p. 185.
[245:9]
Quoted in Ibid. p. 419.
[245:10]
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 259.
[245:11]
Ibid. p. 258.
[245:12] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 16.
[246:1]
Constantine's Oration to the Clergy, ch. x.
[246:2]
Jameson: History of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 392.
[246:3] Ibid.
[Pg
247]CHAPTER XXVI.
CHRIST JESUS
AS CREATOR, AND ALPHA AND OMEGA.
Christian
dogma also teaches that it was not "God the Father," but "God
the Son"
who created
the heavens, the earth, and all that therein is.
The writer of
the fourth Gospel says:
"All
things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was
made."[247:1]
Again:
"He was
in the world and the world was made by him, and the world knew him
not."[247:2]
In the
"Epistle to the Colossians," we read that:
"By him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers;
all things were created by him."[247:3]
Again, in the
"Epistle to the Hebrews," we are told that:
"God
hath spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also
he made the world."[247:4]
Samuel
Johnson, D. O. Allen,[247:5] and Thomas Maurice,[247:6] tell us that,
according to
the religion of the Hindoos, it is Crishna, the Son, and the second
person in the
ever blessed Trinity,[247:7] "who is the origin and end of all the
worlds; all
this universe, came into being through him, the eternal
maker."[247:8]
In the holy
book of the Hindoos, called the "Bhagvat Geeta," may be found the
following
words of Crishna, addressed to his "beloved disciple" Ar-jouan:
"I am
the Lord of all created beings."[247:9] "Mankind was created by me of
four
kinds,
distinct in their principles and in their duties; know me then to be the
Creator of
mankind, uncreated, and without decay."[247:10]
[Pg 248]In
Lecture VII., entitled: "Of the Principles of Nature, and the Vital
Spirit,"
he also says:
"I am
the creation and the dissolution of the whole universe. There is not
anything
greater than I, and all things hang on me."
Again, in
Lecture IX., entitled, "Of the Chief of Secrets and Prince of
Science,"
Crishna says:
"The
whole world was spread abroad by me in my invisible form. All things are
dependent on
me." "I am the Father and the Mother of this world, the Grandsire
and the
Preserver. I am the Holy One worthy to be known; the mystic figure
OM.[248:1] .
. . I am the journey of the good; the Comforter; the Creator; the
Witness; the
Resting-place; the Asylum and the Friend."[248:2]
In Lecture
X., entitled, "Of the diversity of the Divine Nature," he says:
"I am
the Creator of all things, and all things proceed from me. Those who are
endued with
spiritual wisdom, believe this and worship me; their very hearts and
minds are in
me; they rejoice amongst themselves, and delight in speaking of my
name, and
teaching one another my doctrine."[248:3]
Innumerable
texts, similar to these, might be produced from the Hindoo
Scriptures,
but these we deem sufficient to show, in the words of Samuel Johnson
quoted above,
that, "According to the religion of the Hindoos, it is Crishna who
is the origin
and the end of all the worlds;" and that "all this universe came
into being
through him, the Eternal Maker." The Chinese believed in One Supreme
God, to whose
honor they burnt incense, but of whom they had no image. This "God
the
Father" was not the Creator, according to their theology or mythology; but
they had
another god, of whom they had statues or idols, called Natigai, who was
the god of
all terrestrial things; in fact, God, the Creator of this
world—inferior
or subordinate to the Supreme Being—from whom they petition for
fine weather,
or whatever else they want—a sort of mediator.[248:4]
Lanthu, who
was born of a "pure, spotless virgin," is believed by his followers
or disciples
to be the Creator of all things;[248:5] and Taou, a deified hero,
who is
mentioned about 560 B. C., is believed by some sects and affirmed by
their books,
to be "the original source and first productive cause of all
things."[248:6]
In the
Chaldean oracles, the doctrine of the "Only Begotten Son," I A O, as
Creator, is
plainly taught.
[Pg
249]According to ancient Persian mythology, there is one supreme essence,
invisible and
incomprehensible, named "Zeruâné Akeréné" which signifies
"unlimited
time," or "the eternal." From him emanated Ormuzd, the
"King of
Light,"
the "First-born of the Eternal One," &c. Now, this
"First-born of the
Eternal
One" is he by whom all things were made, all things came into being
through him;
he is the Creator.[249:1]
A large
portion of the Zend-Avesta—the Persian Sacred Book or Bible—is filled
with prayers
to Ormuzd, God's First-Born. The following are samples:
"I
address my prayer to Ormuzd, Creator of all things; who always has been, who
is, and who
will be forever; who is wise and powerful; who made the great arch
of heaven,
the sun, the moon, stars, winds, clouds, waters, earth, fire, trees,
animals and
men, whom Zoroaster adored. Zoroaster, who brought to the world
knowledge of
the law, who knew by natural intelligence, and by the ear, what
ought to be
done, all that has been, all that is, and all that will be; the
science of
sciences, the excellent word, by which souls pass the luminous and
radiant
bridge, separate themselves from the evil regions, and go to light and
holy
dwellings, full of fragrance. O Creator, I obey thy laws, I think, act,
speak,
according to thy orders. I separate myself from all sin. I do good works
according to
my power. I adore thee with purity of thought, word, and action. I
pray to
Ormuzd, who recompenses good works, who delivers unto the end all those
who obey his
laws. Grant that I may arrive at paradise, where all is fragrance,
light, and
happiness."[249:2]
According to
the religion of the ancient Assyrians, it was Narduk, the Logos,
the WORD,
"the eldest son of Hea," "the Merciful One," "the
Life-giver," &c.,
who created
the heavens, the earth, and all that therein is.[249:3]
Adonis, the
Lord and Saviour, was believed to be the Creator of men, and god of
the
resurrection of the dead.[249:4]
Prometheus,
the Crucified Saviour, is the divine forethought, existing before
the souls of
men, and the creator Hominium.[249:5]
The writer of
"The Gospel according to St. John," has made Christ Jesus
co-eternal
with God, as well as Creator, in these words:
"In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." "The same was in
the
beginning
with God."[249:6]
Again, in
praying to his Father, he makes Jesus say:
"And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I
had with thee
before the world was."[249:7]
[Pg 250]Paul
is made to say:
"And he
(Christ) is before all things."[250:1]
Again:
"Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."[250:2]
St. John the
Divine, in his "Revelation," has made Christ Jesus say:
"I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end"—"which is, and which was,
and
which is to
come, the Almighty,"[250:3] "the first and the last."[250:4]
Hindoo
scripture also makes Crishna "the first and the last," "the
beginning and
the
end." We read in the "Geeta," where Crishna is reported to have
said:
"I
myself never was not."[250:5] "Learn that he by whom all things were
formed"
(meaning
himself) "is incorruptible."[250:6] "I am eternity and
non-eternity."[250:7]
"I am before all things, and the mighty ruler of the
universe."[250:8]
"I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all
things."[250:9]
Arjouan, his
disciple, addresses him thus:
"Thou
art the Supreme Being, incorruptible, worthy to be known; thou art prime
supporter of
the universal orb; thou art the never-failing and eternal guardian
of religion;
thou art from all beginning, and I esteem thee."[250:10] Thou art
"the
Divine Being, before all other gods."[250:11]
Again he
says:
"Reverence!
Reverence be unto thee, before and behind! Reverence be unto thee on
all sides, O
thou who art all in all! Infinite in thy power and thy glory! Thou
includest all
things, wherefore thou art all things."[250:12]
In another
Holy Book of the Hindoos, called the "Vishnu Purana," we also read
that
Vishnu—in the form of Crishna—"who descended into the womb of the (virgin)
Devaki, and
was born as her son" was "without beginning, middle or
end."[250:13]
Buddha is
also Alpha and Omega, without beginning or end, "The Lord," "the
Possessor of
All," "He who is Omnipotent and Everlastingly to be
Contemplated,"
"the
Supreme Being, the Eternal One."[250:14]
Lao-kiun, the
Chinese virgin-born God, who came upon earth about six hundred
years before
Jesus, was without beginning. It was said that he had existed from
all
eternity.[250:15]
[Pg 251]The
legends of the Taou-tsze sect in China declare their founder to have
existed
antecedent to the birth of the elements, in the Great Absolute; that he
is the
"pure essence of the tëen;" that he is the original ancestor of the
prime
breath of life;
that he gave form to the heavens and the earth, and caused
creations and
annihilations to succeed each other, in an endless series, during
innumerable
periods of the world. He himself is made to say:
"I was
in existence prior to the manifestation of any corporeal shape; I
appeared
anterior to the supreme being, or first motion of creation."[251:1]
According to
the Zend Avesta, Ormuzd, the first-born of the Eternal One, is he
"who is,
always has been, and who will be forever."[251:2]
Zeus was
Alpha and Omega. An Orphic line runs thus:
"Zeus is
the beginning, Zeus is the middle, out of Zeus all things have been
made."[251:3]
Bacchus was
without beginning or end. An inscription on an ancient medal,
referring to
him, reads thus:
"It is I
who leads you; it is I who protects you, and who saves you, I am Alpha
and
Omega."
Beneath this
inscription is a serpent, with his tail in his mouth, thus forming
a circle,
which was an emblem of eternity among the ancients.[251:4]
Without
enumerating them, we may say that the majority of the virgin-born gods
spoken of in
Chapter XII. were like Christ Jesus—without beginning or end—and
that many of
them were considered Creators of all things. This has led M. Dridon
to remark (in
his Hist. de Dieu), that in early works of art, Christ Jesus is
made to take
the place of his Father in creation and in similar labors, just as
in heathen
religions an inferior deity does the work under a superior one.
FOOTNOTES:
[247:1] John,
i. 3.
[247:2] John,
i. 10.
[247:3]
Colossians, i.
[247:4]
Hebrews, i. 2.
[247:5]
Allen's India, pp. 137 and 380.
[247:6]
Indian Antiq., vol. ii. p. 288.
[247:7] See
the chapter on the Trinity.
[247:8]
Oriental Religions, p. 502.
[247:9]
Lecture iv. p. 51.
[247:10]
Geeta, p. 52.
[248:1] O. M.
or A. U. M. is the Hindoo ineffable name; the mystic emblem of the
deity. It is
never uttered aloud, but only mentally by the devout. It signifies
Brahma,
Vishnou, and Siva, the Hindoo Trinity. (See Charles Wilkes in Geeta, p.
142, and
King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. 163.)
[248:2]
Geeta, p. 80.
[248:3]
Geeta, p. 84.
[248:4] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 48.
[248:5] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 35.
[248:6] See
Davis: Hist. China, vol. ii. pp. 109 and 113, and Thornton, vol. i.
p. 137.
[249:1] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 259. In the most ancient parts of the
Zend-Avesta,
Ormuzd is said to have created the world by his WORD. (See Bunsen's
Angel-Messiah,
p. 104, and Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 302, Note by Guizot.) "In
the beginning
was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God."
(John, i. 1.)
[249:2]
Quoted in Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 267.
[249:3] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404.
[249:4] See
Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 156.
[249:5] See
Ibid. p. 156, and Bulfinch, Age of Fable.
[249:6] John,
i. 1, 2.
[249:7] John,
xvii. 5.
[250:1] Col.
i. 17.
[250:2]
Hebrews, xiii. 8.
[250:3] Rev.
i. 8, 23, 13.
[250:4] Rev.
i. 17; xii. 13.
[250:5]
Geeta, p. 35.
[250:6]
Geeta, p. 36.
[250:7]
Lecture ix. p. 80.
[250:8] Lecture
x. p. 83.
[250:9]
Lecture x. p. 85.
[250:10]
Lecture ix. p. 91.
[250:11]
Lecture x. p. 84.
[250:12]
Lecture xi. p. 95.
[250:13] See
Vishnu Purana, p. 440.
[250:14] See
chapter xii.
[250:15] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 200.
[251:1]
Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. p. 137.
[251:2] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, ii. p. 267.
[251:3]
Müller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 15.
[251:4]
"C'est moi qui vous conduis, vous et tout ce qui vous regarde. C'est
moi, qui vous
conserve, on qui vous sauve. Je suis Alpha et Omega. Il y a au
dessous de
l'inscription un serpent qui tient sa queue dans sa gueule et dans la
cercle qu'il
décrit, cest trois lettre Greques ΤΞΕ, qui sont le
nombre 365. Le
serpent, qui
est'ordinaire un emblčme de l'éternité est ici celui de soleil et
de ses
revolutions." Beausobre: Hist. de Manichee, Tom. ii. p. 56.
"I say
that I am immortal, Dionysus (Bacchus), son of Deus." Aristophanes, in
Myst. Of
Adoni, pp. 80, and 105.
[Pg
252]CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MIRACLES
OF CHRIST JESUS AND THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS.
The legendary
history of Jesus of Nazareth, contained in the books of the New
Testament, is
full of prodigies and wonders. These alleged prodigies, and the
faith which
the people seem to have put in such a tissue of falsehoods, indicate
the prevalent
disposition of the people to believe in everything, and it was
among such a
class that Christianity was propagated. All leaders of religion had
the
reputation of having performed miracles; the biographers of Jesus,
therefore,
not wishing their Master to be outdone, have made him also a
wonder-worker,
and a performer of miracles; without them Christianity could not
prosper.
Miracles were needed in those days, on all special occasions. "There is
not a single
historian of antiquity, whether Greek or Latin, who has not
recorded
oracles, prodigies, prophecies, and miracles, on the occasion of some
memorable
events, or revolutions of states and kingdoms. Many of these are
attested in
the gravest manner by the gravest writers, and were firmly believed
at the time
by the people."[252:1]
Hindoo sacred
books represent Crishna, their Saviour and Redeemer, as in
constant
strife against the evil spirit. He surmounts extraordinary dangers;
strews his
way with miracles; raising the dead, healing the sick, restoring the
maimed, the
deaf and the blind; everywhere supporting the weak against the
strong, the
oppressed against the powerful. The people crowded his way and
adored him as
a God, and these miracles were the evidences of his divinity for
centuries
before the time of Jesus.
The learned
Thomas Maurice, speaking of Crishna, tells us that he passed his
innocent
hours at the home of his foster-father, in rural diversions, his divine
origin not
being suspected, until repeated miracles soon discovered his
celestial
origin;[252:2] and Sir William Jones speaks of his raising the dead,
and saving
multitudes by his [Pg 253]miraculous powers.[253:1] To enumerate the
miracles of
Crishna would be useless and tedious; we shall therefore mention but
a few, of
which the Hindoo sacred books are teeming.
When Crishna
was born, his life was sought by the reigning monarch, Kansa, who
had the
infant Saviour and his father and mother locked in a dungeon, guarded,
and barred by
seven iron doors. While in this dungeon the father heard a secret
voice
distinctly utter these words: "Son of Yadu, take up this child and carry
it to Gokool,
to the house of Nanda." Vasudeva, struck with astonishment,
answered:
"How shall I obey this injunction, thus vigilantly guarded and barred
by seven iron
doors that prohibit all egress?" The unknown voice replied: "The
doors shall
open of themselves to let thee pass, and behold, I have caused a
deep slumber
to fall upon thy guards, which shall continue till thy journey be
accomplished."
Vasudeva immediately felt his chains miraculously loosened, and,
taking up the
child in his arms, hurried with it through all the doors, the
guards being
buried in profound sleep. When he came to the river Yumna, which he
was obliged
to cross to get to Gokool, the waters immediately rose up to kiss
the child's
feet, and then respectfully retired on each side to make way for its
transportation,
so that Vasudeva passed dry-shod to the opposite shore.[253:2]
When Crishna
came to man's estate, one of his first miracles was the cure of a
leper.
A passionate
Brahman, having received a slight insult from a certain Rajah, on
going out of
his doors, uttered this curse: "That he should, from head to foot,
be covered
with boils and leprosy;" which being fulfilled in an instant upon the
unfortunate
king, he prayed to Crishna to deliver him from his evil. At first,
Crishna did
not heed his request, but finally he appeared to him, asking what
his request
was? He replied, "To be freed from my distemper." The Saviour then
cured him of
his distemper.[253:3]
Crishna was
one day walking with his disciples, when "they met a poor cripple or
lame woman,
having a vessel filled with spices, sweet-scented oils, sandal-wood,
saffron,
civet and other perfumes. Crishna making a halt, she made a certain
sign with her
finger on his forehead, casting the rest upon his head. Crishna
asking her
what it was she would request of him, the woman replied, nothing but
the use of my
limbs. Crishna, then, setting his foot upon hers, and taking her
by the hand,
raised her from the ground, and not [Pg 254]only restored her
limbs, but
renewed her age, so that, instead of a wrinkled, tawny skin, she
received a
fresh and fair one in an instant. At her request, Crishna and his
company
lodged in her house."[254:1]
On another
occasion, Crishna having requested a learned Brahman to ask of him
whatever boon
he most desired, the Brahman said, "Above all things, I desire to
have my two
dead sons restored to life." Crishna assured him that this should be
done, and
immediately the two young men were restored to life and brought to
their
father.[254:2]
The learned
Orientalist, Thomas Maurice, after speaking of the miracles
performed by
Crishna, says:
"In
regard to the numerous miracles wrought by Crishna, it should be remembered
that miracles
are never wanting to the decoration of an Indian romance; they
are, in fact,
the life and soul of the vast machine; nor is it at all a subject
of wonder
that the dead should be raised to life in a history expressly
intended,
like all other sacred fables of Indian fabrication, for the
propagation
and support of the whimsical doctrine of the Metempsychosis."[254:3]
To speak thus
of the miracles of Christ Jesus, would, of course, be
heresy—although
what applies to the miracles of Crishna apply to those of
Jesus—we,
therefore, find this gentleman branding as "infidel" a learned French
orientalist
who was guilty of doing this thing.
Buddha
performed great miracles for the good of mankind, and the legends
concerning
him are full of the most extravagant prodigies and wonders.[254:4]
"By
miracles and preaching," says Burnouf, "was the religion of Buddha
established."
R. Spence
Hardy says of Buddha:
"All the
principal events of his life are represented as being attended by
incredible
prodigies. He could pass through the air at will, and know the
thoughts of
all beings."[254:5]
Prof. Max
Müller says:
"The
Buddhist legends teem with miracles attributed to Buddha and his
disciples—miracles
which in wonderfulness certainly surpass the miracles of any
other
religion."[254:6]
Buddha was at
one time going from the city of Rohita-vastu to the city of
Benares,
when, coming to the banks of the river Ganges, and wishing to go
across, he
addressed himself to the owner of a [Pg 255]ferry-boat, thus; "Hail!
respectable
sir! I pray you take me across the river in your boat!" To this the
boatman
replied, "If you can pay me the fare, I will willingly take you across
the
river." Buddha said, "Whence shall I procure money to pay you your
fare, I,
who have
given up all worldly wealth and riches, &c." The boatman still
refusing
to take him
across, Buddha, pointing to a flock of geese flying from the south
to the north
banks of the Ganges, said:
"See
yonder geese in fellowship passing o'er the Ganges,
They ask not
as to fare of any boatman,
But each by
his inherent strength of body
Flies through
the air as pleases him.
So, by my
power of spiritual energy,
Will I
transport myself across the river,
Even though
the waters on this southern bank
Stood up as
high and firm as (Mount) Semeru."[255:1]
He then
floats through the air across the stream.
In the Lalita
Vistara Buddha is called the "Great Physician" who is to "dull
all
human
pain." At his appearance the "sick are healed, the deaf are cured,
the
blind see,
the poor are relieved." He visits the sick man, Su-ta, and heals soul
as well as
body.
At Vaisali, a
pest like modern cholera was depopulating the kingdom, due to an
accumulation
of festering corpses. Buddha, summoned, caused a strong rain which
carried away
the dead bodies and cured every one. At Gaudhârâ was an old
mendicant
afflicted with a disease so loathsome that none of his brother monks
could go near
him on account of his fetid humors and stinking condition. The
"Great
Physician" was, however, not to be deterred; he washed the poor old man
and attended
to his maladies. A disciple had his feet hacked off by an unjust
king, and
Buddha cured even him. To convert certain skeptical villagers near
Srâvastî,
Buddha showed them a man walking across the deep and rapid river
without
immersing his feet. Pűrna, one of Buddha's disciples, had a brother in
imminent
danger of shipwreck in a "black storm." The "spirits that are
favorable
to Pűrna and
Arya" apprised him of this and he at once performed the miracle of
transporting
himself to the deck of the ship. "Immediately the black tempest
ceased, as if
Sumera arrested it."[255:2]
When Buddha
was told that a woman was suffering in severe labor, unable to bring
forth, he
said, Go and say: "I have never knowingly put any creature to death
since I was
born; by the virtue [Pg 256]of this obedience may you be free from
pain!"
When these words were repeated in the presence of the mother, the child
was instantly
born with ease.[256:1]
Innumerable
are the miracles ascribed to Buddhist saints, and to others who
followed
their example. Their garments, and the staffs with which they walked,
are supposed
to imbibe some mysterious power, and blessed are they who are
allowed to
touch them.[256:2] A Buddhist saint who attains the power called
"perfection,"
is able to rise and float along through the air.[256:3] Having
this power,
the saint exercises it by mere determination of his will, his body
becoming
imponderous, as when a man in the common human state determines to
leap, and
leaps. Buddhist annals relate the performance of the miraculous
suspension by
Gautama Buddha, himself, as well as by other saints.[256:4]
In the year
217 B. C., a Buddhist missionary priest, called by the Chinese
historians
Shih-le-fang, came from "the west" into Shan-se, accompanied by
eighteen
other priests, with their sacred books, in order to propagate the faith
of Buddha.
The emperor, disliking foreigners and exotic customs, imprisoned the
missionaries;
but an angel, genii, or spirit, came and opened the prison door,
and liberated
them.[256:5]
Here is a
third edition of "Peter in prison," for we have already seen that the
Hindoo sage
Vasudeva was liberated from prison in like manner.
Zoroaster,
the founder of the religion of the Persians, opposed his persecutors
by performing
miracles, in order to confirm his divine mission.[256:6]
Bochia of the
Persians also performed miracles; the places where he performed
them were
consecrated, and people flocked in crowds to visit them.[256:7]
Horus, the
Egyptian Saviour, performed great miracles, among which was that of
raising the
dead to life.[256:8]
Osiris of
Egypt also performed great miracles;[256:9] and so did the virgin
goddess Isis.
Pilgrimages
were made to the temples of Isis, in Egypt, by the sick. Diodorus,
the Grecian
historian, says that:
[Pg
257]"Those who go to consult in dreams the goddess Isis recover perfect
health. Many
whose cure has been despaired of by physicians have by this means
been saved,
and others who have long been deprived of sight, or of some other
part of the
body, by taking refuge, so to speak, in the arms of the goddess,
have been
restored to the enjoyment of their faculties."[257:1]
Serapis, the
Egyptian Saviour, performed great miracles, principally those of
healing the
sick. He was called "The Healer of the World."[257:2]
Marduk, the
Assyrian God, the "Logos," the "Eldest Son of Hea;"
"He who made
Heaven and
Earth;" the "Merciful One;" the "Life-Giver," &c.,
performed great
miracles,
among which was that of raising the dead to life.[257:3]
Bacchus, son
of Zeus by the virgin Semele, was a great performer of miracles,
among which
may be mentioned his changing water into wine,[257:4] as it is
recorded of
Jesus in the Gospels.
"In his
gentler aspects he is the giver of joy, the healer of sicknesses, the
guardian
against plagues. As such he is even a law-giver and a promoter of peace
and concord.
As kindling new or strange thoughts in the mind, he is a giver of
wisdom and
the revealer of hidden secrets of the future."[257:5]
The legends
related of this god state that on one occasion Pantheus, King of
Thebes, sent
his attendants to seize Bacchus, the "vagabond leader of a
faction"—as
he called him. This they were unable to do, as the multitude who
followed him
were too numerous. They succeeded, however, in capturing one of his
disciples,
Acetes, who was led away and shut up fast in prison; but while they
were getting
ready the instruments of execution, the prison doors came open of
their own
accord, and the chains fell from his limbs, and when they looked for
him he was
nowhere to be found.[257:6] Here is still another edition of "Peter
in
prison."
Ćsculapius
was another great performer of miracles. The ancient Greeks said of
him that he
not only cured the sick of the most malignant diseases, but even
raised the
dead.
[Pg 258]A
writer in Bell's Pantheon says:
"As the
Greeks always carried the encomiums of their great men beyond the truth,
so they
feigned that Ćsculapius was so expert in medicine as not only to cure
the sick, but
even to raise the dead."[258:1]
Eusebius, the
ecclesiastical historian, speaking of Ćsculapius, says:
"He
sometimes appeared unto them (the Cilicians) in dreams and visions, and
sometimes
restored the sick to health."
He claims,
however, that this was the work of the Devil, "who by this means did
withdraw the
minds of men from the knowledge of the true Saviour."[258:2]
For many
years after the death of Ćsculapius, miracles continued to be performed
by the
efficacy of faith in his name. Patients were conveyed to the temple of
Ćsculapius,
and there cured of their disease. A short statement of the symptoms
of each case,
and the remedy employed, were inscribed on tablets and hung up in
the
temples.[258:3] There were also a multitude of eyes, ears, hands, feet, and
other members
of the human body, made of wax, silver, or gold, and presented by
those whom
the god had cured of blindness, deafness, and other diseases.[258:4]
Marinus, a
scholar of the philosopher Proclus, relates one of these remarkable
cures, in the
life of his master. He says:
"Asclipigenia,
a young maiden who had lived with her parents, was seized with a
grievous
distemper, incurable by the physicians. All help from the physicians
failing, the
father applied to the philosopher, earnestly entreating him to pray
for his
daughter. Proclus, full of faith, went to the temple of Ćsculapius,
intending to
pray for the sick young woman to the god—for the city (Athens) was
at that time
blessed in him, and still enjoyed the undemolished temple of The
Saviour—but
while he was praying, a sudden change appeared in the damsel, and
she
immediately became convalescent, for the Saviour, Ćsculapius, as being God,
easily healed
her."[258:5]
Dr. Conyers
Middleton says:
"Whatever
proof the primitive (Christian) Church might have among themselves, of
the
miraculous gift, yet it could have but little effect towards making
proselytes
among those who pretended to the same gift—possessed more largely and
exerted more
openly, than in the private assemblies of the Christians. For in
the temples
of Ćsculapius, all kinds of diseases were believed to be publicly
cured, by the
pretended help of that deity, in proof of which there were erected
in each
temple, columns or tables of brass or marble, on which a distinct
narrative of
each particular cure was inscribed. Pausanias[258:6] writes that in
the temple
[Pg 259]at Epidaurus there were many columns anciently of this kind,
and six of
them remaining to his time, inscribed with the names of men and women
who had been
cured by the god, with an account of their several cases, and the
method of
their cure; and that there was an old pillar besides, which stood
apart,
dedicated to the memory of Hippolytus, who had been raised from the dead.
Strabo, also,
another grave writer, informs us that these temples were
constantly
filled with the sick, imploring the help of the god, and that they
had tables
hanging around them, in which all the miraculous cures were
described.
There is a remarkable fragment of one of these tables still extant,
and exhibited
by Gruter in his collection, as it was found in the ruins of
Ćsculapius's
temple in the Island of the Tiber, in Rome, which gives an account
of two blind
men restored to sight by Ćsculapius, in the open view,[259:1] and
with the loud
acclamation of the people, acknowledging the manifest power of the
god."[259:2]
Livy, the
most illustrious of Roman historians (born B. C. 61), tells us that
temples of
heathen gods were rich in the number of offerings which the people
used to make
in return for the cures and benefits which they received from
them.[259:3]
A writer in
Bell's Pantheon says:
"Making
presents to the gods was a custom even from the earliest times, either
to deprecate
their wrath, obtain some benefit, or acknowledge some favor. These
donations
consisted of garlands, garments, cups of gold, or whatever conduced to
the
decoration or splendor of their temples. They were sometimes laid on the
floor,
sometimes hung upon the walls, doors, pillars, roof, or any other
conspicuous
place. Sometimes the occasion of the dedication was inscribed,
either upon
the thing itself, or upon a tablet hung up with it."[259:4]
No one custom
of antiquity is so frequently mentioned by ancient historians, as
the practice
which was so common among the heathens, of making votive offerings
to their
deities, and hanging them up in their temples, many of which are
preserved to
this day, viz., images of metal, stone, or clay, as well as legs,
arms, and
other parts of the body, in testimony of some divine cure effected in
that
particular member.[259:5]
Horace says:
"——Me
tabula sacer
Votivâ paries
indicat humida
Suspendisse
potenti
Vestimenta
maris Deo." (Lib. 1, Ode V.)
It was the
custom of offering ex-votos of Priapic forms, at the church of
Isernia, in
the Christian kingdom of Naples, during the last century, which
induced Mr.
R. Payne Knight to compile his remarkable work on Phallic Worship.
[Pg
260]Juvenal, who wrote A. D. 81-96, says of the goddess Isis, whose religion
was at that
time in the greatest vogue at Rome, that the painters get their
livelihood
out of her. This was because "the most common of all offerings (made
by the
heathen to their deities) were pictures presenting the history of the
miraculous
cure or deliverance, vouchsafed upon the vow of the donor."[260:1]
One of their
prayers ran thus:
"Now,
Goddess, help, for thou canst help bestow,
As all these
pictures round thy altars show."[260:2]
In Chambers's
Encyclopćdia may be found the following:
"Patients
that were cured of their ailments (by Ćsculapius, or through faith in
him) hung up
a tablet in his temple, recording the name, the disease, and the
manner of
cure. Many of these votive tablets are still extant."[260:3]
Alexander S.
Murray, of the department of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the
British
Museum, speaking of the miracles performed by Ćsculapius, says:
"A
person who had recovered from a local illness would dictate a sculptured
representation
of the part that had been affected. Of such sculptures there are
a number of
examples in the British Museum."[260:4]
Justin
Martyr, in his Apology for the Christian religion, addressed to the
Emperor Hadrian,
says:
"As to
our Jesus curing the lame, and the paralytic, and such as were crippled
from birth,
this is little more than what you say of your Ćsculapius."[260:5]
At a time
when the Romans were infested with the plague, having consulted their
sacred books,
they learned that in order to be delivered from it, they were to
go in quest
of Ćsculapius at Epidaurus; accordingly, an embassy was appointed of
ten senators,
at the head of whom was Quintus Ogulnius, and the worship of
Ćsculapius
was established at Rome, A. U. C. 462, that is, B. C. 288. But the
most
remarkable coincidence is that the worship of this god continued with
scarcely any
diminished splendor, for several hundred years after the
establishment
of Christianity.[260:6]
Hermes or Mercury,
the Lord's Messenger, was a wonder-worker. The staff or rod
which Hermes
received from Phoibos (Apollo), [Pg 261]and which connects this
myth with the
special emblem of Vishnu (the Hindoo Saviour), was regarded as
denoting his
heraldic office. It was, however, always endowed with magic
properties,
and had the power even of raising the dead.[261:1]
Herodotus,
the Grecian historian, relates a wonderful miracle which happened
among the
Spartans, many centuries before the time assigned for the birth of
Christ Jesus.
The story is as follows:
A Spartan
couple of great wealth and influence, had a daughter born to them who
was a cripple
from birth. Her nurse, perceiving that she was misshapen, and
knowing her
to be the daughter of opulent persons, and deformed, and seeing,
moreover,
that her parents considered her form a great misfortune, considering
these several
circumstances, devised the following plan. She carried her every
day to the
temple of the Goddess Helen, and standing before her image, prayed to
the goddess
to free the child from its deformity. One day, as the nurse was
going out of
the temple, a woman appeared to her, and having appeared, asked
what she was
carrying in her arms; and she answered that she was carrying an
infant; whereupon
she bid her show it to her, but the nurse refused, for she had
been
forbidden by the parents to show the child to any one. The woman,
however—who
was none other than the Goddess herself—urged her by all means to
show it to
her, and the nurse, seeing that the woman was so very anxious to see
the child, at
length showed it; upon which she, stroking the head of the child
with her
hands, said that she would surpass all the women in Sparta in beauty.
From that day
her appearance began to change, her deformed limbs became
symmetrical,
and when she reached the age for marriage she was the most
beautiful
woman in all Sparta.[261:2]
Apollonius of
Tyana, in Cappadocia, who was born in the latter part of the reign
of Augustus,
about four years before the time assigned for the birth of Jesus,
and who was
therefore contemporary with him, was celebrated for the wonderful
miracles he
performed. Oracles in various places declared that he was endowed
with a
portion of Apollo's power to cure diseases, and foretell events; and
those who
were affected were commanded to apply to him. The priests of Iona made
over the
diseased to his care, and his cures were considered so remarkable, that
divine honors
were decreed to him.[261:3]
He at one
time went to Ephesus, but as the inhabitants did not hearken to his
preaching, he
left there and went to Smyrna, where he was well received by the
inhabitants.
While there, ambassadors [Pg 262]came from Ephesus, begging him to
return to
that city, where a terrible plague was raging, as he had prophesied.
He went
immediately, and as soon as he arrived, he said to the Ephesians: "Be
not dejected,
I will this day put a stop to the disease." According to his
words, the
pestilence was stayed, and the people erected a statue to him, in
token of
their gratitude.[262:1]
In the city
of Athens, there was one of the dissipated young citizens, who
laughed and
cried by turns, and talked and sang to himself, without apparent
cause. His
friends supposed these habits were the effects of early intemperance,
but
Apollonius, who happened to meet the young man, told him he was possessed of
a demon; and,
as soon as he fixed his eyes upon him, the demon broke out into
all those
horrid, violent expressions used by people on the rack, and then swore
he would
depart out of the youth, and never enter another.[262:2] The young man
had not been
aware that he was possessed by a devil, but from that moment, his
wild,
disturbed looks changed, he became very temperate, and assumed the garb of
a Pythagorean
philosopher.
Apollonius
went to Rome, and arrived there after the emperor Nero had passed
very severe
laws against magicians. He was met on the way by a person who
advised him
to turn back and not enter the city, saying that all who wore the
philosopher's
garb were in danger of being arrested as magicians. He heeded not
these words
of warning, but proceeded on his way, and entered the city. It was
not long
before he became an object of suspicion, was closely watched, and
finally
arrested, but when his accusers appeared before the tribunal and
unrolled the
parchment on which the charges against him had been written, they
found that
all the characters had disappeared. Apollonius made such an
impression on
the magistrates by the bold tone he assumed, that he was allowed
to go where
he pleased.[262:3]
Many miracles
were performed by him while in Rome, among others may be mentioned
his restoring
a dead maiden to life.
She belonged
to a family of rank, and was just about to be married, when she
died
suddenly. Apollonius met the funeral procession that was conveying her body
to the tomb.
He asked them to set down the bier, saying to her betrothed: "I
will dry up
the tears you are shedding for this maiden." They supposed he was
going to
pronounce a funeral oration, but he merely took her hand, bent over
her, and
uttered a few words in a low tone. She opened [Pg 263]her eyes, and
began to
speak, and was carried back alive and well to her father's
house.[263:1]
Passing
through Tarsus, in his travels, a young man was pointed out to him who
had been
bitten thirty days before by a mad dog, and who was then running on all
fours,
barking and howling. Apollonius took his case in hand, and it was not
long before
the young man was restored to his right mind.[263:2]
Domitian,
Emperor of Rome, caused Apollonius to be arrested, during one of his
visits to
that city, on charge of allowing himself to be worshiped (the people
having given
him divine honors), speaking against the reigning powers, and
pretending
that his words were inspired by the gods. He was taken, loaded with
irons, and
cast into prison. "I have bound you," said the emperor, "and you
will
not escape
me."
Apollonius
was one day visited in his prison by his steadfast disciple, Damus,
who asked him
when he thought he should recover his liberty, whereupon he
answered:
"This instant, if it depended upon myself," and drawing his legs out
of the
shackles, he added: "Keep up your spirits, you see the freedom I
enjoy."
He was
brought to trial not long after, and so defended himself, that the
emperor was
induced to acquit him, but forbade him to leave Rome. Apollonius
then
addressed the emperor, and ended by saying: "You cannot kill me, because I
am not
mortal;" and as soon as he had said these words, he vanished from the
tribunal.[263:3]
Damus (the disciple who had visited him in prison) had
previously
been sent away from Rome, with the promise of his master that he
would soon
rejoin him. Apollonius vanished from the presence of the emperor (at
Rome) at
noon. On the evening of the same day, he suddenly appeared before Damus
and some
other friends who were at Puteoli, more than a hundred miles from Rome.
They started,
being doubtful whether or not it was his spirit, but he stretched
out his hand,
saying: "Take it, and if I escape from you regard me as an
apparition."[263:4]
[Pg 264]When
Apollonius had told his disciples that he had made his defense in
Rome, only a
few hours before, they marveled how he could have performed the
journey so
rapidly. He, in reply, said that they must ascribe it to a
god.[264:1]
The Empress
Julia, wife of Alexander Severus, was so much interested in the
history of
Apollonius, that she requested Flavius Philostratus, an Athenian
author of
reputation, to write an account of him. The early Christian Fathers,
alluding to
this life of Apollonius, do not deny the miracles it recounts, but
attribute to
them the aid of evil spirits.[264:2]
Justin Martyr
was one of the believers in the miracles performed by Apollonius,
and by others
through him, for he says:
"How is
it that the talismans of Apollonius have power in certain members of
creation? for
they prevent, as we see, the fury of the waves, and the violence
of the winds,
and the attacks of wild beasts, and whilst our Lord's miracles are
preserved by
tradition alone, those of Apollonius are most numerous, and
actually
manifested in present facts, so as to lead astray all
beholders."[264:3]
So much for
Apollonius. We will now speak of another miracle performer, Simon
Magus.
Simon the
Samaritan, generally called Simon Magus, produced marked effects on
the times
succeeding him; being the progenitor of a large class of sects, which
long troubled
the Christian churches.
In the time
of Jesus and Simon Magus it was almost universally believed that men
could
foretell events, cure diseases, and obtain control over the forces of
nature, by
the aid of spirits, if they knew how to invoke them. It was Simon's
proficiency
in this occult science which gained him the surname of Magus, or
Magician.
The writer of
the eighth chapter of "The Acts of the Apostles" informs us that
when Philip
went into Samaria, "to preach Christ unto them," he found there
"a
certain man
called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and
bewitched the
people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. To
whom they all
gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying: This man is the
great power
of God."[264:4]
Simon
traveled about preaching, and made many proselytes. He professed to be
"The
Wisdom of God," "The Word of God," [Pg 265]"The Paraclete,
or Comforter,"
"The
Image of the Eternal Father, Manifested in the Flesh," and his followers
claimed that
he was "The First Born of the Supreme."[265:1] All of these are
titles,
which, in after years, were applied to Christ Jesus. His followers had a
gospel called
"The Four Corners of the World," which reminds us of the reason
given by
Irenćus, for there being four Gospels among the Christians. He says:
"It is
impossible that there could be more or less than four. For there are four
climates, and
four cardinal winds; but the Gospel is the pillar and foundation
of the
Church, and its breath of life. The Church, therefore, was to have four
pillars,
blowing immortality from every quarter, and giving life to men."[265:2]
Simon also
composed some works, of which but slight fragments remain, Christian
authority
having evidently destroyed them. That he made a lively impression on
his
contemporaries is indicated by the subsequent extension of his doctrines,
under varied
forms, by the wonderful stories which the Christian Fathers relate
of him, and
by the strong dislike they manifested toward him.
Eusebius, the
ecclesiastical historian, says of him:
"The
malicious power of Satan, enemy to all honesty, and foe to all human
salvation,
brought forth at that time this monster Simon, a father and worker of
all such
mischiefs, as a great adversary unto the mighty and holy Apostles.
"Coming
into the city of Rome, he was so aided by that power which prevaileth in
this world,
that in short time he brought his purpose to such a pass, that his
picture was
there placed with others, and he honored as a god."[265:3]
Justin Martyr
says of him:
"After
the ascension of our Savior into heaven, the DEVIL brought forth certain
men which
called themselves gods, who not only suffered no vexation of you
(Romans), but
attained unto honor amongst you, by name one Simon, a Samaritan,
born in the
village of Gitton, who (under Claudius Cćsar) by the art of devils,
through whom
he dealt, wrought devilish enchantments, was esteemed and counted
in your regal
city of Rome for a god, and honored by you as a god, with a
picture
between two bridges upon the river Tibris, having this Roman
inscription:
'Simoni deo Sancto' (To Simon the Holy God). And in manner all the
Samaritans,
and certain also of other nations, do worship him, acknowledging him
for their
chief god."[265:4]
According to
accounts given by several other Christian Fathers, he could make
his
appearance wherever he pleased to be at any moment; could poise himself on
the air; make
inanimate things [Pg 266]move without visible assistance; produce
trees from
the earth suddenly; cause a stick to reap without hands; change
himself into
the likeness of any other person, or even into the forms of
animals;
fling himself from high precipices unhurt, walk through the streets
accompanied
by spirits of the dead; and many other such like
performances.[266:1]
Simon went to
Rome, where he gave himself out to be an "Incarnate Spirit of
God."[266:2]
He became a favorite with the Emperor Claudius, and afterwards with
Nero. His
Christian opponents, as we have seen in the cases cited above, did not
deny the
miracles attributed to him, but said they were done through the agency
of evil
spirits, which was a common opinion among the Fathers. They claimed that
every
magician had an attendant evil spirit, who came when summoned, obeyed his
commands, and
taught him ceremonies and forms of words, by which he was able to
do
supernatural things. In this way they were accustomed to account for all the
miracles
performed by Gentiles and heretics.[266:3]
Menander—who
was called the "Wonder-Worker"—was another great performer of
miracles.
Eusebius, speaking of him, says that he was skilled in magical art,
and performed
devilish operations; and that "as yet there be divers which can
testify the
same of him."[266:4]
Dr. Conyers
Middleton, speaking on this subject, says:
"It was
universally received and believed through all ages of the primitive
church, that
there was a number of magicians, necromancers, or conjurors, both
among the
Gentiles, and the heretical Christians, who had each their peculiar
demon or evil
spirit, for their associates, perpetually attending on their
persons and
obsequious to their commands, by whose help they could perform
miracles,
foretell future events, call up the souls of the dead, exhibit them to
open view,
and infuse into people whatever dreams or visions they saw fit, all
which is
constantly affirmed by the primitive writers and apologists, and
commonly
applied by them to prove the immortality of the soul."[266:5]
After quoting
from Justin Martyr, who says that these magicians could convince
any one
"that the souls of men exist still after death," he continues by
saying:
"Lactantius,
speaking of certain philosophers who held that the soul perished
with the
body, says: 'they durst not have declared such an opinion, in the
presence of
any magician, for if they had done it, he would have confuted them
[Pg 267]upon
the spot, by sensible experiments; by calling up souls from the
dead, and
rendering them visible to human eyes, and making them speak and
foretell
future events."[267:1]
The Christian
Father Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, who was contemporary with
Irenćus (A.
D. 177-202), went so far as to declare that it was evil spirits who
inspired the
old poets and prophets of Greece and Rome. He says:
"The
truth of this is manifestly shown; because those who are possessed by
devils, even
at this day, are sometimes exorcised by us in the name of God; and
the seducing
spirits confess themselves to be the same demons who before
inspired the
Gentile poets."[267:2]
Even in the
second century after Christianity, foreign conjurors were professing
to exhibit
miracles among the Greeks. Lucian gives an account of one of these
"foreign
barbarians"—as he calls them[267:3]—and says:
"I
believed and was overcome in spite of my resistance, for what was I to do
when I saw
him carried through the air in daylight, and walking on the
water,[267:4]
and passing leisurely and slowly through the fire?"[267:5]
He further
tells us that this "foreign barbarian" was able to raise the dead to
life.[267:6]
Athenagoras,
a Christian Father who flourished during the latter part of the
second
century, says on this subject:
"We
(Christians) do not deny that in several places, cities, and countries,
there are
some extraordinary works performed in the name of idols," i. e.,
heathen
gods.[267:7]
Miracles were
not uncommon things among the Jews before and during the time of
Christ Jesus.
Casting out devils was an every-day occurrence,[267:8] and
miracles
frequently happened to confirm the sayings of Rabbis. One cried out,
when his
opinion was disputed, "May this tree prove that I am right!" and
forthwith the
tree was torn up by the roots, and hurled a hundred ells off. But
[Pg 268]his
opponents declared that a tree could prove nothing. "May this
stream, then,
witness for me!" cried Eliezar, and at once it flowed the opposite
way.[268:1]
Josephus, the
Jewish historian, tells us that King Solomon was expert in casting
out devils
who had taken possession of the body of mortals. This gift was also
possessed by
many Jews throughout different ages. He (Josephus) relates that he
saw one of
his own countrymen (Eleazar) casting out devils, in the presence of a
vast
multitude.[268:2]
Dr. Conyers
Middleton says:
"It is
remarkable that all the Christian Fathers, who lay so great a stress on
the particular
gift of casting out devils, allow the same power both to the Jews
and the
Gentiles, as well before as after our Saviour's coming."[268:3]
Vespasian,
who was born about ten years after the time assigned for the birth of
Christ Jesus,
performed wonderful miracles, for the good of mankind. Tacitus,
the Roman
historian, informs us that he cured a blind man in Alexandria, by
means of his
spittle, and a lame man by the mere touch of his foot.
The words of
Tacitus are as follows:
"Vespasian
passed some months at Alexandria, having resolved to defer his voyage
to Italy till
the return of summer, when the winds, blowing in a regular
direction,
afford a safe and pleasant navigation. During his residence in that
city, a
number of incidents, out of the ordinary course of nature, seemed to
mark him as
the peculiar favorite of the gods. A man of mean condition, born at
Alexandria,
had lost his sight by a defluxion on his eyes. He presented himself
before
Vespasian, and, falling prostrate on the ground, implored the emperor to
administer a
cure for his blindness. He came, he said, by the admonition of
Serapis, the
god whom the superstition of the Egyptians holds in the highest
veneration.
The request was, that the emperor, with his spittle, would
condescend to
moisten the poor man's face and the balls of his eyes.[268:4]
Another, who
had lost the use of his hand, inspired by the same god, begged that
he would
tread on the part affected. . . . In the presence of a prodigious
multitude,
all erect with expectation, he advanced with an air of serenity, and
hazarded the
experiment. The paralytic hand recovered its functions, and the
blind man saw
the light of the sun.[268:5] By living witnesses, who were
actually on
the spot, both events are confirmed at this hour, when deceit and
flattery can
hope for no reward."[268:6]
The striking
resemblance between the account of these miracles, and those
attributed to
Jesus in the Gospels "according to" [Pg 269]Matthew and Mark,
would lead us
to think that one had been copied from the other, but when we find
that Tacitus
wrote his history A. D. 98,[269:1] and that the "Matthew" and Mark
narrators'
works were not known until after that time,[269:2] the evidence
certainly is
that Tacitus was not the plagiarist, but that this charge must fall
on the
shoulders of the Christian writers, whoever they may have been.
To come down
to earlier times, even the religion of the Mahometans is a religion
of miracles
and wonders. Mahomet, like Jesus of Nazareth, did not claim to
perform
miracles, but the votaries of Mahomet are more assured than himself of
his
miraculous gifts; and their confidence and credulity increase as they are
farther
removed from the time and place of his spiritual exploits. They believe
or affirm that
trees went forth to meet him; that he was saluted by stones; that
water gushed
from his fingers; that he fed the hungry, cured the sick, and
raised the
dead; that a beam groaned to him; that a camel complained to him;
that a
shoulder of mutton informed him of its being poisoned; and that both
animate and
inanimate nature were equally subject to the apostle of God. His
dream of a
nocturnal journey is seriously described as a real and corporeal
transaction.
A mysterious animal, the Borak, conveyed him from the temple of
Mecca to that
of Jerusalem; with his companion Gabriel he successively ascended
the seven
heavens, and received and repaid the salutations of the patriarchs,
the prophets,
and the angels in their respective mansions. Beyond the seventh
heaven,
Mahomet alone was permitted to proceed; he passed the veil of unity,
approached
within two bow-shots of the throne, and felt a cold that pierced him
to the heart,
when his shoulder was touched by the hand of God. After a
familiar,
though important conversation, he descended to Jerusalem, remounted
the Borak,
returned to Mecca, and performed in the tenth part of a night the
journey of
many thousand years. His resistless word split asunder the orb of the
moon, and the
obedient planet stooped from her station in the sky.[269:3]
These and
many other wonders, similar in character to the story of Jesus sending
the demons
into the swine, are related of Mahomet by his followers.
It is very
certain that the same circumstances which are claimed to have taken
place with
respect to the Christian religion, are also claimed to have taken
place in the
religions of Crishna, [Pg 270]Buddha, Zoroaster, Ćsculapius,
Bacchus,
Apollonius, Simon Magus, &c. Histories of these persons, with miracles,
relics, circumstances
of locality, suitable to them, were as common, as well
authenticated
(if not better), and as much believed by the devotees as were
those
relating to Jesus.
All the
Christian theologians which the world has yet produced have not been
able to
procure any evidence of the miracles recorded in the Gospels, half so
strong as can
be procured in evidence of miracles performed by heathens and
heathen gods,
both before and after the time of Jesus; and, as they cannot do
this, let
them give us a reason why we should reject the one and receive the
other. And if
they cannot do this, let them candidly confess that we must either
admit them
all, or reject them all, for they all stand on the same footing.
In the early
times of the Roman republic, in the war with the Latins, the gods
Castor and
Pollux are said to have appeared on white horses in the Roman army,
which by
their assistance gained a complete victory: in memory of which, the
General
Posthumius vowed and built a temple to these deities; and for a proof of
the fact,
there was shown, we find, in Cicero's time (106 to 43 B. C.), the
marks of the
horses' hoofs on a rock at Regillum, where they first
appeared.[270:1]
Now this
miracle, with those which have already been mentioned, and many others
of the same
kind which could be mentioned, has as authentic an attestation, if
not more so,
as any of the Gospel miracles. It has, for instance: The decree of
a senate to
confirm it; visible marks on the spot where it was transacted; and
all this supported
by the best authors of antiquity, amongst whom Dionysius, of
Halicarnassus,
who says that there was subsisting in his time at Rome many
evident
proofs of its reality, besides a yearly festival, with a solemn
sacrifice and
procession, in memory of it.[270:2]
With all
these evidences in favor of this miracle having really happened, it
seems to us
so ridiculous, that we wonder how there could ever have been any so
simple as to
believe it, yet we should believe that Jesus raised Lazarus from
the dead,
after he had been in the tomb four days, our only authority being that
anonymous
book known as the "Gospel according to St. John," which was not [Pg
271]known
until after A. D. 173. Albert Barnes, in his "Lectures on the
Evidences of
Christianity," speaking of the authenticity of the Gospel miracles,
makes the
following damaging confession:
"An
important question is, whether there is any stronger evidence in favor of
miracles,
than there is in favor of witchcraft, or sorcery, or the re-appearance
of the dead,
of ghosts, of apparitions? Is not the evidence in favor of these as
strong as any
that can be adduced in favor of miracles? Have not these things
been matters
of universal belief? In what respect is the evidence in favor of
the miracles
of the Bible stronger than that which can be adduced in favor of
witchcraft
and sorcery? Does it differ in nature and degrees; and if it differs,
is it not in
favor of witchcraft and sorcery? Has not the evidence in favor of
the latter
been derived from as competent and reliable witnesses? Has it not
been brought
to us from those who saw the facts alleged? Has it not been
subjected to
a close scrutiny in the courts of justice, to cross-examination, to
tortures? Has
it not convinced those of highest legal attainments; those
accustomed to
sift testimony; those who understood the true principles of
evidence? Has
not the evidence in favor of witchcraft and sorcery had, what the
evidence in
favor of miracles has not had, the advantage of strict judicial
investigation?
and been subjected to trial, where evidence should be, before
courts of
law? Have not the most eminent judges in the most civilized and
enlightened
courts of Europe and America admitted the force of such evidence,
and on the
ground of it committed great numbers of innocent persons to the
gallows and
to the stake? I confess that of all the questions ever asked on the
subject of
miracles, this is the most perplexing and the most difficult to
answer. It is
rather to be wondered at that it has not been pressed with more
zeal by those
who deny the reality of miracles, and that they have placed their
objections so
extensively on other grounds."
It was a
common adage among the Greeks, "Miracles for fools," and the same
proverb
obtained among the shrewder Romans, in the saying: "The common people
like to be
deceived—deceived let them be."
St.
Chrysostom declares that "miracles are proper only to excite sluggish and
vulgar minds,
men of sense have no occasion for them;" and that "they frequently
carry some
untoward suspicion along with them;" and Saint Chrysostom, Jerome,
Euthemius,
and Theophylact, prove by several instances, that real miracles had
been
performed by those who were not Catholic, but heretic, Christians.[271:1]
Celsus (an Epicurean
philosopher, towards the close of the second century), the
first writer
who entered the lists against the claims of the Christians, in
speaking of
the miracles which were claimed to have been performed by Jesus,
says:
"His
miracles, granted to be true, were nothing more than the common works of
those
enchanters, who, for a few oboli, will perform greater deeds in the midst
of the Forum,
calling up the souls of heroes, exhibiting sumptuous banquets, and
tables
covered with food, which have no reality. Such things do not prove these
jugglers to
be sons of God; nor do Christ's miracles."[271:2]
[Pg
272]Celsus, in common with most of the Grecians, looked upon Christianity as
a blind
faith, that shunned the light of reason. In speaking of the Christians,
he says:
"They
are forever repeating: 'Do not examine. Only believe, and thy faith will
make thee
blessed. Wisdom is a bad thing in life; foolishness is to be
preferred.'"[272:1]
He jeers at
the fact that ignorant men were allowed to preach, and says that
"weavers,
tailors, fullers, and the most illiterate and rustic fellows," set up
to teach
strange paradoxes. "They openly declared that none but the ignorant
(were) fit
disciples for the God they worshiped," and that one of their rules
was, "let
no man that is learned come among us."[272:2]
The miracles
claimed to have been performed by the Christians, he attributed to
magic,[272:3]
and considered—as we have seen above—their miracle performers to
be on the
same level with all Gentile magicians. He says that the
"wonder-workers"
among the Christians "rambled about to play tricks at fairs and
markets,"
that they never appeared in the circles of the wiser and better sort,
but always
took care to intrude themselves among the ignorant and
uncultured.[272:4]
"The
magicians in Egypt (says he), cast out evil spirits, cure diseases by a
breath, call
up the spirits of the dead, make inanimate things move as if they
were alive,
and so influence some uncultured men, that they produce in them
whatever
sights and sounds they please. But because they do such things shall we
consider them
the sons of God? Or shall we call such things the tricks of
pitiable and
wicked men?"[272:5]
He believed
that Jesus was like all these other wonder-workers, that is, simply
a
necromancer, and that he learned his magical arts in Egypt.[272:6] All
philosophers,
during the time of the Early Fathers, answered the claims that
Jesus
performed miracles, in the same manner. "They even ventured to call him a
magician and
a deceiver of the people," says Justin Martyr,[272:7] and St.
Augustine
asserted that it was generally believed that Jesus had been initiated
in magical
art in Egypt, and that he had written books concerning magic, one of
which was
called "Magia Jesu Christi."[272:8] In the Clementine Recognitions,
the charge is
brought against Jesus that he did not perform his miracles as a
Jewish
prophet, but as a magician, an initiate of the heathen temples.[272:9]
[Pg 273]The
casting out of devils was the most frequent and among the most
striking and
the oftenest appealed to of the miracles of Jesus; yet, in the
conversation
between himself and the Pharisees (Matt. xii. 24-27), he speaks of
it as one
that was constantly and habitually performed by their own exorcists;
and, so far
from insinuating any difference between the two cases, expressly
puts them on
a level.
One of the
best proofs, and most unquestionable, that Jesus was accused of being
a magician,
or that some of the early Christians believed him to have been such,
may be found
in the representations of him performing miracles. On a sarcophagus
to be found
in the Museo Gregoriano, which is paneled with bas-reliefs, is to be
seen a
representation of Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave. He is represented
as a young
man, beardless, and equipped with a wand in the received guise of a
necromancer,
whilst the corpse of Lazarus is swathed in bandages exactly as an
Egyptian
mummy.[273:1] On other Christian monuments representing the miracles of
Jesus, he is
pictured in the same manner. For instance, when he is represented
as turning
the water into wine, and multiplying the bread in the wilderness, he
is a
necromancer with a wand in his hand.[273:2]
Horus, the
Egyptian Saviour, is represented on the ancient monuments of Egypt,
with a wand
in his hand raising the dead to life, "just as we see Christ doing
the same
thing," says J. P. Lundy, "in the same way, to Lazarus, in our
Christian
monuments."[273:3]
Dr. Conyers
Middleton, speaking of the primitive Christians, says:
"In the
performance of their miracles, they were always charged with fraud and
imposture, by
their adversaries. Lucian (who flourished during the second
century),
tells us that whenever any crafty juggler, expert in his trade, and
who knew how
to make a right use of things, went over to the Christians, he was
sure to grow
rich immediately, by making a prey of their simplicity. And Celsus
represents
all the Christian wonder-workers as mere vagabonds and common cheats,
who rambled
about to play their tricks at fairs and markets; not in the circles
of the wiser
and the better sort, for among such they never ventured to appear,
but wherever
they observed a set of raw young fellows, slaves or fools, there
they took
care to intrude themselves, and to display all their arts."[273:4]
The same
charge was constantly urged against them by Julian, Porphyry and
others.
Similar sentiments were entertained by Polybius, the Pagan philosopher,
who
considered all miracles as fables, invented to preserve in the unlearned a
due sense of
respect for the deity.[273:5]
[Pg
274]Edward Gibbon, speaking of the miracles of the Christians, writes in his
familiar
style as follows:
"How
shall we excuse the supine inattention of the Pagan and philosophic world,
to those
evidences which were represented by the hand of Omnipotence, not to
their reason,
but to their senses? During the age of Christ, of his apostles,
and of their
first disciples, the doctrine which they preached was confirmed by
innumerable
prodigies. The lame walked, the blind saw, the sick were healed, the
dead were
raised, demons were expelled, and the laws of nature were frequently
suspended for
the benefit of the church. But the sages of Greece and Rome turned
aside from
the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupations of life
and study,
appeared unconscious of any alterations in the moral or physical
government of
the world."[274:1]
The learned
Dr. Middleton, whom we have quoted on a preceding page, after a
searching
inquiry into the miraculous powers of the Christians, says:
"From
these short hints and characters of the primitive wonder-workers, as given
both by
friends and enemies, we may fairly conclude, that the celebrated gifts
of these ages
were generally engrossed and exercised by the primitive
Christians,
chiefly of the laity, who used to travel about from city to city, to
assist the
ordinary pastors of the church, and preachers of the Gospel, in the
conversion of
Pagans, by the extraordinary gifts with which they were supposed
to be indued
by the spirit of God, and the miraculous works which they pretended
to perform. .
. .
"We have
just reason to suspect that there was some original fraud in the case;
and that the
strolling wonder-workers, by a dexterity of jugglery which art, not
heaven, had
taught them, imposed upon the credulity of the pious Fathers, whose
strong
prejudices and ardent zeal for the interest of Christianity would dispose
them to
embrace, without examination, whatever seemed to promote so good a
cause. That
this was really the case in some instances, is certain and
notorious,
and that it was so in all, will appear still more probable, when we
have
considered the particular characters of the several Fathers, on whose
testimony the
credit of these wonderful narratives depends."[274:2]
Again he
says:
"The
pretended miracles of the primitive church were all mere fictions, which
the pious and
zealous Fathers, partly from a weak credulity, and partly from
reasons of
policy, believing some perhaps to be true, and knowing all of them to
be useful,
were induced to espouse and propagate, for the support of a righteous
cause."[274:3]
Origen, a
Christian Father of the third century, uses the following words in his
answer to
Celsus:
"A vast
number of persons who have left those horrid debaucheries in which they
formerly
wallowed, and have professed to embrace the Christian religion, [Pg
275]shall
receive a bright and massive crown when this frail and short life is
ended, though
they don't stand to examine the grounds on which their faith is
built, nor
defer their conversion till they have a fair opportunity and capacity
to apply
themselves to rational and learned studies. And since our adversaries
are
continually making such a stir about our taking things on trust, I answer,
that we, who
see plainly and have found the vast advantage that the common
people do
manifestly and frequently reap thereby (who make up by far the greater
number), I
say, we (the Christian clergy), who are so well advised of these
things, do
professedly teach men to believe without examination."[275:1]
Origen
flourished and wrote A. D. 225-235, which shows that at that early day
there was no
rational evidence for Christianity, but it was professedly taught,
and men were
supposed to believe "these things" (i. e. the Christian legends)
without
severe examination.
The primitive
Christians were perpetually reproached for their gross credulity,
by all their
enemies. Celsus, as we have already seen, declares that they cared
neither to
receive nor give any reason for their faith, and that it was a usual
saying with
them: "Do not examine, but believe only, and thy faith will save
thee;"
and Julian affirms that, "the sum of all their wisdom was comprised in
the single
precept, 'believe.'"
Arnobius,
speaking of this, says:
"The
Gentiles make it their constant business to laugh at our faith, and to lash
our credulity
with their facetious jokes."
The Christian
Fathers defended themselves against these charges by declaring
that they did
nothing more than the heathens themselves had always done; and
reminds them
that they too had found the same method useful with the uneducated
or common
people, who were not at leisure to examine things, and whom they
taught
therefore, to believe without reason.[275:2]
This
"believing without reason" is illustrated in the following words of
Tertullian, a
Christian Father of the second century, who reasons on the
evidence of
Christianity as follows:
"I find
no other means to prove myself to be impudent with success, and happily
a fool, than
by my contempt of shame; as, for instance—I maintain that the son
of God was
born: why am I not ashamed of maintaining such a thing? Why! but
because it is
a shameful thing. I maintain that the son of God died: well, that
is wholly
credible because it is monstrously absurd. I maintain that after
having been
buried, he rose again: and that I take to be absolutely true,
because it
was manifestly impossible."[275:3]
According to
the very books which record the miracles of Jesus, he never claimed
to perform
such deeds, and Paul declares that the great reason why Israel did
not believe
Jesus to be the Messiah was [Pg 276]that "the Jews required a
sign."[276:1]
He meant: "Signs and wonders are the only proofs they will admit
that any one
is sent by God and is preaching the truth. If they cannot have this
palpable,
external proof, they withhold their faith."
A writer of
the second century (John, in ch. iv. 18) makes Jesus aim at his
fellow-countrymen
and contemporaries, the reproach: "Unless you see signs and
wonders, you
do not believe." In connection with Paul's declaration, given
above, these
words might be paraphrased: "The reason why the Jews never believed
in Jesus was
that they never saw him do signs and wonders."
Listen to the
reply he (Jesus) made when told that if he wanted people to
believe in
him he must first prove his claim by a miracle: "A wicked and
adulterous
generation asks for a sign, and no sign shall be given it except the
sign of the
prophet Jonas."[276:2] Of course, this answer did not in the least
degree
satisfy the questioners; so they presently came to him again with a more
direct
request: "If the kingdom of God is, as you say, close at hand, show us at
least some
one of the signs in heaven which are to precede the Messianic age."
What could
appear more reasonable than such a request? Every one knew that the
end of the
present age was to be heralded by fearful signs in heaven. The light
of the sun
was to be put out, the moon turned to blood, the stars robbed of
their
brightness, and many other fearful signs were to be shown![276:3] If any
one of these
could be produced, they would be content; but if not, they must
decline to
surrender themselves to an idle joy which must end in a bitter
disappointment;
and surely Jesus himself could hardly expect them to believe in
him on his
bare word.
Historians
have recorded miracles said to have been performed by other persons,
but not a
word is said by them about the miracles claimed to have been performed
by Jesus.
Justus of
Tiberias, who was born about five years after the time assigned for
the
crucifixion of Jesus, wrote a Jewish History. Now, if the miracles
attributed to
Christ Jesus, and his death and resurrection, had taken place in
the manner
described by the Gospel narrators, he could not have failed to allude
to them. But
Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, tells us that it contained
"no
mention of the coming of Christ, nor of the events concerning him, nor of
the prodigies
he wrought." As Theodore Parker has remarked: "The miracle is of a
most
fluctuating character. The miracle-worker of to-day is a matter-of-fact
juggler
to-morrow. [Pg 277]Science each year adds new wonders to our store. The
master of a
locomotive steam-engine would have been thought greater than Jupiter
Tonans, or
the Elohim, thirty centuries ago."
In the words
of Dr. Oort: "Our increased knowledge of nature has gradually
undermined
the belief in the possibility of miracles, and the time is not far
distant when
in the mind of every man, of any culture, all accounts of miracles
will be
banished together to their proper region—that of legend."
What had been
said to have been done in India was said by the "half Jew"[277:1]
writers of
the Gospels to have been done in Palestine. The change of names and
places, with
the mixing up of various sketches of Egyptian, Phenician, Greek and
Roman
mythology, was all that was necessary. They had an abundance of material,
and with it
they built. A long-continued habit of imposing upon others would in
time subdue
the minds of the impostors themselves, and cause them to become at
length the
dupes of their own deception.
FOOTNOTES:
[252:1] Dr.
Conyers Middleton: Free Enquiry, p. 177.
[252:2]
Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 46.
[253:1]
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 237.
[253:2] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 331.
[253:3] Ibid.
p. 319.
[254:1] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 320. Vishnu Parana, bk. v. ch. xx.
[254:2] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 68.
[254:3] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 269.
[254:4] See
Hardy's Buddhist Legends, and Eastern Monachism. Beal's Romantic
Hist. Buddha.
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, and Huc's Travels, &c.
[254:5]
Hardy: Buddhist Legends, pp. xxi. xxii.
[254:6] The
Science of Religion, p. 27.
[255:1] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, pp. 246, 247.
[255:2]
Dhammapada, pp. 47, 50 and 90. Bigandet, pp. 186 and 192. Bournouf:
Intro. p.
156. In Lillie's Buddhism, pp. 139, 140.
[256:1]
Hardy: Manual of Buddhism.
[256:2] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 229.
[256:3] See
Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 135, and Hardy: Buddhist
Legends, pp.
98, 126, 137.
[256:4] See
Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 135.
[256:5]
Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. p. 341.
[256:6] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 240, and Inman's Ancient
Faiths, vol.
ii. p. 460.
[256:7] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 34.
[256:8] See
Lundy: Monumental Christianity, pp. 303-405.
[256:9] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief.
[257:1]
Quoted by Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 397.
[257:2] See
Prichard's Mythology, p. 347.
[257:3] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404.
[257:4] See
Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, 258, and Anacalypsis, vol. ii.
p. 102.
Compare John, ii. 7.
A Grecian
festival called THYIA was observed by the Eleans in honor of Bacchus.
The priests
conveyed three empty vessels into a chapel, in the presence of a
large
assembly, after which the doors were shut and sealed. "On the morrow the
company
returned, and after every man had looked upon his own seal, and seen
that it was
unbroken, the doors being opened, the vessels were found full of
wine."
The god himself is said to have appeared in person and filled the
vessels.
(Bell's Pantheon.)
[257:5] Cox:
Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 295.
[257:6]
Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 225. "And they laid their hands on the
apostles, and
put them in the common prison; but the angel of the Lord by night
opened the
prison doors, and brought them forth." (Acts, v. 18, 19.)
[258:1]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 28.
[258:2]
Eusebius: Life of Constantine, lib. 3, ch. liv.
"Ćsculapius,
the son of Apollo, was endowed by his father with such skill in the
healing art
that he even restored the dead to life." (Bulfinch: The Age of
Fable, p.
246.)
[258:3]
Murray: Manual of Mythology, pp. 179, 180.
[258:4] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 304.
[258:5]
Marinus: Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 151.
[258:6]
Pausanias was one of the most eminent Greek geographers and historians.
[259:1]
"And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying and
saying: thou
son of David, have mercy on us. . . . And Jesus said unto them:
Believe ye
that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then
touched he
their eyes, saying: According to your faith be it unto you, and their
eyes were
opened." (Matt. ix. 27-30.)
[259:2]
Middleton's Works, vol. i. pp. 63, 64.
[259:3] Ibid.
p. 48.
[259:4]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 62.
[259:5] See
Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 76.
[260:1] See
Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 76.
[260:2]"Nunc
Dea, nunc succurre mihi, nam posse mederi
Picta docet
temptes multa tabella tuis."
(Horace:
Tibull. lib. 1, Eleg. iii. In Ibid.)
[260:3]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Ćsculapius."
[260:4]
Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 180.
[260:5] Apol.
1, ch. xxii.
[260:6]
Deane: Serp. Wor. p. 204. See also, Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 29.
"There
were numerous oracles of Ćsculapius, but the most celebrated one was at
Epidaurus.
Here the sick sought responses and the recovery of their health by
sleeping in the
temple. . . . The worship of Ćsculapius was introduced into Rome
in a time of
great sickness, and an embassy sent to the temple Epidaurus to
entreat the
aid of the god." (Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 397.)
[261:1] Aryan
Mytho. vol. ii. p. 238.
[261:2]
Herodotus: bk. vi. ch. 61.
[261:3] See
Philostratus: Vie d'Apo.
Gibbon, the
historian, says of him: "Apollonius of Tyana, born about the same
time as Jesus
Christ. His life (that of the former) is related in so fabulous a
manner by his
disciples, that we are at a loss to discover whether he was a
sage, an
impostor, or a fanatic." (Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 353, note.) What
this learned
historian says of Apollonius applies to Jesus of Nazareth. His
disciples
have related his life in so fabulous a manner, that some consider him
to have been
an impostor, others a fanatic, others a sage, and others a God.
[262:1] See
Philostratus, p. 146.
[262:2] Ibid.
p. 158.
[262:3] See
Ibid. p. 182.
[263:1]
Compare Matt. ix. 18-25. "There came a certain ruler and worshiped him,
saying: 'My
daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and
she shall
live.' And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. . .
. And when
Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the
people making
a noise, he said unto them: 'Give peace, for the maid is not dead,
but
sleepeth.' And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put
forth, he
went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose."
[263:2] See
Philostratus, pp. 285-286.
[263:3]
"He could render himself invisible, evoke departed spirits, utter
predictions,
and discover the thoughts of other men." (Hardy: Eastern Monachism,
p. 380.)
[263:4]
"And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and
said unto
them: 'Peace be unto you.' But they were terrified and affrighted, and
supposed that
they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them: 'Why are ye
troubled? and
why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is
myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as
ye see me
have." (Luke, xxiv. 36-39.)
[264:1] See
Philostratus, p. 342.
[264:2] Ibid.
p. 5.
[264:3]
Justin Martyr's "Qućst." xxiv. Quoted in King's Gnostics, p. 242.
[264:4] Acts,
viii. 9, 10.
[265:1] See
Mosheim, vol. i. pp. 137, 140.
[265:2]
Irenćus: Against Heresies, bk. iii. ch. xi. The authorship of the fourth
gospel,
attributed to John, has been traced to this same Irenćus. He is the
first person
who speaks of it; and adding this fact to the statement that "it is
impossible
that there could be more or less than four," certainly makes it
appear very
suspicious. We shall allude to this again.
[265:3]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist. lib. 2, ch. xiv.
[265:4] Apol.
1, ch. xxiv.
[266:1] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. pp. 241, 242.
[266:2]
According to Hieronymus (a Christian Father, born A. D. 348), Simon
Magus applied
to himself these words: "I am the Word (or Logos) of God; I am the
Beautiful, I
the Advocate, I the Omnipotent; I am all things that belong to
God."
(See "Son of the Man," p. 67.)
[266:3] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 316, and Middleton's Free Inquiry,
p. 62.
[266:4]
Eusebius: Ecc. Hist., lib. 3, ch. xiv.
[266:5]
Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 54.
[267:1]
Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 54.
[267:2] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 312, and Middleton's Works, vol. i. p.
10.
[267:3]
"The Egyptians call all men 'barbarians' who do not speak the same
language as
themselves." (Herodotus, book ii. ch. 158.)
"By
'barbarians' the Greeks meant all who were not sprung from themselves—all
foreigners."
(Henry Cary, translator of Herodotus.)
The Chinese
call the English, and all foreigners from western countries,
"western
barbarians;" the Japanese were called by them the "eastern
barbarians."
(See Thornton's
History of China, vol. i.)
The Jews
considered all who did not belong to their race to be heathens and
barbarians.
The
Christians consider those who are not followers of Christ Jesus to be
heathens and
barbarians.
The
Mohammedans consider all others to be dogs, infidels, and barbarians.
[267:4]
"And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on
the
sea." (Matt. xiv. 25.)
[267:5] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 236. We have it on the authority of
Strabo that
Roman priests walked barefoot over burning coals, without receiving
the slightest
injury. This was done in the presence of crowds of people. Pliny
also relates
the same story.
[267:6] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 236.
[267:7]
Athenagoras, Apolog. p. 25. Quoted in Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 62.
[267:8]
Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. ii. p. 619.
[268:1]
Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 75.
[268:2]
Jewish Antiquities, bk. viii. ch. ii.
[268:3]
Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 68.
[268:4]
"And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him, and
besought him
to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand . . . and when
he had spit
on his eyes, . . . he looked up and said: 'I see men and trees,' . .
. and he was
restored." (Mark, viii. 22-25.)
[268:5] "And
behold there was a man which had his hand withered. . . . Then said
he unto the
man, 'Stretch forth thine hand;' and he stretched it forth, and it
was restored
whole, like as the other." (Matt. xii. 10-13.)
[268:6]
Tacitus: Hist., lib. iv. ch. lxxxi.
[269:1] See
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Tacitus."
[269:2] See
The Bible of To-Day, pp. 273, 278.
[269:3] See
Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 539-541.
[270:1]
Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 102. See also, Bell's Pantheon, vol.
i. p. 16.
[270:2]
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, one of the most accurate historians of
antiquity,
says: "In the war with the Latins, Castor and Pollux appeared visibly
on white
horses, and fought on the side of the Romans, who by their assistance
gained a
complete victory. As a perpetual memorial of it, a temple was erected
and a yearly
festival instituted in honor of these deities." (Prog. Relig.
Ideas, vol.
i. p. 323, and Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 103.)
[271:1] See
Prefatory Discourse to vol. iii. Middleton's Works, p. 54.
[271:2] See
Origen: Contra Celsus, bk. 1, ch. lxviii.
[272:1] See
Origen: Contra Celsus, bk. 1, ch. ix.
[272:2] Ibid.
bk. iii. ch. xliv.
[272:3] Ibid.
[272:4] Ibid.
bk. 1, ch. lxviii.
[272:5] Ibid.
[272:6] Ibid.
[272:7] Dial.
Cum. Typho. ch. lxix.
[272:8] See
Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 148.
[272:9] See
Baring-Gould's Lost and Hostile Gospels. A knowledge of magic had
spread from
Central Asia into Syria, by means of the return of the Jews from
Babylon, and
had afterwards extended widely, through the mixing of nations
produced by
Alexander's conquests.
[273:1] See
King's Gnostics, p. 145. Monumental Christianity, pp. 100 and 402,
and Jameson's
Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. i. p. 16.
[273:2] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 402, and Hist. of Our Lord, vol. i. p.
16.
[273:3]
Monumental Christianity, pp. 403-405.
[273:4]
Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 19.
[273:5] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 59.
[274:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 588. An eminent heathen challenged his
Christian
friend Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, a champion of the Gospel, to
show him but
one person who had been raised from the dead, on the condition of
turning
Christian himself upon it. The Christian bishop was unable to give him
that
satisfaction. (See Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 541, and Middleton's Works,
vol. i. p.
60.)
[274:2]
Middleton's Works, vol. i. pp. 20, 21.
[274:3] Ibid.
p. 62. The Christian Fathers are noted for their frauds. Their
writings are
full of falsehoods and deceit.
[275:1]
Contra Celsus, bk. 1, ch. ix. x.
[275:2] See
Middleton's Works, pp. 62, 63, 64.
[275:3] On
The Flesh of Christ, ch. v.
[276:1] I.
Corinthians, i. 22, 23.
[276:2] Matt.
xii. 29.
[276:3] See
for example, Joel, ii. 10, 31; iii. 15; Matt. xxiv. 29, 30; Acts,
ii. 19, 20;
Revelations, vi. 12, 13; xvi. 18, et seq.
[277:1] The
writers of the Gospels were "I know not what sort of half Jews, not
even agreeing
with themselves." (Bishop Faustus.)
[Pg
278]CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHRIST
CRISHNA AND CHRIST JESUS COMPARED.
Believing and
affirming, that the mythological portion of the history of Jesus
of Nazareth,
contained in the books forming the Canon of the New Testament, is
nothing more
or less than a copy of the mythological histories of the Hindoo
Saviour
Crishna, and the Buddhist Saviour Buddha,[278:1] with a mixture of
mythology
borrowed from the Persians and other nations, we shall in this and the
chapter
following, compare the histories of these Christs, side by side with
that of
Christ Jesus, the Christian Saviour.
In comparing
the history of Crishna with that of Jesus, we have the following
remarkable
parallels:
1.
"Crishna was born of a chaste virgin, called Devaki, who was selected
by the Lord
for this purpose on account of her purity."[278:2] 1. Jesus
was born of a
chaste virgin, called Mary, who was selected by the Lord for
this purpose,
on account of her purity.[278:3]
2. A chorus
of Devatas celebrated with song the praise of Devaki,
exclaiming:
"In the delivery of this favored woman all nature shall have
cause to
exult."[278:4] 2. The angel of the Lord saluted Mary, and said:
"Hail
Mary! the Lord is with you, you are blessed above all women, . . .
for thou hast
found favor with the Lord."[278:5]
3. The birth
of Crishna was announced in the heavens by his star.[278:6]
3. The birth
of Jesus was announced in the heavens by his star.[278:7]
[Pg 279]4. On
the morn of Crishna's birth, "the quarters of the horizon
were
irradiate with joy, as if moonlight was diffused over the whole
earth;"
"the spirits and nymphs of heaven danced and sang," and "the
clouds
emitted low pleasing sounds."[279:1] 4. When Jesus was born, the
angels of
heaven sang with joy, and from the clouds there came pleasing
sounds.[279:2]
5. Crishna,
though royally descended, was actually born in a state the
most abject
and humiliating, having been brought into the world in a
cave.[279:3]
5. "The birth of Jesus, the King of Israel, took place under
circumstances
of extreme indigence; and the place of his nativity,
according to
the united voice of the ancients, and of oriental travelers,
was in a
cave."[279:4]
6. "The
moment Crishna was born, the whole cave was splendidly
illuminated,
and the countenances of his father and his mother emitted
rays of
glory."[279:5] 6. The moment Jesus was born, "there was a great
light in the
cave, so that the eyes of Joseph and the midwife could not
bear
it.[279:6]"
7. "Soon
after Crishna's mother was delivered of him, and while she was
weeping over
him and lamenting his unhappy destiny, the compassionate
infant
assumed the power of speech, and soothed and comforted his
afflicted
parent."[279:7] 7. "Jesus spake even when he was in his cradle,
and said to
his mother: 'Mary, I am Jesus, the Son of God, that Word which
thou didst
bring forth according to the declaration of the Angel Gabriel
unto thee,
and my Father hath sent me for the salvation of the
world.'"[279:8]
8. The divine
child—Crishna—was recognized, and adored by cowherds, who
prostrated
themselves before the heaven-born child.[279:9] 8. The divine
child—Jesus—was
recognized, and adored by shepherds, who prostrated
themselves
before the heaven-born child.[279:10]
9. Crishna
was received with divine honors, and presented with gifts of
sandal-wood
and perfumes.[279:11] 9. Jesus was received with divine
honors, and
presented with gifts of frankincense and myrrh.[279:12]
10.
"Soon after the birth of Crishna, the holy Indian prophet Nared,
hearing of
the fame of the infant Crishna, pays him a visit at Gokul,
examines the
stars, and declares him to be of celestial descent."[279:13]
10. "Now
when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold, there came
wise men from
the East, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews,
for we have
seen his star in the East and have come to worship
him."[279:14]
11. Crishna
was born at a time when Nanda—his foster-father—was away from
home, having
come to the city to pay his tax or yearly tribute, to the
king.[279:15]
11. Jesus was born at a time when Joseph—his
foster-father—was
away from home, having come to the city to pay his tax
or tribute to
the governor.[279:16]
[Pg 280]12.
Crishna, although born in a state the most abject and
humiliating,
was of royal descent.[280:1] 12. Jesus, although born in a
state the
most abject and humiliating, was of royal descent.[280:2]
13. Crishna's
father was warned by a "heavenly voice," to "fly with the
child to
Gacool, across the river Jumna," as the reigning monarch sought
his
life.[280:3] 13. Jesus' father was warned "in a dream" to "take
the
young child
and his mother, and flee into Egypt," as the reigning monarch
sought his
life.[280:4]
14. The ruler
of the country in which Crishna was born, having been
informed of
the birth of the divine child, sought to destroy him. For this
purpose, he
ordered "the massacre in all his states, of all the children
of the male
sex, born during the night of the birth of Crishna."[280:5]
14. The ruler
of the country in which Jesus was born, having been informed
of the birth
of the divine child, sought to destroy him. For this purpose,
he ordered
"all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts
thereof,"
to be slain.[280:6]
15.
"Mathura (pronounced Mattra), was the city in which Crishna was born,
where his
most extraordinary miracles were performed, and which continues
at this day
the place where his name and Avatar are held in the most
sacred
veneration of any province in Hindostan."[280:7] 15. Matarea, near
Hermopolis,
in Egypt, is said to have been the place where Jesus resided
during his
absence from the land of Judea. At this place he is reported to
have wrought
many miracles.[280:8]
16. Crishna
was preceded by Rama, who was born a short time before him,
and whose
life was sought by Kansa, the ruling monarch, at the time he
attempted to
destroy the infant Crishna.[280:9] 16. Jesus was preceded by
John the
"divine herald," who was born a short time before him, and whose
life was
sought by Herod, the ruling monarch, at the time he attempted to
destroy the
infant Jesus.[280:10]
17. Crishna,
being brought up among shepherds, wanted the advantage of a
preceptor to
teach him the sciences. Afterwards, when he went to Mathura,
a tutor,
profoundly learned, was obtained for him; but, in a very short
time, he
became such a scholar as utterly to astonish and perplex his
master with a
variety of the most intricate questions in Sanscrit
science.[280:11]
17. Jesus was sent to Zaccheus the schoolmaster, who
wrote out an
alphabet for him, and bade him say Aleph. "Then the Lord
Jesus said to
him, Tell me first the meaning of the letter Aleph, and then
I will
pronounce Beth, and when the master threatened to whip him, the
Lord Jesus
explained to him the meaning of the letters Aleph and Beth;
also which
where the straight figures of the letters, which the oblique,
and what
letters had [Pg 281]double figures; which had points, and which
had none; why
one letter went before another; and many other things he
began to tell
him and explain, of which the master himself had never
heard, nor
read in any book."[281:1]
18. "At
a certain time, Crishna, taking a walk with the other cowherds,
they chose
him their King, and every one had his place assigned him under
the new
King."[281:2] 18. "In the month Adar, Jesus gathered together the
boys, and
ranked them as though he had been a King. . . . And if any one
happened to
pass by, they took him by force, and said, Come hither, and
worship the
King."[281:3]
19. Some of
Crishna's play-fellows were stung by a serpent, and he, filled
with
compassion at their untimely fate, "and casting upon them an eye of
divine mercy,
they immediately rose," and were restored.[281:4] 19. When
Jesus was at
play, a boy was stung by a serpent, "and he (Jesus) touched
the boy with
his hand," and he was restored to his former health.[281:5]
20. Crishna's
companions, with some calves, were stolen, and hid in a
cave,
whereupon Crishna, "by his power, created other calves and boys, in
all things,
perfect resemblances of the others."[281:6] 20. Jesus'
companions,
who had hid themselves in a furnace, were turned into kids,
whereupon
Jesus said: "Come hither, O boys, that we may go and play; and
immediately
the kids were changed into the shape of boys."[281:7]
21. "One
of the first miracles performed by Crishna, when mature, was the
curing of a
leper."[281:8] 21. One of the first miracles performed by
Jesus, when
mature, was the curing of a leper.[281:9]
22. A poor
cripple, or lame woman, came, with "a vessel filled with
spices,
sweet-scented oils, sandal-wood, saffron, civet, and other
perfumes, and
made a certain sign on his (Crishna's) forehead, casting the
rest upon his
head."[281:10] 22. "Now, when Jesus was in Bethany, in the
house of
Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster
box of very
precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at
meat."[281:11]
23. Crishna
was crucified, and he is represented with arms extended,
hanging on a
cross.[281:12] 23. Jesus was crucified, and he is represented
with arms
extended, hanging on a cross.
24. At the
time of the death of Crishna, there came calamities and bad
omens of
every kind. A black circle surrounded the moon, and the sun was
darkened at
noon-day; the sky rained fire and ashes; flames burned dusky
and livid;
demons committed depredations on earth; at sunrise and sunset,
thousands of
figures were seen skirmishing in the air; spirits were to be
seen on all
sides.[282:1] 24. At the time of the death of Jesus, there
came
calamities of many kinds. The veil of the temple was rent in twain
from the top
to the bottom, the sun was darkened from the sixth to the
ninth hour,
and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the [Pg
282]saints
which slept arose and came out of their graves.[282:2]
25. Crishna
was pierced with an arrow.[282:3] 25. Jesus was pierced with a
spear.[282:4]
26. Crishna
said to the hunter who shot him: "Go, hunter, through my
favor, to
heaven, the abode of the gods."[282:5] 26. Jesus said to one of
the
malefactors who was crucified with him: "Verily I say unto thee, this
day shalt
thou be with me in paradise."[282:6]
27. Crishna
descended into hell.[282:7] 27. Jesus descended into
hell.[282:8]
28. Crishna,
after being put to death, rose again from the dead.[282:9]
28. Jesus,
after being put to death, rose again from the dead.[282:10]
29. Crishna
ascended bodily into heaven, and many persons witnessed his
ascent.[282:11]
29. Jesus ascended bodily into heaven, and many persons
witnessed his
ascent.[282:12]
30. Crishna
is to come again on earth in the latter days. He will appear
among mortals
as an armed warrior, riding a white horse. At his approach
the sun and
moon will be darkened, the earth will tremble, and the stars
fall from the
firmament.[282:13] 30. Jesus is to come again on earth in
the latter
days. He will appear among mortals as an armed warrior, riding
a white
horse. At his approach, the sun and moon will be darkened, the
earth will
tremble, and the stars fall from the firmament.[282:14]
31. Crishna
is to be judge of the dead at the last day.[282:15] 31. Jesus
is to be
judge of the dead at the last day.[282:16]
32. Crishna
is the creator of all things visible and invisible; "all this
universe came
into being through him, the eternal maker."[282:17] 32.
Jesus is the
creator of all things visible and invisible; "all this
universe came
into being through him, the eternal maker."[282:18]
33. Crishna
is Alpha and Omega, "the beginning, the middle, and the end of
all
things."[282:19] 33. Jesus is Alpha and Omega, the beginning, the
middle, and
the end of all things.[282:20]
34. Crishna,
when on earth, was in constant strife against the evil
spirit.[282:21]
He surmounts extraordinary dangers, strews his way with
miracles,
raising the dead, healing the sick, restoring the maimed, the
deaf and the
blind, everywhere supporting the weak against the strong, the
oppressed
against the powerful. The people crowded his way, and adored him
as a
God.[283:1] 34. Jesus, when on earth, was in constant strife against
the evil
spirit.[282:22] He surmounts extraordinary dangers, strews his
way with
miracles, raising the dead, healing the sick, restoring the
maimed, the
deaf and the blind, [Pg 283]everywhere supporting the weak
against the
strong, the oppressed against the powerful. The people crowded
his way and
adored him as a God.[283:2]
35. Crishna
had a beloved disciple—Arjuna.[283:3] 35. Jesus had a beloved
disciple—John.[283:4]
36. Crishna
was transfigured before his disciple Arjuna. "All in an
instant, with
a thousand suns, blazing with dazzling luster, so beheld he
the glories
of the universe collected in the one person of the God of
Gods."[283:5]
Arjuna bows
his head at this vision, and folding his hands in reverence,
says:
"Now
that I see thee as thou really art, I thrill with terror! Mercy! Lord
of Lords,
once more display to me thy human form, thou habitation of the
universe."[283:6]
36. "And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and
John his
brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was
transfigured
before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his
raiment was
white as the light. . . While he yet spake, behold, a bright
cloud
overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said:
&c."
"And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were
sore
afraid."[283:7]
37. Crishna
was "the meekest and best tempered of beings." "He preached
very nobly
indeed, and sublimely." "He was pure and chaste in
reality,"[283:8]
and, as a lesson of humility, "he even condescended to
wash the feet
of the Brahmins."[283:9] 37. Jesus was the meekest and best
tempered of
beings. He preached very nobly indeed, and sublimely. He was
pure and
chaste, and he even condescended to wash the feet of his
disciples, to
whom he taught a lesson of humility.[283:10]
38.
"Crishna is the very Supreme Brahma, though it be a mystery how the
Supreme
should assume the form of a man."[283:11] 38. Jesus is the very
Supreme
Jehovah, though it be a mystery how the Supreme should assume the
form of a
man, for "Great is the mystery of Godliness."[283:12]
39. Crishna
is the second person in the Hindoo Trinity.[283:13] 39. Jesus
is the second
person in the Christian Trinity.[283:14]
[Pg 284]40.
Crishna said: "Let him if seeking God by deep abstraction,
abandon his
possessions and his hopes, betake himself to some secluded
spot, and fix
his heart and thoughts on God alone."[284:1] 40. Jesus said:
"But
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when then hast
shut thy
door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret."[284:2]
41. Crishna
said: "Whate'er thou dost perform, whate'er thou eatest,
whate'er thou
givest to the poor, whate'er thou offerest in sacrifice,
whate'er thou
doest as an act of holy presence, do all as if to me, O
Arjuna. I am
the great Sage, without beginning; I am the Ruler and the
All-sustainer."[284:3]
41. Jesus said: "Whether therefore ye eat, or
drink, or
whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God"[284:4] who is the
great Sage,
without beginning; the Ruler and the All-sustainer.
42. Crishna
said: "I am the cause of the whole universe; through me it is
created and
dissolved; on me all things within it hang and suspend, like
pearls upon a
string."[284:5] 42. "Of him, and through him, and unto him,
are all
things." "All things were made by him; and without him was not
anything made
that was made."[284:6]
43. Crishna
said: "I am the light in the Sun and Moon, far, far beyond the
darkness. I
am the brilliancy in flame, the radiance in all that's
radiant, and
the light of lights."[284:7] 43. "Then spoke Jesus again unto
them, saying:
I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not
walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life."[284:8]
44. Crishna
said: "I am the sustainer of the world, its friend and Lord. I
am its way
and refuge."[284:9] 44. "Jesus said unto them, I am the way,
the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by
me."[284:10]
45. Crishna
said: "I am the Goodness of the good; I am Beginning, Middle,
End, Eternal
Time, the Birth, the Death of all."[284:11] 45. "I am the
first and the
last; and have the keys of hell and of death."[284:12]
46. Crishna
said: "Then be not sorrowful, from all thy sins I will deliver
thee. Think
thou on me, have faith in me, adore and worship me, and join
thyself in
meditation to me; thus shalt thou come to me, O Arjuna; thus
shalt thou
rise to my supreme abode, where neither sun nor moon hath need
to shine, for
know that all the lustre they possess is mine."[284:13] 46.
Jesus said:
"Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."[284:14] "My
son, give me
thine heart."[284:15] "The city had no need of the sun,
neither of
the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten
it."[284:16]
Many other
remarkable passages might be adduced from the Bhagavad-gita, the
following of
which may be noted:[284:17]
[Pg
285]"He who has brought his members under subjection, but sits with
foolish
minds
thinking in his heart of sensual things, is called a hypocrite." (Compare
Matt. v. 28.)
"Many
are my births that are past; many are thine too, O Arjuna. I know them
all, but thou
knowest them not." (Comp. John, viii. 14.)
"For the
establishment of righteousness am I born from time to time." (Comp.
John, xviii.
37; I. John, iii. 3.)
"I am
dearer to the wise than all possessions, and he is dearer to me." (Comp.
Luke, xiv. 33;
John, xiv. 21.)
"The
ignorant, the unbeliever, and he of a doubting mind perish utterly."
(Comp.
Mark, xvi.
16.)
"Deluded
men despise me when I take human form." (Comp. John, i. 10.)
Crishna had
the titles of "Saviour," "Redeemer," "Preserver,"
"Comforter,"
"Mediator,"
&c. He was called "The Resurrection and the Life," "The Lord
of
Lords,"
"The Great God," "The Holy One," "The Good
Shepherd," &c. All of which
are titles
applied to Christ Jesus.
Justice,
humanity, good faith, compassion, disinterestedness, in fact, all the
virtues, are
said[285:1] to have been taught by Crishna, both by precept and
example.
The Christian
missionary Georgius, who found the worship of the crucified God in
India,
consoles himself by saying: "That which P. Cassianus Maceratentis had
told me
before, I find to have been observed more fully in French by the Living
De Guignes, a
most learned man; i. e., that Crishna is the very name corrupted
of Christ the
Saviour."[285:2] Many others have since made a similar statement,
but
unfortunately for them, the name Crishna has nothing whatever to do with
"Christ
the Saviour." It is a purely Sanscrit word, and means "the dark
god" or
"the
black god."[285:3] The word Christ (which is not a name, but a title), as
we have
already seen, is a Greek word, and means "the Anointed," or "the
Messiah."
The fact is, the history of Christ Crishna is older than that of
Christ Jesus.
Statues of
Crishna are to be found in the very oldest cave temples throughout
India, and it
has been satisfactorily proved, on the authority of a passage of
Arrian, that
the worship of Crishna was practiced in the time of Alexander the
Great at what
still remains one of the most famous temples of India, the temple
of Mathura,
on the Jumna river,[285:4] which shows that he was considered a god
at [Pg
286]that time.[286:1] We have already seen that, according to Prof.
Monier
Williams, he was deified about the fourth century B. C.
Rev. J. P.
Lundy says:
"If we
may believe so good an authority as Edward Moor (author of Moor's "Hindu
Pantheon,"
and "Oriental Fragments"), both the name of Crishna, and the general
outline of
his history, were long anterior to the birth of our Saviour, as very
certain
things, and probably extended to the time of Homer, nearly nine hundred
years before
Christ, or more than a hundred years before Isaiah lived and
prophesied."[286:2]
In the
Sanscrit Dictionary, compiled more than two thousand years ago, we have
the whole
story of Crishna, the incarnate deity, born of a virgin, and
miraculously
escaping in his infancy from Kansa, the reigning monarch of the
country.[286:3]
The Rev. J.
B. S. Carwithen, known as one of the "Brampton Lecturers," says:
"Both
the name of Crishna and the general outline of his story are long anterior
to the birth
of our Saviour; and this we know, not on the presumed antiquity of
the Hindoo
records alone. Both Arrian and Strabo assert that the god Crishna was
anciently
worshiped at Mathura, on the river Jumna, where he is worshiped at
this day. But
the emblems and attributes essential to this deity are also
transplanted
into the mythology of the West."[286:4]
On the walls
of the most ancient Hindoo temples, are sculptured representations
of the flight
of Vasudeva and the infant Saviour Crishna, from King Kansa, who
sought to
destroy him. The story of the slaughtered infants is also the subject
of an immense
sculpture in the cave temple of Elephanta. A person with a drawn
sword is
represented surrounded by slaughtered infant boys, while men and women
are
supplicating for their children. The date of this sculpture is lost in the
most remote
antiquity.[286:5]
The flat roof
of this cavern-temple, and that of Ellora, and every other
circumstance
connected with them, prove that their origin must be referred to a
very remote
epoch. The ancient temples can easily be distinguished from the more
modern
ones—such as those of Solsette—by the shape of the roof. The ancient are
flat, while
the more modern are arched.[286:6]
[Pg 287]The
Bhagavad gita, which contains so many sentiments akin to
Christianity,
and which was not written until about the first or second
century,[287:1]
has led many Christian scholars to believe, and attempt to
prove, that
they have been borrowed from the New Testament, but unfortunately
for them,
their premises are untenable. Prof. Monier Williams, the accepted
authority on
Hindooism, and a thorough Christian, writing for the "Society for
Promoting
Christian Knowledge," knowing that he could not very well overlook
this subject
in speaking of the Bhagavad-gita, says:
"To any
one who has followed me in tracing the outline of this remarkable
philosophical
dialogue, and has noted the numerous parallels it offers to
passages in
our Sacred Scriptures, it may seem strange that I hesitate to concur
to any theory
which explains these coincidences by supposing that the author had
access to the
New Testament, or that he derived some of his ideas from the first
propagaters
of Christianity. Surely it will be conceded that the probability of
contact and
interaction between Gentile systems and the Christian religion of
the first two
centuries of our era must have been greater in Italy than in
India. Yet,
if we take the writings and sayings of those great Roman
philosophers,
Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, we shall find them full of
resemblances
to passages in our Scriptures, while their appears to be no ground
whatever for
supposing that these eminent Pagan writers and thinkers derived any
of their
ideas from either Jewish or Christian sources. In fact, the Rev. F. W.
Farrar, in
his interesting and valuable work 'Seekers after God,' has clearly
shown that
'to say that Pagan morality kindled its faded taper at the Gospel
light,
whether furtively or unconsciously, that it dissembled the obligation and
made a boast
of the splendor, as if it were originally her own, is to make an
assertion
wholly untenable.' He points out that the attempts of the Christian
Fathers to
make out Pythagoras a debtor to Hebraic wisdom, Plato an 'Atticizing
Moses,'
Aristotle a picker-up of ethics from a Jew, Seneca a correspondent of
St. Paul,
were due 'in some cases to ignorance, in some to a want of perfect
honesty in
controversial dealing.'[287:2]
"His
arguments would be even more conclusive if applied to the Bhagavad-gita,
the author of
which was probably contemporaneous with Seneca.[287:3] It must,
indeed, be
admitted that the flames of true light which emerge from the mists of
pantheism in
the writings of Indian philosophers, must spring from the same
source of
light as the Gospel itself; but it may reasonably be questioned
whether there
could have been any actual contact of the Hindoo systems with
Christianity
without [Pg 288]a more satisfactory result in the modification of
pantheistic
and anti-Christian ideas."[288:1]
Again he
says:
"It
should not be forgotten that although the nations of Europe have changed
their
religions during the past eighteen centuries, the Hindu has not done so,
except very
partially. Islam converted a certain number by force of arms in the
eighth and
following centuries, and Christian truth is at last slowly creeping
onwards and
winning its way by its own inherent energy in the nineteenth; but
the religious
creeds, rites, customs, and habits of thought of the Hindus
generally,
have altered little since the days of Manu, five hundred years b.
c."[288:2]
These words
are conclusive; comments, therefore, are unnecessary.
Geo. W. Cox,
in his "Aryan Mythology," speaking on this subject says:
"It is
true that these myths have been crystallized around the name of Crishna
in ages
subsequent to the period during which the earliest vedic literature came
into
existence; but the myths themselves are found in this older literature
associated
with other gods, and not always only in germ. There is no more room
for inferring
foreign influence in the growth of any of these myths than, as
Bunsen
rightly insists, there is room for tracing Christian influence in the
earlier
epical literature of the Teutonic tribes. Practically the myths of
Crishna seems
to have been fully developed in the days of Megasthenes (fourth
century B.
C.) who identifies him with the Greek Hercules."[288:3]
It should be
remembered, in connection with this, that Dr. Parkhurst and others
have considered
Hercules a type of Christ Jesus.
In the
ancient epics Crishna is made to say:
"I am
Vishnu, Brahma, Indra, and the source as well as the destruction of
things, the
creator and the annihilator of the whole aggregate of existences.
While all men
live in unrighteousness, I, the unfailing, build up the bulwark of
righteousness,
as the ages pass away."[288:4]
These words
are almost identical with what we find in the Bhagavad-gita. In the
Maha-bharata,
Vishnu is associated or identified with Crishna, just as he is in
the
Bhagavad-gita and Vishnu Purana, showing, in the words of Prof. Williams,
that: the
Puranas, although of a comparatively modern date, are nevertheless
composed of
matter to be found in the two great epic poems the Ramayana and the
Maha-bharata.[288:5]
FOOTNOTES:
[278:1] It is
also very evident that the history of Crishna—or that part of it
at least
which has a religious aspect—is taken from that of Buddha. Crishna, in
the ancient
epic poems, is simply a great hero, and it is not until about the
fourth
century B. C., that he is deified and declared to be an incarnation of
Vishnu, or
Vishnu himself in human form. (See Monier Williams' Hinduism, pp.
102, 103.)
"If it
be urged that the attribution to Crishna of qualities or powers belonging
to the other
deities is a mere device by which his devotees sought to supersede
the more
ancient gods, the answer must be that nothing is done in his case which
has not been
done in the case of almost every other member of the great company
of the gods,
and that the systematic adoption of this method is itself
conclusive
proof of the looseness and flexibility of the materials of which the
cumbrous
mythology of the Hindu epic poems is composed." (Cox: Aryan Mythology,
vol. ii. p.
130.) These words apply very forcibly to the history of Christ
Jesus. He
being attributed with qualities and powers belonging to the deities of
the heathen
is a mere device by which his devotees sought to supersede the more
ancient gods.
[278:2] See
ch. xii.
[278:3] See
The Gospel of Mary, Apoc., ch. vii.
[278:4] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 329.
[278:5] Mary,
Apoc., vii. Luke, i. 28-30.
[278:6] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. pp. 317 and 336.
[278:7] Matt.
ii. 2.
[279:1]
Vishnu Purana, p. 502.
[279:2] Luke,
ii. 13.
[279:3] See
ch. xvi.
[279:4] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 311. See also, chap. xvi.
[279:5] See
ch. xvi.
[279:6]
Protevangelion, Apoc., chs. xii. and xiii.
[279:7] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. 311.
[279:8]
Infancy, Apoc., ch. i. 2, 3.
[279:9] See
ch. xv.
[279:10]
Luke, ii. 8-10.
[279:11] See
Oriental Religions, p. 500, and Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p.
353.
[279:12]
Matt. ii. 2.
[279:13]
Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 317.
[279:14]
Matt., ii. 1, 2.
[279:15]
Vishnu Purana, bk. v. ch. iii.
[279:16]
Luke, ii. 1-17.
[280:1]
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259. Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 310.
[280:2] See
the Genealogies in Matt. and Luke.
[280:3] See
ch. xviii.
[280:4] Matt.
ii. 13.
[280:5] See
ch. xviii.
[280:6] Matt.
ii. 16.
[280:7] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 317. Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259.
[280:8]
Introduc. to Infancy, Apoc. Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 130.
Savary:
Travels in Egypt, vol. i. p. 126, in Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 318.
[280:9] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 316.
[280:10]
"Elizabeth, hearing that her son John was about to be searched for (by
Herod), took
him and went up into the mountains, and looked around for a place
to hide him.
. . . But Herod made search after John, and sent servants to
Zacharias,"
&c. (Protevangelion, Apoc. ch. xvi.)
[280:11]
Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 321.
[281:1]
Infancy, Apoc., ch. xx. 1-8.
[281:2] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 321.
[281:3]
Infancy, Apoc., ch. xviii. 1-3.
[281:4] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 343.
[281:5]
Infancy, Apoc., ch. xviii.
[281:6] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 340. Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 136.
[281:7]
Infancy, Apoc., ch. xvii.
[281:8] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 319, and ch. xxvii. this work.
[281:9]
Matthew, viii. 2.
[281:10]
Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 320.
[281:11]
Matt. xxvi. 6-7.
[281:12] See
ch. xx.
[282:1] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 71.
[282:2] Matt.
xxii. Luke, xxviii.
[282:3] See
ch. xx.
[282:4] John,
xix. 34.
[282:5] See
Vishnu Purana, p. 612.
[282:6] Luke,
xxiii. 43.
[282:7] See
ch. xxii.
[282:8] See
Ibid.
[282:9] See
ch. xxiii.
[282:10]
Matt. xxviii.
[282:11] See
ch. xxiii.
[282:12] See
Acts, i. 9-11.
[282:13] See
ch. xxiv.
[282:14] See
passages quoted in ch. xxiv.
[282:15] See
Oriental Religions, p. 504.
[282:16]
Matt. xxiv. 31. Rom. xiv. 10.
[282:17] See
ch. xxvi.
[282:18]
John, i. 3. I. Cor. viii. 6. Eph. iii. 9.
[282:19] See
Geeta, lec. x. p. 85.
[282:20] Rev.
i. 8, 11; xxii. 13; xxi. 6.
[282:21] He
is described as a superhuman organ of light, to whom the superhuman
organ of
darkness, the evil serpent, was opposed. He is represented "bruising
the head of
the serpent," and standing upon him. (See illustrations in vol. i.
Asiatic
Researches; vol. ii. Higgins' Anacalypsis; Calmet's Fragments, and other
works
illustrating Hindoo Mythology.)
[282:22]
Jesus, "the Sun of Righteousness," is also described as a superhuman
organ of
light, opposed by Satan, "the old serpent." He is claimed to have
been
the seed of
the woman who should "bruise the head of the serpent." (Genesis,
iii. 15.)
[283:1] See
ch. xxvii.
[283:2]
According to the New Testament.
[283:3] See
Bhagavat Geeta.
[283:4] John,
xiii. 23.
[283:5]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 215.
[283:6] Ibid.
p. 216.
[283:7] Matt.
xvii. 1-6.
[283:8]
"He was pure and chaste in reality," although represented as sporting
amorously,
when a youth, with cowherdesses. According to the pure Vaishnava
faith,
however, Crishna's love for the Gopis, and especially for his favorite
Rādhā,
is to be explained allegorically, as symbolizing the longing of the human
soul for the
Supreme. (Prof. Monier Williams: Hinduism, p. 144.) Just as the
amorous
"Song of Solomon" is said to be allegorical, and to mean
"Christ's love
for his
church."
[283:9] See
Indian Antiquities, iii. 46, and Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 273.
[283:10]
John, xiii.
[283:11]
Vishnu Purana, p. 492, note 3.
[283:12] I.
Timothy, iii. 16.
[283:13]
Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Crishna is Vishnu in human form. "A more
personal,
and, so to speak, human god than Siva was needed for the mass of the
people—a god
who could satisfy the yearnings of the human heart for religion of
faith
(bhakti)—a god who could sympathize with, and condescend to human wants
and
necessities. Such a god was found in the second member of the
Tri-mūrti. It
was as Vishnu
that the Supreme Being was supposed to exhibit his sympathy with
human trials,
and his love for the human race.
"If Siva
is the great god of the Hindu Pantheon, to whom adoration is due from
all
indiscriminately, Vishnu is certainly its most popular deity. He is the god
selected by
far the greater number of individuals as their Saviour, protector
and friend,
who rescues them from the power of evil, interests himself in their
welfare, and
finally admits them to his heaven. But it is not so much Vishnu in
his own
person as Vishnu in his incarnations, that effects all this for his
votaries."
(Prof. Monier Williams: Hinduism, p. 100.)
[283:14]
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Jesus is the Son in human form.
[284:1]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 211.
[284:2] Matt.
vi. 6.
[284:3] Williams'
Hinduism, p. 212.
[284:4] I.
Cor. x. 31.
[284:5]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
[284:6] John,
i. 3.
[284:7]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
[284:8] John,
viii. 12.
[284:9]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
[284:10]
John, xiv. 6.
[284:11]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
[284:12] Rev.
i. 17, 18.
[284:13]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 214.
[284:14]
Matt. ix. 2.
[284:15]
Prov. xxiii. 26.
[284:16] Rev.
xxi. 23.
[284:17]
Quoted from Williams' Hinduism, pp. 217-219.
[285:1] It is
said in the Hindoo sacred books that Crishna was a religious
teacher, but,
as we have previously remarked, this is a later addition to his
legendary
history. In the ancient epic poems he is simply a great hero and
warrior. The
portion pertaining to his religious career, is evidently a copy of
the history
of Buddha.
[285:2]
"Est Crishna (quod ut mihi pridem indicaverat P. Cassianus Maceratentis,
sic nunc
uberius in Galliis observatum intelligo avivo litteratissimo De
Guignes)
nomen ipsum corruptum Christi Servatoris."
[285:3] See
Williams' Hinduism, and Maurice: Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 269.
[285:4] See
Celtic Druids, pp. 256, 257.
[286:1]
"Alexander the Great made his expedition to the banks of the Indus about
327 B. C.,
and to this invasion is due the first trustworthy information
obtained by
Europeans concerning the north-westerly portion of India and the
region of the
five rivers, down which the Grecian troops were conducted in ships
by Nearchus.
Megasthenes, who was the ambassador of Seleukos Nikator
(Alexander's
successor, and ruler over the whole region between the Euphrates
and India, B.
C. 312), at the court of Candra-gupa (Sandrokottus), in
Pataliputra
(Patna), during a long sojourn in that city collected further
information,
of which Strabo, Pliny, Arrian, and others availed themselves."
(Williams'
Hinduism, p. 4.)
[286:2]
Monumental Christianity, p. 151. See also, Asiatic Researches, i. 273.
[286:3] See
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 259-273.
[286:4]
Quoted in Monumental Christianity, pp. 151, 152.
[286:5] See
chapter xviii.
[286:6] See
Prichard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 112.
[287:1] In
speaking of the antiquity of the Bhagavad-gita, Prof. Monier Williams
says:
"The author was probably a Brahman and nominally a Vishnava, but really a
philosopher
whose mind was cast in a broad and comprehensive mould. He is
supposed to
have lived in India during the first and second century of our era.
Some consider
that he lived as late as the third century, and some place him
even later,
but with these I cannot agree." (Indian Wisdom, p. 137.)
[287:2] In
order that the resemblances to Christian Scripture in the writings of
Roman
philosophers may be compared, Prof. Williams refers the reader to "Seekers
after
God," by the Rev. F. W. Farrar, and Dr. Ramage's "Beautiful
Thoughts." The
same sentiments
are to be found in Mann, which, says Prof. Williams, "few will
place later
than the fifth century B. C." The Mahabhrata, written many centuries
B. C.,
contains numerous parallels to New Testament sayings. (See our chapter on
"Paganism
in Christianity.")
[287:3]
Seneca, the celebrated Roman philosopher, was born at Cordoba, in Spain,
a few years
B. C. When a child, he was brought by his father to Rome, where he
was initiated
in the study of eloquence.
[288:1]
Indian Wisdom, pp. 153, 154. Similar sentiments are expressed in his
Hinduism, pp.
218-220.
[288:2]
Indian Wisdom, p. iv.
[288:3] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. pp. 137, 138.
[288:4] Ibid.
p. 131.
[288:5]
Williams' Hinduism, pp. 119-110. It was from these sources that the
doctrine of
incarnation was first evolved by the Brahman. They were written many
centuries B.
C. (See Ibid.)
[Pg
289]CHAPTER XXIX.
CHRIST BUDDHA
AND CHRIST JESUS COMPARED.
"The
more I learn to know Buddha the more I admire him, and the sooner all
mankind shall
have been made acquainted with his doctrines the better it will
be, for he is
certainly one of the heroes of humanity."
Fausböll.
The
mythological portions of the histories of Buddha and Jesus are, without
doubt, nearer
in resemblance than that of any two characters of antiquity. The
cause of this
we shall speak of in our chapter on "Why Christianity Prospered,"
and shall
content ourselves for the present by comparing the following
analogies:
1. Buddha was
born of the Virgin Mary,[289:1] who conceived him without
carnal
intercourse.[289:2] 1. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, who
conceived him
without carnal intercourse.[289:3]
2. The
incarnation of Buddha is recorded to have been brought about by the
descent of
the divine power called the "Holy Ghost," upon the Virgin
Maya.[289:4]
2. The incarnation of Jesus is recorded to have been brought
about by the
descent of the divine power called the "Holy Ghost," upon the
Virgin
Mary.[289-3]
3. When
Buddha descended from the regions of the souls,[290:1] and entered
the body of
the Virgin Maya, her womb assumed the appearance of clear
transparent
crystal, in which Buddha appeared, beautiful as a
flower.[290:2]
[Pg 290]3. When Jesus descended from his heavenly seat, and
entered the
body of the Virgin Mary, her womb assumed the appearance of
clear
transparent crystal, in which Jesus appeared beautiful as a
flower.[290:3]
4. The birth
of Buddha was announced in the heavens by an asterim which
was seen
rising on the horizon. It is called the "Messianic Star."[290:4]
4. The birth
of Jesus was announced in the heavens by "his star," which
was seen
rising on the horizon.[290:5] It might properly be called the
"Messianic
Star."
5. "The
son of the Virgin Maya, on whom, according to the tradition, the
'Holy Ghost'
had descended, was said to have been born on Christmas
day."[290:6]
5. The Son of the Virgin Mary, on whom, according to the
tradition,
the 'Holy Ghost' had descended, was said to have been born on
Christmas
day.[290:7]
6.
Demonstrations of celestial delight were manifest at the birth of
Buddha. The
Devas[290:8] in heaven and earth sang praises to the "Blessed
One,"
and said: "To day, Bodhisatwa is born on earth, to give joy and
peace to men
and Devas, to shed light in the dark places, and to give
sight to the
blind."[290:9] 6. Demonstrations of celestial delight were
manifest at
the birth of Jesus. The angels in heaven and earth sang
praises to
the "Blessed One," saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace,
good will toward men."[290:10]
7.
"Buddha was visited by wise men who recognized in this marvelous infant
all the
characters of the divinity, and he had scarcely seen the day
before he was
hailed God of Gods."[290:11] 7. Jesus was visited by wise
men who
recognized in this marvelous infant all the characters of the
divinity, and
he had scarcely seen the day before he was hailed God of
Gods.[290:12]
8. The infant
Buddha was presented with "costly jewels and precious
substances."[290:13]
8. The infant Jesus was presented with gifts of gold,
frankincense,
and myrrh.[290:14]
9. When
Buddha was an infant, just born, he spoke to his mother, and said:
"I am
the greatest among men."[290:15] 9. When Jesus was an infant in his
cradle, he
spoke to his mother, and said: "I am Jesus, the Son of
God."[290:16]
[Pg 291]10.
