The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors Part 19

We find one pagan writer who had intelligence enough to ridicule this senseless ceremonial custom, called "the sacrament." Cicero, some forty years before Christ, shows up the doctrine of the sacrament, or substantiation, in its true light. He asks, "How can a man be so stupid as to imagine that which he eats to be a G.o.d?" A writer quoted above says, "Ma.s.s, or the sacrifice of bread and wine, was common to many ancient nations." (Anac. vol. ii. p. 62.) According to Alnetonae, the ancient Brahmins had a kind of Eucharist called "prajadam." And the same writer informs us that the ancient Peruvians, "after sacrificing a lamb, mingled his blood with flour, and distributed it among the people."

Writers on Grecian mythology relate that Ceres, the G.o.ddess of corn, gave her flesh to eat, and that Bacchus, the G.o.d of wine, gave blood to drink. Nor is there any evidence that Christ and his followers made a better use, or different use, or a more spiritual application of the sacrament, or ceremonial offering of bread and wine, than the pagans did, though some have claimed this. It was a species of symbolism with both, notwithstanding Mr. Glover, a Christian writer, declares, that "in the sacrament of the altar are the natural body and blood of Christ, verily and indeed." (See Glover's Remarks on Bishop Marsh's Compendious Review.) It may be noted here that the Persians, Pythagoreans, Essenes and Gnostics used water instead of wine, and that this mode of practice was less objectionable than that of the Christians, who (as sad experience proves) have too often laid the foundation for the ruin of some poor unsuspecting devotee, by luring him to the fatal fascination of the intoxicating bowl, by holding the sacred and ceremonial wine to his lips, while administering the sacrament or the Lord's supper.

CHAPTER XXVIII. ANOINTING WITH OIL OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN

THE custom and ceremony of anointing with oil by way of imparting some fancied spiritual power and religious qualification seems to have been extensively practiced by the Jews and primitive Christians, and still more anciently by various oriental nations. Mark (xiv. 4), reports Jesus Christ as speaking commendingly of the practice, by which it was evident he was in favor of the superst.i.tious custom. The apostle James not only sanctions it, but recommends it in the most specific language. "Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." (James v. 14.)

The practice of greasing or smearing with oil, it may be noted here, was in vogue from other motives besides the one here indicated. We find the statement in the New American Cyclopedia (vol. i. p. 620), that anointing with perfumed oil was in common use among the Greeks and Romans as a mark of hospitality to guests. And modern travelers in the East still find it a custom for visitors to be sprinkled with rose-water, or their head, face and beard "anointed with olive oil."

"Anointing," we are also told, "is an ancient and still prevalent custom throughout the East, by pouring aromatic oils on persons as a token of honor.... It was also employed in consecrating priests, prophets and kings, and the places and instruments appointed for worship." (Ibid.) Joshua anointed the ten stones he set up in Jordan, and Jacob the stone on which he slept at the time of his great vision.

The early Christians were in the habit of anointing the altars, and even the walls, of the churches, in the same manner as the images, obelisks, statues, etc., had long been consecrated by the devotees of the oriental systems. Aaron, Saul, David, Solomon, and even Jesus Christ were anointed with oil in the same way. David Malcom, in his "Essay on the Antiquity of the Britons," p. 144, says, "The Mexican king was anointed with Holy Unction by the high priest while dancing before the Lord."

Vide the case of David "dancing before the Lord with all his might." Dr.

Lightfoot, in his "Harmony of the New Testament," speaks of the custom among the Jews of anointing the sick on the Sabbath day (see Works, vol.

i, p. 333; also Toland, Sect. Naz. p. 54), as afterwards recommended by the apostle James, as shown above. This accords exactly with the method of treating the sick in ancient India and other heathen countries several thousand years ago. For proof consult Hyde, Bryant, Tertullian and other writers. The custom of anointing the sick, accompanied with prayer and other ceremonies, was quite fashionable in the East long before the birth of either Jesus or James. One writer testifies that "the practice of anointing with oil, so much in vogue among the Jews, and sanctioned by Christ and his followers, was held in high esteem in nearly all the Eastern religions."

The foregoing historical facts furnish still further proof that Christianity is the offspring of heathenism.

CHAPTER XXIX. HOW MEN, INCLUDING JESUS CHRIST, CAME TO BE WORSHIPED AS G.o.dS

JESUS CHRIST A DEMIG.o.d, ACCORDING TO CHRISTIAN WRITERS.

IT is truly surprising to observe the damaging concessions of some of the early Christian writers, ruinous to the dogmas of their own faith with respect to the divinity of Jesus Christ, placing him, as they do, on an exact level with the heathen demiG.o.ds, proving that the belief in his divinity originated in the same manner the belief in theirs did, by which it is clearly shown to be a pagan derived doctrine. Several Christian writers admit the belief in earth-born G.o.ds (called Sons of G.o.ds), and their coming into the world by human birth was prevalent among the heathen long prior to the time of Christ. Hear the proof.

We will first quote St. Justin relative to the prevalence of the belief among the ancient Greeks and Romans. Addressing them, he says, "The t.i.tle of Son of G.o.d (As applied to Jesus Christ) is very justifiable upon the account of his wisdom, considering you have your Mercury in your worship, under the t.i.tle of Word or Messenger of G.o.d." (Reeves Apol. p. 76.) Here is the proof that the tradition of the Son of G.o.d coming into the world, and "the Word becoming flesh," was established amongst the ancient Greeks and Romans long prior to the era of Christianity, or the birth of Christ.

And yet more than a hundred millions of Christian professors can now be found, who, in their historic ignorance, suppose St. John was the first writer who taught the doctrine of "the Word becoming flesh," and that Jesus Christ was "the first and only begotten Son of G.o.d" who ever made his appearance on earth. How true it is that "ignorance is the mother of devotion" to creeds.

How "the man Christ Jesus" came to be worshiped as a G.o.d, is pretty clearly indicated by Bishop Horne, who shows that the doctrine of the incarnation was of universal prevalence long before Jesus Christ came into the flesh. He says, "That G.o.d should, in some extraordinary manner, visit and dwell with man, is an idea, which, as we read the writings of the ancient heathen, meets us in a thousand different forms." If, then, the tradition of G.o.d being born into the world was so universally established in heathen countries before the Christian era, as here shown, why should not, and why will not, our good Christian brethren dismiss their prejudices, and tear the scales from their eyes, so as to see that this universal belief would as naturally lead to the deification and worship of "the man Christ Jesus" as water flows down a descending plane?

And, certainly a thousand times more reasonable is the a.s.sumption that his deification originated in this way, than that, with all his frailties and foibles, he was ent.i.tled to the appellation of a G.o.d--a conclusion strongly corroborated by the testimony of that able Christian writer, Mr. Norton, who tells us that "many of the first Christians being converts from Gentileism, their imaginations were familiar with the reputed incarnation of heathen deities." How natural it would be for such converts to worship "the man Christ Jesus" as a G.o.d on account of his superior manhood!

Again, that ancient pillar of the Christian church, St. Justin, concedes that the ancient oriental heathen held all the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith relating to the incarnation long prior to the introduction and establishment of Christianity. Hear him: Addressing the pagans, he says, "For by declaring the Logos the first begotten Son of G.o.d, our Master, Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin without any human mixture, and to be crucified, and dead, and to have risen again into heaven, we say no more in this than what you say of those whom you style the sons of Jove." (Reeves, Apol. vol. i. p. 69.) Now, Christian reader, mark the several important admissions which are made here:--

1. Here is traced to ancient heathen tradition the belief in an incarnate Son of G.o.d.

2. The doctrine of a "first begotten Son of G.o.d."

3. Of his being born of a virgin.

4. Of his crucifixion.

5. Of his resurrection.

6. Of his final ascension into heaven.

All these cardinal doctrines of Christianity are here shown to have been in existence, and to have been preached by pagan priests long anterior to the Christian era, thus entirely oversetting the common belief of Christendom that these doctrines were never known or preached in the world until heralded by the first disciples of the Christian religion.

