Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 97

Their G.o.d Thor, son of the Supreme G.o.d Odin, and the G.o.ddess Freyga, had the hammer for his symbol. It was with this hammer that Thor crushed the head of the great Mitgard serpent, that he destroyed the giants, that he restored the dead goats to life, which drew his car, that he consecrated the pyre of Baldur. _This hammer was a cross._[346:2]

The cross of Thor is still used in Iceland as a magical sign in connection with storms of wind and rain.

King Olaf, Longfellow tells us, when keeping Christmas at Drontheim:

"O'er his drinking-horn, the sign He made of the Cross Divine, And he drank, and mutter'd his prayers; But the Berserks evermore Made the sign of the hammer of Thor Over theirs."

Actually, they both made the same symbol.

This we are told by Snorro Sturleson, in the Heimskringla (Saga iv. c.

18), when he describes the sacrifice at Lade, at which King Hakon, Athelstan's foster-son, was present:

"Now when the first full goblet was filled, Earl Sigurd spoke some words over it, and blessed it in Odin's name, and drank to the king out of the horn; and the king then took it, and made the sign of the cross over it. Then said Kaare of Greyting, 'What does the king mean by doing so? will he not sacrifice?' But Earl Sigurd replied, 'The King is doing what all of you do who trust in your power and strength; for he is blessing the full goblet in the name of Thor, by making the sign of his hammer over it before he drinks it."[346:3]

The cross was also a _sacred_ emblem among the _Laplanders_. "In solemn sacrifices, all the Lapland idols were marked with it from the blood of the victims."[346:4]

It was adored by the ancient _Druids_ of Britain, and is to be seen on the so-called "fire towers" of Ireland and Scotland. The "consecrated trees" of the Druids had a _cross beam_ attached to them, making the figure of a cross. On several of the most curious and most ancient monuments of Britain, the cross is to be seen, evidently cut thereon by the Druids. Many large stones throughout Ireland have these Druid crosses cut in them.[346:5]

Cleland observes, in his "Attempt to Revive Celtic Literature," that the Druids taught the doctrine of an overruling providence, and the immortality of the soul: that they had also their Lent, their Purgatory, their Paradise, their h.e.l.l, their Sanctuaries, and the similitude of the May-pole _in form to the cross_.[347:1]

"In the Island of I-com-kill, at the monastery of the Culdees, at the time of the Reformation, there were three hundred and sixty crosses."[347:2] The Caaba at Mecca was surrounded by three hundred and sixty crosses.[347:3] This number has nothing whatever to do with Christianity, but is to be found everywhere among the ancients. It represents the number of days of the ancient year.[347:4]

When the Spanish missionaries first set foot upon the soil of _America_, in the fifteenth century, they were amazed to find that the _cross_ was as devoutly worshiped by the red Indians as by themselves. The hallowed symbol challenged their attention on every hand, and in almost every variety of form. And, what is still more remarkable, the cross was not only a.s.sociated with other objects corresponding in every particular with those delineated on Babylonian monuments; but it was also distinguished by the Catholic appellations, "the tree of subsistence,"

"the wood of health," "the emblem of life," &c.[347:5]

When the Spanish missionaries found that the cross was no new object of veneration to the red men, they were in doubt whether to ascribe the fact to the pious labors of St. Thomas, whom they thought might have found his way to America, or the sacrilegious subtlety of Satan. It was the central object in the great temple of Cozamel, and is still preserved on the _bas-reliefs_ of the ruined city of Palenque. From time immemorial it had received the prayers and sacrifices of the Aztecs and Toltecs, and was suspended as an august emblem from the walls of temples in Popogan and Cundinamarca.[347:6]

The ruined city of Palenque is in the depths of the forests of Central America. It was not inhabited at the time of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. They discovered the temples and palaces of Chiapa, but of Palenque they knew nothing. According to tradition it was founded by Votan in the ninth century before the Christian era. The princ.i.p.al building in this ruined city is the palace. A n.o.ble tower rises above the courtyard in the centre. In this building are several small temples or chapels, with altars standing. At the back of one of these altars is a slab of gypsum, on which are sculptured two figures, one on each side of a cross (Fig. No. 29). The cross is surrounded with rich feather-work, and ornamental chains.[348:1] "The style of scripture,"

says Mr. Baring-Gould, "and the accompanying hieroglyphic inscriptions, leave no room for doubting it to be a heathen representation."[348:2]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 29]

