churches, and splitting them into factions, so that they were the
occasion of prayer and counsel. Paul took the ground distinctly that
Christianity, while it might be spiritually the lineal successor of
Judaism, was not Judaism; and that he who became a Christian, whether a
converted Jew or Gentile, was under no obligation whatever to keep the
Jewish law, so far as it was separate from practical matters of life and
character. We find this intimated in the writings of Paul; for we have
to go to the New Testament for the origin of that which, we find,
existed immediately after the New Testament was written. Paul says: 'One
man esteemeth one day above another: another man esteemeth every day
alike' (Rom. xiv. 5-9). He leaves it an open question; they can do as
they please. Then: 'Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I
am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain' (Gal. iv.
10, 11). And if you will note this Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, you
will find that the whole purpose of his writing it was to protest
against what he believed to be the viciousness of the Judaizing
influences. That is, he says: 'I have come to preach to you the perfect
truth, that Christ hath made us free; and you are going back and taking
upon yourselves this yoke of bondage. My labor is being thrown away; my
efforts have been in vain.' Then he says, in his celebrated Epistle to
the Colossians, that has never yet been explained away or met: 'Let no
man therefore judge you any more in meat, or in drink, or in respect of
an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days' (Col. ii. 16,
17), distinctly abrogating the binding authority of the Sabbath on the
Christian church. So that, if Paul's word anywhere means anything--if
his authority is to be taken as of binding force on any point
whatever--then Paul is to be regarded as authoritatively and distinctly
abrogating the Sabbath, and declaring that it is no longer binding on
the Christian church."[395:1]
This breach in the early church, this controversy, resulted at last in
Paul's going up to Jerusalem "to meet James and the representatives of
the Jerusalem church, to see if they could find any common platform of
agreement--if they could come together so that they could work with
mutual respect and without any further bickering. What is the platform
that they met upon? It was distinctly understood that those who wished
to keep up the observance of Judaism should do so; and the church at
Jerusalem gave Paul this grand freedom, substantially saying to him: 'Go
back to your missionary work, found churches, and teach them that they
are perfectly free in regard to all Mosaic and Jewish observances, save
only these four: Abstain from pollutions of idols, from fornication,
from things strangled, and from blood."[395:2]
The point to which our attention is forcibly drawn is, that the question
of Sabbath-keeping is one of those that is left out. The point that Paul
had been fighting for was conceded by the central church at Jerusalem,
and he was to go out thenceforth free, so far as that was concerned, in
his teaching of the churches that he should found.
There is no mention of the Sabbath, or the Lord's day, as binding in the
New Testament. What, then, was the actual condition of affairs? What did
the churches do in the first three hundred years of their existence?
Why, they did just what Paul and the Jerusalem church had agreed upon.
Those who wished to keep the Jewish Sabbath did so; and those who did
not wish to, did not do so. This is seen from the fact that Justin
Martyr, a Christian Father who flourished about A. D. 140, did not
observe the day. In his "Dialogue" with Typho, the Jew reproaches the
Christians for not keeping the "Sabbath." Justin admits the charge by
saying:
"Do you not see that the Elements keep no Sabbaths and are
never idle? Continue as you were created. If there was no need
of circumcision before Abraham's time, and no need of the
Sabbath, of festivals and oblations, before the time of Moses,
_neither of them are necessary after the coming of Christ_. If
any among you is guilty of perjury, fraud, or other crimes,
let him cease from them and repent, and he will have kept
_the_ kind of Sabbath pleasing to God."
There was no binding authority then, among the Christians, as to
whether they should keep the first or the seventh day of the week holy,
or not, until the time of the first Christian Roman Emperor.
"_Constantine, a Sun worshiper, who had, as other Heathen, kept the
Sun-day, publicly ordered this to supplant the Jewish Sabbath._"[396:1]
He commanded that this day should be kept holy, throughout the whole
Roman empire, and sent an edict to all governors of provinces to this
effect.[396:2] _Thus we see how the great Pagan festival, in honor of
Sol the invincible, was transformed into a Christian holy-day._
Not only were Pagan festival days changed into Christian holy-days, but
Pagan idols were converted into Christian saints, and Pagan temples into
Christian churches.
A Pagan temple at Rome, formerly sacred to the "_Bona Dea_" (the "Good
Goddess"), was Christianized and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In a
place formerly sacred to Apollo, there now stands the church of Saint
Apollinaris. Where there anciently stood the temple of Mars, may now be
seen the church of Saint Martine.[396:3] A Pagan temple, originally
dedicated to "_Cælestis Dea_" (the "Heavenly Goddess"), by one Aurelius,
a Pagan high-priest, was converted into a Christian church by another
Aurelius, created Bishop of Carthage in the year 390 of Christ. He
placed his episcopal chair in the very place where the statue of the
Heavenly Goddess had stood.[396:4]
The noblest heathen temple now remaining in the world, is the _Pantheon_
or _Rotunda_, which, as the inscription over the portico informs us,
having been _impiously_ dedicated of old by Agrippa to "Jove and all the
gods," was _piously_ reconsecrated by Pope Boniface the Fourth, to "The
Mother of God and all the Saints."[396:5]
The church of Saint Reparatae, at Florence, was formerly a Pagan temple.
An inscription was found in the foundation of this church, of these
words: "To the Great Goddess Nutria."[396:6] The church of St. Stephen,
at Bologna, was formed from heathen temples, one of which was a temple
of Isis.[396:7]
At the southern extremity of the present Forum at Rome, and just under
the Palatine hill--where the noble babes, who, miraculously preserved,
became the founders of a state that was to command the world, were
exposed--stands the church of St. Theodore.
This temple was built in honor of Romulus, and the brazen
wolf--commemorating the curious manner in which the founders of Rome
were nurtured--occupied a place here till the sixteenth century. And, as
the Roman matrons of old used to carry their children, when ill, to the
temple of Romulus, so too, the women still carry their children to St.
Theodore on the same occasions.
In _Christianizing_ these Pagan temples, free use was made of the
sculptured and painted stones of heathen monuments. In some cases they
evidently painted over one name, and inserted another. This may be seen
from the following
INSCRIPTIONS FORMERLY IN PAGAN TEMPLES.
1. To Mercury and Minerva, Tutelary Gods.
_and_
INSCRIPTIONS NOW IN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.
1. To St. Mary and St. Francis, My Tutelaries.
2. To the Gods who preside over this Temple.
2. To the Divine Eustrogius, who presides over this Temple.
3. To the Divinity of Mercury the Availing, the Powerful, the
Unconquered.
3. To the Divinity of St. George the Availing, the Powerful,
the Unconquered.
4. Sacred to the Gods and Goddesses, with Jove the best and greatest.
4. Sacred to the presiding helpers, St. George and St.
Stephen, with God the best and greatest.
5. Venus' Pigeon.
5. The Holy Ghost represented as a Pigeon.
6. The Mystical Letters I. H. S.[397:1]
6. The Mystical Letters I. H. S.[397:2]
In many cases the _Images_ of the Pagan gods were allowed to remain in
these temples, and, after being _Christianized_, continued to receive
divine honors.[397:3]
"In St. Peter's, Rome, is a statue of _Jupiter_, deprived of his
thunderbolt, which is replaced by the emblematic keys. In like manner,
much of the religion of the lower orders, which we regard as essentially
_Christian_, is ancient _heathenism_, refitted with Christian
symbols."[397:4] We find that as early as the time of St. Gregory,
Bishop of Neo-Cesarea (A. D. 243), the "simple" and "unskilled"
multitudes of Christians were allowed to pay divine honors to these
images, hoping that in the process of time they would learn
better.[398:1] In fact, as Prof. Draper says:
"Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed under other
names. The more powerful provinces insisted upon the adoption
of their time-honored conceptions. . . . Not only was the
adoration of _ISIS_ under a new name restored, but even her
image, standing on the crescent moon, reappeared. The
well-known effigy of that goddess with the infant Horus in her
arms, has descended to our days in the beautiful, artistic
creations of the Madonna and child. Such restorations of old
conceptions under novel forms were everywhere received with
delight. When it was announced to the Ephesians, that the
Council of that place, headed by Cyril, had declared that the
Virgin (Mary) should be called the '_Mother of God_,' with
tears of joy they embraced the knees of their bishop; it was
the old instinct cropping out; their ancestors would have done
the same for Diana."[398:2]
"O bright goddess; once again
Fix on earth thy heav'nly reign;
Be thy sacred name ador'd,
Altars rais'd, and rites restor'd."
Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople from 428 A. D., refused to call Mary
"_the mother of God_," on the ground that she could be the mother of the
human nature only, which the divine Logos used as its organ. Cyril,
Bishop of Alexandria, did all in his power to stir up the minds of the
people against Nestorius; the consequence was that, both at Rome and at
Alexandria, Nestorius was accused of heresy. The dispute grew more
bitter, and Theodosius II. thought it necessary to convoke an
OEcumenical Council at Ephesus in 431. On this, as on former occasions,
the affirmative party overruled the negative. The person of Mary began
to rise in the new empyrean. The paradoxical name of "_Mother of God_"
pleased the popular piety. Nestorius was condemned, and died in exile.
The shrine of many an old hero was filled by the statue of some
imaginary saint.
"They have not always" (says Dr. Conyers Middleton), "as I am
well informed, given themselves the trouble of making even
this change, but have been contented sometimes to take up with
the _old image_, just as they found it; after baptizing it
only, as it were, or consecrating it anew, by the imposition
of a Christian name. This their antiquaries do not scruple to
put strangers in mind of, in showing their churches, as it
was, I think, in that of St. Agnes, where they showed me an
antique statue of a young _BACCHUS_, which, with a new name,
and some little change of drapery, stands now worshiped under
the title of a female saint."[398:3]
In many parts of Italy are to be seen pictures of the "Holy Family," of
extreme antiquity, the grounds of them often of gold.
These pictures represent the mother with a child on her knee, and a
little boy standing close by her side; the _Lamb_ is generally seen in
the picture. They are inscribed "_Deo Soli_," and are simply ancient
representations of Isis and Horus. The _Lamb_ is "The Lamb that taketh
away the sins of the world," which, as we have already seen, was
believed on in the Pagan world centuries before the time of Christ
Jesus.[399:1] Some half-pagan Christian went so far as to forge a book,
which he attributed to Christ Jesus himself, which was for the purpose
of showing that he--Christ Jesus--was in no way against these heathen
gods.[399:2]
The _Icelanders_ were induced to embrace Christianity, with its legends
and miracles, and sainted divinities, as the Christian monks were ready
to substitute for Thor, their warrior-god, Michael, the warrior-angel;
for Freyja, their goddess, the Virgin Mary; and for the god Vila, a St.
Valentine--probably manufactured for the occasion.
"The statues of Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, Orpheus, did duty for _The
Christ_.[399:3] The Thames River god officiates at the baptism of Jesus
in the Jordan. Peter holds the keys of Janus.[399:4] Moses wears the
horns of Jove. Ceres, Cybele, Demeter assume new names, as '_Queen of
Heaven_,' '_Star of the Sea_,' '_Maria Illuminatrix_;' Dionysius is St.
Denis; Cosmos is St. Cosmo; Pluto and Proserpine resign their seats in
the hall of final judgment to the Christ and his mother. The Parcæ
depute one of their number, Lachesis, the disposer of lots, to set the
stamp of destiny upon the deaths of Christian believers. The _aura
placida_ of the poets, the gentle breeze, is personified as Aura and
Placida. The _perpetua felicitas_ of the devotee becomes a lovely
presence in the forms of St. Perpetua and St. Felicitas, guardian angels
of the pious soul. No relic of Paganism was permitted to remain in its
casket. The depositories were all ransacked. The shadowy hands of
Egyptian priests placed the urn of holy water at the porch of the
basilica, which stood ready to be converted into a temple. Priests of
the most ancient faiths of Palestine, Assyria, Babylon, Thebes, Persia
were permitted to erect the altar at the point where the transverse beam
of the cross meets the main stem. The hands that constructed the temple
in cruciform shape had long become too attenuated to cast the faintest
shadow. There Devaki with the infant Crishna, Maya with the babe Buddha,
Juno with the child Mars, represent Mary with Jesus in her arms. Coarse
emblems are not rejected; the Assyrian dove is a tender symbol of the
Holy Ghost. The rag-bags and toy boxes were explored. A bauble which the
Roman schoolboy had thrown away was picked up, and called an '_agnus
dei_.' The musty wardrobes of forgotten hierarchies furnished costumes
for the officers of the new prince. Alb and chasuble recalled the
fashions of Numa's day. The cast-off purple habits and shoes of Pagan
emperors beautified the august persons of Christian popes. The cardinals
must be contented with the robes once worn by senators. Zoroaster bound
about the monks the girdle he invented as a protection against evil
spirits, and clothed them in the frocks he had found convenient for his
ritual. The pope thrust out his foot to be kissed, as Caligula,
Heliogabalus, and Julius Cesar had thrust out theirs. Nothing came amiss
to the faith that was to discharge henceforth the offices of spiritual
impression."[400:1]
The ascetic and monastic life practiced by some Christians of the
present day, is of great antiquity. Among the Buddhists there are
priests who are ordained, tonsured, live in monasteries, and make vows
of celibacy. There are also nuns among them, whose vows and discipline
are the same as the priests.[400:2]
The close resemblance between the ancient religion of _Thibet_ and
_Nepaul_--where the worship of a crucified God was found--and the Roman
Catholic religion of the present day, is very striking. In Thibet was
found the pope, or head of the religion, whom they called the "Dalai
Lama;"[400:3] they use holy water, they celebrate a sacrifice with bread
and wine; they give extreme unction, pray for the sick; they have
monasteries, and convents for women; they chant in their services, have
fasts; they worship one God in a trinity, believe in a hell, heaven, and
a half-way place or purgatory; they make prayers and sacrifices for the
dead, have confession, adore the cross; have chaplets, or strings of
beads to count their prayers, and many other practices common to the
Roman Catholic Church.[400:4]
The resemblance between Buddhism and Christianity has been remarked by
many travelers in the eastern countries. Sir John Francis Davis, in his
"History of China," speaking of Buddhism in that country, says:
"Certain it is--and the observance may be daily made even at
Canton--that they (the Buddhist priests) practice the
ordinances of celibacy, fasting, and prayers for the dead;
they have holy water, rosaries of beads, which they count with
their prayers, the worship of relics, and a monastic habit
resembling that of the Franciscans" (an order of Roman
Catholic monks).
