The GodIdea of the Ancients...........................................................................................................................1

Much of the material for this volume was collected during the time that I was preparing for the press the

Evolution of Woman, or while searching for data bearing on the subject of sexspecialization. While

preparing that book for publication, it was my intention to include within it this branch of my investigation,

but wishing to obtain certain facts relative to the foundations of religious belief and worship which were not

accessible at that time, and knowing that considerable labor and patience would be required in securing these

facts, I decided to publish the first part of the work, withholding for the time being that portion of it

As mankind construct their own gods, or as the prevailing ideas of the unknowable reflect the inner

consciousness of human beings, a trustworthy history of the growth of religions must correspond to the

processes involved in the mental, moral, and social development of the individual and the nation.

By means of data brought forward in these later times relative to the growth of the Godidea, it is observed

that an independent chain of evidence has been produced in support of the facts recently set forth bearing

upon the development of the two diverging lines of sexual demarcation. In other words, it has been found that

sex is the fundamental fact not only in the operations of Nature but in the construction of a god.

In the Evolution of Woman it has been shown that the peculiar inheritance of the two sexes, female and male,

is the result of the bias given to these separate lines of development during the earliest periods of

sexdifferentiation; and, as this division of labor was a necessary step in the evolutionary processes, the rate

of progress depended largely on the subsequent adjustment of these two primary elements or forces. A

comprehensive study of prehistoric records shows that in an earlier age of existence upon the earth, at a time

when woman's influence was in the ascendancy over that of man, human energy was directed by the altruistic

characters which originated in and have been transmitted through the female; but after the decline of woman's

power, all human institutions, customs, forms, and habits of thought are seen to reflect the egoistic qualities

Nowhere is the influence of sex more plainly manifested than in the formulation of religious conceptions and

creeds. With the rise of male power and dominion, and the corresponding repression of the natural female

instincts, the principles which originally constituted the Godidea gradually gave place to a Deity better

suited to the peculiar bias which had been given to the male organism. An anthropomorphic god like that of

the Jewsa god whose chief attributes are power and virile mightcould have had its origin only under a

Religion is especially liable to reflect the vagaries and weaknesses of human nature; and, as the forms and

habits of thought connected with worship take a firmer hold on the mental constitution than do those

belonging to any other department of human experience, religious conceptions should be subjected to

frequent and careful examination in order to perceive, if possible, the extent to which we are holding on to

In an age when every branch of inquiry is being subjected to reasonable criticism, it would seem that the

origin and growth of religion should be investigated from beneath the surface, and that all the facts bearing

upon it should be brought forward as a contribution to our fund of general information. As well might we

hope to gain a complete knowledge of human history by studying only the present aspect of society, as to

expect to reach reasonable conclusions respecting the prevailing Godidea by investigating the various

The object of this volume is not only to furnish a brief outline of religious growth, but to show the effect

which each of the two forces, female and male, has had on the development of our present God idea, which

investigation serves to accentuate the conclusions arrived at in the Evolution of Woman relative to the

Through a study of the primitive godidea as manifested in monumental records in various parts of the

world; through scientific investigation into the early religious conceptions of mankind as expressed by

symbols which appear in the architecture and decorations of sacred edifices and shrines; by means of a

careful examination of ancient holy objects and places still extant in every quarter of the globe, and through

the study of antique art, it is not unlikely that a line of investigation has been marked out whereby a tolerably

correct knowledge of the processes involved in our present religious systems may be obtained. The

numberless figures and sacred emblems which appear carved in imperishable stone in the earliest cave

temples; the huge towers, monoliths, and rocking stones found in nearly every country of the globe, and

which are known to be closely connected with primitive belief and worship, and the records found on tablets

which are being unearthed in various parts of the world, are, with the unravelling of extinct tongues, proving

an almost inexhaustible source for obtaining information bearing upon the early history of the human race,

and, together, furnish indisputable evidence of the origin, development, and unity of religious faiths.

By comparing the languages used by the earlier races to express their religious conceptions; by observing the

similarity in the mythoses and sacred appellations among all tribe and nations, an through the discovery of

the fact that the legends extant in the various countries of the globe are identical, or have the same

foundation, it is probable that a clue has already been obtained whereby an outline of the religious history of

the human family from a period even as remote as the "first dispersion," or from a time when one race

comprehended the entire population of the globe, maybe traced. Humboldt in his Researches observes: "In

every part of the globe, on the ridge of the Cordilleras as well as in the Isle of Samothrace, in the Aegean Sea,

Regarding the identity of the fundamental ideas contained in the various systems of religion, both past and

present, Hargrave Jennings, in referring to a parallel drawn by Sir William Jones, between the deities of Meru

"All our speculations tend to the same conclusions. One day it is a discovery of cinerary vases, the next, it is

etymological research; yet again it is ethnological investigation, and the day after, it is the publication of

unsuspected tales from the Norse; but all go to heap up proof of our consanguinity with the peoples of

That the religious systems of India and Egypt were originally the same, there can be at the present time no

reasonable doubt. The fact noted by various writers, of the British Sepoys, who, on their overland route from

India, upon beholding the ruins of Dendera, prostrated themselves before the remains of the ancient temples

and offered adoration to them, proves the identity of Indian and Egyptian deities. These foreign devotees,

being asked to explain the reason of their strange conduct declared that they "saw sculptured before them the

Upon the subject of the identity of Eastern religions, Wilford remarks that one and the same code both of

theology and of fabulous history, has been received through a range or belt about forty degrees broad across

the old continent, in a southeast and northwest direction from the eastern shores of the Malaga peninsula to

the western extremity of the British Isles, that, through this immense range the same religious notions

reappear in various places under various modifications, as might be expected; and that there is not a greater

difference between the tenets and worship of the Hindoos and the Greeks than exists between the churches of

Concerning the universality of certain religious beliefs and opinions, Faber, commenting upon the above

statement of Wilford, observes that, immense as is this territorial range, it is by far too limited to include the

"applies with equal propriety to the entire habitable globe; for the arbitrary rites and opinions of every pagan

nation bear so close a resemblance to each other, that such a coincidence can only have been produced by

their having had a common origin. Barbarism itself has not been able to efface the strong primeval

impression. Vestiges of the ancient general system may be traced in the recently discovered islands in the

Pacific Ocean; and, when the American world was first opened to the hardy adventurers of Europe, its

inhabitants from north to south venerated, with kindred ceremonies and kindred notions, the gods of Egypt

"Though each religion has its own peculiar growth, the seed from which they spring is everywhere the

The question as to whether the identity of conception and the similarity in detail observed in religious rites,

ceremonies, and symbols in the various countries of the globe are due to the universal law of unity which

governs human development, or whether, through the dispersion of one original people, the early conceptions

of a Deity were spread broadcast over the entire earth, is perhaps not settled; yet, from the facts which have

been brought forward during the last century, the latter theory seems altogether probable, such divergence in

religious ideas as is observed among the various peoples of the earth being attributable to variations in

temperament caused by changed conditions of life. In other words, the divergence in the course of religious

In an attempt to understand the history of the growth of the godidea, the fact should be borne in mind that,

from the earliest conception of a creative force in the animal and vegetable world to the latest development in

theological speculation, there has never been what might consistently be termed a new religion. On the

contrary, religion like everything else is subject to the law of growth; therefore the faiths of today are the

legitimate result, or outcome, of the primary idea of a Deity developed in accordance with the laws governing

the peculiar instincts which have been in the ascendancy during the life of mankind on the earth.

The erroneous impression which under a belief in the unknown has come to prevail, namely, that the moral

law is the result of religion; or, in other words, that the human conscience is in some manner dependent on

supernaturalism for its origin and maintenance, is, with a better and clearer understanding of the past history

of the development of the human race, being gradually dispelled. On one point we may reasonably rest

assured that the knowledge of right and wrong and our sense of justice and rightliving have been developed

quite independently of all religious beliefs. The moral law embodied in the golden rule is not an outgrowth of

mysticism, or of man's notions of the unknowable; but, on the contrary, is the result of experience, and was

formulated in response to a recognized law of human necessity,a law which involves the fundamental

principle of progress. The history of human development shows conclusively that mankind GREW into the

recognition of the moral law, that through sympathy, or a desire for the welfare of others,a character which

While the moral law and the conscience may not be accounted as in any sense the result of man's ideas

concerning the unknowable, neither can the errors and weaknesses developed in human nature be regarded as

the result of religion. Although the sexual excesses which during three or four thousand years were practiced

as sacred rites, and treated as part and parcel of religion in various parts of the world, have had the effect to

stimulate and strengthen the animal nature in man, yet these rites may not be accounted as the primary cause

of the supremacy of the lower nature over the higher faculties. On the contrary, the impulse which has been

termed religion, with all the vagaries which its history presents, is to be regarded more as an effect than as a

cause. The stage of a nation's development regulates its religion. Man creates his own gods; they are

As written history records only those events in human experience which belong to a comparatively recent

period of man's existence, and as the primitive conceptions of a Deity lie buried beneath ages of corruption,

glimpses of the earlier faiths of mankind, as has already been stated, must be looked for in the traditions,

In reviewing this matter we shall doubtless observe the fact that if the stage of a nation's growth is indicated

by its religious conceptions, and if remnants of religious beliefs are everywhere present in the languages,

traditions, and monuments of the past through a careful study of these subjects we may expect to gain a

tolerably correct understanding not alone of the growth of the godidea but of the stage of development

reached by the nations which existed prior to the beginning of the historic age. We shall be enabled also to

perceive whether or not the course of human development during the intervening ages has been continuous,

or whether, for some cause hitherto unexplained, true progress throughout a portion of this time has been

If we would unravel the mysteries involved in present religious faiths, we should begin not by attempting to

analyze or explain any existing system or systems of belief and worship. Such a course is likely to end not

only in confusion and in a subsequent denial of the existence of the religious nature in mankind, but is liable,

also, to create an aversion for and a distrust of the entire subject of religious experience. In view of this fact it

would appear to be not only useless but exceedingly unwise to spend one's time in attempting to gain a

knowledge of this subject simply by studying the later developments in its history.

If we are really desirous of obtaining information regarding present religious phenomena, it is plain that we

should adopt the scientific method and turn our attention to the remote past, where, by careful and systematic

investigation, we are enabled to perceive the earliest conception of a creative force and the fundamental basis

of all religious systems, from which may be traced the gradual development of the godidea.

In the study of primitive religion, the analogy existing between the growth of the godidea and the

development of the human race, and especially of the two sexprinciples, is everywhere clearly apparent.

"Religion is to be found alone with its justification and explanation in the relations of the sexes. There and

As the conception of a deity originated in sex, or in the creative agencies female and male which animate

Nature, we may reasonably expect to find, in the history of the development of the two sexprinciples and in

the notions entertained concerning them throughout past ages, a tolerably correct account of the growth of the

godidea. We shall perceive that during an earlier age of human existence, not only were the reproductive

powers throughout Nature, and especially in human beings and in animals, venerated as the Creator, but we

shall find also that the prevailing ideas relative to the importance of either sex in the office of reproduction

decided the sex of this universal creative force. We shall observe also that the ideas of a god have always

corresponded with the current opinions regarding the importance of either sex in human society. In other

words, so long as female power and influence were in the ascendency, the creative force was regarded as

embodying the principles of the female nature; later, however, when woman's power waned, and the

supremacy of man was gained, the godidea began gradually to assume the male characters and attributes.

Through scientific research the fact has been observed that, for ages after life appeared on the earth, the male

had no separate existence; that the two sexprinciples, the sperm and the germ, were contained within one

and the same individual. Through the processes of differentiation, however, these elements became detached,

and with the separation of the male from the female, the reproductive functions were henceforth confided to

As originally, throughout Nature, the female was the visible organic unit within whom was contained the

exclusive creative power, and as throughout the earlier ages of life on the earth she comprehended the male, it

is not perhaps singular that, even after the appearance of mankind on the earth, the greater importance of the

mother element in human society should have been recognized; nor, as the power to bring forth coupled with

perceptive wisdom originally constituted the Creator, that the godidea should have been female instead of

From the facts to be observed in relation to this subject, it is altogether probable that for ages the generating

principle throughout Nature was venerated as female; but with that increase of knowledge which was the

result of observation and experience, juster or more correct ideas came to prevail, and subsequently the great

fructifying energy throughout the universe came to be regarded as a dual indivisible forcefemale and male.

This force, or agency, constituted one God, which, as woman's functions in those ages were accounted of

more importance than those of man, was oftener worshipped under the form of a female figure.

Neith, Minerva, Athene, and Cybele, the most important deities of their respective countries, were adored as

Perceptive Wisdom, or Light, while Ceres and others represented Fertility. With the incoming of male

dominion and supremacy, however, we observe the desire to annul the importance of the female and to

Notwithstanding the efforts which during the historic period have been put forward to magnify the

importance of the male both in human affairs and in the godidea, still, no one, I think, can study the

mythologies and traditions of the nations of antiquity without being impressed with the prominence given to

the female element, and the deeper the study the stronger will this impression grow.

During a certain stage of human development, religion was but a recognition of and a reliance upon the

vivifying or fructifying forces throughout Nature, and in the earlier ages of man's career, worship consisted

for the most part in the celebration of festivals at stated seasons of the year, notably during seedtime and

Doubtless the first deified object was Gaia, the Earth. As within the bosom of the earth was supposed to

reside the fructifying, lifegiving power, and as from it were received all the bounties of life, it was female. It

was the Universal Mother, and to her as to no other divinity worshipped by mankind, was offered a

spontaneity of devotion and a willing acknowledgment of dependence. Thus far in the history of mankind no

temples dedicated to an undefined and undefinable God had been raised. The children of Mother Earth met in

the open air, without the precincts of any manmade shrine, and under the aerial canopy of heaven,

acknowledged the bounties of the great Deity and their dependence upon her gifts. She was a beneficent and

allwise God, a tender and loving parenta mother, who demanded no bleeding sacrifice to reconcile her to

her children. The ceremonies observed at these festive seasons consisted for the most part in merrymaking

and in general thanksgiving, in which the gratitude of the worshippers found expression in song and dance,

Subsequently, through the awe and reverence inspired by the mysteries involved in birth and life, the

adoration of the creative principles in vegetable existence became supplemented by the worship of the

creative functions in human beings and in animals. The earth, including the power inherent in it by which the

continuity of existence is maintained, and by which new forms are continuously called into life, embodied the

idea of God; and, as this inner force was regarded as inherent in matter, or as a manifestation of it, in process

of time earth and the heavens, body and spirit, came to be worshipped under the form of a mother and her

child, this figure being the highest expression of a Creator which the human mind was able to conceive. Not

only did this emblem represent fertility, or the fecundating energies of Nature, but with the power to create

were combined or correlated all the mental qualities and attributes of the two sexes. In fact the whole

universe was contained in the Mother ideathe child, which was sometimes female, sometimes male, being

Underlying all ancient mythologies may be observed the idea that the earth, from which all things proceed, is

female. Even in the mythology of the Finns, Lapps, and Esths, Mother Earth is the divinity adored. Tylor

"from the days when the AngloSaxon called upon the Earth, 'Hal wes thu folde fira modor' (Hail, thou

Earth, men's mother), to the time when mediaeval Englishmen made a riddle of her asking 'Who is Adam's

mother?' and poetry continued what mythology was letting fall, when Milton's Archangel promised Adam a

In the old religion the sky was the husband of the earth and the earth was mother of all the gods.[5] In the

traditions of past ages the fact is clearly perceived that there was a time when the mother was not only the one

recognized parent on earth, but that the female principle was worshipped as the more important creative force

Doubtless the worship of the female energy prevailed under the matriarchal system, and was practised at a

time when women were the recognized heads of families and when they were regarded as the more important

factors in human society. The fact has been shown in a previous work that after women began to leave their

homes at marriage, and after property, especially land, had fallen under the supervision and control of men,

the latter, as they manipulated all the necessaries of life and the means of supplying them, began to regard

themselves as superior beings, and later, to claim that as a factor in reproduction, or creation, the male was

the more important. With this change the ideas of a Deity also began to undergo a modification. The dual

principle necessary to creation, and which had hitherto been worshipped as an indivisible unity, began

gradually to separate into its individual elements, the male representing spirit, the moving or forming force in

the generative processes, the female being matterthe instrument through which spirit works. Spirit which is

eternal had produced matter which is destructible. The fact will be observed that this doctrine prevails to a

A little observation and reflection will show us that during this change in the ideas relative to a creative

principle, or God, descent and the rights of succession which had hitherto been reckoned through the mother

were changed from the female to the male line, the father having in the meantime become the only

recognized parent. In the Eumenides of Aeschylus, the plea of Orestes in extenuation of his crime is that he is

not of kin to his mother. Euripides, also, puts into the mouth of Apollo the same physiological notion, that

she who bears the child is only its nurse. The Hindoo Code of Menu, which, however, since its earliest

conception, has undergone numberless mutilations to suit the purposes of the priests, declares that "the

mother is but the field which brings forth the plant according to whatsoever seed is sown."

Although, through the accumulation of property in masses and the capture of women for wives, men had

succeeded in gaining the ascendancy, and although the doctrine had been propounded that the father is the

only parent, thereby reversing the established manner of reckoning descent, still, as we shall hereafter

observe, thousands of years were required to eliminate the female element from the godidea.

We must not lose sight of the fact that human society was first organized and held together by means of the

gens, at the head of which was a woman. The several members of this organization were but parts of one

body cemented together by the pure principle of maternity, the chief duty of these members being to defend

and protect each other if needs be with their life blood. The fact has been observed, in an earlier work, that

only through the gens was the organization of society possible. Without it mankind could have accomplished

Thus, throughout the earlier ages of human existence, at a time when mankind lived nearer to Nature and

before individual wealth and the stimulation of evil passions had engendered superstition, selfishness, and

distrust, the maternal element constituted not only the binding and preserving principle in human society, but,

together with the power to bring forth, constituted also the godidea, which idea, as has already been

observed, at a certain stage in the history of the race was portrayed by a female figure with a child in her

From all sources of information at hand are to be derived evidences of the fact that the earliest religion of

which we have any account was pure Natureworship, that whatever at any given time might have been the

object adored, whether it were the earth, a tree, water, or the sun, it was simply as an emblem of the great

energizing agency in Nature. The moving or forming force in the universe constituted the godidea. The

figure of a mother with her child signified not only the power to bring forth, but Perceptive Wisdom, or

As through a study of Comparative Ethnology, or through an investigation into the customs, traditions, and

mythoses of extant races in the various stages of development, have been discovered the beginnings of the

religious idea and the mental qualities which among primitive races prompted worship, so, also, through

extinct tongues and the symbolism used in religious rites and ceremonies, many of the processes have been

unearthed whereby the original and beautiful conceptions of the Deity, and the worship inspired by the

operations of Nature, and especially the creative functions in human beings gradually became obscured by

the grossest ideas and the vilest practices. The symbols which appear in connection with early religious rites

and ceremonies, and under which are veiled the conceptions of a still earlier and purer age, when compared

with subsequently developed notions relative to the same objects, indicate plainly the change which has been

wrought in the original ideas relative to the creative functions, and furnish an index to the direction which

As the human race constructs its own gods, and as by the conceptions involved in the deities worshipped at

any given time in the history of mankind we are able to form a correct estimate of the character,

temperament, and aspirations of the worshippers, so the history of the gods of the race, as revealed to us

through the means of symbols, monumental records, and the investigation of extinct tongues, proves that

from a stage of Nature worship and a pure and rational conception of the creative forces in the universe,

mankind, in course of time, degenerated into mere devotees of sensual pleasure. With the corruption of

human nature and the decline of mental power which followed the supremacy of the animal instincts, the

earlier abstract idea of God was gradually lost sight of, and man himself in the form of a potentate or ruler,

together with the various emblems of virility, came to be worshipped as the Creator. From adorers of an

abstract creative principle, mankind had lapsed into worshippers of the symbols under which this principle

Although at certain stages in the history of the human race the evils, which as a result of the supremacy of the

ruder elements developed in mankind had befallen the race were lamented and bewailed, they could not be

suppressed. Man had become a lost and ruined creature. The golden age had passed away.

When mankind first began to perceive the fact of an allpervading agency throughout Nature, by or through

which everything is produced, and when they began to speculate on the origin of life and the final cause and

destiny of things, it is not in the least remarkable that various objects and elements, such as fire, air, water,

trees, etc., should in their turn have been venerated as in some special manner embodying the divine essence.

Neither is it surprising although this universal agency was regarded as one, or as a dual entity, they should

To primitive man, the visible sources whence proceeded his daily sustenance doubtless constituted the first

objects of his regard and adoration. Hence, in addition to the homage paid to the earth, in due course of time

would be added the worship of trees, upon which the early race was directly dependent for food. At a time

when the art of agriculture had not been attained, all such trees as yielded their fruit for the support of the

human race, and which afforded to mankind pleasant beverages or cooling shade, would come to be regarded

as embodying the universal beneficent principlethe great creating and preserving agency of Nature, and

According to the Phoenician theogony, "the first gods which were worshipped by oblations and sacrifices

were the fruits of the earth, on which they and their descendants lived as their forefathers had done."