Buddha was a "dangerous child." His life was threatened by
King
Bimbasara, who was advised to destroy the child, as he was liable to
overthrow
him.[291:1] 10. Jesus was a "dangerous child." His life was
threatened by
King Herod,[291:2] who attempted to destroy the child, as he
was liable to
overthrow him.[291:3]
11. When sent
to school, the young Buddha surprised his masters. Without
having ever
studied, he completely worsted all his competitors, not only
in writing,
but in arithmetic, mathematics, metaphysics, astrology,
geometry,
&c.[291:4] 11. When sent to school, Jesus surprised his master
Zaccheus,
who, turning to Joseph, said: "Thou hast brought a boy to me to
be taught,
who is more learned than any master."[291:5]
12.
"When twelve years old the child Buddha is presented in the temple. He
explains and
asks learned questions; he excels all those who enter into
competition
with him."[291:6] 12. "And when he was twelve years old, they
brought him
to (the temple at) Jerusalem . . . . While in the temple among
the doctors
and elders, and learned men of Israel, he proposed several
questions of
learning, and also gave them answers."[291:7]
13. Buddha
entered a temple, on which occasion forthwith all the statues
rose and
threw themselves at his feet, in act of worship.[291:8] 13. "And
as Jesus was
going in by the ensigns, who carried the standards, the tops
of them bowed
down and worshiped Jesus."[291:9]
14. "The
ancestry of Gotama Buddha is traced from his father, Sodhōdana,
through
various individuals and races, all of royal dignity, to Maha
Sammata, the
first monarch of the world. Several of the names and some of
the events
are met with in the Puranas of the Brahmans, but it is not
possible to
reconcile one order of statement with the other; and it would
appear that
the Buddhist historians have introduced races, and invented
names, that
they may invest their venerated Sage with all the honors of
heraldry, in
addition to the attributes of divinity."[292:1] 14. The
ancestry of
Jesus is traced from his father, Joseph, through various
individuals,
nearly all of whom were of royal dignity, to Adam, the first
monarch of
the world. Several of the names, and some of the events, are
met with in
the sacred Scriptures of the Hebrews, but it is not possible
to reconcile
one order of statement with the other; and it would appear
that the
Christian historians have invented [Pg 292]and introduced names,
that they may
invest their venerated Sage with all the honors of heraldry,
in addition
to the attributes of divinity.[292:2]
15. When
Buddha was about to go forth "to adopt a religious life,"
Mara[292:3]
appeared before him, to tempt him.[292:4] 15. When Jesus was
about
"beginning to preach," the devil appeared before him, to tempt
him.[292:5]
16. Mara said
unto Buddha: "Go not forth to adopt a religious life, and in
seven days
thou shalt become an emperor of the world."[292:6] 16. The
devil said to
Jesus: If thou wilt fall down and worship me, I will give
thee all the
kingdoms of the world.[292:7]
17. Buddha
would not heed the words of the Evil One, and said to him: "Get
thee away
from me."[292:8] 17. Jesus would not heed the words of the Evil
One, and said
to him: "Get thee behind me, Satan."[292:9]
18. After
Mara had left Buddha, "the skies rained flowers, and delicious
odors
pervaded the air."[292:10] 18. After the devil had left Jesus,
"angels
came and ministered unto him."[292:11]
19. Buddha
fasted for a long period.[292:12] 19. Jesus fasted forty days
and
nights.[292:13]
20. Buddha,
the Saviour, was baptized, and at this recorded water baptism
the Spirit of
God was present; that is, not only the highest God, but also
the
"Holy Ghost," through whom the incarnation of Gautama Buddha is
recorded to have
been brought about by the descent of that Divine power
upon the
Virgin Maya.[292:14] 20. Jesus was baptized by John in the river
Jordan, at
which time the Spirit of God was present; that is, not only the
highest God,
but also the "Holy Ghost," through whom the incarnation of
Jesus is
recorded to have been brought about, by the descent of that
Divine power
upon the Virgin Mary.[292:15]
21. "On
one occasion toward the end of his life on earth, Gautama Buddha
is reported
to have been transfigured. When on a mountain in Ceylon,
suddenly a
flame of light descended upon him and encircled the crown of
his head with
a circle of light. The mount is called Pandava, or
yellow-white
color. It is said that 'the glory of his person shone forth
with double power,'
that his body was 'glorious as a bright golden image,'
that he
'shone as the brightness of the sun and moon,' that bystanders
expressed
their opinion, that he could not be 'an every-day person,' or 'a
mortal man,'
and that his body was divided into three[293:1] parts, from
each of which
a ray of light issued forth."[293:2] 21. On one occasion
during his
career on earth, Jesus is reported to have been transfigured:
"Jesus
taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up
into a high
mountain apart. And was transfigured before them: and his face
did shine as
the sun, and his raiment as white as the light."[292:16]
[Pg 293]22.
"Buddha performed great miracles for the good of mankind, and
the legends
concerning him are full of the greatest prodigies and
wonders."[293:3]
22. Jesus performed great miracles for the good of the
mankind, and
the legends concerning him are full of the greatest prodigies
and
wonders.[293:4]
23. By
prayers in the name of Buddha, his followers expect to receive the
rewards of
paradise.[293:5] 23. By prayers in the name of Jesus, his
followers
expect to receive the rewards of paradise.
24. When
Buddha died and was buried, "the coverings of the body unrolled
themselves,
and the lid of his coffin was opened by supernatural
powers."[293:6]
24. When Jesus died and was buried, the coverings of the
body were
unrolled from off him, and his tomb was opened by supernatural
powers.[293:7]
25. Buddha
ascended bodily to the celestial regions, when his mission on
earth was
fulfilled.[293:8] 25. Jesus ascended bodily to the celestial
regions, when
his mission on earth was fulfilled.[293:9]
26. Buddha is
to come upon the earth again in the latter days, his mission
being to
restore the world to order and happiness.[293:10] 26. Jesus is to
come upon the
earth again in the latter days, his mission being to restore
the world to
order and happiness.[293:11]
27. Buddha is
to be judge of the dead.[293:12] 27. Jesus is to be judge of
the
dead.[293:13]
28. Buddha is
Alpha and Omega, without beginning or end, "the Supreme
Being, the
Eternal One."[293:14] 28. Jesus is Alpha and Omega, without
beginning or
end,[293:15] "the Supreme Being, the Eternal One."[293:16]
29. Buddha is
represented as saying: "Let all the sins that were committed
in this world
fall on me, that the world may be delivered."[293:17] 29.
Jesus is
represented as the Saviour of mankind, and all the sins that are
committed in
this world may fall on him, that the world may be
delivered.[293:18]
30. Buddha
said: "Hide your good deeds, and confess before the world the
sins you have
committed."[293:19] 30. Jesus taught men to hide their good
deeds,[293:20]
and confess before the world the sins they had
committed.[293:21]
[Pg 294]31.
"Buddha was described as a superhuman organ of light, to whom
a superhuman
organ of darkness, Mara or Naga, the Evil Serpent, was
opposed."[294:1]
31. Jesus was described as a superhuman organ of
light—"the
Sun of Righteousness"[294:2]—opposed by "the old Serpent," the
Satan,
hinderer, or adversary.[294:3]
32. Buddha
came, not to destroy, but to fulfill, the law. He delighted in
"representing
himself as a mere link in a long chain of enlightened
teachers."[294:4]
32. Jesus said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the
law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill."[294:5]
33. "One
day Ananda, the disciple of Buddha, after a long walk in the
country,
meets with Mâtangî, a woman of the low caste of the Kândâlas,
near a well,
and asks her for some water. She tells him what she is, and
that she must
not come near him. But he replies, 'My sister, I ask not for
thy caste or
thy family, I ask only for a draught of water.' She
afterwards
became a disciple of Buddha."[294:6] 33. One day Jesus, after a
long walk,
cometh to the city of Samaria, and being wearied with his
journey, sat
on a well. While there, a woman of Samaria came to draw
water, and
Jesus said unto her: "give me to drink." "Then said the woman
unto him: How
is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a
woman of
Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the
Samaritans."[294:7]
34.
"According to Buddha, the motive of all our actions should be pity or
love for our
neighbor."[294:8] 34. "Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do
good to them that hate you."[294:9]
35. During
the early part of his career as a teacher, "Buddha went to the
city of
Benares, and there delivered a discourse, by which Kondanya, and
afterwards
four others, were induced to become his disciples. From that
period,
whenever he preached, multitudes of men and women embraced his
doctrines."[294:10]
35. During the early part of his career as a teacher,
Jesus went to
the city of Capernaum, and there delivered a discourse. It
was at this
time that four fishermen were induced to become his
disciples.[294:11]
From that period, whenever he preached, multitudes of
men and women
embraced his doctrines.[294:12]
36. Those who
became disciples of Buddha were told that they must
"renounce
the world," give up all their riches, and avow poverty.[294:13]
36. Those who
became disciples of Jesus were told that they must renounce
the world,
give up all their riches, and avow poverty.[294:14]
[Pg 295]37.
It is recorded in the "Sacred Canon" of the Buddhists that the
multitudes
"required a sign" from Buddha "that they might
believe."[295:1]
37. It is
recorded in the "Sacred Canon" of the Christians that the
multitudes
required a sign from Jesus that they might believe.[295:2]
38. When
Buddha's time on earth was about coming to a close, he,
"foreseeing
the things that would happen in future times," said to his
disciple
Ananda: "Ananda, when I am gone, you must not think there is no
Buddha; the
discourses I have delivered, and the precepts I have enjoined,
must be my
successors, or representatives, and be to you as
Buddha."[295:3]
38. When Jesus' time on earth was about coming to a close,
he told of
the things that would happen in future times,[295:4] and said
unto his
disciples: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, teaching them
to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with
you alway,
even unto the end of the world."[295:5]
39. In the
Buddhist Somadeva, is to be found the following: "To give away
our riches is
considered the most difficult virtue in the world; he who
gives away
his riches is like a man who gives away his life: for our very
life seems to
cling to our riches. But Buddha, when his mind was moved by
pity, gave
his life like grass, for the sake of others; why should we
think of
miserable riches! By this exalted virtue, Buddha, when he was
freed from
all desires, and had obtained divine knowledge, attained unto
Buddhahood.
Therefore let a wise man, after he has turned away his desires
from all
pleasures, do good to all beings, even unto sacrificing his own
life, that
thus he may attain to true knowledge."[295:6] 39. "And behold,
one came and
said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that
I may have
eternal life? . . . Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be
perfect, go
and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure
in heaven: and come and follow me."[295:7] "Lay not up for
yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves
break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do
not break
through nor steal."[295:8]
40. Buddha's
aim was to establish a "Religious Kingdom," a "Kingdom of
Heaven."[296:1]
[Pg 296]40. "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to
say, Repent:
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."[296:2]
41. Buddha
said: "I now desire to turn the wheel of the excellent
law.[296:3]
For this purpose am I going to the city of Benares,[296:4] to
give light to
those enshrouded in darkness, and to open the gate of
Immortality
to man."[296:5] 41. Jesus, after his temptation by the devil,
began to
establish the dominion of his religion, and he went for this
purpose to
the city of Capernaum. "The people which sat in darkness saw
great light,
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death,
light is
sprung up."[296:6]
42. Buddha
said: "Though the heavens were to fall to earth, and the great
world be
swallowed up and pass away: Though Mount Sumera were to crack to
pieces, and
the great ocean be dried up, yet, Ananda, be assured, the
words of
Buddha are true."[296:7] 42. "The law was given by Moses, but
grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ."[296:8]
"Verily
I say unto you . . . heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall
not pass away."[296:9]
43. Buddha
said: "There is no passion more violent than voluptuousness.
Happily there
is but one such passion. If there were two, not a man in the
whole
universe could follow the truth." "Beware of fixing your eyes upon
women. If you
find yourself in their company, let it be as though you were
not present.
If you speak with them, guard well your hearts."[296:10] 43.
Jesus said:
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time. Thou
shalt not
commit adultery: But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a
woman to lust
after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his
heart."[296:11]
44. Buddha
said: "A wise man should avoid married life as if it were a
burning pit
of live coals. One who is not able to live in a state of
celibacy
should not commit adultery."[297:1] 44. "It is good for a man not
to touch a
woman," "but if they cannot [Pg 297]contain let them marry, for
it is better
to marry than to burn." "To avoid fornication, let every man
have his own
wife and let every woman have her own husband."[297:2]
45.
"Buddhism is convinced that if a man reaps sorrow, disappointment,
pain, he
himself, and no other, must at some time have sown folly, error,
sin; and if
not in this life then in some former birth."[297:3] 45. "And
as Jesus
passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his
disciples
asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his
parents, that
he was born blind."[297:4]
46. Buddha
knew the thoughts of others: "By directing his mind to the
thoughts of
others, he can know the thoughts of all beings."[297:5] 46.
Jesus knew
the thoughts of others. By directing his mind to the thoughts
of others, he
knew the thoughts of all beings.[297:6]
47. In the
Somadeva a story is related of a Buddhist ascetic whose eye
offended him,
he therefore plucked it out, and cast it away.[297:7] 47. It
is related in
the New Testament that Jesus said: "If thy right eye offend
thee, pluck
it out, and cast it from thee."[297:8]
48. When
Buddha was about to become an ascetic, and when riding on the
horse
"Kantako," his path was strewn with flowers, thrown there by
Devas.[297:9]
48. When Jesus was entering Jerusalem, riding on an ass, his
path was
strewn with palm branches, thrown there by the multitude.[297:10]
Never were
devotees of any creed or faith as fast bound in its thraldom as are
the disciples
of Gautama Buddha. For nearly two thousand four hundred years it
has been the
established religion of Burmah, Siam, Laos, Pega, Cambodia, Thibet,
Japan,
Tartary, Ceylon and Loo-Choo, and many neighboring islands, beside about
two-thirds of
China and a large portion of Siberia; and at the present day no
inconsiderable
number of the simple peasantry of Swedish Lapland are found among
its firm
adherents.[297:11]
[Pg 298]Well
authenticated records establish indisputably the facts, that
together with
a noble physique, superior mental endowments, and high moral
excellence,
there were found in Buddha a purity of life, sanctity of character,
and simple
integrity of purpose, that commended themselves to all brought under
his
influence. Even at this distant day, one cannot listen with tearless eyes to
the touching
details of his pure, earnest life, and patient endurance under
contradiction,
often fierce persecution for those he sought to benefit.
Altogether he
seems to have been one of those remarkable examples, of genius and
virtue
occasionally met with, unaccountably superior to the age and nation that
produced
them.
There is no
reason to believe that he ever arrogated to himself any higher
authority
than that of a teacher of religion, but, as in modern factions, there
were readily
found among his followers those who carried his peculiar tenets
much further than
their founder. These, not content with lauding during his
life-time the
noble deeds of their teacher, exalted him, within a quarter of a
century after
his death, to a place among their deities—worshiping as a God one
they had
known only as a simple-hearted, earnest, truth-seeking
philanthropist.[298:1]
This worship
was at first but the natural upgushing of the veneration and love
Gautama had
inspired during his noble life, and his sorrowing disciples,
mourning over
the desolation his death had occasioned, turned for consolation to
the theory
that he still lived.
Those who had
known him in life cherished his name as the very synonym of all
that was
generous and good, and it required but a step to exalt him to divine
honors; and
so it was that Gautama Buddha became a God, and continues to be
worshiped as
such.
For more than
forty years Gautama thus dwelt among his followers, instructing
them daily in
the sacred law, and laying down [Pg 299]many rules for their
guidance when
he should be no longer with them.[299:1]
He lived in a
style the most simple and unostentatious, bore uncomplainingly the
weariness and
privations incident to the many long journeys made for the
propagation
of the new faith; and performed countless deeds of love and mercy.
"When
the time came for him to be perfected, he directed his followers no longer
to remain
together, but to go out in companies, and proclaim the doctrines he
had taught
them, found schools and monasteries, build temples, and perform acts
of charity,
that they might 'obtain merit,' and gain access to the blessed shade
of Nigban,
which he told them he was about to enter, and where they believe he
has now
reposed more than two thousand years."
To the pious
Buddhist it seems irreverent to speak of Gautama by his mere
ordinary and
human name, and he makes use therefore, of one of those numerous
epithets
which are used only of the Buddha, "the Enlightened One." Such are
Sakya-sinha,
"the Lion of the Tribe of Sakya;" Sakya-muni, "the Sakya
Sage;"
Sugata, "the
Happy One;" Sattha, "the Teacher;" Jina, "the
Conqueror;" Bhagavad,
"the
Blessed One;" Loka-natha, "the Lord of the World;" Sarvajna,
"the
Omniscient
One;" Dharma-raja, "the King of Righteousness;" he is also
called
"the
Author of Happiness," "the Possessor of All," "the Supreme
Being," "the
Eternal
One," "the Dispeller of Pain and Trouble," "the Guardian of
the
Universe,"
"the Emblem of Mercy," "the Saviour of the World,"
"the Great
Physician,"
"the God among Gods," "the Anointed" or "the Christ,"
"the Messiah,"
"the
Only-Begotten," "the Heaven-Descended Mortal," "the Way of
Life, and of
Immortality,"
&c.[299:2]
At no time
did Buddha receive his knowledge from a human [Pg 300]source, that
is, from
flesh and blood. His source was the power of his divine wisdom, the
spiritual
power of Maya, which he already possessed before his incarnation. It
was by this
divine power, which is also called the "Holy Ghost," that he became
the Saviour,
the Kung-teng, the Anointed or Messiah, to whom prophecies had
pointed.
Buddha was regarded as the supernatural light of the world; and this
world to
which he came was his own, his possession, for he is styled: "The Lord
of the
World."[300:1]
"Gautama
Buddha taught that all men are brothers;[300:2] that charity ought to
be extended
to all, even to enemies; that men ought to love truth and hate the
lie; that
good works ought not be done openly, but rather in secret; that the
dangers of
riches are to be avoided; that man's highest aim ought to be purity
in thought,
word and deed, since the higher beings are pure, whose nature is
akin to that
of man."[300:3]
"Sakya-Muni
healed the sick, performed miracles and taught his doctrines to the
poor. He
selected his first disciples among laymen, and even two women, the
mother and
wife of his first convert, the sick Yasa, became his followers. He
subjected
himself to the religious obligations imposed by the recognized
authorities,
avoided strife, and illustrated his doctrines by his life."[300:4]
It is said
that eighty thousand followers of Buddha went forth from Hindostan,
as
missionaries to other lands; and the traditions of various countries are full
of legends
concerning their benevolence, holiness, and miraculous power. His
religion has
never been propagated by the sword. It has been effected entirely
by the
influence of peaceable and persevering devotees.[300:5] The era of the
Siamese is
the death of Buddha. In Ceylon, they date from the introduction of
his religion
into their island. It is supposed to be more extensively adopted
than any
religion that ever existed. Its votaries are computed at four hundred
millions;
more than one-third of the whole human race.[300:6]
There is much
contradiction among writers concerning the date [Pg 301]of the
Buddhist religion.
This confusion arises from the fact that there are several
Buddhas,[301:1]
objects of worship; because the word is not a name, but a title,
signifying an
extraordinary degree of holiness. Those who have examined the
subject most
deeply have generally agreed that Buddha Sakai, from whom the
religion
takes its name, must have been a real, historical personage, who
appeared many
centuries before the time assigned for the birth of Christ
Jesus.[301:2]
There are many things to confirm this supposition. In some
portions of
India, his religion appears to have flourished for a long time side
by side with
that of the Brahmans. This is shown by the existence of many
ancient
temples, some of them cut in subterranean rock, with an immensity of
labor, which
it must have required a long period to accomplish. In those old
temples, his
statues represent him with hair knotted all over his head, which
was a very
ancient custom with the anchorites of Hindostan, before the practice
of shaving
the head was introduced among their devotees.[301:3] His religion is
also
mentioned in one of the very ancient epic poems of India. The severity of
the
persecution indicates that their numbers and influence had became formidable
to the
Brahmans, who had everything to fear from a sect which abolished
hereditary
priesthood, and allowed the holy of all castes to become
teachers.[301:4]
It may be
observed that in speaking of the pre-existence of Buddha in heaven—his
birth of a
virgin—the songs of the angels at his birth—his recognition as a
divine
child—his disputation with the doctors—his temptation in the
wilderness—his
transfiguration on the Mount—his life of preaching and working
miracles—and
finally, his ascension into heaven, we referred to Prof. Samuel
Beal's
"History of Buddha," as one of our authorities. This work is simply a
translation
of the "Fo-pen-hing," made by Professor Beal from a Chinese copy, in
the
"Indian Office Library."
[Pg 302]Now,
in regard to the antiquity of this work, we will quote the words of
the
translator in speaking on this subject.
First, he
says:
"We know
that the Fo-pen-hing was translated into Chinese from Sanscrit (the
ancient
language of Hindostan) so early as the eleventh year of the reign of
Wing-ping
(Ming-ti), of the Han dynasty, i. e., 69 or 70 A. D. We may,
therefore,
safely suppose that the original work was in circulation in India for
some time
previous to this date."[302:1]
Again, he
says:
"There
can be no doubt that the present work (i. e. the Fo-pen-hing, or Hist. of
Buddha)
contains as a woof (so to speak) some of the earliest verses (Gâthas) in
which the
History of Buddha was sung, long before the work itself was penned.
"These
Gâthas were evidently composed in different Prakrit forms (during a
period of disintegration)
before the more modern type of Sanscrit was fixed by
the rules of
Panini, and the popular epics of the Mâhabharata and the
Ramâyana."[302:2]
Again, in
speaking of the points of resemblance in the history of Buddha and
Jesus, he
says:
"These
points of agreement with the Gospel narrative naturally arouse curiosity
and require
explanation. If we could prove that they (the legends related of
Buddha) were
unknown in the East for some centuries after Christ, the
explanation
would be easy. But all the evidence we have goes to prove the
contrary.
"It
would be a natural inference that many of the events in the legend of Buddha
were borrowed
from the Apocryphal Gospels, if we were quite certain that these
Apocryphal
Gospels had not borrowed from it. How then may we explain the matter?
It would be
better at once to say that in our present state of knowledge there
is no
complete explanation to offer."[302:3]
There
certainly is no "complete explanation" to be offered by one who
attempts
to uphold the
historical accuracy of the New Testament. The "Devil" and
"Type"
theories
having vanished, like all theories built on sand, nothing now remains
for the
honest man to do but acknowledge the truth, which is, that the history
of Jesus of
Nazareth as related in the books of the New Testament, is simply a
copy of that
of Buddha, with a mixture of mythology borrowed from other nations.
Ernest de
Bunsen almost acknowledges this when he says:
"With
the remarkable exception of the death of Jesus on the cross, and of the
doctrine of
atonement by vicarious suffering, which is absolutely excluded by
Buddhism, the
most ancient of the Buddhistic records known to us contain
statements
about the life and the doctrines of Gautama Buddha which correspond
in a remarkable
manner, and impossibly by mere chance, with the traditions
recorded in
the Gospels about the life and doctrines of Jesus Christ. It is
still more
strange that these Buddhistic legends about Gautama as the
Angel-Messiah
refer to a doctrine which we find only in the Epistles of Paul and
in the [Pg
303]fourth Gospel. This can be explained by the assumption of a
common source
of revelation; but then the serious question must be considered,
why the
doctrine of the Angel-Messiah, supposing it to have been revealed, and
which we find
in the East and in the West, is not contained in any of the
Scriptures of
the Old Testament which can possibly have been written before the
Babylonian
Captivity, nor in the first three Gospels. Can the systematic
keeping-back
of essential truth be attributed to God or to man?"[303:1]
Beside the
work referred to above as being translated by Prof. Beal, there is
another copy
originally composed in verse. This was translated by the learned
Fonceau, who
gives it an antiquity of two thousand years, "although the original
treatise must
be attributed to an earlier date."[303:2]
In regard to
the teachings of Buddha, which correspond so strikingly with those
of Jesus,
Prof. Rhys Davids, says:
"With
regard to Gautama's teaching we have more reliable authority than we have
with regard
to his life. It is true that none of the books of the Three Pitakas
can at
present be satisfactorily traced back before the Council of Asoka, held
at Patna,
about 250 B. C., that is to say, at least one hundred and thirty years
after the
death of the teacher; but they undoubtedly contain a great deal of
much older
matter."[303:3]
Prof. Max
Müller says:
"Between
the language of Buddha and his disciples, and the language of Christ
and his apostles,
there are strange coincidences. Even some of the Buddhist
legends and
parables sound as if taken from the New Testament; though we know
that many of
them existed before the beginning of the Christian Era."[303:4]
Just as many
of the myths related of the Hindoo Saviour Crishna were previously
current
regarding some of the Vedic gods, so likewise, many of the myths
previously
current regarding the god Sumana, worshiped both on Adam's peak, and
at the cave
of Dambulla, were added to the Buddha myth.[303:5] Much of the
legend which
was transferred to the Buddha, had previously existed, and had
clustered
around the idea of a Chakrawarti.[303:6] Thus we see that the legend
of Christ
Buddha, as with the legend of Christ Jesus, existed before his
time.[303:7]
[Pg 304]We
have established the fact then—and no man can produce better
authorities—that
Buddha and Buddhism, which correspond in such a remarkable
manner with
Jesus and Christianity, were long anterior to the Christian era.
Now, as
Ernest de Bunsen says, this remarkable similarity in the histories of
the founders
and their religion, could not possibly happen by chance.
Whenever two
religious or legendary histories of mythological personages
resemble each
other so completely as do the histories and teachings of Buddha
and Jesus,
the older must be the parent, and the younger the child. We must
therefore
conclude that, since the history of Buddha and Buddhism is very much
older than
that of Jesus and Christianity, the Christians are incontestably
either
sectarians or plagiarists of the religion of the Buddhists.
FOOTNOTES:
[289:1] Maya,
and Mary, as we have already seen, are one and the same name.
[289:2] See
chap. xii. Buddha is considered to be an incarnation of Vishnu,
although he
preached against the doctrines of the Brahmans. The adoption of
Buddha as an
incarnation of Vishnu was really owning to the desire of the
Brahmans to
effect a compromise with Buddhism. (See Williams' Hinduism, pp. 82
and 108.)
"Buddha
was brought forth not from the matrix, but from the right side, of a
virgin."
(De Guignes: Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 224.)
"Some of
the (Christian) heretics maintained that Christ was born from the side
of his
mother." (Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 157.)
"In the
eyes of the Buddhists, this personage is sometimes a man and sometimes a
god, or
rather both one and the other, a divine incarnation, a man-god; who came
into the
world to enlighten men, to redeem them, and to indicate to them the way
of safety.
This idea of redemption by a divine incarnation is so general and
popular among
the Buddhists, that during our travels in Upper Asia, we
everywhere
found it expressed in a neat formula. If we addressed to a Mongol or
Thibetan the
question, 'Who is Buddha?' he would immediately reply, 'The Saviour
of
Men.'" (M. L'Abbé Huc: Travels, vol. i. p. 326.)
"The
miraculous birth of Buddha, his life and instructions, contain a great
number of the
moral and dogmatic truths professed in Christianity." (Ibid. p.
327.)
"He in
mercy left paradise, and came down to earth because he was filled with
compassion
for the sins and misery of mankind. He sought to lead them into
better paths,
and took their sufferings upon himself, that he might expiate
their crimes,
and mitigate the punishment they must otherwise inevitably
undergo."
(L. Maria Child.)
[289:3] Matt.
ch. i.
[289:4] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 10, 25 and 44. Also, ch. xiii. this
work.
[290:1]
"As a spirit in the fourth heaven he resolves to give up all that glory
in order to
be born in the world for the purpose of rescuing all men from their
misery and
every future consequence of it: he vows to deliver all men who are
left as it
were without a Saviour." (Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 20.)
[290:2] See
King's Gnostics, p. 168, and Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 144.
[290:3] See
chap. xii. note 2, page 117.
"On a
painted glass of the sixteenth century, found in the church of Jouy, a
little
village in France, the Virgin is represented standing, her hands clasped
in prayer,
and the naked body of the child in the same attitude appears upon her
stomach,
apparently supposed to be seen through the garments and body of the
mother. M.
Drydon saw at Lyons a Salutation painted on shutters, in which the
two infants
(Jesus and John) likewise depicted on their mothers' stomachs, were
also saluting
each other. This precisely corresponds to Buddhist accounts of the
Boddhisattvas
ante-natal proceedings." (Viscount Amberly: Analysis of Relig.
Belief, p.
224, note.)
[290:4] See
chap. xiii.
[290:5] Matt.
ii. 1, 2.
[290:6]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. x.
[290:7] We
show, in our chapter on "The Birth-Day of Christ Jesus," that this
was not the
case. This day was adopted by his followers long after his death.
[290:8]
"Devas," i. e., angels.
[290:9] See
chap. xiv.
[290:10]
Luke, ii. 13, 14.
[290:11] See
chap. xv.
[290:12]
Matt. ii. 1-11.
[290:13] See
chap. xi.
[290:14]
Matt. ii. 11.
[290:15] See
Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, pp. 145, 146.
[290:16]
Gospel of Infancy, Apoc., i. 3. No sooner was Apollo born than he spoke
to his
virgin-mother, declaring that he should teach to men the councils of his
heavenly
father Zeus. (See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 22.) Hermes spoke
to his mother
as soon as he was born, and, according to Jewish tradition, so did
Moses. (See
Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 145.)
[291:1] See
Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 103, 104.
[291:2] See
Matt. ii. 1.
[291:3] That
is, provided he was the expected Messiah, who was to be a mighty
prince and
warrior, and who was to rule his people Israel.
[291:4] See
Hardy's Manual of Buddhism; Bunsen's Angel-Messiah; Beal's Hist.
Buddha, and
other works on Buddhism.
This was a
common myth. For instance: A Brahman called Dashthaka, a "heaven
descended
mortal," after his birth, without any human instruction whatever, was
able
thoroughly to explain the four Vedas, the collective body of the sacred
writings of
the Hindoos, which were considered as directly revealed by Brahma.
(See Beal's
Hist. Buddha, p. 48.)
Confucius,
the miraculous-born Chinese sage, was a wonderful child. At the age
of seven he
went to a public school, the superior of which was a person of
eminent
wisdom and piety. The faculty with which Confucius imbibed the lessons
of his
master, the ascendency which he acquired amongst his fellow pupils, and
the
superiority of his genius and capacity, raised universal admiration. He
appeared to
acquire knowledge intuitively, and his mother found it superfluous
to teach him
what "heaven had already engraven upon his heart." (See Thornton's
Hist. China,
vol. i. p. 153.)
[291:5] See
Infancy, Apoc., xx. 11, and Luke, ii. 46, 47.
[291:6] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 37, and Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 67-69.
[291:7] See
Infancy, Apoc., xxi. 1, 2, and Luke, ii. 41-48.
[291:8] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 37, and Beal: Hist. Bud. 67-69.
[291:9]
Nicodemus, Apoc., ch. i. 20.
[292:1] R.
Spence Hardy, in Manual of Buddhism.
[292:2] See
chap. xvii.
[292:3]
"Mara" is the "Author of Evil," the "King of
Death," the "God of the
World of
Pleasure," &c., i. e., the Devil. (See Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 36.)
[292:4] See
ch. xix.
[292:5] Matt.
iv. 1-18.
[292:6] See
ch. xix.
[292:7] Matt.
iv. 8-19.
[292:8] See
ch. xix.
[292:9] Luke,
iv. 8.
[292:10] See
ch. xix.
[292:11]
Matt. iv. 11.
[292:12] See
ch. xix.
[292:13]
Matt. iv. 2.
[292:14]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 45.
[292:15]
Matt. iii. 13-17.
[292:16]
Matt. xvii. 1, 2.
[293:1] This
has evidently an allusion to the Trinity. Buddha, as an incarnation
of Vishnu,
would be one god and yet three, three gods and yet one. (See the
chapter on
the Trinity.)
[293:2] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 45, and Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 177.
Iamblichus,
the great Neo-Platonic mystic, was at one time transfigured.
According to
the report of his servants, while in prayer to the gods, his body
and clothes
were changed to a beautiful gold color, but after he ceased from
prayer, his
body became as before. He then returned to the society of his
followers.
(Primitive Culture, i. 136, 137.)
[293:3] See
ch. xxvii.
[293:4] See
that recorded in Matt. viii. 28-34.
[293:5] See
ch. xxiii.
[293:6]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 49.
[293:7] See
Matt. xxviii. John, xx.
[293:8] See
chap. xxiii.
[293:9] See
Acts, i. 9-12.
[293:10] See
ch. xxiv.
[293:11] See
Ibid.
[293:12] See
ch. xxv.
[293:13] Matt.
xvi. 27; John, v. 22.
[293:14]
"Buddha, the Angel-Messiah, was regarded as the divinely chosen and
incarnate
messenger, the vicar of God, and God himself on earth." (Bunsen: The
Angel-Messiah,
p. 33. See also, our chap. xxvi.)
[293:15] Rev.
i. 8; xxii. 13.
[293:16]
John, i. 1. Titus, ii. 13. Romans, ix. 5. Acts, vii. 59, 60.
[293:17]
Müller: Hist. Sanscrit Literature, p. 80.
[293:18] This
is according to Christian dogma:
"Jesus
paid it all,
All to him is
due,
Nothing,
either great or small,
Remains for
me to do."
[293:19]
Müller: Science of Religion, p. 28.
[293:20]
"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:
otherwise ye
have no reward of your father which is in heaven." (Matt. vi. 1.)
[293:21]
"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye
may be
healed." (James, v. 16.)
[294:1]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, pp. x. and 39.
[294:2]
"That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world."
(John, i. 9.)
[294:3] Matt.
iv. 1; Mark, i. 13; Luke, iv. 2.
[294:4]
Müller: Science of Religion, p. 140.
[294:5] Matt.
v. 17.
[294:6]
Müller: Science of Religion, p. 243. See also, Bunsen's Angel-Messiah,
pp. 47, 48,
and Amberly's Analysis, p. 285.
[294:7] John,
iv. 1-11.
Just as the
Samaritan woman wondered that Jesus, a Jew, should ask drink of her,
one of a
nation with whom the Jews had no dealings, so this young Matangi warned
Ananda of her
caste, which rendered it unlawful for her to approach a monk. And
as Jesus
continued, nevertheless, to converse with the woman, so Ananda did not
shrink from
this outcast damsel. And as the disciples "marvelled" that Jesus
should have
conversed with this member of a despised race, so the respectable
Brahmans and
householders who adhered to Brahmanism were scandalized to learn
that the
young Matangi had been admitted to the order of mendicants.
[294:8]
Müller: Religion of Science, p. 249.
[294:9] Matt.
v. 44.
[294:10]
Hardy: Eastern Monachism, p. 6.
[294:11] See
Matt. iv. 13-25.
[294:12]
"And there followed him great multitudes of people." (Matt. iv. 25.)
[294:13]
Hardy: Eastern Monachism, pp. 6 and 62 et seq.
While at
Rajageiha Buddha called together his followers and addressed them at
some length
on the means requisite for Buddhist salvation. This sermon was
summed up in
the celebrated verse:
"To
cease from all sin,
To get
virtue,
To cleanse
one's own heart—
This is the
religion of the Buddhas."
(Rhys David's
Buddha, p. 62.)
[294:14] See
Matt. viii. 19, 20; xvi. 25-28.
[295:1]
Müller: Science of Religion, p. 27.
[295:2]
Hardy: Eastern Monachism, p. 230.
"Gautama
Buddha is said to have announced to his disciples that the time of his
departure had
come: 'Arise, let us go hence, my time is come.' Turned toward the
East and with
folded arms he prayed to the highest spirit who inhabits the
region of
purest light, to Maha-Brahma, to the king in heaven, to Devaraja, who
from his
throne looked down on Gautama, and appeared to him in a self-chosen
personality."
(Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah. Compare with Matt. xxvi. 36-47.)
[295:3]
"Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we
would see a
sign from thee." (Matt. xii. 38.)
[295:4] See
Matt. xxiv; Mark, viii. 31; Luke, ix. 18.
[295:5] Mark,
xxviii. 18-20.
Buddha at one
time said to his disciples: "Go ye now, and preach the most
excellent
law, expounding every point thereof, and unfolding it with care and
attention in
all its bearings and particulars. Explain the beginning, the
middle, and
the end of the law, to all men without exception; let everything
respecting it
be made publicly known and brought to the broad daylight." (Rhys
David's
Buddhism, p. 55, 56.)
When Buddha,
just before his death, took his last formal farewell of his
assembled
followers, he said unto them: "Oh mendicants, thoroughly learn, and
practice, and
perfect, and spread abroad the law thought out and revealed by me,
in order that
this religion of mine may last long, and be perpetuated for the
good and
happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the
advantage and
prosperity of gods and men." (Ibid. p. 172.)
[295:6]
Müller: Science of Religion, p. 244.
[295:7] Matt.
xix. 16-21.
[295:8] Matt.
vi. 19, 20.
[296:1] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, p. x, note.
[296:2] Matt.
iv. 17.
[296:3] i.
e., to establish the dominion of religion. (See Beal: p. 244, note.)
[296:4] The
Jerusalem, the Rome, or the Mecca of India.
This
celebrated city of Benares, which has a population of 200,000, out of which
at least
25,000 are Brahmans, was probably one of the first to acquire a fame
for sanctity,
and it has always maintained its reputation as the most sacred
spot in all
India. Here, in this fortress of Hindooism, Brahmanism displays
itself in all
its plentitude and power. Here the degrading effect of idolatry is
visibly
demonstrated as it is nowhere else except in the extreme south of India.
Here,
temples, idols, and symbols, sacred wells, springs, and pools, are
multiplied
beyond all calculation. Here every particle of ground is believed to
be hallowed,
and the very air holy. The number of temples is at least two
thousand, not
counting innumerable smaller shrines. In the principal temple of
Siva, called
Visvesvara, are collected in one spot several thousand idols and
symbols, the
whole number scattered throughout the city, being, it is thought,
at least half
a million.
Benares,
indeed, must always be regarded as the Hindoo's Jerusalem. The desire
of a pious
man's life is to accomplish at least one pilgrimage to what he
regards as a
portion of heaven let down upon earth; and if he can die within the
holy circuit
of the Pancakosi stretching with a radius of ten miles around the
city—nay, if
any human being die there, be he Asiatic or European—no previously
incurred
guilt, however heinous, can prevent his attainment of celestial bliss.
[296:5] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, p. 245.
[296:6] Matt.
iv. 13-17.
[296:7] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, p. 11.
[296:8] John,
i. 17.
[296:9] Luke,
xxi. 32, 33.
[296:10]
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 228.
[296:11]
Matt. v. 27, 28.
On one occasion
Buddha preached a sermon on the five senses and the heart (which
he regarded
as a sixth organ of sense), which pertained to guarding against the
passion of
lust. Rhys Davids, who, in speaking of this sermon, says: "One may
pause and
wonder at finding such a sermon preached so early in the history of
the
world—more than 400 years before the rise of Christianity—and among a people
who have long
been thought peculiarly idolatrous and sensual." (Buddhism, p.
60.)
[297:1] Rhys
Davids' Buddhism, p. 138.
[297:2] I.
Corinth. vii. 1-7.
[297:3] Rhys
Davids' Buddhism, p. 103.
[297:4] John,
ix. 1, 2.
This is the
doctrine of transmigration clearly taught. If this man was born
blind, as
punishment for some sin committed by him, this sin must have been
committed in
some former birth.
[297:5]
Hardy: Buddhist Legends, p. 181.
[297:6] See
the story of his conversation with the woman of Samaria. (John, iv.
1.) And with
the woman who was cured of the "bloody issue." (Matt. ix. 20.)
[297:7]
Müller: Science of Religion, p. 245.
[297:8] Matt.
v. 29.
[297:9]
Hardy: Buddhist Legends, p. 134.
[297:10]
Matt. xxi. 1-9.
Bacchus rode
in a triumphal procession, on approaching the city of Thebes.
"Pantheus,
the king, who had no respect for the new worship (instituted by
Bacchus)
forbade its rites to be performed. But when it was known that Bacchus
was
advancing, men and women, but chiefly the latter, young and old, poured
forth to meet
him and to join his triumphal march. . . . It was in vain Pantheus
remonstrated,
commanded and threatened. 'Go,' said he to his attendants, 'seize
this vagabond
leader of the rout and bring him to me. I will soon make him
confess his
false claim of heavenly parentage and renounce his counterfeit
worship.'"
(Bulfinch: Age of Fable, p. 222. Compare with Matt. xxvi.; Luke,
xxii.; John
xviii.)
[297:11]
"There are few names among the men of the West that stand forth as
saliently as
Gotama Buddha, in the annals of the East. In little more than two
centuries
from his decease the system he established had spread throughout the
whole of
India, overcoming opposition the most formidable, and binding together
the most
discordant elements; and at the present moment Buddhism is the
prevailing
religion, under various modifications, of Tibet, Nepal, Siam, Burma,
Japan, and
South Ceylon; and in China it has a position of at least equal
prominence
with its two great rivals, Confucianism and Taouism. A long time its
influence
extended throughout nearly three-fourths of Asia; from the steppes of
Tartary to
the palm groves of Ceylon, and from the vale of Cashmere to the isles
of
Japan." (R. Spence Hardy: Buddhist Leg. p. xi.)
[298:1]
"Gautama was very early regarded as omniscient, and absolutely sinless.
His perfect
wisdom is declared by the ancient epithet of Samma-sambuddha, 'the
Completely
Enlightened One;' found at the commencement of every Pali text; and
at the
present day, in Ceylon, the usual way in which Gautama is styled is
Sarwajnan-wahanse,'
the Venerable Omniscient One.' From his perfect wisdom,
according to
Buddhist belief, his sinlessness would follow as a matter of
course. He
was the first and the greatest of the Arahats. As a consequence of
this doctrine
the belief soon sprang up that he could not have been, that he was
not, born as ordinary
men are; that he had no earthly father; that he descended
of his own
accord into his mother's womb from his throne in heaven; and that he
gave
unmistakable signs, immediately after his birth of his high character and
of his future
greatness." (Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 162.)
[299:1]
Gautama Buddha left behind him no written works, but the Buddhists
believe that
he composed works which his immediate disciples learned by heart in
his
life-time, and which were handed down by memory in their original state
until they
were committed to writing. This is not impossible: it is known that
the Vedas
were handed down in this manner for many hundreds of years, and none
would now
dispute the enormous powers of memory to which Indian priests and
monks attained,
when written books were not invented, or only used as helps to
memory. Even
though they are well acquainted with writing, the monks in Ceylon
do not use
books in their religions services, but, repeat, for instance, the
whole of the
Patimokkha on Uposatha (Sabbath) days by heart. (See Rhys Davids'
Buddhism, pp.
9, 10.)
[299:2]
Compare this with the names, titles, and characters given to Jesus. He
is called the
"Deliverer," (Acts, vii. 35); the "First Begotten" (Rev. i.
5);
"God
blessed forever" (Rom. ix. 5); the "Holy One" (Luke, iv. 34;
Acts, iii.
14); the
"King Everlasting" (Luke, i. 33); "King of Kings" (Rev.
xvii. 14);
"Lamb of
God" (John, i. 29, 36); "Lord of Glory" (I. Cor. ii. 8);
"Lord of
Lords"
(Rev. xvii. 14); "Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. v. 5);
"Maker and
Preserver of
all things" (John, i. 3, 10; I. Cor. viii. 6; Col. i. 16); "Prince
of
Peace" (Isai. ix. 6); "Redeemer," "Saviour,"
"Mediator," "Word," &c., &c.
[300:1]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 41.
[300:2]
"He joined to his gifts as a thinker a prophetic ardor and missionary
zeal which
prompted him to popularize his doctrine, and to preach to all without
exception,
men and women, high and low, ignorant and learned alike." (Rhys
Davids'
Buddhism, p. 53.)
[300:3]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 45.
[300:4] Ibid.
p. 46.
[300:5]
"The success of Buddhism was in great part due to the reverence the
Buddha
inspired by his own personal character. He practiced honestly what he
preached
enthusiastically. He was sincere, energetic, earnest, self-sacrificing,
and devout.
Adherents gathered in thousands around the person of the consistent
preacher, and
the Buddha himself became the real centre of Buddhism." (Williams'
Hinduism, p.
102.)
[300:6]
"It may be said to be the prevailing religion of the world. Its
adherents are
estimated at four hundred millions, more than a third of the human
race."
(Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Buddhism." See also, Bunsen's
Angel-Messiah,
p. 251.)
[301:1] It
should be understood that the Buddha of this chapter, and in fact,
the Buddha of
this work, is Gautama Buddha, the Sakya Prince. According to
Buddhist
belief there have been many different Buddhas on earth. The names of
twenty-four
of the Buddhas who appeared previous to Gautama have been handed
down to us.
The Buddhavansa or "History of the Buddhas," gives the lives of all
the previous
Buddhas before commencing the account of Gautama himself. (See Rhys
Davids'
Buddhism, pp. 179, 180.)
[301:2]
"The date usually fixed for Buddha's death is 543 B. C. Whether this
precise year
for one of the greatest epochs in the religious history of the
human race
can be accepted is doubtful, but it is tolerably certain that
Buddhism
arose in Behar and Eastern Hindustan about five centuries B. C.; and
that it spread
with great rapidity, not by force of arms, or coercion of any
kind, like
Muhammedanism, but by the sheer persuasiveness of its doctrine."
(Monier
Williams' Hinduism, p. 72.)
[301:3]
"Of the high antiquity of Buddhism there is much collateral as well as
direct
evidence—evidence that neither internecine nor foreign strife, not even
religious
persecution, has been able to destroy. . . . Witness the gigantic
images in the
caves of Elephanta, near Bombay and those of Lingi Sara, in the
interior of
Java, all of which are known to have been in existence at least four
centuries
prior to our Lord's advent." (The Mammoth Religion.)
[301:4]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 250.
[302:1] Beal:
Hist. Buddha, p. vi.
[302:2] Ibid.
pp. x. and xi.
[302:3] Ibid.
pp. vii., ix. and note.
[303:1]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 50.
[303:2]
Quoted by Prof. Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. viii.
[303:3] Rhys
Davids' Buddhism, p. 86.
[303:4]
Science of Religion, p. 243.
[303:5] Rhys
Davids' Buddhism.
[303:6] Ibid.
p. 184.
"It is
surprising," says Rhys Davids, "that, like Romans worshiping
Augustus, or
Greeks adding
the glow of the sun-myth to the glory of Alexander, the Indians
should have
formed an ideal of their Chakravarti, and transferred to this new
ideal many of
the dimly sacred and half understood traits of the Vedic heroes?
Is it
surprising that the Buddhists should have found it edifying to recognize
in their hero
the Chakravarti of Righteousness, and that the story of the Buddha
should be
tinged with the coloring of these Chakravarti myths?" (Ibid. Buddhism,
p. 220.)
[303:7] In
Chapter xxxix., we shall explain the origin of these myths.
[Pg
305]CHAPTER XXX.
THE EUCHARIST
OR LORD'S SUPPER.
We are
informed by the Matthew narrator that when Jesus was eating his last
supper with
the disciples,
"He took
bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, Take,
eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave
it to them,
saying, drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New
Testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins."[305:1]
According to
Christian belief, Jesus instituted this "Sacrament"[305:2]—as it is
called—and it
was observed by the primitive Christians, as he had enjoined them;
but we shall
find that this breaking of bread, and drinking of wine,—supposed to
be the body
and blood of a god[305:3]—is simply another piece of Paganism
imbibed by
the Christians.
The Eucharist
was instituted many hundreds of years before the time assigned for
the birth of
Christ Jesus. Cicero, the greatest orator of Rome, and one of the
most
illustrious of her statesmen, born in the year 106 B. C., mentions it in
his works,
and wonders at the strangeness of the rite. "How can a man be so
stupid,"
says he, "as to imagine that which he eats to be a God?" There had
been
an esoteric
meaning attached to it from the first establishment of the mysteries
among the
Pagans, and the Eucharistia is one of the oldest rites of antiquity.
The adherents
of the Grand Lama in Thibet and Tartary offer to their god a
sacrament of
bread and wine.[305:4]
[Pg 306]P.
Andrada La Crozius, a French missionary, and one of the first
Christians
who went to Nepaul and Thibet, says in his "History of India:"
"Their
Grand Lama celebrates a species of sacrifice with bread and wine, in
which, after
taking a small quantity himself, he distributes the rest among the
Lamas present
at this ceremony."[306:1]
In certain
rites both in the Indian and the Parsee religions, the devotees drink
the juice of
the Soma, or Haoma plant. They consider it a god as well as a
plant, just
as the wine of the Christian sacrament is considered both the juice
of the grape,
and the blood of the Redeemer.[306:2] Says Mr. Baring-Gould:
"Among
the ancient Hindoos, Soma was a chief deity; he is called 'the Giver of
Life and of
health,' the 'Protector,' he who is 'the Guide to Immortality.' He
became
incarnate among men, was taken by them and slain, and brayed in a mortar.
But he rose
in flame to heaven, to be the 'Benefactor of the World,' and the
'Mediator
between God and Man.' Through communion with him in his sacrifice,
man, (who
partook of this god), has an assurance of immortality, for by that
sacrament he
obtains union with his divinity."[306:3]
The ancient
Egyptians—as we have seen—annually celebrated the Resurrection of
their God and
Saviour Osiris, at which time they commemorated his death by the
Eucharist,
eating the sacred cake, or wafer, after it had been consecrated by
the priest,
and become veritable flesh of his flesh.[306:4] The bread, after
sacerdotal
rites, became mystically the body of Osiris, and, in such a manner,
they ate
their god.[306:5] Bread and wine were brought to the temples by the
worshipers,
as offerings.[306:6]
The
Therapeutes or Essenes, whom we believe to be of Buddhist origin, and who
lived in
large numbers in Egypt, also had the ceremony of the sacrament among
them.[306:7]
Most of them, however, being temperate, substituted water for wine,
while others
drank a mixture of water and wine.
Pythagoras,
the celebrated Grecian philosopher, who was born about the year 570
B. C.,
performed this ceremony of the sacrament.[306:8] He is supposed to have
visited
Egypt, and there availed himself of all such mysterious lore as the
priests could
be induced to impart. He and his followers practiced asceticism,
and
peculiarities of diet and clothing, similar to the Essenes, which has led
some scholars
to [Pg 307]believe that he instituted the order, but this is
evidently not
the case.
The Kenite
"King of Righteousness," Melchizedek, "a priest of the Most High
God,"
brought out BREAD and WINE as a sign or symbol of worship; as the mystic
elements of
Divine presence. In the visible symbol of bread and wine they
worshiped the
invisible presence of the Creator of heaven and earth.[307:1]
To account
for this, Christian divines have been much puzzled. The Rev. Dr.
Milner says,
in speaking of this passage:
"It was
in offering up a sacrifice of bread and wine, instead of slaughtered
animals, that
Melchizedek's sacrifice differed from the generality of those in
the old law,
and that he prefigured the sacrifice which Christ was to institute
in the new
law from the same elements. No other sense than this can be elicited
from the
Scripture as to this matter; and accordingly the holy fathers
unanimously
adhere to this meaning."[307:2]
This style of
reasoning is in accord with the TYPE theory concerning the
Virgin-born,
Crucified and Resurrected Saviours, but it is not altogether
satisfactory.
If it had been said that the religion of Melchizedek, and the
religion of
the Persians, were the same, there would be no difficulty in
explaining
the passage.
Not only were
bread and wine brought forth by Melchizedek when he blessed
Abraham, but
it was offered to God and eaten before him by Jethro and the elders
of Israel,
and some, at least, of the mourning Israelites broke bread and drank
"the cup
of consolation," in remembrance of the departed, "to comfort them for
the
dead."[307:3]
It is in the
ancient religion of Persia—the religion of Mithra, the Mediator,
the Redeemer
and Saviour—that we find the nearest resemblance to the sacrament
of the
Christians, and from which it was evidently borrowed. Those who were
initiated
into the mysteries of Mithra, or became members, took the sacrament of
bread and
wine.[307:4]
M. Renan,
speaking of Mithraicism, says:
"It had
its mysterious meetings: its chapels, which bore a strong resemblance to
little
churches. It forged a very lasting bond of brotherhood between its
initiates: it
had a Eucharist, a Supper so like the Christian Mysteries, that
good Justin
Martyr, the Apologist, can find only one explanation of the apparent
identity,
namely, that Satan, in order to deceive the human race, determined to
imitate the
Christian ceremonies, and so stole them."[307:5]
[Pg 308]The
words of St. Justin, wherein he alludes to this ceremony, are as
follows:
"The
apostles, in the commentaries written by themselves, which we call Gospels,
have
delivered down to us how that Jesus thus commanded them: He having taken
bread, after
he had given thanks,[308:1] said, Do this in commemoration of me;
this is my
body. And having taken a cup, and returned thanks, he said: This is
my blood, and
delivered it to them alone. Which thing indeed the evil spirits
have taught
to be done out of mimicry in the Mysteries and Initiatory rites of
Mithra.
"For you
either know, or can know, that bread and a cup of water (or wine) are
given out,
with certain incantations, in the consecration of the person who is
being
initiated in the Mysteries of Mithra."[308:2]
This food
they called the Eucharist, of which no one was allowed to partake but
the persons
who believed that the things they taught were true, and who had been
washed with
the washing that is for the remission of sin.[308:3] Tertullian, who
flourished
from 193 to 220 A. D., also speaks of the Mithraic devotees
celebrating
the Eucharist.[308:4]
The Eucharist
of the Lord and Saviour, as the Magi called Mithra, the second
person in
their Trinity, or their Eucharistic sacrifice, was always made exactly
and in every
respect the same as that of the orthodox Christians, for both
sometimes
used water instead of wine, or a mixture of the two.[308:5]
The Christian
Fathers often liken their rites to those of the Therapeuts
(Essenes) and
worshipers of Mithra. Here is Justin Martyr's account of Christian
initiation:
"But we,
after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and assented to
our
teachings, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are
assembled, in
order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and
the
illuminated person. Having ended our prayers, we salute one another with a
kiss. There
is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of
wine mixed
with water. When the president has given thanks, and all the people
have
expressed their assent, those that are called by us deacons give to each of
those present
to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water."[308:6]
[Pg 309]In the
service of Edward the Sixth of England, water is directed to be
mixed with
the wine.[309:1] This is a union of the two; not a half measure, but
a double one.
If it be correct to take it with wine, then they were right; if
with water,
they still were right; as they took both, they could not be wrong.
The bread,
used in these Pagan Mysteries, was carried in baskets, which practice
was also
adopted by the Christians. St. Jerome, speaking of it, says:
"Nothing
can be richer than one who carries the body of Christ (viz.: the bread)
in a basket
made of twigs."[309:2]
The Persian
Magi introduced the worship of Mithra into Rome, and his mysteries
were
solemnized in a cave. In the process of initiation there, candidates were
also
administered the sacrament of bread and wine, and were marked on the
forehead with
the sign of the cross.[309:3]
The ancient
Greeks also had their "Mysteries," wherein they celebrated the
sacrament of
the Lord's Supper. The Rev. Robert Taylor, speaking of this, says:
"The
Eleusinian Mysteries, or, Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, was the most
august of all
the Pagan ceremonies celebrated, more especially by the Athenians,
every fifth
year,[309:4] in honor of Ceres, the goddess of corn, who, in
allegorical
language, had given us her flesh to eat; as Bacchus, the god of
wine, in like
sense, had given us his blood to drink. . . .
"From
these ceremonies is derived the very name attached to our Christian
sacrament of
the Lord's Supper,—'those holy Mysteries;'—and not one or two, but
absolutely
all and every one of the observances used in our Christian solemnity.
Very many of
our forms of expression in that solemnity are precisely the same as
those that
appertained to the Pagan rite."[309:5]
Prodicus (a
Greek sophist of the 5th century B. C.) says that, the ancients
worshiped
bread as Demeter (Ceres) and wine as Dionysos (Bacchus);[309:6]
therefore,
when they ate the bread, and drank the wine, after it had been
consecrated,
they were doing as the Romanists claim to do at the present day, i.
e., eating
the flesh and drinking the blood of their god.[309:7]
Mosheim, the
celebrated ecclesiastical historian, acknowledges that:
[Pg
310]"The profound respect that was paid to the Greek and Roman Mysteries,
and the
extraordinary sanctity that was attributed to them, induced the
Christians of
the second century, to give their religion a mystic air, in order
to put it
upon an equal footing in point of dignity, with that of the Pagans.
For this
purpose they gave the name of Mysteries to the institutions of the
Gospels, and
decorated particularly the 'Holy Sacrament' with that title; they
used the very
terms employed in the Heathen Mysteries, and adopted some of the
rites and
ceremonies of which those renowned mysteries consisted. This imitation
began in the
eastern provinces; but, after the time of Adrian, who first
introduced
the mysteries among the Latins, it was followed by the Christians who
dwelt in the
western part of the empire. A great part, therefore, of the service
of the Church
in this—the second—century, had a certain air of the Heathen
Mysteries,
and resembled them considerably in many particulars."[310:1]
Eleusinian
Mysteries and Christian Sacraments Compared.
1. "But
as the benefit of Initiation was great, such as were convicted of
witchcraft,
murder, even though unintentional, or any other heinous
crimes, were
debarred from those mysteries."[310:2] 1. "For as the benefit
is great, if,
with a true penitent heart and lively faith, we receive that
holy
sacrament, &c., if any be an open and notorious evil-liver, or hath
done wrong to
his neighbor, &c., that he presume not to come to the Lord's
table."[310:3]
2. "At
their entrance, purifying themselves, by washing their hands in
holy water,
they were at the same time admonished to present themselves
with pure
minds, without which the external cleanness of the body would by
no means be
accepted."[310:4] 2. See the fonts of holy water at the
entrance of
every Catholic chapel in Christendom for the same purpose.
"Let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
water."[310:5]
3. "The
priests who officiated in these sacred solemnities, were called
Hierophants,
or 'revealers of holy things.'"[310:6] 3. The priests who
officiate at
these Christian solemnities are supposed to be 'revealers of
holy things.'
4. The Pagan
Priest dismissed their congregation with these words:
"The
Lord be with you."[310:7] 4. The Christian priests dismiss their
congregation
with these words:
"The
Lord be with you."
These
Eleusinian Mysteries were accompanied with various rites, expressive of
the purity
and self-denial of the worshiper, and were therefore considered to be
an expiation of
past sins, and to place the initiated under the special
protection of
the awful and potent goddess who presided over them.[310:8]
These
mysteries were, as we have said, also celebrated in honor of Bacchus as
well as
Ceres. A consecrated cup of wine was handed around after supper, called
the "Cup
of the Agathodaemon"[Pg 311]—the Good Divinity.[311:1] Throughout the
whole
ceremony, the name of the Lord was many times repeated, and his brightness
or glory not
only exhibited to the eye by the rays which surrounded his name (or
his monogram,
I. H. S.), but was made the peculiar theme or subject of their
triumphant
exultation.[311:2]
The mystical
wine and bread were used during the Mysteries of Adonis, the Lord
and
Saviour.[311:3] In fact, the communion of bread and wine was used in the
worship of
nearly every important deity.[311:4]
The rites of
Bacchus were celebrated in the British Islands in heathen
times,[311:5]
and so were those of Mithra, which were spread over Gaul and Great
Britain.[311:6]
We therefore find that the ancient Druids offered the sacrament
of bread and
wine, during which ceremony they were dressed in white
robes,[311:7]
just as the Egyptian priests of Isis were in the habit of
dressing, and
as the priests of many Christian sects dress at the present day.
Among some
negro tribes in Africa there is a belief that "on eating and drinking
consecrated
food they eat and drink the god himself."[311:8]
The ancient
Mexicans celebrated the mysterious sacrament of the Eucharist,
called the
"most holy supper," during which they ate the flesh of their god. The
bread used at
their Eucharist was made of corn meal, which they mixed with
blood,
instead of wine. This was consecrated by the priest, and given to the
people, who
ate it with humility and penitence, as the flesh of their
god.[311:9]
Lord
Kingsborough, in his "Mexican Antiquities," speaks of the ancient
Mexicans
as performing
this sacrament; when they made a cake, which they called Tzoalia.
The high
priest blessed it in his manner, after which he broke it into pieces,
and put it
into certain very clean vessels. He then took a thorn of maguery,
which
resembles a thick needle, with which he took up with the utmost reverence
single
morsels, which he put into the mouth of each individual, after the manner
of a
communion.[311:10]
The writer of
the "Explanation of Plates of the Codex Vaticanus,"—which are
copies of
Mexican hieroglyphics—says:
"I am
disposed to believe that these poor people have had the knowledge of our
mode of communion,
or of the annunciation of the gospel; or perhaps the [Pg
312]devil,
most envious of the honor of God, may have led them into this
superstition,
in order that by this ceremony he might be adored and served as
Christ our
Lord."[312:1]
The Rev. Father
Acosta says:
"That
which is most admirable in the hatred and presumption of Satan is, that he
hath not only
counterfeited in idolatry and sacrifice, but also in certain
ceremonies,
our Sacraments, which Jesus Christ our Lord hath instituted and the
holy Church
doth use, having especially pretended to imitate in some sort the
Sacrament of
the Communion, which is the most high and divine of all others."
He then
relates how the Mexicans and Peruvians, in certain ceremonies, ate the
flesh of
their god, and called certain morsels of paste, "the flesh and bones of
Vitzilipuzlti."
"After
putting themselves in order about these morsels and pieces of paste, they
used certain
ceremonies with singing, by means whereof they (the pieces of
paste) were
blessed and consecrated for the flesh and bones of this
idol."[312:2]
These facts
show that the Eucharist is another piece of Paganism adopted by the
Christians.
The story of Jesus and his disciples being at supper, where the
Master did
break bread, may be true, but the statement that he said, "Do this in
remembrance
of me,"—"this is my body," and "this is my blood," was
undoubtedly
invented to
give authority to the mystic ceremony, which had been borrowed from
Paganism.
Why should
they do this in remembrance of Jesus? Provided he took this supper
with his
disciples—which the John narrator denies[312:3]—he did not do anything
on that
occasion new or unusual among Jews. To pronounce the benediction, break
the bread,
and distribute pieces thereof to the persons at table, was, and is
now, a common
usage of the Hebrews. Jesus could not have commanded born Jews to
do in
remembrance of him what they already practiced, and what every religious
Jew does to
this day. The whole story is evidently a myth, as a perusal of it
with the eye
of a critic clearly demonstrates.
The Mark
narrator informs us that Jesus sent two of his disciples to the city,
and told them
this:
"Go ye
into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water;
follow him.
And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house,
The Master
saith, Where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the [Pg
313]passover
with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room
furnished and
prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth,
and came into
the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready
the
passover."[313:1]
The story of
the passover or the last supper, seems to be introduced in this
unusual
manner to make it manifest that a divine power is interested in, and
conducting
the whole affair, parallels of which we find in the story of Elieser
and Rebecca,
where Rebecca is to identify herself in a manner pre-arranged by
Elieser with
God;[313:2] and also in the story of Elijah and the widow of
Zarephath,
where by God's directions a journey is made, and the widow is
found.[313:3]
It suggests
itself to our mind that this style of connecting a supernatural
interest with
human affairs was not entirely original with the Mark narrator. In
this
connection it is interesting to note that a man in Jerusalem should have
had an
unoccupied and properly furnished room just at that time, when two
millions of
pilgrims sojourned in and around the city. The man, it appears, was
not
distinguished either for wealth or piety, for his name is not mentioned; he
was not
present at the supper, and no further reference is made to him. It
appears
rather that the Mark narrator imagined an ordinary man who had a
furnished
room to let for such purposes, and would imply that Jesus knew it
prophetically.
He had only to pass in his mind from Elijah to his disciple
Elisha, for
whom the great woman of Shunem had so richly furnished an upper
chamber, to
find a like instance.[313:4] Why should not somebody have furnished
also an upper
chamber for the Messiah?
The Matthew
narrator's account is free from these embellishments, and simply
runs thus:
Jesus said to some of his disciples—the number is not given—
"Go into
the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is
at hand; I
will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the
disciples did
as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the
passover."[313:5]
In this
account, no pitcher, no water, no prophecy is mentioned.[313:6]
It was many
centuries before the genuine heathen doctrine of
Transubstantiation—a
change of the elements of the Eucharist into [Pg 314]the
real body and
blood of Christ Jesus—became a tenet of the Christian faith. This
greatest of
mysteries was developed gradually. As early as the second century,
however, the
seeds were planted, when we find Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and
Irenćus
advancing the opinion, that the mere bread and wine became, in the
Eucharist,
something higher—the earthly, something heavenly—without, however,
ceasing to be
bread and wine. Though these views were opposed by some eminent
individual
Christian teachers, yet both among the people and in the ritual of
the Church,
the miraculous or supernatural view of the Lord's Supper gained
ground. After
the third century the office of presenting the bread and wine came
to be
confined to the ministers or priests. This practice arose from, and in
turn
strengthened, the notion which was gaining ground, that in this act of
presentation
by the priest, a sacrifice, similar to that once offered up in the
death of
Christ Jesus, though bloodless, was ever anew presented to God. This
still
deepened the feeling of mysterious significance and importance with which
the rite of
the Lord's Supper was viewed, and led to that gradually increasing
splendor of
celebration which took the form of the Mass. As in Christ Jesus two
distinct
natures, the divine and the human, were wonderfully combined, so in the
Eucharist
there was a corresponding union of the earthly and the heavenly.
For a long
time there was no formal declaration of the mind of the Church on the
real presence
of Christ Jesus in the Eucharist. At length a discussion on the
point was
raised, and the most distinguished men of the time took part in it.
One party
maintained that "the bread and wine are, in the act of consecration,
transformed
by the omnipotence of God into the very body of Christ which was
once born of
Mary, nailed to the cross, and raised from the dead." According to
this
conception, nothing remains of the bread and wine but the outward form, the
taste and the
smell; while the other party would only allow that there is some
change in the
bread and wine themselves, but granted that an actual
transformation
of their power and efficacy takes place.
The greater
accordance of the first view with the credulity of the age, its love
for the
wonderful and magical, the interest of the priesthood to add lustre, in
accordance
with the heathens, to a rite which enhanced their own office,
resulted in
the doctrine of Transubstantiation being declared an article of
faith of the
Christian Church.
Transubstantiation,
the invisible change of the bread and wine [Pg 315]into the
body and
blood of Christ, is a tenet that may defy the powers of argument and
pleasantry;
but instead of consulting the evidence of their senses, of their
sight, their
feeling, and their taste, the first Protestants were entangled in
their own
scruples, and awed by the reputed words of Jesus in the institution of
the
sacrament. Luther maintained a corporeal, and Calvin a real presence of
Christ in the
Eucharist; and the opinion of Zuinglius, that it is no more than a
spiritual
communion, a simple memorial, has slowly prevailed in the reformed
churches.[315:1]
Under Edward
VI. the reformation was more bold and perfect, but in the
fundamental
articles of the Church of England, a strong and explicit declaration
against the
real presence was obliterated in the original copy, to please the
people, or
the Lutherans, or Queen Elizabeth. At the present day, the Greek and
Roman
Catholics alone hold to the original doctrine of the real presence.
Of all the
religious observances among heathens, Jews, or Turks, none has been
the cause of
more hatred, persecution, outrage, and bloodshed, than the
Eucharist.
Christians persecuted one another like relentless foes, and thousands
of Jews were
slaughtered on account of the Eucharist and the Host.
FOOTNOTES:
[305:1] Matt.
xxvi. 26. See also, Mark, xiv. 22.
[305:2] At
the heading of the chapters named in the above note may be seen the
words:
"Jesus keepeth the Passover (and) instituteth the Lord's Supper."
[305:3]
According to the Roman Christians, the Eucharist is the natural body and
blood of
Christ Jesus verč et realiter, but the Protestant sophistically
explains away
these two plain words verily and indeed, and by the grossest abuse
of language,
makes them to mean spiritually by grace and efficacy. "In the
sacrament of
the altar," says the Protestant divine, "is the natural body and
blood of
Christ verč et realiter, verily and indeed, if you take these terms for
spiritually
by grace and efficacy; but if you mean really and indeed, so that
thereby you
would include a lively and movable body under the form of bread and
wine, then in
that sense it is not Christ's body in the sacrament really and
indeed."
[305:4] See
Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 203, and Anacalypsis, i. 232.
[306:1]
"Leur grand Lama célčbre une espčce de sacrifice avec du pain et du vin
dont il prend
une petite quantité, et distribue le reste aux Lamas presens ŕ
cette
cérémonie." (Quoted in Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 118.)
[306:2]
Viscount Amberly's Analysis, p. 46.
[306:3]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 401.
[306:4] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 163.
[306:5] See
Ibid. p. 417.
[306:6] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 179.
[306:7] See
Bunsen's Keys of St. Peter, p. 199; Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 60, and
Lillie's
Buddhism, p. 136.
[306:8] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 60.
[307:1] See
Bunsen's Keys of St. Peter, p. 55, and Genesis, xiv. 18, 19.
[307:2] St.
Jerome says: "Melchizédek in typo Christi panem et vinum obtulit: et
mysterium
Christianum in Salvatoris sanguine et corpore dedicavit."
[307:3] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 227.
[307:4] See
King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. xxv., and Higgins'
Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. pp. 58, 59.
[307:5]
Renan's Hibbert Lectures, p. 35.
[308:1] In
the words of Mr. King: "This expression shows that the notion of
blessing or
consecrating the elements was as yet unknown to the Christians."
[308:2] Apol.
1. ch. lxvi.
[308:3] Ibid.
[308:4] De
Prćscriptione Hćreticorum, ch. xl. Tertullian explains this
conformity
between Christianity and Paganism, by asserting that the devil copied
the Christian
mysteries.
[308:5]
"De Tinctione, de oblatione panis, et de imagine resurrectionis,
videatur
doctiss, de la Cerda ad ea Tertulliani loca ubi de hiscerebus agitur.
Gentiles
citra Christum, talia celébradant Mithriaca quć videbantur cum doctrinâ
eucharistć et
resurrectionis et aliis ritibus Christianis convenire, quć
fecerunt ex
industria ad imitationem Christianismi: unde Tertulliani et Patres
aiunt eos
talia fecisse, duce diabolo, quo vult esse simia Christi, &c. Volunt
itaque eos res
suas ita compârasse, ut Mithrć mysteria essent eucharistić
Christianć
imago. Sic Just. Martyr (p. 98), et Tertullianus et Chrysostomus. In
suis etiam
sacris habebant Mithriaci lavacra (quasi regenerationis) in quibus
tingit et
ipse (sc. sacerdos) quosdam utique credentes et fideles suos, et
expiatoria
delictorum de lavacro repromittit et sic adhuc initiat Mithrć."
(Hyde: De
Relig. Vet. Persian, p. 113.)
[308:6]
Justin: 1st Apol., ch. lvi.
[309:1] Dr.
Grabes' Notes on Irenćus, lib. v. c. 2, in Anac., vol. i. p. 60.
[309:2]
Quoted in Monumental Christianity, p. 370.
[309:3] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 369.
"The
Divine Presence called his angel of mercy and said unto him: 'Go through
the midst of
the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set the mark of Tau
(Τ,
the headless cross) upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for
all the
abominations that are done in the midst thereof.'" Bunsen: The
Angel-Messiah,
p. 305.
[309:4] They
were celebrated every fifth year at Eleusis, a town of Attica, from
whence their
name.
[309:5]
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 212.
[309:6]
Müller: Origin of Religion, p. 181.
[309:7]
"In the Bacchic Mysteries a consecrated cup (of wine) was handed around
after supper,
called the cup of the Agathodaemon." (Cousin: Lec. on Modn. Phil.
Quoted in
Isis Unveiled, ii. 513. See also, Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 217.)
[310:1] Eccl.
Hist. cent. ii. pt. 2, sec. v.
[310:2]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 282.
[310:3]
Episcopal Communion Service.
[310:4]
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 282.
[310:5]
Hebrews, x. 22.
[310:6] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 213.
[310:7] See
Ibid.
[310:8]
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 471.
[311:1] See
Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 217, and Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 513.
[311:2] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 214.
[311:3] See
Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 139.
[311:4] See
Ibid. p. 513.
[311:5] See
Myths of the British Druids, p. 89.
[311:6] See
Dupuis: Origin of Relig. Belief, p. 238.
[311:7] See
Myths of the British Druids, p. 280, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i.
p. 376.
[311:8]
Herbert Spencer: Principles of Sociology, vol. i. p. 299.
[311:9] See
Monumental Christianity, pp. 390 and 393.
[311:10]
Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 220.
[312:1]
Quoted In Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 221.
[312:2]
Acosta: Hist. Indies, vol. ii. chs. xiii. and xiv.
[312:3]
According to the "John" narrator, Jesus ate no Paschal meal, but was
captured the
evening before Passover, and was crucified before the feast opened.
According to
the Synoptics, Jesus partook of the Paschal supper, was captured
the first
night of the feast, and executed on the first day thereof, which was
on a Friday.
If the John narrator's account is true, that of the Synoptics is
not, or vice
versa.
[313:1] Mark,
xiv. 13-16.
[313:2] Gen.
xxiv.
[313:3] I.
Kings, xvii. 8.
[313:4] II.
Kings, iv. 8.
[313:5] Matt.
xxvi. 18, 19.
[313:6] For
further observations on this subject, see Dr. Isaac M. Wise's
"Martyrdom
of Jesus of Nazareth," a valuable little work, published at the
office of the
American Israelite, Cincinnati, Ohio.
[315:1] See
Gibbon's Rome, vol. v. pp. 399, 400. Calvin, after quoting Matt.
xxvi. 26, 27,
says: "There is no doubt that as soon as these words are added to
the bread and
the wine, the bread and the wine become the true body and the true
blood of
Christ, so that the substance of bread and wine is transmuted into the
true body and
blood of Christ. He who denies this calls the omnipotence of
Christ in
question, and charges Christ himself with foolishness." (Calvin's
Tracts, p.
214. Translated by Henry Beveridge, Edinburgh, 1851.) In other parts
of his
writings, Calvin seems to contradict this statement, and speaks of the
bread and
wine in the Eucharist as being symbolical. Gibbon evidently refers to
the passage
quoted above.
[Pg 316]CHAPTER
XXXI.
BAPTISM.
Baptism, or
purification from sin by water, is supposed by many to be an
exclusive
Christian ceremony. The idea is that circumcision was given up, but
baptism took
its place as a compulsory form indispensable to salvation, and was
declared to
have been instituted by Jesus himself or by his predecessor
John.[316:1]
That Jesus was baptized by John may be true, or it may not, but
that he never
directly enjoined his followers to call the heathen to a share in
the
privileges of the Golden Age is gospel doctrine;[316:2] and this saying:
"Go out
into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature. And whoever
believes and
is baptized shall be saved, but whoever believes not shall be
damned,"
must
therefore be of comparatively late origin, dating from a period at which
the mission
to the heathen was not only fully recognized, but even declared to
have
originated with the followers of Jesus.[316:3] When the early Christians
received
members among them they were not initiated by baptism, but with prayer
and laying on
of hands. This, says Eusebius, was the "ancient custom," which was
followed
until the time of Stephen. During his bishopric controversies arose as
to whether
members should be received "after the ancient Christian custom" or by
baptism,[316:4]
after the heathen custom. Rev. J. P. Lundy, who has made ancient
religions a
special study, and who, being a thorough Christian writer, endeavors
to get over
the difficulty by saying that:
"John
the Baptist simply adopted and practiced the universal custom of sacred
bathing for
the remission of sins. Christ sanctioned it; the church inherited it
from his
example."[316:5]
[Pg 317]When
we say that baptism is a heathen rite adopted by the Christians, we
come near the
truth. Mr. Lundy is a strong advocate of the type theory—of which
we shall
speak anon—therefore the above mode of reasoning is not to be wondered
at.
The facts in
the case are that baptism by immersion, or sprinkling in infancy,
for the
remission of sin, was a common rite, to be found in countries the most
widely
separated on the face of the earth, and the most unconnected in religious
genealogy.[317:1]
If we turn to
India we shall find that in the vast domain of the Buddhist faith
the birth of
children is regularly the occasion of a ceremony, at which the
priest is
present. In Mongolia and Thibet this ceremony assumes the special form
of baptism.
Candles burn and incense is offered on the domestic altar, the
priest reads
the prescribed prayers, dips the child three times in water, and
imposes on it
a name.[317:2]
Brahmanism,
from the very earliest times, had its initiatory rites, similar to
what we shall
find among the ancient Persians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Mr.
Mackenzie, in
his "Royal Masonic Cyclopćdia," (sub voce "Mysteries of
Hindustan,")
gives a capital digest of these mysteries from the "Indische
Alterthum-Skunde"
of Lassen. After an invocation to the SUN, an oath was
demanded of
the aspirant, to the effect of implicit obedience to superiors,
purity of
body, and inviolable secrecy. Water was then sprinkled over him,
suitable
addresses were made to him, &c. This was supposed to constitute the
regeneration
of the candidate, and he was now invested with the white robe and
the tiara. A
peculiar cross was marked on his forehead, and the Tau cross on his
breast.
Finally, he was given the sacred word, A. U. M.[317:3]
The Brahmans
had also a mode of baptism similar to the Christian sect of
Baptists, the
ceremony being performed in a river.
[Pg 318]The
officiating Brahman priest, who was called Gooroo, or Pastor,[318:1]
rubbed mud on
the candidate, and then plunged him three times into the water.
During the
process the priest said:
"O
Supreme Lord, this man is impure, like the mud of this stream; but as water
cleanses him
from this dirt, do thou free him from his sin."[318:2]
Rivers, as
sources of fertility and purification, were at an early date invested
with a sacred
character. Every great river was supposed to be permeated with the
divine essence,
and its waters held to cleanse from all moral guilt and
contamination.
And as the Ganges was the most majestic, so it soon became the
holiest and
most revered of all rivers. No sin too heinous to be removed, no
character too
black to be washed clean by its waters. Hence the countless
temples, with
flights of steps, lining its banks; hence the array of priests,
called
"Sons of the Ganges," sitting on the edge of its streams, ready to
aid
the ablutions
of conscience-stricken bathers, and stamp them as white-washed
when they
emerge from its waters. Hence also the constant traffic carried on in
transporting
Ganges water in small bottles to all parts of the country.[318:3]
The ceremony
of baptism was a practice of the followers of Zoroaster, both for
infants and
adults.
M. Beausobre
tells us that:
"The
ancient Persians carried their infants to the temple a few days after they
were born,
and presented them to the priest before the sun, and before the fire,
which was his
symbol. Then the priest took the child and baptized it for the
purification
of the soul. Sometimes he plunged it into a great vase full of
water: it was
in the same ceremony that the father gave a name to the
child."[318:4]
The learned
Dr. Hyde also tells us that infants were brought to the temples and
baptized by
the priests, sometimes by sprinkling and sometimes by immersion,
plunging the
child into a large vase filled with water. This was to them a
regeneration,
or a purification of their souls. A name was at the same time
imposed upon
the child, as indicated by the parents.[318:5]
[Pg 319]The
rite of baptism was also administered to adults in the Mithraic
mysteries
during initiation. The foreheads of the initiated being marked at the
same time
with the "sacred sign," which was none other than the sign of the
CROSS.[319:1]
The Christian Father Tertullian, who believed it to be the work of
the devil,
says:
"He
BAPTIZES his believers and followers; he promises the remission of sins at
the sacred
fount, and thus initiates them into the religion of Mithra; he marks
on the
forehead his own soldiers," &c.[319:2]
"He
marks on the forehead," i. e., he marks the sign of the cross on their
foreheads,
just as priests of Christ Jesus do at the present day to those who
are initiated
into the Christian mysteries.
Again, he
says:
"The
nations who are strangers to all spiritual powers (the heathens), ascribe
to their
idols (gods) the power of impregnating the waters with the same
efficacy as
in Christian baptism." For, "in certain sacred rites of theirs, the
mode of
initiation is by baptism," and "whoever had defiled himself with
murder,
expiation was
sought in purifying water."[319:3]
He also says
that:
"The
devil signed his soldiers in the forehead, in imitation of the
Christians."[319:4]
And St.
Augustin says:
"The
cross and baptism were never parted."[319:5]
The ancient
Egyptians performed their rite of baptism, and those who were
initiated
into the mysteries of Isis were baptized.[319:6]
Apuleius of
Madura, in Africa, who was initiated into these mysteries, shows
that baptism
was used; that the ceremony was performed by the attending priest,
and that
purification and forgiveness of sin was the result.[319:7]
[Pg 320]The
custom of baptism in Egypt is known by the hieroglyphic term of
"water
of purification." The water so used in immersion absolutely cleansed the
soul, and the
person was said to be regenerated.[320:1]
They also
believed in baptism after death, for it was held that the dead were
washed from
their sins by Osiris, the beneficent saviour, in the land of shades,
and the
departed are often represented (on the sarcophagi) kneeling before
Osiris, who
pours over them water from a pitcher.[320:2]
The ancient
Etruscans performed the rite of baptism. In Tab. clxxii. Gorius
gives two
pictures of ancient Etruscan baptism by water. In the first, the youth
is held in
the arms of one priest, and another is pouring water upon his head.
In the
second, the young person is going through the same ceremony, kneeling on
a kind of
altar. At the time of its baptism the child was named, blessed and
marked on the
forehead with the sign of the cross.[320:3]
Baptism, or
the application of water, was a rite well known to the Jews before
the time of
Christ Jesus, and was practiced by them when they admitted
proselytes to
their religion from heathenism. When children were baptized they
received the
sign of the cross, were anointed, and fed with milk and
honey.[320:4]
"It was not customary, however, among them, to baptize those who
were
converted to the Jewish religion, until after the Babylonish
captivity."[320:5]
This clearly shows that they learned the rite from their
heathen
oppressors.
Baptism was
practiced by the ascetics of Buddhist origin, known as the
Essenes.[320:6]
John the Baptist was, evidently, nothing more than a member of
this order,
with which the deserts of Syria and the Thebais of Egypt abounded.
The idea that
man is restrained from perfect union with God by his imperfection,
uncleanness
and sin, was implicitly believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans.
In Thessaly
was yearly celebrated a great festival of cleansing. A work bearing
the name of
"Museus" was a complete ritual of purifications. The usual mode of
purification
was dipping in water (immersion), or [Pg 321]it was performed by
aspersion.
These sacraments were held to have virtue independent of the
dispositions
of the candidates, an opinion which called forth the sneer of
Diogenes, the
Grecian historian, when he saw some one undergoing baptism by
aspersion.
"Poor
wretch! do you not see that since these sprinklings cannot repair your
grammatical
errors, they cannot repair either, the faults of your life."[321:1]
And the
belief that water could wash out the stains of original sin, led the
poet Ovid (43
B. C.) to say:
"Ah,
easy fools, to think that a whole flood
Of water e'er
can purge the stain of blood."
These ancient
Pagans had especial gods and goddesses who presided over the birth
of children.
The goddess Nundina took her name from the ninth day, on which all
male children
were sprinkled with holy water,[321:2] as females were on the
eighth, at
the same time receiving their name, of which addition to the
ceremonial of
Christian baptism we find no mention in the Christian Scriptures.
When all the
forms of the Pagan nundination were duly complied with, the priest
gave a
certificate to the parents of the regenerated infant; it was, therefore,
duly
recognized as a legitimate member of the family and of society, and the day
was spent in
feasting and hilarity.[321:3]
Adults were
also baptized; and those who were initiated in the sacred rites of
the Bacchic
mysteries were regenerated and admitted by baptism, just as they
were admitted
into the mysteries of Mithra.[321:4] Justin Martyr, like his
brother
Tertullian, claimed that this ablution was invented by demons, in
imitation of
the true baptism, that their votaries might also have their
pretended
purification by water.[321:5]
Infant
Baptism was practiced among the ancient inhabitants of northern
Europe—the
Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Icelanders—long before the first dawn
of
Christianity had reached those parts. Water was poured on the head of the
new-born
child, and [Pg 322]a name was given it at the same time. Baptism is
expressly mentioned
in the Hava-mal and Rigs-mal, and alluded to in other epic
poems.[322:1]
The ancient
Livonians (inhabitants of the three modern Baltic provinces of
Courland,
Livonia, and Esthonia), observed the same ceremony; which also
prevailed
among the ancient Germans. This is expressly stated in a letter which
the famous
Pope Gregory III. sent to their apostle Boniface, directing him how
to act in
respect to it.[322:2]
The same
ceremony was performed by the ancient Druids of Britain.[322:3]
Among the New
Zealanders young children were baptized. After the ceremony of
baptism had
taken place, prayers were offered to make the child sacred, and
clean from
all impurities.[322:4]
The ancient
Mexicans baptized their children shortly after birth. After the
relatives had
assembled in the court of the parents' house, the midwife placed
the child's
head to the east, and prayed for a blessing from the Saviour
Quetzalcoatle,
and the goddess of the water. The breast of the child was then
touched with
the fingers dipped in water, and the following prayer said:
"May it
(the water) destroy and separate from thee all the evil that was
beginning in
thee before the beginning of the world."
After this
the child's body was washed with water, and all things that might
injure him
were requested to depart from him, "that now he may live again and be
born
again."[322:5]
Mr. Prescott
alludes to it as follows, in his "Conquest of Mexico:"[322:6]
"The
lips and bosom of the infant were sprinkled with water, and the Lord was
implored to
permit the holy drops to wash away that sin that was given to it
before the
foundation of the world, so that the child might be born anew." "This
interesting
rite, usually solemnized with great formality, in the presence of
assembled
friends and relations, is detailed with minuteness by Sahagun and by
Zuazo, both
of them eyewitnesses."
Rev. J. P.
Lundy says:
"Now, as
baptism of some kind has been the universal custom of all religious
nations and
peoples for purification and regeneration, it is not to be wondered
at that it
had found its way from high Asia, the centre of the Old World's
religion and
civilization, into the American continent. . . .
[Pg
323]"American priests were found in Mexico, beyond Darien, baptizing boys
and girls a
year old in the temples at the cross, pouring the water upon them
from a small
pitcher."[323:1]
The water
which they used was called the "WATER OF REGENERATION."[323:2]
The Rev.
Father Acosta alludes to this baptism by saying:
"The
Indians had an infinite number of other ceremonies and customs which
resembled to
the ancient law of Moses, and some to those which the Moores use,
and some
approaching near to the Law of the Gospel, as the baths or Opacuna, as
they called
them; they did wash themselves in water to cleanse themselves from
sin."[323:3]
After
speaking of "confession which the Indians used," he says:
"When
the Inca had been confessed, he made a certain bath to cleanse himself, in
a running
river, saying these words: 'I have told my sins to the Sun (his god);
receive them,
O thou River, and carry them to the Sea, where they may never
appear
more.'"[323:4]
He tells us
that the Mexicans also had a baptism for infants, which they
performed
with great ceremony.[323:5]
Baptism was
also practiced in Yucatan. They administered it to children three
years old;
and called it REGENERATION.[323:6]
The ancient
Peruvians also baptized their children.[323:7]
History,
then, records the fact that all the principal nations of antiquity
administered
the rite of baptism to their children, and to adults who were
initiated
into the sacred mysteries. The words "regenerationem et impunitatem
perjuriorum
suorum"—used by the heathen in this ceremony—prove that the
doctrines as
well as the outward forms were the same. The giving of a name to
the child,
the marking of him with the cross as a sign of his being a soldier of
Christ,
followed at fifteen years of age by his admission into the mysteries of
the ceremony
of confirmation, also prove that the two institutions are
identical.
But the most striking feature of all is the regeneration—and
consequent
forgiveness of sins—the being "born again." This shows that the
Christian
baptism in doctrine as well as in outward ceremony, was precisely that
of the
heathen. We have seen that it was supposed to destroy all the evil in
him, and all
things that might injure him were requested to depart from him. So
likewise
among the Christians; the priest, looking upon the child, and baptizing
him, was
formerly accustomed to say:
[Pg 324]"I
command thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, of the Son,
and of the
Holy Ghost, that thou come out and depart from this infant, whom our
Lord Jesus
Christ has vouchsafed to call to this holy baptism, to be made member
of his body
and of his holy congregation. And presume not hereafter to exercise
any tyranny
towards this infant, whom Christ hath bought with his precious
blood, and by
this holy baptism called to be of his flock."
The ancients
also baptized with fire as well as water. This is what is alluded
to many times
in the gospels; for instance, Matt. (iii. 11) makes John say, "I,
indeed,
baptize you with water; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and
with
FIRE."
The baptism
by fire was in use by the Romans; it was performed by jumping three
times through
the flames of a sacred fire. This is still practiced in India.
Even at the
present day, in some parts of Scotland, it is a custom at the
baptism of
children to swing them in their clothes over a fire three times,
saying,
"Now, fire, burn this child, or never." Here is evidently a relic of
the
heathen
baptism by fire.
Christian
baptism was not originally intended to be administered to unconscious
infants, but
to persons in full possession of their faculties, and responsible
for their
actions. Moreover, it was performed, as is well known, not merely by
sprinkling
the forehead, but by causing the candidate to descend naked into the
water, the
priest joining him there, and pouring the water over his head. The
catechumen
could not receive baptism until after he understood something of the
nature of the
faith he was embracing, and was prepared to assume its
obligations.
A rite more totally unfitted for administration to infants could
hardly have
been found. Yet such was the need that was felt for a solemn
recognition
by religion of the entrance of a child into the world, that this
rite, in
course of time, completely lost its original nature, and, as with the
heathen,
infancy took the place of maturity: sprinkling of immersion. But while
the age and
manner of baptism were altered, the ritual remained under the
influence of
the primitive idea with which it had been instituted. The
obligations
were no longer confined to the persons baptized, hence they must be
undertaken
for them. Thus was the Christian Church landed in the
absurdity—unparalleled,
we believe, in any other natal ceremony—of requiring the
most solemn
promises to be made, not by those who were thereafter to fulfill
them, but by
others in their name; these others having no power to enforce their
fulfillment,
and neither those actually assuming the engagement, nor those on
whose behalf
it was assumed, being morally responsible in case it should be
broken. Yet
this strange incongruity was forced upon the church by an imperious
[Pg 325]want
of human nature itself, and the insignificant sects who have
adopted the
baptism of adults only, have failed, in their zeal for historical
consistency,
to recognize a sentiment whose roots lie far deeper than the
chronological
foundation of Christian rites, and stretch far wider than the
geographical
boundaries of the Christian faith.
The intention
of all these forms of baptism is identical. Water, as the natural
means of
physical cleansing, is the universal symbol of spiritual purification.
Hence
immersion, or washing, or sprinkling, implies the deliverance of the
infant from
the stain of original sin.[325:1] The Pagan and Christian rituals,
as we have
seen, are perfectly clear on this head. In both, the avowed intention
is to wash
away the sinful nature common to humanity; in both, the infant is
declared to
be born again by the agency of water. Among the early Christians, as
with the
Pagans, the sacrament of baptism was supposed to contain a full and
absolute
expiation of sin; and the soul was instantly restored to its original
purity, and
entitled to the promise of eternal salvation. Among the proselytes
of
Christianity, there were many who judged it imprudent to precipitate a
salutary
rite, which could not be repeated; to throw away an inestimable
privilege,
which could never be recovered. By the delay of their baptism, they
could venture
freely to indulge their passions in the enjoyments of this world,
while they
still retained in their own hands the means of a sure and easy
absolution.
St. Constantine was one of these.
FOOTNOTES:
[316:1] The
Rev. Dr. Geikie makes the assertion that: "With the call to repent,
John united a
significant rite for all who were willing to own their sins, and
promise amendment
of life. It was the new and striking requirement of baptism,
which John
had been sent by divine appointment to INTRODUCE." (Life of Christ,
vol. i. p.
394.)
[316:2] See
Galatians, ii. 7-9. Acts, x. and xi.
[316:3] See
The Bible for Learners, vol. iii. pp. 658 and 472.
[316:4] See
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 7, ch. ii.
[316:5]
Monumental Christianity, p. 385.
[317:1]
"Among all nations, and from the very earliest period, WATER has been
used as a
species of religious sacrament. . . . Water was the agent by means of
which
everything was regenerated or born again. Hence, in all nations, we find
the Dove, or
Divine Love, operating by means of its agent, water, and all
nations using
the ceremony of plunging, or, as we call it, baptizing, for the
remission of
sins, to introduce the candidate to a regeneration, to a new birth
unto
righteousness." (Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 529.)
"Baptism
is a very ancient rite pertaining to heathen religions, whether of
Asia, Africa,
Europe or America." (Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 416.)
"Baptism,
or purification by water, was a ceremony common to all religions of
antiquity. It
consists in being made clean from some supposed pollution or
defilement."
(Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 201.)
"L'usage
de ce Baptéme par immersion, qui subsista dans l'Occident jusqu' au 8e
cičcle, se
maintient encore dans l'Eglise Greque: c'est celui que Jean le
Précurseur
administra, dans le Jourdain, ŕ Jesus Christ męme. Il fut pratiqué
chez les
Juifs, chez les Grecs, et chez presque tous les peuples, bien des
sičcles avant
l'existence de la religion Chrétienne." (D'Ancarville: Res., vol.
i. p. 292.)
[317:2] See
Amberly's Analysis, p. 61. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 42. Higgins'
Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. p. 69, and Lillie's Buddhism, pp. 55 and 184.
[317:3]
Lillie's Buddhism, p. 134.
[318:1] Life
and Religion of the Hindus, p. 94.
[318:2] Prog.
Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 125.
"Every
orthodox Hindu is perfectly persuaded that the dirtiest water, if taken
from a sacred
stream and applied to his body, either externally or internally,
will purify
his soul." (Prof. Monier Williams: Hinduism, p. 157.) The Egyptians
bathed in the
water of the Nile; the Chaldeans and Persians in the Euphrates,
and the
Hindus, at we have seen, in the Ganges, all of which were considered as
"sacred
waters" by the different nations. The Jews looked upon the Jordan in the
same manner.
Herodotus,
speaking of the Persians' manners, says:
"They
(the Persians) neither make water, nor spit, nor wash their hands in a
river, nor
defile the stream with urine, nor do they allow any one else to do
so, but they
pay extreme veneration to all rivers." (Hist. lib. i. ch. 138.)
[318:3]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 176.
[318:4] Hist.
Manichee, lib. ix. ch. vi. sect. xvi. in Anac., vol. ii. p. 65.
See also,
Dupuis: Orig. Relig. Belief, p. 249, and Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig.
Belief, vol.
i. p. 392.
[318:5]
"Pro infantibus non utuntur circumcisione, sed tantum baptismo seu
lotione ad
animć purificationem internam. Infantem ad sacerdotem in ecclesiam
adductum
sistunt coram sole et igne, quâ factâ ceremoniâ, eundem sanctiorem
existimant.
D. Lord dicit quod aquam ad hoc afferunt in cortice arboris Holm: ea
autem arbor
revers est Haum Magorum, cujus mentionem aliâ occasione supra
fecimus.
Alias, aliquando fit immergendo in magnum vas aquć, ut dicit Tavernier.
Post talem
lotionem seu baptismum, sacerdos imponit nomen ŕ parentibus inditum."
(Hyde de Rel.
Vet. Pers., p. 414.) After this Hyde goes on to say, that when he
comes to be
fifteen years of age he is confirmed by receiving the girdle, and
the sudra or
cassock.
[319:1] See
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. xxv. Higgins: Anac., vol. i pp. 218
and 222.
Dunlap: Mysteries of Adoni, p. 189. King: The Gnostics and their
Remains, p.
51.
[319:2] De
Prćscrip. ch. xi.
[319:3] Ibid.
[319:4]
"Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites suos."
[319:5]
"Semper enim cruci baptismus jungitur." (Aug. Temp. Ser. ci.)
[319:6] See
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 69, and Monumental Christianity, p. 385.
[319:7]
"Sacerdos, stipatum me religiosa cohorte, deducit ad proximas balucas;
et prius
sueto lavraco traditum, prśfatus deűm veniam, purissimē circumrorans
abluit."
(Apuleius: Milesi, ii. citat. a Higgins: Anac., vol. ii. p. 69.)
[320:1]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 416. Dunlap: Mysteries Adoni, p. 139.
[320:2]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 392.
[320:3] See
Higgins: Anac., vol. ii. pp. 67-69.
[320:4]
Barnes: Notes, vol. i. p. 38. Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 65.
[320:5]
Barnes: Notes, vol. i. p. 41.
[320:6] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 121, Gainsburgh's Essenes, and Higgins'
Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. pp. 66, 67.
[321:1]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 391.
[321:2]
"Holy Water"—water wherein the person is baptized, in the name of the
Father, and
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Church of England Catechism.)
[321:3] See
Taylor's Diegesis, pp. 333, 334, and Higgins' Anacalypsis, ii. p.
65.
[321:4] See
Taylor's Diegesis, pp. 80 and 232, and Baring-Gould's Orig. Relig.
Belief, vol.
i. p. 391.
"De-lŕ-vint,
que pour devenir capable d'entendre les secrets de la création,
révélés dans
ces męmes mystčres, il fallut se faire régénérer par l'initiation.
Cette
cérémonie, par laquelle, on apprenoit les vrais principes de la vie,
s'opéroit par
le moyen de l'eau qui voit été celui de la régénération du monde.
On conduisoit
sur les bords de l'Ilissus le candidat qui devoit ętre initié;
apres l'avoir
purifié avec le sel et l'eau de la mer, on repandoit de l'orge sur
lui, on le couronnoit
de fleurs, et l'Hydranos ou le Baptisseur le plongeoit
dans le
fleuve." (D'Ancarville: Res., vol. i. p. 292. Anac., ii. p. 65.)
[321:5]
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 232.
[322:1] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 306, 313, 320, 366.
Baring-Gould's
Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. pp. 392, 393, and Dupuis, p. 242.
[322:2]
Mallet: Northern Antiquities, p. 206.
[322:3]
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 393. Higgins: Anac., vol.
ii. p. 67,
and Davies: Myths of the British Druids.
[322:4] Sir
George Grey: Polynesian Mytho., p. 32, in Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig.
Belief, vol.
i. p. 392.
[322:5] See
Viscount Amberly's Analysis Relig. Belief, p. 59.
[322:6] Vol.
i. p. 64.
[323:1]
Monumental Christianity, pp. 389, 390.
[323:2]
Kingsborough: Mex. Antiq., vol. vi. p. 114.
[323:3] Hist.
Indies, vol. ii. p. 369.
[323:4] Ibid.
p. 361.
[323:5] Ibid.
p. 369.
[323:6]
Monumental Christianity, p. 390.
[323:7]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 416.
[325:1] That
man is born in original sin seems to have been the belief of all
nations of
antiquity, especially the Hindus. This sense of original corruption
is expressed
in the following prayer, used by them:
"I am
sinful, I commit sin, my nature is sinful, I am conceived in sin. Save me,
O thou
lotus-eyed Heri, the remover of Sin." (Williams' Hinduism, p. 214.)
[Pg
326]CHAPTER XXXII.
THE WORSHIP
OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER.
The worship
of the "Virgin," the "Queen of Heaven," the "Great
Goddess," the
"Mother
of God," &c., which has become one of the grand features of the
Christian
religion—the Council of Ephesus (A. D. 431) having declared Mary
"Mother
of God," her assumption being declared in 813, and her Immaculate
Conception by
the Pope and Council in 1851[326:1]—was almost universal, for ages
before the
birth of Jesus, and "the pure virginity of the celestial mother was a
tenet of
faith for two thousand years before the virgin now adored was
born."[326:2]
In India,
they have worshiped, for ages, Devi, Maha-Devi—"The One Great
Goddess"[326:3]—and
have temples erected in honor of her.[326:4] Gonzales states
that among
the Indians he found a temple "Pariturć Virginis"—of the Virgin about
to bring
forth.[326:5]
Maya, the
mother of Buddha, and Devaki the mother of Crishna, were worshiped as
virgins,[326:6]
and represented with the infant Saviours in their arms, just as
the virgin of
the Christians is represented at the present day. Maya was so pure
that it was
impossible for God, man, or Asura to view her with carnal desire.
Fig. No. 16
is [Pg 327]a representation of the Virgin Devaki, with, the infant
Saviour
Crishna, taken from Moor's "Hindu Pantheon."[327:1] "No person
could
bear to gaze
upon Devaki, because of the light that invested her." "The gods,
invisible to
mortals, celebrated her praise continually from the time that
Vishnu was
contained in her person."[327:2]
"Crishna
and his mother are almost always represented black,"[327:3] and the
word
"Crishna" means "the black."
The Chinese,
who have had several avatars, or virgin-born gods, among them, have
also
worshiped a Virgin Mother from time immemorial. Sir Charles Francis Davis,
in his
"History of China," tells us that the Chinese at Canton worshiped an
idol, to
which they gave the name of "The Virgin."[327:4]
The Rev.
Joseph B. Gross, in his "Heathen Religion," tells us that:
"Upon
the altars of the Chinese temples were placed, behind a screen, an image
of Shin-moo,
or the 'Holy Mother,' sitting with a child in her arms, in an
alcove, with
rays of glory around her head, and tapers constantly burning before
her."[327:5]
Shin-moo is
called the "Mother Goddess," and the "Virgin." Her child,
who was
exposed in
his infancy, was brought up by poor fishermen. He became a great man,
and performed
wonderful miracles. In wealthy houses the sacred image of the
"Mother
Goddess" is carefully kept in a recess behind an altar, veiled with a
silken
screen.[327:6]
The Rev. Mr.
Gutzlaff, in his "Travels," speaking of the Chinese people, says:
"Though
otherwise very reasonable men, they have always showed themselves
bigoted
heathens. . . . They have everywhere built splendid temples, chiefly in
honor of
Ma-tsoo-po, the 'Queen of Heaven.'"[327:7]
Isis, mother
of the Egyptian Saviour, Horus, was worshiped as a virgin. Nothing
is more
common on the religious monuments of Egypt than the infant Horus seated
in the lap of
his virgin mother. She is styled "Our Lady," the "Queen of
Heaven,"
"Star of the Sea," "Governess," "Mother of God,"
"Intercessor,"
"Immaculate
[Pg 328]Virgin," &c.;[328:1] all of which epithets were in after
years applied
to the Virgin Mother worshiped by the Christians.[328:2]
"The
most common representation of Horus is being nursed on the knee of Isis, or
suckled at
her breast."[328:3] In Monumental Christianity (Fig. 92), is to be
seen a
representation of "Isis and Horus." The infant Saviour is sitting on
his
mother's
knee, while she gazes into his face. A cross is on the back of the
seat. The
author, Rev. J. P. Lundy, says, in speaking of it:
"Is this
Egyptian mother, too, meditating her son's conflict, suffering, and
triumph, as
she holds him before her and gazes into his face? And is this CROSS
meant to
convey the idea of life through suffering, and conflict with Typho or
Evil?"
In some
statues and basso-relievos, when Isis appears alone, she is entirely
veiled from
head to foot, in common with nearly every other goddess, as a symbol
of a mother's
chastity. No mortal man hath ever lifted her veil.
Isis was also
represented standing on the crescent moon, with twelve stars
surrounding
her head.[328:4] In almost every Roman Catholic Church on the
continent of
Europe may be seen pictures and statues of Mary, the "Queen of
Heaven,"
standing on the crescent moon, and her head surrounded with twelve
stars.
Dr. Inman, in
his "Pagan and Christian Symbolism," gives a figure of the Virgin
Mary, with
her infant, standing on the crescent moon. In speaking of this
figure, he
says:
"In it
the Virgin is seen as the 'Queen of Heaven,' nursing her infant, and
identified
with the crescent moon. . . . Than this, nothing could more
completely
identify the Christian mother and child, with Isis and Horus."[328:5]
This crescent
moon is the symbol of Isis and Juno, and is the Yoni of the
Hindoos.[328:6]
The priests
of Isis yearly dedicated to her a new ship (emblematic of the Yoni),
laden with
the first fruits of spring. Strange as it may seem, the carrying in
procession of
ships, in which the Virgin Mary takes the place of the heathen
goddesses,
has not yet wholly gone out of use.[328:7]
Isis is also
represented, with the infant Saviour in her arms, enclosed in a
framework of
the flowers of the Egyptian bean, or lotus.[328:8] The Virgin Mary
is very often
represented in this manner, as those who have studied medićval
art, well
know.
[Pg 329]Dr.
Inman, describing a painting of the Virgin Mary, which is to be seen
in the South
Kensington Museum, and which is enclosed in a framework of flowers,
says:
"It
represents the Virgin and Child precisely as she used to be represented in
Egypt, in
India, in Assyria, Babylonia, Phśnicia, and Etruria."[329:1]
The lotus and
poppy were sacred among all Eastern nations, and were consecrated
to the
various virgins worshiped by them. These virgins are represented holding
this plant in
their hands, just as the Virgin, adored by the Christians, is
represented
at the present day.[329:2] Mr. Squire, speaking of this plant, says:
"It is
well known that the 'Nymphe'—lotus or water-lily—is held sacred
throughout
the East, and the various sects of that quarter of the globe
represented
their deities either decorated with its flowers, holding it as a
sceptre, or
seated on a lotus throne or pedestal. Lacshmi, the beautiful Hindoo
goddess, is
associated with the lotus. The Egyptian Isis is often called the
'Lotus-crowned,'
in the ancient invocations. The Mexican goddess Corieotl, is
often
represented with a water-plant resembling the lotus in her hand."[329:3]
In Egyptian
and Hindoo mythology, the offspring of the virgin is made to bruise
the head of
the serpent, but the Romanists have given this office to the mother.
Mary is often
seen represented standing on the serpent. Fig. 17 alludes to this,
and to her
immaculate conception, which, as we have seen, was declared by the
Pope and
council in 1851. The notion of the divinity of Mary was broached by
some at the
Council of Nice, and they were thence named Marianites.
The Christian
Father Epiphanius accounts for the fact of the Egyptians
worshiping a
virgin and child, by declaring that the prophecy—"Behold, a virgin
shall conceive
and bring forth a son"—must have been revealed to them.[329:4]
In an ancient
Christian work, called the "Chronicle of Alexandria," occurs the
following:
[Pg
330]"Watch how Egypt has constructed the childbirth of a virgin, and the
birth of her
son, who was exposed in a crib to the adoration of the
people."[330:1]
We have
another Egyptian Virgin Mother in Neith or Nout, mother of "Osiris the
Saviour."
She was known as the "Great Mother," and yet "Immaculate
Virgin."[330:2]
M. Beauregard speaks of
"The
Immaculate Conception of the Virgin (Mary), who can henceforth, as well as
the Egyptian
Minerva, the mysterious Neith, boast of having come from herself,
and of having
given birth to god."[330:3]
What is known
in Christian countries as "Candlemas day," or the Purification of
the Virgin
Mary, is of Egyptian origin. The feast of Candlemas was kept by the
ancient
Egyptians in honor of the goddess Neith, and on the very day that is
marked on our
Christian almanacs as "Candlemas day."[330:4]
The ancient
Chaldees believed in a celestial virgin, who had purity of body,
loveliness of
person, and tenderness of affection; and who was one to whom the
erring sinner
could appeal with more chance of success than to a stern father.
She was
portrayed as a mother, although a virgin, with a child in her
arms.[330:5]
The ancient
Babylonians and Assyrians worshiped a goddess mother, and son, who
was
represented in pictures and in images as an infant in his mother's arms (see
Fig. No. 18).
Her name was Mylitta, the divine son was Tammuz, the Saviour, whom
we have seen
rose from the dead. He was invested with all his father's
attributes
and glory, and identified with him. He was worshiped as
mediator.[330:6]
There was a
temple at Paphos, in Cyprus, dedicated to the Virgin Mylitta, and
was the most
celebrated one in Grecian times.[330:7]
The ancient
Etruscans worshiped a Virgin Mother and Son, who was represented in
pictures and
images in the arms of his mother. This was the goddess Nutria, to
be seen in
Fig. No. 19. On the arm of the mother is an inscription in Etruscan
letters. This
goddess was also worshiped in Italy. Long before the Christian era
temples and
statues were erected in memory of her. "To the Great Goddess
Nutria,"
is an inscription which has been found among the ruins of a temple
dedicated to
her. No doubt the Roman Church would have claimed her for a [Pg
331]Madonna,
but most unluckily for them, she has the name "Nutria," in Etruscan
letters on
her arm, after the Etruscan practice.
The Egyptian
Isis was also worshiped in Italy, many centuries before the
Christian
era, and all images of her, with the infant Horus in her arms, have
been adopted,
as we shall presently see, by the Christians, even though they
represent her
and her child as black as an Ethiopian, in the same manner as we
have seen
that Devaki and Crishna were represented.
The children
of Israel, who, as we have seen in a previous chapter, were
idolaters of
the worst kind—worshiping the sun, moon and stars, and offering
human
sacrifices to their god, Moloch—were also worshipers of a Virgin Mother,
whom they
styled the "Queen of Heaven."
Jeremiah, who
appeared in Jerusalem about the year 625 B. C., and who was one of
the prophets
and reformers, rebukes the Israelites for their idolatry and
worship of
the "Queen of Heaven," whereupon they answer him as follows:
"As for
the word that thou hast spoken unto us, in the name of the Lord, we will
not hearken
unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out
of our own
mouth, to burn incense unto the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out
drink
offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and
our princes,
in the city of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then we
had plenty of
victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
"But
since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out
drink
offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by
the sword and
by the famine. And when we burned incense to the Queen of [Pg
332]Heaven,
and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to
worship her,
and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?"[332:1]
The
"cakes" which were offered to the "Queen of Heaven" by the
Israelites were
marked with a
cross, or other symbol of sun worship.[332:2] The ancient
Egyptians
also put a cross on their "sacred cakes."[332:3] Some of the early
Christians
offered "sacred cakes" to the Virgin Mary centuries after.[332:4]
The ancient
Persians worshiped the Virgin and Child. On the monuments of Mithra,
the Saviour,
the Mediating and Redeeming God of the Persians, the Virgin Mother
of this god
is to be seen suckling her infant.[332:5]
The ancient
Greeks and Romans worshiped the Virgin Mother and Child for
centuries
before the Christian era. One of these was Myrrha,[332:6] the mother
of Bacchus,
the Saviour, who was represented with the infant in her arms. She
had the title
of "Queen of Heaven."[332:7] At many a Christian shrine the infant
Saviour Bacchus
may be seen reposing in the arms of his deified mother. The
names are
changed—the ideas remain as before.[332:8]
The Rev. Dr.
Stuckley writes:
"Diodorus
says Bacchus was born of Jupiter, the Supreme God, and Ceres (Myrrha).
Both Ceres
and Proserpine were called Virgo (Virgin). The story of this woman
being
deserted by a man, and espoused by a god, has somewhat so exceedingly like
that passage,
Matt. i. 19, 20, of the blessed Virgin's history, that we should
wonder at it,
did we not see the parallelism infinite between the sacred and the
profane
history before us.
"There
are many similitudes between the Virgin (Mary) and the mother of Bacchus
(also called
Mary—see note 6 below)—in all the old fables. Mary, or Miriam, St.
Jerome
interprets Myrrha Maris. Orpheus calls the mother of Bacchus a Sea
Goddess (and
the mother of Jesus is called 'Mary, Star of the Sea.'")[332:9]
Thus we see
that the reverend and learned Dr. Stuckley has clearly [Pg 333]made
out that the
story of Mary, the "Queen of Heaven," the "Star of the
Sea," the
mother of the
Lord, with her translation to heaven, &c., was an old story long
before Jesus
of Nazareth was born. After this Stuckley observes that the Pagan
"Queen
of Heaven" has upon her head a crown of twelve stars. This, as we have
observed
above, is the case of the Christian "Queen of Heaven" in almost every
Romish church
on the continent of Europe.
The goddess
Cybele was another. She was equally called the "Queen of Heaven" and
the
"Mother of God." As devotees now collect alms in the name of the
Virgin
Mary, so did
they in ancient times in the name of Cybele. The Galli now used in
the churches
of Italy, were anciently used in the worship of Cybele (called
Galliambus,
and sang by her priests). "Our Lady Day," or the day of the Blessed
Virgin of the
Roman Church, was heretofore dedicated to Cybele.[333:1]
Minerva, who
was distinguished by the title of "Virgin Queen,"[333:2] was
extensively
worshiped in ancient Greece. Among the innumerable temples of
Greece, the
most beautiful was the Parthenon, meaning, the Temple of the Virgin
Goddess. It
was a magnificent Doric edifice, dedicated to Minerva, the presiding
deity of
Athens.
Juno was
called the "Virgin Queen of Heaven."[333:3] She was represented, like
Isis and Mary,
standing on the crescent moon,[333:4] and was considered the
special
protectress of women, from the cradle to the grave, just as Mary is
considered at
the present day.
Diana, who
had the title of "Mother," was nevertheless famed for her virginal
purity.[333:5]
She was represented, like Isis and Mary, with stars surrounding
her
head.[333:6]
The ancient
Muscovites worshiped a sacred group, composed of a woman with a male
child in her
lap, and another standing by her. They had likewise another idol,
called the
golden heifer, which, says Mr. Knight, "seems to have been the animal
symbol of the
same personage."[333:7] Here we have the Virgin and infant
Saviour, with
the companion (John the Baptist), and "The Lamb that taketh away
the sins of
the world," among the ancient Muscovites [Pg 334]before the time of
Christ Jesus.
This goddess had also the title of "Queen of Heaven."[334:1]
The ancient
Germans worshiped a virgin goddess under the the name of Hertha, or
Ostara, who
was fecundated by the active spirit, i. e., the "Holy
Spirit."[334:2]
She was represented in images as a woman with a child in her
arms. This
image was common in their consecrated forests, and was held
peculiarly
sacred.[334:3] The Christian celebration called Easter derived its
name from
this goddess.
