{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_67969/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_67969","id":"gutenberg_67969","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67969","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Sexuality & Erotica","Phallicism"],"text":"PHALLIC WORSHIP\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n                            PHALLIC WORSHIP\n\n                     A DESCRIPTION OF THE MYSTERIES\n                                 OF THE\n                      SEX WORSHIP OF THE ANCIENTS\n\n                          WITH THE HISTORY OF\n                          THE MASCULINE CROSS\n\n                             AN ACCOUNT OF\n\n                PRIMITIVE SYMBOLISM, HEBREW PHALLICISM,\n                  BACCHIC FESTIVALS, SEXUAL RITES, AND\n                  THE MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT FAITHS\n\n                                 LONDON\n                           PRIVATELY PRINTED\n                                  1880\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n                                PREFACE\n\n_The present somewhat slight sketch of a most interesting subject,\nwhilst not claiming entire originality, yet embraces the cream, so to\nspeak, of various learned works of great cost, some of which being\nissued for private circulation only, are almost unobtainable._\n\n_During the past few years several books have been written upon\nPhallicism in conjunction with other kindred matters, but not devoting\nthemselves entirely to one ancient mystery, the writers have only\npartially ventilated the subject. The present work seeks to obviate this\nfailing by confining its attention entirely to the Sex Worship or\nPhallicism of the ancient world._\n\n_Many of the topics have received only slight treatment, being little\nmore than indicated; but the work will enable the reader to understand\nand possess the truth concerning the Phallic Worship of the Ancients._\n\n_Those who desire to know more, or to authenticate the statements and\nfacts given in this book, should consult the large and important works\nof Payne Knight, Higgins, Dulaure, Rolle, Inman, and other writers._\n\n_It was intended to give with this volume a list of works and\nmiscellaneous pieces written on the subject, but the length of the list\nprevented its being added._\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n                            PHALLIC WORSHIP\n\n                         NATURE AND SEX WORSHIP\n\nSex Worship has prevailed among all peoples of ancient times, sometimes\ncontemporaneous and often mixed with Star, Serpent, and Tree Worship.\nThe powers of nature were sexualised and endowed with the same feelings,\npassions, and performing the same functions as human beings.\n\nAmong the ancients, whether the Sun, the Serpent, or the Phallic Emblem\nwas worshipped, the idea was the same\u2014the veneration of the generative\nprinciple. Thus we find a close relationship between the various\nmythologies of the ancient nations, and by a comparison of the creeds,\nideas, and symbols, can see that they spring from the same source,\nnamely, the worship of the forces and operations of nature, the original\nof which was doubtless Sun worship. It is not necessary to prove that in\nprimitive times the Sun must have been worshipped under various names,\nand venerated as the Creator, Light, Source of Life, and the Giver of\nFood.\n\nIn the earliest times the worship of the generative power was of the\nmost simple and pure character, rude in manner, primitive in form, pure\nin idea, the homage of man to the supreme power, the Author of life.\n\nAfterwards the worship became more depraved, a religion of feeling,\nsensuous bliss, corrupted by a priesthood who were not slow to take\nadvantage of this state of affairs, and inculcated with it profligate\nand mysterious ceremonies, union of gods with women, religious\nprostitution and other degrading rites. Thus it was not long before the\nemblems lost their pure and simple meaning and became licentious statues\nand debased objects.\n\nHence we have the depraved ceremonies at the worship of Bacchus, who\nbecame, not only the representative of the creative power, but the God\nof pleasure and licentiousness.\n\nThe corrupted religion always found eager votaries, willing to be\ncaptives to a pleasant bondage by the impulse of physical bliss, as was\nthe case in India and Egypt, and among the Ph\u0153nicians, Babylonians, Jews\nand other nations.\n\nSex worship once personified became the supreme and governing deity,\nenthroned as the ruling God over all; dissent therefrom was impious and\npunished. The priests of the worship compelled obedience; monarchs\ncomplied to the prevailing faith and became willing devotees to the\nshrines of Isis and Venus on the one hand, and of Bacchus and Priapus on\nthe other, by appealing to the most animating passion of nature.\n\n                               PHALLICISM\n\nThis is the worship of the reproductive powers, the sexual appointments\nrevered as the emblems of the Creator. The one male, the active creative\npower; the other the female or passive power; ideas which were\nrepresented by various emblems in different countries.\n\nThese emblems were of a pure and sacred character, and used at a time\nwhen the prophets and priests spoke plain speech, understood by a rude\nand primitive people; although doubtless by the common people the\nemblems were worshipped themselves, even as at the present day in Roman\nCatholic countries the more ignorant, in many cases, actually worship\nthe images and pictures themselves, while to the higher and more\nintelligent minds they are only symbols of a hidden object of worship.\nIn the same manner, the concealed meaning or hidden truth was to the\nignorant and rude people of early times entirely unknown, while the\npriests and the more learned kept studiously concealed the meaning of\nthe ceremonies and symbols. Thus, the primitive idea became mixed with\nprofligate, debased ceremonies, and lascivious rites, which in time\ncaused the more pure part of the worship to be forgotten. But Phallicism\nis not to be judged from these sacred orgies, any more than Christianity\nfrom the religious excitement and wild excesses of a few Christian sects\nduring the Middle Ages.\n\nIn a work on the \u201cWorship of the Generative Powers during the Middle\nAges,\u201d the writer traces the superstition westward, and gives an account\nof its prevalence throughout Southern and Western Europe during that\nperiod.\n\nThe worship was very prevalent in Italy, and was invariably carried by\nthe Romans into the countries they conquered, where they introduced\ntheir own institutions and forms of worship. Accordingly, in Britain\nhave been found numerous relics and remains; and many of our ancient\ncustoms are traced to a Phallic origin. \u201cWhen we cross over to Britain,\u201d\nsays the writer, \u201cwe find this worship established no less firmly and\nextensively in that island; statuettes of Priapus, Phallic bronzes,\npottery covered with obscene pictures, are found wherever there are any\nextensive remains of Roman occupation, as our antiquaries know well. The\nnumerous Phallic figures in bronze found in England are perfectly\nidentical in character with those that occur in France and Italy.\u201d\n\nAll antiquaries of any experience know the great number of obscene\nsubjects which are met with among the fine red pottery which is termed\nSamian ware, found so abundantly in all Roman sites in our island. \u201cThey\nrepresent erotic scenes, in every sense of the word, with figures of\nPriapus and Phallic emblems.\u201d\n\n                                PHALLUS\n\nThe Phallus, or Lingam, which stood for the image of the male organ, or\nemblem of creation, has been worshipped from time immemorial. Payne\nKnight describes it as of the greatest antiquity, and as having\nprevailed in Egypt and all over Asia.\n\nThe women of the former country carried in their religious processions,\na movable Phallus of disproportionate magnitude, which Deodorus Siculus\ninforms us signified the generative attribute. It has also been observed\namong the idols of the native Americans and ancient Scandinavians, while\nthe Greeks represented the Phallus alone, and changed the personified\nattribute into a distinct deity, called Priapus.\n\nPhallus, or privy member (_membrum virile_), signifies, \u201che breaks\nthrough, or passes into.\u201d This word survives in German _pfahl_, and\n_pole_ in English. Phallus is supposed to be of Ph\u0153nician origin, the\nGreek word _pallo_, or _phallo_, \u201cto brandish preparatory to throwing a\nmissile,\u201d is so near in assonance and meaning to Phallus, that one is\nquite likely to be parent of the other. In Sanskrit it can be traced to\n_phal_, \u201cto burst,\u201d \u201cto produce,\u201d \u201cto be fruitful\u201d; then, again, _phal_\nis \u201ca ploughshare,\u201d and is also the name of Siva and Mahadeva, who are\nHindu deities. Phallus, then, was the ancient emblem of creation: a\ndivinity who was companion to Bacchus.\n\nThe Indian designation of this idol was Lingam, and those who dedicated\nthemselves to its service were to observe inviolable chastity. \u201cIf it\nwere discovered,\u201d says Crawford, \u201cthat they had in any way departed from\nthem, the punishment is death. They go naked, and being considered as\nsanctified persons, the women approach without scruple, nor is it\nthought that their modesty should be offended by it.\u201d\n\n                           SYMBOLS OR EMBLEMS\n\nThe Phallus and its emblems were representative of the gods Bacchus,\nPriapus, Hercules, Siva, Osiris, Baal, and Asher, who were all Phallic\ndeities. The symbols were used as signs of the great creative energy or\noperating power of God from no sense of mere animal appetite, but in the\nhighest reverence. Payne Knight, describing the emblems, says:\u2014\n\n\u201cForms and ceremonials of a religion are not always to be understood in\ntheir direct and obvious sense, but are to be considered as symbolical\nrepresentations of some hidden meaning extremely wise and just, though\nthe symbols themselves, to those who know not their true signification,\nmay appear in the highest degree absurd and extravagant. It has often\nhappened that avarice and superstition have continued these symbolical\nrepresentations for ages after their original meaning has been lost and\nforgotten; they must, of course, appear nonsensical and ridiculous, if\nnot impious and extravagant. Such is the case with the rite now under\nconsideration, than which nothing can be more monstrous and indecent, if\nconsidered in its plain and obvious meaning, or as part of the Christian\nworship; but which will be found to be a very natural symbol of a very\nnatural and philosophical system of religion, if considered according to\nits original use and intention.\u201d\n\nThe natural emblems were those which from their character were most\nsuitable representatives; such as poles, pillars, stones, which were\nsacred to Hindu, Egyptian, and Jewish divinities.\n\nBlavalsky gives an account of the Bimlang Stone, to be found at Narmada\nand other places, which is sacred to the Hindu deity Siva; these emblem\nstones were anointed, like the stone consecrated by the Patriarch Jacob.\n\nBlavalsky further says that these stones are \u201cidentical in shape,\nmeaning, and purpose with the \u2018pillars\u2019 set up by the several patriarchs\nto mark their adoration of the Lord God. In fact, one of these\npatriarchal lithoi might even now be carried in the Sivaitic processions\nof Calcutta without its Hebrew derivation being suspected.\u201d\n\n                                THE POLE\n\nThe Pole was an emblem of the Phallus, and with the serpent upon it, was\na representative of its divine wisdom and symbol of life. The serpent\nupon the tree is the same in character, both are representative of the\ntree of life. The story of Moses will well illustrate this, when he\nerected in the wilderness this effigy, which stood as a sign of hope and\nlife, as the cross is used by the Catholics of the present day; the\ncross then, as now, being simply an emblem of the Creator, used as a\ntoken of resurrection or regeneration. \u00c6sculapius, as the restorer of\nhealth, has a rod or Phallus with a serpent entwined.\n\nThe Rev. M. Morris has shown that the raising of the May-pole is of\nPhallic origin, the remains of a custom of India or Egypt, and is\ntypical of the fructifying powers of spring.\n\nThe May festival was carried on with great licentiousness by the Romans,\nand was celebrated by nearly all peoples as the month consecrated to\nLove. The May-day in England was the scene of riotous enjoyment, very\nnearly approaching to the Roman Floralia. No wonder the Puritans looked\nupon the May-pole as a relic of Paganism, and in their writings may be\ngleaned much of the licentious character of the festival.\n\nPhilip Stubbes, a Puritan writer in the reign of Elizabeth, thus\ndescribes a May-day in England: \u201cEvery parishe, towne, and village\nassemble themselves together, bothe men, women, and children, olde and\nyounge even indifferently; and either goyng all together, or devidyng\nthemselves into companies, they go some to the woods and groves, some to\none place, some to another, where thei spend all the night in pleasant\npastymes; and in the mornyng they returne, bryngyng with them birch\nbowes and branches of trees, to deck their assemblies withall.... But\ntheir cheerest jewell thei bryng from thence is their Maie pole, whiche\nthei bryng home with great veneration, as thus: thei have twentie or\nfortie yoke of oxen, every oxe havyng a sweet nosegaie of flowers placed\non the tippe of his hornes, and these oxen drawe home this Maie pole\n(this stinckyng idoll rather), which is covered all over with flowers\nand hearbes, bound rounde aboute with strynges from the top to the\nbottome, and sometyme painted with variable colours, with two or three\nhundred men, women, and children, followyng it with great devotion. And\nthus beyng reared up, with handekerchiefes and flagges streamyng on the\ntop, thei strawe the grounde aboute, binde greene boughes aboute it,\nsett up sommer haules, bowers, and arbours hard by it. And then fall\nthei to banquet and feast, to leape and daunce aboute it, as the heathen\npeople did at the dedication of their idols, whereof this is a perfect\npatterne, or rather the thyng itself.