Although, after the art of agriculture had been developed, mankind was gradually relieved from its past

dependence on the tree as a means of support, it nevertheless continued to be regarded with veneration as an

Among the traditions and monuments of nearly every country of the globe are to be found traces of a sacred

treea Tree of Life. In various countries there appear two traditional trees, the one typical of the

continuation of physical life, the other representing spiritual life, or the life of the soul. After the age of pure

Natureworship had passed, however, and serpent, fire, and phallic faiths had been introduced, the original

signification of the tree, like that of all other religious emblems, became considerably changed. Through its

energies, or lifegiving properties, existence had long been maintained, and for this reason, as has already

been observed, it became an object of veneration; but, after the reproductive power in man had risen to the

dignity of a supreme God, the tree, to the masses of the people, became a symbol of the physical, lifegiving

energy in mortals and in animals. In other words, it became a phallic emblem representing the continuation of

existence, or the power to reproduce or continue life on the earth. As a religious symbol it became the

The tree, like nearly every other object in nature, was and still is, in various parts of the world, either female

or male, and all ideas connected with it are sacred and closely interwoven with sex.

The extent to which trees have been venerated in past ages seems to be little understood, and there are

doubtless few persons, at the present time, who would willingly believe that all along the religious stream,

from its source to its latest developed branches, are to be observed traces of this ancient worship, which, in its

Barlow, in his work on Symbolism, says that "the most generally received symbol of life is a treeas also

Again the same writer observes: "Besides the monumental evidence thus furnished of a sacred tree, or Tree of

Life, there is an historical and traditional evidence of the same thing, found in the early literature of various

nations, in the customs, and popular usages."[6] As tree and sunworship, or the adoration of Nature's

processes, finally became interwoven with phallic faiths, its history can be understood only after these later

developments in the religious stream have been examined, or after the true significance of the serpent as a

religious emblem, and the various ideas connected with the traditional Tree of Life, have been exposed.

The palm, the pine, the oak, the banian, or bo, and many other species of trees, have, at different times, and

by various nations, been invested with divine honors; but, in oriental countries, by far the most sacred among

them is the Ficus Religiosa, or the holy bo tree of India. Something of the true significance of the traditional

Tree of Life may be observed in the ideas connected with the worship of this emblem. The fig, when planted

with the palm, as it frequently is in the East, near temples and holy shrines, is regarded as a peculiarly sacred

object. When entwining the palm, which is male, it is always female; from their embrace Kalpia, or passion,

is developed. This union causes the continuation of existence and the "revolutions of time." The whole

In Ceylon, there stands at the present time a tree which we are told is still worshipped by every follower of

Buddha. It is a sacred bo, or Ficus Religiosa, which stands adjacent to an ancient holy shrine known as the

"Though now amidst ruins and wild forests, and although having stood thus in solitary desolation for some

1500 years, yet there it still grows, and is worshipped and deeply revered by more millions of our race than

This tree is sacred to Sakyu Mooni, is 2200 years old, and is said to be a slip from a tree planted by Bood

Gaya, one of the three former Buddhas who, like Sakyu Mooni, visited Ceylon. Under the parent of this tree

the great prophet reposed after he had attained perfect rest, or after he had overcome the flesh and become

Buddha. It was under a bo tree that Mai, Queen of Heaven, brought him forth, and, in fact, very many of the

most important incidents of his life are closely connected with this sacred emblem.

In an allusion to the bo tree of Ceylon, a slip of which is said to have been carried from India to that island by

"This wonderful idol has furnished shoots to half Asia, and every shoot is trained as much as possible like the

parent, and like it, also, enclosed and tended. Men watch and listen for signs and sounds from this holy tree

just as the priests of Dodona did beneath their rustling oaks, and, as many people, even of these somewhat

sceptical days, still do, beneath the pulpits of their pope, priest, or other oracle."[8]

Regarding the palm, Inman assures us that it is emblematical of the active male energy, or the continuation of

Within the legends underlying the Jewish religion, it will be remembered that the tree appears mysteriously

connected with the beginning of life and is interwoven with the first ideas of human action and experience.

The literal sense, however, of the allegory in Genesis concerning the woman, the tree, and the serpent, and its

meaning as generally accepted by laymen and the uneducated among the priesthood, has little in common

In Vedic times, the home tree was worshipped as a god, and to the exhilarating properties in its juice was

ascribed that subtle quality which was regarded as the lifegiving, or creative, energy supposed to reside in

heat, and which was closely connected with passion or procreative energy. This quality was their Bacchus,

Dionysos, or godideathe creator not alone of physical existence, but of good and evil as well. It was the

Of the Zoroastrian home, or sacred tree, which by the Persians was worshipped for thousands of years,

Layard remarks: "The plant or its product was called the mystical body of God, the living water or food of

eternal life, when duly consecrated and administered according to Zoroastrian rites." It has been suggested,

and not without reason, that to this idea of the ancients, respecting the sacred character of the properties of the

home juice, may be traced the "origin of the celebration of Jewish holy or paschal suppers and other

Although by the ancients water was sometimes regarded as the original principle, later, wine, or the

intoxicating quality within it, came to constitute the godidea. It was spirit, while water was matter; hence, in

the sacraments, water and wine were commingled, wine representing the essence or blood of God; water, at

the same time, standing for the people. Cyprian, the bishop martyr, while contending for the use of wine in

"The Holy Spirit also is not silent in the Psalms on the sacrament of this thing, when He makes mention of

the Lord's Cup, and says 'Thy intoxicating cup how excellent it is!' Now the cup which intoxicates is

assuredly mingled with wine, for water cannot intoxicate anybody. And the Cup of the Lord in such wise

inebriates, as Noe also was intoxicated drinking wine in Genesis. . . . For because Christ bore us all, in that he

also bore our sins, we see that in the water is understood the people, but in the wine is showed the blood of

Christ. . . . Thus, therefore, in consecrating the Cup of the Lord, water alone cannot be offered, even as wine

alone cannot be offered. For if anyone offer wine only, the blood of Christ is dissociated from us; but if the

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, at which wine is mysteriously converted into the essence of Deity, or

into the blood of Christ, is without doubt a relic of the idea once entertained regarding the homa tree. Certain

writers entertain the opinion that from the use of the sacred homa juice have arisen various religious practices

and rites, such for instance as offering oblations to the gods, anointing holy stones, and pouring wine on

The May pole, a decidedly phallic emblem, whose festivals until a very recent time were celebrated in

England by the old as well as the young, was usually if not always sprinkled with wine. From the accounts

which we have of this sacred emblem and its festival, it seems that no royal edict nor priestly denunciation

According to Dr. Stevenson, the festival of Holi or the worship of Holika Devata, in the island of Ceylon,

"has a close resemblance to the English festival of the Maypole, which originated in a religious ceremony or

festival of the Cushites (called Phoenicians) who anciently occupied Western Europe."[11]

The ash is the Scandinavian Tree of Life, and, like the sacred trees of all nations, is emblematical of the

continuation of existence. This tree has a triple root, which peculiarity doubtless accounts for its sacred

character. It is both female and male, and is said to be regarded as a "sort of Logos or Wisdom." It is the first

emanation from the Deity, and yet a Trinity in Unity. To insult or injure this tree was sacrilege, to cut it down

In the old Egyptian and Zoroastrian story, appear the descriptions of two Trees of Life, also a Tree of

Knowledge. In the accounts given of these trees, the Ficus, the female Tree of Life, represents the life of the

soul, while the palm, the male Tree of Life, is that which gives physical life, which also is the true

significance of the word "lord." When, however, either of these trees stood alone, or unaccompanied by its

counterpart, by it both of the creative principles were understood. By these ideas is suggested the thought

which among a certain school of psychologists of the present century seems to be gaining ground, namely:

that man is a dual entity, or, in other words, that he has a subjective mind and an objective self, which so long

In the following descriptions of Egyptian emblems, will be perceived some of the changes which finally took

In the museum of Egyptian antiquities in Berlin is a sepulchral tablet representing the Tree of Life. This

emblem figures the trunk of a tree, from the top of which emerges the bust of a womanNetpe. She is the

goddess of heavenly existence, and is administering to the deceased the water and the bread of life, the latter

of which is represented by a substance in the form of cakes or rolls. The time at which this tablet was found is

not known, but it is supposed to belong to the period of the XIXth dynasty, or about the time of Rameses II.,

There is also in the Berlin museum another representation of the Egyptian Tree of Life, in which the trunk

has given place to the entire body of a woman. This, also, is Netpe, who is still spiritual wisdom or the

maternal principle. We are informed by Forlong that Diana was worshipped by the Amazons under a sacred

tree.[12] From this symbol the tree, which grew first into the figure of a divine woman, and later assumed the

On the Nineveh tablets is pictured a Tree of Life which is surrounded by winged spirits, bearing in their

hands the pine cone, a symbol indicating life, and which is said to have the same significance as the

In later ages, the Tree of Life, i. e., the divine man, or cross, or both together, furnish immortal food to those

who lay hold upon them, exactly in the same manner as did Netpe, the goddess of wisdom, or spiritual life, in

former times. According to the testimony of Barlow, this is the subject "most frequently symbolized on early

Christian sepulchral tablets and monuments."[13] Christ's body was the "bread of life," and his blood was the

"wine from the Tree of Life," of which to partake was life eternal. The cross, as in earlier religions,

represented completeness of life. The jambu tree, the Buddhist godtree, is in the shape of a cross.[14]

Among the Kelti a tall oak was not only a symbol of the Deity, but it was Jupiter himself, while the earth

from which it sprang was the Great Mother. Throughout Europe, in all ages, the oak has received divine

honors. The fact that under its branches Jew, Pagan, and Christian alike swore their most solemn oaths, shows

The sacredness of the oak among the Druids is well attested by all writers who have dealt with this interesting

people. In Rome its branches formed the badge of victory worn by conquering heroes, this emblem being the

Forlong assures us that the oak was even more worshipped at the West than was the sacred Ficus at the East.

"to call down the sacred fire from Heaven and gladden in the yule (Suiel or Seul) log of Christmastide even

Christian fires, as well as annually renew with fire direct from Baal, on Beltine day, the sacred flame on

every public and private hearth, and this from the temples of Meroe on the Nile, to the farthest icy forests and

Among the Druids, the mistletoe was also sacred especially when entwining the oak. Together they

represented the Tree of Life, or the two generating agencies throughout Nature. Of the species of it which

grows on the oak, Borlaise says that they deified the mistletoe and were not to look upon it but in the most

devout and reverential manner: "When the end of the year approached, they marched with great solemnity to

gather the mistletoe of the oak in order to present it to Jupiter, inviting all the world to assist in the

According to the Latin writer Pliny, the "Druids have nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree on

which it grows, provided it be an oak." This plant, which is called All Heal, although sought after with the

greatest religious ardor, is seldom found, but should the people who go forth at Christmas time in large

numbers succeed in finding it they immediately set about preparing feasts under the tree upon which it grows;

at the same time, in the most solemn manner, two white bulls are brought forth to be sacrificed. After the

feast has been prepared and the sacrifice made ready, the priest ascends the tree and with a golden

pruningknife cuts the sacred branches of the mistletoe, dropping them into a white cloth prepared for the

occasion. The bulls are then sacrificed and a prayer offered that "God would render his own gift prosperous

to those on whom he has bestowed it." They believed that administered in a potion it would impart fecundity

to any barren animal, and that it was a remedy against all kinds of poison. The branches of the mistletoe were

then distributed among the faithful, each cherishing the token as the most sacred emblem of his faith. It is

Although the Christbaum of the Germans, the Yggdrasill of the Scandinavians, and the Christmas tree of the

English speaking nations are still regarded as belonging exclusively to Christianity, their birthplace was the

far East, and their origin long anterior to our present era. This subject will be referred to later in these pages.

The palm, which in course of time became the most sacred tree of Egypt, is said to have put forth a shoot

every month during the year. At Christmas tide, or at the winter solstice, a branch from this tree was used as a

On the Zodiac of Dendera, preserved in the National Library at Paris, are two trees, the one representing the

East, or India and China, the other, the West, or Egypt. The former of these trees is putting forth a pair of

leaves and is topped by the emblems of Siva, emblems which indicate the fructifying powers of Nature,

whilst the Egyptian sacred tree, which is surmounted by the ostrich plume, the emblem of truth, is indicative

of Light, Intelligence, or the life of the soul. In a discourse delivered by Dr. Stukeley in 1760, attention was

directed to the grove of Abraham as "that famous oak grove of Beersheba, planted by the illustrious prophet

and first DruidAbraham; and from whom our celebrated British Druids came, who were of the same

patriarchal reformed religion, and brought the use of sacred groves to Britain."[17]

The fact has been ascertained that in Arabia, in very ancient times, there was a goddess named Azra who was

worshipped under the form of a tree called Samurch, and that in Yemen treeworship still prevails. To the

date is ascribed divine honors. This tree is said to have its regular priests, services, rites, and festivals, and is

as zealously worshipped as are the gods of any other country. We are not informed as to whether the Jewish

Tree of Life was borrowed from the Chaldeans or the Egyptians, but, as the significance is the same in all

countries, it is of little consequence which furnished a copy for the writer in Genesis.

In Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths, is a drawing from the original, by Colonel Coombs, of the "Temptation," or of

the ancient treeandserpent myth in Genesis. This drawing, in which it is observed that the Jewish idea of

woman as tempter is reversed, was copied from the inner walls of a cave in Southern India. The picture is

said to be a faithful representation of the version of the story as accepted in the East.

Of the myrtle, Payne Knight says that it "was a symbol both of Venus and Neptune, the male and female

personifications of the productive powers of the waters, which appear to have been occasionally employed in

The same writer refers to the fact that instead of beads, wreaths of foliage, generally of laurel, olive, myrtle,

ivy, or oak, appear upon coins; sometimes encircling the symbolical figures, and sometimes as chaplets on

their heads. According to Strabo, each of these is sacred to some particular personification of the Deity, and

"significant of some particular attribute, and in general, all evergreens were Dionysiac plants, that is, symbols

of the generative power, signifying perpetuity of youth and vigor." The crowns of laurel, olive, etc., with

which the victors in the Roman triumphs and Grecian games were honored, were emblems of immortality,

[18] Payne Knight, Symbolism of Ancient Art. We are informed that this book was never sold, but only given

away. Although a copy of it was formerly in the British Museum, care was taken by the trustees to keep it out

The tree and serpent, according to Ferguson, are symbolized in all religious systems which the world has ever

known. The two together are typical of the processes of reproduction or generation. They also symbolize

Among the numberless fruits which from time to time have been regarded as divine emblems, the principal

are perhaps the fig, the pomegranate, the mandrake, the almond, and the olive. The peculiarly sacred

character which we find attached to the fig ceases to be a mystery so soon as we remember that the organs of

generation, male and female, had, in process of time, come to be objects of worship and that the fig was the

A basket of this fruit is said to have been the most acceptable offering to the god Bacchus, and therefore, by

his devotees, was regarded as the most sacred symbol. The favorite material for phallic devices was the wood

of the sacred fig, for it was by rubbing together pieces of it that holy fire was supposed to be drawn from

heaven. By holy fire, however, was meant not so much the natural visible element which was kindled, as that

subtle substance contained in fire or heat which was supposed to contain the life principle, and which was

sent in response to the cravings of pious devotees for procreative energy, which blessing, among various

By pagans, Jews, and Christians, the pomegranate has long been regarded as a sacred emblem. It is a symbol

of reproductive energy. Representations of it were embroidered on the Ephod, and Solomon's Temple is

reported as having been literally covered with decorations, in which, among the devices noticed, this

particular fruit appears the most conspicuous. Its significance, as revealed by Inman and other writers, is too

Among the most sacred plants or flowers were the lotus and the fleur de lis, both of which were venerated

because of some real or fancied organic sexual peculiarity. The lotus is adored as the female principle

throughout Nature, or as the "womb of all creation," and is sacred throughout oriental countries. It is said to

It has long been thought that this lily is produced without the aid of the male pollen, hence it would seem to

be an appropriate emblem for that ancient sect which worshipped the female as the more important creative

Of the lotus, Inman remarks: "Amongst fourteen kinds of food and flowers presented to the Sanskrit God

Anata, the lotus only is indispensable." This emblem, as we have seen, was the symbol of the Great Mother,

and we are assured that it was "little less sacred than the Queen of Heaven herself."

Regarding the lotus and its universal significance as a religious emblem, Payne Knight says:

"The lotus is the Nelumbo of Linnaeus. This plant grows in the water, and amongst its broad leaves puts forth

a flower, in the center of which is formed the seed vessel, shaped like a bell or inverted cone, and punctured

on the top with little cavities or cells, in which the seeds grow. The orifices of these cells being too small to

let the seeds drop out when ripe, they shoot forth into new plants, in the places where they were formed, the

bulb of the vessel serving as a matrix to nourish them until they acquire such a degree of magnitude as to

burst it open and release themselves, after which, like other aquatic weeds, they take root wherever the

current deposits them. This plant, therefore, being thus productive of itself, and vegetating from its own

matrix, without being fostered in the earth, was naturally adopted as the symbol of the productive power of

the waters, upon which the creative spirit of the Creator operated in giving life and vegetation to matter. We

accordingly find it employed in every part of the Northern hemisphere, where the symbolical religion

improperly called idolatry does or did prevail. The sacred images of the Tartars, Japanese, and Indians are

almost all placed upon it, of which numerous instances occur in the publication of Kaempfer, Sonnerat, etc:

The Brama of India is represented sitting upon a lotus throne, and the figures upon the Isaic table hold the

stem of this plant, surmounted by the seed vessel in one hand, and the cross representing the male organs in

the other: thus signifying the universal power, both active and passive, attributed to that goddess."[19]

The lotus is the most sacred and the most significant symbol connected with the sacred mysteries of the East.

Upon this subject, Maurice observes that there is no plant which has received such a degree of honor as has

the lotus. It was the consecrated symbol of the Great Mother who had brought forth the fecundative energies,

female and male. Not only throughout the Northern hemisphere was it everywhere held in profound

veneration, but among the modern Egyptians it is still worshipped as symbolical of the Great First Cause. The

lotus was the emblem venerated in the solemn celebration of the Mysteries of Eleusis in Greece and the

In referring to the degree of homage paid to the lotus by the ancients, Higgins says: "And we shall find in the

sequel that it still continues to receive the respect, if not the adoration, of a great part of the Christian world,

unconscious, perhaps, of the original reason of their conduct." It is a significant fact that in nearly all the

sacred paintings of the Christians in the galleries throughout Europe, especially those of the Annunciation, a

lily is always to be observed. In later ages as the original significance of the lotus was lost, any lily came to

be substituted. Godfrey Higgins is sure that although the priests of the Romish Church are at the present time

ignorant of the true meaning of the lotus, or lily, "it is, like many other very odd things, probably understood

"The lotus is a wellknown allegory, of which the expanse calyx represents the ships of the gods floating on

the surface of the water, and the erect flower arising out of it, the mast thereof . . . but as the ship was Isis or

Magna Mater, the female principle, and the mast in it the male deity, these parts of the flower came to have

certain other significations, which seem to have been as well known at Samosata as at Benares."[21]

In other words it was a phallic emblem and represented the creative processes throughout Nature. Susa, the

name of the capital of the Cushites, or ancient Ethiopians, meant "the City of Lilies." In India the lotus

frequently appears among phallic devices in place of the sacred Yoni. From the foregoing pages the fact will

be observed that the God of the ancients embodied the two creative agencies throughout the universe, but as

nothing could exist without a mother, the great Om who was the indivisible God and the Creator of the sun

was the mother of these two principles, while the Tree of Life was the original lifegiving energy upon the

earth, represented in the creation myths of the first man Adam, and the first woman Eve or Adama.

Throughout the ages, this force, or creative agency has been symbolized in various ways, many of which

have been noted in the foregoing pages. We have observed that notwithstanding the fact that the supremacy

of the male had been established, the sacred Yoni and the lotus were still reverenced as symbols of the most

exalted God. Finally, when the masculine energy began to be worshipped as the more important agency in

reproduction, the female, although still necessary to complete the godidea, was veiled.

Among the sect known as Lingaites, those who adored the male creative power, Man, Phallus, and Creator in

religious symbolism signified one and the same thing in the minds of the people. Each represented a Tree of

Treeworship was condemned by the councils of Tours, Nantes, and Auxerre, and in the XIth century it was

forbidden in England by the laws of Canute, but these edicts seem to have had little effect. In referring to this

subject, Barlow says: "In the XVIIIth century it existed in Livonia, and traces of it may still be found in the

British Isles."[22] The vast area over which tree and plantworship once extended, and the tenacity with

which it still clings to the human race, indicate the hold which, at an earlier age in the history of mankind, it

So closely has this worship become entwined with that of serpent and phallic faiths, that it is impossible to

consider it, even in a brief manner, without anticipating these later developments; yet linked with earth and

sunworship, it doubtless prevailed for many ages absolutely unconnected with the grosser ideas with which

"When we inquire into the worship of nations in the earliest periods to which we have access by writing or

tradition, we find that the adoration of one God, without temples or images, universally prevailed."[23]

Underlying all the ancient religions of which we have any account, may be observed the great energizing

force throughout Nature recognized and reverenced as the Deity. This force embraces not only the creative

energies in human beings, in animals, and in plants, but in the earlier ages of human history it included also

Wisdom, or Lawthat "power by which all things are discriminated or defined and held in their proper

places." The most renowned writers who have dealt with this subject agree in the conclusion that, during

thousands of years among all the nations of the earth, only one God was worshipped. This God was Light and

Life, both of which proceeded from the sun, or more properly speaking were symbolized by the sun.

