fecundating force in nature, Osiris, the national sun-god of the
Egyptians, was referred to as distinguished from the Semitic Seth
(Set), who was identified with the detested shepherd race. The
association of Osiris with Khem shows his Phallic character,[151] and,
in fact, Plutarch asserts that he was everywhere represented with
the phallus exposed.[152] The Phallic idea enters, moreover, into
the character of all the chief Egyptian deities. Bunsen says: “The
mythological system obviously proceeded from ‘the concealed god’ Ammon
to the creating god. The latter appears first of all as the generative
power of nature in the Phallic god Khem, who is afterwards merged in
Ammon-ra. Then sprung up the idea of the creative power in Kneph. He
forms the divine limbs of Osiris (the primeval soul) in contradiction
to Ptah, who as the strictly demiurgic principle, forms the visible
world. Neith is the creative principle, as nature represented under
a feminine form. Finally, her son Ra, Helios, appears as the last of
the series, in the character of father and nourisher of terrestrial
beings. It is he, whom an ancient monument represents as the demiurgic
principle, creating the mundane egg.”[153] The name of Ammon has
led to the notion that he was an embodiment of the idea of wisdom.
He certainly was distinguished by having the human form, but his
hieroglyphical symbol of the _obelisk_, and his connection with Khem,
show his true nature. He undoubtedly represented the primitive idea of
a generative god, probably at a time when this notion of fecundity had
not yet been extended to nature as distinguished from man, and thus he
would form a point of contact between the later Egyptian sun-gods and
the pillar gods of the Semites and Phœnicians.[154] To the Egyptians,
as to these other peoples, the sun became the great source of deity.
His fecundating warmth or his fiery destroying heat were, however,
not the only attributes deified. These were the most important,
but the Egyptians, especially, made gods out of many of the solar
characters,[155] although the association of the idea of “intellect”
with Amun-re must have been of late date, if the original nature of
Amun was what has been above suggested.
As man, however, began to read nature aright, and as his moral and
intellectual faculties were developed, it was necessary that the solar
deities themselves should become invested with co-relative attributes,
or that other gods should be formed to embody them. The perception
of _light_, as distinguished from heat, was a fertile source of such
attributes. In the Chaldean mythology, _Vul_, the son of _Anu_, was the
god of the air, but his power had relation to the purely atmospheric
phenomena rather than to light.[156] The only reference to light found
in the titles of the early deities is in the character ascribed to
_Va-lua_, the later _Bur_ or _Nin-ip_, who is said to “irradiate the
nations like the sun, the light of the gods.”[157] But this deity was
apparently the distant planet Saturn, if not originally the moon,
and the perception of light as a divine attribute must be referred
to the Aryan mind.[158] Thus the Hindu _Dyaus_ (the Greek _Zeus_) is
the shining deity, the god of the bright sky. As such the sun-gods
now also become the gods of intellectual wisdom, an attribute which
also appears to have originated with the Aryan peoples, among whom
the Brahmans were possessors of the highest wisdom, as children of
the sun, and whose Apollo and Athené were noble embodiments of this
attribute. The Chaldean gods, _Héa_ and _Nebo_, were undoubtedly
symbolised by the wedge or arrow-head, which had especial reference to
learning. In reality, however, this symbol merely shows that they were
the patrons of letters or writing, and not of wisdom, in its purely
intellectual aspect. If the form of the Assyrian alphabetical character
was of Phallic origin,[159] we may have here the source of the idea
of a connection between physical and mental knowledge embodied in the
legend of the “fall.” In the Persian _Ahurô-mazdâo_ (the wise spirit)
we have the purest representation of intellectual wisdom. The book of
Zoroaster, the Avesta, is literally the “word,” the word or wisdom
which was revealed in creation and embodied in the divine Mithra, who
was himself the luminous sun-god.
The similarity between the symbols of the sun-gods of antiquity and the
natural objects introduced into the Mosaic myth of the fall has been
already referred to, and it is necessary now to consider shortly what
influence the Phallic principle there embodied had over other portions
of Hebraic theology. The inquiries of Dr. Faber have thrown great light
on this question, although the explanation given by him of the myth of
Osiris and of the kindred myths of antiquity is by no means the correct
one. Finding a universal prevalence of Phallic ideas and symbolism,
Dr. Faber refers it to the degradation of a primitive revelation of
the Great Father of the Universe. The truth thus taught was lost sight
of, and was replaced by the dual notion of a Great Father and a Great
Mother—“the transmigrating Noah and the mundane Ark” of the universal
Deluge. Noah was, however, only a reappearance of Adam, and the ark
floating on the waters of the Deluge was an analogue of the earth
swimming in the ocean of space.[160] There is undoubtedly a parallelism
between the Adam and Noah of the Hebrew legends, as there is between
the analogous personages of other phases of these legends, yet it is
evident that, if the Deluge never happened, a totally different origin
from the one supposed by Dr. Faber must be assigned to the great
Phallic myth of antiquity. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, to
any explanation (other than the Phallic one) of the origin of this
myth, to establish the truth of the Noahic Deluge.[161] Accordingly, an
American writer has framed an elaborate system of “Arkite symbolism,”
founded on the supposed influence of the great Deluge over the minds
of the posterity of those who survived its horrors. Mr. Lesley sees in
this catastrophe the explanation of “phallism,” which, “converting all
the older Arkite symbols into illustrations of its own philosophical
conceptions of the mystery of generation, gave to the various parts
and members of the human body those names which constitute the special
vocabulary of obscenity of the present day.”[162]
But the priority of these symbols or conceptions is the question
at issue. Did the development of “Arkism” precede or follow the
superstitions referred to by Mr. Lesley as _Ophism_, _Mithraism_, and
_Phallism_, all of which have been shown to embody analogous ideas?
If the question of priority is to be determined by reference to the
written tradition which furnishes the real ground of belief in a
great Deluge, it must clearly be given to the Phallic superstition;
for it is shown conclusively, as I think, that almost the first event
in the life of man there related is purely Phallic in its symbolism.
Nor is the account of the fall the only portion of the Mosaic history
of primitive man which belongs to this category. The Garden of Eden,
with its tree of life and the river which divided into four streams,
although it may have had a secondary reference to the traditional place
of Semitic origin to which the Hebrews looked back with a regretful
longing, has undoubtedly a recondite Phallic meaning. It must be so, if
the explanation I have given of the myth of the fall be right, since
the two are intimately connected, and the Garden[163] is essential
to the succeeding catastrophe. That this opinion is correct can be
proved moreover by reference to Hindu mythology. “The Hindu,” says
Dr. Creuzer, “contemplates with love his mysterious Merou, a sacred
mountain from whence the source of life spreads itself in the valleys
and over the plains, which separates day from night, reunites heaven
and earth, and finally on which the sun, the moon, and the stars each
repose.”[164] But what is this mysterious mountain, the sacred Merou?
