{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_8855/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_8855","id":"gutenberg_8855","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8855","summary":null,"tags":["Astrology","Category: History - Religious","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Paganism"],"text":"Produced by David Deley\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAstral Worship\n\nby\n\nJ. H. Hill, M. D.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\"Now, what I want is--facts.\"--_Boz._\n\n\n\n\n\n                    CONTENTS.\nINTRODUCTION                                   5\nTHE GEOCENTRIC SYSTEM OF NATURE               13\n   The Earth                                  13\n   The Firmament                              13\n   The Planets                                14\n   The Constellations                         15\n   The Zodiac                                 15\nTHE SACRED NUMBERS 7 AND 12                   17\nTHE TWELVE THOUSAND YEAR CYCLE                18\nTHE ANCIENT TRIAD                             19\nGOD SOL                                       22\nTHE ANCIENT COSMOGONY                         30\nFALL AND REDEMPTION OF MAN                    31\nINCARNATIONS OF GOD SOL                       33\nFABLE OF THE TWELVE LABORS                    36\nANNIVERSARIES OF SOLAR WORSHIP                40\n   The Nativity                               40\n   Epiphany or Twelfth Day                    41\n   Lent or Lenten Season                      42\n   Passion Week                               44\n   Passion Plays                              45\n   Resurrection and Easter Festival           46\n   Annunciation                               48\n   Ascension                                  49\n   Assumption                                 49\n   The Lord's Supper                          50\n   Transubstantiation                         50\n   Autumnal Crucifixion                       51\n   Michaelmas                                 56\nPERSONIFICATIONS OF THE DIVISIONS OF TIME     57\n   The Hours                                  57\n   The Days                                   57\n   The Months                                 58\n   The Seasons                                60\n   Half Year of Increasing Days               63\n   Half Year of Decreasing Days               63\n   Last Quarter of the Year                   64\nZODIACAL SYMBOLS OF SOLAR WORSHIP             64\n   The Sphinx                                 65\n   The Dragon                                 66\n   The Bull                                   67\n   The Ram                                    68\n   The Lamb                                   68\n   The Fish                                   71\nSIGNS OF THE CROSS                            72\nFUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS                74\n   The Oriental System                        75\n   The Occidental System                      75\n   The Second or General Judgment             77\nJEWISH, OR ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY               79\nTHE PROPHECIES                                83\nROMAN OR MODERN CHRISTIANITY                  88\nFREEMASONRY AND DRUIDISM                     109\nTHE SABBATH                                  117\nPIOUS FRAUDS                                 121\nCONCLUSION                                   125\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\nIn an article, entitled \"Then and Now,\" published in the December\nnumber, 1890, of \"The Arena,\" its author, a distinguished Unitarian\nD.D. of Boston, Mass., says. \"Astronomy has shattered the fallacies of\nAstrology; and people have found out that the stars are minding their\nown business instead of meddling with theirs.\" Now, while it is true\nthat modern Astronomy has superseded the ancient system, and people\nhave ceased to believe that the stars are intervening in mundane\naffairs, nothing could be further from the truth than the assertion\nthat \"Astronomy has shattered the fallacies of Astrology;\" and those of\nour readers who will accord to this work an unprejudiced perusal can\nhardly fail to be convinced that a large majority of the people of\nChristendom are dominated as much by these fallacies as were our Pagan\nancestry--the only difference being a change of name. The dogmatic\nelement of religion, which was anciently designated as Astrology, is\nnow known as Theology.\n\nAll the evidences bearing upon the subject indicate that the founders\nof the primary form of religion were a sect of philosophers, known as\nMagi, or wise men, of the Aryan race of Central Asia, who, having lived\nages before any conceptions of the supernatural had obtained in the\nworld, and speculating relative to the \"beginnings of things,\" were\nnecessarily confined to the contemplation and study of nature, the\nelements of which they believed to be self-existent and endless in\nduration; but, being wholly without knowledge of her inherent forces,\nthey explained her manifold processes by conceiving the idea that she\nwas animated by a great and inherent soul or spirit, emanations from\nwhich impressed all her parts with life and motion. Thus, endowing man,\nand other animals, with souls emanating alike from the imaginary great\nsoul of nature, they believed, and taught, that immediately after death\nall souls were absorbed into their source, where, as \"the dewdrop slips\ninto the shining sea,\" all personal identity was forever lost. Hence we\nsee that although recognizing the soul as immortal, considering it, not\nas an entity existing independent of matter, but as the spirit of\nmatter itself, the primary religion was the exponent of the purest form\nof Materialism.\n\nBeing the Astronomers of their day, and mistaking the apparent for the\nreal, the ancient Magi constructed that erroneous system of nature\nknown as the Geocentric, and, in conformity thereto, composed a\ncollection of Astronomical Allegories, in which the emanations from the\nimaginary great soul of nature, by which they believed all\nmaterialities we're impressed with life and motion, were personified\nand made to play their respective parts. Basing the religion they\ninstituted upon their system of Allegorical Astronomy, and making its\npersonifications the objects of worship, they thus originated the\nanthropomorphic or man-like Gods, and, claiming to have composed them\nunder the inspiration of these self same divinities, they designated\nthem as sacred records, or Scriptures, and taught the ignorant masses\nthat they were literal histories, and their personifications real\npersonages, who, having once lived upon earth, and; for the good of\nmankind, performed the wondrous works imputed to them, were then in\nheaven whence they came.\n\nThus we see that the primary religion, which is popularly known as\nPaganism, was founded in the worship of personified nature; that,\naccording special homage to the imaginary genii of the stars, and\ninculcating supreme adoration to the divinity supposed to reside in the\nsun, it was anciently known by the general name of Astrolatry, and by\nthe more specific one of solar worship; and that its founders,\narrogating to themselves the title of Astrologers, gave to its dogmatic\nelement the name of Astrology.\n\nIn studying the primitive forms of religion it will be found that none\nof them taught anything relative to a future life, for the simple\nreason that their founders had no conceptions of such a state. Hence it\nfollows that the laws they enacted were intended solely for the\nregulation of their social relations, and, to secure their observance,\nthey were embodied into their sacred records and made part of their\nreligion. One form of that most ancient worship was known as Sabaism,\nor Sabism. Another form of the same religion was the Ancient Judaism,\nas portrayed in the Old Testament, and more especially in the\nPentateuch, or first five books; in the Decalogue of which the only\npromise made for the observance of one of the Commandments is length of\ndays on earth; and, in a general summing up of the blessings and curses\nto be enjoyed or suffered, for the observance or violation of the laws,\nas recorded in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, it will be seen they\nare all of a temporal character only. At the beginning of the Christian\nera there were still in existence a sect of Jews known as Sadducees,\nwho were strict adherents to the primitive form of worship, and their\nbelief relative to the state of the dead we find recorded in\nEcclesiastes xii., 7, which reads: \"Then shall the dust return to earth\nas it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.\"\n\nFor ages the doctrine of soul absorption, immediately after death,\nconstituted the belief of mankind; but ultimately recognizing the fact\nthat the temporal punishments of the existing laws were wholly\ninadequate to the prevention of crime, and conceiving the idea that the\nignorant and vicious masses could be governed with a surer hand by\nappealing to the sentiments of hope and fear in relation to the rewards\nand punishments of an imaginary future life, the ancient Astrologers\nresolved to remodel the dogmatic elements of religion so as to include\nthat doctrine. But realizing the necessity, of suppressing the belief\nin the absorption of all souls, immediately after death, they ceased to\nteach it, and ultimately it was embodied in that secret and unwritten\nsystem known as the Esoteric philosophy, in which the Astrologers\nformulated their own private belief, and which for many centuries was\nkept from the knowledge of the uninitiated by their successors in the\npriestly office. As they were the sole custodians of the Scriptures,\nthey made do change in their verbiage, but, adding the doctrine of\nfuture rewards and punishments to that written and openly taught system\nof faith known as the Exoteric creed, they made it the more impressive\nby instituting a system of imposing rites and ceremonies, which they\ndesignated as Mysteries, into which they initiated the neophytes, and\nin which were portrayed, in the most vivid manner, the rewards and\npunishments of the imaginary future life, which they taught were the\nawards of the Gods for the observance or violation of the laws. These\nteachings were inculcated in the lesser degrees only, but those who\nwere found worthy of so great a distinction were also inducted into the\nhigher degrees, in which was imparted the knowledge of the Esoteric\nphilosophy. In both the lesser and higher degrees the initiates\nreceived instruction in an oral manner only; and all were bound by the\nmost fearful oaths not to reveal the secrets imparted to them.\n\nThus were the votaries of the ancient Astral worship divided into two\ndistinct classes, the Esoterics, or Gnostics; and the Exoterics, or\nAgnostics; the former comprising those who knew that the Gods were\nmythical and the scriptures allegorical; and the latter, those who were\ntaught that the Gods were real, and the scriptures historical; or, in\nother words, it was philosophy for the cultured few, and religion for\nthe ignorant multitude. The initiates into the secrets of these two\nsystems recognized them as the two Gospels; and Paul must have had\nreference to them in his Epistle to the Galatians ii., 2, where he\ndistinguishes the Gospel which he preached on ordinary occasions from\nthat Gospel which he preached \"privately to them which were of\nreputation.\"\n\nSuch was the system of Astrolatry, which, originating in the Orient,\nand becoming, after being remodelled in Egypt, the prototype of all\nOccidental forms of worship, was recognized, successively, as the state\nreligion of the Grecian and Roman Empires; and we propose to describe\nthe erroneous system of nature upon which it was based, and to develop\nthe origins of its cycles, dogmas, ordinances, anniversaries,\npersonifications and symbols, with the view to proving that it was the\nvery same system which was ultimately perpetuated under the name of\nChristianity. We also propose to present the origins and abridged\nhistories of its two forms, the Jewish, or ancient, and the Roman, or\nmodern; and to give an account of the conflict between the votaries of\nthe latter, and the adherents to the established form of worship, which\nculminated in the fourth century in the substitution of Christianity as\nthe state religion of the Roman Empire. We furthermore propose to show\nthe changes to which the creed and scriptures were subjected during the\nMiddle Ages, and at the Reformation in the sixteenth century, through\nwhich they assumed the phases as now taught in the theologies,\nrespectively of Catholicism and Orthodox Protestantism. We also present\nan article relative to Freemasonry and Druidism, for the purpose of\nshowing that, primarily, they were but different forms of the ancient\nAstrolatry. We also devote a few pages to the subjects of the Sabbath,\nand to that of \"Pious Frauds.\"\n\n\nNote.--For the matter published in this work, we are principally\nindebted to the writings of Robert Taylor, an erudite but recusant\nminister of the church of England, who flourished about seventy years\nago, and who, being too honest to continue to preach what, after\nthorough investigation, he did not believe, began to give expression to\nhis doubts by writing and lecturing. Not being able to cope with his\narguments, the clergy, under the charge of the impossible crime of\nblasphemy, had him imprisoned for more than two years, during which\ntime he wrote his great work entitled \"The Diegesis,\" which should be\nread by all persons who are investigating the claim of the Christian\nreligion to Divine authenticity.\n\n\n\nTHE GEOCENTRIC SYSTEM OF NATURE.\n\nIn constructing their system of nature, the ancient Astronomers\nconstituted it of the Earth, the Firmament, the Planets, the\nConstellations and the Zodiac, and we will refer to them in the order\nnamed.\n\n\nThe Earth.\n\nBelieving that the earth was the only world, that it was a vast\ncircular plane, and that it was the fixed and immovable center around\nwhich revolved the celestial luminaries, the ancient Astronomers, in\nconformity to the requirement of the doctrine of future rewards and\npunishments, as inculcated in the Egyptian Version of the Exoteric\nCreed, divided it into an upper and an under, or nether world, which\nthey connected by a sinuous and tenebrious passage.\n\n\nThe Firmament.\n\nThe azure dome, called the firmament in the book of Genesis, was\nbelieved to be a solid transparency, which we find described, in the\nfourth chapter and sixth verse, of that collection of Astronomical\nAllegories, called the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, \"as a sea of\nglass like unto crystal.\" It was represented as being supported by four\npillars, resting upon the earth, one at each of the cardinal points,\nwhich were designated as \"the pillars of heaven.\" Conceiving the idea\nthat there were windows in the firmament, the ancient Astronomers\ncalled them \"the windows of heaven\" and taught that they were opened\nwhen it rained, and closed when it ceased to rain. Hence it is evident\nthat the ancient Astronomers did not refer to these pillars and windows\nin a figurative sense, but as real appurtenances to a solid firmament,\nas will be seen by reference to Gen. vii. 11, and viii. 2, Job xxvi.\n11, and Malachi iii. 10.\n\n\nThe Planets.\n\nBelieving that the stars were but mere flambeaux, suspended beneath the\nfirmament, and revolving round the earth, for the sole purpose of\ngiving it light and heat; and observing that seven of these, answering\nto the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, had\nperceptible movements, in relation to the other luminaries, the ancient\nastronomers designated them as planets or wandering stars.\n\n\nThe Constellations.\n\nPerceiving that the other celestial luminaries maintained the same\nrelation to each other, and designating them as fixed stars, the\nancient astronomers grouped those visible to them into forty-eight\nConstellations; and giving names to these, they also attached names to\nthe stars of larger magnitude, which was done for the purpose of\nlocating and distinguishing them with greater ease.\n\n\nThe Zodiac.\n\nThrough twelve of these Constellations, mostly contained within a belt\nof 16 degrees in width, and within which the planets appeared to\nrevolve, the ancient astronomers inscribed a central line representing\nthe Ecliptic, or apparent orbit of the sun, which they divided into 360\ndegrees; and quartering these to denote the seasons, they named the\ncardinal points the Summer and Winter Solstices, and the Vernal and\nAutumnal Equinoxes; the former referring to the longest and shortest\ndays of the year; and the latter to the two periods when the days and\nnights are equal. An abbreviatory sign having been attached to each of\nthese constellations, the great celestial belt containing them was\ncalled \"the wheel of the signs,\" or \"a wheel in the middle of a wheel,\"\nas designated by that old Astrologer, Ezekiel the Prophet, in chap. i.\nand 16th verse. But for the reason that, with only one exception, the\nforms of living things, either real or mythical, were given to them,\nthis belt, ultimately, wad designated as the Zodiac; or Circle of\nliving Creatures, see Ezekiel, chap. i. Constituting the essential\nfeature of the ancient Astronomy, we present, in our frontispiece, a\ndiagram of the Zodiac, as anciently represented, to which, as well as\nto Burritts' Celestial Atlas, our readers will be necessitated to make\nfrequent reference.\n\n[See plate1.gif]\n\nRecent researches among the ruins of ancient cities have developed the\nfact that several centuries before the beginning of our era the\nastronomers had invented the telescope, and discovered the true or\nheliocentric system of nature; but for the reason that religion had\nbeen based upon the false, or geocentric system, it was deemed prudent\nnot to teach it to the masses. Hence, hiding it away among the other\nsecrets of the Esoteric philosophy, the knowledge of it was lost during\nthe Middle Ages; and when rediscovered, the hierarchy of the Church of\nRome, upon the plea that it was contrary to the teachings of Scripture,\nresorted to inquisitorial tortures to suppress its promulgation; but,\nin spite of all their efforts, it has been universally accepted; and,\nin this otherwise enlightened age, we have presented to us the anomaly\nof a religion based upon a false system of Astronomy, while its\nvotaries believe in the true system.