Now, this so-called monogram of Christ, like everything else called
Christian, is of Pagan origin. It was the monogram of the Egyptian
Saviour, Osiris, and also of Jupiter Ammon.[350:2] As M. Basnage remarks
in his _Hist. de Juif_:[350:3]
"Nothing can be more opposite to Jesus Christ, than the Oracle
of _Jupiter Ammon_. And yet the _same cipher_ served the false
god as well as the true one; for we see a medal of Ptolemy,
King of Cyrene, having an eagle carrying a thunderbolt, _with
the monogram of Christ to signify the Oracle of Jupiter
Ammon_."
Rev. J. P. Lundy says:
"Even the P.X., which I had thought to be exclusively
Christian, are to be found in combination thus: [Symbol: PX]
(just as the early Christians used it), on coins of the
Ptolemies, and on those of Herod the Great, struck forty years
before our era, together with this other form, so often seen
on the early Christian monuments, viz.: [Symbol: P with
horizontal cross-bar]."[350:4]
This monogram is also to be found on the coins of Decius, a Pagan Roman
emperor, who ruled during the commencement of the third century.[350:5]
Another form of the same monogram is [Symbol: X over H] and X H. The
monogram of the _Sun_ was [Symbol: Y with superimposed circle]. P. H.
All these are now called monograms of Christ, and are to be met with in
great numbers in almost every church in Italy.[351:1] The monogram of
Mercury was a cross.[351:2] The monogram of the Egyptian Taut was formed
by three crosses.[351:3] The monogram of Saturn was a cross and a ram's
horn; it was also a monogram of Jupiter.[351:4] The monogram of Venus
was a cross and a circle.[351:5] The monogram of the Phenician Astarte,
and the Babylonian Bal, was also a cross and a circle.[351:6] It was
also that of Freya, Holda, and Aphrodite.[351:7] Its true significance
was the Linga and Yoni.
The cross, which was so universally adored, in its different forms among
heathen nations, was intended as an emblem or symbol of the _Sun_, of
_eternal life_, the _generative powers_, &c.[351:8]
As with the cross, and the X. P., so likewise with many other so-called
Christian symbols--they are borrowed from Paganism. Among these may be
mentioned the mystical three letters I. H. S., to this day retained in
some of our Protestant, as well as Roman Catholic churches, and falsely
supposed to stand for "_Jesu Hominium Salvator_," or "In Hoc Signo." It
is none other than the identical monogram of the heathen god
_Bacchus_,[351:9] and was to be seen on the coins of the Maharajah of
_Cashmere_.[351:10] Dr. Inman says:
"For a long period I. H. S., I. E. E. S., was a monogram of
Bacchus; letters now adopted by Romanists. _Hesus_ was an old
divinity of Gaul, possibly left by the Phenicians. We have the
same I. H. S. in _Jazabel_, and reproduced in our _Isabel_.
The idea connected with the word is '_Phallic
Vigor_.'"[351:11]
The TRIANGLE, which is to be seen at the present day in Christian
churches as an emblem of the "Ever-blessed Trinity," is also of Pagan
origin, and was used by them for the same purpose.
Among the numerous symbols, the Triangle is conspicuous in _India_.
Hindoos attached a mystic signification to its _three_ sides, and
generally placed it in their temples. It was often composed of lotus
plants, with an eye in the center.[351:12] It was sometimes represented
in connection with the mystical word AUM[351:13] (Fig. No. 31), and
sometimes surrounded with rays of glory.[351:14]
This symbol was engraved upon the tablet of the ring which the religious
chief, called the _Brahm-âtma_ wore, as one of the signs of his
dignity, and it was used by the Buddhists as emblematic of the
Trinity.[352:1]
The ancient _Egyptians_ signified their divine _Triad_ by a single
_Triangle_.[352:2]
Mr. Bonwick says:
"The _Triangle_ was a religious form from the first. It is to
be recognized in the Obelisk and Pyramid (of Egypt). To this
day, in some Christian churches, the priest's blessing is
given as it was in Egypt, by the sign of a triangle; viz.: two
fingers and a thumb. An Egyptian god is seen with a triangle
over his shoulders. This figure, in ancient Egyptian theology,
was the type of the Holy Trinity--three in one."[352:3]
And Dr. Inman says:
"The Triangle is a sacred symbol in our modern churches, and
it was the sign used in ancient temples before the initiated,
to indicate the Trinity--three persons 'co-eternal together,
and co-equal.'"[352:4]
The Triangle is found on ancient Greek monuments.[352:5] An ancient seal
(engraved in the Mémoires de l'Académie royale des Inscriptions et
Belles Lettres), supposed to be of Phenician origin, "has as subject a
standing figure between two stars, beneath which are handled crosses.
Above the head of the deity is the TRIANGLE, or symbol of the
Trinity."[352:6]
[Illustration: Fig. No. 31]
One of the most conspicuous among the symbols intended to represent the
Trinity, to be seen in Christian churches, is the compound leaf of the
_trefoil_. Modern story had attributed to St. Patrick the idea of
demonstrating a trinity in unity, by showing the _shamrock_ to his
hearers; but, says Dr. Inman, "like many other things attributed to the
moderns, the idea belongs to the ancients."[352:7]
The _Trefoil_ adorned the head of _Osiris_, the Egyptian Saviour, and is
to be found among the Pagan symbols or representations of the
_three-in-one_ mystery.[353:1] Fig. No. 32 is a representation of the
_Trefoil_ used by the ancient Hindoos as emblematic of their celestial
Triad--Brahma, Vishnu and Siva--and afterwards adopted by the
Christians.[353:2] The leaf of the _Vila_, or _Bel-tree_, is typical of
Siva's attributes, because _triple_ in form.[353:3]
The _Trefoil_ was a sacred plant among the ancient Druids of Britain. It
was to them an emblem of the mysterious _three in one_.[353:4] It is to
be seen on their _coins_.[353:5]
The _Tripod_ was very generally employed among the ancients as an emblem
of the _Trinity_, and is found composed in an endless variety of ways.
On the coins of Menecratia, in Phrygia, it is represented between two
asterisks, with a serpent wreathed around a battle-axe, inserted into
it, as an accessory symbol, signifying preservation and destruction. In
the ceremonial of worship, the number _three_ was employed with mystic
solemnity.[353:6]
[Illustration: Fig. No. 32]
The three lines, or three human legs, springing from a central disk or
circle, which has been called a _Trinacria_, and supposed to allude to
the island of Sicily, is simply an ancient emblem of the _Trinity_. "It
is of _Asiatic_ origin; its earliest appearance being upon the very
ancient coins of Aspendus in Pamphylia; sometimes alone in the square
incuse, and sometimes upon the body of an eagle or the back of a
lion."[353:7]
We have already seen, in the chapter on the _crucifixion_, that the
earliest emblems of the Christian Saviour were the "Good Shepherd" and
the "Lamb." Among these may also be mentioned the _Fish_. "The only
satisfactory explanation why Jesus should be represented as a _Fish_,"
says Mr. King, in his Gnostics and their Remains,[353:8] "seems to be
the circumstance that in the quaint jargon of the Talmud the Messiah is
often designated 'Dag,' or 'The Fish;'" and Mr. Lundy, in his
"Monumental Christianity," says:
"Next to the sacred monogram (the [Symbol: PX]) the _Fish_
takes its place in importance as a sign of Christ in his
special office of _Saviour_." "In the Talmud the Messiah is
called 'Dag' or 'Fish.'" "Where did the Jews learn to apply
'Dag' to their Messiah? And why did the primitive Christians
adopt it as a sign of Christ?" "I cannot disguise facts. Truth
demands no concealment or apology. _Paganism_ has its types
and prophecies of Christ as well as Judaism. What then is the
Dag-on of the old Babylonians? The _fish_-god or being that
taught them all their civilization."[354:1]
As Mr. Lundy says, "truth demands no concealment or apology," therefore,
when the truth is exposed, we find that _Vishnu_, the Hindoo Messiah,
Preserver, Mediator and _Saviour_, was represented as a "dag," or fish.
The _Fish_ takes its place in importance as a sign of _Vishnu_ in his
special office of _Saviour_.
[Illustration: Fig. No. 33]
Prof. Monier Williams says:
"It is as _Vishnu_ that the Supreme Being, according to the
Hindoos, exhibited his sympathy with human trials, his love
for the human race. Nine principal occasions have already
occurred in which the god has thus interposed for the
salvation of his creatures. The first was _Matsaya_, the
_Fish_. In this Vishnu became a fish to save the seventh Manu,
the progenitor of the human race, from the universal
deluge."[354:2]
We have already seen, in Chap. IX., the identity of the Hindoo _Matsaya_
and the Babylonian Dagon.
The fish was sacred among the Babylonians, Assyrians and Phenicians, as
it is among the Romanists of to-day. It was sacred also to _Venus_, and
the Romanists still eat it on the very day of the week which was called
"_Dies veneris_," Venus' day; fish day.[354:3] It was an emblem of
_fecundity_. The most ancient symbol of the productive power was a fish,
and it is accordingly found to be the universal symbol upon many of the
earliest coins.[354:4] Pythagoras and his followers did not eat fish.
They were ascetics, and the eating of fish was supposed to tend to
carnal desires. This ancient superstition is entertained by many even at
the present day.
The fish was the earliest symbol of Christ Jesus. Fig. No. 33 is a
design from the catacombs.[354:5] This cross-fish is not unlike the
sacred monogram.
That the Christian Saviour should be called a fish may at first appear
strange, but when the mythos is properly understood (as we shall
endeavor to make it in Chap. XXXIX.), it will not appear so. The Rev.
Dr. Geikie, in his "Life and Words of Christ," says that a fish stood
for his _name_, from the significance of the Greek letters in the word
that expresses the idea, and for this reason he was called a fish. But,
we may ask, why was Buddha not only called Fo, or Po, but _Dag-Po_,
which was literally the Fish Po, or Fish Buddha? The fish did not stand
for his name. The idea that Jesus was called a fish because the Messiah
is designated "Dag" in the Talmud, is also an unsatisfactory
explanation.
Julius Africanus (an early Christian writer) says:
"Christ is the great Fish taken by the fish-hook of God, and
whose flesh nourishes the whole world."[355:1]
"The fish fried
Was Christ that died,"
is an old couplet.[355:2]
Prosper Africanus calls Christ,
"The great fish who satisfied for himself the disciples on the
shore, and offered himself as a fish to the whole
world."[355:3]
The _Serpent_ was also an emblem of Christ Jesus, or in other words,
represented Christ, among some of the early Christians.
Moses _set up_ a brazen _serpent_ in the wilderness, and Christian
divines have seen in this a type of Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Gospels
sanction this; for it is written:
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of man be lifted up."
From this serpent, Tertullian asserts, the early sect of Christians
called _Ophites_ took their rise. Epiphanius says, that the "Ophites
sprung out of the Nicolaitans and Gnostics, who were so called from the
_serpent_, which they worshiped." "The Gnostics," he adds, "_taught that
the ruler of the world was of a dracontic form_." The Ophites preserved
live serpents in their sacred chest, and looked upon them as the
_mediator_ between them and God. Manes, in the third century, taught
serpent worship in Asia Minor, under the name of Christianity,
promulgating that
"_Christ was an incarnation of the Great Serpent, who glided
over the cradle of the Virgin Mary, when she was asleep, at
the age of a year and a half._"[355:4]
"The Gnostics," says Irenaeus, "represented the Mind (the Son, the
Wisdom) in the form of a serpent," and "the Ophites," says Epiphanius,
"have a veneration for the serpent; they esteem him the same as Christ."
"They even quote the Gospels," says Tertullian, "to prove that Christ
was an imitation of the serpent."[356:1]
The question now arises, Why was the Christian Saviour represented as a
serpent? Simply because the heathen Saviours were represented in like
manner.
From the earliest times of which we have any historical notice, the
serpent has been connected with the preserving gods, or Saviours; the
gods of goodness and of wisdom. In Hindoo mythology, the serpent is
intimately associated with Vishnu, the preserving god, the
Saviour.[356:2] Serpents are often associated with the Hindoo gods, as
emblems of eternity.[356:3] It was a very sacred animal among the
Hindoos.[356:4]
Worshipers of Buddha venerate serpents. "This animal," says Mr. Wake,
"became equal in importance as Buddha himself." And Mr. Lillie says:
"That God was worshiped at an early date by the Buddhists
under the symbol of the _Serpent_ is proved from the
sculptures of oldest topes, where worshipers are represented
so doing."[356:5]
The Egyptians also venerated the serpent. It was the special symbol of
Thoth, a primeval deity of Syro-Egyptian mythology, and of all those
gods, such as Hermes and Seth, who can be connected with him.[356:6]
Kneph and Apap were also represented as serpents.[356:7]
Herodotus, when he visited Egypt, found sacred serpents in the temples.
