Believing that God Sol was necessitated to remain at his post to direct
the course of the sun, the ancient astrologers conceived the idea of
teaching that, attended by a retinue of subordinate genii, he descended
to earth through the medium of incarnations at the end of 600 year
cycles, to perform the work of man's redemption and, having made Virgo
of the Zodiac the mother of the Solar divinity, they taught in their
allegorical Astronomy, or scriptures, that his incarnations were born
of a Virgin. Hence we find that God Sol, usually designated by the
title of the Word, "was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John i., 14.
In a discourse upon this text delivered by Tillotson, Archbishop of
Canterbury, in the year 1680, published in the fourth volume of
Woodhouse's edition of his Grace's sermons, in the year 1744,
concerning the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour, he explains the
necessity of incarnation by saying that "There was likewise a great
inclination in mankind to the worship of a visible Deity, so God was
pleased to appear in our nature, that they, who were so fond of a
visible Deity, might have one, even a true and natural image of God the
Father, the express image of his person." It only requires a little
reflection to appreciate the Prelate's covert irony and want of faith.
Having ascribed to the imaginary incarnations of God Sol the
characteristics of heaven-descending, virgin-born, earth-walking,
wonder-working, dying, resuscitated and ascending sons of God, the
ancient Astrologers attached to them the several titles of Saviour,
Redeemer, Avatar, Divine-Helper, Shiloh, Messiah, Christ; and, in
reference to their foster-father, that of Son of Man. Teaching that
they continued to make intercession for sin, after their ascension to
the right hand of the Father, they were also called Intercessors,
Mediators or Advocates with the Father. From teaching their appearance
every 600 years originated the Egyptian legend of the Phoenix, a bird
said to descend from the sun at these intervals, and, after being
consumed upon the altar in the temple of On, or city of the sun--called
Heliopolis by the Greeks--would rise from its ashes and ascend to its
source. According to the civil laws of Egypt, manhood was not attained
until the age of thirty years. Hence the earthly mission of incarnate
Saviours was made to begin at that age; and for the reason that,
relating to the apparent transit of the sun through the twelve signs of
the Zodiac, it was completed during the period of one year.
To impress the ignorant masses with the belief that the scriptures were
literal histories, and the incarnate Saviours real personages, the
ancient Astrologers caused tombs to be erected in which it was claimed
they were buried. Such sepulchres were erected to Hercules at Cadiz, to
Apollo at Delphi, and to other Saviours at many other places, to which
their respective votaries were induced to perform pilgrimages. In Egypt
the pyramids were built, partly for astronomical purposes, and partly
as tombs for Saviours, claimed to have been kings, who had once ruled
over the country; and why should we not recognize that magnificent
structure known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem, as
but another of those tombs of Saviours in which no Saviour was ever
entombed?
Thus we have shown that it was God Sol, the only begotten of the
Father, or second person in the sacred Triad, to whom supreme adoration
was inculcated in all forms of the ancient Astrolatry; and that its
cultured votaries, understanding that the doctrines pertaining to the
fall and redemption of man were evolved from the figurative death and
resurrection of the solar divinity, recognized the doctrine of
incarnation as a priestly invention intended only for the ignorant
masses.