EVOLUTION OF THE GOD IDEA.

“Knowing his adopted land well, the Eastern does not require recondite

volumes to explain ‘Dionysiak myths’ or ‘solar theories,’ as the old

faiths are now called in the West. He sees these pervading the tales

and epiks of East and West alike, just as Yahvism or Yahu-ism pervades

the Scriptures of Jews or Yahus—that ever-familiar and expressive

faith-term by which alone Asia knows the ‘Yahudean’ race.” While fully

admitting the true character of the old faith as here expressed, yet,

with all due deference to one of such acknowledged repute in the

literary world as Major-General Forlong, whose splendid work, entitled

“Rivers of Faith” (Preface, p. xxi.) contains the above paragraph, it

may be fairly urged that the educated few only, both among Easterns and

Westerns, have hitherto been capable of discerning the vein of solar

myth which pervades all systems of religion; while the vast multitude

of ignorant and credulous people even yet perceive, or think they

perceive, the Divine handiwork in the particular sacred oracle to which

they firmly pin their faith. The Hindu supreme deity is known as Brahm,

the Persian as Ormuzd, the Mohammedan as Allah, and the Jewish and

Christian as El, Elohim, Yahouh (or Jehovah), God, etc. Probably few

among the many millions who worship these various deities know much or

anything about their origin, innocently imagining that the Deity they

bow allegiance to once manifested itself to some chosen individual,

to whom it gave a revelation, the facts of which were handed down to

posterity. They little dream of the vast cycles of time that have

rolled past since the brain of man attained such a state of perfection

as to enable it to evolve the idea of Deity. It is utterly impossible

for the human mind to grasp the enormous interval of time that has

elapsed since primeval man emerged from the condition of unreasoning

existence to enter upon the bright dawn of intellectual activity, which

has developed into such mighty proportions as we behold to-day. Let

us carry the mind back far beyond the Dark Ages, through the classic

era, as far even as the very commencement of Egyptian history; and even

then we find ourselves but little nearer that remote period in which

the first spark of intelligence made its _debût_ upon the platform of

life. In imagination we may go still further back, and view the wonders

of that ancient Asian civilisation which preceded that of the ancient

Egyptians and Greeks, and which was probably derived very gradually

from the earliest social conceptions of the Caucasian branch of the

Polynesian primitive man. Still we are ages away from the period we

desire to arrive at; and even were we able to trace the human family

back to that remote time when man could not be said to partake more of

the character of the human than the ape species, still we should even

then be unable to point to the precise moment when intellect shed its

glorious rays upon the race, making bright, clear, and beautiful what

before was dark, misty, and unmeaning. The ancient Prosimiæ gradually

became Catarrhine apes, which, in their turn, as slowly assumed the

characters of the Anthropoidæ, and afterwards of ape-like men; but

the time required for this imperceptibly gradual process of evolution

was probably many hundred thousands of years, during which period,

or perhaps even at a prior time the first intellectual spark became

manifest: how, when, or for what ultimate purpose it is apparently

beyond our power to devise.

How soon after the dawn of intellect the conception of Deity was

evolved in the human brain it is equally impossible to say; but the

probability is that the date was a very early one, for it seems

highly probable that such a conception would be among the very first

efforts of the mind, the materials necessary for the stimulation of

such an effort being at hand at any moment. We can imagine our early

fathers groping in the darkness of ignorance, with mental powers on

a par with those of the awakening minds of our own children, seeing

bogies in every natural phenomenon, and tremblingly glowering at the

spectra of their own imaginations. Having no experience of the past

or knowledge of the future, they would indeed be in a most helpless

condition, relying entirely upon the instinctive capabilities they had

inherited from their ancestors. By degrees, however, their various

faculties would be further awakened by impressions received from

external objects; their wants would be multiplied in proportion to

their intellectual development, causing them to manifest a desire

for industry; and their self-consciousness would arouse within them

a feeling of dignity and importance to which they had hitherto been

strangers. Thus gradually would the race cast off its animal and put

on its human clothes. The old plan of hand-to-mouth existence would be

abolished by the newly-developed reason of man; the innumerable dangers

which confronted him would undoubtedly stimulate him to approach his

fellows with the object of establishing mutual aid and of co-operating

for their common welfare; and a feeling of confident superiority over

others of the animal kingdom would become apparent among them. Not only

would man’s attention be arrested by the impending dangers of each

day, the necessity of procuring sustenance for himself and family, and

the obvious advantages accruing from co-operation, but also by the

constantly-recurring natural phenomena, such as the rising and setting

of the sun, moon and stars, the never-ending succession of day and

night, etc., as well as by the no less wonderful, and certainly more

awful, occasional natural occurrences, such as lightning, thunder, and

earthquake. He would be as much struck with wonder and amazement at the

one set of phenomena as with awe at the other. The returning sun-light

would each morning produce joy in his heart equally as much as the

inevitable recurrence each night of darkness would produce a feeling of

sadness, dread, and despair. We can easily imagine the long hours of

horror our first fathers must have passed through each night among the

yells and howls of the savage monsters by which they were surrounded,

and how they anxiously looked forward to the return of that glorious

orb which would bring back to them daylight, sunshine, warmth, and

happiness. What a boon it must have been to them! Can we wonder that

they should have regarded the sun with particular affection? It would

have been remarkable, indeed, had they not done so; and it is more

than probable that this daily re-appearance of the sun on the eastern

horizon was actually what prompted the first conception of deity. The

very oldest mythology with which we are acquainted appears strongly

to bear out this theory, and, indeed, in every other mythological

system we find the re-appearing sun to be one of the principal objects

of devotion and affection. If we turn our gaze to that part of Asia,

along the banks of the Oxus, over which our Aryan ancestors wandered

thousands of years before the time of the earliest Egyptian dynasty, we

find there a clue to the origin of the original conception of deity.

Among these early people were composed the hymns of the _Rig-Veda_,

which are probably the earliest records of any race, and in which we

find personified the phenomena of the heavens and earth, the storm, the

wind, the rain, the stars, etc. The earth is represented as a flat,

indefinite surface, existing passively, and forming the foundation of

the whole universe; while above it the luminous vault of heaven forms a

dwelling place for the fertile and life-giving light and a covering for

the earth below. To the earth the Aryans gave the name of Prihovi, “the

wide expanse;” the vault of heaven they called Varuna, “the vault;”

while the light between the two, in the cloud region, they named Dyaus,

“the luminous air,” “the dawn.” Varuna and Prihovi, in space, together

begat Agni, the fire-god, the sun in heaven and life-giver of the

universe; and Soma, the ambrosial deity of earth, god of immortality,

fertiliser of the waters, nourisher of plants, and quickener of the

semen of men and animals. In these hymns frequent mention is made of

the joy experienced at the return of dawn, and of the saddening effect

produced upon the mind by the ever-recurring twilight which ushered

in the dark and dreary night. We meet with incantations expressive

of the wildest excitement at the welcome appearance of the dawn-god,

Dyaus, which heralded the approach of the sun-god, Agni, who is led up

to the summit of his ascension, or bosom of Varuna, by the conquering

god of battle, Indra, the defeater of the evil powers of darkness;

and we find the most pathetical appeals both to Agni and Indra to

remain longer over the earth, and co-operate with Soma in replenishing

nature, instead of sinking into the twilight, or shades of evening, to

be slain by Vritra, “the coverer,” and tormented in the darkness of

night by Ahi, the dragon, and other cruel monsters. This is precisely

the drama we should expect to find depicted in the earliest writings

of man; is the root of all future religious ideas; and is still to be

found pervading almost every modern religious faith. It is a beautiful

representation of the earliest yearnings and fears of our forefathers;

and, though the picture is now and then almost effaced by numerous

subsequent additions of mythological lore, yet the original conception

remains indelibly depicted in the religions of the present day,

furnishing us with the key to the study of comparative mythology.

It will be necessary, in order to compare, with any degree of accuracy,

the mythological systems which subsequently developed from this

primitive conception of a ruling power, to glance at the mode of

distribution of the various branches of the earliest human family;

and in doing so we must ever keep in mind the more than probable fact

that that portion of the earth’s surface which is now covered by

the Indian Ocean once formed a large equatorial continent, uniting

the east coast of Africa with Arabia, India, Ceylon, and the Malay

Peninsula. Instead of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates emptying their

waters into the Persian Gulf, and the Indus into the Arabian Sea, it

is highly probable that these rivers united to form one large estuary,

which emptied itself into the ocean on the south of the now submerged

continent of Lemuria. It is equally probable that the large rivers,

Ganges and Brahmapootra, likewise found an outlet south of a line drawn

from Point de Gall to Singapore. On this submerged continent, and on

the shores of these long-lost streams, it is supposed man evolved

from the anthropoid apes, in the early Pleiocene, or perhaps even in

the later Meiocene, geological period of the world’s history. The

transition stage in the pedigree of man between the Anthropoidæ and

true men—that is to say, between man-like Catarrhine apes and beings

possessing a larger proportion of the characteristics of the human

than of the ape species—is known to Anthropologists by the name of

Alali, or ape-like men. These wild and ill-formed savages wandered

about in bands along the banks of these monster rivers, passing their

time in hunting their less fortunate brethren of the animal kind. In

course of time they multiplied and spread over the entire continent,

killing all such monsters as interfered with their safety or comfort,

and gradually dividing and sub-dividing into families and races,

each acquiring, under the influence of the two laws of selection

and adaptation, peculiarities and characteristics not common to the

remainder. One branch wandered away to the west and south, becoming the

progenitors of the South African races; another found its way to the

east and south, to people Australasia; while a third struck out towards

the north, overrunning Malaya, Burmah, and Southern India. This last

branch, which we term the Malay, or Polynesian, subdivided into two

distinct families—the Mongolian, or Turanian, the progenitors of the

ancient Chinese, Ural Turks, Akkadians, and Finns; and the Caucasian,

or Iranian, the first human inhabitants of South-Western Asia. Of these

Iranians one stream, it is supposed, found its way to the banks of the

Nile, and became, in course of time, a distinct and powerful Egyptian

race; another, the Semitic, followed the direction of the Persian

Gulf, and settled in Arabia and along the banks of the Euphrates;

while a third, which we call the Aryan or Indo-Germanic, covered

India, Afghanistan, and Northern Persia, gradually extending along the

northern shores of the Black Sea into Europe.

