Produced by David Widger
ANCIENT FAITHS AND MODERN:
A Dissertation upon Worships, Legends and Divinities
In Central And Western Asia, Europe, And Elsewhere, Before The Christian
Era. Showing Their Relations To Religious Customs As They Now Exist.
By Thomas Inman, M.D.
Author Of "Ancient Faiths Embodied In Ancient Names," Etc., Etc.
Consulting Physician To The Royal Infirmary, Liverpool; Lecturer,
Successively, On Botany, Medical Jurisprudence, Therapeutics, Materia
Medica, And The Principles And Practice Ok Medicine, Etc., In The
Liverpool School Ok Medicine. Etc.
1876
TO THOSE
WHO THIRST AFTER KNOWLEDGE,
AND ARE NOT DETERRED FROM SEEKING IT
BY THE FEAR OF IMAGINARY DANGERS,
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, WITH GREAT RESPECT,
By
THE AUTHOR
PREFACE.
Some thirty years ago, after a period of laborious study, I became the
House Surgeon of a large Infirmary. In that institution I was enabled to
see the practice of seven different doctors, and to compare the results
which followed from their various plans of treatment. I soon found
that the number of cures was nearly equal amongst them all, and became
certain that recovery was little influenced by the medicine given. The
conclusion drawn was that the physician could do harm, but that his
power for good was limited. This induced me to investigate the laws of
health and of disease, with an especial desire to discover some sure
ground on which the healing art might safely stand. The inquiry was a
long one, and to myself satisfactory. The conclusions to which I came
were extremely simple--amounting almost to truisms; and I was surprised
that it had required long and sustained labour to find out such very
homely truths as those which I seemed to have unearthed.
Yet, with this discovery came the assurance that, if I could induce my
medical brethren to adopt my views, they would deprive themselves of the
means of living. Men, like horses or tigers, monkeys and codfish, can do
without doctors. Here and there, it is true, that the art and skill of
the physician or surgeon can relieve pain, avert danger from accidents,
and ward off death for a time; but, in the generality of cases, doctors
are powerless. It is the business of such men, however, to magnify their
office to the utmost. They get their money ostensibly by curing the
sick; but it is clear, that the shorter the illness the fewer will be
the fees, and the more protracted the attendance the larger must be the
"honorarium." There is, then, good reason why the medical profession
should discourage too close an investigation into truth.
But, outside of this fraternity, there are many men desirous of
understanding the principles of the healing art Many of these have begun
by noticing the style of the doctor's education. They find that he is
taught in "halls," "colleges," and "schools," for a certain period of
time; and then, at about the age of two-and-twenty, he is examined by
some experienced men, and, if considered "competent," he pays certain
fees, and is then licensed to practise as physician. As all regular
doctors go through this course, it is natural that all should think and
act in a common way, and style their doctrines "orthodox." It is equally
certain that to such opinion the majority adhere through life. But
it has always happened, that many men and women have aspired to the
position of medical professors, without going through the usual career;
or, having done so, they have struck out a novel plan of practice, which
they designate a new method of cure. These have always been opposed
by the "orthodox," and the contest is carried on with varying success,
until the general public give their verdict on one side or the other.
Into the motives which sway the respective combatants we will not enter;
our chief desire being to show that each set is upheld by those who
are designated "laymen," whose education has not been medical The most
intelligent on the heterodox side have been clergymen; and many have
been the complaints of "orthodox" doctors, that "the parsons" should
patronize, so energetically as they do, medical "dissenters."
As the "clerk" takes pleasure in examining the therapeutical doctrines
of his physician, so the medical professor frequently inquires closely
into his clergyman's theological views and feels himself at liberty
to accept or oppose them, as the "clerk" adopts or attacks him and his
theory and practice. It would, indeed, be disrespectful in the listener
not to pay intelligent heed to the discourses which emanate from
the pulpit. I have myself listened to the preaching of hundreds of
university graduates, and of men who never took a degree, and have
noticed that the same diversity of style exists amongst them, as is to
be found in medical men. Some order a certain plan of treatment for a
soul, which they assert to be grievously affected, and give no reason
for what they say or do. Others give their motives for everything which
they affirm, and for the plan which they prescribe for cure. Under the
ministry of one of the last I sat for many years. Conspicuous for sound
judgment, and for a peculiarly clear oratory, his sermons were to me an
intellectual treat. From the exordium, forwards, I followed his words
closely, and lost none of his arguments. But I soon became conscious
that he never once carried his reasoning to its logical conclusion.
Still further, it was manifest that certain things were by him taken for
granted; and it was held to be culpable to inquire into the reality of
those assumptions. In fine, it was evident, that there was a Bluebeard's
closet in the house of God, into which, in the preacher's opinion, it
was death to pry!
With the idea which was gradually forced upon my mind, that there was
a systematic suppression of the truth in the pulpit, I very carefully
searched the Bible, with which I have been familiar from infancy, and
upon which, it is asserted, all our faith is founded. At this time, too,
a casual inquiry into some ancient cognomens, which have descended to
us from remote antiquity, induced me to examine into ancient faiths
generally. With this became associated an examination of all religions,
and their influence upon mankind.