It is shown by Dr. Creuzer’s own explanation. He says: “It is on the
Mount Merou, the central point of the earth (which elevates itself
as an immense phallus from the centre of an immense yoni amongst the
islands with which the sea is sown), that the grand popular deity who
presides over the Lingam, _Siva_ or Mahadeva, the father and master
of nature, makes his cherished abode, spreading life to every part
under a thousand diverse forms which he incessantly renews. Near him
is _Bhavani_ or _Parvati_, his sister and his wife, the Queen of the
mountains, the goddess of the Yoni, who carries in her bosom the germ
of all things, and brings forth the beings whom she has conceived by
Mahadeva. We have here the two great principles of nature, the one
male and the other female, generators and regenerators, creators and
at the same time destroyers; but they destroy only to renew; they
only change the forms; life and death succeed in a perfect circle,
and the substance remains in the midst of all these changes.” The
sacred mountain is wanting to the Mosaic legend, but Dr. Faber justly
sees[165] in the Mount Merou, where resides Siva and Bhavani, the
Hebrew Paradise, and we find that the Hindu myth affirms that the
sacred river not only sprang from the roots of Jambu, a tree of a most
extravagant size, which is thought to convey knowledge and to effect
the accomplishment of every human wish, but also that, after passing
through “the circle of the moon,” it divides it into “four streams,
flowing towards the four cardinal points.”
The priority of the Phallic superstition over “Arkism” is further
proved by the undoubted fact that, even in the traditions of the race
to whom we are indebted for the precise details of the incidents
accompanying the Deluge, the Phallic deities of the Hamitico-Semites
are genealogically placed long before the occurrence of this event.
The Semitic deity Seth is, according to one fable, the semi-divine
first ancestor of the Semites. Bunsen has shown clearly also that
several of the antediluvian descendants of the Semitic Adam were
among the Phœnician deities. Thus, the Carthaginians had a god Yubal,
Jubal, who would appear to have been the sun-god Æsculapius, called
“the fairest of the gods and so, we read in a Phœnician inscription
Ju-Baal—_i.e._, beauty of Baal, which Movers ingeniously interprets
Æsculapius—Asmun-Jubal.” Here, then, adds Bunsen, “is another old
Semitic name attached to a descendant of Lamekh, together with Adah,
Zillah, and Naamah.”[166] Hadah, the wife of Lamekh, as well of Esau,
the Phœnician Usov, is identified with the goddess, worshipped at
Babylon as Hera (Juno), and, notwithstanding Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s
dictum to the contrary, her names, Hera, Hadah, point to a connection
with the Egyptian _Her Her_, or _Hathor_, who was the daughter of Seb
and Netpe, as Hera was the daughter of Chronos and Rhea. The name of
the god _Kiyun_, or Kevan, who was worshipped by the Hebrews, and
who in Syria was said to devour children, seems, from its connection
with the root _kun_, to erect, to point to the antediluvian Kain or
Kevan. _Kon_, derived from the same root, was, according to Bunsen,
a Phœnician designation of Saturn.[167] Even the great Carthaginian
sun-god _Melekh_, who was also “held in universal honour throughout
Phœnicia,” seems, although Bunsen does not thus identify him, to be
no other than Lamekh, the father of Noah, in one of the genealogies
of Genesis. We may, perhaps, have in the sacrifices to the Phœnician
deities, when the first-born sons of the people were offered on his
altars, an explanation[168] of the passage in Genesis which has so
much puzzled commentators, where Lamekh is made to declare that he
has “slain a man for his wound, and a youth for his hurt,” for which,
while Cain was avenged seven times, Lamekh should be avenged seventy
times seven times.[169] The Phœnicians had a tradition that Kronos
(Saturn) had sacrificed his own beloved son Yadid, and some ancient
writers said that the human sacrifices to Moloch were in imitation of
this act.[170] This reason may not be the correct one for the use of
human sacrifices, but the seventy times seven times in which Lamekh was
avenged may well refer to the abundance of the victims offered on the
altar of the Phœnician deity.
The priority of the Phallic superstition over “Arkism,” or rather the
existence of that superstition before the formation of the Deluge
legend, is proved, moreover, by its agreement with the myth of Osiris
and Isis. This agreement forms the central idea of the explanation of
pagan idolatry given by Faber, and yet it conclusively proves that
the Noachian Deluge was simply a myth, having, like that of Osiris, a
Phallic basis. Bunsen says “the myth of Osiris and Typhon, heretofore
considered as primeval, can now be authoritatively proved to be of
modern date in Egypt—that is to say, about the thirteenth or fourteenth
century B.C.”[171] But it is _this_ version of the Osirian myth which
is said to be founded on the Noachian catastrophe, Typhon or The Evil
Being, the persecutor of Osiris, being the Waters of the Deluge. The
very foundation of the Hebrew legend is thus cut away, and from the
fact, moreover, that the Egyptians had no tradition of a great flood,
we must seek for another origin for the legend of which different
phases were held by so many of the peoples of antiquity. The fact of
Typhon (Seth) having been venerated in Egypt to so late a date as the
thirteenth century B.C. is a proof that the myth, according to which
he was the cruel persecutor of his brother Osiris, must have been of
a later origin. The primitive form of the myth is easily recognised
when it is known that both Osiris and Typhon (Seth) were sun-gods.
Thus, according to Bunsen, “the myth of Osiris typifies the solar
year, the power of Osiris is the sun of the lower hemisphere, the
winter solstice. The birth of Horus typifies the vernal equinox—the
victory of Horus, the summer equinox—the inundation of the Nile.