In Egyptian hymns the Creator is invoked as the being who "dwells concealed in the sun"; and Greek writers

speak of this luminary as the "generator and nourisher of all things, the ruler of the world." It is thought,

however, that neither of these nations worshipped the corporeal sun. It was the "centre or body from which

the pervading spirit, the original producer of order, fertility, and organization, continued to emanate to

It is evident that at an early age, both in Egypt and in India, spiritualized conceptions of sunworship had

We have seen that Netpe, the Goddess of Light, or Heavenly Wisdom, conferred spiritual life on all who

would accept it. The Great Mother of the Gods in India was not only the source whence all blessings flow,

Of "Aditi, the boundless, the yonder, the beyond all and everything," Max Muller says that in later times she

"may have become identified with the sky, also with the earth, but originally she was far beyond the sky and

the earth."[24] The same writer quotes the following, also from a hymn of the RigVeda:

"O Mitra and Varuna, you mount your chariot which, at the dawning of the dawn is goldencolored and has

iron poles at the setting of the sun; from thence you see Aditi and Ditithat is, what is yonder and what is

here, what is infinite and what is finite, what is mortal and what is immortal."[25]

Aditi is the Great She that Is, the Everlasting. Muller refers to the fact that another Hindoo poet "speaks of the

dawn as the face of Aditi; thus indicating that Aditi is here not the dawn itself, but something beyond the

dawn." This Goddess, who is designated as the "Oldest," is implored "not only to drive away darkness and

enemies that lurk in the dark, but likewise to deliver man from any sin which he may have committed." "May

Aditi by day protect our cattle, may she, who never deceives, protect us from evil."

In the Egyptian as in the Indian and Hebrew religions, the two generating principles throughout Nature

represent the Infinite, the Holy of Holies, the Elohim or Aleimthe Ieue. Within the records of the earliest

religions of Ethiopia or Arabia, Chaldea, Assyria, and Babylonia, is revealed the same monad principle in the

Deity. This monad conception, or dual unity, this God of Light and Life, or of Wisdom and generative force,

is the same source whence all mythologies have sprung, and, as has been stated, among all peoples the fact is

observed that the religious idea has followed substantially the same course of development, or growth. Within

the sacred writings of the Hindoos there is but one Almighty Power, usually denominated as Brahm or

Brahme Om or Aum. This word in India was regarded with the same degree of veneration as was the

sacred Ieue of the Jews. In later ages, the fact is being proved that this God, into whom all the deities

worshipped at a certain period in human history resolve themselves, is the sun, or if not the actual corporeal

sun, then the supreme agency within it which was acknowledged as the great creative or lifeforce that

dual principle which by the early races was recognized as Elohim, Om, Ormuzd, etc., and from which the

productive power in human beings, in plants, and in animals was thought to emanate.

Prior to the development of either tree or phallic worship, the sun as an emblem of the Deity had doubtless

become the principal object of veneration. Ages would probably elapse before primitive man would observe

that all life is dependent on the warmth of the sun's rays, or before from experience he would perceive the

fact that to its agency as well as to that of the earth he was indebted both for food and the power of motion.

However, as soon as this knowledge had been gained, the great orb of day would assume the most prominent

place among the objects of his regard and adoration. That such has been the case, that the sun, either as the

actual Creator, or as an emblem of the great energizing force in Nature, has been worshipped by every nation

of the globe, there is no lack of evidence to prove; neither do we lack proof to establish the fact that, since the

adoption of the sun as a divine object, or perhaps I should say as the emblem of Wisdom and creative power,

Bryant produces numberless etymological proofs to establish the fact that all the early names of the Deity

Max Muller says that Surya was the sun as shining in the sky. Savitri was the sun as bringing light and life.

Inman, whose etymological researches have given him considerable prominence as a Sanskrit and Hebrew

scholar, says that Ra, Ilos, Helos, Bil, Baal, Al, Allah, and Elohim were names given to the sun as

We are assured by Godfrey Higgins that Brahme is the sun the same as Surya. Brahma sprang from the navel

of Brahme. Faber in his Pagan Idolatry says that all the gods of the ancients "melt insensibly into one, they

are all equally the sun." The word Apollo signifies the author or generator of Light. In the Rig Veda, Surya,

the sun, is called Aditya. "Truly, Surya, thou art great; truly Aditya, thou art great."

Selden observes that whether the gods be called Osiris, or Omphis, or Nilus, or any other name, they all

According to Diodorus Siculus, it was the belief of the ancients that Dionysos, Osiris, Serapis, Pan, Jupiter

Max Muller says that a very low race in India named the Santhals call the sun Chandro, which means

"bright." These people declared to the missionaries who settled among them, that Chandro had created the

world; and when told that it would be absurd to say that the sun had created the world, they replied: "We do

Not only did Dionysos, and all the rest of the gods who in later ages came to be regarded as men, represent

the sun, but after the separation of the male and female elements in the originally indivisible God, Maut or

Minerva, Demeter, Ceres, Isis, Juno, and others less important in the pagan world were also the sun, or, in

other words, they represented the female power throughout the universe which was supposed to reside in the

In most groups of Babylonian and Assyrian divine emblems, there occur two distinct representations of the

sun, "one being figured with four rays or divisions within the orb, and the other, with eight." According to

George Rawlinson, these figures represent a distinction between the male and female powers residing within

the sun, the quartered disk signifying the male energy, and the eightrayed orb appearing as the emblem of

During an earlier age of human history, prior to the dissensions which arose over the relative importance of

the sexes in reproduction, and at a time when a mother and her child represented the Deity, the sun was

worshiped as the female Jove. Everything in the universe was a part of this great God. At that time there had

been no division in the godidea. The Creator constituted a dual but indivisible unity. Dionysos formerly

represented this God, as did also Om, Jove, Mithras, and others. Jove was the "Great Virgin" whence

"Jove first exists, whose thunders roll above, Jove last, Jove midmost, all proceeds from Jove; Female is Jove,

Immortal Jove is male; Jove the broad Earth, the heavens irradiate pale. Jove is the boundless Spirit, Jove the

In a former work the fact has been mentioned that the first clue obtained by Herr Bachofen, author of Das

Mutterrecht, to a former condition of society under which gynaecocracy, or the social and political

preeminence of women, prevailed, was the importance attached to the female principle in the Deity in all

According to the testimony of various writers, Om, although comprehending both elements of the Deity, was

nevertheless female in signification. Sir William Jones observes that Om means oraclematrix or

"The word Om or Am in the Hebrew not only signifies might, strength, power, firmness, solidity, truth, but it

means also Mother, as in Genesis ii., 24, and Love, whence the Latin Amo, Mamma. If the word be taken to

mean strength, then Amon will mean (the first syllable being in regimine) the temple of the strength of the

generative or creative power, or the temple of the mighty procreative power. If the word Am means Mother,

then a still more recondite idea will be implied, viz.: the mother generative power, or the maternal generative

power: perhaps the Urania of Persia or the Venus Aphrodite of Crete and Greece, or the Jupiter Genetrix of

the masculine and feminine gender, or the Brahme Mai of India, or the Alma Venus of Lucretius. And the

City of On or Heliopolis will be the City of the sun, or City of the procreative powers of nature of which the

According to Prof. W. R. Smith, Om means uniting or binding, a fact which is explained by the early

significance of the mother element in early society. The name of the great Deity Om or Aum scarcely passes

the lips of its worshippers, and when it is pronounced is always reverently whispered. Regarding the mystic

word Om, we are told that it is the name given to Delphi, and that "Delphi has the meaning of the female

Although the great God of India was female and male, yet we are assured by Forlong that the female energy

Maya, Queen of Heaven, even at the present time is more heard of than the male principle.

According to Bryant, the worship of Ham is the most ancient as well as the most universal of any in the

world. This writer remarks that Ham, instead of representing an individual, is but a Greek corruption of Om

or Aum, the great androgynous God of India, a God which is identical in significance with Aleim, Vesta, and

all the other representatives of the early dual, universal power. "In the old language God was called Al, Ale,

Alue, and Aleim, more frequently Aleim than any other name." According to the testimony of Higgins, Aleim

denotes the feminine plural. The heathen divinities Ashtaroth and Beelzebub were both called Aleim,

Ashtaroth being simply Astarte adorned with the horns of a ram. Ishtar not unfrequently appears with the

horns of a cow. We are informed by Inman that whenever a goddess is observed with hornsemblems which

by the way always indicate masculine powerit is to denote the fact that she is androgynous, or that within

her is embodied the complete Deitythe dual reproductive energy throughout Nature. The "figure becomes

Mithrasthe Savior, the great Persian Deity which was worshipped as the "Preserver," was both female and

male. Among the representations of this divinity which appear in the Townley collection in the British

Museum, is one in which it is figured in its female character, in the act of killing the bull. The Divinity Baal

was both female and male. The God of the Jews in an early stage of their career was called Baal. The oriental

Orpheus teaches that the divine nature is both female and male. According to Proclus, Jupiter was an

immortal maid, "the Queen of Heaven, and Mother of the Gods." All things were contained within the womb

of Jupiter. This Virgin within whom was embodied the male principle "gave light and life to Eve." She was

the lifegiving, energizing power in Nature, and was identical with Aleim, Om, Astarte, and others. The

Goddess Esta, or Vesta, or Hestia, whom Plato calls the "soul of the body of the universe," is believed by

Beverly and others to be the SelfExistent, the Great "She that Is" of the Hindoos, whose significance is

According to Marco Polo, the Chinese had but one supreme God of whom they had no image, and to whom

they prayed for only two things"a sound mind in a sound body." They had, however, a lesser

godprobably the same as the "Lord" (masculine) of the Jews, to whom they petitioned for rain, fair

weather, and all the minor accessories of existence. Upon the walls of the houses of the Chinese is a tablet to

which they pay their devotion. On this tablet is the name of the "high, celestial, and supreme God." The

principal word which this tablet contains is "Tien." Of this Chinese Deity Barlow says: "The Chinese

recognize in Tienhow, the Queen of Heaven nursing her infant son. Connected with this figure is a lotus bud,

Originally in Chaldea and in Egypt, only one supreme God was worshipped. This Deity was figured by a

mother and her child, as was the great Chinese God. It comprehended the universe and all the attributes of the

Deity. It was worshipped thousands of years prior to the birth of Mary, the Mother of Christ, and

representations of it are still extant, not only in oriental lands, but in many countries of Europe. Within the

oldest temples of Egypt are still to be observed sacred apartments which contain the "Holy of Holies," and to

which, in past ages, none might gain access but priests and priestesses of the highest order. Within these

apartments are pictured the mysteries of birth, together with the symbols of generation emblems of

On the banks of the river Nile are observed the ruins of the temple of Philae, which structure, it is said,

represents the most ancient style of architecture. Within these ruins is to be seen an inner chamber in which

are depicted the birth scenes of the child god Horus, and, indeed, everywhere among the monuments and

ruins of Egypt, is plainly visible the fact that the creative power and functions in human beings, in animals,

Between the ruins of the palace of Amunoph III. and the Nile are two colossal statues, each hewn from a

single block of stone. These figures, although in a sitting posture, are sixty feet high. It is thought that they

once formed the entrance to an avenue of similar figures leading up to the palace. It has been supposed that

the most northern statue represents Ammon, and that its companion piece is his Mother. It is now believed by

many writers, however, that these figures do not represent two persons at all, but that in a remote age of the

world's history they were worshipped as the two great principles, female and male, which animate Nature.

The fact has been observed that Am or Om was originally a female Deity, within whom was contained the

male principle; when, however, through the changes wrought in the relative positions of the sexes, the male

element in the Divinity adored came to be represented as a man instead of as a child, he was Ammon. He was

the sun, yet notwithstanding the fact that he had drawn to himself the powers of the sun, he was still, himself,

only a production of or emanation from the female Deity Om, Mother of the Gods and Queen of Heaven. She

There is a tradition which asserts that every morning a melodious sound is emitted from the first named of

these two colossal figures as he salutes his rosyfingered Mother whom he acknowledges as the source of all

Light and Wisdom. The bodies are described as being "without motion, the faces without expression, the eyes

looking straight forward, yet a certain grand simplicity occasions them to be universally admired."

The Goddess Disa or Isa of the North, as delineated on the sacred drums of the Laplanders, was accompanied

by a child similar to the Horus of the Egyptians.[29] It is observed also that the ancient Muscovites

worshipped a sacred group composed of a mother and her children, probably a representation of the Egyptian

"A female Pantheitic figure in silver, with the borders of the drapery plated with gold, and the whole finished

in a manner surpassing almost anything extant, was among the things found at Macon on the Saone, in the

year 1764, and published by Caylus. It represents Cybele, the universal mother, with the mural crown on her

head, and the wings of pervasion growing from her shoulders, mixing the productive elements of heat and

moisture by making a libation upon the flames of an altar. On each side of her head is one of the Discouri,

signifying the alternate influence of the diurnal and nocturnal Sun; and, upon a crescent supported by the tips

of her wings, are the seven planets, each signified by a bust of its presiding deity resting upon a globe, and

In her left hand she holds two cornucopiae, to signify the result of her operation on the two hemispheres of

the Earth; and upon them are the busts of Apollo and Diana, the presiding deities of these hemispheres, with a

golden disk, intersected by two transverse lines, such as is observed on other pieces of ancient art, and such

as the barbarians of the North employed to represent the solar year, divided into four parts, at the back of

It was doubtless at a time when woman constituted the head of the gens, and when the feminine element in

the sun, in human beings, and in Nature generally was regarded as the more important, that Latona and her

son Apollo were worshipped together. Latona, Apollo, and Diana constituted the triune God. The last two

were the female and male energies, the former being the source whence they sprang. As soon as one is

divested of a belief in the popular but erroneous opinion that the gods of the early Egyptians and Greeks were

deified heroes of former ages, he is prepared to perceive the fact that, although to the uninitiated these gods

appear numberless, in reality they all represent the same idea, namely: the dual, moving force in Nature,

We have seen that when among the nations of antiquity civilization had reached its height, the godidea was

represented by the figure of a woman with her child; subsequently, however, as these nations began to

decline, the creative energy comprehended simply physical life, or the power to reproduce, and was

represented by various emblems which will be noticed farther on in this work. In still later ages, after male

reproductive power had become God, and when, through superstition and sensuality, the masses of the people

had descended to the rank of slaves, monarchs, representing themselves to their ignorant subjects as the

source of all blessings, even of life itself, appropriated the titles of the sun, and claimed for themselves the

adoration which had formerly belonged to it. From this fact has doubtless arisen the opinion so tenaciously

upheld in recent times, that the gods of the ancients were only deified heroes of former times.

If, during the earlier ages of human existence, all the gods resolved themselves into the sun, and if Light and

Life, or Wisdom and the power to reproduce and sustain life, constituted the Deity, then of course God or the

sun would be female or male, or both, according to the prevailing belief in the comparative creative and

From what appears in the foregoing pages the fact has doubtless been perceived that the worship of a Virgin

and Child does not, as is usually supposed, belong exclusively to the Romish Christian Church, but, on the

contrary, that it constitutes the most remote idea of a Creator extant. As has been hinted, there is little doubt

that the earliest worship of the woman and child was much simpler than was that which came to prevail in

later ages, at a time when every religious conception was closely veiled beneath a mixture of astrology and

mythology. After the planets came to be regarded as active agencies in reproduction, and powerful in

directing all mundane affairs, the Virgin of the Sphere while she represented Nature was also the

constellation which appeared above the horizon at the winter solstice, or at the time when the sun had reached

its lowest point and had begun to return. At this time, the 25th of December, and just as the days began to

lengthen, this Virgin gave birth to the SunGod. It is said that he issued forth from her side, hence the legend

that Gotama Buddha was produced from the side of Maya, and also the story believed by the Gnostics and

[31] The fact will doubtless be remembered that a similar belief was entertained concerning the birth of Julius

Within the churches and in the streets of many cities of Germany are to be observed figures of this traditional

Virgin. She is standing, one foot upon a crescent and the other on a serpent's head, in the mouth of which is

the sprig of an apple tree on which is an apple. The tail of the serpent is wound about a globe which is

partially enveloped in clouds. On one arm of the Virgin is the Child, and in the hand of the other arm she

carries the sacred lotus. Her head is encircled with a halo of light similar to the rays of the sun.

One is frequently disposed to query: Do the initiated in the Romish Church regard these images as legitimate

representations of Mary, the wife of Joseph and Mother of Christ, or are they aware of their true significance?

Certainly the various accessories attached to this figure betray its ancient origin and reveal its identity with

The fact has already been observed that in the original representation of the "Temptation" in the cave temple

of India, it is not the woman but the man who is the tempter, and a singular peculiarity observed in

connection with this ancient female Deity is that it is SHE and NOT HER SEED who is trampling on the

serpent, thus proving that originally woman and not man was worshipped as the Savior. Another significant

feature noticed in connection with this subject is that the oldest figures which represent this Goddess are

This image, although black, or dark skinned, had long hair, hence not a negress. The most ancient statue of

Ceres was black, and Pausanias says that at a place called Melangea in Arcadia there was a black Venus. In

the Netherlands only a few years ago, was a church dedicated to a black goddess. The Virgin of the Sphere

who treads on the head of the serpent represents universal womanhood. She is the Virgin of the first book of

Genesis and mother of all the Earth. She represents not only creative power but Perceptive Wisdom.

Although this Goddess is usually seen with the lotus in her hand, she sometimes carries ripe corn or wheat.

The mother of Gotama Buddha was called Mai or Maya, after the month in which the Earth is arrayed in her

Maya is the parent of universal Nature. According to Davis, the mother of Mercury "is the universal genius of

Nature which discriminated all things according to their various kinds of species," the same as was Muth of

Egypt. Mai is said to mean "one who begins to illuminate." She was in fact the mother of the sun whence

In the representations of Montfaucon appears the Goddess Isis sitting on the lotus. Her head, upon which is a

globe, is surrounded by a radiant circle which evidently represents the sun. On the reverse side is Ieu, the

word "which is the usual way of the ecclesiastical authors reading the Hebrew word Jehovah." Referring to

this from Montfaucon, Godfrey Higgins observes: "Here Isis, whose veil no mortal shall ever draw aside, the

celestial Virgin of the Sphere, is seated on the selfgenerating sacred lotus and is called Ieu or Jove."[32] She

has also the mystic number 608 which stands for the Deity. Her breasts show plainly that it is a female

representation, although connected with the figure appears the male emblem to indicate that within her are

Higgins thinks there is no subject on which more mistakes have been made than on that of the Goddess Isis,

both by ancients and moderns. He calls attention to the inconsistency of calling her the moon when in many

countries the moon is masculine. He is quite positive that if Isis is the moon, Ceres, Proserpine, Venus, and

all the other female gods were the same, which in view of the facts everywhere at hand cannot be true. It is

true, however, that "the planet called the moon was dedicated to her in judicial astrology, the same as a planet

was dedicated to Venus or Mars. But Venus and Mars were not these planets themselves, though these

planets were sacred to them."[33] Higgins then calls attention to her temple at Sais in Egypt, and to the

inscription which declares that "she comprehends all that is and was and is to be," that she is "parent of the

"I am the parent of all things, the sovereign of the elements, the primary progeny of time, the most exalted of

the deities, the first of the heavenly gods and goddesses, whose single deity the whole world venerates in

many forms, with various rites and various names. The Egyptians worship me with proper ceremonies and

Isis, we are told, is called Myrionymus, or goddess with 10,000 names. She is the Persian Mithra, which is

Faber admits that the female principle was formerly regarded as the Soul of the World. He says:

"Isis was the same as Neith or Minerva; hence the inscription at Sais was likewise applied to that goddess.

Athenagoras informs us that Neith or the Athene of the Greeks was supposed to be Wisdom passing and

diffusing itself through all things. Hence it is manifest that she was thought to be the Soul of the World; for

"Ovid gives a similar character to Venus. He represents her as moderating the whole world; as giving laws to

Heaven, Earth, and Ocean, as the common parent both of gods and men, and as the productive cause both of

corn and trees. She is celebrated in the same manner by Lucretius, who ascribes to her that identical attribute

It seems to be the general belief of all writers whose object is to disclose rather than conceal the ancient

mysteries, that until a comparatively recent time the moon was never worshipped as Isis. Until the origin and

meaning of the ancient religion had been forgotten, and the ideas underlying the worship of Nature had been

When man began to regard himself as the only important factor in procreation, and when the sun became

masculine and heat or passion constituted the godidea, the moon was called Isis. The moon represented the

absence of heat, it therefore contained little of the recognized godelement. It was, perhaps, under the

In the sacred writings of the Hindoos there is an account of the moon, Soma, having been changed into a

While speaking of the moon, Kalisch says: "The whole ritual of the Phoenician Goddess Astarte with whom

that Queen of Heaven is identical, and who was the goddess of fertility seems to have been transferred to

To such an extent, in the earlier ages of the world had the female been regarded as the Creator, that in many

countries where her worship subsequently became identified with that of the moon, Luna was adored as the

producer of the sun. According to the Babylonian creation tablets, the moon was the most important heavenly

body. In later ages, the gender of the sun and the moon seems to be exceedingly variable. The Achts of

Vancouver's Island worship sun and moonthe sun as female, the moon as male.[37] In some of the

countries of Africa the moon is adored as female and sunworship is unknown. Among various peoples the

sun and the moon are regarded as husband and wife, and among others as brother and sister. In some

countries, both are female. I can find no instance in which both are male. Hindoos and Aztecs alike, at one

The fact that among the Persians the moon as well as the sun was at a certain period regarded as a source of

procreative energy and as influencing the generative processes, is shown by various passages in the Avestas.

