Ancient Faiths And Modern Part 1

Ancient Faiths And Modern.

by Thomas Inman.

PREFACE.

Some thirty years ago, after a period of laborious study, I became the House Surgeon of a large Infirmary. In that inst.i.tution I was enabled to see the practice of seven different doctors, and to compare the results which followed from their various plans of treatment. I soon found that the number of cures was nearly equal amongst them all, and became certain that recovery was little influenced by the medicine given. The conclusion drawn was that the physician could do harm, but that his power for good was limited. This induced me to investigate the laws of health and of disease, with an especial desire to discover some sure ground on which the healing art might safely stand. The inquiry was a long one, and to myself satisfactory. The conclusions to which I came were extremely simple--amounting almost to truisms; and I was surprised that it had required long and sustained labour to find out such very homely truths as those which I seemed to have unearthed.

Yet, with this discovery came the a.s.surance that, if I could induce my medical brethren to adopt my views, they would deprive themselves of the means of living. Men, like horses or tigers, monkeys and codfish, can do without doctors. Here and there, it is true, that the art and skill of the physician or surgeon can relieve pain, avert danger from accidents, and ward off death for a time; but, in the generality of cases, doctors are powerless. It is the business of such men, however, to magnify their office to the utmost. They get their money ostensibly by curing the sick; but it is clear, that the shorter the illness the fewer will be the fees, and the more protracted the attendance the larger must be the "honorarium." There is, then, good reason why the medical profession should discourage too close an investigation into truth.

But, outside of this fraternity, there are many men desirous of understanding the principles of the healing art Many of these have begun by noticing the style of the doctor's education. They find that he is taught in "halls," "colleges," and "schools," for a certain period of time; and then, at about the age of two-and-twenty, he is examined by some experienced men, and, if considered "competent," he pays certain fees, and is then licensed to practise as physician. As all regular doctors go through this course, it is natural that all should think and act in a common way, and style their doctrines "orthodox." It is equally certain that to such opinion the majority adhere through life. But it has always happened, that many men and women have aspired to the position of medical professors, without going through the usual career; or, having done so, they have struck out a novel plan of practice, which they designate a new method of cure. These have always been opposed by the "orthodox," and the contest is carried on with varying success, until the general public give their verdict on one side or the other.

Into the motives which sway the respective combatants we will not enter; our chief desire being to show that each set is upheld by those who are designated "laymen," whose education has not been medical The most intelligent on the heterodox side have been clergymen; and many have been the complaints of "orthodox" doctors, that "the parsons" should patronize, so energetically as they do, medical "dissenters."

As the "clerk" takes pleasure in examining the therapeutical doctrines of his physician, so the medical professor frequently inquires closely into his clergyman's theological views and feels himself at liberty to accept or oppose them, as the "clerk" adopts or attacks him and his theory and practice. It would, indeed, be disrespectful in the listener not to pay intelligent heed to the discourses which emanate from the pulpit. I have myself listened to the preaching of hundreds of university graduates, and of men who never took a degree, and have noticed that the same diversity of style exists amongst them, as is to be found in medical men. Some order a certain plan of treatment for a soul, which they a.s.sert to be grievously affected, and give no reason for what they say or do. Others give their motives for everything which they affirm, and for the plan which they prescribe for cure. Under the ministry of one of the last I sat for many years. Conspicuous for sound judgment, and for a peculiarly clear oratory, his sermons were to me an intellectual treat. From the exordium, forwards, I followed his words closely, and lost none of his arguments. But I soon became conscious that he never once carried his reasoning to its logical conclusion.

Still further, it was manifest that certain things were by him taken for granted; and it was held to be culpable to inquire into the reality of those a.s.sumptions. In fine, it was evident, that there was a Bluebeard's closet in the house of G.o.d, into which, in the preacher's opinion, it was death to pry!

With the idea which was gradually forced upon my mind, that there was a systematic suppression of the truth in the pulpit, I very carefully searched the Bible, with which I have been familiar from infancy, and upon which, it is a.s.serted, all our faith is founded. At this time, too, a casual inquiry into some ancient cognomens, which have descended to us from remote antiquity, induced me to examine into ancient faiths generally. With this became a.s.sociated an examination of all religions, and their influence upon mankind.