Père Premere, a Jesuit missionary to China, was driven to conclude that
the devil had practiced a trick to perplex his friends, the Jesuits. To
others, however, it is not so difficult to account for these things as
it seemed for the good Father. Sir John continues his account as
follows:
"These priests are associated in monasteries attached to the
temples of Fo. They are in China precisely a society of
mendicants, and go about, like monks of that description in
the Romish Church, asking alms for the support of their
establishment. Their tonsure extends to the hair of the whole
head. There is a regular gradation among the priesthood; and
according to his reputation for sanctity, his length of
service and other claims, each priest may rise from the lowest
rank of servitor--whose duty it is to perform the menial
offices of the temple--to that of officiating priest--and
ultimately of 'Tae Hoepang,' Abbot or head of the
establishment."
The five principal precepts, or rather interdicts, addressed to the
Buddhist priests are:
1. Do not kill.
2. Do not steal.
3. Do not marry.
4. Speak not falsely.
5. Drink no wine.
Poo-ta-la is the name of a monastery, described in Lord Macartney's
mission, and is an extensive establishment, which was found in
Manchow-Tartary, beyond the great wall. This building offered shelter to
no less than eight hundred Chinese Buddhist priests.[401:1]
The Rev. Mr. Gutzlaff, in his "Journal of Voyages along the coast of
China," tells us that he found the Buddhist "Monasteries, nuns, and
friars very numerous;" and adds that: "their priests are generally very
ignorant."[401:2]
This reminds us of the fact that, for centuries during the "dark ages"
of Christianity, Christian bishops and prelates, the teachers, spiritual
pastors and masters, were mostly _marksmen_, that is, they supplied, by
the sign of the cross, their inability to write their own name.[402:1]
Many of the bishops in the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, it is
said, could not write their names. Ignorance was not considered a
disqualification for ordination. A cloud of ignorance overspread the
whole face of the Church, hardly broken by a few glimmering lights, who
owe almost the whole of their distinction to the surrounding
darkness.[402:2]
One of the principal objects of curiosity to the Europeans who first
went to China, was a large monastery at Canton. This monastery, which
was dedicated to Fo, or Buddha, and which is on a very large scale, is
situated upon the southern side of the river. There are extensive
grounds surrounding the building, planted with trees, in the center of
which is a broad pavement of granite, which is kept very clean. An
English gentleman, Mr. Bennett, entered this establishment, which he
fully describes. He says that after walking along this granite pavement,
they entered a temple, where the priesthood happened to be assembled,
worshiping. They were arranged in rows, chanting, striking gongs, &c.
These priests, with their shaven crowns, and arrayed in the yellow robes
of the religion, appeared to go through the mummery with devotion. As
soon as the mummery had ceased, the priests all flocked out of the
temple, adjourned to their respective rooms, divested themselves of
their official robes, and the images--among which were evidently
representations of Shin-moo, the "Holy Mother," and "Queen of Heaven,"
and "The Three Pure Ones,"--were left to themselves, with lamps burning
before them.
To expiate sin, offerings made to these priests are--according to the
Buddhist idea--sufficient. To facilitate the release of some unfortunate
from purgatory, they said masses. Their prayers are counted by means of
a rosary, and they live in a state of celibacy.
Mr. Gutzlaff, in describing a temple dedicated to Buddha, situated on
the island of Poo-ta-la, says:
"We were present at the vespers of the priests, which they
chanted in the Pali language, not unlike the Latin service of
the Romish church. They held their rosaries in their hands,
which rested folded upon their breasts. One of them had a
small bell, by the tingling of which the service was
regulated."
The Buddhists in _India_ have similar institutions. The French
missionary, M. L'Abbé Huc, says of them:
"The Buddhist ascetic not aspiring to elevate himself only, he
practiced virtue and applied himself to perfection to make
other men share in its belief; and by the institution of an
order of religious mendicants, which increased to an immense
extent, he attached towards him, and restored to society, the
poor and unfortunate. It was, indeed, precisely because Buddha
received among his disciples miserable creatures who were
outcasts from the respectable class of India, that he became
an object of mockery to the Brahmins. But he merely replied to
their taunts, 'My law is a law of mercy for all.'"[403:1]
In the words of Viscount Amberly, we can say that, "Monasticism, in
countries where Buddhism reigns supreme, is a vast and powerful
institution."
The _Essenes_, of whom we shall speak more fully anon, were an order of
ascetics, dwelling in monasteries. Among the order of Pythagoras, which
was very similar to the Essenes, there was an order of nuns.[403:2] The
ancient Druids admitted females into their sacred order, and initiated
them into the mysteries of their religion.[403:3] The priestesses of the
Saxon Frigga devoted themselves to perpetual virginity.[403:4] The
vestal virgins[403:5] were bound by a solemn vow to preserve their
chastity for a space of thirty years.[403:6]
The Egyptian priests of Isis were obliged to observe perpetual
chastity.[403:7] They were also tonsured like the Buddhist
priests.[403:8] The Assyrian, Arabian, Persian and Egyptian priests wore
_white_ surplices,[403:9] and so did the ancient Druids. The Corinthian
Aphrodite had her Hierodoulio, the pure Gerairai ministered to the
goddess of the Parthenon, the altar of the Latin Vesta was tended by her
chosen virgins, and the Romish "Queen of Heaven" has her nuns.
When the Spaniards had established themselves in Mexico and Peru, they
were astonished to find, among other things which closely resembled
their religion, _monastic institutions_ on a large scale.
The Rev. Father Acosta, in his "Natural and Moral History of the
Indies," says:
"There is one thing worthy of special regard, the which is,
how the Devil, by his pride, hath opposed himself to God; and
that which God, by his wisdom, hath decreed for his honor and
service, and for the good and health of man, the devil strives
to imitate and pervert, to be honored, and to cause men to be
damned: for as we see the great God hath Sacrifices, Priests,
Sacraments, Religious Prophets, and Ministers, dedicated to
his divine service and holy ceremonies, so likewise the devil
hath his Sacrifices, Priests, his kinds of Sacraments, his
Ministers appointed, his secluded and feigned holiness, with a
thousand sorts of false prophets."[403:10]
"We find among all the nations of the world, men especially
dedicated to the service of the true God, or to the false,
which serve in sacrifices, and declare unto the people what
their gods command them. There was in Mexico a strange
curiosity upon this point. And the devil, counterfeiting the
use of the church of God, hath placed in the order of his
Priests, some greater or superiors, and some less, the one as
Acolites, the other as Levites, and that which hath made most
to wonder, was, that the devil would usurp to himself the
service of God; yea, and use the same name: for the Mexicans
in their ancient tongue call their high priests _Papes_, as
they should say sovereign bishops, as it appears now by their
histories."[404:1]
In Mexico, within the circuit of the great temple, there were two
monasteries, one for virgins, the other for men, which they called
religious. These men lived poorly and chastely, and did the office of
Levites.[404:2]
"These priests and religious men used great fastings, of five
or ten days together, before any of their great feasts, and
they were unto them as our four ember week; they were so
strict in continence that some of them (not to fall into any
sensuality) slit their members in the midst, and did a
thousand things to make themselves unable, lest they should
offend their gods."[404:3]
"There were in Peru many monasteries of virgins (for there are
no other admitted), at the least one in every province. In
these monasteries there were two sorts of women, one ancient,
which they called Mamacomas (mothers), for the instruction of
the young, and the other was of young maidens placed there for
a certain time, and after they were drawn forth, either for
their gods or for the Inca." "If any of the Mamacomas or
Acllas were found to have trespassed against their honor, it
was an inevitable chastisement to bury them alive or to put
them to death by some other kind of cruel torment."[404:4]
The Rev. Father concludes by saying:
"In truth it is very strange to see that this false opinion of
religion hath so great force among these young men and maidens
of Mexico, that they will serve the devil with so great rigor
and austerity, which many of us do not in the service of the
most high God, the which is a great shame and
confusion."[404:5]
The religious orders of the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians are described
at length in Lord Kingsborough's "Mexican Antiquities," and by most
every writer on ancient Mexico. Differing in minor details, the grand
features of self-consecration are everywhere the same, whether we look
to the saintly Rishis of ancient India, to the wearers of the yellow
robe in China or Ceylon, to the Essenes among the Jews, to the devotees
of Vitziliputzli in pagan Mexico, or to the monks and nuns of Christian
times in Africa, in Asia, and in Europe. Throughout the various creeds
of these distant lands there runs the same unconquerable impulse,
producing the same remarkable effects.
The "_Sacred Heart_," was a great mystery with the ancients.
_Horus_, the Egyptian virgin-born Saviour, was represented carrying the
sacred heart outside on his breast. _Vishnu_, the Mediator and Preserver
of the Hindoos, was also represented in that manner. So was it with
_Bel_ of Babylon.[405:1] In like manner, Christ Jesus, the Christian
Saviour, is represented at the present day.
The amulets or charms which the Roman Christians wear, to drive away
diseases, and to protect them from harm, are other relics of paganism.
The ancient pagans wore these charms for the same purpose. The name of
their favorite god was generally inscribed upon them, and we learn by a
quotation from Chrysostom that the Christians at Antioch used to bind
brass coins of Alexander the Great about their heads, to keep off or
drive away diseases.[405:2] The Christians also used amulets with the
name or monogram of the god _Serapis_ engraved thereon, which show that
it made no difference whether the god was their own or that of another.
Even the charm which is worn by the Christians at the present day, has
none other than the monogram of _Bacchus_ engraved thereon, _i. e._, I.
H. S.[405:3]
The ancient Roman children carried around their necks a small ornament
in the form of a heart, called _Bulla_. This was imitated by the early
Christians. Upon their ancient monuments in the Vatican, the heart is
very common, and it may be seen in numbers of old pictures. After some
time it was succeeded by the _Agnus Dei_, which, like the ancient
_Bulla_, was supposed to avert dangers from the children and the wearers
of them. Cardinal Baronius (an eminent Roman Catholic ecclesiastical
historian, born at Sora, in Naples, A. D. 1538) says, that those who
have been baptized carry pendent from their neck an _Agnus Dei_, in
imitation of a devotion of the Pagans, who hung to the neck of their
children little bottles in the form of a heart, which served as
preservatives against charms and enchantments. Says Mr. Cox:
"That ornaments in the shape of a _vesica_ have been popular
in all countries as preservatives against dangers, and
especially from evil spirits, can as little be questioned as
the fact that they still retain some measure of their ancient
popularity in England, where horse-shoes are nailed to walls
as a safeguard against unknown perils, where a shoe is thrown
by way of good-luck after newly-married couples, and where the
villagers have not yet ceased to dance round the May-pole on
the green."[405:4]
All of these are emblems of either the Linga or Yoni.
The use of amulets was carried to the most extravagant excess in
ancient Egypt, and their Sacred Book of the Dead, even in its earliest
form, shows the importance attached to such things.[406:1]
We can say with M. Renan that:
"Almost all our superstitions are the remains of a religion
anterior to Christianity, and which Christianity has not been
able entirely to root out."[406:2]
Baptismal fonts were used by the pagans, as well as the little cisterns
which are to be seen at the entrance of Catholic churches. In the temple
of Apollo, at Delphi, there were two of these; one of silver, and the
other of gold.[406:3]
Temples always faced the east, to receive the rays of the rising sun.
They contained an outer court for the public, and an inner sanctuary for
the priests, called the "_Adytum_." Near the entrance was a large
vessel, of stone or brass, filled with water, made holy by plunging into
it a burning torch from the altar. All who were admitted to the
sacrifices were sprinkled with this water, and none but the unpolluted
were allowed to pass beyond it. In the center of the building stood the
statue of the god, on a pedestal raised above the altar and enclosed by
a railing. On festival occasions, the people brought laurel, olive, or
ivy, to decorate the pillars and walls. Before they entered they always
washed their hands, as a type of purification from sin.[406:4] A story
is told of a man who was struck dead by a thunderbolt because he omitted
this ceremony when entering a temple of Jupiter. Sometimes they crawled
up the steps on their knees, and bowing their heads to the ground,
kissed the threshold. Always when they passed one of these sacred
edifices they kissed their right hand to it, in token of veneration.
In all the temples of Vishnu, Crishna, Rama, Durga, and Kali, in India,
there are to be seen idols before which lights and incense are burned.
Moreover, the idols of these gods are constantly decorated with flowers
and costly ornaments, especially on festive occasions.[406:5] The
ancient Egyptian worship had a great splendor of ritual. There was a
morning service, a kind of mass, celebrated by a priest, shorn and
beardless; there were sprinklings of holy water, &c., &c.[406:6] All of
this kind of worship was finally adopted by the Christians.
The sublime and simple theology of the primitive Christians was
gradually corrupted and degraded by the introduction of a popular
mythology, which tended to restore the reign of polytheism.
As the objects of religion were gradually reduced to the standard of the
imagination, the rites and ceremonies were introduced that seemed most
powerfully to affect the senses of the vulgar. If, in the beginning of
the fifth century, Tertullian, or Lactantius, had been suddenly raised
from the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint or
martyr, they would have gazed with astonishment and indignation on the
profane spectacle, which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship
of a Christian congregation.[407:1]
Dr. Draper, in speaking of the early Christian Church, says:
"Great is the difference between Christianity under Severus
(born 146) and Christianity under Constantine (born 274). Many
of the doctrines which at the latter period were pre-eminent,
in the former were unknown. Two causes led to the amalgamation
of Christianity with Paganism. 1. The political necessities of
the new dynasty: 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to
insure its spread.
"Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently
strong to give a master to the empire, it was never
sufficiently strong to destroy its antagonist, Paganism. The
issue of the struggle between them _was an amalgamation of the
principles of both_. In this, Christianity differed from
Mohammedanism, which absolutely annihilated its antagonist,
and spread its own doctrines without adulteration.
"Constantine continually showed by his acts that he felt he
must be the impartial sovereign of all his people, not merely
the representative of a successful faction. Hence, if he built
Christian churches, he also restored Pagan temples; if he
listened to the clergy, he also consulted the haruspices; if
he summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the statue
of Fortune; if he accepted the rite of Baptism, he also struck
a medal bearing his title of 'God.' His statue, on top of the
great porphyry pillar at Constantinople, consisted of an
ancient image of Apollo, whose features were replaced by those
of the emperor, and its head surrounded by the nails feigned
to have been used at the crucifixion of Christ, arranged so as
to form a crown of glory.
"Feeling that there must be concessions to the defeated Pagan
party, in accordance with its ideas, he looked with favor on
the idolatrous movements of his court. In fact, the leaders of
these movements were persons of his own family.
"To the emperor,--a mere worldling--a man without any
religious convictions, doubtless it appeared best for himself,
best for the empire, and best for the contending parties,
Christian and Pagan, to promote their _union or amalgamation
as much as possible_. Even sincere Christians do not seem to
have been averse to this; perhaps they believed that the new
doctrines would diffuse most thoroughly by incorporating in
themselves ideas borrowed from the old; that Truth would
assert herself in the end, and the impurities be cast off. In
accomplishing this amalgamation, Helen, the Empress-mother,
aided by the court ladies, led the way.
"As years passed on, the faith described by Tertullian (A. D.
150-195) was transformed into one more fashionable and more
debased. It was incorporated with the old Greek mythology.
Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed under new
names. . . .
"Heathen rites were adopted, a pompous and splendid ritual,
gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax-tapers, processional
services, lustrations, gold and silver vases, were introduced.
"The festival of the Purification of the Virgin was invented
to remove the uneasiness of heathen converts on account of the
loss of their Lupercalia, or feasts of Pan.
"The apotheosis of the old Roman times was replaced by
canonization; tutelary _saints_ succeeded to local
mythological divinities. Then came the mystery of
_transubstantiation_, or the conversion of bread and wine by
the priest into the flesh and blood of Christ. As centuries
passed, the _paganization_ became more and more
complete."[408:1]
The early Christian saints, bishops, and fathers, _confessedly_ adopted
the liturgies, rites, ceremonies, and terms of heathenism; making it
their boast, that the pagan religion, properly explained, really was
nothing else than Christianity; that the best and wisest of its
professors, in all ages, had been Christians all along; that
Christianity was but a name more recently acquired to a religion which
had previously existed, and had been known to the Greek philosophers, to
Plato, Socrates, and Heraclitus; and that "if the writings of Cicero had
been read as they ought to have been, there would have been no occasion
for the Christian Scriptures."
And our Protestant, and most orthodox Christian divines, the best
learned on ecclesiastical antiquity, and most entirely persuaded of the
truth of the Christian religion, unable to resist or to conflict with
the constraining demonstration of the data that prove the absolute
sameness and identity of Paganism and Christianity, and unable to point
out so much as one single idea or notion, of which they could show that
it was peculiar to Christianity, or that Christianity had it, and
Paganism had it not, have invented the apology of an hypothesis, that
the Pagan religion was _typical_, and that Crishna, Buddha, Bacchus,
Hercules, Adonis, Osiris, Horus, &c., were all of them _types_ and
forerunners of the _true_ and _real_ Saviour, Christ Jesus. Those who
are satisfied with this kind of reasoning are certainly welcome to it.
That Christianity is nothing more than Paganism under a new name, has,
as we said above, been admitted over and over again by the Fathers of
the Church, and others. Aringhus (in his account of subterraneous Rome)
acknowledges the conformity between the Pagan and Christian form of
worship, and defends the admission of the ceremonies of heathenism into
the service of the Church, by the authority of the wisest prelates and
governors, whom, he says, found it necessary, in the conversion of the
Gentiles, to dissemble, and wink at many things, and yield to the times;
and not to use force against customs which the people were so
obstinately fond of.[409:1]
Melito (a Christian bishop of Sardis), in an _apology_ delivered to the
Emperor Marcus Antoninus, in the year 170, claims the patronage of the
emperor, for the _now_ called Christian religion, which he calls "_our
philosophy_," "on account of its _high antiquity_, as having been
_imported_ from countries lying beyond the limits of the Roman empire,
in the region of his ancestor Augustus, who found its _importation_
ominous of good fortune to his government."[409:2] This is an absolute
demonstration that Christianity did _not_ originate in Judea, which was
a Roman province, but really was an exotic oriental fable, _imported_
from India, and that Paul was doing as he claimed, viz.: preaching a God
manifest in the flesh who had been "believed on in the world" centuries
before his time, and a doctrine which had already been preached "unto
every creature under heaven."
Baronius (an eminent Catholic ecclesiastical historian) says:
"It is permitted to the Church to use, _for the purpose of
piety_, the ceremonies which the pagans used _for the purpose
of impiety_ in a superstitious religion, after having first
expiated them by consecration--to the end, that the devil
might receive a greater affront from employing, in honor of
Jesus Christ, that which his enemy had destined for his own
service."[409:3]
Clarke, in his "Evidences of Revealed Religion," says:
"Some of the ancient writers of the church have not scrupled
expressly to call the Athenian _Socrates_, and some others of
the best of the _heathen moralists_, by the name of
_Christians_, and to affirm, as the law was as it were a
schoolmaster, to bring the Jews unto Christ, so true moral
philosophy was to the Gentiles a preparative to receive the
gospel."[409:4]
Clemens Alexandrinus says:
"Those who lived according to the _Logos_ were really
_Christians_, though they have been thought to be atheists; as
Socrates and Heraclitus were among the Greeks, and such as
resembled them."[409:5]
And St. Augustine says:
"_That_, in our times, is the _Christian religion_, which to
know and follow is the most sure and certain health, called
according to that name, but not according to the thing
itself, of which it is the name; for the thing itself which is
now called the _Christian religion_, really was known to the
ancients, nor was wanting at any time from the beginning of
the human race, until the time when Christ came in the flesh,
from whence the true religion, _which had previously existed_,
began to be called _Christian_; and this in our days is the
Christian religion, not as having been wanting in former
times, but as having in later times received this
name."[410:1]
Eusebius, the great champion of Christianity, admits that that which is
called the Christian religion, is neither new nor strange, but--if it be
lawful to testify the truth--was known to the _ancients_.[410:2]
How the common people were Christianized, we gather from a remarkable
passage which Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, has preserved for
us, in the life of Gregory, surnamed "_Thaumaturgus_," that is, "the
wonder worker." The passage is as follows:
"When Gregory perceived that the simple and unskilled
multitude persisted in their worship of images, on account of
the pleasures and sensual gratifications which they enjoyed at
the Pagan festivals, _he granted them a permission to indulge
themselves in the like pleasures_, in celebrating the memory
of the holy martyrs, hoping that in process of time, they
would return of their own accord, to a more virtuous and
regular course of life."[410:3]
The historian remarks that there is no sort of doubt, that by this
permission, Gregory allowed the Christians to dance, sport, and feast at
the tombs of the martyrs, upon their respective festivals, and to do
everything which the Pagans were accustomed to do in their temples,
during the feasts celebrated in honor of their gods.
The learned Christian advocate, M. Turretin, in describing the state of
Christianity in the fourth century, has a well-turned rhetoricism, the
point of which is, that "it was not so much the empire that was brought
over to the faith, as the faith that was brought over to the empire; not
the Pagans who were converted to Christianity, but Christianity that was
converted to Paganism."[410:4]
Edward Gibbon says:
"It must be confessed that the ministers of the Catholic
church imitated the profane model which they were impatient to
destroy. The most respectable bishops had persuaded
themselves, that the ignorant rusties would more cheerfully
renounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they found some
resemblance, some compensation, in the bosom of Christianity.
The religion of Constantine achieved, in less than a century,
the final conquest of the Roman empire: _but the victors
themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their
vanquished rivals_."[411:1]
Faustus, writing to St. Augustine, says:
"You have substituted your agapæ for the sacrifices of the
Pagans; for their idols your martyrs, whom you serve with the
very same honors. You appease the shades of the dead with wine
and feasts; you celebrate the solemn festivities of the
_Gentiles_, their calends, and their solstices; and, as to
their manners, those you have retained without any alteration.
_Nothing distinguishes you from the Pagans, except that you
hold your assemblies apart from them._"[411:2]
Ammonius Saccus (a Greek philosopher, founder of the Neo-platonic
school) taught that:
"Christianity and Paganism, when rightly understood, differ in
no essential points, but had a common origin, _and are really
one and the same thing_."[411:3]
Justin explains the thing in the following manner:
"It having reached the devil's ears that the prophets had
foretold that Christ would come . . . he (the devil) set the
heathen poets to bring forward a great many who should be
called sons of Jove, (_i. e._, "The Sons of God.") The devil
laying his scheme in this, to get men to imagine that the
_true_ history of Christ was of the same character as the
prodigious fables and poetic stories."[411:4]
Cæcilius, in the Octavius of Minucius Felix, says:
"All these fragments of crack-brained opiniatry and silly
solaces played off in the sweetness of song by (the) deceitful
(Pagan) poets, by you too credulous creatures (_i. e._, the
Christians) have been shamefully reformed and made over to
your own god."[411:5]
Celsus, the Epicurean philosopher, wrote that:
"The Christian religion contains nothing but what Christians
hold in common with heathens; nothing new, or truly
great."[411:6]
This assertion is fully verified by Justin Martyr, in his apology to the
Emperor Adrian, which is one of the most remarkable admissions ever made
by a Christian writer. He says:
"In saying that all things were made in this beautiful order
by God, what do we seem to say more than Plato? When we teach
a general conflagration, what do we teach more than the
Stoics? By opposing the worship of the works of men's hands,
we concur with Menander, the comedian; and by declaring the
Logos, the first begotten of God, our master Jesus Christ, to
be born of a virgin, without any human mixture, to be
crucified and dead, and to have rose again, and ascended into
heaven: _we say no more in this, than what you say of those
whom you style the Sons of Jove_. For you need not be told
what a parcel of sons, the writers most in vogue among you,
assign to Jove; there's Mercury, Jove's interpreter, in
imitation of the Logos, in worship among you. There's
Æsculapius, the physician, smitten by a thunderbolt, and after
that ascending into heaven. There's Bacchus, torn to pieces;
and Hercules, burnt to get rid of his pains. There's Pollux
and Castor, the sons of Jove by Leda, and Perseus by Danae;
and not to mention others, I would fain know why you always
deify the departed emperors and have a fellow at hand to make
affidavit that he saw Cæsar mount to heaven from the funeral
pile?
"As to the son of God, called Jesus, should we allow him to be
nothing more than man, yet the title of the son of God is very
justifiable, upon the account of his wisdom, considering that
you have your Mercury in worship, under the title of the Word
and Messenger of God.
"_As to the objection of our Jesus's being crucified_, I say,
that suffering was common to all the forementioned sons of
Jove, but only they suffered another kind of death. As to his
being born of a virgin, you have your Perseus to balance that.
As to his curing the lame, and the paralytic, and such as were
cripples from birth, this is little more than what you say of
your Æsculapius."[412:1]
The most celebrated Fathers of the Christian church, the most frequently
quoted, and those whose names stand the highest were nothing more nor
less than Pagans, being born and educated Pagans. Pantaenus (A. D. 193)
was one of these half-Pagan, half-Christian, Fathers. He at one time
presided in the school of the faithful in _Alexandria_ in Egypt, and was
celebrated on account of his learning. He was brought up in the Stoic
philosophy.[412:2]
Clemens Alexandrinus (A. D. 194) or St. Clement of Alexandria, was
another Christian Father of the same sort, being originally a Pagan. He
succeeded Pantaenus as president of the _monkish_ university at
Alexandria. His works are very extensive, and his authority very high in
the church.[412:3]
Tertullian (A. D. 200) may next be mentioned. He also was originally a
Pagan, and at one time Presbyter of the Christian church of Carthage, in
Africa. The following is a specimen of his manner of reasoning on the
evidences of Christianity. He says:
"I find no other means to prove myself to be impudent with
success, and happily a fool, than by my contempt of shame; as,
for instance--I maintain that the Son of God was born; why am
I not ashamed of maintaining such a thing? Why! but because it
is itself a shameful thing. I maintain that the Son of God
died: well, that is wholly credible because it is monstrously
absurd. I maintain that after having been buried, he rose
again: and that I take to be absolutely true, because it was
manifestly impossible."[412:4]
Origen (A. D. 230), one of the shining lights of the Christian church,
was another Father of this class. Porphyry (a Neo-platonist philosopher)
objects to him on this account.[413:1]
He also was born in the great cradle and nursery of
superstition--Egypt--and studied under that celebrated philosopher,
Ammonius Saccus, who taught that "Christianity and Paganism, when
rightly understood, differed in no essential point, but had a common
origin." This man was so sincere in his devotion to the cause of
monkery, or Essenism, that he made himself an eunuch "for the kingdom of
heaven's sake."[413:2] The writer of the twelfth verse of the nineteenth
chapter of Matthew, was without doubt an Egyptian monk. The words are
put into the mouth of the _Jewish_ Jesus, which is simply ridiculous,
when it is considered that the Jews did not allow an eunuch so much as
to enter the congregation of the Lord.[413:3]
St. Gregory (A. D. 240), bishop of Neo-Cæsarea in Pontus, was another
celebrated Christian Father, born of Pagan parents and educated a Pagan.