In the Khordah Avesta, praise is offered to "the Moon which contains the seed of cattle, to the only begotten

Perhaps the most widely diffused and universally adored representation of the ancient female Deity in Egypt

was the Virgin Neit or Neith, the Athene of the Greeks and the Minerva of the Romans. Her name signifies "I

came from myself." This Deity represents not only creative power, but abstract intelligence, Wisdom or

Light. Her temple at Sais was the largest in Egypt. It was open at the top and bore the following inscription:

"I am all that was and is and is to be; no mortal has lifted up my veil, and the fruit which I brought forth was

the sun." She was called also Muth, the universal mother. Kings were especially honored in the title "Son of

To express the idea that the female energy in the Deity comprehended not alone the power to bring forth, but

that it involved all the natural powers, attributes, and possibilities of human nature, it was portrayed by a pure

Virgin who was also a mother. According to Herodotus, the worship of Minerva was indigenous in Lybia,

whence it travelled to Egypt and was carried from thence to Greece. Among the remnants of Egyptian

mythology, the figure of a mother and child is everywhere observed. It is thought by various writers that the

The change noted in the growth of the religious idea by which the male principle assumes the more important

position in the Deity may, by a close investigation of the facts at hand, be easily traced, and, as has before

been expressed, this change will be found to correspond with that which in an earlier age of the world took

place in the relative positions of the sexes. In all the earliest representations of the Deity, the fact is observed

that within the mother element is contained the divinity adored, while the male appears as a child and

dependent on the ministrations of the female for existence and support. Gradually, however, as the

importance of man begins to be recognized in human affairs, we find that the male energy in the Deity,

instead of appearing as a child in the arms of its mother, is represented as a man, and that he is of equal

importance with the woman; later he is identical with the sun, the woman, although still a necessary factor in

the godidea, being concealed or absorbed within the male. It is no longer woman who is to bruise the

serpent's head, but the seed of the woman, or the son. He is Bacchus in Greece, Adonis in Syria, Christna in

India. He is indeed the new sun which is born on the 25th of December, or at the time when the solar orb has

reached its lowest position and begins to ascend. It is not perhaps necessary to add that he is also the Christ of

Nowhere, perhaps, is the growing importance of the male in the godidea more clearly traced than in the

history of the Arabians. Among this people are still to be found certain remnants of the matriarchal agean

age in which women were the recognized heads of families and the eponymous leaders of the gentes or clans.

Concerning the worship of a man and woman as god by the early Arabians, Prof. Robertson Smith remarks:

"Except the comparatively modern Isaf and Naila in the sanctuary at Mecca where there are traditions of

Syrian influence, I am not aware that the Arabs had pairs of gods represented as man and wife. In the time of

Mohammed the female deities, such as Allat, were regarded as daughters of the supreme male God. But the

older conception as we see from a Nabataean inscription in De Vogue, page 119, is that Allat is mother of

the gods. At Petra the mothergoddess and her son were worshipped together, and there are sufficient traces

of the same thing elsewhere to lead us to regard this as having been the general rule when a god and goddess

As the worship of the black virgin and child is connected with the earliest religion of which we may catch a

glimpse, the exact locality in which it first appeared must be somewhat a matter of conjecture, but that this

idea constituted the Deity among the Ethiopian or early Cushite race, the people who doubtless carried

If we bear in mind the fact that the gods of the ancients represented principles and powers, we shall not be

surprised to find that Muth, Neith, or Isis, who was creator of the sun, was also the first emanation from the

sun. Minerva is Wisdomthe Logos, the Word. She is Perception, Light, etc. At a later stage in the history

That the office of the male as a creative agency is dependent on the female, is a fact so patent that for ages the

mother principle could not be eliminated from the conception of a Deity, and the homage paid to Athene or

Minerva, even after women had become only sexual slaves and household tools, shows the extent to which

Notwithstanding the efforts which during numberless ages were made to dethrone the female principle in the

godidea, the Great Mother, under some one of her various appellations, continued, down to a late period in

the history of the human race, to claim the homage and adoration of a large portion of the inhabitants of the

globe. And so difficult was it, even after the male element had declared itself supreme, to conceive of a

creative force independently of the female principle, that oftentimes, during the earlier ages of their attempted

separation, great confusion and obscurity are observed in determining the positions of male deities. Zeus who

in later times came to be worshipped as male was formerly represented as "the great dyke, the terrible virgin

who breathes out on crime, anger, and death." Grote refers to numerous writers as authority for the statement

that Dionysos, who usually appears in Greece as masculine, and who was doubtless the Jehovah of the Jews,

was indigenous in Thrace, Phrygia, and Lydia as the Great Mother Cybele. He was identical with Bacchus,

who although represented on various coins as a "bearded venerable figure" appears with the limbs, features,

and character of a beautiful young woman. Sometimes this Deity is portrayed with sprouting horns, and again

with a crown of ivy. The Phrygian Attis and the Syrian Adonis, as represented in monuments of ancient art,

are androgynous personifications of the same attributes. According to the testimony of the geographer

Dionysius, the worship of Bacchus was formerly carried on in the British Islands in exactly the same manner

In referring to the Idean Zeus in Crete, to Demeter at Eleusis, to the Cabairi in Samothrace, and Dionysos at

Delphi and Thebes, Grote observes: "That they were all to a great degree analogous, is shown by the way in

which they necessarily run together and become confused in the minds of various authors."

"Parkhurst tells us it means allbountifulthe pourer forth of blessings; among the Heathen, the Dea

Multimammia; in fact the Diana of Ephesus, the Urania of Persia, the Jove of Greece, called by Orpheus the

Mother of the Gods, each male as well as femalethe Venus Aphrodite; in short, the genial powers of

To which Higgins adds: "And I maintain that it means the figure which is often found in collections of

As in the old language there was no neuter gender, the gods must always appear either as female or male. For

apparent reasons, in all the translations, through the pronouns and adjectives used, the more important ancient

By at least two ancient writers Jupiter is called the Mother of the Gods. In reference to a certain Greek

appellation, Bryant observes that it is a masculine name for a feminine deitya name which is said to be a

In process of time, as the world became more and more masculinized, so important did it become that the

male should occupy the more exalted place in the Deity, that even the Great Mother of the Gods, as we have

The androgynous or plural form of the ancient Phoenician God Aleim, the Creator referred to in the opening

chapter of Genesis, is clearly apparent. This God, speaking to his counterpart, Wisdom, the female energy,

says: "Let us make man in our own image, in our own likeness," and accordingly males and females are

produced. By those whose duty it has been in the past to prove that the Deity here represented is composed

only of the masculine attributes, we are given to understand that God was really "speaking to himself," and

that in his divine cogitations excessive modesty dictated the "polite form of speech"; he did not, therefore, say

exactly what he meant, or at least did not mean precisely what he said. We have to bear in mind, however,

that as man had not at that time been created, if there were no female element present, this excess of

politeness on the part of the "Lord" was wholly lost. Surely, in a matter involving such an enormous stretch

of power as the creation of man independently of the female energy, we would scarcely expect to find the

high and mighty male potentate which was subsequently worshipped as the Lord of the Israelites laying aside

In Christian countries, during the past eighteen hundred years, the greatest care has been exercised to conceal

the fact that sunworship underlies all forms of religion, and under Protestant Christianity no pains has been

spared in eliminating the female element from the godidea; hence the ignorance which prevails at the

present time in relation to the fact that the Creator once comprehended the forces of Nature, which by an

Although the God of the most ancient people was a dual Unity, in later ages it came to be worshipped as a

Trinity. When mankind began to speculate on the origin of the life principle, they came to worship their Deity

in its three capacities as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer or Regenerator, each of which was female and

male. We have observed that, according to Higgins, when this Trinity was spoken of collectively, it was

By the various writers who have dealt with this subject during the last century, much surprise has been

manifested over the fact that for untold ages the people of the earth have worshipped a Trinity. Forster, in his

Sketches of Hindoo Mythology, says: "One circumstance which forcibly struck my attention was the Hindoo

Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, observes that the idea of three persons in the Deity was diffused amongst

all the nations of the earth, in regions as distant as Japan and Peru, that it was memorially acknowledged

throughout the whole extent of Egypt and India, "flourishing with equal vigor amidst the snowy mountains of

Thibet, and the vast deserts of Siberia." The idea of a Trinity is supposed to have been first elaborated on the

banks of the Indus, whence it was carried to the Greek and Latin nations. Astrologically the triune Deity of

This recondite doctrine as understood by the very ancient people which originated it, involved a knowledge

of Nature far too deep to be appreciated or understood by their degenerate descendants, except perhaps by a

few philosophers and scholars who imbibed it in a modified form from original sources in the far East.

After the establishment of the Trinity, the creative energy, which had formerly been represented by a mother

and child, came to be figured by the mother, father, and the life derived therefrom. Sometimes the Trinity

took the form of the two creative forces, female and male, and the Great Mother.

Whenever the two creative principles were considered separately, there always appeared stationed over or

above them, as their Creator, an indivisible unity. This Creator was the "Beyond," the "most High

God"Om or Aleim. It was the Mother of the Gods in whom were contained all the elements of the Deity.

Among the representations of the godidea which are to be observed on the monuments and in the temples of

Egypt appear triads, each of which is composed of a woman stationed between a male figure and that of a

child. She is depicted as the Light of the sun, or Wisdom, while the male is manifested as the Heat of the orb

Later, it is observed that the worship of Light has in a measure given place to the adoration of Heat, in other

words Light is no longer adored as essence of the Deity, Heat or Passion having become the most important

After the ancient worship of the Virgin and Child had become somewhat changed or modified so as to better

accommodate itself to the growing importance of the male, the most exalted conception of the Deity in Egypt

seems to have been that of a trinity composed of Mout the Mother, Ammon the Father, and Chons the Infant

Life derived from the other two. Mout is identical with Neith, but she has become the wife as well as the

mother of Ammon. Directly below this conception of the Deity is a triad representing less exalted attributes,

or lower degrees of wisdom, under the appellations of Sate, Kneph, and the child Anouk; and thus downward,

through the varying spheres of celestial light and life involved in their theogony are observed the divine

creative energies represented under the figures of Mother, Father, and the Life proceeding therefrom, until,

finally, when the earth is reached, Isis, Osiris, and Horus appear as the representation of the creative forces in

The Deity invoked in all the earlier inscriptions is a triad, and we are assured that in Babylonia, where Beltis

The supreme Deity of Assyria was Asshur, who was worshipped sometimes as female, sometimes as male.

This God doubtless represents the dual or triple creative principle observed in all the earlier forms of worship.

Asshur had no distinct temple, but as her position was at the head of the Pantheon, all the shrines throughout

According to Bunsen, in the Sidonian Tyrian district, there were originally three great gods, at the head of

which appears Astartea woman who represents pure reason or intelligence; then follows Zeus, Demarius,

and Adorus. Without doubt this triad represents a monad Deity similar in character to the one observed in

In the minds of all wellinformed persons, there is no longer any doubt that in Abraham's time the Canaanites

worshipped the same gods as did the Persians and all the other nations about them namely, Elohim, the

dual or triune creative force in Nature. As the Sun was the source whence proceeded all light and life as well

as reproductive or generative power, it had become the object of adoration, and as the emblem of the Deity, it

was worshipped by all the nations of the earth in its three capacities as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer or

Melchizedek, who was a priest of the most high God, blessed Abraham, who was a worshipper of the same

"It is evident that Abraham and his descendants worshipped not only the true and living God, but they

invoked him in the name of the Lord, and they worshipped the Lord whose name they invoked, so that two

persons were the object of their worship, God and this Lord: and the Scriptures have distinguished these two

persons from one another by this circumstance, that God no man hath seen at any time nor can see but the

Lord whom Abraham and his descendants worshipped was the person who appeared to them."

We are told that when chap. xxi., verse 33, of Genesis is correctly translated, Abraham is represented as

In the Hebrew name YodHeVau (Jehovah), was set forth the triune character of the Creator; in other

words, this name "comprehended the essential perfections of the great God," and was used in their Scriptures

Although Abraham, while in Egypt, was the worshipper of idols, we are assured that "the peculiar privilege

vouchsafed to him lay in the revelation of God's holy name, YodHeVau. There is indeed much evidence

going to prove that the people represented by Abraham understood the earlier conception of a Deity, and that

while the great universal principle whose name it was sacrilege to pronounce was still acknowledged, there

was another God (the Lord), the same as in China, whose worship they were beginning to adopt. "And Jacob

vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread

So that I come again to my Father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God."

He then declared that the pillar or stone which he had set up, and which was the emblem of male procreative

As at the time represented by Jacob there was evidently little or no spirituality among the Israelites, this Lord

whom they worshipped was simply a lifegiver in the most material or practical sense.

The reproductive energy in man had become deified. It had, in other words, come to possess all the attributes

of a god, or of a powerful man, which in reality was the same thing. It is this god personified which is

represented as appearing to Abraham and talking with him face to face. With this same god Jacob wrestled,

while the real Godthe dual or triune principle, the Jehovah or Iav, no man could behold and live.

To conceal the fact that the God of Abraham originally consisted of a dual or triple unity, and that the Deity

was identical in significance with that of contemporary peoples, the priests have, as usual, had recourse to a

trick to deceive the ignorant or uninitiated. In reference to this subject Godfrey Higgins says:

"In the second book of Genesis the creation is described not to have been made by Aleim, or the Aleim, but

by a God of a double name Ieue Aleim; which the priests have translated Lord God. By using the word Lord,

their object evidently is to conceal from their readers several difficulties which afterward arise respecting the

names of God and this word, and which show clearly that the books of the Pentateuch are the writings of

"And it is especially to be noted that when the Elohistic passages are all extracted and copied one after

another, they form a complete, connected narrative; from which we infer that these must have composed the

original story, and that the other passages were afterwards inserted by another writer, who wished to enlarge

or supplement the primary record. And he seems to have used the compound Jehovah Aleim in the first

portion of his work in order to impress upon the reader that Jehovah, of whom he goes on to speak in the later

portions, is the same Great Being who is called simply Elohim by the older writer, and notably in the first

We are informed by Bunsen that El, or Elohim, comprehends the true significance of the Deity among all the

Aramaic or Canaanitish races, El representing the abstract principle taken collectively, Elohim pertaining to

the separate elements as Creator, Preserver, and Regenerator. Each of these Canaanitish races had inherited

these ideas from their fathers, and, although they had become grossly idolatrous, "Moses knew, and educated

Israelites remained a long time conscious, that they used them not merely in their real but in their most

ancient sense."[41] Maurice and other writers call attention to the fact that Moses himself uses this word

Elohim with verbs and adjectives in the plural. That the God worshipped by the more ancient peoples, namely

Aleim, or Elohim, the same who said, "Let us make man in our image," was not the Lord adored at a later age

by the Jews, is a fact which at the present time seems to be clearly proven; that it constituted, however, the

dual or triune unity venerated by all the nations on the globe of which we have any record, appears to be well

We have seen that although the two sexprinciples which underlie Nature constituted the Creator, the

ancients thought of it only as one and indivisible. This indivisible aspect was the sacred Iav, the Holy of

Holies. When it was contemplated in its individual aspect it was Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, each of

The difficulty of the ancients in establishing a First Cause seems to have been exactly the same as is ours at

the present time. When we say there must have been a God who created all things, the question at once arises,

Who created God? According to their theories, nothing could be brought forth without the interaction of two

creative principles, female and male; yet everything, even these principles, must proceed from an indivisible

energyan energy which, as the idea of the sex functions became more and more clearly defined, could not

be contemplated except in its dual aspect. So soon, therefore, as the Great First Cause was separated into its

elements, a still higher power was immediately stationed above it as its Creator. This Creator was designated

as female. It was the Mother idea Even gods could not be produced without a mother.

In referring to the doctrines contained in the Geeta, one of the sacred writings of the Hindoos, Faber

"In the single character of Brahm, all the three offices of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are united. He is at once

the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer. He is the primeval Hermaphrodite, or the Great Father and the

The fact that a trinity in unity, representing the female and male energies symbolized by the organs of

generation, formerly constituted the Deity throughout Asia is acknowledged by all those who have examined

either the literature or monumental records of oriental countries. The Rev. Mr. Maurice bears testimony to the

"Whoever will read the Geeta with attention, will perceive in that small tract the outlines of all the various

systems of theology in Asia. The curious and ancient doctrine of the Creator being both male and female,

mentioned on a preceding page, to be designated in Indian temples by a very indecent exhibition of the

masculine and feminine organs of generation in union, occurs in the following passage: 'I am the Father and

Mother of this world; I plant myself upon my own nature and create again and again this assemblage of

beings; I am generation and dissolution, the place where all things are deposited, and the inexhaustible seed

of all Nature. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all things.' "[42]

According to Sir W. Jones, the Brahme, Vishnu, and Siva coalesce to form the mystic Om, which means the

essence of life or divine fire. In the Bhagavat Geeta the supreme God speaks thus concerning itself: "I am the

holy one worthy to be known"; and immediately adds: "I am the mystic [trilateral] figure Om; the Reig, the

Yagush, and the Saman Vedas." It is a unity and still a trinity. This Om or Aum stands for the Creator,

Preserver, and Destroyer or Regenerator, and represents the threefold aspect of the force within the sun. The

doctrine maintained throughout the Geeta is not only that the great lifeforce represents a trinity in unity, but

that it is both female and male. On this subject Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, says:

"This notion of three persons in the Deity was diffused amongst all the nations of the earth, established at

once in regions so distant as Japan and Peru, immemorially acknowledged throughout the whole extent of

Egypt and India, and flourishing with equal vigor amidst the snowy mountains of Thibet, and the vast deserts

We have observed that the idea of a trinity as conceived by the socalled ancients, although at all times

founded on the same conception, viz., that of the reproductive powers of Nature and especially of mankind,

differed in expression according to its application. Although in human beings this triune creative idea was

expressed by the mother, father, and child, as set forth in the temples and on the monuments of Egypt, when

applied directly to the sun and the planets, it appears as the Creator, Preserver, and Regenerator or Destroyer.

Destruction, or the absence of the sun's heat, represented by winter, was necessary to life, and therefore the

Destroyer was also the Regenerator and equally with the Creator and Preserver constituted a beneficent factor

in the godidea. In fact as this third element really embodied the substance of the other two, it finally became

the supreme God, little afterward being heard about the Creator and Preserver. The Regenerator or Destroyer

was of course the sun, which in winter died away and rose again in the springtime as a beneficent Savior or

renewer of life. The principle involved in these processes represented Fertility, Life, reproductive energy. As

applied to mortals, it comprehended the power to create combined with perceptive Wisdom or Knowledge.

This idea, portrayed as it was by a mother and her child, linked woman with the stars. It produced the "Virgin

of the Sphere," Queen of Heaven, "Isiac Controller of the Zodiac," at the same time that it made her the

Every year this Virgin of the Sphere as she appeared above the horizon at the winter solstice gave birth to the

sun. Astronomically this new sun was the Regenerator, by which all Nature was renewed. Mythologically,

after the higher truths contained in these doctrines were lost, it came to be the Savior, the Son of the Virgin,

That the religion of an ancient race comprehended a knowledge of the evolutionary processes of Nature may

not be doubted. The myths still extant, and even the oldest Assyrian inscriptions which have been deciphered,

reveal the fact that the seeds of the visible universe were hidden in the "great deep"that animal creation

It is now known that the philosophy of an older race involved a belief in the Eternity of Matter. The abstruse

doctrine of Reincarnation and the Renewal of Worlds seems to have formed the basis of their philosophy.

