Apollonius was worshiped as a G.o.d, in different countries, as late as the fourth century. A beautiful temple was built in honor of him, and he was held in high esteem by many of the Pagan emperors. Eunapius, who wrote concerning him in the fifth century, says that his history should have been ent.i.tled "_The Descent of a G.o.d_ upon Earth." It is as Albert Reville says:
"The universal respect in which Apollonius was held by the whole pagan world, testified to the deep impression which the life of this _Supernatural Being_ had left indelibly fixed in their minds; an expression which caused one of his contemporaries to exclaim, "_We have a G.o.d living among us._""
A Samaritan, by name Menander, who was contemporary with the apostles of Jesus, was another of these fanatics who believed himself to be the Christ. He went about performing miracles, claiming that he was a SAVIOUR, "sent down from above from the invisible worlds, _for the salvation of mankind_."[429:1] He baptized his followers in his own name. His influence was great, and continued for several centuries.
Justin Martyr and other Christian Fathers wrote against him.
Manes evidently believed himself to be "the Christ," or "he who was to come." His followers also believed the same concerning him. Eusebius, speaking of him, says:
"He presumed to represent the person of Christ; he proclaimed himself to be the Comforter and the Holy Ghost, and being puffed up with this frantic pride, chose, as if he were Christ, _twelve_ partners of his new-found doctrine, patching into one heap false and detestable doctrines of old, rotten, and rooted out heresies, _the which he brought out of Persia_."[429:2]
The word Manes, says Usher in his Annals, has the meaning of Paraclete or Comforter or Saviour. This at once lets us into the secret--a new incarnation, an Angel-Messiah, a Christ--born from the side of his mother, and put to a violent death--flayed alive, and hung up, or crucified, by a king of Persia.[429:3] This is the teacher with his twelve apostles on the rock of Gualior.
Du Perron, in his life of Zoroaster, gives an account of certain prophecies to be found in the sacred books of the _Persians_. One of these is to the effect that, at successive periods of time, there will appear on earth certain "Sons of Zoroaster," who are to be the result of _immaculate conceptions_. These virgin-born G.o.ds will come upon earth for the purpose of establishing the law of G.o.d. It is also a.s.serted that Zoroaster, when on earth, declared that in the "latter days" a pure virgin would conceive, and bear a son, and that as soon as the child was born a _star_ would appear, blazing even at noonday, with undiminished splendor. This Christ is to be called _Sosiosh_. He will redeem mankind, and subdue the Devs, who have been tempting and leading men astray ever since the fall of our first parents.
Among the Greeks the same prophecy was found. The Oracle of Delphi was the depository, according to Plato, of an ancient and _secret_ prophecy of the birth of a "Son of Apollo," who was to restore the reign of justice and virtue on the earth.[430:1]
Those who believed in successive emanations of aeons from the Throne of Light, pointed to the pa.s.sage in the Gospels where Jesus is made to say that he will be succeeded by the Paraclete or Comforter. Mahommed was believed by many to be this Paraclete, and it is said that he too told his disciples that _another_ Paraclete would succeed him. From present appearances, however, there is some reason for believing that the Mohammedans are to have their ancient prophecy set at naught by the multiplicity of those who pretend to be divinely appointed to fulfill it. The present year was designated as the period at which this great reformer was to arise, who should be almost, if not quite, the equal of Mahommed. His mission was to be to to purify the religion from its corruptions; to overthrow those who had usurped its control, and to rule, as a great spiritual caliph, over the faithful. According to accepted tradition, the prophet himself designated the line of descent in which his most important successor would be found, and even indicated his personal appearance. The time having arrived, it is not strange that the man is forthcoming, only in this instance there is more than one claimant. There is a "holy man" in Morocco who has allowed it to be announced that he is the designated reformer, while cable reports show that a rival pretender has appeared in Yemen, in southern Arabia, and his supporters, sword in hand, are now advancing upon Mecca, for the purpose of proclaiming their leader as caliph within the sacred city itself.
