FRDM-THE-LIBRARYOF
TWNITYCOLLEGETORQNTO
PRESENTED A.D. .1.9.8.7.
Len Foster
4
s
BIBLE MYTHS
AND THEIR
PARALLELS IN OTHER RELIGIONS
BEING A COMPARISON OF THE
Old and New Testament Myths and Miracles
WITH
THOSE OF HEATHEN NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY
CONSIDERING ALSO
THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING
BY T. W. DOANE
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRA TIONS
FOURTH EDITION
*'ffe who knows only one religion knows none." — PROF. MAX MULLER.
"The same thing which is now called CHRISTIAN RELIGION existed among the
Ancients. They have begun to call Christian the true religion which existed be
fore." — ST. AUGUSTINE.
"Our love for what is old, our reverence for what our fathers used, makes us
keep still in the church, and on the very altar cloths, symbols which would excite
the smile of an Oriental, and lead him to wonder why we send missionaries to his
land, while cherishing his faith in ours."— JAMES BON WICK.
NEW YORK
THE COMMONWEALTH COMPANY
sS LAFAYETTE FLACK
r
COPYRIGHT,
BY J. W. BOUTON,
1882.
125145
SEP 2887
INTRODUCTION.
THE idea of publishing the work here presented did not sug
gest itself until a large portion of the material it contains had
been accumulated for the private use and personal gratification of
the author. In pursuing the study of the Bible Myths, facts per
taining thereto, in a condensed form, seemed to be greatly needed,
and nowhere to be found. Widely scattered through hundreds of
ancient and modern volumes, most of the contents of this book
may indeed be found ; but any previous attempt to trace exclusively
the myths and legends of the Old and New Testament to their
origin, published as a separate work, is not known to the writer
of this. Many able writers have shown our so-called Sacred Scrip
tures to be unhistorical, and have pronounced them largely legend
ary, but have there left the matter, evidently aware of the great
extent of the subject lying beyond. As Thomas Scott remarks,
in his English Life of Jesus : "How these narratives (i. e., the
New Testament narratives), unhistorical as they have been shown
to be, came into existence, it is not our business to explain ; and
once again, at the end of the task, as at the beginning and
throughout, we must emphatically disclaim the obligation." To
pursue the subject from the point at which it is abandoned by
this and many other distinguished writers, has been the labor of
the author of this volume for a number of years. The result of
[iiij
IV INTRODUCTION.
this labor is herewith submitted to the reader, but not without a
painful consciousness of its many imperfections.
The work naturally begins with the Eden myth, and is fol
lowed by a consideration of the principal Old Testament
legends, showing their universality, origin and meaning. Next
will be found the account of the birth of Christ Jesus, with his
history until the close of his life upon earth, showing, in con
nection therewith, the universality of the myth of the Virgin-
born, Crucified and Resurrected Saviour.
Before showing the origin and meaning of the myth (which
is done in Chapter XXXIX.), we have considered the Miracles
of Christ Jesus, the Eucharist, Baptism, the Worship of the
Virgin, Christian Symbols, the Birthday of Christ Jesus, the
Doctrine of the Trinity, Why Christianity Prospered, and the
Antiyuity of Pagan Religions, besides making a comparison of
the legendary histories of Cri-shna and Jesus, and Buddha and
Jesus. The concluding chapter relates to the question, What do
we really know about Jesus ?
In the words of Prof. Max Mliller (The Science of Re
ligion, p. 11) : "A comparison of all the religions of the world,
in which none can claim a privileged position, will no doubt
seem to many dangerous and reprehensible, because ignoring that
peculiar reverence which everybody, down to the mere fetish
worshiper, feels for his own religion, and for his own god. Let
me say, then, at once, that I myself have shared these misgivings,
but that I have tried to overcome them, because I would not and
could not allow myself to surrender either what I hold to be the
truth, or what I hold still dearer than truth, the right of testing
truth. Nor do I regret it. I do not say that the Science of Re
ligion is all gain. No, it entails losses, and losses of many
things which we hold dear. But this I will say, that, as far as
my humble judgment goes, it does not entail the loss of anything
that is essential to true religion, and that, if we strike the
balance honestly, the gain is immeasurably greater than the loss"
INTRODUCTION. V
" All truth is safe, and nothing else is safe ; and he who keeps
back the truth, or withholds it from men, from motives of expe
diency, is either a coward or a criminal, or both."
But little beyond the arrangement of this work is claimed as
original. Ideas, phrases, and even whole paragraphs have been
taken from the writings of others, and in most, if not in all cases,
acknowledged ; but with the thought in mind of the many hours
of research this book may save the student in this particular line
of study ; with the consciousness of having done for others that
which I would have been thankful to have found done for myself ;
and more than all, with the hope that it may in some way help to
hasten the day when the mist of superstition shall be dispelled by
the light of reason ; with all its defects, it is most cheerfully com
mitted to its fate by the author.
BOSTON, MASS., November, 1882.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
PAGE
iii
LIST OF AUTHORITIES, AND BOOKS QUOTED FROM ........................ xi
CHAPTER L
THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN ...................................... 1
CHAPTER IL
THE DELUGE ....................................................... 19
CHAPTER IIL
THE TOWER OF BABEL ............................................... 88
CHAPTER IV.
THE TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH ..................................... 88
CHAPTER V.
JACOB'S VISION OF THE LADDER. ...................................... 43
CHAPTER VI.
THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT ............................................ 48
CHAPTER VII.
RECEIVING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ................................... 68
CHAPTER Vni.
SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS ............................................ 62
vii
CONTENTS.
EUM
CHAPTER IX.
JONAH SWALLOWED BY A Bio FISH
CHAPTER X.
OlBCUMCISION ........................... ................. r • i ...... 85
CHAPTER XL
CONCLUSION or PART FIRST ....... ........................ - . .- ....... 88
PART II.
CHAPTER XII.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS Ill
CHAPTER XIIL
THE STAR OP BETHLEHEM 140
CHAPTER XIV.
THB SONG OF THE HEAVENLY HOST 147
CHAPTER XV.
THB DIVINE CHILD RECOGNIZED, AND PRESENTED WITH GIFTS 160
CHAPTER XVI.
THB BIRTH-PLACB OF CHRIST JESUS 154
CHAPTER XVII.
THB GENEALOGY OF CHRIST JESUS 160
CHAPTER XVIII.
THB SLAUGHTER OF THB INNOCENTS 165
CHAPTER XIX.
THB TEMPTATION, AND FAST OF FORTY DAYS , 175
CHAPTER XX.
THB CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS , 181
CHAPTER XXI.
THB DARKNESS AT THE CRUCIFIXION 206
CONTENTS. IX
CHAPTER XXII.
" HE DESCENDED INTO HELL." ........................................ 211
CHAPTER XXIIL
THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF CHRIST JESUS ..................... 215
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SECOND COMING OP CHRIST JESUS, AND THE MILLENNIUM .............. 288
CHAPTER XXV.
CHRIST JESUS AS JUDGE OF THE DEAD ................................. 244
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHRIST JESUS AS CREATOR, AND ALPHA AND OMEGA ...................... 247
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS, AND THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS. .......... 278
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHRIST CRISHNA AND CHRIST JESUS ...................... ............. 252
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHRIST BUDDHA AND CHRIST JESUS ................................... 289
CHAPTER
THE EUCHARIST OR LORD'S SUPPER .................................... 805
CHAPTER XXXI.
BAPTISM .......................................................... 81«
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE WORSHIP OP THE VIRGIN MOTHER. ............................... 828
CHAPTER XXXIIL
, CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS ............................................... 889
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE BIRTH-DAT OP CHRIST JESUS ...................................... 869
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE TRINITY.. . 868
X CONTENTS.
PA0B
CHAPTER XXXVL
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY 384
CHAPTER XXXVII.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED 419
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN RELIGIONS 450
CHAPTER XXXIX.
EXPLANATION , , , 466
CHAPTER XL.
CONCLUSION 608
APPENDIX . $$f
LIST
OF
AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED
THIS WORK.
ABBOTT (LYMAN) A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge, for Popular and
Professional Use ; comprising full information on Bibli
cal, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Subjects. Edited
by Rev. Lyman Abbott, assisted by Rev. T. J. Conant,
D. D. New York: Harper & Bros., 1880.
A COST A (Rjrv. JOSEPH Da). . . .The Natural and Moral History of the Indies, by Father
Joseph De Acosta. Translated by Edward Grimston.
London: 1604.
...The Poems of JEschylus. Translated by the Rev. R.
Potter, M. A. New York: Harper & Bros., 1836.
. . .India, Ancient and Modern, by David 0. Allen, D. D.,
Missionary of the American Board for twenty-five years
in India. London: Trtlbner & Co., 1856.
. . .An Analysis of Religious Belief, by Viscount Amberly,
from the late London Edition. New York : D. M. Ben
nett, 1879.
. . .Asiatic Researches, or Transactions of the Society insti
tuted in Bengal, for inquiring in the History and An
tiquities, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature of Asia.
London: J. Swain, 1801.
. . . Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, by Rev. S. Baring-
Gould, M. A. Boston: Roberts Bros., 1880.
. . . Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets, and other Old
Testament Characters, from various sources, by Rev. S.
Baring-Gould, M. A. New York: Holt & Williams,
1872.
.... The Origin and Development of Religious Belief, by S.
Baring-Gould, M. A., in 2 vote. New York : D. Apple-
ton & Co., 1870.
zi
JESCHYLUS
ALLEN (REV. D. 0.)
AMBEBLY (VISCOUNT). , , , ,
ASIATIC RESEARCHES
BABJHO-GOULD (REV. S.).
Xli AUTHORS AKD BOOKS QUOTED.
BARNABAS The General Epistle of Barnabas, a companion and fel
low-preacher with Paul.
BARNES (ALBEKT) Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, bj
Rev. Albert Barnes, in 2 vols. New York : Harper &
Bros., 1860.
BEAL (SAMUEL) The Romantic Legend of S£kya Buddha, from the Chi-
nese Sanscrit (being a translation of the Fo-pen-hing),
by Samuel Beul. London: Trttbner & Co., 1875.
BELL (J.) Bell's New Pantheon, or Historical Dictionary of the
Gods, Demi-Gods, Heroes, and Fabulous Personages of
Antiquity ; also of the Images and Idols, adored in the
Pagan World, together with their Temples, Priests, Al
tars, Oracles, Fasts, Festivals, &c., in 2 vols. London :
J. Bell, 1790
BHAGAYAT-GEETA. . ., . . ..... .The Bhagavat-Geeta, or Dialogues of Crishna and Arjoon,
in 18 Lectures, with notes. Translated from the orig
inal Sanscrit by Charles Wilkes. London: C. Nourse,
1785.
BLAYATSKY (H. P.) Isis Unveiled : A Master Key to the Mysteries of Ancient
and Modern Science and Theology, by H. P. Blavatsky.
in 2 vols. New York: J. W. Bouton, 1877.
BOKWICK (JAUKS) Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, by James Bonwick,
F. R. G. S. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1878.
BRJXTON (DANIEL). The Myths of the New World : A Treatise on the Symbol
ism and Mythology of the Red Race of America, by Dan
iel Brinton, A. M., 31. D. New York : L. Holt & Co., 1868.
BRITANXICA (ENCTCLO.) The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ninth Edition.
BUCKLEY (T. A.) The Great Cities of the Ancient World, in their Glory
and their Desolation, by Theodore A. Buckle)', M. A.
London : G. Routledge & Co., 1852.
BULFINCH (THOMAS) The Age of Fable, or Beauties of Mythology, by Thomas
Bulfinch. Boston : J. E. Tilton & Co., 1870.
BUNCE (JOHN T.) Fairy Tales : Their Origin and Meaning, with some ac-
count of Dwellers in Fairy-land, by John Thackary
Bunce. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1878.
BCNSEN (ERNEST DE) , ,. .The Keys of St. Peter, or the House of Rochab, connect-
ed with the History of Symbolism and Idolatry, by Er
nest de Bunsen. London: Longmans, Green & Co.,
1867.
• • The Angel-Messiah of Buddhists, Essenes, and Christians,
by Ernest de Bunsen. London : Longmans, Green &
Co., 1880.
•"•^ , The Chronology of the Bible, connected with contempo
raneous events in the history of Babylonians, Assyrians,
and Egyptians, by Ernest de Bunsen. London : Long
mans, Green & Co., 1874.
AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED. xiii
Oft DOT Calmet'a Dictionary of the Holy Biblo (Taylor's). Lon-
don: 1798.
CUADWICK (J. W.) The Bible of To-day : A Course of Lectures by John W.
Chadwick, Minister of the Second Unitarian Church in
Brooklyn, N. Y. New York : G. P. Putnam & Sons,
1878.
CHAMBERS Chambers' Encyclopaedia : A Dictionary of Universal
Knowledge for the People. American Revised Edition.
Philadelphia: J. Lippincott & Co., 1877.
CUAUPOLLION (M.) Precis du systdme Hieroglyphique ded Anciens £gyptiena
ou recherches pur les eteroens premiers dec ette ccri-
ture sacree, &c., par M. Champollion Le Juune. Sccondo
Edit. Paris: 1828.
CHILD (L, M.) The Progress of Religious Ideas through Successive Ages,
by L. Maria Child, in 3 vols. New York : C. S. Francis
& Co., 1865.
CLEMENT The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians.
COLKNSO (Rjfiv. J. W.) The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined,
by the Right Rev. John William Colenso, D. D., Bishop
of Natal. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1863.
Lectures on the Pentateuch and Moabite Stone, by the
Right Rev. John William Colenso, D. D., Bishop of
Natal. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1873.
COSSTAXTIXE (TttB EMPEROR). .The Emperor Constantino's Oration to the Holy Congre
gation of the Clergy. London: Thos. Coates, 16o7.
COSWAY (M. D.) The Sacred Anthology: A Book of Ethnical Scriptures,
collated and edited by Moncure D. Conwuy. London:
Trtlbner & Co., 1874.
GOBY Cory's Ancient Fragments of the Phenician, Carthage-
nian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and other Authors. A
new and enlarged edition, carefully revised by E. Rich
ard Hodges, M. C. P. London: Reeves & Turner, 1870.
CorLANGKS (F. DK) The Ancient City : A Study on the Religion, Laws, and
Institutions of Greece and Rome, by Fustel de Cou-
langes. Translated from the latest French Edition by
Williard Small. Boston : Lee & Shepherd, 1874.
Cox (Rjcr. G. W.). The Myths of the Aryan Nations, by George W. Cox, M.
A., Jate Scholar of Trinity, Oxford, in 2 vols. London :
Longmans, Green & Co., 1870.
Tales of Ancient Greece, by Rev. George W. Cox, M. A.,
Bart. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1880.
DABWW (CHARLES) Journal of Researches into the Natural History and
Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of
II. M. S. Beagle Round the World, by Charles Darwin,
M. A.,F. R. S. 2d Edit. London: John Murray, 1845.
•' ......... .The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, by
AUTHOBS AND BOOKS QUOTED.
Charles Darwin, M. A. New York : D. Appleton &
Co., 1876.
DAYIXS (EDWARD) The Myths and Rites of the British Druids compared
with Customs and Traditions of Heathen Nations, by
Edward Davies, Rector of Brampton. London: J.
Booth, 1809.
DAVIS (J.F.) The Chinese : A General Description of the Empire of
China and its Inhabitants, by John Francis Davis, Esq.
F. R. S., in 2 vols. New York: Harper Bros., 1636.
DELITCH (F.) See Keil (C. F.).
DILLAWAY (C. JL) Roman Antiquities and Ancient Mythology, by Charles
K. Dillaway. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1840.
DRAPER (J. W.) History of the Conflict betwren Religion and Science, by
John W. Draper, M. D, 8th Edit. New York : D. Ap
pleton & Co., 1876.
DCNLAP (S. F.) Vestiges of the Spirit History of Man, by S. F. Dunlap,
Member of the American Oriental Soc., New Haven,
New York : D. Appleton & Co., 1858.
— — The Mysteries of Adoni, by S. ¥. Dunlap London:
Williams & Northgate, 1861.
, SOd, the Son of the Man, by S. F. Dunlap. London : Will
iams & Northgate, 1861.
DUPUIS The Origin of all Religious Worship, translated from the
French of Mons. Dupuis. New Orleans: 1872.
EUSEBIUS The Life of Constantine, in Four Books, by Eusebius
Pamphilius, Bishop of Cesarea. London: Thomas
Coates, 1637.
— — The Ancient Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphi
lius, Bishop of Cesarea in Palestine, in Ten Books.
London: George Miller, 1636.
FARRAR (F. W.). The Life of Christ, by Frederick W. Farrar, D. D., F. R.
S., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Albany :
Rufus Wendell, 1876.
FERGUSSON (JAMES) Tree and Serpent Worship, or Illustrations of Mythology
and Art in India, by James Fergusson. London: 1868.
FISKE (JOHN) Myths and Myth-Makers ; Old Tales and Superstitions In
terpreted by Comparative Mythology, by John Fiske,
M. A., LL. B., Harvard University. Boston: J. R.
Osgood & C<5., 1877.
FROTHINGHAM (0. B.) The Cradle of the Christ : A Study in Primitive Christian
ity, by Octavius Brooks Frothingham. New York : G.
P. Putnam & Sons, 1877.
GAUGOOLY (J. C.) Life and Religion of the Hindoos, by Joguth Chunder
Gaugooly. Boston: Crosby, Nichols & Co., 1860.
GEIKIE (C.) The Life and Words of Christ, by Cunningham Geikie,
D. D., iu 2 vols. New York : D. Appleton & Co , 1880.
AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED. XV
GERBET (L'ABBib) The Lily of Israel, or the Life of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Mother of God. From the French of the Abbe
Gerbet. New York : P. J. Kennedy, 1878.
GIBBON (EDWARD). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Em
pire, by Edward Gibbon, Esq., in 6 vols. Philadelphia :
Claxton, Remscn & Hoffelfinger, 1876.
GILES Hebrew and Christian Records : An Historical Enquiry
concerning the Age and Authorship of the Old and
New Testaments, by the Rev. Dr. Giles, in 2 vols. Lon
don : TrUbner & Co., 1877.
GINBBURGH (C. D.) The Easenes : Their History and Doctrines ; an Essay, by
Charles D. Ginsburgh. London : Longman, Green, Rob
erts & Green, 1864.
GOLDZHTIB (I.) Mythology among the Hebrews, and its Historical Devel
opment, by Ignaz Goldzhier, Ph. D., Member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Translated from the
German by Russel Martineau. London: Longmans,
Green & Co., 1877.
GORI .Etrurische Altertb timer. Mftrnburg: G. Lichtensleger,
1770.
GREG (W. R.) The Creed of Christendom : Its Foundations contrasted
with its Superstructure, by William Rathbone Greg.
Detroit : Rose-Belford Pub. Co., 1878.
GROSS (J. B.) The Heathen Religion in its Popular and Symbolical De*
velopment, by Rev. Joseph B. Gross. ^Boston ; J. P.
Jewett & Co., 1856.
GCTZLAFT The Journal of Two Voyages along the Coast of China
(in 1831-2), and Remarks on the Policy, Religion, &c.,
of China, by the Rev. Mr. Gutzlaff. New York : John
P. Haven, 1833.
HARDY (R. S.) The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists compared
with History and Science, with Introductory Notices of
tho Life of Gautama Buddha, by R. Spence Hardy,
Hon. M. R. A. S. London : Williams & Northgate, 1866.
• mi ,.,., Eastern Monachism: An Account of the Origin, Laws,
Discipline, &c., of the Order of Mendicants founded by
Gautama Buddha, by R. Spence Hardy. London:
Williams & Northgate, 1860.
1 1 1 ...«..»«..... .A Manual of Buddhism in its Modern Development
Translated from the Singalese MSS. by R. S. Hardy.
London: Williams & Northgate, 1860.
HERMAS The First Book of Hernias, Brother of Pius, Bishop of
Rome, which is called his Vision.
HERODOTUS The History of Herodotus, the Greek Historian : A New
and Literal Version, from the Text of Baehr, by Henry
Cary, M. A. New York : Harper & Bros., 1871.
Xvl ATJTHOK3 AND BOOKS QUOTED.
WIGGINS (GODFRKY) The Celtic Druids, by Godfrey Higgins, Esq., F. R. A. 8.
London: Hunter & Co., 1827.
Anacalypsis : An Enquiry into the Origin of Languages,
Nations, and Religions, by Godfrey Higgins, Esq., F. R.
S., F. R. A. S., in 2 TO!S. London : Longman, Rees
Orne, Brown & Longman.
HOOYKAAS (I.) See Oort (H.).
Hue (L'ABB&) Christianity in China, Tartary and Thibet, by M. L'Abbe
Hue, formerly Missionary Apostolic in China, in 2 vols,
London: Longman, Brown & Co., 1857.
HrMBOLDT (A. Dl) Researches concerning the Institutions and Monuments of
the Ancient Inhabitants of Mexico, by Alexander de
Humboldt, in 2 vols. (Translated by Helen Maria
Williams.) London: Longman, Rees & Co., 1814.
_ Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, by Alex
ander de Humboldt, in 2 vols. (Translated by John
Black.) London: Longman, Hurst & Co., 1822.
Iloiis (DAVID) Essays and Treaties on Various Subjects, by David Hume
(author of Hume's History of England). Boston:
From the London Edit. J. P. Mendum.
HUXLZY (T. H.) .Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature, by Thomas H.
Huxley, F. R. S., F. L. S. New York : D. Appleton &
Co., 1873.
IGNATIUS The Epistle of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch in Syria, to
the Ephesiaus.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians.
INFANCY (Aroc.) The Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ (Apocryphal).
FNMAN (THOMAS) , . .Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism Exposed
and Explained, by Thomas Imaan, M. D., Physician to
the Royal Infirmary, &c. London: 18G9.
i .Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, or An At
tempt to Trace the Religious Belief, Sacred Rites, and
Hoi}1 Emblems of certain Nations, by Thomas Inman,
M. D. London; Trubner & Co., 1872.
i i • Ancient Faiths and Modern: A Dissertation upon Wor
ship, Legends, and Divinities in Central and Western
Asia, Europe, aud Elsewhere, before the Christian Era,
by Thomas Inman, M. D. London : Triibner & Co.
1876.
JAMESON The History of Our Lord aa Exemplified in Works of
Art ; commenced by the late Mrs. Jameson, continued
and completed by Lafly Eastlake, in 2 vols. London :
Longmans, Green & Co., 1864.
JENNINGS (II.) The Rosicrucians : Their Rites and Mysteries. Second
AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED.
Edit, revised by Hargrave Jennings, London : Catto
6 Windus, 1879.
JOHXSON (SAMUIL) Oriental Religions, and their Relation to Universal Re
ligion (India), by Samuel Johnson. Boston : J. R. Os-
good, 1872.
JOSEPHUS (FLAVIUS) Antiquities of the Jews, in Twenty Books, by Flavius
Josephus, the learned and authentic Jewish Historian
and celebrated Warrior. Translated by William Whis-
toii, A. M. Baltimore: Armstrong & Berry, 1839.
— — — The Wars of the Jews, or the History of the Destruction
of Jerusalem, in Seven Books, by Flavius Josephus.
Baltimore: 1839.
Flavius Josephus Against Apion, in Two Books. Balti
more: 1839.
KEIGHTLEY (T.) The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy, by Thomas
Keightley. New York: D. Applcton & Co., 1843.
KEIL (C. F.) Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by C. F. Keil,
D. D., and F. Delitch, D. D., Professors in Theology, in
3 vols. Translated from the German by Rev. James
Martin, B. A. Edinboro': T. & T. Clarke, 1872.
KENRICK (J.) Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs, by John Kenrick, M.
A., in 2 vols. London : B. Fellows, 1850.
KINO (C. W.) The Gnostics and their Remains, Ancient and Mediaeval,
by C. W. King, M. A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cam
bridge. London: Bell & Dudley, 1864.
KINGSBOROUGH (LoM>) Antiquities of Mexico, comprising Fac-similes of Ancient
Mexican Paintings and Hieroglyphics, preserved in the
Royal Libraries of Paris, Berlin, and Dresden, in the
Imperial Library of Vienna, &c., &c., together with the
Monuments of New Spain, by Lord Kingsborough, in
7 vols. London : Robert Havill & Coyglen, Son &
Co., 1831.
KKAPPERT (J.) The Religion of Israel, a Manual : Translated from the
Dutch of J. Knappert, pastor at Leiden, by Richard A.
Armstrong, B. A. Boston : Roberts Bros., 1878.
KNIGHT (R. P.) The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.
An Enquiry, by Richard Payne Knight, author of " The
Worship of Priapus," &c. A new Edit, with Introduc
tion, Notes and Additions, by Alexander Wilder, M. D.
New York : J. W. Bouton, 1876.
KORAN The Koran, commonly called the Al Goran of Mohammed ;
translated into English immediately from the original
Arabic, by Geo. Sale, Gent.
KUNEN (A.) See Oort (H.).
LARDNER (N.). The Works of Nathaniel Lardner, D. D., with a Life, by
Dr. Kipps, in 10 vola. London : Wm. Ball, 1838.
B
XV111 AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED.
LELAND (CHAS. G.) Fusang : or the Discovery of America by Buddhist Priesti
in the 5th Century, by Chas. G. Leland. London :
Triibner & Co., 1875.
LILLIE (ARTHUR) Buddha and Early Buddhism, by Arthur Lillie. London :
Trubner & Co., 1881.
LUBBOCK (JOHN) Pre-historic Times, as Illustrated by Ancient Remains, and
the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages, by Sir
John Lubbock, F. R. S. London : Williams & North-
gate, 1865.
LUNDY (J. P.) Monumental Christianity, or the Art and Symbolism of the
Primitive Church as Witness and Teachers of the One
Catholic Faith and Practice, by John P. Lundy, Presby
ter. New York : J. W. Bouton, 1876.
MAHAFFY (J. P.) Prolegomena to Ancient History, by John P. Mahaffy, A.
M., M. R. I. A., Fellow and Tutor in Trinity College,
and Lecturer in Ancient History in the University of
Dublin. London : Longmans, Green & Co., 1871.
MALLET Northern Antiquities ; or an Historical Account of the
Manners, Customs, Religion and Laws of the Ancient
Scandinavians, by M. Mallet. Translated from the
French by Bishop Percy. London : H. S. Bohn, 1847.
MARSH (HERBERT) A Course of Lectures, containing a Description and Syste
matic Arrangement of the several Branches of Divinity
by Herbert Marsh, D.D. Cambridge : W. HiUard, 1812.
MARY (Apoc.) The Gospel of the Birth of Mary, attributed to St. Mat-
thew, Translated from the Works of St. Jerome.
MAURICE (THOMAS) Indian Antiquities : or Dissertations on the Geographical
Division, Theology, Laws, Government and Literature
of Hindostan, compared with those of Persia, Egyp-
and Greece, by Thomas Maurice, in 6 vols. London :
W. Richardson, 1794.
The History of Hindostan ; Its Arts and its Sciences, as
connected with the History of the other Great Empires
of Asia, during the most Ancient Periods of the World,
in 2 vols., by Thomas Maurice. London : Printed by
H. L. Galabin, 1798.
MAURICE (F. D.) The Religions of the World, and Their Relation to Christi
anity, by Frederick Denison Maurice, M. A., Professor
of Divinity in Kings' College. London : J. W. Parker,
1847.
MIDDLETON (C.) The Miscellaneous Works of Conyers Middleton, D. D.,
Principal Librarian of the University of Cambridge, in
4 vols. (" Free Enquiry " vol. I., " Letters from Rome "
vol. III.). London : Richard Manby, 1752.
MONTFAUCON (B.) L'Antiquite Expliquee ; par Dom Bernard de Montfauooa.
Second edit Paris : 1722.
AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED.
MOOR (EDWARD) Plates illustrating the Hindoo Pantheon, ruprinted from
the work of Major Edward Moor, F. R. S., edited by
Rev. Allen Moor, M. A. London : Williams & Nor-
gate, 1816.
MORION (8. G.) Types of Mankind : or Ethnological Researches based
upon the Ancient Monuments, Paintings, Sculptures,
and Crania of Races, by Samuel George Morton, M. D.
Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1854.
MtJiLEB (MAX) A History of Ancient Sanscrit Literature, so far as it il
lustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmins, by
Max MQller, M. A. London: Williams & Norgate,
1860.
— — Introduction to the Science of Religion : Four Lectures de
livered at the Royal Institution, with Two Essays on
False Analogies, and the Philosophy of Mythology, by
(F.) Max MtiUer, M. A. London : Longmans, Green &
Co., 1873.
— Chips from a German Workshop ; by Max Milller, M. A.,
in 3 vols. London : Longmans, Green & Co., 1876.
— — — Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as Illus
trated by the Religions of India. Delivered in the
Chapel House, Westminster Abbey, by (F.) Max Milller,
M. A. London : Longmans, Green & Co., 1 878.
MURRAY (A. S.) Manual of Mythology, by Alexander S. Murray, Depart
ment of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum,
2d Edit. New York : Armstrong & Co., 1876.
NICODEMUS (Apoc.) The Gospel of Nicodemus the Disciple, concerning the
Sufferings and Resurrection of Our Master and Saviour
Jesus Christ.
OORT (H.) The Bible for Learners, by Dr. H. Oort, Prof, of Oriental
Languages, &c., at Amsterdam, and Dr. I. Hooykaas,
pastor at Rotterdam, with the assistance of Dr. A. Kunen,
Prof, of Theology at Leiden, in 3 vols. Translated
from the Dutch by Philip A. Wieksteed, M. A. Boston :
Roberts Bros., 1878.
ORTON (JAMES) The Andes and the Amazon ; or Across the Continent of
South America, by James Orton, M. A., 3d Edit. New
York : Harper & Bros., 1876.
OWEN (RICHARD) Man's Earliest History, an Address delivered before the
International Congress of Orientalists, by Prof. Richard
Owen. Tribune Extra, No. 23. New York Tribune
Pub. Co., 1874.
PKSCHIL (OsciR) .., The Races of Man, and their Geographical Distribution
from the German of Oscar Peschel. New York : P
Appleton & Co., 1876.
XX AUTHORS A7sTD BOOKS QUOTED.
POLYCARP The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, translated by
Archbishop Wake.
PORTER (Sm R. K.) Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia,
&c., by Sir Robert Kir Porter, in 2 vols. London :
Longmans, Hur»t, Rees, Orm & Brown, 1821.
PRKSCOTT (Wif. H.) History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a preliminary
view of the Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the life
of the conqueror, Hernando Cortez, by Wm. H. Prescott,
in 3 vols. Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott & Co., 1873.
PRICHARD (J. 0.) An Analysis of the Historical Records of Ancient Egypt,
by J. C. Prichard, M. D., F. R. S. London : Sherwood,
Gilbert & Piper, 1838.
An Analysis of Egyptian Mythology, and the Philosophy
of the Ancient Egyptians, compared with those of the
Indians and others, by J. C. Prichard, M. D., F. R. S
London: Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper, 1838.
PRIESTLEY (JOSEPH) A Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with those of
the Hindoos and other Ancient Nations, by Joseph Priest
ley, LL. D., F. R. S. Northumberland : A. Kennedy,
1799.
PROTKTANGSLION AFOO The Protevangelion, or, An Historical Account of the
Birth of Christ, and the perpetual Virgin Mary, Hifl
Mother, by James the Lesser, Cousin and Brother to the
Lord Jesus.
REBBR (Gso.) The Christ of Paul, or the Enigmas of Christianity, by
Geo. Reber. New York: C. P. Somerby, 1876.
REN AH (ERNEST) Lectures on the Influence of the Institutions, Thought
and Culture of Rome on Christianity, and the Develop
ment of the Catholic Church, by Ernest Renan, of the
French Academy. Translated by Charles Beard, B. A.
London: Williams & Norgate, 1880.
REN our (P. LE PAOI) Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illus
trated by the Religion of Ancient Egypt, by P. Le Page
Renouf. London : Williams & Norgate, 1880.
REVILLE (ALBERT) History of the Dogma of the Deity of Jesus Christ, by
Albert Reville. London: Williams & Norgate, 1870.
RHYS-DAVIDS (T. W.) Buddhism : Being a Sketch of the Life and Teachings of
Gautama, the Buddha, by T. W. Rhys-Davids, of the
Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and late of the Cey
lon Civil Service. London : Soc. for Promoting Chris
tian Knowledge.
SCOTT (THOMAS) The English Life of Jesus, by Thomas Scott. Published
by the Author. London: 1872.
SEPTCHENES(M.LECLERCDE). .The Religion of the Ancient Greeks, Illustrated by an
Explanation of their Mythology. Translated from the
French of M. Le Clerc de Septchenes. London : 1788.
AUTHORS AVD BOOKS QUOTED.
BHARPE (SAMUEL) Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity, with their
Influence on the Opinions of Modern Christendom, by
Samuel Sharpe. London: J R. Smith, 1863.
SHIH-KINO (THE) The Shih-King, or Book of Poetry. Translated from the
Chinese by James Legge. London : Macmillan & Co.,
1879.
SHOBEIL (F.) Persia ; containing a description of the Country, with an
account of its Government, Laws, and Religion, by
Frederick Shobeil. Philadelphia: John Grigg, 1828.
SMITH Smith's Comprehensive Dictionary of the Bible, with
many important Additions and Improvements. Edited
by Rev. Samuel Barnum. New York: D. Appleton 4
Co., 1879.
SMITH (GEORGE) *.. Assyrian Discoveries: An account of Explorations and
Discoveries on the Site of Nineveh during 1873 and
1874, by George Smith, of the Department of Oriental
Antiquity, British Museum. New York : Scribner,
Armstrong & Co., 1875.
— — — The Chaldean Account of Genesis; containing the de
scription of the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Deluge,
the Tower of Babel, the Times of the Patriarchs and
Nimrod ; Babylonian Fables, and Legends of the Gods,
from the Cuneiform Inscriptions, by George Smith, of
the British Museum. New York : Scribner, Armstrong
& Co., 1876.
SoORATtt The Ancient Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Schoks-
ticus, of Constantinople, in Seren Books. Translated
out of the Greek Tongue by Meredith Hanmer, D. D.
London: George Miller, 1636.
SPINCEB (HIRBIRT). . . . , The Principles of Sociology, by Herbert Spencer, in 2
vols. New York ; D. Appleton & Co., 1877.
SQUIRE (E. G.) The Serpent Symbol, and the Worship of the Reciprocal
Principles of Nature in America, by E. G. Squire, A.
M. New York : George P. Putnam, 1851.
STANLEY (A. P.) Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, by Arthur
P. Stanley, D. D., Dean of Westminster. New York :
Charles Scribner, 1863.
— — Ina Sermon preached in Westminster Abbey on February
28th, 1880, after the funeral of Sir CharU* Lyell,
entitled : "The Religious Aspect of Geology."
STEINTHAL (H.) The Legend of Samson: An Essay, by H. Steinthal,
Professor of the University of Berlin. Appendix to
Goldzhier's Hebrew Mythology.
SYNCHBONOLOOY Synchronology of the Principal Events in Sacred and
Profane History from the Creation to the Present Time,
Boston: S. Hawes, 1870.
XXU AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED.
TACITUS (0.) The Annals of Cornelius Tacitus, the Roman Historian.
Translated by Arthur Murphy, Esq. London : Jones &
Co., 1831.
-____ The History of Cornelius Tacitus. Translated by Arthur
Murphy. London: Jones & Co., 1831.
- - Treatise on the Situation, Manners, and People of Ger
many, by Cornelius Tacitus. Translated by Arthur
Murphy. London: Jones & Co., 1831.
TAYLOB (CHARLES) Taylor's Fragments : Being Illustrations of the Manners,
Incidents, and Phraseology of the Holy Scriptures.
Intended as an Appendix to Calmet's Dictionary of the
Bible. London : W. Stratford, 1801.
TAYLOR (ROBERT) The Diegesis : Being a Discovery of the Origin, Evidences,
and Early History of Chiristianity, by Rev. Robert Tay
lor, A. B. (From the London Edit.) Boston: J. P.
Mendurn, 1873.
• Syntagma of the evidences of the Christian Religion, by
Rev. Robert Taylor, A. B., with a brief Memoir of the
Author. (From the London Edit.) Boston ; J. P. Men-
dum, 1876.
TAYLOR (THOMAS) Taylor's Mysteries ; A Dissertation on the Eleusinian *cd
Bacchic Mysteries, by Thomas Taylor. Amsterdam.
THORNTON (THOMAS) A History of China, from the Earliest Records to the
Treaty with Great Britain in 1842, by Thomas Thorn
ton, Esq., Member of the R. A. S. London : William
H. Allen & Co., 1844.
TYLOB (E. B.). Researches Into the Early History of Mankind, and the
Development of Civilization, by Edward B. Tylor. 2d
Edit. London: John Murray, 1870.
Primitive Culture ; Researches into the Development of
Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, &c., by Edward B.
Tylor, in 2 vols. London: John Murray, 1871.
VISHOT PUBANA. The Vishnu Parana, A System of Hindoo Mythology and
Tradition, Translated from the Original Sanscrit, by H.
H. Wilson, M. A., F. R. S. London : 1840.
VOLNIY (0. F.) New Researches in Ancient History, Translated from the
French of C. F. Volney, Count and Peer of France.
(From the London Edit.) Boston: J. P. Mendum,
1874.
"""""" The Ruins ; or, Meditations on the Revolutions of Em
pires, by Count de Volney, Translated under the imme
diate inspection of the Author. (From the latest Paris
Edit.) Boston: J. P. Mendum, 1872.
WAO(0.a) SeeWestropp.
WMTROPP (H. 1L) .Ancient Symbol Worship. Influence of the Phallic Idea
in the Religions of Antiquity, by Ilodder M. Westropp
AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED.
and C. S. Wake, with Appendix by Alexander Wilder,
M. D. London: Trtibner & Co., 1874.
WILLIAMS (MoNira) Indian Wisdom ; or Examples of the Religious, Philosoph
ical, and Ethnical Doctrines of the Hindoos, by Monier
Williams, M. A., Prof, of Sanscrit iu the University of
Oxford. London : W. H. Allen, 1875.
Hinduism ; by Monier Williams, M. A., D. C. L., Pub
lished under the Direction of the Committee of Gen
eral Literature and Education Appointed by the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge. London: 1877.
WISDOM (AFOC.) The Book of Wisdom, Attributed to Solomon, King of
Israel.
WISE (ISAAC M.) The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth. A Historic Treat-
ise on the Last Chapters of the Gospel, by Dr. Isaac
M. Wise. Cincinnati.
ADDITIONS TO THIRD EDITION.
Beausobres' Histoire Critique de Manichee et du Manicheisme, Amsterdam, 1734 ;
Baronius' Annales Ecclesiastici ; Hydes' Historia Religionis Veterum Persarum ; Raw-
iinson's Herodotus ; Lenonuant's Tlie Beginnings of History ; Hardwick's Christ and
other Masters ; Daille's Treatise on the Right Use of the Fathers, London, 1841 ; Apol-
lonius de T;/ana,sa vie, ses voyages, et ses prodiges, par Philostrate, Paris, 1862 ; Sir John
Malcom's Histori/ of Persia, in 2 vols., London, 1815; Michaelis' Introduction to the
New Testament, in 4 vols. edited by Dr. Herbert Marsh, London, 1828 ; Archbishop
Wake's Genuine Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers, London, 1719 ; Jeremiah Jones'
Canon of the New Testament, in 3 vols., Oxford, 1793 ; Milman's History of Chris
tianity ; Barrow's Travel? in China, London, 1840; Deane's Worship of the Serpent,
London, 1833 ; Baring-Gould's Lost and Hostile Gospels, London, 1874 ; B. F. Westcott's
Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament, 4th Edit., London, 1875;
Mosheim's Ecclesiastical Histori/, in 6 vols., Amer. ed. 1810 ; J. W. Rosses' Tacitus and
Bracciolini, London, 1878; and the writings of the Christian Fathers, Justin Martyr, St.
Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian and Minucius Felix.
BIBLE MYTHS.
PART I.
THE OLD TESTAMENT.
CHAPTER I.
THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN.
THE Old Testament commences with one of its most interest
ing myths, that of the Creation and Fall of Man. The story is
to be found in the first three chapters of Genesis, the substance of
which is as follows :
After God created the u 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, tfec., which completed the
third day's work.
The next things God created were the "Sun,"1 "Moon" and
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 philoso
pher, who flourished from 540 to 510 B. c.— as
well as other Grecian philosophers— taught that
the eun was placed in the centre of the uni
verse, with the planets roving round it in a cir
cle, thus making day and night. (See Knight's
Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 59, and note.)
The Buddhists anciently taught that the uni
verse is composed of limitless systems or
worlds, called aakwaias.
They are scattered throughout space, and
each sakwala has a sun and moon. (See
Hardy: Buddhist Legends, pp. 80 and 87.)
2 BIBLE MYTHS.
" Stars," and after he had set them in the Firmament, the fourth
day's work was ended.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,8
when God made "beasts" of every kind, "cattle," "creeping
things," and lastly " man," whom he created " male and female,"
in his own image."
" Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the neve nth 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,"5 which appears to be the first thing he made.
After planting a garden eastward in Eden,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
Tret -of Life] also in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of
1 Origen, a Christian Father who flourished 4 The number SEVEN was sacred among al-
about A. D. £Ji). says: " What, man of sense most every nation of antiquity. (See ch.
will agree with the statement that the first, ii.)
second, and third days, in which the ertniny is 5 According to Grecian Mythology, the God
named and the •morning, were without sun, Prometheus created men, in the image of the
moon and stars?1' (Quoted in Mysteries of gods, out of day (see Bulfinch: The Age of
Adoni, p. 176.) Fable, p. 25; and Goldzhier: Hebrew Myths, p.
" The geologist reckons not by days or by 373), and the God Hephaistos was. commanded
years; the whole six thousand years, which by Zeus to mold of clay the figure of a maiden,
were until lately looked on as the sum of the into which Athene, the dawn-goddess, breathed
world's age, are to him but as a unit of meas- the breath of life. This is Pandora— the gift of
nrcmcnt in the Jong succession of past ages." all the gods— who is presented to Epimetheus.
(Sir John Lubbock.) (See Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. ii., p. 208.)
" It is now certain that the vast epochs of « "What man is found such an idiot as to sup-
time demanded by scientific observation are pose that God planted trees in Paradise, in
incompatible both with the six thousand Eden, like a husbandman." (Origen : quoted
years of the Mosaic chronology, and the six in Mysteries of Adonl, p. 176.) "There is no
days of the Mosaic creation." (Dean Stanley.) way of preserving the literal sense of the first
" Let us make man in our own likeness." chapter of Genesis, without impiety, and attrib-
was said by Ormuzd, the Persian God of Gods, nting things to God unworthy of him." (St.
to his WORD. (See Bunsen's Angel Messiah, Augustine.)
P- 104-) 7 " The records about the ' Tree of Life ' are
THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN. 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.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 ckty 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 & wo
man, and brought her unto Adam." " And they were both naked, the man and
his wife, and they were not ashamed."
After this everything is snpposed to have gone harmoniously,
until a serpent appeared before the woman* — 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 :
the eublimest proofs of the unity and continuity the Garden of Paradise issue from the fountain
of tradition, and of its Eastern origin. The ear- of immortality, which divides itself into four
liest records of the most ancient Oriental tradi- rivers." (Ibid., p. 150, and Prog. Relig. Ideas,
tion refer to a 'Tree of Life,' which ivas guard- vol. i., p. 210.) The Hindoos call their Mount
ed by spirits. The juice of the fruit of this sa- Meru the Paradise, out of which went four
cred tree, like the tree itself, was called Sotna rivers. (Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 357.)
in Sanscrit, and Haoma in Zend; it was re- 2 According to Persian legend, Arimanes,
vered as the life preserving essence." (Bun- the Evil Spirit, by eating a certain kind of fruit,
sen: Keys of St. Peter, p. 414 ) transformed himself into & serpent, and went
1 " According to the Persian account of Par- gliding about on the earth to tempt human be-
adiee./oj/r great rivers came from Mount Al- ings. His Devs entered the bodies of men and
borj; two are m the North, and two go towards produced all manner of diseases. They en-
the South. The river Arduisir nourishes the tered into their minds, and incited them to
Tree of Immortality, the Holy Horn." (Stiefel- sensuality, falsehood, slander and revenge,
hagen: quoted in Mysteries of Adorn p. 149.) Into every department of the world they intro-
" According to the Chinese myth, the waters of duced discord and death.
4 BIBLE MYTHS.
" 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 tig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
Towards evening (i. e., u in the cool of the day "), Adam and
his wife " heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the gar
den,'1 and being afraid, they hid themselves among the trees of the
garden. The Lord God not finding Adam and his wife, said :
;i Where art tliou ?" 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 riot 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 so, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy
life."1
Unto the woman the u 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."
1 Inasmuch as the physical construction of reflect unpleasantly upon the wisdom of
the serpent never could admit of its moving in such a God as Jehovah is claimed to be. as
any other way, and inasmuch as it does not well as upon the ineffectualness of his first
eat dust, does not the narrator of this myth curse ?
THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN. 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,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 for
ever " (he must be sent forth from Edcnj.
" 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. "J
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* In the second, the 'whole face of the ground' requires to be
moistened.*
1 " Our writer unmistakably recognizes the their day attempted, and each hare totally and
existence of many gods ; for he makes Yah- deservedly failed. One is the endeavor to wrest
wen pay: ' See, the man has become as ONE op the words of the Bible from their natural mean-
us, knowing good and evil;' and so he evi- iug, and force it to gpeak the language of science."
dently implies the existence of other similar After speaking of the earliest known example,
beings, to whom he attributes immortality and which was the interpolation of the word -'not ''
insight into the difference between good and in Leviticus xi. 6, he continues : "This is the
evil. Yahweh, then, was, in his eyes, the god earliest instance of the falsification of Kcrii)tur<>.
of gods, indeed, but not the only god." (Bible to meet the demands of science ; and it has been
for Learners, vol. i. p. 51.) followed in later times by the various efforts
8 In his memorial sermon, preached in West- which have been made to twist the earlier chap-
minster Abbey, after the funeral of Sir Charles tersof the book of Genesis into apparent agree
Lyell. He further said in this address: — ment with the last results of geology— represent-
" It is well known that when the science of ing days not to be days, morning and evening
geology first arose, it was involved in endless not to be morning and evening, the deluge not
schemes of attempted reconciliation with the to be the deluge, and the ark not to be the
letter of Scripture. There was, there arc per- ark.''
haps still, two modes of reconciliation of 3 Gen. i. 9. 10.
Scripture and science, which, have been each in « Gen. ii. ti.
6 BIBLE MYTHS.
"2. In the first, the birds and the beasts are created before man.1 In the sec
ond, man is created before rte birds and the beasts*
"3. In the first, ' all fowls that fly ' are made out of the waters* In the sec
ond • the fowls of the air ' are made out of the ground.*
"4. In the first, man is created in the image of God.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, Be
hold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil.' 6
"5. In the first, man is made lord of the whole earth.'1 In the second, he is
merely placed in the garden of Eden, ' to dress it and to keep it.' 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 im
plied, in the same kind of way, to be the complement of one another, and,
thus created, they are blessed together.*
" 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 him
self 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. 10
"The fact is, that the second account of the Creation,11 together with the story
of the Fall,1'2 is manifestly composed by a different writer altogether from him
who wrote the first.13
" This is suggested at once by the circumstance that, throughout the first nar
rative, 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.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."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 Crea
tion, 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 perplex
ity, 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 retrea ',
instead of victory. We confess tJiere is an apparent dissonance."11'
1 Gen. i. 20, 24, 26. ™ Gen. ii. 7, 8, 15, 22.
2 Gen. ii. 7, 9. « Gen. ii. 4-25.
Gen. i. 20. " Gen. iii.
Gen. ii. 19. " Gen. i. i_n 3.
Gen. i. 27. " Gen. iii. 1,3, 5.
Gen. ii. 7: iii. 22. 16 The Pentateuch Examined vol. ii. pp. 171-
Gen. i. 28. 173.
8 Gen. ii. 8, 15. i« Com. on Old Test. vol. i. p. 59.
» Gen. i. 28.
THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN. 7
Dr. Knap pert says : '
" 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 li^ht."
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 Ahuramazdii (Onnuzd), 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.3
The A vesta account of the Creation is limited to this announce
ment, 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
Ahuramazda 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 Mashyana, the pair from which all human beings are
descended.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.4
1 The Relig. of Israel, p. 186. ' Lenormant: Beginning of Hist. vol. i. p. 61.
» Von Bohlen: Intro, to Gen. vol. ii. p. 4. * See Ibid. p. 64 ; and Legends o/ the
Patriarchs, p. 31.
8 THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN.
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.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 Phoenician in Sanchoniathou, 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. If or suck an
account outside of Israel, we must, however, conclude, that the author of Genesis i.
has no vision before him, but a tradition"*
Yon Bohlen tells us that the old ChaLdcean cosmogony is also
the same?
To continue the Persian legend ; we will now show that
according to it, after the Creation man was tempted, and fell.
Kalisch 4 and Bishop Colenso 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 carne 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
1 " The Etruscans believed in a ereation of 2 Quoted by Bishop Colenso: The Penta-
eix thousand years, and in the successive pro- teuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 115.
duction of different beings, the last of which 3 Intro, to Genesis, vol. ii. p. 4.
was man.'1 (Dunlap: Spirit Hist. p. 357.) 4 Com. on Old Test. vol. i. p. 63.
8 The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 152.
THE CKEATION AND FALL OF MAX.
9
Fall of Man, some 1,500 years or more before the Hebrews heard
of it.1 The cuneiform inscriptions relating to the Babylonian
legend of the Creation and Fall of Man, which have been discovered
by English archaeologists, 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 evi
dently a part of the original legend.2 The Tree of Life in the
Genesis account appears to correspond with the sacred grove of
Aim, which was guarded by a sword turning to all the four points
of the compass.3 A
representation of this
Sacred Tree, with " at
tendant cherubim"
copied from an As
Syrian cylinder, may be
seen in Mr. George
Smith's " Chaldean
Account of Genesis."4
Figure No. 1, which
we have taken from the same work,5 shows the tree of knowl
edge, 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."5
This illustration might be used to illustrate the narrative of
Genesis, and as Friedrich Delitzsch has remarked (G. Smith's
Ckalddische 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 ^Eon,
which seems to be the translation of Ilavvdh (in Phenician
» See Chapter xi.
s 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
Pentatench 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 in
cluded in the cuneiform narrative." (Smith:
Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 13, 14.)
3 Smith: Chaldean Account of Geneeis, p. 88.
« Ibid. p. 89.
• Ibid. p. 91.
10 BIBLE MYTHS.
IlavatK) 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 terrestial reign of the god 11 a, 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. Iii
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 liopc." l
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.2
The idea that the Fall of the human race is connected with
ityi'ff'n/f t(/'r is found to be also often represented in the legends of
the Enst 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
» Murray's Mythology, p. 208- 2 Kalisch'a Com. vol. i. p. 64.
THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAX. 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 ami became mortal, so that, as the Bible
story has it, he can cat 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.1
Dr. Kalisch, writing of the Garden of Eden, says:
"The PaTCidise is no exclusive feature of the early history of the Hebrews.
Most of the ancient nation* Jiace x/'rni/ar narratives <(b</nt a. Jiappy abode, which care
docs not approach, and which re-echoes with (he rounds of the- }mrt><t bit**."1
The Persians supposed that a region of bliss and delight called
Hedcn, more beautiful than all the rest of the world, traversed l>y
a -mighty rirer, 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 IL'nn. 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 lloni, which contains in itself the power of the resur
rection.4
The ancient Greeks had a tradition concerning the "Islands of
the Blessed," the u Elysium," on the borders of the earth, abounding
in every charm of life, and the "Garden of the Ilesperides,'5 the
Paradise, in which grew a tree bearing the golden apples of Immor
tality. It was guarded by three nymphs, and a ISerpeut, or I >ragon,
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
llesperides.6 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 llesper
ides. But the garden of the llesperides wax none other than the yanh //. of Para
dise; consequently the serpent of that garden, the head of which is crushed be
neath the heel of Hercules, and which itself is described as encircling with its
i Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 87. Life' be^at immortality." (Lomvick: Egyptian
« Com. on the Old Test. vol. i. p. 70. Belief, p. 240.)
i ibid. 5 SPP MontfnnfT : T.'Antiqnite Expli<iuee,
« Ibid. " The fruit and eap of this ' TTM of vol. i. p. 211. and i'i rxxxiii.
12 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 Phoenician fable representing Ophion or
Ophioneus. "'
And Professor Fergusson says :
•" H<-rcni('J adventures in the garden of the Hesperides, is the Pagan form of
the myth that most resembles the piveious Serpent-guarded fruit of the Garden
of Eden, though the moral of the fable is so widely different.'"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 irods.3
O
Among the most ancient traditions of the Hindoos, is that of the
' Tree of Life '' — called Soma in Sanskrit — the juice of which
imparted immortality. This most wonderful tree was guarded by
spirits.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 in guarded by a dreadful dragon. It is adorned with many celestial
plants and trees, and is watered by/emr rivers, which thence separate and flow to
the four chief directions."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.6 A Yedic
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."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 Brahma (who had taken human form, and
was called Swayamblmra— son of the self-existent), and for this
object lie dropped from heaven a blossom of the sacred Jig tree.
iv cnso: The penteteucLi Examined'
P
* See Bauson's Keys of St. Peter, p. 414. 7 Miiller: Hist. Sanskrit Literature, p. 559.
THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN\ 13
Sway am bli lira, instigated by his wife, Satarupa, endeavors to ob
tain 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.1 The sacred Indian
fi-tj is endowed by the Brahmins and the Buddhists with mysterious
significance, as the " Tree of Knowledge " or u Intelligence.''*
There is no Hindoo legend of the Creation similar to the Per-
fiiun 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/ The Hindoo religion states — as we have
already seen — Mount Meru to be the Paradise, out of which went
four Ttvcrs.
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 wo 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 Michaeiis showed them to be a mythological animal,
a poetical creation.4
1 See Wake: Phallism in Ancient Religions, "bridge of Adima " which he ppeaks of as
pp. 46. 47; and Maurice: Hist. Hindostau, vol. connecting the island of Ceylon with the main-
i. p. 408. land, is called " Rama'*? bridge;" and the
2 Hardwick : Christ and Other Masters, " Adam's footprints " are called l> Buddha's
P- 215. footprints." The Portuguese, who called the
3 See Jacolliot's "Bible in India," which mountain Pico (TAdama (Adam's Peak), evi-
John Fisk calls a " very discreditable perform- dently invented these other names. (See Mau-
aiu'o." and "a disgraceful piece of charla- rice's Hist. Hindostan, vol. i. pp. 301, 36:.', and
tanry " ^Myths, &c. p. 205). This writer also vol. ii. p. 242).
states that accoruing to Hindoo legend, the « See Smith's Bible Die. Art. " Cherubim."
first man and woman were called 4>Adima and and Lenormant'8 Beginning of History, ch.
Heva," which ia certainly not the case. The iii.
14 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 myste
rious 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 lilied tlie air with their melo
dious voices; and the fruits grew of their own accord. 3Ien 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 de
lights from earth."
Another says :
"A delicious r/^rr?^ refreshed with zephyrs, and planted with odoriferous
trees, was situated in the middle of a mountain, which \vas the avenue of heaven.
The waters that moistened it flowed from a source called the • Fountain of 2m-
morUilily: He who drinks of it never dies. Thence flowed four rivers A
Golden River, betwixt the South and East, a lied 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 increas
ing sensuality, and the seduction of woman, man fell. Then pas
sion and lust ruled in the human mind, and war with the animals
began. In one of the Chinese sacred volumes, called the Chi-Kino-
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
<
,
e , demolished them, Our misery did not come from heaven, but from a
voman. She lost the human race. Ah, unhappy Poo See ! thou kindled the fire
THE CREATION A^D FALL OF MAN. 15
that consumes us, and which is every clay augmenting. Our misery has lasted
many ages. The world is lost. Vice overflows all things like a mortal poison."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 dnst of the earth, and was placed in a gar
den, where he was subject to none of the ills which no\v ailed 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 quail' 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."1
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 anea,
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 hi.s
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 7vv, which signifies a bone."
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.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 in
tended to represent the father of the human race. This Mexican
Eve is represented on their monuments as the mother of twins.5
1 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 200-210. 4 See Mallei's Northern Antiquities, p.
The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. pp. 152, 400.
153. and Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 38. 5 See Baring Gould's Legends of the Patri-
2 Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 31. nrchs ; Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 161. and
3 Quoted by Miiller: The Science of Relig., Wake's Phallism in Ancient Religions, p.
p. 302. 41.
16
BIBLE MYTHS.
Mr. Franklin, in his " Buddhists and Jeynes," says :
"A striking instance is recorded by the very intelligent traveler (Wilson), re
garding a representation of the Fall of our first parents, sculptured in the magnifi
cent 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
,-erpent climbing round the tree is especially delineated, and the whole subject of
the tempting of our first parents most accurately exhibited."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 ambro
sial 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."*
So the Colonel thought, no doubt, but it is not so very curieus
work of Mont-
after all. It is
the same myth
which we have
found — with but
such small vari
ations only as
time and circum
stances may be
expected to pro
duce - - among
different nations,
in both the Old
and New Worlds.
Fig. No. 2,
taken from the
feet being, and
of what he once
ogy, not only unfounded in fact, but, beyond intelligent question,
is nowr only
was, we have
a fallen and
seen to be a piece
faucon,3 repre
sents one of
these ancient
Pagan sculp
tures. 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 per-
broken remnant
of mythol-
many Christian divines who
implies that with it — although
admit this to be a legend, do not,
Anacal^i9> vol. i.
> Tod's Hist. Raj., p. 581, quoted by Hig-
gins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 404.
8 L'Antiquite Expliquee, vol. i.
THE CKEATIOX AND FALL OF MAN. 17
or do not profess, to see it — must fall tlie 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.1
According to Christian dogma, the Incarnation of Christ Jesus
had become necessary, merely because he had to redeem the evil in
troduced 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 Re
deemer, and who, notwithstanding, cannot resolve upon admitting
the story of the Fall of man to be historical, should exculpate them
selves 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 " Man
chester 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 untrust
worthy."
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 :
1 Sir William Jones, the first president of learned Thomas Maurice, for he pays: "If the
the Royal Asiatic Society, saw this when he Mosaic History be indeed a fable, the whole
said : " Either the first eleven chapters of fabric of the national religion is false, since
Genesis, all due allowance being made for a the main pillar of Christianity rests upon that
figurative Eastern style, are true, or the whole important original promise, that the seed of the
fabric of our religion is false." (In Asiatic Re- woman should bruise the head of the serpent."
searches, vol. i. p. 225.) And eo also did the (Hist. Hindostan, vol. i. p. 29.)
18 BIBLE MYTHS.
" It is the clear teaching of tliose doctrinal formularies, to which we of the
Church of England have expressed our solemn assent, and no honest interpretation
<>f fie r language can get rid of it
And that :
"In all consistent reason, we must accept the whole of the inspired autographs, or
reject (he: whole'.'"
Dr. Baylce, Principal of a theological university — St. Aiden's
College— -at Birkcnlieacl, England, and author of a "Manual,"
called Bailee's " Verbal Inspiration^ written "chiefly for the
youth* of St. Aiders College" makes use of the following words,
in that work :
"Tim whole nibk, as a revelation, is a declaration of the mind of God towards
his creatures on all the subjects of which the Bible treats."
" The ruble ix God' n iwd, in the same sense as if lie had made use of no hu
man agi'iii, but had Jlimsclf 8jtokcn it"
" Tiie JJihl." cannot be less than verbally inspired. Krcry iwd, erery syllable,
trcry letter, is just what it would be, had God spoken from heaven without any
human infervenlion."
"Every scientific statement is infallibly correct, all its history and narrations
of every kind, arc tritltoni any inaccuracy."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.8
1 The above extracts are quoted by Bishop regard to the geological antiquity of the world,
C'oienso, in The Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. evolution, atheism, pantheism. &c. He be-
pp. 10-1 3, from which \ve take Iliem. lieves— and rightly too— that, " if the account
*" Cosmogony" is the title of a volume of Creation i/t Gt-ntsis falls. Christ and the
lately written by Prof. Thomas Mitchell, and apostles follow : if the book of Genesis is erro-
published by the American Xe\vs Co., in which tieoun, so also are the Gospels,"
the author attacks all the modern scientists in
CHAPTER II.
THE DELUGE.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,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* 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
tiling, 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 Xoah, The end of all liesh is come before me, fur the
earth is filled with violence through them, and, behold, I will de-
1 Sec "The Deluge in the Light of Modem
Science," by Prof. Win. Denton: J. P. Men-
dum, Boston.
2 " There were gian ts in the earth in those
clays." It is a scientific fact that most races of
men, informer ages, instead of being ///•//,/•,
were smaller than at the present time. Tl
is hardly a suit of armor in the Tower of 1
don, or in the old castles, that is large eno
for the average Englishman of to-day to put
Man has grown in stature as well as inteil
and there is no proof whatever— in fart, the op
posite is certain — that there ever was a race of
what might properly be called giant*, inhabit
ing 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 trav
eller Jamos 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, ow
ing to the assurance of the natives that </ia/tfx
at one time had lived in that country, and that
they /tad seen their remains at tlti* certain place.
Many legends have had a similar origin. Hut
the originals of all the Ogres and (;iani* to be
found in the mythology of almost all nations
of antiquity, are the famous Hindoo demons,
the Rakshasas of OUT Aryan ancestors. The
Kakshasas were very terrible creatures indeed,
and in the minds of many people, in India,
are so still. Their natural form, so the sto
ries say, is that of huge, unshapely mint*, like
cfoudft, 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.
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, xsiii. 19.)
[19]
20 BIBLE MYTHS.
stroy 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'
waves, 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."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."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.3 The
account goes on to say, that :
"Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives writh him,
into the ark. ... Of dean 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."*
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
1 Gen. iv. 2 Gen. vi_ 1_3- Athyr (Nov. 13th), the very day and month on
3 See chapter xi. which Noah is said to have entered his ark.
4 The image of Osiris of Egypt was by the (See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 165, and
priests shut up in a sacred ark on the 17th of Bunsen's Angel Messiah, p. 22.)
THE DELUGE. 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 hi?n."
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 creep
ing thing, had entered the ark, the Lord shut them in. Then u were
all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows <>f
heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days
and forty nights And the waters prevailed exceeding
ly upon the earth ; and all the hills, that were under the whole heaven,
were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the wraters 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."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 tin
waters decreased continually And it came to pass ;n.
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 offer
ings 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."2
Gen. vi. a Geti. viii.
22 BIBLE MYTHS.
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,1 is the
Chaldean, as given by Berosus, the Chaldean historian.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 his
tory 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 ani
mals, both birds and quadrupeds, and trust himself fearlessly to the deep. Hav
ing 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 hud
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."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 British Museum on terra cotta tablets in
Assyria, is nevertheless different in some respects. But, says
Mr. Smith :
"When wre consider the difference between the two countries of Palestine
and Babylonia, these variations do not appear greater than we should expect.
. . . It was only natural that, in relating the same stories, each nation should
1 Sec chapter xi. a Quoted by George Smith : Chaldean Ac-
2 Joseplms, the Jewish historian, speaking of count of Genesis, pp. 42-44 ; see also, The Pen-
the flood of Noah (Antiq. hk. 1, ch. iii.), says : tateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 211 ; Dunlap's
"All the writers of the Babylonian histories Spirit Hist. p. 138; Cory's Ancient Fragments,
make mention of this flood and this ark.1' p. 61, et seq. for similar accounts.
THE DELUGE.
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 coin
cide even with the account of the same eveuts given by Berosus from Chaldean
sources."1
The most important points are the same however, i. e., in loth
cases the virtnous man is informed by the Lord that a Hood is
about to take place, which would destroy mankind. Iti loth 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. Iti lotli cases they send out
a bird from the ark three times — the third time it failed to return.
In loth cases they land on a mountain, and upon leaving the ark
they offer up a sacrifice to the gods. Xisuthrus was the tenth
king,2 and Noah the tenth patriarch.3 Xisuthrus had three sous
(Zerovanos, Titan and Japetosthes),4 and Noah had three suns
(Slieni, Ham and Japhet).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 evi
dently transcriptions, except the names, from some ancient docu
ment.6
This leg-end became known to the Jews from Chaldean sources,7
O
it was not known in the country (Egypt) out of which they
evidently came.9 Egyptian history, it is said, had gone on un-
1 Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 285, 286. Germans said that Muiums (sou of the god
a Volney : New Researches, p. 119; Chal- Tuisco) had thrte sons, who were the original
dean Acct. of Genesis, p. 290 ; Hist. Ilindos- ancestors of the three principal nations of
tan, vol. i. p. 417, and Dunlap's Spirit Hist. p. Germany. The Scythians said that Targy-
277. tagus, the founder of their nation, had three
3 Ibid. sons, from whom they were descended. A
4 Legends of the Patriarchs, pp. 109, 110. tradition among the Romans was that the Cy-
5 Gen. vi. 8. clop Polyphemus had by Galatea three eons.
6 The Hindoo ark-preserved Menu had Saturn had three son?, Jupiter, Neptune, and
three sons ; Sama, Cania, and Pra-Japati. Pluto ; and Hesiod speaks of the thrte sons
(Faber: Orig. Pagan Idol.) The Bhattias, who which sprung from the marriage of heaven
live between Belli and the Panjab, insist that and earth. (.See Mallet's Northern Antiquities,
they are descended from a certain king called p. 509.)
Salivahana, who had three sons, Bhat, Maha ~ See chap. xi.
and Thamaz." (Col. Wilford, in vol. ix. Asi- 8 •• jt j^ of no plight moment that the Egyp-
atic Researches.) The Iranian hero Thraetona tians, with whom the Hebrews are represented
had three sons. The Iranian Sethite Lamoch as in earliest and closest intercourse, had no
had three eons, and Hellen, the son of Deu- traditions of a flood, while the Babylonian
calion, during whose time the flood is said to and Hellenic tales bear a strong resemblance
have happened, had three sons. (Bunsen : The in many points to the narrative in Genesis."
Angel-Messiah, pp. 70, 71.) All the ancient na- (Rev. George W. Cox : Tales of Ancient Greece,
tions of Europe also describe their origin from p. 340. See also Owen : Man's Earliest His-
the three sons of some king or patriarch. The tory, p. 28, and ch. xi. this work.)
24 BIBLE MYTHS.
interrupted for ten thousand years before the time assigned for the
birth of Jesus.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 Kile.2 The Egyptian Bible, which is ly
far the most ancient of all holy looks* knew nothing of the
Deluge' The Phra (or Pnaiuoli) Khoufou-Cheops was building
his pyramid, according to Egyptian chronicle, when the whole
world was under the waters of a univcrsa, deluge, according to th<3
Hebrew chronicle.5 A number of other nations of antiquity are
found destitute of any story of a flood," 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 dis
tinguished scholars.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 Satyacrata, 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 complete!}' ended. Thou shalt then
1 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 198, and Knight's priest places an image of himself there during
Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 107. " Plato his life-time ; the priests, therefore, reckoning
was told that Egypt had hymns dating back them and showing tlieni to me, pointed out that
ten thousand years before his time." (Bon- each was the son of his own father ; going
wick : Egyptian Belief, p. 185.) Plato lived 429 through them all, from the image of him who
B. c. Herodotus relates that the priests of died last until they had pointed them all out."
Egypt informed him that from the first king to (Herodotus, book ii. chs. 142, 143.) The discov-
the present priest of Vulcan who last reigned, cry of mummies of royal and priestly person-
were three hundred forty and one generations ages, made at Deir-el-Bahari (Aug., 1881), near
of men, and during these generations there Thebes, in Egypt, would seem to confirm thin
were the same number of chief priests and statement made by Herodotus. Of the thirty-
kings. " Now (says he) three hundred gener- nine mummies discovered, one— that of King
ations are equal to ten thousand years, for Raskenen — is about three thousand eeven
three generations of men are one hundred hundred years old. (See a Cairo [Aug. 8th,]
years ; and the forty-one remaining genera- Letter to the London Times.)
tions that were over the three hundred, make 2 Owen : Man's Earliest History, p. 28.
one thousand three hundred and forty years," 3 Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 185.
making eleven thousand three hundred and forty 4 Ibid. p. 411.
years. " Conducting me into the interior of -in 5 Owen : Man's Earliest History, pp. 27,
edifice that was spacious, and showing me 28.
wooden colossuses to the number I have men- 6 Goldzhier : Hebrew Mytho. p. 319.
tloned, they reckoned them up ; for every high 7 Ibid. p. 320.
THE DELUGE. 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 com
mands 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 lie
had said, and Satyavrata fastened u cable to his horn.
The deluge in time abated, and Satyavrata, instructed in all
divine and human knowledge, wras appointed, by the favor of
Vishnu, the Seventh Menu. After coming forth from the ark he
offers up a sacrifice to Brahma.1
The ancient temples of Ilindostan contain representations of
Vishnu sustaining the earth while overwhelmed by the waters of
the deluge. A rainbow is seen on the surface of the wibsifting
waters?
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.3
The Parsccs 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.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
1 Translated from the Bhagavat by Sir Wm. a See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 55.
Jor.es, and published in the first volume of the • See Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. p. 30.
"Asiatic Researches," p. 230, et seq. See also Prop. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 205, and Priestley,
Maurice: Ind. Ant. ii. 277, et seq., and Prof. p. 41.
Max Muller'B Hist. Ancient Sanskrit Litera- « Priestley, p. 42.
tare, p. 425, et seq.
26 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.1
The ancient Greeks had records of a flood which destroyed
nearly the whole human race.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 risht or for law. And ever, as their hearts waxed grosser in their wicked
ness, 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 sous 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 Olyrnpos, 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 Pyrrlui,
his wife, and said to her: 'The time has conic of which my father, the wise
Prometheus, forewarned me. Make ready, therefore, the ark which 1 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 Duuktiliou. The iishes 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 Par
nassus, 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.3
According to Ovid (a Grecian writer born 43 B. a), Deucalion
does not venture out of the ark until a dove which he sent out re
turns to him with an olive branch.4
1 Bunco: Fairy Talcs, Origin and Meaning, c., — having mentioned Deucalion consigned
to the ark, takes notice, upon his quitting it,
2 The oldest Greek mythology, however, has of his offering up an immediate sacrifice to
no such idea ; it cannot be proved to have God." (Chambers' Encyclo., art. Deluge.)
been known to the Greeks earlier than the 6th < In Lnndy's Monumental Christianity (p.
century B.C. (See Goldzhier : Hebrew My tho., 299, Fig. 137) may be seen a representation of
319.) This could not have been the case Deucalion and Pyrrha landing from the ark.
had there ever been a universal deluge. A dove and olive branch are depicted in the
3 Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. 72-74. " Apol- scene,
lodorus — a Grecian mythologist, born 140 B.
THE DELUGE. 27
It -vas at one time extensively believed, even by intelligent
scholar*, that the myth of Deucalion was a corrupted tradition of
the Noachian deluge, but this untenable opinion is now all but
universally abandoned.1
The legend was found in the West among the Kelts. They be
lieved 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 u Heavenly Lord," and it received into it a pair of every kind
of beasts. a
The ancient Scandinavians had their legend of a deluge. The
Edda describes this deluge, from which only one man escapes, with
his faniily, by means of a bark.1 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,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.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 delude was
O
also found among the Brazilians, and among many Indian tribes.8
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 becom
ing 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 neigh bor-
1 Chambers' Encyclo., art. Deucalion. » See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 99.
1 Baring-Gould : Legends of the Patriarchs, * Mex. Antiq. vol. viii.
p. 114. See also Myths of the British Druids, • Myths of the New World, pp. 203, 204.
p. 95. • S*e Squire : Serpent Symbol, pp. 189, 190.
28 BIBLE MYTHS.
ing nations to have been places of refuge for .heir 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 basi of truth underlying
the fabulous, although not always discernible. This story may have
an astronomical basis, as some suppose,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 ac
counts of the deluge, we are told that at that time u 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." u The
roaring of the ocean, whilst violently agitated with the whirling of
the mountains, was like the bellowing of a mighty cloud, &c."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 ai 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 Cham/plain 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, includ
ing man. The foundation of the deluge myth may have been laid
at this time.
1 Count cle Volney says : " The Deluge men- himself up in the ark. that the priests of Egypt
tioned by Jews, Chaldeans, Greeks and Indians, shut up in their sacred coffer or ark the image
a* having destroyed the world, are one and the of Osiris, a personification of the Sun. This
*ame physico-astronamical event which is still was on the 17th of the month Athor, in which
repeated every year," and that " all those the Sun enters the Scorpion. (See Kenrick's
personages that figure in the Deluge of Noah Egypt, vol. i. p. 410.) The history of Noah
and Xisuthus, are still in the celestial sphere. also corresponds, in some respects, with that
It was a real picture of the calendar." (Re- of Bacchus, another personification of the Sun.
searches in Ancient Hist., p. 124.) It was on 2 See Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. ii.
the same day that Noah is said to have shut p. 268.
THE DELUGE. 29
Some may suppose that tins is dating the history of man to j 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.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.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."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 con«
temporary with the Southern Elephant, the Rhinoceros-leptorhinus, the great
Hippopotamus, perhaps even in the Miocene, contemporary with the Mastodon."4
1 " In America, along with the bones of the member of an order no longer represented in
Mastodon imbedded in the alluvium of the that part of the world." (Herbert Spencer :
Bourbense, were found arrow heads and other Principles of Sociology, vol. i. p. 17.)
traces of the savages who had killed this
2 Darwin : Descent of Man, p. 15C. 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.
(Scene i. Eozoic : Enter Protozoans and Protophytes.
" ii. Silurian : Enter the Army of Invertebrates.
" iii. Devonian : Enter Fishes.
" iv. Carboniferous : (Age of Coal Plants) Enter First Air breather*.
Act iii. Mesozoic : Enter Reptiles.
(Scene i. Tnaesic : Enter Batrachians.
" ii. Jurassic : Enter huge Reptiles of Sea, Land and Air.
" iii. Cretaceous : (Age of Chalk) Enter Ammonites.
Act iv. Cenozoic : (Age of Mammals.)
(Scene i. Eocene : Enter Marine Mammals, and probably Man.
" ii. Miocene : Enter Hoofed Quadrupeds.
" iii. Pliocene : Enter Proboscidians and Edentates.
Act v. Post Tertiary : Positive Age of Man.
f Scene i. Glacial : Ice and Drift Periods.
p f T .. I " ii. Champlain : Sinking Continents; Warmer; Tropical Animals go Norik.
niertiary.j „ m Ten-ace : Rising Continents ; Colder.
[ " iv. Present: Enter Science, Iconoclasts, &c., &c.
» Draper : Religion and Science, p. 199. 4 Ibid. pp. 195, 196.
30 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 J . . . If any form of the doctrine
of progressive development is correct, we must extend by long epochs the most lib
eral estimate that has yet been made of the antiquity of man."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 trust
worthy 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 tfarefo-re of the Mammalia of
tfie Geological -period antecedent to our own "*
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, more
over, 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 " Home's Intro
duction 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.*
Besides fossil remains of aquatic animals, boatsk&ve been found
on tops of mountains.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.'
1 Huxley : Man's Place in Nature, p. 184. 6 We know that many legends have origin-
2 Paschel : Races of Man, p. 36. ated in this way. For example, Dr. Robinson,
» Tylor : Early History of Mankind, p. 328. in his " Travels in Palestine " (ii. 586), raen-
4 Ibid. pp. 329, 330 tions a tradition that a city had once stood in a
THE DELUGE. 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 oc
currence 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, kt 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 Jive planets known to the
ancients — is a sacred number, represented in all kinds and sorts of
forms ;' 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 tne tower
of Babylon.2 The seven gates of Thebes.3 The flute of sevenpipos
generally put into the hand of the god Pan. The lyre of seven
strings touched by Apollo. The book of " late," composed of seven
books. The seven prophetic rings of the Bralmiaus.4 The seven
stones — consecrated to the seven planets — in Laconia.6 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 arch
angels of the Chaldeans. The seven archangels of the Jews.*
desert between Petra and Hebron, the people of selves." (Related by Mr. Tylor, in hia " Early
which had perished for their vices, and been History of Mankind," p. 3^6.)
converted into stone. Mr. Seetzen, who went '" Everything of importance was calculated
to the spot, found no traces of ruins, but a by, and fitted into, this number (SEVEN) by the
number of etony concretions, resembling in Aryan philonophers, — ideas as well as locah-
form and size the human head. They had been ties." ^Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 407.)
ignorant ly supposed to be petrified heads, and a 2 Each one being consecrated to a planet,
legend framed to account for their owners suf- First, to Saturn ; second, to Jupiter; third, to
fering so terrible a fate. Another illustration Mars; fourth, to the Sun; fifth, to Venus;
is as follows : — The Kamchadals believe that sixth, to Mercury ; seventh, to the Moon,
volcanic mountains are the abode of devils, (The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 269. See
who, after they have cooked their meals, fling also The Angel Messiah, p. 100.)
the fire-brands out of the chimney. Being 3 Each of which had the name of a planet.
asked what these devils eat, they said " whales." * On each of which the name of a planet wa»
Here we see,. first, a story invented to account engraved.
for the volcanic eruptions from the mountains ; 6 " There was to be seen in Laconia, seven
and, second, a story invented to account for the columns erected in honor of the seven planet* ."
remains of whales found on the mountains. The (Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. 34.)
savages knew that this was true, " because their • " The Jews believed that the Throne of
old people had said BO, and believed it them- Jehovan was surrounded by hid teien high
32 BIBLE MYTHS.
The seven days in the week.1 The seven sacraments of the Chris
tians. 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.2 The seven branches of the Assyrian
" Tree of Life." Agni, the the Hindoo god, is represented with
seven arms. Sura's3 horse was represented with seven heads.
Seven churches are spoken of m 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 u 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.,
«fec. We might continue with as much more, but enough has
been shown to verify the statement that, " in all religions of anti
quity, the number SEVEN is a sacred number."
chiefs : Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, &c." VENUS. Saturday, sacred to SATURN. " The
(Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 46.) (ancient) Egyptians assigned a day of the week
1 Each one being consecrated to a planet, to the SUN, MOON, and five planets, and the
and the Sun and Moon. Sunday, " Dies Soils" number SEVEN was held there in great rever
sacred to the SUN. Monday, "DiesLunae," ence." (Kenrick : Egypt, i. 238.)
sacred to the MOON. Tuesday, sacred to Tuiso a " The Egyptian priests chanted the seven
or MARS. Wednesday, sacred to Odin or vowels as a hymn addressed to Serapis" (The
Woden, and to MERCURY. Thursday, sacred to Kosiirucians, p. 143.)
Thor and others. Friday, sacred to Freia and » Sura : the Sun-god of the Hindoo*.
CHAPTER III.
THE TOWER OF BABEL.
WE are informed that, at one time, " the whole earth v;as 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.
" Arid they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and
burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and shine
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 JBabel, 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."1
Such is the " Scripture" account of the origin of languages,
which differs somewhat from the ideas of Prof. Max Miiller 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.'"1
1 Genesis xi. 1-9. a The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 208.
3 [33]
34 BIBLE MYTHS.
The literal meaning of the word being house, or court, or gate
oi Bel, or gate of God.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."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
Uerosus as follows :
The first inhabitants of the earth, glorying in their strength and
size,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 diver
sity 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.4
Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that it was Nivirod 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 Niinrod
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 tJte 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."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
1 Ibid. p. 268. See also Bible for Learners, 4 Quoted by Rev. S. Baring-Gould : Legends
vol. i. p. 90. of the Patriarchs, p. 147. See also Smith :
2 Myths and Myth-makers, p. 72. See also Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 48, and Vol-
Encyclopaedia Biitannica, art. "Babel." ney's Researches in Ancient History, pp. 130,
3 " There we**, giants in the earth in those 131.
days." (Genesis vi. 4.) * Jewish Antiquities, book 1, ch. iv. p. 30.
THE TOWER OF BABEL. 35
evidently originally built for astronomical purposes.1 This is
clearly seen from the fact that it was called the 4' Stages of the
Seven Spheres,"2 and that each one of these stages was consecrated
to the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.'
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."4
There is not a word said here in these cylinders about the con
fusion 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."5
The Hindoo legend of the " Confusion of Tongues," is as follows :
There grew in the centre of the earth, the wonderful " World
1 "Diodorus states that the great tower of seven stages. Within the upper dwelt Brahm.
the temple of Belus was used by the Chaldeaus (See Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 107.) Hcro-
as an observatory.'" (Smith's Bible Dictionary, dotus tells us that the upper stage of the tower
art. " Babel.11) of Babel was the abode of the god Belus.
8 The Hindoos had a sacred Mount Meru, a The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p.
the abode of the gods. This mountain was 269. See also Bunsen : The Angel Messiah, p.
supposed to consist of seven stages, increasing 106.
in sanctity is they ascended. Many of the « Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 484.
Hindoo temples, or rather altars, were " studied « Legends of the Patriarch?, pp. 148, 149.
transcripts of the sacred Mount Meru ;" that
is, they were built, like the tower of Babel, in
36 BIBLE MYTHS.
Tree? or the " Knowledge Tree?' It was so tall that it reached
almost to heaven. " It said in its heart : i 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."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-ZV</a?tw.a The ancient
Esthonians* had a similar myth which they called " The Cooking
of Languages;" so also had the ancient inhabitants of the continent
of Australia." 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 ob
ject of this was to see what was going on in Heaven, and also to
have a place of refuge in case of another deluge.5
The job was superintended by one of the seven who were saved
from the flood.6 He was a giant called Xelhua, surname d " the
Architect."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 tile
of men reaching from the Sierra to Cholula, who passed the bricks
from hand to hand.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,9 as each family
interested in the building of the tower, received a language of their
own™ and the builders could not understand each other.
1 Ibid. p. 148. The ancient Scandinavians * Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. "Babel."
had a legend of a somewhat similar tree. " The 6 Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 27.
Mundane Tree," called YggdrasM, was in the • Brinton : Myths of the New World, p.
centre of the earth ; its branches covered over 204.
the surface of the earth, and its top reached to 7 Humboldt : American Researches, vol. i.
the highest heaven. (See Mallet's Northern p. 90.
Antiquities.) 8 ibid.
2 Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. "Babel." » Ibid, and Brinton: Myths of the New
3 Esthonia is one of the three Baltic, or so- World, p. 204.
called, provinces of Russia. 10 The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 272.
THE TOWER OF BABEL. 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 tire upon the building and broke it down, whereupon every separate
family received a language of its own."1
The ancient Mexicans pointed to the ruins of a tower at Cholnla
as evidence of the truth of their story. This tower was seen by
Humboldt and Lord Kingsbo rough, and described by them.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 inllicted by the deities for such wickedness."3
Quoted by Bishop Colenso: The Penta- p. 97. Lord Kingsborough: Mexican Antiqui-
teuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 272. ties.
» Humboldt: American Researches, vol. i. • Com. on Old Test. vol. i. p. 196.
CHAPTER IY.
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 iound in Genesis
xxii. 1-19, and is as follows :
" And it came to pass . . . that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto
Mm: ' 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 laud
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 tire 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."
[38]
THE TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH. 39
There is a Hindoo story related in the Sankliayaiia-sutras,
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 Kohita 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 Kohita and taken to Ilariscandra 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.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 Phoenicians 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."8
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 (rod, 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.1
Anothe" 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."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.
1 See Miiller's Hist. Sanscrit Literature; and » See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p.
Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 29. 104.
3 Quoted by Count de Volney: New Re- * Prog. Kelig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 302,
searches in Anc't Hist., p. 144.
40 BIBLE MYTHS.
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."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 abol
ished such offerings, as far back as the time of Abraham. The
Grecian legends, which he had evidently heard, may have given
him the idea.*
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 Yermaland (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,
1 Ibid. a See chapter xi.
THE TKIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH. 41
devoted to Odiii 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 sacri
ficed 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 Sanchouiathon 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.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 Acliaia, lie was sacrificed,
crowned with garlands, like an animal victim.3
The offering of human sacrifices to the Sun was extensively
practiced in Mexico and Peru, before the establishment of Chris
tianity.3
1 Baring-Gould : Orig. Belig. Belief, vol. i. * Kenrlck'e Egypt, vol. 1. p. 443.
p. 868. » See Acosta : Hist. Indies, rol. 11.
CHAPTER Y.
JACOB'S VISION OP 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 : c 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 lie had put for Ins 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.1
It was believed in, and taught by, the Braliminical Hindoos,''
the Buddhists* the natives of Egypt* several philosophers of
1 See Chambers's Encyclo., art. " Transmi- 3 ibid. Ernest de Bunsen says : " The first
gration." traces of the doctrine of Transmigration of
Chambers's Encyclo., art. " Transmigra- souls is to be found among the Brahmins and
•ichard's Mythology, p. 213, and Prog. Buddhists." (The Angel Messiah, pp. 63, 64.)
5. vol. i. p. 59. 4 Prichard's Mythology, pp. 213, 214.
JACOB'S VISION OF THE LADDER. 43
ancient Greece] the ancient Druids? the natives of Madagascar*
several tribes of Africa* and Worth America* the ancient Mexi
cans,* and by some Jewish arid Christian sects.5
" It deserves notice, that in both of these religions (i. <?., Je,oixh 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 Kabl/ala."*
"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
olher works of a similar character."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 1
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 fane 1 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 (* <?., after the Babylonian captivity),
> Gross: The Heathen Religion. Also * Ibid. See also Bunsen : The Ang«l-Mes-
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration." siah, pp. 63, 64. Dupuie, p. 357. Josephus :
a Ibid. Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 13; Jewish Antiquities, book zviii. ch. 13. Dun-
and Myths of the British Druids, p. 15 lap : Son of the Man, p. 94 ; and Beal : Hist.
3 Chambers's Encyclo. Buddha.
4 Ibid. • Chambers, art. "Transmigration.'1
44 BIBLE MYTHS.
as of great authority. We know that several writers of portions of
the Old Testament have written for similar purposes. As an illus
tration, 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.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,"2 and Jesus is made to say that he had already come, or, that
his soid had transmigrated unto the body of John the Baptist, and
they knew it not.
And in Mark (viii. 27) we are told that Jesus asked his disciples,
saying unto them; "Whom do men say that 1 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 Hind
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 f 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, PJlijah, and other Bible celebrities.4
The Rev. Mr. Eaber 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."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 Metempsy
chosis, that he was simply seeing the souls of men ascending and de-
cending from heaven on a ladder, during their transmigrations.
We will now give our reasons for thinking so.
The learned Thomas Maurice tells us that :
1 See The Religion of Israel, p. 18. < See Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 78.
a JJala^hl iv' 5' 6 Faber : Orig. Pagan Idol, vol. iii. p. 812 ;
• Matthew xvii. 12, 13. in Anacalypais, vol. i. p. 210.
JACOB'S VISION OF THE LADDER. 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.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.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?
The fancy of the Manicheans also transferred pure souls to this
column of light, whence they could come down to earth and again
return*
Paintings representing a scene of this kind may be seen in works
of art illustrative of Indian Mytlwlogy.
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 Atetempsychosis in Asia."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 tJieir return to heaven, through the seven planetary spheres."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."1
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
kicked men were supposed to enter pigs and other animals, there
fore pigs, monkeys, &c., are to be seen on the steps, descending from
heaven.8
" And he dreamed, and beliold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it
reached to heaven / and behold tlw angels of God ascending and descending on it."
1 Indian Antiquities, vol. 11. p. 262. • Indian Antiqities, vol. ii. p. 262.
a Contra Celsna, lib. vi. c. ixii. * Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 844.
8 Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 324. 7 Volney's Ruins, p. 147, note.
« Ibid. 8 See Child's Prog Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp.
160. 182.
BIBLE MYTHS.
are the words of the sacred text. Can anything be more
convincing ? It continues thus :
•' And Jacob awoke out of his sleep ... and be was afraid, and said
tbis is none other but the bouse 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.1
" And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he bad
put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it."*
This concluding portion to the story has evidently an allusion
to Phallic* 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.*
The ancient Druids of Britain also worshiped sacred stones, which
were set up on end*
Pausanias, an eminent Greek historian, says :
"The Ilermiac statue, which they venerate in CyllenS above other symbols,
is an erect Phallus on a pedestal."6
This was nothing more than a smooth, oblong stone, set erect
on a flat one.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.8
1 Genesis xrviii. 12, 13. « See Myths of the British Druids, p. 300;
2 Genesis xxviii. 18, 19. and Higgins: Celtic Druids.
" Phallic," from " Phallus," a represents- « Quoted by R. Payne Knight: Ancient Art
tion of the male generative organs. For further and Mythology, p. 114, note.
information on this subject, see the works of 7 See Illustrations in Dr. Inman's Pagan
B. Payne Knight, and Dr. Thomas Inman. and Christian Symbolism.
4 Bible for Learners, vol., i. pp. 175, 276. • See Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp.
See, also, Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology; 543. 544.
and Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. and ii.
JACOB S VISION OF THE LADDER. 47
, when we find that this form of worship was very
prevalent among the Israelites* that these sacred stones which
were " set up," were called (by the heathen), B^ETY-LI," (which is
not unlike BETH-KL), and that they were anointed with oil,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, u has
evidently an allusion to Phallic worship."4
The male and female powers of nature were denoted respect
ively 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 theAskera, or the upright emblem,
on the circular altar of Baal-Peor, the Priapos of £he Jews, thus
reproducing the Linga and Yoni of the Hindu.6 For this sym
bol, the women wove hangings, as the Athenian maidens embroid
ered the sacred peplos for the ship presented to Athene, 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.6
1 Bible for Learners, vol. 1. pp. 177, 178, 317, generative organs among the ancients, when
321, 322, the subject is properly understood. Being the
3 Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 356. most intimately connected with the reproduc-
3 Ibid. tion of life on earth, the Linga became the
4 We read in Bell's " Pantheon of the Gods symbol under which the Sun, invoked with a
and Demi-Gods of Antiquity," under the head thousand names, has been worshiped through-
of BAELYLION, BAELYLIA, or BAETYLOS, that out the world &? the restore?' of the poivers of
they are " Anointed Stones, worshiped among nature after the long sleep or death of winter.
the Greeks, Phrygians, and other nations of But if the Linga is the Sun-god in his majesty,
the East;" that " these Baetylia were greatly the Yoni is the earth who yields her fruit under
venerated by the ancient Heathen, many of his fertilizing warmth.
their idols being no other;" and that, " in re- The Phallic tree is introduced into the nar-
ality no sort of idol was more common in the rative of tho book of Genesis : but it is herf
East, than that of oblong stones erected, and called a tree, not of life, but of the knowledge of
hence termed by the Greeks pillars.'1'' The good and evil, that knowledge which dawns in
Rev. Geo. W. Cox, in his Aryan Mythology the mind with the first consciousness of differ-
(vol. ii. p. 113), says: "The erection of these ence between man and woman. In contract
etone columns or pillars, the forms of which in with this tree of carnal indulgence, tending to
most cases tell their own story, are common death, is the tree of life, denoting the higher
throughout the East, some of the most ela- existence for which man was designed, and
borate being found near Gbizni." And Mr. which would bring with it the happiness and
Wake (Phallism in Ancient Religions, p. 60), the freedom of the children of God. In the
says: " Kiyun, or Kivan, the name of the brazen serpent of the Pentateuch, the two
deity said by Amos (v. 26), to have been wor- emblems of the cross and serpent, the quiee-
Bhiped in the wilderness by the Hebrews, cent and energising Phallos, are united. (See
signifies GOD OP THJC PILLAR." Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. pp. 113, 116,
6 We find that there was nothing group or im- 118.)
moral in the worship of tbe male and female • See Cox : Aryan Mytho., ii. 112, 113.
CHAPTER VI.
THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT, AND PASSAGE THROUGH THE RED SEA.
THE children of Israel, who were in bondage in Egypt, mak
ing bricks, and working in the field,1 were looked upon with coin-
passion by the Lord.7 He heard their groaning, and remembered
his covenant with Abraham,3 with Isaac, and witli Jacob. He,
therefore, chose Moses (an Israelite, who had murdered an Egyp
tian,4 and who, therefore, was obliged to nee 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."5 " Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM
hath sent me unto you."6
1 Exodus i. 14. understood by all the initiated among the
2 Exodus ii. 24, 25. Egyptians." "The 'I AM' of the Hebrews,
3 See chapter x. and the ' I AM ' of the Egyptians are identical."
* Exodus ii. 12. (Bunsen : Keys of St. Peter, p. 38.) The name
6 The Egyptian name for God was " Nuk- "Jehovah," which was adopted by the He
Pa-Nuk," or "I AM THAT I AM." (Bonwick : brews, was a name esteemed eacred among the
Egyptian Belief, p. 395.) This name was found Egyptians. They called it Y-HA-HO, or Y-AH-
on a temple in Egypt. (Higgins • Anacalypsis,
vol. ii. p. 17.) '"I AM ' was a Divine name • Exodus iii. 1, 14.