Now, as already stated, the earliest known records of any race are the

hymns of the _Rig-Veda_, composed among the Aryans of Northern Persia,

probably from earlier traditions handed down to them from the older

Iranian stock, or even from the still earlier Polynesians; and it is

remarkable that in all ancient mythological records, as well as on

monumental inscriptions, the same vein of solar myth as is found in the

_Rig-Veda_ is clearly traceable beneath the accumulated mythological

lore of future ages. The main idea in all mythologies seems to have

been that of a saviour-deity conquering the evil genius of night, or

winter, and bringing back the day, or summer, to replenish the earth.

As already stated, Indra was to the Aryans of the early Vedic period

the saviour-god who, with his companions, Vishnu and Rudra, leads

forth Agni, the god of celestial and terrestrial fire, to the bosom

of Varuna, where his influence operates upon Soma, the fertilizer of

earth. A conqueror from early morn to mid-day, Indra’s power grows

weaker as the evening approaches, until at last the twilight yields him

up to Vritra, who slays him, after which he is tormented by Ahi, the

dragon, for the remainder of the night. This drama was probably derived

from the original Iranian stock, and as probably underwent considerable

modification before being finally committed to writing as a cultus by

the Aryans; and, therefore, we should expect to find some resemblance

between the Aryan, Semitic, and Egyptian mythological systems. This is

precisely what we do find on carefully comparing these three oldest

of all known mythologies, though, as will be seen further on, each

accumulates such a vast quantity of fresh mythological matter that the

original conception is considerably obscured, and in each the original

deities become in course of time so mixed up with one another that it

is almost impossible to separate their individual characteristics.

Although Agni was said to have been begotten by the conjunction in the

air of Varuna and Prihovi (Prithivi), all the principal gods, or Devas,

originally conceived as the phenomena and power of heaven, were called

the children of Dyaus and Prihovi, Agni and Indra being considered

the two chief of the twelve Devas. Dyaus, Prihovi, and their progeny

afterwards became endowed with moral qualities, and were looked upon as

creators and governors of the world; and as time wore on the original

Vedic deities gradually gave place to purely solar deities: the sun

was called Surya, and differed from Agni, who was god of terrestrial

and celestial fire—sun, lightning, and altar fire in one, the soul

of universe, and mediator between the gods and men; Surya was also

Savitri, the quickener, who in the early morn rouses the sleepers, and

in the evening twilight buries them again in sleep; he is also Vishnu,

the companion of Indra, who traverses the celestial space in three long

strides; he is Pushan, the nourisher and faithful guide of men and

animals; and he is Yama, who traverses the steep road to death and the

shades. Thus the gods multiplied—the original supreme deity, Varuna,

who was one with Indra, though different from him, giving place to a

multitude of solar deities, children of Dyaus, the great dawn-god or

day-father.

As the old Vedic language became lost to the people there arose a

custom of setting apart certain individuals to faithfully preserve the

old and sacred records, and thus arose the priestly caste of Brahmans,

whose duties consisted in transcribing the sacred hymns of the

_Rig-Veda_ and preserving the knowledge of the sacred language in which

they were first written. The great day-father, Dyaus, now received the

name of Brahma, the magic power, and Prajapeti, the lord of creatures,

and was endowed with three divine energies—Agni (fire), Vayu (air),

and Surya (the sun), which together formed a subordinate triad. Soma

became associated with the moon; Asura became the demon of hell, which

was peopled with tormenting monsters; Indra and Vishnu became blended

with Surya; and Rudra was converted into Siva and identified with

Agni. As Brahmanism progressed the principal worship on the shores

of the Ganges gradually centred round Vishnu, who was supposed to

undergo periodically a number of Avataras, or incarnations, by means

of which he rescued fallen man from the fate awaiting him. These

descents to the lower world were very frequent, and appear to have

had some connection with the zodiacal constellations; for we find the

incarnation at one time taking place as a man, at another as a fish, at

another as a lion, and so on.

The most ancient of the Avataras was probably the incarnation of

Krishna, the Indian Hercules, who was mentioned in the Vedic writings

as “Krishna, the son of Devaki,” and in whose honour festivals were

kept, at a very early period, similar to those connected with the

cultus of Bacchus. Megasthenes found the worship of Krishna prevailing

along the shores of the Ganges at the beginning of the third century

before our era, and described it as the worship of Hercules. This

incarnate offspring of the ancient sun-god, Vishnu, was said to have

been born at Mathura, a place situated between Delhi and Agra, and to

have acted the part of a saviour of the world and a mediator between

the gods and men. Soon after his birth his life was sought by the

reigning tyrant, Kamsa, who feared for the safety of his throne, which

necessitated the removal of Krishna to a place of safety. Arriving

at manhood, this young divinity slew the serpent Kaliya, and sported

with the Gopîs, or female cowherds, among whom he had been brought up.

He was fond of wine, Bacchanalian revels, and sensualities, though

considered to be immaculately holy, and resigned to his fate, which was

to suffer death in order to relieve the earth of the burden of a proud

race. For this purpose he was incarnated in the womb of his mother,

Devaki, and for this purpose he lived and died.

In the mountainous regions away from the Ganges the cultus of Siva was

the more prevalent, Vishnu being considered of secondary importance;

but, as sects gradually were formed out of the ancient religion, one

party preferring this deity and another that, an attempt was made,

which eventually proved successful, to re-unite the various religious

parties and re-instate the principal gods in their original places.

The ancient orthodoxy was brought into sympathy with the new religion

in a very curious manner, by making Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva a trinity

of essences or attributes of the supreme Brahm, each a supreme god in

itself, and each equal with the others in importance; Brahma being

specially the creator, Vishnu the redeemer or preserver, and Siva the

destroyer. At times Krishna was added to the new trinity as a fourth

figure; but this was an innovation which found little favour, inasmuch

as Vishnu and Krishna were the same god, the one but the incarnation of

the other. Thus the old idea of Prajapeti, or Brahma, with the three

divine energies—Agni (fire), Vayu (air), and Surya (the sun)—were

revived in a manner as a new trinity of essences of the supreme deity,

under other names; and the arrangement thus concluded has continued

in use to this day with the orthodox Hindus. We find, therefore,

that, despite the accumulation of fresh myths, which grew larger as

time wore on, the original conception of the constant necessity for

a divine saviour was never lost, and that, as the approach of night

in the Vedic system was followed by the torments of the shades, and

the powers of darkness were destroyed by the re-appearance of the

dawn-god, so also the approaching extinction of the people under a

wicked tyrant was followed by the misery which preceded the appearance

of the saviour-god, Krishna. In fact, every myth that occurs in the

religions of India is built out of this original idea of the powers of

light being overcome by the powers of darkness and finally rescued by a

redeeming god. In later times, as the science of astronomy became more

popular and better understood, not only was the daily apparent course

of the sun the source from which myths were fabricated, but his annual

apparent march through the zodiacal signs was also drawn upon for the

creation of more imposing and elaborate dramas; and in this manner

were produced the fables containing allusions to the two crucifixions,

or passage of the sun across the equator at the vernal and autumnal

equinoxes, and the rites of baptism when the sun was passing through

the sign Aquarius, and fasting during the period of the sun’s transit

through Pisces, etc.

The religion of Boodhism is an offshoot of the Brahman system, having

originated in the so-called incarnation of Vishnu, Gautama Boodha,

whose powerful personality has left an indelible impress upon the

religion. This remarkable man lived about the end of the sixth century;

but the real history of Boodhism does not commence until about the

middle of the third century before our era. The doctrines taught

by this great reformer were brotherly love, self-sacrifice, and an

eternal Nirvana as the consummation of all bliss. The doctrine of

the transmigration of the soul was still maintained; but a state of

Nirvana, or absolute non-existence, was declared to be the deliverance

from the endless succession of re-births for those who, by their

purity of life and heart, merit such a blissful end. Admitting that

men were born in different castes, determined by their good or evil

deeds in a prior existence, Boodha yet declared that all might attain

the highest salvation, and that none, not even those of the highest

caste and most sacred offices, could do this without having regard

to the well-being of all his fellow creatures. The authority of the

Vedas was rejected by the Boodhists, as also the whole dogmatic system

of the Brahmans; and in their place was substituted a higher moral

teaching, a more equitable relationship of men, and a wide-spreading

system of communism. This reformation of ancient dogmatic faith was not

destined to last long uncorrupted, for the monasteries established by

the Boodhists for the purpose of affording an asylum to the poor and

destitute soon became infested with religious fanatics—Jainas, as they

were called, some of whom went naked, while others robed themselves in

white linen. These ascetic monks looked forward to Nirvana as their

final goal, practised the most severe austerities, received confession,

administered priestly absolution, and kept regular feast and fast days;

but they discountenanced the growing custom of worshipping relics

which was finding favour with other Boodhist sects. Thus gradually the

primitive Aryan conception of a ruling power developed into a huge

system of dogmatism, monachism, and ritual in the countries south and

east of the Indus, as far even as the confines of the country of the

great Mongol race, whose religion is as yet but little known to us,

although it bears strong marks of having been originally derived from

the same source as that from which came the Vedic system.

