Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 48

[179:2] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 370.

[179:3] Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 94.

[179:4] Max Muller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 279.

[179:5] Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 94.

[179:6] Ibid. According to Genesis, vii. 12, "the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights" at the time of the flood.

[179:7] Genesis, viii. 6.

[179:8] Gen. xxv. 20-xxvi. 34.

[179:9] Gen. i. 3.

[179:10] Numbers, xiii. 25.

[179:11] Numbers, xiii. 13.

[179:12] Jud. iii. 11; v. 31; viii. 28.

[179:13] Jud. xiii. 1.

[179:14] I. Samuel, iv. 18.

[179:15] I. Kings, ii. 11.

[180:1] I. Kings, xi. 42.

[180:2] I. Samuel, xvii. 16.

[180:3] Gen. vii. 12.

[180:4] Exodus, xxiv. 18-x.x.xiv. 28.

[180:5] See Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 798; vol. ii. p. 402.

[180:6] See Ibid. vol. ii. p. 708.

CHAPTER XX.

THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS.

The punishment of an individual by crucifixion, for claiming to be "King of the Jews," "Son of G.o.d," or "The Christ;" which are the causes a.s.signed by the Evangelists for the Crucifixion of Jesus, would need but a pa.s.sing glance in our inquiry, were it not for the fact that there is much attached to it of a _dogmatic_ and _heathenish_ nature, which demands considerably more than a "pa.s.sing glance." The doctrine of atonement for sin had been preached long before the doctrine was deduced from the Christian Scriptures, long before these Scriptures are pretended to have been written. Before the period a.s.signed for the birth of Christ Jesus, the poet _Ovid_ had a.s.sailed the demoralizing delusion with the most powerful shafts of philosophic scorn: "_When thou thyself art guilty,_" says he, "_why should a victim die for thee? What folly it is to expect salvation from the death of another._"

The idea of expiation by the sacrifice of a _G.o.d_ was to be found among the Hindoos even in _Vedic_ times. _The sacrificer was mystically identified with the victim_, which was regarded as the ransom for sin, and the instrument of its annulment. The _Rig-Veda_ represents the G.o.ds as sacrificing _Purusha_, the primeval male, supposed to be coeval with the Creator. This idea is even more remarkably developed in the _Tandya-brahmanas_, thus:

"The lord of creatures (_praja-pati_) _offered himself a sacrifice for the G.o.ds_."

And again, in the _Satapatha-brahmana_:

"He who, knowing this, sacrifices the _Purusha-medha_, or sacrifice of the primeval male, becomes everything."[181:1]

Prof. Monier Williams, from whose work on _Hindooism_ we quote the above, says:

"Surely, in these mystical allusions to the sacrifice of a representative man, we may perceive traces of the original inst.i.tution of sacrifice as a _divinely-appointed ordinance typical of the one great sacrifice of the Son of G.o.d for the sins of the world_."[182:1]

This idea of redemption from sin through the sufferings and death of a Divine Incarnate Saviour, is simply the crowning-point of the idea entertained by primitive man that the G.o.ds _demanded_ a sacrifice of some kind, to atone for some sin, or avert some calamity.

In primitive ages, when men lived mostly on vegetables, they offered only grain, water, salt, fruit, and flowers to the G.o.ds, to propitiate them and thereby obtain temporal blessings. But when they began to eat meat and spices, and drink wine, they offered the same; naturally supposing the deities would be pleased with whatever was useful or agreeable to themselves. They imagined that some G.o.ds were partial to animals, others to fruits, flowers, etc. To the celestial G.o.ds they offered _white_ victims at sunrise, or at open day. To the infernal deities they sacrificed _black_ animals in the night. Each G.o.d had some creature peculiarly devoted to his worship. They sacrificed a _bull_ to Mars, a _dove_ to Venus, and to Minerva, a _heifer_ without blemish, which had never been put to the yoke. If a man was too poor to sacrifice a living animal, he offered an image of one made of bread.

In the course of time, it began to be imagined that the G.o.ds demanded something more sacred as offerings or atonements for sin. This led to the sacrifice of _human beings_, princ.i.p.ally slaves and those taken in war, then, their own children, even their most beloved "first-born." It came to be an idea that every sin must have its prescribed amount of punishment, _and that the G.o.ds would accept the life of one person as atonement for the sins of others_. This idea prevailed even in Greece and Rome: but there it mainly took the form of heroic self-sacrifice for the public good. Cicero says: "The force of religion was so great among our ancestors, that some of their commanders have, with their faces veiled, and with the strongest expressions of sincerity, _sacrificed themselves to the immortal G.o.ds to save their country_."[182:2]

In Egypt, offerings of human sacrifices, for the atonement of sin, became so general that "if the eldest born of the family of Athamas entered the temple of the Laphystan Jupiter at Alos in Achaia, he was sacrificed, crowned with garlands like an animal victim."[182:3]

When the Egyptian priests offered up a sacrifice to the G.o.ds, they p.r.o.nounced the following imprecations on the head of the victim:

"If any evil is about to befall either those who now sacrifice, or Egypt in general, _may it be averted on this head_."[183:1]

This idea of atonement finally resulted in the belief that the incarnate _Christ_, the _Anointed_, the _G.o.d among us_, was to _save_ mankind from a curse by G.o.d imposed. Man had sinned, and G.o.d could not and did not forgive without a propitiatory _sacrifice_. The curse of G.o.d must be removed from the _sinful_, and the _sinless_ must bear the load of that curse. It was a.s.serted that _divine justice_ required BLOOD.[183:2]

The belief of redemption from sin by the sufferings of a _Divine Incarnation_, whether by death on the cross or otherwise, was general and popular among the heathen, centuries before the time of Jesus of Nazareth, and this dogma, no matter how sacred it may have become, or how _consoling_ it may be, must fall along with the rest of the material of which the Christian church is built.

Julius Firmicius, referring to this popular belief among the _Pagans_, says: "The _devil_ has _his Christs_."[183:3] This was the general off-hand manner in which the Christian Fathers disposed of such matters.

Everything in the religion of the Pagans which corresponded to their religion was of the devil. Most Protestant divines have resorted to the _type_ theory, of which we shall speak anon.

As we have done heretofore in our inquiries, we will first turn to _India_, where we shall find, in the words of M. l'Abbe Huc, that "_the idea of redemption by a divine incarnation_," who came into the world for the express purpose of redeeming mankind, was "general and popular."[183:4]

"A sense of _original corruption_," says Prof. Monier Williams, seems to be felt by all cla.s.ses of Hindoos, as indicated by the following prayer used after the _Gayatri_ by some Vaishnavas:

"'I am sinful, I commit sin, my nature is sinful, _I am conceived in sin_. Save me, O thou lotus-eyed Heri (Saviour), the remover of sin.'"[184:1]

Moreover, the doctrine of _bhakti_ (_salvation by faith_) existed among the Hindoos from the earliest times.[184:2]

Crishna, the virgin-born, "the Divine Vishnu himself,"[184:3] "he who is without beginning, middle or end,"[184:4] being moved "to relieve the earth of her load,"[184:5] came upon earth and redeemed man by his _sufferings_--to _save_ him.

The accounts of the deaths of most all the virgin-born Saviours of whom we shall speak, are conflicting. It is stated in one place that such an one died in such a manner, and in another place we may find it stated altogether differently. Even the accounts of the death of Jesus, as we shall hereafter see, are conflicting; therefore, until the chapter on "_Explanation_" is read, these myths cannot really be thoroughly understood.

As the Rev. Geo. W. c.o.x remarks, in his _Aryan Mythology_, Crishna is described, in one of his aspects, as a self-sacrificing and unselfish hero, a being who is filled with divine wisdom and love, who offers up a sacrifice which he alone can make.[184:6]

The _Vishnu Purana_[184:7] speaks of _Crishna_ being shot in the _foot_ with an arrow, and states that _this_ was the cause of his death. Other accounts, however, state that he was suspended on a tree, or in other words, _crucified_.

Mons. Guigniaut, in his "_Religion de l'Antiquite_" says: