[529:1] See Matt. xiv. 15-22: Mark, iv. 1-3, and xi. 14; and Luke, vii.

26-37.

[529:2] See Mark, xvi. 16.

[529:3] This fact has at last been admitted by the most orthodox among

the Christians. The Rev. George Matheson, D. D., Minister of the Parish

of Innellan, and a member of the Scotch Kirk, speaking of the precept

uttered by Confucius, five hundred years before the time assigned for

the birth of Jesus of Nazareth ("Whatsoever ye would not that others

should do unto you, do not ye unto them"), says: "That Confucius is the

_author_ of this precept is undisputed, _and therefore it is

indisputable that Christianity has incorporated an article of Chinese

morality_. It has appeared to some as if this were to the disparagement

of Christianity--as if the originality of its Divine Founder were

impaired by consenting to borrow a precept from a heathen source. _But

in what sense does Christianity set up the claim of moral originality?_

When we speak of the religion of Christ as having introduced into the

world a purer life and a surer guide to conduct, what do we mean? Do we

mean to suggest that Christianity has, _for the first time_, revealed to

the world the existence of a set of self-sacrificing precepts--that

here, _for the first time_, man has learned that he ought to be meek,

merciful, humble, forgiving, sorrowful for sin, peaceable, and pure in

heart? The proof of such a statement would destroy Christianity itself,

for an _absolute original code of precepts_ would be equivalent to a

foreign language. _The glory of Christian morality is that it is_ NOT

ORIGINAL--that its words appeal to something which _already exists

within the human heart_, and on that account have a meaning to the human

ear: _no new revelation can be made except through the medium of an old

one_. When we attribute originality to the ethics of the Gospel, we do

so on the ground, _not that it has given new precepts_, but that it has

given us a new impulse to obey the moral instincts of the soul.

Christianity itself claims on the field of morals this originality, _and

this alone_--'A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one

another." (St. Giles Lectures, Second Series: The Faiths of the World.

Religion of China, by the Rev. George Matheson, D. D., Minister of the

Parish of Innellan. Wm. Blackwood & Sons: Edinburgh, 1882.)

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX A.

Among the ancient Mexicans, Peruvians, and some of the Indian tribes of

North and South America, were found fragments of the _Eden Myth_. The

Mexicans said that the primeval mother was made out of a _man's bone_,

and that she was the mother of _twins_.[533:1]

The Cherokees supposed that heavenly beings _came down_ and made the

world, after which they made a man and woman of _clay_.[533:2] The

intention of the creators was that men should live always. But the Sun,

when he passed over, told them that there was not land enough, and that

people had better die. At length, _the daughter of the Sun_ was bitten

by a _Snake_, and died. The Sun, however--whom they worshiped as a

god--consented that human beings might live always. He intrusted to

their care a _box_, charging them that they should not open it. However,

impelled by curiosity, they opened it, contrary to the injunction of the

Sun, and the _spirit_ it contained escaped, _and then the fate of all

men was decided, that they must die_.[533:3]

The inhabitants of the New World had a legend of a _Deluge_, which

destroyed the human race, excepting a few who were saved in a boat,

which landed on a _mountain_.[533:4] They also related that _birds_ were

sent out of the ark, for the purpose of ascertaining if the flood was

abating.[533:5]

The ancient Mexicans had the legend of the _confusion of tongues_, and

related the whole story as to how the gods destroyed the tower which

mankind was building so as to reach unto heaven.[533:6]

The Mexicans, and several of the Indian tribes of North America, believe

in the doctrine of _Metempsychosis_, or the transmigration of souls from

one body into another.[533:7] This, as we have already seen,[533:8] was

universally believed in the Old World.

The legend of _the man being swallowed by a fish_, and, after a three

days' sojourn in his belly, coming out safe and sound, was found among

the Mexicans and Peruvians.[534:1]

The ancient Mexicans, and some Indian tribes, practiced _Circumcision_,

which was common among all Eastern nations of the Old World.[534:2]

They also had a legend to the effect that one of their holy persons

commanded _the sun to stand still_.[534:3] This, as we have already

seen,[534:4] was a familiar legend among the inhabitants of the Old

World.

The ancient Mexicans were _fire-worshipers_; so were the ancient

Peruvians. They kept a fire continually burning on an altar, just as the

fire-worshipers of the Old World were in the habit of doing.[534:5] They

were also _Sun-worshipers_, and had "temples of the Sun."[534:6]

The _Tortoise-myth_ was found in the New World.[534:7] Now, in the Old

World, the Tortoise-myth belongs especially to _India_, and the idea is

developed there in a variety of forms. The tortoise that holds the world

is called in Sanscrit Kura-mraja, "King of the Tortoises," and many

Hindoos believe to this day that the world rests on its back. "The

striking analogy between the Tortoise-myth of North America and India,"

says Mr. Tyler, "is by no means a matter of new observation; it was

indeed remarked upon by Father Lafitau nearly a century and a half ago.

Three great features of the Asiatic stories are found among the North

American Indians, in the fullest and clearest development. The earth is

supported on the back of a huge floating tortoise, the tortoise sinks

under the water and causes a deluge, and the tortoise is conceived as

being itself the earth, floating upon the face of the deep."[534:8]

We have also found among them the belief in an Incarnate God born of a

virgin;[534:9] the One God worshiped in the form of a Trinity;[534:10]

the crucified _Black_ god;[534:11] the descent into hell;[534:12] the

resurrection and ascension into heaven,[534:13] all of which is to be

found in the oldest Asiatic religions. We also found monastic

habits--friars and nuns.[534:14]

The Mexicans denominated their high-places, sacred houses, or "_Houses

of God_." The corresponding sacred structures of the Hindoos are called

"_God's House_."[535:1]

Many nations of the _East_ entertained the notion that there were _nine

heavens_, and so did the ancient Mexicans.[535:2]

There are few things connected with the ancient mythology of _America_

more certain than that there existed in that country before its

discovery by Columbus, extreme veneration for the _Serpent_.[535:3] Now,

the Serpent was venerated and worshiped throughout the East.[535:4]

The ancient Mexicans and Peruvians, and many of the Indian tribes,

believed the Sun and Moon not only to be brother and sister, but man and

wife; so, likewise, among many nations of the Old World was this belief

prevalent.[535:5] The belief in were-wolves, or man-wolves, man-tigers,

man-hyenas, and the like, which was almost universal among the nations

of Europe, Asia and Africa, was also found to be the case among South

American tribes.[535:6] The idea of calling the earth "mother," was

common among the inhabitants of both the Old and New Worlds.[535:7] In

the mythology of Finns, Lapps, and Esths, Earth-Mother is a divinely

honored personage. It appears in China, where _Heaven_ and _Earth_ are

called in the _Shuking_--one of their sacred books--"Father and Mother

of all things."

Among the native races of _America_ the Earth-Mother is one of the great

personages of mythology. The Peruvians worshiped her as _Mama-Phacha_,

or Earth-Mother. The Caribs, when there was an earthquake, said it was

their mother-earth dancing, and signifying to them to dance and make

merry likewise, which they accordingly did.[535:8]

It is well-known that the natives of Africa, when there is an eclipse of

the sun or moon, believe that it is being devoured by some great

monster, and that they, in order to frighten and drive it away, beat

drums and make noises in other ways. So, too, the rude Moguls make a

clamor of rough music to drive the attacking Arachs (Râhu) from Sun or

Moon.[535:9]

The Chinese, when there is an eclipse of the Sun or Moon, proceed to

encounter the ominous monster with gongs and bells.[535:10]

The ancient Romans flung firebrands into the air, and blew trumpets, and

clanged brazen pots and pans.[535:11] Even as late as the seventeenth

century, the Irish or Welsh, during eclipses, ran about beating kettles

and pans.[536:1] Among the native races of America was to be found the

same superstition. The Indians would raise a frightful howl, and shoot

arrows into the sky to drive the monsters off.[536:2] The Caribs,

thinking that the demon Maboya, hater of all light, was seeking to

devour the Sun and Moon, would dance and howl in concert all night long

to scare him away. The Peruvians, imagining such an evil spirit in the

shape of a monstrous beast, raised the like frightful din when the Moon

was eclipsed, shouting, sounding musical instruments, and beating the

dogs to join their howl to the hideous chorus.[536:3]

The starry band that lies like a road across the sky, known as the

_milky way_, is called by the Basutos (a South African tribe of

savages), "The Way of the Gods;" the Ojis (another African tribe of

savages), say it is the "Way of Spirits," which souls go up to heaven

by. North American tribes know it as "the Path of the Master of Life,"

the "Path of Spirits," "the Road of Souls," where they travel to the

land beyond the grave.[536:4]

It is almost a general belief among the inhabitants of Africa, and was

so among the inhabitants of Europe and Asia, that monkeys were once men

and women, and that they can even now really speak, but judiciously hold

their tongues, lest they should be made to work. This idea was found as

a serious matter of belief, in Central and South America.[536:5] "The

Bridge of the Dead," which is one of the marked myths of the Old World,

was found in the New.[536:6]

It is well known that the natives of South America told the Spaniards

that inland there was to be found a fountain, the waters of which turned

old men back into youths, and how Juan Ponce de Leon fitted out two

caravels, and went to seek for this "Fountain of Youth." Now, the

"Fountain of Youth" is known to the mythology of India.[536:7]

The myth of foot-prints stamped into the rocks by gods or mighty men, is

to be found among the inhabitants of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Egyptians, Greeks, Brahmans, Buddhists, Moslems, and Christians, have

adopted it as relics each from their own point of view, and _Mexican_

eyes could discern in the solid rock at Tlanepantla the mark of hand and

foot left by the mighty Quetzalcoatle.[536:8]

The Incas, in order to preserve purity of race, married their own

sisters, as did the Kings of Persia, and other Oriental nations.[537:1]

The Peruvian embalming of the royal dead takes us back to _Egypt_; the

burning of the wives of the deceased Incas reveals _India_; the

singularly patriarchical character of the whole Peruvian policy is like

that of _China_ in the olden time; while the system of espionage, of

tranquillity, of physical well-being, and the iron-like immovability in

which their whole social frame was cast, bring before us _Japan_--as it

was a very few years ago. In fact, there is something strangely Japanese

in the entire cultus of Peru as described by all writers.[537:2]

The dress and costume of the Mexicans, and their sandals, resemble the

apparel and sandals worn in early ages in the East.[537:3]

Mexican priests were represented with a Serpent twined around their

heads, so were Oriental kings.[537:4] The Mexicans had the head of a

rhinoceros among their paintings,[537:5] and also the head of an

elephant on the body of a man.[537:6] Now, these animals were unknown in

America, but well known in Asia; and what is more striking still is the

fact that the man with the elephant's head is none other than the Ganesa

of India; the God of Wisdom. Humboldt, who copied a Mexican painting of

a man with an elephant's head, remarks that "it presents some remarkable

and apparently _not accidental_ resemblances with the Hindoo Ganesa."

The horse and the ass, although natives of America,[537:7] became

extinct on the Western Continent in an early period of the earth's

history, yet the Mexicans had, among their hieroglyphics,

representations of both these animals, which show that it must have been

seen in the old world by the author of the hieroglyph. When the Mexicans

saw the horses which the Spaniards brought over, they were greatly

astonished, and when they saw the Spaniards on horseback, they imagined

man and horse to be _one_.

Certain of the temples of _India_ abound with sculptural representations

of the symbols of _Phallic Worship_. Turning now to the temples of

_Central America_, which in many respects exhibit a strict

correspondence with those in India, _we find precisely the same symbols,

separate and in combination_.[537:8]

We have seen that many of the religious conceptions of _America_ are

identical with those of the _Old World_, and that they are embodied or

symbolized under the same or cognate forms; and it is confidently

asserted that a comparison and analysis of her primitive systems, in

connection with those of other parts of the globe, philosophically

conducted, would establish the grand fact, that in ALL their leading

elements, and in many of their details, they are essentially the

same.[538:1]

The _architecture_ of many of the most ancient buildings in South

America resembles the Asiatic. Around Lake Titicaca are massive

monuments, which speak of a very ancient and civilized nation.[538:2]

E. Spence Hardy, says:

"The ancient edifices of Chi Chen, in Central America, bear a

striking resemblance to the topes of India. The shape of one

of the domes, its apparent size, the small tower on the

summit, the trees growing on the sides, the appearance of

masonry here and there, the style of the ornaments, and the

small doorway at the base, are so exactly similar to what I

had seen at Anurádhapura, _that when my eye first fell upon

the engravings of these remarkable ruins, I supposed that they

were presented in illustration of the dágobas of

Ceylon_."[538:3]

E. G. Squire, speaking of this, says:

"The Bud'hist temples of Southern India, and of the islands of

the Indian Archipelago, as described to us by the learned

members of the Asiatic Society, and the numerous writers on

the religion and antiquities of the Hindoos, correspond, with

great exactness, in all their essential and in many of their

minor features, with those of _Central America_."[538:4]

Structures of a _pyramidal_ style, which are common in India, were also

discovered in Mexico. The pyramid tower of Cholula was one of

these.[538:5]

Sir R. Kir Porter writes as follows:

"What striking analogies exist between the monuments of the

old continents and those of the Toltecs, who, arriving on

Mexican soil, built several of these colossal structures,

truncated pyramids, divided by layers, like the temple of

Belus at Babylon. _Whence did they take the model of these

edifices? Were they of the Mongolian race? Did they descend

from a common stock with the Chinese, the Hiong-nu, and the

Japanese?_"[538:6]

The similarity in _features_ of the Asiatic and the American race is

very striking. Alexander de Humboldt, speaking of this, says:

"There are striking contrasts between the Mongol and American

races."[538:7] "Over a million and a half of square leagues,

from the Terra del Fuego islands to the River St. Lawrence and

Behring's Straits, we are struck at the first glance with the

general resemblance in the features of the inhabitants. _We

think we perceive that they all descended from the same

stock_, notwithstanding the enormous diversity of language

which separates them from one another."[538:8]

"This analogy is particularly evident in the color of the

skin and hair, in the defective beard, high cheek-bones, and

in the direction of the eyes."[539:1]

Dr. Morton says:

"In reflecting on the aboriginal races of America, we are at

once met by the striking fact, that their physical characters

are wholly independent of all climatic or known physical

influences. Notwithstanding their immense geographical

distribution, embracing every variety of climate, it is

acknowledged by all travellers, that there is among this

people a prevailing type, around which all the tribes--north,

south, east and west--cluster, though varying within

prescribed limits. With trifling exceptions, all our American

Indians bear to each other some degree of family resemblance,

quite as strong, for example, as that seen at the present day

among full-blooded Jews."[539:2]

James Orton, the traveler, was also struck with the likeness of the

American Indians to the Chinese, including the flatted nose. Speaking of

the Zaparos of the Napo River, he says:

"The Zaparos in physiognomy somewhat resemble the Chinese,

having a middle stature, round face, small eyes set angularly,

and a broad, flat nose."[539:3]

Oscar Paschel says:

"The obliquely-set eyes and prominent cheek-bones of the

inhabitants of Veragua were noticed by Monitz Wagner, and

according to his description, out of four Bayano Indians from

Darien, three had thoroughly Mongolian features, including the

flatted nose."