\u201d\n\nThe ceremony was almost identical with the Roman festival, where the\nPhallus was introduced with garlands. Both were attended with the same\nlicentiousness, for Stubbes gives a further account of the depravity\nattending the festivities.\n\n                                PILLARS\n\nAnother type of emblem was the stone pillar, remains of which still\nexist in the British Isles. These pillars or so called crosses generally\nconsist of a shaft of granite with a carved head. In the West of England\ncrosses are very common, standing in the market and receiving the name\nof \u201cThe Cross.\u201d\n\nThese stone pillars were first erected in honour of the Phallic deity,\nand on the introduction of Christianity were not destroyed, but\nconsecrated to the new faith, doubtless to honour the prejudices of the\npeople. These monolisks abound in the Highlands, they are stones set up\non end, some twenty-four or thirty feet high, others higher or lower and\nthis sometimes where no such stones are to be quarried.\n\nWe learn that the Bacchus of the Thebans was a pillar. The Assyrian Nebo\nwas represented by a plain pillar, consecrated by anointing with oil.\nArnobius gives an account of this practice, as also does Theophrastus,\nwho speaks of it as a custom for a superstitious man, when he passed by\nthese anointed stones in the streets to take out a phial of oil and pour\nit upon them and having fallen on his knees to make his adorations, and\nso depart.\n\nIn various parts of the Bible the Pillar is referred to as of a sacred\ncharacter, as in Isaiah xix. 19, 20, \u201cIn that day shall there be an\naltar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a _pillar_ at\nthe border thereof to Jehovah, and it should be for a sign and a witness\nto the Lord.\u201d\n\nThe Orphic Temples were doubtless emblems of the same principle of the\nmystic faiths of the ancients, the same as the Round Towers of Ireland,\na history of which was collected by O\u2019Brien, who describes the Towers as\n\u201cTemples constructed by the early Indian colonists of the country in\nhonour of the _Fructifying_ principle of nature, emanating as was\nsupposed from the Sun, or the deity of desire instrumental in that\nprinciple of universal generativeness diffused throughout all nature.\u201d\n\nAccording to the same author these towers were very ancient, and of\nPh\u0153nician origin, as similar towers have been found in Ph\u0153nicia. \u201cThe\nIrish themselves,\u201d says O\u2019Brien, \u201cdesignated them \u2018Bail-toir,\u2019 that is\nthe tower of Baal. Baal was the name of the Phallic deity, and the\npriest who attended them \u2018Aoi Bail-toir\u2019 or superintendent of Baal\ntower.\u201d This Baal was worshipped wherever the Ph\u0153nicians went, and was\nrepresented by a pillar or stone or similar objects. The stone that\nJacob set up, and anointed as a rallying place for worship, became\nafterwards an object of worship to the Ph\u0153nicians.\n\nThe earliest navigators of the world were the Ph\u0153nicians, they founded\ncolonies and extended their commerce first to the isles of the\nMediterranean, from thence to Spain, and then to the British Isles.\nHistorians have accorded to them the settlements of the most remote\nlocalities. They formed settlements in Cyprus, and Atticum, according to\nJosephus, was the principal settlement of the Tyrians upon this island.\nStrabo\u2019s testimony is, that the Ph\u0153nicians, even before Homer, had\npossessed themselves of the best part of Spain.\n\nWhere the Ph\u0153nicians settled, there they introduced their religion, and\nit is in these countries we find the remains of ancient stone and pillar\nworship.\n\n                          LOGGIN STONES, ETC.\n\nLoggin stones are by Payne Knight considered as Phallic emblems. \u201cTheir\nremains,\u201d he says, \u201care still extant, and appear to have been composed\nof a crone set into the ground, and another placed upon the point of it\nand so nicely balanced that the wind could move it, though so ponderous\nthat no human force, unaided by machinery, can displace it; whence they\nare called \u2018logging rocks\u2019 and \u2018pendre stones,\u2019 as they were anciently\n\u2018living stones\u2019 and \u2018stones of God,\u2019 titles which differ very little in\nmeaning from that on the Tyrian coins. Damascius saw several of them in\nthe neighbourhood of Heliopolis or Baalbeck, in Syria, particularly one\nwhich was then moved by the wind; and they are equally found in the\nWestern extremities of Europe and the Eastern extremities of Asia, in\nBritain, and in China.\u201d\n\nBryant mentions it as very usual among the Egyptians to place with much\nlabour one vast stone upon another for a religious memorial.\n\nSuch immense masses, being moved by causes seeming so inadequate, must\nnaturally have conveyed the idea of spontaneous motion to ignorant\nobservers, and persuaded them that they were animated by an emanation of\nthe vital spirit, whence they were consulted as oracles, the responses\nof which could always be easily obtained by interpreting the different\noscillatory movements into nods of approbation or dissent.\n\nPhallic emblems abounded at Heliopolis in Syria, and many other places,\neven in modern times. A physician, writing to Dr. Inman, says: \u201cI was in\nEgypt last winter (1865-66), and there certainly are numerous figures of\ngods and kings, on the walls of the temple at Thebes, depicted with the\nmale genital erect. The great temple at Karnak is, in particular, full\nof such figures, and the temple of Danclesa likewise, though that is of\nmuch later date, and built merely in imitation of old Egyptian art. The\nsame inspiring _bas-reliefs_ are pointed out by Ezek. xxiii. 14. I\nremember one scene of a king (Rameses II) returning in triumph with\ncaptives, many of whom were undergoing the process of castration.\u201d\n\nObelisks were also representative of the same emblem. Payne Knight\nmentions several terminating in a cross, which had exactly the\nappearance of one of those crosses erected in churchyards and at cross\nroads for the adoration of devout persons, when devotions were more\nprevalent than at present. Stones, pillars, obelisks, stumps of trees,\nupright stones have all the same signification, and are means by which\nthe male element was symbolised.\n\n                                 TRIADS\n\nThe Triune idea is to be found in the system of almost every nation. All\nhave their Trinity in Unity, three in one, which can be distinctly\nrecognised in the cross. The Triad is the male or triple, the\nconstitution of the three persons of most sacred Trinity forming the\nTriune system. In the analysis of the subject by Rawlinson, we find the\nTrinity consisted of Asshur or Asher, associated with Anu and Hea or\nHoa. Asshur, the supreme god of the Assyrians, represents the Phallus or\ncentral organ or the Linga, the _membrum virile_. The cognomen Anu was\ngiven to the right testis, while that of Hea designated the left.\n\nIt was only natural that Asshur being deified, his appendages should be\ndeified also. \u201cBeltus,\u201d says Inman, \u201cwas the goddess associated with\nthem, the four together made up Arba or Arba-il, the four great gods,\u201d\nthe Trinity in Unity. The idea thus broached receives great confirmation\nwhen we examine the particular stress laid in ancient times respecting\nthe right and left side of the body in connection with the Triad names\ngiven to offspring mentioned in the scriptures with the titles given to\nAnu and Hea. The male or active principle was typified by the idea of\n\u201csolidity\u201d and \u201cfirmness,\u201d and the females or passive by the principles\nof \u201cwater,\u201d \u201csoftness,\u201d and other feminine principles. Thus the goddess\nHea was associated with water, and according to Forlong, the Serpent,\nthe ruler of the Abyss, was sometimes represented to be the great Hea,\nwithout whom there was no creation or life, and whose godhead embraced\nalso the female element water.\n\nRawlinson also gives a similar conclusion, and states as far as he could\ndetermine the third divinity or left side was named Hea, and he\nconsidered this deity to correspond to Neptune. Neptune was the\npresiding deity of the deep, ruler of the abyss, and king of the rivers.\nAs Darwin and his coadjutors teach, mankind, in common with all animal\nlife, originally sprung from the sea; so physiology teaches that each\nindividual had origin in a pond of water. The fruit of man is both solid\nand fluid. It was natural to imagine that the two male appendages had a\ndistinct duty, that one formed the infant, the other water in which it\nlived, that one generated the male, the other the female offspring; and\nthe inference was then drawn that water must be feminine, the emblem of\nall possible powers of creation.\n\nIt will be seen that the names and signification of the gods and their\nattributes had no ideal meaning. Thus in Genesis xxx. 13, we find Asher\ngiven as a personality, which signifies \u201cto be straight,\u201d \u201cupright,\u201d\n\u201cfortunate,\u201d \u201chappy.\u201d Asher was the supreme god of the Assyrians, the\nVedic Mahadeva, the emblem of the human male structure and creative\nenergy. The same idea of the creator is still to be seen in India,\nEgypt, Ph\u0153nicia, the Mediterranean, Europe, and Denmark, depicted on\nstone relics.\n\nTo a rude and ignorant people, enslaved with such a religion, it was an\neasy step from the crude to the more refined sign, from the offensive to\na more pictured and less obnoxious symbol, from the plain and\nself-evident to the mixed, disguised, and mystified, from the unclothed\nprivy member to the cross.\n\n                               THE CROSS\n\nThe Triad, or Trinity, has been traced to Ph\u0153nicia, Egypt, Japan, and\nIndia; the triple deities Asshur, Anu, and Hea forming the \u201ctau.\u201d This\nmark of the Christians, Greeks, and Hebrews became the sign or type of\nthe deities representing the Phallic trinity, and in time became the\nfigure of the cross. It is remarked by Payne Knight that \u201cThe male\norgans of generation are sometimes found represented by signs of the\nsame sort, which properly should be called the symbol of symbols. One of\nthe most remarkable of these is a cross, in the form of the letter (T),\nwhich thus served as the emblem of creation and generation before the\nChurch adopted it as a sign of salvation.\u201d\n\nAnother writer says, \u201cReverse the position of the triple deities Asshur,\nAnu, Hea, and we have the figure of the ancient \u2018tau\u2019 of the Christians,\nGreeks, and ancient Hebrews. It is one of the oldest conventional forms\nof the cross. It is also met with in Gallic, Oscan, Arcadian, Etruscan,\noriginal Egyptian, Ph\u0153nician, Ethiopic, and Pelasgian forms. The\nEthiopic form of the \u2018tau\u2019 is the exact prototype and image of the\ncross, or rather, to state the fact in order of merit and time, the\ncross is made in the exact image of the Ethiopic \u2018tau.\u2019 The fig-leaf,\nhaving three lobes to it, became a symbol of the triad. As the male\ngenital organs were held in early times to exemplify the actual male\ncreative power, various natural objects were seized upon to express the\ntheistic idea, and at the same time point to those parts of the human\nform. Hence, a similitude was recognised in a pillar, a heap of stones,\na tree between two rocks, a club between two pine cones, a trident, a\nthyrsus tied round with two ribbons with the two ends pendant, a thumb\nand two fingers, the caduceus. Again, the conspicuous part of the sacred\ntriad Asshur is symbolised by a single stone placed upright\u2014the stump of\na tree, a block, a tower, spire, minaret, pole, pine, poplar, or palm\ntree, while eggs, apples, or citrons, plums, grapes, and the like\nrepresented the remaining two portions, altogether called Phallic\nemblems. Baal-Shalisha is a name which seems designed to perpetuate the\ntriad, since it signifies \u2018my Lord the Trinity,\u2019 or \u2018my God is three.\u2019\u201d\n\nWe must not omit to mention other Phallic emblems, such as the bull, the\nram, the goat, the serpent, the torch, fire, a knobbed stick, the\ncrozier; and still further personified, as Bacchus, Priapus, Dionysius,\nHercules, Hermes, Mahadeva, Siva, Osiris, Jupiter, Moloch, Baal, Asher,\nand others.\n\nIf Ezekiel is to be credited, the triad, T, as Asshur, Anu, and Hea, was\nmade of gold and silver, and was in his day not symbolically used, but\nactually employed; for he bluntly says \u201cwhoredom was committed with the\nimages of men,\u201d or, as the marginal note has it, images of \u201ca male\u201d\n(Ezek. xvi. 17). It was with this god-mark\u2014a cross in the form of the\nletter T\u2014that Ezekiel was directed to stamp the foreheads of the men of\nJud\u00e6a who feared the Lord (Ezek. ix. 4).\n\nThat the cross, or crucifix, has a sexual origin we determine by a\nsimilar rule of research to that by which comparative anatomists\ndetermine the place and habits of an animal by a single tooth. The cross\nis a metaphoric tooth which belongs to an antique religious body\nphysical, and that essentially human. A study of some of the earliest\nforms of faith will lift the veil and explain the mystery.\n\nIndia, China, and Egypt have furnished the world with a _genus_ of\nreligion. Time and culture have divided and modified it into many\nspecies and countless varieties. However much the imagination was\nallowed to play upon it, the animus of that religion was\nsexuality\u2014worship of the generative principle of man and nature, male\nand female. The cross became the emblem of the male feature, under the\nterm of the _triad_\u2014three in one. The female was the _unit_; and, joined\nto the male triad, constituted a sacred four. Rites and adoration were\nsometimes paid to the male, sometimes to the female, or to the two in\none.\n\nSo great was the veneration of the cross among the ancients that it was\ncarried as a Phallic symbol in the religious processions of the\nEgyptians and Persians. Higgins also describes the cross as used from\nthe earliest times of Paganism by the Egyptians as a banner, above which\nwas carried the device of the Egyptian cities.\n\nThe cross was also used by the ancient Druids, who held it as a sacred\nemblem. In Egypt it stood for the signification of eternal life.