History then relates to us the indisputable fact that at the time of Jesus of Nazareth an Angel-Messiah was expected, that many persons claimed, and were believed to be, _the_ "Expected One," and that the reason why _Jesus_ was accepted above all others was because the Essenes--a very numerous sect--believed him to be the true Messiah, and came over to his followers in a body. It was because there were so many of these _Christs_ in existence that some follower of Jesus--but no one knows _who_--wrote as follows:
"If any man shall say to you, Lo, _here is Christ_, or, lo, he is _there_; believe him not; for _false Christs_ and false prophets shall rise, _and shall show signs and wonders_ to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."[431:1]
The reasons why Jesus was not accepted as the Messiah by the _majority_ of the Jews was because the majority expected a daring and irresistible warrior and conqueror, who, armed with greater power than Caesar, was to come upon earth to rend the fetters in which their hapless nation had so long groaned, to avenge them upon their haughty oppressors, and to re-establish the kingdom of Judah; and this Jesus--although he evidently claimed to be the Messiah--did not do.
Tacitus, the Roman historian, says:
"The generality had a strong persuasion that it was contained in the ancient writings of the priests, that at that very time the east should prevail: and that some one, who should come out of Judea, _should obtain the empire of the world_; which ambiguities foretold Vespasian and t.i.tus. But the common people (of the Jews), according to the influence of human wishes, appropriated to themselves, by their interpretation, this vast grandeur foretold by the fates, nor could be brought to change their opinion for the true, by all their adversities."
Suetonius, another Roman historian, says:
"There had been for a long time all over the east a constant persuasion that it was recorded in the fates (books of the fates, or foretellings), that at that time some one who should come out of Judea _should obtain universal dominion_. It appears by the event, that this prediction referred to the Roman emperor; but the Jews, referring it to themselves, rebelled."
This is corroborated by Josephus, the Jewish historian, who says:
"That which, chiefly excited them (the Jews) to war, was an _ambiguous prophecy_, which was also found in the sacred books, that at that time some one, within their country, should arise, that should obtain _the empire of the whole world_. For this they had received by tradition, that it was spoken of one of their nation; and many wise men were deceived with the interpretation. But, in truth, Vespasian"s empire was designed in this prophecy, who was created emperor (of Rome) _in Judea_."
As the Rev. Dr. Geikie remarks, the central and dominant characteristic of the teaching of the rabbis, was the certain advent of a great national _Deliverer_--the Messiah--but not a G.o.d from heaven.
For a time _Cyrus_ appeared to realize the promised Deliverer, or, at least, to be the chosen instrument to prepare the way for him, and, in his turn, _Zerubabel_ became the centre of Messianic hopes. In fact, the national mind had become so inflammable, by constant brooding on this one theme, that any bold spirit, rising in revolt against the Roman power, could find an army of fierce disciples who trusted that it should be he who would redeem Israel.[432:1]
The "_taxing_" which took place under Cyrenius, Governor of Syria (A. D.
7), excited the wildest uproar against the Roman power. The Hebrew spirit was stung into exasperation; the puritans of the nation, the enthusiasts, fanatics, the zealots of the law, the literal constructionists of prophecy, appealed to the national temper, revived the national faith, and fanned into flame the combustible elements that smoldered in the bosom of the race. The Messianic hope was strong in these people; all the stronger on account of their political degradation. Born in sorrow, the antic.i.p.ation grew keen in bitter hours.
That Jehovah would abandon them could not be believed. The thought would be atheism. The hope kept the eastern Jews in a perpetual state of insurrection. The cry "Lo here, lo there!" was incessant. Claimant after claimant of the dangerous supremacy of the _Messiah_ appeared, pitched a camp in the wilderness, raised the banner, gathered a force, was attacked, defeated, banished, or crucified; but the frenzy did not abate.