[48]
THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT. 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
brirg you up out of the affliction of Egypt . . . unto a land flowing with
niilk 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."
"2 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 lie 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."*
The Lord again appeared unto Moses, in Midian, and said:
" *trO, return into Eg3rpt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life,
^xnd 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."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/ uses Aaron
as his spokesman.6 They then appear unto Pharaoh, and falsify,
" according to the commands of the Lord" saying : u Let us go, we
pray thee, three- days' journey in the desert, and sacrifice unto the
Lord our God.""
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.
WBH. (See the Religion of Israel, pp. 42, 43; very title by which God tells Moees he WM
and Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 329, and vol. ii. p. known to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob."
17.) "None dare to enter the temple of Sera- (I'rof. Renouf : Relig. of Anc't Egypt, p.
pis, who did not bear on his breast or forehead 99.)
the name of JAO, or J-HA-HO, a name almost J Exodns iii. 15-18.
equivalent in sound to that of the Hebrew Je- a Exodus iii. 19-22. Here is a command
hovah, and probably of identical import ; and from the Lord to deceive, and lie, and iteal,
no name was uttered in Egypt with more rev- which, according to the narrative, was carried
erence than this IAO." (Trans, from the Gor. out to the letter (Ex. xii. 35, 36) ; and yet we
of Schiller, in Monthly Repos.. vol. xx.; and are told that this same Lord said : " Thau shall
Voltaire: Commentary on Exodus; Higgins' not steal." (Ex. xx. 15.) Again he says:
Anne., vol. i. p. 329; vol. ii. p. 17.) " That this " Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither
divine name was well-known to the Heathen rob him." (Leviticus xix. 13.) Surely this if
there can be no doubt.1' (Parkhurst : Hebrew inconsistency.
Lex. in Anac., i. 327.) So also with the name 3 Exodus iv. 19,20.
El Shaddai. '' The extremely common Egyp- * Exodus iv. 10.
tian expression Nutar Nutra exactly corre- 8 Exodus tv. 16.
spends iu sense to the Hebrew El Shaddai, the • Exodus v. 3.
50 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.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."2
"And it was told the king of Egypt, that the people flea. . . . And h«
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 o.ver the sea,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; andthe waters were a wall unto them upon the right Jiand, 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 7wrse-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
1 Exodus vii. 35-37. Bishop Colenso shows, walls while he passes through, must surely have
in his Pentateuch Examined, how ridiculous been originally the Sea of Clouds. ... A
this statement is. German story presents a perfectly similar fea-
2 Exodus xiii. 20, 21. ture. The conception of the cloud as sea, rock
' ' The sea over which Moees stretches out and wall, recurs very frequently in mythology."
his hand with the staff, and which he divides, (Prof. Steinthal : The Legend of Samson,' p.
BO that the waters stajid up on either side like 429.)
THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT. 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."1
The writer of this story, whoever he may have been, was evi
dently familiar with the legends related of the Sun-god, Bacchus,
as he has given Moses the credit of performing some of the mira
cles which were attributed to that god.
Is is related in the hymns of Orpheus," that Bacchus had a
rod with which he performed miracles, and which he could change
into a serpent at pleasure. lie passed the Red Sea, dry shod, at
the head of his army. He divided the waters of the rivers Oron-
tes and Hydaspus, by the touch of his rod, and passed through
them dry-shod.3 By the same mighty wand, he drew water
from the rock* and wherever they marched, the land flowed
with wine, milk and honey.5
Professor Stein thai, 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."
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."7
In Bell's Pantheon of the Gods and Heroes of Antiquity,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
thr ugh 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
1 Exodus xiv. 5-13. pass through (2 Kings ii. 8), and also the chil
a Orpheus is said to have been the earliest dren of Israel. (Joshua iii. 15-17.)
poet of Greece, where he first introduced the 4 Mo?os, with his rod, drew water from the
rites of Bacchus, which he brought from Egypt. rock. (Exodus xvii. 6.)
(See Roman Antiquities, p. 134.) 5 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 191, and Higgins:
3 The Hebrew fable writers not wishing to Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19.
be outdone, have made the waters of the river 6 The Legend of Samson, p. 420.
Jordan to be divided to let Elijah and Elisha 7 Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 165.
s Vol. i. p. 122.
52 BIBLE 30THS.
was called the " Law-giver" and that it was said of Bacchus, as
well as of Moses, that his laws were written on two table* of
stone.1 Bacchus was represented horned, and so was Moses.8
Bacchus " was picked up in a box, that floated on the water,"1
and so was Moses.4 Bacchus had two mothers, one by nature, and
one by adoption,6 and so had Moses.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."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 evi
dently 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 coun
try*
Lysimachiis relates that :
" A. filthy disease broke out in Egypt, and the Oracle of A.mmon, being con
sulted 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."9 The whole multitude of the people were accordingly collected and driven
out into the wilderness."™
Diodorus Siculus* referring to this event, says :
"In ancient times Egypt was afflicted with a great plague, which was attrib
uted 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 accord
ingly 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."11
1 Bell's Pantheon, vol. !. p. 122; and Hig- « Exodus ii. 1-11.
gins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19. 1 Exodus xiii. 20, 21.
2 Ibid, and Dupuis : Origin of Religious Be- 8 See Prichard's Historical Records, p. 74 ;
lief, p. 174. also Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 40; and Cory's An-
3 Taylor's Diegesis, p. 190 ; Bell's Pantheon, cient Fragments, pp. 80, 81, for similar ac-
vol. i. under " Bacchus ;" and Higgins: Anaca- counts.
lypsis ii. 19. ""All persons afflicted with leprosy were
considered displeasing in the pight of the Sun-
6 Taylor's Diegesis, p. 191 ; Bell's Pantheon, god, by the Egyptians." (Dunlap : Spirit Hist
vol. i. under "Bacchus;" and Higgina : p. 19, p. 40.)
To1- "• 10 Prichard's Historical Records, p. 75.
11 Ibid. p. 78.
THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT. 63
After giving the different opinions concerning the origin of the
Jewish nation, Tacitus, the Kornan historian, says :
" In this clash of opinions, one point seems to be universally admitted. A pesti
lential 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 Ilamrnon, and received for answer, that
the kingdom must be purified, bv exterminating the infected multitude, as a rare
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 oiler was accepted.
Their march began, they knew not whither. Want of water was their cliief
distress. Worn out with fatigue, they lay stretched on the ban; 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 anrnals, 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."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 u the children of Israel'1) 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 care
fully 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 un
knowingly harbor any filth, excrement or vermin, supposed to be
bred from putrefaction.2 We know from the laws set down in
Leviticus, that the Hebrews were not a remarkably clean race.
1 Tacitus : Hist, book v. ch. iii. and Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 447. "The
• Knight : Anc't Art and Mythology, p. 89, cleanliness of the Egyptian priests was extreme.
54 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 Keligion 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 his
tory later on."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."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."*
Count de Yolney 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."*
In speaking of the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, Dr. Knap-
pert says :
"According to the tradition preserved in Genesis, it was the promotion of
Jacob's sou, 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 bis 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
They shaved their heads, and every three days " Thinking it better to be clean than hand-
shaved their whole bodies. They bathed two or some, the (Egyptian) priests shave their whole
three times a day, often in the night also. They body every third day, that neither lice nor any
>re garments of white linen, deeming it more other impurity may be found upon them when
cleanly than cloth made from the hair of ani- engaged in the service of the gods.11 (Herodo-
mals. If they had occasion to wear a woolen tus : book ii. ch. 37.)
cloth or mantle, they put it off before entering 1 The Religion of Israel, p 27.
a temple ; so scrupulous were they that noth- a Dunlap : Spirit Hist, of Man, p. 266.
ing impure should come into the presence of s Hebrew Mythology, p. 23.
the gods." (Prog. Relig. Ideas, i. 168.) * Researches in Ancient History, p. 149.
THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT. 55
tyend !ries 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 Joseplms, 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 Maiietho, a priest, who lived about 2oO 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 tlie Egyp
tians 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."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 wJw have written about the actions of Alex
ander."'1
He seems to consider both legends of the same authority,
quoting the latter to substantiate the former.
" Callisthenes, who himself accompanied Alexander in the ex
pedition," " 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."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 Phoedrus, which was in a " rough air," and wishing to
1 The Religion of Israel, pp. 31, 32. by long-continued north winds; and Alexander,
a Jewish Antiq. bk. ii. ch. xvi. taking advantage of such a moment, may have
3 Ibid. note. dashed on without impediment ;' and we accept
"It was said that the waters of the Pam- the explanation as a matter of course. Cut the
phylian Sea miraculously opened a passage for waters of the Red Sea are said to have miracu-
the army of Alexander the Great. Admiral lously opened a passage for the children of
Beaufort, however, tells us that, ' though there Israel ; and we insist on the literal truth of thi»
are no tides in this part of the Mediterranean, etory, and reject natural explanations aa mon-
considerable depression of the sea is caused strous." (Matthew Arnold.)
56 BIBLE MYTHS.
cross, she commanded the stream to be dried up. This being done
she crossed without trouble.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)2 his foster-father took him and departed out of the country.
Coining 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
riindostan," who has taken it from the Bhayavat Pooraun. It is
as follows :
" Yasodha took the child Oishna, 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, wlw accordingly passed dry-footed, across the
river. "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,4 to
the effect that an Indian sage called Yisvimati, having arrived at a
river which he wished to cross, that holy man said to it : " Listen
to the Bard wrho 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 my
self 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 lack the streams of the river Ganges*
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 th - 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.6 Dr. Iirnau,
speaking of this, says :
1 See Prichard's Egyptian Mytho. p. 60. « Analysis Relig. Belief, p. 552.
» See ch. xviii. » See Hardy : Buddhist Legends, p. 140.
8 Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 312. « In a cave discoyered at Deir-el-Bahar
THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT. 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."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, ichichwas not written until more titan Jive It H mind ycur* ofter the
exodus it-self, can lay no claim to be considered historical. ''•'
(Aug., 1881X near Thebes, in Egypt, was found colored and yellow linen of a texture finer than
thirty-nint mummies of royal and priestly per- the finest Indian muslin, upon which lolus
eouages. Among these was King Ram PCS II., flowers are strewn. It is in a perfect state of
the third king of the Nineteenth Dynasty, and perservatiou. (See a Cairo [Aug. 8th] letter to
the veritable Pharoah of the Jewish captivity. the London Times.)
It is very strange that he should be here, among l Ancient FaithB, vol. ii. p. 58.
a number of other kings, if he had been lost in 2 The Religion of Israel, p. 41.
the Red Sea. The mummy is wrapped in rose-
CHAPTER VII.
RECEIVING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
THE receiving of the Ten Commandments by Moses, fiom the
Lord, is recorded in the following manner :
"In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth o:it of the
land of Egypt, the same clay 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 tSiuai 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."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"*
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.3 Moses again saw the
Lord on the Mount, however, and received two more tables of
stone.4 When he came down this time from off Mount Sinai,
"the skin of his face did shine.''5
1 Exodus six. called Chemmis, situated in the Thebaic dis-
2 Exodus xxxi. 18. trict, near Ncapolis, in which is a quadrangular
3 Exodus xxii. 19. temple dedicated to (the god) Perseus, son of
4 Exodus xxxiv. (the Virgin) Danae ; palm-trees grow round it,
6 l^id. and the portico is of stone, very spacious, and
It was a common belief among ancient over it are placed two large stone statues. In
Pagan nations that the gods appeared and this inclosure is a temple, and in it is placed a
conversed with men. As an illustration we may statue of Perseus. The Chemmitse (or inhabi-
cite the following, related by Herodotus, the tants of Chemmis), affirm that Perseus has fre-
Grecian historian, who, in speaking of Egynt quently appeared to them on earth.and frequently
and the Egyptians, says : " There is a large city within the temple." (Herodotus, bk. ii. ch. 91.)
[58]
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 59
These two tables of stone contained the Ten Commandments?
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 boar false witness against a neighbor.
10 — Not to covet.3
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? This feature in the Hebrew legend was evi
dently 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 M tiller 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."*
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.*
1 Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, had the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your
TEN commandments. 1. Not to kill. 2. Not to mother. Commit no murder. Break not the
steal. 3. To be chaste. 4 Not to bear false marriage vow. Steal not. Bear no false wit-
witness. 5. Not to lie. 6. Not to swear. 7. ness. Covet not." (Bible for Learners, vol. i.
To avoid impure words. 8. To be disinterested. p. 18.)
9. Not to avenge one's-sclf. 10. Not to be sn- 3 Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 1'2'2. Higgius,
perstitious. (See Hue's Travels, p. 328, vol. i.) vol. ii. p. 19. Cox: Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p.
* Exodus xx. Dr. Oort pays : " The original 2l.)5.
ten commandments probably ran as follows : I < Miiller : Origin of Religion, p. 130.
Yahwah am your God. Worship no other " See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 257, 258.
gods beside me. Make no image of a god. This book, the Zend-Ai^sta, is similar, in
Commit no perjury. Remember to keep holy many respects, to the Vedas of the Hindoos.
60 BIBLE MYTHS.
According to the religion of the Cretans, Minos, their . aw-giver,
ascended a mountain (Mount Dicta) and there received from the
Supreme Lord (Zeus) the sacred laws which he brought down with
him.3
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.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 linger of Thoth himself ; to
have been the work and composition of the great god.3
Diodorus, the Grecian historian, says :
The idea promulgated by the ancient Egyptians that their lawn
were received direct from the Most High God, has been adopted
with success Ijy many other law-givers, who have thus insured re
spect for their institutions*
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 des
ignation is given in the Codex Vatican us, as follows :
This has led many to believe that Zoroaster " The offerings of the Chinese to the deities
was a Brahman ; among these are Rawlinson were generally on the summits of high moun-
(See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 831) tains, as they seemed to them to be nearer
and Thomas Maurice. (See Indian Antiquities, heaven, to the majesty of which they were to
vol. ii. p. 219.) be offered.1' (Christmas's Mytho. p. 250, in
The Persians themselves had a tradition Ibid.) "In the infancy of civilization, high
that he came from some country to the East places were chosen by the people to offer sac-
of them. That he was a foreigner is indicated rifices to the gods. The first altars, the first
by a passage in the Zend-Avesta which repre- temples, were erected on mountains." (Hum-
eents Ormuzd as saying to him: " Thou, OZoro- boldt : American Researches.) The Himalayas
aster, by the promulgation of my law, shalt are the "Heavenly mountains." In Sanscrit
restore to me my former glory, which was pure Himala, corresponding to the M. Gothic. Hi-
light. Up! haste thee to the land of Iran, mins ; Alem., Himil ; Ger., Swed., and Dan.,
which thirsteth after the law, and say, thus Ilimmel ; Old Norse, Himin ; Dutch, Hemel ;
said Ormuzd, &c." (See Prog. Relig. Ideas, Ang.-Sax., Heofon; Eng., Heaven. (See Mal-
vol. i. p. 263.) let's Northern Antiquities, p. 42.)
1 The Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 301. 3 Bunsen's Egypt, quoted in Isis Unveiled,
2 "The deities of the niudoo Pantheou vol. ii. p. 307. Mrs. Child says : " The laws of
dwell on the sacred Mount Meru ; the gods of Egypt were handed down from the earliest
Persia ruled from Albordj ; the Greek Jove times, and regarded with the utmost veneration
thundered from Olympus; and the Scandina- as a portion of religion. Their first legislator
vian gods made Asgard awful with their pres- represented them as dictated by the gods them-
. Profane history is full of exam- selves, and framed expressly for the benefit of
pies attesting the attachment to high places for mankind by their secretary Thoth.'" (Prog.
purpose of sacrifice." (Squire : Serpent Sym- Relig. Ideas vol. i. p. 173.)
bols, p. 78.) 4 Quoted'in Ibid.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 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, Tezcat-
lipoca dwelt in the " midst of thick darkness." When he descend
ed upon the mount of Tezcatepec, darkness overshadowed the
earth, while fire and water, in mingled streams, flowed from be
neath his feet, from its summit.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 eilect, 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 kuowledye 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 writ
ings, it was from Ahuramazda, the God of light. Why did the Egyptians repre
sent 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 oni}' 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."2
1 See Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 175. » Bible for Learners, vol. I. p. 301.
CHAPTER YIIL
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,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 Sainson (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."
1 The idea of a woman conceiving, and bear
ing a son in her old age, seems to have been a
Hebrew peculiarity, as a number of their re
markable 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 Sam
son, 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 dis
content 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 replying
her wish. (See 1 Samuel, i. 1-20.)
John the Baptist was also a miraculously con
ceived infant. His mother, Elizabeth, bore
him in her old age. An angel also informed her
and her husband Zacbariah, 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 ; Dahak reigned
1000 years ; Feridun reigned 120 years ; Manu-
geher reigned 500 years ; Kaikans reigned 150
years ; and Bahaman reigned 112 years. (See
Dunlap : Son of the Man, p. 155, note.)
SAMSON AND HIS EXP10IIS. 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 bis father and his mother, to Timnath, and
came to the vineyards of Timnuth, 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 baud."
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 gar
ments." 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 lie 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, 4 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 "
64 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 gar
ments 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, in
stead of returning to his wife.1 I>at ic 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 pi-ay 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, lie 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 lie bad
taken bis wife, and given her to bis companion.' And tbe 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
lie 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 tbe 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 tbe bands 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 Avill bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their bands: but
surely we will not kill thee.' And they bound him with two new cords, and
1 Judges, xiv.
SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 65
bi ought him up from the rock. And when he came unto Lchi, the Philistines
shouted against him; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and
the cords that were upon his arms baoa/ne as Jinx that was burned with Jire, and his
bands loosed from off Jus 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 Jij'tft 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."1
" Then went Samson to Gaza and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her.
And it was told the Ga/ites, saying, ' Samson is come hither.' And they com
passed 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 si'cth 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
iny 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 piison. And being gathered together at a great sacrifice in honor
of their God, Dagon, they said : k% 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, Suiter me that I
may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.
1 Judges, xv.
66 BIBLE MYTHS.
" Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philis
tines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and
women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
" And Damson 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."1
Thu* 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,9 is too evident to be disputed. Many
churchmen have noticed the similarity between the history of
Samson and that of Hercules. In Chambers's Encylopsedia, undei
" 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 historica.
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 Shimshon (Samson), a cycle of mythical conceptions fully comparable with
the Greek myth of Hercules."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.4
The valley of Nemea was infested by a terrible lion ; Eurystheus
ordered Hercules to bring him the skin of this monster. After
xv. 3 Hebrew Mythology, p. 248.
a Perhaps that of Izdubar. See chapter xi. * Manual of Mythology, p. 248. The Age of
Fable, p. 200.
SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 67
using in vain his club and arrows against the lien, 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.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.3
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.8
The skin of the lion, Hercules tore off with his fingers, and
knowing it to be impenetrable, resolved to wear it henceforth.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.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 suc
cess, met the heralds of the King of the Minyae, 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.'
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.7 During this encounter a fire-brand figures
conspicuously, and tlie neighboring wood is set on fire*
1 Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 200. T " It haa many heads, one being immortal,
• Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 249. as the Btormmust constantly supply new clouds
1 Roman Antiquities, p. 134 ; and Mont- while the vapors are driven off by the Sun
faucon, vol. i. plate cxxvi. into space. Ilence the story went that although
4 Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 249. Herakles could burn away its mortal heaJp, aa
• See Ibid. Greek and Italian Mythology, p. the Sun burns up the clouds, still he can but
129, and Montfaucon, vol. i. plate cxxv. and hide away the mist or vapor itself, which at it«
cxxvi. appointed time must again darken tho sky."
• Manual of Mythology, p. 247. (Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 48.)
• See Manual of Mytho., p. 250.
f,8 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 ex
orcised 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.1
Tie 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
wrell suited for this both by its color and by its long-haired tail."'2
Eouchart, in his " Ilierozoicon," observes that :
" At this period (L 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 Fax,
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. "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 former
ly burnt by a fox to whose tail a young man had fastened a bundle of lighted
straw."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 Pheni-
cian 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."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."
1 Steinthal: The Legend of Samson, p. 398. 3 Quoted by Count de Volney: Researches
See, also, Biggins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 240, in Ancient History, p. 42, note.
and Volney: Researches in Anc't History, p. 42. * Volney : Researches in Ancient History,
2 Ibid- p. 42.
SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 69
It is related of Hercules that he had a combat with an army of
Centaurs, who were armed wit!* pine sticks, rocks, axes, &c.
They Hocked 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.1
Hercules also encountered and fought against an army of giants,
at the Phlegraean fields, near Cumae.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 \vere about to take his life. The cords with
which he was bound immediately became as ilax, and loosened
from off his hands. He then, with the jaw-bone of an ass, slew one
thousand Philistines.3
A very similar feature to this is found in the history of Her
cules. 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.''
On another occasion, being refused shelter from a storm at Kos,
he was enraged at the inhabitants, and accordingly destroyed the
whole town?
Samson, after he had slain a thousand Philistines, was u 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.
1 See Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 251. 230; Montfaucon : L'Antiquite Expliqoee,
" The slaughter of the Centaurs by Hercules vol. i. p. 213, and Murray: Manual of Mythol-
is the conquest and dispersion of the vapors ogy, pp. 2r>9-262.
by the Kun as he rises in the heaven." (Cox: It is evident that Herodotus, the Grecian
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 47.) historian, was somewhat of a skeptic, for he
a Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 257. says: "The Grecians suy that ' When Hercules
3 Shamgar also slew six hundred Philistines arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians, having crown-
with an ox-goad. (See Judges, iii. 31.) ed him with a garland, led him in procession,
" It is scarcely necessary to eay that these as designing co sacrifice him to Jupiter, and
weapons are the heritage of all the, S'o/a/1 heroes, (hat for some time he remained quiet, bur,
that they are found in the hands of Phebus and when they began the preparatory ceremonies
Herakles, of (Edipus. Achilleus, Philoktetes, of upon him at the altar, he set about defending
Sigimrd, Rui*tem, Indra, Isfendujar, of Tele himself and slew every one of them.' Now,
phos, Melcagros, Theseus, Kadmos, Bellero eince Hercules was but one. and, besides, a
phon, and all other slayers of noxious and mere man, as they confess, how is it possible
fearful things." (Rev. Geo. Cox: Tales of that he should slay many thousands?" (Herod-
Ancient Greece, p. xxvii.) otus, book ii. ch. 45).
« See Volney: Researches in Ancient His. • Murray: Manual of Mythology, p. 263.
tory, p. 41. Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p.
70
BIBLE MYTHS.
Instantly the (celestial) Earn 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.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 Her
cules," called the " Gates of Cadiz."*
Count de Yolney tells us that :
" Hercules was represented naked, carrying on his shoulders two columns
called the Gates of Cadiz."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.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.*
Fig. No. 3 is a rep
resentation of Hercules
with the two posts or
pillars on his shoulders,
as alluded to by Count
de Volney. We have
taken it fromMontfau-
con's " L'Antiquite Ex-
pliquee."9
J. P. Lundy says of
this :
1 Volney: Kesearches in Anc't History, pp.
41,42.
In Bell's " Pantheon of the Goda and Demi-
Gods of Antiquity," we read, under the head
of Amman or Ilammon (the name of the
Egyptian Jupiter, worshiped under the figure
of a l?am\ 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 re
quital of which favor, Bacchus built there a
temple to Jupiter, under the title of Ammon."
a 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. (Charn-
bers's Encyclo. "Hercules.")
3 Volney 's Researches, p. 41. See also
Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 357.
4 See Chambers's Encyclopedia, Art "Her
cules." Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 36, note;
and Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p. 201.
6 Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Hercules."
6 Vol. i. plate cxxvii.
SAMSON AND IIIS EXPLOITS. 71
" Hercules carrying his two columns to erect at the Straits of Gibraltar,
may have some reference to the Hebrew story."1
We think there is no doubt of it. By changing the name Her
cules into Samson, the legend is complete.
Sir William Drummond tells us, in his " (Edipus 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."2
The stories of the amours of Samson with Delilah and other
females, are simply counterparts of those of Hercules with Omphale
and lole. Montfaucon, speaking of this, says :
" Nothing is better known in the fables (related of Hercules) than his amours
with Omphale and lole."3
Prof. Steinthal says :
' ' The circumstance that Samson is so addicted to sexual pleasure, has its origin
In the remembrance that the Solar godia the god of fruitfulness and procreation.
"We have as examples, the amours of Hercules and Ornphale; Niuyas, in Assyria,
with Semiramis; Samson, in Philistia, with Delila, whilst among the Pheuicians,
Melkart pursues Dido-Anna."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."
Kow, 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'Antiquite Expliquee "5 may be seen a representation of Her
cules with hair reaching almost to his waist. Almost all Sun-gods
are represented thus.8
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.
1 Monumental Christianity, p. 399. from representations of the Sun-god amongst
a (Ed. Jud. p. 300, in Anacalypsis, vol. I. other peoples. These long hairs are the rays
p. 239. of the Sun." (Bible for Learners, i. 410.)
» "Rien de plus connu dans la fable que ''The beauty of the sun's rays is signified
Bee amours avec Omphale et lole." — L'Anti- by the golden locks of Phoibos, over which no
quite Expliquee, vol. i. p. 224. razor has ever passed ; by the flowing hair
4 The Legend of Samson, p. 404. which streams from the head of Kephalos,
6 Vol. i. plate cxxvii. and falls over the shoulders of Perseus and
• " Samson was remarkable for his long Bellerophon." (Cox: Aryan Mytho., voL 1.
hair. The meaning of this trait in the orig- p. 107.)
liial myth is easy to guess, and appears also
72 BIBLE MYTHS.
"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,' accord
ing 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."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 Lykegenes flow the sacred
locks, over which no razor might pass, and on the head of ISTisos
they become a palladium, invested with a mysterious power.3
The long locks of hair which flow over his shoulders are taken
from his head by Skylla, while he is asleep, and, like another Deli-
lah, she thus delivers him and his people into the power of
Minos.8
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."4
Towards the end of his career, Samson's eyes are put out.
Even here, the Hebrew writes with a singular iidclity 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. Sam
son's eyes are put out.
(Edipus, 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 dark
ness have closed in about him, and the clear light is blotted out of
the heaven.5
The linal 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
1 Hebrew Mytho., pp. 137, 138. 4 The Legend of Samson, p. 408.
a Cox : Aryan Myths, vol.i. p. 84. 6 Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 72.
1 Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxix.
SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 73
Dagon, the Fish-god ; the Sun was in the sign of the "Waterman,
Sam,son, the Sun-god, died.1
The ethnology of the name of Samson, as well as his adven
tures, are very closely connected with the Solar Hercules. " Sam
son " was the name oftlie Sun? In Arabic, " Shaim-on " means the
Sun? Samson had seven locks of hair, the number of the plan
etary bodies.4
The author of " The Keligion 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."8
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 v;hole 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."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 in 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."1
Other nations beside the Hebrews and Greeks had their
wt mighty men" and lion-killers. The Hindoos had their Samson.
His name was Bala-Rama, the " Strong Rama" He was con
sidered by some an incarnation of Vishnu.8
1 The Legend of Samson, p. 406. 8 Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 237, and
3 See Higgins: Anacalypsis. vol. i. p. 237. Volney's Researches, p. 43, note.
Goldzhier: Hebrew Mythology, p. 22. The * See chapter ii.
Religion of Israel, p. 61. The Bible for ' The Religion of Israel, p. 61. " The yellow
Learners, vol. i. p. 418. Volney's Ruins, p. hair of Apollo was a symbol of the solar
41, and Stanley: History of the Jewish Church, rays." (Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p.
where he says: "His name, which Josephus 679.)
interprets in the sense of ' strong,' was still 6 Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 414.
more characteristic. He was ' the Sunny ' — 7 Ibid, p. 422.
the bright and beaming, though wayward, like- 8 Williams' Hinduism, pp. 103 and 167.
ness of the great luminary."
74 BIBLE MYTHS.
Captain Wilford says, in " Asiatic Eesearches : "
"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."1
There is a Hindoo legend which relates that Sevah had an enr
counter 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.2
The Assyrians and Lydians, both Semitic nations, worshiped
a Sun-god named Sandan or Sandon. He also was believed to
be a lion-kitte-r, and frequently figured struggling with the lion,
or standing upon the slain lion.3
Nineviih, too, had her mighty hero and king, who slew a lion
and other monsters. Layard, in his excavations, discovered a las-
relief representation of this hero triumphing over the lion and
wild bull.4
The Ancient Babylonians had a hero lion-slayer, Izdubar by
name. The destruction of the lion, and other monsters, by Izdu
bar, is often depicted on the cylinders and engraved gems belong
ing to the early Babylonian monarchy.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.8
Izdubar resembles the Grecian hero, Hercules, in other re
spects than as a destroyer of wild animals, &c. We are told
that he " wandered to the regions where gigantic composite mon
sters 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"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 Jds head and a large curly beard.8
1 Vol. v. p. 270. e Smith: Assyrian Discoveries, p. 167, and
' Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 174.
8 Assyrian Discoveries, p. 205, and Chal-
8 Steinthal : The Legend of Samson, p. dean Account of Genesis, p. 174.
7 Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 810.
4 Buckley: Cities of the World, 41, 42. 8 Ibid, pp. 193, 194, 174.
SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS.
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 Gre
cian hero of that name. This the Egyptians affirmed, and that lie
was born in their country.1
The story of Hercules was known in the
Island of Thasos, by the Phenician colony
settled there, live centuries before he was
known in Greece.2 Fig. No. 4 is from an
ancient representation of Hercules in con
flict 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 Beller
ophon. 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.8
The second of the principal gods of the Ancient Scandinavians
was named Thor, and was no less known than Odin among the Teu
tonic 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 of ten 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
FlG.4
1 See Tacitus: Annals, book ii. ch. lix.
» Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 92.
» See Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 153.
76 BIBLE MYTHS.
of the gods.1 Thor was simply the Hercules of the Northern
nations. He was the Sun personified.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 Her
cules and Samson.3
1 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. " Besides the fabulous Hercules, the son of
94, 417, and 514. Jupiter and Alcmena, there was, in ancient
2 See Cox : Aryan Mythology. times, no warlike nation who did not boast
8 See vol. i. of Aryan Mythology, by Rev. of its own particular Hercules." (Arthur Mar-
G. W. Cox. phy, Translator cf Tacitus.)
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 Nin-
evah, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is coine
up against me."
Instead of obeying this command Jonah sought to flee " from
the presence of the Lord," by going to Tarshish. For this pur
pose 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 ivas 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
[77]
78 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 lie 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?"
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 lie remained three days in his belly,
and that he came out bald-pated after his sojourn there."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 swal
lowed up of a Dag, and to have lain three days in his entrails. "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."4
We have still another similar story in that of "Arion the Musi
cian" 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
> Tylor: Early Hi?t. Mankind, pp. 344, 345. 3 Bouchet: Hist, d' Animal, in Anac., vol. i.
3 " En effet, quelques anciens disent qu' Her- p. 240.
cule fut aussi devora par la beleine qui gurdoit 4 Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 638. Sec also
Hesione, quMl demenra trois jours dans son Tylot . Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 306, and
ventre, et qu'il sortit chauve de ce sejour." Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Jonah."
(L'Anti^uite Expliquee, vol. i. p. 204.)
JONAH SWALLOWED BY A BIG FISH. 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.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.3 This legend was
also found in the myths of the New World*
It was urged, many years ago, by Rosenmuller — 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 Pheni-
cian myth of Hercules rescuing Hesione from the sea monster ~by
leaping himself into its yaws, and for three days and three nights
continuing to tear its entrails"'
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 swallow
ing 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.6
Professor Goldzhier says :
1 Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 296. « Chambers's Encyclo., art. Jonah.
8 See Hebrew Mythology, p. 203. « See Fiske : Myths and Myth Makers, p. 77,
1 See Tyler's Early Hiet. Mankind, and and note ; and Tylor : Primitive Culture, I. 302.
Primitive Culture, vol. i.
80 BIBLE MYTHS.
" The most prominent mythical characteristic of the Etory 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."1
The Sun was called Jona, as appears from Grater's inscriptions,
and other sources.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?
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* The Earth represented as a huge Fish is one of the most
prominent ideas of the Polynesian mythology?
At other times, instead of a Fish, we have a great raving Wolf,
who comes to devour its victim and extinguish the Sun-light*
The Wolf is particularly distinguished in ancient Scandinavian
mythology, being employed as an emblem of the Destroying Power,
which attempts to destroy the Sun.1 This is illustrated in the
story of Little Red Riding-Hood (the Sun)8 who is devoured by
the great Black Wolf (Night) and afterwards comes out unhurt*
The story of Little Red Riding-Hood is mutilated in the Eng
lish version. The original story was that the little maid, in her
shining Bed Cloak, was swallowed by the great Black Wolf, and
that she came out safe and sound when the hunters cut open the
sleeping beast.10
i Goldzbier: Hebrew Mythology, pp. 102, 103. « See Tylor : Early History of Mankind, p.
8 This is seen from the following, taken from 345.
Pictet : " Du Culte des Carabi" p. 104, and • Fieke : Myths and Myth Makers, p. 77.
quoted by Higgins : Anac., vol. i. p. 650 : " Val- ' See Knight : Ancient Art and Mythology,
lancy dit que lonn etoit le meme que Baal. pp. 88, 89, and Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
En Gallois Jon, le Seignenr, Dieu, la cause 8 in ancient Scandinavian mythology, the
premiere. En Basque Jawna, Jon, Jona, &c., Sun is personified in the form of a beautiful
Dieu, et Seigneur, Maitre. Les Scandinaves maiden. (See Mallet's Northern Antiquities,
appeloient le Soleil John. . . . Une des p. 458.)
inscriptions de Gruter montre ques les Troyens • See Fiske : Myths and Myth Makers, p. 77.
adoroient le meme astre sous le nom de Jona. Bunce : Fairy Tales, 161.
En Persan le Soleil est appele Jawnah." Thus ™ Tylor : Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 307.
we see that the Sun was called Jonah, by dif- " The story of Little Eed Kiding-Hood, as
ferent nations of antiquity. we call her, or Little Red-Cap, came from the
8 See Goldzhier : Hebrew Mythology, p. 146. same (i. e., the ancient Aryan) source, and re-
4 See Tylor : Early History of Mankind, p. fers to the Sun and the Night."
345, and Goldzhier : Hebrew Mythology, pp. li One of the fancies of the most ancient
102, 103. Aryan or Hindoo stories was that there was a
JONAH SWALLOWED BY A BIG FISH. 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 Sol
stice. 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 Miiller, who, in speaking of " the
comparison of the different forms of Aryan Religion and Mythol
ogy," in India, Persia, Greece, Italy and Germany, says :
' ' In each of these nations there was a tendency to change the original concep
tion 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 u< roes, and at last the
myths which were true and intelligible as told originally of i!,e 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 Ger
many. 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."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 preach
ing unto the inhabitants, we believe that the old " Myth of Civiliza-
grcat dragon that was trying to devour the Sun, clouds, which the evening Sun is not strong
and to prevent him from shining upon the enough to pierce through. Then, with the
earth and filling it with brightness and life and darkness of night, he swallows up the evening
beauty, and that Indra, the Sun-god, killed the Sun itself, and all is dark and desolate. Then,
dragon. Now, this is the meaning of Little as in the German tale, the night-thunder and
Red Riding-Hood, as it is told in our nursery the storm-winds are represented by the loud
tales. Little Red Riding-IIood is the evening snoring of the wolf ; and then the huntsman,
Sun, which is always described as red or golden ; the morning Sun, comes in all his strength and
the old grandmother is the earth, to whom the majesty, and chases away the night-clouds and
rays of the Sun bring warmth and comfort. kills the wolf, and revives old Grandmother
The wolf — which is a well-known figure for the Earth, and brings Little Red Riding-Hood to
clouds and darkness of night — is the dragon in life again." (Bunce, Fairy Tales, their Origin
another form. First he devours the grand- and Meaning, p. 161.)
mother ; that is, he wraps the earth in thick > Mailer's Chips, vol. ii. p. 260.
6
82 BIBLE MYTHS.
tion," so called,1 is partly interwoven here, and that, in tins re
spect, lie is nothing more than the Indian Fish Avatar of Vish-
nou, or the Chaldean Cannes. At his first Avatar, Vishnou is
alleged to have appeared to humanity in form like a fish,3 or half-
man and half-fish, just as Cannes 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.3 Mr. Maurice, in his "Hist. Ilindostan," has
proved the identity of the Syrian Dagon and the Indian Fish
ivatar, 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."4
In the old mythological remains of the Chaldeans, compiled by
Berosus, Abydenus, and Polyhistor, there is an account of one
Cannes, a fish-god, who rendered great service to mankind.5 This
being is said to have come out of the Erythraean Sea.8 This is
evidently the Sun rising out of the sea, as it apparently does, in
the East'.7
Prof. Goldzhier, speaking of Oannes, says :
"That this founder of cizilization has a Solar character, like similar heroes
in all other nations, is shown ... in the words of Berosus, who says:
1 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."8
Dagon was sometimes represented as a man emerging from a
fishs mouth, and sometimes as half-man and half-fish.9 It was
believed that he came in a ship, and taught the people. Ancient
history abounds with such mythological personages.10 There was also
a Durga, a fish deity, among the Hindoos, represented as a full
grown man emerging from a fish's mouth.* The Philistines wor-
1 See Goldzhier 's Hebrew Mythology, p. 198, • See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 646.
et ee<l- Smith : Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 39,
2 See Maurice : Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. and Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 57.
P- 277. 7 civilizing gods, who diffuse intelligence
1 See Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 259. Also, and instruct barbarians, are also Solar Deities.
Fig. No. 5, next page. Among these Oannes takes his place, as the
* Hist. Hindostan, vol. i. pp. 418-419. Sun-god, giving knowledge and civilization.
« See Pilchard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 190. (Rev. S. Baring-Gould : Curious Myths, p. 367.
Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 87. Higgins : s Goldzhier : Hebrew Mythology, pp. 214,
Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 646. Cory's Ancient 215.
Fragments, p. 57. » See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 111.
>• See Chamber's Encyclo., art "Dagon."
JONAH SWALLOWED BY A BIG FISH.
83
shiped 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.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.3
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 Cannes.'
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.4
The ancient Mexicans and Peruvians had likewise semi-fish gods."
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 j
they are all represented as
a man emerging from a
jislibS mouth j and they are
all benefactors of mankind.
We believe, therefore,
that it is one and the
same myth, whether Oan-
nes, Joannes, or Jonas,8 dif
fering to a certain extent
among different nations, just
as we find to be the case with
FfG. 5
other legends. This we have just
seen illustrated in the story of u Little Red Riding-Hood," which
is considerably mutilated in the English version.
1 See Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, and
Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Dagon " in both.
3 See Baring-Gould's Curious Myths.
* See Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 26.
« Ibid, p. 38.
6 Curious Myths, p. 372.
• Since writing the above we find that Mr.
Bryant, in his "Analysis of Ancient Mytlwi-
ogy" (vol. ii. p. 291), speaking of the mystical
nature of the name John, which is the same aa
Jonah, says : " The prophet who was sent upon
an embassy to the Ninevites, is styled lonas :
a title probably bestowed upon him as a mes
senger of the Deity. The great Patriarch who
preached righteousness to the Antediluvians,
is styled Oan and Oannes, which ia the samt
&8 Jonah"
84
BIBLE MYTHS.
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. 61 is a repre
sentation of the Indian Avatar of Yishnou,
coming forth from the fish? It would an
swer 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.* The Indian Avatar being
represented with four arms, evidently means
that he is god of the whole world, \\isfour
arms extending to tlicfour 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 look and siuord are to show that he ruled both in the right of
the book and of the sword.4
1 From Maurice : Hist. Hindostan, vol. i.
p. 495.
a Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 634. See
also, Calmet 's Fragments, 2d Hundred, p. 78.
» See the chapter on " The Trinity," IE
part second.
4 See Higgins : Anacalypeis, vol. i. p. 640.
CHAPTER X.
CERCUMCI8ION.
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."1
The first mention of Circumcision, in the Bible, occurs in
Genesis,8 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 thce; every male child among you shall be circumcised."
u We need not doubt" says the Rev. Dr. Giles, " that a Divine
command was given to Abraham that all his posterity should prac
tice the rite of circumcision."8
Such may be the case. If we believe that the Lord of the
Universe communes with man, we need not doult 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.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,5
1 Giles : Ilebrew and Christian Kecords, vol. ated in this way. And Mr. Wake, speaking of if.,
i. p. 249. says: " The origin of thiy custom has not yet, so
2 Genesis, xvii. 10. far as I am aware, been satisfactorily explained.
' Giles : Hebrew andChristian Records, vol. The idea that, under certain climatic con-
1. p. 251. ditious, circumcision is necessary for cleanh-
4 Mr. Herbert Spencer shows (Principles of ness and comfort, does not appear to be well
Sociology, pp. 290, 295) that the sacrificing of a founded, as the custom is not universal even
part of the body as a religious offering to their within the tropics.'' (.Phallism in Ancient
deity, was, and is a common practice among Religg., p. 36.)
savage tribes. Circumcision may have origin- '"Other men leave their private parti
86 BIBLE MYTHS.
at least as early as thefourt/i 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.1
In the decorative pictures of Egyptian tombs, one frequently
meets with persons on whom the denudation of the prepuce is
manifested,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.8 All Egyptian
priests were obliged to be circumcised,4 and Pythagoras had to
submit to it before being admitted to the Egyptian sacerdotal
mysteries.6
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."6
It has been recognized among the Kaffirs and other tribes of
Africa? It was practiced among the Fijians and Samoans of
Polynesia, and some races of Australia* The Suzees and the
Mandingoes circumcise their women.9 The Assyrians, Colchins,
Phenicians, and others, practiced it.10 It has been from time im
memorial a custom among the Abyssinians, though, at the present
time, Christians.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.12
The Troglodytes on the shore of the Red Sea, the Idumeans,
Ammonites, Moabites and Ishmaelites, had the practice of circum
cision.11
The ancient Mexicans also practiced this rite.13 It was also
as they are formed by nature, except those 6 Herodotus: Book ii. ch. 30.
who have learned otherwise from them; but 7 See Bomvick's Egyptian Belief, p. 114.
the Egyptians arc eircv incited. . . . They Amberly: Analysis Religious Belief, p. 07, and
are circumcised for the sake of cleanliness, Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 3U9.
thinking it better to be clean than handsome." 8 Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 414, and
(Herodotus, Book ii. ch. 30.) Amberly's Analysis, pp. 03, 73.
1 We have it also on the authority of Sir 8 Amberly: Analysis of Relig. Belief, p. 73.
J. G. Wilkinson, that: "this custom was estab- 1° Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 414: Am-
Jished long before the arrival of Joseph in berly's Analysis, p. 03; Prog. Relig. Ideas,
Egypt," and that "this is proved by the ancient vol. i. p. 103, and Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol.
monuments." ii. pp. ig, 19.
2 Bomvick: Egyptian Belief, pp. 414, 415. " Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 414.
' Ibid. p. 415. 12 Kendrick's Egypt, quoted by Dunlap;
4 Ibid, and Knight: Ancient Art and Mythol- Mysteries of Adoni, p. 146.
°gy- !>• W)- 13 Ambcrly's Analysis, p. 63, Higgins: Ana-
5 Bonwick'H Egyptian Belief, p. 415. calypsis, vol. ii. p. 309, and Acoata, ii. 369.
CIRCUMCISION. 87
found among the Amazon tribes of South America.1 These In
dians, as well as some African tribes, were in the habit of circumcis
ing their women. Among the Campos, the women circumcised
themselves, and a man would not marry a woman who was not
circumcised.' They performed this singular rite upon arriving at
the age of puberty.3
Jesus of Nazareth was circumcised,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.6 But the Christians are not followers of the
religion of Jesus." They are followers of the religion of the
Pagans. This, we believe, we shall be able to show in Part Second
of this work.
1 Orton : The Andes and the Amazon, p. among the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands,
322. in particular at Tongataboo, and the younger
a This was done by cutting off the clytoris. Pritchard bears witness to its practice in the
8 Orton : The Andes and the Amazon, p. Samoa or Fiji groups." (Oscar Peschel : The
822. Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 563, and Bible Races of Man, p. 22.)
for Learners, vol. i. p. 319. * Luke, ii. 21.
"At the time of the conquest, the Span- 'Matthew, v. 18.
iards found circumcised nations in Central « In using the words "the religion of
America, and on the Amazon, the Tecuna and Jesus," we mean simply (he religion of Israel.
Mauaos tribes still observe this practice. In We believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew,
the South Seas it has been met with among in every sense of the word, and that he did
three different races, but it is performed in a not establish a new religion, or preach a new
somewhat different manner. On the Austral- doctrine, in any way, shape, or form. "The
ian continent, not all, but the majority of preacher from the Mount, the prophet of the
tribes, practiced circumcision. Among the Beatitudes, does but repeat with persuasive
Papuans, the inhabitants of New Caledonia lips what the law-givers of his race proclaimed
and the New Hebrides adhere to this custom. in mighty tones of command." (See chap.
In his third voyage, Captain Cook found it xL)
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-Jiing —
one of their sacred books, which has been translated by Prof.
Samuel Beal — which, in substance, is as follows :
Suddhodana Eaja 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
[88]
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 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 yon, honorable
Sirs ! let not these dreams escape your memories, but in the morn
ing, when I am seated in my palace, and surrounded by my attend
ants, let them be brought to my mind (that they may be inter
preted.)"
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 :
"Maha-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, Suddhodana was very troubled in his heart, and
exceeding distressed. lie thought within himself : " AYho is there
that can satisfy these doubts of mine ?"
iunaily a kk 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 Suddhodana Kaja, 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.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, ly 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 Pharoah's daughter did with
the child Moses — educated him.9
1 See Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. Ill, etseq. Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 178, and Bulflnch :
• Bell's Pantheon, under "Pereeus;" Knight : Age of Fables, p. 161.
90 BIBLE MYTHS.
The infant Bacchus was confined in a chest, ly order of Cadmus,
King of Thebes, and thrown into the Nile.1 He, like Moses, had
two mothers, one by nature, the other by adoption.8 He was also,
like Moses, represented horned?
Osiris was also confined in a chest, and thrown into the river
Nile.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 pur
suit, reached Eleusis, seated herself by a well, conversed with the
daughters of the queen, and became nurse to her son.* 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.6 This is simply another version of
the same myth.
In the second chapter of the second book of Kings, we read oi
ELIJAH ASCENDING TO HEAVEN.
There are many counterparts to this, in heathen mythology.
Hindoo sacred writings relate many such stories — how some oi
their Holy Ones were taken up alive into heaven — and impressions
on rocks are shown, said to be foot-prints, made when they
ascended.7
According to Babylonian mythology, Xisuthrus was translated
to heaven.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? This
idea of some Holy One ascending to heaven without dying was
found in the ancient mythology of the Chinese.10
The story of
DAVID KILLING GOLIATH,
by throwing a stone and hitting him in the forehead,11 may be com-
i Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 118. Taylor's « Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, i. 159.
Diegesis, p. 190. Iliggins : Anacalypsis, vol. 9 Exodus, ii.
ii. p. 19. 2 ibid. 7 See Child : Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 6,
3 BelTa Pantheon, vol. i. p. 132. Dupuis : and most any work on Buddhism.
Origin of Religious Belief, p. 174. Goldziher: 8 See Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis.
Hebrew Mythology, p. 179. Higgins : Anaca- 9 See Goldziher : Hebrew Mythology, p. 128,
lypsis, vol. ii. p. 19. note.
* Bell's Pantheon, art. " Osiris ;" and Bui- 1° See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 213, 214.
finch : Age of Fable, p. 891. » I. Samuel, xvii.
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 91
pared to the story of Ttior, the Scandinavian hero, throwing a
hammer at Hrungnir, and striking him in the forehead.1
We read in Numbers3 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.3 Homer has re
corded that the horse of Achilles spoke to him.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 oi 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 con
tinue 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, tiiat which is re
lated of Bacchus in the Orphic hymns, wherein it says that this
god-man arrested the course of the sun and the moon.6
An Indian legend relates that the sun stood still to hear the
pious ejaculations of Arjouan after the death of Crislma."
A holy Buddhist by the name of Matanga prevented the sun,
at his command, from rising, and bisected the moon.7 Arresting
the course of the sun was a common thing among the disciples of
Buddha.8
The Chinese also, had a legend of the sun standing still," 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.10
1 See Goldzhier : Hebrew Mythology, p. 430, 8 Ibid, i. 191, and ii. 241; Franklin : Bud. &
and Bu) finch : Age of Fable, 440. Jeyne*. 174.
a Chapter xxii. i Hardy : Buddhist Legends, pp. 50, 53, and
' See Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis, 140.
p. 138, et seq. * See Ibid.
* See Prog, lielig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 323. • Biggins : Anacalypsis, vol. 11. p. 191.
• See Higgins : Anacalypeis, vol. ii. p. 19. ie Ibid, p. 89.
92 BIBLE MYTHS.
We shall now endeavor to answer tlie 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 Moses1 in the Septuagint1 or Vulgate,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 criti
cism."3
The author of " The Religion of Israel," referring to this subject,
says :
" The Jews who lived after the Babylonish Captivity, and the Christians fol
lowing 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
tJiem now. If we still call these books by his name, it is only because the Israel
ites always thought of him as their first and greatest law-giver, and the actual
autJiors grouped all tlmr narratives and laws around his figure, and associated them
with his name."*
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.6
1 " Septuagint."— The Old Greek version of Gilgal, mentioned in Deut. xi. 30, was not given
the Old Testament. as the name of that place till after the entrance
2 " Vulgate."— The Latin version of the Old into Canaan. Dan, mentioned in Genesis xiv.
Testament. 14, was not so called till long after the time of
8 The Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. pp. 186, Moses. In Gen.xxxvi. 31, t'-»e beginning of the
reign of the kings over Israel is spoken of his-
1 The Religion of Israel, p. 9. torically, an event which did not occur before
6 Besides the many other facts which show the time of Samuel. (See, for further infonna-
tnat the Pentateuch was not composed until tion, Bishop Colenso's Pentateuch Examined,
long after the time of Moses and Joshua, the vol. ii. ch. v. and vi.
following may be mentioned as examples :
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 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 l»j 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 mod
ifications and additions, by different people, at three distinct
epochs. l
The two principal writers are generally known as the Jehovistic
and the Elohistlc. 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. lie 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 popu
lar legends?
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 l>y Assyrian colonists from Babylon,
Persia, and other places* 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.4 It was soon afterwards wove into
the work of the first Pentateuchian writer, and at the same time
1 The Religion of Israel, p. 9 » Chumbers's Encyclo., art. "Jews."
• Ibid. p. 10. '« The Religion of Israel, pp. 10. 11.
94 BIBLE MYTHS.
" a few new passages " were added, some of which related to
Joshua, the successor of Moses.1
At this period in Israel's history, Jehovah had become almost
forgotten, and "other gods" had taken his place.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 imme
diately 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 ref
ormation which completely answered to the ideas of the Mosaic
party.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* although it had only just been drawn
up.*
The principal objections which were brought against the claims
of Hilkiah, but which are not needed in the present age of inquiry ',
was that Sliaphan 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 booh 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? This "series of laws and
narratives," which was written by " some of the (Israelitish) priests
in Babylon," was called " The Book of Origins " (probably con
taining 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 subse-
1 The Religion of Israel, p. 11. Hilkiah is to be found in II. Chronicles, ch.
a See Ibid, pp. 120, 123. xxxiv.
« See Ibid, p. 122. * See Religion of Israel, pp. 124, 125.
« The account of the finding of this book by « Ibid, p. 11.
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 96
quently 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, else
where recorded, are touched up in the priestly spirit^ and others
are entirely invented?
It was the belief of the Jews, asserted by the Pirke Aboth
(Sayings of the Fathers), one of the oldest books of the Talmud*
as well as other Jewish records, that Ezra, acting in accordance
witli a divine commission, re-wrote the Old Testament, the manu
scripts of which were said to have been lost in the destruction of
the first temple, when Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem.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 to
gether. 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 amalga
mating 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. Tliese boo/cs 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."4
From the time of Ezra until the year 287 B. c., when the
Pentateuch was translated into Greek by order of Ptolemy Phila-
i The Religion of Israel, pp. 186, 187. » See Chambers's Encyclo., art. " Bible/
« " Talmud.'"— The books containing the 4 The Religion of fcrael, pp 240, 241.
Jewish traditions.
96 BIBLE MYTHS.
delphus, 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."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 incon
sistencies. ... No single author could have been guilty of such absurdi
ties ; 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 "'2
Having ascertained the origin of the Pentateuch, or Urst live
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 investiga
tions. Suffice it to say then, that : " In the earlier period after
Ezra, none of the other looks winch already existed, enjoyed the
same authority as the Pentateuch."3
It is probable4 that jS'ehemiah 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 hooks would
one day stand on the same level with the Pentateucli?
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* 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 alto-
1 The Religion of Israel, p. 11. * On the strength of II. Maccabees, ii. 13.
3 The Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. p. 173. • The Religion of Israel, p. 242.
• The Religion of Israel, p. 241. • Ibid, p. 243.
OF PART FIRST. 97
gether obscure.1 Jewish tradition indicates that the full canonicity
of several books was not free from doubt till the time of the
famous Rabbi Akiba,a who flourished about the beginning of the
second century after Christ.'
After giving a history of the books of the Old Testament, the
author of u 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 any
thing 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 free
dom, and write do\vn without hesitation anything they heard and what. wa>
current in the mouths of the people, bat the// did n»t shrink from modifying their
representation of the past in <tny tray that they thought would be good and unfid.
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 \ve want to know is what happened,
and how men lived, thought, and worked hi 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 miglit be more
conducive to (?ie end he had in view and chime in better with his opinions. All the
past becfime colored through and through with the tinge of his own mind. Our own
notions of honor and good faith \vould 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 con
science."4
It will be noticed that, in our investigations on the authority of
the Pentateuch, we have followed, principally, Dr. Kuappert's
ideas as set forth in " The Religion of Israel."
This we have done because we could not e:o into an extended
O
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
1 Cbainbers'a Encyclo., art. " Bible." » Chambers^ Encyclo., art. " Akiba.'
1 Ibid. « The Religion of Israel, pp. 19, 23.
98 BIBLE MYTHS.
day, we subjoin, in a note below, a list of works to which they are
referred.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 Full 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. o.), and as the Jews were ac
quainted 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 he/ore
the time assigned for the birth of Jesus. The cuneiform inscrip
tions discovered by him, while on an expedition to Assyria,
organized by the London u 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 litera
ture 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."2 Mr. Smith then shows, from "frag
ments of the Cuneiform account of the Creation and Fall " which
have been discovered, that, "in the period from B. c. 2000 to
" What is the Bible," by J. T. Sunderland. Bishop Coleneo. Prof. F. W. Newman's "He-
"The Bible of To-day/' by J. W. Chadwick. brew Monarchy." "The Bible for Learners"
" Hebrew and Christian Ilecords," by the Rev. (vols. i. and ii.), by Prof. Got and others. " The
Dr. Giles, 2. vols. Prof. W. R. Smith's article Old Testament in the Jewish Church," by
on " The Bible," in the last edition of the En- Prof. Robertson Smith, and Kuenen's " Re-
cyclopaedia Britaunica. "Introduction to the ligion of Israel."
Old Testament," by Davidson. " The Peiita- 2 Smith : Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp.
teuch and the Book of Joshua Examined," by 22, 29.
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 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, sJwwing that they had passed through many
changes.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 tra
ditions, 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."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, corn-
posed after the Jews had come into close contact with Persian ideas."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 Baby
lonian captivity."*
Professor Goldziher also shows, in his " Mythology Among
the Hebrews,'" that the story of the creation was borrowed by the
Hebrews from the Babylonians. He also informs us that the
notion of the bore and yoser, " 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 Testa
ment, 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. Leng-
kerke 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
» Ibid, pp. i>9, 100. Also, Assyrian Discov- » Myths and Myth-Makers, p. 112.
«ries. p. 397. 4 Draper: Religion and Science, p. 62.
» Tree and Serpent Worship, pp. 6, 7. 6 Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 323, «i
teg.
100 BIBLE MYTHS.
seduction of her husband, &c., are all images, to which the remain
ing words of the Israelites never again recur?"
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 Re
deemer 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.2
Rabbi Maimonides (Moses Ben Mairnon), one of the most cele
brated 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 haw so much recom
mended 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."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 u Tree
of Life," the " Rivers of Paradise," and the other fictions of the
Genesis.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? 1 believe that every 7ti<zn must
hold these things for images under which a hidden sense is concealed."*
1 Quoted by Bishop Colenso : The Penta- the unlearned were specially forbidden to med-
teuch Examined, iv. 285. die with." (Greg: The Creed of Christendom,
2 " Much of the Old Testament which Chris- p. 80.)
tian divines, in their ignorance of Jewish lore, 3 Quoted by Dupuis : Origin of Keligious
have insisted on receiving and interpreting Belief, p. 226.
literally, the informed Rabbis never dreamed * See Ibid. p. 227.
of regarding as anything but allegorical. The « Quoted by Dunlap : Mysteries of Adoni,
' literalists * they called fools. The account of p. 176. See aleo, Bunsen : Keys of St. Petei,
the Creation was one of the portions which p. 406.
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 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 alle
gory. These abodes of delight were far away in the West, where
the sun goes down beyond tiie 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 " Ehjxlan Fields" are
the clouds at eventide. The picture was suggested by the images
drawn from the phenomena of sunset and twilight.1
Eating of the forbidden fruit was simply a figurative mode of
expressing the performance of the act necessary to the perpetua
tion of the human race. The " Tree of Knowledge " was a Phallic
tree, and the fruit which grew upon it was Phallic fruit.2
In regard to the story of " The Deluge" we have already seen1
that " Egyptian records tell nothing of a cataclysmal deluge," and
that, " the land was never visited by other than its annual benefi
cent overflow of the river Nile." Also, that "the Pharaoh Khou-
fou-cheops was building his pyramid, according to Egyptian chroni
cle, 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,*
and which we gave in Chapter II. This was the foundation for
the Hebrew legend, and they learned it at the time of the Cap-
tivity.6 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 Encyclopaedia, that :
"It was at one time extensively believed, even by intelligent scholars, that
1 See Appendix, o. 6 "Upon the carrying away of the Jews to
2 See Westopp & Wakes, " Phallic Wor- Babylon, they were brought into contact with a
•hip." flood of Iranian as well ae Chaldean myths, and
3 In chap. ii. adopted them without hesitation." (S. Baring-
4 See Assyrian Discoveries, pp. 167, 168, aud Gould : Curious Myths, p. 316.)
Chaldean Account of Genesis.
102 BIBLE MYTHS.
the myth of Deucalion was a corrupted tradition of the Noacfiian deluge, but
this untenable opinion is now all but universally abandoned."1
This idea was abandoned after it was found that the Deu
calion 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 ap
plies 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 inEzekiel,
where simply the name of Noah is mentioned.
We stated in Chapter TI. 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.2 There were
also seven persons saved, according to some of the Hindoo ac
counts.3 That this referred to the sun, moon, and five planets looks
very probable. We have also seen that Noah was the tenth patri
arch, and Xisthrus (who is the Chaldean hero) was the tenth king/
Now, according to the Babylonian table, their Zodiac contained
ten gods called the " Ten Zodiac gods."6 They also believed that
whenever all the planets met in the sign of Capricorn, the whole
earth ivas overwhelmed with a deluge of water? The Hindoos and
other nations had a similar belief.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.8 Although
this statement cannot be credited, yet the great antiquity of Chal-
dea cannot be doubted, and its immediate connection with Hin-
dostan, 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.9
1 Chambers^ Encyclo., art. " Deucalion." « See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 254.
2 See chapter ii. i See Ibid, p. 367.
8 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 185, and • See Ibid, p. 252.
Maurice : Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 277. • Qoldzhier : Hebrew Mythology, pp. 130-
4 Chapter ii. 135, and Smith's Chaldean Account of Gene-
• See Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 153, note. sis.
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 103
" It seems," says George Smith, " from the indications in the
(cuneiform) inscriptions, that there happened in the interval be
tween 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, tra
ditions before they were committed to writing, and were common
in some form to all the country."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 Jerusa
lem were sold to the Grecians,* who took them to their country.
While there, they became acquainted with Grecian legends, arid
when they returned from " the Islands of the Sea'' — as they called
the Western countries — they brought them to Jerusalem*
This legend, as we stated in the chapter which treated of it, was
written at the time when the Mosaic party in Israel were endeavor
ing 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 Targum4'
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. o. 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 "6 — that corresponded in many respects with
the history of Abraham.8 It may, then, have been from the Chal
dean story that the Hebrew fable writer got his idea.
> Chaldeau Account of Genesis, pp. 27, 28. « In Genesis xxiii. 2, Abraham is caUed rich
a See Note, p. 109. in gold and in silver.
» See Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 685. • See Volney's Researches in Ancient His-
4 " Targum."— The general term for the Ara- tory, pp. 144-147.
maic versions of the Old Testament.
104 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.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*
The next legend treated was that of u Samson and his Exploits.*'
Those who, like tlie 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 con
cerning 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.3
The Babylonian story of Izdubar, the lion-killer, who wandered
1 The Keligion of Israel, p. 49. fore them. The Greeks claimed Hercules as
2 Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 122. Higgins : their countryman ; stated wnere he was born,
vol. ii. p. 19. and showed his tomb. The Egyptians affirmed
* In claiming th« " mighty man " and " lion- that he was born in their country (see Taci-
killer " as one of their own race, the Jews were tus, Annals, b. ii. ch. lix.), and eo did many
simply doing what other nations had done be- other nations.
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 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*
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.a " 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."8
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 oeen carried into captivity ,
and perhaps still later*
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.6
1 See Knight : Ancient Art and Mythology, « See The Religion of Israel, p. 12; and Chad-
pp. 92, 93. wick's Bible of To-Day, p. 55.
a Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 168 and 6 See The Religion of Israel, p. 41, and
174; and Assyrian Discoveries, p. 167. Chadwick's Bible of To-Day, p. 24.
» Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 168.
106 BIBLE MYTHS.
"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 Koman
mythology with disdain ; why then admit with respect the mythol
ogy 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 anil 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 Christi
anity 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 suf
ficiently substantiated, we will quote a few words from Prof. Max
Miiller, 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 learn
ing, is now as completely surrendered as the attempts of explaining Greek and
Latin as the corruptions of Hebrew."1
Again he says :
1 The Science of Religion, p. 40.
CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST. 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 Testa
ment. There was at that time an enthusiasm among Oriental scholars, particu
larly at Calcutta, and an interest for Oriental antiquities iu the public at huge,
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 language*, 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
withregard 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 tliem
in confirmation of their favorite theory that some rays of a primeval revelation, <>r
some reflection of the Jewish religion, had reacted the uttermost ends of t lie world. "'
The result of all this is summed up by Prof. Miiller as follows •
" It was the fate of all (these) pioneers, not only to be left behind in the assault
which tlmj had planned, but to find that many of their approaches were made in
a fake direction, and had to be abandoned."*
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.* 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 J3ull, called Apis* just as the ancient Egyptians did. They
1 They even claimed that one of the " lost faith by one only people, while all surrounding
tribes of Israel 11 had found their way toAmer- tribes were lost in Polytheit-m, or something
ica, and had taught the natives Hebrew. worse, has been adduced by divines in general
3 The Science of Religion, pp. 285, as a proof of the truth of the sacred hintory,
292. and of the divine origin of the Mosaic diepen-
s " It is an assumption of the popular theol- sation." (Greg: The Creed of Christendom,
ogy, and an almost universal belief in the pop- p. 145.)
ulur mind, that the Jewish nation was selected Even such authorities as Paley and Milman
by the Almighty to preserve and carry down to have written in this strain. (See quotations
later ages a knowledge of the One and true from Paley's " Evidences of Christianity,'1'1 and
God— that the Patriarchs possessed this kuowl- Dean Milman's "History of the Jews," made
edge— that Moses delivered and enforced this by Mr. Greg in his " Creed of Christendom,"
doctrine as the fundamental tenet of the na- p. 145.)
tional creed ; and that it was, in fact, the re- « See the Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 321,
ceivol and distinctive dogma of the Hebrew vol. ii. p. 102; andDunlap : Mysteries of Adoni,
peop e. This alleged possession of tfie true p. 108.
108 BIBLE MYTHS.
worshiped the sun? the moon* the stars and all the host of
heaven.3
They worshiped fire, and kept it burning on an altar, just as
the Persians and other nations.4 They worshiped stones* revered
an oak tree," and " bowed down " to images.1 They worshiped
a " Queen of Heaven " called the goddess Astarte or Mylitta, and
" burned incense" to her.8 They worshiped Baal* Moloch,10 and
Cliemosh" and offered up human sacrifices to them™ after which
in some instances, they ate the victim.1*
It was during the Captivity that idolatry ceased among the
Israelites.14 The Babylonian Captivity is clearly referred to in the
book of Deuteronomy, as the close of Israel's idolatry.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 " mysteri
ous and momentous" time. As Prof. Goldziher says: "The intel
lect 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."11
1 See the Bible, for Learner*, vol. i. pp. 317, deans and Pheuicians or Canaanites. The
418 ; vol. li. p. 301. Dunlap's Son of the Man, word Bal, in the Punic language, signifies Lord
p. 3, and his Spirit Hist., pp. (>x and 1S2. In- or Master. The name Bal is often joined with
man : Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. pp. 782, 783; and some other, as Bal-berith, .Ca/-peor, Bal-
Goldziher : Hebrew Mythol., pp. 227, 240, 242. zephon, &c. " The Israelites made him their
2 The Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 317. god, and erected altars to him on which they
Dunlap's Sou of the Man, p. 3 ; and Spirit Hist., offered human sacrifices," and "what is still
p. 08. Als>, Goldziher: Hebrew Mythol., p. 159. more unnatural, they ate of the victims they
£ The liible for Learners, vol. i. p. 20. and offered." (Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. pp. 113. 114.)
317 ; vol. ii. p. 301 and 328. Dunlap's Son of 10 The Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 17, 26;
the Man. p. 3. Dunlap's Spirit Hist., 68; vol. ii. pp. 102, 299, 300. Bunsen : Keys of St.
Mysteries of Adorn, pp. xvii. and 108; and The Peter, p. 110. Miiller : The Science of Relig-
lleligioi. oi' Israel, p. 38. ion, p. 285. Moloch was a god of the Ammon-
* Bunsen . Keys of St. Peter, pp. 101, 102. ites, also worshiped among ihe Israelites. Sol-
6 The Bible for Learner^, vol. i. pp. 175-178, onion built a temple to him, on the Mount of
317, .';22, 448. Olives, and human sacrifices were offered to
8 Ibid. 115. him. (Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. pp. 84/85.)
* Ibid. i. 23, 321 ; ii. 102, 103, 109, 264, 274. » The Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 153; vol.
Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 108. Inman : Ancient ii. pp. 71, 83, 125. Smith's Bible Dictionary.
Faiths, vol. i. p. 4:38 ; vol. ii. p. 30. art. "Chemosh."
8 The Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 88, 318 ; 12 The Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 26, 147
vol. ii. pp. 102, 113, 300. Dunlup : Sou of the 148, 319, 320 ; vol. ii. pp. 16, ir, 299, 300. Dun-
Man, p. 3 ; and Mysteries of Adoni, p. xvii. lap's Spirit Hist., pp. 108,222. Inman : An
Miiller : The Science of Religion, p. 261. cient Faiths, vol. ii. pp. 100, 101. Miiller :
9 The Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 21-25, Science of Religion, p. 261. Bell's Pantheon,
105, 301 ; vol. ii. pp. 102, 130-138. Dnnlap : vol. i. 113, 114 ; vol. ii. 84, 85.
Son of the Man, p. 3. Mysteries of Adoni, pp. 13 See note 9 above.
108,177. Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. pp. 14 See Buuseu : Keys of St. Peter, 291.
782, 783. Bunsen : The Keys of St. Peter, p. « Ibid, p. 27.
91. Miiller : The Science of Religion, p. 181. 16 Goldziher : Hebrew Mythology, p. 519.
Bal, Bel, or Belus was an idol of the Chal-
CONCLUSION OF PAET FIRST. 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 Baby
lon, 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 resurrec
tion, were introduced and naturalized among the Jews.1
1 The Talmud of Jerusalem expressly states Angel Messiah, p. 285.) " The Jews adopted,
that the names of the angels and the mouths, during the Captivity, the idea of angels,
euch as Gabriel, Michael, Yar, Nisau, &c., Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Gabriel," &c. (Knight:
came from Babylon with the Jews. (Goldzilier, Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 54.) See, for
p. 319.) " There is no trace of the doctrine of further information on this subject, Dr. Knap-
Angel* in the Hebrew Scriptures composed or pert's " Religion of Israel," or Prof. Kuenen's
written before the exile." (Bunsen : The " Religion of Israel."
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
Edotnites about 800 B. C., who sold some of the captive Jews to the Greeks (Joel. iii. t;i. 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 lure 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 dish, and from Elam, and
from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the Islands of the sea ; " i. e., GBEKCK.
PART II.
THE KEW 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 Naza
reth, 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, with
out losing anything of his divine nature, he thus became possessed
of a complete human nature ; so that he is at the same time, with
out injury to the unity of his person, " truly man and truly God."
The story of the miraculous birth of Jesus is told by the
MattJiew narrator as follows :'
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Maiy
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 privity. 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."2
1 Matthew, i. 18-25. recorded in the KORAN, which says that Gabriel
1 The Luke narrator tella the etory in a dif- appeared unto Mary in the shape of a perfect
f«pcnt manner. His account is more like that man, that Mary, upon seeing him, and
[HI]
112 BIBLE MYTHS.
A Deliverer was hoped for, expected, prophesied, in the time of
Jewish misery1 (and Cyrus was perhaps the first referred to) ; but
as no one appeared who did what the Messiah, according to proph
ecy, 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 Avere fufilled in him ; while the Jews, assuming the ob
vious 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 Ilavves: "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 wre shall turn first to Asia,
where, as the learned Thomas Maurice remarks in his Indian An
tiquities, " 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, legotten another
god"
In India, there have been several Avatars, or incarnations of
Vishnu,3 the most important of which is Heri Crishna* or Grishna
the Saviour.
to understand his intentions, said: "If thou which their hapless nation had so long groaned,
fearest God, thou wilt not approach me." to avenge them upon their haughty oppressors,
Gabriel answering said: "Verily, I am the and to re-establish the kingdom of Judak.
messenger of the Lord, and am sent to give 2 Vol. v. p. 294.
thee a holy son." (Koran, ch. xix.) * Moor, in his " Pantheon,*' tells us that a
1 Instead, however, of the benevolent Jesus, learned Pandit once observed to him that the
the "Prince of Peace"— as Christian writers English were a new people, and had only the
make him out to be— the Jews were expecting record of one Avatara. but tlie Hindoos were
adaring and irresistible warrior and conqueror, an ancient people, and had accounts of a great
who, armed with greater power than Caesar, many,
was to come upon earth to rend the fetters in « This name has been spelled in many dif-
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 113
In the Mahdrbharata, an Indian epic poem, written about
the sixth century B. C., Crislma is associated or identified with
Vishnu the Preserving god or Saviour.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 lie was distinct from all the Avatars (incarna
tions) who had only an ansa, or a portion, of his (Vishnu'x) divinity, while
Crishna was the person of Vishnu himself in human form."'1
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."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 tfu
deity himself tn human form."*
Again, in his "History of Uindostan" 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 ac
counts 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
Noachidae, 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 Oishna, because it is allowed to be the most illustri
ous 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."*
Crislma was born of a chaste virgin,6 called Devaki, who, on
account of her purity, was selected to become the " mother of
Godr
According to the " BHAGAVAT POOKAUN," Vishnu said :
" I will become incarnate at Mathura in the house of Yadu, and will issue
ferent ways, such as Krishna, Khrishna, ' Allen's India, p. 397.
Krishna, Chrisua, Cristna, Christna, &c. We « Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 45.
have followed Sir Win. Jones's way of spelling 6 Hist. Ilindoetau, vol. ii. p. 270.
it, and shall do so throughout. « Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, Devaki if
i See Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 239-275. called the " Virgin Mother," although she, M
* Ibid. p. 200. We may say that, "In him well as Mary, is said to have had other chil-
dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily." dren.
(Colossians, ii. 9.)
8
114 BIBLE MYTHS.
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."1
Then a chorus of angels exclaimed :
"In the delivery of this favored woman, all nature shall have cause to
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."3
Again wre read :
" The divine Vishnu Jiimsdf, 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.4
Again :
" Crishna is the very Supreme Brahma, though it be a mystery* how the
Supreme should assume the form of a man."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 " Bhdga/oat 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 preser
vation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of
virtue."1
Crishna is recorded in the " Bhdga/oat Geeta " as saying to his
beloved disciple Arjouna :
1 Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 327. world began.1' (Romans, xvi. 15.) " And with-
8 Ibid. p. 329. out controversy, great is the mystery of god-
8 Vishnu Purana, p. 502. liness : God was manifest in the flesh, justi-
4 Ibid. p. 440. fled in the spirit, eeen of angels, preached
6 " Now to him that is of power to establish unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
jou according to my gospel, and the preaching received up into glory." (1 Timothy, iii. 1C.)
of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of • Vishnn Purana, p. 492, note 3.
the mystery, which was kept secret since the '' Geeta, ch. iv.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 115
" He, O Arjoun, who, from conviction, acknowledgeth my divine birth (upon
quitting his mortal form), entereth into me."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."2
The next in importance among the God-begotten and Virgin-
born Saviours of India, is Buddha* who was born of the Virgin
Maya or Mary. lie in mercy left Paradi.se, and came down to
earth because lie was filled with compassion for the sins and
miseries of mankind. lie 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 inevita
bly undergo.4
According to the Fo-pen-hingf 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 Bodhisatwa, the great Mahasatwa, not
long hence shall descend from Tusita to be born amongst you ! make ready and
prepare! Buddha is about to descend and be born I"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 recep
tacle ; the usual secretions are not formed ; and from the time of
conception, Maha-maya was free from passion, and lived in the
strictest continence.7
The resemblance between this legend and the doctrine of the
perpetual virginity of Mary the mother of Jesus, cannot but be re
marked. 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.8
1 Bhagavat Geeta, Lecture iv. p. 52. name. We have adopted this throughout this
2 Ibid., Lecture iv. p. 79. work, regardless of the manner in which the
3 It is said that there have been several writer from which we quote spells it.
Buddhas (see ch. xxix). We speak of Gautama. 4 Prog. Relig. Idea?, vol. i. p. 80.
Buddha is variously pronounced and express- 6 FO-PEN-HING is the life of Gautama Budd
ed Boudh, Bod, Bot, But, Bud, Badd, Buddou, ha, translated from the Chinese Sanskrit by
Bonttu, Bota, Budso, Pot, Pout, Pota, Poti, Prof. Samuel Boal.
and Pouti. The Siamese make the final t 6 Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. 25.
or d quiescent, and sound the word Po ; 7 Hardy : Manual of Buddhism, p. 141.
whence the Chinese still further vary it to Pho 8 A Christian sect called Collyridians be-
or Fo. BUDDHA — which means awakened or lieved that Mary was born of a virgin, aa
enlightened (see Muller : Sci. of Relig. , p. 308) Christ is related to have been born of her
— is the proper way in which to spell the (See note to the "Gospel of the Birth of
116 BIBLE MYTHS.
M. 1'Abbe Hue. a French Missionary, in speaking of Buddha,
says :
" In the eyes of the Buddhists, this personage is sometimes a man and some
times 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.1"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.'"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."' He is called also "The Holy
One," "The Author of Happiness," "The Lord," " The Possessor of
All," "lie who is Omnipotent and Everlastingly to be Contem
plated," "The Supreme Being, the Eternal One," "The Divinity
worthy to he Adored by the most praiseworthy of Mankind."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."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.6 This Holy Ghost, or
Mary" [Apocryphal] ; also King : The Gnostics to her in heaven and upon earth. Indeed,
and their Remains, p. 91. and Gibbon's Hist. more than one serious attempt has been al-
of Rome, vol. v. p. 108, note). This idea has ready made in the Ultramontane camp to
been recently adopted by the Roman Catholic unite Mary in some way to the Trinity; and if
Church. They now claim that Mary was born Mariolatry lasts much longer, this will prob-
as immaculate as her son. (See Inman's ably be accomplished in the end." (Albert Re-
Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 75, and The Lily of ville.)
Israel, pp. 6-15 ; also fig. 17, ch. xxxii.) 1 Hue's Travels, vol. i. pp. 326,327.
"The gradual df [flea f ion of Mary, though 2 Ibid. p. 327.
slower in its progress, follows, in the Romish 3 Oriental Religions, p. 604.
Church, a course analogous to that which the « See Bnnsen's Angel-Messiah.
Church of the first centuries followed, in club- 6 Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 309, and
orating the deity of Jesus. With almost all King's Gnostics, p. 167.
the Catholic writers of our day, Mary is the « See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 10, 26
universal mediatrix ; all power has been given and 44.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST. JESUS. 117
Spirit, descended in the form of a white elephant. The Tikas
explain this as indicating power and wisdom.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.2
The Fo-pen-liing 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."3
In Prof. Fergusson's " Tree and Serpent Worship " may be
jeen (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 Brnhmans 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.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,
1 The dead that are to live, the live who die,
Uprise, and hear, and hope! Buddha is come 1'
Whereat in Limbos numberless much peace
Spread, and the world's heart throbbed, and a wind blew
4 Bee Beal. : Hist. Buddha, p. 36, note. Pantheon, and vol. i. of Asiatic Researches.)
Gwtiesa, the Indian God of Wisdom, is either a Bunson : The Angel-Messiah, p. 33.
represented as an elephant, or a man with * Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. 38,39.
an eiephant'8 head. (See Moore's Hindu * Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 131.
118 BIBLE MYTHS.
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, witli their artists, as great a favorite
as the Annunciation and Nativity were with Christian painters."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.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 311
whomsoever he will, and is considered among the Buddhists to be
a sort of divine being. He is the Pope of Buddhism.8
The Siamese had a Virgin-born God and Saviour whom they
called Codom. His mother, a beautiful young virgin, being in
spired from heaven, quitted the society of men and wandered into
the most unfrequented parts of a great forest, there to await the
coining 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 &i(> heav
enly 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.4
The first Europeans who visited Cape Comorin, the most
1 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 212. Buddhism, p. 144.) The same thing was said
a King : The Gnostics and their Remains, of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Early art rep-
p. 1G8, and Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 485. resented the infant distinctly visible in her
R. Spence Hardy says : '; The body of the womb. (See Inman's Ancient Pagan and
Queen was transparent, and the child could Modern Christian Symbolism, and chap. xxix.
be distinctly seen, like a priest seated upon a this work.)
throne in the act of saying bana, or like a a See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 34.
golden image enclosed in a vase of crystal ; * Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 185. See also
BO that it could be known how much he grew Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 102 and 308.
every succeeding day." (Hardy • Manual of
BIBLE MYTHS. 119
southerly extremity of the peninsula of Hindostan, were surprised
to h'nd 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 born of a Virgin, in fact,
an incarnation of the Supreme VisJinu.1
The belief in a virgin-born god-man is found in the religions
of China. As Sir John Francis Davis remarks,2 "China hasher
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 pro
digies 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 3-t68 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.3
The Chinese traditions concerning the birth of Fo-hi are, some
of them, highly poetical. That which has received the widest ac
ceptance is as follows :
" Three nymphs came down from heaven to wash themselves in a river ;
but scarce hud 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 pro
ceeded, 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."4
The sect of Xaca, which is evidently a corruption of Buddhism,
claim that their master was also of supernatural origin. Alvarez
Sernedo, 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,
1 See Aeiastic Res., vol. x., and Anac., vol. s Thornton : Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 21,
i. p. 662. 22.
8 Davis : Hiet. China, vol. i. p. 161. * Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 184.
120 BIBLE MYTHS.
which she saw in her sleep, and for more purity she brought him from one of
her sides."1
Lao-kiun, sometimes called 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 ac
quired 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 lorn of a virgin, black in
complexion, described " marvelous and beautiful as jasper." Splen
did temples were erected to him, and he was worshiped as a god.
His disciples were called u 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 Too, and the sect which he formed is
called Tao-tse, or " Sect of Reason." Sir Thomas Thornton, speak
ing 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 incar
nate 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 teen;' that he is the ' original ancestor of the prime breath of life;' and
that he gave form to the heavens and the earth."2
M. Le Comptc says :
" Those who have made this (the religion of Taou-tsze) their professed bus
iness, are called Tien-se, that is, 'Heavenly Doctors;' they have houses (Monas
teries) given them to live together in society ; the}^ 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."3
Hau-ki, the Chinese hero, was of supernatural origin.
The following is the history of his birth, according to the " Shin-
King:"
1 Semedo : Hist. China, p. 89, in Anac., vol. 137. See also Chambers's Encyclo., art. Lao*
i. p. 227. teze.
« Thornton : Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 134- * Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 204, 205.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 121
"His mother, who was childless, had presented a pure offering; and sacri
ficed, that her childlessness might be taken away. She then trod on a toe-print
made by God, and was moved,1 in the large place where she rested. She became
pregnant; she dwelt retired; she gave birth to and nourished a son, who \\as
Hdu-ki. When she had fulfilled her mouths, her first-born sou 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?"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 excel
lence") was of royal descent • and his family the most ancient in
the empire, as his genealogy was traceable directly up to H \vang-
te, the reputed organizer of the state, the first emperor of the scini-
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 kins; with
out 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.8
Even as late as the seventeenth century of our era, do we find
the myth of the virgin-born God in China.4
1 "The ' toe-print made by God' has occa- pp. 168-170.
eioned much speculation of the critics. We 4 " Le Dieu LA des LAMAS cst ne d'une
may simply draw the conclusion that the poet Vierge : pltisieurs princes de 1'Asie, entr' autres
meant to have his readers believe with him VEinpereur Kienlong, aujourd'hui regnant a la
that the conception of his hero was SUPER- Chine, et qui est do la race de ces Tartares
KATURAL." (James Legge.) Mandhuis, qui couquirent cet empire en U,44,
a The Shih-King, Decade ii. Ode 1. croit, et assure lui-meme. etre descend u d'une
* See Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 199, Vurge" (D'Hancarville : Res. Sur 1'Orig., p.
400, and Buckley'8 Cities of the Ancient World, 186, in Am»c., vol. ii. p. 97.)
122 BIBJLE MYTHS.
All these god-begotten and virgin born men were called Tien-
tse, i. c., " 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.1
llorus, who had the epithet of "Saviour" was b^rn 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."2 He is " the second emanation of Amon, the son whom
he begot."3 Egyptian monuments represent the infant Saviour in
the arms of his virgin mother, or sitting on her knee.4 An inscrip
tion on a monument, translated by Champollion, reads thus :
" O them avenger, God, son of a God; O thou avenger, Horus, manifested by
Osiris, engendered of the goddess Isis."5
The Egyptian god Ra was born from the side of his mother,
lut was tvot engendered. 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."7
P. Le Page Reneuf, 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). lie teas invested with the attributes of divinity, and that in the earliest
times of which we possess monumental evidence."8
Menes, who is said to have been the first king of Egypt, was
believed to be a god.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.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
1 See Mahaffy : Proleg. to Anct. Hist,, p, gendre d'Isis deesee." (Champollion, p. 190.)
416, and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 406. 9 Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 406.
2 Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 157. 7 Ibid, p. 247.
3 Renouf : Relig. Anct, Egypt, p. 162. 8 Renouf : Religion of Ancient Egypt, p.
4 See the chapter on " The Worship of the 161.
Virgin Mother." » See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. pp. 67 £nd
5 " O toi vengeur, Dieu fils d1un Dieu ; 147.
0 toi vengeur, Horus, manifesto par Osiris, en- « Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 248.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRT1I OF CHRIST JESUS. 123
the 't/iaiden-j Queen Mautmes, that she is to give birth to a divine
son, who is to be King Amunothph III.1
An inscription found in Egypt makes the god Ha 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 Meudesiau god; I have begotten thee, impregnating thy ven
erable mother."2
Raam-ses, or Ra-me-ses, means " Son of the Sun," and Ram
ses lick An, a name of Ramses III., means " engendered by Ra
(the Sun), Prince of An (Ileliopolis)."3
u Thotmes III., on the tablet of Karnak, presents offerings to his
predecessors ; so does Ramses on the tablet of Abydos. Even dur
ing his life-time the Egyptian king was denominated ''Beneficent
God: "4
The ancient Babylonians also believed that their kings were
gods upon earth. A passage from Menaut'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."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.8 Plato informs us that Zoroaster was said to be "the son of
Oromasdes, which was the name the Persians gave to the Supreme
God "; — 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 readi-
i Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 407. 6 Spencer's Principles of Sociology, vol. i.
8 Renouf : Relig. of Anct. Egypt, p. 163. p. 421.
» See Uerbert Spencer's Principles of Soci- • Malcolm : Hist. Persia, vol. i. p. 494.
ology, vol. i. p. 4x!0. T Anac. vol. i. p. 117.
* Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 431.
124 BIBLE MYTHS.
ness for every ne\\ divinity who could produce respectable cre
dentials.
The Christian Father Justin Martyr, says :
" It having reached the Devil's ears that the prophets had foretold the coin
ing 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 oret men to imagine that the true history of Christ was of the same char
acter as the prodigious fablcx 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.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."2
Bacchus was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Semele,
daughter of Kadmus, King of Thebes.3 As Montfancon says, " It
is the son of Jupiter and Semele which the poets celebrate, and
which the monuments represent."4
Bacchus is made to say :
"I, son of Deus, am come to this land of the Thebans, Bacchus, whom for
merly 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."5
Amphion was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Antiope,
daughter of Nicetus, King of Bceotia.6
Prometheus, whose name is derived from a Greek word signify
ing foresight and providence, was a deity who united the divine and
human nature in one person, and was confessedly both man and
god.'
Perseus was the son of Jupiter by the virgin Danae, daughter
of Acrisius, King of Argos.8 Divine honors were paid him, and a
temple was erected to him in Athens.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 thi* than what you (Pagans) say of those whom you style the Sons of Jove. For
1 Eoman Antiq., p. 124. Bell's Panth., i. Spirit Hist, of Man, p. 200.
328. Dupuis, p. 258. 6 Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 58. Roman An-
2 Tales of Anct. Greece, p. 55. tiquities, p. 133.
8 Greek and Italian Mytho., p. 81. Bell's 7 See the chapter on " The Crucifixion of
Panth., i. 117. Roman Antiq., p. 71, and Mur- Jeeus," and BellV Pantheon, ii. 196.
ray's Manual Mytho., p. 118. 8 Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 170. Bulflnch:
4 L'Antiquite Expltquee, vol. i. p. 229. The Age of Fable, p. 161.
' Euripides: Bacchae. Quoted by Dunlap : 9 Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 171.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 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 (he title of the Word, a messenger of God. . . .
" As tc his (Jesus Christ's) being born of a virgin, you have your Perseus to
balance that."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.2
^Eolus, king of the Lipari Islands, near Sicily, was the son of
Jupiter and a mortal mother, Acasta.3
Apollo was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Latona.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.6 Then there was joy among the undying gods in
Olympus, and the Earth laughed beneath the smile of Heaven."
Aethlius, who is said to have been one of the institutors of the
Orphic games, was the son of Jupiter by a mortal mother, Proto-
genia.7
Areas was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother.8
Arodus was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother.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."10
This Jupiter, who begat so many sons, was the supreme god of
the Pagans. In the words of OrpJieus :
" Jupiter is omnipotent; the first and the last, the head and the midst; Jupi
ter, the giver of all things, the foundation of the earth, and the starry heavens."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.12 They had a cere-
1 Auol. 1. ch. xzii. T Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 31.
2 Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 67. Bulflnch : 8 Ibid. p. 81.
The Age of Fable, p. 19. • Ibid. p. 16.
8 Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 25. 10 Bell's Pantheon, ii. p. 30.
4 Ibid, p. 74, and Bulfinch : p. 248. n Cox : Aryan Mythology, ii. 45.
• Tacitue : Annala, iii. Ixi. ia The Bible for Learners, vol. ill. p. S.
8 Tales of Anct. Greece, p. 4.
126 BIBLE MYTHS.
mony 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 Chry-
sostom, that Tiberius proposed to the Roman Senate the Apotheosis
or deification of Jesus Christ.1 JSlius 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.'"-1
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.*
One Julius Proculus took a solemn oath, that Romulus himself
appeared to him and ordered him to inform the Senate of his be
ing called up to the assembly of the gods, under the name of Quiri-
nus.4
Julius Ccesar was supposed to have had a god for a father.6
Augustus Ccesar was also believed to have been of celestial ori
gin, and had air the honors paid to him as to a divine person.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:
Caesar, 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 Caesar's race, and Jove's immortal line."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."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.9
1 Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 78. again while praying in the temple at Jerusalem.
2 Quoted by Lardner, vol. iii. p. 157. (Acts xxii.)
3 Draper : Eeligion and Science, p. 8. 6 See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 345.
4 Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 37. In Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 84, 85.
the case of Jesus, one Saul of Tarsus, said to 6 Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 611.
be of a worthy and upright character, declared 7 J3neid, lib. iv.
most solemnly, that Jesus himself appeared e Tacitus : Annals, bk. i. ch. x.
to him while on his way to Damascus, and » Ibid. bk. ii. ch. Ixxxii. and bk. xiii. ch. ii.
THE MIIIACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS, 127
In the deification of the Caesars, 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.1
Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia (born 35(3 B. c.), whom
genius and uncommon success had raised above ordinary men, was
believed to have been a god upon earth.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. lie afterwards issued
his orders, letters, decrees, &c., styling himself " Alexander, son of
Jupiter Amrnon"*
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 conies the earth to rule, and just laws for to bring."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 designa
tion, "Ptolemy Soter" he is distinguished from the succeeding
kings of the Macedonian dynasty in Egypt.6
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."
Plato, born at Athens 429 B. c., was believed to have been the
son of God by & pure virgin, called Perictione.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.8
Prof. Draper, speaking of Plato, says :
1 See Middleton's Letters from Rome, pp. • See Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 418.
87, 38. Bunsen : Bible Chronology, p. 5, and The Au-
. » See Religion of the Ancient Greeks, p. 81, gel-Messiah, pp. 80 and 898.
•nd Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 84, 85. T See Iliggins : Anaealypsis, vol. ii. p. 113,
' Draper : Religion and Science, p. 8. and Draper : Religion and Science, p. 8.
« Socrates : Eccl. Hist. Lib. 3, ch. xix. 8 Hardy : Manual Budd., p. 141. Higgins :
• Draper : Religion and Science, p. 17. Anac., i. 618.
128 BIBLE MYTHS.
"The Egyptian disciples of Plato would have looked with anger on those
who rejected the legend that Periotione, the mother of that great philosopher, a
pure virgin, had suffered an immaculate conception through the inlluencea of
(the god) Apollo, ami that the god had declared to Aris, to whom she was betrothed,
the parentage of the child.'"1
Here wo 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? In
Hie course of time she gave birth to Apollonius, who became a
grv,ti, religions teacher, and performer of miracles.3
Pythaijora*, 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.4
d£sculapiu8) the great performer of miracles,6 was supposed to
be the son of a god and a worldly mother, Coronis. The Messe-
nians, who consulted the oracle at Delphi to know where ^Escula-
pius was born, and of what parents, were informed that a god was
his father, Coronis his mother, and that their son was born at Epi-
daurus.
Coronis, to conceal her pregnancy from her father, went to
Epidanrus, 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, pe rcc ived 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.6
Being honored as a god in Phenicia and Egypt, his worship
passed into Greece and Rome.7
1 Draper : Religion and Science, p. 8. Com- • See the chapter on Miracles,
pare Luke i. 20-35. « Bell's Pantheon, i. 27. Roman Ant., 136.
'•* Philostnitus. p. 5. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 150.
3 See the chapter on Miracles. 7 Ibid.
4 See Higgius : Auacalypsb, vol. i. p. 151.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 129
Simon the Samaritan, surnamed " Magus " or the " Magician,"
who was contemporary with Jesus, was believed to be a god.
In Home, where he performed wonderful miracles, lie was honored
as a god, and his picture placed among the gods.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 tu be seen this inscription :
" Simoni Deo Sancto," i. e. u To Simon the Holy God.'"
It was customary with all the heroes of the northern nations
(Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Icelanders), to speak of them
selves 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 con
venient. The first-begotten son of Odin was Thor, whom the
Eddas call the most valiant of his sons. " Baldur the Good," the
u Beneficent Saviour," was the son of the Supreme Odin and the
goddess Frigga, whose worship was transferred to that of the
Virgin Mary.8
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 Quetsalcoatle, 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 Ijorn of a pure virgin? A.
messenger from heaven announced to his mother that s/te should
lea/1 a son without connection with man:1 Lord Kingsborough tells
us that the annunciation of the virgin Sochiquetzal, mother of
Quetzalcoatle, — who was styled the "Queen of Ifeaven"1 — was
the subject of a Mexican hieroglyph.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
1 Eusebiua : Eccl. Hiet., lib. 2, ch. xiii. vi. 160 and 175-6.
« Ibid. ch. xiii. • Ibid.