\nSchedeus describes it as customary for the Druids \u201cto seek studiously\nfor an oak tree, large and handsome, growing up with _two principal arms\nin the form of a cross_, besides the main stem upright. If the two\nhorizontal arms are not sufficiently adapted to the figure, they fasten\na _cross-beam_ to it. This tree they consecrate in this manner: Upon the\nright branch they cut in the bark, in fair characters, the word \u2018Hesus\u2019;\nupon the middle, or upright stem, the word \u2018Taranius\u2019; upon the left\nbranch \u2018Belenus\u2019; over this, above the going off of the arms, they cut\nthe name of the god _Thau_; under all, the same repeated, _Thau_.\u201d\n\n                                  YONI\n\nThere is in Hindostan an emblem of great sanctity, which is known as the\n\u201cLinga-Yoni.\u201d It consists of a simple pillar in the centre of a figure\nresembling the outline of a conical ear-ring. It is expressive of the\nfemale genital organ both in shape and idea. The Greek letter \u201cDelta\u201d is\nalso expressive of it, signifying the door of a house.\n\nYoni is of Sanskrit origin. Yanna, or Yoni, means (1) the vulva, (2) the\nwomb, (3) the place of birth, (4) origin, (5) water, (6) a mine, a hole,\nor pit. As Asshur and Jupiter were the representatives of the male\npotency, so Juno and Venus were representatives of the female attribute.\nMoore, in his \u201cOriental Fragments,\u201d says: \u201cOriental writers have\ngenerally spelled the word, \u2018Yoni,\u2019 which I prefer to write \u2018IOni.\u2019 As\nLingam was the vocalised cognomen of the male organ, or deity, so IOni\nwas that of hers.\u201d Says R. P. Knight: \u201cThe female organs of generation\nwere revered as symbols of the generative powers of nature or of matter,\nas those of the male were of the generative powers of God. They are\nusually represented emblematically by the shell _Concha Veneris_, which\nwas therefore worn by devout persons of antiquity, as it still continues\nto be by the pilgrims of many of the common people of Italy\u201d (\u201cOn the\nworship of Priapus,\u201d p. 28).\n\nIf Asshur, the conspicuous feature of the male Creator, is supplied with\ntypes and representative figures of himself, so the female feature is\nfurnished with substitutes and typical imagery of herself.\n\nOne of these is technically known as the _sistrum_ of Isis. It is the\nvirgin\u2019s symbol. The bars across the _fenestrum_, or opening, are bent\nso that they cannot be taken out, and indicate that the door is closed.\nIt signifies that the mother is still _virgo intacta_\u2014a truly immaculate\nfemale\u2014if the truth can be strained to so denominate a _mother_. The\npure virginity of the Celestial Mother was a tenet of faith for 2,000\nyears before the accepted Virgin Mary now adored was born. We might\ninfer that Solomon was acquainted with the figure of the _sistrum_, when\nhe said, \u201cA garden enclosed is my spouse, a spring shut up, a _fountain\nsealed_\u201d (Song of Sol. iv. 12). The _sistrum_, we are told, was only\nused in the worship of Isis, to drive away Typhon (evil).\n\nThe Argha is a contrite form, or boat-shaped dish or plate used as a\nsacrificial cup in the worship of Astarte, Isis, and Venus. Its shape\nportrays its own significance. The Argha and _crux ansata_ were often\nseen on Egyptian monuments, and yet more frequently on bas-reliefs.\n\nEquivalent to Iao, or the Lingam, we find Ab, the Father, the Trinity;\nAsshur, Anu, Hea, Abraham, Adam, Esau, Edom, Ach, Sol, Helios (Greek for\nSun), Dionysius, Bacchus, Apollo, Hercules, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva,\nJupiter, Zeus, Aides, Adonis, Baal, Osiris, Thor, Oden; the cross,\ntower, spire, pillar, minaret, tolmen, and a host of others; while the\nYoni was represented by IO, Isis, Astarte, Juno, Venus, Diana, Artemis,\nAphrodite, Hera, Rhea, Cybele, Ceres, Eve, Frea, Frigga; the queen of\nHeaven, the oval, the trough, the delta, the door, the ark, the ship,\nthe chasm, a ring, a lozenge, cave, hole, pit, Celestial Virgin, and a\nnumber of other names. Lucian, who was an Assyrian, and visited the\ntemple of Dea Syria, near the Euphrates, says there are two Phalli\nstanding in the porch with this inscription on them, \u201cThese Phalli I,\nBacchus, dedicate to my step-mother Juno.\u201d\n\nThe Papal religion is essentially the feminine, and built on the ancient\nChaldean basis. It clings to the female element in the person of the\nVirgin Mary. Naphtali (Gen. xxx. 8) was a descendant of such\nworshippers, if there be any meaning in a concrete name. Bear in mind,\nnames and pictures perpetuate the faith of many peoples. Neptoah is\nHebrew for \u201cthe vulva,\u201d and, Al or El being God, one of the unavoidable\nrenderings of Naphtali is \u201cthe Yoni is my God,\u201d or \u201cI worship the\nCelestial Virgin.\u201d The Philistine towns generally had names strongly\nconnected with sexual ideas. Ashdod, _aish_ or _esh_, means \u201cfire,\nheat,\u201d and _dod_ means \u201clove, to love,\u201d \u201cboiled up,\u201d \u201cbe agitated,\u201d the\nwhole signifying \u201cthe heat of love,\u201d or \u201cthe fire which impels to\nunion.\u201d Could not those people exclaim, Our \u201cGod is love\u201d? (1 John iv.\n8).\n\nThe amatory drift of Solomon\u2019s song is undisguised, though the language\nis dressed in the habiliments of seeming decency. The burden of thought\nof most of it bears direct reference to the Linga-Yoni. He makes a woman\nsay, \u201cHe shall lie all night betwixt my breasts\u201d (S. of S. i. 13).\nAgain, of the Phallus, or Linga, she says, \u201cI will go up the palm-tree,\nI will take hold of the boughs thereof\u201d (vii. 8). Palm-tree and boughs\nare euphemisms of the male genitals.\n\n                           HEBREW PHALLICISM\n\nThe nations surrounding the Jews practising the Phallic rites and\nworshipping the Phallic deities, it is not to be supposed that the Jews\nescaped their influence. It is indeed certain that the worship of the\nPhallics was a great and important part of the Hebrew worship.\n\nThis will be the more plainly seen when we bear in mind the importance\ngiven to circumcision as a covenant between God and man. Another equally\nsuggestive custom among the Patriarchs was the act of taking the oath,\nor making a sacred promise, which is commented upon by Dr. Ginsingburg\nin Kitto\u2019s _Cyclop\u00e6dia_. He says: \u201cAnother primitive custom which\nobtained in the patriarchal age was, that the one who took the oath put\nhis hand under the thigh of the adjurer (Gen. xxiv. 2, and xlvii. 29).\nThis practice evidently arose from the fact that the genital member,\nwhich is meant by the euphemistic expression _thigh_, was regarded as\nthe most sacred part of the body, being the symbol of union in the\ntenderest relation of matrimonial life, and the seat whence all issue\nproceeds and the perpetuity so much coveted by the ancients. Compare\nGen. xlvi. 26; Exod. i. 5; Judges vii. 30. Hence the creative organ\nbecame the symbol of the _Creator_, and the object of worship among all\nnations of antiquity. It is for this reason that God claimed it as a\nsign of the covenant between himself and his chosen people in the rite\nof circumcision. Nothing therefore could render the oath more solemn in\nthose days than touching the symbol of creation, the sign of the\ncovenant, and the source of that issue who may at any future period\navenge the breaking a compact made with their progenitor.\u201d From this we\nlearn that Abraham, himself a Chaldee, had reverence for the Phallus as\nan emblem of the Creator. We also learn that the rite of circumcision\ntouches Phallic or Lingasic worship. From Herodotus we are informed that\nthe Syrians learned circumcision from the Egyptians, as did the Hebrews.\nSays Dr. Inman: \u201cI do not know anything which illustrates the difference\nbetween ancient and modern times more than the frequency with which\ncircumcision is spoken of in the sacred books, and the carefulness with\nwhich the subject is avoided now.\u201d\n\nThe mutilation of male captives, as practised by Saul and David, was\nanother custom among the worshippers of Baal, Asshur, and other Phallic\ndeities. The practice was to debase the victims and render them unfit to\ntake part in the worship and mysteries. Some idea can be formed of the\nesteem in which people in former times cherished the male or Phallic\nemblems of creative power when we note the sway that power exercised\nover them. If these organs were lost or disabled, the unfortunate one\nwas unfitted to meet in the congregation of the Lord, and disqualified\nto minister in the holy temples. Excessive punishment was inflicted upon\nthe person who had the temerity to injure the sacred structure. If a\nwoman were guilty of inflicting injury, her hand was cut off without\npity (Deut. xxv. 12). The great object of veneration in the Ark of the\nCovenant was doubtless a Phallic emblem, a symbol of the preservation of\nthe germ of life.\n\nIn the historical and prophetic books of the Old Testament we have\nrepeated evidence that the Hebrew worship was a mixture of Paganism and\nJudaism, and that Jehovah was worshipped in connection with other\ndeities. Hezekiah is recorded in 2 Kings xviii. 3, to have \u201cremoved the\nhigh places, and broken the images, and cut down the groves (Ashera),\nand broken in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made, for unto\nthose days the children of Israel did burn incense to it.\u201d The Ashera,\nor sacred groves here alluded to are named from the goddess Ashtaroth,\nwhich Dr. Smith describes as the proper name of the goddess; while\nAshera is the name of the image of the goddess. Rawlinson, in his _Five\nGreat Monarchies of the Ancient World_, describes Ashera to imply\nsomething that stood straight up, and probably its essential element was\nthe stem of a tree, an analogy suggestive of the Assyrian emblem of the\nTree of Life of the Scriptures. This stem, which stood for the emblem of\nlife, was probably a pillar, or Phallus, like the Lingi of the Hindus,\nsometimes erected in a grove or sacred hollow, signifying the Yoni and\nLingi. We read in 2 Kings xxi. 7, that Manasseh \u201cset up a graven image\nin the grove,\u201d and, according to Dr. Oort, the older reading is in 2\nChron. xxxiii. 7, 15, where it is an image or pillar. During the reigns\nof the Jewish kings, the worship of Baal, the Priapus of the Greeks and\nRomans, was extensively practised by the Jews. Pillars and groves were\nreared in his name.\n\nIn front of the Temple of Baal, in Samaria, was erected an Ashera (1\nKings xvi. 31, 32) which even survived the temple itself, for although\nJehu destroyed the Temple of Baal, he allowed the Ashera to remain (2\nKings x. 18, 19; xiii. 6). Bernstein, in an important work on the origin\nof the legends of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, undoubtedly proves that\nduring the monarchial period of Israel, the sanguinary wars and violent\nconflicts between the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel were between the\nElohistic and Jehovahic faiths, kept alive by the priesthood at the\nchief places of worship, concerning the true patriarch, and each party\nmanufacturing and inserting legends to give a more ancient and important\npart to its own faith.\n\nIt is not at all improbable that the conflict was between the two\nportions of the Phallic faith, the Lingam and Yoni parties. The cause of\nthis conflict was the erection of the consecrated stones or pillars\nwhich were put up by the Hebrews as objects of Divine worship. The altar\nerected by Jacob at Bethel was a pillar, for according to Bernstein the\nword altar can only be used for the erection of a pillar. Jacob likewise\nset up a Matzebah, or pillar of stone, in Gilead, and finally he set one\nup upon the tomb of Rachel.\n\nA great portion of the facts have been suppressed by the translators,\nwho have given to the world histories which have glossed over the\nancient rites and practices of the Jews.\n\nAn instance is given by Forlong on the important word \u201cRock or Stone,\u201d a\nPhallic emblem to which the Jews addressed their devotions. He says, \u201cIt\nshould not be, but I fear it is, necessary to explain to mere English\nreaders of the Old Testament that the _Stone_ or _Rock Tsur_ was _the\nreal old god of all Arabs, Jews, and Ph\u0153nicians_, that this would be\nclear to Christians were the Jewish writings translated according to the\nfirst ideas of the people and _Rock_ used as it ought to be, instead of\n\u2018God,\u2019 \u2018Theos,\u2019 \u2018Lord,\u2019 etc., being written where Tsur occurs.\u201d Numerous\ninstances of this are given in Dr. Ort\u2019s worship of Baal in Israel,\nwhere praises, addresses, and adorations are addressed to the _Rock_,\ninstance, Deut. xxxii. 4, 18. Stone pillars were also used by the\nHebrews as a memorial of a sacred covenant, for we find Jacob setting up\na pillar as a witness, that he would not pass over it. Connected with\nthis pillar worship is the ceremony of anointing by pouring oil upon the\npillar, as practised by Jacob at Bethel. According to Sir W. Forbes, in\nhis _Oriental Memoirs_, the \u201cpouring of oil upon a stone is practised at\nthis day upon many a shapeless stone throughout Hindostan.\u201d\n\nToland gives a similar account of the Druids as practising the same\nrite, and describes many of the stones found in England as having a\ncavity at the top made to receive the offering. The worship of Baal like\nthe worship of Priapus was attended with prostitution, and we find the\nJews having a similar custom to the Babylonians.\n\nPayne Knight gives the following account of it in his work: \u201cThe women\nof every rank and condition held it to be an indispensable duty of\nreligion to prostitute themselves once in their lives in her temple to\nany stranger who came and offered money, which, whether little or much,\nwas accepted, and applied to a sacred purpose. Women sat in the temple\nof Venus awaiting the selection of the stranger, who had the liberty of\nchoosing whom he liked. A woman once seated must remain until she has\nbeen selected by a piece of silver being cast into her lap, and the rite\nperformed outside the temple.