Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 137

[491:2] Wake: Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 72.

[491:3] Ibid. p. 73. Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 195.

[491:4] Faber: Orig. Pagan Idol., in Squire, p. 158.

[491:5] Ibid.

[491:6] Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 375.

[491:7] Ibid.

[491:8] Squire: p. 161.

[491:9] Ibid. p. 185.

[492:1] Squire: p. 169.

[492:2] Lundy: Monumental Christianity, p. 185.

[492:3] "SAVIOUR was a common t.i.tle of the SUN-G.o.ds of antiquity."

(Wake: Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 55.)

The ancient Greek writers speak of the Sun, as the "Generator and Nourisher of all Things;" the "Ruler of the World;" the "First of the G.o.ds," and the "Supreme Lord of all Beings." (Knight: Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 37.)

Pausanias (500 B. C.) speaks of "The Sun having the surname of SAVIOUR."

(Ibid. p. 98, _note_.)

"There is a very remarkable figure copied in Payne Knight's Work, in which we see on a man's shoulders a _c.o.c.k's_ head, whilst on the pediment are placed the words: "THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD." (Inman: Anct.

Faiths, vol. i. p. 537.) This refers to the SUN. The c.o.c.k being the natural herald of the day, he was therefore sacred, among the ancients, to the Sun." (See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 70, and Lardner: vol.

viii. p. 377.)

[493:1] The name _Jesus_ is the same as _Joshua_, and signifies _Saviour_.

[493:2] Justin Martyr: Dialog. c.u.m Typho. Quoted in Gibbon's Rome, vol.

i. p. 582.

[493:3] Matt. xxvii. 55.

[493:4] The ever-faithful woman who is always near at the death of the Sun-G.o.d is "the fair and tender light which sheds its soft hue over the Eastern heaven as the Sun sinks in death beneath the Western waters."

(c.o.x: Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 223.)

[493:5] See Ibid. vol. i. p. 80.

[493:6] Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 49.

[493:7] c.o.x: Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 223.

[494:1] See Tales of Ancient Greece, p. x.x.xi.

[494:2] PETRaeUS was an interchangeable synonym of the name Ocea.n.u.s.

[494:3] "Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee." (Matt. xvi. 22.)

[494:4] See Potter's aeschylus.

[494:5] Matt. xxvii. 45.

[494:6] As the Sun dies, or sinks in the West, blacker and blacker grows the evening shades, till there is darkness on the face of the earth.

Then from the high heavens comes down the thick clouds, and the din of its thunder crashes through the air. (Description of the death of Hercules, Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. 61, 62.)

[494:7] It Is the battle of the clouds over the dead or dying Sun, which is to be seen in the legendary history of many Sun-G.o.ds. (c.o.x: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 91.)

[494:8] This was one of the latest additions of the Sun-myth to the history of _Christ_ Jesus. This has been proved not only to have been an invention after the Apostles' time, but even after the time of Eusebius (A. D. 325). The doctrine of the descent into h.e.l.l was not in the ancient creeds or rules of faith. It is not to be found in the rules of faith delivered by Irenaeus (A. D. 190), by Origen (A. D. 230), or by Tertullian (A. D. 200-210). It is not expressed in those creeds which were made by the Councils as larger explications of the Apostles' Creed; not in the Nicene, or Constantinopolitan; not in those of Ephesus, or Chalcedon; not in those confessions made at Sardica, Antioch, Selencia, Sirmium, &c.

[495:1] At the end of his career, the Sun enters the _lowest regions_, the bowels of the earth, therefore nearly all Sun-G.o.ds are made to "descend into h.e.l.l," and remain there for three days and three nights, for the reason that from the 22d to the 25th of December, the Sun apparently remains in the same place. Thus Jonah, a personification of the Sun (see Chap. IX.), who remains three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth--typified by a fish--is made to pay: "Out of the belly of h.e.l.l cried I, and thou heardst my voice."

[495:2] See Chapter XXII.

[495:3] Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 260.

"The mighty Lord appeared in the form of a man, and enlightened those places which had ever before been in darkness; and broke asunder the fetters which before could not be broken; and with his _invincible power_ visited those who sat in the deep darkness by iniquity, and the shadow of death by sin. Then the King of Glory trampled upon Death, seized the Prince of h.e.l.l, and deprived him of all his power."

(Description of _Christ's_ Descent into h.e.l.l. Nicodemus: Apoc.)

[495:4] "The women weeping for Tammuz was no more than expressive of the Sun's loss of power in the winter quarter." (King's Gnostics, p. 102.

See also, c.o.x: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 113.)

After remaining for three days and three nights in the lowest regions, the Sun begins to ascend, thus he "rises from the dead," as it were, and "ascends into heaven."

[496:1] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 174.

[496:2] Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 100.

[496:3] Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 125.

[496:4] Egyptian Belief, p. 182.

[496:5] Ibid.

[496:6] Origin of Religions, p. 264.

[497:1] Origin of Religions, p. 268.

[497:2] Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 384.

[497:3] Origin of Religion, pp. 264-268.

[498:1] The number twelve appears in many of the Sun-myths. It refers to the twelve hours of the day or night, or the twelve moons of the lunar year. (c.o.x: Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 165. Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 175.)

Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, had twelve apostles. (Bonwick, p. 175.)