8 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities. 8 See Kingeborongh : Mexican Antiquities,
4 See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 32, vol. vi. p. 176.
Kiageborough : Mexican Antiquities, vol. 7 Ibid. p. 175.
9
130 BIBLE MYTHS.
ambassador announced that it was tlie will of God that she
should conceive a son."1 She therefore, according to the predic
tion, " conceived a son, without connection with man, who was
called Quetzalcoatle."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."*
The Mayas of Yucatan had a virgin-born god, corresponding
entirely with Quetzalcoatle, if he was not the same under a differ
ent name, a conjecture very well sustained by the evident relation
ship between the Mexican and Mayan mythologies. He was named
Zama, and was the only-begotten son of their supreme god, Kin-
chahan.4
The Muyscas of Columbia had a similar hero-god. Accord
ing to their traditionary history, he bore the name of Jjochica.
He was the incarnation of the Great Father, whose sovereignty and
paternal en re he emblematized.5
The inhabitants of Nicaragua called their principal god Thorn-
athoyo ; and said that he had a son, who came down to earth,
whose name was Theotbilahe, and that he was their general in
structor.6
We find a corresponding character in the traditionary history of
Peru. The Sun — the god of the Peruvians — deploring their mis
erable condition, sent down his son, Manco Capac, to instruct
them in religion, &c.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/
The semi-civilized agricultural tribes of Florida had like tradi
tions. The CheroJceeS) in particular, had a priest and law-giver
1 See Kingsborough : Mexican Antiquities, * Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 187.
vol. vi p. 176. s ibid, p. 188.
2 Ibifl. p. 166. « Ibid.
8 Brinton : Myths of the New World, pp. 7 Ibid.
180, 181. « Ibid. p. 190.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. loi
essentially corresponding to Quetzalcoatle and Bochica. He was
their great prophet, and bore the name of Wasi. " lie 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 re
ligion, and enjoined upon them to obey his directions from genera
tion to generation."1
Among the savage tribes the same notions prevailed. The
JEdues 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, <fec. Finally, through
hatred, the Indians killed him ; but although dead, he is incorrup
tible and beautiful. To him they pay adoration, as the mediatory
power between earth and the Supreme Niparaga.2
The Iroquois also had a beneficent being, uniting in himself the
character of a god and man, who w\as called Tarengawagan. He
imparted to them the knowledge of the laws of the Great Spirit, es
tablished their form of government, &c.3
Among the Algojiquins, and particularly among the Ojibways
and other remnants of that stock of the North-west, this intermedi
ate 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 Mlchabou, 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.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 ora
tor 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.5 As Viscount Amberly says :
" The best proof of this is that Jesus never, at any period of his life,
1 Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 191. we possessed only the Gospel of Murk and the
3 Ibid. discourses of the Apostles in the Acts, the
1 Ibid. whole Christology of the New Testament would
* Ibid, p. 102. be reduced to this : that Jesus of Nazareth was
°"If we seek, in the first three Gospels, to 'a prophet mighty in deeds and in words,
know what his biographers thought of Jesus, made by God Christ and Lord.' " (Albert Re-
we find his true humanity plainly stated, and if ville.)
132 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 be
lieved 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 prater
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.
13 at 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.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.3
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.3
The words of his prayer at Gethsemane, "all things are possible
unto t/ite" imply that all things were not possible to him, while its
conclusion "not what I toilL but what thou wilt" indicates submis
sion to a superior, not the mere execution of a purpose of his own.4
Indeed, the whole prayer would have been a mockery, useless for any
purpose but the deception of his disciples, if lie 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 £"B 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 le co-equal, co-eternal or consubstantial with God.
i Mark, xiii. 32. ' Mark, x. 18. • Mark, xv. 34.
» Mark, x. 40. * Mark, xiv. 36.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTII OF CHRIST JESUS. 133
It also follows of necessity from loth tJie genealogies,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,2 and
of the child Jesus at Jerusalem,8 Joseph is called his father.
Jesus is repeatedly described as the son of the carpenter* or the
son of Joseph, without the least indication that the expression is
not strictly in accordance with the fact.6
If his parents fail to understand him when he says, at twelve
years old, that he must be about his Father's business;9 if he
afterwards declares that he finds no faith among his nearest rela
tions;7 if he exalts his faithful disciples above his unbelieving
'mother and brothers ;8 above all, if Mary and her other sons put
down his prophetic enthusiasm to insanity f — then the untrust
worthy 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.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 tlie miraculous birth. The congregation of
Jerusalem to which Mary and the brothers of Jesus belonged,11 and
over which the eldest of them, James, presided,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
1 Matt, and Luke. rativo, especially in Luke, is poetical and le-
"The passages which appear most con- gcndary, and bears a marked similarity to the
firniatory of Christ's Deity, or Divine nature, stories contained in the Apocryphal Gospels."
are, in the first place, the narratives of the In- (W. R. Greg : The Creed of Christendom, p.
carnation and of the Miraculous Conception, as 229.)
given by Matthew and Luke. Now, the two 2 Luke, ii. 27. 3 Luke, ii. 41-48.
narratives do not harmonize with each other ; 4 Matt. xiii. 55.
they neutralize and negative the genealogies on 6 Luke, iv. 22. John, i. 46; vi. 42. Lake,
which depend so large a portion of the proof of iii. 23.
Jesus being the Messiah— the marvellous state- 8 Luke, ii. 50.
me ut they contain is not referred to in any 7 Matt. xiii. 57. Mark, vi. 4.
subsequent portion of the two Gospels, and is 8 Matt. xii. 48-50. Mark, iii. 33-35.
tacitly but positively negatived by several pas- • Mark, iii. 21.
eages — it is never mentioned in the Acts or in 10 Dr. Uooykaas.
the Epistles, and was evidently unknown to all n Acts, i. 14.
the Apostles— and, finally, the tone of the nar- ia Acts, xxi. 18. Gai. il. 1V-21.
134 BIBLE MYTHS.
the Greeks, or elsewhere, and not among the first believers, who were
Jews, for the Hebrew word for spirit is of i\\Q feminine gender.1
The immediate successors of the " congregation at Jerusalem"
— to which Mary, the mother of J esus, and his brothers belonged —
were, as we have seen, the Ebionites. Eusebius, the first ecclesi
astical 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."*
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 com
panion 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 f
The Ebionites, or .Nazarenes, as they were previously called,
were rejected by the Jews as apostates, and by the Egyptian and
Koman Christians as heretics, therefore, until they completely
disappear, their history is one of tyrannical persecution. Al
though 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,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 Pales
tine, 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
1 See The Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 57. gated this subject in his u Christ of Paul," te
a Ensebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 3, ch. xxiv. Which the reader is referred.
• Mr. George Reber has thoroughly inveeti- « See Gibbon's Borne, vo). i. pp. 515-517.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 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 dis
cerning 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 man
hood was marked by a regular increase in stature and wisdom; and after a pain
ful agony of mind and body, he expired on the cross."1
The Jewish Christians then — the congregation of Jerusalem,
and their immediate successors, the Ebionitesor 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 u 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. u Some of them have the
vanity," says IrencBus, "to think that they may equal, or in some
respects exceed, Jesus himself."2
These are called by the general name of Gnostics, and compre
hend almost all the sects of the first two ayes.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 cor
rupted."4
Eusebius, speaking of Artemon and his followers, who denied
the divinity of Christ, says :
1 Gibbon's Kome, vol. iv. pp. 488, 489. 3 Ibid. p. 306.
» See Lardiier's Works, vol. viii. pp. 895, 396. * Ibid. p. 571.
136 BIBLE MYTHS.
-i
" 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. "l
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 vir
tue, 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.3
Irenseus, speaking of Cerinthus and his doctrines, says :
" He represents Jesus as the son of Joseph and Mary, according to the ordi
nary 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." 3
The Docetes were a numerous and learned sect of Asiatic Chris
tians who invented the Phantastic system, which was afterwards pro
mulgated 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 improve
ments, 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 d£ons, 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
* Easebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 5, ch. ixv. » Lardner : vol. viii. p. 404.
3 Ireiaseus: Agaiust Heresies, bk. i. c. xxiv.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 137
complain, and to die. This is why he said, while hanging on the
cross : " My God ! My God ! why hast thou forsaken me?"1
Here, then, we see tl\e 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 man-
hood, were more ready to embrace the divinity of Jesus.
The polytheist and the philosopher, the Greek and the barba
rian, were alike accustomed to receive — as we have seen in this
chapter — a long succession and infinite chain of angels, or deities,
or ceons, or emanations, issuing from the throne of light. Nor could
it seem strange and incredible to them, that the first of the mom,
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?
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
Swipture, 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 sub
lime 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* that the Being who pervades
the universe had been confined in the inomh of Mary • that his
1 See Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. pp. 493-495. question v-hy Jesus was believed to be an
8 Not a worldly Messiah, as the Jews looked Avatar, by the Gentiles, and not by the Jews;
for, but an Angel-Messiah, such an one as why, in fr.ct, the doctrine of Christ incarnate
always came at the end of a cycle. We shall in Jesus succeeded and prospered.
treat of this subject anon, when we answer the » " Tb''s strong expression might be justified
138 BIBLE MYTHS.
eternal duration had been marked by the days, and months, and
years of human existence; that the Almighty God had been
scourged and crucified y that his impassible essence had felt pain
and anguish; that his omniscience was not exempt from igno
rance • 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 lumi
naries of the Church. The son of a learned grammarian, he was
skilled in all the sciences of Greece ; eloquence, erudition, and phil
osophy, conspicuous in tlu volumes of Apollinaris, were humbly
devoted to the service of religion.
The worthy friend of Atlianasius, the worthy antagonist of
Julian, he bravely wrestled with the Arians and polytheists, and
though he affected the rigor of geometrical demonstration, his com
mentaries revealed the literal and allegorical sense of the Scriptures.
A mystery, which had long floated in the looseness of popular
belief, was denned by his perverse diligence in a technical form,
and he first proclaimed- the memorable words, "One incarnate na
ture of Christ"1
This was about A. D. 362, he being Bishop of Laodicea, in Syria,
at that time,2
The recent zeal against the errors of Apollinaris reduced the
Catholics to a seeming agreement with the double-nature of Cerin-
tlius. But instead of a temporary and occasional alliance, they
established, and Christians still embrace, the substantial, indissolu
ble, and everlasting union of a perfect God with a perfect man,
of the second person of the Trinity with a reasonable soul and
hmnau flesh. In the beginning of the fifth century, the unity of
the two natures was the prevailing doctrine of the church.3 From
that time, until a comparatively recent period, the cry was :
"May those who divide Christ" Ije divided with the sword; may
by the language of St. Paul (God was manifest thority is so much against the common read-
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of an- ing of both these points (i. e., I. Tim. iii, 16,
pis, &c. I.Timothy, iii. 1C), but we are de- and I. John, v. 7), that they are uo longer
ceived by our modern Bibles. The word which urged by prudent controversialists." (Note in
was altered to God at Constantinople in the be- Ibid.)
ginning of the sixth century : the true meaning, l Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. pp. 492-497.
which is visible in the Latin and Syriac ver- 2 See Chambers's Encyclopaedia, art. "Apol-
fcions, still exists in the reasoning of the Greek, linaris."
as well as of the Latin fathers ; and this fraud, 3 Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 498.
with that of the three witnesses of St. John * That is, separate him from God the Father,
(I. John, v. 7), is admirably detected by Sir by saying that he, Jesus of Nazareth, was not
Isaac Newton." (Gibbon's Rome, iv. 496, note.) really and truly God Almighty himself in human
Dean Mil/nan says : " The weight of au- form.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 139
they be hewn i/ii pieces ', may they be burned alive/" These were
actually the words of a Christian synod.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.
1 See Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 516
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 r1
" 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 ap
peared, at the same time sending them to Bethlehem to search
diligently for the young child. The wise men, accordingly, de
parted 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
1 Matthew, ch. ii.
14!)
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 141
has been handed down, in some places, even to the present day.
Dr. Hooykaas, speaking on this subject, says :
" Iu 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 greatrneu, 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." '
The Rev. Dr. Geikie says, in his Life of Christ?
"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 ex
pounders, and sorcerers, were found.
" 'The life and portion of children,' says the Talmud, 'hang not on righteous
ness, 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 Sokar, ' 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 muta
bility 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.'
The inhabitants of India are, and have always been, very super
stitious concerning the stars. The Rev. D. O. Allen, who resided
» Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 72. • See Knight : Ancient Art and Mythology,
» Vol. i. p. 145. p. 52.
142 BIBLE MYTHS.
in India for twenty-five years, and who undoubtedly became thor
oughly 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 safely, pros
perity, and happiness. The evils and inconveniences of these superstitions and
prejudices are among the things that press heavily upon the people of India."1
The Naksliatias — 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 re
garded as deities who exert a vast influence on the destiny of men,
not only at the moment of their entrance into the world, but dur
ing their whole passage through it. These formidable constella
tions are consulted at births, marriages, and on all occasions of
family rejoicing, distress or calamity. No one undertakes a jour
ney or any important matter except on days which the aspect of
the Naksliatias 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 cere
mony performed at other times.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 im
portant occasions.8
The ancient Egyptians were exactly the same in this respect.
According to Champollion, the tomb of Ramses V., at Thebes, con
tains tables of the constellations, and of their influence on human
beings, for every hour of every month of the year.4
i Allen's India, p. 456. » Ibid. p. 261.
8 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 221. •* See Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p 456.
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 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" '
The Fo-pen-hing says :
"The time of Bodhisatwa's incarnation is, when the constellation Kwei is
in conjunction with the Sun."2
" Wise men," known as " Holy Rishis," were informed by these
celestial signs that the Messiah was born.3
In the Rdmdijana (one of the sacred books of the Hindoos)
the horoscope of Kama'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.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.'
Without going through the list, we can say that the birth of
every Indian Avatar was foretold by celestial signs.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,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.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.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.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 sooth
sayers — were feasting in his house. On leaving, late at night, they observed aii
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
1 See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 22, 23,83. ch. iii. 7 See Ibid. p. 618.
2 See Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. 23, 33, 35. 8 Thornton : Hist. China, vol. i. p. 137.
8 See Buiisen's Angel-Messiah, p. 36. 'SeeAnac., i. p. 560, and Geikie's Life of
« Williams's Indian Wisdom, p. 347. Christ, i. 559.
• See Hist, Hindoptan, ii. 336. " See Ibid., and The Bible for Learners, vol.
• See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 56? . Iii p. 72, andCalmet's Fragments, art. "Abr*-
For that of Crishna, see Vishnu Purana, book v. ham."
144 BIBLE MYTHS.
at this wondrous sight, ' Truly,' said they, ' tJiis can signify nothing else but tJiat
Terah's new-born son will become great and powerful.' "l
It is also related that Nimrod, in a dream, saw a star rising
above the horizon, which was very brilliant. The soothsayers be
ing consulted in regard to it, foretold that a child was born who
would become a great prince.8
A brilliant star, which eclipsed all the other stars, was also to be
seen at the birth of the Caesars ; 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
dowrn to comparatively modern times.
Tacitus, the Roman historian, speaking of the reign of the Em
peror 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."4
According to Moslem authorities, the birth of All — Moham
med'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."6 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 " Mes
siah" and headed the last great resurrection of his country, as
sumed the name of Ba/r-CocJiba — that is, "Son of a Star."9
This myth evidently extended to the New World, as we find that
the symbol of Quetzalcoatle, the virgin-born Saviour, was the
" Morning Star""
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 an
nounced by a star. The Rev. Dr. Geikie, who maintains to his ut
most the truth of the Gospel narrative, is yet constrained to admit
that :
"It was, indeed, universally believed, that extraordinary events, especially
1 Baring-Gould : Legends of the Patriarchs, 6 Amberly's Analysis of Religious Belief, p.
p. 149. 227.
a Calmet's Fragments, art. " Abraham." « Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 73.
1 Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 52. 1 Brinton : Myths of the New World, pp.
« Tacitus : Annals, bk. xiv. ch. xxii. 180, 181, and Squire : Serpent Symbol.
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 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."1
The whole teDor of the narrative recorded by the Matthew nar
rator 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 Ornmzd, who have the power of distinguish-
icg 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 Ijy chance, or that this chance or accident di
rected 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 states2 — 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 appear
ance, 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 ?s
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 con
ceive 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. Tke drift of the story is this :
Ornmzd, the Lord of Light, who created the universe in six
periods of time, accomplished his work by making the first man
1 Life of Christ, vol i. p 144. • See Thomas Scott's English Life of Jtsos
* Matthew ii. 2. for a full investigation of this subject.
10
146 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 pursuading them to eat of the forbid
den 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 imtil 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 re
deems 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 un
righteous, 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 ?
CHAPTER XIY.
THE SONG OF THE HEAVENLY HOST.
THE story of the Song of the Heavenly Host belongs exclusive
ly 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 : u 1 bring
O O
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people ; for un
to 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.1
It is recorded in the Vishnu Purana* 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 sanyj* and, uat midniyht? when the support
of all was born, the clouds emitted low pleasing sounds, and
poured down rain of flowers™
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
O
perfumes. Caressing breezes blew, and a marvellous light was pro
duced.6
» Luke, ii. 8-15. * Vishnu Parana, book v. ch. iii. p. 502.
9 Translated from the original Sanscrit by 8 Sec Araberly'a Analysis, p. 220. Beal :
H. H. Wilson, M. D., F.R.S. Hist. Buddha, pp. 45, 46, 47, and Bunsen'a An-
3 All the virgin-born Saviours are born at gel-Messiah, p. 35.
midnight or early dawn.
147
148 BIBLE MYTHS.
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
Rislris 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 i'our heavenly kings took up the strain and said: ' Now because Bodhi-
satwa is born, to give joy and bring peace to the world, therefore is there this
brightness.' Then the gods of the thirty-lhree heavens took up the burden of the
strain, and the Yarna Devas and the Tusita 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 Bodhisatwa is born
on earth, to give joy and peace to men and Devas, to shed light in tJie dark places, and
to give sight to the blind."1
Even the sober philosopher Confucius did not enter the world,
if we may believe Chinese tradition, without premonitory symp
toms of his greatness.3
Sir John Francis Davis, speaking of Confucius, says :
" Various prodigies, ax 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.' "3
In the case of Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, at hio birth, a voice
was heard proclaiming that : " The Ruler of all the Earth is
born."4
In Plutarch's " Is is " 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 cany 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."6
Wonderful demonstrations of delight also attended the birth of
the heavenly-born A.pollonius. According to Flavius Philostratus,
who wrote the life of this remarkable man, a flock of swans sur
rounded 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 Olym
pus, and the Earth laughed beneath the smile of Heaven.6
1 See Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. 43,55, 56, * See Prichard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 56,
andBunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 35. and Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 408.
3 See Amberly : Analysis of Religious Be- 6 Bomvick : Egyptian Belief, p. 424, and
lief, p. 84. Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 408.
3 Davis : History of China, vol. ii. p. 48. See • See Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 4.
also Thornton : Hist. China, i. 152.
THE SONG OF THE HEAVENLY HOST. 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."1
When ^Esculapius 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 thing* ; but bear
him to the wise centaur Chciron, 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."2
As we stilted 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 Prote-
vangelion " (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," simi
lar to the Luke narrator, but in a still more wonderful form. It
is probably from this apocryphal Gospel that the Luke narrator
copied.
1 See Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 65. * Ibid. p. 45.
CHAPTER XY.
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 Magi1 from the east came to where the young child
was.
" And when they were come into the Jiouse (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, frankin
cense, and myrrh."'2
The Luke narrator — who seems to know nothing about the
Magi from the east — informs us that shepherds came and wor
shiped 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."*
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 leirends of Crishna that the divine child
•
" The original word here is ' MagoiS from to religion, and to medicine. They were held
which comes our word ' Magician.' . . . in high esteem by the Persian court ; were ad-
The persona hr-re denoted were philosophers, mitted as councilors, and followed the campa
priests, or astronomers. They dwelt chiefly in in war to give advice." (Barnes's Notes, vol.
Persia and Arabia. They were the learned men i. p. 25.)
of the Eastern nations, devoted to astronomy. 2 Matthew, ii. 2. 3 Luke, ii. 8-16.
150
THE DIVINE CHILD RECOGNIZED. 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 pros
trated themselves before the heaven-born child. After the birth of
Oislma, 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.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 u sandal wood and perfumes."2 (Why not " frank
incense and myrrh?r)
Similar stories are related of the infant Buddha. He was
visited, at the time of his birth, by wise men, who at once recog
nized in the marvellous infant all the characters of the divin
ity, and lie had scarcely seen the day before he was hailed
god of gods.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 Buudha's birth."
Viscount Arnberly, speaking of him, says :4
" He was visited and adored by a very eminent Rislii, or hermit, known as
Asita, who predicted his future greatness, but wept at the thought that he him
self 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 tlie world he will teach the law. lie 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."6
He returns rejoicing, however, to his mountain-home, for his
eyes had seen the promised and expected Saviour."
Paintings in the cave of Ajunta represent Asita with the
i Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 129, 130, * Amberly's Analysis, p. 177. See also, Bon-
and Maurice . Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. pp. 256, sen's Angel-Messiah, p. 36.
257 and 317. Also, The Vishnu Purana. 6 Lil lie : Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 76.
8 Oriental Religions, pp. 500, 501. See .also, • Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 6, and Beal :
Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 353. Hist. Buddha, pp. 58, GO.
» Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 157.
152 BIBLE MYTHS.
infant Buddha in his arms.1 The marvelous gifts of this child
had become known to this eminent ascetic by supernatural signs*
Buddha, as well as Crishna and Jesus, was presented with u costly
jewels and precious substances."3 (Why not gold and perfumes?)
Rama — the seventh incarnation of Vishnu for human deliver
ance from evil — is also hailed by " aged saints " — (why not " wise
men " ?) — who die gladly when their eyes see the long-expected
one.4
How-tseich, who was one of those personages styled, in China,
" Tien-Tse," or u Sons of Heaven,"6 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."
The birth of Confucius (B. o. 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
JTe-lw, 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 filled the air.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.8 He was presented with gifts consisting of gold, frank
incense and myrrh.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.10
^Esculapius, the virgin-born Saviour, was protected by goat
herds (why not shepherds ?), who, upon seeing the child, knew at
once that he was divine. The voice of fame soon published the
i Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 36. • See Amberly's Analysis of Religions Be-
8 See Amberly's Analysis, p. 231, and Bun- lief, p. 226.
Q'B Angel-Messiah, p. 36. 7 See Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. p. 152.
» Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. 58. 8 King : The Gnostics and their Remain*,
« Oriental Religions, p. 491. pp. 134 and 149.
• See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 200. • Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 353.
>• See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 96.
THE DIVINE CHILD RECOGNIZED. 153
birth of this miraculous infant, upon which people flocked from all
quarters to behold and worship this heaven-born child.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,2 and
Romulus, who was found on the banks of the Tiber, and educated
by shepherds.3 Paris, son of Priam, was educated among shep
herds,4 and ^Egisthus was exposed, like JEsculapius, by his mother,
found by shepherds and educated among them.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 ^.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.
1 Taylor's Diegesis, p. 150. Roman Anti- • Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 218.
qnities, p. 136, and Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. « Ibid. vol. L p. 47.
27. • Ibid. p. 80.
* Higgini : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322.
CHAPTER XYI.
THE BIRTH-PLACE OF CHEI8T 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."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"*
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.8
In the apocryphal Gospel called " Proteva/ngelion" attributed to
James, the brother of Jesus, we are informed that Mary and her
husband, being away from their home in Nazareth, and when with
in 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 ccme
forth."
» Matthew, ii. » Eueebius's Life of Constantino, lib. 3, ckt
» Luke, ii. xl., xli. and xlii.
154
THE BIKTH-PLAOE OF CHKIST JESUS. 155
Joseph, replying, said :
" Whither shall I take thee, for ihe place is desert f "
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 Bethle
hem for a midwife, whom he found and brought back with him.
When they ncarcd the spot a bright cloud overshadowed the cave.
"But on a sudden the cloud became a great light m 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."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.2
Canon Farrar says :
"That the actual place of Christ's birth was a cave, is a very ancient tradi
tion, and this cave used to be shown as the scene of the event even so early as
the time of Justin Martyr (A. D. ISO)."3
Mr. King says :
" The place yet shown as the scene of their (the Magi's) adoration at Bethle
hem is a cave."4
The Christian ceremonies in the Church of the Nativity at
Bethlehem are celebrated to this day in a cave," and are undoubt
edly 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 Home 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 bein^r born in
o
a stable or in a cave9 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 jweceded
1 Protevangelion. Apoc. chs. xii., xiii.,and * King : The Gnostics and their Remains,
xiv., and Lily of Israel, p. 95. p. 134.
2 See Higgins: Auacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 98, 6 Iliggius : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 95.
99. • Some writers have tried to connect these
8 Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 38, and note. by saying that it was a cave-stable, but why
See also, Hist. Hindostan, ii. 311. should a stable be in a desert place, as the nar
rative states 1
156 BIBLE MYTHS.
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,1
fostered by an honest herdsman* 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 pro
tected him with loving care.3
Abraham, the Father of Patriarchs, is said to have been born
in a cave*
.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.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."
dEscvla/piuS) 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.*
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."1
Adonis, the " Lord " and " Saviour," was placed in a cave
shortly after his birth.8
Apollo (Phoibos), son of the Almighty Zeus, was born in a
cave at early dawn.9
Mithras, the Persian Saviour, was born in a cave or grotto,19 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.11
Attys,t\\Q god of the Phrygians,12 was born in &cave or grotto.1*
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
1 Aryan Myths, vol. ii. p. 107. 7 See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 213.
8 See Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259. 8 See Ibid. vol. i. p. 12.
3 See Amberly's Analysis, p. 226. 9 Aryan Mythology, vol. i. pp. 72, 158.
* See Calmet's Fragments, art. " Abraham." 10 See Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 124,
6 See Iliggius : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 321. and Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 134.
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 118, and DupuiSj p. "Ibid.
234. 12 See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Beliefs,
8 See Taylors Diegesis, p. 150, and Bell's p. 255.
Pantheon under "JLsculapius." 13 See Duulap's M.ysteries of Adoni, p. 134. j
THE BIRTH-PLACE OF CHRIST JESUS. 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 phosphurctted
oil"1 In all pictures of the Nativity, the light is made to arige
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 illumina
ted, being tilled with a heavenly light, and the countenances of his
father and his mother emitted rays of glory.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."3
When Bacchus was born, a bright light shone round him,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.5
When the Saviour ^Esculapius was born, his countenance shone
like the sun, and he was surrounded by a tiery ray."
In the life of Zoroaster the common mythos is apparent. He
was born in innocence of an immaculate conception of a Kay 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.7
It is stated in the legends of the Hebrew Patriarchs that, at
the birth of Moses, a bright light appeared and shone around.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.
I Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 460. * See Higgins : Anacnlypsis, vol. i. p. 322,
II Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 133. and Dupuis : Origin of Rclig. Belief, p. 119.
Higgins : Anacalypsis. vol. i. p. 130. See also, 6 Tales of Anct. Greece, p. xviii.
Vishnu Purana, p. 502, where it says: • Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 27. Roiuan An-
" No person could bear to gaze upon Devaki tiquities, p. 136.
from the light that invested her." 7 Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. il. p. 460.
« See Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. 43, 46, or Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 649.
Bunsen'a Angel-Messiah, pp. 34, 35. 8 See Hardy : Manual of Buddhism, p. 145,
158 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.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."9
We will now show the ancient myth of the taxing. Accord
ing 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 I£ansa" the reigning
monarch.8
It also describes a scene which took place after the taxes had
been paid.
Yasudeva, 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.
" Yasudeva spoke to him kindly, and congratulated him on hav
ing a son in his old age*
" ' Thy yearly tribute,' he added, ' has been paid to the king . . .
why do you delay, now that your affairs are settled ? Up, ISTanda,
quickly, and set off to your own pastures.' . . . Accordingly
Nanda and the other cowherds returned to their village."6
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 re
corded to be, " that she would be on a journey at the time of her
1 See the chapter on " Christmas.'" * See Vishnu Parana, book v. chap. iii.
2 Tt may be that this verse was added by 4 Here is an exact counterpart to the story
another hand some time after the narrative was of Joseph — the foster-father, go-called — of
written. We have seen it stated somewhere Jesus. He too, had a sou in his old age.
that, in the manuscript, this verse is in brackets. 6 Vishnu Purana, book v. chap. f.
THE BIRTH-PLACE OF CHRIST JESUS. 159
birth" Therefore, " that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophets," the virgin Maya, in the tenth m jnth
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 u she had alighted at an inn when Buddha was
bom."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.'
Pythagoras'(&. c. 570), whose real father was the Holy Ghost,'
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 Sid on.*
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.1' The mother knew that he was des
tined to be a being of mighty power, ruling among the undying
gods and mortal men.*
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.
i Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, p. 34. See ' A8 we caw in Chapter XII.
»lso, Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. 32, and Lillie : * Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. 1. p. 150.
Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 73. • See Rhys David's Buddhism, p. 26.
» Thornton : Hist. ChiM, i. 138. • See Cox : Aryan Myths, vol. il. p. 81.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST JE8TJ8.
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,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^'1 clearly shows that this idea was general :
" The last of the Jinas, Vardhamana, was at first conceived by Devananda, a
Brahman a. 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 Devananda) ; but reflecting that no great saint was
ever born in an indigent or mendicant family, as that of a Brahmana, Sekra com
manded his chief attendant to remove the child from the womb of Devananda to
that of Trisala, wife of Siddhartha, a prince of the race of Jesicaca, 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
1 That is, a passage in the Old Testament wiio is made to say : " In thy seed shall all the
was construed to mean this, although another nations of the earth be blessed, because thou
and more plausible meaning might be inferred. hast obeyed my voice." (Genesis, xxii. 18.)
It is when Abraham is blessed by the Lord, 2 Vol. ii. p. 214.
160
THE GENEALOGY OF CHEIST JESUS. 101
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 &re fourteen, and from the carrying away into
Babylon unto Jesus are fourteen generations.1 Surely nothing can
have a more mythological appearance than this. But, when we
confine our attention to the genealogy itself, we tind that the gen
erations in the third stage, including Jesus himself, amount to only
thirteen. All attempts to get over this difficulty have been with
out 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 Encyclopaedia :
' ' Christ's being the true Messiah depends upon his being the son of David
and king of the Jews, tio 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 ia
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 knowl
edge, the disgraceful dishonesty and willful deception of the most illustrious of
Christian doctors."8
Matthew, i. 17. « Scott's English Life of Jeaoi.
11
162 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 want*
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, Ilervey, Meyer, Mill, Patritius and Words
worth 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 miracu
lous circumstances connected with his birth. He looked upon him-
self as belonging to Nazareth, not as the child of Bethlehem;1 he
reproved the scribes for teaching that the Messiah must necessarily
he a descendant of Damd* and did not himself make any express
claim to such descent?
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,4 we will con
tinue our investigations in another direction, and show that Jesus
was not the only Messiah who was claimed to be of royal descent.
1 Matthew, xiii. 54; Luke, iv. 24. consistencies of the evangelical narratives are
3 Mark, ii. 35. of no avail." (Albert Reville : Hist. Dogma,
8 " There is no doubt that the authors of Deity, Jesus, p. 15.)
the genealogies regarded him (Jesus), as did * The reader is referred to Thomas Scott's
his countrymen and contemporaries generally, English Life of Jesus, Strauss'e Life of Jesus,
as the eldest son of Joseph, Mary's husband, The Genealogies of Our Lord, by Lord Arthur
and that thay had no idea of anything miracu- Hervey, Kitto's Biblical Encyclopaedia, and
lous conne< ted with his birth. All the attempts Barnes' Notes.
of the old commentators to reconcile the in-
THE GENEALOGY OF CIIRIST JESUS. 163
To commence with Crishna, the Hindoo Saviour, Le was of
royal descent, although born in a state the most abject and
humiliating.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."'
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.8
R. Spence Hardy says, in his " Manual of Buddhism :"
"The ancestry of Gotama Buddha is traced from his father, Sodhodana,
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 1
Rama, another Indian avatar — the seventh incarnation of
Vishnu — was also of royal descent.''
Fo-Jii; or Fuli-he, the virgin-born "Son of Heaven," was of
royal descent. He belonged to the oldest family of monarchs who
ruled in China.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.6
Horus, the Egyptian virgin-born Saviour, was of royal de
scent, having descended from a line of kings.7 He had the title
of "Koyal Good Shepherd."8
Hercules, the Saviour, was of royal descent?
1 See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 130. • See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 200, and
Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259, and Allen's Chambers's Encyclo., art. " Fuh-he.1'
India, p. 379. • Davis : History of China, vol. ii. p. 48, and
a Hist. Hindostan, ii. p. 310. Thornton : Hist. China, vol. i. p. 151.
• See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 157. 7 See almost any work on Egyptian history
Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah. Davis : Hist, of or the religions of Egypt.
China, vol. ii. p. 80, and Hue's Travels, vol. 1. • See Lundy : Monumental Christianity, p.
p. 827. 403.
« Allen's India, p. 379. • See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 152. Roman An
tiquities, p. 124, and Bell's Pantheon, L 382
i64 BIBLE MYTHS.
Bacchus, although the Son of God, was of royal descent}
Perseus, son of the virgin Danae, was of royal descent?
^Esculapius, the great performer of miracles, although a son of
God, was notwithstanding of royal descent?
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.
i See Greek and Italian Mythology, p. 81. Bulfinch : The Age of Fable, p. 161.
Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 117. Murray : Man- » See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 27. Roman
ual of Mythology, p. 118, and Roman Antiqui- Antiquities, p. 136, and Taylor's Diegesis, p.
ties, p. 71. 160.
* See Bell'B Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 170, and
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS.
INTEEWOVEN 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 re
maining long unknown, it at length fulfills the prophecies con
cerning its career, while the fate which he has vainly sought to
shun falls upon him who had desired to slay it. There is a de
parture 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 repre
sented 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 h«
165
166 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 de
parted 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 ex
ceeding 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. l 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.' "2
Mr. Higgins says :
" Soon after Crishna's birth he was carried away by night and concealed in a
region remote from his na-tal 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."3
Sir William Jones says of Crishna :
" He passed a life, according to the Indians, of a most extraordinary and in
comprehensible 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."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 reign
ing tyrant of his country, related in its original form.
1 A heavenly voice whispered to the foster- 3 Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 129. See, also, Cox :
father of Jesus, and ta Id him to fly with the Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 134, and Maurice :
child into Egypt, which was immediately done. Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 331.
(See Matthew, ii. 13.) * Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 273 ind
8 Life and Relig. of the Hindoos, p. 134. 259.
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS. 167
Representations of this flight with the babe at midnight are
sculptured on the walls of ancient Hindoo temples.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, sur
rounded by slaughtered infant lays. Figures of men and women
are also represented who are supposed to be supplicating for their
children.3
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 Jieads marks the
multitude of infants slain by his savage mandate; and every object in the sculp
ture illustrates the events of that Avatar."3
Another feature which connects these stories is the following :
Sir Win. 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 ;4 and Canon Farrar, speak
ing 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 Matareeh, a few miles north-east of
Cairo."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.'
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.7
1 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 61. 4 Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259.
' See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. 130, 13 . * Fnrrar's Life of Chribt. p. 58.
and Maurice : Indian Antiquities, vol. i. pp. • See Introduction to Gospel of Infwicy.
112, 113, and vol. iii. pp. 45, 95. Apoc.
• Indian Antiqu/ties, rol. i. pp. 112, 113. 7 See vol. x. Asiatic Researches.
1G8 BIBLE MYTHS.
Buddlids life was also in danger when an infant. In the
southern country of Magadha, there lived a king bj 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 Sakyas, 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 lia
ble to overturn him, they therefore advised him to " at once raise
an army and destroy the child."1
ID. 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 appear
ance 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 cliest 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."2
I2au-lci, 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, lie was placed on the cold ice, and a bird screened and sup
ported him with its wings," &c.3
Mr. Legge draws a comparison with this to the Roman legend
of Romulus.
Horns, 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.4
Within historical times, Cyrus, king of Persia (6th cent. B. a),
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 shep
herd to be exposed, the latter contrived to save it by exhibiting to
i Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. 103, 104. « The Shih-king. Decade ii, ode 1.
* Amberly's Analysis, p. 229. « Bonwick : Etfyotian Belief, pp. 158 and 160.
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS. 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 success
ful revolt against Astyages and assumption of the monarchy.
Herodotus, the Grecian Historian (B. c. 4S-1), relates that
Astyages, in a vision, appeared to see a vine grow up from Man-
dane's womb, which covered all Asia. Having seen this and com
municated it to the interpreters of dreams, he put her under
guard, resolving to destroy whatever should be born of her; for
the Marian 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 moun
tain, and his subsequent good fortune, is then related.1
Abraham was also a '• dangerous child." At the time of his
birth, JSfimrod, 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 deatli"'1'
The mother of Abraham was at that time with child, but, of
course, lie escaped from being put to death, although many chil
dren were slaughtered.
O
Zoroaster, the chief of the religion of the Magi, was a " danger
ous 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.3
His mother had alarming dreams of evil spirits seeking to de
stroy 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. lie has sent him as a prophet to the
people. The world is waiting for him."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, im
mured his daughter Danae in a tower, where no man could
approach her, and by this means hoped to keep his daughter from
1 Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 110. p. 240.
3 Calmet's Fragments, art. "Abraham." « See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. "Religioni
• See Dupuia : Oricin of Religions Belief, of Persia."
170 BIBLE MYTHS.
becoming enceinte. The god Jupiter, however, visited her thero,
as it is related of the Angel Gabriel visiting the Virgin Mary,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.2
jEsculapius, 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'
Hercules, son of the virgin Leto, was left to die on a plain, but
was found and rescued by a maiden.4
(Edipous was a " dangerous child." Laios, King of Thebes,
having been told by the Delphic Oracle that (Edipous would be his
destroyer, no sooner is (Edipous born than the decree goes forth
that the child must be slain ; but the servant to whom he is in
trusted 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.6
The Theban myth of (Edipous is repeated substantially in the
Arcadian tradition of Telephos. Pie is exposed, when a babe, on
Mount Parthenon, and is suckled by a doe, which represents the
wolf in the myth of Komulus, and the dog of the Persian story of
Cyrus. Like Moses; he is brought up in the palace of a king.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 ex
posed as a babe on the mountain-side.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 loft 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."
lamos 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
1 In the Apocryphal Gospel of the Birth of Mytho. vol. ii. p. 34.
Mary and " Protevanjrelion." 4 Cox : Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p. 44.
a See BelFs Pantheon, vol. L p. 9. Cox: » Ibid, p. 69, and Tales of Ancient Greece,
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 58, and Bulfinch : p. xlii.
The Age of Fable, p. 101. « Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 74.
» Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 27. Cox : Aryan 7 Ibid. p. 75. • Ibid. p. 78.J'
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS. 171
was: but none had heard or seen him, for he la}7 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 lainos,
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.1
Chandragupta was also a " dangerous child." lie is exposed
to great dangers in his infancy at the hands of a tributary chief
who has defeated and slain his suzerain. His mother, "relinquish
ing 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.3
Jason is another hero of the same kind. Pelias, the chief of
lolkos, 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.3
Bacchus, son of the virgin Semelc, 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.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 Bacchiadm governed the cily. 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 tem
ple 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 Bacchiadw, who well knew that it prophe
sied 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 F.t-tion 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, Eetlon's son grew up, and having escaped this danger, the name of
Cypselus was given him, from the chest. When Cypselus readied man's estate,
and consulted the oracle, an ambiguous answer was given him at Delphi; rely
ing on which he attacked and got possession of Corinth."5
1 Cox: Aryan Mytho. ii. p. 81. « Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 188. Cor :
» Ibid. p. 84. Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p. 296.
» Ibid. p. 150. « Herodotus : bk. v. ch. 92.
172 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 Caesar, 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.1
The Hi°'ht of the virgin-mother with her babe is also illustrated
O O
in the story of Astrea when beset by Orion, and of Latona, the
mother of Apollo, when pursued by the monster.2 It is simply the
same old story, over and over again. Some one has predicted that
a child born at a certain time shall be great, he is therefore a "dan
gerous 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 every-
wlierc, we may feel sure that it never happened anywhere. Pop
ular 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 thh-J 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,1
the slaughter of the infants, and a journey, after many months, from
Egypt to ^Nazareth in Galilee. In the other story — (hat told by
the Liike 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 ;
1 See Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 60. Christian art of the flight of the Holy Familj
2 Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 168. into Egypt. (See Mounmental Christianity, p.
» There are no very early examples in 239.)
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE IXXOCEXTS. 173
whence, everything having gone off peaceably and happily, they
return naturally to their own former place of abode, full, it is
mid over and over again, of wonder at the things that had hap
pened, and deeply impressed with the conviction that their child
had a special work to do, and was specially gifted for it. There is
7io fear of Herod, who seems never to trouble himself about the
child, or even to have any Imowlcdge 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 cele
brate 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 givepublic thanks
for the manifestation of the Saviour.
Dr. Ilooykaas, 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 siguiticanee 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 (Mat the w) narra
tive! 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 repre
sentations 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 sup
posed to tend toward the maintenance of faith and the glory of God! >M
As we stated above, this story is to be found in the fictitious
gospel according to Matthew only ; contemporary history has no
where 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 per
petrated 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 ex-
' Bible for Learners, vol. iii. pp. 71-74.
174 BIBLE MYTHS.
tent 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 begin
ning of the fifth century.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 pro
fessed 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.
» See Monumental Christianity, p. 838.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE TEMPTATION, AND FAST OF FORTY DAYS.
WE are informed by the Matthew narrator that, after being bap
tized 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 niyhts, 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 ike 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 sJioweth him all tlte l-imj-
d&ms of the world, and the glory of them, and saith unto him: ' All these things icill
1 give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me.' Then saith Jesus unto him,
' Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shall thou serve.' Then Ihe devil leavelh him, and, behold, angels
came and ministered unlo him."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,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"* 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 de
clared to be untruthful and untrustworthy."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.6
i Matthew, iv. 1-11. ford, England.
51 See Lardner's Works, vol. viii. p. 491. « The Bishop of Manchester (England), tn
• Words of the Rev. E. Qarbett, M. A., in a the " Manchester Examiner and Times."
•ermon preached before the University of Ox- • See Lillie's Buddhism, p. 100.
175
176 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.1
It is also to be found in the Fo-pen-King* 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 ascetcism of the ex-
tremest 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."3
Now, mark the similarity between these two legends.
Was Jesus ;*! out "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 " ? Sc
did Buddha " cease to eat," and was " attenuated beyond measure."
Did the evil spirit take Jesus and show him u all the king
doms 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."
1 Pp. 44 and 17-3, 173. 39. Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. xxviii., xxix..,
a Translated by Prof. Samuel Beal. and 190, and Haidy : Buddhist Legends, p.
* See also Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 38, xvii.
THE TEMPTATION AND FAST. 177
After the evil spirit left Jesus did not " angels come and minis
ter 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.1 " His temptation by the devil,
forms the subject of many traditional reports and legends.'"
Quetzalcoatle, the virgin-born Mexican Saviour, was also
tempted by the devil, and the forty days' fast was found among
them.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 ab
stain 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.4
Among the ancient Egyptians, there were times when the
priests submitted to abstinence of the most severe description, be
ing forbidden to eat even bread, and at other times they only ate
it mingled with hyssop. " The priests in Heliopolis," says Plu
tarch, "have many fasts, during which they meditate on divine
things."6
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.6
The Jews also hud 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.7
The same practice was found among the ancient Mexicans and
Peruvians. Acosta, speaking of them, says :
» Dnpuis : Origin of Religions Belief, p. 240. « Life and Rellg. of the Hindoos, p. 134.
• Chamber's Enclyclo. art. " Zoroaster." • Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, Tol. L
» See Kingsborough : Mexican Antiquities, p. 341.
TOI. vi. p. 200. • Ibid. 1 1bid. p. 340.
178 BIBLE MYTHS.
"These prissts 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."1
In regard to the number of clays 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*
that Moses went up into a mountain, " and he was there with the
Ijord forty days and forty nights, and he did neither eat bread,
nor drink water" which is to say that he fasted.
In Deuteronomy3 Moses is made to say — for he did not write
it, uWheii 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 si forty days and forty nights*
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
JProtevangelion. 5
The ancient Persians had a religious festival which they an
nually celebrated, and which they called the " Salutation of Mith
ras." During this festival, forty days were set apart for thanks
giving and sacrifice.6
Tiie forty days' fast was found in the New World.
Godfrey liiggins 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 moun
tain."7
Lord Kingsborough says :
"The temptation of Quetzalco
' curious and mysterious."*
The ancient Mexicans were also in the habit of making their
"The temptation of Quetzalcoatle, and the fast of forty days, . . . are
very curious and mysterious."*
i Acosta : Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 339. • Chapter i.
a Esodus, xxiv. 88. • See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 272.
• Deut. ix. 18. T Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19.
* 1 Kings, xix. 8. • Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. pp. 197-200.
THE TEMPTATION AND FAST. 179
prisoners of war fast for a term of forty days before they were
put to death.1
Mr. Bonwick says :
" Tho 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."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
O
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 u the
females of the Orinoco tribes fasted forty days before marriage,"8
and Prof. Max Muller informs us that it was customary for somo
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
wore sick. He then fasts for forty days"'
The females belonging to the tribes of the Upper Mississippi,
were held unclean for forty days after childbirth.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.8
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.7 Isaac and Esau were each forty
years old when they married.8 Forty days were fulfilled for the
embalming of Jacob.9 The spies were forty days in search of the
land of Canaan.10 The Israelites wandered forty years in the
wilderness.11 The land "had rest " forty years on three occasions.1*
The land was delivered into the hand of the Philistines forty years.1*
Eli judged Israel forty years.1* King David reigned forty years.1*
1 See Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, 7 Genesis, viii. 6.
Tol. vi. p. 223. 8 Gen. xxv. 20— xxvi. 34.
a Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 370. • Gen. i. 3.
1 Brinton : Myths of the New World, p. 94. 10 Numbers, xiii. 25.
« Max Mflller18 Chips, vol. ii. p. 279. " Numbers, xiii. 13.
« Brinton : Myths of the New World, p. 94. ia Jud. iii. 11 ; v. 31 ; rilL 28.
• Ibid. According to Genesis, vii. 12, " the 1S Jud. xiii. 1.
rain was upon the earth forty days and forty 14 1. Samuel, iv. 18.
nights " at the time of the flood. 18 I. Kings, ii. 11.
180 BIBLE MYTHS.
King Solomon reigned forty years}1 Goliath presented himself
forty days? The rain was upon the earth forty days at the time
of the deluge.8 And, as we saw above, Moses was on the mount
forty days and forty nights on each occasion.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 Dru-
idical temples, and in the plan of the temple of Ezekiel, the four
oblong buildings in the middle of the courts have each forty pil
lars.6 Most temples of antiquity were imitative — were microcosms
of the Celestial Templum — and on this account they were sur
rounded 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.8
1 1. Kings, xi. 42. • See Higgins' Anacalypsifl, vol. i. p. 708 ;
a I. Samuel, xvii. 16. Yol. II. p. 402.
» Gen. vii. 12. • See Ibid. vol. II. p. 708.
< Exodus, xxiv. 18— xxxiv. 2*.
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 Cru
cifixion of Jesus, would need but a passing glance in our in
quiry, 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 f What folly it is to expect savlation 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 Tandy a-brdhmanas, thus:
" The lord of creatures (prajd-pati) offered himself a sacrifice far the gods."
And again, in the Satapatha-brdhmana :
"He who, knowing this, sacrifices the Purusha-medha, or sacrifice of the
primeval male, becomes everything."1
Prof. Monier Williams, from whose work on Hindooism we
quote the above, says :
1 Monier Williams : Hinduism, pp. 3&-40.
181
182 BIBLE MYTHS.
"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-ap
pointed ordinance typical of the one great sacrifice of the Son of God for the sins of
the world."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 atuiio fur some tin, or avert some calamity.
Jn primitive ages, when men lived mostly on vegetables, they
offered only grain, water, salt, fruit, and flowers to the r^ods, 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 lull 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 leings, 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"*
In Egypt, offerings of human sacrifices, for the atonement of
sin, became so general that u if the eldest born of the family of
Athamas entered the temple of the Laphystan Jupiter at Alos in
Achaia, he was sacrificed, crowned with garlands like an animal
victim."8
Monier Williams: Hinduism, p. 36. 2 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 303.
» Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 443.
THE CEUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 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."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.'
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 Firrnicius, referring to this popular belief among the
Pagans, says : " The devil has his Christs"* This was the
general off-hand manner in which the Christian Fathers disposed
of such matters. Everything in the religion of the Pagans wliich
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. PAbbe Hue,
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."4
" A sense of original corruption," says Prof. Monier Williams,
1 Herodotus : bk. ii. ch. 39. Jesus as your Saviour, you can take the blood of
* In the trial of Dr. Thomas (at Chicago) for Jesus, and with boldness present it to the Father
''''doctrinal heresy" one of the charges made as payment in full of 'the penalties of 'all your sins.
against him (Sept. 8, 1881) was that he had Sinful man has no right to the benefits and the
6aid "the BLOOD of the Lamb had nothing beauties and glories of nature. These icere all
to do with salvation." And in a eermon lost to him through Adam's sin, but to the
preached in Boston, Sept. 2, 1881, at the blood of Christ's sacrifice he has a right ; it
Columbus Avenue Presbyterian Churcti, by the was shed for him. It is Christ's death that
Rev. Andrew A. Bonar, D.D., the preacher said : does the blessed work of salvation for us. It
" No sinner dares to meet the holy God until was not his life nor his Incarnation. His Incar-
his sin has been forgiven, or until he has re- nation could not pay a farthing of our debt, but
ceived remission. The penalty of sin is death, his blood shed in redeeming love, pays it all.1
and this penalty is not remitted by anything (See Boston Advertiser, Sept. 3, 1881.)
the sinner can do for himself, but only through 3 Uaf/et frgo biaboltts C'hrintos suos.
the BLOOD of Jesus. If you have accepted « Hue's Travels, vol. i. pp. 326 and 327.
184 BIBLE MYTHS.
seems to be felt by all classes of Hindoos, as indicated by the follow*
ing prayer used after the Gdyatrl by some Yaishnavas :
" '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.' 'M
Moreover, the doctrine of bhakti (salvation l>y faith) existed
among the Hindoos from the earliest times.3
Crishna, the virgin-born, " the Divine Vishnu himself,'"
"he who is without beginning, middle or end,"4 being moved
" to relieve the earth of her load,"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.6
The Vishnu Pur ana? speaks of Crishna being shot in tliefoot
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 V Antiquit'e" says :
" The death of Crishna is very differently related. One remarkable and con
vincing tradition makes him perish on a tree, to which he was nailed by the
stroke of an arrow."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 " ac-
> Hinduism, p. 214. 7 Pages 274 and 612.
• Ibid. p. 115. 8 "On reconte fort diversement la niort de
» Vishnu Purana, p. 440. Crishna. Une tradition remarquable et averee
« Ibid. le fait perir sur un bois fatal (un arbre), ou il
• Ibid. fut cloue" d'un coup de fleche." (Quoted by
« Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 132. Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 144.)
THE CKUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 185
cursed tree" It was an ancient custom to use trees as gibbets for
crucifixion, or, if artificial, to call the cross a tree.1
A writer in Deuteronomy* 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.' "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 cru
cifixion. 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)* with marks of holes in
both feet, and in others, of holes in the hands. In Figures 4- and •>
of Plate 11 (Moor's work), the figures have nail-holes in loth f<ct.
Figure 6 has a round hole in tJie 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-Linya (which we do not see
in pictures of Christ Jesus.)
Our Figure No. 7 (next page), is a pre-Christian crucifix of Asi
atic origin,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 de
scribed 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.*
Rev. J. P. Lundy, speaking of the Christian crucifix, says :
1 See Digging : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 499, "The crucified god Wittoba is also called
and Mrs. Jameson's '• History of Our Lord in Balii. lie is worshiped in a marked manner at
Art," ii. 317, where the cross is called the Pander-poor or Bunder-poor, near Poonuh."
"accursed tree.1' (Iliggins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 750. note 1.)
2 Chap. xxi. 22, 23 : "If a man have com- "A form of Vishnu (Crishna*. called 11th-
mitted a sin worthy of death, and he be to be thai or Vithob<~i, is the popular god at Pandhar-
put to death, and thou hang him on a tree : pur in Maha-rashtra, the favorite of the cele-
his body shall not remain all night upon the brated Marathi poet Tukarama." (.Prof,
tree, but thou shall in any wise bury him that Monier Williams : Indian Wisdom, p. xlviii.)
day; (for he that is hanged Is accursed of God;) • See Lundy : Monumental Christianity, p.
that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord 160.
thy God giveth thee for an inheritance." « This can be seen by referring to Calmet,
8 Galatians, lii. 13. Sonnerat, or Higgins, vol. ii., which contain
4 See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 146, plates representing Crishna.
and Inman'e Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 402.
186
BIBLE MYTHS.
" I object to the crucifix because it is an image, and liable to gross abuse, just
as the old Hindoo crucifix was an idol."1
FIG N07
FIG N 0.8
And Dr. Inman says :
" Crishna, whose history so closely resembles our Lord's, was also like him in
his being crucified."8
The Evangelist3 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 com-
est 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 Pur ana, the hunter who shot the arrow at Crislma
afterwards said unto him : " Have pity upon me, who am consumed
by my crime, for thou art able to consume me !" Crislma re
plied : " 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 Crislma, having united
himself with his own pure, spiritual, inexhaustible, inconceivable,
unborn, undecaying, imperishable and universal spirit, which is
one with Vasudeva (God),4 abandoned his mortal body, and the
condition of the threefold equalities.6 One of the titles of Crislma
1 Monumental Christianity, p. 128.
* Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 411.
* Luke, xxiii. 39-43.
« Vaeudeva means God. See Vishnu Parana,
p. 274.
• Vishnu Purana, p 613.
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JKSUS.
187
IB " Pardoner of sins" another is " Liberator from the Serpent of
death."1
The monk G corgi us, in his Tibetinum Alphabctum (p. 203),
FIG 9
FIG. 10
lias 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. lie calls it the god Indra. Figures No. 9 and No. 10
arc 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 Mani-
cheans. For those nations, especially in the city of Nepal, in the mouth of Au
gust, being about to celebrate the festival days of the god Indra, erect crosses,
wreathed with Abrolono, to his memory, everywhere. You have the description of
these in letter B, the picture following aftei ; for A is the representation of Indra
himself crucified-, bearing on his forehead, hands and feet the signs Tekch."*
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 Hood for Ihesalva-
1 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 72.
a '• Si ita se res habet, ut existimat Bcau-
sobrius, Indi, et Budittce quorum reli<rio,
eadera est ac Tibctana, nonnisi a Manichaeis
nova haec deliriorum portenta acceperunt. Hae-
namquo gentes prsesertim in urbe Nepal, Luna
XII. Budr ten Bhadon Aitrjuxti mensis, dies
festos auspicatune Dei Indne, erigunt ad illiua
memoriara ubique locorura cruces amictas
Abrotono. Earum flgurain dcscriplam habee
ad lit. B, Tabula pone sequent!. Nam A effi
gies est ipsius Indrce cruciftxi eigna Telech in
fronte manibas pedibueque gerentis." (Alpb
Tibet, p. 203. Quoted in Biggins' AnacalypsU.
vol. i. p. 130.)
188 BIBLE MYTHS.
tion of the human race, and that he was pierced through the boc y
with nails. He further says that, although they do not say he suf
fered the penalty of the cross, yet they find, nevertheless, figures
of it in their books.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 oldor than Muni or the Manicheans.9
In the promontory of India, in the South, at Tanjore, and in
the Xortli, 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.3
The incarnate god Buddha, although said to have expired
peacefully at the foot of a tree, is nevertheless described as a suffer
ing Saviour, who, "when his mind was moved by pity (for the
human race) gave his life like grass for the sake of others"'
A hymn, addressed to Buddha, says :
" Persecutions without end,
Revilings aiid many prisons,
Death and murder,
These hast thou suffered with love and patience
(To secure the happiness of mankind),
Forgiving thine executioners."5
He was called the "Great Physician,"8 the "Saviour of
the World,"7 the "Blessed One,"8 the "God among Gods,"*
the " Anointed," or the " Christ,"10 the "Messiah,"11 the " Only Be
gotten,"12 etc. He is described by the author of the " Cambridge
Key "1S as sacrificing his life to wash away the offenses of mankind,
and thereby to make them partakers of the kingdom of heaven.
1 " Us conviennent qu'il a repandu sou sang 572, 667 and 750 ; vol. ii. p. 122, and note 4,
pour le salut du genre hnraain, ayant ete perce p. 185, this chapter.
dc clous par tout son corps. Quoiqu'ils ne * See Max Mailer's Science of Religion, p.
dieent pas qu'il a eouffert le supplies de la 224.
croix. ou en trouve pourtant la figure dans leurs 6 Quoted in Lillie's Buddhism, p. 93.
livros." (Quoted in Higgius' Anacalypsis, vol. 6 See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 20.
ii. P- 118.) T see Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 20, 25, 35.
2 "Although the nations of Europe have Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 247. Hue's Travels,
changed their religions during the past eighteen vol. i. pp. 326, 327, and almost any work on
centuries, the Hindoo has not done so, except Buddhism.
very partially. . . . The religious creeds, 8 gee Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 20.
rites, customs, and habits of thought of the 9 Ibid. Johnson's Oriental Religions, p. 604.
Hindoos generally, have altered little since the See also Asiatic Researches, vol. iii., or chap-
days of Manu, 500 years B. c." (Prof. Monier ter xii. of this work.
Williams : Indian Wisdom, p. iv.) 1° See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 18.
1 See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 147, n Ibid.
ia Ibid. 13 Vol. i p. 118.
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 189
This induces him to say " Can a Christian doubt that this Buddha
was the TYPE of the Saviour of the World."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"*
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 frorr
the world."3
M. 1'Abbe Hue 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 t/tem, and to
indicate to them the way of safety. This idea of redemption by a divine incarna
tion 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 ad
dressed to a Mongol or a Thibetan the question ' Who is Buddha? ' he would im
mediately reply: ' The Saviour of Men! ' "4
According to Prof. Max Muller, Buddha is reported as say
ing :
" Let all the sins that were committed in this world fall on me, that tJie world
may be delivered."*
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.8 And what we have seen con
cerning 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 ; BO that " Baddlia paid it all, all to
him is due."7
1 Quoted in Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 118. expiate their crimes, and mitigate the punish-
2 Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 20. ment they must otherwise inevitably undergo."
» Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. 33. (Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 86.)
4 Hue's Travels, vol. i. pp. 326, 327. " The object of his mission on earth was to
* Muller : Hist. Sanscrit Literature, p. 80. instruct those who were straying from the right
' See Maurice : Indian Antiquities, vol. v. path, :xpiate the sins of mortals by his own
p. 95, and Williams : Hinduism, p. 214. sufferings, and produce for them a happy en-
7 "He in mercy left paradise, and came trance into another existence by obedience to
down to earth, because he was filled with com- his precepts and prayers in his name. They
passion for the sins and miseries of mankind. always speak of him as one with God from all
He sought to lead them into better paths, and eternity. His most common title is ' The Set-
took their sufferings upon himself, that he might viour of the World.' " (Ibid. vol. i. p. 247.)
190 BIBLE MYTHS.
The idea of redemption through the sufferings and death of a
Divine Saviour, is to be found even in ihe ancient religions of
China. One of their five sacred volumes, called the Y-Kmg, says,
in speaking of Tieny 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"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."*
Tien, the Holy One, is always spoken of as one with God,
existing with him from all eternity, u before anything was
made."
Osiris and Horus, the Egyptian virgin-born gods, suffered
death.8 Mr. Bon wick, 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."4
Alexander Murray says :
" 2 he Egyptian Saviour Osiris was gratefully regarded as the great exemplar
of self-sacrifice, in giving his life for others."*
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 mani
festation of the deity converted into a my tlwlogical fable "6
Horus was also called " The Saviour." " As Horus Sneb, he
is the Redeemer. He is the Lord of Life and the Eternal One."7
He is also called " The Only-Begotten."8
Attys, who was called the " Only Begotten Son"" and "Swiour"
was worshiped by the Phrygians (who were regarded as one of the
1 Quoted in Preg. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 211. 6 In Eawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 171.
2 Ibid. Quoted in Knight's Art and Mythology, p. 71.
3 See Renouf : Religions of Ancient Egypt, 7 Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 185.
p. 178. 8 See Mysteries of Adoni, p. 88.
« Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 155. • See Knight : Ancient Art anrl Mythology,
« Murray : Manual of Mythology, p. 348. p. xxii. note.
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 191
oldest races of Asia Minor). lie was represented by them as a man
tied to a tree, at the foot of which was alamo,1 and, without doubt,
also as a man nailed to tJie tree, or stake, for we find Lactantius mak
ing this Apollo of Miletus (anciently, the greatest and most flour
ishing 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, lie suffered
a death made bitter with nails and stakes."'1
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,'"
or to illustrations in chapter xl. this work, it will be seen thatacom-
mon 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
Bpeak of in its proper place.
Tammuz, or Adonis, the Syrian and Jewish Adonai (in He
brew " 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 Sa/viour, as we shall
hereafter see) one account, however, makes him a, crucified Saviour *
It is certain, however, that the ancients who honored him as
their Lord and Saviour, celebrated, annually, a feast in commem
oration 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 Iloman 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 lie endured, our salvation have
procured. "6
The Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, in his " Hebrew Lexicon," after re
ferring 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."6
1 Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. 255. 4 See chapter xxxix, this work.
* Vol. ii. « See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 114,
1 Lactant. Inst., div. iv. chap. xiii. in Anac- and Taylor's Diegesis, p. 163.
alypsie, vol. i. p. 544. « See the chapter on " The Resurrection of
Jesus."
192 BIBLE MYTHS.
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"1
The tragedy of the crucifixion of Prometheus, written by
^Eschylus, 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 ma
terials even at that time of an infinitely remote antiquity. Noth
ing 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 specta
tors 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 chas
tisement 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? 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.8 " 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."4
1 Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Prometheus." extended.'1'1 (Alexander Murray : Manual of
2 " Prometheus has been a favorite subject Mythology, p. 82.) " Prometheus is said to have
with the poets. He is represented as the friend been nailed up with arms extended, near the
of mankind, who interposed in their behalf Caspian Straits, on Mount Caucasus. The
when Jove was incensed against them.11 (Bui- history of Prometheus on the Cathedral at Bor-
finch : The Age of Fable, p. 32.) deaux (France) here receives its explanation."
'' In the mythos relating to Prometheus, he (Higgins : Auacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 113.)
always appears as the friend of the human 3 See J^schylus' "Prometheus Chained,"
race, suffering in its behalf the most fearful Translated by the Rev. R. Potter : Harper A
tortures.1' (John Fiske : Myths and Myth- Bros.,N.Y.
makers, pp. 64, 65.) " Prometheus was nailed * Ibid. p. 82.
to the rosks on Mount Caucasus, with arms
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 193
In the catastrophe of the plot, his especially professed friend,
Oceanus, the Fisherman — as his name Petrc&us indicates,1 — being
unable to prevail on him to make his peace with Jupiter, by throw
ing the cause of human redemption out of his hands,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,3 but were unable to subdue his inflexible phil
anthropy.4
In the words of Justin Martyr: " Suffering was common to all
the sons of Jove." They were called the " Slain Ones," " Sav
iours," " Redeemers," &c.
J3acchuSj the offspring of Jupiter and Semele,5 was called the
"Saviour"* He was called the u Only Begotten Son"1 the u Slain
One,"8 the "Sin Bearer,"9 the " Redeemer,"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, u 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 overshad
ows the beautiful young maiden — the virgin Semele — who be
comes the mother of the Redeemer.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."1*
Hercules, the son of Zeus, was called " The Saviour." 13 The
words u Hercules the Saviour " were engraven on ancient coins
and monuments.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.15
1 Petraeus was an interchangeable synonym xxii. note.
)f the name Oceanus. 8 Ibid.
a " Then Peter took him, and began to re- 8 Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 169.
buke him, saying : Be it far from thee. Lord ; 10 Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. 135.
this shall not be unto thec." (Matt. xvi. 22.) u Ibid
* "And there followed him a great company ia Beausobre quotes the inscription on a
of people, and of women, which also bewailed monument of Bacchus, thus : " C'est ruoi, ditil,
and lamented him." (Luke, xxiii. 27.) qui vous conduis, < "est moi, qui vous conserve,
4 See Taylor's Diegesia, pp. 193, 194, or Pot- ou qui vous sauve ; Je sui Alpha et Omega,
ter's ^Eschylus. &c." (See chap, xxxix this work.)
6 " They say that the god (Bacchus), the off- 1S See Higgina : Aiiiicalypsis, vol. i. p. 322.
spring of Zeus and Demeter, was torn to Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. 195.
pieces." (Diodorns Siculus, in Knight, p. 156, Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 152. Dunlap :
note.) Mysteries of Adoni, p. 94.
• See Knight : Anct. Art and Mythology, p. »« See Celtic Druids, Taylor's Diegesis, p.
98, note. Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, 153, and Montfaucon, vol. i.
5258. Biggins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102. »• See Mysteries of Adoni, p. 91, and Hig-
T Knight : Ancient Art and Mythology, p. gins : Anac., vol. i. p. 322.
194
BIBLE MYTHS.
•^x
^Esculapius was distinguished by the epithet " The Saviour."1
The temple erected to his memory in the city of Athens was called :
« The Temple of the Saviour."*
Apollo was distinguished by the epithet " The Saviour"* In
a hymn to Apollo he is called : " The willing Saviour of dis
tressed mankind."4
Serapis was called " The Saviour."5 He was considered by
Hadrian, the Roman emperor (117-138 A. D.), and the Gentiles, to
be the peculiar god of the Christians.6 A cross was found under
the ruins of his temple in Alexandria in Egypt.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 there
fore have Jewish features / this his pictures do not betray.8
Mithras, who was " Mediator between God and man,"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.10 He was also
called " The Logos."11
The Persians believed that they were tainted with original sin,
owing to the fall of their lirst parents who were tempted by the
evil one in the form of a serpent.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"
FIG. II
1 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 153.
3 See the chapter on " Miracles of Jesus."
8 See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p.
264.
4 See Monumental Christianity, p. 186.
6 See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 15.
8 See Giles : Hebrew and Christian Records,
vol. ii. p. 86.
7 See Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 15, and our
chapter on Christian Symbols.
8 This subje?t will be referred to again in
chapter xxxix.
• See Dnnlap's Spirit Hist., pp. 237, 241, 242,
and Mysteries of Adoni, p. 123, note.
10 See Iliggins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
11 See Dnnlap's Son of the Man, p. 20.
"According to the most ancient tradition
of the East-Iranians recorded in the Zend-
Aiesta, the God of Light (Orinuzd) communi
cated his mysteries to some men through his
Word.'1'1 (Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 75.)
12 Wake : Phallism, &c., p. 47.
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JEStlS. 195
" Thf Blessed Zoroaster? " The First-Born of the Eternal One,"
&C.1
" In the life of Zoroaster the common mythos is apparent. lie
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 tlie 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."8
O
How much this resembles " the mystery which hath been hid
from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to hia
saints.'"
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"* He was also called " The Logos" The church fa
thers, Ilippolytus, Justin Martyr, and Plutarch (de Iside et Osir)
assert that the Logos is Hermes? The term " Logos" is Greek,
and signifies literally " Word"' He was also "The Messenger of
God."'
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."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? 8
head, whilst on the pediment are placed the words : " The Saviour
of the World."9
Besides the titles of " God's First-Born," " Only Begotten,"
the " Mediator," the " Shepherd," the " Advocate," the " Para
clete or Comforter," the "Son of God," the "Logos," &c.,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.
1 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 258, 259.
» Maicom : Hist. Persia, vol. i. Ap. p. 494 ;
Nimrod, vol. ii. p. 81. Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 649.
» Col. i. 26.
« See Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 102. Kn
See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. 69 and 71.
Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 652.
Ibid. vol. i. p. 537.
0 See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 119.
ght's Ancient Art and Mythology, pp. xxii.
• See Dnnlap'a Son of the Man, p. 39, mar- and 98. Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 71, and
ginal note. Spirit History, pp. 183, 205, 206, 249. Bible for
•"In the beginning was the Word, and the Learners, vol. ii. p. 25. Isis Unveiled, vol. ii.
Word was with God. and the Word was God." pp. 195, 237, 516, besides the authorities already
(John, i. 1.) cited.
190 BIBLE MYTHS.
Cyrus, King of Persia, was called the "' Christ," or the
u Anointed of God."1 As Dr. Giles says, "Christ" is " a name
having no spiritual signification, and importing nothing more than
an ordinary surname.'™ The worshipers of Serapis were called
" Christians" and those devoted to Serapis were called " Bishops
of Christ."3 Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian, says, that the
names of " Jesus " and " Christ," were both known and honored
among the ancients.4
Mithras was called the " Anointed " or the " Christ ; "6 and
Ilorus, Mano, Mithras, Bel- Minor, lao, Adoni, &c., were each
of them " God of Light," "Light of the World," the " Anointed,"
or the " Christ."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 tiling"'1
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.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 snail show great
signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the
very elect."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,10 though the mean
ing 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
1 See Bunsen's Bible Chronology, p. 5. 7 Luke, iv. 21.
Keys of St. Peter, 125. Volney's Ruins, p. 168. 8 Psalm, cv. 15. The term "au Anointed
3 Giles : Hebrew and Christian Records, p. One" which we use in English, is Ohristos in
64, vol. ii. Greek, and Messiah in Hebrew. (See Bible for
3 Ibid. p. 86, and Taylor's Diegesis, pp. 203, Learners, and Religion of Israel, p. 147.)
20o, 407. Dupuis : p. 267. 9 Matthew, xxiv. 24.
« Eusebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. iv. 10 Acts, vii. 45 ; Hebrews, iv. 8 ; compare
6 See Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 78. Nehemiah, viii. 17.
• See Ibid. p. 39.
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 197
preserved among the apocryphal books of the Old Testament.
The notorious Bar albas1 or son of Abbas, was himself called Jesus.
ALinong Paul's opponents we find a magician called Elymas, the
Son of Jesus. Among the early Christians a certain Jesus, also
sailed Justus, appears. Flavins 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.8
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. p. 211, indignantly resents the supposition that t/ie sign
of the cross should be considered exclusively as a Christian symbol,
and represents his advocate of the Christian argument as re
torting on an infidel opponent. His words are :
"As for the adoration of crosses which you (Pagans) object against us
(Christians), I must tell you, tfiat 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."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 con
cealed 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.4
1 He who, it is eaid, was liberated at the 3 Octavias, c. xxix.
time of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. « See Anacalypsis, vol ii. p. 116.
8 See Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 60.
198 BIBLE MYTHS.
While speaking of " a> cross with a man on it " as beHg carried
by the Pagan Romans as a standard, we might mention the fact,
related by Arrian the historian,1 that the troops of Poms, in their
war with Alexander the Great, carried on their standards the
figure of a man? 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."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."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 k' 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 rep
resented 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* 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 tol
erated them.
In the " Celtic Druids" Mr. Higgins describes a crucifix, a
lamb, and an elephant, which was cut upon the " fire tower " — so-
1 In his History of the Campaigns of Alex- * Apol. c. 1(5 ; Ad Natioues, c. xii.
ander. 6 See the chapter on " The Worship of the
a See Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 118. Virgin."
« Ibid.
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 199
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, l and the
Rinrp and its Cobra,3 Linga,4 Iona,& and Nandies, found not far from the tower,
<nithe estate of Lord Castles, with the Colidei, the island of lona, and li, . . .
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 haw come
from India."*
On one of the Irish " round towers " is to be seen a crucifix
of unmistakable Asiatic origin.'1
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 pos
sible.9
The first Spanish monks who went to Mexico were surprised
to find the crucifix among the heathen inhabitants, and upon in
quiring what it meant, were told that it was a representation of
1 Ganesa is the Indian God of Wisdom. male or generative power of nature.
(See Asiatic Researches, vol. i.) • lona, or Yoni, is the counterpart of Linga,
2 The Ring and circle was an emblem of t.<?., an emblem of the female generative power.
god, or eternity, among the Hindoos. (See We have seen that these were attached to the
Lundy : Monumental Christianity, p. 87.) effigies of the Hindoo crucified Saviour, Criah-
• The Cobra, or hooded snake, is a native of na.
the East Indies, where it is held as sacred. • Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 130.
(See Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 16, and ' See Lundy : Monumental Christianity, pp.
Ferguseon's Tree and Serpent Worship. 253, 254, 255.
4 Linga denotes, in the sectarian worship of 8 See Kingsborough : Mexican Antiquities,
the Hindoos, the Phallus, an emblem of the vol. vi. pp. 105 and 179.
200 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.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."2
Sometimes Qnetzalcoatle 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. Be
neath this representation of Quetzalcoatle crucified, is an image of
Death, which an angry serpent seems threatening to devour.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 impres
sions of nails to be seen on the feet and hands, and his body is
strangely covered with suns.*
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."6
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"*
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."1
Alexander Yon Humboldt, in his " American Researches" also
speaks of this feast, when the Mexicans crucified a man, and pierced
him with an arrow.8
J See Kingsborougli : Mexican Antiquities, ' Brinton : Myths of the New World, p. 95.
vol. vi. p. 166. 8 See, also, Monumental Christianity, p.
2 Ibid. p. 162. 393.
3 Ibid. p. 161. " Once a year the ancient Mexicans made an
4 Ibid. p. 167. image of one of their gods, which was pierced
8 Ibid. p. 167. by an arrow, shot by a priest of Quetzalcoatle."
• Ibid. p. 166. (Dunlap'B Spirit Hist., 207.)
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 201
The author of Monumental Christianity, speaking of this>
" Here is the old story of the PrometJieus crucified oil the Caucasus, and of all
other Pagan crucifixions of the young incarnate divinities of India, Persia, Asia
Minor and Egypt."*
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 oilier myths of Eastern origin became known in the New
World.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 wire found in Italy ; that
Crishna, the crucified, is very often represented Hack ; and that
Crishna was shot with an arrow.
Crosses were also found in Yucatan, as well as Mexico, with a
man upon them.3 Cogolludo, in his " History of Yucatan," speak
ing 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 cruci
fix being found among the Indians of Cozumel, and ends by say
ing :
"But if it be considered that these Indians believed that the Son of God,
whom they called Bacob, had died upon a crow, with his arms stretcJied out upon it,
it cannot appear so dillicult a matter to comprehend that they should have
formed his image according to the religious creed which they possessed."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 suffer
ing on the cross.
1 Monumental Christianity, p. 393. Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 169.
• See Appendix A. 4 Quoted by Lord Kingsborough : Mexican
» See Monumental Christianity, p. 390, and Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 172.
202 BIBLE MYTHS.
Rev. J. P. Limdy, speaking of this, says :
" Why should a fact so well known to the heathen as the crucifixion be con
cealed? And yet its actual realistic representation never once occurs in the monu
ments of L/hristianity , for more than six or seven centuries"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 ex
traordinary 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."*
"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."3
The oldest representation of Christ Jesus was a figure of a
lamb,* 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.6
A simple cross, which was the symbol of eternal life, or of sal-
ration, 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,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.7
» Monumental Christianity, p. 246. over) was roasted whole, with two spits thrust
a History of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 137. through it— one lengthwise, and one transversely
a ibid. p. 317. — crossing each other near the fore legs ; so
* See Illustrations in Ibid. vol. i. that the animal was, in a manner, c?*ucijied.
6 See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. Not a bone of it might be broken — a circum-
252. Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. Ill, and stance strongly representing the sufferings of
Monumental Christianity, p. 246, et seq. our Lord Jesus, the passover slain for us.1"
• The paschal lamb was roasted on a cross, (Barnes's Notes, vol. i. p. 292.)
by ancient Israel, and is still so done by the 7 See King : The Gnostics and their Re-
Samaritans at Nablous. (See Luudy's Monu- mains, p. 138. Also. Monumental Christianity,
mental Christianity, pp. 19 and 247.) and Jameson's History of Our Lord in Art, for
" The lamb slain (at the feast of the pass- illustrations.
THE OEUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 203
This is just the manner in which the Pagan Apollo, Mercury and
others were represented centuries before.1
Mrs. Jameson says :
" Mercury attired as a sliepJierd, with a ram on his shoulders, borne in the
same manner as in many of the Christian representations, was no uufrequeut
object (in ancient art) and in some instances led to a difficulty in distinguishing
between the two,"2 that is, between Mercury and Christ Jesus.
M. Renaii says :
" The Good Shepherd of the catacombs in Rome is a copy from the A^isteus,
or from the Apollo Nomius, which figured in the same posture on tne Pagan
sarcophagi; and still carries the flute of Pan, in the midst of the four half-naked
seasons."3
The Egyptian Saviour Ilorus was called the " Shepherd of the
People."4
The Hindoo Saviour Crishna was called the " Royal Good Shep
herd."6
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 " ear
liest instances of the crucifixion " of Christ Jesus, represented in
art, than the eighth or ninth century. Now, a few words in re
gard 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 suf
fering are there.9
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, lie is
represented standing ik 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
1 See King's Gnostics, p. 178. Knight : thology, p. xxii. note.
Ancient Art and Mythology, p. xxii., and 4 Dunlap : Spirit Hist., p. 185.
Jameson's History of Our Loni in Art. ii. 3-10. • See chapter rvii. and vol. ii. Hist. Hindo-
9 Jameson : Hist, of Our Lord in Art, p. stan.
840, vol. ii. • See Jameson's Hist, of Our Lord in Art,
» Quoted in Knight : Ancient Art and My- vol. ii. p. 142.
204
BIBLE MYTHS.
cross (which is simply an upright learn, without cross-hat ?), 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 sim
ply an u-priyht learn (as Fig. No. 13). There are no cross-bars
attached. On page 167, plate 188, the thieves are tied to an up
right 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 cruci
fied 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 Constantino put on his
" Labarum," or sacred banner, was nothing more than the mono
gram of the Pagan god Osiris (Fig. No. 15),1 as we shall see in a
subsequent chapter.
T
N?I2 N9I3
N?I5
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 Jew-
1 "It would be difficult to prove that the
cross of Constantino was of the simple con
struction as now understood. ... As re
gards 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. 316. See also, Smith's Bible Dic
tionary, art. " Labarnm.'")
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS. 205
ish ethics, but it is in full accord with tlic Gentile. The law or
dains that1 " every man shall be put to death for his own sin," and
not for the sin or crime committed by any other person. No ran
som should protect the murderer against the arm of justice.3 The
principle of equal rights and equal responsibilities is fundamental
in the law. If the law of God — for as such it is revived — de
nounces 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 : u 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."8
" 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."
» Deat. xxiv. 18. • Num. ixv. 81-34. » Matt. v. 17, 18.
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.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."*
•' 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 hap
pen at his death ; the myth would not have been complete with
out it. In the words of Viscount Arnberly : " 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 prodi
gies attending the decease of other great men.'™
The Rev. Dr. Geikie, one of the most orthodox writers, says :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,
telying 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
fLuke, xxiii. 44, 45. • Amberly : Analysis of Religious Belief,
• Matthew, xxvii. 51-53. p. 268. « Life of Christ, vol. ii. p. 643.
[206]
THE DATCKNESS AT THE CRUCIFIXION. 207
came calamities and bad omens of every kind. A black circle sur
rounded 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.1
When the conflict began between Buddha, the Saviour of the
World, and the Prince of Evil, a thousand appalling meteors fell j
clouds and darlcn ess prevailed. Even this earth, with the oceans
and mountains it contains, though it is unconscious, quaked lilte 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?
When Prometheus wTas crucified on Mount Caucasus, tlie 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, arid the dissolution of the universe seemed
to be threatened.3
The ancient Greeks and Romans, says Canon Farrar,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 dark
ness over the face of tJie earth for the space of six hours."
When Julius Caesar, who was the son of a god, was murdered,
there was a darkness over the earth, the sun being eclipsed for ths
#pace of six hours.9
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."1
It is also referred to by Tibullus, Ovid, and Lucian (poets),
Pliny, Appian, Dion Cassius, and Julius Obsequenes (historians.)8
1 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 71. 159 and 590, also Josephus : Jewish Antiquities,
3 Rhys David's Buddhism, pp. 36, 87. book xiv. ch. xii. and note.
8 See Potter's ^Eschylus, "Prometheus T"Cnm caput obscura nitidum ferrugine
Chained," last stanza. texit
4 Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 52. Impiaquse seternam timuerant saecula
5 See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp.616,617. noctem."
* See Ibid, and Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 8 See Gibbon's Rome, vol.i. pp. 159 and 590.
208 BIBLE MYTHS.
When ^Esculapius 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.1
When Hercules was dying, he said to the faithful female (lole)
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 man
ner, 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.2
When (Edipus was about to leave this world of pain and sor
row, 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.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 edu
cated among shepherds. He was torn to pieces at his death, when
he ascended into heaven ; upon which the sun was eclipsed or
darkened."*
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 AtreuSj King of Mycenae, who foully murdered the chil
dren of his brother Thyestes. At that time, the sun, unable to
endure a sight so horrible, " turned his course backward and with
drew his light.™
At the time of the death of the virgin-born Quetzalcoatle, the
1 Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 46. 4 Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322.
2 Ibid. pp. 61, 62. • See Bell's Pantheon, vol. I. p. 106.
8 Ibid. p. 270.
THE DAKKNESS AT THE CRUCIFIXION. 209
Mexican crucified Saviour, the sun was darkened, and withheld its
light.1
Lord Kiugsborongh, speaking of this event, considers it very
strange that tne 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,9 or at least a celebrated prov
ince of the Roman empire,3 was involved in a perpetual darkness of three hours.
Even this miraculous event, which ought to have excited the wonder, the curi
osity, and the devotion of mankind, passed without notice in an age of science and
history. It happened during the life-time of Seneca4 and the elder Pliny,6 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.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."1
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 earth
quake, 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,8 is required here.
1 See Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, « Seneca, a celebrated philosopher and his-
vol. vi. p. 5. torian. born in Spain a few years B. c., but edu-
2 The Fathers of the Church eeem to cover cated in Rome, nud became a "Roman."
the whole earth with darkness, in which they 6 Pliny the elder, a celebrated Roman phil-
are followed by most of the moderns. (Gib- osopher and historian, born about 23 A. D.
bon. Luke, xxiii. 44, e&ys "over cUWte earth.") 'Seneca: Quaest. Natar. 1. i. 15, vi. 1. viL
» Origen (a Father of the third century) and 17. Pliny : Hist. Natur. 1. ii.
a few modern critics, are desirous of confining T Gibbon's Rome, i. 589, 590.
it to the land of Judea. (Gibbon.) • Matt. xvi. 20.
14
210 BIBLE MYTHS.
Shakespeare has embalmed some traditions of the kind exactlj
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."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 ilk1 day of the re
moval 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 disso
lution 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, ad
mitted into his Gospel.
i Hamlet, act 1, •. 1.
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 ? "'
And St. Clement of Alexandria, who nourished at the begin
ning 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."*
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.'
Ancient Christian works of art represent his descent into hell.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.
1 Quoted by Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. • Contra CeLsus. bk. ii. c. 43.
46. 4 See Jameson's Hist, of Our Lord in Art,
2 Strom, vi. c. 6. vol. ii. pp. 354, 356.
[211]
212 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.1
In the " Gospel of Nicodemus " (apoc.) is to be found the
wholo story of Christ Jesus' descent into hell, and of his liberating
the saints.
Satan, and the Prince of Hell, having heard that Jesus of Naza
reth was about to descend to their domain, beiran to talk the matter
7 <3
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 offi
cers : " Shut the brass gates . . . and make them fast with
iron bars, and light courageously."
The saints having heard what had been said on both sides, im-
O
mediately 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 com
menced 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.2
1 See Jameson's Hist, of Our Lord in Art, a Nicodemus : Apoc. ch. xvi. and xix.
vol. ii. pp. 250, 251.
" HE DESCENDED INTO HELL." 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 par
adise?" 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."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 llesh, but quickened by the
spirit: by which also he went and preached unto tlie spirits in
Again, in "Acts," where the writer is speaking of David as a
prophet, he says :
" lie, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption."3
The reason why Christ Jesus has been made to descend into
hell, is because it is a part of the universal vujthos, 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 pur
pose of raising the dead (the doomed),* before he returned to his
heavenly seat.
Zoroaster, of the Persians, descended into hell?
Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, descended into hell*
Ilorus, the virgin-born Saviour, descended' into hell.1
Adonis, the virgin-born Saviour, descended into hell*
Bacchus, the virgin-born Saviour, descended into hell?
Hercules, the virgin-born Saviour, descended into hell.10
Mercury, the Word and Messenger of God, descended into hett."
i Nicodemus : Apoc. ch. xx. Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 33.
3 I. Peter, iii. 17-19. 10 See Taylor's Mysteries, p. 40, and Mys-
3 Acts, ii. 31. teries of Adoni, pp. 94-96.
« See Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 237. Bon- n See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 72. Onr
wick's Egyptian Belief, p. 168, and Maurice : Christian writers discover considerable appre-
Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 85. hension, and a jealous caution in their lan-
• See Monumental Christianity, p. 286. guage, when the resemblance between 1'uyan-
• See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. ism and Christianity might bo apt to strike
256, Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, and Dunlap's the mind too cogently. In quoting Horace's
Mysteries of Adoni. pp. 125, 152. account of Mercury's descent into hell, and his
7 See Chap. XXXIX. causing a cessation of the sufferings there, Mr.
8 See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 12. Spence, in " Bell's Pantheon," says : "A3 this,
• See Higgius : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322. perhaps, may be a mythical part of his charac-
Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. 257, and ter, ue had better Itt it alone,"
214 BIBLE MYTHS.
Baldur, the Scandinavian god, after being killed, descended
into hell.1
Quetzalcoatle, the Mexican crucified Saviour, descended into
hell.1
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."8
i See Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 169, • See Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 166.
and Mallet, p. 448. * See the chapter on Explanation.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF CHRIST JE8U8.
THE story of the resurrection of Christ Jesus is related by the
four Gospel narrators, and is to the effect that, after being cruci
fied, 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"1
The story of his ascension is told by the Mark* narrator, who
says " he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of
God ; " by Luke* who says " he was carried up into heaven ; " and
by the writer of the Acts* who says " he was taken up (to heaven)
and a cloud received him out of sight."
Wo 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* and
ascended bodily into heaven.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,
" 2,o, Crishna?8 soul ascends its native sides ! "
1 See Matthew, xxviii. Mark, xvi. Luke, 8 See Biggins : Anacalypsis^ vol. i. p. 131.
xxiv. and John, xx. a Mark, xvl. 19. Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 168. Asiatic
» Luke. xxiv. 51. « Acts, i. 9. Researches, vol i. pp. 2o9 and 361.
8 See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. 7 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 72. Hist.
240. Biggins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 142 and Hindostan, ii. pp. 466 and 473.
145. " In Hindu pictures, Vishnu, who is identi-
215
216 BIBLE MYTHS.
Samuel Johnson, in his " Oriental Religions," tells us that Rama
— an incarnation of Vishnu — after his manifestations on earth, "at
last ascended to heaven" "resuming his divine essence."
" By the blessings of Rama's name, and through previous faith
in him, all sins are remitted, and every one who shall at death pro
nounce his name with sincere worship shall be forgiven."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" inso
much that Maha-deo (the supreme god) was moved to pity, and ex
claimed, " 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, " heWs great dread and
heaveris eternal admiration"*
The coverings of the body unrolled themselves, and the lid of
his coffin was opened by supernatural powers.8
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 fol
lowers expect to receive the rewards of paradise, and finally to
become one with him, as he became one with the Source of Life.4
Lao-I£iun, the virgin-born, he who had existed from all eter
nity, 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.6
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.6
fled with Crishna, is often seen mounted on 2 Asiatic Res., vol. x. p. 129. Anac&lypsis,
the Eagle Garuda." (Moore : Hindu Panth. vol. ii. p. 103
p. 214.) And M. Sonnerat noticed " two basso- 3 Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, p. 49.
relievos placed at the entrance of the choir of 4 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 86. See also,
Bordeaux Cathedral, one of which represents Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 159.
the ascension of our Saviour to heaven on an 6 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 214.
Eagle." (Higgins : Anac., vol. i. p. 273.) • Ibid. p. 258.
1 Oriental Religions, pp. 494, 495,
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST JESUS. 217
^Esculapius, the Son of God, the Saviour, after being put to
death, rose from the dead. His history is portrayed in the follow
ing 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, \vho in years to come
Shalt heal the nations, and defraud the tomb !
Swift be thy growth, thy triumphs uncoutiued,
Make kingdoms thicker, and increase mankind.
Thy daring art shall animate the dead,
And draw the thunder on thy guilty head;
Then slialt thou die, but from the dark abode
Shalt rise victorious, and be twice a yod."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.' "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."s
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.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
1 Ovid's Metamorphoses, as rendered by 114. See also, Taylor's Diegesis, pp. '.63, 1G4.
Addison. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis. p. 148. 3 Taylor's Diegesis, p. 104.
2 Quoted by Higgins : Anacalypeis, vol. ii. p. 4 Prichard's Egyptian Mythology, pp. G6, 67.
218 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 25t/i of March."1
Li Calmet's u 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 ihisjust person, he w;is 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 ! ' '"2
Alexander Murray tells us that the ancient Greeks also cele
brated tliis 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 ^
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 ileet 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.4
It was in an oration or address delivered to the Emperors Con-
stans and Constantius that Julius Firmicius wrote concerning the
rites celebrated by the heathens in commemoration of the resurrec
tion 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,
1 Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. 161. 2 Calmet's Fragments, vol. ii. p. 21.
See also, Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 23, 8 Murray : Manual of Mythology, p. 86.
and Spirit Hist, of Man, p. 216. 4 See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Beliefs,
p. 201.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST JESUS. 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 Julias Firmicius says
had borne testimony to Christ Jesus' resurrection, was none other
than the answer of the god Apollo, whom tfie Pagans worshiped
at Delphos, which this writer derived from Porphyry's books
" On the Philosophy of Grades™
Eusebius, the celebrated ecclesiastical historian, has also con
descended to quote this claimed testimony from a Pagan oracle,
as furnishing one of the most convincing proofs that could be ad
duced in favor of the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
"But thou at least (says he to the Pagans), listen to thine own gods, to thy
orticubir 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 mid 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 admis
sions equally honorable to the t vidences 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.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. n. 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.3
It is most curious that the arrival of the Emperor Julian at
Antioch — where the followers of Christ Jesus, it is said, were n'rst
called Christians — at that time, should be considered an ill omen.
Why should it have been so ? lie 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 he 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.
1 See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Beliefs, a See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 164. We shall
p. 247, and Taylor's Diegesis, p. Ifrl epeak of Christian forgeries anon.
8 See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 2.
220 BIBLE MYTHS.
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."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 partic
ular, 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 Phos-
nicia 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
O O /•
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.3
Dr. Parkhurst says, in his " Hebrew Lexicon ":
" I find myself obliged to refer Tammuz, as well as the Greek and Roman Her
cules, to that class of idols wldch were originally designed to represent the prom
ised 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."4
So it seems that the ingenious and most learned orthodox Dr.
Parkhurst wras 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 sym
bols of what the u real Saviour " was to do and suffer, he is welcome
i Quoted in Dnnlap's Son of the Man, p. of Jerusalem, the Anointed was worshiped in
vii. See also, Knight : Ancient Art and My- Babylon, Basan, Galilee and Palestine." (Son
thology, p. xxvii. of the Man, p. 38.)
" From the days of the prophet Daniel, down 3 Ezekiel, viii. 14.
to the time when the red cross knights gave no 4 Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 162, and
quarter (fighting for the Christ) in the streets Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 114.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST JESUS. 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 warf 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 Chris
tians in existence, the devil had taken pleasure to have their future
mysteries and ceremonies copied by his worshipers."1
Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, after being put to death, rose
from the dead* and bore the title of " The Resurrected One."9
Prof. Mahaffy, lecturer on ancient history in the University of
Dublin, observes that :
"The Insurrection 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."4
The ancient Egyptians celebrated annually, in early spring,
about the time known in Christian countries as Easter, the resur
rection and ascension of Osiris. During these mysteries the mis
fortunes and tragical death of the " Sav lo ur " 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.5
Alexander Murray says :
' ' The worship of Osiris was universal throughout Egypt, where he was grate
fully 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."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, icho died and arose from
1 see Justin : Cum. Typho, and Tertullian: s gee Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 166, and
De Bap. Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, pp. 124, 125.
a See Higgir.8 : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 16, « Prolegomena to Ancient History,
and vol. i. p. E 19. Also, Prichard's Egyptian « See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102.
Mythology, p. 66, and Bonwick's Egyptian • Murray : Manual of Mythology, pp. 847,
Belief, p. 163. 348.