A fatal mistake, truly! This suicidal admission of St Justin (a standard Christian writer) thus entirely uptrips all pretensions to originality in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, and shows it to be a mere travesty of the more ancient heathen systems.

And we have still other testimony to corroborate this conclusion. The French writer Bazin says, "The most ancient histories are those of G.o.ds becoming incarnate in order to govern mankind." Again he says, "The idea sprang up everywhere from confused ideas of G.o.d, which prevailed everywhere among mankind that G.o.ds formerly descended upon earth. The fertile imagination of the people of various nations converted men into G.o.ds."

And to the same effect is the declaration of Mr. Higgins, that "there was incarnate G.o.ds in all religions." Sadly beclouded and warped indeed must be that mind which cannot see that here is set in as plain view as the cloudless sun at noonday, the origin of the deification of "the man Christ Jesus." No unbiased mind can possibly stave off the conclusion that such a universal prevalence of the practice of G.o.d-making throughout the religious world would cause such a man as Jesus Christ to be worshiped as a G.o.d--especially when we look at the various motives which promoted men to G.o.ds, which we will now present.

MOTIVES TO INCARNATION, OR THE CAUSE OF MEN BEING WORSHIPED AS G.o.dS.

The causes which led to the conception of G.o.ds and Sons of G.o.d becoming clothed in human flesh--the manner in which the absurd idea originated of an infinite being descending from heaven, a.s.suming the form of a man, being born of a pure and spotless virgin, and finally being killed by his own children, the subjects of his own government, are palpably plain and easily understood' in the light of oriental history.

And at the same time it is so shockingly absurd, that the rapid march of science and civilization will soon inaugurate the era when the man or woman who shall still be found clinging to these childish and superst.i.tious conceptions--the offspring of ignorance, and the relics of barbarism, and a certain proof of undeveloped or unenlightened minds--will be looked upon as deplorably ignorant and superst.i.tious. We will proceed to enumerate some of the causes which promoted men to the dignity of G.o.ds.

1. G.o.d must come down to suffer and sympathize with the people.

The people of all ancient religious countries were so externally-minded, that they demanded a G.o.d whom they could know by virtue of his corporeity, really sympathized with their sorrows, their sufferings, their wrongs, and their oppressions, and, like Jesus Christ, "touched with a feeling of our infirmities" (Heb. iv. 15)--a G.o.d so far invested with human attributes, human frailties, and human sympathies, that he could shoulder their burdens and their infirmities, and take upon himself a portion of their sufferings. Hence it is said of Christ, "himself took our infirmities." (Matt. iii. 17.)

The same conception runs through the pagan systems. One writer sets forth the matter thus: "The Creator occasionally a.s.sumed a mortal form to a.s.sist mankind in great emergencies" (as Jesus Christ was afterward reported as being the Creator. See Col. i. 16.) "And as repeated sojourners on earth in various capacities, they (the Saviors) became practically acquainted with all the sorrows and temptations of humanity, and could justly judge of its sins while they sympathized with its weaknesses and its sufferings. When they again returned to the higher regions (heaven), they remembered the lower forms they had dwelt amongst, and felt a lively interest in the world they had once inhabited. They could penetrate even the secret thoughts of mortals."

The people then demanding a G.o.d of sympathy and suffering (as shown above), their credulous imaginations would not be long in finding one.

Let a man rise up in society endowed with an extraordinary degree of spirituality and sympathy for human suffering; let him, like Chrishna, Pythagoras, Christ, and Mahomet, spend his time in visiting the hovels of the poor, or consoling their sorrows, laboring to mitigate their griefs, and in performing acts of charity, disinterested alms and deeds of benevolence, kindness and love, and so certain would he sooner or later command the homage of a G.o.d. For this was always the mode adopted, in an ignorant, undeveloped, and unenlightened age, for accounting not merely for moral greatness, but for every species of mental and physical superiority, as will be hereafter shown. We will proceed to notice the second cause of men being invested with divine attributes.

