CONCLUSION 508
APPENDIX 531
LIST
OF
AUTHORS AND BOOKS QUOTED
IN THIS WORK.
ABBOT (LYMAN). A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge, for Popular and
Professional Use; comprising full information on Biblical, Theological,
and Ecclesiastical Subjects. Edited by Rev. Lyman Abbott, assisted by
Rev. T. J. Conant, D. D. New York: Harper & Bros., 1880.
ACOSTA (REV. JOSEPH DE). The Natural and Moral History of the Indies, by
Father Joseph De Acosta. Translated by Edward Grimston. London: 1604.
ÆSCHYLUS. The Poems of Æschylus. Translated by the Rev. R. Potter, M. A.
New York: Harper & Bros., 1836.
ALLEN (REV. D. O.). India, Ancient and Modern, by David O. Allen, D. D.,
Missionary of the American Board for twenty-five years in India. London:
Trübner & Co., 1856.
AMBERLY (VISCOUNT). An Analysis of Religious Belief, by Viscount
Amberly, from the late London Edition. New York: D. M. Bennett, 1879.
ASIATIC RESEARCHES. Asiatic Researches, or Transactions of the Society
instituted in Bengal, for inquiring in the History and Antiquities, the
Arts, Sciences, and Literature of Asia. London: J. Swain, 1801.
BARING-GOULD (REV. S.). 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 vols. New York: D. Appleton & Co.,
1870.
BARNABAS. The General Epistle of Barnabas, a companion and
fellow-preacher with Paul.
BARNES (ALBERT). Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, by
Rev. Albert Barnes, in 2 vols. New York: Harper & Bros., 1860.
BEAL (SAMUEL). The Romantic Legend of Sâkya Buddha, from the Chinese
Sanscrit (being a translation of the Fo-pen-hing), by Samuel Beal.
London: Trübner & 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, Altars, Oracles, Fasts, Festivals, &c., in 2 vols.
London: J. Bell, 1790.
BHAGAVAT-GEETA. The Bhagavat-Geeta, or Dialogues of Crishna and Arjoon,
in 18 Lectures, with notes. Translated from the original Sanscrit by
Charles Wilkes. London: C. Nourse, 1785.
BLAVATSKY (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.
BONWICK (JAMES). Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, by James Bonwick,
F. R. G. S. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1878.
BRINTON (DANIEL). The Myths of the New World: A Treatise on the
Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America, by Daniel Brinton,
A. M., M. D. New York: L. Holt & Co., 1868.
BRITANNICA (ENCYCLO.). The Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition.
BUCKLEY (T. A.). The Great Cities of the Ancient World, in their Glory
and their Desolation, by Theodore A. Buckley, 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
account of Dwellers in Fairy-land, by John Thackary Bunce. New York: D.
Appleton & Co., 1878.
BUNSEN (ERNEST DE). The Keys of St. Peter, or the House of Rochab,
connected with the History of Symbolism and Idolatry, by Ernest 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
contemporaneous events in the history of Babylonians,
Assyrians, and Egyptians, by Ernest de Bunsen. London:
Longmans, Green & Co., 1874.
CALMET. Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible (Taylor's). London: 1798.
CHADWICK (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' Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge
for the People. American Revised Edition. Philadelphia: J. Lippincott &
Co., 1877.
CHAMPOLLION (M.). Précis du système Hiéroglyphique des Anciens Égyptiens
ou recherches sur les élémens premiers dec ette ecriture sacrée, &c.,
par M. Champollion Le Jeune. Seconde 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., 1855.
CLEMENT. The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians.
COLENSO (REV. 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.
CONSTANTINE (THE EMPEROR). The Emperor Constantine's Oration to the Holy
Congregation of the Clergy. London: Thos. Coates, 1637.
CONWAY (M. D.). The Sacred Anthology: A Book of Ethnical Scriptures,
collated and edited by Moncure D. Conway. London: Trübner & Co., 1874.
CORY. Cory's Ancient Fragments of the Phenician, Carthagenian,
Babylonian, Egyptian, and other Authors. A new and enlarged edition,
carefully revised by E. Richard Hodges, M. C. P. London: Reeves &
Turner, 1876.
COULANGES (F. DE). The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws, and
Institutions of Greece and Rome, by Fustel de Coulanges. Translated from
the latest French Edition by Williard Small. Boston: Lee & Shepherd,
1874.
COX (REV. G. W.). The Myths of the Aryan Nations, by George W. Cox, M.
A., late 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.
DARWIN (CHARLES). Journal of Researches into the Natural History and
Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H. 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
Charles Darwin, M. A. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1876.
DAVIES (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., 1836.
DELITCH (F.). See Keil (C. F.).
DILLAWAY (C. K.). Roman Antiquities and Ancient Mythology, by Charles K.
Dillaway. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1840.
DRAPER (J. W.). History of the Conflict between Religion and Science, by
John W. Draper, M. D. 8th Edit. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1876.
DUNLAP (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. F. Dunlap London: Williams
& Northgate, 1861.
----. Sod, the Son of the Man, by S. F. Dunlap. London:
Williams & 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
Pamphilius, 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
Interpreted by Comparative Mythology, by John Fiske, M. A., LL. B.,
Harvard University. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co., 1877.
FROTHINGHAM (O. B.). The Cradle of the Christ: A Study in Primitive
Christianity, 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.,
in 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1880.
GERBET (L'ABBÉ). The Lily of Israel, or the life of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Mother of God. From the French of the Abbé Gerbet New York: P. J.
Kennedy, 1878.
GIBBON (EDWARD). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, by Edward Gibbon, Esq., in 6 vols. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen
& 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. London: Trübner & Co., 1877.
GINSBURGH (C. D.) The Essenes: Their History and Doctrines; an Essay, by
Charles D. Ginsburgh. London: Longman, Green, Roberts & Green, 1864.
GOLDZHIER (I.). Mythology among the Hebrews, and its Historical
Development, 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 Alterthümer. Mürnburg: 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
Development, by Rev. Joseph B. Gross. Boston; J. P. Jewett & Co., 1856.
GUTZLAFF. 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 the Life of Gautama
Buddha, by R. Spence Hardy, Hon. M. R. A. S. London: Williams &
Northgate, 1866.
----. 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.
----. 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 Hermas, 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.
HIGGINS (GODFREY). The Celtic Druids, by Godfrey Higgins, Esq., F. R.
A. S. 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 vols. London: Longman, Rees, Orne, Brown &
Longman.
HOOYKAAS (I.). See Oort (H.).
HUC (L'ABBÉ). Christianity in China, Tartary and Thibet, by M. L'Abbé
Huc, formerly Missionary Apostolic in China, in 2 vols. London: Longman,
Brown & Co., 1857.
HUMBOLDT (A. DE). 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
Alexander de Humboldt, in 2 vols. (Translated by John Black.)
London: Longman, Hurst & Co., 1822.
HUME (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.
HUXLEY (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
Ephesians.
----. The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians.
----. The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians.
----. The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians.
INFANCY (APOC.). The Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ (Apocryphal).
INMAN (THOMAS). Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism Exposed and
Explained, by Thomas Inman, M. D., Physician to the Royal Infirmary, &c.
London: 1869.
----. Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, or An Attempt
to Trace the Religious Belief, Sacred Rites, and Holy Emblems
of certain Nations, by Thomas Inman, M. D. London: Trübner &
Co., 1872.
----. Ancient Faiths and Modern: A Dissertation upon Worship,
Legends, and Divinities in Central and Western Asia, Europe,
and Elsewhere, before the Christian Era, by Thomas Inman, M.
D. London: Trübner & Co. 1876.
JAMESON. The History of Our Lord as Exemplified in Works of Art;
commenced by the late Mrs. Jameson, continued and completed by Lady
Eastlake, in 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1864.
JENNINGS (H.). The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries. Second
Edit. revised by Hargrave Jennings. London: Catto & Windus, 1879.
JOHNSON (SAMUEL). Oriental Religions, and their Relation to Universal
Religion (India), by Samuel Johnson. Boston: J. R. Osgood, 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 Whiston, 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. Baltimore:
1839.
KEIGHTLEY (T.). The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy, by Thomas
Keightley. New York: D. Appleton & 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.
KING (C. W.). The Gnostics and their Remains, Ancient and Mediæval, by
C. W. King, M. A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: Bell &
Dudley, 1864.
KINGSBOROUGH (LORD). 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.
KNAPPERT (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 Introduction, Notes and Additions, by Alexander
Wilder, M. D. New York: J. W. Bouton, 1876.
KORAN. The Koran, commonly called the Al Coran 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 vols. London: Wm. Ball. 1838.
LELAND (CHAS. G.). Fusang: or the Discovery of America by Buddhist
Priests in the 5th Century, by Chas. C. Leland. London: Trübner & Co.,
1875.
LILLIE (ARTHUR). Buddha and Early Buddhism, by Arthur Lillie. London:
Trübner & 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 & Northgate, 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, Presbyter. 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
Systematic Arrangement of the several Branches of Divinity by Herbert
Marsh, D. D. Cambridge: W. Hillard, 1812.
MARY (APOC.). The Gospel of the Birth of Mary, attributed to St.
Matthew. 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, Egypt 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
Christianity, 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'Antiquité Expliqueé; par Dom Bernard de Montfaucon.
Second edit. Paris: 1722.
MOOR (EDWARD). Plates illustrating the Hindoo Pantheon, reprinted from
the work of Major Edward Moor, F. R. S., edited by Rev. Allen Moor, M.
A. London: Williams & Norgate, 1816.
MORTON (S. 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.
MÜLLER (MAX). A History of Ancient Sanscrit Literature, so far as it
illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmins, by Max Müller, M. A.
London: Williams & Norgate, 1860.
----. Introduction to the Science of Religion; Four Lectures
delivered at the Royal Institution, with Two Essays on False
Analogies, and the Philosophy of Mythology, by (F.) Max
Müller, M. A. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1873.
----. Chips from a German Workshop; by Max Müller, M. A., in 3
vols. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1876.
----. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as
Illustrated by the Religious of India. Delivered in the Chapel
House, Westminster Abbey, by (F.) Max Müller, M. A. London:
Longmans, Green & Co., 1878.
MURRAY (A. S.). Manual of Mythology, by Alexander S. Murray, Department
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. Wicksteed, 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.
PESCHEL (OSCAR). The Races of Man, and their Geographical Distribution
from the German of Oscar Peschel. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1876.
POLYCARP. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, translated by
Archbishop Wake.
PORTER (SIR R. K.). Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient
Babylonia, &c., by Sir Robert Kir Porter, in 2 vols. London: Longmans,
Hurst, Rees, Orm & Brown, 1821.
PRESCOTT (WM. 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. C.). 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 Priestley, LL. D.,
F. R. S. Northumberland: A. Kennedy, 1799.
PROTEVANGELION APOC. The Protevangelion, or, An Historical Account of
the Birth of Christ, and the perpetual Virgin Mary, His Mother, by James
the Lesser, Cousin and Brother to the Lord Jesus.
REBER (GEO.). The Christ of Paul, or the Enigmas of Christianity, by
Geo. Reber. New York: C. P. Somerby, 1876.
RENAN (ERNEST). Lectures on the Influence of the Institutions, Thought
and Culture of Rome on Christianity, and the Development of the Catholic
Church, by Ernest Renan, of the French Academy. Translated by Charles
Beard, B. A. London: Williams & Norgate, 1880.
RENOUF (P. LE PAGE). Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as
Illustrated 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 Ceylon Civil Service. London: Soc. for
Promoting Christian Knowledge.
SCOTT (THOMAS). The English Life of Jesus, by Thomas Scott. Published by
the Author. London: 1872.
SEPTCHENES (M. LE CLERC DE). 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.
SHARPE (SAMUEL). Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity, with
their Influence on the Opinions of Modern Christendom, by Samuel Sharpe.
London: J. R. Smith, 1863.
SHIH-KING (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 & 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. Now
York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1875.
----. The Chaldean Account of Genesis, containing the
description 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.
SOCRATES. The Ancient Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus,
of Constantinople, in Seven Books. Translated out of the Greek Tongue by
Meredith Hanmer, D. D. London: George Miller, 1636.
SPENCER (HERBERT). 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, 1861.
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.
----. In a Sermon preached in Westminster Abbey on February
28th, 1880, after the funeral of Sir Charles 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.
SYNCHRONOLOGY. Synchronology of the Principal Events in Sacred and
Profane History from the Creation to the Present Time. Boston: S. Hawes,
1870.
TACITUS (C.). 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
Germany, by Cornelius Tacitus. Translated by Arthur Murphy.
London: Jones & Co., 1831.
TAYLOR (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 Christianity, by Rev. Robert Taylor, A.
B. (From the London Edit.) Boston: J. P. Mendum, 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. Mendum, 1876.
TAYLOR (THOMAS). Taylor's Mysteries; A Dissertation on the Eleusinian
and 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 Thornton, Esq., Member of
the R. A. S. London: William H. Allen & Co., 1844.
TYLOR (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.
VISHNU PURANA. The Vishnu Purana, A System of Hindoo Mythology and
Tradition, Translated from the Original Sanscrit, by H. H. Wilson, M.
A., F. R. S. London: 1840.
VOLNEY (C. 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
Empires, by Count de Volney, Translated under the immediate
inspection of the Author. (From the latest Paris Edit.)
Boston: J. P. Mendum, 1872.
WAKE (C. S.). See Westropp.
WESTROPP (H. M.). Ancient Symbol Worship. Influence of the Phallic Ideas
in the Religions of Antiquity, by Hodder M. Westropp and C. S. Wake,
with Appendix by Alexander Wilder, M. D. London: Trübner & Co., 1874.
WILLIAMS (MONIER). Indian Wisdom; or Examples of the Religious,
Philosophical, and Ethnical Doctrines of the Hindoos, by Monier
Williams, M. A., Prof. of Sanscrit in the University of Oxford. London:
W. H. Allen, 1875.
----. Hinduism; by Monier Williams, M. A., D. C. L., Published
under the Direction of the Committee of General Literature and
Education Appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge. London: 1877.
WISDOM (APOC.). The Book of Wisdom, Attributed to Solomon, King of
Israel.
WISE (ISAAC M.). The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth. A Historic Treatise
on the Last Chapters of the Gospel, by Dr Isaac M. Wise. Cincinnati.
ADDITIONS TO THIRD EDITION.
Beausobre's _Histoire Critique de Manichée et du Manicheisme_, Amsterdam
1734; Baronius' _Annales Ecclesiastici_; Hydes' _Historia Religionis
Veterum Persarum_; Rawlinson's _Herodotus_; Lenormant's _The Beginnings
of History_; Hardwick's _Christ and other Masters_; Daillé's _Treatise
on the Right Use of the Fathers_, London, 1841; _Apollonius de Tyana, sa
vie, ses voyages, et ses prodiges_, par Philostrate, Paris, 1862; Sir
John Malcolm's _History 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
Christianity_; Barrow's _Travels in China_, London, 1840; Deane's
_Worship of the Serpent_, London, 1883; 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 History_, 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, Irenæus,
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 interesting 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 "Heavens" and the "Earth," he said: "Let there be
light, and there was light," and after calling the light Day, and the
darkness Night, the _first_ day's work was ended.
God then made the "Firmament," which completed the _second_ day's work.
Then God caused the dry land to appear, which he called "Earth," and the
waters he called "Seas." After this the earth was made to bring forth
grass, trees, &c., which completed the _third_ day's work.
The next things God created were the "Sun,"[1:1] "Moon" and "Stars,"
and after he had _set them in the Firmament_, the _fourth_ day's work
was ended.[2:1]
After these, God created great "whales," and other creatures which
inhabit the water, also "winged fowls." This brought the _fifth_ day to
a close.
The work of creation was finally completed on the _sixth_ day,[2:2] when
God made "beasts" of every kind, "cattle," "creeping things," and lastly
"man," whom he created "male and female," in his own image.[2:3]
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the
host of them. And on the _seventh_[2:4] day God ended his work
which he had made: and he _rested_ on the seventh day, from
all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh
day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had _rested_
from all his work which God created and made."
After this information, which concludes at the _third_ verse of Genesis
ii., strange though it may appear, _another_ account of the Creation
commences, which is altogether different from the one we have just
related. This account commences thus:
"These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when
they were created, in the day (not days) that the Lord God
made the earth and the heavens."
It then goes on to say that "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground,"[2:5] which appears to be the _first_ thing he made. After
planting a garden eastward in Eden,[2:6] the Lord God put the man
therein, "and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree
that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the _Tree of
Life_,[2:7] also in the midst of the garden, and the _Tree of
Knowledge_ of good and evil. And a _river_ went out of Eden to water
the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into _four_
heads." These _four rivers_ were called, first Pison, second Gihon,
third Hiddekel, and the fourth Euphrates.[3:1]
After the "Lord God" had made the "Tree of Life," and the "Tree of
Knowledge," he said unto the man:
"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat
of it, _for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die_." Then the Lord God, thinking that it would not be
well for man to live alone, formed--out of the ground--"every
beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought
them unto Adam to see what he would call them, and whatever
Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."
After Adam had given names to "all cattle, and to the fowls of the air,
and to every beast of the field," "the Lord God caused a deep sleep to
fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he (the Lord God) took one of his
(Adam's) ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof."
"And of the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made
he a _woman_, and brought her unto Adam." "And they were both
naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed."
After this everything is supposed to have gone harmoniously, until a
_serpent_ appeared before the _woman_[3:2]--who was afterwards called
Eve--and said to her:
"Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
The woman, answering the serpent, said:
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, _lest ye die_."
Whereupon the serpent said to her:
"Ye shall _not_ surely die" (which, according to the
narrative, was the truth).
He then told her that, upon eating the fruit, their eyes would be
opened, and that they would be as _gods_, knowing good from evil.
The woman then looked upon the tree, and as the fruit was tempting, "she
took of the fruit, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband, and he
did eat." The result was _not_ death (as the Lord God had told them),
but, as the serpent had said, "the eyes of both were opened, and they
knew they were naked, and they _sewed_ fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons."
Towards evening (_i. e._, "in the cool of the day"), Adam and his wife
"_heard_ the voice of the Lord God _walking_ in the garden," and being
afraid, they hid themselves among the trees of the garden. The Lord God
not finding Adam and his wife, said: "Where art thou?" Adam answering,
said: "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked, and I hid myself."
The "Lord God" then told Adam that he had eaten of the tree which he had
commanded him not to eat, whereupon Adam said: "The _woman_ whom thou
gavest to be with me, _she_ gave me of the tree and I did eat."
When the "Lord God" spoke to the woman concerning her transgression, she
blamed the _serpent_, which she said "beguiled" her. This sealed the
serpent's fate, for the "Lord God" cursed him and said:
"Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and _dust_ shalt thou eat all
the days of thy life."[4:1]
Unto the woman the "Lord God" said:
"I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall
be to thy husband, _and he shall rule over thee_."
Unto Adam he said:
"Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns also, and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and
thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, _for
out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return_."
The "Lord God" then made coats of skin for Adam and his wife, with
which he clothed them, after which he said:
"Behold, the man is become _as one of us_,[5:1] to know good
and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also
of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (he must be
sent forth from Eden).
"So he (the Lord God) drove out the man (and the woman); and
he placed at the east of the garden of Eden, Cherubims, and a
flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the
Tree of Life."
Thus ends the narrative.
Before proceeding to show from whence this legend, or legends, had their
origin, we will notice a feature which is very prominent in the
narrative, and which cannot escape the eye of an observing reader, _i.
e._, _the two different and contradictory accounts of the creation_.
The first of these commences at the first verse of chapter first, and
ends at the third verse of chapter second. The second account commences
at the fourth verse of chapter second, and continues to the end of the
chapter.
In speaking of these contradictory accounts of the Creation, Dean
Stanley says:
"It is now clear to diligent students of the Bible, that the
first and second chapters of Genesis contain two narratives of
the Creation, side by side, differing from each other in most
every particular of time and place and order."[5:2]
Bishop Colenso, in his very learned work on the Pentateuch, speaking on
this subject, says:
"The following are the most noticeable points of difference
between the two cosmogonies:
"1. In the first, the earth emerges from the waters and is,
therefore, _saturated with moisture_.[5:3] In the second, the
'whole face of the ground' _requires to be moistened_.[5:4]
"2. In the first, the birds and the beasts are created
_before man_.[6:1] In the second, man is created _before the
birds and the beasts_.[6:2]
"3. In the first, 'all fowls that fly' are made out of the
_waters_.[6:3] In the second 'the fowls of the air' are made
out of the _ground_.[6:4]
"4. In the first, man is created in the image of God.[6:5] In
the second, man is made of the dust of the ground, and merely
animated with the breath of life; and it is only after his
eating the forbidden fruit that 'the Lord God said, Behold,
the man has become _as one of us_, to know good and
evil.'[6:6]
"5. In the first, man is made lord of the _whole earth_.[6:7]
In the second, he is merely placed in the garden of Eden, 'to
dress it and to keep it.'[6:8]
"6. In the first, the man and the woman are _created
together_, as the closing and completing work of the whole
creation,--created also, as is evidently implied, in the same
kind of way, to be the complement of one another, and, thus
created, they are blessed _together_.[6:9]
"In the second, the beasts and birds are created _between_ the
man and the woman. First, the man is made of the dust of the
ground; he is placed by _himself_ in the garden, charged with
a solemn command, and threatened with a curse if he breaks it;
_then the beasts and birds are made_, and the man gives names
to them, and, lastly, after all this, _the woman is made out
of one of his ribs_, but merely as a helpmate for the
man.[6:10]
"The fact is, that the _second_ account of the Creation,[6:11]
together with the story of the Fall,[6:12] is manifestly
composed by a _different writer_ altogether from him who wrote
_the first_.[6:13]
"This is suggested at once by the circumstance that,
throughout the _first_ narrative, the Creator is always spoken
of by the name Elohim (God), whereas, throughout the _second_
account, as well as the story of the Fall, he is always called
Jehovah Elohim (Lord God), except when the writer seems to
abstain, for some reason, from placing the name Jehovah in the
mouth of the serpent.[6:14] This accounts naturally for the
above contradictions. It would appear that, for some reason,
the productions of two pens have been here united, without any
reference to their inconsistencies."[6:15]
Dr. Kalisch, who does his utmost to maintain--as far as his knowledge of
the truth will allow--the general historical veracity of this narrative,
after speaking of the _first_ account of the Creation, says:
"But now the narrative seems not only to pause, but to go
backward. The grand and powerful climax seems at once broken
off, and a languid repetition appears to follow. _Another
cosmogony is introduced, which, to complete the perplexity,
is, in many important features, in direct contradiction to the
former._
"_It would be dishonesty to conceal these difficulties. It
would be weakmindedness and cowardice. It would be flight
instead of combat. It would be an ignoble retreat, instead of
victory. We confess there is an apparent dissonance._"[6:16]
Dr. Knappert says:[7:1]
"The account of the Creation from the hand of the _Priestly
author_ is utterly different from the _other narrative_,
beginning at the fourth verse of Genesis ii. Here we are told
that God created Heaven and Earth in six days, and rested on
the _seventh_ day, obviously with a view to bring out the
holiness of the Sabbath in a strong light."
Now that we have seen there are two different and contradictory accounts
of the Creation, to be found in the first two chapters of Genesis, we
will endeavor to learn if there is sufficient reason to believe they are
copies of _more ancient legends_.
We have seen that, according to the first account, God divided the work
of creation into _six_ days. This idea agrees with that of the ancient
_Persians_.