I found that in every nation there have been, and still are, good men and bad, gentle and brutal, thoughtful and ignorant. That the best men of Paganism--Buddha, for example--did not lose, by comparison, with the brightest light of Christianity; and that such large cities as London and Paris, have as much vice within them as ancient Rome or modern Calcutta. I found, moreover, that there is a culpable colouring in the accounts given by Christian travellers of Pagan countries. The clerical pen rests invariably and strongly upon the bad points of every heathen cult, and contrasts them with the best elements of Christianity. I do not know that it has ever inst.i.tuted a fair comparison between corresponding characters in each faith. As an ill.u.s.tration of my meaning, let us regard the stern virtue of the Roman Lucretia, who committed suicide, her body having been forcibly defiled by the embraces of another than her husband, even though the ravisher was a prince. She had heard nothing of the Jewish law or Christian gospel, nevertheless she was far better than the wives of the n.o.bles in the courts of Louis the XIV. and XV., who gladly sold themselves and their daughters to the royal lechers. These, unlike the Italian woman, were instructed both in the law and the gospel; they attended one place or another of Christian worship daily or weekly. Nay, if report be true, "the eldest son of the Church," when he visited the "parc aux cerfs," made each fresh virgin, victim of his pa.s.sion, duly say her prayers before she a.s.sisted him to commit adultery, and herself permitted fornication! We sympathize with Paul and the early Christian fathers in their denunciations of the Romans and Greeks for obscenities practised in honour of their G.o.ds; but, at the same time, we feel sure that, had those apostles and teachers lived in the middle ages, they would have denounced, with greater warmth, the murders which were constantly being perpetrated in honour of Jesus.

In like manner, we may greatly regret, with the writer of Psalm xiv., that amongst "the children of men, there is none that doeth good; no, not one;" but we must equally bow before the statement of Ezekiel (ch. xxii. 30), that there was no more propriety amongst the so-called "chosen people of G.o.d," than amongst the Gentile Canaanites and Babylonians.

Again, we feel pain when we find the great ones of the earth--aye, and many small ones too--seeking out for villains, "willing to commit murder for a mede," and lament that lawgivers should secretly encourage lawlessness; but we cannot forget that Jesus of Nazareth is represented, in John vi. 70, to have selected a devil to bring about certain ends--see also John xiii. 26, 27, in which the agency is well marked.

Modern divines tell us that war, tumult, hatred, malice, quarrels of all kinds, and murder come from the devil, and are the direct result of our fallen nature; nevertheless, we remember that Jesus is reported to have said--"I came not to send peace, but a sword; I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against the mother," &c.

(Matt. x. 34, 35). When we inst.i.tute comparisons like these, the balance is not uneven. I found, moreover, that the sharply defined line, commonly drawn between Paganism and Christianity, is worthless--the doctrines of the latter being, in many respects, identical with, or deduced from, the former.

It seemed necessary, therefore, to ascertain whether, in religion, any other line than the one in vogue in Europe, could be drawn with certainty.

The result of my observations showed a wonderful similarity to exist between the clerical and medical profession; and I feel that, if my views about the cure of souls and bodies were generally adopted, there would be no need either for parson or for doctor. Instead of discovering, as I had hoped to do, which of all the rival sects of Christendom is the best one, I found that all were unnecessary, that many are degraded in doctrine and bad in practice; and that, if any must exist, the one which effects the least mischief should be the one selected for general adoption. It required much courage to allow myself to believe that doctors have, taking everything into consideration, done more harm in the world than good, and still more to announce my conviction that Christianity was even more culpable than medicine. The physician, when professing to cure, has too often a.s.sisted disease to kill; and he who has had the cure of souls, has invented plans to make believers in his doctrine miserable. The first fills his coffers proportionally to the extent to which he can protract recovery; the second becomes rich in proportion to the success with which he multiplies mental terrors, and then sells repose. The one enfeebles the body, the other cripples the intellect, and aggravates envy, hatred, and malice. Both are equally influential in preventing man from being such as we believe that the Almighty designed him to be.

