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@@ -0,0 +1,10180 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The God-Idea of the Ancients, by Eliza Burt Gamble + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The God-Idea of the Ancients + or Sex in Religion + +Author: Eliza Burt Gamble + +Release Date: August, 1996 [Etext #639] +Posting Date: November 26, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOD-IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller + + + + + +THE GOD-IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS + +OR SEX IN RELIGION + +By Eliza Burt Gamble + + +Author of "The Evolution of Woman" + + + + +PREFACE. + +Much of the material for this volume was collected during the time that +I was preparing for the press the Evolution of Woman, or while searching +for data bearing on the subject of sex-specialization. While preparing +that book for publication, it was my intention to include within it this +branch of my investigation, but wishing to obtain certain facts relative +to the foundations of religious belief and worship which were not +accessible at that time, and knowing that considerable labor and +patience would be required in securing these facts, I decided to publish +the first part of the work, withholding for the time being that portion +of it pertaining especially to the development of the God-idea. + +As mankind construct their own gods, or as the prevailing ideas of +the unknowable reflect the inner consciousness of human beings, a +trustworthy history of the growth of religions must correspond to the +processes involved in the mental, moral, and social development of the +individual and the nation. + +By means of data brought forward in these later times relative to the +growth of the God-idea, it is observed that an independent chain of +evidence has been produced in support of the facts recently set forth +bearing upon the development of the two diverging lines of sexual +demarcation. In other words, it has been found that sex is the +fundamental fact not only in the operations of Nature but in the +construction of a god. + +In the Evolution of Woman it has been shown that the peculiar +inheritance of the two sexes, female and male, is the result of the bias +given to these separate lines of development during the earliest periods +of sex-differentiation; and, as this division of labor was a necessary +step in the evolutionary processes, the rate of progress depended +largely on the subsequent adjustment of these two primary elements or +forces. A comprehensive study of prehistoric records shows that in +an earlier age of existence upon the earth, at a time when woman's +influence was in the ascendancy over that of man, human energy was +directed by the altruistic characters which originated in and have been +transmitted through the female; but after the decline of woman's power, +all human institutions, customs, forms, and habits of thought are seen +to reflect the egoistic qualities acquired by the male. + +Nowhere is the influence of sex more plainly manifested than in the +formulation of religious conceptions and creeds. With the rise of male +power and dominion, and the corresponding repression of the natural +female instincts, the principles which originally constituted the +God-idea gradually gave place to a Deity better suited to the peculiar +bias which had been given to the male organism. An anthropomorphic god +like that of the Jews--a god whose chief attributes are power and virile +might--could have had its origin only under a system of masculine rule. + +Religion is especially liable to reflect the vagaries and weaknesses +of human nature; and, as the forms and habits of thought connected with +worship take a firmer hold on the mental constitution than do those +belonging to any other department of human experience, religious +conceptions should be subjected to frequent and careful examination in +order to perceive, if possible, the extent to which we are holding on to +ideas which are unsuited to existing conditions. + +In an age when every branch of inquiry is being subjected to reasonable +criticism, it would seem that the origin and growth of religion should +be investigated from beneath the surface, and that all the facts bearing +upon it should be brought forward as a contribution to our fund of +general information. As well might we hope to gain a complete knowledge +of human history by studying only the present aspect of society, as +to expect to reach reasonable conclusions respecting the prevailing +God-idea by investigating the various creeds and dogmas of existing +faiths. + +The object of this volume is not only to furnish a brief outline of +religious growth, but to show the effect which each of the two forces, +female and male, has had on the development of our present God-idea, +which investigation serves to accentuate the conclusions arrived at in +the Evolution of Woman relative to the inheritance of each of the two +lines of sexual demarcation. + + E.B.G. + + +CONTENTS. + + INTRODUCTION + + I.--SEX THE FOUNDATION OF THE GOD-IDEA + II.--TREE, PLANT, AND FRUIT WORSHIP + III.--SUN WORSHIP--FEMALE AND MALE ENERGIES IN THE SUN + IV.--THE DUAL GOD OF THE ANCIENTS A TRINITY ALSO + V.--SEPARATION OF THE FEMALE AND MAKE ELEMENTS IN THE DEITY + VI.--CIVILIZATION OF AN ANCIENT RACE + VII.--CONCEALMENT OF THE EARLY DOCTRINES + VIII.--THE ORIGINAL GOD-IDEA OF THE ISRAELITES + IX.--THE PHOENICIAN AND HEBREW GOD SET OR SETH + X.--ANCIENT SPECULATIONS CONCERNING CREATION + XI.--FIRE AND PHALLIC WORSHIP + XII.--AN ATTEMPT TO PURIFY THE SENSUALIZED FAITHS + XIII.--CHRISTIANITY A CONTINUATION OF PAGANISM + XIV.--CHRISTIANITY A CONTINUATION OF PAGANISM--(Continued) + XV.--CHRISTIANITY IN IRELAND + XVI.--STONES OR COLUMNS AS THE DEITY + XVII.--SACRIFICES + XVIII.--THE CROSS AND A DYING SAVIOR + + + + + +THE GOD-IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +Through a study of the primitive god-idea as manifested in monumental +records in various parts of the world; through scientific investigation +into the early religious conceptions of mankind as expressed by symbols +which appear in the architecture and decorations of sacred edifices and +shrines; by means of a careful examination of ancient holy objects and +places still extant in every quarter of the globe, and through the study +of antique art, it is not unlikely that a line of investigation has +been marked out whereby a tolerably correct knowledge of the processes +involved in our present religious systems may be obtained. The +numberless figures and sacred emblems which appear carved in +imperishable stone in the earliest cave temples; the huge towers, +monoliths, and rocking stones found in nearly every country of the +globe, and which are known to be closely connected with primitive belief +and worship, and the records found on tablets which are being unearthed +in various parts of the world, are, with the unravelling of extinct +tongues, proving an almost inexhaustible source for obtaining +information bearing upon the early history of the human race, and, +together, furnish indisputable evidence of the origin, development, and +unity of religious faiths. + +By comparing the languages used by the earlier races to express their +religious conceptions; by observing the similarity in the mythoses +and sacred appellations among all tribes and nations, and through the +discovery of the fact that the legends extant in the various countries +of the globe are identical, or have the same foundation, it is probable +that a clue has already been obtained whereby an outline of the +religious history of the human family from a period even as remote as +the "first dispersion," or from a time when one race comprehended the +entire population of the globe, maybe traced. Humboldt in his Researches +observes: "In every part of the globe, on the ridge of the Cordilleras +as well as in the Isle of Samothrace, in the Aegean Sea, fragments of +primitive languages are preserved in religious rites." + +Regarding the identity of the fundamental ideas contained in the various +systems of religion, both past and present, Hargrave Jennings, in +referring to a parallel drawn by Sir William Jones, between the deities +of Meru and Olympus, observes: + +"All our speculations tend to the same conclusions. One day it is a +discovery of cinerary vases, the next, it is etymological research; yet +again it is ethnological investigation, and the day after, it is the +publication of unsuspected tales from the Norse; but all go to heap +up proof of our consanguinity with the peoples of history--and of an +original general belief, we might add." + +That the religious systems of India and Egypt were originally the same, +there can be at the present time no reasonable doubt. The fact noted +by various writers, of the British Sepoys, who, on their overland route +from India, upon beholding the ruins of Dendera, prostrated themselves +before the remains of the ancient temples and offered adoration to +them, proves the identity of Indian and Egyptian deities. These foreign +devotees, being asked to explain the reason of their strange conduct +declared that they "saw sculptured before them the gods of their +country." + +Upon the subject of the identity of Eastern religions, Wilford remarks +that one and the same code both of theology and of fabulous history, has +been received through a range or belt about forty degrees broad across +the old continent, in a southeast and northwest direction from the +eastern shores of the Malaga peninsula to the western extremity of +the British Isles, that, through this immense range the same religious +notions reappear in various places under various modifications, as might +be expected; and that there is not a greater difference between the +tenets and worship of the Hindoos and the Greeks than exists between the +churches of Home and Geneva. + +Concerning the universality of certain religious beliefs and opinions, +Faber, commenting upon the above statement of Wilford, observes that, +immense as is this territorial range, it is by far too limited to +include the entire phenomenon, that the observation + +"applies with equal propriety to the entire habitable globe; for the +arbitrary rites and opinions of every pagan nation bear so close a +resemblance to each other, that such a coincidence can only have been +produced by their having had a common origin. Barbarism itself has not +been able to efface the strong primeval impression. Vestiges of the +ancient general system may be traced in the recently discovered islands +in the Pacific Ocean; and, when the American world was first opened to +the hardy adventurers of Europe, its inhabitants from north to south +venerated, with kindred ceremonies and kindred notions, the gods of +Egypt and Hindostan, of Greece and Italy, of Phoenicia and Britain."(1) + + + 1) Pagan Idolatry, book i., ch. i. + + +"Though each religion has its own peculiar growth, the seed from which +they spring is everywhere the same."(2) + + + 2) Max Muller, Origin and Growth of Religion, p. 48. + + +The question as to whether the identity of conception and the similarity +in detail observed in religious rites, ceremonies, and symbols in the +various countries of the globe are due to the universal law of unity +which governs human development, or whether, through the dispersion +of one original people, the early conceptions of a Deity were spread +broadcast over the entire earth, is perhaps not settled; yet, from +the facts which have been brought forward during the last century, the +latter theory seems altogether probable, such divergence in religious +ideas as is observed among the various peoples of the earth being +attributable to variations in temperament caused by changed conditions +of life. In other words, the divergence in the course of religious +development has doubtless been due to environment. + +In an attempt to understand the history of the growth of the god-idea, +the fact should be borne in mind that, from the earliest conception of +a creative force in the animal and vegetable world to the latest +development in theological speculation, there has never been what might +consistently be termed a new religion. On the contrary, religion like +everything else is subject to the law of growth; therefore the faiths of +to-day are the legitimate result, or outcome, of the primary idea of +a Deity developed in accordance with the laws governing the peculiar +instincts which have been in the ascendancy during the life of mankind +on the earth. + +The erroneous impression which under a belief in the unknown has come +to prevail, namely, that the moral law is the result of religion; or, +in other words, that the human conscience is in some manner dependent +on supernaturalism for its origin and maintenance, is, with a better +and clearer understanding of the past history of the development of the +human race, being gradually dispelled. On one point we may reasonably +rest assured that the knowledge of right and wrong and our sense of +justice and right-living have been developed quite independently of all +religious beliefs. The moral law embodied in the golden rule is not an +outgrowth of mysticism, or of man's notions of the unknowable; but, +on the contrary, is the result of experience, and was formulated in +response to a recognized law of human necessity,--a law which involves +the fundamental principle of progress. The history of human development +shows conclusively that mankind GREW into the recognition of the moral +law, that through sympathy, or a desire for the welfare of others,--a +character which had its root in maternal affection,--conscience and the +moral sense were evolved. + +While the moral law and the conscience may not be accounted as in any +sense the result of man's ideas concerning the unknowable, neither can +the errors and weaknesses developed in human nature be regarded as the +result of religion. Although the sexual excesses which during three or +four thousand years were practiced as sacred rites, and treated as +part and parcel of religion in various parts of the world, have had the +effect to stimulate and strengthen the animal nature in man, yet these +rites may not be accounted as the primary cause of the supremacy of the +lower nature over the higher faculties. On the contrary, the impulse +which has been termed religion, with all the vagaries which its history +presents, is to be regarded more as an effect than as a cause. The stage +of a nation's development regulates its religion. Man creates his own +gods; they are powerless to change him. + +As written history records only those events in human experience which +belong to a comparatively recent period of man's existence, and as the +primitive conceptions of a Deity lie buried beneath ages of corruption, +glimpses of the earlier faiths of mankind, as has already been stated, +must be looked for in the traditions, monuments, and languages of +extinct races. + +In reviewing this matter we shall doubtless observe the fact that if the +stage of a nation's growth is indicated by its religious conceptions, +and if remnants of religious beliefs are everywhere present in the +languages, traditions, and monuments of the past through a careful +study of these subjects we may expect to gain a tolerably correct +understanding not alone of the growth of the god-idea but of the +stage of development reached by the nations which existed prior to the +beginning of the historic age. We shall be enabled also to perceive +whether or not the course of human development during the intervening +ages has been continuous, or whether, for some cause hitherto +unexplained, true progress throughout a portion of this time has been +arrested, thus producing a backward movement, or degeneracy. + +If we would unravel the mysteries involved in present religious faiths, +we should begin not by attempting to analyze or explain any existing +system or systems of belief and worship. Such a course is likely to end +not only in confusion and in a subsequent denial of the existence of the +religious nature in mankind, but is liable, also, to create an aversion +for and a distrust of the entire subject of religious experience. In +view of this fact it would appear to be not only useless but exceedingly +unwise to spend one's time in attempting to gain a knowledge of this +subject simply by studying the later developments in its history. + +If we are really desirous of obtaining information regarding present +religious phenomena, it is plain that we should adopt the scientific +method and turn our attention to the remote past, where, by careful +and systematic investigation, we are enabled to perceive the earliest +conception of a creative force and the fundamental basis of all +religious systems, from which may be traced the gradual development of +the god-idea. + + + +CHAPTER I. SEX THE FOUNDATION OF THE GOD-IDEA. + +In the study of primitive religion, the analogy existing between the +growth of the god-idea and the development of the human race, and +especially of the two sex-principles, is everywhere clearly apparent. + +"Religion is to be found alone with its justification and explanation in +the relations of the sexes. There and therein only."(3) + + + 3) Hargrave Jennings, Phallicism. + + +As the conception of a deity originated in sex, or in the creative +agencies female and male which animate Nature, we may reasonably expect +to find, in the history of the development of the two sex-principles +and in the notions entertained concerning them throughout past ages, +a tolerably correct account of the growth of the god-idea. We shall +perceive that during an earlier age of human existence, not only were +the reproductive powers throughout Nature, and especially in human +beings and in animals, venerated as the Creator, but we shall find also +that the prevailing ideas relative to the importance of either sex in +the office of reproduction decided the sex of this universal creative +force. We shall observe also that the ideas of a god have always +corresponded with the current opinions regarding the importance of +either sex in human society. In other words, so long as female power +and influence were in the ascendency, the creative force was regarded +as embodying the principles of the female nature; later, however, when +woman's power waned, and the supremacy of man was gained, the god-idea +began gradually to assume the male characters and attributes. + +Through scientific research the fact has been observed that, for ages +after life appeared on the earth, the male had no separate existence; +that the two sex-principles, the sperm and the germ, were contained +within one and the same individual. Through the processes of +differentiation, however, these elements became detached, and with the +separation of the male from the female, the reproductive functions were +henceforth confided to two separate individuals. + +As originally, throughout Nature, the female was the visible organic +unit within whom was contained the exclusive creative power, and as +throughout the earlier ages of life on the earth she comprehended the +male, it is not perhaps singular that, even after the appearance of +mankind on the earth, the greater importance of the mother element in +human society should have been recognized; nor, as the power to bring +forth coupled with perceptive wisdom originally constituted the Creator, +that the god-idea should have been female instead of male. + +From the facts to be observed in relation to this subject, it is +altogether probable that for ages the generating principle throughout +Nature was venerated as female; but with that increase of knowledge +which was the result of observation and experience, juster or more +correct ideas came to prevail, and subsequently the great fructifying +energy throughout the universe came to be regarded as a dual indivisible +force--female and male. This force, or agency, constituted one God, +which, as woman's functions in those ages were accounted of more +importance than those of man, was oftener worshipped under the form of a +female figure. + +Neith, Minerva, Athene, and Cybele, the most important deities of their +respective countries, were adored as Perceptive Wisdom, or Light, +while Ceres and others represented Fertility. With the incoming of male +dominion and supremacy, however, we observe the desire to annul the +importance of the female and to enthrone one all-powerful male god whose +chief attributes were power and might. + +Notwithstanding the efforts which during the historic period have been +put forward to magnify the importance of the male both in human affairs +and in the god-idea, still, no one, I think, can study the mythologies +and traditions of the nations of antiquity without being impressed with +the prominence given to the female element, and the deeper the study the +stronger will this impression grow. + +During a certain stage of human development, religion was but a +recognition of and a reliance upon the vivifying or fructifying forces +throughout Nature, and in the earlier ages of man's career, worship +consisted for the most part in the celebration of festivals at +stated seasons of the year, notably during seed-time and harvest, to +commemorate the benefits derived from the grain field and vineyard. + +Doubtless the first deified object was Gaia, the Earth. As within the +bosom of the earth was supposed to reside the fructifying, life-giving +power, and as from it were received all the bounties of life, it was +female. It was the Universal Mother, and to her as to no other divinity +worshipped by mankind, was offered a spontaneity of devotion and a +willing acknowledgment of dependence. Thus far in the history of mankind +no temples dedicated to an undefined and undefinable God had been +raised. The children of Mother Earth met in the open air, without the +precincts of any man-made shrine, and under the aerial canopy of heaven, +acknowledged the bounties of the great Deity and their dependence upon +her gifts. She was a beneficent and all-wise God, a tender and loving +parent--a mother, who demanded no bleeding sacrifice to reconcile her to +her children. The ceremonies observed at these festive seasons consisted +for the most part in merry-making and in general thanksgiving, in which +the gratitude of the worshippers found expression in song and dance, and +in invocations to their Deity for a return or continuance of her gifts. + +Subsequently, through the awe and reverence inspired by the mysteries +involved in birth and life, the adoration of the creative principles in +vegetable existence became supplemented by the worship of the creative +functions in human beings and in animals. The earth, including the power +inherent in it by which the continuity of existence is maintained, and +by which new forms are continuously called into life, embodied the idea +of God; and, as this inner force was regarded as inherent in matter, or +as a manifestation of it, in process of time earth and the heavens, body +and spirit, came to be worshipped under the form of a mother and her +child, this figure being the highest expression of a Creator which the +human mind was able to conceive. Not only did this emblem represent +fertility, or the fecundating energies of Nature, but with the power +to create were combined or correlated all the mental qualities and +attributes of the two sexes. In fact the whole universe was contained in +the Mother idea--the child, which was sometimes female, sometimes male, +being a scion or offshoot from the eternal or universal unit. + +Underlying all ancient mythologies may be observed the idea that the +earth, from which all things proceed, is female. Even in the mythology +of the Finns, Lapps, and Esths, Mother Earth is the divinity adored. +Tylor calls attention to the same idea in the mythology of England, + +"from the days when the Anglo-Saxon called upon the Earth, 'Hal wes thu +folde fira modor' (Hail, thou Earth, men's mother), to the time when +mediaeval Englishmen made a riddle of her asking 'Who is Adam's mother?' +and poetry continued what mythology was letting fall, when Milton's +Archangel promised Adam a life to last + + '... till like ripe fruit thou drop + Into thy Mother's lap.' "(4) + + + + 4) Primitive Culture, vol. i., p. 295. + + +In the old religion the sky was the husband of the earth and the earth +was mother of all the gods.(5) In the traditions of past ages the fact +is clearly perceived that there was a time when the mother was not only +the one recognized parent on earth, but that the female principle was +worshipped as the more important creative force throughout Nature. + + + 5) Max Muller, Origin and Growth of Religion, p. 279. + + +Doubtless the worship of the female energy prevailed under the +matriarchal system, and was practised at a time when women were the +recognized heads of families and when they were regarded as the more +important factors in human society. The fact has been shown in a +previous work that after women began to leave their homes at marriage, +and after property, especially land, had fallen under the supervision +and control of men, the latter, as they manipulated all the necessaries +of life and the means of supplying them, began to regard themselves as +superior beings, and later, to claim that as a factor in reproduction, +or creation, the male was the more important. With this change the ideas +of a Deity also began to undergo a modification. The dual principle +necessary to creation, and which had hitherto been worshipped as an +indivisible unity, began gradually to separate into its individual +elements, the male representing spirit, the moving or forming force +in the generative processes, the female being matter--the instrument +through which spirit works. Spirit which is eternal had produced matter +which is destructible. The fact will be observed that this doctrine +prevails to a greater or less extent in the theologies of the present +time. + +A little observation and reflection will show us that during this change +in the ideas relative to a creative principle, or God, descent and the +rights of succession which had hitherto been reckoned through the mother +were changed from the female to the male line, the father having in +the meantime become the only recognized parent. In the Eumenides of +Aeschylus, the plea of Orestes in extenuation of his crime is that he is +not of kin to his mother. Euripides, also, puts into the mouth of Apollo +the same physiological notion, that she who bears the child is only +its nurse. The Hindoo Code of Menu, which, however, since its earliest +conception, has undergone numberless mutilations to suit the purposes +of the priests, declares that "the mother is but the field which brings +forth the plant according to whatsoever seed is sown." + +Although, through the accumulation of property in masses and the capture +of women for wives, men had succeeded in gaining the ascendancy, and +although the doctrine had been propounded that the father is the only +parent, thereby reversing the established manner of reckoning descent, +still, as we shall hereafter observe, thousands of years were required +to eliminate the female element from the god-idea. + +We must not lose sight of the fact that human society was first +organized and held together by means of the gens, at the head of which +was a woman. The several members of this organization were but parts of +one body cemented together by the pure principle of maternity, the chief +duty of these members being to defend and protect each other if needs be +with their life blood. The fact has been observed, in an earlier work, +that only through the gens was the organization of society possible. +Without it mankind could have accomplished nothing toward its own +advancement. + +Thus, throughout the earlier ages of human existence, at a time when +mankind lived nearer to Nature and before individual wealth and the +stimulation of evil passions had engendered superstition, selfishness, +and distrust, the maternal element constituted not only the binding and +preserving principle in human society, but, together with the power to +bring forth, constituted also the god-idea, which idea, as has already +been observed, at a certain stage in the history of the race was +portrayed by a female figure with a child in her arms. + +From all sources of information at hand are to be derived evidences of +the fact that the earliest religion of which we have any account was +pure Nature-worship, that whatever at any given time might have been the +object adored, whether it were the earth, a tree, water, or the sun, it +was simply as an emblem of the great energizing agency in Nature. The +moving or forming force in the universe constituted the god-idea. The +figure of a mother with her child signified not only the power to bring +forth, but Perceptive Wisdom, or Light, as well. + +As through a study of Comparative Ethnology, or through an investigation +into the customs, traditions, and mythoses of extant races in the +various stages of development, have been discovered the beginnings of +the religious idea and the mental qualities which among primitive races +prompted worship, so, also, through extinct tongues and the symbolism +used in religious rites and ceremonies, many of the processes have been +unearthed whereby the original and beautiful conceptions of the Deity, +and the worship inspired by the operations of Nature, and especially +the creative functions in human beings gradually became obscured by the +grossest ideas and the vilest practices. The symbols which appear in +connection with early religious rites and ceremonies, and under which +are veiled the conceptions of a still earlier and purer age, when +compared with subsequently developed notions relative to the same +objects, indicate plainly the change which has been wrought in the +original ideas relative to the creative functions, and furnish an index +to the direction which human development, or growth, has taken. + +As the human race constructs its own gods, and as by the conceptions +involved in the deities worshipped at any given time in the history +of mankind we are able to form a correct estimate of the character, +temperament, and aspirations of the worshippers, so the history of +the gods of the race, as revealed to us through the means of symbols, +monumental records, and the investigation of extinct tongues, proves +that from a stage of Nature worship and a pure and rational conception +of the creative forces in the universe, mankind, in course of time, +degenerated into mere devotees of sensual pleasure. With the corruption +of human nature and the decline of mental power which followed the +supremacy of the animal instincts, the earlier abstract idea of God was +gradually lost sight of, and man himself in the form of a potentate +or ruler, together with the various emblems of virility, came to +be worshipped as the Creator. From adorers of an abstract creative +principle, mankind had lapsed into worshippers of the symbols under +which this principle had been veiled. + +Although at certain stages in the history of the human race the evils, +which as a result of the supremacy of the ruder elements developed in +mankind had befallen the race were lamented and bewailed, they could not +be suppressed. Man had become a lost and ruined creature. The golden age +had passed away. + + + +CHAPTER II. TREE, PLANT, AND FRUIT WORSHIP. + +When mankind first began to perceive the fact of an all-pervading agency +throughout Nature, by or through which everything is produced, and when +they began to speculate on the origin of life and the final cause +and destiny of things, it is not in the least remarkable that various +objects and elements, such as fire, air, water, trees, etc., should in +their turn have been venerated as in some special manner embodying the +divine essence. Neither is it surprising although this universal agency +was regarded as one, or as a dual entity, they should have recognized +its manifold expressions or manifestations. + +To primitive man, the visible sources whence proceeded his daily +sustenance doubtless constituted the first objects of his regard and +adoration. Hence, in addition to the homage paid to the earth, in due +course of time would be added the worship of trees, upon which the +early race was directly dependent for food. At a time when the art of +agriculture had not been attained, all such trees as yielded their +fruit for the support of the human race, and which afforded to mankind +pleasant beverages or cooling shade, would come to be regarded as +embodying the universal beneficent principle--the great creating +and preserving agency of Nature, and therefore as proper objects of +veneration. + +According to the Phoenician theogony, "the first gods which were +worshipped by oblations and sacrifices were the fruits of the earth, on +which they and their descendants lived as their forefathers had done." + +Although, after the art of agriculture had been developed, mankind was +gradually relieved from its past dependence on the tree as a means of +support, it nevertheless continued to be regarded with veneration as an +emblem of creative power or of productive energy. + +Among the traditions and monuments of nearly every country of the globe +are to be found traces of a sacred tree--a Tree of Life. In various +countries there appear two traditional trees, the one typical of the +continuation of physical life, the other representing spiritual life, or +the life of the soul. After the age of pure Nature-worship had passed, +however, and serpent, fire, and phallic faiths had been introduced, the +original signification of the tree, like that of all other religious +emblems, became considerably changed. Through its energies, or +life-giving properties, existence had long been maintained, and for this +reason, as has already been observed, it became an object of veneration; +but, after the reproductive power in man had risen to the dignity of a +supreme God, the tree, to the masses of the people, became a symbol of +the physical, life-giving energy in mortals and in animals. In other +words, it became a phallic emblem representing the continuation of +existence, or the power to reproduce or continue life on the earth. As a +religious symbol it became the traditional Tree of Life. + +The tree, like nearly every other object in nature, was and still is, +in various parts of the world, either female or male, and all ideas +connected with it are sacred and closely interwoven with sex. + +The extent to which trees have been venerated in past ages seems to be +little understood, and there are doubtless few persons, at the present +time, who would willingly believe that all along the religious stream, +from its source to its latest developed branches, are to be observed +traces of this ancient worship, which, in its earliest stages, was +simply a recognition of Nature's bounties. + +Barlow, in his work on Symbolism, says that "the most generally received +symbol of life is a tree--as also the most appropriate." + +Again the same writer observes: "Besides the monumental evidence thus +furnished of a sacred tree, or Tree of Life, there is an historical and +traditional evidence of the same thing, found in the early literature +of various nations, in the customs, and popular usages."(6) As tree- +and sun-worship, or the adoration of Nature's processes, finally became +interwoven with phallic faiths, its history can be understood only after +these later developments in the religious stream have been examined, or +after the true significance of the serpent as a religious emblem, and +the various ideas connected with the traditional Tree of Life, have been +exposed. + + + 6) Essays on Symbolism, p. 84. + + +The palm, the pine, the oak, the banian, or bo, and many other species +of trees, have, at different times, and by various nations, been +invested with divine honors; but, in oriental countries, by far the most +sacred among them is the Ficus Religiosa, or the holy bo tree of India. +Something of the true significance of the traditional Tree of Life may +be observed in the ideas connected with the worship of this emblem. The +fig, when planted with the palm, as it frequently is in the East, near +temples and holy shrines, is regarded as a peculiarly sacred object. +When entwining the palm, which is male, it is always female; from +their embrace Kalpia, or passion, is developed. This union causes the +continuation of existence and the "revolutions of time." The whole +constitutes the Tree of Life. + +In Ceylon, there stands at the present time a tree which we are told +is still worshipped by every follower of Buddha. It is a sacred bo, or +Ficus Religiosa, which stands adjacent to an ancient holy shrine known +as the Brazen Monastery, now in ruins. Of this tree Forlong remarks: + +"Though now amidst ruins and wild forests, and although having stood +thus in solitary desolation for some 1500 years, yet there it still +grows, and is worshipped and deeply revered by more millions of our race +than any other god, prophet, or idol, which the world has ever seen."(7) + + + 7) Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 35. + + +This tree is sacred to Sakyu Mooni, is 2200 years old, and is said to be +a slip from a tree planted by Bood Gaya, one of the three former Buddhas +who, like Sakyu Mooni, visited Ceylon. Under the parent of this tree the +great prophet reposed after he had attained perfect rest, or after he +had overcome the flesh and become Buddha. It was under a bo tree that +Mai, Queen of Heaven, brought him forth, and, in fact, very many of the +most important incidents of his life are closely connected with this +sacred emblem. + +In an allusion to the bo tree of Ceylon, a slip of which is said to have +been carried from India to that island by a certain priestess in the +year 307 B.C., Forlong observes: + +"This wonderful idol has furnished shoots to half Asia, and every shoot +is trained as much as possible like the parent, and like it, also, +enclosed and tended. Men watch and listen for signs and sounds from this +holy tree just as the priests of Dodona did beneath their rustling oaks, +and, as many people, even of these somewhat sceptical days, still do, +beneath the pulpits of their pope, priest, or other oracle."(8) + + + 8) Rivers of Life, vol. i., p, 36. + + +The sacred Ficus is worshipped in India and in many of the Polynesian +islands. + +Regarding the palm, Inman assures us that it is emblematical of the +active male energy, or the continuation of existence.(9) + + + 9) Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. ii., p. 448. + + +Within the legends underlying the Jewish religion, it will be remembered +that the tree appears mysteriously connected with the beginning of life +and is interwoven with the first ideas of human action and experience. +The literal sense, however, of the allegory in Genesis concerning the +woman, the tree, and the serpent, and its meaning as generally accepted +by laymen and the uneducated among the priesthood, has little in common +with its true significance as understood by the initiated. + +In Vedic times, the home tree was worshipped as a god, and to the +exhilarating properties in its juice was ascribed that subtle quality +which was regarded as the life-giving, or creative, energy supposed +to reside in heat, and which was closely connected with passion or +procreative energy. This quality was their Bacchus, Dionysos, or +god-idea--the creator not alone of physical existence, but of good and +evil as well. It was the Destroyer, yet the Regenerator, of life. + +Of the Zoroastrian home, or sacred tree, which by the Persians was +worshipped for thousands of years, Layard remarks: "The plant or its +product was called the mystical body of God, the living water or food +of eternal life, when duly consecrated and administered according to +Zoroastrian rites." It has been suggested, and not without reason, that +to this idea of the ancients, respecting the sacred character of +the properties of the home juice, may be traced the "origin of the +celebration of Jewish holy or paschal suppers and other eucharistic +rites." + +Although by the ancients water was sometimes regarded as the original +principle, later, wine, or the intoxicating quality within it, came to +constitute the god-idea. It was spirit, while water was matter; hence, +in the sacraments, water and wine were commingled, wine representing +the essence or blood of God; water, at the same time, standing for the +people. Cyprian, the bishop martyr, while contending for the use of +wine in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, makes use of the following +argument: + +"The Holy Spirit also is not silent in the Psalms on the sacrament +of this thing, when He makes mention of the Lord's Cup, and says 'Thy +intoxicating cup how excellent it is!' Now the cup which intoxicates is +assuredly mingled with wine, for water cannot intoxicate anybody. And +the Cup of the Lord in such wise inebriates, as Noe also was intoxicated +drinking wine in Genesis. ... For because Christ bore us all, in that he +also bore our sins, we see that in the water is understood the people, +but in the wine is showed the blood of Christ.... Thus, therefore, in +consecrating the Cup of the Lord, water alone cannot be offered, even as +wine alone cannot be offered. For if anyone offer wine only, the blood +of Christ is dissociated from us; but if the water be alone, the people +are dissociated from Christ."(10) + + + 10) Epistles of Cyprian, vol. i., pp. 215-217. + + +The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, at which wine is mysteriously +converted into the essence of Deity, or into the blood of Christ, is +without doubt a relic of the idea once entertained regarding the homa +tree. Certain writers entertain the opinion that from the use of the +sacred homa juice have arisen various religious practices and rites, +such for instance as offering oblations to the gods, anointing holy +stones, and pouring wine on sacred hills, also the custom of pledging +oaths over glasses of wine. + +The May pole, a decidedly phallic emblem, whose festivals until a very +recent time were celebrated in England by the old as well as the young, +was usually if not always sprinkled with wine. From the accounts which +we have of this sacred emblem and its festival, it seems that no royal +edict nor priestly denunciation was sufficient to expel it from the +country. + +According to Dr. Stevenson, the festival of Holi or the worship of +Holika Devata, in the island of Ceylon, "has a close resemblance to +the English festival of the May-pole, which originated in a religious +ceremony or festival of the Cushites (called Phoenicians) who anciently +occupied Western Europe."(11) + + + 11) Quoted by Baldwin, Prehistoric Nations, p. 223. + + +The ash is the Scandinavian Tree of Life, and, like the sacred trees of +all nations, is emblematical of the continuation of existence. This tree +has a triple root, which peculiarity doubtless accounts for its sacred +character. It is both female and male, and is said to be regarded as a +"sort of Logos or Wisdom." It is the first emanation from the Deity, and +yet a Trinity in Unity. To insult or injure this tree was sacrilege, to +cut it down was an offense punishable with death. + +In the old Egyptian and Zoroastrian story, appear the descriptions of +two Trees of Life, also a Tree of Knowledge. In the accounts given of +these trees, the Ficus, the female Tree of Life, represents the life +of the soul, while the palm, the male Tree of Life, is that which gives +physical life, which also is the true significance of the word "lord." +When, however, either of these trees stood alone, or unaccompanied by +its counterpart, by it both of the creative principles were understood. +By these ideas is suggested the thought which among a certain school of +psychologists of the present century seems to be gaining ground, namely: +that man is a dual entity, or, in other words, that he has a subjective +mind and an objective self, which so long as this life endures must +co-operate or work together. + +In the following descriptions of Egyptian emblems, will be perceived +some of the changes which finally took place relative to the idea of sex +in the god-idea. + +In the museum of Egyptian antiquities in Berlin is a sepulchral tablet +representing the Tree of Life. This emblem figures the trunk of a tree, +from the top of which emerges the bust of a woman--Netpe. She is the +goddess of heavenly existence, and is administering to the deceased the +water and the bread of life, the latter of which is represented by a +substance in the form of cakes or rolls. The time at which this tablet +was found is not known, but it is supposed to belong to the period of +the XIXth dynasty, or about the time of Rameses II., 1400 years B.C. + +There is also in the Berlin museum another representation of the +Egyptian Tree of Life, in which the trunk has given place to the entire +body of a woman. This, also, is Netpe, who is still spiritual wisdom +or the maternal principle. We are informed by Forlong that Diana was +worshipped by the Amazons under a sacred tree.(12) From this symbol +the tree, which grew first into the figure of a divine woman, and later +assumed the form of a divine man, arose the emblem of the cross. + + + 12) Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 70. + + +On the Nineveh tablets is pictured a Tree of Life which is surrounded +by winged spirits, bearing in their hands the pine cone, a symbol +indicating life, and which is said to have the same significance as the +crux-ansata, or cross, among the Egyptians. + +In later ages, the Tree of Life, i. e., the divine man, or cross, or +both together, furnish immortal food to those who lay hold upon them, +exactly in the same manner as did Netpe, the goddess of wisdom, or +spiritual life, in former times. According to the testimony of Barlow, +this is the subject "most frequently symbolized on early Christian +sepulchral tablets and monuments."(13) Christ's body was the "bread of +life," and his blood was the "wine from the Tree of Life," of which +to partake was life eternal. The cross, as in earlier religions, +represented completeness of life. The jambu tree, the Buddhist god-tree, +is in the shape of a cross.(14) + + + 13) Essays on Symbolism, p. 74. + + + 14) Wilford, Asiatic Researches. + + +Among the Kelti a tall oak was not only a symbol of the Deity, but it +was Jupiter himself, while the earth from which it sprang was the Great +Mother. Throughout Europe, in all ages, the oak has received divine +honors. The fact that under its branches Jew, Pagan, and Christian +alike swore their most solemn oaths, shows that its veneration was not +confined to any particular nation or locality. + +The sacredness of the oak among the Druids is well attested by all +writers who have dealt with this interesting people. In Rome its +branches formed the badge of victory worn by conquering heroes, this +emblem being the highest mark of distinction which could be conferred +upon them. + +Forlong assures us that the oak was even more worshipped at the West +than was the sacred Ficus at the East. Like it, the wood of the oak must +be used + +"to call down the sacred fire from Heaven and gladden in the yule (Suiel +or Seul) log of Christmas-tide even Christian fires, as well as annually +renew with fire direct from Ba-al, on Beltine day, the sacred flame on +every public and private hearth, and this from the temples of Meroe +on the Nile, to the farthest icy forests and mountains of the +Sklavonian."(15) + + + 15) Faiths of Man in All Lands, vol. i., p. 68. + + +Among the Druids, the mistletoe was also sacred especially when +entwining the oak. Together they represented the Tree of Life, or the +two generating agencies throughout Nature. Of the species of it which +grows on the oak, Borlaise says that they deified the mistletoe and were +not to look upon it but in the most devout and reverential manner: "When +the end of the year approached, they marched with great solemnity to +gather the mistletoe of the oak in order to present it to Jupiter, +inviting all the world to assist in the ceremony."(16) + + + 16) Borlaise. + + +According to the Latin writer Pliny, the "Druids have nothing more +sacred than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grows, provided it +be an oak." This plant, which is called All Heal, although sought after +with the greatest religious ardor, is seldom found, but should the +people who go forth at Christmas time in large numbers succeed in +finding it they immediately set about preparing feasts under the tree +upon which it grows; at the same time, in the most solemn manner, two +white bulls are brought forth to be sacrificed. After the feast has been +prepared and the sacrifice made ready, the priest ascends the tree and +with a golden pruning-knife cuts the sacred branches of the mistletoe, +dropping them into a white cloth prepared for the occasion. The bulls +are then sacrificed and a prayer offered that "God would render his own +gift prosperous to those on whom he has bestowed it." They believed that +administered in a potion it would impart fecundity to any barren animal, +and that it was a remedy against all kinds of poison. The branches of +the mistletoe were then distributed among the faithful, each cherishing +the token as the most sacred emblem of his faith. It is thought that the +Christmas tree is a remnant of this custom. + +Although the Christbaum of the Germans, the Yggdrasill of the +Scandinavians, and the Christmas tree of the English speaking nations +are still regarded as belonging exclusively to Christianity, their +birthplace was the far East, and their origin long anterior to our +present era. This subject will be referred to later in these pages. The +palm, which in course of time became the most sacred tree of Egypt, is +said to have put forth a shoot every month during the year. At Christmas +tide, or at the winter solstice, a branch from this tree was used as a +symbol of the renewal of time or of the birth of the New Year. + +On the Zodiac of Dendera, preserved in the National Library at Paris, +are two trees, the one representing the East, or India and China, the +other, the West, or Egypt. The former of these trees is putting forth +a pair of leaves and is topped by the emblems of Siva, emblems which +indicate the fructifying powers of Nature, whilst the Egyptian sacred +tree, which is surmounted by the ostrich plume, the emblem of truth, +is indicative of Light, Intelligence, or the life of the soul. In a +discourse delivered by Dr. Stukeley in 1760, attention was directed to +the grove of Abraham as "that famous oak grove of Beersheba, planted +by the illustrious prophet and first Druid--Abraham; and from whom +our celebrated British Druids came, who were of the same patriarchal +reformed religion, and brought the use of sacred groves to Britain."(17) + + + 17) Barlow, Symbolism, p. 98. + + +The fact has been ascertained that in Arabia, in very ancient times, +there was a goddess named Azra who was worshipped under the form of a +tree called Samurch, and that in Yemen tree-worship still prevails. +To the date is ascribed divine honors. This tree is said to have its +regular priests, services, rites, and festivals, and is as zealously +worshipped as are the gods of any other country. We are not informed as +to whether the Jewish Tree of Life was borrowed from the Chaldeans or +the Egyptians, but, as the significance is the same in all countries, +it is of little consequence which furnished a copy for the writer in +Genesis. + +In Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths, is a drawing from the original, by +Colonel Coombs, of the "Temptation," or of the ancient tree-and-serpent +myth in Genesis. This drawing, in which it is observed that the Jewish +idea of woman as tempter is reversed, was copied from the inner walls +of a cave in Southern India. The picture is said to be a faithful +representation of the version of the story as accepted in the East. + +Of the myrtle, Payne Knight says that it "was a symbol both of Venus and +Neptune, the male and female personifications of the productive powers +of the waters, which appear to have been occasionally employed in the +same sense as the fig and fig leaf." + +The same writer refers to the fact that instead of beads, wreaths of +foliage, generally of laurel, olive, myrtle, ivy, or oak, appear upon +coins; sometimes encircling the symbolical figures, and sometimes as +chaplets on their heads. According to Strabo, each of these is sacred to +some particular personification of the Deity, and "significant of some +particular attribute, and in general, all evergreens were Dionysiac +plants, that is, symbols of the generative power, signifying perpetuity +of youth and vigor." The crowns of laurel, olive, etc., with which +the victors in the Roman triumphs and Grecian games were honored, were +emblems of immortality, and not merely transitory marks of occasional +distinction.(18) + + + 18) Payne Knight, Symbolism of Ancient Art. We are informed that this +book was never sold, but only given away. Although a copy of it was +formerly in the British Museum, care was taken by the trustees to keep +it out of the catalogues. + + +The tree and serpent, according to Ferguson, are symbolized in all +religious systems which the world has ever known. The two together +are typical of the processes of reproduction or generation. They also +symbolize good and evil and the cause which underlies the decline of +virtue. + +Among the numberless fruits which from time to time have been regarded +as divine emblems, the principal are perhaps the fig, the pomegranate, +the mandrake, the almond, and the olive. The peculiarly sacred character +which we find attached to the fig ceases to be a mystery so soon as we +remember that the organs of generation, male and female, had, in process +of time, come to be objects of worship and that the fig was the emblem +of the latter. + +A basket of this fruit is said to have been the most acceptable offering +to the god Bacchus, and therefore, by his devotees, was regarded as the +most sacred symbol. The favorite material for phallic devices was the +wood of the sacred fig, for it was by rubbing together pieces of it that +holy fire was supposed to be drawn from heaven. By holy fire, however, +was meant not so much the natural visible element which was kindled, as +that subtle substance contained in fire or heat which was supposed +to contain the life principle, and which was sent in response to the +cravings of pious devotees for procreative energy, which blessing, among +various peoples, notably the Jews, was indicative of special divine +favor. + +By pagans, Jews, and Christians, the pomegranate has long been +regarded as a sacred emblem. It is a symbol of reproductive energy. +Representations of it were embroidered on the Ephod, and Solomon's +Temple is reported as having been literally covered with decorations, in +which, among the devices noticed, this particular fruit appears the most +conspicuous. Its significance, as revealed by Inman and other writers, +is too gross to be set forth in these pages. + +Among the most sacred plants or flowers were the lotus and the fleur +de lis, both of which were venerated because of some real or fancied +organic sexual peculiarity. The lotus is adored as the female principle +throughout Nature, or as the "womb of all creation," and is sacred +throughout oriental countries. It is said to be androgynous or +hermaphrodite--hence its peculiarly sacred character. + +It has long been thought that this lily is produced without the aid of +the male pollen, hence it would seem to be an appropriate emblem for +that ancient sect which worshipped the female as the more important +creative energy. + +Of the lotus, Inman remarks: "Amongst fourteen kinds of food and flowers +presented to the Sanskrit God Anata, the lotus only is indispensable." +This emblem, as we have seen, was the symbol of the Great Mother, and +we are assured that it was "little less sacred than the Queen of Heaven +herself." + +Regarding the lotus and its universal significance as a religious +emblem, Payne Knight says: + +"The lotus is the Nelumbo of Linnaeus. This plant grows in the water, +and amongst its broad leaves puts forth a flower, in the center of which +is formed the seed vessel, shaped like a bell or inverted cone, and +punctured on the top with little cavities or cells, in which the seeds +grow. The orifices of these cells being too small to let the seeds drop +out when ripe, they shoot forth into new plants, in the places where +they were formed, the bulb of the vessel serving as a matrix to nourish +them until they acquire such a degree of magnitude as to burst it open +and release themselves, after which, like other aquatic weeds, they take +root wherever the current deposits them. This plant, therefore, being +thus productive of itself, and vegetating from its own matrix, without +being fostered in the earth, was naturally adopted as the symbol of the +productive power of the waters, upon which the creative spirit of the +Creator operated in giving life and vegetation to matter. We accordingly +find it employed in every part of the Northern hemisphere, where the +symbolical religion improperly called idolatry does or did prevail. +The sacred images of the Tartars, Japanese, and Indians are almost all +placed upon it, of which numerous instances occur in the publication of +Kaempfer, Sonnerat, etc: The Brama of India is represented sitting upon +a lotus throne, and the figures upon the Isaic table hold the stem of +this plant, surmounted by the seed vessel in one hand, and the cross +representing the male organs in the other: thus signifying the universal +power, both active and passive, attributed to that goddess."(19) + + + 19) Symbolism of Ancient Art. + + +The lotus is the most sacred and the most significant symbol connected +with the sacred mysteries of the East. Upon this subject, Maurice +observes that there is no plant which has received such a degree of +honor as has the lotus. It was the consecrated symbol of the Great +Mother who had brought forth the fecundative energies, female and male. +Not only throughout the Northern hemisphere was it everywhere held +in profound veneration, but among the modern Egyptians it is still +worshipped as symbolical of the Great First Cause. The lotus was the +emblem venerated in the solemn celebration of the Mysteries of Eleusis +in Greece and the Phiditia in Carthage. + +In referring to the degree of homage paid to the lotus by the ancients, +Higgins says: "And we shall find in the sequel that it still continues +to receive the respect, if not the adoration, of a great part of the +Christian world, unconscious, perhaps, of the original reason of +their conduct." It is a significant fact that in nearly all the +sacred paintings of the Christians in the galleries throughout Europe, +especially those of the Annunciation, a lily is always to be observed. +In later ages as the original significance of the lotus was lost, any +lily came to be substituted. Godfrey Higgins is sure that although the +priests of the Romish Church are at the present time ignorant of the +true meaning of the lotus, or lily, "it is, like many other very +odd things, probably understood at the Vatican, or the Crypt of St. +Peter's."(20) + + + 20) Anacalypsis, book vii., ch. xi. + + +Of the lotus of the Hindoos Nimrod says: + +"The lotus is a well-known allegory, of which the expanse calyx +represents the ships of the gods floating on the surface of the water, +and the erect flower arising out of it, the mast thereof... but as the +ship was Isis or Magna Mater, the female principle, and the mast in it +the male deity, these parts of the flower came to have certain other +significations, which seem to have been as well known at Samosata as at +Benares."(21) + + + 21) Quoted in Anacalypsis. + + +In other words it was a phallic emblem and represented the creative +processes throughout Nature. Susa, the name of the capital of the +Cushites, or ancient Ethiopians, meant "the City of Lilies." In India +the lotus frequently appears among phallic devices in place of the +sacred Yoni. From the foregoing pages the fact will be observed that the +God of the ancients embodied the two creative agencies throughout the +universe, but as nothing could exist without a mother, the great Om who +was the indivisible God and the Creator of the sun was the mother +of these two principles, while the Tree of Life was the original +life-giving energy upon the earth, represented in the creation myths of +the first man Adam, and the first woman Eve or Adama. + +Throughout the ages, this force, or creative agency has been symbolized +in various ways, many of which have been noted in the foregoing pages. +We have observed that notwithstanding the fact that the supremacy of +the male had been established, the sacred Yoni and the lotus were +still reverenced as symbols of the most exalted God. Finally, when the +masculine energy began to be worshipped as the more important agency +in reproduction, the female, although still necessary to complete the +god-idea, was veiled. + +Among the sect known as Lingaites, those who adored the male creative +power, Man, Phallus, and Creator in religious symbolism signified one +and the same thing in the minds of the people. Each represented a Tree +of Life, the beginning and end of all things. + +Tree-worship was condemned by the councils of Tours, Nantes, and +Auxerre, and in the XIth century it was forbidden in England by the laws +of Canute, but these edicts seem to have had little effect. In referring +to this subject, Barlow says: "In the XVIIIth century it existed in +Livonia, and traces of it may still be found in the British Isles."(22) +The vast area over which tree- and plant-worship once extended, and the +tenacity with which it still clings to the human race, indicate the hold +which, at an earlier age in the history of mankind, it had taken upon +the religious feelings of mankind. + + + 22) Essays on Symbolism, p. 118. + + +So closely has this worship become entwined with that of serpent and +phallic faiths, that it is impossible to consider it, even in a brief +manner, without anticipating these later developments; yet linked with +earth- and sun-worship, it doubtless prevailed for many ages absolutely +unconnected with the grosser ideas with which it subsequently became +associated. + + + +CHAPTER III. SUN-WORSHIP--FEMALE AND MALE ENERGIES IN THE SUN. + +"When we inquire into the worship of nations in the earliest periods to +which we have access by writing or tradition, we find that the adoration +of one God, without temples or images, universally prevailed."(23) + + + 23) Godfrey Higgins, Celtic Druids. + + +Underlying all the ancient religions of which we have any account, may +be observed the great energizing force throughout Nature recognized +and reverenced as the Deity. This force embraces not only the creative +energies in human beings, in animals, and in plants, but in the earlier +ages of human history it included also Wisdom, or Law--that "power by +which all things are discriminated or defined and held in their proper +places." The most renowned writers who have dealt with this subject +agree in the conclusion that, during thousands of years among all the +nations of the earth, only one God was worshipped. This God was Light +and Life, both of which proceeded from the sun, or more properly +speaking were symbolized by the sun. + +In Egyptian hymns the Creator is invoked as the being who "dwells +concealed in the sun"; and Greek writers speak of this luminary as the +"generator and nourisher of all things, the ruler of the world." It is +thought, however, that neither of these nations worshipped the corporeal +sun. It was the "centre or body from which the pervading spirit, the +original producer of order, fertility, and organization, continued to +emanate to preserve the mighty structure which it had formed." + +It is evident that at an early age, both in Egypt and in India, +spiritualized conceptions of sun-worship had already been formed. + +We have seen that Netpe, the Goddess of Light, or Heavenly Wisdom, +conferred spiritual life on all who would accept it. The Great Mother of +the Gods in India was not only the source whence all blessings flow, but +she was the Beginning and the End of all things. + +Of "Aditi, the boundless, the yonder, the beyond all and everything," +Max Muller says that in later times she "may have become identified with +the sky, also with the earth, but originally she was far beyond the sky +and the earth."(24) The same writer quotes the following, also from a +hymn of the Rig-Veda: + + + 24) Origin and Growth of Religion, p. 221. + + +"O Mitra and Varuna, you mount your chariot which, at the dawning of +the dawn is golden-colored and has iron poles at the setting of the sun; +from thence you see Aditi and Diti--that is, what is yonder and what is +here, what is infinite and what is finite, what is mortal and what is +immortal."