Speaking of them, he says:
"In the neighborhood of Thebes, there are sacred serpents, not
at all hurtful to men: they are diminutive in size, and carry
two horns that grow on the top of the head. When these
serpents die, they bury them in the temple of Jupiter; for
they say they are sacred to that god."[356:8]
The third member of the Chaldean triad, Héa, or Hoa, was represented by
a serpent. According to Sir Henry Rawlinson, the most important titles
of this deity refer "to his functions as the source of all knowledge and
science." Not only is he "The Intelligent Fish," but his name may be
read as signifying both "Life" and a "Serpent," and he may be considered
as "figured by the great serpent which occupies so conspicuous a place
among the symbols of the gods on the black stones recording Babylonian
benefactors."[357:1]
The Phenicians and other eastern nations venerated the serpent as
symbols of their beneficent gods.[357:2]
As god of medicine, Apollo, the central figure in Grecian mythology, was
originally worshiped under the form of a serpent, and men invoked him as
the "Helper." He was the Solar Serpent-god.[357:3]
Æsculapius, the healing god, the Saviour, was also worshiped under the
form of a serpent.[357:4] "Throughout Hellas," says Mr. Cox, "Æsculapius
remained the 'Healer,' and the 'Restorer of Life,' and accordingly the
serpent is everywhere his special emblem."[357:5]
Why the serpent was the symbol of the Saviours and beneficent gods of
antiquity, will be explained in Chap. XXXIX.
The _Dove_, among the Christians, is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The
Matthew narrator relates that when Jesus went up out of the water, after
being baptized by John, "the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw
the Spirit of God descending like a _dove_, and lighting upon him."
Here is another piece of Paganism, as we find that the _Dove_ was the
symbol of the Holy Spirit among all nations of antiquity. Rev. J. P.
Lundy, speaking of this, says:
"It is a remarkable fact that this spirit (_i. e._, the Holy
Spirit) has been symbolized among all religious and civilized
nations by the _Dove_."[357:6]
And Earnest De Bunsen says:
"The symbol of the Spirit of God was the _Dove_, in Greek,
_peleia_, and the Samaritans had a brazen fiery dove, instead
of the brazen fiery serpent. Both referred to fire, the symbol
of the Holy Ghost."[357:7]
Buddha is represented, like Christ Jesus, with a dove hovering over his
head.[357:8]
The virgin goddess Juno is often represented with a dove on her head. It
is also seen on the heads of the images of Astarte, Cybele, and Isis; it
was sacred to Venus, and was intended as a symbol of the Holy
Spirit.[357:9]
Even in the remote islands of the Pacific Ocean, a _bird_ is believed to
be an emblem of the Holy Spirit.[357:10]
R. Payne Knight, in speaking of the "mystic Dove," says:
"A bird was probably chosen for the emblem of the third
person (_i. e._, the Holy Ghost) to signify incubation, by
which was figuratively expressed the fructification of inert
matter, caused by the vital spirit moving upon the waters.
"The _Dove_ would naturally be selected in the East in
preference to every other species of bird, on account of its
domestic familiarity with man; it usually lodging under the
same roof with him, and being employed as his messenger from
one remote place to another. Birds of this kind were also
remarkable for the care of their offspring, and for a sort of
conjugal attachment and fidelity to each other, as likewise
for the peculiar fervency of their sexual desires, whence they
were sacred to Venus, and emblems of love."[358:1]
Masons' marks are conspicuous among the Christian symbols. On some of
the most ancient Roman Catholic cathedrals are to be found figures of
Christ Jesus with Mason's marks about him.
Many are the so-called Christian symbols which are direct importations
from paganism. To enumerate them would take, as we have previously said,
a volume of itself. For further information on this subject the reader
is referred to Dr. Inman's "Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian
Symbolism," where he will see how many ancient Indian, Egyptian,
Etruscan, Grecian and Roman symbols have been adopted by Christians, a
great number of which are _Phallic_ emblems.[358:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[339:1] The Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 113.
[340:1] Monumental Christianity, p. 14.
[340:2] Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 301. Higgins: Anac., vol. i. p.
220.
[340:3] Curious Myths, p. 301.
[340:4] Ibid. p. 302.
[340:5] Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 350.
[340:6] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 47.
[340:7] Curious Myths, pp. 280-282. Buddha and Early Buddhism, pp. 7, 9,
and 22, and Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 223.
[340:8] Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 227.
[340:9] Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 409. Higgins: Anac., vol. i.
p. 230.
[341:1] See Ibid.
[341:2] See Celtic Druids, p. 126; Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 217, and
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, pp. 216, 217 and 219.
[341:3] Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 217.
[341:4] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 58.
[341:5] See Inman's "Symbolism," and Lundy's Monu. Christianity, Fig.
92.
[341:6] Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 285.
[341:7] Hoskins' Visit to the great Oasis, pl. xii. in Curious Myths, p.
286.
[341:8] Curious Myths, p. 286.
[342:1] Curious Myths, p. 287.
[342:2] Socrates: Eccl. Hist., lib. v. ch. xvii.
[342:3] Quoted by Rev. Dr. Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii.
p. 86, and Rev. Robert Taylor: Diegesis, p. 202.
[342:4] See Colenso's Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 115.
[342:5] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 12.
[342:6] Ibid. p. 219.
[343:1] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 218, and Smith's Chaldean Account
of Genesis, p. 54.
[343:2] Egyptian Belief, p. 218.
[343:3] Bonomi: Ninevah and Its Palaces, in Curious Myths, p. 287.
[343:4] Curious Myths, p. 287.
[343:5] Vol. i. p. 337, pl. xx.
[343:6] Travels in Persia, vol. i. p. 545, pl. xxi.
[343:7] Ibid. p. 529, and pl. xvi
[343:8] Ibid., and pl. xvii.
[343:9] Ibid. pl. xxvii.
[343:10] Ibid. p. 573.
[344:1] Curious Myths, p. 290.
[344:2] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 31.
[344:3] See Illustration in Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 224.
[344:4] Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 291.
[345:1] Octavius, ch. xxix.
[345:2] See Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Denarius."
[345:3] Curious Myths, p. 291.
[345:4] Ibid. pp. 291, 296.
[345:5] Ibid. p. 311.
[345:6] The Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 115.
[346:1] Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 30.
[346:2] Curious Myths, pp. 280, 281.
[346:3] Ibid. pp. 281, 282.
[346:4] Knight: Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 30.
[346:5] See Celtic Druids, pp. 126, 130, 131.
[347:1] Cleland, p. 102, in Anac., i. p. 716.
[347:2] Celtic Druids, p. 242, and Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Cross."
[347:3] Ibid.
[347:4] See Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. 103.
[347:5] The Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 114.
[347:6] Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 95.
[348:1] Stephens: Central America, vol. ii. p. 346, in Curious Myths, p.
298.
[348:2] Curious Myths, p. 298
[348:3] Klemm Kulturgeschichte, v. 142, in Curious Myths, pp. 298, 299.
[348:4] Curious Myths, p. 299.
[348:5] Müller: Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen, in Ibid.
[349:1] Curious Myths, p. 301.
[349:2] Quoted in Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 30.
[349:3] Quoted in Celtic Druids, p. 131.
[349:4] Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Cross."
[349:5] Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. pp. 165, 180.
[349:6] Ibid. p. 179.
[349:7] Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 32.
[349:8] Jameson's Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 318.
[349:9] "These two letters in the old Samaritan, as found on coins,
stand, the first for 400, the second for 200-600. This is the staff of
Osiris. It is also the monogram of Osiris, and has been adopted by the
Christians, and is to be seen in the churches in Italy in thousands of
places. See Basnage (lib. iii. c. xxxiii.), where several other
instances of this kind may be found. In Addison's 'Travels in Italy'
there is an account of a medal, at Rome, of Constantius, with this
inscription; _In hoc signo Victor eris_ [Symbol: PX]." (Anacalypsis, vol.
i. p. 222.)
[350:1] Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. ii. p. 316.
[350:2] See Celtic Druids, p. 127, and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p.
218.
[350:3] Bk. iii. c. xxiii. in Anac., i. p. 219.
[350:4] Monumental Christianity, p. 125.
[350:5] See Celtic Druids, pp. 127, 128.
[351:1] See Ibid. and Monumental Christianity, pp. 15, 92, 123, 126,
127.
[351:2] See Celtic Druids, p. 101. Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 220. Indian
Antiq., ii. 68.
[351:3] See Celtic Druids, p. 101. Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 103.
[351:4] See Celtic Druids, p. 127, and Taylor's Diegesis, p. 201.
[351:5] See Celtic Druids, p. 127.
[351:6] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 218.
[351:7] See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. 115.
[351:8] See The Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. pp. 113-115.
[351:9] See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 221 and 328. Taylor's
Diegesis, p. 187. Celtic Druids, p. 127, and Isis Unveiled, p. 527, vol.
ii.
[351:10] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 212.
[351:11] Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp. 518, 519.
[351:12] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 94.
[351:13] This word--AUM--stood for Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, the Hindoo
Trinity.
[351:14] See Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 31.
[352:1] See Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 81.
[352:2] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 196.
[352:3] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 213.
[352:4] Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 328.
[352:5] See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 196.
[352:6] Curious Myths, p. 289.
[352:7] Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp. 153, 154.
[353:1] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 242.
[353:2] See Inman's Pagan and Christian Symbolism, p. 30.
[353:3] See Williams' Hinduism, p. 99.
[353:4] See Myths of the British Druids, p. 448.
[353:5] Ibid. p. 601.
[353:6] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 170.
[353:7] Ibid. pp. 169, 170.
[353:8] Page 138.
[354:1] Monumental Christianity, pp. 130, 132, 133.
[354:2] Indian Wisdom, p. 329.
[354:3] Inman: Anct. Faiths, vol. i. pp. 528, 529, and Müller: Science
of Relig., p. 315.
[354:4] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 111.
[354:5] Lillie: Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 227.
[355:1] Quoted in Monumental Christianity, p. 134.
[355:2] Ibid. p. 135.
[355:3] Ibid. p. 372.
[355:4] Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 246.
[356:1] Fergusson: Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 9.
[356:2] Wake: Phallism in Ancient Religs., p. 72.
[356:3] Williams' Hinduism, p. 169.
[356:4] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 16, and Fergusson: Tree and
Serpent Worship.
[356:5] Wake, p. 73. Lillie: p. 20.
[356:6] Wake, p. 40, and Bunsen's Keys, p. 101.
[356:7] Champollion, pp. 144, 145.
[356:8] Herodotus, bk. ii. ch. 74.
[357:1] Wake: Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 30.
[357:2] See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 16. Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol.
ii. p. 128. Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, and Squire's Serpent
Symbol.
[357:3] Deane: Serpent Worship, p. 213.
[357:4] Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 7, and Bulfinch: Age of Fable, p.
397.
[357:5] Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 36.
[357:6] Monumental Christianity, p. 293.
[357:7] Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 44.
[357:8] See ch. xxix.
[357:9] Monumental Christianity, pp. 323 and 234.
[357:10] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 169.
[358:1] Knight's Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 170.
[358:2] See also R. Payne Knight's Worship of Priapus, and the other
works of Dr. Thomas Inman.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE BIRTH-DAY OF CHRIST JESUS.
Christmas--December the 25th--is a day which has been set apart by the
Christian church on which to celebrate the birth of their Lord and
Saviour, Christ Jesus, and is considered by the majority of persons to
be really the day on which he was born. This is altogether erroneous, as
will be seen upon examination of the subject.
There was no uniformity in the period of observing the Nativity among
the early Christian churches; some held the festival in the month of May
or April, others in January.[359:1]
The _year_ in which he was born is also as uncertain as the month or
day. "The year in which it happened," says Mosheim, the ecclesiastical
historian, "has not hitherto been fixed with certainty, notwithstanding
the deep and laborious researches of the learned."[359:2]
According to IRENÆUS (A. D. 190), on the authority of "The Gospel," and
"all the elders who were conversant in Asia with John, the disciple of
the Lord," Christ Jesus lived to be nearly, if not quite, _fifty years
of age_. If this celebrated Christian father is correct, and who can say
he is not, Jesus was born some twenty years before the time which has
been assigned as that of his birth.[359:3]
The Rev. Dr. Giles says:
"Concerning the _time_ of Christ's birth there are even
greater doubts than about the _place_; for, though the four
Evangelists have noticed several contemporary facts, which
would seem to settle this point, yet on comparing these dates
with the general history of the period, we meet with serious
discrepancies, which involve the subject in the greatest
uncertainty."[359:4]
Again he says:
"Not only do we date our time from the exact year in which
Christ _is said to have been born_, but our ecclesiastical
calendar has determined with scrupulous minuteness the day and
almost the hour at which every particular of Christ's
wonderful life is stated to have happened. All this is
implicitly believed by millions; _yet all these things are
among the most uncertain and shadowy that history has
recorded. We have no clue to either the day or the time of
year, or even the year itself, in which Christ was
born._"[360:1]
Some Christian writers fix the year 4 B. C., as the time when he was
born, others the year 5 B. C., and again others place his time of birth
at about 15 B. C. The Rev. Dr. Geikie, speaking of this, in his _Life of
Christ_, says:
"The whole subject is _very uncertain_. Ewald appears to fix
the date of the birth at _five_ years earlier than our era.