According to these speculations, a portion of the earth was destroyed or resolved into its primary elements

every six hundred years, while at the end of each Kalpia, or great Cycle of several thousand years, the entire

earth was renovated or absorbed into the two fecundating principles of the universe. These two indivisible

forces represented by Vishnu rested in the water, or brooded on the face of the deep. When stirred by love for

each other they again became active, and from the germs of a former world, which had been absorbed by

themselves, created again the earth and everything upon it. In other words, "the earth sprang from the navel

of Vishnu or Brahme." According to the Buddhists of Ceylon, the universe has perished ten different times,

and each time has been renewed by the operations of Nature, or by the preservation of germs from a former

world. In their mythology these germs are represented by a parent and a triplicated offspring. It is perhaps

unnecessary to add that this monad trinity is the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer with their great parent, the

Mother of the Gods, which in process of time came to be regarded as male. According to Wilford, Hindoo

chronology presents fourteen different periods, six of which have already elapsed; we are in the seventh,

which began with the flood. Each of these periods is called a Manwantara, the presiding genius or Deity of

which is a Menu. At the close of each dynasty a total destruction of the world takes place, everything being

destroyed except the ruler, or Menu, who "escapes in a boat." Each new world is an exact counterpart of the

one destroyed, and each Menu is a representation of all preceding ones. Thus the history of one dynasty

serves for all the rest. This doctrine of a triplicated Deity appearing at the beginning of a new creation may be

traced in nearly every country of the globe. Among the Buddhists of China, Fo is mysteriously multiplied

into three persons in the same manner as is Fohi, who is evidently Noah. Among the Hindoos is observed

the triad Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva springing from the monad Brahm or Brahme. This triad appears on the

earth at the beginning of each Manwantara in the human form of Menu and his three sons. We are assured

that among the Tartars evident traces are found of a similar God, who is seated on the lotus. It is also figured

on a Siberian medal in the imperial collection at St. Petersburg. The Jakuthi Tartars, who are said to be the

most numerous people of Siberia, worship a triplicated Deity under the three denominations of Artugon and

Schugotangon and Tangara. Faber tells us that this Tartar God is the same even in appellation with the

Tangatanga of the Peruvians, who, like other tribes of America, seem plainly to have crossed over from the

Northeastern extremity of Siberia. Upon this subject the same writer remarks thus:

"Agreeably to the mystical notion so familiar to the Hindoos, that the selftriplicated Great Father yet

remained but one in essence, the Peruvians supposed their Tangatanga to be one in three, and three in one:

and in consequence of the union of hero worship with the astronomical and material systems of idolatry they

venerated the sun and the air, each under three images and three names. The same opinions equally prevailed

throughout the nations which lie to the west of Hindostan. Thus the Persians had their Ormuzd, Mithras, and

Ahriman: or, as the matter was sometimes represented, their selftriplicating Mithras. The Syrians had their

Monimus, Aziz, and Ares. The Egyptians had their Emeph, Eicton, and Phtha. The Greeks and Romans had

their Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; three in number, though one in essence, and all springing from Cronus, a

fourth, yet older God. The Canaanites had their BaalSpalisha or selftriplicated Baal. The Goths had their

Odin, Vile, and Ve, who are described as the three sons of Bura, the offspring of the mysterious cow, and the

Celts had their three bulls, venerated as the living symbols of the triple Hu or Menu. To the same class we

must ascribe the triads of the Orphic and Pythagorean and Platonic schools; each of which must again be

identified with the imperial triad of the old Chaldaic or Babylonian philosophy."[43]

The history of the catastrophe known as the deluge, which, it is claimed, took place either in Armenia, at

Cashgar, or at some other place in the East, is observed, in later ages, to furnish a covering beneath which

have been veiled the mythical doctrines of the priests. Of the catastrophes which from time to time have

visited our planet, and of the belief which has come to be entertained by ecclesiastics that the earth will be

"The belief has spread among them, from a misunderstanding of the accounts of these occurrences, that after

lengthened cycles of time, and the returns and conjunctions of planets, conflagrations, and floods are wont to

happen, and because after the last flood, which took place in the time of Deucalion, the lapse of time,

agreeably to the vicissitude of all things, requires a conflagration; and this made them give utterance to the

The mythologies of all nations are largely founded upon the "religious history" of a flood. The doctrine of a

triplicated God saved from destruction by a stormtossed ark which rested on some local mountain

answering to Ararat, and which was filled with the natural elements of reproduction, is found amongst the

traditions of every country of the globe. In Egypt, the destructive agency drives the God into the arkor into

the fish's belly, where he is obliged to remain until the flood subsides. In other words, at the time of the

destruction of the world, the creative agency is forced within the womb of Nature, there to remain until it

again comes forth to recreate the world; nor does the symbolism end here, for this Godthe sun, or the

reproductive power within it, which every year is put to death by the cold of winter, must for a season remain

lifeless, but, at the proper time, will come forth with healing in his wings. This God must issue forth to life

The godman, Noah, who appears under one appellation or another in all extant mythologies, was slain, or

shut up in a box, ark, or chest in which he or his seed was preserved from the ravages of a mighty flood, or

from destruction by the calamity which had befallen the rest of mankind. In one sense he represents a Savior,

in another sense he is the saved, for he is the seed of a former world and is born again from a boat, a symbol

which always represents the female energy. Sometimes he is shut up in a wooden cow, from which he issues

forth to new life. Again this storm tossed mariner is born from a cave, or the door of a rocky cavern, within

which he had been preserved from some terrible catastrophe, caused either by water or fire.

Sir W. Jones, Faber, Higgins, and many others who have investigated this subject are confident that the Noah

of Genesis is identical with Menu, the lawgiver of India, and that both are Adam, a man who appears with

his three sons at the end of each cycle, or six hundred years, to renovate the world. In the six hundred and

first year of Noah's life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the

earth. The drying of the waters, and the beginning anew just at the close of the six hundred years, are thought

to refer to the end of the cycle of the Neros. A year of Menu or Buddha had expired and a new dynasty or

"Brahm then at the head of the Indian triad is Menu at the head of his three sons. But that by the first Menu

we are to understand Adam, is evident, both from the remarkable circumstance of himself and his consort

bearing the titles of Adima and Iva, and from the no less remarkable tradition that one of his three sons was

murdered by his brother at a sacrifice. Hence it will follow, that Brahm at the head of the Indian triad is

Adam at the head of his three sons, Cain, Abel, and Seth. Each Menu with his triple offspring is only the

reappearance of a former Menu with his triple offspring; for, in every such manifestation at the

commencement of each Mamwantara, the Hindoo Trimurti, or triad, becomes incarnate, by transmigrating

from the human bodies occupied during a former incarnation; Brahm or the Unity appearing as the paternal

Menu of a new age, while the triad, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, is exhibited in the person of his three sons. . .

. But the arkpreserved MenuSatyavrata and his three sons are certainly Noah and his three sons, Shem,

Hesiod teaches that, after the flood, Chaos, Night, and black Erebus first appeared.[45] At this time, when

there was no Earth, no Heaven, and no Air, an egg floated on the face of the deep, which, being parted,

brought forth Love, or Cupid. Out of Chaos this God created or formed all things. Now Cupid is the same as

the Greek Phanes, and Phanes is Noah, the egg being the ark or female principle from which he was

produced. The Greek God Phanes is the same as the Egyptian Osiris, who was driven into the ark by the

"As Cupid is indifferently said to have been produced from an egg at a time when the whole world was in

disorder, and from the womb of the marine goddess Venus, the egg and the womb of that goddess must

denote the same thing. Accordingly we shall find that, on the one hand, Venus is immediately connected with

the symbolical egg; and, on the other hand, that she is identical with Derceto and Isis, and is declared to be

that general receptacle out of which all the herogods were produced. Now there can be little doubt in what

sense we are to understand this expression, when we are told that the peculiar symbol of Isis was a ship; and

when we learn that the form assumed at the period of the deluge, by the Indian Isi or Bhavani, who is clearly

the same as the Egyptian Isis, was the ship Argha, in which her consort Siva floated securely on the surface

of the ocean. Venus, therefore, or the Great Mother, the parent of Cupid from whom all mankind descended,

must be the Ark: consequently, the egg, with which she is connected, must be the Ark also. Aristophanes

informs us that the egg out of which Love was born, was produced by Night in the bosom of Erebus. But the

Goddess Night, as we learn from the Orphic poet, was the very same person as Venus; and he celebrates her

as the parent of the Universe, and as the general mother both of the herogods and of man. The egg therefore

produced by Night was produced by Venus: but Venus and the egg meant the same thing: even that vast

floating machine, which was esteemed an epitome of the world, and from which was born that Deity who is

also literally said to have been set afloat in an ark. Sometimes the order of production was inverted; and,

instead of the egg being produced by Night or Venus, Venus herself was fabled to have been produced from

the egg. There is a remarkable legend of this sort which ascribes Venus and her egg to the age of Typhon and

Osiris, in other words, to the age in which Noah was compelled by the deluge to enter into the ark."[46]

The Preserver of the Persians, who is seated on a rainbow in front of their rock temples, is Mithras, who is

identical with Noah. Sometimes this ancient mariner is represented as riding on the back of a fish, and again

as floating in a boat. The God of Hindostan, like the classical Dionysos, was enclosed in an ark and driven

into the sea. According to the Gothic traditions as recorded in the Eddas, there once existed a beautiful world,

which was destroyed by fire. Another was created, which, with all its inhabitants save a giant and his three

sons, who were saved in a ship, were destroyed by water. With this triad, which originally sprang from a

mysterious cow, the new world began. This new world, which represents the present system, will in time be

devoured by flames; but another earth will arise from the ocean,an earth far more beautiful than this, upon

which all kinds of grain and delicious fruits will grow without cultivation. Veda and Vile will be there, for

the conflagration will have been powerless to destroy them. While the flames are devouring all things, two

human beings, a female and a male, will be concealed under a hill, where they will feed upon dew, and will

propagate so abundantly that the earth will soon be peopled with a new race of beings. During the

catastrophe, the sun will be devoured by a wolf, but before her death she will give birth to a daughter as

resplendent as herself, who will go in the same path formerly trodden by her mother.

The doctrines of the Gothic philosophers, as they appear in the Eddas, concerning the eternity of matter, the

renewal or succession of worlds, and reincarnation are the same as those taught by Pythagoras, the Stoics,

Brahme or Vishnu, resting on the bottom of the seaa goddess who was symbolized by the selfgenerating

After the natural truths concealed beneath their religious symbolism were wholly forgotten, and human nature

through the overstimulation of the animal instincts had become corrupted, Adam and Eve, names which

doubtless for ages represented the two fecundating principles throughout Nature, with their sons, Cain, Abel,

and Seth, comprehended the godidea. The fact has been observed that just six hundred years from the

creation of Adam, or at the close of the cycle, Noah appears with his three sons to save or perpetuate the race.

It is now believed that this account of Noah and his three sons is an allegory beneath which are concealed the

religious doctrines, or perhaps I should say, the philosophical speculations of an older race. The God of the

ancients was identified with the life of man individually and with that of mankind collectively. As men die

each day, and as every day men are born, this Deity is said to die and to be renewed each day; and as he is the

sun, or the incarnation of the sun, the rising and setting of this luminary depict the constantly dying and

regenerating God of Nature, the same as do the changing seasons. A similar idea reappears in their system of

Regarding the doctrine of the eternity of matter held by the ancients, Origen mentions a belief of the

"world or its substance was never produced, but that it has existed from all eternity. Neither is there any such

thing as death. Those who perish about us every day are simply changed, either they take on other forms or

are removed to some other place. God cannot be destroyed, and as all things are parts of the Deity everything

lives and has always lived, seeming death being simply change. Remnants of these doctrines are found in

every portion of the globe; among the Mexicans of the west as well as among the rude mountaineers of the

While contemplating the philosophical speculations of an ancient race Bailly gave expression to the belief,

that a "profoundly learned race of people existed previous to the formation of any of our systems." The wiser

among the Greek philosophers, those who, it is believed, borrowed their philosophical doctrines from the

East, declare that "there is no production of anything which was not before; no new substance made which

did not really preexist." Equally with matter was spirit indestructible. "Our soul," says Plato, "was

somewhere, before it came to exist in this present form; whence it appears to be immortal. . . . Who knows

whether that which is demonstrated living, be not indeed rather dying, and whether that which is styled dying

To one who has given attention to the various legends relative to the destruction of the world by a flood, and

a stormtossed mariner saved in an ark or boat, it is plain that they all have the same significance, all are but

different versions of the same myth, which in an early age was used to conceal the philosophical doctrines of

That the early historic nations understood little concerning the origin and true meaning of the legends which

they had inherited from an older race is quite evident. The ignorance of the Greeks regarding the significance

of these legends is shown by the following: When Solon, wishing to acquaint himself with the history of the

oldest times, inquired of an Egyptian priest concerning the time of the flood, and the age of Deucalion or

"O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children, nor is there an old man among you! Having no ancient

traditions nor any acquaintance with chronology, you are as yet in a state of intellectual infancy. The true

origin of such mutilated fables as you possess is this. There have been and shall again be in the course of

many revolving ages, numerous destructions of the human race; the greatest of them by fire and water, but

We have observed that the symbol of the universe was an egg. The egg was also the symbol of the earth and

of the ark, which meant universal womanhood. From the mundane egg the triplicated Deity sprang. There can

be little doubt at the present time that Adam, Noah, Menu, Osiris, and Dionysos all represent the fructifying

power of the sun. In process of time they each came to figure as male reproductive energy, and during certain

periods of the earth's history they have each in turn been worshipped as the Deity. That not only the ark was

female, but that the god element or reproductive principle within the ark was both female and male, is a fact

which has been lost sight of during the historic period, or during those ages of the world in which the attempt

All the germs and living creatures which were within the ark, and which were to reanimate the earth, were in

pairs, females and males; and, besides, the Dove (female), the emblem of peace, was also present. Even Noah

himself was produced from an egg, which, as we have seen, is the symbol of Venus, or universal

womanhood. In after ages the female principle was not mentioned, but, on the contrary, was concealed

beneath convenient symbols; and as the philosophical ideas underlying natural religion were lost or forgotten,

and mankind had become too ignorant to perceive that a dual force, female and male which was also a

Trinity, pervades Nature, the notion came gradually to prevail that the creative agency, which is spirit, is

altogether male. Hence the formulation of the inconceivable doctrine of a Trinity composed of a Father, Son,

Glimpses of antiquity as far back as human ken can reach reveal the fact that in early ages of human society

the physiological question of sex was a theme of the utmost importance, while various proofs are at hand

showing that throughout the past the question of the relative importance of the female and male elements in

procreation has been a fruitful source of religious contention and strife. These struggles, which from time to

time involved the entire habitable globe, were of long duration, subsiding only after the adherents of the one

sex or the other had gained sufficient ascendancy over the opposite party to successfully erect its altars and

compel the worship of its own peculiar gods, which worship usually included a large share of the temporal

power. Only since the male sex has gained sufficient influence to control not only human action, but human

[48] At the present time, through causes which are not difficult to understand, the question of the relative

importance of the two sexes is again assuming a degree of importance indicative of the changes which are

taking place in human thought, and for the reason that we are just witnessing the dawn of an intellectual age,

the problems to be solved will admit of no answers other than those based upon a scientific foundation.

That religious wars have not been confined to more modern times, and that among an early race the attempt

to exalt the male principle met with obstinate resistance which involved mankind in a conflict, the violence of

which has never been exceeded, are facts which seem altogether probable. Indeed, there is much evidence

going to show that the cause of the original dispersion of a primitive race was the contention which arose

respecting their religious faith or regarding the physiological question of the relative importance of the sexes

in the function of reproduction; and that the general war indicated in the Puranas, which began in India and

extended over the entire habitable globe, and which was celebrated by the poets as "the basis of Grecian

mythology," originated in this conflict over the precedence of one or the other of the sexprinciples contained

in the Deity. Although there are no records of these wars in extant history, accounts of them are still

preserved in the traditions and religious monuments of oriental countries. In Egypt, in India, and to a greater

or less extent in other Eastern countries, these physiological contests have been disguised under a veil of

allegory, the true significance of which it is no longer difficult to understand. With the light which more

recent investigation has thrown upon the subject of the separation of the original sexelements contained in

the Deity, the significance of the following legend in the Servarasa is at once apparent.

When Parvati (Devi) was united in marriage to Mahadeva (Siva), the divine pair had once a dispute on the

comparative influence of the sexes in producing animated beings, and each resolved by mutual agreement to

create a new race of men. The race produced by Mahadeva were very numerous, and devoted themselves

exclusively to the worship of the male Deity, but their intellects were dull, their bodies feeble, their limbs

distorted, and their complexions of many different hues. Parvati had at the same time created a multitude of

human beings, who adored the female power only, and were well shaped, with sweet aspects and fine

complexions. A furious contest ensued between the two nations, and the Lingajas, or adorers of the male

principle, were defeated in battle, but Mahadeva, enraged against the Yonigas (the worshippers of the female

element), would have destroyed them with the fire of his eye if Parvati had not interposed and appeased him,

but he would spare them only on condition that they should instantly leave the country with a promise to see

it no more, and from the Yoni, which they adored as the sole cause of their existence, they were named

The fact has been noticed in a previous work[49] that, according to Wilford, the Greeks were the descendants

of the Yavanas of India, and that when the Ionians emigrated they adopted the name to distinguish

themselves as adorers of the female, in opposition to a strong sect of male worshippers which had been driven

from the mother country. We are taught by the Puranas that they settled partly on the borders of

VarahaDwip, or Europe, where they became the progenitors of the Greeks; and partly in the two Dwipas of

Cusha, Asiatic and African. In the Asiatic CushaDwip they supported themselves by violence and rapine.

Parvati, however, or their tutelary goddess, Yoni, always protected them; and at length, in the fine country

which they occupied, they became a flourishing nation.[50] Wilford relates that there is a sect of Hindoos

who, attempting to reconcile the two systems, declare in their allegorical style that "Parvati and Mahadeva

found their concurrence essential to the perfection of their offspring, and that Vishnu, at the request of the

The people who were dominant in Asia long before the rise of the late Assyrian monarchy, are said to be

those whom scriptural writers represent as Cushim, and the Hindoos as Cushas. They were the descendants of

Cush, or Cuth, and were believed to have been the architects of the Tower of Babel. Epiphanius, Eusebius,

and others assert that at the time of the building of this tower there existed two rival beliefs, the one

demonstrated as Scuthism, the other as Ionism, or Hellenism, the latter of which embodied the worship of the

Great Mother, or the female element, which was worshipped in the shape of the mystic "Iona or Dove." The

Scuths, on the other hand, believed in the preeminence of a Great Father, or, perhaps I should say, in a Deity

composed of a triad containing the elements of a male parent. Upon this subject the learned Faber remarks: "I

am much mistaken if some dissension on these points did not prevail at Babel itself; and I think there is

reason for believing that the altercation between the rival sects aided the confusion of languages in producing

Those who believed in the superiority of the male in the processes of reproduction, adored the male element

in the Deity, while those who held that the female is the more important, worshipped the female energy

throughout Nature under one or another of its symbols, sometimes as a woman with her child and sometimes

It is evident from the sacred writings of the Hindoos that in India, during a period of several thousand years,

there existed various sects, those who worshipped the male as the only creative force, others who adored the

female as the origin of life, and those who paid homage to both, as alike important in the office of

It would seem that the fierce wars which had devastated the land had ceased prior to the beginning of the

Tower of Babel. According to the testimony of Moses, the Lord himself declared "Behold the people is one."

This unanimity of belief, as is plainly shown, was of short duration, for the Tower arose "upright and

defiant," not, however, as an emblem of the primeval dual or triune God in which the female energy was

predominant, but as a symbol of male creative power. It was the type of virility which in the subsequent

Indeed it has been confidently asserted by certain writers that the earliest idols set up as emblems of the

Deity, or as expressions of the peculiar worship of the Lingajas, were obelisks, columns, or towers, the first

of which we have any account being the Tower of Babel, erected probably at Nipur in Chaldea. Until a

comparatively recent time, the actual significance of this monument seems to have been little understood.

Later research, however, points to the fact that it was a phallic device erected in opposition to a religion

which recognized the female element throughout Nature as God. The length of time which the adherents of

these two doctrines had contended for the mastery is not known, but through the deciphered monuments of

ancient nations, by facts gathered from their sacred writings, and by the general voice of tradition, it has been

ascertained with a considerable degree of certainty that this great upheaval of society was the culmination of

a dispute which had long been waged between two contending powers, and which finally resulted in a

separation of the people, and in the final success, for the time being, of the sect which refused longer to

At what time in the history of mankind the Tower of Babel was erected has not been ascertained, but the great

antiquity of Chaldea is no longer questioned. Sir Henry Rawlinson, in the Royal Geographical Journal says:

"When Chaldea was first colonized, or at any rate when the seat of empire was first established there, the

emporium of trade seems to have been at Ur of the Chaldees, which is now 150 miles from the sea, the

Persian Gulf having retired nearly that distance before the sediment brought down by the Euphrates and

"A little reflection on the vast period of time required to effect geological changes so great as this will enable

us to see to what a remote age in the deeps of antiquity we must go to find the beginning of civilization in the

Although at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel the worship of a Deity in which the male principle

was preeminent had not become universal, still the facts seem to indicate that the doctrine of male

superiority which for ages had been steadily advancing had at length gained the ascendancy over the older

religion. The new faith and worship had corrupted the old, and through the conditions which had been

imposed upon women, and the consequent stimulation of the lower nature in man, even the adherents of the

older faith were losing sight of those higher principles which in preceding ages they had adored as God.

We have seen that in every country upon the earth there is a tradition recounting the ravages of a flood.

Whether or not this legend is to be traced to an actual calamity by which a large portion of Asia was

inundated, is not for a certainty known; but the fact that there was a deluge of contention and strife,

surpassing anything perhaps which the world has ever witnessed, seems altogether probable.