\u201d\n\nSimilar customs existed in Armenia, Phrygia, and even in Palestine, and\nwere a feature of the worship of Baal Peor. The Hebrew prophets\ndescribed and denounced these excesses which had the same\ncharacteristics as the rites of the Babylonian priesthood. The identical\ncustom is referred to in 1 Sam. ii. 22, where \u201cthe sons of Eli lay with\nthe women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the\ncongregation.\u201d\n\nWords and history corroborate each other, or are apt to do so if\ncontemporaneous. Thus _kadesh_, or _kaesh_, designate in Hebrew \u201ca\nconsecrated one,\u201d and history tells the unworthy tale in descriptive\nplainness, as will be shown in the sequel.\n\nThat the religion was dominating and imperative is determined by Deut.\nxvii. 12, where presumptuous refusal to listen to the priest was death\nto the offender. To us it is inconceivable that the indulgence of\npassion could be associated with religion, but so it was. Much as it is\ncovered over by altered words and substituted expressions in the\nBible\u2014an example of which see _men_ for male organ, Ezek. xvi. 17\u2014it yet\nstands out offensively bold. The words expressive of \u201csanctuary,\u201d\n\u201cconsecrated,\u201d and \u201cSodomite,\u201d are in the Hebrew essentially the same.\nThey indicate the passion of amatory devotion. It is among the Hindus of\nto-day as it was in Greece and Italy of classic times; and we find that\n\u201choly women\u201d is a title given to those who devote their bodies to be\nused for hire, the price of which hire goes to the service of the\ntemple.\n\nAs a general rule, we may assume that priests who make or expound the\nlaws, which they declare to be from God, are men, and, consequently,\nthrough all time, have thought, and do think, of the gratification of\nthe masculine half of humanity. The ancient and modern Orientals are not\nexceptions. They lay it down as a momentous fact that virginity is the\nmost precious of all the possessions of a woman, and, being so, it\nought, in some way or other, to be devoted to God.\n\nThroughout India, and also through the densely inhabited parts of Asia,\nand modern Turkey there is a class of females who dedicate themselves to\nthe service of the deity whom they adore; and the rewards accruing from\ntheir prostitution are devoted to the service of the temple and the\npriests officiating therein.\n\nThe temples of the Hindus in the Dekkan possessed their establishments.\nThey had bands of consecrated dancing-girls called the _Women of the\nIdol_, selected in their infancy by the priests for the beauty of their\npersons, and trained up with every elegant accomplishment that could\nrender them attractive.\n\nWe also find David and the daughters of Shiloh performing a wild and\nenticing dance; likewise we have the leaping of the prophets of Baal.\n\nIt is again significant that a great proportion of Bible names relate to\n\u201cdivine,\u201d sexual, generative, or creative power; such as Alah, \u201cthe\nstrong one\u201d; Ariel, \u201cthe strong Jas is El\u201d; Amasai, \u201cJah is firm\u201d;\nAsher, \u201cthe male\u201d or \u201cthe upright organ\u201d; Elijah, \u201cEl is Jah\u201d; Eliab,\n\u201cthe strong father\u201d; Elisha, \u201cEl is upright\u201d; Ara, \u201cthe strong one,\u201d\n\u201cthe hero\u201d; Aram, \u201chigh,\u201d or, \u201cto be uncovered\u201d; Baal Shalisha, \u201cmy Lord\nthe trinity,\u201d or \u201cmy God is three\u201d; Ben-zohett, \u201cson of firmness\u201d;\nCamon, \u201cthe erect One\u201d; Cainan, \u201che stands upright\u201d; these are only a\nfew of the many names of a similar signification.\n\nIt will be seen, from what has been given, that the Jews, like the\nPh\u0153nicians (if they were not the same), had the same ceremonies, rites,\nand gods as the surrounding nations, but enough has been said to show\nthat Phallic worship was much practised by the Jews. It was very\ndoubtful whether the Jehovah-worship was not of a monotheistic\ncharacter, but those who desire to have a further insight into the\nmysteries of the wars between the tribes should consult Bernstein\u2019s\nvaluable work.\n\n                              EARTH MOTHER\n\nThe following interesting chapter is taken from a valuable book issued a\nfew years ago anonymously:\n\n    \u201cMother Earth\u201d is a legitimate expression, only of the most\n    general type. Religious genius gave the female quality to the\n    earth with a special meaning. When once the idea obtained that\n    our world was _feminine_, it was easy to induce the faithful to\n    believe that natural chasms were typical of that part which\n    characterises woman. As at birth the new being emerges from the\n    mother, so it was supposed that emergence from a terrestrial\n    cleft was equivalent to a new birth. In direct proportion to the\n    resemblance between the sign and the thing signified was the\n    sacredness of the chink, and the amount of virtue which was\n    imparted by passing through it. From natural caverns being\n    considered holy, the veneration for apertures in stones, as\n    being equally symbolical, was a natural transition. Holes, such\n    as we refer to, are still to be seen in those structures which\n    are called Druidical, both in the British Isles and in India. It\n    is impossible to say when these first arose; it is certain that\n    they survive in India to this day. We recognise the existence of\n    the emblem among the Jews in Isaiah li. 1, in the charge to look\n    \u201cto the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.\u201d We have also an\n    indication that chasms were symbolical among the same people in\n    Isaiah lvii. 5, where the wicked among the Jews were described\n    as \u201cinflaming themselves with idols under every green tree, and\n    slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the\n    rocks.\u201d It is possible that the \u201chole in the wall\u201d (Ezek. viii.\n    7) had a similar signification. In modern Rome, in the vestibule\n    of the church close to the Temple of Vesta, I have seen a large\n    _perforated stone_, in the hole of which the ancient Romans are\n    said to have placed their hands when they swore a solemn oath,\n    in imitation, or, rather, a counterpart, of Abraham swearing his\n    servant upon his thigh\u2014that is the male organ. Higgins dwells\n    upon these holes, and says: \u201cThese stones are so placed as to\n    have a hole under them, through which devotees passed for\n    religious purposes. There is one of the same kind in Ireland,\n    called St. Declau\u2019s stone. In the mass of rocks at Bramham Crags\n    there is a place made for the devotees to pass through.\u201d We read\n    in the accounts of Hindostan that there is a very celebrated\n    place in Upper India, to which immense numbers of pilgrims go,\n    to pass through a place in the mountains called \u201cThe Cow\u2019s\n    Belly.\u201d In the Island of Bombay, at Malabar Hill, there is a\n    rock upon the surface of which there is a natural crevice, which\n    communicates with a cavity opening below. This place is used by\n    the Gentoos as a purification of their sins, which they say is\n    effected by their going in at the opening below, and emerging at\n    the cavity above\u2014\u201cborn again.\u201d The ceremony is in such high\n    repute in the neighbouring countries that the famous Conajee\n    Angria ventured by stealth, one night, upon the Island, on\n    purpose to perform the ceremony, and got off undiscovered. The\n    early Christians gave them a bad name, as if from envy; they\n    called these holes \u201cCunni Diaboli.\u201d (_Anacalypsis_, p. 346)\n\n                  BACCHANALIA AND LIBERALIA FESTIVALS\n\nThe Romans called the feasts of Bacchus, Bacchanalia and Liberalia,\nbecause Bacchus and Liber were the names for the same god, although the\nfestivals were celebrated at different times and in a somewhat different\nmanner. The latter, according to Payne Knight, was celebrated on the\n17th of March, with the most licentious gaiety, when an image of the\nPhallus was carried openly in triumph. These festivities were more\nparticularly celebrated among the rural or agricultural population, who,\nwhen the preparatory labour of the agriculturist was over, celebrated\nwith joyful activity Nature\u2019s reproductive powers, which in due time was\nto bring forth the fruits. During the festival a car containing a huge\nPhallus was drawn along accompanied by its worshippers, who indulged in\nobscene songs and dances of wild and extravagant character. The gravest\nand proudest matrons suddenly laid aside their decency and ran screaming\namong the woods and hills half-naked, with dishevelled hair, interwoven\nwith which were pieces of ivy or vine. The Bacchanalian feasts were\ncelebrated in the latter part of October when the harvest was completed.\nWine and figs were carried in the procession of the Bacchants, and\nlastly came the Phalli, followed by honourable virgins, called\n_canephor\u0153_, who carried baskets of fruit. These were followed by a\ncompany of men who carried poles, at the end of which were figures\nrepresenting the organ of generation. The men sung the Phallica and were\ncrowned with violets and ivy, and had their faces covered with other\nkinds of herbs. These were followed by some dressed in women\u2019s apparel,\nstriped with white, reaching to their ancles, with garlands on their\nheads, and wreaths of flowers in their hands, imitating by their\ngestures the state of inebriety. The priestesses ran in every direction\nshouting and screaming, each with a thyrsus in their hands. Men and\nwomen all intermingled, dancing and frolicking with suggestive\ngesticulations. Deodorus says the festivals were carried into the night,\nand it was then frenzy reached its height. He says, \u201cIn performing the\nsolemnity virgins carry the thyrsus, and run about frantic, halloing\n\u2018Evoe\u2019 in honour of the god; then the women in a body offer the\nsacrifices, and roar out the praises of Bacchus in song as if he were\npresent, in imitation of the ancient M\u00e6nades, who accompanied him.\u201d\nThese festivities were carried into the night, and as the celebrators\nbecame heated with wine, they degenerated into extreme licentiousness.\n\nSimilar enthusiastic frenzy was exhibited at the Lupercalian Feasts\ninstituted in honour of the god Pan (under the shape of a Goat) whose\npriests, according to Owen in his _Worship of Serpents_, on the morning\nof the Feast ran naked through the streets, striking the married women\nthey met on the hands and belly, which was held as an omen promising\nfruitfulness. The nymphs performing the same ostentatious display as the\nBacchants at the festival of Bacchanalia.\n\nThe festival of Venus was celebrated towards the beginning of April, and\nthe Phallus was again drawn in a car, followed by a procession of Roman\nwomen to the temple of Venus. Says a writer, \u201cThe loose women of the\ntown and its neighbourhood, called together by the sounding of horns,\nmixed with the multitude in perfect nakedness, and excited their\npassions with obscene motions and language until the festival ended in a\nscene of mad revelry, in which all restraint was laid aside.\u201d\n\nIt is said that these festivals took their rise from Egypt, from whence\nthey were brought into Greece by Metampus, where the triumph of Osiris\nwas celebrated with secret rites, and from thence the Bacchanals drew\ntheir original; and from the feasts instituted by Isis came the orgies\nof Bacchus.\n\n                        DRUID AND HEBREW FAITHS\n\nIt seems not at all improbable that the deities worshipped by the\nancient Britons and the Irish, were no other then the Phallic deities of\nthe ancient Syrians and Greeks, and also the Baal of the Hebrews.\nDionysius Periegites, who lived in the time of Augustus C\u00e6sar, states\nthat the rites of Bacchus were celebrated in the British Isles; while\nStrabo, who lived in the time of Augustus and Tiberius, asserts that a\nmuch earlier writer described the worship of the Cabiri to have come\noriginally from Ph\u0153nicia. Higgins, in his History of the Druids, says,\nthe supreme god above the rest was called _Seodhoc_ and _Baal_. The name\nof Baal is found both in Wales, Gaul, and Germany, and is the same as\nthe Hebrew Baal.\n\nThe same god, according to O\u2019Brien, was the chief deity of the Irish, in\nwhose honour the round towers were erected, which structures the ancient\nIrish themselves designated Bail-toir, or the towers of Baal. In\nNumbers, xxii., will be found a mention of a similar pillar consecrated\nto Baal. Many of the same customs and superstitions that existed among\nthe Druids and ancient Irish, will likewise be found among the\nIsraelites. On the first day of May, the Irish made great fires in\nhonour of Baal, likewise offering him sacrifices. A similar account is\ngiven of a custom of the Druids by Toland, in an account of the festival\nof the fires; he says:\u2014\u201con May-day eve the Druids made prodigious fires\non these cairns, which being everyone in sight of some other, could not\nbut afford a glorious show over a whole nation.\u201d These fires are said to\nbe lit even to the present day by the Aboriginal Irish, on the first of\nMay, called by them Bealtine, or the day of Belan\u2019s fire, the same name\nas given them in the Highlands of Scotland.\n\nA similar practice to this will be noticed as mentioned in the II Book\nof Kings, where the Canaanites in their worship of Baal, are said to\nhave passed their children through the fire of Baal, which seems to have\nbeen a common practice, as Ahaz, King of Israel, is blamed for having\ndone the same thing. Higgins in his _Anacalypsis_, says this\nsuperstitious custom still continues, and that on \u201cparticular days great\nfires are lighted, and the fathers taking the children in their arms,\njump or run through them, and thus pass their children through them;\nthey also light two fires at a little distance from each other, and\ndrive their cattle between them.\u201d It will be found on reference to\nDeuteronomy, that this very practice is specially forbidden. In the\nrites of Numa, we have also the sacred fire of the Irish; of St.\nBridget, of Moses, of Mithra, and of India, accompanied with an\nestablishment of nuns or vestal virgins. A sacred fire is said to have\nbeen kept burning by the nuns of Kildare, which was established by St.