Petavius and Usher fix it on the 25th of December, _five_
years before our era. Bengel on the 25th of December, _four_
years before our era; Anger and Winer, _four_ years before our
era, _in the Spring_; Scaliger, _three_ years before our era,
in _October_; St. Jerome, _three_ years before our era, on
December 25th; Eusebius, _two_ years before our era, on
_January_ 6th; and Idler, _seven_ years before our era, in
_December_."[360:2]
Albert Barnes writes in a manner which implies that he knew all about
the _year_ (although he does not give any authorities), but knew nothing
about the _month_. He says:
"The birth of Christ took place _four_ years before the common
era. That era began to be used about A. D. 526, being first
employed by Dionysius, and is supposed to have been placed
about four years too late. Some make the difference two,
others three, four, five, and even eight years. He was born at
the commencement of the last year of the reign of Herod, or at
the close of the year preceding."[360:3]
"The Jews sent out their flocks into the mountainous and
desert regions during the summer months, and took them up in
the latter part of October or the first of November, when the
cold weather commenced. . . . It is clear from this that our
Saviour was born before the 25th of December, or before what
we call _Christmas_. At that time it is cold, and especially
in the high and mountainous regions about Bethlehem. _God has
concealed the time of his birth. There is no way to ascertain
it._ By different learned men it has been fixed at each month
in the year."[360:4]
Canon Farrar writes with a little more caution, as follows:
"Although the date of Christ's birth cannot be fixed with
absolute certainty, there is at least a large amount of
evidence to render it _probable_ that he was born _four_ years
before our present era. It is universally admitted that our
received chronology, which is not older than Dionysius
Exiguus, in the sixth century, is wrong. But all attempts to
discover the _month_ and the _day_ are useless. No data
whatever exists to enable us to determine them with even
approximate accuracy."[360:5]
Bunsen attempts to show (on the authority of _Irenæus_, above quoted),
that Jesus was born some _fifteen_ years before the time assigned, and
that he lived to be nearly, if not quite, fifty years of age.[361:1]
According to Basnage,[361:2] the Jews placed his birth near a century
sooner than the generally assumed epoch. Others have placed it even in
the _third century_ B. C. This belief is founded on a passage in the
"_Book of Wisdom_,"[361:3] written about 250 B. C., which is supposed to
refer to Christ _Jesus_, and none other. In speaking of some individual
who lived _at that time_, it says:
"He professeth to have the knowledge of God, and he calleth
himself _the child of the Lord_. He was made to reprove our
thoughts. He is grievous unto us even to behold; for his life
is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion. We
are esteemed of him as counterfeits; he abstaineth from our
ways as from filthiness; he pronounceth the end of the just to
be blessed, _and maketh his boast that God is his father_. Let
us see if his words be true; and let us prove what shall
happen in the end of him. For if the _just man_ be the son of
God, he (God) will help him, and deliver him from the hand of
his enemies. Let us examine him with despitefulness and
torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his
patience. Let us condemn him with a shameful death; for by his
own saying he shall be respected."
This is a very important passage. Of course, the church claim it to be a
_prophecy_ of what Christ Jesus was to do and suffer, but this does not
explain it.
If the writer of the "_Gospel according to Luke_" is correct, Jesus was
not born until about A. D. 10, for he explicitly tells us that this
event did not happen until Cyrenius was governor of Syria.[361:4] Now it
is well known that Cyrenius was not appointed to this office until long
after the death of Herod (during whose reign the Matthew narrator
informs us Jesus was born[361:5]), and that the taxing spoken of by the
Luke narrator as having taken place at this time, did not take place
until about ten years after the time at which, according to the Matthew
narrator, Jesus was born.[361:6]
Eusebius, the first ecclesiastical historian,[361:7] places his birth at
the time Cyrenius was governor of Syria, and therefore at about A. D.
10. His words are as follows:
"It was the two and fortieth year after the reign of Augustus
the Emperor, and the eight and twentieth year after the
subduing of Egypt, and the death of Antonius and Cleopatra,
when last of all the Ptolemies in Egypt ceased to bear rule,
when our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, at the time of the
first taxing--Cyrenius, then President of Syria--was born in
Bethlehem, a city of Judea, according unto the prophecies in
that behalf premised."[362:1]
Had the Luke narrator known anything about Jewish history, he never
would have made so gross a blunder as to place the taxing of Cyrenius in
the days of Herod, and would have saved the immense amount of labor that
it has taken in endeavoring to explain away the effects of his
ignorance. One explanation of this mistake is, that there were _two_
assessments, one about the time Jesus was born, and the other ten years
after; but this has entirely failed. Dr. Hooykaas, speaking of this,
says:
"The Evangelist (Luke) falls into the most extraordinary
mistakes throughout. In the first place, history is silent as
to a census of the whole (Roman) world ever having been made
at all. In the next place, though Quirinius certainly did make
such a register in Judea and Samaria, it did not extend to
Galilee; so that Joseph's household was not affected by it.
Besides, _it did not take place until ten years after the
death of Herod_, when his son Archelaus was deposed by the
emperor, and the districts of Judea and Samaria were thrown
into a Roman province. Under the reign of Herod, nothing of
the kind took place, nor was there any occasion for it.
Finally, at the time of the birth of Jesus, the Governor of
Syria was not Quirinius, but Quintus Sentius
Saturninus."[362:2]
The institution of the festival of the Nativity of Christ Jesus being
held on the 25th of December, among the Christians, is attributed to
Telesphorus, who flourished during the reign of Antonius Pius (A. D.
138-161), but the first _certain_ traces of it are found about the time
of the Emperor Commodus (A. D. 180-192).[362:3]
For a long time the Christians had been trying to discover upon what
particular day Jesus had possibly or probably come into the world; and
conjectures and traditions that rested upon absolutely no foundation,
led one to the 20th of May, another to the 19th or 20th of April, and a
third to the 5th of January. At last the opinion of the _community at
Rome_ gained the upper hand, and the 25th of December was fixed
upon.[362:4] It was not until the _fifth_ century, however, that this
day had been _generally_ agreed upon.[362:5] _How it happened_ that this
day finally became fixed as the birthday of Christ Jesus, may be
inferred from what we shall now see.
On the first moment after midnight of the 24th of December (_i. e._, on
the morning of the 25th), nearly all the nations of the earth, as if by
common consent, celebrated the accouchement of the "_Queen of Heaven_,"
of the "_Celestial Virgin_" of the sphere, and the birth of the god
_Sol_.
In _India_ this is a period of rejoicing everywhere.[363:1] It is a
great religious festival, and the people _decorate their houses with
garlands_, and _make presents to friends and relatives_. This custom is
of very great antiquity.[363:2]
In _China_, religious solemnities are celebrated at the time of the
_winter solstice_, the last week in _December_, when all shops are shut
up, and the courts are closed.[363:3]
_Buddha_, the son of the Virgin Mâya, on whom, according to Chinese
tradition, "the Holy Ghost" had descended, was said to have been born on
Christmas day, December 25th.[363:4]
Among the ancient _Persians_ their most splendid ceremonials were in
honor of their Lord and Saviour _Mithras_; they kept his birthday, with
many rejoicings, on the 25th of December.
The author of the "_Celtic Druids_" says:
"It was the custom of the heathen, long before the birth of
Christ, to celebrate the birth-day of their gods," and that,
"the 25th of December was a great festival with the
_Persians_, who, in very early times, celebrated the birth of
their god _Mithras_."[363:5]
The Rev. Joseph B. Gross, in his "_Heathen Religion_," also tells us
that:
"The ancient Persians celebrated a festival in honor of
_Mithras_ on the first day succeeding the _Winter Solstice_,
the object of which was to _commemorate the Birth of
Mithras_."[363:6]
Among the ancient _Egyptians_, for centuries before the time of Christ
Jesus, the 25th of December was set aside as the birthday of their gods.
M. Le Clerk De Septchenes speaks of it as follows:
"The ancient Egyptians fixed the pregnancy of _Isis_ (the
_Queen of Heaven_, and the _Virgin Mother_ of the Saviour
Horus), on the last days of March, and towards the end of
_December_ they placed the commemoration of her
delivery."[363:7]
Mr. Bonwick, in speaking of _Horus_, says:
"He is the great God-loved of Heaven. His birth was one of the
greatest mysteries of the Egyptian religion. Pictures
representing it appeared on the walls of temples. One passed
through the holy _Adytum_[364:1] to the still more sacred
quarter of the temple known as the birth-place of Horus. He
was presumably the child of Deity. _At Christmas time_, or
that answering to our festival, his image was brought out of
that sanctuary with peculiar ceremonies, as the image of the
infant _Bambino_[364:2] is still brought out and exhibited in
Rome."[364:3]
Rigord observes that the Egyptians not only worshiped a _Virgin Mother_
"prior to the birth of our Saviour, but exhibited the effigy of her son
lying in the manger, in the manner the infant Jesus was afterwards laid
in the cave at Bethlehem."[364:4]
The "Chronicles of Alexandria," an ancient Christian work, says:
"Watch how Egypt has constructed the childbirth of a Virgin,
and the birth of her son, _who was exposed in a crib to the
adoration of the people_."[364:5]
_Osiris_, son of the "_Holy Virgin_," as they called Ceres, or Neith,
his mother, was born on the 25th of December.[364:6]
This was also the time celebrated by the ancient _Greeks_ as being the
birthday of _Hercules_. The author of "_The Religion of the Ancient
Greeks_" says:
"The night of the _Winter Solstice_, which the Greeks named
the triple night, was that which they thought gave birth to
_Hercules_."[364:7]
He further says:
"It has become an epoch of singular importance in the eyes of
the Christian, who has destined it to celebrate the birth of
the Saviour, the _true_ Sun of Justice, who alone came to
dissipate the darkness of ignorance."[364:8]
_Bacchus_, also, was born at early dawn on the 25th of December. Mr.
Higgins says of him:
"The birth-place of Bacchus, called Sabizius or Sabaoth, was
claimed by several places in Greece; but on Mount Zelmissus,
in Thrace, his worship seems to have been chiefly celebrated.
He was born of a virgin on the 25th of December, and was
always called the SAVIOUR. In his Mysteries, he was shown to
the people, as an infant is by the Christians at this day, on
Christmas-day morning, in Rome."[364:9]
The birthday of _Adonis_ was celebrated on the 25th of December. This
celebration is spoken of by Tertullian, Jerome, and other Fathers of
the Church,[365:1] who inform us that the ceremonies took place in a
cave, and that the cave in which they celebrated his mysteries in
Bethlehem, was that in which Christ Jesus was born.
This was also a great holy day in ancient Rome. The Rev. Mr. Gross says:
"In _Rome_, before the time of Christ, a festival was observed
on the 25th of December, under the name of '_Natalis Solis
Invicti_' (Birthday of Sol the Invincible). It was a day of
universal rejoicings, illustrated by illuminations and public
games."[365:2] "All public business was suspended,
declarations of war and criminal executions were postponed,
_friends made presents to one another_, and the slaves were
indulged with great liberties."[365:3]
A few weeks before the winter solstice, the Calabrian shepherds came
into Rome to play on the pipes. Ovid alludes to this when he says:
"Ante Deûm matrem cornu tibicen adunco
Cum canit, exiguæ quis stipis aera neget."
--(Epist. i. l. ii.)
_i. e._, "When to the mighty mother pipes the swain,
Grudge not a trifle for his pious strain."
This practice is kept up to the present day.
The ancient _Germans_, for centuries before "the _true_ Sun of Justice"
was ever heard of, celebrated annually, at the time of the _Winter
solstice_, what they called their Yule-feast. At this feast agreements
were renewed, the gods were consulted as to the future, sacrifices were
made to them, and the time was spent in jovial hospitality. Many
features of this festival, such as burning the yule-log on
Christmas-eve, still survive among us.[365:4]
_Yule_ was the old name for Christmas. In French it is called _Noel_,
which is the Hebrew or Chaldee word _Nule_.[365:5]
The greatest festival of the year celebrated among the ancient
_Scandinavians_, was at the _Winter solstice_. They called the night
upon which it was observed, the "_Mother-night_." This feast was named
_Jul_--hence is derived the word _Yule_--and was celebrated in honor of
_Freyr_ (son of the Supreme God Odin, and the goddess Frigga), who was
born on that day. Feasting, nocturnal assemblies, and all the
demonstrations of a most dissolute joy, were then authorized by the
general usage. At this festival the principal guests _received
presents_--generally horses, swords, battle-axes, and gold rings--at
their departure.[365:6]
The festival of the 25th of December was celebrated by the ancient
_Druids_, in Great Britain and Ireland, with great fires lighted on the
tops of hills.[366:1]
Godfrey Higgins says:
"Stuckley observes that the worship of Mithra was spread all
over Gaul and Britain. The Druids kept this night as a great
festival, and called the day following it Nolagh or Noel, or
the day of regeneration, and celebrated it with great fires on
the tops of their mountains, which they repeated on the day of
the Epiphany or twelfth night. The Mithraic monuments, which
are common in Britain, have been attributed to the Romans, but
this festival proves that the Mithraic worship was there prior
to their arrival."[366:2]
This was also a time of rejoicing in Ancient Mexico. Acosta says:
"In the first month, which in Peru they call Rayme, and
answering to our _December_, they made a solemn feast called
_Capacrayme_ (the Winter Solstice), wherein they made many
sacrifices and ceremonies, which continued many days."[366:3]
The evergreens, and particularly the mistletoe, which are used all over
the Christian world at Christmas time, betray its heathen origin.