\n\n\n\nTHE SACRED NUMBERS 7 AND 12.\n\nIn reference to the planets, and the signs of the Zodiac, the numbers\nseven and twelve were recognized as sacred by the ancient Astrologers,\nand dedications were made to them in all kinds and sorts of forms. In\nthe allegories, the genii of the planets were designated as spirits or\nmessengers to the Supreme Deity, imaginarily enthroned above the\nfirmament, which we find described in Revelations iv. 5, as \"Seven\nlamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of\nGod;\" and which were represented by lights burning in seven branched\ncandlesticks set before the altars in the temples; the central light\nfor the Sun; the Moon, Mercury and Venus on one side; and Mars, Jupiter\nand Saturn on the other. The seven branched candlesticks seen in all\nCatholic churches, and in some Protestant ones, are intended to\nrepresent the same planetary system.\n\nAmong the numerous dedications to the genii of the planets we mention\nthe seven days of the week, the seven stories of the tower of Babylon,\nthe seven gates of Thebes, the seven piped flute of Pan, the seven\nstringed lyre of Apollo, the seven books of fate, the book of seven\nseals, the seven castes into which the Egyptians and East Indians were\ndivided, and the jubilee of seven times seven years. Among the\ndedications to the twelve signs we mention the twelve months of the\nyear, the grand cycle of 12,000 years, the twelve altars of James, the\ntwelve labors of Hercules, the twelve divisions of the Egyptian\nLabyrinth, the twelve shields of Mars, the twelve precious stones,\nranged in threes to denote the seasons, in the breastplate of High\nPriest, the twelve foundations of the Sacred City, referred to in the\nBook of Revelation, the twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve tribes of\nIsrael, and the twelve Disciples. In the Book of Revelation alone the\nnumber 7 is repeated twenty-four times, and the number 12 fourteen\ntimes.\n\n\n\nTHE TWELVE THOUSAND YEAR CYCLE.\n\nIn determining the duration of the period within which were to occur\nthe events taught in the doctrines of the Exoteric Creed, the ancient\nAstrologers dedicated a thousand years to each of the signs of the\nZodiac, and thus inaugurating the cycle of twelve thousand years,\ntaught that, at its conclusion, the heaven and the earth, which they\nbelieved to be composed of the indestructible elements of fire, air,\nearth and water, would, through the agency of the first of these, be\nreduced to chaos, as a preliminary to the reorganization of a new\nheaven and a new earth at the beginning of the succeeding cycle. Such\nwas the origin of the grand cycle of the ancient Astrolatry, and it\nmust be borne in mind that its authors made its conclusion to\ncorrespond in time and circumstance to the doctrines relating to the\nfinale of the plan of redemption.\n\n\n\nTHE ANCIENT TRIAD.\n\nAfter conceiving the idea of a primeval chaos, constituted of four\nindestructible elements of which fire was the leading one, the Oriental\nastrologers began to indulge in speculations relative to the agencies\nwhich were engaged in its organization. Having no knowledge of the\nforces inherent in nature, they imputed this work to three\nintelligences, which, embodying the All in All, they personified by the\nfigure of a man with three heads, and to this trinity gave the names of\nBrahma, Vishnu and Siva. Such a figure, carved in stone, may be seen in\nthe island Cave of Elephanta, near Bombay, India, and is popularly\nbelieved to represent the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer; but, in\ndetermining their true signification, we must be governed by the\nancient teachings that \"All things were made by one god-head with three\nnames, and this God is all things.\" Hence the conclusion is\nirresistible that the first person represents neither the creator nor\norganizer of chaos, but chaos itself; the second person, its organizer\nand governor; and the third person, the agent in nature which impresses\nall her parts with life and motion; the latter being the imaginary\ngreat soul or spirit inculcated in the Esoteric philosophy. In support\nof this opinion it will be found that the Egyptian Triad of Father, Son\nand Spirit is virtually the same we have assigned to its Oriental\nprototype. Thus we see that to the ancient Astrolatry Christendom is\nindebted for the Trinity of\n\n            \"God the Father, God the Son,\n             God the Spirit--three in one.\"\n\nBut, having ascribed supreme intelligence or reason to its second\nperson, under the name of the Logos, or Word, and designating its third\nperson as the Holy Ghost, the ancient Triad was usually formulated as\nthe Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, as may be seen by reference to\nthe text in the allegories which we find recorded in I John v. 7, which\nreads that \"There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the\nWord and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.\"\n\nConsidered in some forms of Astrolatry as too sacred to attach a name\nto the triune Deity, he was called \"the One,\" and we find him thus\ndesignated in the 4th chapter of Revelation, where, like Zeus and\nJupiter, of the Grecian and Roman mythologies, he is represented as\nseated above the firmament, upon a throne from which \"proceeded\nlightnings and thunderings,\" and to whom all, the subordinate\ndivinities were made to pay homage. As the hurler of thunderbolts he\nwas called \"the Thunderer,\" and as the opener of the windows of heaven,\nwhen it rained, he was designated \"Jupiter Pluvius.\" Such was the\nancient Triad made to say of himself, in an inscription found in the\nruins of the temple at Sais in Egypt, \"I am all that has been, all that\nis, and all that shall be, and no mortal has lifted yet the veil that\ncovers me;\" and such was the Triunity referred to as the God Universe\nby Pliny, the Roman philosopher and naturalist, who, flourishing in the\nfirst century of the Christian era, wrote that he is \"An infinite God\nwhich has never been created, and which shall never come to an end. To\nlook for something else beyond it is useless labor for man and out of\nhis reach. Behold that truly sacred Being, eternal and immense, which\nincludes within itself everything; it is All in All, or rather itself\nis All. It is the work of nature, and itself is nature.\"\n\nThus we see that, although inculcating homage to a multitude of\nsubordinate divinities, the ancient Astrolatry was only an apparent\nPolytheism; its enlightened votaries, recognizing the dogma of the\nunity of God, were in reality Monotheists, paying supreme adoration to\nthe mythical genius of the Sun, to whom we will now direct attention.\n\n\n\nGOD SOL.\n\nIn determining the characteristics of the supreme divinity of astral\nworship, it must be borne in mind that its founders taught that he was\nevolved or engendered by the Father, or first person in the sacred\nTriad, from his pure substance, which as we have shown was constituted\nof chaos or the primeval fire into which they supposed all things were\nreduced through the agency of that element at the conclusion of 12,000\nyear cycles. Hence, designating that mythical being as the only\nbegotten of the Father, they personified him as God the Son, or second\nperson in the sacred Triad; and recognizing the Sun as the ruling star,\nvery appropriately made him the presiding genius of that luminary,\nunder the title of God Sol. According homage to light as his chief\nattribute, he is referred to in the allegories as \"The true Light,\nwhich lighteth every man that cometh into the world,\" John i., 9; and,\nalthough designated as the only begotten of the Father, his\nco-existence with him, under the title of the Logos or Word, is shown\nin the text which reads, \"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word\nwas with God, and the Word was God,\" John i., 1.\n\nPersonifying the principles of Good and Evil in God Sol, the ancient\nAstrologers consecrated the six divisions of the 12,000 year cycle,\ncorresponding to the reproductive months of Spring and Summer, to him\nas Lord of Good, and symbolizing him by the constellation of the Zodiac\nin which the Vernal Equinox successively occurred, as explained\nhereafter, they dedicated the six divisions of that cycle,\ncorresponding to the destructive months of Autumn and Winter, to him as\nLord of Evil, and as such, symbolizing him by the serpent, marked the\nbeginning of his reign by the constellation \"Serpens,\" placed in\nconjunction with the Autumnal Equinox. Personifying in him the opposing\nprinciples of Good and Evil, he was to the ancients both God and Devil,\nor the varied God, who, in relation to the seasons, was described as\nbeautiful in Spring, powerful in Summer, beneficent in Autumn and\nterrible in Winter. Thus under various names, intended to represent God\nSol in relation to the diversified seasons, we find recorded in the\nScriptures, or solar fables, numerous portrayals of imaginary\nconflicts, in which the Evil principle, triumphing during Autumn and\nWinter, is conquered at the Vernal Equinox by the Good principle, who,\nbringing back equal days and nights, restores the harmony of nature.\n\nThe eternal enmity between the principles of Good and Evil, as\nmanifested in the diversity of the seasons, we find portrayed in the\nConstellations Hercules and Draco, placed in the northern heavens, in\nwhich the heel of the former, representing one of the most ancient of\nthe imaginary incarnations of God Sol, to which we will refer\nhereafter, is resting upon the head of the latter, as referred to in\nGenesis iii., 15, which makes God Sol, or the Lord God, say to the\nserpent, \"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy\nseed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his\nheel.\" The woman alluded to in this text is the Virgo of the Zodiac, as\nwill be made apparent hereafter.\n\n[See plate2.gif]\n\nOf all the divinities of the ancient mythology God Sol was the only one\ndistinguished by the exalted title of Lord or Lord God, for the reason\nthat he was made the organizer of chaos and governor of heaven and\nearth. Hence, having constituted him the lord of light and darkness, as\nwell as good and evil, the ancient astrologers in composing the solar\nfables made him say of himself, \"I form the light and create darkness;\nI make peace and create evil, I the Lord do all these things,\" Isaiah\nxlv., 7. \"Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done\nit?\" Amos iii., 6. Besides the title of Lord or Lord God, the solar\ndivinity is also designated in the allegories as the Lord of Lords and\nthe King of Kings, the Invincible, the Mighty God, etc.\n\nSubjecting the mythical genius of the sun, in his apparent annual\nrevolution round the earth, to the four stages of human life from\ninfancy to old age, the ancient Magi fixed the natal day of the young\nGod Sol at the winter solstice, the Virgo of the Zodiac was made his\nmother, and the constellation in conjunction with her, which is now\nknown as Bootes, but anciently called Arcturus, his foster father. He\nis represented as holding in leash two hunting dogs and driving Ursa\nMajor, or the Great Bear, around the north pole, thus showing that the\noriginal occupation of the celestial foster father of the young God Sol\nwas that of a bear driver, and that his sons, referred to in job\nxxxviii., 32, are the dogs Asterion and Chara. It will be observed that\nVirgo is represented in our illustration with a child in her arms, for\nthe reason that she is so represented in the ancient Zodiacs, and the\nfact will be readily conceded that she is the only Virgin who could\ngive birth to a child and be a virgin still.\n\n[See plate3.gif]\n\n\n\nTHE ANCIENT COSMOGONY.\n\nSpeculating relative to the order in which chaos had been organized,\nthe ancient Astrologers constructed a Cosmogony, which divided the\nlabors of God the Son, or second person in the Trinity, into six\nperiods of a thousand years each; and which, answering to the six\ndivisions of the 12,000 year cycle corresponding to the reproductive\nmonths of Spring and Summer, taught that in the first period he made\nthe earth; in the second, the firmament; in the third, vegetation; in\nthe fourth, the Sun and Moon and \"the stars also;\" in the fifth, the\nanimals, fishes, birds, etc., and in the sixth, Man.\n\nThat vegetation was made before the Sun was not an inconsistent idea to\nthe originators of the ancient Cosmogony. They imagined that the heat\nand light, emanating from the elementary fire, were sufficient to\nstimulate its growth, after which God the Son gathered it together and\nmade the Celestial luminaries. In the solar fables this imaginary\nelement is called the fire-ether, or sacred fire of the stars.\n\n\n\nFALL AND REDEMPTION OF MAN.\n\nReligion having been based upon the worship of personified nature, it\nis evident that its founders fabricated its dogmatic element from their\nconceptions of her destructive and reproductive processes as manifested\nin the rotation and diversity of the seasons. The apparent retreat of\nthe sun from the earth, in winter, and his return in the spring,\nsuggesting the idea of a figurative death and resurrection of the\ngenius of that luminary, they applied these phenomena of the year to\nman, and composed the allegories relative to his fall and redemption,\nas inculcated in the Exoteric Creed. In the allegory relating to the\nfall, it was taught that, after making the first human pair, the Lord\nof Good or the Lord God placed them in a beautiful garden--corresponding\nto the seasons of fruits and flowers or months of Spring and Summer,\nwith the injunction, under a penalty, not to eat of the fruit of a\ncertain tree. When the Lord of Evil, or Devil, symbolized by the serpent\nand represented by the constellation \"Serpens\" placed in conjunction\nwith the Autumnal Equinox, meeting them on the confines of his dominion,\nand tempting the woman, and she the man, they ate of the forbidden\nfruit; thus, falling from their first estate, and committing the\noriginal sin, they involved the whole human race in the consequences\nof their disobedience. Then the Lord God, pronouncing a curse against\nthe serpent, clothed the man and woman with skins to protect them\nagainst the inclemency of his, dominion as Lord of Evil, and drove them\nfrom the garden; after which they were necessitated to earn their bread\nby tilling the ground.\n\nIn, reference to the plan of redemption, the ancient Astrologers\ndivided the 6,000 years appropriated to man, as the duration of his\nrace on earth, into ten equal cycles, and taught that at the conclusion\nof each God Sol, as Lord of Good, would manifest himself in the flesh,\nto destroy his works as Lord of Evil, and through suffering and death\nmake an atonement for sin. Thus having originated the doctrines of\noriginal sin, incarnation and vicarious atonement, as parts of the plan\nof redemption, and making its finale correspond, in point of time, to\nthe conclusion of the 12,000 year cycle, their successors in the\npriestly office ultimately inculcated the additional dogmas of the\ngeneral judgment and future rewards and punishments, as we have shown\nin our introduction.\n\nHaving based the fables of the fall and redemption of man upon the idea\nthat he was impelled, without his volition, to pass from the dominion\nof God to that of the Devil, or in other words, upon his subjection to\nthe inexorable necessity which makes the inclement seasons of Autumn\nand Winter succeed the beneficent ones of Spring and Summer, its\nauthors composed the original of the text which, found in Romans viii.,\n20, reads that \"The creature was made subject to vanity (Evil), not\nwillingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.\"\n\nBut for the popular teaching in favor of its being literal history, no\none could read the account of the fall of man, as recorded in the third\nchapter of Genesis, without recognizing it as simply an allegory; or\nfail to realize, the force of the argument of no fall, no redemption,\nand if no redemption, no God to reward or Devil to punish; no hell to\nsuffer, or heaven to enjoy. The fact is that these are but antithetical\nideas which came in together, and must survive or perish together. They\ncannot be separated without destroying the whole theological fabric.\n\n\n\nINCARNATIONS OF GOD SOL.\n\nBelieving that God Sol was necessitated to remain at his post to direct\nthe course of the sun, the ancient astrologers conceived the idea of\nteaching that, attended by a retinue of subordinate genii, he descended\nto earth through the medium of incarnations at the end of 600 year\ncycles, to perform the work of man's redemption and, having made Virgo\nof the Zodiac the mother of the Solar divinity, they taught in their\nallegorical Astronomy, or scriptures, that his incarnations were born\nof a Virgin. Hence we find that God Sol, usually designated by the\ntitle of the Word, \"was made flesh, and dwelt among us.\" John i., 14.\n\nIn a discourse upon this text delivered by Tillotson, Archbishop of\nCanterbury, in the year 1680, published in the fourth volume of\nWoodhouse's edition of his Grace's sermons, in the year 1744,\nconcerning the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour, he explains the\nnecessity of incarnation by saying that \"There was likewise a great\ninclination in mankind to the worship of a visible Deity, so God was\npleased to appear in our nature, that they, who were so fond of a\nvisible Deity, might have one, even a true and natural image of God the\nFather, the express image of his person.