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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
**** ****
THE WORLD'S
SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
OR
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST
CONTAINING
NEW, STARTLING, AND EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS IN
RELIGIOUS HISTORY, WHICH DISCLOSE THE ORIENTAL
ORIGIN OF ALL THE DOCTRINES, PRINCIPLES,
PRECEPTS, AND MIRACLES OF THE
CHRISTIAN NEW TESTAMENT
AND FURNISHING A KEY FOR UNLOCKING MANY OF ITS SACRED
MYSTERIES, BESIDES COMPRISING THE
HISTORY OF 16 HEATHEN CRUCIFIED GODS
BY
KERSEY GRAVES
SIXTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED
NEW YORK
PETER ECKLER PUBLISHING COMPANY
1915
**** ****
Copyright, 1875
by
Lydia M. Graves
**** ****
PREFACE.
INVERSELY to the remoteness of time has been man's ascent
toward the temple of knowledge. Truth has made its ingress into the
human mind in the ratio by which man has attained the capacity to
receive and appreciate it. Hence, as we tread back the meandering
pathway of human history, every step in the receding process brings
us to a lower plane of intelligence and a state of mind more
thoroughly encrusted with ignorance and superstition. It is,
therefore, no source of surprise to learn, when we take a survey of
the world two or three thousand years in the past, that every
religious writer of that era committed errors on every subject
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
1
THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
which employed his pen, involving a scientific principle. Hence,
the bible, or sacred book, to which he was a contributor, is now
found to bear the marks of human imperfection. For the temple of
knowledge was but partially reared, and its chambers but dimly
lighted up. The intellectual brain was in a dark, feeble and
dormant condition. Hence, the moral and religious feelings were
drifted about without a pilot on the turbulent waves of
superstition, and finally stranded on the shoals of bigotry. The
Christian bible, like other bibles, having been written in an age
when science was but budding into life, and philosophy had attained
but a feeble growth, should be expected to teach many things
incompatible with the principles of modern science. And accordingly
it is found to contain, like other bibles, numerous statements so
obviously at war with present established scientific truths that
almost any school-boy, at the present day, can demonstrate their
falsity. Let the unbiased reader examine and compare the oriental
and Christian bibles together, and he will note the following
facts, viz: --
1. That the cardinal religious conceptions of all bibles are
essentially the same -- all running in parable grooves.
2. That every chapter of every bible is but a transcript of
the mental chart of the writer.
3. That no bible, pagan or Christian, contains anything
surpassing the natural, mental and moral capacity of the writer to
originate. And hence no divine aid or inspiration was necessary for
its production.
4. That the moral and religious teachings of no bible reach a
higher altitude than the intelligence and mental development of the
age and country which produced it.
5. That the Christian bible, in some respects, is superior to
some of the other bibles, but only to the extent to which the age
in which it was written was superior in intelligence and natural
mental capacity to the era in which the older bibles were penned;
and that this superiority consists not its more exalted religious
conceptions, but only in the fact that, being of more modern
origin, the progress of mind had worn away some of the legendary
rubbish of the past. Being written in a later and more enlightened
age, it is consequently a little less encrusted with mythological
tradition and oriental imagery. Though not free from these
elements, it possesses them in less degree. And by comparing
Christ's history with those of the oriental Gods, it will be found:
--
1. That he taught no new doctrine or moral precept.
2. That he inculcated the same religion and morality, which he
elaborated, as other moral teachers, to great extremes.
3. That Christ differs so little in his character, preaching,
and practical life from some of the oriental Gods, that no person
whose mind is not deplorably warped and biased by early training
can call one divine while he considers the other human.
4. That if Christ was a God, then all were Gods.
THE AUTHOR.
2
THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The author desires to say that this work has been carefully
reviewed and corrected, and some additions made, embracing two
chapters from "the Bible of Bibles," and some explanatory notes,
and is now able to place before the reader a greatly improved
edition.
The author also desires to say here, that the many flattering
letters he has received from various parts of the country, from
those who have supplied themselves with the work, excites in his
mind the hope it will ultimately effect something towards achieving
the important end sought to be attained by its publication -- the
banishment of that wide-spread delusion comprehended in the belief
in an incarnate, virgin-born God, called Jesus Christ, and the
infallibility of his teachings, with the numerous evils growing
legitimately out of this belief -- among the most important of
which is, its cramping effect upon the mind of the possessor, which
interdicts its growth, and thus constitutes a serious obstacle to
the progress both of the individual and of society. And such has
been the blinding effect of this delusion upon all who have fallen
victims to its influence, that the numerous errors and evils of our
popular system of religious faith, which constitutes its legitimate
fruits, have passed from age to age, unnoticed by all except
scientific and progressive maids, who are constantly bringing these
errors and evils to light. This state of things has been a source
of sorrow and regret to every philanthropist desiring the welfare
of the race. And if this work shall achieve anything towards
arresting this great evil, the author will feel that he is amply
compensated for the years of toil and mental labor spent in its
preparation.
NOTE. -- As the different works consulted have assigned
different dates for the same event, the author has, in one or two
cases, followed their example, accepting them as authority; as in
the date of the birth and death of the Gods of Mexico. The reader
will also notice that the name of the same God is found in
different countries. Example -- Adonis and Bacchus are found
amongst the Gods of both Greece and Egypt.
**** ****
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREPACE ............................................... 3
EXPLANATION ........................................... 5
INTRODUCTION .......................................... 6
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY ................................ 10
CHAPTER I
RIVAL CLAIMS OF THE SAVIORS .......................... 14
CHAPTER II
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES ................................. 18
CHAPTER III
PROPHECIES BY THE FIGURE OF A SERPENT ................ 20
CHAPTER IV
MIRACULOUS AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE GODS ..... 22
CHAPTER V
VIRGIN MOTHERS AND VIRGIN-BORN GODS .................. 28
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
3
THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
CHAPTER VI
STARS POINT OUT THE TIME AND TRE SAVIORS' BIRTH-PLACE. 30
CHAPTER VII
ANGELS, SHEPHERDS, AND MAGI VISIT THE INFANT SAVIORS.. 33
CHAPTER VIII
THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER THE BIRTHDAY OF THE GODS. 36
CHAPTER IX
TITLES OF THE SAVIORS ................................ 38
CHAPTER X
THE SAVIORS OF ROYAL DESCENT, BUT HUMBLE BIRTH ....... 40
CHAPTER XI
CHRIST'S GENEALOGY ................................... 41
CHAPTER XII
THE WORLD'S SAVOIRS SAVED PROM DESTRUCTION IN INFANCY. 44
CHAPTER XIII
THE SAVIORS EXHIBIT EARLY PROOFS OF DIVINITY ......... 48
CHAPTER XIV
THE SAVIORS' KINGDOMS NOT OF THIS WORLD .............. 50
CHAPTER XV
THE SAVIORS ARE REAL PERSONAGES ...................... 51
CHAPTER XVI
SIXTEEN SAVIORS CRUCIFIED ............................ 54
CHAPTER XVII
THE APHANASIA, OR DARKNESS, AT THE CRUCIFIXION ....... 74
CHAPTER XVIII
DESCENT OF THE SAVIORS INTO HELL ..................... 77
CHAPTER XIX
RESURRECTION OF TIIE SAVIOR .......................... 79
CHAPTER XX
REAPPEARANCE AND ASCENSION OF THE SAVIORS ............ 84
CHAPTER XXI
THE ATONEMENT: ITS ORIENTAL OR HEATHEN ORIGIN ........ 86
CHAPTER XXII
THE HOLY GHOST OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN .................... 91
CHAPTER XXIII
THE DIVINE "WORD" OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN ................. 98
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TRINITY VERY ANCIENTLY
A CURRENT HEATHEN DOCTRINE .......................... 102
CHAPTER XXV
ABSOLUTION, OR THE CONFESSION OF SINS,
OF HEATHEN ORIGIN ................................... 104
CHAPTER XXVI
ORIGIN OF BAPTISM BY WATRR,
FIRE, BLOOD, AND THE HOLY GHOST ..................... 105
CHAPTER XXVII
THE SACRAMENT OR EUCHARIST OF HEATHEN ORIGIN ........ 110
CHAPTER XXVIII
ANOINTING WITH OIL OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN ............... 111
CHAPTER XXIX
HOW MEN, INCLUDING JESUS CHRIST,
CAME TO BE WORSHFPPED AS GODS ....................... 112
CHAPTER XXX
SACRED CYCLES EXPLAINING THE ADVENT OF THE GODS,
THE MASTFR-KEY TO THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST ...... 123
CHAPTER XXXI
CHRISTIANITY DERIVED FROM HEATHEN
AND ORIENTAL SYSTEMS ................................ 129
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
4
THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
CHAPTER XXXII
THREE HTTNDRED AND FORTY-SIX STRIKING ANALOGIES
BETWEEN CHRIST AND CHRISHNA ......................... 143
CHAPTER XXXIII
APPOLONIUS, OSIRUS, AND MAGUS AS GODS ............... 175
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE THREE PILLARS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH --
MIRACLES, PROPHECIES, AND PRECEPTS .................. 183
CHAPTER XXXV
LOGICAL OR COMMON-SENSE VIEW OF
THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE INCARNATION .................. 206
CHAPTER XXXVI
PHLOSOPHICAL ABSURDITIES OF THE DOCTRINE
OF THE DIVINE INCARNATION ........................... 210
CHAPTER XXXVII
PHYSIOLOGICAL ABSURDITIES OF THE DOCTRINE
OF THE DIVINE INCARNATION ........................... 212
CHAPTER XXXVIII
A HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST ... 214
CHAPTER XXXIX
THE SCRIPTXTRAL VIEW OF CHRIST'S DIVINITY ........... 218
CHAPTER XL
A METONYMIC VIEW OF THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHMST ..... 226
CHAPTER XLI
THE PRECEPTS AND PRACTICAL LI]FE OF JESUS CHRIST .... 227
CHAPTER XLII
CHRIST AS A SPIRITUAL MEDIUM ........................ 237
CHAPTER XLIII
CONVERSION, REPENTANCE, AND "GETTING RELIGION"
OF HEATHEN ORIGIN ................................... 239
CHAPTER XLIV
THE MORAL LESSONS OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY .............. 245
CHAPTER XLV
CONCLUSION AND REVIEW ............................... 246
NOTE OF EXPLANATION ................................. 249
**** ****
EXPLANATION.
"THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS." What an imposing
title for a book! What startling developments of religious history
it implies! Is it founded on fact or on fiction? If it has a basis
of truth, where was such an extraordinary mine of sacred lore
discovered? Where were such startling facts obtained as the title
of the work suggests. These queries will doubtless arise as
soliloquies in the minds of many readers on glancing at the title-
page. And the author is disposed to gratify this natural and most
probable, in some cases, excited curiosity by a brief explanation.
In doing this, he deems it only necessary to state that many of the
most important facts collated in this work were derived from Sir
Godfrey Higgins' Anacalypsis, a work as valuable as it is rare --
a work comprising the result of twenty years' labor, devoted to the
investigation of religious history. And although embodying many
important historical facts which should have commanded for it a
word-wide circulation, but a few copies of this invaluable treasury
of religious knowledge have ever found their way into this country.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
5
THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
One of these copies the author of this work obtained, at no
inconsiderable expense, long enough to glean from its pages such
facts as he presumed would be most interesting and instructive to
the general reader, some of which will be found in nearly every
chapter of this volume. With the facts and materials derived from
this source, and two hundred other unimpeachable historical
records, the present work might have been swelled to fourfold its
present size without exhausting the author's ample store of
materials and would have possessed such unwieldy dimensions but for
a strict conformity to the most rigid rules of eclecticism and
condensation. Encouraged by the extensive demand for his former
work, "The Biography of Satan," which has passed through seven
editions, the author cherishes the hope that the present work will
meet with a circulation commensurate with the importance of the
many invaluable facts which it contains. For he possesses the sad
conviction that the many religious errors and evils which it is the
object of this work to expose, operate very seriously to retard the
moral and intellectual growth and prosperity of all Christian
countries. They have the effect to injure mentally, morally and
religiously the great body of Christian professors.
_________
Dr. Prince, of Long Island (now deceased), wrote to the
author, respecting the thirty-fifth chapter of this work, entitled
"The Logical View of the Incarnation," after he had seen it in the
columns of a newspaper, "It is a masterly piece of logic, and will
startle, if it does not revolutionize, the orthodox world. And the
chapters comprising 'The Philosophical View,' and 'The
Physiological View,' were afterward pronounced specimens of
profound and unanswerable logical reasoning." We thus call the
reader's attention to these chapters in advance, in order to induce
that thorough attention to their facts and arguments which will
result in banishing from his mind the last vestiges of a belief (if
he entertain any) in the doctrine of the divine incarnation.
**** ****
INTRODUCTION.
IMPORTANT FACTS CONSTITUTING THE BASIS OF
THIS WORK.
IGNORANCE of science and ignorance of history are the two
great bulwarks of religious error. There is scarcely a tenet of
religious faith now propagated to the world by the professed
disciples of Christ but that, if subjected to a rigid test in the
ordeal of modern science, would be found to contain more or less
error. Vast acquisitions have been made in the fields of science
and history within the last half century, the moral lessons of
which have done much to undermine and unsettle our popular system
of religious faith, and to bring into disrepute or effectually
change many of its long-cherished dogmas. The scientific and
historical facts thus brought before the intelligent public, have
served as keys for explaining many of the doctrines comprised in
the popular creed. They have poured a flood of light upon our whole
system of religion as now taught by its popular representatives,
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
which have had the effect to reveal many of its errors to those who
have had the temerity, or the curiosity, to investigate it upon
these grounds. Many of the doctrines and miraculous events which
have always been assigned a divine emanation by the disciples of
the Christian faith, are, by these scientific and historical
disclosures, shown to be explainable upon natural grounds, and to
have exclusively a natural basis. Some of them are shown to be
solvable by recently developed 'spiritual laws,' while others are
proven to be founded wholly in error. The intelligent community are
now acquainted with many of these important facts, so that no man
of science can be found in this enlightened age who can popularly
be termed a Christian. No man can be found in any Christian country
who has the established reputation of being a man of science, or
who has made any proficiency in the whole curriculum of the
sciences, whose creed, when examined by an orthodox committee,
would not be pronounced unsound. It is true that many of the
scientific class, not possessing the conviction that duty imposes
the moral necessity of making living martyrs of themselves, have
refrained from fully avowing or disclosing to the public their real
convictions of the popular faith.
The changes and improvements in religious ideas now observant
in the most intelligent portion of the community, are due in part
to the rapid progress of scientific discovery and the dissemination
of scientific knowledge in Christian countries. The explorer in the
field of religious history, however, comes in here for his meed of
praise. New stores of historic facts and data may be reckoned among
the recent acquisitions of the laborious archeologist; new
fountains of religions history have recently been unsealed, which
have had the effect to reveal many errors and false claims set up
for the current religion of Christendom -- a religion long regarded
as settled and stereotyped. For many centuries subsequent to the
establishment of the Christian religion, but little was known by
its disciples of the character, claims and doctrines of the
oriental systems of worship. These religions, in fact, were
scarcely known to exist, because they had long been veiled in
secrecy. They were found, in some cases, enshrined in religious
books printed or written in a language so very ancient and obscure,
as to bid defiance for centuries to the labors of the most
indefatigable, profound and erudite archeological scholar to
decipher it. That obstacle is now partially surmounted.
The recent translation for the first time of the Hindoo Vedas
into the English language (the oldest bible now extant or ever
written) has revealed to the unwelcome gaze of the Christian reader
the startling fact that "the heathen" had long been in possession
of "holy books," possessing essentially the same character, and
teaching essentially the same doctrines as the Christian bible --
there being, as Horace Greeley expressed it, "No doctrine of
Christianity but what has been anticipated by the Vedas." (See Vol.
II., Chap. I, of this work.)
If, then, this heathen bible (compiled, according to the
Christian missionary, Rev. D.G. Allen, 1400 B.C.), contains all the
doctrines of Christianity, then away goes over the dam all claim
for the Christian bible as an original bible as an original
revelation, or a work of divine inspiration.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
Bibles are thus shown to be of heathen and human origin,
instead of heavenly and divine authorship, as claimed for them by
their respective disciples -- the Christian bible forming no
exception to this statement. The latter, being essentially like
other bibles, it must, of course, have had the same or a similar
origin -- a fact which, though it may be new and startling to
millions, will be universally accepted as truth before the lapse of
many generations, and a fact which confronts with open denial the
claims of two hundred millions of Christian professors, who assert
with unscrupulous boldness that every doctrine, principle and
precept of their bible is of divine emanation.
How utterly groundless and untenable is such a claim when
arranged by the side of modern discoveries in religious history!
Equally unsupportable is the declaration that "there is no
other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved, than that
of Jesus Christ and him crucified," when viewed in the light of the
modern explorations of Sir Godfrey Higgins, which have disclosed
the history of nearly a score of crucified Gods and sin-atoning
Saviors, who, we have equal proof, died for the sins of mankind.
Thus, the two prime articles of the Christian faith --
Revelation and Crucifixion -- are forever established as human and
heathen conceptions. And the hope might be reasonably entertained
that the important historical facts disclosed in this work will
have the effect to open the eyes of the professors or the Christian
religion to see their serious error in putting forth such exalted
claims for their bible and their religion as that of being perfect
products of infinite wisdom, did not the past history of all
religious countries furnish sad proof that reason and logic, and
even the most cogent and convincing facts of science and history
often prove powerless when arrayed against a religious conviction,
enstamped upon the mind for thousands of years in the past, and
transmitted from parent to child until it has grown to a colossal
stature, and become a part of the living tissues of the soul.
No matter how glaringly absurd, how palpably erroneous, or how
demonstrably false an opinion or doctrine is shown to be, they
cannot see it, but will still continue to hug it to their bosoms as
a divinely-revealed truth. No facts or evidence can prove an
overmatch for the inherited convictions of a thousand generations.
In this respect the Mohammed, the Hindu and the Christian all stand
upon a level. It is about as easy to convince one as the other of
their easily demonstrated errors.
RELIGION OF NATURAL ORIGIN.
Among the numerous errors traceable in the history of every
religious sect, commemorated in the annals of the world, none
possesses a more serious character, or has been attended with more
deplorable consequences, than that of assigning a wrong origin to
religion. Every bible, every sect, every creed, every catechism,
and every orthodox sermon teaches that "religion is the gift of
God," that "it is infused into the soul by the spirit and power of
the Lord." Never was a greater mistake ever committed. Every
student of anthropology, every person who has read any of the
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
numerous modern works on mental science, and tested their easily-
demonstrated facts, knows that religion is of natural and not
supernatural origin; that it is a natural element of the human
mind, and not a "direct gift from God;" that it grows as
spontaneously out of the soul as flowers spring out of the ground.
It is as natural as eating, sleeping or breathing. This conclusion
is not the offspring of mere imagination. It is no hastily-
concocted theory, but an oft-demonstrated and scientifically-
established fact, which any person can test the truth of for
himself.
And this modern discovery will, at no distant day,
revolutionize all systems of religious faith in existence, and
either dissolve and dissipate them, or modify and establish them
upon a more natural and enduring basis, expurgated of their
dogmatic errors.
Let us, then, labor to banish the wide-spread delusion
believed and taught by a thousand systems of worship -- Jew, Pagan
and Christian -- that "religion is of supernatural or divine
origin," and the many ruinous errors; senseless dogmas and
deplorable soul-crushing superstitions so thoroughly inwrought into
the Christian system will vanish like fog before the morning sun,
and be replaced by a religion which sensible, intelligent and
scientific men and women can accept, and will delight to honor and
practice.
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
FRIENDS and brethren -- teachers of the Christian faith: Will
you believe us when we tell you the divine claims of your religion
are gone -- all swept away by the "logic of history," and nullified
by the demonstrations of science?
The recently opened fountains of historic law, many of whose
potent facts will be found interspersed through the pages of this
work, sweep away the last inch of ground on which can be predicated
the least show for either the divine origin of the Christian
religion, or the divinity of Jesus Christ.
For these facts demonstrate beyond all cavil and criticism,
and with a logical force which can leave not the vestige of a doubt
upon any unbiased mind, that all its doctrines are an outgrowth
from older heathen systems. Several systems of religion essentially
the same in character and spirit as that religion now known as
Christianity, and setting forth the same doctrines, principles and
precepts, and several personages filling a chapter in history
almost identical with that of Jesus Christ, it is now known to
those who are up with the discoveries and intelligence of the age,
were venerated in the East centuries before a religion called
Christian, or a personage called Jesus Christ were known to
history.
Will you not, then, give it up that your religion is merely a
human production, reconstructed from heathen materials -- from
oriental systems several thousand years older than yours -- or will
you continue, in spite of the unanimous and unalterable verdict of
history, science, facts and logic, to proclaim to the world the now
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
historically demonstrated error which you have so long preached,
that God is the author of your religion, and Jesus Christ a Deity-
begotten Messiah? Though you may have heretofore honestly believed
these doctrines to be true, you can now no longer plead ignorance
as an excuse for propagating such gigantic and serious errors, as
they are now overwhelmingly demonstrated by a thousand facts of
history to be untrue. You must abandon such exalted claims for your
religion, or posterity will mark you as being "blind leaders of the
blind." They will heap upon your honored names their unmitigated
ridicule and condemnation. They will charge you as being either
deplorably ignorant, or disloyal to the cause of truth. And shame
and ignominy will be your portion.
The following propositions (fatal to your claims for
Christianity) are established beyond confutation by the historical
facts cited in this work, viz: --
1. There were many cases of the miraculous birth of Gods
reported in history before the case of Jesus Christ.
2. Also many other cases of Gods being born of virgin mothers.
3. Many of these Gods, like Christ, were (reputedly) born on
the 25th of December.
4. Their advent into the world, like that of Jesus Christ, is
in many cases claimed to have been foretold by "inspired prophets."
5. Stars figured at the birth of several of them, as in the
case of Christ.
6. Also angels, shepherds, and magi, or "wise men."
7. Many of them, like Christ, were claimed to be of royal or
princely descent.
8. Their lives, like his, were also threatened in infancy by
the ruler of the country.
9. Several of them, like him, gave early proof of divinity.
10. And, like him, retired from the world and fasted.
11. Also, like him, declared, "My kingdom is not of this
world."
12. Some of them preached a spiritual religion, too, like
his.
13. And were "anointed with oil," like him.
14. Many of them, like him, were "crucified for the sins
of the world."
15. And after three days' interment "rose from the dead."
16. And, finally, like him, are reported as ascending back to
heaven.
Bank of Wisdom
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THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
17. The same violent convulsions of nature at the crucifixion
of several are reported.
18. They were nearly all called "Saviors," "Son of God."
"Messiah," "Redeemer," "Lord," &c.
19. Each one was the second member of the trinity of "Father,
Son and Holy Ghost."
20. The doctrines of "Original Sin," "Fall of Man," "The
Atonement," "The Trinity," "The Word," "Forgiveness," "An Angry
God." "Future Endless Punishment," etc., etc. (see the author's
"Biography of Satan,") were a part of the religion of each of these
sin-atoning Gods, as found set forth in several oriental bibles and
holy books," similar in character and spirit to the Christian's
bible, and written, like it, by "inspired and holy men" before the
time of either Christ or Moses (before Moses, in some cases, at
least). All these doctrines and declarations, and many others not
here enumerated, the historical citations of this work abundantly
prove, were taught in various oriental heathen nations centuries
before the birth of Christ, or before Christianity, as a religion,
was known in the world.
Will you, then, after learning these facts, longer dare assert
that Christianity is of divine emanation, or claim a special divine
paternity for its author. Only the priest, who loves his salary
more than the cause of truth (and I fear this class are numerous,)
or who is deplorably ignorant of history will have the effrontery
or audacity to do so. For the historical facts herein set forth as
clearly prove such assumptions to be false, as figures can
demonstrate the truth of any mathematical problem. And no logic can
overthrow, and no sophistry can set aside these facts.
They will stand till the end of time in spite of your efforts
either to evade, ignore, or invalidate them.
We will here briefly state --
WHY ALL THE ANCIENT RELIGIONS WERE ALIKE.
Two causes are obviously assignable for Christianity in all
its essential features and phases, being so strikingly similar to
the ancient pagan systems which preceded it, as also the close
analogies of all the principal systems, whose doctrines and
practical teachings have found a place on the pages of history.
1. The primary and constituent elements and properties of
human nature being essentially the same in all countries and all
centuries, and the feeling called Religion being a spontaneous
outgrowth of the devotional elements of the human mind, the
coincidence would naturally produce similar feelings, similar
thoughts, similar views and similar doctrines on the 'subject of
religion in different countries, however widely separated. This
accounts in part for the analogous features observable in all the
primary systems of religious faith, which have flourished in the
past ages.
Bank of Wisdom
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2. A more potent cause, however, for the proximate identity
extending to such an elaborate detail, as is evinced by the
foregoing schedule, is found in the historical incident which
brought the disciples of the various systems of worship together,
face to face, in the then grand religious emporium of the world --
the royal and renowned city of Alexandria, the capital of Egypt.
Here, drawn together by various motives and influences, the devotee
of India (the devout disciple of Buddhism), the ever-prayerful
worshipper of "Mithra, the Mediator," the representatives of the
crucified Quexalcoate of Mexico, the self-denying Essene, the
superstitious Egyptian, the godly Chaldean, the imitative Judean
founders of Christianity, and the disciples of other sin-atoning
Gods, met and interchanged ideas, discussed their various dogmas,
remolded their doctrines, and recast and rehabilitated their
systems of religious faith by borrowing from each other, and from
other systems there represented. In this way all became remarkably
similar and alike in all their doctrines and details. And thus the
mystery is solved, and the singular resemblance of all the ancient
systems of religion satisfactorily accounted for. (For a fuller
explanation of this matter, see Chapters XXX. and XXXI. of this
work.)
In conclusion, please note the following points: --
1. The religious conceptions of the Old Testament are as
easily traced to heathen sources as those of the New Testament. But
we are compelled to exclude such an exposition from this work.
2. The comparative exhibition of the doctrines and teachings
of twenty bibles which proves them to be in their leading features
essentially alike (originally designed for this volume), is found
to be, when completed, of sufficient magnitude to constitute a
volume of itself.
3. Here I desire to impress upon the minds of my clerical
brethren the important fact, that the gospel histories of Christ
were written by men who had formerly been Jews (see Acts xxi. 20),
and probably possessing the strong proclivity to imitate and borrow
which their bible shows was characteristic of that nation; and
being written many years after Christ's death, according to that
standard Christian author, Dr. Lardner, it was impossible, under
such circumstances, for them to separate (if they had desired to)
the real facts and events of his life from the innumerable fictions
and fables then afloat everywhere relative to the heathen Gods who
had pre-enacted a similar history. Two reasons are thus furnished
for their constructing a history of Christ almost identical with
that of other Gods, as shown in chapters XXX., XXXI. and XXXII. of
this work.
4. The singular and senseless defense of your now tottering
system we have known to be attempted by members of your order, by
the self-complacent soliloquy "Christianity, whether divine or
human, is good enough for me." But such a subterfuge betrays both
a weak mind and a weak cause. The disciples of all the oriental
systems cherished a similar feeling and a similar sentiment. And
the deluded followers of Brigham Young exclaimed in like manner, "I
want nothing better than Mormonism." "Snakes, lizards and frogs are
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good enough for me," a South Sea Islander once exclaimed to a
missionary, when a reform diet was proposed. Such logic, if
universally adopted, would keep the world eternally in barbarism.
No progress can be made where such sentiments prevail. The truth
is, no system of religion, whatever its ostensible marks of
perfection, can long remain "good enough" for aspiring and
progressive minds, unless occasionally improved, like other
institutions. And then it should be borne in mind, that our
controversy does not appertain so much to the character as to the
origin of the Christian religion. Our many incontrovertible proofs,
that it is of human and heathen origin, proves at the same time
that it is an imperfect system, and as such, needing occasional
improvement, like other institutions. And its assumed perfection
and divine origin which have always guarded it from improvement,
amply accounts for its present corrupt, immoral, declining and
dying condition. And it will ere long die with paralysis, unless
its assumption of divine perfection is soon exchanged for the
principles of improvement and reconstruction. This policy alone can
save it.
5. We will here notice another feeble, futile and foolish
expedient we have known resorted to by persons of your order to
save your sinking cause when the evidence is presented with such
cogency as to admit of no disproof, that all the important
doctrines of Christianity were taught by older heathen systems
before the era of Christ. The plea is, that those systems were mere
types, or ante-types, of the Christian religion. But this plea is
of itself a borrowed subterfuge of heathenism, and is moreover
devoid of evidence. The ancient Egyptians, also the Greeks, claimed
that Brahminism was a type, or ante-type, of their religious
systems. And Mohammedans now claim that both Judaism and
Christianity were designed by God as foreshadowing types of
religion of the Koran. And the disciples of more than a thousand
systems of religion which have flourished in past ages, could have
made such logic equally available in showing, in each case, that
every system preceding theirs was designed by Infinite Wisdom as
simply a typical or ante-typical forerunner of theirs. How
ridiculous and senseless, therefore, is the argument thus shown to
be when critically examined in the light of history! So much so as
scarcely to merit a serious notice.
6. Here permit us to say that we believe Christianity to be
not only of human origin, but of natural origin also; that is, a
natural outgrowth, like other systems, of the religious elements of
the human mind -- a hypothesis which accounts most beautifully for
the numerous human imperfections now visible in nearly every line
of its teachings. Those imperfections correspond exactly to the
imperfect minds which produced it.
7. And we believe that the principle teacher of Christianity,
"the man Christ Jesus," possessed a very exalted and superior mind
for that age in the moral and religions departments, and in the
intellectual to some extent also. But his superiority in these
respects was not probably greater than that of Zera Colburn or
Henry Safford in the mathematical department. And all probably
derived their peculiar extraordinary traits of mind from the same
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causes -- that of strong psychological influence impressed upon the
mind of the mothers prior to their births. Had these ante-natal
influences been as well understood then as now, we presume Christ
would have escaped the fate of an exaltation to the Godhead.
8. In conclusion, permit us to say that the numerous and
overwhelming facts of this work render it utterly impossible that
the exalted claims you put forth for your religion and its assumed
author (that of a divine character) can be true. And posterity will
so decide, whether you do or not.
Cherishing for you naught but feelings of kindness and
brotherly love, and desiring to promote the truth, we will answer
any question, or discuss any proposition embraced in this work you
may desire.
Your brother,
KERSEY GRAVIES.
**** ****
THE WORLD'S
SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS.
CHAPTER I.
RIVAL CLAIMS OF THE SAVIORS.
IT is claimed by the disciples of Jesus Christ, that he was of
supernatural and divine origin; that he had a human being for a
mother, and a God for his father; that, although he was woman-
conceived, he was Deity-begotten, and molded in the human form, but
comprehending in essence a full measure of the infinite Godhead;
thus making him half human and half divine in his sublunary origin.
It is claimed that he was full and perfect God, and perfect man;
and while he was God, he was also the son of God, and as such was
sent down by his father to save a fallen and guilty world; and that
thus his mission pertained to the whole human race; and his
inspired seers are made to declare that ultimately every nation,
tongue, kindred, and people under heaven will acknowledge
allegiance to his government, and concede his right to reign and
rule the world; that "every knee must bow, and every tongue confess
that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
But we do not find that this prophecy has ever been or is
likely to be fulfilled. We do not observe that this claim to the
infinite deityship of Jesus Christ has been or is likely to be
universally conceded. On the contrary, it is found. that by a
portion, and a large portion of the people of even those nations
now called Christian, this claim has been steadily and unswervingly
controverted, through the whole line of history, stretching through
the nearly two thousand years which have elapsed since his advent
to earth.
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Even some of those who are represented to have been personally
acquainted with him -- aye! some of his own brethren in the flesh,
children in the same household, children of the same mother -- had
the temerity to question the tenableness of his claim to a divine
emanation. And when we extend our researches to other countries, we
find this claim, so far from being conceded, is denied and
contested by whole nations upon other grounds. It is met and
confronted by rival claims.
Upon this ground hundreds of millions of the established
believers in divine revelation -- hundreds of millions of believers
in the divine character and origin of religion -- reject the
pretentious set up for Jesus Christ. They admit both a God and a
Savior, but do hot accept Jesus of Nazareth as being either. They
admit a Messiah, but not the Messiah; these nations contend that
the title is misplaced which makes "the man Christ Jesus" the
Savior of the world. They claim to have been honored with the birth
of the true Savior among them and defend this claim upon the ground
of priority of date. They aver that the advent of their Messiahs
were long prior to that of the Christians', and that this
circumstance adjudicates for them a superiority of claim as to
having had the true Messiah born upon their soil.
It is argued that, as the story of the incarnation of the
Christians' Savior is of more recent date than that of these
oriental and ancient religions (as is conceded by Christians
themselves), the origin of the former is thus indicated and
foreshadowed as being an outgrowth from, if not a plagiarism upon
the latter -- a borrowed copy, of which the pagan stories furnish
the original. Here, then, we observe a rivalship of claims, as to
which of the remarkable personages who have figured in the world as
Saviors, Messiahs, and Sons of God, in different ages and different
countries, can be considered the true Savior and "sent of God;" or
whether all should be, or the claims of all rejected.
For researches into oriental history reveal the remarkable
fact that stories of incarnate Gods answering to and resembling the
miraculous character of Jesus Christ have been prevalent in most if
not all the principal religions heathen nations of antiquity; and
the accounts and narrations of some of these deific incarnations
bear such a striking resemblance to that of the Christian Savior --
not only in their general features, but in some cases in the most
minute details, from the legend of the immaculate conception to
that of the crucifixion, and subsequent ascension into heaven --
that one might almost be mistaken for the other.
More than twenty claims of this kind -- claims of beings
invested with divine honor (deified) -- have come forward and
presented themselves at the bar of the world with their
credentials, to contest the verdict of Christendom, in having
proclaimed Jesus Christ, "the only son, and sent of God:" twenty
Messiahs, Saviors, and Sons of God, according to history or
tradition, have, in past times, descended from heaven, and taken
upon themselves the form of men, clothing themselves with human
flesh, and furnishing incontestable evidence of a divine origin, by
various miracles, marvelous works, and superlative virtues; and
finally these twenty Jesus Christs (accepting their character for
the name) laid the foundation for the salvation of the world, and
ascended back to heaven.
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1. Chrishna of Hindostan. 19. Alcides of Thebes.
2. Budha Sakia of India. 20. Mikado of the Sintoos.
3. Salivahana of Bermuda. 21. Beddru of Japan.
4. Zulis, or Zhule, also Os- 22. Hesus or Eros, and Brem-
iris and Orus, of Egypt. rillah, of the Druids.
5. Odin of the Scaudinavi- 23. Thor, son of Odin, of the
ans. Gauls.
6. Crite of Chaldea. 24. Cadmus of Greece.
7. Zoroaster and Mithra of 25. Hil and Feta of the
Persia. Mandaites.
8. Baal and Taut, "the only 26. Gentaut and Quexalcote
Begotten of God," of of Mexico.
Phenicia. 27. Universal Monarch of
9. Indra of Thibet. the Sibyls.
10. Bali of Afghanistan. 28. Ischy of the Island of
11. Jao of Nepaul. Formosa.
12. Wittoba of the Bilingo- 29. Divine Teacher of Plato.
nese. 30. Holy One of Xaca.
13. Thammuz of Syria. 31. Fohi and Tien of China.
14. Atys of Phrygia. 32. Adonis, son of the vir-
15. Xaniolxis of Thrace. gin Io of Greece.
16. Zoar of the Bonzes. 33. IxiOn and Quirinus of
17. Adad of Assyria. Rome.
18. Deva Tat, and Sammo- 34. Prometheus of Caucasus.
nocadam of Siam. 35. Mohamud, or Mahomet,
of Arabia.
These have all received divine honors, have nearly all been
worshiped as Gods, or sons of God; were mostly incarnated as
Christs, Saviors, Messiahs, or Mediators; not a few of them were
reputedly born of virgins; some of them filling a character almost
identical with that ascribed by the Christian's bible to Jesus
Christ; many of them, like him, are reported to have been
crucified; and all of them, taken together, furnish a prototype and
parallel for nearly every important incident and wonder-inciting
miracle, doctrine and precept recorded in the New Testament, of the
Christian's Savior. Surely, with so many Saviors the world cannot,
or should not, be lost.
We have now presented before us a two-fold ground for doubting
and disputing the claims put forth by the Christian world in behalf
of "Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." In the first place, allowing
the question to be answered in the affirmative as to whether he was
really a Savior, or supernatural being, or more than a mere man, a
negative answer to which seems to have been sprung (as previously
intimated) at the very hour of his birth, and that by his kindred,
his own nearest relatives; as it is declared, "his own brethren did
not believe on him" -- a skepticism which has been growing deeper
and broader from that day to this.
And now, upon the heel of this question, we find another
formidable query to be met and answered, viz.: Was he (Christ) the
only Savior, seeing that a multitude of similar claims are now upon
our council-board to be disposed of?
We shall, however, leave the theologians of the various
religious schools to adjust and settle this difficulty among
themselves. We shall leave them to settle the question as best they
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can as to whether Jesus Christ was the only son and sent of God --
"the only begotten of the Father," as John declares him to be (John
i. 14) -- in view of the fact that long prior to his time various
personages, in different nations, were invested with the title "Son
of God," and have left behind them similar proofs and credentials
of the justness of their claims to such a title, if being
essentially alike -- as we shall prove and demonstrate them to be
-- can make their claims similar.
We shall present an array of facts and historical proofs,
drawn from numerous histories and the Holy Scriptures and bibles
appertaining to these various Saviors, and which include a history
of their lives and doctrines, that will go to show that in nearly
all their leading features, and mostly even in their details, they
are strikingly similar.
A comparison, or parallel view, extended through their sacred
histories, so as to include an exhibition presented in parallels of
the teachings of their respective bibles, would make it clearly
manifest that, with respect to nearly every important thought,
deed, word, action, doctrine, principle, receipt, tenet, ritual,
ordinance or ceremony, and even the various important characters or
personages, who figure in their religious dramas as Saviors,
prophets, apostles, angels, devils, demons, exalted or fallen genii
-- in a word, nearly every miraculous or marvelous story, moral
precept, or tenet of religious faith, noticed in either the Old or
New Testament Scriptures of Christendom -- from the Jewish
cosmogony, or story of creation in Genesis, to the last legendary
tale in St. John's "Arabian Nights" (alias the Apocalypse) -- there
is to be found an antitype for, or outline of, somewhere in the
sacred records or bibles of the oriental heathen nations, making
equal if not higher pretention to a divine emanation and divine
inspiration, and admitted by all historians, even the most
orthodox, to be of much more ancient date; for while Christians
only claim, for the earthly advent of their Savior and the birth of
their religion, a period less than nineteen hundred years in the
past, on the contrary, most of the deific or divine incarnations of
the heathen and their respective religions are, by the concurrent
and united verdict of all history, assigned a date several hundred
or several thousand years earlier, thus leaving the inference
patent that so far as there has been any borrowing or transfer of
materials from one system to another, Christianity has been the
borrower.
And as nearly the whole outline and constituent parts of the
Christian system are found scattered through these older systems,
the query is at once sprung as to whether Christianity did not
derive its materials from these sources -- that is from heathenism,
instead of from high heaven -- as it claims.
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CHAPTER II.
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES.
NEARLY all religious history is prophetic of the coming of
Saviors, Messiahs, Redeemers, and virgin-born Gods. Most religious
countries, and more than a score of religious systems, had a
standing prophecy that a divine deliverer would descend from heaven
and relieve them from their depressed state, and ameliorate their
condition. And in most cases that prophecy was believed to have
been fulfilled by the birth of a being, who, as he approached the
goal of moral and intellectual manhood exhibited such remarkable
proof of superiority of mind as to be readily accepted as the
promised Messiah.
We can only find room for a few citations and illustrations in
proof of this statement. Many texts have been hunted out and marked
in the Christian bible, by interested priests, as prophetic of the
coming and mission of Christ. But a thorough, candid, and impartial
investigation will convince any reader that none of these texts
have the remotest allusion to Christ, nor were they intended to
have. On the contrary, most of them refer to events already past.
The others are the mere ebullitions of pent-up feelings hopefully
prayerful in their anticipation of better times, but very
indefinite as to the period and the agencies or means in which, or
by which, the desired reformation was to be brought about. A divine
man was prayed for and hopefully expected. But no such being as
Jesus Christ is anticipated, or alluded to, or dreamed of, by the
prophecies. And it requires the most unwarrantable distortion to
make one text refer to him.
But this perversion has been wrought on many texts. We will
cite one case in proof. In Isaiah's "famous prophecy" so-called,
the phrase "Unto us a child is born" (Isa. ix. 6), the context
clearly shows, refers to the prophet's own child, and the past
tense, "is born," is an evidence the child was then born. And the
title "Mighty God," found in the text, Dr. Beard shows should have
been translated "the Mighty Hero," thus proving it has no reference
to a God. And "the Everlasting Father" should have been rendered,
according to this Christian writer, "the Father of the Everlasting
Age." And other texts often quoted as prophecies by biased
Christian writers, the doctor proves, are erroneously translated,
and have no more reference to Christ than to Mahomet.
It is true the Jews, in common with other nations, cherished
strong anticipations of the arrival of a Mighty Deliverer amongst
them; and this august personage some of them supposed would be a
God, or a God-man (a demi-God). Hence, such prophetic utterances as
"Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness" (Isa. xxxii. i), "And
all nations shall flow unto Zion" (Isa. ii. 2).
The Hindoo Buddhists long previously indulged similar
anticipations with respect to the triumph of their religion. Hence,
their seers prophesied that at the end of the Cali Yug period, a
divine child (Avatar, or Savior) would be born, who would
understand the divine writings (the Holy Scriptures) and the
sciences, without the labor of learning them. "He will supremely
understand all things." "He will relieve the earth of sin, and
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cause justice and truth to reign everywhere. And will bring the
whole earth into the acceptance of the Hindoo religion." And the
Hindoo prophet Bala also predicted that a divine Savior would
"become incarnate in the house of Yadu, and issue forth to mortal
birth from the womb of Devaci (a Holy Virgin), and relieve the
oppressed earth of its load of sin and sorrow." Much more similar
language may be found in their holy bible, the Vedas. Colonel
Wilford tells us the advent of their Savior Chrishna occurred in
exact fulfillment of prophecy found in their sacred books.
And the Chinese bible also contains a number of Messianic
prophecies. In one of the five volumes a prophecy runs thus: "The
Holy one, when he comes, will unite in himself all the virtues of
heaven and earth. By his justice the world will be established in
righteousness. He will labor and suffer much. ... and will finally
offer up a sacrifice worthy of himself," i.e., worthy of a God. And
a singular animal, called the Kilin (signifying the Lamb of God),
was seen in the yard, with a stone in its mouth, on which was
inscribed a prophecy of the event. And when the young God (Chang-
ti) was born, in fulfillment of this prophecy, heavenly music, and
angels and shepherds attended the scene." (See "History of China,"
by Martinus; also Halde's "History of China."
We will also give place to a Messianic prophecy of Persia. Mr.
Faber, an English writer, in his "History of Idolatry," tells us
that Zoroaster prophetically declared, that "A virgin should
conceive and bear a son, and a star would appear blazing at midday
to signalize the occurrence." "When you behold the star," said he
to his followers, "follow it whithersoever it leads you. Adore the
mysterious child, offering him gifts with profound humility. He is
indeed the Almighty Word which created the heavens. He is indeed
your Lord and everlasting King" (Faber, vol. ii. p. 92).
Abulfaragius, in his "Historia Dynastarium," and Maurice, in his
"Indian Skeptics Refuted," both speak of this prophecy, fulfilled,
according to Mr. Higgins, by the advent of the Persian and Chaldean
God Josa. And Chalcidus (of the second century), in his "Comments
on the Timeas of Plato," speaks of "a star which presaged neither
disease nor death, but the descent of a God amongst men, and which
is attested by Chaldean astronomers, who immediately hastened to
adore the new-born deity, and present him gifts."
We are compelled to omit, for the want of room, the notice of
numerous Messianic prophecies found in the sacred writings of
Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mexico, Arabia, and other countries, all of
which tend to show that the same prophetic spirit pervaded all
religious countries, reliable only to the extent it might have
issued from an interior spiritual vision, or have been illuminated
by departed spirits. And we find as much evidence that these pagan
prophecies were inspired, and also fulfilled, as those found in the
Jew-Christian bible, thus reducing all to a common level. The
possibility of the interior vision being expanded and illuminated
by spiritual beings, so as to enable the possessor to forestall the
occurrence of future events, we, however, by no means deny, since
we have abundant proof of it in connection with the practical
history of modern spiritualism. (See Chapter XXXIV., section 2).
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CHAPTER III.
PROPHECIES BY THE FIGURE OF A SERPENT.
THE SEED OF THE WOMAN BRUISING THE SERPENT'S HEAD.
"AND I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall
bruise his heel." (Gen. iii. 15.) This text is often cited by
Christian writers and controversialists as prefiguring the mission
of the Christian Savior, viz., the destruction of the serpent,
alias the devil. St. John calls "the grand adversary of souls which
deceiveth the whole world," "the dragon, the serpent, the devil,
and Satan." (Rev. xii. 8.). The serpent, then, is the devil; that
is, the dragon, the serpent, the devil and Satan are all one. The
object of this chapter is to show the origin of the singular figure
set forth in the first text quoted, and to prove that those
Christian writers who assume it to be a revelation from heaven were
profoundly ignorant of oriental history, as the same figure is
found in several heathen systems of older date, as we will now cite
the facts to prove.
Some of the saviors or demigods of Egypt, India, Greece,
Persia, Mexico and Etruria are represented as performing the same
drama with the serpent or devil. "Osiris of Egypt (says Mr. Bryant)
bruised the head of the serpent after it had bitten his heel."
Descending to Greece, Mr. Faber relates that, "on the spheres
Hercules is represented in the act of contending with the serpent,
the head of which is placed under his foot; and this serpent
guarded the tree with golden fruit in the midst of the garden
Hesperides" -- Eden. (Origin of Idolatry, vol. i.p. 443.) "And we
may observe," says this author, "the same tradition in the
Phenician fable of Ophion or Ophiones." (Ibid.) In Genesis the
serpent is the subject of two legends. But here it will be observed
that they are both couched in one.
Again, it is related by more than one oriental writer that
Chrishna of India is represented on some very ancient sculptures
and stone monuments with his heel on the head of a serpent. Mr.
Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, vol. ii., speaks of "Chrishna
crushing the head of a serpent with his foot," and pronounces the
striking similarity of this story with that found in the Christian
bible as "very mysterious." Another author tells us "The image of
Chrishna is sculptured in the ancient temples of India, sometimes
wreathed in the folds of a serpent which is biting his foot, and
sometimes treading victoriously on the head of a serpent." (Prog.
Rel. Ideas, vol. i.) In the Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi., we are
told, "A messenger from heaven announced to the first woman created
(Suchiquecul), that she should bear a son who should bruise the
serpent's head, and then presented her with a rose." Here is the
origin of the Genesis legend, the rose being the fruit of the tree
of "the knowledge of good and evil." "The ancient Persians," says
Volney, in his "Ruin of Empires," p. 169, "had the tradition of a
virgin, from whom they predicted would be born, or would spring up,
a shoot (a son) that would crush the serpent's head, and thus
deliver the world from sin." And both the serpent and the virgin,
he tells us, are represented imaginarily in the heavens, and
pictured on their astronomical globes and spheres, as on those of
the Romish Christian. (See Burritt's Geography of the Heavens.)
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In the ancient Etrurian story, instead of "the seed of the
woman" (the virgin), it is the woman herself who is represented as
standing with one foot on the head of a serpent, which has the twig
of an apple tree in its mouth to which an apple is suspended (the
forbidden fruit), while its tail is twisted around a celestial
globe, thus reminding us of St. John's dragon hauling down one-
third of the stars with his tail, (See Rev. xii. 4.) In the ancient
celestial diagram of the Etrurian, the head of the virgin is
surmounted with a crown of stars -- doubtless the same legend from
which St. John borrowed his metaphor of a "a woman with a crown of
twelve stars on her head." (Rev. xiii.) "The Regina Stellarum"
(Queen of the Stars), spoken of in some of the ancient systems
appertains to the same fable. Also the tradition of Achilles of
Greece being invulnerable in the heel, as related by Homer. The
last clause of the first text quoted reads "It shall bruise thy
head" -- a very curious prophetic reference to the savior of the
world, if the text refers to him, to represent him as being of the
neuter gender, for the neuter pronoun it always refers to a thing
without sex.
In the further exposition of the serpent tradition, we are now
brought to notice, and will trace to its origin, the story of the
original transgression and fall of man -- two cardinal doctrines of
the Christian religion. Like every other tenet of the Christian
faith, we find these doctrines taught in heathen systems much older
than Christianity, and whose antiquity antedates even the birth of
Moses. We will first notice the Persian tradition. "According to
the doctrine of the Persians," says the Rev. J.C. Pitrat, "Meshia
and Meshiane, the first man and first woman, were pure, and
submitted to Ormuzd, their maker. But Ahriman (the evil one) saw
them, and envied them their happiness. He approached them under the
form of a serpent, presented fruits to them, and persuaded them
that he was the maker of man, of animals, of plants, and of the
beautiful universe in which they dwelt. They believed it. Since
that time Ahriman was their master. Their natures became corrupt,
and this corruption infested their whole posterity." This story is
taken from the Vandidatsade of the Persians, pp. 305 and 428.
The Indian or Hindoo story is furnished us by the Rev. Father
Bouchat, in a letter to the bishops of Avranches, and runs thus:
"Our Hindoos say the Gods tried by all means to obtain immortality.
After many inquiries and trials, they conceived the idea that they
would find it in the tree of life, which is the Chorcan (paradise).
In fact they succeeded, and by eating once in a while of the fruits
of that tree, they kept the precious treasure they so much valued.
A famous snake, named Cheiden, saw that the tree of life had been
found by the Gods of the second order. As probably he had been
intrusted with guarding that tree, he became so angry because his
vigilance had been deceived, that he immediately poured out an
enormous quantity of poison, which spread over the whole earth."
How much like this story is the story of St. John, "And the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he
might cause her to be carried away of the flood!" (Rev. xii. 15.)
The idea of a snake or serpent inundating the earth from its
mouth, as taught in both stories is so novel, and so far removed
from the sphere of natural causes and possible events, that we are
compelled to the conclusion that one is borrowed from the other, or
both from a common original.
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And as facts cited in other chapters prove beyond dispute that
the Hindoo system, containing this story, extends in antiquity far
beyond the time of Moses, the question is thus settled as to which
system borrowed the story from the other.
Before closing the chapter, we wish to call the attention of
the reader to the important fact that three out of four of the
cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith are taught in the two
heathen mythological stories of creation just presented, viz.: --
1. Original sin.
2. The fall of man caused by a serpent.
3. The consequent corruption and depravity of the human race.
These doctrines, then, it must be admitted, are of heathen
origin, and not, as Christians claim, "important truths revealed
from heaven." For a historical exposition of the other cardinal
doctrine of the Christian faith, viz., man's restoration by the
atonement achieved through the crucifixion of a God, see Chapters
xvi. and xxi.
CHAPTER IV.
MIRACULOUS AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE GODS.
THE ancients very naturally concluded that an offspring of God
(a son of God) should have a purer, higher and holier maternal
origin than is incident to the lot of mortals, and this was to
constitute one of the evidences of his emanation from the Deity --
that is, of his supernatural or divine origin. He, as a matter of
course, must not only have a different origin, but one in the
highest degree superior and supernatural. He must not only be able
to claim the highest paternal origin, but the highest maternal
also. And on the part of the mother, a sexual connection with the
great Potentate of heaven would evince for her offspring the very
acme of superiority with respect to his origin, moral perfection
and authority. That the Savior was born of a woman could not
possibly be made a matter of concealment. But his paternal
parentage was not so obvious and apparent to general observation,
being cognizant alone to the mother. This circumstance furnished
the most propitiates opportunity to concoct the story that "The
Most High" had condescended and descended to become both a father
and a grandfather to a human being, or a being apparently human at
least.
We say grandfather, because, if God (as the Christian bible
itself frequently asserts, both directly and by implication) is
father of the whole human family, then he was father to the
maternal parent; so that her son, though deriving existence from
him, would be his grandson as well as his son. Hence the corollary,
Jesus Christ was a grandson of God as well as a son of God, and
Jehovah both his father and grandfather.
Again, to make the origin and character of the God and Savior
stand higher for purity, and partake in the highest degree of the
miraculous, the impression must go abroad that he was born of a
woman while she was yet a maiden -- i.e., before she was
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contaminated by illicit association with the masculine sex. Hence,
nearly all the saviors were reputedly born of virgins. And the
process of birth, too, was out of the line of natural causes, in
order to invest the character of the savior with the 'ne plus
ultra' of the miraculous.
And hence it is related of Jesus Christ (in an Apocryphal
Gospel), of Chrishna of India, and other saviors, that they were
born through the mother's side.
It is true our present canonical gospels are silent as to the
manner of Christ's birth; but one of the Apocryphal gospels, which
gives the matter in fuller detail, and whose authority in the
earlier ages of the Christian church was not disputed, declares
that the manner of his birth was as related above. And, besides,
some of the early Christian fathers fully indorsed the story. The
same is related in the pagan bibles of heathen Gods. The motives
which originated the reports of the immaculate conception of the
Saviors, it may be further remarked, were of a two-fold character:
--
1. To establish their spotless origin (as the word immaculate
means spotless.)
2. To make it appear that there was a Deific power and agency
concerned in their conception.
And we may observe here that it is not the Saviors alone who
are reported to have been ushered into tangible existence without
a human father, but it is declared of beings known and acknowledged
to be men, as Plato, Pythagoras, Alexander, Augustus and a number
of others. Of Plato an author remarks, "He was born of Paretonia,
and begotten of Apollo, and not Ariston, his father." Both the
manner, or process, and the source of the influence by which the
Gods and Saviors were generated, seem to have been different in
different countries, though the idea of "overshadowing with the
Holy Ghost" seems to have been most current. Mr. Higgins says that
"the Supreme First Cause was generally believe to overshadow, or in
some other mysterious manner to impregnate, the mother of the God,
or personage" (vol. i. 378). We are told that Pythais, the mother
of Pythagoras, five hundred and fifty years B.C., conceived by a
specter or ghost (of course the Holy Ghost) of the God Apollo, or
God Sol.
In Malcolm's "History of Persia" (vol. i. 494) the author
tells us that "Zoroaster was born of an immaculate conception by a
ray from the Divine Reason." The immaculate conception of Juno of
Greece is thus described by the poet: --
"Juno touched the flower;
Its wondrous virtues such,
She touched it, and grew pregnant at the touch;
Then entered Thrace -- the Propontic shore;
When mistress of her touch,
God Mars she bore."
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This case may certainly be set down as the 'ne plus ultra' of
etiquette with respect to sexual commerce or purity of conception.
The sweet odor of an expanded flower, we are here taught, is
adequate to the conception and production of a God. Here we have
"the immaculate conception" in the superlative degree, and while
much more beautiful and grand it cannot be more senseless or
unreasonable than the conception by a ghost. It proves at least
that the doctrine of the immaculate conception is of very ancient
date. And this fastidious maiden lady and immaculate virgin, Juno,
not only conceived the God Mars by the touch of a flower, but she
also (so the story reads) conceived Vulcan by being overshadowed by
the wind -- exactly a parallel case with that of the virgin Mary,
as we find that ghost, in the original, means wind. Thus we observe
that Vulcan, long before Jesus Christ, was "born of the Holy Ghost,
i.e., both were conceived by the "Holy Wind." And the author of the
"Perennial Calendar" speaks of the miraculous conception of Juno
Jugulis, "the blessed virgin queen of heaven," and describes it as
falling on the second of February, the very day which the early
Christians celebrated with a festival, as being the date of the
conception of the "ever Blessed Virgin Mary."
Of the ancient Mexicans, it is said "they had the immaculate
conception, the crucifixion, and the resurrection after three
days." (Mex. Antiq., vol. i.) And in an ancient work called "Codex
Vaticanus," the immaculate conception is spoken of as a part of the
history of Quexalcote, the Mexican Savior. "Suchiquecal," says the
Mexican Antiquities, "was called the Queen of Heaven. She conceived
a son without connection with a man" -- a very obvious case of
immaculate conception.
Alvarez Semedo, in his "History of China, page 89, speaks of
a sect in that country who worshiped a Savior known as Xaca, who
was reputedly conceived of his mother, Maia, by a white elephant,
which she saw in her sleep, and "for greater purity, she brought
him forth from one of her sides." Colonel Tod, of England, tells us
in his "History of the Rajahs," page 57, that Yu, the first Chinese
monarch, was conceived by his mother being struck with a star while
traveling.
In the case of Christ, it will be recollected, the star did
not appear till after his birth. But here the star is the author
and agent of the conception.
According to Ranking's "History of the Moguls," page 178,
Tamerlane's mother (of Bermuda) professedly conceived by having had
sexual intercourse with "the God of Day." The mother of Ghengis
Khan, of Tartary, "being too modest to claim that she was the
mother of the son of God, said only that he was the son of the
sun." (History of Mogul, page 65.)
Both Julius and Osiris of Egypt are spoken of by some authors
as having been honored with a divine immaculate conception -- the
former being the son of the beautiful virgin Cronis Celestine, and
"begotten by the Father of all Gods."
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Both Buddha and Chrishna, of India, are reported as having
been immaculately conceived. The mother of the latter (God) was (as
the Hindoo Holy Book declares) overshadowed by the Supreme God,
Brahma, while the spirit-author of the conception (that is, the
Holy Ghost) was Naraan. The mother of Apollonius of Cappadocia, who
was contemporary with Jesus Christ (according to his history by
Philostratus -- and his (Apollonius') disciple Damis testifies to
the same effect (gave birth to this God and rival Savior of Jesus
Christ, by having been previously "overshadowed" by the supreme God
Proteus. For the corporeal existence and earthly career of Augustus
Caesar, the world has ostensibly to acknowledge itself indebted to
the "overshadowing" influence and generating power of Jove, by
whose divine influence he was immacuously conceived in the temple
of Apollo, according to the statement of Nimrod, his biographer.
The virgin mother Shing-Mon of China furnishes another case of
immaculate conception. Possessing a sensibility too lofty and too
refined to descend to the ordinary routine of the world, she gave
birth to the God Yu from previous conception by a water lily. This
case, with respect to the degree of procreative delicacy and
refinement evinced, may be classed with that of Juno of Greece.
Here it may be noted as a curious circumstance, that several of the
virgin mothers of Gods and great men are specifically represented
as going ten months between conception and delivery. The mothers of
Hercules, Sakia, Guatama, Scipio, Arion, Solomon and Jesus Christ
may be mentioned as samples of this character. This tradition
probably grew out of the established belief in the ten sacred
cycles which constitute the great prospective and portentous
millennial epoch, as described in Chapter XXX. Arion, mentioned
above, is represented as being both miraculously and immaculously
conceived by the Gods in the citadel of Byrsa.
In view of the foregoing facts, drawn from accredited
histories, the reader will readily concede that the tradition of
the miraculous conceptions of Gods (sons of God), Saviors and
Messiahs was very prevalent in the world at a very ancient period
of time, and long before the mother of Jesus was "overshadowed by
the Most High." Indeed, says Mr. Higgins, "the belief in the
immaculate conception extended to every nation in the world." And
Grote, referring to Greece, makes the remarkable declaration, that
"the furtive pregnancy of young women, often by a God, is one of
the most frequently recurring incidents in the legendary narratives
of the country." And we find that both the prevalence and great
antiquity of the doctrine of the immaculate conception among the
heathen is conceded by Christian writers themselves (of former
ages) in their attempts to find arguments and commendatory
precedents to justify their own belief in the doctrine. For proof
of this, we need only cite the Christian writer Mr. Bailey, who
remarks, "What I have said of St. Augustine is applicable also to
Origen and Lactanius, who have endeavored to persuade us of the
immaculate virginity of the mother of Jesus Christ by the example
of similar events stored by the heathen." Here we have several
Christian authorities cited by another writer, also a Christian,
for placing the doctrine of the immaculate conception among the
heathen legends in ages long anterior to Christ.
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With respect to the degree of credence to be attached to the
story of the immaculate conception of the mother of Jesus, it need
only be observed that there was no other person concerned in the
transaction but herself who could possess positive, absolute
knowledge of the parentage. And she, let it be noted, settles the
matter forever, by virtually affirming that Joseph was his father
in the declaration addressed to Jesus when she found him in the
temple, "I and thy father have sought thee sorrowing." (Luke ii.
48.) No one will dispute that the father here spoken of was Joseph,
which amounts to a positive declaration by the mother, that Joseph
was Jesus' father.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND MIRACULOUS BIRTH
OF THE CHRISTIAN SAVIOR.
The following considerations exhibit some of the numerous
absurdities involved in the story of the miraculous birth of Jesus
Christ.
1. The evangelical narratives show that Christ himself did not
claim to have a miraculous birth. He did not once allude to such an
event; while if, as Christians claim, it is the principal evidence
of his deityship, he certainly would have done so.
2. His paternal genealogy, as made out by Matthew and Luke,
completely disproves the story of his miraculous conception by a
virgin. For they both trace his lineage through Joseph, which they
could not do only on the assumption that Joseph was his father.
This, of course, disproves his sireship by the Holy Ghost, ergo,
the miraculous conception. It is the lineage and parentage of
Joseph, and not Mary, that is given in tracing back his ancestry to
the royal household -- a fact which completely overthrows the story
of his miraculous birth.
3. And the fact that his own disciple (Philip) declared him to
be the son of Joseph, and that several texts show that it was the
current impression, is still further confirmation of the
conclusion.
4. We find the story of the immaculate conception resting
entirely upon the slender foundation comprised in the legends of an
angel and a dream. We are told that Mary got it by an angel, and
Joseph by a dream. And through these sources we have the whole
groundwork and foundation of the story of the divinity of Jesus
Christ.
5. It should be noticed that we have neither Joseph's nor
Mary's report of these things, but only Matthew and Luke's version
of the affair. And we are not informed that either of them ever saw
or conversed with Joseph or Mary on the subject. It is probable
they got it from Dame Rumor, with her thousand tongues.
6. If Christ were a miraculously born God, is it possible his
mother would have reproved him for misconduct when she found him in
the temple, as she must have known his character?
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7. If Mary was miraculously conceived, why was the important
secret kept so long from Joseph? Why did she keep the "wool drawn
over his eyes" till an angel had to be sent from heaven to let him
into the secret?
8. If she were a virtuously-minded woman, why did she thus
attempt to deceive him?
9. Why did not God inform Joseph by "inspiration" instead of
employing the roundabout way of sending an angel to do it?
10. We are told that "Mary was found with child of the Holy
Ghost." But as we are not informed who found it out, or who made
the discovery, or how it was made, is it not thus left in a very
suspicious aspect?
11. As the whole affair seems to have been based on dreams,
and was carried on through dreams, and has no better foundation
than dreams, why should we consider it entitled to any better
credit than similar stories found in works on heathen mythology?
12. And would it not prove that Christianity is rather a
dreamy religion?
13. Should not the astounding and incredible report of the
birth of a God be based on a better foundation than that of dreams
and angels and the legends of oriental mythology, to entitle it to
the belief of an intelligent and scientific age?
14. Or can any man of science entertain for a moment the
superlative solecism of an Infinite God by any special act
"overshadowing" a finite human female, especially as modern thought
teaches us that God is both male and female, and as much one as the
other?
15. As history teaches us the ancient orientalists believed
that sexual commerce is sinful and contaminating to the child thus
begotten and born, and hence had their incarnate Gods sent into the
world through human virgins, can any unbiased mind resist the
conviction that this is the source of the origin of the story of
Christ's immaculate conception?
16. And finally, if it were necessary for Christ to come into
the world in such a way as to avoid the impure channel of human
conception and parturition, why did he not descend directly from
heaven in person? Why could he not "descend on the clouds" by his
first advent, as the bible says he will do when he makes his second
advent?
17. Would not this course have furnished a hundred fold more
convincing proof and demonstration of his divine power and divine
attributes than the ridiculous story and inscrutable mystery of the
divine conception, which is not susceptible of either investigation
or proof?
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CHAPTER V.
VIRGIN MOTHERS AND VIRGIN-BORN GODS.
THE report in authentic history of a case of a virtuous woman
giving birth to a child with the usual form, and possessing the
usual characteristics of a human being, and who should testify she
had no male partner in the conception, might in an age of miracles
and ignorance of natural law, be believed with implicit credulity.
But in an age of intelligence, when the keys of science have
unlocked the sacred shrines and hallowed vaults of sacerdotal
mysteries, and modern researches of history have laid bare the fact
that most ancient religious countries abound in reports of this
character, a profound and general skepticism must be the result,
and a total rejection of their truth by all men of science and
historic intelligence.
Many are the cases noted in history of young maidens claiming
a paternity for their male offspring by a God.
In Greece it became so common that the reigning king issued an
edict, decreeing the death of all young women who should offer such
an insult to deity as to lay to him the charge of begetting their
children. The virgin Alcmene furnishes a case of a young woman
claiming God as the father of her offspring, when she brought forth
the divine Redeemer Alcides, 1280 years B.C. And Ceres, the virgin
mother of Osiris, claimed that he was begotten by the "father of
all Gods." Mr. Kenrick tells us the likeness of this virgin mother,
with the divine child in her arms, may now be seen represented in
sculpture on some of the ancient, ruined temples of that ruined
empire. And Mr. Higgins makes the broad declaration that "the
worship of this virgin mother, with her God-begotten child,
prevailed everywhere." This author also quotes Mr. Riquord as
saying, this son of God "was exhibited in effigy, lying in a
manger, in the same manner the infant Jesus was afterward laid in
the cave at Bethlehem." Mr. Higgins further testifies that the
worship of this virgin God-mother (that is, the God and the mother)
is of very ancient date and universal prevalence in all the eastern
countries, as is proved by sculptured figures bearing the marks of
great age.
In corroboration of this statement we might cite many cases,
if our space would permit, from the religious records of India,
Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, Mexico, Tibet, etc. Maia, mother of
Sakia and Yasoda of Chrishna; Celestine, mother of the crucified
Zunis; Chimalman, mother of Quexalcote; Semele, mother of the
Egyptian Bacchus, and Minerva, mother of the Grecian Bacchus;
Prudence, mother of Hercules; Alcmene, mother of Alcides; Shing-
Mon, mother of Yu, and Mayence, mother of Hesus, were all as
confidently believed to be pure, holy and chaste virgins, while
giving birth to these Gods, sons of God, Saviors and sin-atoning
Mediators, as was Mary, mother of Jesus, and long before her time.
Mr. Higgins remarks that the mother was still held to be a
virgin, even after she had given birth to other children besides
the deity-begotten bantling, which furnishes another striking
parallel to the history of Mary, as she was still called a virgin
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after she had given birth to Jesus and his brothers James and John.
And it is an incident worth noticing here, that, in the case of
Mayence, virgin-mother of the God-sired Hesus of the Druids, the
ancient traditions of the country, more than two thousand years
old, represent her body as being enveloped in light, and a crown of
twelve stars upon her head, corresponding exactly to the
apocalyptic figure described by the mystagogue, St. John, in the
twelfth chapter of his Revelation. She is also represented with her
foot on the head of a serpent, according to Davie's "Universal
Etymology." (Vide the case of the seed of the woman bruising the
serpent's head, Gen. iii. 15.)
Auguste Nichols tells us, in his "Philosophical Essays on
Christianity," that Io is called, in Eschylus, "the Chaste Virgin,"
and her son "the Son of God." (For other similar cases, see
Guigne's History of the Huns.) Gonzales informs us he found on an
ancient temple in India the Latin inscription 'Partura, virginis,'
"the virgin about to bring forth." And similar inscriptions have
been found on pagan temples in the country of the ancient Gauls.
(For proof, see Riquord's Theology of the Ancient Gauls, Chapter
X.) "He who hath ears to hear, let him hear," and treasure up these
facts. According to Chinese history there were two beings -- Tien
and Chang-Ti -- worshiped in that country as Gods more than twenty-
five hundred years ago, born of virgins "who knew no man." The
mother of the mighty and the almighty God Hercules, we are told,
"knew only Jove."
If history and tradition, then, are to be credited, God had
many "well-beloved sons," born of pious and holy virgins, besides
Jesus Christ. And some of them are represented as being his only
begotten," and others his "first begotten," sons. And all these
cases appear to be equally as well authenticated as the story of
Jesus Christ. All stand upon a level, the same kind and the same
amount of evidence being offered in each case.
Here we will note it as a curious circumstance, that Several
of the above-named Saviors are represented as being black, Jesus
Christ included with this number. There is as much evidence that
the Christian Savior was a black man, or at least a dark man, as
there is of his being the son of the Virgin Mary, or that he once
lived and moved upon the earth. And that evidence is the testimony
of his disciples, who had nearly as good an opportunity of knowing
what his complexion was as the evangelists, who omit to say
anything about it. In the pictures and portraits of Christ by the
early Christians, he is uniformly represented as being black. And
to make this the more certain, the red tinge is given to the lips;
and the only text in the Christian bible quoted by orthodox
Christians, as describing his complexion, represents it as being
black. Solomon's declaration, "I am black, but comely, O ye
daughters of Jerusalem" (Sol. i. 5), is often cited as referring to
Christ. According to the bible itself, then, Jesus Christ was a
black man.
Let us suppose that, at some future time, he makes his second
advent to the earth, as some Christians anticipate he will do, and
that he comes in the character of a sable Messiah, how would he be
received by our negro-hating Christians, of sensitive olfactory
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nerves? Would they worship a negro God? Let us imagine he enters
one of our fashionable churches, with his "rough and ready,"
linsey-woolsey, seamless garment on, made of wild sea-grass, thus
presenting a very forbidding appearance and what would be the
result? Would the sexton show him to a seat? Would he not rather
point to the door, and exclaim, "Get out of here; no place here for
niggers?" What a ludicrous series of ideas is thus suggested by the
thought that Jesus Christ was a "darkey."
And the tradition of divine Saviors being born of undefiled
and undeflowered virgins has an astronomical chapter we must not
omit to notice. The virgin, with her God-begotten child, was
pictured imaginarily in the heavens from time immemorial. They are
represented on the Hindoo zodiac, at least three thousand years
old, and on the ancient Egyptian planispheres. And if you will
examine "Burritt's Geography of the Heavens," you will find the
infant God-son (the sun) is represented as being born into a new
year on the 25th of December (the very date assigned for Christ's
birth), and may be seen rising over the eastern horizon, out of
Mary, Maria, or Mare (the Latin for sea), with the infant God in
her arms, being heralded and preceded by a bright star, which rises
immediately preceding the virgin and her child, thus suggesting the
text, "We have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship
him." (Matt. ii. 8.) Such facts led the learned Alphonso to
exclaim, "The adventures of Jesus Christ are all depicted among the
stars."
And such facts fasten the conviction on our mind that the
stories of Gods cohabiting with young maids or virgins, and
begetting other Gods, is of astrological origin -- the story of
Jesus Christ included. A critical research shows that astronomy and
religion were interblended, interwoven, and confounded together at
a very early period of time, so indissolubly, that it now becomes
impossible to separate them.
CHAPTER VI.
STARS POINT OUT THE TIME AND THE
SAVIORS' BIRTH-PLACE.
A PROFUSION of evidence is furnished at every step, along the
devious pathway of sacred history, tending to show that all the
systems of worship which have existed in the past have had a dip in
"the halo of the heavenly orbs," and hence shine with a light
derived from that source.
We find the stars acting directly a conspicuous part at the
births of several of the Saviors, besides figuring in some cases by
marking important events in their subsequent history.
Mr. Higgins remarks that "Among the ancients there seems to
have been a very general idea that the arrival of Gods and great
personages who were expected to come, would be announced by a
star." And the cases of Abraham, Caesar, Pythagoras, Yu, Chrishna,
and Christ, may be cited in proof of this declaration. A star
figured either before or at the birth of each, according to their
respective histories.
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And it is a historical fact that should be noted here that the
practice of calculating nativities by the stars was in vogue in the
era and country of Christ's birth, and had been for a long period
previously in various countries. "We have seen his star in the
east, and have come to worship him." (Matt. ii. i.) Now mark, here,
it was not the star, nor a star, but "his star;" thus disclosing
its unmistakable astrological features. Mr. Faber (in his " Origin
of Idolatry," vol. ii. p. 77) reports Zoroaster (600 B.C.) as
prophetically announcing to "the wise men" of that country that a
Savior would be born, "attended by a star at noonday." For a fuller
exposition of this case see Chapter II.
In the history of the Hindoo Savior Chrishna, we are told that
"as soon as Nared, who, having heard of his fame, had examined the
stars, he declared him to be from God; i.e., the Son of God. The
Roman Calcidius speaks of it a wonderful star, presaging the
descent of a God amongst men." (See Maurice's Indian Skeptics
Refuted, p. 62.) Quite suggestive of the star "apprising the wise
men" of Christ's descent from above. And a star is said to have
foretokened the birth of the Roman Julius Caesar. The Chinese God
Yu was not only heralded by a star, but conceived and brought to
mortal birth by a star.
In Numbers xxiv. 17, it is declared "There shall come a star
out of Jacob," etc. This is a text often quoted by Christian
writers as having a prophetic reference to the Christian Messiah.
But the same text declares further, "It shall destroy the children
of Seth," a prediction which no rational interpretation can make
apply to Jesus Christ. And then we find this star of Jacob or Judah
(the same) represented on astronomical maps as a prominent star in
the constellation Virgo (the Virgin), fancifully termed by the
Hebrew Ephraim.
It was known in the Syrian, Arabian and Persian Systems of
astronomy as Messaeil (suggestive of Messiah), and was considered
the ruling genius of the constellation.
The "star of Jacob," then, was simply a figure borrowed from
the ancient pagan systems of astronomy, in which they fancifully
represent a virgin rising with an infant Messiah (Messaeil) in her
arms. Messaeil is, when analyzed, Messaeh-el (Messiah-God), and is
found in the constellation Virgo, which commences rising at
midnight, on the 25th of December, with this "star in the east" in
her arms -- the star which piloted "the wise men." The whole thing,
then, is evidently an astronomical legend.
Albert the Great, in his "Book on the Universe," tells us,
"The sign of the celestial virgin rises above the horizon, at the
moment we find fixed for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ." To
which we will add the declaration of Sir William Drummond, who, in
his "CEdipus Judaicus," p. 27, most significantly remarks, "The
anointed of El, the male infant, who rises in the arms of Virgo,
was called Jesus by the Hebrews, ... and was hailed as the anointed
king or Messiah" -- still further proof of the astrological origin
of the story.
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Dr. Hales, in his "Chronology," calls Christ "the star of our
salvation, the true Apollo, the sun of righteousness" -- all of
which are astronomical terms.
And here we may recur to the fact that some of the early
inhabitants of the earth regarded a star as a thing of life,
because it appeared to move, and acted as though controlled by a
living spirit. And this fetchic idea we observe lurking amongst the
borrowed orientalisms of the Jewish Old Testament. The
representation of the morning stars joining in a chorus and singing
together (see Job xxxviii. 9), is an instance of this kind of
fetchic conception.