I found that in every nation there have been, and still are, good men
and bad, gentle and brutal, thoughtful and ignorant. That the best men
of Paganism--Buddha, for example--did not lose, by comparison, with the
brightest light of Christianity; and that such large cities as London
and Paris, have as much vice within them as ancient Rome or modern
Calcutta. I found, moreover, that there is a culpable colouring in the
accounts given by Christian travellers of Pagan countries. The clerical
pen rests invariably and strongly upon the bad points of every heathen
cult, and contrasts them with the best elements of Christianity. I
do not know that it has ever instituted a fair comparison between
corresponding characters in each faith. As an illustration of my
meaning, let us regard the stern virtue of the Roman Lucretia, who
committed suicide, her body having been forcibly defiled by the embraces
of another than her husband, even though the ravisher was a prince. She
had heard nothing of the Jewish law or Christian gospel, nevertheless
she was far better than the wives of the nobles in the courts of Louis
the XIV. and XV., who gladly sold themselves and their daughters to the
royal lechers. These, unlike the Italian woman, were instructed both in
the law and the gospel; they attended one place or another of Christian
worship daily or weekly. Nay, if report be true, "the eldest son of the
Church," when he visited the "parc aux cerfs," made each fresh virgin,
victim of his passion, duly say her prayers before she assisted him to
commit adultery, and herself permitted fornication! We sympathize with
Paul and the early Christian fathers in their denunciations of the
Romans and Greeks for obscenities practised in honour of their gods;
but, at the same time, we feel sure that, had those apostles and
teachers lived in the middle ages, they would have denounced, with
greater warmth, the murders which were constantly being perpetrated in
honour of Jesus.
In like manner, we may greatly regret, with the writer of Psalm xiv.,
that amongst "the children of men, there is none that doeth good; no,
not one;" but we must equally bow before the statement of Ezekiel
(ch. xxii. 30), that there was no more propriety amongst the so-called
"chosen people of God," than amongst the Gentile Canaanites and
Babylonians.
Again, we feel pain when we find the great ones of the earth--aye, and
many small ones too--seeking out for villains, "willing to commit
murder for a mede," and lament that lawgivers should secretly encourage
lawlessness; but we cannot forget that Jesus of Nazareth is represented,
in John vi. 70, to have selected a devil to bring about certain
ends--see also John xiii. 26, 27, in which the agency is well marked.
Modern divines tell us that war, tumult, hatred, malice, quarrels of all
kinds, and murder come from the devil, and are the direct result of our
fallen nature; nevertheless, we remember that Jesus is reported to have
said--"I came not to send peace, but a sword; I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against the mother," &c.
(Matt. x. 34, 35). When we institute comparisons like these, the
balance is not uneven. I found, moreover, that the sharply defined line,
commonly drawn between Paganism and Christianity, is worthless--the
doctrines of the latter being, in many respects, identical with, or
deduced from, the former.
It seemed necessary, therefore, to ascertain whether, in religion,
any other line than the one in vogue in Europe, could be drawn with
certainty.
The result of my observations showed a wonderful similarity to exist
between the clerical and medical profession; and I feel that, if my
views about the cure of souls and bodies were generally adopted,
there would be no need either for parson or for doctor. Instead of
discovering, as I had hoped to do, which of all the rival sects of
Christendom is the best one, I found that all were unnecessary, that
many are degraded in doctrine and bad in practice; and that, if any
must exist, the one which effects the least mischief should be the one
selected for general adoption. It required much courage to allow myself
to believe that doctors have, taking everything into consideration,
done more harm in the world than good, and still more to announce my
conviction that Christianity was even more culpable than medicine. The
physician, when professing to cure, has too often assisted disease to
kill; and he who has had the cure of souls, has invented plans to
make believers in his doctrine miserable. The first fills his coffers
proportionally to the extent to which he can protract recovery;
the second becomes rich in proportion to the success with which he
multiplies mental terrors, and then sells repose. The one enfeebles the
body, the other cripples the intellect, and aggravates envy, hatred, and
malice. Both are equally influential in preventing man from being such
as we believe that the Almighty designed him to be.
Though we oppose the old plan of medication of body and mind, we are
far from asserting that there is no value in an honest doctor, either of
divinity or medicine. On the contrary, I have a stronger faith in my own
profession, as it has been reformed, than ever I had ere the light of
good sense had shone upon it; and I have a far more confident trust
in the religion propounded by F. W. Newman, in _Theism_, than in that
current amongst Christians in general But in such schemes of physic
and faith, very few "ministers" are necessary, shams find no place, and
emoluments are small A man who communes with his God requires no priest,
mediator, middle-man, or saint--whether virgin, martyr, or both--to
intercede for him.
Holding such opinions as these, it is not probable that I shall find
many followers. I do not seek them. My aim has been to set good sterling
stuff before the world, so that any one, whose self-reliance is great,
may receive strength. There are many who would rather die with a
physician close beside them when they are ill, than live without a
doctor; and there are few who would not rather enjoy the fear of hell
with the orthodox, than be with heretics free from such terrors--"For
sure, the pleasure is as great in being cheated, as to cheat." To all
such our writings are _caviare_. Yet, even to them, we would say that we
have warrant for our belief in statements, to which the orthodox
cannot reasonably object--viz., "If thou doest well, shalt thou not
be accepted?" (Gen. iv. 7); "In every nation, he that feareth God, and
worketh righteousness, is accepted with him" (Acts x. 35); "He that
doeth righteousness, is righteous" (1 John iii. 7).