Having glanced somewhat cursorily at the religious development of

the Eastern Aryan peoples, we will now turn to the Western Aryans,

and observe the manner in which the old Vedic myth was perpetuated

in Western Europe, leaving the Central Aryans, or that branch which

remained in and around Persia and Western Afghanistan, for subsequent

consideration; for, in this central district, the Mongol Akkadians and

the Semites intermingled so frequently with the Aryans that a very

intricate mythological system gradually came into operation in some

districts, bearing resemblance to the Vedic, the Semitic, and the

Mongolian mythologies.

The Western branch of the great Aryan family, after penetrating into

Southern Europe, became the progenitors of the ancient Pelasgi, the

earliest known inhabitants of Greece, and through them transmitted

the original Aryan myth to their successors, the Hellenes. Homer, in

his “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” written at latest B.C. 900, well describes

the religion of the Acheans, who inhabited Hellas for centuries prior

to B.C. 1000, and long before the supremacy of the Dorians; and, in

this description, as well as in that of Hesiod’s “Theogony,” written

immediately afterwards, there is exhibited a remarkable similarity

to the old Vedic system, the very name of the supreme deity being

clearly derived from an Aryan source, and that root being the identical

expression used to designate the Vedic Dawn God. From Dyaus Pitar,

the Day Father or Dawn God of the Aryans, the Greeks derived their

Zeus Pater, from whence we get Dios, Theos, the Latin _Deus Pater_,

_Dies Pater_ and Jupiter, and the French _Dieu_. Zeus was supreme

god, high above all others, having unlimited power, and living up

in the vault of heaven, surrounded by the inferior and subordinate

deities, who together formed his Olympian court. Instead of being

nature powers, these gods were endowed with freedom of action, subject

to pain and pleasure, and depended for their sustenance upon food.

The supremacy of King Zeus was firmly established; he presided over

councils of the gods to deliberate great matters, and was not bound

or fettered by any recognised restraint. With Athena and Apollo, he

formed a supreme triad, himself being the head, Athena the reason or

wisdom of the Divine Father, and Apollo the mouth, revealer of his

counsel, and loving son, who is always of one will with his father.

With Apollo was closely associated Prometheus, the great benefactor and

liberator of the race of man, who, according to that beautiful tragedy

of “Æschylus,” brought salvation to the world in spite of Jupiter,

his father and torturer, by whom he was crucified on a rock, where

he remained in fearful anguish until liberated by Hercules. Here we

find the old Vedic saviour redeeming the world from the darkness and

misery of night or winter, the same drama precisely as that described

in connection with the Eastern Aryan mythology. In both instances the

apparent daily and annual ascension and decline of the sun is depicted:

in the one case it rises again after its period of defeat in winter, or

night, as the sun-god Indra, afterwards Surya, and still later Krishna;

while in the other case it resuscitates the earth as Prometheus, the

benefactor of mankind. Just as Prometheus was but the Greek counterpart

of the Hindu Krishna, so also were Apollo, Hercules, Iao, and Dionysos

precisely the same. Each was the new-born sun, bringing back light and

glory to suffering humanity; and each passed through the very same

periods of power, decline, and misery before being born again.

Zeus was the sun-god _par excellence_, residing on the summit of

Olympus, or in the highest part of the heavenly vault, during the

summer months, when he was called Olympian Zeus, and down in Hades

during the winter period, when he was known as the Stygian Zeus; and

thus the oracle of the Klarion Apollon taught that the supreme God was

called, according to the seasons of the year, Hades, Zeus, Helios, and

Iao. Apollo and Prometheus, although saviour sun-gods, representing

the new-born sun victorious over death and winter, were yet one with

Zeus, and merely repetitions of the same character under different

names. So, in like manner, Hercules was not only son of Zeus, but Zeus

himself, and may be traced right through the complete annual circuit

in his twelve labours, from Hades to Olympus, and from Olympus to

Hades again. Dionysos was, in reality, not an Aryan deity, but of

Egyptian origin, having been introduced into Greece at a very early

time, either from Egypt, where he was worshipped as Mises, or, more

probably, from Phœnicia, where he was worshipped under the name of Iēs,

which accounts for the fact that hero personifications of Dionysos in

later times were accorded the designation of Iesous, (Ιησους, or in

capitals ΙΗΣΟΥΣ—Latin _Jesus_), the Greek form of Iēs (Ιης, or in

capitals ΙΗΣ). This Egyptian saviour sun-god became later the popular

god Bacchus of the Romans, just as Apollo had been the popular Greek

divinity, and was thus described by Macrobius: “The images or statues

of Bacchus represent him sometimes under the form of a child, sometimes

under that of a young man, at other times with a beard of a mature man,

and, lastly, with the wrinkles of old age, as the Greeks represent

the god whom they call Baccapee and Briseis, and as the Neapolitans

in Campania paint the god whom they honour under the name of Hebon.

These differences of age relate to the sun, who seems to be a tender

child at the winter solstice, such as the Egyptians represent him on

a certain day [December 25th], when they bring forth from an obscure

nook of their sanctuary his infantine image, because, the day being

then at the shortest, the god seems yet to be but a feeble infant:

gradually growing from this moment, he arrives, by degrees, at the

vernal equinox, under the form of a young man, of which his images

at that time bear the appearance; then he arrives at his maturity,

indicated by the tufted beard with which the images which represent him

at the summer solstice are adorned, the day having then taken all the

increase of which it is susceptible. Lastly, he decreases insensibly,

and arrives at his old age, pictured by the state of decrepitude in

which he is portrayed in the images.”

Yao, Iao, or Adonis was of Semitic origin, although widely worshipped

in Greece, and generally identified with Zeus, whose Semitic

counterpart he really was, although himself a saviour sun-god. Yao,

to the Phœnicians and Chaldeans, was as Zeus and Prometheus to the

Greeks, and represented the whole annual circuit, though he was always

called by the Greeks specially the god of the autumn, on account of his

having, at that period, to part from his lover, Aphrodite (Venus), for

six months; and thus there was usually a certain melancholy attached to

his worship, the oracle of the Klarion Apollon terming him the darling

or tender Yao (Ιαω), god of the autumn.

As the Greek power and civilisation declined and the Roman advanced,

the god Yao, like his counterpart Iēs, became one of the most popular

of the Roman deities, being worshipped under the name Adonis in every

city of Italy; and the mythological horizon became crowded with gods

and demi-gods of every description, until, at length, it became a very

difficult matter to determine who was a god and who was not worthy

of that distinction; for the Roman Emperors were invariably deified,

as well as others of less degree. The old Aryan drama, however, was

preserved throughout in the worship of the principal gods, and has even

been perpetuated in the reformed religion of the Semitic communistic

enthusiast, Yahoshua, which became, soon after the commencement of our

era, the popular religious system of the whole of Europe.

We have now to deal with the Central Aryans, or Eranians; and, in doing

so, must bear in mind that, while the Eastern Aryans, or Hindus, and

the Western Aryans of Europe, were almost altogether uninfluenced for

many centuries by the mythologies of surrounding tribes of other and

distinct families of the human race, this was far from being the case

with the Eranians, who were almost entirely cut off from their Western

brethren; and, although still in comparatively close contact with the

Eastern Aryans, were yet completely wedged in between the Turanian

Urals on the north, and the great Semitic stream of life on the south

and west. Such being the case, it is at once apparent that the religion

of the Eranian people would quickly lose many of its distinctive

Aryan marks and acquire many Turanian and Semitic characteristics.

Bactria, in Eastern Eran (Persia), appears to have been the ancient

birth-place of this semi-Aryan religion, which afterwards developed,

under the influence of that great reformer, Zoroaster (Zarathustra),

into the cultus called Mazdeism, or Parsism. From the Avesta, the

sacred writings of the Parsis, written in the old Zend language, we

derive considerable knowledge of Mazdeism. Ahura Mazdao (Ormazd), the

all-wise spirit, is supreme god, far above all gods, being creator of

the world, god of light and truth, existing from the beginning, and

eternal. Inferior to him are Mithra, god of light; Nairyo Sanha, god of

fire; Apan Napat, god of water; Haoma, god of the drink of immortality;

and Tistrya, the dog-star god. The chief goddess of fruitfulness was

Anahita, who in later time became an important deity in association

with the worship of Mithra, the son of Ormuzd. Mazdeism also recognised

a god of evil, Ahro Mainyus (Ahriman), who, with the evil Devas,

inhabit the under-world, and oppose Ormuzd on every occasion; the world

lying between the two kingdoms of righteousness and evil, ruled over

respectively by Ormuzd and Ahriman. This dualism is the most marked

feature of Mazdeism, and runs through the whole religion, being found

in every myth, and giving rise to the most hideous conceptions of

morality. In the cosmogony of the Parsis the great creator, Ormuzd,

after making a perfect world and introducing a perfect pair of human

beings, is defeated by the wicked Ahriman, who creates evil, and

seduces the man and woman to sin, thus placing in opposition to each

other upon this earth the two forces, good and evil. To avoid the

influence of this evil force, and to gain that of the good power, was

the great aim of all true Mazda-worshippers; and the means whereby

this much-desired end could be attained was the fire-god, Nairyo

Sanha, to whom constant supplications were made for this purpose. So

great was the influence of Ahriman upon human beings that the god of

light, Mithra, was promised as a saviour to come upon the earth and

rescue his people from the power of evil, his mission being to avenge

his father’s defeat by the god of the under-world, after doing which

he would ascend to his father and become one with him for ever. The

Magi, or Mithraitic priests of the “black art,” or “hidden science of

astrology,” are thus addressed in the “Zend-Avesta”:—”You, my children,

shall be first honoured by that divine person who is to appear in the

world; a star shall be before you to conduct you to the place of his

nativity; and when you have found him, present to him your oblations

and sacrifices, for he is indeed your lord and an everlasting king,”

meaning that after the constellation of the virgin came to the eastern

line of the horizon, as it did at twelve o’clock at midnight, between

December 24th and December 25th, in the period immediately following

that in which the words were written, the great star, _Vindemiatrix_,

in the virgin’s elbow, would, on January 6th, begin to shine, pointing

out to the astrologers, or Magi, her exact situation, who would then

know that the birth of the god-light of the new revolution had taken

place, and that by his re-appearance he would declare himself to be

the everlasting ruler of the universe. Consequently, for centuries

after this time the image of the god-light Mithra was presented to the

people for adoration every year on December 25th, soon after midnight,

in the shape of a newly-born male child, brought from the recesses of

the sacred grotto, or mystic cave of Mithra. Another image, supposed

to be the same deity fully grown, was said to die, and was carried

to the tomb after death by the priests, who chanted solemn hymns and

groaned. After pretending to mourn for three days, the sacred torch, or

emblem of new life, was lighted, and the priests exclaimed, “Reassure

yourselves, sacred bands of initiated; your god is restored to life;

his pains and sufferings procure your salvation.” This took place at

the vernal equinox, and the people responded: “I salute you, new light;

I salute you, young bridegroom and new light.”