And then we find a much stronger and more conclusive case in
the New Testament, where Matthew represents a star as breaking
loose from its orbit, and traveling some millions of miles, in
order to stand over the young child Jesus, as he lay amongst the
oxen and asses in a stable. (See Matt. ii. 7.) Wonderfully
accommodating star indeed! How did its inhabitants feel while thus
traveling with the velocity of lightning? This achievement would
not only require life, but an active intelligence, on the part of
the star, as it is represented as being an act of the planet
itself.
"All nations," says Mr. Higgins, "once believed that the
planetary bodies or their inhabitants controlled the affairs of
men, and even their births." Hence the cant phrases, My stars," "He
is ill-starred," etc., in use then, and still in use at the present
day. The good or ill luck of a person was attributed to the good or
evil stars which it was believed ruled at the hour of his birth.
We find a counterpart to the story of Matthew's traveling star
in Virgil's writings, who declares (60 B.C.) that a star guided
AEneas in a journey westward from Troy. In the days of Pliny (see
his "Natural History," Book II.), the people of Rome fancied they
saw a God in a star or comet in the form of a man. The Apocryphal
book of Seth relates that a star descended from heaven and lighted
on a mountain, in the midst of which a divine child was seen
bearing a cross. Christ betrays the same ignorance of astronomy,
when he speaks of "the stars falling from heaven to the earth."
(See Matt. xxiv. 29.) For if there could be any falling in the
case, the falling would be in the other direction and the earth
would fall to the stars, as larger bodies always attract smaller
ones.
As shown above, the stupendous orbs of night were represented
by Jew, Pagan and Christian as breaking away from their orbits, and
running hither and thither, like a fly on a ceiling, or a ball from
a sky-rocket, being regarded as mere jack-a-lanterns, that could
appear anywhere at any time creative fancy might dictate or
require; while science teaches that the stars are stupendous orbs,
some of them a thousand times larger than the planet on which we
live, and that they could not depart one rod from their accustomed
orbits without breaking up the whole planetary system, and
destroying the universe.
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And then observe the absurdity in Matthew's story, which
teaches that the wise men followed the star in the east, when they,
coming from the east, were, as a matter of course, traveling
westward, which would place the star to their backs. That must be
a 'sui generis' pilot or guide which follows after, instead of
going before. Omitting further citations from history, we will only
observe further that the ancient Hindoos, Egyptians, Chaldeans,
Syrians, Mexicans, etc., took great account of stars, and employed
them on all important occasions, especially on long journeys and at
the births of Gods and great personages -- a circumstance which
aids in explaining the star chapter in the gospel history of
Christ.
CHAPTER VII.
ANGELS, SHEPHERDS AND MAGI VISIT THE
INFANT SAVIORS.
IN an age when Gods and men were on the most familiar terms,
and when the character of one furnished a transcript for the other,
and when each consented to act a reciprocal part towards elevating,
honoring and glorifying the other, the birth of a God or Messiah
was, as a matter of course, regarded as an event of sufficient
importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the earth,
and even the denizens of heaven also.
And hence we find it related in the history of several of the
God-begotten Saviors of antiquity, that as soon as they were born
into the world they were visited by "wise men from a distance" (or
Magi, as they were called by the Persians and Brahmins). And in
some cases they were likewise waited upon and adored by the
neighboring shepherds; and even celestial spirits are reported in
some instances as leaving their star-gilt homes to wing their way
to the humble mansion, the rude tenement, containing a new-born
God, that they might honor and adore "the Savior of men, the Savior
of the world."
The sacred biographies of both Confucius and Christ furnish
examples of the angel host forsaking their golden pavilions in the
skies to pay their devoirs to a Deity-begotten bantling, sent down
by the "Father of Mercies," to save a guilt-laden world. And in
both cases the Magi are reported as assembling to present their
offerings to the infant God.
In the case of Confucius (born 598 B.C.), it is declared,
"Five wise men from a distance came to the house, celestial music
was heard in the skies, and angels attended the scene." (See the
Five Volumes.) Now let us observe how strikingly similar to this
ancient legend, in each of the several characteristics, is the
Christian story. Matthew (ii. i) speaks of "wise men from the east"
journeying to Jerusalem to visit the infant Christ, soon after his
birth, amongst the mules and oxen in a stable, though he omits to
state the number of itinerant adorers who presented themselves on
the occasion.
The Persian story is more specific, as it gives the number of
Magi who visited the young Savior of that country as five.
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Luke (ii. 13) speaks of "a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God," in gratulation of the birth of the Judean Savior.
Now, when we bear in mind that one method of praising God, with the
orientals, was by music, as we will at once observe that this is
only another mode of proclaiming, as in the case of Confucius, that
"celestial music was heard in the skies."
And "angels attended the scene" of Confucius' birth. So,
likewise, Luke (ii. 15) relates that the angels, after rejoicing
with the shepherds on the occasion of the birth of Christ, "went
away into heaven."
How complete the parallel! and, but for the digression, and
monopoly of space, we might trace it much further, and show that
Confucius, like Christ, had twelve chosen disciples; that he was
descended from a royal house of princes, as Christ from the royal
house of David; that he, in like manner, retired for a long period
from the noise and bustle of society into religious contemplative
seclusion; that he inculcated the same Golden Rule of doing to
others as we desire them to act toward us, and other moral maxims
equal in importance to anything that can be found in the Christian
Scriptures, etc.
But to the line of history. Other Saviors at birth, we are
told, were visited by both angels and shepherds, also "wise men,"
at least great men. Chrishna, the eighth avatar of India (1200
B.C.) (so it is related by the "inspired penman" of their pagan
theocracy) was visited by angels, shepherds and prophets (avatars).
"Immediately after his birth he was visited by a chorus of devatas
(angels), and surrounded by shepherds, all of whom were impressed
with the conviction of his future greatness." We are informed
further that "gold, frankincense and myrrh" were presented to him
as offerings.
The well-known modern traveler, Mr. Ditson, who visited India
but a few years since, uses the emphatic declaration, "In fact, as
soon as Chrishna was born he was saluted by a chorus of devatas, or
angels." In the evangelical narrative of the Christian Savior an
angel is reported to have saluted his mother thus: "Hail, thou that
art highly favored; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among
women." (Luke, i. 28.) And in the next chapter the angel is
reported as joining with "the heavenly host" "in praising God." A
similar report is found in the Hindoo bible (the Ramayana),
appertaining to the mother of the eighth Savior, of whom it is
declared "Brahma and Siva, with a host of attending spirits, came
to her and sang, 'In thy delivery, O favored among women, all
nations shall have cause to exult.'" And when the celestial infant
(Chrishna) appeared (it is related in a subsequent chapter), "a
chorus of heavenly spirits saluted him with hymns; the whole room
was illuminated by his light, and the countenance of his father and
mother shone with brightness and glory (by reflection), their
understandings were opened so that they knew him to be the
Preserver of the world, and they began to worship him." The last
text here quoted brings to mind Luke xxiv. 45, which declares,
"Then he (Christ) opened their (his parents) understandings."
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The ninth avatar of India (Sakia) furnishes to some extent a
similar parallel. According to the account of an exploration made
in India, and published in the New York Correspondent of 1828,
"There is on a silver plate in a cave in India an inscription
stating that about the time of the advent of Buddha Sakia (600
B.C.), a saint in the woods learned by inspiration that another
avatar (Messiah or Savior) had appeared in the house of Rajah of
Lailas. Learning which, he flew through the air to the place, and
when he beheld the new-born Savior he declared him to be the great
avatar (Savior or prophet), and that he was destined to establish
a new religion" -- the New Covenant Religion.
We next draw on the history of Greece. It is authentically
related of Pythagoras (600 B.C.) that his fame having reached
Miletas and neighboring cities, men renowned for wisdom (wise men)
came to visit him. (Progress of Religious Ideas, vol. i.) In the
Anacalypsis we are told that Magi came from the East to offer gifts
at Socrates' birth, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh," the
same kind of offering as that presented to the two divine infants
Chrishna and Christ, according to their respective "inspired"
biographers. (See Matt. ii. 4, and the Ramayana).
And the legend of Mithra, of Persia, might also be included in
our category of comparison, if we had space for it. All the four
Saviors last named (if Socrates may be called such) are reported as
having been honored and enriched with aromatic offerings at their
respective births. And we have the statement from Mr. Higgins, that
the same assortment of spices (with the gold) constituted the
materials offered as gifts to the sun, in Persia more than three
thousand years ago; and likewise in Arabia near the same era. And
it may be stated here, that an ancient historic account of
Zoroaster of Persia (6,000 B.C., according to Pliny and Aristotle),
speaks of his having also been visited by Magi, or "Magia," at the
period of his earthly advent.
And it is, perhaps, well to note in this place, that "Magi" is
the term used in the Apocryphal Gospels, to designate the "wise
men" who visited Christ at birth; and that Magi, Magic and Magician
are but variations of the same word, at least derivations from the
same root, all suggesting a wisdom correlated to the Gods. Osiris,
an incarnate deity of Egypt, we may cite as another case of an
infantile God receiving signal honors and eclat at birth, as he was
visited while yet in the cradle by a host of admiring adorers.
"People flocked from all parts of the world to behold the heaven-
born infant." Such a world-wide fame must have had the effect to
attract, with the numerous crowd who thronged to see and worship
him, no small number of "wise men."
At this stage of our historical exposition, we will suggest it
as rather a singular circumstance that the divine Father, in his
infinite wisdom, should have chosen to reveal the intelligence of
the birth of his son Jesus Christ to a set of nomadic heathen
idolaters hundreds of miles distant (though known as "wise men"
because of their skill in astrology) before he made it known to his
own "chosen people" (the Jews), who had ever regarded themselves as
the recipients of his special favors. And perhaps it is still more
singular that these pagan pedestrians should have been denominated
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"wise men," while men of God's own election, according to the
Christian bible, were often stigmatized and denounced as "fools,"
a "generation of vipers," etc. But it so happens that "human
reason" finds many incongruities in "Divine Revelations."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER
THE BIRTHDAY OF THE GODS.
DIVESTED of all explanation, the announcement of the fact that
the time of the birth of many of the incarnated Gods and Saviors of
antiquity was fixed at the same period, and this period the twenty-
fifth of December, celebrated all over Christendom as the birthday
of Jesus Christ, would sound marvelously strange, especially when
it is noticed that this period formerly dated the birth of a new
year -- the birth of King Sol. And when we find that the ancient
pagans were in the habit of celebrating this venerated twenty-fifth
of December as the birthday of their Gods in the same manner
Christians now celebrate it as the birthday of Christ, we are
driven to admit that something more than mere fortuitous accident
must be adduced to account for the coincidence.
According to Dr. Lightfoot, the temple of Jerusalem was
employed in celebrating the birthday of a pagan God (Adonis) on the
very night Christians assign for the birth of Christ. And Robert
Taylor informs us that nearly all the nations of the East were once
in the habit of rising at midnight to celebrate the birthday of
their Gods, on the twenty-fifth of December. And to this statement
Mr. Higgins adds that, "At the first moment after midnight of the
twenty-fourth of December, the ancient nations celebrated the
accouchement of the queen of heaven and celestial virgin, and the
birth of the God Sol, the Infant Savior, and the God of Day.
Bacchus of Egypt, Bacchus of Greece, Adonis of Greece,
Chrishna of India, Chang-ti of China, Chris of Chaldea, Mithra of
Persia, Sakia of India, Jao Wapaul (a crucified Savior of ancient
Britain), were all born on the twenty-fifth of December, according
to their respective histories. Chrishna is represented to have been
born at midnight on the twenty-fifth of the month Savarana, which
answers to our December, and millions of his disciples celebrated
his birthday by decorating their houses with garlands and gilt
paper, and the bestowment of presents to friends. The Rev. Mr.
Barret tells us, "It was once common for the women in Rome to
perambulate the streets on the twenty-fifth of December, singing in
a loud voice, "Unto us a child is born this day."
The twenty-fifth of December, then, it will be observed, was
marked as the birthday of the incarnated Gods, Saviors, and Sons of
God, of many of the religious systems of antiquity, long prior to
the birth of Christ.
And why his birth was fixed at that date is not hard to
account for. According to the celebrated Christian writer Mr.
Goodrich, the Christian world had no chronology and recorded no
dates for several centuries after the commencement of the Christian
era. (See History of all Nations, p. 23.) No event of their history
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was marked by dates for nearly four hundred years. Hence, the time
of Christ's birth is altogether a matter of conjecture, as is also
every other event noticed in the Christian bible. This is proved by
the fact that the ablest Christian writers and chronologists differ
to the extent of thirty-five hundred years in fixing the time of
every event in the bible. A Mr. Kennedy presents us with three
hundred different chronological systems, by different Christian
writers, all founded on the bible, and proving that the date of its
various events are inextricably involved in a labyrinth of doubt,
darkness and uncertainty.
Relative to the time of Christ's birth, the "Encyclopedia
Britannica" says: "Christians count one hundred and thirty-three
contrary opinions of different authors concerning the year the
Messiah appeared on earth -- many of them celebrated writers."
(Art. Chron.) Mark the declaration -- one hundred and thirty-three
different opinions as to the year Christ was born in; one hundred
and thirty-three different years fixed on by different Christian
chronologists as the time of the birth of the most extraordinary
and most noted being, as Christians would have us believe, that
ever appeared on earth. Think of an omnipotent God descending from
heaven, performing astounding miracles, and presenting other proofs
of being a God, and yet not one of the three hundred writers of
that era take any notice of him, or make any note of his birth or
any event of his life. This circumstance is of itself sufficient to
banish and dissipate all faith in his divinity.
It is evident, from the facts just presented, that all systems
of Christian chronology are founded on mere conjecture, and hence
should be rejected as worthless. What event of Christ's life, then,
can be accepted as certain, when no record was made of it till the
time was forgotten, and none for at least half a century after the
dawn of the Christian era, according to Dr. Lardner, when nearly
all who witnessed it must have been dead?
We think the most reasonable conclusion in the case is, that
Christ, instead of performing those Munchausen prodigies attributed
to him -- such as casting out devils, raising the dead, controlling
the elements of nature, etc. -- led such an ordinary, obscure life
-- excelling only in healing the sick and other noble deeds of
charity and philanthropy -- that he attracted but little notice by
the higher classes, or by anybody but those of a similar turn of
mind, till he was deified by Constantine, in the year 325 A.D.
Hence, the time of his birth was not recorded, and was forgotten.
Consequently, the twenty-fifth of December was selected as his
birthday, because it was the birthday of other Gods, and because it
was regarded by the heathen, from time immemorial, as the birthday
of Sol, the glorious luminary of heaven, it being the period he is
born again into a new year, and "commences again his journey and
his life;" and because, also, this epoch was, as Sharon Turner
informs us, in his "History of the Anglo-Saxons," the commencement
of a new year up to the tenth century.
These events signalized the twenty-fifth of December, and made
it a period of sufficient importance to lead the early Christians
to suppose it must have been the birthday of their Messiah.
Mosheim, however, confesses that the day or the year in which it
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happened "has not been fixed with certainty, notwithstanding the
profound researches of the learned." So that it is still an open
question as to when Christ was born. What day of the month, what
year, or what century it took place in, is still unknown. This
circumstance is, as before suggested, sufficient of itself to
utterly prostrate all faith in the divine claims for Jesus Christ.
What would be thought of a witness who should testify in court to
the truth of an occurrence of which he did not know the year, or
even the century, in which it took place, or who could come no
nearer than one hundred and thirty-three years in fixing or
guessing at the time. Would the court accept such testimony?
CHAPTER IX.
TITLES OF THE SAVIORS.
THE various deific titles applied to Jesus Christ in the New
Testament are regarded by some Christian writers as presumptive
evidence of his divinity. But the argument proves too much for the
case; as we find the proof in history that many other beings, whom
Christians regard as men, were honored and addressed by the same
titles, such as God, Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Mediator, Messiah,
etc.
The Hindoo Chrishna, more than two thousand years ago, was
prayerfully worshiped as "God the Most High." His disciple Amarca
once addressed him thus: "Thou art the Lord of all things, the God
of the universe, the emblem of mercy, the bestower of salvation. Be
propitious O most High God," etc. Here he is addressed both as Lord
and God. He is also styled "God of Gods."
Adonis of Greece was addressed as "God Supreme," and Osiris of
Egypt as "the Lord of Life." In Phrygia, it was "Lord Atys," as
Christians say, "Lord Jesus Christ." Narayan of Bermuda was styled
the " Holy Living God."
The title "Son of God" was so common in nearly all religious
countries as to excite but little awe or attention.
St. Basil says, "Every uncommonly good man was called ,the Son
of God.'" The "Asiatic Research" says, "The Tamulese adored a
divine Son of God," and Thor of the Scandinavians was denominated
"the first-born Son of God;" and so was Chrishna of India, and
other demigods.
It requires, therefore, a wide stretch of faith to believe
that Jesus Christ was in any peculiar sense "the Son of God,"
because so denominated, or "the only begotten Son of God," when so
many others are reported in history bearing that title.
The title Savior is found in the legends of every religions
country. So also God, Redeemer, and Mediator. "When a Mogul or
Thibetan is asked who is Chrishna," says the Christian missionary
Huc, "the reply is, instantly, 'the Savior of men.'" Buddha was
known as "the Savior, Creator and Wisdom of God," and Mithra as
both Mediator and Savior, also as "the Redeemer," and Chrishna as
"the Divine Redeemer," also "the Redeemer of the World." The terms
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Mediator and Intercessor were also frequently applied to him by his
disciples. And both he and Quexalcote were hailed as "the Messiah."
In short, most ancient religious nations were honored with or
expected a Messiah.
Was Jesus Christ the "Lamb of God?" (John i. 9.) So was
Chrishna styled "the Holy Lamb." The Mexicans, preferring a full-
grown sheep, had their "Ram of God." The Celts had their "Heifer of
God," and the Egyptians their Bull of God." All these terms are
ludicrous emblems of Deity, representing him as a quadruped, as the
title "Lamb of God" does Jesus Christ, a term no less ludicrous
than the titles of the pagan Gods as cited above.
And was Christ "the True Light?" (John i. 9.) So was Chrishna
likewise called "the True Light," also "the Giver of Light," "the
Inward Light," etc. Osiris was "the Redeemer of Light," and
Pythagoras was both "Light and Truth." Apollonius was styled the
"True Light of the World;" while Simon Magus was called "the Light
of all Men."
Several nations had also their Christs, though in many cases
the word is differently spelled. Chrest, the Greek mode of spelling
Christ, may be found on several of the ancient tombstones of that
country. The Christian writer Elsley, in his "Annotations of the
Gospels" (vol. i.p. 25), spells the word Christ in this manner,
Chrest. The people of Loretto had a black Savior, called Chrest, or
Christ. Lucian, in his "Philopatris," admits the ancient Gentiles
had the name of Christ, which shows it was a heathen title. The
Chaldeans had their Chris, the Hindoos their Chrishna, the Greeks
their Chrest, and the Christians their Christ, all, doubtless,
derived from the same original root.
As for Jesus, it was a common name among the Jews long before
the advent of Christ. Josephus refers to seven or eight persons by
that name, as "Jesus, brother of Onias," "Jesus, son of Phabet,"
etc. Joshua in the Greek form, Jesus, was in still more common use.
Again, was Jesus Christ "the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning
and the End?" so, likewise, Chrishna proclaimed, "I am the
Beginning, the Middle, and the End." Osiris and Chrishna were both
proclaimed "Judge of the Dead," as Jesus was "Judge of quick and
dead." Isaiah represents the Father as proclaiming, "I am Jehovah;
besides me there is no Savior." (Isa. xliii. 11.) With what
consistency, then, can Christ be called "the Savior," if there is
but one Sazior, and that is the Father?
And other divine titles besides those above named -- in fact,
all those applied to Christ -- are found used also in reference to
the older pagan gods, and hence prove nothing.
ORIGIN OF THE TERMS MEDIATOR, INTERCESSOR, ETC.
Several causes contributed to originate a belief in the
offices imaginarily assigned to divine God-descended Mediators,
Redeemers, and Intercessors.
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1. In the first place, the Great Supreme God was believed to
be too far off and too aristocratic to be on familiar terms with
his subjects, or at all times accessible to their prayers. Hence,
was gotten up a "Mediator," or middle God, to stand midway between
the Great Supreme and the people, and transmit messages one from
the other, and thus serve as agent for both parties. Confirmatory
of this statement is the declaration of Mamoides, in his "Guide to
the Erring," that "the ancient Sabeans conceived the principal God,
on account of his great distance, to be inaccessible; and hence, in
imitation of the people in their conduct toward their king, who had
to address him through a person appointed for the purpose, they
imaginarily employed a middle divinity, who was called a Mediator,
to present their claims to the Supreme God." Here the whole secret
is out, the whole thing is explained, and we now understand why
Christ is called a Mediator, Intercessor, "Advocate with the
Father," etc.
2. Again, the Supreme God was supposed to be frequently angry
with the people, and threatening to punish if not to destroy them.
"I will punish the multitude." (Jer xlvi. 25.) "I will destroy the
people." (Ex. xxiii. 27). Hence, this middle divinity, this second
person of the trinity, stepped in to plead and intercede on their
behalf, being, as we must presume, a better-natured and more
merciful being than the Father. And thus interceding, he received
the titles of Intercessor and "Advocate with the Father." (i John,
ii. i.)
3. The principal circumstance, however, which led to the
conception of a divine Savior was the desire to find some way to
continue in sin and wrong-doing and escape its natural and
legitimate consequences; in other words, to evade the penalty.
Hence, it came to be believed that people might run riot in sin,
and plunge into the indulgence of their passions and their lusts,
till the hour of death approached, when they would have nothing to
do but to ask forgiveness, and cast the burden of their sins and
sufferings on the merits of "a crucified Savior and Redeemer," who
"suffered once for all, that we might escape," and thus dodge the
penalty for sin. It was, as Mr. Fleurbach expresses it, "A realized
wish to be free from the laws of morality, and escape the natural
consequences of wrong doing."
CHAPTER X.
THE SAVIORS OF ROYAL DESCENT, BUT HUMBLE BIRTH.
WE have the singular coincidence presented in the histories of
several of the Saviors of their lineal descent through a line of
kings or princes, and yet commencing their probationary life under
the most humble and adverse circumstances -- being born in stables,
caves, and other inauspicious situations.
The story of their royal blood was calculated to add dignity
to their characters, while their humble birth in the midst of
poverty, and unmarked by ostentation, would evince their humility,
meekness, condescension, and absence of pride, and thus proclaim a
lesson of humility and resignation to their disciples and
followers.
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Here, seems to be plainly indicated the motives for assigning
them to such a birth, and such a character.
Christ's lineal descent, it will be remembered, is professedly
traced (though in a very zig-zag, disjointed manner) from the royal
house of David. And yet his royal blood did not save him from the
most ignoble and ignominious birth, and obscure exordium of his
earth life.
A singular story, and yet a similar story, is told of the
Indian Savior Chrishna, who was, according to the Rev. Mr. Allen
(India, p. 379) of the royal house of Kousa, traced back through
many generations. Yet, in order to teach the world a lesson of true
humility, and administer a just reprehension to pride, he submitted
to be born in a cave, amid the denizens of subterranean abodes. And
here let it be noted, the best and most orthodox writers concede
that while Christ is said to have born in a manger, that manger was
in a cave. Mr. Fleetwood (a very popular Christian writer)
testifies in this matter that "the Greek fathers generally agree
that the place of Christ's birth was a cave. (Life of Christ, p.
568.) Then the coincidence in this respect between Christ and
Chrishna may be set down as complete.
We have no means of learning how many of the Saviors were of
royal blood, as the genealogy of some of them is not given. But
those whose lineal descent is furnished us are almost uniformly
traced to or evinced as springing from royal parentage, and
practical liumility -- so far as it can be taught by an
unostentatious birth -- is a lesson taught by nearly all. Buddha
Sakia of Hindostan is directly traced through a royal pedigree.
Speaking on this point, one writer remarks: "Tradition affirms
that his mother was betrothed to a rajah, and of course her son
belonged to the same royal caste that Chrishna did during his
existence on earth." (Prog. Rel. Ideas, vol, i. 84.)
"The Great Prophet" of Arabia (Mahomet) not only commenced his
earthly career in a humble situation, but resembled Christ in
having "nowhere to lay his head." It is said of the Great Prophet,
"A cloak spread on the ground served him for a bed, and a skin
filled with date leaves was his pillow." The genealogy of the God
Yu (of China) is traced through a line of princes to a very remote
origin, while his whole life was a lesson of practical humility,
and proclaimed at every step, This is the way; walk ye in it."
CHAPTER XI.
CHRIST'S GENEALOGY.
IN order to exalt the dignity and character of the Christian
Messiah still higher than a mere claim for a divine origin
paternally would have the effect to do, two of his assumed to be
inspired biographers have set up for him a claim to a royal lineage
through the maternal line.
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Hence, they tell us that he descended from and through a line
of kings embracing the house of David. But in presenting the names,
and the number of generations, in their attempts to make out this
royal distinction, this kingly exaltation of birth, they exhibit a
most egregious bungle, and the most barefaced tissue of
discrepancies. For they not only differ widely with each other in
this matter, but differ with the Old Testament genealogy, and
differ with those texts which give the maternal ancestry of Jesus.
Indeed, though varying as wide as the poles from each other,
they both miss Jesus and arrive at Joseph in tracing down the
generations from Abraham (unless we assume they intended to
represent Joseph as being his father).
Luke, in his gospel, names and counts off forty-one
generations from David, to Joseph, though he had previously
represented it as being forty-two; but Matthew says that "from
Abraham to David are fourteen generations," but according to his
own showing, and according to his own list of names, there are but
thirteen. And then he tells us there are but fourteen generations
from David to the carrying away into Babylon. But according to the
Old Testament genealogy (see i Chron. iii.) there were eighteen.
And then the names comprised in the two genealogies of Matthew and
Luke are so widely different from that found in Chronicles, as to
set all analogy and agreement at defiance.
In fact, in their whole list of names, from David down to
Joseph, they only come together twice. Their names are all
different but two, that of Salathiel and Zorobabel, which names
alone are found in both lists.
Matthew tells us that the son of David, through whom Joseph
descended, was Solomon, but Luke says it was Nathan. The next name
in Matthew's list is that of Roboam, but the corresponding name in
Luke's list is Mattatha. Matthew's next name is Abia, which Luke
gives as Menan, while Chronicles differs from both, and gives it as
Abijah. Matthew says Joram begat Ozias, but Chronicles virtually
declares Joram had no such son, although he had a great-great-
grandson Uzziah. But Luke says, in effect, there was no such person
in the genealogical tree, or family line, as either Joram, Ozias or
Uzziah. Matthew says again, "Josias begat Jechonias and his
brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon." (Matt.
i. ii.)
But Chronicles declares that Jechonias was Jehoiakim's son,
and not Josiah's, and that Josiah had no such son. And, besides, we
learn, from 2 Kings xiii., that Josiah was killed eleven years
before the exile to Babylon, and could not well beget a son after
he had been defunct a tenth of a century.
Matthew, after naming twenty-four generations as filling out
the line, and making it complete between David and Jacob, concludes
by saying, "and Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary."
But Luke, antecedent to spinning out his list to fourteen
generations more than Matthew, i.e., making it fourteen generations
longer, declares that "Joseph was the son of Heli." So that Joseph
either had two fathers, Jacob and Heli; or Matthew or Luke, or
both, were most egregiously mistaken, with all their "inspiration."
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Again, Luke says that Salathiel was the son of Neri; but
Chronicles says he was the son of Jechonias. And after Chronicles
had registered Zorobabel as the son of Penniah, Matthew and Luke,
assuming to become "wise above what was written," both declare that
he was the son of Salathiel. They agree here in contradicting
Chronicles, which is the only instance but one of their agreement
in the whole list of progenitors from David to Joseph.
With this exception they contradict each other all the way
through, and in many instances that of Chronicles, too.
This is a strange way, indeed, of proving Jesus Christ to have
had two fathers! -- to be both the son of God and son of David! And
it is still stranger that they should trace his genealogy to
Joseph, if they did not consider him Joseph's son. Otherwise, the
genealogy of "Sinbad the Sailor," or "Harry Haulaway," would have
been as apropos.
Such are the beautiful harmony and agreement in the words of
"divine inspiration" which Christians prate so much about.
And all this appears to be the result of an attempt to elevate
the man Christ Jesus to a level with the demigods of antiquity,
nearly all of whom claimed to be of royal or princely descent. Such
continual blundering, guessing, cross-firing, and clashing of names
as is exhibited in the foregoing exposition, reminds us of the
Hibernian's reply when asked for the number and names of his
brothers:
"Well, sir, I have fourteen brothers, and they are all named
Bill but Bob -- his name is Tom."
Matthew and Luke's attempt to exalt and dignify the character
of Christ by making out for him a pure, holy and royal lineage we
find, upon a critical examination not only proved a very signal but
a very singular and ludicrous failure, for all his female ancestors
who are brought to notice were persons of libidinous or licentious
tendencies, according to their own biblical history.
"It is remarkable," says Dr. Alexander Walker, (a Christian
writer, in his work on Woman, p. 330), "that in the genealogy of
Christ only four women are named: Thamar, who seduced the father of
her late husband, and Rachel, a common prostitute, and Ruth, who,
instead of marrying one of her cousins, went to bed with another of
them, and Bathsheba, an adulteress, who espoused David the murderer
of her first husband."
What a pedigree for an incarnate God -- a being ostensibly of
spotless origin! though his impure ancestral origin does not
detract from the high moral character and distinguished moral life
which marks the history of "the man Christ Jesus," many incidents
of whose life show him to have been what is now known as a
spiritual medium.
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CHAPTER XII.
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS SAVED
FROM DESTRUCTION IN INFANCY.
OF course such an extraordinary circumstance as the birth of
a God into the world must be marked with unusual incidents and
great eclat. This was first exhibited by angels, shepherds,
prophets, magi or "wise men," flocking around their cradles. In the
second place we observe an unusual display of divine power and
providential care on the part of the great Father God, who was
still left in heaven to save the young saviors through their
infancy.
It is certainly a remarkable circumstance that so many of the
infant Saviors should have been threatened with the most imminent
danger of destruction, and yet in every case miraculously
preserved, and thus were the Saviors saved.
A jealousy seems to have existed in several instances in the
mind of the tyrant king or ruler of the country that the young
Saviors and prospective spiritual rulers (who were mostly of royal
descent) would ultimately acquire such favor with the people, by
such a display of superior power and greatness of mind, as to
endanger his retaining peaceable possession of the secular throne;
to express it in brief, he feared the young God would prove a rival
king, and hence took measures to destroy him.
In the case of the Christian Savior we are told that an angel,
or "the angel," warned Joseph (the assumed father) to take the
young Savior and God and flee with him into Egypt, because "Herod
the king sought to destroy the young child's life," and had, in
order to effect this end, decreed the destruction of all the
children under two years old. And Joseph heeded the divine warning,
and fled as directed. An angel and a dream, then, it will be
observed, were the instrumentalities used to save the young Judean
Savior from massacre.
And strange as it may seem, we find the same agencies had been
previously employed to effect the rescue of other Saviors likewise
and similarly threatened.
In the case of Chrishna of India, in particular, the
similitude is very striking in nearly every feature of the whole
story.
In the first place there is the angel warning. In the
Christian story we are not specifically informed how the tyrant
Herod first became apprised of the birth of the Judean Savior. The
Hindoo story is fuller, and indicates that the angel was not only
sufficiently thoughtful to warn the parents to flee from a danger
which threatened to dispossess them of a divine child, and the
world of a Savior, but was condescending enough to apprise the
tyrant ruler (Cansa) of his danger likewise -- as we are told he
heard an angel voice announcing that a rival ruler was born in his
kingdom.
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And hence, like Herod, he set about concocting measures to
destroy him without a direct attack. Why either of them should have
taken such a circuitous or roundabout way of killing an infant,
when the life of the strongest man, and every man in their
kingdoms, was at their instant disposal, "divine inspiration" does
not inform us.
But so it was. And we must not seek to "become wise above what
is written" in their bibles. Herod's decree required the
destruction of all infants under two years of age (see Matt. ii.
16) -- first ordering, however, "Go, and search diligently for the
young child." (Matt. ii. 8.) Cansa's decree ran thus: "Let active
search be made for whatever young children there may be upon earth,
and let every boy in whom there may be found signs of unusual
greatness be slain without remorse."
Now, let it be specially noticed that there is to this day in
the cave temple at Elephants, in India, the sculptured likeness of
a king represented with a drawn sword, and surrounded with
slaughtered infants -- admitted by all writers to be much older
than Christianity. Mr Forbes, in his "Oriental Memories," vol. iii.
p. 447, says, "The figures of the slaughtered infants in the cave
of Elephanta represent them as being all boys, who are surrounded
by groups of figures of men and women in the act, apparently, of
supplicating for those children." And Mr. Higgins testifies
relative to the case, that Chrishna was carried away by night, and
concealed in a region remote from his natal place, for fear of a
tyrant whose destroyer it had been foretold he would become, who,
for that reason, had ordered all the male children born at that
time to be slain. Sculptures in Elephanta attest the story where
the tyrant is represented as destroying the children. The date of
this sculpture is of the most remote antiquity. "He who hath ears
to hear, let him hear," and deduce the pregnant inference, Joseph
and Mary fled with the young Judean God into Egypt; Chrishna's
parents likewise fled with the young Hindoo Savior to Gokul.
Now, let us observe for a moment the chain or category or
resemblance.
1. There was an angel warning in each case relative to the
impending danger.
2. The governor or ruler was hostile in each case to the
mission of the young Savior.
3. A bloody decree was issued in both cases, having for its
object the destruction of these infant Messiahs.
4. The hurried flight of the parents takes place in each case.
5. And it may be remarked further, that the "Gospel of the
Infancy of Jesus," once believed by the Christian world to be
"inspired," and which for hundreds of years passed current as
divine authority, relates that Christ and his parents sojourned for
a time at a place called Matarea, or Mathura, as Sir William Jones
spells it, who says it was the birth place of Chrishna.
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It is further related in the case of Chrishna, that as he and
his parents approached the River Jumna in their flight, the waters
"parted hither and thither," so that they passed over "dry shod,"
like Moses and the Israelites in crossing the Red Sea. And here let
it be noted that the representation of this flight, which is said
to have occurred at midnight, is like that of the massacre
perpetuated and attested by imperishable monuments of stone bearing
evidence of being now several thousand years old.
Sir William Jones says: --
The Indian incarnate God Chrishna, the Hindoos believe, had a
virgin mother of the royal race, who was sought to be destroyed in
his infancy about nine hundred years before Christ. It appears that
he passed his life in working miracles, and preaching, and was so
humble as to wash his friends' feet; at length, dying, but rising
from the dead, he ascended into heaven in the presence of a
multitude." The Cingalese relate nearly the same things of their
Budha." And several authors of Egyptian history refer to a story
perpetuated in the Egyptian legends concerning the God Osiris, who
was threatened with destruction by the tyrant Amulins, to save whom
his parents fled and concealed him in an arm of the River Nile, as
Christ was concealed in the same country, and, for aught that
appears to the contrary, in the same locality. The mother of
another and older Savior of Egypt fled by a timely warning to
Epidamis before the birth of the divine child, and was there
delivered of "our Lord and Savior," Horus. And the earthly or
adopted father of the Grecian Savior, and God, Alcides, had to flee
with him and his mother to Galem for protection from threatening
danger.
In the ninth and tenth volumes of the "Asiatic Researches," we
find the story of the "only begotten" or "first begotten son of
God," Salvahana, of Cape Comorin, son of a virgin mother (as were
all the other Saviors referred to), and a carpenter by the name of
Taishnea. (It will be remembered that Joseph, "foster-father of
Jesus," was a carpenter.) The story of this "Son of God" presents
several features very similar to that relating to Jesus. Sir
William Jones, Colonel Wilford, and the Rev. Mr. Maurice all
confess to the antiquity of this story, as originating before the
birth of Christ. Speaking of Zoroaster of Persia (another case),
600 B.C., an author remarks, "Tradition reports that his mother had
alarming dreams of evil spirits seeking to destroy the child to
whom she was about to give birth. But a good spirit came to rescue
him, and consoled her by saying, 'Fear not; God Ormuzd will protect
the infant, who has sent him as a prophet to the people and the
world who are waiting for him.'" China, too, presents us with a
case of the threatened destruction of a Savior in infancy,
evidently recorded more than two thousand five hundred years ago.
It is the case of the God Yu, who was concealed in a manner similar
to that of Moses -- a commemoration of the story of which is
perpetuated by an image or picture of the virgin mother with a babe
upon her knee -- sometimes in her arms. Now, let it be noted that
these virgin-born Gods, who, we are told, came "to save the world,"
could not save themselves, but had to be protected and saved by
other Gods.
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Without pursuing the subject further in detail, we may mention
by way of recapitulation, that Chrishna, Alcides, Zoraster,
Salvahana, Yu, to which list we may add Bacchus, Romulus, Moses and
Cyrus, according to their reputed history, were threatened with
death and destruction, but were providentially and miraculously
preserved. The case of Augustus is related by Suetonius, that of
Romulus by Livy, and that of Cyrus by Herodotus. It will be
recollected that Pharaoh, like Herod, in order to reach the infant
Moses, ordered the massacre of all the male infants (Herod making
no distinction of sex), in order that he might, by this singular
and circuitous method, reach the object of his jealousy and
malignity without passing a direct sentence of death upon him.
The whole story of Herod's slaughter edict, with the familiar
history of its execution, like nearly every other miraculous
incident related in "The Holy Scriptures," which detail their
histories, are traceable in the skies. Herod, we are told,
literally means hero of the skin -- a term applied also to
Hercules, a personification of the sun -- because the sun, on
entering the constellation of the Zodiac in July, was supposed or
assumed to invest himself with the skin of the lion, and this
became "the hero of the skin," or a hero with a new skin. Now this
solar Herod, passing through the astronomical twins and young
infants of May, was said to destroy them, though the word destroy
is in the Greek anairean, which any person, on turning to the Greek
lexicon, will observe means also to take away, pass through, or
withdraw from, so that Pharaoh more properly passed through the
infants than destroyed them.
The text, "In Rama there was a voice heard," "Rachel weeping
for her children," etc., is quoted by a writer (Strauss) as
referring to the children slaughtered by Pharaoh. Let two things be
noticed here: 1. Rama is the Indian and Phenican name for the
zodiac. 2. Rachel had but two children to weep for -- Joseph and
Benjamin -- just the number found in the fifth sign, or May sign,
of the zodiac. And Venus, among the ancient Assyrians and
Phenicans, was in tears when the sun, in his annual cross through
the heavens, passed through or over the astronomical Twins
(Gemini), doubtless fearfully apprehending their destruction.
The case of the massacre is an illustration and example of the
manner in which all the miraculous stories related in the Christian
Scriptures, as having been practically exemplified in the life of
Jesus Christ, are traceable to older sources, frequently
terminating among the stars.
SECTION II. -- INCREDIBILITY OF THE STORY OF THE
MASSACRE, OF THE HEBREW INFANTS.
1. It is a cogent and potent fact, calculated to render the
story of the murder of the Hebrew children by Herod wholly
incredible, that not one writer of that age, or that nation, or any
other nation, makes any mention of the circumstance.
2. Even the Rabbinical writers who detail his wicked life so
minutely, and who bring to his charge so many flagitious acts, fail
to record any notice of this horrible and atrocious deed, which
must have been published far and wide, and known to all the writers
of that age and country, had it occurred.
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3. And still more logically ruinous to the credit of the story
is the omission of Josephus to throw out one hint that such a
wholesale slaughter ever took place in Judea. And yet he not only
lived in that country, but was related to Herod's wife, and
regarded him as his most implacable enemy, and professes to write
out the whole history of his wicked life in the most minute detail,
devoting thirty-seven chapters of his large work to this subject,
and apparently enumerates every evil act of his life. And yet
Josephus says not a word about his inhuman and infamous butchery of
the babes which Matthew charges him with (about four teen thousand
in number) -- a bloody deed, unmatched in the annals of tyranny.
Such facts prove the story not only incredible, but impossible.
Josephus could not and would not have omitted to notice this the
most notorious and nefarious act of his life, had it occurred. It,
therefore, could not have occurred. And it is almost equally
incredible that Roman historians, who furnish us with a particular
account of Herod's character, should pass over in silence such a
villainous and bloody deed.
4. And then some of our ablest and most reliable chronologists
have shown that Herod was not living at the time this bloody decree
should have been issued by him; that he died about three years
prior to that period, and hence could have been guilty of no such
villainy, and highhanded murder, and cruel infanticide.
5. And even if living, he would have been an old man (not less
than sixty-eight according to Josephus). Hence, he could not have
calculated on surviving long enough for the son of a village
carpenter, then a babe, to oust him from his throne.
6. It is wholly incredible, also, that Herod should have
adopted such a roundabout method of destroying the object of his
fear and envy when he could have singled him out, and put him to
death at once, and thus avoid the felonious act of breaking the
hearts of thousands of parents, and his most loyal subjects, too.
7. From the foregoing considerations, we endorse the sentiment
of the Rev. Edward Evanson, that it is "an incredible, borrowed
fiction."
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SAVIORS EXHIBIT EARLY PROOFS OF DIVINITY.
OF course, all Gods must be heroes -- physically or
intellectually, or both. The more danger they encounter, and the
earlier they manifest a precocious or preternatural smartness, the
more like Gods.
And hence we find several of the Saviors in very early
childhood displaying great physical prowess in meeting and
conquering danger, while others exhibit their superiority mentally
by vanquishing their opponents in argument. Christ first began to
exhibit proof of his divine character and greatness by meeting and
silencing the doctors in the temple when only about twelve years of
age.
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And similar proofs of divinity at or near this age is found in
the history of some of the pagan Saviors.
Of Christ it is declared, "There went out a fame of him
through all the region round about." (Luke iv. 14.) And of the
Grecian Esculapius it is likewise declared, "The voice of fame soon
published the birth of a miraculous child," and "the people flocked
from all quarters to behold him. Of Confucius of China it is
declared, "His extensive knowledge and great wisdom soon made him
known, and kings were governed by his counsels, and the people
adored him wherever he went." And it is further declared of this
"Divine Man," that he seemed to arrive at reason and the perfect
use of his faculties almost from infancy. It is reported of the God
Chang-ti, that when questioned on the subject of government and the
duties of princes and rulers while yet a child, his answers were
such as to astonish the whole empire by his knowledge and wisdom.
It is related of a Grecian God that he demolished the serpents
which attempted to bite or destroy him while in his cradle. "The
proof of Osiris's divinity was a blaze of light shining around his
cradle soon after he was born. Relative to Pythagoras of the same
country, we have it upon the authority of a Christian writer, that
he exhibited such a remarkable character, even in youth, as to
attract the attention of all who saw and heard him speak." And the
author further testifies of him that he "never was at any time
overcome with anger, laughter, or perturbation of mind or
precipitation of conduct." "His fame having reached Miletus and
neighboring cities," it is said by another writer, "the people
flocked to see and hear him, and he was reverenced by multitudes."
Luke declares of Christ, that the people "were astonished at
his understanding and answers." (Luke ii. 47.) And the "Gospel of
the Infancy" tells us that his tutor Zacheas was astonished at his
learning, which reminds us of the statement found in "The Divine
Word" of the Hindoos (The Mahabarat), that the parents of the
Savior Chrishna, in making arrangements to give him an education,
sent him to a learned Brahmin as tutor, whom he instantly
astonished with his vast learning, and under whose tuition he
mastered the whole circle of sciences in a day and a night. "Men,
seeing the wonders performed by this child, told Nanda (his adopted
father) that this could not possibly be his son."
it is told of Budha Sakia of India that, "as soon as he was
born, a light shone around his cradle, when he stood up and
proclaimed his mission, and that the River Gange, during this time
rose in a miraculous manner, which was stilled by his divine power,
as Christ stilled the tempest on the sea." "He was born," says the
New American Cyclopedia (vol. iv. p. 61), "amidst great miracles,
and soon as born, most solemnly proclaims his mission."
Of Narayan, "the Holy," it is declared that "mysterious words
dropped from his lips on various occasions, giving hints of his
divine nature and the purposes for which he had come down to the
earth." (Prog. Rel. Ideas, vol. i.p. 128.) The divine power and
mission of Yu of China was very early evinced by the display of
great miracles.
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And here let us observe that some of the Old Testament or
Jewish heroes -- as Moses, Solomon and Samuel -- are reported as
exhibiting great superiority of mind in very early life; thus
proving (it was thought) that if they were not Gods, they were at
least from God -- that is, endowed by him with divine power while
yet mere children. Thus the histories of all Gods and divine
personages run in parallel grooves.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SAVIORS' KINGDOMS NOT OF THIS WORLD.
RETIREMENT AND FORTY DAYS' FASTING.
CHRIST taught, "My kingdom is not of this world."
And we find that most of the other Saviors virtually and
practically taught the same doctrine.
The first practical evincement of it was exhibited by retiring
from the world; that is, they retired from the noise and commotion,
from the busy scenes of life, into some sequestered spot excluded
from human observation. Christ is reported to have withdrawn from
society, and to have spent some forty days in the wilderness
fasting and being tempted by Satan -- a man of straw conjured up in
order to furnish the hero God something to combat with, that he
might thereby exhibit practical proof of his divine power and
prowess. It was simply the two kings or rulers of two hostile
kingdoms (heaven and hell) contending for the mastery.
Lord Kingsborough tells us, "The ancient Mexicans had a forty
days' fast in honor and memory of one of their demigods or Saviors,
who was tempted forty days on a mountain. He is called "the Morning
Star." Mr. Kingsborough (being a Christian) remarks, "These thins
are very curious and mysterious."
It is said of "the Son of God" and Savior Chrishna that "he
imparted his doctrines and precepts in the silent depths of the
forest." Of the Egyptian God Osiris, we are informed in his sacred
legends, that "he observed both fasting and penance," while
Pythagoras of Greece spent several years in meditation and
retirement in a cave, and was much given to fasting, and often
inculcated the doctrine of "forsaking the world" and "the things
thereof." He taught these things both by precept and example, even
to "the forsaking of relations." Both Confucius and the Divine
Savior Chang-ti of China, "in order to attain to a more perfect
state of holiness," spent several years in retirement and "divine
meditation," the former in a wilderness, the latter on a mountain,
and fasted, and their disciples after them often fasted in a very
devout manner. The Persian Zoroaster also spent several years in
retirement and "contemplation on true holiness" -- partly in a
wilderness and partly on a "holy mountain," "holy mountains" being
the favorite places of resort of most of the holy Saviors, holy
Gods, and holy men of antiquity. One of the most ancient Saviors,
Thammuz, is reported to have spent twelve years in devout and
contemplative retirement from the busy world." According to the
Christian bible, Moses, Elijah, and Christ, each fasted forty days,
and a Mexican Savior, too (Quexalcote), spent forty days in a
similar manner, and other cases are so reported.
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We may institute the inquiry here, "How happens this
coincidence?"
The answer is indicated by "the Hierophant," which says,
"Jesus in his baptism and forty days' fast imitated the passage of
the sun through the constellation Aquarius, where John, Joannes, or
Janus the baptizer had his domicile, and baptized the earth with
his yearly rains." Having been baptized in Jordan, he fasted forty
days in the wilderness, in imitation of the passage of the sun from
the constellation Aqtlaritis through the Fishes to the Lamb or Ram
of March. During the forty days when the sun is among the Fishes
(in the sign of the Fish) the faithful Catholics, Episcopalians and
Mahommedans abstain from meat and live upon the fishes during the
season of Lent, as did the Jews and pagans, and did also Jesus, to
fulfill all righteousness."
CHAPTER XV.
THE SAVIORS WERE REAL PERSONAGES.
IT is unwarrantably assumed by Christian writers that the
incarnated Gods and crucified Saviors of the pagan religions were
all either mere fabulous characters, or ordinary human beings
invested with divine titles, and divine attributes; while, on the
other hand, the assumption is put forth with equal boldness that
Jesus Christ was a real divine personage, "seen and believed on in
the world, and finally crucified on Mount Calvary."
But we do not find the facts in history to warrant any such
assumptions or any such distinctions. They all stand in these
respects upon the same ground and on equal footing.
And their respective disciples point to the same kind of
evidence to prove their real existence and their divine character,
and to prove that they once walked and talked amongst men, as well
as now sit on the eternal throne in heaven "at the right hand of
the father." And we find even Christian writers admitting the once
bona fide or personal existence on earth of most of the pagan
Saviors.
As to the two chief incarnated Gods of India -- Chrishna and
Sakia -- there is scarcely "a peg left to hang a doubt upon" as to
the fact of their having descended to the earth, taken upon
themselves the form of men, and having been worshiped as veritable
Gods.
Indeed, we believe but few of the missionaries who have
visited that country question the statement and general belief
prevalent there of their once personal reality. Col. Todd, in his
"History of the Rajahs" (p. 44), says: "We must discard the idea
that the Mahabaret, the history of Rama, of Chrishna, and the five
Padua brothers are mere allegories; colossal figures, ancient
temples, and caves inscribed with characters yet unknown, confirm
the reality, and their race, their cities, and their coins yet
exist." To argue further the personal reality of this crucified God
would be a waste of words, as it is generally admitted, both by
historical writers and missionaries.
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Mr. Higgins declares, "Chrishna lived at the conclusion of the
brazen age, which is calculated to have been eleven hundred or
twelve hundred years before Christ." Here is a very positive and
specific declaration as to his tangible actuality. Col. Dow, Mr,
Robinson, and others use similar language.
Relative to Bacchus, of whose history many writers have spoken
as being wholly fabulous or fictitious, Diodorus Siculus says (lib.
iii. p. 137), "the Libyans claim Bacchus, and say that he was the
son of Ammon, a king of Libya; that he built a temple to his
father, Amraon." And that world-wide famous historian (Mr.
Goodrich) is still more explicit, if possible, as to his material
entity. After giving it directly as his opinion that there was such
a being, he says, "He planted vine-yards and fig-trees, and erected
many noble cities." He moreover tells us, "His skill in legislation
and agriculture is much praised" (p. 499).
With respect to Osiris of Egypt, another God-Savior, Mr.
Hittle declares unqualifiedly that "Herodotus saw the tomb of
Osiris, at Sais nearly five centuries before Christ" (vol. i.p.
246). Rather a strong evidence of his previous personality
certainly, but not more so than that furnished by the New York,
Journal of Commerce a few years since, relative to the Egyptian
Apis or Thulis, whose theophany was annually celebrated, at the
rising of the Nile, with great festivities and devotion, several
thousand years ago. The Paris correspondent of that journal, after
speaking of Mr. Auguste Marietta's travels, "a distinguished
scientific gentleman who for four years past had been employed by
the French Government in making Egyptian researches," having
returned home, says, "The most important of Mr. Marietta's
discoveries was the tomb of Apis (Thulis), a monument excavated
entirely in lime-rock. "There are (he says in conclusion) epitaphs,
forming a chronological record of each of the Apis buried in the
common tomb. The sculpture is of the date of the Pyramids, and the
statues are in the best state of preservation; the colors are
perfectly bright. The execution is admirable, and they convey an
exact idea of the physical character of the primitive population."
The New American Cyclopedia (art. Apis) in speaking of this
Egyptian God, tells us his lifetime was twenty-five years; in
harmony with one of the theologics-astronomical cycles of the
Egyptians. The same work and volume (p. 132), in speaking of the
real existence of Adonis of Greece, tells us, upon the authority of
the poet Panyasis, that he was a veritable son of Theias, king of
Syria.
But of all the characters who figured in the mythological
works or lawless rhapsodies of the ancients, and worshiped by them
as crucified Gods and sin-atoning Saviors, none has, perhaps, been
so indubitably, so positively, and so universally set down as
mythological or fabulous as that of Prometheus of Caucasus.
And yet Mr. Lempriere, D.D., tells us in his Classical
Dictionary that he was the son of Japetus. Sir Isaac Newton say he
was a descendant of the famous African Sesostris; while that
erudite and masterly historian (Mr. Higgins) seems to have
entertained no doubt of his personal esse; nor, indeed, of many, if
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any, of the pagan Saviors, as the following declaration will show.
He says, "Finding men in India and other countries of the same name
of the inferior Gods (as it is quite common to name men for them)
has led some to conclude that those deified men never existed, but
are merely mythological names of the sun. True, the first supreme
God of every nation (not excepting the Jews) was the sun. But more
modernly the names were transferred to men." Again, he says,
"Inasmuch as some of them are found to have been real bonafide
human beings, there is nothing unreasonable in concluding that all
were." And if we take into consideration the true and indisputable
fact that the priests had everything at their disposal, and the
strongest motives for concealing and suppressing, not to say
garbling and destroying evidence, it is not to be wondered at that
the histories of some of these Gods should be somewhat obscure and
ambiguous. Further on he declares, "In every case the Savior was
incarnate, and in nearly every case the place in which he was
actually born was exhibited to the people." And upon the authority
of the Hierophant, we will add, the memories of many of them have
been consecrated and perpetuated by tombs placed beside their
temples, which is perhaps the most convincing species of evidence
that could be offered.
The evidence, then, is precisely of the same character as that
offered in the case of Jesus Christ to prove that the pagan Saviors
did really possess a substantial, earthly and bodily existence.
Though it is true that it never has been universally conceded or
believed by Christian themselves that Jesus Christ ever had a
personal or corporeal existence on earth.
Cotilenius, in a note on Ignatius, Epistle to the Trallians,
written in the third century of the Christian era, declares that
"it is as absurd to deny the doctrine which taught that Jesus
Christ's body was a phantom as to deny that the sun shone at
midday." His physical body of course was meant, for it appears he
believed in his eternal existence as a spirit in heaven.
And we find whole sects advocating similar views in the early
ages of the Christian church. "One of the most primitive and
learned sects," says a writer, "were the Manicheans, who denied
that Jesus Christ ever existed in flesh and blood, but believed him
to be a God in spirit only; others denied him to be a God, but
believed him to have been a prophet, or inspired character, like
the Unitarians of the present day. Some denied his crucifixion,
others asserted it.
It is more than probable that this was the cause of dispute
between Paul and Barnabas, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles,
seeing that Paul had laid such peculiar emphasis on "Jesus Christ
and him crucified."
And this conclusion is corroborated by its being expressly
stated in the Gospel of Barnabas that "Jesus Christ was not
crucified, but was carried to heaven by four angels." "There was a
long list," says the same writer, "from the earliest times, of
sincere Christians who denied that Jesus Christ rose from the
dead;" while, as we may remark here, there could not have been at
that early date any grounds for denying these things, had he really
figured in the world in the miraculous and extraordinary and public
manner as that related in the Gospels.
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CHAPTER XVI.
SIXTEEN SAVIORS CRUCIFIED.
"FOR I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified." (I Cor. ii. 2.) There must have existed
a very considerable amount of skepticism in the community as to the
truth of the report of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the
country and era of its occurrence to make it necessary thus to
erect it into an important dogma, and make it imperative to believe
it. There must have been a large margin for distrusting its truth.
The determination not to know anything but the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ was narrowing down his knowledge to rather a small
compass.
And such a resolution would necessarily preclude him from
acquainting himself with the history of any other cases of
crucifixion that might have occurred before that of his own
favorite Messiah. "What! Was there ever a case of crucifixion
beside that of Jesus Christ?" a good Christian brother or sister
sometimes exclaims, when the world's sixteen crucified Saviors are
spoken of.
We meet the question with the reply, You seem to be a disciple
of Paul, whose position would not allow him to know of any other
cases of crucifixion but that of Jesus Christ. Hence, he may have
considered it meritorious to perpetuate his ignorance on the
subject. And you, perhaps, are ignorant from the same cause.
It is the nature of all religions based on fear and
unchangeable dogmas, to deter and thus exclude its disciples from
all knowledge adverse to their own creeds. And sometimes their own
religions systems are magnified to such an exalted appreciation
above all others as to lead them to destroy the evidence of the
existence of the latter for fear of their ultimate rivalry.
Mr. Taylor informs us that some of the early disciples of the
Christian faith demolished accessible monuments representing and
memorializing the crucifixion of the ancient oriental sin-atoning
Gods, so that they are now unknown in the annals of Christian
history. Hence, the surprise excited in the minds of Christian
professors when other cases are mentioned.
Such influences as referred to above have shut out from the
minds of the disciples of several religious systems a knowledge of
all crucified Gods but their own. Hence, the Hindoo rejoices in
knowing only "Chrishna and him crucified." The Persian entwines
around his heart the remembrance only of the atoning sufferings on
the cross of Mithra the Mediator. The Mexican daily sends up his
earnest, soul-breathing prayer for the return of the spirit of his
crucified Savior -- Quexalcote. While the Caucasian, with equal
devotion, chants daily praises to his slain "Divine Intercessor"
for voluntarily offering himself upon the cross for the sins of a
fallen race. And the Christian disciple hugs to his bosom the
bloody cross of the murdered Jesus, unhaunted by the suspicion that
other Gods died for the sins of man long anterior to the advent of
the immaculate Nazarene.
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We will now lay before the reader a brief account of the
crucifixion of more than a dozen virgin-born Gods and sin-atoning
Saviors, predicated upon facts which have escaped the hands of the
Christian iconoclasts determined to know only Jesus Christ
crucified. We will first notice the case of the Indian God-
Chrishna.
I. -- CRUCIFIXION OF CHRISHNA OF INDIA, 1200 B.C.
Among the sin-atoning Gods who condescended in ancient times
to forsake the throne of heaven, and descend upon the plains of
India, through human birth, to suffer and die for the sins and
transgressions of the human race, the eighth Avatar, or Savior, may
be considered the most important and the most exalted character, as
he led the most conspicuous life, and commanded the most devout and
the most universal homage. And while some of the other incarnate
demigods were invested with only a limited measure of the infinite
deityship, Chrishna, according to the teachings of their New
Testament (the Ramazand), comprehended in himself "a full measure
of the God-head bodily." The evidence of his having been crucified
is as conclusive as any other sacrificial or sin-atoning God, whose
name has been memorialized in history, or embalmed as a sacred idol
in the memories of his devout worshipers.
Mr. Moore, an English traveler and writer, in a large
collection of drawings taken from Hindoo sculptures and monuments,
which he has arranged together in a work entitled "The Hindoo
Pantheon," has one representing, suspended on the cross, the Hindoo
crucified God and Son of God, "our Lord and Savior" Chrishna, with
holes pierced in his feet, evidently intended to represent the
nail-holes made by the act of crucifixion. Mr. Higgins, who
examined this work, which he found in the British Museum, makes a
report of a number of the transcript drawings intended to represent
the crucifixion of this oriental and mediatorial God, which we will
here condense. Savior is represented with a hole in the top of one
foot, just above the toes, where the nail was inserted in the act
of crucifixion.
In another drawing he is represented exactly in the form of a
Romish Christian crucifix, but not fixed or fastened to a tree,
though the legs and feet are arranged in the usual way, with nail-
holes in the latter. There is a halo of glory over it, emanating
from the heavens above, just as we have seen Jesus Christ
represented in a work by a Christian writer, entitled "Quarles'
Emblems," also in other Christian books. In several of the icons
(drawings) there are marks of holes in both feet, and in others of
holes in the hands only. In the first drawing which he consulted
the marks are very faint, so as to be scarcely visible. In figures
four and five of plate eleven the figures have nail-holes in both
feet, while the hands are not represented. Figure six has on it the
representation of a round hole in the side. To his collar or shirt
hangs an emblem of a heart, represented in the same manner as those
attached to the imaginary likenesses of Jesus Christ, which may now
be found in some Christian countries Figure ninety-one has a hole
in one foot and a nail through the other, and a round nail or pin
mark in one hand only, while the other is ornamented with a dove
and a serpent (both emblems of deity in the Christian's bible).
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Now, we raise the query here, and drive it into the innermost
temple of the Christian's conscience, with the overwhelming force
of the unconquerable logic of history -- What does all this mean?
And if they will only let convention have its perfect work
while answering this question unhampered by the inherited
prejudices of a thousand years, they can henceforth rejoice in the
discovery of a glorious historical truth, calculated to disenthrall
their minds from the soul-cramping superstitions of crosses,
crucifixions and bloody atonements on which they have been
accustomed to hang the salvation of the world.
If the credibility of the relation of these incidents going to
prove an astonishing coincidence in the sacred histories of the
Hindoo and Christian Saviors, and demonstrating the doctrine of the
crucifixion as having been practically realized, and preached to
the world long anterior to the offering of a God "once for all" on
Mount Calvary; if its credibility rested on mere 'ex parte'
testimony, mere pagan tradition, or even upon the best digested and
most authentic annals of the past that have escaped the ravages
time, there might still be a forlorn hope for the stickler for the
Christian faith now struggling in the agonies of a credal
skepticism, that the whole thing has been plagiarized from the
Christian Gospels. For paper and parchment history can be -- and
has been -- mutilated. But the verity of this account rests upon no
such a precarious basis. Its antiquity, reaching far beyond the
Christian era, is corroborated and demonstrated by imperishable
monuments, deep-chiseled indentures burrowed into the granite rock,
which bid defiance to the fingers of time, and even the hands of
the frenzied iconoclast, to destroy or deface, though impelled and
spurred on to the effort by the long-cherished conviction burning
in his soul, that the salvation of the human race depends upon
believing that "there is no other name given under heaven whereby
men can be saved" than his own crucified God, and that all others
are but thieves robbers and antichrists. Some of the disciples of
the oriental systems cherished this conviction, and Christians and
Mahommedans seem to have inherited it in magnified proportions.
Hence, we are credibly informed that some of the earlier
Christian saints, having determined, like Paul, "to know only Jesus
Christ and him crucified," made repeated efforts to obliterate
these sacred facts (so fatally damaging to their one-sided creeds)
from the page of history. Mr. Higgins suggests that if we could
have persons less under the influence of sectarian prejudice to
visit, examine, and report on the sculptures and monuments of
India, covered over as they are with antiquated and significant
figures appertaining to and illustrating their religious history,
we might accumulate still more light bearing upon the history of
the crucifixion of the Savior and sin-atoning Chrishna. "Most of
our reports," he declares, "are fragmentary, if not one-sided,
having come through the hands of Christian missionaries, bishops
and priests."
He informs us that a report on the Hindoo religion, made out
by a deputation from the British Parliament, sent to India for the
purpose of examining their sacred books and monuments, being left
in the hands of a Christian bishop at Calcutta, and with
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instructions to forward it to England, was found, on its arrival in
London, to be so horribly mutilated and eviscerated as to be
scarcely cognizable. The account of the crucifixion was gone --
canceled out. The inference is patent.
And we have it upon the authority of this same reliable and
truthful writer (Sir Godfrey Higgins) that the author of the Hindoo
Pantheon (Mr. Moor), after having announced his intention to
publish it to the world, was visited and labored with by some of
his devout Christian neighbors zealous "for the faith once
delivered to the saints," who endeavored to dissuade him from
publishing such facts to the world as he represented his book to
contain, for fear it would have the effect to unsettle the faith of
some of the weak brethren (some of the weak-kneed church members)
in the soul-saving religion of Jesus Christ, by raising doubts in
their minds as to the originality of the gospel story of the
crucifixion of Christ, or at least of his having been crucified as
a God for a sin-offering. His crucifixion is a possible event. It
may be thus far a true narrative, but the adjunct of the atonement,
with its efficacy to obliterate the effects of sin, connected with
the idea that an infinite, omnipotent and self-existent God was put
to death, when a human form was slain upon the cross -- never, no,
never. It is a thought too monstrous to find lodgment in an
enlightened human mind.
Another case evincing the same spirit as that narrated above
is found in the circumstance of a Christian missionary (a Mr.
Maurice) publishing a historical account of this man-god or demigod
of the Hindoos, and omitting any allusion to his crucifixion; this
was entirely left out, apparently from design. His death,
resurrection and ascension were spoken of, but the crucifixion
skipped over. He could not have been ignorant of this chapter in
his history, as the writers preceding him, from whom he copied, had
related it.
Among this number may be mentioned the learned French writer
Monsier Guigniant, who, in his "Religion of the Ancients," speaks
so specifically of the crucifixion of this God, as to name the
circumstance of his being nailed to a tree. He also states, that
before his exit he made some remarkable prophecies appertaining to
the crimes and miseries of the world in the approaching future,
reminding us of the wars and rumors of wars predicted by the
Christian Messiah. Mr. Higgins names the same circumstance.
We have it upon the authority of more than one writer on
Hindoo or Indian antiquities that there is a rock temple at Mathura
in the form of a cross, and facing the four cardinal points of the
compass, which is admitted by all beholders as presenting the proof
in bold relief of extreme age, and inside of this temple stands a
statue of "the Savior of men," Chrishna of India, presenting the
proof of being coeval in construction with the temple itself by the
circumstance of its being cut out of the same rock and constituting
a part of the temple. (Further citations of this character will be
found under the head of Parallels, Chapter XXXII.)
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Thus we have the proof deeply and indelibly carved in the old,
time-chiseled rocks of India -- that their "Lord and Savior
Chrishna" atoned for the sins of a grief-stricken world by "pouring
out his blood as a propitiatory offering" while stretched upon the
cross. No wonder, in view of such historic bulwarks, Col. Wiseman,
for ten years a Christian missionary should have exclaimed, "Can we
be surprised that the enemies of our holy religion should seize
upon this legend (the crucifixion of Chrishna) as containing the
original of our gospel history?"
Christian reader, please ponder over the facts of this
chapter, and let conviction have its perfect work.
LIFE, CHARACTER, RELIGION,
AND MIRACLES OF CHRISHNA.
The history of Chrishna Zeus (or Jeseus, as some writers spell
it) is contained principally in the Baghavat Gita, the episode
portion of the Mahabaret bible. The book is believed to be divinely
inspired, like all other bibles; and the Hindoos claim for it an
antiquity of six thousand years. Like Christ, he was of humble
origin, and like him had to encounter opposition and persecution.
But he seems to have been more successful in the propagation
of his doctrines; for it is declared, "he soon became surrounded by
many earnest followers, and the people in vast multitudes followed
him, crying aloud, 'This is indeed the Redeemer promised to our
fathers.'" His pathway was thickly strewn with miracles, which
consisted in healing the sick, curing lepers, restoring the dumb,
deaf and the blind, raising the dead, aiding the weak, comforting
the sorrow-stricken, relieving the oppressed, casting out devils,
etc. He come not ostensibly to destroy the previous religion, but
to purify it of its impurities, and to preach a better doctrine. He
came, as he declared, "to reject evil and restore the reign of
good, and redeem man from the consequences of the fall, and deliver
the oppressed earth from its load of sin and suffering." His
disciples believed him to be God himself, and millions worshiped
him as such in the time of Alexander the Great, 330 B.C.
The hundreds of counterparts to the history of Christ, proving
their histories to be almost identical, will be found enumerated in
Chapter XXXII., such as -- 1. His miraculous birth by a virgin. 2.
The mother and child being visited by shepherds, wise men and the
angelic host, who joyously sang, "In thy delivery, O favored among
women, all nations shall have cause to exult." 3. The edict of the
tyrant ruler Cansa, ordering all the first born to be put to death.
4. The miraculous escape of the mother and child from his bloody
decree by the parting of the waves of the River Jumna to permit
them to pass through on dry ground. 5. The early retirement of
Chrishna to a desert. 6. His baptism or ablution in the River
Ganges, corresponding to Christ's baptism in Jordan. 7. His
transfiguration at Madura, where he assured his disciples that
"present or absent, I will always be with you." 8. He had a
favorite disciple (Arjoon), who was his bosom friend, as John was
Christ's. 9. He was anointed with oil by women, like Christ. 10. A
somewhat similar fish story is told of him -- his disciples being
enabled by him to catch large draughts of the finny prey in their
nets. (For three hundred other similar parallels, see Chapter
XXXII.)
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Like Christ, he taught much by parables and precepts. A
notable sermon preached by him is also reported, which we have not
space for here.
On one occasion, having returned from a ministerial journey,
as he entered Madura, the people came out in crowds to meet him,
strewing the ground with the branches of cocoa-nut trees, and
desiring to hear him. He addressed them in parables -- the
conclusion and moral of one of which, called the parable of the
fishes, runs thus: "And thus it is, O people of Madura, that you
ought to protect the weak and each other, and not retaliate upon an
enemy the wrongs he may have done you." Here we see the peace
doctrine preached in its purity. "And thus it was," says a writer,
"that Chrishna spread among the people the holy doctrines of purest
morality, and initiated his hearers into the exalted principles of
charity, of self-denial, and self-respect at a time when the desert
countries of the west were inhabited only by savage tribes;" and we
will add, long before Christianity was thought of. Purity of life
and spiritual insight, we are told, were distinguishing traits in
the character of this oriental sin-atoning Savior, and that "he was
often moved with compassion for the downtrodden and the suffering."
A Buddhist in Ceylon, who sent his son to a Christian school,
once remarked to a missionary, "I respect Christianity as a help to
Buddhism." Thus is disclosed the fact that the motives of some of
"the heathen" in sending to Christian schools is the promotion of
their own religion, which they consider superior, and in many
respects most of them are. (For proof, see Chapter on Bibles.)
We have the remarkable admission of the Christian Examiner
that "the best precepts of the (Christian) bible are contained in
the Hindoo Baghavat." Then it is not true that "Christ spake as man
never spake." And if his "best precepts" were previously recorded
in an old heathen bible, then they afford no proof of his divinity.
This suicidal concession of the Examiner pulls up the claims of
orthodox Christianity by the roots.
And many of the precepts uttered by Chrishna display a
profound wisdom and depth of thought equal to any of those
attributed to Jesus Christ. In proof of the statement, we will cite
a few examples out of the hundreds in our possession: --
1. Those who do not control their passions cannot act properly
toward others.
2. The evils we inflict upon others follow us as our shadows
follow our bodies.
3. Only the humble are beloved of God.
4. Virtue sustains the soul as the muscles sustain the body.
5. When the poor man knocks at your door, take him and
administer to his wants, for the poor are the chosen of God.
(Christ said, "God hath chosen the poor.")
6. Let your hand be always open to the unfortunate.
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7. Look not upon a woman with unchaste desires.
8. Avoid envy, covetousness, falsehood, imposture and slander,
and sexual desires.
9. Above all things, cultivate love for your neighbor.
10. When you die you leave your worldly wealth behind you, but
your virtues and vices follow you.
11. Contemn riches and worldly honor.
12. Seek the company of the wicked in order to reform them.
13. Do good for its own sake, and expect not your reward for
it on earth.
14. The soul is immortal, but must be pure and free from all
sin and stain before it can return to Him who gave it.
15. The soul is inclined to good when it follows the inward
light.
16. The soul is responsible to God for its actions, who has
established rewards and punishments.
17. Cultivate that inward knowledge which teaches what is
right and wrong.
18. Never take delight in another's misfortunes.
19. It is better to forgive an injury than to avenge it.
20. You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.
21. A noble spirit finds a cure for injustice by forgetting
it.
22. Pardon the offense of others, but not your own.
23. What you blame in others do not practice yourself.
24. By forgiving an enemy you make many friends.
25, Do right from hatred of evil, and not from fear of
punishment.
26. A wise man corrects his own errors by observing those of
others.
27. He who rules his temper conquers his greatest enemy.
28. The wise man governs his passions, but the fool obeys
them.
29. Be at war with men's vices, but at peace with their
persons.
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30. There should be no disagreement between your lives and
your doctrine.
31. Spend every day as though it were the last.
32. Lead not one life in public and another in private.
33. Anger in trying to torture others punishes itself.
34. A disgraceful death is honorable when you die in a good
cause.
35. By growing familiar with vices, we learn to tolerate them
easily.
36. We must master our evil propensities, or they will master
us.
37. He who has conquered his propensities rules over a
kingdom.
38. Protect, love and assist others, if you would serve God.
39. From thought springs the will, and from the will action,
true or false, just or unjust.
40. As the sandal tree perfumes the axe which fells it, so the
good man fragrances on his enemies.
41. Spend a portion of each day in pious devotion.
42. To love the virtues of others is to brighten your own.
43. He who gives to the needy loses nothing himself.
44. A good, wise and benevolent man cannot be rich.
45. Much riches is a curse to the possessor.
46. The wounds of the soul are more important than those of
the body.
47. The virtuous man is like the banyan tree, which shelters
and protelqs all around it.
48. Money does not satisfy the love of gain, but only
stimulates it.
49. Your greatest enemy is in your own bosom.
50. To flee when charged is to confess your guilt.
51. The wounds of conscience leave a sear.
Compare these fifty-one precepts of Chrishna with the forty-
two precepts of Christ, and you must confess they suffer nothing by
the comparison. If we had space we would like to quote also from
the Vedas. We will merely cite a few examples relative to woman.
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1. He who is cursed by woman is cursed by God.
2. God will punish him who laughs at woman's sufferings.
3. When woman is honored, God is honored.
4. The virtuous woman will have but one husband, and the
right-minded man but one wife.
5. It is the highest crime to take advantage of the weakness
of woman.
6. Woman should be loved, respected and protected by husbands,
fathers and brothers, etc. (For more, see Chapter on Bibles.)
Before we close this chapter we must anticipate and answer an
objection. It will be said that the reported amours of Chrishna and
his rencounter with Canna constitute a criticism on his character.
If so, we will point to Christ's fight or angry combat with the
money-changers in the temple as an offset to it. And then it should
be remembered that Chrishna's disciples claim that these stories
are mere fable, or allegorical, and are not found in the most
approved or canonical writings.
II. -- CRUCIFIXION OF THE HINDOO SAKIA, 600 B.C.
How many Gods who figured in Hindoo history suffered death
upon the cross as atoning offerings for the sins of mankind is a
point not clearly established by their sacred books. But the death
of the God above named, known as Sakia, Budha Sakia, or Sakia Muni,
is distinctly referred to by several writers, both oriental and
Christian, though there appears to be in Buddhist countries
different accounts of the death of the famous and extensively
worshiped sin-atoning Saviors.
In some countries, the story runs, a God was crucified by an
arrow being driven through his body, which fastened him to a tree;
the tree, with the arrow thus projecting at right angles, formed
the cross, emblematical of the atoning sacrifice.
Sakia, an account states, was crucified by his enemies for the
humble act of plucking a flower in a garden -- doubtless seized on
as a mere pretext, rather than as being considered a crime.
One of the accusations brought against Christ, it will be
remembered, was that of plucking the ripened ears of corn on the
Sabbath. And it is a remarkable circumstance, that in the pictures
of Christian countries representing the virgin Mary with the infant
jesses in her arms, either the child or the mother is frequently
represented with a bunch of flowers in the hand.
Here, let it be noted, the association of flowers with
divinely born Saviors, in India, is indicated in the religious
books of that country to have originated from the conception of the
virgin parting with the flowers of her virginity by giving birth to
a divine child, whereby she lost the immortality of her physical
nature, it being transferred by that act to her Deity-begotten son.