\nBridget. This fire was never blown with the mouth, that it might not be\npolluted, but only with bellows; this fire was similar to that of the\nJews, kept burning only with peeled wood, and never blown with the\nmouth. Hyde describes a similar fire which was kept burning in the same\nway by the ancient Persians, who kept their sacred fire fed with a\ncertain tree called Hawm Mogorum; and Colonel Vallancey says the sacred\nfire of the Irish was fed with the wood of the tree called Hawm. Ware,\nthe Romish priest, relates that at Kildare, the glorious Bridget was\nrendered illustrious by many miracles, amongst which was the sacred\nfire, which had been kept burning by nuns ever since the time of the\nVirgin.\n\nThe earliest sacred places of the Jews were evidently sacred stones, or\nstone circles, succeeded in time by temples. These early rude stones,\nemblems of the Creator, were erected by the Israelites, which in no way\ndiffered from the erections of the Gentiles. It will be found that the\nJews to commemorate a great victory, or to bear witness of the Lord,\nwere all signified by stones: thus, Joshua erected a stone to bear\nwitness; Jacob put up a stone to make a place sacred; Abel set up the\nsame for a place of worship; Samuel erected a stone as a boundary, which\nwas to be the token of an agreement made in the name of God. Even\nMaundrel in his travels names several that he saw in Palestine. It is\ncurious that where a pillar was erected there, sometime after, a temple\nwas put up in the same manner that the Round Towers of Ireland\nwere,\u2014always near a church, but never formed part of it. We find many\ninstances in the Scriptures of the erection of a number of stones among\nthe early Israelites, which would lead us to conclude that it was not at\nall unlikely that the early places of worship among them, were similar\nto the temples found in various parts of Great Britain and Ireland. It\nis written in Exodus xxiv. 4, that Moses rose up early in the morning,\nand builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to\nthe twelve tribes of Israel, were erected. It is also given out that\nwhen the children of Israel should pass over the Jordan, unto the land\nwhich the Lord giveth them, they should set up great stones, and plaster\nthem with plaster, and also the words of the law were to be written\nthereon. In many other places stones were ordered to be set up in the\nname of the Lord, and repeated instances are given that the stones\nshould be twelve in number and unhewn.\n\nStone temples seem to have been erected in all countries of the world,\nand even in America, where, among the early American races are to be\nfound customs, superstitions, and religious objects of veneration,\nsimilar to the Ph\u0153nicians. An American writer says:\u2014\u201cThere is sufficient\nevidence that the religious customs of the Mexicans, Peruvians and other\nAmerican races, are nearly identical with those of the ancient\nPh\u0153nicians.... We moreover discover that many of their religious terms\nhave, etymologically, the same origin.\u201d Payne Knight, in his Worship of\nPriapus, devotes much of his work to show that the temples erected at\nStonehenge and other places, were of a Ph\u0153nician origin, which was\nsimply a temple of the god Bacchus.\n\n                     STONEHENGE A TEMPLE OF BACCHUS\n\nOf all the nations of antiquity the Persians were the most simple and\ndirect in the worship of the Creator. They were the puritans of the\nheathen world, and not only rejected all images of God and his agents,\nbut also temples and altars, according to Herodotus, whose authority we\nprefer to any other, because he had an opportunity of conversing with\nthem before they had adopted any foreign superstitions. As they\nworshipped the ethereal fire without any medium of personification or\nallegory, they thought it unworthy of the dignity of the god to be\nrepresented by any definite form, or circumscribed to any particular\nplace. The universe was his temple, and the all-pervading element of\nfire his only symbol. The Greeks appear originally to have held similar\nopinions, for they were long without statues and Pausanias speaks of a\ntemple at Siciyon, built by Adrastus\u2014who lived in an age before the\nTrojan war\u2014which consisted of columns only, without wall or roof, like\nthe Celtic temples of our northern ancestors, or the Phyr\u0153theia of the\nPersians, which were circles of stones in the centre of which was\nkindled the sacred fire, the symbol of the god. Homer frequently speaks\nof places of worship consisting of an area and altar only, which were\nprobably enclosures like those of the Persians, with an altar in the\ncentre. The temples dedicated to the creator Bacchus, which the Greek\narchitects called _hyp\u0153thral_, seem to have been anciently of this kind,\nwhence probably came the title (\u201csurround with columns\u201d) attributed to\nthat god in the Orphic litanies. The remains of one of these are still\nextant at Puzznoli, near Naples, which the inhabitants call the temple\nof Serapis; but the ornaments of grapes, vases, etc., found among the\nruins, prove it to have been of Bacchus. Serapis was indeed the same\ndeity worshipped under another form, being usually a personification of\nthe sun. The architecture is of the Roman times; but the ground plan is\nprobably that of a very ancient one, which this was made to replace\u2014for\nit exactly resembles that of a Celtic temple in Zeeland, published in\nStukeley\u2019s _Itinerary_. The ranges of square buildings which enclose it\nare not properly parts of the temple, but apartments of the priests,\nplaces for victims and sacred utensils, and chapels dedicated to the\nsubordinate deities, introduced by a more complicated and corrupt\nworship and probably unknown to the founder of the original edifice. The\nportico, which runs parallel with these buildings, encloses the\n_temenos_, or area of sacred ground, which in the _pyr\u0153theia_ of the\nPersians was circular, but is here quadrangular, as in the Celtic temple\nin Zeeland, and the Indian pagoda before described. In the centre was\nthe holy of holies, the seat of the god, consisting of a circle of\ncolumns raised upon a basement, without roof or walls, in the middle of\nwhich was probably the sacred fire or some other symbol of the deity.\nThe square area in which it stood was sunk below the natural level of\nthe ground, and, like that of the Indian pagoda, appears to have been\noccasionally floated with water; the drains and conduits being still to\nbe seen, as also several fragments of sculpture representing waves,\nserpents, and various aquatic animals, which once adorned the basement.\nThe Bacchus here worshipped, was, as we learn from the Orphic hymn above\ncited, the sun in his character of extinguisher of the fires which once\npervaded the earth. He is supposed to have done this by exhaling the\nwaters of the ocean and scattering them over the land, which was thus\nsupposed to have acquired its proper temperature and fertility. For this\nreason the sacred fire, the essential image of the god, was surrounded\nby the element which was principally employed in giving effect to the\nbeneficial exertions of the great attribute.\n\nFrom a passage of Hecat\u00e6us, preserved by Deodorus Siculus, it seems\nevident that Stonehenge and all the monuments of the same kind found in\nthe north, belong to the same religion which appears at some remote\nperiod to have prevailed over the whole northern hemisphere. According\nto that ancient historian, _the Hyperboreans inhabited an island beyond\nGaul, as large as Sicily, in which Apollo was worshipped in a circular\ntemple considerable for its size and riches_. Apollo, we know, in the\nlanguage of the Greeks of that age, can mean no other than the sun,\nwhich according to C\u00e6sar was worshipped by the Germans, when they knew\nof no other deities except fire and the moon. The island can evidently\nbe no other than Britain, which at that time was only known to the\nGreeks by the vague reports of the Ph\u0153nician mariners; and so uncertain\nand obscure that Herodotus, the most inquisitive and credulous of\nhistorians, doubts of its existence. The circular temple of the sun\nbeing noticed in such slight and imperfect accounts, proves that it must\nhave been something singular and important; for if it had been an\ninconsiderable structure, it would not have been mentioned at all; and\nif there had been many such in the country, the historian would not have\nemployed the singular number.\n\nStonehenge has certainly been a circular temple, nearly the same as that\nalready described of the Bacchus at Puzznoli, except that in the latter\nthe nice execution and beautiful symmetry of the parts are in every\nrespect the reverse of the rude but majestic simplicity of the former.\nIn the original design they differ but in the form of the area. It may\ntherefore be reasonably supposed that we have still the ruins of the\nidentical temple described by Hecat\u00e6us, who, being an Asiatic Greek,\nmight have received his information from Ph\u0153nician merchants, who had\nvisited the interior parts of Britain when trading there for tin.\nAnacrobius mentions a temple of the same kind and form, upon Mount\nZilmissus, in Thrace, dedicated to the sun under the title of Bacchus\nSebrazius. The large obelisks of stone found in many parts of the north,\nsuch as those at Rudstone, and near Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, belong\nto the same religion; obelisks being, as Pliny observes, sacred to the\nsun, whose rays they represented both by their form and name.\u2014_Payne\nKnight\u2019s Worship of Priapus._\n\n                        BUNS AND RELIGIOUS CAKES\n\nSays Hyslop:\u2014\u201cThe hot cross-buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of\nPasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do\nnow. The buns known, too, by that identical name, were used in the\nworship of the Queen of Heaven, the goddess Easter (Ishtar or Astarte),\nas early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens, 1,500 years\nbefore the Christian era.\u201d \u201cOne species of bread,\u201d says Bryant, \u201c\u2018which\nused to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called\n_Boun_.\u2019 Diogenes mentioned \u2018they were made of flour and honey.\u2019\u201d It\nappears that Jeremiah the Prophet was familiar with this lecherous\nworship. He says:\u2014\u201cThe children gather wood, the fathers kindle the\nfire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven\n(Jer. vii., 18)\u201d. Hyslop does not add that the \u201cbuns\u201d offered to the\nQueen of Heaven, and in sacrifices to other deities, were framed in the\nshape of the sexual organs, but that they were so in ancient times we\nhave abundance of evidence.\n\nMartial distinctly speaks of such things in two epigrams, first, wherein\nthe male organ is spoken of, second, wherein the female part is\ncommemorated; the cakes being made of the finest flour, and kept\nespecially for the palate of the fair one.\n\nCaptain Wilford (\u201cAsiatic Researches,\u201d viii., p. 365) says:\u2014\u201cWhen the\npeople of Syracuse were sacrificing to goddesses, they offered cakes\ncalled _mulloi_, shaped like the female organ, and in some temples where\nthe priestesses were probably ventriloquists, they so far imposed on the\ncredulous multitude who came to adore the Vulva as to make them believe\nthat it spoke and gave oracles.\u201d\n\nWe can understand how such things were allowed in licentious Rome, but\nwe can scarcely comprehend how they were tolerated in Christian Europe,\nas, to all innocent surprise we find they were, from the second part of\nthe \u201cRemains of the Worship of Priapus\u201d: that in Saintonge, in the\nneighbourhood of La Rochelle, small cakes baked in the form of the\nPhallus are made as offerings at Easter, carried and presented from\nhouse to house. Dulare states that in his time the festival of Palm\nSunday, in the town of Saintes, was called _le fete des pinnes_\u2014feast of\nthe privy members\u2014and that during its continuance the women and children\ncarried in the procession a Phallus made of bread, which they called a\n_pinne_, at the end of their palm branches; these _pinnes_ were\nsubsequently blessed by priests, and carefully preserved by the women\nduring the year. Palm Sunday! Palm, it is to be remembered, is a\neuphemism of the male organ, and it is curious to see it united with the\nPhallus in Christendom. Dulare also says that, in some of the earlier\ninedited French books on cookery, receipts are given for making cakes of\nthe salacious form in question, which are broadly named. He further\ntells us those cakes symbolized the male, in Lower Limousin, and\nespecially at Brives; while the female emblem was adopted at Clermont,\nin Auvergne, and other places.\n\n                        THE ARK AND GOOD FRIDAY\n\nThe ark of the covenant was a most sacred symbol in the worship of the\nJews, and like the sacred boat, or ark of Osiris, contained the symbol\nof the principle of life, or creative power. The symbol was preserved\nwith great veneration in a miniature tabernacle, which was considered\nthe special and sanctified abode of the god. In size and manner of\nconstruction the ark of the Jews and the sacred chest of Osiris of the\nEgyptians were exactly alike, and were carried in processions in a\nsimilar manner.\n\nThe ark or chest of Osiris was attended by the priests, and was borne on\nthe shoulders of men by means of staves. The ark when taken from the\ntemple was placed upon a table, or stand, made expressly for the\npurpose, and was attended by a procession similar to that which followed\nthe Jewish ark. According to Faber, the ark was a symbol of the earth or\nfemale principle, containing the germ of all animated nature, and\nregarded as the great mother whence all things sprung. Thus the ark,\nearth, and goddess, were represented by common symbols, and spoken of in\nthe old Testament as the \u201cashera.\u201d\n\nThe sacred emblems carried in the ark of the Egyptians were the Phallus,\nthe Egg, and the Serpent; the first representing the sun, fire, and male\nor generative principle\u2014the Creator; the second, the passive or female,\nthe germ of all animated things\u2014the Preserver; and the last the\nDestroyer: the Three of the sacred Trinity. The Hindu women, according\nto Payne Knight, still carry the lingam, or consecrated symbol of the\ngenerative attribute of the deity, in solemn procession between two\nserpents; and in a sacred casket, which held the Egg and the Phallus in\nthe mystic processions of the Greeks, was also a Serpent.