The early _Christians_, or worshipers of the Sun, under the name of "_Christ_," had, as all Sun-worshipers, _a peculiar regard to the East_--the quarter in which their G.o.d rose--_to which point they ordinarily directed their prayers_.[502:5]
The followers of Mithra always turned towards the East, when they worshiped; the same was done by the Brahmans of the East, and the Christians of the West. In the ceremony of baptism, the catechumen was placed with his face to the West, the symbolical representation of the prince of darkness, in opposition to the East, and made to spit towards it at the evil one, and renounce his works.
Tertullian says, that Christians were taken for worshipers of the Sun because they prayed towards the East, after the manner of those who adored the Sun. The Essenes--whom Eusebius calls Christians--always turned to the east to pray. The Essenes met once a week, and spent the night in singing hymns, &c., which lasted till sun-rising. As soon as dawn appeared, they retired to their cells, after saluting one another.
Pliny says the Christians of Bithynia met before it was light, and sang hymns to Christ, as to a G.o.d. After their service they saluted one another. Surely the circ.u.mstances of the two cla.s.ses of people meeting before daylight, is a very remarkable coincidence. It is just what the Persian Magi, who were Sun worshipers, were in the habit of doing.
When a Manichaean Christian came over to the orthodox Christians, he was required to curse his former friends in the following terms:
"I curse Zarades (Zoroaster?) who, Manes said, had appeared as a G.o.d before his time among the Indians and Persians, _and whom he calls the Sun_. I curse those who say _Christ is the Sun_, and who make prayers to the _Sun_, and who do not pray to the true G.o.d, only towards the East, but who turn themselves round, following the motions of the Sun with their innumerable supplications. _I curse those person who say that Zarades and Budas and Christ and the Sun are all one and the same._"
There are not many circ.u.mstances more striking than that of Christ Jesus being originally worshiped under the form of a LAMB--the actual "Lamb of G.o.d, which taketh away the sins of the world." As we have already seen (in Chap. XX.), it was not till the Council of Constantinople, called _In Trullo_, held so late as the year 707, that pictures of Christ Jesus were ordered to be drawn in the form of a man. It was ordained that, in the place of the figure of a LAMB, the symbol used to that time, the figure of a man nailed to a cross, should in future be used.[503:1] From this decree, the ident.i.ty of the worship of the _Celestial Lamb_ and the Christian Saviour is certified beyond the possibility of doubt, and the mode by which the ancient superst.i.tions were propagated is satisfactorily shown. Nothing can more clearly prove the general practice than the order of a council to regulate it.
The worship of the constellation of _Aries_ was the worship of the Sun in his pa.s.sage through that sign. "This constellation was called by the ancients the _Lamb of G.o.d_. He was also called the _Saviour_, and was said to save mankind from their sins. He was always honored with the appellation of _Dominus_ or _Lord_. He was called _The Lamb of G.o.d which taketh away the sins of the world_. The devotees addressed him in their litany, constantly repeating the words, "_O Lamb of G.o.d, that taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant us thy peace._""
On an ancient medal of the _Phenicians_, brought by Dr. Clark from Citium (and described in his "Travels," vol. ii. ch. xi.) this _Lamb of G.o.d_ is described with the CROSS and the ROSARY, which shows that they were both used in his worship.
Yearly the SUN-G.o.d, as the zodiacal horse (Aries) was supposed by the Vedic Aryans _to die to save all flesh_. Hence the practice of sacrificing horses. The "guardian spirits" of the prince Sakya Buddha sing the following hymn:
"Once when thou wast the _white horse_,[504:1]
In pity for the suffering of man, Thou didst fly across heaven to the region of the evil demons, _To secure the happiness of mankind_.
Persecutions without end, Revilings and many prisons, _Death and murder_; These hast thou suffered with love and patience, _Forgiving thine executioners_."[504:2]
We have seen, in Chapter x.x.xIII., that Christ Jesus was also symbolized as a _Fish_, and that it is to be seen on all the ancient Christian monuments. But what has the Christian Saviour to do with a _Fish_? Why was he called a _Fish_? The answer is, _because the fish was another emblem of the_ SUN. Abarbanel says:
"The sign of his (Christ"s) coming is the junction of Saturn and Jupiter, _in the Sign Pisces_."[504:3]
Applying the astronomical emblem of _Pisces_ to Jesus, does not seem more absurd than applying the astronomical emblem of the Lamb. They applied to him the monogram of the Sun, IHS, the astronomical and alchemical sign of Aries, or the ram, or Lamb [Symbol: Aries]; and, in short, what was there that was _Heathenish_ that they have not applied to him?