He is called Thaumaturgus, or the wonder-worker, and is said to have
performed miracles when still a Pagan.[413:4] He, too, was an
Alexandrian student. This is the Gregory who was commended by his
namesake of Nyssa for changing the Pagan festivals into Christian
holidays, the better to draw the heathen to the religion of
Christ.[413:5]
Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, in speaking of the Christian
church during the second century, says:
"The profound respect that was paid to the Greek and Roman
_mysteries_, and the extraordinary sanctity that was
attributed to them, induced the Christians to give their
religion a _mystic_ air, in order to put it upon an equal
footing, in point of dignity, with that of the Pagans. For
this purpose they gave the name of _mysteries_ to the
institutions of the gospel, and decorated, particularly the
holy sacrament, with that solemn title. They used, in that
sacred institution, as also in that of baptism, several of the
terms employed in the heathen mysteries, and proceeded so far
at length, as even to adopt some of the rites and ceremonies
of which those renowned mysteries consisted."[413:6]
We have seen, then, that the only difference between Christianity and
Paganism is that Brahma, Ormuzd, Osiris, Zeus, Jupiter, etc., are called
by another name; Crishna, Buddha, Bacchus, Adonis, Mithras, etc., have
been turned into Christ Jesus: Venus' pigeon into the Holy Ghost; Diana,
Isis, Devaki, etc., into the Virgin Mary; and the demi-gods and heroes
into saints. The exploits of the one were represented as the miracles of
the other. Pagan festivals became Christian holidays, and Pagan temples
became Christian churches.
Mr. Mahaffy, Fellow and Tutor in Trinity College, and Lecturer on
Ancient History in the University of Dublin, ends his "Prolegomena to
Ancient History" in the following manner:
"There is indeed, hardly a great or fruitful idea in the
Jewish or Christian systems, which has not its analogy in the
(ancient) Egyptian faith. The development of the one God into
a _trinity_; the incarnation of the mediating deity in a
Virgin, and without a father; his conflict and his momentary
defeat by the powers of darkness; his partial victory (for the
enemy is not destroyed); his resurrection and reign over an
eternal kingdom with his justified saints; his distinction
from, and yet identity with, the uncreate incomprehensible
Father, whose form is unknown, and who dwelleth not in temples
made with hands--_all these theological conceptions pervade
the oldest religion of Egypt_. So, too, the contrast and even
the apparent inconsistencies between our moral and theological
beliefs--the vacillating attribution of sin and guilt partly
to moral weakness, partly to the interference of evil spirits,
and likewise of righteousness to moral worth, and again to the
help of good genii or angels; the immortality of the soul and
its final judgment--_all these things have met us in the
Egyptian ritual and moral treatises_. So, too, the purely
human side of morals, and the catalogue of virtues and vices,
are by natural consequences as like as are the theological
systems. _But I recoil from opening this great subject now; it
is enough to have lifted the veil and shown the scene of many
a future contest._"[414:1]
In regard to the _moral sentiments_ expressed in the books of the New
Testament, and believed by the majority of Christians to be peculiar to
Christianity, we shall touch them but lightly, as this has already been
done so frequently by many able scholars.
The moral doctrines that appear in the New Testament, even the sayings
of the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer, are found with slight
variation, among the Rabbins, who have certainly borrowed nothing out of
the New Testament.
Christian teachers have delighted to exhibit the essential superiority
of Christianity to Judaism, have quoted with triumph the maxims that are
said to have fallen from the lips of Jesus, and which, they surmised,
could not be paralleled in the elder Scriptures, and have put the least
favorable construction on such passages in the ancient books as seemed
to contain the thoughts of evangelists and apostles. A more ingenious
study of the Hebrew law, according to the oldest traditions, as well as
its later interpretations by the prophets, reduces these differences
materially by bringing into relief sentiments and precepts whereof the
New Testament morality is but an echo.
There are passages in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, even tenderer in
their humanity than anything in the Gospels. The preacher from the
Mount, the prophet of the Beatitudes, does but repeat with persuasive
lips what the law-givers of his race proclaimed in mighty tones of
command. Such an acquaintance with the later literature of the Jews as
is really obtained now from popular sources, will convince the
ordinarily fair mind that the originality of the New Testament has been
greatly over-estimated.
"To feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the
naked, bury the dead, loyally serve the king, forms the first
duty of a pious man and faithful subject,"
is an abstract from the Egyptian "Book of the Dead," the oldest Bible in
the world.
Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, born 551 B. C., said:
"Obey Heaven, and follow the orders of Him who governs it.
_Love your neighbor as yourself._ Do to another what you would
he should do unto you; and do not unto another what you would
should not be done unto you; thou only needest this law alone,
it is the foundation and principle of all the rest.
Acknowledge thy benefits by the return of other benefits, _but
never revenge injuries_."[415:1]
The following extracts from Manu and the _Maha-bharata_, an Indian epic
poem, written many centuries before the time of Christ Jesus,[415:2]
compared with similar sentiment contained in the books of the New
Testament, are very striking.
"An evil-minded man is quick to see his neighbor's faults, though small
as mustard-seed; but when he turns his eyes towards his own, though
large as Bilva fruit, he none descries." (Maha-bharata.)
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Matt.
vii. 3.)
"Conquer a man who never gives by gifts; subdue untruthful men by
truthfulness; vanquish an angry man by gentleness; and overcome the evil
man by goodness." (Ibid.)
"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
(Romans, xii. 21.)
"To injure none by thought or word or deed, to give to others, and be
kind to all--this is the constant duty of the good. High-minded men
delight in doing good, without a thought of their own interest; when
they confer a benefit on others, they reckon not on favors in return."
(Ibid.)
"Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing
again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the
children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful
and to the evil." (Luke, vii. 35.)
"Two persons will hereafter be exalted above the heavens--the man with
boundless power, who yet forbears to use it indiscreetly, and he who is
not rich, and yet can give." (Ibid.)
"Just heaven is not so pleased with costly gifts, offered in hope of
future recompense, as with the merest trifle set apart from honest
gains, and sanctified by faith." (Ibid.)
"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how
people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich
cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she
threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto
him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you,
that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which
have cast into the treasury: For all _they_ did cast in of
their abundance, but she of her want did cast all that she
had, even all her living." (Mark, xii. 41-44.)
"To curb the tongue and moderate the speech, is held to be the hardest
of all tasks. The words of him who talk too volubly have neither
substance nor variety." (Ibid.)
"But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison." (James, iii. 8.)
"Even to foes who visit us as guests due hospitality should be
displayed; the tree screens with its leaves, the man who fells it."
(Ibid.)
"Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst,
give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire
on his head." (Rom. xii. 20.)
"In granting or refusing a request, a man obtains a proper rule of
action by looking on his neighbor as himself." (Ibid.)
"Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt. xxii. 39.)
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them
likewise." (Luke vi. 31.)
"Before infirmities creep o'er thy flesh; before decay impairs thy
strength and mars the beauty of thy limbs; before the Ender, whose
charioteer is sickness, hastes towards thee, breaks up thy fragile frame
and ends thy life, lay up the only treasure: Do good deeds; practice
sobriety and self-control; amass that wealth which thieves cannot
abstract, nor tyrants seize, which follows thee at death, which never
wastes away, nor is corrupted." (Ibid.)
"Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the
evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt
say: I have no pleasure in them." (Ecc. xii. 1.)
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and
steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through and steal." (Matt. vi. 19-20.)
"This is the sum of all true righteousness--Treat others as thou wouldst
thyself be treated. Do nothing to thy neighbor, which hereafter thou
would'st not have thy neighbor do to thee. In causing pleasure, or in
giving pain, in doing good or injury to others, in granting or refusing
a request, a man obtains a proper rule of action by looking on his
neighbor as himself." (Ibid.)
"Ye have heard that it hath been said: Thou shall love thy
neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you." (Matt. v. 43-44.)
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another:
as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." (John,
xii. 34.)
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt, xi 39.)
"Think constantly, O Son, how thou mayest please
Thy father, mother, teacher,--these obey.
By deep devotion seek thy debt to pay.
This is thy highest duty and religion."
(Manu.)
"Wound not another, though by him provoked.
Do no one injury by thought or deed.
Utter no word to pain thy fellow-creatures."
(Ibid.)
"Treat no one with disdain, with patience bear
Reviling language; with an angry man
Be never angry; blessings give for curses."
(Ibid.)
"E'en as a driver checks his restive steeds,
Do thou, if thou art wise, restrain thy passions,
Which, running wild, will hurry thee away."
(Ibid.)
"Pride not thyself on thy religious works.
Give to the poor, but talk not of thy gifts.
By pride religious merit melts away,
The merit of thy alms by ostentation."
(Ibid.)
"Good words, good deeds, and beautiful expressions
A wise man ever culls from every quarter,
E'en as a gleaner gathers ears of corn."
(Maha-bharata.)
"Repeated sin destroys the understanding,
And he whose reason is impaired, repeats
His sins. The constant practice of virtue
Strengthens the mental faculties, and he
Whose judgment stronger grows, acts always right."
(Ibid.)
"If thou art wise seek ease and happiness
In deeds of virtue and of usefulness;
And ever act in such a way by day
That in the night thy sleep may tranquil be;
And so comport thyself when thou art young
That when thou art grown old, thy age may pass
In calm serenity. So ply thy talk
Through thy life, that when thy days are ended,
Thou may'st enjoy eternal bliss hereafter."
(Ibid.)
"Do naught to others which if done to thee
Would cause thee pain; this is the sum of duty."
(Ibid.)
"No sacred lore can save the hypocrite,--
Though he employ it craftily,--from hell;
When his end comes, his pious texts take wings,
Like fledglings eager to forsake their nest."
(Ibid.)
"Iniquity once practiced, like a seed,
Fails not to yield its fruit to him who wrought it,
If not to him, yet to his sons and grandsons."
(Manu.)
"Single is every living creature born,
Single he passes to another world.
Single he eats the fruit of evil deeds,
Single, the fruit of good; and when he leaves
His body like a log or heap of clay
Upon the ground, his kinsmen walk away;
Virtue alone stands by him at the tomb,
And bears him through the dreary, trackless gloom."
(Ibid.)
"Thou canst not gather what thou dost not sow;
As thou dost plant the tree so will it grow."
(Ibid.)
"He who pretends to be what he is not,
Acts a part, commits the worst of crimes,
For, thief-like, he abstracts a good man's heart."
(Ibid.)
FOOTNOTES:
[384:1] "Before the separation of the Aryan race, before the existence
of Sanscrit, Greek, or Latin, before the gods of the Veda had been
worshiped, ONE SUPREME DEITY had been found, had been named, and had
been invoked by the ancestors of our race." (Prof. Max Müller: The
Science of Religion, p. 67.)
[384:2] See Chap. XII. and Chap. XX., for Only-begotten Sons.
[384:3] See Chap. XII. and Chap. XXXII., where we have shown that many
other virgin-born gods were conceived by the Holy Ghost, and that the
name MARY is the same as Maia, Maya, Myrra, &c.
[384:4] See Chap. XX., for Crucified Saviours.
[385:1] See Chap. XXII.
[385:2] See Chaps. XXII. and XXXIX., for Resurrected Saviours.
[385:3] See Ibid.
[385:4] See Chap. XXIV., and Chap. XXV.
[385:5] See Chap. XII., and Chap. XXXV.
[385:6] That is, the holy _true_ Church. All peoples who have had a
religion believe that _theirs_ was the _Catholic_ faith.
[385:7] There was no nation of antiquity who did not believe in "the
forgiveness of sins," especially if some innocent creature _redeemed_
them by the shedding of his blood (see Chap. IV., and Chap. XX.), and as
far as _confession_ of sins is concerned, and thereby being forgiven,
this too is almost as old as humanity. Father Acosta found it even among
the Mexicans, and said that "the father of lies (the Devil)
counterfeited the sacrament of confession, so that he might be honored
with ceremonies very like the Christians." (See Acosta, vol. ii. p.
360.)
[385:8] "No doctrine except that of a supreme and subtly-pervading
deity, is so extended, and has retained its primitive form so
distinctly, _as a belief in immortality_, and a future state of rewards
and punishments. Among the most savage races, the idea of a future
existence in a place of delight is found." (Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie.)
"Go back far as we may in the history of the Indo-European race, of
which the Greeks and Italians are branches, and we do not find that this
race has ever thought that after this short life all was finished for
man. The most ancient generations, long before there were philosophers,
believed in a second existence after the present. They looked upon death
not as a dissolution of our being, but simply as a change of life." (M.
De Coulanges: The Ancient City, p. 15.)
[385:9] For full information on this subject see Archbishop Wake's
Apostolic Fathers, p. 108, Justice Bailey's Common Prayer, Taylor's
Diegesis, p. 10, and Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Creeds."
[386:1] Rev. xi. 7-9.
[386:2] S. Baring-Gould: Legends of Patriarchs, p. 25.
[386:3] II. Peter, ii. 4.
[386:4] Jude, 6.
[386:5] S. Baring-Gould: Legends of Patriarchs, p. 16.
[387:1] S. Baring-Gould: Legends of Patriarchs, p. 17.
[387:2] Indian Wisdom, p. 39.
[387:3] See Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 165. Dupuis: Origin of Relig.
Beliefs, p. 73, and Baring-Gould's Legends of the Prophets, p. 19.
[387:4] S. Baring-Gould's Legends of Patriarchs, p. 19.
[388:1] Priestley, p. 35.
[388:2] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 411.
[388:3] See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819. Taylor's Diegesis,
p. 215, and Dupuis: Origin of Relig. Beliefs, p. 78.
[388:4] See Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 31.
[388:5] S. Baring-Gould's Legends of Patriarchs, p. 20.
[388:6] See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 159, and Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i.
[389:1] This subject is most fully entered into by Mr. Herbert Spencer,
in vol. i. of "Principles of Sociology."
[390:1] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 426.
[391:1] See Appendix C.
[391:2] See Fiske, pp. 104-107.
[392:1] Williams' Hinduism, pp. 182, 183.
[392:2] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 216.
[392:3] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 111.
[392:4] See Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 466.
[392:5] Williams' Hinduism, p. 184.
[393:1] "The _Seventh_ day was sacred to _Saturn_ throughout the East."
(Dunlap's Spirit Hist., pp. 35, 36.)
"Saturn's day was made sacred to God, and the planet is now called
cochab shabbath, 'The Sabbath Star.'
"The sanctification of the Sabbath is clearly connected with the word
Shabua or Sheba, _i. e._, _seven_." (Inman's Anct. Faiths, vol. ii. p.
504.) "The Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, and the natives of India,
were acquainted with the _seven_ days' division of time, as were the
ancient Druids." (Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 412.) "With the
Egyptians the _Seventh_ day was consecrated to God the Father." (Ibid.)
"Hesiod, Herodotus, Philostratus, &c., mention that day. Homer,
Callimachus, and other ancient writers call the _Seventh_ day the _Holy
One_. Eusebius confesses its observance by almost all philosophers and
poets." (Ibid.)
[393:2] Ibid.
[393:3] Ibid. p. 413.
[393:4] Pococke Specimen: Hist. Arab., p. 97. Quoted in Dunlap's Spirit
Hist., p. 274. "Some of the families of the Israelites worshiped
_Saturn_ under the name of Kiwan, which may have given rise to the
religious observance of the Seventh day." (Bible for Learners, vol. i,
p. 317.)
[393:5] Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 283.
[393:6] Mover's Phönizier, vol. i. p. 313. Quoted in Dunlap's Spirit
Hist., p. 36.
[393:7] Assyrian Discoveries.
[393:8] Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 92.
[393:9] Old Norse, _Odinsdagr_; Swe. and Danish, _Onsdag_; Ang. Sax.,
_Wodensdeg_; Dutch, _Woensdag_; Eng., _Wednesday_.
[395:1] Rev. M. J. Savage.
[395:2] Acts, xv. 20.
[396:1] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 182.
[396:2] See Eusebius' Life of Constantine, lib. iv. chs. xviii. and
xxiii.
[396:3] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 237.
[396:4] See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 187, and Gibbon's Rome, vol.
iii. pp. 142, 143.
[396:5] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 236, and Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. pp.
142, 143.
[396:6] Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 137.
[396:7] Ibid. p. 307.
[397:1] Gruter's Inscriptions. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 237.
[397:2] Boldonius' Epigraphs. Quoted in Ibid.
[397:3] See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 237. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 48,
and Middleton's Letters from Rome.
[397:4] Baring-Gould's Curious Myths, p. 428.
[398:1] Mosheim, Cent. ii. p. 202. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 48.
[398:2] Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 48, 49.
[398:3] Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 84.
[399:1] See Higgins' Anacalypsis.
[399:2] Jones on the Canon, vol. i. p. 11. Diegesis, p. 49.
[399:3] Compare "Apollo among the Muses," and "The Vine and its
Branches" (that is, Christ Jesus and his Disciples), in Lundy's
_Monumental Christianity_, pp. 141-143. As Mr. Lundy says, there is so
striking a resemblance between the two, that one looks very much like a
copy of the other. Apollo is also represented as the "_Good Shepherd_,"
with a lamb upon his back, just exactly as Christ Jesus is represented
in Christian Art. (See Lundy's Monumental Christianity, and Jameson's
Hist. of Our Lord in Art.)
[399:4] The Roman god Jonas, or Janus, with his keys, was changed into
Peter, who was surnamed Bar-Jonas. Many years ago a statue of the god
Janus, in bronze, being found in Rome, he was perched up in St. Peter's
with his keys in his hand: the very identical god, in all his native
ugliness. This statue sits as St. Peter, under the cupola of the church
of St. Peter. It is looked upon with the most profound veneration: the
toes are nearly kissed away by devotees.
[400:1] Frothingham: The Cradle of the Christ, p. 179.
[400:2] See Hardy's Eastern Monachism.
[400:3] The "_Grand Lama_" is the head of a priestly order in Thibet and
Tartar. The office is not hereditary, but, like the Pope of Rome, he is
elected by the priests. (Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 203. See
also, Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. pp. 32-34.)
[400:4] See Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 233, Inman's Ancient
Faiths, vol. ii. p. 203, and Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 211.
[401:1] Davis: Hist. China, vol. ii. pp. 105, 106.
[401:2] Gutzlaff's Voyages, p. 309.
[402:1] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 34.
[402:2] See Hallam's Middle Ages.
[403:1] Huc's Travels, vol. i. p. 329.
[403:2] See Hardy's Eastern Monachism, p. 163.
[403:3] Ibid.
[403:4] Ibid.
[403:5] "Vestal Virgins," an order of virgins consecrated to the goddess
Vesta.
[403:6] Hardy: Eastern Monachism, p. 163.
[403:7] Ibid. p. 48.
[403:8] See Herodotus, b. ii. ch. 36.
[403:9] Dunlap: Son of the Man, p. x.
[403:10] Acosta, vol. ii. p. 324.
[404:1] Acosta, vol. ii. p. 330.
[404:2] Ibid. p. 336.
[404:3] Ibid. p. 338.
[404:4] Ibid. pp. 332, 333.
[404:5] Ibid. p. 337.
[405:1] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 241.
[405:2] See Lardner's Works, vol. viii. pp. 375, 376.
[405:3] See Chap. XXXIII.
[405:4] Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 127.
[406:1] Renouf: Hibbert Lectures, p. 191.
[406:2] Renan: Hibbert Lectures, p. 32.
[406:3] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 232.
[406:4] "At their entrance, purifying themselves by washing their hands
in _holy water_, they were at the same time admonished to present
themselves with pure minds, without which the external cleanness of the
body would by no means be accepted." (Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 282.)
[406:5] See Williams' Hinduism, p. 99.
[406:6] See Renan's Hibbert Lectures, p. 35.
[407:1] Edward Gibbon: Decline and Fall, vol. iii. p. 161.
[408:1] Draper: Science and Religion, pp. 46-49.
[409:1] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 237.
[409:2] Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 249. See also, Eusebius: Eccl.
Hist., book iv. ch. xxvi. who alludes to it.
[409:3] Baronius' Annals, An. 36.
[409:4] Quoted by Rev. R. Taylor, Diegesis p. 41.
[409:5] Strom. bk. i. ch. xix.
[410:1] "Es est nostris temporibus Christiana religio, quam cognoscere
ac sequi securissima et certissima salus est: secundum hoc nomen dictum
est non secundum ipsam rem cujus hoc nomen est: nam res ipsa quæ nunc
Christiana religio nuncupatur erat et apud antiquos, nec defuit ab
initio generis humani, quousque ipse Christus veniret in carne, unde
vera religio quæ jam erat cæpit appellari Christiana. Hæc est nostris
temporibus Christiana religio, non quia prioribus temporibus non fuit,
sed quia posterioribus hoc nomen accepit." (Opera Augustini, vol. i. p.
12. Quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 42.)
[410:2] See Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 2, ch. v.
[410:3] "Cum animadvertisset Gregorius quod ob corporeas delectationes
et voluptates, simplex et imperitum vulgus in simulacrorum cultus errore
permaneret--permisit eis, ut in memoriam et recordationem sanctorum
martyrum sese oblectarent, et in lætitiam effunderentur, quod successu
temporis aliquando futurum esset, ut sua sponte, ad honestiorem et
accuratiorem vitæ rationem, transirent." (Mosheim, vol. i. cent. 2, p.
202.)
[410:4] "Non imperio ad fidem adducto, sed et imperii pompa ecclesiam
inficiente. Non ethnicis ad Christum conversis, sed et Christi religione
ad Ethnicæ formam depravata." (Orat. Academ. De Variis Christ. Rel.
fatis.)
[411:1] Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 163.
[411:2] Quoted by Draper: Science and Religion, p. 48.
[411:3] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 329.
[411:4] Justin: Apol. 1, ch. lix.
[411:5] Octavius, ch. xi.
[411:6] See Origen: Contra Celsus.
[412:1] Apol. 1, ch. xx, xii, xxii.
[412:2] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 323.
[412:3] See Ibid. p. 324.
[412:4] On the Flesh of Christ, ch. v.
[413:1] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 328.
[413:2] Matt. xix. 12.
[413:3] Deut. xxiii. 1.
[413:4] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 339.
[413:5] See Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 236; Mosheim, vol. i.
cent. 2, pt. 2, ch. 4.
[413:6] Eccl. Hist. vol. 1. p. 199.
[414:1] Prolegomena to Ancient History, pp. 416, 417.
[415:1] Tindal: Christianity as Old as the Creation.
[415:2] Manu's works were written during the _sixth_ century B. C. (see
Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 215), and the Maha-bharata about the same
time.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED.
We now come to the question, Why did Christianity prosper, and why was
Jesus of Nazareth believed to be a divine incarnation and Saviour?
There were many causes for this, but as we can devote but one chapter to
the subject, we must necessarily treat it briefly.
For many centuries before the time of Christ Jesus there lived a sect of
religious monks known as _Essenes_, or _Therapeutæ_;[419:1] _these
entirely disappeared from history shortly after the time assigned for
the crucifixion of Jesus_. There were thousands of them, and their
_monasteries_ were to be counted by the score. Many have asked the
question, "What became of them?" We now propose to show, 1. That they
were expecting the advent of an _Angel-Messiah_; 2. That they considered
Jesus of Nazareth to be _the_ Messiah; 3. That they came over to
Christianity in a body; and, 4. That they brought the legendary
histories of the former Angel-Messiahs with them.
The origin of the sect known as _Essenes_ is enveloped in mist, and will
probably never be revealed. To speak of all the different ideas
entertained as to their origin would make a volume of itself, we can
therefore but glance at the subject. It has been the object of Christian
writers up to a comparatively recent date, to claim that almost
everything originated with God's chosen people, the _Jews_, and that
even all languages can be traced to the _Hebrew_. Under these
circumstances, then, it is not to be wondered at that we find they have
also traced the Essenes to Hebrew origin.
Theophilus Gale, who wrote a work called "The Court of the Gentiles"
(Oxford, 1671), to demonstrate that "the origin of _all human
literature_, both philology and philosophy, is from the Scriptures and
the Jewish church," undoubtedly hits upon the truth when he says:
"Now, the origination or rise of these Essenes (among the
Jews) I conceive by the best conjectures I can make from
antiquity, _to be in or immediately after the Babylonian
captivity_, though some make them later."
Some Christian writers trace them to Moses or some of the prophets, but
that they originated in _India_, and were a sort of Buddhist sect, we
believe is their true history.
Gfrörer, who wrote concerning them in 1835, and said that "_the Essenes
and the Therapeutæ are the same sect, and hold the same views_," was
undoubtedly another writer who was touching upon historical ground.
The identity of many of the precepts and practices of _Essenism_ and
those of the _New Testament_ is unquestionable. Essenism urged on its
disciples to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.[420:1]
The Essenes forbade the laying up of treasures upon earth.[420:2] The
Essenes demanded of those who wished to join them to sell all their
possessions, and to divide it among the poor brethren.[420:3] The
Essenes had all things in common, and appointed one of the brethren as
steward to manage the common bag.[420:4] Essenism put all its members on
the same level, forbidding the exercise of authority of one over the
other, and enjoining mutual service.[420:5] Essenism commanded its
disciples to call no man master upon the earth.[420:6] Essenism laid the
greatest stress upon being meek and lowly in spirit.[420:7] The Essenes
commended the poor in spirit, those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemaker. They
combined the healing of the body with that of the soul. They declared
that the power to cast out evil spirits, to perform miraculous cures,
&c., should be possessed by their disciples as signs of their
belief.[420:8] The Essenes did not swear at all; their answer was yea,
yea, and nay, nay.[420:9] When the Essenes started on a mission of
mercy, they provided neither gold nor silver, neither two coats, neither
shoes, but relied on hospitality for support.[420:10] The Essenes,
though repudiating offensive war, yet took weapons with them when they
went on a perilous journey.[421:1] The Essenes abstained from connubial
intercourse.[421:2] The Essenes did not offer animal sacrifices, but
strove to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God, which they regarded as a reasonable service.[421:3] It was the
great aim of the Essenes to live such a life of purity and holiness as
to be the temples of the Holy Spirit, and to be able to prophesy.[421:4]
Many other comparisons might be made, but these are sufficient to show
that there is a great similarity between the two.[421:5] These
similarities have led many Christian writers to believe that Jesus
belonged to this order. Dr. Ginsburg, an advocate of this theory, says:
"It will hardly be doubted that _our_ Saviour himself belonged
to this holy brotherhood. This will especially be apparent
when we remember that the whole Jewish community, at the
advent of Christ, was divided into three parties, the
Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes, and that every Jew
had to belong to one of these sects. Jesus, who, in all
things, conformed to the Jewish law, and who was holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, would
therefore naturally associate himself with that order of
Judaism which was most congenial to his holy nature. Moreover,
the fact that Christ, with the exception of once, was not
heard of in public until his thirtieth year, implying that he
lived in seclusion with this fraternity, and that though he
frequently rebuked the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees, he
never denounced the Essenes, strongly confirms this
conclusion."[421:6]
The _facts_--as Dr. Ginsburg calls them--which confirm his conclusions,
are simply _no facts at all_. Jesus may or may not have been a member of
this order; but when it is stated as a fact that he never rebuked the
Essenes, it is implying too much. We know not whether the words _said to
have been_ uttered by Jesus were ever uttered by him or not, and it is
almost certain that _had he_ rebuked the Essenes, and had his words been
written in the Gospels, _they would not remain there long_. We hear very
little of the Essenes after A. D. 40,[421:7] therefore, when we read of
the "_primitive Christians_," we are reading of _Essenes_, and others.