The ancient
Scandinavians worshiped a virgin goddess called Disa. Mr. R. Payne
Knight tells
us that:
"This
goddess is delineated on the sacred drums of the Laplanders, accompanied
by a child,
similar to the Horus of the Egyptians, who so often appears in the
lap of Isis
on the religious monuments of that people."[334:4]
The ancient
Scandinavians also worshiped the goddess Frigga. She was mother of
"Baldur
the Good," his father being Odin, the supreme god of the northern
nations. It
was she who was addressed, as Mary is at the present day, in order
to obtain
happy marriages and easy childbirths. The Eddas style her the most
favorable of
the goddesses.[334:5]
In Gaul, the
ancient Druids worshiped the Virgo-Paritura as the "Mother of God,"
and a
festival was annually celebrated in honor of this virgin.[334:6]
In the year
1747 a monument was found at Oxford, England, of pagan origin, on
which is
exhibited a female nursing an infant.[334:7] Thus we see that the
Virgin and
Child were worshiped, in pagan times, from China to Britain, and, if
we turn to
the New World, we shall find the same thing there; for, in the words
of Dr. Inman,
"even in Mexico the 'Mother and Child' were worshiped."[334:8]
This mother,
who had the title of "Virgin," and "Queen of
Heaven,"[334:9] was
Chimalman, or
Sochiquetzal, and the infant was Quetzalcoatle, the crucified
Saviour. Lord
Kingsborough says:
"She who
represented 'Our Lady' (among the ancient Mexicans) had her hair tied
up in the
manner in which the Indian women tie and fasten their hair, [Pg
335]and in
the knot behind was inserted a small cross, by which it was intended
to show that
she was the Most Holy."[335:1]
The Mexicans
had pictures of this "Heavenly Goddess" on long pieces of leather,
which they
rolled up.[335:2]
The
annunciation to the Virgin Chimalman, that she should become the mother of
the Saviour
Quetzalcoatle, was the subject of a Mexican hieroglyphic, and is
remarkable in
more than one respect. She appears to be receiving a bunch of
flowers from
the embassador or angel,[335:3] which brings to mind the lotus, the
sacred plant
of the East, which is placed in the hands of the Pagan and
Christian
virgins.
The 25th of
March, which was celebrated throughout the ancient Grecian and Roman
world, in
honor of "the Mother of the Gods," was appointed to the honor of the
Christian
"Mother of God," and is now celebrated in Catholic countries, and
called
"Lady day."[335:4] The festival of the conception of the
"Blessed Virgin
Mary" is
also held on the very day that the festival of the miraculous
conception of
the "Blessed Virgin Juno" was held among the pagans,[335:5] which,
says the
author of the "Perennial Calendar," "is a remarkable
coincidence."[335:6]
It is not such a very "remarkable coincidence" after all,
when we find
that, even as early as the time of St. Gregory, Bishop of
Neo-Cćsarea,
who flourished about A. D. 240-250, Pagan festivals were changed
into
Christian holidays. This saint was commended by his namesake of Nyssa for
changing the
Pagan festivals into Christian holidays, the better to draw the
heathens to
the religion of Christ.[335:7]
The month of
May, which was dedicated to the heathen Virgin Mothers, is also the
month of
Mary, the Christian Virgin.
Now that we
have seen that the worship of the Virgin and Child was universal for
ages before
the Christian era, we shall say a few words on the subject of
pictures and
images of the Madonna—so called.
The most
ancient pictures and statues in Italy and other parts of Europe, of
what are
supposed to be representations of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus,
are black.
The infant god, in the arms of his black mother, his eyes and drapery
white, is
himself perfectly black.[335:8]
Godfrey
Higgins, on whose authority we have stated the above, informs us that,
at the time
of his writing—1825-1835—images and [Pg 336]paintings of this kind
were to be
seen at the cathedral of Moulins; the famous chapel of "the Virgin"
at Loretto;
the church of the Annunciation, the church of St. Lazaro, and the
church of St.
Stephens, at Genoa; St. Francis, at Pisa; the church at Brixen, in
the Tyrol;
the church at Padua; the church of St. Theodore, at Munich—in the two
last of which
the white of the eyes and teeth, and the studied redness of the
lips, are
very observable.[336:1]
"The
Bambino[336:2] at Rome is black," says Dr. Inman, "and so are the
Virgin
and Child at
Loretto."[336:3] Many more are to be seen in Rome, and in
innumerable
other places; in fact, says Mr. Higgins,
"There
is scarcely an old church in Italy where some remains of the worship of
the black
Virgin, and black child, are not met with;" and that "pictures in
great numbers
are to be met with, where the white of the eyes, and of the teeth,
and the lips
a little tinged with red, like the black figures in the museum of
the Indian
company."[336:4]
Fig. No. 20
is a copy of the image of the Virgin of Loretto. Dr. Conyers
Middleton,
speaking of it, says:
"The
mention of Loretto puts me in mind of the surprise that I was in at the
first sight
of the Holy Image, for its face is as black as a negro's. But I soon
recollected,
that this very circumstance of its complexion made it but resemble
the more
exactly the old idols of Paganism."[336:5]
The reason
assigned by the Christian priests for the images being black, is that
they are made
so by smoke and incense, but, we may ask, if they became black by
smoke, why is
it that the white drapery, white teeth, and the white of the eyes
have not
changed in color? Why are the lips of a bright red color? Why, we may
also ask, are
the black images crowned and adorned with jewels, just as the
images of the
Hindoo and Egyptian virgins are represented?
When we find
that the Virgin Devaki, and the Virgin Isis were represented just
as these
so-called ancient Christian idols represent Mary, we are led to the
conclusion
that they are Pagan idols adopted by the Christians.
[Pg 337]We
may say, in the words of Mr. Lundy, "what jewels are doing on the
neck of this
poor and lowly maid, it is not easy to say."[337:1] The crown is
also foreign
to early representations of the Madonna and Child, but not so to
Devaki and
Crishna,[337:2] and Isis and Horus. The coronation of the Virgin Mary
is unknown to
primitive Christian art, but is common in Pagan art.[337:3] "It
may be
well," says Mr. Lundy, "to compare some of the oldest Hindoo
representations
of the subject with the Romish, and see how complete the
resemblance
is;"[337:4] and Dr. Inman says that, "the head-dress, as put on the
head of the
Virgin Mary, is of Grecian, Egyptian, and Indian origin."[337:5]
The whole
secret of the fact of these early representations of the Virgin Mary
and
Jesus—so-called—being black, crowned, and covered with jewels, is that they
are of
pre-Christian origin; they are Isis and Horus, and perhaps, in some
cases, Devaki
and Crishna, baptized anew.
The Egyptian
"Queen of Heaven" was worshiped in Europe for centuries before and
after the
Christian Era.[337:6] Temples and statues were also erected in honor
of Isis, one
of which was at Bologna, in Italy.
Mr. King
tells us that the Emperor Hadrian zealously strove to reanimate the
forms of that
old religion, whose spirit had long since passed away, and it was
under his
patronage that the creed of the Pharaohs blazed up for a moment with a
bright but
fictitious lustre.[337:7] To this period belongs a beautiful sard, in
Mr. King's
collection, representing Serapis[337:8] and Isis, with the legend:
"Immaculate
is Our Lady Isis."[337:9]
Mr. King
further tells us that:
"The
'Black Virgins' so highly reverenced in certain French cathedrals during
the long
night of the middle ages, proved, when at last examined critically,
basalt
figures of Isis."[337:10]
And Mr.
Bonwick says:
"We may
be surprised that, as Europe has Black Madonnas, Egypt had Black [Pg
338]images
and pictures of Isis. At the same time it is a little odd that the
Virgin Mary
copies most honored should not only be Black, but have a decided
Isis cast of
feature."[338:1]
The shrine
now known as that of the "Virgin in Amadon," in France, was formerly
an old Black
Venus.[338:2]
"To this
we may add," (says Dr. Inman), "that at the Abbey of Einsiedelen, on
Lake Zurich,
the object of adoration is an old black doll, dressed in gold
brocade, and glittering
with jewels. She is called, apparently, the Virgin of
the Swiss
Mountains. My friend, Mr. Newton, also tells me that he saw, over a
church door
at Ivrea, in Italy, twenty-nine miles from Turin, the fresco of a
Black Virgin
and child, the former bearing a triple crown."[338:3]
This triple
crown is to be seen on the heads of Pagan gods and goddesses,
especially
those of the Hindoos.
Dr. Barlow
says:
"The
doctrine of the Mother of God was of Egyptian origin. It was brought in
along with
the worship of the Madonna by Cyril (Bishop of Alexandria, and the
Cyril of
Hypatia) and the monks of Alexandria, in the fifth century. The
earliest
representations of the Madonna have quite a Greco-Egyptian character,
and there can
be little doubt that Isis nursing Horus was the origin of them
all."[338:4]
And Arthur
Murphy tells us that:
"The
superstition and religious ceremonies of the Egyptians were diffused over
Asia, Greece,
and the rest of Europe. Brotier says, that inscriptions of Isis
and Serapis
(Horus?) have been frequently found in Germany. . . . The
missionaries
who went in the eighth and ninth centuries to propagate the
Christian
religion in those parts, saw many images and statues of these
gods."[338:5]
These
"many images and statues of these gods" were evidently baptized anew,
given other
names, and allowed to remain where they were.
In many parts
of Italy are to be seen pictures of the Virgin with her infant in
her arms,
inscribed with the words: "Deo Soli." This betrays their Pagan origin.
FOOTNOTES:
[326:1] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 115, and Monumental Christianity, pp.
206 and 226.
[326:2]
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 159.
[326:3] See
Williams' Hinduism.
[326:4] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 540.
[326:5] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 185.
[326:6] St.
Jerome says: "It is handed down as a tradition among the
Gymnosophists
of India, that Buddha, the founder of their system was brought
forth by a
virgin from her side." (Contra Jovian, bk. i. Quoted in Rhys Davids'
Buddhism, p.
183.)
[327:1] Plate
59.
[327:2]
Monumental Christianity, p. 218.
Of the Virgin
Mary we read: "Her face was shining as snow, and its brightness
could hardly
be borne. Her conversation was with the angels, &c." (Nativity of
Mary, Apoc.)
[327:3] See
Ancient Faiths, i. 401.
[327:4]
Davis' China, vol. ii. p. 95.
[327:5] The
Heathen Relig., p. 60.
[327:6]
Barrows: Travels in China, p. 467.
[327:7]
Gutzlaff's Voyages, p. 154.
[328:1]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 141.
[328:2] See
The Lily of Israel, p. 14.
[328:3]
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 425.
[328:4] See
Draper's Science and Religion, pp. 47, 48, and Higgins' Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p.
804.
[328:5] Pagan
and Christian Symbolism, p. 50.
[328:6] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 307, and Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths.
[328:7] See
Cox's Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 119, note.
[328:8] See
Pagan and Christian Symbolism, pp. 13, 14.
[329:1] Pagan
and Christian Symbolism, pp. 4, 5.
[329:2] See
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, pp. 45, 104, 105.
"We see,
in pictures, that the Virgin and Child are associated in modern times
with the
split apricot, the pomegranate, rimmon, and the Vine, just as was the
ancient
Venus." (Dr. Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 528.)
[329:3]
Serpent Symbol, p. 39.
[329:4]
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 185.
[330:1]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 143.
[330:2] Ibid.
p. 115.
[330:3]
Quoted in Ibid. p. 115.
[330:4]
Ibid., and Kenrick's Egypt.
[330:5]
Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 59.
[330:6] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 211, and Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p.
350.
[330:7]
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 213.
[332:1]
Jeremiah, xliv. 16-22.
[332:2] See
Colenso's Lectures, p. 297, and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 148.
[332:3] See
the Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 115, App., and Bonwick's
Egyptian
Belief, p. 148.
[332:4] See
King's Gnostics, p. 91, and Monumental Christianity, p. 224.
[332:5] See
Dupuis: Origin of Relig. Belief, p. 237.
[332:6] It
would seem more than chance that so many of the virgin mothers and
goddesses of
antiquity should have the same name. The mother of Bacchus was
Myrrha: the
mother of Mercury or Hermes was Myrrha or Maia (See Fergusson's Tree
and Serpent
Worship, p. 186, and Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 233); the
mother of the
Siamese Saviour—Sommona Cadom—was called Maya Maria, i. e., "the
Great
Mary;" the mother of Adonis was Myrrha (See Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 314,
and Inman's
Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 253); the mother of Buddha was Maya;
now, all
these names, whether Myrrha, Maia or Maria, are the same as Mary, the
name of the
mother of the Christian Saviour. (See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol.
ii. pp. 353
and 780. Also, Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 124.) The month of
May was
sacred to these goddesses, so likewise is it sacred to the Virgin Mary
at the present
day. She was also called Myrrha and Maria, as well as Mary. (See
Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p. 304, and Son of the Man, p. 26.)
[332:7]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 303, 304.
[332:8] Prof.
Wilder, in "Evolution," June, '77. Isis Unveiled, vol. ii.
[332:9]
Stuckley: Pal. Sac. No. 1, p. 34, in Anacalypsis, i. p. 304.
[333:1]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 305.
[333:2] See
Bell's Pantheon, and Knight: Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 175.
[333:3] See
Roman Antiquities, p. 73. Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 82, and Bell's
Pantheon,
vol. ii. p. 160.
[333:4] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 308—Fig. 144.
[333:5] See
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., pp. 175, 176.
[333:6] See
Montfaucon, vol. i. plate xcii.
[333:7]
Knight's Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 147.
[334:1]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110.
[334:2] See
Knight's Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 21.
[334:3] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 374, and Mallet: Northern
Antiquities.
[334:4]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 147.
[334:5] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
[334:6] See Higgins:
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 108, 109, 259. Dupuis: Orig.
Relig.
Belief, p. 257. Celtic Druids, p. 163, and Taylor's Diegesis, p. 184.
[334:7] See
Celtic Druids, p. 163, and Dupuis, p. 237.
[334:8]
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 100.
[334:9] See
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 33, and Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p.
176.
[335:1]
Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176.
[335:2] Ibid.
[335:3] Ibid.
[335:4]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 304.
[335:5] Ibid.
vol. ii. p. 82.
[335:6]
Quoted in Ibid.
[335:7] See
Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 236.
[335:8]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 138.
[336:1]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 138.
[336:2]
Bambino—a term in art, descriptive of the swaddled figure of the infant
Saviour.
[336:3]
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 401.
[336:4]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 138.
[336:5]
Letters from Rome, p. 84.
[337:1]
Monumental Christianity, p. 208.
[337:2] See
Ibid. p. 229, and Moore's Hindu Pantheon, Inman's Christian and
Pagan
Symbolism, Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii., where the figures of Crishna
and Devaki
may be seen, crowned, laden with jewels, and a ray of glory
surrounding
their heads.
[337:3]
Monumental Christianity, p. 227.
[337:4] Ibid.
[337:5]
Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 767.
[337:6] In
King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. 109, the author gives a
description
of a procession, given during the second century by Apuleius, in
honor of
Isis, the "Immaculate Lady."
[337:7]
King's Gnostics, p. 71.
[337:8]
"Serapis does not appear to be one of the native gods, or monsters, who
sprung from
the fruitful soil of Egypt. The first of the Ptolemies had been
commanded, by
a dream, to import the mysterious stranger from the coast of
Pontus, where
he had been long adored by the inhabitants of Sinope; but his
attributes
and his reign were so imperfectly understood, that it became a
subject of
dispute, whether he represented the bright orb of day, or the gloomy
monarch of
the subterraneous regions." (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 143.)
[337:9] Ibid.
[337:10]
King's Gnostics, p. 71, note.
[338:1]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 141. "Black is the color of the Egyptian
Isis."
(The Rosecrucians, p. 154.)
[338:2]
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 159. In Montfaucon, vol. i. plate xcv., may
be seen a
representation of a Black Venus.
[338:3] Ancient
Faiths, vol. ii. p. 264.
[338:4]
Quoted in Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 142.
[338:5] Notes
3 and 4 to Tacitus' Manners of the Germans.
[Pg
339]CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHRISTIAN
SYMBOLS.
A thorough
investigation of this subject would require a volume, therefore, as
we can devote
but a chapter to it, it must necessarily be treated somewhat
slightingly.
The first of
the Christian Symbols which we shall notice is the CROSS.
Overwhelming
historical facts show that the cross was used, as a religious
emblem, many
centuries before the Christian era, by every nation in the world.
Bishop
Colenso, speaking on this subject, says:—
"From
the dawn of organized Paganism in the Eastern world, to the final
establishment
of Christianity in the West, the cross was undoubtedly one of the
commonest and
most sacred of symbolical monuments. Apart from any distinctions
of social or
intellectual superiority, of caste, color, nationality, or location
in either
hemisphere, it appears to have been the aboriginal possession of every
people in
antiquity.
"Diversified
forms of the symbol are delineated more or less artistically,
according to
the progress achieved in civilization at the period, on the ruined
walls of
temples and palaces, on natural rocks and sepulchral galleries, on the
hoariest
monoliths and the rudest statuary; on coins, medals, and vases of every
description;
and in not a few instances, are preserved in the architectural
proportions
of subterranean as well as superterranean structures of tumuli, as
well as fanes.
"Populations
of essentially different culture, tastes, and pursuits—the
highly-civilized
and the semi-civilized, the settled and the nomadic—vied with
each other in
their superstitious adoration of it, and in their efforts to
extend the
knowledge of its exceptional import and virtue amongst their latest
posterities.
"Of the
several varieties of the cross still in vogue, as national and
ecclesiastical
emblems, and distinguished by the familiar appellations of St.
George, St.
Andrew, the Maltese, the Greek, the Latin, &c., &c., there is not
one amongst
them, the existence of which may not be traced to the remotest
antiquity.
They were the common property of the Eastern nations.
"That
each known variety has been derived from a common source, and is
emblematical
of one and the same truth may be inferred from the fact of forms
identically
the same, whether simple or complex, cropping out in contrary
directions,
in the Western as well as the Eastern hemisphere."[339:1]
[Pg 340]The
cross has been adored in India from time immemorial, and was a
symbol of
mysterious significance in Brahmanical iconography. It was the symbol
of the Hindoo
god Agni, the "Light of the World."[340:1]
In the Cave
of Elephanta, over the head of the figure represented as destroying
the infants,
whence the story of Herod and the infants of Bethlehem (which was
unknown to
all the Jewish, Roman, and Grecian historians) took its origin, may
be seen the
Mitre, the Crosier, and the Cross.[340:2]
It is placed
by Müller in the hand of Siva, Brahma, Vishnu, Crishna, Tvashtri
and Jama. To
it the worshipers of Vishnu attribute as many virtues as does the
devout
Catholic to the Christian cross.[340:3] Fra Paolino tells us it was used
by the
ancient kings of India as a sceptre.[340:4]
Two of the
principal pagodas of India—Benares and Mathura—were erected in the
forms of vast
crosses.[340:5] The pagoda at Mathura was sacred to the memory of
the
Virgin-born and crucified Saviour Crishna.[340:6]
The cross has
been an object of profound veneration among the Buddhists from the
earliest
times. One is the sacred Swastica (Fig. No. 21). It is seen in the old
Buddhist
Zodiacs, and is one of the symbols in the Asoka inscriptions. It is the
sectarian
mark of the Jains, and the distinctive badge of the sect of Xaca
Japonicus.
The Vaishnavas of India have also the same sacred sign.[340:7] And,
according to
Arthur Lillie,[340:8] "the only Christian cross in the catacombs is
this Buddhist
Swastica."
The cross is
adored by the followers of the Lama of Thibet.[340:9] Fig. No. 22
is a
representation of the most familiar form of Buddhist cross. The close [Pg
341]resemblance
between the ancient religion of Thibet and that of the
Christians
has been noticed by many European travellers and missionaries, among
whom may be
mentioned Pere Grebillon, Pere Grueber, Horace de la Paon,
D'Orville,
and M. L'Abbé Huc. The Buddhists, and indeed all the sects of India,
marked their
followers on the head with the sign of the cross.[341:1] This was
undoubtedly
practiced by almost all heathen nations, as we have seen in the
chapter on
the Eucharist that the initiates into the Heathen mysteries were
marked in
that manner.
The ancient
Egyptians adored the cross with the profoundest veneration. This
sacred symbol
is to be found on many of their ancient monuments, some of which
may be seen
at the present day in the British Museum.[341:2] In the museum of
the London
University, a cross upon a Calvary is to be seen upon the breast of
one of the
Egyptian mummies.[341:3] Many of the Egyptian images hold a cross in
their hand.
There is one now extant of the Egyptian Saviour Horus holding a
cross in his
hand,[341:4] and he is represented as an infant sitting on his
mother's
knee, with a cross on the back of the seat they occupy.[341:5]
The commonest
of all the Egyptian crosses, the CRUX ANSATA (Fig. No. 23) was
adopted by
the Christians. Thus, beside one of the Christian inscriptions at
Phile (a
celebrated island lying in the midst of the Nile) is seen both a
Maltese cross
and a crux ansata.[341:6] In a painting covering the end of a
church in the
cemetery of El Khargeh, in the Great Oasis, are three of these
crosses round
the principal subject, which seems to have been a figure of a
saint.[341:7]
In an inscription in a Christian church to the east of the Nile,
in the
desert, these crosses are also to be seen. Beside, or in the hand of, the
Egyptian
gods, this symbol is generally to be seen. When the Saviour Osiris is
represented
holding out the crux ansata to a mortal, it signifies that the
person to
whom he presents it has put off mortality, and entered on the life to
come.[341:8]
The Greek
cross, and the cross of St. Anthony, are also found [Pg 342]on
Egyptian
monuments. A figure of a Shari (Fig. No. 24), from Sir Gardner
Wilkinson's
book, has a necklace round his throat, from which depends a pectoral
cross. A
third Egyptian cross is that represented in Fig. No. 25, which is
apparently
intended for a Latin cross rising out of a heart, like the medićval
emblem of
"Cor in Cruce, Crux in Corde:" it is the hieroglyph of
goodness.[342:1]
It is related
by the ecclesiastical historians Socrates and Sozomon, that when
the temple of
Serapis, at Alexandria, in Egypt, was demolished by one of the
Christian emperors,
beneath the foundation was discovered a cross. The words of
Socrates are
as follows:
"In the
temple of Serapis, now overthrown and rifled throughout, there were
found
engraven in the stones certain letters . . . resembling the form of the
cross. The
which when both Christians and Ethnics beheld, every one applied to
his proper
religion. The Christians affirmed that the cross was a sign or token
of the
passion of Christ, and the proper cognizance of their profession. The
Ethnics
avouched that therein was contained something in common, belonging as
well to
Serapis as to Christ."[342:2]
It should be
remembered, in connection with this, that the Emperor Hadrian saw
no difference
between the worshipers of Serapis and the worshipers of Christ
Jesus. In a
letter to the Consul Servanus he says:
"There
are there (in Egypt) Christians who worship Serapis, and devoted to
Serapis are
those who call themselves 'Bishops of Christ.'"[342:3]
The ancient
Egyptians were in the habit of putting a cross on their sacred
cakes, just
as the Christians of the present day do on Good Friday.[342:4] The
plan of the
chamber of some Egyptian sepulchres has the form of a cross,[342:5]
and the cross
was worn by Egyptian ladies as an ornament, in precisely the same
manner as
Christian ladies wear it at the present day.[342:6]
The ancient
Babylonians honored the cross as a religious symbol. It is to be
found on
their oldest monuments. Anu, a deity who stood at the head of the
Babylonian
mythology, had a cross for his [Pg 343]sign or symbol.[343:1] It is
also the
symbol of the Babylonian god Bal.[343:2] A cross hangs on the breast of
Tiglath
Pileser, in the colossal tablet from Nimroud, now in the British Museum.
Another king,
from the ruins of Ninevah, wears a Maltese cross on his bosom. And
another, from
the hall of Nisroch, carries an emblematic necklace, to which a
Maltese cross
is attached.[343:3] The most common of crosses, the crux ansata
(Fig. No. 21)
was also a sacred symbol among the Babylonians. It occurs
repeatedly on
their cylinders, bricks and gems.[343:4]
The ensigns
and standards carried by the Persians during their wars with
Alexander the
Great (B. C. 335), were made in the form of a cross—as we shall
presently see
was the style of the ancient Roman standards—and representations
of these
cross-standards have been handed down to the present day.
Sir Robert
Ker Porter, in his very valuable work entitled: "Travels in Georgia,
Persia,
Armenia, and Ancient Babylonia,"[343:5] shows the representation of a
bas-relief,
of very ancient antiquity, which he found at Nashi-Roustam, or the
Mountain of
Sepulchres. It represents a combat between two
horsemen—Baharam-Gour,
one of the old Persian kings, and a Tartar prince.
Baharam-Gour
is in the act of charging his opponent with a spear, and behind
him, scarcely
visible, appears an almost effaced form, which must have been his
standard-bearer,
as the ensign is very plainly to be seen. This ensign is a
cross. There
is another representation of the same subject to be seen in a
bas-relief,
which shows the standard-bearer and his cross ensign very
plainly.[343:6]
This bas-relief belongs to a period when the Arsacedian kings
governed
Persia,[343:7] which was within a century after the time of Alexander,
and
consequently more than two centuries B. C.
Sir Robert
also found at this place, sculptures cut in the solid rock, which are
in the form
of crosses. These belong to the early race of Persian monarchs,
whose dynasty
terminated under the sword of Alexander the Great.[343:8] At the
foot of Mount
Nakshi-Rajab, he also found bas-reliefs, among which were two
figures
carrying a cross-standard. Fig. No. 26 is a representation of
this.[343:9]
It is coeval with the sculptures found at Nashi-Roustam,[343:10]
and therefore
belongs to a period before the time of Alexander's invasion.
The cross is
represented frequently and prominently on the coins [Pg 344]of Asia
Minor.
Several have a ram or lamb on one side, and a cross on the other.[344:1]
On some of
the early coins of the Phenicians, the cross is found attached to a
chaplet of
beads placed in a circle, so as to form a complete rosary, such as
the Lamas of
Thibet and China, the Hindoos, and the Roman Catholics, now tell
over while
they pray.[344:2] On a Phenician medal, found in the ruins of Citium,
in Cyprus,
and printed in Dr. Clark's "Travels" (vol. ii. c. xi.), are engraved
a cross, a
rosary, and a lamb.[344:3] This is the "Lamb of God who taketh away
the sins of
the world."
The ancient
Etruscans revered the cross as a religious emblem. This sacred sign,
accompanied
with the heart, is to be seen on their monuments. Fig. No. 27, taken
from the work
of Gorrio (Tab. xxxv.), shows an ancient tomb with angels and the
cross
thereon. It would answer perfectly for a Christian cemetery.
The cross was
adored by the ancient Greeks and Romans for centuries before the
Augustan era.
An ancient inscription in Thessaly is accompanied by a Calvary
cross (Fig.
No. 28); and Greek crosses of equal arms adorn the tomb of Midas
(one of the
ancient kings), in Phrygia.[344:4]
[Pg 345]The
adoration of the cross by the Romans is spoken of by the Christian
Father
Minucius Felix, when denying the charge of idolatry which was made
against his
sect.
"As for
the adoration of cross," (says he to the Romans), "which you object
against us, I
must tell you that we neither adore crosses nor desire them. You
it is, ye
Pagans, who worship wooden gods, who are the most likely people to
adore wooden
crosses, as being part of the same substance with your deities. For
what else are
your ensigns, flags, and standards, but crosses, gilt and
beautiful.
Your victorious trophies not only represent a cross, but a cross with
a man upon
it."[345:1]
The principal
silver coin among the Romans, called the denarius, had on one side
a
personification of Rome as a warrior with a helmet, and on the reverse, a
chariot drawn
by four horses. The driver had a cross-standard in one hand. This
is a
representation of a denarius of the earliest kind, which was first coined
296 B.
C.[345:2] The cross was used on the roll of the Roman soldiery as the
sign of
life.[345:3]
But, long
before the Romans, long before the Etruscans, there lived in the
plains of
Northern Italy a people to whom the cross was a religious symbol, the
sign beneath
which they laid their dead to rest; a people of whom history tells
nothing,
knowing not their name; but of whom antiquarian research has learned
this, that
they lived in ignorance of the arts of civilization, that they dwelt
in villages
built on platforms over lakes, and that they trusted to the cross to
guard, and
may be to revive, their loved ones whom they committed to the dust.
The
examination of the tombs of Golasecca proves, in a most convincing,
positive, and
precise manner that which the terramares of Emilia had only
indicated,
but which had been confirmed by the cemetery of Villanova, that above
a thousand
years B. C., the cross was already a religious emblem of frequent
employment.[345:4]
"It is
more than a coincidence," (says the Rev. S. Baring-Gould), "that
Osiris
by the cross
should give life eternal to the spirits of the just; that with the
cross Thor
should smite the head of the great Serpent, and bring to life those
who were
slain; that beneath the cross the Muysca mothers should lay their
babes,
trusting to that sign to secure them from the power of evil spirits; that
with that
symbol to protect them, the ancient people of Northern Italy should
lay them down
in the dust."[345:5]
The cross was
also found among the ruins of Pompeii.[345:6]
It was a
sacred emblem among the ancient Scandinavians.
[Pg
346]"It occurs" (says Mr. R. Payne Knight), "on many Runic
monuments found
in Sweden and
Denmark, which are of an age long anterior to the approach of
Christianity
to those countries, and, probably, to its appearance in the
world."[346:1]
Their god
Thor, son of the Supreme god Odin, and the goddess Freyga, had the
hammer for
his symbol. It was with this hammer that Thor crushed the head of the
great Mitgard
serpent, that he destroyed the giants, that he restored the dead
goats to
life, which drew his car, that he consecrated the pyre of Baldur. This
hammer was a
cross.[346:2]
The cross of
Thor is still used in Iceland as a magical sign in connection with
storms of
wind and rain.
King Olaf,
Longfellow tells us, when keeping Christmas at Drontheim:
"O'er
his drinking-horn, the sign
He made of
the Cross Divine,
And he drank,
and mutter'd his prayers;
But the
Berserks evermore
Made the sign
of the hammer of Thor
Over
theirs."
Actually,
they both made the same symbol.
This we are
told by Snorro Sturleson, in the Heimskringla (Saga iv. c. 18), when
he describes
the sacrifice at Lade, at which King Hakon, Athelstan's foster-son,
was present:
"Now when
the first full goblet was filled, Earl Sigurd spoke some words over
it, and
blessed it in Odin's name, and drank to the king out of the horn; and
the king then
took it, and made the sign of the cross over it. Then said Kaare
of Greyting,
'What does the king mean by doing so? will he not sacrifice?' But
Earl Sigurd
replied, 'The King is doing what all of you do who trust in your
power and
strength; for he is blessing the full goblet in the name of Thor, by
making the
sign of his hammer over it before he drinks it."[346:3]
The cross was
also a sacred emblem among the Laplanders. "In solemn sacrifices,
all the
Lapland idols were marked with it from the blood of the victims."[346:4]
It was adored
by the ancient Druids of Britain, and is to be seen on the
so-called
"fire towers" of Ireland and Scotland. The "consecrated
trees" of the
Druids had a
cross beam attached to them, making the figure of a cross. On
several of
the most curious and most ancient monuments of Britain, the cross is
to be seen,
evidently cut thereon by the Druids. Many large stones throughout
Ireland have
these Druid crosses cut in them.[346:5]
[Pg
347]Cleland observes, in his "Attempt to Revive Celtic Literature,"
that the
Druids taught
the doctrine of an overruling providence, and the immortality of
the soul:
that they had also their Lent, their Purgatory, their Paradise, their
Hell, their
Sanctuaries, and the similitude of the May-pole in form to the
cross.[347:1]
"In the
Island of I-com-kill, at the monastery of the Culdees, at the time of
the
Reformation, there were three hundred and sixty crosses."[347:2] The Caaba
at Mecca was
surrounded by three hundred and sixty crosses.[347:3] This number
has nothing
whatever to do with Christianity, but is to be found everywhere
among the
ancients. It represents the number of days of the ancient year.[347:4]
When the
Spanish missionaries first set foot upon the soil of America, in the
fifteenth
century, they were amazed to find that the cross was as devoutly
worshiped by
the red Indians as by themselves. The hallowed symbol challenged
their
attention on every hand, and in almost every variety of form. And, what is
still more
remarkable, the cross was not only associated with other objects
corresponding
in every particular with those delineated on Babylonian monuments;
but it was
also distinguished by the Catholic appellations, "the tree of
subsistence,"
"the wood of health," "the emblem of life," &c.[347:5]
When the
Spanish missionaries found that the cross was no new object of
veneration to
the red men, they were in doubt whether to ascribe the fact to the
pious labors
of St. Thomas, whom they thought might have found his way to
America, or
the sacrilegious subtlety of Satan. It was the central object in the
great temple
of Cozamel, and is still preserved on the bas-reliefs of the ruined
city of
Palenque. From time immemorial it had received the prayers and
sacrifices of
the Aztecs and Toltecs, and was suspended as an august emblem from
the walls of
temples in Popogan and Cundinamarca.[347:6]
The ruined
city of Palenque is in the depths of the forests of Central America.
It was not
inhabited at the time of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards.
They
discovered the temples and palaces of Chiapa, but of Palenque they knew
nothing.
According to tradition it was founded by Votan in the ninth century
before the
Christian era. The principal building in this ruined city is the
palace. A
noble tower rises above the courtyard in the centre. In [Pg 348]this
building are
several small temples or chapels, with altars standing. At the back
of one of
these altars is a slab of gypsum, on which are sculptured two figures,
one on each
side of a cross (Fig. No. 29). The cross is surrounded with rich
feather-work,
and ornamental chains.[348:1] "The style of scripture," says Mr.
Baring-Gould,
"and the accompanying hieroglyphic inscriptions, leave no room for
doubting it
to be a heathen representation."[348:2]
The same
cross is represented on old pre-Mexican MSS., as in the Dresden Codex,
and that in
the possession of Herr Fejervary, at the end of which is a colossal
cross, in the
midst of which is represented a bleeding deity, and figures stand
round a Tau
cross, upon which is perched the sacred bird.[348:3]
The cross was
also used in the north of Mexico. It occurs among the Mixtecas and
in Queredaro.
Siguenza speaks of an Indian cross which was found in the cave of
Mixteca Baja.
Among the ruins on the island of Zaputero, in Lake Nicaragua, were
also found
old crosses reverenced by the Indians. White marble crosses were
found on the
island of St. Ulloa, on its discovery. In the state of Oaxaca, the
Spaniards
found that wooden crosses were erected as sacred symbols, so also in
Aguatoleo,
and among the Zapatecas. The cross was venerated as far as Florida on
one side, and
Cibola on the other. In South America, the same sign was
considered
symbolical and sacred. It was revered in Paraguay. In Peru the Incas
honored a
cross made out of a single piece of jasper; it was an emblem belonging
to a former
civilization.[348:4]
Among the
Muyscas at Cumana the cross was regarded with devotion, and was
believed to
be endowed with power to drive away evil spirits; consequently
new-born
children were placed under the sign.[348:5]
The Toltecs
said that their national deity Quetzalcoatle—whom we have found to
be a
virgin-born and crucified Saviour—had introduced [Pg 349]the sign and
ritual of the
cross, and it was called the "Tree of Nutriment," or "Tree of
Life."[349:1]
Malcom, in
his "Antiquities of Britain," says
"Gomara
tells that St. Andrew's cross, which is the same with that of Burgundy,
was in great
veneration among the Cumas, in South America, and that they
fortified
themselves with the cross against the incursions of evil spirits, and
were in use
to put them upon new-born infants; which thing very justly deserves
admiration."[349:2]
Felix
Cabrara, in his "Description of the Ancient City of Mexico," says:
"The
adoration of the cross has been more general in the world, than that of any
other emblem.
It is to be found in the ruins of the fine city of Mexico, near
Palenque,
where there are many examples of it among the hieroglyphics on the
buildings."[349:3]
In
"Chambers's Encyclopćdia" we find the following:
"It
appears that the sign of the cross was in use as an emblem having certain
religious and
mystic meanings attached to it, long before the Christian era; and
the Spanish
conquerors were astonished to find it an object of religious
veneration
among the nations of Central and South America."[349:4]
Lord
Kingsborough, in his "Antiquities of Mexico," speaks of crosses being
found
in Mexico,
Peru, and Yucatan.[349:5] He also informs us that the banner of
Montezuma was
a cross, and that the historical paintings of the "Codex
Vaticanus"
represent him carrying a cross as his banner.[349:6]
A very fine
and highly polished marble cross which was taken from the Incas, was
placed in the
Roman Catholic cathedral at Cuzco.[349:7]
Few cases
have been more powerful in producing mistakes in ancient history, than
the idea,
hastily taken by Christians in all ages, that every monument of
antiquity
marked with a cross, or with any of those symbols which they conceived
to be
monograms of their god, was of Christian origin. The early Christians did
not adopt it
as one of their symbols; it was not until Christianity began to be
paganized
that it became a Christian monogram, and even then it was not the
cross as we
know it to-day. "It is not until the middle of the fifth century
that the pure
form of the cross emerges to light."[349:8] The cross of
Constantine
was nothing more than the , the monogram of Osiris, and afterwards
of
Christ.[349:9] This is seen [Pg 350]from the fact that the "Labarum,"
or
sacred banner
of Constantine—on which was placed the sign by which he was to
conquer—was
inscribed with this sacred monogram. Fig. No. 30 is a representation
of the
Labarum, taken from Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. The author of "The
History of
Our Lord in Art" says:
"It
would be difficult to prove that the cross of Constantine was of the simple
construction
as now understood. As regards the Labarum, the coins of the time,
in which it
is expressly set forth, proves that the so-called cross upon it was
nothing else
than the same ever-recurring monogram of Christ."[350:1]
Now, this
so-called monogram of Christ, like everything else called Christian,
is of Pagan
origin. It was the monogram of the Egyptian Saviour, Osiris, and
also of
Jupiter Ammon.[350:2] As M. Basnage remarks in his Hist. de Juif:[350:3]
"Nothing
can be more opposite to Jesus Christ, than the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon.
And yet the
same cipher served the false god as well as the true one; for we see
a medal of
Ptolemy, King of Cyrene, having an eagle carrying a thunderbolt, with
the monogram
of Christ to signify the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon."
Rev. J. P.
Lundy says:
"Even
the P.X., which I had thought to be exclusively Christian, are to be found
in
combination thus: (just as the early
Christians used it), on coins of the
Ptolemies,
and on those of Herod the Great, struck forty years before our era,
together with
this other form, so often seen on the early Christian monuments,
viz.:
."[350:4]
This monogram
is also to be found on the coins of Decius, a Pagan Roman emperor,
who ruled
during the commencement of the third century.[350:5]
Another form
of the same monogram is and X H. The
monogram of the Sun was . P.
H. All these
are now called monograms of Christ, and are to be met with in great
numbers in
almost [Pg 351]every church in Italy.[351:1] The monogram of Mercury
was a
cross.[351:2] The monogram of the Egyptian Taut was formed by three
crosses.[351:3]
The monogram of Saturn was a cross and a ram's horn; it was also
a monogram of
Jupiter.[351:4] The monogram of Venus was a cross and a
circle.[351:5]
The monogram of the Phenician Astarte, and the Babylonian Bal,
was also a
cross and a circle.[351:6] It was also that of Freya, Holda, and
Aphrodite.[351:7]
Its true significance was the Linga and Yoni.
The cross,
which was so universally adored, in its different forms among heathen
nations, was
intended as an emblem or symbol of the Sun, of eternal life, the
generative
powers, &c.[351:8]
As with the
cross, and the X. P., so likewise with many other so-called
Christian
symbols—they are borrowed from Paganism. Among these may be mentioned
the mystical
three letters I. H. S., to this day retained in some of our
Protestant,
as well as Roman Catholic churches, and falsely supposed to stand
for
"Jesu Hominium Salvator," or "In Hoc Signo." It is none
other than the
identical
monogram of the heathen god Bacchus,[351:9] and was to be seen on the
coins of the
Maharajah of Cashmere.[351:10] Dr. Inman says:
"For a
long period I. H. S., I. E. E. S., was a monogram of Bacchus; letters now
adopted by
Romanists. Hesus was an old divinity of Gaul, possibly left by the
Phenicians.
We have the same I. H. S. in Jazabel, and reproduced in our Isabel.
The idea
connected with the word is 'Phallic Vigor.'"[351:11]
The Triangle,
which is to be seen at the present day in Christian churches as an
emblem of the
"Ever-blessed Trinity," is also of Pagan origin, and was used by
them for the
same purpose.
Among the
numerous symbols, the Triangle is conspicuous in India. Hindoos
attached a
mystic signification to its three sides, and generally placed it in
their
temples. It was often composed of lotus plants, with an eye in the
center.[351:12]
It was sometimes represented in connection with the mystical
word
AUM[351:13] (Fig. No. 31), and sometimes surrounded with rays of
glory.[351:14]
This symbol
was engraved upon the tablet of the ring which the religious chief,
called the
Brahm-âtma wore, as one of the signs of [Pg 352]his dignity, and it
was used by
the Buddhists as emblematic of the Trinity.[352:1]
The ancient
Egyptians signified their divine Triad by a single Triangle.[352:2]
Mr. Bonwick
says:
"The
Triangle was a religious form from the first. It is to be recognized in the
Obelisk and
Pyramid (of Egypt). To this day, in some Christian churches, the
priest's
blessing is given as it was in Egypt, by the sign of a triangle; viz.:
two fingers
and a thumb. An Egyptian god is seen with a triangle over his
shoulders.
This figure, in ancient Egyptian theology, was the type of the Holy
Trinity—three
in one."[352:3]
And Dr. Inman
says:
"The
Triangle is a sacred symbol in our modern churches, and it was the sign
used in
ancient temples before the initiated, to indicate the Trinity—three
persons
'co-eternal together, and co-equal.'"[352:4]
The Triangle
is found on ancient Greek monuments.[352:5] An ancient seal
(engraved in
the Mémoires de l'Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles
Lettres),
supposed to be of Phenician origin, "has as subject a standing figure
between two
stars, beneath which are handled crosses. Above the head of the
deity is the
TRIANGLE, or symbol of the Trinity."[352:6]
One of the
most conspicuous among the symbols intended to represent the Trinity,
to be seen in
Christian churches, is the compound leaf of the trefoil. Modern
story had
attributed to St. Patrick the idea of demonstrating a trinity in
unity, by
showing the shamrock to his hearers; but, says Dr. Inman, "like many
other things
attributed to the moderns, the idea belongs to the
ancients."[352:7]
The Trefoil
adorned the head of Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, and is to be found
among the
Pagan symbols or representations of [Pg 353]the three-in-one
mystery.[353:1]
Fig. No. 32 is a representation of the Trefoil used by the
ancient
Hindoos as emblematic of their celestial Triad—Brahma, Vishnu and
Siva—and
afterwards adopted by the Christians.[353:2] The leaf of the Vila, or
Bel-tree, is
typical of Siva's attributes, because triple in form.[353:3]
The Trefoil
was a sacred plant among the ancient Druids of Britain. It was to
them an
emblem of the mysterious three in one.[353:4] It is to be seen on their
coins.[353:5]
The Tripod
was very generally employed among the ancients as an emblem of the
Trinity, and
is found composed in an endless variety of ways. On the coins of
Menecratia,
in Phrygia, it is represented between two asterisks, with a serpent
wreathed
around a battle-axe, inserted into it, as an accessory symbol,
signifying
preservation and destruction. In the ceremonial of worship, the
number three
was employed with mystic solemnity.[353:6]
The three
lines, or three human legs, springing from a central disk or circle,
which has
been called a Trinacria, and supposed to allude to the island of
Sicily, is
simply an ancient emblem of the Trinity. "It is of Asiatic origin;
its earliest
appearance being upon the very ancient coins of Aspendus in
Pamphylia;
sometimes alone in the square incuse, and sometimes upon the body of
an eagle or
the back of a lion."[353:7]
We have
already seen, in the chapter on the crucifixion, that the earliest
emblems of
the Christian Saviour were the "Good Shepherd" and the
"Lamb." Among
these may
also be mentioned the Fish. "The only satisfactory explanation why
Jesus should
be represented as a Fish," says Mr. King, in his Gnostics and their
Remains,[353:8]
"seems to be the circumstance that in the quaint jargon of the
Talmud the
Messiah is often designated 'Dag,' or 'The Fish;'" and Mr. Lundy, in
his
"Monumental Christianity," says:
[Pg
354]"Next to the sacred monogram (the ) the Fish takes its place in
importance as
a sign of Christ in his special office of Saviour." "In the Talmud
the Messiah
is called 'Dag' or 'Fish.'" "Where did the Jews learn to apply 'Dag'
to their
Messiah? And why did the primitive Christians adopt it as a sign of
Christ?"
"I cannot disguise facts. Truth demands no concealment or apology.
Paganism has
its types and prophecies of Christ as well as Judaism. What then is
the Dag-on of
the old Babylonians? The fish-god or being that taught them all
their
civilization."[354:1]
As Mr. Lundy
says, "truth demands no concealment or apology," therefore, when
the truth is
exposed, we find that Vishnu, the Hindoo Messiah, Preserver,
Mediator and
Saviour, was represented as a "dag," or fish. The Fish takes its
place in
importance as a sign of Vishnu in his special office of Saviour.
Prof. Monier
Williams says:
"It is
as Vishnu that the Supreme Being, according to the Hindoos, exhibited his
sympathy with
human trials, his love for the human race. Nine principal
occasions
have already occurred in which the god has thus interposed for the
salvation of
his creatures. The first was Matsaya, the Fish. In this Vishnu
became a fish
to save the seventh Manu, the progenitor of the human race, from
the universal
deluge."[354:2]
We have
already seen, in Chap. IX., the identity of the Hindoo Matsaya and the
Babylonian
Dagon.
The fish was
sacred among the Babylonians, Assyrians and Phenicians, as it is
among the
Romanists of to-day. It was sacred also to Venus, and the Romanists
still eat it
on the very day of the week which was called "Dies veneris," Venus'
day; fish
day.[354:3] It was an emblem of fecundity. The most ancient symbol of
the
productive power was a fish, and it is accordingly found to be the universal
symbol upon
many of the earliest coins.[354:4] Pythagoras and his followers did
not eat fish.
They were ascetics, and the eating of fish was supposed to tend to
carnal
desires. This ancient superstition is entertained by many even at the
present day.
The fish was
the earliest symbol of Christ Jesus. Fig. No. 33 is a design from
the
catacombs.[354:5] This cross-fish is not unlike the sacred monogram.
[Pg 355]That
the Christian Saviour should be called a fish may at first appear
strange, but
when the mythos is properly understood (as we shall endeavor to
make it in
Chap. XXXIX.), it will not appear so. The Rev. Dr. Geikie, in his
"Life
and Words of Christ," says that a fish stood for his name, from the
significance
of the Greek letters in the word that expresses the idea, and for
this reason
he was called a fish. But, we may ask, why was Buddha not only
called Fo, or
Po, but Dag-Po, which was literally the Fish Po, or Fish Buddha?
The fish did
not stand for his name. The idea that Jesus was called a fish
because the
Messiah is designated "Dag" in the Talmud, is also an unsatisfactory
explanation.
Julius
Africanus (an early Christian writer) says:
"Christ
is the great Fish taken by the fish-hook of God, and whose flesh
nourishes the
whole world."[355:1]
"The
fish fried
Was Christ
that died,"
is an old
couplet.[355:2]
Prosper
Africanus calls Christ,
"The
great fish who satisfied for himself the disciples on the shore, and
offered
himself as a fish to the whole world."[355:3]
The Serpent
was also an emblem of Christ Jesus, or in other words, represented
Christ, among
some of the early Christians.
Moses set up
a brazen serpent in the wilderness, and Christian divines have seen
in this a
type of Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Gospels sanction this; for it is
written:
"As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be
lifted
up."
From this
serpent, Tertullian asserts, the early sect of Christians called
Ophites took
their rise. Epiphanius says, that the "Ophites sprung out of the
Nicolaitans
and Gnostics, who were so called from the serpent, which they
worshiped."
"The Gnostics," he adds, "taught that the ruler of the world was
of
a dracontic
form." The Ophites preserved live serpents in their sacred chest,
and looked
upon them as the mediator between them and God. Manes, in the third
century,
taught serpent worship in Asia Minor, under the name of Christianity,
promulgating
that
"Christ
was an incarnation of the Great Serpent, who glided over the cradle of
the Virgin
Mary, when she was asleep, at the age of a year and a half."[355:4]
"The
Gnostics," says Irenaeus, "represented the Mind (the Son, [Pg 356]the
Wisdom) in
the form of a serpent," and "the Ophites," says Epiphanius,
"have a
veneration
for the serpent; they esteem him the same as Christ." "They even
quote the
Gospels," says Tertullian, "to prove that Christ was an imitation of
the
serpent."[356:1]
The question
now arises, Why was the Christian Saviour represented as a serpent?
Simply because
the heathen Saviours were represented in like manner.
From the
earliest times of which we have any historical notice, the serpent has
been
connected with the preserving gods, or Saviours; the gods of goodness and
of wisdom. In
Hindoo mythology, the serpent is intimately associated with
Vishnu, the
preserving god, the Saviour.[356:2] Serpents are often associated
with the
Hindoo gods, as emblems of eternity.[356:3] It was a very sacred animal
among the
Hindoos.[356:4]
Worshipers of
Buddha venerate serpents. "This animal," says Mr. Wake, "became
equal in
importance as Buddha himself." And Mr. Lillie says:
"That
God was worshiped at an early date by the Buddhists under the symbol of
the Serpent
is proved from the sculptures of oldest topes, where worshipers are
represented
so doing."[356:5]
The Egyptians
also venerated the serpent. It was the special symbol of Thoth, a
primeval
deity of Syro-Egyptian mythology, and of all those gods, such as Hermes
and Seth, who
can be connected with him.[356:6] Kneph and Apap were also
represented
as serpents.[356:7]
Herodotus,
when he visited Egypt, found sacred serpents in the temples. Speaking
of them, he
says:
"In the
neighborhood of Thebes, there are sacred serpents, not at all hurtful to
men: they are
diminutive in size, and carry two horns that grow on the top of
the head.
When these serpents die, they bury them in the temple of Jupiter; for
they say they
are sacred to that god."[356:8]
The third
member of the Chaldean triad, Héa, or Hoa, was represented by a
serpent.
According to Sir Henry Rawlinson, the most important titles of this
deity refer
"to his functions as the source of all knowledge and science." Not
only is he
"The Intelligent Fish," but his name may be read as signifying both
"Life"
and a "Serpent," and he may be considered as "figured by the
great
serpent which
occupies so conspicuous a place among the [Pg 357]symbols of the
gods on the
black stones recording Babylonian benefactors."[357:1]
The
Phenicians and other eastern nations venerated the serpent as symbols of
their
beneficent gods.[357:2]
As god of
medicine, Apollo, the central figure in Grecian mythology, was
originally
worshiped under the form of a serpent, and men invoked him as the
"Helper."
He was the Solar Serpent-god.[357:3]
Ćsculapius,
the healing god, the Saviour, was also worshiped under the form of a
serpent.[357:4]
"Throughout Hellas," says Mr. Cox, "Ćsculapius remained the
'Healer,' and
the 'Restorer of Life,' and accordingly the serpent is everywhere
his special
emblem."[357:5]
Why the
serpent was the symbol of the Saviours and beneficent gods of antiquity,
will be
explained in Chap. XXXIX.
The Dove,
among the Christians, is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Matthew
narrator
relates that when Jesus went up out of the water, after being baptized
by John,
"the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending
like a dove, and lighting upon him."
Here is
another piece of Paganism, as we find that the Dove was the symbol of
the Holy
Spirit among all nations of antiquity. Rev. J. P. Lundy, speaking of
this, says:
"It is a
remarkable fact that this spirit (i. e., the Holy Spirit) has been
symbolized
among all religious and civilized nations by the Dove."[357:6]
And Earnest
De Bunsen says:
"The
symbol of the Spirit of God was the Dove, in Greek, peleia, and the
Samaritans
had a brazen fiery dove, instead of the brazen fiery serpent. Both
referred to
fire, the symbol of the Holy Ghost."[357:7]
Buddha is
represented, like Christ Jesus, with a dove hovering over his
head.[357:8]
The virgin
goddess Juno is often represented with a dove on her head. It is also
seen on the
heads of the images of Astarte, Cybele, and Isis; it was sacred to
Venus, and
was intended as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.[357:9]
Even in the
remote islands of the Pacific Ocean, a bird is believed to be an
emblem of the
Holy Spirit.[357:10]
R. Payne
Knight, in speaking of the "mystic Dove," says:
[Pg
358]"A bird was probably chosen for the emblem of the third person (i. e.,
the Holy
Ghost) to signify incubation, by which was figuratively expressed the
fructification
of inert matter, caused by the vital spirit moving upon the
waters.
"The
Dove would naturally be selected in the East in preference to every other
species of bird,
on account of its domestic familiarity with man; it usually
lodging under
the same roof with him, and being employed as his messenger from
one remote
place to another. Birds of this kind were also remarkable for the
care of their
offspring, and for a sort of conjugal attachment and fidelity to
each other,
as likewise for the peculiar fervency of their sexual desires,
whence they
were sacred to Venus, and emblems of love."[358:1]
Masons' marks
are conspicuous among the Christian symbols. On some of the most
ancient Roman
Catholic cathedrals are to be found figures of Christ Jesus with
Mason's marks
about him.
Many are the
so-called Christian symbols which are direct importations from
paganism. To
enumerate them would take, as we have previously said, a volume of
itself. For
further information on this subject the reader is referred to Dr.
Inman's
"Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism," where he will see how
many ancient
Indian, Egyptian, Etruscan, Grecian and Roman symbols have been
adopted by
Christians, a great number of which are Phallic emblems.[358:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[339:1] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 113.
[340:1]
Monumental Christianity, p. 14.
[340:2]
Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 301. Higgins: Anac., vol. i. p. 220.
[340:3]
Curious Myths, p. 301.
[340:4] Ibid.
p. 302.
[340:5]
Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 350.
[340:6] Ibid.
vol. iii. p. 47.
[340:7]
Curious Myths, pp. 280-282. Buddha and Early Buddhism, pp. 7, 9, and 22,
and
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 223.
[340:8]
Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 227.
[340:9]
Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 409. Higgins: Anac., vol. i. p. 230.
[341:1] See
Ibid.
[341:2] See
Celtic Druids, p. 126; Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 217, and Bonwick's
Egyptian
Belief, pp. 216, 217 and 219.
[341:3]
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 217.
[341:4]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 58.
[341:5] See
Inman's "Symbolism," and Lundy's Monu. Christianity, Fig. 92.
[341:6]
Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 285.
[341:7]
Hoskins' Visit to the great Oasis, pl. xii. in Curious Myths, p. 286.
[341:8]
Curious Myths, p. 286.
[342:1]
Curious Myths, p. 287.
[342:2]
Socrates: Eccl. Hist., lib. v. ch. xvii.
[342:3]
Quoted by Rev. Dr. Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 86,
and Rev.
Robert Taylor: Diegesis, p. 202.
[342:4] See
Colenso's Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 115.
[342:5]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 12.
[342:6] Ibid.
p. 219.
[343:1]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 218, and Smith's Chaldean Account of
Genesis, p.
54.
[343:2]
Egyptian Belief, p. 218.
[343:3] Bonomi:
Ninevah and Its Palaces, in Curious Myths, p. 287.
[343:4]
Curious Myths, p. 287.
[343:5] Vol.
i. p. 337, pl. xx.
[343:6]
Travels in Persia, vol. i. p. 545, pl. xxi.
[343:7] Ibid.
p. 529, and pl. xvi
[343:8]
Ibid., and pl. xvii.
[343:9] Ibid.
pl. xxvii.
[343:10]
Ibid. p. 573.
[344:1]
Curious Myths, p. 290.
[344:2]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 31.
[344:3] See
Illustration in Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 224.
[344:4]
Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 291.
[345:1]
Octavius, ch. xxix.
[345:2] See
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Denarius."
[345:3]
Curious Myths, p. 291.
[345:4] Ibid.
pp. 291, 296.
[345:5] Ibid.
p. 311.
[345:6] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 115.
[346:1] Anct.
Art and Mytho., p. 30.
[346:2]
Curious Myths, pp. 280, 281.
[346:3] Ibid.
pp. 281, 282.
[346:4]
Knight: Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 30.
[346:5] See
Celtic Druids, pp. 126, 130, 131.
[347:1]
Cleland, p. 102, in Anac., i. p. 716.
[347:2]
Celtic Druids, p. 242, and Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Cross."
[347:3] Ibid.
[347:4] See
Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. 103.
[347:5] The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 114.
[347:6]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 95.
[348:1]
Stephens: Central America, vol. ii. p. 346, in Curious Myths, p. 298.
[348:2]
Curious Myths, p. 298
[348:3] Klemm
Kulturgeschichte, v. 142, in Curious Myths, pp. 298, 299.
[348:4]
Curious Myths, p. 299.
[348:5]
Müller: Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen, in Ibid.
[349:1]
Curious Myths, p. 301.
[349:2]
Quoted in Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 30.
[349:3]
Quoted in Celtic Druids, p. 131.
[349:4]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Cross."
[349:5]
Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. pp. 165, 180.
[349:6] Ibid.
p. 179.
[349:7]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 32.
[349:8]
Jameson's Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 318.
[349:9]
"These two letters in the old Samaritan, as found on coins, stand, the
first for
400, the second for 200-600. This is the staff of Osiris. It is also
the monogram
of Osiris, and has been adopted by the Christians, and is to be
seen in the
churches in Italy in thousands of places. See Basnage (lib. iii. c.
xxxiii.),
where several other instances of this kind may be found. In Addison's
'Travels in
Italy' there is an account of a medal, at Rome, of Constantius, with
this
inscription; In hoc signo Victor eris ." (Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 222.)
[350:1] Hist.
of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 316.
[350:2] See
Celtic Druids, p. 127, and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 218.
[350:3] Bk.
iii. c. xxiii. in Anac., i. p. 219.
[350:4]
Monumental Christianity, p. 125.
[350:5] See
Celtic Druids, pp. 127, 128.
[351:1] See
Ibid. and Monumental Christianity, pp. 15, 92, 123, 126, 127.
[351:2] See
Celtic Druids, p. 101. Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 220. Indian Antiq.,
ii. 68.
[351:3] See
Celtic Druids, p. 101. Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 103.
[351:4] See
Celtic Druids, p. 127, and Taylor's Diegesis, p. 201.
[351:5] See
Celtic Druids, p. 127.
[351:6] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 218.
[351:7] See
Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. 115.
[351:8] See
The Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. pp. 113-115.
[351:9] See
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 221 and 328. Taylor's Diegesis, p.
187. Celtic
Druids, p. 127, and Isis Unveiled, p. 527, vol. ii.
[351:10] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 212.
[351:11]
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp. 518, 519.
[351:12] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 94.
[351:13] This
word—AUM—stood for Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, the Hindoo Trinity.
[351:14] See
Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 31.
[352:1] See
Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 81.
[352:2]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 196.
[352:3] Bonwick's
Egyptian Belief, p. 213.
[352:4]
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 328.
[352:5] See
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 196.
[352:6]
Curious Myths, p. 289.
[352:7]
Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp. 153, 154.
[353:1] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 242.
[353:2] See
Inman's Pagan and Christian Symbolism, p. 30.
[353:3] See
Williams' Hinduism, p. 99.
[353:4] See
Myths of the British Druids, p. 448.
[353:5] Ibid.
p. 601.
[353:6]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 170.
[353:7] Ibid.
pp. 169, 170.
[353:8] Page
138.
[354:1]
Monumental Christianity, pp. 130, 132, 133.
[354:2]
Indian Wisdom, p. 329.
[354:3]
Inman: Anct. Faiths, vol. i. pp. 528, 529, and Müller: Science of
Relig., p.
315.
[354:4]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 111.
[354:5]
Lillie: Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 227.
[355:1]
Quoted in Monumental Christianity, p. 134.
[355:2] Ibid.
p. 135.
[355:3] Ibid.
p. 372.
[355:4]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 246.
[356:1]
Fergusson: Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 9.
[356:2] Wake:
Phallism in Ancient Religs., p. 72.
[356:3]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 169.
[356:4]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 16, and Fergusson: Tree and Serpent
Worship.
[356:5] Wake,
p. 73. Lillie: p. 20.
[356:6] Wake,
p. 40, and Bunsen's Keys, p. 101.
[356:7]
Champollion, pp. 144, 145.
[356:8]
Herodotus, bk. ii. ch. 74.
[357:1] Wake:
Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 30.
[357:2] See
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 16. Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p.
128.
Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.
[357:3]
Deane: Serpent Worship, p. 213.
[357:4] Tree
and Serpent Worship, p. 7, and Bulfinch: Age of Fable, p. 397.
[357:5] Aryan
Mytho., vol. ii. p. 36.
[357:6]
Monumental Christianity, p. 293.
[357:7]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 44.
[357:8] See
ch. xxix.
[357:9]
Monumental Christianity, pp. 323 and 234.
[357:10]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 169.
[358:1]
Knight's Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 170.
[358:2] See
also R. Payne Knight's Worship of Priapus, and the other works of
Dr. Thomas
Inman.
[Pg
359]CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE BIRTH-DAY
OF CHRIST JESUS.
Christmas—December
the 25th—is a day which has been set apart by the Christian
church on
which to celebrate the birth of their Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus,
and is
considered by the majority of persons to be really the day on which he
was born.
This is altogether erroneous, as will be seen upon examination of the
subject.
There was no
uniformity in the period of observing the Nativity among the early
Christian
churches; some held the festival in the month of May or April, others
in January.[359:1]
The year in
which he was born is also as uncertain as the month or day. "The
year in which
it happened," says Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, "has not
hitherto been
fixed with certainty, notwithstanding the deep and laborious
researches of
the learned."[359:2]
According to
Irenćus (A. D. 190), on the authority of "The Gospel," and "all
the
elders who
were conversant in Asia with John, the disciple of the Lord," Christ
Jesus lived
to be nearly, if not quite, fifty years of age. If this celebrated
Christian
father is correct, and who can say he is not, Jesus was born some
twenty years
before the time which has been assigned as that of his
birth.[359:3]
The Rev. Dr.
Giles says:
"Concerning
the time of Christ's birth there are even greater doubts than about
the place;
for, though the four Evangelists have noticed several contemporary
facts, which
would seem to settle this point, yet on comparing these dates with
the general
history of the period, we meet with serious discrepancies, which
involve the
subject in the greatest uncertainty."[359:4]
Again he
says:
[Pg
360]"Not only do we date our time from the exact year in which Christ is
said to have
been born, but our ecclesiastical calendar has determined with
scrupulous
minuteness the day and almost the hour at which every particular of
Christ's
wonderful life is stated to have happened. All this is implicitly
believed by
millions; yet all these things are among the most uncertain and
shadowy that
history has recorded. We have no clue to either the day or the time
of year, or
even the year itself, in which Christ was born."[360:1]
Some
Christian writers fix the year 4 B. C., as the time when he was born,
others the
year 5 B. C., and again others place his time of birth at about 15 B.
C. The Rev.
Dr. Geikie, speaking of this, in his Life of Christ, says:
"The
whole subject is very uncertain. Ewald appears to fix the date of the birth
at five years
earlier than our era. Petavius and Usher fix it on the 25th of
December,
five years before our era. Bengel on the 25th of December, four years
before our
era; Anger and Winer, four years before our era, in the Spring;
Scaliger,
three years before our era, in October; St. Jerome, three years before
our era, on
December 25th; Eusebius, two years before our era, on January 6th;
and Idler,
seven years before our era, in December."[360:2]
Albert Barnes
writes in a manner which implies that he knew all about the year
(although he
does not give any authorities), but knew nothing about the month.
He says:
"The
birth of Christ took place four years before the common era. That era began
to be used
about A. D. 526, being first employed by Dionysius, and is supposed
to have been
placed about four years too late. Some make the difference two,
others three,
four, five, and even eight years. He was born at the commencement
of the last
year of the reign of Herod, or at the close of the year
preceding."[360:3]
"The
Jews sent out their flocks into the mountainous and desert regions during
the summer months,
and took them up in the latter part of October or the first
of November,
when the cold weather commenced. . . . It is clear from this that
our Saviour
was born before the 25th of December, or before what we call
Christmas. At
that time it is cold, and especially in the high and mountainous
regions about
Bethlehem. God has concealed the time of his birth. There is no
way to
ascertain it. By different learned men it has been fixed at each month in
the
year."[360:4]
Canon Farrar
writes with a little more caution, as follows:
"Although
the date of Christ's birth cannot be fixed with absolute certainty,
there is at
least a large amount of evidence to render it probable that he was
born four
years before our present era. It is universally admitted that our
received
chronology, which is not older than Dionysius Exignus, in the sixth
century, is
wrong. But all attempts to discover the month and the day are
useless. No
data whatever exists to enable us to determine them with even
approximate
accuracy."[360:5]
[Pg
361]Bunsen attempts to show (on the authority of Irenćus, above quoted),
that Jesus
was born some fifteen years before the time assigned, and that he
lived to be
nearly, if not quite, fifty years of age.[361:1]
According to
Basnage,[361:2] the Jews placed his birth near a century sooner
than the
generally assumed epoch. Others have placed it even in the third
century B. C.
This belief is founded on a passage in the "Book of
Wisdom,"[361:3]
written about 250 B. C., which is supposed to refer to Christ
Jesus, and
none other. In speaking of some individual who lived at that time, it
says:
"He
professeth to have the knowledge of God, and he calleth himself the child of
the Lord. He
was made to reprove our thoughts. He is grievous unto us even to
behold; for
his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion.
We are
esteemed of him as counterfeits; he abstaineth from our ways as from
filthiness;
he pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed, and maketh his
boast that God
is his father. Let us see if his words be true; and let us prove
what shall
happen in the end of him. For if the just man be the son of God, he
(God) will
help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies. Let us
examine him
with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and
prove his
patience. Let us condemn him with a shameful death; for by his own
saying he
shall be respected."
This is a
very important passage. Of course, the church claim it to be a
prophecy of
what Christ Jesus was to do and suffer, but this does not explain
it.
If the writer
of the "Gospel according to Luke" is correct, Jesus was not born
until about
A. D. 10, for he explicitly tells us that this event did not happen
until
Cyrenius was governor of Syria.[361:4] Now it is well known that Cyrenius
was not
appointed to this office until long after the death of Herod (during
whose reign
the Matthew narrator informs us Jesus was born[361:5]), and that the
taxing spoken
of by the Luke narrator as having taken place at this time, did
not take
place until about ten years after the time at which, according to the
Matthew
narrator, Jesus was born.[361:6]
Eusebius, the
first ecclesiastical historian,[361:7] places his birth at the
time Cyrenius
was governor of Syria, and therefore at about A. D. 10. His words
are as
follows:
"It was
the two and fortieth year after the reign of Augustus the Emperor, and
the eight and
twentieth year after the subduing of Egypt, and the death of
Antonius and
Cleopatra, when last of all the Ptolemies in Egypt ceased to bear
[Pg 362]rule,
when our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, at the time of the first
taxing—Cyrenius,
then President of Syria—was born in Bethlehem, a city of Judea,
according
unto the prophecies in that behalf premised."[362:1]
Had the Luke
narrator known anything about Jewish history, he never would have
made so gross
a blunder as to place the taxing of Cyrenius in the days of Herod,
and would
have saved the immense amount of labor that it has taken in
endeavoring
to explain away the effects of his ignorance. One explanation of
this mistake
is, that there were two assessments, one about the time Jesus was
born, and the
other ten years after; but this has entirely failed. Dr. Hooykaas,
speaking of
this, says:
"The
Evangelist (Luke) falls into the most extraordinary mistakes throughout. In
the first
place, history is silent as to a census of the whole (Roman) world
ever having
been made at all. In the next place, though Quirinius certainly did
make such a register
in Judea and Samaria, it did not extend to Galilee; so that
Joseph's
household was not affected by it. Besides, it did not take place until
ten years
after the death of Herod, when his son Archelaus was deposed by the
emperor, and
the districts of Judea and Samaria were thrown into a Roman
province.
Under the reign of Herod, nothing of the kind took place, nor was
there any
occasion for it. Finally, at the time of the birth of Jesus, the
Governor of
Syria was not Quirinius, but Quintus Sentius Saturninus."[362:2]
The
institution of the festival of the Nativity of Christ Jesus being held on
the 25th of
December, among the Christians, is attributed to Telesphorus, who
flourished
during the reign of Antonius Pius (A. D. 138-161), but the first
certain
traces of it are found about the time of the Emperor Commodus (A. D.
180-192).[362:3]
For a long
time the Christians had been trying to discover upon what particular
day Jesus had
possibly or probably come into the world; and conjectures and
traditions
that rested upon absolutely no foundation, led one to the 20th of
May, another
to the 19th or 20th of April, and a third to the 5th of January. At
last the
opinion of the community at Rome gained the upper hand, and the 25th of
December was
fixed upon.[362:4] It was not until the fifth century, however,
that this day
had been generally agreed upon.[362:5] How it happened that this
day finally
became fixed as the birthday of Christ Jesus, may be inferred from
what we shall
now see.
On the first
moment after midnight of the 24th of December (i. e., on the
morning of
the 25th), nearly all the nations of the earth, [Pg 363]as if by
common
consent, celebrated the accouchement of the "Queen of Heaven," of the
"Celestial
Virgin" of the sphere, and the birth of the god Sol.
In India this
is a period of rejoicing everywhere.[363:1] It is a great
religious
festival, and the people decorate their houses with garlands, and make
presents to
friends and relatives. This custom is of very great
antiquity.[363:2]
In China,
religious solemnities are celebrated at the time of the winter
solstice, the
last week in December, when all shops are shut up, and the courts
are
closed.[363:3]
Buddha, the
son of the Virgin Mâya, on whom, according to Chinese tradition,
"the
Holy Ghost" had descended, was said to have been born on Christmas day,
December
25th.[363:4]
Among the
ancient Persians their most splendid ceremonials were in honor of
their Lord
and Saviour Mithras; they kept his birthday, with many rejoicings, on
the 25th of
December.
The author of
the "Celtic Druids" says:
"It was
the custom of the heathen, long before the birth of Christ, to celebrate
the birth-day
of their gods," and that, "the 25th of December was a great
festival with
the Persians, who, in very early times, celebrated the birth of
their god
Mithras."[363:5]
The Rev.
Joseph B. Gross, in his "Heathen Religion," also tells us that:
"The
ancient Persians celebrated a festival in honor of Mithras on the first day
succeeding
the Winter Solstice, the object of which was to commemorate the Birth
of
Mithras."[363:6]
Among the
ancient Egyptians, for centuries before the time of Christ Jesus, the
25th of
December was set aside as the birthday of their gods. M. Le Clerk De
Septchenes
speaks of it as follows:
"The
ancient Egyptians fixed the pregnancy of Isis (the Queen of Heaven, and the
Virgin Mother
of the Saviour Horus), on the last days of March, and towards the
end of
December they placed the commemoration of her delivery."[363:7]
Mr. Bonwick,
in speaking of Horus, says:
"He is
the great God-loved of Heaven. His birth was one of the greatest
mysteries of
the Egyptian religion. Pictures representing it appeared on the [Pg
364]walls of
temples. One passed through the holy Adytum[364:1] to the still
more sacred
quarter of the temple known as the birth-place of Horus. He was
presumably
the child of Deity. At Christmas time, or that answering to our
festival, his
image was brought out of that sanctuary with peculiar ceremonies,
as the image
of the infant Bambino[364:2] is still brought out and exhibited in
Rome."[364:3]
Rigord
observes that the Egyptians not only worshiped a Virgin Mother "prior to
the birth of
our Saviour, but exhibited the effigy of her son lying in the
manger, in
the manner the infant Jesus was afterwards laid in the cave at
Bethlehem."[364:4]
The
"Chronicles of Alexandria," an ancient Christian work, says:
"Watch
how Egypt has constructed the childbirth of a Virgin, and the birth of
her son, who
was exposed in a crib to the adoration of the people."[364:5]
Osiris, son
of the "Holy Virgin," as they called Ceres, or Neith, his mother,
was born on
the 25th of December.[364:6]
This was also
the time celebrated by the ancient Greeks as being the birthday of
Hercules. The
author of "The Religion of the Ancient Greeks" says:
"The
night of the Winter Solstice, which the Greeks named the triple night, was
that which
they thought gave birth to Hercules."[364:7]
He further
says:
"It has
become an epoch of singular importance in the eyes of the Christian, who
has destined
it to celebrate the birth of the Saviour, the true Sun of Justice,
who alone
came to dissipate the darkness of ignorance."[364:8]
Bacchus,
also, was born at early dawn on the 25th of December. Mr. Higgins says
of him:
"The
birth-place of Bacchus, called Sabizius or Sabaoth, was claimed by several
places in
Greece; but on Mount Zelmissus, in Thrace, his worship seems to have
been chiefly
celebrated. He was born of a virgin on the 25th of December, and
was always
called the Saviour. In his Mysteries, he was shown to the people, as
an infant is
by the Christians at this day, on Christmas-day morning, in
Rome."[364:9]
The birthday
of Adonis was celebrated on the 25th of December. This celebration
is spoken of
by Tertullian, Jerome, and other [Pg 365]Fathers of the
Church,[365:1]
who inform us that the ceremonies took place in a cave, and that
the cave in
which they celebrated his mysteries in Bethlehem, was that in which
Christ Jesus
was born.
This was also
a great holy day in ancient Rome. The Rev. Mr. Gross says:
"In
Rome, before the time of Christ, a festival was observed on the 25th of
December,
under the name of 'Natalis Solis Invicti' (Birthday of Sol the
Invincible).
It was a day of universal rejoicings, illustrated by illuminations
and public
games."[365:2] "All public business was suspended, declarations of
war and
criminal executions were postponed, friends made presents to one
another, and
the slaves were indulged with great liberties."[365:3]
A few weeks
before the winter solstice, the Calabrian shepherds came into Rome
to play on
the pipes. Ovid alludes to this when he says:
"Ante Deűm matrem cornu tibicen adunco
Cum canit,
exiguć quis stipis aera neget."
—(Epist. i.
l. ii.)
i.
e.,"When to the mighty mother pipes the swain,
Grudge not a
trifle for his pious strain."
This practice
is kept up to the present day.
The ancient
Germans, for centuries before "the true Sun of Justice" was ever
heard of,
celebrated annually, at the time of the Winter solstice, what they
called their
Yule-feast. At this feast agreements were renewed, the gods were
consulted as
to the future, sacrifices were made to them, and the time was spent
in jovial
hospitality. Many features of this festival, such as burning the
yule-log on
Christmas-eve, still survive among us.[365:4]
Yule was the
old name for Christmas. In French it is called Noel, which is the
Hebrew or
Chaldee word Nule.[365:5]
The greatest
festival of the year celebrated among the ancient Scandinavians,
was at the
Winter solstice. They called the night upon which it was observed,
the
"Mother-night." This feast was named Jul—hence is derived the word
Yule—and
was
celebrated in honor of Freyr (son of the Supreme God Odin, and the goddess
Frigga), who
was born on that day. Feasting, nocturnal assemblies, and all the
demonstrations
of a most dissolute joy, were then authorized by the general
usage. At
this festival the principal guests received presents—generally horses,
swords,
battle-axes, and gold rings—at their departure.[365:6]
[Pg 366]The
festival of the 25th of December was celebrated by the ancient
Druids, in
Great Britain and Ireland, with great fires lighted on the tops of
hills.[366:1]
Godfrey
Higgins says:
"Stuckley
observes that the worship of Mithra was spread all over Gaul and
Britain. The
Druids kept this night as a great festival, and called the day
following it
Nolagh or Noel, or the day of regeneration, and celebrated it with
great fires
on the tops of their mountains, which they repeated on the day of
the Epiphany
or twelfth night. The Mithraic monuments, which are common in
Britain, have
been attributed to the Romans, but this festival proves that the
Mithraic
worship was there prior to their arrival."[366:2]
This was also
a time of rejoicing in Ancient Mexico. Acosta says:
"In the
first month, which in Peru they call Rayme, and answering to our
December,
they made a solemn feast called Capacrayme (the Winter Solstice),
wherein they
made many sacrifices and ceremonies, which continued many
days."[366:3]
The
evergreens, and particularly the mistletoe, which are used all over the
Christian
world at Christmas time, betray its heathen origin. Tertullian, a
Father of the
Church, who flourished about A. D. 200, writing to his brethren,
affirms it to
be "rank idolatry" to deck their doors "with garlands or
flowers,
on festival
days, according to the custom of the heathen."[366:4]
This shows
that the heathen in those days, did as the Christians do now. What
have
evergreens, and garlands, and Christmas trees, to do with Christianity?
Simply
nothing. It is the old Yule-feast which was held by all the northern
nations, from
time immemorial, handed down to, and observed at the present day.
In the
greenery with which Christians deck their houses and temples of worship,
and in the
Christmas-trees laden with gifts, we unquestionably see a relic of
the symbols
by which our heathen forefathers signified their faith in the powers
of the
returning sun to clothe the earth again with green, and hang new fruit on
the trees.
Foliage, such as the laurel, myrtle, ivy, or oak, and in general, all
evergreens,
were Dionysiac plants, that is, symbols of the generative power,
signifying
perpetuity of youth and vigor.[366:5]
Among the
causes, then, that co-operated in fixing this period—December 25th—as
the birthday
of Christ Jesus, was, as we have seen, that almost every ancient
nation of the
earth held a festival on this day in commemoration of the birth of
their
virgin-born god.
[Pg 367]On
this account the Christians adopted it as the time of the birth of
their God.
Mr. Gibbon, speaking of this in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire,"
says:
"The
Roman Christians, ignorant of the real date of his (Christ's) birth, fixed
the solemn festival
to the 25th of December, the Brumalia, or Winter Solstice,
when the
Pagans annually celebrated the birth of Sol."[367:1]
And Mr. King,
in his "Gnostics and their Remains," says:
"The
ancient festival held on the 25th of December in honor of the 'Birthday of
the
Invincible One,' and celebrated by the 'great games' at the circus, was
afterwards
transferred to the commemoration of the birth of Christ, the precise
day of which
many of the Fathers confess was then unknown."[367:2]
St.
Chrysostom, who flourished about A. D. 390, referring to this Pagan
festival,
says:
"On this
day, also, the birth of Christ was lately fixed at Rome, in order that
whilst the
heathen were busy with their profane ceremonies, the Christians might
perform their
holy rites undisturbed."[367:3]
Add to this
the fact that St. Gregory, a Christian Father of the third century,
was
instrumental in, and commended by other Fathers for, changing Pagan
festivals
into Christian holidays, for the purpose, as they said, of drawing the
heathen to
the religion of Christ.[367:4]
As Dr.
Hooykaas remarks, the church was always anxious to meet the heathen half
way, by
allowing them to retain the feasts they were accustomed to, only giving
them a
Christian dress, or attaching a new or Christian signification to
them.[367:5]
In doing
these, and many other such things, which we shall speak of in our
chapter on
"Paganism in Christianity," the Christian Fathers, instead of drawing
the heathen
to their religion, drew themselves into Paganism.
FOOTNOTES:
[359:1] See
Bible for Learners vol. iii. p. 66; Chambers's Encyclo., art.
"Christmas."
[359:2] Eccl.
Hist., vol. i. p. 53. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 104.
[359:3] See
Chapter XL., this work.
[359:4]
Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 189.
[360:1]
Hebrew and Christian Records, p. 194.
[360:2] Life
of Christ, vol. i. p. 556.
[360:3]
Barnes' Notes, vol. ii. p. 402.
[360:4] Ibid.
p. 25.
[360:5]
Farrar's Life of Christ, App., pp. 673, 4.
[361:1] Bible
Chronology, pp. 73, 74.
[361:2] Hist.
de Juif.
[361:3] Chap.
ii. 13-20.
[361:4] Luke,
ii. 1-7.
[361:5] Matt.
ii. 1.
[361:6] See
Josephus: Antiq., bk. xviii. ch. i. sec. i.
[361:7]
Eusebius was Bishop of Cesarea from A. D. 315 to 340, in which he died,
in the 70th
year of his age, thus playing his great part in life chiefly under
the reigns of
Constantine the Great and his son Constantine.
[362:1]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. vi.
[362:2] Bible
for Learners, vol. iii. p. 56.
[362:3] See
Chamber's Encyclo., art. "Christmas."
[362:4] See
Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 66.
[362:5]
"By the fifth century, however, whether from the influence of some
tradition, or
from the desire to supplant Heathen Festivals of that period of
the year,
such as the Saturnalia, the 25th of December had been generally agreed
upon."
(Encyclopćdia Brit., art. "Christmas.")
[363:1] See
Monier Williams: Hinduism, p. 181.
[363:2] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 126.
[363:3] Ibid.
216.
[363:4] See
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, pp. x.-25, and 110, and Lillie: Buddha
and Buddhism,
p. 73.
Some writers
have asserted that Crishna is said to have been born on December
25th, but
this is not the case. His birthday is held in July-August. (See
Williams'
Hinduism, p. 183, and Life and Religion of the Hindoos, p. 134.)
[363:5]
Celtic Druids, p. 163. See also, Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 272;
Monumental
Christianity, p. 167; Bible for Learners, iii. pp. 66, 67.
[363:6] The
Heathen Religion, p. 287. See also, Dupuis: p. 246.
[363:7]
Relig. of the Anct. Greeks, p. 214. See also, Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol.
ii. p. 99.
[364:1]
"Adytum"—the interior or sacred part of a heathen temple.
[364:2]
"Bambino"—a term used for representations of the infant Saviour,
Christ
Jesus, in
swaddlings.
[364:3]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 157. See also, Dupuis, p. 237.
[364:4]
"Deinceps Egyptii Parituram Virginem magno in honore habuerunt; quin
soliti sunt
puerum effingere jacentem in prćsepe, quali POSTEA in Bethlehemeticâ
speluncâ
natus est." (Quoted in Anacalypsis, p. 102, of vol. ii.)
[364:5]
Quoted by Bonwick, p. 143.
[364:6]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
[364:7]
Relig. Anct. Greece, p. 215.
[364:8] Ibid.
[364:9]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102; Dupuis, p. 237, and Baring Gould: Orig.
Relig.
Belief, vol. i. p. 322.
[365:1]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
[365:2] The
Heathen Religion, p. 287; Dupuis, p. 283.
[365:3]
Bulfinch, p. 21.
[365:4] See
Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 67, and Chambers, art. "Yule."
[365:5] See
Chambers's, art. "Yule," and "Celtic Druids," p. 162.
[365:6]
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 110 and 355. Knight: p. 87.
[366:1]
Dupuis, 160; Celtic Druids, and Monumental Christianity, p. 167.
[366:2]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
[366:3] Hist.
Indies, vol. ii. p. 354.
[366:4] See
Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 80.
[366:5] Knight:
Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 82.
[367:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 383.
[367:2]
King's Gnostics, p. 49.
[367:3]
Quoted in Ibid.
[367:4] See
the chapter on "Paganism in Christianity."
[367:5] Bible
for Learners, vol. iii. p. 67.
[Pg
368]CHAPTER XXXV.
THE TRINITY.
"Say not
there are three Gods, God is but One God."—(Koran.)
The doctrine
of the Trinity is the highest and most mysterious doctrine of the
Christian
church. It declares that there are three persons in the Godhead or
divine
nature—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—and that "these three are
one true,
eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory, although
distinguished
by their personal propensities." The most celebrated statement of
the doctrine
is to be found in the Athanasian creed,[368:1] which asserts that:
"The
Catholic[368:2] faith is this: That we worship One God as Trinity, and
Trinity in
Unity—neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance—for
there is One
person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy
Ghost. But
the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is
all one; the
glory equal, the majesty co-eternal."
As M. Reville
remarks:
"The
dogma of the Trinity displayed its contradictions with true bravery. The
Deity divided
into three divine persons, and yet these three persons forming
only One God;
of these three the first only being self-existent, the two others
deriving
their existence from the first, and yet these three persons being
considered as
perfectly equal; each having his special, distinct character, his
individual
qualities, wanting in the other two, and yet each one of the three
being
supposed to possess the fullness of perfection—here, it must be confessed,
we have the
deification of the contradictory."[368:3]
We shall now
see that this very peculiar doctrine of three in one, and one in
three, is of
heathen origin, and that it must fall with all the other dogmas of
the Christian
religion.
[Pg 369]The
number three is sacred in all theories derived from oriental
sources.
Deity is always a trinity of some kind, or the successive emanations
proceeded in
threes.[369:1]
If we turn to
India we shall find that one of the most prominent features in the
Indian
theology is the doctrine of a divine triad, governing all things. This
triad is
called Tri-murti—from the Sanscrit word tri (three) and murti
(form)—and
consists of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. It is an inseparable unity,
though three
in form.[369:2]
"When
the universal and infinite being Brahma—the only really existing entity,
wholly
without form, and unbound and unaffected by the three Gunas or by
qualities of
any kind—wished to create for his own entertainment the phenomena
of the
universe, he assumed the quality of activity and became a male person, as
Brahma the
creator. Next, in the progress of still further self-evolution, he
willed to
invest himself with the second quality of goodness, as Vishnu the
preserver,
and with the third quality of darkness, as Siva the destroyer. This
development
of the doctrine of triple manifestation (tri-murti), which appears
first in the
Brahmanized version of the Indian Epics, had already been
adumbrated in
the Veda in the triple form of fire, and in the triad of gods,
Agni,
Sūrya, and Indra; and in other ways."[369:3]
This divine
Tri-murti—says the Brahmans and the sacred books—is indivisible in
essence, and
indivisible in action; mystery profound! which is explained in the
following
manner:
Brahma
represents the creative principle, the unreflected or unevolved
protogoneus
state of divinity—the Father.
Vishnu
represents the protecting and preserving principle, the evolved or
reflected
state of divinity—the Son.[369:4]
Siva is the
principle that presides at destruction and re-construction—the Holy
Spirit.[369:5]
[Pg 370]The
third person was the Destroyer, or, in his good capacity, the
Regenerator.
The dove was the emblem of the Regenerator. As the spiritus was the
passive cause
(brooding on the face of the waters) by which all things sprang
into life,
the dove became the emblem of the Spirit, or Holy Ghost, the third
person.
These three
gods are the first and the highest manifestations of the Eternal
Essence, and
are typified by the three letters composing the mystic syllable OM
or AUM. They
constitute the well known Trimurti or Triad of divine forms which
characterizes
Hindooism. It is usual to describe these three gods as Creator,
Preserver and
Destroyer, but this gives a very inadequate idea of their complex
characters.
Nor does the conception of their relationship to each other become
clearer when
it is ascertained that their functions are constantly
interchangeable,
and that each may take the place of the other, according to the
sentiment
expressed by the greatest of Indian poets, Kalidasa (Kumara-sambhava,
Griffith,
vii. 44):
"In
those three persons the One God was shown—
Each first in
place, each last—not one alone;
Of Siva,
Vishnu, Brahmā, each may be
First,
second, third, among the blessed three."
A devout person
called Attencin, becoming convinced that he should worship but
one deity,
thus addressed Brahma, Vishnu and Siva:
"O you
three Lords; know that I recognize only One God; inform me therefore,
which of you
is the true divinity, that I may address to him alone my vows and
adorations."
The three
gods became manifest to him, and replied:
"Learn,
O devotee, that there is no real distinction between us; what to you
appears such
is only by semblance; the Single Being appears under three forms,
but he is One."[370:1]
Sir William
Jones says:
"Very
respectable natives have assured me, that one or two missionaries have
been absurd
enough in their zeal for the conversion of the Gentiles, to urge
that the
Hindoos were even now almost Christians; because their Brahmā,
Vishnou,
and Mahesa
(Siva), were no other than the Christian Trinity."[370:2]
Thomas
Maurice, in his "Indian Antiquities," describes a magnificent piece
of
Indian
sculpture, of exquisite workmanship, and of stupendous antiquity, namely:
"A bust
composed of three heads, united to one body, adorned with the oldest
symbols of
the Indian theology, and thus expressly fabricated according to the
[Pg
371]unanimous confession of the sacred sacerdotal tribe of India, to
indicate the
Creator, the Preserver, and the Regenerator, of mankind; which
establishes
the solemn fact, that from the remotest eras, the Indian nations had
adored a
triune deity."[371:1]
Fig. No. 34
is a representation of an Indian sculpture, intended to represent
the Triune
God,[371:2] evidently similar to the one described above by Mr.
Maurice. It
is taken from "a very ancient granite" in the museum at the
"Indian
House,"
and was dug from the ruins of a temple in the island of Bombay.
The
Buddhists, as well as the Brahmans, have had their Trinity from a very early
period.
Mr. Faber, in
his "Origin of Heathen Idolatry," says:
"Among
the Hindoos, we have the Triad of Brahmā, Vishnu, and Siva; so, among
the
votaries of
Buddha, we find the self-triplicated Buddha declared to be the same
as the Hindoo
Trimurti. Among the Buddhist sect of the Jainists, we have the
triple Jiva,
in whom the Trimurti is similarly declared to be incarnate."
In this
Trinity Vajrapani answers to Brahmā, or Jehovah, the
"All-father,"
Manjusri is
the "deified teacher," the counterpart of Crishna or Jesus, and
Avalokitesvara
is the "Holy Spirit."
Buddha was
believed by his followers to be, not only an incarnation of the
deity, but
"God himself in human form"—as the followers of Crishna believed him
to be—and
therefore "three gods in one." This is clearly illustrated by the
following
address delivered to Buddha by a devotee called Amora:
"Reverence
be unto thee, O God, in the form of the God of mercy, the dispeller
of pain and
trouble, the Lord of all things, the guardian of the universe, the
emblem of
mercy towards those who serve thee—OM! the possessor of all things in
vital form.
Thou art Brahmā, Vishnu, and Mahesa; thou art Lord of all the
universe.
Thou art under the proper form of all things, movable and immovable,
the possessor
of the whole, and thus I adore thee. I adore thee, who art
celebrated by
a thousand names, and under various forms; in the shape of Buddha,
the god of
mercy."[371:3]
The
inhabitants of China and Japan, the majority of whom are Buddhists, worship
God in the
form of a Trinity. Their name [Pg 372]for him (Buddha) is Fo, and in
speaking of
the Trinity they say: "The three pure, precious or honorable
Fo."[372:1]
This triad is represented in their temples by images similar to
those found
in the pagodas of India, and when they speak of God they say: "Fo is
one person,
but has three forms."[372:2]
In a chapel
belonging to the monastery of Poo-ta-la, which was found in
Manchow-Tartary,
was to be seen representations of Fo, in the form of three
persons.[372:3]
Navarette, in
his account of China, says:
"This
sect (of Fo) has another idol they call Sanpao. It consists of three,
equal in all
respects. This, which has been represented as an image of the Most
Blessed
Trinity, is exactly the same with that which is on the high altar of the
monastery of
the Trinitarians at Madrid. If any Chinese whatsoever saw it, he
would say
that Sanpao of his country was worshiped in these parts."
And Mr.
Faber, in his "Origin of Heathen Idolatry," says:
"Among
the Chinese, who worship Buddha under the name of Fo, we find this God
mysteriously
multiplied into three persons."
The mystic
syllable O. M. or A. U. M. is also reverenced by the Chinese and
Japanese,[372:4]
as we have found it reverenced by the inhabitants of India.
The followers
of Laou-tsze, or Laou-keum-tsze—a celebrated philosopher of China,
and deified
hero, born 604 B. C.—known as the Taou sect, are also worshipers of
a
Trinity.[372:5] It was the leading feature in Laou-keun's system of
philosophical
theology, that Taou, the eternal reason, produced one; one
produced two;
two produced three; and three produced all things.[372:6] This was
a sentence
which Laou-keun continually repeated, and which Mr. Maurice
considers,
"a most singular axiom for a heathen philosopher."[372:7]
The sacred
volumes of the Chinese state that:
"The
Source and Root of all is One. This self-existent unity necessarily
produced a
second. The first and second, by their union, produced a third. These
Three
produced all."[372:8]
The ancient
emperors of China solemnly sacrificed, every three years, to "Him
who is One
and Three."[372:9]
The ancient
Egyptians worshiped God in the form of a Trinity, [Pg 373]which was
represented
in sculptures on the most ancient of their temples. The celebrated
symbol of the
wing, the globe, and the serpent, is supposed to have stood for
the different
attributes of God.[373:1]
The priests
of Memphis, in Egypt, explained this mystery to the novice, by
intimating
that the premier (first) monad created the dyad, who engendered the
triad, and
that it is this triad which shines through nature.
Thulis, a
great monarch, who at one time reigned over all Egypt, and who was in
the habit of
consulting the oracle of Serapis, is said to have addressed the
oracle in
these words:
"Tell me
if ever there was before one greater than I, or will ever be one
greater than
me?"
The oracle
answered thus:
"First
God, afterward the Word, and with them the Holy Spirit, all these are of
the same
nature, and make but one whole, of which the power is eternal. Go away
quickly,
mortal, thou who hast but an uncertain life."[373:2]
The idea of
calling the second person in the Trinity the Logos, or Word[373:3]
is an
Egyptian feature, and was engrafted into Christianity many centuries after
the time of
Christ Jesus.[373:4] Apollo, who had his tomb at Delphi in Egypt,
was called
the Word.[373:5]
Mr. Bonwick,
in his "Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought," says:
"Some
persons are prepared to admit that the most astonishing development of the
old religion
of Egypt was in relation to the Logos or Divine Word, by whom all
things were
made, and who, though from God, was God. It had long been known that
Plato,
Aristotle, and others before the Christian era, cherished the idea of
this
Demiurgus; but it was not known till of late that Chaldeans and Egyptians
recognized
this mysterious principle."[373:6]
[Pg
374]"The Logos or Word was a great mystery (among the Egyptians), in whose
sacred books
the following passages may be seen: 'I know the mystery of the
divine Word;'
'The Word of the Lord of All, which was the maker of it;' 'The
Word—this is
the first person after himself, uncreated, infinite ruling over all
things that
were made by him.'"[374:1]
The Assyrians
had Marduk for their Logos;[374:2] one of their sacred addresses
to him reads
thus:
"Thou
art the powerful one—Thou art the life-giver—Thou also the
prosperer—Merciful
one among the gods—Eldest son of Hea, who made heaven and
earth—Lord of
heaven and earth, who an equal has not—Merciful one, who dead to
life
raises."[374:3]
The Chaldeans
had their Memra or "Word of God," corresponding to the Greek
Logos, which
designated that being who organized and who still governs the
world, and is
inferior to God only.[374:4]
The Logos was
with Philoa most interesting subject of discourse, tempting him to
wonderful
feats of imagination. There is scarcely a personifying or exalting
epithet that
he did not bestow on the Divine Reason. He described it as a
distinct
being; called it "a Rock," "The Summit of the Universe,"
"Before all
things,"
"First-begotten Son of God," "Eternal Bread from Heaven,"
"Fountain of
Wisdom,"
"Guide to God," "Substitute for God," "Image of
God," "Priest,"
"Creator
of the Worlds," "Second God," "Interpreter of God,"
"Ambassador of
God,"
"Power of God," "King," "Angel," "Man,"
"Mediator," "Light," "The
Beginning,"
"The East," "The Name of God," "The
Intercessor."[374:5]
This is
exactly the Logos of John. It becomes a man, "is made flesh;" appears
as
an
incarnation; in order that the God whom "no man has seen at any
time," may be
manifested.
The worship
of God in the form of a Trinity was to be found among the ancient
Greeks. When
the priests were about to offer up a sacrifice to the gods, the
altar was
three times sprinkled by dipping a laurel branch in holy water, and
the people
assembled around it were three times sprinkled also. Frankincense was
taken from
the censer with three fingers, and strewed upon the altar three
times. This
was done because an oracle had declared that all sacred things ought
to be in
threes, therefore, that number was scrupulously observed in most
religious
ceremonies.[374:6]
Orpheus[374:7]
wrote that:
[Pg
375]"All things were made by One godhead in three names, and that this god
is all
things."[375:1]
This
Trinitarian view of the Deity he is said to have brought from Egypt, and
the Christian
Fathers of the third and fourth centuries claimed that Pythagoras,
Heraclitus,
and Plato—who taught the doctrine of the Trinity—had drawn their
theological
philosophy from the writings of Orpheus.[375:2]
The works of
Plato were extensively studied by the Church Fathers, one of whom
joyfully
recognizes in the great teacher, the schoolmaster who, in the fullness
of time, was
destined to educate the heathen for Christ, as Moses did the
Jews.[375:3]
The
celebrated passage: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the
Word was God,"[375:4] is a fragment of some Pagan treatise on the
Platonic
philosophy, evidently written by Irenćus.[375:5] It is quoted by
Amelius, a
Pagan philosopher, as strictly applicable to the Logos, or Mercury,
the Word,
apparently as an honorable testimony borne to the Pagan deity by a
barbarian—for
such is what he calls the writer of John i. 1. His words are:
"This
plainly was the Word, by whom all things were made, he being himself
eternal, as
Heraclitus also would say; and by Jove, the same whom the barbarian
affirms to
have been in the place and dignity of a principal, and to be with
God, and to
be God, by whom all things were made, and in whom everything that
was made has
its life and being."[375:6]
The Christian
Father, Justin Martyr, apologizing for the Christian religion,
tells the
Emperor Antoninus Pius, that the Pagans need not taunt the Christians
for
worshiping the Logos, which "was with God, and was God," as they were
also
guilty of the
same act.
"If we
(Christians) hold," says he, "some opinions near of kin to the poets
and
philosophers,
in great repute among you, why are we thus unjustly hated?"
"There's
Mercury, Jove's interpreter, in imitation of the Logos, in worship
among
you," and "as to the Son of God, called Jesus, should we allow him to
be
nothing more
than man, yet the title of the 'Son of God' is very justifiable,
upon the
account of his wisdom, considering you have your Mercury, (also called
the 'Son of
God') in worship under the title of the Word and Messenger of
God."[375:7]
We see, then,
that the title "Word" or "Logos," being applied to Jesus,
is
another piece
of Pagan amalgamation with [Pg 376]Christianity. It did not
receive its
authorized Christian form until the middle of the second century
after
Christ.[376:1]
The ancient
Pagan Romans worshiped a Trinity. An oracle is said to have declared
that there
was, "first God, then the Word, and with them the Spirit."[376:2]
Here we see
distinctly enumerated, God, the Logos, and the Spirit or Holy Ghost,
in ancient
Rome, where the most celebrated temple of this capital—that of
Jupiter
Capitolinus—was dedicated to three deities, which three deities were
honored with
joint worship.[376:3]
The ancient
Persians worshiped a Trinity.[376:4] This trinity consisted of
Oromasdes,
Mithras, and Ahriman.[376:5] It was virtually the same as that of the
Hindoos:
Oromasdes was the Creator, Mithras was the "Son of God," the
"Saviour,"
the
"Mediator" or "Intercessor," and Ahriman was the Destroyer.
In the oracles
of Zoroaster
the Persian lawgiver, is to be found the following sentence:
"A Triad
of Deity shines forth through the whole world, of which a Monad (an
invisible
thing) is the head."[376:6]
Plutarch,
"De Iside et Osiride," says:
"Zoroaster
is said to have made a threefold distribution of things: to have
assigned the first
and highest rank to Oromasdes, who, in the Oracles, is called
the Father;
the lowest to Ahrimanes; and the middle to Mithras; who, in the same
Oracles, is
called the second Mind."
The Assyrians
and Phenicians worshiped a Trinity.[376:7]
"It is a
curious and instructive fact, that the Jews had symbols of the divine
Unity in
Trinity as well as the Pagans."[376:8] The Cabbala had its Trinity:
"the
Ancient, whose name is sanctified, is with three heads, which make but
one."[376:9]
Rabbi Simeon
Ben Jochai says:
"Come
and see the mystery of the word Elohim: there are three degrees, and each
degree by
itself alone, and yet, notwithstanding, they are all One, and joined
together in
One, and cannot be divided from each other."
According to
Dr. Parkhurst:
"The
Vandals[376:10] had a god called Triglaff. One of these was found at [Pg
377]Hertungerberg,
near Brandenburg (in Prussia). He was represented with three
heads. This
was apparently the Trinity of Paganism."[377:1]
The ancient
Scandinavians worshiped a triple deity who was yet one god. It
consisted of
Odin, Thor, and Frey. A triune statue representing this Trinity in
Unity was
found at Upsal in Sweden.[377:2] The three principal nations of
Scandinavia
(Sweden, Denmark, and Norway) vied with each other in erecting
temples, but
none were more famous than the temple at Upsal in Sweden. It
glittered on
all sides with gold. It seemed to be particularly consecrated to
the Three
Superior Deities, Odin, Thor and Frey. The statues of these gods were
placed in
this temple on three thrones, one above the other. Odin was
represented
holding a sword in his hand: Thor stood at the left hand of Odin,
with a crown
upon his head, and a scepter in his hand; Frey stood at the left
hand of Thor,
and was represented of both sexes. Odin was the supreme God, the
Al-fader;
Thor was the first-begotten son of this god, and Frey was the bestower
of fertility,
peace and riches. King Gylfi of Sweden is supposed to have gone at
one time to
Asgard (the abode of the gods), where he beheld three thrones raised
one above
another, with a man sitting on each of them. Upon his asking what the
names of
these lords might be, his guide answered: "He who sitteth on the lowest
throne is the
Lofty One; the second is the equal to the Lofty One; and he who
sitteth on
the highest throne is called the Third."[377:3]
The ancient
Druids also worshiped: "Ain Treidhe Dia ainm Taulac, Fan, Mollac;"
which is to
say: "Ain triple God, of name Taulac, Fan, Mollac."[377:4]
The ancient
inhabitants of Siberia worshiped a triune God. In remote ages,
wanderers
from India directed their eyes northward, and crossing the vast
Tartarian
deserts, finally settled in Siberia, bringing with them the worship of
a triune God.
This is clearly shown from the fact stated by Thomas Maurice,
that:
"The
first Christian missionaries who arrived in those regions, found the people
already in
possession of that fundamental doctrine of the true religion, which,
among others,
they came to impress upon their minds, and universally adored an
idol
fabricated to resemble, as near as possible, a Trinity in Unity."
This triune
God consisted of, first "the Creator of all things," second,
"the
God of
Armies," third, "the Spirit of Heavenly Love," and yet these
three were
but one
indivisible God.[377:5]
[Pg 378]The
Tartars also worshiped God as a Trinity in Unity. On one of their
medals, which
is now in the St. Petersburgh Museum, may be seen a representation
of the triple
God seated on the lotus.[378:1]
Even in the
remote islands of the Pacific Ocean, the supreme deities are God the
Father, God
the Son, and God the Spirit, the latter of which is symbolized as a
bird.[378:2]
The ancient
Mexicans and Peruvians had their Trinity. The supreme God of the
Mexicans
(Tezcatlipoca), who had, as Lord Kingsborough says, "all the attributes
and powers
which were assigned to Jehovah by the Hebrews," had associated with
him two other
gods, Huitzlipochtli and Tlaloc; one occupied a place upon his
left hand,
the other on his right. This was the Trinity of the Mexicans.[378:3]
When the
bishop Don Bartholomew de las Casas proceeded to his bishopric, which
was in 1545,
he commissioned an ecclesiastic, whose name was Francis Hernandez,
who was well
acquainted with the language of the Indians (as the natives were
called), to
visit them, carrying with him a sort of catechism of what he was
about to
preach. In about one year from the time that Francis Hernandez was sent
out, he wrote
to Bishop las Casas, stating that:
"The
Indians believed in the God who was in heaven; that this God was the
Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, and that the Father was named Yzona, the Son Bacab,
who was born
of a Virgin, and that the Holy Ghost was called Echiah."[378:4]
The Rev.
Father Acosta says, in speaking of the Peruvians:
"It is
strange that the devil after his manner hath brought a Trinity into
idolatry, for
the three images of the Sun called Apomti, Churunti, and
Intiquaoqui,
signifieth Father and Lord Sun, the Son Sun, and the Brother Sun.
"Being
in Chuquisaca, an honorable priest showed me an information, which I had
long in my
hands, where it was proved that there was a certain oratory, whereat
the Indians
did worship an idol called Tangatanga, which they said was 'One in
Three, and
Three in One.' And as this priest stood amazed thereat, I said that
the devil by
his internal and obstinate pride (whereby he always pretends to
make himself
God) did steal all that he could from the truth, to employ it in
his lying and
deceits."[378:5]
The doctrine
was recognized among the Indians of the Californian peninsula. The
statue of the
principal deity of the New Granadian Indians had "three heads on
one
body," and was understood to be "three persons with one heart and one
will."[378:6]
[Pg 379]The
result of our investigations then, is that, for ages before the time
of Christ
Jesus or Christianity, God was worshiped in the form of a Triad, and
that this
doctrine was extensively diffused through all nations. That it was
established
in regions as far distant as China and Mexico, and immemorially
acknowledged
through the whole extent of Egypt and India. That it flourished
with equal
vigor among the snowy mountains of Thibet, and the vast deserts of
Siberia. That
the barbarians of central Europe, the Scandinavians, and the
Druids of
Britain and Ireland, bent their knee to an idol of a Triune God. What
then becomes
of "the Ever-Blessed Trinity" of Christianity? It must fall,
together with
all the rest of its dogmas, and be buried with the Pagan débris.
The learned
Thomas Maurice imagined that this mysterious doctrine must have been
revealed by
God to Adam, or to Noah, or to Abraham, or to somebody else. Notice
with what
caution he wrote (A. D. 1794) on this subject. He says:
"In the
course of the wide range which I have been compelled to take in the
field of
Asiatic mythology, certain topics have arisen for discussion, equally
delicate and
perplexing. Among them, in particular, a species of Trinity forms a
constant and
prominent feature in nearly all the systems of Oriental theology."
After saying,
"I venture with a trembling step," and that, "It was not from
choice, but
from necessity, that I entered thus upon this subject," he
concludes:
"This
extensive and interesting subject engrosses a considerable portion of this
work, and my
anxiety to prepare the public mind to receive it, my efforts to
elucidate so
mysterious a point of theology, induces me to remind the candid
reader, that
visible traces of this doctrine are discovered, not only in the
three
principals of the Chaldaic theology; in the Triplasios Mithra of Persia;
in the Triad,
Brahmā, Vishnu, and Siva, of India—where it was evidently
promulgated
in the Geeta, fifteen hundred years before the birth of
Plato;[379:1]
but in the Numen Triplex of Japan; in the inscription upon the
famous medal
found in the deserts of Siberia, "To the Triune God," to be seen at
this day in
the valuable cabinet of the Empress, at St. Petersburgh; in the
Tanga-Tanga,
or Three in One, of the South Americans; and, finally, without
mentioning
the vestiges of it in Greece, in the Symbol of the Wing, the Globe,
and the
Serpent, conspicuous on most of the ancient temples of Upper
Egypt."[379:2]
It was a long
time after the followers of Christ Jesus had made him a God,
before they
ventured to declare that he was "God [Pg 380]himself in human form,"
and,
"the second person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity." It was Justin
Martyr, a
Christian
convert from the Platonic school,[380:1] who, about the middle of the
second
century, first promulgated the opinion, that Jesus of Nazareth, the "Son
of God,"
was the second principle in the Deity, and the Creator of all material
things. He is
the earliest writer to whom the opinion can be traced. This
knowledge, he
does not ascribe to the Scriptures, but to the special favor of
God.[380:2]
The passage
in I. John, v. 7, which reads thus: "For there are three that bear
record in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are
one," is
one of the numerous interpolations which were inserted into the books
of the New
Testament, many years after these books were written.[380:3] These
passages are
retained and circulated as the word of God, or as of equal
authority
with the rest, though known and admitted by the learned on all hands,
to be
forgeries, willful and wicked interpolations.
The subtle
and profound questions concerning the nature, generation, the
distinction,
and the quality of the three divine persons of the mysterious
triad, or
Trinity, were agitated in the philosophical and in the Christian
schools of
Alexandria in Egypt,[380:4] but it was not a part of the established
Christian
faith until as late as A. D. 327, when the question was settled at the
Councils of
Nice and Constantinople. Up to this time there was no understood and
recognized
doctrine on this high subject. The Christians were for the most part
accustomed to
use scriptural expressions in speaking of the Father, and the Son,
and the
Spirit, without defining articulately their relation to one
another.[380:5]
In these
trinitarian controversies, which first broke out in Egypt—Egypt, the
land of
Trinities—the chief point in the discussion was to define the position
of "the
Son."
There lived
in Alexandria a presbyter of the name of Arius, a disappointed
candidate for
the office of bishop. He took the [Pg 381]ground that there was a
time when,
from the very nature of Sonship, the Son did not exist, and a time at
which he
commenced to be, asserting that it is the necessary condition of the
filial
relation that a father must be older than his son. But this assertion
evidently
denied the co-eternity of the three persons of the Trinity, it
suggested a
subordination or inequality among them, and indeed implied a time
when the Trinity
did not exist. Hereupon, the bishop, who had been the
successful
competitor against Arius, displayed his rhetorical powers in public
debates on
the question, and, the strife spreading, the Jews and Pagans, who
formed a very
large portion of the population of Alexandria, amused themselves
with
theatrical representations of the contest on the stage—the point of their
burlesques
being the equality of age of the Father and the Son. Such was the
violence the
controversy at length assumed, that the matter had to be referred
to the
emperor (Constantine).
At first he
looked upon the dispute as altogether frivolous, and perhaps in
truth
inclined to the assertion of Arius, that in the very nature of the thing a
father must
be older than his son. So great, however, was the pressure laid upon
him, that he
was eventually compelled to summon the Council of Nicea, which, to
dispose of
the conflict, set forth a formulary or creed, and attached to it this
anathema:
"The
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes those who say that there
was a time
when the Son of God was not, and that, before he was begotten, he was
not, and
that, he was made out of nothing, or out of another substance or
essence, and
is created, or changeable, or alterable."
Constantine
at once enforced the decision of the council by the civil
power.[381:1]
Even after
this "subtle and profound question" had been settled at the Council
of Nice,
those who settled it did not understand the question they had settled.
Athanasius,
who was a member of the first general council, and who is said to
have written
the creed which bears his name, which asserts that the true
Catholic
faith is this:
"That we
worship One God as Trinity, and Trinity in Unity—neither confounding
the persons
nor dividing the substance—for there is one person of the Father,
another of
the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost, but the Godhead of the
Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the glory equal, the
majesty
co-eternal,"
—also
confessed that whenever he forced his understanding to [Pg 382]meditate on
the divinity
of the Logos, his toilsome and unavailing efforts recoiled on
themselves;
that the more he thought the less he comprehended; and the more he
wrote the
less capable was he of expressing his thoughts.[382:1]
We see, then,
that this great question was settled, not by the consent of all
members of
the council, but simply because the majority were in favor of it.
Jesus of
Nazareth was "God himself in human form;" "one of the persons of
the
Ever-Blessed
Trinity," who "had no beginning, and will have no end," because
the
majority of
the members of this council said so. Hereafter—so it was decreed—all
must believe
it; if not, they must not oppose it, but forever hold their peace.
The Emperor
Theodosius declared his resolution of expelling from all the
churches of
his dominions, the bishops and their clergy who should obstinately
refuse to
believe, or at least to profess, the doctrine of the Council of Nice.
His
lieutenant, Sapor, was armed with the ample powers of a general law, a
special
commission, and a military force; and this ecclesiastical resolution was
conducted
with so much discretion and vigor, that the religion of the Emperor
was
established.[382:2]
Here we have
the historical fact, that bishops of the Christian church, and
their clergy,
were forced to profess their belief in the doctrine of the
Trinity.
We also find
that:
"This
orthodox Emperor (Theodosius) considered every heretic (as he called those
who did not believe
as he and his ecclesiastics professed) as a rebel against
the supreme
powers of heaven and of earth (he being one of the supreme powers of
earth) and
each of the powers might exercise their peculiar jurisdiction over
the soul and
body of the guilty.
"The
decrees of the Council of Constantinople had ascertained the true standard
of the faith,
and the ecclesiastics, who governed the conscience of Theodosius,
suggested the
most effectual methods of persecution. In the space of fifteen
years he promulgated
at least fifteen severe edicts against the heretics, more
especially
against those who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity."[382:3]
Thus we see
one of the many reasons why the "most holy Christian religion"
spread so
rapidly.
Arius—who
declared that in the nature of things a father must be older than his
son—was
excommunicated for his so-called heretical notions concerning the
Trinity. His
followers, who were very [Pg 383]numerous, were called Arians.
Their
writings, if they had been permitted to exist,[383:1] would undoubtedly
contain the
lamentable story of the persecution which affected the church under
the reign of
the impious Emperor Theodosius.
FOOTNOTES:
[368:1] The
celebrated passage (I. John, v. 7) "For there are three that bear
record in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are
one," is
now admitted on all hands to be an interpolation into the epistle many
centuries
after the time of Christ Jesus. (See Giles' Hebrew and Christian
Records, vol.
ii. p. 12. Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 556. Inman's Ancient
Faiths, vol.
ii. p. 886. Taylor's Diegesis and Reber's Christ of Paul.)
[368:2] That
is, the true faith.
[368:3] Dogma
Deity Jesus Christ, p. 95.
[369:1]
"The notion of a Triad of Supreme Powers is indeed common to most
ancient
religions." (Prichard's Egyptian Mytho., p. 285.)
"Nearly
all the Pagan nations of antiquity, in their various theological
systems,
acknowledged a trinity in the divine nature." (Maurice: Indian
Antiquities,
vol. vi. p. 35.)
"The
ancients imagined that their triad of gods or persons, only constituted one
god."
(Celtic Druids, p. 197.)
[369:2] The
three attributes called Brahmā, Vishnu and Siva, are indicated by
letters
corresponding to our A. U. M., generally pronounced OM. This mystic word
is never
uttered except in prayer, and the sign which represents it in their
temples is an
object of profound adoration.
[369:3]
Monier Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 324.
