In an article, entitled "Then and Now," published in the December
number, 1890, of "The Arena," its author, a distinguished Unitarian
D.D. of Boston, Mass., says. "Astronomy has shattered the fallacies of
Astrology; and people have found out that the stars are minding their
own business instead of meddling with theirs." Now, while it is true
that modern Astronomy has superseded the ancient system, and people
have ceased to believe that the stars are intervening in mundane
affairs, nothing could be further from the truth than the assertion
that "Astronomy has shattered the fallacies of Astrology;" and those of
our readers who will accord to this work an unprejudiced perusal can
hardly fail to be convinced that a large majority of the people of
Christendom are dominated as much by these fallacies as were our Pagan
ancestry--the only difference being a change of name. The dogmatic
element of religion, which was anciently designated as Astrology, is
now known as Theology.
All the evidences bearing upon the subject indicate that the founders
of the primary form of religion were a sect of philosophers, known as
Magi, or wise men, of the Aryan race of Central Asia, who, having lived
ages before any conceptions of the supernatural had obtained in the
world, and speculating relative to the "beginnings of things," were
necessarily confined to the contemplation and study of nature, the
elements of which they believed to be self-existent and endless in
duration; but, being wholly without knowledge of her inherent forces,
they explained her manifold processes by conceiving the idea that she
was animated by a great and inherent soul or spirit, emanations from
which impressed all her parts with life and motion. Thus, endowing man,
and other animals, with souls emanating alike from the imaginary great
soul of nature, they believed, and taught, that immediately after death
all souls were absorbed into their source, where, as "the dewdrop slips
into the shining sea," all personal identity was forever lost. Hence we
see that although recognizing the soul as immortal, considering it, not
as an entity existing independent of matter, but as the spirit of
matter itself, the primary religion was the exponent of the purest form
of Materialism.
Being the Astronomers of their day, and mistaking the apparent for the
real, the ancient Magi constructed that erroneous system of nature
known as the Geocentric, and, in conformity thereto, composed a
collection of Astronomical Allegories, in which the emanations from the
imaginary great soul of nature, by which they believed all
materialities we're impressed with life and motion, were personified
and made to play their respective parts. Basing the religion they
instituted upon their system of Allegorical Astronomy, and making its
personifications the objects of worship, they thus originated the
anthropomorphic or man-like Gods, and, claiming to have composed them
under the inspiration of these self same divinities, they designated
them as sacred records, or Scriptures, and taught the ignorant masses
that they were literal histories, and their personifications real
personages, who, having once lived upon earth, and; for the good of
mankind, performed the wondrous works imputed to them, were then in
heaven whence they came.
Thus we see that the primary religion, which is popularly known as
Paganism, was founded in the worship of personified nature; that,
according special homage to the imaginary genii of the stars, and
inculcating supreme adoration to the divinity supposed to reside in the
sun, it was anciently known by the general name of Astrolatry, and by
the more specific one of solar worship; and that its founders,
arrogating to themselves the title of Astrologers, gave to its dogmatic
element the name of Astrology.
In studying the primitive forms of religion it will be found that none
of them taught anything relative to a future life, for the simple
reason that their founders had no conceptions of such a state. Hence it
follows that the laws they enacted were intended solely for the
regulation of their social relations, and, to secure their observance,
they were embodied into their sacred records and made part of their
religion. One form of that most ancient worship was known as Sabaism,
or Sabism. Another form of the same religion was the Ancient Judaism,
as portrayed in the Old Testament, and more especially in the
Pentateuch, or first five books; in the Decalogue of which the only
promise made for the observance of one of the Commandments is length of
days on earth; and, in a general summing up of the blessings and curses
to be enjoyed or suffered, for the observance or violation of the laws,
as recorded in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, it will be seen they
are all of a temporal character only. At the beginning of the Christian
era there were still in existence a sect of Jews known as Sadducees,
who were strict adherents to the primitive form of worship, and their
belief relative to the state of the dead we find recorded in
Ecclesiastes xii., 7, which reads: "Then shall the dust return to earth
as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it."