Tertullian, a Father of the Church, who flourished about A. D. 200,
writing to his brethren, affirms it to be "_rank idolatry_" to deck
their doors "_with garlands or flowers, on festival days, according to
the custom of the heathen_."[366:4]
This shows that the heathen in those days, did as the Christians do now.
What have evergreens, and garlands, and Christmas trees, to do with
Christianity? Simply _nothing_. It is the old Yule-feast which was held
by all the northern nations, from time immemorial, handed down to, and
observed at the present day. In the greenery with which Christians deck
their houses and temples of worship, and in the Christmas-trees laden
with gifts, we unquestionably see a relic of the symbols by which our
heathen forefathers signified their faith in the powers of the returning
sun to clothe the earth again with green, and hang new fruit on the
trees. Foliage, such as the laurel, myrtle, ivy, or oak, and in general,
_all evergreens_, were _Dionysiac plants_, that is, symbols of the
generative power, signifying perpetuity of youth and vigor.[366:5]
Among the causes, then, that co-operated in fixing this period--December
25th--as the birthday of Christ Jesus, was, as we have seen, that almost
every ancient nation of the earth held a festival on this day in
commemoration of the birth of _their_ virgin-born god.
On this account the Christians _adopted it_ as the time of the birth of
_their_ God. Mr. Gibbon, speaking of this in his "Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire," says:
"The Roman Christians, ignorant of the real date of his
(Christ's) birth, fixed the solemn festival to the 25th of
December, the _Brumalia_, or Winter Solstice, when the Pagans
annually celebrated the birth of _Sol_."[367:1]
And Mr. King, in his "Gnostics and their Remains," says:
"The ancient festival held on the 25th of December in honor of
the 'Birthday of the Invincible One,' and celebrated by the
'great games' at the circus, was afterwards transferred to the
commemoration of the birth of Christ, the precise day of which
many of the Fathers confess was then unknown."[367:2]
St. Chrysostom, who flourished about A. D. 390, referring to this Pagan
festival, says:
"_On this day, also, the birth of Christ was lately fixed at
Rome_, in order that whilst the heathen were busy with their
_profane_ ceremonies, the Christians might perform their _holy
rites_ undisturbed."[367:3]
Add to this the fact that St. Gregory, a Christian Father of the third
century, was instrumental in, and commended by other Fathers for,
changing _Pagan festivals_ into Christian _holidays_, for the purpose,
as they said, of drawing the heathen to the religion of Christ.[367:4]
As Dr. Hooykaas remarks, the church was always anxious to meet the
heathen _half way_, by allowing them to retain the feasts they were
accustomed to, only giving them a _Christian dress_, or attaching a new
or Christian signification to them.[367:5]
In doing these, and many other such things, which we shall speak of in
our chapter on "_Paganism in Christianity_," the Christian Fathers,
instead of drawing the heathen to their religion, drew themselves into
Paganism.
FOOTNOTES:
[359:1] See Bible for Learners vol. iii. p. 66; Chambers's Encyclo.,
art. "_Christmas_."
[359:2] Eccl. Hist., vol. i. p. 53. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 104.
[359:3] See Chapter XL., this work.
[359:4] Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 189.
[360:1] Hebrew and Christian Records, p. 194.
[360:2] Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 556.
[360:3] Barnes' Notes, vol. ii. p. 402.
[360:4] Ibid. p. 25.
[360:5] Farrar's Life of Christ, App., pp. 673, 4.
[361:1] Bible Chronology, pp. 73, 74.
[361:2] Hist. de Juif.
[361:3] Chap. ii. 13-20.
[361:4] Luke, ii. 1-7.
[361:5] Matt. ii. 1.
[361:6] See Josephus: Antiq., bk. xviii. ch. i. sec. i.
[361:7] Eusebius was Bishop of Cesarea from A. D. 315 to 340, in which
he died, in the 70th year of his age, thus playing his great part in
life chiefly under the reigns of Constantine the Great and his son
Constantine.
[362:1] Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. vi.
[362:2] Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 56.
[362:3] See Chamber's Encyclo., art. "_Christmas_."
[362:4] See Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 66.
[362:5] "By the fifth century, however, whether from the influence of
some tradition, or from the desire to supplant _Heathen Festivals_ of
that period of the year, such as the Saturnalia, the 25th of December
had been generally agreed upon." (Encyclopædia Brit., art. "Christmas.")
[363:1] See Monier Williams: Hinduism, p. 181.
[363:2] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 126.
[363:3] Ibid. 216.
[363:4] See Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, pp. x.-25, and 110, and Lillie:
Buddha and Buddhism, p. 73.
Some writers have asserted that _Crishna_ is said to have been born on
December 25th, but this is not the case. His birthday is held in
July-August. (See Williams' Hinduism, p. 183, and Life and Religion of
the Hindoos, p. 134.)
[363:5] Celtic Druids, p. 163. See also, Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p.
272; Monumental Christianity, p. 167; Bible for Learners, iii. pp. 66,
67.
[363:6] The Heathen Religion, p. 287. See also, Dupuis: p. 246.
[363:7] Relig. of the Anct. Greeks, p. 214. See also, Higgins:
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
[364:1] "_Adytum_"--the interior or sacred part of a heathen temple.
[364:2] "_Bambino_"--a term used for representations of the infant
Saviour, Christ Jesus, in _swaddlings_.
[364:3] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 157. See also, Dupuis, p. 237.
[364:4] "Deinceps Egyptii PARITURAM VIRGINEM magno in honore habuerunt;
quin soliti sunt puerum effingere jacentem in præsepe, quali POSTEA in
Bethlehemeticâ speluncâ natus est." (Quoted in Anacalypsis, p. 102, of
vol. ii.)
[364:5] Quoted by Bonwick, p. 143.
[364:6] Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
[364:7] Relig. Anct. Greece, p. 215.
[364:8] Ibid.
[364:9] Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102; Dupuis, p. 237, and Baring Gould:
Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 322.
[365:1] Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
[365:2] The Heathen Religion, p. 287; Dupuis, p. 283.
[365:3] Bulfinch, p. 21.
[365:4] See Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 67, and Chambers, art.
"Yule."
[365:5] See Chambers's, art. "Yule," and "Celtic Druids," p. 162.
[365:6] Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 110 and 355. Knight: p. 87.
[366:1] Dupuis, 160; Celtic Druids, and Monumental Christianity, p. 167.
[366:2] Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 99.
[366:3] Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 354.
[366:4] See Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 80.
[366:5] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 82.
[367:1] Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 383.
[367:2] King's Gnostics, p. 49.
[367:3] Quoted in Ibid.
[367:4] See the chapter on "Paganism in Christianity."
[367:5] Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 67.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE TRINITY.
"Say not there are three Gods, God is but One God."--(Koran.)
The doctrine of the Trinity is the highest and most mysterious doctrine
of the Christian church. It declares that there are _three_ persons in
the Godhead or divine nature--the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost--and that "these three are _one_ true, eternal God, the same in
substance, equal in power and glory, although distinguished by their
personal propensities." The most celebrated statement of the doctrine is
to be found in the Athanasian creed,[368:1] which asserts that:
"The Catholic[368:2] faith is this: That we worship _One_ God
as Trinity, and Trinity in Unity--neither confounding the
persons, nor dividing the substance--for there is One person
of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy
Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost _is all one_; the glory equal, the majesty
co-eternal."
As M. Reville remarks:
"The dogma of the Trinity displayed its contradictions with
true bravery. The Deity divided into _three_ divine persons,
_and yet_ these _three_ persons forming only _One_ God; of
these three _the first only_ being self-existent, the two
others _deriving their existence_ from the first, _and yet_
these three persons being considered as _perfectly equal_;
each having his special, distinct character, his individual
qualities, wanting in the other two, _and yet_ each one of the
three being supposed to possess the fullness of
perfection--here, it must be confessed, we have the
deification of the contradictory."[368:3]
We shall now see that this very peculiar doctrine of three in one, and
one in three, is of _heathen_ origin, and that it must fall with all the
other dogmas of the Christian religion.
The number _three_ is sacred in all theories derived from oriental
sources. Deity is always a trinity of some kind, or the successive
emanations proceeded in threes.[369:1]
If we turn to _India_ we shall find that one of the most prominent
features in the Indian theology is the doctrine of a divine triad,
governing all things. This triad is called _Tri-murti_--from the
Sanscrit word _tri_ (three) and _murti_ (form)--and consists of Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva. It is an _inseparable_ unity, though three in
form.[369:2]
"When the universal and infinite being Brahma--the only really existing
entity, wholly without form, and unbound and unaffected by the three
Gunas or by qualities of any kind--wished to create for his own
entertainment the phenomena of the universe, he assumed the quality of
activity and became a male person, as _Brahma_ the creator. Next, in the
progress of still further self-evolution, he willed to invest himself
with the second quality of goodness, as _Vishnu_ the preserver, and with
the third quality of darkness, as _Siva_ the destroyer. This development
of the doctrine of triple manifestation (_tri-murti_), which appears
first in the Brahmanized version of the Indian Epics, had already been
adumbrated in the Veda in the triple form of fire, and in the triad of
gods, Agni, Surya, and Indra; and in other ways."[369:3]
This divine _Tri-murti_--says the Brahmans and the sacred books--is
indivisible in essence, and indivisible in action; mystery profound!
which is explained in the following manner:
_Brahma_ represents the _creative_ principle, the unreflected or
unevolved protogoneus state of divinity--the _Father_.
_Vishnu_ represents the _protecting_ and _preserving_ principle, the
evolved or reflected state of divinity--the _Son_.[369:4]
_Siva_ is the principle that presides at destruction and
re-construction--the Holy Spirit.[369:5]
The third person was the Destroyer, or, in his good capacity, the
Regenerator. The dove was the emblem of the Regenerator. As the
_spiritus_ was the passive cause (brooding on the face of the waters) by
which all things sprang into life, the dove became the emblem of the
Spirit, or Holy Ghost, the third person.
These three gods are the first and the highest manifestations of the
Eternal Essence, and are typified by the three letters composing the
mystic syllable OM or AUM. They constitute the well known Trimurti or
Triad of divine forms which characterizes Hindooism. It is usual to
describe these three gods as Creator, Preserver and Destroyer, but this
gives a very inadequate idea of their complex characters. Nor does the
conception of their relationship to each other become clearer when it is
ascertained that their functions are constantly interchangeable, and
that each may take the place of the other, according to the sentiment
expressed by the greatest of Indian poets, Kalidasa (Kumara-sambhava,
Griffith, vii. 44):
"In those three persons the One God was shown--
Each first in place, each last--not one alone;
Of Siva, Vishnu, Brahma, each may be
First, second, third, among the blessed three."
A devout person called Attencin, becoming convinced that he should
worship but _one_ deity, thus addressed Brahma, Vishnu and Siva:
"O you _three_ Lords; know that I recognize only _One_ God;
inform me therefore, _which of you is the true divinity_, that
I may address to him alone my vows and adorations."
The three gods became manifest to him, and replied:
"Learn, O devotee, that there is no real distinction between
us; what to you _appears_ such is only by semblance; _the
Single Being appears under three forms, but he is
One_."[370:1]
Sir William Jones says:
"Very respectable natives have assured me, that one or two
missionaries have been absurd enough in their zeal for the
conversion of the Gentiles, to urge that the Hindoos were even
now almost Christians; because their Brahma, Vishnou, and
Mahesa (Siva), were no other than the Christian
Trinity."[370:2]
Thomas Maurice, in his "Indian Antiquities," describes a magnificent
piece of Indian sculpture, of exquisite workmanship, and of stupendous
antiquity, namely:
"A bust composed of _three heads_, united to _one body_,
adorned with the _oldest_ symbols of the Indian theology, and
thus expressly fabricated according to the unanimous
confession of the sacred sacerdotal tribe of India, to
indicate _the Creator_, the _Preserver_, and the
_Regenerator_, of mankind; which _establishes the solemn fact,
that from the remotest eras, the Indian nations had adored a
triune deity_."[371:1]
Fig. No. 34 is a representation of an Indian sculpture, intended to
represent the Triune God,[371:2] evidently similar to the one described
above by Mr. Maurice. It is taken from "a very ancient granite" in the
museum at the "Indian House," and was dug from the ruins of a temple in
the island of Bombay.