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And from this circumstance, Sakia is represented as having been
crucified for abstracting a flower from a garden. That his
crucifixion was designed as a sin-atoning offering, is evident from
the following declaration found in his sacred biography, viz.:
"He in mercy left Paradise, and came down to earth because he was
filled with compassion for the sins and miseries of mankind. He
sought to lead them into better paths, and took their sufferings
upon himself that he might expiate their crimes and mitigate the
punishment they must otherwise inevitably undergo." (Prog. Rel.
Ideas, vol. i.p. 86.)
He believed and taught his followers that all sin is
inevitably punished, either in this or the future life; and so
great were his sympathy and tenderness, that he condescended to
suffer that punishment himself, by an ignominious death upon the
cross, after which he descended into Hades (Hell), to suffer for a
time (three days) for the inmates of that dreadful and horrible
prison, that he might show he sympathized with them. After his
resurrection, and before his ascension to heaven, as well as during
his earthly sojourn, he imparted to the world some beautiful,
lofty, and soul-elevating precepts.
"The object of his mission," says a writer, "was to instruct
those who were straying from the right path, and expiate the sins
of mortals by his own suffering, and procure for them a happy
entrance into Paradise by obedience to his precepts and prayers to
his name. (Ibid.) "His followers always speak of him as one with
God from all eternity." (Ibid.) His most common title was "the
Savior of the World." He was also called "the Benevolent One," "the
Dispenser of Grace," "the Source of Life, the Light of the World,"
"the True Light," etc.
His mother was a very pure, refined, pious and devout woman;
never indulged in any impure thoughts, words or actions. She was so
much esteemed for her virtues and for being the mother of a God,
that an escort of ladies attended her wherever she went. The trees
bowed before her as she passed through the forest, and flowers
sprang up wherever her foot pressed the ground. She was saluted as
"the Holy Virgin, Queen of Heaven."
It is said that when her divine child was born, he stood
upright and proclaimed, "I will put an end to the sufferings and
sorrows of the world." And immediately a light shone around about
the young Messiah. He spent much time in retirement, and like
Christ in another respect, was once tempted by a demon who offered
him all the honors and wealth of the world. But he rebuked the
devil, saying, Be gone; hinder me not."
He began, like Christ, to preach his gospel and heal the sick
when about twenty-eight years of age. And it is declared, "the
blind saw, the deaf heard, the dumb spoke, the lame danced and the
crooked became straight." Hence, the people declared, "He is no
mortal child, but an incarnation of the Deity." His religion was of
a very superior character. He proclaimed, "My law is a law of grace
for all." His religion knew no race, no sex, no caste, and no
aristocratic priesthood.
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"It taught," says Max Muller, "the equality of all men, and
the brotherhood of the human race." "All men, without regard to
rank, birth or nation," says Dunckar, "form, according to Budha's
view, one great suffering association in this earthly vale of
tears; therefore, the commandments of love, forbearance, patience,
compassion, pity, brotherliness of all men." Klaproth (a German
professor of oriental languages) says this religion is calculated
to ennoble the human race. "It is difficult to comprehend," says a
French writer (M. Leboulay), "how men, not assisted by revelation,
could have soared so high, and approached so near the truth."
Dunckar says this oriental God "taught self-denial, chastity,
temperance, the control of the passions, to bear injustice from
others, to suffer death quietly, and without hate of your
persecutor, to grieve not for one's own misfortunes, but for those
of others." An investigation of their history will show that they
lived up to these moral injunctions. "Besides the five great
commandments," says a Wesleyan missionary (Spense Hardy) in his
Dahmma Padam, "every shade of vice, hypocrisy, anger, pride,
suspicion, greediness, gossiping, and cruelty to animals is guarded
against by special precepts. Among the virtues, recommended, we
find not only reverence for parents, care for children, submission
to authority, gratitude, moderation in all things, submission in
time of trial, equanimity at all times, but virtues, unknown in
some systems of morality, such as the duty of forgiving injuries,
and not rewarding evil for evil." And we will add, both charity and
love are specially recommended.
We have it also upon the authority of Dunckar that Budha
proclaimed that salvation and redemption have come for all, even
the lowest and most abject classes." For he broke down the iron
caste of the Brahminical code which had so long ruled India, and
aimed to place all mankind upon a level. His followers have been
stigmatized by Christian professors as "idolaters." But Sir John
Bowring, in his "Kingdom and People of Siam," denies that they are
idolaters -- "because," says he, "no Buddhist believes his image to
be God, or anything more than an outward representation of Deity."
Their deific images are looked upon with the same views and
feelings as a Christian venerates the photograph of his deceased
friend. Hence, If one is an idolater, the other is also. With
respect to the charge of polytheism, Missionary Huc says, "that
although their religion embraces many inferior deities, who fill
the same office's that angels do under the Christian system, yet,"
-- adds M. Huc -- "monotheism is the real character of Buddhism;"
and confirms the statement by the testimony of a Tibetan.
It should be noted here that although Buddhism succeeded in
converting about three hundred millions, or one-third of the
inhabitants of the globe, it was never propagated by the sword, and
never persecuted the disciples of other religions. Its conquests
were made by a rational appeal to the human mind. Mr. Hodgson says,
"It recognizes the infinite capacity of the human intellect." And
St. Hilaire declares, "Love for all beings is its nucleus; and to
love our enemies, and not prosecute, are the virtues of this
people." Max Muller says, "Its moral code, taken by itself, is one
of the most perfect the world has ever known."
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Its five commandments are: --
1. Thou shalt not kill.
2. Thou shalt not steal.
3. Thou shalt not commit adultery or any impurity.
4- Thou shall not lie.
5. Thou shalt not intoxicate thyself.
To establish the above cited doctrines and precepts, Budha
sent forth his disciples into the world to preach his gospel to
every creature. And if any convert had committed a sin in word,
thought or deed, he was to confess and repent. One of the tracts
which they distributed declares, "There is undoubtedly a life after
this, in which the virtuous may expect the reward of their good
deeds. ... judgment takes place immediately after death."
Budha and his followers set an example to the world of
enduring opposition and persecution with great patience and non-
resistance. And some of them suffered martyrdom rather than abandon
their principles, and gloried in thus sealing their doctrines with
their lives.
A story is told of a rich merchant by the name of Purna,
forsaking all to follow his lord and master; and also of his
encountering and talking with a woman of low caste at a well, which
reminds us of similar incidents in the history of Christ. But his
enemies, becoming jealous and fearful of his growing power, finally
crucified him near the foot of the Nepaul mountains, about 600 B.C.
But after his death, burial and resurrection, we are told he
ascended back to heaven, where millions of his followers believed
he had existed with Brahma from all eternity.
(NOTE. -- In the cases of crucifixion which follow, nothing
like accuracy can be expected with respect to the dates of their
occurrence, as all history covering the period beyond the modern
era, or prior to the time of Alexander the Great (330 B.C.) is
involved in a labyrinth of uncertainty with respect to dates.
Hence, bible chronologists differ to the extent of three thousand
years with respect to the time of every event recorded in the Old
Testament. Compare the Hebrew and Septuagint versions of the bible:
The former makes the world three thousand nine hundred and forty-
four, and the latter five thousand two hundred and seventy years
old at the birth of Christ -- a difference of thirteen hundred and
twenty-six years. And other translations differ still more widely.
All the cases of crucifixion which follow occurred before the time
of Christ, but the exact time of many of them cannot be fixed with
certainty.]
III. -- THAMMUZ OF SYRIA CRUCIFIED, 1160 B.C.
The history of this God is furnished us in fragments by
several writers, portions of which will be found in other chapters
of this work. The fullest history extant of this God-Savior is
probably that of Ctesias (400 B.C.), author of "Persika." The poet
has perpetuated his memory in rhyme.
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"Trust, ye saints, your Lord restored,
Trust ye in your risen Lord;
For the pains which Thammuz endured
Our salvation have procured."
Mr. Higgins informs us (Anac. vol. i.p. 246) that this God was
crucified at the period above named, as a sin-atoning offering. The
stanza just quoted is predicated upon the following Greek text,
translated by Godwin: "Trust ye in God, for out of his loins
salvation has come unto us." Julius Firmicus speaks of this God
"rising from the dead for the salvation of the world." The
Christian writer Parkhurst alludes to this Savior as preceding the
advent of Christ, and as filling to some extent the same chapter in
sacred history.
IV. -- CRUCIFIXION OF WITTOBA
OF THE TELINGONESIC, 552 B.C.
We have a very conclusive historical proof of the crucifixion
of this heathen God. Mr. Higgins tells us, "He is represented in
his history with nail-holes in his hands and the soles of his
feet." Nails, hammers and pincers are constantly seen represented
on his crucifixes, and are objects of adoration among his
followers. And the iron crown of Lombardy has within it a nail of
what is claimed as his true original cross, and is much admired and
venerated on that account. The worship of this crucified God,
according to our author, prevails chiefly in the Travancore and
other southern countries in the region of Madura.
V. -- IAO OF NEPAUL CRUCIFIED, 622 B.C.
With respect to the crucifixion of this ancient Savior, we
have this very definite and specific testimony that "he was
crucified on a tree in Nepaul." (See Georgius, p. 202.) The name of
this incarnate God and oriental Savior occurs frequently in the
holy bibles and sacred books of other countries. Some suppose that
Iao (often spelt Jao) is the root of the name of the Jewish God
Jehovah.
VI. -- HESUS OF THE CELTIC DRUIDS
CRUCIFIED, 834 B.C.
Mr. Higgins informs us that the Celtic Druids represent their
God Hesus as having been crucified with a lamb on one side and an
elephant on the other, and that this occurred long before the
Christian era. Also that a representation of it may now be seen
upon "the fire-tower of Brechin."
In this symbolical representation of the crucifixion, the
elephant, being the largest animal known, was chosen to represent
the magnitude of the sins of the world, while the lamb, from its
proverbial innocent nature, was chosen to represent the innocency
of the victim (the God offered as a propitiatory sacrifice). And
thus we have "the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world" --
symbolical language used with respect to the offering of Jesus
Christ. And here is indicated very clearly the origin of the
figure. It is evidently borrowed from the Druids. We have the
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statement of the above writer that this legend was found amongst
the Canutes of Gaul long before Jesus Christ was known to history.
(See Anac. vol. ii. p. 130.)
VII. -- QUEXALCOTE OF MEXICO CRUCIFIED, 587 B.C.
Historical authority, relative to the crucifixion of this
Mexican God, and to his execution upon the cross as a propitiatory
sacrifice for the sins of mankind, is explicit, unequivocal and
ineffaceable. The evidence is tangible, and indelibly engraven upon
steel and metal plates. One of these plates represents him as
having been crucified on a mountain; another represents him as
having been crucified in the heavens, as St. Justin tells us Christ
was. According to another writer, he is sometimes represented as
having been nailed to a cross, and by other accounts as hanging
with a cross in his hand. The "Mexican Antiquities" (vol. vi. p.
166) says, "Quexalcote is represented in the paintings of 'Codex
Borgianus' as nailed to the cross." Sometimes two thieves are
represented as having been crucified with him.
That the advent of this crucified Savior and Mexican God was
long anterior to the era of Christ, is admitted by Christian
writers, as we have shown elsewhere. In the work above named "Codex
Borgianus," may be found the account, not only of his crucifixion,
but of his death, burial, descent into hell, and resurrection on
the third day. And another work, entitled "Codex Vaticanus,"
contains the story of his immaculate birth by a virgin mother by
the name of Chimalman.
Many other incidences are found related of him in his sacred
biography, in which we find the most striking counterparts to the
more modern gospel story of Jesus Christ, such as his forty days'
temptation and fasting, his riding on an ass, his purification in
the temple, his baptism and regeneration by water, his forgiving of
sins, being anointed with oil, etc. "All these things, and many
more, found related of this Mexican God in their sacred books,"
says Lord Kingsborough (a Christian writer), "are curious and
mysterious." (See the books above cited.)
VIII. -- QUIRINUS OF ROME CRUCIFIED, 506 B.C.
The crucifixion of this Roman Savior is briefly noticed by Mr.
Higgins, and is remarkable for presenting (like other crucified
Gods) several parallel features to that of the Judean Savior, not
only in the circumstances related as attending his crucifixion, but
also in a considerable portion of his antecedent life.
He is represented, like Christ: --
1. As having been conceived and brought forth by a virgin.
2. His life was sought by the reigning king (Amulius).
3. He was of royal blood, his mother being of kingly descent.
4. He was "put to death by wicked hands" -- i.e., crucified.
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5. At his mortal exit the whole earth is said to have been
enveloped in darkness, as in the case of Christ, Chrishna, and
Prometheus.
6. And finally he is resurrected, and ascends back to heaven.
IX. -- (AESCHYLUS) PROMETHEUS CRUCIFIED, 547 B.C.
In the account of the crucifixion of Prometheus of Caucasus,
as furnished by Seneca, Hesiod, and other writers, it is stated
that he was nailed to an upright beam of timber, to which were
affixed extended arms of wood, and that this cross was situated
near the Caspian Straits. The modern story of this crucified God,
which represents him as having been bound to a rock for thirty
years, while vultures preyed upon his vitals, Mr. Higgins
pronounces an impious Christian fraud. "For," says this learned
historical writer, "I have seen the account which declares he was
nailed to a cross with hammer and nails." (Anac. vol. i. 327.)
Confirmatory of this statement is the declaration of Mr. Southwell,
that "he exposed himself to the wrath of God in his zeal to save
mankind."
The poet, in portraying his propitiatory offering, says: --
"Lo! streaming from the fatal tree
His all atoning blood,
Is this the Infinite? -- Yes, 'tis he,
Prometheus, and a God!
"Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And veil his glories in,
When God, the great Prometheus, died
For man the creature's sin."
The "New American Cyclopedia" (vol. i.p. 157) contains the
following significant declaration relative to this sin-atoning
oriental Savior: "It is doubtful whether there is to be found in
the whole range of Greek letters deeper pathos than that of the
divine woe of the beneficent demigod Prometheus, crucified on his
Scythian crags for his love to mortals." Here we have first-class
authority for the crucifixion of this oriental God.
In Lempriere's "Classical Dictonary," Higgins' "Anacalypsis,"
and other works, may be found the following particulars relative to
the final exit of the God above named, viz.: --
1. That the whole frame of nature became convulsed.
2. The earth shook, the rocks were rent, the graves were
opened, and in a storm, which seemed to threaten the dissolution of
the universe, the solemn scene forever closed, and "Our Lord and
Savior" Prometheus gave up the ghost.
"The cause for which he suffered," says Mr. Southwell, "was
his love for the human race." Mr. Taylor makes the statement in his
Syntagma (p. 95), that the whole story of Prometheus' crucifixion,
burial and resurrection was acted in pantomime in Athens five
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hundred years before Christ, which proves its great antiquity.
Minutius Felix, one of the most popular Christian writers of the
second century (in his "Octavius," sect. 29), thus addresses the
people of Rome: "Your victorious trophies not only represent a
simple cross, but a cross with a man on it," and this man St.
Jerome calls a God.
These coincidences furnish still further proof that the
tradition of the crucifixion of Gods has been very long prevalent
among the heathen.
X. -- CRUCIFIXION OF THULIS OF EGYPT, 1700 B.C.
Thulis of Egypt, whence comes "Ultima Thule," died the death
of the cross about thirty-five hundred years ago.
Ultima Thule was the island which marked the ultimate bounds
of the extensive empire of this legitimate descendant of the Gods.
This Egyptian Savior appears also to have been known as Zulis,
and with this name -- Mr. Wilkison tells us -- "his history is
curiously illustrated in the sculptures, made seventeen hundred
years B.C., of a small, retired chamber lying nearly over the
western adytum of the temple." We are told twenty-eight lotus
plants near his grave indicate the number of years be lived on the
earth. After suffering a violent death, he was buried, but rose
again, ascended into heaven, and there became "the judge of the
dead," or of souls in a future state. Wilkison says he came down
from heaven to benefit mankind, and that he was said to be full of
grace and truth."
XI. -- CRUCIFIXION OF INDRA OF TIBET, 725 B.C.
The account of the crucifixion of the God and Savior Indra may
be found in Georgius, Thibetinum Alphabetum, p. 230. A brief notice
of the case is all we have space for here. In the work just
referred to may be found plates representing this Tibetan Savior as
having been nailed to the cross. There are five wounds,
representing the nail-holes and the piercing of the side. The
antiquity of the story is beyond dispute.
Marvelous stories are told of the birth of the Divine
Redeemer. His mother was a virgin of black complexion, and hence
his complexion was of the ebony hue, as in the case of Christ and
some other sin-atoning Saviors. He descended from heaven on a
mission of benevolence, and ascended back to the heavenly mansion
after his crucifixion. He led a life of strict celibacy, which, he
taught, was essential to true holiness. He inculcated great
tenderness toward all living beings. He could walk upon the water
or upon the air; he could foretell future events with great
accuracy. He practiced the most devout contemplation, severe
discipline of the body and mind, and acquired the most complete
subjedtion of his passions. He was worshiped as a God who had
existed as a spirit from all eternity, and his followers were
called "Heavenly Teachers."
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XII. -- ALCESTOS OF EURIPIDES CRUCIFIED, 600 B.C.
The "English Classical Journal" (vol. xxxvii.) furnishes us
with the story of another crucified God, known as Alcestos -- a
female God or Goddess; and in this respect, it is a novelty in
sacred history, being the first, if not the only example of a
feminine God atoning for the sins of the world upon the cross. The
doctrine of the trinity and atoning offering for sin was inculcated
as a part of her religion.
XIII. -- ATYS OF PHRYGIA CRUCIFIED, 1170 B.C.
Speaking of this crucified Messiah, the Anacalypsis informs us
that several histories are given of him, but all concur in
representing him as having been an atoning offering for sin. And
the Latin phrase "suspensus lingo," found in his history, indicates
the manner of his death. He was suspended on a tree, crucified,
buried and rose again.
XIV. -- CRITE OF CHALDEA CRUCIFIED, 1200 B.C.
The Chaldeans, as Mr. Higgins informs us, have noted in their
sacred books the account of the crucifixion of a God with the above
name. He was also known as "the Redeemer," and was styled "the Ever
Blessed Son of God," "the Savior of the Race," "the Atoning
Offering for an Angry God." And when he was offered up, both heaven
and earth were shaken to their foundations.
XV. -- BALI OF ORISSA CRUCIFIED, 725 B.C.
We learn by the oriental books, that in the district of
country known as Orissa, in Asia, they have the story of a
crucified God, known by several names, including the above, all of
which, we are told, signify "Lord Second," having reference to him
as the second person or second member of the trinity, as most of
the crucified Gods occupied that position in the trial of deities
constituting the trinity, as indicated by the language "Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost," the Son, in all cases, being the atoning
offering, "the crucified Redeemer," and the second person of the
trinity. This God Bali was also called Baliu, and sometimes Bel.
The Anacalypsis informs us (vol. i. 257) that monuments of this
crucified God, bearing great age, may be found amid the ruins of
the magnificent city of Mahabalipore, partially buried amongst the
figures of the temple.
XVI. -- MITHRA OF PERSIA CRUCIFIED, 600 B.C.
This Persian God, according to Mr. Higgins, was "slain upon
the cross to make atonement for mankind, and to take away the sins
of the world." He was reputedly born on the twenty-fifth day of
December, and crucified on a tree. It is a remarkable circumstance
that two Christian writers (Mr. Faber and Mr. Bryant) both speak of
his being slain," and yet both omit to speak of the manner in which
he was put to death. And the same policy has been pursued with
respect to other crucified Gods of the pagans, as we have shown
elsewhere.
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Our list is full, or we might note other cases of crucifixion.
Devatat of Siam, Ixion of Rome, Apollonius of Tyana in Cappadocia,
are all reported in history as having died the death of the cross."
Ixion, 400 B.C., according to Nimrod, was crucified on a
wheel, the rim representing the world, and the spokes constituting
the cross. It is declared, "He bore the burden of the world" (that
is, "the sins of the world") on his back while suspended on the
cross. Hence, he was sometimes called "the crucified spirit of the
world."
With respect to Apollonius, it is a remarkable, if not a
suspicious circumstance that should not be passed unnoticed, that
several Christian writers, while they recount a long list of
miracles and remarkable incidents in the life of this Cappadocian
Savior, extending through his whole life, and forming a parallel to
similar incidents of the Christian Savior, not a word is said about
his crucifixion.
And a similar policy has been pursued with respect to Mithra
and other sin-atoning Gods, including Chrishna and Prometheus, as
before noticed.
This important chapter in their history has been omitted by
Christian writers for fear the relation of it would damage the
credibility of the crucifixion of Christ, or lessen its spiritual
force. For, like Paul, they were "determined to know nothing but
Jesus Christ and him crucified" (i Cor. ii. 2) i.e., to know no
other God had been crucified but Jesus Christ. They thus exalted
the tradition of the crucifixion into the most important dogma of
the Christian faith. Hence, their efforts to conceal from the
public a knowledge of the fact that it is of pagan origin.
By reference to Mackey's "Lexicon of Freemasonry (p. 35) we
learn that Freemasons secretly taught the doctrine of the
crucifixion, atonement and resurrection long anterior to the
Christian era, and that similar doctrines were taught in "all the
ancient mysteries," thus proving that the conception of these
tenets of faith existed at a very early period of time.
And it may be noted here, that the doctrine of salvation by
crucifixion had likewise, with most of the ancient forms of
religious faith, an astronomical representation -- i.e., a
representation in astronomical symbols. According to the
emblematical figures comprised in their astral worship, people were
saved by the sun's crucifixion or crossification, realized by
crossing over the equinoctial line into the season of spring, and
thereby gave out a saving heat and light to the world and
stimulated the generative organs of animal and vegetable life. It
was from this conception that the ancients were in the habit of
carving or painting the organs of generation upon the walls of
their holy temples. The blood of the grape, which was ripened by
the heat of the sun, as he crossed over by resurrection into
spring, (i.e., was crucified), was symbolically "the blood of the
cross," or "the blood of the Lamb."
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If we should be met here with the statement, that the stories
of the ancient crucifixions of Gods were mere myths or fables,
unwarrantably saddled on to their histories as mere romance, and
have no foundation in fact, we reply -- there is as much ground for
suspecting the same thing as being true of Jesus Christ.
One of the most celebrated and most frequently quoted
Christian writers of the ancient bishops (Irenaeus) declares upon
the authority of the martyr Polycarp, who claimed to have got it
from St. John and all the elders of Asia, that Jesus Christ was not
crucified, but lived to be about fifty years old.
We find there has always been a margin for doubt amongst his
own followers as to the fact of his crucifixion.
Many of the early Christians and contemporary Jews and
Gentiles doubted it, and some openly disputed its ever having taken
place. Others bestowed upon it a mere spiritual signification, and
not a few considered it symbolical of a holy life." One
circumstance, calculated to lead to the entire discredit of the
story of the crucifixion of Christ, is the relation, in connection
with it, of a violent convulsion of nature, and the resurrection of
the long-buried saints -- events not supported by any authentic
contemporaneous history, sacred or profane. (See Chap. XVII.,
Aphanasia).
And as these events must be set down as fabulous, they leave
the mind in doubt with respect to the fact of the crucifixion
itself, especially when the many absurdities involved in the
docctrine of the crucifixion are brought to view, in connection
with it, some of them so palpably erroneous that an unlettered
savage could see and point them out.
The Indian chief Red Jacket is reported to have replied to the
Christian missionaries, when they urged upon his attention the
benefits of Christ's death by crucifixion, "Brethren, if you white
men murdered the son of the Great Spirit, we Indians have nothing
to do with it, and it is none of our affair. If he had come among
us, we would not have killed him. We would have treated him well.
You must make amends for that crime yourselves."
This view of the crucifixion suggested to the mind of an
illiterate heathen we deem more sensible and rational than that of
the orthodox Christians, which makes it a meritorious act and a
moral necessity. For this would not only exonerate Judas from any
criminality or guilt for the part he took in the affair, but would
entitle him as well as Christ to the honorable title of a "Savior"
for performing an act without which the crucifixion and consequent
salvation of the world could not have been effected. If it was
necessary for Christ to suffer death upon the cross as an atonement
for sin, then the act of crucifixion was right, and a monument
should be erected to the memory of Judas for bringing it about. We
challenge Christian logic to find a flaw in this argument.
And another important consideration arises here. If the
inhabitants of this planet required the murderous death of a God as
an atonement, we must presume that the eighty-five millions of
inhabited worlds recently discovered by astronomers are, or have
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been, in equal need of a divine atonement. And this would require
the crucifixion of eighty-five millions of Gods. Assuming one of
these Gods to be crucified every minute, the whole would occupy a
period of nearly twenty years. This would be killing off Gods at
rather a rapid rate, and would make the work of the atonement and
salvation a very murderous and bloody affair -- a conception which
brings to the mind a series of very revolting reflections.
The conception of Gods coming down from heaven, and being born
of virgins, and dying a violent death for the moral blunders of the
people, originated in an age of the world when man was a savage,
and dwelt exclusively upon the animal plane, and blood was the
requisition for every offense. And it was an age when no world was
known to exist but the one we inhabit. The stars were then supposed
to be mere blazing tapers set in the azure vault to light this
pygmy planet, or peep-holes for Gods to look out of heaven, to see
and learn what is going on below. Such conceptions are in perfect
keeping with the doctrine of the atoning crucifixion of Gods, which
could never have originated or been entertained for a moment by an
astronomer, with a knowledge of the existence of innumerable
worlds. For as there is to the monotheistic Christian but one God,
or Son of God, to be offered, he must be incarnated and crucified
every day for a thousand years to make a sin-offering for each of
these worlds -- a conception too monstrous and preposterous to find
a lodgment in a rational mind.
ORIGIN OF THE BELIEF OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF GODS.
It has always been presumed that death, and especially death
by crucifixion, involved the highest state of suffering possible to
be endured by mortals. Hence, the Gods must suffer in this way as
an example of courage and fortitude, and to show themselves willing
to undergo all the affliction and misery incident to the lot, and
unavoidable to the lives of their devoted worshipers. They must not
only be equal, but superior to their subjects in this respect.
Hence, they would not merely die, but choose, or at least
uncomplainingly submit to the most ignoble and ignominious mode of
suffering death that could be devised, and that was crucifixion.
This gave the highest finishing touch to the drama.
And thus the legend of the crucifixion became the crowning
chapter, the aggrandizing episode in the history of their lives. It
was presumed that nothing less than a God could endure such
excruciating tortures without complaining.
Hence, when the victim was reported to have submitted with
such fortitude that no murmur was heard to issue from his lips,
this circumstance of itself was deemed sufficient evidence of his
Godship. The story of the crucifixion, therefore, whether true or
false, deified or helped deify many great men and exalt them to the
rank of Gods. Though some of the disciples of Buddhism, and some of
the primitive professors of Christianity also (including, according
to Christian history, Peter and his brother Andrew), voluntarily
chose this mode of dying in imitation of their crucified Lord,
without experiencing, however, the desired promotion to divine
honors. They failed of an exaltation to the deityship, and hence
are not now worshiped as Gods.
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Christian reader, what can you now make of the story of the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ but a borrowed legend -- at least the
story of his being crucified as a God?
NOTE. -- The author desires it to be understood with respect
to the cases of crucifixion here briefly narrated, that they are
not vouched for as actual occurrences, of which there is much
ground to doubt. It has neither been his aim or desire to prove
them to be real historical events, nor to establish any certain
number of cases. Indeed, he deems it unimportant to know, if it
could be determined, whether they are fact or fiction, or whether
one God was crucified, or many. The moral lesson designed to be
taught by this chapter is, simply, that the belief in the
crucifixion of Gods was prevalent in various oriental or heathen
countries long prior to the reported crucifixion of Christ. If this
point is established -- which he feels certain no reader will
dispute then he is not concerned to know whether he has made out
sixteen cases of crucifixion or not. Six will prove it as well as
sixteen. In fast, one case is sufficient to establish the important
proposition in view. The reader is, therefore, left to decide each
case for himself, according as he may value the evidence presented.
More authorities could have been adduced, and a more extended
history presented of each God brought to notice. But this would
have operated to exclude other matter, which the author considers
of more importance.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE APHANASIA, OR DARKNESS AT THE CRUCIFIXION.
1. MATTHEW tells us (xxvii. 31) that when Christ
was crucified, there was darkness all over the land for three
hours, and "the earth did quake, and the rocks were rent, and many
of the saints came out of their graves."
Here we have a series of events spoken of so strange, so
unusual and so extraordinary that, had they occurred, they must
have attracted the attention of the whole world -- especially the
amazing scene of the sun's withdrawing his light and ceasing to
shine, and thereby causing an almost total darkness near the middle
of the day. And yet no writer of that age or country, or any other
age or country, mentions the circumstance but Matthew. A phenomenon
so terrible and so serious in its effects as literally to unhinge
the planets and partially disorganize the universe must have
excited the alarm and amazement of the whole world, and caused a
serious disturbance in the affairs of nations. And yet strange,
superlatively strange, not one of the numerous historians of that
age makes the slightest allusion to such an astounding event.
Even Seneca and the elder Pliny, who so particularly and
minutely chronicle the events of those times, are as silent as the
grave relative to this greatest event in the history of the world.
Nor do Mark, Luke or John, who all furnish us with a history of the
crucifixion, make the slightest hint at any of these wonder-
exciting events, except Mark's incidental allusion to the darkness.
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Gibbon says, "It happened during the life of Seneca and the
elder Pliny, who must have experienced its immediate effects, or
received the earliest intelligence of the prodigy. Each of these
philosophers, in a labored work, has recorded all the phenomena of
Nature's earthquakes, meteors and eclipses, which his indefatigable
curiosity could collect. Both the one and the other have omitted to
mention the greatest phenomenon, to which the mortal eye has been
witness since the creation of the world." (Gibbon, p. 451.)
2. With reference to the "bodies" of the dead saints coming
out of their tombs (for it is declared their "bodies arose;" see
Matt. xxvii. 52), many rather curious and puzzling questions might
be started, which would at once disclose its utter absurdity.
We might ask, for example: --
1. Who were those "many saints" who came out of their graves,
seeing there were as yet but few Christians to occupy graves, if
they had been all dead, as the enumeration at Antioch made out only
one hundred and twenty? (See Acts.) 2. How long had they lain in
their graves? 3. How long since their bodies had turned to dust,
and been food for worms? 4. And would not those worms have to be
hunted up and required to disgorge the contents of their stomachs
in order to furnish the saints with the materials for their bodies
again? 5. And were the shrouds or grave clothes of those saints
also resurrected? or did they travel about in a state of nudity? 6.
For what purpose were they re-animated? 7. And should not Matthew
have furnished us, by way of proof, with the names of some of these
ghostly visitors? 8. How long did they live the second time? 9. Did
they die again, or did they ascent to heaven with their new-made
bodies? 10. What business did they engage in?" 11. Why have we not
some account of what they said and did? 12. And what finally became
of them?
Until these questions are rationally answered, the story must
be regarded as too incredible and too ludicrous to merit serious
notice.
3. Nearly all the phenomena represented as occurring at the
crucifixion of Christ are reported to have been witnessed also at
the final exit of Senerus, an ancient pagan demigod, who figured in
history at a still more remote period of time. And similar
incidents are related likewise in the legendary histories of
several other heathen demigods and great men partially promoted to
the honor of Gods. In the time-honored records of the oldest
religion in the world, it is declared, "A cloud surrounded the
moon; and the sun was darkened at noonday, and the sky rained fire
and ashes during the crucifixion of the Indian God Chrishna." In
the case of Osiris of Egypt, Mr. Southwell says, "As his birth had
been attended by an eclipse of the sun, so his death was attended
by a still greater darkness of the solar orb." At the critical
juncture of the crucifixion of Prometheus, it is declared, "The
whole frame of nature become convulsed, the earth shook, the rocks
were rent, the graves opened, and in a storm which threatened the
dissolution of the universe, the scene closed" (Higgins). According
to Livy, the last hours of the mortal demise of Romulus were marked
by a storm and by a solar eclipse.
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And similar stories are furnished us by several writers of
Caesar and Alexander the Great. With respect to the latter, Mr.
Nimrod says, "Six hours of darkness formed his aphanasia, and his
soul, like Polycarp's, was seen to fly away in the form of a dove."
(Nimrod, vol. iii. p. 458.) "It is remarkable," says a writer,
"what a host of respectable authorities vouch for an acknowledged
fable -- the preternatural darkness which followed Caesar's death."
Gibbon alludes to this event when he speaks of "the singular defect
of light which followed the murder of Caesar." He likewise says,
"This season of darkness had already been celebrated by most of the
poets and historians of that memorable age." (Gibbon, p. 452.) It
is very remarkable that Pliny speaks of a darkness attending
Caesar's death, but omits to mention such a scene as attending the
crucifixion of Christ. Virgil also seeks to exalt this royal
personage by relating this prodigy. (See his Georgius, p. 465.)
Another writer says, "Similar prodigies were supposed or said to
accompany the great men of former days."
Let the reader make a note of this fact -- that the same story
was told of the graves opening, and the dead rising at the final
mortal exit of several heathen Gods and several great men long
before it was penned as a chapter in the history of Christ.
Shakespeare, in his Hamlet says: --
"In the most high and palmy days of Rome,
A little ere the mighty Julius fell --
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets."
These historical citations strongly press the conclusion that
this portion of the history of Christ was borrowed from old pagan
legends.
4. Many cases are recorded in history of the light of the sun
being obscured at midday so as to result in almost total darkness,
when it was known not to be produced by an eclipse. And it is
probable that these natural events furnish the basis in part for
those wild legends we have brought to notice. Humboldt relates in
his Cosmos, that, "in the year 358, before the earthquake of
Numidia, the darkness was very dense for two or three hours,"
Another obscuration of the sun took place in the year 360, which
lasted five or six hours, and was so dense that the stars were
visible at midday. Another circumstance of this kind was witnessed
on the nineteenth of May, 1730, which lasted eight hours. And so
great was the darkness, that candles and lamps had to be lighted at
midday to dine by. Similar events are chronicled for the years
1094, 1206, 1241, 1547, and 1730. And if any such solar
obscurations occurred near the mortal exit of any of the Gods above
named, of course they would be seized on as a part of their
practical history wrought up into hyperbole, and interwoven in
their narratives, to give eclat to the pageantry of their
biographies -- a fact which helps to solve the mystery.
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ORIGIN OF THE STORY OF THE APHANASIA
AT THE CRUCIFIXION.
There is but little ground to doubt but that the various
stories of a similar character then current in different countries,
as shown above, first suggested the thought to Christ's biographers
of investing history with the incredible events reported as being
connected with the crucifixion. The principal motive, however,
seems to have grown out of a desire to fulfill a prophecy of the
Jewish prophet Joel, as we may find many of the important
miraculous events ingrafted into Christ's history were recorded by
way of fulfilling some prophecy. "That the prophecy might be
fulfilled" is the very language his evangelical biographers use.
Joel's prediction runs thus: "And I will show wonders in the
heavens, and in the earth, flood and fire, and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and terrible day of the Lord come." (Joel ii. 30.)
A little impartial investigation will satisfy any unprejudiced mind
that this poetic rhapsody has not the most remote allusion to the
closing events in the life of Christ, and was not intended to have.
But his biographers, writing a long time after his death,
supposing and assuming that this and various other texts, which
they quote from the prophets, had reference to him, and had been
fulfilled, incorporated it into his history as a part of his
practical life. The conviction that the prophecy must have been
fulfilled, without knowing that it had, added to similar stories of
other Gods, with which Christ's history became confounded, misled
them into the conclusion that they were warranted in assuming that
the incredible events they name were really witnessed at the mortal
termination of Christ's earthly career, when they did not know it,
and could not have known it.
This view of the case becomes very rational and very forcible
when we observe various texts quoted from the prophets by the
gospel writers, or, rather, most butcheringly misquoted, tortured
or distorted into Messianic prophecies, when the context shows they
have no reference to Christ whatever.
CHAPTER XVIII.
DESCENT OF THE SAVIORS INTO HELL.
THE next most important event in the histories of the Saviors
after their crucifixion, and the act of giving up the ghost, is
that of their descent into the infernal regions. That Jesus Christ
descended into hell after his crucifixion is not expressly taught
in the Christian bible, but it is a matter of such obvious
inference from several passages of scripture, the early Christians
taught it as a scriptural doctrine. Mr. Sears, a Christian writer,
tells us that "on the doctrine of Christ's underground mission the
early Christians were united. ... It was a point too well settled
to admit of dispute." (See Foregleams of Immortality, p. 262).
And besides this testimony, the "Apostles' Creed" teaches the
doctrine explicitly, which was once as good authority throughout
Christendom as the bible itself; indeed, it may be considered as
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constituting a part of the bible prior to the council of Nice (A.D.
325), being supposed to have been written by the apostles
themselves. It declares that "Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified (dead) and buried. He descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead," etc. This testimony is
very explicit.
And Peter is supposed to refer to the same event when he says
"being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, by
which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." (I
Peter iii. 18.) The word prison, which occurs in this text, has
undoubted reference to the Christian fabled hell. For no possible
sense can be attached to the word prison in this connection without
such a construction. Where have spirits ever been supposed to be
imprisoned but in hell? And then we find a text in the Acts of the
Apostles, which seems to remove all doubt in the case, and banishes
at once all ground for dispute. It is explicitly stated that "his
soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption."
(Acts ii. 31.) Why talk about his soul not being left in hell if it
had never been there? Language could hardly be plainer. The most
positive declaration that Christ did descend into hell could not
make it more certainly a scriptural Christian doctrine.
We, then, rest the case here, and proceed to enumerate other
cases of Gods and Saviors descending into Pandemonium (the realms
of Pluto) long before Jesus Christ walked on the water or on the
earth. It is unquestionably stated in the Hindoo bible, written
more than three thousand years ago, that the Savior Chrishna "went
down to hell to preach to the inmates of that dark and dreary
prison, with the view of reforming them, and getting them back to
heaven, and was willing himself to stiffer to abridge the period of
their torment." And certainly, in the midst of the fire and smoke
of brimstone, it could not have been hard to effect their
conversion or repentance. One writer tells us that "so great was
his (Chrishna's) tenderness, that he even descended into hell to
teach souls in bondage. Now observe how much "teaching souls in
bondage" sounds like "preaching to souls in prison," as Peter
represents Christ as doing. And can any reader doubt that the
meaning in the two cases is the same? And must we not confess that
we are greatly indebted to the Hindoo bible for an explanation of
the two occult and mysterious texts which I have quoted from the
Christian bible, and which have puzzled so many learned critics to
explain, or find a meaning for?
We have another case of a God descending into hell in the
person or spirit of the Savior Quexalcote of Mexico, (300 B.C.) The
story will be found in the Codex Borgianus, wherein is related the
account of his death, and burial after crucifixion, his descent
into hell, and subsequent resurrection. Of Adonis of Greece it is
declared, that "after his descent into hell, he rose again to life
and immortality." Prometheus of Caucasus (600 B.C.) likewise is
represented as "suffering and descending into hell, rising again
from the dead, and ascending to heaven." Horus of Greece is
described as "first reigning a thousand years, then dying, and
being buried for three days, at the end of which time he triumphed
over Typhon, the evil principle, and rose again to life evermore."
And Osiris of Egypt also is represented as making a descent into
hell, and after a period of three days rose again.
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Homer and Virgil speak of several cases of descent into
Pluto's dominions. Hercules, Ulysses and AEneas are represented as
performing the hellward journey on, as we infer, benevolent
missions. Higgins remarks, "The Gods became incarnate, and
descended into hell to teach humility and set an example of
suffering."
The story of their descent into hell was doubtless invented to
find employment for them during their three days of hibernation or
conservation in the tomb, that they might not appear to be really
dead nor idle in the time, and as a still further proof of their
matchless and unrivalled capacity and fortitude for suffering.
And the story of the three days' entombment is likewise
clearly traceable in appearance to the astronomical incident of the
sun's lying apparently dead, and buried, and motionless for nearly
three days at the period of the vernal epoch, from the twenty-first
to the twenty-fifth of March. It was a matter of belief or fancy
that the sun remained stationary for about three days, when he
gradually rose again "into newness of life." And hence, this period
or era was chosen to figuratively represent the three days' descent
of the Gods into hell. We are told that the Persians have all
ancient astronomical figure representing the descent of a God,
divine, into hell, and returning at the time that Orsus, the
goddess of spring, had conquered the God or genus of winter, after
the manner St. John describes the Lamb of God (see Rev. xii) as.
conquering the dragon, which may be interpreted as the Scorpion or
Dragon of the first month of winter (October) being conquered by
the Lamb of March or spring.
CHAPTER XIX.
RESURRECTION OF THE SAVIORS.
WE find presented in the canonized histories of several of the
demigod Saviors the following remarkable coincidences appertaining
to their death: --
1. Their resurrection from the dead.
2. Their lying in the tomb just three days.
3. The resurrection of several of them about the time of the
vernal equinox.
The twenty-fifth of March is the period assigned by the
Christian world generally for the resurrection of Christ, though
some Christian writers have assigned other dates for this event.
They all agree, however, that Christ rose from the dead, and that
this occurred three days after the entombment. Bishop Theophilus of
Cesarea remarks, relative to this event, "Since the birth of Christ
is celebrated on the twenty-fifth of December, ... so also should
the resurrection of Jesus be celebrated on the twenty-fifth of
March, on whatever day of the week it may fall, the Lord having
risen again on that day." (Cent. ii. Call. p. 118.) "All the
ancient Christians," says a writer, "were persuaded that Christ was
crucified on the twenty-third of March, and rose from the dead on
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the twenty-fifth." And accordingly Constantine and contemporary
Christians celebrated the twenty-fifth of March with great 'eclat'
as the date of the resurrection. The twenty-third and twenty-fifth,
including the twenty-fourth, would comprise a period of three days,
the time of the entombment.
Now mark, Quexalcote of Mexico, Chris of Chaldea, Quirinus of
Rome, Prometheus of Caucasus, Osiris of Egypt, Atys of Phrygia, and
"Mithra the Mediator" of Persia did, according to their respective
histories, rise from the dead after three days' burial, and the
time of their resurrection is in several cases fixed for the
twenty-fifth of March. And there is an account more than three
thousand years old of the Hindoo crucified Savior Chrishna, three
days after his interment, forsaking "the silent bourn, whence (as
we are told) no traveler ever returns," and laying aside the moldy
cerements of the dead, again walking forth to mortal life, to be
again seen, recognized, admired, and adored by his pious, devout
and awe-stricken followers, and thus present to the gaze of a
hoping yet doubting world "the first fruits of the resurrection."
At the annual celebration of the resurrection of the Persian
Savior "Mithra the Mediator," more than three thousand years ago,
the priests were in the habit of exclaiming in a solemn and loud
voice," Cheer up, holy mourners; your God has come again to life;
his sorrows and his sufferings will save you." (See Pitrat, p.
105.) The twenty-fifth of March was with the ancient Persians the
commencement of a new year, and on that day was celebrated "the
feast of the Neuroner" and by the ancient Romans "the festival of
the Hilaria." And we find the ancients had both the crucifixion and
resurrection of a God symbolically and astronomically represented
among the plants. "Their foundation," says Clement of Alexandria,
"was the fictitious death and resurrection of the sun, the soul of
the world, the principle of life and motion." The inauguration of
spring (the twenty-fifth of March), and the summer solstice (the
twenty-fifth of June), were both important periods with the
ancients.
Hence, the latter period was fixed on as the birthday of John
the Baptist (as marked in the almanacs), when the sun begins to
decline southward -- that is, decrease. How appropriately,
therefore, John is made to say, "I shall decrease, but he shall
increase." And the consecrated twenty-fifth of March is also the
day marked in our calendars as the date of the conception and
annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And it was likewise the
period of the conception of the ancient Roman Virgin Asteria, and
of the ever-chaste and holy virgin Iris, as well as the time of the
conjugal embrace of the solar and lunar potentates of the visible
universe. May we not, then, very appropriately exclaim of religion
and astronomy, "what God hath joined together, let no man put
asunder."
RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
With respect to the physical resurrection of the Christian
Savior, it may be observed that, aside from. the physical
impossibility of such an occurrence, the account, as reported to us
by his four "inspired" Gospel biographers, are so palpably at
variance with each other, so entirely contradictory in their
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reports, as to render their testimony as infallible writers utterly
unworthy of credence, and impels us to the conclusion that the
event is both physically and historically incredible. There is
scarcely one incident or particular in which they all agree. They
are at loggerheads, -- 1. With respect to the time of its
discovery. 2. The persons who made the discovery (for no witness
claims to have seen it). 3. With respect to what took place at the
sepulchre. 4. What Peter saw and did there. 5. And as to what
occurred afterward, having a relation to that event.
1. Relative to the time the witness or witnesses visited the
sepulchre and learned of the resurrection, Matthew (chap. xxviii.)
tells us, "It was at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn;"
but according to Mark (xvi.), the "Sabbath was past, and the sun
was rising;" while John (chap. xx) declares "it was yet dark." Now
there is certainly some difference between the three periods, "the
dawning of the day," "the rising of the Sun," and "the darkness of
night." If the writers were divinely inspired, there would be a
perfect agreement.
2. With respect to the persons who first visited the
sepulchre, Matthew states that it was Mary Magdalene and another
Mary; but Luke says it was "Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the
mother of James, and other women;" while, according to John (and he
virtually reiterates it), Mary Magdalene went alone. It will be
observed, then, that the first "inspired" and "infallible" witness
testifies there were two women; the second that there were four;
and the third witness declares there was but one. What beautiful
harmony! No court in the civilized world would accept such
discordant testimony!
3. And in relation to what took place at the tomb, Matthew
testifies that "the angel of the Lord" sat upon a stone at the door
of the sepulchre, and told the women their Lord was risen. But Luke
steps forward here, and avers that instead of an angel they found
two men there, not outside, but inside, and not sitting, but
standing. But Mark sets the testimony of both these "inspired"
witnesses aside by affirming there was but one man there, and he
was sitting. While Matthew says "they," St. John says "she"
(speaking of the person or persons who left the sepulchre).
According to Matthew the angel who rolled away the stone from the
sepulchre sent a message to the disciples. But Mark affirms that it
was not an "angel" outside, but a "young man" inside, who did this.
And here the question naturally arises: Why was it necessary for a
being who could say, "I have power to lay down my life and take it
up again" (John), to have an angel to roll away the stone from the
sepulchre, Certainly, if he possessed such omnipotent power, he
needed no aid from any being to perform such an act.
4. And relative to Peter's visit to the tomb, there is a total
disparity in the testimony of the witnesses. According to Luke, he
did not go into the sepulchre, but only stooped down and looked in.
But Mark affirms he did go in, and that it was the disciple who
went with him who stooped down.
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5. And with respect to the events which occurred immediately
subsequent to the resurrection, there is no less discrepancy, no
nearer agreement, in the testimony of the evangelical witnesses.
Matthew says that when Christ's disciples first met him after the
resurrection, they worshiped him, and held him by the feet. (Matt.
xxviii. 9) Strange, indeed, and wholly incredible, if John is a
reliable witness, for he affirms he did not allow even his best and
dearest friend (Mary) to touch him. And then John combats this
testimony of his by declaring he invited the skeptical Thomas, not
only to touch him, but to thrust his hand into his side for
tangible proof of his identity.
6. And why, let us ask here, was not the skeptical Thomas
damned for his doubting, when we, who live thousands of miles from
the place, and nearly two thousand years from the time, are often
told by the priesthood we must "believe or be damned?"
7. And if Thomas was really convinced by this occurrence, or
if it ever took place, why have we no account of his subsequent
life? What good was effected by his convincement if he never said
or did anything afterward?
8. John tells us Mary first saw Christ, after his
resurrection, at the tomb, but Matthew says it was on her way home
she first saw him.
9. We are told by Luke (xxiv. 36) that when Christ appeared to
his disciples on a certain occasion, they were frightened,
supposing it to be a spirit. But John (XX. 20) says they were glad.
Which must we believe?
10. According to Matthew, the disciples were all present on
this occasion; but according to John, Thomas was not there.
11. Here let it be noted that none of the narrators claim to
have seen Christ rise from the tomb, nor to have got it from
anybody who did see it. The only proof in this case is their
declaration, "It came to pass."
12. And we are prompted to ask here, how "it came to pass"
that the chief priests and pharisees cherished sufficient faith in
Christ's resurrection to set a watch for it, as Matthew reports,
when his own disciples were too faithless in such an event to be
present, or to believe he had risen after the report reached their
ears; for we are told some doubted. (See Matt. xxiii.)
13. And how came Matthew to know the soldiers were bribed to
say Christ's body was stolen away by his disciples, when the
disclosures of such a secret would have been death under the Roman
government.
14. And their confession of being asleep, as related by
Matthew, would have subjected them to the same fatal penalty by the
civil rulers of Rome.
15. And if the soldiers were all asleep, can we not suggest
several ways the body may have disappeared without being restored
to life?
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16. And here we would ask if Christ rose from the dead in
order to convince the world of his divine power, why did not the
event take place in public? Why was it seen only by a few credulous
and interested disciples?
17. And if such an astonishing and miraculous event did occur,
why does not one of the numerous contemporary writers of those
times make any allusion to it? Neither Pliny, Tacitus, nor
Josephus, who detail the events very minutely, not only of those
times, but of that very country, says a word about such a wonder-
exciting occurrence. This fact of itself entirely overthrows the
credibility of the story.
18. And the fact that several Christian sects, which
flourished near those times, as the Corinthians and Carpocratians,
etc., rejected the story in toto, furnishes another powerful
argument for discrediting it.
19. And then add to this fact that his own chosen followers
were upbraided for their unbelief in the matter.
20. And what was Christ doing during the forty days between
his resurrection and ascension, that he should only be seen a few
times, and but a few minutes at a time, and by but a few persons,
and those interested?
21. And we would ask, likewise, -- What more can be proved by
Christ's physical resurrection than that of the resurrection of
Lazarus, the widow's son, and several cases related in the Old
Testament, or the numerous cases reported in oriental history?
22. And what analogy is there in the resurrection of the dead
body of a perfect and self-existent God and that of vile man?
23. And why should Christ be called "the first fruits of the
resurrection," when so many cases are reported as occurring before
his?
24. And why do Christians build their hopes of immortality
almost entirely upon Christ's alleged resurrection, in view of the
numerous facts we have cited showing it to be a mere sandy
foundation?
25. Of course no person who believes in modern spiritualism
will discredit the story of Christ being visually recognized after
his death as a spirit -- for they have ocular proof that many such
cases have occurred within the last decade of years. But it is the
story of his physical resurrection we are combating -- the
reanimation of his flesh and bones after having been subjected
three days to the laws of decomposition. Neither science nor sense
can indorse such a story.
26. It was a very easy matter, and very natural to mistake
Christ's spiritual body for his physical body; for such mistakes
have been made a thousand times in the world's history.
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27. Is it not strange, in view of the countless defects in the
story of Christ's physical resurrection as enumerated above, that
the orthodox Christian world should rely upon it as the great sheet
anchor of their faith, and as their chief and almost their only
hope of immortal life?
CHAPTER XX.
REAPPEARANCE AND ASCENSION OF THE SAVIORS.
MANY cases are related by their respective sacred narratives
of the ancient Saviors, and other beings possessing the form of
man, and previously recognized as men, reappearing to their
disciples and friends, after having been consigned to the tomb for
three days, or a longer or shorter period of time, and of their
final ascension to the house of many mansions.
It is related of the Indian or Hindoo Savior Chrishna, that
after having risen from the dead, he appeared again to his
disciples. "He ascended to Voiacantha (heaven), to Brahma," the
first person of the trinity (he himself being the second), and that
as he ascended, "all men saw him, and exclaimed, 'Lo! Chrishna's
soul ascends to his native skies.'" And it is further related that,
"attended by celestial spirits, ... he pursued by his own light the
journey between earth and heaven, to the bright paradise whence he
had descended."
Of the ninth incarnation of India, the Savior Sakia, it is
declared, that he "ascended to the celestial regions;" and his
pious and devout disciples point the skeptic to indelible
impressions and ineffaceable footprints on the rocks of a high
mountain as an imperishable proof of the declaration that he took
his last leave of earth and made his ascent from that point.
It is related of the crucified Prometheus, likewise, that
after having given up the ghost on the cross, "descended to hell"
(Christ's soul was "not left in hell," see Acts ii 31), "he rose
again from the dead, and ascended into heaven."
And then it is declared of the Egyptian Savior Alcides, that
"after having been seen a number of times, he ascended to a higher
life," going up, like Elijah, in "a chariot of fire."
The story of the crucifixion of Quexalcote of Mexico, followed
by his burial, resurrection and ascension, is distinctly related in
the "holy" and inspired "gospels" of that country, which Lord
Kingsborough admitted to be more than two thousand years old.
Of Laotsi of China, it is said that when "he had completed his
mission of benevolence, he ascended bodily alive into the paradise
above." (Prog. of Rel. Ideas, vol. 214.) And it is related of Fo of
the same country, that having completed his glorious mission on
earth, he "ascended back to paradise, where he had previously
existed from all eternity."
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It is related also in the ancient legends, that the Savior or
God Xamalxis of Thrace, having died, and descended beneath the
earth, and remained there three years, made his appearance again in
the fourth year after his death, as he had previously foretold, and
eventually ascended to heaven about 600 B.C. Even some of the
Hindoo saints are reported in their "holy" and time-honored books
to have been seen ascending to heaven. "And impressions on the
rocks are shown," says an author, "said to be of footprints they
had left when they ascended."
It is related both by the Grecian biographer Plutarch, in his
life of Romulus, and by a Roman historian, that the great founder
of Rome (Romulus) suddenly ascended in a tempest during a solar
eclipse, about 713 B.C. And Julius Proculis, a Roman senator of
great fame and high reputation, declared, under solemn oath, that
he saw him, and talked with him after his death.
Before dismissing this chapter, we may state that, in common
with most other religious conceptions, the doctrine of the
ascension has in the ancient legends an astronomical
representation.
Having said that a planet was buried because it sunk below the
horizon, when it returned to light and gained its state of
eminence, they spoke of it as dead, risen again, and ascended into
heaven. (Volney, p. 143.) What is the story of the ascension of
Christ worth in view of these ancient pagan traditions of earlier
origin?
ASCENSION OF THE CHRISTIAN SAVIOR.
1. The different scriptural accounts of the ascension of
Christ are, like the different stories of the resurrection, quite
contradictory, and, hence, entitled to as little credit. In Luke
(xxiv.), he is represented as ascending on the evening of the third
day after the crucifixion. But the writer of Acts (i. 3) says he
did not ascend till forty days after his resurrection; while,
according to his own declaration to the thief on the cross, "This
day shalt thou be with me in paradise," he must have ascended on
the same day of his crucifixion. Which statement must we accept as
inspired, or what is proved by such contradictory testimony?
2. Which must we believe, Paul's declaration that he was seen
by above five hundred of the brethren at once (i Cor. xv. 6), or
the statement of the author of the Acts (i. 15), that there were
but one hundred and twenty brethren in all after that period?
3. How would his ascension do anything toward proving his
divinity, unless it also proves the divinity of Enoch and Elijah,
who are reported to have ascended long prior to that era?
4. As these stories of the ascension of Christ, according to
Lardner, were written many years after his crucifixion. is it not
hence probable they grew out of similar stories relative to the
heathen Gods long previously prevalent in oriental countries?
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5. As these gospel writers could not have been present to
witness the ascension, as it must have occurred before their time
of active life, does not this fact of itself seriously damage the
credibility of the accounts, and more especially as neither Mark
nor Luke, who are the only reporters of the occurrence, were not
disciples of Christ at the time, while Matthew and John, who were,
say nothing about it? -- another fact which casts a shade on the
credibility of the story.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE ATONEMENT -- ITS ORIENTAL OR HEATHEN ORIGIN.
THERE were various practices in vogue amongst the
orientalists, which originated with the design of appeasing the
anger and propitiating the favor of a presumed to be irascible
deity. Most of these practices consisted in some kind of sacrifice
or destructive offering called the "atonement." But here let it be
observed, that the doctrine of atonement for sin, by sacrifice, was
unfolded by degrees, and that the crucifixion of a God was not the
first practical exhibition of it. On the contrary, it appears to
have commenced with the most valueless or cheapest species of
property then known. And from this starting-point ascended
gradually, so as finally to embody the most costly commodities; and
did not stop here, but reached forward till it laid its murderous
hands on human beings, and immolated them upon its bloody altars.
And finally, to cap the climax, it assumed the effrontery to drag
a God off the throne of heaven, to stretch its blood-thirsty
spirit, as evinced by Paul's declaration, "Without the shedding of
blood there can be no remission of sin." Rather a bloody doctrine,
and one which our humanity rejects with instinctive horror.
We will trace the doctrine of the atonement briefly through
its successive stages of growth and development.
The idea seems to have started very early in the practical
history of the human race, that the sacrifice and consequent
deprivation of earthly goods, or some terrestrial enjoyment, would
have the effect to mitigate the anger, propitiate the favor, and
obtain the mercy of an imaginary and vengeful God. This idea
obviously was suggested by observing that their earthly rulers
always smiled, and became less rigorous in their laws, and milder
in their treatment of their subjects, when they made them presents
of some valuable or desirable commodity. They soon learned that
such offerings had the effect to cheek their cruel and bloody mode
of governing the people; so that when their houses were shaken
down, or swallowed up by earthquakes, the trees riven by lightning,
and prostrated by storms, and their cattle swept away by floods,
supposing it to be the work of an angry God, the thought arose in
their minds at once, that perhaps his wrath could be abated by the
same expedient as that which had served in the case of their
mundane lords -- that of making presents of property. But as this
property could not be carried up to the celestial throne, the
expedient was adopted of burning it, so that the substance or
quintessence of it would be conveyed up to the heavenly Potentates
in the shape of steam and smoke, which would make for him, as the
Jews express it," a sweet-smelling savor." Abundant and conspicuous
is the evidence in history to show that the custom of burnt-
offerings and atonements for sin originated in this way.
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The first species of property made use of for burnt-offerings
appears to have been the fruits of the earth -- vegetables, fruits,
roots, etc., -- the lowest kind of property in point of value. But
the thought soon naturally sprang up in the mind of the devotee,
that a more valuable offering would sooner and more effectually
secure the divine favor. Hence, levies were made on living herds of
cattle, sheep, goats and other domestic animals. This was the
second step in the ascending scale toward Gods.
And here we find the key to open and solve the mystery of
Jehovah's preferring Abel's offering to Cain's. While the latter
consisted in mere inanimate substances, the former embraced the
firstlings of the flock -- a higher and more valuable species of
property, and quite sufficient to induce the selfish Jehovah to
prefer Abel's offering to Cain's, or rather for the selfish Jews to
cherish this conception. In all nations where offerings were made,
the conclusion became established in the minds of the people that
the amount of God's favor procured in this way must be
proportionate to the value of the commodity or victim offered up --
a conviction which ultimately led to the seizure of human beings
for the atoning offerings, which brings us to the third stage of
growth in the atonement doctrine. Children frequently constituted
the victims in this case. The sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter, as
related in Judges xi. 30, and other cases cited by bible writers,
Isaiah xxxii. 25, and modern Christian authors, prove that this
practice was in vogue among "God's holy people."
One step more (constituting the fourth stage of development)
brings us to the sacrifice of Gods. The climax is now reached; the
conception can go no higher. The ancient Burmese taught that while
common property in burnt-offerings would procure the temporary
favor of the ruling God, the sacrifice of human beings would secure
his good pleasure for a thousand years, and cancel out all the sins
committed in that period. And when one of the three Gods on the
throne of heaven was dragged down, or voluntairy came down (as some
of the sects taught), and was put to death on the cross as an
atonement for sin, such was the value of the victim, such the
magnitude of the offering, that it "atoned" for all sin, past,
present and future, for all the human race.
The Hindoos, cherishing this conception, taught that the
crucifixion of their sin-atoning Savior Chrishna (1200 B.C.) put an
end to both animal and human sacrifices, and accordingly such
offerings ceased in most Hindoo countries centuries ago. Thus far
back in the mire and midnight of human ignorance, and amid the
clouds of mental darkness, while man dwelt upon the animal plane,
and was governed by his brutal feelings, and "blood for blood" was
the requisition for human offenses, originated the bloody, savage
and revolting doctrine of the atonement.
Another mode of adjudicating the sins of the people in vogue
in some countries anterior to the custom of shedding blood as an
expiation, was that of packing them on the back, head, or horns of
some animal by a formal hocus-pocus process, and then driving the
animal into a wilderness, or some other place so remote that the
brute could not find its way back amongst the people with its cargo
of sins. The cloth or fabric used for inclosing the sins and
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iniquities of the people was usually of a red or scarlet color --
of the semblance of blood. In fact, it was generally dipped in
blood. This, being lashed to the animal, would of course be exposed
to the weather and the drenching rains, would consequently, in the
course of time, fade and become white. Hence, we have the key to
Isaiah's declaration, "Though your sins be (red) as scarlet, they
shall become (white) as wool." (See Isaiah, i. 18.) And thus the
meaning of this obscure text is clearly explained by tracing its
origin to its oriental source.
And there are many other texts in the Christian bible which
might be elucidated in a similar manner by using oriental
tradition, or oriental sacred books, as a key to unlock and explain
their meaning. We have stated above that some animal was made use
of by different nations to convey the imaginary load of the
people's sins out of the country. For this purpose the Jews had
their "scape-goat," the Egyptians their " scape-ox," the Hindoos
their "scape-horse," the Chaldeans their "scape-ram," the Britons
their" scape-bull," the Mexicans their "scape-lamb" and "scape-
mouse," the Tamalese their "scape-hen," and the Christians at a
later period their scape-God. Jesus Christ may properly be termed
the scape-God of orthodox Christians, as he stands in the same
relation to his disciples, who believe in the atonement, as the
goat did to the Jews, and performs the same end and office. The
goat and the other sin-offering animals took away the sin of the
nation in each case respectively. In like manner Jesus Christ takes
away the sin of the world, being called "the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world." (John i. 29.) And more than two
thousand years ago the Mexicans sacrificed a lamb as an atonement,
which they called "the Lamb of God" -- the same title scripturally
applied to Jesus Christ. The conception in each case is, then, the
same -- that of the atonement for sin by the sacrifice of an
innocent victim.
The above citations show that the present custom of orthodox
Christendom, in packing their sins upon the back of a God, is just
the same substantially as that of various heathen nations, who were
anciently in the habit of packing them upon the backs of various
dumb animals. If some of our Christian brethren should protest
against our speaking of the church's idea of atonement as that of
packing their sins upon the back of a God, we will here prove the
appropriateness of the term upon the authority of the bible. Peter
expressly declares Christ bore our sins upon his own body on a tree
(see I Peter ii. 24), just as the Jews declared the goat bore their
sins on his body, and the ancient Brahmins taught that the bulls
and the heifers bore theirs away, etc., which shows that the whole
conception is of purely heathen origin. And hereafter, when they
laugh at the Jewish superstition of a scapegoat, let them bear in
mind that more sensible and intelligent people may laugh in turn at
their superstitious doctrine of a scape-God.
These superstitious customs were simply expedients of
different nations to evade the punishment of their sins -- an
attempt to shift their retributive consequences on to other beings.
The divine atonement more especially possessed this character. This
system teaches that the son of God and Savior of the world was sent
down and incarnated, in order to die for the people, and thus
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suffer by proxy the punishment meted out by divine wrath for the
sins of the whole world. The blood of a God must atone for the sins
of the whole human family, as rams, goats, bullocks and other
animals had atoned for the sins of families and nations under older
systems. Thus taught Brahminism, Budhism, Persianism, and other
religious systems, before the dawn of Christianity. The nucleus of
the atoning system is founded in the doctrine, "Without the
shedding of blood there is no remission for sin" (Rom. v. g) -- a
monstrous and morally revolting doctrine -- a doctrine which
teaches us that somebody's blood must be shed, somebody's veins and
arteries depleted, for every trivial offense committed against the
moral law. Somebody must pay the penalty in blood, somebody must be
slaughtered for every little foible or peccadillo or moral blunder
into which erring man may chance to stumble while upon the
pilgrimage of life, while journeying through the wilderness of
time, even if a God has to be dragged from his throne in heaven,
and murdered to accomplish it. Nothing less will mitigate the
divine wrath.
Whose soul -- possessing the slightest moral sensibility --
does not inwardly and instinctively revolt at such a doctrine? We
would not teach it to the world, for it is founded in butchery and
bloodshed, and is an old pagan superstition, which originated far
back in the midnight of mental darkness and heathen ignorance, when
the whole human race were under the lawless sway of their brutal
propensities, and when the ennobling attributes of love, mercy and
forgiveness had as yet found no place, no abiding home, in the
human bosom. The bloody soul of the savage first gave it birth. We
hold the doctrine to be a high-handed insult to the All-loving
Father, who, we are told, is "long-suffering in mercy," and
"plentiful in forgiveness," to charge Him with sanctioning such a
doctrine, much less with originating it.
There is no "mercy or forgiveness" in putting an innocent
being to death for any pretext whatever. And for the Father to
consent to the brutal assassination of His own innocent Son upon
the cross to gratify an implacable revenge toward his own children,
the workmanship of his own hands, rather than forgive a moral
weakness implanted in their natures by a voluntary act of his own,
and for which consequently he alone ought to be responsible, would
be nothing short of murder in the first degree.
We cherish no such conception. We cannot for a moment harbor
a blasphemous doctrine, which represents the Universal Father as
being a bloody-minded and murderous being, instead of a being of
infinite love, infinite wisdom, and infinite in all the moral
virtues. Such a character would be a deep-dyed stigma upon any
human being. And no person actuated by a strict sense of justice
would accept salvation upon any such terms as that prescribed by
the Christian atonement.
It is manifestly too unjust, too devoid of moral principle,
besides being a flagrant violation of the first principles of civil
and criminal jurisprudence. It is a double wrong to punish the
innocent for the guilty. It is the infliction of injustice on the
one hand, and the omission of justice on the other. It inflicts the
highest penalty of the law upon an innocent being, whom that law
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ought to shield from punishment, while it exculpates and liberates
the guilty party, whose punishment the moral law demands. It robs
society of a useful people on the one hand, and turns a moral pest
upon community on the other, thus committing a two-fold wrong, or
act of injustice. No court in any civilized country would be
allowed to act upon such a principle; and the judge who should
indorse it, or favor a law, or principle, which punishes the
innocent for the guilty, would be ruled off the bench at once.
Here, however, we are sometimes met with the plea, that the
offering of Jesus Christ was a voluntary act, that it was made with
his own free will. But the plea don't do away with either the
injustice or criminality of the act.
No innocent person has a right to suffer for the guilty, and
the courts have no right to accept the offer or admit the
substitute. An illustration will show this. If Jefferson Davis had
been convicted of the crime of treason, and sentenced to be hung,
and Abraham Lincoln had come forward and offered to be stretched
upon the gallows in his place, is there a court in the civilized
world which would have accepted the substitute, and hung Lincoln,
and liberated Davis? To ask the question is but to answer it. It is
an insult to reason, law and justice to even entertain the
proposition.
The doctrine of the atonement also involves the infinite
absurdity of God punishing himself to appease his own wrath. For if
"the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ bodily" (as taught in
Col. ii. 9), then his death was the death of God -- that is, a
divine suicide, prompted and committed by a feeling of anger and
revenge, which terminated the life of the Infinite Ruler -- a
doctrine utterly devoid of reason, science or sense. We are
sometimes told man owes a debt to his Maker, and the atonement pays
that debt. To be sure! And to whom is the debt owing, and who pays
it? Why, the debt is owing to God, and God (in the person of Jesus
Christ) pays it -- pays it to himself. We will illustrate. A man
approaches his neighbor, and says, "Sir, I owe you a thousand
dollars, but can never pay it." "Very well, it makes no
difference," replies the claimant, "I will pay it myself;" and
forthwith thrusts his hand into his right pocket and extracts the
money, transfers it to the left pocket and exclaims -- "There, the
debt is paid!" A curious way of paying debts, and one utterly
devoid of sense. And yet the orthodox world have adopted it for
their God. We find, however, that they carefully avoid practicing
this principle themselves in their dealings with each other. When
they have a claim against a neighbor, we do not find them ever
thrusting their hands into their own pockets to pay it off, but sue
him, and compel him to pay -- if he refuses to do it without
compulsion -- thus proving they do not consider it a correct
principle of trade.
But we find, upon further investigation, that the assumed debt
is not paid -- after all.
When a debt is paid, it is canceled, and dismissed from
memory, and nothing more said about it. But in this case the sinner
is told he must still suffer the penalty for every sin he commits,
notwithstanding Christ died to atone for and cancel that sin.
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Where, then, is the virtue of the atonement? Like other
doctrines of the orthodox creed, it is at war with reason and
common sense, and every principle of sound morality, and will be
marked by coming ages as a relic of barbarism.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE HOLY GHOST OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN.
OF all the weird, fanciful, and fabulous stories appertaining
to the Gods and other spiritual entities of the olden times, whose
capricious adventures we find so profusely narrated in oriental
mythology -- of all the strange, mythical and mystical feats, and
ever-varying and ever-diverging changes in the shape, appearance,
sex, and modes of manifestation which characterize the hobgoblins
or ghostly beings which comprise the esoteric stock of the ancient
mysteries, that appertaining to the third member of "the hypostatic
union," the Holy Ghost, seems to stand pre-eminent. And I propose
here to submit the facts to show that the Holy Ghost story of the
Christian Gospels, like the more ancient pagan versions of the same
story, is marked by the same wild, discordant and legendary
characteristics which abound in all the accounts of gods and ghosts
found recorded in the religious books of various nations.
The following brief exposition of the history and exploits of
this anomalous, nondescript, chameleon-like being will clearly
evince that the same fanciful, metaphorical and fabulous changes in
the size, shape, sex and appearance of this third limb of the
triune God are found in the Christian Scriptures which are
disclosed in the more ancient oriental traditions.
We will first exhibit a classification of the names and
characteristics of this imaginary being drawn from the gospels and
epistles of the Christian bible, by which it will be observed that
scarcely any two references to it agree in assigning it the same
character or attributes.
1. In John xiv. 26, the Holy Ghost is spoken of as a person or
personal God.
2, In Luke iii. 22, the Holy Ghost changes, and assumes the
form of a dove.
3. In Matt. xiii. 16, the Holy Ghost becomes a spirit.
4. In John i. 32, the Holy Ghost is presented as an inanimate,
senseless object.
5. In John v. 7, the Holy Ghost becomes a God -- the third
member of the Trinity.
6. In Acts ii. I, the Holy Ghost is averred to be "a mighty,
rushing wind."
7. In Acts x. 38, the Holy Ghost, we infer, from its mode of
application, is an ointment.
8. In John XX. 22, the Holy Ghost is the breath, as we
legitimately infer by its being breathed into the mouth of the
recipient after the ancient oriental custom.
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9. In Acts ii. 3, we learn the Holy Ghost "sat upon each of
them," probably in the form of a bird, as at Jesus' baptism.
10. In Acts ii. i, the Holy Ghost appears as "cloven tongues
of fire."
11. In Luke ii. 26, the Holy Ghost is the author of a
revelation or inspiration.
12. In Acts viii. 17, the Holy Ghost is a magnetic aura
imparted by the "laying on of hands."
13. In Mark i. 8, the Holy Ghost is a medium or element for
baptism.
14. In Acts xxviii. 25, the Holy Ghost appears with vocal
organs, and speaks.
15. In Heb. vi. 4, the Holy Ghost is dealt out or imparted by
measure.
16. In Luke iii. 22, the Holy Ghost appears with a tangible
body.
17. In Luke 1, 5, and many other texts, we are taught people
are filled with the Holy Ghost.
18. In Matt. xi. 15, the Holy Ghost falls upon the people as
a ponderable substance.
19. In Luke iv. i, the Holy Ghost is a God within a God "Jesus
being full of the Holy Ghost."
20. In Acts xxi. ii, the Holy Ghost is a being of the
masculine or feminine gender -- "Thus saith the Holy Ghost," etc.
21. In John i. 32, the Holy Ghost is of the neuter gender it
(the Holy Ghost) abode upon him."
22. In Matt. i. 18, the Holy Ghost becomes a vicarious agent
in the procreation of another God; that is, this third member of
the Trinity aids the first member (the Father) in the creation or
generation of the second member of the trinity of bachelor Gods --
the Word, or Savior, or Son of God.
Such are the ever-shifting scenes presented in the Scripture
panorama of the Holy Ghost. Surpassing the fabulous changes of some
of the more ancient demigods, the Christian Holy Ghost undergoes
(as is shown by the above-quoted texts) a perpetual metathesis or
metamorphosis -- being variously presented on different occasions
as a personal and rational being, a dove, a spirit, an inanimate
object, a God, the wind or a wind, an ointment, the breath or a
breath, cloven tongue of fire, a bird, or some other flying
recumbent animal, a revelator or divine messenger, a medium or
element for baptism, an intelligent, speaking being, a lifeless,
bodiless, sexless being, a measurable fluid substance, a being
possessing a body, ponderable, unconscious substance, a God
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dwelling within a God, and, finally -- though really first in order
-- the author or agent of the incarnation of the second God in the
Trinity (Jesus Christ). That many of these fabulous conceptions
were drawn from mythological sources will be made manifest by the
following facts of history: --
1. The Holy Ghost in the shape of a bird, a dove or a pigeon.
This is proven to be a very ancient pagan tradition, as it is found
incorporated in several of the oriental religious systems. In
ancient India, whose prolific spiritual fancies constitute the
primary parentage of nearly all the doctrines, dogmas and
superstitions found incorporated in the Christian Scriptures, a
dove was uniformly the emblem of the Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God.
Confirmatory of this statement, we find the declaration in the
Anacalypsis, that a "dove stood for or represented a third member
of the Trinity, and was the regenerator or regeneratory power."
This meets the Christian idea of "regeneration and renewing of the
Holy Ghost." (Titus iii. 5.) A person being baptized under the
Brahminical theocracy was said to be regenerated and born again,"
or, as the above-quoted writer expresses it, "They were born into
the spirit, or the spirit into them -- that is, the "dove into or
upon them," (As vide the case of the Christian's "Holy Ghost
descending in bodily shape like a dove," and alighting on Christ's
head at baptism, as related in Luke iii. 22.) In ancient Rome a
dove or pigeon was the emblem of the female procreative energy, and
frequently a legendary spirit, the accompaniment of Venus. And
hence, as a writer remarks, "it is very appropriately represented
as descending at baptism in the character of the third member of
the Trinity." The same writer tells us, "The dove fills the Grecian
oracles with their spirit and power." We find the dove, also, in
the romantic eclogues of ancient Syria. In the time-chiseled Syrian
temple of Hierapolis, Semiramis is represented with a dove on her
head, thus constituting the prototype of the dove on the head of
the Christian Messiah at baptism. And a dove was in more than one
of the ancient religious systems -- "The Spirit of God (Holy Ghost)
moving on the face of the waters" at creation, as implied in Gen.
i. 2, though a pigeon, was often indiscriminately substituted. In
Howe's "Ancient Mysteries" it is related that "in St. Paul's
Cathedral, at the feast of Whitsuntide, the descent of the Holy
Ghost was performed by a white pigeon being let fly out of a hole
in the midst of the roof of the great aisle." The dove and the
pigeon, being but slight variations of the same species of the
feathered tribe, were used indiscriminately.