The last insurrection among the Jews, that of Bar-Cochba--"Son of the Star"--revealed an astonishing frenzy of zeal. It was purely a _Messianic_ uprising. Judaism had excited the fears of the Emperor Hadrian, and induced him to inflict unusual severities on the people.
The effect of the violence was to stimulate that conviction to fury. The night of their despair was once more illumined by the star of the east.
The banner of the Messiah was raised. Portents, as of old, were seen in the sky; the clouds were watched for the glory that should appear.
_Bar-Cochba_ seemed to fill out the popular idea of the deliverer.
Miracles were ascribed to him; flames issued from his mouth. The vulgar imagination made haste to transform the audacious fanatic into a child of David. Mult.i.tudes flocked to his standard. The whole Jewish race throughout the world was in commotion. The insurrection gained head. The heights about Jerusalem were seized and occupied, and fortifications were erected; nothing but the "host of angels" was needed to insure victory. The angels did not appear; the Roman legions did. The "Messiah," not proving himself a conqueror, was held to have proved himself an impostor, the "son of a lie."[433:1]
The impetuous zeal with which the Jews rushed to the standard of this Messianic impostor, in the 130th year of the Christian era, demonstrates the true Jewish character, and shows how readily any one who made the claim, was believed to be "He who should come." Even the celebrated Rabbi Akiba sanctioned this daring fraud. Akiba declared that the so-called prophecy of Balaam,--"_a star shall rise out of Jacob_,"--was accomplished. Hence the impostor took his t.i.tle of _Bar-Cochabas_, or _Son of the Star_; and Akiba not only publicly anointed him "KING OF THE JEWS," and placed an imperial diadem upon his head, but followed him to the field at the head of four-and-twenty thousand of his disciples, and acted in the capacity of master of his horse.
Those who believed on the meek and benevolent Jesus--and whose number was very small--were of that cla.s.s who believed in the doctrine of the _Angel-Messiah_,[433:2] first heard of among them when taken captives to Babylon. These believed that just as Buddha appeared at different intervals, and as Vishnu appeared at different intervals, the avatars appeared among the Jews. Adam, and Enoch, and Noah, and Elijah or Elias, might in outward appearance be different men, but they were really the self-same divine person successively animating various human bodies.[433:3] Christ _Jesus_ was the _avatar_ of the ninth age, Christ _Cyrus_ was the _avatar_ of the eighth. Of the hero of the eighth age it is said: "Thus said the Lord to his Anointed (_i. e._, his _Christ_), his Messiah, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations."[434:1] The eighth period began about the Babylonish captivity, about six hundred years before Christ _Jesus_. The ninth began with Christ Jesus, making in all eight cycles before Jesus.
"What was known in Judea more than a century before the birth of Jesus Christ cannot have been introduced among Buddhists by Christian missionaries. It will become equally certain that the bishop and church-historian, Eusebius, was right when he wrote, that he considered it highly probable that the writings of the Essenic Therapeuts in Egypt had been incorporated into our Gospels, and into some Pauline epistles."[434:2]
For further information on the subject of the connection between Essenism and Christianity, the reader is referred to Taylor"s Diegesis, Bunsen"s Angel-Messiah, and the works of S. F. Dunlap. We shall now speak of another powerful lever which was brought to bear upon the promulgation of Christianity; namely, that of FRAUD.