The Zend-Avesta--the sacred writings of the Parsees--states that the
Supreme being Ahuramazdâ (Ormuzd), created the universe and man in _six_
successive periods of time, in the following order: First, the Heavens;
second, the Waters; third, the Earth; fourth, the Trees and Plants;
fifth, Animals; and sixth, Man. After the Creator had finished his work,
he rested.[7:2]
The Avesta account of the Creation is limited to this announcement, but
we find a more detailed history of the origin of the human species in
the book entitled _Bundehesh_, dedicated to the exposition of a complete
cosmogony. This book states that Ahuramazdâ created the first man and
women joined together at the back. After dividing them, he endowed them
with motion and activity, placed within them an intelligent soul, and
bade them "to be humble of heart; to observe the law; to be pure in
their thoughts, pure in their speech, pure in their actions." Thus were
born Mashya and Mashyâna, the pair from which all human beings are
descended.[7:3]
The idea brought out in this story of the first human pair having
originally formed a single androgynous being with two faces, separated
later into two personalities by the Creator, is to be found in the
Genesis account (v. 2). "Male and female created he them, and blessed
them, and named their name Adam." Jewish tradition in the Targum and
Talmud, as well as among learned rabbis, allege that Adam was created
man and woman at the same time, having two faces turned in two opposite
directions, and that the Creator separated the feminine half from him,
in order to make of her a distinct person.[7:4]
The ancient _Etruscan_ legend, according to Delitzsch, is almost the
same as the Persian. They relate that God created the world in _six_
thousand years. In the first thousand he created the Heaven and Earth;
in the second, the Firmament; in the third, the Waters of the Earth; in
the fourth, the Sun, Moon and Stars; in the fifth, the Animals belonging
to air, water and land; and in the sixth, Man alone.[8:1]
Dr. Delitzsch, who maintains to the utmost the historical truth of the
Scripture story in Genesis, yet says:
"Whence comes the surprising agreement of the _Etruscan_ and
_Persian_ legends with this section? How comes it that the
_Babylonian_ cosmogony in Berosus, and the _Phoenician_ in
Sanchoniathon, in spite of their fantastical oddity, come in
contact with it in remarkable details?"
After showing some of the similarities in the legends of these different
nations, he continues:
"These are only instances of that which they have in common.
_For such an account outside of Israel, we must, however,
conclude, that the author of Genesis i. has no vision before
him, but a tradition._"[8:2]
Von Bohlen tells us that the old _Chaldæan_ cosmogony is also _the
same_.[8:3]
To continue the _Persian_ legend; we will now show that according to it,
after the Creation man was tempted, and _fell_. Kalisch[8:4] and Bishop
Colenso[8:5] tell us of the Persian legend that the first couple lived
originally in purity and innocence. Perpetual happiness was promised
them by the Creator if they persevered in their virtue. But an evil
demon came to them in the form of a _serpent_, sent by Ahriman, the
prince of devils, and gave them fruit of a wonderful _tree_, which
imparted immortality. Evil inclinations then entered their hearts, and
all their moral excellence was destroyed. Consequently they fell, and
forfeited the eternal happiness for which they were destined. They
killed beasts, and clothed themselves in their skins. The evil demon
obtained still more perfect power over their minds, and called forth
envy, hatred, discord, and rebellion, which raged in the bosom of the
families.
Since the above was written, Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum,
has discovered cuneiform inscriptions, which show conclusively that the
Babylonians had this legend of the Creation and Fall of Man, some 1,500
years or more before the Hebrews heard of it.[9:1] The cuneiform
inscriptions relating to the Babylonian legend of the Creation and Fall
of Man, which have been discovered by English archæologists, are not,
however, complete. The portions which relate to the _Tree_ and _Serpent_
have not been found, but Babylonian gem engravings show that these
incidents were evidently a part of the original legend.[9:2] The _Tree
of Life_ in the Genesis account appears to correspond with the sacred
grove of Anu, which was guarded by a sword turning to all the four
points of the compass.[9:3] A representation of this Sacred Tree, with
"_attendant cherubim_," copied from an Assyrian cylinder, may be seen in
Mr. George Smith's "Chaldean Account of Genesis."[9:4] Figure No. 1,
which we have taken from the same work,[9:5] shows the tree of
knowledge, fruit, and the serpent. Mr. Smith says of it:
"One striking and important specimen of early type in the
British Museum collection, has two figures sitting one on each
side of a _tree_, holding out their hands to the fruit, while
at the back of one (the _woman_) is scratched a _serpent_. We
know well that in these early sculptures none of these figures
were chance devices, but all represented events, or supposed
events, and figures in their legends; thus it is evident that
a form of the story of the Fall, similar to that of Genesis,
was known in early times in Babylonia."[9:5]
[Illustration: Fig. No. 1]
This illustration might be used to illustrate the narrative of
_Genesis_, and as Friedrich Delitzsch has remarked (G. Smith's
_Chaldäische Genesis_) is capable of no other explanation.
M. Renan does not hesitate to join forces with the ancient commentators,
in seeking to recover a trace of the same tradition among the Phenicians
in the fragments of Sanchoniathon, translated into Greek by Philo of
Byblos. In fact, it is there said, in speaking of the first human pair,
and of Æon, which seems to be the translation of _Havvâh_ (in Phenician
_Havâth_) and stands in her relation to the other members of the pair,
that this personage "has found out how to obtain nourishment from the
fruits of the tree."
The idea of the Edenic happiness of the first human beings constitutes
one of the universal traditions. Among the Egyptians, the terrestrial
reign of the god Râ, who inaugurated the existence of the world and of
human life, was a golden age to which they continually looked back with
regret and envy. Its "like has never been seen since."
The ancient Greeks boasted of their "Golden Age," when sorrow and
trouble were not known. Hesiod, an ancient Grecian poet, describes it
thus:
"Men lived like Gods, without vices or passions, vexation or
toil. In happy companionship with divine beings, they passed
their days in tranquillity and joy, living together in perfect
equality, united by mutual confidence and love. The earth was
more beautiful than now, and spontaneously yielded an abundant
variety of fruits. Human beings and animals spoke the same
language and conversed with each other. Men were considered
mere boys at a hundred years old. They had none of the
infirmities of age to trouble them, and when they passed to
regions of superior life, it was in a gentle slumber."
In the course of time, however, all the sorrows and troubles came to
man. They were caused by inquisitiveness. The story is as follows:
Epimetheus received a gift from Zeus (God), in the form of a beautiful
woman (Pandora).
"She brought with her a vase, the lid of which was (by the
command of God), to remain closed. The curiosity of her
husband, however, tempted him to open it, and suddenly there
escaped from it troubles, weariness and illness from which
mankind was never afterwards free. All that remained was
_hope_."[10:1]
Among the _Thibetans_, the paradisiacal condition was more complete and
spiritual. The desire to eat of a certain sweet herb deprived men of
their spiritual life. There arose a sense of shame, and the need to
clothe themselves. Necessity compelled them to agriculture; the virtues
disappeared, and murder, adultery and other vices, stepped into their
place.[10:2]
The idea that the Fall of the human race is connected with _agriculture_
is found to be also often represented in the legends of the East African
negroes, especially in the Calabar legend of the Creation, which
presents many interesting points of comparison with the biblical story
of the Fall. The first human pair are called by a bell at meal-times to
Abasi (the Calabar God), in heaven; and in place of the forbidden tree
of Genesis are put _agriculture_ and _propagation_, which Abasi
strictly denies to the first pair. The Fall is denoted by the
transgression of both these commands, especially through the use of
implements of tillage, to which the _woman_ is tempted by a female
friend who is given to her. From that moment man fell _and became
mortal_, so that, as the Bible story has it, he can eat bread only in
the sweat of his face. There agriculture is a curse, a fall from a more
perfect stage to a lower and imperfect one.[11:1]
Dr. Kalisch, writing of the Garden of Eden, says:
"The _Paradise_ is no exclusive feature of the early history
of the Hebrews. _Most of the ancient nations have similar
narratives about a happy abode, which care does not approach,
and which re-echoes with the sounds of the purest
bliss._"[11:2]
The _Persians_ supposed that a region of bliss and delight called
_Heden_, more beautiful than all the rest of the world, _traversed by a
mighty river_, was the original abode of the first men, before they were
tempted by the evil spirit in the form of a _serpent_, to partake of the
fruit of the forbidden tree _Hôm_.[11:3]
Dr. Delitzsch, writing of the _Persian_ legend, observes:
"Innumerable attendants of the Holy One keep watch against the
attempts of Ahriman, over the tree _Hôm_, which contains in
itself the power of the resurrection."[11:4]
The ancient Greeks had a tradition concerning the "Islands of the
Blessed," the "Elysium," on the borders of the earth, abounding in every
charm of life, and the "Garden of the Hesperides," the Paradise, in
which grew a _tree_ bearing the golden apples of Immortality. It was
guarded by three nymphs, and a Serpent, or Dragon, the ever-watchful
Ladon. It was one of the labors of Hercules to gather some of these
apples of life. When he arrived there he found the garden protected by a
_Dragon_. Ancient medallions represent a tree with a serpent twined
around it. Hercules has gathered an apple, and near him stand the three
nymphs, called Hesperides.[11:5] This is simply a parallel of the Eden
myth.
The Rev. Mr. Faber, speaking of _Hercules_, says:
"On the _Sphere_ he is represented in the act of contending
with the Serpent, the head of which is placed under his foot;
and this Serpent, we are told, is that which guarded the tree
with golden fruit in the midst of the garden of the
Hesperides. But the garden of the Hesperides _was none other
than the garden of Paradise_; consequently the serpent of that
garden, the head of which is crushed beneath the heel of
Hercules, and which itself is described as encircling with its
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."[12:1]
And Professor Fergusson says:
"_Hercules'_ adventures in the garden of the Hesperides, is
the Pagan form of the myth that most resembles the precious
Serpent-guarded fruit of the Garden of Eden, though the moral
of the fable is so widely different."[12:2]
The ancient _Egyptians_ also had the legend of the "Tree of Life." It is
mentioned in their sacred books that Osiris ordered the names of some
souls to be written on this "Tree of Life," the fruit of which made
those who ate it to become as gods.[12:3]
Among the most ancient traditions of the _Hindoos_, is that of the "Tree
of Life"--called _Sôma_ in Sanskrit--the juice of which imparted
immortality. This most wonderful tree was guarded by spirits.[12:4]
Still more striking is the Hindoo legend of the "Elysium" or "Paradise,"
which is as follows:
"In the sacred mountain _Meru_, which is perpetually clothed
in the golden rays of the Sun, and whose lofty summit reaches
into heaven, no sinful man can exist. _It is guarded by a
dreadful dragon._ It is adorned with many celestial plants and
trees, and is watered by _four rivers_, which thence separate
and flow to the four chief directions."[12:5]
The Hindoos, like the philosophers of the Ionic school (Thales, for
instance), held _water_ to be the first existing and all-pervading
principle, at the same time allowing the co-operation and influence of
an _immaterial_ intelligence in the work of creation.[12:6] A Vedic
poet, meditating on the Creation, uses the following expressions:
"Nothing that is was then, even what is not, did not exist
then." "There was no space, no life, and lastly there was no
time, no difference between day and night, no solar torch by
which morning might have been told from evening." "Darkness
there was, and all at first was veiled in gloom profound, as
ocean without light."[12:7]
The Hindoo legend approaches very nearly to that preserved in the Hebrew
Scriptures. Thus, it is said that Siva, as the Supreme Being, desired to
tempt Brahmá (who had taken human form, and was called Swayambhura--son
of the self-existent), and for this object he dropped from heaven a
blossom of the sacred _fig_ tree.
Swayambhura, instigated by his wife, Satarupa, endeavors to obtain this
blossom, thinking its possession will render him immortal and divine;
but when he has succeeded in doing so, he is cursed by Siva, and doomed
to misery and degradation.[13:1] The sacred Indian _fig_ is endowed by
the Brahmins and the Buddhists with mysterious significance, as the
"Tree of Knowledge" or "Intelligence."[13:2]
There is no Hindoo legend of the _Creation_ similar to the Persian and
Hebrew accounts, and Ceylon was never believed to have been the Paradise
or home of our first parents, although such stories are in
circulation.[13:3] The Hindoo religion states--as we have already
seen--Mount Meru to be the Paradise, out of which went _four rivers_.