222 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 festi
val, when the commemoration of that death took place. They describe the cere
monies 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 \v:is announced."1
Mr. Bon wick 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."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, lie arose again,
and ascended to heaven. This is the story of his humanity." " As Iheinrictus
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. "3
Herodotus, who had been initiated into the Egyptian and Gre
cian " 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 iu Delos, which is called the cir
cular. 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, / must observe a discreet
silence ; and respecting the sacred rites of Ceres, which the Greeks call Thesmy-
phoria, although I am acquainted with them, I must observe silence except so
far as is lawful for me to speak of them."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.5
1 Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, p. 256. 4 Herodotus, bk. ii. chs. 1TO, 171.
" Berwick's Egyptian Belief, p. vi. • See Dupuis : Origin of Religions Belief, p,
• Ibid. pp. 150-155, 178. 263, and Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. 102.
THE RESURRECTION OF OHRIbr JESUS. 223
Atysy 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 u Slain Ones " who rose to life again on the 25th of
March, or the " Ililaria " or primitive Easter.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" Ilis 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 suf
ferings, have worked oar salvation.'"'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, aud with the mys
teries 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 Phoenician
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 Jlambcau, 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 yod has risen
from the dead. His pains and his sufferings shall be your salvation.' "3
In King's " Gnostics and their Remains " (Plate XL), may be
seen the representation of a bronze medal, or rather disk, engraved
1 See Berwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 169. body have separated, the souls, in the third
Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 104. Dnpuis : nig/it after death — as soon as the shining sun
Origin of Religious Belief, p. 255. Dunlap'a ascends— come over the Mount Berezaiti upon
Mysteries of Adoni, p. 110, and Knight: Anct. the bridge Tshina vat which leads to Garoumana,
Art and Mythology, p. 86. the dwelling of the good gods." (Dunlap'a
a Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99. Mith- Spirit Ilist., p. 210, and Mysteries of Adoui, 00.)
ras remained in the grave a period of three days, The Ghost of Polydore says :
as did Christ Jesus, and the other Christs. " Being raised up this third day — light,
" The Persians believed that the soul of man Having deserted my body 1" (Euripides,
remained jvt three days in the world after its Hecuba, 31, 32.)
separation from the body." (Dunlap : Mya- s Dupuis : Origin of Religious Beliefs, pp
teries of Adoni, p. 03.) 246, 247.
" In the Zoroastrian religion, after BOU! and
224 BIBLE MYTHS.
in the coarsest manner, on which is to be seen a female figure,
standing in the attitude of adoration, the object of which is ex
pressed by the inscription — ORTVS SALT AT, " The Rising of the
Saviour" — i. <?., of Mithras.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."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.3 After having
brought solace to the misfortunes of mankind, he, after his resurrec
tion, ascended into heaven.*'
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 he ascended.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.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.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 immor
tality.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 ^Esir (the gods)." Upon hearing this,
messengers were dispatched throughout the world to beg every-
1 King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. 225. 6 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 294. See also,
2 ibid. p. 220. Goldzhier's Hebrew Mythology, p. 127. Hig>
3 See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102. gins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 322, and Cham-
Dnpuis : Origin of Religious Belief, pp. 256, bers's Encyclo., art. " Hercules."
257, and Bouwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 1C9. « Aryan Mytho.. vol. ii. p. 90.
4 See Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 7 See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 56.
135, and Higgius: Anacalypsis, vol. i. 322. 8 Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 94.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST JESUS. 225
thing to weep in order that Baldnr 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. *
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?
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.3
Quetzalcoatle, the Mexican crucitied 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*
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 Duubar T.
Heath :
" We find men taught every where, from Southern Arabia to Greece, by
hundreds of symbolisms, the birth, death, and resurrection of deities, and a res
urrection too, apparently after the second day, i. e., on the third."5
And now, to conclude all, another god is said to have been born
on the same day6 as these Pagan deities ; he is crucitied and buried,
and on the same day1 rises again from the dead. Christians of
Europe and America celebrate annually the resurrection of their
1 Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 449. Origin of Reiigious Belief, pp. 244, 255.)
3 See Knight: Ancient Art and .Mythology, A very long and terrible schism took place
p. 85. in the Christian Church upon the question
3SeeDavies: Myths and Rites of the British whether Easter, the day of the resurrection,
Druids, pp. 89 and 208. was to be celebrated on the 14th day of the first
4 See Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, month, after the Jewish custom, or on the
/ol. vi. p. 106. Lord's day afterward; and it was at last de-
4 Quoted in Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. cided in favor of the Lord's day. (See Hig-
174. gins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 90, and Cham-
* As we shall see in the chapter on " The bers's Encyclopaedia, art. " Easter.")
Birth-day of Christ Jesus." The day upon which Easter should be cele-
7 Easter, the triumph of Christ, was origin- brated was not settled until the Council of Nice,
ally solemnized on the 25th of March, the very (See Euseb. Life of Constantino, lib. 3, ch. xr*L
day upou which the Pagan gods were believed Also, Socrates' Eccl. Hist. lib. 1, ch. vi.)
to have risen from the dead. (See Dupuis:
15
226 BIBLE MYTHS.
Saviour in almost the identical manner in which the Pagans cele
brated 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 Sunday1 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 suf
fering*, 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 corre
sponds to the 25 th of March of the Romans, and the Phamenot of the Egyptians.
On that clay 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 hi/
second advent. "8
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 adven
tures 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,3
just as the " Passion Play " is acted to-day.
Eusebius relates a tale to the effect that, at one time, the Chris-
1 Even the name of " EASTER " is derived deavored to give a Christian significance to
from the heathen goddess, Osf-rt, of the Saxons, such of the rites as could not be rooted out ;
and the Eostrt of the Germans. and in this case the conversion was prac-
"Many of the popular observances con- tically easy." (Chambers's Encyclo., art.
nected with Easter are clearly of Pagan origin. " Easter.")
The goddess Ostara or Eastre seems to have 3 Quoted in Dupuis : Origin of Religious
been the personification of the morning or Belief, p. 244.
East and also of the opening year or Spring. 3 See Higgins : Anacalypsie, vol. ii. p. 340.
. . . With hfr usual policy, the church en-
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST JESUS. 227
tians 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 wonder
ful power of God," changed into oil, and the celebration was
continued.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 resur
rection 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 Chris
tianity 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— $w7i-flfo?/ — after the Passover.
This Easter celebration was observed in China, and called a
"Festival of Gratitude to Tien."4 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?
» Eccl. Hist., lib. 6, c. viii. a Anacalypsis, ii. 59.
228 BIBLE MYTHS
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 y"1
the ancient Persians, " when they kept the festival of the solar
new year (in March), mutually presented each other with colored
eggs ; "2 " the Jews used eggs in the feast of the Passover ;" and
the custom prevailed in Western countries.8
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. Eor
instance, the " Matthew " narrator says : " And when they saw him
(after he had risen from the dead) they worshiped him ; but some
doubted^
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 Mag
dalene, who was convinced that it was Jesus, because she went and
told the disciples that he had risen, and that she had seen him.
The}7 — notwithstanding that Jesus had foretold them of his resur
rection' — 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" nar
rator, 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 f
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
1 See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 24. * Matthew, xxviii. 17.
* See Chambers's Encyclo., art. " Easter." * See xii. 40 ; xvi. 21 ; Mark, ix. 31 ; xiv. 28 i
« Ibid. John. ii. 19.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST JESUS. 229
of the resurrection, as it is a material resurrection that Christianity
taught — just like their neighbors the Persians — and not a spirit
ual.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™ 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 h'sh, and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and
did eat 'before them.™ After this, who is there that can doubt ?
but, if the fish and honeycomb story was true, why did the " Mat
thew " 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. lie does not omit entirely the story of Jesus eating fisl^ybr
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^A likewise."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 ac
count, 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 re
lates to the fish and honeycomb, he fails to prove what it really
1 " And let not any one among you eay, that eaved us, being first a spirit, was made flesh,
this very flesh is not judged, neither raised np. and so called us : even so we also in this fles'i,
Consider, in what were ye saved ? in what did ye shall receive the reward (of heaven). (II. Cor-
look up, if not whilst ye were in this flesh ? We iuthians, ch. iv. Apoc. See also the Christian
must, taerefore, keep our flesh as the temple Creed : " I believe in the resurrection of the
of God. For in like manner as ye were called body")
in the flesh, ye shall also come to judgment in a Luke, xxiv. 37.
the flesh. Our one Lord Jesua Christ, who has » Luke, xxiv. 42, 43. « John, xxi. 12, 13.
230 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 " nar
rator does, and which, no doubt, the ridicule cast upon it drove him
t0 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 Jerusa
lem. " And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands
and his side."1 They were satisfied, and no doubts were expressed.
But Thomas was not present, and when he was told by the breth
ren 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."2 Now, if Thomas could be con
vinced, 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."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.4
The first that we knew of the fourth Gospel — attributed to
John — is from the writings of Irenoeus (A. D. 177-202), and the
evidence is that he is the author of it? 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
1 John, xx. 20. tion, Reber's Christ of Paul ; Scott's English
2 John, xx. 25. Life of Jesus ; and Greg's Creed of Christen.
* John, xx. 27. dom.
« See, for a further account of the resurrec- • See the Chapter xxxviii.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST JESUS. 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 re
jected and derided the doctrine of the resurrection. A noble Gre
cian 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, lie 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 h'rst Eastern
Church, however anxious for the conversion of his friend, thought
proper to decline this fair and reasonable challenge."1
This Christian saint, Irenaeus, 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 Irenceus, 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 tJiey are risen ;
and behold, they are in the city of Arimathaea, spending their time together in
offices of devotion."9
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
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. I. p. 641. * Nicodemus, Apoc. ch. jdl.
232 BIBLE MYTHS.
common occurrences, invented this story towards the dose 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/*?/1 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 founda
tion of the entire system"1 but outside of the four spurious gos
pels 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 resurrec
tion even stated, much less that Jesus was seen by the writer after
his resurrection."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 Chris
tianity. The earliest representation of this event that has been
found is ar ivory carving, and belongs to the fifth or sixth
century.8
Sermon, June 26th, 1881. • See Jameson's Hist, of Our Lord in Art,
• Great : The Olwed of Christendom, p. 884. vol. IL, and Lundy's Monumental Christianity.
CHAPTER XXIY.
THE SECOND COMING OF CHKIST 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 Testa
ment. Paul teaches, or is made to teach it? in the following
words :
" If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so fhem 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. F>>r 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."2
He further tells the Thessalonians to "abstain from all appear
ance of evil," and to " be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ"*
James,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."5
Peter, in his first epistle, tells his brethren that " the end of
all things is at hand,"8 and that when the " chief shepherd " does
appear, they " shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not
away."7
John, in his first epistle, tells the Christian community to " abide
1 We say "is made to teach it," for the we have, in this epistle of James, another pseu-
probability is that Paul never wrote this pas- donymous writing which appeared after the
sage. The authority of both the Letters to the time that James must have lived. (See The
Thessalonians, attributed to Paul, is undoubt- Bible of To-Day, p. 225.)
edly spurious. (See The Bible of To-Day, pp. • James, v. 7, 8.
811, 212.) « I. Peter, iv. 7.
a I. Thessalonians, iv. 14-17. 7 I. Peter, v. 7. This Epistle is not authen-
» Ibid. v. 22, 23. tic. (See The Bible of To-Day, pp. 226, 227,
« We bay "James," but, it is probable that 228.)
233
234 BIBLE MYTHS.
in him" (Christ), so that, " when he shall appear, we may have con-
fidence, and not be ashamed before him."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."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."*
The one great object which the writer of the book of Revela
tions 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."4
The two men, dressed in white apparel, who had told the
Apostles that Jesus should " come again," were not the only per
sons 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."*
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 com
ing?"*
His answer to this is very plain :
"Verily I say unto you, this generation shaU not pass till all these things fc
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.'"1
1 1. John, ii. 28. This epistle is not authen- « Rev. xxii. 20.
tic. (See Ibid. p. 231.) • Matt. xvi. 27, 28.
« I. John, v. 2. « Ibid. xxiv. 3.
» Acts, i. 10 11. T Ibid xx
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST JESUS. 235
In the second Epistle attributed to Peter, which was written
after that generation had passed away,1 there had begun to be some
impatience manifest among the lelievers, 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 tlio creation."3 In
attempting to smoothe over matters, this writer says : " There shall
come in the last days scoffers, saying : c 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.8
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 re
port," 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 Hie grace, which he had provided for himself
till our Saviour's second coming: in proof of which, they alfirm, 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."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 tJwusand 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 ex-
1 Towards the close of the second century. • II. Peter, iii. 4. * II. Peter, iii. 8-10.
(See Bible of To-Day.) * See Middleton's Worka, vol. i. p. 188.
236 BIBLE MYTHS.
pectation 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 whis
pered belief, to which the book of Daniel, and more particularly the
predictions of the Apocalypse1 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 mittenarianism, proves how strongly it had laid hold of
the imagination of the Church, to which, in this early stage, immor
tality 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), Irenseus, Justin Martyr and
others — delighted themselves with dreams of the glory and magnifi
cence 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 b}r 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 for
ward to.
We will first turn to India, and shall there find that the Hin
doos believed their " Saviour,'" or " Preserver" Vishnu, who ap
peared 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 war
rior, riding a winged white horse* In one hand he will carry a
1 Chapters xx. and xxi. in particular. doo Saviour, will appear " in the latter days"
8 The Christian Saviour, as well as the Hin- among mortals " in the form of an armed war-
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST JESUS. 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.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 worid to order and happiness.8 This is exact
ly 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.*
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 Per
sia, to restore the ancient dominion of that country, and spread the
religion of Zoroaster over the whole earth.4
The Rev. Joseph B. Gross, in his " Heathen Religion,"5 speak
ing of the belief of the ancient Persians in the millennium, says :
" The dead would be raised,6 and he who has made all things, cause the
earth and the sea to return again the remains of the departed.1 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."0
rlor, riding a white horee" St. John sees this s See Pros. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 209.
1n his vision, and prophecies it in his " Revela- « See Ibid. p. 279. The Angel-Messiah, p.
tion " thus : " And I saw, and behold a white 287, and chap. xiii. this work.
horse: and he that sat on him had a bow ; 6 Pp. 122, 123.
and a crown was given unto him : and he went • " And I saw the dead, small and great,
forth conquering, and to conquer." (Rev. vi. 2.) stand before God." (Rev. xx. 12.)
1 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. L p. 75. Hist. T " And the sea gave up the dead which
Hindostan, vol. ii. pp. 497-503. See also, Wil- were in it." (Rev. xx. 13.)
lianas : Hinduism, p. 109. 8 " And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of
8 Prog. Relig. Ideas, 1. 247, and Bunsen's " \rars." " Nation shall rise against nation, and
Angel-Messiah, p. 48.
238 BIBLE MYTHS.
" After the resurrection, every one will be apprised of the good or evii
which he may have done, and the righteous and the wicked will be separated
from each other. l 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,2 in the
presence of an assembled world, in order to be purified in the burning stream of
liquid ore.3 After this, they enjoy endless felicity in the society of the blessed,
and the pernicious empire of Ahriman (the devil), is fairly exterminated.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.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.6 Finally, after the resurrection, mankind will recognize each other
again; wants, cares, and passions will cease;7 and everything in the paradisian
and all-embracing empire of light, shall rebound to the praise of the benificeat
God."8
The disciples of Bacchus expected liis 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.9
The Estlionian 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. lie 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.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
kingdom against kingdom, and thero shall be lake of fire." (Rev. xx. 14.)
famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers • " And I saw a new heaven and a new
places.1' (Matt. xxiv. 6, 7.) earth ; for the first earth, and the first heaven
1 "And before him shall be gathered all na- were passed away." (Rev. xxi. 1.)
tions : and he shall separate them one from 7 "'And God shall wipe away all tears
another, as a shepherd divideth hia sheep from from their eyes ; and there shall be no jnore
the goats. (Matt. xxv. 32, 33.) death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
2 " He descended into hell, the third day he shall there be any more pain : for the former
rose (again) from the dead." (Apostles' things are passed away." (Rev. xxi. 4.)
Creed.) 8 " And after these things I heard a great
3 Purgatory — a place in which souls are voice of much people in heaven, saying, 'AJle-
supposed by the papists to be purged by fire luia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and
from carnal impurities, before they are received power, unto the Lord, our God.1" (Rev.
into heaven. xix. 1.) "For the Lord God omnipotent
4 "And he laid hold on the dragon, that reigneth." (Rev. xix. 6.)
old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and • Dupnis : Orig. Relig. Belief,
bound him a thousand years." (Rev. xx. 2.) 10 Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. 1.
• " And death and hell were cast into the p. 407.
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST JESUS. 239
of the Jews. Charlemagne was the Messiah of mediaeval Teuton-
dom. He it was who founded the great German empire, and shed
over it the blaze of Christian truth, and now he sleeps in the Kyff-
hauserberg, 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.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, tln3 great serpent
would be chained, and the religion of Odin would reign supreme.8
The disciples of Quetzalcoatle, the Mexican Saviour, expected
his second advent. Before he departed this life, he told the in
habitants of Cholula that he would return again to govern them.8
This remarkable tradition was so deeply cherished in their hearts,
says Mr. Prescott in his " Conquest of Mexico," that u the Mexicans
looked confidently to the return of their benevolent deity."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 re
ported 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.5
Acosta alludes to this, in his " History of the Indies," as fol
lows :
" 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 com
panions, a news which much troubled Montezuma, and conferring with his
council, they all said, that without doubt, their great and ancient lord Quetzal
coatle was come, who had said that he would return from the East, whither he
had gone."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 iv.uch
it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, has not been
1 Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. I. « Prescott : Con. of Mexico vol. i. p. 60.
P- 407. » Ferguseon : Tree and Serpent Worship, p.
2 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities. 37. Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 187,
» Humboldt : Amer. Res., vol. i. p. 91. • Acosta : Hist, Indies, vol. ii.p. 513.
240 BIBLE MYTHS.
found agreeable to experience. It was universally believed, that
the end of the world and theJcmgdom of heaven were at hand.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 corning 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 Yespasian or Hadrian. The revolu
tion 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 counte
nanced — 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 y and
the learned Grotius (a learned theologian of the 16th century) ven
tures to insinuate, that, for wise purposes, tlie pious deception was
permitted to take place.
The ancient and popular doctrine of the millennium, was inti
mately 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? By the same
analogy it was inferred, that this long period of labor and conten
tion, which had now almost elapsed, would be succeeded by a joyful
Sabbath of a thousand years, and that Christ Jesus, with the trium
phant 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
1 Over all the Higher Asia there seems to and was afterwards adopted by the Christians.
have been diffused an immemorial tradition (II. Peter, iii. 9. Hist. Hindostau, vol. ii. pp.
relative to a second grand convulsion of na- 498-500.)
tare, and the final dissolution of the earth by 2 " And God made, in six days, the works of
the terrible agency of FIRE, as the first is said his hands, ... the meaning of it is this ;
to have been by that of WATER. It was that in six thousand years the Lord will bring
taught by tin; Hindoos, the Egyptians, Plato, all things to an end." (Barnabas. Apoc. c.
Pythagoras, Zoroaster, the Stoics, and others, xiii.)
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST JESUS. 241
seat of this blissful kingdom, was quickly adorned with all the gay
est colors of the imagination. A felicity consisting only of pure
and spiritual pleasure would have been too refined for its in
habitants, 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 benev
olent people were never to be restrained by any jealous laws of ex
clusive 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 Irenaeus (1. 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 senti
ment of the orthodox believers ; and it seems so well adapted to
the desires and apprehensions of mankind, that it must have con
tributed in a very considerable degree to the progress of the Chris
tian faith. But when the edifice of the church was almost com
pleted, 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 opin
ion, 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., rein
vested 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 do
Floris, a Franciscan abbot, remained unfulfilled.1
At the period of the Reformation, millenarianism once more
experienced a partial revival, because it was not a difficult matter
1 After the devotees aud followers of the Francis was " wholly and entirely transformed
new gospel had in vain expected the Holy into the person of Christ "—Totum Christo
One who was to come, they at last pitched cor\figuratum. Some of them maintained that
upon St. Francis as having been the expected the gospel of Joachim was expressly prefer-
one, and, of course, the most surprising and red to the gospel of Christ. (Mosheim : Hist,
absurd miracles were said to have been per- Cent., xiii. pt. ii. sects, xxxiv. and mvi.
formed by him. Some of the fanatics who Auacalypsie, vol. i. p. 605,)
believed in this man, maintained that St.
16
242 BIBLE MYTHS.
to apply some of its symbolism to the papacy. The Pope, for ex
ample, 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 religions 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 chiliastic1 views. Among the
Protestants it was during the " Thirty Years' War " that the most en
thusiastic and learned chiliasts flourished. The awful suffering and
wide-spread desolation of that time led pious hearts to solace them
selves 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 Co-
menius, Professor Jurien, Seraris, Poiret, J. Mede ; while Thomas
Burnet and William Whiston endeavored to give chiliasm a geolog
ical foundation, but without finding much favor. Latterly, es
pecially 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 en
sue ; 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
jplaiie 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.
1 Chiliasm— the thousand years when Satan is bound.
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST JESUS. 4:j
In America, considerable agitation was excited by the prea3hing
of one William Miller, who fixed the second advent of Christ
Jesus about 1843. Of late years, the most noted English millen-
arian was Dr. John Gumming, 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 consider
ably, 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.
CHAPTEK 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 Sou. " This is taught by the writer of " The
Gospel according to St. John" — whoever he may have been —
when lie says :
"For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son."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 Chrixt" his son.8
Again, in his "Epistle to Timothy,"8 he says:
" The Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing
and his kingdom."4
The writer of the " Gospel according to St. Matthew," also de
scribes Christ Jesus as judge at the last day.6
Now, the question arises, is this doctrine original with Chris
tianity f To this we must answer no. It was taught, for ages be
fore the time of Christ Jesus or Christianity, that the Supreme
Being — whether "Brahma," "Zeruane Akerene," "Jupiter,"
or " Yahweh,"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 (Brahma) and the Holy Virgin Maya), is to be the judge of the
dead.7
i John, v. 22. • Matt, xxv. 31-46.
3 Romans, ii. 16. 6 Through an error we pronounce this
8 Not authentic. (See The Bible of To-Day, name Jehovah.
p. 212.) i See Dnputa : Origin of Religious Relief, p
< II. Timothy, iv. 1. 366.
[244]
CHRIST JESUS AS JUDGE OF THE DEAD. 245
According to the religion of the Hindoos, Orishna (who was
the Son of God, and the Holy Virgin Devaki), is to be the judge
at the last day.1 And Yama is the god of the departed spirits,
and the judge of the dead, according to the Vedas?
Osiris, the Egyptian " Saviour " and son of the u Immaculate
Virgin " Neith or Nout, was believed by the ancient Egyptians to
be the judge of the dead.8 He is represented on Egyptian monu
ments, seated on his throne of judgment, bearing a staff, and car
rying the crux ansata, or cross with a handle.* 8t. 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."5
Among the many hieroglyphic titles which accompany his figure
in these sculptures, and in many other places on the walls of tem
ples and tombs, are "Lord of Life," " The Eternal Ruler," "Muni-
fester of Good," " Revealer of Truth," " Full of Goodness and
Truth," &c.-
Mr. Bonwick, speaking of the Egyptian belief in the last judg
ment, 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.'"1
Prof. Carpenter, referring to the Egyptian Bible — which is by
far the most ancient of all holy books8 — says :
"In the ' Book of the Dead,' there are used the very phrases we find in the
New Testament, in connection with t/ie day of judgment."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."10
Zeruane Akerene is the name of him who corresponds to " God
the Father " among other nations. He was the " One Supreme
essence," the "Invisible and Incomprehensible."11
Among the ancient Greeks, it was Aeacus — Son of the Most
High God — who was to be judge of the dead.13
The Christian Emperor Constantino, in his oration to the clergy,
speaking of the ancient poets of Greece, says :
1 See Samuel Johnson's Oriental Religions, 6 See Bomvick's Egyptian Belief, p. 151.
p. 504. « See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 154.-
a See Williams1 Hinduism, p. 25. T Egyptian Belief, p. 419.
8 See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 120. 8 See Ibid, p 185.
Renouf : Religions of the Ancient Egyptians, • Quoted in Ibid p. 419.
p. 110, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 152. 10 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 259.
« See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 151, » Ibid. p. 258.
and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 152. n See Bell's Pantheon, vol. li. p. 18.
246 BIBLE MYTHS.
"They affirm that men who are the sons of the gods, do judge departed
souls."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."3
The author from whom we quote the above, says, " It would be
difficult to define the cause of this, though many may be con
jectured."
Would it be un reasonable to " conjecture" that the early Chris
tians did not teach this doctrine, but that it was imbibed, in after
years, with many other heathen ideas ?
i Conetantme's Oration to the Clergy, ch. x. vol. 11. p. 392.
> Jameson : History of Our Lord in Art, * Ibid.
CHAPTER XXYI.
CHRIST JESUS AS CREATOR, AND ALPHA AND OMEGA.
CHRISTIAN dogma also teaches that it was not " God the Father,"
ant " God the Sou " 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."1
Again :
" He was in the world and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not."8
In the " Epistle to the Colossians," we read that :
"By Am 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. 's
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 tJie world."*
Samuel Johnson, D. O. Allen,6 and Thomas Maurice," telt us
that, according to the religion of the Hindoos, it is Crishna, the
Son, and the second person in the ever-blessed Trinity,7 " who is the
origin and end of all the worlds ; all tMs universe came into being
through him, the eternal maker"*
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."9 "Mankind icas created by me of four
kinds, distinct in their principles, and in their duties; know me then to fo th*
Creator of mankind, uncreated, and without decay."10
i John, i. 3. • Indian Antiq., vol. ii. p. 288.
3 John, i. 10. T See the chapter on the Trinity.
» Colossinna, i. • Oriental Religions, p. 502.
* Hebrews, i. 2. • Lecture iv. p. 51,
• Allen's India, pp. 137 and 880. »• Gteeta, p. 52.
247
248 BIBLE MYTHS.
In Lecture YIL, entitled : " Of the Principles of Nature, and the
Yital 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 um 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. l . . . I am the journey of the good; the Comforter ;
the Creator; the Witness; the Resting-place; the Asylum and the Friend."*
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."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, ac
cording to their theology or mythology; but they had another god,
of whom they had statues or idols, called Natigcbi, who was the-
god of allterrestrial things ; in fact, God, the Creator of this world
— inferior or subordinate to the Supreme Being — from whom they
petition for line weather, or whatever else they want — a sort of
mediator*
Lanthu, who was born of a " pure, spotless virgin," is believed
by his followers or disciples to be the Creator of all things ;6 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."6
In the Chaldean oracles, the doctrine of the " Only Begotten
Son," I A O, as Creator, is plainly taught.
1 O. M. or A. U. M. is the Hindoo ineffable 2 Geeta, p. 80.
name ; the mystic emblem of the deity. It is 8 Geeta, p. 84.
never uttered aloud, but only mentally by the * See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol i. p. 48.
devout. It signifies Brahma, Vishnou, and 6 See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 35.
Siva, the Hindoo Trinity. (See Charles Wilkes 9 See Davis : Hist. China, vol. ii. pp. 109 and
in Geeta, p. 142, and King's Gnostics and their 113, and Thornton, vol. i. p. 137.
Bemains, p. 163.)
CHRIST JESUS AS CREATOR. 249
According to ancient Persian mythology, there is one supreme
essence, invisible and incomprehensible, named " Zerudne Ake-
rene" which signifies " unlimited time," or " the eternal." From
him emanated Ormuzd, t\\Q " 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.1
A large portion of the Zend-Avesta — the Persian Sacred Book or
Bible — is tilled 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 ami powerful; who made
the great arch of heaven, the sun, the moon, stars, winds, clouds, waters, earth,
tire, 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. 0 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 fra
grance, light, and happiness."2
According to the religion of the ancient Assyrians, it was Nar-
duk, 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."
Adonis, the Lord and Saviour, was believed to be the Creator of
men, and god of the resurrection of the dead.4
Prometheus, the Crucified Saviour, is the divine forethought,
existing before the souls of men, and the creator Hominium.*
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."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 1 had with thee before the world was."1
1 See Prog. Rclig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 259. In a Quoted in Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p.
the most ancient parts of the Zend-Avesta, 207.
Ormuzd is said to have created the world by 3 See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404.
his WORD. (See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 4 See Dunlap'e Mysteries of Adoni, p. 156.
101. and Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 302, Note 6 See Ibid. p. 150, and Bulflnch, Age of
by Guizot.) In the beginning was the WORD, Fablt-.
and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was • Johu, i. 1, 2.
God." (John, i. 1.) 7 John, xvii. 5.
250 BIBLE 2IYTH3.
Paul is made to say :
" And lie (Christ) is before all things."1
Again :
" Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."*
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,"3 " the first and the last."4
Hindoo scripture also makes Crishna " the first and the last,"
tf the beginning and the end." We read in the " Geeta," where
Orishna is reported to have said :
"I myself never was not."5 "Learn that he by whom all things wera
formed" (meaniug himself) "is incorruptible."6 "I am eternity and non-
eternity."7 " I am before all things, and the mighty ruler of the universe."8 " I
am the beginning, the middle and the end of all things. "9
Arjouan, his disciple, addresses him thus :
" Thou art the Supremo 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."10 Thou
art " the Divine Being, before all other gods."11
Again he says :
" Reverence ! Reverence be unto thee, before and behind 1 Reverence be
unto thee on all sides, O thou who art all in all I Infinite in thy power and thy
glory 1 Thou includest all things, wherefore thou art all things."18
In another Holy Book of the Hindoos, called the " Vishnu.
Pumna," we also read that Yishnu — in the form of Crishna —
" who descended into the womb of ths (virgin) Devaki, and was
born as her son" was "without beginning, middle or end."1
Buddha is also Alpha and Omega, without beginning or end,
u The Lord," " the Possessor of All," "He who is Omnipotent and
Everlastingly to be Contemplated," "the Supreme Being, the
Eternal One."14
Lao-lciun, 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."
» Col. i. 17. 9 Lecture x. p. 85.
a Hebrews, xiii. 8. l° Lecture ix. p. 91
* Rev. i. 8, 22, 13. » Lecture x. p. 84.
« Rev. i, 17 ; xii. 13. IS Lecture xi. p. 95.
• Geeta, p. 35. v 13 See Vishnu Purana, Jh-440.
« Geeta, p. 36. M See chapter xii.
r Lecture ix. p. 80. *5 See Prog. Relig, Ideas, vol. I. p. SCXX
8 Lecture x. p. 83.
CHRIST JESUS AS CREATOR. 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 teen;"
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 in
numerable periods of the world. lie himself is made to say :
" I was in existence prior to the manifestation of any corporeal shape; I ap
peared anterior to the supreme being, or first motion of creation."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 for
ever."3
Zeus was Alpha and Omega. An Orphic line runs thus :
"Zeus is the beginning, Zeus the middle, out of Zeus all things have been
made."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/
Without enumerating them, we may say that the majority of
the virgin -born gods spoken of in Chapter XII. were like Chrisi
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.
i Thornton : Hist. China, vol. i. p. 137. Greques THE, qai sont le nombre 3G5. Le eer-
» Prog. Relig. Ideas, il. p. 2G7. pent, qui est'ordinnire un embleme de reternitS
•Muller's Chips, vol. li. p. 15. egt ici celui de eoleil ct de Se8 revolutions."
< "C'estmoi qui vous conduis, vous et tout Bean8obre . Uiet. de Maiii.-hc-t-. Ton,, ii.
ce qui vous regarde. C'est moi, qui vous con- p ^g
serve, ou qui vous eauve. Jc suis Alpha et ' ,,' j say that l am immorUU, Diouj>u8
Omega. II y a au dcssous de Tinscription nn (BacchUs) son of Di-iis." i Aristophanes, in
•erpeut qui tient sa queue dans 6a gueule et MyBt> of Adoni, pp. w, ;ilui ]05.)
dans la cercle qu'il decrit, cest trois lettre
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MIRACLES OF CHEIST JESTJS 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 dis
position of the people to believe in everything, and it was among
such a class that Christianity was propagated. All leaders of relig
ion had the reputation of having performed miracles ; the biogra
phers 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 his
torian 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 "l
Hindoo sacred books represent Crishna, their Saviour and Re
deemer, 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 divin
ity 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;'1 and Sir "William
Jones speaks of his raising the dead, and saving multitudes by his
i Dr. Conyers Middleton : Free Enquiry, p. 177. a Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 46,
252
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 253
miraculous powers.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 dis
tinctly 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 tliee pass, and behold, I have caused a deep
slumber to fall upon thy guards, which shall continue till thy jour
ney be accomplished." Vasudeva immediately felt his chains mirac
ulously 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.3
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 dis
temper." The Saviour then cured him of his distemper.8
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 per
fumes. Crishna making a halt, she made a certain sign with her
finger on his forehead, casting the rest upon his head. Crishna ask
ing 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
1 Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 237. 2 Hist. Hiudostan, vol. ii. p. 331. » Ibid. p. 319.
254 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 in
stant. At her request, Crishna and his company lodged in her
house."1
On another occasion, Crishna having requested a learned Brah
man 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 immedi
ately the two young men were restored to life and brought to their
father.9
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 re
membered 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."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
"mfidd" a learned French orientalist who was guilty of doing this
thing.
BuddJia performed great miracles for the good of mankind, and
the legends concerning him are full of the most extravagant prodi
gies and wonders.4 "By miracles and preaching," says Burnouf,
" was the religion of Buddha established."
K. Spence Hardy says of Buddha :
" All the principal events of his life are represented as being attended by in
credible prodigies. He could pass through the air at will, and know the
thoughts of all beings."6
Prof. Max Muller 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."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
1 Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 320. Vishnu ern Monachism. Beal's Romantic Hist.
Parana, bk. v. ch. xx. Buddha. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, and Hue's
2 Prog, Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 68. Travels, &c.
8 Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 269. 6 Hardy : Buddhist Legends, pp. xxi. xxii.
4 See Hardy's Buddhist Legends, and East- « The Science of Religion, p. 27.
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 265
terry ooat, thus; "Hail! respectable sir! I pray yen 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 Gan
ges, 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."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 king
dom, due to an accumulation of festering corpses. Buddha, sum
moned, caused a strong rain which carried away the dead bodies and
cured every one. At Gaudhara was an old mendicant afllicted 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 Sravasti, Buddha showed
them a man walking across the deep and rapid river without im
mersing his feet. Puma, one of Buddha's disciples, had a brother
in imminent danger of shipwreck in a " black storm." The " spirits
that are favorable to Purna 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."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 vir-
1 Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. 846, 247. det, pp. 186 aiid 192. Bournouf : Intro, p.
3 Dhammapada, pp. 47, 50 and 90. Bigan- 156. In Lillie's Buddhism, pp. 139, 140.
256 BIBLE MYTHS.
tue of tliis 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.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 myste
rious power, and blessed are they who are allowed to touch them.3
A Buddhist saint who attains the power called "perfection" is
able to rise and float along through the air.3 Having this power,
the bciiiit exorcises it by mere determination of his will, his body
becoming imponderons, as when a man in the common human state
determines to leap, and leaps. Buddhist annals relate the perform
ance of the miraculous suspension by Gautama Buddha, himself,
as well as by other saints*
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 missiona
ries ; but an angel, genii, or spirit, came and opened the prison door,
and liberated them.*
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 di
vine mission.6
Bochia of the Persians also performed miracles ; the places
where he performed them were consecrated, and people flocked in
crowds to visit them.7
Ilorus, the Egyptian Saviour, performed great miracles, among
which was that of raising the dead to life.8
Osiris of Egypt also performed great miracles ;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 :
1 Hardy : Manual of Buddhism. • See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief,
2 See Prog. Relig. Ideae, vol. i. p. 229. p. 240, and Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p.
3 See Tylor : Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 135, 460.
and Hardy : Buddhist Legends, pp. 98, 126, 137. 7 See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 34,
4 See Tylor : Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 8 See Ltmdy : Monumental Christianity, pp.
135. 303-405.
• Thornton : Hist. China, vol. i. p. 341. • See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief.
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 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 jart of
the body, by taking refuge, so to speak, in the arms of the goddess, have been
restored to the enjoyment of their faculties."1
Serapis, the Egyptian Saviour, performed great miracles, prin
cipally those of healing the sick, lie was called " The Healer of
the World."2
Marduk, the Assyrian God, the " Logos," the " Eldest Son of
Hea ;" " lie who made Heaven and Earth ;" the " Merciful One ;"
the 'Life-Giver," &c., performed great miracles, among which was
that of raisins: the dead to life.3
O
Bacchus, son of Zeus by the virgin Semele, was a great per
former of miracles, among which may be mentioned his changing
water into wine,4 as it is recorded of Jesus in the Gospels.
" In his gentler aspects he is the giver of joy, the healer of sick
nesses, 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."5
The legends related of this god state that on one occasion Pan-
theus, 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 dis
ciples, 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.8 Here is still another edition of "Peter in prison."
^Esculapius 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.
'Quoted by Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. " On the morrow the company returned, and
Belief, vol. i. p. 397. after every man had looked upon his own seal,
2 See Prichard's Mythology, p. 347. and seen that it was unbroken, the doors being
9 See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404. opened, the vessels were found full of wine."
4 See Dupuis : Origin of Religious Belief, The god himself is said to have appeared in
258, and Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102. Compare person and filled the vessels. (Bell's Pantheon.)
John, ii. 7. « Cox : Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 295.
A Grecian festival called THTIA was ob- 8 Bulfinch : The Age of Fable, p. 225.
served by the Eleans in honor of Bacchus. The "And they laid their hands on the apostles,
priests conveyed three empty vessels into a and put them in the common prison ; but the
chapel, in the presence of a large assembly, angel of the Lord by night opened the prison
after which the doors were shut and sealed. doors, and brought them forth." (Acts, T.
18, 19.)
17
258 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 ^Esculapius was so expert in medicine as not only to
cure the sick, but even to raise the dead."1
Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian, speaking of ^Esculapius,
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.""
For many years after the death of .zEsculapius, miracles contin
ued to be performed by the efficacy of faith in his name. Patients
were conveyed to the temple of ^Esculapius, 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.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."
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 phy
sicians failing, the father applied to the philosopher, earnestly entreating him to
pray for his daughter. Proclus, full of faith, went to the temple of ^Esculapius,
intending to pray for the sick young woman to the god — for the city (Athens)
was at that time blessed in him, and still enjoyec the undemolished temple of
THE SAVIOUR — but while he was praying, a sudden change appeared in the dam
sel, and she immediately became convalescent, for the Saviour, ^Esculapius, as
being God, easily healed her."6
Dr. Conyers Middleton says :
" Whatever proof the primitive (Christian) Church might have among them
selves, 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 ^Esculapms, 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 narra
tive of each particular cure was inscribed. Pausanias6 writes that in the temple
i Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 28. 8 Murray : Manual of Mythology, pp. 179,
3 Eusebius : Life of Constantine, lib. 3, ch. 180.
hv. * See Prog. Relig, Ideas, vol. i. p. 304.
" ^Exculapius, the son of Apollo, was en- 6 Marinus : Quoted in Taylor's Diegeeis, p.
dowed by his father with such skill in the 151.
healing art that he even restored the dead to 8 Pansanias was one of the most eminent
life." (Bulflnch: The Age of Fable, p 240.) Greek geographers and historians.
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 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, an
other 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 collec
tion, as it was found in the ruins of JSsculapius's temple in the Island of the
Tiber, in Rome, which gives an account of two blind men restored to sight by
^Esculapius, in the open view,1 and with the loud acclamation of the people,
acknowledging the manifest power of the god."4
Livy, the most illustrious of Roman historians (born B. o. 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*
A writer in BeWs 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 con
duced 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."4
No one custom of antiquity is so frequently mentioned by an
cient 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*
Horace says :
" Me tabula sacer
Votiva" paries indicat humida
Suspendisse potent!
Vestimenta maris Deo." (Lib. 1, Ode V.)
It was the custom of offering ex-votoa 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.
1 " And when Jesus departed thence, two and their eyes were opened." (Matt. Ix. 27-
blind men followed him, crying and eaying : 30.)
thou son of David, have mercy on us. . . . * Middleton's Works, vol. i. pp. 63, 64.
And Jesus said unto them : Believe ye that I » Ibid. p. 48.
am able to do this ? They said unto him, Yea» 4 Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 62.
Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying : 8 See Middleton'a Letters from Borne, p. ft
According to your faith be it unto you,
260 BIBLE MYTHS.
Juvenal, who wrote A. D. 81-96, says of the goddess his,
whose religion was at that time in the greatest vogue at Koine, 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)
werejpwtures presenting the history of the miraculous cure or de
liverance, vouchsafed upon the vow of the donor."1 One of their
prayers ran thus :
" Now, Goddess, help, for thou canst help bestow,
As all these pictures round thy altars s7ww."*
In Chambers' 's Encyclopedia may be found the following :
" Patients that were cured of their ailments (by ^fflsculapius, 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."3
Alexander S. Murray, of the department of Greek and Roman
Antiquities in the British Museum, speaking of the miracles per
formed by jEsculapius, 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."4
Justin Martyr, in his Apology for the Christian religion, ad
dressed to the Emperor Hadrian, says :
" As to our Jesus curing the lame, and the paralytic, and such as were crip
pled from birth, this is little more than what you say of your ^EJsculapius."6
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 ^Esculapius at
Epidaurus ; accordingly, an embassy was appointed of ten senators,
at the head of whom was Quintus Ogulnius, and the worship of
JEsculapius 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.6
Hermes or Mercury, the Lord's Messenger, was a wonder-work
er. The staff or rod which Hermes received from Phoibos (Apol-
1 See Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 76. Pantheon, vol. i. p. 29.
2 "Nunc Dea, nunc traccurre mihi, nam "There were numerous oracles of ^Escu-
posse mederi lapius, but the most celebrated one was at Epi-
Picta docet temptes multa tabella tuie." daurus. Here the sick sought responses and
(Horace : Tibull. lib. 1, Eleg. iii. In the recovery of their health by sleeping in the
temple. . . . The worship of ^Esculapius
3 Chambers's Encyclo., art. ".^Esculapius." was introduced into Rome in a time of great
4 Murray : Manual of Mythology, p. 180. sickness, and an embassy sent to the temple
5 Apol. 1, ch. xxii. Epidaurus to entreat the aid of the god."
e Deane: Serp. Wor. p. 204. See also, Bell's (Bulfinch : The Age of Fable, p. 397.)
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 261
lo), and which connects this myth with the special emblem of Vish
nu (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.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 fol
lows :
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 see
ing, moreover, that her parents considered her form a great misfortune, consid
ering 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 ap
peared, 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 re
fused, 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.3
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 con
temporary 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 lona made over the diseased to his care, and
his cures were considered so remarkable, that divine honors were
decreed to him.8
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
1 Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p. 338. he was a sage, an impostor, or a fanatic."
2 Herodotus: bk. vi. ch. 61. (Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 353, note.) What
8 See Philostratus: Vie d'Apo. this learned historian says of Apollonius applies
Gibbon, the historian, says of him : " Apol- to Jesus of Nazareth. His disciples have re-
louius of Tyana, born about the same time as lated his life in so fabulous a manner, that
Jesus Christ. His life (that of the former) is some consider him to have been an impostor,
related in so fabulous a manner by his disci- othere a fanatic, others a sage, and others •
pies, that we are at a loss to discover whether GOD.
262 BIBLE MYTHS.
came from Ephesus, begging him to return to that city, where a
terrible plague was raging, as he had prophesied. He went imme
diately, 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.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 hap
pened 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.8 The young man had not been aware that
he was possessed by a devil, but from that moment, his wild, dis
turbed 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 be
fore 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.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 pro
cession 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
i See Philostratus, p. 146. 2 Ibid. p. 158. 3 See Ibid. p. 18£
THE MIKACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 263
her eyes, and began to speak, and was carried back alive and well
to her father's house.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.8
Domitiaii, 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, Damns, 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
Home. 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 vanisJied from the tribunal.*
Damns (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 Damns 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."4
1 Compare Matt. ix. 18-25. "There came in, and took her by the hand, and the maid
a certain ruler and worshiped him, saying : arose.11
' My daughter is even now dead, but come and a See Philostratus, pp. 285-286.
lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live,' * " He could render himself invisible, evoke
And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did departed spirits, utter predictions, and discover
his disciples. . . . And when Jesus came into the thoughts of other men." (Hardy : Eastern
the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and Monachism, p. 380.)
the people making a noise, he said unto them: * "And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself
'Give peace, for the maid is not dead, but stood in the midst of them, and said unto
Bleepeth.' And they laughed him to scorn. them : • Peace be unto you.' But they were
But when the people were put forth, he went terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they
264 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.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 Apol
lonius, do not deny the miracles it recounts, but attribute to them
the aid of evil spirits.9
Justin Martyr was one of the believers in the miracles per
formed 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. "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 univer
sally believed that men could foretell events, cure diseases, and ob
tain 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 Apos
tles " 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."4
Simon traveled about preaching, and made many proselytes. He
professed to be " The Wisdom of God," " The Word of God,"
had seen a spirit. And he said unto them : » See Philostratus, p. 342.
' Why are ye troubled ? and why do thoughts 9 Ibid. p. 5.
arise in your hearts ? Behold my hands and 8 Juetin Martyr's " Qucest," xxiv Quoted
my feet, that it is myself ; handle me and see ; in King's Gnostics, p. 242
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see 4 Acts, viii. 9 10.
me have." (Luke, xxiv. 36-39.)
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 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"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 re
minds us of the reason given by Irenseus, 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, andjftmr cardinal winds; but the Gospel is the pillar and founda
tion 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."5
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 (he mighty and holy Apostles.
" Corning into the city of Home, he was so aided by that power which prevail-
eth 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."3
Justin Martyr says of him :
"After the ascension of our Savior into heaven, the DEVIL brought forth cer
tain 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 Samari
tan, born in the village of Gitton, who (under Claudius Caesar) by the art of
devils, through whom he dealt, wrought devilish enchantments, was esteemed
and counted m 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, acknowl
edging him for their chief god."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
1 See Moeheim. vol. i. pp. 137, 140. that " it i- impossible that there could be more
2 Irenseus: Against Heresies, bk. iii. ch. xi. or less than four," certainly makes it ap-
The authorship of the fourth gospel, attrib- pear very suspicious. We shall allude to this
nted to John, has been traced to this same again.
Irenceus. He is the first person who speaks s Ensebius: Eccl. Hist. lib. 2, ch. xiv.
of it ; and adding this fact to the statement 4 Apol. 1, ch. xxiv.
266 BIBLE MYTHS.
move without visible assistance ; produce trees from the earth sud
denly ; cause a stick to reap without hands ; change himself into
the liken ess 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 per
formances.1
Simon went to Rome, where he gave himself out to be an " In
carnate Spirit of God.''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.3
Menander — who was called the " Wonder-Worker" — was an
other 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."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 ap
plied by them to prove the immortality of the soul."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
1 See Prog. Rehg. Ideas, rol. ii. pp. 241, that belong to God." (See "Son of the
242. Man," p. 67.)
2 According to Hieronymus (a Christian 8 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 316, and
Father, born A. D. 346), Simon Magup applied Middleton's Free Inquiry, p. 62.
to himself these words : " I am the Word (or 4 Eusebius : Ecc . Hist., lib. 3, ch. xiy.
Logos) of God ; I am the Beautiful, I the Ad- • Middleton'8 Works, v«>l. i. p. 64.
vocate, I the Omnipotent ; I ani all things
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 267
upon the spot, by sensible experiments; by calling up souls from the dead, and ren
dering them visible to human eyes, and making them speak and foretell future eventi"*
The Christian Father Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, who was
contemporary with Irenseus- (A. D. 177-202), went so far as to de
clare that it was evil spirits who inspired the old poets and prophets
of Greece and Koine. 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 iu the name of God; and
the seducing spirits confess themselves to be the same demons who before in
spired the Gentile poets."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
them3 — 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,4 and passing leisurely and slowly through the fire ?"6
lie further tells us that this " foreign barbarian " was able to
raise the dead to life.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.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,8 and miracles frequently happened to confirm
the sayings of Rabbis. One cried out, when his opinion was dis
puted, "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
1 Middleton'e Works, vol. i. p. 54. The Christians consider those who are not
« Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 312, and followers of Christ Jesus to be heathens and
Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 10. barbarians.
3 " The Egyptians call all men ' barbarians ' The Mohammedans consider all others to be
who do not speak the same language as them- dogs, inficldx, and barbarians.
selves." (Herodotus, book ii. cfa. 158.) * ;' And in the fourth watch of the night,
"By ' barbarian* ' the Greeks meant all Jeeus went unto them, walking on the sea."
who were not sprung from themselves— all (Malt. xiv. 25.)
foreigners." (Henry Gary, translator of Hero- 6 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 236. We
dotitf.) have it on the authority of ,v/!r«to that Roman
The Chinese call the English, and all for- priests walked barefoot over burning coals,
eigners from western countries, "western bar- without receiving the slightest injury. This
barians ,•" the Japanese were called by them was done in the presence of crowds of people,
the " eastern barbarians." (See Thornton's Pliny also relates the same story.
History of China, vol. i.) • Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. ii. p. 236.
The Jews considered all who did not be- T Athenagoras, Apolog. p. 25. Quoted in
long to their race to be heathens aud barba- Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 62.
rian*. • Geikie : Life of Christ, vol. ii. p. 610.
268 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.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.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."*
Vespasian^ who was born about ten years after the time as
signed for the birth of Christ Jesus, performed wonderful miracles,
for the good of mankind. Tacitus, the Roman historian, informs
us that he cured a Wind man in Alexandria, by means of his spit
tle, 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 him
self 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 conde
scend to moisten the poor man's face and the balls of his eyes.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.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."6
The striking resemblance between the account of these mira
cles, and those attributed to Jesus in the Gospels "according to "
1 Geikie : Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 75. men and trees,' . . . and he was restored."
2 Jewish Antiqiities, bk. viii. ch. ii. (Mark, viii. 22-25.)
s Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. GS. 6 " And behold there was a man which had
4 '• And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they his hand withered. . . . Then said he unto
bring a blind man unto him, and besought him the man, ' Stretch forth thine hand : ' and he
to touch him. And he took the blind man by stretched it forth, and it was restored whole,
the hand . . . and when he had sjnt on his like as the other." (Matt. xii. 10-13.)
eyes, ... lie looked up and said : ' I see 8 Tacitus : Hist., lib. iv. ch ixxxi.
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 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, ' and that the " Matthew " and Mark narrators'
works were not known until after that time,8 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 Ma
hometans is a religion of miracles and wonders. Mahomet, like
Jesus of Nazareth, did not claim to perform miracles, but the vot
aries 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 ani
mate 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 fiom 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, re
mounted 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.'
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, Bud-
1 See Chambers'B Encyclo., art. " Tacitus." » See The Bible of To-Day, pp. 273, 278.
» Bee Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. pp. 539-541.
270 BIBLE MYTHS.
dha, Zoroaster, ^Esculapius, Bacchus, Apollonius, Simon Magus,
&Q. 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. o.),
the marks of the horses' hoofs on a rock at Regillum, where they
first appeared.1
Now this miracle, with those which have already been men
tioned, and many others of the same kind which could be men
tioned, 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.8
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
1 Middleton's Letters from Eome, p. 102. on the side of the Romans, who by their as-
See also, Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 16. sistance gained a complete victory. As a per-
2 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, one of the most petual memorial of it, a temple was erected and
accurate historians of antiquity, says : " In the a yearly festival instituted in honor of these
war with the Latins, Castor and Pollux ap- deities." (Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 323, and
peared visibly on white horses, and fought Middleton'e Letters fiom Rome, p. 103.)
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 271
known until after A. D. 173. Albert Barnes, in bis " 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 a?
strong as any that can be adduced in favor of miracles 1 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 V 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 ? lias it not
been brought to us from those who saw the facts alleged ? Has it not been sub
jected to a close scrutiny in the courts of justice, to cross-examination, to
tortures ? Has it not convinced those of highest legal attainments; those accus
tomed 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 gallowrs and to the
stake? 1 confess that of all the questions ever asked on the subject of miracles, this is
tJie 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 Ro
mans, in the saying : " TJie 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 y"
and that "they frequently carry some untoward suspicion along
with them ;" and Saint Chrysostom, Jerome, Euthemius, and The-
ophylact, prove by several instances, that real miracles had been
performed by those who were not Catholic, but heretic, Christians.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."2
1 See Prefatory Discourse to vol. iii. Mid- 2 See Origen: Contra Cclus, bk. 1, ch. Ixviii
dleton's Works, p. M.
272 BIBLE MYTHS.
Census, 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 ; foolisliness is to be pre
ferred.'"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, a let no man that
is learned come among us."a
The miracles claimed to have been performed by the Christians,
he attributed to magic* 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 Chris
tians u rambled about to play tricks at fairs and markets," that they
never appeared in the circles of the wiser and better sort, but al
ways took care to intrude themselves among the ignorant and un
cultured.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?"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.6 All philosophers, during the time of the Early Fathers,
answered the claims that Jesus performed miracles, in the same
manner. u They even ventured to call him a magician and a de
ceiver of the people," says Justin Martyr,7 and St. Augustine as
serted 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"* In the
Clementine Recognitions, the charge is brought against Jesus that
he did not perform his miracles as a Jewish prophet, but as a ma
gician, an initiate of the heathen temples.9
See Origen: Contra Celsus, bk. 1, ch. ix. 8 See Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 148.
Ibid. bk. iii. ch. xliv. fl See Baring-Gould's Lost and Hostile Gos-
Ibid. pels. A knowledge of magic had spread from
Ibid. bk. 1, ch. Ixviii. Central Asia into Syria, by means of the retun
Ibid. of the Jews from Babylon, and had afterwards
Ibid. extended widely, through the mixing of na-
Dial. Cum. Typho. ch. Ixix tione produced by Alexander's conquests.
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 273
The casting out of devils was the most frequent and among the
most striking and the of tenest 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 nn questionable, 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 Laz
arus is swathed in bandages exactly as an Egyptian mummy.1 On
other Christian monuments representing the miracles of Jesus, he
is pictured in the same manner. For instance, when he is repre
sented as turning the water into wine, and multiplying the bread in
the wilderness, he is a necromancer with a wand in his hand.*
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 monu
ments."1
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 com
mon 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."4
The same charge was constantly urged against them by Julian,
Porphyry and others. Similar sentiments were entertained by Poly-
bius, the Pagan philosopher, who considered all miracles as fables,
invented to preserve in the unlearned a due sense of respect for the
deity.6
1 See King's Gnostics, p. 145. Monumental H i st. of Our Lord. vol. i. p. 16.
Christianity, pj> 100 and 402, and Jameson's • Monumental Christianity, pp. 403-405.
Hist, of Our Lord in Art, TO!, i. p. 1G. 4 Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 19.
1 See Monumental Christianity, p. 402, and ' See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 59.
274 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 ire-
quently suspended for the benefit of the church. But the sages of Greece and
Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupa
tions of life and study, appeared unconscious of any alterations in the mural or
physical government of the world."1
The learned Dr. Middleton, whom we have quoted on a preced
ing 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
giveii 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. .
" AVe 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 testi
mony the credit of these wonderful narratives depends."4
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."3
Origen, a Christian Father of the third century, uses the follow
ing 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,
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 588. An emi- him that satisfaction. (See Gibbon's Rome,
aent heathen challenged his Christian friend vol. i. p. 541, and Middleton'e Works, vol. i.
Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, a champion p. 60.)
of the Gospel, to show him but one person 9 Middleton's Works, vol. i. pp. 20, 21.
who had been raised from the dead, on the 3 Ibid. p. 62. The Christian Fathers are
condition of turning Christian himself upon noted for their frauds. Their writings are full
U. The Christian bishop was unable to give of falsehoods and deceit.
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST JESUS. 275
shall receive a bright and massive crown when this frail and short life is ended,
though they don't stajid 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 con
tinually 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 num
ber), I say, we (the Christian clergy), who are so well advised of these things,
do professedly teach men to believe icitJiout examination,"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 thac 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.1
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 ab
solutely true, because it was manifestly impossible."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
i Contra Celsu*, bk. 1, cli. ix. x. 3 Ou The Flesh of Chribt, ch. v.
• See Middleton's Works, pp. 62, 63, 64.
276 BIBLE MYTHS.
that " the Jews required a sign."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 con
nection 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."3 Of
course, this answer did not in the least degree satisfy the question
ers ; so they presently came to him again with a more direct re
quest : u 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 !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 himseli
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 Gos
pel 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 re
marked : " The miracle is of a most fluctuating character. The
miracle-worker of to-day is a matter-of-fact juggler to-morrow.
1 1. Corinthians, i. 22, 23. Matt. xxiv. 29, 30 ; Acts, ii. 19, 20 ; Revela
» Matt. xii. 29. tions, vi. 12, 13 ; xvi. 18, et seq.
» See, for example, Joel, ii. 10, 31 ; iii. 15 ;
THE MIRACLES OF OHKIST JESUS. 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 " ' 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 decep
tion.
» The writers of the Gospels were " I know not what sort of half Jews, not even agreeing
with themselves.11 (Bishop Faostus.)
CHAPTEK 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 Crislma, and
the Buddhist Saviour HuddhaJ with a mixture of mythology bor
rowed 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 ac
count of her purity."2
2. A chorus of Devatas celebrated
with song the praise of Devaki, ex
claiming: " In the delivery of this
favored woman all nature shall have
cause to exult."4
3. The birth of Crishna was an
nounced in the heavens by his star.6
1. Jesus was born of a chaste virgin,
called Mary, who was selected by the
Lord for this purpose, on account of
her purity.3
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."5
3. The birtli of Jesus was an
nounced in the heavens by Ms star."1
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 him
self 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 de
votees sought to supersede the more ancient
gods, the answer ?nnst be that nothing is done in
his case which has not been done in the case of
almost every otfier 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
Avhich the cumbrous mythology of the Hindu
epic poems is composed." (Cox : Aryan My
thology, 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.
2 See ch. xii.
3 See The Gospel of Mary, Apoc., ch, vii.
4 Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 329.
6 Mary, Apoc., vii. Luke, i. 28-30.
6 Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. pp. 317 and 33ft.
i Matt. ii. 2.
[278]
ORISHNA AND JESUS COMPARED.
279
4. On the morn of Crishna's birth,
" the quarters of the horizon were ir
radiate 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."1
5. Crishna, though royally descend
ed, was actually born in a state the
most abject and humiliating, having
been brought into the world in a cave.3
6. ' ' The moment Crishna was born,
the whole cave was splendidly illumi
nated, and the countenances of his
father and his mother emitted rays of
glory."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,"7
8. The divine child — Crishna — was
recognized, and adored by cowherds,
who prostrated themselves before the
heaven-born child.9
9. Crishna was received with divine
honors, and presented with gifts of
sandal-wood and perfumes.11
10. " Soon after the birth of Crish
na, the holy Indian prophet Nared,
hearing of the fame of the infant
Crishna, pays him a visit at Gokul, ex
amines the stars, and declares him to
be of celestial descent."13
11. Crishna was bora at a time when
Nauda — his foster-father — was away
from home, having come to the city to
pay his tax or yearly tribute, to the
king.15
4. When Jesus was born, the angels
of heaven sang with joy, and from the
clouds there came pleasing sounds.8
5. "The birth of Jesus, the King
of Israel, took place under circumstan
ces 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."*
6. The moment Jesus was born,
"there was a great light in the cave,
so that the eyes of Joseph and the mid
wife could not bear it.6"
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,aud my Father
hath sent me for the salvation of the
world.' "8
8. The divine child— Jesus— was
recognized, and adored by shepherds,
who prostrated themselves before the
heaven-born child. 10
9. Jesus was received with divine
honors, and presented with gifts of
frankincense and myrrh. n
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."14
11. Jesus was born at a time wrhen
Joseph— his foster-father— was away
from home, having come to the city to
pay his tax or tribute to the governor. u
1 Vishnn Purana, p. 502.
a Luke, ii. 13.
3 See ch. xvi.
4 Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 311. See also,
chap. xvi.
6 See ch. xvi.
• Protevangelion, Apoc., chs. xii. and ziii.
T Hist. Hiudostan, vol. ii. 811.
• Infancy, Apoc., ch. i. 2, 8.
8 See ch. xv.
i° Luke, ii. 8-10.
11 See Oriental Religions, p. 500, and Inman'i
Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 353.
12 Matt. ii. 2.
13 Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 817.
" Matt., ii. 1, 2.
18 Vishnu Purana, bk. v. ch. iii.
i« Luke, ii. 1-17.
280
BIBLE MYTHS.
12. Crishna, although born in a state
the most abject and humiliating, was
of royal descent. J
13. Crishna's father was warned by
»" heavenly voice," to " fly with the
child to Gacool, across the river Jum
na," as the reigning monarch sought
his life.3
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."5
15. ' ' Matlmra (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 Avata?' are held in the
most sacred veneration of any province
in Hindostan. "7
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 at
tempted to destroy the infant Crishna.9
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 ob
tained for him ; but, in a very short
time, he became such a scholar as
mtterly to astonish and perplex his
master with a variety of the most in
tricate questions in Sanscrit science.11
12. Jesus, although born in a state
the most abject and humiliating, was
of royal descent.2
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.4
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.6
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.8
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 mon
arch, at the time he attempted to
destroy the infant Jesus. 10
17. Jesus was sent to Zaccheus the
schoolmaster, who wrote out an alpha
bet 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
1 Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259. Hist.
Hindo^tan, vol. ii. p. 310.
8 See the Genealogies in Matt, and Luke.
3 See ch. xviii.
« Matt. ii. 13.
6 See ch. xviii.
• Matt. ii. 16.
T Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 317. Asiatic
Researches, vol. i. p. 259.
• Lntroduc. to Infancy, Apoc. Higgins : An-
•calypais, vol. i. p. 130. Savary : Travels in
Egypt, vol. i. p. 126, in Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii.
p. 318.
• Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 316.
10 " Elizabeth, hearing that her son John
was about to be searched for (by Herod), took
him and went np into the mountains, and looked
around for a place to hide him. . . . But
Herod made search after John, and sent servant*
to Zacharias," &c. (Protevangelion, Apoc.
ch. xvi.)
11 Hist. Hindostan. vol. ii. p. 321.
CEISHNA AND JESUS COMPARED.
281
18. "At a certain time, Crisbna,
taking a walk with the other cow
herds, they chose him their King, and
every one had his place assigned him
under the new King."2
19. Some of Crishua'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.4
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."6
21. " One of the first miracles per
formed by Crishna, when mature, was
the curing of a leper."8
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 Jiead."l()
23. Crishna was crucified, and he
is represented with arms extended,
hanging on a cross. 12
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-duy ; the sky rained
fire and ashes ; flames burned dusky
and livid; demons committed depreda-
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."1
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. "3
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.5
20. Jesus' companions, who had hid
themselves in a furnace, were turned in
to 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."7
21. One of the first miracles per
formed by Jesus, when mature, was
the curing of a leper.9
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 preci
ous ointment, and poured it on his ktad,
as he sat at meat."11
23. Jesus was crucified, and he is
represented with arms extended, hang
ing on a cross.
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 bot
tom, the .sun was darkened from the
sixth to the ninth hour, and the graves
were opened, and many bodies of the
1 Infancy, Apoc., ch. xx. 1-8.
« Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 321.
3 Infancy, Apoc., ch. xviii. 1-3.
* Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 343.
4 Infancy, Apoc., ch. xviii.
• Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 840. ^.ryan
Mytho., vol. ii. p. 136.
7 Infancy. Apoc., ch. xvii.
8 Hist. Hindustan, vol. ii. p. 319, and ch.
xxvii. this work.
» Matthew, viii. 2.
'• Hist. Hindo?tan, /ol. ii. p. 320.
14 Matt. xxvi. 6 7.
'• Se« ch. xx.
282
BIBLE MYTHS.
tions on earth ; at sunrise and sunset,
thousands of figures were seen skir
mishing in the air; spirits were to be
seen on all sides. :
25. Crishna was pierced with an
arrow.3
26. Crishna said to the hunter who
shot him: "Go, hunter, through my
favor, to heaven, the abode of the
gods."5
27. Crishna descended into hell.7
28. Crishna, after being put to
death, rose again from the dead.9
29. Crishna ascended bodily into
heaven, and many persons witnessed
his ascent.11
30. Crislma 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. 13
31. Crishna is to be judge of the
dead at the last day. 15
32. Crishna is the creator of all
things visible and invisible; "all this
universe came into being through him,
the eternal maker."17
33. Crishna is Alpha and Omega,
"the beginning, the middle, and the
end of all things. "la
34. Crislma, when on earth, was in
constant strife against the evil spirit.21
He surmounts extraordinary dangers,
strews his way with miracles, raising
the dead, healing the sick, restoring the
maimed, the deaf and the blind, every-
saints which slept ar sse and came out
of their graves.2
25. Jesus was pierced with a spear
26. Jesus said to one of the male
factors who was crucified with him :
' ' Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt
thou be with me in paradise."6
27. Jesus descended into hell.8
28. Jesus, after being put to death,
rose again from the dead.10
29. Jesus ascended bodily into
heaven, and many persons witnessed
his ascent,12
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. 14
31. Jesus is to be judge of the dead
at the last day. 16
32. Jesus is the creator of all things
visible and invisible; "all this universe
came into being through him, the
eternal maker.''18
33. Jesus is Alpha and Omega, the
beginning, the middle, and the end of
all things.20
34. Jesus, when on earth, was in
constant strife against the evil spirit.22
He surmounts extraordinary dangers,
strews his way with miracles, raising
the dead, healing the sick, restoring
the maimed, the deaf and the blind,
1 Prog. Eelig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 71.
3 Matt. xxii. Luke, xxviii.
3 See ch. xx.
4 John, xix. 34.
5 See Vishnu Purana, p. 012.
8 Luke, xxiii. 43.
7 See ch. xxii,
8 See Ibid.
9 See ch. xxiii.
10 Matt, xxviii.
11 See ch. xxiii.
12 See Acts, i. 9-11.
13 See ch. xxiv.
14 See passages quoted in ch. xxiv.
18 See Oriental Religions, p. 504.
" Malt. xxiv. 81. Rom. xiv. 10.
1T 8ee ch. xxvi.
is John, i. 3. I. Cor. viii. 0. Eph. iii. 9.
« See Geeta, lee. x. p. 85.
80 Rev. i. 8, 11 ; xxii. 13 ; xxi. 6.
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 ser
pent,1' and standing upon him. (See illustra
tions in vol. i. Asiatic Researches : vol. ii.
Higgius" Anacalypsis ; Calmet's Fragments,
and other works illustrating Hindoo Mythology.)
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.)
CRISHNA AND JESUS COMPARED.
where supporting the weak against the
strong, the oppressed against the pow
erful. The people crowded his way,
and adored him as a God. l
35. Crishna had a beloved disciple
— Arjuna.3
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."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."6
37. Crishna was "the meekest and
best tempered of beings." " He preach
ed very nobly indeed, and sublimely."
"He was pure and chaste in reality,"8
and, as a lesson of humility, " he even
condescended to wash the feet of the
Brahmins."9
38. "Crishna is {he very Supreme
Brahma, though it be a mystery how
the Supreme should assume the form
of a man."11
39. Crishna is the second person in
the Hindoo Trinity. 13
everywhere supporting the weak against
the strong, the oppressed against the
powerful. The people crowded his
way and adored him as a God*
35. Jesus had a beloved disciple
— John.*
06. And after six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and
briugeth them up into a high mountain
apart, and was transfigured before
them. And his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was while a.> the
light. . . While he yet spake,
behold, a bright cloud overshadowed
them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud, which said: etc." "And when
the disciples heard it, they fell on their
faces, and were sore afraid."1
37. Jesus was the meekest and best
tempered of beings. He preached very
nobly indeed, and sublimely. lie was
pure and chaste, and he even conde
scended to wash the feet of his disciples,
towhom he taught a lesson of humility. 10
38. Jesus is the very Supreme Je
hovah, though it be a mystery how the
Supreme should assume the form of a
man, for " Great is the mystery of
Godliness."14
39. Jesus is the second person in
the Christian Trinity. u
I See eh. xxvii.
3 According to the New Testament.
8 See Bhagavat Geeta.
4 John, xiii. 23.
• Williams' Hinduism, p. 215.
8 Ibid. p. 21(3. 7 Matt. xvii. 1-6.
• " He was pure and chaste in reality" al
though 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
KildluT, is to be explained allegoncally, as
symbolizing the longing of the human soul for
the Supreme. (Prof. Monier Williams : Uin-
duism, p. 144.) Just as the amorous ''Song of
tiolonwn" is said to be allegorical, and to
mean •' Christ's love for his church."
• See Indian Antiquities, Hi. 46, and Asiatic
Researches, vol. i. p. 273.
!• John, xiii.
II Vishnu Purana, p. 492, note 3.
i» I. Timothy, iii. 10.
i» Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Crishna is
Vishnu inhuman 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-
mfltri. It was as Via/inn that the Supreme Being
was supposed to exhibit his sympathy with
human trials, and his love for the human race.
"If Sic a 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 him
self in their welfare, and finally admits theu
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.
Mouier Williams : Hinduism, p. 100.)
i* Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Jesus \B
the SOR in human form.
284
BIBLE MYTHj
40. Crishna said : "Let him if seek
ing God by deep abstraction, abandon
his possessions and his hopes, betake
himse f to some secluded spot, and fix
his heart and thoughts on God alone. 1
41. Crishna said : " Whatc'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 Snge, without begin
ning ; I am the lluler and the All-
sustainer. "3
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."5
43. Crishna said: " I am the light
in the Sun and Moon, far, far beyond
the darkness. I am the brilliancy in
llame, the radiance in all that's radiant,
and the light of lights."7
44. Crishna said : ' ' I am the sustain-
er of the world, its friend and Lord. I
am its way and refuge. "9
45. Crishna said
ness of the good;
"I am the Good-
1 am Beginning,
Middle, End, Eternal Time, the Birth,
the Death of all."11
40. 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."13
40. Jesus said: "But tbou, when
thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and
when then hast shut thy door, pray to
thy Father, which is in secret."2
41. Jesus said: " Whether therefore
ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do,
do all to the glory of God "4 who is the
great Sage, without beginning; the
Ruler and the All-sustainer.
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. "6
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."8
44. "Jesus said unto them, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No
man cometh unto the Father, but by
me."10
45. "I am the first and the last;
and have the keys of hell and of
death."12
46. Jesus said: " Be of good cheer;
thy sins be forgiven thee."14 "My
son, give me thine heart."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."16
Many other remarkable passages might be adduced from the
Bhagavad-gita, the following of which may be noted :"
Williams' Hinduism, p. 211.
Matt. vi. 6.
Williams' Hinduism, p. 212.
I. Cor. x. 31.
Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
John, i. 3.
Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
John. viii. 12.
Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
10 John, xiv. 6.
11 Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.
i» Rev. i. 17, 18.
18 Williams' Hinduism, p. 214.
i* Matt. ix. 2.
18 Prov. xxiii. 26.
i« Rev. xxi. 23.
17 Quoted from Williams1 Hinduism pp.
217-219.
CEISIINA AND JESUS COMPARED. 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. 10.)
"Deluded men despise me when I take human form/' (Comp. John, i. 10.)
Crisbna had the titles of " Saviour," " Redeemer," " Preserver,"
"Comforter," "Mediator," &c. He was called "The Resurrec
tion 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 said1 to have been taught by Crisbna, 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."2 Many others have since made a similar state
ment, 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."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 tem
ples 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 Matlmra,
on the Jumna river,4 which shows that he was considered a god at
1 It is said in the Hindoo sacred books that cavcrat P. Cassianus Maceratentis, sic nunc
Crishra was a religious teacher, but, as we have nberius in GalHis observatum intelligo avivo
previously remarked, this is a later addition litteratissimo De Guignes) nomen ipsum cor-
to his legendary history. In the ancient epic ruptum Christi Servatoris."
poems he is pimply a great hero and warrior. * See Williams' Hinduism, and Maurice :
The portion pertaining to his religious career, Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 2G9.
is evidently a copy of the history of Buddha. < See Celtic Druids, pp. 256, 257.
1 " Est Crishna (quod ut naihi pridem indi-
286 BIBLE MYTHS.
that time.1 We have already seen that, according to Prof. Moniei
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."3
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. *
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 an
terior to the birth of our Saviour; and this we know, not on the presumed anti
quity 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."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 sculp
ture 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.5
Thejte 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."
1 " Alexander the Great made his expedition (Patna), during a long sojourn in that city col-
to the banks of the Indus about 327s. c., and lected further information, of which Strabo,
to this invasion is due the first trustworthy Pliny, Arrian, and others availed themselves."
information obtained by Europeans concern- (Williams' Hinduism, p. 4.)
ing the north-westerly portion of India and the 2 Monumental Christianity, p, 151. See also,
region of the five rivers, down which the Asiatic Researches, i. 273.
Grecian troops were conducted in ships by 8 See Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 259-273,
Nearchus. Megasthenes, who was the embas- 4 Quoted in Monumental Christianity, pp.
sador of Seleukos Nikator (Alexander's succes- 151, 152.
sor, and ruler over the whole region between 8 See chapter xviii.
the Euphrates and Indus, B. c. 319), at the court • See Prichard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 112.
of Candra-gupa (Sandrokottus), in Pataliputra
CRISIINA AND JESUS COMPARED. 287
The Bhagavad gita, which contains so mary sentiments akin
to Christianity, and which was not written unti/ about the first or
second century,1 has led many Christian scholars to believe, and at
tempt to prove, that they have been borrowed from the New Tes
tament, 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 Chris
tian 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 ac
cess 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 pass
ages in our Scriptures, while their appears to be no ground whatever for sup
posing 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,' Aristote 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 hom»sty in controversial
dealing.'4
"His arguments would be even more conclusive if applied to the Bhagavad-gita, the
author of whicM. was probably contemporaneous with Seneca.3 It must, indeed,
be admitted that the flames of true light which emerge from the mists of pan
theism 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 with-
1 In speaking of the antiquity of the reader to "Seekers after God." by the Rev.
Bhagarad-gita, Prof. Monier Williams says : F. W. Farrar, and Dr. Ramage's "Beautiful
" The author was probably a Brahman and Thoughts." The same sentiments are to bs
nominally a Vishnava, bnt really a philosopher found in Manu, which, says Prof. Williams.
whose mind was cast in a broad and compre- "few will place later than the fifth century
beusive mould. He is supposed to have lived B.C." The Mahabhrata, written many centuries
in India during the first and second century B. c., contains numerous parallels to New Tes-
of our era. Some consider that he lived as late tamcnt sayings. (See our chapter on " Pagan-
as the third century, and some place him even ism in Christianity.")
later, but with these I cannot agree." (Indian 8 Seneca, the celebrated Roman philosopher,
Wisdom, p. 137.) was born at Corduba, in Spain, a few years
3 In order that the resemblances to Christian B.C. When a child, he was brought by his father
Scripture in the writings of Roman philosophers to Rome, where he was initiated in the study
siay be compared, Prof. Williams refers the of eloquence.
288 BIBLE MYTHS.
out a more satisfactory result in tiie modification of pantheistic and anti-Chris
tian ideas."1
Again lie 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, ex
cept 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, haw
altered little since the days of Nairn, five hundred years B. c.'"2
These words are conclusive ; comments, therefore, are unneces
sary.
Geo. W. Cox, in his " Aryan Mythology," speaking on this sub
ject 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 infer
ring 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 identities him
with the Greek Hercules."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."4
These words are almost identical with what we find in the
Bhagavad-gita. In the JHfaha-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 neverthe
less composed of matter to be found in the two great epic poems
the Ramayana and the Maha-bharata*
1 Indian Wisdom, pp. 153, 154. Similar • Williams' Hinduism, pp. 119-110. It was
sentiments are expressed in his Hinduism, pp. from these sources that the doctrine of incar-
212-220. nation was first evolved by the Brahman.
2 Indian Wisdom, p. iv. They were written many centuries B. c. (Sea
• Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. II. pp. 137, 138. Ibid.)
« Ibid. p. 131.
CHAPTEK XXIX.
CHRIST BUDDHA AND CHRIST JESUS COMPARED.
" The more I learn to know Buddha the more I adinirc 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." Famboll.
THE mythological portions of the histories of Buddha and Jesus
are, without doubt, nearer in resemblance than that of any two char
acters of antiquity. The cause of this we shall speak of in our
chapter on " Why Christianity Prospered,'' and shall content our
selves for the present by comparing the following analogies :
1. Buddha was born of the Virgin
Mary.1 who conceived him without car
nal intercourse.2
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.4
3. When Buddha descended from
1. Jesus was born of the Virgin
Mary, who conceived him without car
nal intercourse.3
2. The incarnation of Jesus is re
corded to have been brought about by
the descent of the divine power called
the "Holy Ghost," upon the Virgin
Mary.3
3. When Jesus descended from his
1 Maya, and Mary, as we have already seen,
are one and the same name.
3 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 Huus. torn. i. p. 2-24.)
" Some of the (Christian) heretics main
tained that Christ was born from the side of
hie mother.11 (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 incar
nation, a man-god ; who came into the world
to enlighten men, to redeem them, and to indi
cate to them the way of safety. This idea of
redemption by a divine incarnation is so gen-
19
eral and popular among the Buddhists, that
during our travels in Upper Asia, we every
where found it expressed in a neat formula.
If we addressed to a Mongol or Thibetan the
question, ' Who is Buddha?' he would imme
diately reply, 'The Saviour of Men.'" (M.
L'Abbe Hue : Travels, vol. i. p. 32U.)
" The miraculous birth of Buddha, his life
and instructions, contain a great number of the
moral and dogmatic truths professed in Chris
tianity." (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 punish
ment they must otherwise inevitably undergo."
(L. Maria Child.)
" Matt. ch. i.
4 See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 10, 25 an&
44. Also, ch. xiii. this work.
289
290
BIBLE MYTHS.
the regions of the souls, l and entered
the body of the Virgin Maya, her womb
assumed the appearance of clear trans
parent crystal, in which Buddha ap
peared, beautiful as a flower.2
4. The birth of Buddha was an
nounced in the heavens by an asterim
which was seen rising 011 the horizon.
It is called the ' ' Messianic Star. "4
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."0
G. Demonstrations of celestial de
light were manifest at the birth of Bud
dha. The J)evass in heaven and earth
sang praises to the "Blessed One,''
and said: " To day, Bodliisatwa 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."9
7. " Buddha was visited by wise
men who recognized in this marvelous
infant all the characters of the divinity,
and he had scarcely soon the day before
he was hailed God of Gods."11
8. The infant Buddha was presented
with " costly jewels and precious sub
stances."13
9. When Buddha was an infant,
just born, he spoke to his mother, and
said: " I am the greatest among men."15
heavenly seat, and entered the body of
the Virgin Mary, her womb assumed
the appearance of clear transparent
crystal, in which Jesus appeared beau
tiful as a flower.3
4. The birth of Jesus was announced
in the heavens by "his star," which was
seen rising on the horizon.5 It might
properly be called the "Messianic
Star."
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 Christinas day.7
6. Demonstrations of celestial de
light 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.'"10
7. Jesus was visited by wise men
who recognized in this marvelous in
fant all the characters of the divinity,
and he had scarcely seen the day before
he was hailed God of Gods. 12
8. The infant Jesus was presented
with gifts of gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. 14
0. When Jesus was an infant in hii
cradle, he spoke to his mother, and
said : " I am Jesus, the Son of God."18
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 tlu- purpose of res
cuing 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 Sa-
viot/r." (Bunsen : The Augel -Messiah, p. 20.)
3 See King's Gnostics, p. 168, and Hardy's
Manual of Buddhism, p. 144.
3 See chap. xii. note 2, page 117.
" On a painted glass of the sixteenth cen
tury, 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 sup
posed 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 salut
ing each other. This precisely corresponds to
Buddhist accounts of the Boddhisattvas ante
natal proceedings." (Viscount Amberly :
Analysis of Relig. Belief, p. 224, note.)
* See chap. xiii.
« Matt. ii. 1, 2.
• Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, p. x.
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 fol
lowers long after his death.
8 "Devas," i. e., angels.
9 See chap. xiv.
10 Luke, ii. 13, 14.
11 See chap. xv.
12 Matt. ii. 1-11.
13 See chap. xi.
i* Matt. ii. 11.
J8 See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, pp. 145,
146.
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
BUDDHA AND JESUS COMPARED.
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. l
11. When sent to school, the young
Buddha surprised his masters. With
out having ever studied, he completely
worsted all his competitors, not only in
writing, but in arithmetic, mathema
tics, metaphysics, astrology, geome
try, &c.4
12. ''When twelve years old the
child Buddha is presented in the tem
ple. He explains and asks learned
questions ; he excels all those who enter
into competition with him."6
13. Buddha entered a temple, on
which occasion forthwith all the statues
rose and threw themselves at his feet,
in act of worship.8
14. "The ancestry of Gotama Bud
dha is traced from his father, Sodhd-
dana, through various individuals and
races, all of royal dignity, to Malia
Sammata, the first monarch of the
world. Several of the names and some
of the events are met with in the Pur-
anas of the Brahmans, but it is not
possible to reconcile one order of state
ment with the other ; and it would
appear that the Buddhist historians
10. Jesus was a " dangerous child."
His life was threatened by King Her
od,9 who attempted to destroy the
child, as he was liable to overthrow
him.8
11. When sent to school, Jesus sur
prised his master Zaccheus, who, turn
ing to Joseph, said : ' ' Thou hast brought
a boy to me to be taught, who is more
learned than any master."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."7
13. "And as Jesus was going in by
the ensigns, who carried the standards,
the tops of them bowed down and wor
shiped Jesus."9
14. The ancestry of Jesus is traced
from his father, Joseph, through vari
ous 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
the councils of hie heavenly father Zeus. (See
Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 22.) Ilermes
epoke 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.)
» See Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. 103, 104.
* See Matt. ii. 1.
• 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.
« See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism ; Bun-
een'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 de
scended mortal," after his birth, without any
human instruction whatever, was able thor
oughly 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 im
bibed 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.)
6 See Infancy, Apoc., xx. 11, and Luke, ii.
46, 47,
8 See Buneen's Angel-Messiah, p. 37, and
Beal : Hist. Buddha, pp. 67-69.
T See Infancy, Apoc., xxi. 1, 2, and Luke, ii.
41-48.
8 See Bunsen'e Angel-Meeeiah, p. 87, and
Beal : Hist. Bud. 67-69.
9 Nicodemus, Apoc., ch. i. 20.
292
BIBLE MYTHS.
have introduced races, and invented
names, that they may invest their ven
erated Sage with all the honors of
heraldry, in addition to the attributes of
divinity."1
15. When Buddha was about to go
forth " to adopt a religious life," Mara?
appeared before him, to tempt him.4
1C. Mara said unto Buddha: "Go
not forth to adopt a religious life, and
in seven days thou shalt become an
emperor of the world."6
17. Buddha would not heed the
words of the Evil One, and said to him :
"Get thee away I'rom me."8
18. After Mara had left Buddha,
' ' the skies rained flowers, and delici
ous odors pervaded the air."10
19. Buddha fasted for a long
period. 1-2
20. Buddha, the Saviour, was bap
tized, 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 Bud
dha is recorded to have been brought
about by the descent of that Divine
power upon the Virgin Maya. 14
21. "On one occasion toward the
end of his life on earth, Gautama Bud
dha is reported to have been trans
figured. When on a mountain in Cey
lon, suddenly a flame of light de
scended 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 ex
pressed their opinion, that he could
not be ' an e very-day person,' or ' a
and introduced names, that they may
invest their venerated Sage with all the
honors of heraldry, in addition to the
attributes of divinity.2
15. When Jesus was about " begin
ning to preach," the devil appeared be
fore him, to tempt him.5
16. The devil said to Jesus: If thou
wilt fall down and worship me, I will
give thee all the kingdoms of the
world.7
17. Jesus would not heed the words
of the Evil One, and said to him: "Get
thee behind me, Satan."9
18. After the devil had left Jesus,
"angels cauie and ministered unto
him."11
19. Jesus fasted forty da}rs and
nights.13
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 in
carnation of Jesus is recorded to have
been brought about, by the descent of
that Divine power upon the Virgin
Mary.15
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."16
1 R. Spence Hardy, in Manual of Buddhism.
2 See chap. xvii.
3"J/ara" 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.)
4 See ch. xix.
* Matt. iv. 1-18.
• See ch. xix.
» Matt. iv. 8-19.
» See ch. xix.
• Luke, iv. 8.
10 See ch. xix.
11 Matt. iv. 11.
*» See ch. xix.
i» Matt. iv. 2.
i* Bunsen : The Angel-Meeeiah, p. 45.
is Matt. iii. 13-17. 16 Matt. xvii. 1
BUDDHA AND JESUS COMPARED.
293
mortal man,' and that his body was
divided into three1 parts, from each of
which a ray of light issued forth."2
22. "Buddha performed great mir
acles for the good of mankind, and the
legends concerning him are full of the
greatest prodigies and wonders."3
2;}. By prayers in the name of Bud
dha, his followers expect to receive the
rewards of paradise.5
24. When Buddha died and was
buried, " the coverings of the body un
rolled themselves, and the lid of his
coffin was opened by supernatural
powers. "ti
25. Buddha ascended bodily to the
celestial regions, when his mission on
earth was fultilled.8
20. Buddha is to come upon the
earth again in the latter days, his mis
sion being to restore the world to order
and happiness. 10
27. Buddha is to be judge of the
dead. u
28. Buddha is Alpha and Omega,
without beginning or end, "the Su
preme Being, the Eternal One."14
2'J. Buddha is represented as say
ing: "Let all the sins that were com
mitted in this world fall on me, that
the world maybe delivered."17
30. Buddha said: "Hide your good
deeds, and confess before the world
the sins you have committed."19
22. Jesus performed great miracles
for the good of mankind, and the le
gends coaceruing him are full of the
greatest prodigies and wonders.4
2;). By prayers in the name of Jesus,
his followers expect to receive the re
wards of paradise.
24. When Jesus died and was
buried, the coverings of his body were
unrolled from off him, and his tomb
was opened by supernatural powers.7
25. Jesus ascended bodily to the
celestial regions, when his mission on
earth was fulfilled.9
20. Jesus is to come upon the earth
again in the latter days, his mission be
ing to restore the world to order and
happiness.11
27. Jesus is to be the judge of the
dead. 13
28. Jesus is Alpha and Omega,
without beginning or end,15 the Su
preme Being, the Eternal One. 16
29. Jesus is represented as the Sav
iour of mankind, and all sins that are
committed in this world may fall on
him, that the world may be delivered.18
30. Jesus taught men to hide their
good deeds,'*0 and to confess before the
world the sins they had committed.21
1 This has evidently au allusion to the Trin
ity. Buddha, as an incarnation of Vishnu,
won Id be one god and yet three, three gods
and yet one. (See the ciiapter on the Trinity.)
2 See Buns*!!1* Angel-Messiah, p. 45, and
Beal : llist. Buddha, p. 177.
lamblichits, the great Neo-Platonic mystic,
was at one time tramjigvred. 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.)
3 See ch. xxvii.
• See that recorded in Matt. viii. 28-34.
6 See ch. xxiii.
• Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 49.
7 See Matt, xxviii. John, xx.
• See chap, xxiii. » See Acts, i. 9-12.
*• See ch. xxiv. " See Ibid.
•a See ch. xxv. " Matt, xvi.27; John, v. 22.
14 ''Buddha, the Angel-Messiah, was re
garded as the divinely chosen and incarnate
messenger, the vicar of God. aud God himself
ou earth." (Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, p.
33. See also, our diup. xxvi.)
15 Rev. i. 8 ; xxii. 13.
i« John, i. 1. Titus, ii. 13. Romans, tx. 5.
Acts, vii. 59, CO.
17 MQller : Hist, Sanscrit Literature, p. 80.
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."
19 MUller : Science of Religion, p. 28.
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.1' (Matt. vi. 1.)
12 " Confess your faults one to another, and
pray one for another, that ye may be healed."
(James, v. 16.)
294
BIBLE MYTHS.
31. "Buddha was described as a
superhuman organ of light, to whom
a superhuman organ of darkness, Mara
or Naga, the Evil Serpent, was op
posed."1
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."4
83. ' ' One day Ananda, the disciple
of Buddha, after a long walk in the
country, meets with Matangi, a woman
of the low caste of the Kandalas, 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 re
plies, ' My sister, I ask not for thy
caste or thy family, I ask only for a
draught of water.' She afterwards be
came a disciple of Buddha."6
34. "According to Buddha, the mo
tive of all our actions should be pity or
low for our neighbor."8
35. During the early part of his ca
reer 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, multi
tudes of men and women embraced his
doctrines."10
36. Those who became disciples of
Buddha were told that they must "re
nounce the world," give up all their
riches, and avow poverty.13
81. Jesus was described as a super
human organ of light — "the Sun of
Righteousness "2 — opposed by ' ' the
old Serpent," the Satan, hinderer, or
adversary. 3
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."5
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. r
" 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 deaKngs with the
Samaritans."7
34. " Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that
hate you."9
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. 1 1 From that period, when
ever he preached, multitudes of men
and women embraced his doctrines. 12
36. Those who became disciples of
Jesus were told that they must renounce
the world, give up all their riches, and
avow poverty. u
1 Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, pp. x. and 39.
3 " That was the true light, which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world."
(John, i. 9.)
» Matt. iv. 1 ; Mark, i. 13 ; Luke, iv. 2.
* Miiller : Science of Religion, p. 140.
6 Matt. v. 17.
8 Miiller : Science of Religion, p. 243. See
also, Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, pp. 47, 48, and
Amberly's Analysis, p. 285.
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
Anauda 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.
8 Miiller : Religion of Science, p, 249.
9 Matt. v. 44.
10 Hardy : Eastern Monachiem, p. 6.
11 See Matt. iv. 13-25.
13 "And there followed him great multitudes
of people.11 (Matt. iv. 25.)
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 eermon 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.)
i* See Matt. viii. 19, 20 ; xvi. 25-28.
BUDDHA AND JESUS COMPAKED.
295
37. It is recorded in the "Sacred
Canon " of the Buddhists that the mul
titudes " required a sign" from Buddha
"that they might believe."1
38. When Buddha's time on earth
was about coming to a close, he, "fore
seeing the things that would happen in
future times," said to his disciple An-
anda: " Anauda, when 1 am gone, you
must not think there is no Buddha; the
discourses I have* delivered, and the pre
cepts I have enjoined, must be my suc
cessors, or representatives, and be to you
as Buddha."3
39. In the Buddhist /So?7iadeva, 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 Bud
dha, 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 vir
tue, 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 pleas
ures, do good to all beings, even unto
sacrificing his own life, that thus lie
may attain to true knowledge."6
40. Buddha's aim was to establish
37. It is recorded in the "Sacred
Canon " of the Christians that the mul
titudes required a sign from Jesus that
they might believe. '2
38. AVhen Jesus' time on earth was
about coming to a close, he told of the
things that would happen in future
times,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 un
to the «nd of the world."6
39. "And behold, one came and
said unto him, Good Master, what
good thing shall I do, that 1 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 tre i lire in heaven: and
come and follow me."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."8
40. ' ( From that time Jesus began
1 Miiller : Science of Religion, p. 27.
' Hardy : Eastern Monachism, p. 230.
" Gautama Buddha is said to have an
nounced 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
bpirit 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/1 (Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah.
Compare with Matt. xxvi. 30-47.)
3 "Then certain of the scribes and Phar
isees answered, saying. Master, we would see
a sign from thee.1' (Matt. xii. 38.)
4 See Malt, xxiv ; Mark, viii. 31 ; Luke, ix.
18.
• 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 un
folding it with care and attention in all its
bearings and particulars. Explain the begin
ning, 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 fol
lower?, 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 multi
tudes, out of pity for the world, to the advan
tage and prosperity of gods and men.1' (Ibid,
p. 172.)
• Miiller : Science of Religion, p. 244.
• Matt. xix. 16-21.
• Matt. vi. 19, 20.
296
BIBLE MYTHS.
a "Religious Kingdom," a " Kingdom
of Heaven."1
41. Buddha said: "I now desire to
turn the wheel of the excellent law.3
For this purpose am I going to the city
of Benares,4 to give light to those en
shrouded in darkness, and to open the
gate of Immortality to man."5
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."7
43. Buddha said: " There is no pas
sion more violent than voluptuous
ness. 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."10
44. Buddha said: "A wise man
should avoid married life as if it were
to preach, and to say, Repent : for the
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."2
41. Jesus, after his temptation by
the devil, began to establish the domin
ion 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."6
42. " The law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ."8
' ' Verily I say unto you . . . heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words
shall not pass away."9
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 com
mitted adultery with her already in his
heart."11
44. "It is good for a man not to
touch a woman," " but if they cannot
1 Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. x. note.
2 Matt. iv. 17.
3 i. e., to establish the dominion of relig
ion. (See Beal : p. 244, note.)