The statement that, with the exception of once, Jesus was not heard in
public life till his _thirtieth_ year, is also uncertain. One of the
early Christian Fathers (Irenæus) tells us that he did not begin to
teach until he was _forty_ years of age, or thereabout, and that he
lived to be nearly _fifty_ years old.[422:1] "_The records of his life
are very scanty; and these have been so shaped and colored and modified
by the hands of ignorance and superstition and party prejudice and
ecclesiastical purpose, that it is hard to be sure of the original
outlines._"
The similarity of the sentiments of the Essenes, or Therapeutæ, to those
of the Church of Rome, induced the learned Jesuit, Nicolaus Serarius, to
seek for them an honorable origin. He contended therefore, that they
were Asideans, and derived them from the Rechabites, described so
circumstantially in the thirty-fifth chapter of Jeremiah; at the same
time, he asserted that the first Christian monks were Essenes.[422:2]
Mr. King, speaking of the _Christian_ sect called Gnostics, says:
"Their chief doctrines had been held for centuries before
(their time) in many of the cities of Asia Minor. There, it is
probable, they first came into existence as 'Mystæ,' _upon the
establishment of a direct intercourse with India under the
Seleucidæ and the Ptolemies_. The colleges of _Essenes_ and
Megabyzae at Ephesus, the Orphics of Thrace, the Curetes of
Crete, _are all merely branches of one antique and common
religion, and that originally Asiatic_."[422:3]
Again:
"The introduction of _Buddhism_ into Egypt and Palestine
_affords the only true solution of innumerable difficulties in
the history of religion_."[422:4]
Again:
"That Buddhism had actually been planted in the dominions of
the Seleucidæ and Ptolemies (Palestine belonging to the
former) before the beginning of the third century B. C., is
_proved to demonstration_ by a passage in the Edicts of Asoka,
grandson of the famous Chandragupta, the Sandracottus of the
Greeks. These edicts are engraven on a rock at Girnur, in
Guzerat."[422:5]
Eusebius, in quoting from Philo concerning the Essenes, seems to take it
for granted that _they and the Christians were one and the same_, and
from the manner in which he writes, it would appear that it was
generally understood so. He says that Philo called them "Worshipers,"
and concludes by saying:
"But whether he himself gave them this name, or whether at the
_beginning_ they were so called, _when as yet the name of
Christians was not everywhere published_, I think it not
needful curiosity to sift out."[422:6]
This celebrated ecclesiastical historian considered it very probable
that the writings of the Essenic Therapeuts in Egypt had been
incorporated into the gospels of the New Testament, and into some
Pauline epistles. His words are:
"It is very likely that the commentaries (Scriptures) which
were among them (the Essenes) were the Gospels, and the works
of the apostles, and certain expositions of the ancient
prophets, such as partly that epistle unto the Hebrews, and
also the other epistles of Paul do contain."[423:1]
The principal doctrines and rites of the Essenes can be connected with
the _East_, with Parsism, and especially with _Buddhism_. Among the
doctrines which Essenes and Buddhists had in common was that of the
_Angel-Messiah_.[423:2]
Godfrey Higgins says:
"The _Essenes_ were called physicians of the soul, or
_Therapeutæ_; being resident both in Judea and Egypt, they
probably spoke or had their sacred books in Chaldee. They were
_Pythagoreans_, as is proved by all their forms, ceremonies,
and doctrines, and they called themselves sons of Jesse. If
the Pythagoreans or Conobitæ, as they are called by Jamblicus,
were Buddhists, the Essenes were Buddhists. The Essenes lived
in Egypt, on the lake of Parembole or Maria, in _monasteries_.
These are the very places in which we formerly found the
_Gymnosophists_, or _Samaneans_, or _Buddhist_ priests to have
lived; which Gymnosophistæ are placed also by Ptolemy in
north-eastern India."
"Their (the Essenes) parishes, churches, bishops, priests,
deacons, festivals are all identically the same (as the
Christians). They had apostolic founders; the manners which
distinguished the immediate apostles of Christ; scriptures
divinely inspired; the same allegorical mode of interpreting
them, which has since obtained among Christians, and the same
order of performing public worship. They had missionary
stations or colonies of their community established in Rome,
Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Phillippi, Colosse, and
Thessalonica, precisely such, and in the same circumstances,
as were those to whom St. Paul addressed his letters in those
places. All the fine moral doctrines which are attributed to
the Samaritan Nazarite, and I doubt not justly attributed to
him, are to be found among the doctrines of these
ascetics."[423:3]
And Arthur Lillie says:
"It is asserted by calm thinkers like Dean Mansel that within
two generations of the time of Alexander the Great, the
missionaries of Buddha made their appearance at
_Alexandria_.[423:4] This theory is confirmed--in the east by
the Asoka monuments--in the west by Philo. He expressly
maintains the identity in creed of the higher Judaism and that
of the _Gymnosophists_ of India who abstained from the
'sacrifice of living animals'--in a word, the BUDDHISTS. It
would follow from this that the priestly religion of
Babylonia, Palestine, Egypt, and Greece were undermined by
certain kindred mystical societies organized by Buddha's
missionaries under the various names of Therapeutes, Essenes,
Neo-Pythagoreans, Neo-Zoroastrians, &c. _Thus Buddhism
prepared the way for Christianity._"[424:1]
The Buddhists have the "eight-fold holy path" (Dhammapada), eight
spiritual states leading up to Buddhahood. The first state of the
Essenes resulted from baptism, and it seems to correspond with the first
Buddhistic state, those who have entered the (mystic) stream. Patience,
purity, and the mastery of passion were aimed at by both devotees in the
other stages. In the last, magical powers, healing the sick, casting
out evil spirits, etc., were supposed to be gained. Buddhists and
Essenes seem to have doubled up this eight-fold path into four, for
some reason or other. Buddhists and Essenes had three orders of
ascetics or monks, but this classification is distinct from the
spiritual classifications.[424:2]
The doctrine of the "_Anointed Angel_," of the man from heaven, the
Creator of the world, the doctrine of the atoning sacrificial death of
Jesus by the blood of his cross, the doctrine of the Messianic antetype
of the Paschal lamb of the Paschal omer, and thus of the resurrection of
Christ Jesus, the third day, according to the Scriptures, these
doctrines of Paul can, with more or less certainty, be connected with
the Essenes. It becomes almost a certainty that Eusebius was right in
surmising that _Essenic writings have been used by Paul and the
evangelists_. Not Jesus, but Paul, is the cause of the separation of the
Jews from the Christians.[424:3]
The probability, then, that that sect of vagrant quack-doctors, the
Therapeutæ, who were established in Egypt and its neighborhood many ages
before the period assigned by later theologians as that of the birth of
Christ Jesus, were the original fabricators of the writings contained in
the New Testament, becomes a certainty on the basis of evidence, than
which history has nothing more certain, furnished by the unguarded, but
explicit, unwary, but most unqualified and positive statement of the
historian Eusebius, that "_those ancient Therapeutæ were Christians, and
that their ancient writings were our gospels and epistles_."
The Essenes, the Therapeuts, the Ascetics, the Monks, the Ecclesiastics,
and the Eclectics, are but different names for one and the self-same
sect.
The word "_Essene_" is nothing more than the Egyptian word for that of
which Therapeut is the Greek, each of them signifying "healer" or
"doctor," and designating the character of the sect as professing to be
endued with the miraculous gift of healing; and more especially so with
respect to diseases of the mind.
Their name of "_Ascetics_" indicated the severe discipline and exercise
of self-mortification, long fastings, prayers, contemplation, and even
making of themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake, as did
Origen, Melito, and others who derived their Christianity from the same
school; Jesus himself is represented to have recognized and approved
their practice.
Their name of "_Monks_" indicated their delight in solitude, their
contemplative life, and their entire segregation and abstraction from
the world, which Jesus, in the Gospel, is in like manner represented as
describing, as characteristic of the community of which he was a member.
Their name of "_Ecclesiastics_" was of the same sense, and indicated
their being called out, elected, separated from the general fraternity
of mankind, and set apart to the more immediate service and honor of
God.
They had a flourishing university, or corporate body, established upon
these principles, at Alexandria in Egypt, long before the period
assigned for the birth of Christ Jesus.[425:1]
From this body they sent out missionaries, and had established colonies,
auxiliary branches, and affiliated communities, in various cities of
Asia Minor, which colonies were in a flourishing condition, before the
preaching of St. Paul.
"_The very ancient and Eastern doctrine of an Angel-Messiah had been
applied to Gautama-Buddha, and so it was applied to Jesus Christ by the
Essenes of Egypt and of Palestine, who introduced this new Messianic
doctrine into Essenic Judaism and Essenic Christianity._"[425:2]
In the Pali and Sanscrit texts the word _Buddha_ is always used as a
_title_, not as a name. It means "The Enlightened One." Gautama Buddha
is represented to have taught that he was only one of a long series of
Buddhas, who appear at intervals in the world, and who all teach the
same system. After the death of each Buddha his religion flourishes for
a time, but finally wickedness and vice again rule over the land. Then
a _new_ Buddha appears, who again preaches the lost _Dharma_ or truth.
The names of twenty-four of these Buddhas who appeared previous to
Gautama have been handed down to us. The _Buddhavansa_, or "History of
the Buddhas," the last book of the _Khuddaka Nikaya_ in the second
Pitca, gives the lives of all the previous Buddhas before commencing its
account of Gautama himself; and the Pali commentary on the _Jatakas_
gives certain details regarding each of the twenty-four.[426:1]
An _Avatar_ was expected about every six hundred years.[426:2] At the
time of Jesus of Nazareth an Avatar was expected, not by some of the
Jews alone, but by most every eastern nation.[426:3] Many persons were
thought at that time to be, and undoubtedly thought themselves to be,
_the_ Christ, and the only reason why the name of Jesus of Nazareth
succeeded above all others, is because the _Essenes_--who were expecting
an Angel-Messiah--espoused it. Had it not been for this almost
indisputable fact, the name of Jesus of Nazareth would undoubtedly not
be known at the present day.
Epiphanius, a Christian bishop and writer of the fourth century, says,
in speaking of the Essenes:
"They who believed on Christ were called JESSÆI (or Essenes),
_before they were called Christians_. These derived their
constitution from the signification of the name Jesus, which
in Hebrew signifies the same as _Therapeutes_, that is, a
saviour or physician."
Thus we see that, according to Christian authority, the Essenes and
Therapeutes are one, and that the Essenes espoused the cause of Jesus of
Nazareth, accepted him as an Angel-Messiah, and became known to history
as _Christians_, or believers in the Anointed Angel.
This ascetic _Buddhist_ sect called Essenes were therefore expecting an
Angel-Messiah, for had not Gautama announced to his disciples that
another Buddha, and therefore another angel in human form, another organ
or advocate of the wisdom from above, would descend from heaven to
earth, and would be called the "Son of Love."
The learned Thomas Maurice says:
"From the earliest post-diluvian age, to that in which the
Messiah appeared, together with the traditions which so
expressly recorded the fall of the human race from a state of
original rectitude and felicity, there appears, from an
infinite variety of hieroglyphic monuments and of written
documents, to have prevailed, from generation to generation,
_throughout all the regions of the higher Asia_, an uniform
belief that, in the course of revolving ages, _there should
arise a sacred personage, a mighty deliverer of mankind from
the thraldom of sin and of death_. In fact, the memory of the
grand original promise, that the seed of the woman should
eventually crush the serpent, was carefully preserved in the
breasts of the _Asiatics_; it entered deeply into their
symbolic superstitions, and was engraved aloft amidst their
mythologic sculptures."[427:1]
That an Angel-Messiah was generally expected at this time may be
inferred from the following facts: Some of the Gnostic sects of
Christians, who believed that Jesus was an emanation from God, likewise
supposed that there were several _Æons_, or emanations from the Eternal
Father. Among those who taught this doctrine was _Basilides_ and his
followers.[427:2]
SIMON MAGUS was believed to be "He who should come." Simon was worshiped
in Samaria and other countries, as the expected Angel-Messiah, as a God.
Justin Martyr says:
"After the ascension of our Lord into heaven, certain _men_
were suborned by demons as their agents, who said that they
were gods (_i. e._, _the_ Angel Messiah). Among these was
_Simon_, a certain Samaritan, whom nearly all the Samaritans
and a few also of other nations, worshiped, confessing him as
a Supreme God."[427:3]
His miracles were notorious, and admitted by all. His followers became
so numerous that they were to be found in all countries. In Rome, in the
reign of Claudius, a statue was erected in his honor. Clement of Rome,
speaking of Simon Magus, says that:
"He wishes to be considered an exalted person, and to be
considered 'the Christ.' He claims that he can never be
dissolved, asserting that he will endure to eternity."
Montanus was another person who evidently believed himself to be an
Angel-Messiah. He was called by himself and his followers the
"Paraclete," or "Holy Spirit."[428:1]
Socrates, in his Ecclesiastical History, tells us of one _Buddhas_ (who
lived after Jesus):
"Who afore that time was called Terebynthus, which went to the
coasts of Babylon, inhabited by Persians, and there published
of himself many false wonders: that he was born of a virgin,
that he was bred and brought up in the mountains, etc."[428:2]
He was evidently one of the many fanatics who believed themselves to be
the Paraclete or Comforter, the "Expected One."
Another one of these _Christs_ was _Apollonius_. This remarkable man was
born a few years before the commencement of the Christian era, and
during his career, sustained the role of a philosopher, religious
teacher and reformer, and a worker of miracles. He is said to have lived
to be a hundred years old. From the history of his life, written by the
learned sophist and scholar, Philostratus, we glean the following:
Before his birth a god appeared to his mother and informed her that he
himself should be born of her. At the time of her delivery, the most
wonderful things happened. All the people of the country acknowledged
that he was the "Son of God." As he grew in stature, his wonderful
powers, greatness of memory, and marvelous beauty attracted the
attention of all. A great part of his time was spent, when a youth,
among the learned doctors; the disciples of Plato, Chrysippus and
Aristotle. When he came to man's estate, he became an enthusiastic
admirer and devoted follower of Pythagoras. His fame soon spread far and
near, and wherever he went he reformed the religious worship of the day.
He went to Ephesus, like Christ Jesus to Jerusalem, where the people
flocked about him. While at Athens, in Greece, he cast out an evil
spirit from a youth. As soon as Apollonius fixed his eyes upon him, the
demon broke out into the most angry and horrid expressions, and then
swore he would depart out of the youth. He put an end to a plague which
was raging at Ephesus, and at Corinth he raised a dead maiden to life,
by simply taking her by the hand and bidding her arise. The miracles of
Apollonius were extensively believed, _by Christians as well as others_,
for centuries after his time. In the fourth century Hierocles drew a
parallel between the two Christs--Apollonius and Jesus--which was
answered by Eusebius, the great champion of the Christian church. In it
he admits the miracles of Apollonius, but attributes them to sorcery.