2. As evinced above, the Holy Ghost was the third member of
the Trinity in several of the oriental systems. Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, or Father, Word and Holy Ghost (i John v. 7), are
familiar Christian terms to express the divine triad, which shows
the Holy Ghost to be the acknowledged third member of the Christian
Trinity And, as already suggested, the same is true of the more
ancient systems. "The Holy Spirit and the Evil Spirit were, each in
their turn (says Mr. Higgins), third member of the Trinity." We
might, if space would allow, draw largely upon the ancient defunct
systems in proof of this statement. "In these triads (says Mr.
Hillell) the third member, as might be supposed, was not of equal
rank with the other two." And hence, in the Theban Trinity, Khonso
was inferior to Arion and Mant. In the Hindoo triad, Siva was
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subordinate to Brahma and Vishnu. And a score of similar examples
might be adduced from the fancy-constructed trinities of other and
older oriental religious systems (but for the inflexible rule of
brevity which forbids their presentation here), with all of which
the more modern Holy Ghost conception of the Christian world is an
exact correspondence, as this imaginary, fabulous being is less
conspicuous than and has always stood third in rank with the Father
and second to the Son, alias the Word, and is now seldom addressed
in practical Christian devotion; and thus the analogy is complete.
Mr. Maurice says, This notion of a third person in the Deity (the
Holy Ghost) was diffused among all the nations of the earth." See
Ind. Antiq. vol. iv. p. 750.) And Mr. Worseley, in his "Voyage"
(vol. i.p. 259), avers this doctrine to be "of very great
antiquity, and generally received by all the Gothic and Celtic
nations."
3. The Holy Ghost was the Holy Breath which, in the Hindoo
traditions, moved on the face of the waters at creation, and
imparted life and vitality into everything created. A similar
conception is recognized in the Christian Scriptures. In Psalms
xxxiii. 6, we read, "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made,
and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Here is the
Brahminical conception, square out, of the act of creation by the
Divine Breath, which is the Holy Ghost, the same, also, which was
breathed into Adam, by which he became "a living soul." M. Dubois
observes, "The Prana, or principle of life, of the Hindoos is the
breath of life by which the Creator (Brahma) animates the clay, and
man became a living soul." (Page 293.)
4. Holy Ghost, Holy Breath and Holy Wind appear to have been
synonymous and convertible terms for the living vocal emanations
from the mouth of the Supreme God, as memorialized in several of
the pagan traditions. The last term (Holy Wind) is suggested by
"the mighty rushing wind from heaven" which filled the house, or
church, on the day of Pentecost. (See Acts ii. 2.) Several of the
old religious systems recognize "the Holy Wind" as a term for the
Holy Ghost. The doxology (reported by a missionary) in the
religious service of the Syrian worship runs thus: --
"Praise to the Holy Spiritual Wind, which is the Holy Ghost;
Praise to the three persons which are one true God."
Some writers maintain that the Hebrew Ruh Aliem, translated
"Spirit of God" (Gen. i. 2) in our version, should read, "Wind of
the Gods." And we find that the word Pneuma, of our Greek New
Testament, is sometimes translated "Ghost" and sometimes "Wind," as
best suited the fancy of the translators. In John iii. 5, we find
the word Spirit, and in verse eight both Wind and Spirit are found.
and in Luke i. 35, we observe the term Holy Ghost -- all translated
from the same word. Let it be specially noted that in the Greek
Testament the word Pneuma is used in all these cases, thus proving
that Spirit, Holy Ghost and Wind are used in the Christian
Scriptures as synonymous terms; and proving, also, that an
unwarranted license has been assumed by translators in rendering
the same word three different ways. M. Auvaroff, in his "Essays on
the Eleusinian Mysteries," speaks of "the torch being ignited at
the command of Hermes of Egypt, the spiritual agent in the workshop
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of creation;" relative to which statement a writer remarks, "Hermes
appears in this instance as a personification of Wind or Spirit, as
in the bible (meaning the Christian bible), God, Wind and Spirit
are often interchangeable terms, and the Word appears to be from
the same windy source."
5. The Holy Ghost as "a tongue of fire, which sat upon each of
them" (the apostles). (See Acts. ii. 3.) Even this conception is an
orientalism. Mr. Higgins tells us that "Budha, an incarnate God of
the Hindoos (three thousand years ago), is often seen with a glory
or tongue of fire upon his head." And the tradition of the visible
manifestation of the Holy Ghost by fire was prevalent among the
ancient Budhists, Celts, Druids and Etrurians. In fact, as our,
author truly remarks, "The Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, when
visible, was always in the form of fire (or a bird), and was always
accompanied with wisdom and power." Hence, is disclosed the origin
of the ancient custom amongst the Hindoos, Persians and Chaldeans,
of making offerings to the solar fire, emblem of the Holy Ghost or
Holy Spirit.
6. Inspiration by the Holy Ghost. (Luke ii. 26.) "Holy men of
God," including some of the prophets, are claimed to have been
inspired by the Holy Ghost. (See 2 Peter i. 21; Acts xxviii. 25.)
In like manner, as we are informed by Mr. Cleland in his
"Specimens" (see Appendix, the ancient Celts were not only "moved
by the Holy Ghost" in their divine decrees and prophetic
utterances, but they claimed that their Salic laws (seventy-two in
number) were inspired by the "Salo Ghost" (Holy Ghost), known also
as "the Wisdom of the Spirit, or the Voice of the Spirit." This
author several times alludes to the fact, and exhibits the proof,
that the doctrine of the Holy Ghost was known to this ancient
people.
7. The Holy Ghost imparted by "the laying on of hands." This,
too, is an ancient oriental custom. "And by the imposition of hands
on the head of the candidate," says Mr. Cleland, speaking of the
Celts, "the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, was conveyed." And thus was
the Holy Spirit, Ghost, Gas, Wind, Electrical Fire or Spirit of
Authority imparted to the hierophant or gospel novitiate. "And
their public assemblies" continues our author, "were always opened
by an invocation to the Holy Ghost."
8. Baptism by or into the Holy Ghost accompanied with fire.
(Matt. iii. ii.) This rite, too, is traceable to a very ancient
period, and was practiced by several of the old symbolical and
mythological systems. The Tuscans, or Etrurians, baptized with
fire, wind (ghost) and water. Baptism into the first member of the
Trinity (the Father) was with fire; baptism into the second member
of the Trinity (the Word) was with water; while baptism into the
third member of the Trinity (the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit)
consisted of the initiatory spiritual or symbolical application of
gas, gust, ghost, wind, or spirit. It appears from "Herbert's
Travels," that, in "ancient countries, the child was taken to the
priest, who named him (christened him) before the sacred fire;"
after which ceremony he was sprinkled with "holy water" from a
vessel made of the sacred tree known as "The Holme."
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9. The Holy Ghost imparted by breathing. (See John xx. 22).
"Sometimes," says Mr. Higgins, relative to this custom among the
ancient heathen, "the priest blew his breath upon the child, which
was then considered baptized by air, spiritus sanctus, or ghost --
i.e., baptism by the Holy Ghost." In case of baptism, a portion of
the Holy Ghost was supposed to be transferred from the priest to
the candidate. "The practice of breathing in or upon," says our
author, "was quite common among the ancient heathen."
10. The Holy Ghost as the agent in divine conception, or the
procreation of other Gods. Jesus is said to have been conceived by
the Holy Ghost (see Matt. i. 18), and we find similar claims
instituted still more anciently for other incarnate demigods. In
the Mexican Trinity, Y, 'Zona' was the father, 'Bacal' the Word,
and 'Echvah' the Holy Ghost, by the last of whom Chimalman
conceived and brought forth the enfleshed God Quexalcote. (See Mex.
Ant., vol. vi. p. 1650.) In the Hindoo mythos, Sakia was conceived
by the Holy Ghost Nara-an.
Other cases might be cited, proving the same point.
Thus, we observe that the various heterogeneous conceptions,
discordant traditions, and contradictory superstitions appertaining
to that anomalous nondescript being known as the Holy Ghost, are
traceable to various oriental countries, and to a very remote
antiquity.
We will only occupy space with one or two more historical
citations of a general nature, tending to prove the prevalence of
this ghostly myth in other countries, not yet cited. "Tell me, O
thou strong in fire!" ejaculated Sesostris of Egypt, to the oracle,
as reported by Manetho, "who before me could subjugate all things,
and who shall after me ?" But the oracle rebuked him, saying,
"First God, then the Word, and with them the Spirit." (See Nimrod,
vol. i.p. 119.) "And Plutarch, in his 'Life of Numa,'" says our
oft-quoted author, "shows that the incarnation of the Holy Spirit
was known both to the ancient Romans and Egyptians."
The doctrine is thus shown to have been nearly universal.
ORIGIN OF THE HOLY GHOST SUPERSTITION.
The origin of the tradition respecting this fabulous and
mythical being is easily traced to the ancient Brahminical trifold
conception of the Deity, in which stands, in Trinity order, first,
the God of power or might -- Brahma or Brahm (the Father); second,
the God of creation -- the Word -- answering to John's creative
Word (see John i. 3); and third the God of generation and
regeneration -- the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. The last member of
the triune conception of the Deity was considered, under the
Brahminical theocracy, the living, vital, active, life-imparting
agent in both the first and second births of men and the gods.
It will be borne in mind by the reader that the Holy Ghost is
represented in the Christian Scripture as being the active
generating agent of Christ's conception, he being, as Matthew
declares, "conceived by the Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost was also
the regenerating agent at his baptism. Although the specific object
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of the descent of the Holy Ghost on that occasion is not stated by
Luke, who relates it; although it is not stated for what purpose
the Holy Spirit, after assuming the form of a bird, alighted and
sat upon his head, yet the motive is fully disclosed in the older
mythical religions, where we find the matter in fuller detail.
Baptism itself is claimed by all its Christian votaries as
regenerating or imparting a new spiritual life; and this new
spiritual life was believed by several nations, as before stated,
to make its appearance in the character and shape of a bird --
sometimes a pigeon, sometimes a dove; and thus the origin of this
tradition is most clearly and unmistakably exposed.
As the foregoing historical exposition exhibits the Holy Ghost
as performing several distinct and discordant offices, so we
likewise find it possessing at least two distinct genders, the
masculine and neuter, i.e., no gender -- changing, ghost-like, from
one to the other, as occasion seemed to require.
From all these metamorphoses it is shown and demonstrated that
the sexual and other changes of this "mysterious" being equal many
of the demigods of mythology. The primary windy conception of the
Holy Ghost is traceable to that early period of society when the
rude and untutored denizens of the earth, in their profound
ignorance of natural causes, were very easily and naturally led
into the belief that wherever there was motion there was a God, or
the active manifestation of a God, whether it was in the wind,
breath, water, fire, or the sun.
Hence, the Buddhists had their god Vasus, who manifested
himself variously in the shape or character of fire, wind, storms,
gas, ghosts, gusts, and the breath, thus constituting a very
nearly-allied counterpart to the Christian Holy Ghost, which Mr.
Parkhurst tells us originally meant "air in motion." This god was
believed to have sprung from the supreme, primordial God, which the
ancient Brahmins and Buddhists generally believed was constituted
of a fine, spiritual substance, -- aura, anima, wind, ether,
igneous fluid, or electrical fire, i.e., fire from the sun, giving
rise to "baptism by fire;" and hence, the third God, or third
member of the Trinity, subsequently arising out of this compound
being, was also necessarily composed of or consisted of the same
properties -- all of which were believed to be correlated, if not
identical.
Such is a complete, though brief, historical elucidation of
that mysterious, imaginary being so corporally intangible that
Faustus, of the third century, declared respecting it, "The Holy
Spirit, the third majesty, has the air for his residence." And it
is a fabulous God whose scriptural biography is invested with so
many ludicrous and abstruse incidents as to incite several hundred
Christian writers to labor hard with a "godly zeal," by a
reconstruction of God's Word" and a rehabiliment of the ghostly
texts to effect some kind of a reconciliation of the story with
reason and common sense -- with what success the reader is left to
judge.
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THE UNPARDONABLE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.
Before dismissing our ghostly narrative, it may effect
something in the way of mitigating the anxious fears of some of our
Christian brothers and sisters to explain the nature of "the sin
against the Holy Ghost," and assign the reason for its being
unpardonable. The sin against the Holy Ghost consisted, according
to the ancient Mexican traditions, in resisting its operations in
the second birth -- that is, the regeneration of the heart or soul
by the Holy Ghost. And as the rectification of the heart or soul
was a prominent idea with Christ, there is scarcely any ground to
doubt but that this was the notion he cherished of the nature of
the sin against the Holy Ghost. And it was considered unpardonable,
simply because as the pardoning and cleansing process consisted in,
or was at least always accompanied with baptism by water, in which
operation the Holy Ghost was the agent in effecting a "new birth,"
therefore, when the ministrations or operations of this
indispensable agent were resisted or rejected, there was no
channel, no means, no possible mode left for the sinner to find a
renewed acceptance with God. When a person sinned against the
Father or the Word (the Son), he could find a door of forgiveness
through the baptizing processes spiritual or elementary, of the
Holy Ghost, But an offense' committed against this third limb of
the Godhead had the effect to close and bar the door so that there
could be "no forgiveness, either in this life or that which is to
come." To sin against the Holy Ghost was to tear down the scaffold
by which the door of heaven was to be reached.
And thus it is explained the great "mystery of godliness," the
"unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost," which, on account of the
frightful penalty annexed to it, while it is impossible to learn
what it consists in -- it being undefined and undefinable -- has
caused thousands, and probably millions, of the disciples of the
Christian faith the most agonizing hours of alarm and despair.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE DIVINE "WORD" OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN.
THE WORD AS CREATOR, AS SECOND PERSON OF THE
TRINITY, AND ITS PRE-EXISTENCE.
The Word of Oriental Origin.
"IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God." (John i. 1.) The doctrine of the divine creative
word (from the Greek Logos) appears to have been coeval in its
origin with that of the Trinity, if not inseparably connected with
it, as it constitutes the second member of the Trinity of "Father,
Word, and Holy Ghost" in most of the ancient systems of religion.
Works on heathen mythology show that it was anciently a very
prevalent custom to personify ideas, thoughts and words into angels
and Gods. Words were first personated, and transformed into men,
then into angels, and finally into Gods.
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And here is foreshadowed the origin of John's personification
of "the Word made flesh." It was simply the word of the supreme God
as it escaped from his mouth, assuming the form and characteristics
of a divine being like himself, and taking position as a secondary
God and second member of the Trinity. This was the orient
conception, and it appears to have been John's. He evidently had no
thought of Christ experiencing human birth, at first, or being born
of a woman, but believed, like some of the orientalists, that he
came out of the mouth of the Father, and was thus "made flesh."
(John i. 2.) Not a word of Christ being born is found in John's
Gospel, till after his existence as the Word is spoken of. (See
note BIRTH OF JESUS in back of book.)
THE WORD AS CREATOR.
John also represents the Word as having been the Creator. "All
things were made by him." (John i. 3.) And Peter declares, "By the
word of God the heavens were of old." (2 iii. 5.) Now, let it be
observed here, as a notable circumstance, that the Chinese bible,
much older than the Christian's New Testament, likewise declares,
"God pronounced the primeval Word, and his own eternal and glorious
abode sprang into existence." Mr. Guizot, in a note on Gibbon's
work, says, "According to the Zend-Avesta (the Persian bible, more
than three thousand years old), it is by the Word, more ancient
than the world, that Ormuzd created the universe."
In like manner the sacred writings of the ancient Tibetans
speak of "the Word which produced the world" -- an exact
counterpart to John's declaration, "All things were made by him."
And the ancient Greek writer Amelias speaking of the God Mercury,
says, "And this plainly was the Logos (the Word), by whom all
things were made, he being himself eternal, as Heraclitus would
say, ... He assumed to be with God, and to be God, and in him
everything that was made, has its life and being, who, descending
into body, and putting on flesh, took the appearance of a man,
though still retaining the majesty of his nature. Here is "the Word
made flesh" set forth in most explicit terms. The Psalmist
exclaims, "By the Word of God were the heavens made, and all the
host of them by the Breath of his mouth." (Ps. xxxiii. 6.) Here is
disclosed not only the conception of the Word as Creator, but also
the Word and the Breath as synonymous terms, both of which
conceptions oriental history amply proves to be of heathen
derivation.
It was anciently believed that the Word and Breath of God were
the same, and possessed a vitalizing power, which, as they issued
from his mouth, might be transformed into another being known as a
secondary God. Both the Jews and the Christians seem to have
inherited this belief, as evinced by the foregoing quotations from
their bible. The most ancient tradition taught that the Word
emanated from the mouth of the principal God, and "became flesh,"
that is, took form, as the ancient Brahmins expressed it, for the
special purpose of serving as agent in the work of creation, that
is, to become the creator of the external universe. St. John
evidently borrowed this idea. Read his first chapter.
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PRE-EXISTENCE OF THE WORD.
The pre-existence or previous existence of the Word,
antecedent to the date of its metamorphosis into the human form, we
find taught in several of the ancient systems of religion, as well
as the more modern Christian system. Several texts in the Christian
New Testament set forth the doctrine quite explicitly. Christ, as
the Divine Word, declared, "Before Abraham was I am," and that he
had an existence with the Father before the foundation of the
world, etc., which is a distinct avowal of the doctrine of
preexistence.
But oriental history proves the doctrine is much older than
Christianity.
The Hindoo very anciently taught that "the Word had existed
with God from all eternity, and when spoken it became a glorious
form, the aggregate embodiment of all the divine ideas, and
performed the work of creation." And of Chrishna, it is affirmed
that "while upon the earth he existed also in heaven." (See
Baghavat Gita.)
In like manner it is declared of an Egyptian God, that "though
he was born into the world, he existed with his father God before
the world was made." And parallel to this is the statement of the
Chinese bible, that "though the Holy Word (Chang-si) will be born
upon the earth, yet he existed before anything was made." Even for
Pythagoras it was claimed he existed in heaven before he was born
upon the earth. Mr. Higgins, in summing up the matter, declares,
"All the old religions believed the world was created by the Word,
and that this Word existed before creation" (Ana., vol. ii. p. 77),
which clearly indicates the source of St. John's creative Word.
THE DUAL OR TWO-FOLD NAME OF THE WORD.
In most cases the living Divine Word was known by different
names and titles, prior to the era of its assuming the mortal form,
from that by which it was known after its fleshly investment.
Among the ancient Persians, the name for the divine spiritual
Word was Hanover. After its human birth, it was called "Mithra the
Mediator." The Hindoo oriental term for the primeval Word was Om,
or Aum. After assuming its most important incarnate form, it was
known as Chrishna. The Chinese Holy Interior Word was Omi-to, and
its principal incarnation was Chang-ti or Ti-enti. The Japanese
also proclaimed their belief in a Divine Word before the Christian
era, which, in their language, was Amina. They taught, like John,
that it came forth from the mouth of the Supreme God (Brahm) to
perform the work of creation, after which, it was known as Sakia.
And that popular Christian writer, Mr. Milman, informs us that the
Jewish founders of Christianity believed in an original Divine
Word, which they call Memra. When it descended to the earth, and
"became flesh, and dwelt amongst us" (John i. 4.) according to the
evangelist John, it was known as Jesus Christ. Mr. Milman states
also, that "the appellation to the Word is found in the Indian
(Hindoo), Persian, the Platonic, and the Alexandrian systems."
(Hist. of Chr., Book I., Chap. 2.)
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Thus, the question is settled by Christian testimony -- that
the various conceptions of the Divine Word are of heathen origin.
THE WORD AS A SECOND MEMBER OF THE TRINITY.
There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost." (i John v. 7.) Observe, the Word is the
second person in the Trinity. And this was its post in the Brahman,
Hindoo, Persian, and other systems. "All religions," says a writer,
"which taught the existence of the Word as a great primeval spirit,
represent him as secondary to the supreme. (P.R. 3, vol. ii. p.
336.) "The Hindoos reverenced it next to Brahm." Mr. Higgins cuts
the matter short by declaring "The Logos, or Word, was the second
person of the Trinity in all the ancient systems, as in the
Christian system," which again indicates its heathen origin.
THE WORD AS A BIBLICAL TITLE.
"The Word." "the Holy Word," "the Divine Word," etc., are
terms now frequently applied to the Christian bible, without any
suspicion of their heathen origin. The Zend-Avesta, the Persian
bible, was always called "The Living Word of God," for that is the
meaning of the term Zend-Avesta, and the oldest bible in the world
is the Vedas, and it means both Word and Wisdom. Om, the Egyptian's
Holy Word, they frequently applied both to their incarnate Gods and
to their sacred writings.
The practice of calling bibles "The Word of God" originated
from the belief that, when the incarnate Word left the earth and
returned to heaven, he infused a portion of his living spirits into
the divine writings which contained his history and his doctrines,
and which be himself had prompted his disciples to write as his
"Last Revelation to man." They then must contain a portion of him,
i.e., a portion of the Holy Word -- hence, both were called "The
Holy Word."
And this heathen custom Christians borrowed.
ORIGIN OF THE WORD AS CREATOR.
The motive which prompted a belief in the creative Word may be
styled a theological necessity. It was believed that the principal
God, like the rulers of earth, was too aristocratic to labor with
his own hands. Hence, another God was originated to perform the
work of creation, and called "The Word."
The origin of the creative Word is still further indicated by
Blackwood's Magazine.
It says: --
"Creation became impossible to a being already infinite, and
was a derogation to a being already perfect. Some lower God, some
Avatar, must be interposed (as an emanation from the mouth of the
God supreme) to perform the subordinate task of creation. Hence,
originated and came forth the Word as Creator."
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CHAPTER XXIV.
THE TRINITY VERY ANCIENTLY A CURRENT
HEATHEN DOCTRINE.
"THERE are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one." (i John v. 7.)
This text, which evidently discloses a belief in the existence of
three separate and distinct beings in the Godhead, sets forth a
doctrine which was anciently of almost universal prevalence. Nearly
every nation, whether oriental or occidental, whose religious faith
has been commemorated in history, discloses in its creed a belief
in the trifold nature and triune division of the Deity. St. Jerome
testifies unequivocally, "All the ancient nations believed in the
Trinity.
And a volume of facts and figures might be cited here, if we
had space for them, in proof of this statement.
A text from one of the Hindoo bibles, (the Puranas) will
evince the antiquity and prevalence of this belief in a nation of
one hundred and fifty millions of people more than two thousand
years ago. "O you three Lords!" ejaculated Attencion, "know that I
recognize only one God. Inform me, therefore, which of you is the
true divinity that I may address to him alone my vows and
adorations. The three Gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, becoming
manifest to him, replied, "Learn, O devotee, that there is no real
distinction between us. What to you appears such is only by
semblance. The single being appears under three forms by the acts
of creation, preservation and destruction, but he is one."
Now, reader, note the remark here, that the ancient Christian
fathers almost universally and unanimously proclaimed the doctrine
of the Trinity as one of the leading tenets of the Christian faith,
and as a doctrine derived directly by revelation from heaven. But
here we find it most explicitly set forth by a disciple of a pagan
religion more than three thousand years ago, as the Christian
missionary D.O. Allen states, that the Hindoo bible, in which it
was found was compiled fourteen hundred years before Christ, and
written at a still earlier period. And we find the same doctrine
very explicitly taught in the ancient Brahmin, Persian, Chaldean,
Chinese, Mexican and Grecian systems -- all much older than
Christianity.
No writer ever taught or avowed a belief in any tenet of
religious faith more fully or plainly than Plato sets forth the
doctrine of the Trinity in his Plaedon, written four hundred years
B.C. And his terms are found to be in most striking conformity to
the Christian doctrine on this subject, as taught in the New
Testament. Plato's first term for the Trinity was in Greek -- 1. To
Agathon, the supreme God or Father. 2. The Logos, which is the
Greek term for the Word. And, 3. Psyche, which the Greek Lexicon
defines to mean "soul, spirit or ghost" -- of course, the Holy
Ghost. Here we have the three terms of the Christian Trinity,
Father, Word, and Holy Ghost, as plainly taught as language can
express it, thus making Plato's exposition of the Trinity and
definition of its terms, published four hundred years B.C.,
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identical in meaning with those of St. John's, as found in his
Gospel, and contained in the above quoted text. Where, then, is the
foundation for the dogmatic claim on the part of the Christian
professors for the divine origin of the Trinity doctrine?
We will here cite the testimony of some Christian writers to
prove that the Trinity is a pagan-derived doctrine. A Christian
bishop, Mr. Powell, declares, "I not only confess but I maintain,
such a similitude of Plato's and John's Trinity doctrines as
bespeaks a common origin." (Thirteenth letter to Dr. Priestley.)
What is that you say, bishop? "A common origin." Then you concede
both are heaven-derived, or both heathen-derived. If the former,
then revelation and heathenism are synonymous terms. If the latter,
then Christianity stands on a level with heathen mythology. Which
horn of the dilemma will you choose? St. Augustine confessed he
found the beginning of John's Gospel in Plato's Phaedon, which is
a concession of the whole ground.
Another writer, Chataubron, speaks of an ancient Greek
inscription on the great obelisk at Rome, which reads -- "1. The
Mighty God. 2. The Begotten of God (as Christ is declared to be
"the only begotten of the Father" (John i. 14.). And, 3. "Apollo
the Spirit" -- the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost -- thus presenting in
plain language the three terms of the Trinity. And Mr. Cudworth, in
corroboration of this report, says, "The Greeks had a first God,
and second God, and third God, and the second was begotten by the
first. And yet for all that," continues Mr. Cudworth, "they
considered all these one."
In the Platonic or Grecian Trinity, the first person was
considered the planner of the work of creation, the second person
the creator, and the third person the ghost or spirit which moved
upon the face of the waters, and infused life into the mighty deep
at creation -- the same Holy Ghost which descended from heaven to
infuse life into the waters at Christ's baptism; thus, the
resemblance is complete. Mr. Basnage quotes a Christian writer of
the fifth century as declaring, "The Athenian sage Plato
marvelously anticipated one of the most important and mysterious
doctrines of the Christian religion" -- meaning the Trinity -- an
important concession truly.
The oldest and probably the original form of the Trinity is
that found in the Brahmin and Hindoo systems -- the terms of which
are -- 1. Brahma, the Father or supreme God. 2. Vishnu, the
incarnate Word and Creator. 3. Siva, the Spirit of God, i.e., the
Holy Spirit or Ghost -- each answering to corresponding terms of
the Christian Trinity, and yet two thousand years older, according
to Dr. Smith.
We have not allowable space for other facts and citations (as
this work is designed as a mere epitome), although we have but
entered upon the threshold of the evidence tending to prove that
the Christian Trinity was born of heathen parents, that it is an
offspring of heathen mythology, like other doctrines of the
Christian faith, claimed by its disciples as the gift of divine
revelation.
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Here let it be noted as a curious chapter in sacred history
that the numerous divine Trinities which have constituted a part of
nearly every religious system ever propagated to the world were
composed, in every case, of male Gods. No female has ever yet been
admitted into the triad of Gods composing the orthodox Trinity.
Every member of the Trinity in every case is a male, and an old
bachelor -- a doctrine most flagrantly at war with the principles
of modern philosophy.
For this science teaches us that the endowment of a being with
either male or female organs, presupposes the existence of the
other sex; and that either sex, without the other would be a
ludicrous anomaly, and a ludicrous distortion of nature
unparalleled in the history of science. As sexual organs create an
imperious desire for the other sex, no male or female could long
enjoy full happiness in the absence of the other party. What an
unhappy, lonesome place, therefore, the orthodox heaven must have
been, during the eternity of the past, with no society but old
bachelors! The Trinity was constituted of Males simply because
woman has always been considered a mere cipher in society -- a mere
tool for man's convenience, an appendage to his wants. Hence,
instead of having a place among the Gods she led the practical life
of a servant and a menial, which accounts for her exclusion from
the Trinity. But the time is coming when she will rule both heaven
and earth with the omnipotent power of her love nature. Then we
shall have no "war in heaven," and no fighting on earth.
CHAPTER XXV.
ABSOLUTION, AND THE CONFESSION OF SINS,
OF HEATHEN ORIGIN.
SOME Christian writers have labored to make it appear that
this is exclusively a Christian doctrine, while others have labored
as hard to get it out of their bible, or make the people believe
that it is not therein taught.
We shall show, upon scriptural and historical authority, that
both are wrong.
There can be no question as to this rite having existed
outside of Christianity, or of its being much older than
Christianity. History proves both. Nor can it be successfully
denied that it is taught in the Christian Scriptures, both the
confessing of sins and that of forgiving sins. The apostle James,
with respect to the former, is quite explicit. He enjoins,
emphatically, "Confess your faults one to another." (James v. 16.)
The practice of forgiving sins is also enjoined. "Forgiving one
another is recommended both in Ephesians (iv. 32) and Colossians.
(iii. 13) "And whatsoever ye shall lose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven" (Matthew xviii 18), is interpreted as conferring the power
to forgive sins.
And then we remark that the practices both of confessing and
forgiving sins are very ancient pagan rites and customs. Speaking
of their prevalence in ancient India, the author of the Anacalypsis
remarks, "The person offering sacrifices made a verbal confession
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of his sins, and received absolution." Auricular confession was
also practiced among the ancient Mithriacs, or Persians, and the
Parsees proper of the same country. Mr. Volney tells us, "They
observed all the Christian sacraments, even to the laying on of
hands in the confirmation." (211.) And the Christian Tertullian
also tells us that "The priests of Mithra promised absolution from
sin on confession and baptism," while another author adds, that "on
such occasions Mithra marked his followers (the servants of God) in
their foreheads," and that "he celebrated the sacrifice of bread,
which is the resurrection."
In the collection of the Jewish laws called "The Mishna," we
are told the Jews confessed their sins by placing their hands upon
a calf belonging to the priest, and that this was called "the
Confession of Calves." (See Mishna, tom. ii. p. 394.) Confessing
sins was practiced in ancient Mexico; also under Numa of Rome,
whose priests, we are informed, had to clear their consciences by
confessing their sins before they could offer sacrifices. The
practice of confessing and forgiving sins as recommended in the
Christian bible, and practiced by some of the Christian sects, has
been the source of much practical evil by furnishing a pretext and
license, to some extent, for the commission of crime and sin. While
sans can be so easily obliterated they will be committed --
perpetrated without much remorse or restraint." In China (says the
Rev. Mr. Pitrat, 232), the invocation of Omito is sufficient to
remit the punishment of the greatest crimes." The same author tells
us, "The ancient initiation of the pagans had tribunals of penance,
where the priests, under the name of Roes, heard from the mouth of
the sinners themselves the avowal of their sins of which their
souls were to be purified, and from the punishment of which they
wished to be exempted." (Page 37.) The granting of absolution for
sin or misconduct among the early primitive Christians was so
common, St. Cyprian informs us, that "thousands of reprieves were
granted daily," which served as an indirect license to crime. And
thus the doctrine of divine forgiveness, as taught by pagans and
Christians, has proved to be demoralizing in its effects upon
society.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ORIGIN OF BAPTISM BY WATER, FIRE, BLOOD,
AND THE HOLY GHOST.
BAPTISM, in some of its various forms, is a very ancient rite,
and was extensively practiced in several oriental countries. It was
administered in a great variety of forms, and with the use of
different elements. Water was the most common, but fire and air,
wind, spirit or ghost were also used; and both the living and the
dead were made the subjects of its solemn and imposing ceremonies.
We will notice each of these modes of baptism separately --
appropriating a brief space to each.
1. BAPTISM BY WATER.
"Baptism by water," says Mr. Higgins, "is a very old rite,
being practiced by the followers of Zoroaster, by the Romans, the
Egyptians, and other nations." It was also in vogue among the
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ancient Hindoos at a still earlier date. Their mode of
administering it was to dip the candidate for immersion three times
in the watery element, in the same manner as is now practiced by
some of the Christian sects, during the performance of which the
hierophant would ejaculate the following prayer and ceremony: "O
Lord, this man is impure, like the mud of this stream! But do thou
cleanse and deliver his soul from sin as the water cleanses his
body." They believed that water possessed the virtue of purifying
both soul and body -- the latter from filth and the former from
sin. The ancient Mexicans, Persians, Hindoos and Jews were in the
habit of baptizing their infants soon after they were born. And the
water used for this purpose was called "the water of regeneration."
Paul speaks of being "saved by the washing of regeneration. (See
Titus iii. 5.) Those who touched these infants before they were
baptize were deemed impure. And as this was unavoidable on the part
of the mothers, they were required, as in the cases of the mothers
of Chrishna and Christ, to present themselves on the eighth day
after accouchement to the priest in the temple to be purified. The
Romans chose the eighth day for girls and the ninth for boys. The
child was usually named (christened) at the time it was baptized.
And in India, the name, or God's name, or some other mark, was
engraven or written on the forehead. This custom is several times
recognized in the Christian bible, both in the old and in the New
Testament. (See Ezek. ix 4; Rev. xiv. 9; xix. 20, etc.) John speaks
of a mark being made on the forehead. (See Rev. xiii. 16.) Also of
the name of God being written on the forehead. (Rev. iii. 12.)
THE DOVE DESCENDING AT BAPTISM.
At this stage of our inquiry it may be stated that several of
the ancient religious orders had the legend of a dove or pigeon
descending at baptism -- a counterpart to the evangelical story of
"the Spirit of God descending in bodily shape like a dove," and
alighting on the head of Jesus Christ while being baptized by John
in Jordan. (See Luke iii. 22.) It will be observed here that the
spirit, or soul, of God descended not only in the manner, but in
"bodily shape like a dove." This accords with the tradition
anciently prevalent among the Hindoos, Mexicans, Greeks, Romans and
Persians, or Babylonians, that all souls, or spirits, possessed, or
were capable of assuming, the form of a dove. Hence, it is reported
of Polycarp, Semiramis, Caesar and others, that at death their
souls, or spirits, were seen to leave the body in "bodily shape
like a dove" and ascend to heaven. "The Divine Love, or Eros," says
Mr. Higgins, "was supposed by the oriental heathen to descend often
in the form of a dove to bless the candidate for baptism." These
traditions, doubtless, gave rise to the story of the dove
descending at Christ's baptism -- that is God in the shape of a
dove, for that is clearly the meaning of the text. We are also
informed by our author just quoted, that a dove stood for and
represented, among the orientalists, the third person of the
Trinity, as it does in the gospel story of Christ -- he being the
second member of the Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy
Ghost. It was considered "the regenerator, or regenerating spirit,"
and persons being baptized were said to be "born again" into the
spirit or the spirit into them; that is, the dove into or upon
them.
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What a master-key is furnished by these oriental religions for
solving the mysteries of the Christian bible! How much more lucid
than Divine Revelation -- so-called!
We will quote again from Higgins: "Among all nations, from the
very earliest period, water has been used as a species of religious
sacrament. Because, as it dripped from the clouds, it was observed
to have the power of reviving drooping nature and creating anew, or
regenerating the whole vegetable kingdom in spring, it was hence
chosen as an emblem of spiritual regeneration and a medium of
baptism. Water was the element by means of which everything was
born again through the agency of the Eros, Dove, or Divine Love."
And, hence, the ceremony of dipping or plunging (or, as it is
modernly termed, baptizing) came into vogue for the remission of
sins and "the regeneration into a new and more holy life."
Some streams were supposed to have more efficacy in these
respects than others. Hence, nearly all religious nations had their
"Holy Rivers, "Holy Water," "Sacred Pools," etc. The Hindoos
resorted to the "Holy Ganges," the Egyptians to the "Holy Nile,"
the Chaldeans and Persians to the "Holy Euphrates," the Greeks to
their "Holy Lustral Water," the Italians to the river Po, and the
Jews and Christians to their holy river Jordan. If Jordan was not
called "holy," it was undoubtedly considered so, else why did
Elisha order Naaman to wash seven times in that stream instead of
Damascus, which was much nearer and more accessible? And why was
Christ baptized in Jordan? "And all the land of Judea, and they of
Jerusalem, were baptized in Jordan, confessing their sins." (Matt.
iii. vi.) Why, as several streams were handier to a large portion
of the candidates, simply because Jordan was considered to be "more
holy." And Christians had their sacred pool of Bethesda, as the
Hindoos had their Sahar.
The rite of baptism was at first generally practiced in caves
-- as were also other religious rites; and as these caves were
often difficult of access, and their mouths, doors or gates narrow
and difficult to enter, they fully exemplify Christ's declaration,
"Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto
life." (Matt. vii. 14.) And when he declared, "Except a Man be born
of water and of spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven" (John
iii. 5) he was only seconding the exhortation of the priests to
enter these subterranean vaults and be baptized after the oriental
and Jewish custom. Thus originated baptism by water in the form of
dipping, or immersion.
BAPTISM BY SPRINKLING.
Owing to the scarcity of water in some countries, and its
entire absence in others, and the fatal effects sometimes resulting
from the practice of baptizing infants and invalids by immersion,
a new mode of baptism eventually sprung up, now known as
"sprinkling," in which sometimes water and sometimes blood was
used. Virgil, Ovid and Cicero all speak of its prevalence amongst
the ancient Romans or Latins. We are informed that the ancient Jews
practiced it upon their women while in a state of nudity, the
ceremony being administered by three rabbis, or priests. But the
custom finally gave way to one more consonant with decorum. Blood,
being considered "the life thereof" of man, was deemed more
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efficacious than water, and hence was often used in lieu of that
element. The Greeks kept a "holy vessel" for this purpose, known as
the Facina. The Romans used a brush, which may now be seen engraven
upon some of their ancient coins and sculptured on their ancient
temples. The Hindoos and Persians used a branch of laurel or some
other shrub for sprinkling the repentant candidate, whether water
or blood was used.
In some countries the rite was practiced as a talisman against
evil spirits. The Mexicans never approached their altars without
sprinkling them with blood drawn from their own bodies, as the Jews
sprinkled the walls and door-posts of their temples with blood
under the requisition of the Levitical code. This mode of fancied
purification by sprinkling either with water or blood we find
recognized and apparently sanctioned, in the Christian bible, both
in the Old and New Testaments. Ezekiel says, "I will sprinkle clean
water on you." (Ezek. XXXVI. 25.) Peter uses the phrase, "The
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." (i Peter i. 2.) And Paul
makes use of the expression, "The blood of sprinkling, that
speaketh better things than that of Abel" (Heb. xii. 24), which we
regard as an indirect sanction of the senseless heathen idea of
effecting spiritual purification by drops of blood. (See Potter's
Antiquities and Herbert's Travels.)
BAPTISM BY FIRE.
Baptism by fire was a form or mode of application which seems
to have been introduced from the belief that it was productive of
a higher degree of purification. There were several ways of using
fire in the baptismal rite. In some cases the candidate for
immortality ran through blazing streams of fire -- a custom which
was called "the baptism of fire." M. de Humboldt, in his "Views of
the Cordilleras and Monuments of America," informs us it prevailed
in India, Chaldea and Syria, and throughout eastern Asia. It
appears to have been gotten up as a substitute for sun-worship, as
this luminary was believed to be constituted of fire, though in
reality there never was any such thing as sun or solar worship.
Christian writers represent the ancient Persians as has having been
addicted to solar worship. But Firdausi, Cudworth and other authors
declare that neither they nor any other nation ever worshiped the
sun, but merely an imaginary Deity supposed to reside in the sun.
Heathen nations have been charged with many things of which they
were not guilty; though it is true that in the spirit of Christ's
exhortation, "Whosoever loseth his life for my sake shall find it,"
some of the candidates for the fiery ordeal voluntarily sacrificed
their lives in the operation, under the persuasion that it was
necessary to purify the soul, and would enable them to ascend to
higher posts or planes of enjoyment in the celestial world. And
some of them were taught that sins not expurgated by fire, or some
other efficaciously renovating process in this life, would be
punished by fire in the life to come. Here we will mention that
there is a seeming recognition of this ancient heathen rite in both
departments of the Christian's bible. Isaiah says, "When thou
walkest through fire thou shalt not be burned." (lxiii. 2.) And the
Baptist John recognizes three modes of baptism: I indeed baptize
you with water, but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with
fire and the Holy Ghost." (Matt, iii. 11. And Paul teaches the
necessity of being purified by fire. (See i Cor. iii. 15.) So it is
both a heathen and a Christian idea.
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BAPTISM BY THE HOLY GHOST.
This fanciful ceremony is both a Christian and a heathen rite,
and is undoubtedly of heathen origin. The mode of applying it was
to breathe into or upon the seeker for divine favors. This was done
by the priest, who, it was believed, imparted the Spirit of God by
the process. The custom, Mr. Herbert informs us, was anciently
quite common in oriental countries, and was at a later date
borrowed by Christ and his apostles and incorporated into the
Christian ceremonies. We find that Christ not only sanctioned it
but practiced it, as it is declared when he met his disciples after
his resurrection "he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost." (John xx. 22.)
And the following language of Ezekiel is evidently a sanction
of the same heathen custom: "Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the
four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slam, that they may
live." (xxxvii. 9.) Let it be borne in mind here that breath, air,
wind, spirit and ghost were used as synonymous terms, according to
Mr. Parkhurst (see Chap. XXII.), and this breathing was supposed to
impart spiritual life, being nothing less than the Spirit of God,
the same as that breathed into Adam when "he became a living soul."
(See Gen. ii. 7.) For a fuller exposition see Chapter XXII.
BAPTISM OF OR FOR THE DEAD.
It was customary among the Hindoos and other nations to
postpone baptism till near the supposed terminus of life, in order
that the ablution might extinguish all the sins and misdeeds of the
subjects earthly probation. But it sometimes happened that men and
women were killed, or died unexpectedly, before the rite was
administered. And as it would not do for these unfortunate souls to
be deprived of the benefit of this soul-saving ordinance, the
custom was devised of baptizing the defunct body, or more commonly
some living person in its stead. The method of executing the latter
expedient, according to St. Chrysostom, was to place some living
person under the bed or couch on which the corpse was reclining,
when the defunct was asked if he would be baptized. The living man,
responding for the dead, answered in the affirmative. The corpse
was then taken and dipped in a vessel prepared for the purpose'
This silly practice was in vogue among the early Christians, and
Paul seems to regard it as an important custom. "Else what shall
they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at
all." (i Cor. xv. 9.)
The inference derivable from this text is, that Paul held that
the labor of baptizing the dead would be lost in the event of the
falsification of the doctrine of the resurrection, but otherwise it
would be valid -- which evinces his faith in the senseless and
superstitious practice. It will be observed from the historical
exposition of this chapter that all the various ancient heathen
modes and rites of baptism have been practiced by Christians, and
are sanctioned by their bible.
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CHAPTER XXVII.
THE SACRAMENT OR EUCHARIST OF
HEATHEN ORIGIN.
At the feast of the Passover, Christ is represented, while
distributing bread to his disciples, to have said, "Take, eat; this
is my body" (Matt. xxvi. 26); and while handing round the
consecrated cup, he enjoined, "Drink ye all of it, for this is my
blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins" (xxvi. 27). Here is a very clear and explicit indorsement
of what is generally termed "the Eucharist or Sacrament" And
nothing can be more susceptible of proof than that this rite or
ordinance is of pagan origin, and was practically recognized many
centuries prior to the dawn of the Christian era.
So we observe, by the text above quoted, the Christian Savior
and Lawgiver copied, or reproduced, an old pagan rite as a part of
his professedly new and spiritual system, one of the most ancient
and widely-extended formulas of pagandom. And stranger still, the
catechisms of the Christian church represent this ordinance as
having originated in the design and motive to keep the ancient
Christian world in remembrance of the death and sufferings and
sacrifice of Christ, while we find it existing long prior to his
time, both among Jews and pagans, this being virtually admitted in
the bible itself, so far as respects the pagans, thus proving that
it did not originate with Christ, and therefore is not of Christian
origin. For in Gen. viv. 18, we read, "And Melchizedek, king of
Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the
Most High God." Because the Melchizedek here spoken of is
represented as being "a priest of the Most High God," and showed so
much respect to Abraham, it is presumed and assumed, by Christian
writers, that he was a Jewish priest and king; and Mr. Faber (vol.
i.p. 72) calls him "an incarnation of the son of God." But there is
no intimation throughout the Jewish Scriptures of the Jews ever
having had a king or priest by that name. And besides, Eupolemus
(vol. i.p. 39), tells us that the temple of Melchizedek was the
temple of Jupiter, in which Pythagoras studied philosophy. Then,
again, according to some writers, the name is synonymous with
Moloch, the God of war among the Greeks. Strange, then, that
Melchizedek should be claimed as a priest and king among the Jews.
Be this as it may, the case proves that the ceremony of offering
bread and wine existed long before the era of Jesus Christ.
And then we have much more and much stronger proof of this fad
than is here furnished. The Christian Mr. Faber virtually admits
it, when he tells us, "The devil led the heathen to anticipate
Christ with respect to several things, as the mysteries of the
Eucharist, etc. "And this very solemnity (says St. Justin) the evil
spirit introduced into the mysteries of Mithra." (Reeves, Justin,
p. 86.) Mr. Higgins observes, "It was instituted hundreds of years
before the Lord's death took place." Amongst the ancient religious
orders and nations who practiced this rite, we may name the
Essenes, Persians, Pythagoreans, Gnostics, Brahmins and Mexicans.
For proof of its existence and antiquity among the last-named
nation, we refer the reader to the "Travels" (chap. ii.) of that
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Christian writer, Father Acosta. Mr. Marolles, in his Memoirs (p.
215) quotes Tibullus as saying, "The pagan appeased the divinity
with holy bread." And Tibullus, in a panegyric on Marcella, wrote,
"A little cake, a little morsel of bread, appeased the divinities."
And here we discover the idea which originated the ceremony.
It was started, like annual sacrifices, for the purpose of
appeasing the wrath or propitiating the favor of the angry Gods.
Tracing the conception still further in the rear of its progress,
and apparently to its primary inception, Mr. Higgins observes, "The
whole paschal supper (the Lord's supper with the Christians) was in
fact a festival of joy to celebrate the passage of the sun across
the equinox of spring."
We find one pagan writer who had intelligence enough to
ridicule this senseless ceremonial custom, called "the sacrament."
Cicero, some forty years before Christ, shows up the doctrine of
the sacrament, or substantiation, in its true light. He asks, "How
can a man be so stupid as to imagine that which he eats to be a
God?" A writer quoted above says, "Mass, or the sacrifice of bread
and wine, was common to many ancient nations." (Anac. vol. ii. p.
62.) According to Alnetonae, the ancient Brahmins had a kind of
Eucharist called "prajadam." And the same writer informs us that
the ancient Peruvians, "after sacrificing a lamb, mingled his blood
with flour, and distributed it among the people." Writers on
Grecian mythology relate that Ceres, the goddess of corn, gave her
flesh to eat, and that Bacchus, the God of wine, gave blood to
drink. Nor is there any evidence that Christ and his followers made
a better use, or different use, or a more spiritual application of
the sacrament, or ceremonial offering of bread and wine, than the
pagans did, though some have claimed this. It was a species of
symbolism with both, notwithstanding Mr. Glover, a Christian
writer, declares, that "in the sacrament of the altar are the
natural body and blood of Christ, verily and indeed." (See Glover's
Remarks on Bishop Marsh's Compendious Review.) It may be noted here
that the Persians, Pythagoreans, Essenes and Gnostics used water
instead of wine, and that this mode of practice was less
objectionable than that of the Christians, who (as sad experience
proves) have too often laid the foundation for the ruin of some
poor unsuspecting devotee, by luring him to the fatal fascination
of the intoxicating bowl, by holding the sacred and ceremonial wine
to his lips, while administering the sacrament or the Lord's
supper.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
ANOINTING WITH OIL OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN.
THE custom and ceremony of anointing with oil by way of
imparting some fancied spiritual power and religious qualification
seems to have been extensively practiced by the Jews and primitive
Christians, and still more anciently by various oriental nations.
Mark (xiv. 4), reports Jesus Christ as speaking commendingly of the
practice, by which it was evident he was in favor of the
superstitious custom. The apostle James not only sanctions it, but
recommends it in the most specific language. "Is any sick among
you, let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray
over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." (James
v. 14.)
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The practice of greasing or smearing with oil, it may be noted
here, was in vogue from other motives besides the one here
indicated. We find the statement in the New American Cyclopedia
(vol. i.p. 620), that anointing with perfumed oil was in common use
among the Greeks and Romans as a mark of hospitality to guests. And
modern travelers in the East still find it a custom for visitors to
be sprinkled with rose-water, or their head, face and beard
anointed with olive oil." "Anointing," we are also told, "is an
ancient and still prevalent custom throughout the East, by pouring
aromatic oils on persons as a token of honor. ... It was also
employed in consecrating priests, prophets and kings, and the
places and instruments appointed for worship." (Ibid.) Joshua
anointed the ten stones he set up in Jordan, and Jacob the stone on
which he slept at the time of his great vision.
The early Christians were in the habit of anointing the
altars, and even the walls, of the churches, in the same manner as
the images, obelisks, statues, etc., had long been consecrated by
the devotees of the oriental systems. Aaron, Saul, David, Solomon,
and even Jesus Christ were anointed with oil in the same way. David
Malcom, in his "Essay on the Antiquity of the Britons," p. 144,
says, "The Mexican king was anointed with Holy Unction by the high
priest while dancing before the Lord." (Vide the case of David
"dancing before the Lord with all his might." Dr. Lightfoot, in his
"Harmony of the New Testament," speaks of the custom among the Jews
of anointing the sick on the Sabbath day (see Works, Vol. i,p. 333;
also Toland, Sect. Naz. p. 54), as afterwards recommended by the
apostle James, as shown above. This accords exactly with the method
of treating the sick in ancient India and other heathen countries
several thousand years ago. For proof consult Hyde, Bryant,
Tertullian and other writers. The custom of anointing the sick,
accompanied with prayer and other ceremonies, was quite fashionable
in the East long before the birth of either Jesus or James. One
writer testifies that "the practice of anointing with oil, so much
in vogue among the Jews, and sanctioned by Christ and his
followers, was held in high esteem in nearly all the Eastern
religions."
The foregoing historical facts furnish still further proof
that Christianity is the offspring of heathenism.
CHAPTER XXIX.
HOW MEN, INCLUDING JESUS CHRIST,
CAME TO BE WORSHIPED AS GODS.
JESUS CHRIST A DEMIGOD,
ACCORDING TO CHRISTIAN WRITERS.
IT is truly surprising to observe the damaging concessions of
some of the early Christian writers, ruinous to the dogmas of their
own faith with respect to the divinity of Jesus Christ, placing
him, as they do, on an exact level with the heathen demigods,
proving that the belief in his divinity originated in the same
manner the belief in theirs did, by which it is clearly shown to be
a pagan derived doctrine. Several Christian writers admit the
belief in earth-born Gods (called Sons of Gods), and their coming
into the world by human birth was prevalent among the heathen long
prior to the time of Christ. Hear the proof.
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We will first quote St. Justin relative to the prevalence of
the belief among the ancient Greeks and Romans. Addressing them, he
says, "The title of Son of God (As applied to Jesus Christ) is very
justifiable upon the account of his wisdom, considering you have
your Mercury in your worship, under the title of Word or Messenger
of God." (Reeves Apol. p. 76.) Here is the proof that the tradition
of the Son of God coming alto the world, and "the Word becoming
flesh," was established amongst the ancient Greeks and Romans long
prior to the era of Christianity, or the birth of Christ.
And yet more than a hundred millions of Christian professors
can now be found, who, in their historic ignorance, suppose St.
John was the first writer who taught the doctrine of "the Word
becoming flesh," and that Jesus Christ was "the first and only
begotten Son of God" who ever made his appearance on earth. How
true it is that "ignorance is the mother of devotion" to creeds.
How "the man Christ Jesus" came to be worshiped as a God, is
pretty clearly indicated by Bishop Horne, who shows that the
doctrine of the incarnation was of universal prevalence long before
Jesus Christ came into the flesh. He says, "That God should, in
some extraordinary manner, visit and dwell with man, is an idea,
which, as we read the writings of the ancient heathen, meets us in
a thousand different forms." If, then, the tradition of God being
born into the world was so universally established in heathen
countries before the Christian era, as here shown, why should not,
and why will not, our good Christian brethren dismiss their
prejudices, and tear the scales from their eyes, so as to see that
this universal belief would as naturally lead to the deification
and worship of "the man Christ Jesus" as water flows down a
descending plane?
And, certainly a thousand times more reasonable is the
assumption that his deification originated in this way, than that,
with all his frailties and foibles, he was entitled to the
appellation of a God -- a conclusion strongly corroborated by the
testimony of that able Christian writer, Mr. Norton, who tells us
that many of the first Christians being converts from Gentileism,
their imaginations were familiar with the reputed incarnation of
heathen deities." How natural it would be for such converts to
worship "the man Christ Jesus" as a God on account of his superior
manhood!
Again, that ancient pillar of the Christian church, St.
Justin, concedes that the ancient oriental heathen held all the
cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith relating to the
incarnation long prior to the introduction and establishment of
Christianity. Hear him: Addressing the pagans, he says, "For by
declaring the Logos the first begotten Son of God, our Master,
Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin without any human mixture, and
to be crucified, and dead, and to have risen again into heaven, we
say no more in this than what you say of those whom you style the
sons of Jove." (Reeves, Apol. vol. i.p. 69.) Now, Christian reader,
mark the several important admissions which are made here: --
1. Here is traced to ancient heathen tradition the belief in
an incarnate Son of God.
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2. The doctrine of a "first begotten Son of God."
3. Of his being born of a virgin.
4. Of his crucifixion.
5. Of his resurrection.
6. Of his final ascension into heaven.
All these cardinal doctrines of Christianity are here shown to
have been in existence, and to have been preached by pagan priests
long anterior to the Christian era, thus entirely oversetting the
common belief of Christendom that these doctrines were never known
or preached in the world until heralded by the first disciples of
the Christian religion. A fatal mistake, truly! This suicidal
admission of St. Justin (a standard Christian writer) thus entirely
uptrips all pretensions to originality in the fundamental doctrines
of the Christian faith, and shows it to be a mere travesty of the
more ancient heathen systems.
And we have still other testimony to corroborate this
conclusion. The French writer Bazin says, "The most ancient
histories are those of Gods becoming incarnate in order to govern
mankind." Again he says, "The idea sprang up everywhere from
confused ideas of God, which prevailed everywhere among mankind
that Gods formerly descended upon earth. The fertile imagination of
the people of various nations converted men into Gods."
And to the same effect is the declaration of Mr. Higgins, that
"there was incarnate Gods in all religions."
Sadly beclouded and warped indeed must be that mind which
cannot see that here is set in as plain view as the cloudless sun
at noonday, the origin of the deification of "the man Christ
Jesus." No unbiased mind can possibly stave off the conclusion that
such a universal prevalence of the practice of God-making
throughout the religious world would cause such a man as Jesus
Christ to be worshiped as a God -- especially when we look at the
various motives which promoted men to Gods, which we will now
present.
MOTIVES TO INCARNATION, OR THE CAUSE OF MEN
BEING WORSHIPED AS GODS.
The causes which led to the conception of Gods and Sons of God
becoming clothed in human flesh -- the manner in which the absurd
idea originated of an infinite being descending from heaven,
assuming the form of a man, being born of a pure and spotless
virgin, and finally being killed by his own children, the subjects
of his own government, are palpably plain and easily understood in
the light of oriental history.
And at the same time it is so shockingly absurd, that the
rapid march of science and civilization will soon inaugurate the
era when the man or woman who shall still be found clinging to
these childish and superstitious conceptions -- the offspring of
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ignorance, and the relics of barbarism, and a certain proof of
undeveloped or unenlightened minds -- will be looked upon as
deplorably ignorant and superstitious. We will proceed to enumerate
some of the causes which promoted men to the dignity of Gods.
1. God must come down to suffer and sympathize with the
people.
The people of all ancient religious countries were so
externally-minded, that they demanded a God whom they could know by
virtue of his corporeity, really sympathized with their sorrows,
their sufferings, their wrongs, and their oppressions, and, like
Jesus Christ, "touched with a feeling of our infirmities" (Heb. iv.
15) -- a God so far invested with human attributes, human
frailties, and human sympathies, that he could shoulder their
burdens and their infirmities, and take upon himself a portion of
their sufferings. Hence it is said of Christ, "himself took our
infirmities." (Matt. iii. 17.)
The same conception runs through the pagan systems. One writer
sets forth the matter thus: "The Creator occasionally assumed a
mortal form to assist mankind in great emergencies" (as Jesus
Christ was afterward reported as being the Creator. See Col. i.
16.) "And as repeated sojourners on earth in various capacities,
they (the Saviors) became practically acquainted with all the
sorrows and temptations of humanity, and could justly judge of its
sins while they sympathized with its weaknesses and its sufferings.
When they again returned to the higher regions (heaven), they
remembered the lower forms they had dwelt amongst, and felt a
lively interest in the world they had once inhabited. They could
penetrate even the secret thoughts of mortals."
The people then demanding a God of sympathy and suffering (as
shown above), their credulous imaginations would not be long in
finding one. Let a man rise up in society endowed with an
extraordinary degree of spirituality and sympathy for human
suffering; let him, like Chrishna, Pythagoras, Christ, and Mahomet,
spend his time in visiting the hovels of the poor, or consoling
their sorrows, laboring to mitigate their griefs, and in performing
acts of charity, disinterested alms and deeds of benevolence,
kindness and love, and so certain would he sooner or later command
the homage of a God. For this was always the mode adopted, in an
ignorant, undeveloped, and unenlightened age, for accounting not
merely for moral greatness, but for every species of mental and
physical superiority, as will be hereafter shown. We will proceed
to notice the second cause of men being invested with divine
attributes.
2. The people must and would have an external God they could
see, hear, and talk to.
All the oriental nations, as well as Christian, taught that
"God was a spirit," but no nation or class of people, not even the
founders of Christianity, entertained a consistent view of the
doctrine. Only a few learned philosophers saw the scientific
impossibility of an infinite spirit being crowded into the human
form. Hence they alone were contented to "worship God in spirit and
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in truth." Every religious nation went counter to the spirit of
this injunction in worshiping for a God a being in the human form.
Even the founders of Christianity, though making high claims to
spirituality, were too gross, too sensuous in their conceptions,
too externally-minded, and too idolatrous in their feelings and
proclivities, to be content to "worship God in spirit." Hence their
deification of the "Man Christ Jesus" to answer the requisition of
an external worship, by which they violated the command to "worship
God as a spirit."
That the practice of promoting men to the Godhead originated
with minds on the external plane, and evinces a want of spiritual
development, is clearly set forth by the author of "The Nineteenth
Century" (a Christian writer) who tells us, "The idea of the
primitive ages were wholly sensuous, and the masses did not believe
in anything except that which they could touch, see, hear and
taste." A true description, no doubt, of the ancient pagan
worshipers of demigods. But we warn the Christian reader not to
cast anchor here, for we have at our elbow abundance of Christian
testimony from the pens of the very oracles of the church to prove
that the same state of things, the same state of society, the same
state of mind, the same proclivity for God-making, existed with the
people among whom Christ was born, and that it was owing to this
sensuous, idolatrous state of mind among his disciples that he
received the homage and title of a God.
Hence the famous Archbishop Tillotson says, "Another very
common notion, and rife in the heathen world, and a great source of
their idolatry, was their deification of great men fit to be
worshiped as Gods." ... "There was a great inclination in mankind
to the worship of a visible Deity. So God was pleased to appear in
our nature, that they who were fond of a visible Deity might have
one, even a true and natural incarnation of God the Father, the
express image of his person." Now, we enjoin the reader to mark
this testimony well, and impress it indelibly upon his memory.
According to this orthodox Christian bishop, Jesus Christ appeared
on earth as a God in condescension to the wishes of a people too
devoid of spirituality, and too strongly inclined to idolatry, to
worship God as a spirit. For he admits the worship of a God-man or
a man-God is a species of idolatry. This tells the whole story of
the apotheosis of "the man Christ Jesus." We have no doubt but that
here is suggested one of the true causes of his elevation to the
Deityship. Again he says, "The world was mightily bent on
addressing their requests and supplications, not to the Deity
immediately, but by some Mediator between the Gods and men." (See
Wadsworth's Eccles. Biog. p. 172.) Here, then, we have the most
conclusive proof that the belief in mediators is of pagan origin.
We will now hear from another archbishop on this subject. in his
"Caution to the Times" (p. 71), Archbishop Whately says, "As the
Infinite Being is an object too remote and incomprehensible for our
minds to dwell upon, he has manifested himself in his Son, the man
Jesus Christ." Precisely so! just the kind of reasoning employed to
account for the worship of man-Gods among the heathen. This logic
fits one case as well as the other.
The Christian writer F.D. Maurice declares in like manner, "We
accept the fact of the incarnation (of Jesus Christ), because we
feel that it is impossible to know the absolute invisible God
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without an incarnation, as man needs to know him, and craves to
know him." (Logical Essay, p. 79.) Here is more pagan logic -- the
same reasoning they employed to prove the divinity of their Saviors
and demi-gods. And the Rev. Dr. Thomas Arnold declares, "It (the
incarnation of Christ) was very necessary, especially at a time
when men were so accustomed to worship their highest Gods under the
form of men." (Sermon on Christian Life, p. 61.) Let the reader
attentively observe the explicit avowal here made, and mark well
its pregnant inferences. He makes Jesus Christ come into the world
in condescension to the idolatrous rivalry of the Jews to be up
with the heathen nations in worshiping God in the form of man; that
is, the founders of Christianity, having been Jews, disclosed the
true Jewish character in running after and adopting the customs of
heathen countries then so rife -- that of hunting up a great man,
and making him a God -- which was only one case out of many of the
Jews adopting some of the numerous forms of idolatry and other
religious customs of their heathen neighbors. Their whole history,
as set forth in the Bible, proves, as we have shown in another
chapter, that they were strongly prone to such acts. It is not
strange, therefore, that they should and did convert "the man
Christ Jesus" into a God. We will now listen to another Christian
writer, the notable and noteworthy Dr. T. Chambers. "Whatever the
falsely or superstitiously fearful imagination conjures up because
of God being at a distance, can only be dispelled by God being
brought nigh to us. ...
The veil which hides the unseen God from the eyes of mortals
must be somehow withdrawn." (Select Works, vol. iii. p. 161.) Most
significant indeed is this species of reasoning. It is the same
kind of logic which had led to the promotion of more than a score
of great men to the God-head among the ancient heathen. "The veil
which hides the unseen God must be removed," -- says Dr. Chambers;
and so had reasoned in soliloquy a thousand pagans long before,
when determined to worship men for Gods. It is simply saying, "We
are too carnally-minded to worship God in spirit; we must and will
have a God of flesh and blood -- a God who can be recognized by the
external senses; he must "become flesh, and dwell amongst us." (See
John i. 14.) Our author continues: "Now all this (removing the veil
from the unseen God) has been done once, and done only once in the
person of Jesus Christ." (Ibid.) Mistake, most fatal mistake,
brother Chambers! It has been done more than a score of times in
various heathen countries -- a fact which proves you ignorant of
oriental history.
Now let the reader mark the foregoing citations from standard
Christian authors, setting forth some of the reasons which led the
founders of Christianity to adopt a visible man-God in their
worship in the person of Jesus Christ. Language could hardly be
used to prove more conclusively that the whole thing grew out of an
idolatrous proclivity to man-worship, -- that is, the gross,
sensuous, carnally-minded propensity to worship an external,
visible God, -- proving, with the corroborative evidence of many
other facts, that they were not a whit above the heathen in
spiritual development. The reason employed by the Tibetan for the
worship of the Hindoo Chrishna as a God, tells the whole story of
the worship and the deification of Jesus Christ. "We could not
always have God behind the clouds; so we had him come down where we
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could see him." This is the same kind of reasoning made use of by
the Christian writer above quoted, all of which discloses a state
of mind among both heathen and Christians that would not long rest
satisfied without deifying somebody, in order to have a visible God
to worship. And hence Christians deified "the man Christ Jesus" for
this purpose.
"The more externally minded (says Fleurbach), the greater was
the determination to worship a personal God" -- God in the form of
man. And as the Jewish founders of Christianity (as every chapter
of their history demonstrates) were dwelling on the external plane,
it was not an act of direct innovation, therefore, for them to fall
into the habit of worshiping the personal Jesus as a God. It
involved no serious incursion on previous thoughts or habits. And
warped and blinded, indeed, must be that mind which cannot here
discover the true key to the apotheosis of Jesus -- one of the real
causes of his being stripped of his manhood, and advanced to the
Godhead. It was as naturally to be expected from the then state of
the religious world, and the state of the Jewish mind concerned in
the founding of Christianity, as that an autumnal crop of fruit
should succeed the bloom of spring.
Let it be specially noted, that all the Christian writers
above cited tell us, in effect, that God sent his Son Jesus Christ
into the world to be worshiped as a God in condescension to the
ignorance and superstitious tendencies, and we will add, idolatrous
proclivities of the people. From this stand-point we challenge the
world to show why God may not have sent the oriental Saviors into
the world for the same reason -- that is, in condescension to the
prejudices of the devout worshipers under the heathen systems. Why,
then, is there not as much probability that he did do so? Why would
he not be as likely to accommodate their ignorance and prejudices
in this way as those of the founders of the Christian system. This
question we shall keep standing before the Christian world till it
is answered, and we challenge them to meet it, and overthrow it if
they can.
3. Men deified on account of mental and moral superiority.
The ancient nations, in their entire ignorance of the
philosophy of the human mind, and the laws controlling its actions,
always accounted for the appearance of great men amongst them by
supposing them to be Gods. Every country occasionally produced a
man, who, by virtue of natural superiority, rose so high in the
scale of moral and intellectual greatness as to fill the ideal of
the people with respect to the characteristics of a God. So low, so
limited, so narrow, so greatly circumscribed were the conceptions
of deity, of the undeveloped and intellectually dwarfed minds of
all religious countries in that age, that a man had to rise but a
few degrees above the common level of the populace to become a God.
He could "easily fill the bill," and exhibit all the qualities they
assigned to the highest God in the heavens. And this is as true of
the Jewish mind as that of any other nation, a portion of whom
adored Jesus as a God. Or if they lacked anything in natural
inclination, they made it up by imitation, a propensity which they
possessed in no small degree, that is, a proneness to imitate the
customs of other nations.
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Mr. Higgins tells us that "men of brilliant intellects and
high moral attainments, and great healers (of which Christ was
one), were almost certain to be deified." In like manner Archbishop
Tillotson says, "they deified famous and eminent persons by
advancing them after their death to the dignity of an inferior kind
of Gods fit to be worshiped by men on earth." Mark the expression,
"after their death." We have shown in another chapter that Jesus
Christ was not generally considered a God, even by his followers,
till more than three hundred years after his death, when
Constantine declared him to be "God of very God" -- a circumstance
of itself sufficient to establish the conclusion that he did not
possess this character. A God would be adored as such by everybody
while living, but a man's worshipers rise up after his death, as in
the case of "the man Christ Jesus." Great mental endowments, or
great moral attainments, would, in most countries, bring the most
ignorant down on their knees to worship such a man as a God. But it
required years, and sometimes centuries, to get him fully
established among the Gods. This is as true of Jesus Christ as the
other human-descended deities. Whatever amount of homage Jesus
might have received while living, any person who will institute a
thorough, unbiased scrutiny in the case will discover that it was
his great healing powers and superior mental qualities which
finally deified him. His ignorant admirers knew no way of
accounting for such extraordinary qualities but to suppose him to
be the embodiment of infinite wisdom. Like the Chinaman who
exclaimed, "See the God in that man," when an Englishman cured a
young woman of partial blindness by anointing her eyes with
kerosene. Such a deed would deify almost any man, in almost any
country, before the dawn of letters and the recognition of the
science of mind.
The missionary Rev. D.O. Allen's method of accounting for the
deification of the Hindoo God Chrishna is so suggestive, that we
here present it. He tells us that "as the exploits ascribed to
Chrishna exceed mere human power, the difficulty was removed by
placing him among the incarnations of Vishnu." (India, Ancient and
Modern, p. 26.) Exactly so! We are glad of such historic
information. We hope the Christian reader will note the lesson it
suggests. For certainly, every reader, who has not had his reason
shipwrecked on the shoals of a blind and dogmatic theology, can see
here a key to unlock the great mystery of the Christian incarnation
-- the divinity of Jesus Christ. As some of the exploits of
Chrishna were supposed to "exceed mere human power," we are told
the difficulty was explained by imagining him to be a God. How
powerful the suggestion! how conclusive the explanation, not only
for the Godhood of this sin-atoning Savior, but for that of "our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," and all the other Lords, and Gods,
and Saviors of antiquity! A single hint will sometimes explain
whole volumes of obscure history, as does this of the Rev.
Christian Hindoo missionary D.O. Allen. And surely, most deplorably
blinded by superstition must be the two hundred millions of Christ
worshipers, the three hundred millions who worship Chrishna, the
one hundred and twenty million adorers of Confucius, the fifty
millions of suppliants of Mithra the Mediator, and the one hundred
and fifty millions of followers of Mahomet, who cannot see here a
satisfactory solution of the deityship of all these Gods, and all
the other man-Gods of antiquity.
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The question is sometimes asked, How could two hundred
millions of people come to believe that Jesus was a God merely
because of his superiority as a man? We will answer by pointing to
the history of the Hindoo Chrishna, and by asking the same question
with respect to his Godhead. How could three hundred millions of
people be brought to believe in his divinity, and worship him as a
God, merely because he was a superior human being? One question is
as easily answered as the other, and posterity will answer both
questions alike. When we observe it taught as an important and
easily learned lesson of history, and one based on a thousand
facts, that no man could rise to intellectual greatness or moral
distinction in the era in which Christ was born without being
advanced to the dignity of a God, and worshiped as such, it is
really a source of humility and sorrow to every unshackled lover of
truth and humanity to reflect that there are so many millions of
people whose mental vision is so beclouded by a dogmatic and
inexorable theology that they cannot see the logical potency of
these facts, -- that they cannot be even moved by this great and
overwhelming amount of evidence against the divinity dogma, and
observe that it explodes it into a thousand fragments, but still
cling to the delusion that "the man Christ Jesus," with all the
human qualities and human frailties with which his own history (the
Gospels) invest him, was nevertheless a God, -- ay, the monstrous
delusion that any being possessing a finite form could be an
infinite being -- a most self-evident and shocking absurdity. And
we challenge all Christendom to show, or approximate one inch
toward showing, that there was sufficient difference between Christ
and Chrishna to require us to accept one as a man and the other as
a God. It cannot be done.
We have shown, then, by the foregoing exposition, that one
cause of the deification of men was simply an attempt to solve the
problem of human greatness, -- an attempt to account for the moral
and intellectual superiority of men which enabled them to perform
deeds and otherwise exhibit a character far above the capacity of
the multitude to comprehend, and which they could find no other way
to account for than to suppose them to be Gods, while the low and
groveling conceptions which most religious nations, and especially
the Jews, had formed of the character and essential attributes of
the Infinite Deity (often investing him with the most ignoble human
attributes, human passions, and human imperfections), made it
perfectly easy to convert their great men by imagination into Gods.
The Jews represented God not only as a coming down from heaven in
propria persona, and walking, talking, wrestling, &c., as a man (on
one occasion we are told he and Jacob scuffled all night), but he
is often represented as acting the part of a wicked man, such as
lying (see 2 Chron. v. 22), getting mad (see Detit. i. 37),
swearing, sanctioning the high-handed and demoralizing crimes of
stealing (see Ex. iii. 2), of robbery (see Ex. xii. 36), of murder
(see Deut. xiii. 2) and even fornication (see Gen. xxxi. i, and
Num. xxxi) and thus they invested Deity with such mean, low,
despicable attributes as to reduce his moral character to a level
with the most immoral man in society. So that it was very easy, if
not very natural, to elevate their great men (if it really required
any elevation) to a level with their God.
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Men and Gods were in character and conception so nearly alike,
that it was easy to bring them on a level, or to mistake one for
the other. And hence it is we find an incarnated God, Savior, Son
of God, Redeemer, &c., figuring in he early history of nearly every
oriental religious nation whose name and history has descended to
us. Indeed, the practice of deifying men, or mistaking men for
Gods, was once so common, so nearly universal, that it must require
a mind very ignorant of oriental history to adore Jesus Christ as
having been the only character of this kind who figured in the
religious world. It was, as before suggested, deemed the most
rational way of accounting for the marked superiority among men, to
suppose that some men had a divine birth, and were begotten by the
great Infinite Deity himself, and descended to the earth through
the purest human (virgin) channel.
As Mr. Higgins remarks, "Every person who possessed a striking
superiority of mind, either for talent or goodness, was supposed
anciently to have a portion of the divine mind or essence
incorporated or incarnated in him." The Jews had a number of men
whose names imply a participation in the divine nature, among which
we will cite Elijah and Elisha (El-i-jah and El-i-sha), El being
the Hebrew name or term for God, while Jah is Jehovah (see Ps.
lxviii. 4), and Sha means a Savior. Elijah, then, is an
approximation to God-Jehovah, and Elisha is God -- a Savior. The
character of men and Gods were cast in molds so approximately
similar, so nearly identical, as to make the transition, or change
from one to the other, so slight and easy; either of men into Gods
or Gods into men, that several nations went so far as to teach that
a man might by his own natural exertions, his own voluntary powers,
raise himself to a level with the Deity, and thereby become a God.
Mr. Ritter in his "History of Ancient Philosophy" (Chap. II.),
tells us that some of the Buddhist sect held that "a man by freeing
himself by holiness of conduct from the obstacles of nature, may
deliver his fellows from the corruption of the times, and become a
benefactor and redeemer of his race, and also even become a God" --
a "Buddha" -- i.e., a Savior and Son of God. Singular enough that
the Christian should object to this doctrine as being rather
blasphemous, when his own bible abundantly and explicitly teaches
the same doctrine in effect!
We find the same thing substantially taught over and over
again in the Christian Scriptures. "Be ye perfect even as your
Father in heaven is perfect " (Matt. v. 18), requires a man to
become morally perfect as God, which is all that the Buddhist
precept requires or contemplates, and no man can become perfect as
God without becoming a God. But we are not left to mere inference
in the matter, We have the doctrine several times expressed and
unquestionably taught in the Christian bible of man's power and
prerogative to become either a God or Son of God. "Said I not that
ye are Gods?" (Ex. iv. 16). "Behold now, we are the sons of God."
(I John i. 2.)
Here is the Buddhist doctrine as explicitly stated as it can
be taught. It is, then, a Christian bible doctrine as well as a
pagan doctrine, that man can become a God, and that God can be born
of woman, and thereby invested with all the frail and imperfect
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attributes of man. It cannot be considered a matter of marvel,
therefore, that so many of the good, the great, and the wise men of
almost every country, including "the man Christ Jesus," should be
honored and adored with the titles of Deity, and worshiped as God
absolute, "Son of God," "Savior," "Redeemer," "Mediator," &c.