* 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
eacred spot in all India. Here, in this fortress
of Hindooism, Brahrnanism displays itself in all
its plentitude and power. Here the degrding
effect of idolatry is visibly demonstrated as it is
nowhere else except in the extreme south of In
dia. 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 thou
sand, not counting innumerable smaller shrines.
In the principal temple of Siva, called Visves-
vara, are collected in one spot several thousand
idols and symbols, the whole number scattered
throughout the city, being, it is thought, at
jeast 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 incur
red guilt, however heinous, can prevent his
attainment of celestial bliss.
6 Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. 245.
6 Matt. iv. 13-17.
* Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. 11.
8 John, i. 17.
9 Luke, xxi. 32, 33.
i° Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 228.
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. GO.)
BUDDHA AND JESUS COMPARED.
297
a burning pit of live coals. One who
is not able to live in a state of celibacy
should not commit adultery."1
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."3
46. Buddha knew the thoughts of
others: " By directing his mind to the
thoughts of others, he can know the
thoughts of all beings."5
47. In the Somadeva a story is re
lated of a Buddhist ascetic whose eye
offended him, he therefore plucked it
out, and cast it away.7
48. When Buddha was about to be
come an ascetic, and when riding on
the horse "Kautako," his path was
strewn with flowers, thrown there by
Devas.9
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, Siani, Laos, Pega, Cambodia, Thibet, Japan, Tartary, Cey
lon and Loo-Choo, and many neighboring islands, beside about
two- thirds of China and a large portion of Siberia ; and at the pres
ent day no inconsiderable number of the simple peasantry of
Swedish Lapland are found among its firm adherents.11
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. "2
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."4
46. Jesus knew the thoughts of
others. By directing his mind to
the thoughts of others, he knew the
thoughts of ull beings.6
47. It is related in the New Testa
ment that Jesus said: "If thy right eye
offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it
from thee."8
48. When Jesus was entering Jeru
salem, riding on an ass, his path was
strewn with palm branches, thrown
there by the multitude. 10
1 Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 138.
2 I. Corinth, vii. 1-7.
3 Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 103.
« John, ix. 1, 2.
This is the doctrine of transmigration clearly
taught. If this man was born blind, as pun
ishment for some sin committed by him, this
pin must have been committed in some former
birth.
6 Hardy : Buddhist Legends, p. 181.
• 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.)
7 MQller : Science of Religion, p. 245.
s Matt. v. 29.
8 Hardy : Buddhist Legends, p. 134.
1° Matt. xxi. 1-9.
Bacchus rode in a triumphal procession,
on approaching the city of Thebes. "Pan-
theus, 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 tri
umphal march. ... It was in vain Pan-
theus remonstrated, commanded and threat
ened. ' 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 re
nounce his counterfeit worship.' " (Bultinch :
Age of Fable, p. •£!£. Compare with Matt.
xxvi.; Luke, xxii. ; John xviii.)
11 " There are few names among the men of
the West, that stand forth as salicntly as
Gotama Buddha, in the annals of the East.
In little more than two centuries from his de
cease 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 pre-
298 BIBLE MYTHS.
"Well authenticated records establish indisputably t'Ae 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 com
mended themselves to all brought under his influence. Even
at tliis distant day, one cannot listen with, tearless eyes to the touch
ing 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 duriiii; his life-time the
O £5
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.1
This worship wras at tirst but the natural upgushing of the ven
eration 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 Gauta
ma Buddha became a God, and continues to be worshiped as such.
For more than forty years Gautama thus dwelt among his fol
lowers, instructing them daily in the sacred law, and laying down
vailing religion, under various modifications, of every Pali text ; and at the present day,
of Tibet. Nepal, Siam, Burma, Japan, and in Ceylon, the usual way in which Gautama
South Ceylon ; and in China it has a position is styled is Sarwajnan-icahanse, ' the Venerable
of at least equal prominence with its two Omniscient One.1 From his perfect wisdom,
great rivals, Confucianism and Taouism. A according to Buddhist belief, his sinlessness
long time its influence extended throughout would follow as a matter of course. He was
nearly three-fourths of Asia ; from the steppes the first and the greatest of the Arahats. As
of Tartary to the palm groves of Ceylon, and a consequence of this doctrine the belief soon
from the vale of Cashmere to the isles of sprang up that he could not have been, that
Japan." (R. Spence Hardy : Buddhist Leg. he was not, born as ordinary men are ; that
p. xi.) he had no earthly father ; that he descended
1U Gautama was very early regarded as of his own accord into his mother's womb
omniscient, and absolutely sinless. His per- from his throne in heaven ; and that he gave
feet wisdom is declared by the ancient epithet unmistakable signs, immediately after his birth^
of Samma-sambuddha, " the Completely En- of his high character and of his future greatl
lightened One ;' found at the commencement ness." (Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 162.)
BUDDHA AND JESUS COMPARED. 299
many rules for their guidance when he should be no longer with
them.1
He lived in a style the most simple and unostentatious, bore un
complainingly the weariness and privations incident to the many
long journeys made for the propagation of the new faith ; and per
formed 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 Bud-
dha, " the Enlightened One." Such are Sakya-sinJia, " the Lion of
the Tribe of Sakya ;" Sakya-muni, " the Sakya Sage ;" Suyata, " the
Happy One ;" Sattha, " the Teacher ;" Jina, " the Conqueror ;"
Jfhagavad) u the Blessed One ;" Loka-natlia, " the Lord of the
AV7orld ;" Sarvajna, " the Omniscient One ;" Dharma-raja, " the
King of Righteousness ;'' he is also called u the Author of Happi
ness," " 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," u the Messiah," " the Only-Begotten," " the
Heaven-Descended Mortal," " the Way of Life, and of Immortal-
ity,"&c.'
At no time did Buddha receive his knowledge from a human
1 Gautama Buddha left behind him no writ- days by heart. (See Rhys Davids' Buddhism,
ten works, but the Buddhists believe that he pp. 9, 10.)
composed works which his immediate disciples a Compare this with the names, titles, and
learned by heart in his life-time, and which characters given to Jesus. He is called the
were handed down by memory in their original "Deliverer," (Acts, vii. 35) ; the " First Be-
Ptate until they were committed to writing. gotten" (Rev. i. 5); "God blessed forever"
This is not impossible : it is known that the (Rom. ix. 5); the "Holy One" (Luke, iv. 84;
Vedas were handed down in this manner for Acts. iii. 14); the "King Everlasting" (Luk«,
many hundreds of years, and none would now i. 33); "King of Kings" (Rev. xvii. 14);
dispute the enormous powers of memory to "Lamb of God" (John, i. 29,30); "Lord of
which Indian priests and monks attained, Glory " (I. Cor. ii. 8) ;" Lord of Lords " (Rev.
when written books were not invented, or only xvii. 14); "Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev.
used as helps to memory. Even though they v. 5); "Maker and Preserver of all things"
are well acquainted with writing, the monks (John, i. 3, 10; I. Cor. viii. 6; Col. i. 16);
in Ceylon do not use books in their religious lv Prince of Peace " (Isai. ix. 6j; "Redeemer,"
cervices, but, repeat, for instance, the whole "Saviour," "Mediator," "Word," &c., &c.
of the fatimokkha on Uposatha (Sabbath)
300 BIBLE MYTHS.
source, that is, from flesh and blood. His source was the power of
his divine wisdom, the spiritual power of Maya, which ha already
possessed before his incarnation. It was by this divine power,
which is also called the " Holy Ghost," that he became the Saviour,
the Kimg-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 posses
sion, for he is styled : " The Lord of the World."1
" Gautama Buddha taught that all men are brothers8 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."3
" Sakya-Huni healed the sick, performed miracles and taught
his doctrines to the poor. He selected his first disciples among lay
men, 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."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 benevo
lence, holiness, and miraculous power. His religion has never been
propagated by the sword. It has been effected entirely by the in
fluence of peaceable and persevering devotees.5 The era of the
Siamese is the death of Buddha. In Ceylon, they date from the in
troduction 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.8
There is much contradiction among writers concerning the date
1 Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, p. 41. He was sincere, energetic, earnest, eelf-sacri-
3 "He joined to his gifts as a thinker a pro- ficing, and devont. Adherents gathered in
phetic ardor and missionary zeal which thousands around the person of the consistent
prompted him to popularise his doctrine, and preacher, and the Buddha himself became the
to preach to all without exception, men and real centre of Buddhism." (Williams' Hindu-
women, high and low, ignorant and learned ism, p. 102.)
alike." (Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 53.) «"It may be said to be the prevailing re-
1 Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, p. 45. ligion of the world. Its adherents are estimat 3d
4 Ibid. p. 46. at four hundred million*, more than a third of
* " The success of Buddhism was in great the human race." (Chambers'e Encyclo., art.
part due to the reverence the Buddha inspired "Buddhism." See also, Buneen's Angel-Mes-
l>y his own personal character. He practiced eiah, p. 251.)
honestly what he preached enthusiastically.
BCDDHA AND JESUS COMPARED. 301
of the Buddhist religion. This confusion arises from the fact that
there are several Bnddhas,1 objects of worship ; because the word
is not a name, bufc a title, signifying an extraordinary degree of holi
ness. 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.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 subter
ranean rock, with an immensity of labor, which it must have re
quired a long period to accomplish. In those old temples, his stat
ues 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 dead was introduced among their devotees.*
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.*
It may be observed that in speaking of the pre-existence of Bud
dha 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."
1 It should be understood that the Buddha of hism arose in Behar and Eastern Hindustan
this chapter, and in fact, the Buddha of this about five centuries B. c.; and that it spread
work, is Gautama Buddha, the Sakya Prince. with great rapidity, not by force of arms, or
According to Buddhist belief there have been coerclonof any kind, like Muharamedanism, but
many different Buddhas on earth. The names by the eheer persuasiveness of its doctrines."
of twenty-four of the Buddhas who appeared (Monler Williams' Hinduism, p. 7£.)
previous to Gautama have been handed down » " Of the high antiquity of Buddhism there
to ue. The Buddhavansa or " History of the is ranch collateral as well as direct evidence —
Buddhas," gives the lives of all the previous evidence that neither iiiternecinc nor foreign
Buddhas before commencing the account of strife, not even reiigious persecution, has been
Gautama himself. (See Rhys Davids' Budd- able to destroy. . . . Witness the gigantic
hism, pp. 179, 180.) images in the caves of Elephanta, near Bombay
a "1 he date usually fixed for Buddha's and those of Lingi Sara, in tho interior of
death is 543 B. o. Whether this precise year Java, all of which are known to have been in
for one of the fjreotest epochs in the religious existence at least four centuries prior to our
history of the human race can be accepted is Lord's advent." (The Mammoth Religion.)
doubtful, but it is tolerably certain that Bodd- * Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 250.
302 BIBLE MYTHS.
Now, in regard to the antiquity of this work, we will quote tho
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, there
fore, safely suppose that tlie original work was in circulation in India for some time
previous to this date."1
Again, he says :
" There can be no doubt that the present work (». e. the Fo-pen-hing, or Hist,
of Buddha) contains as a woof (so to speak) some of the earliest verses (Gathas)
in which the History of Buddha was sung, long before the work itself was penned.
These Gathas 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 Mahabharata and the Ramayana. "3
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 tJie
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 llio matter ? It would be better at once to say that in our present state
Of knowledge there is no complete explanation to offer."8
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 acknowl
edges 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 cor
respond in a remarkable manner, and impossibly by mere chance, with the tra
ditions 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
1 Beal : Hist. Buddha, p. vi. * Ibid. pp. x. and 3d. » Ibid. pp. viii., ix. and note.
BUDDHA AND JESUS COMPARED. 303
fourth Gospel. This can be explained by the assumption of a common source
of rev/elation ; 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 f "l
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 attrib
uted to an earlier date."3
In regard to the teachings of Buddha, which correspond so strik
ingly with those of Jesus, Prof. Rhys Davids, says :
" With regard to Gautama's teachirfg 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. "3
Prof. Max Miiller says :
"Between the language of Buddha and his disciples, and the language
of Christ and bis apostles, there are strange coincidences. Even some of the
Buddhist legends and parables sound as if taken from the New Testament ;
though we know tfiat many of them existed before the beginning of the Christian
Era."*
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." Much of the legend
which was transferred to the Buddha, had previously existed, and
had clustered around the idea of a Chakrawarti.* Thus we see
that the legend of Christ Buddha, as with the legend of Christ
Jesus, existed before his time.''
1 Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 60. an ideal of their Chakravarti, and transferred to
a Quoted by Prof. Beal : Hast. Buddha, p. this new ideal many of the dimly sacred and
viii. half understood traits of the Vedic heroes ? Is
» Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 88. it surprising that the Buddhists should have
* Science of Religion, p. 243. found it edifying to recognize in their hero the
• Rhys Davids' Buddhism. Chakravarti of Righteousness, and that the
« Ibid. p. 184. story of the Buddha should be tinged with the
" It is surprising," eays Rhys Davids, "that, coloring of these Chakravarti myths?" (Jbid.
like Romans worshiping Augustus, or Greeks Buddhism, p. 220.)
adding the glow of the sun-myth to the glory T In Chapter xzxLs., we shall explain tte
at Alexander, the Indians should have formed origin of these myths.
304 BIBLE MYTHS.
"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.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE EUCHARIST OK LORD'S SUPPEK.
WE are informed by the Mattliew 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, thin is my body. And be took the cup, and gave thanks, and
gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it, far this is my blood of the New Testa
ment, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."1
According to Christian belief, Jesus instituted this " Sacra
ment ": — 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 god3 — 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 great
est orator of Rome, and one of the most illustrious of her states
men, 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 stu
pid," 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 Euchar-
istia 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.*
1 Matt. xxvi. 26. See also, Mark, xiv. 22. of the altar," says the Protestant divine, " is
8 At the heading of the chapters named in the natural body and blood of Christ vert et
the above note may be seen the words : " Jesus realiter, verily and indeed, if you take these
keepeth the Passover(and) in^i/wfcM the Lord's terms f or spiritually by grace and efficacy; but
Supper." if you mean really and indeed, so that thereby
3 According to the Roman Christians, the you would include a lively and movable body
Eucharist is the natural body and blood of under the form of bread and wine, then in
Christ Jesus vert et realiter, but the Protestant that sense it is not Christ's body in the sacra-
eophistically explains away these two plain ment really and indeed."
words verily and indeed, and by the grossest « See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 203,
abuse of language, makes them to mean sjnrit. and Anacalypsis, i. 232.
itally by grace and efficacy. " In the sacrament
20 305
306 BIBLE MYTHS.
P. Andrada La Crozius, a French missionary, and one of the
first Christians who went to Nepaul and Thibet, says in his " His
tory 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."1
Iii certain rites both in the Indian and the Parsee religions, the
devotees drink the juice of the Soina, or Ilaoma plant. They con
sider 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.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
S'icriiice, man, (who partook of this god), has an assurance of immortality, for by
that sacrament he obtains union with his divinity."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 Eucltarist, eating the sacred
cake, or wafer, after it had been consecrated ~by the priest, and be-
'vine veritable flesh of his flesh? The bread, after sacerdotal rites,
became mystically the body of Osiris, and, in such a manner, they
ate their yod.b Bread and wine were brought to the temples by the
worshipers, as offerings.'
The Therapeutes or Essenes, whom we believe to be of Bud
dhist origin, and who lived in large numbers in Egypt, also had the
ceremony of the sacrament among them.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*
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
1 " Leur grand Lama celebre une espece de 4 See Berwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 163.
sacrifice avec du pain et du vin dont il prend une 8 See Ibid. p. 417.
petite quantite, et distribue le reste aux Lamas 8 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 179.
presens a cetteeeremonie." (Quoted in Anac- 7 See Bunsen's Keys of St. Peter, p. 199;
alypsis, vol. ii. p. 118.) Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 60, and Lillie's Budd-
2 Viscount Amberiy's Analysis, p. 46. hism, p. 136.
3 Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. 8 Sec Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 60.
p. 401.
THE EUCHARIST OR LORD'S SUPPER. 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 ami wine they worshiped the invisible
presence of the Creator of heaven and earth.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 tip 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 i/txtifttfc 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."2
This style of reasoning is in accord with the TYPE theory concern
ing 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 be
fore him by Jethro and the elders of Israel, and some, at least, of
the mourning Israelites broke bread and drank " the cup of conso
lation," in remembrance of the departed, " to comfort them for the
dead."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 mys
teries of Mithra, or became 'members, took the sacrament of bread
and wine.4
M. Kenan, 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." 5
1 See Bunsen's Keys of St. Peter, p. 55, and » See Bunsen'e Angel-Mcesiah, p. 227.
Genesis, xiv. 18, 19. * See King's Gnostics and their Remains,
* St. Jerome says : " Melchizedek in typo p. xxv., and Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp.
Chrieti pauein et vinum obtulit : et mysterium 58, 59.
Chrietianuin in Salvatoris sanguine et corpore * Kenan's Hibbert Lectures, p. 85,
dedicavit."
308 BIKLE MYTHS.
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 lie had given thanks,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 Mitlmi.
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." 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.3 Tertullian, who nourished from 193 to 220 A. D.,
also speaks of the Mithraic devotees celebrating the Eucharist.4
The Eucharist of the Lord and Saviour, as the Magi called
Mithra, the second person in their Trinity, or their Eucharistic sac
rifice, was always made exactly and in every respect the same as
that of the orthodox Christians, for both sometimes used water in
stead of wine, or a mixture of the two.6
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 \vith 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."6
1 In the words of Mr. King: "This expres- Christianis convenire, qua? fecerunt ex indus-
eicm shows that the notion of blessing or con- tria ad imitationem Chriftianismi : unde
Derating the elements was as yet unknown to Tertulliani et Patres aiunt eos talia fecisse,
the Christian s." duce diabolo. quo vult esse eirnia Christi, &c.
2 Apol. 1. ch. Ixvi. Vohmt itaque eos res suas ita comparasse, ut
3 Ibid. Mithrce mysteria essent eucharisfice C/irixtiance
4 De Prescriptions Hsereticorum, ch. xl. imago. Sic Just, Martyr (p. 98), et TertulJianus
Tertullian explains this conformity between et Chrysostonms. In &uis etiam sacris habe-
Christianity and Paganism, by asserting that bant Mithriaci lavacra (quasi regeneration!?) in
the devil copied the Christian mysteries. quibus tingit et ipse (sc. sacerdos) quosdam
6 De Tiuetione, tie oblatione panis, et de utique credentes et fideles suos, et expiatoria
imagine resurrectiouis, videatur doctiss, de la delictorum de lavacro repromittit et sic adhuc
Cerda ad ea Tertulliani loca ubi de hiscerebus ini'iat Mithne.'1 (Hyde: Be Relig. Vet. Per
agitur. Gentiles eitra Christum, talia cele- sian. p. ll.'i)
bnulant Mithriaca quie videbantur cum doc- 6 Justin : 1st Apol., ch. Ivi.
triua '-ucharistiv et resurrectiouis et aliis ritibua
THE EUCHARIST OR LORD'S SUPPER. 309
In the service of Edward the Sixth of England, water is directed
to be mixed with the wine.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 Iread, used in these Pagan Mysteries, was carried in Tjaskets,
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."2
The Persian Magi introduced the worship of Mithra into Home,
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.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,4 in honor of Ceres, the goddess of com, who, in allegorical
language, had yivcn us her flesh to eat ; as Bacchus, the god of wine, in like sense,
had given us his Mood 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,"5
Prodicus (a Greek sophist of the 5th century B. c.) says that, the
ancients worshiped Iread as Demeter (Ceres) and wine as Dionysos
(Bacchus) ;° 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 tlie flesh and drinking
the Hood of their god."1
Mosheim, the celebrated ecclesiastical historian, acknowledges
that :
1 Dr. Grabes' Notes on Ircnseus, lib. v. c. 2, The Angel-Messiah, p. 305.
in Anac., vol. i. p. GO. * They were celebrated every fifth year at
2 Quoted in Monumental Christianity, p. 370. Eleusis, a town of Attica, from whence their
8 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 3C9. name.
" The Divine Presence called his angel of 6 Taylor's Diegesis, p. 212.
mercy and paid unto him : 'Go through the • Miiller: Origin of Religion, p. 181.
midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusa- 7 "In the Bacchic Mysteries a consecrated
lem, and set the mark of Tan (T, the headless cup (of wine) was handed around after supper,
cross) upon the foreheads of the men that called the cup of the, •{qathodaeiiion. "' (Cousin:
sigh and that cry for all the abominations Lee. on Modn. Phil. Quoted in I .-is Unveiled,
that are done in the midst thereof/ " (Bimseu : "ii. 513. See also, Dunlap'a Spirit Hist., p. 217.)
310 BIBLE MYTHS.
"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 aivl ceremonies
of which those renowned mysteries consisted. This imitation began in the
eastern provinces ; but, after the time of Adrian, who iirut 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."1
Eleusinian Mysteries and Christian Sacraments Compared.
1. " I>ut as the benefit of Initiation 1. "For as the benefit is great, if,
was great, such as were convicted of with a true penitent heart and lively
witchcraft, murder, even though unin- faith, we receive that holy sacrament,
tentional, or any other heinous crimes, &c., if any be an open and notorious
were debarred from those mysteries."2 evil-liver, or hath done wrong to his
neighbor, &c., tha he presume not to
come to the Lord's table."3
2. "At their entrance, purifying o. See the fonts of holy water at the
themselves, by washing their hands in entrance of every Catholic chapel in
holy water, they were at the same time Christendom for the same purpose,
admonished to present themselves with "Let us draw near with a true
pure minds, without which the external heart in full assurance of faith, having
clej-nness of the body would by no our hearts sprinkled from an evil con-
means be accepted."4 science, and our bodies washed with
pure water."5
3. "The priests who officiated in 3. The priests who officiate at these
these sacred solemnities, were called Christian solemnities are supposed to
Hierophants, or ' re Dealers of holy be 're vealers of holy things.'
things.' "6
4. The Pagan Priest dismissed their 4. The Christian priests dismiss
congregation with these words: their congregation with these words:
" The Lord be with you."1 " 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.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 Agathodae-
1 Eccl. Hist. cent. ii. pt. 2, sec. v. * Hebrews, x. 22.
2 Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 282. * See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 213.
3 Episcopal Communion Service. 7 See Ibid.
* Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 282. 8 Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 471.
THE EUCHARIST OB LORD'S SUPPEE. 311
m0n" — the Good Divinity.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. n. s.), but was made the peculiar
theme or subject of their triumphant exultation.9
The mystical wine and bread were used during tho Mysteries of
Adonis, the Lord and Saviour.3 In fact, the communion of bread
and wine was used in the worship of nearly every important deity.4
The rites of Bacchus were celebrated in the British Islands in
heathen times,5 and so were those of Mithra, which were spread
over Gaul and Great Britain.6 We therefore find that the ancient
Druids offered the sacrament of bread and wine, during which
ceremony they were dressed in white robes,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."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.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 cer
tain very clean vessels. lie 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 in
dividual, after the manner of a communion.10
The writer of the "Explanation of Plates of the Codex Vati-
canus" — 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
» See Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 217, and Isis 7 See Myths of the British Druids, p. 280,
Unveiled, rol. ii. p. 513. and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 376.
a See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 214. 8 Herbert Spencer : Principles of Sociol-
» See Isis Unveiled, vol. 11. p. 139. ogy, vol. i. p. 299.
4 See Ibid. p. 513. 9 See Monumental Christianity, pp. 390 and
• See Myths of the British Druids, p. 89. 893.
• See Dupuis : Origin of Relig. Belief, p. « Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 220.
312 BIBLE MYTHS.
devil, most envious of the honor of God, may have led them into this supersti
tion, in order that by this ceremony he might be adored and served as Christ our
Lord."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."
" Alter 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."2
These facts show that the Eucharist is another piece of Pagan
ism 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 in
vented 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* — 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 prac
ticed, 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 Marie narrator informs us that Jesus sent two of his dis
ciples 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
1 Quoted in Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. before the feast opened. According to the
221. Synoptics, Jesus partook of the Paschal sup-
2 Acosta : Hist. Indies, vol. ii. chs. xiii. and per, was captured the first night of the feast,
xiv. and executed on the first day thereof, which
3 According to the " John " narrator, Jesus was on a Friday. If the John narrator's
ate no Paschal meal, but was captured the account is true, that of the Synoptics is not, or
evening before Passover, and was crucified vice versa.
THE EUCHARIST OR LORD'S SUPPER. 313
passover with my disciples ? And be will show you a large upper room fur
nished 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."1
The story of the passover or the last supper, seems to be intro
duced in this unusual manner to make it manifest that a divine
power is interested in, and conducting the whole allair, 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 ;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.3
It suggests itself to our mind that 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. Th ' man, it appears,
wns 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 nar
rator imagined an ordinary man who had a furnished room to let
for such purposes, and would imply that Jesus knew it pro
phetically. He had only to pass in his mind from Elijah to his
disciple Elisha, for whom the great woman of Slmnem had so
richly furnished an upper chamber, to find a like instance.4 Why
should not somebody have furnished also an upper chamber for the
Messiah f
The Matthew narrator's account is free from these embellish
ments, 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 pass-
over."5
In this account, no pitcher, no water, no prophecy is men
tioned.8
It was many centuries before the genuine heathen doctrine of
Tr an substantiation — a change of the elements of the Eucharist into
Mark, xiv. 13-16. • For further observations on this subject.
Gen. xxiv. see Dr. Isaac M. Wise's " Martyrdom of Jesua
I. Kings, xvii. 8. of Nazareth," a valuable little work published
II. Kings, iv. 8. at the office of the American Israelite, Cincin-
Matt. xxvi. 18, 19. nati, Ohio.
314 BIBLE MYTHS.
the real body and blood of Christ Jesus — became a tenet of the
Christian faith. This greatest of mysteries was developed gradu
ally. As early as the second century, however, the seeds were
planted, when we find Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and Irenseus ad
vancing 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 sac
rifice, 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 dis
tinguished men of the time took part in it. One party maintained
that ''the bread and wine are, in the act of consecration, trans
formed 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 transfor
mation 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 Traii-
substantiation being declared an article of faith of the Christian
Church.
Transubstantiation, the invisible change of the bread and wine
TILE EUCHARIST OK LORD'S SUPPER. 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 lirst 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.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 lioman 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 anothei
like relentless foes, and thousands of Jews were slaughtered on ac
count of the Eucharist and the Host.
1 See Gibbon's Home. vol. v. pp. 399, 400. and charges Christ himself with foolishness.'1
Calvin, after quoting Matt. xxvi. 20, 27, pays: (Calvin's Tracts, p. 214. Translated by Henry
w There is no doubt that as soon as these Beveridge. Edinburgh. 1S51.) In other parts
words are added to the bread and the wine, the of his writings, Calvin seems to contradict
bread and the wine become the true body and thin statement, and speaks of the bread and
tin- true blood of Christ, so that the substance wine in the Eucharist as being symbol mil.
of bread and wine is transmuted into the (me Gibbon evidently refers to the passage quoted
!>:>1y mid blood of Christ. He who denies above.
this calls the omnipotence of Christ in question,
CHAPTER XXXI.
BAPTISM.
BAPTISM, or purification from sin by water, is supposed by many
to be an exclusive Christian ceremony. The idea is that circum
cision 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.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 ;2 and this say
ing :
" Go out into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature. And who
ever 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 recog
nized, but even declared to have originated with the followers of
Jesus.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 " aneient custom" which was
followed until the time of Stephen. During his bishopric contro
versies arose as to whether members should be received " after the
ancient Christian custom " or by baptism,4 after the heathen cus
tom. 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."5
1 The Rev. Dr. Geikie makes the assertion i. p. 394.)
that : " With the call to repent, John united a 2 See Galatians, ii. 7-9. Acts, x. and 3d.
-significant rite for all who were willing to own 3 See The Bible for Learners, vol. iii. pp. 658
their sins, and promise amendment of life. It and 472.
was the new and striking requirement of bap- 4 See Eusebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 7, ch. ii.
tism, which John had been sent by divine ap- * Monumental Christianity, p. 385.
point ment to INTRODUCE. '' (Life of Christ, vol.
316
BAPTISM. 317
When we say that baptism is a heathen rite adopted by the
Christians, we come near the truth. Mr. Lundy is a strong advo
cate 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 sprink
ling 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.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 im
poses on it a name."1
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 Cyclopaedia," (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.3
The Brah mans had also a mode of baptism similar to the Chris
tian sect of Baptists, the ceremony being performed in a river.
1 " Among all nations, and from the very ceremony common to all religions of antiquity,
earliest period, WATER has been used as a It consists in being made clean from some sup-
epecv^s of religious sacrament. . . . Water posed pollution or defilement." (Bell's Pan-
was the agent by means of which everything tfeeon, vol. ii. p. 201.)
was regenerated or born again. Hence, in all " L'usage de ce Bapteme par immersion, qui
nations, \ve find the Dove, or Divine Love, subsieta dans TOccident jusqu' au 8e ciecle, se
operating by means of its agent, water, and all maintient encore dans TEglise Greque : c'est
nations using the ceremony of plunging, or, celui quo Jean le Pi'tcurseur administra, dans
as we call it, baptizing, for the remission of le Jourdain, a Jesus Christ meme. II fut pra-
sins, to introduce the candidate to a regen- tique chez les Juifs, chez les Grecs, et chez
eration, to a new birth unto righteousness.1' presque tous les peoples, bien des siecles avant
(Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 529.) 1'existence de la religion Chrt'tienuc." (D'An-
" Baptism is a very ancient rite pertaining carville : Res., vol. i. p. 292.)
to heathen religions, whether of Asia, Africa, a See Amberly's Analysis, p. 01. Bunsen'a
Europe or America." (Bonwick : Egyptian Angel-Messiah, p. 42. Higgins1 Anacalypsis,
Belief, p. 416.) vol. ii. p. 09, and Lillie's Buddhism, pp. 55 and
"Baptism, or purification by water, was a 134. 3 Lillie's Buddhism, p. 134.
318 BIBLE MYTHS.
The officiating Brahman priest, who was called Gooroo, or Pastor,1
rubbed mud on the candidate, and then plunged him three times
into the water. During the process the priest said :
" 0 Supreme Lord, this man is impure, like the mud of this stream; but as
water cleanses him from this dirt, do thoufree Mm from his sin.'"1
Rivers, as sources of fertility and purification, were at an early
date invested with a sacred character. Every great river was sup
posed 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 transport
ing Ganges water in small bottles to all parts of the country.8
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 t?ie 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."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
tilled with water. This was to them a regeneration, or a purifica
tion of their souls. A name was at the same time imposed upon
the child, as indicated by the parents. B
1 Life and Religion of the Hindus, p. 94. ners, says :
3 Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 125. " They (the Persians) neither make water,
"Every orthodox Hindu is perfectly per- nor spit, nor wash their hands in a river, nor
euaded that the dirtiest water, if taken from a defile the stream with urine, nor do they allow
sacred stream and applied to his body, either any one else to do so, but they pay extreme
externally or internally, will purify his zoul."1 veneration to all rivers." (Hist. lib. i. ch. 138.)
(Prof. Monier Williams : Hinduism, p. 157.) 8 Williams' Hinduism, p. 176.
The Egyptians bathed in the water of the Nile ; * Hist. Manichee, lib. ix. ch. vi. sect. xvi. in
the Chaldeans and Persians in the Euphrates, Anac., vol. ii. p. 65. See also, Dupuis : Orig.
and the Hindus, as we have seen, in the Gan- Relig. Belief, p. 249, and Baring-Gould : Orig.
ges, all of which were considered as " sacred Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 392.
waters'1 by the different nations. The Jews 6 "Pro infantibus non utuntur circumcis-
looked upon the Jordan in the same manner. ione, sed tantum baptismo sea lot'one ad
Herodotus, speaking of the Persians' man- animae purificationem internam. Infantem ad
BAPTISM. 319
The rite of baptism was also administered to adults in the
Mithraic mysteries during initiation. The foreheads of the ini
tiated being marked at the same time with the "sacred sign" which
was none other than the sign of the CROSS. ' The Christian
Father Tertullian, who believed it to be the work of the devil,
"He BAPTIZES his believers and followers; be promises tbe remission of sins
at tbe sacred fount, and tbus initiates tbem into tbe religion of Mithra ; he marks
on tJie forehead his own soldiers," &e.8
<; He marks on the forehead," i. e., he marks the sign of tJie
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 :
" Tbe nations wbo are strangers to all spiritual powers (tbe beatbeus), ascribe
to tbeir idols (gods) the power of impregnating the waters witb tbe 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 witb murder, ex
piation was sought in purifying water."3
He also says that :
"The devil signed his soldiers in the forehead, in imitation of the Chris
tians."4
And St. Augustin says :
" The cross and baptism were never parted."6
The ancient Egyptians performed their rite of baptism, and
those who were initiated into the mysteries of Isis were baptized.8
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 for
giveness of sin was the result.7
sacerdotem in ecclesiam adductum eitjtunt 1 See Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p.
coram sole et igne, qua facta ceremonia, eun- xiv. Higgius : Anac., vol. i. pp. 218 and 222.
dera sanctiorem existiinant. D. Lord dicit Dunlap : Mysteries of Adoni, p. 139. King :
quod aquara ad hoc afferuut in cortice arboris The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 51.
Holm : ea autem arbor revera est Haum Ma- 2 De Praescrip. ch. xi.
gorum, cujus mentionem alia occasione supra 3 Ibid.
fecimus. Alias, aliquando fit immergendo in 4 "Mithra signal illic in frontibus milites
magnum vas aquae, ut dicit Tavernier. Post euos.'1
talem lotionem sen baptismum, sacerdos im- 6 " Semper enim cruci baptismus jungitur.11
ponit nomen a parentibus iuditum.1" (Hyde (Aug, Temp. Ser. ci.)
de Rel. Vet. Pers., p. 414.) After this Hyde 8 See Auacalypsis, vol. ii. p. G9, and Mouu-
goes on to say, that when he comes to mental Christianity, p. 385.
be fifteen years of age he is confirmed by 7 "Sacerdos, stipatum me religiosa cohorte.
receiving the girdle, and the eudra or cas-
BOCk.
320 BIBLE MYTHS.
The custom of baptism in Egypt is known by the hieroglyphic
term of " water of purification" The water so used in immer
sion absolutely cleansed the soul, and the person was said to be re
generated.1
They also believed in baptism after death, for it was held
that the dead were washed from their sins by Osiris, the benefi
cent 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.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.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.4
" It was not customary, however, among them, to baptize those
who were converted to the Jewish religion, until after the Baby
lonish captivity"* 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* 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
Ueducit ad proximas balucas ; et prius sueto p. 392.
lavraco traditum, prcefatus deum veniam, 3 See Higgins : Anac., vol. ii. pp. 67-69.
purissimG circumrorans abluit." (Apuleius : 4 Barnes : Notes, vol. i. p. 38. Higgins:
Milvsi, ii. citat. a Higgins : Anac.. vol. ii. p. Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. Go.
69.) » Barnes : Notes, vol. i. p. 41.
1 Bomvick : Egyptian Belief, p. 416. Dun- « See Bnn?en's Angel-Messiah, p. 121,
lap : Mysteries Adorn, p. 139. Gainsburgh's Essenes, and Higgins' Anacalyp-
7 Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. sis, vol. ii. pp. 66, 67.
BAPTISM. 321
it was performed by aspersion. These sacraments were held to have
virtue independent of the dispositions of the candidates, an opin
ion which called forth the sneer of Diogenes, the Grecian his
torian, when he saw some one undergoing baptism by aspersion. :
" Poor wretch I do you not see that since these sprinklings cannot repair your
grammatical errors, they cannot repair either, the faults of your life."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 pre
sided 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? as females were on the eighth, at
the same time receiving their name, of which addition to the cere
monial 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.3
Adults were also baptized ; and those who were initiated in the
sacred rites of the Bacchic mysteries were regenerated and ad
mitted by baptism, just as they were admitted into the mysteries
of Mithra.4 Justin Martyr, like his brother Tertullian, claimed
that this ablution wras invented by demons, in imitation of the
true baptism, that their votaries might also have their pretended
purification by water.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
1 Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. dans ces metnes mysteres, il fallut so faire
p. 391. reyenerer par r initiation. Cette ceremonie,
3 '• Holy Water" — water wherein the person par laqnelle, on appreuolt le-s vrais princi-
is baptized, in the name of the Father, and pes de la vie, s'operoit par le moyen de
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Church of Veau qui voit ete celui de la regeneration
England Catechism.) du monde. Ou conduisoit stir k-s bords
3 See Taylor's Diegesis. pp. 333, 334, and de missus le candidat qui devoit etre initie ;
Higtrins' Anacalypsie, ii. p. Go. apres 1'avoir purifie avec le i*el et 1'eau de
4 See Taylor's Diegeeis, pp. 80 and 232, and lar mer. on repandoit de I'ur^e sur lui. ou
Baring-Gould's Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. le couronoit de fleur*, et VHydranos ou le
391. liaptiseur le pougeoit dans le fleure." (D'An-
" De la-vim, que pour devcnir capable carville : Res., vol. i. p. 292. Auac., ii. p. 65.)
d'entendre les secrets de la creation, reveles 5 Taylor's Diegesis, p. 232.
21
322 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.1
The ancient Livonians (inhabitants of the three modern Baltic
provinces of Coin-land, 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 res
pect to it.2
The same ceremony was performed by the ancient Druids of
Britain.3
Among the New Zealanders young children were baptized.
After the ceremony of baptism had taken place, prayers were of
fered to make the child sacred, and clean from all impurities.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 Quetzacoatle, 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 be
ginning 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."5
Mr. Prescott alludes to it as follows, in his " Conquest of
Mexico :"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. Luncly 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. . . .
1 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 306, 4 Sir George Grey: Polynesian Mytho., p.
313, 320, 36G. Baring-Gould's Orig. Relig. 32, in Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i.
Belief, vol. i. pp. 392, 393, and Dupuis, p. 242. p. 392.
2 Mallet : Northern Antiquities, p. 206. s See Viscount Amberly's Analysis Relig
3 Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig, Belief, vol. i. Belief, p. 59.
p. 393. Higgins: Anac., vol. ii. p. 67, and 'Vol. i. p. 64.
Davies : Myths of the British Druids.
BAPTISM. 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."1
The water which they used was called the " WATER OF REGEN
ERATION."3
The Kev. 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 tfiemselves in water to cleanse themselves
from sin."3
After speaking of " confession which the Indians used" he
says :
"When the Inca had been confessed, he made a certain bath to cleanse him
self, in a running river, saying these words: ' 1 have told my sins to the Sun (his
god); receive tJiem, 0 thou River, and carry them to the Sea, where they may never
appear more.' "4
He tells us that the Mexicans also had a baptism for infants,
which they performed with great ceremony.*
Baptism was also practiced in Yucatan. They administered it
to children three years old ; and called it REGENERATION.'
The ancient Peruvians also baptized their children.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 ovtiward 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 accus
tomed to say :
i Monumental Christianity, pp. 389, 390. « Ibid. p. 361.
» Kingsborongh : Mex. Antiq., vol. vi. p. • Ibid. p. 869.
114. • Monumental Christianity, p. 390.
» Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 369. T Bomvick : Egyptian Belief, p. 416.
324 BIBLE MYTHS.
" 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 mem
ber 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 wlihjire us 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 per
formed 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 adminis
tered to unconscious infants, but to persons in full possession of their
faculties, and responsible for their actions. Moreover, it was per
formed, 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 under
stood something of the nature of the faith he wras embracing, and
was prepared to assume its obligations. A rite more totally unfit
ted 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 immer
sion. 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 requir
ing the most solemn promises to be made, not by those who w ere
thereafter to fulfill them, but by others in their name ; these others
having no power to enforce their fulfillment, and neither those actu
ally assuming the engagement, nor those on whose behalf it was as
sumed, being morally responsible in case it should be broken. Yet
this strange incongruity was forced upon the church by an imperious
BAPTISM. 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 sprink
ling, implies the deliverance of the infant from the stain of original
sin.1 The Pagan and Christian rituals, as we have seen, are per
fectly 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 Christi
anity, there were many who judged it imprudent to precipitate a
salutary rite, which could not be repeated ; to throw away an in
estimable privilege, which could never be recovered. By the delay
of their baptism, they could venture freely to indulge their pas
sions in the enjoyments of this world, wrhile they still retained in
their own hands the means of a sure and easy absolution. St. Con
stantino was one of these.
1 That man i8 born in original sin seems to " I am sinful, I commit sin, my nature is
have been the belief of all nations of antiquity, einful, 1 am conceived in tin. Save me, O thou
especially the Hindus. This sense of original lotus-eyed Heri, the remover of Sin." (Wil-
corruption is expressed in the following prayer, liams1 Hinduism, p. 214.)
used by them :
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
18511 — 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 be-
fore the virgin now adored was
born."3
In India, they have wor
shiped, for ages, Devi, Maha-
Ztew— "The One Great God
dess"3 — and have temples erected
in honor of her.4 Gonzales states
that among the Indians lie found
a temple " Pariiuraa Virginia " — of the Virgin about to bring
forth.5
Maya, the mother of Buddha, and Devaki the mother of Crishna,
were worshiped as virgins* 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
1 See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief , p. 115, and
Monumental Christianity, pp. 206 and 226.
a Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 159.
» See Williams' Hinduism.
326
4 See Higgins : Anacalypeis, vol. i. p. 540.
8 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 185.
6 St. Jerome says : "It is. handed down as
a tradition among the Gymnosophists of India,
THE WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 327
a representation of the Virgin Devaki, with the infant Saviour
Crislma, taken from Moor's "Hindu Pantheon."1 "No person
could bear to gaze upon Devaki, because of the light that in
vested her." "The gods, invisible to mortals, celebrated her praise
continually from the time that Vishnu was contained in her per
son."2
" Crislma and his mother are almost always represented black"*
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 im
memorial. 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."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 Mollier,' sitting with a child in Jier arms, in an
alcove, with rays of glory around her head, and tapers constantly burning before
her."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 wonder
ful 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.9
The Rev. Mr. Gutzlaff, in his " Travels," speaking of the Chinese
people, says:
"Though otherwise very reasonable men, they have always showed them
selves bigoted heathens. . . . They have everywhere built splendid temples,
chiefly in honor of Ma-tsoo-po, the ' Queen of Heaven.' "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," " Immacu-
that Buddha, the founder of their system was hardly be borne. Her conversation was with
brought forth by a virgin from her side." the angels, &c." (Nativity of Mary, Apoc.)
(Contra Jovian, bk. i. Quoted in Rhys Davids' s See Ancient Faiths, i. 401.
Buddhism, p. 183.) * Davis' China, vol. ii. p. 95.
i Plate 59. • The Heathen Relig., p. 60.
a Monumental Christianity, p. 218. 8 Barrows: Travels in China, p. 467.
Of the Virgin Mary we read : " Her face * Gutzlaff's Voyages, p. 154.
was shining as snow, and its brightness could
328 BIBLE MYTHS.
late Virgin," &C.;1 all of wliich epithets were in after years applied
to the Virgin Mother worshiped by the Christians.8
" The most common representation of Horns is being nursed on
the knee of Isis, or suckled at her breast."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
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
'wel/oe stars surrounding her head.4 In almost every Roman
Oatholic 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 com
pletely identify the Christian mother and child, with Isis and Horus."5
This crescent moon is the symbol of Isis and Juno, and is the
Yoni of the Hindoos.6
The priests of Isis yearly dedicated to her a new ship (emble
matic 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.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* The Virgin Mary is very often represented in this
manner, as those who have studied mediaeval art well know.
1 Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 141. 6 See Monumental Christianity, p. 307, and
2 See The Lily of Israel, p. 14. Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths.
» Kenrick'e Egypt, vol. i. p. 425. 7 See Cox's Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 119,
4 See Draper's Science and Religion, pp. 47, note.
48 and Higgins1 Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 304. 8 See Pagan and Christian Symbolism, pp.
• Pagan and Christian Symbolism, p. 50. 13, 14.
THE WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER.
329
Dr. Inman, describing a painting of the Virgin Mary, which is
to be seen in the South Kensington Museum, and which is en
closed 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, Phoenicia, and Etruria."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.3 Mr. Squire, speaking of this plant, says :
"It is well known that the ' NympJie '
— 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
ilovvers, holding it as a sceptre, or seated
on a lotus throne or pedestal. Ldcahnu,
the beautiful Hindoo goddess, is associ
ated with the lotus. The Egyptian Inis is
often called the 'Lotus-crow tied,' in the
ancient invocations. The Mexican god
dess Corieotl, is ofteu represented with a
water-plant resembling the lotus in her
hand."3
In Egyptian and Hindoo my
thology, the offspring of the virgin
is made to bruise the head of the
serpent, but the Komanists have given this office to the mother. Mary
is often s«en represented standing on the serpent. Fig. 17 alludes
to this, and to her immaculate conception, which, as \vc 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 Xice,
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 — u Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son"
— must have been revealed to them.*
In an ancient Christian work, called the "Chronicle of Alex
andria," occurs the following :
F/G. 17
1 Pagan and Christian Symbolism, pp. 4, 5.
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
eplit apricot, the pomegranate, rimmon, and
the Vine, just as was the ancient Venus." (Dr.
Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 528.)
* Serpent Symbol, p. 39.
• Taylor's Diegesie, p. 185.
330 BIBLE MYTHS.
"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."1
We have another Egyptian Virgin Mother in Keith or Nout,
mother of " Osiris the Saviour." She was known as the " Great
Motherland yet " Immaculate Virgin."2 M. Beauregard speaka
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."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 Keith, and on the very day that is marked on our
Christian almanacs as " Candlemas day."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.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. Ko. 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?
There was a temple at Paphos, in Cyprus, dedicated to the
Virgin Mylitta, and was the most celebrated one in Grecian
times.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. Ko.
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
1 Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 143. 6 Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 59.
2 Ibid. p. 115. • See Monumental Christianity, p. 211, an4
» Quoted in Ibid. p. 115. Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 350.
« Ibid., and Kenrick's Egypt. 7 Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 218.
THE WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER.
Madonna, but most unluckily for them, she has the name
"Nutria? in Etruscan letters on her arm, after the Etruscan
practice.
The Egyptian Ms was also worshiped in Italy, many centuries
before the Christian era, and all images of her, with the infant
Horus in her amis, have been adopted, as we shall presently see,
by the Christians, even though they represent her and her child
as Hack as an Ethiopian, in the same manner as we have seen that
Devaki and Crishna were represented.
HGNCU8
FIG. 19
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, a* we have done, ice, and our fathers, our kings,
and our princes, in tJie city of Judah, and in tlie 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
332 BIBLE MYTHS.
Heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to wor
ship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men ?"*
The " cakes " which were offered to the " Queen of Heaven "
by the Israelites were marked with a cross, or other symbol of sun
worship.9 The ancient Egyptians also put a cross on their
" sacred cakes."3 Some of the early Christians offered " sacred
cakes" to the Virgin Mary centuries after.4
The ancient Persians worshiped the Virgin and Child. On
the monuments of Mithra, the Saviour, the Mediating and Kedeem-
ing God of the Persians, the Virgin Mother of this god is to be seen
Buckling her infant.6
The ancient Greeks and Romans worshiped the Virgin Mother
and Child for centuries before the Christian era. One of these
was Myrrha,6 the mother of Bacchus, the Saviour, who was
represented with the infant in her arms. She had the title of
"Queen of Heaven."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.8
The Eev. 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.'")1*
Thus we see that the reverend and learned Dr. Stuckley has clearly
1 Jeremiah, xliv. 16-22. (See Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 314, and Inman's
a See Colenso's Lectures, p. 297, and Bon- Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 253); the mother of
wick's Egyptian Belief, p. 148. Buddha was Maya ; now, all these names,
8 See the Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. whether Myrrha, Maia or Maria, are the same
115, App., and Bomvick's Egyptian Belief, p. as Mary, the name of the mother of the Chris-
148. tian Saviour. (See Inmau's Ancient Faiths,
4 See King's Gnostics, p. 91, and Monumen- vol. ii. pp. 353 and 780. Also, Duulap's Mys-
tal Christianity, p. 224. teries of Adoni, p. 124.) The month of May
6 SecDupuis: Origin of Relig. Belief, p. 237. was sacred to these goddesses, so likewise is
6 It would seem more than chance that so it sacred to the Virgin Mary at the present
many of the virgin mothers and goddesses of day, She was also called Myrrha and Maria, as
antiquity should have the same name. The well as Mary. (See Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 304,
mother of Bacdins was .Myrrha ; the mother of and Son of the Man, p. 26.)
Mercury or Hermes was Myrrha or Maia (See 7 lliggins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 303,
Ferguson's Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 186, 304.
and Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 25o); the 8 Prof. Wilder, in " Evolution," June, '77,
mother of the Siamese Saviour — Somuiona Ca- Isis Unveiled, vol. ii.
dom — was called Maya Maria, i. e., " the Great 'Stuckley: Pal. Sac. No. 1 p. 34, inAnac-
Mary ;" the mother of Adonis was Myrrha alypsis, i. p. 304.
THE WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 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 no\v 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 here
tofore dedicated to Cybele.1
Minerva, who was distinguished by the title of " Virgin
Queen,"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."3 She was
represented, like Isis and Mary, standing on the crescent moon,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.* She was represented, like Isis
and Mary, with stars surrounding her head.8
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."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 Musco-
1 Higgins : Anacalyppis, vol. i. p. 305. « See Monumental Christianity, p. 308— Fig.
3 See Bell's Pantheon, and Knight : Ancient 144.
Art and Mytho., p. 175. « See Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., pp.
* See Roman Antiquities, p. 73. Anacalyp- 17.5, 176.
§ifi, vol. ii. p. 82, and Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. • See Montfaucon, vol. i. plate xcii.
P. 160. 7 Knight's Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 147.
334
BIBLE MYTHS.
mtes before the time of Christ Jesus. This goddess had also the
title of " Queen of Heaven.1
The ancient Germans worshiped a virgin goddess under the
the name of Ilertha, or Ostara, who was fecundated by the active
spirit, i.e., the " Holy Spirit."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.3 The
Christian celebration called Easier 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, accom
panied by a child, similar to the Horns of the Egyptians, who so often appears in
the lap of Isis on the religious monuments of that people."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.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.6
In the year 1747 a monument was found at Oxford, England,
of pagan origin, on which is exhibited a female nursing an infant.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 wor
shiped."8
This mother, who had the title of " Virgin," and " Queen
of Heaven,"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,
1 Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110. Celtic Druids, p. 163, and Taylor's Diegesis, p.
3 See Knight's Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 21. 184.
» See Prog. Kelig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 374, and 7 See Celtic Druids, p. 163, and Dupuis, p.
Mallet : Northern Antiquities. 237.
« Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 147. 8 Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 100.
• See Mallet's Northern Antiquities. • See Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 33, and Mex-
• See Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 108, lean Antiquities, vol. vl. p. 176.
109, 259. Dupuis : Orig. Relig. Belief, p. 257.
THE WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 335
and in the knot behind was inserted a small cross, by which it was intended to
show that she was the Most Holy."1
The Mexicans had pictures of this " Heavenly Goddess " on
long pieces of leather, which they rolled up.a
The annunciation to the Virgin Chimalrnan, that she should be
come 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,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."4 The festival of the conception of the " Blessed Vir
gin 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,6 which, says the author of the " Perennial
Calendar," " is a remarkable coincidence."8 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-Caesarea, 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.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 Hack. The infant god, in the arms
of his black mother, his eyes and drapery white, is himself perfectly
black.8
Godfrey Higgins, on whose authority we have stated the above,
informs us that, at the time of his writing — 1825-1835 — images and
1 Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176. • Quoted in Ibid.
a Ibid. i See Middleton's Letters from Rome, p.
1 Ibid. 236.
4 Higgins : Anacalypsia, vol. i. p. 304. 8 Higgins : Anacalypsis, TO,, i. p 138.
• Ibid. vol. ii. p. 82.
336
BIBLE MYTHS.
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 y 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.1
" The Bainbinc? at Rome is black," says Dr. Inman, " and
so are the Virgin and Child at Loretto."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."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 cir
cumstance of its complexion made it
but resemble the more exactly the old idols of Paganism."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.
FIG. 20
1 Higgins : Auacalypsis, vol. i. p. 138.
2 Bambino — a term in art, descriptive of the
gwaddled figure of the infant Saviour.
3 Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 401.
4 Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. o. V*3
8 Letters from Rome, o, 8<*
THE WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 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."1
The crown is also foreign to early representations of the Madonna
and Child, but not so to Devaki and Crishna,9 and Isis and liorus.
The coronation of the Virgin Mary is unknown to primitive Chris
tian art, but is common in Pagan art.8 " 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 ; "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."6
The whole secret of the fact of these early representations of the
Virgin Mary and Jesus — so-called — being black, crowned, and cov
ered with jewels, is that they are of pre-Christian origin ; they are
Isis and Horus, and perhaps, in some cases, Devaki and Crishua,
baptized anew.
The Egyptian " Queen of Heaven " was worshiped in Europe
for centuries before and after the Christian Era." 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.7
To this period belongs a beautiful sard, in Mr. King's collection,
representing Serapis8 and Isis, with the legend : u Immaculate is Our
Lady Isis."'
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 criti
cally, basalt figures of Isis."10
And Mr. Bon wick says :
" We maybe surprised that, as Europe has Black Madonnas, Egypt had Black
1 Monumental Christianity, p. 208. 7 King's Gnostics, p. 71.
9 See Ibid. p. 229. and Moore's Hindu Pan- 8 " Serapis does not appear to be one of the
theon, Inraan'a Christian and Pagan Symbol- native gods, or monsters, who sprung from the
isni, Higgins1 Anacalypsis, rol. ii., where the fruitful soil of Egypt. The first of the Ptolemies
figures of Crishna and Devaki may be seen, had been commanded, by a dream, to import
crowned, laden with jewels, and a ray of glory the mysterious stranger from the coast of
surrounding their heads. Pontus, where he had been long adored by the
* Monumental Christianity, p. 227. inhabitants of Siuope ; but his attributes and
4 Ibid. his reign were so imperfectly understood, that
6 Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 767. it became a subject of dispute, whether he
• In King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. represented the bright orb of day, or th«
109, the author gives a description of a pro- gloomy monarch of the subterraneous regiom."
cession, given during the second century by (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 143.)
Apuleius, in honor of Isis, the " Immaculate • Ibid.
Lady." l9 King's Gnostics, p. 71, not*.
22
338 BIBLE MYTHS.
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."1
The shrine now known as that of the " Yirgin in Amadon," in
France, was formerly an old Black Venus.9
" To this \ve 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 bro
cade, 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 & Black
Virgin and child, the former bearing a triple crown."21
This trijrfe 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 C}Til 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."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 mission
aries who went in the eighth and ninth centuries to propagate the Christian re
ligion in those parts, saw many images and statues of these gods."5
These u 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.
i Berwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 141. "Black * Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 264.
is the color of the Egyptian Isis." (The Rose- « Quoted in Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p.
crucians, p. 154.) 142.
a Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 159. In Monte- • Notes 3 and 4 to Tacitus' Manners of tbe
'aucon, vol. i. plate xcv., may be seen a rep- Germans,
seentation of a Slack Venus.
OHAPTEK 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 distinc
tions 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 ecclesi
astical 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 direc
tions, in the Western as well as the Eastern hemisphere."1
1 The Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 113.
[339]
340
BIBLE MYTHS.
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."1
In the Cave of Elephanta, over the head of the figure represented
as destroying the infants, whence the story of Herod and the in
fants 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.2
It is placed by Muller in the hand of Siva, Brahma, Vishnu,
Crishna, Tvashtri and Jama. To it the worshipers of Vishnu at
tribute as many virtues as does the devout Catholic to the Christian
cross.8 Fra Paolino tells us it was used by the ancient kings of
India as a sceptre.4
Two of the principal pagodas of India — Benares and Mathura —
were erected in the forms of vast crosses.6 The pagoda at Mathura
was sacred to the memory of the Virgin-born and crucified Saviour
Crishna.8
The cross has been an object of profound veneration among tho
Buddhists from the earliest times. One is the sacred Swastika
(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 Ja-
^""1^"T ponicus. The Vaish-
^^ navas of India have
also the same sacred
sign.7 And, accord
ing to Arthur Lillie,8
FI&.E2
' ' the only Christian cross in the cata
combs is this Buddhist tiwastica."
The cross is adored by the follow
ers of the Lama of Thibet.9 Fig. No. 22 is a representation
of the most familiar form of Buddhist cross. The close
» Monumental Christianity, p. 14.
a Baring-Gould : Curious Myths, p. 301.
Higgins : Anac., vol. i. p. 220.
3 Curious Myths, p. 301.
* Ibid. p. 302.
8 Ma-irice ; Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p.
• Ibid. vol. iii. p. 47.
7 Curious Myths, pp. 280-282. Buddha and
Early Buddhism, pp. 7, 9, and 22, and Anaca-
lypsis, vol. i. p. 223.
8 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 227.
8 Inman : Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 409.
Higgins : Anac., vol. i. p. 230.
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS. 341
resemblance between the ancient religion of Thibet and that
of the Christians has been noticed by many European trav
ellers and missionaries, among whom may be mentioned Pere
Grebillon, Pere Grueber, Horace de la Paon, D'Orville, and
M. L' Abbe Hue. The Buddhists, and indeed all the sects of India,
marked their followers on the head with the sign of the cross.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 clay
in the British Museum.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.3 Many of the Egyptian images hold a cross
in their hand. There is one now extant of the Egyptian Saviour
Horns holding a cross in his hand,4 and he is represented as an in
fant sitting on his mother's knee, with a cross on the back of the
seat they occupy.6
The commonest of all the Egyptian crosses, the CRUX ANSATA
(Eig. 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.9 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 Fl6.N?£3
have been a figure of a saint.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.8
The Greek cross, and the cross of St. Anthony, are also found
1 See Ibid. 8 See Inman's " Symbolism," and Lundy's
8 See Celtic Druids, p. 126 ; Anacalypsis, Mono. Christianity, Fig. 92.
Tol. i. p. 217, and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, • Baring-Gould : Carious Myths, p. 285.
pp. 216, 217 and 219. T Hoskins' Visit to the great Oasis, pi. xlL
» Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 217. in Curious Myths, p. 286.
« Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 58. 8 Curious Myths, p. 286.
342
BIBLE MYTHS.
on Egyptian monuments. A figure of a Shari (Fig. ~No. 24), from
Sir Gardner Wilkinson's book, lias a necklace round his throat,
from which depends a pectoral cross. A third Egyptian cross is
that represented in Fig. No. 25, which is ap
parently intended for a Latin
cross rising out of a heart, like
the mediaeval emblem of " Cor
in Cruce, Crux in Corde : "
it is the hierogylph of good
ness.1
It is related by the eccles
iastical historians Socrates and
PiolWBS
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 EUmics avouched that therein was contained something in common, belonging
as well to Serapis as to Christ. "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 Con
sul Servanus he says :
" There are there (in Egypt) Christians who worship Serapis, and devoted to
Serapis are those who call themselves ' Bishops of Christ.' "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.4 The plan of the chamber of some Egyptian sepul
chres has the form of a cross,6 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.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
1 Curious Myths, p. 287.
8 Socrates : Eccl. Hist., lib. v. ch. xvii.
8 Quoted by Rev. Dr. Giles : Hebrew and
Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 86, and Rev. Robert
Taylor : Diegesis, p. 203.
4 See Colenso's Pentateuch Examined vol.
vi. p. 115.
• Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 12.
« Ibid. p. 219.
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS. 343
sign or symbol.1 It is also the symobl of the Babylonian god Bal.1 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.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.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,"*
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.8 This bas-relief belongs to a
period when the Arsacedian kings governed Persia,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.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.9 It is
coeval with the sculptures found at Nashi-Roustarn,10 and therefore
belongs to a period before the time of Alexander's invasion.
The cross is represented frequently and prominently on the coins
» Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 218, and « Vol. i. p. 337, pi. xx.
Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 54. Travels in Persia, vol. i. p. 545, pJ. xxJ.
8 Egyptian Belief, p. 218. Ibid. p. 529, and pi. xvi.
8 Bonomi : Ninevah and Its Palaces, in Ibid., and pi. xvii.
Curious Myths, p. 287. Ibid. pi. xxvii.
* Curious Myths, p. 287. » Ibid. p. 573.
844
BIBLE MYTHS.
of Asia Minor. Several have a ram or lamb on one side, and a cross
on the other.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 Hin
doos, and the Roman Catholics, now
tell over while they pray.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.8 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
FIG. 26 sacred sign, accompanied with the
heart, is to be seen on their monu
ments. Fig. No. 27, taken from the work of Gorrio (Tab. xxxv.),
Bhows an ancient tomb with angels and the cross thereon. It
would answer perfectly for a Chris
tian cemetery.
FIG. fi. 8
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) ; arid
Greek crosses of equal arms adorn the tomb of Midas (one of the
ancient kings), in Phrygia.4
1 Curious Myths, p. 290. * See Illustration in Anacalypsis, vol. i. p.
» Knight : Anct. Ait and Mytho., p. 31. 224.
* Baring-Gould : Curious Myths, p. 291.
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS. 345
The adoration of the cross by the Komans is spoken of by the
Christian Father Minucius Felix, when denying the charge of idol
atry 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 beauti
ful. Your victorious trophies not only represent a cross, but a cross with a man
upon it."1
The principal silver coin among the Romans, called the de
narius, 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 29(5 B. c.3
The cross was used on the roll of the Roman soldiery as the sign of
life.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 Yillariova, that above a thousand years B. c., the cross
was already a religious emblem of frequent employment.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."5
The cross was also found among the ruins of Pompeii.'
It was a sacred emblem among the ancient Scandinavians.
» Octaviue, ch. xxix. * Ibid. pp. 2t»l, 29ti.
a See Chamber's Eucyclo., art. " Denarius." 5 Ibid. p. 311.
1 Curious Myths, p. 291. • The PeutaUnicu Examined, vol. vi. p. 115
346 BIBLE MYTHS.
"It occurs " (says Mr. R Payne Knight), "on many Ilunic monuments
found in Sweden and Denmark, which are of an age long anterior to the ap
proach of Christianity to those countries, and, probably, to its appearance ia
the world."1
Their god Tlior, son of the Supreme god Odin, and the goddess
Freyga, had the hammer for his symbol. It was with this hammer
that Th or 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.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 Pleimskringla
(Saga iv. c. 18), when he describes the sacrifice at Lade, at which
King Hakon, Athelstairs 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 sacri
fice?' 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 iii the name
of Thor, by making the sign of his hammer over it before he drinks it."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."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, evi
dently cut thereon by the Druids. Many large stones throughout
Ireland have these Druid crosses cut in them.6
1 And. Art and Mytho., p. 30. •* Knight : Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 30.
» Curious Myths, pp. 280, 281. • See Celtic Druids, pp. 126, 130, 131.
• Ibid. pp. 281, 282.
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS. 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 inform to the cross.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.'13 The Caaba at Mecca was surrounded by three hundred
and sixty crosses.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.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 them
selves. 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 cor
responding in every particular with those delineated on Babylonian
monuments ; but it was also distinguished by the Catholic appella
tions, "the tree of subsistence," "the wood of health," "the emblem
of life," &c.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 Coza-
mel, and is still preserved on the bas-reliefs of the ruined city of
Palenquc. 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 Cundin-
araarca.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 pal
aces 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
i Cleland, p. 102, in Anac.. i. p. 716. « See Maurice : Indian Antiquities, vol. ii.
a Celtic Druids, p. 242, and Chambers'a 103.
Encyclo., art. " Cross." 6 The Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p.
» Ibid. 114.
• Brinton : Myths of the New World, p. 95.
348
BIBLE MYTHS.
I
this building are several small temples or chapels, with altars stand'
ing. At the back of one of these altars is a slab of gypsum, on
which are sculptured two figures, one on each side of u cross (Fig.
No. 29). The cross is surrounded with rich feather- work, and orna
mental chains.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."1
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 bleed
ing deity, and figures stand round a Tau
cross, upon which is perched the sacred
bird.8
The cross was also used in the north
of Mexico. It occurs among the Mix^
tecas and in Queredaro. Siguenza speaks
of an Indian^ cross which was found in
the care 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
FIG. 29. 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 Zapa-
tecas. The cross was venerated as far as Florida on one side, and
Oibola on the other. In South America, the same sign was consid
ered 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.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.5
The Toltecs said that their national deity Qnetzalcoatle — whom
we have found to be a virgin-born and crucified Saviour — had intro-
» Stephens : Central America, vol. ii. p. 846,
In Curious Myths, p. 298.
* Curious Myths, p. 298.
' Klemm Kulturgeschichte, v. 142, in Curi
ous Myths, pp. 898, 299.
* Curious Myths, p. 299.
»Miiller: Geechichte der Amtrikanischen
TJrreligionen, in Ibid.
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS. o-U
duccd the sign and ritual of the cross, and it was called the " Treo
of Nutriment," or " Tree of Life."1
Malcom, in his " Antiquities of Britain," says .
" Gomara tells that St. Andrew's cross, which is the same with that of Bur
gundy, 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."8
Felix Cabrara, in his " Description of the Ancient City ol
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."3
In " Chambers's Encyclopaedia " 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 tne nations of Central and South America."4
Lord Kingsborough, in his " Antiquities of Mexico," speaks of
crosses being found in Mexico, Peru, and Yucatan.6 He also informs
us that the banner of Montezuma was a cross, and that the historical
paintings of the " Codex Yaticanus " represent him carrying a cross
as his banner."
A very fine and highly polished marble cross which was taken
from the Incas, was placed in the Roman Catholic cathedral at
Cuzco.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 untit Christianity began to be pa
ganized 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."8 The cross of Constantine was nothing more than the % >
the monogram of Osiris, and afterwards of Christ.9 This is seen
« Curious Myths, p. 301. T Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 32.
* Quoted in Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 30. 8 Jameson's Hist, of Our Lord in Art, vol.
8 Quoted in Celtic Druids, p. 131. ii. p. 318.
« Chambere's Encyclo., art. "Cross." • "These two letters in the old Samaritan,
s Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. pp. 165, 180. as found on coins, stand, the first for 400, the
a ibid. p. 179. second for 200—600. This is the staff of Osiris.
050
BIBLE MYTHS.
from the fact that the " Ldbarwn" or sacred banner of Constantino
— on which was placed the sign by which he was to conquer — was
inscribed with this sacred monogram. Fig. No. 30 is a representa
tion 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."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 Jupi
ter Ammon.2 As M. Basnage remarks in
his Hist, de Juif;*
"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 ex
clusively Christian, are to be found in combination
thus: vB- (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. : ^ ."4
This monogram is also to be found on the coins of Decius, a Pa
gan Roman emperor, who ruled during the commencement of the
third century.6
Another form of the same monogram is X and X H. The
monogram of the Sun was V . P. H. All these are now called mono
grams of Christ, and are to be met with in great numbers in almost
FieN930.
It is also the monogram of Osifie, and has
been adopted by the Christians, and is to be
seen In the churches in Italy in thousands of
places. See Basuage (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 Home, of Con-
etantins, with this inscription ; In hoc signo
Victor eris yfr ." (Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 222.)
» Hist, of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 316.
« See Celtic Druids, p. 127, and Bomvick's
Egyptian Belief, p. 218.
• Bk. iii. c. xxiii. in Anac., i. p. 219.
• Monumental Christianity, p. 125.
• See Celtic Druide, pp. 127, 128.
CK2ISTIAIT SY2IBOLS. 851
every church in Italy.1 The monogram of Mercury was a cross.*
The monogram of the Egyptian Taut was formed by three crosses.1
The monogram of Saturn was a cross and a ram's horn ; it was also
a monogram of Jupiter.4 The monogram of Venus was a cross
and a circle.6 The monogram of the Phenician Astarte, and the
Babylonian- Bal, was also a cross and a circle.6 It was also that of
Freya, Holda, and Aphrodite/ 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.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 LLomini-
um Salvator" or ': In Hoc Signo." It is none other than the iden
tical monogram of the heathen god Bacchus* and was to be seen
on the coins of the Maharajah of Cashmere" Dr. Inman says :
" For a long period I. H. 8., I. E. E. 8, was a monogram of Bacchus; letters
now adopted by Romanists. Heav* was an old divinity of Gaul, possibly left by
the Phenicians. We have tho same I. H. 8. in Jazabel, and reproduced in our
Isabel. The idea connected with the word is ' Phallic Vigor.' "u
The TRIANGLE, which is to be seen at tne present day in Chris
tian 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.19 It was sometimes repre
sented in connection with the mystical word AUM1' (Fig. No. 31),
and sometimes surrounded with rays of glory.14
This symbol was engraved upon the tablet of the ring which the
religious chief, called the Brahm-dtma wore, as one of the signs of
» See Ibid, and Monumental Christianity, 9 See The Pentatench Examined, vol. vi.
pp. 15, 92, 123, 126, 127. pp. 113-115.
»J3ee Celtic Druids, p. 101. Anacalypeis, • See Higgtns : Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 821
vol. i. p. 220. Indian Antiq., ii. 68. and 328. Taylor's Diegeeis, p. 187. Celtic
»See Celtic Druids, p. 101. Bonwick's Druids, p. 127, and Isis Unveiled, p. 527, vol. ii.
Egyptian Belief, p. 108. 10 See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 212.
« See Celtic Druids, p. 127, and Taylor's " Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp. 518, 619.
Diegesis, p. 201. >a See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 94.
» See Celtic Druids, p. 127. >» This word— AUM— stood for Brahma,
• See Bonwick'a Egyptian Belief, p. 218. Vienna and Siva, the Hindoo Irinity.
T See Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. 115. »' See Isis Unvei ed, vol. Ii. p. 31.
352
BIBLE MYTHS.
his dignity, and it was used by the Buddhists as emblematic of the
Trinity.1
The ancient Egyptians signified their divine Triad by a single
Triangle?
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."3
And Dr. In man 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.' "4
The Triangle is found on ancient Greek monuments.6 An an
cient seal (engrave 1 in the Memoires
de P Academic 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."6
One of the most conspicuous
among the symbols intended to rep
resent 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."7
The Trefoil adorned the head of Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour,
and is to be found among the Pagan symbols or representations of
FlB;3l
1 See Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 81.
2 Knight : Anr.t. Art and Mytho., p. 196.
3 Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 213.
* Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 328.
• See Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p.
196.
" Curious Myths, p. 289.
T Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp. 153,
154.
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS.
353
the three-in-one mystery.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.2 The leaf of the Vila, or Bel-tree, is typical of
Siva's attributes, because triple in form.8
The Trefoil was a sacred plant among the ancient Druids of Bri
tain. It was to them an emblem of the mysterious three in o?ie.*
It is to be seen on their coins."
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 pre
servation and destruction. In the
ceremonial of worship, the number
three was employed with mystic so
lemnity.9
The three lines, or three human
legs, springing from a central disk or
circle, which has been called a Tri-
nacria, 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."T
We have already seen, in the chapter on the crucifixion, that the
earliest emblems of the Christian Saviour were the " Good Shep
herd " 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,8 " seems to be the circumstance that in the quaint jargon
FIG. 32.
of the Talmud the Messiah
is often designated
' Dag,'
or
The
Fish ;' " and Mr. Lundy, in his " Monumental Christianity," says :
1 See Bonwick'e Egyptian Belief, p. 342.
2 See Inman's Pagan and Christian Sym
bolism, p. 30.
3 See Williams' Hinduism, p. 99.
4 See Myths of the British Druids. D. 448.
• Ibid. p. 601.
• Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 170,
» Ibid. pp. 169, 170.
8 Page 138.
354
BIBLE MYTHS.
' '• Next to the sacred monogram (the
) the Fish takes its place in import
ance 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 si<m 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 jM-god or being that taught them
all their civilization."1
As Mr. Lundj says, " truth demands no concealment or apol
ogy," therefore, when the truth is exposed, we find that Vishnu,
the Hindoo Messiah, Preserver, Mediator and Saviour, was repre<
sented as a " dag," or fish. The Pish
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 sympa
thy 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 rirst
was Matsaya, the Fish. In this Vishnu became
a fish to save the seventh Mann, the progenitor
of the human race, from the universal deluge."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
Phoenicians, 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.8
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.4 Pythagoras
and his followers did not eat fish. They were ascetics, and the eat
ing 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.5 This cross-fish is not unlike the
sacred monogram.
FI&.33
1 Monumental Christianity, pp. 130, 132, 133.
2 Indian Wisdom, p. 329.
3 Tnman : Anct. Faiths, vol. i. pp. 528, 529,
and Miiller : Science of Relig., p. 315.
* Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 111.
* Lillie : Buddha and Early Buddhism, p.
227.
OHEISTIAN SYMBOLS. 355
That the Christian Saviour should be called a fisl^ 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 Kev. 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."1
"The fish fried
Was Christ that died,"
is an old couplet.3
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."3
The Serpent was also an emblem of Christ Jesus, or in other
words, represented Christ, among some of the early Christiana.
Moses set up a brazen serpent in the wilderness, and Christian
divines have seen in this a type of Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Gos
pels 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."4
" The Gnostics," says Irenaeus, " represented the Mind (the Son,
i Quoted in Monumental Christianity, p. » Ibid. p. 185. • Ibid. p. 872.
134. * Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 246.
356 BIBLE MYTHS.
the Wisdom) in the form of a serpent," and " the Ophites," says
Epiplianius, " have a veneration for the serpent ; they esteem him
the same as Christ." " They even quote the Gospels," says Ter-
tnllian, " to prove that Christ was an imitation of the serpent."1
The question now arises, Why was the Christian Saviour repre
sented 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 Sa
viours ; the gods of goodness and of wisdom. In Hindoo mythol
ogy, the serpent is intimately associated with Vishnu, the preserving
god, the Saviour.2 Serpents are often associated with the Hindoo
gods, as emblems of eternity.3 It was a very sacred animal among
the Hindoos.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 Buddists under the symbol
of the Serpent is proved from the sculptures of oldest topes, where worshipers
are represented so doing."6
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 con
nected with him.6 Kneph and Apap were also represented as
serpents.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."8
The third member of the Chaldean triad, Hea, or Hoa, was rep
resented 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 Intel
ligent 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
* Fergusson : Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 9. 6 Wake, p. 73. Lillie : p. 20.
2 Wake : Phallism in Ancient Religs., p. 72. 8 Wake, p. 40, and Bunsen's Keys, jx
3 Williams1 Hinduism, p. 169. 101.
4 Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 16, and 7 Champollion, pp. 144, 145.
Fergusson : Tree and Serpent Worship. 8 Herodotus, bk. ii. ch. 74,
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS. 357
symbols of the gods on the black stones recording Babylonian bene
factors."1
The Phenicians and other eastern nations venerated the serpent
as symbols of their beneficent gods.2
As god of medicine, Apollo, the central figure in Grecian my
thology, was originally worshiped under the form of a serpent, and
men invoked him as the " Helper." He was the Solar Serpent-god.3
^Esculapius, the healing god, the Saviour, was also worshiped
under the form of a serpent.4 " Throughout Hellas," says Mr. Cox,
" ^Esculapius remained the ' Healer,' and the ' Restorer of Life,' and
accordingly the serpent is everywhere his special emblem."6
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.
Kev. J. P. Lundy, speaking of this, says :
" It is a remarkable fact that this spirit (i. e., the Holy Spirit) has been sym
bolized among all religious and civilized nations by the Dove."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."7
Buddha is represented, like Christ Jesus, with a dove hovering
over his head.9
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.9
Even in the remote islands of the Pacific Ocean, a bird is be
lieved to be an emblem of the Holy Spirit.10
R. Payne Knight, in speaking of the "mystic Dove," says:
1 Wake : Phallism in Anct. Kelig*., p. 30. finch : Age of Fable, p. 397.
a See Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 16. 6 Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 36.
Cox : Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 128. Fergus- « Monumental Christianity, p. 293.
eon's Tree and Serpent Worship, and Squire's * Bimsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 44.
Serpent Symbol. e Sre ch. xxix.
3 Deane: Serpent Worship, p. 218. ' Monumental Christianity, pp 323 and 291
* Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 7, and Bui- 10 Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho.; p 169
358 BIBLE MYTHS
" 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 fruc
tification 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."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.
O
Many are the so-called Christian symbols which are direct im
portations 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 u Ancient Pa
gan 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.2
1 Knight's Ancient Art and Mythology, p. Priapus, and the other works of Dr. Thomw
170. Inman.
» See also, R. Payne Knight's Worship of
CHAPTER XXXIY.
THE BIRTH-DAY OF OHEIST 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 ma
jority 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.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 ec
clesiastical historian, " has not hitherto been fixed with certainty,
notwithstanding the deep and laborious researches of the learned."3
According to IREN^EUS (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.1
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 contem
porary facts, which would seem to settle this point, yet on comparing these
dates with the general history of the period, we meet with serious discrep
ancies, which involve the subject in the greatest uncertainty."4
Again he says :
» See Bible for Learners vol. iii. p. 66 ; » See Chapter XL., this work.
Chambers'* Encyclo., art. " Ihristmas." « Hebrew and Christian Records, yol. IL p.
• Eccl. Hist., vol. i. p. 53. Quoted in Tay- 189.
lor's Diegeeie, p. 104.
859
360 BIBLE MYTHS.
" 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 sJiadowy 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."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 wry uncertain. Ewald appears to fix the date of the
birth at jive 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."*
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 sup
posed 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 com
mencement of the last year of the reign of Herod, or at the close of the year
preceding. ''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."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 re
ceived chronology, which is not older than Dionysius Exiguus, in the sixth
century, is wrong. But all attempts to discover the month and the day are use
less. No data whatever exists to enable us to determine them with even ap
proximate accuracy."5
i Hebrew and Christian Records, p. 194. « Ibid. p. 25.
a Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 559. 8 Farrar's Life of Christ, App., pp. 673, 4.
« Barnes1 Notes, vol. ii. p. 402.
THE BIRTHDAY OF CHRIST JESUS. 361
Bunsen attempts to show (on the authority of Irenmus, above
quoted), that Jesus was born some fifteen years before the time as
signed, and that he lived to be nearly, if not quite, fifty years of
age.1
According to Basnage,9 the Jews placed his birth near a century
sooner than the generally assumed epoch. Others have placed it
even in the third century u. c. This belief is founded on a pas
sage in the " Book of Wisdom"* 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 :
" lie 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 boost that God is ?us father. Let us see if his words be true; and let us prove
what shall happen in the end of him. For if the jmt 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 lie explicitly tells us
that this event did not happen until Cyrenius was governor of
Syria.4 Now it is well known that Cyrenius was not appointed to
this office until long after the death of Ilerod (during whose reign
the Matthew narrator informs us Jesus was born 6), 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.8
Eusebius, the first ecclesiastical historian,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
i Bible Chronology, pp. 73, 74. 7 Eusebius was Bishop of Cesarca from A.D.
a Hist, de Juif. 315 to 340, in which ho died, in the 70th year
8 Chap. ii. 13-'-iO. of his age, thus playing his great part in life
* Luke, h. 1-7. chiefly under the reigns of Constantine the
6 Matt. ii. 1. Great and his son Constantius.
• See Josephus : Autiq.,bk. xviii. ch. i. sec. i.
362 BIBLE MYTHS.
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."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 im
mense 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 through
out. 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 cer
tainly 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 iintil 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 Seutius Saturni-
11 us."*
The institution of the festival of the Nativity of Christ Jesus
being held on the 25th of December, among the Christians, is at
tributed to Telesphorus, who flourished during the reign of Anto-
uius 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).8
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 opin
ion of the community at Rome gained the upper hand, and the 25th
of December was fixed upon.4 It was not until i\\Q fifth century,
however, that this day had been generally agreed upon.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 Decembei
O
(i. <?., on the morning of the 25th), nearly all the nations of the earth,
1 Eusebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. vi. from the influence of some tradition, or from
3 Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 56. the desire to supplant Heathen Festivals of that
* See Chambers'B Encyclo., art. " Chritt- period of the year, such as the Saturnalia, the
mo*." 25th of December had been generally agreed
4 See Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 66. upon." (Encyclopaedia Brit., art. " Christ-
4 "By the fifth century, however, whether mas."
THE BIRTHDAY OF CHRIST JESUS. 363
as if by common consent, celebrated the accouchement of tho
" 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.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.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."
Buddha, the son of the Virgin Maya, on whom, according to
Chinese tradition, "the Holy Ghost" had descended, was said to
have been born on Christinas day, December 25th.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'1'' says :
"It was the custom of the heathen, long before the birth of Christ, to cele
brate the birth-day of their gods," and that, " the 25th of December was a irreat
festival with the Persians, who, in very early times, celebrated the birth of their
god Mithras."*
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 tlie
birth of Mithras. "«
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 Septehenes speaks of it as follows :
" The ancient Egyptians fixed the pregnancy of his (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."7
Mr. Bon wick, in speaking of Ilorus, 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
1 SeeMonier Williams : Hinduism, p. 181. and Life and Religion of the Hindoos, p. 134.)
a See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 126. 6 Celtic Druids, p. 163. See also, Prog.
3 Ibid. 216. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 272 ; Monumental Chris-
4 See Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, pp. x.- tianity, p. 167 ; Bible for Learners, iii. pp. 66,
25, and 110, and Lillie : Buddha and Buddhism, 67.
p. 73. • The Heathen Religion, p. 287. See also,
Some writers have asserted that Criohna is Dupuia : p. 246.
said to have been born on December 25th, but 7 Relig. of the Anct. Greeks, p. 214. See also,
this is not the case. His birthday is held in Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
Jnly-Auguet. (See \V illiams' Hinduism, p. 183,
364 BIBLE MYTHS.
walls of temples. One passed through the holy Adytum1 to the still more
sacred quarter of the temple known as the birth-place of Horus. He was pre
sumably the child of Deity. At Christmas time, or that answering to our festi
val, his image was brought out of that sanctuary with peculiar ceremonies,
as the image of the infant Bambino* is still brought out and exhibited in
Rome."3
Rigord observes that the Egyptians not only worshiped a Vir
gin Mother u prior to the birth of our Saviour, but exhibited the
effigy of her son lying in the manger, in the manner the infant Je
sus was afterwards laid in the cave at Bethlehem."4
The u 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 ."5
Osiris, son of the " Holy Virgin" as they called Ceres, or
Neith, his mother, was born on the 25th of December.6
This was also the time celebrated by the ancient Greeks as being
the birthday of Hercules. The author of " The Religion of the An
cient Greeks " says :
" The night of the Winter Solstice, which the Greeks named the triple night,
was that which they thought gave birth to Hercules."1
lie further says :
" It has become an epoch of singular importance in the eyes of the Christian,
who lias destined it to celebrate the birth of the Saviour, the true Sun of Justice,
who alone came to dissipate the darkness of ignorance."8
, also, was born at early dawn on the 25th of December.
Mr. Iliggins says of him :
"The birth-place of Bacchus, called Sabizius or Sabaoth, was claimed by
several places in Greece ; but on Mount Zelrnissus, in Thrace, his worship seems
to have been chiefly celebrated. He was born of a virgin on the 25th of Decem
ber, 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 morn
ing, in Rome."9
The birthday of Adonis was celebrated on the 25th of Decem
ber. This celebration is spoken of by Tertullian, Jerome, and other
1 '-Adytum"— the interior or sacred part POSTEA in Bethlehemetica epeluuca natus est."
of a heathen temple. (Quoted in Anacalypsis, p. 102, of vol. ii.)
2 " Bambino " — a term used for reprcsenta- 6 Quoted by Bomvick, p. 143.
tions of the infant Saviour, Christ Jesus, in 6 Anaculypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
awuddl'iiifis. 7 Relig. Anct. Greece, p. 215.
3 Bomvick's Egyptian Belief, p. 157. See 8 Ibid.
also, Dupuis, p. 237. 9 Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102 ; Dupuis, p. 237,
4 'Deinceps Egyptii PAIUTURAM VIRGINEM and Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i.
magno m honore habuerunt ; quin soliti sunt p. 322.
pnerum effingere jacentem in praesepe, quali
THE BIRTHDAY OF CHEIST JESUS. 365
Fathers of the Church,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."2 " All public business was suspended, declarations of war
and criminal executions were postponed, friends made presents to one anotJier,
and the slaves were indulged with great liberties."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 Deiiin matrem cornu tibicen adunco
Cum canit, exiguae quis stipis aera neget."
— (Epist. i. 1. ii.)
i. e., " When to the mighty mother pipes the swain,
Grudge not a trine 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 hos
pitality. Many features of this festival, such as burning the yule-
log on Christmas-eve, still survive among us.4
Yule was the old name for Christmas. In French it is called
Noel, which is the Hebrew or Chaldee word Nule*
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 J?reyr (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 author
ized by the general usage. At this festival the principal guests re
ceived presents — generally horses, swords, battle-axes, and gold
rings — at their departure."
1 Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99. Chambers, art. " Yule."
3 The Heathen Religion, p. 287 ; Dupuis, p. 6 See Chambers's, art. " Yule," and " Celf c
283. Druids," p. 162.
» Bulflnch, p. 21. 8 Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 110 and
«jiee Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 67, and 355. Knight : p. 87.
866 BIBLE MYTHS.
The festival of the 25th of December was celebrated by the
ancient Druids, in Great Britain and Ireland, with great tires
lighted on the tops of hills.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 fol
lowing it Nolagh or Noel, or the day of regeneration, and celebrated it with
great tires 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."2
This was also a time of rejoicing in Ancient Mexico. Acosta
says :
"In the first month, which in Peru they call Ray me, and answering to our
December, they made a solemn feast called Capacrayine (the Winter Solstice),
wherein they made many sacrifices and ceremonies, which continued many
days."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, aC'
cording to the custom of the heathen ."*
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 imme
morial, 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 unques
tionably 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 Dionysiao plants, that is, symbols of the generative power,
signifying perpetuity of youth and vigor.6
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.
» Dupuis, 160 ; Celtic Druids, and Monu- * Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 354.
mental Christianity, p. 167. 4 See Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 80.
* Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99. * Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 32.
THE BIRTHDAY OF CHRIST JESUS. 367
On this account the Christians adopted it as the time oi tie 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 23th of December, the Brumalia, or Winter Solstice,
when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of Sol."1
And Mr. King, in Ins k* Gnostics and their Remains," says :
" The ancient festival held on the 23th 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."1
St. Clirysostom, 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."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 holiday rs, for the pur
pose, as they said, of drawing the heathen to the religion of Christ.4
As Dr. Ilooykaas 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.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.
> Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 383. « See the chapter on " Paganism In ChrtaO-
1 King's Gnostics, p. 49. tnlty."
• Quoted In Ibid. • Bible for Learners , vo. 111. p. 67.
CHAPTEK 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 u these three are one true, eternal God,
the same in substance, equal in power and glory, although distin
guished by their personal propensities." The most celebrated state
ment of the doctrine is to be found in the Athanasian creed,1 which
asserts that :
" The Catholic2 faith is this: That we worship One God as Trinity, and Trin
ity 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 de
riving 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."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.
1 The celebrated passage (I. John, v. 7) (See Giles' Hebrew and Christian Records, vol.
J For there are three that bear record in heaven, ii. p. 12. Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 556. la
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and man's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 886. Taylor'a
these three are one," is now admitted on all Diegesis and Reber's Christ of Paul.)
hands to be an interpolation into the epistle 2 That is, the true faith,
many centuries after the time of Christ Jesus. • Dogma Deity Jesus Christ, p. 95.
368
THE TRINITY.
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.1
If we turn to India we shall find that one of the most promi
nent 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 biva. It is an inseparable unity, though three
in form.3
" When the universal and infinite being Brahma — the only re
ally existing entity, wholly without form, and unbound and unaf
fected 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 Brah-
manized 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, Siirya, and Indra ; and in other ways."3
This divine Tri-murti — says the Brahmans and the sacred books
— is indivisible in essence, and indivisible in action ; mystery pro
found ! which is explained in the following manner :
Brahma represents the creative principle, the unreflected or un-
evolved protogoneus state of divinity — the Father.
Vishnu represents the protecting and preserving principle, the
evolved or reflected state of divinity — the Son*
Swa is the principle that presides at destruction and re-con
struction — the Holy Spirit.6
» " The notion of a Triad of Supreme Pow- pies is an object of profound adoration.
ere is indeed common to most ancient relig- * Monier Williams1 Indian Wisdom, p. 334.
ions." (Prichard's Egyptian Mytho., p. 286.) * That is, the Lord and Saviour Crishna. The
" Nearly all the Pagan nations of antiquity. Supreme Spirit, in order to preserve the world,
in their various theological systems, acknowl- produced Vishnu. Vishnu came upon earth, for
edged a trinity in the dirfne nature." (Maur- this purpose, in the form of Crishna. He
ice : Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 35.) was believed to be an incarnation of the Su-
"The ancients imagined that their triad of preme Being, one of the persons of their holy
gods or persons, only constituted one god." and mysterious trinity, to use their language,
(Celtic Druids, p. 197.) " The Lord and Savior— three persons and one
a The three attributes called Brahma, Vishnu god." In the Geita, Crishna is made to say:
and Siva, are indicated by letters corresponding " I am the Lord of all created beings.'' " I am
to our A. u. M., generally pronounced OM. This the mystic figure o. M." "I am Brahma,
mystic word is never uttered except in prayer, Vishnu, and Siva, three gods in one."
and the sign which represents it in their tern- • See The Heathen Religion, p. 124.
24
370 BIBLE MYTHS.
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
Trinmrti 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 In
dian 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, Brahma, 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 there
fore, 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."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 Brahma,
Vishnou, and Mahesa (Siva), were no other than the Christian Trinity. "2
Thomas Maurice, in his " Indian Antiquities," describes a mag
nificent 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
i Allen's India, pp. 382, 383. 2 Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 872.
THE TRINITY.
371
FiG.34
unanimous confession of tbe sacred sacerdotal tribe of India, to indicate the Cre
ator, the Preserver, and tbe Regenerator, of mankind ; wbicb establishes the solemn
fact, that from the remotest eras, the Indian nations had adored a triune deity."'1
Fig. No. 34 is u representation of an Indian sculpture, intended
to represent the Triune God,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 Trin
ity from a very early period.
Mr. Faber, in his " Origin of
Heathen Idolatry," says :
" Among tbe Hindoos, we have tbe
Triad of Brahma", Vishnu, and Siva; so,
among the votaries of Buddha, we find
the self-triplicated Buddha declared to
be tbe same as the Hindoo Trimurti.
Among the Buddhist sect of the Jain-
ists, we have the triple Jiva, in whom
tbe Trimurti is similarly declared to
be incarnate."
In this Trinity Vajrapani answers to Brahma, or Jehovah, the
" All-father," Manj usri 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 incar
nation 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 tbe form of tbe God of mercy, the dis-
peller of pain and trouble, tbe Lord of all things, tbe guardian of the universe,
tbe emblem of mercy towards those who serve thee — OM I tbe possessor of all
things in vital form. Thou art Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa ; thou art Lord of
all the universe. Thou art under tbe proper form of all things, movable and
immovable, tbe possessor of the whole, and thus I adore thee. I adore thee,
who art celebrated by a thousand names, and under various forms ; in tbe shape
of Buddha, the god of mercy."3
The inhabitants of China and Japan, the majority of whom
are Buddhisto, worship God in the form of a Trinity. Their name
1 Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 372. » Asiatic Researches, vol. HI. pp. 285, 283.
* Taken from Moore's " Hindoo Pantheon," See also, King's Gnostics, 167.
plate 81.
372 BIBLE MYTHS.
for him (Buddha) is Fo, and in speaking of the Trinity they say :
u The three pure, precious or honorable Fo."1 This triad is repre
sented 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, hut has three forms"*
In a chapel belonging to the monastery of Poo-ta-la, which wa»
found in Manchow-Tartary, was to be seen representations of Fo, in
the form of three persons.3
Navarette, in his account of China, says :
" This sect (of Fo) lias 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. Fabcr, 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,4 as we have found it reverenced by the in
habitants 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.6 It was the leading
feature in Laou-kemrs system of philosophical theology, that Taou,
the eternal reason, produced one / one produced two • two produced
three / and three produced all things.6 This was a sentence which
Laou-keun continually repeated, and which Mr. Maurice considers.
" a most singular axiom for a heathen philosopher."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."8
The ancient emperors of China solemnly sacrificed, every three
years, to a Him who is One and Three."8
The ancient Egyptians worshiped God in the form of a Trinity,
1 Davis' China, vol. ii. p. 104. This Taou sect, according to John Francis
2 Ibid. pp. 103 and 81. Davis, and the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff, both of
3 Ibid. pp. 105, 106. whom have resided in Chiua — call their trinity
4 Ibid. pp. 103, 81. "the three pure ones,1' or " the three precious
5 Ibid. 110, 111. Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p ones in heaven.'1 (See Davis1 China, vol. ii. p.
36. Dunlap's Spirit Hist., 150. 110, and Gutzlaff s Voyages, p. 307.)
6 Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 41. Dupuis, 8 See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 210.
p. 285. Dunlap's Spirit Hist., 150. » Ibid.
7 Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 41.