Though we oppose the old plan of medication of body and mind, we are far from a.s.serting that there is no value in an honest doctor, either of divinity or medicine. On the contrary, I have a stronger faith in my own profession, as it has been reformed, than ever I had ere the light of good sense had shone upon it; and I have a far more confident trust in the religion propounded by F. W. Newman, in _Theism_, than in that current amongst Christians in general But in such schemes of physic and faith, very few "ministers" are necessary, shams find no place, and emoluments are small A man who communes with his G.o.d requires no priest, mediator, middle-man, or saint--whether virgin, martyr, or both--to intercede for him.

Holding such opinions as these, it is not probable that I shall find many followers. I do not seek them. My aim has been to set good sterling stuff before the world, so that any one, whose self-reliance is great, may receive strength. There are many who would rather die with a physician close beside them when they are ill, than live without a doctor; and there are few who would not rather enjoy the fear of h.e.l.l with the orthodox, than be with heretics free from such terrors--"For sure, the pleasure is as great in being cheated, as to cheat." To all such our writings are _caviare_. Yet, even to them, we would say that we have warrant for our belief in statements, to which the orthodox cannot reasonably object--viz., "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" (Gen. iv. 7); "In every nation, he that feareth G.o.d, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him" (Acts x. 35); "He that doeth righteousness, is righteous" (1 John iii. 7).

Let me contrast my own views with those generally current amongst us. I believe that G.o.d did not make men, any more than the beasts, to d.a.m.n the largest number of them throughout eternity. I believe that all who aver that they have been selected by the Creator from all the world besides as the only recipients of salvation are wrong, and deceivers of the people. In fine, I believe that G.o.d's "tender mercies are over all his works." The common opinion that the Almighty so revels in cruelty, that He makes creatures to torture them, is a horrible one to me--fit only to come from impotent Pagan priests. That Jehovah selected about one million of bad men, out of about four hundred other millions equally bad, solely because their progenitor, Abraham, consented to murder and burn his son, is to me a frightful blasphemy; and, lastly, that G.o.d has no tender mercies for nine-tenths of the human race, is to convert our conception of the Author of all good into the conventional "Devil." The comparison may be summed up thus: I believe in G.o.d, the Father of all things; the so-called orthodox believe in the G.o.d Satan. I do not know anything in all my studies which excited my attention more painfully than the result of the a.n.a.lysis of Jehovah's character, as given in our Bible. Kind to those who are said to please Him, He is a fearful demon to all who are said to oppose Him.

How can any reasonable man hold the opinion that the Devil instigated all atrocities of the Syrians, Chaldees, a.s.syrians, Romans, Turks, Tartars, Saracens, Affghans, Mahometans, and Hindoos, and believe that the good G.o.d drowned the whole world, and nearly every single thing that had life; that He ordered the extermination, not only of Midianites and Amalekites, but slaughtered, in one way or another, all the people whom he led out of Egypt--except two--merely because they had a natural fear of war. What was the ma.s.sacre at Cawnpore to that in Jericho and other Canaanite cities? I say it with sober seriousness--in sorrow, not in anger--as a thinking man, and not as an advocate for, or against, any religious view, that it is an awful thing for any nation to permit a book to circulate, as a sacred one, in which G.o.d and the Devil are painted in the same colours.

Into this a.n.a.lysis of religion I was led to enter from the observation of a friend, who challenged me to find, in any non-Hebraic or non-Christian country, a faith or practice equal to that current amongst the followers of Moses and Jesus, or to discover any spot in the wide world where there is, or has been, a civilization equal to that which existed in Judea, and the parts inhabited by Christians. In consequence of this defiance, it became more than ever necessary for me to study the nature of the current faith and practice of Christendom, and to inquire how far the latter was dependent upon the former--that is to say, whether the practices of civilization are due to our religion, or have gradually grown up in spite of it. The next point was to pay similar heed to the doctrines and manner of life common amongst those to whom our Bible has been wholly unknown.

Many of the conclusions to which I came have already appeared in the second volume of _Ancient Faiths_, under the heads of "Religion,"

"Theology," &c.; but others came upon me when that book had been completed, and the present supplement is designed with the idea of expressing, still further, the extent of my views, and the evidence upon which they are founded--with special reference to the differential value of Christian and unchristian faith and practice.

As was natural, this involved the question constantly before my mind in the preceding volumes--viz., "Is there in reality anything in the Hebrew and the Christian theology essentially different from that promulgated by the leaders of divinity in other countries?" This point has repeatedly been discussed, and amongst the orthodox there is no difficulty in allowing the existence of a strong similarity in all systems of religion; but the value of the fact is supposed to be reduced to ridicule by the monstrous a.s.sertion, that Moses and Jesus taught all the world. Amongst the books which came under my notice, whilst prosecuting my search, was a very remarkable one, called _The Modern Buddhist_, now _The Wheel of the Law_, which is an account of the religious thoughts of a Siamese monarch, with a statement of his conversations with Christian missionaries. In this the British churchman and non-conformist can see themselves as others see them; and the Asiatic has quite as great, perhaps even a superior, right to call the European "poor and benighted," as the Christian has to call the Buddhist "a miserable Pagan."

Notwithstanding my endeavours to be perfectly "judicial," and to give what I believe to be an impartial account of the subjects which I describe, I have been, by certain critics, accused of special pleading.

It is, perhaps, unnecessary to deny the charge, for each reader must judge of my fairness, or otherwise, for himself. But, on the other hand, I retort most strongly, by averring that I have not met, in the whole course of my reading, a religious work by an orthodox divine, which does not "bear false witness against its neighbours."

There is in all both a _suppressio veri_ and a _suggestio falsi_, which makes the honest inquirer almost entirely reject their books.

In addition to this, there is in them a recklessness of statement and a.s.sertion which is unequalled, except in the fierce controversies of ancient doctors. The perfect contempt which certain puny divines, who have endeavoured to throw dirt upon the present Bishop of Natal, show for the laws of evidence, and the systematic way in which they avoid every real point at issue, are marvellous to those who know that such people have had an university education, have studied logic, and profess an unlimited respect for truth. In future years the theological writings, generally, of our time will be as much objurgated by enlightened, earnest, and thoughtful readers, as Protestants of to-day abuse the theology and prurience of Sanchez, Thomas Aquinas, and Peter Dens.

In conclusion, I would wish to add, that I am conscious, from the amount of correspondence which I have had on the subject in hand, that there is not only a wide, but a constantly extending dissatisfaction with the current theology taught by the ministers of all denominations--excepting, as a body, the Unitarians, and such individuals as Bishop Colenso, Bishop Hinds, Mr Voysey, and others. The laity are awaking to the fact that priests are strenuously endeavouring to quench the light of reason in the fogs of faith. Unless the Protestantism, of which Great Britain was once so proud, decides to drift into Papism--the only legitimate harbour for those who reject reason for a guide--it must thoroughly reform itself, and ruthlessly reject, as "necessary to salvation," every article of belief which is not only nonsensical or absurd, but which has unquestionably descended from a grovelling Paganism. To this end we hope that our essays will contribute.

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I.

A recapitulation. Destruction of an old edifice precedes the building of another on the same site. Chichester Cathedral.

Difficulties of reconstruction. Innovators are regarded as enemies. The Old Testament appraised. The Jews and their pretensions. Hebraic idea of Jehovah. The sun and moon. G.o.d and G.o.ddess. Importance of s.e.xual perfection in a Hebrew male. Women are prizes given to the faithful Jews. Almost everything Jewish came from Pagan sources, except the Sabbath. Inquiry into the New Testament necessarily follows upon an investigation of the Old. Thoughts upon the history of Christianity. Malignancy of its professors. Life of Jesus, by various authors. The ground preoccupied. The plan proposed.

In commencing another volume of a series, and one to a great extent independent of the other two, it is advisable to pause and recapitulate the points advanced, and the positions attained. This is the more necessary when the present inquiry is a natural result of a preceding one, and when an attempt is made to collect and arrange the scattered materials into an harmonious and consistent edifice. Our volumes on the subject of "Ancient Faiths in Ancient Names" were, to a great extent, destructive. They struck heavy blows in all directions, wherever a false idol was to be recognized, and they destroyed many a cherished delusion, which was to many as dear as the apple of their eye. But, throughout the whole process of destruction, the idea of the necessity for a reconstruction was present to the mind of the author.