[369:4] That
is, the Lord and Saviour Crishna. The Supreme Spirit, in order to
preserve the
world, produced Vishnu. Vishnu came upon earth for this purpose, in
the form of
Crishna. He was believed to be an incarnation of the Supreme Being,
one of the
persons of their holy and mysterious trinity, to use their language,
"The
Lord and Savior—three persons and one god." In the Geita, Crishna is made
to say:
"I am the Lord of all created beings." "I am the mystic figure
O. M." "I
am
Brahmā Vishnu, and Siva, three gods in one."
[369:5] See
The Heathen Religion, p. 124.
[370:1]
Allen's India, pp. 382, 383.
[370:2]
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 272.
[371:1]
Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 372.
[371:2] Taken
from Moore's "Hindoo Pantheon," plate 81.
[371:3]
Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. pp. 285, 286. See also, King's Gnostics,
167.
[372:1]
Davis' China, vol. ii. p. 104.
[372:2] Ibid.
pp. 103 and 81.
[372:3] Ibid.
pp. 105, 106.
[372:4] Ibid.
pp. 103, 81.
[372:5] Ibid.
110, 111. Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 36. Dunlap's Spirit Hist.,
150.
[372:6]
Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 41. Dupuis, p. 285. Dunlap's Spirit
Hist., 150.
[372:7]
Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 41.
This Taou
sect, according to John Francis Davis, and the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff,
both of whom
have resided in China—call their trinity "the three pure ones," or
"the
three precious ones in heaven." (See Davis' China, vol. ii. p. 110, and
Gutzlaff's
Voyages, p. 307.)
[372:8] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 210.
[372:9] Ibid.
[373:1]
Indian Antiquities, vol. i. p. 127.
[373:2]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 14.
The following
answer is stated by Manetho, an Egyptian priest, to have been
given by an
Oracle to Sesostris: "On his return through Africa he entered the
sanctuary of
the Oracle, saying: 'Tell me, O thou strong in fire, who before me
could subjugate
all things? and who shall after me?' But the Oracle rebuked him,
saying,
'First, God; then the Word; and with them, the Spirit.'" (Nimrod, vol.
i. p. 119, in
Ibid. vol. i. p. 805.)
Here we have
distinctly enumerated God, the Logos, and the Spirit or Holy Ghost,
in a very
early period, long previous to the Christian era.
[373:3] I.
John, v. 7. John, i. 1.
[373:4] The
Alexandrian theology, of which the celebrated Plato was the chief
representative,
taught that the Logos was "the second God;" a being of divine
essence, but
distinguished from the Supreme God. It is also called "the
first-born
Son of God."
"The
Platonists furnished brilliant recruits to the Christian churches of Asia
Minor and
Greece, and brought with them their love for system and their
idealism."
"It is in the Platonizing or Alexandrian, branch of Judaism that we
must seek for
the antecedents of the Christian doctrine of the Logos." (A.
Revillé:
Dogma Deity Jesus, p. 29.)
[373:5]
Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102. Mithras, the Mediator, and
Saviour of
the Persians, was called the Logos. (See Dunlap's Son of the Man, p.
20. Bunsen's
Angel-Messiah, p. 75.) Hermes was called the Logos. (See Dunlap's
Son of the
Man, p. 39, marginal note.)
[373:6]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 402.
[374:1]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404.
[374:2] Ibid.
[374:3] Ibid.
[374:4] Ibid.
p. 28.
[374:5]
Frothingham's Cradle of the Christ, p. 112.
[374:6] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 307.
[374:7]
Orpheus is said to have been a native of Thracia, the oldest poet of
Greece, and
to have written before the time of Homer; but he is evidently a
mythological
character.
[375:1] See
Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 332, and Taylor's Diegesis, p. 189.
[375:2] See
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Orpheus."
[375:3]
Ibid., art. "Plato."
[375:4] John,
i. 1.
[375:5] The
first that we know of this gospel for certain is during the time of
Irenćus, the
great Christian forger.
[375:6] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 185.
[375:7] Apol.
1. ch. xx.-xxii.
[376:1] See
Fiske: Myths and Myth-makers, p. 205. Celsus charges the Christians
with a
recoinage of the misunderstood doctrine of the Logos.
[376:2] See
Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 105.
[376:3] See
Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 158.
[376:4] See
Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 346. Monumental Christianity, p. 65,
and Ancient
Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819.
[376:5] Ibid.
[376:6]
Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 259.
[376:7] See
Monumental Christianity, p. 65, and Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819.
[376:8]
Monumental Christianity, p. 923. See also, Maurice's Indian Antiquities.
[376:9] Idra
Suta, Sohar, iii. 288. B. Franck, 138. Son of the Man, p. 78.
[376:10]
Vandals—a race of European barbarians, either of Germanic or Slavonic
origin.
[377:1]
Parkhurst: Hebrew Lexicon, Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 216.
[377:2] See
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 169. Maurice: Indian Antiq., vol.
v. p. 14, and
Gross: The Heathen Religion, p. 210.
[377:3] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
[377:4]
Celtic Druids, p. 171; Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 123; and Myths of the
British
Druids, p. 448.
[377:5]
Indian Antiquities, vol. v. pp. 8, 9.
[378:1] Isis
Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 48.
[378:2]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 169.
[378:3]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, pp. 179, 180. Mexican Ant., vol. vi. p. 164.
[378:4]
Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 164.
[378:5]
Acosta: Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 373. See also, Indian Antiq., vol. v.
p. 26, and
Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 181.
[378:6]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 181.
[379:1] The
ideas entertained concerning the antiquity of the Geeta, at the time
Mr. Maurice
wrote his Indian Antiquities, were erroneous. This work, as we have
elsewhere
seen, is not as old as he supposed. The doctrine of the Trimurti in
India,
however, is to be found in the Veda, and epic poems, which are of an
antiquity
long anterior to the rise of Christianity, preceding it by many
centuries.
(See Monier Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 324, and Hinduism, pp. 109,
110-115.)
"The
grand cavern pagoda of Elephants, the oldest and most magnificent temple in
the world, is
neither more nor less than a superb temple of a Triune God."
(Maurice:
Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. ix.)
[379:2]
Indian Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 125-127.
[380:1] We
have already seen that Plato and his followers taught the doctrine of
the Trinity
centuries before the time of Christ Jesus.
[380:2]
Israel Worsley's Enquiry, p. 54. Quoted in Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i.
p. 116.
[380:3]
"The memorable test (I. John v. 7) which asserts the unity of the three
which bear
witness in heaven, is condemned by the universal silence of the
orthodox
Fathers, ancient versions, and authentic manuscripts. It was first
alleged by
the Catholic Bishop whom Hunneric summoned to the Conference of
Carthage (A.
D. 254), or, more properly, by the four bishops who composed and
published the
profession of faith, in the name of their brethren." (Gibbon's
Rome, vol.
iii. p. 556, and note 117.) None of the ancient manuscripts now
extant, above
four-score in number, contain this passage. (Ibid. note 116.) In
the eleventh
and twelfth centuries, the Bible was corrected. Yet,
notwithstanding
these corrections, the passage is still wanting in twenty-five
Latin
manuscripts. (Ibid. note 116. See also Dr. Giles' Hebrew and Christian
Records, vol.
ii. p. 12. Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 886. Rev.
Robert
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 421, and Reber's Christ of Paul.)
[380:4] See
Gibbon's Rome, ii. 309.
[380:5]
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Trinity."
[381:1]
Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 53, 54.
[382:1]
Athanasius, tom. i. p. 808. Quoted in Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 310.
Gennadius,
Patriarch of Constantinople, was so much amazed by the extraordinary
composition
called "Athanasius' Creed," that he frankly pronounced it to be the
work of a drunken
man. (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 555, note 114.)
[382:2]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 87.
[382:3] Ibid.
pp. 91, 92.
[383:1] All
their writings were ordered to be destroyed, and any one found to
have them in
his possession was severely punished.
[Pg
384]CHAPTER XXXVI.
PAGANISM IN
CHRISTIANITY.
Our assertion
that that which is called Christianity is nothing more than the
religion of
Paganism, we consider to have been fully verified. We have found
among the
heathen, centuries before the time of Christ Jesus, the belief in an
incarnate God
born of a virgin; his previous existence in heaven; the celestial
signs at the
time of his birth; the rejoicing in heaven; the adoration by the
magi and
shepherds; the offerings of precious substances to the divine child;
the slaughter
of the innocents; the presentation at the temple; the temptation
by the devil;
the performing of miracles; the crucifixion by enemies; and the
death,
resurrection, and ascension into heaven. We have also found the belief
that this
incarnate God was from all eternity; that he was the Creator of the
world, and
that he is to be Judge of the dead at the last day. We have also seen
the practice
of Baptism, and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper or Eucharist,
added to the
belief in a Triune God, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Let us now
compare the Christian creed with ancient Pagan belief.
Christian
Creed. Ancient Pagan Belief.
1. I believe
in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth: 1. I
believe in
God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth:[384:1]
2. And in
Jesus Christ, his only Son, Our Lord. 2. And in his only Son,
our
Lord.[384:2]
3. Who was
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, 3. Who
was conceived
by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.[384:3]
4. Suffered
under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. 4.
Suffered
under (whom it might be), was crucified, dead, and buried.[384:4]
[Pg 385]5. He
descended into Hell; 5. He descended into Hell;[385:1]
6. The third
day he rose again from the dead; 6. The third day he rose
again from
the dead;[385:2]
7. He
ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the
Father
Almighty; 7. He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand
of God the
Father Almighty;[385:3]
8. From
thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 8. From
thence he
shall come to judge the quick and the dead.[385:4]
9. I believe
in the Holy Ghost; 9. I believe in the Holy Ghost;[385:5]
10. The Holy
Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints; 10. The Holy
Catholic
Church,[385:6] the Communion of Saints;
11. The
forgiveness of sins; 11. The forgiveness of sins;[385:7]
12. The
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. 12. The
resurrection
of the body; and the life everlasting.[385:8]
The above is
the so-called "Apostles' Creed," as it now stands in the book of
common prayer
of the United Church of England and Ireland, as by law
established.
It is
affirmed by Ambrose, that:
"The
twelve apostles, as skilled artificers, assembled together, and made a key
by their
common advice, that is, the Creed, by which the darkness of the devil
is disclosed,
that the light of Christ may appear."
Others fable
that every Apostle inserted an article, by which the Creed is
divided into
twelve articles.
The earliest
account of its origin we have from Ruffinus, an historical compiler
and
traditionist of the fourth century, but not in the form in which it is known
at present,
it having been added to since that time. The most important addition
is that which
affirms that Jesus descended into hell, which has been added since
A. D.
600.[385:9]
[Pg
386]Beside what we have already seen, the ancient Pagans had many beliefs
and
ceremonies which are to be found among the Christians. One of these is the
story of
"The War in Heaven."
The New
Testament version is as follows:
"There
was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon,
and the
dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their
place found
any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent,
called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was
cast out into
the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."[386:1]
The cause of
the revolt, it is said, was that Satan, who was then an angel,
desired to be
as great as God. The writer of Isaiah, xiv. 13, 14, is supposed to
refer to it
when he says:
"Thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above
the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation
in the sides of the North; I will ascend before the heights of the
clouds; I
will be like the Most High."
The Catholic
theory of the fall of the angels is as follows:
"In the
beginning, before the creation of heaven and earth, God made the angels,
free
intelligences, and free wills, out of his love He made them, that they
might be
eternally happy. And that their happiness might be complete, he gave
them the
perfection of a created nature, that is, he gave them freedom. But
happiness is
only attained by the free will agreeing in its freedom to accord
with the will
of God. Some of the angels by an act of free will obeyed the will
of God, and
in such obedience found perfect happiness. Other angels, by an act
of free will,
rebelled against the will of God, and in such disobedience found
misery."[386:2]
They were
driven out of heaven, after having a combat with the obedient angels,
and cast into
hell. The writer of second Peter alludes to it in saying that God
spared not
the angels that sinned, but cast them down into hell.[386:3]
The writer of
Jude also alludes to it in saying:
"The
angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he
hath reserved
in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the
great
day."[386:4]
According to
the Talmudists, Satan, whose proper name is Sammael, was one of the
Seraphim of
heaven, with six wings.
"He was
not driven out of heaven until after he had led Adam and Eve into sin;
then Sammael
and his host were precipitated out of the place of bliss, with
God's curse
to weigh them down. In the struggle between Michael and Sammael, the
falling
Seraph caught the wings of Michael, and tried to drag him down with him,
but God saved
him, when Michael derived his name,—the Rescued."[386:5]
[Pg
387]Sammael was formerly chief among the angels of God, and now he is prince
among devils.
His name is derived from Simmē, which means, to blind and deceive.
He stands on
the left side of men. He goes by various names; such as "The Old
Serpent,"
"The Unclean Spirit," "Satan," "Leviathan," and
sometimes also
"Asael."[387:1]
According to
Hindoo mythology, there is a legion of evil spirits called
Rakshasas,
who are governed by a prince named Ravana. These Rakshasas are
continually
aiming to do injury to mankind, and are the same who fought
desperate
battles with Indra, and his Spirits of Light. They would have taken
his paradise
by storm, and subverted the whole order of the universe, if Brahmā
had not sent
Vishnou to circumvent their plans.
In the
Aitareya-brahmana (Hindoo) written, according to Prof. Monier Williams,
seven or
eight centuries B. C., we have the following legend:
"The
gods and demons were engaged in warfare.
The evil
demons, like to mighty kings,
Made these
worlds castles; then they formed the earth
Into an iron
citadel, the air
Into a silver
fortress, and the sky
Into a fort
of gold. Whereat the gods
Said to each
other, 'Frame me other worlds
In opposition
to these fortresses.'
Then they
constructed sacrificial places,
Where they
performed a triple burnt oblation.
By the first
sacrifice they drove the demons
Out of their
earthly fortress, by the second
Out of the
air, and by the third oblation
Out of the
sky. Thus were the evil spirits
Chased by the
gods in triumph from the worlds."[387:2]
The ancient
Egyptians were familiar with the tale of the war in heaven; and the
legend of the
revolt against the god Rā, the Heavenly Father, and his
destruction
of the revolters, was discovered by M. Naville in one of the tombs
at
Biban-el-moluk.[387:3]
The same
story is to be found among the ancient Persian legends, and is related
as follows:
"Ahriman,
the devil, was not created evil by the eternal one, but he became evil
by revolting
against his will. This revolt resulted in a 'war in heaven.' In
this war the
Iveds (good angels) fought against the Divs (rebellious ones)
headed by
Ahriman, and flung the conquered into Douzahk or hell."[387:4]
[Pg 388]An
extract from the Persian Zend-avesta reads as follows:
"Ahriman
interrupted the order of the universe, raised an army against Ormuzd,
and having
maintained a fight against him during ninety days, was at length
vanquished by
Honover, the divine Word."[388:1]
The Assyrians
had an account of a war in heaven, which was like that described
in the book
of Enoch and the Revelation.[388:2]
This legend
was also to be found among the ancient Greeks, in the struggle of
the Titans
against Jupiter. Titan and all his rebellious host were cast out of
heaven, and
imprisoned in the dark abyss.[388:3]
Among the
legends of the ancient Mexicans was found this same story of the war
in heaven,
and the downfall of the rebellious angels.[388:4]
"The
natives of the Caroline Islands (in the North Pacific Ocean), related that
one of the
inferior gods, named Merogrog, was driven by the other gods out of
heaven."[388:5]
We see,
therefore, that this also was an almost universal legend.
The belief in
a future life was almost universal among nations of antiquity. The
Hindoos have
believed from time immemorial that man has an invisible body within
the material
body; that is, a soul.
Among the
ancient Egyptians the same belief was to be found. All the dead, both
men and
women, were spoken of as "Osiriana;" by which they intended to
signify
"gone to
Osiris."
Their belief
in One Supreme Being, and the immortality of the soul, must have
been very
ancient; for on a monument, which dates ages before Abraham is said to
have lived,
is found this epitaph: "May thy soul attain to the Creator of all
mankind."
Sculptures and paintings in these grand receptacles of the dead, as
translated by
Champollion, represent the deceased ushered into the world of
spirits by
funeral deities, who announce, "A soul arrived in Amenti."[388:6]
The Hindoo
idea of a subtile invisible body within the material body, reappeared
in the
description of Greek poets. They represented the constitution of man as
consisting of
three principles: the soul, the invisible body, and the material
body. The
invisible body they called the ghost or shade, and considered it as
the material
portion of the soul. At death, the soul, clothed in this [Pg
389]subtile
body, went to enjoy paradise for a season, or suffer in hell till
its sins were
expiated. This paradise was called the "Elysian Fields," and the
hell was
called Tartarus.
The paradise,
some supposed to be a part of the lower world, some placed them in
a middle zone
in the air, some in the moon, and others in far-off isles in the
ocean. There
shone more glorious sun and stars than illuminated this world. The
day was
always serene, the air forever pure, and a soft, celestial light clothed
all things in
transfigured beauty. Majestic groves, verdant meadows, and
blooming
gardens varied the landscape. The river Eridanus flowed through winding
banks fringed
with laurel. On its borders lived heroes who had died for their
country,
priests who had led a pure life, artists who had embodied genuine
beauty in
their work, and poets who had never degraded their muse with subjects
unworthy of
Apollo. There each one renewed the pleasures in which he formerly
delighted.
Orpheus, in long white robes, made enrapturing music on his lyre,
while others
danced and sang. The husband rejoined his beloved wife; old
friendships
were renewed, the poet repeated his verses, and the charioteer
managed his
horses.
Some souls
wandered in vast forests between Tartarus and Elysium, not good
enough for
one, or bad enough for the other. Some were purified from their sins
by exposure
to searching winds, others by being submerged in deep waters, others
by passing
through intense fires. After a long period of probation and
suffering,
many of them gained the Elysian Fields. This belief is handed down to
our day in
the Roman Catholic idea of Purgatory.
A belief in
the existence of the soul after death was indicated in all periods
of history of
the world, by the fact that man was always accustomed to address
prayers to
the spirits of their ancestors.[389:1]
These heavens
and hells where men abode after death, vary, in different
countries,
according to the likes and dislikes of each nation.
All the
Teutonic nations held to a fixed Elysium and a hell, where the valiant
and the just
were rewarded, and where the cowardly and the wicked suffered
punishment.
As all nations have made a god, and that god has resembled the
persons who
made it, so have all nations made a heaven, and that heaven
corresponds
to the fancies of the people who have created it.
In the prose
Edda there is a description of the joys of Valhalla [Pg 390](the
Hall of the
Chosen), which states that: "All men who have fallen in fight since
the beginning
of the world are gone to Odin (the Supreme God), in Valhalla." A
mighty band
of men are there, "and every day, as soon as they have dressed
themselves,
they ride out into the court (or field), and there fight until they
cut each
other into pieces. This is their pastime, but when the meal-tide
approaches,
they remount their steeds, and return to drink in Valhalla. As it is
said (in
Vafthrudnis-mal):
'The
Einherjar all
On Odin's
plain
Hew daily
each other,
While chosen
the slain are.
From the frey
they then ride,
And drink ale
with the Ćsir.'"[390:1]
This
description of the palace of Odin is a natural picture of the manners of
the ancient
Scandinavians and Germans. Prompted by the wants of their climate,
and the
impulse of their own temperament, they formed to themselves a delicious
paradise in
their own way; where they were to eat and drink, and fight. The
women, to
whom they assigned a place there, were introduced for no other purpose
but to fill
their cups.
The
Mohammedan paradise differs from this. Women there, are for man's pleasure.
The day is
always serene, the air forever pure, and a soft celestial light
clothes all
things in transfigured beauty. Majestic groves, verdant meadows, and
blooming
gardens vary the landscape. There, in radiant halls, dwell the
departed,
ever blooming and beautiful, ever laughing and gay.
The American
Indian calculates upon finding successful chases after wild
animals,
verdant plains, and no winter, as the characteristics of his "future
life."
The red
Indian, when told by a missionary that in the "promised land" they
would
neither eat,
drink, hunt, nor marry a wife, contemptuously replied, that instead
of wishing to
go there, he should deem his residence in such a place as the
greatest
possible calamity. Many not only rejected such a destiny for
themselves,
but were indignant at the attempt to decoy their children into such
a comfortless
region.
All nations
of the earth have had their heavens. As Moore observes:
"A
heaven, too, ye must have, ye lords of dust—
A splendid
paradise, poor souls, ye must:
[Pg 391]
That prophet
ill sustains his holy call
Who finds not
heavens to suit the tastes of all.
Vain things!
as lust or vanity inspires,
The heaven of
each is but what each desires."
Heaven was
born of the sky,[391:1] and nurtured by cunning priests, who made man
a coward and
a slave.
Hell was
built by priests, and nurtured by the fears and servile fancies of man
during the
ages when dungeons of torture were a recognized part of every
government,
and when God was supposed to be an infinite tyrant, with infinite
resources of
vengeance.
The devil is
an imaginary being, invented by primitive man to account for the
existence of
evil, and relieve God of his responsibility. The famous Hindoo
Rakshasas of
our Aryan ancestors—the dark and evil clouds personified—are the
originals of
all devils. The cloudy shape has assumed a thousand different
forms,
horrible or grotesque and ludicrous, to suit the changing fancies of the
ages.
But strange
as it may appear, the god of one nation became the devil of another.
The rock of
Behistun, the sculptured chronicle of the glories of Darius, king of
Persia,
situated on the western frontier of Media, on the high-road from Babylon
to the
eastward, was used as a "holy of holies." It was named
Bagistane—"the
place of the
Baga"—referring to Ormuzd, chief of the Bagas. When examined with
the lenses of
linguistic science, the "Bogie" or "Bug-a-boo" or
"Bugbear" of
nursery lore,
turns out to be identical with the Slavonic "Bog" and the
"Baga"
of the
cuneiform inscriptions, both of which are names of the Supreme Being. It
is found also
in the old Aryan "Bhaga," who is described in a commentary of the
Rig-Veda as
the lord of life, the giver of bread, and the bringer of happiness.
Thus, the
same name which, to the Vedic poet, to the Persian of the time of
Xerxes, and
to the modern Russian, suggests the supreme majesty of deity, is in
English
associated with an ugly and ludicrous fiend. Another striking
illustration
is to be found in the word devil itself. When traced back to its
primitive
source, it is found to be a name of the Supreme Being.[391:2]
The ancients
had a great number of festival days, many of which are handed down
to the
present time, and are to be found in Christianity.
We have
already seen that the 25th of December was almost a universal festival
among the
ancients; so it is the same with the spring festivals, when days of
fasting are
observed.
[Pg 392]The
Hindoos hold a festival, called Siva-ratri, in honor of Siva, about
the middle or
end of February. A strict fast is observed during the day. They
have also a
festival in April, when a strict fast is kept by some.[392:1]
At the spring
equinox most nations of antiquity set apart a day to implore the
blessings of
their god, or gods, on the fruits of the earth. At the autumnal
equinox, they
offered the fruits of the harvest, and returned thanks. In China,
these
religious solemnities are called "Festivals of gratitude to
Tien."[392:2]
The last
named corresponds to our "Thanksgiving" celebration.
One of the
most considerable festivals held by the ancient Scandinavians was the
spring
celebration. This was held in honor of Odin, at the beginning of spring,
in order to
welcome in that pleasant season, and to obtain of their god happy
success in
their projected expeditions.
Another
festival was held toward the autumn equinox, when they were accustomed
to kill all
their cattle in good condition, and lay in a store of provision for
the winter.
This festival was also attended with religious ceremonies, when
Odin, the
supreme god, was thanked for what he had given them, by having his
altar loaded
with the fruits of their crops, and the choicest products of the
earth.[392:3]
There was a
grand celebration in Egypt, called the "Feast of Lamps," held at
Sais, in
honor of the goddess Neith. Those who did not attend the ceremony, as
well as those
who did, burned lamps before their houses all night, filled with
oil and salt:
thus all Egypt was illuminated. It was deemed a great irreverence
to the
goddess for any one to omit this ceremony.[392:4]
The Hindoos
also held a festival in honor of the goddesses Lakshmi and Bhavanti,
called
"The feast of Lamps."[392:5] This festival has been handed down to
the
present time
in what is called "Candlemas day," or the purification of the
Virgin Mary.
The most
celebrated Pagan festival held by modern Christians is that known as
"Sunday,"
or the "Lord's day."
All the
principal nations of antiquity kept the seventh day of the week as a
"holy
day," just as the ancient Israelites did. This was owing to the fact that
they consecrated
the days of the week to the Sun, the Moon, and the five
planets,
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The seventh day was sacred
to Saturn
from time [Pg 393]immemorial. Homer and Hesiod call it the "Holy
Day."[393:1]
The people generally visited the temples of the gods, on that day,
and offered
up their prayers and supplications.[393:2] The Acadians, thousands
of years ago,
kept holy the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of each month as Salum
(rest), on
which certain works were forbidden.[393:3] The Arabs anciently
worshiped
Saturn under the name of Hobal. In his hands he held seven arrows,
symbols of
the planets that preside over the seven days of the week.[393:4] The
Egyptians
assigned a day of the week to the sun, moon, and five planets, and the
number seven
was held there in great reverence.[393:5]
The planet
Saturn very early became the chief deity of Semitic religion. Moses
consecrated
the number seven to him.[393:6]
In the old
conception, which finds expression in the Decalogue in Deuteronomy
(v. 15), the
Sabbath has a purely theocratic significance, and is intended to
remind the
Hebrews of their miraculous deliverance from the land of Egypt and
bondage. When
the story of Creation was borrowed from the Babylonians, the
celebration
of the Sabbath was established on entirely new grounds (Ex. xx. 11),
for we find
it is because the "Creator," after his six days of work, rested on
the seventh,
that the day should be kept holy.
The Assyrians
kept this day holy. Mr. George Smith says:
"In the
year 1869, I discovered among other things a curious religious calendar
of the
Assyrians, in which every month is divided into four weeks, and the
seventh days
or 'Sabbaths,' are marked out as days on which no work should be
undertaken."[393:7]
The ancient
Scandinavians consecrated one day in the week to their Supreme God,
Odin or
Wodin.[393:8] Even at the present time we call this day
Odin's-day.[393:9]
The question
now arises, how was the great festival day changed [Pg 394]from the
seventh—Saturn's
day—to the first—Sun-day—among the Christians?
"If we
go back to the founding of the church, we find that the most marked
feature of
that age, so far as the church itself is concerned, is the grand
division
between the 'Jewish faction,' as it was called, and the followers of
Paul. This
division was so deep, so marked, so characteristic, that it has left
its traces
all through the New Testament itself. It was one of the grand aspects
of the time,
and the point on which they were divided was simply this: the
followers of
Peter, those who adhered to the teachings of the central church in
Jerusalem,
held that all Christians, both converted Jews and Gentiles, were
under
obligation to keep the Mosaic law, ordinances, and traditions. That is, a
Christian,
according to their definition, was first a Jew; Christianity was
something
added to that, not something taking the place of it.
"We find
this controversy raging violently all through the early churches, and
splitting
them into factions, so that they were the occasion of prayer and
counsel. Paul
took the ground distinctly that Christianity, while it might be
spiritually
the lineal successor of Judaism, was not Judaism; and that he who
became a
Christian, whether a converted Jew or Gentile, was under no obligation
whatever to
keep the Jewish law, so far as it was separate from practical
matters of
life and character. We find this intimated in the writings of Paul;
for we have
to go to the New Testament for the origin of that which, we find,
existed
immediately after the New Testament was written. Paul says: 'One man
esteemeth one
day above another: another man esteemeth every day alike' (Rom.
xiv. 5-9). He
leaves it an open question; they can do as they please. Then: 'Ye
observe days,
and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed upon
you labor in vain' (Gal. iv. 10, 11). And if you will note this
Epistle of
Paul to the Galatians, you will find that the whole purpose of his
writing it
was to protest against what he believed to be the viciousness of the
Judaizing
influences. That is, he says: 'I have come to preach to you the
perfect
truth, that Christ hath made us free; and you are going back and taking
upon
yourselves this yoke of bondage. My labor is being thrown away; my efforts
have been in
vain.' Then he says, in his celebrated Epistle to the Colossians,
that has
never yet been explained away or met: 'Let no man therefore judge you
any more in
meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon,
or of the
Sabbath days' (Col. ii. 16, 17), distinctly abrogating the binding
authority of
the Sabbath on the Christian church. So that, [Pg 395]if Paul's
word anywhere
means anything—if his authority is to be taken as of binding force
on any point
whatever—then Paul is to be regarded as authoritatively and
distinctly
abrogating the Sabbath, and declaring that it is no longer binding on
the Christian
church."[395:1]
This breach
in the early church, this controversy, resulted at last in Paul's
going up to
Jerusalem "to meet James and the representatives of the Jerusalem
church, to
see if they could find any common platform of agreement—if they could
come together
so that they could work with mutual respect and without any
further
bickering. What is the platform that they met upon? It was distinctly
understood
that those who wished to keep up the observance of Judaism should do
so; and the
church at Jerusalem gave Paul this grand freedom, substantially
saying to
him: 'Go back to your missionary work, found churches, and teach them
that they are
perfectly free in regard to all Mosaic and Jewish observances,
save only
these four: Abstain from pollutions of idols, from fornication, from
things
strangled, and from blood."[395:2]
The point to
which our attention is forcibly drawn is, that the question of
Sabbath-keeping
is one of those that is left out. The point that Paul had been
fighting for
was conceded by the central church at Jerusalem, and he was to go
out
thenceforth free, so far as that was concerned, in his teaching of the
churches that
he should found.
There is no
mention of the Sabbath, or the Lord's day, as binding in the New
Testament.
What, then, was the actual condition of affairs? What did the
churches do
in the first three hundred years of their existence? Why, they did
just what
Paul and the Jerusalem church had agreed upon. Those who wished to
keep the
Jewish Sabbath did so; and those who did not wish to, did not do so.
This is seen
from the fact that Justin Martyr, a Christian Father who flourished
about A. D.
140, did not observe the day. In his "Dialogue" with Typho, the Jew
reproaches
the Christians for not keeping the "Sabbath." Justin admits the
charge by
saying:
"Do you
not see that the Elements keep no Sabbaths and are never idle? Continue
as you were
created. If there was no need of circumcision before Abraham's time,
and no need
of the Sabbath, of festivals and oblations, before the time of
Moses,
neither of them are necessary after the coming of Christ. If any among
you is guilty
of perjury, fraud, or other crimes, let him cease from them and
repent, and
he will have kept the kind of Sabbath pleasing to God."
[Pg 396]There
was no binding authority then, among the Christians, as to whether
they should
keep the first or the seventh day of the week holy, or not, until
the time of
the first Christian Roman Emperor. "Constantine, a Sun worshiper,
who had, as
other Heathen, kept the Sun-day, publicly ordered this to supplant
the Jewish
Sabbath."[396:1] He commanded that this day should be kept holy,
throughout
the whole Roman empire, and sent an edict to all governors of
provinces to
this effect.[396:2] Thus we see how the great Pagan festival, in
honor of Sol
the invincible, was transformed into a Christian holy-day.
Not only were
Pagan festival days changed into Christian holy-days, but Pagan
idols were
converted into Christian saints, and Pagan temples into Christian
churches.
A Pagan
temple at Rome, formerly sacred to the "Bona Dea" (the "Good Goddess"),
was
Christianized and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In a place formerly sacred
to Apollo,
there now stands the church of Saint Apollinaris. Where there
anciently
stood the temple of Mars, may now be seen the church of Saint
Martine.[396:3]
A Pagan temple, originally dedicated to "Cćlestis Dea" (the
"Heavenly
Goddess"), by one Aurelius, a Pagan high-priest, was converted into a
Christian
church by another Aurelius, created Bishop of Carthage in the year 390
of Christ. He
placed his episcopal chair in the very place where the statue of
the Heavenly
Goddess had stood.[396:4]
The noblest
heathen temple now remaining in the world, is the Pantheon or
Rotunda,
which, as the inscription over the portico informs us, having been
impiously
dedicated of old by Agrippa to "Jove and all the gods," was piously
reconsecrated
by Pope Boniface the Fourth, to "The Mother of God and all the
Saints."[396:5]
The church of
Saint Reparatae, at Florence, was formerly a Pagan temple. An
inscription
was found in the foundation of this church, of these words: "To the
Great Goddess
Nutria."[396:6] The church of St. Stephen, at Bologna, was formed
from heathen
temples, one of which was a temple of Isis.[396:7]
At the
southern extremity of the present Forum at Rome, and just under the
Palatine
hill—where the noble babes, who, miraculously preserved, became the
founders of a
state that was to command the world, were exposed—stands the
church of St.
Theodore.
[Pg 397]This
temple was built in honor of Romulus, and the brazen
wolf—commemorating
the curious manner in which the founders of Rome were
nurtured—occupied
a place here till the sixteenth century. And, as the Roman
matrons of
old used to carry their children, when ill, to the temple of Romulus,
so too, the women
still carry their children to St. Theodore on the same
occasions.
In
Christianizing these Pagan temples, free use was made of the sculptured and
painted
stones of heathen monuments. In some cases they evidently painted over
one name, and
inserted another. This may be seen from the following
Inscriptions
Formerly in Pagan Temples.andInscriptions now in Christian
Churches.
1.
To Mercury
and Minerva, Tutelary Gods. 1.
To St. Mary
and St. Francis, My Tutelaries.
2.
To the Gods
who preside over this Temple. 2.
To the Divine
Eustrogius, who presides over this Temple.
3.
To the
Divinity of Mercury the Availing, the Powerful, the Unconquered. 3.
To the
Divinity of St. George the Availing, the Powerful, the Unconquered.
4.
Sacred to the
Gods and Goddesses, with Jove the best and greatest. 4.
Sacred to the
presiding helpers, St. George and St. Stephen, with God the
best and
greatest.
5.
Venus'
Pigeon. 5.
The Holy
Ghost represented as a Pigeon.
6.
The Mystical
Letters I. H. S.[397:1] 6.
The Mystical
Letters I. H. S.[397:2]
In many cases
the Images of the Pagan gods were allowed to remain in these
temples, and,
after being Christianized, continued to receive divine
honors.[397:3]
"In St.
Peter's, Rome, is a statue of Jupiter, deprived of his thunderbolt,
which is
replaced by the emblematic keys. In like manner, much of the religion
of the lower
orders, which we regard as essentially Christian, is ancient
heathenism,
refitted with Christian symbols."[397:4] We find that as early as
the time of
St. Gregory, Bishop of Neo-Cesarea (A. D. 243), the "simple" and
"unskilled"
[Pg 398]multitudes of Christians were allowed to pay divine honors
to these
images, hoping that in the process of time they would learn
better.[398:1]
In fact, as Prof. Draper says:
"Olympus
was restored, but the divinities passed under other names. The more
powerful
provinces insisted upon the adoption of their time-honored conceptions.
. . . Not
only was the adoration of ISIS under a new name restored, but even her
image,
standing on the crescent moon, reappeared. The well-known effigy of that
goddess with
the infant Horus in her arms, has descended to our days in the
beautiful,
artistic creations of the Madonna and child. Such restorations of old
conceptions
under novel forms were everywhere received with delight. When it was
announced to
the Ephesians, that the Council of that place, headed by Cyril, had
declared that
the Virgin (Mary) should be called the 'Mother of God,' with tears
of joy they
embraced the knees of their bishop; it was the old instinct cropping
out; their
ancestors would have done the same for Diana."[398:2]
"O
bright goddess; once again
Fix on earth
thy heav'nly reign;
Be thy sacred
name ador'd,
Altars
rais'd, and rites restor'd."
Nestorius,
Bishop of Constantinople from 428 A. D., refused to call Mary "the
mother of
God," on the ground that she could be the mother of the human nature
only, which
the divine Logos used as its organ. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, did
all in his
power to stir up the minds of the people against Nestorius; the
consequence
was that, both at Rome and at Alexandria, Nestorius was accused of
heresy. The
dispute grew more bitter, and Theodosius II. thought it necessary to
convoke an
Ścumenical Council at Ephesus in 431. On this, as on former
occasions,
the affirmative party overruled the negative. The person of Mary
began to rise
in the new empyrean. The paradoxical name of "Mother of God"
pleased the
popular piety. Nestorius was condemned, and died in exile.
The shrine of
many an old hero was filled by the statue of some imaginary saint.
"They
have not always" (says Dr. Conyers Middleton), "as I am well
informed,
given
themselves the trouble of making even this change, but have been contented
sometimes to
take up with the old image, just as they found it; after baptizing
it only, as
it were, or consecrating it anew, by the imposition of a Christian
name. This
their antiquaries do not scruple to put strangers in mind of, in
showing their
churches, as it was, I think, in that of St. Agnes, where they
showed me an
antique statue of a young BACCHUS, which, with a new name, and some
little change
of drapery, stands now worshiped under the title of a female
saint."[398:3]
In many parts
of Italy are to be seen pictures of the "Holy Family," of extreme
antiquity,
the grounds of them often of gold.
[Pg 399]These
pictures represent the mother with a child on her knee, and a
little boy
standing close by her side; the Lamb is generally seen in the
picture. They
are inscribed "Deo Soli," and are simply ancient representations
of Isis and
Horus. The Lamb is "The Lamb that taketh away the sins of the
world,"
which, as we have already seen, was believed on in the Pagan world
centuries
before the time of Christ Jesus.[399:1] Some half-pagan Christian went
so far as to
forge a book, which he attributed to Christ Jesus himself, which
was for the
purpose of showing that he—Christ Jesus—was in no way against these
heathen
gods.[399:2]
The
Icelanders were induced to embrace Christianity, with its legends and
miracles, and
sainted divinities, as the Christian monks were ready to
substitute
for Thor, their warrior-god, Michael, the warrior-angel; for Freyja,
their
goddess, the Virgin Mary; and for the god Vila, a St. Valentine—probably
manufactured
for the occasion.
"The
statues of Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, Orpheus, did duty for The
Christ.[399:3]
The Thames River god officiates at the baptism of Jesus in the
Jordan. Peter
holds the keys of Janus.[399:4] Moses wears the horns of Jove.
Ceres,
Cybele, Demeter assume new names, as 'Queen of Heaven,' 'Star of the
Sea,' 'Maria
Illuminatrix;' Dionysius is St. Denis; Cosmos is St. Cosmo; Pluto
and
Proserpine resign their seats in the hall of final judgment to the Christ
and his
mother. The Parcć depute one of their number, Lachesis, the disposer of
lots, to set
the stamp of destiny upon the deaths of Christian believers. The
aura placida
of the poets, the gentle breeze, is personified as Aura and
Placida. The
perpetua felicitas of the devotee becomes a lovely presence in the
forms of St.
Perpetua and St. Felicitas, guardian angels of the pious soul. No
relic of
Paganism was permitted to remain in its casket. The depositories were
all
ransacked. The shadowy hands of Egyptian priests placed the urn of holy
water at the
porch of the basilica, which stood ready to be converted into a
temple.
Priests of the [Pg 400]most ancient faiths of Palestine, Assyria,
Babylon,
Thebes, Persia were permitted to erect the altar at the point where the
transverse
beam of the cross meets the main stem. The hands that constructed the
temple in
cruciform shape had long become too attenuated to cast the faintest
shadow. There
Devaki with the infant Crishna, Maya with the babe Buddha, Juno
with the
child Mars, represent Mary with Jesus in her arms. Coarse emblems are
not rejected;
the Assyrian dove is a tender symbol of the Holy Ghost. The
rag-bags and
toy boxes were explored. A bauble which the Roman schoolboy had
thrown away
was picked up, and called an 'agnus dei.' The musty wardrobes of
forgotten
hierarchies furnished costumes for the officers of the new prince. Alb
and chasuble
recalled the fashions of Numa's day. The cast-off purple habits and
shoes of
Pagan emperors beautified the august persons of Christian popes. The
cardinals
must be contented with the robes once worn by senators. Zoroaster
bound about
the monks the girdle he invented as a protection against evil
spirits, and
clothed them in the frocks he had found convenient for his ritual.
The pope
thrust out his foot to be kissed, as Caligula, Heliogabalus, and Julius
Cesar had
thrust out theirs. Nothing came amiss to the faith that was to
discharge
henceforth the offices of spiritual impression."[400:1]
The ascetic
and monastic life practiced by some Christians of the present day,
is of great
antiquity. Among the Buddhists there are priests who are ordained,
tonsured,
live in monasteries, and make vows of celibacy. There are also nuns
among them,
whose vows and discipline are the same as the priests.[400:2]
The close
resemblance between the ancient religion of Thibet and Nepaul—where
the worship
of a crucified God was found—and the Roman Catholic religion of the
present day,
is very striking. In Thibet was found the pope, or head of the
religion,
whom they called the "Dalai Lama;"[400:3] they use holy water, they
celebrate a
sacrifice with bread and wine; they give extreme unction, pray for
the sick;
they have monasteries, and convents for women; they chant in their
services, have
fasts; they worship one God in a trinity, believe in a hell,
heaven, and a
half-way place or purgatory; they make prayers and sacrifices for
the dead,
have confession, adore the cross; have chaplets, or strings of beads
to count
their prayers, and many other practices common to the Roman Catholic
Church.[400:4]
[Pg 401]The
resemblance between Buddhism and Christianity has been remarked by
many
travelers in the eastern countries. Sir John Francis Davis, in his
"History
of
China," speaking of Buddhism in that country, says:
"Certain
it is—and the observance may be daily made even at Canton—that they
(the Buddhist
priests) practice the ordinances of celibacy, fasting, and prayers
for the dead;
they have holy water, rosaries of beads, which they count with
their
prayers, the worship of relics, and a monastic habit resembling that of
the
Franciscans" (an order of Roman Catholic monks).
Pčre Premere,
a Jesuit missionary to China, was driven to conclude that the
devil had
practiced a trick to perplex his friends, the Jesuits. To others,
however, it
is not so difficult to account for these things as it seemed for the
good Father.
Sir John continues his account as follows:
"These
priests are associated in monasteries attached to the temples of Fo. They
are in China
precisely a society of mendicants, and go about, like monks of that
description
in the Romish Church, asking alms for the support of their
establishment.
Their tonsure extends to the hair of the whole head. There is a
regular
gradation among the priesthood; and according to his reputation for
sanctity, his
length of service and other claims, each priest may rise from the
lowest rank
of servitor—whose duty it is to perform the menial offices of the
temple—to
that of officiating priest—and ultimately of 'Tae Hoepang,' Abbot or
head of the
establishment."
The five
principal precepts, or rather interdicts, addressed to the Buddhist
priests are:
1. Do not kill.
2. Do not steal.
3. Do not marry.
4. Speak not falsely.
5. Drink no wine.
Poo-ta-la is
the name of a monastery, described in Lord Macartney's mission, and
is an
extensive establishment, which was found in Manchow-Tartary, beyond the
great wall.
This building offered shelter to no less than eight hundred Chinese
Buddhist
priests.[401:1]
The Rev. Mr.
Gutzlaff, in his "Journal of Voyages along the coast of China,"
tells us that
he found the Buddhist "Monasteries, nuns, and friars very
numerous;"
and adds that: "their priests are generally very ignorant."[401:2]
This reminds
us of the fact that, for centuries during the "dark ages" of
Christianity,
Christian bishops and prelates, the teachers, spiritual pastors
and masters,
were mostly marksmen, that is, they [Pg 402]supplied, by the sign
of the cross,
their inability to write their own name.[402:1] Many of the
bishops in
the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, it is said, could not write
their names.
Ignorance was not considered a disqualification for ordination. A
cloud of
ignorance overspread the whole face of the Church, hardly broken by a
few
glimmering lights, who owe almost the whole of their distinction to the
surrounding
darkness.[402:2]
One of the
principal objects of curiosity to the Europeans who first went to
China, was a
large monastery at Canton. This monastery, which was dedicated to
Fo, or
Buddha, and which is on a very large scale, is situated upon the southern
side of the
river. There are extensive grounds surrounding the building, planted
with trees,
in the center of which is a broad pavement of granite, which is kept
very clean.
An English gentleman, Mr. Bennett, entered this establishment, which
he fully
describes. He says that after walking along this granite pavement, they
entered a
temple, where the priesthood happened to be assembled, worshiping.
They were
arranged in rows, chanting, striking gongs, &c. These priests, with
their shaven
crowns, and arrayed in the yellow robes of the religion, appeared
to go through
the mummery with devotion. As soon as the mummery had ceased, the
priests all
flocked out of the temple, adjourned to their respective rooms,
divested
themselves of their official robes, and the images—among which were
evidently
representations of Shin-moo, the "Holy Mother," and "Queen of
Heaven,"
and "The
Three Pure Ones,"—were left to themselves, with lamps burning before
them.
To expiate
sin, offerings made to these priests are—according to the Buddhist
idea—sufficient.
To facilitate the release of some unfortunate from purgatory,
they said
masses. Their prayers are counted by means of a rosary, and they live
in a state of
celibacy.
Mr. Gutzlaff,
in describing a temple dedicated to Buddha, situated on the island
of Poo-ta-la,
says:
"We were
present at the vespers of the priests, which they chanted in the Pali
language, not
unlike the Latin service of the Romish church. They held their
rosaries in
their hands, which rested folded upon their breasts. One of them had
a small bell,
by the tingling of which the service was regulated."
The Buddhists
in India have similar institutions. The French missionary, M.
L'Abbé Huc,
says of them:
"The
Buddhist ascetic not aspiring to elevate himself only, he practiced virtue
and applied
himself to perfection to make other men share in its belief; and [Pg
403]by the
institution of an order of religious mendicants, which increased to
an immense
extent, he attached towards him, and restored to society, the poor
and
unfortunate. It was, indeed, precisely because Buddha received among his
disciples
miserable creatures who were outcasts from the respectable class of
India, that
he became an object of mockery to the Brahmins. But he merely
replied to
their taunts, 'My law is a law of mercy for all.'"[403:1]
In the words
of Viscount Amberly, we can say that, "Monasticism, in countries
where
Buddhism reigns supreme, is a vast and powerful institution."
The Essenes,
of whom we shall speak more fully anon, were an order of ascetics,
dwelling in
monasteries. Among the order of Pythagoras, which was very similar
to the
Essenes, there was an order of nuns.[403:2] The ancient Druids admitted
females into
their sacred order, and initiated them into the mysteries of their
religion.[403:3]
The priestesses of the Saxon Frigga devoted themselves to
perpetual
virginity.[403:4] The vestal virgins[403:5] were bound by a solemn vow
to preserve
their chastity for a space of thirty years.[403:6]
The Egyptian
priests of Isis were obliged to observe perpetual chastity.[403:7]
They were
also tonsured like the Buddhist priests.[403:8] The Assyrian, Arabian,
Persian and
Egyptian priests wore white surplices,[403:9] and so did the ancient
Druids. The
Corinthian Aphrodite had her Hierodoulio, the pure Gerairai
ministered to
the goddess of the Parthenon, the altar of the Latin Vesta was
tended by her
chosen virgins, and the Romish "Queen of Heaven" has her nuns.
When the
Spaniards had established themselves in Mexico and Peru, they were
astonished to
find, among other things which closely resembled their religion,
monastic
institutions on a large scale.
The Rev.
Father Acosta, in his "Natural and Moral History of the Indies,"
says:
"There
is one thing worthy of special regard, the which is, how the Devil, by
his pride,
hath opposed himself to God; and that which God, by his wisdom, hath
decreed for his
honor and service, and for the good and health of man, the devil
strives to
imitate and pervert, to be honored, and to cause men to be damned:
for as we see
the great God hath Sacrifices, Priests, Sacraments, Religious
Prophets, and
Ministers, dedicated to his divine service and holy ceremonies, so
likewise the
devil hath his Sacrifices, Priests, his kinds of Sacraments, his
Ministers
appointed, his secluded and feigned holiness, with a thousand sorts of
false
prophets."[403:10]
"We find
among all the nations of the world, men especially dedicated to the
service of
the true God, or to the false, which serve in sacrifices, and declare
[Pg 404]unto
the people what their gods command them. There was in Mexico a
strange
curiosity upon this point. And the devil, counterfeiting the use of the
church of
God, hath placed in the order of his Priests, some greater or
superiors,
and some less, the one as Acolites, the other as Levites, and that
which hath
made most to wonder, was, that the devil would usurp to himself the
service of
God; yea, and use the same name: for the Mexicans in their ancient
tongue call
their high priests Papes, as they should say sovereign bishops, as
it appears
now by their histories."[404:1]
In Mexico,
within the circuit of the great temple, there were two monasteries,
one for
virgins, the other for men, which they called religious. These men lived
poorly and
chastely, and did the office of Levites.[404:2]
"These
priests and religious men used great fastings, of five or ten days
together,
before any of their great feasts, and they were unto them as our four
ember week;
they were so strict in continence that some of them (not to fall
into any
sensuality) slit their members in the midst, and did a thousand things
to make themselves
unable, lest they should offend their gods."[404:3]
"There
were in Peru many monasteries of virgins (for there are no other
admitted), at
the least one in every province. In these monasteries there were
two sorts of
women, one ancient, which they called Mamacomas (mothers), for the
instruction
of the young, and the other was of young maidens placed there for a
certain time,
and after they were drawn forth, either for their gods or for the
Inca."
"If any of the Mamacomas or Acllas were found to have trespassed against
their honor,
it was an inevitable chastisement to bury them alive or to put them
to death by
some other kind of cruel torment."[404:4]
The Rev.
Father concludes by saying:
"In
truth it is very strange to see that this false opinion of religion hath so
great force
among these young men and maidens of Mexico, that they will serve
the devil
with so great rigor and austerity, which many of us do not in the
service of
the most high God, the which is a great shame and confusion."[404:5]
The religious
orders of the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians are described at
length in
Lord Kingsborough's "Mexican Antiquities," and by most every writer
on
ancient
Mexico. Differing in minor details, the grand features of
self-consecration
are everywhere the same, whether we look to the saintly Rishis
of ancient
India, to the wearers of the yellow robe in China or Ceylon, to the
Essenes among
the Jews, to the devotees of Vitziliputzli in pagan Mexico, or to
the monks and
nuns of Christian times in Africa, in Asia, and in Europe.
Throughout
the various creeds of these distant lands there runs the same
unconquerable
impulse, producing the same remarkable effects.
The
"Sacred Heart," was a great mystery with the ancients.
[Pg
405]Horus, the Egyptian virgin-born Saviour, was represented carrying the
sacred heart
outside on his breast. Vishnu, the Mediator and Preserver of the
Hindoos, was
also represented in that manner. So was it with Bel of
Babylon.[405:1]
In like manner, Christ Jesus, the Christian Saviour, is
represented
at the present day.
The amulets
or charms which the Roman Christians wear, to drive away diseases,
and to
protect them from harm, are other relics of paganism. The ancient pagans
wore these
charms for the same purpose. The name of their favorite god was
generally
inscribed upon them, and we learn by a quotation from Chrysostom that
the
Christians at Antioch used to bind brass coins of Alexander the Great about
their heads,
to keep off or drive away diseases.[405:2] The Christians also used
amulets with
the name or monogram of the god Serapis engraved thereon, which
show that it
made no difference whether the god was their own or that of
another. Even
the charm which is worn by the Christians at the present day, has
none other
than the monogram of Bacchus engraved thereon, i. e., I. H. S.[405:3]
The ancient
Roman children carried around their necks a small ornament in the
form of a
heart, called Bulla. This was imitated by the early Christians. Upon
their ancient
monuments in the Vatican, the heart is very common, and it may be
seen in
numbers of old pictures. After some time it was succeeded by the Agnus
Dei, which,
like the ancient Bulla, was supposed to avert dangers from the
children and
the wearers of them. Cardinal Baronius (an eminent Roman Catholic
ecclesiastical
historian, born at Sora, in Naples, A. D. 1538) says, that those
who have been
baptized carry pendent from their neck an Agnus Dei, in imitation
of a devotion
of the Pagans, who hung to the neck of their children little
bottles in
the form of a heart, which served as preservatives against charms and
enchantments.
Says Mr. Cox:
"That
ornaments in the shape of a vesica have been popular in all countries as
preservatives
against dangers, and especially from evil spirits, can as little
be questioned
as the fact that they still retain some measure of their ancient
popularity in
England, where horse-shoes are nailed to walls as a safeguard
against
unknown perils, where a shoe is thrown by way of good-luck after
newly-married
couples, and where the villagers have not yet ceased to dance
round the
May-pole on the green."[405:4]
All of these
are emblems of either the Linga or Yoni.
The use of
amulets was carried to the most extravagant excess [Pg 406]in ancient
Egypt, and
their Sacred Book of the Dead, even in its earliest form, shows the
importance
attached to such things.[406:1]
We can say
with M. Renan that:
"Almost
all our superstitions are the remains of a religion anterior to
Christianity,
and which Christianity has not been able entirely to root
out."[406:2]
Baptismal
fonts were used by the pagans, as well as the little cisterns which
are to be
seen at the entrance of Catholic churches. In the temple of Apollo, at
Delphi, there
were two of these; one of silver, and the other of gold.[406:3]
Temples
always faced the east, to receive the rays of the rising sun. They
contained an
outer court for the public, and an inner sanctuary for the priests,
called the
"Adytum." Near the entrance was a large vessel, of stone or brass,
filled with
water, made holy by plunging into it a burning torch from the altar.
All who were
admitted to the sacrifices were sprinkled with this water, and none
but the
unpolluted were allowed to pass beyond it. In the center of the building
stood the
statue of the god, on a pedestal raised above the altar and enclosed
by a railing.
On festival occasions, the people brought laurel, olive, or ivy,
to decorate
the pillars and walls. Before they entered they always washed their
hands, as a
type of purification from sin.[406:4] A story is told of a man who
was struck
dead by a thunderbolt because he omitted this ceremony when entering
a temple of
Jupiter. Sometimes they crawled up the steps on their knees, and
bowing their
heads to the ground, kissed the threshold. Always when they passed
one of these
sacred edifices they kissed their right hand to it, in token of
veneration.
In all the
temples of Vishnu, Crishna, Rama, Durga, and Kali, in India, there
are to be
seen idols before which lights and incense are burned. Moreover, the
idols of
these gods are constantly decorated with flowers and costly ornaments,
especially on
festive occasions.[406:5] The ancient Egyptian worship had a great
splendor of
ritual. There was a morning service, a kind of mass, celebrated by a
priest, shorn
and beardless; there were sprinklings of holy water, &c.,
&c.[406:6]
All of this kind of worship was finally adopted by the Christians.
The sublime
and simple theology of the primitive Christians [Pg 407]was
gradually
corrupted and degraded by the introduction of a popular mythology,
which tended
to restore the reign of polytheism.
As the
objects of religion were gradually reduced to the standard of the
imagination,
the rites and ceremonies were introduced that seemed most
powerfully to
affect the senses of the vulgar. If, in the beginning of the fifth
century,
Tertullian, or Lactantius, had been suddenly raised from the dead, to
assist at the
festival of some popular saint or martyr, they would have gazed
with
astonishment and indignation on the profane spectacle, which had succeeded
to the pure
and spiritual worship of a Christian congregation.[407:1]
Dr. Draper,
in speaking of the early Christian Church, says:
"Great
is the difference between Christianity under Severus (born 146) and
Christianity
under Constantine (born 274). Many of the doctrines which at the
latter period
were pre-eminent, in the former were unknown. Two causes led to
the
amalgamation of Christianity with Paganism. 1. The political necessities of
the new
dynasty: 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to insure its spread.
"Though
the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently strong to give a
master to the
empire, it was never sufficiently strong to destroy its
antagonist,
Paganism. The issue of the struggle between them was an amalgamation
of the
principles of both. In this, Christianity differed from Mohammedanism,
which
absolutely annihilated its antagonist, and spread its own doctrines
without adulteration.
"Constantine
continually showed by his acts that he felt he must be the
impartial
sovereign of all his people, not merely the representative of a
successful
faction. Hence, if he built Christian churches, he also restored
Pagan
temples; if he listened to the clergy, he also consulted the haruspices;
if he
summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the statue of Fortune; if
he accepted
the rite of Baptism, he also struck a medal bearing his title of
'God.' His
statue, on top of the great porphyry pillar at Constantinople,
consisted of
an ancient image of Apollo, whose features were replaced by those
of the
emperor, and its head surrounded by the nails feigned to have been used
at the
crucifixion of Christ, arranged so as to form a crown of glory.
"Feeling
that there must be concessions to the defeated Pagan party, in
accordance
with its ideas, he looked with favor on the idolatrous movements of
his court. In
fact, the leaders of these movements were persons of his own
family.
"To the
emperor,—a mere worldling—a man without any religious convictions,
doubtless it
appeared best for himself, best for the empire, and best for the
contending
parties, Christian and Pagan, to promote their union or amalgamation
as much as
possible. Even sincere Christians do not seem to have been averse to
this; perhaps
they believed that the new doctrines would diffuse most thoroughly
by
incorporating in themselves ideas borrowed from the old; that Truth would
assert
herself in the end, and the impurities be cast off. In accomplishing this
amalgamation,
Helen, the Empress-mother, aided by the court ladies, led the way.
[Pg
408]"As years passed on, the faith described by Tertullian (A. D. 150-195)
was
transformed into one more fashionable and more debased. It was incorporated
with the old
Greek mythology. Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed
under new
names. . . .
"Heathen
rites were adopted, a pompous and splendid ritual, gorgeous robes,
mitres,
tiaras, wax-tapers, processional services, lustrations, gold and silver
vases, were
introduced.
"The
festival of the Purification of the Virgin was invented to remove the
uneasiness of
heathen converts on account of the loss of their Lupercalia, or
feasts of
Pan.
"The
apotheosis of the old Roman times was replaced by canonization; tutelary
saints
succeeded to local mythological divinities. Then came the mystery of
transubstantiation,
or the conversion of bread and wine by the priest into the
flesh and
blood of Christ. As centuries passed, the paganization became more and
more
complete."[408:1]
The early
Christian saints, bishops, and fathers, confessedly adopted the
liturgies,
rites, ceremonies, and terms of heathenism; making it their boast,
that the
pagan religion, properly explained, really was nothing else than
Christianity;
that the best and wisest of its professors, in all ages, had been
Christians
all along; that Christianity was but a name more recently acquired to
a religion
which had previously existed, and had been known to the Greek
philosophers,
to Plato, Socrates, and Heraclitus; and that "if the writings of
Cicero had
been read as they ought to have been, there would have been no
occasion for
the Christian Scriptures."
And our
Protestant, and most orthodox Christian divines, the best learned on
ecclesiastical
antiquity, and most entirely persuaded of the truth of the
Christian
religion, unable to resist or to conflict with the constraining
demonstration
of the data that prove the absolute sameness and identity of
Paganism and
Christianity, and unable to point out so much as one single idea or
notion, of
which they could show that it was peculiar to Christianity, or that
Christianity
had it, and Paganism had it not, have invented the apology of an
hypothesis,
that the Pagan religion was typical, and that Crishna, Buddha,
Bacchus,
Hercules, Adonis, Osiris, Horus, &c., were all of them types and
forerunners
of the true and real Saviour, Christ Jesus. Those who are satisfied
with this
kind of reasoning are certainly welcome to it.
That
Christianity is nothing more than Paganism under a new name, has, as we
said above,
been admitted over and over again by the Fathers of the Church, and
others.
Aringhus (in his account of subterraneous Rome) acknowledges the
conformity
between the Pagan and Christian form of worship, and defends the
admission [Pg
409]of the ceremonies of heathenism into the service of the
Church, by
the authority of the wisest prelates and governors, whom, he says,
found it
necessary, in the conversion of the Gentiles, to dissemble, and wink at
many things,
and yield to the times; and not to use force against customs which
the people
were so obstinately fond of.[409:1]
Melito (a
Christian bishop of Sardis), in an apology delivered to the Emperor
Marcus
Antoninus, in the year 170, claims the patronage of the emperor, for the
now called
Christian religion, which he calls "our philosophy," "on account
of
its high
antiquity, as having been imported from countries lying beyond the
limits of the
Roman empire, in the region of his ancestor Augustus, who found
its
importation ominous of good fortune to his government."[409:2] This is an
absolute
demonstration that Christianity did not originate in Judea, which was a
Roman
province, but really was an exotic oriental fable, imported from India,
and that Paul
was doing as he claimed, viz.: preaching a God manifest in the
flesh who had
been "believed on in the world" centuries before his time, and a
doctrine
which had already been preached "unto every creature under heaven."
Baronius (an
eminent Catholic ecclesiastical historian) says:
"It is
permitted to the Church to use, for the purpose of piety, the ceremonies
which the
pagans used for the purpose of impiety in a superstitious religion,
after having
first expiated them by consecration—to the end, that the devil
might receive
a greater affront from employing, in honor of Jesus Christ, that
which his
enemy had destined for his own service."[409:3]
Clarke, in
his "Evidences of Revealed Religion," says:
"Some of
the ancient writers of the church have not scrupled expressly to call
the Athenian
Socrates, and some others of the best of the heathen moralists, by
the name of
Christians, and to affirm, as the law was as it were a schoolmaster,
to bring the
Jews unto Christ, so true moral philosophy was to the Gentiles a
preparative
to receive the gospel."[409:4]
Clemens
Alexandrinus says:
"Those
who lived according to the Logos were really Christians, though they have
been thought
to be atheists; as Socrates and Heraclitus were among the Greeks,
and such as
resembled them."[409:5]
And St.
Augustine says:
"That,
in our times, is the Christian religion, which to know and follow is the
most sure and
certain health, called according to that name, but not according
[Pg 410]to
the thing itself, of which it is the name; for the thing itself which
is now called
the Christian religion, really was known to the ancients, nor was
wanting at
any time from the beginning of the human race, until the time when
Christ came
in the flesh, from whence the true religion, which had previously
existed,
began to be called Christian; and this in our days is the Christian
religion, not
as having been wanting in former times, but as having in later
times
received this name."[410:1]
Eusebius, the
great champion of Christianity, admits that that which is called
the Christian
religion, is neither new nor strange, but—if it be lawful to
testify the
truth—was known to the ancients.[410:2]
How the
common people were Christianized, we gather from a remarkable passage
which
Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, has preserved for us, in the life
of Gregory,
surnamed "Thaumaturgus," that is, "the wonder worker." The
passage
is as
follows:
"When
Gregory perceived that the simple and unskilled multitude persisted in
their worship
of images, on account of the pleasures and sensual gratifications
which they
enjoyed at the Pagan festivals, he granted them a permission to
indulge
themselves in the like pleasures, in celebrating the memory of the holy
martyrs,
hoping that in process of time, they would return of their own accord,
to a more
virtuous and regular course of life."[410:3]
The historian
remarks that there is no sort of doubt, that by this permission,
Gregory
allowed the Christians to dance, sport, and feast at the tombs of the
martyrs, upon
their respective festivals, and to do everything which the Pagans
were
accustomed to do in their temples, during the feasts celebrated in honor of
their gods.
The learned
Christian advocate, M. Turretin, in describing the state of
Christianity
in the fourth century, has a well-turned rhetoricism, the point of
which is,
that "it was not so much the empire that was brought over to the
faith, as the
faith that was brought over to the empire; not the Pagans who were
converted to
Christianity, but Christianity that was converted to
Paganism."[410:4]
Edward Gibbon
says:
[Pg
411]"It must be confessed that the ministers of the Catholic church
imitated
the profane
model which they were impatient to destroy. The most respectable
bishops had
persuaded themselves, that the ignorant rusties would more
cheerfully
renounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they found some
resemblance,
some compensation, in the bosom of Christianity. The religion of
Constantine
achieved, in less than a century, the final conquest of the Roman
empire: but
the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their
vanquished
rivals."[411:1]
Faustus,
writing to St. Augustine, says:
"You
have substituted your agapć for the sacrifices of the Pagans; for their
idols your
martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. You appease the
shades of the
dead with wine and feasts; you celebrate the solemn festivities of
the Gentiles,
their calends, and their solstices; and, as to their manners,
those you
have retained without any alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from
the Pagans,
except that you hold your assemblies apart from them."[411:2]
Ammonius
Saccus (a Greek philosopher, founder of the Neo-platonic school) taught
that:
"Christianity
and Paganism, when rightly understood, differ in no essential
points, but
had a common origin, and are really one and the same thing."[411:3]
Justin
explains the thing in the following manner:
"It
having reached the devil's ears that the prophets had foretold that Christ
would come .
. . he (the devil) set the heathen poets to bring forward a great
many who
should be called sons of Jove, (i. e., "The Sons of God.") The devil
laying his
scheme in this, to get men to imagine that the true history of Christ
was of the
same character as the prodigious fables and poetic stories."[411:4]
Cćcilius, in
the Octavius of Minucius Felix, says:
"All
these fragments of crack-brained opiniatry and silly solaces played off in
the sweetness
of song by (the) deceitful (Pagan) poets, by you too credulous
creatures (i.
e., the Christians) have been shamefully reformed and made over to
your own
god."[411:5]
Celsus, the
Epicurean philosopher, wrote that:
"The
Christian religion contains nothing but what Christians hold in common with
heathens;
nothing new, or truly great."[411:6]
This
assertion is fully verified by Justin Martyr, in his apology to the Emperor
Adrian, which
is one of the most remarkable admissions ever made by a Christian
writer. He
says:
"In
saying that all things were made in this beautiful order by God, what do we
seem to say
more than Plato? When we teach a general conflagration, what do we
teach more
than the Stoics? By opposing the worship of the works of men's hands,
we concur
with Menander, the comedian; and by declaring the [Pg 412]Logos, the
first
begotten of God, our master Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin, without
any human
mixture, to be crucified and dead, and to have rose again, and
ascended into
heaven: we say no more in this, than what you say of those whom
you style the
Sons of Jove. For you need not be told what a parcel of sons, the
writers most
in vogue among you, assign to Jove; there's Mercury, Jove's
interpreter,
in imitation of the Logos, in worship among you. There's
Ćsculapius,
the physician, smitten by a thunderbolt, and after that ascending
into heaven.
There's Bacchus, torn to pieces; and Hercules, burnt to get rid of
his pains.
There's Pollux and Castor, the sons of Jove by Leda, and Perseus by
Danae; and
not to mention others, I would fain know why you always deify the
departed
emperors and have a fellow at hand to make affidavit that he saw Cćsar
mount to
heaven from the funeral pile?
"As to
the son of God, called Jesus, should we allow him to be nothing more than
man, yet the
title of the son of God is very justifiable, upon the account of
his wisdom,
considering that you have your Mercury in worship, under the title
of the Word
and Messenger of God.
"As to
the objection of our Jesus's being crucified, I say, that suffering was
common to all
the forementioned sons of Jove, but only they suffered another
kind of
death. As to his being born of a virgin, you have your Perseus to
balance that.
As to his curing the lame, and the paralytic, and such as were
cripples from
birth, this is little more than what you say of your
Ćsculapius."[412:1]
The most
celebrated Fathers of the Christian church, the most frequently quoted,
and those
whose names stand the highest were nothing more nor less than Pagans,
being born
and educated Pagans. Pantaenus (A. D. 193) was one of these
half-Pagan,
half-Christian, Fathers. He at one time presided in the school of
the faithful
in Alexandria in Egypt, and was celebrated on account of his
learning. He
was brought up in the Stoic philosophy.[412:2]
Clemens
Alexandrinus (A. D. 194) or St. Clement of Alexandria, was another
Christian
Father of the same sort, being originally a Pagan. He succeeded
Pantaenus as
president of the monkish university at Alexandria. His works are
very
extensive, and his authority very high in the church.[412:3]
Tertullian
(A. D. 200) may next be mentioned. He also was originally a Pagan,
and at one
time Presbyter of the Christian church of Carthage, in Africa. The
following is
a specimen of his manner of reasoning on the evidences of
Christianity.
He says:
"I find
no other means to prove myself to be impudent with success, and happily
a fool, than
by my contempt of shame; as, for instance—I maintain that the Son
of God was
born; why am I not ashamed of maintaining such a thing? Why! but
because it is
itself a shameful thing. I maintain that the Son of God died:
well, that is
wholly credible because it is monstrously absurd. I maintain that
after having
been buried, he rose again: and that I take to be absolutely true,
because it
was manifestly impossible."[412:4]
[Pg
413]Origen (A. D. 230), one of the shining lights of the Christian church,
was another
Father of this class. Porphyry (a Neo-platonist philosopher) objects
to him on
this account.[413:1]
He also was
born in the great cradle and nursery of superstition—Egypt—and
studied under
that celebrated philosopher, Ammonius Saccus, who taught that
"Christianity
and Paganism, when rightly understood, differed in no essential
point, but
had a common origin." This man was so sincere in his devotion to the
cause of
monkery, or Essenism, that he made himself an eunuch "for the kingdom
of heaven's
sake."[413:2] The writer of the twelfth verse of the nineteenth
chapter of
Matthew, was without doubt an Egyptian monk. The words are put into
the mouth of
the Jewish Jesus, which is simply ridiculous, when it is considered
that the Jews
did not allow an eunuch so much as to enter the congregation of
the Lord.[413:3]
St. Gregory
(A. D. 240), bishop of Neo-Cćsarea in Pontus, was another celebrated
Christian
Father, born of Pagan parents and educated a Pagan. He is called
Thaumaturgus,
or the wonder-worker, and is said to have performed miracles when
still a Pagan.[413:4]
He, too, was an Alexandrian student. This is the Gregory
who was
commended by his namesake of Nyssa for changing the Pagan festivals into
Christian
holidays, the better to draw the heathen to the religion of
Christ.[413:5]
Mosheim, the
ecclesiastical historian, in speaking of the Christian church
during the
second century, says:
"The
profound respect that was paid to the Greek and Roman mysteries, and the
extraordinary
sanctity that was attributed to them, induced the Christians to
give their
religion a mystic air, in order to put it upon an equal footing, in
point of
dignity, with that of the Pagans. For this purpose they gave the name
of mysteries
to the institutions of the gospel, and decorated, particularly the
holy
sacrament, with that solemn title. They used, in that sacred institution,
as also in
that of baptism, several of the terms employed in the heathen
mysteries,
and proceeded so far at length, as even to adopt some of the rites
and
ceremonies of which those renowned mysteries consisted."[413:6]
We have seen,
then, that the only difference between Christianity and Paganism
is that
Brahma, Ormuzd, Osiris, Zeus, Jupiter, etc., are called by another name;
Crishna,
Buddha, Bacchus, Adonis, Mithras, etc., have been turned into Christ
Jesus: Venus'
pigeon into the Holy Ghost; Diana, Isis, Devaki, etc., into the
[Pg
414]Virgin Mary; and the demi-gods and heroes into saints. The exploits of
the one were
represented as the miracles of the other. Pagan festivals became
Christian
holidays, and Pagan temples became Christian churches.
Mr. Mahaffy,
Fellow and Tutor in Trinity College, and Lecturer on Ancient
History in
the University of Dublin, ends his "Prolegomena to Ancient History"
in the
following manner:
"There
is indeed, hardly a great or fruitful idea in the Jewish or Christian
systems,
which has not its analogy in the (ancient) Egyptian faith. The
development
of the one God into a trinity; the incarnation of the mediating
deity in a
Virgin, and without a father; his conflict and his momentary defeat
by the powers
of darkness; his partial victory (for the enemy is not destroyed);
his
resurrection and reign over an eternal kingdom with his justified saints;
his
distinction from, and yet identity with, the uncreate incomprehensible
Father, whose
form is unknown, and who dwelleth not in temples made with
hands—all
these theological conceptions pervade the oldest religion of Egypt.
So, too, the
contrast and even the apparent inconsistencies between our moral
and theological
beliefs—the vacillating attribution of sin and guilt partly to
moral
weakness, partly to the interference of evil spirits, and likewise of
righteousness
to moral worth, and again to the help of good genii or angels; the
immortality
of the soul and its final judgment—all these things have met us in
the Egyptian
ritual and moral treatises. So, too, the purely human side of
morals, and
the catalogue of virtues and vices, are by natural consequences as
like as are
the theological systems. But I recoil from opening this great
subject now;
it is enough to have lifted the veil and shown the scene of many a
future
contest."[414:1]
In regard to
the moral sentiments expressed in the books of the New Testament,
and believed
by the majority of Christians to be peculiar to Christianity, we
shall touch
them but lightly, as this has already been done so frequently by
many able
scholars.
The moral
doctrines that appear in the New Testament, even the sayings of the
Sermon on the
Mount and the Lord's Prayer, are found with slight variation,
among the
Rabbins, who have certainly borrowed nothing out of the New Testament.
Christian
teachers have delighted to exhibit the essential superiority of
Christianity
to Judaism, have quoted with triumph the maxims that are said to
have fallen
from the lips of Jesus, and which, they surmised, could not be
paralleled in
the elder Scriptures, and have put the least favorable
construction
on such passages in the ancient books as seemed to contain the
thoughts of
evangelists and apostles. A more ingenious study of the Hebrew law,
according to
the oldest traditions, as well as its later interpretations by the
prophets,
reduces these differences materially by bringing into relief
sentiments
and precepts whereof the New Testament morality is but an echo.
[Pg 415]There
are passages in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, even tenderer in
their
humanity than anything in the Gospels. The preacher from the Mount, the
prophet of
the Beatitudes, does but repeat with persuasive lips what the
law-givers of
his race proclaimed in mighty tones of command. Such an
acquaintance
with the later literature of the Jews as is really obtained now
from popular
sources, will convince the ordinarily fair mind that the
originality
of the New Testament has been greatly over-estimated.
"To feed
the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, bury the dead,
loyally serve
the king, forms the first duty of a pious man and faithful
subject,"
is an
abstract from the Egyptian "Book of the Dead," the oldest Bible in
the
world.
Confucius,
the Chinese philosopher, born 551 B. C., said:
"Obey
Heaven, and follow the orders of Him who governs it. Love your neighbor as
yourself. Do
to another what you would he should do unto you; and do not unto
another what
you would should not be done unto you; thou only needest this law
alone, it is
the foundation and principle of all the rest. Acknowledge thy
benefits by
the return of other benefits, but never revenge injuries."[415:1]
The following
extracts from Manu and the Maha-bharata, an Indian epic poem,
written many
centuries before the time of Christ Jesus,[415:2] compared with
similar
sentiment contained in the books of the New Testament, are very
striking.
"An
evil-minded man is quick to see his neighbor's faults, though small as
mustard-seed;
but when he turns his eyes towards his own, though large as
Bilva fruit,
he none descries." (Maha-bharata.) "And why beholdest thou
the mote that
is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that
is in thine
own eye?" (Matt. vii. 3.)
"Conquer
a man who never gives by gifts; subdue untruthful men by
truthfulness;
vanquish an angry man by gentleness; and overcome the evil
man by
goodness." (Ibid.) "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with
good."
(Romans, xii. 21.)
"To
injure none by thought or word or deed, to give to others, and be kind
to all—this
is the constant duty of the good. High-minded men delight in
doing good,
without a thought of their own interest; when they confer a
benefit on
others, they reckon not on favors in return." (Ibid.) "Love
your enemies,
and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your
reward shall
be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he
is kind unto
the unthankful and to the evil." (Luke, vii. 35.)
"Two
persons will hereafter be exalted above the heavens—the man with
boundless
power, who yet forbears to use it indiscreetly, and he who is
not rich, and
yet can give." (Ibid.)
"Just
heaven is not so pleased with costly gifts, offered in hope of
future
recompense, as with the merest trifle set apart from honest gains,
and
sanctified by faith." (Ibid.) "And Jesus sat over against the
treasury, and
beheld how people cast [Pg 416]money into the treasury: and
many that
were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and
she threw in
two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his
disciples,
and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor
widow hath
cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
For all they
did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast
all that she
had, even all her living." (Mark, xii. 41-44.)
"To curb
the tongue and moderate the speech, is held to be the hardest of
all tasks.
The words of him who talk too volubly have neither substance
nor
variety." (Ibid.) "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly
evil, full of
deadly poison." (James, iii. 8.)
"Even to
foes who visit us as guests due hospitality should be displayed;
the tree
screens with its leaves, the man who fells it." (Ibid.)
"Therefore,
if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink;
for in so
doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." (Rom. xii.
20.)
"In
granting or refusing a request, a man obtains a proper rule of action
by looking on
his neighbor as himself." (Ibid.) "Thou shall love thy
neighbor as
thyself." (Matt. xxii. 39.)
"And as
ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."
(Luke vi.
31.)
"Before
infirmities creep o'er thy flesh; before decay impairs thy
strength and
mars the beauty of thy limbs; before the Ender, whose
charioteer is
sickness, hastes towards thee, breaks up thy fragile frame
and ends thy
life, lay up the only treasure: Do good deeds; practice
sobriety and
self-control; amass that wealth which thieves cannot
abstract, nor
tyrants seize, which follows thee at death, which never
wastes away,
nor is corrupted." (Ibid.) "Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy
youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh,
when thou
shalt say: I have no pleasure in them." (Ecc. xii. 1.)
"Lay not
up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt, and
where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for
yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where
thieves do not break through and steal." (Matt. vi. 19-20.)
"This is
the sum of all true righteousness—Treat others as thou wouldst
thyself be
treated. Do nothing to thy neighbor, which hereafter thou
would'st not
have thy neighbor do to thee. In causing pleasure, or in
giving pain,
in doing good or injury to others, in granting or refusing a
request, a
man obtains a proper rule of action by looking on his neighbor
as
himself." (Ibid.) "Ye have heard that it hath been said: Thou shall
love thy
neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your
enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and
pray for them
which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matt. v.
43-44.)
"A new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another: as I have
loved you,
that ye also love one another." (John, xii. 34.)
"Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt, xi 39.)
[Pg 417]
"Think
constantly, O Son, how thou mayest please
Thy father,
mother, teacher,—these obey.
By deep
devotion seek thy debt to pay.
This is thy
highest duty and religion."
(Manu.)
"Wound
not another, though by him provoked.
Do no one
injury by thought or deed.
Utter no word
to pain thy fellow-creatures."
(Ibid.)
"Treat
no one with disdain, with patience bear
Reviling
language; with an angry man
Be never
angry; blessings give for curses."
(Ibid.)
"E'en as
a driver checks his restive steeds,
Do thou, if
thou art wise, restrain thy passions,
Which,
running wild, will hurry thee away."
(Ibid.)
"Pride
not thyself on thy religious works.
Give to the
poor, but talk not of thy gifts.
By pride
religious merit melts away,
The merit of
thy alms by ostentation."
(Ibid.)
"Good
words, good deeds, and beautiful expressions
A wise man
ever culls from every quarter,
E'en as a
gleaner gathers ears of corn."
(Maha-bharata.)
"Repeated
sin destroys the understanding,
And he whose
reason is impaired, repeats
His sins. The
constant practice of virtue
Strengthens
the mental faculties, and he
Whose
judgment stronger grows, acts always right."
(Ibid.)
"If thou
art wise seek ease and happiness
In deeds of
virtue and of usefulness;
And ever act
in such a way by day
That in the
night thy sleep may tranquil be;
And so
comport thyself when thou art young
That when
thou art grown old, thy age may pass
In calm
serenity. So ply thy talk
Through thy
life, that when thy days are ended,
Thou may'st
enjoy eternal bliss hereafter."
(Ibid.)
"Do
naught to others which if done to thee
Would cause
thee pain; this is the sum of duty."
(Ibid.)
"No
sacred lore can save the hypocrite,—
Though he
employ it craftily,—from hell;
When his end
comes, his pious texts take wings,
Like
fledglings eager to forsake their nest."
(Ibid.)
"Iniquity
once practiced, like a seed,
Fails not to
yield its fruit to him who wrought it,
If not to
him, yet to his sons and grandsons."
(Manu.)
[Pg 418]
"Single
is every living creature born,
Single he
passes to another world.
Single he
eats the fruit of evil deeds,
Single, the
fruit of good; and when he leaves
His body like
a log or heap of clay
Upon the
ground, his kinsmen walk away;
Virtue alone
stands by him at the tomb,
And bears him
through the dreary, trackless gloom."
(Ibid.)
"Thou
canst not gather what thou dost not sow;
As thou dost
plant the tree so will it grow."
(Ibid.)
"He who
pretends to be what he is not,
Acts a part,
commits the worst of crimes,
For,
thief-like, he abstracts a good man's heart."
(Ibid.)
FOOTNOTES:
[384:1]
"Before the separation of the Aryan race, before the existence of
Sanscrit,
Greek, or Latin, before the gods of the Veda had been worshiped, ONE
SUPREME DEITY
had been found, had been named, and had been invoked by the
ancestors of
our race." (Prof. Max Müller: The Science of Religion, p. 67.)
[384:2] See
Chap. XII. and Chap. XX., for Only-begotten Sons.
[384:3] See
Chap. XII. and Chap. XXXII., where we have shown that many other
virgin-born
gods were conceived by the Holy Ghost, and that the name Mary is the
same as Maia,
Maya, Myrra, &c.
[384:4] See
Chap. XX., for Crucified Saviours.
[385:1] See
Chap. XXII.
[385:2] See
Chaps. XXII. and XXXIX., for Resurrected Saviours.
[385:3] See
Ibid.
[385:4] See
Chap. XXIV., and Chap. XXV.
[385:5] See
Chap. XII., and Chap. XXXV.
[385:6] That
is, the holy true Church. All peoples who have had a religion
believe that
theirs was the Catholic faith.
[385:7] There
was no nation of antiquity who did not believe in "the forgiveness
of
sins," especially if some innocent creature redeemed them by the shedding
of
his blood
(see Chap. IV., and Chap. XX.), and as far as confession of sins is
concerned,
and thereby being forgiven, this too is almost as old as humanity.
Father Acosta
found it even among the Mexicans, and said that "the father of
lies (the
Devil) counterfeited the sacrament of confession, so that he might be
honored with
ceremonies very like the Christians." (See Acosta, vol. ii. p.
360.)
[385:8]
"No doctrine except that of a supreme and subtly-pervading deity, is so
extended, and
has retained its primitive form so distinctly, as a belief in
immortality,
and a future state of rewards and punishments. Among the most
savage races,
the idea of a future existence in a place of delight is found."
(Kenneth R.
H. Mackenzie.)
"Go back
far as we may in the history of the Indo-European race, of which the
Greeks and
Italians are branches, and we do not find that this race has ever
thought that
after this short life all was finished for man. The most ancient
generations,
long before there were philosophers, believed in a second existence
after the
present. They looked upon death not as a dissolution of our being, but
simply as a
change of life." (M. De Coulanges: The Ancient City, p. 15.)
[385:9] For
full information on this subject see Archbishop Wake's Apostolic
Fathers, p.
108, Justice Bailey's Common Prayer, Taylor's Diegesis, p. 10, and
Chambers's
Encyclo., art. "Creeds."
[386:1] Rev.
xi. 7-9.
[386:2] S.
Baring-Gould: Legends of Patriarchs, p. 25.
[386:3] II.
Peter, ii. 4.
[386:4] Jude,
6.
[386:5] S.
Baring-Gould: Legends of Patriarchs, p. 16.
[387:1] S.
Baring-Gould: Legends of Patriarchs, p. 17.
[387:2]
Indian Wisdom, p. 39.
[387:3] See
Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 165. Dupuis: Origin of Relig. Beliefs,
p. 73, and
Baring-Gould's Legends of the Prophets, p. 19.
[387:4] S.
Baring-Gould's Legends of Patriarchs, p. 19.
[388:1]
Priestley, p. 35.
[388:2] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 411.
[388:3] See
Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 215,
and Dupuis:
Origin of Relig. Beliefs, p. 78.
[388:4] See
Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 31.
[388:5] S.
Baring-Gould's Legends of Patriarchs, p. 20.
[388:6] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 159, and Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i.
[389:1] This
subject is most fully entered into by Mr. Herbert Spencer, in vol.
i. of
"Principles of Sociology."
[390:1] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 426.
[391:1] See
Appendix C.
[391:2] See
Fiske, pp. 104-107.
[392:1]
Williams' Hinduism, pp. 182, 183.
[392:2] See
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 216.
[392:3] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 111.
[392:4] See
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 466.
[392:5]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 184.
[393:1]
"The Seventh day was sacred to Saturn throughout the East." (Dunlap's
Spirit Hist.,
pp. 35, 36.)
"Saturn's
day was made sacred to God, and the planet is now called cochab
shabbath,
'The Sabbath Star.'
"The
sanctification of the Sabbath is clearly connected with the word Shabua or
Sheba, i. e.,
seven." (Inman's Anct. Faiths, vol. ii. p. 504.) "The Babylonians,
Egyptians,
Chinese, and the natives of India, were acquainted with the seven
days'
division of time, as were the ancient Druids." (Bonwick's Egyptian Belief,
p. 412.)
"With the Egyptians the Seventh day was consecrated to God the
Father."
(Ibid.)
"Hesiod, Herodotus, Philostratus, &c., mention that day. Homer,
Callimachus,
and other ancient writers call the Seventh day the Holy One.
Eusebius
confesses its observance by almost all philosophers and poets." (Ibid.)
[393:2] Ibid.
[393:3] Ibid.
p. 413.
[393:4]
Pococke Specimen: Hist. Arab., p. 97. Quoted in Dunlap's Spirit Hist.,
p. 274.
"Some of the families of the Israelites worshiped Saturn under the name
of Kiwan,
which may have given rise to the religious observance of the Seventh
day."
(Bible for Learners, vol. i, p. 317.)
[393:5]
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 283.
[393:6]
Mover's Phönizier, vol. i. p. 313. Quoted in Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p.
36.
[393:7]
Assyrian Discoveries.
[393:8]
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 92.
[393:9] Old
Norse, Odinsdagr; Swe. and Danish, Onsdag; Ang. Sax., Wodensdeg;
Dutch,
Woensdag; Eng., Wednesday.
[395:1] Rev.
M. J. Savage.
[395:2] Acts,
xv. 20.
[396:1]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 182.
[396:2] See
Eusebius' Life of Constantine, lib. iv. chs. xviii. and xxiii.
[396:3] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 237.
[396:4] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 187, and Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. pp.
142, 143.
[396:5] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 236, and Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. pp. 142,
143.
[396:6]
Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 137.
[396:7] Ibid.
p. 307.
[397:1]
Gruter's Inscriptions. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 237.
[397:2]
Boldonius' Epigraphs. Quoted in Ibid.
[397:3] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 237. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 48, and
Middleton's
Letters from Rome.
[397:4]
Baring-Gould's Curious Myths, p. 428.
[398:1]
Mosheim, Cent. ii. p. 202. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 48.
[398:2]
Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 48, 49.
[398:3]
Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 84.
[399:1] See
Higgins' Anacalypsis.
[399:2] Jones
on the Canon, vol. i. p. 11. Diegesis, p. 49.
[399:3]
Compare "Apollo among the Muses," and "The Vine and its
Branches" (that
is, Christ
Jesus and his Disciples), in Lundy's Monumental Christianity, pp.
141-143. As
Mr. Lundy says, there is so striking a resemblance between the two,
that one
looks very much like a copy of the other. Apollo is also represented as
the
"Good Shepherd," with a lamb upon his back, just exactly as Christ
Jesus is
represented
in Christian Art. (See Lundy's Monumental Christianity, and
Jameson's
Hist. of Our Lord in Art.)
[399:4] The
Roman god Jonas, or Janus, with his keys, was changed into Peter,
who was
surnamed Bar-Jonas. Many years ago a statue of the god Janus, in bronze,
being found
in Rome, he was perched up in St. Peter's with his keys in his hand:
the very
identical god, in all his native ugliness. This statue sits as St.
Peter, under
the cupola of the church of St. Peter. It is looked upon with the
most profound
veneration: the toes are nearly kissed away by devotees.
[400:1]
Frothingham: The Cradle of the Christ, p. 179.
[400:2] See
Hardy's Eastern Monachism.
[400:3] The
"Grand Lama" is the head of a priestly order in Thibet and Tartar.
The office is
not hereditary, but, like the Pope of Rome, he is elected by the
priests.
(Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 203. See also, Bell's Pantheon,
vol. ii. pp.
32-34.)
[400:4] See
Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 233, Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol.
ii. p. 203,
and Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 211.
[401:1]
Davis: Hist. China, vol. ii. pp. 105, 106.
[401:2]
Gutzlaff's Voyages, p. 309.
[402:1] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 34.
[402:2] See
Hallam's Middle Ages.
[403:1] Huc's
Travels, vol. i. p. 329.
[403:2] See
Hardy's Eastern Monachism, p. 163.
[403:3] Ibid.
[403:4] Ibid.
[403:5]
"Vestal Virgins," an order of virgins consecrated to the goddess
Vesta.
[403:6]
Hardy: Eastern Monachism, p. 163.
[403:7] Ibid.
p. 48.
[403:8] See
Herodotus, b. ii. ch. 36.
[403:9]
Dunlap: Son of the Man, p. x.
[403:10] Acosta,
vol. ii. p. 324.
[404:1]
Acosta, vol. ii. p. 330.
[404:2] Ibid.
p. 336.
[404:3] Ibid.
p. 338.
[404:4] Ibid.
pp. 332, 333.
[404:5] Ibid.
p. 337.
[405:1]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 241.
[405:2] See
Lardner's Works, vol. viii. pp. 375, 376.
[405:3] See
Chap. XXXIII.
[405:4] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 127.
[406:1]
Renouf: Hibbert Lectures, p. 191.
[406:2]
Renan: Hibbert Lectures, p. 32.
[406:3] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 232.
[406:4]
"At their entrance, purifying themselves by washing their hands in holy
water, they
were at the same time admonished to present themselves with pure
minds,
without which the external cleanness of the body would by no means be
accepted."
(Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 282.)
[406:5] See
Williams' Hinduism, p. 99.
[406:6] See
Renan's Hibbert Lectures, p. 35.
[407:1]
Edward Gibbon: Decline and Fall, vol. iii. p. 161.
[408:1]
Draper: Science and Religion, pp. 46-49.
[409:1] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 237.
[409:2]
Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 249. See also, Eusebius: Eccl. Hist.,
book iv. ch.
xxvi. who alludes to it.
[409:3]
Baronius' Annals, An. 36.
[409:4]
Quoted by Rev. R. Taylor, Diegesis p. 41.
[409:5]
Strom. bk. i. ch. xix.
[410:1]
"Es est nostris temporibus Christiana religio, quam cognoscere ac sequi
securissima
et certissima salus est: secundum hoc nomen dictum est non secundum
ipsam rem
cujus hoc nomen est: nam res ipsa quć nunc Christiana religio
nuncupatur
erat et apud antiquos, nec defuit ab initio generis humani, quousque
ipse Christus
veniret in carne, unde vera religio quć jam erat cćpit appellari
Christiana.
Hćc est nostris temporibus Christiana religio, non quia prioribus
temporibus
non fuit, sed quia posterioribus hoc nomen accepit." (Opera
Augustini,
vol. i. p. 12. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 42.)
[410:2] See
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. v.
[410:3]
"Cum animadvertisset Gregorius quod ob corporeas delectationes et
voluptates,
simplex et imperitum vulgus in simulacrorum cultus errore
permaneret—permisit
eis, ut in memoriam et recordationem sanctorum martyrum sese
oblectarent,
et in lćtitiam effunderentur, quod successu temporis aliquando
futurum
esset, ut sua sponte, ad honestiorem et accuratiorem vitć rationem,
transirent."
(Mosheim, vol. i. cent. 2, p. 202.)
[410:4]
"Non imperio ad fidem adducto, sed et imperii pompa ecclesiam
inficiente.
Non ethnicis ad Christum conversis, sed et Christi religione ad
Ethnicć
formam depravata." (Orat. Academ. De Variis Christ. Rel. fatis.)
[411:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 163.
[411:2]
Quoted by Draper: Science and Religion, p. 48.
[411:3] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 329.
[411:4]
Justin: Apol. 1, ch. lix.
[411:5]
Octavius, ch. xi.
[411:6] See
Origen: Contra Celsus.
[412:1] Apol.
1, ch. xx, xii, xxii.
[412:2] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 323.
[412:3] See
Ibid. p. 324.
[412:4] On
the Flesh of Christ, ch. v.
[413:1] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 328.
[413:2] Matt.
xix. 12.
[413:3] Deut.
xxiii. 1.
[413:4] See
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 339.
[413:5] See
Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 236; Mosheim, vol. i. cent. 2, pt.
2, ch. 4.
[413:6] Eccl.
Hist. vol. 1. p. 199.
[414:1]
Prolegomena to Ancient History, pp. 416, 417.
[415:1]
Tindal: Christianity as Old as the Creation.
[415:2]
Manu's works were written during the sixth century B. C. (see Williams'
Indian
Wisdom, p. 215), and the Maha-bharata about the same time.
[Pg
419]CHAPTER XXXVII.
WHY
CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED.
We now come
to the question, Why did Christianity prosper, and why was Jesus of
Nazareth
believed to be a divine incarnation and Saviour?
There were many
causes for this, but as we can devote but one chapter to the
subject, we
must necessarily treat it briefly.
For many
centuries before the time of Christ Jesus there lived a sect of
religious
monks known as Essenes, or Therapeutć;[419:1] these entirely
disappeared
from history shortly after the time assigned for the crucifixion of
Jesus. There
were thousands of them, and their monasteries were to be counted by
the score.
Many have asked the question, "What became of them?" We now propose
to show, 1.
That they were expecting the advent of an Angel-Messiah; 2. That
they
considered Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah; 3. That they came over to
Christianity
in a body; and, 4. That they brought the legendary histories of the
former
Angel-Messiahs with them.
The origin of
the sect known as Essenes is enveloped in mist, and will probably
never be
revealed. To speak of all the different ideas entertained as to their
origin would
make a volume of itself, we can therefore but glance at the
subject. It
has been the object of Christian writers up to a comparatively
recent date,
to claim that almost everything originated with God's chosen
people, the
Jews, and that even all languages can be traced to the Hebrew. Under
these
circumstances, then, it is not to be wondered at that we find they have
also traced
the Essenes to Hebrew origin.
Theophilus
Gale, who wrote a work called "The Court of the [Pg 420]Gentiles"
(Oxford,
1671), to demonstrate that "the origin of all human literature, both
philology and
philosophy, is from the Scriptures and the Jewish church,"
undoubtedly
hits upon the truth when he says:
"Now,
the origination or rise of these Essenes (among the Jews) I conceive by
the best
conjectures I can make from antiquity, to be in or immediately after
the
Babylonian captivity, though some make them later."
Some
Christian writers trace them to Moses or some of the prophets, but that
they
originated in India, and were a sort of Buddhist sect, we believe is their
true history.
Gfrörer, who
wrote concerning them in 1835, and said that "the Essenes and the
Therapeutć
are the same sect, and hold the same views," was undoubtedly another
writer who
was touching upon historical ground.
The identity
of many of the precepts and practices of Essenism and those of the
New Testament
is unquestionable. Essenism urged on its disciples to seek first
the kingdom
of God and his righteousness.[420:1] The Essenes forbade the laying
up of
treasures upon earth.[420:2] The Essenes demanded of those who wished to
join them to
sell all their possessions, and to divide it among the poor
brethren.[420:3]
The Essenes had all things in common, and appointed one of the
brethren as
steward to manage the common bag.[420:4] Essenism put all its
members on
the same level, forbidding the exercise of authority of one over the
other, and
enjoining mutual service.[420:5] Essenism commanded its disciples to
call no man
master upon the earth.[420:6] Essenism laid the greatest stress upon
being meek
and lowly in spirit.[420:7] The Essenes commended the poor in spirit,
those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in
heart, and
the peacemaker. They combined the healing of the body with that of
the soul.
They declared that the power to cast out evil spirits, to perform
miraculous
cures, &c., should be possessed by their disciples as signs of their
belief.[420:8]
The Essenes did not swear at all; their answer was yea, yea, and
nay,
nay.[420:9] When the Essenes started on a mission of mercy, they provided
neither gold
nor silver, neither two coats, neither shoes, but relied on
hospitality
for support.[420:10] The Essenes, though repudiating offensive war,
yet took
weapons with [Pg 421]them when they went on a perilous journey.[421:1]
The Essenes
abstained from connubial intercourse.[421:2] The Essenes did not
offer animal
sacrifices, but strove to present their bodies a living sacrifice,
holy and
acceptable unto God, which they regarded as a reasonable
service.[421:3]
It was the great aim of the Essenes to live such a life of
purity and
holiness as to be the temples of the Holy Spirit, and to be able to
prophesy.[421:4]
Many other
comparisons might be made, but these are sufficient to show that
there is a
great similarity between the two.[421:5] These similarities have led
many
Christian writers to believe that Jesus belonged to this order. Dr.
Ginsburg, an
advocate of this theory, says:
"It will
hardly be doubted that our Saviour himself belonged to this holy
brotherhood.
This will especially be apparent when we remember that the whole
Jewish
community, at the advent of Christ, was divided into three parties, the
Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the Essenes, and that every Jew had to belong to
one of these
sects. Jesus, who, in all things, conformed to the Jewish law, and
who was holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, would therefore
naturally
associate himself with that order of Judaism which was most congenial
to his holy
nature. Moreover, the fact that Christ, with the exception of once,
was not heard
of in public until his thirtieth year, implying that he lived in
seclusion
with this fraternity, and that though he frequently rebuked the
scribes,
Pharisees and Sadducees, he never denounced the Essenes, strongly
confirms this
conclusion."[421:6]
The facts—as
Dr. Ginsburg calls them—which confirm his conclusions, are simply
no facts at
all. Jesus may or may not have been a member of this order; but when
it is stated
as a fact that he never rebuked the Essenes, it is implying too
much. We know
not whether the words said to have been uttered by Jesus were ever
uttered by
him or not, and it is almost certain that had he rebuked the Essenes,
and had his
words been written in the Gospels, they would not remain there long.
We hear very
little of the Essenes after A. D. 40,[421:7] therefore, when we
read of the
"primitive Christians," we are reading of Essenes, and others.
The statement
that, with the exception of once, Jesus was not heard in public
life till his
thirtieth year, is also uncertain. One of the early Christian
Fathers
(Irenćus) tells us that he did not begin [Pg 422]to teach until he was
forty years
of age, or thereabout, and that he lived to be nearly fifty years
old.[422:1]
"The records of his life are very scanty; and these have been so
shaped and
colored and modified by the hands of ignorance and superstition and
party
prejudice and ecclesiastical purpose, that it is hard to be sure of the
original
outlines."
The
similarity of the sentiments of the Essenes, or Therapeutć, to those of the
Church of
Rome, induced the learned Jesuit, Nicolaus Serarius, to seek for them
an honorable
origin. He contended therefore, that they were Asideans, and
derived them
from the Rechabites, described so circumstantially in the
thirty-fifth
chapter of Jeremiah; at the same time, he asserted that the first
Christian
monks were Essenes.[422:2]
Mr. King,
speaking of the Christian sect called Gnostics, says:
"Their
chief doctrines had been held for centuries before (their time) in many
of the cities
of Asia Minor. There, it is probable, they first came into
existence as
'Mystć,' upon the establishment of a direct intercourse with India
under the
Seleucidć and the Ptolemies. The colleges of Essenes and Megabyzae at
Ephesus, the
Orphics of Thrace, the Curetes of Crete, are all merely branches of
one antique
and common religion, and that originally Asiatic."[422:3]
Again:
"The
introduction of Buddhism into Egypt and Palestine affords the only true
solution of
innumerable difficulties in the history of religion."[422:4]
Again:
"That
Buddhism had actually been planted in the dominions of the Seleucidć and
Ptolemies
(Palestine belonging to the former) before the beginning of the third
century B.
C., is proved to demonstration by a passage in the Edicts of Asoka,
grandson of
the famous Chandragupta, the Sandracottus of the Greeks. These
edicts are
engraven on a rock at Girnur, in Guzerat."[422:5]
Eusebius, in
quoting from Philo concerning the Essenes, seems to take it for
granted that
they and the Christians were one and the same, and from the manner
in which he
writes, it would appear that it was generally understood so. He says
that Philo
called them "Worshipers," and concludes by saying:
"But
whether he himself gave them this name, or whether at the beginning they
were so
called, when as yet the name of Christians was not everywhere published,
I think it
not needful curiosity to sift out."[422:6]
[Pg 423]This
celebrated ecclesiastical historian considered it very probable
that the
writings of the Essenic Therapeuts in Egypt had been incorporated into
the gospels
of the New Testament, and into some Pauline epistles. His words are:
"It is
very likely that the commentaries (Scriptures) which were among them (the
Essenes) were
the Gospels, and the works of the apostles, and certain
expositions
of the ancient prophets, such as partly that epistle unto the
Hebrews, and
also the other epistles of Paul do contain."[423:1]
The principal
doctrines and rites of the Essenes can be connected with the East,
with Parsism,
and especially with Buddhism. Among the doctrines which Essenes
and Buddhists
had in common was that of the Angel-Messiah.[423:2]
Godfrey
Higgins says:
"The
Essenes were called physicians of the soul, or Therapeutć; being resident
both in Judea
and Egypt, they probably spoke or had their sacred books in
Chaldee. They
were Pythagoreans, as is proved by all their forms, ceremonies,
and
doctrines, and they called themselves sons of Jesse. If the Pythagoreans or
Conobitć, as
they are called by Jamblicus, were Buddhists, the Essenes were
Buddhists.
The Essenes lived in Egypt, on the lake of Parembole or Maria, in
monasteries.
These are the very places in which we formerly found the
Gymnosophists,
or Samaneans, or Buddhist priests to have lived; which
Gymnosophistć
are placed also by Ptolemy in north-eastern India."
"Their
(the Essenes) parishes, churches, bishops, priests, deacons, festivals
are all
identically the same (as the Christians). They had apostolic founders;
the manners
which distinguished the immediate apostles of Christ; scriptures
divinely
inspired; the same allegorical mode of interpreting them, which has
since
obtained among Christians, and the same order of performing public
worship. They
had missionary stations or colonies of their community established
in Rome,
Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Phillippi, Colosse, and Thessalonica,
precisely
such, and in the same circumstances, as were those to whom St. Paul
addressed his
letters in those places. All the fine moral doctrines which are
attributed to
the Samaritan Nazarite, and I doubt not justly attributed to him,
are to be
found among the doctrines of these ascetics."[423:3]
And Arthur
Lillie says:
"It is
asserted by calm thinkers like Dean Mansel that within two generations of
the time of
Alexander the Great, the missionaries of Buddha made their
appearance at
Alexandria.[423:4] [Pg 424]This theory is confirmed—in the east by
the Asoka
monuments—in the west by Philo. He expressly maintains the identity in
creed of the
higher Judaism and that of the Gymnosophists of India who abstained
from the
'sacrifice of living animals'—in a word, the Buddhists. It would follow
from this
that the priestly religion of Babylonia, Palestine, Egypt, and Greece
were
undermined by certain kindred mystical societies organized by Buddha's
missionaries
under the various names of Therapeutes, Essenes, Neo-Pythagoreans,
Neo-Zoroastrians,
&c. Thus Buddhism prepared the way for Christianity."[424:1]
The Buddhists
have the "eight-fold holy path" (Dhammapada), eight spiritual
states
leading up to Buddhahood. The first state of the Essenes resulted from
baptism, and
it seems to correspond with the first Buddhistic state, those who
have entered
the (mystic) stream. Patience, purity, and the mastery of passion
were aimed at
by both devotees in the other stages. In the last, magical powers,
healing the
sick, casting out evil spirits, etc., were supposed to be gained.
Buddhists and
Essenes seem to have doubled up this eight-fold path into four,
for some
reason or other. Buddhists and Essenes had three orders of ascetics or
monks, but
this classification is distinct from the spiritual
classifications.[424:2]
The doctrine
of the "Anointed Angel," of the man from heaven, the Creator of the
world, the
doctrine of the atoning sacrificial death of Jesus by the blood of
his cross,
the doctrine of the Messianic antetype of the Paschal lamb of the
Paschal omer,
and thus of the resurrection of Christ Jesus, the third day,
according to
the Scriptures, these doctrines of Paul can, with more or less
certainty, be
connected with the Essenes. It becomes almost a certainty that
Eusebius was
right in surmising that Essenic writings have been used by Paul and
the
evangelists. Not Jesus, but Paul, is the cause of the separation of the Jews
from the
Christians.[424:3]
The
probability, then, that that sect of vagrant quack-doctors, the Therapeutć,
who were
established in Egypt and its neighborhood many ages before the period
assigned by
later theologians as that of the birth of Christ Jesus, were the
original
fabricators of the writings contained in the New Testament, becomes a
certainty on
the basis of evidence, than which history has nothing more certain,
furnished by
the unguarded, but explicit, unwary, but most unqualified and
positive
statement of the historian Eusebius, that "those ancient Therapeutć
were
Christians, and that their ancient writings were our gospels and
epistles."
The Essenes,
the Therapeuts, the Ascetics, the Monks, the [Pg 425]Ecclesiastics,
and the
Eclectics, are but different names for one and the self-same sect.
The word
"Essene" is nothing more than the Egyptian word for that of which
Therapeut is
the Greek, each of them signifying "healer" or "doctor,"
and
designating
the character of the sect as professing to be endued with the
miraculous
gift of healing; and more especially so with respect to diseases of
the mind.
Their name of
"Ascetics" indicated the severe discipline and exercise of
self-mortification,
long fastings, prayers, contemplation, and even making of
themselves
eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake, as did Origen, Melito, and
others who
derived their Christianity from the same school; Jesus himself is
represented
to have recognized and approved their practice.
Their name of
"Monks" indicated their delight in solitude, their contemplative
life, and
their entire segregation and abstraction from the world, which Jesus,
in the
Gospel, is in like manner represented as describing, as characteristic of
the community
of which he was a member.
Their name of
"Ecclesiastics" was of the same sense, and indicated their being
called out,
elected, separated from the general fraternity of mankind, and set
apart to the
more immediate service and honor of God.
They had a
flourishing university, or corporate body, established upon these
principles,
at Alexandria in Egypt, long before the period assigned for the
birth of
Christ Jesus.[425:1]
From this
body they sent out missionaries, and had established colonies,
auxiliary
branches, and affiliated communities, in various cities of Asia Minor,
which
colonies were in a flourishing condition, before the preaching of St.
Paul.
"The
very ancient and Eastern doctrine of an Angel-Messiah had been applied to
Gautama-Buddha,
and so it was applied to Jesus Christ by the Essenes of Egypt
and of
Palestine, who introduced this new Messianic doctrine into Essenic
Judaism and
Essenic Christianity."[425:2]
In the Pali
and Sanscrit texts the word Buddha is always used as a title, not as
a name. It
means "The Enlightened One." Gautama Buddha is represented to have
taught that
he was only one of a long series of Buddhas, who appear at intervals
in the world,
and who all teach the same system. After the death of each Buddha
his religion
flourishes for a time, but finally wickedness and vice [Pg
426]again
rule over the land. Then a new Buddha appears, who again preaches the
lost Dharma
or truth. The names of twenty-four of these Buddhas who appeared
previous to
Gautama have been handed down to us. The Buddhavansa, or "History of
the
Buddhas," the last book of the Khuddaka Nikaya in the second Pitca, gives
the lives of
all the previous Buddhas before commencing its account of Gautama
himself; and
the Pali commentary on the Jatakas gives certain details regarding
each of the
twenty-four.[426:1]
An Avatar was
expected about every six hundred years.[426:2] At the time of
Jesus of
Nazareth an Avatar was expected, not by some of the Jews alone, but by
most every
eastern nation.[426:3] Many persons were thought at that time to be,
and
undoubtedly thought themselves to be, the Christ, and the only reason why
the name of
Jesus of Nazareth succeeded above all others, is because the
Essenes—who
were expecting an Angel-Messiah—espoused it. Had it not been for
this almost
indisputable fact, the name of Jesus of Nazareth would undoubtedly
not be known
at the present day.
Epiphanius, a
Christian bishop and writer of the fourth century, says, in
speaking of the
Essenes:
"They
who believed on Christ were called Jessći (or Essenes), before they were
called
Christians. These derived their constitution from the signification of
the name
Jesus, which in Hebrew signifies the same as Therapeutes, that is, a
saviour or
physician."
Thus we see
that, according to Christian authority, the Essenes and Therapeutes
are one, and
that the Essenes espoused the cause of Jesus of Nazareth, accepted
him as an
Angel-Messiah, and [Pg 427]became known to history as Christians, or
believers in
the Anointed Angel.
This ascetic
Buddhist sect called Essenes were therefore expecting an
Angel-Messiah,
for had not Gautama announced to his disciples that another
Buddha, and
therefore another angel in human form, another organ or advocate of
the wisdom
from above, would descend from heaven to earth, and would be called
the "Son
of Love."
The learned
Thomas Maurice says:
"From
the earliest post-diluvian age, to that in which the Messiah appeared,
together with
the traditions which so expressly recorded the fall of the human
race from a
state of original rectitude and felicity, there appears, from an
infinite
variety of hieroglyphic monuments and of written documents, to have
prevailed,
from generation to generation, throughout all the regions of the
higher Asia,
an uniform belief that, in the course of revolving ages, there
should arise
a sacred personage, a mighty deliverer of mankind from the thraldom
of sin and of
death. In fact, the memory of the grand original promise, that the
seed of the
woman should eventually crush the serpent, was carefully preserved
in the
breasts of the Asiatics; it entered deeply into their symbolic
superstitions,
and was engraved aloft amidst their mythologic
sculptures."[427:1]
That an
Angel-Messiah was generally expected at this time may be inferred from
the following
facts: Some of the Gnostic sects of Christians, who believed that
Jesus was an
emanation from God, likewise supposed that there were several Ćons,
or emanations
from the Eternal Father. Among those who taught this doctrine was
Basilides and
his followers.[427:2]
Simon Magus
was believed to be "He who should come." Simon was worshiped in
Samaria and
other countries, as the expected Angel-Messiah, as a God.
Justin Martyr
says:
"After
the ascension of our Lord into heaven, certain men were suborned by
demons as
their agents, who said that they were gods (i. e., the Angel Messiah).
Among these
was Simon, a certain Samaritan, whom nearly all the Samaritans and a
few also of
other nations, worshiped, confessing him as a Supreme God."[427:3]
His miracles
were notorious, and admitted by all. His followers became so
numerous that
they were to be found in all countries. In Rome, in the reign of
Claudius, a
statue was erected in his honor. Clement of Rome, speaking of Simon
Magus, says
that:
"He
wishes to be considered an exalted person, and to be considered 'the
Christ.' He
claims that he can never be dissolved, asserting that he will endure
to
eternity."
[Pg
428]Montanus was another person who evidently believed himself to be an
Angel-Messiah.
He was called by himself and his followers the "Paraclete," or
"Holy
Spirit."[428:1]
Socrates, in
his Ecclesiastical History, tells us of one Buddhas (who lived
after Jesus):
"Who
afore that time was called Terebynthus, which went to the coasts of
Babylon,
inhabited by Persians, and there published of himself many false
wonders: that
he was born of a virgin, that he was bred and brought up in the
mountains,
etc."[428:2]
He was
evidently one of the many fanatics who believed themselves to be the
Paraclete or
Comforter, the "Expected One."
Another one
of these Christs was Apollonius. This remarkable man was born a few
years before
the commencement of the Christian era, and during his career,
sustained the
role of a philosopher, religious teacher and reformer, and a
worker of
miracles. He is said to have lived to be a hundred years old. From the
history of
his life, written by the learned sophist and scholar, Philostratus,
we glean the
following:
Before his
birth a god appeared to his mother and informed her that he himself
should be
born of her. At the time of her delivery, the most wonderful things
happened. All
the people of the country acknowledged that he was the "Son of
God." As
he grew in stature, his wonderful powers, greatness of memory, and
marvelous
beauty attracted the attention of all. A great part of his time was
spent, when a
youth, among the learned doctors; the disciples of Plato,
Chrysippus
and Aristotle. When he came to man's estate, he became an
enthusiastic
admirer and devoted follower of Pythagoras. His fame soon spread
far and near,
and wherever he went he reformed the religious worship of the day.
He went to
Ephesus, like Christ Jesus to Jerusalem, where the people flocked
about him.
While at Athens, in Greece, he cast out an evil spirit from a youth.
As soon as
Apollonius fixed his eyes upon him, the demon broke out into the most
angry and
horrid expressions, and then swore he would depart out of the youth.
He put an end
to a plague which was raging at Ephesus, and at Corinth he raised
a dead maiden
to life, by simply taking her by the hand and bidding her arise.
The miracles
of Apollonius were extensively believed, by Christians as well as
others, for
centuries after his time. In the fourth century Hierocles drew a
parallel
between the two Christs—Apollonius and Jesus—which was answered by
Eusebius, the
great champion [Pg 429]of the Christian church. In it he admits
the miracles
of Apollonius, but attributes them to sorcery.
Apollonius
was worshiped as a god, in different countries, as late as the fourth
century. A
beautiful temple was built in honor of him, and he was held in high
esteem by
many of the Pagan emperors. Eunapius, who wrote concerning him in the
fifth
century, says that his history should have been entitled "The Descent of a
God upon
Earth." It is as Albert Reville says:
"The
universal respect in which Apollonius was held by the whole pagan world,
testified to
the deep impression which the life of this Supernatural Being had
left
indelibly fixed in their minds; an expression which caused one of his
contemporaries
to exclaim, 'We have a God living among us.'"
A Samaritan,
by name Menander, who was contemporary with the apostles of Jesus,
was another
of these fanatics who believed himself to be the Christ. He went
about
performing miracles, claiming that he was a Saviour, "sent down from above
from the
invisible worlds, for the salvation of mankind."[429:1] He baptized his
followers in
his own name. His influence was great, and continued for several
centuries.
Justin Martyr and other Christian Fathers wrote against him.
Manes
evidently believed himself to be "the Christ," or "he who was to
come."
His followers
also believed the same concerning him. Eusebius, speaking of him,
says:
"He
presumed to represent the person of Christ; he proclaimed himself to be the
Comforter and
the Holy Ghost, and being puffed up with this frantic pride,
chose, as if
he were Christ, twelve partners of his new-found doctrine, patching
into one heap
false and detestable doctrines of old, rotten, and rooted out
heresies, the
which he brought out of Persia."[429:2]
The word
Manes, says Usher in his Annals, has the meaning of Paraclete or
Comforter or
Saviour. This at once lets us into the secret—a new incarnation, an
Angel-Messiah,
a Christ—born from the side of his mother, and put to a violent
death—flayed
alive, and hung up, or crucified, by a king of Persia.[429:3] This
is the
teacher with his twelve apostles on the rock of Gualior.