\" It only requires a little\nreflection to appreciate the Prelate's covert irony and want of faith.\n\nHaving ascribed to the imaginary incarnations of God Sol the\ncharacteristics of heaven-descending, virgin-born, earth-walking,\nwonder-working, dying, resuscitated and ascending sons of God, the\nancient Astrologers attached to them the several titles of Saviour,\nRedeemer, Avatar, Divine-Helper, Shiloh, Messiah, Christ; and, in\nreference to their foster-father, that of Son of Man. Teaching that\nthey continued to make intercession for sin, after their ascension to\nthe right hand of the Father, they were also called Intercessors,\nMediators or Advocates with the Father. From teaching their appearance\nevery 600 years originated the Egyptian legend of the Phoenix, a bird\nsaid to descend from the sun at these intervals, and, after being\nconsumed upon the altar in the temple of On, or city of the sun--called\nHeliopolis by the Greeks--would rise from its ashes and ascend to its\nsource. According to the civil laws of Egypt, manhood was not attained\nuntil the age of thirty years. Hence the earthly mission of incarnate\nSaviours was made to begin at that age; and for the reason that,\nrelating to the apparent transit of the sun through the twelve signs of\nthe Zodiac, it was completed during the period of one year.\n\nTo impress the ignorant masses with the belief that the scriptures were\nliteral histories, and the incarnate Saviours real personages, the\nancient Astrologers caused tombs to be erected in which it was claimed\nthey were buried. Such sepulchres were erected to Hercules at Cadiz, to\nApollo at Delphi, and to other Saviours at many other places, to which\ntheir respective votaries were induced to perform pilgrimages. In Egypt\nthe pyramids were built, partly for astronomical purposes, and partly\nas tombs for Saviours, claimed to have been kings, who had once ruled\nover the country; and why should we not recognize that magnificent\nstructure known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem, as\nbut another of those tombs of Saviours in which no Saviour was ever\nentombed?\n\nThus we have shown that it was God Sol, the only begotten of the\nFather, or second person in the sacred Triad, to whom supreme adoration\nwas inculcated in all forms of the ancient Astrolatry; and that its\ncultured votaries, understanding that the doctrines pertaining to the\nfall and redemption of man were evolved from the figurative death and\nresurrection of the solar divinity, recognized the doctrine of\nincarnation as a priestly invention intended only for the ignorant\nmasses.\n\n\n\nFABLE OF THE TWELVE LABORS.\n\nThe authors of the original solar fables, having lived in that remote\nage in which physical prowess was recognized as the highest attribute\nof humanity, conceived the idea that God Sol, while passing through his\napparent orbit, had to fight his way with the animals of the Zodiac,\nand with others in conjunction with them. Hence, designating him as the\nMighty Hunter, and calling his exploits the twelve labors, they made\nthe incarnate Saviours the heroes of similar ones on earth, which they\ntaught were performed for the good of mankind; and that, after\nfulfilling their earthly mission, they were exhaled to heaven through\nthe agency of fire. When these fables were composed the Summer Solstice\nwas in the sign of Leo, and making the twelve labors begin in it, the\nfirst consisted in the killing of a lion, and the second, in rescuing a\nvirgin (Virgo) by the destruction of a Hydra, the constellation in\nconjunction with her. Upon one of the Assyrian marbles on exhibition in\nthe British Museum these two labors are represented as having been\nperformed by a saviour by the name of Nimroud. In the constellations of\nTaurus, the bull of the Zodiac, and of Orion, originally known as\nHorns, in conjunction therewith, we have groupings of stars\nrepresenting the latter as one of the mighty hunters of the ancient\nAstrolatry, supporting on his left arm the shield of the lion's skin,\nthe trophy of the first labor, and holding a club in his uplifted right\nhand, is engaged in performing the tenth labor by a conflict with the\nformer.\n\n[See plate4.gif]\n\nThe fable of the twelve labors constituted the sacred records or\nscriptures of the older forms of Astrolatry, one version of which,\nwritten with the cuneiform character upon twelve tablets of burnt clay,\nexhumed from the ruins of an Assyrian city, and now on exhibition in\nthe British Museum, is ascribed to Nimroud, the prototype of the\nGrecian Hercules, and of Nimrod, the Mighty Hunter of the Old\nTestament.\n\n\n\nANNIVERSARIES OF SOLAR WORSHIP.\n\nThe Nativity.\n\nApplying the anniversaries inculcated in the worship of God Sol to his\nimaginary incarnations, the founders of the ancient Astrolatry made\nthem refer to the several stages of human existence from infancy to\nmature age. Hence, comparing the first day of infantile life to the\nshortest day of the year, it would naturally be expected that they\nwould have placed the anniversary of the Nativity exactly at the Winter\nsolstice; but, having conceived the idea that the sun stood still for\nthe space of three days at each of the cardinal points, and making it\nrepresent the figurative death of the genius of that luminary, they\nfixed the date for its observance three days later, or on the 25th of\nDecember. The Gnostic adherents to the ancient solar worship, or those\nwho were conversant with the teachings of the Esoteric philosophy,\nknowing that the dramatis personae of the fable of incarnation were\npictured with stars upon the azure vault, recognized the woman \"clothed\nwith the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of\ntwelve stars,\" referred to in Revelations xii. 1, as the Virgo of the\nZodiac; they also knew that she was the true queen of heaven and mother\nof God; and that the infant, anciently represented in her arms, and\nwith whom, in their day, she arose on the Eastern horizon at midnight\non the 24th of December, was the same of whom the people were taught to\nsing at Christmas \"Unto us a child is born this day.\"\n\nWith the knowledge of these facts we can readily see that this is the\nVirgin and child which constituted the originals of those exquisite\npaintings, by the old masters, known as the Madonna and Child.\n\n\nEpiphany or Twelfth Day.\n\nIn reference to the twelve signs through which the sun makes his\napparent annual revolution, the twelfth day after Christmas, answering\nto the 6th of January, was observed by the votaries of the ancient\nAstrolatry as the anniversary of the Epiphany or Twelfth Day. In the\nsolar fables, it was taught that a star appeared in the heavens on that\nday to manifest the birthplace of the infant Saviour to the Magi or\nWise Men of the East, who came to pay him homage, and to present him\nwith the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, as related in Matthew\nii. 11.\n\nThe reason for presenting these gifts is explained by the facts that of\nthe seven metals dedicated to the genii of the planets, gold was the\none consecrated to God Sol; and frankincense and myrrh were the gums\nburned in censers in his worship.\n\nIn reading the account of the Magi's visit to the infant Saviour, we\nhave but to exercise our thinking faculties to realize that it is\nallegory instead of literal history.\n\n\nLent or Lenten Season.\n\nIn the ancient solar fables it was taught that the persecutions to\nwhich the incarnate Saviours were subjected while passing through the\ndominion of God Sol as Lord of Evil, raged with greatest fury during\nthe forty days preceding the festival of Easter, which period,\nbeginning when the days were perceptibly lengthening, was called Lent,\nor the Lenten season. It was during this season that the votaries of\nthe ancient religion were taught to manifest their sympathy for the\nSaviour in his imaginary conflict with the Devil by abstaining from all\nfestivities, and by fasting and prayer; and, as that was the season in\nwhich the flocks and herds were poor in flesh, while the seas and\nrivers abounded with fish in good condition, the ancient priests,\nmaking a virtue of necessity, enjoined a diet principally of fish, and\nfor that reason placed the constellation Pisces at the point in the\nZodiac in which the Lenten season anciently began; which, without\nregard to the day of the week, was always observed on the 15th day of\nFebruary, the name of that month having been derived from the Februa,\nor feast of purification and expiation of the old Roman calendar.\n\nAt the council of Nice the Lenten season was made to begin on the\nfourth day of the week, and in reference to the ancient custom of the\nmore devout sprinkling ashes upon their heads at the feast of the\nFebrua, it is called Ash Wednesday.\n\nHence we see that all years in which Ash Wednesday does not come on the\n15th of February, the Lenten season must necessarily contain a greater\nor lesser number than the original assignment of forty days.\n\n\nPassion Week.\n\nThe last seven days of Lent is called Passion Week, in reference to the\napparent passage of the sun across the Celestial equator at the Vernal\nEquinox or 21st of March; the ancient astrologers having conceived the\nidea that the sun stood still for the space of three days at each of\nthe cardinal points, and making it represent the figurative death of\nthe genius of that luminary, it was observed as the anniversary of the\nVernal crucifixion or passion of the incarnate Saviours; and in\ncommemoration of their imaginary sufferings and death it was the custom\nto expose in the temples during the last three days of Passion Week\nfigures representing their dead bodies, over which the votaries of\nsolar worship, especially the women, made great lamentation. It was in\nreference to one of these images, laid out in the temple at Jerusalem,\nto which the jealous Jehovah, considering it a great abomination in his\nown house, is made to direct the attention of Ezekiel, the prophet,\nwho, looking, beheld \"Women weeping for Tammuz\" as recorded in the\neighth chapter. This divinity was the Phoenician prototype of the\nGrecian Adonis, to whom the women of Judea preferred to pay homage.\n\nIt was during the last three days of Passion Week that the votaries of\nsolar worship performed their severest penance. Besides fasting and\nprayer, the more devout flagellated and slashed themselves and others\nwith knives and thongs, and carried heavy crosses up steep acclivities.\nIn all ultra-Catholic countries the priests, in imitation of the\nancient custom, expose in the churches figures representing the dead\nSaviour, over which the laity, especially the women, weep and mourn;\nand the more devout men cut and slash themselves, and each other, with\nknives and thongs; and, in imitation of the imaginary tramp of Jesus\nwith his cross up Calvary's rugged side, bear heavy crosses up steep\nacclivities.\n\n\nPassion Plays.\n\nAnciently dramas representing the passion of incarnate saviours, called\nPassion plays, were enacted upon the stage. The most celebrated of\nthese divine tragedies, known as Prometheus Bound, and composed by the\nGreek poet AEschylus, was played at Athens 500 years before the\nbeginning of the Christian era. To show that this sin-atoning saviour\nwas not chained to a rock, while vultures preyed upon his vitals, as\npopularly taught, but was nailed to a tree; we quote front Potter's\ntranslation of the play, that passage which, readily recognized as the\noriginal of a Christian song, reads as follows:\n\n            \"Lo, streaming from the fatal tree,\n               His all atoning blood:\n             Is this the infinite? 'Tis he--\n               Prometheus and a God.\n             Well might the sun in darkness hide,\n               And veil his glories in,\n             When God the great Prometheus died\n               For man, the creature's sin.\"\n\nThe veiling of the sun, as represented in these plays, having reference\nto the imaginary sympathy expressed by God Sol for the sufferings of\nhis incarnate son, was shown upon the stage by shading the lights. The\nmonks of the Middle Ages enacted plays representing the passion of the\nChristian Saviour, and the Bavarian peasantry, perpetuating this\ncustom, perform the play every tenth year.\n\n\nResurrection and Easter Festival.\n\nIn conformity to the ancient teachings, the incarnate saviours,\nconsidered as figuratively dead for the space of three days at the\nVernal Equinox, or 21st of March, were raised to newness of life after\nthe expiration of that time. Hence, the 25th of March, without regard\nto the day of the week, was celebrated as the anniversary of the Vernal\nresurrection. On the morning of this day it was the custom of the\nastrologers to say to the mourners assembled in the temples, \"Be of\ngood cheer, sacred band of initiates; your God has risen from the dead,\nhis pains and his sufferings shall be your salvation.\" Another form of\nthis admonition, quoted from an ancient poem in reference to the\nPhoenician Tammuz, reads as follows:\n\n            \"Trust ye saints, your God restored,\n             Trust ye in your risen Lord,\n             For the pains which he endured,\n             Your salvation hath procured.\"\n\nThen would begin the festivities of Easter, which corrupted from\nEostre, and derived from the Teutonic mythology, was one of the many\nnames given to the goddess of Spring. In the observance of this\nfestival the temples were adorned with floral offerings; the Hilaries\nsang their joyful lays; the fires upon the pyres, or the fire-altars,\nwere extinguished and rekindled with new fire, or sacred fire of the\nstars, which the Astrologers taught was brought down from heaven by the\nwinged genius Perseus, the constellation which, anciently, was in\nconjunction with the Vernal Equinox; Paschal candles, lit from the new\nfire, were distributed to the faithful and the Paschal feast, Easter\nfeast, or the feast of the passover, was eaten in commemoration of the\npassion of the incarnate saviours, or, in other words, of the passage\nof the sun across the celestial equator. In ultra-Catholic countries\nthe descent of the sacred fire is represented by some secretly arranged\npyrotechny, and the credulous laity, believing they have witnessed a\nmiraculous display, eagerly solicit Paschal candles lit from it; and in\nimitation of the ancient festivities in honor of the return of spring,\nall Catholic churches, and most of Protestant ones, are adorned with\nflowers, the bells ring out their merriest peals, and \"Gloria in\nExcelsis\" and other jubilant songs, similar to the lays of the ancient\nHilaries, are sung.\n\n\nAnnunciation.\n\nThe anniversary of the Nativity having been placed on the 25th of\nDecember, according to the course of nature, the 25th of March was\nanciently celebrated as the anniversary of the annunciation, and is\nstill observed on that day, and the duty of saluting the Virgin (Virgo)\nand announcing her conception by the Holy Ghost or third person in the\nTrinity was assigned to the genius of Spring. In the Chaldean version\nof the Gospel story the name of Gabriel was given to this\npersonification, and in the Christian version of that story he is made\nto perform the same office; see Luke i. 26-35.\n\n\nAscension.\n\nCelebrating the anniversary of the ascension forty days after Easter,\nit was anciently observed on the 4th of May, and it was taught that the\nincarnate saviours ascended bodily into heaven, in a golden chariot\ndrawn by four horses caparisoned with gilded trappings, all glittering\nlike fire in the fervid sunlight. Hence when we read in II. Kings ii.\n11, that \"There appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, . . .\nand Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven,\" we must accept this\ntext as descriptive of the imaginary ascension of one of the incarnate\nsaviours of ancient Judaism.\n\n\nAssumption.\n\nWhen the Summer solstice was in the sign of Cancer, the sun was in that\nof Virgo in the month of August, and the anniversary of the Assumption\nwas observed on the 15th of that month, and is so observed at the\npresent time. The fact that the anniversary of the Ascension precedes\nthat of the Assumption explains why Jesus is made to say to his mother\n(Virgo) soon after his resurrection, \"Touch me not: for I am not yet\nascended to my Father.\" John xx. 17.\n\n\nThe Lord's Supper.\n\nIn the ancient solar worship the so-called ordinance of the Lord's\nSupper was observed just before the anniversary of the autumnal\ncrucifixion; and consisting of bread and wine, in reference to the\nmaturing of the crops and completion of the vintage, was, like the\nmodern festival of the hardest home, a season of thankfulness to the\nLord (God Sol) as the giver of all good gifts. Hence being observed but\nonce a year, it was in reality not an ordinance but an anniversary; and\nthe fact that Christians partake of these emblems so frequently during\nthe year indicates that the original signification of the Lord's Supper\nhas been lost.\n\n\nTransubstantiation,\n\nor the conversion of the bread and wine into the veritable blood and\nbody of Christ, is a doctrine of the Catholic church which was derived\nfrom the ritual of the ancient solar worship.\n\nIn the 26th chapter of Matthew we have an account of the Lord\nadministering the last supper to his Disciples on the eve of the\nautumnal crucifixion, and in verse 27 it reads that \"he took the cup,\nand gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it.\" The\ncompilers of the modern version of the Gospel story must surely have\ninadvertently copied this text as it read in the ancient versions of\nthat old, old story, which, when observed in remembrance of \"Our Lord\nand Saviour Bacchus,\" was called the Bacchanalia, or feast, of Bacchus.\nAt these orgies the participants give thanks for the wine by not only\ndrinking all of one cup, but many more; in fact they kept on drinking\nuntil they fell under the table.\n\n\nAutumnal Crucifixion.\n\nThe beneficent seasons of Spring and Summer coming to an end at the\nAutumnal Equinox, the 22d of September was made the anniversary of the\nAutumnal Crucifixion. The vernal resurrection and Autumnal Crucifixion,\nrepresenting the alternate triumph of the personified principles of\nGood and Evil, as manifested in the diversity of the seasons; we find\nappropriately expressed in two religious pictures. In the one, the\nSaviour, appealing as a vigorous young man, surrounded by a brilliant\nhalo, representing the rays of the all-conquering Sun of Spring, is\nrising triumphantly from the tomb, before whom the demon of Winter, or\nDevil, is seen retreating in the background. In the other, the\nvanquished Saviour, represented by the figure of a lean and haggard\nman, with a crown of thorns upon his head, around which appears a faint\nhalo of the Sun's declining rays, and above which is placarded the\nletters I. N. R. I., the initial letters of Latin words, signifying the\nlife to come, or the eternal life, is suspended upon the cross, at the\nfoot of which his mother Mary (Virgo) is represented as kneeling in a\nmourning attitude, and by her side is seen a serpent and a skull, the\nemblems of Evil and of Death.\n\n[See plate5.gif & plate6.gif]\n\n\nMichaelmas.\n\nIn the calendar of the ancient Astral Worship, the fourth day after the\nAutumnal Equinox was dedicated to the genius of Autumn. In the Chaldean\nallegories the name of Michael was given to this personification, and\ncalled Michaelmas, or feast of Michael. In the Catholic calendar this\nanniversary is placed an the 29th of September, instead of the 26th of\nthat month, while that of St. Matthew, the Christian genius of Autumn,\nwhich should be placed on the 26th of that month, is observed on the\n21st.\n\nThus we have shown that the anniversaries of the ancient Astral Worship\nwere all fixed, and from church history we learn that they were so\nobserved by the Christians until the Council of Nice in the year 325,\nwhen the Bishops assembled at that celebrated convocation, desiring to\nhave the festival of Easter celebrated on Sunday, which had been made\nthe Sabbath by the edict of Constantine, in the year 321, ordered that\nit should be observed on the Sunday of the full moon, which comes on or\nnext after the Vernal Equinox. Hence, converting it into a movable\nfestival, its allied feasts and fast days were also made movable.\n\n\n\nPERSONIFICATIONS OF THE DIVISIONS OF TIME.\n\nIn the ancient solar fables the several divisions of time were\npersonified and made to pay homage to the Triune Deity, supposed to be\nenthroned above the firmament.\n\n\nThe Hours.\n\nThe genii of the hours were designated as Elders, and we find them\ndescribed in the 4th chapter of Revelation as sitting round about the\nthrone upon four and twenty seats, clothed in white raiment, and crowns\nof gold upon their heads.\n\n\nThe Days.\n\nEach day of the year was appropriately personified, and these genii of\nthe days constitute the saints of the Christian calendar. Of these we\nwill refer to but one. According to the ancient belief that the sun\nstood still for the space of three days at each of the cardinal points,\nthe 24th of June was made the first of the decreasing days; and\ndedicating it to St. John the Baptist, he is made to say in reference\nto his opposite, (the genius of the 25th of December, and first of the\nincreasing days,) \"He must increase, but I must decrease.\" This text,\nfound in John iii. 30, simply means that the days of the one must\nincrease in length, while the days of the other must decrease.\n\n\nThe Months.\n\nThe fable of the twelve labors having been superseded by others, in\nwhich the genii of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, corresponding to the\nmonths, were designated as angels, and made to minister to God Sol\nwhile making his apparent annual revolution; but, when constituted the\nattendants of the incarnate saviours during their imaginary earth life,\nthey were personified as men and called Disciples. Of these genii of\nthe months we will refer only to the first and the last. The first\nmonth, dedicated to the genius known in the mythology as Janus, and\nfrom which was derived the name January, was portrayed with two faces,\nthe one of an old man looking mournfully backward over the old year,\nand the other of a young man looking joyfully forward to the new year.\nThis personification, made the opener of the year, and represented as\nholding a pair of cross-keys, was called \"The carrier of the keys of\nthe kingdom of heaven.\" Hence, the Popes of Rome, claiming apostolic\nsuccession from Peter, the Janus of the Christian twelve, wear\ncross-keys as the insignia of their office. Sometimes a crosier, or\nshepherd's crook, is substituted for one of the keys, in reference to\nhis arrogated office of the leader of the sheep! The authority for the\nassumption that the Popes are Peter's successors is found in Matthew\nxvi. 18, 19; but its fallacy becomes apparent when we bear in mind that\nthe scriptures are but collections of astronomical allegories, and that\nthe Peter referred to in the text was not a man, but the mythical\ngenius of the month of January.\n\nIn reference to the last month, we find that the authors of the ancient\nsolar fables, ever doubting whether God Sol, after inaugurating Winter\nby his supposed retreat from the earth, would return to revivify nature\nwith his life-giving rays, gave to the genius of the twelfth month the\ntitle of the Doubter. In the Christian calendar this personification is\nknown as Thomas, and a more specific dedication of the shortest day of\nthe year having been made to him, the 21st day of December is called\nSt. Thomas day.\n\n\nThe Seasons.\n\nWhen the cardinal points were in the constellations Leo, Taurus,\nAquarius and Scorpio, the astrologers, objecting to the signification\nof the latter, substituted the constellation in conjunction therewith,\nwhich is known as Aquila (Ak-we-la) or Flying Eagle. In the allegorical\nastronomy of that remote period these genii of the seasons were\ndesignated as beasts, and as such we find them referred to in\nRevelation iv. 7, which reads as follows: \"And the first beast was like\na lion (Leo), and the second beast like a calf (Taurus, the bull calf),\nand the third beast had a face as a man, (Aquarius, the waterman) and\nthe fourth beast was like a flying eagle (Aquila).\" In the first chapter\nof Ezekiel, the prophet, the genii of the seasons are referred to in\nthe same manner.\n\nThese genii of the seasons, standing, imaginarily, at the four corners\nof the heavens, were called corner-keepers, and making them witnesses\nto God Sol in his apparent annual revolution, the founders of the\nAstral Worship designated them as Archangels, Evangelists, God-Spellers\nor Gospel-Bearers, and claiming inspiration from them, composed four\ndifferent histories of the birth and earth-life of the incarnate\nsaviour, to each of which they attached a name, and called these\nrecords the Gospel story. In its Chaldean version, the names of\nGabriel, Michael, Raphael and Uriel were given them; but while the\nfirst two of these are mentioned in the Christian Gospel story, its\nauthors gave to the Evangelists the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke and\nJohn. Thus knowing the true signification of the Disciples and\nEvangelists, the very pertinent question presents itself: If they are\nnot the genii of the months and the seasons, why are there just twelve\nof the one and four of the other?\n\n[See plate7.gif]\n\n\nHalf Year of Increasing Days.\n\nIn the ancient astrolatry, the half year of increasing days, extending\nfrom the Winter to the Summer Solstice, was personified by the\ncomposite figure representing the constellations of Taurus and\nAquarius, which, constituted of the winged body of a bull and the head\nand beard of a man, was called the Cherubim. This personification we\nfind portrayed upon the Assyrian marbles on exhibition in the British\nMuseum.\n\n\nHalf Year of Decreasing Days.\n\nThe half year of decreasing days, extending from the Summer to the\nWinter Solstice, was personified by the figure, which, representing the\nconstellations of Leo and Aquila, and composed of the winged body and\nlimbs of a lion, with the head of an eagle, was called the Seraphim.\nThese last two personifications constituted the Archangels of the\nancient Astral Worship.\n\n\nLast Quarter of the Year.\n\nThe last quarter of the year was personified in the ancient allegories\nas a decrepit old man, who, stung by a Scorpion (Scorpio), and fatally\nwounded by an arrow from the quiver of an archer (Saggitarius) dies at\nthe Winter Solstice; and, after lying in the grave for the space of\nthree days, is brought to life again. Such was the personification\nreferred to in the Christian Gospel-story as having been raised from\nthe grave by the mandate, \"Come forth, Lazarus.\" Thus have we shown\nthat the elders and the saints; the angels, and the Archangels; the\nCherubim and Seraphim; and also poor old Lazarus, are but\npersonifications of the several divisions of time.\n\n\n\nZODIACAL SYMBOLS OF SOLAR WORSHIP.\n\nHaving shown that the founders of the ancient astrolatry accorded\nhomage to God Sol as Lord of Evil, under the symbol of the serpent, and\nmarked the beginning of his reign, as such, by the constellation\n\"Serpens\" placed in conjunction with the Autumnal Equinox; we will now\ndirect attention to the symbols under which he was worshipped as Lord\nof Good, which, corresponding to the form of the constellation in which\noccurred the Vernal Equinox, and which was changed to correspond to the\nform of the succeeding constellation as that Cardinal point passed into\nit, by that process, known in Astronomy, as the precession of the\nEquinoxes, its explanation becomes essential to a correct understanding\nof our subject.\n\nAfter long observation, aided by the telescope, of which they were\nundoubtedly the original inventors, the ancient Astrologers discovered\nthat the Sun, in making his apparent annual revolution, did not return\nto the same point in the heavens, but fell behind that of the preceding\nyear, at the rate of 50 1/4 seconds of a degree annually. At this rate\nof precession, which modern, calculation has confirmed, it requires 71\n2-3 years for the Cardinal points to pass through one degree on the\nEcliptic, and 2150 years through thirty degrees, or one sign of the\nZodiac. The knowledge of this process affording an exact chronology, we\nare enabled, not only to determine the origin of these symbols, but to\napproximate, very nearly, to the respective dates of their adoption.\n\n\nThe Sphinx.\n\nFrom the teachings of Astronomy we learn that the Summer Solstice is\nnow occupying the point between the signs of Taurus and Gemini, from\nwhich we know that that Cardinal point has passed through three whole\nsigns since it was between the signs of Leo and Virgo, and we have but\nto multiply 2,150 by 3 to determine that it has been about 6,450 years\nago. Hence, the tourist to the Nile valley, when viewing, near the base\nof old Cheops, the great Egyptian pyramid, a colossal head and bust of\na woman, carved in stone, and learns that it is attached to a body, in\nthe form of a lion in a crouching attitude 146 feet long, hidden\nbeneath the shifting sands of the Libyan desert; if possessed of the\nknowledge of the precession of the Equinoxes, he will be enabled to\nsolve the riddle of the Sphinx by recognizing in that grotesque\nmonument the mid-summer symbol of solar worship, when the Summer\nSolstice was between the signs of Leo and Virgo.\n\n\nThe Dragon.\n\nWhen the Summer Solstice was between the signs of Leo and Virgo, the\nWinter Solstice was between those of Aquarius and Pisces, and the\nfigure composed of the body of a man with the tail of a fish became the\nmid-winter symbol of solar worship. Such was the form of this symbol to\nwhich the ancient Phoenicians paid homage to the Lord under the name of\nDagon.\n\n\nThe Bull.\n\nAt the same time the Summer Solstice entered the sign of Leo, the\nVernal Equinox entered that of Taurus, and the bull becoming the spring\nsymbol of solar worship--the Lord was designated in the ancient\nallegories as the bull of God which taketh away the sin of the world;\nwhich, shorn of its allegorical sense, signifies the sun in Taurus, or\nsun of spring, which taketh away the evil of Winter. Such is the\npurport of hieroglyphical inscriptions upon papyrus rolls found in\nEgypt, and engraved upon obelisks erected in the Nile valley, one of\nwhich has been recently brought to the City of New York and set up in\nCentral Park. In the East Indies this symbol was represented by the\nfigure of a bull with the solar disk between his horns; and the\nEgyptians, who were of Hindoo origin, perpetuating it in their \"Apis,\"\nit was reproduced in the golden calf of the ancient Israelites. The\nAssyrians represented this symbol by the figure of a winged bull with\nthe face and beard of a man; the Phoenicians, in their \"Baal,\" by the\nfigure of a man with a bull's head and horns; and the small silver\nbull's heads with golden horns, recently discovered by Dr. Schliemann\nin the ruins of Mycenae, were jewels worn by the women of that ancient\ncity, when the Vernal Equinox was in the sign of Taurus.\n\n\nThe Ram.\n\nBy deducting 2,150 years from 6,450, we determine that about 4,300\nyears; ago the Vernal Equinox entered the sign of Aries, and the spring\nsymbol of solar worship, changing from the bull to the ram, was\nrepresented by ram-headed figures, two of which, found in Egypt, are on\nexhibition in the British Museum. Then the text which read the bull of\nGod, was changed to the Ram of God which taketh away the sins of the\nworld.\n\n\nThe Lamb.\n\nUltimately attaching a meek and lowly disposition to the imaginary\nincarnations of the mythical genius of the sun, the symbol of the ram\nwas changed to that of the lamb, and the text in the allegories, which\nread the Ram of God, was changed to read \"The Lamb of God which taketh\naway the sin of the World,\" John i, 29. The explanation we have given\nrelative to the Zodiacal Symbols of solar worship makes the assurance\ndoubly sure that the originals of the New Testament were composed when\nthe Vernal Equinox was in the sign of Aries, as will be shown\nhereafter. Having adopted the symbol of the lamb, it was represented by\nseveral forms of what is known as Agnus Dei, or Lamb of God, one of\nwhich was in the form of a bleeding lamb with a vase attached into\nwhich blood is flowing, which originated in reference to the shedding\nof blood as a vicarious atonement for sin. But the most comprehensive\nform of this symbol in its astronomical signification, was represented\nby the figure of a lamb in a standing attitude, supporting the circle\nof the Zodiac, divided into quarters to denote the seasons. At each of\nthe cardinal points there was a small cross, and the lamb held in its\nuplifted fore-foot a larger cross, the long arm of which was made to\ncut the celestial equator at the angle of 23 1/2 degrees, the true\nangle of obliquity of the Ecliptic. This symbol is still retained in\nthe Catholic Church.\n\n[See plate8.gif]\n\n\nThe Fish.\n\nBy deducting 2,150 years from 4,300 we determine that about 2,150 years\nago the Vernal Equinox entered the sign of Pisces; and although the\noriginal version of the New Testament was founded upon the symbol of\nthe lamb, it is a historical fact that for centuries after the\nbeginning of our era, the Christians paid homage to the Lord under the\nsymbol of the fish; but ultimately going into desuetude, the lamb was\nretained as the distinguishing symbol of the Christian religion until\nthe year 680, at which date another was substituted, as will be shown\nunder our next heading.\n\n\n\nSIGNS OP THE CROSS.\n\nAmong the numerous symbols of solar worship, besides those we have\nalready referred to, there are three to which we will direct attention.\nTwo of these were of astronomical signification: the one adopted when\nthe Spring Equinox was in the sign of Taurus and shaped like the letter\nT, was the model after which the ancient temples were built; and the\nother, shaped like the letter X, in reference to the angle of 23 1/2\ndegrees made by the crossing of the Ecliptic and the Celestial equator,\nis known as St. Andrew's Cross. The third, and most important of all\nthe symbols of solar worship, in its relation to the Christian\nreligion, which, having no astronomical signification, originated in\nEgypt, in reference to the annual inundation of the river Nile. To mark\nthe height to which the water should rise to secure an abundant\nharvest, posts were planted upon its banks to which cross beams were\nattached thus +. If the water should rise to the designated height, it\nwas called \"the waters of life,\" or \"river of life;\" and, ultimately,\nthis form of the cross was adopted as the symbol of the life to come,\nor eternal life; and the ancient astrologers had it engraved upon\nstone, encircled with a hieroglyphical inscription to that effect, one\nof which was discovered in the ruins of the temple erected at\nAlexandria, and dedicated to \"our Lord and Saviour Serapis.\"\n\nBut, if the water failed to rise to the required height, and the\nhorrors of starvation becoming the inevitable result, it was the custom\nof the people to nail to these crosses symbolical personifications of\nthe Demon of Famine. To indicate the sterility of the domain over which\nhe reigned, he was represented by the figure of a lean and haggard man,\nwith a crown of thorns upon his head; a reed cut from the river's bank\nwas placed in his hands, as his unreal sceptre; and, considering the\ninhabitants of Judea as the most slavish and mean-spirited race in\ntheir knowledge, they placarded this figure with the inscription: \"This\nis the King of the Jews.\" Thus, to the ancient Egyptians, this sign of\nthe cross was blessed or accursed as it was represented with, or\nwithout, this figure suspended upon it.\n\nWhen the Roman, or modern, form of Christianity was instituted, the\nhieroglyphical inscription signifying the life to come or eternal life\nwas substituted by a placard nailed to the cross with the letters I. N.