THE TRINITY. 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.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."'J
The idea of calling the second person in the Trinity the Logos,
or Word? is an Egyptian feature, and was engrafted into Christi
anity many centuries after the time of Christ Jesus.4 Ajwllo, who
had his tomb at Delphi in Egypt, was called the Word.6
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 Wont, 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."6
1 Indian Antiquities, vol. i. p. 127. a being of divine essence, but distinguished
3 Higgius : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 14. from the Supreme God. It is also called " tlie
The following answer is stated by Manetho, first-born Son of God."
an Egyptian priest, to have been given by an " The Platonists furnished brilliant recruits
Oracle to Sesostris : " On his return through to the Christian churches of Asia Minor and
Africa he entered the sanctuary of the Oracle, Greece, and brought with them their love for
saying: 'Tell me, O thou strong in fire, who be- system and their idealism." "It is in the
fore me could subjugate all things? and who Platonizing, or Alexandrian, branch of Judaism
shall after me T But the Oracle rebuked him, that we must seek for the antecedents of the
paying, ' First, God ; then the Word ,• and with Christian doctrine of the Logos." (A. Reville :
them, the Spirit.' " (Nimrod, vol. i. p. 119, in Dogma Deity Jesus, p. 29.)
Ibid. vol. i. p. 805.) 6 Uiggins : Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102.
Here we have distinctly enumerated God, Mithras, the Mediator, and Saviour of the
the Logos, and the Spirit or Holy Ghost, in a Persians, was called the Logos. (See Dunlap's
very early period, long previous to the Christian Son of the Man, p. 20. Bunsen'a Angel-Mes-
era. slab, p. 75.) Hermes was called the Logos.
» I. John, v. 7. John i. 1. (See Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 89, marginal
4 The Alexandrian theology, of which the note.)
celebrated Plato was the chief representative, • Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 402.
taught that the Logo* was " the second Qod ;"
374 BIBLE MYTHS.
" 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.' "l
The Assyrians had Marduk for their Logos ;a one of their sacred
addresses to him reads thus :
" Thou art the powerful one— Thou art the life-giver — Thou also the pros-
perer — Merciful one among the gods — Eldest sou of Hea, who made heaven and
earth — Lord of heaven and earth, who an equal has not — Merciful one, who dead
to life raises."3
The Chaldeans had their Memra or " Word of God," corre
sponding to the Greek Logos^ which designated that being who
organized and who still governs the world, and is inferior to God
only.'
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
Bock," " 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," " Inter
preter of God," "Ambassador of God," "Power of God," "King,"
"Angel," "Man," "Mediator," "Light," " The Beginning," "The
East," " The Name of God," " The Intercessor."6
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 sa
cred things ought to be in threes, therefore, that number was scru
pulously observed in most religious ceremonies.9
Orpheus7 wrote that :
1 Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404. • See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 307.
a Ibid. 7 Orpheus is said to have been a native of
8 Ibid. Thracia, the oldest poet of Greece, and to have
* Ibid. p. 28. writ en before the time of Homer ; but he ia
• Frothingham's Cradle of the Christ, p. 112. evidently a mythological character.
THE TRINITY. 375
41 All things were made by One godhead in three names, and that this god
is all things."1
This Trinitarian view of the Deity he is said to have brought
from Egypt, and the Christian Fathers of the third and fourth cen
turies claimed that Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Plato — who taught
the doctrine of the Trinity — had drawn their theological philosophy
from the writings of Orpheus.3
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.'
The celebrated passage : " In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God,"* is a fragment
of some Pagan treatise on the Platonic philosophy, evidently writ
ten by Irenaeus.6 It is quoted by Amelius, a Pagan philosopher,
as strictly applicable to the Logos, or Mercury, the Word, appa
rently 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 him
self 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."6
The Christian Father, Justin Martyr, apologizing for the Chris
tian 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.'"1
We see, then, that the title " Word " or " Logos," being ap
plied to Jesus, is another piece of Pagan amalgamation with Chns-
1 See Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 332, and • The first that we know of this gospel for
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 189. certain is during the time of Ireneeus, the great
1 See Chambere'sEncyclo., art. "Orpheus." Christian forger.
» Ibid., art. " Plato.'1 e gee Taylor's Diegesis, p. 185.
* John, i. 1. 7 Apol. 1. ch. xx.-xxii.
376 BIBLE MYTHS.
tianity. It did not receive its authorized Christian form until th*
middle of the second century after Christ.1
The ancient Pagan Romans worshiped a Trinity. An oracle is
said to have declared that there was, " first God, then the
and with them the Spirit."2
Here we see distinctly enumerated, God, the Logos, and the
Spirit or Holy Ghost, in ancient Kome, where the most celebrated
temple of this capital — that of Jupiter Capitolinus — was dedicated
to three deities, which three deities were honored with joint wor
ship.3
The ancient Persians worshiped a Trinity.4 This trinity con
sisted of Oromasdes, Mithras, and Ahriman.6 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 u Inter
cessor," and Ahriman was the Destroyer. In the oracles of Zoro
aster 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."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 Oracks, is called
the Father ; the lowest to Ahrimanes ; and the middle to Mithras ; who, in the
tame Oracles, is called the second Mind."
The Assyrians and Phenicians worshiped a Trinity.7
" It is a curious and instructive fact, that the Jews had symbols
of the divine Unity in Trinity as well as the Pagans."8 The Cabbala
had its Trinity : u the Ancient, whose name is sanctified, is with
three heads, which make but one"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 Vandals10 had a god called Triglaff. One of these was found at Her-
1 See Fiske : Myths and Myth-makers, p. 6 Indian A/itiquities, vol. iv. p. 259.
205. Celsus charges the Christians with a re- 7 See Monumental Christianity, p. 65, and
coinage of the misunderstood doctrine of the Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819.
Logos. 8 Monumental Christianity, p. 923. See also,
8 See Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 105. Maurice's Indian Antiquities.
3 See Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 158. 9 Idra Suta, Sohar, iii. 288. B. Franck, 138.
4 See Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 346. Son of the Man, p. 78.
Monumental Christianity, p. 65. and Ancient 10 Vandals — a race of European barbarians,
Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819. 6 Ibid. either of Germanic or Slavonic origin.
THE TRINITY. 377
tungerberg, near Brandenburg (in Prussia). He was represented with tlire*
heads. This was apparently the Trinity of Paganism."1
The ancient Scandinavians worshiped a triple deity who was
yet one god. It consisted of Odin, Thor, and Frcy. A triune
statue representing this Trinity in Unity was found at Upsal in
Sweden." The three principal nations of Scandinavia (Sweden,
Denmark, and Norway) vied with each other in erecting temples,
hut none were more famous than the temple at Fpsul 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 ahove the other. Odin was represented holding a
eword 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 n>n
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 AN-
gard (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 :
'"lie 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"*
The ancient Druids also worshiped : " Ain Treidhe Dia ainm
Taulac, Fan, Mollac ; " which is to say : u Ain triple God, of name
Taulac, Fan, Mollac."1
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.''1
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.5
1 Parkhurst : Hebrew Lexicon, Quoted in s See Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 216. 4 Celtic Druid?, p. 171; Anacalypsis, vol
a See Knight: Auct. Art and Mytho., p. 169. i. p. 123; and Myths of the British Druids, p!
Maurice : Indian Antiq., vol. v. p. 14, and 448.
Grose : The Heathen Religion, p. 210. 6 Indian Autiquit'es, vol. v. pp. 8. 9
378 BIBLE MYTHS.
The Tartars also worshiped God as a Trinity in Unity. On one
of their medals, which is now in the St. Petersburg}! Museum, may
be seen a representation of the triple God seated on the lotus.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.8
The ancient Mexicans and Peruvians had their Trinity. The
supreme God of the Mexicans (TezcatUpocd), who had, as Lord
Kingsborough says, " all the attributes and powers which were as
signed to Jehovah by the Hebrews," had associated with him two
other gods, Iluitzlipoclitli and Tlaloc ; one occupied a place upon
his left hand, the other on his right. This was the Trinity of the
Mexicans.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 Hernan
dez wras 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 Tzona, the Son
Sacab, who was born of a Virgin, and that the Holy Ghost was called Ec-
liiah:^
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, Churuntl, and Intiquaoqui,
signifieth Father and Lord Sun, the Son Sun, and the Brother Sun.
" Being in Chuquisaca, an honorable priest showed mean 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 wa8
' One in Three, and Three in One. ' And as this priest stood amazed thereat, I
said that the devil by his infernal and obstinate pride (whereby he always pre
tends to make himself God) did steal all that he could from the truth, to employ
it in his lying and deceits."5
The doctrine was recognized among the Indians of the Cali-
fornian peninsula. The statue of the principal deity of the New
Granadian Indians had " three heads on one body," and was under
stood to be " three persons with one heart and one will."6
1 Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 48. vi. p. 164.
a Knight : Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 169. « Acosta : Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 373. See
1 Squire : Serpent Symbol, pp. 179, 180. also, Indian Antiq., vol. v. p. 26, and Squire'i
Mexican Ant., vol. vi. p. 164. Serpent Symbol, p. 181.
* Kingeborough : Mexican Antiquities, vol. • Sqnire : Serpent Symbol, p. 181.
THE TRINITY. 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 dis
tant 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 Scandinavi
ans, 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 debris.
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. 179^) 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 deli
cate 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, " 1 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, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, of India — where it was evidently promul
gated in the Geeta, fifteen hundred years before tJie birth of Plato;1 but in the Nu-
men 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. Petersburg!! ; 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, conspicu
ous on most of the ancient temples of Upper Egypt."4
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 him-
1 The ideas entertained concerning the Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 324, and Hindu-
antiquity of the Geeta, at the time Mr. Manrice ism, pp. 109, 110-115.)
wrote his Indian Antiquities, were erroneous. "The grand cavern pagoda of Elephanta,
This work, as we have elsewhere seen, is not the oldest and most magnificent temple in the
as old as he supposed. The doctrine of the world, is neither more nor less than a superb
Trimurti in India, however, is to be found in temple of a Triune God." (Maurice : Indian
the Veda, and epic poems, which are of an an- Antiquities, vol. iii. p. ix.)
tiquity long anterior to the rise of Christianity, a Indian Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 125-127.
preceding it by many centuries. (See Monier
380 BIBLE MYTHS.
self in human form" and, " the second person in the Ever -Blessed
Trinity" It was Justin Martyr, a Christian convert from the Pla
tonic school* 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 mate
rial 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.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 inter
polations ichich were inserted into the books of the New Testament,
many years after these hooks were written? 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, gen
eration, 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* 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 Constan
tinople. Up to this time there was no understood and recognized
doctrine on this high subject. The Christians were for the most
part accustomed to us escriptural expressions in speaking of the
Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, without defining articulately
their relation to one another.6
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
1 We have already seen that Plato and his bon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 556, and note 117.)
followers taught the doctrine of the Trinity None of the ancient manuscripts now extant,
centuries before the time of Christ Jesus. above four-score in number, contain this pas-
2 Israel Worsley's Enquiry, p. 54. Quoted sage. (Ibid, note 116.) In the eleventh am
in Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 116. twelfth centuries, the Bible was corrected.
3 " The memorable text (I. John v. 7) which Yet, notwithstanding these corrections, the pas-
asserts the unity of the three which bear wit- sage is still wanting in twenty-five Latin man-
ness in heaven, is condemned by the universal uscripts. (Ibid, note 116. See also. Dr. Giles'
silence of the orthodox Fathers, ancient ver- Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 12.
sions, and authentic manuscripts. It was first Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 886.
alleged by the Catholic Bishop whom Hunneric Hev. Robert Taylor's Diegesis. p. 421, and
summoned to the Conference of Carthage (A.D. Reber's Christ of Paul.)
254), or, more properly, by the four bishops 4 See Gibbon's Rome, ii. 309.
who composed and published the profession of 6 Chambers's Encyclo., art. " Trinity."
faith in the name of their brethren.''
THE TRINITY. 381
ground that there was a time when, from the very nature of Son-
ship, 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 evi
dently 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, dis
played 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 begot
ten, he was not, and that, he was made out of nothing, or out of another sub
stance or essence, and is created, or changeable, or alterable."
Constantine at once enforced the decision of the council by the
civil power.1
Even after this " subtle and profound question " had been
settled at the Council of Nice, those who settled it did not under
stand the question they had settled. Athanasius, who was a mem
ber 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 con
founding 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
1 Draper : Religion and Science, pp. 53, 54.
382 BIBLE MYTHS.
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*
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 major
ity 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?
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 Theodo-
sius, suggested ike most effectual methods of persecution. In the space of fifteen
years he promulgated at least fifteen severe edicts against the heretics, more es
pecially against those who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity."*
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 heret
ical notions concerning the Trinity. His followers, who were very
1 Athanasius, torn. i. p. 808. Quoted in frankly pronounced it to be the work of A
Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 310. drunken man. (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 665,
Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was note 114.)
BO much amazed by the extraordinary compo- 2 Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 87.
gition called " Athanasius1 Creed." that he » Ibid. pp. 91, 92.
THE TRINITY.
numerous, were called Arians. Their writings, if they had been per
mitted to exist,1 would undoubtedly contain the lamentable story of
the persecution which affected the church under the reign of the
impious Emperor Theodosius.
i All their writings were ordered to be destroyed, and any one found to nave them In hi*
possession was severely punished.
CHAPTEE 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 vir
gin ; 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 mira
cles ; 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 lie 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 Al- 1. I believe in God the Father Al
mighty, maker of heaven and earth : mighty, maker of heaven and earth :!
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only 2. And in his only Son, our Lord.2
Son, Our Lord.
3. Who was conceived by the Holy 3. Who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.3
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, 4. Suffered under (whom it might
was crucified, dead and buried. be), was crucified, dead, and buried.4
1 " Before the separation of the Aryan race, 3 See Chap. XII. and Chap. XX., for Only-
before the existence of Sanscrit, Greek, or begotten Sons.
Latin, before the gods of the Veda had been s See Chap. XII. and Chap. XXXII., where
worshiped, ONE SUPREME DEITY had been we have shown that many other virgin-born
found, had been named, and had been invoked gods were conceived by the Holy Ghost, and
by the ancestors of our race.11 (Prof. Max that the name MART is the same as Maia,
Muller : The Science of Religion, p. 67.) Maya, Myrra, &c.
4 See Chap. XX., for Crucified Saviours.
[384]
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY.
386
5. He descended into Hell ;
6. The third day he rose again from
the dead ;
7. He ascended into Heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the
Father Almighty ;
8. From thence he shall come to
judge the quick and the dead.
9. I believe in the Holy Ghost ;
10. The Holy Catholic Church, the
Communion of Saints ;
11. The forgiveness of sins ;
12. The resurrection of the body ;
and the life everlasting.
5. He descended into Hell ;'
6. The third day he rose again from
the dead ;2
7. He ascended into Heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the
Father Almighty ;3
8. From thence he shall come to
judge the quick and the dead.4
9. I behove in the Holy Ghost ;5
10. The Holy Catholic Church,6 the
Communion of Saints ;
11. The forgiveness of sins j1
12. The resurrection of the body ;
and the life everlasting.*
The above is the so-called " Apostles' Creed" as it now btands
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 t\\Q 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."
i See Chap. XXII.
« See Chaps. XXII. and XXXIX., for Resur
rected Saviours.
» See Ibid.
* See Chap. XXIV., and Chap. XXV.
* See Chap. XII., and Chap. XXXV.
* That is, the holy true Church. All peoples
who have had a religion believe that theirs
was the Catholic faith.
7 There was no nation of antiquity who did
not believe in " the forgiveness of pins,"
especially if some innocent creature rtdeemed
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 for
given, this too is almost as old as humanity.
Father Acosta found it even among the Mex
icans, and said that "the father of lies (the
Devil) counterfeited the sacrament of con
fession, so that he might be honored with
ceremonies very like the Christians." (See
Acoeta, vol. ii. p. 3(50.)
8 "No doctrine except that of a supreme
25
and subtly-pervading deity, is so extended,
and has retained its primitive form so dis
tinctly, 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. II. Mackenzie.)
"Go back far as we may in the history
of the Indo-European race, of which the
Greeks and Italians are branches, and \ve 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.'1 (M. De Coulanges:
The Ancient City, p. 15.)
9 For full information on ti;is subject see
Archbishop Wake's Apostolic Fathers, p. 103,
Justice Bailey's Common Prayer, Taylor'i
Diegesis, p. 10, and Chambers's Encyclo., art.
"Creeds."
386 BIBLE MYTHS.
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."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 congrega
tion 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 freewill 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."9
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.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."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,"6
1 Rev. xi. 7-9. 4 jude, 6.
2 S. Baring-Gould : Legends of Patriarchs, • S. Baring-Gould : Legends of Ifetriardu,
P 25- p. 16.
» II. Peter, ii. 4.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 387
Sammael was formerly chief among the angels of God, and now
he is prince among devils. His name is derived from Simme,
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."1
According to Hindoo mythology, there is a legion of evil
spirits called Rakshasas, who are governed by a prince named
Havana. 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 para
dise by storm, and subverted the whole order of the universe, if
Brahma 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."*
The ancient Egyptians were familiar with the tale of the war
in heaven ; and the legend of the revolt against the god Ha, the
Heavenly Father, and his destruction of the revolters, was discov
ered by M. Naville in one of the tombs at Biban-el-moluk.*
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."4
» S. Baring-Gould : Legends of Patriarchs, Dupuis : Origin of Relig. Beliefs, p. 78, and
P- 17. Baring-Gould's Legends of the Prophets, p. 19.
• Indian Wisdom, p. 32. « S. Baring-Gould's Legends of Patriarchy
• See Honours Hibbert Lectures, p. 105. p. 19.
388 BIBLE MYTHS.
An extract from the Persian Zend-avesta reads as follows :
" Ahriman interrupted the order of the universe, raised an army against Or-
muzd, and having maintained a fight against him during ninety days, was at
length vanquished by Honover, the divine Word."1
The Assyrians had an account of a war in heaven, which was
like that described in the book of Enoch and the Revelation.2
This legend was also to be found among the ancient Greeks, in
the struggle of the Titans against Jupiter. Titan and all his rebel
lious host were cast out of heaven, and imprisoned in the dark
abyss.3
Anong the legends of the ancient Mexicans was found this same
story of the war in heaven, and the downfall of the rebellious
angels.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."6
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, mint 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."6
The Hindoo idea of a subtile invisible body within the material
body, reappeared in the description of Greek poets. They repre
sented 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 ma
terial portion of the soul. At death, the soul, clothed in this sub-
1 Priestley, p. 35. 4 See Higgins" Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 31.
2 See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 411. 6 S. Baring-Gould's Legends of Patriarchs,
3 See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819. p. 20.
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 215, and Dupuis : Origin 6 See Bunsen'g Angel-Messiah, p. 159, and
of Relig. Beliefs, p. 73. Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 389
t;.le 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, sonic 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 un
worthy of Apollo. There each one renewed the pleasures in which
he formerly delighted. Orpheus, in long white robes, made en
rapturing 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 tires. 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 an
cestors.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
1 This subject is most fully entered into by Mr. Herbert -Spencer, in vol. i. of " Principle*
of Sociology."
390 BIBLE MYTHS.
(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 Yalhalla." 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 Yafthrudnis-mal) :
' The Einherjar all
On Odin's plain
Hew daily each other,
While chosen the slain are.
From the f rey they then ride,
And drink ale with the^Esir.' >M
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 temper
ament, 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
beaut}'. 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 character
istics 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, con
temptuously 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 com
fortless 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 :
See Mallet's Northern Antiquit'es, p. 429.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 391
That prophet ill sustains his holy call
Who finds not heavens to suit the tastes of all.
Vain things ! as lust or v<itiity inspires,
The heaven of each is but what each desires."
Heaven was born of the sky,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 responsi
bility. The famous Hindoo Bakshasas 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 Me
dia, 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 exam
ined 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 inscrip
tions, 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 Rus
sian, 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.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 Christi
anity.
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.
i See Appendix C. « See Flake, pp. 104-107.
392 BIBLE MYTHS.
The Hindoos hold a festival, called Siva-ratri, in honor of &vua,
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.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 har
vest, and returned thanks. In China, these religious solemnities
are called " Festivals of gratitude to Tien."3 The last named cor
responds to our " Thanksgiving " celebration.
One of the most considerable festivals held by the ancient Scan
dinavians was the spring celebration. This was held in honor of
Odin, at the beginning of spring, in order to welcome in that pleas
ant season, and to obtain of their god happy success in their pro
jected 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.8
There was a grand celebration in Egypt, called the " Feast of
Lamps," held at Sais, in honor of the goddess Keith. 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.4
The Hindoos also held a festival in honor of the goddesses Laksh-
mi and Bhavanti, called " The feast of Lamps"* 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 im-
i Williams' Hinduism, pp. 182, 183. 8 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. Ill,
» See Prog Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 216. « See Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 466.
5 Williams1 Hinduism, p. 184.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 393
memorial. Homer and Hesiod call it the "Holy Day."1 The
people generally visited the temples of the gods, on that day, and
offered up their prayers and supplications.3 The Acudians, thou
sands of years ago, kept holy the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of each
month as Salum (rest), on which certain works were forbidden.3
The Arabs anciently worshiped Saturn under the name of Ilobal.
In his hands he held seven arrows, symbols of the planets that pre
side over the seven days of the week." 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.5
The planet Saturn very early became the chief deity of Semitic
religion. Moses consecrated the number seven to him.6
In the old conception, which finds expression in the Decalogue
in Deuteronomy (v. 15), the Sabbath has a purely theocratic signifi
cance, 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 :
" Iii the year 1869, I discovered among other things ;i curious religious calen
dar of the Assyrians, iu 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.1
The ancient Scandinavians consecrated one day in the week to
their Supreme God, Odin or Wodin.* Even at the present time
we call this day Odin's-day.9
The question now arises, how was the great festival day changed
1 " The Seventh day was sacred to Saturn by almost all philosophers and poets." (Ibid.)
throughout the East." (Dunlap's Spirit Hist., 2 Ibid,
pp. 35, 30. » Ibid. p. 413.
"Saturn's day was made sacred to God, 4 Pococke Specimen: Hist. Arab., p. 97.
and the planet is now called cocliab shabbath, Quoted in Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 274. " Some
'The Sabbath Star.' of the families of the Israelites worshiped
" The sanctiflcation of the Sabbath is clearly Saturn under the name of Kiwan, which may
connected with the word Shabna or Sheba, have given rise to the religious obseivance of
i. e., seven."1' (Inman's Anct. Faiths, vol. ii. p. the Seventh day." (.Bible for Learners, vol. i.
504.) " The Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, p. 317.)
Kenrkk's Egypt, vol. i. p. 283.
Mover's Phonixier, vol. i. p. 313. Quoted
and the natives of India, were acquainted with
the seven days' division of time, as were the
ancient Druids." (Berwick's Egyptian Belief, iu Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 30.
p. 412.) " With the Egyptians the Seventh
dny was consecrated to God the Father."
(1 oid.) " Hesiod, Herodotus, Philostratus, &c..
Assyrian Discoveries.
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 92.
Old Norse, Odinsdayr; Swc. and Danish,
mention that day. Homer, Callimachus, and Onsdag ; Ang. Sax., Wodensdtg ; Dutch,
other ancient writers call the Seventh day the Woen-sdag ; Eng., Wednesday.
Holy One. Eusebius confesses its observance
304 BIBLE MYTHS.
from tlie seventh — Saturn's day — to the first — Sun-day — among
the Christians 4
" If we go buck to the founding of the church, we find that the
most marked feature of that age, so far as the church itself is con
cerned, 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 w,;icli 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 what
ever to keep the Jewish law, so far as it was separate from practical
matters of life and character. We find this intimated in the writ
ings of Paul ; for we have to go to the New Testament for the ori
gin 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 Gala-
tians, you will find that the whole purpose of his writing it was to
protest against what he believed to be the viciousness of the Juda-
izing 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 ex
plained 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,
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 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 Chris
tian church."1
This breach in the early church, this controversy, resulted at
last in Paul's going up to Jerusalem " to meet James and the repre
sentatives 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 observ
ance 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 forni
cation, from things strangled, and from blood.' "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 bind
ing 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
th<s 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? Con
tinue 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, neiilier of them are necessary after tJie 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."
1 Rev. M. J. Savage. a Acts, xv 20.
396 BIBLE MYTHS.
There was no binding authority then, among the Christians, as
to whether they should keep the first or the seventh day of t j.e
week holy, or not, until the time of the first Christian Roman
Emperor. " Constantine, a Sun worshiper, wJio had, as other
Heathen, kept the Sun-day ^ publicly ordered this to supplant the
Jewish Sabbath"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.3 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 Pa
gan temples into Christian churches.
A Pagan temple at Rome, formerly sacred to the "Bona Dea"
(the " Good Goddess"), was Christianized and dedicated to the Vir
gin 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.3 A
Pagan temple, originally dedicated to "Gcelestis Dea" (the "Hea
venly Goddess "), by one Aurelius, a Pagan high-priest, was con
verted 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.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 Boni
face the Fourth, to " The Mother of God and all the Saints."6
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,"6 The
church of St. Stephen, at Bologna, was formed from heathen tem
ples, one of which was a temple of Isis.7
At the southern extremity of the present Forum at Rome, and
just under the Palatine hill — where the noble babes, who, miracu
lously preserved, became the founders of a state that was to com
mand the world, were exposed — stands the church of St. Theodore.
1 Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 182. Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. pp. 142, 143.
2 See Eusebius' Life of Constantine, lib. iv. 6 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 2?/3, and Gib
chs. xviii. and xxiii. bon's Rome, vol. iii. pp. 142, 143
3 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 237. 6 Biggins' Anacalypsis, vol. i p. 137.
« See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 187, and 7 Ibid. p. 307.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY.
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 and INSCRIPTIONS NOW IN CHRISTIAN
TEMPLES. CHURCHES.
1. 1.
To Mercury and Minerva, Tutelary
Gods.
2
To the Gods who preside over this
Temple.
3.
To the Divinity of Mercury the Avail
ing, the Powerful, the Uncon-
quered.
4.
Sacred to the Gods and Goddesses,
with
Jove the best and greatest.
5.
Venus' Pigeon.
6.
The Mystical Letters
I. II. S.1
To St. Mary and St. Francis, My
Tutelaries.
2
To the Divine Eustrogius, who pre
sides over this Temple.
3.
To the Divinity of St. George the
Availing, the Powerful, the Un-
conquered.
4.
Sacred to the presiding helpers, St.
George and St. Stephen, with
God the best and greatest.
5.
The Holy Ghost represented as a
Pigeon.
^"6.
The Mystical Letters
I. II. S.2
In many cases the Images of the Pagan gods were allowed to
remain in these temples, and, after being Christianised, continued
to receive divine honors.8
u 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 Chris
tian symbols."4 We find that as early as the time of St. Gregory,
Bishop of Neo-Cesarea (A. n. 243), the "simple" and "unskilled"
1 Grater's Inscriptions. Quoted in Taylor's lor's Diegesis, p. 48, and Middleton's Letters
Diegesif?. p. 237. from Rome.
« Boldouius' Epigraphs. Quoted in Ibid. « Baring-Gould's Curious Myths, p. 426.
• See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 237. Tay-
898 BIBLE MYTHS.
multitudes of Christians were allowed to pay divine honors to these
images, hoping that in the process of time they would learn better.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 con
ceptions. . . . Not only was the adoration of ISIS under a new name restored,
but even hei 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 resto
rations of old conceptions under novel forms were everywhere received with de
light. 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
1 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."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 Home and at Alexandria, Nestorius was accused
of heresy. The dispute grew more bitter, and Theodosius II.
thought it necessary to convoke an (Ecumenical Council at Ephesus
in 431. On this, as on former occasions, the affirmative party over
ruled 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 1 am well in
formed, 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."3
In many ] arts of Italy are to be eeen pictures of the " Holy
Family," of extreme antiquity, the grounds of them often of gold.
1 Mosheim, Cent. ii. p. 202. Quoted in Tay- » Draper : Religion and Science, pp. 48, 49.
lor1* Diegesis, p 48. 8 Middletou's Letters from Rome, p. 84.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 309
These pictures '^present the mother with ;i 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 Horns. 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.1 Some half-pagan Christian went so far
as to forge a book, which he attributed to Christ Jesus himself,
which was ioi rlic purpose of showing that he — Christ Jesus —
was in no way against these heathen gods.3
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 oc
casion.
"The statues of Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, Orpheus, did duty
for The Christ.9 The Thames River god officates at the baptism
of Jesus in the Jordan. Peter holds the keys of Janus.4 Moses
wears the horns of Jove. Ceres, Cybele, Demeter assume new
names, as ' Queen of Heaven ,' ' Star of the Sea,9 * Maria Illumin-
atrix ; ' 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 Purcse 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 perpdua
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
1 Sec Higgins' Anacalypsis. umental Christianity, and Jameson's Hist, of
3 Jones on the Canon, vol. i. p. 11. Our Lord in Art.)
Diegesis, p. 49. * The Roman god Jonas, or Jamie, with his
3 Compare "Apollo among the Muses," and keys, was changed into Peter, who was sur-
" The Vine and its Branches " (that is, Christ named Bar-Jonas. Many years ago a statue
Jesus and his Disciples), in Lundy's 3fonumen- of the god Janus, in bronze, being found in
tal Christianity, pp. 141-143. As Mr. Lundy Rome, he was perched up in St. Peter's with
gays, there ia eo striking a resemblance be- his keys in his hand : the very identical god,
tweon the two, that one looks very much like in all his native ugliness. This statue sits as
a copy of the other. Apollo is also represented St. Peter, under the cupola of the church of
as the " Good Shepherd," with a lamb upon St. Peter. It is looked npon with the most
his back, just exactly as Christ Jesus is rep- profound veneration : the toe? are nearly ki^ed
resented in Christian Art. (See Lundy'8 Mon- away by devotees
400 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 Orislma,
Maya with the babe Buddha, Juno with the child Mars, represent
Mary with Jesus in her arms. Coarse emblems are not rejected ;
die 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 ' a 'gnus
del.'' The musty wardrobes of forgotten hierarchies furnished cos
tumes 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 sen
ators. 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."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.8
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 ; "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 trin
ity, 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.4
1 Frothingham : The Cradle of the Christ, office is not hereditary, but, like the Pope of
p. 179. Rome, he is elected by the priests. (Jnman'8
2 See Hardy's Eastern Monachism. Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 203. See a'so, Bell's
3 The " Grand Lama" is the head of a Pantheon, vol. ii. pp. 32-34.)
priestly order in Thibet and Tartary. The 4 See Biggins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 233,
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 401
The resemblance between Buddhism and Christianity has been re
marked 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, uud a monastic habit resembling that
of the Franciscans " (an order of Roman Catholic monks).
Pere Premere, a Jesuit missionary to China, was driven to con
clude 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 Macart
ney'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.1
The Rev. Mr. Gutzlaif, in his " Journal of Voyages along the
coast of China," tells us that he found the Buddhist u Monasteries,
nuns, and friars very numerous ;" and adds that : " their priests are
generally very ignorant."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
Inman'8 Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 203, and > Davis : HiPt. China, vol. ii. pp. 106, 106.
iBia Unveiled, vol. r p. 211. ' Gatzlaff's Voyages, p. 808.
402 BIBLE MYTHS.
supplied, by tht*. feign of the cross, their inability to write their own
name.1 Many oi the bishops in the Councils of Ephesus and Chal-
cedon, 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.3
One of the principal objects of curiosity to the Europeans who
first went to China, was a large monastery at Canton. This mon
astery, 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 repre
sentations of Shin-moo, the "Holy Mother," and "Queen of Hea
ven," 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, situ
ated 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 Eomish 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. I/ Abbe Hue, says of them :
" The Buddhist ascetic not aspiring to elevate himself only, he practiced vir
tue and applied himself to perfection to make other men share in its belief ; and
» See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 34. a See Hallam'a Middle Ageg.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 403
by the institution of an order of religious mendicants, which increased tc an im
mense extent, he attached towards him, and restored to society, the poor and un
fortunate. It was, indeed, precisely because Buddha received among his dis
ciples 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.' "'
In the words of Viscount Amberly, we can say that, " Monas-
ticism, 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.2 The ancient Druids admitted females into their
sacred order, and initiated them into the mysteries of their religion.8
The priestesses of the Saxon Frigga devoted themselves to perpetual
virginity.4 The vestal virgins5 were bound by a solemn vow to pre
serve their chastity for a space of thirty years.*
The Egyptian priests of Isis were obliged to observe perpetual
chastity.7 They wrere also tonsured like the Buddhist priests.8 The
Assyrian, Arabian. Persian and Egyptian priests wore white sur
plices,' 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, Re
ligious Prophets, and Ministers, dedicated to his divine service and holy ceremo-
monies, so likewise the devil hath his Sacrifices, Priests, his kinds of Sacra
ments, his Ministers appointed, his secluded and feigned holiness, with a thou
sand sorts of false prophets."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
1 Hnc'p Travels, vol. i. p. 329. • Hardy : Eastern Monachism, p. 163.
a See Hardy's Eastern Monachism, p. 163. 7 Ibid. p. 48.
• Ibid. 8 See Herodotus, b. ii. ch. 36.
« Ibid. 8 Dunlap : Son of the Man, p. x.
• "Vestal Virgins," an order of virgins 10 Acosta, vol ii. p. 334.
consecrated to the goddess Vesta.
404 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 superi
ors, 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."1
In Mexico, within tlic circuit of the great temple, there were
two monasteries, one for virgins, the other for men, which they
called religions. These men lived poorly and chastely, and did the
office of Levitcs.9
"These priests and religious men used great fastings, of five or ten days to
gether, 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."3
" There were in Peru many monasteries of virgins (for there are no other ad
mitted), 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."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 ' iod, the which is a great shame and confusion."5
The religious orders of the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians are
described at length in Lord Kingsborough's u 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 re
markable effects.
The " Sacred Heart" was a great mystery with the ancients.
i Acosta, vol. ii. p. 330. < Ibid. pp. 332, 833.
a Ibid. p. 336. « Ibid. p. 337
» Ibid. p. 33a
PAGANISM IN CHKISTIANITY. 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.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.3 The
Christians also used amulets with the name or monogram of the
god Serajris engraved thereon, which show that it made no differ
ence 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 Hacckus engraved thereon, i. e.,
I. H. S.3
The ancient Roman children carried around their necks a small
ornament in the form of a heart, called J3ulla. 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 Baronias (an
eminent Roman Catholic ecclesiastical historian, born at Sora, in
Naples, A. D. 1533) says, that those who have been baptized carry
pendent from their neck an Agnus Del, 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 vested, 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 popu
larity 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-mar
ried couples, and where the villagers have not yet ceased to dance round the
May -pole on the green."4
All of these are emblems of either the Lingha or Yoni.
The use of amulets was carried to the most extravagant excess
i Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 241. » See Chap. XXXIII.
• See Lardner's Works, vol. viii. pp. 375, 376. « Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 127.
406 BIBLE MYTHS.
in ancient Egypt, and their Sacred Book of the Dead, even in its
earliest form, shows the importance attached to such things.1
We can say with M. Renan that :
"Almost all our superstitions are the remains of a religion anterior to Chris
tianity, and which Christianity has not been able entirely to root out."2
Baptismal fonts were used by the pagans, as well as the little
cisterns which are to bo seen at the entrance of Catholic churches.
In the temple of Apollo, at Delphi, there were two of these ; one
of silver, and the oilier of gold.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 tor the priests, called the "Adytum" JSIear 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 ad
mitted to the sacrifices were sprinkled with tins 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.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 ven
eration.
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 dec
orated with flowers and costly ornaments, especially on festive occa
sions.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.6 All of this kind of worship was finally adopted by the
Christians.
The sublime and simple theology of the primitive Christians
1 Renouf : Hibbert Lectures, p. 191. themselves with pure minds, without which
'* Kenan : Hibbert Lectures, p. 32. the external cleanness of the body would by
3 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 232. no means be accepted." (Bell's Pantheon,
* "At their entrance, purifying themselves vol. ii. p. 282.)
by washing their hands in holy water, they 6 See Williams' Hinduism, p. 99.
were at the same time admonished to present 8 See Kenan's Hibbert Lectures, p. 85.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 407
was gradually corrupted and degraded by the introduction of a
popular mythology, which tended to restore the reign of poly
theism.
As the objects of religion were gradually reduced to the stand
ard 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, Tertnllian, 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.1
Dr. Draper, in speaking of the early Christian Church, says :
" Great is the difference between Christianity under Severus (born 146) and
Christianity under Constuntine (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 adul
teration.
" Constantino continually showed by his acts that he felt he must be the im
partial sovereign of all his people, not merely the representative of a successful
faction. Hence, if lv built Christian churches, he also restored Pagan temples ;
if he listened to th; 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 ac
cordance 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 OWE
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 con
tending parties, Christian and Pagan, to promote their union or amalgamation af
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.
> Edward Gibbon : Decline and Fall, vol. lii. p. 161.
408 BIBLE MYTHS.
" 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 un
easiness 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 ; tute
lary saints succeeded to local mythological divinities. Then came the mystery
of transubstantiatioii, 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."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 u 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 Christi
anity 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
1 Draper : Science and Religion, pp. 46-49.
PAGANISM IN CIIEISTIANITY. 409
of the ceremonies of heathenism into the service of the Church, by
the authority of the wisest prelates and governors, whom, lie 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.1
Melito (a Christian bishop of Sardis), in an apology delivered to
the Emperor Marcus Antoninus, in the year 170. claims the patron
age of the emperor, for the now called Christian religion, which he
calls " our philosophy^ "on account of its hiyh antiquity, as hav
ing 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."3
This is an absolute demonstration that Chris; ianity did not origi
nate in Judea, which was a Roman province, but really was an ex
otic 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 re
ceive a greater affront from employing, in honor of Jesus Christ, that which his
enemy had destined for his own service."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."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."6
And St. Augustine says :
" T7iat, 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 accord-
1 See Taylor's Diege-sis, p. 237. 4 Quoted by Rev. II. Taylor, Dicgesia
2 Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 249. See p. 41.
also, Eiif>ebiue : Eccl. Hist., book iv. ch. xxvi. • Strom, bk. i. ch. six.
who alludes to it.
8 Baronius' Annals, An. 36.
410 BIBLE MYTHS.
ing 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, be
gan to be called Christian ; and this in our days is the Christian religion, not as
naving been wanting in former times, but as having in later times received this
name."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.3
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 " Thauma-
turgus" 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 in
dulge themselves in the like pleasures, in celebrating the memory of the holy mar
tyrs, hoping that in process of time, they would return of their own accord, to a
more virtuous and regular course of life."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 rhetor-
icism, 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 Chris
tianity, but Christianity that was converted to Paganism/'4
Edward Gibbon says:
1 " Ea est nostris temporibus Christiana corporeas delectationes et voluptates, simplex et
religio. qnam cognoscere ac sequi securissima imperitum vulgusin simulacrorum cultus errore
et certissima salus eet : secundum hoc nomen permaneret— permisit eis, ut in memoriam et
dictum est non secumlum ipsam rem cujus recordationem sanctorum martyium sese ob-
hoc nomen est : nam res ipsa quce mine Chris- lectarent, et in Itetitiam effunderentur, quod
liana religio nuncupatur erat et apud antiques, successu temporis aliquando futurum esset. ut
nee defuit ab initio generis humani. quousque sua spoute. ad honcstiorem et accuratiorem
ipse Christus veniret in carne. undo vera religio vita? rationem, transirent." (Mosheim, vol. L
quo? jam erat caepit appellari Christiana. Iluec cent. 2, p. 202.
est nostris tunporibus Christiana religio, non 4 " Non imperio ad fidem adducto, ped
quia prioribus temporibus non fuit, sed quia et imperil pompa ecclesiam inficiente.
posterioribus hoc nomen accepit." (Opera Au- Non ethnicis ad Christum conversis, sed et
gustini, vol. i. p. I'Z. Quoted in Taylor's Die- Christi religione ad Ethnicse formam d<'-
fesis, p. 42.) pravata." (Orat. Academ. De Variis Christ.
2 See Eusebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. v. Rel. fatis.)
8 "Cum animadvertisset Gregorius quod ob
PAGANISM IN CURISTIANITi. 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 rustles would more cheer
fully renounce the superstitious of Paganism, if they found some resemblance,
Borne compensation, in the bosom of Christianity. The religion of Constantino
achieved, in less than a century, the final conquest of the Roman empire : but
tJie victors themselves were insensibly subdued by tJiearts of their vanquished rivals."1
Faustus, writing to St. Augustine, says :
" You have substituted your agapae for the sacrifices of the Pagans ; for their
idols your martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. You appease
the alludes of the dead with wine and feasts ; you celebrate the solemn festivities
of the Gentiles, their caleuds, and their solstices ; and, as to their manners, those
you have retained without any alteration. Nothing distinguishes you fr«tn the
Pagans, except that you hold your assemblies apart from them"*
Ammonius Saceus (a Greek philosopher, founder of the Neo-
platonic school) taught that :
"Christianity and Paganism, when rightly understood, differ in no es
sential points, but had a common origin, and are really one and the same
thing. "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 lay
ing 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."4
Caecilius, 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."5
Cecils, the Epicurean philosopher, wrote that :
" The Christian religion contains nothing but what Christians hold ir com
mon with heathens ; nothing new, or truly great.''6
This assertion is fully verified by Justin Martyr, in his apology
to the Emperor Adrian, which is one of the most remarkable ad
missions ever made by a Christian writer. lie 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 Memmder, the comedian ; and by declaring the
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 163. 4 Justin: Apol. 1, ch. lix.
a Quoted by Draper : Science and Religion, 6 Octavius, ch. xi.
p. 48. a See Origen: Contra Celeas.
» See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 329.
412 BIBLE MYTHS.
Logos, the first begotten of God, our master Jesus Christ, to be born of a v'rgin,
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 ^Escula-
pius, 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 sous of Jove by Leda, and Perseus by
Danae ; and not to mention others, 1 would fain know why you always deify the
departed emperors and have a fellow at hand to make affidavit that he saw Cassar
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 com
mon to all the forenientioned 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 ^Esculapius."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 learn
ing. He was brought up in the Stoic philosophy.2
Clemens Alexandrinus (A. D. 19tt) or St. Clement of Alexan
dria, 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.8
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? A\'liy ! 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."4
> Apol. 1, ch. xx, xxi, xxii 3 See Ibid. p. 324.
3 See Taylor's Diegesis, p Jfcj. * On the Flesh of Christ, ch. v.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 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.1
lie also was born in the great cradle and nursery of superstition
—Egypt — and studied under that celebrated philosopher, Ammo
nias 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."8 The writer of the twelfth verse of
the nineteenth chapter of Matthew, was without doubt an Egyp
tian 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.3
St. Gregory (A. D. 240), bishop of Neo-Csesarea in Pontus, was
another celebrated Christian Father, born of Pagan parents and ed
ucated a Pagan. He is called Thaumaturgus, or the wonder
worker, and is said to have performed miracles when still a Pagan.*
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.6
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 al^o iu that of baptism, several of the terms employed in the heathen myste
ries, and proceeded so far at length, as even to adopt some of the rites and cere
monies of which those renowned mysteries consisted."6
We have seen, then, that the only difference between Christi
anity 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
1 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 328. • See Middletou'8 Letters from Rome, p.
1 Matt. xix. 12. ^Jt> ; Mosheim, vol. i. cent. 2, pi. 2. oh. 4.
» Deut. xxiii. 1. « Eccl. Hist. TO!. 1. p. 199.
« See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 339.
414 BIBLE MYTHS.
Virgin Mary ; and the demi-gods and heroes into saints. Tli e ex
ploits of the one were represented as the miracles of the other.
Pagan festivals became Christian holidays, and Pagan temples be
came Christian churches.
Mr. Mahaffy, Fellow and Tutor in Trinity College, and Lecturer
on Ancient History in the University of Dublin, ends his " Prole
gomena 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 develop
ment 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 resurrec
tion 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 theo
logical conceptions pervade tlie 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 haw met us in ihe Egyptian ritual and moral
treatises. So, too, the purely human side of morals, and the catalogue of vir
tues 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 Jiave lifted the veil
and shown the scene of many a future contest."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 superior
ity 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, re
duces these differences materially by bringing into relief sentiments
and precepts whereof the New Testament morality is but an echo.
1 Prolegomena to Ancient History, pp. 416, 417.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 415
There are passages in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, even ten
derer 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 pro
claimed in mighty tones of command. Such an acquaintance with
the later literature of the Jews as is really obtained now from pop
ular sources, will convince the ordinarily fair mind that the origi
nality 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," tli2 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. Ac
knowledge thy benefits by the return of other benefits, but never revenge in
juries."1
The following extracts from Mann and the Malia-l>harata, an
Indian epic poem, written many centuries before the time of Christ
Jesus,3 compared with similar sentiment contained in the books of
the New Testament, are very striking.
"An evil-minded man is quick to " And why beholdest thou the mote
see his neighbor's faults, though small that is in thy brother's eye, but consid-
as inustard-seed ; but when he turns crest not the beam that is in thine own
his eyes towards his own, though large eye? " (Matt. vii. 3.)
as Bilva fruit, he none descries. "
(Maha-bharata.)
" Conquer a man who never gives " Be not overcome of evil, but over-
by gifts; subdue untruthful men by come evil with good." (Romans, xii.
truthfulness ; vanquish an angry man 21.)
by gentleness ; and overcome the evil
man by goodness." (Ibid.)
" To injure none by thought or word " Love your enemies, and do good,
or deed, to give to others, and be kind to and lend, hoping for nothing again;
all — this is the constant duty of the and your reward shall be great, and ye
good. High-minded men delight in shall be the children of the Highest :
doing good, without a thought of their for he is kind unto the unthankful and
own interest; \vheutheyconferabene- to the evil." (Luke, vii. oo.)
fit on others, they reckon not on favors
in return." (Ibid.)
"Two persons will hereafter be ex- "And Jesus sat over against the
alted above the heavens — the man with treasury, and beheld how people cast
1 Tindal : Christianity as Old as the Crea- fixfh century B. c. (see Williams' Indian Wis-
tion. dom, p. 215), and the Maha-bharata about the
8 Marni's works were written during the same time.
416
BIBLE MYTHS.
boundless power, who yet forbears to
use it indiscreetly, ami lie 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 sancti
fied by faith." (Ibid.)
<lTo 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.)
" 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.)
"In granting or refusing a request,
a man obtains a proper rule of action
by looking on his neighbor as himself."
(Ibid.)
"Before infirmities creep o'er thy
flesh ; before decay impairs thy
strength and mars the beauty of thy
limbs ; before the Ender, whose char
ioteer is sickness, ha-tes towards thee,
breaks up thy irauile 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 cor
rupted." (Ibid.)
" This is the sum of all true right
eousness — 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 giv
ing 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.)
money into the treasury : and many
that were rich cast in much. And
there carne 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.)
" But the tongue can no man tame ;
it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poi
son. (James, iii. 8.)
" 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.)
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." (Matt. xxii. 39.)
•' And as ye would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them like
wise." (Luke vi. 31.)
" 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 pleas
ure 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 your
selves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through and steal."
(Matt. vi. 19-20.)
"Ye have heard that it hath been
said : Thou shalt 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.)
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY. 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." (Mami.)
" 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 inay'st enjoy eternal bliss hereafter." (Ibid.)
" Do naught to others which if clone 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.)
27
BIBLE MYTHS.
" 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^
OHAPTEK XXXYH.
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 Th&ra/peutcB ;l 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-Mes
siah j 2. That they considered Jesus of Nazareth to be the Mes
siah ; 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 ob
ject 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
1 "Numerous bodies of ascetics (Thera- plating the hidden wisdom of the Scriptures.
pentffi), especially near Lake Mareotis, devoted Eusebius even claimed them as Christians ;
themselves to discipline and study, abjuring and some of the forms of monasticism were
society and labor, and often forgetting, it is evidently modeled after the Tfierapeutce,."1
§aid, the simplest wants of nature, in contem- (Smith's Bible Dictionary, art. " Alexandria."
[419J
420 BIBLE MYTHS.
Gentiles " (Oxford, 1671), to demonstrate that " the origin of all
human literature, both philology and philosophy, is from the Scrip
tures and the Jewish church," undoubtedly hits upon the truth when
he says :
" Now, the origination or rise of these Esseues (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.
Gfrdrer, who wrote concerning them in 1835, and said that " the
Essenes and the TherapeutdB 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 righteous
ness.1 The Essenes forbade the laying up of treasures upon earth.3
The Essenes demanded of those who wished to join them to sell all
their possessions, and to divide it among the poor brethren.3 The
Essenes had all things in common, and appointed one of the breth
ren as steward to manage the common bag.4 Essenism put all its
members on the same level, forbidding the exercise of authority of
one over the other, and enjoining mutual service.6 Essenism com
manded its disciples to call no man master upon the earth.6 Essen
ism laid the greatest stress upon being meek and lowly in spirit.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 disci
ples as signs of their belief.8 The Essenes did not swear at all ;
their answer was yea, yea, and nay, nay.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.10 The
Essenes, though repudiating offensive war, yet took weapons with
1 Comp. Matt. vi. 33 ; Luke, xii. 31. 6 Comp. Matt, xxiii. 8-10.
2 Comp. Matt. vi. 19-21. 7 Comp. Matt. v. 5 ; xi. 29.
3 Comp. Matt. xix. 21 ; Luke, xii. 33. 8 Comp. Mark, xvi. 17 ; Matt. x. 8 ; Luke,
« Comp. Acts, ii. 44, 45 ; iv. 32-34 ; John, ix. 1, 2 ; x. 9.
xii, 0 ; xiii. 29. 8 Comp. Matt. v. 34.
6 Comp. Matt. xx. 25-28 ; Mark, ix. 35-37 ; Itt Comp. Matt. x. 9, 10.
x, 42-45.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 421
them when they went on a perilous journey.1 The Essenes abstained
from connubial intercourse.2 The Essenes did not offer animal sac
rifices, but strove to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable unto God, which they regarded as a reasonable service.8
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.4
Many other comparisons might be made, but these are sufficient
to show that there is a great similarity between the two.6 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 wras 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 se
clusion with this fraternity, and that though he frequently rebuked the scribes.
Pharisees and Sadducees, he never denounced the Essenes, strongly confirms
this conclusion.'6
The facts — as Dr. Ginsburg calls them — which confirm his con
clusions, 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, Me y
would not remain there long. We hear very little of the Essenes
after A. D. 40, 7 therefore, when we read of the "primitive Chris
tians" 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 (Irenseus) tells us that he did not begin
1 Comp. Luke, xxii. 36. • Ginsburg's Essenes, p. 24.
2 Cornp. Matt. xix. 10-12 ; I. Cor. viii. T "We hear very little of them after A.D.
s Comp. Horn. xii. 1. 40; and there can hardly be any doubt that,
4 Comp. I. Cor. xiv. 1, 89. owing to the great similarity existing between
0 The above comparisons have been taken their precepts and practices and those of primi-
from Ginsburg's "Essenes," to which the tive Christians, the Essenes a* a body must have
reader is referred for a more lengthy observation embraced Christianity." (Dr. Ginsbnrg, p.
on the subject. 27.)
422 BIBLE MYTHS.
to teach until he was forty years of age, or thereabout, and that he
lived to be nearly fifty years old.1 " The records of his life are very
scanty / and these have been so shaped and colored and modified by
ike hands of ignorance and superstition and party prejudice and
ecclesiastical purpose, that it is hard to be sure of the original out
lines"
The similarity of the sentiments of the Essenes, or Therapeutse,
to those of the Church of Rome, induced the learned Jesuit, Nico-
laus 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.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 ' Mystae,' upon the eslablishmejit of a direct intercourse with India under the Se-
leucid(K and tlie Ptolemies. The colleges of Essenes and Megabyzae at Ephesus,
the Orphics of Thrace, the Curetes of Crete, are all merely branches of one an
tique and common religion, and that originally Asiatic."*
Again :
" The introduction of Buddhism into Egypt and Palestine affords t7ie only true
tolution of innumerable difficulties in tJie history of religion ."*
Again :
" That Buddhism had actually been planted in the dominions of the Seleucidse
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."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 pub
lished, I think it not needful curiosity to sift out."6
1 This will be alluded to in another chapter. period. (See Ginsburgh's Essenes, and Hardy'i
'J It was believed by some that the order of Eastern Monachism, p. 358.)
Essenes was instituted by Elias, and some writ- 3 King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. 1.
crs asserted that there was a regular succession 4 Ibid. p. 6.
of hermits upon Mount Carmel from the time 6 King's Gnostics, p. 23.
of the prophets to that of Christ, and that the « Eusebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. xvii.
hermits embraced Christianity at an early
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 423
This celebrated ecclesiastical historian considered it very prob
able 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 tlie commentaries (Scriptures) which were among them
(the Essenes) were the Gospels, and the works of the apostles, and certain expo
sitions of the ancient prophets, such as partly that epistle unto the Hebrews,
and also the other epistles of Paul do contain."1
The principal doctrines and rites of the Essenes can be con
nected 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.'1
Godfrey lliggins says :
"The Essenes were called physicians of the soul, or Therapeuts; being resi
dent both in Judea and Egypt, they probably spoke or had their sacred books in
Chaldee. They were Pythayoreans, as is proved by all their forms, ceremonies,
and doctrines, and they called themselves sons of Jesse. If the Pythagoreans or
Conobita3, as they are called by Jamblieus, were Buddhists, the Esseues were
Buddhists. The Esseues lived in Egypt, on the lake of Parernbole or Maria, in
monasteries. These are the very places in which we formerly found the Gym-
nosophiats, or Samaneans, or Buddhist priests to have lived ; which Gyniuosophis-
Ue 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 wor
ship. They had missionary stations or colonies of their community established
in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Phillippi, Colosse, and Thessalouica, pre
cisely such, and in the same circumstances, as were those to whom St. Paul ad
dressed his letters in those places. All the fine moral doctrines which are at
tributed to the Samaritan Nazarite, and I doubt not justly attributed to him, are
to be found among the doctrines of these ascetics."3
And Arthur Lillie says :
"It is asserted by calm thinkers like Dean Mansel that within two genera
tions of the time of Alexander the Great, the missionaries of Buddha made their
1 Eusebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. xvii. the Christian era. Hilgenfeld, Mutter, Bohlen,
a Bunsen : The Angel-Messiah, p. vii. " The King, all admit the Buddhist influence. Cole-
New Testament is the Essene-Nazarene Glad brooke saw a striking similarity between the
Tiding* 1 Adon, Adoni, Adonis, style of wor- Buddhist philosophy and that of the Pythago-
8hip." (S. F. Dunlap : Son of the Man, p. iii.) reans. Dean Milnian was convinced that the
• Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 747 ; vol. ii. p. 34. Therapcuts sprung from the ' contemplative
* "In this," says Mr. Lillie, "he was sup- and indolent fraternities ' of India.' And, he
ported by philosophers of the calibre of Schil- might have added, the Rev. Robert Taylor in
ling and Schopenhauer, and the great Sanscrit his " Diegesis" and Godfrey lliggins in his
authority, Lassen. Renan also sees traces of " Anacah-psis," have brought strong argument*
this Buddhist propagandiain in Palestine before to bear in support of this theory.
424 BIBLE MYTHS.
appearance at Alexandria.4* This theory is confirmed — in the east by the
Asoka monuments — in the west by Philo. He expressly maintains the iden'ity
in creed of the higher Judaism and that of the Gyninosophists of India who ab
stained 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 Chris
tianity."1
The Buddhists have the " eight-fold holy path " (Dhammapada),
eight spiritual states leading up to Buddhahood. The first state of
the Essen es 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 pow
ers, 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.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 Messi
anic 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 Essenio 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.3
The probability, then, that that sect of vagrant quack-doctors,
the Therapeutic, who were established in Egypt and its neighbor
hood 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 unquali
fied and positive statement of the historian Eusebius, that " those
ancient Therapeutce were Christians, and that their ancient writ
ings were our gospels and epistles"
The Essenes, the Therapeuts, the Ascetics, the Monks, the Ec-
» Buddha and Early Buddhiam, p. vi. * Buiisen's Angel-Messiah, p. 121. * Ibid. p. 240.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 426
clesiastics, and the Eclectics, are but different names for one and the
self-same sect.
The word "JEssen-e" is nothing more than the Egyptian word for
that of which Therapeut is the Greek, each of them signifying
" healer " or u 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, ns 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 "Jbloiiks " 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 rep
resented as describing, as characteristic of the community of which
he was a member.
Their name of " Ecclesiastics " was of the same sense, and indi
cated their being called out, elected, separated from the general fra
ternity 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.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 nourishing con
dition, before the preaching of St. Paul.
" The ver>j ancient and Eastern doctrine of an Angel-Messiah
had been applied to Gautama- Buddha, and so it was applied to
Jesus Christ l>ij the Essencs of Egypt and of Palestine, ivho intro
duced this netv Messianic doctrine into Essenic Judaism and Es
sen ic Ch r 1st ia i 1 ity . ' '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." Gau
tama 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 nourishes for a time, but finally wickedness and vice
i "The Essenos abounded in E?ypt< ecpec- Htet.. lib. 2, oh. xvii
iully about Alexandria." (Eusebius : Eccl. a Bunsen's Angel-Meseiah, p. 256.
426 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 hand
ed 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 Buddha s before commencing its ac
count of Gautama himself ; and the Pali commentary on the Jata-
kas gives certain details regarding each of the twenty-four.1
An Avatar was expected about every six hundred years.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.3 Many persons
were thought at that time to be, and undoubtedly thought them
selves 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 Naza
reth would undoubtedly not be known at the present day.
Epiphanius, a Christian bishop and writer of the fourth century,
says, in speaking of the Essen es :
" They who believed cm Christ were called JESS^EI (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 be-
1 Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 179. * " Philo's writings prove the probability,
3 This is clearly shown by Mr. Higgins in almost rising to a certainty, that already in his
his Auacalypsis. It should be remembered that time the Essenes did expect an Angel-Messiah
Gautama Buddha, the "Angel-Messiah," and as one of a series of divine incarnations.
Cyrus, the " Anointed " of the Lord, are placed Within about fifty years after Philo's death,
about six hundred years before Jesus, the Elkesai the Essene probably applied this doc-
" Anointed.11 This cycle of six hundred years trine to Jesus, and it was promulgated in Rome
was called the '"great year" Josephus, the Jew- about the same time, if not earlier, by the
ish historian, alludes to it when speaking of the Pseudo-Clementines." (Bunsen : The Angel
patriarchs that lived to a great age. " God af- Messiah, p. 118.)
forded them a longer time of life," says he, " on " There was, at this rime (i. e., at the time
account of their virtue, and the good use they of the birth of Jesus), a prevalent expectation
made of it in astronomical and geometrical that some remarkable personage was about to
discoveries, which would not have afforded the appear in Judea. The Jews were anxiously
time for foretelling (the periods of the stars), looking for the coming of the Messiah. By
miles? they had lived six hundred years ; for the computing the time mentioned by Daniel ich.
great year is completed in that interval." (Jo- ix. 25-2?'), they knew that the period was ap-
sephus, Antiq., bk. i.e. iii.) " From this cycle of proaching when the Messiah should appear.
six hundred." says Col. Vallancey, " came the This personage, they supposed, would be a
name of the bird Phoenix, called by the Egyp- temporal prince, and they were expecting that
tians Phenu, with the well-known story of its he would deliver them from Roman bondage,
going to Egypt to burn itself on the altar of the It iccts natural that this expectation should
Sun (at Hdiopolis) and rise again from its spread into other countries." (Barnes' Notes,
ashes, at the end of a certain period." vol. i. p. 27.)
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 437
came known to history as Christians, or believers in the Anointed
Angel.
This ascetic Buddhist sect called Essence were therefore expect
ing an Angel-Messiah, for had not Gautama announced to his dis
ciples 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.'1
The learned Thomas Maurice says :
" From the earliest post-diluvian age, to that m 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 infi
nite variety of hieroglyphic monuments and of written documents, to have pre
vailed, from generation to generation, throughout all the, r«jionx of the lngJt<r
an uniform belief that, in the course of revolving ages, ihere, should arise a
persoinKje, a mighty deliverer of mankind from the thraldom of sin and of <l<~at]i. 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."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 (rod.
likewise supposed that there were several sEons, or emanations from
the Eternal Father. Among those who taught this doctrine was
Basilides and his followers.2
SIMON MAGUS was believed to be " He who should come."
Simon was worshiped in Samaria and other countries, as the ex
pected 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."3
His miracles were notorious, and admitted by all. His follow
ers 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."
1 Hiet. Hlndostan, voL ii. p. 273. * Ai>ol. 1, ch. xxvi.
• See Lardner'o Works, vol. viii. p. 353.
423 BIBLE 3ITTHS.
Montanus was another person who evidently believed himself
to be an Angel-Messiah. He was called by himself and his follow
ers the <l Paraclete," or "Holy Spirit."1
Socrates, in his Ecclesiastical History, tells us of one Buddlias
(who lived after Jesus) :
"Who afore that time was called Terebyntlius, which went to the coasts of
Babylon, inhabited by Persians, and there published of himself many false won
ders : that he was born of a virgin, that he was bred and brought up in the
mountains, etc."*
He was evidently, one of the many fanatics who believed them
selves to be the Paraclete or Comforter, the "Expected One."
Another one of these Christs was Apollonius. This remark
able man was born a few years before the commencement of the
Christian era, and during his career, sustained the role of a philoso
pher, 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 deliv
ery, 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 marvel
ous 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 Pythag
oras. His fame soon spread far and near, and wherever lie went
he reformed the religious worship of the day. He went to Ephesus.
like uurist 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
ind Jesus — which was answered by Eusebius, the great champion
* See Lardner's Works, vol. viii. p. 593. » Socrates : Eccl. Hist., lib. i. ch. rvii.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 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 em
perors. Eunapius, who wrote concerning him in the iifth century,
savs that his history should have1 been entitled " TJte Descent of a
(fod upon Earth/' It is as Albert Heville says:
" The universal respect in which Apollonius was hold by the whole pagan
world, testified to the deep impression which the life of this Supernatural lii'iiuj
had left indelibly fixed in their minds ; an expression which caused one of his
contemporaries to exclaim, ' U> Intre a (.rod living nmony ?/*.' "
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. lie went about performing miracles,
claiming that he was a SAVIOUR, "sent down from above from the
invisible worlds, for the salvation of mankind" l lie 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.
]\hmes evidently believed himself to be " the Christ," or "he
who was to come.'' His followers also believed the same concern
ing him. Eusebius, speaking of him. says:
" lie presumed to represent the person of Christ ; he proclaimed himself to he
the Comforter and the Holy Ghost, ;;nd bein^ puffed up with this frantic pride,
chose, as if he were Christ, tirclre partners of his new-found doctrine, patch
ing into one heap false and detestable doctrines of old, rotten, and rooted out
heresies, the which he brought out of I\ r*i/t." -
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.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 u Sons of Zoroaster," who are to be the
1 Ensebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 3, ch. xxiii. apprehended, flayed him alive, took his skin,
* Ibid. lib. 7, ch. sxx. filled it full of chaff, and hanged it at the
3 The death of Manes, according to Socrates, gates of the city." (Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch.
was as follows : The King of Persia, hearing xv.)
that he was in Mesopotamia, "made him to be
430 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 aud virtue on the earth.1
Those who believed in successive emanations of ^Eons 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 Com
forter. Mahornmed 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 an
cient prophecy set at naught by the multiplicity of those who pre
tend 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 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 re
ports show that a rival pretender has appeared in Yemen, in south
ern 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
> Plato in Apoloff. Anac., ii. p. 189.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 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, Jicre 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."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 Caesar, 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 tlie world ;
which ambiguities foretold Vespasian and Titus. But the common people (of
the Jews), according to the influence of human wishes, appropriated to them
selves, 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 tune all over the east a constant persuasion that
it was recorded in the fates (books of the fates, or foretelling^), 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
" 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 tJie 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,
iu 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 char
acteristic of the teaching of the rabbis, was the certain advent of
> Mark, xliL 81. 22.
433 BIBLE MYTHS.
a groat 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, Zenibabel became the centre of Messianic hopes,
tu 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.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, re
vived the national faith, and fanned into flame the combustible ele
ments 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 feara
of the Emperor Hadrian, and induced him to inflict unusual sever
ities 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 ascribe!
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 through
out the world was in commotion. The insurrection gained head.
The heights about Jerusalem Vere seized and occupied, and fortifi-
i Geikie : Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 79.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 433
cations were erected ; nothing but the " host of angels " was
needed to insure victory. The angels did not appear; the Koman
legions did. The " Messiah," not proving himself a conqueror, was
held to have proved himself an impostor, the "son of a lie."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 u lie 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 im
postor took his title of Bar-Cochabas, or Son of the Star- and
Akiba not only publicly anointed him " KINO 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? 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 ap
pearance be different men, but they were really the self-same divine
person successively animating various human bodies.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. <?., his Christ), his Messiah, to Cyrus,
1 Frothingham's Cradle of the Christ. Enoch, supposed to have been written at vari-
2 "The prevailing opinion of the Rabbis ous intervals between 144 and 120 (B. c.) and to
and the people alike, in Christ's day, was, that have been completed in its present form in the
the Messiah would be simply a great prince, first half of the second century that preceded
who should found a kingdom of matchless the advent of Jesus, the figure of the Messiah
splendor." ''With a few, however, the con- is invested with superhuman attributes. He is
ception of the Messiah's kingdom was pure and called "The Son of God," " whose name was
lofty. . . . Daniel, and all who wrote after spoken before the Sun was made ;" "who
him, painted the 'Expected One ' as a heavenly existed from the beginning in the presence of
being. He was the •messenger,' the ' Elect of God," that is, was pre-existent. At the same
God,' appointed from eternity, to appear in time his human characteristics are insisted on.
due time, and redeem his people." (Geikie's He is called "Son of Man," even "Son of
Life of Christ, vol. i. pp, 80, 81.) Woman." " The Anointed " or " The Christ,"
In the book of l)anid. by some supposed " The Righteous One," &c. (Frothingham :
to have been written during the captivity, by The Cradle of the Christ, p. 20.)
others as late as Autiochus Epiphanes (B. c. 3 This is clearly seen from the statement
175), the restoration of the Jews is described made by the Matthew narrator (xvii. 9-13) that
in tremendous language, and the Messiah is the disciples of Christ Jesus supposed John
portrayed as a supernatural personage, in close the Baptist waa Elias.
relation with Jehovah himself. In the book of
28
4o4 BIBLE MYTHS.
whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations."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 Budd
hists by Christian missionaries. It will become equally certain that
the bishop and church-historian, Eusebius, was right when he wrote,
that ho considered it highly probable that the writings of the Es-
senic Therapeuts in Egypt had been incorporated into our Gospels,
and into some Pauline epistles."a
For further information on the subject of the connection be
tween Essenism and Christianity, the reader is referred to Taylor's
Diegesis, Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, and the works of B. 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
c-aints 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."3
Gregory of Xiiziimzus, 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 dic
tated."4
The celebrated Eusebius, Bishop of C^ESAREA, and friend of
Constantino the Great, who is our chief guide for the early history
of the Church, confesses that lie was by no means scrupulous to re
cord the whole truth concerning the early Christians in the various
works which he has left behind him? Edward Gibbon, speaking
of him, says :
" The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius himself, indirectly
confesses that lie has related what might redound to the glory, and that he has
suppressed all that could tend to the disgrace of religion. Such an acknowledg
ment 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
1 Isaiah, x4v. 1. * Hieron ad Nep. Quoted Volney's Ruins,
8 Bunscn : The Angel-Messiah, p. 17. p. 177, note.
8 Quoted in Middleton's Letters from Rome, 8 See his Eccl. Hist., viii. 21.
p. 53.
WflY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 43j
observance o/ tne other ; and the suspicion will derive additional credit from the
character of Eusebius, which was less tinctured with credulity, and more prac
ticed in the arts of courts, than that of almost any of his contemporaries.''1
The great theologian, Beausobre, in his "Histoire de Mani-
chee," 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 execu
tioner, 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 con
vinced as I am, that it is nothing but a bit of bread. "*
M. Daille says :
" This opinion has always been in the world, that to settle a certain and as
sured estimation upon that which is good and true, it is necessary to remove out
of the way, whatsoever maybe an hiuderance to it. Neither ought ice to w»ndtr
that even tlwse of the honest, innocent, primitive times made u*e of these deceits, see
ing for a good end they made no scruple to forge whole books."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."4
Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, says :
" It was held as a maxim that it was not only lawful but praiseworthy to de
ceive, and even to use the expedient of a lie, in order to advance the cause of
truth and piety."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. "6
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. pp. 79. 80. mo , que con' est qu'un morceaa de pain.'
* " On voit dans 1'histoireque j'ai rapportee. (T( m. 2. p. 568.)
une sorte d'hypocrisie, qni n'a peut-etre ete On the Use of the Fathers, pp. 36, H7.
que trop commune dans tousles tenis. C'est que QuoU-d in Taylor's Syntagma, p. 170.
dee ecclesiastiques, non-sulement nedisent pas Mosheim : vol. 1, p. 108.
ce qu'ils pendent, mais desent tout le coniraire '' Postrerno illud quoque me vehfm nt<:r
de ce qu'ils pungent. Philosopb.es dans k-ur mo -et, quod videam primis eccieeise tempon-
cabinet, horsdela, ils content de« fables, quoi- bus, quam plurimos extitisse, qui facinus
qu'ils sachent bien que ce sont des fables. Us pulmarium judicabant. cselestem vrritatem.
font plus ; ils livrent au bourreau des gens cle flgnvntis suis ire adjutum, quo fadlius nova
biens, pour 1'avoir dit. Combions d'athees ct doctrina a gentium sapiontihus admitteretur
ds profanes ont fait bruler de saints person- Offlciosa hsec uicnduciu vocubant L>ono lino
nages, i<ous pretexts d'heresie ? Tousles jours exeogitata." (Quoted in Taylor's Di'-gesis, p.
dee hypocrites, consacrent et font adorer 44, and Giles' Hebrew and Christian KecorcH
I'hos-tie. bain qu'ib soieiit uiissi convaincus que vol ii. p. 19.)
433 BIBLE MYTHS.
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, arid aflirmud 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 headdresses, 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.1
Dr. Mosheim admits, that the Platonists and Pythagoreans held
it as a maxim, that it was not only lawful, but praiseworthy, to de
ceive, 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 in contest ably from a multitude of ancient
records, and the Christians were infected from both these sources,
with the same pernicious error?
Of the fifteen letters ascribed to Ignatius (Bishop of Antioch
after 09 A. u.), eiyht Juice been rejected l>y Christian writers as be
ing forgeries, having no authority whatever. "The remaining
seven epistles were accounted genuine by most critics, although dis
puted by some, previous to the discoveries of Mr. Cureton, which
have shaken, and indeed almost wholly destroyed the credit and
authenticity of all alike?"*
Paul of Tarsus, who was preaching a doctrine which had already
been preached to every nation on earth,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,0 and of his known and willful lies, abounding to the
glory of God.6
Even the orthodox Doctor Burnet, an eminent English author,
in his treatise " De Sbvtu Mortuorum" purposely written in Latin,
1 See the Vision of Hernia*, b. 2, c. iii. heaven ; whereof I Paul am made a minister."
2 Mosheim, vol. i. p. 197. Quoted in Taylor's (Colossians, i. 23.)
Diegesis, p. 47. 6 '' Being crafty, I caught you with guile."
3 Dr. (Jiles : Hebrew and Christian Records, (II. Cor. xii. 10.)
vol. ii. p. 99. 6 '• For if the truth of God had more
4 " Continue in the faith grounded and abounded thro».yh my lie unto his glory, why
settled, and be not moved away from the hope yet am I also judged as a sinner." (Roman*,
of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which iii 7.)
«>«# preached to every creature which is under
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 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 loeak eyes" not only justified but recom
mended 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.1
The incredible and very ridiculous stories related by Christian
Fathers and ecclesiastical historians, on whom we are olliyed to rely
for information on tlie 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 serv
ants 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 fore
heads."4
This same holy Father bears an equally unquestionable testi
mony 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 Nicodeinus, 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 aU present at their death and funeral. Go therefore and see their
1 " Si me taraenaudire vehs, mallem tepsenas of the rugged country (of the Scythian*), a
hasdicere iudelinitasquam iniinitas. Scd venict people are found living at the foot of lofty
dies, cum non minus absurda, habebitur et mountains, who are said to be all bald from
odiosa hsec opinio qnam transubstantiatio their birth, both men and women alike, and
hodie." (De Statu Mort., p. 304. Quoted in they are flat-nosed, and have large chins.1'
Taylor's Diegesis, p. 4,].) (Ibid. ch. 23.) "These bald men pay, what to
2 Quoted in Taylor's Syntagma, p. 52. me is incredible, that men with goaCs j\et in-
Among the ancients, there were many stories habit these mountains; and when one has
current of countries, the inhabitants of which passed beyond them, other men are found, irho
were of peculiar size, form or features. Our sleep six months at a time, but this I do not at
Christian saint evidently believed these tales, allalmit." (Ibid. ch. 24.) In the country west-
and thinking thus, sought to make others be- ward of Libya, "there are enormous serpents,
lieve them. We find the following examples and lions, elephants, bears, asps, and asses
related by 7/twYo/ >/,•>•: " Aristeas, son of Cay- with horns, and monsters with dog's heads
etrobius. a native of Proconesus. says in his and without heads, who hare eyes in their
epic viT>es tiiat, inspired by Apollo, he came breasts, at least, as the Libyans say, and wild
to the Issi'done* ; that beyond the Issedones men and wild women, and many other wild
dwell the Arimaspians. a people that hare only beasta which are not fabulous." (Ibid. ch.
out eye." (IIerouotu>. book iv. ch. 13.) "When 192.)
one has passed through a considerable extent
438 BIBLE MYTHS.
tombs, for these are open, and they are risen ; and behold, they are in the city cj
Arimathcea, spending their time together in offices of devotion." ]
Eusebius, " the Father of ecclesiastical history," Bishop of Cses-
area, 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.2 And
Socrates relates how the Empress Helen, mother of the Emperor
Constantino, went to Jerusalem for the purpose of finding, if pos
sible, " the cross of Christ." This she succeeded in doing, also the
nails with which he was nailed to the cross.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.* There
can be no doubt, that had the objections of Porphyry,6 Ilierocles,6
Celsus,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
1 Nicoderaus, Apoc., ch. xii. people for a long while ; and the Christiana
2 See Eusebius : Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. xiv. were not insensible of the importance of his
3 Socrates : Eccl. Hist., lib. 1. ch. xiii. work ; as may be concluded from the several
4 In the year 1441, Caxton published the answers made to it by Eusebius, and others
first book ever printed in England. In 1474, in great repute for learning." (Vol. viii. p.
the then Bishop of London, in a convocation 158.) There are but fragments of these fifteen
of his clergy, said : " If we do not destroy books remaining. Christian magistrates hav-
tids dangerous invention, it will one day de- ing ordered them to be destroyed. (Ibid.)
stroy vs."" (See Middleton's Letters from 6 Ilierocles was a Neo-Platonist, who lived
Rome, p. 4.) The reader should compare this at Alexandria about the middle of the fifth
with Pope Leo X.'s avowal that, " it is well century, and enjoyed a great reputation. He
knoicn how profitable this fable of Christ has was the author of a great number of works,
been to us ,•" and Archdeacon Paley's declara- a few extracts of which alone remain.
tion that "he could ill afford to have a con- 7 Celsus was an Epicurean philosopher, who
science.'1'' lived in the second century A.D. He wrote a
5 Porphyry, who flourished about the year work called "The True Word,1' against Chris-
&ro A.D., a man of great abilities, published a tiauity, but as it has been destroyed we know
large work of fifteen books against the Chris- nothing about it. Origen claims to give quota
tians. ".His objections against Christianity," tions from it.
says Dr. Lardner. " were in esteem with Gentile
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 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 Ser-
apis. 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 hooks hrought hy 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, Mathe
matics, Astronomy, and Medicine. An officer of very great dis
tinction 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 tirst 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 observa
tory, 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.
440 BIBLE MYTHS.
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
churoh 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 Alex
andria by Julius Caesar. 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.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."3
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, endeav
ored 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 Ijy 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
afire. For this frightful crime Cyril was never called to account.
1 Draper : Religion and Science, pp. 18-21. a Gibbon s Rome, vol. iii. p. 146.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 441
It seemed to be admitted that the end sanctified the means. Sc
ended Greek philosophy in Alexandria, so came to an untimely
close the learning that the Ptolemies had done so much to pro
mote.
The fate of Hypatia was a warning to all who would cultivate
profane knowledge. Henceforth there was to Ije no freedom for
human thought. Every one ?nust think as ecclesiastical authority
ordered him ; A.D. 414. In Athens itself philosophy awaited its
doom. Justinian at length prohihited its teaching and caused all
its schools in that city to be closed.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 be
nevolent 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 hooks fie 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."
#. 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 n'rst came into existence as
' Mystse,' upon the establishment of a direct intercourse with India
under the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies."
7. That, ;' the College of ESSENES at Ephesus, the Orpines of
Thrace, the Curetes of Crete, are all merely branches of one an
tique and common religion, and that originally Asiatic."
8. That, " the introduction of Buddhism into Egypt and Pales-
Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 55, 56. See also, Socrates' Eccl. Hist., lib. 7, ch. XT
442 BIBLE MYTHS.
tine affords the only true solution of innumerable difficulties in
the history of religion"
9. That, k' Buddhism had actually been planted in the dominions
of the Seleucidse 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, <k the principal doctrines and rites of the Essenes can
be connected with the East, with Parsism, and especially with
Buddhism."
12. That, u among the doctrines which the Essenes and Budd
hists 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 ap
plied to Jesus CJirist l>y the Essenes of Egypt and Palestine, who
introduced this new Messianic doctrine into Essenic J udaism and
Essenic Christianity."
15. That, " \ve 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 \\\Q Essenes, and in the library
at Alexandria. The Essenes, \vlio were aftenvards called Chris
tians, applied the legend of the Angel-Messiah — " the very ancient
Eastern doctrine," which we have shown throughout this work —
to Clirist Jesus. It was simply a transformation of names, a trans
formation which had previously occurred in many cases.1 After
this came additions to the legend from other sources. Portions of
O
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 his-
1 Wo have seen this particularly in the cases been done in the case of almost every other mern-
of Crishna and Buddha. Mr. Cox, speaking of ber of the great company of the gods." (Aryan
the former, says : " If it be urged that the at- Mythology, vol. ii. p. 130.) These words apply
tribution to Crishna of qualities or powers be- to the case we have before us. Jesus was eim-
longing to the other deities is a mere device ply attributed with the qualities or powers
by which his devocees sought to supersede the which had been jrreviously attributed to
more ancient gods, the answer must be that other deities. This we hope to be able to fully
nothing has been done in his case which has not demonstrate in our chapter on " Explanation."'
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 443
tory 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 Reville says :
" Alexandria, the home of Philonism, and Neo-Platonism (and we might add
Essenism), was naturally the centre whence spread the dorjma of fhe deity of Jesus
Christ. In that city, through the third century, flourished a school of transcen
dental 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, Origeu and
Dionysius, and the theory of the Logos was at the foundation of their the
ology."1
Among the numerous gospels in circulation among the Chris
tians of the h'rst three centuries, there was one entitled uThe
Gospel of the Egyptia/ns" Epiphanius (A. D. 385), speaking of
it, says :
" Many things are proposed (in this Gospel of the Egyptians) in a hidden,
mysleriou* 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 Trin
ity, 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 Chris
tians in Egypt, and that it was published before either of t lie canon
ical 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 u Scriptures " of the Essenes were undoubtedly amalga
mated with the u Gospels " of the Christians, the result being tJie
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
1 " Dogma of the Deity of Jesus Christ," p. 41.
444 BIBLE MYTHS.
prodigies, is admitted on all hands. That the " Sciiptures " 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 In
dian, escaping from the great focus through Egypt, were able to
reach Judea, Greece and Koine ''(
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.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 be
fore 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, Lu-
cian, Plotinus — lived in peace, protected by the law."8
Born and educated a pagan, Constantine embraced the Christian
faith from the following motives. Having committed horrid crimes,
in fact, having committed murders,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)4 he lighted at last upon an
Egyptian who came out of Iberia, and being persuaded by him that the Chris
tian faith was of force to wipe away every sin, were it ever so heinous, he em
braced willingly at whatever the Egyptian told him."5
1 Adherents of the old religion of Russia committed by this Christian saint, is con-
have been persecuted in that country within strained to say that: " The death of Crispus is
the past year, and even in enlightened Eng- altogether without any good excuse, so like-
land, a gentleman has been persecuted by gov- wise is the death of the young Licinianus,
ernment officials because he believes in neither who could not have been more than a little
a personal God or a personal Devil. above eleven years of age, and appears not to
2 Renan, Hibbert Lectures, p. 22. have been charged with any fault, and could
3 The following are the names of his vie- hardly be suspected of any.1'
\ ims : * The Emperor Nero could not be baptized
Maximbui, Hit- wife's father, A i> 310 and be initiated into Pagan Mysteries— as
Bassianus, His sister's husband, A.D
Liciuius, His nephew, A.D
Fausta, His wife, A.D
Sopater, His former friend, A.D
Licinius, His sifter's husband, A.D
Criepus, His own son, A.D
314 Constantine was initiated into those of the
319 Christians — on account of the murder of his
320 mother. And he did not dare to compel—
321 which he certainly could have done — the
325 priests to initiate him.
6 Zosimus, in Socrates, lib. iii. ch. xl.
Dr. Lardner, in speaking of the murders
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 445
Mons. Dupuis, speaking of this conversion, says :
"Constantino, 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, tbat amongst the various kinds of expiations, there was none
which could expiate so many crimes, and that no religion whatever could oiler
ellicient protection against the justice of the gods ; and Constantiue was em
peror. One of the courtiers of the palace, who witnessed the trouble and agita
tion 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 n-umber 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. } From that moment, Constantino declared himself the protector of a
sect which treats great criminals with so much lenity.2 lie was a great villain,
who tried to lull himself with illusions to smother his remorse."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 Constantino, although he ac
cepted 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 Constantino 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 under
mined the foundations of moral virtue."4
1 "The sacrament of baptism was supposed cross which he had seen, and to wear it in
to contain a full and absolute expiation of sin ; his banner when he went to battle with hit
and the soul was instantly restored to its enemies. (See Eusebiua' Life of Constantino,
original purity and entitled to the promise of lib. 1, ch. zziii. See also, Socrates : Eccl.
eternal salvation. Among the proselytes of Hist., lib. 1, ch. ii.)
Christianity, there were many who judged it • Dnpuis, p. 405.
imprudent to precipitate a salutary rite, which * Gibbon's Rome, rol. ii. p. 873. The
could not be repeated. By the delay of their Fathers, who censured this criminal delay,
baptism, they could venture freely to indulge conld not deny the certain and victorious effl-
their passions in the enjoyments of this world, cacy even of a death-bed baptism. The in-
while they still retained in their own hands genious rhetoric of Chrysostom (A.D. 347^107)
the means of a sure and speedy absolution." could find only three arguments against these
(Gibbon : ii. pp. 272, 273.) prudent Christians. 1. " That we should love
« " Constantino, as he was praying about and pursue virtue for her own sake, and not
noon-vMe, God showed him a vision in the merely for the reward. 2. That we may be
sky, which was the sign of the cross lively surprised by death without an opportunity of
figured in the air, with this inscription on baptism. 3. That although we shall be placed
it : 'In hoc vince ;' that is, ' By this over- in heaven, we shall only twinkle like little
come.' " This is the story as related by Ease- stars, when compared to the suns of righte-
bius (Life of Constantino, lib. l.ch.xxii.), but ousness who have run their appointed course
it must be remembered that Eusebius acknowl- with labor, with success, and with glory."
edged that he told falsehoods. That night (Chrysostom in Epist. ad Uebrteos. Homil. xiii
Christ appeared unto Constantine in his dream, Quoted in Gibbon's "Rome," ii. 272.)
and commanded him to make the figure of the
446 BIBLE MYTHS.
Eusebius, in his " Life of Constantine," tells us that •
"When he thought that he was near his death, he confessed his sins, desirkg
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, m 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.'1 "
"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 bap
tism, and that was signed with the sign of the cross."1
When Constantino 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.3 He then issued edicts
against heretics, — i. <?., those who, like Arius, did not believe that
Christ was " of one substance with the Father" and others — call-
ing them "enemies of truth and eternal life," " authors and council
lors of death," &c.8 Pie " 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 " con
fiscated to the Catholic church ;"4 and Constantine was emperor.
" By this means," says Eusebius, " such as maintained doctrines
and opinions contrary to the church, were suppressed"6
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."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."7
The hopes of wealth and honors, the example of an emperor,
his exhortations, his irresistible smiles, diffused conviction among
1 Lib. 4, chs. Ixi. and Ixii., and Socrates : Plato places the ferocious tyrants in the
Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. xxvi. Tartarus, such as Ardiacus of Pamphylia, who
3 Eusebius : Life of Constantine, lib. 2, ch. had slain his own father, a venerable old
Xliii. man, also an elder brother, and was stained
8 Ibid. lib. 3, ch. Ixii. with a great many other crimes. Constantine,
4 Ibid. lib. 3, ch Ixiii. covered with similar crimes, was better treated
6 Ibid. lib. 3, ch. Ixiv. by the Christians, who have sent him to heaven
• Ibid. lib. 4, ch. xv. and fainted him besides.
»Ibid ch. Ixiii.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 447
the venal and obsequious crowds which unsually fill the apart
ments 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. Constantino 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 baptized at Rome, besides a proportionable
number of women and children.1
To suppress the opinions of philosophers, which were contrary
to Christianity, the Christian emperors published edicts. The
respective decrees of the emperors Constantino and Theodosius,"
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 em
perors would not that those things tending to provoke God to
wrath, should be allowed to offend the minds of the piously dis
posed.
The following is a decree of the Emperor Theodosius of this
purport :
"We decree, therefore, that all writings, whatever, which Porphyry or any
one else hath written against the Christian religion, in the possession of whomso
ever they shall be found should be committed to the tire ; for we would not
suffer any of those things so much as to come to men's ears, which tend to pro
voke God to wrath and oifend the minds of the pious."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 se
vere penalties, which our authority, guided by heavenly wisdom, may think
proper to inflict upon them."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
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 274. civil rites of all apostates from Christianity
8 " Theodosius, though a professor of the and of the Eunomians, the sentence of
orthodox Christian faith, was not baptized till death on the Manicheans, and Quarto-decimans,
880, and his behavior after that period stamps all prove this.11 (Chumbers's Encyclo., art
him as one of the most cruel and vindictive Theodosius.}
persecutors who ever wore the purple. His • Quoted in Taylor's Syntagma, p. 54.
arbitrary establishment of the Nicene faith * Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 81.
over the whole empire, the deprivation of
448 BIBLE MYTHS.
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.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 so?i) was excommunicated for his so-called hereti
cal notions concerning the Trinity. His followers, who were very
numerous, were called Arians. Their writings, if they had been
permitted to exist? 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 Con
stantius, 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 pa
rents ; 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."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.4
Julian, the successor of Constantius, has described some of the
theological calamities which afflicted the empire, and more espec
ially 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
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. pp. 91, 92. * Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 359.
2 All their writings were ordered to be de- * Ibid, note 154.
stroyed.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED. 449
other provinces, towns and villages were laid waste, and utterly
destroyed."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 tor
ments 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 hu
manity. His general practice was to enter a district at the head of
a formidable force, summon a Thing* and give the people the al
ternative 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.3
These are some of the reasons "why Christianity prospered."
1 Julian : Epistol. lii. p. 436. Quoted in striking their shields with their drawn sworda.
Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 3CO. 3 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 180,
3 " Thing "—a general assembly of the free- 351, and 470.
men, who gave their assent to a measure by
NOTE. — The learned Christian historian Pagi endeavors to smoothe over the crimes of Con-
etantine. He says : " As for those few murders (which Eueebius 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 Licintus (his infant nephew), although the fact might not generally have been
known, had most likely been an accomplice in the treason of hi.* 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 fi lends, whom Eutropius informs us lie 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 ench no doubt was that SOPATER the philospher, who was at last put to
death upon the accusation of Adlabius, and that by the righteous d^pensation of God, for his
having attempted to alienate the mind of Constantino from the true religion." (Pagi Ann. 334,
quoted in Latin by Dr. Lardner, vol. iv. p. 371, in hie notes for the benefit of the learned reader, but
gives no rendering into English.)
29
CHAPTEE XXXYIII.
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 Wil
liams 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 In
dian authors, and the dates of their most celebrated works cannot be fixed with
certainly. 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."1
Prof. Win. D. Whitney shows the great antiquity of the Yedic
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."2
That the Vedas are of very high antiquity is unquestionable ;
but however remote we may place the period when they were writ
ten, we must necessarily presuppose that the Hindostanic race had
1 Williams1 Hinduism, p. 19. See also, Prof. had reached in Upanishads the loftiest heights
Max Miiller's Lectures on the Origin of Re- of philosophy."
ligion, pp. 145-158, and p. 67, where he speaks 2 The Ancient City, p. 13.
of "the Hindus, who, thousands of years ago,
[450]
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 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 Yedic
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
MaJiabharata, which were written many centuries before the time
assigned as that of the birth of Christ Jesus.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 31G B. c.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.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 iden
tical with the books of the Southern Canon, as settled at the Council of Patna
about the year 250 B. c.4 As no works would have been received into the Canon
which were not then believed to be very old, the PitaJais 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."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 Brahman8 — and is contained
1 See Monier Williams' Hinduism, pp. 109, Siam to the borders of Mongolia and Siberia.
110, and Indian Wisdom, p. 493. Like his Christian prototype Constantino, he
2 See Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 576, for the was converted by a miracle. After his con-
anthority of Prof. Max Muller. version, which took place in the tenth year of
3 " The religion known as Buddhism — from his reign, he became a very zealous supporter
the title of ' The Buddha,' meaning ' The of the new religion. lie himself built many
Wise,' ' The Enlightened ' — has now existed monasteries and dagabas, and provided many
for 24GO years, and may be said to be the monks with the necessaries of life ; and he
prevailing religion of the world." (Chambers's encouraged those about his court to do the
Encyclo.) same. He published edicts throughout hia
* This Council was assembled by Asoka in empire, enjoining on all his subjects morality
the eighteenth year of his reign. The name and justice.
of this king is honored wherever the teachings « Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 10.
of Buddha have spread, and is reverenced • See Chapter VTI.
from the Volga to Japan, from Ceylon and
452 BIBLE MYTHS.
in the Zend-Avesta, their sacred book or Bible. This book is very
ancient. Prof. Max Miiller 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."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.2
u The Babylonian and Phenician sacred books date back to a
fabulous antiquity ; "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 lias not its analogy in the Egyptian faith, and all these theological
conceptions pervade the oldest religion of Egypt."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 Pyra
mids, 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 Kuler," " Manifester
of Good," a Kevealer 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 rive 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."5
1 Miiller : Lectures on the Science of Re- Their religion prevented them from making
ligion, p. 235. proselytes, and they never multiplied within
'* This email tribe of Persians were driven themselves to any extent, nor did they amal-
from their native land by the Mohammedan gamate with the Hindoo population, so that
conquerors under the Khalif Omar, in the even now their number only amounts to about
seventh century of our era. Adhering to the seventy thousand. Nevertheless, from their
ancient religion of Persia, '.vhich resembles busy, enterprising habits, in which they emulate
that of the Veda, and bringing with them the Europeans, they form an important section
records of their faith, the Zend-Avesta of their of the population of Bombay and Western
propaet Zoroaster, they settled down in the India.
neighborhood of Surat, about one thousand one 3 Movers : Quoted in Dunlap's Spirit Hist.,
hundred years ago, and became great mer- p. 261.
chants and shipbuilders. For two or three 4 Prolegomena, p. 417.
centuries we know little of their history. 6 Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 162.
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 453
This myth, and that of Isis and Horus, were known before the
Pyramid time.1
The worship of the Virgin Mother in Egypt — from which
country it was imported into Europe2 — dates back thousands of
years u. c. Mr. Bon wick says :
" Iii 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."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."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 an
terior to the rise of Ammon worship at Thebes."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 wrg.
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 Cauopus and Rosetta in the Ptolemaic period are as ancient as
the pyramids, and more ancient than any pyramid of which we know the
date."*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 al
lude 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
1 Bomvick's Egyptian Belief, p. 163. * Quoted in Ibid. p. 186.
3 Ibid. p. 142, and King's Gnostics, p. 71. 8 Ibid.
» Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, pp. 185, 140, • Renouf : Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 81
and 143.
454 BIBLE MTTHS.
not named in the Vedic hymns, l 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 num
ber of the gods was thirty-three, amounted to saying that each of the three lead
ing personifications was capable of eleven modifications."2
The great antiquity of the legends referred to in this work is
demonstrated in the fuel 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
u 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 Mexi
cans ; 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 Resur
rection, 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."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.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 Burnoaf,
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 indispu
table. There is an abundance of proof to this effect.6
In contrast to the great antiquity of the sacred books and relig
ions of Paganism, wTe 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
1 That is, the Tri-murti Brahma, Vishnu and ship of the three members of the Tri-murti,
Siva, for he tells us that the three gods, Indra, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, is to be found in the
Agni, and Surya, constitute the Vedic chief period of the epic poems, from 500 tc 300
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 wor-
(Ibid. pp. 109. 110, 115.)