The same cross is represented on old pre-Mexican MSS., as in the Dresden Codex, and that in the possession of Herr Fejervary, at the end of which is a colossal cross, in the midst of which is represented a bleeding deity, and figures stand round a _Tau_ cross, upon which is perched the sacred bird.[348:3]

The cross was also used in the north of Mexico. It occurs among the Mixtecas and in Queredaro. Siguenza speaks of an Indian cross which was found in the cave of Mixteca Baja. Among the ruins on the island of Zaputero, in Lake Nicaragua, were also found old crosses reverenced by the Indians. White marble crosses were found on the island of St. Ulloa, on its discovery. In the state of Oaxaca, the Spaniards found that wooden crosses were erected as sacred symbols, so also in Aguatoleo, and among the Zapatecas. The cross was venerated as far as Florida on one side, and Cibola on the other. In South America, the same sign was considered symbolical and sacred. It was revered in Paraguay. In Peru the Incas honored a cross made out of a single piece of jasper; it was an emblem belonging to a former civilization.[348:4]

Among the Muyscas at c.u.mana the cross was regarded with devotion, and was believed to be endowed with power to drive away evil spirits; consequently new-born children were placed under the sign.[348:5]

The Toltecs said that their national deity Quetzalcoatle--whom we have found to be a virgin-born and crucified Saviour--had introduced the sign and ritual of the cross, and it was called the "Tree of Nutriment,"

or "Tree of Life."[349:1]

Malcom, in his "Antiquities of Britain," says

"Gomara tells that St. Andrew's cross, which is the same with that of Burgundy, was in great veneration among the c.u.mas, in South America, and that they fortified themselves with the cross against the incursions of evil spirits, and were in use to put them upon new-born infants; which thing very justly deserves admiration."[349:2]

Felix Cabrara, in his "Description of the Ancient City of Mexico," says:

"The adoration of the cross has been more general in the world, than that of any other emblem. It is to be found in the ruins of the fine city of Mexico, near Palenque, where there are many examples of it among the hieroglyphics on the buildings."[349:3]

In "Chambers's Encyclopaedia" we find the following:

"It appears that the sign of the _cross_ was in use _as an emblem having certain religious and mystic meanings attached to it, long before the Christian era_; and the Spanish conquerors were astonished to find it _an object of religious veneration_ among the nations of Central and South America."[349:4]

Lord Kingsborough, in his "Antiquities of Mexico," speaks of crosses being found in Mexico, Peru, and Yucatan.[349:5] He also informs us that the _banner_ of Montezuma was a cross, and that the historical paintings of the "Codex Vatica.n.u.s" represent him carrying a cross as his banner.[349:6]

A very fine and highly polished marble cross which was taken from the Incas, was placed in the Roman Catholic cathedral at Cuzco.[349:7]

Few cases have been more powerful in producing mistakes in ancient history, than the idea, hastily taken by Christians in all ages, that every monument of antiquity marked with a cross, or with any of those symbols which they conceived to be monograms of their G.o.d, was of Christian origin. The early Christians did not adopt it as one of their symbols; it was not until Christianity began to be paganized that it became a Christian monogram, and even then it was not the cross as we know it to-day. "It is not until the middle of the _fifth_ century that the pure form of the cross emerges to light."[349:8] The cross of Constantine was nothing more than the [Symbol: PX], the monogram of Osiris, and afterwards of Christ.[349:9] This is seen from the fact that the "_Labarum_," or sacred banner of Constantine--on which was placed the sign by which he was to conquer--was inscribed with this sacred monogram. Fig. No. 30 is a representation of the Labarum, taken from Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. The author of "The History of Our Lord in Art" says:

"It would be difficult to prove that the cross of Constantine was of the simple construction as now understood. As regards the Labarum, the coins of the time, in which it is expressly set forth, proves that the so-called cross upon it was nothing else than the same ever-recurring monogram of Christ."[350:1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 30]

Now, this so-called monogram of Christ, like everything else called Christian, is of Pagan origin. It was the monogram of the Egyptian Saviour, Osiris, and also of Jupiter Ammon.[350:2] As M. Basnage remarks in his _Hist. de Juif_:[350:3]

"Nothing can be more opposite to Jesus Christ, than the Oracle of _Jupiter Ammon_. And yet the _same cipher_ served the false G.o.d as well as the true one; for we see a medal of Ptolemy, King of Cyrene, having an eagle carrying a thunderbolt, _with the monogram of Christ to signify the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon_."