We have noticed that the "Gardens of Paradise" are said to have been
guarded by _Dragons_, and that, according to the Genesis account, it was
Cherubim that protected Eden. This apparent difference in the legends is
owing to the fact that we have come in our modern times to speak of
Cherub as though it were an other name for an Angel. But the Cherub of
the writer of Genesis, the Cherub of Assyria, the Cherub of Babylon, the
Cherub of the entire Orient, at the time the Eden story was written, was
not at all an Angel, but an animal, and a mythological one at that. The
Cherub had, in some cases, the body of a lion, with the head of an other
animal, or a man, and the wings of a bird. In Ezekiel they have the body
of a man, whose head, besides a human countenance, has also that of a
_Lion_, an _Ox_ and an _Eagle_. They are provided with four wings, and
the whole body is spangled with innumerable eyes. In Assyria and Babylon
they appear as winged bulls with human faces, and are placed at the
gateways of palaces and temples as guardian genii who watch over the
dwelling, as the Cherubim in Genesis watch the "Tree of Life."
Most Jewish writers and Christian Fathers conceived the Cherubim as
Angels. Most theologians also considered them as Angels, until Michaelis
showed them to be a mythological animal, a poetical creation.[13:4]
We see then, that our _Cherub_ is simply a _Dragon_.
To continue our inquiry regarding the prevalence of the Eden-myth among
nations of antiquity.
The _Chinese_ have their Age of Virtue, when nature furnished abundant
food, and man lived peacefully, surrounded by all the beasts. In their
sacred books there is a story concerning a mysterious _garden_, where
grew a _tree_ bearing "apples of immortality," guarded by a winged
serpent, called a Dragon. They describe a primitive age of the world,
when the earth yielded abundance of delicious fruits without
cultivation, and the seasons were untroubled by wind and storms. There
was no calamity, sickness, or death. Men were then good without effort;
for the human heart was in harmony with the peacefulness and beauty of
nature.
The "Golden Age" of the past is much dwelt upon by their ancient
commentators. One of them says:
"All places were then equally the native county of every man.
Flocks wandered in the fields without any guide; birds filled
the air with their melodious voices; and the fruits grew of
their own accord. Men lived pleasantly with the animals, and
all creatures were members of the same family. Ignorant of
evil, man lived in simplicity and perfect innocence."
Another commentator says:
"In the first age of perfect purity, all was in harmony, and
the passions did not occasion the slightest murmur. Man,
united to sovereign reason within, conformed his outward
actions to sovereign justice. Far from all duplicity and
falsehood, his soul received marvelous felicity from heaven,
and the purest delights from earth."
Another says:
"A delicious _garden_ refreshed with zephyrs, and planted with
odoriferous trees, was situated in the middle of a mountain,
which was the avenue of heaven. The _waters_ that moistened it
flowed from a source called the '_Fountain of Immortality_'.
He who drinks of it never dies. Thence flowed _four rivers_. A
Golden River, betwixt the South and East, a Red River, between
the North and East, the River of the Lamb between the North
and West."
The animal Kaiming guards the entrance.
Partly by an undue thirst for knowledge, and partly by increasing
sensuality, and the seduction of _woman_, man fell. Then passion and
lust ruled in the human mind, and war with the animals began. In one of
the Chinese sacred volumes, called the Chi-King, it is said that:
"All was subject to man at first, _but a woman threw us into
slavery_. The wise husband raised up a bulwark of walls, _but
the woman, by an ambitious desire of knowledge, demolished
them_. Our misery did not come from heaven, _but from a
woman_. _She lost the human race._ Ah, unhappy _Poo See!_ thou
kindled the fire that consumes us, and which is every day
augmenting. Our misery has lasted many ages. _The world is
lost._ Vice overflows all things like a mortal poison."[15:1]
Thus we see that the Chinese are no strangers to the doctrine of
original sin. It is their invariable belief that man is a fallen being;
admitted by them from time immemorial.
The inhabitants of _Madagascar_ had a legend similar to the Eden story,
which is related as follows:
"The first man was created of the _dust of the earth_, and was
placed in a _garden_, where he was subject to none of the ills
which now affect mortality; he was also free from all bodily
appetites, and though surrounded by delicious _fruit_ and
limpid _streams_ yet felt no desire to taste of the fruit or
to quaff the water. The Creator had, moreover, _strictly
forbid him either to eat or to drink_. The great enemy,
however, came to him, and painted to him, in glowing colors,
the sweetness of the apple, and the lusciousness of the date,
and the succulence of the orange."
After resisting the temptations for a while, he at last ate of the
fruit, and consequently _fell_.[15:2]
A legend of the Creation, similar to the Hebrew, was found by Mr. Ellis
among the _Tahitians_, and appeared in his "Polynesian Researches." It
is as follows:
After Taarao had formed the world, he created man out of aræa, red
earth, which was also the food of man until bread was made. Taarao one
day called for the man by name. When he came, he caused him to fall
asleep, and while he slept, he took out one of his _ivi_, or bones, and
with it made a woman, whom he gave to the man as his wife, and they
became the progenitors of mankind. The woman's name was _Ivi_, which
signifies a bone.[15:3]
The prose Edda, of the ancient _Scandinavians_, speaks of the "Golden
Age" when all was pure and harmonious. This age lasted until the arrival
of _woman_ out of Jotunheim--the region of the giants, a sort of "land
of Nod"--who corrupted it.[15:4]
In the annals of the _Mexicans_, the first woman, whose name was
translated by the old Spanish writers, "the woman of our flesh," is
always represented as accompanied by a great male serpent, who seems to
be talking to her. Some writers believe this to be the _tempter_
speaking to the primeval mother, and others that it is intended to
represent the _father_ of the human race. This Mexican Eve is
represented on their monuments as the mother of twins.[15:5]
Mr. Franklin, in his "Buddhists and Jeynes," says:
"A striking instance is recorded by the very intelligent
traveler (Wilson), regarding a representation of the Fall of
our first parents, sculptured in the magnificent temple of
Ipsambul, in Nubia. He says that a very exact representation
of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden is to be seen in that
cave, and that the _serpent_ climbing round the tree is
especially delineated, and the whole subject of the tempting
of our first parents most accurately exhibited."[16:1]
Nearly the same thing was found by Colonel Coombs in the _South of
India_. Colonel Tod, in his "Hist. Rajapoutana," says:
"A drawing, brought by Colonel Coombs from a sculptured column
in a cave-temple in the South of India, represents the first
pair at the foot of the ambrosial tree, and a _serpent_
entwined among the heavily-laden boughs, presenting to them
some of the fruit from his mouth. The tempter appears to be at
that part of his discourse, when
'----his words, replete with guile,
Into her heart too easy entrance won:
Fixed on the fruit she gazed.'
"_This is a curious subject to be engraved on an ancient Pagan
temple._"[16:2]
So the Colonel thought, no doubt, but it is not so very curious after
all. It is the same myth which we have found--with but such small
variations only as time and circumstances may be expected to
produce--among different nations, in both the Old and New Worlds.
[Illustration: Fig. No. 2]
Fig. No. 2, taken from the work of Montfaucon,[16:3] represents one of
these ancient Pagan sculptures. Can any one doubt that it is allusive to
the myth of which we have been treating in this chapter?
That man was originally created a perfect being, and is now only a
fallen and broken remnant of what he once was, we have seen to be a
piece of _mythology_, not only unfounded in fact, but, beyond
intelligent question, proved untrue. What, then, is the significance of
the exposure of this myth? What does its loss as a scientific fact, and
as a portion of Christian dogma, imply? It implies that with
it--although many Christian divines who admit this to be a legend, do
not, or do not _profess_, to see it--_must fall the whole Orthodox
scheme, for upon this_ MYTH _the theology of Christendom is built_. The
doctrine of the _inspiration of the Scriptures_, the _Fall_ of _man_,
his _total depravity_, the _Incarnation_, the _Atonement_, the _devil_,
_hell_, in fact, the entire theology of the Christian church, falls to
pieces with the historical inaccuracy of this story, _for upon it is it
built; 'tis the foundation of the whole structure_.[17:1]
According to Christian dogma, the Incarnation of Christ Jesus had become
necessary, merely _because he had to redeem the evil introduced into the
world by the Fall of man_. These two dogmas cannot be separated from
each other. _If there was no Fall, there is no need of an atonement, and
no Redeemer is required._ Those, then, who consent in recognizing in
Christ Jesus a _God_ and _Redeemer_, and who, notwithstanding, cannot
resolve upon admitting the story of the Fall of man to be _historical_,
should exculpate themselves from the reproach of _inconsistency_. There
are a great number, however, in this position at the present day.
Although, as we have said, many Christian divines do not, or do not
profess to, see the force of the above argument, there are many who do;
and they, regardless of their scientific learning, cling to these old
myths, professing to believe them, _well knowing what must follow with
their fall_. The following, though written some years ago, will serve to
illustrate this style of reasoning.
The Bishop of Manchester (England) writing in the "Manchester Examiner
and Times," said:
"The very _foundation of our faith_, the very _basis of our
hopes_, the very nearest and dearest of our consolations are
taken from us, _when one line of that sacred volume, on which
we base everything, is declared to be untruthful and
untrustworthy_."
The "English Churchman," speaking of clergymen who have "_doubts_,"
said, that any who are not throughly persuaded "_that the Scriptures
cannot in any particular be untrue_," should leave the Church.
The Rev. E. Garbett, M. A., in a sermon preached before the University
of Oxford, speaking of the "_historical truth_" of the Bible, said:
"It is the clear teaching of those doctrinal formularies, to
which we of the Church of England have expressed our solemn
assent, _and no honest interpretation of her language can get
rid of it_."
And that:
"In all consistent reason, _we must accept the whole of the
inspired autographs, or reject the whole_."
Dr. Baylee, Principal of a theological university--_St. Aiden's
College_--at Birkenhead, England, and author of a "Manual," called
Baylee's "_Verbal Inspiration_," written "_chiefly for the youths of St.
Aiden's College_," makes use of the following words, in that work:
"_The whole Bible_, as a revelation, is a declaration of the
mind of God towards his creatures on all the subjects of which
the Bible treats."
"_The Bible is God's word_, in the same sense as if he had
made use of no human agent, but had _Himself spoken it_."
"The Bible cannot be less than verbally inspired. _Every word,
every syllable, every letter_, is just what it would be, had
God spoken from heaven without any human intervention."
"Every scientific statement is infallibly correct, all its
history and narrations of every kind, _are without any
inaccuracy_."[18:1]
A whole volume might be filled with such quotations, not only from
religious works and journals published in England, but from those
published in the United States of America.[18:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[1:1] The idea that the sun, moon and stars were _set_ in the firmament
was entertained by most nations of antiquity, but, as strange as it may
appear, Pythagoras, the Grecian philosopher, who flourished from 540 to
510 B. C.--as well as other Grecian philosophers--taught that the sun
was placed in the centre of the universe, _with the planets roving round
it in a circle_, thus making day and night. (See Knight's Ancient Art
and Mythology, p. 59, and note.) The Buddhists anciently taught that the
universe is composed of limitless systems or worlds, called _sakwalas_.
They are scattered throughout space, and each sakwala has a sun and
moon. (See Hardy: Buddhist Legends, pp. 80 and 87.)
[2:1] Origen, a Christian Father who flourished about A. D. 230, says:
"What man of sense will agree with the statement that the first, second,
and third days, in which the _evening_ is named and the _morning_, were
without sun, moon and stars?" (Quoted in Mysteries of Adoni, p. 176.)
[2:2] "The geologist reckons not by _days_ or by _years_; the whole six
thousand years, which were until lately looked on as the sum of the
world's age, are to him but as a unit of measurement in the long
succession of past ages." (Sir John Lubbock.)
"It is now certain that the vast epochs of time demanded by scientific
observation are incompatible both with the six thousand years of the
Mosaic chronology, and the six days of the Mosaic creation." (Dean
Stanley.)
[2:3] "Let us make man in our own likeness," was said by Ormuzd, the
Persian God of Gods, to his WORD. (See Bunsen's Angel Messiah, p. 104.)
[2:4] The number SEVEN was sacred among almost every nation of
antiquity. (See ch. ii.)
[2:5] According to Grecian Mythology, the God Prometheus created men, in
the image of the gods, _out of clay_ (see Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p.
26; and Goldzhier: Hebrew Myths, p. 373), and the God Hephaistos was
commanded by Zeus to mold of _clay_ the figure of a maiden, into which
Athênê, the dawn-goddess, _breathed the breath of life_. This is
Pandora--the gift of all the gods--who is presented to Epimetheus. (See
Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. ii., p. 208.)
[2:6] "What man is found such an idiot as to suppose that God planted
trees in Paradise, in Eden, like a husbandman." (Origen: quoted in
Mysteries of Adoni, p. 176.) "There is no way of preserving the literal
sense of the first chapter of Genesis, without impiety, and attributing
things to God unworthy of him." (St. Augustine.)
[2:7] "The records about the '_Tree of Life_' are the sublimest proofs
of the unity and continuity of tradition, and of its Eastern origin.
_The earliest records of the most ancient Oriental tradition refer to a
'Tree of Life,' which was guarded by spirits._ The juice of the fruit of
this sacred tree, like the tree itself, was called _Sôma_ in Sanscrit,
and _Haôma_ in Zend; it was revered as the life preserving essence."
(Bunsen: Keys of St. Peter, p. 414)
[3:1] "According to the Persian account of Paradise, _four_ great rivers
came from Mount Alborj; two are in the North, and two go towards the
South. The river Arduisir nourishes the _Tree of Immortality_, the Holy
Hom." (Stiefelhagen: quoted in Mysteries of Adoni p. 149.)
"According to the _Chinese_ myth, the waters of the Garden of Paradise
issue from the fountain of immortality, which divides itself into _four
rivers_." (Ibid., p. 150, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i., p. 210.) The
Hindoos call their Mount Meru the Paradise, out of which went _four_
rivers. (Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 357.)
[3:2] According to Persian legend, Arimanes, the Evil Spirit, _by eating
a certain kind of fruit_, transformed himself into a _serpent_, and went
gliding about on the earth to tempt human beings. His Devs entered the
bodies of men and produced all manner of diseases. They entered into
their minds, and incited them to sensuality, falsehood, slander and
revenge. Into every department of the world they introduced discord and
death.
[4:1] Inasmuch as the physical construction of the serpent never could
admit of its moving in any other way, and inasmuch as it _does not eat
dust_, does not the narrator of this myth reflect unpleasantly upon the
wisdom of such a God as Jehovah is claimed to be, as well as upon the
ineffectualness of his first curse?
[5:1] "Our writer unmistakably recognizes the existence of _many gods_;
for he makes Yahweh say: 'See, the man has become as ONE OF US, knowing
good and evil;' and so he evidently implies the existence of other
similar beings, to whom he attributes immortality and insight into the
difference between good and evil. Yahweh, then, was, in his eyes, the
god of gods, indeed, but not the _only_ god." (Bible for Learners, vol.
i. p. 51.)
[5:2] In his memorial sermon, preached in Westminster Abbey, after the
funeral of Sir Charles Lyell. He further said in this address:--
"It is well known that when the science of geology first arose, it was
involved in endless schemes of _attempted_ reconciliation with the
letter of Scripture. There was, there are perhaps still, two modes of
reconciliation of Scripture and science, which have been each in their
day attempted, _and each have totally and deservedly failed_. One is the
endeavor to wrest the words of the Bible from their natural meaning,
_and force it to speak the language of science_." After speaking of the
earliest known example, which was the interpolation of the word "_not_"
in Leviticus xi. 6, he continues: "This is the earliest instance of _the
falsification of Scripture to meet the demands of science_; and it has
been followed in later times by the various efforts which have been made
to twist the earlier chapters of the book of Genesis into _apparent_
agreement with the last results of geology--representing days not to be
days, morning and evening not to be morning and evening, the deluge not
to be the deluge, and the ark not to be the ark."
[5:3] Gen. i. 9, 10.
[5:4] Gen. ii. 6.
[6:1] Gen. i. 20, 24, 26.
[6:2] Gen. ii. 7, 9.
[6:3] Gen. i. 20.
[6:4] Gen. ii. 19.
[6:5] Gen. i. 27.
[6:6] Gen. ii. 7: iii. 22.
[6:7] Gen. i. 28.
[6:8] Gen. ii. 8, 15.
[6:9] Gen. i. 28.
[6:10] Gen. ii. 7, 8, 15, 22.
[6:11] Gen. ii. 4-25.
[6:12] Gen. iii.
[6:13] Gen. i. 1-ii. 8.
[6:14] Gen. iii. 1, 3, 5.
[6:15] The Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. pp. 171-173.
[6:16] Com. on Old Test. vol. i. p. 59.
[7:1] The Relig. of Israel, p. 186.
[7:2] Von Bohlen: Intro. to Gen. vol. ii. p. 4.
[7:3] Lenormant: Beginning of Hist. vol. i. p. 6.
[7:4] See Ibid. p. 64; and Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 31.
[8:1] "The Etruscans believed in a creation of six thousand years, and
in the successive production of different beings, the last of which was
man." (Dunlap: Spirit Hist. p. 357.)
[8:2] Quoted by Bishop Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p.
115.
[8:3] Intro. to Genesis, vol. ii. p. 4.
[8:4] Com. on Old Test. vol. i. p. 63.
[8:5] The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 158.
[9:1] See Chapter xi.
[9:2] Mr. Smith says, "Whatever the primitive account may have been from
which the earlier part of the Book of Genesis was copied, it is evident
that the brief narration given in the Pentateuch omits a number of
incidents and explanations--for instance, as to the origin of evil, the
fall of the angels, the wickedness of the serpent, &c. Such points as
these are included in the cuneiform narrative." (Smith: Chaldean Account
of Genesis, pp. 13, 14.)
[9:3] Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 88.
[9:4] Ibid. p. 89.
[9:5] Ibid. p. 91.
[10:1] Murray's Mythology, p. 208.
[10:2] Kalisch's Com. vol. i. p. 64.
[11:1] Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 87.
[11:2] Com. on the Old Test. vol. i. p. 70.
[11:3] Ibid.
[11:4] Ibid. "The fruit, and sap of this '_Tree of Life_' begat
immortality." (Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 240.)
[11:5] See Montfaucon: L'Antiquité Expliquée, vol. i. p. 211, and Pl.
cxxxiii.
[12:1] Faber: Origin Pagan Idolatry, vol. i. p. 443; in Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p. 237.
[12:2] Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 13.
[12:3] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 159.
[12:4] See Bunsen's Keys of St. Peter, p. 414.
[12:5] Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 153.
[12:6] Buckley: Cities of the Ancient World, p. 148.
[12:7] Müller: Hist. Sanskrit Literature, p. 559.
[13:1] See Wake: Phallism in Ancient Religions, pp. 46, 47; and Maurice:
Hist. Hindostan, vol. i. p. 408.
[13:2] Hardwick: Christ and Other Masters, p. 215.
[13:3] See Jacolliot's "Bible in India," which John Fisk calls a "very
discreditable performance," and "a disgraceful piece of charlatanry"
(Myths, &c. p. 205). This writer also states that according to Hindoo
legend, the first man and woman were called "Adima and Heva," which is
certainly not the case. The "bridge of Adima" which he speaks of as
connecting the island of Ceylon with the mainland, is called "Rama's
bridge;" and the "Adam's footprints" are called "Buddha's footprints."
The Portuguese, who called the mountain _Pico d' Adama_ (Adam's Peak),
evidently invented these other names. (See Maurice's Hist. Hindostan,
vol. i. pp. 301, 362, and vol. ii. p. 242).
[13:4] See Smith's Bible Dic. Art. "Cherubim," and Lenormant's Beginning
of History, ch. iii.
[15:1] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 206-210, The Pentateuch
Examined, vol. iv. pp. 152, 153, and Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 38.
[15:2] Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 31.
[15:3] Quoted by Müller: The Science of Relig., p. 302.
[15:4] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 409.
[15:5] See Baring Gould's Legends of the Patriarchs; Squire's Serpent
Symbol, p. 161, and Wake's Phallism in Ancient Religions, p. 41.
[16:1] Quoted by Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 403.
[16:2] Tod's Hist. Raj., p. 581, quoted by Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i.
p. 404.
[16:3] L'Antiquité Expliquée, vol. i.
[17:1] Sir William Jones, the first president of the Royal Asiatic
Society, saw this when he said: "Either the first eleven chapters of
Genesis, all due allowance being made for a figurative Eastern style,
are _true_, or the whole fabric of our religion is false." (In Asiatic
Researches, vol. i. p. 225.) And so also did the learned Thomas Maurice,
for he says: "If the Mosaic History be indeed a fable, the whole fabric
of the national religion is false, since the main pillar of Christianity
rests upon that important original promise, that the seed of the woman
should bruise the head of the serpent." (Hist. Hindostan, vol. i. p.
20.)
[18:1] The above extracts are quoted by Bishop Colenso, in The
Pentateuch Examined, vol. ii. pp. 10-12, from which we take them.
[18:2] "_Cosmogony_" is the title of a volume lately written by Prof.
Thomas Mitchell, and published by the American News Co., in which the
author attacks all the modern scientists in regard to the geological
antiquity of the world, evolution, atheism, pantheism, &c. He
believes--and rightly too--that, "_if the account of Creation in Genesis
falls, Christ and the apostles follow: if the book of Genesis is
erroneous, so also are the Gospels_."
CHAPTER II.
THE DELUGE.[19:1]
After "man's shameful fall," the earth began to be populated at a very
rapid rate. "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were
fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. . . . . There
were _giants_ in the earth in those days,[19:2] and also . . . mighty
men . . . men of renown."
But these "giants" and "mighty men" were very wicked, "and God saw the
wickedness of man . . . _and it repented the Lord that he had made man
upon the earth_,[19:3] and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord
said; I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth,
both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air,
for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord (for) Noah was a just man . . . and walked with God.
. . . And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me,
for the earth is filled with violence through them, and, behold, I will
destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms
shalt thou make in the ark, (and) a window shalt thou make to the ark;
. . . . And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth,
to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven,
and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee shall I
establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy
sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives, with thee. And of every living
thing of all flesh, _two_ of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark,
to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls
after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping
thing of the earth after his kind, _two_ of every sort shall come in to
thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is
eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for
thee and for them. _Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded
him._"[20:1]
When the ark was finished, the Lord said unto Noah:
"Come thou and all thy house into the ark. . . . Of every clean
beast thou shalt take to thee by _sevens_, the male and his
female; and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and
his female. Of fowls also of the air by _sevens_, the male and
the female."[20:2]
Here, again, as in the Eden myth, there is a _contradiction_. We have
seen that the Lord told Noah to bring into the ark "of every living
thing, of all flesh, _two_ of _every sort_," and now that the ark is
finished, we are told that he said to him: "Of every clean beast thou
shalt take to thee by _sevens_," and, "of fowls also of the air by
_sevens_." This is owing to the story having been written by _two
different writers_--the Jehovistic, and the Elohistic--one of which took
from, and added to the narrative of the other.[20:3] The account goes on
to say, that:
"Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives
with him, into the ark. . . . Of _clean_ beasts, and of beasts
_that are not clean_, and of _fowls_, and of _every thing_
that creepeth upon the earth, there went in _two and two_,
unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, _as God had
commanded Noah_."[20:4]
We see, then, that Noah took into the ark _of all kinds_ of beasts, of
_fowls_, and of every thing that creepeth, _two of every sort_, and that
this was "_as God had commanded Noah_." This clearly shows that the
writer of these words knew nothing of the command to take in _clean
beasts_, and _fowls_ of the air, by _sevens_. We are further assured,
that, "_Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him_."
After Noah and his family, and every beast after his kind, and all the
cattle after their kind, the fowls of the air, and every creeping thing,
had entered the ark, the Lord shut them in. Then "were all the fountains
of the great deep broken up, _and the windows of heaven were opened_.
And the rain was upon the earth _forty days and forty nights_. . . . .
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the hills,
that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards
did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh
died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of
beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and
every man. And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in
the ark."[21:1] The object of the flood was now accomplished, "_all
flesh died that moved upon the earth_." The Lord, therefore, "made a
wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. The fountains of
the deep, and the windows of heaven, were stopped, and the rain from
heaven was restrained. And the waters decreased continually. . . . . And
it came to pass at the end of _forty days_, that Noah opened the window
of the ark, which he had made. And he sent forth a raven, which went
forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. He
also sent forth a dove, . . . but the dove found no rest for the sole of
her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark." . . .
At the end of _seven_ days he again "sent forth the dove out of the ark,
and the dove came in to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an
olive leaf, plucked off."
At the end of another _seven_ days, he again "sent forth the dove, which
returned not again to him any more."
And the ark rested in the _seventh_ month, on the seventeenth day of the
month, upon the mountains of Ararat. Then Noah and his wife, and his
sons, and his sons' wives, and every living thing that was in the ark,
went forth out of the ark. "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord,
. . . and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a
sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the
ground any more for man's sake."[21:2]
We shall now see that there is scarcely any considerable race of men
among whom there does not exist, in some form, the tradition of a great
deluge, which destroyed all the human race, except _their own_
progenitors.
The first of these which we shall notice, and the one with which the
Hebrew agrees most closely, having been copied from it,[22:1] is the
_Chaldean_, as given by Berosus, the Chaldean historian.[22:2] It is as
follows:
"After the death of Ardates (the ninth king of the Chaldeans),
his son _Xisuthrus_ reigned eighteen sari. In his time
happened a great _deluge_, the history of which is thus
described: The deity Cronos appeared to him (Xisuthrus) in a
vision, and warned him that upon the fifteenth day of the
month Desius there would be a flood, by which mankind would be
destroyed. He therefore enjoined him to write a history of the
beginning, procedure, and conclusion of all things, and to
bury it in the City of the Sun at Sippara; and to build a
vessel, and take with him into it his friends and relations,
and to convey on board everything necessary to sustain life,
together with all the different animals, both birds and
quadrupeds, and trust himself fearlessly to the deep. Having
asked the deity whither he was to sail, he was answered: 'To
the Gods;' upon which he offered up a prayer for the good of
mankind. He then obeyed the divine admonition, and built a
vessel five stadia in length, and two in breadth. Into this he
put everything which he had prepared, and last of all conveyed
into it his wife, his children, and his friends. After the
flood had been upon the earth, and was in time abated,
Xisuthrus sent out birds from the vessel; which not finding
any food, nor any place whereupon they might rest their feet,
returned to him again. After an interval of some days, he sent
them forth a second time; and they now returned with their
feet tinged with mud. He made a trial a third time with these
birds; but they returned to him no more: from whence he judged
that the surface of the earth had appeared above the waters.
He therefore made an opening in the vessel, and upon looking
out found that it was stranded upon the side of some mountain;
upon which he immediately quitted it with his wife, his
daughter, and the pilot. Xisuthrus then paid his adoration to
the earth, and, having constructed an altar, offered
sacrifices to the gods."[22:3]
This account, given by Berosus, which agrees in almost every particular
with that found in Genesis, and with that found by George Smith of the
British Museum on terra cotta tablets in Assyria, is nevertheless
different in some respects. But, says Mr. Smith:
"When we 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 color them in
accordance with its own ideas, and stress would naturally in
each case be laid upon points with which they were familiar.
Thus we should expect beforehand that there would be
differences in the narrative such as we actually find, and we
may also notice that the cuneiform account does not always
coincide even with the account of the same events given by
Berosus from Chaldean sources."[23:1]
The most important points are the same however, _i. e._, _in both cases_
the virtuous man is informed by the Lord that a flood is about to take
place, which would destroy mankind. _In both cases_ they are commanded
to build a vessel or ark, to enter it with their families, and to take
in beasts, birds, and everything that creepeth, also to provide
themselves with food. _In both cases_ they send out a bird from the ark
_three times_--the third time it failed to return. _In both cases_ they
land on a mountain, and upon leaving the ark they offer up a sacrifice
to the gods. Xisuthrus was the tenth king,[23:2] and Noah the tenth
patriarch.[23:3] Xisuthrus had three sons (Zerovanos, Titan and
Japetosthes),[23:4] and Noah had three sons (Shem, Ham and
Japhet).[23:5]
As Cory remarks in his "Ancient Fragments," the history of the flood, as
given by Berosus, so remarkably corresponds with the Biblical account of
the Noachian Deluge, that no one can doubt that both proceeded from one
source--they are evidently transcriptions, except the names, from some
ancient document.[23:6]
This legend became known to the Jews from Chaldean sources,[23:7] it was
not known in the country (Egypt) out of which they evidently came.[23:8]
Egyptian history, it is said, had gone on uninterrupted for ten
thousand years before the time assigned for the birth of Jesus.[24:1]
And it is known as absolute fact that the land of Egypt was never
visited by other than its annual beneficent overflow of the river
Nile.[24:2] The Egyptian Bible, _which is by far the most ancient of all
holy books[24:3], knew nothing of the Deluge_.[24:4] The Phra (or
Pharaoh) Khoufou-Cheops was building his pyramid, according to Egyptian
chronicle, when the whole world was under the waters of a universal
deluge, according to the Hebrew chronicle.[24:5] A number of other
nations of antiquity are found destitute of any story of a flood,[24:6]
which they certainly would have had if a universal deluge had ever
happened. Whether this legend is of high antiquity in India has even
been doubted by distinguished scholars.[24:7]
The _Hindoo_ legend of the Deluge is as follows:
"Many ages after the creation of the world, Brahma resolved to
destroy it with a deluge, on account of the wickedness of the
people. There lived at that time a pious man named
_Satyavrata_, and as the lord of the universe loved this pious
man, and wished to preserve him from the sea of destruction
which was to appear on account of the depravity of the age, he
appeared before him in the form of _Vishnu_ (the Preserver)
and said: In _seven_ days from the present time . . . the
worlds will be plunged in an ocean of death, but in the midst
of the destroying waves, a large vessel, sent by me for thy
use, shall stand before thee. Then shalt thou take all
medicinal herbs, all the variety of feeds, and, accompanied by
_seven_ saints, encircled by _pairs_ of all brute animals,
thou shalt enter the spacious ark, and continue in it, secure
from the flood, on one immense ocean without light, except the
radiance of thy holy companions. When the ship shall be
agitated by an impetuous wind, thou shalt fasten it with a
large sea-serpent on my horn; for I will be near thee (in
the form of a fish), drawing the vessel, with thee and thy
attendants. I will remain on the ocean, O chief of men, until
a night of _Brahma_ shall be completely ended. Thou shalt then
know my true greatness, rightly named the Supreme Godhead; by
my favor, all thy questions shall be answered, and thy mind
abundantly instructed."
Being thus directed, Satyavrata humbly waited for the time which the
ruler of our senses had appointed. It was not long, however, before the
sea, overwhelming its shores, began to deluge the whole earth, and it
was soon perceived to be augmented by showers from immense clouds. He,
still meditating on the commands of the Lord, saw a vessel advancing,
and entered it with the saints, after having carried into effect the
instructions which had been given him.
_Vishnu_ then appeared before them, in the form of a fish, as he had
said, and Satyavrata fastened a cable to his horn.
The deluge in time abated, and Satyavrata, instructed in all divine and
human knowledge, was appointed, by the favor of _Vishnu_, the Seventh
Menu. After coming forth from the ark he offers up a sacrifice to
Brahma.[25:1]
The ancient temples of Hindostan contain representations of Vishnu
sustaining the earth while overwhelmed by the waters of the deluge. _A
rainbow is seen on the surface of the subsiding waters._[25:2]
The _Chinese_ believe the earth to have been at one time covered with
water, which they described as flowing abundantly and then subsiding.
This great flood divided the higher from the lower age of man. It
happened during the reign of Yaou. This inundation, which is termed
_hung-shwuy_ (great water), almost ruined the country, and is spoken of
by Chinese writers with sentiments of horror. The _Shoo-King_, one of
their sacred books, describes the waters as reaching to the tops of some
of the mountains, covering the hills, and expanding as wide as the vault
of heaven.[25:3]
The _Parsees_ say that by the temptation of the evil spirit men became
wicked, and God destroyed them with a deluge, except a few, from whom
the world was peopled anew.[25:4]
In the _Zend-Avesta_, the oldest sacred book of the Persians, of whom
the Parsees are direct descendants, there are sixteen countries spoken
of as having been given by Ormuzd, the Good Deity, for the Aryans to
live in; and these countries are described as a land of delight, which
was turned by Ahriman, the Evil Deity, into a land of death and cold,
partly, it is said, by a great flood, which is described as being like
Noah's flood recorded in the Book of Genesis.[26:1]
The ancient _Greeks_ had records of a flood which destroyed nearly the
whole human race.[26:2] The story is as follows:
"From his throne in the high Olympos, Zeus looked down on the
children of men, and saw that everywhere they followed only
their lusts, and cared nothing for right or for law. And ever,
as their hearts waxed grosser in their wickedness, they
devised for themselves new rites to appease the anger of the
gods, till the whole earth was filled with blood. Far away in
the hidden glens of the Arcadian hills the sons of Lykaon
feasted and spake proud words against the majesty of Zeus, and
Zeus himself came down from his throne to see their way and
their doings. . . . Then Zeus returned to his home on Olympos,
and he gave the word that a flood of waters should be let
loose upon the earth, that the sons of men might die for their
great wickedness. So the west wind rose in its might, and the
dark rain-clouds veiled the whole heaven, for the winds of the
north which drive away the mists and vapors were shut up in
their prison house. On hill and valley burst the merciless
rain, and the rivers, loosened from their courses, rushed over
the whole plains and up the mountain-side. From his home on
the highlands of Phthia, Deukalion looked forth on the angry
sky, and, when he saw the waters swelling in the valleys
beneath, he called Pyrrha, his wife, and said to her: 'The
time has come of which my father, the wise Prometheus,
forewarned me. Make ready, therefore, the ark which I have
built, and place in it all that we may need for food while the
flood of waters is out upon the earth.' . . . Then Pyrrha
hastened to make all things ready, and they waited till the
waters rose up to the highlands of Phthia and floated away the
ark of Deukalion. The fishes swam amidst the old elm-groves,
and twined amongst the gnarled boughs on the oaks, while on
the face of the waters were tossed the bodies of men; and
Deukalion looked on the dead faces of stalwart warriors, of
maidens, and of babes, as they rose and fell upon the heavy
waves."
When the flood began to abate, the ark rested on Mount Parnassus, and
Deucalion, with his wife Pyrrha, stepped forth upon the desolate earth.
They then immediately constructed an altar, and offered up thanks to
Zeus, the mighty being who sent the flood and saved them from its
waters.[26:3]
According to Ovid (a Grecian writer born 43 B. C.), Deucalion does not
venture out of the ark until a dove which he sent out returns to him
with an olive branch.[26:4]
It was at one time extensively believed, even by intelligent scholars,
that the myth of Deucalion was a corrupted tradition of the Noachian
deluge, _but this untenable opinion is now all but universally
abandoned_.[27:1]
The legend was found in the West among the Kelts. They believed that a
great deluge overwhelmed the world and drowned all men except Drayan and
Droyvach, who escaped in a boat, and colonized Britain. This boat was
supposed to have been built by the "Heavenly Lord," and it received into
it a pair of every kind of beasts.[27:2]
The ancient _Scandinavians_ had their legend of a deluge. The _Edda_
describes this deluge, from which only one man escapes, with his family,
by means of a bark.[27:3] It was also found among the ancient Mexicans.
They believed that a man named Coxcox, and his wife, survived the
deluge. Lord Kingsborough, speaking of this legend,[27:4] informs us
that the person who answered to Noah entered the ark with six others;
and that the story of sending birds out of the ark, &c., is the same in
general character with that of the Bible.
* * * * *
Dr. Brinton also speaks of the _Mexican_ tradition.[27:5] They had not
only the story of sending out the _bird_, but related that the ark
landed _on a mountain_. The tradition of a deluge was also found among
the Brazilians, and among many Indian tribes.[27:6] The mountain upon
which the ark is supposed to have rested, was pointed to by the
residents in nearly every quarter of the globe. The mountain-chain of
Ararat was considered to be--by the _Chaldeans_ and _Hebrews_--the place
where the ark landed. The _Greeks_ pointed to Mount Parnassus; the
_Hindoos_ to the Himalayas; and in Armenia numberless heights were
pointed out with becoming reverence, as those on which the few survivors
of the dreadful scenes of the deluge were preserved. On the Red River
(in America), near the village of the Caddoes, there was an eminence to
which the Indian tribes for a great distance around paid devout homage.
The Cerro Naztarny on the Rio Grande, the peak of Old Zuni in New
Mexico, that of Colhuacan on the Pacific coast, Mount Apoala in Upper
Mixteca, and Mount Neba in the province of Guaymi, are some of many
elevations asserted by the neighboring nations to have been places of
refuge for their ancestors when the fountains of the great deep broke
forth.
The question now may naturally be asked, How could such a story have
originated unless there was some foundation for it?
In answer to this question we will say that we do not think such a story
could have originated without some foundation for it, and that most, if
not all, legends, have a basis of truth underlying the fabulous,
although not always discernible. This story may have an _astronomical_
basis, as some suppose,[28:1] or it may not. At any rate, it would be
very easy to transmit by memory the fact of the _sinking_ of _an
island_, or that of _an earthquake_, or a _great flood_, caused by
overflows of rivers, &c., which, in the course of time, would be added
to, and enlarged upon, and, in this way, made into quite a lengthy tale.
According to one of the most ancient accounts of the deluge, we are told
that at that time "the forest trees were dashed against each other;"
"the mountains were involved with smoke and flame;" that there was
"fire, and smoke, and wind, which ascended in thick clouds replete with
lightning." "The roaring of the ocean, whilst violently agitated with
the whirling of the mountains, was like the bellowing of a mighty cloud,
&c."[28:2]
A violent earthquake, with eruptions from volcanic mountains, and the
sinking of land into the sea, would evidently produce such a scene as
this. We know that at one period in the earth's history, such scenes
must have been of frequent occurrence. The science of geology
demonstrates this fact to us. _Local deluges_ were of frequent
occurrence, and that some persons may have been saved on one, or perhaps
many, such occasions, by means of a raft or boat, and that they may have
sought refuge on an eminence, or mountain, does not seem at all
improbable.
During the _Champlain_ period in the history of the world--which came
after the _Glacial_ period--the climate became warmer, _the continents
sank_, and there were, consequently, continued _local floods_ which must
have destroyed considerable animal life, including man. The foundation
of the deluge myth may have been laid at this time.
Some may suppose that this is dating the history of man too far back,
making his history too remote; but such is not the case. There is every
reason to believe that man existed for ages _before the Glacial epoch_.
It must not be supposed that we have yet found remains of the earliest
human beings; there is evidence, however, that man existed during the
_Pliocene_, if not during the _Miocene_ periods, when hoofed quadrupeds,
and Proboscidians abounded, human remains and implements having been
found mingled with remains of these animals.[29:1]
Charles Darwin believed that the animal called man, might have been
properly called by that name at an epoch as remote as the _Eocene_
period.[29:2] Man had probably lost his hairy covering by that time, and
had begun to look human.
Prof. Draper, speaking of the antiquity of man, says:
"So far as investigations have gone, they _indisputably_ refer
the existence of man to a date remote from us by many
_hundreds of thousands of years_," and that, "it is difficult
to assign a shorter date from the last glaciation of Europe
than a quarter of a million of years, _and human existence
antedates that_."[29:3]
Again he says:
"Recent researches give reason to believe that, under low and
base grades, the existence of man can be traced back into the
_Tertiary_ times. He was contemporary with the Southern
Elephant, the Rhinoceros-leptorhinus, the great Hippopotamus,
perhaps even in the _Miocene_, contemporary with the
Mastodon."[29:4]
Prof. Huxley closes his "Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature," by
saying:
"Where must we look for primeval man? Was the oldest _Homo
Sapiens_ Pliocene or Miocene, _or yet more ancient_? . . .
If any form of the doctrine of progressive development is
correct, _we must extend by long epochs the most liberal
estimate that has yet been made of the antiquity of
man_."[30:1]
Prof. Oscar Paschel, in his work on "Mankind," speaking of the deposits
of human remains which have been discovered in caves, mingled with the
bones of wild animals, says:
"The examination of one of these caves at Brixham, by a
geologist as trustworthy as Dr. Falconer, convinced the
specialists of Great Britain, as early as 1858, that man was a
contemporary of the Mammoth, the Woolly Rhinoceros, the
Cave-lion, the Cave-hyena, the Cave-bear, _and therefore of
the Mammalia of the Geological period antecedent to our
own_."[30:2]
The positive evidence of man's existence during the _Tertiary_ period,
are facts which must firmly convince every one--who is willing to be
convinced--of _the great antiquity of man_. We might multiply our
authorities, but deem it unnecessary.
The observation of shells, corals, and other remains of _aquatic
animals_, in places above the level of the sea, and even on high
mountains, may have given rise to legends of a great flood.
Fossils found imbedded in high ground have been appealed to, both in
ancient and modern times, both by savage and civilized man, as evidence
in support of their traditions of a flood; and, moreover, the argument,
apparently unconnected with any tradition, is to be found, that because
there are marine fossils in places away from the sea, _therefore the sea
must once have been there_.
It is only quite recently that the presence of fossil shells, &c., on
high mountains, has been abandoned as evidence of the Noachic flood.
Mr. Tylor tells us that in the ninth edition of "Horne's Introduction to
the Scriptures," published in 1846, the evidence of fossils _is
confidently held to prove_ the universality of the Deluge; _but the
argument disappears from the next edition, published ten years
later_.[30:3]
Besides fossil remains of aquatic animals, _boats_ have been found on
tops of mountains.[30:4] A discovery of this kind may have given rise to
the story of an _ark_ having been made in which to preserve the favored
ones from the waters, and of its landing on a mountain.[30:5]
Before closing this chapter, it may be well to notice a striking
incident in the legend we have been treating, _i. e._, the frequent
occurrence of the number _seven_ in the narrative. For instance: the
Lord commands Noah to take into the ark clean beasts by _sevens_, and
fowls also by _sevens_, and tells him that in _seven_ days he will cause
it to rain upon the earth. We are also told that the ark rested in the
_seventh_ month, and the _seven_teenth day of the month, upon the
mountains of Ararat. After sending the dove out of the ark the first
time, Noah waited _seven_ days before sending it out again. After
sending the dove out the second time, "he stayed yet another _seven_
days" ere he again sent forth the dove.
_This coincidence arises from the mystic power attached to the number
seven, derived from its frequent occurrence in astrology._
We find that in _all religions_ of antiquity the number _seven_--which
applied to the _sun_, _moon_ and the _five planets_ known to the
ancients--is a _sacred number_, represented in all kinds and sorts of
forms;[31:1] for instance: The candlestick with _seven_ branches in the
temple of Jerusalem. The _seven_ inclosures of the temple. The _seven_
doors of the cave of Mithras. The _seven_ stories of the tower of
Babylon.[31:2] The _seven_ gates of Thebes.[31:3] The flute of _seven_
pipes generally put into the hand of the god Pan. The lyre of _seven_
strings touched by Apollo. The book of "Fate," composed of _seven_
books. The _seven_ prophetic rings of the Brahmans.[31:4] The _seven_
stones--consecrated to the _seven_ planets--in Laconia.[31:5] The
division into _seven_ castes adopted by the Egyptians and Indians. The
_seven_ idols of the Bonzes. The _seven_ altars of the monument of
Mithras. The _seven_ great spirits invoked by the Persians. The _seven_
archangels of the Chaldeans. The _seven_ archangels of the Jews.[31:6]
The _seven_ days in the week.[32:1] The _seven_ sacraments of the
Christians. The _seven_ wicked spirits of the Babylonians. The
sprinkling of blood _seven_ times upon the altars of the Egyptians. The
_seven_ mortal sins of the Egyptians. The hymn of _seven_ vowels chanted
by the Egyptian priests.[32:2] The _seven_ branches of the Assyrian
"Tree of Life." Agni, the Hindoo god, is represented with _seven_ arms.
Sura's[32:3] horse was represented with _seven_ heads. _Seven_ churches
are spoken of in the Apocalypse. Balaam builded _seven_ altars, and
offered _seven_ bullocks and _seven_ rams on each altar. Pharaoh saw
_seven_ kine, &c., in his dream. The "Priest of Midian" had _seven_
daughters. Jacob served _seven_ years. Before Jericho _seven_ priests
bare _seven_ horns. Samson was bound with _seven_ green withes, and his
marriage feast lasted _seven_ days, &c., &c. We might continue with as
much more, but enough has been shown to verify the statement that, "in
all religions of antiquity, the number SEVEN is a _sacred_ number."
FOOTNOTES:
[19:1] See "The Deluge in the Light of Modern Science," by Prof. Wm.
Denton: J. P. Mendum, Boston.
[19:2] "There were _giants_ in the earth in those days." It is a
scientific fact that most races of men, in former ages, instead of being
_larger_, were _smaller_ than at the present time. There is hardly a
suit of armor in the Tower of London, or in the old castles, that is
large enough for the average Englishman of to-day to put on. Man has
grown in stature as well as intellect, and there is no proof
whatever--in fact, the opposite is certain--that there ever was a race
of what might properly be called _giants_, inhabiting the earth. Fossil
remains of large animals having been found by primitive man, _and a
legend invented to account for them_, it would naturally be that: "There
were giants in the earth in those days." As an illustration we may
mention the story, recorded by the traveller James Orton, we believe (in
"The Andes and the Amazon"), that, near Punin, in South America, was
found the remains of an extinct species of the horse, the mastodon, and
other large animals. This discovery was made, owing to the assurance of
the natives that _giants_ at one time had lived in that country, _and
that they had seen their remains at this certain place_. Many legends
have had a similar origin. But the originals of all the _Ogres_ and
_Giants_ to be found in the mythology of almost all nations of
antiquity, are the famous Hindoo demons, the _Rakshasas_ of our Aryan
ancestors. The Rakshasas were very terrible creatures indeed, and in the
minds of many people, in India, are so still. Their natural form, so the
stories say, is that of huge, unshapely _giants_, like _clouds_, with
hair and beard of the color of the _red lightning_. This description
explains their origin. _They are the dark, wicked and cruel clouds_,
personified.
[19:3] "And it _repented_ the Lord that he had made man." (Gen. iv.)
"God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that _he
should repent_." (Numb. xxiii. 19.)
[20:1] Gen. iv.
[20:2] Gen. vi. 1-3.
[20:3] See chapter xi.
[20:4] The image of Osiris of Egypt was by the priests shut up in a
sacred ark on the 17th of Athyr (Nov. 13th), the very day and month on
which Noah is said to have entered his ark, (See Bonwick's Egyptian
Belief, p. 165, and Bunsen's Angel Messiah, p. 22.)
[21:1] Gen. vi.
[21:2] Gen. viii.
[22:1] See chapter xi.
[22:2] Josephus, the Jewish historian, speaking of the flood of Noah
(Antiq. bk. 1, ch. iii.), says: "All the writers of the Babylonian
histories make mention of _this_ flood and this ark."
[22:3] Quoted by George Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 43-44;
see also, The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 211; Dunlap's Spirit
Hist. p. 138; Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 61, et seq. for similar
accounts.
[23:1] Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 285, 286.
[23:2] Volney: New Researches, p. 119; Chaldean Acct. of Genesis, p.
290; Hist. Hindostan, vol. i. p. 417, and Dunlap's Spirit Hist. p. 277.
[23:3] Ibid.
[23:4] Legends of the Patriarchs, pp. 109, 110.
[23:5] Gen. vi. 8.
[23:6] The Hindoo ark-preserved Menu had _three_ sons; Sama, Cama, and
Pra-Japati. (Faber: Orig. Pagan Idol.) The Bhattias, who live between
Delli and the Panjab, insist that they are descended from a certain king
called Salivahana, who had three sons, Bhat, Maha and Thamaz. (Col.