Like the old Aryan scheme, this Mithra myth was derived from the

constellations, having reference to the decline of the year in autumn,

the defeat of the sun by the powers of darkness (or winter), and the

rebirth and ascension of that grand luminary in the spring of the

year. Mithra was “spiritual life contending with spiritual darkness,

and through his labours the kingdom of darkness will be lit with

heaven’s own light: the eternal will receive all things back into his

favour; and the world will be redeemed to God. The impure are to be

purified, and the evil made good, through the mediation of Mithras,

the reconciler of Ormuzd and Ahriman. Mithras is the good; his name is

Love. In relation to the Eternal he is the source of grace; in relation

to men he is the life-giver and mediator. He brings the Word, as Brahma

brings the Vedas from the mouth of the Eternal” (Plutarch, “De Iside

et Osiride ”). The close connection of the later Eranians with the

Chaldeans no doubt gave the former facilities for studying the Akkadian

astronomy; and, therefore, it is fair to presume that the phenomenon

of the precession of the equinoxes was well understood by them, which

would account for the fact that Mithra is always represented in

earlier times under the figure of a bull, and afterwards under that

of a lamb. The reason of this is that, prior to about B.C. 2,200, the

vernal equinoxial sign was the zodiacal figure of the bull (_Taurus_);

while, after that period, the figure of the lamb or ram (_Aries_) took

its place; and as the saviour sun-god Mithra was the personification

of the new annual sun, born in the December constellation, crossing

the equator in March, and thereby conquering the powers of evil or

darkness, he was invariably represented by the figure of that zodiacal

constellation which happened to be at the vernal equinoxial point at

the time.[1]

Having thus briefly glanced at the religious cults of the three

branches of the great Aryan family, and found the very same religious

conception of a divine and incarnate saviour, redeeming the universe

from the powers of darkness and evil, running through each mythological

system, we cannot help coming to the conclusion that, inasmuch as the

saviour-myth was developed into its full proportions long after the

separation of the families took place, and inasmuch as the development

followed similar lines in each separate case, there must have been

some common guide, and that guide was the unwritten word of nature as

expressed in the heavens above.

[1] _Vide_ my “Popular Faith Unveiled.”

Leaving the Aryan stream, and turning back to that division of the

great Iranian family which migrated to the valley of the Nile, and

which we call the Egyptian, we find a very similar religious system

in vogue among them from the very earliest times, as existed among

the Aryans. The first settlers in Egypt carried with them, no doubt,

the primitive religious conceptions of their Iranian fathers, which

were derived from a contemplation of the various phenomena of nature,

as previously stated; and it is highly probable that, at a very

early period, they gave considerable attention to the movements of

the heavenly bodies, for from monumental inscriptions, unearthed in

modern times, which geologists inform us must have lain _sub terra_

for several thousands of years, we learn that the Egyptians, at that

remote time, well understood the theory of the precession of the

equinoxes, placing the zodiacal constellation of the bull at the vernal

equinoxial point in the period prior to about B.C. 4300, and that of

the ram in the period immediately following. It is probable, therefore,

that hundreds of years before this time these primitive men of the

Nile were engaging themselves with the study of astronomy, and using

effective astronomical instruments, which indicates a high state of

civilisation; and this is further borne out by the fact that, at the

commencement of the first Egyptian dynasty, about the year B.C. 5000,

when Menes reigned over Egypt, there was every appearance of a very

advanced civilisation that had lasted for centuries. From the “Book

of the Dead” and the Prisse Papyrus (most of the former written at

latest prior to B.C. 4000, and the latter very soon after) we derive a

tolerably accurate notion of the mythological system of the Egyptians

during the first portion of the Old Empire, and probably many hundreds

of years previously; while, from the writings of Herodotus, Diodorus,

Plutarch, and Manetho, we learn the progress the religion made during

the 4,000 following years.

The “Book of the Dead” treats principally of the refining processes

through which the spirits of dead people passed in the under-world,

or Cher Nuter, before being purified sufficiently to inherit a state

of bliss and become spirits of light (Chu) to be absorbed into the

sun at the point where it is born, and taken within it to An, the

celestial Heliopolis. Before the time of Menes the religion of Egypt

was animistic, blended with a vague kind of sun-worship, the supreme

deity being, at Thinis-Abydos, the ancient capital, called Osiris, the

god of gods, son of Seb, god of earth, and Nu, goddess of the heavenly

ocean, and grandson of Ra. Osiris was the sun-god of the daily and

annual circle, who enjoyed his spouse, Isis, the great mother, during

the summer months and the daytime, after which he was overcome by the

evil Set-Typhon and his wife Nephthys, and tortured in the under-world,

until released by his son Horus, the conqueror sun-god, who rose into

the upper world as the avenger of his father’s defeat, and liberated

the soul of Osiris from torture, to be absorbed by, and for ever shine

forth in the constellation _Orion_, as the soul of Isis shines for

ever in _Sirius_. At Heliopolis, An, On, or Para, the city of the sun,

Ra was worshipped as supreme god, who as Tum, the hidden god, fought

the demon of darkness, the serpent Apap, in Amenti, and who rose

again from the under-world as Harmachis. Later, when Menes reigned as

the first monarch of the Old Empire (_circa_ B.C. 5000), Memphis, or

Mennefer, was the capital city, in which Phtah was worshipped as the

supreme god or creator of the world (called Sekru, the slain god, when

in the lower world), together with Ma, goddess of righteousness, and

Imhotep, the chief of priests, whose name signified “I come in peace,”

and who formed the third part of a kind of trinity, with Phtah and

Ma. All these, and other minor deities, such as deified kings, etc.,

were represented on earth by incarnations in the shape of animals, Ra,

Osiris, and Phtah, the supreme gods, being manifested in the sacred

bull Apis, representing the sun at the vernal equinoctial point in

the zodiacal constellation _Taurus_. During six dynasties these gods

were worshipped peacefully, their incarnations and religious rites

being protected by the kings; but about the year B.C. 3800 the kingdom

appears to have dropped to bits, its religion to have been mixed up in

a most confused manner, and its people divided into a number of small

nationalities, with separate kings and separate laws; until, at length,

the whole country was once more united under the reigning monarchs of

the eleventh dynasty (Second Empire), whose capital was Thebes, and

whose popular deity was Amen, the hidden god, called also Amen-Ra, to

signify that he was not only the sun-god in the under-world, but also

the rising and conquering sun-god of the early morn and spring of the

year. In fact, Amen was the sun-god of the whole revolution, the Theban

Yao, one with his father Osiris in the mid-day and mid-summer, one

with his counterpart Horus at the early morn and spring of the year,

and one with Tum in the darkness of night and winter; just as Zeus of

the Greeks was Zeus Amen (Jupiter Ammon), Olympian Zeus, Zeus Yao, and

Stygian Zeus, according to the season of the year.

Between the Middle Empire and the New Empire another catastrophe

occurred to the Egyptians, in the form of an invasion of the Hyksos, or

shepherd kings of Arabia, who overran the whole country, destroyed the

temples, and levied heavy tribute on the people, eventually settling

down for four centuries as Kings of Egypt, adopting many of the native

customs, and introducing many Semitic deities and observances. At

last the Hyksos were driven forth, and the New Empire commenced with

the eighteenth dynasty; but a considerable difference was now found

to exist in the religion of the country, partly on account of the

introduction of Semitic rites, and partly owing to the change that

had taken place at the vernal equinoctial point, by the precessional

movement of the zodiacal constellation _Taurus_. The vernal equinoctial

point was now (B.C. 2000) in the sign _Aries_, and therefore the

principal deities should be no longer represented as incarnate bulls,

but as incarnate rams. Accordingly, we find that after this date the

bull-god Apis, or Serapis, gradually fell into disrepute; and Amen,

who was now the supreme and representative god, was worshipped as an

incarnate ram, being depicted as a man wearing ram’s horns.

Another mode of worshipping the young sun-god, born at the winter

solstice, December 25th, was that known as the Mysteries of the

Night, or Passion of Osiris, at which an idol of the infant Horus, or

Amen, called also the Holy Word, was presented to the people in its

mother’s arms, or exposed to view in a crib for the adoration of the

people by the priests, who were, according to Adrian, called Bishops

of Christ (χριστος, the anointed one); and when King Ptolemy, B.C.

350, asked the meaning of the custom, he was informed that it was a

sacred mystery. During these mysteries, which took place annually,

bread, after sacerdotal rites, was mystically converted into the body

of Osiris, to be partaken of by all the faithful, who were called

Christians; and an idol representing the body of the god, stretched on

a cross within a circle, was placed upon the mystic table for adoration

and praise.