Rev. J. P. Lundy says:

"Even the P.X., which I had thought to be exclusively Christian, are to be found in combination thus: [Symbol: PX]

(just as the early Christians used it), on coins of the Ptolemies, and on those of Herod the Great, struck forty years before our era, together with this other form, so often seen on the early Christian monuments, viz.: [Symbol: P with horizontal cross-bar]."[350:4]

This monogram is also to be found on the coins of Decius, a Pagan Roman emperor, who ruled during the commencement of the third century.[350:5]

Another form of the same monogram is [Symbol: X over H] and X H. The monogram of the _Sun_ was [Symbol: Y with superimposed circle]. P. H.

All these are now called monograms of Christ, and are to be met with in great numbers in almost every church in Italy.[351:1] The monogram of Mercury was a cross.[351:2] The monogram of the Egyptian Taut was formed by three crosses.[351:3] The monogram of Saturn was a cross and a ram's horn; it was also a monogram of Jupiter.[351:4] The monogram of Venus was a cross and a circle.[351:5] The monogram of the Phenician Astarte, and the Babylonian Bal, was also a cross and a circle.[351:6] It was also that of Freya, Holda, and Aphrodite.[351:7] Its true significance was the Linga and Yoni.

The cross, which was so universally adored, in its different forms among heathen nations, was intended as an emblem or symbol of the _Sun_, of _eternal life_, the _generative powers_, &c.[351:8]

As with the cross, and the X. P., so likewise with many other so-called Christian symbols--they are borrowed from Paganism. Among these may be mentioned the mystical three letters I. H. S., to this day retained in some of our Protestant, as well as Roman Catholic churches, and falsely supposed to stand for "_Jesu Hominium Salvator_," or "In Hoc Signo." It is none other than the identical monogram of the heathen G.o.d _Bacchus_,[351:9] and was to be seen on the coins of the Maharajah of _Cashmere_.[351:10] Dr. Inman says:

"For a long period I. H. S., I. E. E. S., was a monogram of Bacchus; letters now adopted by Romanists. _Hesus_ was an old divinity of Gaul, possibly left by the Phenicians. We have the same I. H. S. in _Jazabel_, and reproduced in our _Isabel_.

The idea connected with the word is '_Phallic Vigor_.'"[351:11]

The TRIANGLE, which is to be seen at the present day in Christian churches as an emblem of the "Ever-blessed Trinity," is also of Pagan origin, and was used by them for the same purpose.

Among the numerous symbols, the Triangle is conspicuous in _India_.

Hindoos attached a mystic signification to its _three_ sides, and generally placed it in their temples. It was often composed of lotus plants, with an eye in the center.[351:12] It was sometimes represented in connection with the mystical word AUM[351:13] (Fig. No. 31), and sometimes surrounded with rays of glory.[351:14]

This symbol was engraved upon the tablet of the ring which the religious chief, called the _Brahm-atma_ wore, as one of the signs of his dignity, and it was used by the Buddhists as emblematic of the Trinity.[352:1]

The ancient _Egyptians_ signified their divine _Triad_ by a single _Triangle_.[352:2]

Mr. Bonwick says:

"The _Triangle_ was a religious form from the first. It is to be recognized in the Obelisk and Pyramid (of Egypt). To this day, in some Christian churches, the priest's blessing is given as it was in Egypt, by the sign of a triangle; viz.: two fingers and a thumb. An Egyptian G.o.d is seen with a triangle over his shoulders. This figure, in ancient Egyptian theology, was the type of the Holy Trinity--three in one."[352:3]

And Dr. Inman says: