The writer of "The Gospel according to St. John," has made Christ Jesus _co-eternal_ with G.o.d, as well as Creator, in these words:
"In the beginning was the _Word_, and the Word was with G.o.d."
"The same was in the beginning with G.o.d."[249:6]
Again, in praying to his Father, he makes Jesus say:
"And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory _which I had with thee before the world was_."[249:7]
Paul is made to say:
"And he (Christ) is before all things."[250:1]
Again:
"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."[250:2]
St. John the Divine, in his "Revelation," has made Christ Jesus say:
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end"--"which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty,"[250:3]
"the first and the last."[250:4]
Hindoo scripture also makes _Crishna_ "the first and the last," "the beginning and the end." We read in the "Geeta," where Crishna is reported to have said:
"I myself never was not."[250:5] "Learn that he by whom all things were formed" (meaning himself) "is incorruptible."[250:6] "I am eternity and non-eternity."[250:7] "I am before all things, and the mighty ruler of the universe."[250:8] "I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all things."[250:9]
Arjouan, his disciple, addresses him thus:
"Thou art the Supreme Being, incorruptible, worthy to be known; thou art prime supporter of the universal orb; thou art the never-failing and eternal guardian of religion; _thou art from all beginning_, and I esteem thee."[250:10] Thou art "the Divine Being, before all other G.o.ds."[250:11]
Again he says:
"Reverence! Reverence be unto thee, before and behind!
Reverence be unto thee on all sides, O thou who art all in all! Infinite in thy power and thy glory! Thou includest all things, wherefore thou art all things."[250:12]
In another Holy Book of the Hindoos, called the "Vishnu Purana," we also read that Vishnu--in the form of Crishna--"who descended into the womb of the (virgin) Devaki, and was born as her son" was "_without beginning, middle or end_."[250:13]
_Buddha_ is also Alpha and Omega, without beginning or end, "The Lord,"
"the Possessor of All," "He who is Omnipotent and Everlastingly to be Contemplated," "the Supreme Being, the Eternal One."[250:14]
_Lao-kiun_, the Chinese virgin-born G.o.d, who came upon earth about six hundred years before Jesus, was without beginning. It was said that he had existed from all eternity.[250:15]
The legends of the Taou-tsze sect in China declare their founder to have existed antecedent to the birth of the elements, in the Great Absolute; that he is the "pure essence of the _teen_;" that he is the original ancestor of the prime breath of life; that he gave form to the heavens and the earth, and caused creations and annihilations to succeed each other, in an endless series, during innumerable periods of the world. He himself is made to say:
"I was in existence prior to the manifestation of any corporeal shape; I appeared anterior to the supreme being, or first motion of creation."[251:1]
According to the _Zend Avesta_, Ormuzd, the first-born of the Eternal One, is he "who is, always has been, and who will be forever."[251:2]
_Zeus_ was Alpha and Omega. An Orphic line runs thus:
"Zeus is the beginning, Zeus is the middle, out of Zeus all things have been made."[251:3]
_Bacchus_ was without beginning or end. An inscription on an ancient medal, referring to him, reads thus:
"It is I who leads you; it is I who protects you, and who saves you, I am Alpha and Omega."
Beneath this inscription is a serpent, with his tail in his mouth, thus forming a _circle_, which was an emblem of _eternity_ among the ancients.[251:4]
Without enumerating them, we may say that the majority of the virgin-born G.o.ds spoken of in Chapter XII. were like Christ Jesus--without beginning or end--and that many of them were considered Creators of all things. This has led M. Dridon to remark (in his Hist.
de Dieu), that in _early works of art_, Christ Jesus is made to take the place of his Father in _creation_ and in similar labors, just as in heathen religions an inferior deity does the work under a superior one.
FOOTNOTES:
[247:1] John, i. 3.
[247:2] John, i. 10.
[247:3] Colossians, i.
[247:4] Hebrews, i. 2.
[247:5] Allen"s India, pp. 137 and 380.
[247:6] Indian Antiq., vol. ii. p. 288.
[247:7] See the chapter on the Trinity.
[247:8] Oriental Religions, p. 502.
[247:9] Lecture iv. p. 51.
[247:10] Geeta, p. 52.
[248:1] O. M. or A. U. M. is the Hindoo ineffable name; the mystic emblem of the deity. It is never uttered aloud, but only mentally by the devout. It signifies Brahma, Vishnou, and Siva, the _Hindoo Trinity_.
(See Charles Wilkes in Geeta, p. 142, and King"s Gnostics and their Remains, p. 163.)
[248:2] Geeta, p. 80.
[248:3] Geeta, p. 84.
[248:4] See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 48.
[248:5] See Bell"s Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 35.
[248:6] See Davis: Hist. China, vol. ii. pp. 109 and 113, and Thornton, vol. i. p. 137.
[249:1] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 259. In the most ancient parts of the Zend-Avesta, Ormuzd is said to have created the world by his WORD. (See Bunsen"s Angel-Messiah, p. 104, and Gibbon"s Rome, vol.
ii. p. 302, Note by Guizot.) "In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with G.o.d, and the WORD was G.o.d." (John, i. 1.)