The winter solstitial point is really December 21st; but the ancients

always kept the festival of the birth of the sun-god on December 25th,

because at twelve o’clock, midnight between December 24th and 25th the

uppermost stars in the constellation _Virgo_ made their appearance

above the horizon, being the first indication of the birth of the

new sun, which had taken place exactly three days and three nights

previously. This gave rise to the popular superstition that the new

sun-god was born of a virgin, from whose womb he had been trying to

extricate himself for the space of three days and three nights. From

this the idea prevailed that the sun-god underwent similar periods of

struggle also at the summer solstice and the two equinoctial points;

and thus arose the legend of the two crucifixions, the one at the

vernal equinox, when the sun in _Aries_ crossed the Equator and was

crucified as the “Lamb of God” on March 21st, commencing the ascension

to heaven on March 25th; and the other at the autumnal equinox, when

the sun in _Libra_ (the balance of justice) crossed the Equator and was

crucified as the “Just Man” on September 23rd, descending to hell for

three days and three nights, after which he emerged into the shades

until born again at the winter solstice.

A very popular deity of the Lower Nile was Mises (drawn from water),

the sun-god of wine and mirth, who was born on Mount Nyssa (Sinai),

and was found as a babe in a box floating on the Red Sea, and who, by

means of his magic wand, took his army dry-shod through the Sea and

the rivers Orontes and Hydaspes, drew water from rocks, and caused the

land through which he passed to flow with milk, wine, and honey. He was

depicted with a ram’s horn on his forehead, being the personification

of the new-born sun delivering the world from the powers of darkness,

and was afterwards worshipped in Phœnicia as Iēs, in Greece as Dionysos

(Διονυσος], God of Nyssa), son of Zeus, and in Rome as Bacchus. The

temples dedicated to this sun-god were, in the time of the Greek kings

of Egypt, very gorgeous, the mystic table having upon it, not only the

infant in its cradle, the transubstantiated bread, and the Osirian

crucifix, but also a bleeding lamb, the emblem of the sun-god at the

vernal equinox, over which was placed the Phœnician name of Mises, Iēs,

in Greek capitals (ΙΗΣ]), surrounded by the rays of glory, to signify

that he was the risen and crucified sun-god, and one with Horus and

Amen-Ra.

Turning to the third great division of the Iranians—viz., the Semites,

who migrated to the Valley of the Euphrates, we find a more or less

complicated religious system, varying in accordance with the amount of

intercommunication which took place between the Semites and the tribes

belonging to the Aryan, Mongolian, and Egyptian families. The earliest

Semitic settlement was in the district stretching from the Euphrates to

the Red Sea and Mediterranean, and their religion was, at first, one of

pure animistic polydæmonism, varying enormously in details of drama in

the different tribes, but exhibiting in all common characteristics.

All early Semitic peoples worshipped the sun-god, Shamsh, and all

were moon, planet, and star-worshippers to a very large extent; but,

as the race became divided into Northern and Southern Semites, a

distinct difference gradually arose between the religious cults of

the two branches. The Southern, or Arab, tribes, on account of their

more isolated situation, retained the original Semitic mythology,

worshipping the sun as their chief god, Shamsh, the moon as his

consort, and the stars and planets as inferior gods and goddesses, the

_Pleiades_ being objects of special homage. Shamsh was father of all,

and disappeared to the under-world at night to rest in slumber until

awakened into activity in the morning as Yachavah, his son, who became

one with his father.

The Northern Semites, on penetrating, at a later period, the borders of

Mesopotamia, came in contact with a powerful and advanced civilisation,

which had been already established by the Akkadian branch of the

Northern Mongolian family, and thus the original Semitic religion

became very much modified by the introduction into it of many of the

Mongol, as well as some also of the Aryan, myths.

Very little is known of the Akkadian mythology; but it is pretty

certain that they were, at a very early period, acquainted with the

science of astronomy, and that the Chaldeans, their successors, who

were a mongrel race, partly Akkadian and partly Semitic, invented the

cuneiform writing to take the place of the old Mongolian hieroglyphic

characters. From what we know of the religion of the old Mongol

Chinese empire prior to 1200 B.C., it was a kind of spirit-worship,

the Shang-ti, or supreme spirit, being Thian (Heaven), who, in

co-operation with Heu-thu (earth), produced everything. Man, according

to this cultus, had two souls, one of which ascended after death to

heaven, while the other descended into the earth, both being absorbed

respectively into Thian and Heu-thu.

The Akkadians, who were but a branch of the same race as the

progenitors of the ancient Chinese, also worshipped spirits, the

greatest of whom was Ana (the highest heaven), the next Mulge (the

hidden heaven in the interior of the earth), and the third Ea, the

god of the atmosphere and of moisture. After these came an inferior

group—Uru-ki, the moon-god; Ud, the sun-god; and Im, the wind-god.

The spirits were divided into good and bad, which were constantly at

war with each other; and thus was introduced into the religion of the

semi-Semitic Chaldeans the dualistic notion of good and evil existing

in conflict throughout all time.

The Northern Semites may be conveniently divided into four distinct

nations—viz., the Chaldeans (Babylonians and Assyrians), who were

partly Semitic and partly Akkadian, the Aramæans, the Canaanites,

and the Phœnicians. These peoples soon became acquainted with the

astronomical learning of the Akkadians, and were taught the wonderful

phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes; and it is highly

probable that the fact of the vernal equinoctial sign having changed

shortly before B.C. 2000 from that of the Bull to that of the Ram or

Lamb had much to do with the changing of the old Semitic name Shamsh

to that of El, as a designation of the sun-god, El (אל) being the old

Chaldean word for Ram.

Owing to the mixed character of the Chaldean nation, their religion was

a peculiar blending of the Akkadian and Semitic mythologies, El Ilu, or

Ilah, being their chief deity; but, instead of sinking into the lower

world each night for peaceful slumber, as the older Shamsh had done, he

became the victim of the wicked demons, who tormented him all through

the dark hours, until he was avenged by his son Yachavah, who thereby

became the conqueror and saviour god, one with his father Ilu, and yet

different. To a great extent the religion of the purely Semitic tribes

of the north was affected by this Chaldean myth; but there arose many

points of difference between them. The Assyrians worshipped El under

the name of Asur, their national deity, the Babylonians converting the

name into Bel; while the pure Semites worshipped him as Bel and Baal in

the west, and as Al in the south. Out of the story of El and Yachavah

was fabricated the great Adonis myth of the Chaldeans, which became

so popular in future times among all the Semites except the Arabs of

the south, who retained the original character of the supreme Shamsh,

El or Al (afterwards Allah), and his son Yachavah, afterwards Yahouh.

This Adonis drama, as originally conceived, was that El reigned in

supreme power and glory in the highest heaven, enjoying the delights

of his spouse Istar, but that in the autumn the wicked gods of winter

overcame him, separating him from his lover, and tormenting him all

through the winter months, until in the spring he conquered the evil

demons as Adon, the beautiful youth, who is restored to his mourning

Istar. The worship of Adonis, or Adon was generally adopted by all

the Northern Semites, the god becoming eventually the most popular

deity of the Semitic people, being known as Yao (ΙΑΟ of the Greeks)

to the Phoenicians, Yahoo (יהו) to the Canaanites, and Tammuz to the

Aramæans, while his lover Istar became the Phoenician Ashtoreth. Iēs,

the god of wine, and Greek Dionysos, was another saviour sun-god

worshipped largely by the Phœnicians; but was most probably of Egyptian

origin, being identical with Mises, the Egyptian Bacchus. As already

stated, the Southern Semites of Arabia retained, in common with their

Ethiopian brethren, the old and simpler worship of the supreme god El

and his son Yahouh, although, owing to their propinquity to Egypt,

many strange inferior deities had been introduced into Arabia from

that country, which resulted, in much later times, in the formation

of various religious sects, each having a particular tribal deity, or

patron god, though all recognising El as supreme. One of these tribes,

with Yahouh as their tribal god, on which account they were called

Yahoudi, having left their native Arabian home, penetrated far into

the country of the Northern Semites, learning from the Canaanites,

Phœnicians, and Babylonians the strange legends of the Northern Semitic

deities, including the Adonis myth; and, after wandering about for many

years, one large portion of their tribe settled in the delta of the

Nile, while the remainder crossed the desert of Syria and approached

the confines of Babylonia, finally settling in the barren and rocky

interior of Syria, and making the spot where now stands the small

town of El-Khuds (Jerusalem) their headquarters. During their long

wanderings they became acquainted not only with the various Semitic

myths of the north, but also with the Babylonian and Persian legends,

and incorporated a quantity of strange deities and customs into their

own rude and primitive religion, thus manufacturing a very complicated

and weird system of mythology.

The date of the Yahudean migration into Syria was certainly not earlier

than about B.C. 250, despite the declaration of interested parties

that these people were known as Israelites and Jews for centuries

before that time. The following quotation from Major-General Forlong’s

“Rivers of Faith” is worth reproducing on this point:—“The first

notice of the Jews is, _possibly_, that of certain Shemitic rulers of

the Aram, paying tribute about 850 B.C. to Vool-Nirari, the successor

of Shalmaneser of Syria, regarding which, however, much more is made

by Biblicists than the simple record warrants. This is the case also

where Champollion affirms that mention is made on the Theban temples

of the capture of certain towns of the land we call Judea, this being

thought to prove the existence of Jews. Similar assumption takes

place in regard to the hieratic papyri of the Leyden Museum, held to

belong to the time of Rameses II.; an inscription read on the rocks

of El-Hamamat, and the discovery of some names like Chedorlaomer in

the records of Babylonia; but this is all the ‘evidence’ as to the

existence of ancient Jews which has been advanced, and the most is

made of it in Dr. Birch’s opening address on ‘The Progress of Biblical

Archæology,’ at the inauguration of that Society. The only _logical_

conclusion justifiable, when we give up the _inspiration_ theory, is

that Arabs and Syro-Phenicians were known to Assyrians and Egyptians,

and this none would deny. Indeed, we readily grant with Dr. Birch that,

‘under the nineteenth and twentieth Egyptian dynasties, the influence

of the Armenœan nations is distinctly marked; that not only, by blood

and alliances, had the Pharaohs been closely united with the princes

of Palestine and Syria, but that the language of the period abounds

in Semitic words, quite different from the Egyptian, with which they

were embroidered and intermingled.’ Could it possibly be otherwise? Is

it not so this day? Is a vast and rapidly-spawning Shemitic continent

like Arabia not to influence the narrow delta of a river adjoining

it, or the wild highlands of Syria to its north? Of course, Arabs, or

Shemites, were everywhere spread over Egypt, Syria, and Phenicia, as

well as in their ancient seats of empire in Arabi Irak (Kaldia), and on

the imperial mounds of Kalneh and Kouyunjik, _but not necessarily as

Jews_. I cannot find that these last were anything more than possibly a

peculiar religious sect of Arabs, who settled down from their pristine

nomadic habits, and obtained a _quasi_ government under petty princes

or sheks, such as we have seen take place in the case of numerous

Arabian and Indian sects.”