Wilford, in vol. ix. Asiatic Researches.) The Iranian hero Thraetona had
_three_ sons. The Iranian Sethite Lamech had _three_ sons, and Hellen,
the son of Deucalion, during whose time the flood is said to have
happened, had _three_ sons. (Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, pp. 70, 71.) All
the ancient nations of Europe also describe their origin from the
_three_ sons of some king or patriarch. The Germans said that Mannus
(son of the god Tuisco) had _three_ sons, who were the original
ancestors of the three principal nations of Germany. The Scythians said
that Targytagus, the founder of their nation, had _three_ sons, from
whom they were descended. A tradition among the Romans was that the
Cyclop Polyphemus had by Galatea _three_ sons. Saturn had _three_ sons,
Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; and Hesiod speaks of the _three_ sons which
sprung from the marriage of heaven and earth. (See Mallet's Northern
Antiquities, p. 509.)
[23:7] See chap. xi.
[23:8] "It is of no slight moment that the Egyptians, with whom the
Hebrews are represented as in earliest and closest intercourse, had no
traditions of a flood, while the Babylonian and Hellenic tales bear a
strong resemblance in many points to the narrative in Genesis." (Rev.
George W. Cox: Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 340. See also Owen: Man's
Earliest History, p. 28, and ch. xi. this work.)
[24:1] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 198, and Knight's Ancient Art and
Mythology, p. 107. "Plato was told that Egypt had hymns dating back ten
thousand years before his time." (Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 185.)
Plato lived 429 B. C. Herodotus relates that the priests of Egypt
informed him that from the first king to the present priest of Vulcan
who last reigned, were three hundred forty and one generations of men,
and during these generations there were the same number of chief priests
and kings. "Now (says he) three hundred generations are equal to ten
thousand years, for three generations of men are one hundred years; and
the forty-one remaining generations that were over the three hundred,
make one thousand three hundred and forty years," making _eleven
thousand three hundred and forty years_. "Conducting me into the
interior of an edifice that was spacious, and showing me wooden
colossuses to the number I have mentioned, they reckoned them up; for
every high priest places an image of himself there during his life-time;
the priests, therefore, reckoning them and showing them to me, pointed
out that each was the son of his own father; going through them all,
from the image of him who died last until they had pointed them all
out." (Herodotus, book ii. chs. 142, 143.) The discovery of mummies of
royal and priestly personages, made at Deir-el-Bahari (Aug., 1881), near
Thebes, in Egypt, would seem to confirm this statement made by
Herodotus. Of the thirty-nine mummies discovered, one--that of King
Raskenen--is about three thousand seven hundred years old. (See a Cairo
[Aug. 8th,] Letter to the London Times.)
[24:2] Owen: Man's Earliest History, p. 28.
[24:3] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 185.
[24:4] Ibid. p. 411.
[24:5] Owen: Man's Earliest History, pp. 27, 28.
[24:6] Goldzhier: Hebrew Mytho. p. 319.
[24:7] Ibid. p. 320.
[25:1] Translated from the _Bhagavat_ by Sir Wm. Jones, and published in
the first volume of the "Asiatic Researches," p. 230, _et seq._ See also
Maurice: Ind. Ant. ii. 277, _et seq._, and Prof. Max Müller's Hist.
Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 425, _et seq._
[25:2] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 55.
[25:3] See Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. p. 30, Prog. Relig. Ideas,
vol. i. p. 205, and Priestley, p. 41.
[25:4] Priestley, p. 42.
[26:1] Bunce: Fairy Tales, Origin and Meaning, p. 18.
[26:2] The _oldest_ Greek mythology, however, has no such idea; it
cannot be proved to have been known to the Greeks earlier than the 6th
century B. C. (See Goldzhier: Hebrew Mytho., p. 319.) This could not
have been the case had there ever been a _universal_ deluge.
[26:3] Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. 72-74. "Apollodorus--a Grecian
mythologist, born 140 B. C.,--having mentioned Deucalion consigned to
the ark, takes notice, upon his quitting it, of his offering up an
immediate sacrifice to God." (Chambers' Encyclo., art, _Deluge_.)
[26:4] In Lundy's Monumental Christianity (p. 209, Fig. 137) may be seen
a representation of Deucalion and Pyrrha landing from the ark. _A dove
and olive branch_ are depicted in the scene.
[27:1] Chambers' Encyclo., art. Deucalion.
[27:2] Baring-Gould: Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 114. See also Myths
of the British Druids, p. 95.
[27:3] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 99.
[27:4] Mex. Antiq. vol. viii.
[27:5] Myths of the New World, pp. 203, 204.
[27:6] See Squire: Serpent Symbol, pp. 189, 190.
[28:1] Count de Volney says: "The Deluge mentioned by Jews, Chaldeans,
Greeks and Indians, as having destroyed the world, are one and the same
_physico-astronomical event_ which is still repeated every year," and
that "all those personages that figure in the Deluge of Noah and
Xisuthrus, are still in the celestial sphere. It was a real picture of
the calendar." (Researches in Ancient Hist., p. 124.) It was on the same
day that Noah is said to have shut himself up in the ark, that the
priests of Egypt shut up in their sacred coffer or ark the image of
Osiris, a personification of the Sun. This was on the 17th of the month
Athor, in which the Sun enters the Scorpion. (See Kenrick's Egypt, vol.
i. p. 410.) The history of Noah also corresponds, in some respects, with
that of Bacchus, another personification of the Sun.
[28:2] See Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 268.
[29:1] "In America, along with the bones of the _Mastodon_ imbedded in
the alluvium of the Bourbense, were found arrow heads and other traces
of the savages who had killed this member of an order no longer
represented in that part of the world." (Herbert Spencer: Principles of
Sociology, vol. i. p. 17.)
[29:2] Darwin: Descent of Man, p. 156. We think it may not be out of
place to insert here what might properly be called: "_The Drama of
Life_," which is as follows:
Act i. Azoic: Conflict of Inorganic Forces.
Act ii. Paleozoic: Age of Invertebrates.
{ Scene i. Eozoic: Enter Protozoans and Protophytes.
{ " ii. Silurian: Enter the Army of Invertebrates.
Primary { " iii. Devonian: Enter Fishes.
{ " iv. Carboniferous: (Age of Coal Plants) Enter
First _Air_ breathers.
Act iii. Mesozoic: Enter Reptiles.
{ Scene i. Triassic: Enter Batrachians.
Secondary { " 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_.
Tertiary { " ii. Miocene: Enter Hoofed Quadrupeds.
{ " iii. Pliocene: Enter Proboscidians and Edentates.
Act v. Post Tertiary: _Positive_ Age of Man.
{ Scene i. Glacial: Ice and Drift Periods.
{ " ii. Champlain: _Sinking Continents_; Warmer;
{ Tropical Animals go _North_.
Post Tertiary { " iii. Terrace: Rising Continents; Colder.
{ " iv. Present: Enter Science, Iconoclasts, &c., &c.
[29:3] Draper: Religion and Science, p. 199.
[29:4] Ibid. pp. 195, 196.
[30:1] Huxley: Man's Place in Nature, p. 184.
[30:2] Paschel: Races of Man, p. 36.
[30:3] Tylor: Early History of Mankind, p. 328.
[30:4] Ibid. pp. 329, 330
[30:5] We know that many legends have originated in this way. For
example, Dr. Robinson, in his "Travels in Palestine" (ii. 586), mentions
a tradition that a city had once stood in a desert between Petra and
Hebron, the people of which had perished for their vices, and been
converted into stone. Mr. Seetzen, who went to the spot, found no traces
of ruins, but a number of stony concretions, resembling in form and size
the human head. _They had been ignorantly supposed to be petrified
heads, and a legend framed to account for their owners suffering so
terrible a fate._ Another illustration is as follows:--The Kamchadals
believe that volcanic mountains are the abode of devils, who, after they
have cooked their meals, fling the fire-brands out of the chimney. Being
asked what these devils eat, they said "_whales_." Here we see, _first_,
a story invented to account for the volcanic eruptions from the
mountains; and, _second_, a story invented to account for the _remains
of whales found on the mountains_. The savages _knew_ that this was
true, "because their old people had said so, and believed it
themselves." (Related by Mr. Tylor, in his "_Early History of Mankind_,"
p. 326.)
[31:1] "Everything of importance was calculated by, and fitted into,
this number (SEVEN) by the Aryan philosophers,--ideas as well as
localities." (Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 407).
[31:2] Each one being consecrated to a _planet_. First, to Saturn;
second, to Jupiter; third, to Mars; fourth, to the Sun; fifth, to Venus;
sixth, to Mercury; seventh, to the Moon. (The Pentateuch Examined, vol.
iv. p. 269. See also The Angel Messiah, p. 106.)
[31:3] Each of which had the name of a _planet_.
[31:4] On each of which the name of a _planet_ was engraved.
[31:5] "There was to be seen in Laconia, _seven_ columns erected in
honor of the _seven planets_." (Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p.
34.)
[31:6] "The Jews believed that the Throne of Jehovah was surrounded by
his _seven_ high chiefs: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, &c." (Bible
for Learners, vol. iii. p. 46.)
[32:1] Each one being consecrated to a planet, and the Sun and Moon.
Sunday, "_Dies Solis_," sacred to the SUN. Monday, "Dies Lunae," sacred
to the MOON. Tuesday, sacred to Tuiso or MARS. Wednesday, sacred to Odin
or Woden, and to MERCURY. Thursday, sacred to Thor and others. Friday,
sacred to Freia and VENUS. Saturday, sacred to SATURN. "The (ancient)
Egyptians assigned a day of the week to the SUN, MOON, and five planets,
and the number SEVEN was held there in great reverence." (Kenrick:
Egypt, i. 238.)
[32:2] "The Egyptian priests chanted the _seven_ vowels as a hymn
addressed to _Serapis_." (The Rosicrucians, p. 143.)
[32:3] _Sura_: the Sun-god of the Hindoos.
CHAPTER III.
THE TOWER OF BABEL.
We are informed that, at one time, "the whole earth was of one language,
and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they (the inhabitants of the
earth) journeyed from the East, that they found a plain in the land of
Shinar, and they dwelt there.
"And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them
thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, _whose top
may reach unto heaven_, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth. _And the Lord came down to see
the city and the tower_, which the children of men builded. And the Lord
said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and
this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them,
which they have imagined to do. Go to, _let us go down_, and there
confound their language, that they may not understand one another's
speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of
all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the
name of it called _Babel_, because the Lord did there confound the
language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them
abroad upon the face of all the earth."[33:1]
Such is the "Scripture" account of the origin of languages, which
differs somewhat from the ideas of Prof. Max Müller and other
philologists.
Bishop Colenso tells us that:
"The story of the dispensation of tongues is connected by the
Jehovistic writer with the famous unfinished temple of
_Belus_, of which probably some wonderful reports had reached
him. . . . The derivation of the name _Babel_ from the Hebrew
word _babal_ (confound) which seems to be the connecting point
between the story and the tower of Babel, _is altogether
incorrect_."[33:2]
The literal meaning of the word being _house_, or _court_, or _gate_ of
Bel, or gate of God.[34:1]
John Fiske confirms this statement by saying:
"The name '_Babel_' is really '_Bab-il_', or '_The Gate of
God_'; but the Hebrew writer _erroneously_ derives the word
from the root '_babal_'--to confuse--and hence arises the
_mystical explanation_, that Babel was a place where human
speech became confused."[34:2]
The "wonderful reports" that reached the Jehovistic writer who inserted
this tale into the Hebrew Scriptures, were from the Chaldean account of
the confusion of tongues. It is related by _Berosus_ as follows:
The first inhabitants of the earth, glorying in their strength and
size,[34:3] and despising the gods, undertook to raise a tower whose top
should reach the sky, in the place where Babylon now stands. But when it
approached the heavens, the winds assisted the gods, and overthrew the
work of the contrivers, and also introduced a diversity of tongues among
men, who till that time had all spoken the same language. The ruins of
this tower are said to be still in Babylon.[34:4]
Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that it was _Nimrod_ who built the
tower, that he was a very wicked man, and that the tower was built in
case the Lord should have a mind to drown the world again. He continues
his account by saying that when Nimrod proposed the building of this
tower, the multitude were very ready to follow the proposition, as they
could then avenge themselves on God for destroying their forefathers.