The preserving G.o.d Vishnu, the Sun, was represented as a fish, and so was the Syrian Sun-G.o.d Dagon, who was also a Preserver or Saviour. The Fish was sacred among many nations of antiquity, and is to be seen on their monuments. Thus we see that everything at last centres in the SUN.
Constantine, the first Christian emperor, had on his _coins_ the figure of the Sun, with the legend: "To the Invincible Sun, my companion and guardian," as being a representation, says Mr. King, "either of the ancient Phbus, _or the_ new _Sun of Righteousness_, equally acceptable to both Christian and Gentile, from the double interpretation of which the type was susceptible."[505:1]
The worship of the Sun, under the name of Mithra, "long survived in Rome, _under the Christian emperors_, and, doubtless, much longer in the remoter districts of the semi-independent provinces."[505:2]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 41]
_Christ_ Jesus is represented with a halo of glory surrounding his head, a florid complexion, long golden locks of hair, and a flowing robe. Now, all _Sun_-G.o.ds, from Crishna of India (Fig. No. 41) to Baldur of Scandinavia, are represented with a halo of glory surrounding their heads, and the flowing locks of golden hair, and the flowing robe, are not wanting.[505:3] By a process of metaphor, the rays of the Sun were changed into golden hair, into spears and lances, and robes of light.
From the shoulders of Phoibus Lykegenes, the light-born, flow the sacred locks over which no razor might pa.s.s. On the head of Nisos, as on that of Samson, they became a palladium invested with a mysterious power.
From Helios, the Sun, who can scorch as well as warm, comes the robe of Medeia, which appears in the poisoned garments of Deianeira.[506:1]
We see, then, that _Christ_ Jesus, like _Christ_ Buddha,[506:2] Crishna, Mithra, Osiris, Horus, Apollo, Hercules and others, is none other than a personification of the Sun, and that the Christians, like their predecessors the Pagans, are really Sun worshipers. It must not be inferred, however, that we advocate the theory that no such person as _Jesus of Nazareth_ ever lived in the flesh. The _man_ Jesus is evidently an historical personage, just as the Sakaya prince Buddha, Cyrus, King of Persia, and Alexander, King of Macedonia, are historical personages; but the _Christ_ Jesus, the _Christ_ Buddha, the mythical Cyrus, and the mythical Alexander, _never lived in the flesh_. The _Sun-myth_ has been added to the histories of these personages, in a greater or less degree, just as it has been added to the history of many other real personages. If it be urged that the attribution to Christ Jesus of qualities or powers belonging to the Pagan deities would hardly seem reasonable, the answer must be that nothing is done in his case which has not been done in the case of almost every other member of the great company of the G.o.ds. The tendency of myths to _reproduce themselves_, with differences only of _names_ and _local coloring_, becomes especially manifest after perusing the legendary histories of the G.o.ds of antiquity. It is a fact demonstrated by history, that when one nation of antiquity came in contact with another, _they adopted each other"s myths without hesitation_. After the Jews had been taken captives to Babylon, around the history of _their King Solomon_ acc.u.mulated the fables which were related of _Persian heroes_. When the fame of Cyrus and Alexander became known over the then known world, the popular _Sun-myth_ was interwoven with their true history. The mythical history of Perseus is, in all its essential features, the history of the Attic hero Theseus, and of the Theban dipus, and they all reappear with heightened colors in the myths of Hercules. We have the same thing again in the mythical and religious history of Crishna; it is, in nearly all its essential features, the history of Buddha, and reappears again, with heightened colors, in the history of _Christ_ Jesus. The myths of Buddha and Jesus differ from the legends of the other virgin-born Saviours only in the fact that in their cases it has gathered round unquestionably historical personages. In other words, an old myth has been added to names undoubtedly historical. But it cannot be too often repeated that from the _myth_ we learn nothing of their history. How much we really know of the man Jesus will be considered in our next, and last, chapter.[507:1] That his biography, as recorded in the books of the New Testament, contains some few grains of actual history, is all that the historian or philosopher can rationally venture to urge. But the very process which has stripped these legends of all value as a chronicle of actual events has invested them with a new interest. Less than ever are they worthless fictions which the historian or philosopher may afford to despise. These legends of the birth, life, and death of the Sun, present to us a form of society and a condition of thought through which all mankind had to pa.s.s before the dawn of history. Yet that state of things was as real as the time in which we live. They who spoke the language of these early tales were men and women with joys and sorrows not unlike our own. In the following verses of Martia.n.u.s Capella, the universal veneration for the Sun is clearly shown:
"Latium invokes thee, _Sol_, because thou alone art in honor, _after the Father_, the centre of light; and they affirm that thy sacred head bears a golden brightness in twelve rays, because thou formest that number of months and that number of hours. They say that thou guidest four winged steeds, because thou alone rulest the chariot of the elements. For, dispelling the darkness, thou revealest the shining heavens. Hence they esteem thee, Phbus, the discoverer of the secrets of the future; or, because thou preventest nocturnal crimes. Egypt worships thee as Serapis, and Memphis as Osiris. Thou art worshiped by different rites as Mithra, Dis, and the cruel Typhon. Thou art alone the beautiful Atys, and the fostering son of the bent plough. Thou art the Ammon of arid Libya, and the Adonis of Byblos. _Thus under a varied appellation the whole world worship thee._ Hail! thou true image of the G.o.ds, and of thy father"s face! thou whose sacred name, surname, and omen, three letters make to agree with the number 608.[507:2]
Grant us, oh Father, to reach the eternal intercourse of mind, and to know the starry heaven under this sacred name. May the great and universally adorable Father increase these his favors."
