The regal figures, which I promised, as belonging to the _Nubian_ temple,
and corresponding to the _Knockmoy_ frescoes, are the following:--
[Illustration]
You will, furthermore, observe how that they all wear the _philibeg_, like
our crucified effigy at p. 296, and our war-god, Phearagh, at p. 138.
Each of them, also, is adorned with the _cross_, as the passport of their
redemption: while the three _divinities_, delineated in the Irish scenes,
have these as their counterparts in the temple of Nubia.
[Illustration]
Abbe Pluché states, that “the figures of those gods brought from Egypt
into Phœnicia, wore on their heads leaves and branches, wings and globes,
which,” he adds, “appeared ridiculous to those who did not comprehend the
signification of these symbols, as happened to Cambyses, King of Persia,
but these represented Isis, Osiris, and Horus.”
“In the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for November, 1742, is an account,” says
Vallancey, “of two silver images, found under the _ruins of an old tower_,
which had raised various conjectures and speculations amongst the
antiquaries; they were about three inches in height, representing men in
armour, with _very high helmets on their heads, ruffs round their necks_,
and standing on a pedestal of silver, holding a small golden spear in
their hands. The account is taken from the Dublin papers. The writer
refers to Merrick’s translation of Tryphiodorus, an Egyptian, that
composed a Greek poem on the destruction of Troy, a sequel to Homer’s
_Iliad_, to show that it was customary with the ancients, at the
foundation of a fort or city, to consecrate such images to some titular
guardians, and deposit them in a secret part of the building; where he
also inserts a judicious exposition of a difficult text of Scripture on
that subject.”
The above extract was indited long before the publication of those Nubian
antiquities; and, consequently, when neither the contributor to the
magazine, nor the quoter from its columns, had any knowledge of their
existence. Its production, therefore, must be valuable here, as showing
not only the connection of the _idols_ with the _Round Tower ceremonial_,
but also that the helmets of the _Nubian_ gods had been adopted in the
effigies of some of those amongst us.
I terminate my proofs of the primeval _crucifixion_, by the _united_
testimonies of the _Budhists_ and the _Free-Masons_.
“Though the punishment of the cross,” says the _Asiatic Researches_, “be
unknown to the Hindus, yet the followers of Buddha have some knowledge of
it, when they represent Deva _Thot_ (that is, the god _Thot_) crucified
upon an instrument resembling a cross, according to the accounts of some
travellers to Siam.”
“Christianity,” says Oliver, “or the system of salvation through the
atonement of a crucified Mediator, was the main pillar of Freemasonry ever
since the fall.”
Let me point your notice now to some _consequences_ of that mysterious
fact. I begin by asking--
How happened it, that, of all places in the world, Ireland was that which
gave the readiest countenance, and the most cheering support, to the
Gospel of Christ, on its first promulgation?
This question you will consider of no trivial tendency. It is, in itself,
worth a thousand other arguments. To solve it, I must premise that,
besides the many ancient appellatives, already given you, for this
country, there was one, which characterised it, as anticipating that
event?
_Crioch-na-Fuineadhach_[393] was this name. Its meaning is, _the asylum of
the expectants_: or, _the retreat of those looking forward_.
To what, you ask?--To the consummation, I reply, of that prophecy, which
was imparted to Israel through another source, saying, “The sceptre shall
not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until
_Shiloh_ come.”[394]
Numerous intimations have, from time to time, been conveyed to man as
harbingers of an event which was to crown their species with universal
blessings. In the Puranas, it was prophesied, that “after three thousand
and one hundred years of the Caliyuga are elapsed, will appear King
_Saca_, to remove wretchedness from the world.”[395]
I have given an abstract of the history of this remarkable personage at
pp. 293 and 294, and shortly after, at p. 296, I presented you with the
effigy of his crucifixion. As to the era of his appearance, as deducible
from the Yugas, I shall confine myself to the opinion advanced by Mr.