Typhon is the autumnal equinox—Osiris is slain on the seventeenth
of Athyr (November).... The rule of Typhon lasts from the autumnal
equinox to the middle of December. He reigns twenty-eight years, or
lives as long.”[172] Thus the history of Osiris is “the history of the
circle of the year,” and in his resurrection as Horus we see the sun
resuscitating itself after its temporary eclipse during the winter
solstice. Here Typhon is also a sun-god, his rule being at the autumnal
equinox when the sun has its full power. This was the deity of the
Semites and of the inhabitants of Lower Egypt, and his scorching force,
doubtless, prepared the Egyptians, who venerated the milder Osiris,
to look with abhorrence on Typhon-Seth, who had already, probably
under the same influence, become a savage deity, delighting in burnt
offerings and human sacrifices.[173] No wonder, therefore, that when
the worshippers of the Semitic god were driven out of Egypt, the god
himself was treated as an enemy. Thus we are told that the enemies
of Egypt and their gods contended with the gods of Egypt, who veiled
themselves under the heads of animals in order to save themselves
from Typhon. Moreover, when this Semitic god was thus degraded and
transformed into an Evil Being, he would naturally come to be looked
upon as the enemy of Osiris, seeing that he was already identified
with the autumn sun, which during the autumnal equinox triumphs over
the sun of Osiris; and we can easily understand how, if the myth of a
Deluge, and the consequent destruction of all mankind but the father of
the renewed human race, was introduced, Typhon would be the destroying
enemy and Osiris the suffering and restored man-god.
If, as Dr. Faber supposes, the Egyptian myth was a form of that which
relates to the Noachian Deluge, we can only suppose them to have had
a similar basis, a basis which, from the very circumstances of the
case, must be purely “Phallic.” This explanation is the only one
which is consistent with a peculiarity in the Hebrew legend which is
an insurmountable objection to its reception as the expression of a
literal fact. We are told by the Mosaic narrative that Jehovah directed
Noah to take with him into the ark “of fowls after their kind, and of
cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his
kind, two of every sort.” Now, according to the ordinary acceptation
of the legend, this passage expresses a simple absurdity, even on the
hypothesis of a partial Deluge. If, however, we read the narrative in
a Phallic sense, and by the ark understand the sacred _Argha_ of Hindu
mythology, the _Yoni_ of Parvati, which, like the moon in Zoroastrian
teaching, carries in _itself_ the “germs of all things,” we see the
full propriety of what otherwise is incomprehensible. The Elohim
“created” the heavens and the earth, and on its destruction the seeds
of all things were preserved in the ark to again cover the earth. Taken
in this sense, we see the reason of the curious analogy which exists in
various points between the Hebrew legends of the Creation and of the
Deluge, this analogy being one of the grounds on which the hypothesis
of the Great Father as the central idea of all mythologies has been
based. Thus, the primeval ship, the navigation of which is ascribed
to the mythological being, is not the ark of Noah or Osiris, or the
vessel of the Phœnician Kabiri. It was the moon, the ship of the sun,
in which his seed is supposed to be hidden until it bursts forth in
new life and power. The fact that the moon was, in early mythologies,
a male deity, almost necessitates, however, that there should have
been another origin for the sacred vessel of Osiris. This we have in
the Hastoreth-_karnaim_, the cow-goddess, whose horns represent the
lunar ark, and who, without doubt, was a more primitive deity than the
moon-goddess herself.[174] The most primitive type of all, however,
is that of the _Argha_ or _Yoni_ of the Indian Iswara, which from its
name was supposed to have been turned into a dove.[175] Thus, in Noah
and the ark, as in Osiris and the moon, we see simply the combination
of the male and female elements as they are still represented in the
Hindu lingam. The introduction of the dove into the myth is a curious
confirmation of this view. For this bird, which, as “the emblem of love
and fruitfulness,” was “consecrated to Venus, under all her different
names, at Babylon, in Syria, Palestine, and Greece;[176] which was the
national banner-sign of the Assyrians, as of the earlier Sythic empire,
whose founders, according to Hindu tradition, took the name of _Jonim_
or _Yoniyas_, and which attended on Janus, a diluvian ‘god of opening
and shutting;’ was simply a type of ‘the Yoni’ or Jonah, or Navicular
feminine principle,” which was said to have assumed the form of a ship
and a dove.[177]
In bringing this essay to a close, some mention should be made of
what may be called the _modern_ religions, Brahminism, Buddhism, and
Christianity, seeing that these still exist as the faiths of great
peoples. As to the first of these, it may be thought that its real
character cannot be ascertained from the present condition of Hindu
belief. It is said that the religion of the _Vedas_ is very different
from that of the _Puranas_, which have taken their place. It should
be remembered, however, that these books profess to reproduce old
doctrine, the word “Purana” itself meaning _old_, and that Puranas
are referred to in one of the Upanishads, while the _Tantras_, which
contain the principles of the _Sacti Puja_, and which are as yet
almost unknown to Europeans, are considered by the Brahmins to be
more ancient than the Puranas themselves.[178] The origin of the
ideas contained in these books is a difficult question. The germs
of both Vishnu-worship and Siva-worship appear to be found in the
Vedas,[179] and the worship of the linga is undoubtedly referred to
the Mahabharata.[180] It is more probable, as thought by Mr. Fergusson
and other late writers, that they are only indirectly sprung from
the primitive Hinduism. The similarity between Siva-ism and the
Santal-worship of the Great Mountain pointed out by Dr. Hunter is
very remarkable, and this analogy is strengthened by intermixture
in both cases with river-worship.[181] There is no doubt that the
Great Mountain is simply a name for the Phallic emblem, which is the
chief form under which Siva is represented in the numerous temples at
Benares dedicated to his honour. Considering the position occupied by
the serpent as a symbol of life and indirectly of the male power, we
should expect to find its worship connected to some extent with that
of Siva. Mr. Fergusson, however, declares that it is not so, and,
although this statement requires some qualification,[182] yet it is
certain that the serpent is also intimately associated with Vishnu.