Apollonius was worshiped as a god, in different countries, as late as
the fourth century. A beautiful temple was built in honor of him, and he
was held in high esteem by many of the Pagan emperors. Eunapius, who
wrote concerning him in the fifth century, says that his history should
have been entitled "_The Descent of a God_ upon Earth." It is as Albert
Reville says:
"The universal respect in which Apollonius was held by the
whole pagan world, testified to the deep impression which the
life of this _Supernatural Being_ had left indelibly fixed in
their minds; an expression which caused one of his
contemporaries to exclaim, '_We have a God living among us._'"
A Samaritan, by name Menander, who was contemporary with the apostles of
Jesus, was another of these fanatics who believed himself to be the
Christ. He went about performing miracles, claiming that he was a
SAVIOUR, "sent down from above from the invisible worlds, _for the
salvation of mankind_."[429:1] He baptized his followers in his own
name. His influence was great, and continued for several centuries.
Justin Martyr and other Christian Fathers wrote against him.
Manes evidently believed himself to be "the Christ," or "he who was to
come." His followers also believed the same concerning him. Eusebius,
speaking of him, says:
"He presumed to represent the person of Christ; he proclaimed
himself to be the Comforter and the Holy Ghost, and being
puffed up with this frantic pride, chose, as if he were
Christ, _twelve_ partners of his new-found doctrine, patching
into one heap false and detestable doctrines of old, rotten,
and rooted out heresies, _the which he brought out of
Persia_."[429:2]
The word Manes, says Usher in his Annals, has the meaning of Paraclete
or Comforter or Saviour. This at once lets us into the secret--a new
incarnation, an Angel-Messiah, a Christ--born from the side of his
mother, and put to a violent death--flayed alive, and hung up, or
crucified, by a king of Persia.[429:3] This is the teacher with his
twelve apostles on the rock of Gualior.
Du Perron, in his life of Zoroaster, gives an account of certain
prophecies to be found in the sacred books of the _Persians_. One of
these is to the effect that, at successive periods of time, there will
appear on earth certain "Sons of Zoroaster," who are to be the result
of _immaculate conceptions_. These virgin-born gods will come upon earth
for the purpose of establishing the law of God. It is also asserted that
Zoroaster, when on earth, declared that in the "latter days" a pure
virgin would conceive, and bear a son, and that as soon as the child was
born a _star_ would appear, blazing even at noonday, with undiminished
splendor. This Christ is to be called _Sosiosh_. He will redeem mankind,
and subdue the Devs, who have been tempting and leading men astray ever
since the fall of our first parents.
Among the Greeks the same prophecy was found. The Oracle of Delphi was
the depository, according to Plato, of an ancient and _secret_ prophecy
of the birth of a "Son of Apollo," who was to restore the reign of
justice and virtue on the earth.[430:1]
Those who believed in successive emanations of Æons from the Throne of
Light, pointed to the passage in the Gospels where Jesus is made to say
that he will be succeeded by the Paraclete or Comforter. Mahommed was
believed by many to be this Paraclete, and it is said that he too told
his disciples that _another_ Paraclete would succeed him. From present
appearances, however, there is some reason for believing that the
Mohammedans are to have their ancient prophecy set at naught by the
multiplicity of those who pretend to be divinely appointed to fulfill
it. The present year was designated as the period at which this great
reformer was to arise, who should be almost, if not quite, the equal of
Mahommed. His mission was to be to to purify the religion from its
corruptions; to overthrow those who had usurped its control, and to
rule, as a great spiritual caliph, over the faithful. According to
accepted tradition, the prophet himself designated the line of descent
in which his most important successor would be found, and even indicated
his personal appearance. The time having arrived, it is not strange that
the man is forthcoming, only in this instance there is more than one
claimant. There is a "holy man" in Morocco who has allowed it to be
announced that he is the designated reformer, while cable reports show
that a rival pretender has appeared in Yemen, in southern Arabia, and
his supporters, sword in hand, are now advancing upon Mecca, for the
purpose of proclaiming their leader as caliph within the sacred city
itself.
History then relates to us the indisputable fact that at the time of
Jesus of Nazareth an Angel-Messiah was expected, that many persons
claimed, and were believed to be, _the_ "Expected One," and that the
reason why _Jesus_ was accepted above all others was because the
Essenes--a very numerous sect--believed him to be the true Messiah, and
came over to his followers in a body. It was because there were so many
of these _Christs_ in existence that some follower of Jesus--but no one
knows _who_--wrote as follows:
"If any man shall say to you, Lo, _here is Christ_, or, lo, he
is _there_; believe him not; for _false Christs_ and false
prophets shall rise, _and shall show signs and wonders_ to
seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."[431:1]
The reasons why Jesus was not accepted as the Messiah by the _majority_
of the Jews was because the majority expected a daring and irresistible
warrior and conqueror, who, armed with greater power than Cæsar, was to
come upon earth to rend the fetters in which their hapless nation had so
long groaned, to avenge them upon their haughty oppressors, and to
re-establish the kingdom of Judah; and this Jesus--although he evidently
claimed to be the Messiah--did not do.
Tacitus, the Roman historian, says:
"The generality had a strong persuasion that it was contained
in the ancient writings of the priests, that at that very time
the east should prevail: and that some one, who should come
out of Judea, _should obtain the empire of the world_; which
ambiguities foretold Vespasian and Titus. But the common
people (of the Jews), according to the influence of human
wishes, appropriated to themselves, by their interpretation,
this vast grandeur foretold by the fates, nor could be brought
to change their opinion for the true, by all their
adversities."
Suetonius, another Roman historian, says:
"There had been for a long time all over the east a constant
persuasion that it was recorded in the fates (books of the
fates, or foretellings), that at that time some one who should
come out of Judea _should obtain universal dominion_. It
appears by the event, that this prediction referred to the
Roman emperor; but the Jews, referring it to themselves,
rebelled."
This is corroborated by Josephus, the Jewish historian, who says:
"That which, chiefly excited them (the Jews) to war, was an
_ambiguous prophecy_, which was also found in the sacred
books, that at that time some one, within their country,
should arise, that should obtain _the empire of the whole
world_. For this they had received by tradition, that it was
spoken of one of their nation; and many wise men were deceived
with the interpretation. But, in truth, Vespasian's empire was
designed in this prophecy, who was created emperor (of Rome)
_in Judea_."
As the Rev. Dr. Geikie remarks, the central and dominant characteristic
of the teaching of the rabbis, was the certain advent of a great
national _Deliverer_--the Messiah--but not a God from heaven.
For a time _Cyrus_ appeared to realize the promised Deliverer, or, at
least, to be the chosen instrument to prepare the way for him, and, in
his turn, _Zerubabel_ became the centre of Messianic hopes. In fact, the
national mind had become so inflammable, by constant brooding on this
one theme, that any bold spirit, rising in revolt against the Roman
power, could find an army of fierce disciples who trusted that it should
be he who would redeem Israel.[432:1]
The "_taxing_" which took place under Cyrenius, Governor of Syria (A. D.
7), excited the wildest uproar against the Roman power. The Hebrew
spirit was stung into exasperation; the puritans of the nation, the
enthusiasts, fanatics, the zealots of the law, the literal
constructionists of prophecy, appealed to the national temper, revived
the national faith, and fanned into flame the combustible elements that
smoldered in the bosom of the race. The Messianic hope was strong in
these people; all the stronger on account of their political
degradation. Born in sorrow, the anticipation grew keen in bitter hours.
That Jehovah would abandon them could not be believed. The thought would
be atheism. The hope kept the eastern Jews in a perpetual state of
insurrection. The cry "Lo here, lo there!" was incessant. Claimant after
claimant of the dangerous supremacy of the _Messiah_ appeared, pitched a
camp in the wilderness, raised the banner, gathered a force, was
attacked, defeated, banished, or crucified; but the frenzy did not
abate.
The last insurrection among the Jews, that of Bar-Cochba--"Son of the
Star"--revealed an astonishing frenzy of zeal. It was purely a
_Messianic_ uprising. Judaism had excited the fears of the Emperor
Hadrian, and induced him to inflict unusual severities on the people.
The effect of the violence was to stimulate that conviction to fury. The
night of their despair was once more illumined by the star of the east.
The banner of the Messiah was raised. Portents, as of old, were seen in
the sky; the clouds were watched for the glory that should appear.
_Bar-Cochba_ seemed to fill out the popular idea of the deliverer.
Miracles were ascribed to him; flames issued from his mouth. The vulgar
imagination made haste to transform the audacious fanatic into a child
of David. Multitudes flocked to his standard. The whole Jewish race
throughout the world was in commotion. The insurrection gained head. The
heights about Jerusalem were seized and occupied, and fortifications
were erected; nothing but the "host of angels" was needed to insure
victory. The angels did not appear; the Roman legions did. The
"Messiah," not proving himself a conqueror, was held to have proved
himself an impostor, the "son of a lie."[433:1]
The impetuous zeal with which the Jews rushed to the standard of this
Messianic impostor, in the 130th year of the Christian era, demonstrates
the true Jewish character, and shows how readily any one who made the
claim, was believed to be "He who should come." Even the celebrated
Rabbi Akiba sanctioned this daring fraud. Akiba declared that the
so-called prophecy of Balaam,--"_a star shall rise out of Jacob_,"--was
accomplished. Hence the impostor took his title of _Bar-Cochabas_, or
_Son of the Star_; and Akiba not only publicly anointed him "KING OF THE
JEWS," and placed an imperial diadem upon his head, but followed him to
the field at the head of four-and-twenty thousand of his disciples, and
acted in the capacity of master of his horse.
Those who believed on the meek and benevolent Jesus--and whose number
was very small--were of that class who believed in the doctrine of the
_Angel-Messiah_,[433:2] first heard of among them when taken captives to
Babylon. These believed that just as Buddha appeared at different
intervals, and as Vishnu appeared at different intervals, the avatars
appeared among the Jews. Adam, and Enoch, and Noah, and Elijah or Elias,
might in outward appearance be different men, but they were really the
self-same divine person successively animating various human
bodies.[433:3] Christ _Jesus_ was the _avatar_ of the ninth age, Christ
_Cyrus_ was the _avatar_ of the eighth. Of the hero of the eighth age it
is said: "Thus said the Lord to his Anointed (_i. e._, his _Christ_),
his Messiah, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue
nations."[434:1] The eighth period began about the Babylonish captivity,
about six hundred years before Christ _Jesus_. The ninth began with
Christ Jesus, making in all eight cycles before Jesus.
"What was known in Judea more than a century before the birth of Jesus
Christ cannot have been introduced among Buddhists by Christian
missionaries. It will become equally certain that the bishop and
church-historian, Eusebius, was right when he wrote, that he considered
it highly probable that the writings of the Essenic Therapeuts in Egypt
had been incorporated into our Gospels, and into some Pauline
epistles."[434:2]
For further information on the subject of the connection between
Essenism and Christianity, the reader is referred to Taylor's Diegesis,
Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, and the works of S. F. Dunlap. We shall now
speak of another powerful lever which was brought to bear upon the
promulgation of Christianity; namely, that of FRAUD.
It was a common thing among the early Christian Fathers and saints to
lie and deceive, if their lies and deceits helped the cause of their
Christ. Lactantius, an eminent Christian author who flourished in the
fourth century, has well said:
"Among those who seek power and gain from their religion,
there will never be wanting an inclination to forge and lie
for it."[434:3]
Gregory of Nazianzus, writing to St. Jerome, says:
"A little jargon is all that is necessary to impose on the
people. The less they comprehend, the more they admire. Our
forefathers and doctors have often said, not what they
thought, but what circumstances and necessity
dictated."[434:4]
The celebrated _Eusebius_, Bishop of CÆSAREA, and friend of Constantine
the Great, who is our chief guide for the early history of the Church,
_confesses that he was by no means scrupulous to record the whole truth
concerning the early Christians in the various works which he has left
behind him_.[434:5] Edward Gibbon, speaking of him, says:
"The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius
himself, indirectly confesses that he has related what might
redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed all that
could tend to the disgrace of religion. Such an acknowledgment
will naturally excite a suspicion that a writer who has so
openly violated one of the fundamental laws of history, has
not paid a very strict regard to the observance of the other;
and the suspicion will derive additional credit from the
character of Eusebius, which was less tinctured with
credulity, and more practiced in the arts of courts, than that
of almost any of his contemporaries."[435:1]
The great theologian, Beausobre, in his "Histoire de Manichee," says:
"We see in the history which I have related, a sort of
hypocrisy, that has been perhaps, but too common at all times;
that churchmen not only do not say what they think, but they
do say the direct contrary of what they think. Philosophers in
their cabinets; out of them they are content with fables,
though they well know they are fables. Nay, more; they deliver
honest men to the executioner, for having uttered what they
themselves know to be true. How many atheists and pagans have
burned holy men under the pretext of heresy? Every day do
hypocrites consecrate, and make people adore the host, though
as well convinced as I am, that it is nothing but a bit of
bread."[435:2]
M. Daille says:
"This opinion has always been in the world, that to settle a
certain and assured estimation upon that which is good and
true, it is necessary to remove out of the way, whatsoever may
be an hinderance to it. _Neither ought we to wonder that even
those of the honest, innocent, primitive times made use of
these deceits, seeing for a good end they made no scruple to
forge whole books._"[435:3]
Reeves, in his "Apologies of the Fathers," says:
"It was a Catholic opinion among the philosophers, that pious
frauds were good things, and that the people ought to be
imposed on in matters of religion."[435:4]
Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, says:
"It was held as a maxim that it was not only lawful but
praiseworthy to _deceive_, and even to use the expedient of a
_lie_, in order to advance the cause of truth and
piety."[435:5]
Isaac de Casaubon, the great ecclesiastical scholar, says:
"It mightily affects me, to see how many there were in the
earliest times of the church, who considered it as a capital
exploit, to lend to heavenly truth the help of their own
inventions, in order that the new doctrine might be more
readily allowed by the wise among the Gentiles. _These
officious lies, they were wont to say, were devised for a good
end._"[435:6]
The Apostolic Father, Hermas, who was the fellow-laborer of St. Paul in
the work of the ministry; who is greeted as such in the New Testament;
and whose writings are expressly quoted as of divine inspiration, by the
early Fathers, ingenuously confesses that lying was the easily-besetting
sin of a Christian. His words are:
"O Lord, I never spake a true word in my life, but I have
always lived in dissimulation, and affirmed a lie for truth to
all men, and no man contradicted me, but all gave credit to my
words."