\nR. I. inscribed upon it, which are the initials of the Latin words\nconveying the same meaning. But if we would learn how the figure of a\nman came to be suspended upon this form of the cross, we must refer to\nMediaeval History, which teaches that in the year 680, under the\nPontificate of Agathon, and during the reign of Constantine Pogonat, at\nthe sixth council of the church, and third at Constantinople, it was\nordered in Canon 82 that \"Instead of a lamb, the figure of a man nailed\nto a cross should be the distinguishing symbol of the Christian\nreligion.\" Now, as this figure is represented by that of a lean and\nhaggard man, with a crown of thorns upon his head, does it not look as\nif the old Egyptian Demon of Famine was the model after which it was\nconstructed?\n\n\n\nFUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.\n\nIn the ancient Astrolatry, two different systems of future rewards and\npunishments were inculcated; the Oriental or East Indian, and the\nOccidental or Egyptian; the former, ignoring the resurrection of the\nbody, taught but one judgment immediately after death, and the latter\ninculcated an individual judgment immediately after death, the\nresurrection of the body, and a general judgment at the end of the\nworld, or conclusion of the 12,000 year cycle.\n\n\nThe Oriental System.\n\nConsidering perfect happiness to consist in absolute rest, the Oriental\nastrologers conceived a state of eternal and unconscious repose,\nequivalent to soul absorption, to which they gave the name of Nirvana,\ninto which they taught that, by the awards of the gods, the souls of\nthe righteous, or those who had lived what they called \"the\ncontemplative life,\" would be permitted to enter immediately after\ndeath. But, for the souls of sinners, they invented a system of\nexpiatory punishments which, known as the Metempsychosis, or\ntransmigration of souls, taught that they would be compelled to\nsuccessively animate the bodies of beasts, birds, fishes, etc., for a\nthousand years before being permitted to enter the Nirvana.\n\n\nThe Occidental System.\n\nIn concocting the doctrine of the first judgment the Egyptian\nastrologers, ignoring the Nirvana, inculcated the future sentient\nexistence of the soul; and, while retaining the Metempsychotial\nexpiations of the Oriental system, taught that its rewards, and\nprincipal punishments, would be enjoyed or suffered in the under or\nnether world, the existence of which they had conceived in constructing\ntheir system of nature. This imaginary region, known to the Egyptians\nas the Amenti, to the Greeks as Hades, and to the Hebrews as Sheol, was\ndivided by an impassable gulf into the two states of happiness and\nmisery which were designated in the Grecian mythology as the Elysium,\nor Elysian Fields, and the Tartarus. In the lower part of the latter\nwas located the Phlegethon, or lake of fire and brimstone, the smoke\nfrom which ascended into an upper apartment.\n\nIn this system it was taught that the souls of the two extremes of\nsociety, constituted of the righteous and the great sinners, would be\nconsigned immediately after the first judgment, the one to the Elysium,\nand the other to the Phlegethon, where they were to remain until the\nsecond or general judgment; while the souls of less venial sinners,\nconstituting the greater mass of mankind, before being permitted to\nenter the Elysium would be compelled to suffer the expiatory\npunishments of the Metempsychosis, or in the upper region, or \"smoky\nrow\" of the Tartarus. Such was the Egyptian purgatory, and its denizens\nconstituted \"the spirits in prison\" referred to in I. Peter iii. 19,\nfrom which the astrologers claimed to have the power to release,\nprovided their surviving friends paid liberally for their propitiatory\noffices; and, from this assumption, the clergy of the Catholic church\nderived the idea of saying masses for the repose of the soul. These\ndoctrines were carried by Pythagoras from Egypt to Greece about 550\nyears before the beginning of our era; and passing from thence to Rome,\nthe Greek and Latin poets vied with each other in portraying Hades and\nthe joys and terrors of its two states.\n\n\nThe Second or General Judgment.\n\nThe Egyptian Astrologers, recognizing the soul as a material entity,\nand conceiving the idea that in the future life it would require a\nmaterial organization for its perfect action, taught that at the\ngeneral judgment it would be re-united to its resurrected body. In\nconformity to this belief, Job is made to say in chapter xix. 25, 26,\n\"I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter\nday upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh\nshall I see God.\" The higher class Egyptians, however, fearing that\ntheir existence would continue to be of the same shadowy and intangible\ncharacter after the second judgment, as they believed it would be in\nthe Amenti, if worms were allowed to destroy their bodies, hoped to\npreserve them until that time by the process of embalming.\n\nThe imaginary events to occur in connection with the second judgment,\nwhich, constituting the finale of the plan of redemption, and\ninculcated in what are known as the doctrines of Second Adventism, were\nto be inaugurated by an archangel sounding a trumpet summoning the\nquick and the dead to appear before the bar of the gods to receive\ntheir final awards. At the second judgment, designated in the\nallegories as \"the last day,\" \"day of judgment,\" \"great and terrible\nday of the Lord,\" etc., it was taught that the tenth and last saviour\nwould make his second advent by descending upon the clouds, and after\nthe final awards, the elect being caught up \"to meet the Lord in the\nair\" (I. Thes. iv. 17), the heaven and the earth would be reduced to\nchaos through the agency of fire. In reference to that grand\ncatastrophe we find it recorded in II. Peter iii. 10, that \"the heavens\nshall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with\nfervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be\nburned up.\"\n\nAfter the organization of a new heaven and a new earth it was taught\nthat upon the latter would descend a beautiful city, with pearly gates\nand golden streets, called the City of God, the Kingdom of God, the\nKingdom of Heaven or New Jerusalem, in which the host of the redeemed\nwould, with their Lord and Saviour, enjoy the Millennium, or thousand\nyears of happiness unalloyed with evil; and such was the Kingdom for\nthe speedy coming of which the votaries of Astral worship were taught\nto pray in what is known as the Lord's Prayer.\n\nAccording to the teachings of the Allegories, there were to be no sun,\nmoon or stars during the Millennium, their authors having arranged it\nso that the light of those luminaries would not be needed, as we find\nrecorded in Rev. xxi. 23, and xxii. 5: \"The city had no need of the\nsun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did\nlighten it,\" and \"there shall be no night there; and they need no\ncandle, neither the light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them\nlight.\" It must be remembered, when reading the fanciful ideas relative\nto the City of God, that they were composed by men who, living in a\nvery ignorant age, gave free rein to fervid imaginations.\n\n\n\nJEWISH OR ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY.\n\nIt is our purpose to present the evidences showing that a system of\nAstral worship, which we designate as Jewish Christianity, was in\nexistence more than two centuries and a half before the institution of\nits modern form. In verification of this assertion we must find the\ninitial point of our inquiry in ancient history, which teaches that in\nthe division of the Grecian Empire among his generals, after the death\nof Alexander the Great, who died 332 years before the beginning of our\nera, the governorship of Egypt and adjacent provinces was secured by\nPtolemy Lagus, or Soter, who, having subsequently suppressed a revolt\nin Judea, removed from that country a large body of its inhabitants to\npeople the new city of Alexandria, which had been laid out by order of\nand named after the great Conqueror.\n\nThe Egyptian version of the Gospel story, being more appropriate to the\nNile Valley than to the region from whence they came, the Greek\ncolonists of Alexandria adopted it, but preferring to pay homage to\nSerapis, one of the ninth incarnations of God Sol, which they imported\nfrom Pontus, a Greek province of Asia Minor, they erected to his\nworship that celebrated temple known as the Grand Serapium; and,\ntransferring the culture and refinement of Greece to the new city, it\nbecame, under the Ptolemian dynasty, a great seat of learning; the arts\nand sciences flourished, an immense library was collected, the various\nforms of Astral worship were represented and schools for the\ndissemination of the several phases of Grecian philosophy and Oriental\nGnosticism were founded.\n\nSuch being the environment of the Jewish residents of Alexandria, they\nsoon acquired the vernacular and adopted the religion of the Greeks,\nwho, having ever attached to their incarnate saviours the title\nsignifying the Christ, or the anointed, were known as Christians.\nEncouraged by the liberal policy of Philadelphus, the second Ptolemy, a\nbody of their learned men, who had been educated in the Greek schools,\nfounded a college for the education of their own people, which\ninstitution was ultimately known as the University of Alexandria. Under\nthe auspices of Philadelphus the professors of that institution\nrendered their Hebrew sacred records into the Greek language, which\ntranslation is known as the Septuagint, or Alexandrian version of the\nOld Testament.\n\nHaving acquired from the Egyptian astrologers the arts of healing,\nthaumaturgy and necromancy, and teaching them in their school, the\nprofessors of the Jewish college of Alexandria assumed the title of\nEssenes, or Therapeutae, the Egyptian and Greek words signifying\nDoctors, Healers or Wonder Workers. Possessed of the sad and gloomy\ncharacteristics of their race, they adopted the \"Contemplative Life,\"\nor asceticism of the Oriental Gnosticism, from which they derived the\nname of Ascetics. Founding a church for the propagation of their\npeculiar tenets, those who were set apart for the ministry assumed the\ntitle of Ecclesiastics. Inculcating rigid temperance and self-denial\namong their people, they were known as Enchratites, Nazarites or\nAbstainers; and the more devout among them retiring to monasteries, or\nto the solitude of caves and other secluded places, were also\ndesignated as Monks, Cenobites, Friars, Eremites, Hermits or\nSolitaries.\n\nThe time having arrived, according to the cyclic teachings of Astral\nworship, for the manifestation of the tenth and last incarnation of God\nSol, or, in other words, to, give a new name to the mythical genius of\nthe sun, the professors of the Jewish school of Alexandria is resolved\nto inaugurate their own form of worship. While retaining the same title\nunder which they had paid homage to Serapis and known as Christians,\nEssenes or Therapeutae, they substituted for their Christ the name of\nthe Grecian Bacchus, which, composed of the letters {Greek:\nIOTA, ETA, SIGMA}, signifies Yes, Ies or Jes. In composing their version\nof the Gospel story, having, like their race, no inventive genius, they\nappropriated that of Serapis as its basis and laid its scene in the\nland of their ancestry, but inconsistently retained the sign of the\ncross and the phraseology connected there with, which, having special\nreference to the Nile River and its annual inundation, had no\napplication whatever to the sterile land of Judea. Selecting what they\nconceived to be the best from other versions of the Gospel story, and\nassuming the title of Eclectics, they designated their system as the\nEclectic Philosophy. In proof of the eclectic character of the Gospel\nand Epistles of ancient Christianity, we refer to the Asceticism\ninculcated therein, which, derived from the Oriental Gnosticism, we\nfind perpetuated in the scriptures of modern Christianity; we also\nrefer to the miracle of converting water into wine, taken from the\nGospel story of Bacchus, and to the statements that the Saviour was the\nson of a carpenter and was hung between two thieves, copied from the\nstory of Christna, the Eighth, Avatar of the East Indian astrolatry.\nThus we see that, although the scene of the Gospel story of ancient\nChristianity was laid in the land of Judea, its authors having adopted\na Greek version of that story as its basis, given a Greek title and\nname to their Messiah, perpetuated a Greek name for their sect and\nquoted exclusively from the Septuagint, or Greek version of the Old\nTestament, the facts show conclusively that it was not Jews of Judea,\nbut Hellenized Jews of Alexandria, who were the real authors of the\nancient Christianity.\n\n\n\nTHE PROPHECIES.\n\nThe clergy having ever claimed that the prophecies are Divine\nrevelations of events yet to occur, and having incessantly agitated\nsociety by preaching their speedy fulfillment, we propose to expose the\nfallacy of their teachings by showing that these scriptures are not the\nrecords of future events, Divinely reavealed, but that they originated\nwith the founders of Astral worship, who predicated them upon\npredetermined events of their own concoction, relative to the general\njudgment, and setting up of the kingdom of heaven, which were to occur\nas the finale of the plan of redemption and from which were derived the\ndoctrines of second adventism; and, in determining the exact time when\nthen were to occur, we have but to prove that it was coincident with\nthe conclusion of the last half of the grand cycle of 12,000 years,\nwhich, as we have shown, was dedicated to man as the duration of his\nrace on earth.\n\nAs evidence that the founders of the Jewish or ancient Christianity\nbelieved, like the votaries of other forms of Astral worship, that the\nprophecies were soon to be fulfilled, we find that the New Testament,\nof the original version of which they were the authors, is replete with\nsuch texts as \"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,\" Matt. iv.\n17; \"There be some standing here which shall not taste death till they\nsee the Son of Man coming in His kingdom,\" Matt. xxi. 28; \"The time is\nfulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand,\" Mark i. 15. That the\noriginal version of the New Testament was composed when the Vernal\nEquinox was in the sign of Aries we are assured by reason of the fact\nthat it inculcates homage to the Lord under the symbol of the Lamb; and\nthat it was during the last, or 30th degree of that sign, can readily\nbe proven by appealing to history and to astronomy, the former of which\nteaches that the Jews were removed from Judea to Alexandria twenty-five\nyears before the accession to the throne of Philadelphus, the Second\nPtolemy, to whom we have referred in our preceding article, and who,\nafter reigning thirty-nine years, died 246 years before the beginning\nof our era. By reference to the Celestial atlas we will find that the\nVernal Equinox will pass out of the sign of Pisces into that of\nAquarius, or in the year 1900, and we have but to deduct that period of\ntime from 2150, the number of years required for the cardinal points to\npass through one whole sign, to determine that the Spring Equinox\npassed out of the sign of Aries into that of Pisces 250 years before\nthe beginning of our era, or about 2,100 years ago. Now, from the\nprojections of the astrological science, we are assured that the last\nhalf of the grand cycle of 12,000 years, which was allotted to man as\nthe duration of his race on earth, was made to begin at a time\ncorresponding to the Autumnal Equinox, when that cardinal point was\npassing out of the sign of Virgo, and that of necessity it had to come\nto an end at a time corresponding to the Vernal Equinox, when that\ncardinal point was passing out of the sign of Aries; from which we know\nwhy, at the last judgment, the office of trumpeter was assigned to the\nArchangel Gabriel, the genius of Spring, and why it was a ram's horn\nwith which he was to \"toot the crack o' doom.\"\n\nWhen the time arrived for the fulfillment of the prophecies we can well\nimagine that, fearing the wrath of the Lamb, there were weeping,\nwailing and gnashing of teeth among the terror-stricken sinners, while\nthose who believed they had made their calling and election sure were\nlooking with feverish expectancy for the second advent of their Lord\nand Saviour; and, doubtless, clothed with their ascension robes, they\nwatched and waited, with ears alert, to hear the sound of Gabriel's\ntrumpet, summoning the quick, and the dead to the general judgment. But\nnot a blast from the archangel's ram's horn was heard reverberating\nalong the skies, no Lord appeared descending upon the clouds to meet\nthe elect in the air, and, in the last act of the fearful drama of\n\"judgment day,\" the curtain refused to be rung down upon a burning\nworld.\n\nWith the non-fulfillment of the prophecies, the more enlightened\nelements of society began to scoff at the priests, who were temporarily\ndemoralized, but true to their deceptive instincts, soon rallying with\nthe plea of a mistake having been made in the calculations based upon\nthe prophecies, they undoubtedly concocted scripture to meet that very\nemergency, for, to the taunts of the scoffers who, in reference to the\nsecond advent of the Lord, enquired \"Where is the sign of His coming?\nfor, since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were\nfrom the beginning of creation,\" they answered that \"The Lord is not\nslack concerning His promise,\" but \"as a thief in the night\" he would\nsoon come and all things be fulfilled. See II. Peter, chapter iii.