Let me contrast my own views with those generally current amongst us. I
believe that God did not make men, any more than the beasts, to damn the
largest number of them throughout eternity. I believe that all who aver
that they have been selected by the Creator from all the world besides
as the only recipients of salvation are wrong, and deceivers of the
people. In fine, I believe that God's "tender mercies are over all his
works." The common opinion that the Almighty so revels in cruelty, that
He makes creatures to torture them, is a horrible one to me--fit only
to come from impotent Pagan priests. That Jehovah selected about one
million of bad men, out of about four hundred other millions equally
bad, solely because their progenitor, Abraham, consented to murder and
burn his son, is to me a frightful blasphemy; and, lastly, that God has
no tender mercies for nine-tenths of the human race, is to convert our
conception of the Author of all good into the conventional "Devil." The
comparison may be summed up thus: I believe in God, the Father of all
things; the so-called orthodox believe in the God Satan. I do not know
anything in all my studies which excited my attention more painfully
than the result of the analysis of Jehovah's character, as given in our
Bible. Kind to those who are said to please Him, He is a fearful demon
to all who are said to oppose Him.
How can any reasonable man hold the opinion that the Devil instigated
all atrocities of the Syrians, Chaldees, Assyrians, Romans, Turks,
Tartars, Saracens, Affghans, Mahometans, and Hindoos, and believe that
the good God drowned the whole world, and nearly every single thing that
had life; that He ordered the extermination, not only of Midianites and
Amalekites, but slaughtered, in one way or another, all the people whom
he led out of Egypt--except two--merely because they had a natural fear
of war. What was the massacre at Cawnpore to that in Jericho and other
Canaanite cities? I say it with sober seriousness--in sorrow, not in
anger--as a thinking man, and not as an advocate for, or against, any
religious view, that it is an awful thing for any nation to permit
a book to circulate, as a sacred one, in which God and the Devil are
painted in the same colours.
Into this analysis of religion I was led to enter from the observation
of a friend, who challenged me to find, in any non-Hebraic or
non-Christian country, a faith or practice equal to that current amongst
the followers of Moses and Jesus, or to discover any spot in the wide
world where there is, or has been, a civilization equal to that which
existed in Judea, and the parts inhabited by Christians. In consequence
of this defiance, it became more than ever necessary for me to study the
nature of the current faith and practice of Christendom, and to inquire
how far the latter was dependent upon the former--that is to say,
whether the practices of civilization are due to our religion, or have
gradually grown up in spite of it. The next point was to pay similar
heed to the doctrines and manner of life common amongst those to whom
our Bible has been wholly unknown.
Many of the conclusions to which I came have already appeared in the
second volume of _Ancient Faiths_, under the heads of "Religion,"
"Theology," &c.; but others came upon me when that book had been
completed, and the present supplement is designed with the idea of
expressing, still further, the extent of my views, and the evidence upon
which they are founded--with special reference to the differential value
of Christian and unchristian faith and practice.
As was natural, this involved the question constantly before my mind in
the preceding volumes--viz., "Is there in reality anything in the Hebrew
and the Christian theology essentially different from that promulgated
by the leaders of divinity in other countries?" This point has
repeatedly been discussed, and amongst the orthodox there is no
difficulty in allowing the existence of a strong similarity in all
systems of religion; but the value of the fact is supposed to be reduced
to ridicule by the monstrous assertion, that Moses and Jesus taught
all the world. Amongst the books which came under my notice, whilst
prosecuting my search, was a very remarkable one, called _The Modern
Buddhist_, now _The Wheel of the Law_, which is an account of the
religious thoughts of a Siamese monarch, with a statement of his
conversations with Christian missionaries. In this the British churchman
and non-conformist can see themselves as others see them; and the
Asiatic has quite as great, perhaps even a superior, right to call the
European "poor and benighted," as the Christian has to call the Buddhist
"a miserable Pagan."
Notwithstanding my endeavours to be perfectly "judicial," and to give
what I believe to be an impartial account of the subjects which I
describe, I have been, by certain critics, accused of special pleading.
It is, perhaps, unnecessary to deny the charge, for each reader must
judge of my fairness, or otherwise, for himself. But, on the other hand,
I retort most strongly, by averring that I have not met, in the whole
course of my reading, a religious work by an orthodox divine, which does
not "bear false witness against its neighbours."
There is in all both a _suppressio veri_ and a _suggestio falsi_,
which makes the honest inquirer almost entirely reject their books.
In addition to this, there is in them a recklessness of statement and
assertion which is unequalled, except in the fierce controversies of
ancient doctors. The perfect contempt which certain puny divines, who
have endeavoured to throw dirt upon the present Bishop of Natal, show
for the laws of evidence, and the systematic way in which they avoid
every real point at issue, are marvellous to those who know that such
people have had an university education, have studied logic, and
profess an unlimited respect for truth. In future years the theological
writings, generally, of our time will be as much objurgated by
enlightened, earnest, and thoughtful readers, as Protestants of to-day
abuse the theology and prurience of Sanchez, Thomas Aquinas, and Peter
Dens.
In conclusion, I would wish to add, that I am conscious, from the amount
of correspondence which I have had on the subject in hand, that there
is not only a wide, but a constantly extending dissatisfaction
with the current theology taught by the ministers of all
denominations--excepting, as a body, the Unitarians, and such
individuals as Bishop Colenso, Bishop Hinds, Mr Voysey, and others. The
laity are awaking to the fact that priests are strenuously endeavouring
to quench the light of reason in the fogs of faith. Unless the
Protestantism, of which Great Britain was once so proud, decides to
drift into Papism--the only legitimate harbour for those who reject
reason for a guide--it must thoroughly reform itself, and ruthlessly
reject, as "necessary to salvation," every article of belief which is
not only nonsensical or absurd, but which has unquestionably descended
from a grovelling Paganism. To this end we hope that our essays will
contribute.
INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER I.
A recapitulation. Destruction of an old edifice precedes the
building of another on the same site. Chichester Cathedral.
Difficulties of reconstruction. Innovators are regarded as
enemies. The Old Testament appraised. The Jews and their
pretensions. Hebraic idea of Jehovah. The sun and moon. God
and goddess. Importance of sexual perfection in a Hebrew
male. Women are prizes given to the faithful Jews. Almost
everything Jewish came from Pagan sources, except the
Sabbath. Inquiry into the New Testament necessarily follows
upon an investigation of the Old. Thoughts upon the history
of Christianity. Malignancy of its professors. Life of
Jesus, by various authors. The ground preoccupied. The
plan proposed.
In commencing another volume of a series, and one to a great extent
independent of the other two, it is advisable to pause and recapitulate
the points advanced, and the positions attained. This is the more
necessary when the present inquiry is a natural result of a preceding
one, and when an attempt is made to collect and arrange the scattered
materials into an harmonious and consistent edifice. Our volumes on the
subject of "Ancient Faiths in Ancient Names" were, to a great extent,
destructive. They struck heavy blows in all directions, wherever a false
idol was to be recognized, and they destroyed many a cherished delusion,
which was to many as dear as the apple of their eye. But, throughout
the whole process of destruction, the idea of the necessity for a
reconstruction was present to the mind of the author.
It may, indeed, be propounded as an interesting question, whether any
iconoclast ever destroys the idols which his fellow-beings cherish,
without entertaining the belief that he has something superior to offer
in their place. When the fanatic Spaniards upset, fractured, and ground
to powder the stone monsters venerated by the Mexicans, they offered to
the natives the image of a lovely virgin and her gentle son to replace
them; and when the enthusiastic Scotchmen destroyed the marble saints
and gaudy figures of the Popish churches throughout their own country,
they eagerly set forth the superiority of adoring the invisible creator
in spirit and imagination, which afforded scope for the most entrancing
mental delineations, and was far superior to reverencing an ugly effigy,
which no one with any correct taste could admire. In like manner, when
the Mahometan Caliph destroyed the library of Alexandria, he offered to
the mourners in its place the book of the Prophet Mahomet, which was, in
his eyes, a pearl of so great price as to be equivalent in value to all
the world besides.
There can be no doubt, however, that the process of destruction is far
more easy than the task of reconstruction. The engineer who is called
upon to remove a bridge, on account of the badness of its foundation,
may admire the extraordinary firmness with which every stone has been
dovetailed together, and, with the means at his command, may be unable
to construct another having a similar appearance of stability; yet,
after all, an arch which is secure and stable is preferable to one which
is good only in appearance. A very few years have elapsed since it was
found that the tower and spire of the Cathedral at Chichester had been
so built that there was imminent danger of the whole falling down. This
part of the edifice resembled certain faiths which have been raised with
great art to a vast height, with very slender and inadequate material.
So long as they were not assailed by any storm, or tested by the changes
which time produces, they seemed firm and unshakable; but, when they
were really tried, they began to undergo a process similar to that which
obtained in the Cathedral named--the admirers of the edifice attempted
to prop up the failing tower; with iron and timber they shored up its
bulging sides; they erected strong scaffolds to ease the mighty strain
upon the crumbling walls; but all in vain--the lovely spire, built upon
a foundation as rotten as the Mormon faith, came tumbling down, and
the tall emblem pointing to the sky returned once more to earth. Before
there could be any reconstruction attempted, it was necessary to procure
all the material necessary; and when, with great labour, this was
accumulated, a fresh erection was made, which was far stronger than the
first, for every stone was duly examined, and solid masonry replaced
the ancient rubble. So it has been with many a faith. Christianity has
replaced the crumbling Judaism which existed at the beginning of our
era, and the Reformed Church has since then, in many countries, replaced
the gigantic sham of Popery. But the metaphor is one which we cannot
wholly adopt, inasmuch as we believe that no faith of ancient times has
ever wholly fallen like the spire and tower of Chichester, nor has any
new system of belief the solidity of that new edifice which has replaced
the old.
The difficulties connected with reconstruction are greatly increased by
the propensity which is so common in the human mind to make the best
of that which is in actual existence and familiar to the vulgar, rather
than to adopt something entirely new. The child who dislikes to go to
bed at night equally dislikes to get up in the morning, and we have
known elderly people who have systematically preferred an old lumbering
stage-coach to a first-class compartment in a railway carriage. In every
walk of life an innovator is regarded as an enemy by the majority, and
especially by those whose practice or whose theories his discoveries
supersede.
Yet, great as is the contest which any new truth has to sustain, there
is no doubt whatever that the first part of the fight--the preliminaries
essential to conquest, are the investigation of the ground to be
occupied; the real value of the defences; the superiority of the armour;
and the temper, strength, and tenacity of the offensive weapons. The
engineer to whom is confided the attack or the defence of a town will
abandon or destroy everything which would harbour an enemy or facilitate
his operations. The fighting commodore, ere he carries his ship into
action, sacrifices readily all the gewgaws of luxury; and in like manner
the ecclesiastic ought never to endanger his position by spending his
energies in the defence of a useless outwork or a tinsel ornament.
Entertaining these views ourselves, our first effort has been to
clear the ground, and to remove every object which we consider to be
detrimental to the spread of truth.
We have demonstrated, as far as such a matter is capable of
demonstration, that the Old Testament, which has descended to us from
the Jews, is not the mine of truth which it has been supposed by so many
to be: that not only it is not a revelation given by God to man, but
that it is founded upon ideas of the Almighty which are contradicted
by the whole of animate and inanimate nature. We showed, that its
composition was wholly of human origin, and that its authors had a very
mean and degrading notion of the Lord of Heaven and Earth. We proved,
what indeed Colenso and a host of German critics have demonstrated in
another fashion, that its historical portions are not to be depended
upon; that its stories are of no more real value than so many fairy
tales or national legends; that its myths can now be readily traced
to Grecian, Babylonian, and Persian sources; that its miracles are as
apocryphal as those told of Vishnu, Siva, and other deities; and its
prophecies absolutely worthless. We proved, moreover, that the remote
antiquity of its authorship has been greatly exaggerated; that the
stories of the creation, of the flood, of Abraham, of Jacob, of the
descent into, and the exodus from, Egypt, of the career of Moses and the
Jews in the desert, of Joshua and his soldiers, of the judges and their
clients, are all apocryphal, and were fabricated at a late period of
Jewish history, with the design of inspiriting the Hebrews at a period
when their depression of spirit from foreign conquest was extreme; that
the so-called Mosaic laws were not known until long after the time of
David, and that some of the enactments--that about the Jubilee, for
example--were never promulgated at all. We showed that the Jewish
conception of the Almighty, and of His heavenly host, did not materially
differ from the Greek idea of Jupiter and his inferior deities; that
the Hebrews regarded Jehovah as having human passions and very human
failings--as loving, revengeful, stern, merry, and vacillating--as
"everything by turns and nothing long"--as forming a resolution, and
then contriving how He might, as it were, overreach Himself. We pointed
out that the Jews did, in reality, paint God and the Devil or Satan, as
the same individual, being the former to His friends, and the latter to
His enemies. Indeed, anyone who compares 2 Sam. xxiv. 1 with 1 Chron.
xxi. 1 will see this most clearly demonstrated. We called attention to
the apparently utter ignorance of the Jews that certain laws of nature
existed, and of their consequent belief that defeat, disease, famine,
slaughter, pestilence, and the like, were direct punishments of
ceremonial or other guilt; while victory, wealth, virility, and old age
were special and decided proofs of the Divine favour. We showed that
the Jews were, in general, an abject but a very boastful race, and
that their spiritual guides--the so-called prophets--were constantly
promising, but always vainly, a striking manifestation of the Almighty's
power in favour of the Hebrews when they were in the depths of misery,
that histories were fabricated to give colour to these statements, and
that these, like modern miracles of saints, were narrated as occurring
a long time ago, and in a locality which could not be visited, e.g., in
Samaria and Egypt; we showed, moreover, that the race was imitative, and
readily adopted the religious ideas and practices of those who conquered
them. Still further, we proved that the Jews had no idea whatever of a
future state, and were in utter ignorance of heaven or hell; that they
regarded the Almighty as punishing crime or rewarding goodness in
this world alone, and, consequently, we inferred either--(1) that
the conversation said to have been held between Jehovah and certain
apocryphal men did not really occur; or (2) that God did not think
the existence of a future world a matter of sufficient consequence to
communicate to His friends; or (3) that Elohim had not then created
either a habitation for the blessed, or a future prison-house for the
damned; and we pointed out that the opinions of the Pharisees about
angels, spirits, and futurity were not based upon the writings of Moses
and the prophets, but upon Persian fantasies. In fine, we showed, that
the Hebrews could not sustain the claim they made to be the especial
people of God, and that their writings are of no more value, as records
of absolute truth, or of Divine revelation, than the books of the
Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hindoos, Chinese, or the more modern
Mahometans.
With all this we indicated that there was, throughout the nations known
as Shemitic, a general belief in the existence of an Almighty Being,
Creator, Director and Governor of the heaven, the earth, and the
sea; that He was considered to be One, yet that He was, nevertheless,
represented by a multiplicity of names, and as having many and opposite
attributes.
We also showed, that this sublime conception was very thickly coated
with human ideas, often of a debased and grovelling type, and darkened
by legends, which were invented by priests with the design of clothing
themselves, and those of their order, with a portion of the garments
which they had assigned to the Inscrutable. We showed, how the sun
and moon, the stars and planets, became interwoven with the idea of a
Celestial Being, and how they were described in turn as His ministers,
His residence, His army, and sometimes even as Himself. We showed,
moreover, that the Almighty was depicted by some as a male, having the
attributes and passions of men, by others as a female, or celestial
goddess, and by others as androgyne--not exactly a bifrons, like Janus,
but masculine and feminine, Elohim, Baalim, Ashtaroth; that in the
development of this idea, everything which has reference to the
phenomena of mundane creation was closely studied, and introduced into
one religious system or another. As a result of this, it followed, that
there were some sects and temples consecrated to the adoration of the
Creator as masculine, others as feminine, and others as both combined.
We showed still farther, that each sect adopted certain emblems, which
were intended to represent the distinctive mark of the sex under which
it worshipped the Omnipotent, and that the emblems became multiplied
as different nations came into contact with each other, learned foreign
theology, and advanced in their knowledge of natural history. To such an
extent was this symbolism, to which we refer, carried, that the sexual
idea of the Creator at last pervaded, to a greater or less degree, all
forms of worship, and gradually degraded them deeper and deeper, in
consequence of the emblems of the deity being mistaken for the deity
itself, much in the same way as the vulgar, amongst the Roman Catholics,
regard a statuette or picture of the Virgin, or an Ashantee a particular
form of idol fetish. As an example of such development, we pointed out
that the Assyrians represented the Godhead as four-fold, consisting of
the triple male and the single female element in mundane creation, and
that the idea of the trinity in unity, which is a doctrine recognized
as far back amongst all nations as history will carry us, was originally
founded solely upon the well-known fact that the characteristic of the
male is a triad, of which all the parts are really, and in no mysterious
manner, "co-eternal together and co-equal." We also showed that the
feminine idea of the Creator has, from time immemorial, been associated,
in one form or another, with that of a lovely virgin holding a child in
her arms, which is generally very young, and mostly receiving food from
a maternal bosom, the reason of which we hinted at.
We showed that the myths of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarai, Esau and
Jacob, were incorporations of the idea that the trinity and the unity,
or, to use the very words of the Athanasian creed, "the trinity in
unity," were the founders of the race of living beings, and, as such,
worthy of worship and honour throughout all ages. This union was spoken
of as "the four," and was symbolized as a square or a cross of four
points, or a cross of eight points. We showed, still farther, that
the male Creator was identified with the sun, and the female with the
crescent moon, and also with the earth; and that one of the symbols of
this celestial union of the sexes was the sun lying within the moon's
crescent.
We also demonstrated, that a very large part of Pagan worship
consisted in the performance of rites and ceremonies, whose end was the
glorification of the deity under one or other of the selected symbols,
and that a number of feasts were appointed to be held at certain
astronomical periods, in which the assistants were encouraged to indulge
in every form of sensuality (Deut. xiv. 26). We pointed out, that the
Jewish people were largely tainted by this vicious form of worship prior
to the Babylonian captivity, and that a very large portion of their
nomenclature was based upon sexual ideas of the Creator. We also showed,
that the Jewish writings encouraged certain forms of sensuality in a
conspicuous manner; that the condition of the male organ was represented
as being of such importance as to be the ground work of the covenant
between God and the Hebrews, it being declared (Gen. xvii. 14), as if by
the word of the Lord, that no man was to be allowed to live whose organ
had not been improved in a definite manner, i.e., by circumcision or
excision of the prepuce, and that no man was to be admitted into the
congregation of the faithful whose characteristic male organs had in
any way been injured or removed. Deuteronomy xxiii. 1 is conclusive upon
this point, and there is no ambiguity in the words of the decree. We
pointed out, also, that not only was abundance of offspring promised to
the faithful as a proof of God's regard to them, but that the laws, said
to be delivered by Jehovah to Moses, positively provided (see Deut. xxi.
10-14) the means by which the harems of the wealthy could be stocked in
times of war, and by which even the poor might also be indulged, in or
about the precincts of the temple, where slave and foreign women were
kept for the purpose (Numb. xxxi. 40). We pointed out that the
natural result of this licensed debauchery was a great increase in the
population, which was so much in excess of the capacity of the land to
sustain them, that it was necessary to check the number of adult mouths
by conniving at infanticide, as was done in Rajpootana up to a recent
period, and is said to be done in China now. It is clear, from the
denunciations by the prophets of the vileness of the Jews of Jerusalem,
and the impotent laws which were introduced into the so-called Mosaic
code, that the Hebrew family was to the full as bad and vile as were the
nations around them.
We further showed that there was a marked difference in the thoughts,
the doctrines, the laws, the knowledge, the writings, and the form
of worship amongst the Jews after they had come into contact with the
Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks; and we adverted to the fact that the
laws of the Persians, and those of him, whom we would designate
"the fictitious Moses," were remarkably similar; and we showed
that everything in the Old Testament, which is, by the majority of
Christians, deemed to be of Divine origin, had been derived from or
through one or other of the sources which we have named, and which we
call Pagan. From this we deduced the important corollary, either that
the so-called revelation of the Old Testament is a sham, a priestly
fabrication, and what is known as "a pious fraud," or that it was not
made originally to the Hebrews. In neither case can the Jews establish a
title to be the "chosen people of God" in any sense of the words. If the
Bible is true, the Gentiles have spiritual precedence over the Hebrews,
and the Pagans have the _pas_ of the Christians.
This deduction enabled us to recognize the importance of an extended
inquiry into the faith, religion, and practice of other nations, before
we assume ourselves to be in a position to appreciate the claims
which one human being, or any body of men, might make to be the
representatives of the Almighty, the sole recipients of His commands,
and the only medium by which prayers can be forwarded to Him. Again, the
history of the past, and a study of the present, enabled us to see that
the foundation of a new religion, or the modification of an old one, did
not destroy ancient practices, though it transferred priestly power to
a new set of men, who, while they introduced new gods and new dogmas,
endeavoured to incorporate the older ideas with new, so as to seduce or
cheat the vulgar, whom it was not judicious to slaughter, into adopting
the new faith. Consequently, we are able to understand how indecent
ideas, sexual emblems, and Pagan festivals, with many of the licentious
practices associated therewith, have been handed down from a remote
idolatry to a modern and comparatively enlightened Christianity. The
symbols of the objectionable still remain, but the things symbolized
have been altered, and the original ideas suppressed. The male triad is
a holy trinity; the monad is no longer the emblem of womankind, but of
the so-called Mother of God, or, as the Romanists say, of the
_Mater Creatoris_. But with this knowledge comes the very important
consideration, how far Christian ideas, which are founded upon Pagan
fancies, can be regarded as Divine. This, again, involves the question,
how far Jesus, who had not penetration enough to discover the true
nature of the writings to which he trusted, can be considered as an
incarnation of Divine knowledge, or of unbounded wisdom. Still further,
it became clear, after our arguments, that if the stories of the
creation of man, the fall of Adam, the life of Noah, of Abraham, of
Moses, the tale of Sinai, and the supremacy of Judah, are mythical--if
the prophetic writings are as worthless as the oracles of Dodona and of
Delphi--then all theories, dogmas, and doctrines founded upon them must
be equally valueless.