In 1866, an officer of the Sharpshooter, the first English man-of-war

which entered the Paraná River in Brazil, remarks in almost the same

words of the Indians of that district, that their features vividly

reminded him of the Chinese. Burton describes the Brazilian natives at

the falls of Cachauhy as having thick, round Kalmuck heads, flat Mongol

faces, wide, very prominent cheek bones, oblique and sometimes

narrow-slit Chinese eyes, and slight mustaches.

Another traveler, J. J. Von Tschudi, declares in so many words that he

has seen Chinese whom at the first glance he mistook for Botocudos, and

that since then he has been convinced that the American race ought not

to be separated from the Mongolian. His predecessor, St. Hilaire,

noticed narrow, obliquely-set eyes and broad noses among the Malali of

Brazil. Reinhold Hensel says of the Coroados, that their features are of

Mongoloid type, due especially to the prominence of the cheek-bones, but

that the oblique position of the eyes is not perceptible. Yet the

oblique opening of the eye, which forms a good though not an essential

characteristic of the Mongolian nations, is said to be characteristic of

all the Guarani tribes in Brazil. Even in the extreme south, among the

Hiullitches of Patagonia, King saw a great many with obliquely set

eyes. Those writers who separate the Americans as a peculiar race fail

to give distinctive characters, common to them all, which distinguish

them from the Asiatic Mongols. All the tribes have stiff, long hair,

cylindrical in section. The beard and hair of the body is always scanty

or totally absent. The color of the skin varies considerably, as might

be expected in a district of 110° of latitude; it ranges from a light

South European darkness of complexion among the Botocudos, of the

deepest dye among the Aymara, or to copper red in the Sonor tribes. But

no one has tried to draw limits between races on account of these shades

of color, especially as they are of every conceivable gradation.[540:1]

Charles G. Leland says:

"The Tunguse, Mongolians, and a great part of the Turkish race

formed originally, according to all external organic tokens,

as well as the elements of their language, but one people,

closely allied with the Esquimaux, the _Skräling_, or dwarf of

the Norseman, and the races of the New World. This is the

irrefutable result to which all the more recent inquiries in

anatomy and physiology, as well as comparative philology and

history, have conduced. All the aboriginal Americans have

those distinctive tokens which forcibly recall their neighbors

dwelling on the other side of Behring's Straits. They have the

four-cornered head, high cheek-bones, heavy jaws, large

angular eye-cavities, and a retreating forehead. The skulls of

the oldest Peruvian graves exhibit the same tokens as the

heads of the nomadic tribes of Oregon and California."[540:2]

"It is very certain that thousands of American Indians,

especially those of small stature or of dwarfish tribes, bear

a most extraordinary likeness to Mongols."[540:3]

John D. Baldwin, in his "_Ancient America_," says:

"I find myself more and more inclined to believe that the wild

Indians of the North came originally from _Asia_, where the

race to which they belong seems still represented by the

_Koraks_ and _Cookchees_, found in that part of Asia which

extends to Behring's Straits."[540:4]

Hon. Charles D. Poston, late commissioner of the United States of

America in Asia, in a work entitled, "_The Parsees_," speaking of an

incident which took place "beyond the Great Wall," says:

"A Mongolian came riding up on a little black pony, followed

by a servant on a camel, rocking like a windmill. He stopped a

moment to exchange pantomimic salutations. He was full of

electricity, and alive with motion; the blood was warm in his

veins, and the fire was bright in his eye. I could have sworn

that he was an _Apache;_ every action, motion and look

reminded me of my old enemies and neighbors in _Arizona_. They

are the true descendants of the nomadic Tartars of Asia and

preserve every instinct of the race. He shook hands friendlily

but timidly, keeping all the time in motion like an

Apache."[540:5]

That the continents of Asia and America were at one time joined

together by an isthmus, at the place where the channel of Behring's

straits is now found, is a well known fact. That the severance of Asia

from America was, geologically speaking, very recent, is shown by the

fact that not only the straits, but the sea which bears the name of

Behring, is extraordinarily shallow, so much so, indeed, that whalers

lie at anchor in the middle of it.[541:1] This is evidently the manner

in which America was peopled.[541:2]

During the _Champlain_ period in the earth's history the climate of the

northern portion of the American continent, instead of being frigid, and

the country covered with sheets of ice, was more like the climate of the

Middle States of the present day. Tropical animals went North, and

during the Terrace period--which followed the Champlain--the climate

changed to frigid, and many of these tropical animals were frozen in the

ice, and some of their remains were discovered centuries after.

It was probably during the time when the climate in those northern

regions was warm, that the aborigines crossed over, and even if they did

not do so at that time, we must not be startled at the idea that Asiatic

tribes crossed over from Asia to America, when the country was covered

with ice. There have been nations who lived in a state of nudity among

ice-fields, and, even at the present day, a naked nation of fishermen

still exist in Terra del Fuego, where the glaciers stretch down to the

sea, and even into it.[541:3]

Chas. Darwin, during his voyage round the world in H. M. S. Beagle, was

particularly struck with the hardiness of the Fuegians, who go in a

state of nudity, or almost entirely so. He says:

"Among these central tribes the men generally have an

otter-skin, or some small scrap, about as large as a

pocket-handkerchief, to cover their nakedness, which is barely

sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their

loins."[541:4]

One day while going on shore near Wollaston Island, Mr. Darwin's party

pulled alongside a canoe which contained six Fuegians, who were, he

says, "quite naked, and even one full-grown woman was absolutely so. It

was raining heavily, and the fresh water, together with the spray,

trickled down her body. In another harbor not far distant, a woman, who

was suckling a recently-born child, came one day alongside the vessel,

and remained there out of mere curiosity, whilst the sleet fell and

thawed on her naked bosom, and on the skin of her naked baby!"[542:1]

This was during the winter season.

A few pages farther on Mr. Darwin says that on the night of the 22d

December, a small family of Fuegians--who were living in a cove near the

quarters--"soon joined our party round a blazing fire. We were well

clothed, and though sitting close to the fire were far from too warm;

yet these naked savages, though further off, were observed, to our great

surprise, to be streaming with perspiration at undergoing such a

scorching. They seemed, however, very well pleased, and all joined in

the chorus of the seamen's songs; but the manner in which they were

invariably a little behind was quite ludicrous."[542:2]

The Asiatics who first crossed over to the American continent were

evidently in a very barbarous stage, although they may have known how to

produce fire, and use bows and arrows.[542:3] The tribe who inhabited

Mexico at the time it was discovered by the Spaniards was not the first

to settle there; they had driven out a people, and had taken the country

from them.[542:4]

That Mexico was visited by Orientals, who brought and planted their

religion there, in a comparatively recent period, is very probable. Mr.

Chas. G. Leland, who has made this subject a special study, says:

"While the proofs of the existence or residence of Orientals

in America are extremely vague and uncertain, and while they

are supported only by coincidences, the antecedent probability

of their having come hither, or having been able to come, is

stronger than the Norse discovery of the New World, or even

than that of Columbus himself would appear to be. Let the

reader take a map of the Northern Pacific; let him ascertain

for himself the fact that from Kamtschatka, which was well

known to the old Chinese, to Alaska the journey is far less

arduous than from China proper, and it will be seen that there

was in all probability intercourse of some kind between the

continents. In early times the Chinese were bold and skillful

navigators, to whom the chain of the Aleutian Islands would

have been simply like stepping-stones over a shallow brook to

a child. For it is a well ascertained fact, that a sailor in

an open boat might cross from Asia to America by the Aleutian

Islands in summer-time, and hardly ever be out of sight of

land, and this in a part of the sea generally abounding in

fish, as is proved by the fishermen who inhabit many of these

islands, on which fresh water is always to be found."[543:1]

Colonel Barclay Kennon, formerly of the U. S. North Pacific surveying

expedition, says:

"From the result of the most accurate scientific observation,

it is evident that the voyage from China to America can be

made without being out of sight of land more than a few hours

at any one time. To a landsman, unfamiliar with long voyages,

the mere idea of being 'alone on the wide, wide sea,' with

nothing but water visible, even for an hour, conveys a strange

sense of desolation, of daring, and of adventure. But in truth

it is regarded as a mere trifle, not only by regular seafaring

men, but even by the rudest races in all parts of the world;

and I have no doubt that from the remotest ages, and on all

shores, fishermen in open boats, canoes, or even coracles,

guided simply by the stars and currents, have not hesitated to

go far out of sight of land. At the present day, natives of

many of the South Pacific Islands undertake, without a

compass, and successfully, long voyages which astonish even a

regular Jack-tar, who is not often astonished at anything. If

this can be done by savages, it hardly seems possible that the

Asiatic-American voyage was not successfully performed by

people of advanced scientific culture, who had, it is

generally believed, the compass, and who from an early age

were proficient in astronomy."[543:2]

Prof. Max Müller, it would seem, entertains similar ideas to our own,

expressed as follows:

"In their (the American Indians') languages, as well as in

their religions, traces may possibly still be found, before it

is too late, _of pre-historic migrations of men from the

primitive Asiatic to the American Continent, either across the

stepping-stones of the Aleutic bridge in the North, or lower

South, by drifting with favorable winds from island to island,

till the hardy canoe was landed or wrecked on the American

coast, never to return again to the Asiatic home from which it

had started_."[543:3]

It is very evident then, that the religion and mythology of the Old and

New Worlds, have, in part, at least, a common origin. Lord Kingsborough

informs us that the Spanish historians of the 16th century were not

disposed to admit that America had ever been colonized from the West,

"chiefly on account of the state in which religion was found in the new

continent."[543:4]

And Mr. Tylor says:

"Among the mass of Central American traditions . . . there

occur certain passages in the story of an early emigration of

the Quiché race, which have much the appearance of vague and

broken stories derived in some way from high Northern

latitudes."[543:5]

Mr. McCulloh, in his "Researches," observes that:

"In analyzing many parts of their (the ancient Americans')

institutions, especially those belonging to their cosmogonal

history, their religious superstitions, and astronomical

computations, we have, in these abstract matters, found

abundant proof to assert that there has been formerly a

connection between the people of the two continents. Their

communications, however, have taken place at a very remote

period of time; for those matters in which they more decidedly

coincide, are undoubtedly those which belong to the earliest

history of mankind."

It is unquestionably from _India_ that we have derived, partly through

the Persians and other nations, most of our metaphysical and theological

doctrines, as well as our nursery tales. Who then can deny that these

same doctrines and legends have been handed down by oral tradition to

the chief of the Indian tribes, and in this way have been preserved,

although perhaps in an obscure and imperfect manner, in some instances

at least, until the present day? The facts which we have before us, with

many others like them which are to be had, point with the greatest

likelihood to a common fatherland, the cradle of all nations, from which

they came, taking these traditions with them.

FOOTNOTES:

[533:1] Baring-Gould's Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 46.

[533:2] Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 67.

[533:3] Ibid. Here we see the parallel to the _Grecian_ fable of

Epimetheus and Pandora.

[533:4] Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 203. Higgins: Anacalypsis,

vol. ii. p. 27.

[533:5] Ibid.

[533:6] Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 204.

[533:7] See Chapter V.

[533:8] See Ibid. and Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration."

[534:1] See Chapter XI.

[534:2] See Chapter X.

[534:3] See Chapter XI.

[534:4] Ibid.

[534:5] See Early Hist. Mankind, p. 252; Squire's Serpent Symbol; and

Prescott: Con. Peru.

[534:6] See Ibid., and the Andes and the Amazon, p. 454.

[534:7] See Early Hist. Mankind, p. 842.

[534:8] Ibid.

[534:9] See Chapter XII.

[534:10] See Chapter XXV.

[534:11] See Chapter XX.

Mr. Prescott, speaking of the Pyramid of Cholula, in his Mexican

History, says: "On the summit stood a sumptuous temple, in which was the

image of the mystic deity (_Quetzalcoatle_), with _ebon_ features,

unlike the fair complexion which he bore upon earth." And Kenneth R. H.

Mackenzie says (in Cities of the Ancient World, p. 180): "From the

woolly texture of the hair, I am inclined to assign to the Buddha of

India, the Fuhi of China, the Sommonacom of the Siamese, the Xaha of the

Japanese, and the Quetzalcoatle of the Mexicans, the same, and indeed an

African, or rather Nubian, origin."

[534:12] See Chapter XXII.

[534:13] See Chapter XXIII.

[534:14] See Chapter XXVI.

[535:1] Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 77.

[535:2] Ibid. p. 109.

[535:3] See Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, and Squire's Serpent

Symbol.

[535:4] See Ibid.

[535:5] See Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 361, and Squire's

Serpent Symbol.

[535:6] Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 280, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.

[535:7] Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 294, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.

[535:8] Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. pp. 295, 296.

[535:9] Ibid. p. 300.

[535:10] Ibid.

[535:11] Ibid. p. 301.

[536:1] Tylor; Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 101.

[536:2] Ibid. p. 291.

[536:3] Ibid.

[536:4] Ibid. p. 234.

[536:5] Ibid. p. 240 and 243.

[536:6] Early Hist. Mankind, pp. 357 and 361.

[536:7] Ibid. p. 361.

The legend of the "Elixir of Life" of the Western World, was well-known

in _China_. (Buckley: Cities of the Ancient World, p. 167.)

[536:8] Ibid. p. 118, and Squire's Serpent Symbol.

[537:1] Fusang, p. 56.

[537:2] Ibid. p. 55.

[537:3] Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 181.

[537:4] Ibid., and Squire's Serpent Symbol.

[537:5] Mexican Antiq., vol. vi. p. 180.

[537:6] Early Hist. Mankind, p. 311.

[537:7] The traveler, James Orton, found fossil bones of an extinct

species of the horse, the mastodon, and other animals, near Punin, in

South America, all of which had passed away before the arrival of the

human species. This native American horse was succeeded, in after ages,

by the countless herds descended from a few introduced with the Spanish

colonists. (See the Andes and the Amazon, pp. 154, 155.)

[537:8] Serpent Symbol, p. 47.

[538:1] Serpent Symbol, p. 193.

[538:2] The Andes and the Amazon, p. 454.

[538:3] Eastern Monachism, p. 222.

[538:4] Serpent Symbol, p. 43.

[538:5] See Ibid.

[538:6] Travels in Persia, vol. ii. p. 284.

[538:7] New Spain, vol. i. p. 136.

[538:8] Ibid. p. 141.

[539:1] New Spain, vol. i. p. 153.

[539:2] Types of Mankind, p. 275.

[539:3] The Andes and the Amazon, p. 170.

[540:1] Paschel: Races of Man, pp. 402-404.

[540:2] Fusang, p. 7.

[540:3] Ibid. 118.

[540:4] Quoted in Ibid.

[540:5] Quoted In Ibid. p. 94.

[541:1] Paschel: Races of Man, pp. 400, 401.

[541:2] To those who may think that the Old World might have been

peopled from the new, we refer to Oscar Paschel's "Races of Man," p. 32.

The author, in speaking on this subject, says: "There at one time

existed a great continent, to which belonged Madagascar and perhaps

portions of Eastern Africa, the Maldives and Laccadives, and also the

Island of Ceylon, which was never attached to India, perhaps even the

island of Celebes in the far East, which possesses a perplexing fauna,

with semi-African features." On this continent, which was situated in

the now Indian Ocean, must we look for the _cradle of humanity_.

[541:3] Paschal: Races of Man, p. 31.

[541:4] Darwin's Journal, p. 213.

[542:1] Darwin's Journal, p. 213.

[542:2] Ibid. pp. 220, 221.

[542:3] This is seen from the fact that they did not know the use of

iron. Had they known the use of this metal, they would surely have gone

to work and dug into their mountains, which are abundantly filled with

ore, and made use of it.

[542:4] The Aztecs were preceded by the Toltecs, Chichimecks, and the

Nahualtecs. (Humboldt's New Spain, p. 133, vol. i.)

"The races of barbarians which successively followed each other from the

north to the south always murdered, hunted down, and subdued the

previous inhabitants, and formed in course of time a new social and

political life upon the ruins of the old system, to be again destroyed

and renewed in a few centuries, by a new invasion of barbarians. The

later native conquerors in the New World can, of course, no more be

considered in the light of original inhabitants than the present races

of men in the Old World."

[543:1] Fusang, p. 56.

[543:2] Quoted in Fusang, p. 71.

[543:3] Science of Religion, p. 121.

[543:4] Mexican Antiq., vol. vi. p. 161.

[543:5] Early Hist. Mankind, p. 307.

APPENDIX B.

Commencing at the farthest East we shall find the ancient religion of

_China_ the same as that which was universal in all quarters of the

globe, viz., an adoration of the Sun, Moon, Stars and elements.[544:1]

That the Chinese religion was in one respect the same as that of India,

is seen from the fact that they named successive days for the same seven

planets that the Hindoos did.[544:2] The ancient books of the Chinese

show that astronomy was not only understood by them at a very early

period, but that it formed an important branch of state policy, and the

basis of public ceremonies. Eclipses are accurately recorded which

occurred twenty centuries before Jesus; and the Confucian books refer

continually to observations of the heavenly bodies and the rectification

of the calendar. The ancient Chinese astronomers seem to have known

precisely the excess of the solar year beyond 365 days. The _religion_

of China, under the emperors who preceded the first dynasty, is an

enigma. The notices in the only authentic works, the _King_, are on this

point scanty, vague, and obscure. It is difficult to separate what is

spoken with reference to the science of _astronomy_ from that which may

relate to _religion_, properly so called. The terms of reverence and

respect, with which the _heavenly bodies_ are spoken of in the

_Shoo-King_, seem to warrant the inference that those terms have more

than a mere astronomical meaning, _and that the ancient religion_ of

_China partook_ of _star-worship, one of the oldest heresies in the

world_.[545:1]

In _India_ the Sun, Moon, Stars and the powers of Nature were worshiped

and personified, and each quality, mental and physical, had its emblem,

which the Brahmans taught the ignorant to regard as realities, till the

Pantheon became crowded.

"Our Aryan ancestors learned to look up to the sky, the Sun, and the

dawn, and there to see the presence of a living power, half-revealed,

and half-hidden from their senses, those senses which were always

postulating something beyond what they could grasp. They went further

still. In the bright sky they perceived an _Illuminator_, in the

all-encircling firmament an _Embracer_, in the roar of the thunder or in

the voice of the storm they felt the presence of a _Shouter_ and of

furious _Strikers_, and out of the rain they created an _Indra_, or

giver of rain."[545:2]

Prof. Monier Williams, speaking of "the hymns of the _Veda_," says:

"To what deities, it will be asked, were the prayers and hymns

of these collections addressed? The answer is: They worshiped

_those physical forces_ before which _all nations_, if guided

solely by the light of nature, have in the early period of

their life, instinctively bowed down, and before which even

the most civilized and enlightened have always been compelled

to bend in awe and reverence, if not in adoration."[545:3]

The following sublime description of _Night_ is an extract from the

_Vedas_, made by Sir William Jones:

"Night approaches, illumined with stars and planets, and,

looking on all sides with numberless eyes, overpowers all

meaner lights. The immortal goddess pervades the firmament,

covering the low valleys and shrubs, the lofty mountains and

trees, but soon she disturbs the gloom with celestial

effulgence. Advancing with brightness, at length she recalls

her sister _Morning_; and the nightly shade gradually melts

away. May she at this time be propitious! She, in whose early

watch we may calmly recline in our mansions, as birds repose

upon the trees. Mankind now sleep in their towns; now herds

and flocks peacefully slumber, and the winged creatures, swift

falcons, and vultures. O Night! avert from us the she-wolf

and the wolf; and, oh! suffer us to pass thee in soothing

rest! Oh, morn! remove in due time this black, yet visible

overwhelming darkness, which at present enfolds me, as thou

enablest me to remove the cloud of their dells. _Daughter of

Heaven_, I approach thee with praise, as the cow approaches

her milker; accept, O Night! not the hymn only, but the

oblation of thy suppliant, who prays that his foes may be

subdued."

Some of the principal gods of the Hindoo Pantheon are, Dyaus (the Sky),

Indra (the Rain-giver), Sûrya (the Sun), the Maruts (Winds), Aditi, (the

Dawn), Parvati (the Earth),[546:1] and Siva, her consort. The worship of

the SUN is expressed in a variety of ways, and by a multitude of

fanciful names. One of the principal of these is _Crishna_. The

following is a prayer addressed to him:

"Be auspicious to my lay, O Chrishna, thou only God of the

seven heavens, who swayest the universe through the immensity

of space and matter. O universal and resplendent Sun! Thou

mighty governor of the heavens; thou sovereign regulator of

the connected whole; thou sole and universal deity of mankind;

thou gracious and Supreme Spirit; my noblest and most happy

inspiration is thy praise and glory. Thy power I will praise,

for thou art my sovereign Lord, whose bright image continually

forces itself on my attention, eager imagination. Thou art the

Being to whom heroes pray in perils of war; nor are their

supplications vain, when thus they pray; whether it be when

thou illuminest the eastern region with thy orient light, when

in thy meridian splendor, or when thou majestically descendest

in the West."

Crishna is made to say:

"I am the light in the Sun and Moon, far, far beyond the

darkness. I am the brilliancy in flame, the radiance in all

that's radiant, and the light of lights."[546:2]

In the _Maha-bharata_, Crishna, who having become the son of Aditi (the

Dawn), is called _Vishnu_, another name for the Sun.[546:3] The demon

_Putana_ assaults the child Crishna, which identifies him with Hercules,

the Sun-god of the Greeks.[546:4] In his Solar character he must again

be the slayer of the Dragon or Black-snake _Kulnika_, the "Old Serpent"

with the thousand heads.[546:5] Crishna's amours with the maidens makes

him like Indra, Phoibus, Hercules, Samson, Alpheios, Paris and other

Sun-gods. This is the hot and fiery Sun greeting the moon and the dew,

or the Sun with his brides the _Stars_.[546:6]

Moore, in his Hindu Pantheon, observes:

"Although all the Hindu deities partake more or less remotely

of the nature and character of Surya, or the SUN, and all more

or less directly radiate from, or merge in, him, yet no one

is, I think, so intimately identified with him as Vishnu;

whether considered in his own person, or _in the character of

his most glorious Avatara of_ CRISHNA."

The ancient religion of EGYPT, like that of Hindostan, was founded on

astronomy, and eminently metaphysical in its character. The Egyptian

priests were far advanced in the science of astronomy. They made

astronomy their peculiar study. They knew the figure of the earth, and

how to calculate solar and lunar eclipses. From very ancient time, they

had observed the order and movement of the stars, and recorded them with

the utmost care. Ramses the Great, generally called Sesostris, is

supposed to have reigned one thousand five hundred years before the

Christian era, about coeval with Moses, or a century later. In the tomb

of this monarch was found a large massive circle of wrought gold,

divided into three hundred and sixty-five degrees, and each division

marked the rising and setting of the stars for each day.[547:1] This

fact proves how early they were advanced in astronomy. In their great

theories of mutual dependence between all things in the universe was

included a belief in some mysterious relation between the Spirits of the

Stars and human souls, so that the destiny of mortals was regulated by

the motions of the heavenly bodies. This was the origin of the famous

system of Astrology. From the conjunction of planets at the hour of

birth, they prophesied what would be the temperament of an infant, what

life he would live, and what death he would die. Diodorus, who wrote in

the century preceding Christ Jesus, says:

"They frequently foretell with the greatest accuracy what is

about to happen to mankind; showing the failure or abundance

of crops, and the epidemic diseases about to befall men or

cattle. Earthquakes, deluges, rising of comets, and all those

phenomena, the knowledge of which appears impossible to common

comprehensions, they foresee by means of their long continued

observation."

P. Le Page Renouf, who is probably the best authority on the religion of

ancient Egypt which can be produced, says, in his Hibbert

Lectures:[547:2]

"The Lectures on the Science of Language, delivered nearly

twenty years ago by Prof. Max Müller, have, I trust, made us

fully understand how, among the _Indo-European_ races, the

names of the _Sun_, of _Sunrise_ and _Sunset_, and of other

such phenomena, come to be talked of and considered as

_personages_, of whom wondrous legends have been told.

_Egyptian_ mythology not merely admits, but imperatively

_demands, the same explanation_. And this becomes the more

evident when we consider the question how these mythical

personages came to be invested with the attributes of divinity

by men who, like the Egyptians, had so lively a sense of the

divine."

Kenrick, in his "History of Egypt," says:

"We have abundant evidence that the Egyptian theology had its

origin in the personification of the powers of nature, under

male and female attributes, and that this conception took a

sensible form, such as the mental state of the people

required, by the identification of these powers with the

elements and the heavenly bodies, fire, earth, water, the sun

and moon, and the Nile. Such appears _everywhere_ to be the

origin of the objective form of polytheism; and it is equally

evident among the nations most closely allied to the Egyptians

by position and general character--the Phenicians, the

Babylonians, and in remote connection, the Indians on the one

side and the Greeks on the other."

The gods and goddesses of the ancient PERSIANS were also

personifications of the Sun, Moon, Stars, the elements, &c.

_Ormuzd_, "The King of Light," was god of the _Firmament_, and the

"Principle of Goodness" and of Truth. He was called "The Eternal Source

of Sunshine and Light," "The Centre of all that exists," "The First-born

of the Eternal One," "The Creator," "The Sovereign Intelligence," "The

All-seeing," "The Just Judge." He was described as "sitting on the

throne of the good and the perfect, in regions of pure light," crowned

with rays, and with a ring on his finger--a circle being an emblem of

infinity; sometimes as a venerable, majestic man, seated on a Bull,

their emblem of creation.

"_Mithras the Mediator_" was the god-Sun. Their most splendid

ceremonials were in honor of Mithras. They kept his birth-day, with many

rejoicings, on the twenty-fifth of December, when the Sun perceptibly

begins to return northward, after his long winter journey; and they had

another festival in his honor, at the vernal equinox. Perhaps no

religious festival was ever more splendid than the "_Annual Salutation

of Mithras_," during which _forty days_ were set apart for thanksgiving

and sacrifice. The procession to salute the god was formed long before

the rising of the Sun. The High Priest was followed by a long train of

the Magi, in spotless white robes, chanting hymns, and carrying the

sacred fire on silver censers. Then came three hundred and sixty-five

youths in scarlet, to represent the days of the year and the color of

fire. These were followed by the Chariot of the Sun, empty, decorated

with garlands, and drawn by superb _white horses_ harnessed with pure

gold. Then came a white horse of magnificent size, his forehead blazing

with gems, in honor of Mithras. Close behind him rode the king, in a

chariot of ivory inlaid with gold, followed by his royal kindred in

embroidered garments, and a long train of nobles riding on camels richly

caparisoned. This gorgeous retinue, facing the East, slowly ascended

Mount Orontes. Arrived at the summit, the High Priest assumed his tiara

wreathed with myrtle, and hailed the first rays of the rising Sun with

incense and prayer. The other Magi gradually joined him in singing hymns

to Ormuzd, the source of all blessing, by whom the radiant Mithras had

been sent to gladden the earth and preserve the principle of life.