\n\nFollowing up the history of this interesting subject, we find that the\nfounders of modern Christianity, to which we will refer in our next\narticle, in composing their version of the New Testament from that of\nthe Jewish, or ancient Christians, made no change in its verbiage\nrelative to the prophecies; but when Constantine I., Emperor of Rome,\nbecame the patron of the church, her hierarchy, tired of figuring upon\nthem, secured a long respite from that troublesome subject by claiming\nto have made other calculations, which put off the time of fulfillment\nto the year 1000; and from history we learn when the time arrived the\nwhole of Christendom was fearfully agitated upon the subject: Since\nthen every generation has been vexed with the fallacies of second\nadventism; and the facts of the case justify the charge that the\nclergy, by teaching that the prophecies refer to events yet to occur,\nare perpetuating a most stupendous fraud upon Christendom, and an\nearnest and efficient protest should be inaugurated against the further\nagitation of the monstrous delusion of second adventism, which is\nfrightening thousands of weak-minded people into insanity and causing a\nvast amount of social distress.\n\n\n\nROMAN OR MODERN CHRISTIANITY.\n\nHaving presented the evidences that the Jewish, or ancient\nChristianity, originated at the University of Alexandria, under Greek\nrule, we now propose to show that its modern form emanated from the\nsame source, under Roman rule; but, before entering upon this\ninvestigation, it is important to become conversant with the sentiments\nmanifested towards religion by the cultured element of Roman society in\nthat enlightened era, which, designated as the golden age of\nliterature, was adorned by such distinguished orators, philosophers,\nhistorians, poets and naturalists as Cicero, Tacitus, Pliny, Horace and\nVirgil. In reference to this subject, Gibbon, in his history of The\nDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. I., chapter 2, says: \"The\nvarious modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all\nconsidered by the people as equally true, by the philosophers as\nequally false and by the magistrate as equally useful. Both the\ninterests of the priests and the credulity of the people were\nsufficiently respected. In their writings and conversation the\nphilosophers of antiquity asserted the independent dignity of reason,\nbut they resigned their actions to the commands of law and custom.\nViewing with a smile of pity and indulgence the various errors of the\nvulgar, they diligently practiced the ceremonies of their fathers,\ndevoutly frequented the temples of the gods, and sometimes\ncondescending to act a part on the theatre of superstition, they\nconcealed the sentiments of an atheist under the sacerdotal robe.\nReasoners of such a temper were scarcely inclined to wrangle about\ntheir respective modes of faith or of worship. It was indifferent to\nthem what shape the folly of the multitude might choose to assume, and\nthey approached with the same inward contempt and the same external\nreverence to the altars of the Lybian, the Olympian or the Capitoline\nJupiter.\" Upon the same subject Mosheim, in his church history, Book\nI., chapter 1, says that \"The wiser part of mankind, about the time of\nChrist's birth, looked upon the whole system of religion as a just\nobject of contempt and ridicule.\"\n\nIn determining why such adverse sentiments were entertained towards\nreligion by \"the wiser part of mankind,\" about the time referred to in\nthe foregoing quotations, it will be found to have been owing to the\nextensive spread of the Esoteric philosophy, which taught, as\npreviously stated, that the gods were mythical and the scriptures\nallegorical. While attainable only through initiation, it was\nnecessarily confined to a limited number, but, ultimately getting\nbeyond the control of the priests and vast numbers acquiring the\nknowledge of its secrets without initiation, it became evident that it\nwas but a question of time when there would be no respectable element\nleft to sustain religion. At this juncture our attention is directed to\nthe University of Alexandria, which, at that time, was in a flourishing\ncondition. Having ceased to be an exclusively Jewish school, students\nfrom all parts of the Roman Empire, without regard to nationality, were\nattending it, and its professors were drawn from the ranks of both\nJewish and Gentile scholars. Realizing the hopelessness of reviving the\nancient faith among the enlightened clement of society, and the\nimpossibility of proselyting them to a new form of superstition, these\nprofessors resolved to institute a system of worship exclusively for\nthe Jews and the lower and neglected classes of Gentiles, including the\nslaves and criminals. To that end they rewrote the scriptures of the\nJewish or ancient Christianity, which had been preserved among the\nsecret archives of the University. Retaining their teachings relative\nto the finale of the plan of redemption, and its monasticism; also the\nland of Judea as the scene of its version of the Gospel story, and the\nname of its saviour, to which they added the Latin terminal \"us,\" thus\nmaking it Iesus or Jesus, they perpetuated the Greek name of\nBacchus--the same that was ultimately perverted into the monogram\nwhich, consisting of the Roman letters I. H. S., is found in all\nCatholic churches, and in some Protestant ones, is falsely supposed to\nstand for Jesus Hominum Salvator, or Jesus, Saviour of Men. Conforming\ntheir version of the Gospel story to the lowly condition of its\nexpected votaries, they attached to the saviour the characteristics of\npoverty, and made it teach that he was born in a manger, that his\ndisciples were but humble fishermen and that the poor would be the only\nelect in the kingdom of heaven. Dropping the name of Essenes or\nTherapeutae, and retaining that of Christian, they incorporated a\nthread of real history corresponding to the reign of Augustus, and\narbitrarily made the Christian era begin at that time. Having thus\ncompleted their scheme, they prudently destroyed the original from\nwhich they compiled their scriptures, and sending out missionaries to\nall parts of the Empire commissioned them to preach salvation only to\nthe Gentile rabblement and to the Jews.\n\nThat the sacred records of the ancient Essenes or Therapeutae\nconstituted the basis of the scriptures of modern Christianity we have\nthe authority of Eusebius, the church historian of the fourth century,\nfrom whom we learn nearly all that is reliable of its history during\nthe first three centuries.  In his Ecclesiastical History, Book II.\nchapter 17, he makes the important admission that \"Those ancient\nTherapeutae were Christians, and that their writtings are our Gospels\nand Epistles.\" As further evidence that modern Christianity is but a\nsurvival of the Eclectic philosophy of the ancient Therapeutae, we have\nanother important admission by the same historian, who, in quoting from\nan apology addressed to the Roman Emperor, Marcus Antoninus, in the\nyear 171, by Melito, Bishop of Sardis, in Lydia, a province of Asia\nMinor, makes that apologist say, in reference to certain grievances to\nwhich the Christians were subjected, that \"the philosophy which we\nprofess truly flourished aforetime among the barbarous nations; but\nhaving blossomed again in the great reign of thy ancestor, Augustus, it\nproved to be, above all things, ominous of good fortune to thy\nkingdom.\" Thus we have indubitable evidence that it was the Eclectic\nphilosophy of the Jewish, or ancient Christianity, which \"blossomed\nagain,\" in its modern form, during the reign of Augustus.\n\nFrom the testimony of Philo, as referred to by Eusebius, and from the\nwritings of Josephus, the Jewish historian, we learn that, at the\nbeginning of our era, the descendants of the ancient Essenes were still\nobserving the practices and customs of monasticism. But as Josephus\nrefers to them only as descendants of the ancient Essenes, and makes no\nmention of Christ or Christians--except in one paragraph which has been\nconceded by the best authorities to be an interpolation it is evident\nthat, at that time, they had no connection with the University of\nAlexandria, and nothing whatever to do with the institution of modern\nChristianity. It is also apparent that the Jews of Judea had no hand in\nits organization, for, if they had instituted it, they would not have\nattached to the Messiah the Greek title signifying the Christ, but,\nwriting their version of the Gospel story in their own dialect, would\nhave used the Hebrew word signifying the Shiloh (see Gen. xlix. 10);\nand furthermore, having conceived the idea that he would manifest\nhimself as a great temporal prince, who would re-establish the throne\nof David, and deliver them from the oppression of foreign rulers, they\nwould not have attached to him the humble characteristics of the Christ\nof the new Testament. Again, if they had been the authors of modern\nChristianity, it would have been a most surprising inconsistency for\nthem to turn right about and reject its conceptions of a savior,\nespecially when that rejection resulted in the dire persecutions to\nwhich their race has ever been subjected by the Christians. But the\nGentile riffraff, attracted by the gracious promises of enjoying in the\nworld to come the felicities denied them in this, eagerly attached\nthemselves to the new sect, which rapidly increased in numbers, and its\nvotaries, glorying in the opprobrious epithet of Ebionites, or needy\nones, made themselves so obnoxious by their aggression and turbulent\ndispositions that, barely tolerated by the Government and condemned by\nthe cultured adherents to the established religion, many of them,\ncourting the crown of martyrdom, suffered death at the hands of the\ncivil authorities; and thus was engendered that spirit of hatred\nagainst their fancied oppressors which only awaited the opportunity to\nmanifest itself in deeds of rapine and-bloodshed.\n\nThe fanacticism which prevailed among the earlier Christians was the\ndirect result of their dense ignorance, and to this sole cause we may\nascribe all the trouble which the Roman Government had with them, and\nto become convinced of this fact we have but to study church history.\nIn reference to this subject Mosheim, in his Ecclesiastical History;\nVol. 4, part 2, chap. 1, says: \"It is certain that the greatest part\nboth of the bishops and presbyters were men entirely destitute of\nlearning and education. Besides, that savage and illiterate party, who\nlooked upon all sorts of erudition, particularly that of a\nphilosophical kind, as pernicious, and even destructive of true piety\nand religion, increased both in number and authority. The ascetics,\nmonks and hermits augmented the strength of this barbarous faction, and\nnot only the women, but also all who took solemn looks, sordid\ngarments, and a love of solitude, for real piety, were vehemently\nprepossessed in their favor.\" In almost any history of England we will\nfind it recorded that, even in the ninth century, King Alfred lamented\nthat there was at that time not a priest in his dominions who\nunderstood Latin; and even for some centuries after the bishops and\nprelates of the whole Christian community were marksmen, i. e., they\nsupplied by the sign of the cross the inability to write their own\nnames. If the bishops and priests were so supremely ignorant what can\nbe said in reference to the literary attainments of the laity?\n\nThe Christians were alternately persecuted and tolerated by the Roman\nEmperors until the first quarter of the fourth century, when certain\nevents occurred through which the Church of Rome became the recipient\nof Imperial Patronage. Constantine I., called the Great, having made\nhimself sole Emperor by destroying all other claimants to the throne,\napplied to Sopater, one of the priests of the established religion, for\nabsolution, and was informed that his crimes were of such an atrocious\ncharacter that there was no absolution for him. Believing that the\nPhlegethon, or lake of fire and brimstone, awaited him in the future\nlife, unless he could obtain absolution, he became very much distressed\nwhen one of his courtiers, learning the cause and referring him to the\nChurch of Rome, he at once applied to her Bishop, Silvester, who,\nreadily granting the desired absolution, he added another victim to his\nbutcher bill by ordering the death of the honest priest who had refused\nto grant him absolution. The Christian sect having become a powerful\nand dangerous faction, Constantine conceived the idea of strengthening\nhis usurped and precarious position by attaching it to his interest,\nand to that end he professed himself a convert to its tenets, and,\ntaking the Church of Rome under his especial patronage, elevated her\nBishop to the rank of a prince of the Empire and gave him one of his\npalaces for a residence.\n\nThe Christian hierarchy, knowing that it would be a potent means of\nconfirming the faith of the laity in the Gospel story as a literal\nhistory to have a tomb of the Saviour to which pilgrimages could be\nmade, and appealing to Constantine to provide one, he sent his mother,\nHelena, to Judea to find the place and, of course, discovering what she\nwent to look for, he had erected, under her supervision, over the\ndesignated spot, that splendid edifice which, known as the church of\nthe Holy Sepulchre, remains to this day. Helena, good at finding lost\nthings, also claimed to have discovered the veritable cross upon which\nthe Saviour had been crucified; and her son, worthy of such a mother,\nclaimed, as recorded by Eusebius, that he had seen with his own eyes\nthe trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, bearing\nthe inscription: \"In Hoc Signo Vinces,\" signifying \"Under this sign,\nconquer.\" Those were times of remarkable and supernatural occurrences.\n\nAt the time Constantine became the patron of Christianity the bishops\nand presbyters of the several churches, seemingly ignorant of the\nteachings of the Esoteric philosophy relative to the origin of the\nTrinity, were divided into two factions in discussing the relation\nbetween the Father and the Son. One party, headed by Athanasius, a\npresbyter of Alexandria, and afterwards bishop of that see, advocated\nthe ancient belief that the three persons in the godhead of Father, Son\nand Holy Ghost is but one God, that Christ is consubstantial or\nco-eternal with the Father, and that he became man to perform his\nmission of redemption. Such, in brief, is what is known as the\nAthanasian or Trinitarian Creed. The other party, headed, by Arius,\nanother presbyter of Alexandria, advocated the belief in one God alone\nand that Christ, having no existence until begotten of the Father, is\nnot consubstantial or co-eternal with him. Such, in substance,\nconstitutes what is known to the Trinitarian or Orthodox Christians as\nthe Arian or Unitarian heresy. Could stronger evidence be adduced that\nthis controversy was the result of ignorantly making a distinction\nwhere there is no difference, for whether Trinitarian or Unitarian the\nmythical genius of the sun is the God to whom they all paid supreme\nadoration, although the Christians of to-day would deny it most\nemphatically.\n\nThe faction, advocating the Trinitarian creed having converted the\nEmperor to their belief, and influencing him to enforce it as a\nfundamental doctrine of the Christian theology, he, in the year 325,\nsummoned, at his own expense, a general council of bishops and priests\nto meet at Nice, in Bithynia, a province of Asia Minor. When they had\nassembled he appeared among them, clad in gorgeous attire, with a\njewel-studded diadem upon his royal brow, and, seated upon a gilded\nchair, presided over their deliberations. A minority of them, holding\n\"most contumaciously\" to the Arian heresy, and refusing to change their\nviews at the bidding of the Emperor, he banished them from their\nrespective bishoprics, while the majority adopted the Trinitarian\ncreed, and appealing to Constantine to suppress the writings of Arius\nhe issued an edict for that purpose, which we present as follows:\n\"Moreover we thought that if there can be found extant any work or book\ncompiled by Arius the same should be burned to ashes, so that not only\nhis damnable doctrine may thereby be wholly rooted out, but also that\nno relic thereof may remain unto posterity. This we also straightway\ncommand and charge, that if any man be found to hide or conceal any\nbook made by Arius, and not immediately bring forth such book, and\ndeliver it up to be burned, that the said offender for so doing shall\ndie the death. For as soon as he is taken our pleasure is that his head\nshall be stricken off from his shoulders.\" Rather a blood-thirsty,\nedict to be issued by the \"puissant, the mighty and noble Emperor,\" and\na very inconsistent one, considering that he soon afterwards readopted\nthe Unitarian faith and restored the banished bishops to their\nrespective sees; but, regardless of his action, the Church of Rome\nsustained the Trinitarian creed and enforced the dogma of the supreme\ndivinity of Christ.\n\nThus we see that the history of Christianity, in the first half of the\nfourth century, cannot be written without incorporating considerable\nfrom the life of Constantine, whose ensanguined record before his\npretended conversion marks him as the most brutal tyrant that ever\ndisgraced the imperial purple; but the appalling crimes he perpetrated\nafterwards, among which were the scalding his inoffending wife to death\nin a bath of boiling water, and the murdering, without cause, of six\nmembers of his family, one of which was his own son, justify what a\nlearned writer said of him, that \"The most unfortunate event that ever\nbefell the human race was the adoption of Christianity by the\ncrimson-handed cut-throat in the possession of unlimited power,\" and\nyet Constantine was canonized by the Eastern church.\n\nDuring the first three centuries, when Christianity was but a weak\nsect, her bishops addressed numerous apologies to the Roman Emperors,\nin which they claimed tolerance from the government on the ground that\ntheir form of worship was virtually the same as the established\nreligion. But after Constantine's pretended conversion its hierarchy\nbegan to labor for the recognition of Christianity as the state\nreligion, and to give to their demand some show of consistency they\ninsisted that their scriptures were really historical, and that there\nwas no resemblance whatever between the two forms of worship; while\ntheirs was of Divine authenticity the Pagans was purely a human\ninstitution.