FOOTNOTES:
[467:1] "In the _Vedas_, the _Sun_ has twenty different names, not pure equivalents, but each term descriptive of the Sun in one of its aspects.
It is brilliant (Surya), the friend (Mitra), generous (Aryaman), beneficent (Bhaga), that which nourishes (Pushna), the Creator (Tvashtar), the master of the sky (Divaspati), and so on." (Rev. S.
Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 150.)
[467:2] Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 267.
[468:1] Preface to "Tales of Anct. Greece."
[468:2] See Appendix B.
[469:1] Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. pp. 51-53.
[473:1] Muller: Origin of Religions, pp. 264-268.
[473:2] John, i. 9.
[473:3] The Christian ceremonies of the Nativity are celebrated in Bethlehem and Rome, even at the present time, _very early in the morning_.
[474:1] Quoted by Volney, Ruins, p. 166, and _note_.
[474:2] See Ibid. and Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 236.
[474:3] See Chap. x.x.xIV.
[474:4] The _Dawn_ was _personified_ by the ancients--a _virgin mother_, who bore the _Sun_. (See Max Muller"s Chips, vol. ii. p. 137. Fiske"s Myths and Mythmakers, p. 156, and c.o.x: Tales of Ancient Greece, and Aryan Mytho.)
[474:5] In Sanscrit "Ida" is the _Earth_, the wife of Dyaus (the Sky), and so we have before us the mythical phrase, "the _Sun_ at its birth rests on the earth." In other words, "the Sun at birth is nursed in the lap of its mother."
[474:6] "The moment we understand the _nature_ of a myth, all impossibilities, contradictions and immoralities disappear. If a mythical personage be nothing more than a name of the _Sun_, his birth may be derived from ever so many different mothers. He may be the son of the _Sky_ or of the _Dawn_ or of the _Sea_ or of the _Night_." (Renouf"s Hibbert Lectures, p. 108.)
[474:7] "The sign of the _Celestial Virgin_ rises above the horizon at the moment in which we fix the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ."
(Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 314, and Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p.
147.)
"We have in the first decade the _Sign of the Virgin_, following the most ancient tradition of the Persians, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, Hermes and aesculapius, a young woman called in the Persian language, _Seclinidos de Darzama_; in the Arabic, _Aderenedesa_--that is to say, a chaste, pure, immaculate virgin, suckling an infant, which some nations call _Jesus_ (_i. e._, Saviour), but which we in Greek call _Christ_."
(Abulmazer.)
"In the first decade of the Virgin, rises a maid, called in Arabic, "Aderenedesa," that is: "pure immaculate virgin," graceful in person, charming in countenance, modest in habit, with loosened hair, holding in her hands two ears of wheat, sitting upon an embroidered throne, nursing a BOY, and rightly feeding him in the place called _Hebraea_. A boy, I say, names IESSUS by certain nations, which signifies Issa, whom they also call _Christ_ in Greek." (Kircher, dipus aegypticus.)
[475:1] Max Muller: Origin of Religions, p. 261.
[475:2] Ibid. p. 230.
[475:3] "With scarcely an exception, all the names by which the _Virgin G.o.ddess_ of the Akropolis was known point to this mythology of the _Dawn_." (c.o.x: Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 228.)
[475:4] We also read in the Vishnu Purana that: "The Sun of Achyuta (G.o.d, the Imperishable) _rose in the dawn of Devaki_, to cause the lotus petal of the universe (_Crishna_) to expand. On the day of his birth the quarters of the horizon were irradiate with joy," &c.
[475:5] c.o.x: Aryan Myths, vol. iii. pp. 105, and 130, vol. ii.
[475:6] Ibid. p. 133. See Legends in Chap. XVI.