2. The people must and would have an external G.o.d they could see, hear, and talk to.

All the oriental nations, as well as Christian, taught that "G.o.d was a spirit," but no nation or cla.s.s of people, not even the founders of Christianity, entertained a consistent view of the doctrine. Only a few learned philosophers saw the scientific impossibility of an infinite spirit being crowded into the human form. Hence they alone were contented to "worship G.o.d in spirit and in truth." Every religious nation went counter to the spirit of this injunction in worshiping for a G.o.d a being in the human form. Even the founders of Christianity, though making high claims to spirituality, were too gross, too sensuous in their conceptions, too externally-minded, and too idolatrous in their feelings and proclivities, to be content to "worship G.o.d in spirit."

Hence their deification of the "man Christ Jesus" to answer the requisition of an external worship, by which they violated the command to "worship G.o.d as a spirit." That the practice of promoting men to the G.o.dhead originated with minds on the external plane, and evinces a want of spiritual development, is clearly set forth by the author of "The Nineteenth Century" (a Christian writer) who tells us, "The idea of the primitive ages were wholly sensuous, and the ma.s.ses did not believe in anything except that which they could touch, see, hear and taste." A true description, no doubt, of the ancient pagan worshipers of demiG.o.ds.

But we warn the Christian reader not to cast anchor here, for we have at our elbow abundance of Christian testimony from the pens of the very oracles of the church to prove that the same state of things, the same state of society, the same state of mind, the same proclivity for G.o.d-making, existed with the people among whom Christ was born, and that it was owing to this sensuous, idolatrous state of mind among his disciples that he received the homage and t.i.tle of a G.o.d.

Hence the famous Archbishop Tillotson says, "Another very common notion, and rife in the heathen world, and a great source of their idolatry, was their deification of great men fit to be worshiped as G.o.ds."... "There was a great inclination in mankind to the worship of a visible Deity.

So G.o.d was pleased to appear in our nature, that they who were fond of a visible Deity might have one, even a true and natural incarnation of G.o.d the Father, the express image of his person." Now, we enjoin the reader to mark this testimony well, and impress it indelibly upon his memory.

According to this orthodox Christian bishop, Jesus Christ appeared on earth as a G.o.d in condescension to the wishes of a people too devoid of spirituality, and too strongly inclined to idolatry, to worship G.o.d as a spirit. For he admits the worship of a G.o.d-man or a man-G.o.d is a species of idolatry. This tells the whole story of the apotheosis of "the man Christ Jesus." We have no doubt but that here is suggested one of the true causes of his elevation to the Deityship. Again he says, "The world was mightily bent on addressing their requests and supplications, not to the Deity immediately, but by some Mediator between the G.o.ds and men."

(See Wadsworth's Eccles. Biog. p. 172.) Here, then, we have the most conclusive proof that the belief in mediators is of pagan origin. We will now hear from another archbishop on this subject. In his "Caution to the Times" (p, 71 ), Archbishop Whately says, "As the Infinite Being is an object too remote and incomprehensible for our minds to dwell upon, he has manifested himself in his Son, the man Jesus Christ"

Precisely so 1 just the kind of reasoning employed to account for the worship of man-G.o.ds among the heathen. This logic fits one case as well as the other.

The Christian writer F. D. Maurice declares in like manner, "We accept the fact of the incarnation (of Jesus Christ), because we feel that it is impossible to know the absolute invisible G.o.d without an incarnation, as man needs to know him, and craves to know him." (Logical Essay, p.

79.) Here is more pagan logic--the same reasoning they employed to prove the divinity of their Saviors and demiG.o.ds. And the Rev. Dr. Thomas Arnold declares, "It (the incarnation of Christ) was very necessary, especially at a time when men were so accustomed to worship their highest G.o.ds under the form of men" (Sermon on Christian Life, p. 61.) Let the reader attentively observe the explicit avowal here made, and mark well its pregnant inferences. He makes Jesus Christ come into the world in condescension to the idolatrous rivalry of the Jews to be up with the heathen nations in worshiping G.o.d in the form of man; that is, the founders of Christianity, having been Jews, disclosed the true Jewish character in running after and adopting the customs of heathen countries then so rife--that of hunting up a great man, and making him a G.o.d--which was only one case out of many of the Jews adopting some of the numerous forms of idolatry and other religious customs of their heathen neighbors. Their whole history, as set forth in the Bible, proves, as we have shown in another chapter, that they were strongly p.r.o.ne to such acts. It is not strange, therefore, that they should and did convert "the man Christ Jesus" into a G.o.d. We will now listen to another Christian writer, the notable and noteworthy Dr. T. Chambers.