[Illustration: Fig. No. 34]
The Buddhists, as well as the Brahmans, have had their Trinity from a
very early period.
Mr. Faber, in his "Origin of Heathen Idolatry," says:
"Among the Hindoos, we have the Triad of Brahma, Vishnu,
and Siva; so, among the votaries of Buddha, we find the
self-triplicated Buddha declared to be the same as the Hindoo
Trimurti. Among the Buddhist sect of the Jainists, we have the
triple Jiva, in whom the Trimurti is similarly declared to be
incarnate."
In this Trinity _Vajrapani_ answers to Brahma, or Jehovah, the
"All-father," _Manjusri_ is the "deified teacher," the counterpart of
Crishna or Jesus, and _Avalokitesvara_ is the "Holy Spirit."
Buddha was believed by _his_ followers to be, not only an incarnation of
the deity, but "God himself in human form"--as the followers of Crishna
believed him to be--and therefore "three gods in one." This is clearly
illustrated by the following address delivered to Buddha by a devotee
called Amora:
"Reverence be unto thee, O God, in the form of the God of
mercy, the dispeller of pain and trouble, the Lord of all
things, the guardian of the universe, the emblem of mercy
towards those who serve thee--OM! the possessor of all things
in vital form. Thou art Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa; thou art
Lord of all the universe. Thou art under the proper form of
all things, movable and immovable, the possessor of the whole,
and thus I adore thee. I adore thee, who art celebrated by a
thousand names, and under various forms; in the shape of
Buddha, the god of mercy."[371:3]
The inhabitants of _China_ and _Japan_, the majority of whom are
Buddhists, worship God in the form of a Trinity. Their name for him
(Buddha) is Fo, and in speaking of the Trinity they say: "The three
pure, precious or honorable Fo."[372:1] This triad is represented in
their temples by images similar to those found in the pagodas of India,
and when they speak of God they say: "_Fo is one person, but has three
forms._"[372:2]
In a chapel belonging to the monastery of Poo-ta-la, which was found in
Manchow-Tartary, was to be seen representations of Fo, in the form of
three persons.[372:3]
Navarette, in his account of China, says:
"This sect (of Fo) has another idol they call _Sanpao_. It
consists of _three_, equal in all respects. This, which has
been represented as an image of the Most Blessed Trinity, is
exactly the same with that which is on the high altar of the
monastery of the Trinitarians at Madrid. If any Chinese
whatsoever saw it, he would say that _Sanpao_ of his country
was worshiped in these parts."
And Mr. Faber, in his "Origin of Heathen Idolatry," says:
"Among the Chinese, who worship Buddha under the name of _Fo_,
we find this God mysteriously multiplied into _three
persons_."
The mystic syllable O. M. or A. U. M. is also reverenced by the Chinese
and Japanese,[372:4] as we have found it reverenced by the inhabitants
of India.
The followers of Laou-tsze, or Laou-keum-tsze--a celebrated philosopher
of China, and deified hero, born 604 B. C.--known as the Taou sect, are
also worshipers of a Trinity.[372:5] It was the leading feature in
Laou-keun's system of philosophical theology, that Taou, the eternal
reason, produced _one_; one produced _two_; two produced _three_; and
three produced all things.[372:6] This was a sentence which Laou-keun
continually repeated, and which Mr. Maurice considers, "a most singular
axiom for a _heathen_ philosopher."[372:7]
The sacred volumes of the Chinese state that:
"The Source and Root of all is _One_. This self-existent unity
necessarily produced a _second_. The first and second, by
their union, produced a _third_. These _Three_ produced
all."[372:8]
The ancient emperors of China solemnly sacrificed, every three years, to
"Him who is One and Three."[372:9]
The ancient _Egyptians_ worshiped God in the form of a Trinity, which
was represented in sculptures on the most ancient of their temples. The
celebrated symbol of the wing, the globe, and the serpent, is supposed
to have stood for the different attributes of God.[373:1]
The priests of Memphis, in Egypt, explained this mystery to the novice,
by intimating that the premier (first) _monad_ created the _dyad_, who
engendered the _triad_, and that it is this triad which shines through
nature.
Thulis, a great monarch, who at one time reigned over all Egypt, and who
was in the habit of consulting the oracle of Serapis, is said to have
addressed the oracle in these words:
"Tell me if ever there was before one greater than I, or will
ever be one greater than me?"
The oracle answered thus:
"First _God_, afterward the _Word_, and with them the _Holy
Spirit_, all these are of the same nature, and make but _one_
whole, of which the power is eternal. Go away quickly,
_mortal_, thou who hast but an uncertain life."[373:2]
The idea of calling the second person in the Trinity the _Logos_, or
_Word_[373:3] is an Egyptian feature, and was engrafted into
Christianity many centuries after the time of Christ Jesus.[373:4]
_Apollo_, who had his tomb at Delphi in Egypt, was called the
Word.[373:5]
Mr. Bonwick, in his "Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought," says:
"Some persons are prepared to admit that the most astonishing
development of the old religion of Egypt was in relation to
the _Logos_ or Divine _Word_, by whom all things were made,
and who, though from God, was God. It had long been known that
Plato, Aristotle, and others before the Christian era,
cherished the idea of this Demiurgus; but it was not known
till of late that Chaldeans and Egyptians recognized this
mysterious principle."[373:6]
"The _Logos_ or _Word_ was a great mystery (among the
Egyptians), in whose sacred books the following passages may
be seen: 'I know the mystery of the divine Word;' 'The Word of
the Lord of All, which was the maker of it;' 'The Word--this
is the first person after himself, uncreated, infinite ruling
over all things that were made by him.'"[374:1]
The Assyrians had Marduk for their Logos;[374:2] one of their sacred
addresses to him reads thus:
"Thou art the powerful one--Thou art the life-giver--Thou also
the prosperer--Merciful one among the gods--Eldest son of Hea,
who made heaven and earth--Lord of heaven and earth, who an
equal has not--Merciful one, who dead to life raises."[374:3]
The Chaldeans had their _Memra_ or "Word of God," corresponding to the
Greek _Logos_, which designated that being who organized and who still
governs the world, and is inferior to God only.[374:4]
The Logos was with Philoa most interesting subject of discourse,
tempting him to wonderful feats of imagination. There is scarcely a
personifying or exalting epithet that he did not bestow on the Divine
Reason. He described it as a distinct being; called it "a Rock," "The
Summit of the Universe," "Before all things," "First-begotten Son of
God," "Eternal Bread from Heaven," "Fountain of Wisdom," "Guide to God,"
"Substitute for God," "Image of God," "Priest," "Creator of the Worlds,"
"Second God," "Interpreter of God," "Ambassador of God," "Power of God,"
"King," "Angel," "Man," "Mediator," "Light," "The Beginning," "The
East," "The Name of God," "The Intercessor."[374:5]
This is exactly the Logos of John. It becomes a man, "is made flesh;"
appears as an _incarnation_; in order that the God whom "no man has seen
at any time," may be manifested.
The worship of God in the form of a Trinity was to be found among the
ancient _Greeks_. When the priests were about to offer up a sacrifice to
the gods, the altar was _three times_ sprinkled by dipping a laurel
branch in holy water, and the people assembled around it were _three
times_ sprinkled also. Frankincense was taken from the censer with
_three fingers_, and strewed upon the altar _three times_. This was done
because an oracle had declared that _all sacred things ought to be in
threes_, therefore, that number was scrupulously observed in most
religious ceremonies.[374:6]
Orpheus[374:7] wrote that:
"All things were made by _One_ godhead in _three_ names, and
that this god is all things."[375:1]
This Trinitarian view of the Deity he is said to have brought from
Egypt, and the Christian Fathers of the third and fourth centuries
claimed that Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Plato--who taught the doctrine
of the Trinity--had drawn their theological philosophy from the writings
of Orpheus.[375:2]
The works of Plato were extensively studied by the Church Fathers, one
of whom joyfully recognizes in the great teacher, the schoolmaster who,
in the fullness of time, was destined to educate the heathen for Christ,
as Moses did the Jews.[375:3]
The celebrated passage: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God,"[375:4] is a fragment of some Pagan
treatise on the Platonic philosophy, evidently written by
Irenæus.[375:5] It is quoted by _Amelius_, a Pagan philosopher, as
strictly applicable to the Logos, or Mercury, the Word, apparently as an
honorable testimony borne to the Pagan deity by a barbarian--for such is
what he calls the writer of John i. 1. His words are:
"This plainly was the Word, by whom all things were made, he
being himself eternal, as Heraclitus also would say; and by
Jove, the same whom the _barbarian_ affirms to have been in
the place and dignity of a principal, and to be with God, and
to be God, by whom all things were made, and in whom
everything that was made has its life and being."[375:6]
The Christian Father, Justin Martyr, _apologizing_ for the Christian
religion, tells the Emperor Antoninus Pius, that the Pagans need not
taunt the Christians for worshiping the Logos, which "was with God, and
was God," as _they were also guilty of the same act_.
"If we (Christians) hold," says he, "some opinions near of kin
to the poets and philosophers, in great repute among you, why
are we thus unjustly hated?" "There's _Mercury_, Jove's
interpreter, in imitation of the Logos, in worship among you,"
and "as to the Son of God, called Jesus, should we allow him
to be nothing more than man, yet the title of the 'Son of God'
is very justifiable, upon the account of his wisdom,
considering _you_ have your _Mercury_, (also called the 'Son
of God') in worship under the title of the _Word_ and
Messenger of God."[375:7]
We see, then, that the title "Word" or "Logos," being applied to Jesus,
is another piece of Pagan amalgamation with Christianity. _It did not
receive its authorized Christian form until the middle of the second
century after Christ._[376:1]
The ancient Pagan _Romans_ worshiped a Trinity. An oracle is said to
have declared that there was, "first God, then the Word, and with them
the Spirit."[376:2]
Here we see distinctly enumerated, God, the Logos, and the Spirit or
Holy Ghost, in ancient Rome, where the most celebrated temple of this
capital--that of Jupiter Capitolinus--was dedicated to _three_ deities,
which three deities were honored with joint worship.[376:3]
The ancient _Persians_ worshiped a Trinity.[376:4] This trinity
consisted of Oromasdes, Mithras, and Ahriman.[376:5] It was virtually
the same as that of the Hindoos: Oromasdes was the Creator, Mithras was
the "Son of God," the "Saviour," the "Mediator" or "Intercessor," and
Ahriman was the Destroyer. In the oracles of Zoroaster the Persian
lawgiver, is to be found the following sentence:
"A _Triad_ of Deity shines forth through the whole world, of
which a _Monad_ (an invisible thing) is the head."[376:6]
Plutarch, "De Iside et Osiride," says:
"Zoroaster is said to have made a _threefold_ distribution of
things: to have assigned the first and highest rank to
Oromasdes, who, _in the Oracles_, is called the _Father_; the
lowest to Ahrimanes; and the middle to Mithras; who, in the
_same Oracles_, is called the _second Mind_."
The _Assyrians_ and _Phenicians_ worshiped a Trinity.[376:7]
"It is a curious and instructive fact, that the Jews had symbols of the
divine Unity in Trinity as well as the Pagans."[376:8] The _Cabbala_ had
its Trinity: "the _Ancient_, whose name is sanctified, is with _three_
heads, which make but _one_."[376:9]
Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai says:
"Come and see the _mystery_ of the word _Elohim_: there are
_three degrees_, and each degree by itself alone, and yet,
notwithstanding, _they are all One_, and _joined together in
One_, and cannot be divided from each other."
According to Dr. Parkhurst:
"The _Vandals_[376:10] had a god called Triglaff. One of these
was found at Hertungerberg, near Brandenburg (in Prussia). He
was represented with _three heads_. This was apparently the
_Trinity of Paganism_."[377:1]
The ancient _Scandinavians_ worshiped a triple deity who was yet one
god. It consisted of Odin, Thor, and Frey. A triune statue representing
this Trinity in Unity was found at Upsal in Sweden.[377:2] The three
principal nations of Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, and Norway) vied with
each other in erecting temples, but none were more famous than the
temple at Upsal in Sweden. It glittered on all sides with gold. It
seemed to be particularly consecrated to the _Three Superior Deities_,
Odin, Thor and Frey. The statues of these gods were placed in this
temple on three thrones, one above the other. _Odin_ was represented
holding a sword in his hand: _Thor_ stood at the left hand of Odin, with
a crown upon his head, and a scepter in his hand; _Frey_ stood at the
left hand of Thor, and was represented of both sexes. Odin was the
supreme God, the _Al-fader_; Thor was the first-begotten son of this
god, and Frey was the bestower of fertility, peace and riches. King
Gylfi of Sweden is supposed to have gone at one time to _Asgard_ (the
abode of the gods), where he beheld three thrones raised one above
another, with a man sitting on each of them. Upon his asking what the
names of these lords might be, his guide answered: "He who sitteth on
the lowest throne is _the Lofty One_; the second is _the equal to the
Lofty One_; and he who sitteth on the highest throne is called _the
Third_."[377:3]
The ancient _Druids_ also worshiped: "_Ain Treidhe Dia ainm Taulac, Fan,
Mollac_;" which is to say: "Ain triple God, of name Taulac, Fan,
Mollac."[377:4]
The ancient inhabitants of _Siberia_ worshiped a triune God. In remote
ages, wanderers from India directed their eyes northward, and crossing
the vast Tartarian deserts, finally settled in Siberia, bringing with
them the worship of a triune God. This is clearly shown from the fact
stated by Thomas Maurice, that:
"The first Christian missionaries who arrived in those
regions, found the people already in possession of that
fundamental doctrine of the true religion, which, among
others, they came to impress upon their minds, and universally
adored an idol fabricated to resemble, as near as possible, _a
Trinity in Unity_."
This triune God consisted of, first "the Creator of all things," second,
"the God of Armies," third, "the Spirit of Heavenly Love," and yet these
three were but _one_ indivisible God.[377:5]
The _Tartars_ also worshiped God as a Trinity in Unity. On one of their
medals, which is now in the St. Petersburgh Museum, may be seen a
representation of the triple God seated on the lotus.[378:1]
Even in the remote islands of the Pacific Ocean, the supreme deities are
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, the latter of which is
symbolized as a bird.[378:2]
The ancient _Mexicans_ and _Peruvians_ had their Trinity. The supreme
God of the Mexicans (_Tezcatlipoca_), who had, as Lord Kingsborough
says, "all the attributes and powers which were assigned to Jehovah by
the Hebrews," had associated with him two other gods, _Huitzlipochtli_
and _Tlaloc_; one occupied a place upon his left hand, the other on his
right. This was the Trinity of the Mexicans.[378:3]
When the bishop Don Bartholomew de las Casas proceeded to his bishopric,
which was in 1545, he commissioned an ecclesiastic, whose name was
Francis Hernandez, who was well acquainted with the language of the
Indians (as the natives were called), to visit them, carrying with him a
sort of catechism of what he was about to preach. In about one year from
the time that Francis Hernandez was sent out, he wrote to Bishop las
Casas, stating that:
"The Indians believed in the God who was in heaven; that this
God was the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that the Father
was named _Yzona_, the Son _Bacab_, who was born of a Virgin,
and that the Holy Ghost was called _Echiah_."[378:4]
The Rev. Father Acosta says, in speaking of the _Peruvians_:
"It is strange that the devil after his manner hath brought a
Trinity into idolatry, for the three images of the Sun called
_Apomti_, _Churunti_, and _Intiquaoqui_, signifieth Father and
Lord Sun, the Son Sun, and the Brother Sun.
"Being in Chuquisaca, an honorable priest showed me an
information, which I had long in my hands, where it was proved
that there was a certain oratory, whereat the Indians did
worship an idol called _Tangatanga_, which they said was 'One
in Three, and Three in One.' And as this priest stood amazed
thereat, I said that the devil by his internal and obstinate
pride (whereby he always pretends to make himself God) did
steal all that he could from the truth, to employ it in his
lying and deceits."[378:5]
The doctrine was recognized among the Indians of the Californian
peninsula. The statue of the principal deity of the New Granadian
Indians had "three heads on one body," and was understood to be "three
persons with one heart and one will."[378:6]
The result of our investigations then, is that, for ages before the
time of Christ Jesus or Christianity, God was worshiped in the form of a
TRIAD, and that this doctrine was extensively diffused through all
nations. That it was established in regions as far distant as China and
Mexico, and immemorially acknowledged through the whole extent of Egypt
and India. That it flourished with equal vigor among the snowy mountains
of Thibet, and the vast deserts of Siberia. That the barbarians of
central Europe, the Scandinavians, and the Druids of Britain and
Ireland, bent their knee to an idol of a _Triune God_. What then becomes
of "the Ever-Blessed Trinity" of Christianity? It must fall, together
with all the rest of its dogmas, and be buried with the Pagan débris.
The learned Thomas Maurice imagined that this mysterious doctrine must
have been revealed by God to Adam, or to Noah, or to Abraham, or to
somebody else. Notice with what caution he wrote (A. D. 1794) on this
subject. He says:
"In the course of the wide range which I have been compelled
to take in the field of Asiatic mythology, certain topics have
arisen for discussion, _equally delicate and perplexing_.
Among them, in particular, a species of Trinity forms a
constant and prominent feature in nearly all the systems of
Oriental theology."
After saying, "_I venture with a trembling step_," and that, "It was not
from _choice_, but from _necessity_, that I entered thus upon this
subject," he concludes:
"This extensive and interesting subject engrosses a
considerable portion of this work, _and my anxiety to prepare
the public mind to receive it_, my efforts to elucidate so
_mysterious_ a point of theology, induces me to remind the
candid reader, that visible traces of this doctrine are
discovered, not only in the _three_ principals of the Chaldaic
theology; in the _Triplasios_ Mithra of Persia; in the
_Triad_, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, of India--where it was
evidently promulgated in the Geeta, _fifteen hundred years
before the birth of Plato_;[379:1] but in the Numen Triplex of
Japan; in the inscription upon the famous medal found in the
deserts of Siberia, "To the Triune God," to be seen at this
day in the valuable cabinet of the Empress, at St.
Petersburgh; in the Tanga-Tanga, or Three in One, of the South
Americans; and, finally, without mentioning the vestiges of it
in Greece, in the Symbol of the Wing, the Globe, and the
Serpent, conspicuous on most of the ancient temples of Upper
Egypt."[379:2]
It was a long time after the followers of Christ Jesus had made him _a_
God, before they ventured to declare that he was "_God himself in human
form_," and, "_the second person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity_." It was
_Justin Martyr, a Christian convert from the Platonic school_,[380:1]
who, about the middle of the second century, first promulgated the
opinion, that Jesus of Nazareth, the "Son of God," was the second
principle in the Deity, and the Creator of all material things. He is
the earliest writer to whom the opinion can be traced. This knowledge,
he does not ascribe to the Scriptures, but to the special favor of
God.[380:2]
The passage in I. John, v. 7, which reads thus: "For there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one," is _one of the numerous interpolations which
were inserted into the books of the New Testament, many years after
these books were written_.[380:3] These passages are retained and
circulated as the _word of God_, or as of equal authority with the rest,
though known and admitted by the learned on all hands, to be forgeries,
willful and wicked interpolations.
The subtle and profound questions concerning the nature, generation, the
distinction, and the quality of the three divine persons of the
mysterious triad, or Trinity, were agitated in the philosophical and in
the Christian schools of _Alexandria in Egypt_,[380:4] but it was not a
part of the established Christian faith until as late as A. D. 327, when
the question was settled at the Councils of Nice and Constantinople. _Up
to this time there was no understood and recognized doctrine on this
high subject._ The Christians were for the most part accustomed to use
scriptural expressions in speaking of the Father, and the Son, and the
Spirit, without defining articulately their relation to one
another.[380:5]
In these trinitarian controversies, which first broke out in
Egypt--_Egypt, the land of Trinities_--the chief point in the discussion
was to define the position of "the Son."
There lived in _Alexandria_ a presbyter of the name of _Arius_, a
disappointed candidate for the office of bishop. He took the ground
that there was a time when, from the very nature of _Sonship_, the Son
did not exist, and a time at which he commenced to be, asserting that it
is the necessary condition of the filial relation _that a father must be
older than his son_. But this assertion evidently denied the
_co-eternity_ of the three persons of the Trinity, it suggested a
_subordination_ or _inequality_ among them, and indeed implied a time
when the Trinity did not exist. Hereupon, the bishop, who had been the
successful competitor against Arius, displayed his rhetorical powers in
public debates on the question, and, the strife spreading, the Jews and
Pagans, who formed a very large portion of the population of Alexandria,
_amused themselves with theatrical representations of the contest on the
stage--the point of their burlesques being the equality of age of the
Father and the Son_. Such was the violence the controversy at length
assumed, that the matter had to be referred to the emperor
(Constantine).
At first he looked upon the dispute as altogether frivolous, and perhaps
in truth inclined to the assertion of Arius, that in the very nature of
the thing a father must be older than his son. So great, however, was
the pressure laid upon him, that he was eventually compelled to summon
the Council of Nicea, which, to dispose of the conflict, set forth a
formulary or creed, and attached to it this anathema:
"The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes those
who say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, and
that, before he was begotten, he was not, and that, he was
made out of nothing, or out of another substance or essence,
and is created, or changeable, or alterable."
Constantine at once _enforced_ the decision of the council by the civil
power.[381:1]
Even after this "subtle and profound question" had been settled at the
Council of Nice, those who settled it did not understand the question
they had settled. Athanasius, who was a member of the first general
council, and who is said to have written the _creed_ which bears his
name, which asserts that the true Catholic faith is this:
"That we worship _One_ God as Trinity, and Trinity in
Unity--neither confounding the persons nor dividing the
substance--for there is one person of the Father, another of
the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost, but the Godhead of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost _is all one_,
the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal,"
--also confessed that whenever he forced his understanding to meditate
on the divinity of the Logos, his toilsome and unavailing efforts
recoiled on themselves; _that the more he thought the less he
comprehended; and the more he wrote the less capable was he of
expressing his thoughts_.[382:1]
We see, then, that this great question was settled, not by the consent
of all members of the council, but simply because the _majority_ were in
favor of it. Jesus of Nazareth was "God himself in human form;" "one of
the persons of the Ever-Blessed Trinity," who "had no beginning, and
will have no end," _because the majority of the members of this council
said so_. Hereafter--so it was decreed--_all must believe it_; if not,
they must not oppose it, but forever hold their peace.
The Emperor Theodosius declared his resolution of expelling from all the
churches of his dominions, the bishops and their clergy who should
obstinately refuse to believe, _or at least to profess_, the doctrine of
the Council of Nice. His lieutenant, Sapor, was armed with the ample
powers of a general law, a special commission, _and a military force_;
and this ecclesiastical resolution was conducted _with so much
discretion and vigor, that the religion of the Emperor was
established_.[382:2]
Here we have the historical fact, that bishops of the Christian church,
and their clergy, _were forced to profess their belief in the doctrine
of the Trinity_.
We also find that:
"This orthodox Emperor (Theodosius) considered every heretic
(as he called those who did not believe as he and his
ecclesiastics professed) as a rebel against the supreme powers
of heaven and of earth (he being one of the supreme powers of
earth) _and each of the powers_ might exercise their peculiar
jurisdiction _over the soul and body of the guilty_.
"The decrees of the Council of Constantinople had ascertained
the _true_ standard of the faith, _and the ecclesiastics, who
governed the conscience of Theodosius, suggested the most
effectual methods of persecution_. In the space of fifteen
years he promulgated at least fifteen severe edicts against
the heretics, _more especially against those who rejected the
doctrine of the Trinity_."[382:3]
Thus we see one of the many reasons why the "most holy Christian
religion" spread so rapidly.
Arius--who declared that in the nature of things a father must be older
than his son--was excommunicated for his so-called heretical notions
concerning the Trinity. His followers, who were very numerous, were
called Arians. Their writings, if they had been permitted to
exist,[383:1] would undoubtedly contain the lamentable story of the
persecution which affected the church under the reign of the impious
Emperor Theodosius.
FOOTNOTES:
[368:1] The celebrated passage (I. John, v. 7) "For there are three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and
these three are one," is now admitted on all hands to be an
interpolation into the epistle many centuries after the time of Christ
Jesus. (See Giles' Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 12.
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 556. Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p.
886. Taylor's Diegesis and Reber's Christ of Paul.)
[368:2] That is, the _true_ faith.
[368:3] Dogma Deity Jesus Christ, p. 95.
[369:1] "The notion of a _Triad_ of Supreme Powers is indeed common to
most ancient religions." (Prichard's Egyptian Mytho., p. 285.)
"Nearly all the Pagan nations of antiquity, in their various theological
systems, acknowledged a trinity in the divine nature." (Maurice: Indian
Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 35.)
"The ancients imagined that their _triad_ of gods or persons, only
constituted one god." (Celtic Druids, p. 197.)
[369:2] The three attributes called Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, are
indicated by letters corresponding to our A. U. M., generally pronounced
OM. This mystic word is never uttered except in prayer, and the sign
which represents it in their temples is an object of profound adoration.
[369:3] Monier Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 324.
[369:4] That is, the Lord and Saviour _Crishna_. The Supreme Spirit, in
order to preserve the world, produced Vishnu. Vishnu came upon earth for
this purpose, in the form of Crishna. He was believed to be an
incarnation of the Supreme Being, one of the persons of their holy and
mysterious trinity, to use their language, "The Lord and Savior--three
persons and one god." In the Geita, Crishna is made to say: "I am the
Lord of all created beings." "I am the mystic figure O. M." "I am
Brahma Vishnu, and Siva, three gods in one."
