After conceiving the idea of a primeval chaos, constituted of four
indestructible elements of which fire was the leading one, the Oriental
astrologers began to indulge in speculations relative to the agencies
which were engaged in its organization. Having no knowledge of the
forces inherent in nature, they imputed this work to three
intelligences, which, embodying the All in All, they personified by the
figure of a man with three heads, and to this trinity gave the names of
Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Such a figure, carved in stone, may be seen in
the island Cave of Elephanta, near Bombay, India, and is popularly
believed to represent the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer; but, in
determining their true signification, we must be governed by the
ancient teachings that "All things were made by one god-head with three
names, and this God is all things." Hence the conclusion is
irresistible that the first person represents neither the creator nor
organizer of chaos, but chaos itself; the second person, its organizer
and governor; and the third person, the agent in nature which impresses
all her parts with life and motion; the latter being the imaginary
great soul or spirit inculcated in the Esoteric philosophy. In support
of this opinion it will be found that the Egyptian Triad of Father, Son
and Spirit is virtually the same we have assigned to its Oriental
prototype. Thus we see that to the ancient Astrolatry Christendom is
indebted for the Trinity of
"God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit--three in one."
But, having ascribed supreme intelligence or reason to its second
person, under the name of the Logos, or Word, and designating its third
person as the Holy Ghost, the ancient Triad was usually formulated as
the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, as may be seen by reference to
the text in the allegories which we find recorded in I John v. 7, which
reads that "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the
Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one."
Considered in some forms of Astrolatry as too sacred to attach a name
to the triune Deity, he was called "the One," and we find him thus
designated in the 4th chapter of Revelation, where, like Zeus and
Jupiter, of the Grecian and Roman mythologies, he is represented as
seated above the firmament, upon a throne from which "proceeded
lightnings and thunderings," and to whom all, the subordinate
divinities were made to pay homage. As the hurler of thunderbolts he
was called "the Thunderer," and as the opener of the windows of heaven,
when it rained, he was designated "Jupiter Pluvius." Such was the
ancient Triad made to say of himself, in an inscription found in the
ruins of the temple at Sais in Egypt, "I am all that has been, all that
is, and all that shall be, and no mortal has lifted yet the veil that
covers me;" and such was the Triunity referred to as the God Universe
by Pliny, the Roman philosopher and naturalist, who, flourishing in the
first century of the Christian era, wrote that he is "An infinite God
which has never been created, and which shall never come to an end. To
look for something else beyond it is useless labor for man and out of
his reach. Behold that truly sacred Being, eternal and immense, which
includes within itself everything; it is All in All, or rather itself
is All. It is the work of nature, and itself is nature."
Thus we see that, although inculcating homage to a multitude of
subordinate divinities, the ancient Astrolatry was only an apparent
Polytheism; its enlightened votaries, recognizing the dogma of the
unity of God, were in reality Monotheists, paying supreme adoration to
the mythical genius of the Sun, to whom we will now direct attention.