In pursuance of my subject, I pointed out that there was not a nation
known to history which had not its god or gods, a sacred priesthood, a
set of prophets, either located in one spot, or appearing as independent
vaticinators, a number of holy festivals, of hallowed shrines, of
mysterious temples, and an inner and recondite arcanum into which the
profane were not permitted to enter. I showed that other nations besides
the Jews had a sacred ark which was an emblem of a divinity; that the
use of sacrifices was common to every nation of antiquity; and that such
things had existed in Hindostan from time immemorial. I pointed out,
that there was no single precept or order contained in the Jewish
Ritual which could not be found amongst all other people, with the sole
exception of the Sabbath; and that the respect for this very strange law
was due to the ignorance of the Hebrews, who regarded Saturn as the most
high amongst the gods--information gained from the Babylonians.
Thus, an investigation into the nature and importance of Ancient Faiths
becomes a necessary prelude to, or, rather, is unavoidably followed
by, an inquiry into the beliefs, doctrines, and practices current in
Christendom generally, and in Great Britain particularly. Yet, though
I was insensibly driven forwards to complete the task which I began,
without having any definite notion of the amount of labour I should
have to undergo, I passively resisted for a long time the conclusions to
which I was drawn, feeling myself unwilling, almost, indeed, unable, to
undertake an examination which might shake my faith in the New Testament
as it had been shaken in the Old. Like many others of a thoughtful turn
of mind, I could see, without very strong regret, the Jewish writings
consigned to their appropriate niche in the library of the world; but
I shunned the effort required to take down the books of the Gospels
and Epistles and weigh them in the impartial balance of critical
truth. Nevertheless, as my work on Ancient Faiths progressed, I became
painfully conscious that I must plead guilty to the charge of mental
cowardice if I shirked the duty of examining the New, as I had
investigated the Old, Testament. But when the resolution to investigate
modern faith was at length formed, the difficulties surrounding the
subject became apparent. The history of modern faith is, to a great
extent, the history of Christianity, and the history of Christianity
must start from a history of Jesus and his apostles--Paul, Peter, James,
John, and Jude, as given in the Epistles and Gospels included in the
canon of the New Testament. To cope with any one of these histories as
they deserve to be handled would involve the work of a lifetime, and for
one man to exhaust the whole seemed to me an impossibility. There
was, in addition to this, another consideration which complicated
my difficulty still farther, viz., the fact that there were already,
written histories of the nature of those alluded to, and that it would
be useless to multiply them. It is a thankless task to pursue the
current of the Christian religion through the dark scenes which shrouded
it, from the time when it was adopted by a few "unlearned and ignorant
men," until it emerged as a power able to shake empires--from the period
wherein its professors were burned and otherwise tortured to death,
to the days when their own Christian successors racked, roasted, and
tormented their opponents, with a malignancy and cruelty as great as
that which they themselves had execrated when practised upon their
predecessors. From the moment that Christianity became a political
power, its history resembled that of any tyrant or other ruler, and it
is filled with misrepresentation, lying, fraud, the records of fighting
and slaughter, of brutal passions, frightful laws, and horrible
punishments; in fact, the record of political Christianity is that of a
Devil in sheep's clothing. Even Calvin, one of our cherished reformers,
burnt another Protestant almost in the same year as the Papists burnt
Ridley and Latimer. The English Episcopalians in Scotland, and the
Cromwellian Puritans in Ireland, showed more of the ravening wolf in
their actions than of the amiable shepherd, who "gently leads" the weak
ones of his flock. In fact, the more loud the proclamation of a pure
Christianity, the more devilish is the practice of its heralds.
When I turned to the consideration of the life of Jesus, it was clear
that the ground was already fully occupied. In 1799 a Mr Houston
published a work entitled _Ecce Homo; or, a Critical Inquiry into the
History of Jesus Christ: being an Analysis of the Gospels_, a second
edition of which was made public fourteen years afterwards, and, as
a result, its publisher (D. J. Eaton) was prosecuted, and such of the
impressions as could be collected were publicly burned in St. George's
Fields, London, by the common hangman, whose business it was to strangle
truth as well as murderers. This book, which is little known to modern
readers, is strictly what it professes to be--a critical inquiry
into the history of Jesus Christ, and it may, to a great extent, be
considered as the progenitor of more modern treatises. It does not
materially differ from the _Ecce Homo_ of to-day, or from the other
works which we shall name, except in its style and composition. Having
been written when all were in the habit of expressing their views in
strong language, and when opponents were abused in terms of coarse
invective, the author has expressed himself in a manner calculated to
offend rather than to convince, and to stir up anger rather than
to encourage thought. Yet his arguments are unanswerable, and his
deductions unimpeachable, by those who know the value of evidence and
exercise their power of ratiocination. I have been unable to find that
any work was written in refutation of the author's views, and the
only opposition to it was from the usual agent of the weak-minded, but
strong-bodied--persecution.