(25) + + + 25) Ibid. + + +Aditi is the Great She that Is, the Everlasting. Muller refers to the +fact that another Hindoo poet "speaks of the dawn as the face of Aditi; +thus indicating that Aditi is here not the dawn itself, but something +beyond the dawn." This Goddess, who is designated as the "Oldest," is +implored "not only to drive away darkness and enemies that lurk in +the dark, but likewise to deliver man from any sin which he may have +committed." "May Aditi by day protect our cattle, may she, who never +deceives, protect us from evil." + +In the Egyptian as in the Indian and Hebrew religions, the two +generating principles throughout Nature represent the Infinite, the +Holy of Holies, the Elohim or Aleim--the Ieue. Within the records of +the earliest religions of Ethiopia or Arabia, Chaldea, Assyria, and +Babylonia, is revealed the same monad principle in the Deity. This monad +conception, or dual unity, this God of Light and Life, or of Wisdom and +generative force, is the same source whence all mythologies have sprung, +and, as has been stated, among all peoples the fact is observed that +the religious idea has followed substantially the same course of +development, or growth. Within the sacred writings of the Hindoos there +is but one Almighty Power, usually denominated as Brahm or Brahme--Om or +Aum. This word in India was regarded with the same degree of veneration +as was the sacred Ieue of the Jews. In later ages, the fact is being +proved that this God, into whom all the deities worshipped at a certain +period in human history resolve themselves, is the sun, or if not +the actual corporeal sun, then the supreme agency within it which was +acknowledged as the great creative or life-force--that dual principle +which by the early races was recognized as Elohim, Om, Ormuzd, etc., +and from which the productive power in human beings, in plants, and in +animals was thought to emanate. + +Prior to the development of either tree or phallic worship, the sun +as an emblem of the Deity had doubtless become the principal object +of veneration. Ages would probably elapse before primitive man would +observe that all life is dependent on the warmth of the sun's rays, or +before from experience he would perceive the fact that to its agency as +well as to that of the earth he was indebted both for food and the power +of motion. However, as soon as this knowledge had been gained, the great +orb of day would assume the most prominent place among the objects of +his regard and adoration. That such has been the case, that the sun, +either as the actual Creator, or as an emblem of the great energizing +force in Nature, has been worshipped by every nation of the globe, there +is no lack of evidence to prove; neither do we lack proof to establish +the fact that, since the adoption of the sun as a divine object, or +perhaps I should say as the emblem of Wisdom and creative power, it has +never been wholly eliminated from the god-idea of mankind. + +Bryant produces numberless etymological proofs to establish the fact +that all the early names of the Deity were derived or compounded from +some word which originally meant the sun. + +Max Muller says that Surya was the sun as shining in the sky. Savitri +was the sun as bringing light and life. Vishnu was the sun as striding +with three steps across the sky, etc. + +Inman, whose etymological researches have given him considerable +prominence as a Sanskrit and Hebrew scholar, says that Ra, Ilos, +Helos, Bil, Baal, Al, Allah, and Elohim were names given to the sun as +representative of the Creator. + +We are assured by Godfrey Higgins that Brahme is the sun the same +as Surya. Brahma sprang from the navel of Brahme. Faber in his Pagan +Idolatry says that all the gods of the ancients "melt insensibly into +one, they are all equally the sun." The word Apollo signifies the +author or generator of Light. In the Rig Veda, Surya, the sun, is called +Aditya. "Truly, Surya, thou art great; truly Aditya, thou art great." + +Selden observes that whether the gods be called Osiris, or Omphis, or +Nilus, or any other name, they all center in the sun. + +According to Diodorus Siculus, it was the belief of the ancients that +Dionysos, Osiris, Serapis, Pan, Jupiter and Pluto were all one. They +were, the sun. + +Max Muller says that a very low race in India named the Santhals call +the sun Chandro, which means "bright." These people declared to the +missionaries who settled among them, that Chandro had created the world; +and when told that it would be absurd to say that the sun had created +the world, they replied: "We do not mean the visible Chandro, but an +invisible one." + +Not only did Dionysos, and all the rest of the gods who in later ages +came to be regarded as men, represent the sun, but after the separation +of the male and female elements in the originally indivisible God, Maut +or Minerva, Demeter, Ceres, Isis, Juno, and others less important in the +pagan world were also the sun, or, in other words, they represented the +female power throughout the universe which was supposed to reside in the +sun. + +In most groups of Babylonian and Assyrian divine emblems, there occur +two distinct representations of the sun, "one being figured with four +rays or divisions within the orb, and the other, with eight." According +to George Rawlinson, these figures represent a distinction between +the male and female powers residing within the sun, the quartered disk +signifying the male energy, and the eight-rayed orb appearing as the +emblem of the female!(26) + + + 26) Essay x. + + +During an earlier age of human history, prior to the dissensions which +arose over the relative importance of the sexes in reproduction, and at +a time when a mother and her child represented the Deity, the sun was +worshiped as the female Jove. Everything in the universe was a part of +this great God. At that time there had been no division in the god-idea. +The Creator constituted a dual but indivisible unity. Dionysos formerly +represented this God, as did also Om, Jove, Mithras, and others. Jove +was the "Great Virgin" whence everything proceeds. + + "Jove first exists, whose thunders roll above, + Jove last, Jove midmost, all proceeds from Jove; + Female is Jove, Immortal Jove is male; + Jove the broad Earth, the heavens irradiate pale. + Jove is the boundless Spirit, Jove the Fire, + That warms the world with feeling and desire." + +In a former work the fact has been mentioned that the first clue +obtained by Herr Bachofen, author of Das Mutterrecht, to a former +condition of society under which gynaecocracy, or the social and +political pre-eminence of women, prevailed, was the importance attached +to the female principle in the Deity in all ancient mythologies. + +According to the testimony of various writers, Om, although +comprehending both elements of the Deity, was nevertheless female in +signification. Sir William Jones observes that Om means oracle--matrix +or womb.(27) Upon this subject Godfrey Higgins, quoting from Drummond, +remarks: + + + 27) See Anacalypsis, book iii., ch. ii. + + +"The word Om or Am in the Hebrew not only signifies might, strength, +power, firmness, solidity, truth, but it means also Mother, as in +Genesis ii., 24, and Love, whence the Latin Amo, Mamma. If the word be +taken to mean strength, then Amon will mean (the first syllable being +in regimine) the temple of the strength of the generative or creative +power, or the temple of the mighty procreative power. If the word Am +means Mother, then a still more recondite idea will be implied, viz.: +the mother generative power, or the maternal generative power: perhaps +the Urania of Persia or the Venus Aphrodite of Crete and Greece, or the +Jupiter Genetrix of the masculine and feminine gender, or the Brahme +Mai of India, or the Alma Venus of Lucretius. And the City of On or +Heliopolis will be the City of the sun, or City of the procreative +powers of nature of which the sun was always an emblem." + +According to Prof. W. R. Smith, Om means uniting or binding, a fact +which is explained by the early significance of the mother element in +early society. The name of the great Deity Om or Aum scarcely passes the +lips of its worshippers, and when it is pronounced is always reverently +whispered. Regarding the mystic word Om, we are told that it is the name +given to Delphi, and that "Delphi has the meaning of the female organs +of generation called in India the Os Minxoe." + +Although the great God of India was female and male, yet we are assured +by Forlong that the female energy Maya, Queen of Heaven, even at the +present time is more heard of than the male principle. + +According to Bryant, the worship of Ham is the most ancient as well as +the most universal of any in the world. This writer remarks that Ham, +instead of representing an individual, is but a Greek corruption of Om +or Aum, the great androgynous God of India, a God which is identical in +significance with Aleim, Vesta, and all the other representatives of +the early dual, universal power. "In the old language God was called +Al, Ale, Alue, and Aleim, more frequently Aleim than any other name." +According to the testimony of Higgins, Aleim denotes the feminine +plural. The heathen divinities Ashtaroth and Beelzebub were both called +Aleim, Ashtaroth being simply Astarte adorned with the horns of a ram. +Ishtar not unfrequently appears with the horns of a cow. We are informed +by Inman that whenever a goddess is observed with horns--emblems which +by the way always indicate masculine power--it is to denote the fact +that she is androgynous, or that within her is embodied the complete +Deity--the dual reproductive energy throughout Nature. The "figure +becomes the emblem of divinity and power."(28) + + + 28) Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. i., p. 311. + + +Mithras--the Savior, the great Persian Deity which was worshipped as the +"Preserver," was both female and male. Among the representations of this +divinity which appear in the Townley collection in the British Museum, +is one in which it is figured in its female character, in the act of +killing the bull. The Divinity Baal was both female and male. The God of +the Jews in an early stage of their career was called Baal. The oriental +Ormuzd was also dual or androgynous. + +Orpheus teaches that the divine nature is both female and male. +According to Proclus, Jupiter was an immortal maid, "the Queen of +Heaven, and Mother of the Gods." All things were contained within the +womb of Jupiter. This Virgin within whom was embodied the male principle +"gave light and life to Eve." She was the life-giving, energizing power +in Nature, and was identical with Aleim, Om, Astarte, and others. The +Goddess Esta, or Vesta, or Hestia, whom Plato calls the "soul of the +body of the universe," is believed by Beverly and others to be +the Self-Existent, the Great "She that Is" of the Hindoos, whose +significance is identical with the Cushite or Phoenician Deity, Aleim. + +According to Marco Polo, the Chinese had but one supreme God of whom +they had no image, and to whom they prayed for only two things--"a sound +mind in a sound body." They had, however, a lesser god--probably the +same as the "Lord" (masculine) of the Jews, to whom they petitioned for +rain, fair weather, and all the minor accessories of existence. Upon the +walls of the houses of the Chinese is a tablet to which they pay their +devotion. On this tablet is the name of the "high, celestial, and +supreme God." The principal word which this tablet contains is "Tien." +Of this Chinese Deity Barlow says: "The Chinese recognize in Tienhow, +the Queen of Heaven nursing her infant son." Connected with this figure +is a lotus bud, symbol of the new birth. + +Originally in Chaldea and in Egypt, only one supreme God was worshipped. +This Deity was figured by a mother and her child, as was the great +Chinese God. It comprehended the universe and all the attributes of the +Deity. It was worshipped thousands of years prior to the birth of Mary, +the Mother of Christ, and representations of it are still extant, not +only in oriental lands, but in many countries of Europe. Within the +oldest temples of Egypt are still to be observed sacred apartments which +contain the "Holy of Holies," and to which, in past ages, none might +gain access but priests and priestesses of the highest order. Within +these apartments are pictured the mysteries of birth, together with the +symbols of generation emblems of procreation. + +On the banks of the river Nile are observed the ruins of the temple of +Philae, which structure, it is said, represents the most ancient style +of architecture. Within these ruins is to be seen an inner chamber in +which are depicted the birth scenes of the child god Horus, and, indeed, +everywhere among the monuments and ruins of Egypt, is plainly visible +the fact that the creative power and functions in human beings, in +animals, and in vegetable life, together with Wisdom, once constituted +the god-idea. + +Between the ruins of the palace of Amunoph III. and the Nile are two +colossal statues, each hewn from a single block of stone. These figures, +although in a sitting posture, are sixty feet high. It is thought that +they once formed the entrance to an avenue of similar figures leading +up to the palace. It has been supposed that the most northern statue +represents Ammon, and that its companion piece is his Mother. It is now +believed by many writers, however, that these figures do not represent +two persons at all, but that in a remote age of the world's history +they were worshipped as the two great principles, female and male, which +animate Nature. The fact has been observed that Am or Om was originally +a female Deity, within whom was contained the male principle; when, +however, through the changes wrought in the relative positions of the +sexes, the male element in the Divinity adored came to be represented +as a man instead of as a child, he was Ammon. He was the sun, yet +notwithstanding the fact that he had drawn to himself the powers of the +sun, he was still, himself, only a production of or emanation from the +female Deity Om, Mother of the Gods and Queen of Heaven. She it was who +had created or brought forth the sun. + +There is a tradition which asserts that every morning a melodious sound +is emitted from the first named of these two colossal figures as he +salutes his rosy-fingered Mother whom he acknowledges as the source of +all Light and Wisdom. The bodies are described as being "without motion, +the faces without expression, the eyes looking straight forward, yet a +certain grand simplicity occasions them to be universally admired." + +The Goddess Disa or Isa of the North, as delineated on the sacred drums +of the Laplanders, was accompanied by a child similar to the Horus +of the Egyptians.(29) It is observed also that the ancient Muscovites +worshipped a sacred group composed of a mother and her children, +probably a representation of the Egyptian Isis and her offspring, or at +least of the once universal idea of the Deity. + + + 29) Jennings, Phallicism. + + +The following is from Payne Knight: + +"A female Pantheitic figure in silver, with the borders of the drapery +plated with gold, and the whole finished in a manner surpassing almost +anything extant, was among the things found at Macon on the Saone, +in the year 1764, and published by Caylus. It represents Cybele, the +universal mother, with the mural crown on her head, and the wings of +pervasion growing from her shoulders, mixing the productive elements of +heat and moisture by making a libation upon the flames of an altar. On +each side of her head is one of the Discouri, signifying the alternate +influence of the diurnal and nocturnal Sun; and, upon a crescent +supported by the tips of her wings, are the seven planets, each +signified by a bust of its presiding deity resting upon a globe, and +placed in the order of the days of the week named after them. + +"In her left hand she holds two cornucopiae, to signify the result of +her operation on the two hemispheres of the Earth; and upon them are the +busts of Apollo and Diana, the presiding deities of these hemispheres, +with a golden disk, intersected by two transverse lines, such as is +observed on other pieces of ancient art, and such as the barbarians of +the North employed to represent the solar year, divided into four parts, +at the back of each."(30) + + + 30) Symbolism of Ancient Art. + + +It was doubtless at a time when woman constituted the head of the gens, +and when the feminine element in the sun, in human beings, and in Nature +generally was regarded as the more important, that Latona and her son +Apollo were worshipped together. Latona, Apollo, and Diana constituted +the triune God. The last two were the female and male energies, the +former being the source whence they sprang. As soon as one is divested +of a belief in the popular but erroneous opinion that the gods of the +early Egyptians and Greeks were deified heroes of former ages, he is +prepared to perceive the fact that, although to the uninitiated these +gods appear numberless, in reality they all represent the same idea, +namely: the dual, moving force in Nature, together with Light or Wisdom. + +We have seen that when among the nations of antiquity civilization had +reached its height, the god-idea was represented by the figure of a +woman with her child; subsequently, however, as these nations began to +decline, the creative energy comprehended simply physical life, or the +power to reproduce, and was represented by various emblems which will +be noticed farther on in this work. In still later ages, after male +reproductive power had become God, and when, through superstition +and sensuality, the masses of the people had descended to the rank of +slaves, monarchs, representing themselves to their ignorant subjects +as the source of all blessings, even of life itself, appropriated the +titles of the sun, and claimed for themselves the adoration which had +formerly belonged to it. From this fact has doubtless arisen the opinion +so tenaciously upheld in recent times, that the gods of the ancients +were only deified heroes of former times. + +If, during the earlier ages of human existence, all the gods resolved +themselves into the sun, and if Light and Life, or Wisdom and the power +to reproduce and sustain life, constituted the Deity, then of course God +or the sun would be female or male, or both, according to the prevailing +belief in the comparative creative and sustaining forces of the sexes. + +From what appears in the foregoing pages the fact has doubtless been +perceived that the worship of a Virgin and Child does not, as is usually +supposed, belong exclusively to the Romish Christian Church, but, on the +contrary, that it constitutes the most remote idea of a Creator extant. +As has been hinted, there is little doubt that the earliest worship of +the woman and child was much simpler than was that which came to prevail +in later ages, at a time when every religious conception was closely +veiled beneath a mixture of astrology and mythology. After the planets +came to be regarded as active agencies in reproduction, and powerful +in directing all mundane affairs, the Virgin of the Sphere while she +represented Nature was also the constellation which appeared above the +horizon at the winter solstice, or at the time when the sun had reached +its lowest point and had begun to return. At this time, the 25th of +December, and just as the days began to lengthen, this Virgin gave birth +to the Sun-God. It is said that he issued forth from her side, hence the +legend that Gotama Buddha was produced from the side of Maya, and also +the story believed by the Gnostics and other Christian sects that Jesus +was taken from the side of Mary.(31) + + + 31) The fact will doubtless be remembered that a similar belief was +entertained concerning the birth of Julius Caesar. + + +Within the churches and in the streets of many cities of Germany are +to be observed figures of this traditional Virgin. She is standing, one +foot upon a crescent and the other on a serpent's head, in the mouth of +which is the sprig of an apple tree on which is an apple. The tail +of the serpent is wound about a globe which is partially enveloped in +clouds. On one arm of the Virgin is the Child, and in the hand of the +other arm she carries the sacred lotus. Her head is encircled with a +halo of light similar to the rays of the sun. + +One is frequently disposed to query: Do the initiated in the Romish +Church regard these images as legitimate representations of Mary, the +wife of Joseph and Mother of Christ, or are they aware of their true +significance? Certainly the various accessories attached to this figure +betray its ancient origin and reveal its identity with the Egyptian, +Chaldean, and Phoenician Virgin of the Sphere. + +The fact has already been observed that in the original representation +of the "Temptation" in the cave temple of India, it is not the woman +but the man who is the tempter, and a singular peculiarity observed in +connection with this ancient female Deity is that it is SHE and NOT HER +SEED who is trampling on the serpent, thus proving that originally woman +and not man was worshipped as the Savior. Another significant feature +noticed in connection with this subject is that the oldest figures +which represent this Goddess are black, thus proving that she must have +belonged to a dark skinned race. + +This image, although black, or dark skinned, had long hair, hence not a +negress. The most ancient statue of Ceres was black, and Pausanias says +that at a place called Melangea in Arcadia there was a black Venus. In +the Netherlands only a few years ago, was a church dedicated to a black +goddess. The Virgin of the Sphere who treads on the head of the serpent +represents universal womanhood. She is the Virgin of the first book of +Genesis and mother of all the Earth. She represents not only creative +power but Perceptive Wisdom. Although this Goddess is usually seen with +the lotus in her hand, she sometimes carries ripe corn or wheat. + +The mother of Gotama Buddha was called Mai or Maya, after the month in +which the Earth is arrayed in her most beautiful attire. + +Maya is the parent of universal Nature. According to Davis, the mother +of Mercury "is the universal genius of Nature which discriminated all +things according to their various kinds of species," the same as was +Muth of Egypt. Mai is said to mean "one who begins to illuminate." She +was in fact the mother of the sun whence everything proceeds. She was +matter, within which was concealed spirit. + +In the representations of Montfaucon appears the Goddess Isis sitting on +the lotus. Her head, upon which is a globe, is surrounded by a radiant +circle which evidently represents the sun. On the reverse side is Ieu, +the word "which is the usual way of the ecclesiastical authors reading +the Hebrew word Jehovah." Referring to this from Montfaucon, Godfrey +Higgins observes: "Here Isis, whose veil no mortal shall ever +draw aside, the celestial Virgin of the Sphere, is seated on the +self-generating sacred lotus and is called Ieu or Jove."(32) She has +also the mystic number 608 which stands for the Deity. Her breasts show +plainly that it is a female representation, although connected with the +figure appears the male emblem to indicate that within her are contained +both elements, or that the universe is embodied within the female. + + + 32) Anacalypsis, book v., ch. iv. + + +Higgins thinks there is no subject on which more mistakes have been made +than on that of the Goddess Isis, both by ancients and moderns. He calls +attention to the inconsistency of calling her the moon when in many +countries the moon is masculine. He is quite positive that if Isis is +the moon, Ceres, Proserpine, Venus, and all the other female gods were +the same, which in view of the facts everywhere at hand cannot be true. +It is true, however, that "the planet called the moon was dedicated to +her in judicial astrology, the same as a planet was dedicated to Venus +or Mars. But Venus and Mars were not these planets themselves, though +these planets were sacred to them."(33) Higgins then calls attention to +her temple at Sais in Egypt, and to the inscription which declares that +"she comprehends all that is and was and is to be," that she is "parent +of the sun," and he justly concludes that Isis can not be the moon. + + + 33) Anacalypsis, book vi., ch. ii. + + +Apuleius makes Isis say: + +"I am the parent of all things, the sovereign of the elements, the +primary progeny of time, the most exalted of the deities, the first +of the heavenly gods and goddesses, whose single deity the whole world +venerates in many forms, with various rites and various names. The +Egyptians worship me with proper ceremonies and call me by my true name, +Queen Isis." + +Isis, we are told, is called Myrionymus, or goddess with 10,000 names. +She is the Persian Mithra, which is the same as Buddha, Minerva, Venus, +and all the rest. + +Faber admits that the female principle was formerly regarded as the Soul +of the World. He says: + +"Isis was the same as Neith or Minerva; hence the inscription at Sais +was likewise applied to that goddess. Athenagoras informs us that +Neith or the Athene of the Greeks was supposed to be Wisdom passing and +diffusing itself through all things. Hence it is manifest that she was +thought to be the Soul of the World; for such is precisely the character +sustained by that mythological personage."(34) + + + 34) Pagan Idolatry, book i., p. 170. + + +The same writer says further: + +"Ovid gives a similar character to Venus. He represents her as +moderating the whole world; as giving laws to Heaven, Earth, and Ocean, +as the common parent both of gods and men, and as the productive +cause both of corn and trees. She is celebrated in the same manner by +Lucretius, who ascribes to her that identical attribute of universality +which the Hindoos give to their Goddess Isi or Devi."(35) + + + 35) Ibid. + + +It seems to be the general belief of all writers whose object is +to disclose rather than conceal the ancient mysteries, that until a +comparatively recent time the moon was never worshipped as Isis. Until +the origin and meaning of the ancient religion had been forgotten, and +the ideas underlying the worship of Nature had been lost, the moon was +never regarded as representing the female principle. + +When man began to regard himself as the only important factor in +procreation, and when the sun became masculine and heat or passion +constituted the god-idea, the moon was called Isis. The moon represented +the absence of heat, it therefore contained little of the recognized +god-element. It was, perhaps, under the circumstances, a fitting emblem +for woman. + +In the sacred writings of the Hindoos there is an account of the moon, +Soma, having been changed into a female called Chandra, "the white or +silvery one." + +While speaking of the moon, Kalisch says: "The whole ritual of the +Phoenician Goddess Astarte with whom that Queen of Heaven is identical, +and who was the goddess of fertility seems to have been transferred to +her."(36) + + + 36) Historical and Critical Commentary of the Old Testament. + + +To such an extent, in the earlier ages of the world had the female +been regarded as the Creator, that in many countries where her worship +subsequently became identified with that of the moon, Luna was adored as +the producer of the sun. According to the Babylonian creation tablets, +the moon was the most important heavenly body. In later ages, the gender +of the sun and the moon seems to be exceedingly variable. The Achts of +Vancouver's Island worship sun and moon--the sun as female, the moon +as male.(37) In some of the countries of Africa the moon is adored as +female and sun-worship is unknown. Among various peoples the sun and the +moon are regarded as husband and wife, and among others as brother and +sister. In some countries, both are female. I can find no instance in +which both are male. Hindoos and Aztecs alike, at one time, said that +Luna was male and often that the sun was female. + + + 37) Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. ii., p. 272. + + +The fact that among the Persians the moon as well as the sun was at +a certain period regarded as a source of procreative energy and as +influencing the generative processes, is shown by various passages in +the Avestas. In the Khordah Avesta, praise is offered to "the Moon which +contains the seed of cattle, to the only begotten Bull, to the Bull of +many kinds." + +Perhaps the most widely diffused and universally adored representation +of the ancient female Deity in Egypt was the Virgin Neit or Neith, the +Athene of the Greeks and the Minerva of the Romans. Her name signifies +"I came from myself." This Deity represents not only creative power, +but abstract intelligence, Wisdom or Light. Her temple at Sais was +the largest in Egypt. It was open at the top and bore the following +inscription: "I am all that was and is and is to be; no mortal has +lifted up my veil, and the fruit which I brought forth was the sun." +She was called also Muth, the universal mother. Kings were especially +honored in the title "Son of Neith." + +To express the idea that the female energy in the Deity comprehended +not alone the power to bring forth, but that it involved all the natural +powers, attributes, and possibilities of human nature, it was portrayed +by a pure Virgin who was also a mother. According to Herodotus, the +worship of Minerva was indigenous in Lybia, whence it travelled to Egypt +and was carried from thence to Greece. Among the remnants of Egyptian +mythology, the figure of a mother and child is everywhere observed. It +is thought by various writers that the worship of the black virgin and +child found its way to Italy from Egypt. + +The change noted in the growth of the religious idea by which the male +principle assumes the more important position in the Deity may, by a +close investigation of the facts at hand, be easily traced, and, as has +before been expressed, this change will be found to correspond with +that which in an earlier age of the world took place in the relative +positions of the sexes. In all the earliest representations of the +Deity, the fact is observed that within the mother element is contained +the divinity adored, while the male appears as a child and dependent on +the ministrations of the female for existence and support. Gradually, +however, as the importance of man begins to be recognized in human +affairs, we find that the male energy in the Deity, instead of appearing +as a child in the arms of its mother, is represented as a man, and that +he is of equal importance with the woman; later he is identical with the +sun, the woman, although still a necessary factor in the god-idea, being +concealed or absorbed within the male. It is no longer woman who is to +bruise the serpent's head, but the seed of the woman, or the son. He is +Bacchus in Greece, Adonis in Syria, Christna in India. He is indeed the +new sun which is born on the 25th of December, or at the time when the +solar orb has reached its lowest position and begins to ascend. It is +not perhaps necessary to add that he is also the Christ of Bethlehem, +the son of the Virgin. + +Nowhere, perhaps, is the growing importance of the male in the god-idea +more clearly traced than in the history of the Arabians. Among this +people are still to be found certain remnants of the matriarchal +age--an age in which women were the recognized heads of families and the +eponymous leaders of the gentes or clans. Concerning the worship of +a man and woman as god by the early Arabians, Prof. Robertson Smith +remarks: + +"Except the comparatively modern Isaf and Naila in the sanctuary at +Mecca where there are traditions of Syrian influence, I am not aware +that the Arabs had pairs of gods represented as man and wife. In the +time of Mohammed the female deities, such as Al-lat, were regarded as +daughters of the supreme male God. But the older conception as we see +from a Nabataean inscription in De Vogue, page 119, is that Al-lat +is mother of the gods. At Petra the mother-goddess and her son were +worshipped together, and there are sufficient traces of the same thing +elsewhere to lead us to regard this as having been the general rule when +a god and goddess were worshipped in one sanctuary."(38) + + + 38) Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, ch. vi., p. 179. + + +As the worship of the black virgin and child is connected with the +earliest religion of which we may catch a glimpse, the exact locality +in which it first appeared must be somewhat a matter of conjecture, +but that this idea constituted the Deity among the Ethiopian or early +Cushite race, the people who doubtless carried civilization to Egypt, +India, and Chaldea, is quite probable. + +If we bear in mind the fact that the gods of the ancients represented +principles and powers, we shall not be surprised to find that Muth, +Neith, or Isis, who was creator of the sun, was also the first emanation +from the sun. Minerva is Wisdom--the Logos, the Word. She is Perception, +Light, etc. At a later stage in the history of religion, all emanations +from the Deity are males who are "Saviors." + +That the office of the male as a creative agency is dependent on the +female, is a fact so patent that for ages the mother principle could +not be eliminated from the conception of a Deity, and the homage paid +to Athene or Minerva, even after women had become only sexual slaves and +household tools, shows the extent to which the idea of female supremacy +in Nature and in the Deity had taken root. + +Notwithstanding the efforts which during numberless ages were made to +dethrone the female principle in the god-idea, the Great Mother, under +some one of her various appellations, continued, down to a late period +in the history of the human race, to claim the homage and adoration of a +large portion of the inhabitants of the globe. And so difficult was it, +even after the male element had declared itself supreme, to conceive of +a creative force independently of the female principle, that oftentimes, +during the earlier ages of their attempted separation, great confusion +and obscurity are observed in determining the positions of male deities. +Zeus who in later times came to be worshipped as male was formerly +represented as "the great dyke, the terrible virgin who breathes out on +crime, anger, and death." Grote refers to numerous writers as authority +for the statement that Dionysos, who usually appears in Greece as +masculine, and who was doubtless the Jehovah of the Jews, was indigenous +in Thrace, Phrygia, and Lydia as the Great Mother Cybele. He was +identical with Bacchus, who although represented on various coins as +a "bearded venerable figure" appears with the limbs, features, and +character of a beautiful young woman. Sometimes this Deity is portrayed +with sprouting horns, and again with a crown of ivy. The Phrygian Attis +and the Syrian Adonis, as represented in monuments of ancient art, are +androgynous personifications of the same attributes. According to +the testimony of the geographer Dionysius, the worship of Bacchus was +formerly carried on in the British Islands in exactly the same manner as +it had been in an earlier age in Thrace and on the banks of the Ganges. + +In referring to the Idean Zeus in Crete, to Demeter at Eleusis, to +the Cabairi in Samothrace, and Dionysos at Delphi and Thebes, Grote +observes: "That they were all to a great degree analogous, is shown by +the way in which they necessarily run together and become confused in +the minds of various authors." + +Concerning Sadi, Sadim, or Shaddai, Higgins remarks: + +"Parkhurst tells us it means all-bountiful--the pourer forth of +blessings; among the Heathen, the Dea Multimammia; in fact the Diana of +Ephesus, the Urania of Persia, the Jove of Greece, called by Orpheus the +Mother of the Gods, each male as well as female--the Venus Aphrodite; in +short, the genial powers of Nature." + +To which Higgins adds: "And I maintain that it means the figure which +is often found in collections of ancient statues, most beautifully +executed, and called the Hermaphrodite." + +As in the old language there was no neuter gender, the gods must always +appear either as female or male. For apparent reasons, in all the +translations, through the pronouns and adjectives used, the more +important ancient deities have all been made to appear as males. + +By at least two ancient writers Jupiter is called the Mother of the +Gods. In reference to a certain Greek appellation, Bryant observes that +it is a masculine name for a feminine deity--a name which is said to be +a corruption of Mai, the Hindoo Queen of Heaven. + +In process of time, as the world became more and more masculinized, so +important did it become that the male should occupy the more exalted +place in the Deity, that even the Great Mother of the Gods, as we have +seen, is represented as male. + +The androgynous or plural form of the ancient Phoenician God Aleim, +the Creator referred to in the opening chapter of Genesis, is clearly +apparent. This God, speaking to his counterpart, Wisdom, the female +energy, says: "Let us make man in our own image, in our own likeness," +and accordingly males and females are produced. By those whose duty +it has been in the past to prove that the Deity here represented is +composed only of the masculine attributes, we are given to understand +that God was really "speaking to himself," and that in his divine +cogitations excessive modesty dictated the "polite form of speech"; he +did not, therefore, say exactly what he meant, or at least did not mean +precisely what he said. We have to bear in mind, however, that as man +had not at that time been created, if there were no female element +present, this excess of politeness on the part of the "Lord" was wholly +lost. Surely, in a matter involving such an enormous stretch of power +as the creation of man independently of the female energy, we would +scarcely expect to find the high and mighty male potentate which was +subsequently worshipped as the Lord of the Israelites laying aside his +usual "I the Lord," simply out of deference to the animals. + +In Christian countries, during the past eighteen hundred years, the +greatest care has been exercised to conceal the fact that sun-worship +underlies all forms of religion, and under Protestant Christianity +no pains has been spared in eliminating the female element from the +god-idea; hence the ignorance which prevails at the present time in +relation to the fact that the Creator once comprehended the forces of +Nature, which by an older race were worshipped as female. + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE DUAL GOD OF THE ANCIENTS A TRINITY ALSO. + +Although the God of the most ancient people was a dual Unity, in later +ages it came to be worshipped as a Trinity. When mankind began to +speculate on the origin of the life principle, they came to worship +their Deity in its three capacities as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer +or Regenerator, each of which was female and male. We have observed +that, according to Higgins, when this Trinity was spoken of +collectively, it was called after the feminine plural. + +By the various writers who have dealt with this subject during the last +century, much surprise has been manifested over the fact that for untold +ages the people of the earth have worshipped a Trinity. Forster, in his +Sketches of Hindoo Mythology, says: "One circumstance which forcibly +struck my attention was the Hindoo belief of a Trinity." + +Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, observes that the idea of three +persons in the Deity was diffused amongst all the nations of the +earth, in regions as distant as Japan and Peru, that it was memorially +acknowledged throughout the whole extent of Egypt and India, +"flourishing with equal vigor amidst the snowy mountains of Thibet, and +the vast deserts of Siberia." The idea of a Trinity is supposed to have +been first elaborated on the banks of the Indus, whence it was carried +to the Greek and Latin nations. Astrologically the triune Deity of the +ancients portrayed the processes of Nature. + +This recondite doctrine as understood by the very ancient people +which originated it, involved a knowledge of Nature far too deep to +be appreciated or understood by their degenerate descendants, except +perhaps by a few philosophers and scholars who imbibed it in a modified +form from original sources in the far East. + +After the establishment of the Trinity, the creative energy, which had +formerly been represented by a mother and child, came to be figured +by the mother, father, and the life derived therefrom. Sometimes the +Trinity took the form of the two creative forces, female and male, and +the Great Mother. + +Whenever the two creative principles were considered separately, there +always appeared stationed over or above them, as their Creator, an +indivisible unity. This Creator was the "Beyond," the "most High +God"--Om or Aleim. It was the Mother of the Gods in whom were contained +all the elements of the Deity. Among the representations of the god-idea +which are to be observed on the monuments and in the temples of Egypt +appear triads, each of which is composed of a woman stationed between +a male figure and that of a child. She is depicted as the Light of the +sun, or Wisdom, while the male is manifested as the Heat of the orb +of day. She is crowned and always bears the male symbol of life--the +crux-ansata. + +Later, it is observed that the worship of Light has in a measure given +place to the adoration of Heat, in other words Light is no longer +adored as essence of the Deity, Heat or Passion having become the most +important element in creative power. + +After the ancient worship of the Virgin and Child had become somewhat +changed or modified so as to better accommodate itself to the growing +importance of the male, the most exalted conception of the Deity in +Egypt seems to have been that of a trinity composed of Mout the Mother, +Ammon the Father, and Chons the Infant Life derived from the other two. +Mout is identical with Neith, but she has become the wife as well as the +mother of Ammon. Directly below this conception of the Deity is a triad +representing less exalted attributes, or lower degrees of wisdom, under +the appellations of Sate, Kneph, and the child Anouk; and thus downward, +through the varying spheres of celestial light and life involved in +their theogony are observed the divine creative energies represented +under the figures of Mother, Father, and the Life proceeding therefrom, +until, finally, when the earth is reached, Isis, Osiris, and Horus +appear as the representation of the creative forces in human beings, and +therefore as the embodiment of the divine in the human. + +The Deity invoked in all the earlier inscriptions is a triad, and we are +assured that in Babylonia, where Beltis is associated with Belus, "no +god appears without a goddess." + +The supreme Deity of Assyria was Asshur, who was worshipped sometimes +as female, sometimes as male. This God doubtless represents the dual or +triple creative principle observed in all the earlier forms of worship. +Asshur had no distinct temple, but as her position was at the head of +the Pantheon, all the shrines throughout Assyria were supposed to have +been open to her worship. + +According to Bunsen, in the Sidonian Tyrian district, there were +originally three great gods, at the head of which appears Astarte--a +woman who represents pure reason or intelligence; then follows Zeus, +Demarius, and Adorus. Without doubt this triad represents a monad Deity +similar in character to the one observed in Egypt and other countries. + +In the minds of all well-informed persons, there is no longer any doubt +that in Abraham's time the Canaanites worshipped the same gods as did +the Persians and all the other nations about them--namely, Elohim, +the dual or triune creative force in Nature. As the Sun was the +source whence proceeded all light and life as well as reproductive or +generative power, it had become the object of adoration, and as the +emblem of the Deity, it was worshipped by all the nations of the +earth in its three capacities as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer or +Regenerator each female and male. + +Melchizedek, who was a priest of the most high God, blessed Abraham, who +was a worshipper of the same Deity. On this subject Dr. Shuckford says: + +"It is evident that Abraham and his descendants worshipped not only the +true and living God, but they invoked him in the name of the Lord, and +they worshipped the Lord whose name they invoked, so that two persons +were the object of their worship, God and this Lord: and the Scriptures +have distinguished these two persons from one another by this +circumstance, that God no man hath seen at any time nor can see but +the Lord whom Abraham and his descendants worshipped was the person who +appeared to them." + +We are told that when chap. xxi., verse 33, of Genesis is correctly +translated, Abraham is represented as having invoked Jehovah, the +everlasting God. + +In the Hebrew name Yod-He-Vau (Jehovah), was set forth the triune +character of the Creator; in other words, this name "comprehended +the essential perfections of the great God," and was used in their +Scriptures as a "kind of summary or revelation of the attributes of the +Deity." + +Although Abraham, while in Egypt, was the worshipper of idols, we +are assured that "the peculiar privilege vouchsafed to him lay in the +revelation of God's holy name, Yod-He-Vau." There is indeed much evidence +going to prove that the people represented by Abraham understood the +earlier conception of a Deity, and that while the great universal +principle whose name it was sacrilege to pronounce was still +acknowledged, there was another God (the Lord), the same as in China, +whose worship they were beginning to adopt. "And Jacob vowed a vow, +saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, +and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come +again to my Father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God." + +He then declared that the pillar or stone which he had set up, and which +was the emblem of male procreative energy, should be God's house. + +As at the time represented by Jacob there was evidently little or no +spirituality among the Israelites, this Lord whom they worshipped was +simply a life-giver in the most material or practical sense. + +The reproductive energy in man had become deified. It had, in other +words, come to possess all the attributes of a god, or of a powerful +man, which in reality was the same thing. It is this god personified +which is represented as appearing to Abraham and talking with him face +to face. With this same god Jacob wrestled, while the real God--the dual +or triune principle, the Jehovah or Iav, no man could behold and live. + +To conceal the fact that the God of Abraham originally consisted of a +dual or triple unity, and that the Deity was identical in significance +with that of contemporary peoples, the priests have, as usual, had +recourse to a trick to deceive the ignorant or uninitiated. In reference +to this subject Godfrey Higgins says: + +"In the second book of Genesis the creation is described not to have +been made by Aleim, or the Aleim, but by a God of a double name Ieue +Aleim; which the priests have translated Lord God. By using the word +Lord, their object evidently is to conceal from their readers several +difficulties which afterward arise respecting the names of God and this +word, and which show clearly that the books of the Pentateuch are the +writings of different persons."(39) + + + 39) Anacalypsis, book ii., ch, i. + + +Upon this subject Bishop Colenso observes: + +"And it is especially to be noted that when the Elohistic passages +are all extracted and copied one after another, they form a complete, +connected narrative; from which we infer that these must have composed +the original story, and that the other passages were afterwards inserted +by another writer, who wished to enlarge or supplement the primary +record. And he seems to have used the compound Jehovah Aleim in the +first portion of his work in order to impress upon the reader that +Jehovah, of whom he goes on to speak in the later portions, is the same +Great Being who is called simply Elohim by the older writer, and notably +in the first account of the creation."(40) + + + 40) Lectures on the Pentateuch and the Moabite Stone, p. 7. + + +We are informed by Bunsen that El, or Elohim, comprehends the true +significance of the Deity among all the Aramaic or Canaanitish races, +El representing the abstract principle taken collectively, Elohim +pertaining to the separate elements as Creator, Preserver, and +Regenerator. Each of these Canaanitish races had inherited these ideas +from their fathers, and, although they had become grossly idolatrous, +"Moses knew, and educated Israelites remained a long time conscious, +that they used them not merely in their real but in their most ancient +sense."(41) Maurice and other writers call attention to the fact that +Moses himself uses this word Elohim with verbs and adjectives in the +plural. That the God worshipped by the more ancient peoples, namely +Aleim, or Elohim, the same who said, "Let us make man in our image," was +not the Lord adored at a later age by the Jews, is a fact which at the +present time seems to be clearly proven; that it constituted, however, +the dual or triune unity venerated by all the nations on the globe of +which we have any record, appears to be well established. + + + 41) Bunsen, History of Egypt, vol. iv., p. 421. + + +We have seen that although the two sex-principles which underlie Nature +constituted the Creator, the ancients thought of it only as one and +indivisible. This indivisible aspect was the sacred Iav, the Holy +of Holies. When it was contemplated in its individual aspect it was +Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, each of which was female and male. + +The difficulty of the ancients in establishing a First Cause seems to +have been exactly the same as is ours at the present time. When we say +there must have been a God who created all things, the question at once +arises, Who created God? According to their theories, nothing could be +brought forth without the interaction of two creative principles, female +and male; yet everything, even these principles, must proceed from an +indivisible energy--an energy which, as the idea of the sex functions +became more and more clearly defined, could not be contemplated except +in its dual aspect. So soon, therefore, as the Great First Cause was +separated into its elements, a still higher power was immediately +stationed above it as its Creator. This Creator was designated as +female. It was the Mother idea Even gods could not be produced without a +mother. + +In referring to the doctrines contained in the Geeta, one of the sacred +writings of the Hindoos, Faber observes: + +"In the single character of Brahm, all the three offices of Brahma, +Vishnu, and Siva are united. He is at once the Creator, the Preserver, +and the Destroyer. He is the primeval Hermaphrodite, or the Great Father +and the Great Mother blended together in one person." + +The fact that a trinity in unity, representing the female and male +energies symbolized by the organs of generation, formerly constituted +the Deity throughout Asia is acknowledged by all those who have examined +either the literature or monumental records of oriental countries. The +Rev. Mr. Maurice bears testimony to the character of Eastern religious +ideas in the following language: + +"Whoever will read the Geeta with attention, will perceive in that small +tract the outlines of all the various systems of theology in Asia. The +curious and ancient doctrine of the Creator being both male and female, +mentioned on a preceding page, to be designated in Indian temples by +a very indecent exhibition of the masculine and feminine organs of +generation in union, occurs in the following passage: 'I am the Father +and Mother of this world; I plant myself upon my own nature and +create again and again this assemblage of beings; I am generation +and dissolution, the place where all things are deposited, and the +inexhaustible seed of all Nature. I am the beginning, the middle, and +the end of all things.' "(42) + + + 42) Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. iv., p. 705. + + +According to Sir W. Jones, the Brahme, Vishnu, and Siva coalesce to form +the mystic Om, which means the essence of life or divine fire. In the +Bhagavat Geeta the supreme God speaks thus concerning itself: "I am the +holy one worthy to be known"; and immediately adds: "I am the mystic +(trilateral) figure Om; the Reig, the Yagush, and the Saman Vedas." It +is a unity and still a trinity. This Om or Aum stands for the Creator, +Preserver, and Destroyer or Regenerator, and represents the threefold +aspect of the force within the sun. The doctrine maintained throughout +the Geeta is not only that the great life-force represents a trinity in +unity, but that it is both female and male. On this subject Maurice, in +his Indian Antiquities, says: + +"This notion of three persons in the Deity was diffused amongst all the +nations of the earth, established at once in regions so distant as Japan +and Peru, immemorially acknowledged throughout the whole extent of Egypt +and India, and flourishing with equal vigor amidst the snowy mountains +of Thibet, and the vast deserts of Siberia." + +We have observed that the idea of a trinity as conceived by the +so-called ancients, although at all times founded on the same +conception, viz., that of the reproductive powers of Nature and +especially of mankind, differed in expression according to its +application. Although in human beings this triune creative idea was +expressed by the mother, father, and child, as set forth in the temples +and on the monuments of Egypt, when applied directly to the sun and +the planets, it appears as the Creator, Preserver, and Regenerator or +Destroyer. + +Destruction, or the absence of the sun's heat, represented by winter, +was necessary to life, and therefore the Destroyer was also the +Regenerator and equally with the Creator and Preserver constituted a +beneficent factor in the god-idea. In fact as this third element really +embodied the substance of the other two, it finally became the supreme +God, little afterward being heard about the Creator and Preserver. The +Regenerator or Destroyer was of course the sun, which in winter died +away and rose again in the spring-time as a beneficent Savior or +renewer of life. The principle involved in these processes represented +Fertility, Life, reproductive energy. As applied to mortals, it +comprehended the power to create combined with perceptive Wisdom or +Knowledge. + +This idea, portrayed as it was by a mother and her child, linked woman +with the stars. It produced the "Virgin of the Sphere," Queen of Heaven, +"Isiac Controller of the Zodiac," at the same time that it made her the +mother of all mankind. + +Every year this Virgin of the Sphere as she appeared above the horizon +at the winter solstice gave birth to the sun. Astronomically this +new sun was the Regenerator, by which all Nature was renewed. +Mythologically, after the higher truths contained in these doctrines +were lost, it came to be the Savior, the Son of the Virgin, the seed of +the woman, which was to bruise the serpent's head. + +That the religion of an ancient race comprehended a knowledge of the +evolutionary processes of Nature may not be doubted. The myths still +extant, and even the oldest Assyrian inscriptions which have been +deciphered, reveal the fact that the seeds of the visible universe were +hidden in the "great deep"--that animal creation sprang from the earth +and the sea through the influence of the sun's rays. + +It is now known that the philosophy of an older race involved a belief +in the Eternity of Matter. The abstruse doctrine of Reincarnation +and the Renewal of Worlds seems to have formed the basis of their +philosophy. According to these speculations, a portion of the earth was +destroyed or resolved into its primary elements every six hundred years, +while at the end of each Kalpia, or great Cycle of several thousand +years, the entire earth was renovated or absorbed into the two +fecundating principles of the universe. These two indivisible forces +represented by Vishnu rested in the water, or brooded on the face of the +deep. When stirred by love for each other they again became active, and +from the germs of a former world, which had been absorbed by themselves, +created again the earth and everything upon it. In other words, "the +earth sprang from the navel of Vishnu or Brahme." According to the +Buddhists of Ceylon, the universe has perished ten different times, +and each time has been renewed by the operations of Nature, or by the +preservation of germs from a former world. In their mythology these +germs are represented by a parent and a triplicated offspring. It is +perhaps unnecessary to add that this monad trinity is the Creator, +Preserver, and Destroyer with their great parent, the Mother of the +Gods, which in process of time came to be regarded as male. According to +Wilford, Hindoo chronology presents fourteen different periods, six of +which have already elapsed; we are in the seventh, which began with +the flood. Each of these periods is called a Manwantara, the presiding +genius or Deity of which is a Menu. At the close of each dynasty a total +destruction of the world takes place, everything being destroyed except +the ruler, or Menu, who "escapes in a boat." Each new world is an exact +counterpart of the one destroyed, and each Menu is a representation of +all preceding ones. Thus the history of one dynasty serves for all the +rest. This doctrine of a triplicated Deity appearing at the beginning of +a new creation may be traced in nearly every country of the globe. Among +the Buddhists of China, Fo is mysteriously multiplied into three persons +in the same manner as is Fo-hi, who is evidently Noah. Among the Hindoos +is observed the triad Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva springing from the monad +Brahm or Brahme. This triad appears on the earth at the beginning of +each Manwantara in the human form of Menu and his three sons. We are +assured that among the Tartars evident traces are found of a similar +God, who is seated on the lotus. It is also figured on a Siberian medal +in the imperial collection at St. Petersburg. The Jakuthi Tartars, +who are said to be the most numerous people of Siberia, worship +a triplicated Deity under the three denominations of Artugon and +Schugo-tangon and Tangara. Faber tells us that this Tartar God is the +same even in appellation with the Tanga-tanga of the Peruvians, who, +like other tribes of America, seem plainly to have crossed over from the +North-eastern extremity of Siberia. Upon this subject the same writer +remarks thus: + +"Agreeably to the mystical notion so familiar to the Hindoos, that +the self-triplicated Great Father yet remained but one in essence, the +Peruvians supposed their Tanga-tanga to be one in three, and three +in one: and in consequence of the union of hero worship with the +astronomical and material systems of idolatry they venerated the sun +and the air, each under three images and three names. The same opinions +equally prevailed throughout the nations which lie to the west of +Hindostan. Thus the Persians had their Ormuzd, Mithras, and Ahriman: +or, as the matter was sometimes represented, their self-triplicating +Mithras. The Syrians had their Monimus, Aziz, and Ares. The Egyptians +had their Emeph, Eicton, and Phtha. The Greeks and Romans had their +Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; three in number, though one in essence, and +all springing from Cronus, a fourth, yet older God. The Canaanites had +their Baal-Spalisha or self-triplicated Baal. The Goths had their Odin, +Vile, and Ve, who are described as the three sons of Bura, the offspring +of the mysterious cow, and the Celts had their three bulls, venerated as +the living symbols of the triple Hu or Menu. To the same class we must +ascribe the triads of the Orphic and Pythagorean and Platonic schools; +each of which must again be identified with the imperial triad of the +old Chaldaic or Babylonian philosophy."(43) + + + 43) Faber, Pagan Idolatry, book vi., ch. ii., p. 470. + + +The history of the catastrophe known as the deluge, which, it is +claimed, took place either in Armenia, at Cashgar, or at some other +place in the East, is observed, in later ages, to furnish a covering +beneath which have been veiled the mythical doctrines of the priests. Of +the catastrophes which from time to time have visited our planet, and +of the belief which has come to be entertained by ecclesiastics that the +earth will be destroyed by fire, Celsus writes: + +"The belief has spread among them, from a misunderstanding of the +accounts of these occurrences, that after lengthened cycles of time, and +the returns and conjunctions of planets, conflagrations, and floods are +wont to happen, and because after the last flood, which took place in +the time of Deucalion, the lapse of time, agreeably to the vicissitude +of all things, requires a conflagration; and this made them give +utterance to the erroneous opinion that God will descend, bringing fire +like a torturer."(44) + + + 44) Origen against Celsus, book iv., ch. xi. + + +The mythologies of all nations are largely founded upon the "religious +history" of a flood. The doctrine of a triplicated God saved from +destruction by a storm-tossed ark which rested on some local mountain +answering to Ararat, and which was filled with the natural elements of +reproduction, is found amongst the traditions of every country of the +globe. In Egypt, the destructive agency drives the God into the ark--or +into the fish's belly, where he is obliged to remain until the flood +subsides. In other words, at the time of the destruction of the world, +the creative agency is forced within the womb of Nature, there to remain +until it again comes forth to recreate the world; nor does the symbolism +end here, for this God--the sun, or the reproductive power within it, +which every year is put to death by the cold of winter, must for a +season remain lifeless, but, at the proper time, will come forth with +healing in his wings. This God must issue forth to life through female +Nature. + +The god-man, Noah, who appears under one appellation or another in all +extant mythologies, was slain, or shut up in a box, ark, or chest in +which he or his seed was preserved from the ravages of a mighty flood, +or from destruction by the calamity which had befallen the rest of +mankind. In one sense he represents a Savior, in another sense he is +the saved, for he is the seed of a former world and is born again from +a boat, a symbol which always represents the female energy. Sometimes +he is shut up in a wooden cow, from which he issues forth to new life. +Again this storm tossed mariner is born from a cave, or the door of +a rocky cavern, within which he had been preserved from some terrible +catastrophe, caused either by water or fire. + +Sir W. Jones, Faber, Higgins, and many others who have investigated this +subject are confident that the Noah of Genesis is identical with Menu, +the law-giver of India, and that both are Adam, a man who appears +with his three sons at the end of each cycle, or six hundred years, to +renovate the world. In the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in +the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up +from the earth. The drying of the waters, and the beginning anew just at +the close of the six hundred years, are thought to refer to the end of +the cycle of the Neros. A year of Menu or Buddha had expired and a new +dynasty or Mamwantara was to begin. + +Regarding this trinity, Faber remarks: + +"Brahm then at the head of the Indian triad is Menu at the head of his +three sons. But that by the first Menu we are to understand Adam, +is evident, both from the remarkable circumstance of himself and his +consort bearing the titles of Adima and Iva, and from the no less +remarkable tradition that one of his three sons was murdered by his +brother at a sacrifice. Hence it will follow, that Brahm at the head of +the Indian triad is Adam at the head of his three sons, Cain, Abel, and +Seth. Each Menu with his triple offspring is only the reappearance of a +former Menu with his triple offspring; for, in every such manifestation +at the commencement of each Mamwantara, the Hindoo Trimurti, or triad, +becomes incarnate, by transmigrating from the human bodies occupied +during a former incarnation; Brahm or the Unity appearing as the +paternal Menu of a new age, while the triad, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, +is exhibited in the person of his three sons.... But the ark-preserved +Menu--Satyavrata and his three sons are certainly Noah and his three +sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet." + +Hesiod teaches that, after the flood, Chaos, Night, and black Erebus +first appeared.(45) At this time, when there was no Earth, no Heaven, +and no Air, an egg floated on the face of the deep, which, being parted, +brought forth Love, or Cupid. Out of Chaos this God created or formed +all things. Now Cupid is the same as the Greek Phanes, and Phanes +is Noah, the egg being the ark or female principle from which he was +produced. The Greek God Phanes is the same as the Egyptian Osiris, +who was driven into the ark by the "wind that blasts," or by the evil +principle. + + + 45) The Theogony. + + +"As Cupid is indifferently said to have been produced from an egg at +a time when the whole world was in disorder, and from the womb of the +marine goddess Venus, the egg and the womb of that goddess must denote +the same thing. Accordingly we shall find that, on the one hand, Venus +is immediately connected with the symbolical egg; and, on the other +hand, that she is identical with Derceto and Isis, and is declared to +be that general receptacle out of which all the hero-gods were produced. +Now there can be little doubt in what sense we are to understand this +expression, when we are told that the peculiar symbol of Isis was a +ship; and when we learn that the form assumed at the period of the +deluge, by the Indian Isi or Bhavani, who is clearly the same as the +Egyptian Isis, was the ship Argha, in which her consort Siva floated +securely on the surface of the ocean. Venus, therefore, or the Great +Mother, the parent of Cupid from whom all mankind descended, must be the +Ark: consequently, the egg, with which she is connected, must be the Ark +also. Aristophanes informs us that the egg out of which Love was born, +was produced by Night in the bosom of Erebus. But the Goddess Night, as +we learn from the Orphic poet, was the very same person as Venus; and he +celebrates her as the parent of the Universe, and as the general mother +both of the hero-gods and of man. The egg therefore produced by Night +was produced by Venus: but Venus and the egg meant the same thing: even +that vast floating machine, which was esteemed an epitome of the world, +and from which was born that Deity who is also literally said to +have been set afloat in an ark. Sometimes the order of production was +inverted; and, instead of the egg being produced by Night or Venus, +Venus herself was fabled to have been produced from the egg. There is a +remarkable legend of this sort which ascribes Venus and her egg to the +age of Typhon and Osiris, in other words, to the age in which Noah was +compelled by the deluge to enter into the ark."(46) + + + 46) Origin of Pagan Idolatry, book i., ch. iv. + + +The Preserver of the Persians, who is seated on a rainbow in front of +their rock temples, is Mithras, who is identical with Noah. Sometimes +this ancient mariner is represented as riding on the back of a fish, and +again as floating in a boat. The God of Hindostan, like the classical +Dionysos, was enclosed in an ark and driven into the sea. According to +the Gothic traditions as recorded in the Eddas, there once existed +a beautiful world, which was destroyed by fire. Another was created, +which, with all its inhabitants save a giant and his three sons, who +were saved in a ship, were destroyed by water. With this triad, which +originally sprang from a mysterious cow, the new world began. This new +world, which represents the present system, will in time be devoured by +flames; but another earth will arise from the ocean,--an earth far more +beautiful than this, upon which all kinds of grain and delicious fruits +will grow without cultivation. Veda and Vile will be there, for the +conflagration will have been powerless to destroy them. While the flames +are devouring all things, two human beings, a female and a male, will +be concealed under a hill, where they will feed upon dew, and will +propagate so abundantly that the earth will soon be peopled with a new +race of beings. During the catastrophe, the sun will be devoured by +a wolf, but before her death she will give birth to a daughter as +resplendent as herself, who will go in the same path formerly trodden by +her mother. + +The doctrines of the Gothic philosophers, as they appear in the Eddas, +concerning the eternity of matter, the renewal or succession of worlds, +and reincarnation are the same as those taught by Pythagoras, the +Stoics, and other Greek schools of thought. + +Brahme or Vishnu, resting on the bottom of the sea--a goddess who +was symbolized by the self-generating lotus--was in later ages the +mysterious Cow of the Goths. + +After the natural truths concealed beneath their religious symbolism +were wholly forgotten, and human nature through the over-stimulation +of the animal instincts had become corrupted, Adam and Eve, names which +doubtless for ages represented the two fecundating principles throughout +Nature, with their sons, Cain, Abel, and Seth, comprehended the +god-idea. The fact has been observed that just six hundred years from +the creation of Adam, or at the close of the cycle, Noah appears with +his three sons to save or perpetuate the race. + +It is now believed that this account of Noah and his three sons is an +allegory beneath which are concealed the religious doctrines, or perhaps +I should say, the philosophical speculations of an older race. The God +of the ancients was identified with the life of man individually and +with that of mankind collectively. As men die each day, and as every day +men are born, this Deity is said to die and to be renewed each day; and +as he is the sun, or the incarnation of the sun, the rising and setting +of this luminary depict the constantly dying and regenerating God of +Nature, the same as do the changing seasons. A similar idea reappears in +their system of the renewal of worlds and reincarnation. + +Regarding the doctrine of the eternity of matter held by the ancients, +Origen mentions a belief of the Egyptians that the + +"world or its substance was never produced, but that it has existed from +all eternity. Neither is there any such thing as death. Those who perish +about us every day are simply changed, either they take on other forms +or are removed to some other place. God cannot be destroyed, and as all +things are parts of the Deity everything lives and has always lived, +seeming death being simply change. Remnants of these doctrines are found +in every portion of the globe; among the Mexicans of the west as well as +among the rude mountaineers of the Burman Empire." + +While contemplating the philosophical speculations of an ancient race +Bailly gave expression to the belief, that a "profoundly learned race +of people existed previous to the formation of any of our systems." The +wiser among the Greek philosophers, those who, it is believed, borrowed +their philosophical doctrines from the East, declare that "there is no +production of anything which was not before; no new substance made +which did not really pre-exist." Equally with matter was spirit +indestructible. "Our soul," says Plato, "was somewhere, before it came +to exist in this present form; whence it appears to be immortal.... Who +knows whether that which is demonstrated living, be not indeed rather +dying, and whether that which is styled dying be not rather living?" + +To one who has given attention to the various legends relative to the +destruction of the world by a flood, and a storm-tossed mariner saved +in an ark or boat, it is plain that they all have the same significance, +all are but different versions of the same myth, which in an early age +was used to conceal the philosophical doctrines of an ancient people. + +That the early historic nations understood little concerning the origin +and true meaning of the legends which they had inherited from an +older race is quite evident. The ignorance of the Greeks regarding the +significance of these legends is shown by the following: When Solon, +wishing to acquaint himself with the history of the oldest times, +inquired of an Egyptian priest concerning the time of the flood, and the +age of Deucalion or Phroneous or Noah, this functionary replied: + +"O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children, nor is there an old +man among you! Having no ancient traditions nor any acquaintance with +chronology, you are as yet in a state of intellectual infancy. The true +origin of such mutilated fables as you possess is this. There have +been and shall again be in the course of many revolving ages, numerous +destructions of the human race; the greatest of them by fire and water, +but others in an almost endless succession of shorter intervals."(47) + + + 47) Quoted by Plato; also by Clement of Alexandria. + + +We have observed that the symbol of the universe was an egg. The egg +was also the symbol of the earth and of the ark, which meant universal +womanhood. From the mundane egg the triplicated Deity sprang. There can +be little doubt at the present time that Adam, Noah, Menu, Osiris, and +Dionysos all represent the fructifying power of the sun. In process of +time they each came to figure as male reproductive energy, and during +certain periods of the earth's history they have each in turn been +worshipped as the Deity. That not only the ark was female, but that the +god element or reproductive principle within the ark was both female and +male, is a fact which has been lost sight of during the historic period, +or during those ages of the world in which the attempt has been made to +prove Nature motherless. + +All the germs and living creatures which were within the ark, and which +were to reanimate the earth, were in pairs, females and males; and, +besides, the Dove (female), the emblem of peace, was also present. Even +Noah himself was produced from an egg, which, as we have seen, is +the symbol of Venus, or universal womanhood. In after ages the female +principle was not mentioned, but, on the contrary, was concealed beneath +convenient symbols; and as the philosophical ideas underlying natural +religion were lost or forgotten, and mankind had become too ignorant to +perceive that a dual force, female and male which was also a Trinity, +pervades Nature, the notion came gradually to prevail that the creative +agency, which is spirit, is altogether male. Hence the formulation of +the inconceivable doctrine of a Trinity composed of a Father, Son, and +Holy Ghost. + + + +CHAPTER V. SEPARATION OF THE FEMALE AND MALE ELEMENTS IN THE DEITY. + +Glimpses of antiquity as far back as human ken can reach reveal the fact +that in early ages of human society the physiological question of sex +was a theme of the utmost importance, while various proofs are at hand +showing that throughout the past the question of the relative importance +of the female and male elements in procreation has been a fruitful +source of religious contention and strife. These struggles, which from +time to time involved the entire habitable globe, were of long duration, +subsiding only after the adherents of the one sex or the other had +gained sufficient ascendancy over the opposite party to successfully +erect its altars and compel the worship of its own peculiar gods, which +worship usually included a large share of the temporal power. Only since +the male sex has gained sufficient influence to control not only human +action, but human thought as well, have these contentions subsided.(48) + + + 48) At the present time, through causes which are not difficult to +understand, the question of the relative importance of the two sexes is +again assuming a degree of importance indicative of the changes which +are taking place in human thought, and for the reason that we are just +witnessing the dawn of an intellectual age, the problems to be solved +will admit of no answers other than those based upon a scientific +foundation. + + +That religious wars have not been confined to more modern times, and +that among an early race the attempt to exalt the male principle met +with obstinate resistance which involved mankind in a conflict, +the violence of which has never been exceeded, are facts which seem +altogether probable. Indeed, there is much evidence going to show +that the cause of the original dispersion of a primitive race was the +contention which arose respecting their religious faith or regarding the +physiological question of the relative importance of the sexes in the +function of reproduction; and that the general war indicated in the +Puranas, which began in India and extended over the entire habitable +globe, and which was celebrated by the poets as "the basis of Grecian +mythology," originated in this conflict over the precedence of one or +the other of the sex-principles contained in the Deity. Although there +are no records of these wars in extant history, accounts of them are +still preserved in the traditions and religious monuments of oriental +countries. In Egypt, in India, and to a greater or less extent in other +Eastern countries, these physiological contests have been disguised +under a veil of allegory, the true significance of which it is no longer +difficult to understand. With the light which more recent investigation +has thrown upon the subject of the separation of the original +sex-elements contained in the Deity, the significance of the following +legend in the Servarasa is at once apparent. + +When Parvati (Devi) was united in marriage to Mahadeva (Siva), the +divine pair had once a dispute on the comparative influence of the sexes +in producing animated beings, and each resolved by mutual agreement +to create a new race of men. The race produced by Mahadeva were very +numerous, and devoted themselves exclusively to the worship of the male +Deity, but their intellects were dull, their bodies feeble, their limbs +distorted, and their complexions of many different hues. Parvati had at +the same time created a multitude of human beings, who adored the +female power only, and were well shaped, with sweet aspects and fine +complexions. A furious contest ensued between the two nations, and the +Lingajas, or adorers of the male principle, were defeated in battle, +but Mahadeva, enraged against the Yonigas (the worshippers of the female +element), would have destroyed them with the fire of his eye if Parvati +had not interposed and appeased him, but he would spare them only on +condition that they should instantly leave the country with a promise to +see it no more, and from the Yoni, which they adored as the sole cause +of their existence, they were named Yavanas. + +The fact has been noticed in a previous work(49) that, according to +Wilford, the Greeks were the descendants of the Yavanas of India, and +that when the Ionians emigrated they adopted the name to distinguish +themselves as adorers of the female, in opposition to a strong sect of +male worshippers which had been driven from the mother country. We +are taught by the Puranas that they settled partly on the borders of +Varaha-Dwip, or Europe, where they became the progenitors of the Greeks; +and partly in the two Dwipas of Cusha, Asiatic and African. In the +Asiatic Cusha-Dwip they supported themselves by violence and rapine. +Parvati, however, or their tutelary goddess, Yoni, always protected +them; and at length, in the fine country which they occupied, they +became a flourishing nation.(50) Wilford relates that there is a sect of +Hindoos who, attempting to reconcile the two systems, declare in their +allegorical style that "Parvati and Mahadeva found their concurrence +essential to the perfection of their offspring, and that Vishnu, at the +request of the goddess, effected a reconciliation between them."(51) + + + 49) See The Evolution of Women, p. 303. + + + 50) Asiatic Researches, vol. iii., pp. 125-132. + + + 51) Asiatic Researches, "Egypt and the Nile," vol. iii., pp. 361-363. + + +The people who were dominant in Asia long before the rise of the +late Assyrian monarchy, are said to be those whom scriptural writers +represent as Cushim, and the Hindoos as Cushas. They were the +descendants of Cush, or Cuth, and were believed to have been the +architects of the Tower of Babel. Epiphanius, Eusebius, and others +assert that at the time of the building of this tower there existed two +rival beliefs, the one demonstrated as Scuthism, the other as Ionism, or +Hellenism, the latter of which embodied the worship of the Great Mother, +or the female element, which was worshipped in the shape of the +mystic "Iona or Dove." The Scuths, on the other hand, believed in the +pre-eminence of a Great Father, or, perhaps I should say, in a Deity +composed of a triad containing the elements of a male parent. Upon +this subject the learned Faber remarks: "I am much mistaken if some +dissension on these points did not prevail at Babel itself; and I think +there is reason for believing that the altercation between the rival +sects aided the confusion of languages in producing the dispersion."(52) + + + 52) Pagan Idolatry, book vi., ch. ii. + + +Those who believed in the superiority of the male in the processes of +reproduction, adored the male element in the Deity, while those who +held that the female is the more important, worshipped the female energy +throughout Nature under one or another of its symbols, sometimes as a +woman with her child and sometimes as a dove, but oftener as an ark, +box, or chest. + +It is evident from the sacred writings of the Hindoos that in India, +during a period of several thousand years, there existed various sects, +those who worshipped the male as the only creative force, others who +adored the female as the origin of life, and those who paid homage to +both, as alike important in the office of reproduction. + +It would seem that the fierce wars which had devastated the land had +ceased prior to the beginning of the Tower of Babel. According to the +testimony of Moses, the Lord himself declared "Behold the people is +one." This unanimity of belief, as is plainly shown, was of short +duration, for the Tower arose "upright and defiant," not, however, as an +emblem of the primeval dual or triune God in which the female energy was +predominant, but as a symbol of male creative power. It was the type of +virility which in the subsequent history of religion was to assume the +position of the "one only and true God." + +It is not improbable that idolatry began with the Tower of Babel. + +Indeed it has been confidently asserted by certain writers that the +earliest idols set up as emblems of the Deity, or as expressions of the +peculiar worship of the Lingajas, were obelisks, columns, or towers, +the first of which we have any account being the Tower of Babel, erected +probably at Nipur in Chaldea. Until a comparatively recent time, +the actual significance of this monument seems to have been little +understood. Later research, however, points to the fact that it was a +phallic device erected in opposition to a religion which recognized the +female element throughout Nature as God. The length of time which the +adherents of these two doctrines had contended for the mastery is not +known, but through the deciphered monuments of ancient nations, by +facts gathered from their sacred writings, and by the general voice +of tradition, it has been ascertained with a considerable degree of +certainty that this great upheaval of society was the culmination of +a dispute which had long been waged between two contending powers, and +which finally resulted in a separation of the people, and in the +final success, for the time being, of the sect which refused longer to +recognize the superior importance of the female in the god-idea. + +At what time in the history of mankind the Tower of Babel was erected +has not been ascertained, but the great antiquity of Chaldea is no +longer questioned. Sir Henry Rawlinson, in the Royal Geographical +Journal says: + +"When Chaldea was first colonized, or at any rate when the seat of +empire was first established there, the emporium of trade seems to have +been at Ur of the Chaldees, which is now 150 miles from the sea, the +Persian Gulf having retired nearly that distance before the sediment +brought down by the Euphrates and Tigris." + +To which Baldwin adds: + +"A little reflection on the vast period of time required to effect +geological changes so great as this will enable us to see to what a +remote age in the deeps of antiquity we must go to find the beginning of +civilization in the Mesopotamian Valley."(53) + + + 53) Prehistoric Nations, p. 191. + + +Although at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel the worship +of a Deity in which the male principle was pre-eminent had not become +universal, still the facts seem to indicate that the doctrine of male +superiority which for ages had been steadily advancing had at length +gained the ascendancy over the older religion. The new faith and worship +had corrupted the old, and through the conditions which had been imposed +upon women, and the consequent stimulation of the lower nature in man, +even the adherents of the older faith were losing sight of those higher +principles which in preceding ages they had adored as God. + +We have seen that in every country upon the earth there is a tradition +recounting the ravages of a flood. Whether or not this legend is to +be traced to an actual calamity by which a large portion of Asia was +inundated, is not for a certainty known; but the fact that there was a +deluge of contention and strife, surpassing anything perhaps which the +world has ever witnessed, seems altogether probable. + +Not long after the catastrophe designated as the flood, emblems of +the Deity, representations of the male and female elements, appear in +profusion. Babylon, at which place was erected the Tower of Belus, and +Memphis, which contained the Pyramids, were among the first cities which +were built. As the tower typified the Deity worshipped by those who +claimed superiority for the male, so the pyramids symbolized the +creative agency and peculiar qualities of the female, or of the dual +Deity which was worshipped as female. + +Although the grosser elements in human nature were rapidly assuming a +more intensely aggressive attitude, and although the higher principles +involved in an earlier religion were in a measure forgotten, it is +evident that at this time humanity had not become wholly sensualized, +and that the lower propensities and appetites had not assumed dominion +over the reasoning faculties. + +The Great Mother Cybele, who is represented by the Sphinx, had doubtless +been adored as a pure abstraction, her worship being that of the +universal female principle in Nature. She is pictured as the "Eldest +Daughter of the Mythologies," and as "The Great First Cause." She +represented the past and the future. She was the source whence all that +was and is had proceeded. + +In its earliest representations, the Sphinx is figured with the head of +a woman and the body of a lion. By various writers it is stated that +the Sphinxes which were brought as spoils from Asia, the very cradle of +religion, were thus represented. The lion, which symbolizes royal power +and intellectual strength, is always attached to the chariot of +Cybele. The Sphinx is supposed to typify not only Cybele, but the great +androgynous God of Africa as well. However, as Cybele and Muth portrayed +the same idea, namely, female power and wisdom, we are not surprised +that they should have been worshipped under the same emblem. Neither is +it remarkable, when we recall the fact that the female was supposed to +comprehend both sexes, that in certain instances a beard appears as an +accompanying feature of the Sphinx. We are told that the fourth avatar +of Vishnu was a Sphinx, but a further search into the history of this +Deity reveals the fact that her ninth avatar is Brahm (masculine). The +female principle has at length succumbed to the predominance of male +power, and Vishnu herself has become transformed into a male God. + +Although the rites connected with the worship of Cybele were phallic +they were absolutely pure. In an allusion to this worship, Hargrave +Jennings admits that the "spirituality to which women in that age of the +world were observed to be more liable than men was peculiarly adverse to +all sensual indulgence, and especially that of the sexes." + +Although the creative principle was adored under its representatives, +the Yoni and the Lingham, still the principal object seems to have been, +when administering the rites pertaining to the worship of Cybele, to +ignore sex and the usual sex distinctions; hence we find that, in order +to assume an androgynous appearance, the priestesses of this Goddess +officiated in the costumes of males, while priests appeared in the dress +peculiar to females. However, that the sensuous element was to a certain +extent already assuming dominion over the higher nature, and that +priests were regarded as being incapable of self-control, is observed in +the fact that in the later ages of female worship one of the principal +requirements of a priest of Cybele was castration. + +It is the opinion of Grote that the story which appears in the Hesiodic +Theogony, of the castration of Saturn and Uranus by their sons with +sickles forged by the mother, was borrowed from the Phrygians, or from +the worship of the Great Mother. + +In India, the strictest chastity was prescribed to the priests of Siva, +a God which was worshipped as the Destroyer or Regenerator, and which +in its earlier conception was the same as the Great Mother Cybele. These +priests were frequently obliged to officiate in a nude state, and during +the ceremony should it appear that the symbols with which they came in +contact had appealed to other than their highest emotions, they were +immediately stoned by the people.(54) + + + 54) Sonnerat, Voyage aux Indes, i., 311. + + +The identity of the religions of India and Egypt has been noted in an +earlier portion of this work. Wilford, in his dissertations upon Egypt +and the Nile, says that in a conversation which he had with some learned +Brahmins, upon describing to them the form and peculiarities of the +Great Pyramid, they told him that "it was a temple appropriated to the +worship of Padma Devi." The true Coptic name of these edifices is Pire +Honc, which signifies a sunbeam. Padma Devi means the lotus, or the +Deity of generation. + +It is thought by many writers that these gigantic structures were +erected by the Cushite conquerors of Egypt, who invaded and civilized +the country, as emblems of the female Deity whom they worshipped. +Certainly the magnitude of these monuments and the ingenuity displayed +in their construction indicate the intelligence of their builders and +the exalted character of the Deity adored. The Great Pyramid is in +the form of a square, each side of whose base is seven hundred and +fifty-five feet, and covers an area of nearly fourteen acres. An able +writer in describing the pyramids says that the first thing which +impresses one is the uniform precision and systematic design apparent in +their architecture. They all have their sides accurately adapted to the +four cardinal points. + +"In six of them which have been opened, the principal passage preserves +the same inclination of 26 degrees to the horizon, being directed toward +the polar star.... Their obliquity being so adjusted as to make the +north side coincide with the obliquity of the sun's rays at the summer's +solstice, has, combined with the former particulars, led some to suppose +they were solely intended for astronomical uses; and certainly, if not +altogether true, it bespeaks, at all events, an intimate acquaintance +with astronomical rules, as well as a due regard to the principles of +geometry. Others have fancied them intended for sepulchres; and as the +Egyptians, taught by their ancient Chaldean victors, connected astronomy +with their funereal and religious ceremonies, they seem in this to be +not far astray, if we but extend the application to their sacred bulls +and other animals, and not merely to their kings, as Herodotus would +have us suppose."(55) + + + 55) The Round Towers of Ireland, p. 159. + + +According to the testimony of Inman, the pyramid is an emblem of the +Trinity--three in one. The triangle typifies the flame of sacred fire +emerging from the holy lamp. With its base upwards it typifies the +Delta, or the door through which all come into the world. With its apex +uppermost, it is an emblem of the phallic triad. The union of these +triangles typifies the male and female principles uniting with each +other, thus producing a new figure, a star, while each retains its own +identity.(56) + + + 56) Ancient Faiths, vol. i., p. 145. + + +Thus the primary significance of the pyramid was religious, and in +its peculiar architectural construction was manifested the prevailing +conception of the Deity worshipped; namely, the fructifying energies in +the sun. We are informed that "all nations have at one time or another +passed through violent stages of pyrolatry, a word which reminds us that +fire and phallic cult flourished around the pyramids.... Every town in +Greece had a Pyrtano."(57) + + + 57) Forlong, Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in All Lands, vol. i., p. +325. + + +As not alone the sun but the stars also had come to be venerated as +agencies in reproduction, the worship of these objects was, as we +have seen, closely interwoven with that of the generative processes +throughout Nature. The attempt to solve the great problem of the +origin of life on the earth led these people to contemplate with the +profoundest reverence all the visible objects which were believed to +affect human destiny. Hence both the pyramid and the tower served a +double purpose, first, as emblems of the Deity worshipped, and, second, +as monuments for the study of the heavenly bodies with which their +religious ideas were so intimately connected. + +While comparing the early emblems which prefigure the primitive elements +in the god-idea, Hargrave Jennings observes: + +"In the conveyance of certain ideas to those who contemplate it, the +pyramid boasts of prouder significance, and impresses with a hint of +still more impenetrable mystery. We seem to gather dim supernatural +ideas of the mighty Mother of Nature... that almost two-sexed entity, +without a name--She of the Veil which is never to be lifted, perhaps +not even by the angels, for their knowledge is limited. In short, this +tremendous abstraction, Cybele, Ideae, Mater, Isiac controller of the +Zodiacs, whatever she may be, has her representative in the half-buried +Sphinx even to our own day, watching the stars although nearly swallowed +up in the engulphing sands."(58) + + + 58) Phallicism, p. 25. + + +From the time when the two religious elements began to separate in the +minds of the people, the prophets, seers, and priestesses of the old +religion, those who continued to worship the Virgin and Child, had +prophesied that a mortal woman, a virgin, would, independently of the +male principle, bring forth a child, the fulfilment of which prophecy +would vindicate the ancient faith and forever settle the dispute +relative to the superiority of the female in the office of reproduction. +Thus would the woman "bruise the serpent's head." In process of time not +only Yonigas, but Lingajas as well, came to accept the doctrine of the +incarnation of the sun in the bodies of earthly virgins. By Lingaites, +however, it was the seed of the woman and not the woman herself who was +to conquer evil. Finally, with the increasing importance of the male in +human society, it is observed that a reconciliation has been effected +between the female worshippers and those of the male. Athene herself has +acquiesced in the doctrine of male superiority. + +Thalat, the great Chaldean Deity, who presided over Chaos prior to the +existence of organized matter, is finally transformed into a male God. +The Hindoo Vishnu, who as she slept on the bottom of the sea brought +forth all creation, has changed her sex. Brahm, the Creator, is male, +and appears as a triplicated Deity in the form of three sons within +whom is contained the essence of a Great Father, the female creative +principle being closely veiled. + +Hence we see that the God of the ancients, the universal dual force +which resides in the sun and which creates all things, is no longer +worshipped under the figure of a mother and her child. Although the +female principle is still a necessary factor in the creative processes, +and although it is capable of producing gods, the mother element +possesses none of the essentials which constitute a Deity. In other +words, woman is not a Creator. From the father is derived the soul of +the child, while from the mother, or from matter, the body is formed. +Hence the prevalence at a certain stage of human history of divine +fathers and earthly mothers; for instance, Alexander of Macedon, Julius +Caesar, and later the mythical Christ who superseded Jesus, the Judean +philosopher and teacher of mankind. + +Henceforth, caves, wells, cows, boxes and chests, arks, etc., stand for +or symbolize the female power. We are given to understand, however, that +for ages these symbols were as holy as the God himself, and among many +peoples even more revered and worshipped. + +We have seen that the ancients knew that matter and force were alike +indestructible. According to their doctrine all Nature proceeded from +the sun. Hence the power back of the sun, which they worshipped as the +Destroyer or Regenerator, or, in other words, as the mother of the sun, +was the Great Aum or Om, the Aleim or Elohim, who was the indivisible +God. The creative agency which proceeded from the sun was both male +and female, yet one in essence. Later, the male appeared as spirit, the +female as matter. Spirit was something above and independent of Nature. + +It had indeed created matter from nothing. The fact will be remembered +that man claimed supremacy over woman on the ground that the male is +spirit, while the female is only matter; in other words, that she was +simply a covering for the soul, which is divine. + +Thus was the god-idea divorced from Nature, and a masculine principle, +outside and independent of matter, set up as a personal potentate or +ruler over the universe. + +The logic by which the great female principle in the Deity has been +eliminated, and the subterfuges which have been and still are employed +to construct and sustain a Creator who of himself is powerless to +create, is as amusing as it is suggestive, and forcibly recalls to mind +la couvade, in which, among certain tribes, the father, assuming all the +duties of procreation, goes to bed when a child is born.(59) + + + 59) The Evolution of Woman, p. 127. + + +All mythologies prove conclusively that ages elapsed before human beings +were rash enough, or sufficiently blinded by falsehood and superstition, +to attempt to construct a creative force unaided by the female +principle. Just here it may not be out of place to refer to the fact +that in the attempt to divorce God from Nature have arisen all the +superstitions and senseless religious theories with which, since the +earliest ages of metaphysical speculation, the human mind has been +crowded. + +To this separation of the two original elements in the Deity, and the +consequent exaltation of one of the factors in the creative processes, +is to be traced the beginning of our present false, unnatural, and +unphilosophical masculine system of religion--a system under which a +father appears as the sole parent of the universe. + +The fact is tolerably well understood that mysticism and the +accumulation of superstitious ideas are the result of the +over-stimulation of the lower animal instincts. When the agencies which +had hitherto held the lower nature in check became inoperative--when man +began to regard himself as a Creator and therefore as the superior of +woman--he had reached a point at which he was largely controlled by +supernatural or mystical influences. + +The fact is observed that in course of time the governmental powers are +no longer in the hands of the people; the masses have become enslaved. +Their rulers are priests--deified tyrants who are unable to maintain +their authority except through the ignorance and credulity of the +masses. Hence one is not surprised to find that the change which took +place at a certain stage of human growth in respect to the manner of +reckoning descent was instigated and enforced by religion. Apollo had +declared that woman is but the nurse to her own offspring. Neither is +it remarkable at this stage in the human career, as women had lost their +position as heads of families, and as they were no longer recognized as +of kin to their children, that man should have attempted to lessen the +importance of the female element in the god-idea. + +Wherever in the history of the human race we observe a change in the +relations of the sexes involving greater or more oppressive restrictions +on the natural rights of women, such change, whether it assume a legal, +social, or religious form, will, if traced to its source, always be +found deeply rooted in the wiles of priestcraft. Since the decay of the +earliest form of religion, namely, Nature-worship, the gods have never +been found ranged on the side of women. + +Later investigations are proving that the primitive idea of a Deity had +its foundation in actual physical facts and experiences; and, as the +maternal principle constituted the most important as well as the most +obvious of the facts which entered into the conception of a Creator, +and as it was the only natural bond capable of binding human society +together, so long as reason was not wholly clouded by superstition and +warped by sensuality, it could not be eliminated. In other words, +a Creator in which the more essential element of creative force was +wanting, was contrary to all human experience and observation. Indeed +nothing could be plainer than that the deified male principle could of +itself create nothing, and that it was dependent for its very existence +on the female element. + +By this attempt to construct a masculine Deity, absurdities were +presented to the human judgment and understanding which for ages could +not be overcome, and by it contradictions were necessitated which could +not be reconciled with human reason and with the ideas of Nature which +had hitherto been held by mankind. It was not, therefore, until reason +had been suspended in all matters pertaining to religion, and blind +faith in the machinations of priestcraft had been established, that a +male God was set up as the sole Creator of the universe. + +When women, who had become the legitimate plunder not only of +individuals but of bands of warriors whose avowed object was the capture +of women for wives, had degenerated into mere tools or instruments for +the gratification and pleasure of men, Perceptive Wisdom or Light, +and Maternal Affection the Preserver of the race, gradually became +eliminated from the god-idea of mankind. Passion became God. It was the +Creator in the narrowest and most restricted sense. + +Although in an age of pure Nature-worship the ideas connected with +reproduction, like those related to all other natural functions, were +wholly unconnected with impurity either of thought or deed, still when +an age arrived in which all checks to human passion had been withdrawn, +and the lower propensities had gained dominion over the higher +faculties, the influence of fertility or passion-worship on human +development or growth may in a degree be imagined. + +The fact must be borne in mind that curing the later ages of +passion-worship the creative processes and the reproductive organs were +deified, not as an expression or symbol of the operations of Nature, but +as a means to the stimulation of the lower animal instincts in man. + +With religion bestialized and its management regulated wholly with an +idea to the gratification of man's sensuous desires, religious temples, +under the supervision of the priesthood, became brothels, in which were +openly practiced as part and parcel of religious rites and ceremonies +the most wanton profligacy and the most shameless self-abandonment. +The worship of Aphrodite or Venus, and also that of Bacchus, originally +consisted in homage paid to the reproductive principles contained in the +earth, water, and sun, but, as is well known, this pure and beautiful +worship, in later times, and especially after it was carried to Greece, +became synonymous with the grossest practices and the most lawless +disregard of human decency. + +With the light which in these later ages science and ethnological +research are throwing upon the physiological and religious disputes +of the ancients, the correctness of the primitive doctrines elaborated +under purer conditions at an age when human beings lived nearer to +Nature is being proved--namely, that matter like spirit is eternal +and indestructible, and therefore that the one is as difficult of +comprehension as the other, and that Nature, instead of being separated +from spirit, is filled with it and can not be divorced from it; also +that the female is the original organic unit of creation, without which +nothing is or can be created. + + + +CHAPTER VI. CIVILIZATION OF AN ANCIENT RACE. + +The profound doctrines of abstractions or emanations; of the absorption +of the individual soul into the divine ether or essence; of the renewal +of worlds and reincarnation, were doubtless elaborated after the +separation, in the human mind, of Spirit from matter, but before mankind +had lost the power to reason abstractly. + +Although Pythagoras understood and believed these doctrines, he did not, +as is well known, receive them from his degenerate countrymen, but, on +the contrary, imbibed them from private sources among the orientals, +where fragments of their remarkable learning were still extant. He said +that religion consists in knowing the truth and doing good, and his +ideas show the grandeur and beauty of the earlier conception of a Deity. +He declared that there is only one God who is not, "as some are apt to +imagine, seated above the world, beyond the orb of the universe," but +that this great power is diffused throughout Nature. It is "the reason, +the life, and the motion of all things." + +Plato believed that human beings are possessed of two souls, the +one mortal, which perishes with the body, the other immortal, which +continues to exist either in a state of happiness or misery; that the +righteous soul, freed from the limitations of matter, returns at death +to the source whence it came, and that the wicked, after having been +detained for a while in a place prepared for their reception, are sent +back to earth to reanimate other bodies. + +Aristotle held the opinion that the souls of human beings are sparks +from the divine flame, while Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, +taught that spirit acting upon matter produced the elements and the +earth. There is plenty of evidence going to show that the early Fathers +in the Christian church believed in the doctrines of reincarnation +and the renewal of worlds. Neither is there any doubt but that this +philosophy came from the East, where it originated. It is thought that +the ancient philosophers who elaborated these doctrines were unable to +account for the existence of evil without a belief in the immortality of +the soul. Spirit was eternal, as was also matter. + +A soul, upon leaving the body, in course of time found its way back to +earth, surrounded by conditions suited to its stage of growth. Here it +must reap all the consequences of its former life. It must also during +its stay on earth make the conditions for its next appearance upon an +earthly plane. So soon as through a succession of births and deaths +it had perfected itself, it entered into a state of Nirvana. It was +absorbed into the great Universal Soul. Nothing is ever lost. + + "Many a house of life + Hath held me--seeking ever Him who wrought + These prisons of the senses, sorrow fraught; + Sore was my ceaseless strife! + But now, + Thou builder of this tabernacle--Thou! + I know Thee. + Never shalt Thou build again + These walls of pain, + Nor raise the roof-tree of deceits, nor lay + Fresh rafters on the clay; + Broken Thy house is, and the ridge-pole split! + Delusion fashioned it! + Safe pass I thence--deliverance to obtain."(60) + + + 60) Edwin Arnold, The light of Asia. + + +Regarding the opinions of the ancients on the subject of the eternity of +matter, Higgins, in his learned work on Celtic Druids, says: + +"The eternity of matter is a well known tenet of the Pythagoreans, and +whether right or wrong there can be no doubt that it was the doctrine +of the oriental school, whence Pythagoras drew his learning. It was a +principle taken or mistaken from, or found amongst, the debris of that +mighty mass of learning and science of a former period, of which, on +looking back as far as human ken can reach, the most learned men have +thought that they could see a faint glimmering. Indeed, I think I may +say something more than a faint glimmering. For all the really valuable +moral and philosophical doctrines we possess, Dutens has shown to have +existed there." + +From what is known relative to the speculations of an ancient race, the +fact is observed that creation was but a re-formation of matter. Wisdom, +or Minerva, formed the earth and the planets; she did not create the +heavens and the earth, as did the later Jewish God. + +Of the seven principles of the universe, matter was the first, and of +the seven principles of man, the physical body was the earliest. Through +evolutionary processes, or through cyclic periods involving millions +of years, mind was developed, and in course of time spirit was finally +manifested. + +Mai, the Mother of Gotama Buddha, was simply matter, or illusion, from +which its higher manifestation, mind or spirit, was emerging. She was +also the mother of Mercury. A clearer knowledge of the philosophical +doctrines which were elaborated at a time when Nature-worship was +beginning to decay, reveals the fact that the god-idea comprehended a +profound knowledge of Nature and her laws; that while this people did +not pretend to account for the existence of matter, they recognized a +force operating through it whose laws were unchanged and unchanging. + +With these facts relative to the intelligence of an older race before +us, the question naturally arises: What was the degree of civilization +attained at a time when the Deity worshipped was an abstract principle +involving the actual creative processes throughout Nature? and, +notwithstanding our prejudices, we are constrained to acknowledge that +these earlier conceptions are scarcely compatible with the barbarism +which we have been taught to regard as the condition of all the peoples +which existed prior to the first Greek Olympiad. On the contrary, the +origin of the philosophical opinions entertained by the most ancient +oriental philosophers, and which must have arisen out of a profound +knowledge or appreciation of Nature and her operations, point to a race +far superior to any of those peoples which appear in early historic +times. Regarding these opinions, Godfrey Higgins remarks: + +"From their philosophical truth and universal reception I am strongly +inclined to refer them to the authors of the Neros, or to that +enlightened race, supposed by Bailly to have formerly existed, and to +have been saved from a great catastrophe on the Himalaya Mountains. This +is confirmed by an observation which the reader will make in the +sequel, that these doctrines have been, like all the other doctrines +of antiquity, gradually corrupted--incarnated, if I may be permitted to +compose a word for the occasion." + +Of this cycle, Bailly says: "No person could have invented the Neros who +had not arrived at much greater perfection in astronomy than we know was +the state of the most ancient Assyrians, Egyptians, and Greeks." + +Toward the close of the eighteenth century the celebrated astronomer, +Bailly, published a work entitled The History of Ancient Astronomy, in +which he endeavored to prove that a nation possessed of profound wisdom +and great genius, and of an antiquity far superior to the Hindoos or +Egyptians, "inhabited the country to the north of India, or about fifty +degrees north latitude." This writer has shown that "the most celebrated +astronomical observations and inventions, from their peculiar character, +could have taken place only in these latitudes, and that arts and +improvements gradually travelled thence to the equator." + +A colony of Brahmins settled near the Imans, and in Northern +Thibet, where in ancient times they established celebrated colleges, +particularly at Nagraent and Cashmere. In these institutions the +treasures of Sanskrit literature were supposed to be deposited. The +Rev. Mr. Maurice was informed that an immemorial tradition prevailed at +Benares that all the learning of India came from a country situated in +forty degrees of northern latitude. Other writers are of the opinion +that civilization proceeded from Arabia; that the old Cushite race +carried commerce, letters, and laws to all the nations of the East. +Which of these theories is true, if either, may not with certainty be +proved at present; yet that in the far distant past a race of people +existed whose achievements exceeded those of any of the historic nations +may not be doubted. + +That the length of the year was calculated with greater exactness by an +ancient and forgotten people than it was by early historic nations is +proved by the cycle of the Neros. This cycle, which was formed of 7,421 +lunar revolutions of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 seconds, or +219,146 days and a half, was equal to 600 solar years of 365 days, 5 +hours, 51 minutes, and 36 seconds, which time varies less than three +minutes from the present observations of the year's length. The length +of the year as calculated by the Egyptians and other early historic +nations was 360 days, which fact would seem to indicate that a science +of astronomy had been developed in an earlier age which by the most +ancient peoples of whom we have any historic records has been lost +or forgotten. It has been said that if this cycle of the Neros "were +correct to the second, if on the first of January at noon a new moon +took place, it would take place again in exactly 600 years at the same +moment of the day, and under all the same circumstances."(61) + + + 61) Godfrey Higgins, Celtic Druids, ch. ii., sec. 14. + + +The Varaha Calpa has the famous cycle of 4,320,000,000 years for its +duration. This system makes the Cali Yug begin 3098 years B.C. A dodecan +consisted of 5 days, and 72 dodecans formed a natural year of 360 days. +According to the earlier calculations, 360 solar diurnal revolutions +constituted a natural year. The doctrine of the ancients concerning +these cycles is thus set forth by Godfrey Higgins: + +"The sun, or rather that higher principle of which the sun was the +emblem or the shekinah, was considered to be incarnated every six +hundred years. Whilst the sun was in Taurus, the different incarnations, +under whatever names they might go, were all considered but as +incarnations of Buddha or Taurus. When he got into Aries, they were in +like manner considered but as incarnations of Cristna or Aries, and +even Buddha and Cristna were originally considered the same, and had +a thousand names in common, constantly repeated in their litanies--a +striking proof of identity of origin. Of these Zodiacal divisions the +Hindoos formed another period, which consisted of ten ages or Calpas +or Yugs, which they considered the duration of the world, at the end +of which a general renovation of all things would take place. They also +reckoned ten Neroses to form a period, each of them keeping a certain +relative location to the other, and together to form a cycle. To effect +this they doubled the precessional period for one sign--viz: 2160 +years--thus making 4320, which was a tenth of 43,200, a year of the sun, +analogous to the 360 natural days, and produced in the same manner, by +multiplying the day of 600 by the dodecans 72 = 43,200. They then formed +another great year of 432,000 by again multiplying it by 10, which they +called a Cali Yug, which was measurable both by the number 2160, the +years the equinox preceded in a sign, and by the number 600. They then +had the following scheme: + + A Cali Yug, or 600 (or a Neros) 432,000 + A Dwapar, or Duo-par Age....864,000 + A Treta, or tree-par Age... 1,296,000 + A Satya, or Satis Age....1,728,000 + --------- + 4,320,000 + +altogether 10 Ages, making a Maha Yug or Great Age. These were all +equimultiples of the Cycle of the Neros 600, and of 2160, the twelfth +part of the equinoctial precessional Cycle, and in all formed ten ages +of 432,000 years each."(62) + + + 62) Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 232. + + +The two great religious festivals of the ancients occurred the one in +the spring, at Easter, when all Nature was renewed, the other in the +autumn, after the earth had yielded her bounties and the fruits were +garnered in. It was at these gatherings that the Great Mother Earth +received the devout adoration of all her children. + +It is supposed that the Neros, or cycle of 600, is closely connected +with this worship, and that it was invented to regulate the season for +these festivals. In process of time it was discovered that this cycle +no longer answered, that the festival which had originally fallen on the +first of May now occurred on the first of April. This, we are told, + +"led ultimately to the discovery that the equinox preceded about 2160 +years in each sign or 25,920 years in the 12 signs, and this induced +them to try if they could not form a cycle of the two. On examination, +they found that the 600 would not commensurate the 2160 years in a sign, +or any number of sums of 2160 less than ten, but that it would with +ten, or that in ten times 2160, or in 21,600 years, the two cycles would +agree; yet this artificial cycle would not be enough to include the +cycle of 25,920. They, therefore, took two of the periods of 21,600, or +43,200; and, multiplying both by ten--viz: 600 X 10 = 6000, and 43,200 +X 10 = 432,000--they formed a period with which the 600-year period and +the 6000-year period would terminate and form a cycle. Every 432,000 +years the three periods would commence anew; thus the three formed a +year or cycle, 72 times 6000 making 432,000, and 720 times 600 making +432,000."(63) + + + 63) Higgins, Anacalypsis, p. 235. + + +To form a great year, which would include all the cyclical motions of +the sun and moon, and perhaps of the planets, they multiplied 432,000 by +ten; thus they had ten periods answering to ten signs. Concerning these +cycles Godfrey Higgins observes: + +"Persons of narrow minds will be astonished at such monstrous cycles; +but it is very certain that no period could properly be called the +great year unless it embraced in its cycle every periodical movement +or apparent aberration. But their vulgar wonder will perhaps cease +when they are told that La Place has proved that, if the periodical +aberrations of the moon be correctly calculated, the great year must be +extended to a greater length even than 4,320,000 years of the Maha Yug +of the Hindoos, and certainly no period can be called a year of our +planetary system which does not take in all the periodical motions of +the planetary bodies." + +It is thought that as soon as these ancient astronomers perceived that +the equinoxes preceded, they would at once attempt to determine the rate +of precession in a given time; the precession, however, in one year +was so small that they were obliged to extend their observations over +immense periods. Jones informs us that the Hindoos first supposed that +the precession took place at the rate of 60 years in a degree, or 1800 +in a Zodiacal sign, and of 21,600 in a revolution of the entire circle. +They afterwards came to think that the precession was at the rate of 60 +years and a fraction of a year, and thus that the precession for a sign +was in 1824 years, and for the circle in 21,888 years. Subsequently they +discovered, or thought they had discovered, the Soli-Lunar period of 608 +years, hence they attempted to make the two go together. Both, however, +proved to be erroneous. + +In referring to the fact that among the ancient Romans existed the story +of the twelve vultures and the twelve ages of 120 years each, Higgins +remarks: + +"This arose from the following cause: They came from the East before the +supposition that the precession took place a degree in about 60 years, +and 1824 years in a sign had been discovered to be erroneous; and as +they supposed the Neros made a correct cycle in 608 years, and believed +the precessional cycle to be completed in 21,888, they of course made +their ages into twelve. As both numbers were erroneous, they would not +long answer their intended purpose, and their meaning was soon lost, +though the sacred periods of twelve ages and of 608 remained." + +According to Hipparchus and Ptolemy, the equinoxes preceded at the rate +of a degree in 100 years, or 36,000 hundred years in 360 degrees. This +constituted a great year, at the end of which the regeneration of all +things takes place. This is thought to be a remnant of the most ancient +Hindoo speculations, and not the result of observation among the Greeks. +Some time after the arrival of the sun in Aries, + +"at the vernal equinox, the Indians probably discovered their mistake, +in giving about 60 years to a degree; that they ought to give 50" to a +year, about 72 years to a degree, and about 2160 years to a sign; and +that the Luni-Solar cycle, called the Neros, did not require 608 years, +but 600 years only, to complete its period. Hence arose the more perfect +Neros." + +It is thought by various writers that the knowledge of the ancient +Hindoos regarding the movements of the sun and moon in their cycles of +nineteen and six hundred years--the Metonic cycle, and the Neros--proves +that long before the birth of Hipparchus the length of the year was +known with a degree of exactitude which that astronomer had not the +means of determining. It is positively asserted by astronomers that +at least twelve hundred years were required, "during which time the +observations must have been taken with the greatest care and regularly +recorded," to arrive at the knowledge necessary for the invention of the +Neros, and that such observations would have been impossible without the +aid of the telescope. + +On the subject of the great learning of an ancient race, Sir W. Drummond +says: + +"The fact, however, is certain, that at some remote period there were +mathematicians and astronomers who knew that the sun is in the centre +of the planetary system, and that the earth, itself a planet, revolves +round the central fire;--who calculated, or like ourselves attempted to +calculate, the return of comets, and who knew that these bodies move +in elliptic orbits, immensely elongated, having the sun in one of their +foci;--who indicated the number of the solar years contained in the +great cycle, by multiplying a period (variously called in the Zend, the +Sanscrit, and the Chinese ven, van, and phen) of 180 years by another +period of 144 years;--who reckoned the sun's distance from the earth at +800,000,000 of Olympic stadia; and who must, therefore, have taken the +parallax of that luminary by a method, not only much more perfect than +that said to be invented by Hipparchus, but little inferior in exactness +to that now in use among the moderns;--who could scarcely have made a +mere guess when they fixed the moon's distance from its primary planet +at fifty-nine semi-diameters of the earth;--who had measured the +circumference of our globe with so much exactness that their +calculation only differed by a few feet from that made by our modern +geometricians;--who held that the moon and the other planets were worlds +like our own, and that the moon was diversified by mountains and valleys +and seas;--who asserted that there was yet a planet which revolved round +the sun, beyond the orbit of Saturn;--who reckoned the planets to be +sixteen in number;--and who reckoned the length of the tropical year +within three minutes of the true time; nor, indeed, were they wrong at +all, if a tradition mentioned by Plutarch be correct."(64) + + + 64) Drummond, On the Zodiacs, p. 36. + + +Bailly, Sir W. Jones, Higgins, and Ledwich, as well as many modern +writers, agree in the conclusion that the Indians, the Egyptians, +the Assyrians, and the Chinese were simply the depositaries, not the +inventors, of science. The spirit of inquiry which in later times is +directing attention to the almost buried past is revealing the fact that +not merely the germs whence our present civilization has been developed +descended to us from the dim ages of antiquity, but that a great number +of the actual benefits which go to make up our present state of material +progress have come to us from prehistoric times. The art of writing, of +navigation (including the use of the compass), the working of metals, +astronomy, the telescope, gunpowder, mathematics, democracy, building, +weaving, dyeing, and many of the appliances of civilized life, have been +appropriated by later ages with no acknowledgment of the source +whence they were derived. When Pythagoras exhibited to the Greeks some +beautiful specimens of ancient architecture which he had brought from +Egypt and Babylon, they simply claimed them as their own, giving no +credit to the people who originated them; and subsequent ages, copying +their example, have refused to acknowledge that anything of value had +been achieved prior to the first Greek Olympiad. + +When Philip of Macedon opened the gold mines of Thrace, a country in +which it will be remembered the worship of the Great Mother Cybele was +indigenous, he found that they had been previously worked "at great +expense and with great ingenuity by a people well versed in mechanics, +of whom no monuments whatever are extant." + +The decorations on the breasts of some of the oldest mummies show that +the early Egyptians understood the art of making glass. It is now +known that the lens as a magnifying instrument was in use among them. +Attention has been drawn to the fact that the astronomical observations +of the ancients would have been impossible without the aid of the +telescope. Diodorus Siculus says there was an island west of the Celtae +in which the Druids brought the sun and moon near them. An instrument +has recently been found in the sands of the Nile, the construction of +which shows plainly that 6000 years ago the Egyptians were acquainted +with our modern ideas of the science of astronomy. + +William Huntington, who has travelled widely in India, Borneo, the Malay +Peninsula, and Egypt, says: + +"I think, on the whole, the most interesting experience I ever had was +in an ancient city on the Nile in Egypt.... When I was there a year ago, +and men were digging among the ruined temples, some curious things were +brought to light, and these I regard as the strangest things seen in all +my wanderings. In an old tomb was found a curious iron and glass object, +which on investigation proved to be a photographic camera. It was not +such a camera as is used now, or has been since our photography was +invented, but something analogous to it, showing that the art which we +thought we had discovered was really known 6000 years ago." + +The same writer states that a plow constructed on the modern plan was +also found. "It was not of steel but of iron, and it had the same shape, +the same form of point and bend of mold board as we have now." + +It is reported that the dark continent possesses means of communication +entirely unknown to Europe. Upon this subject a correspondent to the New +York Tribune writes: + +"When Khartoum fell in 1885 I was in Egypt, and I well remember that the +Arabs settled in the neighborhood of the pyramids knew all about it, as +well as about Gen. Gordon's death, days and days before the news +reached Cairo by telegraph from the Soudanese frontier. Yet Khartoum is +thousands of miles distant from Cairo and the telegraph wires from the +frontier were monopolized by the government." + +The same correspondent observes that these Arabs told him, months +previously, of the defeat of the Egyptian army under Baker Pasha at +Tokar--that they not only gave him the news, but several particulars +concerning the matter, two full days before intelligence was received +from the Red Sea coast. In answer to the suggestion that such +information might have been conveyed by means of signal fires, this +writer says that such fires would have attracted the attention of the +English and native scouts, and that the whole country is unpropitious +to such methods; besides, no system of signal fires, no matter how +elaborate, could have conveyed the news so quickly and in such detail. +The whole matter is summed up as follows: + +"The Arabs, therefore, have, manifestly, some other means of rapid +communication at their command. One is inclined to the presumption that +they, like the learned Pundits of Northern India, have a knowledge +of the forces of Nature that are yet hidden from our most eminent +scientists." + +Can it be that the Arabs are acquainted with the very recently +discovered scientific principle, that it is possible to transmit +telegraphic communications without wires, and simply by means of +magnetic currents in earth and water? + +Nor is this remarkable skill confined to the "barbarians of the Old +World." A correspondent from the far West to the New York Press wrote +that long before the news of the Custer massacre reached Fort Abraham +Lincoln the Sioux had communicated it to their brethren. The scouts in +Crook's column to the south knew of it almost immediately, as did those +with Gibbon farther northwest. The same writer says that several years +ago a naval lieutenant ran short of provisions. He pushed on to a +settlement as rapidly as possible and upon arriving there found that +the inhabitants had provided for his coming and had a bounteous store +awaiting him. The people in the village were of a different tribe from +those whose domain he had passed, and so far as could be learned were +not in communication with them. + +The earliest accounts which we have of Egypt and Chaldea reveal the fact +that at a very remote period they were old and powerful civilizations, +that they had a settled government, a pure and philosophical religion, +and a profound knowledge of science and art; yet, notwithstanding the +great antiquity of these civilizations, that of the people which created +them must have been infinitely more remote. + +The earliest historic nations recognized the greatness of these ancient +people and the extent of their dominion. In the oldest geographical +writings of the Sanskrit people, the ancient Ethiopia, or land of +Cush of Greek and Hebrew antiquity, is clearly described. Stephanus of +Byzantium, who is said to represent the opinions of the most ancient +Greeks, says: "Ethiopia was the first established country on the earth, +and the Ethiopians were the first who introduced the worship of the Gods +and who established laws."(65) + + + 65) Quoted by John D. Baldwin, Prehistoric Nations, p. 62. + + +Heeren in his researches says: + +"From the remotest times to the present, the Ethiopians have been one +of the most celebrated, and yet the most mysterious of nations. In +the earliest traditions of nearly all the more civilized nations of +antiquity, the name of this distant people is found. The annals of the +Egyptian priests are full of them, and the nations of inner Asia, on +the Euphrates and Tigris, have interwoven the fictions of the Ethiopians +with their traditions of the wars and conquests of their heroes; and, +at a period equally remote, they glimmer in Greek mythology. When the +Greeks scarcely knew Italy and Sicily by name, the Ethiopians were +celebrated in the verses of their poets, and when the faint gleam of +tradition and fable gives way to the clear light of history, the lustre +of the Ethiopians is not diminished." + +Homer says of them that they were a "divided people dwelling at the +ends of the earth toward the setting and the rising Sun." Although it is +possible at the present time to discover very many of the facts bearing +upon the civilization of this ancient people, it is impossible in the +present condition of human knowledge to discover when civilized life +began on the earth. Whether the ancient Arabians or Ethiopians who +belonged to the old Cushite race, and who are believed by many to be +the most ancient people of whom we have any trace, were the first +colonizers, or whether they were preceded by a still older civilization, +history and tradition are alike silent; yet the fact seems to be +tolerably well authenticated that this enlightened race, now nearly +extinct, carried civilization to Chaldea more than seven thousand years +B.C., that it colonized Egypt, engrafted its own institutions in India, +colonized Phoenicia, and by its maritime and commercial enterprise, +introduced civilized conditions into every quarter of the globe. Even +in Peru, in Mexico, in Central America, and in the United States are +evidences of the old Cushite religion and enterprise. + +Baldwin, commenting on the greatness of this remarkable people, says +that early in the period of its colonizing enterprise, commercial +greatness, and extensive empire, it established colonies in the valleys +of the Nile and the Euphrates, which in later ages became Barbary, +Egypt, and Chaldea. The ancient Cushite nation occupied Arabia and +other extensive regions of Africa, India, and Western Asia to the +Mediterranean. While remarking upon the vastness and antiquity of this +old Cushite race, Rawlinson says that they founded most of the towns of +Western Asia. The vast commercial system which formed a connecting link +between the various countries of the globe, was created by this people, +the great manufacturing skill and unrivalled maritime activity of the +Phoenicians which extended down to the time of the Hellenes and the +Romans having been a result of the irgenius. It was doubtless during the +supremacy of the ancient Cushite race that a knowledge of astronomy was +developed and that the arts of life were carried to a high degree of +perfection. However, through the peculiar influences which were brought +to bear upon human experience, this knowledge, which was bequeathed +to their descendants or to the nations which they had created, was +subsequently lost or practically obscured, only fragments of it having +been preserved from the general ruin. + +Within these fragments have been preserved in India certain evidences of +a profound knowledge of Nature, or of the at present unknown forces in +the universe, a demonstration of which, in our own time, would probably +be looked upon as a miraculous interposition of supernatural agencies. + +Regarding the refinements and luxuries of this ancient people, Diodorus +Siculus declares that they flowed in streams of gold and silver, that +"the porticoes of their temples were overlaid with gold, and that the +adornments of their buildings were in some parts of silver and gold, +and in others of ivory and precious stones, and other things of great +value." + +From various observations, it is plain that the Etrurians represented +a stage of civilization far in advance of the Pelasgians who founded +Rome--a race which, although superior in numbers, arms, and influence, +were, when compared with this more ancient people, little better than +barbarians.