Not long after the catastrophe designated as the flood, emblems of the Deity, representations of the male and

female elements, appear in profusion. Babylon, at which place was erected the Tower of Belus, and

Memphis, which contained the Pyramids, were among the first cities which were built. As the tower typified

the Deity worshipped by those who claimed superiority for the male, so the pyramids symbolized the creative

agency and peculiar qualities of the female, or of the dual Deity which was worshipped as female.

Although the grosser elements in human nature were rapidly assuming a more intensely aggressive attitude,

and although the higher principles involved in an earlier religion were in a measure forgotten, it is evident

that at this time humanity had not become wholly sensualized, and that the lower propensities and appetites

The Great Mother Cybele, who is represented by the Sphinx, had doubtless been adored as a pure abstraction,

her worship being that of the universal female principle in Nature. She is pictured as the "Eldest Daughter of

the Mythologies," and as "The Great First Cause." She represented the past and the future. She was the source

In its earliest representations, the Sphinx is figured with the head of a woman and the body of a lion. By

various writers it is stated that the Sphinxes which were brought as spoils from Asia, the very cradle of

religion, were thus represented. The lion, which symbolizes royal power and intellectual strength, is always

attached to the chariot of Cybele. The Sphinx is supposed to typify not only Cybele, but the great

androgynous God of Africa as well. However, as Cybele and Muth portrayed the same idea, namely, female

power and wisdom, we are not surprised that they should have been worshipped under the same emblem.

Neither is it remarkable, when we recall the fact that the female was supposed to comprehend both sexes, that

in certain instances a beard appears as an accompanying feature of the Sphinx. We are told that the fourth

avatar of Vishnu was a Sphinx, but a further search into the history of this Deity reveals the fact that her ninth

avatar is Brahm (masculine). The female principle has at length succumbed to the predominance of male

Although the rites connected with the worship of Cybele were phallic they were absolutely pure. In an

allusion to this worship, Hargrave Jennings admits that the "spirituality to which women in that age of the

world were observed to be more liable than men was peculiarly adverse to all sensual indulgence, and

Although the creative principle was adored under its representatives, the Yoni and the Lingham, still the

principal object seems to have been, when administering the rites pertaining to the worship of Cybele, to

ignore sex and the usual sex distinctions; hence we find that, in order to assume an androgynous appearance,

the priestesses of this Goddess officiated in the costumes of males, while priests appeared in the dress

peculiar to females. However, that the sensuous element was to a certain extent already assuming dominion

over the higher nature, and that priests were regarded as being incapable of selfcontrol, is observed in the

fact that in the later ages of female worship one of the principal requirements of a priest of Cybele was

It is the opinion of Grote that the story which appears in the Hesiodic Theogony, of the castration of Saturn

and Uranus by their sons with sickles forged by the mother, was borrowed from the Phrygians, or from the

In India, the strictest chastity was prescribed to the priests of Siva, a God which was worshipped as the

Destroyer or Regenerator, and which in its earlier conception was the same as the Great Mother Cybele.

These priests were frequently obliged to officiate in a nude state, and during the ceremony should it appear

that the symbols with which they came in contact had appealed to other than their highest emotions, they

The identity of the religions of India and Egypt has been noted in an earlier portion of this work. Wilford, in

his dissertations upon Egypt and the Nile, says that in a conversation which he had with some learned

Brahmins, upon describing to them the form and peculiarities of the Great Pyramid, they told him that "it was

a temple appropriated to the worship of Padma Devi." The true Coptic name of these edifices is Pire Honc,

which signifies a sunbeam. Padma Devi means the lotus, or the Deity of generation.

It is thought by many writers that these gigantic structures were erected by the Cushite conquerors of Egypt,

who invaded and civilized the country, as emblems of the female Deity whom they worshipped. Certainly the

magnitude of these monuments and the ingenuity displayed in their construction indicate the intelligence of

their builders and the exalted character of the Deity adored. The Great Pyramid is in the form of a square,

each side of whose base is seven hundred and fiftyfive feet, and covers an area of nearly fourteen acres. An

able writer in describing the pyramids says that the first thing which impresses one is the uniform precision

and systematic design apparent in their architecture. They all have their sides accurately adapted to the four

"In six of them which have been opened, the principal passage preserves the same inclination of 26 degrees to

the horizon, being directed toward the polar star. . . . Their obliquity being so adjusted as to make the north

side coincide with the obliquity of the sun's rays at the summer's solstice, has, combined with the former

particulars, led some to suppose they were solely intended for astronomical uses; and certainly, if not

altogether true, it bespeaks, at all events, an intimate acquaintance with astronomical rules, as well as a due

regard to the principles of geometry. Others have fancied them intended for sepulchres; and as the Egyptians,

taught by their ancient Chaldean victors, connected astronomy with their funereal and religious ceremonies,

they seem in this to be not far astray, if we but extend the application to their sacred bulls and other animals,

According to the testimony of Inman, the pyramid is an emblem of the Trinitythree in one. The triangle

typifies the flame of sacred fire emerging from the holy lamp. With its base upwards it typifies the Delta, or

the door through which all come into the world. With its apex uppermost, it is an emblem of the phallic triad.

The union of these triangles typifies the male and female principles uniting with each other, thus producing a

Thus the primary significance of the pyramid was religious, and in its peculiar architectural construction was

manifested the prevailing conception of the Deity worshipped; namely, the fructifying energies in the sun.

We are informed that "all nations have at one time or another passed through violent stages of pyrolatry, a

word which reminds us that fire and phallic cult flourished around the pyramids. . . . Every town in Greece

As not alone the sun but the stars also had come to be venerated as agencies in reproduction, the worship of

these objects was, as we have seen, closely interwoven with that of the generative processes throughout

Nature. The attempt to solve the great problem of the origin of life on the earth led these people to

contemplate with the profoundest reverence all the visible objects which were believed to affect human

destiny. Hence both the pyramid and the tower served a double purpose, first, as emblems of the Deity

worshipped, and, second, as monuments for the study of the heavenly bodies with which their religious ideas

While comparing the early emblems which prefigure the primitive elements in the godidea, Hargrave

"In the conveyance of certain ideas to those who contemplate it, the pyramid boasts of prouder significance,

and impresses with a hint of still more impenetrable mystery. We seem to gather dim supernatural ideas of

the mighty Mother of Nature . . . that almost twosexed entity, without a nameShe of the Veil which is

never to be lifted, perhaps not even by the angels, for their knowledge is limited. In short, this tremendous

abstraction, Cybele, Ideae, Mater, Isiac controller of the Zodiacs, whatever she may be, has her representative

in the halfburied Sphinx even to our own day, watching the stars although nearly swallowed up in the

From the time when the two religious elements began to separate in the minds of the people, the prophets,

seers, and priestesses of the old religion, those who continued to worship the Virgin and Child, had

prophesied that a mortal woman, a virgin, would, independently of the male principle, bring forth a child, the

fulfilment of which prophecy would vindicate the ancient faith and forever settle the dispute relative to the

superiority of the female in the office of reproduction. Thus would the woman "bruise the serpent's head." In

process of time not only Yonigas, but Lingajas as well, came to accept the doctrine of the incarnation of the

sun in the bodies of earthly virgins. By Lingaites, however, it was the seed of the woman and not the woman

herself who was to conquer evil. Finally, with the increasing importance of the male in human society, it is

observed that a reconciliation has been effected between the female worshippers and those of the male.

Thalat, the great Chaldean Deity, who presided over Chaos prior to the existence of organized matter, is

finally transformed into a male God. The Hindoo Vishnu, who as she slept on the bottom of the sea brought

forth all creation, has changed her sex. Brahm, the Creator, is male, and appears as a triplicated Deity in the

form of three sons within whom is contained the essence of a Great Father, the female creative principle

Hence we see that the God of the ancients, the universal dual force which resides in the sun and which creates

all things, is no longer worshipped under the figure of a mother and her child. Although the female principle

is still a necessary factor in the creative processes, and although it is capable of producing gods, the mother

element possesses none of the essentials which constitute a Deity. In other words, woman is not a Creator.

From the father is derived the soul of the child, while from the mother, or from matter, the body is formed.

Hence the prevalence at a certain stage of human history of divine fathers and earthly mothers; for instance,

Alexander of Macedon, Julius Caesar, and later the mythical Christ who superseded Jesus, the Judean

Henceforth, caves, wells, cows, boxes and chests, arks, etc., stand for or symbolize the female power. We are

given to understand, however, that for ages these symbols were as holy as the God himself, and among many

We have seen that the ancients knew that matter and force were alike indestructible. According to their

doctrine all Nature proceeded from the sun. Hence the power back of the sun, which they worshipped as the

Destroyer or Regenerator, or, in other words, as the mother of the sun, was the Great Aum or Om, the Aleim

or Elohim, who was the indivisible God. The creative agency which proceeded from the sun was both male

and female, yet one in essence. Later, the male appeared as spirit, the female as matter. Spirit was something

It had indeed created matter from nothing. The fact will be remembered that man claimed supremacy over

woman on the ground that the male is spirit, while the female is only matter; in other words, that she was

Thus was the godidea divorced from Nature, and a masculine principle, outside and independent of matter,

The logic by which the great female principle in the Deity has been eliminated, and the subterfuges which

have been and still are employed to construct and sustain a Creator who of himself is powerless to create, is

as amusing as it is suggestive, and forcibly recalls to mind la couvade, in which, among certain tribes, the

father, assuming all the duties of procreation, goes to bed when a child is born.[59]

All mythologies prove conclusively that ages elapsed before human beings were rash enough, or sufficiently

blinded by falsehood and superstition, to attempt to construct a creative force unaided by the female

principle. Just here it may not be out of place to refer to the fact that in the attempt to divorce God from

Nature have arisen all the superstitions and senseless religious theories with which, since the earliest ages of

To this separation of the two original elements in the Deity, and the consequent exaltation of one of the

factors in the creative processes, is to be traced the beginning of our present false, unnatural, and

unphilosophical masculine system of religiona system under which a father appears as the sole parent of

The fact is tolerably well understood that mysticism and the accumulation of superstitious ideas are the result

of the overstimulation of the lower animal instincts. When the agencies which had hitherto held the lower

nature in check became inoperativewhen man began to regard himself as a Creator and therefore as the

superior of womanhe had reached a point at which he was largely controlled by supernatural or mystical

The fact is observed that in course of time the governmental powers are no longer in the hands of the people;

the masses have become enslaved. Their rulers are priestsdeified tyrants who are unable to maintain their

authority except through the ignorance and credulity of the masses. Hence one is not surprised to find that the

change which took place at a certain stage of human growth in respect to the manner of reckoning descent

was instigated and enforced by religion. Apollo had declared that woman is but the nurse to her own

offspring. Neither is it remarkable at this stage in the human career, as women had lost their position as heads

of families, and as they were no longer recognized as of kin to their children, that man should have attempted

Wherever in the history of the human race we observe a change in the relations of the sexes involving greater

or more oppressive restrictions on the natural rights of women, such change, whether it assume a legal, social,

or religious form, will, if traced to its source, always be found deeply rooted in the wiles of priestcraft. Since

the decay of the earliest form of religion, namely, Natureworship, the gods have never been found ranged on

Later investigations are proving that the primitive idea of a Deity had its foundation in actual physical facts

and experiences; and, as the maternal principle constituted the most important as well as the most obvious of

the facts which entered into the conception of a Creator, and as it was the only natural bond capable of

binding human society together, so long as reason was not wholly clouded by superstition and warped by

sensuality, it could not be eliminated. In other words, a Creator in which the more essential element of

creative force was wanting, was contrary to all human experience and observation. Indeed nothing could be

plainer than that the deified male principle could of itself create nothing, and that it was dependent for its

By this attempt to construct a masculine Deity, absurdities were presented to the human judgment and

understanding which for ages could not be overcome, and by it contradictions were necessitated which could

not be reconciled with human reason and with the ideas of Nature which had hitherto been held by mankind.

It was not, therefore, until reason had been suspended in all matters pertaining to religion, and blind faith in

the machinations of priestcraft had been established, that a male God was set up as the sole Creator of the

When women, who had become the legitimate plunder not only of individuals but of bands of warriors whose

avowed object was the capture of women for wives, had degenerated into mere tools or instruments for the

gratification and pleasure of men, Perceptive Wisdom or Light, and Maternal Affection the Preserver of the

race, gradually became eliminated from the godidea of mankind. Passion became God. It was the Creator in

Although in an age of pure Natureworship the ideas connected with reproduction, like those related to all

other natural functions, were wholly unconnected with impurity either of thought or deed, still when an age

arrived in which all checks to human passion had been withdrawn, and the lower propensities had gained

dominion over the higher faculties, the influence of fertility or passionworship on human development or

The fact must be borne in mind that curing the later ages of passionworship the creative processes and the

reproductive organs were deified, not as an expression or symbol of the operations of Nature, but as a means

With religion bestialized and its management regulated wholly with an idea to the gratification of man's

sensuous desires, religious temples, under the supervision of the priesthood, became brothels, in which were

openly practiced as part and parcel of religious rites and ceremonies the most wanton profligacy and the most

shameless selfabandonment. The worship of Aphrodite or Venus, and also that of Bacchus, originally

consisted in homage paid to the reproductive principles contained in the earth, water, and sun, but, as is well

known, this pure and beautiful worship, in later times, and especially after it was carried to Greece, became

synonymous with the grossest practices and the most lawless disregard of human decency.

With the light which in these later ages science and ethnological research are throwing upon the physiological

and religious disputes of the ancients, the correctness of the primitive doctrines elaborated under purer

conditions at an age when human beings lived nearer to Nature is being provednamely, that matter like

spirit is eternal and indestructible, and therefore that the one is as difficult of comprehension as the other, and

that Nature, instead of being separated from spirit, is filled with it and can not be divorced from it; also that

the female is the original organic unit of creation, without which nothing is or can be created.

The profound doctrines of abstractions or emanations; of the absorption of the individual soul into the divine

ether or essence; of the renewal of worlds and reincarnation, were doubtless elaborated after the separation, in

the human mind, of Spirit from matter, but before mankind had lost the power to reason abstractly.

Although Pythagoras understood and believed these doctrines, he did not, as is well known, receive them

from his degenerate countrymen, but, on the contrary, imbibed them from private sources among the

orientals, where fragments of their remarkable learning were still extant. He said that religion consists in

knowing the truth and doing good, and his ideas show the grandeur and beauty of the earlier conception of a

Deity. He declared that there is only one God who is not, "as some are apt to imagine, seated above the

world, beyond the orb of the universe," but that this great power is diffused throughout Nature. It is "the

Plato believed that human beings are possessed of two souls, the one mortal, which perishes with the body,

the other immortal, which continues to exist either in a state of happiness or misery; that the righteous soul,

freed from the limitations of matter, returns at death to the source whence it came, and that the wicked, after

having been detained for a while in a place prepared for their reception, are sent back to earth to reanimate

Aristotle held the opinion that the souls of human beings are sparks from the divine flame, while Zeno, the

founder of the Stoic philosophy, taught that spirit acting upon matter produced the elements and the earth.

There is plenty of evidence going to show that the early Fathers in the Christian church believed in the

doctrines of reincarnation and the renewal of worlds. Neither is there any doubt but that this philosophy came

from the East, where it originated. It is thought that the ancient philosophers who elaborated these doctrines

were unable to account for the existence of evil without a belief in the immortality of the soul. Spirit was

A soul, upon leaving the body, in course of time found its way back to earth, surrounded by conditions suited

to its stage of growth. Here it must reap all the consequences of its former life. It must also during its stay on

earth make the conditions for its next appearance upon an earthly plane. So soon as through a succession of

births and deaths it had perfected itself, it entered into a state of Nirvana. It was absorbed into the great

"Many a house of life Hath held meseeking ever Him who wrought These prisons of the senses, sorrow

fraught; Sore was my ceaseless strife! But now, Thou builder of this tabernacleThou! I know Thee. Never

shalt Thou build again These walls of pain, Nor raise the rooftree of deceits, nor lay Fresh rafters on the

clay; Broken Thy house is, and the ridgepole split! Delusion fashioned it! Safe pass I thencedeliverance

Regarding the opinions of the ancients on the subject of the eternity of matter, Higgins, in his learned work

"The eternity of matter is a well known tenet of the Pythagoreans, and whether right or wrong there can be no

doubt that it was the doctrine of the oriental school, whence Pythagoras drew his learning. It was a principle

taken or mistaken from, or found amongst, the debris of that mighty mass of learning and science of a former

period, of which, on looking back as far as human ken can reach, the most learned men have thought that they

could see a faint glimmering. Indeed, I think I may say something more than a faint glimmering. For all the

really valuable moral and philosophical doctrines we possess, Dutens has shown to have existed there."

From what is known relative to the speculations of an ancient race, the fact is observed that creation was but a

reformation of matter. Wisdom, or Minerva, formed the earth and the planets; she did not create the heavens

Of the seven principles of the universe, matter was the first, and of the seven principles of man, the physical

body was the earliest. Through evolutionary processes, or through cyclic periods involving millions of years,

Mai, the Mother of Gotama Buddha, was simply matter, or illusion, from which its higher manifestation,

mind or spirit, was emerging. She was also the mother of Mercury. A clearer knowledge of the philosophical

doctrines which were elaborated at a time when Natureworship was beginning to decay, reveals the fact that

the godidea comprehended a profound knowledge of Nature and her laws; that while this people did not

pretend to account for the existence of matter, they recognized a force operating through it whose laws were

With these facts relative to the intelligence of an older race before us, the question naturally arises: What was

the degree of civilization attained at a time when the Deity worshipped was an abstract principle involving

the actual creative processes throughout Nature? and, notwithstanding our prejudices, we are constrained to

acknowledge that these earlier conceptions are scarcely compatible with the barbarism which we have been

taught to regard as the condition of all the peoples which existed prior to the first Greek Olympiad. On the

contrary, the origin of the philosophical opinions entertained by the most ancient oriental philosophers, and

which must have arisen out of a profound knowledge or appreciation of Nature and her operations, point to a

race far superior to any of those peoples which appear in early historic times. Regarding these opinions,

"From their philosophical truth and universal reception I am strongly inclined to refer them to the authors of

the Neros, or to that enlightened race, supposed by Bailly to have formerly existed, and to have been saved

from a great catastrophe on the Himalaya Mountains. This is confirmed by an observation which the reader

will make in the sequel, that these doctrines have been, like all the other doctrines of antiquity, gradually

Of this cycle, Bailly says: "No person could have invented the Neros who had not arrived at much greater

perfection in astronomy than we know was the state of the most ancient Assyrians, Egyptians, and Greeks."

Toward the close of the eighteenth century the celebrated astronomer, Bailly, published a work entitled The

History of Ancient Astronomy, in which he endeavored to prove that a nation possessed of profound wisdom

and great genius, and of an antiquity far superior to the Hindoos or Egyptians, "inhabited the country to the

north of India, or about fifty degrees north latitude." This writer has shown that "the most celebrated

astronomical observations and inventions, from their peculiar character, could have taken place only in these

latitudes, and that arts and improvements gradually travelled thence to the equator."

A colony of Brahmins settled near the Imans, and in Northern Thibet, where in ancient times they established

celebrated colleges, particularly at Nagraent and Cashmere. In these institutions the treasures of Sanskrit

literature were supposed to be deposited. The Rev. Mr. Maurice was informed that an immemorial tradition

prevailed at Benares that all the learning of India came from a country situated in forty degrees of northern

latitude. Other writers are of the opinion that civilization proceeded from Arabia; that the old Cushite race

carried commerce, letters, and laws to all the nations of the East. Which of these theories is true, if either,

may not with certainty be proved at present; yet that in the far distant past a race of people existed whose

That the length of the year was calculated with greater exactness by an ancient and forgotten people than it

was by early historic nations is proved by the cycle of the Neros. This cycle, which was formed of 7.421

lunar revolutions of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 seconds, or 219,146 days and a half, was equal to

600 solar years of 365 days, 5 hours, 51 minutes, and 36 seconds, which time varies less than three minutes

from the present observations of the year's length. The length of the year as calculated by the Egyptians and

other early historic nations was 360 days, which fact would seem to indicate that a science of astronomy had

been developed in an earlier age which by the most ancient peoples of whom we have any historic records

has been lost or forgotten. It has been said that if this cycle of the Neros "were correct to the second, if on the

first of January at noon a new moon took place, it would take place again in exactly 600 years at the same

The Varaha Calpa has the famous cycle of 4,320,000,000 years for its duration. This system makes the Cali

Yug begin 3098 years B.C. A dodecan consisted of 5 days, and 72 dodecans formed a natural year of 360

days. According to the earlier calculations, 360 solar diurnal revolutions constituted a natural year. The

doctrine of the ancients concerning these cycles is thus set forth by Godfrey Higgins:

"The sun, or rather that higher principle of which the sun was the emblem or the shekinah, was considered to

be incarnated every six hundred years. Whilst the sun was in Taurus, the different incarnations, under

whatever names they might go, were all considered but as incarnations of Buddha or Taurus. When he got

into Aries, they were in like manner considered but as incarnations of Cristna or Aries, and even Buddha and

Cristna were originally considered the same, and had a thousand names in common, constantly repeated in

their litaniesa striking proof of identity of origin. Of these Zodiacal divisions the Hindoos formed another

period, which consisted of ten ages or Calpas or Yugs, which they considered the duration of the world, at the

end of which a general renovation of all things would take place. They also reckoned ten Neroses to form a

period, each of them keeping a certain relative location to the other, and together to form a cycle. To effect

this they doubled the precessional period for one sign viz: 2160 yearsthus making 4320, which was a

tenth of 43,200, a year of the sun, analogous to the 360 natural days, and produced in the same manner, by

multiplying the day of 600 by the dodecans 72 = 43,200. They then formed another great year of 432,000 by

again multiplying it by 10, which they called a Cali Yug, which was measurable both by the number 2160,

the years the equinox preceded in a sign, and by the number 600. They then had the following scheme:

A Cali Yug, or 600 (or a Neros) 432,000 A Dwapar, or Duopar Age. . . .864,000 A Treta, or treepar Age. .

altogether 10 Ages, making a Maha Yug or Great Age. These were all equimultiples of the Cycle of the

Neros 600, and of 2160, the twelfth part of the equinoctial precessional Cycle, and in all formed ten ages of

The two great religious festivals of the ancients occurred the one in the spring, at Easter, when all Nature was

renewed, the other in the autumn, after the earth had yielded her bounties and the fruits were garnered in. It

was at these gatherings that the Great Mother Earth received the devout adoration of all her children.