Du Perron, in
his life of Zoroaster, gives an account of certain prophecies to
be found in
the sacred books of the Persians. One of these is to the effect
that, at
successive periods of time, there will appear on earth certain "Sons of
Zoroaster,"
who are to be the [Pg 430]result of immaculate conceptions. These
virgin-born
gods will come upon earth for the purpose of establishing the law of
God. It is
also asserted that Zoroaster, when on earth, declared that in the
"latter
days" a pure virgin would conceive, and bear a son, and that as soon as
the child was
born a star would appear, blazing even at noonday, with
undiminished
splendor. This Christ is to be called Sosiosh. He will redeem
mankind, and
subdue the Devs, who have been tempting and leading men astray ever
since the
fall of our first parents.
Among the
Greeks the same prophecy was found. The Oracle of Delphi was the
depository,
according to Plato, of an ancient and secret prophecy of the birth
of a
"Son of Apollo," who was to restore the reign of justice and virtue
on the
earth.[430:1]
Those who
believed in successive emanations of Ćons from the Throne of Light,
pointed to
the passage in the Gospels where Jesus is made to say that he will be
succeeded by
the Paraclete or Comforter. Mahommed was believed by many to be
this
Paraclete, and it is said that he too told his disciples that another
Paraclete
would succeed him. From present appearances, however, there is some
reason for
believing that the Mohammedans are to have their ancient prophecy set
at naught by
the multiplicity of those who pretend to be divinely appointed to
fulfill it.
The present year was designated as the period at which this great
reformer was
to arise, who should be almost, if not quite, the equal of
Mahommed. His
mission was to be to to purify the religion from its corruptions;
to overthrow
those who had usurped its control, and to rule, as a great
spiritual
caliph, over the faithful. According to accepted tradition, the
prophet
himself designated the line of descent in which his most important
successor
would be found, and even indicated his personal appearance. The time
having
arrived, it is not strange that the man is forthcoming, only in this
instance
there is more than one claimant. There is a "holy man" in Morocco who
has allowed
it to be announced that he is the designated reformer, while cable
reports show
that a rival pretender has appeared in Yemen, in southern Arabia,
and his
supporters, sword in hand, are now advancing upon Mecca, for the purpose
of
proclaiming their leader as caliph within the sacred city itself.
History then
relates to us the indisputable fact that at the time of Jesus of
Nazareth an
Angel-Messiah was expected, that many persons claimed, and were
believed to
be, the "Expected One," and [Pg 431]that the reason why Jesus was
accepted
above all others was because the Essenes—a very numerous sect—believed
him to be the
true Messiah, and came over to his followers in a body. It was
because there
were so many of these Christs in existence that some follower of
Jesus—but no
one knows who—wrote as follows:
"If any
man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or, lo, he is there; believe
him not; for
false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs
and wonders
to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."[431:1]
The reasons
why Jesus was not accepted as the Messiah by the majority of the
Jews was
because the majority expected a daring and irresistible warrior and
conqueror,
who, armed with greater power than Cćsar, was to come upon earth to
rend the
fetters in which their hapless nation had so long groaned, to avenge
them upon
their haughty oppressors, and to re-establish the kingdom of Judah;
and this
Jesus—although he evidently claimed to be the Messiah—did not do.
Tacitus, the
Roman historian, says:
"The
generality had a strong persuasion that it was contained in the ancient
writings of
the priests, that at that very time the east should prevail: and
that some one,
who should come out of Judea, should obtain the empire of the
world; which
ambiguities foretold Vespasian and Titus. But the common people (of
the Jews),
according to the influence of human wishes, appropriated to
themselves,
by their interpretation, this vast grandeur foretold by the fates,
nor could be
brought to change their opinion for the true, by all their
adversities."
Suetonius,
another Roman historian, says:
"There
had been for a long time all over the east a constant persuasion that it
was recorded
in the fates (books of the fates, or foretellings), that at that
time some one
who should come out of Judea should obtain universal dominion. It
appears by
the event, that this prediction referred to the Roman emperor; but
the Jews,
referring it to themselves, rebelled."
This is
corroborated by Josephus, the Jewish historian, who says:
"That
which, chiefly excited them (the Jews) to war, was an ambiguous prophecy,
which was
also found in the sacred books, that at that time some one, within
their
country, should arise, that should obtain the empire of the whole world.
For this they
had received by tradition, that it was spoken of one of their
nation; and
many wise men were deceived with the interpretation. But, in truth,
Vespasian's
empire was designed in this prophecy, who was created emperor (of
Rome) in
Judea."
As the Rev.
Dr. Geikie remarks, the central and dominant characteristic of the
teaching of
the rabbis, was the certain advent of [Pg 432]a great national
Deliverer—the
Messiah—but not a God from heaven.
For a time
Cyrus appeared to realize the promised Deliverer, or, at least, to be
the chosen
instrument to prepare the way for him, and, in his turn, Zerubabel
became the
centre of Messianic hopes. In fact, the national mind had become so
inflammable,
by constant brooding on this one theme, that any bold spirit,
rising in
revolt against the Roman power, could find an army of fierce disciples
who trusted
that it should be he who would redeem Israel.[432:1]
The
"taxing" which took place under Cyrenius, Governor of Syria (A. D.
7),
excited the
wildest uproar against the Roman power. The Hebrew spirit was stung
into
exasperation; the puritans of the nation, the enthusiasts, fanatics, the
zealots of
the law, the literal constructionists of prophecy, appealed to the
national
temper, revived the national faith, and fanned into flame the
combustible
elements that smoldered in the bosom of the race. The Messianic hope
was strong in
these people; all the stronger on account of their political
degradation.
Born in sorrow, the anticipation grew keen in bitter hours. That
Jehovah would
abandon them could not be believed. The thought would be atheism.
The hope kept
the eastern Jews in a perpetual state of insurrection. The cry "Lo
here, lo
there!" was incessant. Claimant after claimant of the dangerous
supremacy of
the Messiah appeared, pitched a camp in the wilderness, raised the
banner,
gathered a force, was attacked, defeated, banished, or crucified; but
the frenzy
did not abate.
The last
insurrection among the Jews, that of Bar-Cochba—"Son of the
Star"—revealed
an astonishing frenzy of zeal. It was purely a Messianic
uprising.
Judaism had excited the fears of the Emperor Hadrian, and induced him
to inflict
unusual severities on the people. The effect of the violence was to
stimulate
that conviction to fury. The night of their despair was once more
illumined by
the star of the east. The banner of the Messiah was raised.
Potents, as
of old, were seen in the sky; the clouds were watched for the glory
that should
appear. Bar-Cochba seemed to fill out the popular idea of the
deliverer.
Miracles were ascribed to him; flames issued from his mouth. The
vulgar
imagination made haste to transform the audacious fanatic into a child of
David.
Multitudes flocked to his standard. The whole Jewish race throughout the
world was in
commotion. The insurrection gained head. The heights about
Jerusalem
were seized and occupied, and fortifications [Pg 433]were erected;
nothing but
the "host of angels" was needed to insure victory. The angels did
not appear;
the Roman legions did. The "Messiah," not proving himself a
conqueror,
was held to have proved himself an impostor, the "son of a
lie."[433:1]
The impetuous
zeal with which the Jews rushed to the standard of this Messianic
impostor, in
the 130th year of the Christian era, demonstrates the true Jewish
character,
and shows how readily any one who made the claim, was believed to be
"He who
should come." Even the celebrated Rabbi Akiba sanctioned this daring
fraud. Akiba
declared that the so-called prophecy of Balaam,—"a star shall rise
out of
Jacob,"—was accomplished. Hence the impostor took his title of
Bar-Cochabas,
or Son of the Star; and Akiba not only publicly anointed him "King
of the
Jews," and placed an imperial diadem upon his head, but followed him to
the field at
the head of four-and-twenty thousand of his disciples, and acted in
the capacity
of master of his horse.
Those who
believed on the meek and benevolent Jesus—and whose number was very
small—were of
that class who believed in the doctrine of the
Angel-Messiah,[433:2]
first heard of among them when taken captives to Babylon.
These
believed that just as Buddha appeared at different intervals, and as
Vishnu
appeared at different intervals, the avatars appeared among the Jews.
Adam, and
Enoch, and Noah, and Elijah or Elias, might in outward appearance be
different
men, but they were really the self-same divine person successively
animating
various human bodies.[433:3] Christ Jesus was the avatar of the ninth
age, Christ
Cyrus was the avatar of the eighth. Of the hero of the eighth age it
is said:
"Thus said the Lord to his Anointed (i. e., his Christ), his Messiah,
to Cyrus, [Pg
434]whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations."[434:1] The
eighth period
began about the Babylonish captivity, about six hundred years
before Christ
Jesus. The ninth began with Christ Jesus, making in all eight
cycles before
Jesus.
"What
was known in Judea more than a century before the birth of Jesus Christ
cannot have
been introduced among Buddhists by Christian missionaries. It will
become
equally certain that the bishop and church-historian, Eusebius, was right
when he
wrote, that he considered it highly probable that the writings of the
Essenic
Therapeuts in Egypt had been incorporated into our Gospels, and into
some Pauline
epistles."[434:2]
For further
information on the subject of the connection between Essenism and
Christianity,
the reader is referred to Taylor's Diegesis, Bunsen's
Angel-Messiah,
and the works of S. F. Dunlap. We shall now speak of another
powerful
lever which was brought to bear upon the promulgation of Christianity;
namely, that
of Fraud.
It was a
common thing among the early Christian Fathers and saints to lie and
deceive, if
their lies and deceits helped the cause of their Christ. Lactantius,
an eminent
Christian author who flourished in the fourth century, has well said:
"Among
those who seek power and gain from their religion, there will never be
wanting an
inclination to forge and lie for it."[434:3]
Gregory of
Nazianzus, writing to St. Jerome, says:
"A
little jargon is all that is necessary to impose on the people. The less they
comprehend,
the more they admire. Our forefathers and doctors have often said,
not what they
thought, but what circumstances and necessity dictated."[434:4]
The
celebrated Eusebius, Bishop of Cćsarea, and friend of Constantine the Great,
who is our
chief guide for the early history of the Church, confesses that he
was by no
means scrupulous to record the whole truth concerning the early
Christians in
the various works which he has left behind him.[434:5] Edward
Gibbon,
speaking of him, says:
"The
gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius himself, indirectly
confesses
that he has related what might redound to the glory, and that he has
suppressed
all that could tend to the disgrace of religion. Such an
acknowledgment
will naturally excite a suspicion that a writer who has so openly
violated one
of the fundamental laws of history, has not paid a very strict
regard to the
[Pg 435]observance of the other; and the suspicion will derive
additional
credit from the character of Eusebius, which was less tinctured with
credulity,
and more practiced in the arts of courts, than that of almost any of
his
contemporaries."[435:1]
The great
theologian, Beausobre, in his "Histoire de Manichee," says:
"We see
in the history which I have related, a sort of hypocrisy, that has been
perhaps, but
too common at all times; that churchmen not only do not say what
they think,
but they do say the direct contrary of what they think. Philosophers
in their
cabinets; out of them they are content with fables, though they well
know they are
fables. Nay, more; they deliver honest men to the executioner, for
having
uttered what they themselves know to be true. How many atheists and
pagans have
burned holy men under the pretext of heresy? Every day do hypocrites
consecrate,
and make people adore the host, though as well convinced as I am,
that it is
nothing but a bit of bread."[435:2]
M. Daille
says:
"This
opinion has always been in the world, that to settle a certain and assured
estimation
upon that which is good and true, it is necessary to remove out of
the way,
whatsoever may be an hinderance to it. Neither ought we to wonder that
even those of
the honest, innocent, primitive times made use of these deceits,
seeing for a
good end they made no scruple to forge whole books."[435:3]
Reeves, in
his "Apologies of the Fathers," says:
"It was
a Catholic opinion among the philosophers, that pious frauds were good
things, and
that the people ought to be imposed on in matters of
religion."[435:4]
Mosheim, the
ecclesiastical historian, says:
"It was
held as a maxim that it was not only lawful but praiseworthy to deceive,
and even to
use the expedient of a lie, in order to advance the cause of truth
and
piety."[435:5]
Isaac de
Casaubon, the great ecclesiastical scholar, says:
"It
mightily affects me, to see how many there were in the earliest times of the
church, who
considered it as a capital exploit, to lend to heavenly truth the
help of their
own inventions, in order that the new doctrine might be more
readily
allowed by the wise among the Gentiles. These officious lies, they were
wont to say,
were devised for a good end."[435:6]
[Pg 436]The
Apostolic Father, Hermas, who was the fellow-laborer of St. Paul in
the work of
the ministry; who is greeted as such in the New Testament; and whose
writings are
expressly quoted as of divine inspiration, by the early Fathers,
ingenuously
confesses that lying was the easily-besetting sin of a Christian.
His words
are:
"O Lord,
I never spake a true word in my life, but I have always lived in
dissimulation,
and affirmed a lie for truth to all men, and no man contradicted
me, but all
gave credit to my words."
To which the
holy angel, whom he addresses, condescendingly admonishes him, that
as the lie
was up, now, he had better keep it up, and as in time it would come
to be
believed, it would answer as well as truth.[436:1]
Dr. Mosheim
admits, that the Platonists and Pythagoreans held it as a maxim,
that it was
not only lawful, but praiseworthy, to deceive, and even to use the
expedient of
a lie, in order to advance the cause of truth and piety. The Jews
who lived in
Egypt, had learned and received this maxim from them, before the
coming of
Christ Jesus, as appears incontestably from a multitude of ancient
records, and
the Christians were infected from both these sources, with the same
pernicious
error.[436:2]
Of the
fifteen letters ascribed to Ignatius (Bishop of Antioch after 69 A. D.),
eight have
been rejected by Christian writers as being forgeries, having no
authority
whatever. "The remaining seven epistles were accounted genuine by most
critics,
although disputed by some, previous to the discoveries of Mr. Cureton,
which have
shaken, and indeed almost wholly destroyed the credit and
authenticity
of all alike."[436:3]
Paul of
Tarsus, who was preaching a doctrine which had already been preached to
every nation
on earth,[436:4] inculcates and avows the principle of deceiving
the common
people, talks of his having been upbraided by his own converts with
being crafty
and catching them with guile,[436:5] and of his known and willful
lies,
abounding to the glory of God.[436:6]
Even the
orthodox Doctor Burnet, an eminent English author, in his treatise "De
Statu
Mortuorum," purposely written in Latin, [Pg 437]that it might serve for
the
instruction of the clergy only, and not come to the knowledge of the laity,
because, as
he said, "too much light is hurtful for weak eyes," not only
justified but
recommended the practice of the most consummate hypocrisy, and
would have
his clergy seriously preach and maintain the reality and eternity of
hell
torments, even though they should believe nothing of the sort
themselves.[437:1]
The
incredible and very ridiculous stories related by Christian Fathers and
ecclesiastical
historians, on whom we are obliged to rely for information on the
most
important of subjects, show us how untrustworthy these men were. We have,
for instance,
the story related by St. Augustine, who is styled "the greatest of
the Latin
Fathers," of his preaching the Gospel to people without heads. In his
33d Sermon he
says:
"I was
already Bishop of Hippo, when I went into Ethiopia with some servants of
Christ there
to preach the Gospel. In this country we saw many men and women
without
heads, who had two great eyes in their breasts; and in countries still
more southly,
we saw people who had but one eye in their foreheads."[437:2]
This same
holy Father bears an equally unquestionable testimony to several
resurrections
of the dead, of which he himself had been an eye-witness.
In a book
written "towards the close of the second century, by some zealous
believer,"
and fathered upon one Nicodemus, who is said to have been a disciple
of Christ
Jesus, we find the following:
"We all
know the blessed Simeon, the high priest, who took Jesus when an infant
into his arms
in the temple. This same Simeon had two sons of his own, and we
were all
present at their death and funeral. Go therefore and see their [Pg
438]tombs,
for these are open, and they are risen; and behold, they are in the
city of
Arimathća, spending their time together in offices of devotion."[438:1]
Eusebius,
"the Father of ecclesiastical history," Bishop of Cćsarea, and one of
the most
prominent personages at the Council of Nice, relates as truth, the
ridiculous
story of King Agbarus writing a letter to Christ Jesus, and of Jesus'
answer to the
same.[438:2] And Socrates relates how the Empress Helen, mother of
the Emperor
Constantine, went to Jerusalem for the purpose of finding, if
possible,
"the cross of Christ." This she succeeded in doing, also the nails
with which he
was nailed to the cross.[438:3]
Beside
forging, lying, and deceiving for the cause of Christ, the Christian
Fathers
destroyed all evidence against themselves and their religion, which they
came across.
Christian divines seem to have always been afraid of too much
light. In the
very infancy of printing, Cardinal Wolsey foresaw its effect on
Christianity,
and in a speech to the clergy, publicly forewarned them, that, if
they did not
destroy the Press, the Press would destroy them.[438:4] There can
be no doubt,
that had the objections of Porphyry,[438:5] Hierocles,[438:6]
Celsus,[438:7]
and other opponents of the Christian faith, been permitted to
come down to
us, the plagiarism in the Christian Scriptures from previously
existing
Pagan documents, is the specific charge they would have presented us.
But these
were ordered to be burned, by the prudent piety of the Christian
emperors.
In
Alexandria, in Egypt, there was an immense library, founded by the Ptolemies.
This library
was situated in the Alexandrian Museum; the apartments which were
allotted for
it were beautifully sculptured, and crowded with the choicest
statues and
pictures; the building was built of marble. This library eventually
comprised [Pg
439]four hundred thousand volumes. In the course of time, probably
on account of
inadequate accommodation for so many books, an additional library
was
established, and placed in the temple of Serapis. The number of volumes in
this library,
which was called the daughter of that in the museum, was
eventually
three hundred thousand. There were, therefore, seven hundred thousand
volumes in
these royal collections.
In the
establishment of the museum, Ptolemy Soter, and his son Philadelphus, had
three objects
in view: 1. The perpetuation of such knowledge as was then in the
world; 2. Its
increase; 3. Its diffusion.
1. For the
perpetuation of knowledge. Orders were given to the chief librarian
to buy, at
the king's expense, whatever books he could. A body of transcribers
was maintained
in the museum, whose duty it was to make correct copies of such
works as
their owners were not disposed to sell. Any books brought by foreigners
into Egypt
were taken at once to the museum, and when correct copies had been
made, the
transcript was given to the owner, and the original placed in the
library.
Often a very large pecuniary indemnity was paid.
2. For the
increase of knowledge. One of the chief objects of the museum was
that of
serving as the home of a body of men who devoted themselves to study,
and were
lodged and maintained at the king's expense. In the original
organization
of the museum the residents were divided into four
faculties,—Literature,
Mathematics, Astronomy, and Medicine. An officer of very
great
distinction presided over the establishment, and had general charge of its
interests.
Demetius Phalareus, perhaps the most learned man of his age, who had
been Governor
of Athens for many years, was the first so appointed. Under him
was the
librarian, an office sometimes held by men whose names have descended to
our times, as
Eratosthenes and Apollonius Rhodius. In connection with the museum
was a
botanical and a zoological garden. These gardens, as their names imply,
were for the
purpose of facilitating the study of plants and animals. There was
also an
astronomical observatory, containing armillary spheres, globes,
solstitial
and equatorial armils, astrolabes, parallactic rules, and other
apparatus
then in use, the graduation on the divided instruments being into
degrees and
sixths.
3. For the
diffusion of knowledge. In the museum was given, by lectures,
conversation,
or other appropriate methods, instruction in all the various
departments
of human knowledge.
[Pg 440]There
flocked to this great intellectual centre, students from all
countries. It
is said that at one time not fewer than fourteen thousand were in
attendance.
Subsequently even the Christian church received from it some of the
most eminent
of its Fathers, as Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Athanasius, &c.
The library
in the museum was burned during the siege of Alexandria by Julius
Cćsar. To
make amends for this great loss, the library collected by Eumenes,
King of
Pergamus, was presented by Mark Antony to Queen Cleopatra. Originally it
was founded
as a rival to that of the Ptolemies. It was added to the collection
in the
Serapion, or the temple of Serapis.[440:1]
It was not
destined, however, to remain there many centuries, as this very
valuable
library was willfully destroyed by the Christian Theophilus, and on the
spot where
this beautiful temple of Serapis stood, in fact, on its very
foundation,
was erected a church in honor of the "noble army of martyrs," who
had never
existed.
This we learn
from the historian Gibbon, who says that, after this library was
destroyed,
"the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and
indignation
of every spectator, whose mind was not totally darkened by religious
prejudice."[440:2]
The
destruction of this library was almost the death-blow to
free-thought—wherever
Christianity ruled—for more than a thousand years.
The
death-blow was soon to be struck, however, which was done by Saint Cyril,
who succeeded
Theophilus as Bishop of Alexandria.
Hypatia, the
daughter of Theon, the mathematician, endeavored to continue the
old-time
instructions. Each day before her academy stood a long train of
chariots; her
lecture-room was crowded with the wealth and fashion of
Alexandria.
They came to listen to her discourses on those questions which man
in all ages
has asked, but which have never yet been answered: "What am I? Where
am I? What
can I know?"
Hypatia and
Cyril; philosophy and bigotry; they cannot exist together. As
Hypatia
repaired to her academy, she was assaulted by (Saint) Cyril's mob—a mob
of many
monks. Stripped naked in the street, she was dragged into a church, and
there killed
by the club of Peter the Reader. The corpse was cut to pieces, the
flesh was
scraped from the bones with shells, and the remnants cast into a fire.
For this
frightful crime Cyril was never called to account. [Pg 441]It seemed to
be admitted
that the end sanctified the means. So ended Greek philosophy in
Alexandria,
so came to an untimely close the learning that the Ptolemies had
done so much
to promote.
The fate of
Hypatia was a warning to all who would cultivate profane knowledge.
Henceforth
there was to be no freedom for human thought. Every one must think as
ecclesiastical
authority ordered him; A. D. 414. In Athens itself philosophy
awaited its
doom. Justinian at length prohibited its teaching and caused all its
schools in
that city to be closed.[441:1]
After this
followed the long and dreary dark ages, but the sun of science, that
bright and
glorious luminary, was destined to rise again.
The history
of this great Alexandrian library is one of the keys which unlock
the door, and
exposes to our view the manner in which the Hindoo incarnate god
Crishna, and
the meek and benevolent Buddha, came to be worshiped under the name
of Christ
Jesus. For instance, we have just seen:
1. That,
"orders were given to the chief librarian to buy at the king's expense
whatever
books he could."
2. That,
"one of the chief objects of the museum was that of serving as the home
of a body of
men who devoted themselves to study."
3. That,
"any books brought by foreigners into Egypt were taken at once to the
museum and
correct copies made."
4. That,
"there flocked to this great intellectual centre students from all
countries."
5. That,
"the Christian church received from it some of the most eminent of its
Fathers."
And also:
6. That, the
chief doctrines of the Gnostic Christians "had been held for
centuries
before their time in many of the cities in Asia Minor. There, it is
probable,
they first came into existence as 'Mystć,' upon the establishment of a
direct
intercourse with India under the Seleucidć and the Ptolemies."
7. That,
"the College of Essenes at Ephesus, the Orphics of Thrace, the Curetes
of Crete, are
all merely branches of one antique and common religion, and that
originally
Asiatic."
8. That,
"the introduction of Buddhism into Egypt and Palestine [Pg 442]affords
the only true
solution of innumerable difficulties in the history of religion."
9. That,
"Buddhism had actually been planted in the dominions of the Seleucidć
and Ptolemies
(Palestine belonging to the former) before the beginning of the
third century
B. C. and is proved to demonstration by a passage in the edicts of
Asoka."
10. That,
"it is very likely that the commentaries (Scriptures) which were among
them (the
Essenes) were the Gospels."
11. That,
"the principal doctrines and rites of the Essenes can be connected
with the
East, with Parsism, and especially with Buddhism."
12. That,
"among the doctrines which the Essenes and Buddhists had in common was
that of the
Angel-Messiah."
13. That,
"they (the Essenes) had a flourishing university or corporate body,
established
at Alexandria, in Egypt, long before the period assigned for the
birth of
Christ."
14. That,
"the very ancient and Eastern doctrine of the Angel-Messiah had been
applied to
Gautama Buddha, and so it was applied to Jesus Christ by the Essenes
of Egypt and
Palestine, who introduced this new Messianic doctrine into Essenic
Judaism and
Essenic Christianity."
15. That,
"we hear very little of them (the Essenes) after A. D. 40; and there
can hardly be
any doubt that the Essenes as a body must have embraced
Christianity."
Here is the
solution of the problem. The sacred books of Hindoos and Buddhists
were among
the Essenes, and in the library at Alexandria. The Essenes, who were
afterwards
called Christians, applied the legend of the Angel-Messiah—"the very
ancient
Eastern doctrine," which we have shown throughout this work—to Christ
Jesus. It was
simply a transformation of names, a transformation which had
previously
occurred in many cases.[442:1] After this came additions to the
legend from
other sources. Portions of the legends related of the Persian, Greek
and Roman
Saviours and Redeemers of mankind, were, from time to time, added to
the already
legendary history of the Christian Saviour. Thus [Pg 443]history was
repeating
itself. Thus the virgin-born God and Saviour, worshiped by all nations
of the earth,
though called by different names, was but one and the same.
In a subsequent
chapter we shall see who this One God was, and how the myth
originated.
Albert
Revillé says:
"Alexandria,
the home of Philonism, and Neo-Platonism (and we might add
Essenism),
was naturally the centre whence spread the dogma of the deity of
Jesus Christ.
In that city, through the third century, flourished a school of
transcendental
theology, afterwards looked upon with suspicion by the
conservators
of ecclesiastical doctrine, but not the less the real cradle of
orthodoxy. It
was still the Platonic tendency which influenced the speculations
of Clement,
Origen and Dionysius, and the theory of the Logos was at the
foundation of
their theology."[443:1]
Among the
numerous gospels in circulation among the Christians of the first
three
centuries, there was one entitled "The Gospel of the Egyptians."
Epiphanius
(A. D. 385), speaking of it, says:
"Many
things are proposed (in this Gospel of the Egyptians) in a hidden,
mysterious
manner, as by our Saviour, as though he had said to his disciples,
that the
Father was the same person, the Son the same person, and the Holy Ghost
the same
person."
That this was
one of the "Scriptures" of the Essenes, becomes very evident when
we find it
admitted by the most learned of Christian theologians that it was in
existence
"before either of the canonical Gospels," and that it contained the
doctrine of
the Trinity, a doctrine not established in the Christian church
until A. D.
327, but which was taught by this Buddhist sect in Alexandria, in
Egypt, which
has been well called, "Egypt, the land of Trinities."
The learned
Dr. Grabe thought it was composed by some Christians in Egypt, and
that it was
published before either of the canonical Gospels. Dr. Mill also
believed that
it was composed before either of the canonical Gospels, and, what
is more
important than all, that the authors of it were Essenes.
These
"Scriptures" of the Essenes were undoubtedly amalgamated with the
"Gospels"
of the Christians, the result being the canonical Gospels as we now
have them.
The "Gospel of the Hebrews," and such like, on the one hand, and the
"Gospel
of the Egyptians," or Essenes, and such like, on the other. That the
"Gospel
of the Hebrews" spoke of Jesus of Nazareth as the son of Joseph and
Mary,
according to the flesh, and that it taught nothing about his miracles, his
resurrection
from the dead, and other such [Pg 444]prodigies, is admitted on all
hands. That
the "Scriptures" of the Essenes contained the whole legend of the
Angel-Messiah,
which was afterwards added to the history of Jesus, making him a
Christ, or an
Anointed Angel, is a probability almost to a certainty. Do we now
understand
how all the traditions and legends, originally Indian, escaping from
the great
focus through Egypt, were able to reach Judea, Greece and Rome?
To continue
with our subject, "why Christianity prospered," we must now speak of
another great
support to the cause, i. e., Persecution. Ernest de Bunsen,
speaking of
Buddha, says:
"His
religion has never been propagated by the sword. It has been effected
entirely by
the influence of peaceable and persevering devotees."
Can we say as
much for what is termed "the religion of Christ?" No! this
religion has
had the aid of the sword and firebrand, the rack and the
thumb-screw.
"Persecution," is to be seen written on the pages of ecclesiastical
history, from
the time of Constantine even to the present day.[444:1] This
Christian
emperor and saint was the first to check free-thought.
"We
search in vain," (says M. Renan), "in the collection of Roman laws
before
Constantine,
for any enactment aimed at free thought, or in the history of the
emperors, for
a persecution of abstract doctrine. Not a single savant was
disturbed.
Men whom the Middle Ages would have burned—such as Galen, Lucian,
Plotinus—lived
in peace, protected by the law."[444:2]
Born and
educated a pagan, Constantine embraced the Christian faith from the
following
motives. Having committed horrid crimes, in fact, having committed
murders,[444:3]
and,
"When he
would have had his (Pagan) priests purge him by sacrifice, of these
horrible
murders, and could not have his purpose (for they answered plainly, it
lay not in
their power to cleanse him)[444:4] he lighted at last upon an
Egyptian who
came out of Iberia, and being persuaded by him that the Christian
faith was of
force to wipe away every sin, were it ever so heinous, he embraced
willingly at
whatever the Egyptian told him."[444:5]
[Pg 445]Mons.
Dupuis, speaking of this conversion, says:
"Constantine,
soiled with all sorts of crimes, and stained with the blood of his
wife, after
repeated perjuries and assassinations, presented himself before the
heathen
priests in order to be absolved of so many outrages he had committed. He
was answered,
that amongst the various kinds of expiations, there was none which
could expiate
so many crimes, and that no religion whatever could offer
efficient
protection against the justice of the gods; and Constantine was
emperor. One
of the courtiers of the palace, who witnessed the trouble and
agitation of
his mind, torn by remorse, which nothing could appease, informed
him, that the
evil he was suffering was not without a remedy; that there existed
in the
religion of the Christians certain purifications, which expiated every
kind of misdeeds,
of whatever nature, and in whatsoever number they were: that
one of the
promises of the religion was, that whoever was converted to it, as
impious and
as great a villain as he might be, could hope that his crimes were
immediately
forgotten.[445:1] From that moment, Constantine declared himself the
protector of
a sect which treats great criminals with so much lenity.[445:2] He
was a great
villain, who tried to lull himself with illusions to smother his
remorse."[445:3]
By the delay
of baptism, a person who had accepted the true faith could venture
freely to
indulge their passions in the enjoyment of this world, while they
still
retained in their own hands the means of salvation; therefore, we find
that
Constantine, although he accepted the faith, did not get baptized until he
was on his
death-bed, as he wished to continue, as long as possible, the wicked
life he was
leading. Mr. Gibbon, speaking of him, says:
"The
example and reputation of Constantine seemed to countenance the delay of
baptism.
Future tyrants were encouraged to believe, that the innocent blood
which they
might shed in a long reign would instantly be washed away in the
waters of
regeneration; and the abuse of religion dangerously undermined the
foundations
of moral virtue."[445:4]
[Pg
446]Eusebius, in his "Life of Constantine," tells us that:
"When he
thought that he was near his death, he confessed his sins, desiring
pardon for
them of God, and was baptized.
"Before
doing so, he assembled the bishops of Nicomedia together, and spake thus
unto them:
"'Brethren,
the salvation which I have earnestly desired of God these many
years, I do
now this day expect. It is time therefore that we should be sealed
and signed
with the badge of immortality. And though I proposed to receive it in
the river
Jordan, in which our Saviour for our example was baptized, yet God,
knowing what
is fittest for me, hath appointed that I shall receive it in this
place,
therefore let me not be delayed.'"
"And so,
after the service of baptism was read, they baptized him with all the
ceremonies
belonging to this mysterious sacrament. So that Constantine was the
first of all
the emperors who was regenerated by the new birth of baptism, and
that was
signed with the sign of the cross."[446:1]
When Constantine
had heard the good news from the Christian monk from Egypt, he
commenced by
conferring many dignities on the Christians, and those only who
were addicted
to Christianity, he made governors of his provinces, &c.[446:2] He
then issued
edicts against heretics,—i. e., those who, like Arius, did not
believe that
Christ was "of one substance with the Father," and others—calling
them
"enemies of truth and eternal life," "authors and councillors of
death,"
&c.[446:3]
He "commanded by law" that none should dare "to meet at
conventicles,"
and that "all places where they were wont to keep their meetings
should be
demolished," or "confiscated to the Catholic church;"[446:4] and
Constantine
was emperor. "By this means," says Eusebius, "such as maintained
doctrines and
opinions contrary to the church, were suppressed."[446:5]
This
Constantine, says Eusebius:
"Caused
his image to be engraven on his gold coins, in the form of prayer, with
his hands
joined together, and looking up towards Heaven." "And over divers
gates of his
palace, he was drawn praying, and lifting up his hands and eyes to
heaven."[446:6]
After his
death, "effigies of this blessed man" were engraved on the Roman
coins,
"sitting in and driving a chariot, and a hand reached down from heaven to
receive and
take him up."[446:7]
The hopes of
wealth and honors, the example of an emperor, his exhortations, his
irresistible
smiles, diffused conviction among [Pg 447]the venal and obsequious
crowds which
usually fill the apartments of a palace, and as the lower ranks of
society are
governed by example, the conversion of those who possessed any
eminence of
birth, of power, or of riches, was soon followed by dependent
multitudes.
Constantine passed a law which gave freedom to all the slaves who
should
embrace Christianity, and to those who were not slaves, he gave a white
garment and
twenty pieces of gold, upon their embracing the Christian faith. The
common people
were thus purchased at such an easy rate that, in one year, twelve
thousand men
were baptised at Rome, besides a proportionable number of women and
children.[447:1]
To suppress
the opinions of philosophers, which were contrary to Christianity,
the Christian
emperors published edicts. The respective decrees of the emperors
Constantine
and Theodosius,[447:2] generally ran in the words, "that all
writings
adverse to the claims of the Christian religion, in the possession of
whomsoever
they should be found, should be committed to the fire," as the pious
emperors
would not that those things tending to provoke God to wrath, should be
allowed to
offend the minds of the piously disposed.
The following
is a decree of the Emperor Theodosius of this purport:
"We
decree, therefore, that all writings, whatever, which Porphyry or anyone
else hath
written against the Christian religion, in the possession of
whomsoever
they shall be found should be committed to the fire; for we would not
suffer any of
those things so much as to come to men's ears, which tend to
provoke God
to wrath and offend the minds of the pious."[447:3]
A similar
decree of the emperor for establishing the doctrine of the Trinity,
concludes
with an admonition to all who shall object to it, that,
"Besides
the condemnation of divine justice, they must expect to suffer the
severe
penalties, which our authority, guided by heavenly wisdom, may think
proper to
inflict upon them."[447:4]
This orthodox
emperor (Theodosius) considered every heretic (as he called those
who did not
believe as he and his ecclesiastics professed) a rebel against the
supreme
powers of heaven and of [Pg 448]earth (he being one of the supreme
powers of
earth), and each of the powers might exercise their peculiar
jurisdiction
over the soul and body of the guilty.
The decrees
of the Council of Constantinople had ascertained the true standard
of the faith,
and the ecclesiastics, who governed the conscience of Theodosius,
suggested the
most effectual methods of persecution. In the space of fifteen
years he
promulgated at least fifteen severe edicts against the heretics, more
especially
against those who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity.[448:1]
Arius (the
presbyter of whom we have spoken in Chapter XXXV., as declaring that,
in the nature
of things, a father must be older than his son) was excommunicated
for his
so-called heretical notions concerning the Trinity. His followers, who
were very
numerous, were called Arians. Their writings, if they had been
permitted to
exist,[448:2] would undoubtedly contain the lamentable story of the
persecution
which affected the church under the reign of the impious Emperor
Theodosius.
In Asia Minor
the people were persecuted by orders of Constantius, and these
orders were
more than obeyed by Macedonius. The civil and military powers were
ordered to obey
his commands; the consequence was, he disgraced the reign of
Constantius.
"The rites of baptism were conferred on women and children, who,
for that
purpose, had been torn from the arms of their friends and parents; the
mouths of the
communicants were held open by a wooden engine, while the
consecrated
bread was forced down their throats; the breasts of tender virgins
were either
burned with red-hot egg-shells, or inhumanly compressed between
sharp and
heavy boards."[448:3] The principal assistants of Macedonius—the tool
of
Constantius—in the work of persecution, were the two bishops of Nicomedia and
Cyzicus, who
were esteemed for their virtues, and especially for their
charity.[448:4]
Julian, the
successor of Constantius, has described some of the theological
calamities
which afflicted the empire, and more especially in the East, in the
reign of a
prince who was the slave of his own passions, and of those of his
eunuchs:
"Many were imprisoned, and persecuted, and driven into exile. Whole
troops of
those who are styled heretics were massacred, particularly at Cyzicus,
and at
Samosata. In Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Gallatia, and in many [Pg 449]other
provinces,
towns and villages were laid waste, and utterly destroyed."[449:1]
Persecutions
in the name of Christ Jesus were inflicted on the heathen in most
every part of
the then known world. Even among the Norwegians, the Christian
sword was
unsheathed. They clung tenaciously to the worship of their
forefathers,
and numbers of them died real martyrs for their faith, after
suffering the
most cruel torments from their persecutors. It was by sheer
compulsion
that the Norwegians embraced Christianity. The reign of Olaf
Tryggvason, a
Christian king of Norway, was in fact entirely devoted to the
propagation
of the new faith, by means the most revolting to humanity. His
general
practice was to enter a district at the head of a formidable force,
summon a
Thing,[449:2] and give the people the alternative of fighting with him,
or of being
baptized. Most of them, of course, preferred baptism to the risk of
a battle with
an adversary so well prepared for combat; and the recusants were
tortured to
death with fiend-like ferocity, and their estates
confiscated.[449:3]
These are
some of the reasons "why Christianity prospered."
Note.—The
learned Christian historian Pagi endeavors to smoothe over the crimes
of
Constantine. He says: "As for those few murders (which Eusebius says
nothing
about), had
he thought it worth his while to refer to them, he would perhaps,
with Baronius
himself have said, that the young Licinius (his infant nephew),
although the
fact might not generally have been known, had most likely been an
accomplice in
the treason of his father. That as to the murder of his son, the
Emperor is
rather to be considered as unfortunate than as criminal. And with
respect to
his putting his wife to death, he ought to be pronounced rather a
just and
righteous judge. As for his numerous friends, whom Eutropius informs us
he put to
death one after another, we are bound to believe that most of them
deserved it,
and they were found out to have abused the Emperor's too great
credulity,
for the gratification of their own inordinate wickedness, and
insatiable
avarice; and such no doubt was that Sopater the philosopher, who was
at last put
to death upon the accusation of Adlabius, and that by the righteous
dispensation
of God, for his having attempted to alienate the mind of
Constantine
from the true religion." (Pagi Ann. 324, quoted in Latin by Dr.
Lardner, vol.
iv. p. 371, in his notes for the benefit of the learned reader,
but gives no
rendering into English.)
FOOTNOTES:
[419:1]
"Numerous bodies of ascetics (Therapeutć), especially near Lake
Mareotis,
devoted themselves to discipline and study, abjuring society and
labor, and
often forgetting, it is said, the simplest wants of nature, in
contemplating
the hidden wisdom of the Scriptures. Eusebius even claimed them as
Christians;
and some of the forms of monasticism were evidently modeled after
the
Therapeutć." (Smith's Bible Dictionary, art. "Alexandria.")
[420:1] Comp.
Matt. vi. 33; Luke, xii. 31.
[420:2] Comp.
Matt. vi. 19-21.
[420:3] Comp.
Matt. xix. 21; Luke, xii. 33.
[420:4] Comp.
Acts, ii. 44, 45; iv. 32-34; John, xii. 6; xiii. 29.
[420:5] Comp.
Matt. xx. 25-28; Mark, ix. 35-37; x. 42-45.
[420:6] Comp.
Matt. xxiii. 8-10.
[420:7] Comp.
Matt. v. 5; xi. 29.
[420:8] Comp.
Mark, xvi. 17; Matt. x. 8; Luke, ix. 1, 2; x. 9.
[420:9] Comp.
Matt. v. 34.
[420:10]
Comp. Matt. x. 9, 10.
[421:1] Comp.
Luke, xxii. 36.
[421:2] Comp.
Matt. xix. 10-12; I. Cor. viii.
[421:3] Comp.
Rom. xii. 1.
[421:4] Comp.
I. Cor. xiv. 1, 39.
[421:5] The
above comparisons have been taken from Ginsburg's "Essenes," to
which the
reader is referred for a more lengthy observation on the subject.
[421:6]
Ginsburg's Essenes, p. 24.
[421:7]
"We hear very little of them after A. D. 40; and there can hardly be any
doubt that,
owing to the great similarity existing between their precepts and
practices and
those of primitive Christians, the Essenes as a body must have
embraced
Christianity." (Dr. Ginsburg, p. 27.)
[422:1] This
will be alluded to in another chapter.
[422:2] It
was believed by some that the order of Essenes was instituted by
Elias, and
some writers asserted that there was a regular succession of hermits
upon Mount
Carmel from the time of the prophets to that of Christ, and that the
hermits
embraced Christianity at an early period. (See Ginsburgh's Essenes, and
Hardy's
Eastern Monachism, p. 358.)
[422:3]
King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. 1.
[422:4] Ibid.
p. 6.
[422:5]
King's Gnostics, p. 23.
[422:6]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. xvii.
[423:1]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. xvii.
[423:2]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. vii. "The New Testament is the
Essene-Nazarene
Glad Tidings! Adon, Adoni, Adonis, style of worship." (S. F.
Dunlap: Son
of the Man, p. iii.)
[423:3]
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 747; vol. ii. p. 34.
[423:4]
"In this," says Mr. Lillie, "he was supported by philosophers of
the
calibre of
Schilling and Schopenhauer, and the great Sanscrit authority, Lassen.
Renan also
sees traces of this Buddhist propagandism in Palestine before the
Christian
era. Hilgenfeld, Mutter, Bohlen, King, all admit the Buddhist
influence.
Colebrooke saw a striking similarity between the Buddhist philosophy
and that of
the Pythagoreans. Dean Milman was convinced that the Therapeuts
sprung from
the 'contemplative and indolent fraternities' of India." And, he
might have
added, the Rev. Robert Taylor in his "Diegesis," and Godfrey Higgins
in his
"Anacalypsis," have brought strong arguments to bear in support of
this
theory.
[424:1]
Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. vi.
[424:2]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 121.
[424:3] Ibid.
p. 240.
[425:1]
"The Essenes abounded in Egypt, especially about Alexandria."
(Eusebius:
Eccl. Hist.,
lib. 2, ch. xvii.)
[425:2]
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 255.
[426:1] Rhys
Davids' Buddhism, p. 179.
[426:2] This
is clearly shown by Mr. Higgins in his Anacalypsis. It should be
remembered
that Gautama Buddha, the "Angel-Messiah," and Cyrus, the
"Anointed"
of the Lord,
are placed about six hundred years before Jesus, the "Anointed."
This cycle of
six hundred years was called the "great year." Josephus, the
Jewish
historian, alludes to it when speaking of the patriarchs that lived to a
great age.
"God afforded them a longer time of life," says he, "on account
of
their virtue,
and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical
discoveries,
which would not have afforded the time for foretelling (the periods
of the
stars), unless they had lived six hundred years; for the great year is
completed in
that interval." (Josephus, Antiq., bk. i. c. iii.) "From this cycle
of six
hundred," says Col. Vallancey, "came the name of the bird Phśnix, called
by the
Egyptians Phenu, with the well-known story of its going to Egypt to burn
itself on the
altar of the Sun (at Heliopolis) and rise again from its ashes, at
the end of a
certain period."
[426:3]
"Philo's writings prove the probability, almost rising to a certainty,
that already
in his time the Essenes did expect an Angel-Messiah as one of a
series of
divine incarnations. Within about fifty years after Philo's death,
Elkesai the
Essene probably applied this doctrine to Jesus, and it was
promulgated
in Rome about the same time, if not earlier, by the
Pseudo-Clementines."
(Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 118.)
"There
was, at this time (i. e., at the time of the birth of Jesus), a prevalent
expectation
that some remarkable personage was about to appear in Judea. The
Jews were
anxiously looking for the coming of the Messiah. By computing the time
mentioned by
Daniel (ch. ix. 23-27), they knew that the period was approaching
when the
Messiah should appear. This personage, they supposed, would be a
temporal
prince, and they were expecting that he would deliver them from Roman
bondage. It
was natural that this expectation should spread into other
countries."
(Barnes' Notes, vol. i. p. 27.)
[427:1] Hist.
Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 273.
[427:2] See
Lardner's Works, vol. viii. p. 353.
[427:3] Apol.
1, ch. xxvi.
[428:1] See
Lardner's Works, vol. viii. p. 593.
[428:2]
Socrates: Eccl. Hist., lib. i. ch. xvii.
[429:1]
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 3, ch. xxiii.
[429:2] Ibid.
lib. 7, ch. xxx.
[429:3] The
death of Manes, according to Socrates, was as follows: The King of
Persia,
hearing that he was in Mesopotamia, "made him to be apprehended, flayed
him alive,
took his skin, filled it full of chaff, and hanged it at the gates of
the
city." (Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. xv.)
[430:1] Plato
in Apolog. Anac., ii. p. 189.
[431:1] Mark,
xiii. 21, 22.
[432:1]
Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 79.
[433:1]
Frothingham's Cradle of the Christ.
[433:2]
"The prevailing opinion of the Rabbis and the people alike, in Christ's
day, was,
that the Messiah would be simply a great prince, who should found a
kingdom of
matchless splendor." "With a few, however, the conception of the
Messiah's
kingdom was pure and lofty. . . . Daniel, and all who wrote after him,
painted the
'Expected One' as a heavenly being. He was the 'messenger,' the
'Elect of
God,' appointed from eternity, to appear in due time, and redeem his
people."
(Geikie's Life of Christ, vol. i. pp. 80, 81.)
In the book
of Daniel, by some supposed to have been written during the
captivity, by
others as late as Antiochus Epiphanes (B. C. 75), the restoration
of the Jews
is described in tremendous language, and the Messiah is portrayed as
a
supernatural personage, in close relation with Jehovah himself. In the book of
Enoch,
supposed to have been written at various intervals between 144 and 120
(B. C.) and
to have been completed in its present form in the first half of the
second
century that preceded the advent of Jesus, the figure of the Messiah is
invested with
superhuman attributes. He is called "The Son of God," "whose
name
was spoken
before the Sun was made;" "who existed from the beginning in the
presence of
God," that is, was pre-existent. At the same time his human
characteristics
are insisted on. He is called "Son of Man," even "Son of
Woman,"
"The
Anointed" or "The Christ," "The Righteous One,"
&c. (Frothingham: The
Cradle of the
Christ, p. 20.)
[433:3] This
is clearly seen from the statement made by the Matthew narrator
(xvii. 9-13)
that the disciples of Christ Jesus supposed John the Baptist was
Elias.
[434:1]
Isaiah, xlv. 1.
[434:2]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 17.
[434:3]
Quoted in Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 51.
[434:4]
Hieron ad Nep. Quoted Volney's Ruins, p. 177, note.
[434:5] See
his Eccl. Hist., viii. 21.
[435:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. pp. 79, 80.
[435:2]
"On voit dans l'histoire que j'ai rapportée une sorte d'hypocrisie, qui
n'a peut-ętre
été que trop commune dans tous les tems. C'est que des
ecclésiastiques,
non-seulement ne disent pas ce qu'ils pensent, mais disent tout
le contraire
de ce qu'ils pensent. Philosophes dans leur cabinet, hors delŕ, ils
content des
fables, quoiqu'ils sachent bien que ce sont des fables. Ils font
plus; ils
livrent au bourreau des gens de biens, pour l'avoir dit. Combiens
d'athées et
de profanes ont fait brűler de saints personnages, sous prétexte
d'hérésie?
Tous les jours des hypocrites, consacrent et font adorer l'hostie,
bien qu'ils
soient aussi convaincus que moi, que ce n'est qu'un morceau de
pain."
(Tom. 2, p. 568.)
[435:3] On
the Use of the Fathers, pp. 36, 37.
[435:4]
Quoted in Taylor's Syntagma, p. 170.
[435:5]
Mosheim: vol. 1, p. 198.
[435:6]
"Postremo illud quoque me vehementer movet, quod videam primis ecclesić
temporibus,
quam plurimos extitisse, qui facinus palmarium judicabant, cćlestem
veritatem,
figmentis suis ire adjutum, quo facilius nova doctrina a gentium
sapientibus
admitteretur Officiosa hćc mendacia vocabant bono fine exeogitata."
(Quoted in
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 44, and Giles' Hebrew and Christian Records,
vol. ii. p.
19.)
[436:1] See
the Vision of Hermas, b. 2, c. iii.
[436:2]
Mosheim, vol. i. p. 197. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 47.
[436:3] Dr.
Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 99.
[436:4]
"Continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from
the hope of
the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every
creature
which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister." (Colossians,
i. 23.)
[436:5]
"Being crafty, I caught you with guile." (II. Cor. xii. 16.)
[436:6]
"For if the truth of God had more abounded through my lie unto his
glory, why
yet am I also judged as a sinner." (Romans, iii. 7.)
[437:1]
"Si me tamen audire velis, mallem te pćnas has dicere indefinitas quam
infinitas.
Sed veniet dies, cum non minus absurda, habebitur et odiosa hćc
opinio quam
transubstantiatio hodie." (De Statu Mort., p. 304. Quoted in
Taylor's
Diegesis, p. 43.)
[437:2]
Quoted in Taylor's Syntagma, p. 52.
Among the
ancients, there were many stories current of countries, the
inhabitants
of which were of peculiar size, form or features. Our Christian
saint
evidently believed these tales, and thinking thus, sought to make others
believe them.
We find the following examples related by Herodotus: "Aristeas,
son of
Caystrobius, a native of Proconesus, says in his epic verses that,
inspired by
Apollo, he came to the Issedones; that beyond the Issedones dwell
the
Arimaspians, a people that have only one eye." (Herodotus, book iv. ch.
13.)
"When
one has passed through a considerable extent of the rugged country (of the
Seythians), a
people are found living at the foot of lofty mountains, who are
said to be
all bald from their birth, both men and women alike, and they are
flat-nosed,
and have large chins." (Ibid. ch. 23.) "These bald men say, what to
me is
incredible, that men with goat's feet inhabit these mountains; and when
one has
passed beyond them, other men are found, who sleep six months at a time,
but this I do
not at all admit." (Ibid. ch. 24.) In the country westward of
Libya,
"there are enormous serpents, and lions, elephants, bears, asps, and
asses with
horns, and monsters with dog's heads and without heads, who have eyes
in their
breasts, at least, as the Libyans say, and wild men and wild women, and
many other
wild beasts which are not fabulous." (Ibid. ch. 192.)
[438:1]
Nicodemus, Apoc., ch. xii.
[438:2] See
Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. xiv.
[438:3]
Socrates: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. xiii.
[438:4] In
year 1444, Caxton published the first book ever printed in England.
In 1474, the
then Bishop of London, in a convocation of his clergy, said: "If we
do not
destroy this dangerous invention, it will one day destroy us." (See
Middleton's
Letters from Rome, p. 4.) The reader should compare this with Pope
Leo X.'s
avowal that, "it is well known how profitable this fable of Christ has
been to
us;" and Archdeacon Paley's declaration that "he could ill afford to
have a
conscience."
[438:5]
Porphyry, who flourished about the year 270 A. D., a man of great
abilities,
published a large work of fifteen books against the Christians. "His
objections
against Christianity," says Dr. Lardner, "were in esteem with Gentile
people for a
long while; and the Christians were not insensible of the
importance of
his work; as may be concluded from the several answers made to it
by Eusebius,
and others in great repute for learning." (Vol. viii. p. 158.)
There are but
fragments of these fifteen books remaining, Christian magistrates
having
ordered them to be destroyed. (Ibid.)
[438:6]
Hierocles was a Neo-Platonist, who lived at Alexandria about the middle
of the fifth
century, and enjoyed a great reputation. He was the author of a
great number
of works, a few extracts of which alone remain.
[438:7]
Celsus was an Epicurean philosopher, who lived in the second century A.
D. He wrote a
work called "The True Word," against Christianity, but as it has
been
destroyed we know nothing about it. Origen claims to give quotations from
it.
[440:1]
Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 18-21.
[440:2]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 146.
[441:1]
Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 55, 56. See also, Socrates' Eccl.
Hist., lib.
7, ch. xv.
[442:1] We
have seen this particularly in the cases of Crishna and Buddha. Mr.
Cox, speaking
of the former, says: "If it be urged that the attribution to
Crishna of
qualities or powers belonging to the other deities is a mere device
by which his
devotees sought to supersede the more ancient gods, the answer must
be that nothing
has been done in his case which has not been done in the case of
almost every
other member of the great company of the gods." (Aryan Mythology,
vol. ii. p.
130.) These words apply to the case we have before us. Jesus was
simply
attributed with the qualities or powers which had been previously
attributed to
other deities. This we hope to be able to fully demonstrate in our
chapter on
"Explanation."
[443:1]
"Dogma of the Deity of Jesus Christ," p. 41.
[444:1]
Adherents of the old religion of Russia have been persecuted in that
country
within the past year, and even in enlightened England, a gentleman has
been
persecuted by government officials because he believes in neither a
personal God
or a personal Devil.
[444:2]
Renan, Hibbert Lectures, p. 22.
[444:3] The
following are the names of his victims:
Maximian,His
wife's father,a. d. 310
Bassianus,His
sister's husband,a. d. 314
Licinius,His
nephew,a. d. 319
Fausta,His
wife,a. d. 320
Sopater,His
former friend,a. d. 321
Licinius,His
sister's husband,a. d. 325
Crispus,His
own son,a. d. 326
Dr. Lardner,
in speaking of the murders committed by this Christian saint, is
constrained
to say that: "The death of Crispus is altogether without any good
excuse, so
likewise is the death of the young Licinianus, who could not have
been more
than a little above eleven years of age, and appears not to have been
charged with
any fault, and could hardly be suspected of any."
[444:4] The
Emperor Nero could not be baptized and be initiated into Pagan
Mysteries—as
Constantine was initiated into those of the Christians—on account
of the murder
of his mother. And he did not dare to compel—which he certainly
could have
done—the priests to initiate him.
[444:5]
Zosimus, in Socrates, lib. iii. ch. xl.
[445:1]
"The sacrament of baptism was supposed to contain a full and absolute
expiation of
sin; and the soul was instantly restored to its original purity and
entitled to
the promise of eternal salvation. Among the proselytes of
Christianity,
there were many who judged it imprudent to precipitate a salutary
rite, which
could not be repeated. By the delay of their baptism, they could
venture
freely to indulge their passions in the enjoyments of this world, while
they still
retained in their own hands the means of a sure and speedy
absolution."
(Gibbon: ii. pp. 272, 273.)
[445:2]
"Constantine, as he was praying about noon-tide, God showed him a vision
in the sky,
which was the sign of the cross lively figured in the air, with this
inscription
on it: 'In hoc vince;' that is, 'By this overcome.'" This is the
story as
related by Eusebius (Life of Constantine, lib. 1, ch. xxii.), but it
must be
remembered that Eusebius acknowledged that he told falsehoods. That
night Christ
appeared unto Constantine in his dream, and commanded him to make
the figure of
the cross which he had seen, and to wear it in his banner when he
went to
battle with his enemies. (See Eusebius' Life of Constantine, lib. 1, ch.
xxiii. See
also, Socrates: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. ii.)
[445:3]
Dupuis, p. 405.
[445:4]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 373. The Fathers, who censured this criminal
delay, could
not deny the certain and victorious efficacy even of a death-bed
baptism. The
ingenious rhetoric of Chrysostom (A. D. 347-407) could find only
three arguments
against these prudent Christians. 1. "That we should love and
pursue virtue
for her own sake, and not merely for the reward. 2. That we may be
surprised by
death without an opportunity of baptism. 3. That although we shall
be placed in
heaven, we shall only twinkle like little stars, when compared to
the suns of
righteousness who have run their appointed course with labor, with
success, and
with glory." (Chrysostom in Epist. ad Hebrćos. Homil. xiii. Quoted
in Gibbon's
"Rome," ii. 272.)
[446:1] Lib.
4, chs. lxi. and lxii., and Socrates: Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch.
xxvi.
[446:2]
Eusebius: Life of Constantine, lib. 2, ch. xliii.
[446:3] Ibid.
lib. 3, ch. lxii.
[446:4] Ibid.
lib. 3, ch. lxiii.
[446:5] Ibid.
lib. 3, ch. lxiv.
[446:6] Ibid.
lib. 4, ch. xv.
[446:7] Ibid.
ch. lxiii.
Plato places
the ferocious tyrants in the Tartarus, such as Ardiacus of
Pamphylia,
who had slain his own father, a venerable old man, also an elder
brother, and
was stained with a great many other crimes. Constantine, covered
with similar
crimes, was better treated by the Christians, who have sent him to
heaven, and
sainted him besides.
[447:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 274.
[447:2]
"Theodosius, though a professor of the orthodox Christian faith, was not
baptized till
380, and his behavior after that period stamps him as one of the
most cruel
and vindictive persecutors who ever wore the purple. His arbitrary
establishment
of the Nicene faith over the whole empire, the deprivation of
civil rites
of all apostates from Christianity and of the Eunomians, the
sentence of
death on the Manicheans, and Quarto-decimans all prove this."
(Chambers's
Encyclo., art. Theodosius.)
[447:3]
Quoted in Taylor's Syntagma, p. 54.
[447:4]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 81.
[448:1]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. pp. 91, 92.
[448:2] All
their writings were ordered to be destroyed.
[448:3]
Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 359.
[448:4] Ibid.
note 154.
[449:1]
Julian: Epistol. lii. p. 436. Quoted in Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 360.
[449:2]
"Thing"—a general assembly of the freemen, who gave their assent to a
measure by
striking their shields with their drawn swords.
[449:3] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 180, 351, and 470.
[Pg
450]CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE ANTIQUITY
OF PAGAN RELIGIONS.
We shall now
compare the great antiquity of the sacred books and religions of
Paganism with
those of the Christian, so that there may be no doubt as to which
is the
original, and which the copy. Allusions to this subject have already been
made
throughout this work, we shall therefore devote as little space to it here
as possible.
In speaking
of the sacred literature of India, Prof. Monier Williams says:
"Sanskrit
literature, embracing as it does nearly every branch of knowledge is
entirely
deficient in one department. It is wholly destitute of trustworthy
historical
records. Hence, little or nothing is known of the lives of ancient
Indian
authors, and the dates of their most celebrated works cannot be fixed
with
certainty. A fair conjecture, however, may be arrived at by comparing the
most ancient
with the more modern compositions, and estimating the period of
time required
to effect the changes of structure and idiom observable in the
language. In
this manner we may be justified in assuming that the hymns of the
Veda were
probably composed by a succession of poets at different dates between
1500 and 1000
years B. C."[450:1]
Prof. Wm. D.
Whitney shows the great antiquity of the Vedic hymns from the fact
that,
"The
language of the Vedas is an older dialect, varying very considerably, both
in its
grammatical and lexical character, from the classical Sanscrit."
And M. de
Coulanges, in his "Ancient City," says:
"We
learn from the hymns of the Vedas, which are certainly very ancient, and
from the laws
of Manu," "what the Aryans of the east thought nearly thirty-five
centuries
ago."[450:2]
That the
Vedas are of very high antiquity is unquestionable; but however remote
we may place
the period when they were written, we must necessarily presuppose
that the
Hindostanic race had [Pg 451]already attained to a comparatively high
degree of
civilization, otherwise men capable of framing such doctrines could
not have been
found. Now this state of civilization must necessarily have been
preceded by
several centuries of barbarism, during which we cannot possibly
admit a more
refined faith than the popular belief in elementary deities.
We shall see
in our next chapter that these very ancient Vedic hymns contain the
origin of the
legend of the Virgin-born God and Saviour, the great benefactor of
mankind, who
is finally put to death, and rises again to life and immortality on
the third
day.
The Geetas
and Puranas, although of a comparatively modern date, are, as we have
already seen,
nevertheless composed of matter to be found in the two great epic
poems, the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which were written many centuries
before the
time assigned as that of the birth of Christ Jesus.[451:1]
The Pali
sacred books, which contain the legend of the virgin-born God and
Saviour—Sommona
Cadom—are known to have been in existence 316 B. C.[451:2]
We have
already seen that the religion known as Buddhism, and which corresponds
in such a
striking manner with Christianity, has now existed for upwards of
twenty-four
hundred years.[451:3]
Prof. Rhys
Davids says:
"There
is every reason to believe that the Pitakas (the sacred books which
contain the
legend of 'The Buddha'), now extant in Ceylon, are substantially
identical
with the books of the Southern Canon, as settled at the Council of
Patna about
the year 250 B. C.[451:4] As no works would have been received into
the Canon
which were not then believed to be very old, the Pitakas may be
approximately
placed in the fourth century B. C., and parts of them possibly
reach back
very nearly, if not quite, to the time of Gautama himself."[451:5]
The religion
of the ancient Persians, which corresponds in so very many respects
with that of
the Christians, was established by Zoroaster—who was undoubtedly a
Brahman[451:6]—and
is contained [Pg 452]in the Zend-Avesta, their sacred book or
Bible. This
book is very ancient. Prof. Max Müller speaks of "the sacred book of
the
Zoroastrians" as being "older in its language than the cuneiform
inscriptions
of Cyrus (B. C. 560), Darius (B. C. 520), and Xerxes (B. C. 485)
those ancient
Kings of Persia, who knew that they were kings by the grace of
Auramazda,
and who placed his sacred image high on the mountain-records of
Behistun."[452:1]
That ancient book, or its fragments, at least, have survived
many
dynasties and kingdoms, and is still believed in by a small remnant of the
Persian race,
now settled at Bombay, and known all over the world by the name of
Parsees.[452:2]
"The
Babylonian and Phenician sacred books date back to a fabulous
antiquity;"[452:3]
and so do the sacred books and religion of Egypt.
Prof.
Mahaffy, in his "Prolegomena to Ancient History," says:
"There
is indeed hardly a great and fruitful idea in the Jewish or Christian
systems which
has not its analogy in the Egyptian faith, and all these
theological
conceptions pervade the oldest religion of Egypt."[452:4]
The worship
of Osiris, the Lord and Saviour, must have been of extremely ancient
date, for he
is represented as "Judge of the Dead," in sculptures contemporary
with the building
of the Pyramids, centuries before Abraham is said to have been
born. Among
the many hieroglyphic titles which accompany his figure in those
sculptures,
and in many other places on the walls of temples and tombs, are,
"Lord of
Life," "The Eternal Ruler," "Manifester of Good,"
"Revealer of Truth,"
"Full of
Goodness and Truth," etc.
In speaking
of the "Myth of Osiris," Mr. Bonwick says:
"This
great mystery of the Egyptians demands serious consideration. Its
antiquity—its
universal hold upon the people for over five thousand years—its
identification
with the very life of the nation—and its marvellous likeness to
the creed of
modern date, unite in exciting the greatest interest."[452:5]
[Pg 453]This
myth, and that of Isis and Horus, were known before the Pyramid
time.[453:1]
The worship
of the Virgin Mother in Egypt—from which country it was imported
into
Europe[453:2]—dates back thousands of years B. C. Mr. Bonwick says:
"In all
probability she was worshiped three thousand years before Moses wrote.
'Isis nursing
her child Horus, was represented,' says Mariette Bey, 'at least
six thousand
years ago.' We read the name of Isis on monuments of the fourth
dynasty, and
she lost none of her popularity to the close of the empire."
"The
Egyptian Bible is by far the most ancient of all holy books." "Plato
was
told that
Egypt possessed hymns dating back ten thousand years before his
time."[453:3]
Bunsen says:
"The
origin of the ancient prayers and hymns of the 'Book of the Dead,' is
anterior to
Menes; it implies that the system of Osirian worship and mythology
was already
formed."[453:4]
And, says Mr.
Bonwick:
"Besides
opinions, we have facts as a basis for arriving at a conclusion, and
justifying
the assertion of Dr. Birch, that the work dated from a period long
anterior to
the rise of Ammon worship at Thebes."[453:5]
Now,
"this most ancient of all holy books," establishes the fact that a
virgin-born
and resurrected Saviour was worshiped in Egypt thousands of year
before the
time of Christ Jesus.
P. Le Page
Renouf says:
"The
earliest monuments which have been discovered present to us the very same
fully-developed
civilization and the same religion as the later monuments. . . .
The gods
whose names appear in the oldest tombs were worshiped down to the
Christian
times. The same kind of priesthoods which are mentioned in the tablets
of Canopus
and Rosetta in the Ptolemaic period are as ancient as the pyramids,
and more
ancient than any pyramid of which we know the date."[453:6]
In regard to
the doctrine of the Trinity. We have just seen that "the
development
of the One God into a Trinity" pervades the oldest religion of
Egypt, and
the same may be said of India. Prof. Monier Williams, speaking on
this subject,
says:
"It
should be observed that the native commentaries on the Veda often allude to
thirty-three
gods, which number is also mentioned in the Rig-Veda. This is a
multiple of
three, which is a sacred number constantly appearing in the Hindu
religious
system. It is probable, indeed, that although the Tri-murti is [Pg
454]not named
in the Vedic hymns,[454:1] yet the Veda is the real source of this
Triad of
personifications, afterwards so conspicuous in Hindu mythology. This
much, at
least, is clear, that the Vedic poets exhibited a tendency to group all
the forces
and energies of nature under three heads, and the assertion that the
number of the
gods was thirty-three, amounted to saying that each of the three
leading
personifications was capable of eleven modifications."[454:2]
The great antiquity
of the legends referred to in this work is demonstrated in
the fact that
they were found in a great measure on the continent of America, by
the first
Europeans who set foot on its soil. Now, how did they get there? Mr.
Lundy, in his
"Monumental Christianity," speaking on this subject, says:
"So
great was the resemblance between the two sacraments of the Christian Church
(viz., that
of Baptism and the Eucharist) and those of the ancient Mexicans; so
many other
points of similarity, also, in doctrine existed, as to the unity of
God, the
Triad, the Creation, the Incarnation and Sacrifice, the Resurrection,
etc., that
Herman Witsius, no mean scholar and thinker, was induced to believe
that
Christianity had been preached on this continent by some one of the
apostles,
perhaps St. Thomas, from the fact that he is reported to have carried
the Gospel to
India and Tartary, whence he came to America."[454:3]
Some writers,
who do not think that St. Thomas could have gotten to America,
believe that
St. Patrick, or some other saint, must have, in some unaccountable
manner,
reached the shores of the Western continent, and preached their doctrine
there.[454:4]
Others have advocated the devil theory, which is, that the devil,
being jealous
of the worship of Christ Jesus, set up a religion of his own, and
imitated,
nearly as possible, the religion of Christ. All of these theories
being
untenable, we must, in the words of Burnouf, the eminent French
Orientalist,
"learn one day that all ancient traditions disfigured by emigration
and legend,
belong to the history of India."
That America
was inhabited by Asiatic emigrants, and that the American legends
are of
Asiatic origin, we believe to be indisputable. There is an abundance of
proof to this
effect.[454:5]
In contrast
to the great antiquity of the sacred books and religions of
Paganism, we
have the facts that the Gospels were not written by the persons
whose names
they bear, that they were written many years after the time these
men are said
to have lived, and that they are full of interpolations and errors.
The first
that [Pg 455]we know of the four gospels is at the time of Irenćus,
who, in the
second century, intimates that he had received four gospels, as
authentic
scriptures. This pious forger was probably the author of the fourth,
as we shall
presently see.
Besides these
gospels there were many more which were subsequently deemed
apocryphal;
the narratives related in them of Christ Jesus and his apostles were
stamped as
forgeries.
"The
Gospel according to Matthew" is believed by the majority of biblical
scholars of
the present day to be the oldest of the four, and to be made up
principally
of a pre-existing one, called "The Gospel of the Hebrews." The
principal
difference in these two gospels being that "The Gospel of the
Hebrews"
commenced
with giving the genealogy of Jesus from David, through Joseph
"according
to the flesh." The story of Jesus being born of a virgin was not to
be found
there, it being an afterpiece, originating either with the writer of
"The
Gospel according to Matthew," or some one after him, and was evidently
taken from
"The Gospel of the Egyptians." "The Gospel of the
Hebrews"—from
which, we
have said, the Matthew narrator copied—was an intensely Jewish gospel,
and was to be
found—in one of its forms—among the Ebionites, who were the
narrowest
Jewish Christians of the second century. "The Gospel according to
Matthew"
is, therefore, the most Jewish gospel of the four; in fact, the most
Jewish book
in the New Testament, excepting, perhaps, the Apocalypse and the
Epistle of
James.
Some of the
more conspicuous Jewish traits, to be found in this gospel, are as
follows:
Jesus is sent
only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The twelve are
forbidden to
go among the Gentiles or the Samaritans. They are to sit on twelve
thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The genealogy of Jesus is traced
back to
Abraham, and there stops.[455:1] The works of the law are frequently
insisted on.
There is a superstitious regard for the Sabbath, &c.
There is no
evidence of the existence of the Gospel of Matthew,—in its present
form—until
the year 173, A. D. It is at this time, also, that it is first
ascribed to
Matthew, by Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis. The original oracles
of the Gospel
of the Hebrews, however,—which were made use of by the author of
our present
[Pg 456]Gospel of Matthew,—were written, likely enough, not long
before the
destruction of Jerusalem, but the Gospel itself dates from about A.
D. 100.[456:1]
"The
Gospel according to Luke" is believed to come next—in chronological
order—to that
of Matthew, and to have been written some fifteen or twenty years
after it. The
author was a foreigner, as his writings plainly show that he was
far removed
from the events which he records.
In writing
his Gospel, the author made use of that of Matthew, the Gospel of the
Hebrews, and
Marcion's Gospel. He must have had, also, still other sources, as
there are
parables peculiar to it, which are not found in them. Among these may
be mentioned
that of the "Prodigal Son," and the "Good Samaritan." Other
parables
peculiar to it are that of the two debtors; the friend borrowing bread
at night; the
rich man's barns; Dives and Lazarus; the lost piece of silver; the
unjust
steward; the Pharisee and the Publican.
Several
miracles are also peculiar to the Luke narrator's Gospel, the raising of
the widow of
Nain's son being the most remarkable. Perhaps these stories were
delivered to
him orally, and perhaps he is the author of them,—we shall never
know. The
foundation of the legends, however, undoubtedly came from the "certain
scriptures"
of the Essenes in Egypt. The principal object which the writer of
this gospel
had in view was to reconcile Paulinism and the more Jewish forms of
Christianity.[456:2]
The next in
chronological order, according to the same school of critics, is
"The
Gospel according to Mark." This gospel is supposed to have been written
within ten
years of the former, and its author, as of the other two gospels, is
unknown. It
was probably written at Rome, as the Latinisms of the author's
style, and
the apparent motive of his work, strongly suggest that he was a
Jewish
citizen of the Eternal City. He made use of the Gospel of Matthew as his
principal
authority, and probably referred to that of Luke, as he has things in
common with
Luke only.
The object
which the writer had in view, was to have a neutral go-between, a
compromise
between Matthew as too Petrine (Jewish), and Luke as too Pauline
(Gentile).
The different aspects of Matthew and Luke were found to be confusing
to believers,
and provocative of hostile criticism from without; hence the idea
of writing a
shorter gospel, that should combine the most essential elements of
both. Luke
was itself a compromise between the [Pg 457]opposing Jewish and
universal
tendencies of early Christianity, but Mark endeavors by avoidance and
omission to
effect what Luke did more by addition and contrast. Luke proposed to
himself to
open a door for the admission of Pauline ideas without offending
Gentile
Christianity; Mark, on the contrary, in a negative spirit, to publish a
Gospel which
should not hurt the feelings of either party. Hence his avoidance
of all those
disputed questions which disturbed the church during the first
quarter of
the second century. The genealogy of Jesus is omitted; this being
offensive to
Gentile Christians, and even to some of the more liberal Judaizers.
The
supernatural birth of Jesus is omitted, this being offensive to the
Ebonitish
(extreme Jewish) and some of the Gnostic Christians. For every
Judaizing
feature that is sacrificed, a universal one is also sacrificed. Hard
words against
the Jews are left out, but with equal care, hard words about the
Gentiles.[457:1]
We now come
to the fourth, and last gospel, that "according to John," which was
not written
until many years after that "according to Matthew."
"It is
impossible to pass from the Synoptic[457:2] Gospels," says Canon
Westcott,
"to the fourth, without feeling that the transition involves the
passage from
one world of thought to another. No familiarity with the general
teachings of
the Gospels, no wide conception of the character of the Saviour, is
sufficient to
destroy the contrast which exists in form and spirit between the
earlier and
later narratives."
The
discrepancies between the fourth and the Synoptic Gospels are numerous. If
Jesus was the
man of Matthew's Gospel, he was not the mysterious being of the
fourth. If
his ministry was only one year long, it was not three. If he made but
one journey
to Jerusalem, he did not make many. If his method of teaching was
that of the
Synoptics, it was not that of the fourth Gospel. If he was the Jew
of Matthew,
he was not the Anti-Jew of John.[457:3]
[Pg 458]Everywhere
in John we come upon a more developed stage of Christianity
than in the
Synoptics. The scene, the atmosphere, is different. In the Synoptics
Judaism, the
Temple, the Law and the Messianic Kingdom are omnipresent. In John
they are
remote and vague. In Matthew Jesus is always yearning for his own
nation. In
John he has no other sentiment for it than hate and scorn. In Matthew
the sanction
of the Prophets is his great credential. In John his dignity can
tolerate no
previous approximation.
"Do we
ask," says Francis Tiffany, "who wrote this wondrous Gospel?
Mysterious
its origin,
as that wind of which its author speaks, which bloweth where it
listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof and canst not tell whence it cometh
or whither it
goeth. As with the Great Unknown of the book of Job, the Great
Unknown of
the later Isaiah, the ages keep his secret. The first absolutely
indisputable
evidence of the existence of the book dates from the latter half of
the second
century."
The first
that we know of the fourth Gospel, for certainty, is at the time of
Irenćus (A.
D. 179).[458:1] We look in vain for an express recognition of the
four
canonical Gospels, or for a distinct mention of any one of them, in the
writings of
St. Clement (A. D. 96), St. Ignatius (A. D. 107), St. Justin (A. D.
140), or St.
Polycarp (A. D. 108). All we can find is incidents from the life of
Jesus,
sayings, etc.
That Irenćus
is the author of it is very evident. This learned and pious forger
says:
"John,
the disciple of the Lord, wrote his Gospel to confute the doctrine lately
taught by
Cerinthus, and a great while before by those called Nicolaitans, a
branch of the
Gnostics; and to show that there is one God who made all things by
his WORD: and
not, as they say, that there is one the Creator, and another the
Father of our
Lord: and one the Son of the Creator, and another, even the
Christ, who
descended from above upon the Son of the Creator, and continued
impassible,
and at length returned to his pleroma or fulness."[458:2]
The idea of
God having inspired four different men to write a history of the
same
transactions,—or rather, of many [Pg 459]different men having undertaken to
write such a
history, of whom God inspired four only to write correctly, leaving
the others to
their own unaided resources, and giving us no test by which to
distinguish
the inspired from the uninspired—certainly appears self-confuting,
and anything
but natural.
The reasons
assigned by Irenćus for there being four Gospels are as follows:
"It is
impossible that there could be more or less than four. For there are four
climates, and
four cardinal winds; but the Gospel is the pillar and foundation
of the
church, and its breath of life. The church therefore was to have four
pillars,
blowing immortality from every quarter, and giving life to man."[459:1]
It was by
this Irenćus, with the assistance of Clement of Alexandria, and
Tertullian,
one of the Latin Fathers, that the four Gospels were introduced into
general use
among the Christians.
In these four
spurious Gospels, and in some which are considered
Apocryphal—because
the bishops at the Council of Laodicea (A. D. 365) rejected
them—we have
the only history of Jesus of Nazareth. Now, if all accounts or
narratives of
Christ Jesus and his Apostles were forgeries, as it is admitted
that all the
Apocryphal ones were, what can the superior character of the
received
Gospels prove for them, but that they are merely superiorly executed
forgeries?
The existence of Jesus is implied in the New Testament outside of the
Gospels, but
hardly an incident of his life is mentioned, hardly a sentence that
he spoke has
been preserved. Paul, writing from twenty to thirty years after his
death, has
but a single reference to anything he ever said or did.
Beside these
four Gospels there were, as we said above, many others, for, in the
words of
Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian:
"Not
long after Christ's ascension into heaven, several histories of his life
and
doctrines, full of pious frauds and fabulous wonders, were composed by
persons whose
intentions, perhaps, were not bad, but whose writings discovered
the greatest
superstition and ignorance. Nor was this all; productions appeared,
which were
imposed upon the world by fraudulent men, as the writings of the holy
apostles."[459:2]
Dr. Conyers
Middleton, speaking on this subject, says:
"There
never was any period of time in all ecclesiastical history, in which so
many rank
heresies were publicly professed, nor in which so many spurious books
were forged
and published by the Christians, under the names of Christ, and the
Apostles, and
the Apostolic writers, as in those primitive ages. Several of
these forged
books are frequently cited and applied to the defense of
Christianity,
by the most eminent fathers of the same ages, as true and genuine
pieces."[459:3]
[Pg
460]Archbishop Wake also admits that:
"It
would be useless to insist on all the spurious pieces which were attributed
to St. Paul
alone, in the primitive ages of Christianity."[460:1]
Some of the
"spurious pieces which were attributed to St. Paul," may be found
to-day in our
canonical New Testament, and are believed by many to be the word
of
God.[460:2]
The learned
Bishop Faustus, in speaking of the authenticity of the New
Testament,
says:
"It is
certain that the New Testament was not written by Christ himself, nor by
his apostles,
but a long while after them, by some unknown persons, who, lest
they should
not be credited when they wrote of affairs they were little
acquainted
with, affixed to their works the names of the apostles, or of such as
were supposed
to have been their companions, asserting that what they had
written
themselves, was written according to these persons to whom they ascribed
it."[460:3]
Again he
says:
"Many things
have been inserted by our ancestors in the speeches of our Lord,
which, though
put forth under his name, agree not with his faith; especially
since—as
already it has been often proved—these things were not written by
Christ, nor
his apostles, but a long while after their assumption, by I know not
what sort of
half Jews, not even agreeing with themselves, who made up their
tale out of
reports and opinions merely, and yet, fathering the whole upon the
names of the
apostles of the Lord, or on those who were supposed to follow the
apostles,
they mendaciously pretended that they had written their lies and
conceits
according to them."[460:4]
What had been
said to have been done in India, was said by these "half-Jews" to
have been
done in Palestine; the change of names and places, with the mixing up
of various
sketches of the Egyptian, Persian, Phenician, Greek and Roman
mythology,
was all that was necessary. They had an abundance of material, and
with it they
built. The foundation upon which they built was undoubtedly the
"Scriptures,"
or Diegesis, of the Essenes in Alexandria in Egypt, which fact led
Eusebius, the
ecclesiastical historian—"without whom," says Tillemont, "we
should scarce
have had any knowledge of the history of the first ages of
Christianity,
or of the authors who wrote in that time"—to say that the sacred
writings used
by this sect were none other than "Our Gospels."
[Pg 461]We
offer below a few of the many proofs showing the Gospels to have been
written a
long time after the events narrated are said to have occurred, and by
persons
unacquainted with the country of which they wrote.
"He
(Jesus) came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of
Decapolis,"
is an assertion made by the Mark narrator (vii. 31), when there were
no coasts of
Decapolis, nor was the name so much as known before the reign of
the emperor
Nero.
Again,
"He (Jesus) departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea,
beyond
Jordan," is an assertion made by the Matthew narrator (xix. 1), when the
Jordan itself
was the eastern boundary of Judea, and there were no coasts of
Judea beyond
it.
Again,
"But when he (Joseph) heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea, in the
room of his
father Herod, he was afraid to go thither, notwithstanding, being
warned of God
in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee, and he came
and dwelt in
a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled, which was
spoken by the
prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene," is another assertion
made by the
Matthew narrator (ii. 22, 23), when—1. It was a son of Herod who
reigned in
Galilee as well as Judea, so that he could not be more secure in one
province than
in the other; and when—2. It was impossible for him to have gone
from Egypt to
Nazareth, without traveling through the whole extent of
Archelaus's
kingdom, or making a peregrination through the deserts on the north
and east of
the Lake Asphaltites, and the country of Moab; and then, either
crossing the
Jordan into Samaria or the Lake of Gennesareth into Galilee, and
from thence
going to the city of Nazareth, which is no better geography, than if
one should
describe a person as turning aside from Cheapside into the parts of
Yorkshire;
and when—3. There were no prophets whatever who had prophesied that
Jesus
"should be called a Nazarene."
The Matthew
narrator (iv. 13) states that "He departed into Galilee, and leaving
Nazareth,
came and dwelt in Capernaum," as if he imagined that the city of
Nazareth was
not as properly in Galilee as Capernaum was; which is much such
geographical
accuracy, as if one should relate the travels of a hero, who
departed into
Middlesex, and leaving London, came and dwelt in Lombard
street.[461:1]
[Pg 462]There
are many other falsehoods in gospel geography beside these, which,
it is
needless to mention, plainly show that the writers were not the persons
they are
generally supposed to be.
Of gospel
statistics there are many falsehoods; among them may be mentioned the
following:
"Annas
and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the
son of
Zacharias in the wilderness," is an assertion made by the Luke narrator
(Luke iii.
2); when all Jews, or persons living among them, must have known that
there never
was but one high priest at a time, as with ourselves there is but
one mayor of
a city.
Again we read
(John vii. 52), "Search (the Scriptures) and look, for out of
Galilee
ariseth no prophet," when the most distinguished of the Jewish
prophets—Nahum
and Jonah—were both Galileans.
See reference
in the Epistles to "Saints," a religious order, owing its origin
to the popes.
Also, references to the distinct orders of "Bishops,"
"Priests,"
and
"Deacons," and calls to a monastic life; to fasting, etc., when, the
titles
of
"Bishop," "Priest," and "Deacon" were given to
the Essenes—whom Eusebius
calls
Christians—and, as is well known, monasteries were the abode of the
Essenes or
Therapeuts.
See the words
for "legion," "aprons," "handkerchiefs,"
"centurion," etc., in the
original, not
being Greek, but Latin, written in Greek characters, a practice
first to be
found in the historian Herodian, in the third century.
In Matt. xvi.
18, and Matt. xviii. 17, the word "Church" is used, and its
papistical
and infallible authority referred to as then existing, which is known
not to have
existed till ages after. And the passage in Matt. xi. 12:—"From the
days of John
the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,"
etc., could
not have been written till a very late period.
Luke ii. 1,
shows that the writer (whoever he may have been) lived long after
the events
related. His dates, about the fifteenth year of Tiberius, and the
government of
Cyrenius (the only indications of time in the New Testament), are
manifestly
false. The general ignorance of the four Evangelists, not merely of
the geography
and statistics of Judea, but even of its language,—their egregious
blunders,
which no writers who had lived in that age could be conceived of as
making,—prove
that they were not only no such persons as those who have been
willing to be
deceived have taken them to be, but that they were not Jews, had
never been in
Palestine, and neither lived at, or at anywhere near the times to
[Pg 463]which
their narratives seem to refer. The ablest divines at the present
day, of all
denominations, have yielded as much as this.[463:1]
The
Scriptures were in the hands of the clergy only, and they had every
opportunity
to insert whatsoever they pleased; thus we find them full of
interpolations.
Johann Solomo Semler, one of the most influential theologians of
the
eighteenth century, speaking of this, says:
"The
Christian doctors never brought their sacred books before the common
people;
although people in general have been wont to think otherwise; during the
first ages,
they were in the hands of the clergy only."[463:2]
Concerning
the time when the canon of the New Testament was settled, Mosheim
says:
"The
opinions, or rather the conjectures, of the learned concerning the time
when the
books of the New Testament were collected into one volume; as also
about the
authors of that collection, are extremely different. This important
question is
attended with great and almost insuperable difficulties to us in
these later
times."[463:3]
The Rev. B.
F. Westcott says:
"It is
impossible to point to any period as marking the date at which our
present canon
was determined. When it first appears, it is presented not as a
novelty, but
as an ancient tradition."[463:4]
Dr. Lardner
says:
"Even so
late as the middle of the sixth century, the canon of the New Testament
had not been
settled by any authority that was decisive and universally [Pg
464]acknowledged,
but Christian people were at liberty to judge for themselves
concerning
the genuineness of writings proposed to them as apostolical, and to
determine
according to evidence."[464:1]
The learned
Michaelis says:
"No
manuscript of the New Testament now extant is prior to the sixth century,
and what is
to be lamented, various readings which, as appears from the
quotations of
the Fathers, were in the text of the Greek Testament, are to be
found in none
of the manuscripts which are at present remaining."[464:2]
And Bishop
Marsh says:
"It is a
certain fact, that several readings in our common printed text are
nothing more
than alterations made by Origen, whose authority was so great in
the Christian
Church (A. D. 230) that emendations which he proposed, though, as
he himself
acknowledged, they were supported by the evidence of no manuscript,
were very
generally received."[464:3]
In his
Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius gives us a list of what books at that
time (A. D.
315) were considered canonical. They are as follows:
"The
four-fold writings of the Evangelists," "The Acts of the
Apostles," "The
Epistles of
Peter," "after these the first of John, and that of Peter,"
"All
these are
received for undoubted." "The Revelation of St. John, some
disavow."
"The
books which are gainsaid, though well known unto many, are these: the
Epistle of
James, the Epistle of Jude, the latter of Peter, the second and third
of John,
whether they were John the Evangelist, or some other of the same
name."[464:4]
Though
Irenćus, in the second century, is the first who mentions the
evangelists,
and Origen, in the third century, is the first who gives us a
catalogue of
the books contained in the New Testament, Mosheim's admission still
stands before
us. We have no grounds of assurance that the mere mention of the
names of the
evangelists by Irenćus, or the arbitrary drawing up of a particular
catalogue by
Origen, were of any authority. It is still unknown by whom, or
where, or
when, the canon of the New Testament was settled. But in this absence
of positive
evidence we have abundance of negative proof. We know when it was
not settled.
We know it was not settled in the time of the Emperor Justinian,
nor in the
time of Cassiodorus; that is, not at any time before the middle of
the sixth
century, "by any authority that was decisive and universally
acknowledged;
but Christian people were at liberty to judge for themselves
concerning
the genuineness of writings proposed to them as apostolical."
[Pg 465]We
cannot do better than close this chapter with the words of Prof. Max
Müller, who,
in speaking of Buddhism, says:
"We have
in the history of Buddhism an excellent opportunity for watching the
process by
which a canon of sacred books is called into existence. We see here,
as elsewhere,
that during the life-time of the teacher, no record of events, no
sacred code
containing the sayings of the Master, was wanted. His presence was
enough, and
thoughts of the future, and more particularly, of future greatness,
seldom
entered the minds of those who followed him. It was only after Buddha had
left the
world to enter into Nirvâna, that his disciples attempted to recall the
sayings and
doings of their departed friend and master. At that time, everything
that seemed
to redound to the glory of Buddha, however extraordinary and
incredible,
was eagerly welcomed, while witnesses who would have ventured to
criticise or
reject unsupported statements, or to detract in any way from the
holy
character of Buddha, had no chance of ever being listened to. And when, in
spite of all
this, differences of opinion arose, they were not brought to the
test by a
careful weighing of evidence, but the names of 'unbeliever' and
'heretic'
were quickly invented in India as elsewhere, and bandied backwards and
forwards
between contending parties, till at last, when the doctors disagreed,
the help of
the secular power had to be invoked, and kings and emperors
assembled
councils for the suppression of schism, for the settlement of an
orthodox
creed, and for the completion of a sacred canon."[465:1]
That which
Prof. Müller describes as taking place in the religion of Christ
Buddha, is
exactly what took place in the religion of Christ Jesus. That the
miraculous,
and many of the non-miraculous, events related in the Gospels never
happened, is
demonstrable from the facts which we have seen in this work, that
nearly all of
these events, had been previously related of the gods and
goddesses of
heathen nations of antiquity, more especially of the Hindoo Saviour
Crishna, and
the Buddhist Saviour Buddha, whose religion, with less alterations
than time and
translations have made in the Jewish Scriptures, may be traced in
nearly every
dogma and every ceremony of the evangelical mythology.
Note.—The
Codex Sinaiticus, referred to on the preceding page, (note 2,) was
found at the
Convent of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai, by Tischendorf, in 1859. He
supposes that
it belongs to the 4th cent.; but Dr. Davidson (in Kitto's Bib.
Ency., Art.
MSS.) thinks different. He says: "Probably it is of the 6th cent.,"
while he
states that the Codex Vaticanus "is believed to belong to the 4th
cent.,"
and the Codex Alexandrinus to the 5th cent. McClintock & Strong's Ency.
(Art. MSS.,)
relying probably on Tischendorf's conjecture, places the Codex
Sinaiticus
first. "It is probably the oldest of the MSS. of the N. T., and of
the 4th
cent.," say they. The Codex Vaticanus is considered the next oldest, and
the Codex
Alexandrinus is placed third in order, and "was probably written in
the first
half of the 5th cent." The writer of the art. N. T. in Smith's Bib.
Dic. says:
"The Codex Sinaiticus is probably the oldest of the MSS. of the N.
T., and of
the 4th cent.;" and that the Codex Alexandrinus "was probably written
in the first
half of the 5th cent." Thus we see that in determining the dates of
the MSS. of
the N. T., Christian divines are obliged to resort to conjecture;
there being
no certainty whatever in the matter. But with all their
"suppositions,"
"probabilities," "beliefs" and "conjectures," we
have the words
of the
learned Michaelis still before us, that: "No MSS. of the N. T. now extant
are prior to
the sixth cent." This remark, however, does not cover the Codex
Sinaiticus,
which was discovered since Michaelis wrote his work on the N. T.;
but, as we
saw above, Dr. Davidson does not agree with Tischendorf in regard to
its
antiquity, and places it in the 6th cent.
FOOTNOTES:
[450:1]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 19. See also, Prof. Max Müller's Lectures on the
Origin of
Religion, pp. 145-158, and p. 67, where he speaks of "the Hindus, who,
thousands of
years ago, had reached in Upanishads the loftiest heights of
philosophy."
[450:2] The
Ancient City, p. 13.
[451:1] See
Monier Williams' Hinduism, pp. 109, 110, and Indian Wisdom, p. 493.
[451:2] See
Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 576, for the authority of Prof. Max
Müller.
[451:3]
"The religion known as Buddhism—from the title of 'The Buddha,' meaning
'The Wise,'
'The Enlightened'—has now existed for 2400 years, and may be said to
be the
prevailing religion of the world." (Chambers's Encyclo.)
[451:4] This
Council was assembled by Asoka in the eighteenth year of his reign.
The name of
this king is honored wherever the teachings of Buddha have spread,
and is
reverenced from the Volga to Japan, from Ceylon and Siam to the borders
of Mongolia
and Siberia. Like his Christian prototype Constantine, he was
converted by
a miracle. After his conversion, which took place in the tenth year
of his reign,
he became a very zealous supporter of the new religion. He himself
built many
monasteries and dagabas, and provided many monks with the necessaries
of life; and
he encouraged those about his court to do the same. He published
edicts
throughout his empire, enjoining on all his subjects morality and
justice.
[451:5] Rhys
Davids' Buddhism, p. 10.
[451:6] See
Chapter VII.
[452:1]
Müller: Lectures on the Science of Religion, p. 235.
[452:2] This
small tribe of Persians were driven from their native land by the
Mohammedan
conquerors under the Khalif Omar, in the seventh century of our era.
Adhering to
the ancient religion of Persia, which resembles that of the Veda,
and bringing
with them the records of their faith, the Zend-Avesta of their
prophet
Zoroaster, they settled down in the neighborhood of Surat, about one
thousand one
hundred years ago, and became great merchants and shipbuilders. For
two or three
centuries we know little of their history. Their religion prevented
them from
making proselytes, and they never multiplied within themselves to any
extent, nor
did they amalgamate with the Hindoo population, so that even now
their number
only amounts to about seventy thousand. Nevertheless, from their
busy,
enterprising habits, in which they emulate Europeans, they form an
important
section of the population of Bombay and Western India.
[452:3]
Movers: Quoted in Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 261.
[452:4]
Prolegomena, p. 417.
[452:5]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 162.
[453:1]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 163.
[453:2] Ibid.
p. 142, and King's Gnostics, p. 71.
[453:3]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, pp. 135, 140, and 143.
[453:4] Quoted
in Ibid. p. 186.
[453:5] Ibid.
[453:6]
Renouf: Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 81.
[454:1] That
is, the Tri-murti Brahmā, Vishnu and Siva, for he tells us that the
three gods,
Indra, Agni, and Surya, constitute the Vedic chief triad of Gods.
(Hinduism, p.
24.) Again he tells us that the idea of a Tri-murti was first
dimly
shadowed forth in the Rig-Veda, where a triad of principal gods—Agni,
Indra and
Surya—is recognized. (Ibid. p. 88.) The worship of the three members
of the
Tri-murti, Brahmā, Vishnu and Siva, is to be found in the period of
the
epic poems,
from 500 to 308 B. C. (Ibid. pp. 109, 110, 115.)
[454:2]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 25.
[454:3]
Monumental Christianity, p. 890.
[454:4] See
Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi.
[454:5] See
Appendix A.
[455:1] The
genealogy which traces him back to Adam (Luke iii.) makes his
religion not
only a Jewish, but a Gentile one. According to this Gospel he is
not only a
Messiah sent to the Jews, but to all nations, sons of Adam.
[456:1] See
The Bible of To-Day, under "Matthew."
[456:2] See
Ibid. under "Luke."
[457:1] See
the Bible of To-Day, under "Mark."
[457:2]
"Synoptics;" the Gospels which contain accounts of the same
events—"parallel
passages," as they are called—which can be written side by
side, so as
to enable us to make a general view or synopsis of all the three,
and at the
same time compare them with each other. Bishop Marsh says: "The most
eminent
critics are at present decidedly of opinion that one of the two
suppositions
must necessarily be adopted, either that the three Evangelists
copied from
each other, or that all the three drew from a common source, and
that the
notion of an absolute independence, in respect to the composition of
the three
first Gospels, is no longer tenable."
[457:3]
"On opening the New Testament and comparing the impression produced by
the Gospel of
Matthew or Mark with that by the Gospel of John, the observant eye
is at once
struck with as salient a contrast as that already indicated on
turning from
the Macbeth or Othello of Shakespeare to the Comus of Milton or to
Spenser's
Faerie Queene." (Francis Tiffany.)
"To
learn how far we may trust them (the Gospels) we must in the first place
compare them
with each other. The moment we do so we notice that the fourth
stands quite
alone, while the first three form a single group, not only
following the
same general course, but sometimes even showing a verbal agreement
which cannot
possibly be accidental." (The Bible for Learners, vol. ii. p. 27.)
[458:1]
"Irenćus is the first person who mentions the four Gospels by name."
(Bunsen: Keys
of St. Peter, p. 328.)
"Irenćus,
in the second century, is the first of the fathers who, though he has
nowhere given
us a professed catalogue of the books of the New Testament,
intimates
that he had received four Gospels, as authentic Scriptures, the
authors of
which he describes." (Rev. R. Taylor: Syntagma, p. 109.)
"The
authorship of the fourth Gospel has been the subject of much learned and
anxious
controversy among theologians. The earliest, and only very important
external
testimony we have is that of Irenćus (A. D. 179.)" (W. R. Grey: The
Creed of
Christendom, p. 159.)
[458:2]
Against Heresies, bk. ii. ch. xi. sec. 1.
[459:1]
Against Heresies, bk. iii. ch. xi. sec. 8.
[459:2]
Mosheim: vol. i. p. 109.
[459:3]
Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 59.
[460:1]
Genuine Epist. Apost. Fathers, p. 98.
[460:2] See
Chadwick's Bible of To-Day, pp. 191, 192.
[460:3]
"Nec ab ipso scriptum constat, nec ab ejus apostolis sed longo post
tempore a
quibusdam incerti nominis viris, qui ne sibi non haberetur fides
scribentibus
quć nescirent, partim apostolorum, partim eorum qui apostolos
secuti
viderentur nomina scriptorum suorum frontibus indiderunt, asseverantes
secundum eos,
se scripsisse quć scripserunt." (Faust, lib. 2. Quoted by Rev. R.
Taylor:
Diegesis, p. 114.)
[460:4]
"Multa enim a majoribus vestris, eloquiis Domini nostri inserta verba
sunt; quć
nomine signata ipsius, cum ejus fide non congruant, prćsertim, quia,
ut jam sćpe
probatum a nobis est, nec ab ipso hćc sunt, nec ab ejus apostolis
scripta, sed
multo post eorum assumptionem, a nescio quibus, et ipsis inter se
non
concordantibus semi-Judćis, per famas opinionesque comperta sunt; qui tamen
omnia eadem
in apostolorum Domini conferentes nomina vel eorum qui secuti
apostolos
viderentur, errores ac mendacia sua secundum eos se scripsisse mentiti
sunt."
(Faust.: lib. 88. Quoted in Ibid. p. 66.)
[461:1]
Taylor's Diegesis.
[463:1] Says
Prof. Smith upon this point: "All the earliest external evidence
points to the
conclusion that the synoptic gospels are non-apostolic digests of
spoken and
written apostolic tradition, and that the arrangement of the earlier
material in
orderly form took place only gradually and by many essays."
Dr. Hooykaas,
speaking of the four "Gospels," and "Acts," says of them:
"Not one
of these five
books was really written by the person whose name it bears, and
they are all
of more recent date than the heading would lead us to suppose."
"We
cannot say that the "Gospels" and book of "Acts" are
unauthentic, for not
one of them
professes to give the name of its author. They appeared anonymously.
The titles
placed above them in our Bibles owe their origin to a later
ecclesiastical
tradition which deserves no confidence whatever." (Bible for
Learners,
vol. iii. pp. 24, 25.)
These Gospels
"can hardly be said to have had authors at all. They had only
editors or
compilers. What I mean is, that those who enriched the old Christian
literature
with these Gospels did not go to work as independent writers and
compose their
own narratives out of the accounts they had collected, but simply
took up the
different stories or sets of stories which they found current in the
oral
tradition or already reduced to writing, adding here and expanding there,
and so sent
out into the world a very artless kind of composition. These works
were then,
from time to time, somewhat enriched by introductory matter or
interpolations
from the hands of later Christians, and perhaps were modified a
little here
and there. Our first two Gospels appear to have passed through more
than one such
revision. The third, whose writer says in his preface, that 'many
had
undertaken to put together a narrative (Gospel),' before him, appears to
proceed from
a single collecting, arranging, and modifying hand." (Ibid. p. 29.)
[463:2]
"Christiani doctores non in vulgus prodebant libros sacros, licet
soleant
plerique aliteropinari, erant tantum in manibus clericorum, priora per
sćcula."
(Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 48.)
[463:3]
Mosheim: vol. i. pt. 2, ch. ii.
[463:4]
General Survey of the Canon, p. 459.
[464:1]
Credibility of the Gospels.
[464:2]
Marsh's Michaelis, vol. ii. p. 160. The Sinaitic MS. is believed by
Tischendorf
to belong to the fourth century.
[464:3] Ibid.
p. 368.
[464:4]
Eusebius: Ecclesiastical Hist. lib. 3, ch. xxii.
[465:1] The
Science of Religion, pp. 30, 31.
[Pg
466]CHAPTER XXXIX.
EXPLANATION.
After what we
have seen concerning the numerous virgin-born, crucified and
resurrected
Saviours, believed on in the Pagan world for so many centuries
before the
time assigned for the birth of the Christian Saviour, the questions
naturally
arise: were they real personages? did they ever exist in the flesh?
whence came
these stories concerning them? have they a foundation in truth, or
are they
simply creations of the imagination?
The
historical theory—according to which all the persons mentioned in mythology
were once
real human beings, and the legends and fabulous traditions relating to
them were
merely the additions and embellishments of later times—which was so
popular with
scholars of the last century, has been altogether abandoned.
Under the
historical point of view the gods are mere deified mortals, either
heroes who
have been deified after their death, or Pontiff-chieftains who have
passed
themselves off for gods, and who, it is gratuitously supposed, found
people stupid
enough to believe in their pretended divinity. This was the manner
in which,
formerly, writers explained the mythology of nations of antiquity; but
a method that
pre-supposed an historical Crishna, an historical Osiris, an
historical
Mithra, an historical Hercules, an historical Apollo, or an
historical
Thor, was found untenable, and therefore, does not, at the present
day, stand in
need of a refutation. As a writer of the early part of the present
century said:
"We
shall never have an ancient history worthy of the perusal of men of common
sense, till
we cease treating poems as history, and send back such personages as
Hercules,
Theseus, Bacchus, etc., to the heavens, whence their history is taken,
and whence
they never descended to the earth."
The
historical theory was succeeded by the allegorical theory, which supposes
that all the
myths of the ancients were allegorical and symbolical, and contain
some moral,
religious, or philosophical [Pg 467]truth or historical fact under
the form of
an allegory, which came in process of time to be understood
literally.
In the
preceding pages we have spoken of the several virgin-born, crucified and
resurrected
Saviours, as real personages. We have attributed to these
individuals
words and acts, and have regarded the words and acts recorded in the
several
sacred books from which we have quoted, as said and done by them. But in
doing this,
we have simply used the language of others. These gods and heroes
were not real
personages; they are merely personifications of the Sun. As Prof.
Max Müller
observes in his Lectures on the Science of Religion:
"One of
the earliest objects that would strike and stir the mind of man, and for
which a sign
or a name would soon be wanted, is surely the Sun.[467:1] It is
very hard for
us to realize the feelings with which the first dwellers on the
earth looked
upon the Sun, or to understand fully what they meant by a morning
prayer or a
morning sacrifice. Perhaps there are few people who have watched a
sunrise more
than once or twice in their life; few people who have ever known
the meaning
of a morning prayer, or a morning sacrifice. But think of man at the
very dawn of
time. . . . think of the Sun awakening the eyes of man from sleep,
and his mind
from slumber! Was not the sunrise to him the first wonder, the
first
beginning of all reflection, all thought, all philosophy? Was it not to
him the first
revelation, the first beginning of all trust, of all religion? . .
. .
"Few
nations only have preserved in their ancient poetry some remnants of the
natural awe
with which the earlier dwellers on the earth saw that brilliant
being slowly
rising from out of the darkness of the night, raising itself by its
own might
higher and higher, till it stood triumphant on the arch of heaven, and
then
descended and sank down in its fiery glory into the dark abyss of the
heaving and
hissing sea. In the hymns of the Veda, the poet still wonders
whether the
Sun will rise again; he asks how he can climb the vault of heaven?
why he does
not fall back? why there is no dust on his path? And when the rays
of the
morning rouse him from sleep and call him back to new life, when he sees
the Sun, as
he says, stretching out his golden arms to bless the world and
rescue it
from the terror of darkness, he exclaims, 'Arise, our life, our spirit
has come
back! the darkness is gone, the light approaches.'"
Many years
ago, the learned Sir William Jones said:
"We must
not be surprised at finding, on a close examination, that the
characters of
all the Pagan deities, male and female, melt into each other, and
at last into
one or two; for it seems as well founded opinion, that the whole
crowd of gods
and goddesses of ancient Rome, and modern Varānes, mean only the
powers of
nature, and principally those of the SUN, expressed in a variety of
ways, and by
a multitude of fanciful names."[467:2]
[Pg 468]Since
the first learned president of the Royal Asiatic Society paved the
way for the
science of comparative mythology, much has been learned on this
subject, so
that, as the Rev. George W. Cox remarks, "recent discussions on the
subject seem
to justify the conviction that the foundations of the science of
comparative
mythology have been firmly laid, and that its method is
unassailable."[468:1]
If we wish to
find the gods and goddesses of the ancestors of our race, we must
look to the
sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, the earth, the sea, the dawn, the
clouds, the
wind, &c., which they personified and worshiped. That these have
been the gods
and goddesses of all nations of antiquity, is an established
fact.[468:2]
The words
which had denoted the sun and moon would denote not merely living
things but
living persons. From personification to deification the steps would
be but few;
and the process of disintegration would at once furnish the
materials for
a vast fabric of mythology. All the expressions which had attached
a living
force to natural objects would remain as the description of personal
and
anthropomorphous gods. Every word would become an attribute, and all ideas,
once grouped
around a simple object, would branch off into distinct
personifications.
The sun had been the lord of light, the driver of the chariot
of the day;
he had toiled and labored for the sons of men, and sunk down to
rest, after a
hard battle, in the evening. But now the lord of light would be
Phoibos
Apollon, while Helios would remain enthroned in his fiery chariot, and
his toils and
labors and death-struggles would be transferred to Hercules. The
violet clouds
which greet his rising and his setting would now be represented by
herds of cows
which feed in earthly pastures. There would be other expressions
which would
still remain as floating phrases, not attached to any definite
deities.
These would gradually be converted into incidents in the life of
heroes, and
be woven at length into systematic narratives. Finally, these gods
or heroes,
and the incidents of their mythical career, would receive each "a
local
habitation and a name." These would remain as genuine history, when the
origin and
meaning of the words had been either wholly or in part forgotten.
For the
proofs of these assertions, the Vedic poems furnish indisputable
evidence,
that such as this was the origin and growth of Greek and Teutonic
mythology. In
these poems, the names of many, perhaps of most, of the Greek
gods,
indicate natural objects which, if endued with life, have not been reduced
to human [Pg
469]personality. In them Daphne is still simply the morning
twilight
ushering in the splendor of the new born sun; the cattle of Helios
there are
still the light-colored clouds which the dawn leads out into the
fields of the
sky. There the idea of Hercules has not been separated from the
image of the
toiling and struggling sun, and the glory of the life-giving Helios
has not been
transferred to the god of Delos and Pytho. In the Vedas the myths
of Endymion,
of Kephalos and Prokris, Orpheus and Eurydike, are exhibited in the
form of
detached mythical phrases, which furnished for each their germ. The
analysis may
be extended indefinitely: but the conclusion can only be, that in
the Vedic language
we have the foundation, not only of the glowing legends of
Hellas, but
of the dark and sombre mythology of the Scandinavian and the Teuton.
Both alike
have grown up chiefly from names which have been grouped around the
sun; but the
former has been grounded on those expressions which describe the
recurrence of
day and night, the latter on the great tragedy of nature, in the
alternation
of summer and winter.
Of this vast
mass of solar myths, some have emerged into independent legends,
others have
furnished the groundwork of whole epics, others have remained simply
as floating
tales whose intrinsic beauty no poet has wedded to his verse.[469:1]
"The
results obtained from the examination of language in its several forms
leaves no
room for doubt that the general system of mythology has been traced to
its fountain
head. We can no longer shut our eyes to the fact that there was a
stage in the
history of human speech, during which all the abstract words in
constant use
among ourselves were utterly unknown, when men had formed no
notions of
virtue or prudence, of thought and intellect, of slavery or freedom,
but spoke
only of the man who was strong, who could point the way to others and
choose one
thing out of many, of the man who was not bound to any other and able
to do as he
pleased.
"That
even this stage was not the earliest in the history of language is now a
growing
opinion among philologists; but for the comparison of legends current in
different
countries it is not necessary to carry the search further back.
Language
without words denoting abstract qualities implies a condition of
thought in
which men were only awakening to a sense of the objects which
surrounded
them, and points to a time when the world was to them full of strange
sights and
sounds, some beautiful, some bewildering, some terrific, when, in
short, they
knew little of themselves beyond [Pg 470]the vague consciousness of
their
existence, and nothing of the phenomena of the world without. In such a
state they
could but attribute to all that they saw or touched or heard, a life
which was
like their own in its consciousness, its joys, and its sufferings.
That power of
sympathizing with nature which we are apt to regard as the
peculiar gift
of the poet was then shared alike by all. This sympathy was not
the result of
any effort, it was inseparably bound up with the words which rose
to their
lips. It implied no special purity of heart or mind; it pointed to no
Arcadian
paradise where shepherds knew not how to wrong or oppress or torment
each other.
We say that the morning light rests on the mountains; they said that
the sun was
greeting his bride, as naturally as our own poet would speak of the
sunlight
clasping the earth, or the moonbeams as kissing the sea.
"We have
then before us a stage of language corresponding to a stage in the
history of
the human mind in which all sensible objects were regarded as
instinct with
a conscious life. The varying phases of that life were therefore
described as
truthfully as they described their own feelings or sufferings; and
hence every
phase became a picture. But so long as the conditions of their life
remained
unchanged, they knew perfectly what the picture meant, and ran no risk
of confusing
one with another. Thus they had but to describe the things which
they saw,
felt, or heard, in order to keep up an inexhaustible store of phrases
faithfully
describing the facts of the world from their point of view. This
language was
indeed the result of an observation not less keen than that by
which the
inductive philosopher extorts the secrets of the natural world. Nor
was its range
much narrower. Each object received its own measure of attention,
and no one
phenomenon was so treated as to leave no room for others in their
turn. They
could not fail to note the changes of days and years, of growth and
decay, of
calm and storm; but the objects which so changed were to them living
things, and
the rising and setting of the sun, the return of winter and summer,
became a
drama in which the actors were their enemies or their friends.
"That
this is a strict statement of facts in the history of the human mind,
philology
alone would abundantly prove; but not a few of these phrases have come
down to us in
their earliest form, and point to the long-buried stratum of
language of
which they are the fragments. These relics exhibit in their germs
the myths
which afterwards became the legends of gods and heroes with human [Pg
471]forms,
and furnished the groundwork of the epic poems, whether of the
eastern or
the western world.
"The
mythical or mythmaking language of mankind had no partialities; and if the
career of the
Sun occupies a large extent of the horizon, we cannot fairly
simulate
ignorance of the cause. Men so placed would not fail to put into words
the thoughts
or emotions roused in them by the varying phases of that mighty
world on
which we, not less than they, feel that our life depends, although we
may know
something more of its nature.
"Thus
grew up a multitude of expressions which described the sun as the child of
the night, as
the destroyer of the darkness, as the lover of the dawn and the
dew—of
phrases which would go on to speak of him as killing the dew with his
spears, and
of forsaking the dawn as he rose in the heaven. The feeling that the
fruits of the
earth were called forth by his warmth would find utterance in
words which
spoke of him as the friend and the benefactor of man; while the
constant
recurrence of his work would lead them to describe him as a being
constrained
to toil for others, as doomed to travel over many lands, and as
finding
everywhere things on which he could bestow his love or which he might
destroy by
his power. His journey, again, might be across cloudless skies, or
amid
alternations of storm and calm; his light might break fitfully through the
clouds, or be
hidden for many a weary hour, to burst forth at last with dazzling
splendor as
he sank down in the western sky. He would thus be described as
facing many
dangers and many enemies, none of whom, however, may arrest his
course; as
sullen, or capricious, or resentful; as grieving for the loss of the
dawn whom he
had loved, or as nursing his great wrath and vowing a pitiless
vengeance.
Then as the veil was rent at eventide, they would speak of the chief,
who had long
remained still, girding on his armor; or of the wanderer throwing
off his
disguise, and seizing his bow or spear to smite his enemies; of the
invincible
warrior whose face gleams with the flush of victory when the fight is
over, as he
greets the fair-haired Dawn who closes, as she had begun, the day.
To the wealth
of images thus lavished on the daily life and death of the Sun
there would
be no limit. He was the child of the morning, or her husband, or her
destroyer; he
forsook her and he returned to her, either in calm serenity or
only to sink
presently in deeper gloom.
"So with
other sights and sounds. The darkness of night brought with it a
feeling of
vague horror and dread; the return of daylight cheered them with a
sense of
unspeakable gladness; and thus the [Pg 472]Sun who scattered the black
shade of
night would be the mighty champion doing battle with the biting snake
which lurked
in its dreary hiding-place. But as the Sun accomplishes his journey
day by day
through the heaven, the character of the seasons is changed. The buds
and blossoms
of spring-time expand in the flowers and fruits of summer, and the
leaves fall
and wither on the approach of winter. Thus the daughter of the earth
would be
spoken of as dying or as dead, as severed from her mother for five or
six weary
months, not to be restored to her again until the time for her return
from the dark
land should once more arrive. But as no other power than that of
the Sun can
recall vegetation to life, this child of the earth would be
represented
as buried in a sleep from which the touch of the Sun alone could
arouse her,
when he slays the frost and cold which lie like snakes around her
motionless
form.
"That
these phrases would furnish the germs of myths or legends teeming with
human
feeling, as soon as the meaning of the phrases were in part or wholly
forgotten,
was as inevitable as that in the infancy of our race men should
attribute to
all sensible objects the same kind of life which they were
conscious of
possessing themselves."
Let us
compare the history of the Saviour which we have already seen, with that
of the Sun,
as it is found in the Vedas.
We can follow
in the Vedic hymns, step by step, the development which changes
the Sun from
a mere luminary into a "Creator," "Preserver,"
"Ruler," and
"Rewarder
of the World"—in fact, into a Divine or Supreme Being.
The first
step leads us from the mere light of the Sun to that light which in
the morning
wakes man from sleep, and seems to give new life, not only to man,
but to the
whole of nature. He who wakes us in the morning, who recalls all
nature to new
life, is soon called "The Giver of Daily Life."
Secondly, by
another and bolder step, the Giver of Daily Light and Life becomes
the giver of
light and life in general. He who brings light and life to-day, is
the same who
brought light and life on the first of days. As light is the
beginning of
the day, so light was the beginning of creation, and the Sun, from
being a mere
light-bringer or life-giver, becomes a Creator, and, if a Creator,
then soon
also a Ruler of the World.