Williams1 Hinduism, p. 25.
Monumental Christianity, p. 390.
See Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi.
See Appendix A.
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN KELIGION8. 455
we know of the four gospels is at the time of Irenaeus, who, in the
second century, intimates that lie had received four gospels, as au
thentic 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 subse
quently 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 ma
jority 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 vir
gin 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.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 1Y3, A. D. It is at this time,
also, that it is first ascribed to Matthew, by Apollinaris, Bishop of
Ilierapolis. The original oracles of the Gospel of the Hebrews,
however, — which were made use of by the author of our present
1 The genealogy which traces him back to this Goepel he is not only a Messiah sent to
Adam (Luke iii.) makes his religion not only the Jews, but to all nations, sons of Adam.
* Jewish, but a Gentile one. According to
456 BIBLE MYTHS.
Gospel of Matthew, — were written, likely enough, not long beforo
the destruction of Jerusalem, but the Gospel itself dates from about
A. D. 100.1
" 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 & 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 bor
rowing 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 Gain'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.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 (Jew
ish), 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 op-
• See The Bible of To-Day, under " Matthew" a See Ibid, tinder "Lute."
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN KELIGIONS. 457
posing 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 gene
alogy 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.1
AVe now come to the fourth, arid last gospel, that " according
to John" which was not written until many years after that "ac
cording to Matthew."
"It is impossible to pass- from the Synoptic2 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 con
ception 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 le'mg 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.3
1 See the Bible of To-Day, under " Mark."1 to the composition of the three first Gospels,
2 "Synoptics ;" the Gospels which contain is no longer tenable."
accounts of the same events— " parallel pas- s " On opening the New Testament and
sages," as they are culled— which can be writ- comparing the impression produced by the
ten side by side, so as to enable us to make a Gospel of Matthew or Marie with that by the
general view or $ynO)>sis of all the three, and at Gospel of John, the ob^erxant e-ye is at once
the same time compare them with each other. struck with as salient a contrast as that already
Bishop Marsh says: "The- most eminent crit- indicated on turning from the Macbeth or
ics are at present decidedly of opinion that Othello of Shakespeare to the Com '/.y of Milton
one of the two suppositions must necessarily or to Spenser's Faerie Queen f." (Francis Tif-
be adopted, either that the three Evangelists fany.)
copied from each other, or that all the three "To learn how far we may trust them (the
drew from a common source, and that the Gospels) we must in the lirst place compare
notion of an absolute independence, in respect them with each other. The moment we do so
458 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 na
tion. 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 Ins 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 nearest 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 Irenseus (A. D. 179).1 We look in vain for an ex
press 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 Irenseus 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."2
The idea of God having inspired four different men to
write a history of the same transactions — or rather, of many dif-
we notice that the fourth stands quite alone, Testament, intimates that he had received four
while \\it.first three forma single group, not Gospels, as authentic Scriptures, the authors of
only following the same general course, but which he describes.1' (Rev. R.Taylor: Syn-
sometimes even showing a verbal agreement tagma, p. 109.)
which cannot possibly be accidental." (The "The authorship of the fourth Gospel has
Bible for Learners, vol. ii. p. 27.) been the subject of much learned and anxious
i " Irenaens is the first person who mentions controversy among theologians. The earliest,
the four Gospels by name." (Bunsen : Keys and only ve>-y important external testimony wt
of St. Peter, p. 328.) have is that of IREN^US (A.D. 179.)" (W. R.
"Irenaeus, in the second century, is the first Grey : The Creed of Christendom, p. 159.)
of the fathers who, though he has nowhere given. a Against Heresies, bk. i d. ch. xi. sec. 1.
us a professed catalogue of the books of the New
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 459
f erent 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 distin
guish the inspired from the uninspired — certainly appears self-con
futing, and anything but natural.
The reasons assigned by Irenaeus for their being four Gospels
are as follows :
" It is impossible that there could be more or less :'i:m four. For tbere are
four climates, and four cardinal winds ; but the Gospel is the pillar and founda
tion of the church, and its breath of life. The church therefore was to have four
pillars, blotting immortality from every quarter, and giving life to man."1
It was by this Iremeus, with the assistance of Clement of Alex
andria, and Tertullian, one of the Latin Fathers, that the four Gos
pels were introduced into general use among the Christians.
In these four spurious Gospels, and in some which arc con.-i<l-
ered 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 for
geries ? The existence of Jesus is implied in the New Testament
outside of the Gospels, but hardly an incident of his life is men
tioned, 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 per
sons 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."*
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."3
1 Against Heresies, bk. iii. ch. xi. sec. 8. • Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 50.
8 Mosheim: vol. i. p. 109.
460 BIBLE MYTHS.
Archbishop Wake also admits that :
" It would be useless to insist on all the spurious pieces which were attribu
ted to St. Paul alone, in the primitive ages of Christianity."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.*
The learned Bishop Faustus, in speaking of the authenticity of
the JXew 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 person*, who,
lest they should not be credited when they wrote of affairs they were little ac
quainted 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 writ
ten themselves, was written according to these persons to whom they ascribed
it."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 ; es
pecially since — as already it has been often proved — these things were not writ
ten 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."4
What had been said to have been done in India, was said by
these u 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 u 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 Chris
tianity, 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"
1 Genuine Epist. Apost. Fathers, p. 98. partim apostolorum, partim eorum qui apos-
2 See Chadwick's Bible of To-Day, pp. 191, tolos Becuti vidercntur nomina scriptorum
192. suorum frontibus indiderunt, asseverantes se-
8 "Nee ab ipso scriptuni constat, nee ab cundum eos, se scripsisse quae scripserunt."
ejus apostolis eed longo post tempore a qu:- (Faust, lib. 2. Quoted by Rev. R. Taylor :
busdam incerti nominis viris. qui ne sibi nou Diegesis, p. 114.)
haberetur fides scribentibus quae nescirent, * " Multa enim a majoribus vestris, eloquiis
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 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.
"lie (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, k'IIe (Jesus) departed from Galilee, and came into the
coasts of Judea, beyond Jordan," is an assertion made by the Mat
thew narrator (xix. 1), when the Jordan itself was the eastern
boundary of Judea, and there were no coasts of Judea beyond it.
Again, k'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 Naz
areth, 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 York
shire ; 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 accu
racy, as if one should relate the travels of a hero, who departed into
Middlesex, and leaving London, came and dwelt in Lombard street.1
Domini nostri insert;; vorha sunt ; quae nomine ionesque comperta stint ; qui tamen omnia
eignata ipsius, cum ejiis fide non consrruant, eadem in apostolorum Domini copferentea
prsesi-rtim, quia, ut jam ssepe probatum a nomina vel eorum qui pecuti apostolos
nobis est. nee ab ipso hsec sunt. iu-c ab ejua viderentur. errores ac mendacia sua eecundum
apostoli* scripta, sed multo post eorum assump- eos se scrip^isee mentiti eunt.11 (Faust.:
tiouem, a nesoio quibus, et ipsis inter se uon lib. 33. Quoted in Ibid. p. 66.)
concorduiitibus SEMI-JUD^EIS, per famas opin- * Taylor's Diegesis.
462 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 Caiaphus being the high priests, the word of God
came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness," is an as
sertion 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 Euse-
bius calls Christians — and, as is well known, monasteries were the
abode of the Essenes or Therapeuts.
See the words for " legion" " aprons" " handkerchiefs" " cen
turion" 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 indi
cations of time in the New Testament), are manifestly false. The
general ignorance of the four Evangelists, not merely of the geog
raphy 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
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 463
\vhich their narratives seem to refer. The ablest divines at the
present day, of all denominations, have yielded as much as this.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. Johaun Solomo Seinler, 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. "9
Concerning the time when the canon of the New Testament
was settled, Mosheirn 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."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."4
Dr. Lardner says :
"Even so late as the middle of the sixth century, the canon of the New Tes
tament had not been settled by any authority that was decisive and universally
1 Says Prof. Smith npon this point : " All Gospels did not go to work as independent
the earliest external evidence points to the con- writers and compose their own narratives out
elusion that the synoptic gospels are non-apos- of the accounts they had collected, but simply
tolic digests of spoken and written apostolic took up the different stories or pets of stories
tradition, and that the arrangement of the which they found current in the oral tradition
earlier material in orderly form took place only or already reduced to writing, adding Jx-re and
gradually and by many essays." expanding there, and so sent out into the worM
l)r. Hooykaas, speaking of the four "Gos- a very artless kind of composition. These
pels," and " Acts," says of them : "Not one works were then, from time to time, somewhat
of these five books was really written by the enriched by introductory mutter or interpola-
person whose name it bears, and they are all tions from the hands of later Christians, and
of more recent date than the heading would perhaps were modified a little here and there,
lead us to suppose." Our first two Gospela appear to have passed.
"We cannot say that the "Gospels" and through more than one such revision. The
book of "Act8" are unauthentic, for not one third, whose writer says in his preface, tha
of them professes to give the name of its au- 'many had undertaken to put together a narr.i-
thor. They appeared anonymously. The titles tive (Gospel),1 before him, appears to proceed
placed above them in our Bibles owe their from a single collecting, arranging, and modi-
origin to a later ecclesiastical tradition which fying hand." (Ibid. p. 29.)
deserves no confidence whatever." (Bible for 2 " Christian! doctores non in vulgus prode-
Learnersi, vol. iii. pp. 24, 25.) bant libros sacros, kcet soleant pleriqne aliter-
These GospeJs " can hardly be said to have opinari, erant tantum in mauibus clericorum,
had authors at all. They had only editors or priora per saecula." (Quoted in Taylor's Die-
compilers. What I mean is, that those who gesis, p. 48.)
enriched the old Christian literature with these 3 Mosheirn: vol i. pt. 2, ch. li.
* General Survey of the Canon, p. 461.
464 BIBLE MYTHS.
acknowledged, but Christian people were at liberty to judge for themselves con
cerning the genuiness of writings proposed to them as apostolical, and to de
termine according to evidence."1
The learned Michael is says :
"No manuscript of the New Testament now extant is prior to the sixth cen
tury, 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." 8
And Bishop Marsh says :
"II 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 manu
script, were very generally received."3
In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius gives us a list of what
books at that time (A. r>. 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 arc 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 oi John, whether they were John the Evangelist, or some other of the sa?ne
name."4-
Though Irenaeus, in the second century, is the first who men
tions the evangelists, and Origen, in the third century, is the first
who gives us a catalogue of the books contained in the New Tes
tament, Mosheim's admission still stands before us. We have no
grounds of assurance that the mere mention of the names of the
evangelists by Ireiiseus, or the arbitrary drawing up of a particular
catalogue by Origen, were of any authority. Tt is still unknown
by whom, or where, or wlien, the canon of the New Testament was
settled. Eat in this absence of positive evidence we have abun
dance 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
pioposed to them as apostolical."
1 Credibility of ;l:o Gowpels. 3 Ibid. p. 308.
a Marsh's Michaelis, vol. ii. p. 100. The 4 Eusebius : Ecclesiastical Hist. lib. 8, ch.
Sinaitic MS. is believed by Tischendorf to xxii.
belong to the fourth century.
THE ANTIQUITY OF PAGAN RELIGIONS 465
We cannot do better than close this chapter witli the words of
Prof. Max Miiller, who, in speaking of Buddhism, says :
" We have iu the history of Buddhism an excellent opportunity fo.- 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 great
ness, seldom entered the minds of those who followed him. It was only
after Buddha had left the world to enter into Nirmiut, that his disciples at
tempted 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, how
ever extraordinary and incredible, was eagerly welcomed, while witnesses who
would have ventured to criticise or reject unsupported statements, ov to de-tract
in any way from the holy character of Buddha, had no chance of ever be-ug
listened to. And when, in spite of all this, differences of opinion smxse, ibvy
were not brought to the test by a careful weighing of evidence, but tbe names of
' unbeliever' and 'heretic' were quickly invented in India an elsewhere, and ban
died backwards and forwards between contending parties, till at last, when tl»«
doctors disagreed, the help of the secular power had to be invoked, f»nd king*
and emperors assembled councils for the suppression of schism, for the settle
ment of an orthodox creed, and for the completion of a sacredca?ion.'n
That which Prof. Miiller describes as taking place in the relig
ion of Christ Buddha, is exactly what took place in the religion oi
Christ Jesus. That the miraculous, and many of the non-miracu
lous, 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.
1 The Science of Religion, pp. 30, 31.
NOTE.— The Codex Sinaitici/s, referred to on the preceding page, («oA°2.) was found at the
Convent of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai, by Tiechendorf, in 1859. lie. ftiipposi-K that it belongs
to the 4th cent. ; hut Dr. Davidson (in Kitto's Hih. Kncy., Art. IMSS.) think* dffferent. lie says :
"Probably it is of the Clh cent.,'* while lie states that the Codex Vuticaiius "is beliered to
belong to the 4th cent.," and the CodfX Alexai drinus to the 5th cent. McClintock & Strong's
Ency. (Art. MSS.,) relying probably on Tischendorf s conjecture, places the Codex Xinaitims
first. " It is probably the oldest of the MSS. of the N. T.. and of the 4th cent.." pay they. The
CodfX Vaticain/s is considered the next oldest, and the Codex Afexandrimis 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. Die. says: "The CodfX tiinaitici/fi is probably the oldest of the MSS. of the
N. T., and of the 4th cent.;" and that the Codex Alexandrians " was profjabhj 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 aie 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."1' This remark, however, does not cover the Codex Sinaificus,
which was discovered since Michaelis wrote his work on the N. T. ; but, as we saw above,
Dr. Davidson does not agree with Tiechtndorf in regard to its antiquity, and places it in the
6th cent,
CHAPTEE XXXIX.
EXPLANATION.
AFTER what we Lave 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 2 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 men
tioned 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 per
sonages 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 thory,
which supposes that all the myths of the ancients were allegorical
and symbolical, and contain some moral, religious, or philosophical
[466J
EXPLANATION. 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 re
garded 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 per
sonifications of the SUN. As Prof. Max Miiller 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. ' 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 re
ligion? ....
"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 1 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 char
acters 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 VarSnes, 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."2
1 "In the Vedas, the Sun has twenty dif- which nourishes (PQshna), the Creator (Tvash-
fcrent names, not pure equivalents, but each tar), the master of the f»ky (Divaspati), and so
term descriptive of the Sun in one of its as- on.1' (Rev. 8. Baring-Gould : Orig. Relig.
peels. It is brilliant (Surya),tbe friend (Mitral, Belief, vol. i. p. 150.)
generout (Aryaman), beneficent (.Bhaga), that a Asiatic Researches, rol. i. p. 267.
468 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 con
viction that the foundations of the science of comparative mythology
have been firmly laid, and that its method is unassailable."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, «fcc., which they per
sonified and worshiped. That these have been the gods and god
desses of all nations of antiquity, is an established fact.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 disin
tegration 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 Her
cules. 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 float
ing phrases, not attached to any definite deities. These would grad
ually 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 ua
local habitation and a name." These would remain as genuine
hixiory, '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 per-
1 Preface to " Tales of Anct. Greece." a See Appendix B.
EXPLANATION". 469
Bonality. 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 I lie god
of Delos and Pytho. In the Vedas the myths of Endvniioii, 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 conclu
sion 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 inde
pendent 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.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
Bhut 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 lan
guage is now a growing opinion among philologists; but for the
comparison of legends current in different countries it is not neces
sary 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 sur
rounded 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
» Aryan Mytho., vol ii. pp. 51-53.
470 BIBLE MYTHS.
the vague consciousness of their existence, and nothing of the phe
nomena 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 re
mained 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 win
ter 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 hu
man 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
EXPLANATION. 471
forms, and furnished the groundwork of the epic poems, whether
oj the eastern or the western world.
" The mythical or mythmaking language of mankind had no par
tialities ; 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 us 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 de
scribe 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 alterna
tions 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 capri
cious, or resentful ; as grieving for the loss of the dawn whom he
had loved, or as nursing his great wrath and vowing a pitiless ven
geance. 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
472 BIBLE MYTHS.
Sun who scattered the black shade of night would be the mighty
champion doing battle with the biting snake which lurked iii 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 re
turn 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 he.1 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 ali sensible objects the
same 'kind of life which they were conscious of possessing them
selves"
Let us compare the history of the Saviour which we have al
ready seen, with that of the Sun, as it is found in the Vedas.
We can follow in the Vedic hymns, step by step, the develop
ment which changes the Sun from a mere luminary into a " Cre
ator" " Preserver" " Ruler" and u Rewarder of the World " — in
fact, into a Divine or Supreme Being.
The iirst 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 " De
fender" and kind "Protector" of all living things.
Fourthly, the Sun sees everything, both that which is good and
EXPLANATION. 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. Miiller, from whose work we
have quoted the above, a few passages (from the Rig- Veda] illus
trating every one of these perfectly natural transitions.
"In hymn vii. we tint! the S;m invoked us ' The P,'»fector of everything that
moves or stands, of all that exiat*.' "
" Frequent allusion is made to the Sun's power of seeing everything. The
stars lice 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 Sunsers 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.)."
"lie alone rules the whole world (R. V. v.). " The laws which he has estab
lished are linn (II. V. iv.), and the other gods not only praise him (R. V. vii.),
but have to follow him as their leader (R. V. v.)."1
That the history of Christ Jesus, the Christian Saviour, — " the
true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,"3
-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' on the 25th day of December. Now, this is the Surfs birth -
day. At the commencement of the sun's apparent annual revolu
tion 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 (f Heaven" of the "Celestial Vir
gin 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 :
1 Miiller : Origin of Religions, pp. 264-268. are celebrated in Bethlehem and Rome, even
* Jolin, i. 9. at the present time, very early in ihe morn-
» The Christian ceremonies of the Nativity ing.
474 BIBLE MYTHS.
" The division of the first decan of the Virgin represents a beututifal virgin
with flowing hair, sitting in a chair, with two ears of corn in her hand, and
suckling an infant called Issusby some nations, and Ctiristiu Greek."1
This denotes the Sun, which, at the moment of the winter sol
stice, 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.2
Thus we see that Christ Jesus was born on the same day as
Buddha, Mithras, Osiris, Horus, Hercules, Bacchus, Adonis and
oilier personifications of the SuN.3
2. Christ Jesus was born of a Virgin. In this respect he is aloe
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,* or the dark Earth*
or Night.6 Hence we have, as we have already seen, the Virgin,
or Virgo, as one of the signs of the zodiac.7
This Celestial Virgin was feigned to be a mother. She is repre
sented 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
Henries, 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 Ilorus in the other. In Roman Catholic countries, she is
1 Quoted by Volney, Rums, p. 166, and note. fix the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ." (Hig-
2 See Ibid, and Dupuis : Origin of Religious gins : Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 314, arid Bonwick :
Belief, p. 2M. Egyptian Belief, p. 147.)
3 See Chap. XXXIV. "We have in the first decade the Sign of
4 The Dawn was personified by the ancients the Virgin, following the most ancient tradi-
as a virgin mother, who bore the Sun. (See tion of the Persians, the Chaldeans, the Egyp-
Max Miilier's Chips, vol. ii. p. 137. Fiske's tians, Hermes and /Esculapius, a young woman
Myths and Mythmakers, p. 156. and Cox : Tales called in the Persian language, Seclinidos dt
of Ancient Greece, and Aryan Mytho.) Darzama ; in the Arabic, Aderenedesa— thaf
s In Sanscrit "Ida" is the Earth, the wife of is to say, a chaste, pure, immaculate virgin,
Dyaua (the Sky), and so we have before us the suckling an infant, which some nations call
mythical phrase, " the Sun at its birth rests Jesus (i. e., Saviour), but which we in Greek
on the earth." In other words, " the Sun at cull Christ." (Abulmazer.)
birth is nursed in the lap of its mother." " In the first decade of the Virgin, rises a
6 " The moment we understand the nature maid, called in Arabic, ' Aderenedesa,' that is :
of a myth, all impossibilities, contradictions ' pure immaculate virgin,' graceful in person,
and immoralities disappear. If a mythical charming in countenance, modest in habit,
personage be nothing more tnan a name of the with loosened hair, holding in her hands fvo
Hun, his birth may be derived from ever so ears of wheat, sitting upon an embroidered
many different mothers. He may be the son of throne, nursing a BOY, and rightly feeding him
the tiky or of the Dawn or of the Sea or of the in the place called Hebraea. A boy, I say,
Night." (Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 108.) names IESSUS by certain nations, which signifies
" The sign of the Celestial Virgin rises Issa, whom they also call Christ in Greek."
above the horizon at the moment in which we (Kircher. (Edipus ^Egypticus.)
EXPLANATION. 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 repre
sented 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 Got fa." " She is the mother with powerful, terrible, with royal
80?is" She is said to have given birth to the Sun.1 " As the Sun
and all the solar deities rise from the east" says Prof. Max Muller,
" we can well understand how Aditi (the Dawn) came to be called
the ' Mother of the Bright Gods.' "a
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 Agin 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 Daw?i.*
We find in the Vishnu Parana, 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* 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 Man
kind " who is born of her is the Sun, the Sun is Crishna, and
Crishna is Christ.
In the Mahdbharata, Crishna is also represented as the "'Son of
Aditi"' As the hour of his birth grew near, the mother became
more beautiful, and her form more brilliant.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.7
The humanity vi this SOLAR GOD-MAN, this demiurge, is strongly
1 Max Milne: ; Origin of Religions, p. 261. rose in (he dawn of Devaki, to cause the lotus
2 Ibid. p. 230. petal of the universe (Crifstnin} to expand. On
s " With scarcely an exception, all the names the day of his birth the quarters of the hori-
by which the Virgin goddess of the Akropolis zon were irradiate with joy," &c.
was known point to this mythology of the 5 Cox : Aryan Myths, vol. iii. pp. 105, and
Dawn." (Cox : Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 228.) 130. vol. ii.
* We also read in the Vishnu Parana that : 8 Ibid. p. 133. See Legends in Chap. XVI.
" The Sun of Achyuta (.God, the Imperishable) "> Fiske : Myths and Mythmakers, p. 113.
476 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 fre
quently 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 hu
manity of the demiurge becomes still more accentuated, and we get
at the root idea.
If or us , 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' 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 f "a
Among the goddesses of Egypt, the highest was Keith, who
reigned inseparably with Amiin 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 Cham pol lion :
"I am all that bas 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"*
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 GEdipus of lokaste, " the violet light
of morning" Perseus was born of the virgin Danae, and was
called the " Son of the bright morning"'' In 16, the mother of the
"sacred bull,"6 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.6
1 Renouf : Hibbert Lectures, p. Ill and 161. in nature, and hence it was associated with
2 Ibid. p. 161 and 179. the SuN-gods. This animal was venerated by
8 Ibid. pp. 179. r.early ail the peoples of antiquity. (Wake :
* See Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. xxxi. and Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 45.)
82. « See Aryan Myths, vol. i. ]r 229.
5 The Bull, symbolized the productive force
EXPLANATION. 477
" The Saviour of Mankind " was also represented as being born
of the " dusky mother" whicli accounts for many Pagan, and so-
called Christian, goddesses being represented black.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 horn
of her. Of the two legends related in the poems afterwards com
bined in the "Hymn to Apollo," the former relates the birth of
Apollo, the Sun, from Leto, the Darkness, which is called his
mother.2 In this case, Leto would be personified as a " black vir
gin," 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,3 as Minos (the sun) was represented to have been born of Ida
(the earth).4
In Hindoo mythology, the Earth, under the name of Prithim,
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 fan
cied union of the Earth with Dyaus (Heaven}."
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.*
Again, from the union of Seb and Nut sprung the mild Osiris.
Seb is the Earth, Nut is Heaven, and Osiris is the Sun.'
Tacitus, the Homan 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."8
1 See Chap. XXXII. Earth." (Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology,
a See Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xviii. p. 156.)
8 " The idea entertained by the ancients 4 Cox : Aryan Myths, p. 87.
that these god-begotlen heroes were engen- « See Williams1 Hinduism, p. 24, and MQ1-
dered without any carnal intercourse, and that ler's Chips, vol. ii. pp. 277 and 290.
they were the sons of Jupiter, is, in plain • See Bulflnch, p. 389.
language, the result of the ethereal spirit, i. e., T See Renoufs Hibbert Lectures, pp. 110
the Holy Spirit, operating on the virgin mother 111. • Manners of the Germane, p. xi.
478
BIBLE MYTHS.
These virgin mothers, and virgin goddesses of antiquity, were
also, at times, personifications of the Moon, or of Nature.1
Who is " God the Father" who overshadows the maiden 1 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 -,"2 looking down upon with love, and over
shadowing the maiden, the broad flushing light of Dawn, or the
Earth. From this union the Sun is born without any carnal inter
course. 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.3 In
the Yedic hymns the Sun — the Lord and Saviour, the Re
deemer and Preserver of Mankind — is frequently called the " Son
of the Sky."*
According to Egyptian mythology, Seb (the Earth) is over
shadowed by Nut (Heaven), the result of this union being the be
neficent Lord and Saviour, Osiris.6 The same thing is to be found
in ancient Grecian mythology. Zeus or Jupiter is the Sky,6 and
Danae, Leto, lokaste, lo and others, are the Dawn, or the violet light
of morning.1
1 See Knight : Ancient Art and Mythology,
pp. 81, 99, and 166.
The Moon was called by the ancients,
"The Queen;1' "The Highest Princess;11
"The Queen of Heaven ;" " The Princess and
Queen of Heaven ;" <fcc. She was Istar,
Ashera, Diana, Artemis, Isis, Juno, Lucina,
Astarte. (Goldzhier, pp, 158, 158. Knight, pp.
99, 100.)
In the beginning of the eleventh book of
Apuleius1 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 P/'essinuntica, t/ie mother
of the gods ; the native Athenians, Ceropian
Minerva ; the floating Cyprians, Paphian
Venus ; the arrow-bearing Cretans, Dictymian
Diana ; the ihrce-tongued Sicilians, Stygian
Proserpine ; and the inhabitants of Eleusis, the
ancient goddess Ceres. Some again have in
voked me as Juno, others as Bellona, others
as Hecate, and others as Rhamuusia : and
those who are enlightened by the emerging rays
of the rising Sun, the Ethiopians, Ariiaus
and Egyptians, powerful in ancient lei; ruing,
who reverence my divinity with ceremonies
perfectly proper, call me by a true appellation,
' Queen Isis."1 " (Taylor's Mysteries, p. 76.)
2 The "God the Father" of all nations of
antiquity was nothing more than a personifica
tion of the Sky or the Heavens. "The term
Heaven (pronounced Thieri) is used everywhere
in the Chinese classics for the Supreme Power,
ruling and governing all the affairs of men
with an omnipotent and omniscient righteous
ness 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 : Prim
itive Culture, pp. 294-290.)
The "God the Father" of the Indians is
Dyaus, that is, the /Sky. (Williams' Hinduism,
p. 24.)
Ormuzd, the god of the ancieat 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 (Or
muzd), and they call the whole circle of the
heavens by the name of Jupiter.''1 (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 nine
teenth century is still Dyaus Pitar, the " Heav
enly Father.11
3 Williams' Hinduism, p. 24.
* Miiller : Origin of Religions, pp. 261, 290.
« Renouf : Hibbert Lectures, pp. 110, 111.
« See Note 2.
7 See Cox : Tales of Ancient Greece, pp.
xxxi. and 82, and Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p.
EXPLANATION. 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."1
This union has been sung in the following verses by Virgil :
" Turn pater omnipotcns fecundis imbribis aether
Conjugis in greuium Isetae descendit." (Geor. ii.)
The Phenician theogony is founded on the same principles.
Heaven and Earth (called Ouranos and Ghe) are at the head of a
genealogy of aeons, whose adventures are conceived in the mytho
logical style of these physical allegorists.2
In the Satnothracian 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*
The Supreme God (the Al-fader), of the ancient Scandinavians
was Odin, a personification of the Heavens. The principal god
dess 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 " Bal-
dur the Good " (the Sun), who corresponds to the Apollo of the
Greeks and Romans, and the Osiris of the Egyptians.4
Xiuletl, in the Mexican language, signifies Blue, and hence wras
a name which the Mexican gave to Heaven, from which Xiideti-
cutli is derived, an epithet signifying " the God of Heaven," which
they bestowed upon Tezcatllpoca, who was the " Lord of All,"
the " Supreme God." lie it was who overshadowed the Virgin
of Tula, Chimelman, who begat the Saviour Quetzalcoatle (the
Sun).
3. His Ijirtli was foretold l)y a star. This is the bright morn
ing 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 benificent Saviour.
A glance at a geography of the heavens will show the " chaste,
pure, immaculate Virgin, suckling an infant," preceded by a
1 Quoted by Weetropp : Phallic Worship, Occanus, Hyperon, lapetns, Cronos, and othor
p. 24. gods." (Phallic Worship, p. 26.)
» Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 66. " In » Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 64.
Phenician Mythology Ouranos (Heaven) weds * See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 80,
Ghe (the Earth) and by her becomes father of 93, 94, 406, 510, 511.
480 BIBLE MYTHS.
Star, which rises immediately preceding the Virgin and her child.
This can truly be called " his Star" which informed the " Wise
Men," the uMagi" — 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." u Glory to God in the high
est, 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."1
5. lie was visited by the Magi. This is very natural, for the
Magi were Sun-worshipers, and at early dawn on the 25th of Dec-
cember, 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 anx
iously for his birth, facing the East, and there hailed his first rays
with incense and prayer.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 Yeda, they said :
4 ' Will the powers of darkness be conquered by the god of light f "
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."3
6. lie was horn in a Cave. In this respect also, the history of
1 See Chap. XIV. Prog. Rclig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 272.
2 See Dupuis : Orig. Relig. Belief, p. 234. 3 Extracts from the Vedas. Miiller'e Chips,
gguiH1 Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 90, 97, and vol. ii. pp. 96 and '37.
EXPLANATION. 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 dun
geon. This is the dark abode from which the wandering Sun
starts in the morning.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.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.8
6. lie was ordered to leput to death. All the Sun-gods are fated
to bring ruin upon their parents or the reigning monarch.'' 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 su
preme, 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.6
i Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 153. • " The exposure of the child in infancy
3 Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 133. represents the long rays of the morning sun
s When Christ Jesus was born, on a sudden resting on the hill-side." (Fiske : Myths and
there was a great light in the cave, so that their Mythmakers, p. 198.)
eves could not bear it. (Protevangelion, Apoc. The Sun-hero Paris is exposed on the slopes
oh. xiv.) of Ida, Oidipous on the slopes of Kithairon,
* " Perseus. Oidipous, Romulus and Cyrus and ^Esculapius on that of the mountain of
are doomed to bring ruin on their parents. Myillcs. This is the rays of the newly-born
They are exposed in their infancy on the hill- snn resting on the mountain-side. (Cox :
side, and rescued by a shepherd. All the solar Aryan Myths, vol. i. pp. (14 and 80.)
heroes begin life in this way. Whether, like In Sanscrit Ida is the Earth, and so we have
Apollo, born of the dark night (Leto), or like the mythical phrase, the Sun at its birth '«
Oidipous, of the violet dawn (lokaste), they exposed on Ida— the hill-side. The light of
are alike destined to bring destruction on their the sun must rest on the hill-side long befom
parents, as the Night and the Dawn are both it reaches the dells beneath. (See Cox : ?o).
destroyed by the Sun." (Fiske : p. 188.) i. p. 221, and Fieke : p. 114.)
31
482
BIBLE MYTHS.
In oriental mythology, the destroying principle is generally
represented as a serpent or dragon.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 fig
ure of the constellation Virgo — who suckles the child lessus 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 ;2 also in the
story of Typhon, who sought the life of the infant Saviour Horns.
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.3 And last, that of the virgin mother
Mary, with her babe beset by Herod. But like Hercules, Horns,
Apollo, Theseus, llomulns, 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 flight by others.
7. lie 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.4 Growing up in obscurity,
the day comes when he makes himself known, tries himself in his
1 Even as late a* the seventeenth century,
a German writer \vould illustrate a thunder
storm destroying a crop ol corn, by a picture
of a dragon devouring the produce of the field
with his llaming tongue and iron teeth. (See
Fiske : Myths and Mythmakers, p. 17, and
Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii.i
'•* The history of the Saviour Hercules is so
similar to thai of the Saviour C'hrist Jesus,
that the learned Dr. Parkhnrst was forced to
say, " The labors of Hercules seem to have
been originally designed as emblematic me
morials of what the HEAL Sou of God. the
Saviour of the world, was to do and suffer for
our sakes, briii/jiny a cure for all our ills, as
tUe Orphic hymn speaks of Hercules."
3 Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, pp. 158, 160,
and 108.
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 Ec'd, of }Yinter, of Darkness and of
Death. It also symbolized the dark cloud,
which, by harboring the rays of the Sun, pre
venting its shining, and therefore, is apparently
attempting to destroy it. The Serpent is one of
the chief nystic personifications of the liig-
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, wras described
as a superhuman organ of light, to whom a
superhuman organ of darkness. Mara, the Evil
Serpent, was opposed, lie, like Christ Jesus,
resisted the temptations of this evil one, and is
represented sitting on a serpent, as if its con
queror. (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-A$r'//i was lid. lie had an adversary
who was called Apap, represented in the form
of a serpent. (See Kenouf's Hibbert Lectures,
p. 109.)
Ilorus, the Egyptian incarnate god, the Me
diator, 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 Monu
mental Christianity, p. 402.)
Osiris, Ormuzd, Mithras, Apollo, Bacchus,
Hercules, Indra, (Edipus, 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. Bul-
fiinch's Age of Fable, p. 34. Bunsen's Angel-
Messiah, p. x., and Kingsborough's Mexican
Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 170.)
EXPLANATION. 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. lie 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.1 Be
fore 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 melee 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 neces
sary 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* and Crishna is Vishnu in human form.3
1 The crucifixion of the Sun-gods if simply of Meleagros dying as the torch of doom is burnt
the power of Darkness triumphing over the out, of Baldur, the brave and pure,8inittm by
"Lord of Light," and Winter overpowering the fatal mistletoe, and of Criehna and others
the Summer. It was at the Winter solstice that being crucified.
the ancients wept for Tammuz, the fair Adonis, In Egyptian mythology, Set, the destroyer,
and other Sun-gods, who were put to death by triumphs in the West. He is the personification
the boar, slain by the thorn of winter. (See of Darkness and Winter, and the Sun-god whom
Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 113.) he puts to death, is Horus the Saviour. (See
Other versions of the same myth tell us of Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, pp. 112-113.)
Eurydike stung to death by the hidden serpent, 2 " In the liig- Veda the god 1~ishnu is often,
of Sifrit smitten by Hagene (the Thorn), of named as a manifiestation of the Solar energy,
Isfendiyar slain by the thorn or arrow of Rus- or rather as a form of the Sun.1' (Indian Wis-
tem, of Achilleus vulnerable only in the heel, dom, p. 322.)
of Brynhild enfolded within the dragon's coils, » C'rishna says : " I am Vishnu, Brahma,
£34 BIBLE MYTHS.
In the hymns of the Rig - Veda the Sun is spoken of as " stretch
ing out his arms" in the heavens, " to bless the world, and to res
cue it from the terror of darkness.^
Indra, the crucified Saviour worshiped in Nepal and Tibet,1 is
identical with Crishna, the Sun.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
"Tlie Preserver (or Saviour) of the World" for the benefit of which
he offered a 'mystical sacrifice?
The crucified loo ("Divine Love" personified) is the cruci
fied Adonis, the Sun. The Lord and Saviour Adonis was called
lao*
6W/v.y, the Egyptian Saviour, was crucified in the heavens. To
the Egyptian the cross was the symbol of immortality, an emblem
of the >''/??, and the god himself was crucified to the tree, wrhich
denoted his fructifying power.5
Horns was also crucified in the heavens. He was represented,
like Crishna and Christ Jesus, with outstretched arms in the vault
of heaven*
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.7
AViio was Li'ion, bound on the wheel 2 He was none other than
the god Sol, crucified in the heavens.8 Whatever be the origin of
the name, Lc'wn 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.9
Indra, and the source as well as the destruction 7 Knight : Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 88.
of tilings, the creator and the annihilator of the A great number of the Solar heroes or Sun-
whole aggregate of existences. (Cox : Aryan gods are forced to endure being bound, which
Mythology, vol. ii. p. 131.) indicates the tied-up power of the eun in winter.
1 See Chap. XX. (Goldzhier : Hebrew Mythology, p. 406.)
2 Indra, who was represented as a crucified 8 The Sun, as climbing the heights of heaven,
god, is also the Sun. No sooner is he born than is an arrogant being, given to making exorbi-
he speaks to his mother. Like Apollo and all tant claims, who must be bound to the fiery
other Sun-gods he has golden locks, and cross. " The phrases which described the Sun
like them he is possessed of an inscrutable as revolving daily on his four-spoked cross, or
wisdom. He is also born of a virgin — the Dawn. as doomed to sink in the sky when his orb had
C'rishna and Indra are one. (See Cox : Aryan reached the zenith, would give rise to the stories
Mythology, vol. i. pp. 88 and 341 ; vol. ii. p. 131.) of Ixion on his flaming wheel." (Cox : Aryan
3 Wake : Phallism, &c., p. 55. Mythology, vol. ii. p. 27.)
« See Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 113. 9 " So was Ixion bound on the fiery wheel,
6 Ibid. pp. 115 and 125. and the sons of men see the flamicg spokea
• See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 157. day by day as it whirls in the higi heaveu.'
EXPL kNATION.
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
^Sim-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-Ted sun-net which closes the career
of Hercules.1 The Sun-god cannot rise to
the life of the blessed gods until he has
been slain. The morning cannot come until
the Eos who closed the previous day has
faded away and died in the black abyss of
night.
AcJtilleus 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.'
In the tales of the Trojan war, it is re
lated of Achilleus that he expires at the
Skaian, or western gates of the evening, lie
is slain by Paris, who here appears as the Pani, or dark power, who
blots out the light of the Sun from the heaven.3
We have also the story of Ad<nit.8, born of a virgin, and known
in the countries where he was worshiped as " The Saviour of Man
kind," killed by the wild hoar, afterwards "' rose from the dead,
and ascended into heaven." This Adonis, Adonai — in Hebrew
tk My Lord " —is simply the Sun. lie is crucified in the heavens,
put to death by the wild boar, i.e., }\' inter. " Unbylon called Typlion
or Winter the Ion/' ; they said he killed Adonis or the fertile /5V/i." 4
The Crucified Dove worshiped by the ancients, was ncne
other than the crucified Sun. Adonis was called the Dove. At
the ceremonies in honor of his resurrection from the dead, the de
votees said, " Hail to the Dove ! the Restorer of Light." ' Fig.
No. 35 is the " Crucified Dove " as described by Pindar, the great
lyric poet of Greece, born about 522 B. c.
FIG. 35
1 Cox : Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxxii.
« Ibid. p. xxxiii.
» " 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.)
4 See MQller's Science of Religion, p. 186.
6 See Calmefe Fragments, vol. ii. pp. 21, 28.
486 BIBLE MYTHS.
" We read in Pindar, (says the author of a learned work entitle 1 " Nirnrod,")
of the venerable bird lynx 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 Jiimself 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 oft/ie 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 com
mands them to mark upon the foreheads of the faithful, as appears from all
Israeli! ish coins whereon that letter is engraved. The same idea was familiar to
Luciau, who calls T the letter of crucifixion. Certainly, the veneration for the
cross is very ancient. lynx, 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."1
This " Divine Love" of whomNimrod speaks, was "TheFirst-
begotten Son " of the Platonists. The crucifixion of "Divine
Z0w"is often found among the Greeks. lonali or Juno, ac
cording 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.2
Semi-Ramis was both a queen of unrivaled celebrity, and also
a goddess, worshiped under the form of a Dove. Her name signi
fies the Supreme Dove. She is said to have been slain by the last
Burvivor 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 overpow
ered, alluded to the cross on which she perished," and that, " the crucifixion was
made into a glorious mystery by her infatuated adorers."*
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 JRosicrucians. The jewel of the Rosicrucians is formed
1 Nimrod : vol. i. p. 278. in An»c., i. p. 503. 3 These words apply to Christ Jesus, as well
2 At Miletus was the crucified Apollo— as Senrramis, accoiding to the Christian Father
Apollo, who overcome the Serpent or evil prin- Ignatius. In his Epistle to the Church at
ciple. Thus Callimachus, celebrating this Ephesus, he says :" Now the virginity of Mary,
achievement, in his hymn to Apollo, has these and he who was born of her, was kept in secret,
remarkable words : from the prince of this world, as was also the
" Thee thy blest mother bore, and pleased death of our Lord : three o the mysterie* the
assigned most spoken of throughout the woi'ld, yet done
The wii ling SAVIOUR of distressed mankind.1' in secret by God."
EXPLANATION.
487
of a transparent red stone, with a red cross on one side, and a rec
rose on the other — thus it is a crucified rose. " The Rossi, 01
Rosy-crucians' idea concerning this emblematic red cross," says liar-
grave Jennings, in his History of the Rosier ucians, " 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."1
The emblem of the Templars is a red rose on across. "When it
can be done, it is surrounded with a glory, and placed on a calvary
(Fig. No. 3G). 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?
Christ Jesus was called the ROSE — the
Rose of Sharon — of Isuren. lie 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 Val
ley, which bloweth in the month of his
mother Maia. Thus, when the angel Ga
briel 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 Pimmus, 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 Chris
tian heretics, who maintained that Christ Jesus was crucified in the
heavens.
The Chrestos 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
direst was the Logos, or Divine Wisdom, or a portion of divine
FIG. 36.
The Rosicrucians, p. 260.
a Ibid.
488
BIBLE MYTHS.
wisdom incarnate ; in this sense he is really the Sun or the solai
power incarnate, and to him everything applicable to the Sun will
apply.
Fig. No. 37, taken from Mr. Lundy's " Monumental Christi
anity," is evidently a representation of the Christian Saviour cruci
fied- 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 to
gether in the usual way. There
is a glory over it, coming from
above, not shining from the fig
ure, as is generally seen in a
Roman crucifix. It has a pointed
Parthian coronet instead of a
crown of thorns. All the ava
tars, or incarnations of Vishnu,
are painted with Ethiopian or
Parthian coronets. For these
reasons the Christian author will
not own that it is a representa
tion of the a True Son of Justice," for he was not crucified
in space ; but whether it was intended to represent Crishua,
Wittoba, or Jesus,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 wor
shiped, and whom they, according to Justin Martyr, represented as
a man on a cross f Can we doubt, after what we have seen, that
he was this same crucified Sol, whose birthday they annually cele
brated 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
Fl Gi 37,
1 The Sun-god^ 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.)
EXPLANATION. 489
to him at the great feast of Yule.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.9
We have seen in Chapter XXXI II. that Christ Jesus, and many
of the heathen saviours, healers, and preserving gods, were represent
ed 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.
Kenouf remarks, in his Hibbert Lectures, " The moment we under
stand the nature of a myth, all impossibilities, contradictious, and
immoralities disappear." The serpent is an emblem of evil when
represented with his deadly sthuj' he is the emblem of eternity
when represented casting off his ttkinf and an emblem of the Sun
when represented with 7//V tail in ///* ntoath, thus forming a circle.*
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.6
As the Dove and the Rose, emblems of the Sun, were represented
on the cross, so was the Serpent.8 The famous " Brazen Serpent,"
said to have been k* set up " by Moses in the wilderness, is called in
the Targum (the general term for the Aramaic versions of the Old
1 Kuight : Anct. Art and Mytho.. pp. 87, 88. calendar sfone is entwined by serpents bearing
a Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 32. human heads in their distended jaws."
3 •' This notion is quite consistent with the "The annual passage of the Sun, through
Ideas entertained by the Phcnicians as to the the signs of the zodiac, being in an oblique
Serpent, which they supposed to have the path, resembles, or at least the ancients
quality of putting off its old age, and as- thought so, the tortuous movements of the
earning a second youth." Sanchoniathon : Serpent, and the facility possessed by this rep-
Quoted by Wake : Phallism, &c., p. 43.) tile of casting off his skin and producing out
« Une serpent qui tieut sa queue dans sa of itself a new covering every year, bore some
gueule et dans le circle qti'il decrit. ces trois analogy to the termination of the old year and
lettres Greques THE, qui sont le nombre 365. the commencement of the new one. Accord-
Le Serpent, qui cst d'ordinaire un cmbleme de '"S1)'- a11 the ancient epheres-the Persian,
reterneteesticiceluideStfd/etdeseesrevolu- Indian. Egyptian, Barbaric, and Mexican—
tions. (Beaueobrc : Hist, de Manich. torn. ii. were surrounded by the figure of a serpent
p. 55. Quoted by Lardner, vol. viii. p. 379.) holding its tail in its mouth." (Squire : Ser-
"This idea existed even in America. The Peilt Symbol, p. 249.)
great century of the Aztecs was encircled by ' Wake : Phallism, p. 42.
a serpent grasping its oivn tail, and the great e See Cox : Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 128.
490
BIBLE MYTHS.
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 de
noted its fructifying power.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."8
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
Tit 39
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. Be
sides 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 impreg
nated 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.
1 Being the most intimately connected with
the reproduction of life on earth, the Linga
became the symbol under which the Sun, in
voked with a thousand names, has been wor
shiped 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., vo . ii. pp.
113-118.)
2 Wake : Phallism, &c., p. 60.
EXPLANATION. 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 ex
pressed on ancient sculptures and medals in various parts of the
globe.
Although generally, it did not always, symbolize the god Su/i,
or the power of which the Sun is an emblem ; but, invested with
various meanings, if entered widely into t';r \< -imitivo mythologies.
As Mr. Squire observes :
" It t}rpificd wisdom, power, duration, the good and cnl principles, life, re
production — in short, in Egypt, Syria, Greece, India, China, Scandinavia,
America, everywhere on the globe, it has been a prominent emblem."1
The serpent was the symbol of Vishnu, the preserving god, the
Saviour, the Sun? It was an emblem of the tiim-god Buddha, the
Angel-Messiah.8 The Egyptian Sun-god Osiris, the {Saviour, is asso
ciated with the snake.4 The Persian Mithra, the Mediator, Rc-
deemer, and Saviour, was symbolized by the serpent.6 The Pho
nicians represented their beneficent $im-god, Agathodemon, l>y a
serpent.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."7 The Grecian Hercules — the
Sun-god — was symbolized as a serpent ; and so was ^Esculapius and
Apollo. The Hebrews, who, as we have seen in Chapter XL, wor
shiped 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 KA rn is the
singular of seraphim, meaning Semilice — 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 Tbfiac-atlcoatl, which means
the Serpent Sun*
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?
Under the aspect of the active principle, we may rationally
1 Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 155. • Ibid.
4 Wake : Phalliem in Anct. Religs.. p. 72. • Kenrick'e Egypt, vol. i. p. 375
• Ibid. p. 73. Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 7 Ibid.
196. 8 Squire : p. 161.
« Faber : Orig. Pagan Idol., in Squire, p. • Ibid. p. 185.
158.
492 BIBLE MYTHS.
connect the Serpent and the Su?i, as corresponding symbols of the
reproductive ov creative power. Figure No. 10 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 tlie emblem of U.FE
depending from the serpent's neck.1
The mysteries of Osiris, Isis, and Ilorus, in Egypt • Atys and
Cybele, in Phrygia; Ceres and Proserpine, at Eleusis; of Venus
and Adonis, in Phenicla- of Bona Dea and Priapus, in Ro~nie, are
all susceptible of one explanation. They all set forth and illustrated,
by solemn and impressive rites, and
symbols* the grand phenomenon of
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 wras represented as a crucified
Land). This crucified lamb is " the Lamb of God taking away the
sins of the world, and slain from the foundation of the world."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 differ
ent so-called SAVIOURS of mankind all melt into ONE, and that they
are allegorical^ for u Saviour " was only a title of the /Sun* and his
being put to death on the cross, signifies no more than the restric
tion 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, how
ever ignorant of arts or agriculture, whether they dwell under the tents, or wan-
1 Squire : p. 1G9. having the surname of SAVIOUR." (Ibid. p.
2 Luncly : Monumental Christianity, p. 185. 98, note.)
3 " SAVIOUR was a common title of the SUN- " There is a very remarkable figure copied
gods of antiquity." ^Wake : Phailism in Aiict. in Payne Knight's Work, in which we see on
Keii'jrs.. ]>. 55.) a man's shoulders a cock's head, whilst on the
The ancient Greek writers speak of the pediment are placed the words :" THE SAVIOUB
Suu, as the ''Generator and Nourisher of all OF THE WOULD." (Inman : Anct. Faiths, vol.
Things ;" the "Ruler of the World;" the i. p. 537'.) This refers to the SUN. The cock
'• First of the Gods," and the " Supreme Lord being the natural herald of the day, he was
of all Beings.11 (Knight : Ancient Art and therefore sacred, among the ancients, to the
Mytho., p. 87.) Sun." (See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho.,
Pausanias (500 B. c.) speaks of "The Sun p. 70, and Larduer : vol. via. p. 377.)
EXPLANATION. 493
der about in crowded wagons, among whom prayers are not offered up in the
name of A CRUCIFIED SAVIOUR' to the Father and creator of all things."4
9. "And many wom«n were there beholding afar off"* The
tender mother who hud watched over him at his birth, and the fair
maidens whom he lias 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
Datoit, who bore him, and the fair and beautiful lights which Hush
the Eastern sky as the Sun sinks or dies in the West.4 Their tears
are the tears of dew, such as Eos 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. Fi
nally, 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.6
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 Xanda the cause of it. " lie 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."6
In his last hours, (Edipous (the Sun) has been cheered by the
presence of Antigone.7
At the death of Hercules, lole (the fair-haired Datori) stands
by hi? 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 :
" All, lole, 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 tSun."
The black mists were spreading over the sky, but still Hercules
sought to gaze on the fair face of lole, and to comfort her in her
sorrow.
"Weep not, lole," he said, " my toil is done, and now is the time for rest.
I shall see thee again in the bright laud which is never trodden by the feet of
night."
1 The name Jesus is the same as Joshua, and tender light which sheds its soft hue over
and signifies Saviour. the Eastern heaven as the Sun sinks in death
2 Justin Martyr : Dialog. Cum Typho. beneath the Western waters." (Cox : Aryan
Quoted in Gibbon's Rome. vol. i. p. 532. Myths, vol. i. p. 223.)
3 Matt, xxvii. 55. ° See Ibid. vol. i. p. 80.
« The ever-faithful \yomau who is always • Buusen : The Angel-Messiah, p. 49.
near at the death of the Sun-god is " the fair 7 Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 223.
494 BIBLE MYTHS.
The same story is related in the legend of Apollo. The Dawn,
from whom he parted in the early part of his career, conies to his
side at eventide, and again meets him when his journey on earth
has well nigh come to an end.1
When the Lord Prometheus was crucified on Mt. Caucasus, his
especially professed friend, Oceanus, the fisherman, as his name, Pe-
trseus, indicates,2 being unable to prevail on him to make his peace
with Jupiter, by throwing the cause of human redemption out of
his hands,8 " forsook him and fled." None remained to be witnesses
of his dying agonies, but the chorus of ever-amiable and ever-faith
ful women, which also bewailed and lamented him, but were unable
to subdue his inflexible philanthropy.*
10. " There was darkness all over the land"*1 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. lie 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.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 /SW-gods. 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. "lie descended into hell"* This is the Sun's descent into
the lower regions. It enters the sign Capricornus, or the Goat, and
1 See Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxxi. Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 91.)
8 PETRJSUS was an interchangeable synonym 8 This was one of the latest additions of
of the name Oceanus. the Sun-myth to the history of Christ Jesus.
3 " Then Peter took him, and began to re- This has been proved not only to have been
buke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, an invention after the Apostles' time, but even
this shall not be unto thee." (Matt. xvi. 22.) after the time of Eusebius (A.D. 325). The
4 See Potter's ^Eschylus. doctrine of the descent into hell was not in
6 Matt, xxvii. 45. the ancient creeds or rules of faith. It is not
8 As the Sun dies, or sinks in the West, to be found in the rules of faith delivered by
blacker and blacker grows the evening shades, Irenaeus (A.D. 190), by Origen (A.D. 230), or by
till there is darkness on the face of the earth. Tertullian (A.D. 200-210). It is not expressed
Then from the high heavens comes down the in those creeds which were made by the
thick clouds, and the din of its thunder crashes Councils as larger explications of the Apos-
through the air. (Description of the death of ties' Creed ; not in the Nicene, or Conetanti-
Hercules, Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. 61, 62.) nopoiitan ; not in those of Ephesus, or Chalce-
7 It is the battle of the clouds over the don ; not in those confessions made at Sar&ca,
dead or dying Sun, which is to be seen in the Antioch, Selencia, Sirmium, &c.
legendary history of many Sun-gods. (Cox :
EXPLANATION.
the astronomical winter begins. The days have reached their short
est spun, and the Sun has readied 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.1 In this respect Christ Jesus is like other
Sun-gods.2
In the ancient sagas of Iceland, the hero who is the Sun person
ified, 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."3
12. lie rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven.
Resurrections from the dead, and ascensions into heaven, are gen
erally 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 Tam-
mu2, 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 L;ght."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 Tamniuz, 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 an
cients on the 25th of March, when the awakening of Spring may be
Baid 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
1 At the end of his career, the Sun enters der the fetters which before could not be broken;
the lowest regions, the bowels of the earth, and with his invincible poicer visited those who
therefore nearly all Sun-gods are made to eat in the deep darkness by iniquity, and the
"descend into hell," and remain there for shadow of death by sin. Then the King of
three days and three nights, for the reason Glory trampled upon Death, seized the Prince
that from the. 22d to the 25th of December, the of Hell, and deprived him of all his power."
Sun apparently remains in the same place. (Description of Ch)i$Cs Descent into Hell.
Thus Jonah, a personification of the Sun (see Nicodemus : Apoc.)
Chap. IX.), who remains three days and three * "The women weeping for Tammuz was
nights in the bowels of the earth — typified by no more than expressive of the Sun's loss of
a fish — is made to say : " Out of the belly of power in the winter quarter." (King's Gnos-
hcll cried I, and thou heardst my voice." tics, p. 102. See also. Cox : Aryan Mytho.,
8 See Chapter XXII. vol. ii. p. 113.)
' Baring-Gould : Curious Myths, p. 260. After remaining for three days and three
" The mighty Lord appeared in the form of nights in the lowest regions, the Sun begins to
a man, and enlightened those places which had ascend, thus he " rises from the dead," as it
ever before been in darkness; and broke asun- were, and "ascends into heaven."
496 BIBLE MYTHS
vernal- -at Easter, the Sun has been below the equator, and sud
denly rises above it. It has been, as it were, dead to us, but now
it exhibits a resurrection.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.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 Jew
ish altar of Baal-Peor, wholly preclude all doubt of the real nature of the great
festivals and mysteries of Pheuicians, Jews, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Hin
dus."3
All this was Sun and Nature worship, symbolized by the Lingo,
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."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 Christinas, a fixed time, and the resurrection at
Easter, a var}ring time, as in all Pagan religions ; since, though the Sun rose di
rectly after the vernal equinox, the festival, to be correct in a heathen point of
view, had to be associated with the new moon."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 Miiller
tells us that in the Vedio mythology, the Sun is not the bright De-
va 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"0
Having been invoked as the " Life-bringer," the Sun is also
1 Bonwick : Egyptian Belief, p. 174. * Egyptian Belief, p. 182.
2 Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 100. • Ibid.
3 Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 125. • Origin of Religions, p. 264.
EXPLANATION. 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.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 illumi
nates 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, Hercu
les, Mercury, etc.), but they are only different names of the same divine being,
the Sun."
1-i. lie is to le 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 Surya — the pervading, irresistible luminary — as seeing
all things and hearing all things, noting the good and evil deeds of
men?
According to Hindoo mythology, says Prof. Max Miiller :
" 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."3
On the most ancient Egyptian monuments, Osiris, the Sun per
sonified, 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,
1 Origin of Religions, p. 268. a Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 884.
• Origin of Religion, pp. 264-268.
MS BIBLE MYTHS.
which figures so conspicuously in the legend, was the universal syin
hoi 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 serv-
i"e 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. lie is in constant
:-:npany with his tiucjrr apostles, the twelve signs of the zodiac?
During the course of his life's journey he is called " The God of
Earthly Blessing," " The Saviour through whom a new life springs,"
k- 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
contlict 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 be
neficence 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 Crish-
ua, Buddha, Horns, JEsculapius, 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 veg
etation 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
1 The number twelve appears in many of Jacob, or the twelve tribes ; the twelve altars
the Sun-myths. It refers to the twelve hours of James ; the twelve labors of Hercules ; the
of the day or night, or the twelve moons of the twelve shields of Mars; the twelve brothers
lunar year. (Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. i. Arvaux ; the twelve gods Consents ; the twelve
p. 105. Bomvick : Egyptian Belief, p. 175.) governors in the Manicheau System ; the
Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, had twelve adectyas of the East Indies ; the twelve aeecs
apostles. (Bonwick. p. 175.) of the Scandinavians ; the city of the twelve
In nil religions of antiquity the number gates in the Apocalypse ; the twelve wards of
twelve, which applies to the twelve signs of the the city ; the twelve sacred cushions, on which
zodiac, are reproduced in all kinds and sorts the Creator sits in the cosmogony of the Jap-
of forms. For instance : such are the twelve anese ; the twelve precious stones of the rational,
great gods ; the twelve apostles of Osiris ; the or the ornament worn by the high priest of the
'.welM apostles of Jesus ; the twelve sons of Jews, &c., &c. (See Dupuis, pp. 3(J, 40.)
EXPLANATION. 499
the clouds of early morn ; his father being the Sky, the; " Heavenly
Father," who has looked down with love upon the Dawn, and over
shadowed 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 begin
ning of his course ; to her he is united at its close. But Christ
Jesus, like Crishna, Buddha, Osiris, Horns, Mithras, Apollo, Atys
and others, rises ayain, 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.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 can
not fix the precise period in which he arose, this will not preclude
us from enjoying the direction and influence of his vital and salu
tary 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."8 He is come " a light into
the world, that whosoever believeth in him should not abide in
darkness."3 He is " the light of the world."4 He " is light, and in
him no darkness is."6
"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.
1 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 505. * John, ix. v.
a Luke, ii. 32. • I. John, i. 5.
i John, xii. 46.
500 BIBLE MYTHS.
"Merciful Adonai, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy
Church."— C'-Uect 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 con
stellation, 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 be
lievers."
" 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 Ckrixt Jesus
the Sun. That which is s<> 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 t/ie material Sun hasbeen the type or symbol, in all age* and among
all nations J 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 tlock, what must be said to the true and only begotten Sou of God ? If
Apollo was adopted by early Christian art as a type of the Good Shepherd of the
New Testament, the/i 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 mythoshas no spiritual
meaning, then all religion becomes mere idolatry, or the worship of material things."1
Mr. Lundy, who seems to adhere to this once-upon-a-time favor
ite 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."
" Noali 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." "Orphetts is a I ype of
Christ. Arjni and Cridina of India ; Mithra of Persia ; llorus and Apollo of
Egypt, are all types of Christ." " Samson carrying off the gates of Ga/a and de
feating the Philistines by his own death, vvas considered as a type of Christ
Monumental Christianity, p. 117.
EXPLANATION.
bursting open and carrying away the gates of Hades, and conquering His and
our enemies by his death and resurrection."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 San
worshipers? The ancient Egyptians worshiped the god Serapis,
and Serapis was the Sun. Fig. No. 11, page 19-i, shows the man
ner in which Serapis was personified. It might easily pass for a
representation of the Sun-god of the Christians. Mr. King says, in
his u 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 tJie conventional portraits of
the Saviour."*
The Imperial Russian Collection boasts of a head of Christ
Jesus which is said to be very ancient. It is a tine 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."4
It must not be forgotten, in connection with this, that the wor
shipers of Serapis, or the Sun, were called Christians*
Mrs. Jameson, speaking on this subject, says :
" We search in vain for the lightest evidence of his (Christ's) human, indi
vidual 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. lie 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 be
loved disciple, could lie on the breast of Jesns 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 nat
ural 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 tliere-
fore 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."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 imagina
tion."
i See Monumental Christianity, pp. 186, 191, « Ibid. p. 137.
192. SJ8, and :» j. • See Chapter XX.
i See Bonwick'a Egyptian Belief, p. 283. • Hist, of Onr Lord in Art, vol. i. p. 31.
' King's Gnostics, p. 68.
002 BIBLE MYTHS.
' ' 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.' "l
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."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 no
tions and rites."3
Again he says :
"In the second century the syncretistic sects that had sprung up in Alexan
dria, the very hotbed of Gnosticism, found out in Serapis a prophetic type of
Christ, or the Lord and Creator of all.''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*
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 hia
works.
1 Geikie : Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 151. « Ibid. p. 68.
a Monumental Christianity, p. 231. • See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 13.
3 King's Gnostics, p. 48.
EXPLANATION. 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 Chris
tians — always turned to the east to pray. The E&senes 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 Munichajan Christian came over to the orthodox Chris
tians, 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 s:iy 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 tltose person who say that Zarades and Budas and Christ and tJie 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 wrere ordered to be drawn
in the form of a man. it was ordained that, in the place of the fig
ure of a LAMB, the symbol used to that time, the figure of a man
nailed to a cross, should in future be used.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.
o
The worship of the constellation of Aries was the worship of
the Sun in .his passage through that sign. " This constellation was
1 Following are the words of the decree mus, quam ut plenitudmem legis acceptimua.
BOW in the Vatican library : " In quibusdam Itaque id quod perfectum est, in picturis etiain
sanctorum imaginum picturis agnus»exprimitur, omnium oculis subjiciamus, agnum ilium qui
Ac. Nos igitur veterus uguras atque umbras, mundi peccatum tollit, Christum Deum no»-
et veritatis notas, et signa ecclesise tradita, truin, loco veteris Ayni, humana formA postha
complectentes, gratiam, et veritatem anteponi- eiprimendnm decrevimus," &c.
504 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 taheth away tJie sins of the world.
The devotees addressed him in their litany, constantly repeating the
words, ' 0 Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us. Grant us thy peace? r
On an ancient medal of the Phoenicians, brought by Dr. Clark
from Citiurn (and described in his " Travels," vol. ii. ch. xi.) this
Laml) 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 Yedic 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,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,
Reviliugs and many prisons,
Death and murder ;
These hast thou suffered with love and patience,
Forgiving thine executioners."*
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 f Why was he called a Fish f 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."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, HIS, the
astronomical and alchemical sign of Aries, or the ram, or Lamb T ;
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 h'sh,
and so was the Syrian Sun-god Dagon, who was also a Preserver or
Saviour. The Fifth was sacred among many nations of antiquity,
1 " The solar /torse, with two serpents upon p. 110.)
his head (the Buddhist Aries) is Buddha's sym- 2 Quoted by Lillie : Buddha and Early Budd-
bol, and Aries is the symbol of Christ." hiem, p. 93.
(Arthur Lillie : Buddha and Early Buddhism, * Quoted by King : The Gnostics &c., p. 138.
EXPLANATION.
505
and is to be seen on their monuments. Thus we see that every
thing at last centres in the SUN.
Constantine, the first Christian emperor, had on his coins the
figure of the Sun, with the legend : u To the Invincible Sun, my
companion and guardian," as being a representation, says Mr. Xing,
<k either of the ancient Phoebus, or the new Sun of Righteousness,
equally acceptable to both Christian and Gentile, from the double
interpretation of which the type was susceptible."1
The worship of the Sun, under the name of Mithra, " long sur
vived in Koine, under the Christian emperors,
and, doubtless, much longer in the remoter dis
tricts of the semi-independent provinces."2
Christ Jesus is represented with a halo of
glory surrounding his head, a florid complexion,
long gulden locks of hair, and a flowing robe.
Now, all Sun -gods, from Crislma of India (Fig.
JSro. 41) to Baldur of Scandinavia, are repre
sented with a halo of glory surrounding their
heads, and the flowing locks of golden hair, and
the flowing robe, are not wanting.3 By a process of metaphor, the rays
1 Quoted by King : The Gnostics, &c.,p. 49.
2 Ibid. p. 45.
1 India, the crucified Snn-god of the Hin
doos, was represented with golden locks.
(Cox : Aryan Myths, vol, i. p. 341.)
Mithras, the Persian Saviour, was repre-
Bented with long flowing locks*.
Jsdubar, the god and hero of the Chaldeans,
was represented with long flowing locks cf
hair (Smith : Chaldean Account of Genesis,
p. I'jSi, and so was his counterpart, the Hebrew
Samson.
" The Sakya-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.1"
(Buusen : 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 Suii) is called by the Greeks the
"yellow-haired." (Goldzhier : Hebrew Myiho.,
p. 137.)
The Sun's ravs is signified by the flowing
golden locks which stream from the head of
Kephalos, and fall over the shoulders of Bel-
lerphon. (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 shoul
ders, 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. 21)3.)
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 nirn. (Cox :
Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 03.)
Thus we see that long locks of golden hair,
aud a flowing robe, are mythological atlributea
of the Sun.
506 BIBLE MYTHS.
of the Sun were changed into golden hair, into spears and lances,
and robes of light. From the shoulders of Phoibus Lykegenes, the
light-born, flow the sacred locks over which no razor might pass.
On the head of Xisos, as on that of Samson, they became a palla
dium in vested 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.1
We see, then, that Christ Jesus, like Christ Buddha,2 Crishna,
Mithra, Osiris, Horns, 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 per
son 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 liced in tlie
flesJi. The Sun-myth has been added to the histories of these per
sonages, 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 differ
ences only of names and local coloring, becomes especially mani
fest after perusing the legendary histories of the gods of antiquity.
It is a fact demonstrated by history, that when one nation of an
tiquity came in contact with another, they adopted each others
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 his
tory of the Attic hero Theseus, and of the Theban CEdipus, 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
1 Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 49. "Anointed," or the " Messiah," and that many
2 We have already seen (in Chapter XX.) other personages beside Jesus of Nazareth had
that the word "Christ" signifies the this title affixed to their names.
EXPLANATION. 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 person
ages. In other words, an old myth has been added to names un
doubtedly historical. But it cannot be too often repeated that from
the myth we learn nothing of their history, liow much we really
know of the man Jesus will be considered in our next, and last,
chapter.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. Bnt
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 condi
tion 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 thec, Sol, because thuu alone art in honor, after tlte Father,
the centre of light ; and they allinn that thy sacred head bears a golden bright
ness in twelve rays, because thou formest that number of months and that num
ber of hours. They say that thou guidest four winged steeds, because thou
alone rulest the chariot of the elements. For, dispelling the darkness, thou re-
vcalest the shining heavens. Hence they esteem thee, Phoebus, 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 dif
ferent 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 Amniou of arid
Libya, and the Adonis of Hyblos. Titus under a varied appelation the whole world
worxhipthec. 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. '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 uni
versally adorable Father increase these his favors."
1 The theory which has been set forth in Sun, are the celebrated I. S. H., which are to be
this chapter, is also more fully illustrated in seen in Roman Catholic churches at the present
Appendix C. day, and which are now the monogram of the
» These three letters, tin monogram of the Sun-god Christ Jesus. (See Chapter XXXVI.)
CHAPTEE 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
JSTazareth ? 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 tu
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 himf 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 phil
osophize and wax eloquent to little purpose, when, after demolish
ing 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 ;a
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
1 " For knowledge of the man Jesus, of his thought him, at moments, beside himself;"
idea and his aims, and of the outward form of and that, " his enemies declared him possessed
his career, the New Testament is our only hope. by a devil," says : '• The man here delineated
If this hope fails, the pillared firmament of his merits a place at the summit of human gran-
stairy fame is rottenness ; the base of Christi- deur." "This is the Supreme man, a sublime
anity, so far as it was personal and individual, personage;" "to call him divine is no exag-
is built on stubble.1' (John W. Chadwick.) gyration." Other liberal writers have written
2 M. Rcnan. after declaring Jesus to be a in the same strain.
"fanatic" and admitting that, " his friends
508
CONCLUSION. 509
from myths of a bygone age, as to conceal forever any fragments
of history which may lie beneath them. Gautama Buddha was un
doubtedly 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 person
age, 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. PI is
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. Renau says : "The Christ who communicates private revelations
to him is a phantom of his own making ;" "it is himself \\& listens
to, while fancying that he hears Jesus."1
In studying the writings of the early advocates of Christianity,
and Fathers of the Christian Church, where we would naturally look
fjr 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 in
quiry, but the guidance that guides as well to one place as another ;
descriptions that apply to ^Esculapius, Buddha and Crishna, as well
1 " The Christ of Paul was not a person, evolved from his own feeling and imagination,
but an idea; he took no pains to learn the facts and taking on new powers and attributes from
about the individual Jesus. He actually year to year to suit each new emergency."
boasted that the Apostles had taught him (John W. Chadwick.)
nothing. His Christ was an ideal conception,
510 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 ;'
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 Damis, the beloved disciple of Apollonius of Tyaua, 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
Scythians9 say that Hercules had visited their country ? and did
they not show the print of his foot upon a rock to substantiate their
story ?s Was not his tomb to be seen at Cadiz, where his bones were
shown?4 Was not the tomb of Bacchus to be seen in Greece?5
Was not the tomb of Apollo to be seen at Delphi ?" Was not the
tomb of Achilles to be seen at Dodona, where Alexander the Great
honored it by placing a crown upon it f Was not the tomb of Ms-
culapius to be seen in Arcadia, in a grove consecrated to him, near
the river Lnsins?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?' 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?10 Was not the tomb of
Jonah — he who was ''swallowed up by a big fish " — to be seen at
Nebi-Yunus, near Mosul ?u Are not the tombs of Adam, Eve, Cain,
Abel, Seth, Abraham, and other Old Testament characters, to be
seen even at the present day ?12 And did not the Emperor Constan-
tine dedicate a beautiful church over the tomb of St. George, the
warrior saint ?13 Of what value, then, is such evidence of the exist
ence 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
1 This subject is considered in Appendix D. • See Dupuis, p. 264.
2 Scythia was a name employed in ancient 7 See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 7.
times, to denote a vast, indefinite, and almost 8 See Ibid. vol. i. p. 27.
unknown territory north and east of the Black » Ibid.
Sea, the Caspian, and the Sea of Aral. " Ibid. vol. i. p. 2, and Bonwick, p. 155.
3 See Herodotus, book 4, ch. 82. " See Chambers, art. " Jonah."
4 See Dupuis, p. 264. 12 See Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 153, and
6 See Knighfe Anct. Art and Mythology, p. Goldzhier, p. 280.
96, and Mysteries of Adoni, p. 90 i» See Curious Myths, p. 264.
OONOLJSION. 511
and party prejudice and ecclesiastical purpose, that it is bard to be
sure of the original outlines."
In the first two centuries the professors of Christianity were di
vided 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 ^Eon — though they admitted the
crucifixion, considered it to have been in some mystic way — per
haps what might be called spiritualiter, as it is called in the Revela
tion : 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.1 The Gnostic, or Oriental, Christians undoubt
edly took their doctrine from the Indian crucifixion* (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 disap
peared, 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. 50 ; 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,
1 "Whilst, in one part of the Christian he had little or no contact with their corporeal
world, the chief objects of interest were the nature." (A. Reville : Hist, of the Dogma of
human nature and human life of Jesus, in an- the Deity of Jesus.)
other part of the Christian world the views a Epiphanius eays that there were TWENTY
taken of his person because so idealistic, that heresies BEFORE CHUIST, and there can be no
his humanity was reduced to a phantom without. doubt that there is much truth in the observa-
reality. The various Gnostic systems generally tion, for most of the rites and doctrines of the
agreed in saying that the Christ was an yfon, Christians of all sects existed before the time
the redeemer of the spirits of men, and that of Jesus of Nazareth.
512 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 1 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.1
Tertullian's manner of reasoning on the evidences of Christi
anity is also in the same vein, as we saw in our last chapter.'"1
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
us 3ft/st<e, upon the establishment of direct intercourse with India, under the Se-
leucidae and Ptolemies. The college of Essenes and Megabyzcn at Ephesus, the
Orj'hu'xot Tlirace, the Curets of Crete, are all merely branches of one antique and
common religion, and that originally Asiatic."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."4 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh."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."6
Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Smyrnseans, says :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 Goxpel itself even to this day, nor the sufferings
1 " Accipis avengelium ? et maxime. Pro- itself a shameful thing — I maintain that the Son
inde ergo et natum accipis Christum. Nou ita of God died : well, that is wholly credible be-
fst. ^S'cque cnim sequitur ut si evangelium cause it is monstrously absurd. I maintain
accipio, idcirco et riatmn accipiam Christum. that after having been buried, he rose again;
Er.ro iion pntas cum ex Maria Virgine esse ? and that I take to be absolutely true, becaust
Manes dixit. Absit ut Dominum nostrum Jesum it ivas manifestly impossible.'1''
Christum per naturalia pudenda mulieris de s King's Gnostics, p. 1.
scendissc coufifeur.'" (Lardner's Works, vol. 4 I. John, iv. 2, 3.
iv. p. 20.) * n. John, 7.
1 "I maintain,1' says he, "that the Son of • 1st Book HennaB : Apoc , ch, iii,
God was born : why am I not ashamed of main- 7 Chapter II.
taining such a thing « Why I because it is
CONCLUSION. 513
of any one of us. For they think also the same thing of us ; for what does a man
profit me, if be shall praise me, and blaspheme my Lord ; not confessing that he
was truly made man f "
In his Epistle to the Philadelphians he says i1
" I have heard of some who say, unless Ifind 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."
Poly carp, in his Epistle to the Philippians, says :*
" 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 :*
"Be not deceived with strange doctrines ; nor with old fables which are un
profitable. 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 ob
serving Sabbaths, but keeping the Lord's Day, in which also our life is sprung uj,
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 ont
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 tl^e writer of Timothy,4
" Without controversy, great is the MYSTERY of godliness."
Beside those who denied that Christ Jesus had ever been mani
fest in the flesh, there were others who denied that he had been
crucified.6 This is seen from the words of Justin Martyr, in hia
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 com
mon to all the Sons of Jove. "•
This is as much as to say : " ITou Pagans claim that your incar
nate gods and Saviours suffered and died, then why should not we
claim the same for our Saviour ? "
' Chapter II. » Ciiapler IIL 363.) They could not conceive of " the first-
%> Chapter HI. begotten Son of God " being put to death on
4 I. Timothy, iii. 18. a cross, and suffering like an ordinary being,
6 Irenaeus, speaking of them, eays : " They BO they thought Simon of Cyrene must have
hold that men ought not to confess him who been substituted for him. as the ram was
was crucifed, but him who came In the form substituted in the place of Isaac. (See Ibid.
of man, and was supposed to be crucified, and p. 357.)
WAS called Jesus." (See Lardner : vol. viii. p. • ^pol. 1, ch. xxi.
514 BIBLE MYTHS.
The Koran, referring to the Jews, says :
" They have not believed in Jesus, and have spoken against Mary a grievous
calumny, and have said : ' Yerily we have slain Christ Jesus, the son of Mary '
(the apostle of God). Yet they slew him not, neither crucifed htm, but he was rep
resented by one in 7w likeness. And verily they who disagreed concerning him w^n-
in a doubt as to this matter, and had no sure knoicledge thereof, but followed only an
uncertain opinion."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. T>
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 east 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,"3 we read as follows :
" Wherefore are there strifes, and anger, and divisions, and schisms, ana
•wars, amoug vis ? . . . 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 :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 doc
trine of Jesus Christ with their own poison ; whilst they seem worthy of belief.
. . . Stop your en'-s, 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 traly 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 fiht with beasts ? Therefore do I die in vain."
find St. Paul, the very first Apostle of the Gentiles, ex
pressly avowing that he was made a minister of the gospel, which
had already leen preached to every creature under heaven* and
preaching a God manifest in the flesh, who had been believed on
in the world* therefore, before the commencement of his ministry;
and who could not have been the man of Nazareth, who had cer
tainly not been preached, at that time, nor generally believed on in
the world, till ages after that time." "We find also that :
1 Koran, ch. iv. « Col. i. 23.
* Chapter XX. 6 I. Timothy, iii. 16.
8 Chapter II. • The authenticity of these Epistles baa
CONCLUSION. 51S
1. This Paul owns himself a deacon,, the lowest ecclesiastical
grade of the Tlierapeutan church.
2. Tlio Gospel of which these Epistles speak, had been ex
tensively preached and fully established before the time of Jesus,
by the Therapeuts or Essenes, who believed in the doctrine of the
Angel-Messiah, the ^Eon from heaven.1
Leo the Great, so-called (A. D. 440-461), writes thus :
" Let those who with impiou.3 murmurings find fault with the Divine dispen
sations, 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 timo 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/a?-
fillcd 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, wliat had been announced
before by many Signs and Words and Hysterics during so many centuries, should
not be doubtful or uncertain in the days of the gospel. . . God has not pro
vided 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 sal
tation."*
This is equivalent to saying that, " God, in his 'late compassion*
has sent his Son, Christ Jesus, to save us, therefore do not com
plain or ' murmur ' about ' tho lateness of his coming,' for the Lord
has already provided for those who preceded its; 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,1 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. Irenaeus (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, lias escaped the destroyers of all such evidence, is
to be found in Ireuseus' second book against heresies,4 of which the
following is a portion :
been freely questioned, even by the most con- » Quoted by Max Mflller : The Science of
tervative critics. Relig.. p. 228.
1 See Bunaen'e Angel-Messiah, and Chapter * Ch. cxvii.
XXXVII., this work. « Ch. xxii.
BIBLE MYTHS.
" As the chief part of thirty years belongs to youth, and every one \vill confer
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 Gos
pel, and all tJie 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 lime 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 destroy ers can be accounted
for only in the same way as the passage of Minucins Felix (quoted
in Chapter XX.) concerning the Pagans worshiping a crucifix.
These two passages escaped from among, probably, hundreds de
stroyed, of which we know nothing, under the decrees of the em
perors, 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 tliou seen Abraham ?'*
If Jesus was then but about thirty years of age, the Jews would
evidently have said : "thou art not jet 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 tue early Christians, that
Annas was high-priest when Jesus was crucified. This is evident
from the Acts.1 Now, Annas, or Ananias, was not high-priest wi-
til about the year 48 A. D. ;3 therefore, if Jesus was crucified at that
time he must have been about fifty years of age ;* but, as we ve
in ark ed 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.4 In the Talmud — the book containing Jewish traditions
—Jesus is not referred to as the " crucified one," but as the " hanged
one,"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.6
1 Ch. iv. 5. • According to Dio Cassins, Plntarch, Strabo
2 Josephns : Antiq., b. xx. ch. v. 2. and others, there existed, in the time of Herod,
3 It is true there was another Annas high- among the Roman Syrian heathens, a wide-
priest at Jerusalem, but this was when Grains spread and deep sympathy for a " Crucified
was procurator of Judea, some twelve or fif- King of the Jews." This was the youngest
teen years before Pontius Pilate held the same son of Aristobul, "the heroic Maccabee. In the
office. (See Josephus : Antiq., book xviil. ch. year 43 B. c., we find this young man — And-
ii. 3.) gonus — in Palestine claiming the crown, his
4 See Appendix D. cause having been declared just by Julius
8 See the Martyrdom of Jesus, p. 100. Caesar. Allied with the Parthians, he main-
CONCLUSION. 517
In Sanhedr. 43 a, Jesus is said to have bad five disciples,
among whom were Mattheaus and Thaddens. He is called " That
Man," "The Nazarine," "The Fool," and " The Hung." Thus
Aben Ezra says that Constantino put on his labarum " a figure of
the hung;" and, according to R. Becliai, the Christians were called
"Worshipers of the Hun<r.''
Little is said about Je.sus in the Taii'iuil, except that he was a
scholar of Joshua ]>en Perafhiah (who lived a century before tin-
time assigned by the Christians for the b^-th «>f Jesus), accompanied
liim into Egypt, there learned magic, and was a seducer of th^
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 Joseplms and other secular historians may be ac
counted for without falling back on a theory of hostility or con
tempt.1 The Christ-idea, cannot be spared from Christian develop
ment, 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 swTayed 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 authen
tic, 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 neces
sity 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
taincd himself in his royal position for six crimes : and that the sympathy with the " Cru-
years against Herod and Mark Antony. At cifled King " was wide-spread and profound,
last, after a heroic life and reign, he fell in (See The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth, p.
the hands of this Roman. " Antony now gave 106.)
the kingdom to a certain Herod, and, having Some writers think that there is a connection
ttretched Antigonus on a cross and scourged between this and the Gospel story; that they,
him, a thing never done before to any other in a certain measure, put Jesus in the place of
king by ihe Romam, he put him io death" Antigonus, just as they put Ilerod in the
(Dio Cassius, book xlix. p. 405.) place of Kansa. (See Chapter XVIII.)
The fact that all prominent historians of > Canon Farrar thinks that Josephus
those days mention this extraordinary occur- silence on the subject of Jesus and Christian-
reuce, and the manner they did it, show that ity, was as deliberate as it was dishonest.
«t was considered one of Mark Antony's worst (See his Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 63.)
518 BIBLE MYTHS.
might be all in all as Regenerator and Saviour. From age to age
the personal Jesus lias been made the object of an extreme adora
tion, 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 Ms
light may shine." But, as Air. 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 contempora
ries. As a rule, figures are reduced, not enlarged, by criticism.
The influence of admiration is recognized as distorting and falsify
ing, while exalting. The process of legend-making begins imme
diately, 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 exagger
ate 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."1
1 Many examples might be cited to confirm sought solitude ; he spent hours and days in
this view, but the case of Joseph Smith, in our meditation and prayer, after the true manner
own time and country, will suffice. of all accredited saints, and was soon repaid by
The Mormons regard him very much as the visits of angels. One of these came to
Christians regard Jesus ; as the Mohammedans him when he was but eighteen years old, and
do Mohammed ; or as the Buddhists do Buddha. the house in which he was seemed filled with
A coarse sort of religious feeling and fervor consuming fire. The presence— he styles it a
appears to have been in Smith's nature. He personage— had a pace like lightning, and pro
seems, from all accounts, to have been cracked claimed himself to be an angel of the Lord
on theology, as eo many zealots have been. He vouchsafed to Smith a vast deal of highly
and cracked to such an extent that his early important information of a celestial order. life
acquaintances regarded him as a downright told him that his (Smith's) prayers had been
fanatic. heard, and his sins forgiven ; that the cove-
The common view that he was an impostor nant which the Almighty had made with the old
is not sustained by what is known of him. Jews was to be fulfilled ; that the introductory
He was, in all probability, of unbalanced mind, work for the second coming of Christ was now
a monomaniac, as most prophets have been ; to begin ; that the hour for the preaching of
but there is no reason to think that he did not the gospel in Its purity to all peoples was at
believe in himself, and substantially in what hand, and that Smith was to be an instrument
he taught. He has declared that, when he was in the hands of God, to further the divine pur-
about fifteen, he began to reflect on the im- pose in the new dispensation. The celestial
portance of being prepared for a future state. stranger also furnished him with a sketch of
He went from one church to another without the origin, progress, laws and civilization of
finding anything to satisfy the hunger of his the American aboriginals, and declared that
soul, consequently, he retired into himeelf ; he the blessing of heaven had finally been with-
CONCLUSION.
619
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 ele
ments 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 fanati
cism; 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
drawn from them. To Smith was communi
cated the momentous circumstance that cer
tain plates containing an abridgment of the
records of the aboriginals and ancient proph
ets, who had lived on this continent, were hid
den 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 cele
brated 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 pre
cious 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 iuspiration 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
relathcs 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 skep
tics, but all in vain. Naturally, warm contro
versy 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 inter
polations, 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 millen
nium 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 prov
idence, but he displayed perfect coolness and
intrepidity through all his trials. The Church
of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints was
first established in the spring of 1830 at Man
chester, N. Y. ; but it awoke such fierce oppo
sition, particularly from the orthodox, many
of them preachers, that Smith and his associ
ates 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 re
named Nauvoo.
The Governor and Legislature of Illinois
favored the Mormons, but the anti-Mormons
made war on them in every way, and the cus
tom of " sealing wives," which is yet mysteri
ous 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 authori
ties, 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 mem
ory of Smith and for his doctrine?. It placed
him in the light of a holy martyr, and lent to
them a dignity and vitality they had never be
fore enjoyed.
520
BIBLE MYTHS.
force, was attacked, defeated, banished or crucified; but the frenzy
did not abate.
The popular aspect of the Messianic hope was political, not re
ligious 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 crucifixion1 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.*
FiQ.43
" He is represented as being a native of Galilee, the insurgent dis
trict 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 con
ventionalities, remote from the centre of power, ecclesiastical and
secular, simple in their lives, bold of speech, independent in thought,
1 When we epeak of Jesus being crucified,
we do not intend to convey the idea that he
wae put toueath on a cross of the form adopted
by Christians. This cross was the symbol of
life and immortality among our heath ni an
cestors (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 sym bol 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.)
a According to the Matthew and Mark nar
rators, 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. 43-^
CONCLUSION. 521
thoroughgoing in the sort of radicalism that is common among peo
ple 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 dis
content and moral intractability were proverbial. They were bel
ligerents. The Romans had more trouble with them than with the
natives of any other province. The Messiahs all started out from
Galile-e, 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 Joseph us.
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 horse
men 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
iled away, Pilate ordered to be slain."1
Not long before this Pilate pillaged the temple treasury, and
used the " sacred money " to bring a current of water to Jerusalem.
The Je'ws 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 peo
ple 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 Pi
late 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
1 JosephuB : Antiquities, book xviii. ch. iv. 1.
BIBLE MYTHS.
of them slain by tins means, and others ran away wounded.
And thus an end was put to this sedition."1
It was such deeds as these, inflicted upon the Jews by their op
pressors, that made them think of the promised Messiah who was
to deliver them from bondage, and which made many zealous fana
tics imagine themselves to be " He who should come."2
There is reason to believe, as we have said, that Jesus of Naza
reth 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 Mes
siah. 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"3
The actions of this man, throughout his public career, we believe
to be those of a zealot whose zeal overrode considerations of wis
dom ; 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 " Mes
siah" or " King of the Jews" an enemy of Caesar, 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,4 the death that was inflicted on many such claimants, the
death that would have been decreed to Judas the Galilean,6 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.
1 Josephus : Antiquities, book xviii. chap. of the teaching of the Rabbis, was the certain
iii. 2. advent of a great national Deliverer — the MES-
2 " From the death of Herod, 4 B.C., to the SIAH. . . . The national mind had become
death of Bar-Cochba, 132 A.D., no less than so inflammable, by constant brooding on this
fifty different enthusiasts set up as the Messiah, one theme, that any bold spirit rising in revolt
and obtained more or less following." (John against the Roman power, could find an army
W. Chadwick.) of fierce disciples who trusted that it should be
3 " There was, at this time, a prevalent ex- he who would redeem Israel.'" (Geikie : The
pectation that some remarkable personage was Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 79.)
about to appear in Judea. The Jews were * " The penalty of crucifixion, according to
anxiously looking for the coming of the MES- Roman law and custom, was inflicted on slaves,
SIAH. This personage, they supposed, would and in the provinces on rebels only." (The
be a temporal prince, and they were ex- Martyrdom of Jesus, p. 96.)
pecting that he would deliver them from Ro- 6 Judas, the Gaulonite or Galilean, an
man bondage." (Albert Barnes : Notes, vol. i. Josephus calls him, declared, when Cyrenius
V- 1 •) came to tax the Jewish people, that " this tax-
"The central and dominant characteristic ation was no better than an introduction to
CONCLUSION. 523'
u 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 lloimm law is
power, and the fundamental idea of .Jewish law is justice/'1 There
fore Caiaphas and hit conspirators did not act from the Jewish
standpoint. They represented Rome, her principles, interest, and
barbarous caprices." Not one point in the whole trial agrees with
Jewish laws and custom.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. Mo lioman ear
could understand these pretensions, otherwise than in their rebel
lious sense. That Pontius Pilate certainly understood under the
title, u Messiah" the king (the political chief of the nation), is evi
dent from the subscription of the cross, "Jesus of Nazareth, King
of the Jews,1' 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
slavery," and exhorted the nation to assert look or forgive; but they are not likely to have
their liberty. He therefore prevailed upon his expected Pilate to care for any conduct which
countrymen to revolt. (See Josephus : Antiq.. might be called an ecclesiastical broil. The
b. xviii. ch. i. 1, and Wars of the Jews, b. ii. ch. assumption of royalty was clearly the point of
viii. 1.) their attack. Even the mildest man among
1 The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth, p. them may have thought his conduct dangerous
30. and needing repression." (Francis W. New-
2 " That the High Council did accuse Jesus, man, " What is Christianity without Christ ?")
I suppose no one will doubt : and since they According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus
could neither wish or expect the Roman Gov- was completely innocent of the charge which
eruortomake himself judge of their sacred law, has sometimes been brought against him, (hat
it becomes certain that their accusation was he wished to be considered as a God come, down
purely political, and took such a form as this : to earth. His enemies certainly would not have
' He has accepted tumultuous shouts that he is failed to make such a pretension the basis and
the 'egitimate and predicted King of Israel, tne continual theme of their accusations, if it
and in this character has ridden into Jerusalem had been possible to do so. The two grounds
with the forms of state understood to be royal upon which he was brought before the Sanhe-
aud sacred ; with what purpose, we ask, if not drim were, first, the bold words he was sup-
to overturn our institutions, and your domin- jtosed to have Sjtofen about the t<mi>le ; and,
ion ?' If Jesus spoke, at the crisis which Mat- secondly and chiefly, the fact that he claimed to
thew represents, the virulent speech attributed be the Messiah, i. e., " The King of the Jews.'''
to him (.Matt, xxiii.), we may well believe that (Albert Reville : " The Doctrine of the Dogma
this gate a new incentive to the rulers ; for it of the Deity of Jesus," p. 7.)
in such IB no government in Europe would over- • See The Martyrdom of Jesus, p 30.
524 BIBLE MYTHS.
scourged, and then to be crucified ; aL of which was done in hot
haste. Li 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.1' If the priests, elders, Phari
sees. 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 cross3 — should be brought to
honor among the early Christians, and Jesus had to die on the
cross (the Roman Gibbet), according to John* simply because it was
so prophesied. The fact is, the crucifixion story, like the symbol of
the crucifix itself, came from abroad.* 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, / am innocent of the blood of this
just person : see ye to it." To be sure of their case, they make the
Jews say : ;' Ills blood le on us, and on our children"*
ik Another fact is this. Just at the period of time when mis
fortune 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
heat lien, 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 neces-
1 See note 4, p. 522. 4 That is, the crucifixion story as related
8 See Matt. xx. 19. in the Gospels. See note 1, p. 520.
» John xviii. 31, 32. 6 Matthew xxvii. 24, 25.
CONCLUSION. 625
sary to exonerate Pilate and the Romans, and to throw the whole
burden upon the Jews, in order to establish the innocence and inar-
tyrdoin 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 par
ticular points, noticed by Dr. Isaac M. Wise, a learned Hebrew
scholar :
The Mark and Matthew narrators call the place of crucifixion
" Gohjotha" to which the Mark narrator adds, " which is, being in
terpreted, the place of skulls." The Matthew narrator adds the
same interpretation, which the John narrator copies without the
word ki Golgotha" and adds, it was a place near Jerusalem. The
Luke narrator calls the place of crucifixion u 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.1 Now "there is no such word as GOLGOTHA anywhere / 'n
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 imper
fect skeleton of any human being, make man imcleanby 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 purili cation ; and whatever he
touched was also unclean (Mainionides, Ilil. Turnath Meth., iii. 1).
Any impartial reader can see that the object of this law was to pre
vent 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
1 Commentators, in endeavoring to get over skull-like, and therefore a mound or hillock,"
this difficulty, say that, " it may come from the but, if it means " the place of bare skulls" no
look or form of the spot itself, bald, round, and such construction as the above can be pot to
the word.
526 BIBLE MYTHS.
transport through it human bones. Jerusalem was the place of the sac
rificial meals and the consumption of the sacred tithe, which was con
sidered 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 dia
lect. 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."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 se
cluded 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 peo
ple. 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 deliver
ance 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 pre
tended 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
Bimply repeating itself ; the same thing had been done for others.
" The preacher of the Mount, the prophet of the Beatitudes, does
» The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth, pp. 109-111.
:ONCLUSION. £27
but repeat, with persuasive lips, what the law-givers of his race pro
claimed in mighty tones of command."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.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, lie 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. lie evidently died to save the lives of his friends,
and this is much more meritorious than if he had died for a ques
tionable 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. There
fore theology appears so ridiculous in the eyes of modern philoso
phy. 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
1 O. B. Frothingham : The Cradle of the ite," Cincinnati, Ohio.
Christ, p. 11. 2 If Jesus, instead of giving himself up
The reader is referred to " Judaism : Its quietly, had resisted against being arrested,
Doctrines and Precepts," by Dr. Isaac M. Wise. there certainly would have been bloodshed, aa
Printed at the office of the " American Israel- there was oil muiiy other similar occasions.