Davis, in the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 243, where he states: “It
may further with confidence be inferred, that _Mons. Anquetil du Perron’s
conclusion, with respect to the late introduction of Yugas_, which are the
component parts of the Calpa, into the Hindu astronomy, _is unfounded; and
that the invention of those periods, and the application of them to
computations by the Hindus, must be referred to an antiquity which has not
yet been ascertained_.”
In another age was promised another Redeemer; and of him I copy what Mr.
Wilford transmits, as follows, viz.:--
“A thousand years before that event, the goddess Cali had foretold him
that he would reign, or rather his _posterity_, according to several
learned commentators in the Dokhin, as mentioned by Major Mackenzie, till
a _divine child_, born of a virgin, should put an end both to his life and
kingdom, or to his dynasty, nearly in the words of Jacob, in Genesis,
chap. xlix. ver. 10. The Hindu traditions concerning this wonderful child
are collected in a treatise called the _Vicrama Chastra; or, History of
Vicrama Ditya_. This I have not been able to procure, though many learned
pundits have repeated to me by heart whole pages from them. Yet I was
unwilling to make use of their traditions till I found them in the large
extracts made by the ingenious and indefatigable Major C. Mackenzie of the
Madras establishment, and by him communicated to the Asiatic Society.”
In truth, it was to the _certainty_ of this _manifestation_ that the first
couplet of an Arabic elegy, preserved by Mons. d’Herbelot in his account
of Ibnuzaidun, a celebrated Andalusian poet, refers. In Roman letters, the
lines run thus--
“Jekad heïn tenagikom dharmairna
Jacdha alaïna alassa laula tassina.”
That is, “The time will soon come when you will deliver us from all our
cares; the remedy is assured, provided we have a little patience.”
The learned President of the Society of Bengal, unaware of the _drift_ of
this beautiful stanza, and without ever having so much as _seen_ the
original whence it was quoted, offers to alter its import to the
following, viz.: “When our bosoms impart their secrets to you, anguish
would almost fix our doom, if we were not mutually to console ourselves!”
And the only reason he assigns for this novel interpretation is, that
_two_ individuals, _neither of whom, he himself admits, knew anything
about its meaning_, happened, or rather pretended, to put it for him
_differently_ into Arabic words!
On the pillar at Buddal, this emanation of the godhead is thus
characterised: “He did not exult over the ignorant and ill-favoured: but
spent his riches among the needy: in short, he was the wonder of all good
men.”[396] Isaiah’s prophecy of the _future_ Messiah would appear a
_verbatim_, though more _poetical_ transcript of this inscription, viz.:
“He shall not cry, nor lift up; nor cause His voice to be heard in the
street; a bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He
not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.”[397]
At p. 110 of this volume, I have promised to explain the origin of the
word _Eleusinian_, as applied to the celebration of certain religious
rites. I have very little doubt but that, when reading the declaration,
the reader looked upon its offer as, to say the least,
gratuitous--satisfied that the term could have no possible other meaning,
than as an adjective formed from the substantive _Eleusis_!
Well, the rashness of that judgment I very freely forgive; and repay it
now by the verification of my contract.
_Eleusis_, the _place_, and _Eleusinian_, as descriptive of the
_mysteries_ therein solemnised, were both denominated in honour of that
_Advent_, which all nations awaited; and the fulfilment of which, in the
person of one of the _Budhas_, made him to be recognised on one occasion
as the “source of the _faith_ of the three epochs of the world.”[398]
I have already redeemed the character of those ceremonies from the
sinister imputations which attached to their _secrecy_. An apprehension
that their publication would subvert the popular belief, or a supposed
indelicacy in their tenour, were the _mildest_ constructions which the
_uninitiated_ would afford them. Though secure in the sufficiency of my
former proofs, I cannot avoid taking support from an article in a very
talented publication of our day, in which the writer, _wholly
uninstructed, while he evidently is, as to the nature_ of those
celebrations, yet confirms the fact of their worth and their purity.
“From the whole concurrent testimony of ancient history,” says he, “we
must believe that the Eleusinian mysteries were used for good purposes,
for there is not an instance on record that the honour of an initiation
was ever obtained by a very bad man. The hierophants--the higher priests
of the order--were always exemplary in their morals, and became sanctified
in the eyes of the people. The high-priesthood of this order in Greece was
continued in one family, the Eumolpidæ, for ages. In this they resembled
both the Egyptians and the Jews.