Again, the author of “Rivers of Faith” remarks: “No efforts, say the

leaders of the Biblical Archæological Society, have been able to find,

either amid the numerous engravings on the rocks of Arabia Petrea or

Palestine, _any save Phenician inscriptions_—not even a record of

the Syro-Hebrew character, which was once thought to be the peculiar

property of Hebrews. ‘_Most of those inscriptions hitherto discovered

do not date anterior to the Roman Empire_’ (Dr. Birch, President of

Soc, op. cit., p. 9). ‘Few, if any, monuments (of Jews) have been

obtained in Palestine’ or the neighbouring countries of any useful

antiquity, save the Moabite Stone, and the value of this last is all

in favour of my previous arguments on these points. At the pool of

Siloam we have an ‘inscription, _in the Phenician character_, as old

as the time of the kings.... It is incised upon the walls of a rock

chamber, apparently _dedicated to Baal, who is mentioned on it_.’ So

that here, in a most holy place of this ‘peculiar people,’ we find

only Phenicians, and these worshipping the Sun-God of Fertility, as

was customary on every coast of Europe, from unknown times down to the

rise of Christianity. The Biblical Archæological Society and British

Museum authorities tell us frankly and clearly that no Hebrew square

character can be proved to exist till after the Babylonian captivity,

and that, ‘at all events, _this inscription of Siloam shows that the

curved or Phenician character was in use in Jerusalem itself under the

Hebrew Monarchy, as well as the conterminous Phenicia, Moabitis_, and

the more distant Assyria. No monument, indeed,’ continues Dr. Birch,

‘of greater antiquity, inscribed in the square character (Hebrew), has

been found, _as yet, older than the fifth century_, A.D.; and the coins

of the Maccabean princes, as well as those of the revolter Barcochab,

are impressed with _Samaritan_ characters.’” As to the Moabite Stone,

I would refer my readers to a little work entitled “An Inquiry into

the Age of the Moabite Stone,” by Samuel Sharpe, the celebrated author

of “The History of Egypt,” in which will be found abundant evidence to

prove that the inscription on the Stone is a forgery of about the year

A.D. 260.

Apart from the history contained in the books of the Old Testament,

there is absolutely no record of the Jews as an independent people,

except that contained in the writings of Josephus (about A.D.

100); and, although that author may be tolerably trustworthy when

relating matters near to his own time, yet in his description of

Jewish antiquities he evidently, as he himself asserts, rests only

on tradition. For instance, he alone records the story of Alexander

entering the holy place at Jerusalem and offering sacrifice on the

altar; but Arrian, in his “Anabasis of Alexander the Great,” where he

specially treats of the life and actions of this great conqueror, says

not one word about such a place as Jerusalem, or about such a story

as that recorded by Josephus. Curtius, who wrote a far more detailed

account of the life and conquests of Alexander, mentions neither

Jerusalem nor the story of Alexander and the holy place. Herodotus,

about B.C. 430, when narrating the two raids of the Scythians through

Syria, as far as Egypt, says not a word about any Jews. Xenophon, who

wrote 150 years after they were said to have returned from Babylon, or

about B.C. 386, appears to have been unconscious of their existence,

only mentioning the Syrians of Palestine. Neither did Sanchoniathon,

Ctesias, Berosus, nor Manetho even once mention them as a nation.

Diodorus also, when writing of the siege of Tyre by the soldiers of

Alexander, neither mentions the Jews as a nation nor Jerusalem as

their chief town. In fact, we have no account of them at all, except

that contained in the Old Testament and that in the writings of

Josephus, until we find them subject to the Romans, under Antiochus

Epiphanes, about B.C. 165, when in all probability they had just

settled down into a dependent nation, having been driven into Syria

by the Babylonians, whose fertile valleys these Arabian nomads had

attempted to colonise. Being surrounded on all sides by nations whose

religions so very far surpassed their own in development, it did not

take long for the Yahoudi (afterwards called Jews) to become affected

by the mythological dramas of their neighbours; and, in carefully

examining the mythical records of their tribe, we find that they very

soon became acquainted with, and in some cases offered worship to,

almost all the purely Semitic and Chaldean, as well as to a few of

the Egyptian, deities. Their principal god always remained as before,

El (אל) signifying the zodiacal sign _Aries_, the heavenly ram and

first of the twelve zodiacal figures. Combined with Yah (יה), the

abbreviation of Yahouh (יהוה), their tribal deity, it formed a compound

word, Eloh (אלוה), or Elyah (אליה, the ו and י being interchangeable),

the plural of which was Elohim (אלהים), a word used frequently in the

Bible to signify the supreme God. Bearing in mind the fact that the

fables of the Bible are not actual history, but merely so many accounts

of the ever-recurring phenomena of the sidereal heavens, and that in

the various saviour myths the vernal equinoxial sign, or saviour sign,

_Aries_, was looked upon as the supreme god, who housed the new-born

sun on his first appearance in the upper world, just as in the present

day the song of praise on Easterday is “Worthy is the lamb who was

slain (crucified) to receive the power and bring back salvation to

the world,” the meanings of these names of the supreme deity become

apparent at once. All the words—and, in fact, almost every divine

name found in every divine record—signify the sun in one or other of

the divisions of his annual or daily apparent march, or else one of

the divisions itself. El signifies the first and saviour sign of the

zodiac, the celestial ram, and is always used when the winter period

is referred to, because from the autumnal to the vernal equinox the

sun-god, Yahouh, is separated from the ram, El, which remains god of

the lower world, until again united with its spouse, the sun, at the

vernal equinox, becoming the ram-sun-god, El-Yah or Eloh, whose plural

is Elohim, the ram-sun-gods, from the vernal to the autumnal equinox,

when the sun and _Aries_ are together for six months. At a later time,

when the old Bacchus worship was revived at Alexandria in the person

of the young Semitic Yahoshua, who was named Iesous, we have a good

illustration of this when the sun-god, in his agony at being separated

from the ram at the autumnal equinox or crucifixion, exclaimed: “Eloi,

Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—“My ram, my ram, why hast thou forsaken me?”

In, I believe, every instance in which the plural word, Elohim, is used

in the Bible the reference is to the summer half of the year, from the

vernal to the autumnal equinox, when El and Yah are together. We meet

with El—in its Babylonian form, Bel; in its Aramæan forms, Bel and

Belus; and in its Phenician form, Baal—frequently in the Bible, and

often in combination with other deities, as El-Shaddai and Bel-Shaddai

(בעלשדי), signifying the “breasted ram,” or the ram at the vernal

equinox, the period of suckling.[2] Other forms of the same divine name

were Baal-Berith, god of the equinox or covenant (_co-venire_, to come

together, as when the ecliptic crosses the equator at the two equinoxes

or crucifixions); Baal-Yah and El-Yah, rendered in the authorised

version respectively Bealiah and Elijah, when in reality they signify

the god Yahouh, or ram-sun-god; El-Yah also does duty for Joel; Elishah

signifies the saviour ram; Eliakim, the setting ram; Eleazar, the

creating ram; Samuel, the god of fame, or famous ram; Daniel, the

ram judge; and Israel, the struggle with El. The Phenician Hercules

wrestled with Typhon (the sun at the meridian) in the sand, just as

Israel or Jacob wrestled with Elohim in the dust—Hercules, like Jacob,

being wounded in the thigh; and the Canaanites knew the Greek Hercules,

who wrestled with Zeus, by the name of Ysrael.

[2] El not only signified a ram, but also a lamb, or any other kind of

sheep. The vernal equinoxial sign, for instance, of the Persians was a

lamb, while that of the Egyptians was a ram.