In more recent times, and within a very short period of each
other--so short, indeed, that we may say that the books were composed
simultaneously in Hindostan, Germany, France, and England--there have
appeared _A Voice from the Ganges,_ Strauss' _New Life of Jesus_,
Kenan's _Life of Jesus_, The English _Life of Jesus_, by Mr Thomas
Scott, of Norwood, a second _Ecce Homo_, from a modern Professor, and
_The Prophet of Nazareth_, by Owen Meredith.* In these volumes, the
historical value of the Gospel narratives closely and critically
examined, and a just appreciation of the character, preaching, and
practice of the Prophet of Nazareth are honestly sought after, and,
in the opinion of impartial readers, they must be held to have been
attained. Throughout the series which we have mentioned nothing that is
capable of demonstration, or of approximate proof, is taken for granted.
The scholarship of the critical philosopher everywhere overbears the
prejudice of the Christian bigot. Since the appearance of these another
author has treated upon the same subject, but only cursorily, and as
bearing upon other matters, in a work entitled _The Book of God; or, The
Apocalypse of Adam Oannes_, which was published anonymously, 1868.
* Whilst this sheet was in the printer's hands, a most
remarkable book was published anonymously, entitled,
_Supernatural Religion_, in two volumes. In it there is a
most scholarly account of the origin of the New Testament
writings, one which every thoughtful person should peruse.
Between the publication of the first _Ecce Homo_ and the second, viz.,
in 1836, there was printed, for private circulation, a very remarkable
work, entitled _Anacalypsis; or, an Attempt to draw aside the Veil of
the Saitic Isis_, by Godfrey Higgins. His two volumes are replete with
learning, and with deductions more startling than any which had appeared
prior to his own time; but the subject matter is so badly arranged,
that it is with very great difficulty that the trains of thought which
occupied the author's mind can be dis-. covered. His main idea is,
that very nearly everything in religion which appears to be mythical or
mysterious enfolds certain astronomical facts--such as the precession
of equinoxes, the duration of cycles of time--such as are necessary
to reproduce exactly a concordance between certain terrestrial and
celestial phenomena. With this theory he interweaves an amazing number
of facts which seem to favour the opinion enunciated in the book of
Ecclesiastes--i.e., that there is nothing new under the sun. He shows
that the idea of "incarnations," the birth of a heavenly child from a
pure virgin, and a variety of so-called Christian dogmas, have existed
in every age of which we have historical accounts.
He gives a vivid sketch of the nature of Christianity and its progress
from century to century, and he expresses himself respecting its modern
developments much in the same strain, though in a far more gentlemanlike
style, as did his contemporary, the Rev. R. Taylor, to whom was given,
or who assumed for himself, the title of the Devil's chaplain.
In the estimation of some of these writers, Jesus, the son of Mary, is
quite as mythical a being as Hercules, the son of Alcmena. This view has
been more recently adopted by some freethinkers of the present day. The
main support on which such individuals rely is the fact that there is no
mention of Jesus by any contemporary historian; and that, although
there are extant Jewish records of current history, at the time in which
Christ is said to have lived, they make no mention of him who is now
called the Saviour and of his wonderful history. It is pointed out that
the histories of the Gospels came out with marvellous rapidity, from
Alexandria, about the end of the first century, at a time when all
contemporaries of Jesus were dead.
To this work of Higgins it is probable that we shall have repeatedly
to refer, for his language is frequently so forcible that it cannot
be improved, and, moreover, he very often quotes from books, copies of
which I have been unable to obtain.
When I found that the ground which I intended to occupy had already
been so well and so ably cultivated, it occurred to me that it would be
advisable to take a wider flight than was originally contemplated, and,
instead of examining the Christian faith alone, to associate with it an
account of the faiths of those nations of whom we have some knowledge.
By this means it appeared to me, that we should be enabled to see
clearly, how far the current belief and practice of Christendom differs
from the doctrines and practices of those to whom Christianity could
never, by any possibility, have come, and we can examine, incidentally,
into the teachings of Jesus, and compare them with that of his
predecessor, Sakya Muni, or Buddha. We may also investigate impartially
such doctrines as the immaculate conception, and the existence of
angels.
When treating, however, a subject like the religions of the ancient and
modern world, it is difficult to frame the history so as to bring out
the salient points, in a manner satisfactory to the reader or to
the writer. The latter is tempted to begin, as he believes, at the
beginning, and to trace the development of religious thought from
its simplest expression up to its highest aspiration. This temptation
becomes all the stronger if, in the course of his study, he has
investigated the animal and vegetable creations. In those vast kingdoms
he sees that the philosopher is able to lead his disciples onwards
from the minute monad, or the simplest mass of matter, to the gigantic
mastodon, without any very conspicuous flaw or break in continuity; but,
on closely observing his method of proceeding, the student finds that
links which connect genera or species together are found in countries so
wide apart, that no direct communication can be supposed between the one
type and the other. Thus the gap between mammals and birds is said to
be filled by the "ornithorhynchus paradoxus," an animal living in a
vast island, in which scarcely one quadruped mammalian is known to
have existed, and where the aboriginal birds form a class peculiar to
Australia, and have no resemblance to the creature referred to.
Yet, though the temptation is great, and although we feel justified in
reasoning from the known to the unknown, and in supplying missing links
from analogy, or from our own imagination, still, we consider that it
will be our best plan to confine ourselves, as far as possible, to
that which is written, and to describe first, the religious ideas and
practices of some so-called savages; secondly, the ideas and practices
of some ancient races, whose histories, more or less perfect, have
come down to us, with a view to ascertain whether there is anything
essentially good in modern Christianity, either in faith or practice,
which is peculiar to that form of religion, or whether almost the same
style of teaching may not be found to have been common in the remote
East, at a period some centuries prior to the birth of Jesus.
As we have investigated the subjects of Sin, Salvation, Prayer,
Inspiration, &c., it is unnecessary to refer to them again.