4. God comes down and is incarnated to fight and conquer the
devil. We will proceed to enumerate other causes and motives which
conspired in various cases to invest some one or more of the great
men of a nation with divine honors, and adore them as veritable
Gods and Saviors "come down to us in the form of men." It was a
tenant of faith with most of the ancient religions, that almost at
the dawn of human existence a devil or evil principle found its way
into the world, to the great discomfiture of man and the no small
annoyance of the Supreme Creator himself, and that hence there must
needs be a Savior, a Redeemer, an Intercessor to combat and if
possible "destroy the devil and his works."
For this purpose appeared the Savior Chrishna, in India, the
Savior Osiris, in Egypt, the God or Mediator Mithra, in Persia, the
Redeemer Quexalcote, in Mexico, the Savior Jesus Christ, in Judea,
&c. In the initiatory chapter on the transgression and fall of man,
some of the oriental bibles graphically describe the scene of "the
war in heaven" -- a counterpart to the story of St. John, as found
in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, wherein Michael and the
dragon are represented as the captains and commander-in-chief of
their respective embattled hosts, and in which the former was
crowned as victor in the contest, as he succeeded in vanquishing
and "casting out the evil one." In the pagan military drama the
scene of the war in heaven is transferred to the earth. A God, a
Savior (a Son of God), comes down to put a stop to the machinations
of the "Evil One," i.e., to "destroy the devil and his works" as we
are told Christ came for that purpose. (i John iii. 8) See the
Author's "Biography of Satan."
The Egyptian story runs thus: "Osiris appeared on earth to
benefit mankind, and after he had performed the duties of his
mission, and had fallen a sacrifice to Typhon (the devil, or evil
principle), which, however, he eventually overcame ('overcame the
wicked one,' i John ii. II), by rising from the dead, after being
crucified, he became the judge of mankind in a future state." (See
Kerrick's "Ancient Egypt;" also Wilkinson's "Egypt.")
The Buddhist, or Hindoo, version of the story is on this wise:
"The prince (of darkness), or evil spirit, Ravana, or Mahesa, got
into a contest and a war with the divine hero Rania, in which the
latter proved victorious, and put to flight the army of 'the wicked
one,' but not till after considerable injury had been done to the
human family, and the whole order of the universe subverted; to
rectify which, and to achieve a final and complete triumph over
Ravana (the devil) and his works, and thus save the human race from
utter destruction, the gods besought Vishnu (the second person of
the Trinity) to descend to the earth and take upon himself the form
and flesh of man. And it was argued that as the mission appertained
to man, the God Vishnu, when he descended to the earth in the
capacity of a Savior, should become half man and half God, and that
the most feasible way to accomplish this end was for him to be born
of a woman.
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And that the glory and honor of his triumph over Ravana, the
devil, would be greater if achieved in this capacity than if he
were to come down from heaven and conquer Ravana wholly with his
attributes as a God, or wholly in his divine character -- i.e., as
absolute God, uninvested with human nature. The suggestion was
approved by Vishnu, who descended and took upon himself the form of
man" ("the form of a servant" -- Phil. ii. 7). And that his
metamorphosis or earth-born life might be the purer, it was decided
that he should be born of a woman wholly uncontaminated with man --
that is, a virgin. And thus, far back in the midnight of mythology
and fable, originated the story of divine Saviors and Gods being
born of virgins -- a conception now found incorporated in the
religious histories of various ancient nations.
And now let us observe how substantially the Christian story
of a Savior conforms to the above. Jesus, like the Saviors of India
and Egypt, was believed to be a man-God -- half man and half God,
and reputedly he came into the world, like them, to "destroy the
devil and his works, or the works of the devil -- that is, to put
an end to the evil or malignant principle introduced into the world
by the serpent in the garden of Eden; as it is declared "the seed
of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head" (Gen. iii. 15) --
which is interpreted as referring to Christ. And like these and
various other pagan Saviors Jesus is assigned the highest and most
ennobling human origin -- a birth from a virgin. And, as in the
instances above named, Jesus had also several encounters with the
devil; first in the wilderness, then on a mountain, and finally,
like them, falls a sacrifice to his insidious, malignant power
acting through the agency and mediumship of Judas Iscariot; for his
betrayal is ascribed wholly to Satan, whom John called the serpent,
entering into Judas and prompting the act. (See Rev. xii. 3). And
thus Christ, like the other saviors, falls a victim to the
serpentine or satanic power acting through the instrumentality of
a Judas Iscariot; but finally, triumphed, like the Savior of Egypt
(Osiris), by rising from the dead -- "the first fruits of
immortality." And thus the stories run parallel -- the more modern
Christian with the more ancient pagan.
(For a full exposition of the belief and traditions respecting
a devil and a hell in all ages and all countries, see the Author's
"Biography of Satan.")
CHAPTER XXX.
SACRED CYCLES EXPLAINING THE ADVENT OF THE GODS,
THE MASTER-KEY TO THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST.
Extraordinary Revelations in History and Science.
RECENT explorations in the field of oriental sacred history
have revealed to the antiquarian some curious and deeply
interesting facts appertaining to traditions founded on, and
growing out of, astronomical phenomena and changes in the visible
heavens, which throw much light on, and go far toward elucidating
and furnishing a satisfactory explanation of many of the
"mysteries" of the Christian bible. The works which we have
consulted, containing the reports and results of researches of this
character, tend to elucidate and establish the following
conclusions: --
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1. That anciently, in religious countries, time was divided
into Cycles, Aetas, or Neros.
2. That these measures of time grew out of, and represented
periodical changes, or periodically occurring phenomena in the
astronomical heavens.
3. That some religious nations had three Cycular periods of
different lengths, representing three orders and degrees of
miraculous births. In India the length of the first or shorter
Cycle was thirty days, the length of one moon or month. Every
change of the moon marked an important event in their religions
history. Each change was supposed to denote the birth of some angel
or celestial being, known as an Eon. The second Cycular period was
of six hundred years' duration, and was founded on a text of the
sacred book of India, known as the Surya Sidhanta, which declares
"the equinoctial point moves eastward one degree in thirty times
twenty years" (thirty times twenty being 600). At every occurrence
of this equinoctial change heightened by an eclipse of the sun or
moon, or some other wonder-exciting phenomenon, a God was supposed
to be born. Such a marvelous and terror-inspiring event, in the
apprehensions of the credulous and superstitions populace of an
unscientific age, could not be designed for anything less than the
birth of a God or Divine Savior. Their theology teaches that such
was the wickedness of man, that a God had to descend from heaven,
and suffer and die for the people, in some way, every six hundred
years.
And this period was announced by the God's causing a collision
of the sun and moon, or some other terror-exciting phenomena in the
heavens above or the earth beneath. When one of these six hundred
Cycular periods was about to expire, and another commence, every
remarkable phenomenon in the heavens was watched and interpreted as
being connected with it. And some person born at that period, who
exhibited any remarkable or extraordinary trait of character, was
certain to be promoted to the Godhead, as being miraculously born
and brought forth for the special occasion. He was the Avatar
Savior or Messiah for that Cycle. There were two extraordinary
events to be counted for -- one was the display of unusual and
terror-exciting phenomena in the heavens, and the other the birth
of extraordinary men on earth. And it was natural for an ignorant
age to associate them together, and make one aid in accounting for
the other. And as these celestial phenomena were only witnessed at
intervals distant apart, the thought naturally arose, and the
conclusion was easily established, that they came periodically, and
for the special purpose of heralding the birth of a God.
And as tradition reported that similar events were witnessed
six hundred years before the conviction was fixed in the popular
mind, this was the established period intervening between these
great epochs. And thus the six hundred year Cycular tradition
became established in India, and finally spread through all the
Eastern countries. We find traces of it in Egypt, Syria, Persia,
Chaldea, China, Italy, and Judea. And the proof that the
deification of great men in some countries grew out of this Cycular
tradition is found in the fact that many of them were born at the
commencement of Cycles. The Hindoos are able to recount the names
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of ten sin-atoning Saviors who made their appearance on earth at
these regular intervals of six hundred years. The name of the first
Avatar Mediator and Savior who forsook the throne of heaven to come
down and die for the people was Matsa. Tradition and the sacred
books fix his birth at about six thousand years B.C. The names and
advent of the other sin-atoning Saviors occur in the following
order: 2. Vurahay, 3. Kurma, 4. Nursu, 5. Waman, 6. Pursuram, 7.
Kama, 8. Chrishna, 9. Sakia, 10. Salavahana. The last named Savior
was contemporary with Jesus Christ. The God and Savior Sakia was
born six hundred years B.C. "Our Lord and Savior" and "Son of God,"
Chrisna, was immaculately conceived and miraculously born,
according to Higgins, 1200 B.C.
A circumstance strongly confirming the conclusion that Cycular
periods had much to do with the promotion of men to the dignity of
Gods is, that most of the deified personages reported in history
were, according to the best authorities, born near the commencement
of Cycles. Recurring back to the eighth Cycle, we observe the
advent of that period of Chrishna, Zoroaster 2d, Bali, Thammiiz,
Atys, Osiris, and several ethers. At the commencement of the ninth
Cycle. appeared Sakia, Quexalcote, Zoroaster 2d, Xion, Quirinus,
Prometheus, Mithra and many others. The tenth Cycle brought in
Jesus Christ, Salavhana, Apollonious, and others that might be
named. Mahomet succeeded Jesus Christ just six hundred years (he
was born in the year 600 A.D.), which inaugurated another Cycle.
Many facts are recorded in history proving the prevalence and
sacredness of the Cycle idea in different countries, The story in
Egypt of the bird called the Phoenix, being hatched, according to
tradition, just 600 years B.C., and living to be just six hundred
years old, and having the power to renew itself every six hundred
years, shows the prevalence of the Cyoular tradition in that
country.
We have the statement upon the records of history that when
the first six hundred years after the foundation of Rome were about
to expire, the people became greatly excited with the apprehension
that some extraordinary event must attend the occasion. And but for
the influence of the philosophers, some extraordinary man would
have been hunted up and promoted to divine honor as being the God
born for that Cycle. The writings of Plato, Plutarch, Ovid, Cicero,
Virgil, and Aristotle, all evince a belief in Cycles, and the
belief that ten Cycles, or Aetas, were the measure, for the
duration of the world. According to M. Faber, a new-born Savior was
always expected to make his appearance at the commencement of one
of these Cycles. Hence the deification of those personages above
named, and many others that might be named. It is a remarkable
circumstance that the Jewish bible should speak of Noah as being
six hundred years old at the commencement of the flood, when it was
a tradition amongst the ancient Egyptians that the ushering in of
the six hundredth year Cycle was to be attended with a flood.
And the time antecedent to Noah after creation, was the
measure of three Cycles, according to the chronology of the
Samaritan bible, it being 600+600+600=1800 years from Adam to Noah.
It is an interesting fact that those enigmatical figures made use
of by Daniel, as also some of those found in the Apocalypse, are
susceptible of a Cycular explanation. These occult prophecies, as
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they are supposed to be, which have puzzled and bewildered many
thousands of Christian minds and bible expounders in their attempt
to evolve their signification, are susceptible of a Cycular
explanation. They are of easy solution on a Cycular basis, or with
the Cycular key.
Take, for example, Daniel's famous prophecy (so called) of the
seventy weeks, as found in the ninth chapter, announcing the advent
of a Messiah at the end of that period. We find by a calculation
based on Tyson's "Historical Atlas," and Haskell's "Chronology and
Universal History," that Daniel lived in the hundred and tenth year
of the ninth Cycle, at which time the prefigure seems to have been
used. Assuming this as a basis, and multiplying seventy weeks by
seven, to convert it into years, as Christian essayists are
accustomed to doing, and we have as the result 70X7=490, which
being added to one hundred and ten, the year that gave birth to the
prophesy, makes six hundred, which exactly completes the Cycle, and
furnishes a simple and beautiful explanation of a mystical figure,
on which many thousands of conjectures, speculations, and guesses
have been founded, but on which they have failed to throw any
light.
The 70X70=490 years, were wanting to complete the Cycle; and
when this rolled away, it brought a new Cycle, and with it a new
sin-atoning Savior was always expected in some countries (the
country in which Daniel lived being one of this number); a new
Messiah (or sin-atoning, Savior), and some great man born at that
time, was fixed upon and deified as being that Messiah. Hence the
Jews, in imitation of their neighbors, yielding to their strong
proclivities to borrow from and copy after heathen nations,
selected "the man Christ Jesus" as their Messiah and Savior. The
mystical era of Daniel, signified by "a time, times, and the
dividing of time" (Dan. vii. 25), or, as St. John has it, "a time,
times, and a half time (see Rev. xii. 14) is explainable by the
same Cycular key.
Some writers have conjectured that Daniel was a Chaldean
priest. If so, he must have had a knowledge of their astronomical
Cycle of two thousand one hundred and sixty years, which completed
the period of the precession of the equinoxes. Explained by this
Cycle, his "time, times, and dividing of time, or half time," or "a
time, another time, and a half time," as some writers have rendered
it, would be 2160+2160+1080 5400; nine Cycles exactly, as 600x9=
5400. Add this to the Cycle in which he lived, and we have
5400+600=6000, the great Millennial Cycle, when not only a new
Savior and Messiah was to be born, but a new world also. Both the
long and short Cycle (and one was a measure of the other) were
expected to expire at that time, according to a Chaldean tradition.
And thus is beautifully explained another "deep, dark and
unfathomable mystery," which thousands of devout minds have
exhausted their ingenuity in trying to find a meaning for. Again,
look at the frightful nightmare visions of Daniel and the author of
the Apocalypse, in which they saw a monstrous beast with seven
heads and ten horns, though Daniel mentions only the horns. The
seven heads were, in all probability, the seven auspicious months
of the year in which some of the nations revealed in the enjoyment
of, and praised and celebrated their fruitful, bountiful blessings,
the year being divided into two seasons, seven summer months and
five winter months.
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Now, let it be noted, St. John lived near the tenth Cycle,
which answers to the ten horns of the beast. Hence is most forcibly
suggested that interpretation of the figure. Daniel's ten horns
should have been translated eleven horns, as he lived in the ninth
Cycle, though so near the tenth, that he probably constructed his
figure on the tenth. And Daniel's prophetic declaration (so
considered), found in the eighth chapter, that it would be two
thousand three hundred days until the sanctuary should be closed,
is explainable in the same manner. According to Mr. Irving, Mr.
Frere, and other writers, there was a large fraction over the three
hundred days, making it nearer four hundred, and hence might have
been so rendered, which would make 2000+400=2400; the exact length
of four Cycles, 600X4=2400. And their are other mystical figures,
frightful visions, and occult metaphors found in the Apocalypse
susceptible of a Cycnlar solution. The Cycle is the true key for
unlocking many of the ancient mysteries of various religions. The
Chinese have always reckoned by Cycles of sixty years, instead of
by centuries. (See New Am. Encyclop. vol. v.p. 105,)
We will now bestow a brief notice on the Millennial Cycle: the
sacred period of 6000 years, composed of ten of the smaller Cycles,
600X10 = 6000. Dr. Hales says, "A tradition of Millennial ages
prevailed throughout the east, and finally reached the west."
(Chron. vol. i.p. 44.) We are told by astronomers that if the angle
which the plane of the ecliptic forms with the plane of the Equator
had decreased gradually, as it was once supposed to do, the two
planes would coincide in about six thousand years -- a period which
comprises ten of the smaller Cycles, 600X10=6000. And it was very
easy and very natural for an ignorant and superstitions age to
conclude that such a prodigious, astounding, and awful event as
that of two stupendous orbits or planes coming in contact with each
other, should be attended with some direful and calamitous event,
and with a tremendous display of divine power. Nothing less than an
entire revolution, if not the total destruction of the world, could
comport with the majesty and magnitude of such an event.
And this great crisis was to bring down the Omnipotent Divine
Judge from the throne of heaven; that is, the Almighty being who
caused it was to come down, or send his Son to call the nations to
judgment, and drown the world, or set it on fire. The first
destruction according to the tradition of the Chaldeans, Persians,
Assyrians, Mexicans, and some other nations, was to be by water,
and the next by fire, when the oceans, seas, and lakes were to be
converted into ashes. And Christ's apostles seemed to have
cherished this tradition. Peter says, "whereby the world that was
then, being overflowed by water, perished. But the heavens and the
earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved
unto fire against the day of judgement," (2 Peter iii. 6.) This was
a pagan belief long prior to the era of Peter. Josephus says, "Adam
predicted that the world would be twice destroyed, once by water,
next by fire." A writer says, "A glorious, blissful future attends
the destruction of the world by fire, and the reappearance of
Vishnu (i.e., eleventh incarnation of Vishnu) has been for several
thousand years the hopeful anticipation of India." "The last coming
of Vishnu in power and glory," says another writer, "to consummate
the final overthrow of evil, sin, and death, is so firmly fixed in
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the minds of the devotees, that they have an annual festival in
commemoration of their prophesy referring to it, at which they
exclaim, in a loud voice, "When will the Divine Helper come? when
will the Deliverer appear?"
At the consummation of this event, "a comet will roll under
the moon and set the world on fire;" so affirms their bible. And
the Persian bible, the Zend-Avesta, in like manner predicts that "a
star, with a tail in course of its revolution, will strike the
earth and set it on fire." Seneca predicts that "the time will come
when the world will be wrapped in flames, and the opposite powers
in conflict will mutually destroy each other."
Ovid prophesies poetically, --
"For thus the stern, unyielding Fates decree,
That earth, air, heaven, with the capacious sea,
All shall fall victims to devouring fire,
And in fierce flames the blazing Orbs expire,
Lucian, in a like spirit, exclaims, --
"One vast, appointed flame, by Fate's decree,
Shall waste yon azure heavens, the earth and sea."
The Egyptians marked their houses with red, to indicate that
the world would be destroyed by fire. Orpheus, 1200 B.C., at the
inauguration of the eighth Cycle, entertained fearful forebodings
of the speedy destruction of the world by water or fire. Some
nations held that the alternate destruction of the world by water
and fire had already occurred, and would occur again. Theopompus
informs us that some of the orientalists believed that "the God of
light and the God of darkness reigned by turn every six thousand
years (commencing with an astronomical Cycle of course), and that
during this period the other was held in subjection, which finally
resulted in "a war in heaven;" a counterpart to St. John's story.
(See Rev. chap. xii.)
This accords with Volney's statement, that "it was recorded in
the sacred books of the Persians and Chaldeans that the world,
composed of a total revolution of twelve thousand periods, was
divided into two partial revolutions of six thousand years each --
one being the reign of good, and the other the reign of evil."
(Ruins, p. 244.) This belief was disseminated through most of the
nations. One of these revolutions was produced, some believed, by
a concussion of worlds, which displaced the ocean and seas, and
thus produced a general flood, which drowned every living thing on
the earth. The next revolution will be caused by a collision of
worlds, which will produce fire, and burn the earth to ashes.
Now, let it be noted that all of these grand epochs were
founded on Cycles, and accompanied by the tradition of a God being
born upon the earth (conceived by a virgin maid), or descending in
person; that is, men were promoted to the Godhead. And in this way
Jesus Christ was deified. Volney explains the matter thus: "Now,
according to the Jewish computation, six thousand years had nearly
elapsed since the supposed creation of the world (according to
their chronology). This coincidence produced considerable
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fermentation in the minds of the people. Nothing was thought of but
the approaching termination. The great Mediator and Final Judge was
expected, and his advent desired, that an end might be put to their
calamities." (Ruins, p. 168).
Mr. Higgins corroborates this statement, when he tells us that
"about the time of the Caesars, there seems to have been a general
expectation that some Great One was to appear. And finally, when
the Cycle had passed, the people, the Jew-Christians, began to look
about to see who that Great One was. Some fixed on Herod, some on
Julius Caesar, and some on others. But finally public opinion
settled on one Jesus of Nazareth, on account of his superiority in
morals and intellect, while the Hindoos deified Salavahana, the
Greeks Apollonious, &c. And thus science and history join hand in
hand to explain most beautifully and conclusively the greatest
mystery that ever brought two hundred millions of people daily upon
their knees -- the apotheosis, or deification of "the man Christ
Jesus."
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHRISTIANITY DERIVED FROM HEATHEN
AND ORIENTAL SYSTEMS.
MORE than twenty thousand sermons are preached in the
Christian pulpits, on every recurring Sabbath, to convince the
people that the religion and morality taught and practiced by Jesus
Christ was of divine emanation, and was never before taught in the
world, -- that his system of morality was without a parallel, and
his practical life without a precedent, -- that the doctrine of
self-denial, humility, unselfishness, benevolence, and charity, --
also devout piety, kind treatment of enemies, and love for the
human race, which he preached and practiced, had never before been
exemplified in the life and teachings of any individual or nation.
But a thorough acquaintance with the history and moral systems of
some of the oriental nations, and the practical lives of piety and
self-denial exemplified in their leading men long anterior to the
birth of Christ, and long before the name of Christianity was
anywhere known, must convince any unprejudiced mind that such a
claim is without foundation. And to prove it, we will here
institute a critical comparison between Christianity and some of
the older systems with respect to the essential spirit of their
teachings, and observe how utterly untenable and groundless is the
dogmatic assumption which claims for the Christian religion either
any originality or any superiority. Of course if their is nothing
new or original, there is nothing superior.
We will first arrange Christianity side by side with the
ancient system known as Essenism -- a religion whose origin has
never been discovered, though it is known that the Essenes existed
in the days of Jonathan Maccabeus, B.C. 150, and that they were of
Jewish origin, and constituted one of the three Jewish sects (the
other two being Pharisees and Sadducees). We have but fragments of
their history as furnished by Philo, Josephus, Pliny, and their
copyists, Eusebius, Dr. Ginsburg, and others, on whose authority we
will proceed to show that Alexandrian and Judean Essenism was
identically the same system in spirit and essence as its successor
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Judean Christianity; in other words, Judean Christianity teaches
the same doctrines and moral precepts which had been previously
inculcated by the disciples of the Essenian religion.
A PARALLEL EXHIBITION OF THE PRECEPTS AND
PRACTICAL LIVES OR CHRIST AND THE ESSENES.
We will condense from Philo, Josephus, and other authors.
1. Philo says, "It is our first duty to seek the kingdom of
God and his righteousness;" so the Essenes believed and taught.
Scripture parallel: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness, and all else shall be added (Matt. vi 33; Luke xii.
31.)
2. Philo says, "They abjured all amusements, all elegances,
and all pleasures of the senses.
Scripture Parallel: "Forsake the world and the things
thereof."
3. The Essenes say, "Lay up nothing on earth, but fix your
mind solely on heaven."
Scripture parallel: "Lay not up treasures on earth," &c.
4. "The Essenes, having laid aside all the anxieties of life,"
says Philo, "and leaving society, they make their residence in
solitary wilds and in gardens."
Scripture parallel: "They wander in deserts, and in mountains,
and in dens, and in caves of the earth." (Heb. xi. 38.)
5. Josephus says, "They neither buy nor sell among themselves,
but give of what they have to him that wanteth."
Scripture parallel: "And parted them (their goods) to all men
as every man had need." (Acts ii. 45.)
6. Eusebius says, "Even as it is related in the Acts of the
Apostles, all (the Essenes) were wont to sell their possessions and
their substance, and divide among all according as any one had need
so that there was not one among them in want."
Scripture parallel: "Neither was their any among them that
lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold
them, and brought the price of the things that were sold, &c. (Acts
iv. 34.)
7. Eusebius says, "For whoever, of Christ's disciples, were
owners of estates or houses, sold them, and brought the price
thereof, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and distribution was
made as every one had need. So Philo relates things exactly similar
of the Essenes."
Scripture parallel: (The text above quoted.)
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8. "Philo tells us (says Eusebius) that the Essenes forsook
father, mother, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, for their
religion."
Scripture parallel: "Whosoever forsaketh not father and
mother, houses and lands, &c. cannot be my disciples."
9. "Their being sometimes called monks was owing to their
abstraction from the world," says Eusebius.
Scripture parallel: "They are not of the world, even as I am
not of the world." (John xvii. 16.)
10. "And the name Ascetics was applied to them on account of
their rigid discipline, their prayers, fasting, self-mortification,
&c., as they made themselves eunuchs."
Scripture parallel: "There be eunuchs which have made
themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake."
11. "They maintained a perfect community of goods, and an
equality of external rank." (Mich. vol. iv. p. 83.)
Scripture parallel: "Whosoever will be chief among you, let
him be your servant." (Matt. xx. 27.)
12. "The Essenes had all things in common, and appointed one
of their number to manage the common bag." (Dr. Ginsburg.)
Scripture parallel: "And had all things in common." (Acts ii.
44; see also Acts iv. 32.)
13. "All ornamental dress they (Essenes) detested."
(Mich. vol. iv. p. 83.)
Scripture parallel: Whose adorning let it not be that outward
adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, and putting
on of apparel." (i Peter iii. 3.)
14. "They would call no man master." (Mich.)
Scripture parallel: "Be not called Rabbi, for one is your
Master." (Matt. xxiii. 8.)
15. "They said the Creator made all mankind equal." (Mich.)
Scripture parallel: "God hath made of one blood all them that
dwell upon the earth."
16. "They renounced oaths, saying, He who cannot be believed
with out swearing is condemned already." (Mich.)
Scripture parallel: "Swear not at all."
17. "They would not eat anything which had blood in it, or
meat which had been offered to idols. Their food was hyssop, and
bread, and salt; and water their only drink." (Mich.)
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Scripture parallel: "That ye abstain from meat offered to
idols, and from blood." (Acts xv. 29.)
18. "Take nothing with them, neither meat or drink, nor
anything necessary for the wants of the body."
Scripture parallel: "Take nothing for your journey; neither
staves nor script; neither bread, neither money, neither have two
coats apiece."
19. "They expounded the literal sense of the Holy Scriptures
by allegory."
Scripture parallel: "Which things are an allegory." (Gal. iv.
24.)
20. "They abjured the pleasures of the body, not desiring
mortal offspring, and they renounced marriage, believing it to be
detrimental to a holy life." (Mich.)
Scripture Parallel: It will be recollected that neither Jesus
nor Paul ever married, and that they discouraged the marriage
relation. Christ says, "They that shall be counted worthy of that
world and the resurrection neither marry nor are given in
marriage." And Paul says, "The unmarried careth for the things of
the Lord." (i Cor. vii. 32.)
21. "They strove to disengage their minds entirely from the
world."
Scripture Parallel: "If any man love the world, the love of
the Father is not in him."
22. "Devoting themselves to the Lord, they provide not for
future subsistence."
Scripture Parallel: "Take no thought for the morrow, what ye
shall eat and drink," &c.
23. "Regarding the body as a prison, they were ashamed to give
it sustenance." (c. ii. 71.)
Scripture Parallel: "Who shall change our vile bodies?" (Phil.
iii. 21.)
24. "They spent nearly all their time in silent meditation and
inward prayer." (c. ii. 71.)
Scripture Parallel: "Men ought always to pray." (Luke xviii.
1.) "Pray without ceasing." (i Thess. v. 17.)
25. "Believing the poor were the Lord's favorites, they vowed
perpetual chastity and poverty." (C. ii. 7.)
Scripture Parallel: "Blessed be ye poor." (Luke vi. 20.) "Hath
not God chosen the poor?" (James ii. 5.)
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26. "They devoted themselves entirely to contemplation in
divine things." (c. ii. 71.)
Scripture Parallel: "Mediate upon these (divine) things; give
thyself wholly to them." (i Tim. iv. 15.)
27. "They fasted often, sometimes tasting food but once in
three or even six days."
Scripture Parallel: Christ's disciples were "in fastings
often." (2 Cor. xi. 27; see also v. 34.)
28. "They offered no sacrifices, believing that a serious and
devout soul was most acceptable." (c. ii. 71.)
Scripture Parallel: "There is no more offering for sin." (Heb.
x. 18.)
29. "They believed in and practiced baptizing the dead."(C.
ii. 71.)
Scripture Parallel: "Else what shall they do which are
baptized for the dead." (i Cor. XV. 29.)
30. "They gave a mystical sense to the Scriptures,
disregarding the letter."
Scripture Parallel: "The letter killeth, but the spirit maketh
alive." (i Cor. iii. 6.)
31. "They taught by metaphors, symbols, and parables."
Scripture Parallel: "Without a parable spake he not unto
them." (Matt. xiii. 34.)
32. "They had many mysteries in their religion which they were
sworn to keep secret."
Scripture Parallel: "To you it is given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom; to them it is not given." (Matt. xiii. 11.) "Great
is the mystery of godliness."
33. "They had in their churches, bishops, elders, deacons, and
priests."
Scripture Parallel: "Ordain elders in every church." (Acts
xiv. 23.) For "deacons," see i Tim. iii. 1.
34. "When assembled together they would often sing psalms."
Scripture Parallel: "Teaching and admonishing one another in
psalms." (Col. iii. 16.)
35. "They healed and cured the minds and bodies of those who
joined them."
Scripture Parallel: "Healing all manner of sickness," &c.
(Matt. iv. 23.)
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36. "They practiced certain ceremonial purifications by
water."
Scripture Parallel: "The accomplishment of the days of
purification." (Acts xxi. 26.)
37. "They assembled at the Sabbath festivals clothed in white
garments."
Scripture Parallel: "Shall be clothed in white garments."
(Rev. iii. 4.)
38. "They disbelieved in the resurrection of the external
body."
Scripture Parallel: "It is sown a natural body, it is raised
a spiritual body." (i Cor. xv. 44.)
39. Pliny says, "They were the only sort of men who lived
without money and without women."
Scripture Parallel: "The love of money is the root of all
evil." (i Tim. vi. 10.) Christ's disciples travelled without money
and without scrip, and "eschew the lusts of the flesh."
40. "They practiced the extremist charity to the poor." (C.
ii. 71.)
Scripture Parallel: "Bestow all thy goods to feed the poor."
(i Cor. xiii. 3.)
41. "They were skillful in interpreting dreams, and in
foretelling future events."
Scripture Parallel: "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy,
and your old men shall dream dreams." (Acts ii. 17.)
42. "They believed in a paradise, and in a place of never-
ending lamentations."
Scripture Parallel: "Life everlasting." (Gal. viii. 8.)
"Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. xiii. 42.)
42. "They affirmed," says Josephus, "that God foreordained all
the events of human life."
Scripture Parallel: "Foreordained before the foundation of the
world." (i Peter.)
44. "They believed in Mediators between God and the souls of
men."
Scripture Parallel: "One Mediator between God and men." (i
Tim. ii. 5.)
45. "They practiced the pantomimic representation of the
death, burial, and resurrection of God " -- Christ the Spirit.
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Scripture Parallel: With respect to the death, burial,
resurrection of Christ, see i Cor. xv. 4.
46. "They inculcated the forgiveness of injuries."
Scripture Parallel: "Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do." (Luke xxiii. 34.)
47. "They totally disapproved of all war."
Scripture Parallel: "If my kingdom were of this world, then
would my servants fight." (John xviii. 36.)
48. "They inculcated obedience to magistrates, and to the
civil authorities."
Scripture Parallel: "Obey them which have the rule over you."
(Heb. xiii. 17; xxvi. 65.)
49. "They retired within themselves to receive interior
revelations of divine truth." (C. ii. 71.)
Scripture Parallel: "Every one of you hath a revelation." (i
Cor. xiv. 26.)
50. "They were scrupulous in speaking the truth."
Scripture Parallel: "Speaking all things in truth." (2 Cor.
vii. 14.)
51. "They perform many wonderful miracles."
Scripture Parallel: Many texts teach us that Christ and his
apostles did the same.
52. Essenism put all its members upon the same level,
forbidding the exercise of authority of one over another." (Dr.
Ginsburg.)
Scripture Parallel: Christ did the same. For proof, see Matt.
xx. 25; Mark ix. 35.
53. "Essenism laid the greatest stress on being meek and lowly
in spirit." (Dr. Ginsburg.)
Scripture Parallel: See Matt. v. 5; ix. 28.
54. "The Essenes commended the poor in spirit, those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, and the merciful, and the
pure in heart." (Dr Ginsburg.)
Scripture Parallel: For proof that Christ did the same, see
Matt.
55. "The Essenes commended the peacemakers." (Dr. Ginsburg.)
Scripture Parallel: "Blessed are the peacemakers."
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56. "The Essenes declared their disciples must cast out evil
spirits, and perform miraculous cures, as signs and proof of their
faith." (Dr. Ginsburg.)
Scripture Parallel: Christ's disciples were to cast out
devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead, &c., as signs and proof
of their faith. (Mark xvi. 17.)
57. "They sacrificed the lusts of the flesh to gain spiritual
happiness."
Scripture Parallel: "You abstain from fleshly lusts." (i Peter
ii. 11.)
58. "The breaking of bread was a veritable ordinance among the
Essenes."
Scripture Parallel: "He (Jesus) took bread, and gave thanks,
and brake it." (Luke xxii. 19.)
59. "The Essenes enjoined the loving of enemies." (Philo.)
Scripture Parallel: So did Christ say, "Love your enemies,"
&c.
60. The Essenes enjoined, "Doing unto others as you would have
them do unto you."
Scripture Parallel: The Confucian golden rule, as taught by
Christ.
This parallel might be extended much further, but we will
proceed to present the reader with a general description of
Essenism, as furnished us by Philo, Josephus, and some Christian
writers. Philo, who was born in Alexandria 20 B.C;, and lived to 60
A.D., and who was himself an Essenian Jew, in his account of them,
says, "They do not lay up treasures of gold or silver. ... but
provide themselves only with the necessities of life." Paul
afterwards, having caught the same spirit, advises the same course
of life. "Having food and raiment, therewith be content."
Contentment of mind they regarded as the greatest of riches. They
make no instruments of war. They repudiate every inducement to
covetousness, None are held as slaves, but all are free, and serve
each other. They are instructed in piety and holiness,
righteousness, economy; &c. They are guided by a threefold rule:
love of God, love of virtue, and love of mankind. Of their love of
God they give innumerable demonstrations, which is found in their
constant and unalterable holiness throughout the whole of their
lives, their avoidance of oaths and falsehoods, and their firm
belief that God is the source of all good, but of nothing evil. "Of
their love of virtue they give proof in their contempt for money,
fame, and pleasures, their continence, easy satisfying of their
wants, their simplicity, modesty," &c. Their love of man is proved
by their benevolence and equality, and their having all things in
common, which is beyond all deception. They reverence and take care
of the aged, as children do their parents. (Condensed from Philo's
treatise, "Every Virtuous Man is Free.")
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Josephus, 37 A.D., and who was also at one time a member of
the Essenian Brotherhood, furnishes another fragmentary account of
the Essenes in his Jewish Wars," of which the following is the
substance: --
"They love each other more than others (that is, are "partial
to the household of faith"); they despise riches, and have all
things in common, so that there is neither abjectness of poverty
nor distinction of riches among them; they change neither garments
nor shoes till they are worn out or become unfit for use; they
neither buy nor sell among themselves; their piety is
extraordinary; they never speak about worldly matters before
sunrise; they are girt about with a linen apron, and have a baptism
of cold water; they eat but one kind of a food at a time, and
commence with a prayer, and the priest must say grace before any
one eats (that is, breaks and blesses as Christ did); they also
return thanks after eating, and then put off their white, garments;
strangers were made welcome at their tables without money and
without price; they give food to the hungry and the needy and show
mercy to all; they curb their passions, restrain their anger, and
claim to be ministers of peace; an oath they regard as worse than
perjury; they excommunicate offenders ('Go tell it to the churches,
says Christ); they condemn finery in dress; though condemning in
most solemn terms oaths, members were admitted to the secret
brotherhood by an oath ('See thou tell no man,' said Christ); they
endured pain with heroic fortitude, and regarded an honorable death
as better than long life; they read and study their Holy Scriptures
from youth, often prophesy, and it was very seldom they failed in
their predictions."
Dr. Ginburg's testimony, abridged, is as follows: --
"The Essenes had a high appreciations of the inspired law of
God. The highest aim of their lives was to become fit temples of
the Holy Ghost (see i Cor. vi. 19); also to perform miraculous
cures, and to be spiritually qualified for forerunners of the
Messiah. They taught the duty of mortifying the flesh and the lusts
thereof, and to become meek and lowly in spirit; they answered by
yea, yea, and nay, nay (see Matt.), scrupulously avoiding oaths;
they avoided impure contact with the heathen and the world's
people, and lived retired from the world, being in numbers about
four thousand; they strove to be like the angels of heaven; there
were no rich and poor, or masters and servants, amongst them; they
lived peaceably with all men; a mysterious silence was observed
while eating; a solemn oath was required on becoming a member of
the secret order, which required three things:
1. Love of God; 2. Merciful justice to all men, and to avoid
the wicked, and help the righteous; 3. Purity of character, which
implied love of truth, hatred of falsehood, and strict observance
of 'the mysteries of godliness' to outsiders -- that is, 'heathen
and publicans;' they endured suffering for righteousness' sake,
with rejoicings, and even sought it; regarding the body as a prison
for the soul, they desired the time to come to escape from it; they
recognized eight different stages of spiritual growth and
perfection: 1. Bodily purity; 2. Celibacy; 3. Spiritual purity; 4.
The suppression of anger and malice, and the cultivation of a meek,
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lowly spirit; 5. The attainment of true holiness; 6. Becoming fit
temples for the Holy Ghost; 7. The ability to perform miraculous
cures, and raise the dead; 8. Becoming forerunners of the Messiah;
and finally they took a solemn vow to exercise piety toward God and
justice toward all men, to hate the wicked, assist the good to keep
clear of theft and unrighteous gains, to conceal none of their
'mysteries of godliness' from each other, or disclose them to
others. 'Great is the mystery of godliness' ('See thou tell no
man'); they were to walk humbly with God, shun bad society, forgive
their enemies, sacrifice their passions, and crucify the lusts of
the flesh; they disregarded bodily suffering, and even gloried in
martyrdom, preaching and singing to God amid their sufferings; but
in their domestic habits they were extremely filthy; they wore
their clothes until they became ragged, filthy, and offensive,
never changing them till they were wore out; their food consisted
of bread and water, and wild roots and fruits of the palm tree;
they enjoined their duty, not only of forgiving their enemies, but
of seeking to benefit them, and of even blessing the destroyer who
took life and property." Such was the religion, such the moral
system, such the devout piety, and such the practical lives of the
Essenian Jews, a religious sect which flourished in Alexandria and
Judea several hundred years before the birth of Christ, and went
out of history the hour Christianity came in.
Now, as the foregoing exposition shows that Essenism and
Christianity are most strikingly alike in all their essential
features, that the former system contains nearly every important
doctrine and precept of the Christian religion, the question occurs
here as one of momentous import, how is this striking resemblance,
this identity of character of the two religions, to be accounted
for? Does it not go far toward proving that Christianity is an
outgrowth, a legitimate offspring, of Judean Essenism? Indeed, are
we not absolutely driven to such a conclusion? Let us briefly
recite some of the important facts brought to light by the
investigation of the character and history of these two religions,
and see if those facts do not bring them together, and weld them as
one system -- as one and the same religion.
1. Both are alike, and Essenism is much the older system.
2. Both religions are an outgrowth of Judaism.
3. Both were known and taught in Judea and in Alexandria.
4. Josephus living in Judea, and Philo in Alexandria, neither
of them speaks of Christianity, or refers to any such religion by
that name, and yet both describe a religion inculcating the same
doctrines and moral precepts, which they call Essenism.
Is not this very nearly conclusive proof that Essenism was
only another name for Christianity -- that it had not yet changed
its name to Christianity? That famous standard author, Mr. Gibbon,
was evidently of this opinion when he said, "Whether, indeed, the
first of that sect (the Essenes) took the name of Christian when
the appellation of Christian had as yet been nowhere announced, it
is by no means necessary to discuss." (Book II. chap. xvi.) Here is
evidence that Gibbon believed that the Essenes, after having borne
that name for centuries, changed the appellation to Christian. And
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we find still stronger language than this in the writings of the
same author expressive of this opinion. In a note to chapter xv. he
says, "it is probable that the Therapeuts (Essenes) changed their
name to Christians, as some writers affirm, and adopted some new
articles of faith." Here the position is assumed that the Christian
religion is an outgrowth of Essenism, that is, merely a
continuation of that religion under a change of name, with a slight
modification of its creed.
5. And then we have the declaration of Christian writers,
expressed in the most positive terms, that Essenism and
Christianity were the same religion, the former name being used at
an earlier period. Hear Eusebius, a standard ecclesiastical writer
of the fourth century. He asserts positively, "Those ancient
Therapeuts (Essenes) were Christians, and their ancient writings
were our gospels." (Ecel. Hist. p. 63.) Hark! Hark! my good
Christian reader, here is one of your own sworn witnesses
testifying that the Essenes originated and established the
Christian religion; i.e., the religion now known by that name. Will
you then give it up? If not, we have other testimony of a similar
character, rendering the proposition still stronger. Robert Taylor
declares, "The learned Basnage has shown that the Essenes were
really Christians centuries before Christ, and that they were
actually in possession of those very writings which are now our
Gospels and Epistles." (p. 81.) And then we have the declaration of
the author of "Christ the Spirit" (p. 110), that "the Christians
were the later Essenes -- that is, the Essenes of the time of
Eusebius under a changed name, that name having been made at
Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christian." The same
writer suggests that "their sacred books are our sacred books." We
will now hear Eusebius again: "It is highly probable that their
(the Essenes') ancient commentaries, which Philo says the Essenes
have, are the very Gospels and writings of the Apostles."
Based upon this conclusion, he calls the Essenes "the first
heralds of the gospel." "I find it, therefore, most probable," says
Mr. Weilting, "that Jesus and John belonged literally to the
society of the Essenes." And then the New American Encyclopedia
furnishes us with the testimony of a very able English author of
the last century (De Quincy), who concurs with all the writers
cited above. "Mr. De Quincy (it says) identified the Essenes as
being the early Christians; i.e., the early Christians were known
as Essenes. Such testimony, coming from such a source, is entitled
to much weight." (vol. i.p. 157.) And to the same effect is the
testimony of Bishop Marsh, who admits that our Gospels were drawn
from those of the Essenes. (See his edition of Michaelis'
translation of the New Testament.)
Thus far historical writers. We will now lay before the reader
some historical facts, fraught with unanswerable logical potency,
and pointing to the same conclusion. It is a fact, and one of deep
logical import, and tending to correlate the conclusion of some of
the writers cited above, who tell us the Christian Gospels were
first composed by the Essenes; that the language in which those
Gospels were originally written was Greek, the language in which
the Alexandrian Essenes always wrote, while the evangelical
writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, being illiterate fishermen,
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could have had no knowledge of any but the Jewish, their own
mother-tongue, -- at least it is susceptible of satisfactory proof
that they never wrote in any other language. Hence the conclusion
is irresistible that they were not the original authors of the
Gospels.
The works of several authors are now lying at our elbow, who
express the conviction unequivocally that the Gospels were copied,
if not translated, from older writings. Mr. Le Clere, one of the
ablest writers of his time, maintained this position, and did it
ably. Another writer, a Mr. Hatfield, was awarded a prize in 1793,
by the theological faculty of Gottingen, for an essay, in which the
position was ably argued that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were
not the authors of the books which bear their names, but were mere
copyists. Dr. Lessing and others concur with him in this
conclusion. A circumstance confirming this verdict is found in the
fact that the word church occurs in our Gospels, which were written
before such an institution was established by those who were then
called Christians.
"Go tell it to the church" (Matt. xviii. 17) was uttered
before any steps had been taken by the then representatives of the
Christian faith to organize such a body -- an evidence this, that
he alluded to the church of the Essenes, as there were no other
churches in existence at the time; which leaves the inference
patent and irresistible that he and his disciples were Essenes,
perhaps then under the changed name of Christians. Centuries prior
to that era the Essenes had not only churches, but their whole
ecclesiastical nomenclature of bishops, deacons, elders, priests,
disciples, scriptures, gospels, epistles, psalms, hymns, mystery,
allegory, &c. If Christianity was reestablished in the days of
Christ and his apostles, they had nothing to originate, either with
respect to doctrines, precepts, church polity, or ecclesiastical
terms -- all being established for them centuries before that era.
With these facts in view, it seems impossible that the two
religious orders -- Essenes and Christians -- could have been in
existence at the same time as separate institutions. The former
must have ended when the latter commenced.
Josephus says, "the Essenes were scattered far and wide, and
were in every city," being quite numerous in Judea in his time. But
he makes no reference to any sect or religious order by the title
of Christian -- strong inferential evidence, upon sound priori
reasoning, that Christianity as yet was sailing under another name.
Josephus must have known and named the fact, had there been a
Christian sect or disciple there bearing that name. Impossible
otherwise. We are then (upon the logical force of these and many
other facts) driven to the conclusion that Christianity began when
Essenism ended, and the change was only in name. I challenge the
whole Christian world to find the historical proof that
Christianity commenced one hour before the termination of Essenism,
or of Essenism over-lapping the Christian religion so far as to
survive one day beyond or after its birth. I will confront them
with the logic of dates, and defy them to find any proof except
their own unauthorized, unauthenticated, and fictitious chronology,
that a Christian was ever known in any country by that name prior
to the time of Tacitus, 104 A.D., who is the first of the three
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hundred writers of that era that makes any mention of Christianity,
Christ, or a Christian. This was long after Josephus' time, which
accounts most satisfactory for his omitting any allusion to Christ
or Christianity. That religion had not yet dropped the name of
Essenism and adopted that of Christianity.
Now, hard indeed must distorted reason fight the ramparts of
logic and history to resist the conviction, in view of the
foregoing facts, that Christianity is simply an outcropping of
Essenism, either direct or through Buddhism. And even if it were
possible to prove that the two religions never became welded
together, yet it is not possible to disprove the striking identity
of their doctrines, and the spirit of their precepts, and the
practical lives of their disciples. And this identity, coupled with
the fact that Essenism is the older system, is of itself most
superlatively fatal to all pretension or claim to originality for
the doctrines of the Christian faith.
It is a matter of no importance whether Christianity was
originally known by another name, so long as it can be shown that
its doctrines had all been preached and proclaimed to the world
centuries prior to the date assigned for its origin. And this is
proved by the long list of parallellisms presented in the incipient
pages of this chapter. And this proof explodes the pretensions of
Christianity to an "original divine revelation," and brings it down
to a level with pagan orientalism. And the fact that it sprang up
in a country where its doctrine had long been taught by pagans and
orientalists, must produce the conviction, deep and indelible, in
all unbiased minds, that orientalism was the mother and heathenism
the father of the Christian religion, even in the absence of any
other proof. In fact, no other proof can be needed.
And what are the arguments, it may be well here to inquire,
with which orthodox Christians attempt to meet, combat, and
vanquish the overwhelming mass of historical facts and historical
testimonies we have presented in preceding pages, tending to prove
and demonstrate the oriental origin of their religion and its
identity with Essenism? Their whole argument is comprised in the
naked postulate of the Rev. Mr. Paideaux, D.D., that "the Essenes
did not believe in the resurrection of the physical body (but
believed in a spiritual resurrection), and omit from their creed
the Trinity and Incarnation doctrine, and therefore they could not
have been the originators of the Christian religion;" but this
argument is as easily demolished as a cobweb, as the following
facts will prove: --
1. We have but a fragment of the Essenian religion, -- but one
end of their creed, -- mere scraps furnished us by Philo, Josephus,
and Pliny. We have none of their sacred books apart from the
Christian New Testament.
2. They had secret books, as we have shown, in which doctrines
were taught which they regarded as too sacred to be thrown before
the Public, as "pearls before swine." And no doctrines were
regarded as more sacred or secret in that age than the doctrines of
the Trinity and Incarnation. Christ's injunction, "See thou tell no
man," was probably their motto, which prevented the publicity of a
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portion of their doctrines. And as their sacred books, containing
their doctrines, perished with the extinction of the sect (except
those now found in the Christian New Testament), a full knowledge
of their doctrines, therefore, never reached the public mind. All
religious sects had secret doctrines, designated as "Mysteries of
Godliness," including the principal Jewish sects and the earliest
Christian churches. It is, therefore, highly probable that if we
were in possession of all their sacred books, we would be in
possession of the proof that they believed and taught in their
monasteries the doctrines above named. But we are not left to mere
inference that the Essenes' creed did include the doctrines of the
Trinity and the Divine Incarnation. We find skeletons of these
doctrines scattered along the line of their history. Philo himself,
an Essene teacher, most distinctly teaches the doctrine of "the
Incarnation of the Divine Word or Logos." And "Son of God,"
"Mediator," "Intercessor," and "Messiah," were familiar words with
him. The idea often reappears in his writings, that the "Word could
become flesh;" that the Son of God could appear as a personality,
and return to the bosom of the Father. Moreover, one writer informs
us that the Essenes celebrated the birth and death of a Divine
Savior as a "Mystery of Godliness." And they claimed in their
earlier history to be "forerunners of the Messiah" -- a claim which
would soon bring a Messiah before the world, that is, lead them to
deify and worship some great man as "The Messiah."
As for the doctrine of the Trinity, we have the authority of
Eusebius that they taught this doctrine too. So that it is not true
that they did not recognize these two prime articles of the
Christian faith, the Incarnation and Trinity doctrines. Some modern
Christians assert that the Essenes not only omitted to teach these
doctrines, but that, on the other hand, they taught other doctrines
not taught in the Christian New Testament. This is not improbable.
For the Christian religion has been characterized by frequent
changes in its doctrines in every stage of its practical history,
as was also the Jewish religion which preceded it, and from which
it emanated. Judaism is a perpetual series of changes. It changed
even the name of its God from Elohim to Jehovah. Its leader and
founder Abram was changed to Abraham, and his grandson and
successor from Jacob to Israel. And we have the works of many
Christian writers in our possession who prove by their own bible
that the Jews made many changes in their religious polity and
religions doctrines. This is more especially observable when they
came in contact with nations teaching a different religion. Their
whole history shows they were prone to imitate, and borrow, and
always did borrow on such occasions, and engraft the new doctrines
thus obtained into their own creed, and thus effected important
changes in their religion. We have the authority of Dr. Campbell
for saying the Jews never believed and taught the doctrine of
future punishment (and other doctrines that might be named) till
after they were brought in contact with Persians in Babylon who had
long taught these doctrines. (See Dissertation VI.) And Dr. Enfield
declares their theological opinions underwent thorough changes
during this period of seventy years' captivity. Even their national
title was changed at one period from Israelites to Jews. With all
these changes of names, titles, and doctrines in view, it is not
incredible that one of the Jewish sects should change its name from
Essenes to Christians, and with this change modify some of the
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doctrines. And more especially as their title, according to Dr.
Ginsburg, had been changed before from Chassidim to Essenes. And
Philo at one period calls them Therapeuts, while Eusebins says the
Therapents were Christians. Put this and that together, and the
question is forever settled.
Now, with all this overwhelming mass of historical evidence
before us, "piled mountain high," tending to prove the truth of the
proposition that Christianity is the offspring and outgrowth of
ancient Judean Essenism, we feel certain that no sophistry, from
interested charlatans or stereotyped creed worshipers, can stave
off or obliterate the conviction in unprejudiced minds, that the
proposition is most amply proven.
We will now collate Christianity with another ancient
religions system, which we are certain it will not be disputed,
after the comparison is critically examined, contains the sum total
of the doctrines and teachings of Christianity in all their
details.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX STRIKING
ANALOGIES BETWEEN CHRIST AND CHRISHNA.
I.
THEIR MIRACULOUS HISTORY AND LEADING PRINCIPLES.
1. The advent of each Savior was miraculously foretold by
prophets.
2. The fallen and degenerate condition of the human race is
taught in the religion of each.
3. A plan of restoration or salvation is provided for in each
case.
4. A divine Savior is considered necessary in both cases.
5. The necessity of atoning for sin is taught in the religion
of each.
6. A God, or Son of God, is selected as the victim for the
atoning sacrifice in each case.
7. This God is sent down from heaven in each case in the form
of a man.
8. The God or Savior in each case is the second person of the
Trinity.
9. Chrishna, as well as Christ, was held to be really God
incarnate.
10. The mission of each Savior is the same.
11. There is a resemblance in name -- Chrishna and Christ.
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12. Chrishna, as well as Christ, was incarnated and born of a
woman.
13. The mother in each case was a holy virgin.
14. The same peculiarities of a miraculous conception and
birth are related of each.
15. Each had an adopted earthly father.
16. The father of Chrishna, as well as that of Christ, was a
carpenter.
17. God is claimed as the real father in both cases.
18. A Spirit or Ghost was the author of the conception of
each.
19. There was rejoicing on earth when each Savior was born.
20. There was also joy in heaven at the birth and advent of
each.
21. Chrishna, as well as Christ, was of royal descent.
22. Their mothers were both reputedly pious women.
23. The names of two mothers are somewhat similar -- Mary and
Maia.
24. Each had a special female friend -- Elizabeth in the one
case, and the wife of Nanda in the other.
25. Neither Savior was born in a house, but both in obscure
situations.
26. Both were born on the 25th of December.
27. Both, at birth, were visited by wise men and shepherds.
28. The visitors were conducted by a star in each case.
29. The rite of purification was observed by the mothers of
each.
30. An angel warns of impending danger in each case.
31. The incumbent ruler was hostile in each case.
32. A bloody decree in each case for the destruction of the
infant Savior.
33. A flight of the parents takes place in both cases.
34. The parents of one sojourned at Muturea, the other at
Mathura.
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35. Each Savior had a forerunner -- John the Baptist in one
case, Bali Rama in the other.
36. Both were preternaturally smart in childhood.
37. Each disputed with and vanquished learned opponents.
38. Both became objects of search by their parents.
39. And both occasioned anxiety, if not sorrow, to their
parents.
40. The mother of each had other children -- that is children
begotten by man as well as God.
41. Both Saviors retired to, and spent considerable time in
the wilderness.
42. The religious rite of "fasting" was practiced by each
Savior.
43. Each delivered a noteworthy sermon, or series of moral
lessons.
44. Chrishna, as well as Christ, was called and considered
God.
45. Each was both God and the Son of God (so regarded).
46. "Savior" was one of the divine titles of each.
47. Each was designated "the Savior of man," "the Savior of
the world," &c.
48. Both expressed a desire to "save all."
49. Each sustained the character of a Messiah.
50. Chrishna, as well as Christ, was a Redeemer.
51. Each Savior was called "Shepherd."
52. Both were believed to be the Creator of the world.
53. Each is sometimes spoken of, also, as only an agent in the
creation.
54. Both were the "Light and Life" of men.
55. Each "brought life and immortality to light."
56. Both are represented as "the seed of the woman bruising
the serpent's head."
57. Was Christ a "Dispenser of grace," so was the Hindoo
Savior.
58. One was "the lion of the tribe of Judah," the other "the
lion of the tribe of Saki."
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59. Christ was "the Beginning of the End," Chrishna "the
Beginning, the Middle, and the End."
60. Both proclaimed, "I am the Resurrection."
61. Each was "the way to the Father."
62. Both represented emblematically "the Sun of
Righteousness."
63. Each is figuratively represented as being "all in all."
64. Both speak of having existed prior to human birth.
65. A dual existence -- an existence in both heaven and earth
at once -- is claimed by or for both.
66. Chrishna, as well as Christ, was "without sin."
67. Both assumed the divine prerogative of forgiving sins.
68. The mission of each was to deliver from sin.
69. Both came to destroy the devil and his works.
70. The doctrine of the "atonement" is practically realized in
each case.
71. Each made a voluntary offering for the sins of the world.
72. Both were human as well as divine.
73. Chrishna, as well as Christ, was worshiped as God
absolute.
74. Each was regarded as "the Lord from Heaven."
75. Chrishna, as well as Christ, had applied to him all the
attributes of God.
76. Was Christ omniscient, so was Chrishna.
77. Was one omnipotent, so was the other (so believed).
78. And both are represented as being omnipresent.
79. Each was believed to be divinely perfect.
80. Was one "Lord of lords," so was the other.
81. Each embodied the "power and wisdom of God."
82. All power was committed unto each (so claimed).
83. Chrishna performed many miracles as well as did Christ.
84. One of the first miracles of each was the cure of a leper.
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85. Each healed "all manner of diseases."
86. The work of casting out devils constitutes a part of the
mission of each.
87. Each practically proved his power to raise the dead.
88. A miracle appertaining to a tree is related of both.
89. Both could read the thoughts of the people.
90. The power to detect and eject evil spirits was claimed by
both.
91. Both had the keys or control of death.
92. Each led an extraordinary life.
93. Each had a character for supernatural greatness.
94. Both possessed or claimed a oneness with the Father.
95. A "oneness with his Lord and Master" is claimed, also, for
the disciples of each.
96. A strong reciprocal affection between Master and disciple
in each case.
97. Each offers to shoulder the burdens of his disciples.
98. A portion of the life of each was spent in preaching.
99. Both made converts by their miracles and preaching.
100. A numerous retinue of believers springs up in each case.
101. Both had commissioned apostles to proclaim their
religion.
102. Each was an innovator upon the antecedent religion.
103. A beautiful reform in religion was inaugurated by each
Savior.
104. Each opposed the existing popular priesthood.
105. Both abolished the law of lineal descent in the ancient
priesthood.
106. Each was an object of conspiracy by his enemies.
107. Humility and external poverty distinguished the life of
each.
108. Each denounced riches and rich men, and loathed and
detested wealth.
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109. Both had a character for meekness.
110. Chastity or unmarried life was a distinguishing
characteristic of each.
111. Mercy was a noteworthy characteristic of each.
112. Both were censured for associating with sinners.
113. Each was a special friend to the poor.
114. A poor widow woman receives marked attention by each.
115. Each encounters a gentile woman at a well.
116. Both submitted unresistingly to injuries and insults.
117. General practical philanthropy and impartiality marks the
life of each Savior.
118. Each took more pleasure in repentant sinners than in
virtuous saints,
119. Both practically disclosed God's attempt to reconcile the
world to himself.
120. The closing incidents in the earth-life of each were
strikingly similar.
121. A memorable last supper marked the closing career of
both.
122. Both were put to death by "wicked hands."
123. Chrishna, as well as Christ, was crucified.
124. Darkness attended the crucifixion of each.
125. Both were crucified between two thieves.
126. Each is reported to have forgiven his enemies.
127. The age of each at death corresponds (being between
thirty and thirty-six years).
128. Each, after giving up the ghost, descends into hell.
129. The resurrection from the dead is a marked period in the
history of each.
130. Each ascends to heaven after his resurrection.
131. Many people are reported to have witnessed the ascension
in each case.
132. Each is reported as having both descended and ascended.
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133. The head of each, while living on earth, was anointed
with oil.
II. DOCTRINES.
134. There is a similarity in the doctrines of their
respective religions.
135. The same doctrines are propagated by the disciples of
each.
336. The doctrine of future rewards and punishments is a part
of each system.
137. Analogous views of heaven are found in each system.
138. A third heaven is spoken of in each system.
139. All sin must be punished according to the bible teachings
of each.
140. Each has a hell provided for the wicked.
141. Both teach a hell of darkness and a hell of light.
142. An immortal worm finds employment in the hell of each
system ("the worm that dieth not.")
143. The arch-demon of the under world uses brimstone for fuel
in one case, and oil in the other.
144. The motive for future punishment is in both cases the
same.
145. Each has a purgatory or sort of half-way house.
146. Special divine judgments on nations are taught by each.
147. A great and final day of judgment is taught by each.
148. A general resurrection also is taught in each religion.
149. That there is a "Judge of the dead" is a doctrine of
each.
150. Two witnesses are to report on human actions in the final
assizes.
151. We are furnished in each case with the dimension of
heaven or "the holy city."
152. Man is enjoined to strive against temptation to sin by
each.
153. And repentance for sin is a doctrine taught by the bible
of each.
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154. Each has a prepared city for a paradise.
55. The bibles of both teach that we have no continuing city
here.
156. Souls are carried to heaven by angels, as in the instance
of Lazarus, in each case.
157. A belief in angels or spirits is a tenant of each
religion.
158. The doctrine of fallen or evil angels is found in both
system.
159. Obsession by wicked or evil spirits is taught by each.
160. Both teach that sickness or disease is caused by evil
spirits.
161. Each has a king-devil or arch-demon with a posse of
subalterns or evil spirits.
162. Both bibles record the story of a "hellaballoo" or war in
heaven.
163. Both teach that an evil man can neither do nor speak a
good thing.
164. Both teach that sin is a disadvantage in the present life
as well as in the future.
165. The doctrine of free will or free agency is taught by
each.
166. Predestination seems to be inferentially taught by each.
167. In each case man is a prize in a lottery, with God and
the devil for ticket-holders.
168. Both make the devil (or devils) a scapegoat for sin.
169. Both teach that the devil or evil spirits as the primary
cause of all evil.
170. The destiny of both body and soul is pointed out by each.
171. The true believers are known as "saints" under both
systems.
172. Saints with "white robes" are spoken of by each.
173. Both specify "the Word of Logos" as God.
174. Wisdom, too, is personified as God by the holy Scriptures
of each.
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175. Both teach that God may be known by his works.
176. The doctrine of one supreme God is taught in each bible.
177. Light and truth are important words in the religious
nomenclature of each.
178. Both profess a high veneration for truth.
179. "Where the treasure is, there is the heart also," is
taught by each.
180. "Seek and ye shall find" is a condition prescribed by
each.
181. Religious toleration is a virtue professed by both.
182. All nations are professedly based on an equality by each.
183. Both, however, enjoin partiality to "the household of
faith."
184. The doors of salvation are thrown open to high and low,
rich and poor, by each.
185. Each professes to have "the only true and saving faith."
186. There is a mystery in the mission of each Savior.
187. "Rama" is a well known word in the bible of each.
188. "The understanding of the wise" is a phrase in each.
189. Both speak figuratively of "the blind leading the blind."
190. "A new heaven and a new earth" is spoken of by each.
191. The doctrine of a Trinity in the Godhead is taught by
each.
192. Baptism by water is a tenant and ordinance of each.
193. "Living water" is a metaphor found in each.
194. Baptism by fire seems also to be recognized by each.
195. Fasting is emphatically enjoined by each.
196. Sacrifices are of secondary importance in each system,
and are partially or wholly abandoned by each.
197. The higher law is paramount to ceremonies in each
religion.
198. The bible of each religion literally condemns idolatry.
199. Both also make concessions to idolatry.
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200. Polygamy is not literally encouraged nor openly condemned
by either.
201. The power to forgive sins is conferred on the disciples
of each.
202. The doctrine of blasphemy is recognized by each.
203. Pantheism, or the reciprocal 'in-being' of God in nature
and nature in God, is taught by both.
III. BiBLES AND HOLY SCRIPTURES.
204. Each has a bible which is the idolized fountain of all
religious teaching.
205. Both have an Old Testament and a New Testament,
virtually.
206. The New Testament inaugurates a new and reform system of
religion in each case.
207. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" is the
faith of the disciples of each.
208. Each system claimed to have its inspired men to write its
scriptures.
209. Both hold a spiritual qualification necessary to
understand their bibles.
210. It is a sin to become "wise beyond what is written" in
their respective bibles.
211. Both recommend knowing the Scriptures in youth.
212. Alteration of their respective bibles is divinely
interdicted.
213. The bible is an infallible rule of faith and practice in
both cases.
214. "All scripture is profitable for doctrine" is the faith
of each.
215. Both explain away the errors of their bibles.
IV. SPIRITUALITY OF THE TWO RELIGIONS.
216. The religion of Chrishna is pre-eminently spiritual no
less than Christ's.
217. Both teach that "to be carnally minded is death."
218. External rites are practically dispensed within each
religion.
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219. The spiritual law written on the heart is recognized by
each.
220. "God is within you," Buddhists teach as well as
Christians.
221. Both recognize an invisible spiritual Savior.
222. "God dwells in the heart," say Hindoo as well as
Christians.
223 An inward recognition of the divine law is amply seen in
both.
224. Both confess allegiance to an inward monitor.
225. The doctrine of inspiration and internal illumination is
found in both.
226. The indwelling Comforter is believed in by both.
227. Both also teach that religion is an inward work,
228. Both speak of being born again -- i.e., the second
birth.
229. A spiritual body is also believed in by both.
230. "Spiritual things are incomprehensible to the natural
man" say each.
231. God's spiritually sustaining power Buddhists also
acknowledge.
232. Both give a spiritual interpretation to their bibles.
233. Each has a new and more interior law superseding the old
law.
234. The spiritual cross -- self-denial or asceticism -- is a
prominent feature of each religion.
235. The duty of renouncing and abandoning the external world
is solemnly enjoined by each.
236. Buddhists renounce the world more practically than
Christians.
237. Withdrawal or seclusion from society is recommended by
each.
238. Bodily suffering as a benefit to the soul is encouraged
by each.
239. Voluntary suffering for righteousness' sake is a virtue
with each.
240. The cross is a religious emblem in each system.
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241. Both glory in "the religion of the cross" as better than
a religion without suffering.
242. Hence both teach "the greater the cross the greater the
crown."
243. Earthly pleasures are regarded as evil by both.
244. Contempt for the body as an enemy to the soul is visible
in both.
245. Retirement for religious contemplation is a duty with
each.
246. The forsaking of relations is also enjoined by each.
247. Spiritual relationship is superior to external
relationship with both.
248. "To die is great gain" we are taught by each.
249. A subjugation of the passions is a religious duty with
each.
250. The road to heaven is a narrow one with each.
251. The same state of religious perfection is aspired to by
the disciples of each.
V. THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH OR BELIEF.
252. Faith is an all-important element and doctrine with each.
253. Heresy, or want of faith, is a sin of great magnitude
with both.
254. Faith in the Savior is a condition to salvation by both.
255. Confessing the Savior is also required in both cases.
256. "Believe or be damned" is the condition or 'profess' to
believe the terrible 'sine qua non' to salvation by each.
257. Skeptics or unbelievers are with both the chief of
sinners.
258. "Faith can remove mountains," either with a Buddhist or
a Christian.
259. Both contrast faith with works.
260. Faith without works is dead -- so teach both Buddhists
and Christians.
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VI. THE DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER.
261. Prayer is an important rite in each religion.
262. Private or secret prayer is recommended by both.
263. Each has also a formula of prayer.
264. "Pray without ceasing" is a Buddhist as well as a
Christian injunction.
265. Praying to their respective Saviors in sickness and in
health is a custom with both.
266. The custom of praying for the dead is recognized in each
system.
VII. TREATMENT OF ENEMIES.
267. It is a Hindoo as well as a Christian injunction to treat
enemies kindly.
268. Passive submission to injuries and abuse is enjoined by
both.
269. The holy Scriptures of both require us to pray for
enemies, and feed them.
270. And even love to enemies is a part of the spirit of each
religion.
VIII. THE MILLENNIUM.
271. Hindoos, like Christians, prophesy of a great millennial
era.
272. There is a remarkable similarity in their notions with
respect to it.
273. Both anticipate a second advent or new Savior on the
occasion.
274. The destruction of the world also is to take place in
both cases.
275. And an entire renovation and a new order of things are to
be established in each case.
IX. MIRACLES.
276. There is almost a constant display of miraculous power in
each system.
277. The disciples of both are professedly endowed with this
power.
278. Miraculous cures of the lame, the blind, and the sick are
reported in both cases.
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279. Miracles of handling poisonous reptiles with impunity are
reported by both.
280. Swallowing deadly poison is enjoined by Christians and
practiced by Hindoos.
281. Many cases of the miraculous ejection of devils are
reported by both.
282. The miracle of thought-reading is displayed by both.
283. The saints in both cases are reported as raising the
dead.
X. PRECEPTS.
284. "The kingdom of heaven" was to be sought first of all
things in each case.
285. Love to God is a paramount obligation under each system.
286. And the worship of God is an essential requisition in
each religious polity.
287. "Cease to do evil and learn to do well" is virtually
enjoined by each.
288. All inward knowledge of God is taught as essential by
both systems.
289. A reliance on works is discouraged by both.
290. Purity of heart is inculcated by Hindoos as well as
Christians.
291. Speak and think evil of no man is a gospel injunction of
each.
292. A love of all beings is more prominently the spirit of
Buddhism than that of Christianity.
293. The practice of strict godly virtue is enjoined by both.
294. Moderation and temperance are recommended by both.
295. Patience is a virtue in each religion.
296. The duty of controlling our thoughts is taught by each.
297. Charity has a high appreciation by each.
298. Both make the poor objects of attention.
299. The practice of hospitality is recommended by each.
300. Humility is a duty and a virtue under both systems.
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301. Mirthfulness or light conversation is forbidden by each.
302. Purity of life is a duty with Hindoos as well as
Christians.
303. Chasteness in conversation is inculcated by both.
304. "Respect to persons" is a sin in the moral polity of
both.
305. Alms-giving is religiously enjoined by the holy
Scriptures of both.
306. Both teach that "it is better to give than to receive."
307. Loyalty to rulers is a moral requisition of each system.
308. Honor to father and mother is esteemed a great virtue by
both.
309. The correct training of children is with each a
scriptural duty.
310. "Look not upon a woman" is more than hinted by each.
311. The reading of the holy Scriptures is enjoined by both.
312. Lying or falsehood is with each a sin of great magnitude.
313. Swearing is discountenanced by both religions.
314. Theft or stealing is specially condemned by both.
315. Both deprecate and condemn the practice of war.
316. Both discountenance fighting.
317. Neither of them professes to believe in slavery.
318. Drunkenness and the use of wine are more specifically
condemned by the Hindoo religion.
319. Adultery and fornication are heinous sins in the eyes of
both.
320. Both condemn covetousness as a great sin.
321. Buddhists more practically condemn anger than Christians
do.
XI. MISCELLANEOUS ANALOGIES.
322. Both have their apocryphal as well as their canonical
Scriptures.
323. Stories are found in the bible of each which would be
rejected if found elsewhere.
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324. Both make their bible a finality in matters of faith.
325. Both have had their councils and commentaries to reveal
their bibles over again.
326. Numerous schisms, divisions, sects, and creeds have
sprung up in each.
327. Various religious reforms have sprung up under each.
328. Conversion from one religious sect to another is common
to both.
329. Both religions have been troubled with numerous skeptics
or infidels.
330. Both have often resorted to new interpretations for their
bibles to suit the times.
331. The unconverted are stigmatized by each.
332. "Knock and it shall be opened" is the invitation of each.
333. Public confession of sins in class-meetings is known to
each.
334. Death-bed repentance often witnessed under both religions
systems.
335. A belief in haunted houses incident to the religious
countries of both.
336. A superior respect for woman claimed by each.
337. An idolatrous veneration for religious ancestors by each.
338. Each sustain a numerous horde of expensive priests.
339. A divine call or illumination to preach claimed by each.
340. Religious martyrdom the glory of each.
341. Both have encountered "perils by sea and land" for their
religion.
342. He who loseth his life (for his religion) shall find it,
say both.
343. Both in ancient times suffered much persecution.
344. The disciples of both have suffered death without
flinching from the faith.
345. Each sent numerous missionaries abroad to preach and
convert.
346. And, finally, each cherished the hope of converting the
world to their religion.
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The author has in his possession historical quotations to
prove the truth of each one of the above parallels. He has all the
historical facts on which they were constructed found in and drawn
from the sacred books of the Hindoo religion and the works of
Christian writers descriptive of their religion. But they would
swell the present volume to unwieldy dimensions, and far beyond its
proper and prescribed limits, to present them here; they are
therefore reserved for the second volume, and may be published in
pamphlet form also.
In proof of the correctness of the foregoing comparative
analogies, we will now summon the testimony of various authors
setting forth the historical character of the Hindoo God Chrishna,
and the essential nature of his religion, so far as it approximates
in its doctrines and moral teachings to the Christian religion. We
will first hear from Colonel Wiseman, for ten years a Christian
missionary in India.
"There is one Indian (Hindoo) legend of considerable
importance" says this writer. ... "This is the story of Chrishna,
the Indian Apollo. In native legends he is represented as an
Avatar, or incarnation of the Divinity. At his birth, choirs of
Devitas (angels) sung hymns of praise, while shepherds surrounded
his cradle. It was necessary to conceal his birth from the tyrant
ruler, Cansa, to whom it had been foretold that the infant Savior
should destroy him. The child escaped with his parents beyond the
coast of Lamouna. For a time he lived in obscurity, and then
commenced a public life distinguished for prowess and beneficence.
He washed the feet of the Brahmins, and preached the most excellent
doctrines; but at length the power of his enemies prevailed. ...
Before dying, he foretold the miseries which would take place in
the Caliyuga, or wicked age (Dark Age) of the world."
"Chrishna (says another writer) taught his followers that they
alone were the true believers of the saving faith; throwing down
the barriers of caste, and elevating the dogmas of their faith
above the sacerdotal class, he admitted every one who felt an
inward desire to the ministry to the preaching of their religion.
A system thus associating itself with the habits, feelings, and
personal advantages of its disciples could not fail to make rapid
progress." (Upham's History. Doctrines of Buddhism.)
"Buddhism inculcates benevolence, tenderness, forgiveness of
injuries, and love of enemies; and forbids sensuality, love of
pleasure, and attachment to worldly objects." (Judson).
"At the moment of his (Chrishna's) conception a God left
heaven to enter the womb of his mother (a virgin). Immediately
after his birth he was recognized as a divine personage, and it was
predicted that he would surpass all previous divine incarnations in
holiness. Every one adored him, saluting him as 'the God of Gods.'
When twenty years of age he went into a desert, and lived there in
the austerest retirement, poverty, simplicity, and virtue, spending
his whole time in religious contemplation. He was tempted; in
various ways, but his self-denial resisted all the seductive
approaches of sin. He declared, 'Religion is my essence.' He
experienced a lively opposition from the priests attached to the
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ancient creeds (as Christ subsequently did). But he triumphed over
all his enemies after holding a discussion with them (as Christ did
with the doctors in the Temple). He revised the existing code of
morals and the social law. He reduced the main principles of
morality to four, viz: mercy, aversion to cruelty, unbounded
sympathy for all animated beings and the strictest adherence to the
moral law. He also gave a decalogue of commandments, viz.: 1. Not
to kill. 2. Not to steal. 3. To be chaste. 4. Not to testify
falsely. 5. Not to lie. 6. Not to swear. 7. To avoid all impure
words. 8. To be disinterested. 9. Not to take revenge. 10. And not
to be superstitious. This code of morals was firmly established in
the hearts of his followers." (Abridged from Hardy's Manual of
Buddhism.)
"It was prophesied in olden times that a person would arise
and redeem Hindostan from 'the yoke of bondage.' 'At midnight, when
the birth of Chrishna was taking place, the clouds emitted low
music, and poured down a rain of flowers. The celestial child was
greeted with hymns by attending spirits.
The room was illuminated by his light, and the countenances of
his father and mother emitted rays of glory, and they bowed in
worship.' 'The people believed he was a God.' They eagerly caught
the words which fell from his lips, which taught his divine
mission, and they called him the 'Holy One,' and finally the
'Living God,' He performed miraculous cures. At his birth a
marvelous light illumined the earth. His followers baptized, and
performed miraculous cures. And he, when a child, attracted
attention by his miracles. While attending the herds with his
foster-father a great serpent poisoned the river, which caused the
death of cows and shepherd-boys when they drank of it, whom
Chrishna restored to life by a look of divine power. His life was
devoted to mercy and charity. He left paradise from pure
compassion, to die for suffering sinners. He sought to lead men to
better paths and lives of virtue and rectitude. He suffered to
atone for the sins of the world; and the sinner, through faith in
him, can be saved. Christ and Chrishna both taught the equality of
man. Prayers addressed to Chrishna were after this fashion: 'O thou
Supreme One! thy essence is inscrutable. Thou art all in all. The
understanding of man cannot reach thy Almighty Power. I, who know
nothing, fly to thee for protection. Show mercy unto me, and enable
me to see and know thee.' Chrishna replies, 'Have faith in me. No
one who worships me can perish. Address thyself to me as the only
asylum. I will deliver thee from sin. I am animated with equal
benevolence toward all beings. I know neither hatred nor
partiality. Those who adore me devoutly are in me and I in them"'
-- "Christ within you the hope of glory." (Abridged from Mr.