It is supposed that the Neros, or cycle of 600, is closely connected with this worship, and that it was invented

to regulate the season for these festivals. In process of time it was discovered that this cycle no longer

answered, that the festival which had originally fallen on the first of May now occurred on the first of April.

"led ultimately to the discovery that the equinox preceded about 2160 years in each sign or 25,920 years in

the 12 signs, and this induced them to try if they could not form a cycle of the two. On examination, they

found that the 600 would not commensurate the 2160 years in a sign, or any number of sums of 2160 less

than ten, but that it would with ten, or that in ten times 2160, or in 21,600 years, the two cycles would agree;

yet this artificial cycle would not be enough to include the cycle of 25,920. They, therefore, took two of the

periods of 21,600, or 43,200; and, multiplying both by tenviz: 600 X 10 = 6000, and 43,200 X 10 =

432,000they formed a period with which the 600year period and the 6000year period would terminate

and form a cycle. Every 432,000 years the three periods would commence anew; thus the three formed a year

To form a great year, which would include all the cyclical motions of the sun and moon, and perhaps of the

planets, they multiplied 432,000 by ten; thus they had ten periods answering to ten signs. Concerning these

"Persons of narrow minds will be astonished at such monstrous cycles; but it is very certain that no period

could properly be called the great year unless it embraced in its cycle every periodical movement or apparent

aberration. But their vulgar wonder will perhaps cease when they are told that La Place has proved that, if the

periodical aberrations of the moon be correctly calculated, the great year must be extended to a greater length

even than 4,320,000 years of the Maha Yug of the Hindoos, and certainly no period can be called a year of

our planetary system which does not take in all the periodical motions of the planetary bodies."

It is thought that as soon as these ancient astronomers perceived that the equinoxes preceded, they would at

once attempt to determine the rate of precession in a given time; the precession, however, in one year was so

small that they were obliged to extend their observations over immense periods. Jones informs us that the

Hindoos first supposed that the precession took place at the rate of 60 years in a degree, or 1800 in a Zodiacal

sign, and of 21,600 in a revolution of the entire circle. They afterwards came to think that the precession was

at the rate of 60 years and a fraction of a year, and thus that the precession for a sign was in 1824 years, and

for the circle in 21,888 years. Subsequently they discovered, or thought they had discovered, the SoliLunar

period of 608 years, hence they attempted to make the two go together. Both, however, proved to be

In referring to the fact that among the ancient Romans existed the story of the twelve vultures and the twelve

"This arose from the following cause: They came from the East before the supposition that the precession

took place a degree in about 60 years, and 1824 years in a sign had been discovered to be erroneous; and as

they supposed the Neros made a correct cycle in 608 years, and believed the precessional cycle to be

completed in 21,888, they of course made their ages into twelve. As both numbers were erroneous, they

would not long answer their intended purpose, and their meaning was soon lost, though the sacred periods of

According to Hipparchus and Ptolemy, the equinoxes preceded at the rate of a degree in 100 years, or 36,000

hundred years in 360 degrees. This constituted a great year, at the end of which the regeneration of all things

takes place. This is thought to be a remnant of the most ancient Hindoo speculations, and not the result of

"at the vernal equinox, the Indians probably discovered their mistake, in giving about 60 years to a degree;

that they ought to give 50" to a year, about 72 years to a degree, and about 2160 years to a sign; and that the

LuniSolar cycle, called the Neros, did not require 608 years, but 600 years only, to complete its period.

It is thought by various writers that the knowledge of the ancient Hindoos regarding the movements of the

sun and moon in their cycles of nineteen and six hundred yearsthe Metonic cycle, and the Nerosproves

that long before the birth of Hipparchus the length of the year was known with a degree of exactitude which

that astronomer had not the means of determining. It is positively asserted by astronomers that at least twelve

hundred years were required, "during which time the observations must have been taken with the greatest

care and regularly recorded," to arrive at the knowledge necessary for the invention of the Neros, and that

"The fact, however, is certain, that at some remote period there were mathematicians and astronomers who

knew that the sun is in the centre of the planetary system, and that the earth, itself a planet, revolves round the

central fire;who calculated, or like ourselves attempted to calculate, the return of comets, and who knew

that these bodies move in elliptic orbits, immensely elongated, having the sun in one of their foci;who

indicated the number of the solar years contained in the great cycle, by multiplying a period (variously called

in the Zend, the Sanscrit, and the Chinese ven, van, and phen) of 180 years by another period of 144

years;who reckoned the sun's distance from the earth at 800,000,000 of Olympic stadia; and who must,

therefore, have taken the parallax of that luminary by a method, not only much more perfect than that said to

be invented by Hipparchus, but little inferior in exactness to that now in use among the moderns;who

could scarcely have made a mere guess when they fixed the moon's distance from its primary planet at

fiftynine semidiameters of the earth;who had measured the circumference of our globe with so much

exactness that their calculation only differed by a few feet from that made by our modern geometricians;

who held that the moon and the other planets were worlds like our own, and that the moon was diversified

by mountains and valleys and seas;who asserted that there was yet a planet which revolved round the sun,

beyond the orbit of Saturn;who reckoned the planets to be sixteen in number; and who reckoned the

length of the tropical year within three minutes of the true time; nor, indeed, were they wrong at all, if a

Bailly, Sir W. Jones, Higgins, and Ledwich, as well as many modern writers, agree in the conclusion that the

Indians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Chinese were simply the depositaries, not the inventors, of

science. The spirit of inquiry which in later times is directing attention to the almost buried past is revealing

the fact that not merely the germs whence our present civilization has been developed descended to us from

the dim ages of antiquity, but that a great number of the actual benefits which go to make up our present state

of material progress have come to us from prehistoric times. The art of writing, of navigation (including the

use of the compass), the working of metals, astronomy, the telescope, gunpowder, mathematics, democracy,

building, weaving, dyeing, and many of the appliances of civilized life, have been appropriated by later ages

with no acknowledgment of the source whence they were derived. When Pythagoras exhibited to the Greeks

some beautiful specimens of ancient architecture which he had brought from Egypt and Babylon, they simply

claimed them as their own, giving no credit to the people who originated them; and subsequent ages, copying

their example, have refused to acknowledge that anything of value had been achieved prior to the first Greek

When Philip of Macedon opened the gold mines of Thrace, a country in which it will be remembered the

worship of the Great Mother Cybele was indigenous, he found that they had been previously worked "at great

expense and with great ingenuity by a people well versed in mechanics, of whom no monuments whatever

The decorations on the breasts of some of the oldest mummies show that the early Egyptians understood the

art of making glass. It is now known that the lens as a magnifying instrument was in use among them.

Attention has been drawn to the fact that the astronomical observations of the ancients would have been

impossible without the aid of the telescope. Diodorus Siculus says there was an island west of the Celtae in

which the Druids brought the sun and moon near them. An instrument has recently been found in the sands of

the Nile, the construction of which shows plainly that 6000 years ago the Egyptians were acquainted with our

William Huntington, who has travelled widely in India, Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, and Egypt, says:

"I think, on the whole, the most interesting experience I ever had was in an ancient city on the Nile in Egypt. .

. . When I was there a year ago, and men were digging among the ruined temples, some curious things were

brought to light, and these I regard as the strangest things seen in all my wanderings. In an old tomb was

found a curious iron and glass object, which on investigation proved to be a photographic camera. It was not

such a camera as is used now, or has been since our photography was invented, but something analogous to

it, showing that the art which we thought we had discovered was really known 6000 years ago."

The same writer states that a plow constructed on the modern plan was also found. "It was not of steel but of

iron, and it had the same shape, the same form of point and bend of mold board as we have now."

It is reported that the dark continent possesses means of communication entirely unknown to Europe. Upon

"When Khartoum fell in 1885 I was in Egypt, and I well remember that the Arabs settled in the neighborhood

of the pyramids knew all about it, as well as about Gen. Gordon's death, days and days before the news

reached Cairo by telegraph from the Soudanese frontier. Yet Khartoum is thousands of miles distant from

Cairo and the telegraph wires from the frontier were monopolized by the government."

The same correspondent observes that these Arabs told him, months previously, of the defeat of the Egyptian

army under Baker Pasha at Tokarthat they not only gave him the news, but several particulars concerning

the matter, two full days before intelligence was received from the Red Sea coast. In answer to the suggestion

that such information might have been conveyed by means of signal fires, this writer says that such fires

would have attracted the attention of the English and native scouts, and that the whole country is unpropitious

to such methods; besides, no system of signal fires, no matter how elaborate, could have conveyed the news

"The Arabs, therefore, have, manifestly, some other means of rapid communication at their command. One is

inclined to the presumption that they, like the learned Pundits of Northern India, have a knowledge of the

Can it be that the Arabs are acquainted with the very recently discovered scientific principle, that it is

possible to transmit telegraphic communications without wires, and simply by means of magnetic currents in

Nor is this remarkable skill confined to the "barbarians of the Old World." A correspondent from the far West

to the New York Press wrote that long before the news of the Custer massacre reached Fort Abraham Lincoln

the Sioux had communicated it to their brethren. The scouts in Crook's column to the south knew of it almost

immediately, as did those with Gibbon farther northwest. The same writer says that several years ago a naval

lieutenant ran short of provisions. He pushed on to a settlement as rapidly as possible and upon arriving there

found that the inhabitants had provided for his coming and had a bounteous store awaiting him. The people in

the village were of a different tribe from those whose domain he had passed, and so far as could be learned

The earliest accounts which we have of Egypt and Chaldea reveal the fact that at a very remote period they

were old and powerful civilizations, that they had a settled government, a pure and philosophical religion, and

a profound knowledge of science and art; yet, notwithstanding the great antiquity of these civilizations, that

The earliest historic nations recognized the greatness of these ancient people and the extent of their dominion.

In the oldest geographical writings of the Sanskrit people, the ancient Ethiopia, or land of Cush of Greek and

Hebrew antiquity, is clearly described. Stephanus of Byzantium, who is said to represent the opinions of the

most ancient Greeks, says: "Ethiopia was the first established country on the earth, and the Ethiopians were

"From the remotest times to the present, the Ethiopians have been one of the most celebrated, and yet the

most mysterious of nations. In the earliest traditions of nearly all the more civilized nations of antiquity, the

name of this distant people is found. The annals of the Egyptian priests are full of them, and the nations of

inner Asia, on the Euphrates and Tigris, have interwoven the fictions of the Ethiopians with their traditions of

the wars and conquests of their heroes; and, at a period equally remote, they glimmer in Greek mythology.

When the Greeks scarcely knew Italy and Sicily by name, the Ethiopians were celebrated in the verses of

their poets, and when the faint gleam of tradition and fable gives way to the clear light of history, the lustre of

Homer says of them that they were a "divided people dwelling at the ends of the earth toward the setting and

the rising Sun." Although it is possible at the present time to discover very many of the facts bearing upon the

civilization of this ancient people, it is impossible in the present condition of human knowledge to discover

when civilized life began on the earth. Whether the ancient Arabians or Ethiopians who belonged to the old

Cushite race, and who are believed by many to be the most ancient people of whom we have any trace, were

the first colonizers, or whether they were preceded by a still older civilization, history and tradition are alike

silent; yet the fact seems to be tolerably well authenticated that this enlightened race, now nearly extinct,

carried civilization to Chaldea more than seven thousand years B.C., that it colonized Egypt, engrafted its

own institutions in India, colonized Phoenicia, and by its maritime and commercial enterprise, introduced

civilized conditions into every quarter of the globe. Even in Peru, in Mexico, in Central America, and in the

Baldwin, commenting on the greatness of this remarkable people, says that early in the period of its

colonizing enterprise, commercial greatness, and extensive empire, it established colonies in the valleys of

the Nile and the Euphrates, which in later ages became Barbary, Egypt, and Chaldea. The ancient Cushite

nation occupied Arabia and other extensive regions of Africa, India, and Western Asia to the Mediterranean.

While remarking upon the vastness and antiquity of this old Cushite race, Rawlinson says that they founded

most of the towns of Western Asia. The vast commercial system which formed a connecting link between the

various countries of the globe, was created by this people, the great manufacturing skill and unrivalled

maritime activity of the Phoenicians which extended down to the time of the Hellenes and the Romans

having been a result of the irgenius. It was doubtless during the supremacy of the ancient Cushite race that a

knowledge of astronomy was developed and that the arts of life were carried to a high degree of perfection.

However, through the peculiar influences which were brought to bear upon human experience, this

knowledge, which was bequeathed to their descendants or to the nations which they had created, was

subsequently lost or practically obscured, only fragments of it having been preserved from the general ruin.

Within these fragments have been preserved in India certain evidences of a profound knowledge of Nature, or

of the at present unknown forces in the universe, a demonstration of which, in our own time, would probably

Regarding the refinements and luxuries of this ancient people, Diodorus Siculus declares that they flowed in

streams of gold and silver, that "the porticoes of their temples were overlaid with gold, and that the

adornments of their buildings were in some parts of silver and gold, and in others of ivory and precious

From various observations, it is plain that the Etrurians represented a stage of civilization far in advance of

the Pelasgians who founded Rome a race which, although superior in numbers, arms, and influence, were,

[66] It is thought that as early as the nineteenth century B.C. the Pelasgians or Pelargians went to Aenonia, or

Ionia. It was a detachment of this people which, according to Herodotus, captured a number of Athenian

women on the coast of Africa, lived with them as wives, and raised families by them, but, "because they

differed in manners from themselves," they murdered them, which act was attended by a "dreadful

pestilence." It is the opinion of certain writers that these women were of a different religious faith from their

captors, and that so intense and bitter was the feeling upon the comparative importance of the sex functions in

procreation, that their husbands, unable to change their views, put an end to their existence.

Nothing, perhaps, proclaims the degree of civilization attained by the ancient Etrurians more plainly than the

exquisite perfection which is observed in the specimens of art found in their tumuli. Within the tombs of

Etruscans buried long prior to the foundation of Rome, or the birth of the fine arts in Greece, have been found

unmistakable evidence of the advanced condition of this people. The exquisite coloring and grouping of the

figures on their elegant vases, one of which, on exhibition in the British Museum, portrays the birth of

Minerva, or Wisdom, show the delicacy of their taste, the purity of their conceptions, and their true artistic

Among their mechanical arts, a few specimens of which have been preserved, is the potter's wheel, an

invention which, so far as its utility is concerned, is declared to be absolutely perfectthe most complete of

all the instruments of the world. "It never has been improved and admits of no improvement." In fact all that

may be gathered concerning the ancient Etrurians, a people who by the most able writers upon this subject is

believed to have been one of the first to leave the Asiatic hive, is in perfect accord with the facts already set

forth regarding that mighty nation, perhaps of upper Asia, who carried the study of astronomy to a degree of

perfection never again reached until after the discovery of the Copernican system, who invented the Neros

and the Metonic Cycle, who colonized Egypt and Chaldea, and who carried civilization to the remotest ends

The philosophy of the Etrurians corresponds with that of the most ancient Hindoo system, and displays a

degree of wisdom unparalleled by any of the peoples belonging to the early historic ages. According to their

cosmogony, the evolutionary or creative processes involved twelve vast periods of time. At the end of the

first period appeared the planets and the earth, in the second the firmament was made, in the third the waters

were brought forth, in the fourth the sun, moon, and stars were placed in the heavens, in the fifth living

creatures appeared on the earth, and in the sixth man was produced. These six periods comprehended

onehalf the duration of the cycle. After six more periods had elapsed, or after the lapse of the entire cycle of

twelve periods, all creation was dissolved or drawn to the source of all life. Subsequently a new creation was

brought forth under which the same order of events will take place. The involution of life, or its return to the

great source whence it sprang, did not, however, involve the destruction of matter. The seeds of returning life

were preserved in an ark or boatthe female principle, within which all things are contained. This indrawing

of life constituted "the night of Brahme." It was represented by Vishnu sleeping on the bottom of the sea.

From the facts adduced in relation to the Etrurians we are not surprised to find that their religion was that of

the ancient Nature worshippers, and that a mother with her child stood for their godidea. In referring to the

religion of this people, and to the great antiquity of the worship of the Virgin and Child, Higgins remarks:

"Amongst the Gauls, more than a hundred years before the Christian era, in the district of Chartres, a festival

was celebrated in honor of the Virgin," and in the year 1747, a mithraic monument was found "on which is

exhibited a female nursing an infantthe Goddess of the year nursing the God day." To which he adds: "The

Protestant ought to recollect that his mode of keeping Christmas Day is only a small part of the old festival as

it yet exists amongst the followers of the Romish Church. Theirs is the remnant of the old Etruscan worship

of the virgin and child." As a proof of the above, Higgins cites Gorius's Tuscan Antiquities, where may be

seen the figure of an old Goddess with her child in her arms, the inscription being in Etruscan characters. "No

doubt the Romish Church would have claimed her for a Madonna, but most unluckily she has her name,

From the monuments of Etruria the fact is observed that descent and the rights of succession were traced in

the female line, a condition of society which indicates the high position which must have been occupied by

In Oman is said to exist a fragment of the government of the old Ethiopian or Cushite race. If this is true, then

we may be able to perceive at the present time something of the character of the political institutions of this

ancient nation. As no people remains stationary, and as degeneracy has been the rule with surrounding

countries, we may not expect to find among the people of Oman a true representation of ancient conditions,

yet, as has been observed, we may still be able to note some of the facts relative to the organization of society

In a description furnished by Palgrave, Oman is termed a kingdom, yet it is plain from the observations of

this writer that the existing form of government is that of a confederacy of nations under a democratical

system, identical with that developed during the later status of barbarism. This writer himself admits that

Oman is less a kingdom than an aggregation of municipalities, and that each of these municipalities or towns

has a separate existence and is controlled by its own local chief; but that all are joined together in one

confederacy, and subjected to the leadership of a grand chief whom the writer is pleased to term "the crown,"

but why, as is evident from the description given, bears no resemblance to a modern monarch. The chiefs

who direct the councils of the municipalities are limited in their powers by "the traditional immunities of the

vassals," the decision of all criminal cases and the administration of justice being in the hands of the local

judges. In the descriptions given of their governmental proceedings, it is stated that the whole course of law is

considered apart from the jurisdiction of the sovereign, who has no power to either change or annul the

Here, it is observed, exists almost the identical form of government which was in use among the early historic

nations, before governments came to be founded on wealth, or on a territorial basis[67]; or, in other words,

before the monied and aristocratic classes had drawn to themselves all the powers which had formerly

We must bear in mind the fact that under these earlier democratical institutions, the term "people" included

not only men but women, and as the grand chief, the local rulers, and the judges held their positions by virtue

of their descent from, or relationship to, some real or traditional leader of the gens, who during all the earlier

ages was a woman, we may believe that the power of women to depose their political leaders so soon as their

Doubtless, as we have seen, the government of Oman has undergone a considerable degree of modification

since the days of Cushite splendor and supremacy; that, like all other nations which have come in contact

with the Aryan and Semitic races, the tendency has been toward monarchial government; nevertheless, with

its practically free institutions, representing as they do, in a measure, the political system of the grandest and

oldest civilizations of which we have any knowledge, it furnishes an illustration of the degree of progress

possible under gentile organization, at the same time that it points to the source whence has proceeded the

Modern writers agree in ascribing to the Touaricks, a people inhabiting the Desert of Sahara, a considerable

degree of civilization. We are informed that in the Sahara, which, by the way, is far less a barren waste than

we have been taught to suppose it, "the Touaricks have towns, cities, and an excellent condition of

agriculture"; that with them fruit is cultivated with great success and skill. Their method of political

organization is democratic and similar in construction and administration to the old Cushite municipalities.

Baldwin, quoting from Richardson, says: "Ghat, like all the Touarick countries, is a republic; all the people

govern. The woman of the Touaricks is not the woman of the Moors and Mussulmans generally. She has here

great liberty, and takes an active part in the affairs and transactions of life."[68]

One who is disposed to search for it, will find no lack of evidence going to prove that in an earlier age of the

world, prior to the written records of extant history, the human race had attained to a stage of civilization

That this remarkable stage of progress, the actual extent of which has not yet been fully realized, was attained

during a period of pure Natureworship, or while the earth and the sun were venerated as emblems of the

great creative energy throughout the universe, is a proposition which, when viewed by the light of more

recently acquired facts, is perfectly reasonable, and exactly what might be expected.