"Whatever the falsely or superst.i.tiously fearful imagination conjures up because of G.o.d being at a distance, can only be dispelled by G.o.d being brought nigh to us.... The veil which hides the unseen G.o.d from the eyes of mortals must be somehow withdrawn." (Select Works, vol. iii. p. 161.) Most significant indeed is this species of reasoning. It is the same kind of logic which had led to the promotion of more than a score of great men to the G.o.dhead among the ancient heathen. "The veil which hides the unseen G.o.d must be removed'" says Dr. Chambers; and so had reasoned in soliloquy a thousand pagans long before, when determined to worship men for G.o.ds. It is simply saying, "We are too carnally-minded to worship G.o.d in spirit; we must and will have a G.o.d of flesh and blood--a G.o.d who can be recognized by the external senses;" he must "become flesh, and dwell amongst us." (See John i. 14.) Our author continues: "Now all this (removing the veil from the unseen G.o.d) has been done once, and done only once in the person of Jesus Christ."

(Ibid.) Mistake, most fatal mistake, brother Chambers! It has been done more than a score of times in various heathen countries--a fact which proves you ignorant of oriental history.

Now let the reader mark the foregoing citations from standard Christian authors, setting forth some of the reasons which led the founders of Christianity to adopt a visible man-G.o.d in their worship in the person of Jesus Christ, Language could hardly be used to prove more conclusively that the whole thing grew out of an idolatrous proclivity to man-worship,--that is, the gross, sensuous, carnally-minded propensity to worship an extetnal, visible G.o.d,--proving, with the corroborative evidence of many other facts, that they were not a whit above the heathen in spiritual development. The reason employed by the Thibetan for the worship of the Hindoo Chrishna as a G.o.d, tells the whole story of the worship and the deification of Jesus Christ "We could not always have G.o.d behind the clouds; so we had him come down where we could see him." This is the same kind of reasoning made use of by the Christian writer above quoted, all of which discloses a state of mind among both heathen and Christians that would not long rest satisfied without deifying somebody, in order to have a visible G.o.d to worship. And hence Christians deified "the man Christ Jesus" for this purpose.

"The more externally minded (says Fleurbach), the greater was the determination to worship a personal G.o.d"--G.o.d in the form of man. And as the Jewish founders of Christianity (as every chapter of their history demonstrates) were dwelling on the external plane, it was not an act of direct innovation, therefore, for them to fall into the habit of worshiping the personal Jesus as a G.o.d. It involved no serious incursion on previous thoughts or habits. And warped and blinded, indeed, must be that mind which cannot here discover the true key to the apotheosis of Jesus--one of the real causes of his being stripped of his manhood, and advanced to the G.o.dhead. It was as naturally to be expected from the then state of the religious world, and the state of the Jewish mind concerned in the founding of Christianity, as that an autumnal crop of fruit should succeed the bloom of spring.

Let it be specially noted, that all the Christian writers above cited tell us, in effect, that G.o.d sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to be worshiped as a G.o.d in condescension to the ignorance and superst.i.tious tendencies, and we will add, idolatrous proclivities of the people. From this stand-point we challenge the world to show why G.o.d may not have sent the oriental Saviors into the world for the same reason--that is, in condescension to the prejudices of the devout worshipers under the heathen systems. Why, then, is there not as much probability that he did do so? Why would he not be as likely to accommodate their ignorance and prejudices in this way as those of the founders of the Christian system. This question we shall keep standing before the Christian world till it is answered, and we challenge them to meet it, and overthrow it if they can.

3. Men deified on account of mental and moral superiority.