For ages the doctrine of soul absorption, immediately after death,
constituted the belief of mankind; but ultimately recognizing the fact
that the temporal punishments of the existing laws were wholly
inadequate to the prevention of crime, and conceiving the idea that the
ignorant and vicious masses could be governed with a surer hand by
appealing to the sentiments of hope and fear in relation to the rewards
and punishments of an imaginary future life, the ancient Astrologers
resolved to remodel the dogmatic elements of religion so as to include
that doctrine. But realizing the necessity, of suppressing the belief
in the absorption of all souls, immediately after death, they ceased to
teach it, and ultimately it was embodied in that secret and unwritten
system known as the Esoteric philosophy, in which the Astrologers
formulated their own private belief, and which for many centuries was
kept from the knowledge of the uninitiated by their successors in the
priestly office. As they were the sole custodians of the Scriptures,
they made do change in their verbiage, but, adding the doctrine of
future rewards and punishments to that written and openly taught system
of faith known as the Exoteric creed, they made it the more impressive
by instituting a system of imposing rites and ceremonies, which they
designated as Mysteries, into which they initiated the neophytes, and
in which were portrayed, in the most vivid manner, the rewards and
punishments of the imaginary future life, which they taught were the
awards of the Gods for the observance or violation of the laws. These
teachings were inculcated in the lesser degrees only, but those who
were found worthy of so great a distinction were also inducted into the
higher degrees, in which was imparted the knowledge of the Esoteric
philosophy. In both the lesser and higher degrees the initiates
received instruction in an oral manner only; and all were bound by the
most fearful oaths not to reveal the secrets imparted to them.
Thus were the votaries of the ancient Astral worship divided into two
distinct classes, the Esoterics, or Gnostics; and the Exoterics, or
Agnostics; the former comprising those who knew that the Gods were
mythical and the scriptures allegorical; and the latter, those who were
taught that the Gods were real, and the scriptures historical; or, in
other words, it was philosophy for the cultured few, and religion for
the ignorant multitude. The initiates into the secrets of these two
systems recognized them as the two Gospels; and Paul must have had
reference to them in his Epistle to the Galatians ii., 2, where he
distinguishes the Gospel which he preached on ordinary occasions from
that Gospel which he preached "privately to them which were of
reputation."
Such was the system of Astrolatry, which, originating in the Orient,
and becoming, after being remodelled in Egypt, the prototype of all
Occidental forms of worship, was recognized, successively, as the state
religion of the Grecian and Roman Empires; and we propose to describe
the erroneous system of nature upon which it was based, and to develop
the origins of its cycles, dogmas, ordinances, anniversaries,
personifications and symbols, with the view to proving that it was the
very same system which was ultimately perpetuated under the name of
Christianity. We also propose to present the origins and abridged
histories of its two forms, the Jewish, or ancient, and the Roman, or
modern; and to give an account of the conflict between the votaries of
the latter, and the adherents to the established form of worship, which
culminated in the fourth century in the substitution of Christianity as
the state religion of the Roman Empire. We furthermore propose to show
the changes to which the creed and scriptures were subjected during the
Middle Ages, and at the Reformation in the sixteenth century, through
which they assumed the phases as now taught in the theologies,
respectively of Catholicism and Orthodox Protestantism. We also present
an article relative to Freemasonry and Druidism, for the purpose of
showing that, primarily, they were but different forms of the ancient
Astrolatry. We also devote a few pages to the subjects of the Sabbath,
and to that of "Pious Frauds."
Note.--For the matter published in this work, we are principally
indebted to the writings of Robert Taylor, an erudite but recusant
minister of the church of England, who flourished about seventy years
ago, and who, being too honest to continue to preach what, after
thorough investigation, he did not believe, began to give expression to
his doubts by writing and lecturing. Not being able to cope with his
arguments, the clergy, under the charge of the impossible crime of
blasphemy, had him imprisoned for more than two years, during which
time he wrote his great work entitled "The Diegesis," which should be
read by all persons who are investigating the claim of the Christian
religion to Divine authenticity.