\n\nFor centuries after the convocation of the council of Nice the peace\nand harmony of the several churches were disturbed by the rancorous\ndiscussion of the same old questions of Trintarianism and Unitarianism,\nthe Western church adhering to the former while a majority of the\nEastern congregations maintained their faith in the latter; but\nultimately the Trinitarian party, gaining the ascendency, and\npersecuting the adherents of the Unitarian faith, the greater part of\nthem retired into northern Arabia where they founded numerous\nmonasteries; and from history we learn that, having impressed their\nUnitarian faith upon the populace of that country, it was ultimately\nincorporated into the Koran, the sacred book of Mohammedanism; and,\nwhile becoming votaries of that form of worship, still retained the\nbelief that Christ was but one of the prophets.\n\nThe cultured adherents to the established form of worship, becoming\nalarmed at the growing power and influence of the Christians and at the\nprospect of such an ignorant and vicious rabble obtaining control of\nthe government, regardless of their pledge to keep the Gnosis secret,\npublicly announced that the Gods were mythical and the scriptures\nallegorical, and engaged in a heated controversy with the Christians\nupon the subjects. The character of their discussions is well, although\nsupposititiously, expressed by Gerald Massey, in his work entitled,\n\"The Historical Jesus and the Mythical Christ;\" page 179, American\nedition, where he makes the Gnostics say to the Christians, \"You poor\nignorant idiots; you have mistaken the mysteries of old for modern\nhistory, and accepted literally all that was only meant mystically.\" To\nwhich the Christians responded, \"You spawn of Satan, you are making the\nmystery by converting our accomplished facts into your miserable\nfables; you are dissipating and dispersing into thin air our only bit\nof solid foothold in the world, stained with the red drops of Calvary.\nYou are giving a satanic interpretation of the word of revelation and\nfalsifying the oracles of God. You are converting the solid facts of\nour history into your newfangled allegories;\" to which the Gnostics\nreplied, \"Nay, it is you who have taken the allegories of Mythology for\nhistorical facts.\"\n\nBut it was impossible to stem the rising tide; the lessons which the\npriesthood had taught the ignorant masses had been too well learned.\nThey were sure that their scriptures were historical; that Jesus Christ\nwas truly the incarnate saviour who had died and rose again for the\nsalvation of the elect, and that being the elect it would be\npre-eminently just and proper that the old Pagan form of worship should\nbe abrogated and theirs recognized as the state religion. Thus the\nconflict raged until the year 381, when, under the reign of the Emperor\nTheodosius the Great, this demand having been formally made, and the\nSenate, fearing the tumult a refusal would excite, with a show of fair\ndealing ordered the presentation, before that body, of the respective\nmerits of the two forms of worship. In that memorable discussion, which\nlasted a whole week, Symmachus, a senator, advocated the old system,\nand Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, the new, which resulting, as a foregone\nconclusion, in the triumph of Christianity, a decree to that effect was\npromulgated.\n\nThen the long deferred opportunity having arrived, the vengeful\nbishops, hounding on a no less vengeful laity, ruthlessly murdered the\npriests of the old religion, and, appropriating its emoluments to their\nown use, they seized upon its temples, and demolishing some, converted\nothers into churches. With iconoclastic hands they destroyed some of\nthe statues representing the ancient divinities, or after mutilation\nexposed others in public places to the derision of the populace.\nSubjecting the adherents to the older form of worship, whom they\ndesignated as infidels, to the most diabolical indignities and\npersecutions, they destroyed their works of art, burned their\nlibraries, suppressed their schools of learning, and either killed or\nexiled their professors. Among the atrocious acts perpetrated by these\nfiends in human shape none was more barbarous than the one committed in\nAlexandria, in the year 415, when Hypatia, the beautiful and\naccomplished daughter of Theon, who had succeeded her father as\nprofessor of mathematics and philosophy in the Alexandrian University,\nwhile on her way to deliver a lecture, was, by order of Bishop Cyril,\ndragged from her chariot and murdered in a most revolting manner.\n\nOne of the successors of Theodosius justified himself in decreeing the\nspoliation of the old religion upon the grounds that \"It was unbecoming\na Christian government to supply the infidels with the means of\npersevering in their errors.\" Another one of the Emperors, more zealous\nthan his predecessors, decreed the death penalty against all persons\ndiscovered practicing any of the rites and ceremonies of the old\nreligion. Thus the onslaught of Christian savagery obliterated the\ncivilization of Greece and Rome, and inaugurated that long reign of\nintellectual night known as the Dark Ages, which, materially aiding in\neffecting the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, made it possible to\nerect upon its ruins that Italian Oligarchy, which, since then, has\nruled the greater part of Christendom.\n\nThe dogmatic element of the ancient astrolatry, as incorporated into\nthe Christian creed, underwent no material change until the\ninauguration of the dark ages, when the bishops of the several\nchurches, in the delirium of metaphysical speculation, concocted the\npreviously unheard of doctrine of pre-existence of spirit, in\nconformity to which God was declared to be purely a spiritual deity,\nwho, existing before matter, created the universe of nothing. Being the\nsole custodians of the scriptures; and changing the six periods of a\nthousand years each to the six days of creation, they altered Gen. i,\n1, to read, \"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,\"\nwhich in the original read: \"In the beginning, when the Gods (Elohim or\nAlehim) had made (shaped or formed) this heaven and this earth.\" These\nradical changes necessitating others, they made two distinct and\nindependent beings of the principles of Good and Evil personified in\nthe God Sol; the former they embodied in Jesus the Christ and the\nlatter in the Christian Devil, thus supplanting old Pluto; the\npresiding genius of the under world.\n\nRejecting the ancient doctrines relative to the soul, and teaching\nthat, having proceeded from a purely spiritual deity, it would exist\neternally as an independent spiritual entity, they substituted for the\nancient system of limited rewards and punishments the one inculcating\ntheir endless duration. These changes in the creed, which were\nconfirmed at the general council of Constantinople, in the year 553,\nnecessitating further alterations of the scriptures, the righteous were\npromised \"eternal life\" in the Paradise of God beyond the stars; and,\nWhile consigning great sinners to \"everlasting punishment\" in the\nTartarian fires of the under world, the less venial were to expiate\ntheir crimes in the same old Purgatory. Thus, having invented an\nendless heaven and an endless hell for purely spiritual souls, and\nneglecting to expunge the doctrines of the resurrection of the body,\nthe setting up of the kingdom of heaven upon a reorganized earth and\nother materialistic teachings of the ancient religion, they made of the\ncreed and scriptures such a conglomeration of \"things new and old\"\nthat, without the Astrological key, it would be impossible to determine\nwhat they originally taught.\n\nAt the Reformation in the 16th century Luther and his coadjutors, while\nprojecting into the Protestant creed all the cardinal tenets of\nCatholicism, excepting that of Purgatory, made no change in the\nverbiage of the scriptures. Thus retaining the awful doctrine of\nendless hell, the reformers constructed a creed which they intended for\nthe government of Protestants for all time; but, doing what had never\nbeen done before in the history of the world, they gave the scriptures\nto the laity, and, whether or not they secured the right of private\njudgment or individual interpretation, it has been taken all the same;\nand thus opening the door to investigation, it must ultimately result\nnot only in the abrogation of hell, but in the relegation to the limbo\nof oblivion of the whole dogmatic element of religion.\n\nAs a fitting conclusion to this article, we again direct the attention\nof our readers to the subject of the primary source of religious\ndogmas. Prior to the establishment of Christianity as the state\nreligion of the Roman Empire, the philosophers who wrote against it\ninvariably made the charge that its theology was derived from the\nancient Paganism. After its establishment as the state religion of the\nEmpire, the hierarchy of the church, knowing that this charge was\nunanswerable, instigated the Emperor Theodosius I. to promulgate an\nedict decreeing the destruction of all books antagonistic to\nChristianity. This edict, directed more particularly against the\nwritings of Celsus, was carried out so effectually that we know nothing\nof what he wrote, only as quoted by Origen, the distinguished church\nfather of the third century, who attempted to answer in eight books\nwhat Celsus had written in one, entitled \"The True Discourse.\" In one\nof his quotations from Celsus' work he makes that philosopher say \"that\nthe Christian religion contains nothing but what Christians held in\ncommon with heathens, nothing that was new or truly great.\" See\nBellamy's translation, chapter 4. During the earlier centuries the\nChristians were divided into numerous sects, entertaining very\ndivergent views, and each faction, holding all others to be heretical,\ncharged them with having derived their doctrines from the Pagan\nreligion. Upon this subject we find that Epiphanius, a celebrated\nchurch father of the 4th century, freely admits that all that differed\nfrom his own were derived from the heathen mythology. Such was the\nposition of all orthodox writers during the Middle Ages, and since the\nReformation the Protestant clergy have uniformly made the same charge\nagainst the Catholic; a few quotations from their writings we present\nfor the edification of our readers.\n\nJean Daille, a French Protestant minister of the 17th century, in his\ntreatise entitled La Religion Catholique Romaine Institute par Nama\nPompile, demonstrates that \"the Papists took their idolatrous worship\nof images, as well as all their ceremonies, from the old heathen\nreligion.\" Bishop Stillingfleet of the English church and a writer of\nconsiderable eminence in the 17th century, said, in reference to the\ncomplaisant spirit of the early church towards the Pagans, that \"it was\nattended by very bad consequences, since Christianity became at last,\nby that means, nothing else but reformed Paganism, as to its divine\nworship.\" See Stillingfleet's defense of the charge of idolatry against\nthe Romanists, vol. 5, page 459. M. Turrentin, of Geneva, Switzerland,\na learned Protestant writer of the 17th century, in one of his orations\ndescribing the state of Christianity in the 4th century, says \"that it\nwas not so much the Empire that was brought over to the faith, as the\nfaith that was brought over to the Empire; not the Pagans who were\nconverted to Christianity, but the Christians who were converted to\nPaganism.\" Thus, having shown that the Catholics derived all their\ncardinal tenets from the Pagan mythology, the Protestants must surely\nhave obtained theirs from the Catholics, for they teach all of them\nexcept that of Purgatory.\n\n\n\nFREEMASONRY AND DRUIDISM.\n\nThe rites and ceremonies of Astral worship, under the name of Druidism,\nwere primarily observed in consecrated groves by all peoples; which\ncustom was retained by the Scandinavian and Germanic races, and by the\ninhabitants of Gaul and the British Islands; while the East Indians,\nAssyrians, Egyptians, Grecians, Romans, and other adjacent nations,\nultimately observed their religious services in temples; and we propose\nto show that the modern societies of Freemasonry, and ancient order of\nDruids, are but perpetuations of the grove and temple forms of the\nancient astrolatry. In determining the fact that Freemasonry finds its\nprototype in the temple worship of ancient Egypt, we have but to study\nthe Masonic arms, as illustrated in Fellows' chart, in which are\npictured, as its objects of adoration, the sun and moon, the seven\nstars, known as Pleiades in the sign of Taurus; the blazing star\nSirius, or Dog-star, worshipped by the Egyptians under the name of\nAnubis, and whose rising forewarned those people of the rising of the\nNile River; the seven signs of the Zodiac from Aries to Libra,\ninclusive, through which the sun was supposed to pass in making his\napparent annual revolution, and which constitutes the Royal arch from\nwhich was derived the name of one of its higher degrees; and its\narmorial bearings, consisting of pictures of the Lion, the Bull, the\nWaterman, and the Flying Eagle, which representing the signs at the\ncardinal points, constituted the genii of the seasons. Besides these,\nwe have the checkered flooring or mosaic work, representing the earth\nand its variegated face, which was introduced when temple worship\nsucceeded its grove form; the two columns representing the imaginary\npillars of heaven resting upon the earth at Equinoctial points, and\nsupporting the Royal arch; also the letter \"G\" standing for Geometry,\nthe knowledge of which was of great importance to the natives of Egypt\nin establishing the boundaries of their lands removed by the\ninundations of the Nile, the square and compass, being the instruments\nthrough which the old landmarks were restored, and which ultimately\nbecame the symbols of justice. The cornucopia, or horn of plenty,\ndenoted the sun in the sign of Capricorn, and indicated the season when\nthe harvest was gathered and provisions laid up for Winter use; the\ncenotaph or mock coffin with the sign of the cross upon its lid,\nreferred to the sun's crossing of the celestial equator at the Autumnal\nEquinox, and to the figurative death of the genius of that luminary in\nthe lower hemisphere; whose resurrection at the Vernal Equinox is\ntypified by the sprig of acacia sprouting near the head of the coffin.\nThe serpent, issuing from the small vessel to the left, represented the\nsymbol of the Lord of Evil under whose dominion was placed the seasons\nof Autumn and Winter; and the figure of a box at the right hand,\nrepresented the sacred ark in which, anciently, the symbols of solar\nworship were deposited; but which is now used by the masons as a\nreceptacle for their papers.\n\n[See plate9.gif]\n\nAfter, the promulgation, in the fifth century, of the edict by one of\nthe Emperors of Rome, decreeing the death penalty against all persons\ndiscovered practicing any of the rites and ceremonies of the ancient\nreligion, a body of its cultured adherents, determining to observe them\nsecretly, banded themselves together into a society for that purpose.\nWith the view to masking their real object, they took advantage of the\nfact that the square and compass, the plumbline, etc., were symbols of\nspeculative masonry in the temple form of Astral worship, they publicly\nclaimed to be only a trades-union for the prosecution of the arts of\narchitecture and operative masonry; but, among themselves, were known\nas Free and Accepted Masons or Freemasons. In imitation of the ancient\nmysteries they instituted lower and higher degrees; in the former they\ntaught the Exoteric creed, and in the latter the Esoteric philosophy,\nas explained in our introduction. Inculcating supreme adoration to the\nsolar divinity the candidates for initiation were made to personate\nthat mythical being and subjected to the ceremonies representing his\nfigurative death and resurrection, were required to take fearful oaths\nnot to reveal the secrets of the order. To enable them to recognize\neach other, and to render aid to a brother in emergencies, they adopted\na system of grips, signs and calls; and to guard against the intrusion\nof their Christian enemies they stationed watchmen outside of their\nlodges to give timely warning of their approach. Thus was instituted\nthe original Grand Lodge of Freemasonry, from which charters were\nissued for the organization of subordinate lodges in all the principal\ncities throughout the Roman Empire.\n\nBecoming cognizant of the true object of Freemasonry, the Hierarchy of\nthe Church of Rome resolved to suppress the order, and to that end\nmaintained such a strict espionage upon its members that, no longer\nable to assemble in their lodges, they determined to defend themselves\nby an appeal to arms, and gathering together in strongholds, for a long\ntime successfully resisted the armies of the church; but ultimately,\nbeing almost exterminated, the residue disbanded, and we hear no more\nof Freemasonry, as a secret order, until the conclusion of the Dark\nAges, when the Reformation, making it possible, a form of the order,\nrecognizing Christianity, was revived among the Protestants; but the\nChurch of Rome, true to her traditions, has never ceased to hurl\nanathemas against it and all other secret societies outside of her own\nbody. Thus, having made it apparent that Freemasonry, as primarily\ninstituted, was but a perpetuation of the temple form of Astral\nworship, we can readily see that, while some of its symbols are as old\nas the ancient Egyptian religion, it did not, as a secret order, take\nits rise until Christian persecution made it necessary. Hence it cannot\njustly lay claim to a greater antiquity than the fifth century of the\nChristian era.