[369:5] See The Heathen Religion, p. 124.
[370:1] Allen's India, pp. 382, 383.
[370:2] Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 272.
[371:1] Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 372.
[371:2] Taken from Moore's "Hindoo Pantheon," plate 81.
[371:3] Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. pp. 285, 286. See also, King's
Gnostics, 167.
[372:1] Davis' China, vol. ii. p. 104.
[372:2] Ibid. pp. 103 and 81.
[372:3] Ibid. pp. 105, 106.
[372:4] Ibid. pp. 103, 81.
[372:5] Ibid. 110, 111. Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 36. Dunlap's Spirit
Hist., 150.
[372:6] Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 41. Dupuis, p. 285. Dunlap's
Spirit Hist., 150.
[372:7] Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 41.
This Taou sect, according to John Francis Davis, and the Rev. Charles
Gutzlaff, both of whom have resided in China--call their trinity "the
three pure ones," or "the three precious ones in heaven." (See Davis'
China, vol. ii. p. 110, and Gutzlaff's Voyages, p. 307.)
[372:8] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 210.
[372:9] Ibid.
[373:1] Indian Antiquities, vol. i. p. 127.
[373:2] Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 14.
The following answer is stated by Manetho, an Egyptian priest, to have
been given by an Oracle to Sesostris: "On his return through Africa he
entered the sanctuary of the Oracle, saying: 'Tell me, O thou strong in
fire, who before me could subjugate all things? and who shall after me?'
But the Oracle rebuked him, saying, 'First, _God_; then the _Word_; and
with them, the _Spirit_.'" (Nimrod, vol. i. p. 119, in Ibid. vol. i. p.
805.)
Here we have distinctly enumerated God, the Logos, and the Spirit or
Holy Ghost, in a very early period, long previous to the Christian era.
[373:3] I. John, v. 7. John, i. 1.
[373:4] The _Alexandrian_ theology, of which the celebrated _Plato_ was
the chief representative, taught that the _Logos_ was "_the second
God_;" a being of divine essence, but distinguished from the Supreme
God. It is also called "_the first-born Son of God_."
"The _Platonists_ furnished brilliant recruits to the Christian churches
of Asia Minor and Greece, and brought with them their love for system
and their idealism." "It is in the Platonizing or Alexandrian, branch of
Judaism that we must seek for the antecedents of the Christian doctrine
of the _Logos_." (A. Revillé: Dogma Deity Jesus, p. 29.)
[373:5] Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 102. _Mithras_, the Mediator,
and Saviour of the Persians, was called the _Logos_. (See Dunlap's Son
of the Man, p. 20. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 75.) _Hermes_ was called
the _Logos_. (See Dunlap's Son of the Man, p. 39, _marginal note_.)
[373:6] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 402.
[374:1] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404.
[374:2] Ibid.
[374:3] Ibid.
[374:4] Ibid. p. 28.
[374:5] Frothingham's Cradle of the Christ, p. 112.
[374:6] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 307.
[374:7] Orpheus is said to have been a native of Thracia, the oldest
poet of Greece, and to have written before the time of Homer; but he is
evidently a mythological character.
[375:1] See Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 332, and Taylor's Diegesis,
p. 189.
[375:2] See Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Orpheus."
[375:3] Ibid., art. "Plato."
[375:4] John, i. 1.
[375:5] The first that we know of this gospel for certain is during the
time of Irenæus, the great Christian forger.
[375:6] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 185.
[375:7] Apol. 1. ch. xx.-xxii.
[376:1] See Fiske: Myths and Myth-makers, p. 205. _Celsus_ charges the
Christians with a _recoinage_ of the misunderstood doctrine of the
Logos.
[376:2] See Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 105.
[376:3] See Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 158.
[376:4] See Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 346. Monumental
Christianity, p. 65, and Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819.
[376:5] Ibid.
[376:6] Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 259.
[376:7] See Monumental Christianity, p. 65, and Ancient Faiths, vol. ii.
p. 819.
[376:8] Monumental Christianity, p. 923. See also, Maurice's Indian
Antiquities.
[376:9] Idra Suta, Sohar, iii. 288. B. Franck, 138. Son of the Man, p.
78.
[376:10] _Vandals_--a race of European barbarians, either of Germanic or
Slavonic origin.
[377:1] Parkhurst: Hebrew Lexicon, Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 216.
[377:2] See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 169. Maurice: Indian
Antiq., vol. v. p. 14, and Gross: The Heathen Religion, p. 210.
[377:3] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
[377:4] Celtic Druids, p. 171; Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 123; and Myths of
the British Druids, p. 448.
[377:5] Indian Antiquities, vol. v. pp. 8, 9.
[378:1] Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 48.
[378:2] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 169.
[378:3] Squire: Serpent Symbol, pp. 179, 180. Mexican Ant., vol. vi. p.
164.
[378:4] Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 164.
[378:5] Acosta: Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 373. See also, Indian Antiq.,
vol. v. p. 26, and Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 181.
[378:6] Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 181.
[379:1] The ideas entertained concerning the antiquity of the Geeta, at
the time Mr. Maurice wrote his Indian Antiquities, were erroneous. This
work, as we have elsewhere seen, is not as old as he supposed. The
doctrine of the _Trimurti_ in India, however, is to be found in the
_Veda_, and epic poems, which are of an antiquity long anterior to the
rise of Christianity, preceding it by many centuries. (See Monier
Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 324, and Hinduism, pp. 109, 110-115.)
"The grand cavern pagoda of Elephants, the oldest and most magnificent
temple in the world, is neither more nor less than a superb temple of a
Triune God." (Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. ix.)
[379:2] Indian Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 125-127.
[380:1] We have already seen that Plato and his followers taught the
doctrine of the Trinity centuries before the time of Christ Jesus.
[380:2] Israel Worsley's Enquiry, p. 54. Quoted in Higgins' Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p. 116.
[380:3] "The memorable test (I. John v. 7) which asserts the unity of
the three which bear witness in heaven, is condemned by the universal
silence of the orthodox Fathers, ancient versions, and authentic
manuscripts. It was first alleged by the Catholic Bishop whom Hunneric
summoned to the Conference of Carthage (A. D. 254), or, more properly,
by the four bishops who composed and published the profession of faith,
in the name of their brethren." (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 556, and
note 117.) None of the ancient manuscripts now extant, above four-score
in number, _contain this passage_. (Ibid. note 116.) In the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, the Bible was corrected. Yet, notwithstanding these
corrections, the passage is still wanting in twenty-five Latin
manuscripts. (Ibid. note 116. See also Dr. Giles' Hebrew and Christian
Records, vol. ii. p. 12. Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 886.
Rev. Robert Taylor's Diegesis, p. 421, and Reber's Christ of Paul.)
[380:4] See Gibbon's Rome, ii. 309.
[380:5] Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Trinity."
[381:1] Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 53, 54.
[382:1] Athanasius, tom. i. p. 808. Quoted in Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p.
310.
Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was so much amazed by the
extraordinary composition called "Athanasius' Creed," that he frankly
pronounced it to be the work of a drunken man. (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii.
p. 555, note 114.)
[382:2] Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 87.
[382:3] Ibid. pp. 91, 92.
[383:1] All their writings were ordered to be destroyed, and any one
found to have them in his possession was severely punished.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY.
Our assertion that that which is called Christianity is nothing more
than the religion of Paganism, we consider to have been fully verified.
We have found among the heathen, centuries before the time of Christ
Jesus, the belief in an incarnate God born of a virgin; his previous
existence in heaven; the celestial signs at the time of his birth; the
rejoicing in heaven; the adoration by the magi and shepherds; the
offerings of precious substances to the divine child; the slaughter of
the innocents; the presentation at the temple; the temptation by the
devil; the performing of miracles; the crucifixion by enemies; and the
death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. We have also found the
belief that this incarnate God was from all eternity; that he was the
Creator of the world, and that he is to be Judge of the dead at the last
day. We have also seen the practice of Baptism, and the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper or Eucharist, added to the belief in a Triune God,
consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Let us now compare the
Christian creed with ancient Pagan belief.
_Christian Creed._
1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth:
_Ancient Pagan Belief._
1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and
earth:[384:1]
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, Our Lord.
2. And in his only Son, our Lord.[384:2]
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin
Mary.[384:3]
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.
4. Suffered under (whom it might be), was crucified, dead, and
buried.[384:4]
5. He descended into Hell;
5. He descended into Hell;[385:1]
6. The third day he rose again from the dead;
6. The third day he rose again from the dead;[385:2]
7. He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the
Father Almighty;
7. He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of
God the Father Almighty;[385:3]
8. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
8. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the
dead.[385:4]
9. I believe in the Holy Ghost;
9. I believe in the Holy Ghost;[385:5]
10. The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints;
10. The Holy Catholic Church,[385:6] the Communion of Saints;
11. The forgiveness of sins;
11. The forgiveness of sins;[385:7]
12. The resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
12. The resurrection of the body; and the life
everlasting.[385:8]
The above is the so-called "_Apostles' Creed_," as it now stands in the
book of common prayer of the United Church of England and Ireland, as by
law established.
It is affirmed by Ambrose, that:
"The twelve apostles, as skilled artificers, assembled
together, and made a key by their common advice, that is, the
Creed, by which the darkness of the devil is disclosed, that
the light of Christ may appear."
Others fable that every Apostle inserted an article, by which the Creed
is divided into twelve articles.
The earliest account of its origin we have from Ruffinus, an historical
compiler and traditionist of the _fourth_ century, but not in the form
in which it is known at present, it having been added to since that
time. The most important addition is that which affirms that Jesus
descended into hell, which has been added since A. D. 600.[385:9]
Beside what we have already seen, the ancient Pagans had many beliefs
and ceremonies which are to be found among the Christians. One of these
is the story of "_The War in Heaven_."
The New Testament version is as follows:
"There was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels, and
prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in
heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent,
called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world,
he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out
with him."[386:1]
The cause of the revolt, it is said, was that Satan, who was then an
angel, desired to be as great as God. The writer of Isaiah, xiv. 13, 14,
is supposed to refer to it when he says:
"Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North;
I will ascend before the heights of the clouds; I will be like
the Most High."
The Catholic theory of the fall of the angels is as follows:
"In the beginning, before the creation of heaven and earth,
God made the angels, free intelligences, and free wills, out
of his love He made them, that they might be eternally happy.
And that their happiness might be complete, he gave them the
perfection of a created nature, that is, he gave them freedom.
But happiness is only attained by the free will agreeing in
its freedom to accord with the will of God. Some of the angels
by an act of free will obeyed the will of God, and in such
obedience found perfect happiness. Other angels, by an act of
free will, rebelled against the will of God, and in such
disobedience found misery."[386:2]
They were driven out of heaven, after having a combat with the obedient
angels, and cast into hell. The writer of second _Peter_ alludes to it
in saying that God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down
into hell.[386:3]
The writer of _Jude_ also alludes to it in saying:
"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their
own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under
darkness unto the judgment of the great day."[386:4]
According to the _Talmudists_, Satan, whose proper name is Sammael, was
one of the Seraphim of heaven, with six wings.
"He was not driven out of heaven until after he had led Adam
and Eve into sin; then Sammael and his host were precipitated
out of the place of bliss, with God's curse to weigh them
down. In the struggle between Michael and Sammael, the falling
Seraph caught the wings of Michael, and tried to drag him down
with him, but God saved him, when Michael derived his
name,--the Rescued."[386:5]
Sammael was formerly chief among the angels of God, and now he is
prince among devils. His name is derived from Simme, which means, to
blind and deceive. He stands on the left side of men. He goes by various
names; such as "The Old Serpent," "The Unclean Spirit," "Satan,"
"Leviathan," and sometimes also "Asael."[387:1]
According to _Hindoo_ mythology, there is a legion of evil spirits
called _Rakshasas_, who are governed by a prince named _Ravana_. These
Rakshasas are continually aiming to do injury to mankind, and are the
same who fought desperate battles with _Indra_, and his Spirits of
Light. They would have taken his paradise by storm, and subverted the
whole order of the universe, if Brahma had not sent _Vishnou_ to
circumvent their plans.
In the _Aitareya-brahmana_ (Hindoo) written, according to Prof. Monier
Williams, seven or eight centuries B. C., we have the following legend:
"The gods and demons were engaged in warfare.
The evil demons, like to mighty kings,
Made these worlds castles; then they formed the earth
Into an iron citadel, the air
Into a silver fortress, and the sky
Into a fort of gold. Whereat the gods
Said to each other, 'Frame me other worlds
In opposition to these fortresses.'
Then they constructed sacrificial places,
Where they performed a triple burnt oblation.
By the first sacrifice they drove the demons
Out of their earthly fortress, by the second
Out of the air, and by the third oblation
Out of the sky. Thus were the evil spirits
Chased by the gods in triumph from the worlds."[387:2]
The ancient _Egyptians_ were familiar with the tale of the war in
heaven; and the legend of the revolt against the god Ra, the Heavenly
Father, and his destruction of the revolters, was discovered by M.