(66) + + + 66) It is thought that as early as the nineteenth century B.C. the +Pelasgians or Pelargians went to Aenonia, or Ionia. It was a detachment +of this people which, according to Herodotus, captured a number of +Athenian women on the coast of Africa, lived with them as wives, and +raised families by them, but, "because they differed in manners from +themselves," they murdered them, which act was attended by a "dreadful +pestilence." It is the opinion of certain writers that these women were +of a different religious faith from their captors, and that so intense +and bitter was the feeling upon the comparative importance of the sex +functions in pro-creation, that their husbands, unable to change their +views, put an end to their existence. + + +Nothing, perhaps, proclaims the degree of civilization attained by the +ancient Etrurians more plainly than the exquisite perfection which is +observed in the specimens of art found in their tumuli. Within the tombs +of Etruscans buried long prior to the foundation of Rome, or the birth +of the fine arts in Greece, have been found unmistakable evidence of the +advanced condition of this people. The exquisite coloring and grouping +of the figures on their elegant vases, one of which, on exhibition in +the British Museum, portrays the birth of Minerva, or Wisdom, show the +delicacy of their taste, the purity of their conceptions, and their true +artistic skill. + +Among their mechanical arts, a few specimens of which have been +preserved, is the potter's wheel, an invention which, so far as its +utility is concerned, is declared to be absolutely perfect--the most +complete of all the instruments of the world. "It never has been +improved and admits of no improvement." In fact all that may be gathered +concerning the ancient Etrurians, a people who by the most able writers +upon this subject is believed to have been one of the first to leave +the Asiatic hive, is in perfect accord with the facts already set forth +regarding that mighty nation, perhaps of upper Asia, who carried the +study of astronomy to a degree of perfection never again reached until +after the discovery of the Copernican system, who invented the Neros +and the Metonic Cycle, who colonized Egypt and Chaldea, and who carried +civilization to the remotest ends of the earth. + +The philosophy of the Etrurians corresponds with that of the most +ancient Hindoo system, and displays a degree of wisdom unparalleled by +any of the peoples belonging to the early historic ages. According to +their cosmogony, the evolutionary or creative processes involved twelve +vast periods of time. At the end of the first period appeared the +planets and the earth, in the second the firmament was made, in the +third the waters were brought forth, in the fourth the sun, moon, and +stars were placed in the heavens, in the fifth living creatures appeared +on the earth, and in the sixth man was produced. These six periods +comprehended one-half the duration of the cycle. After six more periods +had elapsed, or after the lapse of the entire cycle of twelve periods, +all creation was dissolved or drawn to the source of all life. +Subsequently a new creation was brought forth under which the same order +of events will take place. The involution of life, or its return to the +great source whence it sprang, did not, however, involve the destruction +of matter. The seeds of returning life were preserved in an ark or +boat--the female principle, within which all things are contained. This +indrawing of life constituted "the night of Brahme." It was represented +by Vishnu sleeping on the bottom of the sea. + +From the facts adduced in relation to the Etrurians we are not surprised +to find that their religion was that of the ancient Nature worshippers, +and that a mother with her child stood for their god-idea. In referring +to the religion of this people, and to the great antiquity of the +worship of the Virgin and Child, Higgins remarks: "Amongst the Gauls, +more than a hundred years before the Christian era, in the district of +Chartres, a festival was celebrated in honor of the Virgin," and in the +year 1747, a mithraic monument was found "on which is exhibited a female +nursing an infant--the Goddess of the year nursing the God day." To +which he adds: "The Protestant ought to recollect that his mode of +keeping Christmas Day is only a small part of the old festival as it yet +exists amongst the followers of the Romish Church. Theirs is the remnant +of the old Etruscan worship of the virgin and child." As a proof of the +above, Higgins cites Gorius's Tuscan Antiquities, where may be seen the +figure of an old Goddess with her child in her arms, the inscription +being in Etruscan characters. "No doubt the Romish Church would have +claimed her for a Madonna, but most unluckily she has her name, Nurtia, +in Etruscan letters, on her arm, after the Etruscan practice." + +From the monuments of Etruria the fact is observed that descent and +the rights of succession were traced in the female line, a condition of +society which indicates the high position which must have been occupied +by the women of that country. + +In Oman is said to exist a fragment of the government of the old +Ethiopian or Cushite race. If this is true, then we may be able to +perceive at the present time something of the character of the political +institutions of this ancient nation. As no people remains stationary, +and as degeneracy has been the rule with surrounding countries, we may +not expect to find among the people of Oman a true representation of +ancient conditions, yet, as has been observed, we may still be able to +note some of the facts relative to the organization of society and their +governmental institutions. + +In a description furnished by Palgrave, Oman is termed a kingdom, yet it +is plain from the observations of this writer that the existing form +of government is that of a confederacy of nations under a democratical +system, identical with that developed during the later status of +barbarism. This writer himself admits that Oman is less a kingdom than +an aggregation of municipalities, and that each of these municipalities +or towns has a separate existence and is controlled by its own local +chief; but that all are joined together in one confederacy, and +subjected to the leadership of a grand chief whom the writer is pleased +to term "the crown," but why, as is evident from the description given, +bears no resemblance to a modern monarch. The chiefs who direct the +councils of the municipalities are limited in their powers by "the +traditional immunities of the vassals," the decision of all criminal +cases and the administration of justice being in the hands of the local +judges. In the descriptions given of their governmental proceedings, +it is stated that the whole course of law is considered apart from the +jurisdiction of the sovereign, who has no power to either change or +annul the enactments of the people. + +Here, it is observed, exists almost the identical form of government +which was in use among the early historic nations, before governments +came to be founded on wealth, or on a territorial basis(67); or, in +other words, before the monied and aristocratic classes had drawn to +themselves all the powers which had formerly belonged to the people. + + + 67) See The Evolution of Woman, p. 238. + + +We must bear in mind the fact that under these earlier democratical +institutions, the term "people" included not only men but women, and as +the grand chief, the local rulers, and the judges held their positions +by virtue of their descent from, or relationship to, some real or +traditional leader of the gens, who during all the earlier ages was a +woman, we may believe that the power of women to depose their political +leaders so soon as their conduct became obnoxious to them was absolute +and unquestioned. + +Doubtless, as we have seen, the government of Oman has undergone a +considerable degree of modification since the days of Cushite splendor +and supremacy; that, like all other nations which have come in +contact with the Aryan and Semitic races, the tendency has been +toward monarchial government; nevertheless, with its practically free +institutions, representing as they do, in a measure, the political +system of the grandest and oldest civilizations of which we have any +knowledge, it furnishes an illustration of the degree of progress +possible under gentile organization, at the same time that it points to +the source whence has proceeded the fierce democratic spirit observed +among succeeding nations, notably the Greeks. + +Modern writers agree in ascribing to the Touaricks, a people inhabiting +the Desert of Sahara, a considerable degree of civilization. We are +informed that in the Sahara, which, by the way, is far less a barren +waste than we have been taught to suppose it, "the Touaricks have towns, +cities, and an excellent condition of agriculture"; that with them fruit +is cultivated with great success and skill. Their method of +political organization is democratic and similar in construction and +administration to the old Cushite municipalities. Baldwin, quoting from +Richardson, says: "Ghat, like all the Touarick countries, is a republic; +all the people govern. The woman of the Touaricks is not the woman of +the Moors and Mussulmans generally. She has here great liberty, and +takes an active part in the affairs and transactions of life."(68) + + + 68) Prehistoric Nations, p. 341. + + +One who is disposed to search for it, will find no lack of evidence +going to prove that in an earlier age of the world, prior to the written +records of extant history, the human race had attained to a stage of +civilization equal in all and superior in many respects to that of the +present time. + +That this remarkable stage of progress, the actual extent of which +has not yet been fully realized, was attained during a period of pure +Nature-worship, or while the earth and the sun were venerated as emblems +of the great creative energy throughout the universe, is a proposition +which, when viewed by the light of more recently acquired facts, is +perfectly reasonable, and exactly what might be expected. + +That this high stage of civilization was reached while women were the +recognized heads of families and of the gentes, and at a time when +Perceptive Wisdom, or the female energy in the Deity, was worshipped as +the supreme God, is a fact which in time will be proved beyond a doubt. +Indeed, had not the judgment of man become warped by prejudice, and +his reason clogged by superstition and sensuality, the fact so plainly +apparent in all ancient mythologies, that in the early god-idea two +principles were contained, the female being in the ascendancy, would +long ere this have been acknowledged, and our present religious systems, +which are but outgrowths from these mythologies, would, with the partial +return of civilized conditions, have been so modified or changed as to +embrace some of the fundamental truths which formed the basis of early +religion. + +Regarding the religion of the ancient race which we have been +considering, we are told that they worshipped a dual Deity, under the +appellations of Ashtaroth and Baal, and that this God "comprehended +the generative or reproductive powers in human beings and in the sun, +together with Wisdom or Light." In other words, they adored the great +moving force throughout Nature, a force which they venerated as the +Great Mother. + +Before the Zend and Sanskrit branches of the Aryan race had separated, +their religion was doubtless that given them by their Cushite +civilizers. The worship of the sun and the planets, with which were +inextricably interwoven the fructifying agencies in Nature, explains +their devotion to the study of the heavenly bodies and their advanced +knowledge of astronomy. The types of regeneration or reproduction which +they venerated were symbols of abstract principles, and, from facts +connected with their religious ceremonies as practiced by their +immediate successors, and from the pure significance attached to their +emblems, we are justified in the conclusion before referred to, that +the sensuous element, which became so prominent in later religious +developments, constituted no part of their worship. + +The number of ages during which the most primitive religion, namely, +that of pure Nature-worship, prevailed among the inhabitants of the +earth may not be conjectured, and the exact length of time during which +earth and sun adoration unalloyed by serpent and phallic faiths remained +is not known. It is probable, however, that its duration is to be +measured by that of the supremacy of the altruistic or mother element +in human affairs, and that the gradual engrafting of the later-developed +sensuous faiths upon their earlier god-idea, marks the change from +female to male supremacy. + +We have observed that whenever a remnant of the civilization of the +ancient Cushites appears, exactly as might be expected, women hold an +exalted position in human affairs, at the same time that the female +principle constitutes the essential element in the Deity. + +Of the ancient Persians who received their religion and their +civilization from this older race Malcolm observes: + +"The great respect in which the female sex was held was, no doubt, the +principal cause of the progress they made in civilization.... It would +appear that in former days the women of Persia had an assigned and +honorable place in society; and we must conclude that an equal rank +with the male creation, which is secured to them by the ordinances of +Zoroaster, existed long before the time of that reformer, who paid too +great attention to the habits and prejudices of his countrymen to have +made any serious alteration in so important an usage. We are told +by Quintus Curtius, that Alexander would not sit in the presence of +Sisygambis, till told to do so by that matron, because it is not the +custom in Persia for sons to sit in the presence of their mothers. +There can be no stronger proof than this anecdote affords, of the great +respect in which the female sex were held in that country, at the time +of this invasion."(69) + + + 69) See History of Persia. + + +No one I think can study the sacred books of the Persians without +observing the emphasis which is there placed on purity of character +and right living. Indeed, within no extant writings is the antithesis +between good and evil more strongly marked, at the same time that their +hatred of idolatry is clearly apparent. The same is observed in the +early writings of the Hindoos. Within the Vedas, although they have been +corrupted by later writers, may still be traced a purity of thought and +life which is not apparent in the writings of later ages. Not long ago +I was informed by a learned native of India that the original writing of +the Vedas was largely the work of women. + +That the early conceptions of a Deity in which women constituted the +central and supreme figure were in Egypt correlated with the exercise of +great temporal power, may not, in view of the facts at hand, longer +be doubted. By means of records revealed on ancient monuments, we +are informed that in the age of Amunoph I. a considerable degree of +sovereign power in Egypt was exercised by a woman, Amesnofre-are, who +had shared the throne with Ames. She occupied it also with Amunoph, and, +notwithstanding the statement of Herodotus, that women did not serve +in the capacity of priests, this Queen is represented as pouring out +libations to Amon, an office which was doubtless the highest connected +with the priesthood. + +Less than forty years later, it is observed that another woman, +Amun-nou-het, shared the throne with Thotmes I. and II. and that "she +appears to have enjoyed far greater consideration than either of them." +Not alone are monuments raised in her name, but she appears dressed as +a man, and "alone presenting offerings to the gods." So important a +personage was she that she is believed by many to be the princess who +conquered the country, perhaps even Semiramis herself. Her title was the +"Shining Sun."(70) + + + 70) Rawlinson, History of Herodotus, app., book ii., ch. viii. + + +As these women doubtless belonged to the old Arabian, Ethiopian, or +Cushite race, the people who had brought civilization to Egypt, we are +not surprised to find them holding positions which were connected with +the highest civil and religious offices. The Labyrinth, in the country +of the Nile, is described by ancient writers as containing three +thousand chambers. Strabo says of it that the enclosure contained as +many palaces as there formerly were homes, and that there the priests +and priestesses of each department were wont to congregate to discuss +difficult and important questions of law. + +According to the Greeks, the Egyptian God Osiris corresponds to their +Jupiter; and Sate, the companion of Kneph, is identical with Juno. It +is quite evident, however, that the Greeks understood little of the +true significance of the gods which they had borrowed, or which they +had inherited from older nations. It would seem that as a people their +conceit prevented them from acknowledging the dignity even of their +gods, hence, they endowed them with the attributes best suited to their +own depraved taste or pleasure, and then worshipped them as beings like +themselves. + +It has been observed of the Egyptians that they were wont to ridicule +the Greeks for regarding their gods as actual beings, while in reality +"they were only the representations of the attributes and principles of +Nature." Unlike the religions which succeeded it, Egyptian mythology, as +understood by the learned, was essentially philosophical, and dealt with +abstractions and principles rather than with personalities. + +Notwithstanding the importance which in process of time came to be +claimed by males, and the consequent stimulation which was given to the +animal tendencies, it is evident, from certain historical and undeniable +proofs in connection with this subject, that although woman's power in +Egypt, as in all other countries, gradually became weakened, the +effect of her influence on manners and social customs was never wholly +extinguished. + +Regarding the existence of polygamy, it has been said that the high +position occupied in ancient Egypt by the mother of the family, the +mistress of the household, is absolutely irreconcilable with the +existence of polygamy as a general practice, or of such an institution +as the harem. Although the plurality of wives does not appear to have +been contrary to law, it "certainly was unusual," and although Egyptian +kings frequently had many wives, "they followed foreign rather than +native custom."(71) + + + 71) Renouf, Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 81. + + +Herodotus says of the women of Egypt: "They attend the markets and trade +while the men sit at home at the loom"(72); and Diodorus informs us that +in Egypt "women control the men." + + + 72) Book ii., ch. xxxv. + + +Were we in possession of no direct historical evidence to prove that +down to a late period in the history of Egypt women had not lost +their prestige, sufficient evidence would be found in the fact that, +notwithstanding the growing tendency of mankind in all the nations of +the globe to suppress the female instincts and to reject, conceal, +or belittle the woman element in the Deity, still Isis, the gracious +mother, retained a prominent place in the god-idea of that country. + +I am not unmindful of the remarks which a reference to a past age of +intellectual and moral greatness will call forth; indeed, I can almost +hear some devotee of the present time remark: "So we are asked to regard +as a sober fact the existence in the past of a golden age; also to +believe that man was created pure and holy, and that he has since +fallen from his high estate; in other words, we are to have faith in the +ancient tradition of the 'fall of man.'" If by the fall of man we are to +understand that a great and universal people, who in a remote age of +the world's history had reached a high stage of civilization, gradually +passed out of human existence, and that a lower race, which +was incapable of attaining to their estate, and which, by the +over-stimulation of the lower propensities, sank into a state of +barbarism, in which the original sublime conceptions of a Deity were +obscured and the great learning of the past was lost, I can see no +reason to disbelieve it, especially as all the facts, both of tradition +and history, bearing upon this subject unite in proclaiming its truth. + +After stating that in Chaldea has been found rather the debris of +science than the elements of it, Bailly asks: + +"When you see a house built of old capitals, columns, and other +fragments of beautiful architecture, do you not conclude that a fine +building has once existed?... If the human mind can ever flatter itself +with having been successful in discovering the truth, it is when many +facts, and these facts of different kinds, unite in producing the same +results." + +That the descendants of a once mighty nation lapsed into barbarism, +forgetting the profound knowledge of the sciences possessed by their +ancestors, is a fact too well attested at the present time to be doubted +by those who have taken the pains to acquaint themselves with the +evidence at hand. + +Regarding the manner in which this ancient civilization was reached, or +concerning the way in which it was achieved, history and tradition +are alike silent, although it is believed that the present methods +of investigation will, at least in a measure, unravel the mystery. At +present we only know that, as far in the remote past as human ken can +reach, evidences of a high stage of civilization exist which it must +have required thousands upon thousands of years to accomplish. + + + +CHAPTER VII. CONCEALMENT OF THE EARLY DOCTRINES. + +After the decline of Nature-worship, and when through the constantly +increasing power gained by the ruder elements in human society a +knowledge of the scientific principles underlying ancient religion had +been partially lost or forgotten, it became necessary for philosophers +to conceal the original conception of the Deity and to clothe their +sacred writings in allegory. Hence it is observed that every ancient +form of religion has a cabala containing its secret doctrines--doctrines +the inner meaning of which was known only to the few. In order that +these truths might be preserved, they were inscribed on the leaves of +trees in characters or symbols understood only by the initiated. The +allegories beneath which these higher truths were concealed were handed +down as traditions to succeeding generations--traditions in which +history, astrology, and mythology are strangely combined. + +After long periods, through war, conquest, and the various changes +incidental to shifting environment, these traditions were in the main +forgotten. Fragments of them, however, were from time to time gathered +together, and, intermingled with later doctrines, were used by the +priests as a means of increased self-aggrandizement and power. + +It is now thought that the Iliad (Rhapsodies) of Homer is only a number +of "detached songs" which perhaps for centuries were delivered orally, +and that they contain the secret doctrines of the priests. Porphyry +says that "we ought not to doubt that Homer has secretly represented +the images of divine things under the concealment of fable." It has been +said of Plato that he banished the poems of Homer from his imaginary +republic for the reason that the people might not be able to distinguish +what is from what is not allegorical. Hippolytus informs us that the +Simonists declared that in Helen resided the principle of intelligence; +"and thus, when all the powers were for claiming her for themselves, +sedition and war arose, during which this chief power was manifested to +nations." These songs which were gathered together by Pisistratus and +revised by Aristotle for the use of Alexander, have generally been +regarded merely as a bit of history recounting a severe and protracted +struggle between the Greeks and Trojans. + +Within the earliest historical accounts which we have of the Egyptians, +we observe that their ceremonies and symbols have already become +multitudinous, the true meaning of the latter being concealed. The +masses of the people, who had grown too sensualized and ignorant to +receive the higher divine "mysteries," and too gross to be entrusted +with their true significance, had become idolaters. + +Not only the Egyptian and Chaldean priests, but Moses and the Jewish +doctors were well versed in religious symbolism. The fact is observed, +also, that as late as medieval Christianity, the fathers in the Church, +the Christian painters, sculptors, and architects, still employed signs +and symbols to set forth their religious doctrines. Even at the present +time, many of the emblems representing certain ideas connected with +the creative principles, and which were part and parcel of the pagan +worship, are still in use. The masses of the people, however, are +without a knowledge of their origin or early significance. + +Everywhere, throughout the early historic nations, were worshipped +symbols of the attributes or functions of the dual or triune God. Each +symbol represented a distinctive female or male quality. Animals, trees, +the sea, plants, the moon, and the heavens were, at a certain stage of +religious development, symbolized as parts of the Deity and worshipped +as possessing certain female or male characteristics or attributes. + +It is plain that, with the decline of female power, and the consequent +stimulation of the animal instincts in man, the pure creative principles +involved in Nature-worship gradually became unsuited to the sensualized +capacities and tastes of the masses; but in addition to this were other +reasons why the female principle in the Deity should be concealed. Women +were already deposed from their former exalted position as heads of +families and as leaders of consanguine communities. All their rightful +prerogatives had been usurped. The highest development in Nature had +become the slave of man's appetites, and motherhood, which had hitherto +been accepted as the most exalted function either in heaven or on the +earth, trailed in the dust. + +Under these conditions it is not perhaps singular that the capacity +to bring forth, and the qualities and attributes of women which are +correlated with it, namely, sympathy--a desire for the welfare of others +outside of self, or altruism,--should no longer have been worshipped as +divine, or that in their place should have been substituted the leading +characters developed in man. From the facts at hand it is plain that +at a certain stage of human growth physical might and male reproductive +energy, or virility, became the recognized God. With passion as the +highest ideal of a Creator, the female element appeared only in a +sensualized form and simply as an appendage to the god which was +dependent upon her ministrations. Under the above conditions it is not +in the least remarkable that by the priests it should have been deemed +necessary to conceal from women the facts bound up in their nature. +Woman's importance as a creative agency and as a prime and most +essential factor in the universe must be concealed. "Isis must be +veiled." + +Through the appropriation of the titles of the original dual God by +reigning monarchs, is perceived at least one of the processes by which +the great universal female Deity of the ancients has been transformed +into a male god. We are assured that the "redundant nomenclature of the +deities of Babylon renders an interpretation of them impossible. +Each divinity has many distinct names, by which he is indifferently +designated." It is observed that each Deity has as many as forty or +fifty titles, each of which represents a certain attribute. + +Since the invention of the cuneiform alphabet, by which pictures have +been reduced to phonetic signs, the attempt has been made to arrange or +classify these gods according to their proper order in the Pantheon, but +thus far much obscurity and doubt seem to pervade their history. + +In Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian mythologies are observed much +confusion and no small degree of mystery surrounding the positions +occupied by certain gods. "Children not unfrequently change positions +with parents," but more frequently, we are told, "women change places +with men," or, more properly speaking, the titles, attributes, and +qualities ascribed to the Great Universal female God are now transferred +to the reigning monarch. Thus not unfrequently a deity is observed which +is composed of a male triad, the central figure of which is the king or +military chieftain, and to which is usually appended a straggling fourth +member, a female, who, shorn of her power, and with a doubtful and +mysterious title, appears as wife or mistress to his greatness, while +upon her is reflected, through him, a slight hint of that dignity and +honor which was originally recognized as belonging exclusively to the +recognized Deity. + +The Goddess Vishnu, from whose navel as she slept on the bottom of the +sea sprang all creation, after her transformation into a male God, is +supplemented by a wife--Lacksmir. Lacksmir means wisdom; but she has +become only an appendage to her "lord," upon whom is reflected all her +former glory. + +So greedy did rulers become for the splendid titles belonging to the +female divinities that we are told that "the name of the Great Goddess +Astarte not unfrequently appears as that of a man." + +Although man had usurped the titles of the female God and had denied +her recognition as an active creative agency, still, as nothing could +be created without her, she was permitted, as we have seen, to remain +as wife or mistress to the reigning monarch, in whom had come to reside +infinite wisdom and power. Her symbol was an ark, chest, boat, box, or +cave. This woman, although dignified by the title "Mother of the Gods," +and even by that of "Queen of Heaven," is utterly without power. + +Not only is it plain that the titles and attributes of female gods have +been appropriated by males, but it is also true that the more ancient +deities, which are now known to have been female, have by later +investigators been represented as male. + +The interpretations which have hitherto been put upon the Babylonian +and Assyrian deities by many of those who have attempted to unravel the +mysteries of an earlier stage of religious worship, is doubtless due to +the fact that since the so-called historic period began, the qualities +which have been considered godlike have all been masculine; it has +therefore never occurred to the minds of these writers that the ancients +may have entertained quite different notions from their own regarding +the attributes of a Deity; hence, whenever the sex of a god has appeared +doubtful, especially if it be in the least degree powerful or +important, it has at once been denominated as masculine, and this, too, +notwithstanding the fact that such rendering has oftentimes involved +inconsistencies, contradictions, and absurdities which it is impossible +to reconcile either with established facts or with common sense. + +Unless the symbols representing religious belief and worship are viewed +in the light of later developed facts in mythology, archaeology, and +philology, there occur many seeming absurdities and numberless facts +which it is found difficult to reconcile with each other; especially +is this true in regard to some of the symbols used to express the +distinctive female and male qualities. The serpent, for instance, +although a male symbol, in certain ages of the world's history appears +as a beautiful woman. + +This is accounted for by the fact that a woman and a serpent once stood +for the god-idea. Together they constituted an indivisible entity--the +creating power in the universe. They therefore became interchangeable +terms. The woman when appearing alone represented both, as did also the +serpent. + +"In most ancient languages, probably all, the name for the serpent +signifies Life, and the roots of these words generally also signify the +male and female organs, and sometimes these conjoined. In low French the +words for Phallus and life have the same sound, though, as is sometimes +the case, the spelling and gender differ"; but this fact is thought to +be of no material importance, as "Jove, Jehova, sun, and moon have all +been male and female by turn." + +No doubt many of the inconsistencies hitherto observed in the religion +of the ancients will disappear so soon as we obtain a clearer knowledge +of their chronology; and events which now seem contradictory will be +satisfactorily explained when placed in their proper order with regard +to date. Religion, like everything else, is constantly shifting its +position to accommodate itself to the changed mental conditions of +its adherents; hence, ideas which at any given time in the past were +perfectly suited to a people, would, in the course of five hundred or +one thousand years, have become changed or greatly modified. + +During a certain stage in human history "all great women and mythical +ladies were serpents"; but when monumentally or pictorially represented, +they appeared "with the head of a woman, while the body was that of a +reptile." This figure represented Wisdom and Passion, or the spiritual +and material planes of human existence. The mythical woman whom Hercules +met in Scythia, and who was doubtless the original eponymous leader +of the Scythian people, had the head of a woman and the body of a +serpent.(73) Even the Mexicans declare that "he, the serpent, is the +sun, Tonakatl-Koatl, who ever accompanies their first woman." Their +primitive mother, they said, was Kihua-Kohuatl, which signifies a +serpent. In referring to this Mexican tradition, Forlong remarks: "So +that the serpent here was represented as both Adam and Adama; and their +Eden, as in Jewish story, was a garden of love and pleasure."(74) + + + 73) Herodotus, book iv., 9. + + + 74) Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 143. + + +The traditions extant among all peoples seem to connect the introduction +of the serpent into religious symbolism, with a time in the history of +mankind when they first began to recognize the fact, that through the +abuse of the reproductive functions, evil, or human wretchedness, had +gained the ascendency over the higher forces. The Deity represented by a +woman and a serpent involved the idea not alone of good, but of good and +evil combined. Together they prefigured not only Wisdom and generative +power, but evil as well. Mythologically they represented the cold of +winter and the heat of the sun's rays, both of which were necessary +reproduction. From this conception sprang the Ormuzd and Ahryman of the +Persians, the story of Adam, Eve, and the serpent in Genesis, and the +legend of Kihua-Kohuatl and Tonakatl-Koatl in Mexico. + +"The serpent remained in the memory and affections of most early people +as wisdom, life, goodness, and the source of knowledge and science, +under various names such as Toth, Hermes, Themis, the Kneph or Sophia of +Egyptians and Gnostics, and Set, Shet, or Shem of the Jews."(75) + + + 75) Forlong, Rivers of Life, etc., vol. i., p. 143. + + +The Serpent Goddess, although embracing evil as well as good, was still +the "Giver of Life" and the "Teacher of Mankind." These were the titles +which in later ages began to be coveted by monarchs, and then it +was that the attributes belonging to this Deity began to appear in +connection with royalty. + +There is no ancient divinity about which there seems to be connected +so much mystery as the Assyrian Hea. When referring to the "great +obscurity" which surrounds this God we are assured that there is at +present "no means of determining the precise meaning of the cuneiform +Hea, which is Babylonian rather than Assyrian," but that it is doubtless +connected with the Arabic Hya, which is said to mean "life," or the +female principle in creation. This Deity is the God of "glory" and +of "giving," titles which during the earlier ages of human existence +belonged to the Queen of Heaven, the Celestial Mother. + +The representation of the god Amun or Amun-ra, which superseded the +triune Deity, Kneph, Sate, and Anouk at Thebes, and from which in +Assyria doubtless proceeded the trinity, Amun, Bel-Nimrod, and Hea, is +supposed to be identical with the Greek Zeus, which means the sun. This +God is represented by a female figure seated on a throne. It is crowned +with two long feathers, and in the right hand is observed the cross, +the emblem of life. Manetho, the celebrated Egyptian historian, declares +that the name of this God signifies "concealed." + +There can be little doubt that the titles of the ancient Deity--the +Destroyer or Regenerator, or, in other words, those of the God of life +which embraced the idea of the moving force throughout Nature, were, in +course of time, appropriated by the rulers of the people. It is stated +that the name of a certain Egyptian God appears first in connection with +royalty, that "his name was substituted for some earlier divinity whose +hieroglyphics were chiselled out of the monuments to make place for +his." + +According to the testimony of Rawlinson, the God Hea is represented +by the great serpent, which occupies a conspicuous position among +the symbols of the gods on the black stones recording Babylonian +benefactions. Now these flat black stones are themselves said to +symbolize the female element in the Deity, in contradistinction to the +obelisks, which prefigure the male, while the serpent, for reasons which +have already been explained, appeared for ages in connection with the +figure of a woman. In later inscriptions "king" is everywhere attached +to the name of the God Hea, which fact shows that the titles ascribed +to her were those particularly coveted by royalty. Hence we are not +surprised to find that in an inscription of Sardanapalus, in the British +Museum, there "occurs a remarkable phrase in which the king takes the +titles of Hea." + +Among the Assyrian inscriptions appear Bel-Nimrod, Hea, and Nin or +Bar. In view of the facts which have come to light regarding Hea, it is +altogether probable that the triad Bel-Nimrod, Hea, and Nin represent +the trinity as figured by the father, mother, and child. That Nin +was the son or the child of Bel-Nimrod "is constantly asserted in the +inscriptions." He appears also as the son of Hea, yet the fact that +Hea should be represented as a woman, or as the mother of Nin, and the +central figure in the trinity, seems not to have been observed by those +who thus far have been engaged in deciphering these inscriptions. By +representing Hea as male, Nin is made to appear as the offspring of +two fathers while he is left absolutely motherless. To obviate this +difficulty an ingenious attempt has been made to account for his +existence by substituting his own wife as the author of his being. +Although in the numerous accounts which I had read of Hea, in my search +for information concerning her, she had always been designated as male, +still I was satisfied from the descriptions given that originally this +Deity was female. Therefore upon receiving a copy of Forlong's Rivers +of Life and Faiths of Man in All Lands, I was not surprised to find the +following: + +"Hoa or Hea, the Hu of our Keltic ancestors, whose symbol was the shield +and the serpent, was worshipped near rivers and lakes, and if possible +on the sea-shore, where were offered to her such emblems as a golden +vessel, boat, coffer, or fish, and she was then named Belat Ili (the +mistress of the Gods)."(76) + + + 76) Vol. ii., p. 94. + + +She was the Goddess of Water. Of this Forlong says: "Water, perhaps more +than fire, has always been used as a purifier... . Christians have but +imitated the ancients, in the use of Lustral water--now-a-days called +Holy Water, and into which salt should be freely put." + +According to Francis Vasques, the Cibola tribes of New Mexico pay no +adoration to anything but water, believing it to be the chief support +of all life. The Hindoo faith and the Greek Christian Church prescribe +"adorations, sacrifices, and other water rites, and hence we find all +orthodox clergy and devotees have much to do with rivers, seas, and +wells, especially at certain annual solar periods." + +The extent to which these ancient rites are still practiced as part and +parcel of modern religious observances is not realized by those who have +given no special attention to the subject. As spring advances, all ranks +of Russians from the Czar to the humblest peasant proceed with their +clergy to the Neva, where with solemn pomp the ice is broken and the +water, which is held to be of virgin purity, is sprinkled upon the heads +of Czar, nobles, and other dignitaries. The following is an account +given of the worship of Hea not many years ago in the public press: + +"An Imperial and Arch-episcopal procession was formed, consisting of, +first, the High Priest of the empire in all his most gorgeous robes, the +two masters of ceremonies walking backwards (probably because not of a +holy enough order), long double files of white-and gold-robed bearers +of sacred flambeaux or candles, for Fire must enter into every ceremony, +whether it is the male or female energy which is being worshipped. +Following these Religieux came all the sacred relics and fetishes of the +Church, as Maya's holy cup for water, all holy books, crosses, banners, +with sacred emblems in their order, and finally the Czar, humbly, and, +like all his people, on foot, followed by courtly throngs. These all +proceeded to a handsome pavilion or kiosk, erected close to the edge +of the water, when the Metropolitan of the Church reverently made an +incision in the ice, and took out a little water in a sacred golden cup +bearing strange devices. The firing of guns accompanied these solemn +acts in all their stages, and wherever the grave procession moved, it +always did so with measured tread, chanting sacred verses to the old, +old Deity of our race, and surrounded with all the pomp of war; whilst +at intervals, peals of Christian bells and the booming of near and +distant guns added to the solemnity of this water pageant. After the +filling of the golden cup, which, of course, represents the earth and +its fulness, and, at this season, the now expected increase, the High +Priest placed a golden crucifix on the virgin water and blessed its +return from wintry death, invoking the precious fluid to vernal life and +productiveness, when lo! a holy child suddenly appears upon the scene, +reminding us that this is everywhere the outcome of the 'wafers of life' +in all animal as well as vegetable production. Boodha in the garden of +Loobim through which flowed a holy stream, and Christ by the brook at +Bethlehem, nay, the first pair in the garden of the four rivers, are +all the same idea--fertility and creation. The high Russian Pontiff +now slowly and solemnly stooped, and taking up some of the holy water, +proceeded to sprinkle the vernal child--Jesus, whispered these crowds, +but the ancients said Horus. The sacred fluid was then sprinkled on +the clergy, the Czar, and all dignitaries, and finally on the sacred +emblems, banners, guns, etc. Men and women, aye, wise as well as +foolish, of every rank, now crowded forward, and on bended knee besought +their Patriarch to sprinkle and to bless them. Finally, the great Czar +put the cup to his lips, humbly and reverently, and then filled it to +overflowing with a wealth of golden pieces, for it is the still living +representative in the nineteenth century A.C. of 'the golden boat' of +Hea of the nineteenth century B.C."(77) + + + 77) Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. ii., p. 95. + + +The symbol of Neith or Muth, Athene or Minerva, the great universal +female principle of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, was the shield +and serpent. In Celtic Druids I find that Nath, the Egyptian Neith, the +"goddess of wisdom and science whose symbol was the shield and serpent, +was worshipped among the ancient Irish." The male God associated with +her was Naith, and according to Higgins represented "the opposite of +Neith." + +In Rivers of Life is observed a reference to the Assyrian Goddess Hea by +Lucian. In a note Forlong says that no doubt Hea is the same as Haiya +or Haya. In other words she represents the universal hermaphrodite--the +creative principle throughout Nature, which was originally worshipped as +female. The actual signification of the word Haya is "life." In ancient +Arabia it was applied to a group of kinsmen. + +The Rev. Mr. Davis is of the opinion that Noe or Noah was the same as +Deon and that both were Hu or Hea the mighty, whose chariot was drawn by +solar rays. This God was in fact the same as Zeus, Bacchus, and all the +rest of the sun and water Deities. It has been observed that, according +to the ancient cosmogonies, within water was contained the life +principle, and as a woman presided over it, or was the only being or +entity present, she must have been the self-existent Creator. From this +woman sprang all creation. According to the account in Genesis, the +Spirit of God moved on the face of the deep and creation began. + +By all nations water has been employed as a symbol of regeneration, +and as it contained the beginning of things it was female. The Hindoos +regard it as sacred, and in one of their most solemn prayers it is thus +invoked: Waters, mothers of worlds, purify us!(78) + + + 78) Quoted by Inman from Colbrook, vol. i., p. 85. + + +Doubtless it was from these ancient speculations regarding the +beginnings of things that Thales, the Milesian philosopher, received his +doctrine that water is the original principle. The ancient Egyptians +and the Jewish people to this day have the custom of pouring out all the +water contained in any vessel in a house where a death has taken place, +because of the idea that as the living being comes from water, so does +it make its exit through water. Hence "to drink or to use in any way a +fluid which contains the life of human beings would be a foul offense." + +The fact is noted by Inman that in all Assyrian mythology the water +God Hea is associated with life and with a serpent. Although Rawlinson +declares that Hea is Babylonian rather than Assyrian, may she not, in +view of the facts concerning her, be not only Babylonian, but Egyptian, +Indian, Phrygian, Mexican, and all the rest? + +It would seem that in this Deity, who is figured in connection with a +shield and serpent, as is Minerva, and who is worshipped near water--an +emblem which is sacred to her,--and whose titles correspond exactly +to those of Neith or Cybele, might be traced the remnants of a once +universal worship--a worship in which the female energy constituted the +Creator. + +Although it is declared that "great obscurity surrounds the God Hea," no +one, I think, whose mind is free from prejudice, and who understands the +significance of the early god-idea, and the true meaning of the symbols +used in later ages to express it, can study the myths connected with +this Deity without at once recognizing her identity with the great +female God of Nature who was once worshipped by every people on the +globe, but whose worship had become sensualized to satisfy the corrupted +taste of a more depraved age--an age in which passion constituted the +highest idea of a God. + +Although the serpent Deity was originally portrayed with the head of a +woman and the body of a serpent or fish, after the change of sex in the +god-idea which has been noted in the foregoing pages had been completed, +it is observed that this figure is represented by the head of a man +and the body of a serpent. Hea, the great goddess to whom water, the +original principle, is sacred, and who is suspiciously connected with +Noah, the life-principle which appears at the close of a cycle, has +changed her sex. This god is now the "Ruler of the Seas," "Master of the +Life-Boat" (the ark), and "Lord of the Earth." The earth is his and +the fulness thereof. He is the "Life Giver," the "Lord of Hosts," who +subsequently becomes the maker of heaven and earth. + +Minerva, who had been the first emanation from the Deity and the +daughter of the Great Mother of the Gods, now has a father but no +mother. Jove, who in course of time came to be represented as a male +Creator, brought her forth from his head. Later, woman is produced from +the side of man. The male principle, symbolized by a serpent, has become +"the one only and true God." It is Passion--the "Healer of Nations"--the +great "I Am." + +No unprejudiced individual who carefully follows the results of later +investigation, and who attempts to unravel the mysteries surrounding the +ancient gods and the significance of the symbols of worship belonging +to the earliest historic times, will fail to note the attempt which has +been made in later ages to conceal the fact that the Deity worshipped in +very ancient times was female. Neither will he fail to observe the modus +operandi by which the attributes and prerogatives of this Deity have +been shifted upon males--usually deified monarchs. After priestcraft +and its counterpart, monarchial rule, had robbed the people of all their +natural rights, kings assumed not alone the governing functions, but +arrogated to themselves the symbols, titles, and attributes of the +dual Deity. The reigning monarch became not only the temporal ruler +and priest, but was actually God himself, the female principle being +concealed under convenient symbols. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE ORIGINAL GOD-IDEA OF THE ISRAELITES. + +Not only were religious doctrines veiled beneath allegories and +convenient symbols, but names also had a religious significance. + +We are given to understand that in Chaldea and Assyria every child was +named by the oracle or priest, and that no one thought of changing the +appellation which had come to him through this heavenly source.(79) + + + 79) Inman, Ancient Faiths, vol. i., p. 3. + + +Inman, in his Ancient Faiths, calls attention to the fact that in the +Old Testament kings, priests, captains, and other great men have +had names bestowed upon them, each of which has some religious +signification; that this name was given the individual "at circumcision, +or soon after birth." + +In the ancient names of what are designated as the Shemitic races, +children were called after the god alone, and sometimes in connection +with an attribute. Especially were these names applied to royalty or to +persons of distinction; for instance, names were given signifying, God +the good, God the just or the merciful, God the strong, The Warrior God, +etc. + +As the higher conception of a Creator was forgotten, and as human +beings, or perhaps I should say their power to control circumstances +coupled with the ability to reproduce or create, had become god, they +assumed the titles or names of the Deity; hence, it is not perhaps +singular that in later times kings and heroes were invested with all the +attributes of the gods. + +We have seen that according to various writers Om or Amm was the holy +one whose name in India it was sacrilege to pronounce. It was the +eternal sun, or the Great Mother. As this word stands also for "tribe or +people," it seems to mean, too, that which binds, holds, or endures. + +As Om or Amm signifies the Great Mother, so An or On means the Great +Father. Concerning the word Am-mon, Inman writes as follows: + +"The association of the words signifying mother and father indicates +that it is to such conjunction we must refer creative power. With such +an androgyne element the sun was associated by ancient mythologists. +Jupiter was himself sometimes represented as being female; and the word +hermaphrodite is in itself a union between Hermes and Aphrodite, the +male and female creative powers. We may fairly conclude, from the +existence of names like the above, that there was at one time in Western +as there was in Eastern Asia a strong feud between the adorers of On +and Am, the Lingacitas and the Yonijas, and that they were at length +partially united under Ammon, as they were elsewhere under Nebo or the +Nabhi of Vishnu."(80) + + + 80) Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. i., p. 237. + + +Inman relates that once when a friend of his was conversing with a very +high-caste Hindoo he casually uttered this word Amm or Om, whereupon +the man was so awe struck that he could scarcely speak, and, in a voice +almost of terror, asked where his friend had learned the word. Of this +word Inman says: + +"To the Hindoos it was that incommunicable name of the Almighty, which +no one ventured to pronounce except under the most religious solemnity. +And here let me pause to remark that the Jews were equally reverent with +the name belonging to the Most High; and that the third commandment was +very literal in its signification." + +The same writer remarks that in Thibet, too, where a worship very nearly +identical in ceremony and doctrine with that of the Roman papists exists +amongst the Lamas, the name of Om is still sacred. + +The Iav of the Jews was equally revered, but in the later ages of their +career they seem to have lost sight of its true meaning. + +According to Inman's testimony and that of other etymological students, +the true signification of the cognomen Jacob is the female principle. + +It is believed by various writers that the story of Jacob and Esau as +related in Genesis has an esoteric as well as an exoteric meaning--that +Jacob has reference to the female creative energy throughout Nature, +or, rather, to the great mass of people who in an early age of the human +race believed in the superior importance of the female in the office of +reproduction, and that Esau signifies the male. Attention is called to +the fact that Esau is represented as a "hairy" man, rough-voiced and +easily beguiled, while Jacob, on the other hand, is smooth-faced, +soft-voiced, and the favorite of his mother. + +There is indeed much in this myth which seems to indicate that it is +an allegory beneath which are veiled certain facts connected with the +struggle between two early contending sects regarding the relative +importance of the sexes in reproduction. Of this Inman says: + +"My own impression is that Esau, or Edom, and Jacob are mystic names for +a man and a woman, and that round these, historians wove a web of fancy; +that ultimately the cognomen Jacob was recognized, and that to allow the +Jewish people to trace their descent from a male rather than a female, +the appellation of Israel was substituted in later productions."(81) + + + 81) Ancient Faiths, vol. i., p. 607. + + +As most of the myths or allegories in Genesis are now traced to a source +far more remote than the beginning of legitimate Jewish history, it is +not unreasonable to suppose that this story, too, was copied by the Jews +from the traditions of earlier races; nor, when we remember the true +meaning of the cognomen Jacob, that the entire story should be regarded +as an attempt to set forth certain facts connected with the great +physiological or religious conflict between the sexes. + +The significance of the idols worshipped by Jacob and his family is not +for a certainty known, but it is believed by certain writers that the +Seraphim and Teraphim were the usual images which were used to represent +the male and female energies. "Then Jacob said unto his household and to +all that were with him: Put away the strange gods that are among you." +In referring to this passage, Inman, in a note, says: + +"The critic might fairly say, looking at Genesis xxxv., 2, 'Put away the +strange gods that are among you,' that there were images of God which +were not strange, and that in these early times there were orthodoxy and +heterodoxy in images as there are now. In ancient times the emblem of +life-giving energy was an orthodox emblem; it is now a horror and its +place is taken by an image of death. We infer from the context that +Laban's gods were orthodox." + +So, also, must have been the stone pillar set up by Jacob at Bethel +(place of the sun). From a study of similar stones, examples of which +are to be found in nearly every country of the globe, it is known that +they represent the male energy, and from all the facts connected with +the story of Laban's gods it is probable that they were emblems of this +power. We may suppose then that the "strange gods," the unorthodox gods, +which Jacob ordered put away, were those representing the female energy. + +It seems strange that any person can study the history of the +Israelitish Exodus by the light of later developments in biblical +research without recognizing the fact that the "Lord" which brought the +children of Israel out from the bondage of Egypt was the male power, +which by a certain sect had been proclaimed the only actual creative +agency, and therefore the "only one and true God." + +Although, at the time at which Abraham is said to have lived, the +knowledge of an abstract dual or triune God still remained, yet, during +the five hundred years which elapsed until the time of Moses, the +grossest idolatry had come to prevail. Notwithstanding the fact that +Moses had learned much from the Egyptians, he seems not to have risen +above a very gross conception of a deity. His god was by turns +angry, jealous, revengeful, vacillating, and weak. He was in fact the +embodiment of human passions and desires. We have seen that the third +person in the ancient Trinity had, in Egypt, India, and Persia, come +to be recognized in place of the three principles originally +worshipped--that, as it really embodied the essence of the other two, +little was heard of the Creator and Preserver. Doubtless this God was +the one which Moses intended the Israelites to worship, but as they +were unable to conceive of an abstract principle he invested it with a +personality which, as we have seen, was burdened with the frailties and +weaknesses common to themselves. + +As the Regenerator or Destroyer represented the processes of +Nature,--the dying away of the sun's rays at night only to reappear on +the following day, and the withdrawal of its warmth in winter only to +be renewed in the spring,--so this God portrayed also the beneficent +Creator and Preserver of all things, at the same time that it was the +Destroyer. It embodied the fundamental idea in all religions, namely, +life and fertility. So also did the "Lord" of the Israelites represent +reproductive energy, but as man being spirit had come to be a Creator of +offspring, while woman being only matter furnished the body, this +"Lord" was male. Connected with it was no hint of the female nature or +principle, except the ark or chest in which it was carried about. To +those who have acquainted themselves with the significance of ancient +religious symbols, the fact is plain that the "Lord" of the Israelites, +which in their journeyings toward Canaan they carried in an ark or +chest, and which was symbolized by an upright stone, was none other +than a "Life-giver" in the most practical sense. It was the emblem of +virility, and from the facts at hand, at the present time, there is +little doubt but that all the spirituality with which we find this +"Lord" invested was an after-thought and comprehended no part of the +belief of the Jews until after their contact with the Persians during +the Babylonian captivity. + +Doubtless the story in which their journeyings toward Canaan are set +forth contains an esoteric as well as an exoteric significance for ages +known only to the priests, and that within it is embodied not alone +something of the true history of this people, but an account also of +their struggle against an older religion. At this time the Israelites +had practically commenced the elimination of the female principle from +their god-idea, and had begun the worship of the male element, the +female being represented by an ark, chest, or box. This ark, as the +receptacle of the god, was still a holy thing. + +Not only among the Israelites, but among other nations of the East, we +find the devotees of the male god beginning to assume a position quite +independent of the beliefs of their fathers. At this time great towers +or pillars begin to be erected in honor of this deity, which is figured +as the "God of Life," or as the "Lord of Hosts." Notwithstanding the +fact that the story of the Exodus contains much historical truth, it is +altogether probable that the priests have used it, as they did that of +the flood, to conceal their religious doctrines. + +At the time of the Exodus, the Israelites were ignorant tribes without +laws or letters, and while in Egypt were menials of the lowest order. +Hence, the laws written on the two tables of stone, and which it is +claimed were elaborated during their wanderings in the wilderness of +Sinai for the guidance of these unlettered slaves, show the desire +of the priests of later times to invest the "chosen people" with the +insignia of enlightenment. + +Regarding the character of the god which they worshipped, we have +ample proof in the Old Testament. It is plain that at the time of their +bondage in Egypt the Jews had become the grossest phallic worshippers, +adoring the emblems of generation, with no thought of their earlier +significance as pure symbols of creative force in mortals. + +The fact will doubtless be remembered that, among the Jews, to be barren +was the greatest curse, and that the principal reward promised to the +faithful was fruitfulness of body. The essence of this deity was heat or +passion, and his emblem was the serpent or an upright stone. It has +been observed that when this "Lord" was invested with personality he +was subject to all the frailties of his followers. His chief and most +emphatic characteristic, however, was jealousy of other gods, and most +of the imprecations thundered against the chosen people were directed +against the worship of the gods of surrounding nations, those which the +Israelites had originally worshipped. + +That portion of the Decalogue relating to a jealous god is seen to +belong wholly to the Jews, or to the Israelites, who were descendants +of Jacob. The older nations, among which was the ancient family of the +Hebrews, knew nothing of a jealous god. Notwithstanding the fact that +the God of the Jews appeared and talked face to face with Moses, that he +exhibited portions of his body to him, and that he thundered his law to +this people from Mt. Sinai, still they were constantly lapsing into the +worship of Baal and Ashtaroth, which fact shows how deeply rooted was +the belief in a dual or triune God. It is plain that this "Lord," the +fierce anger of whom was kindled because of their digressions, was none +other than the jealous male god which had but recently been elevated to +the dignity of a supreme Creator. + +Although the angel of the Lord when he came down from Gilgal commanded +his followers to "throw down the altars of the people of Bochim," they +nevertheless continued to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and + +"followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about +them, and bound themselves unto them and provoked the Lord to anger. + +"And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger +of the Lord was hot against Israel."(82) + + + 82) Judges ii., 12, 13. + + +"And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return +unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and +Ashtaroth from among you and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, +and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the +Philistines. + +"Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth and +served the Lord only."(83) + + + 83) I Samuel vii., 3,4. + + +The extreme hatred of the schismatic faction for the opposite worship, +and the punishments which were meted out to those who should dare to +rebel against the chosen faith, are indicated by the language which +throughout the Old Testament is put into the mouth of their Lord--a +Deity which rejoices in the title of a jealous God. + +"If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or +the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice +thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast +not known thou nor thy fathers: + +"Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto +thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the +other end of the earth; + +"Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall +thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal +him: + +"But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to +put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. + +"And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath +sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out +of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. + +"And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such +wickedness as this is among you."