“The Eleusinian mysteries in Rome took another form, and were called the
rites of Bona Dea; but she was the same Ceres that was worshipped in
Greece. All the distinguished Roman authors speak of these rites and in
terms of profound respect. Horace denounces the wretch who should attempt
to reveal the secrets of these rites; Virgil mentions these mysteries with
great respect; and Cicero alludes to them with a greater reverence than
either of the poets we have named. Both the Greeks and Romans punished any
insult offered to these mysteries with the most persevering
vindictiveness. Alcibiades was charged with insulting these religious
rites; and although the proof of his offence was quite doubtful, yet he
suffered for it for years in exile and misery; and it must be allowed that
he was the most popular man of his age.”[399]
Analogous to these were the solemnities at Carthage, designated by the
name of _Phiditia_; and the import of which, as well in term as in
substance, has been no less a riddle to antiquarians, than was the
sanctified commemoration which it disguises. During the interval of their
celebration, the youths received lessons from their elders of the state,
as to the regulation of their conduct in after life; and the lustre of
truth, and the comeliness of virtue, as they shone forth in _Budha_
(_which solves the mystery of the name_), were the invariable _ethics_
they propounded.
Public feasts were the scene for the delivery of those discourses. They
found their way also to Rome, but the _spirituality of Redemption_ not
going hand-in-hand with its _doctrine_, or not duly comprehended, if
accompanying, the _joyousness_ of _hope_, was there sunk into the
_licentiousness_ of _enjoyment_, and the innocence of mirth and of moral
hilarity was superseded by the uproar of riot and of vice! _Such were the
Saturnalia._
How different was their celebration in our “Sacred Ireland!” The very
letters of the epithet, by which our forefathers had solemnised them, show
the spirituality of purpose which actuated their zeal. _Nullog_ was that
epithet--it is compounded of _nua_, _new_; and _log_ (for bullog), a
_belly_, meaning _regeneration_, or the putting aside of the old leaven of
sin, and the assumption of the new investiture of righteousness, by
justification.
As everything, however, in their religious procedure was transacted by
symbols, so, in this instance, they did not content themselves with the
_inner consciousness_ of a _new birth_,[400] but the most go through the
outer form of it by typification; and for this end it was that they
excavated those _apertures_ in the bodies of rocks, which I have noticed
in page 314, as calling forth, from ignorance, the animadversion of the
_devil’s yonies_, in order that, by _passing themselves through them, they
might represent the condition of one issuing, through the womb, to a new
scope of life_.[401]
A nobler method of symbolisation, and confined solely to the _initiated_,
was that which characterised the construction of their subterranean
temples. Here the sublimity of their worship breaks out in all the
grandeur and the majesty of awe.[402] The narrowness of the entrance,
never larger than the girth of the ordinary human body, pourtrayed, as
well the _circular passage_ in their regenerating _type_,[403] as the
_circumvention_ of temptation by which the faithful are ever beset;[404]
while _the model_ of the _cross, which regulates their architecture
withinside, attests the mystery and the form of their master’s death_.
The Mithratic temple, at New Grange, is exactly so constructed. After
squeezing yourself, with much labour, through a long _emblematic_ gallery,
you arrive at a _circular room_, or rather an _irregular polygon or
octagon_;[405] whence, at measured intervals, three other apartments
diverge, forming, with the inleading gut, a perfect _cross_; and
presenting, altogether, to a susceptible mind, _the most solemn
combination of symbolical mysteries_![406]
I wonder why do not our _moderns_ confer these _subterraneous cruciform_
edifices upon the industry of the early Christians, as they have striven
to claim for them the _corresponding_ structures _above ground_! and
without half the probability of success! For if it may be stated, that the
_crucifixions_ upon the _towers_ were an _interpolation_, with a view to
_Christianise_ what before was devoted to _Paganism_, _no one_, at all
events, would maintain that the _monks_ had gone down into the bowels of
the earth, and after ejecting the inmates of old _Alma Mater_, converted
their tabernacles into a magical cross!