\n\nAccording to Masonic annals a Grand Lodge was organized at York,\nEngland, early in the tenth century, but, like the lodges of Southern\nEurope, was suppressed by the Church of Rome. In 1717 a Grand Lodge was\norganized at London, England, and soon afterwards the old Grand Lodge\nat York was revived, and its members took the name of Free and Accepted\nAncient York Masons, from which emanated the charter of the Grand Lodge\nin the United States, which was organized in Boston in 1733. In 1813\nthe rivalry between the Grand Lodges of York and London was\ncompromised, and the supremacy of the former was conceded.\n\nFrom church history we learn that in the year 596 of our era Pope\nGregory I. dispatched Augustin, and forty other monks of the order of\nSt. Andrew, from Rome to Britain, to convert the natives to\nChristianity; but, while the Anglo-Saxons embraced the new faith, the\nBritons rejected it, and, being persecuted by the Christians, retired\nto the fastnesses of the country known as Wales, where, for a long\nperiod, they maintained the observance of the Druidical form of\nworship; and although that country has long since become Christianized,\nthe society of the Ancient Order of Druids has existed with an\nuninterrupted succession at Pout-y-prid, where the Arch-Druid resides,\nand from, whence emanated the charter of the Grand Lodge of the order\nin this country. In reference to the Druidism on the continent, history\nrecords the fact that when one of the reigning kings became a convert\nto Christianity the whole of his subjects were baptized into the Church\nof Rome by Imperial decree.\n\n\n\nTHE SABBATH.\n\nIn determining the origin of the seventh day Sabbath, we must of\nnecessity refer to that source of all religious ordinances, the ancient\nastrolatry, the founders of which, having taught that God Sol was\nengaged in the reorganization of Chaos during the first six periods of\nthe twelve thousand year cycle, corresponding to the months of Spring\nand Summer, they conceived the idea that he ceased to exert his\nenergies, or rested from his labors on the seventh period,\ncorresponding to the first of the Autumn months. Hence, deriving the\nsuggestion from the apparent septenary rest in nature, they taught that\nGod ordained the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath or rest day for\nman.\n\nIn conformity to this ordinance the founders of ancient Judaism\nenforced the observance of the seventh day Sabbath in the fourth\ncommandment of the Decalogue, which, found in Gen. xx. 8-11,[1] reads\nas follows, viz: \"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days\nshalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the\nSabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou,\nnor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant,\nnor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six\ndays the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is,\nand rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day\nand hallowed it.\" Thus was the seventh day of the week made the Sabbath\nof the Old Testament; but the authors of the Jewish or ancient\nChristianity, looking for the immediate fulfillment of the prophecies\nrelative to the second judgment, ignored its observance, as may be seen\nby reference to Mark ii. 23, 27; John v. 2-18; Romans xiv. 5; and Col.\nii. 16; and the founders of modern Christianity, perpetuating the\nbelief in the speedy fulfillment of those prophecies, made no change\nrelative to the Sabbath in their version of the New Testament.\n\nAfter Constantine's pretended conversion to Christianity, and the time\nfor the fulfillment of the prophecies had been put off to the year\n10000, as previously stated, the hierarchy of the church appealed to\nthe Emperor to give them a Sabbath, and although they knew that the\nseventh day of the week was the Sabbath of the Old Testament, and that\nSunday was the first of the six working days, according to the fourth\ncommandment, their hatred to the Jews for refusing to accept their\nChrist as the Saviour induced them to have it placed on the first day\nof the week. Hence that obliging potentate, in the year 321,\npromulgated the memorable edict, which, found in that Digest of Roman\nlaw known as the Justinian Code, Book III., Title 12, Sec. 2 and 3,\nreads as follows, viz.: \"Let all judges and all people of the towns\nrest and all the various trades be suspended on the venerable day of\nthe Sun. Those who live in the country, however, may freely and without\nfault attend to the cultivation of their fields lest, with the loss of\nfavorable opportunity, the commodities offered by Divine Providence\nshall be destroyed.\" Thus we see that the primary movement towards\nenforcing the observance of Sunday, or Lord's Day, as the Sabbath, did\nnot originate in a Divine command, but in the edict of an earthly\npotentate.\n\nThis edict was ratified at the third council of Orleans, in the year\n538; and in order, \"that the people might not be prevented from\nattending church, and saying their prayers,\" a resolution was adopted\nat the same time recommending the observance of the day by all classes.\nFrom merely \"recommending,\" the Church of Rome soon began to enforce\nthe observance of the day; but, in spite of all her efforts, it was not\nuntil the 12th century that its observance had become so universal as\nto receive the designation of \"The Christian Sabbath.\"\n\nCognizant of the manner in which Sunday was made the Sabbath, Luther\nissued for the government of the Protestant communion the following\nmandate: \"As for the Sabbath, or Sunday, there is no necessity for\nkeeping it;\" see Michelet's Life of Luther, Book IV., chapter 2. Luther\nalso said, as recorded in Table Talk, \"If anywhere the day (Sunday) is\nmade holy for the mere day's sake; if anywhere anyone sets up its\nobservance upon a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to\ndance on it, to ride on it, to feast on it, and to do anything that\nshall reprove this encroachment on the Christian spirit of liberty.\"\nMelancthon, Luther's chief coadjutor in the work of Reformation,\ndenied, in the most emphatic language, that Sunday was made the Sabbath\nby Divine ordainment; and in reference thereto John Milton, in reply to\nthe Sunday Sabbatarians, makes the pertinent inquiry: \"If, on a plea of\nDivine command, you impose upon us the observance of a particular day,\nhow do you presume, without the authority of a Divine command, to\nsubstitute another in its place?\"\n\nDuring the reign of Elizabeth, Queen of England, a sect of fanatics,\nknown as Dissenters or Nonconformists, basing their action upon the\nfallacious arguments derived from the fourth commandment, and upon the\nplea that the Saviour was raised from the dead on the first day of the\nweek, inaugurated what is known as the Puritan Sabbath, which having\nbeen transferred to our shores by the voyagers in the Mayflower, and\nenforced by those statutory enactments known as Blue Laws, caused the\npeople of New England to have a blue time of it while the delusion\nlasted; and now a large body of Protestant clergy perverting the\nteachings of scripture, and, ignoring the authority of the Reformers,\nare disturbing the peace of society by their efforts to enforce the\ncode of sundry laws, which were enacted through their connivance. Thus\nhave we shown that, originating with the Catholics and adopted by the\nProtestants, the Sunday Sabbath is purely and entirely a human\ninstitution, and, being such, we must recognize all Sunday laws as\ngrave encroachments upon constitutional liberty; and it behooves the\nadvocates of individual rights to demand their immediate repeal; for\nunless a vigilant watch is kept upon the conspirators who secured their\nenactment, our fair land will soon be cursed by a union of church and\nState, the tendency in that direction having been indicated by the\nunprecedented opinion recently handed down by one of the Justices of\nthe United States Supreme Court that this is a Christian Government.\n\n\n\nPIOUS FRAUDS.\n\nBy claiming to be divinely appointed for the propagation of a divinely\nauthenticated religion, the priesthood of all forms of worship have\never labored to deceive and enslave the ignorant multitude; and in\nsupport of these fallacious assumptions have resorted to all manner of\npious frauds, in reference to which we quote from both Pagan and\nChristian sources with the view to showing that the moderns have\nfaithfully followed the ancient example. Euripedes, an Athenian writer,\nwho flourished about 450 years before the beginning of our era,\nmaintained that, \"in the early state of society, some wise men insisted\non the necessity of darkening truth with falsehood and of persuading\nmen that there is an immortal deity who hears and sees and understands\nour actions, whatever we may think of that matter ourselves.\" Strabo,\nthe famous geographer and historian of Greek extraction, who flourished\nabout the beginning of the Christian era, wrote that \"It is not\npossible for a philosopher to conduct by reasoning a multitude of women\nand the low vulgar, and thus to invite them to piety, holiness and\nfaith; but the philosopher must make use of superstition and not omit\nthe invention of fables and the performance of wonders. For the\nlightning and the aegis and the trident are but fables, and so all\nancient theology. But the founders of states adopted them as bugbears\nto frighten the weak-minded.\" Varro, a learned Roman scholar, who also\nflourished about the beginning of our era, wrote that \"There are many\ntruths which it is useless for the vulgar to know, and many falsehoods\nwhich it is fit that the people should not know are falsehoods.\"\n\nSo much from Pagan authorities relative to the necessity of deceiving\nthe ignorant masses. We will now present some Christian authorities\nupon the same subject; and first from Christ himself, who in addressing\nhis disciples is made to say, in Mark iv, 11, 12, \"Unto you it is given\nto know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto them that are\nwithout all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may see\nand not perceive; and hearing they may hear and not understand.\" Paul,\nin his fourteen Epistles, inculcates and avows the principle of\ndeceiving the common people. He speaks of having been upbraided by his\nown converts with being crafty and catching them with guile and of his\nknown and wilful lies abounding to the glory of God. See Romans iii. 7,\nand II. Cor. xii. 16. If Christ and Paul were guilty of deception,\ntheir followers had good excuse for the same course of conduct. Upon\nthis subject Beausobre, a very learned ecclesiastical writer, who\nflourished about the beginning of the 18th century, says: \"We see in\nthe history which I have related a sort of hypocrisy that has been,\nperhaps, but too common at all times; that churchmen not only do not\nsay what they think, but they do say the direct contrary of what they\nthink. Philosophers in their cabinets; out of them they are content\nwith fables, though they well know that they are fables.\" Historie de\nManichee, vol. 2, page 568. Bishop Synesius, the distinguished author\nof religious literature and Christian father of the 5th century, said:\n\"I shall be a philosopher only to myself, and I shall always be a\nbishop to the people.\" Mosheim, the distinguished author of\nEcclesiastical History, Vol. I., page 120, says: \"The authors who have\ntreated of the innocence and sanctity of the primitive Christians have\nfallen into the error of supposing them to have been unspotted models\nof piety and virtue, and a gross error indeed it is, as the strongest\ntestimonies too evidently prove.\" The same author, in Vol. I., page.\n198, says in the fourth century \"it was an almost universally adopted\nmaxim that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by such\nmeans the interest of the church might be promoted.\" In his\nEcclesiastical History, Vol. II., page 11, he says that \"as regards the\nfifth century, the simplicity and ignorance of the generality in those\ntimes furnished the most favorable occasion for the exercise of fraud;\nand the impudence of impostors in contriving false miracles was\nartfully proportioned to the credulity of the vulgar; while the\nsagacious and the wise, who perceived these cheats, were overawed into\nsilence by the dangers that threatened their lives and fortunes if they\nshould expose the artifice.\" Thomas Burnet, D.D., who flourished about\nthe beginning of the 18th century, in his treatise entitled De Statu\nMortuorum, purposely written in Latin that it might serve for the\ninstruction of the clergy only, and not come to the knowledge of the\nlaity, because, as he says, \"too much light is hurtful for weak eyes,\"\nnot only justifies, but recommends the practice of the most consummate\nhypocrisy, and that, too, on the most awful of all subjects; and would\nhave his, clergy seriously preach and maintain the reality and eternity\nof hell torments, even though they should believe nothing of the sort\nthemselves. See page 304. Hugo Grotius, the eminent writer of Holland\nin the 17th century, says in his 22d Epistle: \"He that reads\necclesiastical history, reads nothing but the roguery and folly of\nbishops, and churchmen.\" In the language of Robert Taylor, from whom we\nhave taken most of the quotations under this heading, we assert that\n\"no man could quote higher authorities,\" to prove \"the roguery and\nfolly of bishops and churchmen.\"\n\n\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\nHaving presented the evidences in support of the apparently untenable\nassertion that, notwithstanding the numerous modes in which man has\nmanifested his devotional proclivities, the world has virtually had but\nthe one religion founded in the worship of personified nature, we are\nnecessitated to recognize the facts that the Christian Scriptures like\nthe sacred records of other forms of nature worship are, but a\ncollection of astronomical allegories; that the gospel story is truly\n\"the old, old story\" which had been told of a thousand other Saviours\nbefore it was applied to the Christian Messiah; that Jesus is but one\nof the many names given to imaginary incarnations of the mythical\ngenius of the sun; and that the Disciples and Evangelists are but the\ngenii of the months and the seasons. Such being the facts, which cannot\nbe successfully refuted, we must believe that the Christian religion,\ninstead of being of Divine authenticity, as popularly claimed, is\npurely and entirely of human origin, and that all its teachings\nrelative to a future state are but priestly inventions, concocted for\nthe purpose of enslaving the ignorant masses.\n\nWhen we think of the thousand millions of dollars invested in church\nproperties, and estimate the cost of maintaining more than a hundred\nthousand priests and ministers, in supporting foreign and domestic\nmissions and in publishing religious literature; besides the taxes\napplied to the care of the religious insane, and realize the fact that\nall of this vast sum of money is abstracted from the resources of the\npeople, we would not have to go outside of our own country to\nappreciate the fact that religion is the burden of all burdens to\nsociety; and when we contemplate the great disturbance to the social\nrelation, resulting from sectarian strife, and the almost universal\ndisposition of Christians to persecute and ostracize those who differ\nwith them in opinion, we can readily subscribe to the sentiment\naccredited to one of our revolutionary sires, that \"this would be a\ngood world to live in if there was no religion in it.\"\n\nIf the clergy had been laboring as faithfully to impress the observance\nof ethical principles as they have to indoctrinate the people with the\nsuperstitions of religion, we would not now be deploring the great\ndemoralization of society. It is a grave arraignment of the clericals\nto charge them with being, indirectly, the cause of this lamentable\nstate of things; but it is a condition that might have been expected,\nfor, when entering the ministry, they engaged themselves, not so much\nto teach ethics as to propagate faith in the doctrines of their\nrespective sects. Thus hampered they cannot do the good to society\ntheir better natures might desire. Hence the only hope for improvement\nis for the people to wholly ignore the dogmatic element of religion,\nand refusing to longer support it, demand that moral training shall be\nthe grand essential of education. If this course were adopted and\npersistently followed, it would be but a question of time when mankind\nwould come into being with such a benign heredity that crime would be\nalmost impossible.\n\nThen, since religion inculcates a salvation that does not save, let us\nrise superior to its false teachings and, accepting science as the true\nsaviour of mankind, find our whole duty in the code of natural\nmorality, the spirit of which is embodied in that comprehensive precept\nknown as the golden rule, which, being the outgrowth of the discovered\nnecessities of association, without which society could not exist, it\nnecessarily constituted man's sole rule and guide long before priest or\ntemple; and founded in the eternal principles of right, truth and\njustice must remain as man's sole rule and guide when priest and church\nare numbered among the things that were. Spirit of progress! speed the\nday when all mankind, redeemed from the bondage of superstition, will\nrecognize the great truth that nature, governed by her own inherent\nforces, is all that has been, all that is and all that shall be; and\nthat, ceasing to indulge in the vain hope of a blissful immortality in\na paradise beyond the stars, will make a real paradise of this old\nearth of ours.\n\n\n----------------------------\n\n[1](Editorial note: the original text erroneously attributed this\nquote to Genesis 20:8-11; actually it is from Exodus 20:8-11.)","title":"Astral Worship","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":23786}