(84) + + + 84) Deuteronomy xiii. + + +The constantly recurring faithlessness of the Jews, their restlessness +and proneness to wander from their one-principled deity which had +been set up by their priests for them to worship, was doubtless an +unconscious effort on the part of the people to mitigate the outrage +which had been committed against their Creator. It was but a reaching +out for that lost or unrecognized element which comprehends the more +essential force both in human beings and in the conception of a deity. +In other words, it was an attempt at recognition, in the objects +worshipped, of that missing female element which had always been +worshipped, and without which a Creator becomes a misnomer--a +meaningless, unexplained, and unexplainable monstrosity. + +When the Jews first make their appearance in history, they are sun +worshippers, as are all the nations by which they are surrounded. They +are worshippers of Seth the Destroyer and Regenerator; but when the +philosophical truths underlying the ancient universal religion were +forgotten, or when through ignorance the language setting forth +these mysteries was taken literally, Seth became identified with the +Destroyer, or the Evil Principle. In the meantime man had come to +believe himself the sole creator of offspring. He is spirit, which is +eternal; woman is matter, which is not only destructible but altogether +evil. He is heat or passion--the principle through which life is +produced. She represents the absence of heat. She is the simoom of the +desert and the chilly blast which destroys. + +That it was no part of their plan to change their original form of +worship for a spiritual conception of a Creator is apparent from their +history. On the contrary, it is plain that they desired simply to +eliminate from the hitherto dual conception of a deity the female +principle, which, in their arrogance, and because of the change +which had been wrought in the relations of the sexes, they no longer +acknowledged as important in the office of reproduction. + +It is quite true they would worship only one god--the "Lord,"--but +that lord was, as we have seen, a deity of physical strength and virile +might, a "Lord of Hosts," a god which was to be worshipped under the +symbol of an upright stone--an object which by every nation of the +globe down to a comparatively recent time has typified male pro-creative +energy. That the masses of the people, even as late as the time of +Jeremiah, had no higher conception of a God than that indicated by an +upright stone, is shown by that prophet when he accuses the entire house +of Israel, "their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their +prophets," of "saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, +Thou hast brought me forth." + +That the people could not, or would not, be prevailed upon to renounce +the Queen of Heaven, the Celestial Mother, is seen in Jer. vii., 17, 18: + +"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets +of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, +and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven +and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods." + +Also in Jeremiah xliv: + +"Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto +other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even +all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered +Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the +name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. + +"But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own +mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour out drink +offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings, and +our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: +for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. + +"But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to +pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have +been consumed by the sword and by the famine. + +"And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink +offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out +drink offerings unto her without our men?" + +That the above represents a quarrel in which the women of Judah openly +rebelled against the worship of the "Lord," at the same time declaring +their allegiance to the female Deity, the Celestial Mother, Queen of +Heaven, is only too evident, the curse pronounced upon them by Jeremiah, +in the name of the lord, having little effect upon them to change their +purpose. + +"Therefore, hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the +land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, +that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in +all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth. + +"Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all +the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the +sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them." + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE PHOENICIAN AND HEBREW GOD SET OR SETH. + +The name of one of the oldest deities of which we have any record is +Set (Phoenician) or Seth (Hebrew). Traces of this God are found in +all oriental countries; and in the most primitive religions, whose +traditions are still extant, he (or she) appears as the supreme God. +After the subjection of Egypt by the stranger kings and the consequent +introduction into the country of Sabianism, the dual creative force +residing in the sun is represented by Seth. We are told that Seth +signifies "appointed or put in the place of the murdered Abel." + +That there is some deep mystery connected with this subject none who has +studied it carefully can help observing. + +According to the story of creation as set forth in the Jehovistic +account, on Saturday night, after God had finished his work, and +immediately after he had commanded Adam to "be fruitful," he presents +him with a staff, which we observe is handed down to Enoch and all the +patriarchs. Here the mystery deepens, for it is declared that this staff +was presented to Seth, and that it was a branch of the Tree of Life. + +That beneath this allegory is veiled a contest, or perhaps a compromise, +between the worshippers of two distinct sects, seems altogether +probable. That the handing down of this branch of the Tree of Life, +first to Adam, or man, by Aleim, and its subsequent transference to +Seth, the God of Nature, the Destroyer or Regenerator, seems to indicate +a victory for the adherents of a purer religion. The translator of +Kallimachus says: "It is well known to the learned reader that the +descendants of Cain are distinguished in Scripture by the name of the +sons of man or Adam; those of Seth by the name of the sons of God." Gen. +vi., 2.(85) It is stated in Julius Africanus that all the righteous men +and patriarchs down to the Saviour himself have sprung from Seth and +have been denominated as the sons of God in contradistinction to the +sons of man. + + + 85) Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 527. + + +Doubtless at the time indicated by the transference of the creative +agency from Aleim to Adam, the worship of an abstract principle, or of +a Trinity composed of the powers of Nature, was losing its hold on the +minds of the people, and the creative power, or the reproductive energy +in human beings, was rapidly taking the place of the older Deity. These +higher principles forgotten, Adam, or man, had become the Creator. + +It is not improbable that the terms Adam, Cain, Abel, and Seth have +an esoteric meaning which for ages was known only to the priests. From +various facts which in later times are being brought forward regarding +the ancient myths of Genesis, it is believed that these names originally +stood for races of men, and that subsequently certain religious +doctrines came to be attached to them. The offering of fruit by Cain, +the elder brother, who was a tiller of the ground, and that of flesh by +Abel, who was a keeper of sheep, indicates a quarrel which ended in +the death of the latter. After the death of Abel, or after one of these +principles or sects was subdued, the older religion was revived, +and Seth, as the Aleim, or as the creative power within the sun, was +"appointed" or again worshipped. + +It would seem that Seth was appointed to represent the third person in +the ancient Trinity--the Destroyer or Regenerator which had previously +come to embody all the powers of the Creator and Preserver. The fact has +been observed that the very ancient philosophers believed matter to be +eternal, hence, seeming death, or destruction, was necessary to renewed +life or regeneration. In other words, creation was but continuous change +in the form of matter. + +Of the doctrines of the Sethians extant at the beginning of +Christianity, Hippolytus says that their system "is made up of tenets +from natural philosophers. These tenets embrace a belief in the Eternal +Logos--Darkness, Mist, and Tempest." These elements subsequently became +identified with the Evil Principle, or the Devil. The cold of winter, +the darkness of night, and water, were finally set forth as the Trinity. +Regarding cold, darkness, and water, or darkness, mist, and tempest, +Hippolytus observes: + +"These the Sethian says are the three principles of our system; or when +he states that three were born in paradise--Adam, Eve, the serpent; or +when he speaks of three persons, namely, Cain, Abel, Seth, and again +of three others, Shem, Ham, Japheth; or when he mentions three +patriarchs--Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; or when he speaks of three days +before the sun, etc." + +The same writer says that their entire system is derived from the +ancients; that, antecedent to the Eleusinian mysteries, were enacted by +them the ceremonies connected with the worship of the Great Mother.(86) + + + 86) Hippolytus, Refutation of all Heresies, book v., ch. 15. + + +We have observed that through some process not thoroughly understood +at the present time, the adherents of the older faith had succeeded in +reinstating their Deity. The powers of Nature had come to be represented +by Typhon Seth. It was the God of Death and of Life, of Destruction and +Regeneration. The simoom of the desert and the cold of winter were Seth, +as were also the genial powers of Spring. We are informed by various +writers that Typhon Seth was feminine. She was the early God of the +Jews. In other words, the Jews were formerly worshippers of a female +Deity. Jehovah, Iav, was originally female. + +Although the secret meaning of all the allegories contained in the Old +Testament is not fully understood, still the belief that Cain, Abel, and +Seth represented the self-triplicated Deity at a time when the idea of +man as a creator had been accepted, or when his power to reproduce was +becoming the highest idea of a creative force, is consistent with what +is known of the Cabala of the Jews, or of the esoteric meaning of the +Jewish scriptures formerly known only to the priests. In other +words, the ancient doctrines, the true meaning of which was no longer +understood by them, were patched together as a basis for the later +developments in Jewish religious experience. + +We have seen that six hundred years after Adam appears Noah, another +self-triplicated Saviour or preserver of man, with his ark or seed +vessel, beneath which is veiled the female element. Afterward Abraham +becomes the Great Father or Saviour, and later Moses. That, in the time +of the latter, the more ancient worship of a creative force in Nature +represented by the Aleim, had, by the masses of the people, been wholly +lost, is evident from the Old Testament writings. The worship of the +Father, the male power, in opposition to that of the Mother, or the +female power, constituted the religion of Moses. In the religion of the +Jews, Jehovah came to be regarded as wholly male and as spirit, while +Edam (translated "downward tending"), the female principle, was matter, +or woman, which finally became identified with the Devil. + +The philosophical doctrine that spirit is evolved through matter, or +that matter must be raised to a certain dynamical power before spirit +can manifest itself through it, was no longer understood; only the husks +of this doctrine--the myths and symbols of Nature-worship--remained; +these were taken literally, and thus man's religion was made to conform +to his lowered estate. + +When man had so far gained the ascendancy over woman as to assert that +he is the sole Creator of their joint offspring, he was no longer of the +earth earthy, but at once became the child of heaven. He was, however, +bound to earth through his association with matter, or with woman, from +whom he was unable to free himself. The "sons of God" were united "to +the daughters of man." Jahvah, the "God of hosts," who was revengeful, +weak, jealous, and cruel, was worshipped in the place of Aleim the +great dual force throughout Nature. The ethereal, spiritual male essence +resided somewhere in the heavens and created from afar, while the earth +(female) furnished only the body or material substance. + +In the history of the god Seth is to be found a clue to the way in which +the sublime and philosophical doctrines of the ancients, after their +true meaning was forgotten, were finally changed so as to conform to the +enforced humiliation and degradation of women. + +Seth or Typhon was for ages worshipped throughout Egypt, and as she +comprehended the powers of Nature, or the creative energy residing in +the sun and earth, little is heard of any other god. Strange it is, +however, that Seth is worshipped more in her capacity as Destroyer than +as Regenerator. So soon as we understand the origin and character of the +Devil, and so soon as we divest ourselves of the false ideas which under +a state of ignorance and gross sensuality came to prevail relative to +the "powers of darkness," we shall perceive that his (or her) Satanic +majesty was once a very respectable personage and a powerful Divinity--a +Divinity which was worshipped by a people whose superior intelligence +can scarcely be questioned. Regarding this subject Higgins remarks: + +"Persons who have not given much consideration to these subjects will be +apt to wonder that any people should be found to offer adoration to the +evil principle; but they do not consider that, in all these recondite +systems, the evil principle, or the Destroyer, or Lord of Death, was at +the same time the Regenerator. He could not destroy but to reproduce, +and it was probably not till this principle began to be forgotten, that +the evil being, per se, arose; for in some nations this effect seems to +have taken place. Thus Baal-Zebub is, in Iberno Celtic, Baal Lord, and +Zab Death, Lord of Death; but he is also called Aleim, the same as the +God of the Israelites; and this is right, because he was one of the +Trimurti or Trinity. + +"If I be correct respecting the word Aleim being feminine, we here see +the Lord of Death of the feminine gender; but the Goddess Ashtaroth or +Astarte, the Eoster of the Germans, was also called Aleim. Here again +Aleim is feminine, which shows that I am right in making Aleim the +plural feminine. Thus we have distinctly found Aleim the Creator (Gen. +i., 1), Aleim the Preserver, and Aleim the Destroyer, and this not by +inference, but literally expressed."(87) + + + 87) Anacalypsis, ch. ii., p. 66. + + +At one period of their history the Hebrews worshipped Ashtaroth and +Baal, they together representing the great Aleim, the indivisible God, +but after the Israelites had chosen the worship of the male principle +as an independent deity, or as the only important agency in the creative +processes, as Baal might not be represented aside from his counterpart +Ashtaroth, he was no longer adored but came to stand for something +"approaching the Devil." Forlong has observed the fact that, although in +Hebrew Baal is masculine, in the Greek translations he is feminine both +in the Old and New Testaments.(88) + + + 88) Forlong, Rivers of Life, p. 223. + + +Jehovah was originally female, so, also, was Netpe the Holy Spirit of +the Egyptian Tree of Life. We are given to understand that Netpe was the +same as Rhea, the partner of Sev or Saturn, and that her hieroglyphic +name was "Abyss of Heaven." Osiris was the son of this goddess who was +really a Mai or Mary, the Celestial Mother, he being the only God of +the Egyptians who was born upon this earth and lived among men. Of +this Forlong remarks: "His birthplace was Mount Sinai; called by the +Egyptians Nysa, hence his Greek name Dionysos." + +As the Palm was the first offering of Mother Earth to her children, +so Osiris was the first offspring of the Egyptian Celestial Virgin to +mankind. He was the new sun which through the winter months had been +"buried," but which in process of time arose to gladden all the earth. +He was also the new Sun of Righteousness which was to renew the world, +or redeem mankind from sin. + +The female principle for the time being cast out of the Deity, Osiris, +the male element, now outwardly assumes the position of supreme God. It +was, however, reserved for a later and more sensuous age to permanently +adopt an absurdity so opposed to all established ideas relative to +a creative force in Nature and in man. Seth, the Destroyer, had been +deposed, but, so deeply rooted in the human mind had become the idea +of a female Creator, that Isis, the Queen of Heaven, a somewhat lower +conception of Muth, or of universal womanhood, soon assumed the place +of Seth beside Osiris. Later in the history of Egypt, when the gods have +become greatly multiplied, and the original significance of the deity +obscured, Horus, the child and the third member in the later Egyptian +triad, not unfrequently appears in her place as one of the eight great +gods. + +The fact is observed that the history of Osiris is not alone the +"history of the circle of the year, or of the sun dying away and +resuscitating itself again, but that it is also the history of the +cycle of 600." It has been said that of the component elements of his +hieroglyphical name, Isis is the first, and that the name Osiris really +signifies the "Eye of Isis." + +According to Plutarch, Isis and Muth are identical, but from the +evidence at hand it is plain that Muth comprehends divine womanhood, +or the female principle as it was regarded at an earlier stage of human +growth. Muth is not only the parent of the sun, or the force which +produces the sun, but she is also Wisdom, the first emanation from the +Deity, at the same time that she comprehends all the possibilities of +Nature. Isis seems to represent the Deity at a time when the higher +truths known to a more ancient people were beginning to lose their hold +upon the race. + +Renouf informs us that the word Maat, or Muth, means Law, "not in that +forensic sense of command issued either by a human sovereign authority, +or by a divine legislator, like the laws of the Hebrews, but in the +sense of that unerring order which governs the universe, whether in its +physical or its moral aspect."(89) The same writer observes further that +Maat "is called mistress of Heaven, ruler of earth, and president of the +nether world," and in a further description of the conception embodied +in this Deity, refers to the fact that while she is the mother of the +sun she is also the first emanation from God. + + + 89) The Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 126. + + +Although Typhon Seth was long worshipped as the sole Deity in Egypt, +in later ages the god-idea came to be represented by Seth and Osiris. +Toward the close of Typhon Seth's reign, Horus, the child, the young +sun, was represented "as rising from his hiding-place, attracting +beneficent vapors to return them back as dews, which the Egyptians +called the tears of Isis." + +Seth and Osiris represent a division of the Deity. Osiris, as the sun, +represents heat; as man, or as god, he stands for desire. Seth or Typhon +stands for the cold of winter, the simoom of the desert, or the "wind +that blasts." Seth, Osiris, and Horus constitute a Trinity of which +Muth is the Great Mother. Finally, with the gradual ascendancy of male +influence and power, it is observed that Seth appears as the brother of +Osiris. + +It is the opinion of Bunsen that the fundamental idea of Osiris and Set +was "not merely the glorification of the sun, but was also the worship +of the primitive creative power."(90) But, as in Egypt the creative +agency was regarded as both female and male, the former being in the +ascendancy, this fact of itself would seem to determine the sex and +position of Seth. + + + 90) History of Egypt, vol. iv., p. 319. + + +In the ideas concerning Seth and Osiris may be observed something of the +manner in which the fructifying agencies of the sun and the reproductive +power in human beings were blended and together worshipped as the Deity; +while through the history of these gods are to be traced some of the +processes by which the idea of the Creator was changed from female to +male. + +In all countries, at a certain stage in the history of religion, the +transference of female deified power to mortal man may be observed. +In the attempt to change Seth or Typhon into a male God may be noted +perhaps the first effort in Egypt to dethrone, or lessen the female +power in the god-idea. + +The fact seems plain that the Great Typhon Seth, or Set, who conferred +on the sovereigns of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties of Egypt +"the symbols of life and power," was none other than the primitive +Regenerator or Destroyer, who was for ages worshipped as the God of +Nature the Aleim, or the life-giving energy throughout the universe. + +We have observed that when the profound principles underlying the most +ancient doctrines had been lost or forgotten, and when through the +decay of philosophy, and through the stimulation of the sensual in human +nature, mankind had lost the power to reason abstractly, Destruction, +which was symbolized by darkness or the absence of the sun's rays, +finally became the evil principle, or the Devil. Darkness and cold, +which had formerly been worshipped as the powers which brought forth the +sun, or as mother of the sun, in process of time became the agency which +is ever warring with good and which is constantly destroying that which +the latter brings forth. + +We are informed by Forlong that "some derive our term Devil from Niphl +or Nevil, the wind that blasts or obstructs the growth of corn; and it +used sometimes to be written th' evil, which is D'evil or Devil." + +It was "this Dualistic heresy which separated the Zend or Persian branch +of the Aryans from their Vedic brethren, and compelled them to emigrate +to the westward."(91) + + + 91) See Rawlinson, Notes on the Early History of Babylon. + + +The ancient philosophical truth that matter is eternal, and that the +destruction of vegetable life through the agency of cold was one of +the necessary processes of re-generation, or the renewal of life, had +evidently been lost sight of at the time when Seth was dethroned in +Egypt. Wilkinson informs us that "both Seth and Osiris were adored until +a change took place respecting Seth, brought about apparently by foreign +influence." Sethi or Sethos, a ruler whose reign represents the Augustan +age of Egyptian splendor, received his name from this Deity. It is said +that during the twentieth dynasty Seth is suddenly portrayed as the +principle of evil "with which is associated sin." Consequently all the +effigies of this great Goddess were destroyed and all her names and +inscriptions "which could be reached" were effaced. + +Bunsen tells us that Schelling, who has made a study of Egyptian +mythology, although totally ignorant of the later historical facts which +by means of hieroglyphical monuments have been obtained, had arrived at +the conclusion that Seth had occupied an important position in the Deity +down to the fourteenth century B.C. "Schelling had on mere speculative +grounds been brought to lay down as a postulate that Typhon, at some +early period, had been considered by the Egyptians as a beneficent and +powerful God." + +Wilkinson says that the character given to Seth, who was called +Baal-Seth and the God of the Gentiles, "is explained by his being the +cause of evil." We are assured that formerly "Sin the great serpent," or +Apophis the giant, was distinct from Seth who was a deity and a part +of the divine system. But after the recondite principles underlying +sun-worship were lost or forgotten; when cold and darkness, or the +sinking away of the sun's rays, which are necessary to the reappearance +of light and warmth, came to be regarded as the destructive element, or +the evil principle, woman became identified with this principle. She was +the producer of evil, and came to be represented in connection with +a serpent as the cause of all earthly or material things. She is +Destruction, but not Regeneration. She is in fact matter. The cold of +winter and the darkness of night, which are necessary to the return +of the sun's warmth and which were formerly set forth as a beneficent +mother who brings forth the sun, became only the evil principle--that +which obscures the light. In fact Darkness or absence of the sun's heat +has become the Devil. It is the "cause of evil in the world." + +With woman blinded by superstition, with every instinct of the female +nature outraged, and with her position as the central figure in the +Deity and in the family usurped, her temples were soon profaned, +her images defiled, and the titles representing her former greatness +transferred to males. + +There is no doubt but this doctrine was the legitimate outcome of the +decay of female influence. Through the further stimulation of the lower +nature of man its absurdity gradually increased, until under the system +calling itself Christian it finally reached its height. This subject +will be referred to later in these pages. + +When we remember that the original representation of the Deity among the +nations of the earth consisted of a female figure embracing a child, +and when we observe that subsequently in the development of the god-idea +woman appears associated with a serpent as the cause of evil in the +world, the history of the God Seth, who, as we have seen, represented +the processes of Nature, namely Destruction and Regeneration, seems +quite significant as indicating some of the actual processes involved in +this change. + +There can be little doubt that the facts relating to this Deity indicate +the source whence has sprung the great theological dogma underlying +Christianity, that woman is the cause of evil in the world. + + + +CHAPTER X. ANCIENT SPECULATIONS CONCERNING CREATION. + +"Daughters of Jove, All hail! but O inspire The lovely song! the sacred +race proclaim Of ever-living gods; who sprang from Earth, From the +starred Heaven, and from the gloomy Night, And whom the salt Deep +nourished into life. Declare how first the gods and Earth became; The +rivers and th' immeasurable sea High-raging in its foam; the glittering +stars, The wide impending Heaven; and who from these Of deities arose, +dispensing good; Say how their treasures, how their honors each Allotted +shar'd: how first they held abode On many-caved Olympus:--this declare, +Ye Muses! dwellers of the heavenly mount From the beginning; say, who +first arose? First Chaos was: next ample-bosomed Earth, Of deathless +gods, who still the Olympian heights Snow-topt inhabit.... Her +first-born Earth produced Of like immensity, the starry Heaven: That he +might sheltering compass her around On every side, and be forevermore To +the blest gods a mansion unremoved."(92) + + + 92) Hesiod, The Theogony. + + +So long as human beings worshipped the abstract principle of creation, +the manifestations of which proceed from the earth and sun, they +doubtless reasoned little on the nature of its hitherto inseparable +parts. They had not at that early period begun to look outside of Nature +for their god-idea, but when through the peculiar course of development +which had been entered upon, the simple conception of a creative agency +originally entertained became obscured, mankind began to speculate on +the nature and attributes of the two principles by which everything is +produced, and to dispute over their relative importance in the office of +reproduction. Much light has been thrown upon these speculations by +the Kosmogonies which have come down to us from the Phoenicians, +Babylonians, and other peoples of past ages. In the Phoenician +Kosmogony, according to the Mokh doctrine as recorded by Philo, out +of the kosmic egg Toleeleth (female) "sprang all the impregnation of +creation and the beginning of the universe." In this exposition of the +beginnings of things, it is distinctly stated that the spirit which in +after ages came to be regarded as something outside or above Nature, +"had no consciousness of its own creation." Commenting on the above, +Bunsen is constrained to admit that it is usually understood as being +"decidedly pantheistic." He suggests, however, that the writer may +HAVE INTENDED TO SAY (the italics are mine) that "the spirit who was +heretofore the Creator was the unconscious spirit." + +Berosus, the scholar of Babylon, who, until a comparatively recent +time has furnished all the information extant concerning Babylonian +antiquities, in his account of the creation of man and of the universe, +says that in the beginning all was water and darkness; that in the water +were the beginnings of life; but as yet there was no order. Men were +there with the wings of birds and even with the feet of beasts. There +were also quadrupeds and men with fishes' tails, all of which had been +produced by a twofold principle. Over this incongruous mass a woman +presided. This woman is called Omoroka by the Babylonians and by the +Chaldeans Thalatth. The latter name, signifies, "bearing" or "egg +producing." + +In the Babylonian Kosmogony, according to Endemus, the pupil of +Aristotle, the beginning of the universe was called Tauthe, which being +interpreted means "Mother of the Gods." Associated with her sometimes +appears the male principle--Apason. In the history of Berosus, there is +given an account of Oaunes--a mythical teacher of Babylon, who appeared +with the head of a human being and the body of a fish or serpent. +This personage brought to the Babylonians all the knowledge which they +possessed. Oaunes wrote "concerning the generation of mankind, of their +different ways of life, and of their civil polity." He it was who +gave the above account of creation. He says that finally Omoroka, or +Thalatth, the woman who existed before the creation, was divided, one +half of her forming the heavens, "the other half the earth." "All this," +Berosus declares, "was an allegorical description of Nature."(93) + + + 93) Prof. Smith, Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 34, 35. + + +In the following legend will be observed the groundwork for the story +of the flood. Xisuthrus was a king of Chaldea. To him the deity, Kronos, +appeared in a vision and warned him that upon the fifteenth day of +the month Daesius there would be a flood, by which mankind would +be destroyed. He therefore enjoined him to write a history of the +beginning, progress, and conclusion of all things down to the present +time, and to bury it in Sippara, the City of the Sun. He was commanded +also to build a vessel, and take with him into it his friends and +relations, and to convey on board everything necessary to sustain life, +together with all the different animals, both birds and quadrupeds, and +trust himself fearlessly to the deep. Having asked the deity whither he +was to sail, he was answered: "To the gods"; upon which he offered up +a prayer for the good of mankind. He then obeyed the divine admonition, +and built a vessel five stadia in length and two in breadth. Into this +he put everything which he had prepared, and last of all conveyed into +it his wife, his children, and his friends. + +"After the flood had been upon the earth, and was in time abated, +Xisuthrus sent out birds from the vessel, which not finding any food, +nor any place whereupon they might rest their feet, returned to him +again. After an interval of some days, he sent them forth a second time; +and they now returned with their feet tinged with mud. He made a trial +a third time with these birds; but they returned to him no more: from +which he judged that the surface of the earth had appeared above the +waters. He therefore made an opening in the vessel, end upon looking out +found that it was stranded upon the side of some mountain, upon which +he immediately quitted it with his wife, his daughter, and the pilot. +Xisuthrus then paid his adoration to the earth: and, having constructed +an altar, offered sacrifices to the gods, and, with those who had come +out of the vessel with him, disappeared. Him they saw no more, but they +could distinguish his voice in the air, and could hear him admonish them +to pay due regard to the gods. He informed them that it was on account +of his piety that he had been taken away to live with the gods, and that +his wife and daughter had obtained the same honor." + +It is more than likely that this story, which as we have seen has +extended to the remotest corners of the earth, has an esoteric +meaning, and that it embodies the doctrines of the ancients relative to +re-incarnation and the renewal of worlds. Doubtless it portrays not only +the end of a cycle, but that by it is prefigured the fortunes of a human +soul, which in its ascent, is from time to time forced into a human +body. + +All the early Kosmogonies are intermingled with the history of a great +flood, from the ravages of which an ark which contained a man was saved. +The Gothic story of creation indicates that the Scythians belonged to +the same race as the Chaldeans. At the beginning of time when nothing +had been formed, and before the earth, the sea, or the heavens appeared, +Muspelsheim existed. A breath of heat passing over the vapors, melted +them into water, and from this water was formed a cow named Aedumla, +who was the progenitor of Odin, Vile, and Ve, the Trinity of the Gothic +nation. + +There is also another tradition, probably a later, which asserts that +from the drops of water produced by the primeval breath of heat, a man, +Ymer, was brought forth. The son of Ymer was preserved in a storm-tossed +bark, his father being dragged into the middle of the abyss, where, +from his body the earth was produced. The sea was made of his blood, +the mountains of his bones, and the rocks of his teeth. As three of his +descendants were walking on the shore one day, they found two pieces of +wood which had been washed up by the waves. Of these they made a man and +a woman. The man they named Aske and the woman Emla. From this pair has +descended the human race. + +The marked resemblance between the characters of the Gothic Ymer and the +Chaldean Omoroka, from each of whose bodies the universe is created, +has been observed by various writers. After referring to Mallet's +conclusions upon this subject, Faber remarks: + +"They are indeed evidently the same person, not only in point of +character, but, if I mistake not, in appellation: for Ymer or Umer is +Omer-Oca expressed in a more simple form. The difference of sex does by +no means invalidate this opinion, which rests upon the perfect identity +of their characters: for the Great Mother, like the Great Father, was +an hermaphrodite; or, rather, that person from whom all things were +supposed to be produced, was the Great Father and the Great Mother +united together in one compound being. Ymer and Omoroca are each the +same as that hermaphrodite Jupiter of the Orphic theology." + +We have observed, however, that in all the older traditions this +hermaphrodite conception is accounted as female, it is the Great +Mother within whom is contained the male; in later ages, however, it +is represented as male, the female being concealed beneath convenient +symbols. + +The Trinity of the Goths was male; yet as Odin could not create +independently of the female energy he is provided with a wife, Frigga, +to whom "all fair things belonged, and who had priestesses among the +early German tribes." Frigga when worshipped alone was both female +and male. According to one German tradition, Tiw (Zeus), which in its +earliest conception was female, was the parent of the first man. This +man begat three sons who became the fathers of the three Deutsch tribes. +Ish (or Ash) was the parent of the Franks and Allemans; Ing was the +progenitor of the Swedes, Angles, and Saxons; and Er, or Erman, was the +eponymous leader of the tribes called by the Romans Hermiones. + +The Kosmogony of the Chinese is similar in all respects to that of other +countries. The first man, Puoncu, was born from an egg. + +The Chinese say that this egg-born Puoncu, who is identical with Brahm, +Noah, and Adam, is not the great Creator or God, but only the first man. +Their great God or Tien is a Unity which comprehends three, and their +human triad--a triplicated being who is the parent of the human race--is +a lower expression of the same power, and to him has finally been +ascribed the office of Creator. + +The Kosmogony of the Japanese begins with the opening of the sacred egg +from which all things were produced. This egg is identical with the ark, +and from it the diluvian patriarch was born. He was "Baal-Peor or the +lord of opening; and, from an idea that the Ark was an universal mother, +he was considered as the masculine principle of generation, and was +adored by his apostate descendants with all the abominations of phallic +worship." + +In the Theogony of Hesiod, Uranus is represented as being the parent of +three sons, and the same legend repeated in the story of Cronus portrays +him also as a triplicated deity. According to the Peruvian Kosmogony all +things sprang from Viracocha who is said to be identical with the Greek +Aphrodite. Besides this superior God they venerated a triad which +was closely connected with the sun. These gods were called Chuquilla, +Catuilla, and Intyllapa. They say that as their ancestors journeyed from +a remote country to the Northwest they bore the image of their god in a +coifer or box made of reeds. To the four priests who had charge of this +box or ark he communicated his oracles and directions. He not only gave +them laws but taught them the ceremonies and sacrifices which they were +to observe. "And even as the pillar of cloud and fire conducted the +Israelites in their passage through the wilderness, so this Spanish +devil gave them notice when to advance forward, and when to stay."(94) + + + 94) Faber, Pagan Idolatry, book i., ch. v. + + +According to Marsden, the New Zealanders believe that three gods created +the first man, and that the first woman was made from one of his ribs. + +Among the Otaheitans and various tribes of Indians, the belief prevails +that all created things have proceeded from a triplicated deity who was +saved from the ravages of a flood in an ark or ship. + +The fact is observed that the Theogonies and Kosmogonies of all +peoples have reference to a flood or to the renewal of life after the +destruction of the world, and that the Great Father who is preserved, +and who comes forth from an ark or ship with the seeds of a former +world, represents the beginning of a new era. Adam with his three sons, +Cain, Abel, and Seth, Noah with his triad, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Menu +and his triple offspring, and so on, all mean exactly the same thing, +namely, the renewal of life at the close of a cycle, or manwantara. + +From the traditions extant in nearly every quarter of the globe, it +would seem that, prior to the so-called flood in the time of Noah, +man, as a Creator, had not to any extent been worshipped, but, on the +contrary, that the great universal dual principle which pervades Nature +and which is back of matter and force, for instance Tien among the +Chinese, Iav among the Hebrews, and Aum among the Hindoos, had been the +Deity adored; but with the decline of virtue and knowledge, this God +was gradually abandoned for a lesser one, a deity better suited to the +comprehension of "fallen" man. + +In the Elohistic narrative of creation which appears in the first +chapter of Genesis, a dual or triune God, female and male, says, Let +us make man in our own image, and accordingly a male and a female are +created. In the Jehovistic account, however, in the second chapter of +the same book, a document of much later date, man is made first and +afterward woman. In fact, in the latter narrative she appears as an +afterthought and is created simply for his use; she is taken from +his side and is wholly dependent upon him for existence. This fact is +recognized by Bishop Colenso in the following words: + +"Thus in the second account of creation, the man is APPARENTLY created +first, and the woman is CERTAINLY created the last, of all living +creatures; whereas, in the older story the man and woman are +created last of all, as the crowning work of Elohim, and are created +together--'and Elohim created man in His own image, in the image of +Elohim created He him; male and female created He them.' This ancient +Elohistic narrative, then, the Jehovist had before him; and he +enlarged and enlivened it by introducing a number of passages recording +additional incidents in the lives of the patriarchs before and after the +flood, and especially by inserting the second account of the creation, +ii., 4-25." + +Colenso observes that verse four of chapter second belongs to the +Elohist, and that it was removed from its original position at +the beginning of Gen. i., in order to form the commencement of the +Jehovistic account of the creation.(95) + + + 95) Lectures on the Pentateuch, p. 32. + + +Quoting from Bishop Browne in the New Bible Commentary, the same writer +remarks that in the Elohistic account of the creation "we have that +which was probably the ancient primeval record of the formation of the +world."(96) + + + 96) Ibid. p. 16. + + +The oldest or Elohistic portion of Genesis is, at the present time, seen +to conceal great wisdom and a knowledge of Nature far surpassing that of +later times. + +According to Higgins, the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis, +if properly translated, would not declare that in the beginning God +created the heavens and the earth, but that Wisdom "formed" the earth +and the planets. In none of the ancient Kosmogonies can there be a word +found regarding the creation of matter. From the facts which have come +down to us respecting the speculations of the ancients, it is plain +that the original conception was, that within the primeval beginnings +described in their Kosmogonies, in chaos or unorganized matter, was +contained primeval force; no attempt, however, was made by them to +account for the creation of either motion or matter. + +As soon as human beings began to speculate on the attributes of their +Deity; when the two principles composing it began to separate, and the +idea was gaining ground that the male was the only important factor in +reproduction, the sun became male, the earth and sea female. Still, even +then the doctrine seems not to have been questioned, that the creative +agency had proceeded from matter, or that it was developed in and +through it. The belief that something can be made from nothing was +reserved for a later age. + +In the oldest Semitic Kosmogonies, we are assured that the +self-conscious God who is manifested in the order of the universe, +proceeded out of the great abyss, and out of unorganized, dark, primeval +matter. During the earlier historic period, however, by both Jew and +Gentile, the belief was entertained that spirit is material. It is the +essence of fire--a substance akin to the galvanic or electric fluid. +This masculine element, the manifestation of which is desire, or heat, +and which was finally set up as an eternal, self-existent, creative +force, or God, was originally regarded as a manifestation of matter, and +as having no independent existence. In an earlier age, this so-called +creative agency is associated with a force far superior to itself, +namely, Light or Wisdom. Minerva, who is the first emanation from the +Deity, "formed" all things. She it is who discriminates all things +and gives laws to the universe. "She represented to the Greeks that +spiritual element which lifts knowledge into wisdom, and talent into +genius."(97) But with the importance which began to be assumed by man +when he began to regard himself as a creator, and when through ignorance +and sensuality the principles of a more enlightened race were forgotten, +desire, or heat, was separated from matter and came to be regarded as an +independent entity, which itself had created matter out of nothing. +Thus is noticed the extent to which the god-idea has been developed in +accordance with the relative positions of the sexes. + + + 97) L. T. Ives, Art Words. + + +According to the Grecian mythology, much of which was a comparatively +late development, mortal woman was the handiwork of Vulcan the Firegod, +who, being commissioned by Jove to execute "a snare for gods and man," +moulded the beauteous form of woman. This is a worthy example of the +contempt and scorn shown by the Greeks for women during the later period +of their career as a nation. That such contempt was a later development +is shown in the fact that woman was originally the gift of Pallas +Athene, or Wisdom. When she first appeared on the scene she was crowned +by the gods, in fact she was the first object honored with a crown. +Concerning the conceptions regarding women as held at an earlier age, +and those which came to prevail after she had become "the cause of evil +in the world," we have the following from Tertullian: + +"If there was a Pandora, whom Hesiod mentions as the first woman, hers +was the first head the Graces crowned, for she received gifts from all +the gods, whence she got her name Pandora. But Moses, a prophet, not +a poet-shepherd, shows us the first woman Eve having her loins more +naturally girt about with leaves than her temples with flowers. Pandora +then is a myth."(98) + + + 98) Tertullian, vol. i., p. 341. + + +Woman, who was originally the gift of Wisdom, or Minerva, and who when +created was garlanded with flowers as the crown of creation, became, in +course of time, an accursed and wicked thing who must henceforth cover +herself with leaves to hide her shame. Tertullian, who, with the rest +of the early fathers in the Christian church, had imbibed the latter +doctrine concerning her, could not believe the tradition set forth by +Hesiod; therefore Pandora was a myth, while the corrupted fable, that +of Eve as the tempter, was accepted as a natural representation of +womanhood. + +When woman was created, "all the gods conferred a gifted grace." + + "Round her fair brow the lovely-tressed Hours + A garland twined of Spring's purpureal flowers: + The whole attire Minerva's graceful art + Disposed, adjusted, form'd to every part."(99) + + + 99) Hesiod, Works and Days. + + +Later, however, Pandora herself becomes the pourer forth of ills on the +head of defenceless man. + + + +CHAPTER XI. FIRE AND PHALLIC WORSHIP. + + "Know, first a spirit with an active flame + Fills, feeds, and animates the mighty frame; + Runs through the watery worlds and fields of air, + The ponderous Earth and depths of Heav'n and there + Burns in the Sun and Moon, and every brilliant Star + Thus mingling in the mass, the general soul + Lives in its parts and agitates the whole." + +Although earth, air, water, and the sun were long venerated as objects +of worship, as containing the life principle, in process of time it is +observed that fire attracted the highest regard of human beings, and on +their altars the sacred flame, said to have been kindled from heaven, +was kept burning uninterruptedly from year to year, and from age to age, +by bands of priests "whose special duty it was to see that the sacred +flame was never extinguished." The office of the vestal virgins in +Rome was to preserve the holy fire. The Egyptians, and in fact all the +earlier civilized nations, knew that force proceeds from the sun, hence +the frequent appearance of this orb among their symbols of life. Indeed +there is not a country on the globe in which, at some time, divine +honors have not been paid to fire and to light. + +The Hindoos, "believing fire to be the essence of all active power in +Nature, kept perpetual lamps burning in the innermost recesses of +their pagodas and temples, and in the sacred edifices of the Greeks and +Barbarians fires were preserved for the same reason." + +The festival of lamps, which was once universal throughout Egypt, still +prevails in China. On the evening of the fifteenth day of the first +month in the year, every person is compelled to place before his door a +lantern or light, such lights differing in size and expense according to +the degree of wealth or poverty of those to whom they belong. Light +was the symbol of Muth (Perceptive Wisdom). Among the Persians, the +Egyptians, the Mexicans, the Jews, the Etruscans, the Greeks, and the +Romans, fire was venerated as the essence of the Deity; and, at the +present time, in Thibet, in China, in Japan, and in portions of Africa, +it still forms an important part of worship. The Hebrew writings show +conclusively that not only the Jews but all the surrounding nations were +fire-worshippers, and that their sacrifices were not infrequently to the +God of Fire. Of this Forlong says: + +"When Rome was rearing temples to the fame and worship of Fire, we find +the prophets of Israel occasionally denouncing the wickedness of its +worship by their own and the nations around them; nevertheless, even to +Christ's time Molok always had his offerings of children."(100) + + + 100) Rivers of Life and Faiths of Man in an Lands, vol. i., p. 325. + + +It is believed that Abraham introduced fire-worship among the Jews from +Ur in Mesopotamia, a land in which lights are still venerated, and fire +altars are worshipped as containing the Deity. + +The real essence of fire which was identical with the life-principle was +holy. The "Lord" of the Israelites was in the fire which descended on +Mt. Sinai, Exodus xix., 18. "The bush burned with fire and the bush was +not consumed," Exodus iii., 2. Whether the signification of "bush" is +the same as "grove," I know not, but Josephus assures us that the +bush was holy before the flame appeared in it. Because of its sacred +character, it became the receptacle for the burning "Lord" of the Jews. +The ark, the religious emblem which Moses bore aloft, was simply a fire +altar on which the fire must continually burn. The fact will doubtless +be observed that although the ark and the bush (female emblems) were +invested with a certain degree of sanctity, they were nevertheless only +receptacles for the substance within them. + +At the same time that the Jews kept sacred or holy fires continually +burning on their altars, they carried about a serpent on a pole +representing it to be the "healer of nations." They also kept a phallic +emblem in a box, chest, or ark which they worshipped as the "God of +Hosts," the "Life Giver," etc. It has been observed that although +the Jews frequently lost their ark, they were never without their +serpent-pole. At a certain stage in the religious development of mankind +all the temples in Africa and Western Asia were dedicated to Vulcan the +fire god or the "Lord of Fire," to whom all furnaces were sacred. The +principal festivals in honor of this Deity took place in the spring, at +the Easter season, and on the 23d of August, when it is said that the +licentiousness practiced in the temples compared with those of the +"Harvest Homes" of Europe when the sun was in Libra and the harvest had +been garnered in. Vulcan was the "God of fornication" or of passion. + +These excesses, which remained unchecked down to the fourth century +before Christ, are said to have somewhat abated after the rise of the +Stoic philosophy. + +Various philosophers of early historic times as well as many of the +early fathers in the Christian church believed that God was a corporeal +substance which in some way is manifested through fire. + +In Egypt, during the early ages of Christianity, "a great dispute +took place among the monks on the question, whether God is corporeal." +Tertullian declared that "God is fire"; Origen, that "he is a subtle +fire"; and various others that "he is body." + +There is little doubt that in early historic ages the Persians, who had +undertaken to purify their religion, were the strongest and purest sect +of this cult; they were in fact the genuine worshippers of the pure +creative principles which they believed resided in fire. + +We have observed that force or spirit was originally regarded as a +part of Nature, or in other words that it was a manifestation of, or +an outflowing from matter, but so soon as it began to be considered +as something apart from Nature, there at once arose a desire for some +corporeal object to represent this unseen and occult principle. + +During many of the ages of fire-worship, holy fire, although a material +substance, seems to have been too subtle to clearly represent the +god-idea, hence everywhere the worship of the serpent is found to be +interwoven with it. In fact, so closely are serpent, fire, pillar, and +other phallic faiths intermingled that it is impossible to separate +them. + +The Persians are by some writers said to have been the earliest +fire-worshippers: by others the truth of this statement is denied, while +many claim, and indeed the Maji themselves declared, that they never +worshipped fire at all in any other manner than as an emblem of the +divine principle which they believed resided within it. It is probable, +however, from the evidence at hand, that they, like all the other +nations of the globe, prior to the reformation led by Zarathustra and +his daughter, had lost or nearly forgotten the profound ideas connected +with the worship of Nature. + +Passion, symbolized by fire, is declared by various writers to have +been the first idol, but later research has proved the falsity of this +assumption. It is true that at an early age of human experience the +creative processes were worshipped, but such worship involved scientific +and, I might say, spiritualized conceptions of the operations of Nature +which in time were altogether lost sight of. Gross phallicism is +clearly the result of degeneration, and of a lapse into sensuality and +superstition. + +I think no one can study the facts connected with fire and light as the +Deity in the various countries in which this worship prevailed, without +perceiving the change it gradually underwent during later ages, and the +grossness of the ideas which became connected with it as compared with +an earlier age when mankind "had no temples, but worshipped in the open +air, on the tops of mountains." + +In another portion of this work we have observed that in the rites +connected with the worship of Cybele (Light or Wisdom), although phallic +symbols were in use, the ceremonies were absolutely pure, and that +throughout all the earlier ages her worship remained free from the +abominations which characterized the worship of later times. + +At what time in the history of the human race the organs of generation +first began to appear as emblems of the Deity is not known. Within +the earliest cave temples, those hewn from the solid rock, sculptured +representations of these objects are still to be observed. Although +until a comparatively recent period their true significance has been +unknown, there is little doubt at the present time that they were +originally used as symbols of fertility, or as emblems typifying the +processes of Nature, and that at some remote period of the world's +history they were worshipped as the Creator, or, at least, as +representations of the creative agencies in the universe. + +Concerning the origin and character of the people who executed them +there is scarcely a trace in written history. Through the unravelling of +extinct tongues, however, the monumental records of the ancient nations +of the globe have been deciphered, and the system of religious symbolism +in use among them is now understood. + +A small volume by various writers, printed in London some years ago, +entitled A Comparative View of the Ancient Monuments of India, says: + +"Those who have penetrated into the abstruseness of Indian mythology, +find that in these temples was practiced a worship similar to that +practiced by all the several nations of the world, in their earliest as +well as their most enlightened periods. It was paid to the Phallus +by the Asiatics, to Priapus by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, to +Baal-Peor by the Canaanites and idolatrous Jews. The figure is seen on +the fascia which runs round the circus of Nismes, and over the portal of +the Cathedral of Toulouse, and several churches of Bordeaux." + +Of the Lingham and Yoni and their universal acceptance as religious +emblems, Barlow remarks that it was a "worship which would appear to +have made the tour of the globe and to have left traces of its existence +where we might least expect to find it." In referring to the "sculptured +indecencies" connected with religious rites, which, being wrought in +imperishable stone, have been preserved in India and other parts of the +East, Forlong says that when occurring in the temples or other sacred +places they are at the present time evidently very puzzling to the pious +Indians, and in their attempts to explain them they say they are placed +there "in fulfilment of vows," or that they have been wrought there "as +punishments for sins of a sexual nature, committed by those who executed +or paid for them." It is, however, the opinion of Forlong that they +are simply connected with an older and purer worship--a worship which +involved the union of the sex principles as the foundation of their +god-idea. + +Regarding the cause for the "indecent" sculptures of the Orissa temples, +the same writer quotes the following from Baboo Ragendralala Mitra, in +his work on the Antiquities of Orissa. + +"A vitiated taste aided by general prevalence of immorality might at +first sight appear to be the most likely one; but I can not believe that +libidiousness, however depraved, would ever think of selecting fanes +dedicated to the worship of God, as the most appropriate for its +manifestations; for it is worthy of remark that they occur almost +exclusively on temples and their attached porches, and never on +enclosing walls, gateways, and other non-religious structures. Our ideas +of propriety, according to Voltaire, lead us to suppose that a ceremony +(like the worship of Priapus) which appears to us infamous, could only +be invented by licentiousness; but it is impossible to believe that +depravity of manners would ever have led among any people to the +establishment of religious ceremonies. It is probable, on the contrary, +that this custom was first introduced in times of simplicity--that the +first thought was to honor the Deity in the symbol of life which it has +given us; such a ceremony may have excited licentiousness among youths, +and have appeared ridiculous to men of education in more refined, more +corrupt, and more enlightened times, but it never had its origin in +such feelings.... It is out of the question therefore to suppose that +a general prevalence of vice would of itself, without the authority +of priests and scriptures, suffice to lead to the defilement of holy +temples."(101) + + + 101) Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 275. + + +Originally the Ionians, as their name indicates, were Yoni worshippers, +i. e., they belonged to the sect which was driven out of India because +of their stubborn refusal to worship the male energy as the Creator. +During the later ages of their history, at a time when their religion +had degenerated into a licensed system of vice and corruption, and after +their temples had become brothels in which, in the name of religion, +were practiced the most debasing ceremonies, the Greeks became ashamed +of their ancient worship, and, like the Jews, ashamed also of their +name. + +It is believed that the Greeks received from Egypt, or the East, their +first theological conceptions of God and religion. These ideas + +"were veiled in symbols, significant of a primitive monotheism; these, +at a later period, being translated into symbolical or allegorical +language, were by the poets transformed into epic or narrative myths, +in which the original subject symbolized was almost effaced, whilst +the allegorical expressions were received generally in a literal sense. +Hence, to the many, the meaning of the ancient doctrine was lost, and +was communicated only to the few, under the strictest secrecy in the +mysteries of Eleusis and Samothrace. Thus there was a popular theology +to suit the people, and a rational theology reserved for the educated, +the symbolical language in both being the same, but the meaning of it +being taken differently. In course of time, as knowledge makes its way +among the people, and religious enlightenment with it, much of what had +been received literally will relapse into its original figurative or +symbolical meaning. Reason will resume her supremacy, and stereotyped +dogmas will fall like pagan idols before advancing truth."(102) + + + 102) Barlow, Essays on Symbolism, p. 121. + + +Although, during the later ages of the human career, the higher truths +taught by an earlier race were lost, still a slight hint of the beauty +and purity of the more ancient worship may be traced through most of the +ages of the history of religion. Even among the profligate Greeks, the +mysteries of Eleusis, celebrated in the temple of Ceres, were always +respected. Care should be taken, however, not to confound these +remnants of pure Nature-worship with that of the courtesan Venus, whose +adoration, during the degenerate days of Greece, represented only the +lowest and most corrupt conception of the female energy. + +Down to a late date in the annals of Athens there was celebrated a +religious festival called Thesmophoria. The name of this festival is +derived from one of the cognomens of Ceres--the goddess "who first +gave laws and made life orderly." Ceres was the divinity adored by +the Amazons, and is essentially the same as the Egyptian Isis. She +represents universal female Nature. The Thesmophorian rites, which are +believed by most writers to have been introduced into Greece directly +from Thrace, were performed by "virgins distinguished for probity in +life, who carried about in procession sacred books upon their heads." + +Inman, in his Ancient Faiths, quotes an oracle of Apollo, from Spencer, +to the effect that "Rhea the Mother of the Blessed, and the Queen of +the Gods, loved assemblages of women." As this festival is in honor +of Female Nature, the various female attributes are adored as deities, +Demeter being the first named by the worshippers. After a long season +of fasting, and "after solemn reflection on the mysteries of life, women +splendidly attired in white garments assemble and scatter flowers in +honor of the Great Mother." + +The food partaken of by the devotees at these festivals was cakes, very +similar in shape to those which were offered to the Queen of Heaven by +the women of Judah in the days of Jeremiah, an offering which it will be +remembered so displeased that prophet that a curse was pronounced upon +the entire people. + +As the strictest secrecy prevailed among the initiated respecting these +rites, the exact nature of the symbols employed at the Thesmophorian +festivals is not known; it is believed, however, that it was the female +emblem of generation, and that this festival was held in honor of that +event which from the earliest times had been prophesied by those who +believed in the superior importance of the female, namely, that +unaided by the male power, a woman would bring forth, and that this +manifestation of female sufficiency would forever settle the question of +the ascendancy of the female principle. Through a return of the +ancient ideas of purity and peace, mankind would be redeemed from the +wretchedness and misery which had been the result of the decline of +female power. The dual idea entertained in the Thesmophorian worship +is observed in the fact that although Ceres, the Great Mother, was the +principal Deity honored, Proserpine, the child, was also comprehended, +and with its Mother worshipped as part of the Creator. Thus we observe +that down to a late date in the history of Grecian mythology the idea +of a Holy Mother with her child had not altogether disappeared as a +representation of the god-idea. + +To prove the worthiness of the ideas connected with the Eleusinian +mysteries it is stated that "there is not an instance on record that the +honor of initiation was ever obtained by a very bad man." + +In Rome these mysteries took another name and were called "the rites of +Bona Dea," which was but another name for Ceres. As evidence of their +purity we have the following: + +"All the distinguished Roman authors speak of these rites and in terms +of profound respect. Horace denounces the wretch who should attempt to +reveal the secrets of these rites; Virgil mentions these mysteries with +great respect; and Cicero alludes to them with a greater reverence +than either of the poets we have named. Both the Greeks and the Romans +punished any insult offered to these mysteries with the most persevering +vindictiveness. Alcibiades was charged with insulting these religious +rites, and although the proof of his offense was quite doubtful, yet he +suffered for it for years in exile and misery, and it must be allowed +that he was the most popular man of his age."(103) + + + 103) Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. + + +In Greece, the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries was in the hands +of the Emolpidae, one of the oldest and most respected families of +antiquity. At Carthage, there were celebrated the Phiditia, religious +solemnities similar to those already described in Greece. During the two +or three days upon which these festivals were celebrated, public feasts +were prepared at which the youth were instructed by their elders in the +state concerning the principles which were to govern their conduct +in after life; truth, inward purity, and virtue being set forth as +essentials to true manhood. In later times, after these festivals had +found their way to Rome, they gradually succumbed to the immorality +which prevailed, and at last, when their former exalted significance +had been forgotten, they were finally sunk into "the licentiousness of +enjoyment, and the innocence of mirth was superseded by the uproar of +riot and vice! Such were the Saturnalia." + +From the facts connected with the mysteries of Eleusis and the +Thesmophorian rites, it is evident that in its earlier stages +Nature-worship was absolutely free from the impurities which came to be +associated with it in later times. As the organs of generation had not +originally been wholly disgraced and outraged, it is not unlikely that +when the so-called "sculptured indecencies" appeared on the walls of the +temples they were regarded as no more an offense against propriety and +decency than was the reappearance of the cross, the emblem of life, in +later times, among orthodox Christians. + +Neither is it probable, in an age in which nothing that is natural was +considered indecent, and before the reproductive energies had become +degraded, that these symbols were any more suggestive of impurity than +are the Easter offerings upon our church altars at the present time. +Whatever may now be the significance of these offerings to those who +present them, sure it is that they once, together with other devices +connected with Nature-worship, were simply emblems of fertility--symbols +of a risen and fructifying sun which by its gladdening rays re-creates +and makes all things new again. + +If we carefully study the religion of past ages we will discover +something more than a hint of an age when the generative functions +were regarded as a sacred expression of creative power, and when the +reproductive organs had not through over-stimulation and abuse been +tabooed as objects altogether impure and unholy, and as things too +disgraceful to be mentioned above a whisper. Indeed there is much +evidence going to show that in an earlier age of the world's history the +degradation of mankind, through the abuse of the creative functions, had +not been accomplished, and the ills of life resulting from such abuse +were unknown. + +We may reasonably believe that those instincts in the female which are +correlated with maternal affection and which were acquired by her as +a protection to the germ, or, in other words, those characters which +Nature has developed in the female to insure the safety and well-being +of offspring, and which in a purer and more natural stage of human +existence acted as cheeks upon the energies of the male, were not easily +or quickly subdued; but when through subjection to the animal nature +of man these instincts or characters had been denied their natural +expression, and woman had become simply the instrument of man's +pleasure, the comparatively pure worship of the organs of generation +as symbols of creative power began to give place to the deification of +these members simply as emblems of desire, or as instruments for the +stimulation of passion. + +We are assured that on the banks of the Ganges, the very cradle of +religion, are still to be found various remnants of the most ancient +form of Nature-worship--that there are still to be observed "certain +high places sacred to more primitive ideas than those represented by +Vedic gods." + +Here devout worshippers believe that the androgynous God of fertility, +or Nature, still manifests itself to the faithful. Close beside +these more ancient shrines are others representing a somewhat later +development of religious faith--shrines, by means of which are indicated +some of the processes involved in the earlier growth of the god-idea. +Not far removed from these are to be found, also, numerous temples or +places of worship belonging to a still later faith--a faith in which are +revealed the "awakening and stimulation of every sensuous feeling, +and which has drowned in infamy every noble impulse developed in human +nature." + +Of the depravity of the Jews and the immorality practiced in their +religious rites, Forlong says: + +"No one can study their history, liberated from the blindness which our +Christian up-bringing and associations cast over us, without seeing +that the Jews were probably the grossest worshippers among all those +Ophi--Phallo--Solar devotees who then covered every land and sea, from +the sources of the Nile and Euphrates to all over the Mediterranean +coasts and isles. These impure faiths seem to have been very strictly +maintained by Jews up to Hezekiah's days, and by none more so than +by dissolute Solomon and his cruel, lascivious bandit-father, the +brazen-faced adulterer and murderer, who broke his freely volunteered +oath, and sacrificed six innocent sons of his king to his Javah." + +Of Solomon he says that he devoted his energies and some little wealth +"to rearing phallic and Solophallic shrines over all the high places +around him, and especially in front of Jerusalem, and on and around the +Mount of Olives." On each side of the entrance to his celebrated +temple, under the great phallic spire which formed the portico, were two +handsome columns over fifty feet high, by the side of which were the sun +God Belus and his chariots. + +In a description of this temple it is represented as being one hundred +and twenty feet long and forty feet broad, while the porch, a phallic +emblem, "was a huge tower, forty feet long, twenty feet broad, and two +hundred and forty feet high." We are assured by Forlong that Solomon's +temple was like hundreds observed in the East, except that its walls +were a little higher than those usually seen, and the phallic spire out +of proportion to the size of the structure. "The Jewish porch is but +the obelisk which the Egyptian placed beside his temple; the Boodhist +pillars which stood all around their Dagobas; the pillars of Hercules, +which stood near the Phoenician temple; and the spire which stands +beside the Christian Church."