Finally, they all joined in one universal chorus of praise, while king,

princes and nobles, prostrated themselves before the orb of day.

The HEBREWS worshiped the Sun, Moon, Stars, and "all the host of

heaven."[549:1] _El-Shaddai_ was one of the names given to the god Sun.

Parkhurst, in his "Hebrew Lexicon," says, "_El_ was the very name the

heathens gave to their god _Sol_, their Lord or Ruler of the hosts of

heaven." _El_, which means "the strong one in heaven"--the Sun, was

invoked by the ancestors of all the Semitic nations, before there were

Babylonians in Babylon, Phenicians in Sydon and Tyrus, before there were

Jews in Mesopotamia or Jerusalem.[549:2]

The Sun was worshiped by the Hebrews under the names of Baal, Moloch,

Chemosh, &c.; the Moon was Ashtoreth, the "Queen of Heaven."[549:3]

The gods of the ancient GREEKS and ROMANS were the same as the gods of

the Indian epic poems. We have, for example: Zeupiter (Jupiter),

corresponding to Dyaus-pitar (the Heaven-father), Juno, corresponding to

Parvati (the Mother Goddess), and Apollo, corresponding to Crishna (the

Sun, the Saviour).[549:4] Another name for the Sun among those people

was _Bacchus_. An Orphic verse, referring to the Sun, says, "he is

called Dionysos (a name of Bacchus) because he is carried with a

circular motion through the immensely extended heavens."[549:5]

Dr. Prichard, in his "Analysis of Egyptian Mythology,"[549:6] speaking

of the ancient Greeks and Romans, says:

"That the worship of the _powers of nature_, mitigated,

indeed, and embellished, constituted the foundation of the

Greek and Roman religion, will not be disputed by any person

who surveys the fables of the Olympian Gods with a more

penetrating eye than that of a mere antiquarian."

M. De Coulanges, speaking of them, says:

"The _Sun_, which gives fecundity; the _Earth_, which

nourishes; the _Clouds_, by turns beneficent and

destructive,--_such were the different powers of which they

could make gods_. But from each one of these elements

thousands of gods were created; because the same physical

agent, _viewed under different aspects_, received from men

different names. The Sun, for example, was called in one place

_Hercules_ (the glorious); in another, _Phoebus_ (the shining);

and still again, _Apollo_ (he who drives away night or evil);

one called him _Hyperion_ (the elevated being); another,

_Alexicacos_ (the beneficent); and in the course of time

groups of men, who had given these various names to the

brilliant luminary, _no longer saw that they had the same

god_."[549:7]

Richard Payne Knight says:

"The primitive religion of the _Greeks_, like that of all

other nations not enlightened by _Revelation_, appears to have

been _elementary_, and to have consisted in an indistinct

worship of the SUN, the MOON, the STARS, the EARTH, and the

WATERS, or rather, the spirits supposed to preside over these

bodies, and to direct their motions, and regulate their modes

of existence. Every river, spring or mountain had its local

genius, or peculiar deity; and as men naturally endeavored to

obtain the favor of their gods by such means as they feel best

adapted to win their own, the first worship consisted in

offering to them certain portions of whatever they held to be

most valuable. At the same time, the regular motions of the

heavenly bodies, the stated returns of summer and winter, of

day and night, with all the admirable order of the universe,

taught them to believe in the existence and agency of such

superior powers; the irregular and destructive efforts of

nature, such as lightnings and tempests, inundations and

earthquakes, persuaded them that these mighty beings had

passions and affections similar to their own, and only

differed in possessing greater strength, power, and

intelligence."[550:1]

When the Grecian astronomers first declared that the Sun was not a

person, but a huge hot ball, instantly an outcry arose against them.

They were called "_blaspheming atheists_," and from that time to the

present, when any new discovery is made which seems to take away from

man his god, the cry of "_Atheist_" is instantly raised.

If we turn from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and take a look still

farther West and North, we shall find that the gods of all the TEUTONIC

nations were the same as we have seen elsewhere. They had Odin or

Woden--from whom we have our _Wednesday_--the Al-fader (the Sky),

Frigga, the Mother Goddess (the Earth), "Baldur the Good," and

Thor--from whom we have our Thursday (personifications of the Sun),

besides innumerable other _genii_, among them Freyja--from whom we have

our Friday--and as she was the "Goddess of Love," we eat _fish_ on that

day.[550:2]

The gods of the ancient inhabitants of what are now called the "British

Islands" were identically the same. The _Sun_-god worshiped by the

Ancient Druids was called _Hu_, _Beli_, _Budd_ and _Buddu-gre_.[550:3]

The same worship which we have found in the Old World, from the farthest

East to the remotest West, may also be traced in AMERICA, from its

simplest or least clearly defined form, among the roving hunters and

squalid Esquimaux of the North, through every intermediate stage of

development, to the imposing systems of Mexico and Peru, where it took a

form nearly corresponding that which it at one time sustained on the

banks of the Ganges, and on the plains of Assyria.[550:4]

Father Acosta, speaking of the Mexicans, says:

"Next to Viracocha, or their Supreme God, that which most

commonly they have, and do adore, is the _Sun_; and after,

those things which are most remarkable in the celestial or

elementary nature, as the Moon, Stars, Sea, and Land.

"Whoso shall merely look into it, shall find this manner which

the Devil hath used to deceive the Indians, to be the same

wherewith he hath deceived the Greeks and Romans, and other

ancient Gentiles, giving them to understand that these notable

creatures, the Sun, Moon, Stars, and elements, had power or

authority to do good or harm to men."[551:1]

We see, then, that the gods and heroes of antiquity were originally

personifications of certain elements of Nature, and that the legends of

adventures ascribed to them are merely mythical forms of describing the

phenomena of these elements.

These legends relating to the elements of Nature, whether they had

reference to the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, or a certain natural

phenomenon, became, in the course of time, to be regarded as accounts of

men of a high order, who had once inhabited the earth. Sanctuaries and

temples were erected to these heroes, their bones were searched for, and

when found--which was always the case--were regarded as a great source

of strength to the town that possessed them; all relics of their stay on

earth were hallowed, and a form of worship was specially adapted to

them.

The idea that heavenly luminaries were inhabited by spirits, of a nature

intermediate between God and men, first led mortals to address prayers

to the orbs over which they were supposed to preside. In order to

supplicate these deities, when Sun, Moon, and Stars were not visible,

_they made images of them_, which the priests consecrated with many

ceremonies. Then they pronounced solemn invocations to draw down the

spirits into the statues provided for their reception. By this process

it was supposed that a mysterious connection was established between the

spirit and the image, so that prayers addressed to one were thenceforth

heard by the other. This was probably the origin of image worship

everywhere.

The _motive_ of this worship was the same among all nations of

antiquity, _i. e._, _fear_. They supposed that these deities were

irritated by the sins of men, but, at the same time, were merciful, and

capable of being appeased by prayer and repentance; for this reason men

offered to these deities sacrifices and prayers. How natural that such

should have been the case, for, as Abbé Dubois observes: "To the rude,

untutored eye, the 'Host of Heaven,' clothed in that calm beauty which

distinguishes an Oriental night, might well appear to be instinct with

some divine principle, endowed with consciousness, and the power to

influence, from its throne of unchanging splendor on high, the fortunes

of transitory mortals."

FOOTNOTES:

[544:1] "All Paganism is at bottom _a worship of nature_ in some form or

other, and in all Pagan religions the deepest and most awe-inspiring

attribute of _nature_ was its power of reproduction." (Encyclo. Brit.,

art. "Christianity.")

[544:2] In Montfaucon's L'Antiquité Expliquée (vol. i.), may be seen a

representation of the seven planets _personified_. It was by such

personifications that the real objects worshiped became unknown. At

first the real Sun, Moon, Stars, &c., would be worshiped, but as soon as

man personified them, other terms would be introduced, and peculiar

rites appropriated to each, so that in time they came to be considered

as so many different deities.

[545:1] Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 14, 49 and 50.

[545:2] Max Müller: The Science of Religion, p. 298.

[545:3] Indian Wisdom, p. 10.

[546:1] The emblem of Parvati, the "Mother Goddess," was the YONI, and

that of her consort Siva, the LINGHAM.

[546:2] Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.

[546:3] See Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. pp. 105 and 130.

[546:4] Ibid. p. 135.

[546:5] Ibid. p. 137.

[546:6] See Ibid. p. 88, and Moor's Hindu Pantheon, p. 63.

[547:1] "According to Champollion, the tomb of Ramses V. at Thebes,

contains tables of the constellations and of their influence (on human

beings) for every hour of every month of the year." (Kenrick's Egypt,

vol. i. p. 456.)

[547:2] P. 118.

[549:1] See Chapter XI.

[549:2] Müller: The Science of Relig., p. 190.

[549:3] See Chapter XI.

[549:4] See Indian Wisdom, p. 426.

[549:5] Taylor's Mysteries, p. 163.

[549:6] Page 239.

[549:7] The Ancient City, p. 162.

[550:1] Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 1.

[550:2] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities. Though spoken of in Northern

mythology as distinct, Frigga and Freyja are _originally_ ONE.

[550:3] See Myths of the British Druids, p. 116.

[550:4] See Squire's Serpent Symbol.

[551:1] Acosta: vol. ii. pp. 303-305.

APPENDIX C.

All the chief stories that we know so well are to be found in all times,

and in almost all countries. _Cinderella_, for one, is told in the

language of every country in Europe, and the same legend is found in the

fanciful tales related by the Greek poets; and still further back, it

appears in very ancient Hindoo legends. So, again, does _Beauty and the

Beast_; so does our familiar tale of _Jack, the Giant-Killer_; so also

do a great number of other fairy stories, each being told in different

countries and in different periods, with so much likeness as to show

that all the versions came from the same source, and yet with enough

difference to show that none of the versions are directly copied from

each other. "Indeed, when we compare the myths and legends of one

country with another, and of one period with another, we find out how

they have come to be so much alike, and yet in some things so different.

We see that there must have been _one origin_ for all these stories,

that they must have been invented by _one people_, that this people must

have been afterwards divided, and that each part or division of it must

have brought into its new home the legends once common to them all, and

must have shaped and altered these according to the kind of place in

which they came to live; those of the North being sterner and more

terrible, those of the South softer and fuller of light and color, and

adorned with touches of more delicate fancy." And this, indeed, is

really the case. All the chief stories and legends are alike, because

they were first made by _one people_; and all the nations in which they

are now told in one form or another tell them because they are all

descended from this one common stock, the _Aryan_.

From researches made by Prof. Max Müller, the Rev. George W. Cox, and

others, in England and Germany, in the science of _Comparative

Mythology_, we begin to see something of these ancient forefathers of

ours; to understand what kind of people they were, and to find that _our

fairy stories_ are really made out of _their religion_.

The mind of the Aryan peoples in their ancient home was full of

imagination. They never ceased to wonder at what they saw and heard in

the sky and upon the earth. Their language was highly figurative, and so

the things which struck them with wonder, and which they could not

explain, were described under forms and names which were familiar to

them. "Thus, the thunder was to them the bellowing of a mighty beast, or

the rolling of a great chariot. In the lightning they saw a brilliant

serpent, or a spear shot across the sky, or a great fish darting swiftly

through the sea of cloud. The clouds were heavenly cows, who shed milk

upon the earth and refreshed it; or they were webs woven by heavenly

women who drew water from the fountains on high and poured it down as

rain." Analogies which are but fancy to us, were realities to these men

of past ages. They could see in the waterspout a huge serpent who

elevated himself out of the ocean and reached his head to the skies.

They could feel, in the pangs of hunger, a live creature gnawing within

their bodies, and they heard the voices of the hill-dwarfs answering in

the echo. The _Sun_, the first object which struck them with wonder,

was, to them, the child of Night; the Dawn came before he was born, and

died as he rose in the heavens. He strangled the serpents of the night;

he went forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber, and like a giant, to

run his course.[553:1] He had to do battle with clouds and

storms.[553:2] Sometimes his light grew dim under their gloomy veil, and

the children of men shuddered at the wrath of the hidden Sun.[553:3]

Sometimes his ray broke forth, only, after brief splendor, to sink

beneath a deeper darkness; sometimes he burst forth at the end of his

course, trampling on the clouds which had dimmed his brilliancy, and

bathing his pathway with blood.[553:4] Sometimes, beneath mountains of

clouds and vapors, he plunged into the leaden sea.[553:5] Sometimes he

looked benignly on the face of his mother or his bride who came to greet

him at his journey's end.[553:6] Sometimes he was the lord of heaven and

of light, irresistible in his divine strength; sometimes he toiled for

others, not for himself, in a hard, unwilling servitude.[553:7] His

light and heat might give light and destroy it.[553:8] His chariot might

scorch the regions over which it passed, his flaming fire might burn up

all who dared to look with prying eyes into his dazzling

treasure-house.[553:9] He might be the child destined to slay his

parents, or to be united at the last in an unspeakable peace, to the

bright Dawn who for a brief space had gladdened his path in the

morning.[553:10] He might be the friend of the children of men, and the

remorseless foe of those powers of darkness who had stolen away his

bride.[553:11] He might be a warrior whose eye strikes terror into his

enemies, or a wise chieftain skilled in deep and hidden

knowledge.[554:1] Sometimes he might appear as a glorious being doomed

to an early death, which no power could avert or delay.[554:2] Sometimes

grievous hardships and desperate conflicts might be followed by a long

season of serene repose.[554:3] Wherever he went, men might welcome him

in love, or shrink from him in fear and anguish.[554:4] He would have

many brides in many lands, and his offspring would assume aspects

beautiful, strange or horrible.[554:5] His course might be brilliant and

beneficent; or gloomy, sullen, and capricious.[554:6] As compelled to

toil for others, he would be said to fight in quarrels not his own; or

he might for a time withhold the aid of an arm which no enemy could

withstand.[554:7] He might be the destroyer of all whom he loved, he

might slay the Dawn with his kindling rays, he might scorch the Fruits,

who were his children; he might woo the deep blue sky, the bride of

heaven itself, and an inevitable doom might bind his limbs on the

blazing wheel for ever and ever.[554:8] Nor in this crowd of phrases,

all of which have borne their part in the formation of mythology, is

there one which could not be used naturally by ourselves to describe the

phenomena of the outward world, and there is scarcely one, perhaps,

which has not been used by our own poets. There is a beauty in them,

which can never grow old or lose its charm. Poets of all ages recur to

them instinctively in times of the deepest grief or the greatest joy;

but, in the words of Professor Max Müller, "it is impossible to enter

fully into the thoughts and feelings which passed through the minds of

the early poets when they formed names for that far East from whence

even the early Dawn, the Sun, the Day, their own life seemed to spring.