#28 BIBLE MYTHS.
religion in perpetual conflict with philosophy. It was not the re
ligious 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 prov
idence, or the providential scheme of government.
The Christian story, as the Gospel* 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 mea
gre 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 k 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 inter
preted, it simply means : All that is best in Judceo- Christian senti
ment^ moral or spiritual, will survive', without jRabMnical fan
cies, cultured ly perverse logic ; without huge piles of fable built
upon them ; without the Oriental Satan, a formidable rival to
the throne of God y without the Pagan invention of Hell and
Devils."
In modern criticism, the Gospel sources become so utterly worth
less and unreliable, that it takes more than ordinary faith to believe
a large portion thereof to be true. The Eucharist was not estab
lished by Jesus, and cannot be called a sacrament. The trials of
Jesus are positively not true: they are pure inventions,1 The cru
cifixion 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,2 childish mira-
1 It what is recorded in the Gospels on the could fail to have noticed it, but instead of this
enbject was true, no historian of that day there is nothing.
2 See Matthew, xxvii. 51-53.
CONCLUSION. 529
cles,1 and dogmatic tendencies ?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 archaeologist, for students of mythology and an
cient 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 inde
pendent 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 indebted
ness ; 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 Chris
tian writers, a noble and grand character may be depicted, but who
was the original of this character ? We may find the same indi
vidual 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.8 Why, then, extol the hero
of the Gospels, and forget all others?
1 See Matt. xiv. 15-22 : Mark, iv. 1-3, andxi. Do ^t mean to suggest that Christianity has,
14; and Luke, vi ;.'.£> 3? /»? :\e first time, revealed to the world the
* See Murk, xvi. 1(5. existence of a set of self-sacrificing pre-
8 This fact has at last been admitted by the cepts— that here, for the first time, man has
most orthodox among the Christians. The Rev. learned that he ought to be meek, merciful,
George Matheson, D.D., Minister of the Parish humble, forgiving, sorrowful for sin, peace-
of Innellan, and a member of the Scotch Kirk, able, and pure in heart ? The proof of such
speaking of the precept uttered by Confucius, a statement would destroy Christianity itseif,
five hundred years before the time assigned for for an absolute original code of precepts would
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth ("Whatsoever ye be equivalent to a foreign language. The
would not that others should do unto you, do glory of Christian morality is that it is NOT
not ye unto them ''.(-essays : "That Confucius is ORioiNAL-that its words appeal to something
the author of this precept is undisputed, and which already exists witliin the human heart,
tiifrefore it is indisputable that Christianity has and on that account have a meaning to th»
incorporated an article of Chinese morality. It human ear : no new revelation can be mad*
has appeared to some as if this were to the except through the medium of an old one.
disparagement of Christianity— as if the orig- When we attribute originality to the ethics
inality of its Divine Founder were impaired by of the Gospel, we do so on the ground, not
consenting to borrow a precept from a heathen that it has given new precepts, but that it has
source. But in what sen«e dose Christianity given us a new impulse to obey the moral in-
set up the claim of moral originality f When stincts of the soul. Christianity itself claims
we speak of the religion of Christ as having on the field of morale this originality, and
introduced into the world a purer life and a this alone — ' A new commandment give I unto
surer guide to conduct, what do we mean f you, that you love one another.' " (St. Giles
84
530 BIBLE MYTHS.
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 dog
matic 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 an
cient castles, and remove now the debris, preparing the ground upon
which there shall be the gorgeous temple of humanity, one univer
sal 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."
Lectures, Second Series : The Faiths of the Innellan. Wm. Blackwood & Sons : Edin-
World. Religion of China, by the Rev. George burgh, 1882.)
Matheeon. D. D., Minister of the Parish of
APPENDIX.
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.1
The Cherokees supposed that heavenly beings came down and
made the world, after which they made a man and woman of day."
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.*
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.* They also related that birds
were sent out of the ark, for the purpose of ascertaining if the flood
was abating.*
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.8
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.7 This, as we have already seen,8
was universally believed in the Old World.
The legend of the man being swallowed by a fish, and, after a
• Baring-Gould's Legends of the Patriarchs, 203. Higgins : Anacalypsis, vol. li. p. 27.
p. 46. * Ibid.
9 Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 67. « Brinton : Myths of the New World, p. 204.
' Ibid. Here we see the parallel to the 7 See Chapter V.
Grecian fable of Epimetheus and Pandora. 8 See Ibid, and Chambere's Encyclo,, art
* Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. " Transmigration."
533
534 APPENDIX.
three days' sojourn in his belly, coming out safe and sound, was
found among the Mexicans and Peruvians. l
The ancient Mexicans, and some Indian tribes, practiced Circum
cision., which was common among all Eastern nations of the Old
World.2
They also had a legend to the effect that one of their holy per
sons commanded the sun to stand still.* This, as we have already
seen/ 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.*
They were also Sun-worshipers, and had " temples of the Sun."6
The Tortoise-myth was found in the New World."' 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 Lufitau 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 sup
ported 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.""
We have also found among them the belief in an Incarnate
God born of a virgin ;9 the One God worshiped in the form of a
Trinity ;10 the crucified Black god ;n the descent into hell ;ia the
resurrection and ascension into heaven,13 all of which is to be found
in the oldest Asiatic religions. We also found monastic habits —
friars and nuns.14
1 See Chapter XI. the summit stood a sumptuous temple, in which
3 See Chapter X. was the image of the mystic deity (Quetzal-
8 See Chapter XI. coatle), with ebon features, unlike the fair com-
4 Ibid. plexion which he bore upon earth." And
6 See Early Hist. Mankind, p. 252; Squire's Kenneth It. H. Mackenzie says (in Cities of the
Serpent Symbol; and Prescott: Con. Peru. Ancient World, p. 180): "From the woolly
6 See Ibid., and the Andes and the Ama- texture of the hair, I am inclined to assign to
zon, p. 454. the Buddha of India, the Fuhi of China, the
7 See Early Hist. Mankind, p. 342. Sommonacom of the Siamese, the Xaha of the
8 Ibid. Japanese, and the Quetzalcoatle of the Mexi-
9 See Chapter XII. cans, the same, and indeed an African, or
10 See Chapter XXV. rather Nubian, origin.11
11 See (Chapter XX. is See Chapter XXII.
Mr. Prescott, speaking of the Pyramid of « See Chapter XXIII.
Cholula, in his Mexican History, says : " On 14 See Chapter XXVI.
APPENDIX. 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."1
Many nations of tlieJSast entertained the notion that there were
nine heavens, and so did the ancient Mexicans.3
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.3
Now, the Serpent was venerated and worshiped throughout the
East.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.6 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." The idea of
calling the earth " mother," was common among the inhabitants of
both the Old and New Worlds.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
Shutting — 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 signi
fying to them to dance and make merry likewise, which they accord
ingly did.6
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 at
tacking Arachs (Rahu) from Sun or Moon.9
The Chinese, when there is an eclipse of the Sun or Moon,
proceed to encounter the ominous monster with gongs and bells.10
The ancient Romans flung firebrands into the air, and blew
trumpets, and clanged brazen pots and pans.11 Even as late as the
1 Sqnire : Serpent Symbol, p. 77. • Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 280, and
2 Ibid. p. 109. Squire's Serpent Symbol.
* See Ferguson's Tree and Serpent Worship, 7 Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 294, and
and Squire's Serpent Symbol. Squire's Serpent Symbol.
* See Ibid. 8 Tylor : Primitive Culture, rol. i. pp. 295,
4 See Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 296.
261, and Squire's Serpent Symbol. • Ibid. p. 300. • Ibid. " Ibid. p. 301.
536 APPENDIX.
seventeenth century, the Irish or Welsh, during eclipses, ran about
beating kettles and pans.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.2 The Ciiribs, 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.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.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.6 "The Bridge of the Dead,"
which is one of the marked myths of the Old World, was found in
the New.8
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.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 Quet
zal coatle.8
i Tylor ; Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 301. • Early Hist. Mankind, pp. 357 and 361.
» Ibid. p. 296. 7 Ibid. p. 361.
* Ibid. The legend of the " Elixir of Life " of the
4 Ibid. p. 234. Western World, was well-known in China.
• Ibid. p. 239 and 343. (Buckley : Cities of the Ancient World, p. 167.)
8 Ibid. p. 118, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.
APPENDIX. 637
The Incas, in order to preserve purity of race, married their
own sisters, as did the Kings of Persia, and other Oriental nations.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 patriarch ical 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 be
fore us Japan — as it was a very few years u^\>. In fact, there is
something strangely Japanese in the entire cultus of Peru as de
scribed by all writers.8
The dress and costume of the Mexicans, and their sandals,
resemble the apparel and sandals worn in early ages in the East.3
Mexican priests were represented with a Serpent twined around
their heads, so were Oriental kings.4 The Mexicans had the head
of a rhinoceros among their paintings,6 and also the head of uu
elephant on the body of a man.8 Now, these animals were un
known 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. Ilurn-
boldt, 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,7 became
extinct on the Western Continent in an early period of the earth's
history, yet the Mexicans had, among their hieroglyphics, repre
sentations of boti! 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 repre
sentations 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.*
We have seen that many of the religious conceptions of America
are identical with those of the Old World, and that they are em-
1 Fusang, p. 56. todon, and other animals, near Punin, in South
2 Ibid. p. 55. America, all of which had passed away before
8 Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 181. the arrival of the human species. This native
4 Ibid., and Squire's Serpent Symbol. American horse was succeeded, in after ages,
* Mexican Antiq., vol. vi. p. 180. by the countless herds descended from a few
• Early Hist. Mankind, p. 311. introduced with the Spanish colonists. (See
7 The traveler, James Ortou, found fossil the Andes and the Amazon, pp. 154, 155.)
bones of an extinct species of the horse, the mae • Serpent Symbol, p. 47.
538 APPENDIX.
bodied or symbolized under the same or cognate forms ; and it ia
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.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.2
11. Sponce Hardy, says :
" The ancient edifices of Chi Chen, in Central America, bear a striking re
semblance 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 appear
ance of mason ry here and there, the style of the ornaments, and the small door
way at the base, are so exactly similar to what I had seen at Anuradhapura,
that when my eye first fell upon the engravings of these remarkable ruins, 1 supposed
that they were presented in illustration of the ddgobas of Ceylon."*
E. G. Squire, speaking of this, says :
"The Bml'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, corre
spond, with great exactness, in all their essential and in many of their minor
features, with those of Central America."*
Structures of a pyramidal style, which are common in India,
were also discovered in Mexico. The pyramid tower of Cholula
was one of these.5
Sir It. 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 f6
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."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."8
1 Serpent Symbol, p. 193. • See Ibid.
2 The Andes and the Amazon, p. 454. • Travels in Persia, vol. ii. p. 280.
8 Eastern Monachism, p. 222. 7 New Spain, vol. i. p. 136.
4 Serpent Symbol, p. 43. e Ibid. p. 141.
APPENDIX. 639
" This analogy is particularly evident in the color of the skin and hair, in the de
fective beard, high cheek-bones, and in the direction of the eyes."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 dis
tribution, embracing every variety of climate, it is acknowledged by all travel
lers, that there is among this people a prevailing type, around which all the
tribes — north, south, cast 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."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, lie says :
"The Zaparos in physiognomy somewhat resemble the Chinese, having a
middle stature, round face, small eyes set angularly, and a broad, flat nose."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 18GG, an officer of the Sharpshooter, the first English man-
of-war which entered the Parana 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 Bra
zilian natives at the falls of Cachauhy as having thick, round Kal
muck heads, flat Mongol faces, wide, very prominent cheek bones,
oblique and sometimes narrow-slit Chinese eyes, and slight mus
taches.
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 espe
cially 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 Gua-
rani tribes in Brazil. Even in the extreme south, among the
1 New Spain, vol. i. p. 153. 3 Types of Mankind, p. 275.
3 The Andes and the Amazon, p. 170.
540 APPENDIX.
Hiullitclies 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 dis
tinguish them from the Asiatic Mongols. All the tribes haye 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 con
siderably, 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.1
Charles G. Leland says :
The Tunguse, Mongolians, and a great part of the Turkish race formed origi
nally, according to all external organic tokens, as well as the elements of their
language, but one people, closely allied with the Esquimaux, the Skraling, 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 Ameri
cans 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."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."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 rom Asia, where the race to which they belong seema
still represented by the Koraks and Cookchees, found in that part of Asia which
extends to Behring's Straits."4
Hon. Charles I). 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 panto
mimic 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 friend-
lily but timidly, keeping all the time in motion like an Apache."5
i Paschel • Races of Man, pp. 402-404. « Quoted in Ibid.
* Fusang, p. 7. • Quoted in Ibid. p. 94.
•Ibid. 118.
APPENDIX. 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.1 This is evi
dently the manner in which America was peopled.8
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.'
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
gmall 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."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 ab
solutely so. It was raining heavily, and the fresh water, together with
the spray, trickled down her body. In another harbor not far dis
tant, a woman, who was suckling a recently-born child, came one
1 Paschel : Races of Man. pp. 400, 401. Ceylon, which was never attached to India,
8 To those who may think that the Old perhaps even the island of Celebes in the far
World might have been peopled from the new, East, which possesses a perplexing fanna, with
we refer to Oscar Paschel's " Races of Man," semi-African features." On this continent,
p. 32. The author, in speaking on this subject, which was situated iu the now Indian Ocean,
says : " There at one time existed a great con- mnst we look for the cradle of humanity.
tiuent, to which belonged Madagascar and » Paschel : Races of Man, p. 81.
perhaps portions of Eastern Africa, the Mai- * Darwin's Journal, p. 213.
dives and Laccadives, and also the I?land of
542 APPENDIX.
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 I"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 perspira
tion at undergoing such a scorching. They seemed, however, very
well pleased, and all joined in the chorus of the seamen's songs ;
but the maniier in which they were invariably a little behind was
quite ludicrous."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.3 The tribe
who inhabited Mexico at the time it was discovered by the Span
iards was not the first to settle there ; they had driven out a peo
ple, and had taken the country from them."
That Mexico was visited by Orientals, who brought and planted
their religion there, in a comparatively recent period, is very proba
ble. 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 coinci
dences, the antecedent probability of their having come hither, or having been
able to corne, 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 Karnt-
schatka, 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
1 Darwin's Journal, p. 213. ively followed each other from the north to
2 Ibid. pp. 220, 221. the south always murdered, hunted down, and
3 This is seen from the fact that they subdued the previous inhabitants, and formed
did not know the use of iron. Had they in course of time a new social and political
known the use of this metal, they would life upon the ruins of the old system, to be
surely have gone to work and dug into their again destroyed and renewed in a few cen-
niountains, which are abundantly filled with taries, by a new invasion of barbarians,
ore, and made use of it. The later native conquerors in the New World
* The Aztecs were preceded by the Tol- can, of course, no more be considered in the
teen, Chichimecks, and the Nahualtecs. (Hum- light of original inhabitants than the present
boldt's New Spain, p. 133, vol. i.) races of men in the Old World."
"The races of barbarians which success-
APPENDIX. 543
be out of sight of land, and this in a part of the sea generally abounding in
tish, as is proved by the fishermen who inhabit many of these islands, on which
fresh water is always to be found."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 c;in 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 desola
tion, 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 1 have no doubt thai from the remotest ages, and on all shores, fish
ermen m 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 savage.-;, 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 com
pass, and who from an early age were proficient in astronomy.'"2
Prof. Max Miiller, 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 tlie American Continent, either across the
stepping-stones of the Afeutic bridge in the North, or lower South, by drifting with
favorable winds from island to inland, till the hardy canoe was landed or wrecked
on the American coast, never to return again to tlie Asiatic Iwme from which it had
started."*
It is very evident then, that tlie religion and mythology of the
Old and ^e\v 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."*
And Mr. Tylor says :
" Among the mass of Central American traditions . . . there occur certain
passages in the story of an early emigration of the Quiche race, which have
much the appearance of vague and broken stories derived in some way from
high Northern latitudes."5
Mr. McCulloh, in his "Researches," observes that :
1 Pueang, p. 56. * Mexican Antiq., vol. vi. p. 181.
• Quoted in Fusang, p. 71. • Early Hist. Mankind, p. 807.
* Science of Religion, p. 121.
644 APPENDIX.
"In analyzing many parts of their (the ancient Americans') institutions, especi
ally 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 imper
fect 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.
APPENDIX B.
COMMENCING at the farthest East we shall find the ancient re
ligion of China the same as that which was universal in all quarters
of the globe, viz., an adoration of the Sun, Moon, Stars and ele
ments.1 That the Chinese religion was in one respect the same as
that of India, is seen from the fact that they named succes
sive days for the same seven planets that the Hindoos did.8 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 be
fore Jesus ; and the Confucian books refer continually to observa
tions 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,
1 " All Paganism is at bottom a worship of personifications that the real objects worshiped
nature in some form or other, and in all Pagan became unknown. At first the real Sun,
religions the deepest and most awe-inspiring Moon, Stars, &c., would be worshiped, but as
attribute of nat'ire was its power of repro- soon as man personified them, other terms
dnction." (Encyclo. Brit., art. " Christianity.") would be introduced, and peculiar rites ap-
2 In Montfaucon's L'Antiquite Expliquee propriated to each, so that in time they came
(.vol. i.), may be seen a representation of the to be considered as so many different dei-
wven planets personified. It was by such ties.
APPENDIX. 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
worltL1
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 Bruhmans 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."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 col
lections 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."8
The following sublime description of Night is an extract from
the VedaSj 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 moun
tains and trees, but soon she disturbs the gloom with celestial effulgence. Ad
vancing 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 recliue in our mansions, as birds repose
upon the trees. Mankind now sleep in their towns; now herds und flocks peace
fully slumber, and the winged creatures, swift falcons, and vultures. O Night 1
1 Thornton : Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 14, 49 a Max Milller : The Science of Religion,
and 50. p. 298.
1 Indian Wisdom, p. 10.
546 APPENDIX.
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 over
whelming 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), Sftrya (the Sun), the Maruts
(Winds), Aditi, (the Dawn), Parvati (the Earth,)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 uni
versal 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 in
spiration is thy praise and glory. Thy power 1 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
illumiuest 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."2
In the Maha-Wiarata,) Crishna, who having become the son of
Aditi (the Dawn), is called Vishnu, another name for the Sun.'
The demon Put ana assaults the child Crishna, which identities him
with Hercules, the Sun-god of the Greeks.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.6 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.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 aa
Vishnu ; whether considered in his own person, or in the cliaracter of his most
glorious Avatara of CUISHNA. "
1 The emblem of Parvati, the " Mother and ISO.
Goddess,'' \vs» the YONI, and that of her con- 4 Ibid. p. 135.
eort Siva, the LINGHAM. 6 Ibid. p. 137
2 Williams Hinduism, p. 213. « See Ibid. p. 88, and Moor's Hindu Pan-
» See Cox : Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. pp. 105 theou, p. 63.
APPENDIX. 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. l 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 be
lief 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. Dio-
dorus, 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 dis
eases about to befall men or cattle. Earthquakes, deluges, rising of comets,
and all those phenomena, the knowledge of which appears impossible to com
mon comprehensions, they foresee by means of their long continued observa
tion."
P. Le Page Renouf, who is probably the best authority on the
religion of ancient Egypt which can be produced, says, in his Hib-
bert Lectures :2
"The Lectures on the Science of Language, delivered nearly twenty years
ago by Prof. Max Mtlller, 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 evi
dent 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 :
1 "According to Champollion, the tomb of beings) for every hoar of every month of the
Ramses V. at Thebes, contains tables of the yeat." (Kenrick's Egypt, vol. L p. 466.)
constellations and of their influence (on human • p. 118.
548 APPENDIX.
"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 ap
pears 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 posi
tion 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 per
sonifications of the Stin, Moon, Stars, the elements, &c.
Ormuzdj "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-horn 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 cen
sers. 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,
APPENDIX. 549
by whom Hie 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, pros
trated themselves before the orb of day.
The HEBREWS worshiped the Sun, Moon, Stars, and " all the
host of heaven."1 El-Sliaddai 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 nu-uns "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 Jeru
salem.3
The Sun was worshiped by the Hebrews under the names of
Baal, Moloch, Chemosh, &c.; the Moon was Ashtoreth, the " Queen
of Heaven."3
Tiie gods of the ancient GREEKS and ROMANS were the same as
the gods of the Indian epic poems. We have, for example : Zeu-
piter (Jupiter), corresponding to Dyaus-pitar (the Heaven-father),
Juno, corresponding to Parvati (the Mother Goddess), and Apollo,
corresponding to Crishna (the Sun, the Saviour).1 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."*
Dr. Prichard, in his "Analysis of Egyptian Mythology,"9 speak
ing of the ancient Greeks and Romans, says :
"That the worship of the powers of nature, mitigated, indeed, and embel
lished, 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 tJic different powers of which they
could make f/ods. 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, Phcsbus (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."1
1 See Chapter XI. • Taylor's Mysteries, p. 163.
3 Mflller : The Science of Relig., p. 190. • Page 239.
» See Chapter XI. » The Ancient City, p. 162.
4 See Indian Wisdom, p. 426.
550 APPENDIX.
Richard Payne Knight says •
"The primitive religion of the Greeks, like that of all other nations not en
lightened 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 natu
rally 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 irregu
lar and destructive efforts of nature, such as lightnings and tempests, inunda
tions 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."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), "Baklur
the Good," and Thor — from whom we have our Thursday (per
sonifications 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 e&tfisJi on that day.a
The gods of the ancient inhabitants of what are now called the
"British Islands "were identically the same. The bun-god wor
shiped by the Ancient Druids was called Hu, Beli, Budd and
Buddu-gre.*
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.4
1 Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 1. Frigga and Freyja are originally ONE.
2 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities. Though 8 See Myths of the British Druids, p. 116.
spoken of in Northern mythology as distinct, « See Squire's Serpent Symbol.
APPENDIX. 551
Father Acosta, speaking of the Mexicans, says :
"Next to Viracocha, or their Supreme God, that which n'.oat commonly they
have, and do adore, is the Sun ; and after, those things which are most remark
able in the celestial or elementary nature, as the Moon, Stars, Wea, 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."1
We see, then, that the gods and heroes of antiquity were origin
ally 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 ac
counts of men of a high order, who had once inhabited the earth.
Sanctuaries and temples were erected to the&o 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 pos
sessed 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 niton, first led mortals to
address prayers to the orbs over which they were supposed to pre
side. 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 irri
tated 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 Abbe 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."
> Acosta : vol. ii. pp. 303-305.
652 APPENDIX.
APPENDIX 0.
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 after
wards divided, and that each part or division of it must have
brought into its new home the legends once common to diem 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 Miiller, 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
APPENDIX. 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 water
spout a huge serpent who elevated himself out of the ocean and
readied 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 IX'ight ; the Dawn came before he was born, and died as lie
rose in the heavens. lie strangled the serpents of the night ; he
went forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber, and like a giant
to run his course.1 He had to do battle with clouds and storms.3
Sometimes his light grew dim under their gloomy veil, and the
children of men shuddered at the wrath of the hidden Sun.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.4 Sometimes, beneath moun
tains of clouds and vapors, he plunged into the leaden sea.6 Some
times he looked benignly on the face of his mother or his bride who
came to greet him at his journey's end.8 Sometimes he was the
lord of heaven and of light, irresistible in his divine strength ;
sometimes lie toiled for others, not for himself, in a hard, unwill
ing servitude.7 His light and heat might give light and destroy it.8
His chariot might scorch the regions over which it passed, his flam
ing fire might burn up all who dared to look with prying eyes into
QIS dazzling treasure-house.9 He might be the child destined to
*lay 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.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.11 He might be a warrior whose eye strikes terror
1 This picture would give us the story of evening sky, plunged into the sea.
Hercules, who strangled the serpent in hie • This would give us the story of Hercules
cradle, and who, in after years, in the form and his bride lole, or that of Christ Jesus and
of a giant, ran his course. his mother Mary, who were at their side at the
a This would give us St. George killing the end of their career.
Dragon. 7 This would give us the story of the labors
3 This would give us the story of the mon- of Hercules.
Bter who attempted to devour the Sun, and 8 This is the Sun as Sera.
whom the "untutored savage" tried to * Here again we have the Sun as Siva the
frighten away by making loud cries. Destroyer.
* This would give us the story of Samson, 10 Hero we have Apollo, Achillcus, Bellero-
whose strength was renewed at the end of phon and Odysseus.
his career, and who slew the Philistines — who n This would give us the story of Samson,
had dimmed his brilliance— and bathed his who was " the friend of the children of men,
path with blood. and the remorseless foe of those powers of
• This would give us the story of Cannes darkness " (the Philistines), who had stolen
>r l>agon, who, beneath the clouds of the away his bride, (bee Judges, ch. xv.)
554 APPENDIX.
into his enemies, or a wise chieftain skilled in deep and hidden
knowledge.1 Sometimes he might appear as a glorious being
doomed to an early death, which no power could avert or delay.9
Sometimes grievous hardships and desperate conflicts might he fol
lowed by a long season of serene repose.* Wherever he went, men
might welcome him in love, or shrink from him in fear and
anguish.4 He would have many brides in many lands, and his off
spring would assume aspects beautiful, strange or horrible.6 His
course might be brilliant and beneficent ; or gloomy, sullen, and
capricious.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.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.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 Miiller, " 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 con
ception of the Infinite, the Immortal, the Divine ; and the names
of the Dawn became naturally the names of higher powers.9
1 This would give us the stories of Thor, the bound maidens, who sleep for years,
mighty warrior, the terror of his enemies, and « This is Hercules and his counterparts.
those of Cadmus, Romulus or Odin, the wise 6 This again is Hercules.
chieftains, who founded nations, and taught « This would depend upon whether hiB light
Uieir people knowledge. was obscured by clouds, or not.
2 This would give us the story of Christ Je- 1 This again /s Hercules.
BUS, and other Angel-Messiahs; Saviours of men. 8 This is Apollo, Siva and Ixion.
3 This would give 'us the stories of spell- 9 Rev. G. W. Cox.
APPENDIX. 656
" 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, aguin, in their fancy, were the companions or minis
ters of India, the sky-god. The spirits of the winds gathered into
their host the souls of the dead — thus giving birth to the Scandina
vian and Teutonic legend of the Wild Horseman, who rides at mid
night through the stormy sky, with his long train of dead behind
him, and his weird hounds before.1 The Kibhus, or Arblius, 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."*
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 innu
merable 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 alt, in
deed, 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 be
tween 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
1 Who has not heard it paid that the howling or whining of a dog forebodes death f
3 Bunce : Fairy Tales, Origin and Meaning.
556 APPENDIX.
of time, by the circumstances of different countries, and I j 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."1 And so they went on, straight to
ward the West, or, as they turned North and South, and thus over
spread 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 home
like in the middle and western countries ; but always alike in ^heir
1 Quoted by Bunce : Fairy Tales.
APPENDIX. 657
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. Tliis 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.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, tights 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
1 See Bunce : Fairy Tales, p. 84.
558 APPENDIX.
the Clouds and blackness of Niglit (in Teutonic mythology)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 ob
serves 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 mid
dle 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, ivMch are com
posed 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, f>'0ur 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.2
That the peasant folk-lore of modern Europe still displays
1 " The Sun," said Gaugler, " speeds at such for he shall one day overtake and devour her."
a rate as if she feared that some one was pur- (Scandinavian Prose Edda. See Mallet's
euing her for her destruction." " And well she Northern Antiquities, p. 407). This Wolf is,
may," replied liar, "for he that seeks her is as we have said, a personification of Night and
not far behind, and she has no way to escape Clouds, we therefore have the almost universal
but to run before him." "And who is he," practice among savage nations of making noises
asked Gaugler, " that causes her this anxiety ?" at the time of eclipses, to frighten away the
"It is the Wolf SkOll, " answered Har, " who monsters who would otherwise devour the Sun
pursues the Sun, and it is he that she fears, a Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 103.
APPENDIX. 559
episodes of nature-myth, may be seen in tLe 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 Bdba Yagd, 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 Baba Yarjd, and
disappeared an 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 f 'Who was the red rider?' 'That is my red Sun;1 'Who was
the black rider ?' 'That is my black Night. They are all my trusty friends.'"1
We have another illustration of allegorical mythology in the
Grecian story of Hephfestos 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, Hesphsestos as the young, not yet risen Sun, and Athene as
the Dawn, the daughter of the Sky, stepping forth from the foun
tain-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 cham
pion in the battle between night and day ; in full armor, in her
panoply of light, driving away the darkness of night, and awaken
ing men to a bright life, to bright thoughts, to bright endeavors.3
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.8 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
Tylor : Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 308. • Mflller : The S< ience of Religion, p. 65.
» Cox : Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 1.
560 APPENDIX.
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 in
herits 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 be
fore the august tribunal of Minos, Rhadamanthys, ;md 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 recon
ciliation of deadly feuds,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.8
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 be-
1 As the hand of Hector is clasped in the tion ; and it is unnecessary to say that the
hand of the hero who slew him. There, as the human mind, having advanced thus far, must
£tory ran, the lovely Helen " pardoned and make its way still farther. (Cox : Aryan My-
purified,1' became the bride of the short-lived, thology, vol. ii. p. 322.)
yet long-suffering Achilleus, even as lole com- a The black storm-cloud, with the flames of
forted the dying Hercules on earth, and Hebe lightning issuing from it, was the original of
became his solace in Olympus. But what is the dragon with tongues of fire. Even as late as
the meeting of Helen and Achilleus, of lole A.I). 1GOO, a German writer would illustrate a
and Hebe and Hercules, but the return of the thunder-storm destroying a crop of corn bf a
violet tints to greet the Sun in the West, which picture of a dragon devouring the produce »
had greeted him in the East in the morning f the field with his flaming tongue and iron tevA
The idea was purely physical, yet it suggested (Baring-Gould : Curious Myths, p. 342.)
the thoughts of trial, atonement, and purifica-
APPENDIX. 561
tween 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 ex
aggerated 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 sub
stituted 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 monu
ments. 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.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 — regenera
tion; that if he appeared sometimes to destroy, he constantly re
paired 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 Brahma, 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.
» M, Brfcal, and G. W. Cox.
562 APPENDIX.
Traces of a similar refinement may be found in the Greek my
thology, 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.1 The invo
cation to the Sun, in the Mysteries, according to Macrobius, was as
follows: "0 all-ruling Sun! Spirit of the world! Power of the
world ! Light of the world ! "3
We have seen in Chap. XXXV, that the Peruvian Triad was rep
resented by three statues, called, respectively, " Apuinti, Churiinti,
and Intihoaoque," which is, " Lord and Father Sun; Son Sun;
and Air or Spirit, Brother Sun."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 mythol
ogy. At night, in the west, the Sun is Vishnu ; he is Brahma in the east and
in the morning; and from noon to evening he is Siva."4
Mr. Moor, in his "Hindu Pantheon," says :
"Most, if not all, of the gods of the Hindoo Pantheon will, on close investiga
tion, resolve themselves into the three powers (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), and
those powers into one Deity, Brahm, typified by the Sun."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. Brah-
md, the Creator, was indicated by the Jieat 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 Brahma, at noon Vishnu, at evening Siva.''6
"He is at once," says Mr. Cox, in speaking of the Sun, "the
' Comforter' and ' Healer,' the ' Saviour ' and ' Destroyer,5 who can
slay and make alive at will, and from whose piercing glance no
secret can be kept hid."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 0. M.
The idea of a Tri-murti, or triple personification, was de
veloped 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.8
1 Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 59. * p. 6.
s Ibid. • Squire : Serpent Symbol, p. 88.
• Ibid. p. 181. T Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 33.
« Book iv ch. i. in Anac., vol. i. p. 187. • Williams' Hinduism, p. 88.
APPENDIX. 563
We see then that the religious myths of antiquity and the fire
side 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 phe
nomena of the world into which they were born. At first, tho
roughly 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 iu 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 Miiller, in speaking of " the comparison of the dif
ferent 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 ad
dressed 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 mar
velous 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."1
In the words of this learned author, " we never lose, we always
gain, when we discover the most ancient intention of sacred tradi
tions, instead of being satisfied with their later aspect, and their
modern misinterpretations."
i Mfiller1! Chips, vol. 1L p. 900.
664
APPENDIX.
APPElsTDIX 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.1
40 Josephus.
79 C. Pliuius Second, the Elder.8 )
69 L. Ann. Seneca. v
79 Diogenes Laertius.
79 Pausanias. ) n i
79 Pompon Mela. [ Geographers.
79 Q. CurtiusRuf.
79 Luc. Flor.
Philosophers.
140 Justinus.
141 ^Elianus.
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. Lurdner, who wrote about A. D. 1760, says :
1. It was never quoted by any of our Christian ancestors before Esuebius.
2. Josephus lias nowhere else mentioned the name or word Christ, in any of
his works, except the testimony above mentioned,3 and the passage concerning
James, the Lord's brother.4
3. It interrupts the narrative.
4. The language is quite Christian.
5. It is not quoted by Chn sostom,6 though he often refers to Josephus, and
could not have omitted quoting it, had it been then, in the text.
1 The Rev. Dr. Giles eaye : " 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
eilenee is more remarkable, seeing that he was
about sixty years old at the time of the cruci-
fixion, 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 Chris-
tiun Records, vol. ii. p. 61.)
The Rev. Dr. assumes that these " wonder-
ful events " really took place, but, if they did
not take place, of course Philo's silence on th«
subject is accounted for.
a Both these philosophers were Jiving, and
must have experienced the immediate effects,
or received the earliest information of the ex-
istence of Christ Jesus, had such a person as
the Gospels make him out to be ever existed.
Their ignorance or their willful silence ou the
the subject, is not less than improbable.
3 Antiquities, bk. xviii. ch. iii. 3.
4 Ibid. bk. xx. ch. ix. 1.
• John. Bishop of Constantinople, who died
APPENDIX. 565
6. It is not quoted by Photius, though he has thide articles concerning Jose-
phus.
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 Alexan-
drinus, who made so many extracts from ancient authors, nor Origeu 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 acknowl
edge Christ. '
In the " Bible for Learners," we read as follows :
" Flavins 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 An/i(/>ii!n'« ' that
refers to him is certainly spurious, and was inserted \yy a later and a Chrixtian
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."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 inter
polated, if not wholly spurious, and no one can doubt that his silence on the
subject of Christianity was as deliberate as it was dishonest."3
The Rev. Dr. Giles, after commenting on this subject, concludes
by saying :
" Euxebins is the first who quotes the passage, and our reliance on the judg
ment, or even the honesty, of this writer is not so great as to allow of our consider
ing everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine."4
Eusebius, then, is the first person who refers to these passages.*
Eusebius, " whose honesty is not so great as to allow of our consider
ing everything found in his ivorks as undoubtedly genuine." Euse
bius, who says chat it is lawful to lie and cheat for the cause of
Christ.* This Eusebius is the sheet-anchor of reliance for most we
know of the first three centuries of the Christian history. What
then must \ve think of the history of the first three centuries of the
Christian era ?
Lardner : vol. vi. ch. iii. proper to nee falsehood as a medium for i!,e
Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 27. benefit of those who require to be deceived ;"
Life of Christ, vol. T p. 63. and he closes his work with these words : " I
Hebrew and Christ, jrtec. vol. ii. p. 62. have repeated whatever may rebound to the
In hie Eccl. Hist. lib. 2. ch. xii. glory, and suppressed all that could tend to the
Ch. 31, bk. xii. of Eusebins Prce paratio disgrace of our religion."
Evangelicu is entitled : " How far it may be
666 APPENDIX.
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 Chris
tian quotation better than any other in all the writings of Tacitus,
or of any Pagan writer whatever, is not quoted by any of the Chris
tian 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 con
tained such a passage.
5. It is not quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus, who set himselj
entirely to the work of adducing and bringing together all the admis
sions and recognitions which Pagan authors had made of the exist
ence 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 pas
sage in Josephus ; of adducing the correspondence of Christ Jesus
and Abgarus, and the Sibylline verses ; of forging a divine revela
tion 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 loth century.1
1 The original MSS. containing the " Annals of the chief writers of antiquity, on aconnt of
of Tacitus" were "discovered" in the the Popes, in their efforts to revive learning,
fifteenth century. Their existence cannot be giving money rewards and indulgences to those
traced back further than that time. And as it who should procure MS. copies of any of the
was an age of imposture, some persons are ancient Greek or Roman authors. Man-
disposed to believe that not only portions of uscripts turned up as if by magic, in every
the Annals, but the whole work, was forged at direction ; from libraries of monasteries,
that time. Mr. J. W. Ross, in an elaborate obscure as well as famous ; the most out-of-
work published in London some years ago, the-way places,— the bottom of exhausted wells,
contended that the Annals were forged by besmeared by snails, as the History of Velleius
Poggio Bracciolini, their professed discoverer. Paterculus, or from garrets, where they had
At the time of Bracciolini the temptation was been contending with cobwebs and dust, as the
great to palm off literary forgeries, especially poems of Catullus.
APPENDIX. 567
10. No reference whatever is made to this passage by any writer
or historian, monkish or otherwise, before that time,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 cen
tury ; 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 ;9 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," with
out 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. 2-G), not because they were followers of a certain Jesus who
claimed to be the Christ, but because " Christian" or " Ohrestian,"
was a name applied, at that time, to any good man.3 And,
1 A portion of the passage— that relating to (Abbott and Conant; Die. of Relig. Knowledge,
the manner in which the Christians were put art. "Jesus Christ."")
to death— is found iu the IRstoria Sacra of In the oldest Gospel extant, that attributed
Snlpicius Severus, a Christian Father, who to Matthew, we read that Jesus said unto his
died A. D. 420; but it is evident that thib disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?" where-
writer did not take it from the Annals. On the npon Simon Peter answers and says : " Thou
contrary, the passage was taken — as Mr. Rosy art THE CUBIST, the Son of the living God.
shows— from the Historia Sacra, and bears . . . Then charged he his disciples that they
traces of having been so appropriated. (See should tell no man that he was Jesus THB
Tacitus & Bracciolini, the Annals forged In the Christ." (Matt. xvi. 15-20.)
XVth century, by J. W. Rose.) This clearly shows that " the Christ " was
3 " Christ is a name having no spiritual eimply a title applied to the man Jesus, there-
signification, and importing nothing more (him fore, if a title, it cannot be a name. All pas-
an ordinary furnime." (Dr. Giles : Hebrew sages in the New Testament which speak of
and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 64.) Christ as a name, betray their modern date.
"The name of Jesus and Christ was both s "This name (Christian) occurs but three
known and honored among the ancients." times in the New Testament, and is never
(Eusebins : Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, eh. iv.) used by Christians of themselves.only as spoken
"The name Jesus is of Hebrew origin, and by or coming from those without the Church,
signifies Deliverer, and Savior. It is the The general names by which the early Chris-
same as that translated in the Old Testament tians called themselves were ' brethren,' ' disci-
Joshua. The word Christ, of Greek origin, pies," believers.' and 'saints.' The presumption
is properly not a name but a title signifying is that the name Christian was originated by the
The Anointed. The whole name is therefore, Heathen." (Abbott and Conant : Die. of Relig.
the Anointed or Jesus the Messiah." Knowledge, art. " Christian.")
568 APPENDIX.
17. The worshipers of the Sun-god, Serapis, were also called
" Christians," and his disciples " Bishops of Christ."1
So much, then, for the celebrated passage in Tacitus.
"We are called Christians (not, we call the whole human race participates. All those
ourselves Christians). So, then, we are the who have lived conformably to a right reason,
bett of men (Christians), and it can never be have been Christians, notwithstanding that they
just to hate what is (Chrest) good and kind /" have always been looked upon as Atheists."
[or, " therefore to hate what is Chrestian is (Justin Martyr : Apol. 1. c. xlvi.)
unjust."] (Justin Martyr : Apol. 1. c. iv.) Lucian makes a person called Triephon
" Some of the ancient writers of the Church answer the question, whether the affairs of
have not scrupled expressly to call the Athe- the Christians were recorded in heaven. "All
nian Socrates, and some others of the best of nations are there recorded, since ChrSstus
the heathen moralists, by the name of Chris exists even among ihe Gentiles."
tians." (Clark : Evidences of Revealed Relig., J " Egypt, which you commended to me, my
p. 284. Quoted in Ibid. p. 41.) dearest Servianus, I have found to be wholly
" Those who lived according to the Logos, fickle and inconsistent, and continually wafted
(i. e., the Piatordsts), were really Christians. " about by every breath of fame. The worshipers
(Clemens Alexaudrinus, in Ibid.) of SERAPIS (here) are called Christians, and
" Undoubtedly we are called Christians, those who are devoted to the god Serapis (I
for this reason, and none other, than because find), call themselves Hishops of Christ." (The
ive are anointed with the oil of God.''1 (The- Emperor Adrian to Servianus, written A.D.
ophilus of Antioch, in Ibid. p. 399.) 134. Quoted by Dr. Giles, vol. ii. p. 86.)
" Christ is the Sovereign Reason of whom
NOTE.— Tacitus says — according to the passage attributed to him — that "those who con
fessed [to be Christians] were first seized, and then on their evidence a huge multitude (Inge us
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 cruci
fixion of Jesus — has not escaped the eye of thoughtful scholars. Gibbon — who saw how ridicu
lous 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); KOstlin (Johann-
Lehrbegr., 472); and Baur (Firvt Three Centuries, i. 133); also being struck with the absurdity of
the statement made by some of the early Christian writers concerning the wholesale prosecu
tion of Christians, said to have happened at that time, suppose it must have tnken place daring
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
rabies must be made realities, so we have the ridiculous story of a " huge multitude" of Chris
tians 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,
cJad 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 Daille On the Right Use of the Fathers, who shows that they were accus
tomed to doing such business, and that these writings are, to a large extent, unreliable.
INDEX.
Abraham, story of, 38; Hindoo parallel,
39; other parallels, 39, 40; the foun
dation 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.
AchMeus, 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 Can<>:i, U!':<T ihe
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 thr 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.
, son of Jupiter, 125.
, Christ Jesus an, 427; there have
been several, 427; the Gnostics be
lieved Christ Jesus to have been an,
511 ; the Essenes believed in the doc
trine of an, 515.
JEschylwt Prometheus Bound, 192.
^Esculapius, a son of Jove, 128, wor
shiped 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 sym
bol of, 340.
Agnus Dei, the, succeeded the Bulla,
405; worn by children, 405.
Agony, the, on Good Friday, is the
weej 'ing for Tammuz, the fair
Adonis, 226.
Akiba, Rabbi, believed Bar-Cochaba to
be the Messiah, 433.
Alcmena, mother of Hercules, 124.
Alexander, divides the Paniphylian
Sea, 61 ; believed to be a divine in
carnation, 127; visits the temple of
Jupiter Ammon, 127; and styles him
self "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-fatter, the, of all nations, a personi
fication of the Sky, 478.
Alpha and Omega, Jesus believed to be,
250; Crishna, 250; Buddha, 250; Lao-
Kiun, 2oO; Ormuzd, 251; Zeus, 251;
Bacchus, 251.
Ambrose, St., affirms that the Apostles
made a creed, 385.
[569]
570
INDEX.
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 Pagan
ism, 405.
Ancmda, and the Mataugi Girl, 294.
Andrew's, /St., Cross, of Pagan origin,
339.
Angel Messiah, Buddha an, 110; Crish-
na an, 196; Christ an. 1!)6; the Es-
senes applied the legend of, to Jesus,
442.
Angels, the fallen. 386; believed in by
all nations of antiquity, 380-388.
Animals, none sacrificed in early
times, 182.
Antiquity, the, of Pagan religions,
compared with Christianity, 451.
Apift, 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 per
sonification 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 Flavins 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.
Areas, 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 thfi
"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 be
loved disciple of Crishna, 247.
Ark, the, of Noah, 20; and others, 22-
27.
Armenian, the, tradition of "Confu
sion of Tongues," 35.
ArocLus, son of Jove, 125.
Artemon, denied the divinity of Jesus,
135.
Ascension, of Jesus, 215; of Crishna,
215; of Rama, 210; of Buddha, 216;
of Lao-Kiuu, 216; of Zoroaster; of
JEsculapius, 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 in
habited from, 454, 533.
Asia Minor, the people persecuted in
by orders of Coustantius, 448.
Asita, the holy Kishi, visits Buddha at
his birth, 151.
ASO/M, the council of, 303.
Assyrian D»ve, 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 be
fore the time of Christ Jesus, 181.
INDEX.
071
Atys, the Crucified, 190; is called the
"Only-begotten Son," and "Sa
viour," 190; rose from the dead, 223.
Augustine, <SV. , saw men and women
without heads, 437.
Aurora pinciila, made into St. Aura
and St. Placida, 399.
Avatar, Jesus considered an, lit : a star
at birth of every, 1 13, 479: an "Angel-
Messiah," a "Christ," 19(5; an, ex
pected about every 600 years, 420.
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 "I he
Gate of G'»d," 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.
Barab, the Son, in the Mexican Trinity,
378.
Bacchus, performed miracles, 50; pass
ed through the Red Sea dry-shod, 51 :
divided the waters of the rivers
Orontes and [lydtispus, 51; drew
water from a rock. 51 ; was a law
giver, 52; the son of Jupiter, 121;
was born in a cave, 156; torn to
pieces. 193, 209; was called the " Sa
viour," 190; "Only-begotten Sou,"
193; "Redeemer." 193; the sun dark
ened at his deal!), 208; ascended into
heaven, 208; rose from the dead, 228;
a personification of the sun, 492.
Baya, the, of the cuneiform inscrip
tions a name of the Supreme Being,
391 ; is in English associated with an
nglv fiend, 391.
Balaam, his ass speaks, 91; parallels to
in Egypt, Chaldea and Greece, 91.
Bakt-rama, the brother of Crislma, 74;
the Indian Hercules, 74.
Baldur, called " The Good," 129; "The
Beneficent Saviour," 129; Sou of the
Supreme God Odin, 129; is put to
death and rises again, 224; a personi
fication of the sun, 479.
Bambino, the, at Rome is black, 336.
Baptism, a heathen rite adapted by the
Christians, 317; practiced in Mongo
lia and Thibet, 317; by the Brah
mins, 317; by the followers of Zoro
aster. 318; administered in the Mith-
raic mysteries, 319 ; performed by
the ancient Egyptians, 319.
Bapttsmat fonts, used by the Pagans,
406.
Bar-Cochba, the "Son of a Star," 144;
believed to be the Messiah, 432.
Bead* (see Rosary).
Beatitudes, the, the prophet of, 527.
Belitj', or faith, salvation by, existed in
the earliest times. 184.
Belle rophon, a mighty Grecian hero, 75.
Bdus, the tower of, 34.
Benares, the Hindoo Jerusalem, 296.
Berosus, on the tlood, 22.
Bible, the Egyptian, the oldest in the
world, 24.
Birth, the Miraculous, of Jesus, 111;
Crislma, 113; Buddha, 115; Codom,
118; Fun-he, 119; Lao-Kiun, 120;
Yu, Hau-Ki, 120; Confucius, 121;
Horns, 122 ; Zoroaster, 123 ; and
others, 123-131.
Jiirth-dai/, the, of the gods, on Decem
ber 25th, 304.
liirth-itiiire. the, of Christ Jesus, in a
cave, 154; the, of other saviours, in
a cave, 155-158.
Black Uod, the, crucified, 201,
Black Mother, the, and child, 336.
B'tcliia, of the Persians, performed mir
acles, 256.
Bochica. a god of the Muyscas, 130.
Bodhisatica, a name of Buddha, 115.
Books, aacred, among heathen nations,
61.
Brahma, the first person in Hindoo
Trinity, 369.
Brahmins, the, perform the rite of bap
tism, 317.
Bread and Wine, a sacrifice with, cele
brated by the Grand Lama of Thibet.
300; by the Essenes, 306; by Mel-
chizedek, 307; by those who were
initiated into the mysteries of Mith
ras, 307.
Blind Man, cured by Jesus, 268; by
the Emperor Vespasian at Alexan
dria, 268.
Brechin, the fire tower of, 199; a cruci
fix cut upon, 19&
672
INDEX.
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, 103; a danger
ous child, 168; tempted by the devil,
176; fasted, 17G; died and rose again
to life, 216; ascended into heaven,
216; compared with Jesus, 289.
Buddhism, the established religion of
Burmuh, Siam, Laos, Pegu, Cambo
dia, Thibet, Japan, Tartary, Ceylon,
and Loo-Choo, 297.
Buddhist religion, the, compared with
Christianity, o02.
Buddhists, the monastic system among,
401.
Butt, 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.
CcBsar (Augustus), was believed to be
divine, 126.
Ccesar (Julius), was likened to the di
vine, 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 es
tate, 199.
Catholic rites and ceremonies are imita
tions of those of the Pagans, 384.
Catholic theory, the, of the fall of the
angels, 386.
Caw, Jesus born in a, 154 ; Ciishna
born in a, 150 ; 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
bun, 480.
Champlain period, the, 28.
Chandragupta, a dangerous child, 171.
Chastity, among Mexican priests, 404.
Charlemagne, the Messiah of medieval
Teutoudom, 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 Sa
tan 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 "Fes
tivals of gratitude to Tien," 392;
have monasteries for priests, friars
and nuns, 401; identified with the
American race, 539.
Cholula, the tower of, 36.
Chrest, the, 568.
Christ (Buddha), compared with Je
sus, 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 de
scent, 160; is tempted by the devil,
175; fasts for forty days, 175; is put
to death, 181; no early representa
tions of, on the cross. 201 ; descends
into hell, 211 ; rises from the dead, 215;
INDEX.
073
ascends into heaven, 215; will come
again, 233; will be judge of the dead,
245; as creator, 240; performs mira
cles, 253; compared with Crishna,
278; compared with Buddha, 289;
his birth day not known, 859; a per
sonification of the Sun, 498; not
identical with the historical Jesus,
500
Christian, the name, originated by Hea
thens, 567, note 3.
Christianity, identical with Paganism,
384; why il prospered, 419.
Christians, the disciples first called, at
Ant inch, 5(!7; the worshipers of Se-
rapis 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, con
sidered divine, 126.
Cobra, the, or hooded snake, held sa
cred in India, 199.
Codom, the Siamese Virgin-born Sav
iour, 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 Salivahaua,
119; of Fuh-he, 119; of Fo hi, 119;
of Xaca, 119; of Lao-kiun, 120; of
Yu, 120; of Hau-ki, 120; of Confu
cius, 121; of Horus, 122; of Raam-
ses, 123; of Zoroaster, 123; of Her
cules, 124; of Bacchus, 125; of Per
seus, 125; of Mercury, 126; Apollo,
126; of Quetzalcoatle, 129.
Confession, the, of sins, of Pagan ori
gin, 403.
Confirmation, the, of children, of Pa
gan origin, 819.
Confucius, was of supernatural origin,
121; had seventy-two disciples, 121;
author of the "Golden Rule," 415.
Confusion of Tongues, the " Scripture"
account of, 3'J; the Armenian tradi
tion, 35; the Hindoo legend of, 35;
the Mexican legend of, 36.
Constants nc (Saint), the first Roman
emperor to check free thought, 444;
accept^ the Christian faith, 444;
commits murders, 444; baptized on
his death-bed, 445; the first Roman
emperor who embraced the Christian
faith, 440; his edicts against heretics,
440; his effigies engraved on Roman
coins, 440; conferred dignities on the
Christians, 440.
Coronix, the mot her of ^Esculapius, 128;
impregnated by a god, 128.
Creation, the, Hebrew legend of, 1;
two different and contradictory ac
counts 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;
Crishua, according to the Hindoos,
247; Lauther, according to the Chi
nese, 248; lao, according to the Chal
deans, 248; Ormuzd, according to
the Persians, 249; Narduk, accord
ing to the Assyrians, 249; Adonis
and Prometheus believed to be, 249.
Creed, the Apostles', 385; compared
with the Pagan, 385; not known be
fore the fourth century, 385; addi
tions to since A. D. 600, 385.
Crescent, the, an emblem of the female
generative principle, 328.
Creslos, 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 per
sonification of the sun, 483.
Cross, the, used as a religious symbol
before the Christian era, 338; adored
574
INDEX.
in India, 340; adored by the Budd
hists of Thibet, 340; found on Egyp
tian monuments, 342; found under
the temple of Serapis, 342; univer
sally adored before the Christian era,
339-347.
Crucifixes, the earliest Christian, de
scribed, 203-205.
Crucifixion, the, of Jesus, 180; of " Sa
viours " before the Christian era, 181-
193; of all the gods, explained, 484,
485.
Crux Ansata, the, of Egypt, 341.
Cuneiform Inscriptions, the, of Babylo
nians, 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 Hypa-
tia, 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 morn
ing, 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 Adi-
ti, 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; par
allels to, 20-30.
Demi-gods, the, of antiquity not real
personages, 467.
Demons, cast out, by Jews and Gen
tiles, 269.
Denis, St., is Dionysus, 399.
Deo Soli, pictures of the Virgin in
scribed 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 incantation, the idea of redemp
tion 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 em
perors, 125.
Docetes, Asiatic Christians who in
vented 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 Gene
sis, 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 Hin
doos, 82.
Dyaus, the Heavenly Father, 478; a
personification of the sky, 478.
E
East, turning to in worship, practiced
by Christians, 503.
Easier, origin of, 226; observed in Chi
na, 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
INDEX.
575
Eclectics, the Essenes called, 424.
Eclipse, an, of the Sun. occurred at the
death of Jesus, 200; of Romulus,
207; of Julius Caesar 207; of 2E&c\\-
lapius, 208; of Hercules, 208; of
Quiriiiius, 208.
Edda, the, of the Scandinavians speaks
of the " Golden" Age, 15; describes
the deluge, 27.
Mf/ypt, legend of the Deluge not known
in, 23; the Exodus from, 48; cir
cumcision practiced in, 85; virgin-
born gods worshiped in, 122; kings
of considered gods, 123; Virgin Mo
ther worshiped in, 329, 330 ; the cross
adored in, 341.
Egyptian faith, hardly uu idea in the
Christian system which has not its
analogy in the, 414.
Egyptian, kitty.? 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, So;
were great astrologers, 142; were fa
miliar 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 Amer
ica, 537.
Eleusiman, the, Mysteries, 310.
Elevsis, the ceremonies at, 310.
Elijah ascends to heaven, 90; its par
allel, 90.
Elohistic, the, narrative of the Creation
and Deluge differs from the Jehovis-
tic, 93.
Elysium, the, of the Greeks, 11; mean
ing of, 101.
Emperors, the, of Rome considered di
vine, 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 bless
ings of their gods, 492.
Esdras, the apocryphal book of, 95.
Essenes, the, and the Therapeute 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, 3;JO.
Etnixcanx, the, had a legend of crea
tion siniihir to Hebrew, 75 ; per
formed the rite of baptism, ;!20; wor
shiped ;i " Virgin Mother," ;;:!().
Eucharist, the, or Lord's Supper, 305;
instituted before the Christian era,
305; performed by various ancient
nations, 305-312.
Eiulcs, the, of California, worshiped a
mediating deity, 131.
Eusebius, speaks of the Ebionites, 134;
of Easter, 220; of Simon Magus, 205;
of Menander the " Wonder Work
er," 200; of an "ancient custom"
among the Christians, 310; the birth
of .Jesus, 301 ; culls the Essenes Chris
tians, 422.
Eve, the first woman, 3.
Ecil, origin of, 4.
Exorcism, practiced by the Jews before
the time of Jesus, 208.
Explanation, the, of the Universal My
thos, 400.
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, 7-10; hardly allu
ded to outside of Genesis, 99; allego
rical meaning of, 101.
Fall of (he Angels, the, 386.
Fasting, for forty days, a common oc
currence, 179 ; at certain periods,
practiced by the ancients, 177, 392.
Fatlier, Son and Holy Ghost, the, of Pa
gan origin, 309.
Females, the, of the Orinoco tribes,
fasted forty days before marriage,
179;
Festivals, held by the Hindoos, the Chi
nese, the Egyptians, and others, 392.
Fifty, Jesus said to have lived to the
age of, 515.
576
INDEX.
Fig-tree, the, sacred, 13.
Fijians, the, practiced circumcision, 86.
Fire, worshiped by the Mexicans and
Peruvians, 532.
Fire Tower, the, of Brechin, 199.
Firmicim (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, 1 1 (.-brew legend of, 19; par
allels to, 22-27.
Flower, Jesus called a, 487.
Fo-hi, of China, born of a Virgin, 119.
Forty, a sacred number, 179
Fraud, pi-act iced by the early Chris
tians, 434.
Frey, the deity of the Sun, 488; killed
at the time of the winter solstice, 488.
Freyga, the goddess, of the Scandina
vians, transformed into the Virgin
Mary, 399; a personification of the
earth. 479.
Friday, fish day, why, 354.
Frigga (see Freyga).
Fuli-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 in
surgent 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.
Ganexa, the Indian God of Wisdom,
117.
Ganges, the, a sacred river, 318.
Garden, the, of Eden, 2; of the Hes-
perides, 11; identical, 11; hardly
alluded to outside of Genesis, 99.
Gaul, the worship of the Virgo-Pari-
tura in, 334.
Gautama, a name of Buddha, 297.
Geetas, the, antiquity of, 451.
Genealogy, the, of Jesus, 160; of
Crishoa, 163; of Buddha, 163; of
Rama, 163; of Fo-hi, 163; of Confu
cius, 163; of Horus, 163; of Hercules,
103; 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
Ilertha, 334-477.
Germany, the practice of baptism
found in, by Boniface, 322.
Ghost, the Holy, impregnates the Vir
gin Mary, 111 ; and the Virgin Maya,
111; is one with the Father and the
Son, 368; is symbolized by the Dove
among Heathen and Christian na
tions, 357.
Giants, fossil remains of animals sup
posed 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 Jesua
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;
INDEX.
577
full of interpolations and errors,
454.
Greece, the gods and goddesses of, per
sonifications of natural objects, 467.
Greeks, the ancient, boasted of their
"Golden Age," 10; had a tradition
of the " Isl nds of the Blessed," and
the " Garden of the Hesperides," 11;
bad records of a Deluge, 20; consid
ered that the births of great men
were announced by celestial signs,
207; had the rile of baptism, 320;
worshiped the virgin mother, and
child, 342; adored the cross, 344;
celebrated the birth of their gods oil
December 25th, 364; worshiped a
trinity, 374.
" Grove," the. of the Old Testament, is
the " Ashera " of the Pagans, 47.
Grater (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.
Han-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, com
mences with the Exodus, 52-55.
Hebrews, the gospel of the, 455.
Hell, Christ Jesus descended into, 211;
Crishna descended into, 213; Zoro
aster 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 begot
ten," 193; is put to death, 485; is
comforted by lole, 493.
Heretic*, the first, 134; denied the cru
cifixion of "the Christ," 511; denied
that "the Christ "ever came in the
flesh, 512.
Heri, means " Saviour," 112; Crishna
so called, 112.
Hen ties, or Mercury, the son of Jupiter
and a mortal mother, 125; is born in
a cave, 156; was called the " Sav
iour," 195; the " Logos" and "Mes
senger of God," 195.
Herod, orders all the children in Beth
lehem to be slain, 160; 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.
Ilesione, 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 fabu
lous, 466.
Holy Ghost, the, impregnates the Vir
gin Mary, 111 ; and the Virgin Maya,
It?; 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.
Homa, or Haorna, a god of the Hin-
578
INDEX.
doos, called the "Benefactor of the
World," 306.
Eorus, 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
bora on December 25th, 363; a per
sonification of the sun, 476; cruci
fied in the heavens, 484.
Hydaspus, the river, divided by Bac
chus, 51.
Hypalia, put to death by a Christian
mob, 440.
lamos, left to die among the bushes
and violets, 170; received from Zeus
the gift of prophecy, 171.
Jao, a name sacred in Egypt, 49; prob
ably 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 Chris
tians, 397.
/. 1L &, formerly a monogram of the
god Bacchus, and now the mono
gram of Christ Jesus, 351.
Images, the worship of, among Chris
tians. 397.
Immaculate Conception, the, of Jesus,
111; Crishua, 113; Buddha, 115; Co-
dom, 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 in
fants of Bethlehem from, 166; the
crucified god in, 186; the Trinity in,
370; our religion and nursery tales
from, 544.
Indiana, the, no strangers to the doc
trine of original sin, 189; they be
lieve 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 Crish-
na, 484; a personification of the sun,
484.
Infant Baptism, practiced by the Per.
sians, 318; by the Etruscans, 320;
by the Greeks and Romans, 321; by
the Scandinavians, 321 ; by the New
Zealamlers, 322; by the Mexicans,
322; by the Christians, 323; all iden
tical, 323.
Innocents, the, slain at the time of
birth of Jesus, 165; at the birth of
Crishna, 166; at the birth of Abra
ham, 169.
Inscription*, formerly in Pagan tem
ples, and inscriptions in Christian
churches compared, 397.
Incense, burned before idols or images
in Pagan temples, 406.
lona, or Yoni, an emblem of the fe
male generative powers, 199.
Idnah, or Juna, suspended in space.
486.
Irenceux, 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 Abra
ham, 38; parallels to, 39-41.
Isis, mother of llorus, 122; a virgiju
mother, 327; represented on Egyp
tian monuments with an infant it
her arms, 327; she is styled " Oui
Lady," ' ' Queen of Heaven," "Moth-
er 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 Hea
then, 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 cru
cified Sun, 484.
Izdubar, the Lion-killer of the Babylo
nians, 74 ; the foundation for the
Samson and the Hercules myths, 105;
the cuneiform inscriptions speak of,
105.
INDEX.
679
J.
Jacob, his vision of the ladder, 43; ex
plained, 42, 104.
Janus, the keys of, transferred to Pe
ter, 399.
Japanese, the American race descended
from the same stock as the, 538.
Jason, a dangerous child, 171; brought
up by Cheiron, 171 ; the .-ame name
as Jesus, 196.
Jehotali, the name, esteemed sncred
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 find
ing, 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, 600 ; no clearly defined
traces of, in history, 517; his person
indistinct, 517; assumed the charac
ter of " Messiah," 520 ; a native of
Galilee, 520; a zealot, 522; is put to
death by the Romans, 522; not cru
cified by the Jews, 524; the martyr
dom of, has been gratefully acknowl
edged, 527; nothing original in the
teachings of, 529.
Jews, the, where their history begins,
54; driven out of Egypt, 52; wor
shiped Baal and Moloch, 108; their
religion the same us other nations,
108 ; did not crucify Jesus, 524.
John, the same name as Jonah, 83; the
gospel according to, 457 ; Irenaeus
the author of, 458,
John the Baptist, his birth-day is on the
day of the Stimner Solstice, 499.
Jonah, swallowed by a big fish, 77; pa
rallels to, 78, 79; the meaning of, 79;
the Sun called, 80 ; identified with
Dagon and Cannes, 82, 88; the same
as John, 84; the myth of, explained,
105.
Jordan, the river, considered sacred,
818.
Joscphus, 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.
Jadea, the Virgin of, 111; a counter
part to, found by the first Christian
missionaries in China, 119.
Judaism, its doctrine and precepts, by
I. M. Wise, referred to, 527.
Judge of t/ie Dead, Jesus, 244; Sons of
God, 244; Buddha, 244; Crishua,
245; Osiris, 245; ^eacus, 245; no ex
amples of Jesus as, in earlj Christian
art, 246.
Julius Ccesar (see Ca3sar).
Juno, the "Queen of Heaven," 333;
was represented standing on the cres
cent moon, 333 ; considered the pro
tectress of woman, 333; often repre
sented with a dove on her head, 857;
suspended in space, 486.
Jupiter, the Supreme God of the Pa
gans, 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.
Kansa, 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.
Knichalian, the Supreme God of the
Mayas of Yucatan, 130.
Kings, the, of Egypt considered divine,
122.
Kronos, the myth of, explained, 659.
Kung-foo-tsze (see Confucius). _
Labarum, the, of Constantine, in
scribed with the monogram of
Osiris, 860.
530
INDEX.
Ladder, the, of Jacob, 42; explained,
42-47.
Lama, the, of Thibet, considered di
vine, 118; the high priest of the Tar
tars, 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.
Lantliu, born of a pure spotless Vir
gin, 248; the creator of the world,
248.
Lao-Kiun, born of a Virgin, 120; be
lieved 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-gicer, 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 inio 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;
Apoilo 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 s y the
Jews, 109.
Magic, Jesus learned, in Egypt, 272.
Magician, Jesus accused of being a,
273.
Mahabharata, the, quotations from,
415-417.
Malwmet, 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.
Man co Capac, a god of the Peruvians,
130.
Manes, believed himself to be the
"Christ," 429; the word, has the
meaning of "Comforter" or "Sav
iour," 429.
Manetho, an Egyptian priest, gives an
account of the sojourn of the Israel
ites in Egypt, 53.
MamcJieans, 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 sol
emnized on, 225, 495; celebrated
throughout the ancient world in
honor of the " Mother of God," 335;
appointed to the honor of the Chris-
tain 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.
May, the month of, dedicated to the
INDEX.
581
Heathen Virgin tf others, 335; is now
the mouth of Maty, 335.
Maya, the same name as Mary, 332.
Mayux, the, of Yucatan, worship a
Virgin-born god, 130.
May-pole, the, of moderns, is the "Ash-
era " of the ancients, 47: an emblem
of the male organ of generation, 47;
the Linga of the Hindoos, 4T.
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 Right
eousness, brougnt out bread and wine
as a sign or symbol of worship, 307.
Menander, called the 'Wonder Work
er," performed miracles, 266; be
lieved himself to be uie 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 Sou of Jupiter and a mor
tal mother, 125; called "God's Mes
senger," 1(J5.
Meru (Mount), the Hindoo Paradise,
out of which went four rivers, 13.
Mexifiafis, many, before the time of Je
sus, 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.
Mexican*, the, had their semi-fish gods,
83; practiced circumcision, 86; com
pared 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 Algonquius, 131.
Michael, the angel, the story of, bor
rowed from Chaldean sources, 109;
fought with his angels against the
dragon, 386.
Miletus, the crucified god of, 191.
Millennium, doctrine of the, 239.
Minon, 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 Zoro
aster, 256; Bochia, 256; Horns, 256;
Osiris, 256; Serapis, 257; Marduk,
257; Bacchus, 257; JSsculapius, 257;
Apollouius, 261; Simon M;igus, 264;
Meuauder, 266; Vespasian, 268.
Miraculous Conception, the, of, Jesus,
111; parallels to, 112-131.
Mithras, a "Mediator between God and
Man,' 1:.'4; called the "Saviour,"
and the "Logos," 194; is put to
death, and rises again to life, 223; a
personification of the Sun, 507.
M«)iammed (see Mahomet).
Molech, the god, worshiped by the Hea
then nations, and the children of Is
rael. 108.
Monad, a, in the Egyptian Trinity, 373.
Monasteries, among Heathen nations,
400.
Monasticism, a vast and powerful insti
tution in Buddhist countries, 403.
Monks, wTere 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 an
cient nations, and called the " Queen
of Heaven," 478.
Moral Sentiments, the, of the New Tes
tament, 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.
MotJier 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.
582
INDEX.
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.
My t hos, the universal, 505.
N.
Nganu, the Africans of Lake, had a
similar story to the "Confusion of
Tongues," 36.
Nakxkatia», 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 Crishiia's stars, 143.
Nazarenen, the, saw in Jesus nothing
more than a mere man, 130.
Nebuchadonazar, repaired the tower of
Babel, 35.
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 per
sonification 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; anathemat
ized 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.
Ninexah, 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.
Nixan, the angel, borrowed from the
Chaldeans, 109.
Noah, the ark of, 119
Nod, Christmas in French called, 365.
Nut, a personification of Heaven, 477.
Nuter Nutra, the, of the Egyptians,
corresponds to the Hebrew El-
Shaddai, 49.
O.
Oa/tue*, Chaldean fish-god, 82; the
same as Jonah, 83.
Odin, the Supreme God of the Scan
dinavians, 479; a personification of
the Heavens, 479.
(Edipiix, 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 Antigona, 493; a personification
of the Sun, 493.
Offering* (Votive) made to the Heathen
deities, 259.
Olympus, the. of the Pagans, restored,
398.
0. M., or A. U. M. , a sacred name
among the Hindoos, 372; an emblem
of the Trinity, 352.
Omphale, the amours of Hercules with,
7JL
One, the myths of the crucified gods
melt into, 492.
One God, worshiped by the ancestors of
our race, 384.
Only begotten Sons, 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.
Orif/en, 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 stran
gers to, 189.
Ormuzd, the Supreme God of the Per
sians, 7; divided the work of crea
tion into six parts, 7.
Orontes, the river, divided by Bacchus,
51.
Osiris, confined in a chest and thrown
into the Nile, 90; a Virgin-born
INDEX.
583
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.
Oudfl, the crucified God Bal-li wor
shiped at, 188.
Ovid, describes the doctrine of Me
tempsychosis, 43.
P.
Pagan Religion, the, adopted by the
Christians, 384; was typical of Chris
tianity, 501.
Pan, had a flute of seven pipes, 31.
Pandora, the first woman, in Grecian
mythology, 10.
Pantheon, the, a niche always ready
in, of the ancients, for a new divin
ity, 123.
Paraclete, Simon Magus claimed to be
the, 164.
Paradise, all nations believed in a, 389,
390.
P<irsees, the, direct descendants of the
Persians, 25; say that man was once
destroyed by a deluge, 25.
Parnassus, Mount, the ark of Deuca
lion rested on, 26.
Parthenon, the, at Atheas, 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, unhis-
torical, 54.
Paul, St., a minister of the Gospel
wrhich 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, 16).
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 heuveu,
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 set
ting up a pillar alludes to, 46; prac
ticed 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.
Pani;)hylian Sea, the, divided by Alex
ander, 55.
Pharaoh, his dreams, 88; parallel to,
89.
Phenician deity, the principal, was El,
484.
Pliilo, considered the fictions of Gene
sis allegories, 100; says nothing about
Jesus, or the Christians, 5(54.
Philosophers, the, of ancient Greece,
called Christians, 409.
Philosophy, the Christian religion called
a, 567.
Phcedrus, the river, dried up by Isis, 55.
Phoenicians, the, offered the fairest of
their children to the gods, 41.
Phoenix, 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 Je
sus, 355-504.
Plato, believed to have been the son of
a pure virgin, 127.
Platonists, the, believed in a Trinity,
375.
584
INDEX.
Pole, or Pillar, a, worshiped by the an
cients, 46, 47.
Polynesian Mythology, in, a fish is em
blematic of the earth, 80.
Pontius Pilate (see Pilate).
Poo-ta-la, the name of a Buddhist mo
nasteiy 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, Peco d' Adama, ^3.
Poms, the troops of, carried on their
standards ihe figure of a man, 198.
Prayers, for the dead, made by Budd
hist priests, 401.
Priests, the Buddhist, have fasting,
prayers for the dead, holy water, ro
saries 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 mate, the, offered himself a
sacrifice for the gods, 181.
Prithim, the Earth worshiped under
the name of, by the Hindoos, 477.
Prometheus, a deity who united the di
vine and human nature in one per
son, 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 ^Ethlius, 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 de
scribing, 44.
PyrrJia, 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 impreg
nated 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.
Ed, the Egyptian God, born from the
side of his mothe., 122.
Roam-sees, king of Egypt, 123; means
"Son of the Sun," 123.
Rabbis, the, taught the allegorical in
terpretation of Scripture, 100; per
formed 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 despe
rate 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, 003, 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 Christ
mas 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, ex
plained, 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.
INDEX.
585
Resurrection, the, of Jesus, 215; paral
lels to, 216, 226.
Rhea-Sylria, 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 recon
secrated to " the Mother of God and
all the Saints, "396.
Romulus, son of the Virgin Rhea-Syl-
via, 126; railed Quirinius, 126; a
damrerotis child, 172; put to death,
208; 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.
Rosi-crucia-ns, the, jewel of, a crucified
rose, 487.
Rujfinus, 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 Rooks, 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.
Saktidtva, swallowed by a fish and
came out unhurt, 77
Sakya-Muni, a name of Buddha, 300.
Sahvahana, 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, ex
isted among the Hindoos, 184.
Sammael, the proper name of Satan ac
cording to the Talmud, 386.
SamotJtraciaii mysteries, in the. Heav
en and Earth were worshiped, 479.
Samson, his exploits, 62-66; compared
with Hercules, 66-76; a solar god,
71-73.
Satan, the proper name of, is SammaeJ,
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 leg
end, 24,25.
Scandinavians, the, worshiped a "Be-
nificeut Saviour, "called Baldur, 129;
the heaven of, described, 390; con
secrated 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 Kalewipeog, 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 cruci
fied, 486.
Senators, the Cardinals of Roman Chris
tianity wear the robes once worn by
Romans, 400.
Serapis, the god, worshiped in Alexan
dria 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;
586
INDEX.
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 Trin
ity, 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 Quetzal coatle,
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 Raani-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 femi
nine gender, 134.
Standards, the, of the ancient Romans,
were crosses gilt and beautiful, 845.
Star, the, of Bethlehem, 140; parallels
to, 142-145.
Staurobates, the King by whom Semi-
ramis 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 per
sonification of, 500; universally wor
shiped, 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 be
tween the fourth and the, numerous,
457.
T.
Tacitus, the allusion to Jesus in, a for
gery.
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;
INDEX.
587
worshiped in the temple of the Lord
at Jerusalem, 222.
Tanya-tang a, the "Three in One, and
One in Three," or the Trinity of the
ancient Peruvians, 378.
Too, the "one god" supreme, wor
shiped by Lao-Kiun, the Chinese
sage, 120.
Too tse, the, or "Sect of Reason,"
formed by Lao-Kuin, 120.
Tau, the cross, worshiped by the Egyp
tians, 341.
Temples, all the oldest, were in caves,
286.
Temptation, the, of Jesus, 175; of Budd
ha, 176; of Zoroaster, 177; of Quet-
zalcoatle, 177; meaning of, 482.
Templet, Pagan, changed into Christian
churches, 396, 397.
Ten Commandments, the, of Moses, 50 ;
of Buddha, 59.
Ten, the, Zodiac gods of the Chaldeans,
102.
Tenth, the, Xisuthrus, King of the
Chaldeans, 23; ISoah, patriarch, 23.
Tezeatltpoca, the Supreme God of the
Mexicans, 60.
Testament, the New, written many
years later than generally supposed,
454.
Therapeutm, the, and Essenes the same,
423.
Thor, a Scandinavian god, 75; consid
ered the " Defender" and "Avenger,"
76; the Hercules of the Northern na
tions, 76; the Sun personified, 76;
compared with David, 90, 91; the
son of Odin, 129.
Thoth, the deity itself, speaks and re
veals to his elect among men the will
of God, 60.
Thibet, the religion of, similar to Chris
tianity, 400.
Three, a sacred number among all na
tions of antiquity, 868-378.
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,
Tombs, the, of persons who never lived
in the flesh were to be seen at differ
ent places, 510.
Tower, the, of Babel, 33 ; parallels to,
35-37; story of, borrowed from Chal
dean sources, 102 ; nowhere alluded
to outside of Genesis, 103.
Transmigration, of Souls, the, represent
ed on Egyptian sculptures, 45 ; taught
by all nations of antiquity, 42-45.
Tran&ubstantiation, the Heathen doc
trine of, became a tenet of the Chris
tian faith, 313, 311.
Tree, the, of Knowledge, 2, 3; parallels
to, 3-16; a Phallic tree, 101; Zoroas
ter 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 mys
terious of the Christian church, 368;
adored by the Brahmins of India,
309; 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, Budd
ha, Bacchus, Hercules, Adonis, Osi
ris, 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 Chal
dean sources, 109.
Ushas, the flame-red chariot of, com
pared to the fiery chariot of Elijah,
90.
Utsthata. the island of, 78.
688
INDEX.
V.
Valentine, St., formerly the Scandina
vian 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 my
thology, 468.
Venus, the Dove was sacred to the god
dess, 357.
Vernal equinox, the, festivals held at the
time of, by the nations of antiqnity,
392.
Vespasian, the Miracles of, 268, 269.
Vestal Virgins, the, were bound by a
solemn vow to preserve their chasti
ty for a space of thirty years, 403.
Vicar of God on Earth, the Grand La-
ina 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 Trini
ty, 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 mo
nasteries, 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 Pa
gan 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, 498.
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 Destroy
ing power, 80.
Word, or Logos, the, of John's Gospel,
of Pagan origin, 374.
World, the, destroy by a deluge, when
ever all the planets met in the sign
of Capricorn, 103.
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, 850.
Y.
Tadu, Vishna became incarnate in the
House of, 113.
Too, or Jao, a sacred name, 49.
y<aw-hwuy, the favorite disciples of
Confucius, 121.
Tar, the angel, borrowed from Chal
dean sources, 109.
Yen-she, the mother of Confucius, 121.
T-ha-ho, a name esteemed sacred among
the Egyptians, 48 ; the same as Jeho
vah, 48.
Tezua, the name Jesus is pronounced
in Hebrew, 196.
Toni, the, attached to the head of the
crucified Crishna, 185; symbolized
nature, 496.
Yos&r, the term (Creator) first brought
into use by the prophets of the Cap
tivity, 99.
INDEX.
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.
Zaina, the only-begotten Son of the Su
preme God, according to the Mayas
of Yucatan, 130.
Zarathrustra (see Zoroaster).
Zend-Avesta, the sacred writings of the
Parsees, 7; signifies the "Living
Word ;" 59 ; older than the cuneiform
inscriptions of Cyrus, 452.
Zephyrinu*, the truth corrupted by,
135.
Zeru-akerene, the Supreme God of the
Persians, 245.
Zeru-babel, supposed to be the Messiah,
432.
Zeu-patcr, the Dyans-pitar of Asia, be
came the, of the Greeks, 477.
Zeus, the Supreme God of the Greeks,
477; visited Dauaeiu a golden show
er, 481.
Zome, a supernatural being worshiped
in Brazil, 1UO.
Zoroaster, the Law-giver of the Per
sians, 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, 401,
ROME OR REASON.
A Memoir of Christian and Extra-Christian Experience.
BY NATHANIEL EAMSAY WATERS.
Extra Cloth, 12mo, 352 pp Postpaid, $1.
A VERT critical analysis of both
Protestantism and Catholicism, from
the vantage ground Of an intimate
personal experience with the two sys
tems. The writer, it appears, is de
termined to nothing extenuate nor
set down aught in malice. His anal
ysis of the Protestant principle will
he new to some Protestants, as will
hi< philosophy of Catholicism to
many Catholics. Besides the very
interesting Memoir which is the main
part of the book, it contains notes,
parts of correspondence, and an essay
or two; all partaking of the analytical
and deeply earnest spirit which ap
pears in it from the first. The plan of
the work is strikingly original, itspur-
port is set forth in the tersest and
clearest language, and the manifest
sincerity with which the whole is writ
ten will commend it to readers of
many various shades of opinion. The
work is very argumentative, with
touches of liveliness here and there,
which serve to relieve the general
gravity of its strain. It has the merit
throughout of being free from coarse
ness and jibing ; while it deals the
most trenchant blows which pure
logic is capable of inflicting.
EXTRACTS.
I ASK you, would Absolute Good
ness create witli active poison-work
ing elements for any end? Was
God under compulsion to creute man
so? No: he was fre^yousay, to create
or not to create; but man could not
have been made otherwise compatibly
with free will in the creature. Then
it would seem creation should not
have taken place, or free will should
been left out of the plan rather than
evil accepted for its sake. What nec
essary Moloch is this Free Will, that
is highor than goodness, better than
happiness, and so mysteriously pre
cious that evil must be adopted as a
meaus to secure it, and goodness and
happiness offered a divine sacrifice to
it? This known world of ours so
abounds in mor.nl foulness, as well as
in physical suffering of manifestly
Impeccable beings, such as little in
fants and irrational animals, that it
negatives from the first your anthro
pomorphic theory of Creation and
Providence; which is an apotheosis of
human imperfection.
AN unverifiable hypothesis of a re
formed Providence, which, however
agreeable it may be to the fancy, has
no support in sober reason : If the
rule of Providence in the present life
be one of injustice, there is no reason
to believe that a future life under the
same Providence will be differently
ordered, so as to be just and happy :
and if the order of the present life be
right, there can be no need of a future
life as a scene of reparation. Our
wish to be rid of what is bad and
painful, and secured in what is good
and pleasant, of course does not affect
the argument. The existence of a
wish does not imply that it will ever
be gratified.
THE true philosopher is reverent
and silent in the presence of the In
comprehensible. The green world of
sense and knowledge where he finds
himself placed furnishes employment
to all his faculties. He does not deny
supernal spheres: he only refuses to
make or to bow down to assertions
for which he sees no sufficient found
ation. Here he finds the appropriate
sphere of his activity: of what is be
yond he confesses himself ignorant.
The supernaturalist of course knows
no more of the beyond than he, but
is afflicted with what Socrates called
the worst kind of ignorance: the con
ceit of knowing what one does not
know. Prate as men may, the Mys
tery is there: as deep as ever when
the Bible is opened; as dark as ever
when the Church has lighted her wax
candles.
The Martyrdom of Man
By WIN WOOD READE.
12mo, Extra Cloth, 543 pp. Trice, $1.
CONTENTS :
Under the head of "War, "we have: Egypt,
The Water Harvest, The Sources of the Nile,
Philosophy of Leisure, Agricultural Monog
amy, Inequality of Men, Famine the Mother
of Astronomy, Cruelty the Nurse of Civiliza
tion, Trial of the Dead, the Pointed Tomb,
Children of the Desert, The Horse of War, The
Terrible Sahara, Pharaoh Triumphant, Egyp
tian Country House, The Luxury Question, The
ology Stops the Way, Empire of Ethiopia, The
India Tiade, The Persian Shepherds, The King's
Harem, Origin of Greek Genius, Their Religion,
The City of the Violet Crown, The University of
Egypt, Seraglio Intrigue, Retreat of the Ten
Thousand, Tyranny of Athens, Alexander at
Babylon, Two Faces Under Due' Hat, A Greek
Voltaire, The Purple Trade, Discovery of the
Atlantic, Introduction of the "A, B, C," The
Colonies of Carthage, The Gardens of the Hes-
perides. Home Rule of Rome, The House of
Baal, Silver Spain, The Poor Hated Old Man,
Rpm:>n Bnden Baden, Cato's Little Farm, A
Dissolute Prig, Africa's Place in History, Civ
ilizing War.
Under the head of "Religion": Ghost Wor
ship, Divine Hybrids, Idolatry and Dollatry,
Who Made (Joel ? Nature in the Nnde, The Sheik
Abraham, Moses in Exile, The Delphi of the He
brews, Pope Samuel, A God-intoxicated Man,
A Pioue Brigand, By the Waters of Babylon,
Character of Jehovah, Character Improves,
Origin of the Devil, A Monopolized Deity,
Bright Side of the Character of Jesus, Dark
Side, The Miracle Doctor, The Ghetto, Rome
Sleeping, Heavenly Illusions, Episcopal Saliva,
The Wonderful Well, The Truce of God, Achieve
ments of Mahomet, Negro States, The African
Hut, Dance Ordeal, School, Philosophy of Salt,
Bagdad of the \\V>t, Negroes in Mecca, The
Black Prophet, Turks in Africa.
Under the consideration of "Liberty," he
shows us : The Ancient Germans, The Castle an
Academy, The Serfs, The Monks, The Crusades,
Venice, Arab Spain. The Hill of Tears, Ortho
dox Geography, India, Prester John, Lisbon
Rejoices, Majestic Crime, Slavery in London,
The Methodists, Giants and Pigmies, Thomas
Paine, Cotton, Neck and Neck, W. L. Garrison,
Rebellion of the North, The Lost Cause, Future
of Africa, Future of the Earth, Origin of Man,
Tailed Minds.
In the consideration of "Intellect" he intro
duces : The Children of the Sun, Origin of Life,
History of the Cell, Dawn of Reason, Origin of
Love, The Ghost Religion, Origin of Priests,
Invention of Hell, Musical Conversation, The
Why, The Utility of the .Affections, Breeding
Laws, Death of Sin, Origin of Chastity, Rome
and China, The Buddhists, The Age of 'the Ro
sary, War in the Future, The Expedient of Re
ligion, Fallacies of the Commune, American
Prosperity, Inventions of the Future, Theory of
the Soul, Duties of a Creator, The Theory Ex
ploded, Should the Truth be Told ? Christianity
Exposed, The Catastrophes of Progress, Moral
Value of Hell-Fire, True Sources of Morality,
Spurious Virtues of Theology, The True Relig
ion, The Lust Sacrifice."
EXTRACT:
The good in this world predominates over
the bad ; the good is ever increasing, the bad is
ever diminishing. But, if God is Love, why is
there any bad at all ? Is the world like a novel,
in which the villains are put in to make it more
dramatic, and in which virtue only triumphs in
the third volume? It is certain that the feel
ings of the created have in no way been consid
ered. If, indeed, there were a judgment-day,
it would be for m:in to appear at the oar, not as
a criminal, but as an accuser. What has he
done that nj should be i-ubjectedto a life of tor
ture and temptation ? God might have made
us all happy, and he has made u< miserable. Is
that benevolence? God might ha- e made us
all pur.-, and he has made us all sinful. Is that
the perfection of morality ? Ii I believed im
this man-created God, in this divine Nebuchad
nezzar, I would say, You can make me live in
your world, O Creator, but you cannot make
me admire it ; you can load me with chains,
but you cannot make me Hatter you; you can
send me to hell-fire, but you cannot obtain my
esteem. And it you condemn me, you condemn
yourself. It I have committed sins, you in
vented them, which is worse. If the watch you
have made does not go well, whose fault is
that ? Is it rational to damn the wheels and the
wrings?
PRESS NOTICES:
It IP really a remarkable book, in which uni
versal history is " boiled down" with surprising
skill. . . The boldest, and, «o far as histor
ical argument goes, one oi the ablest, assaults
ever made upon Christianity. — [Literary World.
His history has a continuity, a rush, a carry
ing power, which remind us strikingly of Gib
bon. — [New Haven Palladium.
The sketch of early Egyptian history, in the
first chapter, is a masterpiece of historical wri
ting. He has a style that reminds us of Macau-
lay.— [Penn Monthly.
You turn over his pages with a fascination
similar to that experienced in reading Washing
ton Irving. — [Inter-Ocean.
To readers who are attracted by the Darwin
ian literature, this book, with its quaint declara
tion that "Life is bottled sunshine," may also
be recommended. — [Pittsburgh Eve. Chronicle.
Whoever would be jostled into attention, and
led into unwonted channels of thought, will find
this volume full of interest and often of delight.
—[New Covenant.
THEOLOGY AND MYTHOLOGY.
An Inquiry into the Claims of Biblical Inspiration
and the Supernatural Element in Religion.
BY ALFRED H. O'DONOGHUE,
Counselor at Law, formerly of Trinity College, Dublin.
fcrtra Cloth, 12uio., 194 pp. .... Price, $1.00
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
An able and thorough treatment of the subject, remarkable for its
candor, earnestness, and freedom from partisan bias. — Critical Review.
As a man of liberal education and wide reading, and one who thor
oughly understands himself, and is actuated by an earnest desire to
find the right, he deserves a hearing. — American Bookseller.
It has the brilliancy and felicity of many other Irish writings.
The author was educated in the Episcopal church, and his dedica
tion of his ability to free thought and speech will be widely appre
ciated. — Commonwealth (Boston).
The author is evidently well-read in the authorities pro and con,
has a clear mental view of the case as it is, handles all the evidence
as he would in a case at law, and expresses his opinions and convic
tions in a fearless manner. He treats the whole subject in a purely
rationalistic manner — lust as all subjects that interest the human
race ought to be treated. — St. Louis Republican.
The book can be read by intelligent religionists without prejudice.
There is no harm in understanding what the liberal mind is thinking
about, and if mythology has anything to do with theology we should
know it.— Kansas City Journal.
EXTRACTS.
"While at the Dublin University, with the intention, at the proper
time, of entering the Divinity School, my mind underwent a great
change, both as to the so-called truths of Revelation and the sincerity
of belief held in those assumed truths by over three-fourths of the or
dained and educated preachers of the gospel with whom I came in con
tact. . . 1 seek to eliminate the fictitious in Christianity as now taught."
" The doctrines that Jesus taught — the brotherhood of man and the
condemnation of priestcraft— entitle him forever to the admiration and
gratitude of his race . . . Jesus, like all great reformers, was himself
in advance of the conscience, as well as the intelligence, of his age, but
in order to render his mission at all successful, he was compelled to
deal gently with the superstitions of his time . Probably he was not
himself altogether divested of them."
"'The pale Galilean has conquered;' but it has only been by
passing under the yoke of the conqueror, and assuming the ban
ners, the emblems, and the passwords of the enemy. It is a conquest
in which genuine Christianity has disappeared, or skulks behind altars,
pillars, paintings, and music. Christianity as taught and understood
by Jesus and his followers has ceased to exist for sixteen hundred
years. Even the infant Church was driven to abandon the Commun
istic idea that distinguished the first few years of its existence. In mod
ern Christianity hardly a trace of the religion of Jesus is discernible.
It Jesus and his true life were taken from Christianity, it is doubtful if
it would excite notice, or, if noticed, cause regret, comment, or surprise."
Tge F«5 Invajioii of Inland in 1798,
LEAVES OF UNWRITTEN HISTORY
THAT TELL OF AN HEROIC ENDEAVOR AND A LOST OPPORTUNITY TO THROW
OFF ENGLAND'S YOKE.
BY VALERIAN GRIBAYEDOFF.
WITH A MAP AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY WELL-
KNOWN ARTISTS. AUTHORITIES AND INDEX.
Handsomely Printed on Heavy Paper; Good Margins, Large Type, Widely Spaced ?
and Bound in Silk Cloth, Ink and Gold Side and Back Stamps.
14 full-page and 10 smaller Illustrations.
CLOTH, I2mo, $1.50
An instructive book. Pains and care and labor have gone to the
making of it, and the result is a series of pictures distinct in themselves
and not to be had elsewhere collectively. The illustrations are superior
in execution ; the portraits are really first rate.— N. Y. Sun (Ev. Ed.).
It is only occasionally that one finds an artist laying aside brush,
pencil or etching needle to devote his spare hours to any literary pur
suit, and when he does so his theme rarely departs from the realms of
art and aestheticism. Valerian Gribayedoff is an exception, for he has
thrown the ideal to winds and bent his energies on the production of a
book which bristles with hard, historical facts. Many passages in the
book are worthy of quotation, both for the ideas they convey and their
literary style. — JV. 1. Morning Journal.
Few persons nowadays, not even excepting the majority of students
of history, are aware that ninety-two years ago the Irish question
came far nearer reaching its solution than at any other time since the
treaty of Limerick. To prove this assertion, Valerian Gribayedoff,
artist and writer, has devoted much labor and research, the result being
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King Mammon and the Heir Apparent.
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"YE CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MAMMON."
S AND OTHER OPINIONS.
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The attempt is to show that the cross, as a religious emblem, is much older
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HISTORY OF RELIGIONS.
BEING
A Condensed Statement of the Results of
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MOSES OR DARWIN?
A SCHOOL PROBLEM
FOR
ALL FRIENDS OF TRUTH
AND PROGRESS
BY
ARNOLD DODEL, PH.D.,
PROFESSOR OF BOTANY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND ;
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL MICROSCOPIC SOCIETY OF
LONDON, ENGLAND ; VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE FREE
THINKERS' UNION OF GERMANY; ETC., ETC.
Author of Dodrl' s ' ' Anatomic-Physiological Atlas of Botany for High-
Schools and Colleges;" " lllustrirtes Pflanzenleben ; " and
other Scientific Works,
The Truth-Seeker z's the only God-Seeker. — M. J. SAVAGK,
TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION, WITH
PREFACE FOR THE AMERICAN EDITION,
AND
A DISQUISITION ON SCHOOL REFORM IN THE
WEST.
FREDERICK W. DODEL.
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THE
KEIGN OF THE STOICS.
BY FREDERIC MAY HOLLAND.
Mead the philosophers, and learn how to make life happy,
seeking useful precepts and brave arid noble words which may
become deeds. — SENECA.
With Citations of Authorities Quoted from on Each
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Extra Cloth, 12mo, 248 pp., $1.25.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE.
I HISTORY 11
IL RELIGION 57
III. MAXIMS OF SELF-CONTROL 83
IV. MAXIMS OF SELF-CULTURE 133
V. MAXIMS OF BENEVOLENCE 151
VI. MAXIMS OF JUSTICE 183
VII. PHILOSOPHY.. ..195
BL 27
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John W. Graham
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Toronto
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