(104) + + + 104) Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 219. + + +The rites and ceremonies observed in the worship of Baal-Peor are not of +a character to be described in these pages: it is perhaps sufficient +to state that by them the fact is clearly established that profligacy, +regulated and controlled by the priestly order as part and parcel of +religion, was not confined to the Gentiles; but, on the contrary, that +the religious observances of the Jews prior to the Babylonian captivity +were even more gross than were those of the Assyrians or the Hindoos. + +These impure faiths arose at a time when man as the sole creator of +offspring became god, when the natural instincts of woman were subdued, +and when passion as the highest expression of the divine force came to +be worshipped as the most important attribute of humanity. + +The extent to which these faiths have influenced later religious belief +and observances is scarcely realized by those who have not given special +attention to this subject. + +It has been stated that in the time of Solon, law-giver of Athens, there +were twenty temples in the various cities of Greece dedicated to Venus +the courtesan, within which were practiced, in the name of religion, the +most infamous rites and the most shameless self-abandonment; and that +throughout Europe, down to a late period in the history of the race, +religious festivals were celebrated at certain seasons of the year, at +which the ceremonies performed in honor of the god of fornication were +of the grossest nature, and at which the Bacchanalian orgies were only +equalled by those practiced in the religious temples of Babylon. + +It is impossible longer to conceal the fact that passion, symbolized +by a serpent, an upright stone, and by the male and female organs of +generation, the male appearing as the "giver of life," the female as a +necessary appendage to it, constituted the god-idea of mankind for at +least four thousand years; and, instead of being confined to the earlier +ages of that period, we shall presently see that phallic worship had +not disappeared, under Christianity, as late and even later than the +sixteenth century. + +Such has been the result of the ascendancy gained by the grosser +elements in human nature: the highest idea of the Infinite passion +symbolized by the organs of generation, while the principal rites +connected with its worship are scenes of debauchery and self-abasement. + +At the present time it is by no means difficult to trace the growth of +the god-idea. First, as we have seen, a system of pure Nature-worship +appeared under the symbol of a Mother and child. In process of time this +particular form of worship was supplanted by a religion under which the +male principle is seen to be in the ascendancy over the female. Later +a more complicated system of Nature-worship is observed in which the +underlying principles are concealed, or are understood only by the +initiated. Lastly, these philosophical and recondite principles are +forgotten and the symbols themselves receive the adoration which once +belonged to the Creator. The change which the ideas concerning womanhood +underwent from the time when the natural feminine characters and +qualities were worshipped as God, to the days of Solon the Grecian +law-giver, when women had become merely tools or slaves for the use +and pleasure of men, is forcibly shown by a comparison of the character +ascribed to the female deities at the two epochs mentioned. Athene +who in an earlier age had represented Wisdom had in the age of Solon +degenerated into a patroness of heroes; but even as a Goddess of war her +patronage was as nought compared with that of the courtesan Venus, at +whose shrine "every man in Greece worshipped." + +The extent to which women, in the name of religion, have been degraded, +and the part which in the past they have been compelled to assume in the +worship of passion may not at the present time be disguised, as facts +concerning this subject are well authenticated. In a former work,(105) +attention has been directed to the religious rites of Babylon, the city +in which it will be remembered the Tower of Belus was situated. Here +women of all conditions and ranks were obliged, once in their life, to +prostitute themselves in the temple for hire to any stranger who might +demand such service, which revenue was appropriated by the priests to be +applied to sacred uses. This act it will be remembered was a religious +obligation imposed by religious teachers and enforced by priestly rule. +It was a sacrifice to the god of passion. A similar custom prevailed in +Cyprus. + + + 105) See Evolution of Woman, p. 228. + + +Most of the temples of the later Hindoos had bands of consecrated +women called the "Women of the Idol." These victims of the priests were +selected in their infancy by Brahmins for the beauty of their persons, +and were trained to every elegant accomplishment that could render them +attractive and which would insure success in the profession which they +exercised at once for the pleasure and profit of the priesthood. They +were never allowed to desert the temple; and the offspring of their +promiscuous embraces were, if males, consecrated to the service of the +Deity in the ceremonies of this worship, and, if females, educated in +the profession of their mothers.(106) + + + 106) Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. i. + + +That prostitution was a religious observance, which was practiced in +Eastern temples, cannot in the face of accessible facts be doubted. +Regarding this subject, Inman says: + +"To us it is inconceivable, that the indulgence of passion could +be associated with religion, but so it was. The words expressive +of 'sanctuary,' 'consecrated,' and 'sodomites' are in the Hebrew +essentially the same. It is amongst the Hindoos of to-day as it was in +the Greece and Italy of classic times; and we find that 'holy woman' +is a title given to those who devote their bodies to be used for hire, +which goes to the service of the temple." + +The extent to which ages of corruption have vitiated the purer instincts +of human nature, and the degree to which centuries of sensuality and +superstition have degraded the nature of man, may be noticed at the +present time in the admissions which are frequently made by male writers +regarding the change which during the history of the race has taken +place in the god-idea. None of the attributes of women, not even that +holy instinct--maternal love, can by many of them be contemplated apart +from the ideas of grossness which have attended the sex-functions during +the ages since women first became enslaved. As an illustration of this +we have the following from an eminent philologist of recent times, a +writer whose able efforts in unravelling religious myths bear testimony +to his mental strength and literary ability. + +"The Chaldees believed in a celestial virgin who had purity of body, +loveliness of person, and tenderness of affection, and she was one to +whom the erring sinner could appeal with more chance of success than to +a stern father. She was portrayed as a mother with a child in her arms, +and every attribute ascribed to her showing that she was supposed to be +as fond as any earthly female ever was."(107) + + + 107) Inman, Ancient Faiths, vol. i., p. 59. + + +After thus describing the early Chaldean Deity, who, although a pure +and spotless virgin, was nevertheless worshipped as a mother, or as +the embodiment of the altruistic principles developed in mankind, this +writer goes on to say: "The worship of the woman by man naturally led to +developments which our COMPARATIVELY SENSITIVE NATURES (the italics are +mine) shun as being opposed to all religious feeling," which sentiment +clearly reveals the inability of this writer to estimate womanhood, or +even motherhood, apart from the sensualized ideas which during the ages +in which passion has been the recognized god have gathered about it. + +The purity of life and the high stage of civilization reached by an +ancient people, and the fact that these conditions were reached under +pure Nature-worship, or when the natural attributes of the female were +regarded as the highest expression of the divine in the human, prove +that it was neither the appreciation nor the deification of womanhood +which "led to developments which sensitive natures shun as being opposed +to all religious feeling," but, on the contrary, that it was the lack +of such appreciation which stimulated the lower nature of man and +encouraged every form of sensuality and superstition. In other words, it +was the subjection of the natural female instincts and the deification +of brute passion during the later ages of human history which have +degraded religion and corrupted human nature. + +Although at the present time it is quite impossible for scholars to veil +the fact that the god-idea was originally worshipped as female, still, +most modern writers who deal with this subject seem unable to understand +the state of human society which must have existed when the instincts, +qualities, and characters peculiar to the female constitution were +worshipped as divine. So corrupt has human nature become through +over-stimulation and indulgence of the lower propensities, that it +seems impossible for those who have thus far dealt with this subject to +perceive in the earlier conceptions of a Deity any higher idea than that +conveyed to their minds at the present time by the sexual attributes and +physical functions of females--namely, their capacity to bring forth, +coupled with the power to gratify the animal instincts of males, +functions which women share with the lower orders of life. + +The fact that by an ancient race woman was regarded as the head or crown +of creation, that she was the first emanation from the Deity, or, more +properly speaking, that she represented Perceptive Wisdom, seems at the +present time not to be comprehended, or at least not acknowledged. The +more recently developed idea, that she was designed as an appendage to +man, and created specially for his use and pleasure,--a conception which +is the direct result of the supremacy of the lower instincts over the +higher faculties,--has for ages been taught as a religious doctrine +which to doubt involves the rankest heresy. + +The androgynous Venus of the earlier ages, a deity which although female +was figured with a beard to denote that within her were embraced the +masculine powers, embodied a conception of universal womanhood and +the Deity widely different from that entertained in the later ages of +Greece, at a time when Venus the courtesan represented all the powers +and capacities of woman considered worthy of deification. + +To such an extent, in later ages, have all our ideas of the Infinite +become masculinized that in extant history little except occasional +hints is to be found of the fact that during numberless ages of human +existence the Supreme Creator was worshipped as female. + +One has only to study the Greek character to anticipate the manner in +which any subject pertaining to women would be treated by that arrogant +and conceited race; and, as until recently most of our information +concerning the past has come through Greek sources, the distorted and +one-sided view taken of human events, and the contempt with which the +feminine half of society has been regarded, are in no wise surprising. +We must bear in mind the fact, however, that the Greeks were but the +degenerate descendants of the highly civilized peoples whom they were +pleased to term "barbarians," and that they knew less of the origin and +character of the gods which they worshipped, and which they had borrowed +from other countries, than is known of them at the present time. + +About 600 years B.C., we may believe that mankind had sunk to the lowest +depth of human degradation, since which time humanity has been slowly +retracting its course; not, however, with any degree of continuity or +regularity, nor without lapses, during which for hundreds of years the +current seemed to roll backward. Indeed when we review the history of +the intervening ages, and note the extent to which passion, prejudice, +and superstition have been in the ascendancy over reason and judgment, +we may truly say: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's +teeth have been set on edge." + + + +CHAPTER XII. AN ATTEMPT TO PURIFY THE SENSUALIZED FAITHS. + +It has been said of the Persians that in their zeal to purify the +sensualized faiths which everywhere prevailed they manifested a decided +"repugnance to the worship of images, beasts, or symbols, while they +sought to establish the worship of the only true creative force, or +God--Holy Fire." + +From the facts to be gleaned concerning this people during the seventh +and eighth centuries B.C., it is quite probable that they still had a +faint knowledge of a former age of intellectual and moral greatness, +and that it was their object, at that time, to return to the purer +principles which characterized it. That their efforts were subsequently +copied by surrounding nations is shown in the facts connected with their +history. + +Soon leading Syrians and Jews began to learn from their Eastern neighbor +that the worship of images could scarcely be acceptable to a god which +they were beginning to invest with a certain degree of spirituality. +There is little doubt, at the present time, that the attempt to +spiritualize the religion of the Jews was due to the influence of the +Persians. However, the length of time required to effect any appreciable +improvement in an established form of worship is shown by the fact that, +two hundred years later, little change for the better was observed in +the temples, in which licentiousness had become a recognized religious +rite. Even at the present time, it is reported that in many places of +worship in the East there still reside "holy women--god's women," who, +like those in Babylon, described by various writers, are devoted to the +"god of fire." + +In a comparison made between the religion of Persia and the doctrines +said to have been taught by Moses, Inman remarks: + +"The religion of Persia as reformed by Zoroaster so closely resembles +the Mosaic, that it would be almost impossible to decide which has the +precedence of the other, unless we knew how ancient was the teaching of +Zoroaster, and how very recent was that said to be from Moses. Be this +as it may, we find the ancient Persians resemble the Jews in sacrificing +upon high places, in paying divine honor to fire, in keeping up a sacred +flame, in certain ceremonial cleansings, in possessing an hereditary +priesthood who alone were allowed to offer sacrifices, and in making +their summum bonum the possession of a numerous offspring."(108) + + + 108) Ancient Faiths, vol. ii., p. 64. + + +It is quite plain that by both these nations the wisdom of an earlier +race was nearly forgotten. Seven hundred years B.C. the Persians +had doubtless already adopted the worship of "One God" who was the +Regenerator or Destroyer, a Deity which, as we have seen, originally +comprehended the powers of Nature--namely the sun's heat and the cold +of winter. That at this time, however, they had lost the higher truths +involved in the conception of this Deity, is evident. They had become +worshippers of fire, or of that subtle igneous fluid residing in fire +which they believed to be creative force. Although the Persiaus like all +the other nations of the globe had lost or forgotten the higher truths +enunciated by an older race, there is no evidence going to show that +they ever became gross phallic worshippers like the Jews; that they were +not such is shown in the fact that down to the time of Alexander the +women of Persia still held a high and honorable position, and that the +female attributes had not become wholly subject to male power. + +Had we no other evidence of the comparatively exalted character of the +religion of the Persians than the history of the lives of such men +as Darius, Cyrus, Artaxerxes, and others, we should conclude, +notwithstanding the similarity in the ceremonials of these two +religions, that some influence had been at work to preserve them from +the cruelty and licentiousness which prevailed among the Jews. It is +related of Cyrus that he used to wish that he might live long enough to +repay all the kindness which he had received. It is also stated that on +account of the justice and equity shown in his character, a great number +of persons were desirous of committing to his care and wisdom "the +disposal of their property, their cities, and their own persons." + +In striking contrast to the mild and humane character of Cyrus stands +that of the licentious and revengeful David, a "man after God's own +heart." + +"As for the heads of those that compass me about, let the mischief of +their own lips cover them." + +"Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into +deep pits, that they rise not up again."(109) + +"Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the +stones."(110) + + + 109) Psalms cxl. + + + 110) Ibid., cxxxvii. + + +No one I think can read the Avestas without being impressed by the +prominence there given to the subjects of temperance and virtue. In +their efforts to purify religion, and in the attempts to return to +their more ancient faith, the disciples of Zoroaster, as early as +eight hundred years before Christ, had adopted a highly spiritualized +conception of the Deity. They had taught in various portions of Asia +Minor the doctrine of one God, a dual entity by means of which all +things were created. They taught also the doctrine of a resurrection +and that of the immortality of the soul. It was at this time that they +originated, or at least propounded, the doctrine of hell and the +devil, a belief exactly suited to the then weakened mental condition +of mankind, and from which humanity has not yet gained sufficient +intellectual and moral strength to free itself. This Persian devil, +which had become identified with winter or with the absence of the sun's +rays, was now Aryhman, or the "powers of darkness," and was doubtless +the source whence sprang the personal devil elaborated at a later age by +Laotse in China. + +As the Jews had no writings prior to the time of Ezra or Jeremiah, it +is now believed that many of the doctrines incorporated in their +sacred books were borrowed from Persian, Indian, and Egyptian sources. +Resurrection from the dead, or the resurrection of the body, was for +hundreds of years prior to the birth of Christ an established article of +Egyptian and Persian faith, while spiritual regeneration, symbolized by +the outward typification of "being born again," was the beginning of a +new life and an admission to the heavenly state. + +In the Khordah Avesta we have the following concerning the doctrine of +the resurrection and that of future rewards and punishments. + +"I am wholly without doubt in the existence of the good Mazdaycinian +faith, in the coming of the resurrection and the later body, in the +stepping over the bridge Chinvat, in an invariable recompense of good +deeds and their reward, and of bad deeds and their punishment." + +The Zoroastrians, who led the way in the great intellectual and +religious awakening which took place during the intervening years from +700 B.C. to 400 B.C., sought to purify all things by fire and water, the +two principles which had come to be regarded as the original elements, +from which, or by which, all things are produced. + +Prior to this time, in Persia, and long afterwards by various other +nations, baptism, a rite performed at puberty, was connected only with +the sexual obligations of the person receiving it, but in the age which +we are considering it became especially a cleansing or regenerating +process, and was the means by which the pious devotee became initiated +into the mysteries of holy living, or by which she or he was "born +again." + +As in their religious procedure every act was performed in connection +with symbols, so in the matter of baptism they were not satisfied +with the inner consciousness of regeneration, but must go through +with certain processes which typified the new life upon which they had +entered. According to Wilford, the outward symbolization of the "new +birth" in the East is manifested in the following manner: + +"For the purpose of regeneration it is directed to make an image of pure +gold of the female power of nature, either in the shape of a woman or +of a cow. In this statue, the person to be regenerated is inclosed, and +dragged out through the natural channel. As a statue of pure gold and +of proper dimensions would be too expensive, it is sufficient to make an +image of the sacred Yoni, through which the person to be regenerated is +to pass." + +Thus at the time Nicodemus is said to have queried concerning the +mysteries of the new birth, it is observed that the outward forms +of regeneration had long been in use among the pagans. In passing +themselves through these apertures, the applicant for regeneration was +supposed to represent the condition of one "issuing from the womb to a +new scope of life." + +According to the testimony of various writers upon this subject, there +are still extant, not alone in oriental countries, but in Ireland and +Scotland as well, numerous excavations or apertures in the rocks +which by an early race were used for the same purpose. Through the +misconception, bigotry, and ignorance of the Roman Catholic missionaries +in Ireland, these openings were designated as the "Devil's Yonies." +Although these emblems typified the original conception of one of their +most sacred beliefs, namely, the "new birth," still they were "heathen +abominations" with which the devotees of the new (?) faith must not +become defiled. + +The people who executed these imperishable designs, and who have left in +the British Isles innumerable evidences of their religious beliefs, +are supposed by some writers to belong to a colony which, having been +expelled from Persia on account of their peculiar religious beliefs, +settled in the "White Island," the "Island of the Blessed." This subject +will, however, be referred to later in this work. + +When we closely examine the facts connected with the evolution +of religion, there can be little doubt that the Persians laid the +foundation for that great moral and intellectual awakening which a +century or two later is represented by Confucious, Gotama Buddha, and +Pythagoras. From the Persians, doubtless Jew and Gentile alike received +the little leaven of spirituality which in later ages crept into their +gross conception of a Deity. + +By the Persians, the Hindoos, and other nations of the East, it was +believed that the end of each cycle of six hundred years, at which +time a new sun or savior was to come, would mark a new era of religious +development. At the close of each of these cycles it was devoutly +expected that the "golden age" of the past would be restored, and that +mankind would again be freed from the ills which had overtaken them. As +many of these cycles had passed, numerous deliverers, saviors, or solar +incarnations had appeared in India, Gotama Buddha having been the +ninth. In the East, about six or seven hundred years before the birth +of Christ, not only one savior or prophet but three or four of them +appeared. + +Concerning the leader of the reform in Persia there seem to be many +conflicting accounts. The learned Faber concludes that there were two +Zarathustras or Zoroasters, the former being identical with Menu, the +law giver and triplicated deity of India, and who by various writers is +recognized as the Noah of the Hebrews. According to Pliny, the former +lived thousands of years before Christ. Several writers concur in +placing him five thousand years before the siege of Troy. According +to Sir Wm. Jones, the latter Zoroaster lived in the time of Darius +Hystaspes. It is now claimed that in the Dabistan, one of the sacred +books of Persia, thirteen Zoroasters appear. The name of the last great +leader, together with a few of his doctrines, and various scattered +fragments in the Gathas, are all that remain on record of a man whose +personality stands connected with the earliest attempt to reform a +degraded and sensualized religion. + +That this prophet was without honor in his own country is shown by the +following lamentation: + +"To what country shall I go? Where shall I take refuge? What country +gives shelter to the master, Zarathustra, and his companion? None of the +servants pay reverence to me, nor do the wicked rulers of the country. +How shall I worship thee further, living Wise One? What help did +Zarathustra receive when he proclaimed the truths? What did he obtain +through the good mind? ... Why has the truthful one so few adherents, +while all the mighty, who are unbelievers, follow the liar in great +numbers?"(111) + + + 111) Quoted by Viscount Amberley from Haug's Translations. + + +Although the prophet Zarathustra and his companion were first rejected, +the fact seems plain that the monotheistic doctrines which they set +forth were subsequently accepted as the groundwork of the religion of +Persia. + +In the opening verses of the 5th Gatha appears the following: + +"It is reported that Zarathustra Spitama possessed the best good, for +Ahura Mazda granted him all that may be obtained by means of a sincere +worship, forever, all that promotes the good life, and he gives the same +to all who keep the words and perform the actions enjoined by the good +religion.... + +"Pourutschista, the Hetchataspadin, the most holy one, the most +distinguished of the daughters of Zarathustra, formed this doctrine, as +a reflection of the good mind, the true and wise one." + +The fact will doubtless be observed that Pourutschista was not merely +a disciple of Zarathustra, but that she FORMED the doctrine which was +accepted as a "reflection of the good mind." + +In the 5th Gatha it is stated that among those who "know the right +paths, the law which Ahura gave to the Profitable," is Pourutschista the +"Holy worthy of adoration among the daughters of Zarathustra.... wise +female worker of Wisdom."(112) + + + 112) Spiegel's Translation. + + +Ormuzd, or Ahura Mazda, which was the essence of heat or light, was the +principle adored by the followers of the reformed religion in Persia. +Throughout the Avesta the most desirable possession, and that which is +most praised, is purity of life. + + "We praise the pure man. + "The best purity praise we. + "The best wish praise we of the best purity. The best place +of purity praise we, the shining, endued with all brightness."(113) + + "This Earth, together with the women, we praise + Which bears us, which are the women, Ahura Mazda + Whose wishes arise from purity, these we praise-- + Fullness, readiness, questioning, wisdom."(114) + + + 113) Vespered xxvi. Spiegel's Translation. + + + 114) Yacna xxxviii. + + +Praise is offered to the "everlasting female companion, the +instructing." + +The following is a part of the marriage ceremony of the Persians as it +is found in the Khorda-Avesta: + +"Do you both accept the contract for life with honorable mind? In the +name and friendship of Ormuzd be ever shining, be very enlarged. Be +increasing. Be victorious. Learn purity. Be worthy of good praise. May +the mind think good thoughts, the words speak good, the works do good. +May all wicked thoughts hasten away, all wicked words be diminished, all +wicked works be burnt up.... Win for thyself property by right-dealing. +Speak truth with the rulers and be obedient. Be modest with friends, +clever, and well wishing. Be not cruel, be not covetous.... Combat +adversaries with right. Before an assembly speak only pure words. In no +wise displease thy mother. Keep thine own body pure in justice." + +Confucius, the great Chinese teacher and philosopher, who lived probably +in the sixth century B.C., may be said to have been a humanitarian or +moralist instead of a mystic. Although he believed in a great first +principle, or cause, which he termed Heaven, we are given to understand +that in his philosophizing little mention was made of it. + +The system known as Confucianism was not originated by Confucius. + +In referring to this subject Legge remarks: + +"He said of himself (Analects, vii., I), that he was a transmitter and +not a maker, one who believed in and loved the ancients; and hence it is +said in the thirtieth chapter of the doctrine of the Mean, ascribed to +his grandson, that he handed down the doctrines of Yao and Shun, as if +they had been his ancestors, and elegantly displayed the regulations of +Wan and Wu, taking them as his models."(115) + + + 115) Legge, Preface to vol. iii. of Shu King. + + +The ancient books which Confucius interpreted or rewrote laid no claim +to being sacred in the sense of being inspired; but, on the contrary, +were works of wisdom put forth by historians, poets, and others "as they +were moved in their own minds." The most ancient of these doctrines was +the Shu, a work which since the period of the Han dynasty, 202 years +B.C., has been called the Shu King. + +A number of documents contained in this work date back to the +twenty-fourth century B.C., and as they are regarded as historical are +considered to be of greater importance than are any others of their +ancient writings. + +Second in antiquity and importance is the Shih or the Book of Poetry. +This work contains the religious views of its writers, also an account +of the manners, customs, and events of the times to which they belong. +For 5000 years, in China, Tien or Ti has expressed the moving or +creating force in the universe. In later ages it is observed that this +name has been attached to royalty. Hwang Ti is the present title of the +Emperor of China. + +From some of the texts found in the Shu King, it would seem that the +Chinese had in the remote past caught sight of the scientific fact +that virtue is its own reward. "Heaven graciously distinguishes the +virtuous.... Heaven punishes the guilty."(116) + + + 116) Max Muller, Sacred Books of the East, book iv. + + +The principal object of Confucius seems to have been to inculcate those +doctrines of his ancestors which, taking root, would in time bring about +a return to those principles of former virtue, a faint knowledge of +which seems still to have survived in China. The following precepts are +found among his teachings: + +"Knowledge, magnanimity, and energy are the virtues universally binding. +Gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness +constitute perfect virtue. Sincerity is the very way to Heaven. My +doctrine is that of an all-pervading unity. The superior man is catholic +and not partisan. The mean is partisan and not catholic. The superior +man is affable but not adulatory, the mean is adulatory but not +affable." + +When asked for a word which should serve as a rule of practice for all +our life he replied: "Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do +not want done to yourself, do not do to others." On one occasion the +question was asked him: "What do you say concerning the principle +that injury shall be recompensed with kindness?" To which he replied: +"Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with +kindness."(117) + + + 117) Lun Yu, xiv., 26. + + +It is recorded by his disciples that there are four things from which +the master was entirely free. "He had no foregone conclusions, no +arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egoism." Contrary to +the rule of most reformers or leaders of opinion, he always regarded +himself as a learner as well as teacher. It is related of Confucius that +he at one time desired a governmental position, thinking that through +its occupancy he might the better disseminate the ancient doctrines of +rectitude and virtue. Offers of individual advantage could not swerve +him from his well-grounded principles of honor. On one occasion one of +the rulers of the country proposed to confer upon him a city and its +revenues, but Confucius replied: "A superior man will only receive +reward for services which he has rendered. I have given advice to the +duke-king, but he has not obeyed it, and now he would endow me with this +place! very far is he from understanding me."(118) + + + 118) Quoted by Amberley, Analysis of Religious Belief, vol. i., p. 197. + + +The fact seems evident that Confucius had not sufficient strength of +character to attempt a change in the social conditions of his time. He +had not that grandeur of soul which enabled him to strike the key-note +of reform. Monarchical institutions and social distinctions he did not +rebuke. The brotherhood of man and the levelling processes in human +society were probably never thought of by him; certainly they were never +attempted. + +By certain writers Confucius has been accused of insincerity in a few +minor matters; still, the wisdom contained in his religious doctrines, +the philosophical value of his teachings relative to the regulation of +human conduct, and, above all, his purity of purpose, justly entitles +his name to be enrolled among the great reformers of the world. + +The lasting influence which this man exerted upon the minds of his +countrymen, and the appreciation in which his name and works are still +held, are shown by the fact that his descendants constitute the only +order of hereditary nobility in China. + +"He lived five hundred years before Christ; and yet to this day, through +all the changes and chances of time and of dynasties, the descendants of +Confucius remain the only hereditary noblemen and national pensioners +in the empire. Even the imperial blood becomes diluted, degraded, and +absorbed into the body politic after the seventh generation; but the +descendants of Confucius remain separate, through all the mutations of +time and of government."(119) + + + 119) Thomas Magee, in the Forum, vol. x., p. 204. + + +Laotse, the founder of the smallest of the three sects in China, namely, +Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, was an old man when Confucius was in +his prime. The word Taou signifies reason, but the doctrines believed +by the Taoists prove their system to be the most irrational of all the +religions of the East. In an article on The Taouist Religion, Warren +Benton says: + +"The tendency in rationalism is toward the utter destruction of a belief +in the existence of unseen spirits of evil. Enlightened reason dethrones +devils; but Laotse created devils innumerable, and the chief concern of +the Taouist sect has always been to manipulate these emissaries of evil. +Modern rationalists deny the existence of devils, and relegate them to +the category of myths and to personified ideas. Not so the rationalist +of the Orient. He finds his greatest pleasure in contemplating the very +atmosphere he breathes as filled with spirits constantly seeking +his injury; and to outwit his satanic majesty is the chief end of +life."(120) + + + 120) Pop. Science, Jan. 1890. + + +At a time when a personal devil was gradually assuming shape, it would +have been singular, indeed, if there had not arisen one who, by his +peculiar temperament and natural disposition, was exactly suited to the +task of elaborating this doctrine in all its grim seriousness. That such +an one did arise in the person of Laotse is evident from what is known +regarding his history and teachings. + +The growth of religious faith had long tended in this direction. +Typhon, "the wind that blasts," "Darkness," and the "cold of winter," +constituted the foundation of a belief in a personal Devil; and, when +the time was ripe for the appearance of his satanic majesty, it required +only a hypochondriac--a disordered mental organization--to formulate and +project this gloomy and unwholesome doctrine. + +There is little known of the life and character of Laotse except that +he labored assiduously through a long life-time for the establishment +of certain principles or tenets which he believed to be essential to the +well-being of humanity. In the twentieth chapter of his work are found +to be some hints of his personality and of the gloomy cast of his +character. He complains that while other men are joyous and gay, he +alone is despondent. He is "calm like a child that does not yet smile." +He is "like a stupid fellow, so confused does he feel. Ordinary men are +enlightened; he is obscure and troubled in mind. Like the sea, he is +forgotten and driven about like one who has no certain resting place. +All other men are of use; he alone is clownish like a peasant. He alone +is unlike other men, but he honors the nursing mother." + +Of all the various teachers which arose during the fifth, sixth, and +seventh centuries B.C., none of them were able to rise to the position +of moral grandeur occupied by Gotama Buddha. The efforts put forth by +this great teacher seem to have been humane rather than religious. In +his time, especially in India, society had become encysted beneath +a crust of seemingly impenetrable conservatism, while religion, or +priestcraft, riveted the chains by which the masses of the people were +enslaved. + +The mission of Buddha was to burst asunder the bonds of the oppressed +and to abolish all distinctions of caste. This was to be accomplished +through the awakening of the divine life in each individual. The leading +processes by which the lines of caste were weakened were in direct +opposition to the established order of society. It was a blow at the old +Brahminical social and religious code which had grown up under the reign +of priest-craft. + +Notwithstanding the sex prejudice which had come to prevail in India, +it was directly stated by Buddha that any man or woman who became his +disciple, who renounced the world and by abstinence from the lower +indulgences of sense proclaimed her or his adherence to the higher +principles of life, "at once lost either the privilege of a high caste +or the degradation of a low one." Earthly distinctions were of no +consequence. Rank depended not on the outward circumstance of birth, but +on the ability of the individual to resist evil, or, upon his +capacity to receive the higher truths enunciated by the new sun or +savior--Buddha. + +In one of the canonical books he is represented as saying: + +"Since the doctrine which I teach is completely pure, it makes no +distinction between noble and common, between rich and poor. It is, for +example, like water, which washes both noblemen and common people, both +rich and poor, both good and bad, and purifies all without distinction. +It may, to take another illustration, be compared to fire, which +consumes mountains, rocks, and all great and small objects between +heaven and earth. Again, my doctrine is like heaven, inasmuch as there +is room within it without exception, for whomsoever it may be; for men +and women, for boys and girls, for rich and poor."(121) + + + 121) Viscount Amberley, Analysis of Religious Belief, vol. i., p. 216. + + +There is little doubt that the religion of Buddha was an attempt to +return to the almost forgotten principles of a past age of spiritual and +moral greatness. According to this ancient wisdom, man is an immortal +soul struggling for perfection. The growth of the real man is a natural +unfolding of the divine principle within, such process of evolution +being accomplished through the power of the will. As every individual +must work out his own salvation, this will-force must ever be directed +toward the complete mastery of the body, or the lower self. In other +words, the development of the higher life depends upon the power of the +individual to overcome or conquer evil. The effect of every thought, +word, and deed is woven into the soul, and no one can evade the +consequences of his own acts. All sin is the result of selfishness, so +that only when one renounces self and begins to live for others does the +soul-life begin. No one who has arrived at a state of soul-consciousness +will lead a selfish or impure life. On the contrary, every impulse of +the devout Buddhist goes out toward humanity and God, of whom he is a +conscious part. + +Gotama Buddha was not a "savior" in the sense of bloody sacrifice for +the sins of the people. On the contrary, he was an example to mankind--a +man who through moral purification and a life of self-abnegation +had prepared himself for this holy office. Mythologically, or +astrologically, he was the new sun born at the close of the cycle. He +was the great Light which revealed the way to eternal repose--Nirvana. +The mythical Buddha was the prototype of the mythical Christ. His mother +was Mai or Mary, Queen of Heaven, or the Vernal Spring. He was a new +incarnation of the Sun--the Savior of the world. In process of time his +many miracles were offered as proof of his divine character. Although he +taught the existence of a great and universal Power, he made no attempt +to explain the unknowable. The Infinite is to be contemplated only +through its manifestations. Nirvana is not annihilation, as has been +erroneously taught by Christian missionaries. As explained by Buddhists +themselves, it comprehends a state of absolute rest from human strife +and wretchedness. It is the absorption or relapsing into the great First +Principle, whence all life is derived--a state so pure that the human is +lost in the divine. + + "Lamp of the law! + I take my refuge in thy name and Thee! + I take my refuge in thy Law of Good! + I take my refuge in thy Order! Om! + The dew is on the Lotus!--rise, Great Sun! + And lift my leaf and mix me with the wave. + Om Mani Padme Hum, the Sunrise comes! + The Dewdrop slips into the shining Sea!"(122) + + + 122) Arnold, Light of Asia. + + +From the Buddhist colleges at Nolanda went forth teachers who, inspired +with enthusiasm in the cause of human justice and individual liberty, +endeavored to abolish the abominations which had grown up under +Brahminical rule. The masses of the people, however, were too deeply +sunken in infamy, wretchedness, and ignorance to accept, or even +understand, the pure doctrines of the great teacher, and, as might have +been anticipated, priest-craft soon assumed its wonted arrogance, and +eventually the whole paraphernalia of antiquated dogmas were tacked upon +the new system. + +Through the various efforts put forth for the elevation of mankind +during the six or seven hundred years which preceded the advent of +Christianity, sufficient strength had been given to the moral impetus of +humanity to create in many portions of the world a strong desire for a +return to purer principles, and to make the appearance of a spiritual +teacher like Christ possible. The effects, however, of ages of moral +and intellectual degradation, in which the lowest faculties have been +stimulated to the highest degree, are not wiped out in a few centuries +of struggle by the few among the people who desire reform. As +true reform means growth, those who have reached a higher stage of +development can only point the way to others--they are powerless to +effect changes for which the masses are unprepared. + +Although through a partial revival of the ideas entertained by an +ancient people the attempt was made by Zoroaster, Confucius, Gotama +Buddha, Pythagoras, the Stoics, and other schools of philosophy, to +elevate the masses of the people, and, although the unadulterated +teachings of the man called Christ were doubtless an outgrowth of this +movement, yet the human mind had not, even as late as the appearance of +this last-named reformer, sufficiently recovered from its thraldom +to enable the masses to grasp those higher truths which had been +entertained by an earlier civilized people. + +While there are doubtless many points of similarity between the +religious system elaborated by Gotama Buddha and that enunciated by +Christ, there is little likeness between the teachings of the former and +those set forth by the Romish Church, or by Paul. Seven hundred years +B.C., the Persians had grasped the idea that virtue is its own reward, +and that every soul is responsible for its own growth. The fundamental +doctrine of the Christian Church to-day is that of a vicarious +atonement--a belief which takes away man's responsibility for his own +misdeeds. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. CHRISTIANITY A CONTINUATION OF PAGANISM. + +By comparing the sacred writings of the Persians with the history of the +events connected with the conception and birth of the mythical Christ +as recorded in the New Testament, the fact is observed that the latter +appears to be closely connected with the central figure of Persian +mythology. It has been found that the visit of the Magi, who, following +a star, were guided to the spot where the young child lay, was the +fulfilment of a Persian prophecy, which is to be found in the life of +Zarathustra as recorded in the Zendavesta, while the subsequent history +of the same personage is seen to be almost identical with that of the +Hindoo Sun-god Chrishna. + +According to the sacred books of the Persians, three sons of the great +Zarathustra were to appear at three successive periods of time. These +sons were to be incarnations of the sun, and the result of immaculate +conceptions. + +"The first is named Oschederbami. He will appear in the last millennium +of the world. He will stop the sun for ten days and ten nights, and the +second part of the human race will embrace the law, of which he will +bring the 22d portion. + +"The second posthumous son of Zoroaster is Oschedermah. He will appear +four hundred years after Oschederbami. He will stop the sun twenty days +and twenty nights, and he will bring the 23d part of the law, and the +third part of the world will be converted. + +"The third is named Sosiosch. He will be born at the end of the ages. +He will bring the 24th part of the law; he will stay the sun thirty +days and thirty nights, and the whole earth will embrace the law of +Zoroaster. After him will be the resurrection."(123) This last named +son was to be born of a pure and spotless virgin, whereupon a star would +appear blazing even at noonday with undiminished lustre. + + + 123) Quoted by Waite, History of the Christian Religion, p. 168. + + +"You, my sons," exclaimed the seer, "will perceive its rising before any +other nation. As soon, therefore, as you shall behold the star, follow +it, withersoever it shall lead you; and adore that mysterious child, +offering your gifts to him, with profound humility. He is the Almighty +Word, which created the heavens."(124) + + + 124) Ibid., 169. + + +Waite notices the conclusion of Faber that this prediction was long +before the birth of Christ, and states that one of the reasons for +such a conclusion was, that in the old Irish history a similar prophecy +appears--a prophecy which was delivered by a "Druid of Bokhara." The +identity of this Irish prophecy with the one in the East ascribed to +Zarathustra or Zoroaster, is so singular that Faber thinks it can be +accounted for only on the hypothesis "of an ancient emigration from +Persia to Ireland by the northwest passage, which carried the legend +with it." + +By those who have investigated the origin of the early gospels, it is +stated that the story of the Magi and the star appeared in the Gospel +of the Infancy early in the second century, and was subsequently +incorporated into the preparatory chapters of Luke and Matthew. +According to Waite, there was a sect of Christians called Prodiceans +whose leader, Prodicus, about A.D. 120, boasted that they had the sacred +books of Zoroaster. From an extant fragment of the Chronography of +Africanus is the following: + +"Christ first of all became known from Persia. For nothing escapes the +learned jurists of that country, who investigated all things with the +utmost care. The facts, therefore, which are inscribed upon the golden +plates, and laid up in the royal temples, I shall record; for it is from +the temples there, and the priests connected with them, that the name +of Christ has been heard of. Now, there is a temple there to Juno, +surpassing the royal palace, which temple Cyrus, that prince instructed +in all piety, built, and in which he dedicated, in honor of the gods, +golden and silver statues, and adorned them with precious stones. ... +Now about that time (as the records on the plates testify), the king +having entered the temple, with the view of getting an interpretation +of certain dreams, was addressed by the priest Prupupius thus: 'I +congratulate thee, master: Juno has conceived.' 'And the king, smiling, +said to him: 'Has she who is dead conceived?' And he said: 'Yes, she who +was dead has come to life again, and begets life.' And the king said: +'What is this? explain it to me.' And he replied: 'In truth, master, the +time for these things is at hand. For during the whole night the images, +both of gods and goddesses, continued beating the ground, saying to each +other, Come, let us congratulate Juno. And they say to me, Prophet, come +forward, congratulate Juno, for she has been embraced. And I said, How +can she be embraced who no longer exists? To which they reply, She has +come to life again, and is no longer called Juno, but Urama. For the +mighty Sol has embraced her.' "(125) + + + 125) Hyppolytus, vol. ii., p. 196. + + +There is a tradition which asserts that during the early part of the +second century, St. Thomas went as a missionary to Parthia; that after +he had visited the various countries of the Parthian Empire, tarrying +for a time at Balkh, the capital of Bactria, and the ancient residence +of the Magi, he went to India. Soon after the visit of Thomas to Persia +and India, there appeared in Palestine and the adjacent countries +a gospel of Thomas, in which were set forth various stories closely +resembling the legends found in the Hindoo sacred writings. After +comparing various passages of the Bhagavat Purana with those of the +Infancy, and after furnishing conclusive evidence that the latter must +have been copied from the former, Waite says: + +"The conclusion must be, that while for some of the salient points of +the Gospels of the Infancy, the authors were indebted to Zoroaster, and +the legends of Persia, the outline of the story was largely filled up +from the history of Crishna, as sent back to Palestine, by the Apostle +Thomas, from the land of the Brahmins." + +Concerning the story of Herod and his order to slay all the male +infants, there has been discovered in a cavern at Elephanta, in India, +a sculptured representation of a huge and ferocious figure, bearing a +drawn sword and surrounded by slaughtered children, while mothers appear +weeping for their slain. This figure is said to be of great antiquity. + +Mary, the Mother of Jesus, like Mai, the Mother of Gatama Buddha, was +regarded by certain sects in the earlier ages of Christianity as an +Immortal Virgin whose birth had been announced by an angel.(126) She was +in fact the ancient Virgin of the Sphere--the Mother of the Gods--the +Queen of Heaven. + + + 126) See Gospels of Mary and the Protovangelion. + + +As soon as Christ was born he conversed with Mary, as did also Crishna +with his mother, informing her of his divine mission. + +Crishna was cradled among shepherds, so was Christ. Cansa, fearing the +loss of his kingdom, sought to destroy the life of the divine infant in +the same manner as did Herod in the case of Christ. Both children are +carried away by night, after which an order is issued by the ruler +of the country that all the young children throughout the kingdom be +slaughtered. + +When Joseph and Mary arrived in Egypt, they visited the temple of +Serapis, where "all the magistrates and priests of the idols +were assembled." Upon the image being interrogated concerning the +"consternation and dread which had fallen upon all our country," it +answered them as follows: "The unknown god has come hither, who is truly +God; nor is there anyone besides him, who is worthy of divine worship; +for he is truly the son of God." And at the same instant this idol fell +down, and at his fall all the inhabitants of Egypt, besides others, ran +together.(127) A similar story is related of Crishna. This Indian god, +the same as Christ, cured a leper. A woman, after having poured a box +of precious ointment on the head of Crishna, was healed; so also a woman +anointed the head of Jesus. Crishna when but a lad displayed remarkable +mental powers and the most profound wisdom before the tutor who was sent +to instruct him. Christ astonished the school-master Zaccheus with his +great learning.(128) + + + 127) Gospel of the Infancy, ch. iv. + + + 128) Gospel of the Infancy, ch. xx. + + +Crishna had a terrible encounter with the serpent Calinaga; the infant +Christ had also a dreadful adventure with a serpent. Now this Calinaga +which Crishna encountered was a serpent goddess who was worshipped +by the sect in India which was opposed to the adoration of the male +principle. The early Christians, however, being ignorant of the +allegorical meaning of the legend, transferred it to Christ literally. + +The mother of Crishna looked in his mouth and beheld all the nations of +the earth. The same story is reported of Christ and his mother. Finally +Christ, like Crishna, was crucified, and like him was buried. He +descended into hell and on the third day arose and ascended into +heaven.(129) + + + 129) It will doubtless be urged that I am quoting from the Apocryphal +Gospels--that the genuine books of the New Testament are silent +concerning many of these Eastern legends. We must bear in mind, however, +that during the earlier ages of Christianity, these finally rejected +gospels were, equally with the canonical books, considered as the word +of God. The Infancy is thought to be one of the earliest gospels. Justin +Martyr was acquainted with it, A.D. 150 to 160. It is referred to by +Irenaeus, A.D. 190. + + +In the poetical myths of the ancients the sun is yearly overpowered +by cold or by the destructive agencies in Nature. Astronomically, or +astrologically, it wanders in darkness and desolation during the winter +months; in fact dies, and descends into hell in order that he may +rise at the Easter season to gladden and make all things new again. +Mythologically, this new sun becomes incarnate; enters again his +mother's womb, and is born into the world in the form of a man whose +mission is to renew human life. Hence we have an explanation of the +Eastern Buddhas and Crishnas, all of which were born of virgins at the +winter solstice. + +The new sun which at the close of each cycle was believed by the more +ancient people of the globe to "issue forth from the womb of Nature to +renew the world," now that the truths underlying Nature-worship were +lost, became a redeemer or mediator between earth and heaven, or between +spirit and matter. It is stated that at the time of the appearance of +Christ not alone the Jews, but the Persians, the Romans, the ancient +Irish, and in fact all the nations of the globe, were anxiously awaiting +the event of another incarnation of the solar Deity; and that maidens +of all classes and conditions were in a state of eager expectation, the +more pious, or at least the more ambitious among them, being in almost +constant attendance at the temples and sacred shrines, whither they went +to pay homage to the male emblem of generation, thereby hoping to be +honored as a Mai or Mary. + +On the wall of the temple at Luxor are a series of sculptures, + +"in which the miraculous annunciation, conception, birth, and adoration +of Amunoph III., the son of the Virgin Queen Mautmes, is represented in +a manner similar to what is described in St. Luke's Gospel (ch. 1 and 2) +of Jesus Christ, the son of the Virgin Mary, and which is found also +in the Gospel of St. Matthew (ch. 1) as an addition not met with in the +earliest manuscripts,"(130) which fact has caused Sharpe, from whom the +above is quoted, to suggest that both accounts may have been of Egyptian +origin. + + + 130) Barlow, Symbolism, p. 127. + + +The titles "lamb," "anointed," etc., which were applied to Christ, all +appear attached to former incarnations of the sun, the first named +standing for the sun in Aries. The effigies of a crucified savior found +in Ireland and Scotland in connection with the figure of a lamb, a bull, +or an elephant, the latter of which is not a native of those countries, +shows that they do not represent Christ, but a crucified sun-god +worshipped by the inhabitants of the British Islands ages before the +birth of the great Judean philosopher and teacher. + +It is plain that Crishna of India and the Persian Mithra furnished the +copy for the Jesus of the Romish Church, all of whom mean one and the +same thing--the second person in the Solar Trinity. By the Jews, who +attempted to ignore the female principle, this God is called the "Lord +of Hosts" and "God of Sabaoth," which astronomically means God of the +stars and constellations, and astrologically the creator or producer of +the multitudes. Of this God, ieue, I H S, the author of Anacalypsis says +that he was the son of the celestial virgin, which she carries in her +arms; the Horus, Lux, of the Egyptians, the Lux of St. John. + +"It is from this infant that Jesus took his origin; or at least it is +from the ceremonies and worship of this infant that this religion came +to be corrupted into what we have of it. This infant is the seed of the +woman who, according to Genesis, was to bruise the head of the serpent, +which, in return, was to bruise his foot or heel, or the foot or heel +of her seed as the figure of the Hindoo Crishna proves. From the +traditionary stories of this god Iao, which was figured annually to be +born at the winter solstice, and to be put to death and raised to life +on the third day at the vernal equinox, the Roman searchers after the +evangelion or gospel made out their Jesus. The total destruction +of everything at Jerusalem and in Judea--buildings, records, +everything--prevented them from coming to any absolute certainty +respecting this person who, they were told by tradition, had come to +preach the gospel of peace, to be their savior, in fulfilment of the +prophecy which their sect of Israelites found in their writings, and who +had been put to death by the Jews. From all these circumstances he came +to have applied to him the monogram of I H S.... and to him at last all +the legendary stories related of the god Iao were attributed."(131) + + + 131) Godfrey Higgins, Anacalypsis, book vi., ch. iv., p. 455. + + +According to Faber, Jesus was not originally called Jesus Christ, but +Jescua Hammassiah--Jescua meaning Joshua, and Jesus, Savior. Ham is +the Om of India, and Messiah, the anointed. Commenting on this Higgins +remarks: "It will then be, The Savior Om the Anointed, precisely as +Isaiah had literally foretold; or reading in the Hebrew made, The +Anointed Om the Savior. This was the name of Jesus of Bethlehem." + +We have observed the fact that at the time of the birth of Christ the +entire world was expecting a Savior--a new incarnation of the sun. The +end of a cycle had come and the entire earth was to undergo a process of +renovation. + +In a poem by Virgil, who was a Druid, the birth of a wonderful child is +celebrated, and the prophecy of a heathen Sibyl is seen to be identical +with that of Isaiah. + +"The last period sung by the Sibylline prophetess is now arrived; and +the grand series of ages. That Series which recurs again and again +in the course of our mundane revolution begins afresh. Now the +Virgin Astrea returns from heaven; and the primeval reign of Saturn +recommences; now a new race descends from the celestial realms of +holiness. Do thou, Lucina, smile propitious on the birth of a boy who +will bring to a close the present age of iron and introduce throughout +the whole world, a new age of gold. Then shall the herds no longer dread +the fury of the lion, nor shall the poison of the serpent any longer +be formidable. Every venomous animal and every deleterious plant shell +perish together. The fields shall be yellow with corn, the grape +shall hang its ruddy clusters from the bramble, and honey shall distil +spontaneously from the rugged oak. The universal globe shall enjoy the +blessings of peace, secure under the mild sway of its new and divine +sovereign." + +There is no lack of evidence to prove that for several centuries great +numbers of Christians regarded Christ as a solar incarnation similar to +those which from time to time were born in the valleys of the Nile and +the Ganges. By the fathers in the church Jesus Christ was named the New +Sun, and in the early days of Christianity the Egyptians struck a coin +representing O. B. or the holy Basilisk, with rays of light darting from +his head, on the reverse side of which was figured "Jesus Christ as the +New Solar Deity." + +The similarity if not the actual identity of the religion of Christ and +that of the pagans in the second century is shown by various writers. +The Emperor Hadrian writing to his friend Servianus says: + +"Those who worship Serapis are also Christians; even those who style +themselves the Bishops of Christ are devoted to Serapis.. .. There is +but one God for them all; him do the Christians, him do the Jews, him do +all the Gentiles also worship." + +It has been said that the head of Serapis supplied the first idea of the +portrait of Christ. Before the figure of Serapis, in his temple, used +to stand Isis, the Celestial Virgin, with the inscription "Immaculate is +our Lady Isis." In her hand she bore a sheaf of grain. + +As Serapis, or Pan, finally became Christ, so Isis, or the Queen of +Heaven, became his mother, and to the latter were transferred all the +titles, ceremonies, festivals, and seasons which from the earliest time +had belonged to the great Goddess of Nature. Subsequently, probably +about the close of the second century, Christianity began slowly to +emerge from the worship of Mithras and Serapis, "changing the names but +not the substance." + +Upon the coinage of Constantine appears Soli Invicto Comita--"To the +invincible sun my companion or guardian," and when the Greek and Roman +Christians finally separated themselves from the great body of pagan +worshippers they apologized for celebrating the birthday of their Savior +on the 25th of December, saying that "they could better perform their +rites when the heathen were busy with theirs." We are assured that the +early Christians no less than the Maji acknowledged Mithras as the first +emanation from Ormuzd, or the God of Light. He was the Savior which in +an earlier age had represented returning life--that which follows the +cold of winter. It was doubtless while they worshipped the Persian +Mithras that many of the so-called Christians gathered their first +ideas concerning the immortality of the soul and of future rewards and +punishments. + +The analogy existing between the festivals, seasons, mythoses, etc., of +the various incarnations of the sun which were worshipped by the early +historic nations and those belonging to Christianity is too striking to +be the result of chance. + +Buddha originally represented the sun in Taurus. Crishna was the sun +in Aries. The laborings and sufferings of Hercules, a god who was an +incarnation of the latter, portrays the history of the passage of the +sun through the signs of the Zodiac. + +All the principal events of Christ's life correspond to certain solar +phases; or, in other words, all ecclesiastical calendars are arranged +with reference to the festivals which commemorate the important events +of his life from his conception and birth to his ascension and reception +in heaven. Each and every one of the solar deities has been born at +midnight, on the 25th of December, at the time when the sun has reached +its lowest position and begins to ascend. Macrobius, a learned Roman +writer, observes that the early historic nations "believed that the sun +comes forth as a babe from its cradle at the winter solstice." Neith is +made to say, "The sun is the fruit of my womb." + +The 15th of August, assumption day, the time when Mary, the mother of +Jesus, ascends to heaven is the day when the Zodiacal constellation +Virgo, "the Greek Astrea, leaves the European horizon," and the "8th of +September, when Virgo emerges from the sun's rays, is held sacred as the +Nativity of the Queen of Heaven." + +Of the mid-winter festival, Bede says: "The Pagans of these isles began +their year on the eighth of the Kalends of January, which is now our +Christmas Day. The night before that (24th Dec. eve) was called by them +the Medre-Nak, or Night of Mothers, because of the ceremonies which were +performed on that night."(132) + + + 132) Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 430. + + +Among Christians as among Pagans the Christmas season was in honor of +"returning light," the vernal equinox of "growing light" and St. John's +day of "perfected light." + +In England, among pagan Saxons, the midwinter festival lasted twelve +days, during which time light, fire, the sun, huge stones and other +similar manifestations of the Deity were adored. Christian and pagan +alike worshipped these objects. They called Christmas "the birthday of +the god who is light." The Savior, or the New Sun, was the true light +which lighteth every man who cometh into the world. According to +the testimony of various writers, the festival held by Christians on +Christmas eve used to resemble the Feast of Lights, celebrated in Egypt +in honor of Neith. The tokens distributed among friends were cakes made +of paste in the form of babies. These cakes were called yuledows. Dow +means to "grow bigger," or, "to increase." + +The Kalends of January at Rome were sacred to Janus and Juno to whom +sacrifices were offered. The Etruscans also worshipped Janus who was the +god (or goddess) of the year. Although this Deity does not appear +among the twelve gods it is said to be the parent of them all. It was +represented as having two faces. Upon one were the letters representing +365, and upon the other were the keys of life and death. According to +Bryant this Deity was called Junonius, from the goddess Juno, whose name +resolves itself into Juneh, a dove. In the Hebrew this name is identical +with Yoni or Yuni--the female principle. On the coins of this god (which +was subsequently regarded as male) is usually figured a boat, although a +dove with an olive branch is sometimes observed.