In explanation of this fact, Mr. Fergusson remarks: “The Vaishnava
religion is derived from a group of faiths in which the serpent always
played an important part. The eldest branch of the family was the Naga
worship, pure and simple; out of that arose Buddhism, ... and on its
decline two faiths—at first very similar to one another—rose from its
ashes, the Jaina and the Vaishnava.” The serpent is almost always found
in Jaina temples as an object of worship, while it appears everywhere
in Vaishnava tradition.[183] But elsewhere Mr. Fergusson tells us
that, although Buddhism owed its establishment to Naga tribes, yet its
supporters repressed the worship of the serpent, elevating tree-worship
in its place.[184] It is difficult to understand how the Vaishnavas,
who are worshippers of the female power,[185] and who hate the
_lingam_, can yet so highly esteem the serpent which has indirectly,
at least, reference to the male principle. Perhaps, however, we may
find an explanation in Mr. Fergusson’s own remarks as to the character
and development of Buddhism. According to him, Buddhism was chiefly
influential among Naga tribes, and “was little more than a revival of
the coarser superstitions of the aboriginal races,[186] purified and
refined by the application of Aryan morality, and elevated by doctrines
borrowed from the intellectual superiority of the Aryan races.[187]”
As to its development, the sculptures on the Sanchi Tope show that at
about the beginning of the Christian era, although the _dagoba_, the
_chakra_ or wheel, the _tree_, and other emblems, were worshipped, the
serpent hardly appears; while at Amravati, three centuries later, this
animal had become equal to Buddha himself.[188] Moreover, there can be
no doubt that the _lingam_ was an emblem of Buddha, as was also the
_lotus_, which represents the same idea—the conjunction of the male
and female elements, although in a higher sense perfect wisdom.[189]
The association of the same ideas is seen in the noted prayer _Om mani
padmi hum_ (“Oh, the Jewel in the Lotus”), which refers to the birth
of Padmipani from the sacred lotus flower,[190] but also, there can be
little doubt, to the phallus and the yoni. We may suppose, therefore,
that whatever the moral doctrine taught by Gautama, he used the old
Phallic symbols, although it may be with a peculiar application. If the
opinion expressed by Mr. Fergusson as to the introduction into India
of the Vaishnava faith by an early immigrant race be correct, it must
have existed in the time of Gautama, and indeed the Ion-ism of Western
Asia is traditionally connected with India itself at a very early
date,[191] although probably the early centre of Ion-ism, the worship
of the Dove or Yoni, was, as Bryant supposes, in Chaldea.[192] We see
no trace, however, in Buddhism proper of _Sacti Puja_, and I would
suggest that, instead of abolishing either, Gautama substituted for the
separate symbols of the linga and the yoni, the association of the two
in the _lingam_. If this were so, we can well understand how, on the
fall of Buddhism, Siva-worship[193] may have retained this compound
symbol, with many of the old Naga ideas, although with little actual
reference to the serpent itself, other than as a symbol of life and
power; while, on the other hand, the Vaishnavas may have reverted to
the primitive worship of the female principle, retaining a remembrance
of the early serpent associations in the use of the _Sesha_, the
heavenly naga with seven heads[194] figured on the Amravati sculptures.
It is possible, however, that there may be another ground of opposition
between the followers of Vishnu and Siva. Mr. Fergusson points out
that, notwithstanding the peculiarly Phallic symbolism of the latter
deity, “the worship of Siva is too severe, too stern for the softer
emotions of love, and all his temples are quite free from any allusion
to it.” It is far different with the Vaishnavas, whose temples
“are full of sexual feelings generally expressed in the grossest
terms.”[195] Siva, in fact, is specially a god of intellect, typified
by his being three-eyed, and although terrible as the resistless
destroyer, yet the recreator of all things in perfect wisdom;[196]
while Vishnu has relation rather to the lower type of wisdom which was
distinctive of the Assyrians, among ancient peoples, and which has so
curious a connection with the female principle. Hence the _shell_ or
_conch_ is peculiar to Vishnu, while the _linga_ belongs to Siva.[197]
Gautama combined the simpler feminine phase of religion with the more
masculine intellectual type, symbolising this union by the lingam and
other analogous emblems. The followers of Siva have, however, adopted
the combined symbol in the place of the linga alone, thus approaching
more nearly than the Vaishnavas to the idea of the founder of modern
Buddhism. Gautama himself, nevertheless, was most probably only the
restorer of an older faith, according to which perfect wisdom was to be
found only in the typical combination of the male and female principles
in nature. The real explanation of the connection between Buddhism
and Siva-ism has perhaps, however, yet to be given[198]. The worship
of the serpent-god is not unknown, even at the present day, in the
very stronghold of Siva-ism,[199] reminding us of the early spread of
Buddhism among Naga tribes. In the “crescent surmounted by a pinnacle
similar to the pointed end of a spear,” which decorates the roofs of
the Tibetan monasteries,[200] we undoubtedly have a reproduction of the
so-called trident of Siva. This instrument is given also to _Sani_, the
Hindu Saturn, who is represented as encompassed by two serpents,[201]
and hence the pillar symbol of this primeval deity we may well suppose
to be reproduced in the linga of the Indian Phallic god.[202] But the
pillar symbol is not wanting to Buddhism itself. The columns said to
have been raised by Asoka have a reference to the pillars of Seth. The
remains of an ancient pillar supposed to be a Buddhist _Lat_ is still
to be seen at Benares,[203] the word _Lat_ being merely another form
of the name _Tet_, _Set_, or _Sat_, given to the Phœnician Semitic or
deity. In the central pillar of the so-called Druidical circles we have
doubtless a reference to the same primitive superstition, the idea
intended to be represented being the combination of the male and female
principles.[204]
In conclusion, it must be said that Christianity itself is certainly
not without the Phallic element. Reference may be made to the important
place taken in Christian dogma by the “fall,” which has been shown to
have had a purely Phallic foundation, and to the peculiar position
assigned to Mary, as the Virgin Mother of God.[205] It must not be
forgotten, however, that, whatever may have been the primitive idea
on which these dogmas are based, it had received a totally fresh
aspect at the hands of those from whom the founders of Christianity
received it.[206] As to symbols, too, these were employed by the
Christians in the later signification given to them by the followers
of the ancient faiths. Thus the fish and the cross symbols originally
embodied the idea of _generation_, but afterwards that of _life_, and
it was in this sense that they were applied to Christ.[207] The most
evidently Phallic representation used by the Christian Iconographers is
undoubtedly the _aureole_, or _vesica piscis_, which is elliptical in
form and contained the figure of Christ—Mary herself, however, being
sometimes represented in the aureole, glorified as Jesus Christ.[208]
Probably the _nimbus_ also is of Phallic significance, for, although
generally circular, it was sometimes triangular, square, &c.[209] The
name of Jehovah is inscribed within a radiating triangle.[210] Didron
gives an illustration of St. John the Evangelist with a circular
nimbus, surmounted by two sun-flowers, emblems of the sun, an idea
which, says Didron, “reminds us of the Egyptian figures, from the
heads of which two lotus-flowers rise in a similar manner.”[211] There
is also a curious representation in the same work of the _Divine
hand_ with the thumb and two forefingers outstretched, resting on
a cruciform nimbus.[212] In Egypt the hand having the fingers thus
placed was a symbol of Isis, and, from its accompaniments, there can
be no doubt, notwithstanding the mesmeric character ascribed to it by
Ennemoser,[213] that it had an essentially Phallic origin, although
it may ultimately have been used to signify life. There can be no
question, however, that, whatever may be thought as to the nature
of its symbols,[214] the basis of Christianity is more emotional
than that of any other religion now existing. Reference has been
made to the presence in Hebraic theology of an idea of God—that of a
Father—antagonistic to the Phœnician notion of the “Lord of Heaven.”