Naville in one of the tombs at Biban-el-moluk.[387:3]
The same story is to be found among the ancient _Persian_ legends, and
is related as follows:
"Ahriman, the devil, was not created evil by the eternal one,
but he became evil by revolting against his will. This revolt
resulted in a 'war in heaven.' In this war the _Iveds_ (good
angels) fought against the _Divs_ (rebellious ones) headed by
_Ahriman_, and flung the conquered into Douzahk or
hell."[387:4]
An extract from the Persian _Zend-avesta_ reads as follows:
"_Ahriman_ interrupted the order of the universe, raised an
army against _Ormuzd_, and having maintained a fight against
him during ninety days, was at length vanquished by Honover,
the divine Word."[388:1]
The _Assyrians_ had an account of a war in heaven, which was like that
described in the book of Enoch and the Revelation.[388:2]
This legend was also to be found among the ancient Greeks, in the
struggle of the _Titans_ against _Jupiter_. Titan and all his rebellious
host were cast out of heaven, and imprisoned in the dark abyss.[388:3]
Among the legends of the ancient _Mexicans_ was found this same story of
the war in heaven, and the downfall of the rebellious angels.[388:4]
"The natives of the _Caroline Islands_ (in the North Pacific Ocean),
related that one of the inferior gods, named _Merogrog_, was driven by
the other gods out of heaven."[388:5]
We see, therefore, that this also was an almost universal legend.
The belief in _a future life_ was almost universal among nations of
antiquity. The _Hindoos_ have believed from time immemorial that man has
an invisible body within the material body; that is, a soul.
Among the ancient _Egyptians_ the same belief was to be found. All the
dead, both men and women, were spoken of as "_Osiriana_;" by which they
intended to signify "gone to Osiris."
Their belief in One Supreme Being, and the immortality of the soul, must
have been very ancient; for on a monument, which dates ages before
Abraham is said to have lived, is found this epitaph: "May thy soul
attain to the Creator of all mankind." Sculptures and paintings in these
grand receptacles of the dead, as translated by Champollion, represent
the deceased ushered into the world of spirits by funeral deities, who
announce, "A soul arrived in Amenti."[388:6]
The Hindoo idea of a subtile invisible body within the material body,
reappeared in the description of Greek poets. They represented the
constitution of man as consisting of three principles: the soul, the
invisible body, and the material body. The invisible body they called
the ghost or shade, and considered it as the material portion of the
soul. At death, the soul, clothed in this subtile body, went to enjoy
paradise for a season, or suffer in hell till its sins were expiated.
This paradise was called the "Elysian Fields," and the hell was called
Tartarus.
The paradise, some supposed to be a part of the lower world, some placed
them in a middle zone in the air, some in the moon, and others in
far-off isles in the ocean. There shone more glorious sun and stars than
illuminated this world. The day was always serene, the air forever pure,
and a soft, celestial light clothed all things in transfigured beauty.
Majestic groves, verdant meadows, and blooming gardens varied the
landscape. The river Eridanus flowed through winding banks fringed with
laurel. On its borders lived heroes who had died for their country,
priests who had led a pure life, artists who had embodied genuine beauty
in their work, and poets who had never degraded their muse with subjects
unworthy of Apollo. There each one renewed the pleasures in which he
formerly delighted. Orpheus, in long white robes, made enrapturing music
on his lyre, while others danced and sang. The husband rejoined his
beloved wife; old friendships were renewed, the poet repeated his
verses, and the charioteer managed his horses.
Some souls wandered in vast forests between Tartarus and Elysium, not
good enough for one, or bad enough for the other. Some were purified
from their sins by exposure to searching winds, others by being
submerged in deep waters, others by passing through intense fires. After
a long period of probation and suffering, many of them gained the
Elysian Fields. This belief is handed down to our day in the Roman
Catholic idea of _Purgatory_.
A belief in the existence of the soul after death was indicated in all
periods of history of the world, by the fact that man was always
accustomed to address prayers to the spirits of their ancestors.[389:1]
These _heavens_ and _hells_ where men abode after death, vary, in
different countries, according to the likes and dislikes of each nation.
All the Teutonic nations held to a fixed Elysium and a hell, where the
valiant and the just were rewarded, and where the cowardly and the
wicked suffered punishment. As all nations have made a god, and that god
has resembled the persons who made it, so have all nations made a
heaven, and that heaven corresponds to the fancies of the people who
have created it.
In the prose Edda there is a description of the joys of _Valhalla_ (the
Hall of the Chosen), which states that: "All men who have fallen in
fight since the beginning of the world are gone to Odin (the Supreme
God), in Valhalla." A mighty band of men are there, "and every day, as
soon as they have dressed themselves, they ride out into the court (or
field), and there fight until they cut each other into pieces. This is
their pastime, but when the meal-tide approaches, they remount their
steeds, and return to drink in _Valhalla_. As it is said (in
Vafthrudnis-mal):
'The Einherjar all
On Odin's plain
Hew daily each other,
While chosen the slain are.
From the frey they then ride,
And drink ale with the Æsir.'"[390:1]
This description of the palace of Odin is a natural picture of the
manners of the ancient Scandinavians and Germans. Prompted by the wants
of their climate, and the impulse of their own temperament, they formed
to themselves a delicious paradise in their own way; where they were to
eat and drink, and fight. The women, to whom they assigned a place
there, were introduced for no other purpose but to fill their cups.
The Mohammedan paradise differs from this. Women _there_, are for man's
pleasure. The day is always serene, the air forever pure, and a soft
celestial light clothes all things in transfigured beauty. Majestic
groves, verdant meadows, and blooming gardens vary the landscape. There,
in radiant halls, dwell the departed, ever blooming and beautiful, ever
laughing and gay.
The American Indian calculates upon finding successful chases after wild
animals, verdant plains, and no winter, as the characteristics of his
"future life."
The red Indian, when told by a missionary that in the "promised land"
they would neither eat, drink, hunt, nor marry a wife, contemptuously
replied, that instead of wishing to go there, he should deem his
residence in such a place as the greatest possible calamity. Many not
only rejected such a destiny for themselves, but were indignant at the
attempt to decoy their children into such a comfortless region.
All nations of the earth have had their heavens. As Moore observes:
"A heaven, too, ye must have, ye lords of dust--
A splendid paradise, poor souls, ye must:
That prophet ill sustains his holy call
Who finds not heavens to suit the tastes of all.
Vain things! as lust or _vanity_ inspires,
The heaven of each is but what each desires."
_Heaven_ was born of the sky,[391:1] and nurtured by cunning priests,
who made man a coward and a slave.
_Hell_ was built by priests, and nurtured by the fears and servile
fancies of man during the ages when dungeons of torture were a
recognized part of every government, and when God was supposed to be an
infinite tyrant, with infinite resources of vengeance.
_The devil_ is an imaginary being, invented by primitive man to account
for the existence of evil, and relieve God of his responsibility. The
famous Hindoo _Rakshasas_ of our Aryan ancestors--the dark and evil
_clouds_ personified--are the originals of all devils. The cloudy shape
has assumed a thousand different forms, horrible or grotesque and
ludicrous, to suit the changing fancies of the ages.
But strange as it may appear, the god of one nation became the devil of
another.
The rock of Behistun, the sculptured chronicle of the glories of Darius,
king of Persia, situated on the western frontier of Media, on the
high-road from Babylon to the eastward, was used as a "holy of holies."
It was named _Bagistane_--"the place of the _Baga_"--referring to
Ormuzd, chief of the Bagas. When examined with the lenses of linguistic
science, the "_Bogie_" or "_Bug-a-boo_" or "_Bugbear_" of nursery lore,
turns out to be identical with the Slavonic "_Bog_" and the "_Baga_" of
the cuneiform inscriptions, both of which are names of the _Supreme
Being_. It is found also in the old Aryan "_Bhaga_," who is described in
a commentary of the _Rig-Veda_ as the lord of life, the giver of bread,
and the bringer of happiness. Thus, the same name which, to the _Vedic_
poet, to the Persian of the time of Xerxes, and to the modern Russian,
suggests the supreme majesty of deity, is in English associated with an
ugly and ludicrous fiend. Another striking illustration is to be found
in the word _devil_ itself. When traced back to its primitive source, it
is found to be a name of the Supreme Being.[391:2]
The ancients had a great number of festival days, many of which are
handed down to the present time, and are to be found in Christianity.
We have already seen that the 25th of December was almost a universal
festival among the ancients; so it is the same with the _spring_
festivals, when days of fasting are observed.
The _Hindoos_ hold a festival, called _Siva-ratri_, in honor of _Siva_,
about the middle or end of February. _A strict fast is observed during
the day._ They have also a festival in April, when a strict fast is kept
by some.[392:1]
At the _spring equinox_ most nations of antiquity set apart a day to
implore the blessings of their god, or gods, on the fruits of the earth.
At the autumnal equinox, they offered the fruits of the harvest, and
returned thanks. In China, these religious solemnities are called
"Festivals of gratitude to Tien."[392:2] The last named corresponds to
_our_ "Thanksgiving" celebration.
One of the most considerable festivals held by the ancient
_Scandinavians_ was the _spring_ celebration. This was held in honor of
Odin, at the beginning of spring, in order to welcome in that pleasant
season, and to obtain of their god happy success in their projected
expeditions.
Another festival was held toward the autumn equinox, when they were
accustomed to kill all their cattle in good condition, and lay in a
store of provision for the winter. This festival was also attended with
religious ceremonies, when Odin, the supreme god, was thanked for what
he had given them, by having his altar loaded with the fruits of their
crops, and the choicest products of the earth.[392:3]
There was a grand celebration in Egypt, called the "Feast of Lamps,"
held at Sais, in honor of the goddess Neith. Those who did not attend
the ceremony, as well as those who did, burned lamps before their houses
all night, filled with oil and salt: thus all Egypt was illuminated. It
was deemed a great irreverence to the goddess for any one to omit this
ceremony.[392:4]
The _Hindoos_ also held a festival in honor of the goddesses Lakshmi and
Bhavanti, called "_The feast of Lamps_."[392:5] This festival has been
handed down to the present time in what is called "Candlemas day," or
the purification of the Virgin Mary.
The most celebrated Pagan festival held by modern Christians is that
known as "_Sunday_," or the "Lord's day."
All the principal nations of antiquity kept the _seventh_ day of the
week as a "holy day," just as the ancient Israelites did. This was owing
to the fact that they consecrated the days of the week to the Sun, the
Moon, and the five planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
_The seventh day was sacred to Saturn from time immemorial._ Homer and
Hesiod call it the "Holy Day."[393:1] The people generally visited the
temples of the gods, on that day, and offered up their prayers and
supplications.[393:2] The Acadians, thousands of years ago, kept holy
the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of each month as _Salum_ (rest), on which
certain works were forbidden.[393:3] The _Arabs_ anciently worshiped
Saturn under the name of Hobal. In his hands he held _seven_ arrows,
symbols of the planets that preside over the seven days of the
week.[393:4] The _Egyptians_ assigned a day of the week to the sun,
moon, and five planets, and the number _seven_ was held there in great
reverence.[393:5]
The planet _Saturn_ very early became the chief deity of Semitic
religion. Moses consecrated the number seven to him.[393:6]
In the _old_ conception, which finds expression in the Decalogue in
Deuteronomy (v. 15), the Sabbath has a purely theocratic significance,
and is intended to remind the Hebrews of their miraculous deliverance
from the land of Egypt and bondage. When the story of _Creation_ was
borrowed from the _Babylonians_, the celebration of the Sabbath was
established on entirely new grounds (Ex. xx. 11), for we find it is
because the "Creator," after his six days of work, rested on the
seventh, that the day should be kept holy.
The Assyrians kept this day holy. Mr. George Smith says:
"In the year 1869, I discovered among other things a curious
religious calendar of the Assyrians, in which every month is
divided into four weeks, and the _seventh_ days or
'_Sabbaths_,' are marked out as days on which no work should
be undertaken."[393:7]
The ancient _Scandinavians_ consecrated one day in the week to their
Supreme God, _Odin_ or _Wodin_.[393:8] Even at the present time we call
this day _Odin's-day_.[393:9]
The question now arises, how was the great festival day changed from
the _seventh_--Saturn's day--to the _first_--_Sun_-day--among the
Christians?
"If we go back to the founding of the church, we find that the most
marked feature of that age, so far as the church itself is concerned, is
the grand division between the 'Jewish faction,' as it was called, and
the followers of Paul. This division was so deep, so marked, so
characteristic, that it has left its traces all through the New
Testament itself. It was one of the grand aspects of the time, and the
point on which they were divided was simply this: the followers of
Peter, those who adhered to the teachings of the central church in
Jerusalem, held that all Christians, both converted Jews and Gentiles,
were under obligation to keep the Mosaic law, ordinances, and
traditions. That is, a Christian, according to their definition, was
first a Jew; Christianity was something _added to_ that, not something
taking the place of it.