It was a common thing among the early Christian Fathers and saints to lie and deceive, if their lies and deceits helped the cause of their Christ. Lactantius, an eminent Christian author who flourished in the fourth century, has well said:
"Among those who seek power and gain from their religion, there will never be wanting an inclination to forge and lie for it."[434:3]
Gregory of n.a.z.ianzus, writing to St. Jerome, says:
"A little jargon is all that is necessary to impose on the people. The less they comprehend, the more they admire. Our forefathers and doctors have often said, not what they thought, but what circ.u.mstances and necessity dictated."[434:4]
The celebrated _Eusebius_, Bishop of CaeSAREA, and friend of Constantine the Great, who is our chief guide for the early history of the Church, _confesses that he was by no means scrupulous to record the whole truth concerning the early Christians in the various works which he has left behind him_.[434:5] Edward Gibbon, speaking of him, says:
"The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius himself, indirectly confesses that he has related what might redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed all that could tend to the disgrace of religion. Such an acknowledgment will naturally excite a suspicion that a writer who has so openly violated one of the fundamental laws of history, has not paid a very strict regard to the observance of the other; and the suspicion will derive additional credit from the character of Eusebius, which was less tinctured with credulity, and more practiced in the arts of courts, than that of almost any of his contemporaries."[435:1]
The great theologian, Beausobre, in his "Histoire de Manichee," says:
"We see in the history which I have related, a sort of hypocrisy, that has been perhaps, but too common at all times; that churchmen not only do not say what they think, but they do say the direct contrary of what they think. Philosophers in their cabinets; out of them they are content with fables, though they well know they are fables. Nay, more; they deliver honest men to the executioner, for having uttered what they themselves know to be true. How many atheists and pagans have burned holy men under the pretext of heresy? Every day do hypocrites consecrate, and make people adore the host, though as well convinced as I am, that it is nothing but a bit of bread."[435:2]
M. Daille says:
"This opinion has always been in the world, that to settle a certain and a.s.sured estimation upon that which is good and true, it is necessary to remove out of the way, whatsoever may be an hinderance to it. _Neither ought we to wonder that even those of the honest, innocent, primitive times made use of these deceits, seeing for a good end they made no scruple to forge whole books._"[435:3]
Reeves, in his "Apologies of the Fathers," says:
"It was a Catholic opinion among the philosophers, that pious frauds were good things, and that the people ought to be imposed on in matters of religion."[435:4]
Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, says:
"It was held as a maxim that it was not only lawful but praiseworthy to _deceive_, and even to use the expedient of a _lie_, in order to advance the cause of truth and piety."[435:5]
Isaac de Casaubon, the great ecclesiastical scholar, says:
"It mightily affects me, to see how many there were in the earliest times of the church, who considered it as a capital exploit, to lend to heavenly truth the help of their own inventions, in order that the new doctrine might be more readily allowed by the wise among the Gentiles. _These officious lies, they were wont to say, were devised for a good end._"[435:6]
The Apostolic Father, Hermas, who was the fellow-laborer of St. Paul in the work of the ministry; who is greeted as such in the New Testament; and whose writings are expressly quoted as of divine inspiration, by the early Fathers, ingenuously confesses that lying was the easily-besetting sin of a Christian. His words are:
"O Lord, I never spake a true word in my life, but I have always lived in dissimulation, and affirmed a lie for truth to all men, and no man contradicted me, but all gave credit to my words."
To which the holy angel, whom he addresses, condescendingly admonishes him, that as the lie was up, now, he had better keep it up, and as in time it would come to be believed, it would answer as well as truth.[436:1]
Dr. Mosheim admits, that the Platonists and Pythagoreans held it as a maxim, that it was not only lawful, but praiseworthy, to deceive, and even to use the expedient of a lie, in order to advance the cause of truth and piety. The Jews who lived in Egypt, had learned and received this maxim from them, before the coming of Christ Jesus, as appears incontestably from a mult.i.tude of ancient records, _and the Christians were infected from both these sources, with the same pernicious error_.[436:2]
Of the fifteen letters ascribed to Ignatius (Bishop of Antioch after 69 A. D.), _eight have been rejected by Christian writers as being forgeries_, having no authority whatever. "_The remaining seven_ epistles were accounted genuine by most critics, although disputed by some, previous to the discoveries of Mr. Cureton, _which have shaken, and indeed almost wholly destroyed the credit and authenticity of all alike_."[436:3]