Thirdly, as
driving away the dreaded darkness of the night, and likewise as
fertilizing
the earth, the Sun is conceived as a "Defender" and kind
"Protector"
of all living
things.
Fourthly, the
Sun sees everything, both that which is good and [Pg 473]that
which is
evil; and how natural therefore that the evil-doer should be told that
the sun sees
what no human eye may have seen, and that the innocent, when all
other help
fails him, should appeal to the sun to attest his guiltlessness!
Let us
examine now, says Prof. Müller, from whose work we have quoted the above,
a few
passages (from the Rig-Veda) illustrating every one of these perfectly
natural
transitions.
"In hymn
vii. we find the Sun invoked as 'The Protector of everything that moves
or stands, of
all that exists.'"
"Frequent
allusion is made to the Sun's power of seeing everything. The stars
flee before
the all-seeing Sun, like thieves (R. V. vii.). He sees the right and
the wrong
among men (Ibid.). He who looks upon the world, knows also all the
thoughts in
men (Ibid.)."
"As the
Sun sees everything and knows everything, he is asked to forget and
forgive what
he alone has seen and knows (R. V. iv.)."
"The Sun
is asked to drive away illness and bad dreams (R. V. x.)."
"Having
once, and more than once, been invoked as the life-bringer, the Sun is
also called
the breath or life of all that moves and rests (R. V. i.); and
lastly, he
becomes the maker of all things, by whom all the worlds have been
brought
together (R. V. x.), and . . . Lord of man and of all living creatures."
"He is
the God among gods (R. V. i.); he is the divine leader of all the gods
(R. V.
viii.)."
"He
alone rules the whole world (R. V. v.). The laws which he has established
are firm (R.
V. iv.), and the other gods not only praise him (R. V. vii.), but
have to
follow him as their leader (R. V. v.)."[473:1]
That the
history of Christ Jesus, the Christian Saviour,—"the true Light, which
lighteth
every man that cometh into the world,"[473:2]—is simply the history of
the Sun—the
real Saviour of mankind—is demonstrated beyond a doubt from the
following
indisputable facts:
1. The birth
of Christ Jesus is said to have taken place at early dawn[473:3] on
the 25th day
of December. Now, this is the Sun's birthday. At the commencement
of the sun's
apparent annual revolution round the earth, he was said to have
been born,
and, on the first moment after midnight of the 24th of December, all
the heathen
nations of the earth, as if by common consent, celebrated the
accouchement
of the "Queen of Heaven," of the "Celestial Virgin of the
Sphere,"
and the birth
of the god Sol. On that day the sun having fully entered the
winter
solstice, the Sign of the Virgin was rising on the eastern horizon. The
woman's
symbol of this stellar sign was represented first by ears of corn, then
with a
new-born male child in her arms. Such was the picture of the Persian
sphere cited
by Aben-Ezra:
[Pg
474]"The division of the first decan of the Virgin represents a beautiful
virgin with
flowing hair, sitting in a chair, with two ears of corn in her hand,
and suckling
an infant called Iesus by some nations, and Christ in
Greek."[474:1]
This denotes
the Sun, which, at the moment of the winter solstice, precisely
when the
Persian magi drew the horoscope of the new year, was placed on the
bosom of the
Virgin, rising heliacally in the eastern horizon. On this account
he was
figured in their astronomical pictures under the form of a child suckled
by a chaste
virgin.[474:2]
Thus we see
that Christ Jesus was born on the same day as Buddha, Mithras,
Osiris,
Horus, Hercules, Bacchus, Adonis and other personifications of the
Sun.[474:3]
2. Christ
Jesus was born of a Virgin. In this respect he is also the Sun, for
'tis the sun
alone who can be born of an immaculate virgin, who conceived him
without
carnal intercourse, and who is still, after the birth of her child, a
virgin.
This Virgin,
of whom the Sun, the true "Saviour of Mankind," is born, is either
the bright
and beautiful Dawn,[474:4] or the dark Earth,[474:5] or Night.[474:6]
Hence we
have, as we have already seen, the Virgin, or Virgo, as one of the
signs of the
zodiac.[474:7]
This
Celestial Virgin was feigned to be a mother. She is represented in the
Indian Zodiac
of Sir William Jones, with ears of corn in one hand, and the lotus
in the other.
In Kircher's Zodiac of Hermes, she has corn in both hands. In
other
planispheres of the Egyptian priests she carries ears of corn in one hand,
and the
infant Saviour Horus in the other. In Roman Catholic countries, she is
[Pg
475]generally represented with the child in one hand, and the lotus or lily
in the other.
In Vol. II. of Montfaucon's work, she is represented as a female
nursing a
child, with ears of corn in her hand, and the legend IAO. She is
seated on
clouds, a star is at her head. The reading of the Greek letters, from
right to
left, show this to be very ancient.
In the Vedic
hymns Aditi, the Dawn, is called the "Mother of the Gods." "She
is
the mother
with powerful, terrible, with royal sons." She is said to have given
birth to the
Sun.[475:1] "As the Sun and all the solar deities rise from the
east,"
says Prof. Max Müller, "we can well understand how Aditi (the Dawn) came
to be called
the 'Mother of the Bright Gods.'"[475:2]
The poets of
the Veda indulged freely in theogonic speculations without being
frightened by
any contradictions. They knew of Indra as the greatest of gods,
they knew of Agni
as the god of gods, they knew of Varuna as the ruler of all;
but they were
by no means startled at the idea that their Indra had a mother, or
that Varuna
was nursed in the lap of Aditi. All this was true to nature; for
their god was
the Sun, and the mother who bore and nursed him was the
Dawn.[475:3]
We find in
the Vishnu Purana, that Devaki (the virgin mother of the Hindoo
Saviour
Crishna, whose history, as we have seen, corresponds in most every
particular
with that of Christ Jesus) is called Aditi,[475:4] which, in the
Rig-Veda, is
the name for the Dawn. Thus we see the legend is complete. Devaki
is Aditi,
Aditi is the Dawn, and the Dawn is the Virgin Mother. "The Saviour of
Mankind"
who is born of her is the Sun, the Sun is Crishna, and Crishna is
Christ.
In the
Mahabharata, Crishna is also represented as the "Son of
Aditi."[475:5] As
the hour of
his birth grew near, the mother became more beautiful, and her form
more
brilliant.[475:6]
Indra, the
sun, who was worshiped in some parts of India as a Crucified God, is
also
represented in the Vedic hymns as the Son of the Dawn. He is said to have
been born of
Dahana, who is Daphne, a personification of the Dawn.[475:7]
The humanity
of this SOLAR GOD-MAN, this demiurge, is strongly [Pg 476]insisted
on in the
Rig-Veda. He is the son of God, but also the son of Aditi. He is
Purusha, the
man, the male. Agni is frequently called the "Son of man." It is
expressly
explained that the titles Agni, Indra, Mitra, &c., all refer to one
Sun god under
"many names." And when we find the name of a mortal, Yama, who
once lived
upon earth, included among these names, the humanity of the demiurge
becomes still
more accentuated, and we get at the root idea.
Horus, the
Egyptian Saviour, was the son of the virgin Isis. Now, this Isis, in
Egyptian
mythology, is the same as the virgin Devaki in Hindoo mythology. She is
the
Dawn.[476:1] Isis, as we have already seen, is represented suckling the
infant Horus,
and, in the words of Prof. Renouf, we may say, "in whose lap can
the Sun be
nursed more fitly than in that of the Dawn?"[476:2]
Among the
goddesses of Egypt, the highest was Neith, who reigned inseparably
with Amun in
the upper sphere. She was called "Mother of the gods," "Mother
of
the
sun." She was the feminine origin of all things, as Amun was the male
origin. She
held the same rank at Sais as Amun did at Thebes. Her temples there
are said to
have exceeded in colossal grandeur anything ever seen before. On one
of these was
the celebrated inscription thus deciphered by Champollion:
"I am
all that has been, all that is, all that will be. No mortal has ever
raised the
veil that conceals me. My offspring is the Sun."
She was
mother of the Sun-god Ra, and, says Prof. Renouf, "is commonly supposed
to represent
Heaven; but some expressions which are hardly applicable to heaven,
render it
more probable that she is one of the many names of the Dawn."[476:3]
If we turn
from Indian and Egyptian, to Grecian mythology, we shall also find
that their
Sun-gods and solar heroes are born of the same virgin mother. Theseus
was said to
have been born of Aithra, "the pure air," and Śdipus of Iokaste,
"the
violet light of morning." Perseus was born of the virgin Danae, and was
called the
"Son of the bright morning."[476:4] In Iô, the mother of the
"sacred
bull,"[476:5]
the mother also of Hercules, we see the violet-tinted morning from
which the sun
is born; all these gods and heroes being, like Christ Jesus,
personifications
of the Sun.[476:6]
[Pg
477]"The Saviour of Mankind" was also represented as being born of
the
"dusky
mother," which accounts for many Pagan, and so-called Christian,
goddesses
being represented black.[477:1] This is the dark night, who for many
weary hours
travails with the birth of her child. The Sun, which scatters the
darkness, is
also the child of the darkness, and so the phrase naturally went
that he was
born of her. Of the two legends related in the poems afterwards
combined in
the "Hymn to Apollo," the former relates the birth of Apollo, the
Sun, from
Leto, the Darkness, which is called his mother.[477:2] In this case,
Leto would be
personified as a "black virgin," either with or without the child
in her arms.
The dark
earth was also represented as being the mother of the god Sun, who
apparently
came out of, or was born of her, in the East,[477:3] as Minos (the
sun) was
represented to have been born of Ida (the earth).[477:4]
In Hindoo
mythology, the Earth, under the name of Prithivi, receives a certain
share of
honors as one of the primitive goddesses of the Veda, being thought of
as the
"kind mother." Moreover, various deities were regarded as the progeny
resulting
from the fancied union of the Earth with Dyaus (Heaven).[477:5]
Our Aryan
forefathers looked up to the heavens and they gave it the name of
Dyaus, from a
root-word which means "to shine." And when, out of the forces and
forms of
nature, they afterwards fashioned other gods, this name of Dyaus became
Dyaus pitar,
the Heaven-father, or Lord of All; and in far later times, when the
western
Aryans had found their home in Europe, the Dyaus pitar of the central
Asian land
became the Zeupater of the Greeks, and the Jupiter of the Romans, and
the first
part of his name gave us the word Deity.
According to
Egyptian mythology, Isis was also the Earth.[477:6] Again, from the
union of Seb
and Nut sprung the mild Osiris. Seb is the Earth, Nut is Heaven,
and Osiris is
the Sun.[477:7]
Tacitus, the
Roman historian, speaking of the Germans in A. D. 98, says:
"There
is nothing in these several tribes that merit attention, except that they
all agree in
worshiping the goddess Earth, or as they call her, Herth, whom they
consider as
the common mother of all."[477:8]
[Pg 478]These
virgin mothers, and virgin goddesses of antiquity, were also, at
times,
personifications of the Moon, or of Nature.[478:1]
Who is
"God the Father," who overshadows the maiden? The overshadowing of
the
maiden by
"God the Father," whether he be called Zeus, Jupiter or Jehovah, is
simply the
Heaven, the Sky, the "All-father,"[478:2] looking down upon with
love, and
overshadowing the maiden, the broad flushing light of Dawn, or the
Earth. From
this union the Sun is born without any carnal intercourse. The
mother is yet
a virgin. This is illustrated in Hindoo mythology by the union of
Pritrivi,
"Mother Earth," with Dyaus, "Heaven." Various deities were
regarded as
their
progeny.[478:3] In the Vedic hymns the Sun—the Lord and Saviour, the
Redeemer and
Preserver of Mankind—is frequently called the "Son of the
Sky."[478:4]
According to
Egyptian mythology, Seb (the Earth) is overshadowed by Nut
(Heaven), the
result of this union being the beneficent Lord and Saviour,
Osiris.[478:5]
The same thing is to be found in ancient Grecian mythology. Zeus
or Jupiter is
the Sky,[478:6] and Danae, Leto, Iokaste, Io and others, are the
Dawn, or the
violet light of morning.[478:7]
[Pg
479]"The Sky appeared to men (says Plutarch), to perform the functions of
a
Father, as
the Earth those of a Mother. The sky was the father, for it cast seed
into the
bosom of the earth, which in receiving them became fruitful, and
brought
forth, and was the mother."[479:1]
This union
has been sung in the following verses by Virgil:
"Tum
pater omnipotens fecundis imbribis ćther
Conjugis in
grenium lćtć descendit."
(Geor. ii.)
The Phenician
theology is founded on the same principles. Heaven and Earth
(called
Ouranos and Ghč) are at the head of a genealogy of ćons, whose
adventures
are conceived in the mythological style of these physical
allegorists.[479:2]
In the
Samothracian mysteries, which seem to have been the most anciently
established
ceremonies of the kind in Europe, the Heaven and the Earth were
worshiped as
a male and female divinity, and as the parents of all
things.[479:3]
The Supreme
God (the Al-fader), of the ancient Scandinavians was Odin, a
personification
of the Heavens. The principal goddess among them was Frigga, a
personification
of the Earth. It was the opinion among these people that this
Supreme Being
or Celestial God had united with the Earth (Frigga) to produce
"Baldur
the Good" (the Sun), who corresponds to the Apollo of the Greeks and
Romans, and
the Osiris of the Egyptians.[479:4]
Xiuletl, in
the Mexican language, signifies Blue, and hence was a name which the
Mexican gave
to Heaven, from which Xiuleticutli is derived, an epithet
signifying
"the God of Heaven," which they bestowed upon Tezcatlipoca, who was
the
"Lord of All," the "Supreme God." He it was who
overshadowed the Virgin of
Tula,
Chimelman, who begat the Saviour Quetzalcoatle (the Sun).
3. His birth
was foretold by a star. This is the bright morning star—
"Fairest
of stars, last in the train of Night,
If better,
thou belongst not to the Dawn,
Sure pledge
of day, that crown'st the smiling morn
With thy
bright circlet"—
which heralds
the birth of the god Sol, the beneficent Saviour.
A glance at a
geography of the heavens will show the "chaste, pure, immaculate
Virgin,
suckling an infant," preceded by a [Pg 480]Star, which rises immediately
preceding the
Virgin and her child. This can truly be called "his Star," which
informed the
"Wise Men," the "Magi"—Astrologers and Sun-worshipers—and
"the
shepherds who
watched their flocks by night" that the Saviour of Mankind was
about to be
born.
4. The
Heavenly Host sang praises. All nature smiles at the birth of the
Heavenly
Being. "To him all angels cry aloud, the heavens, and all the powers
therein."
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards
men."
"The quarters of the horizon are irradiate with joy, as if moonlight was
diffused over
the whole earth." "The spirits and nymphs of heaven dance and
sing."
"Caressing breezes blow, and a marvelous light is produced." For the
Lord
and Saviour
is born, "to give joy and peace to men and Devas, to shed light in
the dark
places, and to give sight to the blind."[480:1]
5. He was
visited by the Magi. This is very natural, for the Magi were
Sun-worshipers,
and at early dawn on the 25th of December, the astrologers of
the Arabs,
Chaldeans, and other Oriental nations, greeted the infant Saviour
with gold,
frankincense and myrrh. They started to salute their God long before
the rising of
the Sun, and having ascended a high mountain, they waited
anxiously for
his birth, facing the East, and there hailed his first rays with
incense and
prayer.[480:2] The shepherds also, who remained in the open air
watching
their flocks by night, were in the habit of prostrating themselves, and
paying homage
to their god, the Sun. And, like the poet of the Veda, they said:
"Will
the powers of darkness be conquered by the god of light?"
And when the
Sun rose, they wondered how, just born, he was so mighty. They
greeted him:
"Hail,
Orient Conqueror of Gloomy Night."
And the human
eye felt that it could not bear the brilliant majesty of him whom
they called,
"The Life, the Breath, the Brilliant Lord and Father." And they
said:
"Let us
worship again the Child of Heaven, the Son of Strength, Arusha, the
Bright Light
of the Sacrifice." "He rises as a mighty flame, he stretches out
his wide
arms, he is even like the wind." "His light is powerful, and his
(virgin)
mother, the Dawn, gives him the best share, the first worship among
men."[480:3]
6. He was
born in a Cave. In this respect also, the history of [Pg 481]Christ
Jesus
corresponds with that of other Sun-gods and Saviours, for they are nearly
all
represented as being born in a cave or dungeon. This is the dark abode from
which the
wandering Sun starts in the morning.[481:1] As the Dawn springs fully
armed from
the forehead of the cloven Sky, so the eye first discerns the blue of
heaven, as
the first faint arch of light is seen in the East. This arch is the
cave in which
the infant is nourished until he reaches his full strength—in
other words,
until the day is fully come.
As the hour
of his birth drew near, the mother became more beautiful, her form
more
brilliant, while the dungeon was filled with a heavenly light as when Zeus
came to Danae
in a golden shower.[481:2]
At length the
child is born, and a halo of serene light encircles his cradle,
just as the
Sun appears at early dawn in the East, in all its splendor. His
presence
reveals itself there, in the dark cave, by his first rays, which
brightens the
countenances of his mother and others who are present at his
birth.[481:3]
6. He was
ordered to be put to death. All the Sun-gods are fated to bring ruin
upon their
parents or the reigning monarch.[481:4] For this reason, they attempt
to prevent
his birth, and failing in this, seek to destroy him when born. Who is
the dark and
wicked Kansa, or his counterpart Herod? He is Night, who reigns
supreme, but
who must lose his power when the young prince of glory, the
Invincible,
is born.
The Sun
scatters the Darkness; and so the phrase went that the child was to be
the destroyer
of the reigning monarch, or his parent, Night; and oracles, and
magi, it was
said, warned the latter of the doom which would overtake him. The
newly-born
babe is therefore ordered to be put to death by the sword, or exposed
on the bare
hillside, as the Sun seems to rest on the Earth (Ida) at its
rising.[481:5]
[Pg 482]In
oriental mythology, the destroying principle is generally represented
as a serpent
or dragon.[482:1] Now, the position of the sphere on Christmas-day,
the birthday
of the Sun, shows the Serpent all but touching, and certainly
aiming at the
woman—that is, the figure of the constellation Virgo—who suckles
the child
Iessus in her arms. Thus we have it illustrated in the story of the
snake who was
sent to kill Hercules, when an infant in his cradle;[482:2] also
in the story
of Typhon, who sought the life of the infant Saviour Horus. Again,
it is
illustrated in the story of the virgin mother Astrea, with her babe beset
by Orion, and
of Latona, the mother of Apollo, when pursued by the
monster.[482:3]
And last, that of the virgin mother Mary, with her babe beset by
Herod. But
like Hercules, Horus, Apollo, Theseus, Romulus, Cyrus and other solar
heroes,
Christ Jesus has yet a long course before him. Like them, he grows up
both wise and
strong, and the "old Serpent" is discomfited by him, just as the
sphynx and
the dragon are put to night by others.
7. He was
tempted by the devil. The temptation by, and victory over the evil
one, whether
Mara or Satan, is the victory of the Sun over the clouds of storm
and
darkness.[482:4] Growing up in obscurity, the day comes when he makes
himself
known, tries himself in his [Pg 483]first battles with his gloomy foes,
and shines
without a rival. He is rife for his destined mission, but is met by
the demon of
storm, who runs to dispute with him in the duel of the storm. In
this struggle
against darkness the beneficent hero remains the conqueror, the
gloomy army
of Mara, or Satan, broken and rent, is scattered; the Apearas,
daughters of
the demon, the last light vapors which float in the heaven, try in
vain to clasp
and retain the vanquisher; he disengages himself from their
embraces,
repulses them; they writhe, lose their form, and vanish.
Free from
every obstacle, and from every adversary, he sets in motion across
space his
disk with a thousand rays, having avenged the attempts of his eternal
foe. He
appears then in all his glory, and in his sovereign splendor; the god
has attained
the summit of his course, it is the moment of triumph.
8. He was put
to death on the cross. The Sun has now reached his extreme
Southern
limit, his career is ended, and he is at last overcome by his enemies.
The powers of
darkness, and of winter, which had sought in vain to wound him,
have at
length won the victory. The bright Sun of summer is finally slain,
crucified in
the heavens, and pierced by the arrow, spear or thorn of
winter.[483:1]
Before he dies, however, he sees all his disciples—his retinue of
light, and
the twelve hours of the day, or the twelve months of the
year—disappear
in the sanguinary męlée of the clouds of the evening.
Throughout
the tale, the Sun-god was but fulfilling his doom. These things must
be. The
suffering of a violent death was a necessary part of the mythos; and,
when his hour
had come, he must meet his doom, as surely as the Sun, once risen,
must go
across the sky, and then sink down into his bed beneath the earth or
sea. It was
an iron fate from which there was no escaping.
Crishna, the
crucified Saviour of the Hindoos, is a personification of the Sun
crucified in
the heavens. One of the names of the Sun in the Vedic hymns is
Vishnu,[483:2]
and Crishna is Vishnu in human form.[483:3]
[Pg 484]In
the hymns of the Rig-Veda the Sun is spoken of as "stretching out his
arms,"
in the heavens, "to bless the world, and to rescue it from the terror of
darkness."
Indra, the
crucified Saviour worshiped in Nepal and Tibet,[484:1] is identical
with Crishna,
the Sun.[484:2]
The principal
Phenician deity, El, which, says Parkhurst, in his Hebrew Lexicon,
"was the
very name the heathens gave to their god Sol, their Lord or Ruler of
the Hosts of
Heaven," was called "The Preserver (or Saviour) of the World,"
for
the benefit
of which he offered a mystical sacrifice.[484:3]
The crucified
Iao ("Divine Love" personified) is the crucified Adonis, the Sun.
The Lord and
Saviour Adonis was called Iao.[484:4]
Osiris, the
Egyptian Saviour, was crucified in the heavens. To the Egyptian the
cross was the
symbol of immortality, an emblem of the Sun, and the god himself
was crucified
to the tree, which denoted his fructifying power.[484:5]
Horus was
also crucified in the heavens. He was represented, like Crishna and
Christ Jesus,
with outstretched arms in the vault of heaven.[484:6]
The story of
the crucifixion of Prometheus was allegorical, for Prometheus was
only a title
of the Sun, expressing providence or foresight, wherefore his being
crucified in
the extremities of the earth, signified originally no more than the
restriction
of the power of the Sun during the winter months.[484:7]
Who was
Ixion, bound on the wheel? He was none other than the god Sol, crucified
in the
heavens.[484:8] Whatever be the origin of the name, Ixion is the "Sun of
noonday,"
crucified in the heavens, whose four-spoked wheel, in the words of
Pindar, is
seen whirling in the highest heaven.[484:9]
[Pg 485]The
wheel upon which Ixion and criminals were said to have been extended
was a cross,
although the name of the thing was dissembled among Christians; it
was a St.
Andrew's cross, of which two spokes confined the arms, and two the
legs. (See
Fig. No. 35.)
The
allegorical tales of the triumphs and misfortunes of the Sun-gods of the
ancient
Greeks and Romans, signify the alternate exertion of the generative and
destructive
attributes.
Hercules is
torn limb from limb; and in this catastrophe we see the blood-red
sunset which
closes the career of Hercules.[485:1] The Sun-god cannot rise to
the life of
the blessed gods until he has been slain. The morning cannot come
until the Eôs
who closed the previous day has faded away and died in the black
abyss of
night.
Achilleus and
Meleagros represent alike the short-lived Sun, whose course is one
of toil for
others, ending in an early death, after a series of wonderful
victories
alternating with periods of darkness and gloom.[485:2]
In the tales
of the Trojan war, it is related of Achilleus that he expires at
the Skaian,
or western gates of the evening. He is slain by Paris, who here
appears as
the Pani, or dark power, who blots out the light of the Sun from the
heaven.[485:3]
We have also
the story of Adonis, born of a virgin, and known in the countries
where he was
worshiped as "The Saviour of Mankind," killed by the wild boar,
afterwards
"rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven." This Adonis,
Adonai—in
Hebrew "My Lord"—is simply the Sun. He is crucified in the heavens,
put to death
by the wild boar, i. e., Winter. "Babylon called Typhon or Winter
the boar; they
said he killed Adonis or the fertile Sun."[485:4]
The Crucified
Dove worshiped by the ancients, was none other than the crucified
Sun. Adonis
was called the Dove. At the ceremonies in honor of his resurrection
from the
dead, the devotees said, "Hail to the Dove! the Restorer of
Light."[485:5]
Fig. No. 35 is the "Crucified Dove" as described by Pindar, the
great lyric
poet of Greece, born about 522 B. C.
[Pg
486]"We read in Pindar, (says the author of a learned work entitled
"Nimrod,")
of the venerable bird Iynx bound to the wheel, and of the pretended
punishment of
Ixion. But this rotation was really no punishment, being, as
Pindar saith,
voluntary, and prepared by himself and for himself; or if it was,
it was
appointed in derision of his false pretensions, whereby he gave himself
out as the
crucified spirit of the world." "The four spokes represent St.
Andrew's
cross, adapted to the four limbs extended, and furnish perhaps the
oldest
profane allusion to the crucifixion. The same cross of St. Andrew was the
Taw, which
Ezekiel commands them to mark upon the foreheads of the faithful, as
appears from
all Israelitish coins whereon that letter is engraved. The same
idea was
familiar to Lucian, who calls T the letter of crucifixion. Certainly,
the
veneration for the cross is very ancient. Iynx, the bird of Mautic
inspiration,
bound to the four-legged wheel, gives the notion of Divine Love
crucified.
The wheel denotes the world, of which she is the spirit, and the
cross the
sacrifice made for that world."[486:1]
This
"Divine Love," of whom Nimrod speaks, was "The First-begotten
Son" of the
Platonists.
The crucifixion of "Divine Love" is often found among the Greeks.
Iönah or
Juno, according to the Iliad, was bound with fetters, and suspended in
space,
between heaven and earth. Ixion, Prometheus, Apollo of Miletus,
(anciently
the greatest and most flourishing city of Ionia, in Asia Minor), were
all
crucified.[486:2]
Semi-Ramis
was both a queen of unrivaled celebrity, and also a goddess,
worshiped
under the form of a Dove. Her name signifies the Supreme Dove. She is
said to have
been slain by the last survivor of her sons, while others say, she
flew away as
a bird—a Dove. In both Grecian and Hindoo histories this mystical
queen
Semiramis is said to have fought a battle on the banks of the Indus, with
a king called
Staurobates, in which she was defeated, and from which she flew
away in the
form of a Dove. Of this Nimrod says:
"The
name Staurobates, the king by whom Semiramis was finally overpowered,
alluded to
the cross on which she perished," and that, "the crucifixion was made
into a
glorious mystery by her infatuated adorers."[486:3]
Here again we
have the crucified Dove, the Sun, for it is well known that the
ancients
personified the Sun female as well as male.
We have also
the fable of the Crucified Rose, illustrated in the jewel of the
Rosicrucians.
The jewel of the Rosicrucians is formed [Pg 487]of a transparent
red stone,
with a red cross on one side, and a red rose on the other—thus it is
a crucified
rose. "The Rossi, or Rosy-crucians' idea concerning this emblematic
red
cross," says Hargrave Jennings, in his History of the Rosicrucians,
"probably
came from the fable of Adonis—who was the Sun whom we have so often
seen crucified—being
changed into a red rose by Venus."[487:1]
The emblem of
the Templars is a red rose on a cross. "When it can be done, it is
surrounded
with a glory, and placed on a calvary (Fig. No. 36). This is the
Naurutz,
Natsir, or Rose of Isuren, of Tamul, or Sharon, or the Water Rose, the
Lily Padma,
Pena, Lotus, crucified in the heavens for the salvation of
man."[487:2]
Christ Jesus
was called the Rose—the Rose of Sharon—of Isuren. He was the
renewed
incarnation of Divine Wisdom. He was the son of Maia or Maria. He was
the Rose of
Sharon and the Lily of the Valley, which bloweth in the month of his
mother Maia.
Thus, when the angel Gabriel gives the salutation to the Virgin, he
presents her
with the lotus or lily; as may be seen in hundreds of old pictures
in Italy. We
see therefore that Adonis, "the Lord," "the Virgin-born,"
"the
Crucified,"
"the Resurrected Dove," "the Restorer of Light," is one and
the same
with the
"Rose of Sharon," the crucified Christ Jesus.
Plato (429 B.
C.) in his Pimćus, philosophizing about the Son of God, says:
"The
next power to the Supreme God was decussated or figured in the shape of a
cross on the
universe."
This brings
to recollection the doctrine of certain so-called Christian
heretics, who
maintained that Christ Jesus was crucified in the heavens.
The Chrčstos
was the Logos, the Sun was the manifestation of the Logos or Wisdom
to men; or,
as it was held by some, it was his peculiar habitation. The Sun
being
crucified at the time of the winter solstice was represented by the young
man slaying
the Bull (an emblem of the Sun) in the Mithraic ceremonies, and the
slain lamb at
the foot of the cross in the Christian ceremonies. The Chrēst was
the Logos, or
Divine Wisdom, or a portion of divine [Pg 488]wisdom incarnate; in
this sense he
is really the Sun or the solar power incarnate, and to him
everything
applicable to the Sun will apply.
Fig. No. 37,
taken from Mr. Lundy's "Monumental Christianity," is evidently a
representation
of the Christian Saviour crucified in the heavens. Mr. Lundy
calls it
"Crucifixion in Space," and believes that it was intended for the
Hindoo
Saviour Crishna, who is also represented crucified in space (See Fig. No.
8, Ch. XX.).
This (Fig. 37) is exactly in the form of a Romish crucifix, but not
fixed to a
piece of wood, though the legs and feet are put together in the usual
way. There is
a glory over it, coming from above, not shining from the figure,
as is
generally seen in a Roman crucifix. It has a pointed Parthian coronet
instead of a
crown of thorns. All the avatars, or incarnations of Vishnu, are
painted with
Ethiopian or Parthian coronets. For these reasons the Christian
author will
not own that it is a representation of the "True Son of Justice,"
for he was
not crucified in space; but whether it was intended to represent
Crishna,
Wittoba, or Jesus,[488:1] it tells a secret: it shows that some one was
represented
crucified in the heavens, and undoubtedly has something to do with
"The
next power to the Supreme God," who, according to Plato, "was
decussated or
figured in
the shape of a cross on the universe."
Who was the
crucified god whom the ancient Romans worshiped, and whom they,
according to
Justin Martyr, represented as a man on a cross? Can we doubt, after
what we have
seen, that he was this same crucified Sol, whose birthday they
annually
celebrated on the 25th of December?
In the
poetical tales of the ancient Scandinavians, the same legend is found.
Frey, the
Deity of the Sun, was fabled to have been killed, at the time of the
winter
solstice, by the same boar who put the god Adonis to death, therefore a
boar was
annually offered [Pg 489]to him at the great feast of Yule.[489:1]
"Baldur
the Good," son of the supreme god Odin, and the virgin-goddess Frigga,
was also put
to death by the sharp thorn of winter.
The ancient
Mexican crucified Saviour, Quetzalcoatle, another personification of
the Sun, was
sometimes represented as crucified in space, in the heavens, in a
circle of
nineteen figures, the number of the metonic cycle. A serpent (the
emblem of
evil, darkness, and winter) is depriving him of the organs of
generation.[489:2]
We have seen
in Chapter XXXIII. that Christ Jesus, and many of the heathen
saviours,
healers, and preserving gods, were represented in the form of a
Serpent. This
is owing to the fact that, in one of its attributes, the Serpent
was an emblem
of the Sun. It may, at first, appear strange that the Serpent
should be an
emblem of evil, and yet also an emblem of the beneficent divinity;
but, as Prof.
Renouf remarks, in his Hibbert Lectures, "The moment we understand
the nature of
a myth, all impossibilities, contradictions, and immoralities
disappear."
The serpent is an emblem of evil when represented with his deadly
sting; he is
the emblem of eternity when represented casting off his
skin;[489:3]
and an emblem of the Sun when represented with his tail in his
mouth, thus
forming a circle.[489:4] Thus there came to be, not only good, but
also bad,
serpents, both of which are referred to in the narrative of the Hebrew
exodus, but
still more clearly in the struggle between the good and the bad
serpents of
Persian mythology, which symbolized Ormuzd, or Mithra, and the evil
spirit
Ahriman.[489:5]
As the Dove
and the Rose, emblems of the Sun, were represented on the cross, so
was the
Serpent.[489:6] The famous "Brazen Serpent," said to have been
"set up"
by Moses in
the wilderness, is called in the Targum (the general term for the
Aramaic
versions of the Old [Pg 490]Testament) the Saviour. It was probably a
serpentine
crucifix, as it is called a cross by Justin Martyr. The crucified
serpent (Fig.
No. 38) denoted the quiescent Phallos, or the Sun after it had
lost its
power. It is the Sun in winter, crucified on the tree, which denoted
its
fructifying power.[490:1] As Mr. Wake remarks, "There can be no doubt that
both the
Pillar (Phallus) and the Serpent were associated with many of the
Sun-gods of
antiquity."[490:2]
This is seen
in Fig. No. 39, taken from an ancient medal, which represents the
serpent with
rays of glory surrounding his head.
The Ophites,
who venerated the serpent as an emblem of Christ Jesus, are said to
have
maintained that the serpent of Genesis—who brought wisdom into the
world—was
Christ Jesus. The brazen serpent was called the Word by the Chaldee
paraphrast.
The Word, or Logos, was Divine Wisdom, which was crucified; thus we
have the
cross, or Linga, or Phallus, with the serpent upon it. Besides
considering
the serpent as the emblem of Christ Jesus, or of the Logos, the
Ophites are
said to have revered it as the cause of all the arts of civilized
life. In
Chapter XII. we saw that several illustrious females were believed to
have been
selected and impregnated by the Holy Ghost. In some cases, a serpent
was supposed
to be the form which it assumed. This was the incarnation of the
Logos.
[Pg 491] The
serpent was held in great veneration by the ancients, who, as we
have seen,
considered it as the symbol of the beneficent Deity, and an emblem of
eternity. As
such it has been variously expressed on ancient sculptures and
medals in
various parts of the globe.
Although
generally, it did not always, symbolize the god Sun, or the power of
which the Sun
is an emblem; but, invested with various meanings, it entered
widely into
the primitive mythologies. As Mr. Squire observes:
"It
typified wisdom, power, duration, the good and evil principles, life,
reproduction—in
short, in Egypt, Syria, Greece, India, China, Scandinavia,
America,
everywhere on the globe, it has been a prominent emblem."[491:1]
The serpent
was the symbol of Vishnu, the preserving god, the Saviour, the
Sun.[491:2]
It was an emblem of the Sun-god Buddha, the Angel-Messiah.[491:3]
The Egyptian
Sun-god Osiris, the Saviour, is associated with the snake.[491:4]
The Persian
Mithra, the Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour, was symbolized by the
serpent.[491:5]
The Phenicians represented their beneficent Sun-god Agathodemon,
by a
serpent.[491:6] The serpent was, among the Greeks and Romans, the emblem of
a beneficent
genius. Antipator of Sidon, calls the god Ammon, the "Renowned
Serpent."[491:7]
The Grecian Hercules—the Sun-god—was symbolized as a serpent;
and so was
Ćsculapius and Apollo. The Hebrews, who, as we have seen in Chapter
XI., worshiped
the god Sol, represented him in the form of a serpent. This is
the
seraph—spoken of above—as set up by Moses (Num. xxi. 3) and worshiped by the
children of
Israel. Se ra ph is the singular of seraphim, meaning
Semilicé—splendor,
fire, light—emblematic of the fiery disk of the Sun, and
which, under
the name of Nehush-tan, "Serpent-dragon," was broken up by the
reforming
Hezekiah.
The principal
god of the Aztecs was Tonac-atlcoatl, which means the Serpent
Sun.[491:8]
The Mexican
virgin-born Lord and Saviour, Quetzalcoatle, was represented in the
form of a
serpent. In fact, his name signifies "Feathered Serpent."
Quetzalcoatle
was a personification of the Sun.[491:9]
Under the
aspect of the active principle, we may rationally [Pg 492]connect the
Serpent and
the Sun, as corresponding symbols of the reproductive or creative
power. Figure
No. 40 is a symbolical sign, representing the disk of the Sun
encircled by
the serpent Uraeus, meaning the "King Sun," or "Royal Sun,"
as it
often
surmounts the persons of Egyptian monarchs, confirmed by the emblem of
LIFE
depending from the serpent's neck.[492:1]
The mysteries
of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, in Egypt; Atys and Cybele, in Phrygia;
Ceres and
Proserpine, at Eleusis; of Venus and Adonis, in Phenicia; of Bona Dea
and Priapus,
in Rome, are all susceptible of one explanation. They all set forth
and
illustrated, by solemn and impressive rites, and mystical symbols, the grand
phenomenon of
nature, especially as connected with the creation of things and
the
perpetuation of life. In all, it is worthy of remark, the SERPENT was more
or less
conspicuously introduced, and always as symbolical of the invigorating
or active
energy of nature, the Sun.
We have seen
(in Chapter XX.) that in early Christian art Christ Jesus also was
represented
as a crucified Lamb. This crucified lamb is "the Lamb of God taking
away the sins
of the world, and slain from the foundation of the world."[492:2]
In other
words, the crucified lamb typifies the crucified Sun, for the lamb was
another
symbol of the Sun, as we shall presently see.
We find,
then, that the stories of the crucifixions of the different so-called
Saviours of
mankind all melt into one, and that they are allegorical, for
"Saviour"
was only a title of the Sun,[492:3] and his being put to death on the
cross,
signifies no more than the restriction of the power of the Sun in the
winter
quarter. With Justin Martyr, then, we can say:
"There
exists not a people, whether Greek or barbarian, or any other race of
men, by
whatsoever appellation or manners they may be distinguished, however
ignorant of
arts or agriculture, whether they dwell under the tents, or wander
[Pg 493]about
in crowded wagons, among whom prayers are not offered up in the
name of A
Crucified Saviour[493:1] to the Father and creator of all
things."[493:2]
9. "And
many women were there beholding afar off."[493:3] The tender mother who
had watched
over him at his birth, and the fair maidens whom he has loved, will
never forsake
him. They yet remain with him, and while their tears drop on his
feet, which
they kiss, their voices cheer him in his last hour. In these we have
the Dawn, who
bore him, and the fair and beautiful lights which flush the
Eastern sky
as the Sun sinks or dies in the West.[493:4] Their tears are the
tears of dew,
such as Eôs weeps at the death of her child.
All the
Sun-gods forsake their homes and virgin mothers, and wander through
different
countries doing marvellous things. Finally, at the end of their
career, the
mother, from whom they were parted long ago, is by their side to
cheer them in
their last hours.[493:5]
The
ever-faithful women were to be found at the last scene in the life of
Buddha.
Kasyapa having found the departed master's feet soiled and wet, asked
Nanda the
cause of it. "He was told that a weeping woman had embraced Gautama's
feet shortly
before his death, and that her tears had fallen on his feet and
left the
marks on them."[493:6]
In his last
hours, Śdipous (the Sun) has been cheered by the presence of
Antigone.[493:7]
At the death
of Hercules, Iole (the fair-haired Dawn) stands by his side,
cheering him
to the last. With her gentle hands she sought to soothe his pain,
and with
pitying words to cheer him in his woe. Then once more the face of
Hercules
flushed with a deep joy, and he said:
"Ah,
Iole, brightest of maidens, thy voice shall cheer me as I sink down in the
sleep of
death. I saw and loved thee in the bright morning time, and now again
thou hast
come, in the evening, fair as the soft clouds which gather around the
dying
Sun."
The black
mists were spreading over the sky, but still Hercules sought to gaze
on the fair
face of Iole, and to comfort her in her sorrow.
"Weep
not, Iole," he said, "my toil is done, and now is the time for rest.
I
shall see
thee again in the bright land which is never trodden by the feet of
night."
[Pg 494]The
same story is related in the legend of Apollo. The Dawn, from whom
he parted in
the early part of his career, comes to his side at eventide, and
again meets
him when his journey on earth has well nigh come to an end.[494:1]
When the Lord
Prometheus was crucified on Mt. Caucasus, his especially professed
friend,
Oceanus, the fisherman, as his name, Petrćus, indicates,[494:2] being
unable to
prevail on him to make his peace with Jupiter, by throwing the cause
of human
redemption out of his hands,[494:3] "forsook him and fled." None
remained to
be witnesses of his dying agonies, but the chorus of ever amiable
and
ever-faithful women, which also bewailed and lamented him, but were unable
to subdue his
inflexible philanthropy.[494:4]
10.
"There was darkness all over the land."[494:5] In the same manner
ends the
tale of the
long toil and sorrows of other Sun-gods. The last scene exhibits a
manifest return
to the spirit of the solar myth. He must not die the common
death of all
men, for no disease or corruption can touch the body of the
brilliant
Sun. After a long struggle against the dark clouds who are arrayed
against him,
he is finally overcome, and dies. Blacker and blacker grow the
evening
shades, and finally "there is darkness on the face of the earth," and
the din of
its thunder clashes through the air.[494:6]
It is the
picture of a sunset in wild confusion, of a sunset more awful, yet not
more sad,
than that which is seen in the last hours of many other
Sun-gods.[494:7]
It is the picture of the loneliness of the Sun, who sinks
slowly down,
with the ghastly hues of death upon his face, while none is nigh to
cheer him
save the ever-faithful women.
11. "He
descended into hell."[494:8] This is the Sun's descent into the lower
regions. It
enters the sign Capricornus, or the Goat, and [Pg 495]the
astronomical
winter begins. The days have reached their shortest span, and the
Sun has
reached his extreme southern limit. The winter solstice reigns, and the
Sun seems to
stand still in his southern course. For three days and three nights
he remains in
hell—the lower regions.[495:1] In this respect Christ Jesus is
like other
Sun-gods.[495:2]
In the ancient
sagas of Iceland, the hero who is the Sun personified, descends
into a tomb,
where he fights a vampire. After a desperate struggle, the hero
overcomes,
and rises to the surface of the earth. "This, too, represents the Sun
in the
northern realms, descending into the tomb of winter, and there overcoming
the power of
darkness."[495:3]
12. He rose
again from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Resurrections from
the dead, and
ascensions into heaven, are generally acknowledged to be solar
features, as
the history of many solar heroes agree in this particular.
At the winter
solstice the ancients wept and mourned for Tammuz, the fair
Adonis, and
other Sun-gods, done to death by the boar, or crucified—slain by the
thorn of
winter—and on the third day they rejoiced at the resurrection of their
"Lord of
Light."[495:4]
With her
usual policy, the Church endeavored to give a Christian significance to
the rites
which they borrowed from heathenism, and in this case, the mourning
for Tammuz,
the fair Adonis, became the mourning for Christ Jesus, and joy at
the rising of
the natural Sun became joy at the rising of the "Sun of
Righteousness"—at
the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the grave.
This festival
of the Resurrection was generally held by the ancients on the 25th
of March,
when the awakening of Spring may be said to be the result of the
return of the
Sun from the lower or far-off regions to which he had departed. At
the
equinox—say, the [Pg 496]vernal—at Easter, the Sun has been below the
equator, and
suddenly rises above it. It has been, as it were, dead to us, but
now it
exhibits a resurrection.[496:1] The Saviour rises triumphant over the
powers of
darkness, to life and immortality, on the 25th of March, when the Sun
rises in
Aries.
Throughout
all the ancient world, the resurrection of the god Sol, under
different
names, was celebrated on March 25th, with great rejoicings.[496:2]
In the words
of the Rev. Geo. W. Cox:
"The
wailing of the Hebrew women at the death of Tammuz, the crucifixion and
resurrection
of Osiris, the adoration of the Babylonian Mylitta, the Sacti
ministers of
Hindu temples, the cross and crescent of Isis, the rites of the
Jewish altar
of Baal-Peor, wholly preclude all doubt of the real nature of the
great
festivals and mysteries of Phenicians, Jews, Assyrians, Egyptians, and
Hindus."[496:3]
All this was
Sun and Nature worship, symbolized by the Linga and Yoni. As Mr.
Bonwick says:
"The
philosophic theist who reflects upon the story, known from the walls of
China, across
Asia and Europe, to the plateau of Mexico, cannot resist the
impression
that no materialistic theory of it can be satisfactory."[496:4]
Allegory
alone explains it.
"The
Church, at an early date, selected the heathen festivals of Sun worship for
its own,
ordering the birth at Christmas, a fixed time, and the resurrection at
Easter, a
varying time, as in all Pagan religions; since, though the Sun rose
directly
after the vernal equinox, the festival, to be correct in a heathen
point of
view, had to be associated with the new moon."[496:5]
The
Christian, then, may well say:
"When
thou hadst overcome the sharpness of winter, thou didst open the kingdom
of heaven (i.
e., bring on the reign of summer), to all believers."
13. Christ
Jesus is Creator of all things. We have seen (in Chapter XXVI.) that
it was not
God the Father, who was supposed by the ancients to have been the
Creator of
the world, but God the Son, the Redeemer and Saviour of Mankind. Now,
this Redeemer
and Saviour was, as we have seen, the Sun, and Prof. Max Müller
tells us that
in the Vedic mythology, the Sun is not the bright Deva only, "who
performs his
daily task in the sky, but he is supposed to perform much greater
work. He is
looked upon, in fact, as the Ruler, as the Establisher, as the
Creator of
the world."[496:6]
Having been
invoked as the "Life-bringer," the Sun is also [Pg 497]called—in the
Rig-Veda—"the
Breath or Life of all that move and rest;" and lastly he becomes
"The
Maker of all things," by whom all the worlds have been brought
together.[497:1]
There is a
prayer in the Vedas, called Gayatree, which consists of three
measured
lines, and is considered the holiest and most efficacious of all their
religious
forms. Sir William Jones translates it thus:
"Let us
adore the supremacy of that spiritual Sun, the godhead, who illuminates
all, who
re-creates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return; whom we
invoke to
direct our undertakings aright in our progress toward his holy seat."
With Seneca
(a Roman philosopher, born at Cordova, Spain, 61 B. C.) then, we can
say:
"You may
call the Creator of all things by different names (Bacchus, Hercules,
Mercury,
etc.), but they are only different names of the same divine being, the
Sun."
14. He is to
be Judge of the quick and the dead. Who is better able than the Sun
to be the
judge of man's deeds, seeing, as he does, from his throne in heaven,
all that is
done on earth? The Vedas speak of Sűrya—the pervading, irresistible
luminary—as
seeing all things and hearing all things, noting the good and evil
deeds of
men.[497:2]
According to
Hindoo mythology, says Prof. Max Müller:
"The Sun
sees everything, both what is good and what is evil; and how natural
therefore
that (in the Indian Veda) both the evil-doer should be told that the
sun sees what
no human eye may have seen, and that the innocent, when all other
help fails
him, should appeal to the sun to attest his guiltlessness."
"Frequent
allusion is made (in the Rig-Veda), to the sun's power of seeing
everything.
The stars flee before the all-seeing sun, like thieves. He sees the
right and the
wrong among men. He who looks upon the world knows also the
thoughts in
all men. As the sun sees everything and knows everything, he is
asked to
forget and forgive what he alone has seen and knows."[497:3]
On the most
ancient Egyptian monuments, Osiris, the Sun personified, is
represented
as Judge of the dead. The Egyptian "Book of the Dead," the oldest
Bible in the
world, speaks of Osiris as "seeing all things, and hearing all
things,
noting the good and evil deeds of men."
15. He will
come again sitting on a white horse. The "second coming" of Vishnu
(Crishna),
Christ Jesus, and other Sun-gods, are also astronomical allegories.
The white
horse, [Pg 498]which figures so conspicuously in the legend, was the
universal
symbol of the Sun among Oriental nations.
Throughout
the whole legend, Christ Jesus is the toiling Sun, laboring for the
benefit of
others, not his own, and doing hard service for a mean and cruel
generation.
Watch his sun-like career of brilliant conquest, checked with
intervals of
storm, and declining to a death clouded with sorrow and derision.
He is in
constant company with his twelve apostles, the twelve signs of the
zodiac.[498:1]
During the course of his life's journey he is called "The God of
Earthly
Blessing," "The Saviour through whom a new life springs,"
"The
Preserver,"
"The Redeemer," &c. Almost at his birth the Serpent of darkness
attempts to
destroy him. Temptations to sloth and luxury are offered him in
vain. He has
his work to do, and nothing can stay him from doing it, as nothing
can arrest
the Sun in his journey through the heavens. Like all other solar
heroes, he
has his faithful women who love him, and the Marys and Martha here
play the
part. Of his toils it is scarcely necessary to speak in detail. They
are but a
thousand variations on the story of the great conflict which all the
Sun-gods wage
against the demon of darkness. He astonishes his tutor when sent
to school.
This we might expect to be the case, when an incomparable and
incommunicable
wisdom is the heritage of the Sun. He also represents the wisdom
and
beneficence of the bright Being who brings life and light to men. As the Sun
wakens the
earth to life when the winter is done, so Crishna, Buddha, Horus,
Ćsculapius,
and Christ Jesus were raisers of the dead. When the leaves fell and
withered on
the approach of winter, the "daughter of the earth" would be spoken
of as dying
or dead, and, as no other power than that of the Sun can recall
vegetation to
life, this child of the earth would be represented as buried in a
sleep from
which the touch of the Sun alone could rouse her.
Christ Jesus,
then, is the Sun, in his short career and early death. He is the
child of the
Dawn, whose soft, violet hues tint [Pg 499]the clouds of early
morn; his
father being the Sky, the "Heavenly Father," who has looked down with
love upon the
Dawn, and overshadowed her. When his career on earth is ended, and
he expires,
the loving mother, who parted from him in the morning of his life,
is at his
side, looking on the death of the Son whom she cannot save from the
doom which is
on him, while her tears fall on his body like rain at sundown.
From her he
is parted at the beginning of his course; to her he is united at its
close. But
Christ Jesus, like Crishna, Buddha, Osiris, Horus, Mithras, Apollo,
Atys and
others, rises again, and thus the myth takes us a step beyond the
legend of
Serpedon and others, which stop at the end of the eastward journey,
when the
night is done.
According to
the Christian calendar, the birthday of John the Baptist is on the
day of the
summer solstice, when the sun begins to decrease. How true to nature
then are the
words attributed to him in the fourth Gospel, when he says that he
must
decrease, and Jesus increase.
Among the
ancient Teutonic nations, fires were lighted, on the tops of hills, on
the 24th of
June, in honor of the wending Sun. This custom is still kept up in
Southern
Germany and the Scotch highlands, and it is the day selected by the
Roman
Catholic church to celebrate the nativity of John the Baptist.[499:1]
Mosheim, the
ecclesiastical historian, speaking of the uncertainty of the time
when Christ
Jesus was born, says: "The uncertainty of this point is of no great
consequence.
We know that the Sun of Righteousness has shone upon the world; and
although we
cannot fix the precise period in which he arose, this will not
preclude us
from enjoying the direction and influence of his vital and salutary
beams."
These sacred
legends abound with such expressions as can have no possible or
conceivable
application to any other than to the "God of day." He is "a
light to
lighten the
Gentiles, and to be the glory (or brightness) of his people."[499:2]
He is come
"a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in him should not
abide in
darkness."[499:3] He is "the light of the world."[499:4] He
"is light,
and in him no
darkness is."[499:5]
"Lighten
our darkness, we beseech thee, Adonai, and by thy great mercy defend us
from all
perils and dangers of this night."—Collect, in Evening Service.
God of God,
light of light, very God of very God."—Nicene Creed.
[Pg
500]"Merciful Adonai, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light
upon
thy Church."—Collect
of St. John.
"To thee
all angels cry aloud, the heavens, and all the powers therein."
"Heaven
and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory" (or brightness).
"The
glorious company of the (twelve months, or) apostles praise thee."
"Thou
art the King of Glory, O Christ!"
"When
thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou passest through the
constellation,
or zodiacal sign—the Virgin."
"When
thou hadst overcome the sharpness of winter, thou didst open the kingdom
of heaven (i.
e., bring on the reign of the summer months) to all believers."
"All are
agreed," says Cicero, "that Apollo is none other than the Sun,
because
the
attributes which are commonly ascribed to Apollo do so wonderfully agree
thereto."
Just so
surely as Apollo is the Sun, so is the Lord Christ Jesus the Sun. That
which is so
conclusive respecting the Pagan deities, applies also to the God of
the
Christians; but, like the Psalmist of old, they cry, "Touch not MY Christ,
and do my
prophets no harm."
Many
Christian writers have seen that the history of their Lord and Saviour is
simply the
history of the Sun, but they either say nothing, or, like Dr.
Parkhurst and
the Rev. J. P. Lundy, claim that the Sun is a type of the true Sun
of
Righteousness. Mr. Lundy, in his "Monumental Christianity," says:
"Is
there no bright Sun of Righteousness—no personal and loving Son of God, of
whom the
material Sun has been the type or symbol, in all ages and among all
nations? What
power is it that comes from the Sun to give light and heat to all
created
things? If the symbolical Sun leads such a great earthly and heavenly
flock, what
must be said to the true and only begotten Son of God? If Apollo was
adopted by
early Christian art as a type of the Good Shepherd of the New
Testament,
then this interpretation of the Sun-god among all nations must be the
solution of
the universal mythos, or what other solution can it have? To what
other
historical personage but Christ can it apply? If this mythos has no
spiritual
meaning, then all religion becomes mere idolatry, or the worship of
material
things."[500:1]
Mr. Lundy,
who seems to adhere to this once-upon-a-time favorite theory,
illustrates
it as follows:
"The
young Isaac is his (Christ's) Hebrew type, bending under the wood, as
Christ fainted
under the cross; Daniel is his type, stripped of all earthly fame
and
greatness, and cast naked into the deepest danger, shame and humiliation."
"Noah is
his type, in saving men from utter destruction, and bringing them
across the
sea of death to a new world and a new life." "Orpheus is a type of
Christ. Agni
and Crishna of India; Mithra of Persia; Horus and Apollo of Egypt,
are all types
of Christ." "Samson carrying off the gates of Gaza and defeating
the
Philistines by his own death, was considered as a type of Christ [Pg
501]bursting
open and carrying away the gates of Hades, and conquering His and
our enemies
by his death and resurrection."[501:1]
According to
this theory, the whole Pagan religion was typical of Christ and
Christianity.
Why then were not the Pagans the Lord's chosen people instead of
the children
of Israel?
The early
Christians were charged with being a sect of Sun worshipers.[501:2]
The ancient
Egyptians worshiped the god Serapis, and Serapis was the Sun. Fig.
No. 11, page
194, shows the manner in which Serapis was personified. It might
easily pass
for a representation of the Sun-god of the Christians. Mr. King
says, in his
"Gnostics, and their Remains":
"There
can be no doubt that the head of Serapis, marked as the face is by a
grave and
pensive majesty, supplied the first idea for the conventional
portraits of
the Saviour."[501:3]
The Imperial
Russian Collection boasts of a head of Christ Jesus which is said
to be very
ancient. It is a fine intaglio on emerald. Mr. King says of it:
"It is
in reality a head of Serapis, seen in front and crowned with Persia
boughs,
easily mistaken for thorns, though the bushel on the head leaves no
doubt as to
the real personage intended."[501:4]
It must not
be forgotten, in connection with this, that the worshipers of
Serapis, or
the Sun, were called Christians.[501:5]
Mrs. Jameson,
speaking on this subject, says:
"We
search in vain for the lightest evidence of his (Christ's) human, individual
semblance, in
the writing of those disciples who knew him so well. In this
instance the
instincts of earthly affection seem to have been mysteriously
overruled. He
whom all races of men were to call brother, was not to be too
closely
associated with the particular lineaments of any one. St. John, the
beloved
disciple, could lie on the breast of Jesus with all the freedom of
fellowship,
but not even he has left a word to indicate what manner of man was
the Divine
Master after the flesh. . . . Legend has, in various form, supplied
this natural
craving, but it is hardly necessary to add, that all accounts of
pictures of
our Lord taken from Himself are without historical foundation. We
are therefore
left to imagine the expression most befitting the character of him
who took upon
himself our likeness, and looked at the woes and sins of mankind
through the
eyes of our mortality."[501:6]
The Rev. Mr.
Geikie says, in his "Life of Christ":
"No hint
is given in the New Testament of Christ's appearance; and the early
Church, in
the absence of all guiding facts, had to fall back on imagination."
[Pg
502]"In its first years, the Christian church fancied its Lord's visage
and
form marred
more than those of other men; and that he must have had no
attractions
of personal beauty. Justin Martyr (A. D. 150-160) speaks of him as
without
beauty or attractiveness, and of mean appearance. Clement of Alexandria
(A. D. 200),
describes him as of an uninviting appearance, and almost repulsive.
Tertullian
(A. D. 200-210) says he had not even ordinary human beauty, far less
heavenly.
Origen (A. D. 230) went so far as to say that he was 'small in body
and
deformed', as well as low-born, and that, 'his only beauty was in his soul
and
life.'"[502:1]
One of the
favorite ways finally, of depicting him, was, as Mr. Lundy remarks:
"Under
the figure of a beautiful and adorable youth, of about fifteen or
eighteen
years of age, beardless, with a sweet expression of countenance, and
long and
abundant hair flowing in curls over his shoulders. His brow is
sometimes encircled
by a diadem or bandeau, like a young priest of the Pagan
gods; that
is, in fact, the favorite figure. On sculptured sarcophagi, in fresco
paintings and
Mosaics, Christ is thus represented as a graceful youth, just as
Apollo was
figured by the Pagans, and as angels are represented by
Christians."[502:2]
Thus we see
that the Christians took the paintings and statues of the Sun-gods
Serapis and
Apollo as models, when they wished to represent their Saviour. That
the former is
the favorite at the present day need not be doubted when we glance
at Fig. No.
11, page 194.
Mr. King,
speaking of this god, and his worshipers, says:
"There
is very good reason to believe that in the East the worship of Serapis
was at first
combined with Christianity, and gradually merged into it with an
entire change
of name, not substance, carrying with it many of its ancient
notions and
rites."[502:3]
Again he
says:
"In the
second century the syncretistic sects that had sprung up in Alexandria,
the very
hotbed of Gnosticism, found out in Serapis a prophetic type of Christ,
or the Lord
and Creator of all."[502:4]
The early
Christians, or worshipers of the Sun, under the name of "Christ,"
had,
as all
Sun-worshipers, a peculiar regard to the East—the quarter in which their
god rose—to
which point they ordinarily directed their prayers.[502:5]
The followers
of Mithra always turned towards the East, when they worshiped; the
same was done
by the Brahmans of the East, and the Christians of the West. In
the ceremony
of baptism, the catechumen was placed with his face to the West,
the
symbolical representation of the prince of darkness, in opposition to the
East, and
made to spit towards it at the evil one, and renounce his works.
[Pg
503]Tertullian says, that Christians were taken for worshipers of the Sun
because they
prayed towards the East, after the manner of those who adored the
Sun. The
Essenes—whom Eusebius calls Christians—always turned to the east to
pray. The
Essenes met once a week, and spent the night in singing hymns, &c.,
which lasted
till sun-rising. As soon as dawn appeared, they retired to their
cells, after
saluting one another. Pliny says the Christians of Bithynia met
before it was
light, and sang hymns to Christ, as to a God. After their service
they saluted
one another. Surely the circumstances of the two classes of people
meeting
before daylight, is a very remarkable coincidence. It is just what the
Persian Magi,
who were Sun worshipers, were in the habit of doing.
When a
Manichćan Christian came over to the orthodox Christians, he was required
to curse his
former friends in the following terms:
"I curse
Zarades (Zoroaster?) who, Manes said, had appeared as a god before his
time among
the Indians and Persians, and whom he calls the Sun. I curse those
who say
Christ is the Sun, and who make prayers to the Sun, and who do not pray
to the true
God, only towards the East, but who turn themselves round, following
the motions
of the Sun with their innumerable supplications. I curse those
person who
say that Zarades and Budas and Christ and the Sun are all one and the
same."
There are not
many circumstances more striking than that of Christ Jesus being
originally
worshiped under the form of a Lamb—the actual "Lamb of God, which
taketh away
the sins of the world." As we have already seen (in Chap. XX.), it
was not till
the Council of Constantinople, called In Trullo, held so late as
the year 707,
that pictures of Christ Jesus were ordered to be drawn in the form
of a man. It
was ordained that, in the place of the figure of a Lamb, the symbol
used to that
time, the figure of a man nailed to a cross, should in future be
used.[503:1]
From this decree, the identity of the worship of the Celestial Lamb
and the
Christian Saviour is certified beyond the possibility of doubt, and the
mode by which
the ancient superstitions were propagated is satisfactorily shown.
Nothing can
more clearly prove the general practice than the order of a council
to regulate
it.
The worship
of the constellation of Aries was the worship of the Sun in his
passage
through that sign. "This constellation was [Pg 504]called by the
ancients the
Lamb of God. He was also called the Saviour, and was said to save
mankind from
their sins. He was always honored with the appellation of Dominus
or Lord. He
was called The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.
The devotees
addressed him in their litany, constantly repeating the words, 'O
Lamb of God,
that taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant
us thy
peace.'"
On an ancient
medal of the Phenicians, brought by Dr. Clark from Citium (and
described in
his "Travels," vol. ii. ch. xi.) this Lamb of God is described with
the Cross and
the Rosary, which shows that they were both used in his worship.
Yearly the
Sun-god, as the zodiacal horse (Aries) was supposed by the Vedic
Aryans to die
to save all flesh. Hence the practice of sacrificing horses. The
"guardian
spirits" of the prince Sakya Buddha sing the following hymn:
"Once
when thou wast the white horse,[504:1]
In pity for
the suffering of man,
Thou didst
fly across heaven to the region of the evil demons,
To secure the
happiness of mankind.
Persecutions
without end,
Revilings and
many prisons,
Death and
murder;
These hast
thou suffered with love and patience,
Forgiving
thine executioners."[504:2]
We have seen,
in Chapter XXXIII., that Christ Jesus was also symbolized as a
Fish, and
that it is to be seen on all the ancient Christian monuments. But what
has the
Christian Saviour to do with a Fish? Why was he called a Fish? The
answer is,
because the fish was another emblem of the Sun. Abarbanel says:
"The
sign of his (Christ's) coming is the junction of Saturn and Jupiter, in the
Sign
Pisces."[504:3]
Applying the
astronomical emblem of Pisces to Jesus, does not seem more absurd
than applying
the astronomical emblem of the Lamb. They applied to him the
monogram of
the Sun, IHS, the astronomical and alchemical sign of Aries, or the
ram, or Lamb
; and, in short, what was there that was Heathenish that they have
not applied
to him?
The
preserving god Vishnu, the Sun, was represented as a fish, and so was the
Syrian
Sun-god Dagon, who was also a Preserver or Saviour. The Fish was sacred
among many
nations of antiquity, [Pg 505]and is to be seen on their monuments.
Thus we see
that everything at last centres in the Sun.
Constantine,
the first Christian emperor, had on his coins the figure of the
Sun, with the
legend: "To the Invincible Sun, my companion and guardian," as
being a
representation, says Mr. King, "either of the ancient Phśbus, or the new
Sun of
Righteousness, equally acceptable to both Christian and Gentile, from the
double
interpretation of which the type was susceptible."[505:1]
The worship
of the Sun, under the name of Mithra, "long survived in Rome, under
the Christian
emperors, and, doubtless, much longer in the remoter districts of
the
semi-independent provinces."[505:2]
Christ Jesus
is represented with a halo of glory surrounding his head, a florid
complexion,
long golden locks of hair, and a flowing robe. Now, all Sun-gods,
from Crishna
of India (Fig. No. 41) to Baldur of Scandinavia, are represented
with a halo
of glory surrounding their heads, and the flowing locks of golden
hair, and the
flowing robe, are not wanting.[505:3] By a process of metaphor,
the rays [Pg
506]of the Sun were changed into golden hair, into spears and
lances, and
robes of light. From the shoulders of Phoibus Lykęgenes, the
light-born,
flow the sacred locks over which no razor might pass. On the head of
Nisos, as on
that of Samson, they became a palladium invested with a mysterious
power. From
Helios, the Sun, who can scorch as well as warm, comes the robe of
Medeia, which
appears in the poisoned garments of Deianeira.[506:1]
We see, then,
that Christ Jesus, like Christ Buddha,[506:2] Crishna, Mithra,
Osiris,
Horus, Apollo, Hercules and others, is none other than a personification
of the Sun,
and that the Christians, like their predecessors the Pagans, are
really Sun
worshipers. It must not be inferred, however, that we advocate the
theory that
no such person as Jesus of Nazareth ever lived in the flesh. The man
Jesus is
evidently an historical personage, just as the Sakaya prince Buddha,
Cyrus, King
of Persia, and Alexander, King of Macedonia, are historical
personages;
but the Christ Jesus, the Christ Buddha, the mythical Cyrus, and the
mythical
Alexander, never lived in the flesh. The Sun-myth has been added to the
histories of
these personages, in a greater or less degree, just as it has been
added to the
history of many other real personages. If it be urged that the
attribution
to Christ Jesus of qualities or powers belonging to the Pagan
deities would
hardly seem reasonable, the answer must be that nothing is done in
his case
which has not been done in the case of almost every other member of the
great company
of the gods. The tendency of myths to reproduce themselves, with
differences
only of names and local coloring, becomes especially manifest after
perusing the
legendary histories of the gods of antiquity. It is a fact
demonstrated
by history, that when one nation of antiquity came in contact with
another, they
adopted each other's myths without hesitation. After the Jews had
been taken
captives to Babylon, around the history of their King Solomon
accumulated
the fables which were related of Persian heroes. When the fame of
Cyrus and
Alexander became known over the then known world, the popular Sun-myth
was
interwoven with their true history. The mythical history of Perseus is, in
all its
essential features, the history of the Attic hero Theseus, and of the
Theban
Śdipus, and they all reappear with heightened colors in the myths of
Hercules. We
have the same thing again in the mythical and religious history of
Crishna; it
is, in nearly all its essential features, the history of [Pg
507]Buddha,
and reappears again, with heightened colors, in the history of
Christ Jesus.
The myths of Buddha and Jesus differ from the legends of the other
virgin-born
Saviours only in the fact that in their cases it has gathered round
unquestionably
historical personages. In other words, an old myth has been added
to names
undoubtedly historical. But it cannot be too often repeated that from
the myth we
learn nothing of their history. How much we really know of the man
Jesus will be
considered in our next, and last, chapter.[507:1] That his
biography, as
recorded in the books of the New Testament, contains some few
grains of
actual history, is all that the historian or philosopher can
rationally
venture to urge. But the very process which has stripped these
legends of
all value as a chronicle of actual events has invested them with a
new interest.
Less than ever are they worthless fictions which the historian or
philosopher
may afford to despise. These legends of the birth, life, and death
of the Sun,
present to us a form of society and a condition of thought through
which all
mankind had to pass before the dawn of history. Yet that state of
things was as
real as the time in which we live. They who spoke the language of
these early
tales were men and women with joys and sorrows not unlike our own.
In the
following verses of Martianus Capella, the universal veneration for the
Sun is
clearly shown:
"Latium
invokes thee, Sol, because thou alone art in honor, after the Father,
the centre of
light; and they affirm that thy sacred head bears a golden
brightness in
twelve rays, because thou formest that number of months and that
number of
hours. They say that thou guidest four winged steeds, because thou
alone rulest
the chariot of the elements. For, dispelling the darkness, thou
revealest the
shining heavens. Hence they esteem thee, Phśbus, the discoverer of
the secrets
of the future; or, because thou preventest nocturnal crimes. Egypt
worships thee
as Serapis, and Memphis as Osiris. Thou art worshiped by different
rites as
Mithra, Dis, and the cruel Typhon. Thou art alone the beautiful Atys,
and the
fostering son of the bent plough. Thou art the Ammon of arid Libya, and
the Adonis of
Byblos. Thus under a varied appellation the whole world worship
thee. Hail!
thou true image of the gods, and of thy father's face! thou whose
sacred name,
surname, and omen, three letters make to agree with the number
608.[507:2]
Grant us, oh Father, to reach the eternal intercourse of mind, and
to know the
starry heaven under this sacred name. May the great and universally
adorable
Father increase these his favors."
FOOTNOTES:
[467:1]
"In the Vedas, the Sun has twenty different names, not pure equivalents,
but each term
descriptive of the Sun in one of its aspects. It is brilliant
(Sűrya), the
friend (Mitra), generous (Aryaman), beneficent (Bhaga), that which
nourishes
(Pűshna), the Creator (Tvashtar), the master of the sky (Divaspati),
and so
on." (Rev. S. Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 150.)
[467:2]
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 267.
[468:1]
Preface to "Tales of Anct. Greece."
[468:2] See
Appendix B.
[469:1] Aryan
Mytho., vol. ii. pp. 51-53.
[473:1] Müller:
Origin of Religions, pp. 264-268.
[473:2] John,
i. 9.
[473:3] The
Christian ceremonies of the Nativity are celebrated in Bethlehem and
Rome, even at
the present time, very early in the morning.
[474:1]
Quoted by Volney, Ruins, p. 166, and note.
[474:2] See
Ibid. and Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 236.
[474:3] See
Chap. XXXIV.
[474:4] The
Dawn was personified by the ancients—a virgin mother, who bore the
Sun. (See Max
Müller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 137. Fiske's Myths and Mythmakers, p.
156, and Cox:
Tales of Ancient Greece, and Aryan Mytho.)
[474:5] In
Sanscrit "Idâ" is the Earth, the wife of Dyaus (the Sky), and so we
have before
us the mythical phrase, "the Sun at its birth rests on the earth."
In other
words, "the Sun at birth is nursed in the lap of its mother."
[474:6]
"The moment we understand the nature of a myth, all impossibilities,
contradictions
and immoralities disappear. If a mythical personage be nothing
more than a
name of the Sun, his birth may be derived from ever so many
different
mothers. He may be the son of the Sky or of the Dawn or of the Sea or
of the
Night." (Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 108.)
[474:7]
"The sign of the Celestial Virgin rises above the horizon at the moment
in which we
fix the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ." (Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol.
i. p. 314,
and Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 147.)
"We have
in the first decade the Sign of the Virgin, following the most ancient
tradition of
the Persians, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, Hermes and Ćsculapius,
a young woman
called in the Persian language, Seclinidos de Darzama; in the
Arabic,
Aderenedesa—that is to say, a chaste, pure, immaculate virgin, suckling
an infant,
which some nations call Jesus (i. e., Saviour), but which we in Greek
call
Christ." (Abulmazer.)
"In the
first decade of the Virgin, rises a maid, called in Arabic,
'Aderenedesa,'
that is: 'pure immaculate virgin,' graceful in person, charming
in
countenance, modest in habit, with loosened hair, holding in her hands two
ears of
wheat, sitting upon an embroidered throne, nursing a BOY, and rightly
feeding him
in the place called Hebraea. A boy, I say, names Iessus by certain
nations,
which signifies Issa, whom they also call Christ in Greek." (Kircher,
Śdipus
Ćgypticus.)
[475:1] Max
Müller: Origin of Religions, p. 261.
[475:2] Ibid.
p. 230.
[475:3]
"With scarcely an exception, all the names by which the Virgin goddess
of the
Akropolis was known point to this mythology of the Dawn." (Cox: Aryan
Myths, vol.
i. p. 228.)
[475:4] We
also read in the Vishnu Purana that: "The Sun of Achyuta (God, the
Imperishable)
rose in the dawn of Devaki, to cause the lotus petal of the
universe
(Crishna) to expand. On the day of his birth the quarters of the
horizon were
irradiate with joy," &c.
[475:5] Cox:
Aryan Myths, vol. iii. pp. 105, and 130, vol. ii.
[475:6] Ibid.
p. 133. See Legends in Chap. XVI.
[475:7]
Fiske: Myths and Mythmakers, p. 113.
[476:1]
Renouf: Hibbert Lectures, p. 111 and 161.
[476:2] Ibid.
p. 161 and 179.
[476:3] Ibid.
pp. 179.
[476:4] See Tales
of Ancient Greece, pp. xxxi. and 82.
[476:5] The
Bull symbolized the productive force in nature, and hence it was
associated
with the Sun-gods. This animal was venerated by nearly all the
peoples of
antiquity. (Wake: Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 45.)
[476:6] See
Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 229.
[477:1] See
Chap. XXXII.
[477:2] See
Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xviii.
[477:3]
"The idea entertained by the ancients that these god-begotten heroes
were
engendered without any carnal intercourse, and that they were the sons of
Jupiter, is,
in plain language, the result of the ethereal spirit, i. e., the
Holy Spirit,
operating on the virgin mother Earth." (Knight: Ancient Art and
Mythology, p.
156.)
[477:4] Cox:
Aryan Myths, p. 87.
[477:5] See
Williams' Hinduism, p. 24, and Müller's Chips, vol. ii. pp. 277 and
290.
[477:6] See
Bulfinch, p. 389.
[477:7] See
Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, pp. 110, 111.
[477:8]
Manners of the Germans, p. xi.
[478:1] See
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, pp. 81, 99, and 166.
The Moon was
called by the ancients, "The Queen;" "The Highest
Princess;" "The
Queen of
Heaven;" "The Princess and Queen of Heaven;" &c. She was
Istar, Ashera,
Diana,
Artemis, Isis, Juno, Lucina, Astartę. (Goldzhier, pp. 158. Knight, pp.
99, 100.)
In the beginning
of the eleventh book of Apuleius' Metamorphosis, Isis is
represented
as addressing him thus: "I am present; I who am Nature, the parent
of things,
queen of all the elements, &c., &c. The primitive Phrygians called me
Pressinuntica,
the mother of the gods; the native Athenians, Ceropian Minerva;
the floating
Cyprians, Paphian Venus; the arrow-bearing Cretans, Dictymian
Diana; the
three-tongued Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and the inhabitants of
Eleusis, the
ancient goddess Ceres. Some again have invoked me as Juno, others
as Beliona,
others as Hecate, and others as Rhamnusia: and those who are
enlightened
by the emerging rays of the rising Sun, the Ethiopians, Ariians and
Egyptians,
powerful in ancient learning, who reverence my divinity with
ceremonies
perfectly proper, call me by a true appellation, 'Queen Isis.'"
(Taylor's
Mysteries, p. 76.)
[478:2] The
"God the Father" of all nations of antiquity was nothing more than a
personification
of the Sky or the Heavens. "The term Heaven (pronounced Thien)
is used
everywhere in the Chinese classics for the Supreme Power, ruling and
governing all
the affairs of men with an omnipotent and omniscient righteousness
and
goodness." (James Legge.)
In one of the
Chinese sacred books—the Shu-king—Heaven and Earth are called
"Father
and Mother of all things." Heaven being the Father, and Earth the
Mother.
(Taylor: Primitive Culture, pp. 294-296.)
The "God
the Father" of the Indians is Dyaus, that is, the Sky. (Williams'
Hinduism, p.
24.)
Ormuzd, the
god of the ancient Persians, was a personification of the sky.
Herodotus,
speaking of the Persians, says: "They are accustomed to ascend the
highest part
of the mountains, and offer sacrifice to Jupiter (Ormuzd), and they
call the
whole circle of the heavens by the name of Jupiter." (Herodotus, book
1, ch. 131.)
In Greek
iconography Zeus is the Heaven. As Cicero says: "The refulgent Heaven
above is that
which all men call, unanimously, Jove."
The Christian
God supreme of the nineteenth century is still Dyaus Pitar, the
"Heavenly
Father."
[478:3]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 24.
[478:4]
Müller: Origin of Religions, pp. 261, 290.
[478:5]
Renouf: Hibbert Lectures, pp. 110, 111.
[478:6] See
Note 2.
[478:7] See
Cox: Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. xxxi. and 82, and Aryan Mythology,
vol. i. p.
229.
[479:1]
Quoted by Westropp: Phallic Worship, p. 24.
[479:2]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 66. "In Phenician Mythology Ouranos (Heaven)
weds Ghe (the
Earth) and by her becomes father of Oceanus, Hyperon, Iapetus,
Cronos, and
other gods." (Phallic Worship, p. 26.)
[479:3]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 64.
[479:4] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 80, 93, 94, 406, 510, 511.
[480:1] See
Chap. XIV.
[480:2] See
Dupuis: Orig. Relig. Belief, p. 234. Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii.
pp. 96, 97,
and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 272.
[480:3]
Extracts from the Vedas. Müller's Chips, vol. ii. pp. 96 and 187.
[481:1] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 153.
[481:2] Aryan
Mythology, vol. ii. p. 133.
[481:3] When
Christ Jesus was born, on a sudden there was a great light in the
cave, so that
their eyes could not bear it. (Protevangelion, Apoc. ch. xiv.)
[481:4]
"Perseus, Oidipous, Romulus and Cyrus are doomed to bring ruin on their
parents. They
are exposed in their infancy on the hill-side, and rescued by a
shepherd. All
the solar heroes begin life in this way. Whether, like Apollo,
born of the
dark night (Leto), or like Oidipous, of the violet dawn (Iokaste),
they are
alike destined to bring destruction on their parents, as the Night and
the Dawn are
both destroyed by the Sun." (Fiske: p. 198.)
[481:5]
"The exposure of the child in infancy represents the long rays of the
morning sun
resting on the hill-side." (Fiske: Myths and Mythmakers, p. 198.)
The Sun-hero
Paris is exposed on the slopes of Ida, Oidipous on the slopes of
Kithairon,
and Ćsculapius on that of the mountain of Myrtles. This is the rays
of the
newly-born sun resting on the mountain-side. (Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. i.
pp. 64 and
80.)
In Sanscrit
Ida is the Earth, and so we have the mythical phrase, the Sun at its
birth is
exposed on Ida—the hill-side. The light of the sun must rest on the
hill-side
long before it reaches the dells beneath. (See Cox: vol. i. p. 221,
and Fiske: p.
114.)
[482:1] Even
as late as the seventeenth century, a German writer would
illustrate a
thunder-storm destroying a crop of corn, by a picture of a dragon
devouring the
produce of the field with his flaming tongue and iron teeth. (See
Fiske: Myths
and Mythmakers, p. 17, and Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii.)
[482:2] The
history of the Saviour Hercules is so similar to that of the Saviour
Christ Jesus,
that the learned Dr. Parkhurst was forced to say, "The labors of
Hercules seem
to have been originally designed as emblematic memorials of what
the REAL Son
of God, the Saviour of the world, was to do and suffer for our
sakes,
bringing a cure for all our ills, as the Orphic hymn speaks of Hercules."
[482:3]
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, pp. 158, 166, and 168.
[482:4] In
ancient mythology, all heroes of light were opposed by the "Old
Serpent,"
the Devil, symbolized by Serpents, Dragons, Sphinxes and other
monsters. The
Serpent was, among the ancient Eastern nations, the symbol of
Evil, of
Winter, of Darkness and of Death. It also symbolized the dark cloud,
which, by
harboring the rays of the Sun, preventing its shining, and therefore,
is apparently
attempting to destroy it. The Serpent is one of the chief mystic
personifications
of the Rig-Veda, under the names of Ahi, Suchna, and others.
They represent
the Cloud, the enemy of the Sun, keeping back the fructifying
rays. Indra
struggles victoriously against him, and spreads life on the earth,
with the
shining warmth of the Father of Life, the Creator, the Sun.
Buddha, the
Lord and Saviour, was described as a superhuman organ of light, to
whom a
superhuman organ of darkness, Mara, the Evil Serpent, was opposed. He,
like Christ
Jesus, resisted the temptations of this evil one, and is represented
sitting on a
serpent, as if its conqueror. (See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 39.)
Crishna also
overcame the evil one, and is represented "bruising the head of the
serpent,"
and standing upon it. (See vol. i. of Asiatic Researches, and vol. ii.
of Higgins'
Anacalypsis.)
In Egyptian
Mythology, one of the names of the god-Sun was Râ. He had an
adversary who
was called Apap, represented in the form of a serpent. (See
Renouf's
Hibbert Lectures, p. 109.)
Horus, the
Egyptian incarnate god, the Mediator, Redeemer and Saviour, is
represented
in Egyptian art as overcoming the Evil Serpent, and standing
triumphantly
upon him. (See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 158, and Monumental
Christianity,
p. 402.)
Osiris,
Ormuzd, Mithras, Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, Indra, Śdipus,
Quetzalcoatle,
and many other Sun-gods, overcame the Evil One, and are
represented
in the above described manner. (See Cox's Tales of Ancient Greece,
p. xxvii. and
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 129. Baring-Gould's Curious Myths, p.
256.
Bulfinch's Age of Fable, p. 34. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. x., and
Kingsborough's
Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176.)
[483:1] The
crucifixion of the Sun-gods is simply the power of Darkness
triumphing
over the "Lord of Light," and Winter overpowering the Summer. It was
at the Winter
solstice that the ancients wept for Tammuz, the fair Adonis, and
other
Sun-gods, who were put to death by the boar, slain by the thorn of winter.
(See Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 113.)
Other
versions of the same myth tell us of Eurydike stung to death by the hidden
serpent, of Sifrit
smitten by Hagene (the Thorn), of Isfendiyar slain by the
thorn or
arrow of Rustem, of Achilleus vulnerable only in the heel, of Brynhild
enfolded
within the dragon's coils, of Meleagros dying as the torch of doom is
burnt out, of
Baldur, the brave and pure, smitten by the fatal mistletoe, and of
Crishna and
others being crucified.
In Egyptian
mythology, Set, the destroyer, triumphs in the West. He is the
personification
of Darkness and Winter, and the Sun-god whom he puts to death,
is Horus the
Saviour. (See Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, pp. 112-115.)
[483:2]
"In the Rig-Veda the god Vishnu is often named as a manifestation of the
Solar energy,
or rather as a form of the Sun." (Indian Wisdom, p. 322.)
[483:3]
Crishna says: "I am Vishnu, Brahma, Indra, and the source as well as the
destruction
of things, the creator and the annihilator of the whole aggregate of
existences."
(Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 131.)
[484:1] See
Chap. XX.
[484:2]
Indra, who was represented as a crucified god, is also the Sun. No
sooner is he
born than he speaks to his mother. Like Apollo and all other
Sun-gods he
has golden locks, and like them he is possessed of an inscrutable
wisdom. He is
also born of a virgin—the Dawn. Crishna and Indra are one. (See
Cox: Aryan
Mythology, vol. i. pp. 88 and 341; vol. ii. p. 131.)
[484:3] Wake:
Phallism, &c., p. 55.
[484:4] See
Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 113.
[484:5] Ibid.
pp. 115 and 125.
[484:6] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 157.
[484:7]
Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 88.
A great
number of the Solar heroes or Sun-gods are forced to endure being bound,
which
indicates the tied-up power of the sun in winter. (Goldzhier: Hebrew
Mythology, p.
406.)
[484:8] The
Sun, as climbing the heights of heaven, is an arrogant being, given
to making
exorbitant claims, who must be bound to the fiery cross. "The phrases
which
described the Sun as revolving daily on his four-spoked cross, or as
doomed to
sink in the sky when his orb had reached the zenith, would give rise
to the
stories of Ixion on his flaming wheel." (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii.
p. 27.)
[484:9]
"So was Ixion bound on the fiery wheel, and the sons of men see the
flaming
spokes day by day as it whirls in the high heaven."
[485:1] Cox:
Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxxii.
[485:2] Ibid.
p. xxxiii.
[485:3]
"That the story of the Trojan war is almost wholly mythical, has been
conceded even
by the stoutest champions of Homeric unity." (Rev. G. W. Cox.)
[485:4] See
Müller's Science of Religion, p. 186.
[485:5] See
Calmet's Fragments, vol. ii. pp. 21, 22.
[486:1]
Nimrod: vol. i. p. 278, in Anac., i. p. 503.
[486:2] At
Miletus was the crucified Apollo—Apollo, who overcome the Serpent or
evil
principle. Thus Callimachus, celebrating this achievement, in his hymn to
Apollo, has
these remarkable words:
"Thee
thy blest mother bore, and pleased assign'd
The willing
Saviour of distressed mankind."
[486:3] These
words apply to Christ Jesus, as well as Semiramis, according to
the Christian
Father Ignatius. In his Epistle to the Church at Ephesus, he says:
"Now the
virginity of Mary, and he who was born of her, was kept in secret from
the prince of
this world, as was also the death of our Lord: three of the
mysteries the
most spoken of throughout the world, yet done in secret by God."
[487:1] The
Rosicrucians, p. 260.
[487:2] Ibid.
[488:1] The
Sun-gods Apollo, Indra, Wittoba or Crishna, and Christ Jesus, are
represented
as having their feet pierced with nails (See Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol.
ii. p. 23,
and Moor's Hindu Pantheon.)
[489:1]
Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., pp. 87, 88.
[489:2]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 32.
[489:3]
"This notion is quite consistent with the ideas entertained by the
Phenicians as
to the Serpent, which they supposed to have the quality of putting
off its old
age, and assuming a second youth." Sanchoniathon: (Quoted by Wake:
Phallism,
&c., p. 43.)
[489:4] Une
serpent qui tient sa queue dans sa gueule et dans le circle qu'il
decrit, ces
trois lettres Greques ΓΞΕ, qui sont le nombre 365.
Le Serpent, qui
est
d'ordinaire un emblčme de l'eternetč est ici celui de Soleil et des ses
revolutions.
(Beausobre: Hist. de Manich. tom. ii. p. 55. Quoted by Lardner,
vol. viii. p.
379.)
"This
idea existed even in America. The great century of the Aztecs was
encircled by
a serpent grasping its own tail, and the great calendar stone is
entwined by
serpents bearing human heads in their distended jaws."
"The
annual passage of the Sun, through the signs of the zodiac, being in an
oblique path,
resembles, or at least the ancients thought so, the tortuous
movements of
the Serpent, and the facility possessed by this reptile of casting
off his skin
and producing out of itself a new covering every year, bore some
analogy to
the termination of the old year and the commencement of the new one.
Accordingly,
all the ancient spheres—the Persian, Indian, Egyptian, Barbaric,
and
Mexican—were surrounded by the figure of a serpent holding its tail in its
mouth."
(Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 249.)
[489:5] Wake:
Phallism, p. 42.
[489:6] See
Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 128.
[490:1] Being
the most intimately connected with the reproduction of life on
earth, the
Linga became the symbol under which the Sun, invoked with a thousand
names, has
been worshiped throughout the world as the restorer of the powers of
nature after
the long sleep or death of Winter. In the brazen Serpent of the
Pentateuch,
the two emblems of the Cross and Serpent, the quiescent and
energizing
Phallos, are united. (Cox: Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. pp. 113-118.)
[490:2] Wake:
Phallism, &c., p. 60.
[491:1]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 155.
[491:2] Wake:
Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 72.
[491:3] Ibid.
p. 73. Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 195.
[491:4]
Faber: Orig. Pagan Idol., in Squire, p. 158.
[491:5] Ibid.
[491:6]
Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 375.
[491:7] Ibid.
[491:8]
Squire: p. 161.
[491:9] Ibid.
p. 185.
[492:1]
Squire: p. 169.
[492:2]
Lundy: Monumental Christianity, p. 185.
[492:3]
"Saviour was a common title of the Sun-gods of antiquity." (Wake:
Phallism in
Anct. Religs., p. 55.)
The ancient
Greek writers speak of the Sun, as the "Generator and Nourisher of
all
Things;" the "Ruler of the World;" the "First of the
Gods," and the "Supreme
Lord of all
Beings." (Knight: Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 37.)
Pausanias
(500 B. C.) speaks of "The Sun having the surname of Saviour." (Ibid.
p. 98, note.)
"There
is a very remarkable figure copied in Payne Knight's Work, in which we
see on a
man's shoulders a cock's head, whilst on the pediment are placed the
words:
"The Saviour of the World." (Inman: Anct. Faiths, vol. i. p. 537.)
This
refers to the
Sun. The cock being the natural herald of the day, he was
therefore
sacred, among the ancients, to the Sun." (See Knight: Anct. Art and
Mytho., p.
70, and Lardner: vol. viii. p. 377.)
[493:1] The
name Jesus is the same as Joshua, and signifies Saviour.
[493:2]
Justin Martyr: Dialog. Cum Typho. Quoted in Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p.
582.
[493:3] Matt.
xxvii. 55.
[493:4] The
ever-faithful woman who is always near at the death of the Sun-god
is "the
fair and tender light which sheds its soft hue over the Eastern heaven
as the Sun
sinks in death beneath the Western waters." (Cox: Aryan Myths, vol.
i. p. 223.)
[493:5] See
Ibid. vol. i. p. 80.
[493:6]
Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 49.
[493:7] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 223.
[494:1] See
Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxxi.
[494:2]
Petrćus was an interchangeable synonym of the name Oceanus.
[494:3]
"Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from
thee, Lord,
this shall not be unto thee." (Matt. xvi. 22.)
[494:4] See
Potter's Ćschylus.
[494:5] Matt.
xxvii. 45.
[494:6] As
the Sun dies, or sinks in the West, blacker and blacker grows the
evening
shades, till there is darkness on the face of the earth. Then from the
high heavens
comes down the thick clouds, and the din of its thunder crashes
through the
air. (Description of the death of Hercules, Tales of Ancient Greece,
pp. 61, 62.)
[494:7] It Is
the battle of the clouds over the dead or dying Sun, which is to
be seen in
the legendary history of many Sun-gods. (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol.
ii. p. 91.)
[494:8] This
was one of the latest additions of the Sun-myth to the history of
Christ Jesus.
This has been proved not only to have been an invention after the
Apostles'
time, but even after the time of Eusebius (A. D. 325). The doctrine of
the descent
into hell was not in the ancient creeds or rules of faith. It is not
to be found
in the rules of faith delivered by Irenćus (A. D. 190), by Origen
(A. D. 230),
or by Tertullian (A. D. 200-210). It is not expressed in those
creeds which
were made by the Councils as larger explications of the Apostles'
Creed; not in
the Nicene, or Constantinopolitan; not in those of Ephesus, or
Chalcedon;
not in those confessions made at Sardica, Antioch, Selencia, Sirmium,
&c.
[495:1] At
the end of his career, the Sun enters the lowest regions, the bowels
of the earth,
therefore nearly all Sun-gods are made to "descend into hell," and
remain there
for three days and three nights, for the reason that from the 22d
to the 25th
of December, the Sun apparently remains in the same place. Thus
Jonah, a
personification of the Sun (see Chap. IX.), who remains three days and
three nights
in the bowels of the earth—typified by a fish—is made to pay: "Out
of the belly
of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice."
[495:2] See
Chapter XXII.
[495:3]
Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 260.
"The
mighty Lord appeared in the form of a man, and enlightened those places
which had
ever before been in darkness; and broke asunder the fetters which
before could
not be broken; and with his invincible power visited those who sat
in the deep
darkness by iniquity, and the shadow of death by sin. Then the King
of Glory
trampled upon Death, seized the Prince of Hell, and deprived him of all
his
power." (Description of Christ's Descent into Hell. Nicodemus: Apoc.)
[495:4]
"The women weeping for Tammuz was no more than expressive of the Sun's
loss of power
in the winter quarter." (King's Gnostics, p. 102. See also, Cox:
Aryan Mytho.,
vol. ii. p. 113.)
After
remaining for three days and three nights in the lowest regions, the Sun
begins to
ascend, thus he "rises from the dead," as it were, and "ascends
into
heaven."
[496:1]
Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 174.
[496:2]
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 100.
[496:3] Aryan
Mythology, vol. ii. p. 125.
[496:4]
Egyptian Belief, p. 182.
[496:5] Ibid.
[496:6]
Origin of Religions, p. 264.
[497:1]
Origin of Religions, p. 268.
[497:2] Aryan
Mythology, vol. i. p. 384.
[497:3]
Origin of Religion, pp. 264-268.
[498:1] The
number twelve appears in many of the Sun-myths. It refers to the
twelve hours
of the day or night, or the twelve moons of the lunar year. (Cox:
Aryan
Mythology, vol. i. p. 165. Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 175.)
Osiris, the
Egyptian Saviour, had twelve apostles. (Bonwick, p. 175.)
In all
religions of antiquity the number twelve, which applies to the twelve
signs of the
zodiac, are reproduced in all kinds and sorts of forms. For
instance:
such are the twelve great gods; the twelve apostles of Osiris; the
twelve
apostles of Jesus; the twelve sons of Jacob, or the twelve tribes; the
twelve altars
of James; the twelve labors of Hercules; the twelve shields of
Mars; the
twelve brothers Arvaux; the twelve gods Consents; the twelve governors
in the
Manichean System; the adectyas of the East Indies; the twelve asses of
the
Scandinavians; the city of the twelve gates in the Apocalypse; the twelve
wards of the
city; the twelve sacred cushions, on which the Creator sits in the
cosmogony of
the Japanese; the twelve precious stones of the rational, or the
ornament worn
by the high priest of the Jews, &c., &c. (See Dupuis, pp. 39, 40.)
[499:1] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 505.
[499:2] Luke,
ii. 32.
[499:3] John,
xii, 46.
[499:4] John,
ix. v.
[499:5] I.
John, i. 5.
[500:1]
Monumental Christianity, p. 117.
[501:1] See
Monumental Christianity, pp. 189, 191, 192, 238, and 296.
[501:2] See
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 283.
[501:3]
King's Gnostics, p. 68.
[501:4] Ibid.
p. 137.
[501:5] See
Chapter XX.
[501:6] Hist.
of Our Lord in Art, vol. i. p. 31.
[502:1]
Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 151.
[502:2]
Monumental Christianity, p. 231.
[502:3]
King's Gnostics, p. 48.
[502:4] Ibid.
p. 68.
[502:5] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 13.
[503:1]
Following are the words of the decree now in the Vatican library: "In
quibusdam
sanctorum imaginum picturis agnus exprimitur, &c. Nos igitur veteres
figuras atque
umbras, et veritatis notas, et signa ecclesić tradita,
complectentes,
gratiam, et veritatem anteponimus, quam ut plenitudinem legis
acceptimus.
Itaque id quod perfectum est, in picturis etiam omnium oculis
subjiciamus,
agnum illum qui mundi peccatum tollit, Christum Deum nostrum, loco
veteris Ayni,
humanâ formâ posthć exprimendum decrevimus," &c.
[504:1]
"The solar horse, with two serpents upon his head (the Buddhist Aries)
is Buddha's
symbol, and Aries is the symbol of Christ." (Arthur Lillie: Buddha
and Early
Buddhism, p. 110.)
[504:2]
Quoted by Lillie: Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 93.
[504:3]
Quoted by King: The Gnostics &c., p. 138.
[505:1]
Quoted by King: The Gnostics, &c., p. 49.
[505:2] Ibid.
p. 45.
[505:3]
Indra, the crucified Sun-god of the Hindoos, was represented with golden
locks. (Cox:
Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 341.)
Mithras, the
Persian Saviour, was represented with long flowing locks.
Izdubar, the
god and hero of the Chaldeans, was represented with long flowing
locks of hair
(Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 193), and so was his
counterpart,
the Hebrew Samson.
"The
Sâkya-prince (Buddha) is described as an Aryan by Buddhistic tradition; his
face was
reddish, his hair of light color and curly, his general appearance of
great
beauty." (Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 15.)
"Serapis
has, in some instances, long hair formally turned back, and disposed in
ringlets
hanging down upon his breast and shoulders like that of a woman. His
whole person,
too, is always enveloped in drapery reaching to his feet."
(Knight:
Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 104.)
"As for
yellow hair, there is no evidence that Greeks have ever commonly
possessed it;
but no other color would do for a solar hero, and it accordingly
characterizes
the entire company of them, wherever found." (Fiske: Myths and
Mythmakers,
p. 202.)
Helios (the
Sun) is called by the Greeks the "yellow-haired." (Goldzhier: Hebrew
Mytho., p.
137.)
The Sun's
rays is signified by the flowing golden locks which stream from the
head of
Kephalos, and fall over the shoulders of Bellerophon. (Cox: Aryan
Mytho., vol.
i. p. 107.)
Perseus, son
of the virgin Danae, was called the "Golden Child." (Ibid. vol. ii.
p. 58.)
"The light of early morning is not more pure than was the color on his
fair cheeks,
and the golden locks streamed bright over his shoulders, like the
rays of the
sun when they rest on the hills at midday." (Tales of Ancient
Greece, p.
83.)
The Saviour
Dionysus wore a long flowing robe, and had long golden hair, which
streamed from
his head over his shoulders. (Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 293.)
Ixion was the
"Beautiful and Mighty," with golden hair flashing a glory from his
head,
dazzling as the rays which stream from Helios, when he drives his chariot
up the
heights of heaven; and his flowing robe glistened as he moved, like the
vesture which
the Sun-god gave to the wise maiden Medeia, who dwelt in Kolchis.
(Tales of
Ancient Greece, p. 47.)
Theseus
enters the city of Athens, as Christ Jesus is said to have entered
Jerusalem,
with a long flowing robe, and with his golden hair tied gracefully
behind his
head. His "soft beauty" excites the mockery of the populace, who
pause in
their work to jest with him. (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 63.)
Thus we see
that long locks of golden hair, and a flowing robe, are mythological
attributes of
the Sun.
[506:1] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 49.
[506:2] We
have already seen (in Chapter XX.) that the word "Christ" signifies
the
"Anointed," or the "Messiah," and that many other
personages beside Jesus of
Nazareth had
this title affixed to their names.
[507:1] The
theory which has been set forth in this chapter, is also more fully
illustrated
in Appendix C.
[507:2] These
three letters, the monogram of the Sun, are the celebrated I. H.
S., which are
to be seen in Roman Catholic churches at the present day, and
which are now
the monogram of the Sun-god Christ Jesus. (See Chapter XXXVI.)
[Pg
508]CHAPTER XL.
CONCLUSION.
We now come
to the last, but certainly not least, question to be answered; which
is, what do
we really know of the man Jesus of Nazareth? How much of the Gospel
narratives
can we rely upon as fact?
Jesus of
Nazareth is so enveloped in the mists of the past, and his history so
obscured by
legend, that it may be compared to footprints in the sand. We know
some one has
been there, but as to what manner of man he may have been, we
certainly
know little as fact. The Gospels, the only records we have of
him,[508:1]
have been proven, over and over again, unhistorical and legendary;
to state
anything as positive about the man is nothing more nor less than
assumption;
we can therefore conjecture only. Liberal writers philosophize and
wax eloquent
to little purpose, when, after demolishing the historical accuracy
of the New
Testament, they end their task by eulogizing the man Jesus, claiming
for him the
highest praise, and asserting that he was the best and grandest of
our
race;[508:2] but this manner of reasoning (undoubtedly consoling to many)
facts do not
warrant. We may consistently revere his name, and place it in the
long list of
the great and noble, the reformers and religious teachers of the
past, all of
whom have done their part in bringing about the freedom we now
enjoy, but to
go beyond this, is, to our thinking, unwarranted.
If the life
of Jesus of Nazareth, as related in the books of the New Testament,
be in part
the story of a man who really lived and suffered, that story has been
so interwoven
with images borrowed [Pg 509]from myths of a bygone age, as to
conceal
forever any fragments of history which may lie beneath them. Gautama
Buddha was
undoubtedly an historical personage, yet the Sun-god myth has been
added to his
history to such an extent that we really know nothing positive
about him.
Alexander the Great was an historical personage, yet his history is
one mass of
legends. So it is with Julius Cesar, Cyrus, King of Persia, and
scores of
others. "The story of Cyrus' perils in infancy belongs to solar
mythology as
much as the stories of the magic slipper, of Charlemagne and
Barbarossa.
His grandfather, Astyages, is purely a mythical creation, his name
being
identical with that of the night demon, Azidahaka, who appears in the
Shah-Nameh as
the biting serpent."
The actual
Jesus is inaccessible to scientific research. His image cannot be
recovered. He
left no memorial in writing of himself; his followers were
illiterate;
the mind of his age was confused. Paul received only traditions of
him, how
definite we have no means of knowing, apparently not significant enough
to be
treasured, nor consistent enough to oppose a barrier to his own
speculations.
As M. Renan says: "The Christ who communicates private revelations
to him is a
phantom of his own making;" "it is himself he listens to, while
fancying that
he hears Jesus."[509:1]
In studying
the writings of the early advocates of Christianity, and Fathers of
the Christian
Church, where we would naturally look for the language that would
indicate the
real occurrence of the facts of the Gospel—if real occurrences they
had ever
been—we not only find no such language, but everywhere find every sort
of
sophistical ambages, ramblings from the subject, and evasions of the very
business
before them, as if on purpose to balk our research, and insult our
skepticism.
If we travel to the very sepulchre of Christ Jesus, it is only to
discover that
he was never there: history seeks evidence of his existence as a
man, but
finds no more trace of it than of the shadow that flits across the
wall.
"The Star of Bethlehem" shone not upon her path, and the order of the
universe was
suspended without her observation.
She asks,
with the Magi of the East, "Where is he that is born King of the
Jews?"
and, like them, finds no solution of her inquiry, but the guidance that
guides as
well to one place as another; descriptions that apply to Ćsculapius,
Buddha and
Crishna, as well [Pg 510]as to Jesus; prophecies, without evidence
that they
were ever prophesied; miracles, which those who are said to have seen,
are said also
to have denied seeing; narratives without authorities, facts
without
dates, and records without names. In vain do the so-called disciples of
Jesus point
to the passages in Josephus and Tacitus;[510:1] in vain do they
point to the
spot on which he was crucified; to the fragments of the true cross,
or the nails
with which he was pierced, and to the tomb in which he was laid.
Others have
done as much for scores of mythological personages who never lived
in the flesh.
Did not Damus, the beloved disciple of Apollonius of Tyana, while
on his way to
India, see, on Mt. Caucasus, the identical chains with which
Prometheus
had been bound to the rocks? Did not the Scythians[510:2] say that
Hercules had
visited their country? and did they not show the print of his foot
upon a rock
to substantiate their story?[510:3] Was not his tomb to be seen at
Cadiz, where
his bones were shown?[510:4] Was not the tomb of Bacchus to be seen
in
Greece?[510:5] Was not the tomb of Apollo to be seen at Delphi?[510:6] Was
not the tomb
of Achilles to be seen at Dodona, where Alexander the Great honored
it by placing
a crown upon it?[510:7] Was not the tomb of Ćsculapius to be seen
in Arcadia,
in a grove consecrated to him, near the river Lusius?[510:8] Was not
the tomb of
Deucalion—he who was saved from the Deluge—long pointed out near the
sanctuary of
Olympian Jove, in Athens?[510:9] Was not the tomb of Osiris to be
seen in
Egypt, where, at stated seasons, the priests went in solemn procession,
and covered
it with flowers?[510:10] Was not the tomb of Jonah—he who was
"swallowed
up by a big fish"—to be seen at Nebi-Yunus, near Mosul?[510:11] Are
not the tombs
of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, Abraham, and other Old Testament
characters,
to be seen even at the present day?[510:12] And did not the Emperor
Constantine
dedicate a beautiful church over the tomb of St. George, the warrior
saint?[510:13]
Of what value, then, is such evidence of the existence of such an
individual as
Jesus of Nazareth? The fact is, "the records of his life are so
very scanty,
and these have been so shaped and colored and modified by the hands
of ignorance
and superstition [Pg 511]and party prejudice and ecclesiastical
purpose, that
it is hard to be sure of the original outlines."
In the first
two centuries the professors of Christianity were divided into many
sects, but
these might be all resolved into two divisions—one consisting of
Nazarenes,
Ebionites, and orthodox; the other of Gnostics, under which all the
remaining
sects arranged themselves. The former are supposed to have believed in
Jesus
crucified, in the common, literal acceptation of the term; the
latter—believers
in the Christ as an Ćon—though they admitted the crucifixion,
considered it
to have been in some mystic way—perhaps what might be called
spiritualiter,
as it is called in the Revelation: but notwithstanding the
different
opinions they held, they all denied that the Christ did really die, in
the literal
acceptation of the term, on the cross.[511:1] The Gnostic, or
Oriental,
Christians undoubtedly took their doctrine from the Indian
crucifixion[511:2]
(of which we have treated in Chapters XX. and XXXIX.), as
well as many
other tenets with which we have found the Christian Church deeply
tainted. They
held that:
"To
deliver the soul, a captive in darkness, the 'Prince of Light,' the 'Genius
of the Sun,'
charged with the redemption of the intellectual world, of which the
Sun is the
type, manifested itself among men; that the light appeared in the
darkness, but
the darkness comprehended it not; that, in fact, light could not
unite with
darkness; it put on only the appearance of the human body; that at
the
crucifixion Christ Jesus only appeared to suffer. His person having
disappeared,
the bystanders saw in his place a cross of light, over which a
celestial
voice proclaimed these words; 'The Cross of Light is called Logos,
Christos, the
Gate, the Joy.'"
Several of
the texts of the Gospel histories were quoted with great plausibility
by the
Gnostics in support of their doctrine. The story of Jesus passing through
the midst of
the Jews when they were about to cast him headlong from the brow of
a hill (Luke
iv. 29, 30), and when they were going to stone him (John iii. 59;
x. 31, 39),
were examples not easily refuted.
The Manichean
Christian Bishop Faustus expresses himself in the following
manner:
"Do you
receive the gospel? (ask ye). Undoubtedly I do! Why then, [Pg 512]you
also admit
that Christ was born? Not so; for it by no means follows that in
believing the
gospel, I should therefore believe that Christ was born! Do you
then think
that he was of the Virgin Mary? Manes hath said, 'Far be it that I
should ever
own that Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . . . . .'" etc.[512:1]
Tertullian's
manner of reasoning on the evidences of Christianity is also in the
same vein, as
we saw in our last chapter.[512:2]
Mr. King,
speaking of the Gnostic Christians, says:
"Their
chief doctrines had been held for centuries before (their time) in many
of the cities
in Asia Minor. There, it is probable, they first came into
existence as Mystć,
upon the establishment of direct intercourse with India,
under the
Seleucidć and Ptolemies. The college of Essenes and Megabyzć at
Ephesus, the
Orphics of Thrace, the Curets of Crete, are all merely branches of
one antique
and common religion, and that originally Asiatic."[512:3]
These early
Christian Mystics are alluded to in several instances in the New
Testament.
For example:
"Every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God;
and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
not of
God."[512:4] "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who
confess
not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh."[512:5]
This is
language that could not have been used, if the reality of Christ Jesus'
existence as
a man could not have been denied, or, it would certainly seem, if
the apostle
himself had been able to give any evidence whatever of the claim.
The quarrels
on this subject lasted for a long time among the early Christians.
Hermas,
speaking of this, says to the brethren:
"Take
heed, my children, that your dissensions deprive you not of your lives.
How will ye
instruct the elect of God, when ye yourselves want correction?
Wherefore
admonish one another, and be at peace among yourselves; that I,
standing
before your father, may give an account of you unto the Lord."[512:6]
Ignatius, in
his Epistle to the Smyrnćans, says:[512:7]
"Only in
the name of Jesus Christ, I undergo all, to suffer together with him;
he who was
made a perfect man strengthening me. Whom some, not knowing, do deny;
or rather
have been denied by him, being the advocates of death, rather than of
the truth.
Whom neither the prophecies, nor the law of Moses, have persuaded;
nor the
Gospel itself even to this day, nor the sufferings [Pg 513]of any one of
us. For they
think also the same thing of us; for what does a man profit me, if
he shall
praise me, and blaspheme my Lord; not confessing that he was truly made
man?"
In his
Epistle to the Philadelphians he says:[513:1]
"I have
heard of some who say, unless I find it written in the originals, I will
not believe
it to be written in the Gospel. And when I said, It is written, they
answered what
lay before them in their corrupted copies."
Polycarp, in
his Epistle to the Philippians, says:[513:2]
"Whosoever
does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, he is
Antichrist:
and whosoever does not confess his sufferings upon the cross, is
from the
devil. And whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts;
and says that
there shall neither be any resurrection, nor judgment, he is the
first-born of
Satan."
Ignatius says
to the Magnesians:[513:3]
"Be not
deceived with strange doctrines; nor with old fables which are
unprofitable.
For if we still continue to live according to the Jewish law, we
do confess
ourselves not to have received grace. For even the most holy prophets
lived
according to Jesus Christ. . . . Wherefore if they who were brought up in
these ancient
laws came nevertheless to the newness of hope; no longer observing
Sabbaths, but
keeping the Lord's Day, in which also our life is sprung up by
him, and
through his death, whom yet some deny. By which mystery we have been
brought to
believe, and therefore wait that we may be found the disciples of
Jesus Christ,
our only master. . . . . These things, my beloved, I write unto
you, not that
I know of any among you that be under this error; but as one of
the least
among you, I am desirous to forewarn you that ye fall not into the
snares of vain
doctrine."
After reading
this we can say with the writer of Timothy,[513:4] "Without
controversy,
great is the MYSTERY of godliness."
Beside those
who denied that Christ Jesus had ever been manifest in the flesh,
there were
others who denied that he had been crucified.[513:5] This is seen
from the
words of Justin Martyr, in his Apology for the Christian Religion,
written A. D.
141, where he says:
"As to
the objection to our Jesus's being crucified, I say, suffering was common
to all the
Sons of Jove."[513:6]
This is as
much as to say: "You Pagans claim that your incarnate gods and
Saviours
suffered and died, then why should not we claim the same for our
Saviour?"
[Pg 514]The
Koran, referring to the Jews, says:
"They
have not believed in Jesus, and have spoken against Mary a grievous
calumny, and
have said: 'Verily we have slain Christ Jesus, the son of Mary'
(the apostle
of God). Yet they slew him not, neither crucified him, but he was
represented
by one in his likeness. And verily they who disagreed concerning him
were in a
doubt as to this matter, and had no sure knowledge thereof, but
followed only
an uncertain opinion."[514:1]
This passage
alone, from the Mohammedan Bible, is sufficient to show, if other
evidence were
wanting, that the early Christians "disagreed concerning him," and
that
"they had no sure knowledge thereof, but followed only an uncertain
opinion."
In the books
which are now called Apocryphal, but which were the most quoted,
and of equal
authority with the others, and which were voted not the word of
God—for
obvious reasons—and were therefore cast out of the canon, we find many
allusions to
the strife among the early Christians. For instance; in the "First
Epistle of
Clement to the Corinthians,"[514:2] we read as follows:
"Wherefore
are there strifes, and anger, and divisions, and schisms, and wars,
among us? . .
. Why do we rend and tear in pieces the members of Christ, and
raise
seditions against our own body? and are come to such a height of madness,
as to forget
that we are members one of another."
In his
Epistle to the Trallians, Ignatius says:[514:3]
"I
exhort you, or rather not I, but the love of Jesus Christ, that ye use none
but Christian
nourishment; abstaining from pasture which is of another kind. I
mean Heresy.
For they that are heretics, confound together the doctrine of Jesus
Christ with
their own poison; whilst they seem worthy of belief. . . . Stop your
ears,
therefore, as often as any one shall speak contrary to Jesus Christ, who
was of the
race of David, of the Virgin Mary. Who was truly born, and did eat
and drink;
was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate; was truly crucified and
dead; both
those in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, being spectators
of it. . . .
But if, as some who are atheists, that is to say, infidels,
pretend, that
he only seemed to suffer, why then am I bound? Why do I desire to
fight with
beasts? Therefore do I die in vain."
We find St.
Paul, the very first Apostle of the Gentiles, expressly avowing that
he was made a
minister of the gospel, which had already been preached to every
creature
under heaven,[514:4] and preaching a God manifest in the flesh, who had
been believed
on in the world,[514:5] therefore, before the commencement of his
ministry; and
who could not have been the man of Nazareth, who had certainly not
been
preached, at that time, nor generally believed on in the world, till ages
after that
time.[514:6] We find also that:
[Pg 515]1.
This Paul owns himself a deacon, the lowest ecclesiastical grade of
the
Therapeutan church.
2. The Gospel
of which these Epistles speak, had been extensively preached and
fully
established before the time of Jesus, by the Therapeuts or Essenes, who
believed in
the doctrine of the Angel-Messiah, the Ćon from heaven.[515:1]
Leo the
Great, so-called (A. D. 440-461), writes thus:
"Let
those who with impious murmurings find fault with the Divine dispensations,
and who
complain about the lateness of our Lord's nativity, cease from their
grievances,
as if what was carried out in later ages of the world, had not been
impending in
time past. . . .
"What
the Apostles preached, the prophets (in Israel) had announced before, and
what has
always been (universally) believed, cannot be said to have been
fulfilled too
late. By this delay of his work of salvation, the wisdom and love
of God have
only made us more fitted for his call; so that, what had been
announced
before by many Signs and Words and Mysteries during so many centuries,
should not be
doubtful or uncertain in the days of the gospel. . . God has not
provided for
the interests of men by a new council or by a late compassion; but
he had
instituted from the beginning for all men, one and the same path of
salvation."[515:2]
This is
equivalent to saying that, "God, in his 'late compassion,' has sent his
Son, Christ
Jesus, to save us, therefore do not complain or 'murmur' about 'the
lateness of
his coming,' for the Lord has already provided for those who
preceded us;
he has given them 'the same path of salvation' by sending to them,
as he has
sent to us, a Redeemer and a Saviour."
Justin
Martyr, in his dialogue with Typho,[515:3] makes a similar confession (as
we have
already seen in our last chapter), wherein he says that there exists not
a people,
civilized or semi-civilized, who have not offered up prayers in the
name of a
crucified Saviour to the Father and Creator of all things.
Add to this
medley the fact that St. Irenćus (A. D. 192), one of the most
celebrated,
most respected, and most quoted of the early Christian Fathers,
tells us on
the authority of his master, Polycarp, who had it from St. John
himself, and
from all the old people of Asia, that Jesus was not crucified at
the time
stated in the Gospels, but that he lived to be nearly fifty years old.