It may, indeed, be propounded as an interesting question, whether any iconoclast ever destroys the idols which his fellow-beings cherish, without entertaining the belief that he has something superior to offer in their place. When the fanatic Spaniards upset, fractured, and ground to powder the stone monsters venerated by the Mexicans, they offered to the natives the image of a lovely virgin and her gentle son to replace them; and when the enthusiastic Scotchmen destroyed the marble saints and gaudy figures of the Popish churches throughout their own country, they eagerly set forth the superiority of adoring the invisible creator in spirit and imagination, which afforded scope for the most entrancing mental delineations, and was far superior to reverencing an ugly effigy, which no one with any correct taste could admire. In like manner, when the Mahometan Caliph destroyed the library of Alexandria, he offered to the mourners in its place the book of the Prophet Mahomet, which was, in his eyes, a pearl of so great price as to be equivalent in value to all the world besides.

There can be no doubt, however, that the process of destruction is far more easy than the task of reconstruction. The engineer who is called upon to remove a bridge, on account of the badness of its foundation, may admire the extraordinary firmness with which every stone has been dovetailed together, and, with the means at his command, may be unable to construct another having a similar appearance of stability; yet, after all, an arch which is secure and stable is preferable to one which is good only in appearance. A very few years have elapsed since it was found that the tower and spire of the Cathedral at Chichester had been so built that there was imminent danger of the whole falling down. This part of the edifice resembled certain faiths which have been raised with great art to a vast height, with very slender and inadequate material.

So long as they were not a.s.sailed by any storm, or tested by the changes which time produces, they seemed firm and unshakable; but, when they were really tried, they began to undergo a process similar to that which obtained in the Cathedral named--the admirers of the edifice attempted to prop up the failing tower; with iron and timber they sh.o.r.ed up its bulging sides; they erected strong scaffolds to ease the mighty strain upon the crumbling walls; but all in vain--the lovely spire, built upon a foundation as rotten as the Mormon faith, came tumbling down, and the tall emblem pointing to the sky returned once more to earth. Before there could be any reconstruction attempted, it was necessary to procure all the material necessary; and when, with great labour, this was acc.u.mulated, a fresh erection was made, which was far stronger than the first, for every stone was duly examined, and solid masonry replaced the ancient rubble. So it has been with many a faith. Christianity has replaced the crumbling Judaism which existed at the beginning of our era, and the Reformed Church has since then, in many countries, replaced the gigantic sham of Popery. But the metaphor is one which we cannot wholly adopt, inasmuch as we believe that no faith of ancient times has ever wholly fallen like the spire and tower of Chichester, nor has any new system of belief the solidity of that new edifice which has replaced the old.

The difficulties connected with reconstruction are greatly increased by the propensity which is so common in the human mind to make the best of that which is in actual existence and familiar to the vulgar, rather than to adopt something entirely new. The child who dislikes to go to bed at night equally dislikes to get up in the morning, and we have known elderly people who have systematically preferred an old lumbering stage-coach to a first-cla.s.s compartment in a railway carriage. In every walk of life an innovator is regarded as an enemy by the majority, and especially by those whose practice or whose theories his discoveries supersede.

Yet, great as is the contest which any new truth has to sustain, there is no doubt whatever that the first part of the fight--the preliminaries essential to conquest, are the investigation of the ground to be occupied; the real value of the defences; the superiority of the armour; and the temper, strength, and tenacity of the offensive weapons. The engineer to whom is confided the attack or the defence of a town will abandon or destroy everything which would harbour an enemy or facilitate his operations. The fighting commodore, ere he carries his ship into action, sacrifices readily all the gewgaws of luxury; and in like manner the ecclesiastic ought never to endanger his position by spending his energies in the defence of a useless outwork or a tinsel ornament.

Entertaining these views ourselves, our first effort has been to clear the ground, and to remove every object which we consider to be detrimental to the spread of truth.

We have demonstrated, as far as such a matter is capable of demonstration, that the Old Testament, which has descended to us from the Jews, is not the mine of truth which it has been supposed by so many to be: that not only it is not a revelation given by G.o.d to man, but that it is founded upon ideas of the Almighty which are contradicted by the whole of animate and inanimate nature. We showed, that its composition was wholly of human origin, and that its authors had a very mean and degrading notion of the Lord of Heaven and Earth. We proved, what indeed Colenso and a host of German critics have demonstrated in another fashion, that its historical portions are not to be depended upon; that its stories are of no more real value than so many fairy tales or national legends; that its myths can now be readily traced to Grecian, Babylonian, and Persian sources; that its miracles are as apocryphal as those told of Vishnu, Siva, and other deities; and its prophecies absolutely worthless. We proved, moreover, that the remote antiquity of its authorship has been greatly exaggerated; that the stories of the creation, of the flood, of Abraham, of Jacob, of the descent into, and the exodus from, Egypt, of the career of Moses and the Jews in the desert, of Joshua and his soldiers, of the judges and their clients, are all apocryphal, and were fabricated at a late period of Jewish history, with the design of inspiriting the Hebrews at a period when their depression of spirit from foreign conquest was extreme; that the so-called Mosaic laws were not known until long after the time of David, and that some of the enactments--that about the Jubilee, for example--were never promulgated at all. We showed that the Jewish conception of the Almighty, and of His heavenly host, did not materially differ from the Greek idea of Jupiter and his inferior deities; that the Hebrews regarded Jehovah as having human pa.s.sions and very human failings--as loving, revengeful, stern, merry, and vacillating--as "everything by turns and nothing long"--as forming a resolution, and then contriving how He might, as it were, overreach Himself. We pointed out that the Jews did, in reality, paint G.o.d and the Devil or Satan, as the same individual, being the former to His friends, and the latter to His enemies. Indeed, anyone who compares 2 Sam. xxiv. 1 with 1 Chron.

xxi. 1 will see this most clearly demonstrated. We called attention to the apparently utter ignorance of the Jews that certain laws of nature existed, and of their consequent belief that defeat, disease, famine, slaughter, pestilence, and the like, were direct punishments of ceremonial or other guilt; while victory, wealth, virility, and old age were special and decided proofs of the Divine favour. We showed that the Jews were, in general, an abject but a very boastful race, and that their spiritual guides--the so-called prophets--were constantly promising, but always vainly, a striking manifestation of the Almighty's power in favour of the Hebrews when they were in the depths of misery, that histories were fabricated to give colour to these statements, and that these, like modern miracles of saints, were narrated as occurring a long time ago, and in a locality which could not be visited, e.g., in Samaria and Egypt; we showed, moreover, that the race was imitative, and readily adopted the religious ideas and practices of those who conquered them. Still further, we proved that the Jews had no idea whatever of a future state, and were in utter ignorance of heaven or h.e.l.l; that they regarded the Almighty as punishing crime or rewarding goodness in this world alone, and, consequently, we inferred either--(1) that the conversation said to have been held between Jehovah and certain apocryphal men did not really occur; or (2) that G.o.d did not think the existence of a future world a matter of sufficient consequence to communicate to His friends; or (3) that Elohim had not then created either a habitation for the blessed, or a future prison-house for the d.a.m.ned; and we pointed out that the opinions of the Pharisees about angels, spirits, and futurity were not based upon the writings of Moses and the prophets, but upon Persian fantasies. In fine, we showed, that the Hebrews could not sustain the claim they made to be the especial people of G.o.d, and that their writings are of no more value, as records of absolute truth, or of Divine revelation, than the books of the Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hindoos, Chinese, or the more modern Mahometans.

With all this we indicated that there was, throughout the nations known as Shemitic, a general belief in the existence of an Almighty Being, Creator, Director and Governor of the heaven, the earth, and the sea; that He was considered to be One, yet that He was, nevertheless, represented by a multiplicity of names, and as having many and opposite attributes.

We also showed, that this sublime conception was very thickly coated with human ideas, often of a debased and grovelling type, and darkened by legends, which were invented by priests with the design of clothing themselves, and those of their order, with a portion of the garments which they had a.s.signed to the Inscrutable. We showed, how the sun and moon, the stars and planets, became interwoven with the idea of a Celestial Being, and how they were described in turn as His ministers, His residence, His army, and sometimes even as Himself. We showed, moreover, that the Almighty was depicted by some as a male, having the attributes and pa.s.sions of men, by others as a female, or celestial G.o.ddess, and by others as androgyne--not exactly a bifrons, like Ja.n.u.s, but masculine and feminine, Elohim, Baalim, Ashtaroth; that in the development of this idea, everything which has reference to the phenomena of mundane creation was closely studied, and introduced into one religious system or another. As a result of this, it followed, that there were some sects and temples consecrated to the adoration of the Creator as masculine, others as feminine, and others as both combined.

We showed still farther, that each sect adopted certain emblems, which were intended to represent the distinctive mark of the s.e.x under which it worshipped the Omnipotent, and that the emblems became multiplied as different nations came into contact with each other, learned foreign theology, and advanced in their knowledge of natural history. To such an extent was this symbolism, to which we refer, carried, that the s.e.xual idea of the Creator at last pervaded, to a greater or less degree, all forms of worship, and gradually degraded them deeper and deeper, in consequence of the emblems of the deity being mistaken for the deity itself, much in the same way as the vulgar, amongst the Roman Catholics, regard a statuette or picture of the Virgin, or an Ashantee a particular form of idol fetish. As an example of such development, we pointed out that the a.s.syrians represented the G.o.dhead as four-fold, consisting of the triple male and the single female element in mundane creation, and that the idea of the trinity in unity, which is a doctrine recognized as far back amongst all nations as history will carry us, was originally founded solely upon the well-known fact that the characteristic of the male is a triad, of which all the parts are really, and in no mysterious manner, "co-eternal together and co-equal." We also showed that the feminine idea of the Creator has, from time immemorial, been a.s.sociated, in one form or another, with that of a lovely virgin holding a child in her arms, which is generally very young, and mostly receiving food from a maternal bosom, the reason of which we hinted at.

We showed that the myths of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarai, Esau and Jacob, were incorporations of the idea that the trinity and the unity, or, to use the very words of the Athanasian creed, "the trinity in unity," were the founders of the race of living beings, and, as such, worthy of worship and honour throughout all ages. This union was spoken of as "the four," and was symbolized as a square or a cross of four points, or a cross of eight points. We showed, still farther, that the male Creator was identified with the sun, and the female with the crescent moon, and also with the earth; and that one of the symbols of this celestial union of the s.e.xes was the sun lying within the moon's crescent.

We also demonstrated, that a very large part of Pagan worship consisted in the performance of rites and ceremonies, whose end was the glorification of the deity under one or other of the selected symbols, and that a number of feasts were appointed to be held at certain astronomical periods, in which the a.s.sistants were encouraged to indulge in every form of sensuality (Deut. xiv. 26). We pointed out, that the Jewish people were largely tainted by this vicious form of worship prior to the Babylonian captivity, and that a very large portion of their nomenclature was based upon s.e.xual ideas of the Creator. We also showed, that the Jewish writings encouraged certain forms of sensuality in a conspicuous manner; that the condition of the male organ was represented as being of such importance as to be the ground work of the covenant between G.o.d and the Hebrews, it being declared (Gen. xvii. 14), as if by the word of the Lord, that no man was to be allowed to live whose organ had not been improved in a definite manner, i.e., by circ.u.mcision or excision of the prepuce, and that no man was to be admitted into the congregation of the faithful whose characteristic male organs had in any way been injured or removed. Deuteronomy xxiii. 1 is conclusive upon this point, and there is no ambiguity in the words of the decree. We pointed out, also, that not only was abundance of offspring promised to the faithful as a proof of G.o.d's regard to them, but that the laws, said to be delivered by Jehovah to Moses, positively provided (see Deut. xxi.

10-14) the means by which the harems of the wealthy could be stocked in times of war, and by which even the poor might also be indulged, in or about the precincts of the temple, where slave and foreign women were kept for the purpose (Numb. x.x.xi. 40). We pointed out that the natural result of this licensed debauchery was a great increase in the population, which was so much in excess of the capacity of the land to sustain them, that it was necessary to check the number of adult mouths by conniving at infanticide, as was done in Rajpootana up to a recent period, and is said to be done in China now. It is clear, from the denunciations by the prophets of the vileness of the Jews of Jerusalem, and the impotent laws which were introduced into the so-called Mosaic code, that the Hebrew family was to the full as bad and vile as were the nations around them.

We further showed that there was a marked difference in the thoughts, the doctrines, the laws, the knowledge, the writings, and the form of worship amongst the Jews after they had come into contact with the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks; and we adverted to the fact that the laws of the Persians, and those of him, whom we would designate "the fict.i.tious Moses," were remarkably similar; and we showed that everything in the Old Testament, which is, by the majority of Christians, deemed to be of Divine origin, had been derived from or through one or other of the sources which we have named, and which we call Pagan. From this we deduced the important corollary, either that the so-called revelation of the Old Testament is a sham, a priestly fabrication, and what is known as "a pious fraud," or that it was not made originally to the Hebrews. In neither case can the Jews establish a t.i.tle to be the "chosen people of G.o.d" in any sense of the words. If the Bible is true, the Gentiles have spiritual precedence over the Hebrews, and the Pagans have the _pas_ of the Christians.

This deduction enabled us to recognize the importance of an extended inquiry into the faith, religion, and practice of other nations, before we a.s.sume ourselves to be in a position to appreciate the claims which one human being, or any body of men, might make to be the representatives of the Almighty, the sole recipients of His commands, and the only medium by which prayers can be forwarded to Him. Again, the history of the past, and a study of the present, enabled us to see that the foundation of a new religion, or the modification of an old one, did not destroy ancient practices, though it transferred priestly power to a new set of men, who, while they introduced new G.o.ds and new dogmas, endeavoured to incorporate the older ideas with new, so as to seduce or cheat the vulgar, whom it was not judicious to slaughter, into adopting the new faith. Consequently, we are able to understand how indecent ideas, s.e.xual emblems, and Pagan festivals, with many of the licentious practices a.s.sociated therewith, have been handed down from a remote idolatry to a modern and comparatively enlightened Christianity. The symbols of the objectionable still remain, but the things symbolized have been altered, and the original ideas suppressed. The male triad is a holy trinity; the monad is no longer the emblem of womankind, but of the so-called Mother of G.o.d, or, as the Romanists say, of the _Mater Creatoris_. But with this knowledge comes the very important consideration, how far Christian ideas, which are founded upon Pagan fancies, can be regarded as Divine. This, again, involves the question, how far Jesus, who had not penetration enough to discover the true nature of the writings to which he trusted, can be considered as an incarnation of Divine knowledge, or of unbounded wisdom. Still further, it became clear, after our arguments, that if the stories of the creation of man, the fall of Adam, the life of Noah, of Abraham, of Moses, the tale of Sinai, and the supremacy of Judah, are mythical--if the prophetic writings are as worthless as the oracles of Dodona and of Delphi--then all theories, dogmas, and doctrines founded upon them must be equally valueless.

In pursuance of my subject, I pointed out that there was not a nation known to history which had not its G.o.d or G.o.ds, a sacred priesthood, a set of prophets, either located in one spot, or appearing as independent vaticinators, a number of holy festivals, of hallowed shrines, of mysterious temples, and an inner and recondite arcanum into which the profane were not permitted to enter. I showed that other nations besides the Jews had a sacred ark which was an emblem of a divinity; that the use of sacrifices was common to every nation of antiquity; and that such things had existed in Hindostan from time immemorial. I pointed out, that there was no single precept or order contained in the Jewish Ritual which could not be found amongst all other people, with the sole exception of the Sabbath; and that the respect for this very strange law was due to the ignorance of the Hebrews, who regarded Saturn as the most high amongst the G.o.ds--information gained from the Babylonians.