(133) + + + 133) See Faber, Pagan Idolatry. + + +Juno is thought to be the same as Jana, which came from Jah of the +Hebrews. Diana was Diva Jana or "Dea Jana who is the same as Astarte or +Ashtaroth of the Sidonians." + +Regarding the transference of the mid-winter festival of the pagans to +the Christian calendar, Forlong says: + +"The early Christians undoubtedly selected this Roman Saturnalia as an +important period in the life of Christ, at first calling it the time of +his conception, and later of his birth, this last best suiting the views +and feelings of their Solo-Christian flocks. The Jews called the day +of the Winter Solstice The Fast of Tebet. The previous time was one of +darkness, and on the 28th began their Feast of Lights."(134) + + + 134) Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 430. + + +In France the ancient name for Christmas is Noel, a term which until +recently has baffled all antiquarian research. It is now thought that it +is formed from Nuadh and Vile which together mean All Heal. + +Although every possible effort has been put forward to give to this date +(the 25th of December) the appearance of authenticity as the birth of +Christ, still, so far as I am able to find, no one accredited with +any degree of trustworthiness has ever been rash enough to attempt its +ratification as a matter of history. + +Tylor calls attention to the fact that in the religious symbolism of the +material and spiritual sun Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa discourse on +the "growing light and dwindling darkness that follow the nativity," +and cites the instance of Leo the Great who, in a sermon, rebukes the +"pestiferous persuasion, that this solemn day is to be honored not for +the birth of Christ, but for the rising of the New Sun." + +On the authority of this same prelate it is found that in the fifth +century, the faithful, before entering the Basilica of St. Peter, were +wont to turn and salute the shining orb of day. + +The Roman winter solstice which was connected with the worship of +Mithra, and which was named the "Birthday of the Unconquered Om," was +adopted by the western churches some time during the fourth century. +From the west it passed to the eastern churches, where it finally became +"the solemn anniversary of the birth of Christ." + +In Ireland the ceremonies attending the mid-winter festival were +formerly regarded as exceedingly important. A short time before the +approach of the winter solstice, voices were heard throughout the +island proclaiming: "The New Year is at hand! Gather the Mistletoe!" +The mistletoe wreaths which formed the principal decorations of Venus' +temple were at first proscribed by the Christian preachers, but, in +process of time they not only found their way into the sanctuary, but +were given a place over the altars, their final signification being +"good will to men."(135) + + + 135) Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 81. + + +Although the tokens of friendship which were distributed by the pagans +at the season of the mid-winter festival differed somewhat from those +which at the present time are exchanged among Christians at the same +season of the year, still, there can be no doubt that the Christmas +tree, loaded with gifts, is a remnant of that worship under which the +sun was recognized as the source whence all blessings flow. Down to a +late date, fire was a conspicuous element at the festival of the winter +solstice. As the yule-log blazed upon the hearth, our ancestors set +up huge stones and danced round them, thus worshipping the god of +fertility. + +On the 20th and 21st of March the sun illumines exactly half the earth. +At this time the Day has conquered the Night. Light has dethroned +Darkness, a complete victory has been gained over Typhon and the new +god comes forth "with healing in his wings." On Lady's day, the 25th of +March, the Virgin conceives. In Phoenicia numerous fetes were instituted +to rejoice with Astarte in her conception. During the months preceding +the birth of the young sun-god the Queen of Heaven receives marked +homage. + +In a former portion of this work we have observed that the festival +which celebrated the return of spring was instituted by the inventors +of the Neros thousands of years prior to the beginning of the Christian +era, to celebrate the vernal equinox and to commemorate a return of +Nature's bounties; but, after male reproductive power began to be +regarded as the creator, when passion came to be considered as the +moving force in the universe, and when the operations of Nature began to +be typified by a dead man on a cross who was to rise again, Easter was +celebrated in commemoration of a risen savior or sun-god. + +The following is an account given in Ramsay's Travels of Cyrus, +concerning the vernal equinox festivals in the East. When Cyrus entered +the temples he found the public clad in mourning. In a cavern lay +the image of a young man (the dying savior) on a bed of flowers +and odoriferous herbs Nine days were spent in fasting, prayers, and +lamentations, after which the public sorrow ceased and was changed into +gladness. Songs of joy succeeded weeping (for Tamuz), the whole assembly +singing hymns: "Adonis is returned to life, Urania weeps no more, he has +ascended to heaven, he will soon return to earth and banish hence all +crimes and miseries forever." This scene, it will be remembered, was +presented 500 years prior to the birth of Christ. In Rome, throughout +the months preceding the winter solstice, Hilaria or Ceres, was +especially honored. Apollo and Diana rose on the 7th of the Julian April +and on the 10th their religious festivals began. + +On Easter morn, during the earlier ages of the church, the observances +of Christians were exactly the same as were those of the so called +pagans, all together hurried out long before the break of day that they +might behold the sun ascend, or "dance" as they called it, for on this +morning he was to "make the earth laugh and sing." Pagan and Christian +alike greeted each other with the salutation "The Lord is risen," and +the reply was "The Lord is risen indeed." On Easter morning the peasants +of Saxony and Brandenburg still climb to the hilltops "to see the sun +give his three joyful leaps." + +In Buckland's Land and Water it is stated that on the first of May all +the choristers of Magdalene College, Oxford, still meet on the summit +of their tower, 150 feet high, and sing a Latin hymn as the sun rises, +during which time ten bells are rung "to welcome the gracious Apollo." +Formerly, high mass was celebrated here and early mass for Sol was +held in the College chapel, but, as at the time of the Reformation this +service was forbidden, "it has since been performed on the top of the +tower." After the hymn is sung "boys blow loud blasts to Sol through +bright new tin horns." + +Perhaps none of the ideas which enter into present religious rites and +ceremonies proclaims its eastern origin more forcibly than do those +connected with the veneration of fire. The testimony of all writers upon +this subject agrees that in Europe, down to a late date in the Christian +era, fire was still adored, and in some mysterious manner was connected +with the Creator. + +Upon the subject of the continuation of sun and fire worship to modern +times, it is stated that the ancient bonfires with which the North +German hills used to be ablaze mile after mile are not altogether given +up by local custom. In Ireland as late as the year 1829, the ancient +Canaanitish and Jewish rite of passing children through fire as a +cleansing or regenerating process was still in operation. It is related +that at stated seasons great fires were lighted in public places, on +which occasions, fathers, taking their children in their arms, would +leap and run through the flames. At the same time, two large fires were +kindled a short distance from each other through which the cattle were +driven. It was believed that by means of this ceremony, fecundity is +imparted both to man and beast. May, the month in which all Nature +revives, and in which life starts anew, is the time selected for the +lighting of those sacred fires. May is the month of the fires of Baal. +According to Maurice in his work on the Antiquities of India, the +festival and the May-pole of Great Britain are the remnants of a +religious ceremony once common in Egypt, India, and Phoenicia, which +nations all worshipping the same Deity, celebrated the entrance of +the sun into the sign of Taurus at the vernal equinox, but which in +consequence of the precession of the equinoxes is removed far in the +year from its original situation. This festival is thought to be coeval +with a time when the equinox actually took place at that time. It was +formerly in honor of the goddess Bhavania, who, under various names, was +once worshipped in every country of the globe. "She is identical with +the Dea Syria of Chaldea, and the Venus Urania of Persia." + +At the present time there is direct and indisputable evidence that +sacred fires once flamed over the whole of Britain. A few days prior to +Bealtine season, every flame was ordered extinguished, to be relighted +on the first of May by holy fire drawn directly from the sun. Of +fire-worship Toland observes: + +"On May-day the Druids made prodigious fires on these cairns, which +being every one in sight of some other could not but afford a glorious +show over a whole nation. These fires were in honor of Beal, or Bealan, +Latinized by the Roman writers into Belanus, by which name the Gauls +and their colonies understood the sun, and therefore, to this hour, the +first of May is, by the aboriginal Irish, called la Bealtine, or the +day of Belan's fires. May-day is likewise called la Bealtine by the +Highlanders of Scotland, who are no contemptible part of the Celtic +offspring. So it is with the Isle of Man: and in Armorica a priest is +called Belee, or the servant of Bel, and the priesthood Belegieth."(136) + + + 136) Quoted by Godfrey Higgins, Celtic Druids, ch. v., p. 181. + + +Down to a comparatively recent time, in the British Isles, the youth of +both sexes used to arise long before daybreak on May-day, and in large +companies set out for the woods, there to gather flowers, boughs, and +branches, which, on returning at night, were used to decorate their +homes. This festival is said to be the most ancient of any known, and +during the earlier and purer ages of human faith was celebrated in honor +of returning spring. In later ages, however, after passion had become +the only recognized god, May-day was celebrated with "all manner of +obscenity and lewdness." + +Although the uneducated masses among the Gauls worshipped Apollo, +Mercury, and Mars without understanding their true significance, the +Druids, who are thought to be Pythagorians, invoked one great power, the +animating force which pervades the universe, the essence of which they +believed resides in fire. + +It is related that although after the introduction of Romish +Christianity, May fires still continued to be lighted on Bealtine day, +the more impressive ceremonies took place on the 23d of June, on the eve +of the nativity of St. John. The early preachers, wishing to defer to +the prejudices and usages of the people, "yet not so as to interfere +with the celebration of Easter at the vernal equinox, retained the +Bealtine ceremonial, only transferring it to the saint's day." Of these +fire festivals and their adoption by the Christian church Tylor says: + +"The solar Christmas festival has its pendant at mid-summer. The summer +solstice was the great season of fire festivals throughout Europe on +the heights, of dancing round and leaping through the fires, of sending +blazing fire-wheels to roll down from the hills into the valleys, +in sign of the sun's descending course. These ancient rites attached +themselves in Christendom to St. John's Eve. + +"It seems as though the same train of symbolism which had adapted the +mid-winter festival to the Nativity, may have suggested the dedication +of the mid-summer festival to John the Baptist, in clear allusion to his +words 'He must increase but I must decrease.' "(137) + + + 137) Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. ii., p. 271. + + +In a description recently given of the "moral, religious, and social +disease" which broke out A.D. 1374, in the lower Rhine region, and which +was denominated as the "greatest, perhaps, of all manifestations of +possession," Andrew D. White says: "The immediate origin of these +manifestations seems to have been the wild revels of St. John's +Day."(138) + + + 138) Pop. Science, vol. xxxv., p. 3. + + +Upon this subject Toland observes that he has seen the people of Ireland +running and leaping through the St. John's fire proud of passing through +it unsinged. Although ignorant of the origin of this ceremony, they +nevertheless regarded it as some kind of a lustration by means of which +they were to be specially blessed. + +To every domestic hearth was carried the seed of Bealtine, or St. John's +fire, which during the year was not permitted to go out.(139) + + + 139) Although the preservation of holy fire upon every hearth was +clearly a religious observance, still, as in those days there were +no matches, the material benefit to be derived from this precaution +doubtless had a significance apart from that connected with worship. + + +According to the testimony of Tylor, the festival of John the Baptist +was celebrated in Germany down to a late date. This writer quoting from +a low German book of the year 1859, refers to the "nod fire" which was +sawed out of wood to light the St. John's bonfire "through which the +people leapt and ran and drove their cattle." + +With regard to the worship of Fire and Light it is related that in +Jerusalem, at the present time, the Easter service is performed by the +bishop of the church emerging from a tomb with lighted tapers "from +which all crave lights." + +On the authority of Peter Martyr, Bishop of Alexandria in the third +century, we are informed that the place in Egypt where Christ was +banished, which is called Maturea, a lamp is kept constantly burning +in remembrance of this event. Although the story of this banishment is +doubtless borrowed from the life of the Hindoo god Crishna, the fact is +evident that those who appropriated it, and used it in furbishing the +mythical history of Christ, had no scruples against fire worship--a +religion which we have been taught to regard as belonging exclusively to +the pagans. + +In the ecclesiastical processions of the Church of Rome is frequently +to be observed the figure of a dragon, in the mouth of which "holy +and everlasting fire" is observed to be burning. A boy follows +the procession with a lighted taper, so that in case the fire is +extinguished it may be relighted. In referring to this subject the Rev. +J. B. Deane says: + +"The whole ceremony may be considered as a lively representation of +an ophite procession as it advanced through the sinuous paralleiths +of Karnak. So that no wonder the illiterate races were deceived into +thinking that there was no harm in calling themselves Christians, for +all their dear old faiths are here--fire, arks, poles, and fire in an +ark." + +Almost innumerable instances are given by various writers upon this +subject, showing that the sun worship of the ancients has been continued +to the present time by the so called followers of Christ, in the shrines +of the East, with no change even of names to distinguish it from that of +the Christian faith. By those who have spent much time in investigating +the Holy Land, it is related that nearly all the spots in and about +Jerusalem, sacred to Greek and Romish Christians as connected with the +life and death of their risen Lord, are equally sacred to the pagans +as commemorating the life and death of their Savior--the New Sun. Even +Gethsemane is marked by characteristics which prove that it is no +less interesting to pagans, or, more properly speaking, to the pagan +followers of Christ, than it is to those of the Greek and Romish +churches. Here is a holy tree, and not far distant is a cave of Mithras. +There is also to be seen a trinity of stones "those of Janus (Chemosh), +Petros and Ion, all solar terms and connected with the sitting or +sinking down to rest of the Kuros." + +Messrs. Maundrell and Sandys, who in 1697 visited all the holy places +in and around Jerusalem, state that the entire city, but especially +the sites of Moriah, Zion, and suburbs were hotbeds of fire and phallic +worship as usually developed still in the East. + +The topography of ancient Delphi, on the site of which was built the +village of Kastri, and at which place excavations are now being made +under the direction of the American School of Archaeology, has ever been +a place of peculiar interest to the mystic. Here are to be found all the +natural features and objects which gladden the heart and stimulate the +imagination of a solo-phallic worshipper. The holy Mt. Parnassus, the +fountain of Kastali, the deep cave said to be Pythian, and the remnants +of huge sepulchres hewn in the rocks all conspire to make of this spot +a perfect abode for the god, or goddess, of fertility. Here, too, is a +beautiful lake and near it a sacred fig-tree which has been struck by +lightning, or, "touched by holy fire." Of this sacred place Forlong +writes: + +"Christianity has never neglected this so-called Pagan shrine, nor yet +misunderstood it, if we may judge by the saint she has located here, for +Mr. Hobhouse found in the rocky chasm dipped in the dews of Castaly, but +safe in a rocky niche, a Christian shrine; and close by a hut called the +church of St. John; yea verily of Ione, she who had once reigned here +supreme; whilst on a green plot a few yards below the basin, in a little +grove of olive trees, stood the monastery of Panhagia or Holy Virgin, so +that here we still have and beside her sacred form in the cleft, men who +have consecrated their manhood to the old Mother and Queen of Heaven, +just as if she of Syria had never been heard of. + +"Doubtless they knew little of what civilized Europe calls Christianity, +for I have spent many days conversing with such men, and seen +little difference between them and those similarly placed in the far +East--fervid Christians though Greeks and Syrians are." + +Perhaps nothing shows the extent to which the religion of the pagans has +been retained by Christianity more than does the worship of the serpent. +It has been said that this reptile enters into every mythology extant. +Ferguson is authority for the statement that "he is to be found in the +wilderness of Sinai, the groves of Epidaurus, and in Samothracian huts." +He constitutes a prominent factor in the religious worship of India, +Assyria, Palestine, and Egypt, and, notwithstanding the fact that he is +not a native of Ireland, in an earlier age representations of him appear +in profusion among the symbols of that country. It has been said that +there is scarcely an Egyptian sculpture known in which this reptile does +not figure. The serpent whenever it appears as a religious emblem always +typifies desire--creative energy--which, proceeding from the sun, is +manifested in man and in animals. Whether it be a veritable snake in +a box, a serpent connected with the figure of a woman, or as a carved +representation on monuments or stones, or as chains or wreaths on +columns, bas-reliefs or friezes, the signification is the same. + +The sacred character of this reptile among the Gnostics is shown by the +accounts given of their religious rites and ceremonies. By many of these +sects this holy creature was kept in a box, ark, or chest, and when the +eucharistic service was to be performed, he was enticed forth from +his resting-place by a bit of bread. So soon as his holiness had wound +himself about the offering, the sacrifice was complete and the service +was concluded by "singing a hymn to Almighty God, and praying for +acceptance in and through the serpent." + +In later ages when the attempt was made to abolish serpent worship from +the Christian church, it was declared by the leaders in the movement +that Ophiolatry had been imported from Persia--that it had been brought +in by ignorant devotees who were too weak to renounce their former +faith.(140) + + + 140) Forlong, Rivers of Life. + + +The extent to which the symbols representing Serpent, Sun, Tree, and +Plant worship are still retained as part and parcel of the symbolism of +Christianity is shown by the following report regarding the adoption of +a seal by the Presbyterian Church which appeared in the daily press only +a few years ago. + +"After the assembly opened, the committee for the selection of a seal +made a report recommending: That the general assembly hereby adopts +as its official seal the device of a serpent suspended upon a cross, +uplifted within a wilderness, in form as represented upon the official +seal of the trustees of the general assembly, and displayed upon a +circular field of the same proportions. In addition thereto the figure +of a rising sun appearing above the margin of the wilderness, whose +out-shooting beams shall occupy the centre of the field. Further, the +decoration of a demi-wreath of two palm branches (in the form of the +wreath upon the seal of the Westminster assembly of divines), placed +around the margin of the upper hemisphere of the field; and on the lower +hemisphere of the field a demi-wreath composed of a branch of oak united +with an olive branch. Further, that the words of the motto, 'Christus +Exaltus Salvatar,' shall be displayed in a semi-circle upon the upper +part of the field, on either side of the standard of the cross, and, +encompassing the whole in a bordure, the following words, in full or in +proper abbreviation thereof, 'The Seal of the General Assembly of the +Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.'" + +The origin of the rite of Baptism as performed at the present time in +Christian churches, may be traced directly to the worship of the sun, +within which were supposed to reside the reproductive powers of Nature. +All nations have had ceremonies corresponding to our baptism and +confirmation rites, such baptism being either by fire or water. When we +remember that for ages fertility, or the power to reproduce, constituted +the idea of the Deity, we are not surprised to find that the original +signification of the rite of baptism had, and still has, in some of the +oriental countries, special reference to the child's sexual obligations. + +In India, the religious rites performed upon the individual occur at +birth or soon after; at betrothal, which takes place in childhood; at +puberty; at marriage, and at death. The fact will be noticed that all +sexual (spiritual) obligations and seasons fall within the domain of +priestly supervision and surveillance. The child at baptism is dedicated +to Vesta, or Hestia, the Queen of Hearths and Homes, a divinity who is +supposed to assist him in securing the special evidence of divine favor, +namely, fruitfulness of body. + +Among Hindoos and Jews, excessive reproduction was the Lord's mark of +favor. In India there has been a special hell provided for childless +women, and with Jewesses no curse was equal to barrenness. + +Baptism, or the ceremony connected with the naming of children in +Christian countries, is seen to be identical with that performed in +Mexico among the Aztecs. After the lips and bosom of the infant had been +sprinkled with water, the Lord was implored to "permit the holy drops +to wash away the sin that was given to it before the foundation of the +world, so that the child might be born anew." + +Among the petitions which are offered to the Deity is the following: +"Impart to us, out of thy great mercy, thy gifts which we are not worthy +to receive through our own merit." In their moral code appear these +maxims: "Keep peace with all; bear injuries with humility; God who +sees, will avenge you." "He who looks too curiously on a woman, commits +adultery with his eyes."(141) + + + 141) Quoted by Prescott from Sahagun. Conquest of Mexico, book i., chap +3. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. CHRISTIANITY A CONTINUATION OF PAGANISM--(Continued). + +From the facts recorded in the foregoing pages, we have seen that true +Christianity was but a continuation of that great movement which was +begun in Persia seven or eight centuries before, and whose gathering +strength had been emphasized by the humane doctrines set forth in the +various schools of Greek philosophy. + +In the first century of the Christian era may be observed among various +sects, notably the Gnostics, a desire to popularize the teachings of an +ancient race, and to accentuate those principles which had been taught +by Buddha, Pythagoras, the Stoic philosophers, the Roman jurisconsults +and others. In other words the object of the new religion was to +stimulate the altruistic characters which had been developed during +the evolutionary processes, and to strengthen and encourage the almost +forgotten principles of justice and personal liberty upon which +early society was founded, but which through ages of sensuality and +selfishness had been denied expression. + +When we remember the tenacity with which the human mind clings to +established beliefs and forms, it is not perhaps singular that in a +comparatively short time these principles were lost sight of, and that +the entire system of corrupt paganism, with Christ as the New Solar +Deity, was reinstated; neither is it remarkable, when we reflect upon +the length of time required to bring about any appreciable change in +human thought and action, that the principles which this Great Teacher +enunciated are at the present time only just beginning to be understood. + +To one who carefully studies the history of Christianity by the light +of recently developed truths, the fact will doubtless be discovered +that the fundamental difference existing between Catholic and Protestant +sects is grounded in the old feud arising out of the relative importance +of the sex-principles. From the days of Zoroaster to the final +establishment of Christianity by Paul, the tendency--although +slight--had been toward the elevation of woman, and consequently +toward a greater acknowledgment of the female element in the god-idea. +Considerable impetus was given to the cause of woman's advancement +through the doctrines of the various schools of philosophy in Greece, +and subsequently by the efforts put forth by the Roman lawyers to +establish their equality with men before the law; hence, during the +first hundred years of the Christian era the "new religion" seems to +have contained much of the spirit of the ancient philosophy. + +By several of the early Christian sects, the second person in the +trinity was female, as was also the Holy Ghost. + +In a "fragment of a gospel preserved by St. Jerome, and believed to have +been from the original Aramaean Gospel of St. Matthew, with additions, +the Holy Ghost (ruach), which in Hebrew is feminine, is called by the +infant Savior, 'My Mother, the Holy Ghost.' "(142) + + + 142) Barlow, Essays on Symbolism, p. 135. + + +The mission of Christ was that of a Regenerator of mankind, an office +which had been symbolized by the powers of the sun. He was to restore +that which was lost. He attempted to teach to the masses of the people +the long neglected principles of purity and peace. He did not condemn +woman. He was baptized by John (Ion or Yon) in water, the original +symbol for the female element, and while in the water; the Holy Ghost +in form of a dove (female) descended upon him. To those who have given +attention to the symbolism of the pagan worship these facts are not +without signification. + +Because of the peculiar tendency of Christ's teachings women soon became +active factors in their promulgation. If there were no other evidence to +show that they publicly taught the new doctrines, the injunction of St. +Paul, "I suffer not a woman to teach," would seem to imply that they +were not silent. + +The doctrines of the Gnostics were particularly favorable to women. +Marcellina, who belonged to this order, was the founder of a sect called +Marcelliens. Of her works Waite observes: "It would scarcely be expected +that the heretical writings of a woman would be preserved amid such +wholesale slaughter of the obnoxious works of the opposite sex. The +writings of Marcellina have perished."(143) Not only did women teach +publicly, and write, but according to Bunsen they claimed the privilege +of baptizing their own sex. The reason for this is evident. Before +baptism it was customary for the newly-made converts to strip and be +anointed with oil. After the establishment of Paul's doctrines, however, +"the bishops and presbyters did not care to be relieved from the +pleasant duty of baptizing the female converts."(144) + + + 143) History of the Christian Religion, p. 405. + + + 144) Ibid., p. 23. + + +Although the utmost care has been exercised to conceal the fact that +women equally with men, performed the offices connected with the early +church, yet by those who have paid attention to the true history of this +movement, there can be no doubt about the matter. Notwithstanding the +early tendencies of the "new religion" toward the recognition of women, +and toward the restoration of the female principle in the Deity, the +policy to be pursued by the church was soon apparent, for Paul, the real +founder of the system calling itself Christian, and a man imbued with +Asiatic prejudices concerning women, arrogantly declared that "man +is the head of woman as Christ is the head of the Church." Women were +commanded to be under obedience. Neither was the man created for the +woman, but the woman for the man; thus was re-established and emphasized +the absurd doctrine of the Lingaites, that the male is an independent +entity, that he is spirit and superior to the female which is matter. +After this indication of the policy to be pursued under the new regime, +it would scarcely be expected that the efforts put forth by the various +sects among the Gnostics to reinstate the female element either on the +earth or in heaven would be successful, and as might be anticipated from +the facts already adduced, as early as the year 325, at the council of +Nice, a male trinity was formally established, and soon thereafter, the +Collylidians, a sect which rigorously persisted in the adoration of the +female principle, were condemned. At the council of Laodicea, A.D. 365, +the 11th canon forbade the ordination of women for the ministry and the +44th canon prohibited them from entering the altar. + +The devotees of female worship, although for a time silenced, were +evidently not convinced, and to force their understanding into +conformity with the newly established order, the Nestorians, in the year +430 A. D., reopened the old dispute, and formally denied to Mary the +title of Mother of God. Their efforts, however, were of little avail, +for in the year 451, at the council of Ephesus, the third general +council, the decision of the Nestorians was reversed and the Virgin +Mother reinstated. Upon this subject Barlow remarks: "Well might those +who made this symbolical doctrine what it now is, at length desire to +do tardy justice to the female element, by promoting the mother to the +place once occupied by the Egyptian Neith, and crowning her Queen of +Heaven."(145) The fact will doubtless be observed, however, that by the +Romish Church the idea of the god-mother differs widely from the Queen +of Heaven--the original God of the ancients. Mary the Mother of Jesus +is not a Creator, but simply a mediator between her Son and His earthly +devotees--a doctrine only a trifle less masculine in texture than that +of an Almighty Father and his victimized son. The worship of Mary was +adopted by the so-called Christians in response to a craving in the +human heart for a recognition of those characters developed in mankind +which may be said to contain the germ of the divine. The masculine god +of the Jews was feared not loved, and his son had already been invested +with his attributes. He was all powerful, hence a mediator, a mother, +was necessary to intercede in behalf of fallen man, and this, too, +notwithstanding the fact that woman had become the "cause of evil in the +world." + + + 145) Essays on Symbolism, p. 134. + + +The Great Goddess of the ancients, Perceptive Wisdom, the Deity of +giving, she who represented the purely altruistic characters developed +in mankind, and whose worship involved a scientific knowledge of the +processes of Nature, when engrafted upon the so-called Christian system, +although indicating an important step toward the recognition of the +genuine creative principles, was not understood. Although her effigies +were brought from the East and made to do duty as representations of +Mary, the Mother of Christ, a knowledge of her true significance lay +hurled beneath ages of sensuality and selfishness. + +By those who have made it their business to investigate this subject, it +is observed that there is scarcely an old church in Italy in which there +is not to be found a remnant of a black virgin and child. In very many +instances these black virgins have been replaced by white ones, the +older figures having been retired to some secluded niche in the church +where they are held especially sacred by the ignorant devotees who know +absolutely nothing of their original significance. We are assured that +many of these images have been painted over, ostensibly in imitation of +bronze, but the whites of the eyes, the teeth, and colored lips reveal +the fact that they are really not intended to represent bronze, but +figures of a black virgin goddess and child whose worship has been +imported into Europe from the East. I had been told that one of the +oldest of these images extant was to be found in Augsburg; a thorough +search, however, in all the churches and cathedrals of that city failed +to reveal it, but in the museum at Munich such a figure is to be seen. +It is in a state of decay, one arm of the mother and a portion of +the child's figure being worn away. Upon this subject Godfrey Higgins +remarks: + +"If the author had wished to invent a circumstance to corroborate the +assertion that the Romish Christ of Europe is the Crishna of India, how +could he have desired anything more striking than the fact of the black +virgin and child being so common in the Romish countries of Europe? +A black virgin and child among the white Germans, Swiss, French, and +Italians!!!"(146) + + + 146) Anacalypsis, book iv., ch. i., p. 175. + + +We have observed that during an earlier age in the history of religious +worship, as the female was supposed to comprehend both the female and +male elements in creation, a belief in the possible creative power of +the female independently of the male was everywhere entertained, and +that after the schismatic faction arose which endeavored to exalt the +male, the production of a son by a woman unaided by man, was among the +Yonigas to be the sign which would forever settle the question of +the superior importance of the female functions in the processes +of reproduction, and consequently, also, her claim to the greater +importance in the deity. + +The sacred books of India show that from a former belief in one or +the other of the two creative principles throughout Nature as God, the +people had come to accept both female and male as necessary elements +in reproduction, the latter being the more important. In course of time +this change seems to have been universal and to have extended to all the +countries of the globe. + +As the male could not create independently of the female, or, as spirit +was dependent on matter for its manifestations, there arose a necessity +for a Savior to redeem man from the evil effects arising from his +relations with woman who was regarded as matter, and who in course of +time became the cause of evil. + +Concerning the doctrines which prevailed in the earlier ages of +Christianity relative to the ancient dual principle in creation, and +regarding the offices which were performed by the two elements, male and +female, in the deity, we have the following from Justinus, who is said +to have been contemporary with Peter and Paul: + +"When Elohim had prepared and created the world as a result from joint +pleasure, He wished to ascend up to the elevated parts of heaven, and to +see that not anything of what pertained to the creation laboured under +deficiency. And He took His Own angels with Him, for His nature was to +mount aloft, leaving Edem below; for inasmuch as she was earth, she was +not disposed to follow upward her spouse. Elohim, then, coming to the +highest part of heaven above and beholding a light superior to that +which He himself had created, exclaimed: 'Open me the gates, that +entering in I may acknowledge the Lord.'" + +As he enters the Good One addresses him in the following manner: "Sit +thou on my right hand." Then the soaring male principle says to the +Good One "permit me Lord to overturn the world which I have made, for my +spirit is bound to men." To which the Good One replies: "No evil canst +thou do while thou art with me, for both thou and Edem made the world +as a result of conjugal joy. Permit Edem then, to hold possession of the +world as long as she wishes; but you remain with me." While the father +is drawn away from earth to Heaven, Edem, in the meantime is bringing +woes innumerable upon man. Naas, who has received his evil nature from +her, and who is a child of the Devil, has debauched Eve, "Henceforward +vice and virtue are prevalent among men." The Father seeing these things +dispatches Baruch his third angel to Moses, and through him spake to the +children of Israel, that they might be converted unto the Good One. But +the third angel, Naas, by the soul of which came from Edem upon Moses, +as also upon all men, observed the precepts of Baruch, and caused his +own peculiar injunctions to be hearkened unto. + +Again, after these occurrences Baruch, the angel of the Good One, was +sent to the prophets to warn them against the wiles of Edem, but in the +same manner Nass, the Devil, enticed them away, they being allured +by him to their own destruction. Again Elohim selected Hercules, an +uncircumcised prophet, and sent him to quell the disturbance caused by +Naas or Edem and to release the Father from their power. + +"These are the twelve conflicts of Hercules which He underwent, in +order, from first to last, viz.: Lion, and Hydra, and Boar, and the +others successively. For they say that these are the names of them among +the Gentiles, and they have been derived, with altered denomination, +from the energy of the maternal angels. When he seemed to have +vanquished his antagonists, Omphale (now she is Venus) clings to him and +entices away Hercules, and divests him of his power, viz.: the commands +of Baruch which Elohim issued. And in place of this power Babel, or +Venus, envelops him in her own peculiar robe, that is, in the power of +Edem, who is the power below; and in this way the prophecy of Hercules +remained unfulfilled and his work." + +As men were still bound by the power of Edem, or the Devil, in the days +of Herod the king, Baruch was again dispatched by Elohim, and coming to +Nazareth delivered his message to Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary. Nass, +who, as we have seen, was the evil spirit in Edem, wished to entice +away Jesus also. He was not, however, disposed to listen but remained +faithful to Baruch. Naas, overcome by anger at not being able to seduce +him, caused him to be crucified. + +"He, leaving the body of Edem on the accursed tree, ascended to the +Good One; saying to Edem, 'Woman, thou retainest thy Son,' that is, the +natural and the earthly man. But Jesus himself commending his spirit +into the hands of the Father, ascended to the Good One. Now the Good +One is Priapus, and he it is who antecedently caused the production of +everything that exists. On this account he is styled Priapus, because +he previously fashioned all things according to his design. For this +reason, he says, in every temple is preserved his statue, which is +revered by every creature; and there are images of him in the highways +carrying over his head ripened fruits, that is, the produce of the +creation, of which he is the cause, having in the first instance +formed, according to his design, the creation, when as yet it had no +existence."(147) + + + 147) Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, book v., p. 188. + + +Thus the fact is observed not only that in the time of Paul, phallic +worship still existed, but by the writings of Justinus and others is +shown the manner in which the doctrine that woman is the cause of evil +in the world became formulated and adopted as part and parcel of the +Christian belief. + +Staniland Wake, director of the anthropological society of London, when +commenting on the obscene myths upon which the Christian religion rests, +remarks: + +"The fundamental basis of Christianity is more purely phallic than that +of any other religion now existing, and its emotional nature... shows +how intimately it was related to the older faiths which had a phallic +basis." + +After stating that the myth of creation and that of the flood have their +exact counterpart in India, the Rev. Mr. Faber remarks that "there is +no rite or ceremony directed in the Pentateuch of which there is not an +exact copy in the rites of the pagans." + +The Christian doctrines as established by Paul, and afterwards +formulated into a system by the Romish Church, were adopted by the +ignorant multitude who, being incapable of understanding the higher +principles involved, accepted the allegories beneath which were veiled +the ancient mysteries literally, and as the highest expression of +divine wisdom. Hence the comparatively recent observation that the "new +religion was eventually but the gathering in of the superstitions of +paganism" is a matter of little surprise to those who have carefully +examined the facts connected with the growth of religious faith. + +Under the new regime Christ became the New Solar Deity and round him +were finally ranged all the myths of Solo-phallic worship which had +prevailed under the adoration of Crishna at a time when the higher +truths underlying pure Nature-worship had been forgotten. + + + +CHAPTER XV. CHRISTIANITY IN IRELAND. + +According to the accounts in the New Testament, the wise men of the +East, meaning Persia, had foretold the coming of Christ. The fulfilment +of the ancient Persian prophecy as applied to Jesus, together with the +reference to the "star" which the Maji saw, and which went before them +till it came and stood over where the young child lay, furnishes a +striking illustration of the manner in which Eastern legends and +ancient sacred writings are interwoven with the doctrines relating to +Christianity. + +In the sacred books of the East it is prophesied that "after three +thousand and one hundred years of the Caligula are elapsed, will appear +King Saca to remove wretchedness from the world." We have seen that at +the birth of Christ the time had arrived for a new solar incarnation. + +Regarding the introduction of Christianity into Ireland it is claimed by +certain writers that the Irish did not receive the "new religion" from +Greek missionaries; but when at the close of the cycle, a new +solar deity, an avatar of Vishnu or Crishna was announced, and when +missionaries from the East proclaimed the glad tidings of a risen +Savior, the Irish people gladly accepted their teachings, not, however, +as a new system, but as the fulfilment to them of the prophecy of the +most ancient seers of the East, and as part and parcel of the religion +of their forefathers. Therefore when the devotees of the Romish faith, +probably about the close of the fifth century of the Christian era, +attempted to "convert" Ireland, they found a religion differing from +their own only in the fact that it was not subject to Rome, and was free +from the many corruptions and superstitions which through the extreme +ignorance and misapprehension of its Western adherents had been +engrafted upon it. + +Concerning the form of religious worship in Great Britain, and the fact +that phallic worship prevailed there, Forlong writes: "The generality of +our countrymen have no conception of the overruling prevalence of this +faith, and the number of its lingham gods throughout our Islands." +These symbols were always in the form of an obelisk or tower, thereby +indicating the worship of the male energy. Although emblems of the +female element in the deity were present, they were less pronounced and +of far less importance than those of the male. + +These monuments were erected on knolls, at crossroads and centers of +marts or villages, and were placed on platforms which were usually +raised from five to seven steps. A few years ago the shires of +Gloucester, Wilts, and Somerset still claimed over two hundred of these +crosses, though all of them were not at that time in a perfect state of +preservation. + +It would seem that in Britain and Ireland the seed of the "new" +doctrine, that which involved a recognition of the mother element in the +god-idea, had fallen on more congenial soil, for within three centuries +after the birth of Christ, the various original monuments typifying the +male principle had all been ornamented with the symbols representing the +female in the deity. The ancient religious structures of the Lingaites +still continued as recognized faith shrines, changed only by the emblems +of the new religion which had been engrafted upon them. + +The earliest Greek and Roman missionaries knew full well the +significance of these symbols, and we are given to understand that "a +few of the more spiritual of the Christian sects made war upon them +and all their ephemeral substitutes, such as Maypoles, holy-trees, real +crosses, etc." It is declared also that, as "later" Christians were +unacquainted with the significance of these emblems, "they adopted them +as their own, employing them as the mystic signs of their own faith." + +Although the earliest Greek and Roman missionaries understood the +signification of these faith shrines, the complaints against them seem +soon to have ceased, and the "fierce wars" waged over them appear to +have left little trace of their ravages, except that the female emblems +with which these monuments had been supplied by those who had received +the new faith direct from the East, were all removed. As the male +monuments and symbols were all permitted to remain undisturbed, this +fact of itself would seem to indicate that the "pagan abominations" +against which these pious devotees of a "spiritual religion" thundered +their denunciations, included only the female emblems. + +The fact must be borne in mind that the Western Church, which was +rapidly usurping the ecclesiastical authority of Britain and Ireland, +had not itself at this time adopted the worship of the Virgin Mary. + +A set of iconoclastic monks whom the Christian world is pleased to +designate as St. Patrick, and who probably early in the fifth century of +our era amused themselves by chiseling from the Irish monuments many of +the symbols of the female power, removed also the figures of serpents +which had for ages appeared in connection with the emblems of woman, and +by this act won the plaudits of an admiring Christian world; chiefly, +however, for the skill manifested in "banishing snakes from Ireland." +In addition to this dignified amusement, we find that the same person or +set of persons ordered to be burned hundreds of volumes of the choicest +Irish literature, volumes which contained the annals of the ancient +Irish nation, and in which, it is believed, was stored much actual +information concerning the remote antiquity of the human race. + +The extent to which the worship of the male emblems of generation +prevailed in the Christian Church even as late as the 16th century, +proves that it was not the particular symbols connected with the worship +of fertility upon which the Western Christian missionaries made war, +but, on the contrary, that it was the recognition by them of that +detested female element against which, even before the erection of the +Tower of Babel, there had been almost a constant warfare. The rites +of Potin, or Photin, Bishop of Lyons, who was honored in Provence, +Languedoc and the Lyonais as St. Fontin, also the rites performed in +many of the Christian Churches as late as the 16th century, prove that +the devotees of the Christian system were not at this time a whit behind +their Pagan predecessors in their zeal for "heathen abominations." The +only difference being that the Druids, a people who still retained a +faint conception of ancient Nature worship, had not become entirely +divested of the purer ideas which in an earlier age of the race had +constituted a creative force. + +That the war of the sexes was revived, and that for many centuries much +strife was engendered over the exact importance which should be ascribed +to the female element in the Deity may not be doubted. + +An ancient homily on Trinity Sunday has the following: "At the deth of +a manne, three bells should be ronge as his kuyl in worship of the +Trinitie, and for a woman, who was the Second Person of the Trinitie +two bells should be ronge." Upon this subject Hargrave Jennings remarks: +"Here we have the source of the emblematic difficulty among the master +masons who constructed the earlier cathedrals, as to the addition, and +as to the precise value of the second (or feminine) tower of the Western +end or Galilee of the Church."(148) + + + 148) Rosicrucians, vol. i., p. 206. + + +The fact that the religion of the ancient Irish, who, were phallic +worshippers, was modified but not radically changed by the introduction +of Christianity, is believed by at least one of the Irish historians of +that country. He says: + +"The church festivals themselves, in our Christian calendar, are but the +direct transfers from the Tuath-de-danaans' ritual. Their very names in +Irish are identically the same as those by which they were distinguished +by that early race. If, therefore, surprise has heretofore been excited +at the conformity observable between our church institutions and those +of the East, let it in future subside at the explicit announcement that +Christianity, with us, was the revival of a religion imported amongst us +many ages before by the Tuath-de-danaans from the East, and not from any +chimerical inundation of Greek missionaries--a revival upon which their +hearts were lovingly riveted, and which Fiech, the Bishop of Sletty, +unconsciously registers in the following couplet, viz.: + + "The Buddhists of Irin prophesied + That new times of peace would come."(149) + + + 149) The Round Towers of Ireland, p. 493. + + +The conditions surrounding the ancient inhabitants of the "White +Island," or Ireland, a remnant of which people may be observed in the +Highlanders of Scotland, furnish an example of the fact that a much +higher standard of life had been preserved among them than is known to +have prevailed either among the Jews or the Greeks. The comparatively +advanced stage of progress which is now known to have existed in +Ireland at the beginning of the present era, which even the bigotry and +falsehood of Roman priestcraft have not been able wholly to conceal, is +seen to have been a somewhat corrupted remnant of a civilization which +followed closely on ancient Nature worship.(150) + + + 150) It is thought by certain writers that when the Tuath-de-danaans +emigrated from Persia to the "White Island" they found it inhabited +by the Fir-Bolgs, a colony of Celts. After conquering the island they +engrafted upon it the religion, laws, learning and culture of the mother +country. In a later age the Scythians, whose religion was similar +to that of the Fir-Bolgs, united with them and succeeded in making +themselves masters of the situation. + +Hence the intermingling of races and tongues among the ancient Irish. +The Druids adopted, or appropriated, the religion and culture of the +Tuath-de-danaans, who, it is claimed, were the real Hibernians. The +Scythians changed the name of Irin to Scotia--the latter being retained +until the 11th century. According to the annals of the ancient Irish, +Scotland was formerly called Scotia Minor to distinguish it from Scotia +Major, or Ireland. + + +Because of their isolated position, or for some cause at present +unknown, these people do not seem to have degenerated into a nation of +sensualists. It is true they had departed a long distance from the early +conditions of mankind under which altruism and the abstract principle +of Light or Wisdom were worshipped under the form of a Virgin Mother and +her child, but they never wholly rejected the female element in their +god-idea, nor never, so far as known, attempted to degrade womanhood. +Women were numbered among their legislators, at the same time that they +officiated as educators and priestesses. In fact wherever the Druidical +order prevailed women exerted a powerful influence in all departments +of human activity. Among the Germans, Valleda, a Druidess, was for ages +worshipped as a deity. + +It is recorded that St. Bridget planted a monastery for women at Kildare +and entrusted to its inmates the keeping of the sacred fire, and that +in later times the Asiatic missionaries founded there a female monkish +order. After the establishment of Western Christianity, however, no +woman was permitted to enter into the monasteries, and we are assured +that this ridiculous affectation of purity was extended even to the +grave. During the earlier ages of Christianity, in many portions of +Ireland there were cemeteries for men and women distinct from each +other. "It had been a breach of chastity for monks and nuns to be +interred within the same enclosure. They should fly from temptations +which they could not resist." + +Although volumes have been written to prove that Christianity was +carried to Britain by Paul, and although the energies of scores of +Romish writers have been employed in attempting to prove that Ireland +was in heathen darkness prior to its conversion by the priests of the +Romish Church, yet these efforts so vigorously put forward seem only +to strengthen the evidence going to show that the Christianity of the +British Isles antedates that of either Paul or Rome. + +According to Scripture, Claudia, the wife of the Senator Pudens of +Britain, was a Christian,(151) as was also Graecina, the wife of +Plautus, who was governor of Britain in the first century. The latter, +it is related, was accused before the Roman senate of "practicing some +foreign superstition." Although Lingard, in his History and Antiquities +of the Anglo-Saxon Church, has endeavored to annul the force of the +evidence which places two Christian women from Britain in Rome during +the first century of our era, he is nevertheless constrained to use the +following language: "We are, indeed, told that history has preserved +the names of two British females, Claudia and Pomponia Graecina, both of +them Christians, and both living in the first century of our era."(152) + + + 151) 2 Timothy, iv., 21. + + + 152) Vol. i., p. 1. + + + +According to the Romanists, between the years 177-181 of the Christian +era, a British king named Lucius sent a messenger to the authorities at +Rome, with a request that he with his people be admitted into the bosom +of the "Holy Catholic Church." By those not prejudiced in favor of +the Romish hierarchy, this bit of amusing "evidence" shows the anxiety +manifested lest the facts concerning the religious history of the +British Isles become known. Regarding this embassy of King Lucius there +is an extant version which is far more in accordance with reason and +with the known facts concerning this people. + +When we remember the advanced stage of civilization which existed in +Ireland prior to the Christian era, and when we bear in mind the fact +that, as in the case of Abarras mentioned by various Greek writers, the +people of the British Isles were wont to send emissaries abroad for the +sole purpose of gathering information relative to foreign laws, customs, +usages, manners, and modes of instruction, we are not surprised to learn +that the message to Rome sent by Lucius, instead of containing a +request for admission to a foreign church, embodied an enquiry into the +fundamental principles underlying Roman jurisprudence; and especially +does this appear reasonable when we remember that the remodeling of the +Roman code on principles of equity and justice had for several centuries +employed the energies of the best minds in Rome. + +Concerning the planting of Christianity in Ireland, we have the +following from Ledwich: + +"Thus Bishop Lawrence in Bede tells us Pope Gregory sent him and Austin +to preach the Gospel in Britain, as if it never before had been heard, +whereas the latter met seven British Bishops who nobly opposed him. In +like manner Pope Adrian commissioned Henry II. to enlarge the bounds +of the church, and plant the faith in Ireland, when it had already been +evangelized for eight hundred years. The faith to be planted was blind +submission to Rome and the annual payment of Peter's pence."(153) + + + 153) Antiquities of Ireland, p. 78. + + +Of the exact time at which Romish and Greek missionaries first went to +Ireland we are not informed, but there is ample evidence going to prove +that a regular hierarchy had been established in that island before the +beginning of the fifth century, and that this religion which had been +brought in through the efforts of missionaries from the East was, by +the legendary writers of the later Christian Church, ascribed to Romish +monks. + +The Jealousy of the Romish priests, and the means employed by them to +usurp the ecclesiastical authority of the Irish people, is shown in the +history of their councils. The 5th canon of the Council of Ceale-hythe +requires + +"that none of Irish extraction be permitted to usurp to himself the +sacred ministry in any one's diocese, nor let it be allowed such an one +to touch anything which belongs to those of the holy order....; neither +must he administer the eucharist to the people because we are not +certain how or by whom he was ordained." + +After quoting the above Ledwich queries thus: If St. Patrick had been +a missionary of the Romish Church, would the Anglo-Saxon clergy have +abjured the spiritual children of that see? In the year 670 Theodoret, +Archbishop of Canterbury, decreed that they who were consecrated by +Irish or British Bishops should be confirmed anew by Catholic ones.(154) + + + 154) Ledwich, Antiquities of Ireland, p. 81. + + +It is observed that as early as the fourth century A.D. there were three +hundred bishops in Ireland, and to account for so large a number, it is +declared that ignorant legendary writers had recourse to the fable of +St. Patrick. + +The remarkable "conversion" of the Irish to Romish Christianity, which +it is said took place in the latter part of the fourth century or the +beginning of the fifth, is to be explained by the fact that a number of +Romish priests or monks which in later ages came to be designated as St. +Patrick, claimed all the monasteries, bishops, and priests already +there as a result of the remarkable power and pious zeal of this +miracle-working saint. It is claimed that St. Patrick founded over three +thousand monasteries, consecrated three hundred bishops, and ordained +three thousand priests. + +According to Ledwich and other writers, this St. Patrick was not heard +of earlier than the ninth century A.D., and the legend concerning him +"was not accepted until the twelfth century, at which time his miracles +are set forth with great gusto." + +Nothing, perhaps, which is recorded of this monk will go farther toward +proving him a myth than the miracles ascribed to his saintship. + +While yet an infant he raised the dead, brought forth fire from ice, +expelled a devil from a heifer, caused a new river to appear from the +earth, and changed water into honey. + +"These were but the infant sports of this wonder-working saint. The +miracles recorded in holy writ, even that of creation itself, are +paralleled, and, if possible, surpassed by those of our spiritual +hero."(155) + + + 155) Ledwich, Antiquities of Ireland. + + +Concerning St. Patrick, Forlong writes: + +"Various Patricks followed from Britain and Armorika, but even the +Catholic priest, J. F. Shearman, writes that he is forced to give up +the idea that there ever was a real St. Patrick. Thus the name must +be accepted only in its Fatherly sense, and with the fall of the man +Patrick all the miraculous and sudden conversions of the kings, lords, +and commons of Ireland must vanish."(156) + + + 156) Rivers of Life, vol. ii., p. 417. + + +The Irish Church bishoprics differed from the Romish in that they were +held by hereditary succession, after the custom of ancient nations. All +bishops were married. + +Prior to the introduction of the Christian system in Ireland the Sabian +ceremonial had been succeeded by the Druidical, upon which had been +engrafted that of the Culdees, and notwithstanding the fact that the +Romish Church gradually usurped the ecclesiastical functions in Ireland, +the last named people who for ages had been regarded as the depositaries +of the ancient faith and the ancient system of laws, were highly +respected by the people for their sanctity and learning. Many of the +Greek and Roman writers who have dealt with this subject agree in +ascribing to the Druids a high degree of scientific knowledge and +mechanical skill. The principles of justice set forth in their judicial +system, their love of learning, and the standard attained in the +sciences and arts, prove the early people of Ireland to have been equal +if not superior to any of the early historic nations. + +In referring to the number and magnitude of the monumental remains in +Ireland, and while commenting on the mechanical skill of the Druids, the +Rev. Smedley says: + +"I was present at the erection of the Luxor Obelisk in Paris, and yet +I think that I would have felt greater emotion if I had witnessed the +successful performance of the old Celtic engineer who placed on its +three pedestals of stone the enormous rock which constitutes the +Druidical altar here at Castle May." + +It is believed that this people understood the art of mining and that +they were acquainted with the use of iron. The following is an extract +from one of Hamilton's letters on the Antrim coast: + +"About the year 1770 the miners, in pushing forward an adit toward +the bed of coal, at an unexplored part of the Ballycastle cliff, +unexpectedly broke through the rock into a narrow passage, so much +contracted and choked up with various drippings and deposits on its +sides and bottom, as rendered it impossible for any of the workmen +to force through, that they might examine it farther. Two lads were, +therefore, made to creep in with candles, for the purpose of exploring +this subterranean avenue. They accordingly pressed forward for a +considerable time, with much labor and difficulty, and at length entered +into an extensive labyrinth branching off into numerous apartments, +in the mazes and windings of which they were completely bewildered +and lost. After various vain attempts to return, their lights were +extinguished, their voices became hoarse, and, becoming wearied and +spiritless, they sat down together, in utter despair of an escape from +this miserable dungeon. In the meanwhile, the workmen in the adit became +alarmed for their safety, fresh hands were incessantly employed, and, in +the course of twenty-four hours, the passage was so open as to admit the +most active among the miners... On examining this subterranean wonder, +it was found to be a complete gallery, which had been driven forward +many hundred yards to the bed of coal: that it branched off into +numerous chambers, where miners had carried on their different works: +that these chambers were dressed in a workmanlike manner: that pillars +were left at proper intervals to support the roof. In short it was found +to be an extensive mine, wrought by people at least as expert in the +business as the present generation. Some remains of the tools, and even +of the baskets used in the works, were discovered, but in such a decayed +state that, on being touched, they immediately crumbled to pieces. From +the remains which were found, there is reason to believe that the people +who wrought these collieries anciently, were acquainted with the use of +iron, some small pieces of which were found; it appeared as if some of +their instruments had been thinly shod with that metal." + +Through various means the fact has been ascertained that although in +the sixth century the buildings in Ireland were mean and wholly +without artistic merit or skilful design, in an earlier age they were +magnificent. Of the causes which produced the decay of architecture, the +extinction of the arts and sciences, and the general degradation of the +people of this island the devotees of St. Paul and of the Romish Church +are alike silent. + +For ages after the subjection of Ireland, in open defiance of the +English, the people continued to dispense justice, and to enforce the +old Brehon laws of the country. + +The lack of regard shown for English law in Ireland, even as late as the +sixteenth century, is set forth by Baron Fingles, who wrote in the time +of Henry VIII. He says: + +"It is a great abuse and reproach that the laws and statutes made in +this land are not observed nor kept after the making of them eight days, +while diverse Irishmen cloth abuse and keep such laws and statutes which +they make upon hills in this country, firm and stable, without breaking +them for any favor or reward." + +By a statute of Parliament enacted at Kilkenny, it was made high treason +to administer or observe these old Brehon laws. The two enactments +especially obnoxious to the English were Gahail Cinne, and Eiric. The +former of these enactments was that which in opposition to the English +law of primogeniture declared that the estate of a parent should descend +in equal proportion to all members of the family. There was another law, +or custom, among this people, which provided that the chief of the tribe +or people should be elected by general suffrage. + +We have something more than a hint of the condition of ancient Ireland +and its people in a description given by the Greeks of one of its +inhabitants. Abarras, who visited Greece about six hundred years before +Christ, and who was called by the Greeks a Hyperborean, was a priest of +the Sun, who went abroad for the purpose of study and observation, and +to renew by his presence and his gifts the old friendship which had +long existed between the Celts and the Greeks. Strabo remarks concerning +Abarras that he was much admired by the learned men of Greece. Himerius +says of him that he came + +"not clad in skins like a Scythian, but with a bow in his hand, and a +quiver on his shoulders and a plaid wrapped about his body, a gilded +belt encircled his loins, and trousers reaching from his waist downward +to the soles of his feet. He was easy in his address, agreeable in +conversation, active in dispatch and secret in the management of great +affairs; quick in judging of present occurrences, and ready to take his +part in any sudden emergency; provident, withal, in guarding against +futurity; diligent in quest of wisdom, fond of friendship; trusting +very little to fortune; yet having the entire confidence of others, and +trusted with everything for his prudence. He spoke Greek with so much +fluency that you would have thought that he had been bred or brought up +in the Lyceum and had conversed all his life with the Academy of Athens. +He had frequent intercourse with Pythagoras whom he astonished by the +variety and extent of his knowledge." + +From the descriptions given of the native country of Abarras by the +Greeks, it is evident that it could have been none other than Ireland. + +Although at this time in their history, Apollo the sun-god was the Deity +worshipped in Greece and in Ireland, still both nations honored Latona +his mother. The same as in the mother country (Persia, or Phoenicia), +the oracles, or sybils of Ireland, had prophesied a "Savior," and three +hundred years before Greek emissaries visited that country, its people, +through the preaching of Eastern missionaries, had substituted for the +worship of Latona and Apollo that of the new solar incarnation--the +third son of Zarathustra, whose appearance had been heralded by a star. + +The identity of the symbols used by the early people of Ireland who were +sun worshippers, and those employed in that country for ages after +the Romish Church had usurped the ecclesiastical authority, has been +a subject for much comment. After describing the peculiar form of the +early Christian Churches and the attention paid to the placing of +the windows which were to admit the sun's rays, Smedley says: "It +is possible, in an age of allegory and figures, this combination and +variety expressed some sacred meaning with which we are unacquainted at +present." + +The similarity observed in the sacred festivals and religious seasons +of the ancient inhabitants of Ireland and those of the early Christians, +the extent to which large stone crosses, lighted candles, the yule log +and the various other symbols belonging to fertility, or sun worship, +were retained by Christianity, furnish strong evidence of the fact that +the latter system is but part and parcel of the former. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. STONES OR COLUMNS AS THE DEITY. + +"Throughout all the world, the first object of idolatry seems to have +been a plain unwrought stone, placed in the ground as an emblem of the +generative or procreative powers of Nature."(157) + + + 157) Celtic Druids, ch. vi., p. 209. + + +In the language of symbolism the upright stone prefigures either a man, +reproductive energy, or a god, all of which at a certain stage in +the human career had come to mean one and the same thing; namely, the +Creator. + +In the earlier ages of male worship, upright stones as emblems of the +Deity were plain unwrought shafts, but in process of time they began +to be carved into the form of a man--a man who usually represented the +ruler or chief of the people, and who, as he was the source of all power +and wisdom, was supposed by the ignorant masses to be an incarnation +of the sun. Thus arose the spiritual power of monarchs, or the "divine +right of kings." + +Wherever obelisks, columns, pillars, attenuated spires, upright stones +or crosses at the intersection of roads are found, they always appear as +sacred monuments, or as symbols of the Lingham god. + +The Chaldean Tower of which there are extant traditions in Mexico and in +the South Sea Islands; the Round Towers of Ireland; the remarkable group +of stones known as Stonehenge, in England; the wonderful circle at Abury +through which the figure of a huge serpent was passed; the monuments +which throughout the nations of the East were set up at the intersection +of roads in the center of market-places, and the bowing stones +employed as oracles in various portions of the world, have all the same +signification, and proclaim the peculiar religion of the people who +worshipped them. + +Whether as among the Jews in Egypt, a pillar is set up as a "sign" and a +"witness" to the Lord, or whether as with the Mohammedans these figures +appear as minarets with egg shaped summits, or as among the Irish they +stand forth as stately towers defying time and the elements, or as among +the Christians they appear as the steeple which points towards heaven, +the symbol remains, and the original significance is the same. + +The Lord of the Israelites who was wont to manifest himself to his +chosen people in a "pillar of smoke by day" and a "pillar of fire by +night" is said to be none other than a reproductive emblem, as was also +the "Lord" which "reposed in the ark of the covenant." Monuments set up +to symbolize the religion of the Parsees or fire-worshippers after they +had succumbed to the pressure brought to bear upon them by the adorers +of the male principle were each and all of them, like their great +prototype the tower of Babel, typical of the universal creative power +which was worshipped as male. + +Notwithstanding the fact that the male energy had come to be recognized +as the principal factor in reproduction, it is observed that wherever +these monuments or other symbols of fertility appear, there is always to +be found in close connection with them certain emblems symbolical of the +female power; thus showing that although the people by whom they were +erected had become worshippers of the masculine principle, and although +they had persuaded themselves that it was the more important element in +the deity, they had not become so regardless of the truths of Nature as +to attempt to construct a Creator independently of its most essential +factor. + +Protestant Christianity, probably the most intensely masculine of all +religious schemes which have claimed the attention of man, has not +wittingly retained any of the detested female emblems, yet so deeply +has the older symbolism taken root, that even in the architecture of the +modern Protestant church with its ark-shaped nave and its window toward +the rising sun, may be detected the remnants of that early worship which +the devotees of this more recently developed form of religious faith so +piously ignore. + +The large number of upright columns, circles of stone, cromlechs +and cairns still extant in the British Isles, bears testimony to the +peculiar character of the religious worship which once prevailed in +them. Of these shrines perhaps none is more remarkable than that of +Stonehenge, in England. Although during the numberless ages which have +passed since this temple was erected many of the stones have fallen from +their original places, still by the light of more recently established +facts concerning religious symbolism, it has been possible, even under +its present condition of decay, for scholars to unravel the hitherto +mysterious significance of this remarkable structure. Stonehenge is +composed of four circles of mammoth upright shafts twenty feet high, the +one circle within the other, with immense stones placed across them like +architraves. + +In ancient symbolism the circle was the emblem of eternity, or of the +eternal female principle. Mountains were also sacred to the gods. It has +been said that a ring of mountains gave rise to these circular temples. +Faber assures us that a circular stone temple was called the circle +of the world or the circle of the ark, that it represented at once the +inclosure of the Noetic Ship; the egg from which creation was produced; +the earth, and the zodiacal circle of the universe in which the sun +performs its annual revolutions through the signs. Stonehenge is said +to be the temple of the water god Noah, who, as we have seen, was first +worshipped as half woman and half fish or serpent, but who finally came +to be regarded as a man serpent (or fish) Deity. + +On approaching Stonehenge from the Northeast, the first object which +engages the attention is a rude boulder, sixteen feet high, in a leaning +posture. This stone has been named the Friar's Heel, but until recently +its signification has been wholly unknown. + +Regarding the upright shaft which stands sentinel over the mysterious +circles of mammoth stones called Stonehenge, Forlong says that it is +no Friar's Heel, but an emblem of fertility dedicated to the Friday +divinity. It is represented as the "Genius of Fire," not the genius of +ordinary fire, "but of the super-sensual Divinity, celestial fire." + +Regarding these remarkable stones to which the Lingham god is a mere +introduction, Forlong says: + +"No one who has studied phallic and solar worship in the East could make +any mistake as to the purport of the shrine at Stonehenge... yet the +indelicacy of the whole subject often so shocks the ordinary reader, +that, in spite of facts, he cannot grant what he thinks shows so much +debasement of the religious mind; facts are facts, however, and it only +remains for us to account for them. Perhaps indeed in these later times +an artificial and lower phase of sensuality has taken the place of the +more natural indulgence of the passions, for procreative purposes, which +principally engrossed the thoughts of early worshippers."(158) + + + 158) Rivers of Life, vol. ii., p. 233. + + +Higgins is of the opinion that Stonehenge is the work of the same era +with the caves of India, the pyramids of Egypt, and the stupendous +monument at Carnac--a structure which, it is claimed, must have required +for its construction an amount of labor equal to that of the pyramids. + +Undoubtedly there has never been a religious shrine which has excited +more curiosity than has Abury, of which, unfortunately, nothing now +remains, although in the early part of the eighteenth century enough +had been preserved to prove the identity of its signification with +other ancient religious monuments both in the British Isles and in the +countries of the East. Perhaps there is no way by which this shrine can +be better understood than by quoting the exact language of those who +have written upon the subject. Especially is this true concerning the +testimony of those who, after personal investigation, have given to the +public the results of their research. + +In the History of Wiltshisre, published by Sir R. Colt Hoare, Bart., +appears the following from Dr. Stukeley: + +"The situation of Abury is finely chosen for the purpose it was destined +to, being the more elevated part of a plain, from whence there is almost +an imperceptible descent every way. But as the religious work in +Abury, though great in itself, is but a part of the whole (the avenues +stretching above a mile from it each way), the situation of the whole +design is projected with great judgment, in a kind of large, separate +plain, four or five miles in diameter. Into this you descend on all +sides from higher ground. The whole Temple of Abury may be considered as +a picture, and it really is so. Therefore the founders wisely contrived +that a spectator have an advantageous prospect of it as he appeared +within view. When I frequented this place, which I did for some years +together, to take an exact account of it, staying a fortnight at a time, +I found out the entire work by degrees. The second time I was here, an +avenue was a new amusement; the third year another. So that at length +I discovered the mystery of it, properly speaking, which was, that the +whole figure represented a snake transmitted through a circle. This is +an hieroglyphic or symbol of highest note and antiquity. + +"In order to put this design in execution, the founders well studied +their ground; and to make their representation more natural, they +artfully carried it over a variety of elevations and depressions, which, +with the curvature of the avenues, produces sufficiently the desired +effect. To make it still more elegant and picture-like, the head of the +snake is carried up the southern promontory of Hackpen Hill, toward the +village of West Kennet; nay, the very name of the hill is derived from +the circumstance.... Thus our antiquity divides itself into three great +parts, which will be our rule in describing this work. The circle at +Abury, the forepart of the snake leading toward Kennet, which I call +Kennet Avenue; the hinder part of the snake leading toward Beckhampton, +which I call Beckhampton Avenue; for they may be well looked on as +avenues to the great temple at Abury, which part must be most eminently +called the Temple. + +"The plan on which Abury was built, is that sacred hierogram of the +Egyptians and other ancient nations, the circle and snake. The whole +figure is the circle, snake, and wings. By this they meant to picture +out, as well as they could, the nature of the Divinity." + +The temple which represents the body of the snake is formed by a +circular agger of earth having its ditch withinside. As this is contrary +to the mode adopted in works of defence, it is thought to prove the +religious character of Abury. In a description given of this shrine by +Higgins is the following: + +"These ramparts inclose an area of 1400 feet in diameter, which on the +edge nearest the ditch was set round with a row of rough, unhewn stones, +and in the center was ornamented with two circular temples, composed of +the same native stones."(159) + + + 159) Celtic Druids. Description of plates, p. xx. + + +The space of ground included within the vellum has been estimated at +twenty-two acres, and the outward circumvallation was computed at 4800 +feet. The number of stones that formed this outer circle was originally +one hundred, of which, in the year 1722, there were eighteen standing, +and twenty-seven thrown down. + +In the village of Rudstone in Yorkshire there stands a huge stone, +the significance of which, at the present time, is by scholars clearly +understood. Its depth below the surface of the ground is said to be +equal to its height above, which is twenty-four feet. It is five feet +ten inches broad, and two feet thick, its weight being upwards of forty +tons.(160) + + + 160) See Rivers of Life. + + +The gigantic rocking stones found in nearly every quarter of the globe +are now known to be religious monuments of remote antiquity. Not long +ago I saw a description of one of these oracles in Buenos-Ayres, South +America, and a few months later there appeared the following account of +a similar stone found in Sullivan Co., N. Y.: + +"At first sight it would scarcely attract attention, but a closer +observation reveals the remarkable position which it occupies. The total +weight of the immense boulder has been variously estimated at from forty +to fifty tons, and its bulk at from 500 to 700 cubic feet. It is almost +perfectly round, much resembling a huge orange, and so nicely balanced +on a table of stone as to be easily set in motion by a single man, +providing the operator exerts his strength on the north or south sides. +On either of the other sides the combined strength of forty elephants +would not be sufficient to cause the least oscillation. Although it +is easily rocked, we are assured that as many men as could surround it +would be unable to dislodge it from the pivot on which it rests."(161) + + + 161) The St. Louis (Mo.) Republican. + + +The writer of the above, who was evidently ignorant of the extent to +which these monuments are scattered over the earth, seemed to regard it +as a singular freak of Nature with no significance other than that of a +natural curiosity. + +The round towers of Ireland, over the origin of which there has in the +past been so much controversy, are now pretty generally admitted to be +analogous in their use and design to Stonehenge, Abury, and other extant +monolithic structures. + +Many writers have endeavored to prove that these towers were belfries +used in connection with Christian churches; others that they were +purgatorial columns or penitential heights, similar in design to the +pillar of St. Simeon Stylites. Others again have argued that they were +used as beacons and others that they were intended simply as receptacles +for the sacred fire known to have formerly been in use in the British +Isles. Although numberless arguments have been brought forward to refute +these theories, it is thought that the expensive architecture alone of +the elegant and stately columns known as Round Towers contradicts +all these "guesses," and that their grandeur and almost absolute +indestructibility proclaim for them a different origin from that of the +lowly and miserable huts which in a later age were erected beside them +for purposes of worship by the Romish Christians. The same objection is +made also against the theory that these monuments were erected in memory +of the several defeats of the Danes. As an answer to the argument that +they were erected by the Danes to celebrate their victories, it is +declared that such is the character of the hieroglyphics upon them as to +make this theory worthless. Besides, throughout the country of the Danes +and Ostmen, there is nowhere to be found an example of architectural +splendor such as is displayed in the construction of these columns. +In the north of Scotland was one of these monuments upon which were +depicted war-like scenes, horses and their riders, warriors brandishing +their weapons, and troops shouting for victory, while on the other side +was a sumptuous cross, beneath which were two figures, the one evidently +female, the other male. + +In Cordiner's Antiquities of Scotland is a description of an elaborately +carved obelisk. On one side of this column appears a mammoth cross, and +underneath it are figures of uncouth animals. Among these carvings are +to be seen the Bulbul of Iran, the Boar of Vishnu, the elk, the fox, +the lamb, and a number of dancing human figures. In fact all the +configurations are not only in their nature and import essentially +Eastern, but are actually the symbols of the various animal forms +under which "the people of the East contemplated the properties of the +Godhead." + +Carnac, in upper Egypt, is a monolith of the same symbolic character. It +is hewn from a solid block of black granite and is eighty feet high. + +Henry O'Brien, a cultured Irishman, who when in London became, in his +own line of investigation, one of the chief contributors to Fraser's +Magazine while at its best, in response to a call by the Royal Irish +Academy for productions relating to the origin and use of the Round +Towers, declared that they were erected by a colony of Tuath-de-danaans, +or Lingham worshippers from Persia, who had left their native land +because of the victories gained over them by their rivals--the Pish +de-danaans--a sect of Yoni worshippers; in other words, the sect which +recognized the female element as the superior agency in reproduction, +and who, therefore, worshipped it as divine. In the devastating wars +which swept over Persia and the other countries of antiquity prior to +the age of the later Zoroaster, the Pish-de danaans were victorious, +and, driving from the country the Tuath-de danaans, or male worshippers, +succeeded in re-establishing, and for a time maintaining, the old form +of worship. O'Brien claims that the Tuath-de-danaans who were expelled +from Persia emigrated to Ireland, and there continued or preserved their +favorite form of worship, the Round Towers having been erected by them +in conformity to their peculiar religious views. This writer assures us +that the old Irish tongue bears unmistakable evidence of the relation +existing between these countries. In addition to the similarity of +language which is found to exist between ancient Ireland or Iren, and +Persia or Iran, the same writer observes that in all their customs, +religious observances, and emblems, the resemblance is preserved. + +Much regret has been expressed by all the writers who have dealt with +this subject that at an earlier age when Stonehenge, Abury, and various +other of the ancient monumental shrines of the British Isles were in a +better state of preservation, and before bigotry and religious hatred +had been aroused against them, more minute observations of their +character and of all the details surrounding them could not have been +made; yet, notwithstanding the late date at which these investigations +were begun, it is believed that a fair amount of success has crowned the +efforts which have been put forth to unravel the mysteries bound up in +them. + +When we remember that every detail connected with the sacred monuments +of the ancients was full of significance that their religious ideas +were all portrayed by means of symbols which appeared in connection with +their sacred edifices--the extent to which a thorough understanding of +these details would assist in revealing the mysteries involved in the +universal religious conceptions may in a measure be realized. + +The identity of the symbols used to express religious ideas, and the +extent to which the conceptions of a creative force have been connected +in all portions of the globe, are set forth in the following from +Barlow: + +"A complete history of religious symbolism should embrace all the +religions of antiquity no less than the Christian, and it would require +as thorough a knowledge of their tenets as of our own to explain +satisfactorily its influence in regulating the practice of art."(162) + + + 162) Symbolism, p. 10. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. SACRIFICES. + +Although the sun was formerly worshipped as the source of all good, at a +certain stage in the human career it came to be regarded as the cause +of all evil. When Typhon Seth comprehended the powers of Nature, as the +Destroyer and Regenerator she was the author of all good; but later, +after the truths underlying Nature worship were lost, Typhon, the hot +wind of the desert, was feared rather than worshipped. + +In the history of an earlier age of existence, there is not to be found +the slightest trace of human sacrifice to atone for the sins of the +people, or to appease the wrath of an offended God. On the contrary, +throughout the traditions and monumental records of the most ancient +nations, sacrifices to the Deity--the God of Nature--consisted simply in +the acknowledgment of earth's benefits by means of a free-will offering +of the bounties which she had brought forth. + +That the sacrifice either of human beings or of animals was not offered +in an earlier age of religious faith is confidently asserted and, I +think, proved by various writers. Of this Higgins says: "I think a time +may be perceived when it did not exist even among the Western nations." +This writer states also that it was not always practiced at Delphi. +Mention is made of the fact that among the Buddhists, to whom belongs +the first book of Genesis, no bloody sacrifices were ever offered. + +It was doubtless under the worship of Muth, Neith, or Minerva, the first +emanation from the deity and the original Buddha, that the first book +of Genesis or Wisdom was written. In this book may be observed the fact +that the slaughter of animals is forbidden. It is thought that with +Crishna, Hercules, and the worshippers of the sun in Aries, the +sacrifice of human beings and animals began. In the second book of +Genesis, which is said to be a Brahmin work, animals are first used +for sacrifice, and in the third book, or the book of Generations or +Re-generations of the race of man or the Adam, which was written +after the pure doctrines connected with the worship of Wisdom had been +corrupted, they are first allowed to be eaten as food. + +It is supposed that the practice of sacrificing human beings and animals +took its rise in the western parts of the world after the sun entered +Aries, and that it subsequently extended even to the followers of the +Tauric worship, among whom it was carried to a frightful extent. It is +also thought that the history of Cain and Abel is an allegory of the +followers of Crishna to justify their sacrifice of the yajna or lamb "in +opposition to the Buddhist offering of bread and wine, or water, made by +Cain and practiced by Melchizedek."(163) + + + 163) Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 101. + + +It is now positively known that all over the world, during a certain +stage of religious belief, either human beings or animals were, at +stated seasons, sacrificed to the Deity. Of the universality of this +practice Faber says: + +"Throughout the whole world we find a notion prevalent that the gods +could be appeased only by bloody sacrifices. Now this idea is so +thoroughly arbitrary, there being no obvious and necessary connection, +in the way of cause and effect, between slaughtering a man or a beast, +and recovering of the divine favor by the slaughterers, that its very +universality involves the necessity of concluding that all nations have +borrowed it from some common source."(164) + + + 164) The Origin of Pagan Idolatry, vol. i., book 2, p. 465. + + +Dr. Shuckford is constrained to admit that the sacrifices and ceremonies +of purification practiced by Abraham and his descendants and those of +surrounding peoples, were identical, with only "such trifling changes as +distance of countries and length of time might be expected to produce." +The substitution of a lamb in the place of Isaac would seem to indicate +a change from child-slaughter to that of animals. + +Sacrifices were offerings to the god of pro-creation. Certain +representatives of the life which he had bestowed must be returned to +him as a free-will gift. In many countries, the victims offered to the +deity were captives taken in war; but, as prisoners of war and slaves +were not permitted to join in the battles of their captors, their lives +were of little value; hence, later, it is observed that the sacrificial +victim must be a prince or an individual whose life was of great +importance to the tribe. + +As in all hot countries the heat of the sun is the most destructive +agency against which mankind have to contend, it is not perhaps +singular, at a time when superstition had usurped the functions of the +reasoning powers, that the sun-god should have been invested with the +attributes inspired by terror, and that so far as possible, mankind +should have deemed it necessary to propitiate its wrath, and, by +rendering to it suitable offerings and sacrifices, they should have +hoped to avert the calamities incident to its displeasure. Neither is it +remarkable when we remember the peculiar circumstances surrounding the +Jews, and the fact that the offerings demanded by their god was the life +which he had bestowed, that the sacrifices offered to Moloch, the fire +god, should have been the members of their own household--namely, their +children. + +We must not forget that the reward promised this people by prophet, +priest, and diviner for godliness was extreme fruitfulness of body. We +have seen that to obtain this mark of godly favor, or, under pretense of +serving their god, the form of worship prescribed by their priests, and +adopted both in their households and in their temples was pre-eminently +sensual, and calculated to stimulate and encourage to the highest extent +their lower or animal nature. + +As the size of a man's family, or his power to reproduce, was an index +to his favor with the Almighty the pleasure of the "Lord" in this +matter being but the reflection of his own desires, the result as might +reasonably be expected was overpopulation to such an extent that the +means of subsistence within the small boundary of Judea was +inadequate to supply the demands of the swarming masses of "God's +children"--children which had been created for his honor and glory. +Surely some plan must be devised whereby these difficulties might be +adjusted, and that, too, to use a modern expression, without flying in +the face of Providence. As the Lord had been honored and man blessed +in the mere bringing forth of offspring, what better scheme, so soon as +such blessings became too numerous, than to return a certain number of +them to the giver, the god of Moloch? It is true that by this process +children were born only to be delivered over to the ravages of the +fire-god, but by it, was not their deity both served and appeased at +the same time that population was kept within the bounds of subsistence? +That great numbers were thus sacrificed is only too apparent from the +accounts in the Jewish scriptures--Abraham's acts and those of Jephtha +being examples of the manner in which this god was propitiated. + +In Micah, vi. chap., 7th verse, occurs an interrogation which furnishes +something more than a hint of the practice among the Jews of child +sacrifice. "Shall I give my first born for my transgressions, the fruit +of my body for the sin of my soul?" + +Although there is sufficient evidence to prove the enormous extent to +which the practice of child sacrifice prevailed among the Jews, it +is believed that much more proof would be found, had it not, in later +times, with a view to concealing the extent of this practice, been +expunged from their sacred writings. Moloch was to the Jews what Siva +came to be to the Hindoos, namely, the Terrible. It is plain, however, +that Siva was not formerly feared in India, but next to Vishnu was the +best beloved of all their gods. Siva was originally the androgyne god +who was not only the Destroyer, but the beneficent Regenerator and +purifier. It was the cold of winter and the heat of the sun. It was a +conception which was a direct outgrowth of Nature worship or of that +religious idea which was portrayed by a mother and her child. + +The conception involved in sacrifice seems to be that of a payment +for services rendered, or desired. The Amazulus, when going to battle, +sacrifice to the manes of their ancestors, who, as older branches of +the tree of life, appear to constitute their god-idea. This is done +that their gods "may have no cause of complaint, because they have made +amends to them and made them bright." On appearing before the enemy they +say: "Can it be, since we have made amends to the Amadhlozi, that they +will say we have wronged them by anything?"(165) + + + 165) Viscount Amberley, Analysis of Religious Belief, vol. i., p. 32. + + +At a certain stage in human history the various peoples of the globe +depended upon excessive numbers for their prosperity, hence the most +precious offering to the god of pro-creation was that of human victims. + +In India, when a new colony or city was founded, in order to insure its +prosperity, large numbers of children were delivered over as a bribe or +offering of reconciliation to the god of virility. The enormous extent +to which human sacrifice has prevailed in India, in Egypt, in Mexico, +among the Carthaginians, the Jews, the Druids, and even among the Greeks +and Romans, is well attested. + +From the records of extant history, it would seem that human sacrifice +usually accompanies a certain stage of sun-worship. Among the Aztecs in +Mexico, a country in which the sun was a universal object of reverence +and in which one of the prescribed duties of the boys trained in the +temple was that of keeping alive the sacred fires, the immolation of +victims became the most prominent feature of their public worship. We +are distinctly told, however, that human sacrifice was not formerly +practiced in Mexico, but that finally here as elsewhere, the idea became +prevalent that by sacrificing human victims to the god of Destruction, +his wrath might be appeased and the people saved from his vengeance. It +is stated that human sacrifices were adopted by the Aztecs early in the +fourteenth century, about two hundred years before the conquest. "Rare +at first, they became more frequent with the wider extent of their +empire; till, at length, almost every festival was closed with this +cruel abomination." + +Notwithstanding these atrocities, in their conceptions of a future state +of existence, and especially in their disposition of the unregenerate +after death, are to be observed certain traces of human feeling and +refined sensibility which are difficult to reconcile with the cruelty +practiced in their religious rites, and which bear a striking contrast +to the physical torture, to which after death the wicked are subjected +not only in Mexico, but in countries professing a high stage of +civilization and culture. + +Of their religious observances, those which had doubtless been inherited +from an older civilization, Prescott, quoting from Torquemada and +Sahagun, says: + +"Many of their ceremonies were of a light and cheerful complexion, +consisting of the national songs and dances, in which both sexes joined. +Processions were made of women and children crowned with garlands and +bearing offerings of fruits, the ripened maize, or the sweet incense +of copal and other odoriferous gums, while the altars of the deity were +stained with no blood save that of animals. These were the peaceful +rites derived from their Toltec predecessors."(166) + + + 166) See Conquest of Mexico, book I, chap. iii., p. 74. + + +Prior to the days of Montezuma, the Aztec priests had engrafted +upon these simple ceremonies not only a burdensome ceremonial, and a +polytheism similar to that of Eastern nations, but, as we have seen, +human sacrifices and even cannibalism had become prominent features +in religious worship. Throughout the entire ceremonial and religious +conceptions of the Aztecs may be observed a display of the savage and +brutal elements in human nature, in close connection with unmistakable +evidence of a once higher stage of culture and refinement. + +In the later ages of Aztec history their most exalted deity was +Huitzilopotchi, the Mexican Moses, the god of war. His temples were the +most costly and magnificent among the public edifices in the country, +and his image bedecked with ornaments was an universal object of +adoration. At the dedication of his temple in the year 1486 more than +seventy thousand captives are said to have perished.(167) + + + 167) Torquemada. + + +A Deity which occupied a conspicuous place in the mythology, and which +was probably an inheritance from more ancient times, was Quetzalcoatl, +doubtless the same as the Eastern Goddess of Nature, or Wisdom. She was +the "grain goddess," and "received offerings of fruit and flowers" at her +two great festivals. She also took care of the growth of corn. She was +doubtless the same as the Earth Mother of the Finns and Esths, she who +"undertakes the task of bringing forth the fruits." She is evidently +the Demeter of the Greeks, the Ceres of the Romans, etc. She is also +the goddess of Wisdom, for she had "instructed the nations in the use of +metals, in agriculture, and in the art of government." Under this Deity +the + +"Earth had teemed with fruits and flowers without the pains of culture. +An ear of Indian corn was as much as a single man could carry. The +cotton, as it grew, took, of its own accord, the rich dies of human art. +The air was filled with intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of +birds. In short, these were the halcyon days, which find a place in +the mythic systems of so many nations throughout the world. It was the +golden age of Anuhuac." + +We are given to understand that for some cause not explained the +beneficent god Quetzalcoatl was banished, that he (or she) was deposed +through the influence of some deity which had become more popular, or, +at least, more powerful; but that when Quetzalcoatl departed from the +country "in a winged skiff made of serpent skins," it was with a promise +to return to the faithful, which promise was sacredly cherished down to +the time of the Spanish invasion. + +The Mexican Mars, Huitzilopotchi, was born of a virgin. His mother, a +devout person, while at her devotions in the temple saw floating before +her a bright colored feather ball, which she seized and placed in her +bosom. She soon became pregnant, her offspring being a god, who like +Minerva appeared full armed with spear and helmet. + +Although the exact manner in which the Mexicans sacrificed to their +Deity to atone for the sins of the people differs somewhat from the +modus operandi employed in the Christian vicarious atonement, still the +likeness existing between them is sufficient to indicate the fact of +their common origin and the similar manner of their development. + +The Mexicans were wont to select a young and handsome man from their +midst, whom they invested with the dignity of a god. After having +surrounded him with every luxury, and when they had showered upon him +every attention, crowning him with flowers and worshipping him for a +year or more as a Savior, they killed him, offering him as an atonement +or sacrifice, in order that the rest of the people might escape the +vengeance of their great Deity, who, it was claimed, is pleased with +such offerings, and who demands sacrifices of this kind at the hands of +his children. Within blood was contained life, hence the offering of a +bloody victim was but the returning to their god, as a free-will gift +that which he had bestowed, such sacrifice being regarded as the only +acceptable means of grace or reconciliation. + +That the offering of a victim to the Jewish God was deemed necessary to +the fulfilment of Christian doctrine is a fact which is clearly shown by +numerous passages in the New Testament. "We are sanctified through the +offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." "By one offering he +hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."(168) "Christ was once +offered to bear the sins of many."(169) + + + 168) Hebrews, x., 10, 14. + + + 169) Ibid., ix., 28. + + +That the Jewish Paschal feasts and the Eucharistic rites of Christians +had their counterpart among the Mexicans is observed in the fact that +shortly after the death of their god, cakes which had been prepared and +blessed by the priests were offered by them to the people to be eaten as +the veritable body of their sacrificed lord. + +The source whence the doctrine of an atonement--a bloody sacrifice which +lies at the foundation of Christian theology--has proceeded is not at +the present time difficult to determine, for we shall presently see that +it, like all the leading doctrines contained in this later system, +and which are regarded as exclusively Christian, had its origin in the +religion of past ages, a religion which although originally pure, in +course of time degenerated into the grossest phallicism and even into +human sacrifice and cannibalism. + +Although among the Mexicans as among the Jews, human sacrifices were +offered to the Deity, no hint of gross and sensual rites practiced in +the temples of the latter is recorded. Hence, as the Mexicans had not +arrived at that stage of religious progress (?) at which sensuality +inculcated as a sacred duty, and at which moral and physical debasement +was encouraged both in public and private life, we may reasonably +conclude that their faith represents a somewhat earlier stage of +development than does that of either Jew or Greek. In point of morality, +as judged by the most ancient standards, or by the more modern, the +Mexicans compare favorably with either of these nationalities. Indeed +when we compare the social, religious, and civil conditions of Mexico +as we find them under Montezuma with those of the Jews under David or +Solomon, or with those of the Greeks under Solon, or even with those +of the Christians during the Spanish Inquisition when thousands upon +thousands, not of captives taken in war, but of the noblest and best of +the land, were yearly slaughtered for "the glory of God," there is quite +as much to meet the approval of an enlightened conscience under the +first named system as under that of any one of the other three. + +By priests the fact has long been understood that effects may be +produced through appeals to the religious or emotional nature which +under other circumstances would be impossible; and as, for thousands +of years, it has been the special business of this class to formulate +creeds for the ignorant masses, religious belief and the ceremonies +connected with "sacred" worship, during certain periods of the world's +history, have assumed a grotesqueness in design unsurpassed by the most +fanciful fairy tales which the imagination has ever been able to create, +at the same time that they have portrayed a depth of sensual degradation +capable of being reached only by that order of creation which alone has +been able to develop a religion. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. THE CROSS AND A DYING SAVIOR. + +In Egypt, the cross when unaccompanied by any other symbol signified +simply creative energy both female and male, but whenever a +distinctively female emblem was present it denoted the male power alone. +The Ibis, which is represented with human hands and feet, bears the +staff of Isis in one hand and the cross in the other. There is scarcely +an obelisk or monument in Egypt upon which this figure does not appear. +The symbol or monogram of Venus was a circle and a cross, that of Saturn +was a cross and a ram's horn. + +Plato declared that the son of God was expressed upon the universe in +the form of the letter X, and that the second power of the supreme God +was figured on the universe in the shape of a cross. + +There is little doubt that the early Christians understood full well the +true meaning of the cross, and that it was no new device. In later ages, +however, every monument of antiquity marked with this symbol was claimed +by the Church and by it believed to be of Christian origin. + +It is related that when the temple of Serapis at Alexandria was +overthrown by one of the Christian Emperors, beneath its foundation +was discovered the monogram of Christ. The Christians made use of this +circumstance to prove the divine origin of their religion, "thereby +making many converts." The Pagans, on the contrary, were of the opinion +that "it should forever silence the claim put forward by the devotees of +Christianity." It is plain, however, that the Christians had the better +of the argument for "the cross being uneasy under the weight of the +temple overthrew it." + +On the coins of Decius, the great persecutor of the Christians, is to be +observed the monogram of Christ which is also the monogram of Osiris and +Jupiter Ammon. On a medal proved to be Phoenician appear the cross, the +rosary, and the lamb. There is another form of the same monogram which +signifies DCVIII. These devices although in use hundreds of years prior +to the Christian era are all said to be monograms of Christ. At the +present time they may be seen in almost every church in Italy. + +In the cave of Elephanta, in India, appears the cross in connection with +the figure which represents male reproductive power. Inman relates that +a cross with a rosary attached has been found in use among the religious +emblems of the Japanese Buddhists and the lamas of Thibet, and that in +one of the frescoes of Pompeii, published at Paris, 1840, is to be seen, +vol. v., plate 28, the representation of a phallic cross in connection +with two small figures of Hermes.(170) + + + 170) Inman, Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. i., p. 408. + + +The Rev. Mr. Maurice adds his testimony to that of other investigators +to show the universality of this emblem. He says that the principal +pagodas in India, viz., those of Bernares and Mathura, are built in the +form of a cross. + +In the museum of the London University is a mummy upon whose breast is a +cross "exactly in the shape of a cross upon Calvary." + +The true significance of this emblem, and the reason for its adoration +are not, at the present time, difficult to understand; but whence comes +the symbol of a dead man on a cross, and what is its true meaning? + +Perhaps there is no problem connected with ancient symbolism, or +with mythical religion, which is more difficult to solve, than is the +representation of a dying Savior on a cross. It is stated by those +who have investigated this subject, that although the sun, or the +fructifying power within it, was adored by all the historic nations, +no hint of a cross is to be found amongst the most ancient Nature +worshippers. We must then look for a solution of this problem to +those ages in which the higher truths of an older race were partially +forgotten, and to a time when phallic worship had supplanted the +adoration of Light or Wisdom. The cross doubtless came into use as a +religious emblem at a time when the sexes in union began to stand for +the god-idea, the lower end of the upright shaft being transfixed to the +horizontal bar. + +As soon as the male energy became god, the cross gradually grew into the +figure of a man with arms extended. It became the original "life +giver," it was Adam, the creator of the race. Doubtless for ages Adam +represented the god-man-phallus-Tree of Life, or cross idea. He was the +progenitor of the race. From this same idea sprang ancestor worship, or +the deification of the past vital spark. The adoration paid to the Lares +and Penates, the household gods of the Romans, on the first of May, is +an example of this worship, as is also the homage paid by the Chinese to +their progenitors. + +Of religious emblems R. P. Knight says that one of the most remarkable +among them is a cross in the form of the letter T which was used as an +emblem of creation and generation before the church adopted it as a sign +of salvation. To this representation of male reproductive power "was +sometimes added a human head, which gives it the appearance of a +crucifix, as it has on the medal of Cyzicus." + +Originally the figure of a dead man on a cross typified creation +and destruction or the operations of the creative forces in Nature. +Everything dies only to live again. Although man dies, and although the +individual man becomes but a dead branch on the tree of life, still the +tree lives. Through the cross-phallus idea, or through man's power +to create, existence on the earth continues. Although the sun dies in +winter, in spring it revives again to quicken and enliven Nature and +make all things new. + +There is much evidence to show that a dying figure on a cross was no new +conception at the advent of Christianity. Crishna, whose history as we +have seen is almost identical with that of Christ, and Ballaji, from +whom the thorn-crowned figures of Jesus have doubtless been copied, are +illustrations of this mythical figure of a crucified savior in India. + +It seems altogether probable from the facts at hand that the Romans +worshipped a cross with a dying figure of a man upon it. Minucius +Felix, a Christian father, in defense of his religion, has the following +passage: + +"You certainly, who worship wooden gods, are the most likely people to +adore wooden crosses, as being parts with the same substance as your +deities. For what else are your ensigns, flags, and standards but +crosses gilt and purified? Your victorious trophies not only represent +a simple cross, but a cross with a man upon it. When a pure worshipper +adores the true God with hands extended, he makes the figure of a cross. +Thus you see that the sign of the cross has either some foundation +in Nature, or in your own religion, and therefore not to be objected +against Christians." + +Higgins says that it is proved as completely as it is possible to prove +a fact of this kind that the Romans had a crucified object of adoration, +and that this could be no other than an incarnation of the God Sol, +represented in some way to have been crucified. + +An ancient medal found in Cyprus has upon one of its sides the figure of +a crucified man with the chaplet or rosary, the same as those now in +use by Romanists. From the style of workmanship it is thought that this +medal must have been anterior to the Macedonian conquest. + +There is little doubt that the early fathers and the bishops in +the Christian church recognized in the cross the ancient emblem of +fertility, but as the idea of a spiritual life had begun to take root, +it was deemed proper to conceal its real significance; hence from a +symbol representing the continuity of existence on the earth the cross +now prefigured eternal life or existence after death. Henceforward +although man was dead in transgressions, through the cross, or through +the crucified Christ, he received eternal life. + +That the original signification of this symbol was understood by early +Christians is apparent from the fact that the Emperor Theodosius, +between the years 378 and 395, issued a decree prohibiting the sign +of the cross being sculptured or painted on the pavements of churches. +Tertullian also, after declaring that the devil made the sign of the +cross on the foreheads of the followers of the Persian Mithra, accused +the Christians of adoring the same emblem. + +In 280, A. C. Porphyry, referring to crosses, asked why theologists give +passions to the gods, erect Phalli and use shameful language; to which +the Christian Iamblichus in the year 336 replied: "Because Phalli and +crosses are signs of productive energy, and provocative to a continuance +of the world." + +It was not until the second century, or until after the days of Justin +Martyr, that the instrument upon which Jesus was executed was called +a cross. But whatever may have been its form, as soon as the myths of +former religious worship began to attach themselves to his history, he +became the symbolical dead man on a cross, the original sacrifice to +Mahadeva. He portrayed the same idea as did Crishna, Ballaji, the dying +Osiris, and all the other sun-gods. He, like each of these, represented +a new sun at the beginning of a new cycle. He was a risen savior, and +to him were finally transferred all the festivals, seasons, symbols, and +monograms of former solar deities. That the figure of a dead man on +a cross was a familiar emblem throughout Asia and various portions +of Europe, and that numberless crucified gods--incarnations of the +sun--have been worshipped throughout the East, is a fact which it has +been the aim of the initiated among the Christian clergy to conceal, +but one which no one who has examined the evidence with a mind free from +prejudice attempts to deny. + +In Italy, on many of the earlier pictures of Christ, may be observed the +words Deo Soli, which inscription signifies either "to the only God," or +"to the God Sol." + +Of the various so-called Christian antiquities which cover the walls of +the Vatican, we are assured by those who have acquainted themselves with +the signification of pagan symbolism that "they have no more reference +to Christianity than they have to the Emperor of China." The same may +be said with reference to the representations on the walls of the +Catacombs. + +Crishna, who was the equinoctial sun in Aries, appeared 2160 years after +the first Buddha, who was the equinoctial sun in Taurus. According to +Plutarch they were both modern gods when compared with the deities which +gave names to the planets. Buddha, or the sun in Taurus, was worshipped +in the form of a bull. Crishna, or the sun in Aries, was adored under +the figure of a ram with a man's head. The true significance of these +figures was the fructifying sun or reproductive energy as manifested in +animal life, and this meaning to those who worshipped them was identical +with the carved figures on the caves of India, the Lares and Penates of +the Romans, and the stone pillars or crosses in the market-places and at +the intersection of roads in Brittany. + +Eusebius says that at Elephanta they adored a Deity in the figure of a +man in a sitting posture painted blue, having the head of a ram with the +horns of a goat encircling a disk. The Deity thus described is said to +be of astronomical origin, denoting the power of the sun in Aries. + +This figure, which was one of the representations of the sun-god +Crishna, was worshipped both in India and in Egypt. In various of the +manifestations of this Deity he appears in the act of killing a +serpent. He was the dead man on a cross and also the sun, which +although continually dying is constantly being revived again. Various +incarnations of this God have appeared as crucified saviors. + +Of the avatar of Crishna known as Ballaji or Baal-Jah little is +positively known. Indeed there seems to be some impenetrable mystery +surrounding this figure, which makes it impossible for scholars to +absolutely prove that which by means of the evidence at hand amounts +almost to a certainty. + +A print by Moore of this god represents him in the shape of a Romish +crucifix, but although there is a nail hole in his foot he is not +transfixed to a wooden cross. Instead of a crown of thorns a Parthian +coronet encircles his head. As all the avatars of Crishna are +represented with coronets, this fact has caused several writers to +observe that the effigies of Ballaji have furnished the copies for the +thorn-crowned Jesus. Through the ignorance of the early Christians +who in the second century adopted the religion of Crishna, the true +significance of this coronet was not understood, hence the thorns upon +the head of Christ. In referring to the effigy of a crucified savior +found in Ireland the author of The Round Towers says that it was not +intended for our Savior for the reason that it wore the Iranian regal +crown, instead of the Jewish crown of thorns.(171) + + + 171) The Round Towers of Ireland, p. 298. + + +Regarding this effigy, Higgins remarks that the crucified body without +the cross reminds one that "some of the ancient sects of heretics held +Jesus to have been crucified in the clouds." + +Moore, who has produced several prints of Ballaji, says he is unable +to account for the pierced foot of a crucified figure in India. He +endeavors to prove, however, that this crucifix cannot be Hindoo +"because there are duplicates of it from the same model." As the mould +is made of clay, he contends that only one cast may be made from it. +This argument falls to the ground, however, so soon as it is found +that duplicates, or copies of these brass idols which may not be +distinguished from the originals, are seen in the museum at the India +House, and also in that of the Asiatic Society. + +The admission of Moore that "great influence was brought to bear upon +him to induce him not to publish the prints of Ballaji for fear of +giving offense," serves as a hint in determining the cause for the lack +of information respecting this god. + +It is believed that, were the development of truth upon this subject +rather than its concealment the object of Christian missionaries, the +temples of Ballaji would have furnished more important information to +the Christian world than would those of any other of the Hindoo gods; +but while numberless pilgrimages have been made to Juggernaut and +other shrines devoid of interest to the student, we have heard little +concerning the shrines of this deity, although at the time Moore wrote, +Terputty was in the possession of the English who made a profit of +L15,000 a year from the temple. + +On the Brechin Tower in Ireland are two arches one within the other in +relief. At the top of the arch is a crucifix, and about midway from top +to bottom on either side are two figures which, according to Romanist +Christians, represent the Virgin Mary and St. John. At the bottom of the +outer arch are two couchant beasts, the one an elephant and the other a +bull. The figure on the cross has a Parthian coronet. The appearance of +a crucifix on the towers of Britain and Ireland has in the past led many +writers to ascribe to these singular structures a Christian origin. To +the critical observer, however, the first question which presents +itself is whence comes the elephant--an animal not found within these +countries?--and again why should these beasts have been placed here as +Christian emblems? The facts in the case as revealed by unprejudiced +investigators are, that the towers in Ireland are not Christian +monuments, and that the crucifix found on them is not that of Christ but +of Ballaji, or of some one of the avatars of Crishna. + +The fact that the figure of Crishna as a crucified god was found in +the ruins of a temple at Thebes in Egypt, is sufficient to prove his +antiquity; still, as we have seen, he represents the god-idea at a much +later date than did Buddha. Regarding the evidence furnished by the Rev. +Mr. Maurice of the ten avatars of the Indian sun-god, Higgins observes: + +"The only fact worthy of notice here is, that Buddha was universally +allowed to be the first of the incarnations; that Crishna was of +later date; that, at the era of the birth of Christ, eight of them had +appeared on the earth, and that the other two were expected to follow +before the end of the Caliyug, or of the present age." + +With reference to the fact that the Hindoo God originally represented +Wisdom or the Logos, the same writer says: + +"Then here is DIVINE WISDOM incarnate, of whom the Bull of the Zodiac +was the emblem. HERE he is the Protagonos, or first begotten, the God +or Goddess Mhtis of the Greeks, being, perhaps, both male and female. +Buddha, or the wise, if the word were not merely the name of a doctrine, +seems to have been an appellation taken by several persons, or one +person incarnate at several periods, and from this circumstance much +confusion has arisen."(172) + + + 172) Anacalypsis, book v., p. 201. + + +Concerning the religion of an ancient race the following facts have been +ascertained, namely: + +The first of the Buddhas or Incarnations of the Deity was Minerva, and +her mother, who was the sun, was the mother of all the Buddhas. She was +Mhtis, Mubt or Mai, "the universal genius of Nature, who discriminated +all things according to their various kinds of species." + +In the earliest ages she comprehended not only matter but the moving +force in the universe. She was the Deity which by a very ancient race +was represented by the mother idea--Perceptive Wisdom. She was the +sun and the first emanation from the sun. She was the Divine Word, the +Logos, the Holy Ghost which in the time of Christ was again by various +sects recognized as female. The allegory of the Greeks concerning +Jupiter taking Mhtis (Wisdom) to wife and from this union with her +producing Minerva from his head, is seen to be closely connected with +the doctrine of Buddha (Wisdom) or of the Rasit of Genesis. According +to Faber, the import of the Greek word Nous and of the Sanscrit Menu is +precisely the same: each denotes mind or intelligence, and to the latter +of them the Latin Mens is nearly allied. "Mens, Menu, and perhaps our +English mind are fundamentally one and the same word." All these terms +in an earlier age meant Buddha, Wisdom, or Minerva. + +Later, with the worship of the sun in Aries, appeared a crucified +savior. During the earlier ages of Crishnaism, the ideas typified by +a dying savior were still those pertaining to the processes of Nature. +Matter was still believed to be indestructible and seeming death but +a preparation for renewed life, or for birth into another state of +existence Subsequently this dying sun-god, which disappeared in winter +only to return again to re-animate Nature, became a veritable man--a +man on a cross who must be sacrificed to Mahadeva in order that humanity +might be saved. Here we have the origin of the doctrine of a Vicarious +Atonement. Later, under the system called Christianity, woman, who +had previously become identified with the evil principle, became the +Tempter. She was the cause of sin in the world and wholly responsible +for the evil results arising from desire. Indeed, according to the +doctrines annunciated by the Christian Church, had woman, who was an +after thought of the Almighty, never been created, man would have lived +forever in a state of purity and bliss, free alike from the toils, +pains, and temptations of life, and from the crafts and assaults of the +Devil. + +Through the over-stimulation of the animal instincts man had become +wholly unable to overcome the evil in his constitution, hence the +adoption of the doctrine of Original Sin and the necessity for an +Atonement, or for a crucified savior, who would take upon himself the +sins of poor, weak human nature. By simply believing on this crucified +redeemer, man would be saved, not from sin itself, but from the penalty +of sin. To bolster up the belief in original sin and the necessity for +an atonement, the allegory of the fruit tree and the serpent in Genesis +was taken literally. + +The more the religion of the past is studied the more plainly will the +fact appear, that not only have the ceremonies, symbols, festivals, and +seasons adopted by Christianity been copied from India and Persia, but +also that all the leading doctrines of the so-called Christian Church +originated in those countries. The belief in a Trinity, the Incarnation +of the Deity, a Crucified Savior, Original Sin and a Vicarious +Atonement, the last three having been elaborated after the ancient +natural truths underlying sun worship had been forgotten, are all to be +found in the East. + +The doctrine of a Trinity is supposed to have been received directly +from the Platonists, who had learned it from the Persians; while that of +a Crucified Savior, and also that of the seed of the woman bruising the +serpent's head, belong, as we have seen, to the religion of Crishna. + +Concerning Original Sin, which is the foundation of the doctrine of the +"Atonement," it is plain that it was not known to the earlier followers +of Christ, but that it was subsequently copied from the corrupted +religion of the Hindoos. + +The symbolical meaning of the serpent and the Tree of Life was doubtless +understood by the earliest adherents to the Christian faith; it is not +surprising, therefore, that by them there is no mention of the doctrine +of Original Sin. Their theory to account for evil in the world was the +same as that of an ancient and almost forgotten race. The belief that +the soul of man is a spark from, or a part of the universal soul, that +at the death of the body it returns to its source, and in process of +time appears as the animating principle in other bodies, was believed by +Pythagoras, Aspasia, Socrates, and Plato and, in fact, for thousands of +years it was entertained by the best and wisest of the human race. It +was a part of the early Christian doctrine and is still believed by the +followers of Buddha and by the Theosophists of Europe and America. + +Doubtless the doctrines of Re-incarnation and Karma were set forth by +those very ancient philosophers who were the near descendants of the +inventors of the Neros and the Metonic cycle--those who believed in the +indestructibility of matter, and that spirit proceeds from or is evolved +through it. It was an effort on their part to solve the problem of the +existence of evil, and was far more satisfactory to the reasoning +mind than was the literal translation of the story of the woman, the +forbidden apple, and the talking serpent in Genesis. + +Original sin of which woman is said to be the cause, and the necessity +for a spiritual (male) savior to deliver man from the wretchedness which +she had produced, are doctrines which took their rise in the grossest +ignorance, and in an entire misconception of the natural truths which +had previously been set forth by the figure of a dying sun-god. Original +Sin and a Vicarious Atonement--doctrines by means of which man has +attempted to evade moral responsibility and the legitimate results of +evil-doing--have, by weakening his moral sense, and by shifting the +responsibility of his deeds upon another, resulted in greatly lowering +the standard of human conduct. + +Science teaches that the penalty for sin is inherent in it, and that +virtue is its own reward; the so-called Christian doctrines assert that +although a man's sins be as scarlet, they may, simply through a certain +belief, become white as wool. It has been claimed that a belief in +original sin caused all the human sacrifices in ancient times and that +it "converted the Jews into a nation of cannibals." + +That the system which has borne the name of Christianity is an outgrowth +of Sun, Serpent, and Phallic faiths is so plainly proven by the facts +brought out by later research as no longer to be a matter of reasonable +doubt to those who have given any considerable degree of attention to +this subject. The more exalted ideas which from the time of Zoroaster +to that of Jesus had been struggling for existence, and which through +various means had been gradually gaining a foothold, were, by the influx +of Crishnaism, soon choked out, and mythical Christianity, which was +but a gathering in of the grosser forms of the prevailing Hindoo faith, +mounted the throne of the Roman Empire. + +During the nineteen hundred years that have elapsed since the +inauguration of this system, little has been understood concerning the +real philosophy of Christ--a philosophy which is seen to be simply a +recognition of those higher scientific truths enunciated by an ancient +race. + +The fact is observed in these later times that the altruistic principles +involved in these teachings contain the highest wisdom--that they +form the basis of a true social science, and that a high stage of +civilization will never be reached until these principles are recognized +as the foundation of human conduct. Unselfishness, purity of life, and +the brotherhood of man will never be realized so long as man shifts the +responsibility of his wrong-doing upon another. + +Quite recently the fact has been proved that the progressive principle +originated in the female constitution; that in sympathy, a character +which has its root in maternal affection, lies the key to human +progress. Conscience and the moral sense are outgrowths of sympathy; +therefore, that which distinguishes man from the lower orders of life +originated in and has been developed through the female organization. + +When these plain scientific truths, which are so simple as scarcely to +need demonstration, become popularized, doubtless our present god-idea +will undergo a process of reconstruction, and the later development +will probably involve conceptions more in keeping with science and human +reason. Surely a scientific age will tolerate no religious conception +whose principles are not founded on truth. The worship of a male god as +the sole creator and sustainer of the universe is as unphilosophical as +it is unreasonable and unscientific. + +As in many ways at the present time, mankind seems inclined to retrace +its steps, and as upon its onward march humanity is beginning to +manifest a willingness to return to truer and more primitive methods of +thought and action, it is not impossible that in the not distant future, +Perceptive Wisdom and the altruistic principles, together with the +power to give life, may again be divinely enthroned in the place so long +usurped by physical force and virile might. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The God-Idea of the Ancients, by Eliza Burt Gamble + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOD-IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS *** + +***** This file should be named 639.txt or 639.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/639/ + +Produced by Charles Keller + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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