The passage
which, most fortunately, has escaped the destroyers of all such
evidence, is
to be found in Irenćus' second book against heresies,[515:4] of
which the
following is a portion:
[Pg
516]"As the chief part of thirty years belongs to youth, and every one
will
confess him
to be such till the fortieth year: but from the fortieth year to the
fiftieth he
declines into old age, which our Lord (Jesus) having attained he
taught us the
Gospel, and all the elders who, in Asia, assembled with John, the
disciple of
the Lord, testify; and as John himself had taught them. And he
(John?)
remained with them till the time of Trajan. And some of them saw not
only John but
other Apostles, and heard the same thing from them, and bear the
same
testimony to this revelation."
The escape of
this passage from the destroyers can be accounted for only in the
same way as
the passage of Minucius Felix (quoted in Chapter XX.) concerning the
Pagans
worshiping a crucifix. These two passages escaped from among, probably,
hundreds
destroyed, of which we know nothing, under the decrees of the emperors,
yet
remaining, by which they were ordered to be destroyed.
In John viii.
56, Jesus is made to say to the Jews: "Your father Abraham
rejoiced to
see my day: and he saw it and was glad." Then said the Jews unto
him:
"Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?"
If Jesus was
then but about thirty years of age, the Jews would evidently have
said:
"thou art not yet forty years old," and would not have been likely to
say:
"thou
art not yet fifty years old," unless he was past forty.
There was a
tradition current among the early Christians, that Annas was
high-priest
when Jesus was crucified. This is evident from the Acts.[516:1] Now,
Annas, or
Ananias, was not high-priest until about the year 48 a. d.;[516:2]
therefore, if
Jesus was crucified at that time he must have been about fifty
years of
age;[516:3] but, as we remarked elsewhere, there exists, outside of the
New
Testament, no evidence whatever, in book, inscription, or monument, that
Jesus of
Nazareth was either scourged or crucified under Pontius Pilate.
Josephus,
Tacitus, Plinius, Philo, nor any of their contemporaries, ever refer
to the fact
of this crucifixion, or express any belief thereon.[516:4] In the
Talmud—the
book containing Jewish traditions—Jesus is not referred to as the
"crucified
one," but as the "hanged one,"[516:5] while elsewhere it is
narrated
he was stoned
to death; so that it is evident they were ignorant of the manner
of death
which he suffered.[516:6]
[Pg 517]In
Sanhedr. 43 a, Jesus it said to have had five disciples, among whom
were
Mattheaus and Thaddeus. He is called "That Man," "The
Nazarine," "The
Fool,"
and "The Hung." Thus Aben Ezra says that Constantine put on his
labarum
"a
figure of the hung;" and, according to R. Bechai, the Christians were
called
"Worshipers
of the Hung."
Little is
said about Jesus in the Talmud, except that he was a scholar of Joshua
Ben Perachiah
(who lived a century before the time assigned by the Christians
for the birth
of Jesus), accompanied him into Egypt, there learned magic, and
was a seducer
of the people, and was finally put to death by being stoned, and
then hung as
a blasphemer.
"The
conclusion is, that no clearly defined traces of the personal Jesus remain
on the
surface, or beneath the surface, of Christendom. The silence of Josephus
and other
secular historians may be accounted for without falling back on a
theory of
hostility or contempt.[517:1] The Christ-idea cannot be spared from
Christian
development, but the personal Jesus, in some measure, can be."
"The
person of Jesus, though it may have been immense, is indistinct. That a
great
character was there may be conceded; but precisely wherein the character
was great, is
left to our conjecture. Of the eminent persons who have swayed the
spiritual
destinies of mankind, none has more completely disappeared from the
critical
view. The ideal image which Christians have, for nearly two thousand
years,
worshiped under the name of Jesus, has no authentic, distinctly visible,
counterpart
in history."
"His
followers have gone on with the process of idealization, placing him higher
and higher;
making his personal existence more and more essential; insisting
more and more
urgently on the necessity of private intercourse with him; letting
the Father
subside into the background, as an 'effluence,' and the Holy Ghost
lapse from
individual identity into impersonal influence, in order that he [Pg
518]might be
all in all as Regenerator and Saviour. From age to age the personal
Jesus has
been made the object of an extreme adoration, till now faith in the
living Christ
is the heart of the Gospel; philosophy, science, culture, humanity
are thrust
resolutely aside, and the great teachers of the age are extinguished
in order that
his light may shine." But, as Mr. Frothingham remarks, in "The
Cradle of the
Christ": "In the order of experience, historical and biographical
truth is
discovered by stripping off layer after layer of exaggeration, and
going back to
the statements of contemporaries. As a rule, figures are reduced,
not enlarged,
by criticism. The influence of admiration is recognized as
distorting
and falsifying, while exalting. The process of legend-making begins
immediately,
goes on rapidly and with accelerating speed, and must be liberally
allowed for
by the seeker after truth. In scores of instances the historical
individual
turns out to be very much smaller than he was painted by his
terrified or
loving worshipers. In no single case has it been established that
he was
greater, or as great. It is, no doubt, conceivable that such a case
should occur,
but it never has occurred, in known instances, and cannot be
presumed to
have occurred in any particular instance. The presumptions are
against the
correctness of the glorified image. The disposition to exaggerate is
so much
stronger than the disposition to underrate, that even really great men
are placed
higher than they belong oftener than lower. The historical method
works
backwards. Knowledge shrinks the man."[518:1]
[Pg 519]As we
are allowed to conjecture as to what is true in the Gospel
history, we
shall now do so.
The death of
Herod, which occurred a few years before the time assigned for the
birth of
Jesus, was followed by frightful social and political convulsions in
Judea. For
two or three years all the elements of disorder were abroad. Between
pretenders to
the vacant throne of Herod, and aspirants to the Messianic throne
of David,
Judea was torn and devastated. Revolt assumed the wildest form, the
higher
enthusiasm of faith yielded to the lower fury of fanaticism; the
celestial
visions of a kingdom of heaven were completely banished by the smoke
and flame of
political hate. Claimant after claimant of the dangerous supremacy
of the
Messiah appeared, pitched a camp in the wilderness, raised the banner,
gathered a
[Pg 520]force, was attacked, defeated, banished or crucified; but the
frenzy did
not abate.
The popular
aspect of the Messianic hope was political, not religious or moral.
The name
Messiah was synonymous with King of the Jews; it suggested political
designs and
aspirations. The assumption of that character by any individual drew
on him the
vigilance of the police.
That Jesus of
Nazareth assumed the character of "Messiah," as did many before
and after
him, and that his crucifixion[520:1] was simply an act of the law on
political
grounds, just as it was in the case of other so-called Messiahs, we
believe to be
the truth of the matter.[520:2] "He is represented as being a
native of
Galilee, the insurgent district of the country; nurtured, if not born,
in Nazareth,
one of its chief cities; reared as a youth amid traditions of
patriotic
devotion, and amid scenes associated with heroic dreams and endeavors.
The Galileans
were restless, excitable people, beyond the reach of
conventionalities,
remote from the centre of power, ecclesiastical and secular,
simple in
their lives, bold of speech, independent in thought, [Pg
521]thoroughgoing
in the sort of radicalism that is common among people who live
'out of the
world,' who have leisure to discuss the exciting topics of the day,
but too
little knowledge, culture, or sense of social responsibility to discuss
them soundly.
Their mental discontent and moral intractability were proverbial.
They were
belligerents. The Romans had more trouble with them than with the
natives of
any other province. The Messiahs all started out from Galilee, and
never failed
to collect followers round their standard. The Galileans, more than
others, lived
in the anticipation of the Deliverer. The reference of the Messiah
to Galilee is
therefore already an indication of the character he is to assume."
To show the
state the country must have been in at that time, we will quote an
incident or
two from Josephus.
A religious
enthusiast called the Samaritans together upon Mount Gerizim, and
assured them
that he would work a miracle. "So they came thither armed, and
thought the
discourse of the man probable; and as they abode at a certain
village,
which was called Tirathaba, they got the rest together of them, and
desired to go
up the mountain in a great multitude together: but Pilate
prevented
their going up, by seizing upon the roads by a great band of horsemen
and footmen,
who fell upon those who were gotten together in the village; and
when it came
to an action, some of them they slew, and others of them they put
to flight,
and took a great many alive, the principal of whom, and also the most
potent of
those that fled away, Pilate ordered to be slain."[521:1]
Not long
before this Pilate pillaged the temple treasury, and used the "sacred
money"
to bring a current of water to Jerusalem. The Jews were displeased with
this,
"and many ten thousands of the people got together and made a clamor
against him.
Some of them used reproaches, and abused the man, as crowds of such
people
usually do. So he habited a great number of his soldiers in their habits,
who carried
daggers under their garments, and sent them to a place where they
might
surround them. So he bade the Jews himself go away; but they boldly
casting
reproaches upon him, he gave the soldiers that signal which had been
beforehand
agreed on; who laid upon them with much greater blows than Pilate had
commanded
them, and equally punished those that were tumultuous, and those that
were not; nor
did they spare them in the least: and since the people were
unarmed, and
were caught by men prepared for what they were about, there were a
great number
[Pg 522]of them slain by this means, and others ran away wounded.
And thus an
end was put to this sedition."[522:1]
It was such
deeds as these, inflicted upon the Jews by their oppressors, that
made them
think of the promised Messiah who was to deliver them from bondage,
and which
made many zealous fanatics imagine themselves to be "He who should
come."[522:2]
There is
reason to believe, as we have said, that Jesus of Nazareth assumed the
title of
"Messiah." His age was throbbing and bursting with suppressed energy.
The pressure
of the Roman Empire was required to keep it down. "The Messianic
hope had such
vitality that it condensed into moments the moral result of ages.
The common
people were watching to see the heavens open, interpreted peals of
thunder as
angel voices, and saw divine potents in the flight of birds. Mothers
dreamed their
boys would be Messiah. The wildest preacher drew a crowd. The
heart of the
nation swelled big with the conviction that the hour of destiny was
about to
strike, that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The crown was ready for
any kingly
head that might assume it."[522:3]
The actions
of this man, throughout his public career, we believe to be those of
a zealot
whose zeal overrode considerations of wisdom; in fact, a Galilean
fanatic.
Pilate condemns him reluctantly, feeling that he is a harmless
visionary,
but is obliged to condemn him as one of the many who persistently
claimed to be
the "Messiah," or "King of the Jews," an enemy of Cćsar, an
instrument
against the empire, a pretender to the throne, a bold inciter to
rebellion.
The death he undergoes is the death of the traitor and
mutineer,[522:4]
the death that was inflicted on many such claimants, the death
that would
have been decreed to Judas the Galilean,[522:5] had he been captured,
and that was
inflicted on thousands of his deluded followers. It was the Romans,
then, who
crucified the man Jesus, and not the Jews.
[Pg
523]"In the Roman law the State is the main object, for which the
individual
must live and
die, with or against his will. In Jewish law, the person is made
the main
object, for which the State must live and die; because the fundamental
idea of the
Roman law is power, and the fundamental idea of Jewish law is
justice."[523:1]
Therefore Caiaphas and his conspirators did not act from the
Jewish
standpoint. They represented Rome, her principles, interest, and
barbarous
caprices.[523:2] Not one point in the whole trial agrees with Jewish
laws and
custom.[523:3] It is impossible to save it; it must be given up as a
transparent
and unskilled invention of a Gentile Christian, who knew nothing of
Jewish law
and custom, and was ignorant of the state of civilization in
Palestine, in
the time of Jesus.
Jesus had
been proclaimed the "Messiah," the "Ruler of the Jews," and
the
restorer of
the kingdom of heaven. No Roman ear could understand these
pretensions,
otherwise than in their rebellious sense. That Pontius Pilate
certainly
understood under the title, "Messiah," the king (the political chief
of the
nation), is evident from the subscription of the cross, "Jesus of
Nazareth,
King of the Jews," which he did not remove in spite of all
protestations
of the Jews. There is only one point in which the four Gospels
agree, and
that is, that early in the morning Jesus was delivered over to the
Roman
governor, Pilate; that he was accused of high-treason against Rome—having
been
proclaimed King of the Jews—and that in consequence thereof he was
condemned
first to be [Pg 524]scourged, and then to be crucified; all of which
was done in
hot haste. In all other points the narratives of the Evangelists
differ
widely, and so essentially that one story cannot be made of the four
accounts; nor
can any particular points stand the test of historical criticism,
and vindicate
its substantiality as a fact.
The Jews
could not have crucified Jesus, according to their laws, if they had
inflicted on
him the highest penalty of the law, since crucifixion was
exclusively
Roman.[524:1] If the priests, elders, Pharisees, Jews, or all of
them wanted
Jesus out of the way so badly, why did they not have him quietly put
to death
while he was in their power, and done at once. The writer of the fourth
Gospel seems
to have understood this difficulty, and informs us that they could
not kill him,
because he had prophesied what death he should die; so he could
die no other.
It was dire necessity, that the heathen symbol of life and
immortality—the
cross[524:2]—should be brought to honor among the early
Christians,
and Jesus had to die on the cross (the Roman Gibbet), according to
John[524:3]
simply because it was so prophesied. The fact is, the crucifixion
story, like
the symbol of the crucifix itself, came from abroad.[524:4] It was
told with the
avowed intention of exonerating the Romans, and criminating the
Jews, so they
make the Roman governor take water, "and wash his hands before the
multitude,
saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to
it." To
be sure of their case, they make the Jews say: "His blood be on us, and
on our
children."[524:5]
"Another
fact is this. Just at the period of time when misfortune and ruination
befell the
Jews most severely, in the first post-apostolic generation, the
Christians
were most active in making proselytes among Gentiles. To have then
preached that
a crucified Jewish Rabbi of Galilee was their Saviour, would have
sounded
supremely ridiculous to those heathens. To have added thereto, that the
said Rabbi
was crucified by command of a Roman Governor, because he had been
proclaimed
'King of the Jews,' would have been fatal to the whole scheme. In the
opinion of
the vulgar heathen, where the Roman Governor and Jewish Rabbi came in
conflict, the
former must unquestionably be right, and the latter decidedly
wrong. To
have preached a Saviour who was justly condemned to die the death of a
slave and
villain, would certainly have proved fatal to the whole enterprise.
Therefore it
was necessary [Pg 525]to exonerate Pilate and the Romans, and to
throw the
whole burden upon the Jews, in order to establish the innocence and
martyrdom of
Jesus in the heathen mind."
That the
crucifixion story, as related in the synoptic Gospels, was written
abroad, and
not in the Hebrew, or in the dialect spoken by the Hebrews of
Palestine, is
evident from the following particular points, noticed by Dr. Isaac
M. Wise, a
learned Hebrew scholar:
The Mark and
Matthew narrators call the place of crucifixion "Golgotha," to
which the
Mark narrator adds, "which is, being interpreted, the place of
skulls."
The Matthew narrator adds the same interpretation, which the John
narrator
copies without the word "Golgotha," and adds, it was a place near
Jerusalem.
The Luke narrator calls the place of crucifixion "Calvary," which is
the Latin
Calvaria, viz., "the place of bare skulls." Therefore the name does
not refer to
the form of the hill, but to the bare skulls upon it.[525:1] Now
"there
is no such word as Golgotha anywhere in Jewish literature, and there is
no such place
mentioned anywhere near Jerusalem or in Palestine by any writer;
and, in fact,
there was no such place; there could have been none near
Jerusalem.
The Jews buried their dead carefully. Also the executed convict had
to be buried
before night. No bare skulls, bleaching in the sun, could be found
in Palestine,
especially not near Jerusalem. It was law, that a bare skull, the
bare spinal
column, and also the imperfect skeleton of any human being, make man
unclean by
contact, and also by having either in the house. Man, thus made
unclean,
could not eat of any sacrificial meal, or of the sacred tithe, before
he had gone
through the ceremonies of purification; and whatever he touched was
also unclean
(Maimonides, Hil. Tumath Meth., iii. 1). Any impartial reader can
see that the
object of this law was to prevent the barbarous practice of
heathens of
having human skulls and skeletons lie about exposed to the
decomposing
influences of the atmosphere, as the Romans did in Palestine after
the fall of
Bethar, when for a long time they would give no permission to bury
the dead
patriots. This law was certainly enforced most rigidly in the vicinity
of Jerusalem,
of which they maintained "Jerusalem is more holy than all other
cities
surrounded with walls," so that it was not permitted to keep a dead body
over night in
the city, or to [Pg 526]transport through it human bones.
Jerusalem was
the place of the sacrificial meals and the consumption of the
sacred tithe,
which was considered very holy (Maimonides, Hil. Beth Habchirah,
vii. 14);
there, and in the surroundings, skulls and skeletons were certainly
never seen on
the surface of the earth, and consequently there was no place
called
"Golgotha," and there was no such word in the Hebrew dialect. It is a
word coined
by the Mark narrator to translate the Latin term "Calvaria," which,
together with
the crucifixion story, came from Rome. But after the Syrian word
was made,
nobody understood it, and the Mark narrator was obliged to expound
it."[526:1]
In the face
of the arguments produced, the crucifixion story, as related in the
Gospels,
cannot be upheld as an historical fact. There exists, certainly, no
rational
ground whatever for the belief that the affair took place in the manner
the
Evangelists describe it. All that can be saved of the whole story is, that
after Jesus
had answered the first question before Pilate, viz., "Art thou the
King of the
Jews?" which it is natural to suppose he was asked, and also this
can be
supposed only, he was given over to the Roman soldiers to be disposed of
as soon as
possible, before his admirers and followers could come to his rescue,
or any
demonstration in his favor be made. He was captured in the night, as
quietly as
possible, and guarded in some place, probably in the high-priest's
court,
completely secluded from the eyes of the populace; and early in the
morning he
was brought before Pilate as cautiously and quietly as it could be
done, and at
his command, disposed of by the soldiers as quickly as practicable,
and in a
manner not known to the mass of the people. All this was done, most
likely, while
the multitude worshiped on Mount Moriah, and nobody had an
intimation of
the tragical end of the Man of Nazareth.
The bitter
cry of Jesus, as he hung on the tree, "My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken
me?" disclosed the hope of deliverance that till the last moment
sustained his
heart, and betrayed the anguish felt when the hope was blighted;
the sneers
and hooting of the Roman soldiers expressed their conviction that he
had pretended
to be what he was not.
The miracles
ascribed to him, and the moral precepts put into his mouth, in
after years,
are what might be expected; history was simply repeating itself;
the same
thing had been done for others. "The preacher of the Mount, the prophet
of the
Beatitudes, does [Pg 527]but repeat, with persuasive lips, what the
law-givers of
his race proclaimed in mighty tones of command."[527:1]
The martyrdom
of Jesus of Nazareth has been gratefully acknowledged by his
disciples,
whose lives he saved by the sacrifice of his own, and by their
friends, who
would have fallen by the score had he not prevented the rebellion
ripe at
Jerusalem.[527:2] Posterity, infatuated with Pagan apotheoses, made of
that simple
martyrdom an interesting legend, colored with the myths of
resurrection
and ascension to that very heaven which the telescope has put out
of man's way.
It is a novel myth, made to suit the gross conceptions of
ex-heathens.
Modern theology, understanding well enough that the myth cannot be
saved, seeks
refuge in the greatness and self-denial of the man who died for an
idea, as
though Jesus had been the only man who had died for an idea. Thousands,
tens of
thousands of Jews, Christians, Mohammedans and Heathens, have died for
ideas, and
some of them were very foolish. But Jesus did not die for an idea. He
never
advanced anything new, that we know of, to die for. He was not accused of
saying or
teaching anything original. Nobody has ever been able to discover
anything new
and original in the Gospels. He evidently died to save the lives of
his friends,
and this is much more meritorious than if he had died for a
questionable
idea. But then the whole fabric of vicarious atonement is
demolished,
and modern theology cannot get over the absurdity that the Almighty
Lord of the
Universe, the infinite and eternal cause of all causes, had to kill
some innocent
person in order to be reconciled to the human race. However
abstractly
they speculate and subtilize, there is always an undigested bone of
man-god,
god-man, and vicarious atonement in the theological stomach. Therefore
theology
appears so ridiculous in the eyes of modern philosophy. The theological
speculation
cannot go far enough to hold pace with modern astronomy. However
nicely the
idea may be dressed, the great God of the immense universe looks too
small upon
the cross of Calvary; and the human family is too large, has too
numerous
virtues and vices, to be perfectly represented by, and dependent on,
one Rabbi of
Galilee. Speculate as they may, one way or another, they must
connect the
Eternal and the fate of the human family with the person and fate of
Jesus. That
is the very thing which deprives Jesus of his crown of martyrdom,
and brings
[Pg 528]religion in perpetual conflict with philosophy. It was not
the religious
idea which was crucified in Jesus and resurrected with him, as
with all its
martyrs; although his belief in immortality may have strengthened
him in the
agony of death. It was the idea of duty to his disciples and friends
which led him
to the realms of death. This deserves admiration, but no more. It
demonstrates
the nobility of human nature, but proves nothing in regard to
providence,
or the providential scheme of government.
The Christian
story, as the Gospels narrate it, cannot stand the test of
criticism.
You approach it critically and it falls. Dogmatic Christology built
upon it, has,
therefore, a very frail foundation. Most so-called lives of
Christ, or
biographies of Jesus, are works of fiction, erected by imagination on
the shifting
foundation of meagre and unreliable records. There are very few
passages in
the Gospels which can stand the rigid application of honest
criticism. In
modern science and philosophy, orthodox Christology is out of the
question.
"This
'sacred tradition' has in itself a glorious vitality, which Christians may
unblameably
entitle immortal. But it certainly will not lose in beauty,
grandeur, or
truth, if all the details concerning Jesus which are current in the
Gospels, and
all the mythology of his person, be forgotten or discredited.
Christianity
will remain without Christ.
"This
formula has in it nothing paradoxical. Rightly interpreted, it simply
means: All
that is best in Judćo-Christian sentiment, moral or spiritual, will
survive,
without Rabbinical fancies, cultured by perverse logic; without huge
piles of
fable built upon them: without the Oriental Satan, a formidable rival
to the throne
of God; without the Pagan invention of Hell and Devils."
In modern
criticism, the Gospel sources become so utterly worthless and
unreliable,
that it takes more than ordinary faith to believe a large portion
thereof to be
true. The Eucharist was not established by Jesus, and cannot be
called a
sacrament. The trials of Jesus are positively not true: they are pure
inventions.[528:1]
The crucifixion story, as narrated, is certainly not true,
and it is
extremely difficult to save the bare fact that Jesus was crucified.
What can the
critic do with books in which a few facts must be ingeniously
guessed from
under the mountain of ghost stories,[528:2] childish [Pg
529]miracles,[529:1]
and dogmatic tendencies?[529:2] It is absurd to expect of
him to regard
them as sources of religious instruction, in preference to any
other
mythologies and legends. That is the point at which modern critics have
arrived,
therefore, the Gospels have become books for the museum and
archćologist,
for students of mythology and ancient literature.
The spirit of
dogmatic Christology hovers still over a portion of civilized
society, in
antic organizations, disciplines, and hereditary forms of faith and
worship; in
science and philosophy, in the realm of criticism, its day is past.
The
universal, religious, and ethical element of Christianity has no connection
whatever with
Jesus or his apostles, with the Gospel, or the Gospel story; it
exists
independent of any person or story. Therefore it needs neither the Gospel
story nor its
heroes. If we profit by the example, by the teachings, or the
discoveries
of men of past ages, to these men we are indebted, and are in duty
bound to
acknowledge our indebtedness; but why should we give to one individual,
Jesus of
Nazareth, the credit of it all? It is true, that by selecting from the
Gospels
whatever portions one may choose, a common practice among Christian
writers, a
noble and grand character may be depicted, but who was the original
of this
character? We may find the same individual outside of the Gospels, and
before the
time of Jesus. The moral precepts of the Gospels, also, were in
existence
before the Gospels themselves were in existence.[529:3] Why, then,
extol the
hero of the Gospels, and forget all others?
[Pg 530]As it
was at the end of Roman Paganism, so is it now: the masses are
deceived and
fooled, or do it for themselves, and persons of vivacious fantasies
prefer the
masquerade of delusion, to the simple sublimity of naked but majestic
truth. The
decline of the church as a political power proves beyond a doubt the
decline of
Christian faith. The conflicts of Church and State all over the
European
continent, and the hostility between intelligence and dogmatic
Christianity,
demonstrates the death of Christology in the consciousness of
modern
culture. It is useless to shut our eyes to these facts. Like rabbinical
Judaism,
dogmatic Christianity was the product of ages without typography,
telescopes,
microscopes, telegraphs, and power of steam. "These right arms of
intelligence
have fought the titanic battles, conquered and demolished the
ancient
castles, and remove now the débris, preparing the ground upon which
there shall
be the gorgeous temple of humanity, one universal republic, one
universal
religion of intelligence, and one great universal brotherhood. This is
the new
covenant, the gospel of humanity and reason."
"——Hoaryheaded
selfishness has felt
Its
death-blow, and is tottering to the grave:
A brighter
morn awaits the human day;
War with its
million horrors, and fierce hell,
Shall live
but in the memory of time,
Who, like a
penitent libertine, shall start,
Look back,
and shudder at his younger years."
FOOTNOTES:
[508:1]
"For knowledge of the man Jesus, of his idea and his aims, and of the
outward form
of his career, the New Testament is our only hope. If this hope
fails, the
pillared firmament of his starry fame is rottenness; the base of
Christianity,
so far as it was personal and individual, is built on stubble."
(John W.
Chadwick.)
[508:2] M.
Renan, after declaring Jesus to be a "fanatic," and admitting that,
"his
friends thought him, at moments, beside himself;" and that, "his
enemies
declared him
possessed by a devil," says: "The man here delineated merits a
place at the
summit of human grandeur." "This is the Supreme man, a sublime
personage;"
"to call him divine is no exaggeration." Other liberal writers have
written in
the same strain.
[509:1]
"The Christ of Paul was not a person, but an idea; he took no pains to
learn the
facts about the individual Jesus. He actually boasted that the
Apostles had
taught him nothing. His Christ was an ideal conception, evolved
from his own
feeling and imagination, and taking on new powers and attributes
from year to
year to suit each new emergency." (John W. Chadwick.)
[510:1] This
subject is considered in Appendix D.
[510:2]
Scythia was a name employed in ancient times, to denote a vast,
indefinite,
and almost unknown territory north and east of the Black Sea, the
Caspian, and
the Sea of Aral.
[510:3] See
Herodotus, book 4, ch. 82.
[510:4] See
Dupuis, p. 264.
[510:5] See
Knight's Anct. Art and Mythology, p. 96, and Mysteries of Adoni, p.
90.
[510:6] See
Dupuis, p. 264.
[510:7] See
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 7.
[510:8] See
Ibid. vol. i. p. 27.
[510:9] Ibid.
[510:10]
Ibid. vol. i. p. 2, and Bonwick, p. 155.
[510:11] See
Chambers, art. "Jonah."
[510:12] See
Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 152, and Goldzhier, p. 280.
[510:13] See
Curious Myths, p. 264.
[511:1]
"Whilst, in one part of the Christian world, the chief objects of
interest were
the human nature and human life of Jesus, in another part of the
Christian
world the views taken of his person because so idealistic, that his
humanity was
reduced to a phantom without reality. The various Gnostic systems
generally
agreed in saying that the Christ was an Ćon, the redeemer of the
spirits of
men, and that he had little or no contact with their corporeal
nature."
(A. Réville: Hist. of the Dogma of the Deity of Jesus.)
[511:2]
Epiphanius says that there were TWENTY heresies before Christ, and there
can be no
doubt that there is much truth in the observation, for most of the
rites and
doctrines of the Christians of all sects existed before the time of
Jesus of
Nazareth.
[512:1]
"Accipis avengelium? et maxime. Proinde ergo et natum accipis Christum.
Non ita est.
Neque enim sequitur ut si evangelium accipio, idcirco et natum
accipiam
Christum. Ergo non putas cum ex Maria Virgine esse? Manes dixit, Absit
ut Dominum
nostrum Jesum Christum per naturalia pudenda mulieris de scendisse
confitear."
(Lardner's Works, vol. iv. p. 20.)
[512:2]
"I maintain," says he, "that the Son of God was born: why am I
not
ashamed of
maintaining such a thing? Why! because it is itself a shameful
thing—I
maintain that the Son of God died: well, that is wholly credible because
it is
monstrously absurd. I maintain that after having been buried, he rose
again: and
that I take to be absolutely true, because it was manifestly
impossible."
[512:3]
King's Gnostics, p. 1.
[512:4] I.
John, iv. 2, 3.
[512:5] II.
John, 7.
[512:6] 1st
Book Hermas: Apoc., ch. iii.
[512:7]
Chapter II.
[513:1]
Chapter II.
[513:2]
Chapter III.
[513:3]
Chapter III.
[513:4] I.
Timothy, iii. 16.
[513:5]
Irenćus, speaking of them, says: "They hold that men ought not to
confess him
who was crucified, but him who came in the form of man, and was
supposed to
be crucified, and was called Jesus." (See Lardner: vol. viii. p.
353.) They
could not conceive of "the first-begotten Son of God" being put to
death on a
cross, and suffering like an ordinary being, so they thought Simon of
Cyrene must
have been substituted for him, as the ram was substituted in the
place of
Isaac. (See Ibid. p. 857.)
[513:6] Apol.
1, ch. xxi.
[514:1]
Koran, ch. iv.
[514:2]
Chapter XX.
[514:3]
Chapter II.
[514:4] Col.
i. 23.
[514:5] I.
Timothy, iii. 16.
[514:6] The
authenticity of these Epistles has been freely questioned, even by
the most
conservative critics.
[515:1] See
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, and Chapter XXXVII., this work.
[515:2]
Quoted by Max Müller: The Science of Relig., p. 228.
[515:3] Ch.
cxvii.
[515:4] Ch.
xxii.
[516:1] Ch.
iv. 5.
[516:2]
Josephus: Antiq., b. xx. ch. v. 2.
[516:3] It is
true there was another Annas high-priest at Jerusalem, but this
was when
Gratus was procurator of Judea, some twelve or fifteen years before
Pontius
Pilate held the same office. (See Josephus: Antiq., book xviii. ch. ii.
3.)
[516:4] See
Appendix D.
[516:5] See
the Martyrdom of Jesus, p. 100.
[516:6]
According to Dio Cassius, Plutarch, Strabo and others, there existed, in
the time of
Herod, among the Roman Syrian heathens, a wide-spread and deep
sympathy for
a "Crucified King of the Jews." This was the youngest son of
Aristobul,
the heroic Maccabee. In the year 43 B. C., we find this young
man—Antigonus—in
Palestine claiming the crown, his cause having been declared
just by
Julius Cćsar. Allied with the Parthians, he maintained himself in his
royal
position for six years against Herod and Mark Antony. At last, after a
heroic life
and reign, he fell in the hands of this Roman. "Antony now gave the
kingdom to a
certain Herod, and, having stretched Antigonus on a cross and
scourged him,
a thing never done before to any other king by the Romans, he put
him to
death." (Dio Cassius, book xlix. p. 405.)
The fact that
all prominent historians of those days mention this extraordinary
occurrence,
and the manner they did it, show that it was considered one of Mark
Antony's
worst crimes: and that the sympathy with the "Crucified King" was
wide-spread
and profound. (See The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth, p. 106.)
Some writers
think that there is a connection between this and the Gospel story;
that they, in
a certain measure, put Jesus in the place of Antigonus, just as
they put
Herod in the place of Kansa. (See Chapter XVIII.)
[517:1] Canon
Farrar thinks that Josephus' silence on the subject of Jesus and
Christianity,
was as deliberate as it was dishonest. (See his Life of Christ,
vol. i. p.
63.)
[518:1] Many
examples might be cited to confirm this view, but the case of
Joseph Smith,
in our own time and country, will suffice.
The Mormons
regard him very much as Christians regard Jesus; as the Mohammedans
do Mohammed;
or as the Buddhists do Buddha. A coarse sort of religious feeling
and fervor
appears to have been in Smith's nature. He seems, from all accounts,
to have been
cracked on theology, as so many zealots have been, and cracked to
such an
extent that his early acquaintances regarded him as a downright fanatic.
The common
view that he was an impostor is not sustained by what is known of
him. He was,
in all probability, of unbalanced mind, a monomaniac, as most
prophets have
been; but there is no reason to think that he did not believe in
himself, and
substantially in what he taught. He has declared that, when he was
about fifteen,
he began to reflect on the importance of being prepared for a
future state.
He went from one church to another without finding anything to
satisfy the
hunger of his soul, consequently, he retired into himself; he sought
solitude; he
spent hours and days in meditation and prayer, after the true
manner of all
accredited saints, and was soon repaid by the visits of angels.
One of these
came to him when he was but eighteen years old, and the house in
which he was
seemed filled with consuming fire. The presence—he styles it a
personage—had
a pace like lightning, and proclaimed himself to be an angel of
the Lord. He
vouchsafed to Smith a vast deal of highly important information of
a celestial
order. He told him that his (Smith's) prayers had been heard, and
his sins
forgiven; that the covenant which the Almighty had made with the old
Jews was to
be fulfilled; that the introductory work for the second coming of
Christ was
now to begin; that the hour for the preaching of the gospel in its
purity to all
peoples was at hand, and that Smith was to be an instrument in the
hands of God,
to further the divine purpose in the new dispensation. The
celestial
stranger also furnished him with a sketch of the origin, progress,
laws and
civilization of the American aboriginals, and declared that the
blessing of
heaven had finally been withdrawn from them. To Smith was
communicated
the momentous circumstance that certain plates containing an
abridgment of
the records of the aboriginals and ancient prophets, who had lived
on this
continent, were hidden in a hill near Palmyra. The prophet was counseled
to go there
and look at them, and did so. Not being holy enough to possess them
as yet, he
passed some months in spiritual probation, after which the records
were put into
his keeping. These had been prepared, it is claimed, by a prophet
called
Mormon, who had been ordained by God for the purpose, and to conceal them
until he
should produce them for the benefit of the faithful, and unite them
with the Bible
for the achievement of his will. They form the celebrated Book of
Mormon—whence
the name Mormon—and are esteemed by the Latter-Day Saints as of
equal
authority with the Old and New Testaments, and as an indispensable
supplement
thereto, because they include God's disclosures to the Mormon world.
These
precious records were sealed up and deposited A. D. 420 in the place where
Smith had
viewed them by the direction of the angel.
The records
were, it is held, in the reformed Egyptian tongue, and Smith
translated
them through the inspiration of the angel, and one Oliver Cowdrey
wrote down
the translation as reported by the God-possessed Joseph. This
translation
was published in 1830, and its divine origin was attested by a dozen
persons—all
relatives and friends of Smith. Only these have ever pretended to
see the
original plates, which have already become traditional. The plates have
been
frequently called for by skeptics, but all in vain. Naturally, warm
controversy
arose concerning the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, and
disbelievers
have asserted that they have indubitable evidence that it is, with
the exception
of various unlettered interpolations, principally borrowed from a
queer,
rhapsodical romance written by an eccentric ex-clergyman named Solomon
Spalding.
Smith and his
disciples were ridiculed and socially persecuted; but they seemed
to be
ardently earnest, and continued to preach their creed, which was to the
effect that
the millennium was at hand; that our aboriginals were to be
converted,
and that the New Jerusalem—the last residence and home of the
saints—was to
be near the centre of this continent. The Vermont prophet, later
on, was
repeatedly mobbed, even shot at. His narrow escapes were construed as
interpositions
of divine providence, but he displayed perfect coolness and
intrepidity
through all his trials. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints was
first established in the spring of 1830 at Manchester, N. Y.; but it
awoke such
fierce opposition, particularly from the orthodox, many of them
preachers,
that Smith and his associates deemed it prudent to move farther west.
They
established themselves at Kirtland, O., and won there many converts.
Hostility to
them still continued, and grew so fierce that the body transferred
itself to
Missouri, and next to Illinois, settling in the latter state near the
village of
Commerce, which was renamed Nauvoo.
The Governor
and Legislature of Illinois favored the Mormons, but the
anti-Mormons
made war on them in every way, and the custom of "sealing wives,"
which is yet
mysterious to the Gentiles, caused serious outbreaks, and resulted
in the
incarceration of the prophet and his brother Hiram at Carthage. Fearing
that the two
might be released by the authorities, a band of ruffians broke into
the jail, in
the summer of 1844, and murdered them in cold blood. This was most
fortunate for
the memory of Smith and for his doctrines. It placed him in the
light of a
holy martyr, and lent to them a dignity and vitality they had never
before
enjoyed.
[520:1] When
we speak of Jesus being crucified, we do not intend to convey the
idea that he
was put to death on a cross of the form adopted by Christians. This
cross was the
symbol of life and immortality among our heathen ancestors (see
Chapter
XXXIII.), and in adopting Pagan religious symbols, and baptizing them
anew, the
Christians took this along with others. The crucifixion was not a
symbol of the
earliest church; no trace of it can be found in the Catacombs.
Some of the
earliest that did appear, however, are similar to figures No. 42 and
No. 43,
above, which represent two of the modes in which the Romans crucified
their slaves
and criminals. (See Chapter XX., on the Crucifixion of Jesus.)
[520:2]
According to the Matthew and Mark narrators, Jesus' head was anointed
while sitting
at table in the house of Simon the leper. Now, this practice was
common among
the kings of Israel. It was the sign and symbol of royalty. The
word
"Messiah" signifies the "Anointed One," and none of the
kings of Israel
were styled
the Messiah unless anointed. (See The Martyrdom of Jesus of
Nazareth, p.
42.)
[521:1]
Josephus: Antiquities, book xviii. ch. iv. 1.
[522:1]
Josephus: Antiquities, book xviii. chap. iii. 2.
[522:2]
"From the death of Herod, 4 B. C., to the death of Bar-Cochba, 132 A.
D., no less
than fifty different enthusiasts set up as the Messiah, and obtained
more or less
following." (John W. Chadwick.)
[522:3]
"There was, at this time, a prevalent expectation that some remarkable
personage was
about to appear in Judea. The Jews were anxiously looking for the
coming of the
Messiah. This personage, they supposed, would be a temporal
prince, and
they were expecting that he would deliver them from Roman bondage."
(Albert Barnes:
Notes, vol. i. p. 7.)
"The
central and dominant characteristic of the teaching of the Rabbis, was the
certain
advent of a great national Deliverer—the Messiah. . . . The national
mind had
become so inflammable, by constant brooding on this one theme, that any
bold spirit
rising in revolt against the Roman power, could find an army of
fierce
disciples who trusted that it should be he who would redeem Israel."
(Geikie: The
Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 79.)
[522:4]
"The penalty of crucifixion, according to Roman law and custom, was
inflicted on
slaves, and in the provinces on rebels only." (The Martyrdom of
Jesus, p.
96.)
[522:5]
Judas, the Gaulonite or Galilean, as Josephus calls him, declared, when
Cyrenius came
to tax the Jewish people, that "this taxation was no better than
an
introduction to slavery," and exhorted the nation to assert their liberty.
He
therefore
prevailed upon his countrymen to revolt. (See Josephus: Antiq., b.
xviii. ch. i.
1, and Wars of the Jews, b. ii. ch. viii. 1.)
[523:1] The
Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth, p. 30.
[523:2]
"That the High Council did accuse Jesus, I suppose no one will doubt;
and since
they could neither wish or expect the Roman Governor to make himself
judge of
their sacred law, it becomes certain that their accusation was purely
political,
and took such a form as this: 'He has accepted tumultuous shouts that
he is the
legitimate and predicted King of Israel, and in this character has
ridden into
Jerusalem with the forms of state understood to be royal and sacred;
with what
purpose, we ask, if not to overturn our institutions, and your
dominion?' If
Jesus spoke, at the crisis which Matthew represents, the virulent
speech
attributed to him (Matt. xxiii.), we may well believe that this gave a
new incentive
to the rulers; for it is such as no government in Europe would
overlook or
forgive: but they are not likely to have expected Pilate to care for
any conduct
which might be called an ecclesiastical broil. The assumption of
royalty was
clearly the point of their attack. Even the mildest man among them
may have
thought his conduct dangerous and needing repression." (Francis W.
Newman,
"What is Christianity without Christ?")
According to
the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus was completely innocent of the charge
which has
sometimes been brought against him, that he wished to be considered as
a God come
down to earth. His enemies certainly would not have failed to make
such a
pretension the basis and the continual theme of their accusations, if it
had been possible
to do so. The two grounds upon which he was brought before the
Sanhedrim
were, first, the bold words he was supposed to have spoken about the
temple; and,
secondly and chiefly, the fact that he claimed to be the Messiah,
i. e.,
"The King of the Jews." (Albert Réville: "The Doctrine of the
Dogma of
the Deity of
Jesus," p. 7.)
[523:3] See
The Martyrdom of Jesus, p. 30.
[524:1] See
note 4, p. 522.
[524:2] See
Matt. xx. 19.
[524:3] John
xviii. 31, 32.
[524:4] That
is, the crucifixion story as related in the Gospels. See note 1, p.
520.
[524:5]
Matthew xxvii. 24, 25.
[525:1]
Commentators, in endeavoring to get over this difficulty, say that, "it
may come from
the look or form of the spot itself, bald, round, and skull-like,
and therefore
a mound or hillock," but, if it means "the place of bare
skulls,"
no such
construction as the above can be put to the word.
[526:1] The
Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth, pp. 109-111.
[527:1] O. B.
Frothingham: The Cradle of the Christ, p. 11.
The reader is
referred to "Judaism: Its Doctrines and Precepts," by Dr. Isaac M.
Wise. Printed
at the office of the "American Israelite," Cincinnati, Ohio.
[527:2] If
Jesus, instead of giving himself up quietly, had resisted against
being
arrested, there certainly would have been bloodshed, as there was on many
other similar
occasions.
[528:1] If
what is recorded In the Gospels on the subject was true, no historian
of that day
could fail to have noticed it, but instead of this there is nothing.
[528:2] See
Matthew, xxvii. 51-53.
[529:1] See
Matt. xiv. 15-22: Mark, iv. 1-3, and xi. 14; and Luke, vii. 26-37.
[529:2] See
Mark, xvi. 16.
[529:3] This
fact has at last been admitted by the most orthodox among the
Christians.
The Rev. George Matheson, D. D., Minister of the Parish of Innellan,
and a member
of the Scotch Kirk, speaking of the precept uttered by Confucius,
five hundred
years before the time assigned for the birth of Jesus of Nazareth
("Whatsoever
ye would not that others should do unto you, do not ye unto them"),
says:
"That Confucius is the author of this precept is undisputed, and therefore
it is
indisputable that Christianity has incorporated an article of Chinese
morality. It
has appeared to some as if this were to the disparagement of
Christianity—as
if the originality of its Divine Founder were impaired by
consenting to
borrow a precept from a heathen source. But in what sense does
Christianity
set up the claim of moral originality? When we speak of the
religion of
Christ as having introduced into the world a purer life and a surer
guide to
conduct, what do we mean? Do we mean to suggest that Christianity has,
for the first
time, revealed to the world the existence of a set of
self-sacrificing
precepts—that here, for the first time, man has learned that he
ought to be
meek, merciful, humble, forgiving, sorrowful for sin, peaceable, and
pure in
heart? The proof of such a statement would destroy Christianity itself,
for an
absolute original code of precepts would be equivalent to a foreign
language. The
glory of Christian morality is that it is NOT ORIGINAL—that its
words appeal
to something which already exists within the human heart, and on
that account
have a meaning to the human ear: no new revelation can be made
except
through the medium of an old one. When we attribute originality to the
ethics of the
Gospel, we do so on the ground, not that it has given new
precepts, but
that it has given us a new impulse to obey the moral instincts of
the soul.
Christianity itself claims on the field of morals this originality,
and this
alone—'A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another."
(St. Giles
Lectures, Second Series: The Faiths of the World. Religion of China,
by the Rev.
George Matheson, D. D., Minister of the Parish of Innellan. Wm.
Blackwood
& Sons: Edinburgh, 1882.)
[Pg
531]APPENDIX.
[Pg 532]
[Pg
533]APPENDIX A.
Among the
ancient Mexicans, Peruvians, and some of the Indian tribes of North
and South
America, were found fragments of the Eden Myth. The Mexicans said that
the primeval
mother was made out of a man's bone, and that she was the mother of
twins.[533:1]
The Cherokees
supposed that heavenly beings came down and made the world, after
which they
made a man and woman of clay.[533:2] The intention of the creators
was that men
should live always. But the Sun, when he passed over, told them
that there
was not land enough, and that people had better die. At length, the
daughter of
the Sun was bitten by a Snake, and died. The Sun, however—whom they
worshiped as
a god—consented that human beings might live always. He intrusted
to their care
a box, charging them that they should not open it. However,
impelled by
curiosity, they opened it, contrary to the injunction of the Sun,
and the
spirit it contained escaped, and then the fate of all men was decided,
that they
must die.[533:3]
The
inhabitants of the New World had a legend of a Deluge, which destroyed the
human race,
excepting a few who were saved in a boat, which landed on a
mountain.[533:4]
They also related that birds were sent out of the ark, for the
purpose of
ascertaining if the flood was abating.[533:5]
The ancient
Mexicans had the legend of the confusion of tongues, and related the
whole story
as to how the gods destroyed the tower which mankind was building so
as to reach
unto heaven.[533:6]
The Mexicans,
and several of the Indian tribes of North America, believe in the
doctrine of
Metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls from one body into
another.[533:7]
This, as we have already seen,[533:8] was universally believed
in the Old
World.
The legend of
the man being swallowed by a fish, and, after a [Pg 534]three
days' sojourn
in his belly, coming out safe and sound, was found among the
Mexicans and
Peruvians.[534:1]
The ancient
Mexicans, and some Indian tribes, practiced Circumcision, which was
common among
all Eastern nations of the Old World.[534:2]
They also had
a legend to the effect that one of their holy persons commanded
the sun to
stand still.[534:3] This, as we have already seen,[534:4] was a
familiar
legend among the inhabitants of the Old World.
The ancient
Mexicans were fire-worshipers; so were the ancient Peruvians. They
kept a fire
continually burning on an altar, just as the fire-worshipers of the
Old World
were in the habit of doing.[534:5] They were also Sun-worshipers, and
had
"temples of the Sun."[534:6]
The
Tortoise-myth was found in the New World.[534:7] Now, in the Old World, the
Tortoise-myth
belongs especially to India, and the idea is developed there in a
variety of forms.
The tortoise that holds the world is called in Sanscrit
Kura-mraja,
"King of the Tortoises," and many Hindoos believe to this day that
the world
rests on its back. "The striking analogy between the Tortoise-myth of
North America
and India," says Mr. Tyler, "is by no means a matter of new
observation;
it was indeed remarked upon by Father Lafitau nearly a century and
a half ago.
Three great features of the Asiatic stories are found among the
North
American Indians, in the fullest and clearest development. The earth is
supported on
the back of a huge floating tortoise, the tortoise sinks under the
water and
causes a deluge, and the tortoise is conceived as being itself the
earth,
floating upon the face of the deep."[534:8]
We have also
found among them the belief in an Incarnate God born of a
virgin;[534:9]
the One God worshiped in the form of a Trinity;[534:10] the
crucified
Black god;[534:11] the descent into hell;[534:12] the resurrection and
ascension
into heaven,[534:13] all of which is to be found in the oldest Asiatic
religions. We
also found monastic habits—friars and nuns.[534:14]
[Pg 535]The
Mexicans denominated their high-places, sacred houses, or "Houses of
God."
The corresponding sacred structures of the Hindoos are called "God's
House."[535:1]
Many nations
of the East entertained the notion that there were nine heavens,
and so did
the ancient Mexicans.[535:2]
There are few
things connected with the ancient mythology of America more
certain than
that there existed in that country before its discovery by
Columbus,
extreme veneration for the Serpent.[535:3] Now, the Serpent was
venerated and
worshiped throughout the East.[535:4]
The ancient
Mexicans and Peruvians, and many of the Indian tribes, believed the
Sun and Moon
not only to be brother and sister, but man and wife; so, likewise,
among many
nations of the Old World was this belief prevalent.[535:5] The belief
in
were-wolves, or man-wolves, man-tigers, man-hyenas, and the like, which was
almost
universal among the nations of Europe, Asia and Africa, was also found to
be the case
among South American tribes.[535:6] The idea of calling the earth
"mother,"
was common among the inhabitants of both the Old and New
Worlds.[535:7]
In the mythology of Finns, Lapps, and Esths, Earth-Mother is a
divinely
honored personage. It appears in China, where Heaven and Earth are
called in the
Shuking—one of their sacred books—"Father and Mother of all
things."
Among the
native races of America the Earth-Mother is one of the great
personages of
mythology. The Peruvians worshiped her as Mama-Phacha, or
Earth-Mother.
The Caribs, when there was an earthquake, said it was their
mother-earth
dancing, and signifying to them to dance and make merry likewise,
which they
accordingly did.[535:8]
It is
well-known that the natives of Africa, when there is an eclipse of the sun
or moon,
believe that it is being devoured by some great monster, and that they,
in order to
frighten and drive it away, beat drums and make noises in other
ways. So, too,
the rude Moguls make a clamor of rough music to drive the
attacking
Arachs (Râhu) from Sun or Moon.[535:9]
The Chinese,
when there is an eclipse of the Sun or Moon, proceed to encounter
the ominous
monster with gongs and bells.[535:10]
The ancient
Romans flung firebrands into the air, and blew trumpets, and clanged
brazen pots
and pans.[535:11] Even as late as the [Pg 536]seventeenth century,
the Irish or
Welsh, during eclipses, ran about beating kettles and pans.[536:1]
Among the
native races of America was to be found the same superstition. The
Indians would
raise a frightful howl, and shoot arrows into the sky to drive the
monsters
off.[536:2] The Caribs, thinking that the demon Maboya, hater of all
light, was
seeking to devour the Sun and Moon, would dance and howl in concert
all night
long to scare him away. The Peruvians, imagining such an evil spirit
in the shape
of a monstrous beast, raised the like frightful din when the Moon
was eclipsed,
shouting, sounding musical instruments, and beating the dogs to
join their
howl to the hideous chorus.[536:3]
The starry
band that lies like a road across the sky, known as the milky way, is
called by the
Basutos (a South African tribe of savages), "The Way of the Gods;"
the Ojis
(another African tribe of savages), say it is the "Way of Spirits,"
which souls
go up to heaven by. North American tribes know it as "the Path of
the Master of
Life," the "Path of Spirits," "the Road of Souls,"
where they
travel to the
land beyond the grave.[536:4]
It is almost
a general belief among the inhabitants of Africa, and was so among
the
inhabitants of Europe and Asia, that monkeys were once men and women, and
that they can
even now really speak, but judiciously hold their tongues, lest
they should
be made to work. This idea was found as a serious matter of belief,
in Central
and South America.[536:5] "The Bridge of the Dead," which is one of
the marked
myths of the Old World, was found in the New.[536:6]
It is well
known that the natives of South America told the Spaniards that
inland there
was to be found a fountain, the waters of which turned old men back
into youths,
and how Juan Ponce de Leon fitted out two caravels, and went to
seek for this
"Fountain of Youth." Now, the "Fountain of Youth" is known
to the
mythology of
India.[536:7]
The myth of
foot-prints stamped into the rocks by gods or mighty men, is to be
found among
the inhabitants of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Egyptians, Greeks,
Brahmans,
Buddhists, Moslems, and Christians, have adopted it as relics each
from their
own point of view, and Mexican eyes could discern in the solid rock
at
Tlanepantla the mark of hand and foot left by the mighty
Quetzalcoatle.[536:8]
[Pg 537]The
Incas, in order to preserve purity of race, married their own
sisters, as
did the Kings of Persia, and other Oriental nations.[537:1]
The Peruvian
embalming of the royal dead takes us back to Egypt; the burning of
the wives of
the deceased Incas reveals India; the singularly patriarchical
character of
the whole Peruvian policy is like that of China in the olden time;
while the
system of espionage, of tranquillity, of physical well-being, and the
iron-like
immovability in which their whole social frame was cast, bring before
us Japan—as
it was a very few years ago. In fact, there is something strangely
Japanese in
the entire cultus of Peru as described by all writers.[537:2]
The dress and
costume of the Mexicans, and their sandals, resemble the apparel
and sandals
worn in early ages in the East.[537:3]
Mexican
priests were represented with a Serpent twined around their heads, so
were Oriental
kings.[537:4] The Mexicans had the head of a rhinoceros among
their
paintings,[537:5] and also the head of an elephant on the body of a
man.[537:6]
Now, these animals were unknown in America, but well known in Asia;
and what is
more striking still is the fact that the man with the elephant's
head is none
other than the Ganesa of India; the God of Wisdom. Humboldt, who
copied a
Mexican painting of a man with an elephant's head, remarks that "it
presents some
remarkable and apparently not accidental resemblances with the
Hindoo
Ganesa."
The horse and
the ass, although natives of America,[537:7] became extinct on the
Western
Continent in an early period of the earth's history, yet the Mexicans
had, among
their hieroglyphics, representations of both these animals, which
show that it
must have been seen in the old world by the author of the
hieroglyph.
When the Mexicans saw the horses which the Spaniards brought over,
they were
greatly astonished, and when they saw the Spaniards on horseback, they
imagined man
and horse to be one.
Certain of
the temples of India abound with sculptural representations of the
symbols of
Phallic Worship. Turning now to the temples of Central America, which
in many
respects exhibit a strict correspondence with those in India, we find
precisely the
same symbols, separate and in combination.[537:8]
We have seen
that many of the religious conceptions of America are identical
with those of
the Old World, and that they are [Pg 538]embodied or symbolized
under the
same or cognate forms; and it is confidently asserted that a
comparison
and analysis of her primitive systems, in connection with those of
other parts
of the globe, philosophically conducted, would establish the grand
fact, that in
ALL their leading elements, and in many of their details, they are
essentially
the same.[538:1]
The
architecture of many of the most ancient buildings in South America
resembles the
Asiatic. Around Lake Titicaca are massive monuments, which speak
of a very
ancient and civilized nation.[538:2]
E. Spence
Hardy, says:
"The
ancient edifices of Chi Chen, in Central America, bear a striking
resemblance
to the topes of India. The shape of one of the domes, its apparent
size, the
small tower on the summit, the trees growing on the sides, the
appearance of
masonry here and there, the style of the ornaments, and the small
doorway at
the base, are so exactly similar to what I had seen at Anurádhapura,
that when my
eye first fell upon the engravings of these remarkable ruins, I
supposed that
they were presented in illustration of the dágobas of
Ceylon."[538:3]
E. G. Squire,
speaking of this, says:
"The
Bud'hist temples of Southern India, and of the islands of the Indian
Archipelago,
as described to us by the learned members of the Asiatic Society,
and the
numerous writers on the religion and antiquities of the Hindoos,
correspond,
with great exactness, in all their essential and in many of their
minor
features, with those of Central America."[538:4]
Structures of
a pyramidal style, which are common in India, were also discovered
in Mexico.
The pyramid tower of Cholula was one of these.[538:5]
Sir R. Kir
Porter writes as follows:
"What
striking analogies exist between the monuments of the old continents and
those of the
Toltecs, who, arriving on Mexican soil, built several of these
colossal
structures, truncated pyramids, divided by layers, like the temple of
Belus at
Babylon. Whence did they take the model of these edifices? Were they of
the Mongolian
race? Did they descend from a common stock with the Chinese, the
Hiong-nu, and
the Japanese?"[538:6]
The
similarity in features of the Asiatic and the American race is very
striking.
Alexander de Humboldt, speaking of this, says:
"There
are striking contrasts between the Mongol and American races."[538:7]
"Over a
million and a half of square leagues, from the Terra del Fuego islands
to the River
St. Lawrence and Behring's Straits, we are struck at the first
glance with
the general resemblance in the features of the inhabitants. We think
we perceive
that they all descended from the same stock, notwithstanding the
enormous
diversity of language which separates them from one another."[538:8]
[Pg
539]"This analogy is particularly evident in the color of the skin and
hair,
in the
defective beard, high cheek-bones, and in the direction of the
eyes."[539:1]
Dr. Morton
says:
"In
reflecting on the aboriginal races of America, we are at once met by the
striking fact,
that their physical characters are wholly independent of all
climatic or
known physical influences. Notwithstanding their immense
geographical
distribution, embracing every variety of climate, it is
acknowledged
by all travellers, that there is among this people a prevailing
type, around
which all the tribes—north, south, east and west—cluster, though
varying
within prescribed limits. With trifling exceptions, all our American
Indians bear
to each other some degree of family resemblance, quite as strong,
for example,
as that seen at the present day among full-blooded Jews."[539:2]
James Orton,
the traveler, was also struck with the likeness of the American
Indians to
the Chinese, including the flatted nose. Speaking of the Zaparos of
the Napo River,
he says:
"The
Zaparos in physiognomy somewhat resemble the Chinese, having a middle
stature,
round face, small eyes set angularly, and a broad, flat nose."[539:3]
Oscar Paschel
says:
"The
obliquely-set eyes and prominent cheek-bones of the inhabitants of Veragua
were noticed
by Monitz Wagner, and according to his description, out of four
Bayano
Indians from Darien, three had thoroughly Mongolian features, including
the flatted
nose."
In 1866, an
officer of the Sharpshooter, the first English man-of-war which
entered the
Paraná River in Brazil, remarks in almost the same words of the
Indians of
that district, that their features vividly reminded him of the
Chinese.
Burton describes the Brazilian natives at the falls of Cachauhy as
having thick,
round Kalmuck heads, flat Mongol faces, wide, very prominent cheek
bones,
oblique and sometimes narrow-slit Chinese eyes, and slight mustaches.
Another
traveler, J. J. Von Tschudi, declares in so many words that he has seen
Chinese whom
at the first glance he mistook for Botocudos, and that since then
he has been
convinced that the American race ought not to be separated from the
Mongolian.
His predecessor, St. Hilaire, noticed narrow, obliquely-set eyes and
broad noses
among the Malali of Brazil. Reinhold Hensel says of the Coroados,
that their
features are of Mongoloid type, due especially to the prominence of
the
cheek-bones, but that the oblique position of the eyes is not perceptible.
Yet the
oblique opening of the eye, which forms a good though not an essential
characteristic
of the Mongolian nations, is said to be characteristic of all the
Guarani
tribes in Brazil. Even in the extreme south, among the [Pg
540]Hiullitches
of Patagonia, King saw a great many with obliquely set eyes.
Those writers
who separate the Americans as a peculiar race fail to give
distinctive
characters, common to them all, which distinguish them from the
Asiatic
Mongols. All the tribes have stiff, long hair, cylindrical in section.
The beard and
hair of the body is always scanty or totally absent. The color of
the skin
varies considerably, as might be expected in a district of 110° of
latitude; it
ranges from a light South European darkness of complexion among the
Botocudos, of
the deepest dye among the Aymara, or to copper red in the Sonor
tribes. But
no one has tried to draw limits between races on account of these
shades of
color, especially as they are of every conceivable gradation.[540:1]
Charles G.
Leland says:
"The
Tunguse, Mongolians, and a great part of the Turkish race formed
originally,
according to all external organic tokens, as well as the elements of
their
language, but one people, closely allied with the Esquimaux, the Skräling,
or dwarf of
the Norseman, and the races of the New World. This is the
irrefutable
result to which all the more recent inquiries in anatomy and
physiology,
as well as comparative philology and history, have conduced. All the
aboriginal
Americans have those distinctive tokens which forcibly recall their
neighbors
dwelling on the other side of Behring's Straits. They have the
four-cornered
head, high cheek-bones, heavy jaws, large angular eye-cavities,
and a
retreating forehead. The skulls of the oldest Peruvian graves exhibit the
same tokens
as the heads of the nomadic tribes of Oregon and California."[540:2]
"It is
very certain that thousands of American Indians, especially those of
small stature
or of dwarfish tribes, bear a most extraordinary likeness to
Mongols."[540:3]
John D.
Baldwin, in his "Ancient America," says:
"I find
myself more and more inclined to believe that the wild Indians of the
North came
originally from Asia, where the race to which they belong seems still
represented
by the Koraks and Cookchees, found in that part of Asia which
extends to
Behring's Straits."[540:4]
Hon. Charles
D. Poston, late commissioner of the United States of America in
Asia, in a
work entitled, "The Parsees," speaking of an incident which took
place
"beyond the Great Wall," says:
"A
Mongolian came riding up on a little black pony, followed by a servant on a
camel,
rocking like a windmill. He stopped a moment to exchange pantomimic
salutations.
He was full of electricity, and alive with motion; the blood was
warm in his
veins, and the fire was bright in his eye. I could have sworn that
he was an
Apache; every action, motion and look reminded me of my old enemies
and neighbors
in Arizona. They are the true descendants of the nomadic Tartars
of Asia and
preserve every instinct of the race. He shook hands friendlily but
timidly,
keeping all the time in motion like an Apache."[540:5]
[Pg 541]That
the continents of Asia and America were at one time joined together
by an
isthmus, at the place where the channel of Behring's straits is now found,
is a well
known fact. That the severance of Asia from America was, geologically
speaking,
very recent, is shown by the fact that not only the straits, but the
sea which
bears the name of Behring, is extraordinarily shallow, so much so,
indeed, that
whalers lie at anchor in the middle of it.[541:1] This is evidently
the manner in
which America was peopled.[541:2]
During the
Champlain period in the earth's history the climate of the northern
portion of
the American continent, instead of being frigid, and the country
covered with sheets
of ice, was more like the climate of the Middle States of
the present
day. Tropical animals went North, and during the Terrace
period—which
followed the Champlain—the climate changed to frigid, and many of
these
tropical animals were frozen in the ice, and some of their remains were
discovered
centuries after.
It was
probably during the time when the climate in those northern regions was
warm, that
the aborigines crossed over, and even if they did not do so at that
time, we must
not be startled at the idea that Asiatic tribes crossed over from
Asia to
America, when the country was covered with ice. There have been nations
who lived in
a state of nudity among ice-fields, and, even at the present day, a
naked nation
of fishermen still exist in Terra del Fuego, where the glaciers
stretch down
to the sea, and even into it.[541:3]
Chas. Darwin,
during his voyage round the world in H. M. S. Beagle, was
particularly
struck with the hardiness of the Fuegians, who go in a state of
nudity, or
almost entirely so. He says:
"Among
these central tribes the men generally have an otter-skin, or some small
scrap, about
as large as a pocket-handkerchief, to cover their nakedness, which
is barely
sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their loins."[541:4]
One day while
going on shore near Wollaston Island, Mr. Darwin's party pulled
alongside a
canoe which contained six Fuegians, who were, he says, "quite naked,
and even one
full-grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining heavily, and the
fresh water,
together with the spray, trickled down her body. In another harbor
not far
distant, a woman, who was suckling a recently-born child, came one [Pg
542]day
alongside the vessel, and remained there out of mere curiosity, whilst
the sleet
fell and thawed on her naked bosom, and on the skin of her naked
baby!"[542:1]
This was
during the winter season.
A few pages
farther on Mr. Darwin says that on the night of the 22d December, a
small family
of Fuegians—who were living in a cove near the quarters—"soon
joined our
party round a blazing fire. We were well clothed, and though sitting
close to the
fire were far from too warm; yet these naked savages, though
further off,
were observed, to our great surprise, to be streaming with
perspiration
at undergoing such a scorching. They seemed, however, very well
pleased, and
all joined in the chorus of the seamen's songs; but the manner in
which they
were invariably a little behind was quite ludicrous."[542:2]
The Asiatics
who first crossed over to the American continent were evidently in
a very
barbarous stage, although they may have known how to produce fire, and
use bows and
arrows.[542:3] The tribe who inhabited Mexico at the time it was
discovered by
the Spaniards was not the first to settle there; they had driven
out a people,
and had taken the country from them.[542:4]
That Mexico
was visited by Orientals, who brought and planted their religion
there, in a
comparatively recent period, is very probable. Mr. Chas. G. Leland,
who has made
this subject a special study, says:
"While
the proofs of the existence or residence of Orientals in America are
extremely
vague and uncertain, and while they are supported only by
coincidences,
the antecedent probability of their having come hither, or having
been able to
come, is stronger than the Norse discovery of the New World, or
even than
that of Columbus himself would appear to be. Let the reader take a map
of the
Northern Pacific; let him ascertain for himself the fact that from
Kamtschatka,
which was well known to the old Chinese, to Alaska the journey is
far less
arduous than from China proper, and it will be seen that there was in
all
probability intercourse of some kind between the continents. In early times
the Chinese
were bold and skillful navigators, to whom the chain of the Aleutian
Islands would
have been simply like stepping-stones over a shallow brook to a
child. For it
is a well ascertained fact, that a sailor in an open boat might
cross from
Asia to America by the Aleutian Islands in summer-time, and hardly
ever [Pg
543]be out of sight of land, and this in a part of the sea generally
abounding in
fish, as is proved by the fishermen who inhabit many of these
islands, on
which fresh water is always to be found."[543:1]
Colonel
Barclay Kennon, formerly of the U. S. North Pacific surveying
expedition,
says:
"From
the result of the most accurate scientific observation, it is evident that
the voyage
from China to America can be made without being out of sight of land
more than a
few hours at any one time. To a landsman, unfamiliar with long
voyages, the
mere idea of being 'alone on the wide, wide sea,' with nothing but
water
visible, even for an hour, conveys a strange sense of desolation, of
daring, and
of adventure. But in truth it is regarded as a mere trifle, not only
by regular
seafaring men, but even by the rudest races in all parts of the
world; and I
have no doubt that from the remotest ages, and on all shores,
fishermen in
open boats, canoes, or even coracles, guided simply by the stars
and currents,
have not hesitated to go far out of sight of land. At the present
day, natives
of many of the South Pacific Islands undertake, without a compass,
and
successfully, long voyages which astonish even a regular Jack-tar, who is
not often
astonished at anything. If this can be done by savages, it hardly
seems
possible that the Asiatic-American voyage was not successfully performed
by people of
advanced scientific culture, who had, it is generally believed, the
compass, and
who from an early age were proficient in astronomy."[543:2]
Prof. Max
Müller, it would seem, entertains similar ideas to our own, expressed
as follows:
"In
their (the American Indians') languages, as well as in their religions,
traces may
possibly still be found, before it is too late, of pre-historic
migrations of
men from the primitive Asiatic to the American Continent, either
across the
stepping-stones of the Aleutic bridge in the North, or lower South,
by drifting
with favorable winds from island to island, till the hardy canoe was
landed or
wrecked on the American coast, never to return again to the Asiatic
home from
which it had started."[543:3]
It is very
evident then, that the religion and mythology of the Old and New
Worlds, have,
in part, at least, a common origin. Lord Kingsborough informs us
that the
Spanish historians of the 16th century were not disposed to admit that
America had
ever been colonized from the West, "chiefly on account of the state
in which
religion was found in the new continent."[543:4]
And Mr. Tylor
says:
"Among
the mass of Central American traditions . . . there occur certain
passages in
the story of an early emigration of the Quiché race, which have much
the
appearance of vague and broken stories derived in some way from high
Northern
latitudes."[543:5]
Mr. McCulloh,
in his "Researches," observes that:
[Pg
544]"In analyzing many parts of their (the ancient Americans')
institutions,
especially
those belonging to their cosmogonal history, their religious
superstitions,
and astronomical computations, we have, in these abstract
matters,
found abundant proof to assert that there has been formerly a
connection
between the people of the two continents. Their communications,
however, have
taken place at a very remote period of time; for those matters in
which they
more decidedly coincide, are undoubtedly those which belong to the
earliest
history of mankind."
It is
unquestionably from India that we have derived, partly through the
Persians and
other nations, most of our metaphysical and theological doctrines,
as well as
our nursery tales. Who then can deny that these same doctrines and
legends have
been handed down by oral tradition to the chief of the Indian
tribes, and
in this way have been preserved, although perhaps in an obscure and
imperfect
manner, in some instances at least, until the present day? The facts
which we have
before us, with many others like them which are to be had, point
with the
greatest likelihood to a common fatherland, the cradle of all nations,
from which
they came, taking these traditions with them.
FOOTNOTES:
[533:1]
Baring-Gould's Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 46.
[533:2]
Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 67.
[533:3] Ibid.
Here we see the parallel to the Grecian fable of Epimetheus and
Pandora.
[533:4]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 203. Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii.
p. 27.
[533:5] Ibid.
[533:6]
Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 204.
[533:7] See
Chapter V.
[533:8] See
Ibid. and Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration."
[534:1] See Chapter
XI.
[534:2] See
Chapter X.
[534:3] See
Chapter XI.
[534:4] Ibid.
[534:5] See
Early Hist. Mankind, p. 252; Squire's Serpent Symbol; and Prescott:
Con. Peru.
[534:6] See
Ibid., and the Andes and the Amazon, p. 454.
[534:7] See
Early Hist. Mankind, p. 842.
[534:8] Ibid.
[534:9] See
Chapter XII.
[534:10] See
Chapter XXV.
[534:11] See
Chapter XX.
Mr. Prescott,
speaking of the Pyramid of Cholula, in his Mexican History, says:
"On the
summit stood a sumptuous temple, in which was the image of the mystic
deity
(Quetzalcoatle), with ebon features, unlike the fair complexion which he
bore upon
earth." And Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie says (in Cities of the Ancient
World, p.
180): "From the woolly texture of the hair, I am inclined to assign to
the Buddha of
India, the Fuhi of China, the Sommonacom of the Siamese, the Xaha
of the
Japanese, and the Quetzalcoatle of the Mexicans, the same, and indeed an
African, or
rather Nubian, origin."
[534:12] See
Chapter XXII.
[534:13] See
Chapter XXIII.
[534:14] See
Chapter XXVI.
[535:1]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 77.
[535:2] Ibid.
p. 109.
[535:3] See
Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.
[535:4] See
Ibid.
[535:5] See
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 361, and Squire's Serpent
Symbol.
[535:6]
Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 280, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.
[535:7]
Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 294, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.
[535:8]
Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. pp. 295, 296.
[535:9] Ibid.
p. 300.
[535:10]
Ibid.
[535:11]
Ibid. p. 301.
[536:1]
Tylor; Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 101.
[536:2] Ibid.
p. 291.
[536:3] Ibid.
[536:4] Ibid.
p. 234.
[536:5] Ibid.
p. 240 and 243.
[536:6] Early
Hist. Mankind, pp. 357 and 361.
[536:7] Ibid.
p. 361.
The legend of
the "Elixir of Life" of the Western World, was well-known in
China.
(Buckley: Cities of the Ancient World, p. 167.)
[536:8] Ibid.
p. 118, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.
[537:1]
Fusang, p. 56.
[537:2] Ibid.
p. 55.
[537:3]
Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 181.
[537:4]
Ibid., and Squire's Serpent Symbol.
[537:5]
Mexican Antiq., vol. vi. p. 180.
[537:6] Early
Hist. Mankind, p. 311.
[537:7] The
traveler, James Orton, found fossil bones of an extinct species of
the horse,
the mastodon, and other animals, near Punin, in South America, all of
which had
passed away before the arrival of the human species. This native
American
horse was succeeded, in after ages, by the countless herds descended
from a few
introduced with the Spanish colonists. (See the Andes and the Amazon,
pp. 154,
155.)
[537:8] Serpent
Symbol, p. 47.
[538:1]
Serpent Symbol, p. 193.
[538:2] The
Andes and the Amazon, p. 454.
[538:3]
Eastern Monachism, p. 222.
[538:4]
Serpent Symbol, p. 43.
[538:5] See
Ibid.
[538:6]
Travels in Persia, vol. ii. p. 284.
[538:7] New
Spain, vol. i. p. 136.
[538:8] Ibid.
p. 141.
[539:1] New
Spain, vol. i. p. 153.
[539:2] Types
of Mankind, p. 275.
[539:3] The
Andes and the Amazon, p. 170.
[540:1]
Paschel: Races of Man, pp. 402-404.
[540:2]
Fusang, p. 7.
[540:3] Ibid.
118.
[540:4]
Quoted in Ibid.
[540:5] Quoted
In Ibid. p. 94.
[541:1]
Paschel: Races of Man, pp. 400, 401.
[541:2] To
those who may think that the Old World might have been peopled from
the new, we
refer to Oscar Paschel's "Races of Man," p. 32. The author, in
speaking on
this subject, says: "There at one time existed a great continent, to
which
belonged Madagascar and perhaps portions of Eastern Africa, the Maldives
and
Laccadives, and also the Island of Ceylon, which was never attached to
India,
perhaps even the island of Celebes in the far East, which possesses a
perplexing
fauna, with semi-African features." On this continent, which was
situated in
the now Indian Ocean, must we look for the cradle of humanity.
[541:3]
Paschal: Races of Man, p. 31.
[541:4]
Darwin's Journal, p. 213.
[542:1] Darwin's
Journal, p. 213.
[542:2] Ibid.
pp. 220, 221.
[542:3] This
is seen from the fact that they did not know the use of iron. Had
they known
the use of this metal, they would surely have gone to work and dug
into their
mountains, which are abundantly filled with ore, and made use of it.
[542:4] The
Aztecs were preceded by the Toltecs, Chichimecks, and the
Nahualtecs.
(Humboldt's New Spain, p. 133, vol. i.)
"The
races of barbarians which successively followed each other from the north
to the south
always murdered, hunted down, and subdued the previous inhabitants,
and formed in
course of time a new social and political life upon the ruins of
the old
system, to be again destroyed and renewed in a few centuries, by a new
invasion of
barbarians. The later native conquerors in the New World can, of
course, no
more be considered in the light of original inhabitants than the
present races
of men in the Old World."
[543:1]
Fusang, p. 56.
[543:2]
Quoted in Fusang, p. 71.
[543:3]
Science of Religion, p. 121.
[543:4]
Mexican Antiq., vol. vi. p. 161.
[543:5] Early
Hist. Mankind, p. 307.
APPENDIX B.
Commencing at
the farthest East we shall find the ancient religion of China the
same as that
which was universal in all quarters of the globe, viz., an
adoration of
the Sun, Moon, Stars and elements.[544:1] That the Chinese religion
was in one
respect the same as that of India, is seen from the fact that they
named
successive days for the same seven planets that the Hindoos did.[544:2]
The ancient
books of the Chinese show that astronomy was not only understood by
them at a
very early period, but that it formed an important branch of state
policy, and
the basis of public ceremonies. Eclipses are accurately recorded
which
occurred twenty centuries before Jesus; and the Confucian books refer
continually
to observations of the heavenly bodies and the rectification of the
calendar. The
ancient Chinese astronomers seem to have known precisely the
excess of the
solar year beyond 365 days. The religion of China, [Pg 545]under
the emperors
who preceded the first dynasty, is an enigma. The notices in the
only
authentic works, the King, are on this point scanty, vague, and obscure. It
is difficult
to separate what is spoken with reference to the science of
astronomy
from that which may relate to religion, properly so called. The terms
of reverence
and respect, with which the heavenly bodies are spoken of in the
Shoo-King,
seem to warrant the inference that those terms have more than a mere
astronomical
meaning, and that the ancient religion of China partook of
star-worship,
one of the oldest heresies in the world.[545:1]
In India the
Sun, Moon, Stars and the powers of Nature were worshiped and
personified,
and each quality, mental and physical, had its emblem, which the
Brahmans
taught the ignorant to regard as realities, till the Pantheon became
crowded.
"Our
Aryan ancestors learned to look up to the sky, the Sun, and the dawn, and
there to see
the presence of a living power, half-revealed, and half-hidden from
their senses,
those senses which were always postulating something beyond what
they could
grasp. They went further still. In the bright sky they perceived an
Illuminator,
in the all-encircling firmament an Embracer, in the roar of the
thunder or in
the voice of the storm they felt the presence of a Shouter and of
furious
Strikers, and out of the rain they created an Indra, or giver of
rain."[545:2]
Prof. Monier
Williams, speaking of "the hymns of the Veda," says:
"To what
deities, it will be asked, were the prayers and hymns of these
collections
addressed? The answer is: They worshiped those physical forces
before which
all nations, if guided solely by the light of nature, have in the
early period
of their life, instinctively bowed down, and before which even the
most
civilized and enlightened have always been compelled to bend in awe and
reverence, if
not in adoration."[545:3]
The following
sublime description of Night is an extract from the Vedas, made by
Sir William
Jones:
"Night
approaches, illumined with stars and planets, and, looking on all sides
with
numberless eyes, overpowers all meaner lights. The immortal goddess
pervades the
firmament, covering the low valleys and shrubs, the lofty mountains
and trees,
but soon she disturbs the gloom with celestial effulgence. Advancing
with
brightness, at length she recalls her sister Morning; and the nightly shade
gradually
melts away. May she at this time be propitious! She, in whose early
watch we may
calmly recline in our mansions, as birds repose upon the trees.
Mankind now
sleep in their towns; now herds and flocks peacefully slumber, and
the winged
creatures, swift falcons, and vultures. O Night! [Pg 546]avert from
us the
she-wolf and the wolf; and, oh! suffer us to pass thee in soothing rest!
Oh, morn!
remove in due time this black, yet visible overwhelming darkness,
which at
present enfolds me, as thou enablest me to remove the cloud of their
dells.
Daughter of Heaven, I approach thee with praise, as the cow approaches
her milker;
accept, O Night! not the hymn only, but the oblation of thy
suppliant,
who prays that his foes may be subdued."
Some of the
principal gods of the Hindoo Pantheon are, Dyaus (the Sky), Indra
(the
Rain-giver), Sűrya (the Sun), the Maruts (Winds), Aditi, (the Dawn),
Parvati (the
Earth),[546:1] and Siva, her consort. The worship of the Sun is
expressed in
a variety of ways, and by a multitude of fanciful names. One of the
principal of
these is Crishna. The following is a prayer addressed to him:
"Be auspicious
to my lay, O Chrishna, thou only God of the seven heavens, who
swayest the
universe through the immensity of space and matter. O universal and
resplendent
Sun! Thou mighty governor of the heavens; thou sovereign regulator
of the
connected whole; thou sole and universal deity of mankind; thou gracious
and Supreme
Spirit; my noblest and most happy inspiration is thy praise and
glory. Thy
power I will praise, for thou art my sovereign Lord, whose bright
image
continually forces itself on my attention, eager imagination. Thou art the
Being to whom
heroes pray in perils of war; nor are their supplications vain,
when thus
they pray; whether it be when thou illuminest the eastern region with
thy orient
light, when in thy meridian splendor, or when thou majestically
descendest in
the West."
Crishna is
made to say:
"I am
the light in the Sun and Moon, far, far beyond the darkness. I am the
brilliancy in
flame, the radiance in all that's radiant, and the light of
lights."[546:2]
In the
Maha-bharata, Crishna, who having become the son of Aditi (the Dawn), is
called
Vishnu, another name for the Sun.[546:3] The demon Putana assaults the
child
Crishna, which identifies him with Hercules, the Sun-god of the
Greeks.[546:4]
In his Solar character he must again be the slayer of the Dragon
or
Black-snake Kulnika, the "Old Serpent" with the thousand
heads.[546:5]
Crishna's
amours with the maidens makes him like Indra, Phoibus, Hercules,
Samson,
Alpheios, Paris and other Sun-gods. This is the hot and fiery Sun
greeting the
moon and the dew, or the Sun with his brides the Stars.[546:6]
Moore, in his
Hindu Pantheon, observes:
"Although
all the Hindu deities partake more or less remotely of the nature and
character of
Surya, or the Sun, and all more or less directly radiate from, or
merge in,
him, yet no one is, I think, so intimately identified with him as
Vishnu;
whether considered in his own person, or in the character of his most
glorious
Avatara of Crishna."
[Pg 547]The
ancient religion of Egypt, like that of Hindostan, was founded on
astronomy,
and eminently metaphysical in its character. The Egyptian priests
were far
advanced in the science of astronomy. They made astronomy their
peculiar
study. They knew the figure of the earth, and how to calculate solar
and lunar
eclipses. From very ancient time, they had observed the order and
movement of
the stars, and recorded them with the utmost care. Ramses the Great,
generally
called Sesostris, is supposed to have reigned one thousand five
hundred years
before the Christian era, about coeval with Moses, or a century
later. In the
tomb of this monarch was found a large massive circle of wrought
gold, divided
into three hundred and sixty-five degrees, and each division
marked the
rising and setting of the stars for each day.[547:1] This fact proves
how early
they were advanced in astronomy. In their great theories of mutual
dependence
between all things in the universe was included a belief in some
mysterious
relation between the Spirits of the Stars and human souls, so that
the destiny
of mortals was regulated by the motions of the heavenly bodies. This
was the
origin of the famous system of Astrology. From the conjunction of
planets at
the hour of birth, they prophesied what would be the temperament of
an infant,
what life he would live, and what death he would die. Diodorus, who
wrote in the
century preceding Christ Jesus, says:
"They
frequently foretell with the greatest accuracy what is about to happen to
mankind;
showing the failure or abundance of crops, and the epidemic diseases
about to
befall men or cattle. Earthquakes, deluges, rising of comets, and all
those
phenomena, the knowledge of which appears impossible to common
comprehensions,
they foresee by means of their long continued observation."
P. Le Page
Renouf, who is probably the best authority on the religion of ancient
Egypt which
can be produced, says, in his Hibbert Lectures:[547:2]
"The
Lectures on the Science of Language, delivered nearly twenty years ago by
Prof. Max Müller,
have, I trust, made us fully understand how, among the
Indo-European
races, the names of the Sun, of Sunrise and Sunset, and of other
such
phenomena, come to be talked of and considered as personages, of whom
wondrous
legends have been told. Egyptian mythology not merely admits, but
imperatively
demands, the same explanation. And this becomes the more evident
when we
consider the question how these mythical personages came to be invested
with the
attributes of divinity by men who, like the Egyptians, had so lively a
sense of the
divine."
Kenrick, in
his "History of Egypt," says:
[Pg
548]"We have abundant evidence that the Egyptian theology had its origin
in
the
personification of the powers of nature, under male and female attributes,
and that this
conception took a sensible form, such as the mental state of the
people
required, by the identification of these powers with the elements and the
heavenly
bodies, fire, earth, water, the sun and moon, and the Nile. Such
appears
everywhere to be the origin of the objective form of polytheism; and it
is equally
evident among the nations most closely allied to the Egyptians by
position and
general character—the Phenicians, the Babylonians, and in remote
connection,
the Indians on the one side and the Greeks on the other."
The gods and
goddesses of the ancient Persians were also personifications of the
Sun, Moon,
Stars, the elements, &c.
Ormuzd,
"The King of Light," was god of the Firmament, and the
"Principle of
Goodness"
and of Truth. He was called "The Eternal Source of Sunshine and
Light,"
"The Centre of all that exists," "The First-born of the Eternal
One,"
"The
Creator," "The Sovereign Intelligence," "The
All-seeing," "The Just Judge."
He was
described as "sitting on the throne of the good and the perfect, in
regions of
pure light," crowned with rays, and with a ring on his finger—a
circle being
an emblem of infinity; sometimes as a venerable, majestic man,
seated on a
Bull, their emblem of creation.
"Mithras
the Mediator" was the god-Sun. Their most splendid ceremonials were in
honor of
Mithras. They kept his birth-day, with many rejoicings, on the
twenty-fifth
of December, when the Sun perceptibly begins to return northward,
after his
long winter journey; and they had another festival in his honor, at
the vernal
equinox. Perhaps no religious festival was ever more splendid than
the
"Annual Salutation of Mithras," during which forty days were set
apart for
thanksgiving
and sacrifice. The procession to salute the god was formed long
before the
rising of the Sun. The High Priest was followed by a long train of
the Magi, in
spotless white robes, chanting hymns, and carrying the sacred fire
on silver
censers. Then came three hundred and sixty-five youths in scarlet, to
represent the
days of the year and the color of fire. These were followed by the
Chariot of
the Sun, empty, decorated with garlands, and drawn by superb white
horses
harnessed with pure gold. Then came a white horse of magnificent size,
his forehead
blazing with gems, in honor of Mithras. Close behind him rode the
king, in a
chariot of ivory inlaid with gold, followed by his royal kindred in
embroidered
garments, and a long train of nobles riding on camels richly
caparisoned.
This gorgeous retinue, facing the East, slowly ascended Mount
Orontes.
Arrived at the summit, the High Priest assumed his tiara wreathed with
myrtle, and
hailed the first rays of the rising Sun with incense and prayer. The
other Magi
gradually joined him in singing hymns to Ormuzd, the source of all
blessing, [Pg
549]by whom the radiant Mithras had been sent to gladden the earth
and preserve
the principle of life. Finally, they all joined in one universal
chorus of
praise, while king, princes and nobles, prostrated themselves before
the orb of
day.
The Hebrews
worshiped the Sun, Moon, Stars, and "all the host of heaven."[549:1]
El-Shaddai
was one of the names given to the god Sun. Parkhurst, in his "Hebrew
Lexicon,"
says, "El was the very name the heathens gave to their god Sol, their
Lord or Ruler
of the hosts of heaven." El, which means "the strong one in
heaven"—the
Sun, was invoked by the ancestors of all the Semitic nations, before
there were
Babylonians in Babylon, Phenicians in Sydon and Tyrus, before there
were Jews in
Mesopotamia or Jerusalem.[549:2]
The Sun was
worshiped by the Hebrews under the names of Baal, Moloch, Chemosh,
&c.; the
Moon was Ashtoreth, the "Queen of Heaven."[549:3]
The gods of
the ancient Greeks and Romans were the same as the gods of the
Indian epic
poems. We have, for example: Zeupiter (Jupiter), corresponding to
Dyaus-pitar
(the Heaven-father), Juno, corresponding to Parvati (the Mother
Goddess), and
Apollo, corresponding to Crishna (the Sun, the Saviour).[549:4]
Another name
for the Sun among those people was Bacchus. An Orphic verse,
referring to
the Sun, says, "he is called Dionysos (a name of Bacchus) because
he is carried
with a circular motion through the immensely extended
heavens."[549:5]
Dr. Prichard,
in his "Analysis of Egyptian Mythology,"[549:6] speaking of the
ancient
Greeks and Romans, says:
"That
the worship of the powers of nature, mitigated, indeed, and embellished,
constituted
the foundation of the Greek and Roman religion, will not be disputed
by any person
who surveys the fables of the Olympian Gods with a more
penetrating
eye than that of a mere antiquarian."
M. De
Coulanges, speaking of them, says:
"The
Sun, which gives fecundity; the Earth, which nourishes; the Clouds, by
turns
beneficent and destructive,—such were the different powers of which they
could make
gods. But from each one of these elements thousands of gods were
created;
because the same physical agent, viewed under different aspects,
received from
men different names. The Sun, for example, was called in one place
Hercules (the
glorious); in another, Phśbus (the shining); and still again,
Apollo (he
who drives away night or evil); one called him Hyperion (the elevated
being);
another, Alexicacos (the beneficent); and in the course of time groups
of men, who
had given these various names to the brilliant luminary, no longer
saw that they
had the same god."[549:7]
[Pg
550]Richard Payne Knight says:
"The
primitive religion of the Greeks, like that of all other nations not
enlightened
by Revelation, appears to have been elementary, and to have
consisted in
an indistinct worship of the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth,
and the
Waters, or rather, the spirits supposed to preside over these bodies,
and to direct
their motions, and regulate their modes of existence. Every river,
spring or
mountain had its local genius, or peculiar deity; and as men naturally
endeavored to
obtain the favor of their gods by such means as they feel best
adapted to
win their own, the first worship consisted in offering to them
certain
portions of whatever they held to be most valuable. At the same time,
the regular
motions of the heavenly bodies, the stated returns of summer and
winter, of
day and night, with all the admirable order of the universe, taught
them to
believe in the existence and agency of such superior powers; the
irregular and
destructive efforts of nature, such as lightnings and tempests,
inundations
and earthquakes, persuaded them that these mighty beings had
passions and
affections similar to their own, and only differed in possessing
greater
strength, power, and intelligence."[550:1]
When the
Grecian astronomers first declared that the Sun was not a person, but a
huge hot
ball, instantly an outcry arose against them. They were called
"blaspheming
atheists," and from that time to the present, when any new
discovery is
made which seems to take away from man his god, the cry of
"Atheist"
is instantly raised.
If we turn
from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and take a look still farther
West and
North, we shall find that the gods of all the Teutonic nations were the
same as we
have seen elsewhere. They had Odin or Woden—from whom we have our
Wednesday—the
Al-fader (the Sky), Frigga, the Mother Goddess (the Earth),
"Baldur
the Good," and Thor—from whom we have our Thursday (personifications of
the Sun),
besides innumerable other genii, among them Freyja—from whom we have
our
Friday—and as she was the "Goddess of Love," we eat fish on that
day.[550:2]
The gods of
the ancient inhabitants of what are now called the "British Islands"
were
identically the same. The Sun-god worshiped by the Ancient Druids was
called Hu,
Beli, Budd and Buddu-gre.[550:3]
The same
worship which we have found in the Old World, from the farthest East to
the remotest
West, may also be traced in America, from its simplest or least
clearly
defined form, among the roving hunters and squalid Esquimaux of the
North,
through every intermediate stage of development, to the imposing systems
of Mexico and
Peru, where it took a form nearly corresponding that which it at
one time
sustained on the banks of the Ganges, and on the plains of
Assyria.[550:4]
[Pg
551]Father Acosta, speaking of the Mexicans, says:
"Next to
Viracocha, or their Supreme God, that which most commonly they have,
and do adore,
is the Sun; and after, those things which are most remarkable in
the celestial
or elementary nature, as the Moon, Stars, Sea, and Land.
"Whoso
shall merely look into it, shall find this manner which the Devil hath
used to
deceive the Indians, to be the same wherewith he hath deceived the
Greeks and
Romans, and other ancient Gentiles, giving them to understand that
these notable
creatures, the Sun, Moon, Stars, and elements, had power or
authority to
do good or harm to men."[551:1]
We see, then,
that the gods and heroes of antiquity were originally
personifications
of certain elements of Nature, and that the legends of
adventures
ascribed to them are merely mythical forms of describing the
phenomena of
these elements.
These legends
relating to the elements of Nature, whether they had reference to
the Sun, the
Moon, the Stars, or a certain natural phenomenon, became, in the
course of
time, to be regarded as accounts of men of a high order, who had once
inhabited the
earth. Sanctuaries and temples were erected to these heroes, their
bones were
searched for, and when found—which was always the case—were regarded
as a great
source of strength to the town that possessed them; all relics of
their stay on
earth were hallowed, and a form of worship was specially adapted
to them.
The idea that
heavenly luminaries were inhabited by spirits, of a nature
intermediate
between God and men, first led mortals to address prayers to the
orbs over
which they were supposed to preside. In order to supplicate these
deities, when
Sun, Moon, and Stars were not visible, they made images of them,
which the
priests consecrated with many ceremonies. Then they pronounced solemn
invocations
to draw down the spirits into the statues provided for their
reception. By
this process it was supposed that a mysterious connection was
established
between the spirit and the image, so that prayers addressed to one
were
thenceforth heard by the other. This was probably the origin of image
worship
everywhere.
The motive of
this worship was the same among all nations of antiquity, i. e.,
fear. They
supposed that these deities were irritated by the sins of men, but,
at the same
time, were merciful, and capable of being appeased by prayer and
repentance;
for this reason men offered to these deities sacrifices and prayers.
How natural
that such should have been the case, for, as Abbé Dubois observes:
"To the
rude, untutored eye, the 'Host of Heaven,' clothed in that calm beauty
which
distinguishes an Oriental night, might well appear to be instinct with
some divine
principle, endowed with consciousness, and the power to influence,
from its
throne of unchanging splendor on high, the fortunes of transitory
mortals."
FOOTNOTES:
[544:1]
"All Paganism is at bottom a worship of nature in some form or other,
and in all
Pagan religions the deepest and most awe-inspiring attribute of
nature was
its power of reproduction." (Encyclo. Brit., art.
"Christianity.")
[544:2] In
Montfaucon's L'Antiquité Expliquée (vol. i.), may be seen a
representation
of the seven planets personified. It was by such personifications
that the real
objects worshiped became unknown. At first the real Sun, Moon,
Stars,
&c., would be worshiped, but as soon as man personified them, other terms
would be
introduced, and peculiar rites appropriated to each, so that in time
they came to
be considered as so many different deities.
[545:1]
Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 14, 49 and 50.
[545:2] Max
Müller: The Science of Religion, p. 298.
[545:3]
Indian Wisdom, p. 10.
[546:1] The
emblem of Parvati, the "Mother Goddess," was the Yoni, and that of
her consort
Siva, the Lingham.
[546:2]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
[546:3] See
Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. pp. 105 and 130.
[546:4] Ibid.
p. 135.
[546:5] Ibid.
p. 137.
[546:6] See
Ibid. p. 88, and Moor's Hindu Pantheon, p. 63.
[547:1]
"According to Champollion, the tomb of Ramses V. at Thebes, contains
tables of the
constellations and of their influence (on human beings) for every
hour of every
month of the year." (Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 456.)
[547:2] P.
118.
[549:1] See
Chapter XI.
[549:2]
Müller: The Science of Relig., p. 190.
[549:3] See
Chapter XI.
[549:4] See
Indian Wisdom, p. 426.
[549:5]
Taylor's Mysteries, p. 163.
[549:6] Page
239.
[549:7] The
Ancient City, p. 162.
[550:1]
Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 1.
[550:2] See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities. Though spoken of in Northern
mythology as
distinct, Frigga and Freyja are originally ONE.
[550:3] See
Myths of the British Druids, p. 116.
[550:4] See
Squire's Serpent Symbol.
[551:1]
Acosta: vol. ii. pp. 303-305.
[Pg
552]APPENDIX C.
All the chief
stories that we know so well are to be found in all times, and in
almost all
countries. Cinderella, for one, is told in the language of every
country in
Europe, and the same legend is found in the fanciful tales related by
the Greek
poets; and still further back, it appears in very ancient Hindoo
legends. So,
again, does Beauty and the Beast; so does our familiar tale of
Jack, the
Giant-Killer; so also do a great number of other fairy stories, each
being told in
different countries and in different periods, with so much
likeness as
to show that all the versions came from the same source, and yet
with enough
difference to show that none of the versions are directly copied
from each
other. "Indeed, when we compare the myths and legends of one country
with another,
and of one period with another, we find out how they have come to
be so much
alike, and yet in some things so different. We see that there must
have been one
origin for all these stories, that they must have been invented by
one people,
that this people must have been afterwards divided, and that each
part or
division of it must have brought into its new home the legends once
common to
them all, and must have shaped and altered these according to the kind
of place in
which they came to live; those of the North being sterner and more
terrible,
those of the South softer and fuller of light and color, and adorned
with touches
of more delicate fancy." And this, indeed, is really the case. All
the chief
stories and legends are alike, because they were first made by one
people; and
all the nations in which they are now told in one form or another
tell them
because they are all descended from this one common stock, the Aryan.
From
researches made by Prof. Max Müller, the Rev. George W. Cox, and others, in
England and
Germany, in the science of Comparative Mythology, we begin to see
something of
these ancient forefathers of ours; to understand what kind of
people they
were, and to find that our fairy stories are really made out of
their
religion.
The mind of
the Aryan peoples in their ancient home was full of imagination.
They never
ceased to wonder at what they saw and heard in the sky and upon the
earth. Their
language was highly figurative, and so the things which struck them
with wonder,
and which they could not explain, were described under forms and
names which
were familiar to them. "Thus, the thunder was to them the bellowing
of a mighty
beast, or the rolling of a great chariot. In the lightning they saw
a brilliant
serpent, or a spear shot across the sky, or a great fish darting
swiftly
through the sea of cloud. The clouds were heavenly cows, who shed milk
upon the
earth and refreshed it; or they were webs woven by heavenly [Pg
553]women who
drew water from the fountains on high and poured it down as rain."
Analogies
which are but fancy to us, were realities to these men of past ages.
They could
see in the waterspout a huge serpent who elevated himself out of the
ocean and
reached his head to the skies. They could feel, in the pangs of
hunger, a
live creature gnawing within their bodies, and they heard the voices
of the
hill-dwarfs answering in the echo. The Sun, the first object which struck
them with
wonder, was, to them, the child of Night; the Dawn came before he was
born, and
died as he rose in the heavens. He strangled the serpents of the
night; he
went forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber, and like a giant, to
run his
course.[553:1] He had to do battle with clouds and storms.[553:2]
Sometimes his
light grew dim under their gloomy veil, and the children of men
shuddered at
the wrath of the hidden Sun.[553:3] Sometimes his ray broke forth,
only, after
brief splendor, to sink beneath a deeper darkness; sometimes he
burst forth
at the end of his course, trampling on the clouds which had dimmed
his
brilliancy, and bathing his pathway with blood.[553:4] Sometimes, beneath
mountains of
clouds and vapors, he plunged into the leaden sea.[553:5] Sometimes
he looked
benignly on the face of his mother or his bride who came to greet him
at his
journey's end.[553:6] Sometimes he was the lord of heaven and of light,
irresistible
in his divine strength; sometimes he toiled for others, not for
himself, in a
hard, unwilling servitude.[553:7] His light and heat might give
light and
destroy it.[553:8] His chariot might scorch the regions over which it
passed, his
flaming fire might burn up all who dared to look with prying eyes
into his
dazzling treasure-house.[553:9] He might be the child destined to slay
his parents,
or to be united at the last in an unspeakable peace, to the bright
Dawn who for
a brief space had gladdened his path in the morning.[553:10] He
might be the
friend of the children of men, and the remorseless foe of those
powers of
darkness who had stolen away his bride.[553:11] He might be a warrior
whose eye
strikes terror [Pg 554]into his enemies, or a wise chieftain skilled
in deep and
hidden knowledge.[554:1] Sometimes he might appear as a glorious
being doomed
to an early death, which no power could avert or delay.[554:2]
Sometimes
grievous hardships and desperate conflicts might be followed by a long
season of
serene repose.[554:3] Wherever he went, men might welcome him in love,
or shrink
from him in fear and anguish.[554:4] He would have many brides in many
lands, and
his offspring would assume aspects beautiful, strange or
horrible.[554:5]
His course might be brilliant and beneficent; or gloomy,
sullen, and
capricious.[554:6] As compelled to toil for others, he would be said
to fight in
quarrels not his own; or he might for a time withhold the aid of an
arm which no
enemy could withstand.[554:7] He might be the destroyer of all whom
he loved, he
might slay the Dawn with his kindling rays, he might scorch the
Fruits, who
were his children; he might woo the deep blue sky, the bride of
heaven
itself, and an inevitable doom might bind his limbs on the blazing wheel
for ever and
ever.[554:8] Nor in this crowd of phrases, all of which have borne
their part in
the formation of mythology, is there one which could not be used
naturally by
ourselves to describe the phenomena of the outward world, and there
is scarcely
one, perhaps, which has not been used by our own poets. There is a
beauty in
them, which can never grow old or lose its charm. Poets of all ages
recur to them
instinctively in times of the deepest grief or the greatest joy;
but, in the
words of Professor Max Müller, "it is impossible to enter fully into
the thoughts
and feelings which passed through the minds of the early poets when
they formed
names for that far East from whence even the early Dawn, the Sun,
the Day,
their own life seemed to spring. A new life flashed up every morning
before their
eyes, and the fresh breezes of the Dawn reached them like greetings
wafted across
the golden threshold of the sky from the distant lands beyond the
mountains,
beyond the clouds, beyond the dawn, beyond the immortal sea which
brought us
hither! The Dawn seemed to them to open golden gates for the Sun to
pass in
triumph; and while those gates were open, their eyes and their minds
strove, in
their childish way, to pierce beyond the limits of this finite world.
That silent
aspect wakened in the human mind the conception of the Infinite, the
Immortal, the
Divine; and the names of the Dawn became naturally the names of
higher
powers.[554:9]
[Pg
555]"This imagery of the Aryans was applied by them to all they saw in the
sky. Sometimes,
as we have said, the clouds were cows; they were also dragons,
which sought
to slay the Sun; or great ships floating across the sky, and
casting
anchor upon earth; or rocks, or mountains, or deep caverns, in which
evil deities
hid the golden light. Then, also, they were shaped by fancy into
animals of
various kinds—the bear, the wolf, the dog, the ox; and into giant
birds, and
into monsters which were both bird and beast.
"The
winds, again, in their fancy, were the companions or ministers of India,
the sky-god.
The spirits of the winds gathered into their host the souls of the
dead—thus
giving birth to the Scandinavian and Teutonic legend of the Wild
Horseman, who
rides at midnight through the stormy sky, with his long train of
dead behind
him, and his weird hounds before.[555:1] The Ribhus, or Arbhus,
again, were
the sunbeams or the lightning, who forged the armor of the gods, and
made their
thunderbolts, and turned old people young, and restored out of the
hides alone
the slaughtered cow on which the gods had feasted."[555:2]
Aryan myths,
then, were no more than poetic fancies about light and darkness,
cloud and
rain, night and day, storm and wind; and when they moved westward and
southward,
the Aryan race brought these legends with it; and out of these were
shaped by
degrees innumerable gods and demons of the Hindoos, the devs and jinns
of the
Persians; the great gods, the minor deities, and nymphs, and fauns, and
satyrs of
Greek mythology and poetry; the stormy divinities, the giants, and
trolls of the
cold and rugged North; the dwarfs of the German forests; the elves
who dance
merrily in the moonlight of an English summer; and the "good people"
who play
mischievous tricks upon stray peasants among the Irish hills. Almost
all, indeed,
that we have of a legendary kind comes to us from our Aryan
forefathers—sometimes
scarcely changed, sometimes so altered that we have to
puzzle out
the links between the old and the new; but all these myths and
traditions,
and old-world stories, when we come to know the meaning of them,
take us back
to the time when the Aryan race dwelt together in the high lands of
central Asia,
and they all mean the same things—that is, the relation between
the Sun and
the earth, the succession of night and day, of winter and summer, of
storm and
calm, of cloud and tempest, and golden sunshine, and bright blue sky.
And this is
the source from which we get our fairy stories, and tales of gods
and heroes;
for underneath all of them there are the same fanciful meanings,
only changed
and altered in the way of putting them by the lapse of ages [Pg
556]of time,
by the circumstances of different countries, and by the fancy of
those who
kept the wonderful tales alive without knowing what they meant.
Thousands of
years ago, the Aryan people began their march out of their old
country in
mid-Asia. From the remains of their language, and the likeness of
their legends
to those among other nations, we know that ages and ages ago their
country grew
too small for them, so they were obliged to move away from it. Some
of them
turned southward into India and Persia, and some of them went westward
into
Europe—the time, perhaps, when the land of Europe stretched from the
borders of
Asia to the islands of Great Britain, and when there was no sea
between them
and the main land. How they made their long and toilsome march we
know not.
But, as Kingsley writes of such a movement of an ancient tribe, so we
may fancy
these old Aryans marching westward—"the tall, bare-limbed men, with
stone axes on
their shoulders and horn bows at their backs, with herds of gray
cattle,
guarded by huge lap-eared mastiffs, with shaggy white horses,
heavy-horned
sheep, and silky goats, moving always westward through the
boundless
steppes, whither or why we know not, but that the Al-Father had sent
them forth.
And behind us (he makes them say) the rosy snow-peaks died into
ghastly gray,
lower and lower, as every evening came; and before us the plains
spread
infinite, with gleaming salt-lakes, and ever fresh tribes of gaudy
flowers.
Behind us, dark lines of living beings streamed down the mountain
slopes;
around us, dark lines crawled along the plains—all westward, westward
ever. Who
could stand against us? We met the wild asses on the steppe, and tamed
them, and
made them our slaves. We slew the bison herds, and swam broad rivers
on their
skins. The python snake lay across our path; the wolves and wild dogs
snarled at us
out of their coverts; we slew them and went on. Strange giant
tribes met
us, and eagle visaged hordes, fierce and foolish; we smote them, hip
and thigh,
and went on, westward ever."[556:1] And so they went on, straight
toward the
West, or, as they turned North and South, and thus overspread new
lands, they
brought with them their old ways of thought and forms of belief, and
the stories
in which these had taken form; and on these were built up the gods
and heroes,
and all wonder-working creatures and things, and the poetical fables
and fancies
which have come down to us, and which still linger in our customs
and our fairy
tales; bright and sunny and many-colored in the warm regions of
the South,
sterner and wilder and rougher in the North, more homelike in the
middle and
western countries; but always alike in their [Pg 557]main features,
and always
having the same meaning when we come to dig it out, and these forms
and their
meaning being the same in the lands of the West Aryans as in those
still peopled
by the Aryans of the East.
The story of
Cinderella is one of the many fairy tales which help us to find out
their
meaning, and take us straight back to the far-off land where fairy legends
began, and to
the people who made them. This well-known fairy tale has been
found among
the myths of our Aryan ancestors, and from this we know that it is
the story of
the Sun and the Dawn. Cinderella, gray and dark and dull, is all
neglected
when she is away from the Sun, obscured by the envious clouds, her
sisters, and
by her step-mother, the Night. So she is Aurora, the Dawn, and the
Fairy Prince
is the Morning Sun, ever pursuing her, to claim her for his bride.
This is the
legend as it is found in the ancient Hindoo books; and this explains
at once the
source and the meaning of the fairy tale.[557:1]
Another tale
which helps us in our task is that of Jack the Giant-Killer, who is
really one of
the very oldest and most widely known characters in wonder-land.
Now, who is
this wonderful little fellow? He is none other than the hero who, in
all countries
and ages, fights with monsters and overcomes them; like Indra, the
ancient
Hindoo Sun-god, whose thunderbolts slew the demons of drought in the far
East; or
Perseus, who, in Greek story, delivers the maiden from the sea-monster;
or Odysseus,
who tricks the giant Polyphemus, and causes him to throw himself
into the sea;
or Thor, whose hammer beats down the frost giants of the North.
"The
gifts bestowed upon Jack are found in Tartar stories, Hindoo tales, in
German
legends, and in the fables of Scandinavia."
Still another
is that of Little Red Riding-Hood. The story of Little Red Riding
Hood, as we
call her, or Little Red-Cap, as she is called in the German tales,
also comes
from the same source, and (as we have seen in Chapter IX.), refers to
the Sun and
Night.
"One of
the fancies in the most ancient Aryan or Hindoo stories was that there
was a great
dragon that was trying to devour the Sun, to prevent him from
shining upon
the earth, and filling it with brightness and life and beauty, and
that Indra,
the Sun-god, killed the dragon. Now, this is the meaning of Little
Red
Riding-Hood, as it is told in our nursery tales. Little Red Riding-Hood is
the Evening
Sun, which is always described as red or golden; the old grandmother
is the Earth,
to whom the rays of the Sun bring warmth and comfort. The
wolf—which is
a well-known figure for [Pg 558]the Clouds and blackness of Night
(in Teutonic
mythology)[558:1]—is the dragon in another form. First, he devours
the
grandmother; that is, he wraps the earth in thick clouds, which the Evening
Sun is not
strong enough to pierce through. Then, with the darkness of Night, he
swallows up
the Evening Sun itself, and all is dark and desolate. Then, as in
the German
tale, the night-thunder and the storm winds are represented by the
loud snoring
of the wolf; and then the huntsman, the Morning Sun, comes in all
his strength
and majesty, and chases away the night clouds and kills the wolf,
and revives
old grandmother Earth and Little Red Riding Hood to life again."
Nor is it in
these stories alone that we can trace the ancient Hindoo legends,
and the
Sun-myth. There is, as Mr. Bunce observes in his "Fairy Tales, their
Origin and
Meaning," scarcely a tale of Greek or Roman mythology, no legend of
Teutonic or
Celtic or Scandinavian growth, no great romance of what we call the
middle ages,
no fairy story taken down from the lips of ancient folk, and
dressed for
us in modern shape and tongue, that we do not find, in some form or
another, in
these Eastern poems, which are composed of allegorical tales of gods
and heroes.
When, in the
Vedic hymns, Kephalos, Prokris, Hermes, Daphne, Zeus, Ouranos,
stand forth
as simple names for the Sun, the Dew, the Wind, the Dawn, the Heaven
and the Sky,
each recognized as such, yet each endowed with the most perfect
consciousness,
we feel that the great riddle of mythology is solved, and that we
no longer
lack the key which shall disclose its most hidden treasures. When we
hear the
people saying, "Our friend the Sun is dead. Will he rise? Will the Dawn
come back
again?" we see the death of Hercules, and the weary waiting while Leto
struggles
with the birth of Phoibos. When on the return of day we hear the cry—
"Rise!
our life, our spirit has come back, the darkness is gone, the light draws
near!"
—we are
carried at once to the Homeric hymn, and we hear the joyous shout of all
the gods when
Phoibos springs to life and light on Delos.[558:2]
That the
peasant folk-lore of modern Europe still displays [Pg 559]episodes of
nature-myth,
may be seen in the following story of Vassalissa, the Beautiful.
Vassalissa's
stepmother and two sisters, plotting against her life, send her to
get a light
at the house of Bŕba Yagŕ, the witch, and her journey contains the
following
history of the Day, told, as Mr. Tylor says, in truest mythic fashion:
"Vassalissa
goes and wanders, wanders in the forest. She goes, and she shudders.
Suddenly
before her bounds a rider, he himself white, and clad in white, and the
trappings
white. And Day began to dawn. She goes farther, when a second rider
bounds forth,
himself red, clad in red, and on a red horse. The Sun began to
rise. She
goes on all day, and towards evening arrives at the witch's house.
Suddenly
there comes again a rider, himself black, clad in all black, and on a
black horse;
he bounded to the gates of the Bŕba Yagŕ, and disappeared as if he
had sunk
through the earth. Night fell. After this, when Vassalissa asks the
witch, 'Who
was the white rider?' she answered, 'That is my clear Day;' 'Who was
the red rider?'
'That is my red Sun;' 'Who was the black rider?' 'That is my
black Night.
They are all my trusty friends.'"[559:1]
We have
another illustration of allegorical mythology in the Grecian story of
Hephćstos
splitting open with his axe the head of Zeus, and Athene springing
from it, full
armed; for we perceive behind this savage imagery Zeus as the
bright Sky,
his forehead the East, Hephćstos as the young, not yet risen Sun,
and Athene as
the Dawn, the daughter of the Sky, stepping forth from the
fountain-head
of light,—with eyes like an owl, pure as a virgin; the golden;
lighting up
the tops of the mountains, and her own glorious Parthenon in her own
favorite town
of Athens; whirling the shafts of light; the genial warmth of the
morning; the
foremost champion in the battle between night and day; in full
armor, in her
panoply of light, driving away the darkness of night, and
awakening men
to a bright life, to bright thoughts, to bright endeavors.[559:2]
Another story
of the same sort is that of Kronos. Every one is familiar with the
story of
Kronos, who devoured his own children. Now, Kronos is a mere creation
from the
older and misunderstood epithet Kronides or Kronion, the ancient of
days. When
these days or time had come to be regarded as a person the myth would
certainly
follow that he devoured his own children, as Time is the devourer of
the
Dawns.[559:3] Saturn, who devours his own children, is the same power whom
the Greeks
called Kronos (Time), which may truly be said to destroy whatever it
has brought
into existence.
The idea of a
Heaven, the "Elysian fields," is also born of the sky.
The
"Elysian plain" is far away in the West, where the sun [Pg 560]goes
down
beyond the
bonds of the earth, when Eos gladdens the close of day as she sheds
her violet
tints over the sky. The "Abodes of the Blessed" are golden islands
sailing in a
sea of blue,—the burnished clouds floating in the pure ether. Grief
and sorrow
cannot approach them; plague and sickness cannot touch them. The
blissful company
gathered together in that far Western land inherits a tearless
eternity.
Of the other
details in the picture the greater number would be suggested
directly by
these images drawn from the phenomena of sunset and twilight. What
spot or stain
can be seen on the deep blue ocean in which the "Islands of the
Blessed"
repose forever? What unseemly forms can mar the beauty of that golden
home, lighted
by the radiance of a Sun which can never set? Who then but the
pure in
heart, the truthful and the generous, can be suffered to tread the
violet
fields? And how shall they be tested save by judges who can weigh the
thoughts and
the interests of the heart? Thus every soul, as it drew near that
joyous land,
was brought before the august tribunal of Minos, Rhadamanthys, and
Aiakos; and
they whose faith was in truth a quickening power, might draw from
the ordeals
those golden lessons which Plato has put into the mouth of Socrates,
and some
unknown persons into the mouths of Buddha and Jesus. The belief of
earlier ages
pictured to itself the meetings in that blissful land, the
forgiveness
of old wrongs, and the reconciliation of deadly feuds,[560:1] just
as the belief
of the present day pictures these things to itself.
The story of
a War in Heaven, which was known to all nations of antiquity, is
allegorical,
and refers to the battle between light and darkness, sunshine and
storm
cloud.[560:2]
As examples
of the prevalence of the legend relating to the struggle between the
co-ordinate
powers of good and evil, light and darkness, the Sun and the clouds,
we have that
of Phoibos and Python, Indra and Vritra, Sigurd and Fafuir,
Achilleus and
Paris, Oidipous and the Sphinx, Ormuzd and Ahriman, and from the
character of
the struggle between Indra and Vritra, and again [Pg 561]between
Ormuzd and
Ahriman, we infer that a myth, purely physical, in the land of the
Five Streams,
assumed a moral and spiritual meaning in Persia, and the fight
between the
co-ordinate powers of good and evil, gave birth to the dualism which
from that
time to the present has exercised so mighty an influence through the
East and
West.
The
Apocalypse exhibits Satan with the physical attributes of Ahriman; he is
called the
"dragon," the "old serpent," who fights against God and his
angels.
The Vedic
myth, transformed and exaggerated in the Iranian books, finds its way
through this
channel into Christianity. The idea thus introduced was that of the
struggle
between Satan and Michael, which ended in the overthrow of the former,
and the
casting forth of all his hosts out of heaven, but it coincides too
nearly with a
myth spread in countries held by all the Aryan nations to avoid
further
modification. Local tradition substituted St. George or St. Theodore for
Jupiter,
Apollo, Hercules, or Perseus. It is under this disguise that the Vedic
myth has come
down to our own times, and has still its festivals and its
monuments.