Tuttle.)
"If we consider that Buddhism proclaimed the equality of all
men and women in the sight of God, that it denounced the impious
pretensions of the most mischievous priesthood the world ever saw,
and that it inculcated a pure system of practical morality, we must
admit that the innovation was as advantageous as it was extensively
spread and adopted." (Hue's Journey through China, chap. v.)
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"To Chrishna the Hindoos were indebted for a code of pure and
practical morality, which inculcated charity and chastity,
performance of good works, abstinence from evil, and general
kindness to all living things." (Cunningham.)
"Buddhism never confounds right or wrong, and never excuses
any sin" (Catharine Beecher.)
"He (Chrishna) honored humanity by his virtues." (St.
Hilaire.)
"It is probable that every incident in his (Chrisna's) life is
founded in fact, which, if separated from surrounding fable, would
afford a history that would scarce have any equal in the importance
of the lessons it would teach." (Hardy's Manual of Buddhism.)
"He (Chrishna) undertakes and counsels a constant struggle
against the body. In his eyes the body is the enemy of man's soul
(as Paul thought when he spoke of 'our vile bodies.') He aims to
subdue the body and the burning passions which consume it. ... He
requires humility, disregard of wordily wealth, patience and
resignation in adversity, love to enemies, religious tolerance,
horror at falsehood, avoidance of frivolous conversation,
consideration and esteem for women, sanctity of the marriage
relation, non-resistance to evil, confession of sins, and
conversion." (St. Hilaire.)
"Buddhism has been called the Christianity of the East." (Abel
Remuset.)
"The doctrine and practical piety of their bible (the Baghavat
Gita) bear a strong resemblance to those of the Holy Scriptures. It
has scarcely a precept or principle that is not found in the
(Christian) bible. And were the people to live up to its principles
of peace and love, oppression and injury would be known no more
within their borders ... It has no mythology of obscene and
ferocious deities, no sanguinary or impure observances, no self-
inflicting tortures, no tyrannizing priesthood, no confounding of
right and wrong by making certain iniquities laudable in worship.
In its moral code, its description of the purity and peace of the
first ages, and the shortening of man's life by sin, it seems to
follow genuine traditions. In almost every respect it seems to be
the best religion ever invent@d by man." (Rev. H. Malcom's Travels
in Asia.)
"If the morality of Buddhism be examined, its exhortations to
guard the will, to curb the thoughts, to exercise kindness towards
others, to abstain from wrong to all, it propounds a very high
standard of practice." (Upham's Doctrines and History of Buddhism.)
"It seeks the highest triumphants of humanity in the exercise
of devotion, self-contemplation, and self-denial." (Theogony of the
Hindoos, by Bjornsjerma.)
"And the doctrines of Buddhism are not alone in the beauty of
their sentiments and the excellence of much of their morality. 'It
is not permitted to you to return evil for evil' is one of the
sentiments of Socrates." (Rev. H.S. Hardy's Eastern Monarchism.)
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"Buddhism insists on the necessity of taking the intellectual
faculties for guides in philosophical' researches." (Tiberghien.)
"It sought to wean mankind from the pleasures and vanities of
life by pointing to the transitoriness of all human enjoyment."
(Smith's Mongolia.)
"The principal characteristics of Buddhism are the doctrines
of mildness and the universal brotherhood of man." (Ibid.)
"Life is a state of probation and misery, according to
Buddhism." (Upham, chap. vi.)
"The Brahmins found fault with him (Chrishna) for receiving as
disciples the outcasts of Hindoo society (as the Jews did Christ
for fellow-shipping publicans and sinners). But he (Chrishna)
replied, 'My law is a law of mercy to all.'" (Huc's Voyages through
China.)
"Buddhism attracted and furnished consolation for the poor and
unfortunate." (Ibid.)
"Buddhism is a rationalistic and reform system as compared
with Brahminism. Landresse expresses his high admiration of the
heroism with which the Buddhist missionaries before Christ crossed
streams and seas which had arrested armies, and traversed deserts
and mountains upon which no caravans dared to venture, and braved
dangers and surmounted obstacles which had defied the omnipotence
of the emperors." (A note on Landresse's Foe Koui Ki.)
"If we addressed a Mogul or Thibetan this question, Who is
Chrishna? the reply was, instantly, 'The Savior of men.'" (Hue's
Journey through China.)
"Chrishna, the incarnate Deity of the Sanskrit romance
continues to this hour the darling God of the women of India ...
Chrishna was the person of Vishnu (God) himself in the human form."
(Asiat. Researches, 260).
"Respectable natives told me that some of the missionaries had
told them that they were even now almost Christians" (owing to the
two religions being so nearly alike). (Ibid).
"All that converting the Hindoos to Christianity does for them
is to change the object of their worship from Chrishna to Christ."
(Robert Cheyne.)
"Brahminism or Buddhism in some of its forms is said to
Constitute the religion of considerably more than half the human
race. It teaches the existence of one supreme eternal, and
uncreated God, called Brahma, who created the world through
Chrishna, the second member of the Trinity." Paul says, God created
the world through Jesus Christ, the second member of the Christian
Trinity. (Eph. ill. 9.) How striking the resemblance! "The doctrine
of the incarnation, the descent of the Deity upon earth, and his
manifestation in a human form for the redemption of mankind, seems
to have existed in the shape of prophecy or fact in all ages of the
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world. Hindooism teaches nine of these incarnations. Furthermore,
it teaches the doctrine of the Trinity, the fall and redemption of
man, and a state of future rewards and punishments in a future
life. ... This religion in chief of Asia is traceable to remote
ages. The doctrine of the Trinity is represented in the Elephantine
cavern, and taught in the Mahabarat, which goes back for its origin
nearly two thousand years before Christ." (New York Sunday
Despatch, 1855.)
"In the year 3600, Chrishna descended to the earth for the
purpose of defeating the evil machinations of Chivan (the devil),
as Christ 'came to destroy the devil and his works.' (See John iii.
8.) After a fierce combat with the devil, or serpent, he defeated
him by bruising his head -- he receiving, during the contest, a
wound in the heel. ('It [the serpent] shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel.' -- Gen. iii. 15.) He died at last
between two thieves. ... He lead a pure and holy life, and was a
meek, tender, and benevolent being, and enjoined charity,
hospitality, and mercy, and forbade lying, prevarication,
hypocrisy, and overreaching in dealing, and pilfering, and theft,
and violence toward any being." (Lecture before the Free Press
Association in 1827.)
"The birthplace of the Hindoo hero (Chrishna) is called
Mathura, which is easily changed, and by correct translation
becomes Maturea, the place where Christ is said to have stopped,
between Nazareth and Egypt. To show his humility he washed the feet
of the Brahmins (as Christ is said to have washed the feet of the
Jews -- see John xiii. 14). One day a woman came to him and
anointed his hair with oil, in return for which he healed her
maladies. One of his first miracles was that of healing a leper,
like Christ (See Mark i. 4). Finally, he was crucified, then
descended to Hades. (It is said of Christ, 'his soul was not left
in hell.' -- Acts ii. 31.) He (Chrishna) rose from the dead and
ascended to Voicontha (heaven.) (Higgins Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p.
239).
Now, we ask, is it any wonder, in view of the foregoing
historical exposition, that Eusebius should exclaim, "The religion
of Jesus Christ is neither new nor strange?" (Eccl. Hist. eh. iv.)
Truly did St. Augustine say, "This, in our day, is the Christian
religion, not as having been unknown in former times, but as having
recently received that name."
Here, then, we pause to ask our good Christian reader, Where
is your original Christianity? or what constitutes the revealed
religion of Jesus Christ? or where is the evidence that any new
religion was revealed by him or preached by him, seeing we have all
his religion, as shown by the foregoing historical citations,
included in an old heathen system more than a thousand years old
when Jesus Christ was born? We find it all here in this old
oriental system of Buddhism -- every essential part, Particle and
principle of it. We find Christianity all here -- its Alpha and
Omega, its beginning and end. We find it here in all its details,
-- its root, essence, and entity, -- all its "revealed doctrines,"
religions ideas, beautiful truths, senseless dogmas and oriental
phantoms. Not, a doctrine, principle, or precept of the Christian
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system, but that is here proclaimed to the world ages before "the
angels announced the birth of a divine babe in Bethlehem." Will
you, then, persist in claiming that "truth, life, and immortality
came by Jesus Christ," and that "Christ came to preach a new gospel
to the world, and to set forth a new religion never before heard
amongst men" (to use the language of Archbishop Tillotson), when
the historical facts cited in this work demonstrate a hundred times
over that such a position is palpably erroneous? Will you still
persist, with all those undeniable facts staring you in the face
(proving and reproving, with overwhelming demonstration, that the
statement is untrue), in declaring that "the religion of Jesus
Christ is the only true and soul-saving religion, and all other
systems are mere straw, stubble, tradition, and superstition" (as
asserted by a popular Christian writer), when no mathematician ever
demonstrated a scientific problem more clearly than we have proved
in these pages that all the principle systems of the past, by no
means excepting Christianity, are essentially alike in every
important particular -- all of their cardinal doctrines being the
same, differing only in unimportant details?
Seeing, then, that all systems of religion have been found to
be essentially alike in spirit and in practice, the all-important
question arises here, What is the true cause assignable for this
striking resemblance? How is it to be accounted for? Perhaps some
of our good Christian readers, unacquainted with history, may
cherish the thought that all the oriental systems brought to notice
are but imitations of Christianity; that they were reconstructed
out of materials obtained from that source; that Christianity is
the parent, and they the off-spring. But, alas for their long-
cherished idol, those who entertain such forlorn hopes are "sowing
to the wind, and are doomed to disappointment." With the exception
of Mahomedanism alone, Christianity is the youngest system in the
whole catalogue. The historical facts to prove this statement are
voluminous. But as it needs no proof to those who have read
religious history, but little space will be occupied with citations
for this purpose. With respect to the antiquity of the principal
oriental system, we need only to quote the testimony of Sir William
Jones, a devout Christian writer, who spent years in India, and
whose testimony will be accepted by any person acquainted with his
history. He makes the emphatic declaration, "That the name of
Chrishna, and the general outline of his history, were long
anterior to the birth of our Savior, and probably to the time of
Homer (900 B.C.) we know very certainly." (Asiat. Res. vol. i.p.
254.) No guess-work about it. "We know very certainly."
And being a scholar, a traveler, and a sojourner among the
Hindoos and well versed in their history, no person ever had a
better opportunity to know than he. We will hear this renowned
author further. "In the Sanskrit dictionary, compiled more than two
thousand years ago, we have the whole history of the incarnate
deity (Chrishna), born of a virgin, and miraculously escaping in
his infancy from the reigning tyrant of his country (Cansa). He
passed a life of the most extraordinary and incomprehensible
devotion. His birth was concealed from the tyrant Cansa, to whom it
had been predicted that one born at that time, and in that family,
would destroy him;" i.e., destroy his power. (Asiat. Res. vol. i.p.
273.) This writer also states that the first Christian
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missionaries who entered India were astonished to find there a
religion so near like their own, and could only account for it by
supposing that the devil, foreseeing the advent of Christ,
originated a system of religion in advance of his, and "just like
it." Stated in other words, he got out the second edition of the
gospel plan of salvation before the first edition was published or
had an existence. Rather a smart trick this, thus to outwit God
Almighty.
With respect to the vast antiquity of the Hindoo oriental
religion, which indicates it as being not only the source from
which the materials of the Christian religion were drawn, but as
being the parent of all the leading systems, with their three
thousand subordinate branches which existed at a much earlier
period than Christianity, we need only point to the deep chiseled
sculptures and imperishable monuments enstamped on their time-
honored temples, tombs, altars, vases, columns, pagodas, ruined
towers, &c., which, with contemporary inscriptions, warrant us in
antedating the religion of the Himmalehs far beyond the authentic
records of any other religion that has floated down to us on the
stream of time. The numerous images of their crucified Gods,
Chrishna and Saki, emblazoned on their old rock temples in various
parts of the country, some of which are constructed of clay
porphyry, now the very hardest species of rock, with their
attendant inscriptions in a language so very ancient as to be lost
to the memory of man, vie with the Sanskrit in age, the oldest
deciphered language in the world.
All these and a hundred corroboratory historical facts fix on
India as being the birthplace of the mother of all religions now
existing, or that ever had an existence, while the great workshop
in which they were subsequently remodeled was in Alexandria in
Egypt, whose theological schools furnished the model for nearly
every system now found noticed on the page of history --
Christianity of course included. So much for the unrivaled
antiquity of the Hindoo religion. Now, the more important query
arises, What relationship does ancient heathen or Hindoo Buddhism
bear to Christianity? What is the evidence that the latter is an
outgrowth of the former? As an answer to this question, the reader
will please note the following facts of history:--
1. Alexandria, the home of the world's great conqueror, was at
one period of time the great focal center for religious speculation
and propagandism, the great emporium for religions dogmas
throughout the East, and a place of resort for the disciples of
nearly every system of religious faith then existing.
2. In this capital city, comprising about five hundred
thousand inhabitants, were established a voluminous library, and
vast theological schools, in which men of every religious order,
and of every phase of faith, met and exchanged religious ideas, and
borrowed new doctrines, with which they remodeled their former
systems of faith, amounting in some cases to an entire change of
their long-established creeds.
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3. In these theological schools the Jewish sect, which
afterward became the founders of Christianity, were extensively
represented; for, let it be noted, its first disciples and founders
had all been Jews, probably of the Essene sect. "For a long time
the Christians were but a Jewish sect," says M. Reuss' "History of
Christian Theology." Alexander had, previous to this time (that is,
about 330 B.C.), subjected the whole of Western Asia to his
dominions, including, of course, "The Holy Land" -- Judea.
4. By this act a large portion of the Jewish nation were
transferred from their own country to Alexandria. And this number
was afterward vastly increased by Alexander's successor, Ptolemy
Sotor, who carried off and settled in that credal city one hundred
thousand more Jews.
5. As the result, in part, of these repeated calamities, the
Lord's chosen people "were literally broken up. They lost their
law, lost their leader and lawgiver, lost their language, lost the
control of their country, the "Promised Land," which (they verily
believed) the Lord had deeded to them 'in fee simple,' and ratified
in the high court of heaven, and had declared they should hold and
possess forever. And finally they partially lost their nationality,
being literally dissolved and broken up; and were finally almost
lost to history -- the ten tribes disappearing entirely.
6. The Jews had ever manifested a proneness for copying after
the religious customs of their heathen neighbors, and engrafting
their doctrines into their own creeds, as their bible history
furnishes ample proof.
7. In Alexandria a very superior opportunity was afforded for
doing this, excelling in this respect any previous period of their
history.
8. The shattered condition of their own religion, with all its
conventional creeds, customs, and ceremonies, now suspended and
literally prostrated, as above shown, vastly augmented the
temptation ever rife with them to make another change in their
religion, and subject their creed to another installment of new
doctrines, by which it became Christianity.
9. The liberal character and tolerant spirit of the political
and religious institutions of the kingdom of Alexandria, with its
vast and attractive library of two hundred thousand volumes,
established principally by Ptolemy Philadelphus, with other
attractive features already pointed out, furnished great
facilities, as well as increased temptations to religious
propagandists to absorb new theories, and make new creeds out of
the vast medley of religious doctrines and speculative dogmas
preached and propagated in that royal city by the disciples and
representatives of nearly every religious system then in existence,
brought together by the attractions above specified.
10. Hence every consideration would lead us to conclude, taken
in connection with the facts above stated, and the well-known
borrowing proclivity and imitative propensity of the Jews, that
they would not, and could not, withstand the overweening and
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overpowering temptation to make another radical change in their
religion by a new draught on the boundless reservoir of speculative
ideas, religious tenets, and specious theories then glowing in the
popular schools of Alexandria.
11. All the facts above enumerated would impel us to the
conclusion that the Jews would -- and every page of history
touching the matter proves they did -- make important changes in
their religion by this contact with the oriental systems, as they
had repeatedly done before. Some of this proof we will here
present, to show how they originated Christianity.
12. "The schools of Alexandria" says Mr. Enfield, a Christian
writer, "by pretending to teach sublime doctrines concerning God
and divine things, enticed men of different countries and
religions, and among the rest the Jews, to study its mysteries, and
incorporate them with their own. ... The Jewish faith mixed with
the Pythagorean, and afterward with the Egyptian oriental theology"
(that is, they became Essenes in the Grecian school of Pythagoras,
who taught the doctrines of that religious order, then Buddhists in
the Egyptian schools of Alexandria). And finally, with Christ as
their leader, who taught the doctrines of both schools (they being
essentially alike), they assumed the name of Christian in honor of
him, and thus is Christianity from Essene Buddhism.
13. Beers, in his "History of the Jews," sustains the above
statement by the declaration that the Essenian Jews "fled to Egypt
at the time of the Babylonian captivity, and there became
acquainted with the Pythagorean philosophy, and ingrafted it upon
the religion of Moses," which would make them Essenian Buddhists --
for Cunningham assures us that "the doctrine of Pythagoras were
intenses, Buddhistic." (Philsa. Topus, chap. x.)
14. We will condense a few more historical testimonies
relative to the entire change of the Jewish faith, while in
Alexandria, as well as on other occasions, to show how easy and
natural it was for that portion of the Jews who afterward became
the founders of Christianity to slide into and adopt Essenian
Buddhism, whose doctrines they took to constitute the Christian
religion.
15. Mr. Gibbon (chap. xxi.) declares that the theological
opinions of the Jews underwent great changes by their contact with
the various foreigners they found in Alexandria; Mr. Tytler
likewise, in his "Universal History," assures us that the Jewish
religion "became totally changed by the intermixture of heathen
doctrines." Dr. Campbell also testifies that "their views came
pretty much to coincide with those of the pagans." (See his
Dissertation, vi.) And the author of "The Expositor for 1854"
complains that the pagan "theology stole upon them from every
quarter, and mingled in all the views of the then known tribes, so
that by the year 150 B.C., it had wrought visible changes in their
notions and habits of thought." (p. 423.) Here we have the proof
that the whole Jewish religion underwent a change in Alexandria.
16. Now, most certainly a nation or sect professing a religion
so easily changed, and possessing a character so fickle, or so
impressible as to yield on every slight occasion, and embrace every
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opportunity to imbibe new religious ideas and doctrines, would
easily, if not naturally, slide into the adoption of the religious
system then promulgated in Alexandria under the name of Buddhism,
and afterward remodeled or transformed, and called Christianity.
17. The Jews of the Essenian order, as we have in part shown
in a previous chapter, set forth in their creed all the leading
doctrines now comprised in the Christian religion hundreds of years
before the advent of Christ, not excepting the doctrine of the
divine incarnation and its adjuncts, as these concomitants of the
present popular faith, we will now prove, were not unknown to the
Jewish theology, but constituted a part of the religion of some of
the principal Jewish sects. That standard Christian author, Mr.
Milman, in his "History of Christianity," tells us that "the
doctrine of the incarnation ('God manifest in the flesh') was the
doctrine from the Ganges, and even the shores of the Yellow Sea to
the Ilissus. It was the fundamental principle of the Indian
Buddhist religion and philosophy. It was the basis of Zoroasterism.
It was pure Platonism. It was Platonic Judaism in the Alexandrian
school." Here it is positively declared, by a popular Christian
writer, whose work is a part of nearly every popular library in
Christendom as a standard authority, that the appearance of God
amongst men in the human form, by human birth, was a doctrine of
the Jewish religion in some of its branches, especially the
Essenian branch -- further proof that Christianity originated
nothing, and gave utterance to no new doctrine or precepts, and
performed no new miracles. Where, then, is the claim for its
originality? On what ground is it predicated? Please answer us,
good Christian brother.
18. It is a question of no importance, if it could be settled,
whether Christianity is a direct outgrowth from one of the new-
fangled sects of Judaism, or whether it derived a portion of its
doctrines from this source and the balance from ascetic Buddhism.
Yet we regard it as an incontrovertible proposition that it all
grew out of Buddhism originally, either director or indirectly.
19. Christ may have received his doctrines second-handed, all
or a portion from the Essenian Jews; for that sect held all the
leading doctrines of Buddhism (as we have shown in a previous
chapter), which now goes under the name of the religion of Jesus
Christ.
20. Or we may indulge the not unreasonable hypothesis that the
founders of Christianity, who republished the doctrines of Buddhism
and adopted them as their own, received them all direct from the
disciples of that religious order; for "they were everywhere," as
one writer (Mr. Taylor) declares, speaking of their extensive
travels to propagate their doctrines through the world. And it was
about that period, as Mr. Goodrich informs us, they sent out nine
hundred missionaries, who made six millions of converts, -- a small
fraction of their present number (three hundred and eighty
millions, as given by some of our geographies), -- one third more
than the entire census of Christendom, and six tunes the number of
believers in the Christian religion, if we omit Greeks and
Catholics. "It is," as a writer remarks, "the oldest and most
widely spread religion in the world." And, whatever hypothesis may
be adduced to account for the fact, Christianity is now all
Buddhism.
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21. It is impossible, with the historic darkness which at
present environs and beclouds our pathway, to determine at what
period or in what manner Christ became an Essene, -- whether he was
born of Essenian parents, or became a convert to the faith, --
because the whole period of his life, with the exception of about
three years, is a total blank in history. There is but one incident
related of his movements by his bible biographers prior to his
twenty-seventh year, leaving more than a quarter of a century of
his probably active life unreported -- a period that may have
witnessed several important changes in his religion. We have not
even his ancestry reported in his scriptural biography, in either
parental line, unless we assume Joseph to have been his father. The
parental lineage of his mother is entirely omitted. Had we his line
of ancestry, or could we trace him back to his national or family
origin, we doubt not but we should there find a clue to the origin
of his religion. We should find his ancestors were Essenian Jews.
22. Nor can we fix the date when Essenian Buddhism among the
Jews received the name of Christianity for a similar reason. There
is a link -- a chain of events of four hundred years left out of
the bible between Judaism and Christianity -- thus lacking four
hundred years of connecting the two religions together, or of
showing how the latter grew out of the former. Malachi, the last
book of the Old Testament, antedates the first events of Christian
history four centuries, or twelve generations, thus leaving a wide
and dark gap between them. And besides, we cannot find the name of
Christ or Christianity mentioned in any of the contemporary
histories of that era till one hundred and four years after the
time fixed for Christ's birth by Christendom; Tacitus being the
first writer who names either, and this was at that date.
23. These facts disclose the whole secret with respect to the
mystery and darkness thrown around the origin of the Christian
religion -- the how, the when, and the where of its origin. That
chapter of Christian history is left out of the record. The bible
account itself is but fragmentary, as it leaves nine tenths of
Christ's history a blank, -- twenty-seven years out of the thirty,
-- and omits all mention of his ancestors beyond his grandmother,
and leaves even the time of his birth a blank. "The researches of
the learned," says Mr. Mosheim (a standard Christian author),
"though long and ably conducted, have been unable to fix the time
of Christ's birth with certainty." (Eccl. Hist. p. 23.) Wonderful
admission, truly, as it is an evidence that nothing else can be
fixed "with certainty," with respect to the history of "the man
Christ Jesus," only that his doctrines and precepts were all
borrowed perhaps during the twenty-seven dark and mysteries years
of his life, if not an Essene by birth.
24. There is no escaping the conclusion that Christianity is
a borrowed system -- an outgrowth and remodeling of Buddhism, with
a change of name only. A thousand facts of history prove and
proclaim it, and the verdict of posterity will be unanimous in
affirming it.
25. From the almost endless chain of analogies, exhibiting a
striking resemblance even in their minute details of Christianity
and Buddhism, we are compelled to conclude that one furnished the
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materials for the other; that one is the offspring -- the
legitimate child -- of the other. And as it is a settled historical
fact that Buddhism is much the older system, there is hence no
difficulty in determining which is the parent and which is the
child.
26. In the Hindoo story of the creation of the human race, we
find Adimo and Heva given as the names of the first man and woman
answering to our Adam and Eve. And our Shem, Ham, and Japheth are
traceable to their Shernia, Hama, and Jiapheta; the difference in
the mode of spelling is probably owing to the difference in the
languages. And under the new era we have Christ Jesus answering to
their Chrishna Zeus, as some writers give the name of the eighth
Avatar. And for Maia, a godmother, we have Mary. And other similar
analogies might be pointed out besides the long string of
strikingly similar events previously presented in the history of
the two Saviors (Christ and Chrishna), amounting to hundreds.
27. Such an almost countless list of similar and nearly
identical incidents bids defiance, and absolutely sets at naught
all attempts to account for it as a mere fortuitous accident. There
is no other explanation possible but that Christianity is a re-vamp
or re-establishment of Buddhism.
28. Here let it be noted that Christianity was not the only
religion which was rehabilitated in the Alexandrian schools. On the
contrary, all the popular oriental systems then in active being had
long previously passed through the same representative theological
schools and creed-making institutions of that royal and commercial
city. All were remodeled in its theological workshops -- a fact
which accounts most conclusively for the same train of religious
ideas and historical incidents being found in the later sacred
books of each. And besides, Sir William Jones says, "The disciples
of these various systems of religion had intercourse with each
other long before the time of Christ, which would necessarily bring
about a uniformity in the doctrines and general character of each
system."
29. The disciples of all the religious systems cited their
initiatory miracles as a proof of being on familiar terms with God
Almighty. They all (as is claimed) healed the sick; all restored
the deaf, the dumb, and the blind; all cast out devils, and all
raised the dead. (See chapter on Parallels.) In fact, all their
miracles and legendary marvels run in parallel lines, because all
were recast in the same creed-mold in Alexandria. A coincidence is
thus beautifully explained, which would otherwise be hard to
account for.
30, Mr. Gibbon says, "It was in the school of Alexandria that
the Christian theology appears to have assumed a regular and
scientific form" (Decline, &c., chap. xv.); that is, the regular
and scientific form of Buddhism or Essenism.
31. Pregnant with meaning is the text, "It was in the city of
Antioch the disciples were first called Christians." (Acts xi. 36.)
Here is conclusive proof that the disciples of the Christian faith
were not always known by the same name, and were not at first
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called Christians. Then what were they called during the earlier
years of their history? Here is a great and important query, and
one involving a momentous problem. Couple the two facts together,
that the disciples were first known as Christians at Antioch, and
that the Essenian order of believers expired and went out of
history about that period, and the question is at once and forever
satisfactorily settled. It was not an infrequent act on making
important changes in a religion, and adopting some new items of
faith to change the title of the system, and give it a new name.
After Alexander Campbell had made some modifications in his
previous religious faith, and started a new church, his followers
were popularly called Campbellites. Elias Hicks ingrafted some
reform ideas into the Quaker faith, and instituted a new society of
that order. Hence, and henceforth, his disciples were known as
Hicksites. In like manner Jesus Christ having made some innovations
in his inherited Jewish faith (which was of the Essene stamp) by
ingrafting 'more of the Buddhist doctrine into it, his followers
were henceforth called Christians. How complete the analogy! Here
let it be borne in mind, as powerfully confirmatory of this
conclusion, that the first Christians were (as history affirms)
"merely reformatory Jews." The twelve chosen were all Jews,
probably of the Essene order. According to the Rev. Mr. Prideaux
(Jewish History), the Jews of this order were first called
Israelites, in common with the other tribes; then Chassidim; and
thirdly Essenes. And finally, after the Essenian Jesus Christ, with
some new radical ideas, proclaimed "Ye have heard it hath been said
by them of old time" thus and so, "but I say unto you" differently.
The title was again changed, and they adopted or received the name
of Christians -- the Essenes going out of history at the very date
Christians first appear in history. Put this and that together, and
the chain is welded. Thus we can as easily trace the origin of
Christianity as we can trace the origin of a root running beneath
the soil in the direction of a certain tree. History, then,
proclaims that to the honest, pious, deeply-devout, self-denying,
yet ignorant, slothful, and filthy Budhistic Essenes must be
awarded the honor or dishonor of giving birth to that system of
religion now known as Christianity.
CHRISHNA AS A GOD -- ADDITIONAL FACTS.
The following additional facts relative to the history,
character, life, and teachings of Zeus Chrishna, or Jeseus Christna
(as styled by one writer) are drawn mostly from the Vedas,
Baghavat, Gita (Bible in India).
1. His Virgin Mother, her Character. -- The holy book
declares, that "through her the designs of God were accomplished.
She was pure and chaste; no animal food ever touched her lips;
honey and milk were her sustenance; her time was spent in solitude,
lost in the contemplation of God who showered upon her innumerable
blessings; she looked upon death as the birth to a new and better
life; when she traveled, a column of fire in the heavens went
before her to guide her. One evening, as she was praying, she heard
celestial music, and fell into a profound ecstasy, and being
overshadowed by the spirit of God, she conceived the God Chrishna."
(Baghavat, Gita).
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2. Chrishna, his Life and Mission. -- This sin-atoning God was
about sixteen when he commenced active life. Like Christ, he chose
twelve disciples to aid him in propagating his doctrines. "He spent
his time working miracles, resuscitating the dead, healing lepers,
restoring the deaf and the blind, defending the weak against the
strong, and the oppressed against the oppressor, and in proclaiming
his divine mission to redeem man from original sin, and banish
evil, and restore the reign of good." (Baghavat, Gita.) It is
declared that he came to teach peace, charity, love to man, self-
respect, the practice of good for its own sake, and faith in the
inexhaustible goodness of the Creator; also to preach the
immortality of the soul, and the doctrine of future rewards and
punishments, and to vanquish the prince of darkness, Rakshas. It is
further declared that "Brahma sent his son (Chrishna) upon the
earth to die for the Salvation of man." "His lofty precepts and the
purity of his life spread his fame throughout all India, and
finally won for him more than three millions of followers." "He
inculcated the sublimest doctrines, and the purest morals, and the
grand principles of charity and self-denial." "He forbade revenge,
and commanded to return good for evil, and consoled the feeble and
the unhappy." "He lived poor, and loved the poor." "He lived
chaste, and enjoined chastity." "Problems the most lofty, and
morals the most pure and sublime, and the future destiny of man,
were themes which engaged his most profound attention."
"Chrishna, we will venture to say (says the Bible in India)
was the greatest of philosophers, not only of India, but of the
entire world." "He was the grandest moral figure of ancient times."
(Bible in India.) "Chrishna was a moralist and a philosopher." "We
should admire his moral lessons, so sublime and so pure." "He was
recognized as the 'Divine Word."' "He received the title of Jeseus,
which means pure Essense." Chrishna signifies the "Promised of
God," the "Messiah." "When he preached, he often spoke from a
mount. He also spoke in parables. 'Parable plays a great part in
the familar instructions of this Hindoo Redeemer.'" He relates a
very interesting parable of a fisherman who was much persecuted by
his neighbors, but who in the time of a severe famine, when the
people were suffering and dying for the want of food, being so
noble as to return good for evil, he carried food to these same
persecuting enemies, and thus saved them from starvation.
"Therefore," said he "do good to all, both the evil and the good,
even your enemies."
His addresses to the people were simple, but to his disciples
they were elevated and philosophical. Such was the wisdom of his
sermons and his parables, that the people crowded around him, eager
to behold and hear him, "saying, This is indeed the Redeemer
promised to our Fathers." Great multitudes followed him,
exclaiming, "This is he who resuscitates the dead, and heals the
lame, and the deaf, and the blind." On one occasion, as he entered
Madura (as Christ once entered Jerusalem), "the people came out in
flocks to meet him, and strewed branches in his way." On another
occasion two women approached him, anointed him with oil, and
worshiped him. When the people murmured at this waste, he replied,
"Better is a little given with an humble heart than much given with
ostentation." Such was his sense of decorum, that he admonished
some girls he once observed playing in a state of nudity on the
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bank of a river after bathing. They repented, asked his
forgiveness, and reformed. "The followers of Chrishna practiced all
the virtues, and observed a complete abnegation of self (self-
denial), and lived poor, hoping for a reward in the future life.
They occupied all their time in the service of their Divine Master.
Pure and majestic was their worship." Chrishna had a favorite
disciple Adjaurna, who sustained to him the relation of John to
Christ, while Angada acted the part of Judas by following him to
the Ganges and betraying him.
3. His last Hours. -- "When Chrishna knew his hour had come,
forbidding his disciples to follow him, he repaired to the bank of
the River Ganges; and having performed three ablutions, he knelt
down, and looking up to heaven, he prayed to Brahma." While nailed
to the cross, the tree on which he was suspended became suddenly
covered with great red flowers, which diffused their fragrance all
around. And it is said he often appeared to his disciples after his
death "in all his divine majesty."
4. The second Advent of Chrishna. -- "There is not a Hindoo.
or a Brahmin who does not look upon the second coming of Chrishna
as an established article of faith." Their holy bibles (the Vedas
and Gita) prophesy of him thus: "He shall come crowned with lights;
he shall come, and the heavens and the earth shall be joyous; the
stars shall pale before his splendor; the earth will be too small
to contain him, for he is infinite, he is Almighty, he is Wisdom,
he is Beauty, he is all and in all; and all men, all animated
beings, beasts, birds, trees, and plants, will chant his praises;
he will regenerate all bodies, and purify all souls." "He will be
as sweet as honey and ambrosia, and as pure as the lamb without
spot, or as the lips of a virgin. All hearts will be transported
with joy. From the rising to the setting of the sun it will be a
day of joy and exultation, when this God shall manifest his power
and his glory, and reconcile the world unto himself." Such are a
few of the prophetic utterances of his devout and prayerful
disciples.
"We find," says a writer, "in all the theogonies of different
countries the hope of the advent of a God (either his first or his
second coming) -- a hope which sprang from a sense of their own
imperfections and sufferings, which naturally induced them to look
for a divine Redeemer."
5. Precepts of Chrishna. -- Numerous are the prescriptive
admonitions found in the holy books which set forth the religion of
"this heathen demigod" (so called by Christian professors). They
appertain to all the duties of life, but are too numerous to be
quoted here. Those appertaining to woman enjoin the most sacred
regard for her rights, such as "woman should be protected with
tenderness, and shielded with fostering solicitude." "There is no
crime more odious than to persecute woman, or take advantage of her
weakness." "Degrade woman and you degrade man." For other similar
precepts, see Chapter XXXII. The injunctions to read their holy
bible (the Vedas, &c.) are quite numerous, such as, "Let him study
the holy Scriptures unceasingly." "Pray night and morning, and in
the attitude of devotion.' And read the holy Scriptures many of
them read it through upon their knees. (See Chap. XLIV.) We have
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not space for a further exposition of this subject here; but it
will be found more fully set forth in the pamphlet, "Christ and
Chrishna Compared," which will perhaps, become an Appendix to this
work.
It may be objected that there are precepts and stories to be
found in the religion of this Hindoo God (Chrishna), which reflect
but little credit or honor upon that religion. This is true. And
similar reflections would materially damage the religion of
Christianity also. The story of Christ beating and maltreating the
money-changers in the temple, his cursing an innocent, unoffending,
and unconscious fig tree, and his indulgence in profane swearing at
his enemies, -- "O ye fools and blind, ye generation of vipers, how
can you escape the damnation of hell!" -- does not reflect any
credit upon his religion, viewed as a system. Defects, then, may be
found in both systems. In viewing the analogies of the two
religions, it should be noted that the Hindoos claim, with a
forcible show of facts and logic, that the religion of Christianity
grew out of theirs. It has not been long since a learned Hindoo
maintained this position in a public debate with a missionary. If
all these facts effect nothing in the way of inducing the Christian
clergy to confess the falsity of their position in claiming their
religion to be a direct emanation from God, it will be a sad
commentary upon either their intelligence or their honesty.
These historical facts, with those set forth in the preceding
chapters, prove that the religion called Christianity, instead of
being, as Christians claim, "the product of the Divine Mind," is
the product of "heathen" minds; i.e., a spontaneous outgrowth of
the moral and religious elements of the human mind. And therefore,
for God to have revealed it over again to the founders of
Christianity would have been superfluous, and a proof of his
ignorance of history.
**** ****
NOTE. -- The author deems it proper to state here, with
respect to the comparison between Christ and Chrishna, that some of
the doctrines which he has selected as constituting a part of the
religion of the Hindoo Savior, are not found in the reported
teachings of that deified moralist. But as they appear to breathe
forth the same spirit, it is presumed he would have indorsed them,
had they come under his notice. As Christians assume the liberty to
arrange the doctrines of Paul and Peter under the head of
Christianity because claimed to be in consonance with the religion
of Christ, though not all taught by him, the author, in like
manner, has assumed, that some doctrines taught by other systems
and religious teachers of India accord with those taught by
Chrishna, and hence has arranged them with his. The author's
purpose is not to set forth the doctrines of any sect, any system,
or any religious teacher, but to show that all the doctrines of
Christianity are traceable to ancient India. But whether taught by
this sect or that sect, it is foreign to our purpose to inquire;
and hence, for convenience, he has arranged them all into one
system, and designated them Chrishnaanity (borrowing a new term).
There can be no more impropriety, he presumes, in arranging the
doctrines of the various conflicting sects of India into one system
(including even Brahminism and Buddhism), than to arrange, as
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Christians do, the doctrines taught by the antagonistic system of
Catholicism and Protestantism, and their six hundred conflicting
sects, under the head of Christianity. Hence, Christians, of
course, will not fault the arrangement. The classification above
alluded to comprises, in part, the religion of many of the Hindoo
sects, but does not set forth all their doctrines, only those
analogous to Christianity. Chrishna was a Vishnuite, and not a
Brahmin, as some writers assume. He and Christ were both reformers,
and departed from the ancient faith. Vishnuism appears to have
finally centered in Buddhism.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
APOLLONIUS, OSIRIS, MAGUS, ETC. -- GODS.
MIRACULOUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF OTHER GODS
AND DEMI-GODS OF ANTIQUITY.
THE age in which Christ flourished, as before remarked, was
pre-eminently an age of miracle. The practice of thaumaturgy, and
the legends invested with the display of the miracle-working power,
both preceding and subsequent to that era, rose to a great height.
"All nations of that time," says a writer, "were mightily bent on
working miracles." And the disciples who acted the part of
biographers for the various crucified Gods and sin-atoning Saviors,
throughout the East, seemed to vie with each other in setting off
the lives and histories of their favorite objects of worship
respectively, with marvelous exploits and the pageantry of the most
astounding prodigies. And the miracles in each case were pretty
much of the same character, thus indicating a common course for
their origin, -- all probably having been cast in the same mold --
in the theological schools of the once famous, world-renowned city
of Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Having, in the preceding
chapters, presented the miraculous achievements of the Hindoo Gods,
Chrishna and Saki, we will here bring to notice those of other
Gods.
THE MIRACLES RECORDED OF ALCIDES, OSIRIS,
AND OTHER GODS OF EGYPT.
1. We have the miraculous birth by a virgin in the case of
Alcides.
2. Osiris, while a sucking infant in his cradle, killed two
serpents which came to destroy him.
3. Alcides performed many miraculous cures.
4. According to Ovid he cured by a miracle the daughter of
Archiades.
5. Also the wife of Theogenes, after the doctors had given her
up.
6. And both these Gods converted water into wine.
7. Both of them frequently cast out devils.
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8. Julius declares Alcides raised Tyndarus and Hippolitus from
the dead.
9. When Zulis was crucified, the sun became dark and the moon
refused to shine.
10. Both he and Osiris were resurrected by a miracle.
11. Both ascend to heaven in sight of many witnesses.
12. And finally we are told that from Alexandria the whole
empire became filled with the fame of these miracle-workers, who
restored the blind to sight, cured the paralytic, caused the dumb
to speak, the lame to walk, &c. All these miracles were as credibly
related of these Gods as similar miracles of Jesus Christ.
MIRACLES PERFORMED BY PYTHAGORAS AND OTHER
GODS OF GREECE.
1. Pythagoras was a spirit in heaven before he was born on
earth.
2. His birth was miraculously foretold.
3. His mother conceived him by a specter (the Holy Ghost).
4. His mother (Pytheas) was a holy virgin of great moral
purity.
5. Plato's mother, Paretonia (says Olympiodorus), conceived
him by the God Apollo.
6. Pythagoras in his youth astonishes the doctors by his
wisdom.
7. Was worshiped as the "Son of God," "Paraclete," "Child of
Divinity," &c.
8. Could see events many ages in the future (says Richardson,
his biographer).
9. Could bring down the eagle from his lofty height by
command.
10. Could approach and subdue the wild, ferocious Daunian
bear.
11. Could, like Christ, appear at two places at once.
12. Could walk on the water and travel on the air.
13. Could discern and read the thoughts of his disciples.
14. Could handle poisonous reptiles with impunity.
15. Cured all manner of diseases.
16. Restored sight to the blind.
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17. He "cast out devils."
18. Jamblicus says he could allay storms on the sea.
19. Raised several persons from the dead.
20. And, finally, "a thousand other wonderful things are told
of him," says Jamblicus.
With respect to his character, it is said that "for humility,
and practical goodness, and the wisdom of his moral precepts, he
stood without a rival." He discarded bloody sacrifices, discouraged
wars, forbade the use of wine and other intoxicating drinks,
enjoined the forgiveness of enemies and their kind treatment, and
also respect to parents. He was a special friend to the poor, and
taught that they were the favorites of God. "Blessed are ye poor."
He practiced and recommended the silent worship of God. He retired
from the world, and often fasted, and was a great enemy to riches
(like Jesus Christ). He considered poverty a virtue, and, despised
the pomp of the world. He recommended (like Christ) the abandonment
of parents, relations, and friends, houses and lands, &c., for
religion's sake. His disciples, like those of Christ, had a common
treasury and a general community of goods, to which all had free
access, so that there was no poverty or suffering amongst them
while the supply lasted. All shared alike. In fact, with respect to
the spirit of his precepts, his moral lessons, and nearly his whole
practical life, he bore a striking resemblance to Jesus Christ, and
presented the same kind of evidence, and equally convincing
evidence, of being a God. And as he was born into the world five
hundred and fifty-four years before Christ, the latter probably
obtained the materials of his moral system from that Grecian
teacher, or in the same school of the Essenian Buddhists, in which
both Pythagoras and Christ appear to have taken lessons.
MIRACLES OF THE ROMAN GODS QUIRINUS
AND PROMETHEUS.
1. Prometheus was honored with a miraculous birth.
2. Quirinus was miraculously preserved in infancy, when
threatened with destruction by the tyrant ruler Amulius.
3. He performed the miracles, according to Seneca and Hesiod,
of curing the sick, restoring the blind, raising the dead, and
casting out devils.
4. Both these Gods were crucified amid signs, and wonders, and
miracles.
5. All nature was convulsed, and the saints arose when they
were crucified.
6. The sun was also darkened, and refused to shine.
7. Both descended to hell, and rose from it by divine power.
8. And Prometheus was seen to ascend to heaven.
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We cite these lists of miraculous events as if real facts, not
because we believe they were such, but as possessing the same
degree of credibility as those related of Jesus Christ.
MIRACLES AND RELIGION OF APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.
1. Everything was subject to his miraculous power.
2. He performed many miraculous cures.
3. He restored sight to the blind.
4. He cast out devils, which sometimes "cut up" like those of
Christ.
5. He enabled the lame to walk.
6. He re-animated the dead.
7. He could read the thoughts of bystanders.
8. Sometimes disappeared in a miraculous manner.
9. Caused a tree to bloom, while Christ made another
tree to wither away.
10. The laws of nature obeyed him.
11. Could speak in many languages he had never learned.
12. Was at one time transfigured, like Christ.
13. His birth was miraculously foretold by an angel.
14. Was born of a spotless virgin.
15. There were demonstrations of joy and singing at his birth.
16. Exhibited proofs in infancy of being a God.
17. Manifested extraordinary wisdom in childhood.
18. He was called "the Son of God."
19. Also "the image of the Eternal Father manifested in the
flesh."
20. He was also styled "a prophet."
21. Like Christ, he retired into mystic silence.
22. His religion was one of exalted spirituality.
23. He taught the doctrine of "the Inner Life."
24. He possessed exalted views of purity and holiness.
25. Like Christ, he was a religious ascetic.
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26. His religion, as in the case of Christ, forbade him to
marry.
27. He ate no animal food, and would wear no woolen garments.
28. Gave his substance to the poor.
29. Eschewed love for wine and women.
30. Refrained from artificial ornaments and sumptuous living.
31. He was a high-toned moral reformer.
32. He condemned external sacrifices.
33. Also condemned gladiatorial shows.
34. He religiously opposed dancing and sexual pleasures.
35. He recommended the pursuit of wisdom.
36. Was of a serene temper, and never got angry.
37. Was a true prophet, foresaw and foretold many future
events.
38. Foresaw a plague, and stopped it after it had commenced.
39. Crowds were attracted by his great miracles and his
wisdom.
40. He disputed with and vanquished the wise men of Greece and
Asia, as Christ did the learned doctors in the temple.
41. When imprisoned by Domitian and loaded with chains, he
disinthralled himself by divine power.
42. He was followed by crowds when entering Alexandria, like
Christ when entering Jerusalem.
43. Was crucified amidst a display of divine power.
44. He rose from the dead.
45. Appeared to his disciples after his resurrection.
46. Like Christ, he convinced a Tommy Didymus by getting him
to feel the print of the nails in his hands and feet.
47. Was seen by many witnesses after his resurrection, and was
hailed by them as the "God Incarnate," "the Lord from Heaven."
48. He finally ascended back to heaven, and now "sits at the
right hand of the Father," pleading for a sinful world.
49. When he entered the temple of Diana, "a voice from above
was heard saying, 'Come to heaven.'"
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50. Accordingly he was seen no more on earth only as a spirit.
The reader will observe that the foregoing list of analogies,
drawn from the history of Apollonius, as furnished us by his
disciple Damos and his biographer Philostratus, are found also, in
almost every particular, in the history of Jesus Christ. And the
list might have been extended. It is declared, "A beauty shone in
his countenance, and the words he uttered were divine," which
reminds us of Christ's transfiguration. And his "staying a plague
at Ephesus" revives the case of Christ stilling the tempest on the
waters. Now, the question very naturally arises here, How came the
histories of Apollonius and Christ to be so strikingly alike? Was
one plagiarized from the other? As for the miraculous history of
Apollonius being reconstructed from that of Jesus Christ, as some
Christians have assumed, there is not the slightest foundation for
such a conclusion, as the following facts will show, viz.: --
1. The Cappadocian Savior (Apollonius) was born several years
anterior to the advent of the Christian Savior, and appeared at an
earlier date upon the stage of active life, and thus got the start
of Christ in the promulgations of his doctrines and the exhibition
of his miracles. Christ's active life, Christians concede and the
bible proves, did not commence till about his twenty-eighth or
thirtieth year, which was long after Apollonius had inaugurated his
religion, and long after he had commenced the promulgation of his
doctrines, and attested them by wonderful miracles, according to
his biographer Philostratus.
2. The New American Cyclopedia tells us, "Apollonius labored
for the purity of Paganism, and to sustain its tottering edifice
against the assaults of the Christians." So that, being placed in
a hostile attitude toward the representatives of the Christian
faith, it is not likely he would condescend to borrow their
doctrines and the miraculous history of their incarnate God, to
invest his own life with. He was probably one of the "anti-Christs"
spoken of in the New Testament; but this circumstance reflects
nothing dishonorable upon his character; for some of those
distinguished personages denounced as "anti-Christ," by Christ's
gospel biographers, were, according to impartial history, noble,
honest, and righteous men. Their only offense consisted in robbing
Christ of his divine laurels, by claiming similar titles, and
claiming to perform the same kind of miracles; and there is as much
proof that they did achieve these prodigies as that Christ did.
3. The early Christian writers conceded that Apollonius and
the other oriental Gods did perform the miracles which are ascribed
to them by their respective disciples, but accounted for it by the
childish expedient of obsession. Christ was assumed to perform
miracles, by divine power, they by the power of the devil -- a
childish and senseless distinction truly, and one which can have no
logical force in this enlightened age.
MIRACLES AND CLAIMS FOR SIMON MAGUS. B.C.
1. It is declared, "he was in the beginning with God."
2. That "he existed with God from all eternity."
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3. That "he took upon himself the form of a man."
4. That "he was the Son of God," "the Word," &c.
5. That "he was the second person in the godhead."
6. That "he came down to destroy the devil and his works."
7. That "he was the image of the Eternal Father."
8. That "he was the first-born Son of God."
9. That he could control the elements.
10. That he could walk on the air as Christ did on the water.
11. Could move anything by the command, "Be thou removed."
12. That he could raise the dead.
13. That he could transform himself into the image of any man.
14. That he was "the Paraclete, or Comforter."
15. That he came to "redeem the world from sin."
16. Finally, he was the world's "Savior," "Redeemer," "the
Only Begotten of the Father," and "through his name men are to be
saved."
The reader will call to mind that this Simon Magus is
mentioned and condemned in the Acts of the Apostles, for offering
to pay Peter for a bestowment of the gift of the Holy Ghost. And
yet every philosopher in this age must concede that Magus'
assumption in the case is more sensible and philosophical than that
of Peter's. For the latter calls it "a gift from God," whereas
every person now acquainted with the nature, principles, and
science of animal magnetism, knows that such manifestation as that
which Peter ascribes to God and the Holy Ghost, is a simple natural
phenomenon; and that, consequently, it can be no more a violation
of the rules of propriety to pay for the labor of making such
developments than it is to pay a teacher for developing the mind of
a child. It was certainly a greater act of courtesy to offer to pay
for it than to demand it as a gratuitous favor. Hence we infer he
excelled Peter in his demeanor as a gentleman, especially as he
bore Peter's severe reprimand with patience, and apparently with a
better spirit than that which dictated it. And we may remark here,
also, that notwithstanding this Samaritan Jew is so unsparingly
denounced by the godly Peter, and by the early Christian fathers
also, yet we have the historical proof that he was an honest,
pious, and ardently devout man. His whole life was absorbed in the
cause of religion, and his whole soul devoted to his religious
duties and the worship of his God. Hence we think Peter's rebuke
was uncalled for.
Let the reader note the fact here that there are three
circumstances amply sufficient to account for bibles and religious
books being profusely supplied with the reports of groundless
miracles.
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1. As everybody then believed in miracles (at least everybody
who dared speak) there was nobody to investigate the reports of
such occurrences, to learn whether they were true or false.
2. The few who attempted to disprove the truth of those
miraculous occurrences now found reported in sacred history, had
their books burned, as in the case of Porphyry and Celsus, in the
early history of Christianity, who called in question the truth of
bible miracles.
3. These marvelous facts were not usually recorded till long
after the period in which they are said to have occurred, when the
witnesses had left the stage of time, and every event exciting any
attention had grown to a monstrous prodigy. These circumstances, in
an age of boundless credulity and scientific ignorance, which
magnified every phenomenon, and looked upon every natural event as
a direct display of divine power, accounts most fully and
satisfactorily for the burdensome repetition of groundless
miraculous stories found upon nearly every page of the sacred
history of every religious nation, without driving us to the
necessity of challenging the veracity of the writers who recorded
them. They may all have been honest men.
CONFUCIUS OF CHINA, BORN 551 B.C.
This moral teacher, religious chieftain, and philosopher,
though not subjected to the ignominious death of the cross,
deserves a passing notice for the excellency of his morals and the
acquisition of a world-wide fame. In the following particulars his
history bears a strong analogy to that of Jesus Christ.
1. He commenced as a religious teacher when about thirty years
of age.
2. The Golden Rule (see Chap. XXXIV.) was his favorite maxim.
3. Most of his moral maxims were sound and of a high order.
The New American Cyclopedia says (vol. v. p. 604), "His writings
approach the Christian standard of morality;" and in some respects
they excel.
4. He traveled in different countries, preaching and teaching
his doctrines.
5. He made a host of converts, amounting now to one hundred
and fifty millions.
6. His religion and morals have been propagated by apostles
and missionaries, some of whom are now traveling in this country,
laboring to convert Christians to their superior religion and
morals. "There was a time," says the work above quoted, "when
European philosophers vied with each other in extolling Confucius
as one of the sublimest teachers of truth among mankind."
In the following respects his teachings were superior to those
of Christ: --
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1. He taught that "the knowledge of one's self is the basis of
all real advances in morals and manners." A lesson Christ neglected
to teach.
2. "The duties man owes to society and himself are minutely
defined by Confucius," says the Cyclopedia. Another important work
Christ partially omitted.
He constructed several hundred beautiful and instructive moral
maxims, which we have not space for here, and which amply prove
that "the holiest truths were inculcated by pagan philosophers."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE THREE PILLARS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
-- MIRACLES, PROPHECIES, AND PRECEPTS.
WHEN Christians are asked for the proof of the divinity of
Jesus Christ, they point to his miracles and precepts, and the
Messianic prophecies, said to have been fulfilled by his coming.
And the same kind of evidence is adduced to prove the divine claims
of their bible and its religion, including the Old Testament, which
contains the prophecies. Their divine origin and supernatural
character are claimed to be proved by the miracles, prophecies, and
precepts found recorded in the Holy Book. All, then, stand or fall
together -- the divinity of Christ, and the divinity of the bible
and its religion, all, rest on this threefold argument. All, it is
claimed, are attested and proved by a threefold display of divine
power, manifested, --
1. By the performance of various acts, transcending human
power and the laws of nature, called Miracles.
2. By the discernment of events lying in the future which no
human sagacity or prescience could have foreseen, unless aided by
Omniscience; the display of such power being called Prophecy.
3. By the enunciation of Moral Precepts beyond the mental
capacity of human beings to originate.
These three propositions cover the whole ground. They
constitute the three grand pillars of the Christian faith, which,
if shown to be untenable, must prostrate the whole superstructure
to the ground. We will examine each separately, commencing with
miracles.
I. MIRACLES THE FIRST PILLAR
OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
We will not occupy space in discussing the various meanings
assigned to the word miracle by different writers, but take the
popular definition as given above, and proceed to inquire how much
evidence can be deduced from the miracles represented as having
been performed by Jesus Christ, toward proving his divinity and the
truth of his religion. In the first place, it should be borne in
mind that Christianity is not the only religion which appeals to
miracles as a proof of its divine authorship. More than three
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hundred systems and sects are reported in history, most of which
have, from time immemorial, gloried in being able to wield this
knock-down argument as they claim it to be, in support of the truth
and divine authenticity of their various systems of faith. We have
briefly noticed some of the miraculous achievements reported in
their sacred books, and ascribed to their Gods and sin-atoning
Saviors, and compare them with similar ones related of Jesus
Christ, commencing with:
Pagan Miracles.
As the whole pathway of religious history is thickly bestudded
with miracles wrought in all ages and countries, and every page of
the oriental bibles and religious books is literally loaded down
with the relation of these marvelous prodigies said to have been
wrought by their Gods, Demigods, and crucified Saviors, it places
a writer in a quandary to know where to begin to make a selection.
We will express no opinion here as to whether these astounding
feats were ever witnessed or not; but will merely state that they
come to us as well authenticated as those reported in the Christian
bible. There is as much evidence that Zoroaster, at the request of
King Gustaph, caused a tree to spring up in a man's yard forthwith,
of such magnificent proportions that no rope could be found large
enough to reach around it, as that Jesus Christ caused a fig tree
to wither away by merely cursing it. And we have the same kind of
evidence that the Hindoo Messiah, Chrishna, of India, restored two
boys to life who had been killed by the bites of serpents, as that
Jesus Christ resurrected Lazarus and the widow's son of Nain; and
as much proof that Bacchus turned water into wine, as that Jesus
performed this act six hundred years later. And a hundred other
similar comparisons might be drawn. The evidence of the truth of
these performances in both cases, pagan and Christian, is simply
the report of the writer. If there are any exceptions to be made in
either case of better evidence, it will be found in favor of pagan
religion; for its adherents are able in many cases to point to
imperishable monuments of stone erected in commemoration of their
miracles. And Mr. Goodrich tells us this is the highest species of
evidence that can be offered to prove the truth of any ancient
event. But as Christians, on the other hand, can find no such
evidence to prove the performance of any miracles reported in their
bible, it will be seen at once that the pagan miracles are the best
authenticated. The famous historian Pausanias states upon current
authority that Esculapius raised several persons from the dead, and
names Hippolytus among the number, and then points to a stone
monument erected as a proof of the occurrence -- thus furnishing,
according to Christian logic, the most conclusive proof of one of
the most astounding miracles ever wrought. And yet no philosopher
or man of science in this age can credit the literal truth of the
story.
We might refer to many other cases of pagan miracles attested
by monumental evidence if our space would permit -- such as the
names of many persons engraved upon the walls of the Temple of
Serapes, miraculously carved by the God Esculapius. Strabo tells us
the ancient temples are full of tablets describing miraculous cures
performed by virgin-born Gods of those times, and names a case of
two blind men being restored to sight by the son of God Alcides in
the presence of a large multitude of people, "who acknowledged the
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miraculous power of the God with loud acclaim." Without continuing
the citation of cases, suffice it to say, the sin-atoning Gods of
the orientals are reported as performing the same train of miracles
assigned to Jesus Christ, such as performing astonishing cures,
casting out devils, raising the dead, &c. Now, sadly warped indeed
by education must be that mind which cannot see that if the account
of such prodigies, reported in the history of Jesus Christ, can do
anything towards proving him to have been a God, then the world
must have been full of Gods long before his time. It is impossible
to dodge or evade such a conclusion.
Christians are in the habit of assuming that all the
miraculous reports in the bible are unquestionably true, while
those reported in pagan bibles are mere fables and fiction. But if
they will reverse this proposition, it can be easier supported,
because we have shown their miracles are better attested and
authenticated. Their own bible admits that the heathen not only
could and did perform miracles, but miraculous prodigies of the
most astonishing character, equal to anything reported in their own
religious history -- such as transmuting water into blood, sticks
into serpents, and stones into frogs. In a word, it is admitted
they performed all the miraculous feats of Moses with the single
exception of turning dust into lice. But certainly making lice was
not a more difficult achievement than that of making frogs, and
this is admitted they did do successfully.
Hence it will be seen that the Egyptian pagans made as great
a display of divine or miraculous power as "God's Holy People,"
according to the admission of the bible itself. And there is no
intimation that the mode of performing the miracles was not the
same in cases, but a strong probability exists that it was, a
conclusion confirmed by the bible report of the case which leads us
to infer that they performed the miracles in the same way Moses
did. For it is said, "The Egyptians did so with their enchantments"
-- that is, with the "enchanting rod" used on such occasions by the
Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and other nations, including
also the Jews. Now, as Moses always used the "enchanting rod" in
performing miracles, called by him "the rod of God, the rod of
divination," &c. (see Ex. iv.), there is thus furnished the most
satisfactory proof that he performed his miracles on this occasion,
as well as all other occasions, by the same stratagem as the
Egyptians and other nations did. And even if the mode adopted by
the Egyptians had been different, it is still admitted they
performed the miracles. In the name of reason and common sense,
then, we ask if such facts as here presented with the case just
referred to do not forever prostrate and annihilate all arguments
based on miracles toward proving the divine character or divine
origin of the religion of the bible, or towards proving Jesus
Christ, or any other being reported to have performed miracles, as
possessing divine attributes?
Catholic Miracles.
Some of the most astonishing and best authenticated miracles
ever performed by any religious sect we find reported in the
history of the Roman Catholic church, looked upon and styled by the
Protestants "the mother of Harlots and Abomination." And yet there
is much stronger proof that the Catholic religion has the divine
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sanction, if miracles can furnish such proof. The editor of "The
Official Memoirs" declares that during the Italian war in 1797,
several pictures of the virgin Mary, situated in different parts of
the country, were seen to open and shut their eyes for the space of
six or seven months, and that no less than sixty thousand people
actually saw this miracle performed, including many bishops,
deacons, cardinals, and other officers of the church, whose names
are given. And Forsyth's Italy (p. 344), written by a highly
accredited author, tells us that a withered elm tree was suddenly
restored to full life and vigor by coming in contact with the body
of St. Zenobis, and that this miracle took place in the most public
part of the town, in the presence of many thousands of people; that
"it is recorded by contemporary historians, and inscribed upon a
marble column now standing where the tree stood."
Now, the question may be asked here, Would the people have
allowed such an impudent trick to insult them as the erection of a
monument for an event that never took place? If not, how is the
matter to be explained? These are only specimens of a hundred more
Catholic miracles of an astonishing character at our command.
Several queries may be entertained in the solution of these
stories. 1st, Were some phenomena really witnessed on which these
stories were constructed, but which got magnified from a molehill
to a mountain before they found their way into history? or, 2d,
Were they manufactured as a pious fraud, which was rather a
fashionable business with the early disciples of the Christian
faith, according to Mr. Mosheim? Whatever answer may be given to
these questions will explain the miracles of the Christian bible,
excepting those which can be accounted for on natural principles.
Satanic Miracles.
Among all the workers of miracles reported in the bible the
devil seems to have been preeminent, and hence must come in for the
better end of the argument toward proving him to have been a God.
No miracle could excel the act of his "transforming himself into an
angel of light," as stated in 2 Cor. xi. 14. It is not transcended
by any other case, not even by Christ's transfiguration. And
according to Paul he was endowed "with all power, and signs, and
lying wonders." (Thess. ii. 9.) If, then, he possessed "all power,"
Christ, and no other God, could have possessed a miraculous power
superior to his, for "all" comprehends the whole, beyond which
nothing can reach. Where, then, is the evidence to come from to
prove that Christ was a God, because he was a miracle-worker, or
his religion divine, because attested by miracles -- seeing the
devil performed some of the most difficult miracles ever wrought?
Should we not then change his title from that of a demon to a God,
and place his religion amongst the divinely endowed systems? St.
John represents the "Evil One" as having power to make "fire come
down from heaven in the sight of men," and "to deceive those that
dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he hath power
to do." (Rev. xiii. 13.)
Here the question arises, What can a miracle prove, what end
can it serve, or what good can possibly arise from the display of
the miracle-working power, when it is liable "to deceive those that
dwell upon the earth?" Certainly, therefore, it proves nothing, and
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accomplishes nothing. And may not the apostles themselves have been
deceived in ascribing some of the miracles they record to Jesus
instead of the devil? Certainly we are drifted upon the quicksands
of uncertainty by such a display of the miracle-working power, and
are obnoxious to most fatal deception, which proves the total
inutility and futility of such prodigies.
Christ's Miracles not his Own,
but wrought through Him and not by Him.
How could Christ's miracles, assuming they were wrought, do
anything toward proving his divinity, when he did not claim to be
their author, but merely the agent or instrument in the hands of
the Father, like the apostles, who are reported to have performed
the same miracles? "The Father he doeth the work," is his own
declaration. And the Apostles seem to have accepted his word, and
his view of the matter. For proof listen to Peter: "Ye men of
Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God
among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him
in the midst of you, as ye yourselves do know." (Acts ii. 22.) Let
it be noted, then, the Christ's miracles were not performed by him
as a God, but as "a man approved of God;" be was the mere medium or
instrument in the case -- a fact which banishes at once all grounds
for controversy relative to his miracles serving the purpose of
attesting his divinity, especially when it is conceded that men,
magicians, and devils could achieve the same feats.
Christ's Miracles did not convince the People.
As the miracles of Christ seem to have had little effect
toward convincing the people of his claims to the godhead, it is
evident they could have been but little superior to those performed
by others, and therefore not designed, at least not calculated, to
convince them that he was a God. The frequent instances in which he
upbraids the people for their unbelief, and calls them fools, "slow
of heart," &c., is a proof of this statement.
Christ's Miracles
not designed to convince the People.
A circumstance involving pretty strong proof that Christ's
miraculous achievements were not considered as evidence of his
divinity, is the fact that they were frequently performed in
private, sometimes in the night, and often under the injunction of
secrecy. "See thou tell no man," was the injunction, after the feat
was performed, perhaps, in a private room. How can such facts be
reconciled with the assumption that his miracles were designed to
convince the people of his claims to the Divine Entity, as
Christians frequently assert, when the people were not allowed to
witness them, nor his disciples even to report them? Who can
believe that he was a Divine Being, or Messiah, when he charged his
disciples to "tell no man" that he was such a Being? Such
incongruities verge to a contradiction. It is a logical
contradiction to say that private miracles were designed to
dissolve public skepticism. And yet many, if not most, of his
reputed miraculous achievements were of this character. When he
cured a blind man, he not only "led him out of the town" (Mark
viii. 23), but forbid him, when his sight was restored, returning
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to the city, for fear he would publish it. When he resurrected
Lazarus, he did not call the whole country around to witness it,
but performed the act before a private party. The reanimation of
Jairus's daughter was in the same concealed manner, in a private
room, where nobody was admitted but his three confidential
disciples (Peter, James, and John) and the parents, none of whom
make any report of the case. How, therefore, the reporter (Mark)
found it out, when he was not present, and none of the party were
allowed to tell it to anybody, or why he should betray his trust by
publishing it, if he was informed of it, is a "mystery of
Godliness" not easily divined.
When Christ cleansed the leper, he sent him to the priest,
enjoining him to "say nothing to any man." The dumb, when restored
to speech, was not allowed to exhibit any practical proof of the
fact by using his tongue. His miraculous perambulation on the
surface of the sea (walking on the water) was not only alone, but
in the dark. His transfiguration, likewise, according to Dr.
Barnes, took place in the night, his three favorite companions
being the only witnesses, and they "heavy with sleep." And finally,
the crowning miracle of all, the resurrection, is not only
represented as taking place in the night, but without one
substantial or terrestrial witness to report it. Verily such facts
as these are not calculated to augment the faith or work the
conviction of a skeptic that these miracles were ever performed,
seeing so few are reported as witnessing them, and even their
testimony is not given. We have not the testimony of one person who
claims to have been present and seen these wonders performed. Such
facts are calculated to cast distrust upon the whole matter,
especially when taken in connection with the fact that nine tenths
of his life form a perfect blank in history. Is it possible, we
ask, to reconcile such a fact with the belief of his divinity? Is
it possible a God could lead a private life, or live twenty-seven
years on earth, and do nothing worthy of note -- a God known to
nobody and noticed by nobody? Most transcendingly absurd is such a
thought. Had Christ possessed the character that is claimed for
him, not an hour of his life could have passed unaccompanied by
some remarkable incident that would have been heralded abroad, and
its record indelibly engraved upon the page of history; but instead
of this, his acts were too commonplace to be noticed.
All History ignores Him.
The fact that no history, sacred or profane, -- that not one
of the three hundred histories of that age, -- makes the slightest
allusion to Christ, or any of the miraculous incidents ingrafted
into his life, certainly proves, with a cogency that no logic can
overthrow, no sophistry can contradict, and no honest skepticism
can resist, that there never was such a miraculously endowed being
as his many orthodox disciples claim him to have been. The fact
that Christ finds no place in the history of the era in which he
lived, -- that not one event of his life is recorded by anybody but
his own interested and prejudiced biographers, -- settles the
conclusion, beyond cavil or criticism, that the godlike
achievements ascribed to him are naught but fable or fiction. It
not only proves he was not miraculously endowed, but proves he was
not even naturally endowed to such an extraordinary degree as to
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make him an object of general attention. It would be a historical
anomaly without a precedent, that Christ should have performed any
of the extraordinary acts attributed to him in the Gospels, and no
Roman or Grecian historian, and neither Philo nor Josephus, both
writing in that age, and both living almost on the spot where they
are said to have been witnessed, and both recording minutely all
the religious events of that age and country, make the slightest
mention of one of them, nor their reputed authors. Such a
historical fact banishes the last shadow of faith in their reality.
It is true a few lines are found in one of Josephus's large
works alluding to Christ. But it is so manifestly a forgery, that
we believe all modern critics of any note, even of the orthodox
school, reject it as a base interpolation. Even Dr. Lardner, one of
the ablest defenders of the Christian faith that ever wielded a pen
in its support, and who has written ten large volumes to bolster it
up, assigns nine cogent reasons (which we would insert here if we
had space) for the conclusion that Josephus could not have penned
those few lines found in his "Jewish Antiquities" referring to
Christ. No Jew could possibly use such language. It would be a
glaring absurdity to suppose a leading Jew could call Jesus "The
Christ," when the whole Jewish nation have ever contested the claim
with the sternest logic, and fought it to the bitter end. "It
ought, therefore" (says Dr. Lardner, for the nine reasons which he
assigns), "to be forever discarded from any place among the
evidences of Christianity." (Life of Lardner by Dr. Kippis, p. 23.)
As the passage is not found in any edition of Josephus prior
to the era of Eusebius, the suspicion has fastened upon that
Christian writer as being its author, who argued that falsehood
might be used as a medicine for the benefit of the churches. (See
his Eccles. Hist.) Origen, who lived before Eusebius, admitted
Josephus makes no allusion to Christ. Of course the passage was
not, then, in Josephus. One or two other similar passages have been
found, in other authors of that era, which it is not necessary to
notice here, as they are rejected by Christian writers. It must be
conceded, therefore, that the numerous histories covering the epoch
of the birth of Christ chronicle none of the astounding feats
incorporated in his Gospel biographies as signalizing his earthly
career, and make no mention of the reputed hero of these
achievements, either by name or character. The conclusion is thus
irresistibly forced upon us, not only that he was not a miracle-
worker, but that he must have led rather an obscure life, entirely
incompatible with his being a God or a Messiah, who came "to draw
all men unto him." And it should also be noted here that none of
Christ's famous biographers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, are
honored with a notice in history till one hundred and ninety years
after the birth of Christ. And then the notice was by a Christian
writer (Ireneus).
"We look in vain," says a writer, "for any contemporary notice
of the Gospels, or Christ the subject of the Gospels, outside of
the New Testament. So little was this 'king of the Jews' known,
that the Romans were compelled to pay one of his apostles to turn
traitor and act as guide before they could find him. It is
impossible to observe this negative testimony of all history
against Christ and his miracles, and not be struck with amazement,
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and seized with the conviction that he was not a God, and not a
very extraordinary man." Who can believe that a God, from off the
throne of heaven, could make his appearance on earth, and while
performing the most astounding miracles ever recorded in any
history, or that ever excited the credulity of any people, and be
finally publicly crucified in the vicinity of a great city, and yet
all the histories written in those times, both sacred and profane,
pass over with entire silence the slightest notice of any of these
extraordinary events. Impossible -- most self-evidently
impossible!! And when we find that this omission was so absolute
that no record was made of the day or year of his birth by any
person in the era in which he lived, and that they were finally
forgotten, and hence that there are, as a writer informs us, no
less then one hundred and thirty-three different opinions about the
matter, the question assumes a still more serious aspect. From the
logical potency of these facts we are driven to the conclusion that
Christ received but little attention outside of the circle of his
own credulous and interested followers, and consequently stands on
a level with Chrishna of India, Mithra of Persia, Osiris of Egypt,
and other demigods of antiquity, all whose miraculous legends were
ingrafted in their histories long after their death. This leads us
to consider:
How Christ's incredible Legends
got into his History.
There is a remarkably easy and satisfactory way of accounting
for all the marvelous feats and incredible stories found in the
Gospel narratives of Jesus Christ, without assuming their reality
or any intentional fraud or falsehood by the writers. When we learn
that none of his evangelical biographies were penned (as Dr.
Lardner affirms) till long after his death, we are no longer
puzzled for a moment to understand exactly how many statements
wholly incredible and morally impossible crept into his history,
without challenging or calling in question the veracity or honesty
of the writer. Perhaps the most powerful cord of moral conviction
which holds the Christian professor to a belief in the divinity of
Jesus Christ, is the difficulty of bringing himself to believe that
the numerous miracles ascribed to him in the Gospels are merely the
work of fiction, fabricated without a basis of truth, when they
were evidently penned by men of the deepest piety and the strictest
moral integrity. We ourselves were once environed with this
difficulty. But it stands in our way no longer. We are
disenthralled. We have solved the problem. We have found the true
explanation. The key and clew to the whole secret is found in the
simple fact, admitted by Christian writers and evidenced by the
bible itself, that no history of Christ's practical life was
written out by a person claiming to have been an eyewitness of the
events reported, nor until every incident and act of the noble-
minded Nazarene had had ample time to become enormously magnified
and distorted by rumor, fable, and fiction; so that it was
impossible to discriminate or separate the real from the unreal,
the true from the false, in his partly-forgotten life. It could not
be done. A true history could not then be, nor have been written
under such circumstances. It is manifestly impossible. The time for
writing each Gospel is fixed by Dr. Lardner as follows, viz.:
Matthew 62 A.D., Mark 64 A.D., Luke 63 or 64 A.D., and John 68
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A.D.; thus allowing ample time for every noteworthy incident of his
life to grow from mole-hills to mountains, and to swell into
fiction, fable, and prodigy, a tendency to which was then very rife
and very prevalent in all religious countries. Having made a note
of this fact, let the reader treasure in memory, as another equally
important fact, that the biography of no man of note who figured in
that era, or who lived prior to the dawn of letters (if penned many
years after his death, as was frequently the case), is free from a
large percentage of extravagant detail, and simple incidents
magnified into miracles. This was the uncurbed tendency of the age
which ultimated into universal custom.
The simplest incident in every man's life, who exhibited mind
enough to attract attention, by rolling from year to year, and
passing from mouth to mouth, invariably got to be finally swelled
into such undue and enormous proportions, that it could only be
accounted for by assuming the actor to have been a God. In this way
many men of different countries, who had made a mark in the world,
received divine honors and divine attributes, including such
characters as Christina of India, Mithra of Persia, Quirinus of
Rome, Eras of the Druids, Quexalcote of Mexico, Jesus Christ of
Judea, and many others who might be mentioned. This circumstance
deified them. The evidence of history to prove this declaration is
abundant and irresistible.
Posthumous Histories alone deified Men.
To the two important facts above cited, viz., that Jesus
Christ's evangelical histories were all written long after his
death, and that unwritten histories of great men always become
swollen and distorted with the lapse of time, let the reader add
the equally significant fact that there is in all cases a vast
difference in the biographies of famous men, penned during their
actual lives, or immediately subsequent to their death, while every
act and incident of their career was fresh and vigorous in the
minds and memories of the contemporaneous people, and before the
ball of exaggerated rumor was set rolling, compared with those
written at a later date, after molehills of fact had become
mountains of fiction. The former are natural and reasonable, the
latter unnatural and extravagant, and often fabulous. We will cite
a few cases in proof. Let the reader compare the biographical
sketches of Alexander the Great written near the epoch of his
practical life, and those composed since the dawn of the Christian
era, and he will find that the posthumous notices of him alone
contain the story of the sun becoming obscured, and the earth
enveloped in darkness, at the time of his mortal exit. It will be
found, also, that Virgil's account of "the sheeted dead," rising
from their, graves at the time of Caesar's death, and which was
written long after that famous hero left the stage of action, is
omitted in all the contemporary notices of that monarch, having
crept in subsequently.