To which the holy angel, whom he addresses, condescendingly admonishes
him, that as the lie was up, now, he had better keep it up, and as in
time it would come to be believed, it would answer as well as
truth.[436:1]
Dr. Mosheim admits, that the Platonists and Pythagoreans held it as a
maxim, that it was not only lawful, but praiseworthy, to deceive, and
even to use the expedient of a lie, in order to advance the cause of
truth and piety. The Jews who lived in Egypt, had learned and received
this maxim from them, before the coming of Christ Jesus, as appears
incontestably from a multitude of ancient records, _and the Christians
were infected from both these sources, with the same pernicious
error_.[436:2]
Of the fifteen letters ascribed to Ignatius (Bishop of Antioch after 69
A. D.), _eight have been rejected by Christian writers as being
forgeries_, having no authority whatever. "_The remaining seven_
epistles were accounted genuine by most critics, although disputed by
some, previous to the discoveries of Mr. Cureton, _which have shaken,
and indeed almost wholly destroyed the credit and authenticity of all
alike_."[436:3]
Paul of Tarsus, who was preaching a doctrine which had already been
preached to every nation on earth,[436:4] inculcates and avows the
principle of deceiving the common people, talks of his having been
upbraided by his own converts with being crafty and catching them with
guile,[436:5] and of his known and willful lies, abounding to the glory
of God.[436:6]
Even the orthodox Doctor Burnet, an eminent English author, in his
treatise "_De Statu Mortuorum_," purposely written in Latin, that it
might serve for the instruction of the clergy only, and not come to the
knowledge of the laity, because, as he said, "_too much light is hurtful
for weak eyes_," not only justified but recommended the practice of the
most consummate hypocrisy, and would have his clergy seriously preach
and maintain the reality and eternity of hell torments, even though they
should believe nothing of the sort themselves.[437:1]
The incredible and very ridiculous stories related by Christian Fathers
and ecclesiastical historians, _on whom we are obliged to rely for
information on the most important of subjects_, show us how
untrustworthy these men were. We have, for instance, the story related
by St. Augustine, who is styled "the greatest of the Latin Fathers," of
his preaching the Gospel to people _without heads_. In his 33d Sermon he
says:
"I was already Bishop of Hippo, when I went into Ethiopia with
some servants of Christ there to preach the Gospel. In this
country we saw many men and women without heads, who had two
great eyes in their breasts; and in countries still more
southly, we saw people who had but one eye in their
foreheads."[437:2]
This same holy Father bears an equally unquestionable testimony to
several resurrections of the dead, of _which he himself had been an
eye-witness_.
In a book written "towards the close of the second century, by some
zealous believer," and fathered upon one Nicodemus, who is said to have
been a disciple of Christ Jesus, we find the following:
"We all know the blessed Simeon, the high priest, who took
Jesus when an infant into his arms in the temple. This same
Simeon had two sons of his own, _and we were all present at
their death and funeral_. Go therefore and see their tombs,
for these are open, and they are risen; and behold, _they are
in the city of Arimathæa, spending their time together in
offices of devotion_."[438:1]
Eusebius, "the Father of ecclesiastical history," Bishop of Cæsarea, and
one of the most prominent personages at the Council of Nice, relates as
truth, the ridiculous story of King Agbarus writing a letter to Christ
Jesus, and of Jesus' answer to the same.[438:2] And Socrates relates how
the Empress Helen, mother of the Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem
for the purpose of finding, if possible, "the cross of Christ." This she
succeeded in doing, also the nails with which he was nailed to the
cross.[438:3]
Beside forging, lying, and deceiving for the cause of Christ, the
Christian Fathers destroyed all evidence against themselves and their
religion, which they came across. Christian divines seem to have always
been afraid of too much light. In the very infancy of printing, Cardinal
Wolsey foresaw its effect on Christianity, and in a speech to the
clergy, publicly forewarned them, that, _if they did not destroy the
Press, the Press would destroy them_.[438:4] There can be no doubt, that
had the objections of Porphyry,[438:5] Hierocles,[438:6] Celsus,[438:7]
and other opponents of the Christian faith, been permitted to come down
to us, the plagiarism in the Christian Scriptures from previously
existing Pagan documents, is the specific charge they would have
presented us. But these were ordered to be burned, by the prudent piety
of the Christian emperors.
In Alexandria, in Egypt, there was an immense library, founded by the
Ptolemies. This library was situated in the Alexandrian Museum; the
apartments which were allotted for it were beautifully sculptured, and
crowded with the choicest statues and pictures; the building was built
of marble. This library eventually comprised four hundred thousand
volumes. In the course of time, probably on account of inadequate
accommodation for so many books, an additional library was established,
and placed in the temple of Serapis. The number of volumes in this
library, which was called the daughter of that in the museum, was
eventually three hundred thousand. There were, therefore, _seven hundred
thousand volumes in these royal collections_.
In the establishment of the museum, Ptolemy Soter, and his son
Philadelphus, had three objects in view: 1. The perpetuation of such
knowledge as was then in the world; 2. Its increase; 3. Its diffusion.
1. _For the perpetuation of knowledge._ Orders were given to the chief
librarian to buy, at the king's expense, whatever books he could. A body
of transcribers was maintained in the museum, whose duty it was to make
correct copies of such works as their owners were not disposed to sell.
_Any books brought by foreigners into Egypt_ were taken at once to the
museum, and when correct copies had been made, the transcript was given
to the owner, and the original placed in the library. Often a very large
pecuniary indemnity was paid.
2. _For the increase of knowledge._ One of the chief objects of the
museum was that of serving as the home of a body of men who devoted
themselves to study, and were lodged and maintained at the king's
expense. In the original organization of the museum the residents were
divided into four faculties,--Literature, Mathematics, Astronomy, and
Medicine. An officer of very great distinction presided over the
establishment, and had general charge of its interests. Demetius
Phalareus, perhaps the most learned man of his age, who had been
Governor of Athens for many years, was the first so appointed. Under him
was the librarian, an office sometimes held by men whose names have
descended to our times, as Eratosthenes and Apollonius Rhodius. In
connection with the museum was a botanical and a zoological garden.
These gardens, as their names imply, were for the purpose of
facilitating the study of plants and animals. There was also an
astronomical observatory, containing armillary spheres, globes,
solstitial and equatorial armils, astrolabes, parallactic rules, and
other apparatus then in use, the graduation on the divided instruments
being into degrees and sixths.
3. _For the diffusion of knowledge._ In the museum was given, by
lectures, conversation, or other appropriate methods, instruction in all
the various departments of human knowledge.
_There flocked to this great intellectual centre, students from all
countries._ It is said that at one time not fewer than fourteen thousand
were in attendance. Subsequently even the Christian church received from
it some of the most eminent of its Fathers, as Clemens Alexandrinus,
Origen, Athanasius, &c.
The library in the museum was burned during the siege of Alexandria by
Julius Cæsar. To make amends for this great loss, the library collected
by Eumenes, King of Pergamus, was presented by Mark Antony to Queen
Cleopatra. Originally it was founded as a rival to that of the
Ptolemies. It was added to the collection in the Serapion, or the temple
of Serapis.[440:1]
It was not destined, however, to remain there many centuries, as this
very valuable library was willfully destroyed by the Christian
Theophilus, and on the spot where this beautiful temple of Serapis
stood, in fact, on its very foundation, was erected a church in honor of
the "noble army of martyrs," who had never existed.
This we learn from the historian Gibbon, who says that, after this
library was destroyed, "the appearance of the empty shelves excited the
regret and indignation of every spectator, whose mind was not totally
darkened by religious prejudice."[440:2]
The destruction of this library was almost the death-blow to
free-thought--wherever Christianity ruled--for more than a thousand
years.
The death-blow was soon to be struck, however, which was done by _Saint
Cyril_, who succeeded _Theophilus_ as Bishop of Alexandria.
_Hypatia_, the daughter of Theon, the mathematician, endeavored to
continue the old-time instructions. Each day before her academy stood a
long train of chariots; her lecture-room was crowded with the wealth and
fashion of _Alexandria_. They came to listen to her discourses on those
questions which man in all ages has asked, but which have never yet been
answered: "What am I? Where am I? What can I know?"
Hypatia and Cyril; philosophy and bigotry; they cannot exist together.
As Hypatia repaired to her academy, she was assaulted by (Saint) Cyril's
mob--_a mob of many monks_. Stripped naked in the street, she was
dragged into a _church_, and there killed _by the club of Peter the
Reader_. The corpse was cut to pieces, the flesh was scraped from the
bones with shells, and the remnants cast into a fire. _For this
frightful crime Cyril was never called to account. It seemed to be
admitted that the end sanctified the means. So ended Greek philosophy in
Alexandria_, so came to an untimely close the learning that the
Ptolemies had done so much to promote.
The fate of Hypatia was a warning to all who would cultivate profane
knowledge. _Henceforth there was to be no freedom for human thought.
Every one must think as ecclesiastical authority ordered him_; A. D.
414. In Athens itself philosophy awaited its doom. Justinian at length
prohibited its teaching and caused all its schools in that city to be
closed.[441:1]
After this followed the long and dreary _dark ages_, but the _sun of
science_, that bright and glorious luminary, was destined to rise again.
The history of this great Alexandrian library is one of the keys which
unlock the door, and exposes to our view the manner in which the Hindoo
incarnate god _Crishna_, and the meek and benevolent _Buddha_, came to
be worshiped under the name of _Christ Jesus_. For instance, we have
just seen:
1. That, "orders were given to the chief librarian to buy at the king's
expense _whatever books he could_."
2. That, "one of the chief objects of the museum was that of serving as
the home of a _body of men_ who devoted themselves to study."
3. That, "any books brought by foreigners into Egypt were taken at once
to the museum and correct copies made."
4. That, "there flocked to this great intellectual centre students from
all countries."
5. That, "the Christian church received from it some of the most eminent
of its Fathers."
And also:
6. That, the chief doctrines of the Gnostic Christians "had been held
for centuries before their time in many of the cities in Asia Minor.
There, it is probable, they first came into existence as 'Mystæ,' _upon
the establishment of a direct intercourse with India_ under the
Seleucidæ and the Ptolemies."
7. That, "the College of ESSENES at Ephesus, the Orphics of Thrace, the
Curetes of Crete, _are all merely branches of one_ antique and common
religion, _and that originally Asiatic_."
8. That, "_the introduction of Buddhism into Egypt and Palestine
affords the only true solution of innumerable difficulties in the
history of religion_."
9. That, "_Buddhism_ had actually been planted in the dominions of the
Seleucidæ and Ptolemies (Palestine belonging to the former) _before the
beginning of the third century_ B. C. and is proved to demonstration by
a passage in the edicts of Asoka."
10. That, "it is very likely that the commentaries (Scriptures) which
were among them (the _Essenes_) were the Gospels."
11. That, "the principal doctrines and rites of the _Essenes_ can be
connected with the East, with Parsism, and especially with _Buddhism_."
12. That, "among the doctrines which the _Essenes_ and _Buddhists_ had
in common was that of the _Angel-Messiah_."
13. That, "they (the _Essenes_) had a flourishing university or
corporate body, established at _Alexandria, in Egypt_, long before the
period assigned for the birth of Christ."
14. That, "the _very ancient_ and Eastern doctrine of the
_Angel-Messiah_ had been applied to Gautama Buddha, _and so it was
applied to Jesus Christ by the Essenes of Egypt and Palestine_, who
introduced this new Messianic doctrine into Essenic Judaism and Essenic
Christianity."
15. That, "we hear very little of them (the _Essenes_) after A. D. 40;
and there can hardly be any doubt that the _Essenes_ as a body must have
embraced Christianity."
Here is the solution of the problem. The sacred books of Hindoos and
Buddhists were among the _Essenes_, and in the library at Alexandria.
The _Essenes_, who were afterwards called _Christians_, applied the
legend of the _Angel-Messiah_--"the very ancient Eastern doctrine,"
which we have shown throughout this work--to Christ Jesus. It was simply
a transformation of names, _a transformation which had previously
occurred in many cases_.[442:1] After this came _additions_ to the
legend from other sources. Portions of the legends related of the
Persian, Greek and Roman Saviours and Redeemers of mankind, were, from
time to time, added to the already legendary history of the Christian
Saviour. Thus history was repeating itself. Thus the virgin-born God
and Saviour, worshiped by all nations of the earth, though called by
different names, was but one and the same.
In a subsequent chapter we shall see _who_ this One God was, and _how_
the myth originated.
Albert Revillé says:
"_Alexandria_, the home of Philonism, and Neo-Platonism (and
we might add _Essenism_), was naturally the centre _whence
spread the dogma of the deity of Jesus Christ_. In that city,
through the third century, flourished a school of
transcendental theology, afterwards looked upon with suspicion
by the conservators of ecclesiastical doctrine, but not the
less the real cradle of orthodoxy. It was still the Platonic
tendency which influenced the speculations of Clement, Origen
and Dionysius, and the theory of the Logos was at the
foundation of their theology."[443:1]
Among the numerous gospels in circulation among the Christians of the
first three centuries, there was one entitled "The Gospel of the
_Egyptians_." Epiphanius (A. D. 385), speaking of it, says:
"Many things are proposed (in this Gospel of the Egyptians) in
a hidden, _mysterious manner_, as by our Saviour, as though he
had said to his disciples, that the Father was the same
person, the Son the same person, and the Holy Ghost the same
person."