Art has consecrated it in a thousand ways. St. Michael, lance in
hand,
treading on the dragon, is an image as familiar now as, thirty centuries
ago, that of
Indra treading under foot the demon Vritra could possibly have been
to the
Hindoo.[561:1]
The very
ancient doctrine of a Trinity, three gods in one, can be explained,
rationally,
by allegory only. We have seen that the Sun, in early times, was
believed to
be the Creator, and became the first object of adoration. After some
time it would
be observed that this powerful and beneficent agent, the solar
fire, was the
most potent Destroyer, and hence would arise the first idea of a
Creator and
Destroyer united in the same person. But much time would not elapse
before it
must have been observed, that the destruction caused by this powerful
being was
destruction only in appearance, that destruction was only reproduction
in another
form—regeneration; that if he appeared sometimes to destroy, he
constantly
repaired the injury which he seemed to occasion—and that, without his
light and
heat, everything would dwindle away into a cold, inert, unprolific
mass. Thus, at
once, in the same being, became concentrated, the creating, the
preserving,
and the destroying powers—the latter of the three being at the same
time both the
Destroyer and Regenerator. Hence, by a very natural and obvious
train of
reasoning, arose the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer—in India
Brahmā,
Vishnu, and Siva; in Persia Oromasdes, Mithra, and Arimanius; in Egypt
Osiris,
Horus, and Typhon: in each case Three Persons and one God. And thus
undoubtedly
arose the Trimurti, or the celebrated Trinity.
[Pg
562]Traces of a similar refinement may be found in the Greek mythology, in
the Orphic
Phanes, Ericapeus and Metis, who were all identified with the Sun,
and yet
embraced in the first person, Phanes, or Protogones, the Creator and
Generator.[562:1]
The invocation to the Sun, in the Mysteries, according to
Macrobius,
was as follows: "O all-ruling Sun! Spirit of the world! Power of the
world! Light
of the world!"[562:2]
We have seen
in Chap. XXXV, that the Peruvian Triad was represented by three
statues,
called, respectively, "Apuinti, Churiinti, and Intihoaoque," which
is,
"Lord
and Father Sun; Son Sun; and Air or Spirit, Brother Sun."[562:3]
Mr. Faber, in
his "Origin of Pagan Idolatry," says:
"The
peculiar mode in which the Hindoos identify their three great gods with the
solar orb, is
a curious specimen of the physical refinements of ancient
mythology. At
night, in the west, the Sun is Vishnu; he is Brahmā in the east
and in the
morning; and from noon to evening he is Siva."[562:4]
Mr. Moor, in
his "Hindu Pantheon," says:
"Most,
if not all, of the gods of the Hindoo Pantheon will, on close
investigation,
resolve themselves into the three powers (Brahmā, Vishnu, and
Siva), and
those powers into one Deity, Brahm, typified by the Sun."[562:5]
Mr. Squire,
in his "Serpent Symbol," observes:
"It is
highly probable that the triple divinity of the Hindoos was originally no
more than a
personification of the Sun, whom they called Three-bodied, in the
triple
capacity of producing forms by his general heat, preserving them by his
light, or
destroying them by the counteracting force of his igneous matter.
Brahmá, the
Creator, was indicated by the heat of the Sun; Vishnu, the
Preserver, by
the light of the Sun, and Siva, the Reproducer, by the orb of the
Sun. In the
morning the Sun was Brahmā, at noon Vishnu, at evening
Siva."[562:6]
"He is
at once," says Mr. Cox, in speaking of the Sun, "the 'Comforter' and
'Healer,' the
'Saviour' and 'Destroyer,' who can slay and make alive at will,
and from
whose piercing glance no secret can be kept hid."[562:7]
Sir William
Jones was also of the opinion that the whole Triad of the Hindoos
were
identical with the Sun, expressed under the mythical term O. M.
The idea of a
Tri-murti, or triple personification, was developed gradually, and
as it grew,
received numerous accretions. It was first dimly shadowed forth and
vaguely
expressed in the Rig-Veda, where a triad of principal gods, Agni, Indra,
and Surya is
recognized. And these three gods are One, the Sun.[562:8]
[Pg 563]We
see then that the religious myths of antiquity and the fireside
legends of
ancient and modern times, have a common root in the mental habits of
primeval
humanity, and that they are the earliest recorded utterances of men
concerning
the visible phenomena of the world into which they were born. At
first,
thoroughly understood, the meaning in time became unknown. How stories
originally
told of the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, &c., became believed in as
facts, is
plainly illustrated in the following story told by Mrs. Jameson in her
"History
of Our Lord in Art:" "I once tried to explain," says she,
"to a good
old woman,
the meaning of the word parable, and that the story of the Prodigal
Son was not a
fact; she was scandalized—she was quite sure that Jesus would
never have
told anything to his disciples that was not true. Thus she settled
the matter in
her own mind, and I thought it best to leave it there
undisturbed."
Prof. Max
Müller, in speaking of "the comparison of the different forms of Aryan
religion and
mythology in India, Persia, Greece, Italy and Germany," clearly
illustrates
how such legends are transformed from intelligible into
unintelligible
myths. He says:
"In each
of these nations there was a tendency to change the original conception
of divine
powers, to misunderstand the many names given to these powers, and to
misinterpret
the praises addressed to them. In this manner some of the divine
names were
changed into half-divine, half-human heroes, and at last the myths
which were
true and intelligible as told originally of the Sun, or the Dawn, or
the Storms,
were turned into legends or fables too marvelous to be believed of
common
mortals. This process can be watched in India, in Greece, and in Germany.
The same
story, or nearly the same, is told of gods, of heroes, and of men. The
divine myth
became an heroic legend, and the heroic legend fades away into a
nursery tale.
Our nursery tales have well been called the modern patois of the
ancient
mythology of the Aryan race."[563:1]
In the words
of this learned author, "we never lose, we always gain, when we
discover the
most ancient intention of sacred traditions, instead of being
satisfied
with their later aspect, and their modern misinterpretations."
FOOTNOTES:
[553:1] This
picture would give us the story of Hercules, who strangled the
serpent in
his cradle, and who, in after years, in the form of a giant, ran his
course.
[553:2] This
would give us St. George killing the Dragon.
[553:3] This
would give us the story of the monster who attempted to devour the
Sun, and whom
the "untutored savage" tried to frighten away by making loud
cries.
[553:4] This
would give us the story of Samson, whose strength was renewed at
the end of
his career, and who slew the Philistines—who had dimmed his
brilliance—and
bathed his path with blood.
[553:5] This
would give us the story of Oannes or Dagon, who, beneath the clouds
of the
evening sky, plunged into the sea.
[553:6] This
would give us the story of Hercules and his bride Iôle, or that of
Christ Jesus
and his mother Mary, who were at their side at the end of their
career.
[553:7] This
would give us the story of the labors of Hercules.
[553:8] This
is the Sun as Seva.
[553:9] Here
again we have the Sun as Siva the Destroyer.
[553:10] Here
we have Apollo, Achilleus, Bellerophon and Odysseus.
[553:11] This
would give us the story of Samson, who was "the friend of the
children of
men, and the remorseless foe of those powers of darkness" (the
Philistines),
who had stolen away his bride. (See Judges, ch. xv.)
[554:1] This
would give us the stories of Thor, the mighty warrior, the terror
of his
enemies, and those of Cadmus, Romulus or Odin, the wise chieftains, who
founded
nations, and taught their people knowledge.
[554:2] This
would give us the story of Christ Jesus, and other Angel-Messiahs;
Saviours of
men.
[554:3] This
would give us the stories of spellbound maidens, who sleep for
years.
[554:4] This
is Hercules and his counterparts.
[554:5] This
again is Hercules.
[554:6] This
would depend upon whether his light was obscured by clouds, or not.
[554:7] This
again is Hercules.
[554:8] This
is Apollo, Siva and Ixion.
[554:9] Rev.
G. W. Cox.
[555:1] Who
has not heard it said that the howling or whining of a dog forebodes
death?
[555:2]
Bunce: Fairy Tales, Origin and Meaning.
[556:1]
Quoted by Bunce: Fairy Tales.
[557:1] See
Bunce: Fairy Tales, p. 34.
[558:1]
"The Sun," said Gaugler, "speeds at such a rate as if she feared
that
some one was
pursuing her for her destruction." "And well she may," replied
Har,
"for he
that seeks her is not far behind, and she has no way to escape but to
run before
him." "And who is he," asked Gaugler, "that causes her this
anxiety?"
"It is
the Wolf Sköll," answered Har, "who pursues the Sun, and it is he
that
she fears,
for he shall one day overtake and devour her." (Scandinavian Prose
Edda. See
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 407). This Wolf is, as we have said,
a
personification of Night and Clouds, we therefore have the almost universal
practice
among savage nations of making noises at the time of eclipses, to
frighten away
the monsters who would otherwise devour the Sun.
[558:2] Aryan
Mythology, vol. i. p. 103.
[559:1]
Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 308.
[559:2]
Müller: The Science of Religion, p. 65.
[559:3] Cox:
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 1.
[560:1] As
the hand of Hector is clasped in the hand of the hero who slew him.
There, as the
story ran, the lovely Helen "pardoned and purified," became the
bride of the
short-lived, yet long-suffering Achilleus, even as Iole comforted
the dying
Hercules on earth, and Hebe became his solace in Olympus. But what is
the meeting
of Helen and Achilleus, of Iole and Hebe and Hercules, but the
return of the
violet tints to greet the Sun in the West, which had greeted him
in the East
in the morning? The idea was purely physical, yet it suggested the
thoughts of
trial, atonement, and purification; and it is unnecessary to say
that the
human mind, having advanced thus far, must make its way still farther.
(Cox: Aryan
Mythology, vol. ii. p. 822.)
[560:2] The
black storm-cloud, with the flames of lightning issuing from it, was
the original
of the dragon with tongues of fire. Even as late as A. D. 1600, a
German writer
would illustrate a thunder-storm destroying a crop of corn by a
picture of a
dragon devouring the produce of the field with his flaming tongue
and iron
teeth. (Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 342.)
[561:1] M.
Bréal, and G. W. Cox.
[562:1]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 59.
[562:2] Ibid.
[562:3] Ibid.
p. 181.
[562:4] Book
iv. ch. i. in Anac., vol. i. p. 137.
[562:5] P. 6.
[562:6]
Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 33.
[562:7] Aryan
Mytho., vol. ii. p. 33.
[562:8]
Williams' Hinduism, p. 88.
[563:1]
Müller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 260.
[Pg
564]APPENDIX D.
We maintain
that not so much as one single passage purporting to be written, as
history,
within the first hundred years of the Christian era, can be produced to
show the
existence at or before that time of such a person as Jesus of Nazareth,
called the
Christ, or of such a set of men as could be accounted his disciples
or followers.
Those who would be likely to refer to Jesus or his disciples, but
who have not
done so, wrote about:
a. d. 40
Philo.[564:1]
40 Josephus.
79 C. Plinius Second, the Elder.[564:2]
69 L. Ann. Seneca.
79 Diogenes Laertius.
Philosophers.
79 Pausanias.
79 Pompon Mela.
Geographers.
79 Q. Curtius Ruf.
79 Luc. Flor.
110 Cornel
Tacitus.
123 Appianus.
140 Justinus.
141 Ćlianus.
Historians.
Out of this
number it has been claimed that one (Josephus) spoke of Jesus, and
another
(Tacitus) of the Christians. Of the former it is almost needless to
speak, as
that has been given up by Christian divines many years ago. However,
for the sake
of those who still cling to it we shall state the following:
Dr. Lardner,
who wrote about A. D. 1760, says:
1. It was
never quoted by any of our Christian ancestors before Eusebius.
2. Josephus
has nowhere else mentioned the name or word Christ, in any of his
works, except
the testimony above mentioned,[564:3] and the passage concerning
James, the
Lord's brother.[564:4]
3. It
interrupts the narrative.
4. The
language is quite Christian.
5. It is not
quoted by Chrysostom,[564:5] though he often refers to Josephus,
and could not
have omitted quoting it, had it been then, in the text.[Pg 565]6.
It is not
quoted by Photius, though he has three articles concerning Josephus.
7. Under the
article Justus of Tiberius, this author (Photius) expressly states
that this
historian (Josephus), being a Jew, has not taken the least notice of
Christ.
8. Neither
Justin, in his dialogue with Typho the Jew, nor Clemens Alexandrinus,
who made so
many extracts from ancient authors, nor Origen against Celsus, have
even
mentioned this testimony.
9. But, on
the contrary, Origen openly affirms (ch. xxxv., bk. i., against
Celsus), that
Josephus, who had mentioned John the Baptist, did not acknowledge
Christ.[565:1]
In the
"Bible for Learners," we read as follows:
"Flavius
Josephus, the well-known historian of the Jewish people, was born in A.
D. 37, only
two years after the death of Jesus; but though his work is of
inestimable
value as our chief authority for the circumstances of the times in
which Jesus
and his Apostles came forward, yet he does not seem to have ever
mentioned
Jesus himself. At any rate, the passage in his 'Jewish Antiquities'
that refers
to him is certainly spurious, and was inserted by a later and a
Christian
hand. The Talmud compresses the history of Jesus into a single
sentence, and
later Jewish writers concoct mere slanderous anecdotes. The
ecclesiastical
fathers mention a few sayings or events, the knowledge of which
they drew
from oral tradition or from writings that have since been lost. The
Latin and
Greek historians just mention his name. This meager harvest is all we
reap from
sources outside the Gospels."[565:2]
Canon Farrar,
who finds himself compelled to admit that this passage in Josephus
is an
interpolation, consoles himself by saying:
"The
single passage in which he (Josephus) alludes to Him (Christ) is
interpolated,
if not wholly spurious, and no one can doubt that his silence on
the subject
of Christianity was as deliberate as it was dishonest."[565:3]
The Rev. Dr.
Giles, after commenting on this subject, concludes by saying:
"Eusebius
is the first who quotes the passage, and our reliance on the judgment,
or even the
honesty, of this writer is not so great as to allow of our
considering
everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine."[565:4]
Eusebius,
then, is the first person who refers to these passages.[565:5]
Eusebius,
"whose honesty is not so great as to allow of our considering
everything
found in his works as undoubtedly genuine." Eusebius, who says that
it is lawful
to lie and cheat for the cause of Christ.[565:6] This Eusebius is
the
sheet-anchor of reliance for most we know of the first three centuries of
the Christian
history. What then must we think of the history of the first three
centuries of
the Christian era?
[Pg 566]The
celebrated passage in Tacitus which Christian divines—and even some
liberal
writers—attempt to support, is to be found in his Annals. In this work
he is made to
speak of Christians, who "had their denomination from Christus,
who, in the
reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by the procurator
Pontius
Pilate."
In answer to
this we have the following:
1. This
passage, which would have served the purpose of Christian quotation
better than
any other in all the writings of Tacitus, or of any Pagan writer
whatever, is
not quoted by any of the Christian Fathers.
2. It is not
quoted by Tertullian, though he had read and largely quotes the
works of
Tacitus.
3. And though
his argument immediately called for the use of this quotation with
so loud a
voice (Apol. ch. v.), that his omission of it, if it had really
existed,
amounts to a violent improbability.
4. This
Father has spoken of Tacitus in a way that it is absolutely impossible
that he
should have spoken of him, had his writings contained such a passage.
5. It is not
quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus, who set himself entirely to the
work of
adducing and bringing together all the admissions and recognitions which
Pagan authors
had made of the existence of Christ Jesus or Christians before his
time.
6. It has
been nowhere stumbled upon by the laborious and all-seeking Eusebius,
who could by
no possibility have overlooked it, and whom it would have saved
from the
labor of forging the passage in Josephus; of adducing the
correspondence
of Christ Jesus and Abgarus, and the Sibylline verses; of forging
a divine
revelation from the god Apollo, in attestation of Christ Jesus'
ascension
into heaven; and innumerable other of his pious and holy cheats.
7. Tacitus has
in no other part of his writings made the least allusion to
"Christ"
or "Christians."
8. The use of
this passage as part of the evidences of the Christian religion,
is absolutely
modern.
9. There is
no vestige nor trace of its existence anywhere in the world before
the 15th
century.[566:1]
[Pg 567]10.
No reference whatever is made to this passage by any writer or
historian,
monkish or otherwise, before that time,[567:1] which, to say the
least, is
very singular, considering that after that time it is quoted, or
referred to,
in an endless list of works, which by itself is all but conclusive
that it was
not in existence till the fifteenth century, which was an age of
imposture and
of credulity so immoderate that people were easily imposed upon,
believing, as
they did, without sufficient evidence, whatever was foisted upon
them.
11. The
interpolator of the passage makes Tacitus speak of "Christ," not of
Jesus the
Christ, showing that—like the passage in Josephus—it is,
comparatively,
a modern interpolation, for
12. The word
"Christ" is not a name, but a TITLE;[567:2] it being simply the
Greek for the
Hebrew word "Messiah." Therefore,
13. When
Tacitus is made to speak of Jesus as "Christ," it is equivalent to my
speaking of
Tacitus as "Historian," of George Washington as "General,"
or of any
individual as
"Mister," without adding a name by which either could be
distinguished.
And therefore,
14. It has no
sense or meaning as he is said to have used it.
15. Tacitus
is also made to say that the Christians had their denomination from
Christ, which
would apply to any other of the so-called Christs who were put to
death in
Judea, as well as to Christ Jesus. And
16. "The
disciples were called Christians first at Antioch" (Acts xi. 26), not
because they
were followers of a certain Jesus who claimed to be the Christ, but
because
"Christian" or "Chrēstian," was a name applied, at
that time, to any
good
man.[567:3] And,
[Pg 568]17.
The worshipers of the Sun-god, Serapis, were also called
"Christians,"
and his disciples "Bishops of Christ."[568:1]
So much,
then, for the celebrated passage in Tacitus.
Note.—Tacitus
says—according to the passage attributed to him—that "those who
confessed [to
be Christians] were first seized, and then on their evidence a
huge
multitude (Ingens Multitudo) were convicted, not so much on the charge of
incendiarism
as for their hatred to mankind." Although M. Renan may say (Hibbert
Lectures, p.
70) that the authenticity of this passage "cannot be disputed," yet
the absurdity
of "a huge multitude" of Christians being in Rome, in the days of
Nero, A. D.
64—about thirty years' after the time assigned for the crucifixion
of Jesus—has
not escaped the eye of thoughtful scholars. Gibbon—who saw how
ridiculous
the statement is—attempts to reconcile it with common sense by
supposing
that Tacitus knew so little about the Christians that he confounded
them with the
Jews, and that the hatred universally felt for the latter fell
upon the
former. In this way he believes Tacitus gets his "huge multitude," as
the Jews
established themselves in Rome as early as 60 years B. C., where they
multiplied
rapidly, living together in the Traslevere—the most abject portion of
the city,
where all kinds of rubbish was put to rot—where they became "old
clothes"
men, the porters and hucksters, bartering tapers for broken glass,
hated by the
mass and pitied by the few. Other scholars, among whom may be
mentioned
Schwegler (Nachap Zeit., ii. 229); Köstlin (Johann-Lehrbegr., 472);
and Baur
(First Three Centuries, i. 133); also being struck with the absurdity
of the
statement made by some of the early Christian writers concerning the
wholesale
prosecution of Christians, said to have happened at that time, suppose
it must have
taken place during the persecution of Trajan, A. D. 101. It is
strange we
hear of no Jewish martyrdoms or Jewish persecutions till we come to
the times of
the Jewish war, and then chiefly in Palestine! But fables must be
made
realities, so we have the ridiculous story of a "huge multitude" of
Christians
being put to death in Rome, in A. D. 64, evidently for the purpose of
bringing
Peter there, making him the first Pope, and having him crucified head
downwards.
This absurd story is made more evident when we find that it was not
until about
A. D. 50—only 14 years before the alleged persecution—that the first
Christians—a
mere handful—entered the capitol of the Empire. (See Renan's
Hibbert
Lectures, p. 55.) They were a poor dirty set, without manners, clad in
filthy
gaberdines, and smelling strong of garlic. From these, then, with others
who came from
Syria, we get our "huge multitude" in the space of 14 years. The
statement
attributed to Tacitus is, however, outdone by Orosius, who asserts
that the
persecution extended "through all the provinces." (Orosius, ii. 11.)
That it was a
very easy matter for some Christian writer to interpolate or alter
a passage in
the Annals of Tacitus may be seen from the fact that the MS. was
not known to
the world before the 15th century, and from information which is to
be derived
from reading Daillé On the Right Use of the Fathers, who shows that
they were
accustomed to doing such business, and that these writings are, to a
large extent,
unreliable.
FOOTNOTES:
[564:1] The
Rev. Dr. Giles says: "Great is our disappointment at finding nothing
in the works
of Philo about the Christians, their doctrines, or their sacred
books. About
the books indeed we need not expect any notice of these works, but
about the
Christians and their doctrines his silence is more remarkable, seeing
that he was
about sixty years old at the time of the crucifixion, and living
mostly in
Alexandria, so closely connected with Judea, and the Jews, could
hardly have
failed to know something of the wonderful events that had taken
place in the
city of Jerusalem." (Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 61.)
The Rev. Dr.
assumes that these "wonderful events" really took place, but, if
they did not
take place, of course Philo's silence on the subject is accounted
for.
[564:2] Both
these philosophers were living, and must have experienced the
immediate
effects, or received the earliest information of the existence of
Christ Jesus,
had such a person as the Gospels make him out to be ever existed.
Their
ignorance or their willful silence on the the subject, is not less than
improbable.
[564:3]
Antiquities, bk. xviii. ch. iii. 3.
[564:4] Ibid.
bk. xx. ch. ix. 1.
[564:5] John,
Bishop of Constantinople, who died....
[565:1]
Lardner: vol. vi. ch. iii.
[565:2] Bible
for Learners, vol. iii. p. 27.
[565:3] Life
of Christ, vol. I. p. 63.
[565:4]
Hebrew and Christ. Rec. vol. ii. p. 62.
[565:5] In
his Eccl. Hist. lib. 2. ch. xii.
[565:6] Ch.
31, bk. xii. of Eusebius Prć paratio Evangelica is entitled: "How
far it may be
proper to use falsehood as a medium for the benefit of those who
require to be
deceived;" and he closes his work with these words: "I have
repeated
whatever may rebound to the glory, and suppressed all that could tend
to the
disgrace of our religion."
[566:1] The
original MSS. containing the "Annals of Tacitus" were
"discovered"
in the
fifteenth century. Their existence cannot be traced back further than
that time.
And as it was an age of imposture, some persons are disposed to
believe that
not only portions of the Annals, but the whole work, was forged at
that time.
Mr. J. W. Ross, in an elaborate work published in London some years
ago,
contended that the Annals were forged by Poggio Bracciolini, their
professed
discoverer. At the time of Bracciolini the temptation was great to
palm off
literary forgeries, especially of the chief writers of antiquity, on
account of
the Popes, in their efforts to revive learning, giving money rewards
and
indulgences to those who should procure MS. copies of any of the ancient
Greek or
Roman authors. Manuscripts turned up as if by magic, in every
direction;
from libraries of monasteries, obscure as well as famous; the most
out-of-the-way
places,—the bottom of exhausted wells, besmeared by snails, as
the History
of Velleius Paterculus, or from garrets, where they had been
contending
with cobwebs and dust, as the poems of Catullus.
[567:1] A
portion of the passage—that relating to the manner in which the
Christians
were put to death—is found in the Historia Sacra of Sulpicius
Severus, a
Christian Father, who died A. D. 420; but it is evident that this
writer did
not take it from the Annals. On the contrary, the passage was
taken—as Mr.
Ross shows—from the Historia Sacra, and bears traces of having been
so
appropriated. (See Tacitus & Bracciolini, the Annals forged in the XVth
century, by
J. W. Ross.)
[567:2]
"Christ is a name having no spiritual signification, and importing
nothing more
than an ordinary surname." (Dr. Giles: Hebrew and Christian
Records, vol.
ii. p. 64.)
"The
name of Jesus and Christ was both known and honored among the ancients."
(Eusebius:
Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. iv.)
"The
name Jesus is of Hebrew origin, and signifies Deliverer, and Savior. It is
the same as
that translated in the Old Testament Joshua. The word Christ, of
Greek origin,
is properly not a name but a title, signifying The Anointed. The
whole name is
therefore, Jesus the Anointed or Jesus the Messiah." (Abbott and
Conant; Dic.
of Relig. Knowledge, art. "Jesus Christ.")
In the oldest
Gospel extant, that attributed to Matthew, we read that Jesus said
unto his
disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?" whereupon Simon Peter answers and
says:
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. . . . Then charged he his
disciples
that they should tell no man that he was Jesus THE Christ." (Matt.
xvi. 15-20.)
This clearly
shows that "the Christ" was simply a title applied to the man
Jesus,
therefore, if a title, it cannot be a name. All passages in the New
Testament
which speak of Christ as a name, betray their modern date.
[567:3]
"This name (Christian) occurs but three times in the New Testament, and
is never used
by Christians of themselves, only as spoken by or coming from
those without
the Church. The general names by which the early Christians called
themselves
were 'brethren,' 'disciples,' 'believers,' and 'saints.' The
presumption
is that the name Christian was originated by the Heathen." (Abbott
and Conant:
Dic. of Relig. Knowledge, art. "Christian.")
"We are called
Christians (not, we call ourselves Christians). So, then, we are
the best of
men (Chrēstians), and it can never be just to hate what is
(Chrēst)
good and
kind;" [or, "therefore to hate what is Chrestian is unjust."]
(Justin
Martyr: Apol.
1. c. iv.)
"Some of
the ancient writers of the Church have not scrupled expressly to call
the Athenian
Socrates, and some others of the best of the heathen moralists, by
the name of
Christians." (Clark: Evidences of Revealed Relig., p. 284. Quoted in
Ibid. p. 41.)
"Those
who lived according to the Logos, (i. e., the Platonists), were really
Christians."
(Clemens Alexandrinus, in Ibid.)
"Undoubtedly
we are called Christians, for this reason, and none other, than
because we
are anointed with the oil of God." (Theophilus of Antioch, in Ibid.
p. 399.)
"Christ
is the Sovereign Reason of whom the whole human race participates. All
those who
have lived comformably to a right reason, have been Christians,
notwithstanding
that they have always been looked upon as Atheists." (Justin
Martyr: Apol.
1. c. xlvi.)
Lucian makes
a person called Triephon answer the question, whether the affairs
of the
Christians were recorded in heaven. "All nations are there recorded,
since
Chrēstus exists even among the Gentiles."
[568:1]
"Egypt, which you commended to me, my dearest Servianus, I have found to
be wholly
fickle and inconsistent, and continually wafted about by every breath
of fame. The
worshipers of Serapis (here) are called Christians, and those who
are devoted
to the god Serapis (I find), call themselves Bishops of Christ."
(The Emperor
Adrian to Servianus, written A. D. 134. Quoted by Dr. Giles, vol.
ii. p. 86.)
[Pg
569]INDEX.
A.
Abraham, story of, 38;
Hindoo parallel, 39;
other parallels, 39, 40;
the foundation of, 103;
his birth announced by a star, 144;
supposed to have had the same soul as Adam,
David, and the Messiah, 504.
Absolution from sin by sacrifice of ancient
origin, 181;
by baptism, 316;
refused to Constantine by Pagan priests, 444.
Abury, the temple at, 180.
Achilleus, a personification of the Sun, 485.
Adam, was reproduced in Noah, Elijah, and
other Bible celebrities, 44;
no trace of the story of the fall of, in the
Hebrew Canon, after the Genesis
account, 99.
Aditi, "Mother of the Gods," 475;
a personification of the Dawn, 475;
is identified with Devaki, 475.
Adonis, is born of a Virgin, 191;
has title of "Saviour," 191, 217;
is slain, 191;
rises from the dead, 218;
is creator of the world, 249;
his temple at Bethlehem, 220;
his birth on December 25th, 364;
a personification of the Sun, 484;
in Hebrew "My Lord," 485.
Ćolus, son of Jupiter, 125.
Ćon, Christ Jesus an, 427;
there have been several, 427;
the Gnostics believed Christ Jesus to have
been an, 511;
the Essenes believed in the doctrine of an,
515.
Ćschylus' Prometheus Bound, 192.
Ćsculapius, a son of Jove, 128;
worshiped as a God, 128;
is called the "Saviour," 194;
the "Logos," 374;
Death and Resurrection of, 217.
Agni, represented with seven arms, 32;
a Hindoo God, 32;
the Cross a symbol of, 340.
Agnus Dei, the, succeeded the Bulla, 405;
worn by children, 405.
Agony, the, on Good Friday, is the weeping
for Tammuz, the fair Adonis, 226.
Akiba, Rabbi, believed Bar-Cochaba to be the
Messiah, 433.
Alcmena, mother of Hercules, 124.
Alexander, divides the Pamphylian Sea, 61;
believed to be a divine incarnation, 127;
visits the temple of Jupiter Ammon, 127;
and styles himself "Son of Jupiter
Ammon," 127.
Alexandria, the library of, 438;
the great intellectual centre, 440;
and the cradle of Christianity, 219, 442.
Allegorical, the, interpretation of the
Scriptures practiced by Rabbis, 100;
the historical theory succeeded by, 466, 552,
563.
Allegory, the story of the "Fall of
Man" an, 100.
All-father, the, of all nations, a
personification of the Sky, 478.
Alpha and Omega, Jesus believed to be, 250;
Crishna, 250;
Buddha, 250;
Lao-Kiun, 250;
Ormuzd, 251;
Zeus, 251;
Bacchus, 251.
Ambrose, St., affirms that the Apostles made
a creed, 385.
[Pg 570]America, populated from Asia, 540;
was at one time joined to Asia, 541.
American Trinity, the, 378.
Americans, their connection with the old
world, 533.
Ammon, Jupiter, his temple visited by
Alexander, 127.
Amphion, son of Jove, 124.
Amulets and Charms, worn by the Christians,
405;
are relics of Paganism, 405.
Ananda, and the Matangi Girl, 294.
Andrew's, St., Cross, of Pagan origin, 339.
Angel Messiah, Buddha an, 116;
Crishna an, 196;
Christ an, 196;
the Essenes applied the legend of, to Jesus,
442.
Angels, the fallen, 386;
believed in by all nations of antiquity,
386-388.
Animals, none sacrificed in early times, 182.
Antiquity, the, of Pagan religions, compared
with Christianity, 451.
Apis, or the Bull, worshiped by the children
of Israel, 107;
symbolized the productive power in Nature,
476, note 5.
Apollo, a lawgiver, 61;
son of Jove, 125;
has the title of "Saviour," 194;
is put to death, 191;
resurrection of, 218;
a type of Christ, 500;
is a personification of the Sun, 500-506.
Apostles, the, 500.
Apostles' Creed, the, not written by them,
385.
Apotheosis, the, of Pagans, 126.
Apollonius, considered divine, 126;
cured diseases, 261;
raised a dead maiden to life, 262;
his life written by Flavius Philostratus,
264.
Arabia, "wise men" came from, 150,
note 1.
Arabs, the, anciently worshiped Saturn, 393;
celebrated the birth of the Sun on December
25th, with offerings of gold,
frankincense and myrrh, 480.
Ararat, Mount, Noah's ark landed on, 21.
Arcas, a son of Jove, 125.
Architecture, the, of India same as Mexico,
538.
Aries, the sign of a symbol of Christ, 503;
personified and called the "Lamb of
God," 504;
the worship of, the worship of the Sun, 504.
Arimanes, the evil spirit, according to
Persian legend, 3.
Arion, a Corinthian harper, 78.
Arjoon or Arjuna, the cousin and beloved
disciple of Crishna, 247.
Ark, the, of Noah, 20;
and others, 22-27.
Armenian, the, tradition of "Confusion
of Tongues," 35.
Aroclus, son of Jove, 125.
Artemon, denied the divinity of Jesus, 135.
Ascension, of Jesus, 215;
of Crishna, 215;
of Rama, 216;
of Buddha, 216;
of Lao-Kiun, 216;
of Zoroaster, 216;
of Ćsculapius, 217;
of Osiris, 222;
Atys, 222;
Mithras, 222.
Asceticism, as practiced among the Christians,
of great antiquity, 400.
Ashera, the, or upright emblem, stood in the
Temple at Jerusalem, 47.
Asia, the continent of, at one time joined to
America, 541;
America inhabited from, 454, 533.
Asia Minor, the people persecuted in by
orders of Constantius, 448.
Asita, the holy Rishi, visits Buddha at his
birth, 151.
Asoka, the council of, 303.
Assyrian Dove, the, a symbol of the Holy
Ghost, 400.
Assyrians, the, worshiped a sun-god called
Sandon, 74;
had an account of a war in Heaven, 388;
kept the seventh day holy, 393.
Astaroth, the goddess, saved the life of a
Grecian maiden, 39.
Astarte, or Mylitta, worshiped by the
Hebrews, 108.
Astrology, practiced by the ancients, 141,
142.
Astronomers, the ancient Egyptians great,
547.
Astronomy, understood by the ancient Chinese,
544.
Athanasian Creed, the, 381.
Athens, the Parthenon of, 333.
Atlas, a personification of the sun, 83.
Atonement, the doctrine of, taught before the
time of Christ Jesus, 181.
[Pg 571]Atys, the Crucified, 190;
is called the "Only-begotten Son,"
and "Saviour," 190;
rose from the dead, 223.
Augustine, St., saw men and women without
heads, 437.
Aurora placida, made into St. Aura and St.
Placida, 399.
Avatar, Jesus considered an, 111;
a star at birth of every, 143, 479;
an "Angel-Messiah," a
"Christ," 196;
an, expected about every 600 years, 426.
B.
Baal, and Moloch, worshiped by the children
of Israel, 108.
Baal-peor, the Priapos of the Jews, 47.
Babel, the tower of, 33;
literally "the Gate of God," 34;
built at Babylon, 34;
a parallel to in other countries, 35;
built for astronomical purposes, 35.
Babylonian Captivity, the, put an end to
Israel's idolatry, 108.
Bacab, the Son, in the Mexican Trinity, 378.
Bacchus, performed miracles, 50;
passed through the Red Sea dry-shod, 51;
divided the waters of the rivers Orontes and
Hydaspus, 51;
drew water from a rock, 51;
was a law-giver, 52;
the son of Jupiter, 124;
was born in a cave, 156;
torn to pieces, 193, 209;
was called the "Saviour," 193;
"Only-begotten Son," 193;
"Redeemer," 193;
the sun darkened at his death, 208;
ascended into heaven, 208;
rose from the dead, 228;
a personification of the sun, 492.
Baga, the, of the cuneiform inscriptions a
name of the Supreme Being, 391;
is in English associated with an ugly fiend,
391.
Balaam, his ass speaks, 91;
parallels to in Egypt, Chaldea and Greece,
91.
Bala-rama, the brother of Crishna, 74;
the Indian Hercules, 74.
Baldur, called "The Good," 129;
"The Beneficent Saviour," 129;
Son of the Supreme God Odin, 129;
is put to death and rises again, 224;
a personification of the sun, 479.
Bambino, the, at Rome is black, 336.
Baptism, a heathen rite adopted by the
Christians, 317;
practiced in Mongolia and Thibet, 317;
by the Brahmins, 317;
by the followers of Zoroaster, 318;
administered in the Mithraic mysteries, 319;
performed by the ancient Egyptians, 319.
Baptismal fonts, used by the Pagans, 406.
Bar-Cochba, the "Son of a Star,"
144;
believed to be the Messiah, 432.
Beads (see Rosary).
Beatitudes, the, the prophet of, 527.
Belief, or faith, salvation by, existed in
the earliest times, 184.
Bellerophon, a mighty Grecian hero, 75.
Belus, the tower of, 34.
Benares, the Hindoo Jerusalem, 296.
Berosus, on the flood, 22.
Bible, the Egyptian, the oldest in the world,
24.
Birth, the Miraculous, of Jesus, 111;
Crishna, 113;
Buddha, 115;
Codom, 118;
Fuh-he, 119;
Lao-Kiun, 120;
Yu, Hau-Ki, 120;
Confucius, 121;
Horus, 122;
Zoroaster, 123;
and others, 123-131.
Birth-day, the, of the gods, on December
25th, 364.
Birth-place, the, of Christ Jesus, in a cave,
154;
the, of other saviours, in a cave, 155-158.
Black God, the, crucified, 201.
Black Mother, the, and child, 336.
Bochia, of the Persians, performed miracles,
256.
Bochica, a god of the Muyscas, 130.
Bodhisatwa, a name of Buddha, 115.
Books, sacred, among heathen nations, 61.
Brahma, the first person in Hindoo Trinity,
369.
Brahmins, the, perform the rite of baptism,
317.
Bread and Wine, a sacrifice with, celebrated
by the Grand Lama of Thibet, 306;
by the
Essenes, 306;
by Melchizedek, 307;
by those who were initiated into the
mysteries of Mithras, 307.
Blind Man, cured by Jesus, 268;
by the Emperor Vespasian at Alexandria, 268.
Brechin, the fire tower of, 199;
a crucifix cut upon, 198.
[Pg 572]Buddha, born of the Virgin Maya, 115;
his birth announced by a star, 143;
demonstrations of delight at his birth, 147;
is visited by Asita, 151;
was of royal descent, 163;
a dangerous child, 168;
tempted by the devil, 176;
fasted, 176;
died and rose again to life, 216;
ascended into heaven, 216;
compared with Jesus, 289.
Buddhism, the established religion of Burmah,
Siam, Laos, Pega, Cambodia,
Thibet, Japan, Tartary, Ceylon, and Loo-Choo,
297.
Buddhist religion, the, compared with
Christianity, 302.
Buddhists, the monastic system among, 401.
Bull, the, an emblem of the sun, 476.
Bulla, the, worn by Roman children, 405;
and now a lamb, the Agnus Dei, 405.
C.
Cabala, the, had its Trinity, 376.
Cadiz, the gates of, 70.
Cćsar (Augustus), was believed to be divine,
126.
Cćsar (Julius), was likened to the divine,
126.
Calabrian Shepherds, the, a few weeks before
Winter solstice, came into Rome
to play on the pipes, 365.
Cam-Deo, the God of Love, 216.
Capricorn, when the planets met in, the world
was deluged with water, 102.
Cardinals, the, of Rome, wear the robes once
worn by Roman senators, 400.
Carmelites, the, and Essenes the same, 422.
Canon, the, of the New Testament, when
settled, 463.
Carne-vale, a farewell to animal food, 227.
Carnutes, the, of Gaul, 198;
the Lamb of, 199.
Castles, Lord, a ring found on his estate,
199.
Catholic rites and ceremonies are imitations
of those of the Pagans, 384.
Catholic theory, the, of the fall of the
angels, 386.
Cave, Jesus born in a, 154;
Crishna born in a, 156;
Abraham born in a, 156;
Apollo born in a, 156;
Mithras born in a, 156;
Hermes born in a, 156.
Caves, all the oldest temples were in, 286.
Celibacy, among Pagan priests, 400-404.
Celts, the, Legend of the Deluge found among,
27.
Cerinthus, denied the divinity of Jesus, 136.
Ceylon, never believed to have been the
Paradise, 13.
Chaldean, the, account of the Deluge, 22.
Chaldeans, the, Legend of the Deluge borrowed
from, 101;
worshiped the Sun, 480.
Champlain period, the, 28.
Chandragupta, a dangerous child, 171.
Chastity, among Mexican priests, 404.
Charlemagne, the Messiah of medieval Teutondom,
239.
Cherokees, the, had a priest and law-giver
called Wasi, 130.
Cherubim, the, of Genesis, a dragon, 14.
Child, the dangerous, 165.
Chiliasm, the thousand years when Satan is
bound, 242.
Chimalman, the Mexican virgin, 334.
Chinese, the, have their Age of Virtue, 14;
have a legend of a deluge, 25;
worship a Virgin-born God, 119;
worship a "Queen of Heaven," 327;
worship a Trinity, 371;
have "Festivals of gratitude to
Tien," 392;
have monasteries for priests, friars and
nuns, 401;
identified with the American race, 539.
Cholula, the tower of, 36.
Chrēst, the, 568.
Christ (Buddha), compared with Jesus, 289.
Christ (Crishna), compared with Jesus, 278.
Christ (Jesus), born of a Virgin, 111;
a star heralds his birth, 140;
is visited by shepherds and wise men, 150;
is born in a cave, 154;
is of royal descent, 160;
is tempted by the devil, 175;
fasts for forty days, 175;
is put to death, 181;
no early representations of, on the cross,
201;
descends into hell, 211;
rises from the dead, 215;
[Pg 573]ascends into heaven, 215;
will come again, 233;
will be judge of the dead, 245;
as creator, 246;
performs miracles, 252;
compared with Crishna, 278;
compared with Buddha, 289;
his birth-day not known, 359;
a personification of the Sun, 498;
not identical with the historical Jesus, 506.
Christian, the name, originated by Heathens,
567, note 3.
Christianity, identical with Paganism, 384;
why it prospered, 419.
Christians, the disciples first called, at
Antioch, 567;
the worshipers of Serapis called, 568;
heathen moralists called by the name of, 568.
Christian Symbols, of Pagan origin, 339.
Christening, a Pagan rite, 320.
Circumcision, the universal practice of, 85.
Claudius, Roman Emperor, 126;
considered divine, 126.
Cobra, the, or hooded snake, held sacred in
India, 199.
Codom, the Siamese Virgin-born Saviour, 118.
The legend of, contained in the Pali books, 316
B. C., 451.
Comets, superstitions concerning, 144, 210.
Coming, the second, of Christ Jesus, 233;
of Vishnu, 236;
of Buddha, 237;
of Bacchus, 238;
of Arthur, 238;
of Charlemagne, 239;
of Quetzalcoatle, 239.
Commandments, the ten, of Moses, and of
Buddha, 59.
Conception, the immaculate, of Jesus, 111;
of Crishna, 113;
of Buddha, 115;
of Codom, 118;
of Salivahana, 119;
of Fuh-he, 119;
of Fo-hi, 119;
of Xaca, 119;
of Lao-kiun, 120;
of Yu, 120;
of Hau-ki, 120;
of Confucius, 121;
of Horus, 122;
of Raam-ses, 123;
of Zoroaster, 123;
of Hercules, 124;
of Bacchus, 125;
of Perseus, 125;
of Mercury, 126;
Apollo, 126;
of Quetzalcoatle, 129.
Confession, the, of sins, of Pagan origin,
403.
Confirmation, the, of children, of Pagan
origin, 319.
Confucius, was of supernatural origin, 121;
had seventy-two disciples, 121;
author of the "Golden Rule," 415.
Confusion of Tongues, the
"Scripture" account of, 33;
the Armenian tradition, 35;
the Hindoo legend of, 35;
the Mexican legend of, 36.
Constantine (Saint), the first Roman emperor
to check free thought, 444;
accepts the Christian faith, 444;
commits murders, 444;
baptized on his death-bed, 445;
the
first Roman emperor who embraced the Christian faith, 446;
his edicts against heretics, 446;
his effigies engraved on Roman coins, 446;
conferred dignities on the Christians, 446.
Coronis, the mother of Ćsculapius, 128;
impregnated by a god, 128.
Creation, the, Hebrew legend of, 1;
two different and contradictory accounts of,
5;
Bishop Colenso on, 5;
Persian legend of, 7;
Etruscan legend of, 7;
Hebrew legend of, borrowed from Chaldeans,
98.
Creator, the, Jesus considered, 247;
Crishna, according to the Hindoos, 247;
Lauther, according to the Chinese, 248;
Iao, according to the Chaldeans, 248;
Ormuzd, according to the Persians, 249;
Narduk, according to the Assyrians, 249;
Adonis and Prometheus believed to be, 249.
Creed, the Apostles', 385;
compared with the Pagan, 385;
not known before the fourth century, 385;
additions to since A. D. 600, 385.
Crescent, the, an emblem of the female
generative principle, 328.
Crčstos, the, was the Logos, 487.
Crishna, born of the Virgin Devaki, 113;
the greatest of all the Avatars, 113;
is "Vishnu himself in human form,"
113;
his birth announced in the heavens by a star,
278;
spoke to his mother shortly after birth, 279;
adored by cowherds, 279;
presented with gifts, 279;
was of royal descent, 280;
performed miracles, 281;
was crucified, 280;
descended into hell, 282;
rose from the dead, 282;
a personification of the sun, 483.
Cross, the, used as a religious symbol before
the Christian era, 338;
[Pg 574]adored in India, 340;
adored by the Buddhists of Thibet, 340;
found on Egyptian monuments, 342;
found under the temple of Serapis, 342;
universally adored before the Christian era,
339-347.
Crucifixes, the earliest Christian,
described, 203-205.
Crucifixion, the, of Jesus, 180;
of "Saviours" before the Christian
era, 181-193;
of all the gods, explained, 484, 485.
Crux Ansata, the, of Egypt, 341.
Cuneiform Inscriptions, the, of Babylonians,
relate the legends of creation
and fall of man, 9, 98.
Cybele, the goddess, called "Mother of
God," 333.
Cyril, St., caused the death of Hypatia, 440.
Cyrus, king of Persia, 127;
considered divine, 127;
called the "Christ," 127, 196;
believed to be the Messiah, 433;
sun myth added to the history of, 506.
D.
Dag, a, Hercules swallowed up by, 78.
Dagon, a fish-god of the Philistines, 82;
identical with the Indian fish Avatar of
Vishnu, 82.
Danae, a "Virgin Mother," 124.
Dangerous Child, the, myth of, 165.
Daphne, a personification of the morning,
469.
Darkness, at crucifixion of Jesus, 206;
parallels to, 206-210;
the, explained, 494.
David, killed Goliath, 90;
compared with Thor, 91.
Dawn, the, personified, and called Aditi, the
"Mother of the Gods," 475.
Day, the, swallowed up by night, 79.
December 25th, birth-day of the gods, 359.
Delphi, Apollo's tomb at, 510.
Deluge, the, Hebrew legend of, 19;
parallels to, 20-30.
Demi-gods, the, of antiquity not real
personages, 467.
Demons, cast out, by Jews and Gentiles, 269.
Denis, St., is Dionysus, 399.
Deo Soli, pictures of the Virgin inscribed
with the words, 338.
Derceto, the goddess, represented as a mermaid,
83.
Deucalion, the legend of, 26;
derived from Chaldean sources, 101.
Devaki, a virgin mother, 326.
Devil, the, counterfeits the religion of
Christ, 124;
formerly a name of the Supreme Being, 391.
Diana, called "Mother," yet famed for
her virginity, 333.
Dionysus, a name of Bacchus, 51.
Divine incarnation, the idea of redemption by
a, was general and popular among
the Heathen, 183.
Divine incarnations, common before the time
of Jesus, 112.
Divine Love, crucified, 484;
the sun, 487.
Divus, the title of, given to Roman emperors,
125.
Docetes, Asiatic Christians who invented the
phantastic system, 136.
Dove, the, a symbol of the Holy Ghost among
all nations of antiquity, 357;
the, crucified, 485.
Dragon, a, protected the garden of the
Hesperides, 11;
the cherub of Genesis, 14.
Drama of Life, the, 29.
Druids, the, of Gaul, worshiped the
Virgo-Paritura as the Mother of God, 333.
Durga, a fish deity among the Hindoos, 82.
Dyaus, the Heavenly Father, 478;
a personification of the sky, 478.
E.
East, turning to in worship, practiced by
Christians, 503.
Easter, origin of, 226;
observed in China, 227;
controversies about, 227;
dyed eggs on, of Pagan origin, 228;
the primitive was celebrated on March 25th,
335.
Eating, the forbidden fruit, the story of,
figurative, 101.
Ebionites, the first Christians called, 134.
Ecclesiastics, the Essenes called, 424.
[Pg 575]Eclectics, the Essenes called, 424.
Eclipse, an, of the Sun, occurred at the
death of Jesus, 206;
of Romulus, 207;
of Julius Cćsar, 207;
of Ćsculapius, 208;
of Hercules, 208;
of Quirinius, 208.
Edda, the, of the Scandinavians speaks of the
"Golden" Age, 15;
describes the deluge, 27.
Egypt, legend of the Deluge not known in, 23;
the Exodus from, 48;
circumcision practiced in, 85;
virgin-born gods worshiped in, 122;
kings of considered gods, 123;
Virgin Mother worshiped in, 329, 330;
the cross adored in, 341.
Egyptian faith, hardly an idea in the
Christian system which has not its
analogy in the, 414.
Egyptian kings considered gods, 123.
Egyptians, the, had a legend of the
"Tree of Life," 12;
received their laws direct from God, 60;
practiced circumcision at an early period,
85;
were great astrologers, 142;
were familiar with the war in heaven, 387.
El, the Phenician deity, 484;
called the "Saviour," 484.
Elephant, the, a symbol of power and wisdom,
117;
cut on the fire tower at Brechin, in
Scotland, 198;
in America, 537.
Eleusinian, the, Mysteries, 310.
Eleusis, the ceremonies at, 310.
Elijah ascends to heaven, 90;
its parallel, 90.
Elohistic, the, narrative of the Creation and
Deluge differs from the
Jehovistic, 93.
Elysium, the, of the Greeks, 11;
meaning of, 101.
Emperors, the, of Rome considered divine,
126.
Eocene period, the, 29.
Eostre, or Oster, the Saxon Goddess, 226,
227.
Epimetheus, the first man, brother of
Prometheus, 10.
Equinox, at the Spring, most nations set
apart a day to implore the blessings
of their gods, 492.
Esdras, the apocryphal book of, 95.
Essenes, the, and the Therapeutć the same,
419;
the origin of not known, 419;
compared with the primitive Christians, 420;
their principal rites connected with the
East, 423;
the "Scriptures" of, 443.
Etruscan, baptism, 320;
Goddess, 330.
Etruscans, the, had a legend of creation
similar to Hebrew, 75;
performed the rite of baptism, 320;
worshiped a "Virgin Mother," 330.
Eucharist, the, or Lord's Supper, 305;
instituted before the Christian era, 305;
performed by various ancient nations,
305-312.
Eudes, the, of California, worshiped a
mediating deity, 131.
Eusebius, speaks of the Ebionites, 134;
of Easter, 226;
of Simon Magus, 265;
of Menander the "Wonder Worker,"
266;
of an "ancient custom" among the
Christians, 316;
the birth of Jesus, 361;
calls the Essenes Christians, 422.
Eve, the first woman, 3.
Evil, origin of, 4.
Exorcism, practiced by the Jews before the
time of Jesus, 268.
Explanation, the, of the Universal Mythos,
466.
Ezra, added to the Pentateuch, 94.
F.
Faith, salvation by, taught before the
Christian era, 184.
Fall of Man, the, Hebrew account of, 4;
parallels to, 7-16;
hardly alluded to outside of Genesis, 99;
allegorical meaning of, 101.
Fall of the Angels, the, 386.
Fasting, for forty days, a common occurrence,
179;
at certain periods, practiced by the
ancients, 177, 392.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the, of Pagan
origin, 369.
Females, the, of the Orinoco tribes, fasted
forty days before marriage, 179.
Festivals, held by the Hindoos, the Chinese,
the Egyptians, and others, 392.
Fifty, Jesus said to have lived to the age
of, 515.
[Pg 576]Fig-tree, the, sacred, 13.
Fijians, the, practiced circumcision, 86.
Fire, worshiped by the Mexicans and
Peruvians, 532.
Fire Tower, the, of Brechin, 199.
Firmicius (Julius), says the Devil has his
Christs, 183.
Fish, the, a symbol of Christ Jesus, 355;
meaning of, 504.
Fleur de Lis, or Lotus, a sacred plant, 329.
Flood, the, Hebrew legend of, 19;
parallels to, 22-27.
Flower, Jesus called a, 487.
Fo-hi, of China, born of a Virgin, 119.
Forty, a sacred number, 179.
Fraud, practiced by the early Christians,
434.
Frey, the deity of the Sun, 488;
killed at the time of the winter solstice,
488.
Freyga, the goddess, of the Scandinavians,
transformed into the Virgin Mary,
399;
a personification of the earth, 479.
Friday, fish day, why, 354.
Frigga (see Freyga).
Fuh-he, Chinese sage, 119;
considered divine, 119.
Future Life, the doctrine of, taught by
nearly all nations of antiquity, 388.
G.
Gabriel, the angel, salutes the Virgin Mary,
111.
Galaxy, the, souls dwell in, 45.
Galilee, Jesus a native of, 520;
the insurgent district of the country, 520;
the Messiahs all started out from, 521.
Galli, the, now sung in Christian churches,
was once sung by the priests of
Cybele, 333.
Ganesa, the Indian God of Wisdom, 117.
Ganges, the, a sacred river, 318.
Garden, the, of Eden, 2;
of the Hesperides, 11;
identical, 11;
hardly alluded to outside of Genesis, 99.
Gaul, the worship of the Virgo-Paritura in,
334.
Gautama, a name of Buddha, 297.
Geetas, the, antiquity of, 451.
Genealogy, the, of Jesus, 160;
of Crishna, 163;
of Buddha, 163;
of Rama, 163;
of Fo-hi, 163;
of Confucius, 163;
of Horus, 163;
of Hercules, 163;
of Bacchus, 164.
Genesis, two contradictory accounts of the
Creation in, 2.
Gentiles, the, religion of, adopted by
Christians, 384;
celebrate the birth of god Sol on December
25th, 363.
Germans, the ancient, worshiped a
Virgin-goddess under the name of Hertha,
334, 477.
Germany, the practice of baptism found in, by
Boniface, 322.
Ghost, the Holy, impregnates the Virgin Mary,
111;
and the Virgin Maya, 117;
is one with the Father and the Son, 368;
is symbolized by the Dove among Heathen and
Christian nations, 357.
Giants, fossil remains of animals supposed to
have been those of, 19;
the Rakshasas of the Hindoos the origin of
all, 19.
Glacial period, the, 24.
Gnostic, the, heresy, 135.
Gnostics, the, maintained that Jesus was a
mere man, 135;
the Essenes the same as, 422;
their doctrine, 511.
God, a, believed in by nearly all nations of
antiquity, 384.
Godhead, the, a belief in the Trinitarian
nature of, before the Christian era,
368.
God of Israel, the, same as the Gentiles,
87-88.
Gods, the, created the heaven and earth, 4,
note 1;
descended from heaven and were made incarnate
in men, 112.
God's first-born, applied to Heathen
Virgin-born gods, 195.
God the Father, the, of all nations, a
personification of the sky, 478.
Golden Age, the, of the past, believed in by
all nations of antiquity, 8-16.
Goliath, killed by David, 90.
Good Friday, the, "Agonie" at Rome
on, same as the weeping for Adonis, 226.
Gospel, the, of the Egyptians, 443.
Gospels, the, were not written by the persons
whose names they bear, 454;
[Pg 577]full of interpolations and errors,
454.
Greece, the gods and goddesses of,
personifications of natural objects, 467.
Greeks, the ancient, boasted of their
"Golden Age," 10;
had a tradition of the "Islands of the
Blessed," and the "Garden of the
Hesperides," 11;
had records of a Deluge, 26;
considered that the births of great men were
announced by celestial signs,
207;
had the rite of baptism, 320;
worshiped the virgin mother, and child, 342;
adored the cross, 344;
celebrated the birth of their gods on
December 25th, 364;
worshiped a trinity, 374.
"Grove," the, of the Old Testament,
is the "Ashera" of the Pagans, 47.
Gruter (inscriptions of), 397.
Gymnosophists, the, and the Essenes, the
same, 423.
H.
Hair, long, attributes of the sun, 71;
worn by all sun-gods, 71, 72.
Hâu-Ki, Chinese sage, of supernatural origin,
120.
Heathen, the, the religion of, same as
Christian, 384.
Heaven, all nations believed in a, 389;
is born of the sky, 391, 559.
Heavenly host, the, sang praises at the birth
of Jesus, 146;
parallels to, 146-149.
Hebrew people, the, history of, commences
with the Exodus, 52-55.
Hebrews, the gospel of the, 455.
Hell, Christ Jesus descended into, 211;
Crishna descended into, 213;
Zoroaster descended into, 213;
Osiris, Horus, Adonis, Bacchus, Hercules,
Mercury, all descended into, 213;
built by priests, 391.
Hercules, compared with Samson, 66-72;
a personification of the Sun, 73, 485;
all nations had their, 76;
was the son of Jupiter, 124;
was exposed when an infant, 170;
was called the "Saviour," 193;
the "Only begotten," 193;
is put to death, 485;
is comforted by Iole, 493.
Heretics, the first, 134;
denied the crucifixion of "the
Christ," 511;
denied that "the Christ" ever came
in the flesh, 512.
Heri, means "Saviour," 112;
Crishna so called, 112.
Hermes, or Mercury, the son of Jupiter and a
mortal mother, 125;
is born in a cave, 156;
was called the "Saviour," 195;
the "Logos" and "Messenger of
God," 195.
Herod, orders all the children in Bethlehem
to be slain, 166;
the Hindoo parallel to, 166-167;
a personification of Night, 481.
Herodotus, speaks of Hercules, 69;
speaks of circumcision, 86;
relates a wonderful miracle, 261.
Hesione, rescued from the sea monster, 78.
Hesperides, the apples of, the tree of
knowledge, 11-12.
Hieroglyphics, the Mexican, describe the
crucifixion of Quetzalcoatle, 199.
Hilkiah, claimed to have found the "Book
of the Law," 94.
Himalayas, the, the Hindoo ark rested on, 27.
Hindoos, the, had no legend of the creation
similar to the Hebrew, 13;
believe Mount Meru to have been the Paradise,
13;
had a legend of the Deluge, 24;
had a legend of the "Confusion of
Tongues," 35;
had their Samson or Strong Man, 73;
worshiped a virgin-born god, 113;
adored a trinity, 371;
have believed in a soul from time immemorial,
388.
Historical theory, the, succeeded by the
allegorical, 466.
Histories, the, of the gods are fabulous,
466.
Holy Ghost, the, impregnates the Virgin Mary,
111;
and the Virgin Maya, 117;
is one with the Father and the Son, 368;
is symbolized by the dove among Heathen
nations, 357.
Holy One, the, of the Chinese, 190.
Holy Trinity, the, of the Christians, the
same as that of the Pagans, 370.
[Pg 578]Homa, or Haoma, a god of the Hindoos,
called the "Benefactor of the
World," 306.
Horus, the Egyptian Saviour, 122;
born of the Virgin Isis, 122;
is put to death, 190;
descended into hell, 213;
rose from the dead, 222;
performed miracles, 256;
raised the dead to life, 256;
is represented as an infant on the lap of his
virgin mother, 327;
is born on December 25th, 363;
a personification of the sun, 476;
crucified in the heavens, 484.
Hydaspus, the river, divided by Bacchus, 51.
Hypatia, put to death by a Christian mob,
440.
I.
Iamos, left to die among the bushes and
violets, 170;
received from Zeus the gift of prophecy, 171.
Iao, a name sacred in Egypt, 49;
probably the same as Jehovah, 49;
the crucified, 484.
Ida, the earth, 481.
Idolatry, practiced by the Hebrews, 107;
adopted by the Christians, 384.
Idols, the worship of, among Christians, 397.
I. H. S., formerly a monogram of the god
Bacchus, and now the monogram of
Christ Jesus, 351.
Images, the worship of, among Christians,
397.
Immaculate Conception, the, of Jesus, 111;
Crishna, 113;
Buddha, 115;
Codom, 118;
Fo-hi, 119;
and others, 119-130.
Immortality of the Soul, the, believed in by
all nations of antiquity, 385.
Incas, the, of Peru, married their own
sisters, 537.
India, a virgin-born god worshiped in, 113;
the story of Herod and the infants of
Bethlehem from, 166;
the crucified god in, 186;
the Trinity in, 370;
our religion and nursery tales from, 544.
Indians, the, no strangers to the doctrine of
original sin, 189;
they believe man to be a fallen being, 189.
Indra, worshiped as a crucified god in
Nepaul, 187;
his festival days in August, 187;
is identical with Crishna, 484;
a personification of the sun, 484.
Infant Baptism, practiced by the Persians,
318;
by the Etruscans, 320;
by the Greeks and Romans, 321;
by the Scandinavians, 321;
by the New Zealanders, 322;
by the Mexicans, 322;
by the Christians, 323;
all identical, 323.
Innocents, the, slain at the time of birth of
Jesus, 165;
at the birth of Crishna, 166;
at the birth of Abraham, 169.
Inscriptions, formerly in Pagan temples, and
inscriptions in Christian
churches compared, 397.
Incense, burned before idols or images in
Pagan temples, 406.
Iona, or Yoni, an emblem of the female
generative powers, 199.
Iönah, or Juno, suspended in space, 486.
Irenćus, the fourth gospel not known until
the time of, 458;
reasons given by, for there being four
gospels, 458.
Iroquois, the, worshiped a god-man called
Tarengawagan, 131.
Isaac, offered as a sacrifice by Abraham, 38;
parallels to, 39-41.
Isis, mother of Horus, 122;
a virgin mother, 327;
represented on Egyptian monuments with an
infant in her arms, 327;
she is styled "Our Lady,"
"Queen of Heaven," "Mother of God," &c., 327.
Islands of the Blessed, 11;
meaning of, 101, 559, 560.
Islands of the Sea, Western countries called
the, by the Hebrews, 103.
Israel, the religion of, same as the Heathen,
107, 108.
Italy, effigies of a black crucified man, in,
197;
the cross adored in, before Christian era,
345.
Ixion, bound on the wheel, is the crucified
Sun, 484.
Izdubar, the Lion-killer of the Babylonians,
74;
the foundation for the Samson and the
Hercules myths, 105;
the cuneiform inscriptions speak of, 105.
[Pg 579]J.
Jacob, his vision of the ladder, 42;
explained, 42, 104.
Janus, the keys of, transferred to Peter,
399.
Japanese, the American race descended from
the same stock as the, 538.
Jason, a dangerous child, 171;
brought up by Cheiron, 171;
the same name as Jesus, 196.
Jehovah, the name, esteemed sacred among the
Egyptians, 48;
the same as Y-ha-ho, 48;
well known to the Heathens, 49.
Jehovistic writer, the, of the Pentateuch,
93.
Jemshid, devoured by a great monster, 18.
Jerusalem, Jews taken at the Ebionite sack
of, were sold to the Grecians, 103.
Jesuits, the, in China, appalled at finding,
in that country, a counterpart to
the Virgin of Judea, 119.
Jesus, not born of a Virgin according to the
Ebionites or Nazarenes, 134;
the day, month or year of his birth not
known, 359;
was an historical personage, 506;
no clearly defined traces of, in history,
517;
his person indistinct, 517;
assumed the character of "Messiah,"
520;
a native of Galilee, 520;
a zealot, 522;
is put to death by the Romans, 522;
not crucified by the Jews, 524;
the martyrdom of, has been gratefully
acknowledged, 527;
nothing original in the teachings of, 529.
Jews, the, where their history begins, 54;
driven out of Egypt, 52;
worshiped Baal and Moloch, 108;
their religion the same as other nations,
108;
did not
crucify Jesus, 524.
John, the same name as Jonah, 83;
the gospel according to, 457;
Irenćus the author of, 458.
John the Baptist, his birth-day is on the day
of the Summer Solstice, 499.
Jonah, swallowed by a big fish, 77;
parallels to, 78, 79;
the meaning of, 79;
the Sun called, 80;
identified with Dagon and Oannes, 82, 83;
the same as John, 84;
the myth of, explained, 105.
Jordan, the river, considered sacred, 318.
Josephus, does not speak of Jesus, 564.
Joshua, arrests the course of the Sun, 91;
parallel to, 91.
Jove, the Sons of, numerous, 125;
the Supreme God, 125.
Judea, the Virgin of, 111;
a counterpart to, found by the first
Christian missionaries in China, 119.
Judaism, its doctrine and precepts, by I. M.
Wise, referred to, 527.
Judge of the Dead, Jesus, 244;
Sons of God, 244;
Buddha, 244;
Crishna, 245;
Osiris, 245;
Aeacus, 245;
no examples of Jesus as, in early Christian
art, 246.
Julius Cćsar (see Cćsar).
Juno, the "Queen of Heaven," 333;
was represented standing on the crescent
moon, 333;
considered the protectress of woman, 333;
often represented with a dove on her head,
357;
suspended in space, 486.
Jupiter, the Supreme God of the Pagans, 125;
a statue of, in St. Peter's, Rome, 397.
Justin Martyr, on the work of the Devil, 124,
265.
K.
Kadmus, king of Thebes, 124.
Kaffirs, the, practice circumcision, 86.
Kama, attempts the life of Crishna, 166;
is a personification of Night, 481.
Ke-lin, the, appeared at the birth of
Confucius, 121.
Key, the, which unlocks the door to the
mystery, 441.
Knichahan, the Supreme God of the Mayas of
Yucatan, 130.
Kings, the, of Egypt considered divine, 122.
Kronos, the myth of, explained, 559.
Kung-foo-tsze (see Confucius).
L.
Labarum, the, of Constantine, inscribed with
the monogram of Osiris, 350.
[Pg 580]Ladder, the, of Jacob, 42;
explained, 42-47.
Lama, the, of Thibet, considered divine, 118;
the high priest of the Tartars, 118;
the Pope of Buddhism, 118.
Lamb, the, of God, a personification of the
Sun, 492.
Lamb, the oldest representation of Christ
Jesus was the figure of a, 202, 503.
Lamps, feast of, 392.
Lanthu, born of a pure spotless Virgin, 248;
the creator of the world, 248.
Lao-Kiun, born of a Virgin, 120;
believed in one God, 120;
formed the Tao-tsze, or sect of reason, 120.
Lao-tse (see Lao-Kiun).
Latona, the mother of Apollo, 125.
Law-giver, Moses a, 59;
Bacchus a, 59;
Zoroaster a, 59;
Minos a, 60;
Thoth a, 60;
Lycurgus a, 61;
Apollo a, 61.
Lazarus, raised from the grave, 273.
Leto, a personification of darkness, 477.
Libations, common among all nations of antiquity,
317.
Library, the, of Alexandria, 438.
Lights, are kept burning before images in
Pagan temples, 406.
Lily, the, or Lotus, sacred among all Eastern
nations, 529;
put into the hands of all "Virgin
Mothers," 329.
Linga, the, and Yoni, adored by the Jews, 47;
the symbol under which the sun was worshiped,
47, 496.
Logos, the, an Egyptian feature, 373;
Apollo called, 373;
Marduk of the Assyrians, called, 374;
the, of Philo, 374;
the, of John, 374;
identical, 374.
Loretto, the Virgin of, 338;
black as an Ethiopian, 338.
Lotus, the, or Lily, sacred among all Eastern
nations, 329.
Luke, the Gospel "according" to,
456.
Lycophron, says that Hercules was three
nights in the belly of a fish, 78.
M.
Madonna, the, and child, worshiped by all
nations of Antiquity, 326.
Magi, the religion of, adopted by the Jews,
109.
Magic, Jesus learned, in Egypt, 272.
Magician, Jesus accused of being a, 273.
Mahabharata, the, quotations from, 415-417.
Mahomet, the miracles of, 269.
Maia, the mother of Mercury, 125;
the same name as Mary, 332.
Man, the Fall of, 4;
parallels to, 4-16;
the antiquity of, 29.
Manco Capac, a god of the Peruvians, 130.
Manes, believed himself to be the "Christ,"
429;
the word, has the meaning of
"Comforter" or "Saviour," 429.
Manetho, an Egyptian priest, gives an account
of the sojourn of the Israelites
in Egypt, 53.
Manicheans, the, transferred pure souls to
the Galaxy, 45;
their doctrine of the divinity of Christ
Jesus, 511.
Manu, quotations from, 415.
March 25th, the primitive Easter solemnized
on, 225, 495;
celebrated throughout the ancient world in
honor of the "Mother of God," 335;
appointed to the honor of the Christian Virgin,
335.
Maria, the name, same as Mary, 332.
Mark, the Gospel according to, 456.
Matangi girl, the, and Ananda, the disciple
of Buddha, 294.
Martianus Capella, his ode to the Sun, 507.
Martyr (Justin), compares Christianity with
Paganism, 124.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, 111;
same name as Maya, Maria, &c., 332;
called the "Mother of God," 398.
Masons' Marks, conspicuous among Christian
symbols, 358.
Mass, the, of Good Friday, of Pagan origin,
226.
Mastodon, the remains of, found in America,
19.
Mathura, the birth-place of Crishna, 113.
Matthew, the "Gospel according to,"
455.
[Pg 581]May, the month of, dedicated to the
Heathen Virgin Mothers, 335;
is now the month of Mary, 335.
Maya, the same name as Mary, 332.
Mayus, the, of Yucatan, worship a Virgin-born
god, 130.
May-pole, the, of moderns, is the
"Ashera" of the ancients, 47;
an emblem of the male organ of generation,
47;
the Linga of the Hindoos, 47.
Mecca, the Mohammedans' Jerusalem, 296.
Mediator, the title of, applied to
Virgin-born gods before the time of Jesus,
195.
Melchizedek, the Kenite King of
Righteousness, brought out bread and wine as a
sign or symbol of worship, 307.
Menander, called the "Wonder
Worker," performed miracles, 266;
believed himself to be the Christ, 429.
Mendicants, among the Buddhists in China,
400-403.
Menes, the first king of Egypt, 122;
considered divine, 122.
Menu, Satyavrata the Seventh, 25.
Mercury, the Son of Jupiter and a mortal mother,
125;
called "God's Messenger," 195.
Meru (Mount), the Hindoo Paradise, out of
which went four rivers, 13.
Messiahs, many, before the time of Jesus,
196, 519, 521, 522.
Metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls,
42;
the doctrine taught by all the Heathen
nations of antiquity, 43;
by the Jews and Christians, 43.
Mexicans, the, had their semi-fish gods, 83;
practiced circumcision, 86;
compared with the inhabitants of the old
world, 533.
Mexico, the architecture of, compared with
that of the old world, 538.
Michabou, a god of the Algonquins, 131.
Michael, the angel, the story of, borrowed
from Chaldean sources, 109;
fought with his angels against the dragon,
386.
Miletus, the crucified god of, 191.
Millennium, doctrine of the, 239.
Minos, the Lawgiver of the Cretans, 60;
receives the Laws from Zeus, 60.
Minutius Felix, on the crucified man, 197.
Miracles, the, of Jesus, 252;
of Crishna, 253;
of Buddha, 254, 255;
of Zoroaster, 256;
Bochia, 256;
Horus, 256;
Osiris, 256;
Serapis, 257;
Marduk, 257;
Bacchus, 257;
Ćsculapius, 257;
Apollonius, 261;
Simon Magus, 264;
Menander, 266;
Vespasian, 268.
Miraculous Conception, the, of, Jesus, 111;
parallels to, 112-131.
Mithras, a "Mediator between God and
Man," 194;
called the "Saviour," and the
"Logos," 194;
is put to death, and rises again to life,
223;
a personification of the Sun, 507.
Mohammed (see Mahomet).
Molech, the god, worshiped by the Heathen
nations, and the children of Israel,
108.
Monad, a, in the Egyptian Trinity, 373.
Monasteries, among Heathen nations, 400.
Monasticism, a vast and powerful institution
in Buddhist countries, 403.
Monks, were common among Heathen nations
before the Christian era, 400-404.
Montanus, believed himself an Angel-Messiah,
428.
Months, the twelve, compared with the
Apostles, 500.
Moon, the, was personified among ancient
nations, and called the "Queen of
Heaven," 478.
Moral Sentiments, the, of the New Testament,
compared with those from Heathen
Bibles, 415.
Mosaic history, the so-called, a myth, 17.
Moses, divides the Red Sea, 50;
is thrown into the Nile, 89.
Mother, the, of God, worshiped among the
ancients, 326.
Mother
Night, the 24th of December called, 365.
Mother of the Gods, the, Aditi called, 475.
Mount Meru, the Hindoo paradise on, 13.
Mummy, a cross on the breast of an Egyptian,
in the British Museum, 341.
Muscovites, the, worshiped a virgin and
child, 333;
worshiped a Trinity, 378.
[Pg 582]Mylitta, the goddess, worshiped by
the Hebrews, 108.
Myrrha, the mother of Bacchus, 332;
same as Mary, 332.
Myth, a, the theology of Christendom built
upon, 17.
Mythology, all religions founded upon, 563.
Mythos, the universal, 505.
N.
Nganu, the Africans of Lake, had a similar
story to the "Confusion of
Tongues," 36.
Nakshatias, the, of the Indian Zodiac, are
regarded as deities, 142.
Nanda, the foster-father of Crishna, 158.
Nared, a great prophet and astrologer, 143;
pointed out Crishna's stars, 143.
Nazarenes, the, saw in Jesus nothing more
than a mere man, 135.
Nebuchadnezzar, repaired the tower of Babel,
85.
Necromancer, Jesus represented as a, 273.
Nehush-tan, the Sun worshiped under the name
of, 491.
Neith, the mother of Osiris, 364;
called the "Holy Virgin," 364;
the "Mother of the Gods," and
"Mother of the Sun," 476;
a personification of the dawn, 476.
Nepaul, the crucified God found in, 187.
Nicaragua, the inhabitants of, called their
principal God Thomathoyo, 130.
Nice, the Council of, 381;
anathematized those who say that there was a
time when the Son of God was not,
381.
Nile, the temples on the north bank of the
river dedicated to the kings of
Egypt, 122;
a sacred river, 318.
Nimrod, built the tower of Babel, 34.
Ninevah, Jonah goes to, 81;
cylinders discovered on the site of,
contained the legend of the flood, 101.
Niparaga, the Supreme Creator of the Endes of
California, 131.
Nisan, the angel, borrowed from the
Chaldeans, 109.
Noah, the ark of, 119.
Noel, Christmas in French called, 365.
Nut, a personification of Heaven, 477.
Nutar Nutra, the, of the Egyptians,
corresponds to the Hebrew El-Shaddai, 49.
O.
Oannes, Chaldean fish-god, 82;
the same as Jonah, 83.
Odin, the Supreme God of the Scandinavians,
479;
a personification of the Heavens, 479.
Śdipus, the history of, resembles that of
Samson and Hercules, 72;
tears out his eyes, 72;
is a dangerous child, 170;
cheered in his last hours by Antigone, 493;
a personification of the Sun, 493.
Offerings (Votive) made to the Heathen
deities, 259.
Olympus, the, of the Pagans, restored, 398.
O. M., or A. U. M., a sacred name among the
Hindoos, 372;
an emblem of the Trinity, 352.
Omphale, the amours of Hercules with, 71.
One, the myths of the crucified gods melt
into, 492.
One God, worshiped by the ancestors of our
race, 384.
Only Begotten Son, common before the
Christian era, 193.
Oort, Prof., on the sacred laws of ancient
nations, 61.
Ophites, the, worshiped serpents as emblems
of Christ, 355.
Orders, religious among all nations of
antiquity, 400-404.
Origen, declared the story of creation and
fall of man to be allegorical, 100.
Original Sin, the doctrine of, of great
antiquity, 184;
the Indians no strangers to, 189.
Ormuzd, the Supreme God of the Persians, 7;
divided the work of creation into six parts,
7.
Orontes, the river, divided by Bacchus, 81.
Osiris, confined in a chest and thrown into
the Nile, 90;
[Pg 583]a Virgin-born God, 190;
suffers death, 190;
rose from the dead, 222;
the judge of the dead, 245;
performed miracles, 256;
the worship of, of great antiquity, 452;
a personification of the Sun, 484.
Oude, the crucified God Bal-li worshiped at,
188.
Ovid, describes the doctrine of
Metempsychosis, 43.
P.
Pagan Religion, the, adopted by the Christians,
384;
was typical of Christianity, 501.
Pan, had a flute of seven pipes, 81.
Pandora, the first woman, in Grecian
mythology, 10.
Pantheon, the, a niche always ready in, of
the ancients, for a new divinity,
123.
Paraclete, Simon Magus claimed to be the,
164.
Paradise, all nations believed in a, 389,
390.
Parsees, the, direct descendants of the
Persians, 25;
say that man was once destroyed by a deluge,
25.
Parnassus, Mount, the ark of Deucalion rested
on, 26.
Parthenon, the, at Athens, sacred to Minerva,
333.
Passover, the, celebrated by the Jews on the
same day that the Heathens
celebrated the resurrections of their Gods,
226;
the Jews used eggs in the feast of, 228.
Patriarchs, the, all stories of, unhistorical,
54.
Paul, St., a minister of the Gospel which had
been preached to every creature
under heaven, 514.
Pentateuch, the, never ascribed to Moses in
the inscriptions of Hebrew
manuscripts, 92;
ascribed to Moses after the Babylonian
captivity, 92;
origin of, 93, 96.
Perictione, a Virgin mother, 127.
Perseus, shut up in a chest, and cast into
the sea, 89;
the son of Jupiter by the Virgin Danae, 124;
a temple erected to him in Athens, 124;
a dangerous child, 169.
Persia, pre-Christian crosses found in, 343,
344.
Persians, the, denominate the first man
Adama, 7;
had a legend of creation corresponding with
the Hebrew, 8;
had a legend of the war in heaven, 387.
Peru, crosses found in, 349;
worship of a Trinity found in, 378.
Peruvians, the, adored the cross, 349;
worshiped a Trinity, 378.
Peter, St., has the keys of Janus, 399.
Phallic tree, the, is introduced into the
narrative in Genesis, 47.
Phallic worship, the story of Jacob setting
up a pillar alludes to, 46;
practiced by the nations of antiquity, 46,
47.
Phallic Emblems, in Christian churches, 358.
Phallus, the, a "Hermes," set up on
the road-side, was the symbol of, 46.
Pamphylian Sea, the, divided by Alexander,
55.
Pharaoh, his dreams, 88;
parallel to, 89.
Phenician deity, the principal, was El, 484.
Philo, considered the fictions of Genesis
allegories, 100;
says nothing about Jesus, or the Christians,
564.
Philosophers, the, of ancient Greece, called
Christians, 409.
Philosophy, the Christian religion called a,
567.
Phśdrus, the river, dried up by Isis, 55.
Phśnicians, the, offered the fairest of their
children to the gods, 41.
Phśnix, the, lived 600 years, 426.
Phrygians, the, worshiped the god Atys, 190.
Pilate, pillaged the temple treasury, 521;
crucified Jesus, 526.
Pillars of Hercules, the, 79.
Pious Frauds, 231.
Pisces, the sign of, applied to Christ Jesus,
355-504.
Plato, believed to have been the son of a
pure virgin, 127.
Platonists, the, believed in a Trinity, 375.
[Pg 584]Pole, or Pillar, a, worshiped by the
ancients, 46, 47.
Polynesian Mythology, in, a fish is
emblematic of the earth, 80.
Pontius Pilate (see Pilate).
Poo-ta-la, the name of a Buddhist monastery
found in China, 401.
Pope, the, thrusts out his foot to be kissed
as the Roman Emperors were in the
habit of doing, 400.
Portuguese, the, call the mountain in Ceylon,
Pico d' Adama, 13.
Porus, the troops of, carried on their
standards the figure of a man, 198.
Prayers, for the dead, made by Buddhist
priests, 401.
Priests, the Buddhist, have fasting, prayers
for the dead, holy water,
rosaries of beads, the worship of relics, and
a monastic habit resembling the
Franciscans, 401.
Priestesses, among the ancients, similar to
the modern nuns, 403, 404.
Primeval male, the, offered himself a
sacrifice for the gods, 181.
Prithivi, the Earth worshiped under the name
of, by the Hindoos, 477.
Prometheus, a deity who united the divine and
human nature in one person, 124;
a crucified Saviour, 192;
an earthquake happened at the time of the
death of, 207;
the story of the crucifixion of, allegorical,
484;
a title of the Sun, 484.
Prophet, the, of the Beatitudes, does but
repeat the words of others, 526.
Protogenia, mother of Aethlius, 125.
Ptolemy (Soter), believed to have been of
divine origin, 127.
Puranas, the, 451.
Purgatory, the doctrine of, of pre-Christian
origin, 389.
Purim, the feast of, 44;
the book of Esther written for the purpose of
describing, 44.
Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion, 26;
was saved from the Deluge by entering an ark
with her husband, 26.
Pythagoras, taught that souls dwelt in the
Galaxy, 45;
had divine honors paid to him, 128;
his mother impregnated through a spectre,
128.
Q.
Quetzalcoatle, the Virgin-born Saviour, 129;
was tempted and fasted, 178;
was crucified, 199;
rose from the dead, 225;
will come again, 239;
is a personification of the Sun, 489.
Queen of Heaven, the, was worshiped by all
nations of antiquity before the
Christian era, 326-336.
Quirinius, a name of Romulus, 126;
educated among shepherds, 208;
torn to pieces at his death, 208;
ascended into heaven, 208;
the Sun darkened at his death, 208.
R.
Râ, the Egyptian God, born from the side of
his mother, 122.
Raam-ses, king of Egypt, 123;
means "Son of the Sun," 123.
Rabbis, the, taught the allegorical
interpretation of Scripture, 100;
performed miracles, 267;
taught the mystery of the Trinity, 376.
Rakshasas, the, of our Aryan ancestors, the
originals of all giants, ogres or
demons, 19;
are personifications of the dark clouds, 19;
fought desperate battles with Indrea, and his
spirits of light, 387.
Ram or Lamb, the, used as a symbol of Christ
Jesus, 202;
a symbol of the Sun, 503, 504.
Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, 143;
a star at his birth, 143;
is hailed by aged saints, 152.
Rayme, a Mexican festival held in the month
of, answering to our Christmas
celebration, 366.
Rays of glory, surround the heads of all the
Gods, 505.
Real Presence, the, in the Eucharist,
borrowed from Paganism, 305-312.
Red Riding-Hood, the story of, explained, 80.
Red Sea, the, divided by Moses, 50;
divided by Bacchus, 51.
Religion, the, of Paganism, compared with
Christianity, 384.
Religions, the, of all nations, formerly a
worship of the sun, moon, stars and
elements, 544.
[Pg 585]Resurrection, the, of Jesus, 215;
parallels to, 216, 226.
Rhea-Sylvia, the Virgin mother of Romulus,
126.
Rivers, divided by the command of Bacchus,
51.
Rivers (sacred), 318.
Romans, the, deified their emperors, 125.
Rome, the Pantheon of, dedicated to
"Jove and all the Gods," and reconsecrated
to "the Mother of God and all the
Saints," 396.
Romulus, son of the Virgin Rhea-Sylvia, 126;
called Quirinius, 126;
a dangerous child, 172;
put to death, 308;
the sun darkened at time of his death, 208.
Rosary, the Buddhist priests count their
prayers with a, 401;
found on an ancient medal of the Phenicians,
504.
Rose, the, of Sharon, Jesus called, 487.
Rosicrucians, the, jewel of, a crucified
rose, 487.
Ruffinus, the "Apostles' creed"
first known in the days of, 385.
Russia, adherents of the old religion of,
persecuted, 444.
S.
Sabbath, the, kept holy by the ancients, 392,
393.
Sacrament, the, of the Lord's Supper
instituted many centuries before the
Christian era, 305-312.
Sacred Books, among heathen nations, 61.
Sacred Heart, the, a great mystery among the
ancients, 404.
Sacrifices, or offerings to the Gods, at one
time, almost universal, 40, 41;
human, for atonement, was general, 182.
Saints, the, of the Christians, are Pagan
Gods worshiped under other names,
398, 399.
Sais, the "Feast of Lamps," held
at, 392.
Saktideva, swallowed by a fish and came out
unhurt, 77.
Sakya-Muni, a name of Buddha, 300.
Salivahana, the ancient inhabitants of Cape
Comorin worshiped a Virgin-born
Saviour called, 118, 119.
Salvation, from the death of another, of
great antiquity, 181;
by faith, existed among the Hindoos, 184.
Sammael, the proper name of Satan according
to the Talmud, 386.
Samothracian mysteries, in the Heaven and
Earth were worshiped, 479.
Samson, his exploits, 62-66;
compared with Hercules, 60-70;
a solar god, 71-73.
Satan, the proper name of, is Sammael, 386;
a personification of storm-clouds and darkness,
482.
Saturday, or the seventh day, kept holy by
the ancients, 393.
Saturn, worshiped by the ancients, 393.
Saturnalia, the, of the ancient Romans, 365.
Satyavrata, saved from the deluge in an ark,
according to the Hindoo legend,
24,25.
Scandinavians, the, worshiped a
"Beneficent Saviour," called Baldur, 129;
the heaven of, described, 390;
consecrated one day in the week to Odin, 393;
worshiped Frey, the deity of the Sun, 489.
Scriptures, the, of the Essenes, the ground
work of the gospels, 443-460.
Seb, a personification of the Earth, 477.
Second Coming, the, of Jesus, 233;
of Vishnu, 236;
of Buddha, 237;
of Bacchus, 238;
of Kalewipoeg, 238;
of Arthur, 238;
of Quetzalcoatle, 239.
Seed of the Woman, the, bruised the head of
the Serpent, according to the
mythology of all nations, 482.
Semele, the mother of Bacchus, 124
Semi-ramis, the Supreme Dove crucified, 486.
Senators, the Cardinals of Roman Christianity
wear the robes once worn by
Romans,
400.
Serapis, the god, worshiped in Alexandria in
Egypt, 342;
a cross found in the temple of, 342.
Serpent, the, seduced the first woman, 3;
in Eden, an Aryan story, 99;
an emblem of Christ Jesus, 355;
Moses set up, as an object of worship, 355;
[Pg 586]worshiped by the Christians, 355;
symbolized the Sun, 490;
called the Word, or Divine Wisdom, 490.
Seven, the number, sacred among all nations
of antiquity, 31.
Seventh-day, the, kept sacred by the
ancients, 392, 393.
Seventy-two, Confucius had, disciples, 121.
"Shams-on," the Sun in Arabic, 73.
Sharon, the Rose of, Jesus called, 486.
Shepherds, the infant Jesus worshiped by,
150.
Shoo-king, the, a sacred book of the Chinese,
25;
speaks of the deluge, 25.
Siamese, the, had a virgin-born god, 118.
Simon Magus, believed to be a god, 129;
his picture placed among the gods in Rome,
129;
professed to be the "Word of God,"
the "Paraclete," or "Comforter," 164;
performed great miracles, 125.
Sin-Bearer, the, Bacchus called, 193.
Sin, Original, the doctrine of, believed in
by Heathen nations, 181, 184.
Siva, the third god in the Hindoo Trinity,
369;
the Hindoos held a festival in honor of, 392.
Skylla delivers Nisos into the power of his
enemies, 72;
a Solar Myth, 72.
Slaughter, the, of the innocents at the time
of Jesus, 165;
parallels to, 166-172.
Sochiquetzal, mother of Quetzalcoatle, 129;
a Virgin Mother, 129;
called the "Queen of Heaven," 129.
Socrates, visited at his birth by Wise Men,
and presented with gifts, 152.
Sol, crucified in the heavens, 484.
Soma, a god of the Hindoos, 306;
gave his body and blood to man, 306.
Sommona Codom (see Codom).
Son of a Star (see Bar-Cochba).
Son of God, the Heathen worshiped a mediating
deity who had the title of,
111-129.
Son of the Sun, the name Raam-ses means, 123.
"Sons of Heaven," the virgin-born
men of China called, 122.
Song, the, of the Heavenly Host, 147;
parallels to, 148-150.
Soul, the, immortality of, believed in by
nations of antiquity, 385.
Sosiosh, the virgin-born Messiah, 146;
yet to come, 146.
Space, crucifixion in, 488.
Spanish monks, the first, who went to Mexico
were surprised to find the
crucifix there, 199.
Spirit, the Hebrew word for, of feminine
gender, 134.
Standards, the, of the ancient Romans, wore
crosses gilt and beautiful, 345.
Star, the, of Bethlehem, 140;
parallels to, 142-145.
Staurobates, the King by whom Semiramis was
overpowered, 486.
Stone pillars, set up by the Hebrews were
emblems of the Phallus, 46.
"Strong Rama," the, of the Hindoos,
a counterpart of Samson, 73.
Suddho-dana, the dreams of, compared with
Pharaoh's two dreams, 88.
Sun, the, nearly all the Pagan deities were
personifications of, 467;
Christ Jesus said to have been born on the
birth-day of, 473;
Christ Jesus a personification of, 500;
universally worshiped, 507.
Sun-day, a pagan holiday adopted by the
Christians, 394-396.
Sun-gods, Samson and Hercules are, 71-73.
Sun-myth, the, added to the histories of
Jesus of Nazareth, Buddha, Cyrus,
Alexandria and others, 506.
Sweden, the famous temple at Upsal in,
dedicated to a triune deity, 377.
Symbolical, the history of the gods, 466.
Synoptic Gospels, the discrepancies between
the fourth and the, numerous, 457.
T.
Tacitus, the allusion to Jesus in, a forgery,
566-568.
Tables of Stone, the, of Moses, 58;
of Bacchus, 59.
Talmud, the books containing Jewish
tradition, 95;
in the, Jesus is called the "hanged
one," 516.
Tammuz, the Saviour, after being put to
death, rose from the dead, 217;
[Pg 587]worshiped in the temple of the Lord
at Jerusalem, 222.
Tanga-tanga, the "Three in One, and One
in Three," or the Trinity of the
ancient Peruvians, 378.
Tao, the "one god" supreme,
worshiped by Lao-Kiun, the Chinese sage, 120.
Tao-tse, the, or "Sect of Reason,"
formed by Lao-Kiun, 120.
Tau, the cross, worshiped by the Egyptians,
341.
Temples, all the oldest were in caves, 286.
Temptation, the, of Jesus, 175;
of Buddha, 176;
of Zoroaster, 177;
of Quetzalcoatle, 177;
meaning of, 482.
Temples, Pagan, changed into Christian
churches, 396, 397.
Ten Commandments, the, of Moses, 59;
of Buddha, 59.
Ten, the, Zodiac gods of the Chaldeans, 102.
Tenth, the, Xisuthrus, King of the Chaldeans,
23;
Noah, patriarch, 23.
Tezcatlipoca, the Supreme God of the
Mexicans, 60.
Testament, the New, written many years later
than generally supposed, 454.
Therapeutć, the, and Essenes the same, 423.
Thor, a Scandinavian god, 75;
considered the "Defender" and
"Avenger," 75;
the Hercules of the Northern nations, 76;
the Sun personified, 76;
compared with David, 90, 91;
the son of Odin, 129.
Thoth, the deity itself, speaks and reveals
to his elect among men the will of
God, 60.
Thibet, the religion of, similar to
Christianity, 400.
Three, a sacred number among all nations of
antiquity, 368-378.
Thursday, sacred to the Scandinavian god,
Thor, 32.
Tibet, the religion of, similar to Roman
Christianity, 400.
Tien, the name of the Supreme Power among the
Chinese, 476.
Titans, the, struggled against Jupiter, 388.
Tombs, the, of persons who never lived in the
flesh were to be seen at
different places, 510.
Tower, the, of Babel, 33;
parallels to, 35-37;
story of, borrowed from Chaldean sources,
102;
nowhere alluded to outside of Genesis, 103.
Transmigration of Souls, the, represented on
Egyptian sculptures, 45;
taught by all nations of antiquity, 42-45.
Transubstantiation, the Heathen doctrine of,
became a tenet of the Christian
faith, 313, 314.
Tree, the, of Knowledge, 2, 3;
parallels to, 3-16;
a Phallic tree, 101;
Zoroaster hung upon the, 195.
Trefoil, the, a sacred plant among the Druids
of Britain, 353.
Trimurti, the, of the Hindoos, 369;
the same as the Christian Trinity, 369, 370.
Trinity, the, doctrine of, the most
mysterious of the Christian church, 368;
adored by the Brahmins of India, 369;
the inhabitants of China and Japan, 371;
the Egyptians, 373;
and many other nations of antiquity, 373-378;
can be explained by allegory only, 561.
Twelve, the number which applies to the
twelve signs of the Zodiac, to be
found in all religions of antiquity, 498.
Twins, the Mexican Eve the mother of, 15.
Types of Christ Jesus, Crishna, Buddha,
Bacchus, Hercules, Adonis, Osiris,
Horus, &c., all of them were, 408;
all the sun-gods of Paganism were, 500.
Typhon, the destroying principle in the
Egyptian Trinity, corresponding to the
Siva of the Hindoos, 561.
U.
Upright Emblem, the, or the
"Ashera," stood in the temple at Jerusalem, 47.
Uriel, the angel, borrowed from Chaldean
sources, 109.
Ushas, the flame-red chariot of, compared to
the fiery chariot of Elijah, 90.
Utsthala, the island of, 78.
[Pg 588]V.
Valentine, St., formerly the Scandinavian god
Vila, 399.
Valhalla, the Scandinavian Paradise, 390.
Vasudeva, a name of Crishna, 114.
Vedas, the, antiquity of, 450.
Vedic Poems, the, show the origin and growth
of Greek and Teutonic mythology,
468.
Venus, the Dove was sacred to the goddess,
357.
Vernal equinox, the, festivals held at the
time of, by the nations of
antiquity, 392.
Vespasian, the Miracles of, 268, 269.
Vestal Virgins, the, were bound by a solemn
vow to preserve their chastity for
a space of thirty years, 403.
Vicar of God on Earth, the Grand Lama of the
Tartars considered to be the,
118.
Vila, the god, of the Scandinavians, changed
to St. Valentine, 399.
Virgin, the worship of a, before the
Christian era, 326.
Virgo, the, of the Zodiac personified as a
Virgin Mother.
Vishnu, appeared as a fish, at the time of
the Deluge, 25;
the mediating or preserving God in the Hindoo
Trinity, 369.
Votan, of Guatemala, 130.
Votive offerings, given by the Heathen to
their gods, and now practiced by the
Christians, 258, 259.
Vows of Chastity, taken by the males and
females who entered Pagan
monasteries, 402, 403.
W.
War in Heaven, the, believed in by the
principal nations of antiquity, 368.
Wasi, the priest and law-giver of the
Cherokees, 130.
Water, purification from sin by, a Pagan
ceremony, 317-323.
Wednesday, Woden's or Odin's day, 393.
Welsh, the, as late as the seventeenth
century, during eclipses, ran about
beating kettles and pans, 536.
West, the sun-gods die in the, 493.
Wisdom, Ganesa the god of, 117.
Wise Men, worshiped the infant Jesus, 150;
worshiped the infant Crishna, 151;
worshiped the infant Buddha, 151;
and others, 151, 152.
Wittoba, the god, crucified, 185.
Wodin, or Odin, the supreme god of the
Scandinavians, 393.
Wolf, the, an emblem of the Destroying power,
80.
Word, or Logos, the, of John's Gospel, of
Pagan origin, 374.
World, the, destroy by a deluge, whenever all
the planets met in the sign of
Capricorn, 103.
X.
Xaca, born of a Virgin, 119.
Xelhua, one of the seven giants rescued from
the flood, 37.
Xerxes, the god of, is the devil of to-day,
391;
the Zend-avesta older than the inscriptions
of, 452.
Xisuthrus, the deluge happened in the days
of, 22;
was the tenth King of the Chaldeans, 23;
had three sons, 23;
was translated to heaven, 90.
X-P, the, was formerly a monogram of the
Egyptian Saviour Osiris, but now the
monogram of Christ Jesus, 350.
Y.
Yadu, Vishnu became incarnate in the House
of, 113.
Yao, or Jao, a sacred name, 49.
Yan-hwuy, the favorite disciples of
Confucius, 121.
Yar, the angel, borrowed from Chaldean
sources, 109.
Yen-she, the mother of Confucius, 121.
Y-ha-ho, a name esteemed sacred among the Egyptians,
48;
the same as Jehovah, 48.
Yezua, the name Jesus is pronounced in
Hebrew, 196.
Yoni, the, attached to the head of the
crucified Crishna, 185;
symbolized nature, 496.
Yôsęr, the term (Creator) first brought into
use by the prophets of the
Captivity, 99.
[Pg 589]Yu, a virgin-born Chinese sage, 120.
Yucatan, the Mayas of, worshiped a
virgin-born god, 130;
crosses found in, 201.
Yule, the old name for Christmas, 365.
Yumna, the river, divided by Crishna, 57.
Z.
Zama, the only-begotten Son of the Supreme
God, according to the Mayas of
Yucatan, 130.
Zarathustra (see Zoroaster).
Zend-Avesta, the sacred writings of the
Parsees, 7;
signifies the "Living Word," 59;
older than the cuneiform inscriptions of
Cyrus, 452.
Zephyrinus, the truth corrupted by, 135.
Zeru-akerene, the Supreme God of the
Persians, 245.
Zerubabel, supposed to be the Messiah, 432.
Zeupater, the Dyaus-pitar of Asia, became
the, of the Greeks, 477.
Zeus, the Supreme God of the Greeks, 477;
visited Danae in a golden shower, 481.
Zome, a supernatural being worshiped in
Brazil, 130.
Zoroaster, the Law giver of the Persians, 59;
receives the "Book of the Law" from
Ormuzd, 59;
the Son of Ormuzd, 123;
a dangerous child, 169;
a "Divine Messenger," 194;
the "First-born of the Eternal
One," 195;
performed miracles, 256;
the religion of the Persians established by,
451.
TRANSCRIBER'S
NOTES
Pages vi,
xxiv, 110, and 532 are blank in the original.
The
abbreviations B. C. and A. D. have been spaced throughout the text for
consistency.
The anchors
for footnotes [44:3] and [112:2] are missing in the original and
have been
added by the Transcriber.
Footnote
[288:5] reads as follows: "Williams' Hinduism, pp. 119-110." The page
references
are in error, but Transcriber has left the note as printed.
Some of the
words in Footnote [560:2] are cut off in the page scan. Unclear
words have
been extrapolated from context.
Footnote
[564:5] is printed "John, Bishop of Constantinople, who died".
Whatever
text is
intended to follow is missing from the original. Transcriber has added
an ellipsis
to indicate missing text.
In Chapter
XXXIX., there are two consecutive sections numbered 6. They have been
left as in
the original.
6. _He was
born in a Cave._
6. _He was
ordered to be put to death._
The following
corrections have been made to the text:
Page xii,
under Bell (J.): in 2 vols. London: J. Bell, 1790.[period missing in
original]
Page xii,
under Blavatsky (H. P.): by H. P. Blavatsky,[original has period] in 2
vols.
Page xv,
under Hardy (R. S.): A Manual of Buddhism in its Modern
Development.[period
missing in original]
Page xvi,
under Higgins (Godfrey): London: Longman, Rees,[comma missing in
original] Orne,
Brown & Longman.
Page xviii,
under Lillie (Arthur): London: Trübner[original has Trubner] & Co.
Pave xviii,
under Mary (Apoc.): The Gospel of the Birth of Mary, attributed to
St.
Matthew.[original has comma]
Page xviii,
under Maurice (Thomas): compared with those of Persia,
Egypt[original
has Egyp-]
Page xviii,
under Montfaucon (B.): Second edit.[period missing in original]
Paris: 1722.
Page xxii,
under Taylor (Robert): Evidences, and Early History of
Christianity[original
has Chiristianity]
Page xxii,
under Taylor (Robert): Boston:[original has semi-colon] J. P. Mendum,
1876.
Page xxiii:
Beausobre's[original has Beausobres'] Histoire Critique de Manichée
et du
Manicheisme
Page xxiii:
Sir John Malcolm's[original has Malcom's] History of Persia
Page 3:
closed up the flesh instead thereof."[closing quotation mark missing in
original]
Page 10: it
was in a gentle slumber."[closing quotation mark missing in
original]
Page 11: the
power of the resurrection."[closing quotation mark missing in
original]
Page 23: in
his "Ancient Fragments," the[original has "The] history
Page 32:
Agni, the[original has the the] Hindoo god
Page 52:
"[quotation mark missing in original]The whole multitude of the people
Page 66:
Chambers's Encyclopćdia[original has Encylopćdia]
Page 82: this
founder of civilization[original has cizilization] has a Solar
character
Page 89: as
Pharaoh's[original has Pharoah's] daughter did with the child
Page 107:
"[original has single quote]The student of Pagan religion
Page 102:
Xisuthrus[original has Xisthrus] (who is the Chaldean hero)
Page 109:
(Joel,[original has period] iii. 6)
Page 141:
birth of great men[original has greatmen], such as Abraham
Page 146:
mankind by persuading[original has pursuading] them to eat
Page 149:
apocryphal Gospel called "[quotation mark missing in
original]Protevangelion"
Page 176:
applied himself to practice asceticism[original has ascetcism]
Page 181:
folly it is to expect salvation[original has savlation]
Page 182:
temple of the Laphystian[original has Laphystan] Jupiter
Page 245: who
appear before him as the judge.[original has extraneous quotation
mark]
Page 247: all
things were created by him."[original has single quote]
Page 282:
Jesus was pierced with a spear.[282:4][period and footnote anchor
missing in
original]
Page 283: 36.
"[quotation mark missing in original]And after six days
Page 284: fix
his heart and thoughts on God alone."[closing quotation mark
missing in
original]
Page 287:
Aristotle[original has Aristote] a picker-up of ethics
Page 298: [original
has extraneous quotation mark]Well authenticated records
establish
Page 299:
"[quotation mark missing in original]When the time came
Page 300:
Gautama Buddha taught that all men are brothers;[semi-colon missing in
original]
Page 301:
before the practice of shaving the head[original has dead]
Page 302:
"[quotation mark missing in original]We know that the Fo-pen-hing was
translated
Page 302:
"[quotation mark missing in original]These Gâthas were evidently
composed
Page 302:
"[quotation mark missing in original]It would be a natural inference
Page 303:
around the idea of a Chakravarti[original has Chakrawarti]
Page 308:
"[quotation mark missing in original]For you either know, or can know
Page 312: the
flesh and bones of Vitziliputzli[original has Vitzilipuzlti]
Page 313: It
suggests itself to our mind that[original has that that] this style
Page 321: he
saw some one undergoing baptism by aspersion.[original has
extraneous
colon]
Page 322:
blessing from the Saviour Quetzalcoatle[original has Quetzacoatle]
Page 330:
worshiped a Virgin Mother and Son,[original has period] who was
represented
Page 334:
title of "Queen of Heaven."[closing quotation mark missing in
original]
Page 340: It
is placed by Müller[original has Muller]
Page 342: it
is the hieroglyph[original has hierogylph] of goodness
Page 343:
also the symbol[original has symobl] of the Babylonian god Bal
Page 351: I.
E. E. S.[period missing in original], was a monogram of Bacchus
Page 393: no
work should be undertaken."[quotation mark missing in original]
Page 399:
Thames River god officiates[original has officates] at the baptism
Page 405:
Cardinal Baronius[original has Baronias]
Page 405:
emblems of either the Linga[original has Lingha] or Yoni
Page 407:
"[quotation mark missing in original]To the emperor,—a mere worldling
Page 416:
unruly evil, full of deadly poison."[quotation mark missing in
original]
Page 443:
Whose judgment stronger grows, acts always right."[closing quotation
mark missing
in original]
Page 447:
crowds which usually[original has unsually] fill the apartments
Page 449:
doubt was that Sopater the philosopher[original has philospher]
Page 459: for
there[original has their] being four Gospels
Page 460: may
be found to-day[original has to day] in our canonical New
Testament
Page 464:
concerning the genuineness[original has genuiness] of writings
Page 467: the
light approaches.'[single quote missing in original]"
Page 479:
birth of the god Sol, the beneficent[original has benificent] Saviour
Page 487:
crucified in the heavens for the salvation of man."[quotation mark
missing in
original]
Page 507:
Thus under a varied appellation[original has appelation]
Page 510: Did
not Damus[original has Damis], the beloved disciple of Apollonius
Page 512:
"[quotation mark missing in original]For many deceivers are entered
Page 535:
[original has extraneous quotation mark]In the mythology of Finns
Page 538: the
Hiong-nu, and the Japanese?"[quotation mark missing in original]
Page 540:
"[quotation mark missing in original]The Tunguse, Mongolians, and a
great part
Page 540:
"[quotation mark missing in original]It is very certain that thousands
Page 552: Max
Müller, the[original has The] Rev. George W. Cox
Page 557:
most widely known[original has extraneous comma] characters
Page 559:
Hephćstos[original has Hesphćstos] as the young, not yet risen Sun
Page 564: our
Christian ancestors before Eusebius[original has Esuebius]
Page 569:
Ćolus[original has Ćolis]
Page 570,
under Ascension: of Zoroaster, 216[comma and page number missing in
original]
Page 570,
Atonement: the doctrine of,[comma missing in original] taught before
the time
Page 571,
under Black God: the, crucified, 201.[original has comma]
Page 572,
under Carnutes: the, of Gaul, 198;[original has comma] the Lamb of,
199.
Page 572,
under Christ (Jesus): not identical with the historical Jesus,
506.[period
missing in original]
Page 573,
under Claudius: Roman Emperor, 126;[original has comma] considered
divine, 126.
Page 573,
under Conception: of Fo-hi[hyphen missing in original], 119
Page 575,
under Eclipse: of Julius Cćsar,[comma missing in original] 207
Page 575,
under Essenes: and the Therapeutć[original has Therapeute]
Page 575,
under Females: fasted forty days before marriage, 179.[original has
semi-colon]
Page 576,
under Germans: under the name of Hertha, 334,[original has hyphen] 477
Page 577:
Hâu-Ki[original has Han-Ki]
Page 578,
Iönah: Juno[original has Juna], suspended in space
Page 579,
under John the Baptist: the day of the Summer[original has Sumner]
Solstice
Page 579:
under Judge of the Dead, Aeacus[original has Ćeacus]
Page 580,
under March 25th: honor of the Christian[original has Christain]
Virgin
Page 581,
under Messiahs: time of Jesus, 196,[original has semi-colon] 519
Page 582:
Nebuchadnezzar[original has Nebuchadonazar]
Page 582:
Nutar[original has Nuter] Nutra
Page 583,
under Parthenon, the, at Athens[original has Atheas]
Page 584,
under Portuguese: mountain in Ceylon, Pico[original has Peco] d' Adama
Page 584:
under Protogenia, mother of Aethlius[original has Ćthlius]
Page 584,
under Râ: born from the side of his mother[original has mothe.]
Page 584:
Raam-ses[original has Raam-sees]
Page 585:
Rosicrucians[original has Rosi-crucians]
Page 585,
under Scandinavians, Beneficent[original has Benificent] Saviour
Page 585,
under Second Coming: of Kalewipoeg[original has Kalewipeog]
Page 586,
under Simon Magus: professed to be the "Word of God,[original has
semi-colon]"
the "Paraclete," or "Comforter," 164
Page 586,
under Tacitus, the allusion to Jesus in, a forgery, 566-568.[page
number
references missing in original]
Page 587,
under Tao-tse: formed by Lao-Kiun[original has Lao-Kuin]
Page 588:
under Yadu: Vishnu[original has Vishna] became incarnate in the House
of, 113
Page 589:
Zarathustra[original has Zarathrustra] (see Zoroaster).
Page 589,
under Zend-Avesta, signifies the "Living Word,[original has
semi-colon]"
59
Page 589:
Zerubabel[original has Zeru-babel]
Page 589,
under Zeupater[original has Zeu-pater]: the Dyaus-pitar [original has
Dyans-pitar]
of Asia
Footnote
[23:6] Bhat, Maha and Thamaz.[original has extraneous quotation mark]
Footnote
[28:1] the Deluge of Noah and Xisuthrus[original has Xisuthus]
Footnote
[45:5] Indian Antiquities[original has Antiqities]
Footnote
[45:8] See Child's Prog.[period missing in original] Relig. Ideas
Footnote
[46:4] vol.[original has extraneous comma] i. pp. 175, 276.
Footnote
[70:4] See Chambers's Encyclopćdia, Art.[period missing in original]
"Hercules."
Footnote
[80:2] En Gallois Jon, le Seigneur[original has Seignenr], Dieu, la
cause
prémičre.
Footnote
[82:7] (Rev. S. Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 367.)[closing
parenthesis
missing in original]
Footnote
[92:5] vol. ii. ch. v. and vi.)[closing parenthesis missing in
original]
Footnote
[98:1] by the Rev. Dr. Giles, 2[original has extraneous period] vols.
Footnote
[98:1] "The Bible for Learners" (vols. i. and ii.), by Prof.
Oort[original
has Oot]
Footnote
[101:2] See Westropp[original has Westopp] & Wakes, "Phallic
Worship."
Footnote
[119:1] See Asiatic[original has Asiastic] Res., vol. x.
Footnote
[134:3] to which[original has Which] the reader is referred.
Footnote
[167:2] Anacalypsis, vol. i. 130, 13-,[dash represents a digit missing
in
original—original also has period instead of comma]
Footnote
[177:2] Chambers's Encyclo.[original has Enclyclo.] art. "Zoroaster."
Footnote
[183:2] redeeming love, pays it all."[original has single quote]
Footnote
[192:3] See Ćschylus' "Prometheus Chained.[original has comma]"
Footnote
[195:2] Malcolm[original has Malcom]: Hist. Persia, vol. i.
Footnote
[199:3] Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship.)[closing parenthesis
missing in
original]
Footnote
[229:1] receive the reward (of heaven)."[quotation mark missing in
original]
Footnote
[249:1] "[quotation mark missing in original]In the beginning was the
WORD
Footnote
[251:2] Prog. Relig. Ideas,[original has period] ii. p. 267.
Footnote
[271:2] Contra Celsus[original has Celus], bk. 1, ch. lxviii.[period
missing in
original]
Footnote
[281:11] Matt. xxvi. 6-7[hyphen missing in original].
Footnote
[283:13] the second member of the Tri-mūrti[original has
Tri-mūtri]
Footnote
[284:17] Quoted from Williams' Hinduism,[comma missing in original] pp.
217-219.
Footnote
[293:2] See Bunsen's[original has Bünsen's] Angel-Messiah
Footnote
[308:5] "[quotation mark missing in original]De Tinctione, de oblatione
panis
Footnote
[319:5] (Aug.[original has comma] Temp. Ser. ci.)
Footnote
[319:7] stipatum me religiosa cohorte,[original has period] deducit ad
proximas
balucas
Footnote
[321:4]
De-lŕ-vint[original has De-la-vint]
de l'Ilissus[original has l'ilissus] le
candidat
et l'eau de la[original has lar] mer
le couronnoit[original has couronoit] de
fleurs
le plongeoit[original has pongeoit] dans le
fleuve[original has fleure]
Footnote [328:4]
pp. 47, 48,[comma missing in original] and Higgins' Anacalypsis
Footnote
[332:6] Fergusson's[original has Ferguson's] Tree and Serpent Worship
Footnote
[332:9] Stuckley: Pal. Sac. No. 1,[comma missing in original] p. 34
Footnote
[338:2] In Montfaucon[original has Montefaucon], vol. i. plate xcv.
Footnote
[342:4] See Colenso's Pentateuch Examined,[comma missing in original]
vol.
Footnote
[349:9] See Basnage[original has Basuage] (lib. iii. c. xxxiii.)
Footnote
[362:5] (Encyclopćdia Brit., art. "Christmas.")[closing parenthesis
missing in
original]
Footnote
[373:3]
Footnote
[376:4] Monumental Christianity, p. 65,[original has period] and
Ancient
Footnote
[392:2] See Prog.[period missing in original] Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p.
216.
Footnote
[393:1] (Dunlap's Spirit Hist., pp. 35, 36.)[closing parenthesis
missing in
original]
Footnote
[410:3] (Mosheim, vol. i. cent. 2, p. 202.)[closing parenthesis missing
in original]
Footnote
[419:1] (Smith's Bible Dictionary, art. "Alexandria.")[closing
parenthesis
missing in original]
Footnote
[420:4] John, xii.[original has comma] 6; xiii. 29.
Footnote
[423:4] indolent fraternities' of India."[original has single quote]
Footnote
[425:1] (Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. xvii.)[closing parenthesis
missing in
original]
Footnote
[435:2]
non-seulement[original has non-sulement] ne
disent pas ce qu'ils pensent
mais disent[original has desent] tout le
contraire
sachent bien[original has bein] que ce sont
des fables
ont fait brűler[original has bruler] de
saints personnages
que ce n'est[original has cen'est]
morceau de pain."[original has single
quote]
Footnote
[435:6] Giles' Hebrew and Christian Records,[comma missing in original]
vol. ii.
Footnote [478:1]
(Goldzhier, pp. 158[original has 158, 158]. Knight, pp. 99,
100.)
Footnote
[483:3] whole aggregate of existences."[quotation mark missing in
original]
Footnote
[486:3] three of[original has o] the mysteries
Footnote
[489:3] ([parenthesis missing in original]Quoted by Wake: Phallism,
&c., p.
43.)
Footnote
[505:3] over the shoulders of Bellerophon[original has Bellerphon]
Footnote
[507:2] are the celebrated
Footnote
[517:1] thinks that Josephus'[apostrophe missing in original] silence
on the
subject
Footnote
[529:3] in what sense does[original has dose] Christianity
Footnote
[535:3] See Fergusson's[original has
Worship
Footnote
[546:2] Williams'[apostrophe missing in original] Hinduism
Footnote
[547:2] P.[original has p.] 118.
Footnote
[562:4] Book iv.[period missing in original] ch. i. in Anac.
Footnote
[562:5] P.[original has p.] 6.
Footnote
[563:1] Müller's[original has Műller's] Chips, vol. ii. p. 260.
Footnote
[566:1] writers of antiquity, on account[original has acount] of
Either a
period has been added or a comma has been changed to a period after the
word
"Ibid" in the following footnotes: [36:9], [73:7], [74:8], [91:6],
[91:10],
[94:2],
[94:3], [94:6], [96:6], [99:1], [170:5], and [193:11].
Either a
period has been added or a comma has been changed to a period after the
word
"vol" in the following footnotes: [145:1], [215:6], [403:10],
[435:6],
[469:1], and
[505:3].
Either a
period has been added or a comma has been changed to a period after
"p"
or
"pp" in the following footnotes: [12:1], [145:1], and [478:1].
______________________
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Preface
Theosophy and the Masters General Principles
The Earth Chain Body and Astral Body Kama – Desire
Manas Of Reincarnation Reincarnation Continued
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