A new life flashed up every morning before their eyes, and the fresh

breezes of the Dawn reached them like greetings wafted across the golden

threshold of the sky from the distant lands beyond the mountains, beyond

the clouds, beyond the dawn, beyond the immortal sea which brought us

hither! The Dawn seemed to them to open golden gates for the Sun to pass

in triumph; and while those gates were open, their eyes and their minds

strove, in their childish way, to pierce beyond the limits of this

finite world. That silent aspect wakened in the human mind the

conception of the Infinite, the Immortal, the Divine; and the names of

the Dawn became naturally the names of higher powers.[554:9]

"This imagery of the Aryans was applied by them to all they saw in the

sky. Sometimes, as we have said, the clouds were cows; they were also

dragons, which sought to slay the Sun; or great ships floating across

the sky, and casting anchor upon earth; or rocks, or mountains, or deep

caverns, in which evil deities hid the golden light. Then, also, they

were shaped by fancy into animals of various kinds--the bear, the wolf,

the dog, the ox; and into giant birds, and into monsters which were both

bird and beast.

"The winds, again, in their fancy, were the companions or ministers of

India, the sky-god. The spirits of the winds gathered into their host

the souls of the dead--thus giving birth to the Scandinavian and

Teutonic legend of the Wild Horseman, who rides at midnight through the

stormy sky, with his long train of dead behind him, and his weird hounds

before.[555:1] The Ribhus, or Arbhus, again, were the sunbeams or the

lightning, who forged the armor of the gods, and made their

thunderbolts, and turned old people young, and restored out of the hides

alone the slaughtered cow on which the gods had feasted."[555:2]

Aryan myths, then, were no more than poetic fancies about light and

darkness, cloud and rain, night and day, storm and wind; and when they

moved westward and southward, _the Aryan race brought these legends with

it_; and out of these were shaped by degrees innumerable gods and demons

of the Hindoos, the devs and jinns of the Persians; the great gods, the

minor deities, and nymphs, and fauns, and satyrs of Greek mythology and

poetry; the stormy divinities, the giants, and trolls of the cold and

rugged North; the dwarfs of the German forests; the elves who dance

merrily in the moonlight of an English summer; and the "good people" who

play mischievous tricks upon stray peasants among the Irish hills.

_Almost all, indeed, that we have of a legendary kind comes to us from

our Aryan forefathers_--sometimes scarcely changed, sometimes so altered

that we have to puzzle out the links between the old and the new; but

all these myths and traditions, and old-world stories, when we come to

know the meaning of them, take us back to the time when the Aryan race

dwelt together in the high lands of central Asia, and they all mean the

same things--that is, the relation between the Sun and the earth, the

succession of night and day, of winter and summer, of storm and calm, of

cloud and tempest, and golden sunshine, and bright blue sky. And this is

the source from which we get our fairy stories, and tales of gods and

heroes; for underneath all of them there are the same fanciful meanings,

only changed and altered in the way of putting them by the lapse of ages

of time, by the circumstances of different countries, and by the fancy

of those who kept the wonderful tales alive without knowing what they

meant.

Thousands of years ago, the Aryan people began their march out of their

old country in mid-Asia. From the remains of their language, and the

likeness of their legends to those among other nations, we know that

ages and ages ago their country grew too small for them, so they were

obliged to move away from it. Some of them turned southward into India

and Persia, and some of them went westward into Europe--the time,

perhaps, when the land of Europe stretched from the borders of Asia to

the islands of Great Britain, and when there was no sea between them and

the main land. How they made their long and toilsome march we know not.

But, as Kingsley writes of such a movement of an ancient tribe, so we

may fancy these old Aryans marching westward--"the tall, bare-limbed

men, with stone axes on their shoulders and horn bows at their backs,

with herds of gray cattle, guarded by huge lap-eared mastiffs, with

shaggy white horses, heavy-horned sheep, and silky goats, moving always

westward through the boundless steppes, whither or why we know not, but

that the Al-Father had sent them forth. And behind us (he makes them

say) the rosy snow-peaks died into ghastly gray, lower and lower, as

every evening came; and before us the plains spread infinite, with

gleaming salt-lakes, and ever fresh tribes of gaudy flowers. Behind us,

dark lines of living beings streamed down the mountain slopes; around

us, dark lines crawled along the plains--all westward, westward ever.

Who could stand against us? We met the wild asses on the steppe, and

tamed them, and made them our slaves. We slew the bison herds, and swam

broad rivers on their skins. The python snake lay across our path; the

wolves and wild dogs snarled at us out of their coverts; we slew them

and went on. Strange giant tribes met us, and eagle visaged hordes,

fierce and foolish; we smote them, hip and thigh, and went on, westward

ever."[556:1] And so they went on, straight toward the West, or, as they

turned North and South, and thus overspread new lands, _they brought

with them their old ways of thought and forms of belief_, and the

stories in which these had taken form; _and on these were built up the

gods and heroes_, and all wonder-working creatures and things, and the

poetical fables and fancies which have come down to us, and which still

linger in our customs and our fairy tales; bright and sunny and

many-colored in the warm regions of the South, sterner and wilder and

rougher in the North, more homelike in the middle and western countries;

but always alike in their main features, and always having the same

meaning when we come to dig it out, and these forms and their meaning

being the same in the lands of the West Aryans as in those still peopled

by the Aryans of the East.

The story of _Cinderella_ is one of the many fairy tales which help us

to find out their meaning, and take us straight back to the far-off land

where fairy legends began, and to the people who made them. This

well-known fairy tale has been found among the myths of our Aryan

ancestors, and from this we know that it is the story of the _Sun_ and

the _Dawn_. Cinderella, gray and dark and dull, is all neglected when

she is away from the Sun, obscured by the envious clouds, her sisters,

and by her step-mother, the Night. So she is Aurora, the Dawn, and the

Fairy Prince is the Morning Sun, ever pursuing her, to claim her for his

bride. This is the legend as it is found in the ancient Hindoo books;

and this explains at once the _source_ and the _meaning_ of the fairy

tale.[557:1]

Another tale which helps us in our task is that of _Jack the

Giant-Killer_, who is really one of the very oldest and most widely

known characters in wonder-land. Now, who is this wonderful little

fellow? He is none other than the hero who, in all countries and ages,

fights with monsters and overcomes them; like Indra, the ancient Hindoo

Sun-god, whose thunderbolts slew the demons of drought in the far East;

or Perseus, who, in Greek story, delivers the maiden from the

sea-monster; or Odysseus, who tricks the giant Polyphemus, and causes

him to throw himself into the sea; or Thor, whose hammer beats down the

frost giants of the North. "The gifts bestowed upon Jack are found in

Tartar stories, Hindoo tales, in German legends, and in the fables of

Scandinavia."

Still another is that of _Little Red Riding-Hood_. The story of Little

Red Riding Hood, as we call her, or Little Red-Cap, as she is called in

the German tales, also comes from the same source, and (as we have seen

in Chapter IX.), refers to the _Sun_ and _Night_.

"One of the fancies in the most ancient Aryan or Hindoo stories was that

there was a great dragon that was trying to devour the Sun, to prevent

him from shining upon the earth, and filling it with brightness and life

and beauty, and that Indra, the Sun-god, killed the dragon. Now, this is

the meaning of Little Red Riding-Hood, as it is told in our nursery

tales. Little Red Riding-Hood is the Evening _Sun_, which is always

described as red or golden; the old grandmother is the _Earth_, to whom

the rays of the Sun bring warmth and comfort. The wolf--which is a

well-known figure for the _Clouds_ and blackness of _Night_ (in

Teutonic mythology)[558:1]--is the dragon in another form. First, he

devours the grandmother; that is, he wraps the earth in thick clouds,

which the Evening Sun is not strong enough to pierce through. Then, with

the darkness of Night, he swallows up the Evening Sun itself, and all is

dark and desolate. Then, as in the German tale, the night-thunder and

the storm winds are represented by the loud snoring of the wolf; and

then the huntsman, the _Morning Sun_, comes in all his strength and

majesty, and chases away the night clouds and kills the wolf, and

revives old grandmother Earth and Little Red Riding Hood to life again."

Nor is it in these stories alone that we can trace the ancient Hindoo

legends, and the Sun-myth. There is, as Mr. Bunce observes in his "Fairy

Tales, their Origin and Meaning," scarcely a tale of Greek or Roman

mythology, no legend of Teutonic or Celtic or Scandinavian growth, no

great romance of what we call the middle ages, no fairy story taken down

from the lips of ancient folk, and dressed for us in modern shape and

tongue, that we do not find, in some form or another, in these Eastern

poems, _which are composed of allegorical tales of gods and heroes_.

When, in the Vedic hymns, Kephalos, Prokris, Hermes, Daphne, Zeus,

Ouranos, stand forth as simple names for the Sun, the Dew, the Wind, the

Dawn, the Heaven and the Sky, each recognized as such, yet each endowed

with the most perfect consciousness, we feel that the great riddle of

mythology is solved, and that we no longer lack the key which shall

disclose its most hidden treasures. When we hear the people saying, "Our

friend the Sun is dead. Will he rise? Will the Dawn come back again?" we

see the death of Hercules, and the weary waiting while Leto struggles

with the birth of Phoibos. When on the return of day we hear the cry--

"Rise! our life, our spirit has come back, the darkness is

gone, the light draws near!"

--we are carried at once to the Homeric hymn, and we hear the joyous

shout of all the gods when Phoibos springs to life and light on

Delos.[558:2]

That the peasant folk-lore of modern Europe still displays episodes of

nature-myth, may be seen in the following story of _Vassalissa, the

Beautiful_.

Vassalissa's stepmother and two sisters, plotting against her life, send

her to get a light at the house of _Bàba Yagà_, the witch, and her

journey contains the following history of the _Day_, told, as Mr. Tylor

says, in truest mythic fashion:

"Vassalissa goes and wanders, wanders in the forest. She goes,

and she shudders. Suddenly before her bounds a rider, he

himself white, and clad in white, and the trappings white.

_And Day began to dawn._ She goes farther, when a second rider

bounds forth, himself red, clad in red, and on a red horse.

_The Sun began to rise._ She goes on all day, and towards

evening arrives at the witch's house. Suddenly there comes

again a rider, himself black, clad in all black, and on a

black horse; he bounded to the gates of the _Bàba Yagà_, and

disappeared _as if he had sunk through the earth_. _Night

fell._ After this, when Vassalissa asks the witch, 'Who was

the white rider?' she answered, 'That is my clear _Day_;' 'Who

was the red rider?' 'That is my red _Sun_;' 'Who was the black

rider?' 'That is my black _Night_. They are all my trusty

friends.'"[559:1]

We have another illustration of allegorical mythology in the Grecian

story of Hephæstos splitting open with his axe the head of Zeus, and

Athene springing from it, full armed; for we perceive behind this savage

imagery Zeus as the bright _Sky_, his forehead the _East_, Hephæstos as

the young, not yet risen _Sun_, and Athene as the _Dawn_, the daughter

of the Sky, stepping forth from the fountain-head of light,--with eyes

like an owl, pure as a virgin; the golden; lighting up the tops of the

mountains, and her own glorious Parthenon in her own favorite town of

Athens; whirling the shafts of light; the genial warmth of the morning;

the foremost champion in the battle between night and day; in full

armor, in her panoply of light, driving away the darkness of night, and

awakening men to a bright life, to bright thoughts, to bright

endeavors.[559:2]

Another story of the same sort is that of Kronos. Every one is familiar

with the story of Kronos, who devoured his own children. Now, Kronos is

a mere creation from the older and misunderstood epithet Kronides or

Kronion, the ancient of days. When these days or time had come to be

regarded as a person the myth would certainly follow that he devoured

his own children, as Time is the devourer of the Dawns.[559:3] Saturn,

who devours his own children, is the same power whom the Greeks called

Kronos (Time), which may truly be said to destroy whatever it has

brought into existence.

The idea of a _Heaven_, the "Elysian fields," is also born of the sky.

The "_Elysian plain_" is far away in the _West_, where the sun goes

down beyond the bonds of the earth, when Eos gladdens the close of day

as she sheds her violet tints over the sky. The "Abodes of the Blessed"

are golden islands sailing in a sea of blue,--_the burnished clouds

floating in the pure ether_. Grief and sorrow cannot approach them;

plague and sickness cannot touch them. The blissful company gathered

together in that far _Western land_ inherits a tearless eternity.

Of the other details in the picture the greater number would be

suggested directly by these images drawn from the phenomena of sunset

and twilight. What spot or stain can be seen on the deep blue ocean in

which the "Islands of the Blessed" repose forever? What unseemly forms

can mar the beauty of that golden home, lighted by the radiance of a

_Sun_ which can never set? Who then but the pure in heart, the truthful

and the generous, can be suffered to tread the violet fields? And how

shall they be tested save by judges who can weigh the thoughts and the

interests of the heart? Thus every soul, as it drew near that joyous

land, was brought before the august tribunal of Minos, Rhadamanthys, and

Aiakos; and they whose faith was in truth a quickening power, might draw

from the ordeals those golden lessons which Plato has put into the mouth

of Socrates, and some unknown persons into the mouths of Buddha and

Jesus. The belief of earlier ages pictured to itself the meetings in

that blissful land, the forgiveness of old wrongs, and the

reconciliation of deadly feuds,[560:1] just as the belief of the present

day pictures these things to itself.

The story of a _War in Heaven_, which was known to all nations of

antiquity, is allegorical, and refers to the battle between light and

darkness, sunshine and storm cloud.[560:2]

As examples of the prevalence of the legend relating to the struggle

between the co-ordinate powers of good and evil, light and darkness, the

Sun and the clouds, we have that of Phoibos and Python, Indra and

Vritra, Sigurd and Fafuir, Achilleus and Paris, Oidipous and the Sphinx,

Ormuzd and Ahriman, and from the character of the struggle between Indra

and Vritra, and again between Ormuzd and Ahriman, we infer that a myth,

purely _physical_, in the land of the Five Streams, assumed a moral and

spiritual meaning in Persia, and the fight between the co-ordinate

powers of good and evil, _gave birth to the dualism which from that time

to the present has exercised so mighty an influence through the East and

West_.

The Apocalypse exhibits Satan with the physical attributes of Ahriman;

he is called the "dragon," the "old serpent," who fights against God and

his angels. The _Vedic myth_, transformed and exaggerated in the Iranian

books, _finds its way through this channel_ into Christianity. The idea

thus introduced was that of the struggle between Satan and Michael,

which ended in the overthrow of the former, and the casting forth of all

his hosts out of heaven, but it coincides too nearly with a myth spread

in countries held by all the Aryan nations to avoid further

modification. Local tradition substituted St. George or St. Theodore for

Jupiter, Apollo, Hercules, or Perseus. It is under this disguise that

the Vedic myth has come down to our own times, and has still its

festivals and its monuments. Art has consecrated it in a thousand ways.

St. Michael, lance in hand, treading on the dragon, is an image as

familiar now as, _thirty centuries ago_, that of Indra treading under

foot the demon Vritra could possibly have been to the Hindoo.[561:1]

The very ancient doctrine of a TRINITY, three gods in one, can be

explained, rationally, by allegory only. We have seen that the Sun, in

early times, was believed to be the _Creator_, and became the first

object of adoration. After some time it would be observed that this

powerful and beneficent agent, the solar fire, was the most potent

_Destroyer_, and hence would arise the first idea of a Creator and

Destroyer united in the same person. But much time would not elapse

before it must have been observed, that the destruction caused by this

powerful being was destruction only in appearance, that destruction was

only reproduction in another form--_regeneration_; that if he appeared

sometimes to destroy, he constantly repaired the injury which he seemed

to occasion--and that, without his light and heat, everything would

dwindle away into a cold, inert, unprolific mass. Thus, at once, in the

same being, became concentrated, the creating, the preserving, and the

destroying powers--the latter of the three being at the same time both

the _Destroyer_ and _Regenerator_. Hence, by a very natural and obvious

train of reasoning, arose the _Creator_, the _Preserver_, and the

_Destroyer_--in India _Brahma_, _Vishnu_, and _Siva_; in Persia

_Oromasdes_, _Mithra_, and _Arimanius_; in Egypt _Osiris_, _Horus_, and

_Typhon_: in each case THREE PERSONS AND ONE GOD. And thus undoubtedly

arose the TRIMURTI, or the celebrated Trinity.

Traces of a similar refinement may be found in the Greek mythology, in

the Orphic _Phanes_, _Ericapeus_ and _Metis_, who were all identified

with the _Sun_, and yet embraced in the first person, _Phanes_, or

Protogones, the Creator and Generator.[562:1] The invocation to the Sun,

in the Mysteries, according to Macrobius, was as follows: "O all-ruling

_Sun_! _Spirit_ of the world! _Power_ of the world! _Light_ of the

world!"[562:2]

We have seen in Chap. XXXV, that the _Peruvian_ Triad was represented by

three statues, called, respectively, "Apuinti, Churiinti, and

Intihoaoque," which is, "Lord and Father _Sun_; Son _Sun_; and Air or

Spirit, Brother _Sun_."[562:3]

Mr. Faber, in his "Origin of Pagan Idolatry," says:

"The peculiar mode in which the Hindoos identify their _three

great gods_ with the _solar orb_, is a curious specimen of the

physical refinements of ancient mythology. At night, in the

west, the Sun is _Vishnu_; he is _Brahma_ in the east and in

the morning; and from noon to evening he is _Siva_."[562:4]

Mr. Moor, in his "Hindu Pantheon," says:

"Most, if not all, of the gods of the Hindoo Pantheon will, on

close investigation, resolve themselves into the _three

powers_ (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), and those powers into _one

Deity_, Brahm, _typified by the Sun_."[562:5]

Mr. Squire, in his "Serpent Symbol," observes:

"It is highly probable that the triple divinity of the Hindoos

was originally no more than a personification of the _Sun_,

whom they called _Three-bodied_, in the triple capacity of

_producing_ forms by his general _heat_, _preserving_ them by

his _light_, or _destroying_ them by the counteracting force

of his _igneous_ matter. _Brahmá_, the _Creator_, was

indicated by the _heat of the Sun_; _Vishnu_, the _Preserver_,

by the _light of the Sun_, and _Siva_, the _Reproducer_, by

the _orb of the Sun_. In the morning the Sun was _Brahma_, at

noon _Vishnu_, at evening _Siva_."[562:6]

"He is at once," says Mr. Cox, in speaking of the Sun, "the 'Comforter'

and 'Healer,' the 'Saviour' and 'Destroyer,' who can slay and make alive

at will, and from whose piercing glance no secret can be kept

hid."[562:7]

Sir William Jones was also of the opinion that the whole Triad of the

Hindoos were identical with the Sun, expressed under the mythical term

O. M.

The idea of a _Tri-murti_, or triple personification, was developed

gradually, and as it grew, received numerous accretions. It was first

dimly shadowed forth and vaguely expressed in the _Rig-Veda_, where a

triad of principal gods, _Agni_, _Indra_, and _Surya_ is recognized. And

these three gods are _One_, the SUN.[562:8]

We see then that the religious myths of antiquity and the fireside

legends of ancient and modern times, have a common root in the mental

habits of primeval humanity, and that they are the earliest recorded

utterances of men concerning the visible phenomena of the world into

which they were born. At first, thoroughly understood, the _meaning_ in

time became unknown. How stories originally told of the Sun, the Moon,

the Stars, &c., became believed in as facts, is plainly illustrated in

the following story told by Mrs. Jameson in her "History of Our Lord in

Art:" "I once tried to explain," says she, "to a good old woman, the

meaning of the word _parable_, and that the story of the _Prodigal Son_

was not a fact; she was scandalized--she was quite sure that Jesus would

never have told anything to his disciples that was not true. Thus she

settled the matter in her own mind, and I thought it best to leave it

there undisturbed."

Prof. Max Müller, in speaking of "the comparison of the different forms

of Aryan religion and mythology in India, Persia, Greece, Italy and

Germany," clearly illustrates how such legends are transformed from

intelligible into unintelligible myths. He says:

"In each of these nations there was a tendency to change the original

conception of divine powers, to misunderstand the many names given to

these powers, and to misinterpret the praises addressed to them. In this

manner some of the divine names were changed into half-divine,

half-human heroes, and at last the myths which were true and

intelligible as told originally of the _Sun_, or the _Dawn_, or the

_Storms_, were turned into legends or fables too marvelous to be

believed of common mortals. This process can be watched in India, in

Greece, and in Germany. The same story, or nearly the same, is told of

gods, of heroes, and of men. The divine myth became an heroic legend,

and the heroic legend fades away into a nursery tale. Our nursery tales

have well been called the modern _patois_ of the ancient mythology of

the Aryan race."[563:1]

In the words of this learned author, "we never lose, we always gain,

when we discover the most ancient intention of sacred traditions,

instead of being satisfied with their later aspect, and their modern

misinterpretations."

FOOTNOTES:

[553:1] This picture would give us the story of Hercules, who strangled

the serpent in his cradle, and who, in after years, in the form of a

giant, ran his course.

[553:2] This would give us St. George killing the Dragon.

[553:3] This would give us the story of the monster who attempted to

devour the Sun, and whom the "untutored savage" tried to frighten away

by making loud cries.

[553:4] This would give us the story of Samson, whose strength was

renewed at the end of his career, and who slew the Philistines--who had

dimmed his brilliance--and bathed his path with blood.

[553:5] This would give us the story of Oannes or Dagon, who, beneath

the clouds of the evening sky, plunged into the sea.

[553:6] This would give us the story of Hercules and his bride Iôle, or

that of Christ Jesus and his mother Mary, who were at their side at the

end of their career.

[553:7] This would give us the story of the labors of Hercules.

[553:8] This is the Sun as _Seva_.

[553:9] Here again we have the Sun as Siva the _Destroyer_.

[553:10] Here we have Apollo, Achilleus, Bellerophon and Odysseus.

[553:11] This would give us the story of Samson, who was "the friend of

the children of men, and the remorseless foe of those powers of

darkness" (the Philistines), who had stolen away his bride. (See Judges,

ch. xv.)

[554:1] This would give us the stories of _Thor_, the mighty warrior,

the terror of his enemies, and those of Cadmus, Romulus or Odin, the

wise chieftains, who founded nations, and taught their people knowledge.

[554:2] This would give us the story of Christ Jesus, and other

Angel-Messiahs; Saviours of men.

[554:3] This would give us the stories of spellbound maidens, who sleep

for years.

[554:4] This is Hercules and his counterparts.

[554:5] This again is Hercules.

[554:6] This would depend upon whether his light was obscured by clouds,

or not.

[554:7] This again is Hercules.

[554:8] This is Apollo, Siva and Ixion.

[554:9] Rev. G. W. Cox.

[555:1] Who has not heard it said that the howling or whining of a dog

forebodes death?

[555:2] Bunce: Fairy Tales, Origin and Meaning.

[556:1] Quoted by Bunce: Fairy Tales.

[557:1] See Bunce: Fairy Tales, p. 34.

[558:1] "The _Sun_," said _Gaugler_, "speeds at such a rate as if _she_

feared that some one was pursuing her for her destruction." "And well

she may," replied _Har_, "for he that seeks her is not far behind, and

she has no way to escape but to run before him." "And who is he," asked

_Gaugler_, "that causes her this anxiety?" "It is the _Wolf_ Sköll,"

answered _Har_, "who pursues the Sun, and it is he that she fears, for

he shall one day overtake and devour her." (Scandinavian _Prose Edda_.

See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 407). This Wolf is, as we have

said, a personification of _Night_ and _Clouds_, we therefore have the

almost universal practice among savage nations of making noises at the

time of eclipses, to frighten away the monsters who would otherwise

devour the Sun.

[558:2] Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 103.

[559:1] Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 308.

[559:2] Müller: The Science of Religion, p. 65.

[559:3] Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 1.

[560:1] As the hand of Hector is clasped in the hand of the hero who

slew him. There, as the story ran, the lovely Helen "pardoned and

purified," became the bride of the short-lived, yet long-suffering

Achilleus, even as Iole comforted the dying Hercules on earth, and Hebe

became his solace in Olympus. But what is the meeting of Helen and

Achilleus, of Iole and Hebe and Hercules, but the return of the violet

tints to greet the Sun in the _West_, which had greeted him in the East

in the morning? The idea was purely physical, yet it suggested the

thoughts of trial, atonement, and purification; and it is unnecessary to

say that the human mind, having advanced thus far, must make its way

still farther. (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 822.)

[560:2] The black storm-cloud, with the flames of lightning issuing from

it, was the original of the dragon with tongues of fire. Even as late as

A. D. 1600, a German writer would illustrate a thunder-storm destroying

a crop of corn by a picture of a dragon devouring the produce of the

field with his flaming tongue and iron teeth. (Baring-Gould: Curious

Myths, p. 342.)

[561:1] M. Bréal, and G. W. Cox.

[562:1] Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 59.

[562:2] Ibid.

[562:3] Ibid. p. 181.

[562:4] Book iv. ch. i. in Anac., vol. i. p. 137.

[562:5] P. 6.

[562:6] Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 33.

[562:7] Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 33.

[562:8] Williams' Hinduism, p. 88.

[563:1] Müller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 260.

APPENDIX D.

We maintain that not so much as one single passage purporting to be

written, _as history_, within the first hundred years of the Christian

era, can be produced to show the existence _at_ or before that time of

such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, called the Christ, or of such a set

of men as could be accounted his disciples or followers. Those who would

be likely to refer to Jesus or his disciples, but who have not done so,

wrote about:

A. D. 40 Philo.[564:1]

40 Josephus.

79 C. Plinius Second, the Elder.[564:2] }

69 L. Ann. Seneca. } Philosophers.

79 Diogenes Laertius. }

79 Pausanias. } Geographers.

79 Pompon Mela. }

79 Q. Curtius Ruf. }

79 Luc. Flor. }

110 Cornel Tacitus. } Historians.

123 Appianus. }

140 Justinus. }

141 Ælianus. }

Out of this number it has been claimed that one (Josephus) spoke of

Jesus, and another (Tacitus) of the Christians. Of the former it is

almost needless to speak, as that has been given up by Christian divines

many years ago. However, for the sake of those who still cling to it we

shall state the following:

Dr. Lardner, who wrote about A. D. 1760, says:

1. It was never quoted by any of our Christian ancestors

before _Eusebius_.

2. Josephus has nowhere else mentioned the name or word

_Christ_, in any of his works, except the testimony above

mentioned,[564:3] and the passage concerning James, the Lord's

brother.[564:4]

3. It interrupts the narrative.

4. The language is quite Christian.

5. It is _not_ quoted by Chrysostom,[564:5] though he often

refers to Josephus, and could not have omitted quoting it, had

it been _then_, in the text.

6. It is _not_ quoted by Photius, though he has three articles

concerning Josephus.

7. Under the article _Justus of Tiberius_, this author

(Photius) expressly states that this historian (Josephus),

being a Jew, _has not taken the least notice of Christ_.

8. Neither Justin, in his dialogue with Typho the Jew, nor

Clemens Alexandrinus, who made so many extracts from ancient

authors, nor Origen against Celsus, _have even mentioned this

testimony_.

9. But, on the contrary, Origen openly affirms (ch. xxxv., bk.

i., against Celsus), that Josephus, who had mentioned John the

Baptist, _did not acknowledge Christ_.[565:1]

In the "Bible for Learners," we read as follows:

"Flavius Josephus, the well-known historian of the Jewish

people, was born in A. D. 37, only two years after the death

of Jesus; but though his work is of inestimable value as our

chief authority for the circumstances of the times in which

Jesus and his Apostles came forward, yet he does not seem to

have ever mentioned Jesus himself. At any rate, the passage in

his '_Jewish Antiquities_' that refers to him is certainly

spurious, and was inserted by a later and a _Christian hand_.

The _Talmud_ compresses the history of Jesus into a single

sentence, and later Jewish writers concoct mere slanderous

anecdotes. The ecclesiastical fathers mention a few sayings or

events, the knowledge of which they drew from oral tradition

or from writings that have since been lost. The Latin and

Greek historians just mention his name. This meager harvest is

all we reap from sources outside the Gospels."[565:2]

Canon Farrar, who finds himself _compelled_ to admit that this passage

in Josephus is an interpolation, consoles himself by saying:

"The single passage in which he (Josephus) alludes to Him

(Christ) is interpolated, if not wholly spurious, and no one

can doubt that his silence on the subject of Christianity was

as deliberate as it was dishonest."[565:3]

The Rev. Dr. Giles, after commenting on this subject, concludes by

saying:

"_Eusebius_ is the first who quotes the passage, and our

reliance on the judgment, _or even the honesty_, of this

writer _is not so great as to allow of our considering

everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine_."[565:4]

Eusebius, then, is the first person who refers to these passages.[565:5]

Eusebius, "_whose honesty is not so great as to allow of our considering

everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine_." Eusebius, who

says that _it is lawful to lie and cheat for the cause of

Christ_.[565:6] This Eusebius is the sheet-anchor of reliance for most

we know of the first three centuries of the Christian history. What then

must we think of the _history_ of the first three centuries of the

Christian era?

The celebrated passage in Tacitus which Christian divines--and even

some liberal writers--attempt to support, is to be found in his

_Annals_. In this work he is made to speak of _Christians_, who "had

their denomination from _Christus_, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was

put to death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate."

In answer to this we have the following:

1. This passage, which would have served the purpose of Christian

quotation better than any other in all the writings of Tacitus, or of

any Pagan writer whatever, _is not quoted by any of the Christian

Fathers_.

2. It is not quoted by Tertullian, though he had read and largely quotes

the works of Tacitus.

3. And though his argument immediately called for the use of this

quotation with so loud a voice (Apol. ch. v.), that his omission of it,

if it had really existed, amounts to a _violent improbability_.

4. This Father has spoken of Tacitus in a way that it is absolutely

impossible that he should have spoken of him, had his writings contained

such a passage.

5. It is not quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus, _who set himself entirely

to the work of adducing and bringing together all the admissions and

recognitions which Pagan authors had made of the existence of Christ

Jesus or Christians before his time_.

6. It has been nowhere stumbled upon by the laborious and all-seeking

Eusebius, who could by no possibility have overlooked it, and whom it

would have saved from the labor of forging the passage in Josephus; of

adducing the correspondence of Christ Jesus and Abgarus, and the

Sibylline verses; of forging a divine revelation from the god Apollo, in

attestation of Christ Jesus' ascension into heaven; and innumerable

other of his pious and holy cheats.

7. Tacitus has in no other part of his writings made the least allusion

to "_Christ_" or "_Christians_."

8. The use of this passage as part of the evidences of the Christian

religion, is absolutely modern.

9. There is no vestige nor trace of its existence anywhere in the world

before the 15th century.[566:1]

10. No reference whatever is made to this passage by any writer or

historian, monkish or otherwise, before that time,[567:1] which, to say

the least, is very singular, considering that after that time it is

quoted, or referred to, in an endless list of works, which by itself is

all but conclusive that it was not in existence till the fifteenth

century, which was an age of imposture and of credulity so immoderate

that people were easily imposed upon, believing, as they did, without

sufficient evidence, whatever was foisted upon them.

11. The interpolator of the passage makes Tacitus speak of "_Christ_,"

not of Jesus _the_ Christ, showing that--like the passage in

Josephus--it is, comparatively, a modern interpolation, for

12. The word "_Christ_" is _not a name_, but a TITLE;[567:2] it being

simply the Greek for the Hebrew word "_Messiah_." Therefore,

13. When Tacitus is made to speak of Jesus as "Christ," it is equivalent

to my speaking of Tacitus as "Historian," of George Washington as

"General," or of any individual as "Mister," without adding a _name_ by

which either could be distinguished. And therefore,

14. It has no sense or meaning as he is said to have used it.

15. Tacitus is also made to say that the _Christians_ had their

denomination from _Christ_, which would apply to any other of the

so-called _Christs_ who were put to death in Judea, as well as to Christ

Jesus. And

16. "The disciples were _called_ Christians first at Antioch" (Acts xi.

26), not because they were followers of a certain Jesus who claimed to

be the Christ, but because "Christian" or "Chrestian," was a name

applied, at that time, to any good man.[567:3] And,

17. The worshipers of the Sun-god, _Serapis_, were also called

"Christians," and his disciples "Bishops of Christ."[568:1]

So much, then, for the celebrated passage in Tacitus.

* * * * *

NOTE.--Tacitus says--according to the passage attributed to him--that

"those who confessed [to be Christians] were first seized, and then on

their evidence _a huge multitude_ (_Ingens Multitudo_) were convicted,

not so much on the charge of incendiarism as for _their hatred to

mankind_." Although M. Renan may say (_Hibbert Lectures_, p. 70) that

the authenticity of this passage "cannot be disputed," yet the absurdity

of "a huge multitude" of Christians being in Rome, in the days of Nero,

A. D. 64--about thirty years' after the time assigned for the

crucifixion of Jesus--has not escaped the eye of thoughtful scholars.

Gibbon--who saw how ridiculous the statement is--attempts to reconcile

it with common sense by supposing that Tacitus knew so little about the

Christians that he confounded them with the Jews, and that the hatred

universally felt for the latter fell upon the former. In this way he

believes Tacitus gets his "huge multitude," as the Jews established

themselves in Rome as early as 60 years B. C., where they multiplied

rapidly, living together in the Trastevere--the most abject portion of

the city, where all kinds of rubbish was put to rot--where they became

"old clothes" men, the porters and hucksters, bartering tapers for

broken glass, hated by the mass and pitied by the few. Other scholars,

among whom may be mentioned Schwegler (_Nachap Zeit._, ii. 229); Köstlin

(_Johann-Lehrbegr._, 472); and Baur (_First Three Centuries_, i. 133);

also being struck with the absurdity of the statement made by some of

the early Christian writers concerning the wholesale prosecution of

Christians, said to have happened at that time, suppose it must have

taken place during the persecution of Trajan, A. D. 101. It is strange

we hear of no Jewish martyrdoms or Jewish persecutions till we come to

the times of the Jewish war, and then chiefly in Palestine! But fables

must be made realities, so we have the ridiculous story of a "huge

multitude" of Christians being put to death in Rome, in A. D. 64,

evidently for the purpose of bringing Peter there, making him the first

Pope, and having him crucified head downwards. This absurd story is made

more evident when we find that it was not until about A. D. 50--only 14

years before the alleged persecution--that the first Christians--a mere

handful--entered the capitol of the Empire. (See Renan's _Hibbert

Lectures_, p. 55.) They were a poor dirty set, without manners, clad in

filthy gaberdines, and smelling strong of garlic. From these, then, with

others who came from Syria, we get our "huge multitude" in the space of

14 years. The statement attributed to Tacitus is, however, outdone by

Orosius, who asserts that the persecution extended "through all the

provinces." (Orosius, ii. 11.) That it was a very easy matter for some

Christian writer to interpolate or alter a passage in the _Annals_ of

Tacitus may be seen from the fact that the MS. was not known to the

world before the 15th century, and from information which is to be

derived from reading Daillé _On the Right Use of the Fathers_, who shows

that they were accustomed to doing such business, and that these

writings are, to a large extent, unreliable.

FOOTNOTES:

[564:1] The Rev. Dr. Giles says: "Great is our disappointment at finding

nothing in the works of Philo about the Christians, their doctrines, or

their sacred books. About the _books_ indeed we need not expect any

notice of these works, but about the Christians and their doctrines his

silence is more remarkable, seeing that he was about sixty years old at

the time of the crucifixion, and living mostly in Alexandria, so closely

connected with Judea, and the Jews, could hardly have failed to know

something of the _wonderful events_ that had taken place in the city of

Jerusalem." (Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 61.)

The Rev. Dr. assumes that these "wonderful events" really took place,

but, if they did not take place, of course Philo's silence on the

subject is accounted for.

[564:2] Both these philosophers were living, and must have experienced

the immediate effects, or received the earliest information of the

existence of Christ Jesus, had such a person as the Gospels make him out

to be ever existed. Their ignorance or their willful silence on the

subject, is not less than _improbable_.

[564:3] Antiquities, bk. xviii. ch. iii. 3.

[564:4] Ibid. bk. xx. ch. ix. 1.

[564:5] John, Bishop of Constantinople, who died....

[565:1] Lardner: vol. vi. ch. iii.

[565:2] Bible for Learners, vol. iii. p. 27.

[565:3] Life of Christ, vol. I. p. 63.

[565:4] Hebrew and Christ. Rec. vol. ii. p. 62.

[565:5] In his Eccl. Hist. lib. 2. ch. xii.

[565:6] Ch. 31, bk. xii. of Eusebius _Præ paratio Evangelica_ is

entitled: "How far it may be proper to use falsehood as a medium for the

benefit of those who require to be deceived;" and he closes his work

with these words: "I have repeated whatever may rebound to the glory,

and suppressed all that could tend to the disgrace of our religion."

[566:1] The original MSS. containing the "Annals of Tacitus" were

"discovered" in the fifteenth century. Their existence cannot be traced

back further than that time. And as it was an age of imposture, some

persons are disposed to believe that not only portions of the _Annals_,

but the whole work, was forged at that time. Mr. J. W. Ross, in an

elaborate work published in London some years ago, contended that the

_Annals_ were forged by Poggio Bracciolini, their professed discoverer.

At the time of Bracciolini the temptation was great to palm off literary

forgeries, especially of the chief writers of antiquity, on account of

the Popes, in their efforts to revive learning, giving money rewards and

indulgences to those who should procure MS. copies of any of the ancient

Greek or Roman authors. Manuscripts turned up as if by magic, in every

direction; from libraries of monasteries, obscure as well as famous; the

most out-of-the-way places,--the bottom of exhausted wells, besmeared by

snails, as the History of Velleius Paterculus, or from garrets, where

they had been contending with cobwebs and dust, as the poems of

Catullus.

[567:1] A portion of the passage--that relating to the manner in which

the Christians were put to death--is found in the _Historia Sacra_ of

Sulpicius Severus, a Christian Father, who died A. D. 420; but it is

evident that this writer did not take it from the _Annals_. On the

contrary, the passage was taken--as Mr. Ross shows--from the _Historia

Sacra_, and bears traces of having been so appropriated. (See Tacitus &

Bracciolini, the Annals forged in the XVth century, by J. W. Ross.)

[567:2] "_Christ_ is a name having no spiritual signification, _and

importing nothing more than an ordinary surname_." (Dr. Giles: Hebrew

and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 64.)

"The name of _Jesus_ and _Christ_ was both known and honored among the

ancients." (Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. iv.)

"The name _Jesus_ is of Hebrew origin, and signifies _Deliverer_, and

_Savior_. It is the same as that translated in the Old Testament

_Joshua_. The word _Christ_, of Greek origin, is properly _not a name_

but _a title_, signifying _The Anointed_. The whole name is therefore,

_Jesus the Anointed_ or _Jesus the Messiah_." (Abbott and Conant; Dic.

of Relig. Knowledge, art. "_Jesus Christ_.")

In the oldest Gospel extant, that attributed to Matthew, we read that

Jesus said unto his disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?" whereupon Simon

Peter answers and says: "Thou art THE CHRIST, the Son of the living God.

. . . Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he

was Jesus THE Christ." (Matt. xvi. 15-20.)

This clearly shows that "_the Christ_" was simply a _title_ applied to

the man Jesus, therefore, if a _title_, it cannot be a _name_. All

passages in the New Testament which speak of _Christ_ as a _name_,

betray their modern date.

[567:3] "This name (Christian) occurs but three times in the New

Testament, and is never used by Christians of themselves, only as spoken

by or coming from those without the Church. The general names by which

the early Christians called themselves were 'brethren,' 'disciples,'

'believers,' and 'saints.' The presumption is that the name _Christian_

was originated by the _Heathen_." (Abbott and Conant: Dic. of Relig.

Knowledge, art. "Christian.")

"We are called Christians (_not_, we call ourselves Christians). So,

then, _we are the best of men_ (Chrestians), and it can never be just

to hate what is (Chrest) _good and kind_;" [or, "therefore to hate what

is _Chrestian_ is unjust."] (Justin Martyr: _Apol._ 1. c. iv.)