\n\n\u201cThe ark,\u201d says Faber, \u201cwas reverenced in all the ancient religions.\u201d It\nwas often represented in the form of a boat, or ship, as well as an\noblong chest. The rites of the Druids, with those of Ph\u0153nicia and\nHindostan, show that an ark, chest, cell, boat, or cavern, held an\nimportant place in their mysteries. In the story of Osiris, like that of\nthe Siva, will be found the reason for the emblem being carried in the\nsacred chest, and the explanation of one of the mysteries of the\nEgyptian priests. It is said that Osiris was torn to pieces by the\nwicked Typhon, who after cutting up the body, distributed the parts over\nthe earth. Isis recovered the scattered limbs, and brought them back to\nEgypt; but, being unable to find the part which distinguished his sex,\nshe had an image made of wood, which was enshrined in an ark, and\nordered to be solemnly carried about in the festivals she had instituted\nin his honour, and celebrated with certain secret rites.\n\nThe Egg, which accompanied the Phallus in the ark was a very common\nsymbol of the ancient faiths, which was considered as containing the\ngeneration of life. The image of that which generated all things in\nitself. Jacob Bryant says:\u2014\u201cThe Egg, as it contained the principles of\nlife was thought no improper emblem of the ark, in which were preserved\nthe future world. Hence in the Dionysian and in other mysteries, one\npart of the nocturnal ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg.\u201d\nThis egg was called the Mundane Egg.\n\nThe ark was likewise the symbol of salvation, the place of safety, the\nsecret receptacle of the divine wisdom. Hence we find the ark of the\nJews containing the tables of the law; we find too that the Jews were\nordered to place in the ark Aaron\u2019s rod, which budded, conveying the\nidea of symbolised fertility: showing that the ark was considered as the\nreceptacle of the life principle\u2014as an emblem of the Creator.\n\nWith the Egyptians Osiris was supposed to be buried in the ark, which\nrepresented the disappearance of the deity. His loss, or death,\nconstituted the first part of the mysteries, which consisted of\nlamentations for his decease. After the third day from his death, a\nprocession went down to the seaside in the night, carrying the ark with\nthem. During the passage they poured drink offerings from the river, and\nwhen the ceremony had been duly performed, they raised a shout that\nOsiris had again risen\u2014that the dead had been restored to life. After\nthis followed the second or joyful part of the mysteries. The similarity\nof this custom with the Good Friday celebrations of the death of Jesus,\nand the rejoicings on account of his resurrection on Easter Sunday, will\nbe at once observed. It is further said that the missing part of Osiris\nwas eaten by a fish, which made the fish a sacred symbol. Thus we have\nthe Ark, Fish, and Good Friday brought together, also the Egg, for the\norigin of the Easter eggs is very ancient. A bull is represented as\nbreaking an egg with his horn, which signified the liberating of\nimprisoned life at the opening or spring of the year, which had been\ndestroyed by Typhon. The opening of the year at that time commenced in\nthe spring, not according to our present reckoning; thus, the Egg was a\nsymbol of the resurrection of life at the spring, or our Easter time.\nThe author of the \u201cWorship of the Generative Powers,\u201d describes the\norigin of the hot cross-bun at Easter, which is a further parallelism of\nthe Christian and Pagan festivals. The author also draws a further\nconclusion\u2014that the cakes or buns have in reality a Phallic origin, for\nin France and other parts, the Easter cakes were called after the\n_membrum virile_. The writer says:\u2014\u201cIn the primitive Teutonic mythology,\nthere was a female deity named in old German, Ostara, and in\nAnglo-Saxon, Eastre or Eostre; but all we know of her is the simple\nstatement of our father of history, Bede, that her festival was\ncelebrated by the ancient Saxons in the month of April, from which\ncircumstance that month was named by the Anglo-Saxons, Easter-mona or\nEoster-mona, and that the name of the goddess had been frequently given\nto the Paschal time, with which it was identical. The name of this\ngoddess was given to the same month by the old Germans and by the\nFranks, so that she must have been one of the most highly honoured of\nthe Teutonic deities, and her festival must have been a very important\none and deeply implanted in the popular feelings, or the Church would\nnot have sought to identify it with one of the greatest Christian\nfestivals of the year. It is understood that the Romans considered this\nmonth as dedicated to Venus, no doubt because it was that in which the\nproductive powers of nature began to be visibly developed. When the\nPagan festival was adopted by the Church, it became a moveable feast,\ninstead of being fixed to the month of April. Among other objects\noffered to the goddess at this time were cakes, made no doubt of fine\nflour, but of their form we are ignorant. The Christians when they\nseized upon the Easter festival, gave them the form of a bun, which\nindeed was at that time the ordinary form of bread; and to protect\nthemselves and those who ate them from any enchantment\u2014or other evil\ninfluences which might arise from their former heathen character\u2014they\nmarked them with the Christian symbol\u2014the cross. Hence we derived the\ncakes we still eat at Easter under the name of hot cross-buns, and the\nsuperstitious feelings attached to them; for multitudes of people still\nbelieve that if they failed to eat a hot cross-bun on Good Friday, they\nwould be unlucky all the rest of the year.\u201d\n\n              ARCHITECTURAL PILLARS DEVISED FROM THE LOTUS\n\nThe earliest capital seems to have been the bell or seed vessel, simply\ncopied without alteration, except a little expansion at the bottom to\ngive it stability. The leaves of some other plant were then added to it,\nand varied in different capitals according to the different meanings\nintended to be signified by the accessory symbols. The Greeks decorated\nit in the same manner, with the foliage of various plants, sometimes of\nthe acanthus and sometimes of the aquatic kind, which are, however,\ngenerally so transformed by excessive attention to elegance, that it is\ndifficult to distinguish them. The most usual seems to be the Egyptian\nacacia, which was probably adopted as a mystic symbol for the same\nreasons as the olive, it being equally remarkable for its powers of\nreproduction. Theophrastus mentions a large wood of it in the \u201cThebaid,\u201d\nwhere the olive will not grow, so that we reasonably suppose it to have\nbeen employed by the Egyptians in the same symbolical sense. From them\nthe Greeks seem to have borrowed it about the time of the Macedonian\nconquest, it not occurring in any of their buildings of a much earlier\ndate; and as for the story of the Corinthian architect, who is said to\nhave invented this kind of capital from observing a thorn growing round\na basket, it deserved no credit, being fully contradicted by the\nbuildings still remaining in Upper Egypt.\n\nThe Doric column, which appears to have been the only one known to the\nvery ancient Greeks, was equally derived from the Nelumbo; its capital\nbeing the same seed-vessel pressed flat, as it appears when withered and\ndry\u2014the only state probably in which it had been seen in Europe. The\nflutes in the shaft were made to hold spears and staves, whence a\nspear-holder is spoken of in the \u201cOdyssey\u201d as part of a column. The\ntriglyphs and blocks of the cornice were also derived from utility, they\nhaving been intended to represent the projecting ends of the beams and\nrafters which formed the roof.\n\nThe Ionic capital has no bell, but volutes formed in imitation of\nsea-shells, which have the same symbolical meaning. To them is\nfrequently added the ornament which architects call a honeysuckle, but\nwhich seems to be meant for the young petals of the same flower viewed\nhorizontally, before they are opened or expanded. Another ornament is\nalso introduced in this capital, which they call eggs and anchors, but\nwhich is, in fact, composed of eggs and spear-heads, the symbols of\nfemale generation and male destructive power, or in the language of\nmythology, of Venus and Mars.\u2014_Payne Knight._\n\n                       BELLS IN RELIGIOUS WORSHIP\n\nStripped, however, of all this splendour and magnificence it was\nprobably nothing more than a symbolical instrument, signifying\noriginally the motion of the elements, like the sistrum of Isis, the\ncymbals of Cybele, the bells of Bacchus, etc., whence Jupiter is said to\nhave overcome the Titans with his \u00e6gis, as Isis drove away Typhon with\nher sistrum, and the ringing of the bells and clatter of metals were\nalmost universally employed as a means of consecration, and a charm\nagainst the destroying and inert powers. Even the Jews welcomed the new\nmoon with such noises, which the simplicity of the early ages employed\nalmost everywhere to relieve her during eclipses, supposed then to be\nmorbid affections brought on by the influence of an adverse power. The\ntitle _Priapus_, by which the generative attribute is distinguished,\nseems to be merely a corruption of _Briapuos_ (clamorous); the _beta_\nand _pi_ being commutable letters, and epithets of similar meaning,\nbeing continually applied both to Jupiter and Bacchus by the poets. Many\nPriapic figures, too, still extant, have bells attached to them, as the\nsymbolical statues and temples of the Hindus are; and to wear them was a\npart of the worship of Bacchus among the Greeks: whence we sometimes\nfind them of extremely small size, evidently meant to be worn as amulets\nwith the phalli, lunul\u00e6, etc. The chief priests of the Egyptians and\nalso the high priests of the Jews, hung them as sacred emblems to their\nsacerdotal garments; and the Brahmins still continue to ring a small\nbell at the interval of their prayers, ablutions, and other acts of\ndevotion; which custom is still preserved in the Roman Catholic Church\nat the elevation of the host. The Laced\u00e6monians beat upon a brass vessel\nor pan, on the death of their kings, and we still retain the custom of\ntolling a bell on such occasions, though the reason of it is not\ngenerally known, any more than that of other remnants of ancient\nceremonies still existing.[1] It will be observed that the bells used by\nthe Christians very probably came direct from the Buddhists. And from\nthe same source are derived the beads and rosaries of the Roman\nCatholics, which have been used by the Buddhist monks for over 2,000\nyears. Tinkling bells were suspended before the shrine of Jupiter Ammon,\nand during the service the gods were invited to descend upon the altars\nby the ringing of bells; they were likewise sacred to Siva. Bells were\nused at the worship of Bacchus, and were worn on the garments of the\nBacchantes, much in the same manner as they are used at our carnivals\nand masquerades.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  The above description is from Payne Knight\u2019s \u201cSymbolical Language of\n  ancient Art and Mythology.\u201d\n\n                            HINDU PHALLICISM\n\nThe following curious fable is given by Sir William Jones, as one of the\nstories of the Hindus for the origin of Phallic devotion:\u2014\u201cCertain\ndevotees in a remote time had acquired great renown and respect, but the\npurity of the art was wanting, nor did their motives and secret thoughts\ncorrespond with their professions and exterior conduct. They affected\npoverty, but were attached to the things of this world, and the princes\nand nobles were constantly sending their offerings. They seemed to\nsequester themselves from this world; they lived retired from the towns;\nbut their dwellings were commodious, and their women numerous and\nhandsome. But nothing can be hid from their gods, and Sheevah resolved\nto put them to shame. He desired Prakeety (nature) to accompany him; and\nassumed the appearance of a Pandaram of a graceful form. Prakeety was\nherself a damsel of matchless worth. She went before the devotees who\nwere assembled with their disciples, awaiting the rising of the sun, to\nperform their ablutions and religious ceremonies. As she advanced the\nrefreshing breeze moved her flowing robe, showed the exquisite shape\nwhich it seemed intended to conceal. With eyes cast down, though\nsometimes opening with a timid but tender look, she approached them, and\nwith a low enchanting voice desired to be admitted to the sacrifice. The\ndevotees gazed on her with astonishment. The sun appeared, but the\npurifications were forgotten; the things of the Poojah (worship) lay\nneglected; nor was any worship thought of but that of her. Quitting the\ngravity of their manners, they gathered round her as flies round the\nlamp at night\u2014attracted by its splendour, but consumed by its flame.\nThey asked from whence she came; whither she was going. \u2018Be not offended\nwith us for approaching thee, forgive us our importunities. But thou art\nincapable of anger, thou who art made to convey bliss; to thee, who\nmayest kill by indifference, indignation and resentment are unknown. But\nwhoever thou mayest be, whatever motive or accident might have brought\nthee amongst us, admit us into the number of thy slaves; let us at least\nhave the comfort to behold thee.\u2019 Here the words faltered on the lip,\nand the soul seemed ready to take its flight; the vow was forgotten, and\nthe policy of years destroyed.\n\n\u201cWhilst the devotees were lost in their passions, and absent from their\nhomes, Sheevah entered their village with a musical instrument in his\nhand, playing and singing like some of those who solicit charity. At the\nsound of his voice, the women immediately quitted their occupation; they\nran to see from whom it came. He was as beautiful as Krishen on the\nplains of Matra. Some dropped their jewels without turning to look for\nthem; others let fall their garments without perceiving that they\ndiscovered those abodes of pleasure which jealousy as well as decency\nhad ordered to be concealed. All pressed forward with their offerings,\nall wished to speak, all wished to be taken notice of, and bringing\nflowers and scattering them before him, said\u2014\u2018Askest thou alms! thou who\nare made to govern hearts. Thou whose countenance is as fresh as the\nmorning, whose voice is the voice of pleasure, and they breath like that\nof Vassant (Spring) in the opening of the rose! Stay with us and we will\nserve thee; nor will we trouble thy repose, but only be zealous how to\nplease thee.