In like manner, the various miracles recorded of Pythagoras by
his biographer Jamblicus, -- such as his walking on the air,
stilling the tempest, raising the dead, &c., -- are not related of
him by any contemporaneous writers who lived in the era of his
practical life. And let the reader compare, also, Damos' life of
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Apollonius with that of his later biography by Philostratus, as an
illustration of the same historical fact. Mahomet and his
biographers might be included in the same category. It is a
remarkable circumstance that neither Mahomet himself nor any of his
immediate followers claim for him more than the humble title of
prophet, or "God's holy prophet," while his later admirers and
devout disciples have elevated him to the throne of heaven, and
given him a seat among the Gods.
And this historical analysis might be extended much farther if
necessary. But cases enough have been cited to prove the principle
and establish the proposition. And what is the lesson taught by
these facts? A deeply-instructive and all-important one. From the
foregoing historical illustrations we are impelled to the important
conclusion, that the tissue of extravagant and incredible stories
of demigod performances which run as a vein of fiction through the
Gospel narrations of Jesus Christ, all grow out of long-continued
rumor, in an age when the imagination was untamed and unbounded,
and credulity uncurbed by a practical knowledge of the principles
of science, and consequently the pen of the historian had lawless
scope. All difficulty then vanishes, and the question is put
forever at rest by assuming that if the Gospel histories of Jesus
had been written by men who claimed to record only what they saw
and heard themselves, we should have a more credible and
instructive history of the great Judean reformer, freed from those
Munchausen prodigies and that wild romance which mar the beauty and
credibility of those now in popular use. This conclusion is not
only natural, but irresistible, to a mind untrammeled by education
and unbefogged by priest-craft. All that is wanting to convince us
that miracles constitute no part of the real history of Christ, is
a contemporary instead of a posthumous biography -- a history
written in the age which knew him, and by an unprejudiced writer
who witnessed all his movements. And we are perfectly willing to
risk our reputation in this life, and our salvation in the next, by
stating our conviction that this will be the unanimous verdict of
posterity before fifty generations pass away.
Christ's Miracles
reconstructed from former Miracles.
There are other circumstances than those noticed in the
preceding chapter, which can aid us very materially in solving the
problem of Christ's divinity; or, in other words, can aid us in
tracing his miracles to their origin, and thus confirm the truth of
the preceding proposition. Moses and the prophets were considered
by the evangelists antetypes or archetypes of the coming Savior.
Hence some of the more important incidents of their lives were
hunted up and worked over again, to make them fit the life of
Christ as the Messiah, reconstructed and applied to him as the
second Moses, and a new prophet; for Moses is represented as
saying, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me."
Hence Moses comes in with the prophets as an antetype of Christ.
The transfiguration of Christ is therefore constituted after the
model of the transfiguration of Moses on Mount Sinai. And Christ is
represented as raising the dead, not only because Elijah and Elisha
had performed such miracles, but did it under circumstances which
prove, as they suppose, he possessed superior power. For while they
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could only reanimate the body immediately after the breath had left
it, Christ could raise a man after he had been dead four days (the
case of Lazarus). Hence the New Prophet was superior to the old,
and more like a God -- the thing they desired to prove. Both Elijah
and Christ are represented as raising a widow's son, -- Elijah
being considered the special prototype of Christ, who, many
believed, had reappeared under the changed name of Elias. (See John
v. 17.) And then we observe that while Elisha exhausted his skill
in making three gallons of oil, Christ could make thirty gallons of
wine -- another proof of the superiority of the New Prophet. Then,
again, the miracle of feeding one hundred men with twenty loaves is
far excelled by the latter, who feeds five thousand men with five
loaves. And both prophets, Elisha and Christ, encountered
unfordable streams in their travels; the expedient of the former is
to make a passage, but Christ performed the greater miracle of
walking on the surface. And while Moses had to send the leper
without the camp before he could heal him, Christ could heal him
instantly with a single touch. The same slaughter of the infants is
commanded by Herod, in order to destroy Christ, that Pharaoh had
ordered to effect the destruction of Moses. And thus many of the
miracles of Jesus can be accounted for as reconstructions of former
miracles. It was simply a competition or rivalry between the New
Messianic prophet and the old prophets. The New Prophet excels and
comes off victorious in every case, and is thus considered to be a
God. The object of the competition is to show that while the
prophets, assisted by God, could perform marvelous deeds, Christ,
being God himself, could perform greater. This was to be the proof
of his being a God, that he could outvie the servants of God in
every miraculous thing ascribed to them. This was one way adopted
to prove his divinity.
Christ's Miracles manufactured from Prophecies.
Several of Christ's miracles seem to have grown out of the
Messianic prophecies; that is, were manufactured in order to
fulfill the prophecies. There was, as we learn by the Gospels, an
impression deep and wide-spread among the disciples of Christ, that
the Old Testament was full of texts foretelling the advent of their
Messiah, and foreshadowing his practical life. Under this
conviction, a number of passages are quoted in the Gospels from the
prophets as referring to Christ, but which, however, the context
shows could not possibly have been written with any such thought or
intention. Matthew has five miracles appertaining to Christ, built
on prophecies, in his first two chapters. And they are represented
as taking place "in order that the prophecy might be fulfilled;"
that is, Matthew, writing sixty-four years after Christ's advent,
assumes those miracles had taken place because the prophecy
required their performance, and hence recorded it as a fact without
knowing it to be such. A great deal of that kind of license was
assumed in that and subsequent ages, as the facts of history are
ample to prove. It was done under the religious conviction that the
cause of God and the church required it to be done, and that
therefore it was justifiable.
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Strict Veracity not required or observed.
It is by no means necessary to assume that the recorders of
the New Testament miracles knew they had been performed, or that
they would hesitate to record them as facts because they did not
know them to be such. We are under no moral obligation to suppose
they knew anything about it. People in that age were not so nice or
so morally exact, as to require proof of a thing before they stated
it, or never to state it unless they had the proof for its being
true. We would be very far from accusing the apostolic writers of
malicious falsehood, or criminal misrepresentation. But we find
that the disciples of all religions, in that age of the world,
considered it not only allowable, but a religious duty, in the
absence of knowledge, to supply omissions by guess-work or
conjecture, that is, to use assumption in the place of proof, and
to state that a thing was so when there was no proof of it
whatever, and even when the proof was against it. All religious
history is full of the exhibition of this kind of elasticity of
conscience. Even a species of pious lying was considered
justifiable in many cases. Paul furnishes evidence of this when he
says, "If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto
his glory, why am I judged a sinner?" (Rom. iii. 16.) "No sin to
lie for the glory of God," seems to be the teaching of this text.
Although Paul does not clearly disclose for what purpose this
policy was employed, yet it can easily be inferred. A part of the
important business of the New Testament writers was to build a
reputation for Christ and his inspired band of disciples for
working miracles. A fame for achieving "signs and wonders" was the
great set off of the age. There seems to have been an almost
boundless competition amongst the disciples of the various
religious orders, including Jews, Pagans, and Christians, as to who
could, or whose God could outstrip all competitors in achieving
astonishing prodigies that should set the laws of nature at
defiance. And no devout disciple, who had good inventive powers,
would allow any rival to outdo him. Nothing could authenticate the
claim of the adopted Messiah to the throne or heaven, or a
participation in the Divine Essence, like a miraculous display of
divine power. Hence the history of all the Gods and demigods of the
illiterate ages, including that, of Christ, is loaded down with
miraculous feats. There is the clearest proof that Christ's
disciples were in this general rivalry -- this universal miracle-
working melee.
Two things very necessary to be accomplished, in the
estimation of the apostles, were, first, to show that Christ outdid
the heathen Gods, and even the prophets, in the display of the
wonder-exciting miraculous power, and thus proved his divinity; and
second, that the prophecies had been fulfilled in his coming and
his practical life. And there is reason to believe all the New
Testament miracles are founded on and grew out of prophecy. For,
although we do not find prophecies in the Old Testament for every
miracle related of Christ, yet it is probable, if we had the Book
of God, "the Book of Jehu," "the Like of Hezekiah," and other lost
books mentioned in the Old Testament, we should find the supposed
prophecy for every miracle of the New Testament. We should there
find the key to every miracle. The true explanation of the matter
seems to be, that the apostolic writers, looking through the Old
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Testament, and finding texts therein which they believed to be
prophetic of the display of the miraculous power of Jesus, and
passages which they religiously believed foreshadowed his coming
and mission, or some important event in his history, they were
impressed with the deepest conviction that God would not suffer any
prophecy to go unfulfilled. But when they sat down to write the
history of their Messiah, long after his death, they found they had
not the evidence before them that the prophecies had been
fulfilled. A third of a century had rolled away since his history
had been practically before the people. The subject of their
narrative had long since gone to "the house of many mansions," and
left not a note, or scratch of a pen, of any act of his life behind
him. And the current of time had washed away, or partially
obliterated, nearly every event of his earthly career. The
witnesses had nearly all left the stage of action, and their voices
were forever hushed in the silent tomb. What was to be done in such
an emergency? It was all-important to show that the prophecies had
been fulfilled to the letter in his practical life. This quandary,
however, did not beset them long. The difficulty was easily
surmounted. Every religions country, including Judea, was full of
miraculous legends and astonishing prodigies appertaining to the
terrestrial movements of their Gods and demigods, some of which had
floated down on the stream of tradition from time immemorial. And
all had become blended, confounded, and mixed up together, until it
was impossible to know whence they originated, where they belonged,
or to what God they appertained. These miraculous stories were so
numerous, and so varied in character, that there was no little
difficulty in finding which seemed to be the fulfillment of any
Messianic prophecy that had been or might be found in the Old
Testament; and thus of the hundreds of miraculous stories afloat,
one was picked out and assumed to be the fulfillment of the
prophecy. With the countless number of such stories before them,
which had been for half a century current in the community, they
set themselves to work to select and reject, prune and remodel,
honestly believing that this miracle was intended to fulfill this
prophecy, and that miracle that prophecy, &c. And accordingly we
now find it so stated in the New Testament. As, for example, a
story had long been going the rounds that the parents of a young
God had to flee with him out of the country, to save his life from
being destroyed by its jealous ruler. This they supposed must of
course refer to Jesus, because they had found a supposed prophecy
of such an event in the Jewish bible, when a more thorough
acquaintance with history would have taught them that the story did
not refer to the ruler of Judea (Herod), but to Cansa, an ancient,
jealous, despotic king, who ruled India at a much earlier period.
And the story of the darkness at the crucifixion they incorporated
as a part of the history of Jesus, because they had seen a text in
Joel which they supposed presaged such an event, while, if they had
been well versed in oriental history, they would have known that it
had long been recorded as the last chapter in the earthly drama of
the Hindoo God Chrishna. And so of the other miracles now found
related as a part of the history of Jesus. A historical
investigation of the matter would have shown the Gospel writers
that they were a part of the written history of other and more
ancient Gods, and had never formed a part of the practical life of
Jesus, or been realized in his experience. This is a more
charitable and honorable explanation of the matter than that found
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in the assumption of some other writers, that every miracle was
constructed for the occasion -- that it is a sheer fabrication; and
yet there are some plausible grounds for this solution of the case.
These critical writers tell us there was a religious
persuasion deeply enstamped upon the minds of all religions
countries, that God often justified a departure from the truth --
the conscientious or veracious faculty being in that age but feebly
developed. And the bible itself is full of evidence to establish
the allegation. The prophets often disclose it, and the apostles
were their strict imitators. Ezekiel represents God as saying, "If
a prophet is deceived, I the Lord deceived that prophet." (Ezek.
xiv. 9.) And Jeremiah asks God, "Wilt thou be to me as a liar?"
(Jer. xv. 8.) While the writer of Kings represents God as putting
a lying spirit into the mouth of his own prophets. (i Kings xxii.
23.) And most certainly if God himself might thus habitually depart
from the truth, it was an ample warrant for his apostles, as well
as the prophets, to adopt the same expedient. The case of Paul
lying for the glory of God, which we have cited from Romans iii. 4,
proves they were morally capable of doing this. Mosheim tells us
that among the early Christians, "it was an almost universally
adopted maxim, that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie,
when by so doing they could promote the interest of the church."
(Mosh. vol. i.p. 198.) And Mr. Higgins informs us that "great
numbers, of every age and of every religion, have been guilty of
systematic frauds and falsehoods to support their religions, to an
extent of which we can have no conception. They not only practiced
it, but they reduced it to system. They avowed it, and they
justified it by declaring it to be meritorious to lie in a good
cause." (Ana. vol. i.p. 143.) The reader who can hesitate to credit
these statements only betrays his ignorance of the moral weakness
of human nature, and the imperfect growth in that era of the
veracious faculty, which consequently had but a feeble voice in the
councils of the mind. Even the most pious and devout professors of
religion did not consider a rigid conformity to truth necessary, or
morally obligatory, in their labors to promote the glory of God and
the salvation of souls. And when direct falsehood was not resorted
to, the writer still allowed himself to color, magnify, and invent
largely; that is, to draw copiously upon the resources of his
imagination, in the way of supplying omissions and defects, and
filling out missing links in the chain of history. And hence it is
that all ancient sacred history is so profusely inlaid with stories
and statements manifestly fabricated for the occasion, without any
historical support, and therefore wholly incredible. Let the
Christian reader not, however, misapprehend us by supposing we wish
to drive him to the extreme alternative of accepting this as the
true explanation, or as indicating the real origin of the
incredible stories and senseless miraculous feats interwoven into
the Gospel life of Jesus. We only offer it as a plausible, but not
as the probable explanation. The above citations from the
Scriptures and other history prove most clearly that sacred writers
were morally capable of fabricating or manufacturing history to
supply assumed omissions. And this explanation is twofold more
reasonable than to accept the miracles as real occurrences, for
such a belief would be at war with common sense, and prostrate our
reason beneath our feet. But there is no necessity of adopting
lying hypotheses, while the borrowing theory is amply adequate to
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account for every Gospel miracle. There is not a miraculous story
or incredible legend incorporated in the New Testament as a part of
the history of Jesus, that was not afloat in some shape or form, on
the wings of tradition, in nearly every religious country, ages
before his birth. The model for each and every miracle was already
constructed, was already in the market, and already a part of the
history or tradition of other and older Gods. And all that was
wanted to make it appear as a part of the history of the
Christian's deified Jesus, was to fill in names and dates. Yes,
history with a hundred tongues proclaims it as the real explanation
of the incredible and the impossible in the history of Jesus
Christ. And the evidence is so voluminous and so overwhelming to
disprove the common Christian dogma which makes the son of Joseph
and Mary a miracle-working God (a portion of which we have
presented under the several propositions of this chapter), that it
really demolishs, the last timber in the Christian fabric, and
leaves it a heap of ruins. And we are certain that if we could
divest the Christian reader's mind, for a few moments, of an
inherited and fostered prejudice, he would see that our explanation
is much more rational, more probable, more beautiful than the
popular belief, which degrades the illustrious Judean reformer to
a level with the heathen thaumaturgist, and gives him the same
undignified reputation as a miracle-worker.
But we are sometimes told we are under as much moral
obligation to believe in the miracles reported of Jesus, as to
believe in any other portion of his history; that we must accept
his Gospel history as a whole, or reject it in toto. But this is
manifestly a false assumption, and one easily exploded. No person
who is acquainted with Grecian history doubts that Alexander the
Great was born in Macedonia, and founded a city in Egypt bearing
his own name. Yet not one of those readers will credit for a moment
what one of his biographers relates of him, that he stopped the sun
in its course, or that he had no human father. We all accept
Pythagoras as a real entity, while we reject the story of his
walking on the air. Are we morally bound to accept Ramulus and
Ramus, founders of Rome, as mere fabulous beings, because their
biographers relate the incredible story of their being suckled by
a wolf? Many other illustrations might be given in proof of the
falsity of the assumption that, because a portion of a man's
biography is found to be incredible, the whole must be rejected as
false, as unworthy of credence. This would be to annihilate
history. For no biography of any person, and no history of any
nation, can be accepted as plenarily pure, unmixed truth. There is
always more or less chaff with the grain, and it is our privilege
and our duty to separate them. And by so doing we not only confer
a favor on the cause of truth, but add to the luster and honor of
the name of the deceased reformer; and especially is this true of
the renowned Judean philanthropist and reformer. Much more lovely
and beautiful would his evangelical history stand before the world
if stripped of the wild, the weird, and the miraculous. Much more
interesting is he when viewed and venerated as a man than when
worshipped as a God, guilty of the frequent violation of his own
laws, by the display of the miracle-working power.
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And much more beautiful and much more rational is the doctrine
which accepts every event that ever occurred as the legitimate and
harmonious operation of the great machinery of nature, than as the
smart trick, the lawless caprice or wild feat, of an arbitrary,
wonder-exciting God, performed not to make the people better, more
moral or more righteous (for miracles cannot do this), but merely
to make them gape and stare, and shout, What a smart God we have
got!
And then the belief in miracles involves all utter repudiation
of all law, all order, and all system, and introduces in their
stead chaos, anarchy, and universal confusion. It is simply "the
doctrine of chance," which all orthodox Christendom professes to
deprecate and execrate as the quintessence of atheism. But they
make a mistake; "chance" is more legitimately the fruit of miracle
than of atheism; an assertion which we will here briefly prove.
If the sun may be arrested in his course through the heavens,
"the moon turned into blood," and "the stars fall from the heaven,"
-- sticks turned into serpents, water into blood, and dust into
lice, -- all of which orthodox Christians profess to believe were
witnessed in the days of Moses and Christ, then everything is
thrown upon the wheel of chance; everything is involved in
uncertainty. If the course of nature could be arrested, or the
natural qualities of objects changed by the prayer of a prophet,
patriarch, or apostle, then the food set before us to eat may
suddenly, in compliance with the prayers of some absent saint,
become a deadly poison; the clothes we wear may be instantly
transformed into virulent adders, which may inflict the fatal sting
before we suspect it; some favorite servant of God (a Moses or an
Elijah) might be this moment praying to God to stop the dews from
falling, or the rain from descending for the next three months, or
three years, as the latter is reported as doing (see James v, 17),
so that we could not plant with any certainty that the seed would
grow, or that we should be rewarded by a crop. Such would be the
incertitude, such the "chance" against us in everything in which we
might engage, if it were true that God ever intercepts the action
of his laws by working a miracle, that we should eventually become
discouraged by this chaos of "chance," the wheels of industry would
stop, and the car of civilization go backward. If it were true, as
taught by orthodox Christians, that "God in his providence," or
"God in the dispensation of his providence," often "visits people
with sickness," then it would be useless to study the laws of
health with a view of complying with them. For we could not know in
any case whether our sickness had been brought upon us by an
"overruling providence," or by our own imprudence. Our incentives
to study and comply with these laws, if there could be any, would
consequently be very weak indeed, for we might comply with every
physiological requisition, and yet there would be several
"chances," against us that tomorrow we may be stretched upon a
"sick bed and rolling pillow by the visitation of God." Thus the
doctrine of miracles is shown to be preeminently the doctrine of
"chance."
The doctrine of miraculous agency makes God an imperfect
being, by implying that his laws were defective in their original
construction, that by mistake he left some emergency unprovided
for, and now has to supply the omission by an afterclap exercise of
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power. Or if his laws were originally perfect, then the working of
a miracle would disturb them, and make them imperfect; if
originally imperfect, then God himself must have been imperfect,
and hence no God at all. Think of a wonder-working God violating,
suspending, or intercepting his own laws. Such a God would be a
puerile, short-sighted being, that only ignorant and uncultivated
minds could admire and adore.
The age of miracles, however, is gone. The belief in divine
prodigies has receded before the advancing genius of civilization.
It has died away in the exact ratio of the progress of science and
general intelligence. And a thorough acquaintance with nature's
laws will banish the last vestige of such a belief. Hence it is
that the most illiterate and ignorant nations and tribes have
always been able to recount the longest list of miraculous
prodigies achieved by a disorderly God, who seems to have taken
pleasure in violating his own laws, or suspending them, for the
most trivial purposes.
Yes, the time is approaching when the belief in a "miraculous
interposition" or "special providences" must pass away under the
lights of science and civilization, and be numbered amongst the
things which have been and can be no more, and men will cherish
more noble and elevated ideas of the great Ruler of the universe,
who is infinite in order, infinite in wisdom, ay, infinite in all
his attributes and virtues, ever unchangeably the same.
II. PROPHECY, THE SECOND PILLAR
OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH,
PROVES AS MUCH FOR HEATHENISM AND SPIRITUALISM.
Truthful prophecy, attested to be such by its fulfillment, is
assumed to be one of the basic pillars and one of the main proofs
of the truth of the Christian religion. But the following
consideration will show that this assumption has no logical force,
or real, tangible foundation.
First. Every ancient system of religion had its prophets and
seers, who professed to be able to foresee events of the future.
And we find but little difference in the proofs each one has left
to the world that they possessed this power, if we except the
Greeks and Romans, some of whom evidently excelled all the Jewish
prophets in their ability to take cognizance of events lying behind
the curtain of time. Tacitus, the Latin historian, prophesied the
downfall of the Roman empire and its attendant calamities more than
five hundred years before its occurrence, which was fulfilled to
the letter. And Solon, one of the seven wise men of Greece, foresaw
and foretold a series of calamities which befell the Athenians two
hundred years before they were realized. A still more remarkable
example is furnished in the history of Marcus Tullius Cicero, who,
writing of the future, with his mind fixed on the west, about 50
B.C., exclaimed, "There will arise after many ages (if we may
credit the Sibylline oracles), a hero who will deliver his
oppressed countrymen from bondage" -- a prophecy most signally
fulfilled in the life of General Washington. Many other examples of
heathen prophecy and their fulfillment might be cited, if we had
space for them.
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Second. The history of modern spiritualism furnishes many
cases of future events being predicted long before they took place.
In fact, many of the most important events of modern tunes which
have occurred in this and other countries, were foreseen and
foretold by spiritual seers known as "seeing mediums," when there
was not the slightest probability that such events would. ever
occur. We will cite one or two cases, by way of proof and
illustration. A few years ago John P. Coles, of New York, known as
a spiritual medium, prophesied, when under spirit control, that
Nicholas of Russia would shortly have difficulty with his secretary
Menzicoff, and just three months from that time would die -- a
prediction that was fulfilled to the very letter and to the very
hour. And yet there was not the slightest probability, externally
indicated, at the time the prophecy was uttered, that either of
these events would ever be realized. And this prophecy, let it be
noted, was published in the New York Times at least two months
before it was verified, thus proving that the prediction was not an
"afterclap" affair, but preceded the event. Take another example.
The serious calamity which befell the ill-fated steamer known as
the Arctic, which was lost at sea a number of years ago, with all
on board, was prophetically described in minute detail, by a spirit
medium, several months before it occurred; and was seen and
described by another medium, while taking place more than a
thousand miles distant. The proof is at our command. And the late
disastrous war was foreseen and described by Cora Tappan, of New
York, and other mediums, and its principal events pointed out long
before the war broke out -- a fact which is now a matter of
history. These are only a few cases out of hundreds that might be
cited of a similar character, drawn from the practical history of
modern spiritualism. If, then, prophecy can do anything toward the
truth or divine emanation of the Christian religion, it must do the
same for the heathen and spiritual systems. And thus proving too
much, it proves nothing at all.
Third. The Jewish prophecies not fulfilled. We have examined
critically the various texts of the Christian bible called
prophecies, and find that, if claimed as predictions of the future
events beyond the powers of the natural mind to foresee, they have
all failed. But few of them have been fulfilled in any sense, and
those few required no divine prescience to foresee the result. Many
events have transpired in every country, which the natural sagacity
of the most observant minds in that country had anticipated as the
result of natural causes, such as the ravages and downfall of
cities and the overthrow of empires by the merciless hand of war.
The Jewish prophet, fostering a spirit of envy and enmity towards
Egypt, Babylon, and other superior kingdoms, because they had been
overpowered by them and long held in subjection to their superior
sway, were always prophesying evil things of these principalities.
And though some of the evils which constituted the burden of
prophecy might have been reasonably anticipated as natural
occurrences, it is a signal fact they never transpired at all, --
such as the total destruction of Babylon, Tyre, Damascus, and other
cities belonging to those hostile Kingdoms the Jews so much envied
and execrated. Look, for proof, at the case of Damascus. The
prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, all poured out their
fulminatory thunders upon this city. Isaiah declared it should be
a "ruinous heap." (Isa. xvii. 1.) And Jeremiah predicted its
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destruction by fire. (Jer. xlix. 27.) And yet, notwithstanding
these predictions of ruin, Damascus still stands as "one of the
paradises of the earth," as one writer styles it, with a
population, according to Burckhardt, of not less than two hundred
and fifty thousand, being one of the most magnificent and
prosperous commercial cities on the globe. Instead of being blotted
out of existence, as the Jewish prophets prayed and predicted, it
has suffered less by ravages of war and the scythe of time than
almost any other city of the east. It has stood nearly three
thousand years without becoming a "ruinous heap," or being consumed
by fire or destroyed by war. (Jer. XliX. 26.) And the prophecy
against Tyre has most signally failed also. Ezekiel declared it
should be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and never be found again.
(Ezek. xxvi.-xxix.) But two hundred and fifty years after
Nebuchadnezzar's time Alexander found it a strong commercial city.
And it still contains a population of five thousand or more. St.
Jerome, of the fourth century, declared it to be then the finest
city of Phoenicia, and was astonished that Ezekiel's prophecy had
so utterly failed.
And Isaiah's famous prediction against Babylon furnishes
another proof of the utter failure of Jewish prophecy. He declared,
after predicting its destruction, "It shall never be inhabited,
neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation, neither
shall the Arabian pitch tent there." (Isa. xiii. 20.) Of course he
desired it should be so. But, unfortunately for his credit as a
prophet, it never suffered such a calamity. On the contrary,
according to Layard and Rawlinson, British commissioners who
recently visited the place, it now presents "all the activity of a
hive of bees" (to use Layard's language), and contains several
thousand inhabitants, though its name is, since rebuilt, called
Hillah. And thus the prophecy is falsified. "No," exclaims a good
Christian brother, in forlorn hope, it may be fulfilled yet. But if
he will examine the language of the prophecy, he will find he is
entirely cut off from this "saving clause." The prophet says, "Her
time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged." (Isa.
xiii. 22.) Thus it is evident the prophecy was to be fulfilled in
that age and generation. The failure, then, is absolute and
indisputable. And these are but mere samples of the complete
failure of every text called a prophecy, when applied to the
prognostication of future events. Numerous texts can be found in
the prophets auguring evil for Egypt, which have made no
approximation toward fulfillment. Ezekiel prophesied "the fall of
Egypt," "the desolation of Egypt." "the destruction of Egypt," &c.,
not one of which calamities has ever been realized in her
experience. Prophecies respecting the restoration of the lost
tribes and the perpetuity of the Israelitish throne are complete
failures; also all "the Messianic prophecies," so called. (See
Chap. II.) With respect to the prophecy on Babylon, it may be
further observed that while the prophet declares, "Neither shall
the Arabian pitch tent there" (Isa. xiii. 22), Layard declares that
is the very thing they did do while he was there. He says he saw a
number of Arabian tents pitched on the ground; thus proving a
failure of the prophecy all round in every particular. (See note
BABYLON at end of book.)
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Fourth. The bible itself is a witness that truthful prophecy
can do nothing toward authenticating a religion, or toward proving
the prophet divinely inspired. The same damaging concession is made
here as in the case of miracles, that a heathen and an unbeliever
could and did succeed as well as the true disciples of the faith.
The proof of this statement is found in the history of Balaam. His
figurative representation of a star coming out of Jacob and a
scepter out of Judah (see Numb. chap. xxiv.) is often quoted by
Christian writers as presaging or prefiguring the coming of Christ,
-- thus making a heathen and an unbeliever the oracle of a
Messianic prophecy, and a heathen, too, of sinful and ungodly
habits. So that the Christian subterfuge is not available here,
that "God might make a righteous man of any nation the vehicle of
prophecy." For we have the express declaration of the bible itself
that he was not a righteous man, but the very reverse. Peter tells
us, "He loved the wages of unrighteousness," at the very time this
prophecy so called was uttered (see 2 Peter ii. 13), which
prostrates forever the Christian plea that "he might have possessed
the true spirit of prophecy by virtue of being a righteous man,"
and drives us to the admission that an unconverted savage and
ungodly heathen unbeliever could make a true prophecy. It not being
necessary, then, to be a Jew, or a Christian, or a believer, or
even a moral man, to foresee or foretell the far-off important
events of the future, the argument falls forever to the ground that
the fulfillment of the Jewish prophecies, if admitted to have been
fulfilled, could do anything toward proving the truth or divine
acceptance of the religion of the bible, or its superiority over
any heathen or oriental religion then or subsequently known to
history, as they all present the same evidence of being endowed
with the true spirit of prophecy. All argument for Christianity
based on the prophecies, or "the gift of prophecy," is, then,
forever at an end, as it has been shown that the power to foretell
future events is not restricted by the bible itself to any nation,
to any religion, to any faith, to any belief, or to any moral or
religious qualification. What, then, is prophecy worth, or what
does it prove? Another case, and one similar to that of Balaam in
its essential points, is found in the New Testament. Caiaphas,
though not claiming to be any part of a believer, utters a prophecy
in the interest of the Christian religion for which the bible
itself gives him full credit as a prophet. Here, then, is another
case of a heathen stealing the Christian's thunder, and another
proof that the spirit of true prophecy has never been confined to
any nation or any religion; and hence, according to the teachings
of the bible itself, does nothing at all toward establishing the
exalted claims of Christianity, or toward proving its superiority
over other systems of religion.
III. MORAL PRECEPTS
THE THIRD PILLAR OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH,
It is declared, in view of the many wise precepts which issued
from the mouth of Jesus Christ, that "he spake as never man spake."
(John vii. 46.) If this were true, then Gods must have been very
numerous prior to the Christian era. For there is not one of the
moral maxims or perceptive commands which he gave utterance to that
cannot be found literally or substantially in the older bibles of
other nations, or the writings of the Greek philosophers, and the
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religious dissertations of heathen moralists, who gave out moral
and religious lessons for the instruction of the world long prior
to the birth of Christ. Even the Golden Rule, which Christian
writers, ignorant of oriental history, have erroneously ascribed to
Jesus Christ, and lauded him as being the author of, is found
variously expressed in the writings of several heathen or oriental
nations. We find it in the Chinese bible at least five hundred
years older than ours, almost word for word as Jesus uttered it. We
will here present it as expressed by different writers.
1. Golden Rule by Confucius, 500 B.C.
"Do unto another what you would have him do unto you, and do
not to another what you would not have him do unto you. Thou
needest this law alone. It is the foundation of all the rest."
2. Golden Rule by Aristotle, 385 B.C.
"We should conduct ourselves toward others as we would have
them act toward us."
3. Golden Rule by Pittacus, 650 B.C.
"Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him."
4. Golden Rule by Thales, 464 B.C.
"Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing."
5. Golden Rule by Isocrates, 338 B.C.
"Act toward others as you desire them to act toward you."
6. Golden Rule by Aristippus, 365 B.C.
"Cherish reciprocal benevolence, which will make you as
anxious for another's welfare as your own."
7. Golden Rule by Sextus, a Pythagorean, 406 B.C.
"What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be also to
them."
8. Golden Rule by Hillel, 50 B.C.
"Do not to others what you would not like others to do to
you."
Here is the Golden Rule proclaimed by seven heathen moralists
and a Jew long before it was republished by the founder of
Christianity; thus proving it to be of heathen origin, and proving
that it does not transcend the natural capacity of the human brain
to originate, and hence needs no God to reveal it. Indeed, it is
one of the most natural sentiments of the human mind. "Would I like
to be treated thus?" is the first thought which naturally arises in
the mind of a person when maltreating a neighbor; thus showing that
the Golden Rule is a spontaneous utterance of the moral feelings of
the human mind.
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Love and kind Treatment of Enemies.
Love to enemies is considered to be another praiseworthy
precept, which Christ has erroneously the credit of being the
author of. We have heard the declaration made in the Christian
pulpit, that Jesus Christ was the first moral teacher who
inculcated love to enemies; a moat transcendent error, as the
following historical citations will show. Most of the religious
books and religious teachers of the ancient oriental heathen
breathe forth a spirit of love and kindness toward enemies.
The following is from the old Persian bible, the Sadder: --
1. "Forgive thy foes, nor that alone;
Their evil deeds with good repay;
Fill those with joy who leave thee none,
And kiss the hand upraised to slay."
The Christian bible would be searched in vain to find a moral
sentiment or precept superior to this. Certainly it is the loftiest
sentiment of kindness toward enemies that ever issued from human
lips, or was ever penned by mortal man. And yet it is found in an
old heathen bible. Think of "kissing the hand upraised to slay."
Never was love, and kindness, and forbearance toward enemies more
sublimely expressed than in the old Persian ballad.
2. "Treat thine enemy as though a friend, and he will become
thy friend," was expressed by Publius Syrus, a Roman slave, which
is a wiser admonition than that of Christ, "Love thine enemy," as
it is a moral impossibility.
3. "All nature cries aloud, Shall man do less
Than heal the smiter, and the railer bless?"
(Hafiz, a Mahomedan.).
4. "Bridle thine anger, and forgive thine enemy; give unto him
who takes from thee." (Koran, Mahomedan bible.)
5. "Let no man be offended with those who are angry at him,
but reply gently to those who curse him." (Code of Menu.)
6. "Let him endure injuries, and despise no one." (Ibid.)
7. "Commit no hostile action for your own preservation."
(Ibid.)
8. "To be revenged on enemies, become more Virtuous."
(Diogenes.)
9. "To strike a man, or vex him with words, is a sin."
(Zend-Avesta, Persian bible.)'
10. "Even the intention to strike is a sin." (Ibid.)
11. "Desire not the death of thine enemy." (Confucius.)
12. "Acknowledge benefits, but never revenge injuries."
(Ibid.)
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13. "We may dislike an enemy without desiring revenge."
(Ibid.)
14. "Pardon the offenses of others, but never your own."
(Publius Syrus.)
15. "The noble spirit cures injustice by forgiving it."
(Ibid.)
16. "It is much better to be injured than to kill a man."
(Pythagoras.)
17. "You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force."
(Publius Syrus.)
18. "Better overlook an injury than avenge it."
(Publius Syrus.)
19. "It is enough to think ill of an enemy without avenging
it." (Publius Syrus.)
20. "It is a kingly spirit to return good deeds for evil
ones." (Ibid.)
21. "Learn for yon orient shell to love thy foe,
And store with pearls the hand that brings thee
woe;
Flee, like yon rock, from base, vindictive pride,
Emblaze with gems the wrist that rends thy side."
(Hafiz.)
22. "To revenge yourself on an enemy, make him your friend."
(Pythagoras.)
23. "It is not permitted to a man who has received an injury
to revenge it by doing another." (Socrates, in his Crito.)
24. "Seek him who turns thee out, and pardon him who injures
thee." (Koran.)
25. "Return not evil for evil." (Socrates.)
26. "Endure all things if you would serve God."
(Sextus.)
27. "Desire to be able to benefit your enemies."
(Ibid.)
28. "Receive an injury rather than do one." (Publius Syrus.)
29. "Be at war with men's vices, but at peace with their
persons." (Ibid.)
30. "Cultivate friendship for an enemy." (Pittacus.)
31. "Be kind to your friends that they may continue so, and to
your enemies that they may become so." (Ibid.)
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32. "Prevent injuries if possible; if not, do not revenge
them." (Ibid.)
33. "An enemy should not be hated, but cured." (Seneca.)
34. "To act unkindly toward an enemy will increase his hate."
(Antonius.)
35. "Be to everybody kind and friendly." (Ibid.)
36. "Speak evil of no one, not even your enemies." (Pittacus.)
Thus it will be observed that love and kindness toward all
mankind, both friends and enemies, is not confined to the teachings
of Christ or to the Christian religion, as many have erroneously
supposed, but is unquestionably a natural sentiment of the moral
instinct or moral impulses of the human mind, and hence is no proof
that their teacher is either a God or divinely inspired.
And we have in our possession nearly eight hundred more
precepts (see vol. ii.) from the pens or mouths of the ancient
heathen, enjoining just and kind treatment of women, and setting
forth nearly all the duties of life, and teaching the immortality
of the soul, &c. And these precepts breathe the same lofty moral
sentiment and moral feeling as those quoted above. How ignorant and
how conceited must be the Christian professor who supposes all
goodness is confined to Christianity, or that it even possesses any
great superiority over other religious systems! And how completely
the three foregoing parts of this chapter, "Miracles."
"Prophecies," and "Precepts," prostrate the divine claims of
Christianity, and leave not an inch of ground for them to rest
upon!
CHAPTER XXXV.
LOGICAL OR COMMON SENSE VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF
DIVINE INCARNATION.
THE incarnation of an infinite God is a shocking absurdity,
and an infinite impossibility. We ask in all solemn earnestness,
and in the name of the intuitive monitions of an unshackled reason
and an unbiased conscience, can, any man in his sober senses, who
has been in the habit of reflecting before he believes, entertain
for a moment the monstrous absurdity that the Almighty and Infinite
Maker of the universe was once reduced to a little wailing infant,
lying in senseless and helpless weakness on the lap of its mother,
unable to walk a step, or lisp a word, or do aught but cry with
pain or for nourishment stored in the mother's breast? What!
Almighty God fallen from his burnished, dazzling throne in the
lofty heavens, and reduced to helpless, senseless babyhood!
Omnipotence shorn of all power but to breathe, and cry, and smile!
What! that Omniscient Being, who "leads one world by day, and ten
thousand more by night," becoming suddenly transformed into a human
bantling, which knows no higher enjoyment than that of being
"pleased with a rattle, and tickled with a straw!" Who can believe
it? Ay, who dare believe it, if he would escape the charge of
blasphemy? Then say not that "the man Christ Jesus," though
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standing at the top of the ladder of moral manhood, and high above
the common plane of humanity, was yet a God -- "the Infinite Ruler
of the infinite universe." Who can believe that that Being, whose
existence stretches to an eternity beyond human conception, yea,
whom "the heaven of heavens cannot contain," was ever cooped up in
a human body, reduced so near to nothing in dimensions as to be
susceptible (as was Jesus) of being weighed in scales, and measured
with a yardstick?
We ask again, Who, from the deepest depths of his inmost,
enlightened consciousness, can believe such revolting, such
atheistical doctrine as this? Or who will venture to descend still
lower, and conceive of an Almighty, Omnipresent Being, who fills
all space above, around, and beneath, "from infinity below to yon
fixed star above," and millions upon millions of miles beyond it,
sinking and dwindling to that mere mite, speck, or monad state and
condition comprehended in the initiatory step of embryonic
existence? And then think of the Almighty, Omnipotent Creator of
the universe lying in a manger with four-footed beasts and creeping
things, sleeping with oxen and asses in a stable. Next he is seen
an urchin on the street playing with marbles and jack-knives,
absorbed and forgetful of the world around him. Who can believe
that awfully majestic Being, who is represented by his own inspired
book as being so transcendently grand and awe-inspiring that "no
man can see him and live" (Ex. xxxiii. 20), was not only daily seen
by hundreds and thousands, but was on such familiar terms with men,
that they regarded him as their companion, and equal, and even
sometimes coolly reprimanded him for supposed misdemeanors and
errors? Could they believe this to be Almighty God? Impossible!
Impossible! And then who can believe that that infinite Being, whom
we have been taught to regard as absolutely and eternally
unchangeable, could become subject to hunger and thirst (as did
Jesus)? Or who can believe that the eternally and unceasingly
watchful Omnipotent Deity, whose eye, we are told, "never
slumbers," could sink into unconscious sleep, become "to dumb
forgetfulness a prey," night after night, for thirty years,
oblivious, and unconscious of the world around him? Think of a
being of incomprehensible majesty, dignity, and power, able to
"shake the heavens and the earth also," being unable to protect
himself from insult, and was therefore derided and "spit upon," and
finally overcome by his enemies, as is related of Jesus. Can any
man believe, who has not made shipwreck of his senses, or banished
Reason from her courts, that God Almighty, who comprehends in
himself the most absolute and boundless perfection of goodness and
wisdom, was tempted by demons, devils, and crawling serpents? Who
can believe that the Lord, who owns "the cattle upon a thousand
hills" (Psalm 1. 10), and the countless host of worlds besides,
that wheel their course through infinite space, had not "where to
lay his head"? Who can believe that that was the all-wise,
omnipotent, and omnipresent God, possessing all power in heaven
above and the earth beneath, who was betrayed by weak, finite
mortals? What! the Almighty Creator betrayed by a puny being of his
own creation into the hands of his disobedient and rebellious
children? Why could he not, if possessing "power to lay down his
life, and take it up again" (John x. 17), cause that all these
children of his (as we must assume they were, if he was Almighty
God, and hence the Father of all) should love him, instead of
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hating him? Can any man believe that Jesus was possessed with
omnipotent power while standing to be whipped (scourged) by Pontius
Pilate, or that he possessed a power above that of finite mortals
while in the act of praying, with such extreme ardor that the sweat
dropped from his face, that the cup of death might pass from his
lips, or while calling for an angel to support him in the hour of
his mortal dissolution? or that He, "by whom all things exist,"
could cease himself to exist, by dying upon the cross between
malefactors? Think of this, reader! and think of the eternal
Creator, the infinite Deity, the omnipotent Jehovah, the Maker of
worlds as numberless as the sands upon the sea-shore for multitude,
fainting, bleeding, dying, and pouring out his own blood to appease
his own wrath; dying an ignominious death to satisfy an implacable
revenge! Away with such insulting mockery, such blasphemous
flummery! It can only find place in the dark chambers of an
unenlightened mind.
Well has Watts said of Locke's skepticism, --
"Reason could scarcely sustain to see,
Or bear the infant Deity:
A ransomed world, a bleeding God,
And heaven appeased by flowing blood,
Were themes too painful to be understood."
Yes, and too painful to be believed, too, Mr. Watts! Here we
have a "bleeding God," an "infant Deity," and a vengeful God,
appeased by murder and streams of "flowing blood." Gracious
heavens! Whose reason does not revolt at such a picture? Whose soul
does not sicken at the thought, and who would not prefer,
infinitely prefer, to sink to annihilation, if not to perdition
itself, to being thus saved by navigating a river of blood? Dr.
South hits off some of the absurdities involved in the Christian
doctrine of the incarnation so forcibly and so lucidly, that we
cannot resist the temptation to subjoin here a few extracts from
his sermon on the subject. "But now," says this Christian
clergyman, "was there ever any wonder comparable to this, to behold
the Lord (Jesus Christ) thus clothed in flesh, the Creator of all
things, humbled, not only to the company, but also to the
cognation, of his creatures? It is as if one should imagine the
whole world not only represented upon, but also contained in, one
of our own artificial globes, or the body of the sun enveloped in
a cloud as big as a man's hand, all of which would be looked upon
as astonishing impossibilities, and yet is as short of the other as
the finite is of the infinite, between which the disparity is
immeasurable. It is, as it were, to cancel the essential distances
of things, to remove the bounds of nature, to bring heaven and
earth, and what is more, both ends of the contradiction, together.
Men cannot persuade themselves that a Deity and infinity should lie
within so narrow a compass as the dimensions of a human body; that
omnipotence, omnipresence should ever be wrapped in swaddling
clothes, and debased to the homely usages of a stable and a manger;
that the glorious Artificer of the whole universe, who spread out
the heaven like a curtain, and laid the foundations of the earth,
could ever turn carpenter, and exercise an inglorious trade in a
little cell. They cannot imagine that He who once created and at
present governs the world, and shall hereafter judge the world,
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should be abased in all his concerns and relations, be scourged,
spit upon, mocked and at last crucified. All which are passages
which lie extremely close to the notions of conceptions which
reason has made to itself of that high and impossible perfection
that resided in the divine Creator." (Sermon, 1665.) Dr. South, it
will be observed, admits that the doctrine of the divine
incarnation involves many palpable absurdities and contradictions,
and lies directly across the path of reason. Fatal admission to the
doctrine of the deityship of Christ, but true, as his own
elucidation of the subject demonstrates. To the author, since he
first subjected the question to a logical scrutiny, and looked at
it with an unbiased mind, it presents difficulties insurmountable,
and absurdities innumerable. He can imagine. nothing more
transcendently shocking, revolting, and dwarfing to the mind, both
morally and intellectually, than the thought of believing that a
being born of and suckled by a woman, and possessing the mere form
and dimensions of a man, can be regarded as the great Almighty and
Omnipotent God, the Creator of unnumbered worlds, millions of which
are larger than this planet, on which Jesus was born.
And then, reader, look for a moment at some of the many
childish incongruities and logical difficulties this giant
absurdity drags with it. It represents Almighty God as coming into
the world through the hands of a midwife, as passing through the
process of gestation and parturition. It insults our reason with
the idea that the great, infinite Jehovah could be molded into the
human form -- a thought that is shocking to the moral sense, and
withering, cramping, and dwarfing to the intellectual mind,
imposing upon it a heavy drag-chain which checks its expansion, and
forbids its onward progress. Christians tell us that the human and
the divine were united in "the man Christ Jesus." But this is a
Monstrous absurdity, which no truly rational and unbiased mind can
accept for an instant -- that of hitching, splicing, tying, or
dovetailing together finite man with the infinite Jehovah, that of
amalgamating and commingling human foibles with divine perfection.
Think of wedding mortal weakness to omnipotent power, local man
with the omnipresent Deity I Think of compounding the creature and
the Creator in one and the same being! Think of the omnipresent "I
AM," whose illimitable existence stretches far away throughout the
expansive arena of a boundless universe, occupying a dwelling
within the narrow confines of the human temple! As well essay to
crowd the universe into your pocket, or the Himalayas Mountains
into a thimble. On the other hand, think of a small compound of
flesh, blood, and bones, a few feet in dimensions, and weighing
perhaps not more than one hundred and fifty pounds avoirdupois,
containing that infinite, omnipresent Being, whom, we are told (we
repeat the quotation), "the heaven of heavens cannot contain"! And
more than all, kind reader, I ask you if you can accept for a
moment, without the immolation of your common sense, and the
trampling of your reason beneath you feet, the monstrous thought
that that mighty and almighty Architect who created the countless
myriads upon myriads of ponderous worlds, which now roll in
majestic order and eternal rotation along the great cerulean
causeway of heaven, that mighty Architect who, from time beyond
human computation, has been rolling out orb after orb, world after
world, if not myriads at a time, ten thousand times, ten thousand
of which would dwindle our little pygmy, Lilliputian planet into
insignificance, if compared with it in size.
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I ask, and drive home the query to your inward consciousness,
and the inmost temples of your sacred reason, Can you believe,
after a moment's reflection, that a Being who is too vast,
infinitely too vast in power and ubiquity to be grasped by the
human understanding, did become (as did the finite and humble
Jesus) a helpless, senseless, unconscious, human infant; a
suckling, crying, squalling babe, powerless of speech, and unable
to walk? Ay, worse, more startling still, we are shocked with the
thought that this mighty World-builder, this infinite, omnipotent
Creator, was reduced so near to the verge of nonentity, so near to
the last glimmering spark or speck of existence, and the world so
near without a God, as to become an inanimate foetus -- a monad in
the matrix of a human virgin? Shocking the thought! Blasphemous the
doctrine! Believe it who will; believe it who can! We cannot; we
would not; we are infinitely beyond it. Such a belief may be
deposited by educational tradition in the affections, but to enter
the temple of Reason, it never did, it never can. She never
unbarred her doors to admit such monstrous, such enormous
incongruities. And all these logical absurdities, and a thousand
more, grow legitimately out of the doctrine of the divine
incarnation, -- out of the postulate which would (following in the
line of the pagan superstitions) elevate the finite, humble, mortal
Jesus to the throne of heaven, the exclusive prerogative of
Almighty God. Come away, my Christian friends, from such
disparaging, such dishonorable views of the Deity, such blasphemous
caricatures of Almighty God. Come away from such morally darkening
and such intellectually dwarfing superstitions, the moldering
relics of oriental mythology, the expiring embers of childish
credulity and tradition, which originated far back in the dark
cradle of human existence, in the infancy of an undeveloped age,
ruled by ignorance, superstition, and priestcraft. Yet millions of
people laying claim to sense and intelligence, even now profess to
believe it! Talk not to me of infidelity or blasphemy for denying
the divinity or Godhead of Jesus Christ. The blasphemy lies in the
other direction. The infidelity is with the opposite party. It is
with those who thus make the dignity and character of Deity the
sport of childish baubles, the game of priestly tawdryism. And be
assured, dear friends, one and all, that coming generations will
mark the man who now worships "the man Christ Jesus" as being "very
God" as an idolater, if not a blasphemer -- for worshipping a
finite man for an infinite God, even though the motives for such
worship may be as pure as the pearly stream that issues forth from
the golden fount which rolls and sparkles beneath the throne of
Almighty God.
NOTE. The words Creator, Maker, &c., are used from
a Christian standpoint. Science knows no Creator.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
PHILOSOPHICAL ABSURDITIES
OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE DIVINE INCARNATION.
THERE is a philosophical principle underlying the doctrine of
the Divine Incarnation, whose logical deductions completely
overthrow the claim of Jesus of Nazareth to the Godhead, and which
we regard as settling the question as conclusively as any
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demonstrated problem in mathematics. This argument is predicated
upon the philosophical axiom, that two infinite beings of any
description of conception, cannot exist, either in whole or in
part, at the same time; and per consequence, it is impossible that
the Father and Son should both be God in a divine sense, either
conjointly or separately. The word infinite comprehends all; it
covers the whole ground; it fills the immensity of the universe,
and fills it to repletion, so that there is no room left for any
other being to exist. And whoever and whatever does exist must
constitute a part of this infinite whole.
Now, the Christian world concedes (for it is the teaching of
their Scriptures), that the Father is God, always and truly,
perfect, complete, and absolute; that there is nothing wanting in
him to constitute him God in the most comprehensive and absolute
sense of the term; that he is all we can conceive of as
constituting God, "the one only true God" (John xvii. 3), and was
such from all eternity, before Jesus Christ was born into the
world; and Paul puts the keystone into the arch by proclaiming, "To
us there is but one God, the Father." (i Cor. viii. 6.) Hence we
have here a logical proposition (despite the sophistry of
Christendom) as impregnable as the rocks of Gibraltar, that the
Father alone is or can be God, which effectually shuts out every
other and all other beings in the universe from any participation
in the Godhead with the Father. And thus this parity of reasoning
demonstrates that the very moment you attempt to make Christ God,
or any part of the Godhead, you attempt a philosophical
impossibility. You cannot introduce another being as God in the
infinite sense until the first-named infinite God is dethroned and
put out of existence, and this, of course, is a self-evident
impossibility. If it were not such, then we should have two Gods,
both absolute and infinite. On the other hand, if that other being
(who with the Christians is Jesus Christ, with the Hindoos
Chrishna, with the Buddhists Sakia, &c.) is introduced as only a
part of the infinite and perfect God, then it is evident to every
mind with the least philosophical perception, that some change or
alteration must take place in the latter before such a union can be
effected. But such a change, or any alteration, in a perfect
infinite being would at once reduce him to a changeable and finite
being, and thus he would cease to be God. For it is a clear
philosophical and mathematical axiom, that a perfect and infinite
being cannot become more than infinite. And if he could and should
become less than infinite, he would at once become finite, and thus
lose all the attributes of the Godhead. To say or assume, then,
that Christ was God in the absolute or divine sense, and the Father
also God absolute, and yet that there is but one God, or that the
two could in any manner be united, so as to constitute but one God,
is not only a glaring solecism, but a positive contradiction in
terms, and an utter violation of the first axiomatic principles of
philosophy and mathematics. It also asserts the illogical
hypothesis, that a part can be equal to the whole; it first assumes
the Father to be absolutely God, then assumes the Son also to be
absolutely God, and finally assumes each to be only a part, and has
to unite them to make a whole and complete God; and thereby
culminates the theological farce. Such is Christian ratiocination.
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Again, it is conceded by Christians, that the Father is an
omnipresent being; and we have shown that it is a mathematical
impossibility for two omnipresent beings, or two beings possessing
any infinite attributes, to exist at one and the same time. Hence
the clear logical deduction that the Son could not be omnipresent,
and per sequence, not God. Again, we have another philosophical
maxim or axiom familiar to every schoolboy, that no two substances
or beings can occupy the same place at the same time; the first
must be removed before the second can by any possibility be
introduced, in order thus to make room for the latter. But as
omnipresent means existing everywhere, there can be no place to
remove on omnipresent being to, or rather there can be no place or
space he can be withdrawn from in order to make room for another
being, without his ceasing to be omnipresent himself, and thereby
ceasing to be God.
It is thus shown to be a demonstrable truth that the
omnipresence of the Father does and must exclude that of the Son,
and thus exclude the possibility of his apotheosis or incarnated
deityship. In other words, it is established as a scientific
principle upon a philosophical and mathematical basis, that Jesus
Christ was not and could not be "the great I AM," "the only true
God."
We will notice one other philosophical absurdity involved in
the doctrine of the divine incarnation -- ne other solecism
comprehended in the childish notion which invests the infinite God
with finite attributes. It is a well-established and well-
understood axiom in philosophy, that "the less cannot be made to
contain the greater." A pint bottle cannot be made to contain a
quart of wine. For the same reason a finite body cannot contain an
infinite spirit. Hence philosophy presses the conclusion that "the
man Christ Jesus" could not have comprehended in himself "the
Godhead bodily," inasmuch as it would have required the infinite
God to be incorporated in a finite human body. We are therefore
compelled to reject the doctrine of the incarnate divinity, the
belief in the deityship of Jesus Christ, because (with many other
reasons enumerated elsewhere) it involves a direct tilt against
some of the plainest principles of science, and challenges, ay,
virtually overthrows, some of the fundamental laws of both natural
and moral philosophy. No philosopher, therefore, does or can
believe in the absolute divinity of Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
PHYSIOLOGICAL ABSURDITIES OF THE DOCTRINE
OF THE DIVINE INCARNATION.
THERE is also a physiological principle (discovered by the
author) comprised in the doctrine of the Divine Incarnation fatal
in its practical and logical application to the divinity of Jesus
Christ, and all the other incarnate or flesh-invested Gods of
antiquity. It is evidently fraught with much logical force. It is
based upon the law of mental and physical correspondence. As is the
physical conformation, so is the mentality, is a law of analogy
which pilots us to nearly all our practical knowledge of the
natural world. A knowledge of either serves as an index to the
other.
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When we observe an animal possessing that physical form and
construction peculiar to its species, we expect to find it
practically exhibiting the nature, character, disposition, and
habits peculiar to that class of animals. If it possesses, for
example, the conformation of a sheep, we infer at once that it has
the disposition of a sheep, and we are never disappointed in this
conclusion. And when we encounter an animal with the tiger form, we
expect to see exhibited the tiger spirit. If it possesses the well-
known physical conformation of the tiger, we are never deceived or
misled when we assign it a predatory disposition. If it is a tiger
form, it is sure to be a tiger in character and habits. And so of
all the genera and species of animals that range upon the face of
the globe. We may travel through the whole field of animated
nature, and observe the infallible operation of this beautiful law
of correspondence till we come, however, to the crowning work of
God, called Man. Here we find this law, this beautiful chain of
analogy, broken by the doctrine of the "divine incarnation." God
becomes a man, at least is made to exhibit every external
appearance of a man. All external distinction between God and man
is thus obliterated. So that the very first being we meet in the
street or on the highway possessing the form, size, and physical
conformation of a man, and presenting every other external
appearance of being a man, may nevertheless be a God. And no less
is this objection practically exemplified, and not less is the
infraction of this beautiful law of analogy observable in the case
of Jesus Christ, than in the numerous other incarnate Gods and
demigods of antiquity. Being in appearance a man, how was he to be,
or how could he be, visually distinguished from a man? Or how could
those men who were contemporary with him, know, as they approached
him, or as they approached each other, whether they were meeting a
man or a God? Seeing that "he was found in fashion as a man" (Phil.
ii. 8), either he might be mistaken for a man, or they for a God.
They were constantly liable to be confounded. If, then, the
infinite deityship was lodged in the person of Jesus Christ, it is
evident that that important fundamental law of nature -- "as is the
form, so is the character" -- was utterly annulled, prostrated,
annihilated, and banished from the world by the act. So that all
was, and is henceforth and forever, chaos, confusion, and
uncertainty. For if the principle can be violated in one instance,
it may be in another, and in thousands of cases, ad infinitum. If
one case could be allowed to occur, the principle is established,
and nature's universal chain of analogy is broken and destroyed;
for to intercept the law is to "break the tenth and ten thousandth
link alike."
Hence it is evident that if a being resembling a man may be a
God, an animal resembling a cow may be a horse, and yonder stick a
poisonous adder; and fatal may be the consequences, in thousands of
instances, in judging or inferring the nature and character of an
animal by its form and size. A supposed innocent animal might be a
deadly enemy, or vice versa. Can we then believe, or dare we
believe, a doctrine so atheistical in its tendencies as that the
Infinite Deity was incorporated in the person of the meek and lowly
Jesus, when it would thus set at naught, violate, prostrate, and
utterly cancel from the world one of God's own fundamental laws,
and one of the essential principles of natural science, and banish
forever the coordinate harmony of the universe, and thus inaugurate
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a state of universal disorder, incertitude, anarchy, and misrule
into the otherwise beautifully law-governed, well-regulated domain
of nature? Certainly, most certainly not! If the incarnation of the
Deity, should or could take place, there should be something
strikingly peculiar, ay, infinitely peculiar, in his figure, size,
and general appearance, in order to make him susceptible of being
distinguished from the human. Otherwise, men would be liable to be
constantly mistaking and worshiping each other for the Great
Almighty and Ubiquitous God, and thus constantly blundering into
idolatry. And we actually find several cases reported in the
Scriptures (mark the fact well) of men, ay, the saints themselves,
being led into this error; being led to commit "the high-handed sin
of idolatry" in consequence of their previous acceptance of the
belief in a man-God -- that is, a God of human size and type. St.
John, in two instances, was in the act of worshipping a being
possessing the human form, whom he mistook for the omnipotent and
omnipresent God. (See Rev. xix. 10, and xxii. 4.) Having, perhaps,
been taught that "the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in
Christ Jesus," he probably mistook the being he met for Him, and
hence offered to worship him. If, then, Christ's own "inspired
disciples" could thus be betrayed into "the sin of idolatry" by
having abolished the infinite distinction between the divine and
the human, we surely find here a very weighty argument against such
a leveling and equalizing doctrine. And certainly nothing could be
better calculated to promote "the sin of idolatry" than thus to
obliterate the broad, the infinitely grand line of demarkation
between the infinite God and his finite creature man. Indeed, may
we not here find the very origin and the cause of the now general
prevalence of idolatry in pagan countries? Is it not directly
traceable to the demolition of the broad, high, and insurmountable
wall of distinction which ought forever to stand between a God of
infinite attributes, and a being caged up in the human form?
Certainly, most certainly it is. Hence here I would ask, How can
Christians, after subscribing to the doctrine, "that the fullness
of the Godhead dwelt bodily in the man Christ Jesus" (as Paul very
appropriately calls him), condemn the people of any age or nation
for worshipping as God their fellow-beings -- that is, beings with
the human form? Certainly the man who could believe that the
infinite God could be comprehended or incorporated in the person of
Jesus, could easily be brought to believe that the Grand Lama of
Tibet is a proper object of divine worship. He only lacks the
substitution of names. Substitute the Grand Lama for that of Jesus
Christ, and the thing is done. And idolatry thus becomes an easily
established institution, and its abolition in any country an
absolute moral impossibility.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
A HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST.
A MOST fatal distrust is thrown upon the miraculous portions
of the history of Jesus Christ, as found in his Gospel narratives,
by the discovery of the fact (brought to light through recent
archaeological researches), that the same marvelous feats, the same
miraculous incidents, which were recorded in his life, were long
previously ingrafted into the sacred biographies of Gods and
demigods no less adored and worshipped as beings possessing divine
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attributes. We shall leave the reader to account for the long list
of astonishing coincidences, as we proceed to recapitulate and
abridge from previous chapters, the almost innumerable parallel
incidents running through the legendary history of the many
demigods and sin-atoning saviors of antiquity. The historical
vouchers are given. We shall first direct attention to the long
string of corresponding events recorded in the sacred histories of
ancient Hindoo Gods, as compared with those of Jesus Christ at a
much later period.
As far back as 1,200 B.C., sacred records were extant and
traditions were current, in the East, which taught that the heathen
Savior (Chrishna) was, 1st, Immaculately conceived and born of a
spotless virgin, "who had never known man." 2d, That the author of,
or agent in, the conception, was a spirit or ghost (of course a
Holy Ghost). 3d, That he was threatened in early infancy with death
by the ruling tyrant, Cansa. 4th, That his parents had,
consequently, to flee with him to Gokul for safety. 5th, That all
the young male children under two years of age were slain by an
order issued by Cansa, similar to that of Herod in Judea. 6th, That
angels and shepherds attended his birth. 7th, That his birth and
advent occurred on the 25th of December. 8th, That it occurred in
accedence with previous prophecy. 9th, That he was presented at
birth with frankincense, myrrh, &c. 10th, That he was saluted and
worshipped as "the Savior of men," according to the report of the
late Christian Missionary Huc. 11th, That he led a life of humility
and practical moral usefulness. 12th, That he wrought various
astounding miracles, such as healing the sick, restoring sight to
the blind, casting out devils, raising the dead to life, &c. 13th,
That he was finally put to death upon the cross (i.e., crucified)
between two thieves. 14th. After which he descended to hell, rose
from the dead, and ascended back to heaven "in the sight of all
men," as his biblical history declares. For hundreds of other
similar parallels, including his doctrines and precepts, see
Chapter XXXII.
Now, all these were matters of the firmest belief, more than
three thousand years ago, in the minds of millions of the most
devout worshippers that ever bowed the knee in humble prayer to the
Father of Mercies. The reader can draw his own deduction.
And then we have presented similar brief lists of parallels in
Chapter XXIII, comprised in a comparative view of the miraculous
lives of the Judean and Egyptian Saviors, Christ, Alcides, Osiris,
Tulis, &c. In this analogous exhibition, it will be observed the
Egyptian Gods are reported, as remotely as 900 B.C., as performing,
besides several of the miraculous achievements enumerated above,
other miracles equally indicative of divine power, such as
converting water into wine, causing "rain to descend from heaven,"
&c. And on the occasion of the crucifixion of Tulis we are told
"the sun became darkened and the moon refused to shine."
We find, also, several well-authenticated instances of raising
the dead to life, in works portraying the miraculous achievements
of the Egyptian Gods, the relation being given in such specific
detail in some cases that the names of the reanimated dead are
furnished. Tyndarus and Hypolitus were instances of this kind, both
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(according to Julius) having been raised from the dead. Descending
the line of history, until we arrive at the confines of Grecian
theology, we find here the same train of marvelous events recorded
in the histories of their virgin-born Gods, as we have shown in
Chapter XXXIII, such as their healing the sick and the cripples,
causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, the dead to be
resuscitated to life, &c. And cases, as we have shown, are reported
of their reading the thoughts of their disciples, as Jesus did
those of the woman of Samaria. Apollonius declares he knew many
Hindoo saints to perform this achievement with entire strangers.
Likewise Apollonius of Tyana and Simon Magus, both
contemporary with Jesus Christ, we have arranged in the historic
parallel (see Chapter XXXIII.), with their long train of miracles,
constituting an exact counterpart with those related in the Gospel
history of Christ, and including in Apollonius's case, besides
those specified in the histories of the Gods above named, the
miracle of transfiguration, the resurrection from the dead, his
visible ascent to heaven, &c., while Simon Magus was very expert in
casting out devils, raising the dead, allaying storms, walking on
the sea, &c.
But without recapitulating further, we will recite some new
historic facts not embraced in any of the preceding chapters of
this work, and tending to demonstrate still further the universal
analogy of all religions, past and present, in their claims for a
miraculous power for their Gods and incarnate Saviors. The "New
York Correspondent," published in 1828, furnishes us the following
brief history of an ancient Chinese God, known as Beddou: --
"All the Eastern writers agree in placing the birth of
Beddou 1027 B.C. The doctrines of this Deity prevailed over
Japan, China, and Ceylon. According to the sacred tenets of
his religion, 'God is incessantly rendering himself
incarnate,' but his greatest and most solemn incarnation was
three thousand years ago, in the province of Cashmere, under
the name of Fot, or Beddou. He was believed to have sprung
from the right intercostal of a virgin of the royal blood,
who, when she became a mother, did not the less continue to be
a virgin; that the king of the country, uneasy at his birth,
was desirous to put him to death, and hence caused all the
males that were born at the same period to be put to death,
and also that, being saved by shepherds, he lived in the
desert to the age of thirty years, at which time he opened his
commission, preaching the doctrines of truth, and casting out
devils; that he performed a multitude of the most astonishing
miracles, spent his life fasting, and in the severest
mortifications, and at his death bequeathed to his disciples
the volume in which the principles of his religion are
contained."
Here, it will be observed, are some very striking counterparts
to the miraculous incidents found related in the Gospel history of
Jesus Christ. And no less analogous is the no less well-
authenticated story of Quexalcote of Mexico, which the Rev. Mr.
Maurice concedes to be, and Lord Kingsborough and Niebuhr (in his
history of Rome) prove to be much older than the Gospel account of
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Jesus Christ. According to Maurice's "Ind. Ant.," Humboldt's
"Researches in Mexico," Lord Kingsborough's "Mexican Ant.," and
other works, the incarnate God Quexalcote was born (about 300 B.C.)
of a spotless virgin, by the name Chimalman, and led a life of the
deepest humility and piety; retired to a wilderness, fasted forty
days, was worshipped as a God, and was finally crucified between
two thieves; after which he was buried and descended into hell, but
rose again the third day. The following is a part of Lord
Kingsborough's testimony in the case: "The temptation of
Qtlexalcote, the fast of forty days ordained by the Mexican ritual,
the cup with which he was presented to drink (on the cross), the
reed which was his sign, the 'Morning Star,' which he is
designated, the 'Teoteepall, or Divine Stone,' which was laid on
his altar, and which was likewise an object of adoration, -- all
these circumstances, connected with many others relating to
Quexalcote of Mexico, but which are here omitted, are very curious
and mysterious." (Vol. Vi. p. 237, of Mexican Ant.)
Again "Quexalcote is represented, in the painting of Codex
Borgianus, as nailed to the cross." (See Mex. Ant. vol. vi. p.
166.) One plate in this work represents him as being crucified in
the heavens, one as being crucified between two thieves. Sometimes
he is represented as being nailed to the cross, and sometimes as
hanging with the cross in his hands. The same work speaks of his
burial, descent into hell, and his resurrection; while the account
of his immaculate conception and miraculous birth are found in a
work called "Codex Vaticanus."
Other parallel incidents could be cited, if we had space for
them, appertaining to the history of this Mexican God. And
parallels might also be constructed upon the histories of other
ancient Gods, -- as that of Sakia of India, Salivahana of Bermuda,
Hesus, or Eros, of the Celtic Druids, Mithra of Persia, Hil and
Feta of the Mandaites, &c.
But we will close with the testimony of a French philosopher
(Bagin) on the subject of deific incarnations. This writer says,
"The most ancient histories are those of Gods who became incarnate
in order to govern mankind. All those fables are the same in
spirit, and sprang up everywhere from confused ideas, which have
universally prevailed among mankind, -- that Gods formerly
descended upon earth."
Now, we ask the Christian reader, -- and it will be the first
query of every man whose religious faith has not made shipwreck of
his reason, -- "What does all this mean? How are you going to
sustain the declaration that Jesus Christ was the only son and sent
of God, in view of these historic facts? Where are the superior
credentials of his claim? How will you prove his apparently
legendary history (that is, the miraculous portion of his history)
to be real, and the others false?" We boldly aver it cannot be
done. Please answer these questions, or relinquish your doctrine of
the divinity of Jesus Christ.
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CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE SCRIPTURAL VIEW OF CHRIST'S DIVINITY.
THE monstrous scientific paradox (as coming ages will regard
it) comprehended in the conception of an almighty, omnipresent, and
infinite Being, "the Creator of innumerable worlds," ("by him
[Christ] were all things made that were made," John i. 3-10), being
born of a frail and finite woman, as taught by both the oriental
and Christian religion, is so exceedingly shocking to every
rational mind, which has not been sadly warped, perverted, and
coerced into the belief by early psychological influence, that we
would naturally presume that those who, on the assumption of the
remotest possibility of its truth, should venture to put forth a
doctrine so glaringly unreasonable and so obviously untenable,
would of course vindicate it and establish it by the strongest
arguments and by the most unassailable and most irrefragable
proofs; and that in setting forth a doctrine so manifestly at war
with every law and analogy of nature and every principle of
science, no language should have been used, nor the slightest
admission made, that could possibly lead to the slightest degree of
suspicion that the original authors and propagators of this
doctrine had either any doubt of the truth of the doctrine
themselves, or were wanting in the most ample, the most abundant
proof to sustain it. No language, no text, not a word, not a
syllable should have been used making the most remote concession
damaging to the validity of the doctrine, so that not "the shadow
of a shade of doubt" could be left on any mind of its truth.
Omnipotent indeed should be the logic, and irresistible the proof,
in support of a thesis or a doctrine which so squarely confronts
and contradicts all the observation, all the experience, the whole
range of scientific knowledge, and the common sense of mankind. How
startling then, to every devout and honest professor of the
Christian faith ought to be the recent discovery of the fact, that
the great majority of the texts having any bearing upon the
doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ, -- a large majority of
the passages in the very book on which the doctrine is predicated,
and which is acknowledged as the sole warranty for such a belief,
-- are actually at variance with the doctrine, and actually amount
to its virtual denial and overthrow. For we find, upon a critical
examination of the matter, that at least three-fourths of the
texts, both in the Gospels and Epistles, which relate to the
divinity of Christ, specifically or by implication either teach a
different and a contrary doctrine, or make concessions entirely
fatal to it, by investing him with finite human qualities utterly
incompatible with the character and attributes of a divine or
infinite Being. How strange, then, how superlatively strange, that
millions should yet hold to such a strange "freak of nature," such
a dark relic of oriental heathenism, such a monstrous, foolish and
childish superstition, as that which teaches the infinite Creator
and "Upholder of the universe" could be reduced so near to
nonentity, as was required to pass through the ordinary stages of
human generation, human birth, and human parturition, -- a puerile
notion which reason, science, nature, philosophy, and common sense,
proclaim to be supremely absurd and self-evidently impossible, and
which even the Scriptures fail to sustain, -- a logical, scriptural
exposition, of which we will here present a brief summary: --
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1. The essential attributes of a self-existing God and
Creator, and "Upholder of all things," are infinitude, omnipotence,
omniscience, and omnipresence, and any being not possessing all
these attributes to repletion, or possessing any quality or
characteristic in the slightest degree incompatible with any one of
these attributes, cannot be a God in a divine sense, but must of
necessity be a frail, fallible, finite being.
2. Jesus Christ disclaims, hundreds of times over, directly or
impliedly, the inherent possession of any one of these divine
attributes.
3. His evangelical biographers have invested him with the
entire category of human qualities and characteristics, each one of
which is entirely unbefitting a God, and taken together are the
only distinguishing characteristics by which we can know a man from
a God.
4. Furthermore, there issued from his own mouth various
sayings and concessions most fatal to the conception of his being
a God.
5. His devout biographers have reported various actions and
movements in his practical life which we are compelled to regard as
absolutely irreconcilable with the infinite majesty, lofty
character, and supreme attributes of an almighty Being.
6. These human qualities were so obvious to all who saw him
and all who became acquainted with him, that doubts sprang up among
his own immediate followers, which ultimately matured into an open
avowal of disbelief in his divinity in that early age.
7. Upon the axiomatical principles of philosophy it is an
utter and absolute impossibility to unite in repletion the divine
and the human in the same being.
8. And then Christ had a human birth.
9. He was constituted in part, like human beings, of flesh and
blood.
10. He became, on certain occasions, "an hungered," like
finite beings.
11. He also became thirsty (John xix. 28), like perishable
mortals.
12. He often slept, like mortals, and thus became "to dumb
forgetfulness a prey."
13. He sometimes became weary, like human beings. (See John
iv. 6.)
14. He was occasionally tempted, like fallible mortals. (Matt.
iv. i.)
15. His "soul became exceeding sorrowful," as a frail, finite
being. (Matt. xxvi. 38.)
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16. He disclosed the weakness of human passion by weeping.
(John xi. 35.)
17. He was originally an imperfect being, "made perfect
through suffering." (Heb. ii. 10.)
18. He "increased in wisdom and stature" (Luke ii. 52);
therefore he must have possessed finite, changeable, mortal
attributes.
19. And he finally died and was buried, like all perishable
mortals. He could not possibly, from these considerations, have
been a God. It is utterly impracticable to associate with or
comprehend, in a God of infinite powers and infinite attributes,
all or any of these finite human qualities.
20. Dark, intellectually dark, indeed, must be that mind, and
sunk, sorrowfully sunk in superstition, that can worship a being as
the great omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent "I AM," who
possessed all those qualities which were constitutionally
characteristic of the pious, the noble, the devout, the Godlike,
yet finite and fallible Jesus, according to his own admissions and
the representations of his own interested biographers.
21. The only step which the disciples of the Christian faith
have made toward disproving or setting aside these arguments,
objections, and difficulties, is that of assigning the incarnate
Jesus a double or twofold nature -- the amalgamation of the human
and divine; a postulate and a groundless assumption, which we have
proved and demonstrated by thirteen arguments, which we believe to
be unanswerable, is not only absurd, illogical, and impossible, but
foolish and ludicrous in the highest degree. (See vol. ii.)
22. This senseless hypothesis, and every other assumption and
argument made use of by the professors of the Christian faith to
vindicate their favorite dogma of the divinity of Jesus, we have
shown to be equally applicable to the demigods of the ancient
heathen, more than twenty of whom were invested with the same
combination of human and divine qualities which the followers and
worshippers of Jesus claim for him.
23. Testimony of the Father against the divinity of the Son.
The Father utterly precludes the Son from any participation in the
divine essence, or any claim in the Godhead, by such declarations
as the following: "I am Jehovah, and beside me there is no Savior."
(Isaiah xliii. ii.) How, then, we would ask, can Jesus Christ be
the Savior? "I, Jehovah, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer." Then
Christ can be neither the Savior nor Redeemer. "There is no God
else beside me, a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me."
(Isaiah xiv. 21.) So the Father virtually declares, according to
"the inspired prophet Isaiah," that the Son, in a divine sense,
cannot be either God, Savior, or Redeemer. Again, "I am Jehovah,
thy God, and thou shalt not acknowledge a God beside me." (Hosea
xiii. 4.) Here Christ is not only by implication cut off from the
Godhead, but positively prohibited from being worshipped as God.
And thus the testimony of the Father disproves and sets aside the
divinity of the Son.