We have the same idea repeated in Christ’s teaching, its distinctive
characteristic being the recognition of God as the Universal Father—the
Great Parent of mankind, who had sent His son into the world that
he might reconcile it unto Himself. It is in the character of a
forgiving parent that Christians are taught to view God, when He is
not lost sight of in the presence of Christ, of whom the church is
declared to be the bride. In Christianity we see the final expression
of the primitive worship of the father as the head of the family—the
generator—as the result of an instinctive reasoning process leading
up from the particular to the universal—with which, however, the
dogma of the “fall” and its consequences—deduced so strangely from
a Phallic legend—have been incorporated.[215] As a religion of the
emotions, the position of Christianity is perfectly unassailable.
As a system of rational faith, however, it is otherwise; and the
tendency of the present age is just the reverse of that which took
place among the Hebrews—the substitution of a Heavenly King for a
Divine Father. In fact, modern science is doing its best to effect for
primitive fetishism, or demon-worship, what Christianity has done for
Phallic-worship—generalise the powers of nature and make of God a Great
Unknowable Being, who, like the Elohim, of the Mosaic Cosmogony, in
some mysterious manner, causes all things to appear at a word. This
cannot, however, be the real religion of the future. If God is to be
worshipped at all, the Heavenly King and the Divine Father must be
combined as a single term, and He must be viewed, not as the unknowable
cause of being, but as the great source of all being, who may be known
in nature—the expression of his life and energy, and in man who was
“created” in his own image.
* * * * *
_Note._—M. François Lenormant, in the seventh edition of his “Histoire
ancienne de l’Orient” (T. i., p. 91), after considering the traditions
of a great deluge preserved by various peoples, concludes that “the
biblical deluge, far from being a myth, has been a real and historical
fact, which has struck the ancestors of at least the Aryan or
Indo-European, the Semitic or Syro-Arab, and the Hamitic or Kouschite
races—that is, the three great civilised races of the ancient world,
before the ancestors of these races were separated, and in the Asiatic
country which they inhabited together.” The authority of M. Lenormant
is great, but preference must be given on this point to the arguments
of M. Dupuis, who, in his “Origine de tous des Cultes” (T. iii., p.
176, _et seq._), has almost certainly proved the astronomical character
of what he terms the “fiction sacerdotale,” which, however, may have
originated with the common ancestors of the three races referred to by
M. Lenormant.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] “Origin of Pagan Idolatry,” vol. iii., p. 117.
[5] “Histoire abrégée de differens Cultes,” vol. ii.
[6] “A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus.”
[7] “Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London,” vol. i., p. 320.
[8] Dulaure, _op. cit._, vol. ii., 219.
[9] “Rural Bengal,” p. 203.
[10] Ennemoser’s “History of Magic” (Bohn), vol. ii., p. 33.
[11] Dr. Fernand Castelain, in his work, “La Circoncision est-elle
utile?” comes to the conclusion (p. 14) that it is both hygienic and
moral. The value of circumcision may be admitted, without ascribing its
origin to a sanitary motive.
[12] Herodotus, “Euterpe,” sec. 104.
[13] De Coulanges, “La Cité antique,” 6th ed., pp. 36, 100.
[14] M. Elie Reclus, in a remarkable paper presented in 1879 to the
Anthropological Institute, affirms (p. 16, _et seq._) that circumcision
is derived from the custom of emasculation practised on captives,
which is equivalent to death, and that it is a substitute for human
sacrifices. He admits, however (p. 32), that, among the Semites at
least, circumcision was a “consecration of the sexual organ to a
Phallic divinity.”
[15] “Ante-Nicene Christian Library,” vol. iv. (Clement of Alexandria),
p. 27.
[16] The Hebrew word _bara_ translated “created” can be used in a
different sense.
[17] “Jashar,” by Dr. Donaldson, 2nd ed. (1860), p. 45, _et seq._
[18] Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible”—Art., “Apple-tree.” Inman’s
“Ancient Faiths,” vol. i., p. 274.
[19] “Zambesi and its Tribes,” p. 188.
[20] “Missionary Travels in South Africa,” p. 495.
[21] “Journey to Ashango Land,” p. 295.
[22] “River Zaire,” p. 181.
[23] “Travels through Central Africa,” p. 394, 407.
[24] “Travels,” vol. ii., p. 391; and vol. iii., p. 665.
[25] Journal of R. Geog. Society, vol. xvi., p. 240.
[26] “The Malayan Archipelago,” vol. i., p. 158.
[27] Wilkinson, vol. iv., p. 260, 313.
[28] Tennent’s “Ceylon,” vol. ii., p. 520.
[29] M. Littré sees in the two trees of Genesis only the soma, which
was introduced into the Brahmanical Sacrifices, which, with the
Iranians, was transformed into _two_ mystic trees.—_La Philosophie
Positive_, 3rd vol., p. 341, _et seq._
[30] _Op. cit._, vol. ii., p. 448.
[31] Gen., xxxv. 4.
[32] Ezek., vi. 13.
[33] “Celtic Researches,” p. 446.
[34] “Aryan Mythology,” vol. i., p. 274_n._
[35] Ditto, vol. ii., p. 19.
[36] See Grimm’s “Teutonic Mythology,” p. 571, _et seq._
[37] Cox, _op. cit._, vol. i., p. 274_n._
[38] According to Gen., ii. 23, the name isha (woman) was bestowed by
Adam on the first woman, because she was taken out of man (_Ish_)—terms
which were used in reference to man and wife. This is shewn by the
subsequent reference to marriage (v. 24). See Smith’s “Dictionary of
the Bible”—Art. “Marriage.”
[39] “Ancient Egyptians,” vol. iv., p. 313.
[40] Ditto, p. 313.
[41] Dulaure’s “Histoire abregée de differens Cultes,” vol. ii., p. 169.
[42] See Guigniaut’s “Religions de l’Antiquité” (1825), vol. i., p. 149.
[43] See on this, Inman, _op. cit._, vol. ii., p. 462.
[44] The Hindu legend expressly mentions the fig. See _infrà_.
[45] _Op. cit._, vol. i., p. 108, 527. In the East the pomegranate
symbolises the full womb.
[46] See Bunsen’s “Egypt,” vol. iv., p. 225, 255, 288.
[47] “History of Herodotus,” vol. i., p. 600.
[48] Wilkinson’s “Ancient Egyptians,” vol. iv., p. 412, 413; and King’s
“Gnostics,” p. 31. See also Bryant’s “Ancient Mythology,” vol. iv., p.
201. The last-named work contains most curious information as to the
extension of serpent-worship.
[49] See “The Serpent Symbol in America,” by E.G. Squier,
M.A.—“American Archæological Researches,” No. 1 (1851), p. 161, _et
seq._; “Palenqué,” by M. de Waldeck and M. Brasseur de Bourbourg
(1866), p. 48.
[50] Lajard—“Mémoires de l’Institut Royal de France” (Acad. des
Inscriptions et Belles Lettres), T. xiv., p. 89.
[51] Wood’s “Natural History of Man,” vol. i., p. 185; also Squier’s
“Serpent Symbol,” p. 222, _et seq._
[52] I have a strong suspicion that in the primitive shape of the
Hebrew legend, as in that of the Mexicans, both the father and mother
of the human race had the serpent form.
[53] _Op. cit._, p. 46. Rudra, the Vedic form of Siva, the “King of
Serpents,” is called the father of the Maruts (winds). See _infrà_ as
to identification of Siva with Saturn.
[54] The idea of _circularity_ appears to be associated with both these
names. See Bryant, _op. cit._, vol. iii., p. 164, and vol. ii., p. 191,
as to derivation of Typhon.
[55] Lajard. _Op. cit._, p. 182, “Culte de Mithra,” p. 45; also
“Mémoire sur l’Hercule Assyrien de M. Raoul-Rochette.”
[56] Mr. J. H. Rivett-Carnac suggests that the snake is a “symbol of
the phallus.” He adds, “The sun, the invigorating power of nature,
has ever, I believe, been considered to represent the same idea,
not necessarily obscene, but the great mystery of nature, the life
transmitted from generation to generation, or, as Professor Stephens
puts it, ‘life out of death, life everlasting.’”—_Snake Symbol in
India_ (reprinted from. “Journal of As. Soc. of Bengal”), 1879, p. 13.
[57] Wilkinson, _op. cit._, vol. v., p. 65
[58] Ditto, p. 243.
[59] Ditto, p. 239.
[60] See Ennemoser’s “History of Magic” (Bohn), vol. i., p. 253.
[61] Ditto, p. 243.
[62] Guigniaut’s “Le Dieu Serapis,” p. 19.
[63] _Op. cit._, p. 12.
[64] Faber’s “Pagan Idolatry,” vol. 1, p. 424_n._
[65] Prof. Max Müller derives cherubim from [Greek: gryphes], griffins,
the guardians of the Soma in the Veda and Avesta. “Chips from a German
Workshop,” 2nd ed., i. 157.
[66] Ez., c. 28, v. 14-16.
[67] See Colenzo’s “Pentateuch” (1865), p. 341.
[68] See Faber’s “Pagan Idolatry,” vol. iii., p. 606.
[69] C. i., v. 10.
[70] C. x., v. 14.
[71] _Op. cit._, vol. i., p. 422.
[72] Ez., c. i., v. 7.
[73] _Op. cit._, vol. i., p. 404.
[74] “Chinese,” p. 376.
[75] See Faber, _op. cit._, vol. i., pp. 404-410.
[76] Lajard, “Le culte de Mithra,” pp. 56, 59.
[77] Lajard, _op. cit._, p. 50; _infrà_, p. 39.
[78] This superstition is found among peoples—the Kafirs, for
instance—who do not appear to possess any trace of planetary worship.
[79] This is evident from the facts mentioned above, notwithstanding
the use of this animal as a symbol of _wisdom_.
[80] In connection with this subject, see St. Jerome, in his letter on
“Virginity” to Eustachia.
[81] The turning of Aaron’s rod into a serpent had, no doubt, a
reference to the idea of _wisdom_ associated with that animal.
[82] “The Fallen Angels” (1857).
[83] Moor’s “Hindu Pantheon,” p. 101.
[84] The Bo-tree. See _suprà_, p. 18.
[85] Probably the _fruit_ is really intended. Higgins refers to “a
peculiar property which the fig has of producing its fruit from its
flowers, contained within its own bosom, and concealed from profane
eyes,” as a reason why the leaves of the fig-tree were selected by Adam
and Eve to cover their nakedness. _Anacalypsis_, vol. ii., p. 253.
[86] Hardwicke’s “Christ and other Masters,” vol. i., p. 305-6.
[87] Mr. Hardwicke states that the sacred Indian fig is endowed by the
Brahmans and Buddhists with mysterious significance, as the tree of
knowledge or intelligence.
[88] See Beausobre’s curious and learned work, “Histoire de Manichée et
du Manichéisme,” Liv. vii., ch. iii.; Gibbon’s “Fall and Decline of the
Roman Empire,” vol. ii., p. 186.
[89] As already suggested, these may be the _ish_ and _isha_ of Genesis.
[90] Lajard, “Le culte de Mithra,” p. 52.
[91] Ditto, p. 60.
[92] This is shown by Mr. Gerald Massey in his remarkable work, “The
Natural Genesis,” and particularly the chapter entitled “Typology of
the Fall in Heaven and on Earth.”
[93] Lajard, _op. cit._, p. 49.
[94] “Ormazd et Ahriman,” by James Darmesteter, pp. 154, 159.
[95] It may be objected that the “Boundehesch,” which gives the above
details, is comparatively a modern work. It must be noted, however,
that the destruction of purity in the world by the serpent _Dahâka_ is
mentioned in the 9th Yaçna, v. 27, which is much earlier, and that Dr.
Haug supposes the “Boundehesch” to have had a Zend original (“Essays on
the Sacred Language, &c., of the Parsees,” p. 29). Windischmann, also,
says that “a closer study of this remarkable and venerable book, and
comparing it with the original text preserved to us, will induce us to
form a much more favourable opinion of its antiquity and contents.”
(“Zoroastrische Studien,” p. 282). The opinion of this latter writer is
that, notwithstanding the striking resemblance between the narrative
of the fall of man contained in the “Boundehesch” and that in Genesis,
the former is original, although inferior in simplicity to the Hebrew
tradition (_idem_, p. 212). The narratives are so much alike, however,
that they can hardly have had independent origins, and the very
simplicity of the latter is a very strong argument against its priority.
[96] See _suprà_, p. 24.
[97] Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. ii.,
p. 264, _et seq._, and compare with the Gnostic personification of
“Truth,” for which see King’s “Gnostics and their Remains,” p. 39.
[98] Lajard, _op. cit._, p. 96.
[99] Jehovah threatens _death_, but the Serpent impliedly promises
_life_, the former having relation to the _individual_, the latter to
the _race_.
[100] Lajard, _op. cit._, p. 60, _note_.
[101] Some of the Essenes, who appear to have had connection with
Mithraism, taught this doctrine.
[102] It is well known to Biblical writers that this legend formed no
part of the earlier Mosaic narrative.
[103] Faber’s “Pagan Idolatry.”
[104] See Dulaure, _op. cit._, vol. i., as to the primeval Hermes.
[105] Smith’s “Dictionary of Mythology”—Art., “Hermes.”
[106] Gen., xxxi. 45-53.
[107] _Linga_ means a “sign” or “token.” The truth of the statement in
the text would seem to follow, moreover, from the fact that the figure
is sacred only after it has undergone certain ceremonies at the hands
of a priest.
[108] Or tamarisk tree.
[109] Gen., xxi. 33.
[110] Dr. Inman suggests that ashera is the female counterpart of
_Asher_. See under these names in “Ancient Faiths,” vol. i.
[111] Even if the statement of this event be an interpolation, the
argument in the text is not affected. The statement is not inconsistent
with the form of worship traditionally assigned to Abraham.
[112] Bætylia were “stones having souls.”
[113] Rawlinson’s “Five Ancient Monarchies,” vol. i., p. 617; vol. ii.,
p. 247.
[114] Dr. Alexander Wilder says: “The later Hebrews affected the
Persian religion, in which the sun was the emblem of worship. Abraham
evidently had a like preference, being a reputed iconoclast. The lunar
religionists employed images in their worship.”
[115] Josephus’ “Antiquities of the Jews,” ch. viii. 2.
[116] The Serpent-symbol of the Exodus is called “Seraph.”
[117] “The History of Israel” (Eng. Trans.), vol i., p. 532.
[118] See “Sanchoniatho” (Cory, _op. cit._)
[119] Much discussion has taken place as to the nature of these
animals. For an explanation of the epithet “fiery,” see Sanchoniatho,
“_Of the Serpent_” (Cory, _op. cit._)
[120] Numbers, xxi. 8, 9.
[121] Wilkinson’s “Ancient Egyptians,” vol. iv., p. 435.
[122] Ditto, p. 434.
[123] Egypt, vol. iii., p. 426.
[124] “God in History,” vol. i., pp. 233-4.
[125] Exodus, xxxiv. 20.
[126] Numbers, xix. 1-10.
[127] As to the god Seth, see Pleyte’s “La Religion des Pré-Israelites”
(1862).
[128] Fürst renders the name Mo-cese, “Son of Isis,” _Inman’s_ “Ancient
Faiths,” vol. ii., p. 338.
[129] According to Pleyte, the Cabalists thought that the soul of Seth
had passed into Moses (_op. cit._, p. 124). It is strange that the
name of the Egyptian princess who is said to have brought up Moses is
given by Josephus as _Thermuthis_, this being the name of the sacred
asp of Egypt (see “_suprà_”). We appear also to have a reference to
the serpent in the name Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, from whom the
descent of Moses was traced.
[130] “Fragments.” Book xxxiv. (See also in connection with this
subject, “King’s Gnostics,” p. 91.)
[131] Bunsen’s “God in History,” vol. i., p. 234.
[132] Ewald notices the fact. (See “_op. cit._, vol. i., 454.”)
[133] “Egypt,” vol. iii., p. 433.
[134] _Op. cit._, vol. iv., p. 434.
[135] “Le Livre des Morts,” par Paul Pierret, p. 259.
[136] Bunsen’s “Egypt,” vol. iv., p. 208.
[137] Ditto, vol. iii., p. 427.
[138] _Op. cit._, p. 319.
[139] _Op. cit._, vol. vi., p. 328.
[140] As to the use of this symbol generally, see Pleyte, _op. cit._,
pp. 109, 157.
[141] On these points, see M. Raoul-Rochette’s Memoir on the Assyrian
and Phœnician Hercules, in his “Mémoires de l’Institut National de
France. Académie des Inscriptions,” tom. xvii., p. 47, _et seq._
[142] _Op. cit._, vol. i., p. 60; vol. ii., p. 201.
[143] Pleyte, _op. cit._, p. 172.
[144] Bunsen’s “Egypt,” vol. iv., p. 249.
[145] Ditto, p. 217.
[146] See ditto, pp. 226-9.
[147] The ram appears to have been the first month of the Akkadian
calendar. “Law of Kosmic Order,” by Mr. Rob. Brown, jun., 1882, p. 36.
[148] Rawlinson’s “History of Herodotus,” vol. i., p. 620.
[149] Rawlinson’s “History of Herodotus,” vol. ii., p. 291.
[150] _Op. cit._, p. 89, _et seq._
[151] Wilkinson, _op. cit._, vol. iv., pp. 342, 260.
[152] Bunsen’s “Egypt,” vol. i., p. 423.
[153] _Op. cit._, vol. i., p. 388.
[154] In the temple of Hercules at Tyre were two symbolical _steles_,
one a pillar and the other an obelisk. See Raoul-Rochette, _op. cit._,
p. 51, where is a reference to a curious tradition, preserved by
Josephus, connecting Moses with the erection of columns at Heliopolis.
[155] Wilkinson, _op. cit._, vol. iv., p. 299.
[156] Rawlinson’s “Herodotus,” vol. i., p. 608.
[157] Ditto, p. 620.
[158] _Mau_, the name of the Egyptian God of Truth, certainly signifies
“light,” but probably only in a figurative sense.
[159] The importance ascribed to the mechanical arts may perhaps lead
us to look for the formal origin of this character in the “wedge,”
which was the chief mechanical power the ancients possessed.
[160] Faber, _op. cit._, vol, ii., p. 20.
[161] Bryant, in his “Ancient Mythology,” has brought together a great
mass of materials bearing on this question. The facts, however, are
capable of quite a different interpretation from that which he has
given to them.
[162] “Origin and Destiny of Man,” p. 339.
[163] Dr. Inman points out that, in the ancient languages, the term for
“garden” is used as a metaphor for woman. “Ancient Faiths,” i. 52; ii.
553.
[164] Guigniaut’s “Religions de l’Antiquité,” vol. i., p. 146.
[165] _Op. cit._, i. 315.
[166] “Egypt,” vol. iv., p. 257.
[167] “Egypt,” vol. iv., p. 209.
[168] Mr. Gerald Massey appears to regard the crime of Lamekh as the
practice of abortion, men not desiring to have children. _Op. cit._,
ii. 119.
[169] Gen., iv. 23, 24.
[170] Bunsen’s “Egypt,” vol. iv., pp. 285-6.
[171] Bunsen’s “Egypt,” vol. iii., p. 413.
[172] Bunsen’s “Egypt,” vol. iii., p. 437.
[173] Ditto, vol. iv., p. 286.
[174] If space permitted, we might trace to their source the
developments which the primeval goddess of fecundity underwent. To the
ideas embodied in her may be referred nearly all the feminine deities
of antiquity.
[175] Faber, _op. cit._, vol. ii., p. 246.
[176] Kenrick’s “Phœnicia,” p. 307.
[177] See Faber, _op. cit._; also Note at the end of this chapter.
[178] On this question, see the “Memoirs of the Anthropological Society
of London,” vol. ii., p. 265; also “Sketch of the Religious Sects of
the Hindus,” in the “Asiatic Researches,” vol. xvii. (1832), p. 216,
_et seq._
[179] This question is fully considered by Dr. Muir in his Sanscrit
Texts, part iv., p. 54, _et seq._
[180] Ditto, pp. 161, 343.
[181] “Rural Bengal,” p. 187, _et seq._, 152. This association of the
mountain and the river is found also in the Persian Khordah-Avesta. See
(5) Abun-yasht, v. 1-3.
[182] See “Tree and Serpent Worship,” p. 70; also Sherring’s “Benares,”
pp. 75-89. Here the serpent is evidently symbolical of _life_. In the
Mahabharata, Mahadeva is described as having “a girdle of serpents,
ear-rings of serpents, a sacrificial cord of serpents, and an outer
garment of serpent’s skin.” Dr. Muir, _op. cit._, part iv., p. 160.
[183] _Op. cit._, p. 70.
[184] Ditto, p. 62.
[185] Mr. Sellon, in the “Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of
London,” vol. ii., p. 273.
[186] It should not be forgotten that the Vedic religion was not that
of all the Aryan tribes of India (see Muir, _op. cit._, part ii.,
pp. 377, 368, 383), and it is by no means improbable that some of
them retained a more primitive faith—“Buddhism” or “Rudraism”—_i.e._,
_Siva-ism_.
[187] _Op. cit._, p. 62. To come to a proper conclusion on this
important point, it is necessary to consider the real position occupied
by Gautama in relation to Brahmanism. Burnoux says that he differed
from his adversaries only in the definition he gives of salvation (_du
salut_). “Introduction à l’Histoire du Buddhisme Indien,” p. 155.
[188] Fergusson, _op. cit._, pp. 67, 222, 223.
[189] See Guigniaut, _op. cit._, vol. i., pp. 293, 160 _n._
[190] Schlagenweit, “Buddhism in Tibet,” p. 120.
[191] Higgins’ “Anacalypsis,” vol. i., p. 332, _et seq._ See also p.
342, _et seq._
[192] _Op. cit._, vol. i., p. 1, _et seq._, 25.
[193] Dr. Hunter points out a connection between Siva-ism and Buddhism.
_Op. cit._, p. 194.
[194] Mr. Fergusson, _op. cit._, p. 70. The serpent is connected with
Vishnuism as a symbol of _wisdom_ rather than of life.
[195] _Op. cit._, p. 71.
[196] Hence Siva, as _Sambhu_, is the patron deity of the Brahman
order, and the most intellectual Hindus of the present day are to be
found among his followers. See Wilson, _op. cit._, p. 171. Sherring’s
“Sacred City of the Hindus,” p. 146, _et seq._
[197] The _bull_ of Siva has reference to strength and speed rather
than to fecundity, while the Rig-veda refers to Vishnu as the former
of the _womb_, although elsewhere he is described as the _fecundator_.
Muir, _op. cit._, part iv., pp. 244, 292, 83, 64.
[198] This question has been considered by Burnoux, _op. cit._, p. 547,
_et seq._ But see also Hodgson’s “Buddhism in Nepaul,” and paper in the
“Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,” vol. xviii. (1860), p. 395, _et
seq._
[199] See Herring, _op. cit._, p. 89.
[200] Schlagenweit, _op. cit._, p. 181.
[201] Maurice’s “Indian Antiquities,” vol. vii., p. 566.
[202] As to the identity of Siva and Saturn, see Guigniaut, _op. cit._,
vol. i., p. 167 _n._
[203] Sherring, _op cit._, p. 305, _et seq._
[204] It should be noted that many of the so-called “circles” are in
reality _elliptical_.
[205] See, on this subject, Higgins’ “Anacalypsis,” vol. i., p. 315,
_et seq._
[206] We must look to the esoteric teaching of Mithraism for the
origin and explanation of much of primitive Christian dogma. The
doctrine of “regeneration,” which is a spiritual application of the
idea of physical generation, was known to all the religious systems
of antiquity, and probably the Phallic emblems generally used were
regarded by the initiated as having a hidden meaning. I may, perhaps,
be allowed to refer to the second volume of my “Evolution of Morality”
for information on the subject of the “re-birth.”
[207] The serpent elevated in the wilderness is said to be typical of
Christ. A Gnostic sect taught that Christ was Seth.
[208] Didron’s “Christian Iconography” (Bohn), pp. 272-286.
[209] It is a curious fact that Buddhist saints are often represented
in the _Vesica_ and with the _nimbus_. See Hodgson’s figures (Plates v.
and vi.) in the “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,” vol. xvi.
[210] Didron, pp. 27, 231.
[211] Ditto, p. 29.
[212] Ditto, p. 215.
[213] “History of Magic” (Bohn), vol. i., p. 253, _et seq._
[214] As to these, see King’s “Gnostics and their Remains,” p. 72.
[215] In the philosophy of St. Paul, the death of Christ was rendered
necessary by the fall. By the first man, Adam, came death, and in
Christ the second Adam are all made alive. Mankind reverts to the
position occupied by Adam before he sinned; and as in the New Jerusalem
there is no marriage, so in the earthly paradise of the Hebrew legend
man was at first intended to live alone.