\u2019 The Pandaram continued to play, and sung the loves of Kama\n(God of Love), of Krishen and the Gopia, and smiling the gentle smiles\nof fond desire....\n\n\u201cBut the desire of repose succeeds the waste of pleasure. Sleep closed\nthe eyes and lulled the senses. In the morning the Pandaram was gone.\nWhen they awoke they looked round with astonishment, and again cast\ntheir eyes on the ground. Some directed to those who had formerly been\nremarked for their scrupulous manners, but their faces were covered with\ntheir veils. After sitting awhile in silence they arose and went back to\ntheir houses, with slow and troubled steps. The devotees returned about\nthe same time from their wanderings after Prakeety. The days that\nfollowed were days of embarrassment and shame. If the women had failed\nin their modesty, the devotees had broken their vows. They were vexed at\ntheir weakness, they were sorry for what they had done; yet the tender\nsigh sometimes broke forth, and the eyes often turned to where the men\nfirst saw the maid\u2014the women, the Pandaram.\n\n\u201cBut the women began to perceive that what the devotees foretold came\nnot to pass. Their disciples, in consequence, neglected to attend them,\nand the offerings from the princes and nobles became less frequent than\nbefore. They then performed various penances; they sought for secret\nplaces among the woods unfrequented by man; and having at last shut\ntheir eyes from the things of this world, retired within themselves in\ndeep meditation, that Sheevah was the author of their misfortunes. Their\nunderstanding being imperfect, instead of bowing the head with humility,\nthey were inflamed with anger; instead of contrition for their\nhypocrisy, they sought for vengeance. They performed new sacrifices and\nincantations, which were only allowed to have effect in the end, to show\nthe extreme folly of man in not submitting to the will of heaven.\n\n\u201cTheir incantations produced a tiger, whose mouth was like a cavern and\nhis voice like thunder among the mountains. They sent him against\nSheevah, who with Prakeety was amusing himself in the vale. He smiled at\ntheir weakness, and killing the tiger at one blow with his club, he\ncovered himself with his skin. Seeing themselves frustrated in this\nattempt, the devotees had recourse to another, and sent serpents against\nhim of the most deadly kind; but on approaching him they became\nharmless, and he twisted them round his neck. They then sent their\ncurses and imprecations against him, but they all recoiled upon\nthemselves. Not yet disheartened by all these disappointments, they\ncollected all their prayers, their penances, their charities, and other\ngood works, the most acceptable sacrifices; and demanding in return only\nvengeance against Sheevah, they sent a fire to destroy his genital\nparts. Sheevah, incensed at this attempt, turned the fire with\nindignation against the human race; and mankind would soon have been\ndestroyed, had not Vishnu, alarmed at the danger, implored him to\nsuspend his wrath. At his entreaties Sheevah relented; but it was\nordained that in his temples those parts should be _worshipped_, which\nthe false doctrines had impiously attempted to destroy.\u201d\n\n                          THE CROSS AND ROSARY\n\nThe key which is still worn with the Priapic hand, as an amulet, by the\nwomen of Italy appears to have been an emblem of the equivocal use of\nthe name, as the language of that country implies. Of the same kind,\ntoo, appears to have been the cross in the form of the letter _tau_,\nattached to a circle, which many of the figures of Egyptian deities,\nboth male and female, carry in their left hand; and by the Syrians,\nPh\u0153nicians and other inhabitants of Asia, representing the planet Venus,\nworshipped by them as the emblem or image of that goddess. The cross in\nthis form is sometimes observable on coins, and several of them were\nfound in a temple of Serapis, demolished at the general destruction of\nthose edifices by the Emperor Theodosius, and were said by the Christian\nantiquaries of that time to signify the future life. In solemn\nsacrifices, all the Lapland idols were marked with it from the blood of\nthe victims; and it occurs on many Runic ornaments found in Sweden and\nDenmark, which are of an age long anterior to the approach of\nChristianity to those countries, and probably to its appearance in the\nworld. On some of the early coins of the Ph\u0153nicians, we find it attached\nto a chaplet of beads placed in a circle, so as to form a complete\nrosary, such as the Lamas of Thibet and China, the Hindus, and the Roman\nCatholics now tell over while they pray.\n\n                                 BEADS\n\nBeads were anciently used to reckon time, and a circle, being a line\nwithout termination, was the natural emblem of its perpetual continuity;\nwhence we often find circles of beads upon the heads of deities, and\nenclosing the sacred symbols upon coins and other monuments. Perforated\nbeads are also frequently found in tombs, both in the northern and\nsouthern parts of Europe and Asia, whence are fragments of the chaplets\nof consecration buried with the deceased. The simple diadem, or fillet,\nworn round the head as a mark of sovereignty, had a similar meaning, and\nwas originally confined to the statues of deities and deified\npersonages, as we find it upon the most ancient coins. Chryses, the\npriest of Apollo, in the \u201cIliad,\u201d brings the diadem, or sacred fillet,\nof the god upon his sceptre, as the most imposing and invocable emblem\nof sanctity; but no mention is made of its being worn by kings in either\nof the Homeric poems, nor of any other ensign of temporal power and\ncommand, except the royal staff or sceptre.\n\n                               THE LOTUS\n\nThe double sex typified by the Argha and its contents is by the Hindus\nrepresented by the \u201cMymph\u0153a\u201d or Lotus, floating like a boat on the\nboundless ocean, where the whole plant signifies both the earth and the\ntwo principles of its fecundation. The germ is both Meru and the Linga;\nthe petals and filaments are the mountains which encircle Meru, and are\nalso a type of the Yoni; the leaves of the calyx are the four vast\nregions to the cardinal points of Meru; and the leaves of the plant are\nthe Dwipas or isles round the land of Jambu. As this plant or lily was\nprobably the most celebrated of all the vegetable creation among the\nmystics of the ancient world, and is to be found in thousands of the\nmost beautiful and sacred paintings of the Christians of this day\u2014I\ndetain my reader with a few observations respecting it. This is the more\nnecessary as it appears that the priests have now lost the meaning of\nit; at least this is the case with everyone of whom I have made enquiry;\nbut it is like many other very odd things, probably understood in the\nVatican, or the crypt of St. Peter\u2019s. Maurice says that among the\ndifferent plants which ornament our globe, there is not one which has\nreceived so much honour from man as the Lotus or Lily, in whose\nconsecrated bosom Brahma was born, and Osiris delighted to float. This\nis the sublime, the hallowed symbol that eternally occurs in oriental\nmythology, and in truth not without reason, for it is itself a lovely\nprodigy. Throughout all the northern hemispheres it was everywhere held\nin profound veneration, and from Savary we learn that the veneration is\nyet continued among the modern Egyptians. And we find that it still\ncontinues to receive the respect if not the adoration of a great part of\nthe Christian world, unconscious, perhaps, of the original reason of\nthis conduct. _Higgins\u2019s Anacalypsis._\n\nThe following is an account given of it by Payne Knight, in his curious\ndissertation on Phallic Worship:\u2014\u201cThe Lotus is the Nelumbo of Linn\u00e6us.\nThis plant grows in the water, among its broad leaves puts forth a\nflower, in the centre of which is formed the seed vessel, shaped like a\nbell or inverted cone, and perforated on the top with little cavities or\ncells, in which the seeds grow. The orifices of these cells being too\nsmall to let the seeds drop out when ripe, they shoot forth into new\nplants in the places where they are formed: the bulb of the vessel\nserving as a matrix to nourish them, until they acquire such a degree of\nmagnitude as to burst it open and release themselves, after which, like\nother aquatic weeds, they take root wherever the current deposits them.\nThis plant, therefore, being thus productive of itself, and vegetating\nfrom its own matrix, without being fostered in the earth, was naturally\nadopted as the symbol of the productive power of the waters, upon which\nthe active spirit of the Creator operated in giving life and vegetation,\nto matter. We accordingly find it employed in every part of the northern\nhemisphere, where the symbolical religion, _improperly called idolatry_,\ndoes or ever did prevail. The sacred images of the Tartars, Japanese,\nand Indians are almost placed upon it, of which numerous instances occur\nin the publications of K\u0153mpfer, Sonnerat, etc. The Brahma of India is\nrepresented as sitting upon his Lotus throne, and the figure upon the\nIsaaic table holds the stem of this plant surmounted by the seed vessel\nin one hand, and the Cross representing the male organs of generation in\nthe other; thus signifying the universal power, both active and passive,\nattributed to that goddess.\u201d\n\nNimrod says:\u2014\u201cThe Lotus is a well-known allegory, of which the expansive\ncalyx represents the ship of the gods floating on the surface of the\nwater; and the erect flower arising out of it, the mast thereof. The one\nwas the galley or cockboat, and the other the mast of cockayne; but as\nthe ship was Isis or Magna Mater, the female principle, and the mast in\nit the male deity, these parts of the flower came to have certain other\nsignifications, which seem to have been as well known at Samosata as at\nBenares. This plant was also used in the sacred offices of the Jewish\nreligion. In the ornaments of the temple of Solomon, the Lotus or lily\nis often seen.\u201d\n\nThe figure of Isis is frequently represented holding the stem of the\nplant in one hand, and the cross and circle in the other. Columns and\ncapitals resembling the plant are still existing among the ruins of\nThebes, in Egypt, and the island of Phil\u0153. The Chinese goddess, Pussa,\nis represented sitting upon the Lotus, called in that country Lin, with\nmany arms, having symbols signifying the various operations of nature,\nwhile similar attributes are expressed in the Scandinavian goddess Isa\nor Disa.\n\nThe Lotus is also a prominent symbol in Hindu and Egyptian cosmogony.\nThis plant appears to have the same tendency with the Sphinx, of marking\nthe connection between that which produces and that which is produced.\nThe Egyptian Ceres (Virgo) bears in her hand the blue Lotus, which plant\nis acknowledged to be the emblem of celestial love so frequently seen\nmounted on the back of Leo in the ancient remains. The following is a\ntranslation of the Purana relating to the cosmogony of the Hindus, and\nwill be found interesting as showing the importance attached to the\nLotus in the worship of the ancients:\u2014\u201cWe find Brahma emerging from the\nLotus. The whole universe was dark and covered with water. On this\nprimeval water did Bhagavat (God), in a masculine form, repose for the\nspace of one Calpho (a thousand years); after which period the intention\nof creating other beings for his own wise purposes became predominant in\nthe mind of the _Great Creator_. In the first place, by his sovereign\nwill was produced the flower of the Lotus, afterwards, by the same will,\nwas brought to light the form of Brahma from the said flower; Brahma,\nemerging from the cup of the Lotus, looked round on all the four sides,\nand beheld from the eyes of his four heads an immeasurable expanse of\nwater. Observing the whole world thus involved in darkness and submerged\nin water, he was stricken with prodigious amazement, and began to\nconsider with himself, \u2018Who is it that produced me?\u2019 \u2018whence came I?\u2019\n\u2018and where am I?\u2019\n\n\u201cBrahma, thus kept two hundred years in contemplation, prayers, and\ndevotions, and having pondered in his mind that without connection of\nmale and female an abundant generation could not be effected\u2014again\nentered into profound meditation on the power of the Supreme, when, on a\nsudden by the omnipotence of God, was produced from his right side\n_Swayambhuvah Menu_, a man of perfect beauty; and from the Brahma\u2019s left\nside a woman named _Satarupa_. The prayer of Brahma runs thus:\u2014\u2018O\nBhagavat! since thou broughtest me from nonentity into existence for a\nparticular purpose, accomplish by thy benevolence that purpose.\u2019 In a\nshort time a small white boar appeared, which soon grew to the size of\nan elephant. He now felt God in all, and that all is from Him, and all\nin Him. At length the power of the Omnipotent had assumed the body of\n_Vara_. He began to use the instinct of that animal. Having divided the\nwater, he saw the earth a mighty barren stratum. He then took up the\nmighty ponderous globe (freed from the water) and spread the earth like\na carpet on the face of the water; Brahma, contemplating the whole\nearth, performed due reverence, and rejoicing exceedingly, began to\nconsider the means of peopling the renovated world.\u201d _Pyag_, now\nAllahabad, was the first land said to have appeared, but with the\nBrahmins it is a disputed point, for many affirm that _Casi_ or Benares\nwas the sacred ground.\n\n                                  MERU\n\nThe learned Higgins, an English judge, who for some years spent ten\nhours a day in antiquarian studies, says that Moriah, of Isaiah and\nAbraham, is the Meru of the Hindus, and the Olympus of the Greeks.