Baal-gad (בעלגד) was the god of Fortune, Gad being a Babylonian deity

representing fortune, which was placed at the foot of Hermon for public

worship. From this deity G D (גד) are derived the English words God

and Good, the German Gott and Gut, the Danish and Swedish Gud, and

the Wesleyan Methodist Gawd. Baal-Peor was the Phallic deity (_Deus

Vulvæ_), god of the opening, worshipped largely by the Hebrews, who, as

General Forlong points out, “had a strong solo-phalik fire-and-serpent

cult. They all had Baal, Nebu, and Peor on their high places; Yachavah

or Yahuê, the ‘Grove,’ or Asherah [Ashtoreth] and fire in their

central groves.” Baal Zephon was the god Typhon; Baal Hermon was

another name for Gad, god of Fortune; Baal Hazor was the god Hathor;

and Baal Hamon (בעלאמון) was the god Amen, or Jupiter Ammon. The word

Yahouh, in various terminal forms, was frequently used to designate

the sun at different times and seasons—as Joseph, the lamented Yah;

Jehu, Yahouh himself; and, according to Gesenius, Jehozabad, Yeho the

giver; Jehohanan, Yeho is good; Jehoiada, Yeho is knowing; Jehoshua,

or Joshua; Jehoshaphat; Jehoiakim; Hoshea; Zedekiyah, etc. Yahoshua

(Joshua) was the Canaanitish name for the Phoenician Yēs or Iēs, and

Egyptian Mises, and became in Latin Josue, or Jesus, according to

whether the Romans referred to the Phenician or Canaanitish Bacchus,

whose histories, though similar in the main, differed considerably

in details. The Egyptian Mises became also the Jewish law-giver and

leader, Moses, and is described in Ex. xxxiv. as being horned like

Bacchus (_vide_ my “Popular Faith Unveiled”). The Adonis myth occurs

over and over again in fragments throughout the Bible, the Babylonish

name Adon frequently being found in that form (אדן), in its Hebrew

rendering Adonai (אדני), and occasionally in its Aramæan form of

Tammuz. It occurs alone, as in Psalm cx. 1, “Yahouh said to Adonis, sit

at my right hand;” in Isaiah vii. 14, “Therefore our Adonis himself

shall give you a sign;” and in conjunction with Yahouh, as in Isaiah

vii. 7, “Thus saith Yahouh, our Adonis,” and numerous other places. It

also occurs with different terminations, to signify different forms and

positions of the sun-god—as Adoniyah or Adonijah, Adonis is Yahouh;

Adoni-zedek, the liberated Adonis; Adoni-bezek, the rising Adonis; etc.

The old Semitic sun-god Shamsh remained, as of old, the Hebrew שמש

(Shemosh), signifying the sun; and his Greek _alter ego_, Hercules, the

sun-hero, was not forgotten either, for we find a very poor attempt

to reproduce him in the history of Samson. Moloch, Dagon, and other

Semitic deities are also introduced into the Jewish Scriptures. There

is one other deity frequently met with which must now be named, and

that is the Egyptian Amen—the Zeus Amen (Ζευς Αμην·) of the Greeks,

and the Jupiter Ammon of the Romans. This god Ammon (אמן or אמון)

was worshipped by the Jews as the equal in power to, and the very

counterpart of, Yahouh, and was called by the very same names by which

he was known to the Egyptians—viz., the hidden god, true and faithful

witness (which epithet gave origin to the Greek adverb, Αμην, truly),

and saviour of the world, or regenerator of nature. In Isaiah xlv. 15

we read, “Truly thou art the hidden god of Israel, the saviour;” and,

again, in chapter lxv. 16, “He who blesses himself on earth shall bless

himself by his god Ammon (אלהיאמן); and he who sweareth in the earth

shall swear by the god Ammon, because the former troubles are delivered

to oblivion, and because they are hidden from mine eyes.” This hidden

or occult god, Ammon, or Amen, is frequently addressed in the Psalms

and other places, and is there identified with Yahouh and Adonis. In

Psalm xxvii. 8, 9, we read, “Seek ye my face. My heart said to thee,

Thy face, O Yahouh, will I seek. O hide not thy face from me;” and

Psalm x. 1, “And why standest thou so far off, Yahouh, and hidest thy

face in the needful time of trouble?” Psalm lxxxix. 46 says, “Yahouh,

how long wilt thou hide thyself?” Verses 49, 50, “O our Adonis, where

are thy loving kindnesses of old, which thou swearest to David in thy

truth?” and verse 52, “Blessed be Yahouh for evermore (who is) Ammon,

even Ammon.” In Isaiah i. 15 we also read, “When ye spread forth your

hands I will hide myself from you; yea, when ye make many prayers I

will not hear you.” We find the same god also in the New Testament

Scriptures of the later Christian sect of Eclectic Egyptian Jews. In

the Apocalypse, for instance, the word Αμην is rendered “Amen” in the

authorised version, and is sometimes met with as a Greek noun, Ὁ Αμην

(never heard of in the classics), when it is rendered “the Amen,”

which senseless rendering is no doubt intended to conceal the real

and obvious meaning. In Rev. i. 18 we read, “I am he that liveth and

was dead, and behold I, Ammon, am alive for evermore,” the word Αμην

being rendered “Amen;” and in chap. iii. 14, “These things saith Ammon

[“the Amen” in the authorised version], the true and faithful witness,

the beginning of the creation of God.” As the celestial ram or lamb,

_Aries_, Amen is again mentioned in chap. xiii. 8, “The lamb which has

been slain from the foundation of the world”—that is, each year at the

vernal equinox, when the occult god rose from his hiding-place in the

lower hemisphere to bring salvation to the world.

This concludes the examination of the old sun-myth religions; but there

are yet three very important religious systems to be dealt with—viz.,

Confucianism, Mohammedanism, and Christianism.

Confucianism took its birth in the sixth century B.C., at a time

when the old solar myth was very extensively believed in China and

the neighbouring countries, and was, strictly speaking, a system of

morality and conduct. Its author, Confucius (Kong-fu-tse), was born

B.C. 550, in Lu, a province of China, and at a very early age commenced

to preach a higher and purer morality among the Chinese people, many

of whom became regular followers of the young reformer, and followed

his good example by likewise teaching the people at every favourable

opportunity. He was strongly opposed to all false show, hypocrisy, and

deceit, and abhorred the life of a hermit as unnatural and mischievous.

He preferred not to speak of heaven as a personal being, as was the

habit of his countrymen, but was exceedingly fond of quoting its

example as the preserver of order, frequently alluding to its commands,

ordinances, and purposes. He attached no value to prayer, preached the

doctrine that good and evil are rewarded on the earth by prosperity and

adversity, and expressed his disbelief in special revelations to men.

The canonical books of the Confucians are known as the five _Kings_

(the historical _Shu-King_, the psalms of the _Shi-King_, and the

ritual of the _Li-ki_, the chronicles of the _Tshun-tsiew_, and the

magical _Yi-King_), and the three volumes containing the remarkable

and benevolent utterances of the master Confucius himself—viz., the

_Lun-yu_, the _Ta-hio_, and the _Tshung-yung_. In the _Ta-hio_ occur

those celebrated and beautiful moral passages which have so justly

immortalised the name of Confucius. The one is the 24th moral: “Do

unto another what you would he should do to you, and do not to another

what you would should not be done to you. Thou needest this law alone;

it is the foundation and principle of all the rest.” The other is the

53rd moral: “Acknowledge thy benefits by return of other benefits,

but never avenge injuries.” Notwithstanding the great persecution of

Confucians in b.c. 212, by the Ts’in rulers, and other smaller attempts

to destroy the new system of morality in favour of the sun-gods, the

moral code of Confucius was publicly permitted to be used in A.D. 57,

and since the seventh century has almost entirely taken the place of

god-worship, a few only of the more uneducated classes still professing

to worship Fo-hi.

Mohammedanism, or Islamism, the reformed faith of Arab polytheists,

arose in the sixth century of our era. Mahomet, or Mohammed, was a

young religious enthusiast, a camel-driver of Mecca, who determined

to uproot the idolatry and superstition of the Arab tribes, and was

singularly successful in his arduous undertaking. He had a powerful

aversion to all kinds of priestcraft, sacrifices, and superstitious

ordeals, and boldly preached the unity of God, declaring that “there

is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet.” Of all the religions

of the world, perhaps none has been more successful than this; and,

certainly, not one ever spread so rapidly over the face of the earth.

In less than 100 years after the decease of the prophet the Khalifs

of Islamism were masters of the whole of Northern Africa, Spain, and

part of France, besides a great portion of Asia; which vast territories

they retained possession of for about 600 years, encouraging the while

philosophical and scientific studies, establishing libraries, schools,

and universities, and otherwise benefitting the human race. At the

present day upwards of 100,000,000 people embrace this faith, whose God

is Allah, the great unity, whose prophet is Mahomet, and whose Bible is

the Koran.

We now come to Christianism, that widely-spread faith, whose cradle was

Alexandria, whose nursery was Rome, and whose workshop was Europe. The

founder of this religion, if he ever lived at all, about which there is

considerable doubt, was a young ascetic monk belonging to the Essenes—a

Syrian branch of the large order of Therapeutæ—whose headquarters were

in Alexandria. His name was Yahoshua ben Pandira and Stada; he was born

about B.C. 120, in the reign of Alexander Jannæus; and he preached the

doctrines of Confucius, declaring publicly that the priests were liars

and hypocrites, and inculcating communistic and socialistic theories.

He gained many lowly followers, who followed him about preaching in the

open air, and begging their bread from day to day, and, at last, was

publicly executed for his seditious conduct.

At the same time a remarkable mental revolution was taking place in

Greece and Egypt, the natural homes of mythology; the University of

Alexandria and the Academic Groves of Athens were fast sending to the

right-about-face the old superstitions, much to the dismay of the

priests and religious fanatics, who were driven to their wits’ end to

know how to counteract this dangerous tendency of the age towards

infidelity and science. The idea struck them of utilising for their

purpose the new sect of religious reformers, who lived according to

the teaching of the young socialist, Yahoshua; they boldly declared

that this man was, when on earth, an incarnate deity, and proceeded

to attribute to him all the miraculous performances that had been

previously imputed to the sun-god Bacchus; and commenced forthwith

to prepare their documentary evidences ready for the ignorant and

credulous multitudes. A new sect of the Therapeut monks of Alexandria

came into existence, called Eclectics, whose mission was to collect

all that was good and useful in the religions of their neighbours, and

commit them to manuscript for the use of their monasteries and the

priestly class generally. It did not take long to fabricate a very

imposing story of the young man Yahoshua, whom they now called Iesous

(Ιησους, a name used by the Greeks to signify a hero personification

of the sun-god Bacchus, the Phœnician Ιης), Greek being at that time

the prevailing language of Lower Egypt. The performances of the ancient

sun-gods of Egypt, Persia, Arabia, India, Greece, Phœnicia, and Italy

were recalled to the minds of these Eclectic monks, by diligent search

among their old musty MSS., and, after carefully and judiciously

collating the fables, they were enabled to clothe their new Iesous, or

Jesus, with all the leading characteristics of these various deities.