"Some of the ancient writers of the Church have not scrupled expressly

to call the Athenian _Socrates_, and some others of the _best_ of the

heathen moralists, by the name of _Christians_." (Clark: Evidences of

Revealed Relig., p. 284. Quoted in Ibid. p. 41.)

"Those who lived according to the Logos, (_i. e._, the _Platonists_),

were really _Christians_." (Clemens Alexandrinus, in _Ibid._)

"Undoubtedly we are called _Christians_, for this reason, _and none

other_, than because _we are anointed with the oil of God_." (Theophilus

of Antioch, in Ibid. p. 399.)

"Christ is the Sovereign Reason of whom the whole human race

participates. _All those who have lived comformably to a right reason,

have been Christians_, notwithstanding that they have always been looked

upon as Atheists." (Justin Martyr: _Apol._ 1. c. xlvi.)

Lucian makes a person called Triephon answer the question, whether the

affairs of the _Christians_ were recorded in heaven. "All nations are

there recorded, since Chrestus exists even among the Gentiles."

[568:1] "Egypt, which you commended to me, my dearest Servianus, I have

found to be wholly fickle and inconsistent, and continually wafted about

by every breath of fame. The worshipers of SERAPIS (here) are called

_Christians_, and those who are _devoted_ to the god Serapis (I find),

call themselves _Bishops of Christ_." (The Emperor _Adrian_ to

Servianus, written A. D. 134. Quoted by Dr. Giles, vol. ii. p. 86.)

INDEX.

A.

_Abraham_, story of, 38;

Hindoo parallel, 39;

other parallels, 39, 40;

the foundation of, 103;

his birth announced by a star, 144;

supposed to have had the same soul as Adam, David, and the

Messiah, 504.

_Absolution_ from sin by sacrifice of ancient origin, 181;

by baptism, 316;

refused to Constantine by Pagan priests, 444.

_Abury_, the temple at, 180.

_Achilleus_, a personification of the Sun, 485.

_Adam_, was reproduced in Noah, Elijah, and other Bible

celebrities, 44;

no trace of the story of the fall of, in the Hebrew Canon, after

the Genesis account, 99.

_Aditi_, "Mother of the Gods," 475;

a personification of the Dawn, 475;

is identified with Devaki, 475.

_Adonis_, is born of a Virgin, 191;

has title of "Saviour," 191, 217;

is slain, 191;

rises from the dead, 218;

is creator of the world, 249;

his temple at Bethlehem, 220;

his birth on December 25th, 364;

a personification of the Sun, 484;

in Hebrew "My Lord," 485.

_Æolus_, son of Jupiter, 125.

_Æon_, Christ Jesus an, 427;

there have been several, 427;

the Gnostics believed Christ Jesus to have been an, 511;

the Essenes believed in the doctrine of an, 515.

_Æschylus'_ Prometheus Bound, 192.

_Æsculapius_, a son of Jove, 128;

worshiped as a God, 128;

is called the "Saviour," 194;

the "Logos," 374;

Death and Resurrection of, 217.

_Agni_, represented with seven arms, 32;

a Hindoo God, 32;

the Cross a symbol of, 340.

_Agnus Dei_, the, succeeded the Bulla, 405;

worn by children, 405.

_Agony_, the, on Good Friday, is the weeping for Tammuz, the fair

Adonis, 226.

_Akiba_, Rabbi, believed Bar-Cochaba to be the Messiah, 433.

_Alcmena_, mother of Hercules, 124.

_Alexander_, divides the Pamphylian Sea, 61;

believed to be a divine incarnation, 127;

visits the temple of Jupiter Ammon, 127;

and styles himself "Son of Jupiter Ammon," 127.

_Alexandria_, the library of, 438;

the great intellectual centre, 440;

and the cradle of Christianity, 219, 442.

_Allegorical_, the, interpretation of the Scriptures practiced by

Rabbis, 100;

the historical theory succeeded by, 466, 552, 563.

_Allegory_, the story of the "Fall of Man" an, 100.

_All-father_, the, of all nations, a personification of the Sky, 478.

_Alpha and Omega_, Jesus believed to be, 250;

Crishna, 250;

Buddha, 250;

Lao-Kiun, 250;

Ormuzd, 251;

Zeus, 251;

Bacchus, 251.

_Ambrose, St._, affirms that the Apostles made a creed, 385.

_America_, populated from Asia, 540;

was at one time joined to Asia, 541.

_American Trinity_, the, 378.

_Americans_, their connection with the old world, 533.

_Ammon_, Jupiter, his temple visited by Alexander, 127.

_Amphion_, son of Jove, 124.

_Amulets_ and Charms, worn by the Christians, 405;

are relics of Paganism, 405.

_Ananda_, and the Matangi Girl, 294.

_Andrew's, St._, Cross, of Pagan origin, 339.

_Angel Messiah_, Buddha an, 116;

Crishna an, 196;

Christ an, 196;

the Essenes applied the legend of, to Jesus, 442.

_Angels_, the fallen, 386;

believed in by all nations of antiquity, 386-388.

_Animals_, none sacrificed in early times, 182.

_Antiquity_, the, of Pagan religions, compared with Christianity, 451.

_Apis_, or the Bull, worshiped by the children of Israel, 107;

symbolized the productive power in Nature, 476, _note_ 5.

_Apollo_, a lawgiver, 61;

son of Jove, 125;

has the title of "Saviour," 194;

is put to death, 191;

resurrection of, 218;

a type of Christ, 500;

is a personification of the Sun, 500-506.

_Apostles_, the, 500.

_Apostles' Creed_, the, not written by them, 385.

_Apotheosis_, the, of Pagans, 126.

_Apollonius_, considered divine, 126;

cured diseases, 261;

raised a dead maiden to life, 262;

his life written by Flavius Philostratus, 264.

_Arabia_, "wise men" came from, 150, _note_ 1.

_Arabs_, the, anciently worshiped Saturn, 393;

celebrated the birth of the Sun on December 25th, with offerings

of gold, frankincense and myrrh, 480.

_Ararat_, Mount, Noah's ark landed on, 21.

_Arcas_, a son of Jove, 125.

_Architecture_, the, of India same as Mexico, 538.

_Aries_, the sign of a symbol of Christ, 503;

personified and called the "Lamb of God," 504;

the worship of, the worship of the Sun, 504.

_Arimanes_, the evil spirit, according to Persian legend, 3.

_Arion_, a Corinthian harper, 78.

_Arjoon or Arjuna_, the cousin and beloved disciple of Crishna, 247.

_Ark_, the, of Noah, 20;

and others, 22-27.

_Armenian_, the, tradition of "Confusion of Tongues," 35.

_Aroclus_, son of Jove, 125.

_Artemon_, denied the divinity of Jesus, 135.

_Ascension_, of Jesus, 215;

of Crishna, 215;

of Rama, 216;

of Buddha, 216;

of Lao-Kiun, 216;

of Zoroaster, 216;

of Æsculapius, 217;

of Osiris, 222;

Atys, 222;

Mithras, 222.

_Asceticism_, as practiced among the Christians, of great

antiquity, 400.

_Ashera_, the, or upright emblem, stood in the Temple at Jerusalem,

47.

_Asia_, the continent of, at one time joined to America, 541;

America inhabited from, 454, 533.

_Asia Minor_, the people persecuted in by orders of Constantius, 448.

_Asita_, the holy Rishi, visits Buddha at his birth, 151.

_Asoka_, the council of, 303.

_Assyrian Dove_, the, a symbol of the Holy Ghost, 400.

_Assyrians_, the, worshiped a sun-god called Sandon, 74;

had an account of a war in Heaven, 388;

kept the seventh day holy, 393.

_Astaroth_, the goddess, saved the life of a Grecian maiden, 39.

_Astarte_, or Mylitta, worshiped by the Hebrews, 108.

_Astrology_, practiced by the ancients, 141, 142.

_Astronomers_, the ancient Egyptians great, 547.

_Astronomy_, understood by the ancient Chinese, 544.

_Athanasian Creed_, the, 381.

_Athens_, the Parthenon of, 333.

_Atlas_, a personification of the sun, 83.

_Atonement_, the doctrine of, taught before the time of Christ

Jesus, 181.

_Atys_, the Crucified, 190;

is called the "Only-begotten Son," and "Saviour," 190;

rose from the dead, 223.

_Augustine, St._, saw men and women without heads, 437.

_Aurora placida_, made into St. Aura and St. Placida, 399.

_Avatar_, Jesus considered an, 111;

a star at birth of every, 143, 479;

an "Angel-Messiah," a "Christ," 196;

an, expected about every 600 years, 426.

B.

_Baal_, and Moloch, worshiped by the children of Israel, 108.

_Baal-peor_, the Priapos of the Jews, 47.

_Babel_, the tower of, 33;

literally "the Gate of God," 34;

built at Babylon, 34;

a parallel to in other countries, 35;

built for astronomical purposes, 35.

_Babylonian Captivity_, the, put an end to Israel's idolatry, 108.

_Bacab_, the Son, in the Mexican Trinity, 378.

_Bacchus_, performed miracles, 50;

passed through the Red Sea dry-shod, 51;

divided the waters of the rivers Orontes and Hydaspus, 51;

drew water from a rock, 51;

was a law-giver, 52;

the son of Jupiter, 124;

was born in a cave, 156;

torn to pieces, 193, 209;

was called the "Saviour," 193;

"Only-begotten Son," 193;

"Redeemer," 193;

the sun darkened at his death, 208;

ascended into heaven, 208;

rose from the dead, 228;

a personification of the sun, 492.

_Baga_, the, of the cuneiform inscriptions a name of the Supreme

Being, 391;

is in English associated with an ugly fiend, 391.

_Balaam_, his ass speaks, 91;

parallels to in Egypt, Chaldea and Greece, 91.

_Bala-rama_, the brother of Crishna, 74;

the Indian Hercules, 74.

_Baldur_, called "The Good," 129;

"The Beneficent Saviour," 129;

Son of the Supreme God Odin, 129;

is put to death and rises again, 224;

a personification of the sun, 479.

_Bambino_, the, at Rome is black, 336.

_Baptism_, a heathen rite adopted by the Christians, 317;

practiced in Mongolia and Thibet, 317;

by the Brahmins, 317;

by the followers of Zoroaster, 318;

administered in the Mithraic mysteries, 319;

performed by the ancient Egyptians, 319.

_Baptismal fonts_, used by the Pagans, 406.

_Bar-Cochba_, the "Son of a Star," 144;

believed to be the Messiah, 432.

_Beads_ (see Rosary).

_Beatitudes_, the, the prophet of, 527.

_Belief_, or faith, salvation by, existed in the earliest times, 184.

_Bellerophon_, a mighty Grecian hero, 75.

_Belus_, the tower of, 34.

_Benares_, the Hindoo Jerusalem, 296.

_Berosus_, on the flood, 22.

_Bible_, the Egyptian, the oldest in the world, 24.

_Birth_, the Miraculous, of Jesus, 111;

Crishna, 113;

Buddha, 115;

Codom, 118;

Fuh-he, 119;

Lao-Kiun, 120;

Yu, Hau-Ki, 120;

Confucius, 121;

Horus, 122;

Zoroaster, 123;

and others, 123-131.

_Birth-day_, the, of the gods, on December 25th, 364.

_Birth-place_, the, of Christ Jesus, in a cave, 154;

the, of other saviours, in a cave, 155-158.

_Black God_, the, crucified, 201.

_Black Mother_, the, and child, 336.

_Bochia_, of the Persians, performed miracles, 256.

_Bochica_, a god of the Muyscas, 130.

_Bodhisatwa_, a name of Buddha, 115.

_Books, sacred_, among heathen nations, 61.

_Brahma_, the first person in Hindoo Trinity, 369.

_Brahmins_, the, perform the rite of baptism, 317.

_Bread and Wine_, a sacrifice with, celebrated by the Grand Lama of

Thibet, 306;

by the Essenes, 306;

by Melchizedek, 307;

by those who were initiated into the mysteries of Mithras, 307.

_Blind Man_, cured by Jesus, 268;

by the Emperor Vespasian at Alexandria, 268.

_Brechin_, the fire tower of, 199;

a crucifix cut upon, 198.

_Buddha_, born of the Virgin Maya, 115;

his birth announced by a star, 143;

demonstrations of delight at his birth, 147;

is visited by Asita, 151;

was of royal descent, 163;

a dangerous child, 168;

tempted by the devil, 176;

fasted, 176;

died and rose again to life, 216;

ascended into heaven, 216;

compared with Jesus, 289.

_Buddhism_, the established religion of Burmah, Siam, Laos, Pega,

Cambodia, Thibet, Japan, Tartary, Ceylon, and Loo-Choo, 297.

_Buddhist religion_, the, compared with Christianity, 302.

_Buddhists_, the monastic system among, 401.

_Bull_, the, an emblem of the sun, 476.

_Bulla_, the, worn by Roman children, 405;

and now a lamb, the Agnus Dei, 405.

C.

_Cabala_, the, had its Trinity, 376.

_Cadiz_, the gates of, 70.

_Cæsar_ (Augustus), was believed to be divine, 126.

_Cæsar_ (Julius), was likened to the divine, 126.

_Calabrian Shepherds_, the, a few weeks before Winter solstice,

came into Rome to play on the pipes, 365.

_Cam-Deo_, the God of Love, 216.

_Capricorn_, when the planets met in, the world was deluged with

water, 102.

_Cardinals_, the, of Rome, wear the robes once worn by Roman

senators, 400.

_Carmelites_, the, and Essenes the same, 422.

_Canon_, the, of the New Testament, when settled, 463.

_Carne-vale_, a farewell to animal food, 227.

_Carnutes_, the, of Gaul, 198;

the Lamb of, 199.

_Castles_, Lord, a ring found on his estate, 199.

_Catholic_ rites and ceremonies are imitations of those of the

Pagans, 384.

_Catholic theory_, the, of the fall of the angels, 386.