\nSolomon built high places for Ashtoreth, Astarte, or Venus, which\nbecause mounts of Venus, _mons veneris_\u2014Meru and Mount Calvary\u2014each a\nslightly skull-shaped mount, that might be represented by a bare head.\nThe Bible translators perpetuate the same idea in the word \u201ccalvaria.\u201d\nProf. Stanley denies that \u201cMount Calvary\u201d took its name from its being\nthe place of the crucifixion of Jesus. Looking elsewhere and in earlier\ntimes for the bare calvaria, we find among Oriental women, the Mount of\nVenus, _mons veneris_, through motives of neatness or religious\nsentiment, deprived of all hirsute appendage. We see Mount Calvary\nimitated in the shaved poll of the head of a priest. The priests of\nChina, says Mr. J. M. Peebles, continue to shave the head. To make a\nplace holy, among the Hindus, Tartars, and people of Thibet, it was\nnecessary to have a mount Meru, also a Linga-Yoni, or Arba.\n\n                     LINGAM IN THE TEMPLE OF ELORA\n\nThis marvellous work of excavation by the slow process of the chisel,\nwas visited by Capt. Seeley, who afterwards published a volume\ndescribing the temple and its vast statues. The beauty of its\narchitectural ornaments, the innumerable statues or emblems, all hewn\nout of solid rock, dispute with the Pyramids for the first place among\nthe works undertaken to display power and embody feeling. The stupendous\ntemple is detached from the neighbouring mountain by a spacious area all\nround, and is nearly 250 feet deep and 150 feet broad, reaching to the\nheight of 100 feet and in length about 145 feet. It has well-formed\ndoorways, windows, staircases, upper floors, containing fine large rooms\nof a smooth and polished surface, regularly divided by rows of pillars;\nthe whole bulk of this immense block of isolated excavation being\nupwards of 500 feet in circumference, and having beyond its areas three\nhandsome figure galleries or verandas supported by regular pillars.\nOutside the temple are two large obelisks or phalli standing, \u201cof\nquadrangular form, eleven feet square, prettily and variously carved,\nand are estimated at forty-one feet high; the shaft above the pedestal\nis seven feet two inches, being larger at the base than Cleopatra\u2019s\nNeedle.\u201d\n\nIn one of the smaller temples was an image of Lingam, \u201ccovered with oil\nand red ochre, and flowers were daily strewed on its circular top. This\nLingam is larger than usual, occupying with the altar, a great part of\nthe room. In most Ling rooms a sufficient space is left for the votaries\nto walk round whilst making the usual invocations to the deity (Maha\nDeo). This deity is much frequented by female votaries, who take\nespecial care to keep it clean, washed, and often perfume it with\noderiferous oils and flowers, whilst the attendant Brahmins sweep the\napartment and attend the five oil lights and bell ringing.\u201d This oil\nvessel resembled the Yoni (circular frame), into which the light itself\nwas placed. No symbol was more venerated or more frequently met with\nthan the altar and Ling, Siva, or Maha Deo. \u201cBarren women constantly\nresort to it to supplicate for children,\u201d says Seeley. The mysteries\nattended upon them is not described, but doubtless they were of a very\nsimilar character to those described by the author of the \u201cWorship of\nthe Generative Powers of the Western Nations,\u201d showing again the\nsimilarity of the custom with those practised by the Catholics in\nFrance. The writer says:\u2014\u201cWomen sought a remedy for barrenness by\nkissing the end of the Phallus; sometimes they appear to have placed a\npart of their body, naked, against the image of the saint, or to have\nsat upon it. This latter trait was perhaps too bold an adoption of the\nindecencies of Pagan worship to last long, or to be practised openly;\nbut it appears to have been innocently represented by lying upon the\nbody of the saint, or sitting upon a stone, understood to represent him\nwithout the presence of the energetic member. In a corner in the church\nof the village of St. Fiacre, near Monceaux, in France, there is a stone\ncalled the chair of St. Fiacre, which confers fecundity upon women who\nsit upon it; but it is necessary nothing should intervene between their\nbare skin and the stone. In the church of Orcival in Auvergne, there was\na pillar which barren women kissed for the same purpose and which had\nperhaps replaced some less equivocal object.\u201d\n\nThe principal object of worship at Elora is the stone, so frequently\nspoken of; \u201cthe Lingam,\u201d says Seeley, and he apologises for using the\nword so often, but asks to be excused, \u201cis an emblem not generally\nknown, but as frequently met with as the Cross in Catholic worship.\u201d It\nis the god Siva, a symbol of his generative character, the base of which\nis usually inserted in the Yoni. The stone is of a conical shape, often\nblack stone, covered with flowers (the _Belia_ and _Asuca_ shrubs). The\nflowers hang pendant from the crown of the Ling stone to the spout of\nthe _Argha_ or _Yoni_ (mystical matrix); the same as the Phallus of the\nGreeks. Five lamps are commonly used in the worship at the symbol, or\none lamp with five wicks. The Lotus is often seen on the top of the\nLing.\n\n                    VENUS-URANIA.\u2014THE MOTHER GODDESS\n\nThe characteristic attribute of the passive generative power was\nexpressed in symbolical writing, by different enigmatical\nrepresentations of the most distinguished characteristic of the female\nsex: such as the shell or _Concha Veneris_, the fig-leaf, barley corn,\nand the letter Delta, all of which occur very frequently upon coins and\nother ancient monuments in this sense. The same attribute personified as\nthe goddess of Love, or desire, is usually represented under the\nvoluptuous form of a beautiful woman, frequently distinguished by one of\nthese symbols, and called Venus, Kypris, or Aphrodite, names of rather\nuncertain mythology. She is said to be the daughter of Jupiter and\nDione, that is of the male and female personifications of the\nall-pervading Spirit of the Universe; Dione being the female Dis or\nZeus, and therefore associated with him in the most ancient oracular\ntemple of Greece at Dodona. No other genealogy appears to have been\nknown in the Homeric times; though a different one is employed to\naccount for the name of Aphrodite in the \u201cTheogony\u201d attributed to\nHesiod.\n\nThe _Genelullides_ or _Genoidai_ were the original and appropriate\nministers or companions of Venus, who was however, afterwards attended\nby the Graces, the proper and original attendants of Juno; but as both\nthese goddesses were occasionally united and represented in one image,\nthe personifications of their respective subordinate attributes were on\nother occasions added: whence the symbolical statue of Venus at Paphos\nhad a beard, and other appearances of virility, which seems to have been\nthe most ancient mode of representing the celestial as distinguished\nfrom the popular goddess of that name\u2014the one being a personification of\na general procreative power, and the other only of animal desire or\nconcupiscence. The refinement of Grecian art, however, when advanced to\nmaturity, contrived more elegant modes of distinguishing them; and, in a\ncelebrated work of Phidias, we find the former represented with her foot\nupon a tortoise; and in a no less celebrated one of Scopas, the latter\nsitting upon a goat. The tortoise, being an androgynous animal, was\naptly chosen as a symbol of the double power; and the goat was equally\nappropriate to what was meant to be expressed in the other.\n\nThe same attribute was on other occasions signified by a dove or pigeon,\nby the sparrow, and perhaps by the polypus, which often appears upon\ncoins with the head of the goddess, and which was accounted an\naphrodisiac, though it is likewise of the androgynous class. The fig was\na still more common symbol, the statue of Priapus being made of the\ntree, and the fruit being carried with the Phallus in the ancient\nprocessions in honour of Bacchus, and still continuing among the common\npeople of Italy to be an emblem of what it anciently meant: whence we\noften see portraits of persons of that country painted with it in one\nhand, to signify their orthodox elevation to the fair sex. Hence, also\narose the Italian expression _far la fica_, which was done by putting\nthe thumb between the middle and fore-fingers, as it appears in many\nPriapic ornaments extant; or by putting the finger or thumb into the\ncorner of the mouth and drawing it down, of which there is a\nrepresentation in a small Priapic figure of exquisite sculpture,\nengraved among the _Antiquities of Herculaneum_.\n\n             LIBERALITY AND SAMENESS OF THE WORLD-RELIGIONS\n\nThe same liberal and humane spirit still prevails among those nations\nwhose religion is founded on the same principles. \u201cThe Siamese,\u201d says a\ntraveller of the seventeenth century, \u201cshun disputes and believe that\nalmost all religions are good\u201d (\u201cJournal du Voyage de Siam\u201d). When the\nambassador of Louis XIV asked their king, in his master\u2019s name, to\nembrace Christianity, he replied, \u201cthat it was strange that the king of\nFrance should interest himself so much in an affair which concerns only\nGod, whilst He, whom it did concern, seemed to leave it wholly to our\ndiscretion. Had it been agreeable to the Creator that all nations should\nhave had the same form of worship, would it not have been as easy to His\nomnipotence to have created all men with the same sentiments and\ndispositions, and to have inspired them with the same notions of the\nTrue Religion, as to endow them with such different tempers and\ninclinations? Ought they not rather to believe that the true God has as\nmuch pleasure in being honoured by a variety of forms and ceremonies, as\nin being praised and glorified by a number of different creatures? Or\nwhy should that beauty and variety, so admirable in the natural order of\nthings, be less admirable or less worthy of the wisdom of God in the\nsupernatural?\u201d\n\nThe Hindus profess exactly the same opinion. \u201cThey would readily admit\nthe truth of the Gospel,\u201d says a very learned writer long resident among\nthem, \u201cbut they contend that it is perfectly consistent with their\nShastras. The Deity, they say, has appeared innumerable times in many\nparts of this world and in all worlds, for the salvation of his\ncreatures; and we adore, they say, the same God, to whom our several\nworships, though different in form, are equally acceptable if they be\nsincere in substance.\u201d\n\nThe Chinese sacrifice to the spirits of the air, the mountains and the\nrivers; while the Emperor himself sacrifices to the sovereign Lord of\nHeaven, to whom all these spirits are subordinate, and from whom they\nare derived. The sectaries of Fohi have, indeed, surcharged this\nprimitive elementary worship with some of the allegorical fables of\ntheir neighbours; but still as their creed\u2014like that of the Greeks and\nRomans\u2014remains undefined, it admits of no dogmatical theology, and of\ncourse no persecution for opinion. Obscure and sanguinary rites have,\nindeed, been wisely prescribed on many occasions; but still _as actions\nand not as opinions_. Atheism is said to have been punished with death\nat Athens; but nevertheless it may be reasonably doubted whether the\natheism, against which the citizens of that republic expressed such\nfury, consisted in a denial of the existence of the gods; for Diagoras,\nwho was obliged to fly for this crime, was accused of revealing and\ncalumniating the doctrines taught in the Mysteries; and from the\nopinions ascribed to Socrates, there is reason to believe that his\noffence was of the same kind, though he had not been initiated.\n\nThese were the only two martyrs to religion among the ancient Greeks,\nsuch as were punished for actively violating or insulting the Mysteries,\nthe only part of their worship which seems to have possessed any\nvitality; for as to the popular deities, they were publicly ridiculed\nand censured with impunity by those who dared not utter a word against\nthe populace that worshipped them; and as to the forms and ceremonies of\ndevotion, they were held to be no otherwise important, then as they were\nconstituted a part of civil government of the state; the Pythian\npriestess having pronounced from the tripod, that _whoever performed the\nrites of his religion according to the laws of his country, performed\nthem in a manner pleasing to the Deity_. Hence the Romans made no\nalterations in the religious institutions of any of the conquered\ncountries; but allowed the inhabitants to be as absurd and extravagant\nas they pleased, and to enforce their absurdities and extravagances\nwherever they had any pre-existing laws in their favour. An Egyptian\nmagistrate would put one of his fellow-subjects to death for killing a\ncat or a monkey; and though the religious fanaticism of the Jews was too\nsanguinary and too violent to be left entirely free from restraint, a\nchief of the synagogue could order anyone of his congregation to be\nwhipped for neglecting or violating any part of the Mosaic Ritual.\n\nThe principle underlying the system of emanations was, that all things\nwere of one substance, from which they were fashioned and into which\nthey were again dissolved, by the operation of one plastic spirit\nuniversally diffused and expanded. The polytheist of ancient Greece and\nRome candidly thought, like the modern Hindu, that all rites of worship\nand forms of devotion were directed to the same end, though in different\nmodes and through different channels. \u201c_Even they who worship other\ngods_,\u201d says Krishna, the incarnate Deity, in an ancient Indian poem\n(_Bhagavat-Gita_), \u201c_worship me although they know it not_.\u201d\u2014_Payne\nKnight._\n\n                                THE END.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\nSome inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been\nretained.\n\nObvious typographical errors have been corrected.\n\nThis file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text.","title":"Phallic Worship: A description of the mysteries of the sex worship of the ancients, with the history of the masculine cross. An account of primitive symbolism, Hebrew phallicism, bacchic festivals, sexual rites, and the mysteries of the ancient faiths.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":18792}