He was born of a virgin at midnight between December 24th and December

25th, as were all the sun-gods: his birth, like that of Mithra and that

of Krishna, was foretold: a star pointed out the place of his nativity,

as in the case of Mithra: his birth-place was a manger in a stable, as

in the case of Hercules; or, according to another account, a cave, as

in the case of Mithra and Horus: he cured the sick, as did Æsculapius:

he fasted in the wilderness, as did Buddha: he performed miracles, as

did Bacchus, Hercules, and others: he turned water into wine, as did

the Egyptian Bacchus, and as was done at the Bacchanalian orgies: he

was crucified, as were also Krishna, Osiris, and Prometheus: he rose

from the dead after having been in the grave three days and three

nights, as did all the sun-gods: he descended to hell, as did all the

sun-gods: he was called Saviour (Σωτηρ, Gr., and Saotès, Egyp.) and

Lamb of God (_Agnus Dei_), as were all the sun-gods (Ζευς Σωτηρ, Mises

Saotès, etc.); Amen, as was Jupiter Ammon (Ζευς Αμην); Christ, or the

Anointed (χριστος), as was Osiris; Son of God, as were Plato’s Logos

(λογος), Bacchus, Mithra, and Horus; Holy Word (of Plato and Philo), as

also was Horus; God of Love, as were Adonis, Mithra, and Krishna; Light

of the World, as were all the sun-gods; and, like his _alter ego_,

Krishna, The Resurrection, The Incarnate, The Beginning and the End,

Existing before All Things, Chief of Prophets, and Messenger of Peace:

he was the incarnation of one third of a trinity, as were also Horus,

Krishna, and Plato’s Logos: his day was called the Day of the Sun: his

followers were called Christians, and his priests Bishops of Christ,

just as were those of Osiris: his priests absolved sins, received

confessions, and practised celibacy, as did the priests of Bacchus,

Adonis, Mithra, Krishna, Buddha, etc.: his feast was called the Lord’s

Supper and the Mystery of the Night, as were those of Bacchus, Adonis,

and Osiris: these suppers became, in course of time, obscene midnight

orgies, as did those of Bacchus and Adonis: at these suppers the

insignia over the table were the letters Ι Η Σ (the Phœnician name

of Bacchus, in Greek capitals), surrounded by the rays of light and

surmounted by a crucifix and a bleeding lamb, precisely as was the case

with the Bacchanalian orgies: at the Lord’s Supper bread and wine were

transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus, exactly as was done

in the case of Bacchus and Osiris: and lights were used at these feasts

just as they were at the Bacchanalian orgies.

These fables were carefully compiled together, attributed to various

imaginary authors, and finally issued to the people as an appendix,

or New Testament, to the volume of the old Jewish Scriptures, or Old

Testament. Thus were gathered together by the Alexandrian Eclectics

the principal essentials of all the old mythological cults, and thus

came into existence the huge and powerful system of religion called

Christianism, which has been the great curse of Europe for well nigh

two thousand years. From the brutal murder of Hypatia, in a Christian

church, by the fanatical mob of a Christian bishop, down to the last

poor wretch burnt alive at the stake by the orders of the Church of

Jesus, the story of Christian infamy is not relieved by one bright

spot. Humanity stands aghast, and shudders at the hideous tale of crime

which the history of Christian Europe unfolds. It is one long wail of

anguish, poured forth by suffering man, finding relief only in the

silence of the grave—that stronghold of peace within which neither

god, devil, priest, nor tyrant can wreak their diabolical vengeance

further. How terrible have been the sufferings of poor Humanity under

the ghastly shadow of the Cross is beautifully expressed in Shelley’s

“Queen Mab,” in the dialogue between the spirit of Ianthe and the Fairy

Queen:—

SPIRIT. I was an infant when my mother went

To see an Atheist burned. She took me there:

The dark-robed priests were met around the pile

The multitude was gazing silently;

And as the culprit passed with dauntless mien,

Tempered disdain in his unaltering eye,

Mixed with a quiet smile, shone calmly forth:

The thirsty fire crept round his manly limbs;

His resolute eyes were scorched to blindness soon;

His death-pang rent my heart! the insensate mob

Uttered a cry of triumph, and I wept.

Weep not, child! cried my mother, for that man

Has said, There is no God.

FAIRY. There is no God!

Nature confirms the faith his death-groan seal’d:

Let heaven and earth, let man’s revolving race,

His ceaseless generations, tell their tale;

Let every part depending on the chain

That links it to the whole, point to the hand

That grasps its term! Let every seed that falls,

In silent eloquence unfold its store

Of argument: infinity within,

Infinity without, belie creation;

The exterminable spirit it contains

Is Nature’s only God; but human pride

Is skilful to invent most serious names

To hide its ignorance.

The name of God

Has fenced about all crime with holiness,

Himself the creature of his worshippers,

Whose names and attributes and passions change,

Seeva, Buddh, Foh, Jehovah, God, or Lord,

Even with the human dupes who build his shrines,

Still serving o’er the war-polluted world

For desolation’s watchword; whether hosts

Stain his death-blushing chariot wheels, as on

Triumphantly they roll, whilst Brahmins raise

A sacred hymn to mingle with the groans;

Or countless partners of his power divide

His tyranny to weakness; or the smoke

Of burning towns, the cries of female helplessness,

Unarmed old age, and youth, and infancy,

Horribly massacred, ascend to heaven

In honour of his name; or, last and worst,

Earth groans beneath religion’s iron age,

And priests dare babble of a God of peace,

Even while their hands are red with guiltless blood,

Murdering the while, uprooting every germ

Of truth, exterminating, spoiling all,

Making the earth a slaughter-house!

There is no God! What, then, caused this mighty universe? To be caused

implies a cause, certainly; and that cause must, in the very nature of

things, be adequate for the production of the effect manifested. But,

inasmuch as cause and effect are but relative terms, the cause could

not exist independently of the effect, and _vice versâ_. Therefore, as

far as the human mind is capable of mentating, the universe could not

have been caused. It is, therefore, eternal. What that inherent power

of matter is that hides itself so mysteriously behind the phenomena of

nature we cannot tell, farther than that, being the inherent property

of eternal matter, it also is eternal. This point is the limit of

the human understanding, beyond which it is apparently impossible

at present for the mind of man to soar. In the words of Mr. Herbert

Spencer, “there is a power behind humanity and behind all things; a

power of which humanity is but a small and fugitive product; a power

which was, in the course of ever-changing manifestations, before

humanity was, and will continue through all other manifestations when

humanity has ceased to be.” This power, of which matter and motion,

thought and volition, are but the phenomenal manifestations, and which

regulates the varied movements of those myriads of stellar systems

interspersed throughout the infinity of space—this exhaustless power

of life and energy is to the human mind, as at present constituted,

unknowable. Call it Law; call it Gravity; call it the Mysterious

Unknown; but call it not God, that word which has brought so much

bitter anguish to humanity, and which blighted the beauty of nature,

causing hate where love should be, and tears to fall where smiles

should gladden the heart of man. Whether or not the mind of man in

future ages will be able to lift the veil that at present lies between

him and the Great Unknown time alone can tell.

At present we are at the mercy of an imperfectly-developed nervous

organisation, with its five special senses, which, though very far

superior to the lowly nervous development of our remote ancestors

of millions of centuries back in the history of life, is perfectly

inadequate for the solution of the great problem of existence. But

a time will probably arrive in the dim and misty future when other

and more important senses will be evolved within the human frame,

which may bring man nearer the elucidation of this greatest of all

mysteries. Meanwhile let us apply ourselves boldly to the uprooting of

the old Upas tree of religious faith—that pernicious development of the

god-idea that has been the constant blight of all ages, stifling reason

by fostering blind faith and gross credulity, robbing the race of all

that is noble, manly, and honest, by the propagation of those canker

worms, hypocrisy and cant, and retarding the temporal salvation of man

by the substitution of the vain and foolish theory of future rewards

and punishments.

_Printed by Watts & Co., 17, Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, London,

E.C._

[Illustration: ZODIACAL SIGNS

LIBRA A

VIRGO B

LEO C

CANCER D

GEMINI E

TAURUS F

ARIES G

PISCES H

AQUARIUS I

CAPRICORNUS J

SAGITARIUS K

SCORPIO L

A Earth’s position at Vernal Equinox B.C. 4340.

B " " " " " " 2188.

C " " " " " " 36.

D " " " Winter Solstice " 4340.

E " " " " " " 2188.

F " " " " " " 36.

G " " " Autumnal Equinox " 4340.

H " " " " " " 2188.

I " " " " " " 36.

J " " " Summer Solstice " 4340.

K " " " " " " 2188.

L " " " " " " 36.

]

[Illustration: INSIGNIA ON THE WALLS IN THE TEMPLES OF BACCHUS]

[Illustration: ORIENTAL ZODIAC. After Sir W^(m) Jones.]

[Illustration: ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ZODIAC FROM THE TEMPLE OF ISIS DENDERA

After Sir Wm. Drummond.]

[Illustration: NORTHERN SIGNS AND EXTRA-ZODIACAL CONSTELLATIONS.

B.C. 36 to A.D. 2116.]

[Illustration: SOUTHERN SIGNS AND EXTRA-ZODIACAL CONSTELLATIONS.

B.C. 36 to A.D. 2116.]

[Illustration: _B.C. 4340 TO B.C. 2188._]

[Illustration: _B.C. 36 TO A.D. 2116._]

[Illustration: _ZODIACAL LINE OR ECLIPTIC. B.C. 2188 TO B.C. 36._]

[Illustration: Boötes Adam Joseph the Carpenter