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24. Testimony of the mother. When Mary found, after a long
search, her son Jesus in the temple, disputing with the doctors,
and chided or reproved him for staying from home without the
consent of his parents, and declared, "thy father and I sought
thee, sorrowing" (Luke ii. 48), she proclaimed a twofold denial of
his divinity. In the first place it cannot be possible that she
regarded her son Jesus as "that awful Being, before whom e'en the
devout saints bow in trembling fear," when she used such language
and evinced such a spirit as she did. "Why hast thou thus dealt
with us?" (Luke ii. 48) is her chiding language. And then, when she
speaks of Joseph as his father, "thy father and I," she issues a
declaration against his divinity which ought to be regarded as
settling the question forever. For who could know better than the
mother, or rather, who could know but the mother, who the father of
the child Jesus was? And as she acknowledges it was Joseph, she
thus repudiates the story of the immaculate conception, which
constitutes the whole basis for the claim of his divinity. Hence
the testimony of the mother, also, disproves his title to the
Godhead.
25. Testimony or disclaimer of the Son. We will show by a
specific citation of twenty-five texts that there is not one
attribute comprehended in or peculiar to a divine and infinite
Being, but that Christ rejects as applicable to himself -- that he
most conclusively disclaims every attribute of a divine Being, both
by precept and practice, and often in the most explicit language.
26. By declaring, "The Son can do nothing of himself" (John v.
19), he most emphatically disclaims the attribute of omnipotence.
For an omnipotent Being can need no aid, and can accept of none.
27. When he acknowledged and avowed his ignorance of the day
of judgment, which must be presumed to be the most important event
in the world's history, he disclaimed the attribute of omniscience.
"Of that day and hour knoweth no man, neither the Son, but the
Father only." (Matt. xxiv. 36.) Now, as an omniscient Being must
possess all knowledge, his avowed ignorance in this case is a
confession he was not omniscient, and hence not a God.
28. And when he declares, "I am glad for your sakes I was not
there" (at the grave of Lazarus), he most distinctly disavows being
omnipresent, and thus denies to himself another essential attribute
of an infinite God.
29. And the emphatic declaration, "I live by the Father" (John
vi. 57), is a direct disclaimer of the attributes of self-
existence; as a being who lives by another cannot be self-existent,
and, per consequence, not the infinite God.
30 He disclaims possessing infinite goodness, another
essential attribute of a supreme divine Being. "Why callest thou me
good? there is none good but one, that is God." (Mark x. 18.)
31. He disclaim divine honors, and directed them to the
father. "I honor my Father." (John viii. 49.) "I receive not honor
from men." (John v. 41.)
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32. He recommended supreme worship to the Father, and not to
himself. "The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth." (John iv. 21.)
33. He ascribed supreme dominion to the Father. "Thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever." (Matt. vi. 13.)
34. It will be seen, from the foregoing text, that Christ also
acknowledges that the kingdom is the Father's. A God without a
kingdom would be a ludicrous state of things.
35. He conceded supreme authority to the Father. "My doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me." (John vii. 16.)
36. He considered the Father as the supreme protector and
preserver of even his own disciples. "I pray that thou shouldst
keep them from the evil." (John xvii. 15.) What, omnipotence not
able to protect his own disciples?
37. In fine, he humbly acknowledged that his power, his will,
his ministry, his mission, his authority, his works, his knowledge,
and his very life, were all from, and belonged to and were under
the control of the Father. "I can do nothing of myself;" "I came to
do the will of him that sent me;" "The Father that dwelleth within
me, he doeth the work," &c. "A God within a God," is an old pagan
Otaheitan doctrine.
38. He declared that even spiritual communion was the work of
the Father. (See John vi. 45.)
39. He acknowledged himself controlled by the Father. (See
John v. 30.)
40. He acknowledged his entire helplessness and dependence on
the Father. "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth
the Father do." (John v. 19.) 41. He acknowledged that even his
body was the work of his Father; in other words, that he was
dependent on his Father for his physical life. (See Heb. xvi. 5.)
42. And more than all, he not only called the Father "the only
true God" (John xvii. 3), but calls him "my Father and my God."
(John xx. 17.) Now, it would be superlative nonsense to consider a
being himself a God, or the God, who could use such language as is
here ascribed to the humble Jesus. This text, this language, is
sufficient of itself to show that Christ could not have laid any
claim to the Godhead on any occasion, unless we degrade him to the
charge of the most palpable and shameful contradiction.
43. He uniformly directed his disciples to pray, not to him,
but the Father. (See Matt. vi. 6.)
44. On one occasion, as we have cited the proof (in Matt. xi.
ii), he even acknowledged John the Baptist to be greater than he;
while it must be patent to every reader that no man could be
greater than the almighty, supreme Potentate of heaven and earth,
in any sense whatever.
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45. Testimony of the disciples. Another remarkable proof of
the human sireship of Jesus is, that one of his own disciples --
ay, one of the chosen twelve, selected by him as being endowed with
a perfect knowledge of his character, mission, and origin -- this
witness, thus posted and thus authorized, proclaims, in unequivocal
language, that Jesus was the son of Joseph. Hear the language of
Philip addressed to Nathanael. "We have found him of whom Moses, in
the law and the prophets, did write -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son
of Joseph." (John i. 45.) No language could be more explicit, no
declaration more positive, that Jesus was the son of Joseph. And no
higher authority could be adduced to settle the question, coming as
it does from "headquarters." And what will, or what can, the devout
stickler for the divinely paternal origin of Jesus Christ do with
such testimony? It is a clincher which no sophistry can set aside,
no reasoning can grapple with, and no logic overthrow.
46. His disciples, instead of representing him as being "the
only true God," often speak of him in contradistinction to God.
47. They never speak of him as the God Christ Jesus, but as
"the man Christ Jesus." (i Tim. ii. 5.) "Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God." (Acts ii. 23.) It would certainly be blasphemy to
speak of the Supreme Being as "a man approved of God." Christian
reader, reflect upon this text. "By that man whom he (the Father)
hath ordained" (Acts xvii. 3), by the assumption of the Godhead of
Christ, we would be presented with the double or twofold solecism,
1st. Of God being "ordained" by another God; and 2d. That of his
being blasphemously called a "Man."
48. Paul's, declaration has been cited, that "unto us there is
but one God -- the Father." (i Cor. iv. 8.) Now, it is plain to
common sense, that if there is but one God, and that God is
comprehended in the Father, then Christ is entirely excluded from
the Godhead.
49. If John's declaration be true, that "no man hath seen God
at any time" (John iv. 12), then the important question arises, How
could Christ be God, as he was seen by thousands of men, and seen
hundreds of times?
50. God the Father is declared to be the "One," "the Holy
One," "the only One," &c., more than one hundred times, as if
purposely to exclude the participation of any other being in the
Godhead.
51. This one, this only God, is shown to be the Father alone
in more than four thousand texts, thirteen hundred and twenty-six
of which are found in the New Testament.
52. More than fifty texts have been found which declare,
either explicitly or by implication, that God the Father has no
equal, which effectually denies or shuts out the divine equality of
the Son. "To whom will ye liken me, or shall I be equal with, saith
the holy One." (Isaiah XI. 25.
53. Christ in the New Testament is called "man," and "the Son
of man," eighty-four times, -- egregious and dishonorable
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misnomers, most certainly, to apply to a supreme and infinite
Deity. On the other hand, he is called God but three times, and
denominates himself "the Son of God" but once, and that rather
obscurely.
54. The Father is spoken of, in several instances, as standing
in the relation of God to the Son, as "the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ." (Acts iii. 2.) "Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (i
Cor. xi. 3.) Now, the God of a God is a polytheistic, heathen
conception; and no meaning or interpretation, as we have shown, can
be forced upon such texts as these, that will not admit a plurality
of Gods, if we admit the titles as applicable to Christ, or that
his scriptural biographers intend to apply such a title in a
superior or supreme sense.
55. Many texts make Christ the mere tool, agent, image,
servant, or representative of God, as Christ, "the image of God"
(Heb. i. 3), Christ, the appointed of God (Heb. iii. i), Christ,
"the servant of God" (Matt. xii. 18), &c. To consider a being thus
spoken of as himself the supreme God, is, as we have demonstrated,
the very climax of absurdity and nonsense. To believe "the servant
of God" is God himself, -- that is, the servant of himself, -- and
that God and his "image" are the same, is to descend within one
step of buffoonery.
56. And then it has been ascertained that there are more than
three hundred texts which declare, either expressly or by
implication, Christ's subordination to and dependence on the
Father, as, "I can do nothing of myself;" "Not mine, but his that
sent me;" "I came to do the will of him that sent me" (John iv.
34); "I seek the will of my Father," &c.
57. And more than one hundred and fifty texts make the Son
inferior to the Father, as "the Son knoweth not, but the Father
does" (Mark viii. 32); "MY Father is greater than I;" "The Son can
do nothing of himself" (John v. 19), &c.
58. There are many divine titles applied to the Father which
are never used in reference to the Son, as "Jehovah," "The Most
High," "God Almighty," "The Almighty," &c.
On the other hand, those few divine epithets or titles which
are used in application to Jesus Christ, as Lord, God, Savior,
Redeemer, Intercessor, &c., it has been shown were all used prior
to the birth of Christ, in application to beings known and
acknowledged to be men, and some of them are found so applied in
the bible itself; as, for example, Moses is called a God in two
instances, as we have shown, and cited the proof (in Ex. iv. 16,
vii. i), while the title of Lord is applied to man at this day,
even in Christian countries. And instances have been cited in the
bible of the term Savior being applied to men, both in the singular
and plural numbers. (See 2 Kings xiii. 5, and Neh. ix. 27.) Seeing,
then, that the most important divine titles which the writers of
the New Testament have applied to Jesus were previously used in
application to men, known and admitted to be such, it is therefore
at once evident that those titles do nothing toward proving him to
be the Great Divine Being, as the modern Christian world assume him
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to be, even if we base the argument wholly on scriptural grounds.
While, on the other hand, we have demonstrated it to be an absolute
impossibility to apply with any propriety or any sense to a divine
infinite omnipotent Being those finite human qualities which are so
frequently used with reference to Jesus throughout the New
Testament. And hence, even if we should suppose or concede that the
writers of the New Testament did really believe him to be the great
Infinite Spirit, or the almighty, omnipotent God, we must conclude
they were mistaken, from their own language, from their own
description of him, as well as his own virtual denial and rejection
of such a claim, when he applied to himself, as he did in nine
cases out of ten, strictly finite human qualities and human titles
(as we have shown), wholly incompatible with the character of an
infinite divine Being. We say, from the foregoing considerations,
if the primitive disciples of Jesus did really believe him to be
the great Infinite, both their descriptions of him and his
description or representation of himself, would amply and most
conclusively prove that they were mistaken. At least we are
compelled to admit that there is either an error in applying divine
titles to Jesus, or often an error in describing his qualities and
powers, by himself and his original followers, as there is no
compatibility or agreement between the two. Divine titles to such
a being as they represent him to be, would be an egregious
misnomer. We say, then, that it must be clearly and conclusively
evident to every unbiased mind, from evidence furnished by the
bible itself, that if the divine titles applied to Jesus were
intended to have a divine significance, then they are misapplied.
Yet we would not here conclude an intentional misrepresentation in
the case, but simply a mistake growing out of a misconception, and
the very limited childish conception, of the nature, character, and
attributes of the "great positive Mind," so universally prevalent
in that semi-barbarous age, and the apparently total ignorance of
the distinguishing characteristics which separate the divine and
the human. We will illustrate: some children, on passing through a
wild portion of the State of Maine recently, reported they
encountered a bear; and to prove they could not be mistaken in the
animal, they described it as being a tall, slight-built animal,
with long slender legs, of yellowish auburn hue, a short, white,
bushy tail, cloven feet, large branchy horns, &c. Now, it will be
seen at once that, while their description of the animal is
evidently in the main correct, they had simply mistaken a deer for
a bear, and hence misnamed the animal.
In like manner we must conclude, from the repeated instances
in which Christ's biographers have ascribed to him all the foibles,
frailties, and finite qualities and characteristics of a human
being, that if they have in any instance called him a God in a
divine sense, it is an egregious misnomer. Their description of him
makes him a man, and but a man, whatever may have been their
opinion with respect to the propriety of calling him a God. And if
the two do not harmonize, the former must rule the judgment in all
cases. The truth is, the Jewish founders of Christianity
entertained such a low, narrow, contracted, and mean opinion of
Deity and the infinite distinction and distance between the divine
and the human, that their theology reduced him to a level with man;
and hence they usually described him as a man.
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CHAPTER XL.
A METONYMIC VIEW OF THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST.
IF Jesus Christ were truly God, or if there existed such a
coequal and co-essential oneness between the Father and the Son
that they constituted but one being or divine essence, then what is
true of one is true of the other, and a change of names and titles
from one to the other cannot alter the sense of the text. Let us,
then, substitute the titles found applied to the Son in the New
Testament, to the Father, and observe the effect
"My Son is greater than I." (John vii. 28.)
"God can do nothing of himself." (John v. 19.)
"I must be about my Son's business." (Luke ii. 49.)
"The kingdom of heaven is not mine to give, but the Son's."
(Matt. xx. 23.)
"I am come in my Son's name, and ye receive me not." (John v.
43.)
"God cried, Jesus, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. xiii.
28.)
"No man hath seen Jesus at any time." (i John i. 5.)
"Jesus created all things by his Son." (Eph. iii. 9.)
"God sat down (in heaven) at the right hand of Jesus." (Luke
xxii. 69.)
"There is one Jesus, one mediator between Jesus and men."
(Gal. iii. 20.)
"Jesus gave, his only begotten Father." (i John iv. 9.)
"God knows not the hour, but Jesus does." (Mark viii. 32.)
"God is the servant of Jesus." (Mark xii. 18.)
"God is ordained by Jesus." (Acts xvii. 31.)
"The head of God is Christ." (Eph. i. 3.)
"We have an advocate with Jesus, God the righteous." (i John
ii. i.)
"Jesus gave all power to God." (Matt. xxviii. 18.)
"God abode all night in prayer to Jesus." (Luke vi. 12.)
"God came down from heaven to do the will of Jesus." (John vi.
38.)
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"Jesus has made the Father his high priest." (Heb. x. 24.)
"Last of all, the Son sent the Father." (Matt. xxi. 39.)
"Jesus will save the world by that God whom he hath ordained."
"Jesus is God of the Father." (John xx. 17.)
"Jesus hath exalted God, and given him a more excellent name."
(Phil. ii. 9.)
"Jesus hath made God a little lower than the angels." (Heb.
ii. 9.)
"God can do nothing except what he seeth Jesus do." (John v.
19.)
Now, the question arises, Is the above representation a true
one? Most certainly it must be, if Jesus and the Father are but one
almighty Being. A change of names and titles cannot alter the truth
nor the sense.
To say that Chief Justice Chase has gone south; Secretary
Chase has gone south; Governor Chase has gone south; Ex-Senator
Chase has gone south, or Salmon P. Chase has gone south, are
affirmations equally true and equally sensible, because they all
have reference to the same being; the case is to plain to need
argument.
The above reversal of names and titles of Jesus and the Father
may sound very unpleasant and rather grating to Christ-adoring
Christians, simply because it is the trans-position of the titles
of two very scripturally dissimilar beings, instead of being, as
generally taught by orthodox Christians, "one in essence, one in
mind, one in body or being, and one in name," as the Rev. Mr.
Barnes affirms. Most self-evidently false is his statement, based
solely on scriptural ground. If Jesus is "very God," and there is
but one God, then the foregoing transposition cannot mar the sense
nor altar the truth of one text quoted.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE PRECEPTS AND PRACTICAL LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST.
His Two HUNDRED ERRORS
THE exaltation of men to the character and homage of divine
beings has always had the effect to draw a vail over their errors
and imperfections, so as to render them imperceptible to those who
worship them as Gods. This is true of nearly all the deified men of
antiquity, who were adored as incarnate divinities, among which may
be included the Christian's man-God, Jesus Christ. The practice of
the followers of these Gods has been, when an error was pointed out
in their teachings, brought to light by the progress of science and
general intelligence, to bestow upon the text some new and
unwarranted meaning, entirely incompatible with its literal
reading, or else to insist with a godly zeal on the correctness of
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the sentiment inculcated by the text, and thus essay to make error
pass for truth. In this way millions of the disciples of these Gods
have been misled and blinded, and made to believe by their
religious teachers and their religious education, that everything
taught by their assumed-to-be divine exemplars is perfect truth, in
perfect harmony with science, sense, and true morals. Indeed, the
perversion of the mind and judgment by a religious education has
been in many cases carried to such an extreme as to cause their
devout and prejudiced followers either to entirely overlook and
ignore their erroneous teachings, or to magnify them into God-given
truths, and thus, as before stated, clothe error with the livery of
truth. This state of things, it has long been noticed by
unprejudiced minds, exists amongst the millions of professed
believers in the divinity of Jesus Christ. Hence the errors, both
in his moral lessons and his practical life, have passed from age
to age unnoticed, because his pious and awe-stricken followers,
having been taught that he was a divine teacher, have assumed that
his teachings must all be true; and hence, too, have instituted no
scrutiny to determine their truth or falsity. But we will now
proceed to show that the progress of science and general
intelligence has brought to light many errors, not only in his
teachings, but in his practical life also. In enumerating them, we
will arrange them under the head:
Moral and Religious Errors.
1. The first moral precept in the teachings of Christ, which
we will bring to notice, is one of a numerous class, which may very
properly be arranged under the head of Moral Extremism. We find
many of his admonitions of this character. Nearly everything that
is said is over-said, carried to extremes -- thus constituting an
over-wrought, extravagant system of morality, impracticable in its
requisitions; as, for example, "Take no thought for the morrow."
(Matt. v.) If the spirit of this injunction were carried out in
practical life, there would be no grain sown and no seed planted in
spring, no reaping done in harvest, and no crop garnered in autumn;
and the result would be universal starvation in less than twelve
months. But, fortunately for society, the Christian world have laid
this positive injunction upon the table under the rule of
"indefinite postponement."
2. Christ's assumed-to-be most important requisition is found
in the injunction, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his
righteousness, and all else shall be added unto you." (Matt. vi.
33.) His early followers understood by this injunction, and
doubtless understood it correctly, that they were to spend their
lives in religious devotion, and neglect the practical duties of
life, leaving "Providence" to take care of their families -- a
course of life which reduced many of them to the point of
starvation.
3. The disciple of Christ is required, "when smitten on one
cheek, to turn the other also;" that is, when one cheek is pommeled
into a jelly by some vile miscreant or drunken wretch, turn the
other, to be smashed up in like manner. This is an extravagant
requisition, which none of his modern disciples even attempt to
observe.
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4. "Resist not evil" (Matt. v. 34) breathes forth a kindred
spirit. This injunction requires you to stand with your hands in
your pocket while being maltreated so cruelly and unmercifully that
the forfeiture of your life may be the consequence -- at least
Christ's early followers so understood it.
5. The disciple of Christ is required, when his cloak is
formally wrested from him, to give up his coat also. (See Matt. v.)
And to carry out the principle, if the marauder demands it, he must
next give up his boots, then his shirt, and thus strip himself of
all his garments, and go naked. This looks like an invitation and
bribe to robbery.
6. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth." (Matt. vi.
19.) This is another positive command of Christ, which the modern
Christian world, by common consent, have laid on the table under
the rule of "indefinite postponement," under the conviction that
the wants of their families and the exigencies of sickness and old
age cannot be served if they should live up to such an injunction.
7. "Sell all that thou hast, ... and come and follow me," is
another command which bespeaks more piety than wisdom, as all who
have attempted to comply with it have reduced their families to
beggary and want.
8. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him." Then he must hate it, as there are but the two principles,
and "from hate proceed envy, strife, evil surmising, and
persecution." Evidently the remedy in this case for ... worldly-
mindedness" is worse than the disease.
9. "He that cometh to me, and hateth not father, mother,
brother, and sister, &c., cannot be my disciple." (Luke xiv. 26).
This breathes forth the same spirit as the last text quoted above.
Many learned expositions have been penned by Christian writers to
make it appear. that hate in this case does not mean hate. But
certainly it would be a slander upon infinite wisdom to leave it to
be inferred that he could not say or "inspire" his disciples to say
exactly what he meant, and to say it so plainly as to leave no
possibility of being misunderstood, or leave any ground for dispute
about the meaning.
10. "Rejoice and be exceeding glad" when persecuted. (Matt. v.
4.) Now, as a state of rejoicing is the highest condition of
happiness that can be realized, such advice must naturally prompt
the religious zealot to court persecution, in order to obtain
complete happiness, and consequently to pursue a dare-devil life to
provoke persecution.
11. "Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it,"
&c. (Luke xvii. 33.) Here is displayed the spirit of martyrdom
which has made millions reckless of life, and goaded on the
frenzied bigot to seek the fiery fagot and the halter. We regard it
as another display of religious fanaticism.
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12. "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." (Matt.
x. 12.) How repulsive must have been their doctrines or their
conduct! No sensible religion could excite the universal hatred of
mankind. For it would contain something adapted to the moral,
religious, or spiritual taste of some class or portion of society,
and hence make it and its disciples loved instead of hated. And
then how could they be "hated of all men," when not one man in a
thousand ever heard of them? Here is more of the extravagance of
religious enthusiasm.
13. "Shake off the dust of your feet" against those who cannot
see the truth or utility of your doctrines. (Matt. x. 14.) Here
Christ encourages in his disciples a spirit of contempt for the
opinions of others calculated to make them "hated." A proper regard
for the rules of good-breeding would have forbidden such rudeness
toward strangers for a mere honest difference of opinion.
14. "Take nothing for your journey, neither staff, nor scrip,
nor purse" (Mark vi. 8); that is "sponge on your friends, and force
yourselves on your enemies," the latter class of which seem to have
been much the most numerous. A preacher who should attempt to carry
out this advice at the present day would be stopped at the first
toll-gate, and compelled to return. Here is more violation of the
rules of good-breeding, and the common courtesies of civilized
life.
15. "Go and teach all nations," &c. Why issue an injunction
that could not possibly be carried out? It never has been, and
never will be, executed, for three-fourths of the human race have
never yet heard of Christianity. It was not, therefore, a mark of
wisdom, or a superior mind, to issue such an injunction.
16. "And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned." What intolerance, bigotry,
relentless cruelty, and ignorance of the science of mind are here
displayed! No philosopher would give utterance to, or indorse such
a sentiment. It assumes that belief is a creature of the will, and
that a man can believe anything he chooses, which is wide of the
truth. And the assumption has been followed by persecution, misery,
and bloodshed.
17. "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing,
ye shall receive." (Matt. xxi. 22.) Here is an entire negation of
natural law in the necessity of physical labor as a means to
procure the comforts of life. When anything is wanted in the shape
of food or raiment, it is to be obtained, according to this text,
by going down on your knees and asking God to bestow it. But no
Christian ever realized "all things whatsoever asked for in
prayer," thought "believing with all his heart" he should obtain
it. The author knows, by his own practical experience, that this
declaration is not true. This promise has been falsified thousands
of times by thousands of praying Christians.
18. "Be not called rabbi." "Call no man your father." (Matt.
xxiii.) The Christian world assume that much of what Christ taught
is mere idle nonsense, or the incoherent utterings of a religious
fanatic; for they pay no more practical attention to it than the
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barking of a dog. And here is one command treated in this manner:
"Call no man father." Where is the Christian who refuses to call
his earthly sire a father?
19. "Call no man master." (Matt. xxiii.) And yet mister, which
is the same thing, is the most common title in Christendom.
20. He who enunciates the two words, "'Thou fool,' shall be in
danger of hell fire." (Matt. xxii.) Mercy! Who, then, can be saved?
For there is probably not a live Christian in the world who has not
called somebody a "fool," when he knew him to be such, and could
not with truthfulness be called anything else. Here, then, is
another command universally ignored and "indefinitely postponed."
21. "Swear not at all, neither by heaven nor earth." (Matt.
v.) And yet no Christian refuses to indulge in legal, if not
profane, swearing which the text evidently forbids.
22. "Men ought always to pray." (Luke xviii.) No time to be
allowed for eating or sleeping. More religious fanaticism.
23. "Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your
servant" (Matt. xx. 27); that is, no Christian professor shall be
a president, governor, major-general, deacon, or priest. Another
command laid on the table.
24. "Love your enemies." (Matt. v. 44.) Then what kind of
feeling should we cultivate toward friends? And how much did he
love his enemies when he called them "fools" "liars," "hypocrites,"
"generation of vipers," &c.? And yet he is held up as "our" example
in love, meekness, and forbearance. But no man ever did love an
enemy. It is a moral impossibility, as much so as to love bitter or
nauseating food. The advice of the Roman slave Syrus is indicative
of more sense and wisdom -- "Treat your enemy kindly, and thus make
him a friend."
25. We are required to forgive an enemy four hundred and
ninety times; that is, "seventy times seven." (Matt. vii.) Another
outburst of religious enthusiasm; another proof of an overheated
imagination.
26. "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."
(Matt. v. 48.) Here is more of the religious extravagance of a mind
uncultured by science. For it is self-evident that human beings can
make no approximation to divine perfection. The distance between
human imperfection and a perfect God is, and ever must be,
infinite.
27. Christ commended those who "became eunuchs for the kingdom
of heaven's sake" (Matt. xix. 12) -- a custom requiring a
murderous, self-butchering process; destructive of the energies of
life and the vigor of manhood, and rendering the subject weak,
effeminate, and mopish, and unfit for the business of life. It is
a low species of piety, and discloses a lamentable lack of a
scientific knowledge of the true functions of the sexual organs on
the part of Jesus.
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28. Christ also encouraged his disciples to "pluck out the
eye," and "cut off the hand," as a means of rendering it impossible
to perpetrate evil with those members. And we would suggest, if
such advice is consistent with sound reasoning, the head also
should be cut off, as a means of more effectually carrying out the
same principle. Such advice never came from the mouth of a
philosopher. It is a part of Christ's system of extravagant piety.
29. He also taught the senseless, oriental tradition of "the
unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost" -- a fabulous being who
figured more anciently in the history of various countries. (See
Chapter XXII.) No philosopher or man of science could harbor such
childish misconceptions as are embodied in this tradition, which
neither describes the being nor explains the nature of the sin.
30. We find many proofs, in Christ's Gospel history, that he
believed in the ancient heathen tradition which taught that disease
is caused by demons and evil spirits. (See Luke vii. 21, and viii.
2.)
31. Many cases are reported of his relieving the obsessed by
casting out the diabolical intruders, in imitation of the oriental
custom long in vogue in various countries, by which he evinced a
profound ignorance of the natural causes of disease.
32. Christ also taught the old pagan superstition that "God is
a God of anger," while modern science teaches that it would be as
impossible for a God of perfect and infinite attributes to
experience the feeling of anger as to commit suicide; and recent
discoveries in physiology prove that anger is a species of suicide,
and that it is also a species of insanity. Hence an angry God would
be an insane God -- an omnipotent lunatic, "ruling the kingdom of
heaven," which would make heaven a lunatic asylum, and rather a
dangerous place to live.
33. And Christ's injunction to "fear God" also implies that he
is an angry being. (See Luke xxiii. 40.) But past history proves
that "the fear of God" has always been the great lever of
priestcraft, and the most paltry and pitiful motive that ever moved
the human mind. It has paralyzed the noblest intellects, crushed
the elasticity of youth, and augmented the hesitating indecision of
old age, and finally filled the world with cowardly, trembling
slaves. No philosopher will either love or worship a God he fears.
"The fear of the Lord" is a very ancient heathen superstition.
34. The inducement Christ holds out for leading a virtuous
life by the promise of "Well done, thou good and faithful servant,"
bespeaks a childish ignorance of the nature of the human mind and
the true science of life. It ranks with the promise of the nurse of
sugar-plums to the boy if he would keep his garments unsoiled. (For
the remainder of the two hundred errors of Christ, see Vol. II.)
There are many other errors found in the precepts and
practical life of Jesus Christ (which we are compelled to omit an
exposition of here), such as his losing his temper, and abusing the
money-changers by overthrowing their counting-table, and expelling
them from the temple with a whip of cords when engaged in a lawful
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and laudable business; his getting mad at and cursing the fig tree;
his dooming Capernaum to hell in a fit of anger; his being deceived
by two of his disciples (Peter and Judas), which prompted him to
call them devils; his implied approval of David, with his fourteen
crimes and penitentiary deeds, and also Abraham, with his
falsehoods, polygamy, and incest, and his implied sanction of the
Old Testament, with all its errors and numerous crimes; his promise
to his twelve apostles to "sit upon the twelve thrones of Israel"
in heaven, thus evincing a very limited and childish conception of
the enjoyments of the future life; his puerile idea of sin,
consisting in a personal affront to a personal God; his omission to
say anything about human freedom, the inalienable rights of man,
&c.
The Scientific Errors of Christ.
That Jesus Christ was neither a natural or moral philosopher
is evident from the following facts: --
1. He never made any use of the word "philosophy."
2. Never gave utterance to the word "Science."
3. Never spoke of a natural law, or assigned a natural cause
for anything. The fact that he never made use of these words now so
current in all civilized countries, is evidence that he was totally
ignorant of these important branches of knowledge, the cultivation
of which is now known to be essential to the progress of
civilization. And yet it is claimed his religion has been a great
lever in the advancement of civilization. But this is a mistake --
a solemn mistake, as elsewhere shown. (See Chap. XLV.)
4. Everything to Christ was miracle; everything was produced
and controlled by the arbitrary power of an angry or irascible God.
He evidently had no idea of a ruling principle in nature or of the
existence of natural law, as controlling any event he witnessed.
Hence he set no bounds to anything, and recognized no limits to the
possible. He believed God to be a supernatural personal being, who
possessed unlimited power, and who ruled and controlled everything
by his arbitrary will, without any law or any limitation to its
exercises. Hence he told his disciples they would have anything
they prayed for in faith; that by faith they could roll mountains
into the sea, or bring to a halt the rolling billows of the mighty
deep. He evidently believed that the forked lightning, the
outbursting earth-shaking thunder, and the roaring, heaving volcano
were but pliant tools or obsequious servants to the man of faith.
And he displays no less ignorance of the laws of mind than the laws
of nature; thus proving him to have been neither a natural, moral,
nor mental philosopher. He omitted to teach the great moral lessons
learned by human experience, of which he was evidently totally
ignorant.
5. He never taught that the practice of virtue contains its
own reward.
6. That the question of right and wrong of any action is to be
decided by its effect upon the individual, or upon society.
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7. That no life can be displeasing to God which is useful to
man.
8. And he omitted to teach the most important lesson that can
engage the attention of man, viz.: that the great purpose of life
is self-development.
9. That no person can attain or approximate to real happiness
without bestowing a special attention to the cultivation and
exercise of all the mental and physical faculties, so far as to
keep them in a healthy condition. None of the important lessons
above named are hinted at in his teachings, which, if punctually
observed, would do more to advance the happiness of the human race
than all the sermons Christ or Chrishna ever preached, or ever
taught.
10. And then he taught many doctrines which are plainly
contradicted by the established principle of modern science, such
as, --
11. Diseases being produced by demons, devils, or wicked
spirits. (See Mark ix. 20.)
Christ nowhere assigns a natural cause for disease, or a
scientific explanation for its cure.
12. His rebuking a fever discloses a similar lack of
scientific knowledge. (See Luke iv. 39.)
13. His belief in a literal hell and a lake of fire and
brimstone (see Matt. xviii. 8) is an ancient heathen superstition
science knows nothing about, and has no use for.
14. His belief in a personal devil also (see Matt. xvii. 88),
which is another oriental tradition, furnishes more sad roof of an
utter want of scientific knowledge, as science has no place for and
no use for such a being.
15. Christ taught the unphilosophical doctrine of repentance,
as he declared he "came to call sinners to repentance" (Matt. ix.
13) -- a mental process, which consists merely in a revival of
early impressions, and often leads a person to condemn that which
is right, as well as that which is wrong. (For proof, see Chapter
XLIII.)
16. The doctrine of "forgiveness," which Christ so often
inculcated, is also at variance with the teachings of science, as
it can do nothing toward changing the nature of the act forgiven,
or toward canceling its previous effects upon society. Science
teaches that every crime has its penalty attached to it, which no
act of forgiveness, by God or man, can arrest or set aside.
17. But nothing evinces, perhaps, more clearly Christ's total
lack of scientific knowledge than his holding a man responsible for
his belief, and condemning for disbelief, as he does in numerous
instances (see Mark xvi. 16), for a man could as easily control the
circulation of the blood in his veins as control his belief.
Science teaches that belief depends upon evidence, and without it,
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it is impossible to believe, and with it, it is impossible to
disbelieve. How foolish and unphilosophical, therefore, to condemn
for either belief or disbelief!
18. The numerous cases in which Christ speaks of the heart as
being the seat of consciousness, instead of the brain, evinces a
remarkable ignorance of the science of mental philosophy. He speaks
of an "upright heart," "a pure heart," &c., when "an upright
liver," "a pure liver," would be as sensible, as the latter has as
much to do with the character as the former.
19. And the many cases in which he makes it meritorious to
have a right "faith," and places it above reason, and assumes it to
be a voluntary act, shows his utter ignorance of the nature of the
human mind.
20. And Christ evinced a remarkable ignorance of the cause of
physical defects, when he told his hearers a certain man was born
blind, in order that he might cure him. (Matt. Vii. 22.)
21. And Christ's declaration, that those who marry are not
worthy of being saved (see Luke xx. 34), shows that he was very
ignorant of the nature of the sexual functions of the human system.
22. Nothing could more completely demonstrate a total
ignorance of the grand science of astronomy than Christ's
prediction of the stars falling to the earth. (See Luke xxi. 25.)
23. And the conflagration of the world, "the gathering of the
elect," and the realization of a fancied millennium, which he
several times predicted would take place in his time, "before this
generation pass away" (Matt. xxiv. 34), Proves a like ignorance,
both of astronomy and philosophy.
24. And his cursing of the fig tree for not bearing fruit in
the winter season (see Matt. xxi. 20), not only proves his
ignorance of the laws of nature, but evinces a bad temper.
25. Christ endorses the truth of Noah's flood story (see Luke
xvii. 27), which every person at the present day, versed in science
and natural law, knows is mere fiction, and never took place.
And numerous other errors, evincing the most profound
ignorance of science and natural law, might be pointed out in
Christ's teachings, if we had space for them. It has always been
alleged by orthodox Christendom, that Christ's teaching and moral
system are so faultless as to challenge criticism, and so perfect
as to defy improvement. But this is a serious mistake. For most of
his precepts and moral inculcations which are not directly at war
with the principles of science, or do not involve a flagrant
violation of the laws of nature, are, nevertheless, characterized
by a lawless and extravagant mode of expression peculiar to semi-
savage life, and which, as it renders it impossible to reduce them
to practice, shows they could not have emanated from a philosopher,
or man of science, or a man of evenly-balanced mind. They impose
upon the world a system of morality, pushed to such extremes that
its own professed admirers do not live it out, or even attempt to
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do so. They long ago abandoned it as an impracticable duty. We will
prove this by enumerating most of its requisitions, and showing
that they are daily violated and trampled under foot by all
Christendom. Where can the Christian professor be found who, 1.
"takes no thought for the morrow;" or, 2. who "lays not up treasure
on earth," or, at least, tries to do it; or, 3. who "gives up all
his property to the poor;" or who, "when his cloak is wrested from
him by a robber," gives up his coat also; or who calls no man
master or mister (the most common title in Christendom); or who
calls no man father (if he has a father) or who calls no man a fool
(when he knows he is a fool); or who, when one cheek is pommeled
into a jelly by some vile miscreant or drunken wretch, turns the
other to be battered up in the same way; or who prays without
ceasing; or who rejoices when persecuted; or who forgives an enemy
four hundred and ninety times (70 times 7); or who manifests by his
practical life that he loves his enemies (the way he loves him is
to report him to the grand jury, or hand him over to the sheriff);
or who forsakes houses and land, and everything, "for the kingdom
of heaven's sake." No Christian professor lives up to these
precepts, or any of them, or even tries to do so. To talk,
therefore, of finding a practical Christian, while nearly the whole
moral code of Christ is thus daily and habitually outraged and
trampled under foot by all the churches and every one of the two
hundred millions of Christian professors, is bitter irony and
supreme solecism. We would go five hundred miles, or pay five
hundred dollars, to see a Christian. If a man can be a Christian
while openly and habitually violating every precept of Christ, then
the word has no meaning. These precepts, the Christian world
finding to be impossible to practice, have unanimously laid upon
the table under the rule of "indefinite postponement." They are the
product of a mind with an ardent temperament, and the religious
faculties developed to excess, and unrestrained by scientific or
intellectual culture. A similar vein of extravagant religious duty
is found in the Essenian, Buddhist, and Pythagorean systems. As
Zera Colburn possessed the mathematical faculty to excess, and
Jenny Lind the musical talent, Christ in like manner was all
religion. And from the extreme ardor of his religious feeling, thus
derived, sprang his extravagant notions of the realities of life.
This peculiarity of his organization explains the whole mystery.
Christ as a Man, and Christ as a Sectarian.
To every observant and unbiased mind a strange contrast must
be visible in the practical life of Jesus Christ when viewed in his
twofold capacity of a man and a priest. While standing upon the
broad plane of humanity, with his deep sympathetic nature directed
toward the poor, the unfortunate, and the downtrodden, there often
gushed forth from his impassioned bosom the most sublime
expressions of pity, and the strongest outburst of commiseration
for wrongs and sufferings, and his noble goodness and tender love
yearned with a throbbing heart to relieve them. But the moment he
put on the sacerdotal robe, and assumed the character of a priest,
that moment, if any one crossed his path by refusing to yield to
his requisitions of faith, or dissented from his religious creed,
his whole nature was seemingly changed. It was no longer, "Blessed
are ye," but "Cursed are ye," or "Woe unto you." Like the founders
of other religious systems, he, was ardent toward friends and
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bitter toward enemies, and extolled his own religion, while he
denounced all others. His way was the only way, and all who did not
walk therein, or conform thereto, were loaded with curses and
imprecations, and all who could not accomplish the impossible
mental achievement of believing everything he set forth or urged
upon their credence, and that, too, without evidence, were to be
eternally damned. All who climbed up any other way were thieves and
robbers. All who professed faith in any other religion than his
were on the road to hell. Like the oriental Gods, he taught that
the world was to be saved through faith in him and his religion.
All who did not honor him were to be dishonored by the Father. And
"without faith (in him and his religion), it is impossible to
please God." He declared that all who were not for him were against
him; and all who were not on the same road are "heathens and
publicans." His disciples were enjoined to shake off the dust from
their feet as a manifestation of displeasure toward those who could
not conscientiously subscribe to their creeds and dogmas. Thus we
discover a strong vein of intolerance and sectarianism in the
religion of the otherwise, and in other respects, the kind and
loving Jesus. Though most benignantly kind and affectionate while
moving and acting under the controlling impulses of his lofty
manhood, yet when his ardent religious feelings were touched, he
became chafed, irritated, and sometimes intolerant. He then could
tolerate no such thing as liberty of conscience, or freedom of
thought, or the right to differ with him in religious belief. His
extremely ardent devotional nature, when roused into action in
defense of a stereotyped faith, eclipsed his more noble, lofty, and
lovely traits, and often dimmed his mental vision, thus presenting
in the same individual a strange medley, and a strange contrast of
the most opposite traits of character. That such a being should
have been considered and worshipped as a God, and for the very
reason that he possessed such strange, contradictory traits of
character, and often let his religion run riot with his reason,
will be looked upon by posterity as one of the strangest chapters
in the history of the human race. But so it is. Extraordinary good
qualities, though intermingled with many errors and human foibles,
have deified many men.
NOTE. One Christian writer alleges, in defense of the
objectionable precepts of Jesus Christ, that "He taught some errors
in condescension to the ignorance of the people." If this be true,
that he taught both truth and falsehood, then the question arises,
How can we know which is which? By what rule can we discriminate
them, as he himself furnishes none? Or how are we to determine that
he taught truth at all? And then this plea would account for and
excuse all the errors found in the teachings of the oriental Gods.
If it will apply in one case, it will in the other. And thus it
proves too much.
CHAPTER XLII.
CHRIST AS A SPIRITUAL MEDIUM.
THERE are many incidents related in the life of Christ, which,
when critically examined, furnish abundant evidence that he was
what is now known as a spiritual medium. He unquestionably
represented, and often practically exhibited, several important
phases of mediumship.
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1. The many instantaneous cures which he wrought, as reported
in his Gospel narrative, performed in the same manner that "spirit
doctors" now heal the sick, prove that he was a "healing medium."
2. His declaration to Nathanael, "When thou wast under the fig
tree, I saw thee," and his recounting to the woman of Samaria the
deeds of her past life (acts similar to which are now performed
every day by spiritualists), are evidence that he was also a
"clairvoyant medium."
3. His walking on the water (if the story is true), as D.D.
Home has frequently, within the past few years, walked or floated
on the air in the presence of witnesses (including men of science,
royal personages, and members of parliament.), entitles him to the
appellation of a "physical medium."
4. And the circumstance of his pointing his disciples to the
mark of the spear in his side, and the print of the nails in his
hands, while amongst them as a spirit, has led many spiritualists
to conclude he was also a "medium for materialization." His spirit
was made to present the peculiar marks which had been inflicted
upon his physical body, cases parallel to which are now witnessed
by modern spiritualists. Hundreds of cases have occurred of
departed spirits presenting themselves to their friends with all
the peculiar marks which their physical bodies had long worn while
in the earth life. And the former physical wounds have often been
exhibited by the spirit in the same manner Christ exhibited his.
And thus spiritualism explains the phenomenon which otherwise would
be entirely incredible.
5. And there is yet another phase of mediumship which Christ
often exhibited in his practical life. He claimed to have frequent
intercourse with some invisible being, whom he called "the Father."
But as modern science has settled the question of the personality
of God in the negative, we are led to conclude that Christ, like
many eminent persons since his time, mistook some finite spirit for
the great infinite but impersonal Father spirit -- though his
attendant invisible companion was probably a spirit of a very high
order. And the great beauty and grandeur of his life are exhibited
by his frequent intercourse with and dependence upon this his
"guardian spirit." He declared he did nothing of himself, so
dependent was he upon his invisible guide. And the strongest proof
that he had a spirit companion, which he often looked to for
counsel and aid, and that this was the being he called the Father,
is furnished by the fact, that when he prayed to the Father, his
petition was answered by an angel spirit. (See Luke xxii. 44.) And
there is no account and no evidence of any invisible or spiritual
being ever presenting itself to him but an angel or spirit. That he
should have supposed this spirit to be the great infinite Father
God was very natural. Thousands since, and some before his time,
committed a similar mistake. The author has known several persons
who had long had intercourse with some invisible being they
supposed to be God, who have recently, by the light afforded by
spiritualism, become entirely convinced that they had simply
mistaken a finite spirit for the great Infinite Spirit. And did
Christ live in our day, he would probably be rescued from a similar
error in the same way. In conclusion, we will remark that it was
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doubtless his frequent displays of several very remarkable phases
of spiritual mediumship that contributed much to lead the people
into the error of supposing him to be God. And this fact will yet
be known.
CHAPTER XLIII.
CONVERSION, REPENTANCE, AND
"GETTING RELIGION" OF HEATHEN ORIGIN.
THEIR NUMEROUS EVILS AND ABSURDITIES.
OF all the follies ever enacted or exhibited under the sun,
and of all the ignorance of history, science, and human nature ever
displayed in the history of the human race, that which stands out
in bold relief, as preeminent, is the fashionable custom of
conversion, or "getting religion." When the evidence lies all
around us as thick as the fallen leaves of autumn, clustering on
the pages of history, and proclaimed by every principle of mental
science, that what is called conversion is nothing but a mental and
temperamental or nervous phenomenon -- a psychological process --
how can we rank those amongst intelligent people who still claim it
to be "the power of God operating upon the soul of the sinner"?
Ignorance is the only plea that can acquit them of the charge of
imbecility. The number who daily fall victims to this priestly
delusion in various parts of the country may be reckoned by
thousands. We propose in this chapter to exhibit some of the evils
and absurdities of this wide-spread delusion and religious mono-
mania. To do so the more effectually, we will arrange the
presentation of the subject under four separate heads. We will
attempt to show, --
1. Its historical errors.
2. Its logical errors.
3. Its philosophical or scientific errors.
4. Its moral evils.
1st. Its Historical Errors. -- an we conceive it possible that
the thousands of priests who are now employed in "converting souls
to God" are so ignorant of history as not to know that it is an old
pagan custom? that it was prevalent in heathen countries long
before a single soul was converted to Christianity, and is carried
on to some extent now, both among pagans and Mahomedans? From such
facts it would appear (viewing the matter from the Christian stand-
point) that God is indifferent as to what kind of religion, or what
sort of religious nonsense, people are converted to, or whether it
is truth or error they embrace, or whether it is a true religion or
a false one they imbibe, so he gets them converted. According to
Mr. Higgins, the practice of converting people from one Sect to
another by the popular priesthood was prevalent under the ancient
Persian system, and was carried on there quite extensively more
than three thousand years ago; and the process was essentially the
same as that now in vogue amongst modern Methodists, and the effect
the same. At their large revival meetings the whole congregation
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would sometimes become so affected under the eloquent ministrations
of the officiating priest, as to cry, and shout, and prostrate
themselves upon the ground, which was afterward found to be
drenched with their tears; and on these occasions they would
confess their sins to each other, and to their priests; and yet
those very sins they condemned were, perhaps, amongst the best acts
of their lives, while their real crimes were overlooked and
justified, instead of being condemned, thus showing that an honest,
just, and sensible God could have had nothing to do with it. And we
have reports of similar scenes witnessed more recently among the
Mahomedans. Major Denham furnishes us an account of some "revival
meetings" he attended a few years since in Arabia, carried on by
one of the Mahomedan sects. On one occasion the effect of the
discourse of the preacher upon the audience in the way of
"converting souls to God" was so powerful, that he could only
convince himself that he was not in a Methodist revival meeting by
a knowledge of his geographical position. The preacher's name was
Malem Chadily, and here is a specimen of some of his language.
"Turn, turn, sinner, unto God; confess he is good, and that Mahomet
is his prophet; wash, and become clean of your sins, and paradise
is open before you: without this nothing can save you from eternal
fire." During this earnest appeal (says the major), tears flowed
plentifully, and everybody appeared to be affected. One of his
hearers, becoming converted, shouted, "Your words pierce my soul,"
and fell upon the floor. Now let it be borne in mind, that Mahomet
is stigmatized and condemned by the Christian churches as "a false
prophet," and his religion denounced as "a system of fraud," "a
false religion," &c. Of course, then, Christians will not argue,
nor admit, that conversion, and "getting religion," in this case,
is the work of God. A just God would have nothing to do in
converting people to "a false religion." What explanation shall we
adopt for it then? To assume it to be the work of the devil (the
dernier resort for all religious difficulties), and conversions
among Christians the work of God, when both are so clearly and
obviously alike, is to insult common sense. To assume that two
things, exactly alike in character, can be exactly and
diametrically unlike in origin, is a scientific paradox which no
person of common intelligence can swallow, or accept for a moment.
Both, then, we must admit, have the same origin. This train of
argument leads us to speak of, --
2d. The Logical Absurdities of the Doctrine of Conversion. --
There are several circumstances which point unmistakably as the
needle to the pole, to the mundane origin of the phenomenon of
conversion.
The character of many of the priestly conductors who "run the
battery," is sufficient of itself to preclude the hypothesis of any
divine agency in the matter. The most powerful revivalist we ever
knew, the priest who could convert an audience the quickest, and
bring down sinners to the mourners' bench faster than any other
clergyman we ever heard "dealing out damnation" to the people, was
a broad-shouldered, muscular, stentorian-voiced circuit rider of
the "Buckeye State," who, as was afterward learned, was guilty of
perpetrating some of the blackest crimes that ever blotted the page
of human history, at the very time of his most successful career in
the way of "convicting souls of sin, and converting them to God."
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He was apprehended by the officers of the law in the midst of one
of his most flourishing revivals, under the twofold charge, 1. Of
being the father of an illegitimate child, the young mother of
which was a member of his church; 2. Of defrauding one of his
neighbors in a trade to the amount of nearly a thousand dollars --
both of which charges he was convicted of. A similar case, but
possessing some worse features, occurred a few years since in the
county in which the author now resides. A preacher, who had had
criminal connection with a young woman of his church, in order to
conceal his guilt resorted to the damnable expedient of
administering poison to his victim shortly before his illicit
intercourse with her would have been made manifest by the birth of
a child. He was apprehended for the crime while carrying on "a most
glorious revival," as it was styled by some of the deluded
congregation. Now to ascribe the irresistible power which these two
preachers exerted over their audience (in the way of "converting
them to God") to a divine source, as they claimed for it, would be
to trifle with common sense, common decency, and all honorable
conceptions of a God. These reverend scamps often instituted the
high claim of being "called of God" to their ministerial labors.
But if we concede the claim, we should have to conclude that God
knew but little about them, for he certainly would not knowingly
employ such moral outlaws upon such an important mission.
Having thus briefly spoken of the character of some of the
actors and agents in the work of conversion, we will now glance at
the character of some of the religions and religious ideas, and
moral course of conduct, to which the sinner is converted. It is
evident that if ad All-wise God had anything to do in the process
of converting people to any system of religion, he would also
convert them to correct moral habits. But in many cases, after
conversion they are no nearer right in this respect, and in some
cases further from it than before being thus sanctified. In some
cases their religion becomes worse, their religious ideas less
sensible, and their moral conduct more objectionable, by "the
change of heart" in "getting religion." Mr. Spencer informs us that
the Vewas, a sect or tribe of the Feegees, often cry for hours
under conviction for sin. And what is that sin? Why, the neglect to
offer sacrifices to their God. And those sacrifices consist in
human beings, sometimes their own children. And their conviction,
conversion, and repentance only make them more diligent in
practicing this crime. It is evident, then, that their religion is
at war with their humanity, and the former always triumphs in the
contest. They are addicted to cannibalism, infanticide, and
polygamy. But as the process of "getting religion" never makes
anybody more intelligent, the "change of heart," with the Vewas,
never changes their views, or opens their eyes to see the enormity
of their crimes. In "getting religion" people get neither sense,
knowledge, nor morality. They get neither a larger stock, nor an
improved quality, of either. Their moral conduct is not often
sensibly improved, materially or permanently.
3d. Scientific Errors, and Scientific Explanations of
Conversion. -- The phenomena of conversion and "getting religion"
are so easily explained in the light of science and philosophy, and
that explanation is susceptible of so many proofs and
demonstrations, that it seems remarkably strange that any persons
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claiming to be intelligent, and situated in the focal, scientific
light of the nineteenth century, should still be hampered with the
delusion that such phenomena are the direct display of the power of
God. It requires but little investigation and reflection to
convince any person that what is called conversion, and "repentance
for sin," is nothing but the revival of early educational
impressions resuscitated by the influence of mind on mind. No
person has ever been known to get or embrace a religion he was not
biased in favor of prior to the time of his conversion, unless we
except a few weak-minded persons negative to any influence, and
convertible to any religion the priest may urge upon their
attention. A very strong proof of this statement is furnished by
the history of the Christian missionary enterprise. The reports of
travelers and sojourners in India show, that with two hundred
years' labor, and two hundred missionaries in the field during a
part of that period, the churches have not succeeded in converting
one in ten thousand of the Hindoos to the Christian religion --
unless we except those who, while children, were sent to Christian
schools instituted by the missionaries for the special purpose of
converting and warping the young mind, and welding it to the
Christian faith before it should receive an unchangeable and
unyielding bias in favor of another religion. So fruitless has been
the effort to convert to Christianity those who were already
established in the religion of the country, that, according to the
estimate of Colonel Dow, each convert, on an average, has cost the
missionary enterprise not less than ten thousand dollars. An
intelligent Hindoo, while lecturing recently in London, made the
remarkable statement, that conversions which are made to the
Christian religion are not amongst the intelligent or learned
classes, but are confined to the low, ignorant, and superstitious
classes, "who have not sense or intelligence enough to perceive the
difference between the religion they are converted to, and that
which they are converted from." And the effort to convert the
Mahomedans, Chinese, Persians, and the disciples of other religions
has been attended with the same fruitless results -- all seeming to
warrant the conclusion that God can do but little toward converting
any nation to Christianity which has always been biased in favor of
another religion. The reason why people are so easily converted
from one sect to another in Christian countries is owing to the
fact that their religious convictions are unsettled. The members of
the different Christian sects are all mixed up together in the
various settlements throughout the country, and are brought in
daily contact with each other in the busy scenes of life.
Hence the children have the seeds of Methodism,
Presbyterianism, Baptistism, Quakerism, and various other isms
implanted in their minds in very early life. And which one of these
will ultimately predominate depends upon what priest they fall
victims to first. Having thus the germs of so many religious isms
implanted in their minds, they are easily shifted about, and
converted from one sect to another. And this shuttlecock process is
called getting religion," while, if they had lived in a country
where only one form of religion exists, they would be as hard to
convert as Mahomedans and Hindoos.
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Repentance. -- Much importance is attached by the orthodox
churches to the act of getting religion in the dying hour, --
called "death-bed repentance," -- as if the person were better
capable of discriminating between right and wrong when his brain is
deranged with fever, and his whole system racked with disease and
pain, than when in health. Such repentance can do nothing more than
prove the honesty of the dying man or woman. For very often their
doctrines, or religious belief, will be found no nearer right, and
sometimes more erroneous after repentance than before, as
repentance merely consists in the return to early impressions --
the revival of former convictions, which may be either right or
wrong and are about as likely to be the latter as the former, No
instance can be found of a person condemning a wrong act, or a
wrong course of life, in his dying moments, unless he had
previously believed it to be wrong, or if he had always believed it
to be right. How much, then, does repentance do toward deciding
what is right and what is wrong? Mahomedanism we know to be deeply
fraught with error, but we never read nor heard of an instance of
the many millions who had been educated to believe it is right,
condemning it on their death-beds, or repenting for not having
embraced Christianity, and led the life of a Christian, or for
adoring Mahomet instead of Jesus Christ. On the contrary we have a
well-authenticated instance of a Mahomedan (a Mr. Merton) who had
embraced Christianity, and lived the life of a Christian for many
years, renouncing it all, and returning to his primitive faith,
when he was taken sick and became apprehensive he was going to die:
his early religious impressions, returning involuntarily, wiped out
his Christianity, and he died glorying in Mahomedanism. And we have
an equally well authenticated case of an Indian of the Choctaw
tribe, who had been taught to believe from early life that the
white man was his natural enemy, and that it was his right and duty
to kill him, repenting on his death-bed for having a short time
previously neglected, when the opportunity presented, to despatch
a "pale face" he met in his travels. Instead of killing him, he
yielded for the moment to the impulse of his better feelings, and
passed him by. But on reviewing his past life at the approach of
death, he came to the conclusion he had sinned in omitting to kill
this man, and he grieved and lamented sorely over this dereliction
of apprehended duty. Here we have a case of repentance sanctioning
murder. Must we, therefore, conclude that murder is morally right,
or a righteous act? Certainly, according to orthodox logic.
Their religious tracts assume that repentance is always for
the right, and is prima facie evidence of being right. If not, what
does it prove, or of what moral value is it? According to orthodox
teaching, being "a murderer at heart," he was as consignable to
perdition as if he had committed the act. There is no escaping the
conclusion, therefore, that his repentance landed him in hell, or
else proves murder to be right according to orthodox logic.
We have known Quakers to leave their dying testimony against
water baptism; and Baptists, with their last breath, declare it is
right, and a sin to neglect it. Which is right? Who can tell? We
have also known Quakers to condemn dancing in their dying hours,
but Shakers never; because one had been taught that it is wrong,
and the other that it is right. And which testimony must we accept?
Mahomedans often, when approaching the confines of time, repent
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(sometimes in tears) for not having lived out more rigidly the
injunctions of the Koran, but never regret not having been
Christians. They often call upon Mahomet to aid them through the
gates of death: but not one of the million who die every year ever
calls upon Jesus Christ. What, then, does such a conflicting jargon
of death-bed repentance prove? What good can grow out of it, or
what moral value can possibly attach to it? It establishes simply
two principles, --
1st. That repentance grows out of education.
2d. That it depends entirely upon previous convictions as to
what it may sanction, and what it may condemn.
No Christian ever repents in favor of Mahomedanism; and no
Mahomedan ever lifts up his dying voice in favor of Christianity as
being superior to his own religion; and no Hindoo has ever been
known to indulge in death-bed lamentation for not having previously
embraced either Christianity or Mahomedanism; because their earlier
education never turned their minds in that direction. The mind has
to be educated over again before it can embrace a new religion, or
even condemn a wrong act, which, up to that period, it had always
believed to be right.
Hence it is evident repentance may lead a person to condemn
what is right and sanction what is wrong. How profoundly ignorant
of religious history and mental science must those persons
therefore be who attach any importance to those diseased and often
incoherent utterances, called "death-bed recantations," or who
believe a thing the sooner because sanctioned by a dying man or
woman, or that they do anything toward proving what is right or
what is wrong with respect to either our belief or our moral
conduct! And yet we find the orthodox churches printing every year,
through their tract societies, stories of death-bed repentance in
tract form, and scattering them over the country by the million. As
they prove nothing but the honesty of the dying man or woman, they
are not worth the paper on which they are printed.
The phenomenon of repentance is simply the operation of a
natural law, by which the last impressions made upon the mind are
generally canceled from the memory first, by the progress of fever
and disease, thus leaving the earlier impressions to rule the
judgment. The person is then virtually a child, controlled by his
early youthful convictions, with which, if his late belief and
conduct disagree, it causes a mental conflict, called repentance.
Thus, instead of being the visitation of God, as Christians claim,
repentance is shown to be the product of natural causes. The
conclusion is thus established beyond disproof, that the mental
processes called conversion, repentance, and "getting religion" are
simply natural psychological operations, depending upon education,
organization, and intelligence. They depend also upon intellect and
scientific knowledge. For persons of large intellectual brains, or
extensive scientific culture, never fall victims to these mental
derangements. Hence those priests who claim God as their author are
either deplorably and inexcusably ignorant, or lacking in moral
honesty.
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CHAPTER XLIV.
THE MORAL LESSONS OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
THE most important lesson deducible from all the religious
systems, commemorated in history, and noticed in this work, is,
that all religious conceptions, whether in the shape of doctrine,
precept, prophecy, prayer, religious devotion, or a belief in
miracles, are a spontaneous outgrowth of the moral and religious
elements of the human mind. And to assign them a higher origin is
to ignore the developments of modern science, and insult the
highest intelligence of the age.
2. From the elevated scientific plane occupied by the most
enlightened portion of the present age, there is no difficulty in
finding a satisfactory solution for every event, every occurrence,
and every performance recorded in any of the numerous bibles which
have long been afloat in the world, and which have always
constituted the sole basis for the claim to a divine origin of all
the religious systems of the past; so that such a claim can be no
longer vindicated by historically intelligent people.
3. We have shown in this work that all the miraculous
incidents related in the history of Jesus Christ as a proof of his
divinity can find a more rational explanation than that which
assigns them to divine agency. Some of them are now known to be
within the natural capacity of the human mind to achieve, others
are explained by recently discovered natural laws. Another class
are now well understood mental or nervous phenomena. Other stories
now regarded by the Christian world as referring to miraculous
achievements, were probably designed by the writer as mere fable or
metaphor. All the events in Christ's history, we have shown, are
susceptible of a hundred fold more rational explanation than that
which regards them as the feats of a God in violation of his own
laws.
4. We have also shown that the same marvelous incidents now
found incorporated in the Gospel history of Jesus Christ were
related long previously as a part of the sacred history of other
Gods; such as being miraculously conceived and born of a virgin;
born on the 25th of December; visited in infancy by angels and
shepherds; threatened by the ruler of the country; being of royal
lineage; receiving the same divine titles; performing the same
miracles, &c.
In a word, we have shown that various heathen Gods and
Demigods had, long before Christ's advent, filled the same chapter
in history now reported of him in the Christian New Testament. All
these stories of the heathen Gods prove as conclusively as any
scientific problem can be demonstrated by figures, that the same
stories related of Jesus Christ have no other foundation than that
of heathen tradition. And will the Christian world, then, hereafter
stultify their common sense by ignoring these facts of history so
fatal to their claims? Past history points to an affirmative answer
to this question, as we will illustrate.
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In the early history of this country, several reports were
published of showers of blood being seen to fall in some of the
sea-coast states, which were regarded as a divine judgment. But the
use of the telescope revealed the fact that it was the ordure of
butterflies, as those insects were seen at the time in vast swarms.
But the devout Christian, whose faith in his religion has always
been proof against the demonstrations of science, would not give it
up. He would not accept the butterfly explanation, but continued to
teach his children that it came from God out of heaven as a
manifestation of displeasure toward the sins of the people. And it
now remains to be seen whether Christian professors at the present
day will manifest a similar folly by standing out against the
demonstrated truths and facts of this work.
5. We here cite it as the last and most sorrowful lesson of
history, that no facts, no proofs, no demonstrations of science can
eradicate religious errors from the human mind, if instilled in
early life, and never disturbed till the possessor arrives at
mature age or middle life.
CHAPTER XLV.
CONCLUSION AND REVIEW.
IN writing the concluding chapter of this work, the author
deems it proper to re-state some points, and elaborate others, and
anticipate some objections to some of the positions advanced. Each
division of the subject will be marked by a separate figure, and
treated in a brief and succinct manner, as follows: --
1. Several persons, who examined this work before it went to
press, have expressed the opinion that it must exert a powerful
influence in the way of producing an entire revolution in the
religion of orthodox Christendom sooner or later. But this must of
course be the work of time as moral revolutions are not the work of
a day. When the human system has been long prostrated with chronic
disease, no system of medication can restore it at once to health.
The same principle governing the mind makes it morally impossible
to eradicate its deeply-seated moral and religious errors in a day
by even the presentation of the most powerful and convincing truths
and demonstrations that can be brought to bear or operate upon the
human judgment. The mind instinctively repels everything (no
difference how true or how beautiful) that conflicts with its long-
established opinions and convictions. The fires of truth usually
require much time to burn their way through those incrustations of
moral and religious error which often environ the human mind as the
products of a false education. But when they once enter, the work
of convincement is complete.
2. It has been stated that the resemblance between
Christianity and the more ancient heathen systems is complete and
absolute throughout in all their essential doctrines, and
principles, and precepts. And if it shall be found, on a critical
reading of this work after it comes from the press, that there is
one feature of Christianity which has not been traced to pagan
origin, or that any points of resemblance have been omitted, they
will be supplied in an appendix.
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3. It has been stated that a transfiguration is related of
Chrishna of Tndia (1200 B.C.) in the Hindoo bible (the Baghavat
Gita), which is strikingly similar to that of Christ. We will here
present the proof. "Abandoning the mortal form, he (Chrishna)
appeared to his disciples in all the divine eclat of his Divine
Majesty, his brow encircled with such a brilliant light that
Adjourna and the other disciples, unable to bear it, fell with
their faces in the dust, and prayed the Lord (Chrishna) to pardon
their unworthiness. He replied, 'Have you not faith in me? Know ye
not, that whether present or absent in body, I will be ever present
with you to guard and protect you?'" (Gaghavat Gita.) How
remarkable this to the story of Christ's transfiguration!
4. Some readers, perhaps, will be surprised to observe that we
have named so many crucified gods to whom some writers assign a
different death. But we have followed, as we believe, the best
authorities in doing so.
5. In our work, "The Bibles of Bibles," we have shown that the
score of bibles which have been extant in the world teach
essentially the same doctrines, principles, and precepts. There are
to be found in the old pagan bibles the same grand and beautiful
truths mixed up with the same mind-enslaving errors and deleterious
superstitions as those contained in the Christian bible. And the
same exalted claim is set up by the disciples of each for their
respective holy books -- that of being a direct revelation from
God, and inspired at the fountain of infinite wisdom. And all were
exalted, adored, and idolized by their respective admirers, as
containing a perfect embodiment of truth, without any admixture of
error. The ancient Persians carried their bibles in their bosoms,
and read them and prayed over them daily. The Hindoos often read
their bible through on their bended knees, and sometimes committed
it all to memory. The Baghavat has the following text: "The most
important of all duties is to study the Holy Scriptures, which is
the word of Brahma and Chrishna, revealed to the world." Some of
the Mahomedans claim that immortal life can only be obtained by
reading the Koran, and that the reading of it is essential to the
progress and practice of good morals, and the advancement of
civilization; and that it will ultimately reform and civilize the
world. Both they and the Hindoos, like the Christian world, have
numerous commentaries, explaining the obscure texts of their
bibles, and aiming to reconcile their teachings with reason and
science. And the disciples of all bibles had a mode of doing away
with the immoral teachings, and concealing the worst features of
their sacred books by bestowing on them a spiritual meaning, as
Christians do theirs, thus dressing up error in the guise of truth.
The Hindoo bible, the Mahomedan bible, and other holy books,
consign those who disbelieve in their teachings to eternal
damnation, denouncing them as infidel's. In this respect, also,
they are like the Christian's bible.
6. "But then, after all (as some good pious Christian will
probably exclaim after reading this work), the bible and
Christianity are essential to the progress of good morals, and the
advancement of the cause of civilization, and the civilized world
would sink into a state of heathen darkness, demoralization, and
savagism without them; for every enlightened nation owes its
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present moral and intellectual greatness to the Christian bible and
the Christian religion, and would relapse into barbarism without
them." This is a mistake, a most egregious mistake, my good brother
Christian, as the following facts of history will show: --
1. There are heathen nations now existing who never saw a
bible, and others which flourished in the past, before our bible
was written, who nevertheless attained to a higher state of morals,
and a higher state of civilization in some respects, than any
Christian nation known to history. A whole volume of facts might be
adduced, if we had space for them, drawn from the ablest and most
reliable authorities, to prove that India, Egypt, Greece, and other
countries had reached a high state of civilization centuries before
Christianity or any of its founders were even heard of, or made
their appearance in the world. India was distinguished for her
learning, her laws, her legislation, her civil courts, her judicial
tribunals, her astronomers, her poets, her philosophers, her
writers, her moralists, her libraries, her men of literature, and
her good morals before Moses was found in the bulrushes. Jacolliot
says, "India gave civilization to the world." Egypt borrowed of
India, the Greeks of the Egyptians, and the Jews and Christians are
indebted to the Greeks for both their morals and their
civilization. Dubois, a Christian missionary, in his "Memoirs of
India," testifies that "kindness, justice, humanity, good faith,
compassion, disinterestedness, and in fact nearly all the moral
virtues, were familiar to the ancient Brahmans and Hindoos, and
they taught them both by precept and example." Can as much be said
of any Christian nation? Certainly not. And the Rev. D.O. Allen
says they were distinguished for all the arts and refinement of
civilized life -- thus placing them on the highest plane of
civilization and moral elevation. And other nations might be
referred to. Egypt had her vast temples of science, Chaldea her
astronomical observatories, and Greece her distinguished academies
of learning, her profound philosophers, and her high-toned moral
writers and moral teachers, while the Jews, "God's holy people,"
were in a state of semi-barbarism. So affirms the Rev. Albert
Barnes.
2. No advancement has often been made in morals or
civilization in any country by the introduction of the Christian
bible or the Christian religion. It is the arts and sciences which
accompany or follow the bible which do the work. A proof of this
statement is found in the fact, that no improvement takes place in
the morals of the people by the introduction of the bible till the
arts and sciences are also introduced amongst them. On the
contrary, the morals of many deteriorate by reading the bible
alone, because it sanctions as well as condemns every species of
crime then known to society, (For proof see Chap. XXXIX. of this
work.) That India has become corrupted and sunk in morals since the
introduction of the Christian bible, is admitted by the Rev. D.O.
Allen, for twenty-five years a missionary in that country. But
science, especially moral science, imparts a different influence.
It explains the nature of crimes, and teaches and demonstrates that
a life of honesty and virtue can alone produce true and real
happiness, while the bible augments the temptation to commit sin by
teaching that "it is a sweet morsel to be rolled under the tongue,"
and that its punitive effects may be entirely escaped by an act of
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divine forgiveness. But science, either directly or by the
enlightening of the mind, teaches and convinces the wrong-doer that
there is no escape from the evil effects of a wrong or wicked act,
and that sin is not a sweet morsel," but ultimately a bitter pill.
And thus it arrests the demoralizing effects of this pernicious
doctrine of the Christian bible.
3. It may startle some of the bible devotees to be told that
their sacred book, instead of being a prompter to civilization and
good morals, is really a hindrance to those ends; and that
consequently nations without bibles advance faster in these
respects than those who are well supplied with this book. But the
facts of history seem to establish this as a fact. As a proof we
will contrast the present condition of heathen Japan with that of
Christian Abyssinia. Colonel Hall and Dr. Oliphant both testify
that no drunkenness, no fighting, no quarreling, no thefts, no
robberies, no rapes, no fornication, no domestic feuds or broils,
and no fraudulent dealing take place in Japan. No locks or keys are
used, for none are needed. There is no disposition to steal, or
even to cheat, or overreach in dealing. But in Christian Abyssinia,
on the other hand, according to Mr. Goodrich, where bibles and
churches are numerous, and preaching and praying are heard every
day, nearly all the crimes above enumerated are daily committed.
The people go naked, eat raw flesh, cheat, lie, and murder, and
practice polygamy. Such a thing as a legitimate child, he tells us,
is not known. And thus it has been for fifteen hundred years, while
in the daily practice of reading their bible. The arts and sciences
have never been introduced amongst them. And this fact explains the
cause of their continued moral degradation.
4. According to Noah Webster, the cultivation of the arts and
sciences is essential to the progress of civilization and good
morals. But bible religion knows nothing about the arts and
sciences. It don't even use the words, Paul uses the word science
only once, and then to condemn it. But Jesus omits any allusion to
science, philosophy, or natural law. So thoroughly convinced were
the early disciples of the Christian faith that the teachings of
their bible are inimical to the arts and sciences, that they
destroyed works of art wherever they could find them, and opposed
with a deadly aim every new discovery in the sciences even unto
this day.
5. As bibles represent only the morals and state of society in
the age in which they are written, and are not allowed to be
altered or transcended, they thus hold their disciples back in all
coming time, and compel them to teach and practice the morals of
that semi-barbarous age as found taught in their bibles. And thus
bibles prevent the moral growth of the people as effectually as the
Chinese wooden shoes prevent the growth of the feet of young girls.
For a fuller exposition of this matter, see The Bible of Bibles,
Chap. XIV.
NOTE OF EXPLANATION.
IN Chapter XXXI. we have traced Christianity to Essenism. This
may need a fuller explanation than we have yet devoted to this
point, though we have stated several times we consider them
essentially one. The Essenes had their "Exoteric' and their
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"Esoteric" doctrines. The latter, which seems to have included the
incarnation, atonement, trinity, and all the other Buddhist
doctrines as set forth in Chapter XXXII. (and now included in the
term Christianity), they never published to the world. Hence
Chapter XXXI. sets forth only their Exoteric doctrines. But as
Philo, Milman, Tytler, and other eminent authors show they held all
the doctrines of Buddhism, we assume they were a Buddhist sect.
Hence, when we speak of Christianity growing out of Buddhism, in
Chapter XXXII., we mean Buddhism under the name of Essenism. We
believe Christianity is from Essenism and Buddhism both, because
they are essentially one; and that Christianity is merely a
continuation of Buddhism as taught by the Essenian sect of
Buddhists. Hence we have sometimes used the term Essenism, and
sometimes the term Buddhism, as being the fountain head of
Christianity. We have stated Christ may have been an Essene either
by birth or by conversion. But our conviction now is, that he was
one by birth. And we now think it probable that that portion of the
Jewish nation which became known as Essenes sprang up in the
Buddhist school of Pythagoras, in Alexandria, in the second or
third century before Christ, and thus became Essenian Buddhists;
i.e., a sect of Jewish Buddhists who called themselves Essenes. And
consequently, neither Christ nor his disciples made any changes in
the Essenian religion, when they changed its name to Christianity,
except to ingraft a few unimportant tenets borrowed from the
principal Buddhist sect. We are now convinced that Essenism was
complete Buddhism, that Christ was born of Essene parents, and that
no important changes were made by dropping the term Essenism, and
adopting the term Christianity in its place.
NOTE BIRTH OF JESUS.
IT may not be improper to explain more fully the reason for
the opinion that the Gospel writer John did not believe that Christ
first came into existence through human birth, but believed that
he, like some of the oriental Gods, was "The Word" personified,
without the process of birth; though he may, like the heathen
orientalists, have cherished the tradition that the second God in
the trinity (as he represents Christ to be), after having sprung
into existence as "The Word," was subsequently subjected to human
birth. Either so, or else his allusion to "the mother of Christ"
was done in condescension to the general belief among the people,
that he had a human mother. Be that as it may, he declares, "The
Word was made flesh" (John i. 14); nearly the same language used by
the orientalists, -- which with them did not imply human birth. And
the declaration, "All things were made by him" (John i. 3), is
proof positive he believed in Christ's existence as the creator,
before his human birth. Much of John's language is so strikingly
similar to that employed by the disciples of some of the oriental
religions, who believed that a second God emanated from the mouth
of the Supreme, to perform the act of creation, that we cannot
resist the conviction that this was John's belief; especially as
many of them believed, like him, that this creative "Word" became
afterward a subject of human birth. Thus, as we conceive, the
proposition is established.
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NOTE: BABYLON.
OUR most reliable authorities testify that Babylon never was
destroyed, but successfully resisted, for one hundred and fifty
years after Isaiah's time, many of the most powerful sieges, and
"the mightiest munitions of war," conducted by seven of the most
skilful generals that ever wielded the sword -- Cyrus, Darius,
Alexander the Great, Antigonus, Demetrius, Poliorcetes, and
Antiochus. She then gradually declined by the removal of her
inhabitants to other and newer cities; thus falsifying the
prediction of Jeremiah (li. 8), "Her end has come," and of Isaiah
(xiii. 22), "Her days shall not be prolonged," and that "desolation
shall come upon her in a day," and her destruction shall be
effected suddenly -- all of which are falsified by the facts just
presented. And even if Babylon had been destroyed, the present
existence of Hillah, built in 1101 upon the same spot, with a
population, according to Wellstead, of twenty-five thousand, is a
signal overthrow of Jeremiah's prophecy, that it "shall become a
wilderness, wherein no man dwelleth" (Ii. 43), and of Isaiah, also,
that it should not be dwelt in from generation to generation.
Jeremiah first predicted that her sea and springs should dry up
(Ii. 38), and then declared the waves of the sea should come upon
her (Ii. 42); and finally, that she should sink to rise no more
(Ii. 64). And Isaiah's prediction of ruin and destruction included
with Babylon, "the land of the Chaldeans" (1. 39), which was then,
and is yet, a great commercial country, with an annual revenue at
this time, according to Harvey Brydges, of a million pounds
sterling. Here, then, is a long series of prophecies falsified. Our
authority for saying that Hillah occupies the site of ancient
Babylon is Malte-Brun's Geography (page 655), which declares,
"Hillah is situated within the precincts of Babylon;" thus proving
it is not "a wilderness, wherein no man dwelleth." Had we, space,
we should present an extended view of the prophecies.
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