Nay, a greater difficulty would still attach to this adventure. The
_Pagodas_[407] of Benares and Mathura, the two principal ones in all
India, are _cruciformly_ built! and, in order to make both worlds
harmonise, the _advocates_ for the monks, or rather their _beliers_, would
have to transport their mechanics to those regions also, and turn upside
down, and sideways, and every way, whatever was the shape of the original
structures, until they moulded them at last into this mysterious cross!
Some blame, however, would seem attachable to the _superintendents_ of
this vision: and it is that, while imprinting this _mark_ over the head of
the principal figure in the cave, or Mithratic temple, at Elephanta,[408]
they neglected to demolish the _Lingam_, appertaining to the previous
worship; and which actually presents itself but a little from it in the
front!
To be grave. There was nothing more _natural_ than that those different
symbols should be thus united. I have shown that in the various copies of
our annals, the _Round Towers_, or overground temples, are designated by
the name of _Fidh-nemead_, the meaning of which I have elucidated to be,
the _consecrated Lingams_: the _Mithratic caves_, or underground temples,
their _correspondents_, it was to be expected, should be known by a
_suitable_ denomination; and, accordingly, you will find this very one at
New Grange mentioned in the _Chronicon Scotorum_ by the title of _Fiodh
Aongusa_; that is, the _Mysterious Cavern_ of _Buddh_; while the
_crucifixions_ upon the _former_, and the _cruciform shape_ of the
_latter_, are the reverential memorials of his atoning dissolution.
The mysteries celebrated within the recesses of those caverns were
precisely of that character which are called _Freemasonic_, or _Cabiric_.
The signification of this latter epithet is, as to written letters, a
desideratum. Selden has missed it; so has Origen and Sophocles. Strabo,
too, and Montfaucon, have been equally astray. Hyde was the only one who
had any _idea_ of its _composition_, when he declared “it was a _Persian
word_ somewhat altered from _Gabri_, or _Guebri_, and signifying
fire-worshippers.”
It is true that _Gabri_ now stands for _fire-worshippers_, but that is
only because that they assumed to themselves this title, which belonged to
another order of their ancestors. The word is derived from _gabh_, “a
smith,” and _ir_, “sacred,” meaning the _sacred smiths_; and _Cabiri_
being only a perversion of it is, of course, in substance, of the very
same import.
Mount _Caucasus_,[409] also, which still, in our language, retains its
original pronunciation, of _Gaba-casan_, or the Smith’s Path, was named
from the same root; nor is the tradition of the _reason_ altogether
obliterated from those who dwell beside it, if we may judge from a
ceremony described by a recent traveller, as performed by them, as
follows:--
“The original founders of the Tartarian Mongolian Scythians, called Cajan
and Docos, got embarrassed amongst those mountains, then uninhabited.
After a sojourn there of 450 years, having become so numerous as to
require other settlements, they were at a loss to find a passage through
the mountains, when a _smith_, pointing out to them a place very rich in
iron ore, advised them to make great fires there, by which means the ore
melted, and a broad passage was opened for them. In commemoration of which
famous march, the Mongols to this day celebrate an annual feast, and
observe the ceremony of heating a piece of iron red hot, on which the
Ceann (that is, the chief) strikes one blow with a hammer, and all the
persons of quality do the same after him.”
I shall close this chapter by the description given of the destruction of
Cambyses’s army in the Nubian desert, _after the insults offered by him to
the Cabiri priests_.
“Gnomes, o’er the waste, you led your myriad powers,
Climb’d on the whirls, and aim’d the flinty showers;
Onward resistless rolls the infuriate surge,
Clouds follow clouds, and mountains mountains urge;
Wave over wave the driving desert swims,
Burst o’er their heads, inhumes their struggling limbs;
Man mounts on man, on camels camels rush,
Hosts march o’er hosts, and nations nations crush:
Wheeling in air, the winged islands fall--
And one great sandy ocean covers all.”[410]