That this high stage of civilization was reached while women were the recognized heads of families and of

the gentes, and at a time when Perceptive Wisdom, or the female energy in the Deity, was worshipped as the

supreme God, is a fact which in time will be proved beyond a doubt. Indeed, had not the judgment of man

become warped by prejudice, and his reason clogged by superstition and sensuality, the fact so plainly

apparent in all ancient mythologies, that in the early godidea two principles were contained, the female

being in the ascendancy, would long ere this have been acknowledged, and our present religious systems,

which are but outgrowths from these mythologies, would, with the partial return of civilized conditions, have

been so modified or changed as to embrace some of the fundamental truths which formed the basis of early

Regarding the religion of the ancient race which we have been considering, we are told that they worshipped

a dual Deity, under the appellations of Ashtaroth and Baal, and that this God "comprehended the generative

or reproductive powers in human beings and in the sun, together with Wisdom or Light." In other words, they

adored the great moving force throughout Nature, a force which they venerated as the Great Mother.

Before the Zend and Sanskrit branches of the Aryan race had separated, their religion was doubtless that

given them by their Cushite civilizers. The worship of the sun and the planets, with which were inextricably

interwoven the fructifying agencies in Nature, explains their devotion to the study of the heavenly bodies and

their advanced knowledge of astronomy. The types of regeneration or reproduction which they venerated

were symbols of abstract principles, and, from facts connected with their religious ceremonies as practiced by

their immediate successors, and from the pure significance attached to their emblems, we are justified in the

conclusion before referred to, that the sensuous element, which became so prominent in later religious

The number of ages during which the most primitive religion, namely, that of pure Natureworship, prevailed

among the inhabitants of the earth may not be conjectured, and the exact length of time during which earth

and sun adoration unalloyed by serpent and phallic faiths remained is not known. It is probable, however, that

its duration is to be measured by that of the supremacy of the altruistic or mother element in human affairs,

and that the gradual engrafting of the laterdeveloped sensuous faiths upon their earlier godidea, marks the

We have observed that whenever a remnant of the civilization of the ancient Cushites appears, exactly as

might be expected, women hold an exalted position in human affairs, at the same time that the female

Of the ancient Persians who received their religion and their civilization from this older race Malcolm

"The great respect in which the female sex was held was, no doubt, the principal cause of the progress they

made in civilization. . . . It would appear that in former days the women of Persia had an assigned and

honorable place in society; and we must conclude that an equal rank with the male creation, which is secured

to them by the ordinances of Zoroaster, existed long before the time of that reformer, who paid too great

attention to the habits and prejudices of his countrymen to have made any serious alteration in so important

an usage. We are told by Quintus Curtius, that Alexander would not sit in the presence of Sisygambis, till told

to do so by that matron, because it is not the custom in Persia for sons to sit in the presence of their mothers.

There can be no stronger proof than this anecdote affords, of the great respect in which the female sex were

No one I think can study the sacred books of the Persians without observing the emphasis which is there

placed on purity of character and right living. Indeed, within no extant writings is the antithesis between good

and evil more strongly marked, at the same time that their hatred of idolatry is clearly apparent. The same is

observed in the early writings of the Hindoos. Within the Vedas, although they have been corrupted by later

writers, may still be traced a purity of thought and life which is not apparent in the writings of later ages. Not

long ago I was informed by a learned native of India that the original writing of the Vedas was largely the

That the early conceptions of a Deity in which women constituted the central and supreme figure were in

Egypt correlated with the exercise of great temporal power, may not, in view of the facts at hand, longer be

doubted. By means of records revealed on ancient monuments, we are informed that in the age of Amunoph I.

a considerable degree of sovereign power in Egypt was exercised by a woman, Amesnofreare, who had

shared the throne with Ames. She occupied it also with Amunoph, and, notwithstanding the statement of

Herodotus, that women did not serve in the capacity of priests, this Queen is represented as pouring out

libations to Amon, an office which was doubtless the highest connected with the priesthood.

Less than forty years later, it is observed that another woman, Amunnouhet, shared the throne with

Thotmes I. and II. and that "she appears to have enjoyed far greater consideration than either of them." Not

alone are monuments raised in her name, but she appears dressed as a man, and "alone presenting offerings to

the gods." So important a personage was she that she is believed by many to be the princess who conquered

the country, perhaps even Semiramis herself. Her title was the "Shining Sun."[70]

As these women doubtless belonged to the old Arabian, Ethiopian, or Cushite race, the people who had

brought civilization to Egypt, we are not surprised to find them holding positions which were connected with

the highest civil and religious offices. The Labyrinth, in the country of the Nile, is described by ancient

writers as containing three thousand chambers. Strabo says of it that the enclosure contained as many palaces

as there formerly were homes, and that there the priests and priestesses of each department were wont to

According to the Greeks, the Egyptian God Osiris corresponds to their Jupiter; and Sate, the companion of

Kneph, is identical with Juno. It is quite evident, however, that the Greeks understood little of the true

significance of the gods which they had borrowed, or which they had inherited from older nations. It would

seem that as a people their conceit prevented them from acknowledging the dignity even of their gods, hence,

they endowed them with the attributes best suited to their own depraved taste or pleasure, and then

It has been observed of the Egyptians that they were wont to ridicule the Greeks for regarding their gods as

actual beings, while in reality "they were only the representations of the attributes and principles of Nature."

Unlike the religions which succeeded it, Egyptian mythology, as understood by the learned, was essentially

philosophical, and dealt with abstractions and principles rather than with personalities.

Notwithstanding the importance which in process of time came to be claimed by males, and the consequent

stimulation which was given to the animal tendencies, it is evident, from certain historical and undeniable

proofs in connection with this subject, that although woman's power in Egypt, as in all other countries,

gradually became weakened, the effect of her influence on manners and social customs was never wholly

Regarding the existence of polygamy, it has been said that the high position occupied in ancient Egypt by the

mother of the family, the mistress of the household, is absolutely irreconcilable with the existence of

polygamy as a general practice, or of such an institution as the harem. Although the plurality of wives does

not appear to have been contrary to law, it "certainly was unusual," and although Egyptian kings frequently

Herodotus says of the women of Egypt: "They attend the markets and trade while the men sit at home at the

Were we in possession of no direct historical evidence to prove that down to a late period in the history of

Egypt women had not lost their prestige, sufficient evidence would be found in the fact that, notwithstanding

the growing tendency of mankind in all the nations of the globe to suppress the female instincts and to reject,

conceal, or belittle the woman element in the Deity, still Isis, the gracious mother, retained a prominent place

I am not unmindful of the remarks which a reference to a past age of intellectual and moral greatness will call

forth; indeed, I can almost hear some devotee of the present time remark: "So we are asked to regard as a

sober fact the existence in the past of a golden age; also to believe that man was created pure and holy, and

that he has since fallen from his high estate; in other words, we are to have faith in the ancient tradition of the

'fall of man.'" If by the fall of man we are to understand that a great and universal people, who in a remote

age of the world's history had reached a high stage of civilization, gradually passed out of human existence,

and that a lower race, which was incapable of attaining to their estate, and which, by the over stimulation of

the lower propensities, sank into a state of barbarism, in which the original sublime conceptions of a Deity

were obscured and the great learning of the past was lost, I can see no reason to disbelieve it, especially as all

the facts, both of tradition and history, bearing upon this subject unite in proclaiming its truth.

After stating that in Chaldea has been found rather the debris of science than the elements of it, Bailly asks:

"When you see a house built of old capitals, columns, and other fragments of beautiful architecture, do you

not conclude that a fine building has once existed? . . . If the human mind can ever flatter itself with having

been successful in discovering the truth, it is when many facts, and these facts of different kinds, unite in

That the descendants of a once mighty nation lapsed into barbarism, forgetting the profound knowledge of the

sciences possessed by their ancestors, is a fact too well attested at the present time to be doubted by those

Regarding the manner in which this ancient civilization was reached, or concerning the way in which it was

achieved, history and tradition are alike silent, although it is believed that the present methods of

investigation will, at least in a measure, unravel the mystery. At present we only know that, as far in the

remote past as human ken can reach, evidences of a high stage of civilization exist which it must have

After the decline of Natureworship, and when through the constantly increasing power gained by the ruder

elements in human society a knowledge of the scientific principles underlying ancient religion had been

partially lost or forgotten, it became necessary for philosophers to conceal the original conception of the

Deity and to clothe their sacred writings in allegory. Hence it is observed that every ancient form of religion

has a cabala containing its secret doctrinesdoctrines the inner meaning of which was known only to the

few. In order that these truths might be preserved, they were inscribed on the leaves of trees in characters or

symbols understood only by the initiated. The allegories beneath which these higher truths were concealed

were handed down as traditions to succeeding generationstraditions in which history, astrology, and

After long periods, through war, conquest, and the various changes incidental to shifting environment, these

traditions were in the main forgotten. Fragments of them, however, were from time to time gathered together,

and, intermingled with later doctrines, were used by the priests as a means of increased selfaggrandizement

It is now thought that the Iliad (Rhapsodies) of Homer is only a number of "detached songs" which perhaps

for centuries were delivered orally, and that they contain the secret doctrines of the priests. Porphyry says that

"we ought not to doubt that Homer has secretly represented the images of divine things under the

concealment of fable." It has been said of Plato that he banished the poems of Homer from his imaginary

republic for the reason that the people might not be able to distinguish what is from what is not allegorical.

Hippolytus informs us that the Simonists declared that in Helen resided the principle of intelligence; "and

thus, when all the powers were for claiming her for themselves, sedition and war arose, during which this

chief power was manifested to nations." These songs which were gathered together by Pisistratus and revised

by Aristotle for the use of Alexander, have generally been regarded merely as a bit of history recounting a

Within the earliest historical accounts which we have of the Egyptians, we observe that their ceremonies and

symbols have already become multitudinous, the true meaning of the latter being concealed. The masses of

the people, who had grown too sensualized and ignorant to receive the higher divine "mysteries," and too

Not only the Egyptian and Chaldean priests, but Moses and the Jewish doctors were well versed in religious

symbolism. The fact is observed, also, that as late as medieval Christianity, the fathers in the Church, the

Christian painters, sculptors, and architects, still employed signs and symbols to set forth their religious

doctrines. Even at the present time, many of the emblems representing certain ideas connected with the

creative principles, and which were part and parcel of the pagan worship, are still in use. The masses of the

Everywhere, throughout the early historic nations, were worshipped symbols of the attributes or functions of

the dual or triune God. Each symbol represented a distinctive female or male quality. Animals, trees, the sea,

plants, the moon, and the heavens were, at a certain stage of religious development, symbolized as parts of

the Deity and worshipped as possessing certain female or male characteristics or attributes.

It is plain that, with the decline of female power, and the consequent stimulation of the animal instincts in

man, the pure creative principles involved in Natureworship gradually became unsuited to the sensualized

capacities and tastes of the masses; but in addition to this were other reasons why the female principle in the

Deity should be concealed. Women were already deposed from their former exalted position as heads of

families and as leaders of consanguine communities. All their rightful prerogatives had been usurped. The

highest development in Nature had become the slave of man's appetites, and motherhood, which had hitherto

been accepted as the most exalted function either in heaven or on the earth, trailed in the dust.

Under these conditions it is not perhaps singular that the capacity to bring forth, and the qualities and

attributes of women which are correlated with it, namely, sympathya desire for the welfare of others

outside of self, or altruism,should no longer have been worshipped as divine, or that in their place should

have been substituted the leading characters developed in man. From the facts at hand it is plain that at a

certain stage of human growth physical might and male reproductive energy, or virility, became the

recognized God. With passion as the highest ideal of a Creator, the female element appeared only in a

sensualized form and simply as an appendage to the god which was dependent upon her ministrations. Under

the above conditions it is not in the least remarkable that by the priests it should have been deemed necessary

to conceal from women the facts bound up in their nature. Woman's importance as a creative agency and as a

prime and most essential factor in the universe must be concealed. "Isis must be veiled."

Through the appropriation of the titles of the original dual God by reigning monarchs, is perceived at least

one of the processes by which the great universal female Deity of the ancients has been transformed into a

male god. We are assured that the "redundant nomenclature of the deities of Babylon renders an

interpretation of them impossible. Each divinity has many distinct names, by which he is indifferently

Deity has as many as forty or fifty titles, each of which represents a certain attribute.

Since the invention of the cuneiform alphabet, by which pictures have been reduced to phonetic signs, the

attempt has been made to arrange or classify these gods according to their proper order in the Pantheon, but

In Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian mythologies are observed much confusion and no small degree of

mystery surrounding the positions occupied by certain gods. "Children not unfrequently change positions

with parents," but more frequently, we are told, "women change places with men," or, more properly

speaking, the titles, attributes, and qualities ascribed to the Great Universal female God are now transferred to

the reigning monarch. Thus not unfrequently a deity is observed which is composed of a male triad, the

central figure of which is the king or military chieftain, and to which is usually appended a straggling fourth

member, a female, who, shorn of her power, and with a doubtful and mysterious title, appears as wife or

mistress to his greatness, while upon her is reflected, through him, a slight hint of that dignity and honor

which was originally recognized as belonging exclusively to the recognized Deity.

The Goddess Vishnu, from whose navel as she slept on the bottom of the sea sprang all creation, after her

transformation into a male God, is supplemented by a wifeLacksmir. Lacksmir means wisdom; but she has

become only an appendage to her "lord," upon whom is reflected all her former glory.

So greedy did rulers become for the splendid titles belonging to the female divinities that we are told that "the

Although man had usurped the titles of the female God and had denied her recognition as an active creative

agency, still, as nothing could be created without her, she was permitted, as we have seen, to remain as wife

or mistress to the reigning monarch, in whom had come to reside infinite wisdom and power. Her symbol was

an ark, chest, boat, box, or cave. This woman, although dignified by the title "Mother of the Gods," and even

Not only is it plain that the titles and attributes of female gods have been appropriated by males, but it is also

true that the more ancient deities, which are now known to have been female, have by later investigators been

The interpretations which have hitherto been put upon the Babylonian and Assyrian deities by many of those

who have attempted to unravel the mysteries of an earlier stage of religious worship, is doubtless due to the

fact that since the socalled historic period began, the qualities which have been considered godlike have all

been masculine; it has therefore never occurred to the minds of these writers that the ancients may have

entertained quite different notions from their own regarding the attributes of a Deity; hence, whenever the sex

of a god has appeared doubtful, especially if it be in the least degree powerful or important, it has at once

been denominated as masculine, and this, too, notwithstanding the fact that such rendering has oftentimes

involved inconsistencies, contradictions, and absurdities which it is impossible to reconcile either with

Unless the symbols representing religious belief and worship are viewed in the light of later developed facts

in mythology, archaeology, and philology, there occur many seeming absurdities and numberless facts which

it is found difficult to reconcile with each other; especially is this true in regard to some of the symbols used

to express the distinctive female and male qualities. The serpent, for instance, although a male symbol, in

This is accounted for by the fact that a woman and a serpent once stood for the godidea. Together they

constituted an indivisible entitythe creating power in the universe. They therefore became interchangeable

terms. The woman when appearing alone represented both, as did also the serpent.

"In most ancient languages, probably all, the name for the serpent signifies Life, and the roots of these words

generally also signify the male and female organs, and sometimes these conjoined. In low French the words

for Phallus and life have the same sound, though, as is sometimes the case, the spelling and gender differ";

but this fact is thought to be of no material importance, as "Jove, Jehova, sun, and moon have all been male

No doubt many of the inconsistencies hitherto observed in the religion of the ancients will disappear so soon

as we obtain a clearer knowledge of their chronology; and events which now seem contradictory will be

satisfactorily explained when placed in their proper order with regard to date. Religion, like everything else,

is constantly shifting its position to accommodate itself to the changed mental conditions of its adherents;

hence, ideas which at any given time in the past were perfectly suited to a people, would, in the course of five

During a certain stage in human history "all great women and mythical ladies were serpents"; but when

monumentally or pictorially represented, they appeared "with the head of a woman, while the body was that

of a reptile." This figure represented Wisdom and Passion, or the spiritual and material planes of human

existence. The mythical woman whom Hercules met in Scythia, and who was doubtless the original

eponymous leader of the Scythian people, had the head of a woman and the body of a serpent.[73] Even the

Mexicans declare that "he, the serpent, is the sun, TonakatlKoatl, who ever accompanies their first woman."

Their primitive mother, they said, was KihuaKohuatl, which signifies a serpent. In referring to this Mexican

tradition, Forlong remarks: "So that the serpent here was represented as both Adam and Adama; and their

The traditions extant among all peoples seem to connect the introduction of the serpent into religious

symbolism, with a time in the history of mankind when they first began to recognize the fact, that through the

abuse of the reproductive functions, evil, or human wretchedness, had gained the ascendency over the higher

forces. The Deity represented by a woman and a serpent involved the idea not alone of good, but of good and

evil combined. Together they prefigured not only Wisdom and generative power, but evil as well.

Mythologically they represented the cold of winter and the heat of the sun's rays, both of which were

necessary reproduction. From this conception sprang the Ormuzd and Ahryman of the Persians, the story of

Adam, Eve, and the serpent in Genesis, and the legend of KihuaKohuatl and TonakatlKoatl in Mexico.

"The serpent remained in the memory and affections of most early people as wisdom, life, goodness, and the

source of knowledge and science, under various names such as Toth, Hermes, Themis, the Kneph or Sophia

The Serpent Goddess, although embracing evil as well as good, was still the "Giver of Life" and the "Teacher

of Mankind." These were the titles which in later ages began to be coveted by monarchs, and then it was that

the attributes belonging to this Deity began to appear in connection with royalty.

There is no ancient divinity about which there seems to be connected so much mystery as the Assyrian Hea.

When referring to the "great obscurity" which surrounds this God we are assured that there is at present "no

means of determining the precise meaning of the cuneiform Hea, which is Babylonian rather than Assyrian,"

but that it is doubtless connected with the Arabic Hya, which is said to mean "life," or the female principle in

creation. This Deity is the God of "glory" and of "giving," titles which during the earlier ages of human

The representation of the god Amun or Amunra, which superseded the triune Deity, Kneph, Sate, and

Anouk at Thebes, and from which in Assyria doubtless proceeded the trinity, Amun, BelNimrod, and Hea,

is supposed to be identical with the Greek Zeus, which means the sun. This God is represented by a female

figure seated on a throne. It is crowned with two long feathers, and in the right hand is observed the cross, the

emblem of life. Manetho, the celebrated Egyptian historian, declares that the name of this God signifies

There can be little doubt that the titles of the ancient Deitythe Destroyer or Regenerator, or, in other words,

those of the God of life which embraced the idea of the moving force throughout Nature, were, in course of

time, appropriated by the rulers of the people. It is stated that the name of a certain Egyptian God appears

first in connection with royalty, that "his name was substituted for some earlier divinity whose hieroglyphics

According to the testimony of Rawlinson, the God Hea is represented by the great serpent, which occupies a

conspicuous position among the symbols of the gods on the black stones recording Babylonian benefactions.

Now these flat black stones are themselves said to symbolize the female element in the Deity, in

contradistinction to the obelisks, which prefigure the male, while the serpent, for reasons which have already

been explained, appeared for ages in connection with the figure of a woman. In later inscriptions "king" is

everywhere attached to the name of the God Hea, which fact shows that the titles ascribed to her were those

particularly coveted by royalty. Hence we are not surprised to find that in an inscription of Sardanapalus, in

the British Museum, there "occurs a remarkable phrase in which the king takes the titles of Hea."

Among the Assyrian inscriptions appear BelNimrod, Hea, and Nin or Bar. In view of the facts which have

come to light regarding Hea, it is altogether probable that the triad BelNimrod, Hea, and Nin represent the

trinity as figured by the father, mother, and child. That Nin was the son or the child of BelNimrod "is

constantly asserted in the inscriptions." He appears also as the son of Hea, yet the fact that Hea should be

represented as a woman, or as the mother of Nin, and the central figure in the trinity, seems not to have been

observed by those who thus far have been engaged in deciphering these inscriptions. By representing Hea as

male, Nin is made to appear as the offspring of two fathers while he is left absolutely motherless. To obviate

this difficulty an ingenious attempt has been made to account for his existence by substituting his own wife as

the author of his being. Although in the numerous accounts which I had read of Hea, in my search for

information concerning her, she had always been designated as male, still I was satisfied from the

descriptions given that originally this Deity was female. Therefore upon receiving a copy of Forlong's Rivers

of Life and Faiths of Man in All Lands, I was not surprised to find the following:

"Hoa or Hea, the Hu of our Keltic ancestors, whose symbol was the shield and the serpent, was worshipped

near rivers and lakes, and if possible on the seashore, where were offered to her such emblems as a golden

vessel, boat, coffer, or fish, and she was then named Belat Ili (the mistress of the Gods)."[76]

She was the Goddess of Water. Of this Forlong says: "Water, perhaps more than fire, has always been used as

a purifier. . . . Christians have but imitated the ancients, in the use of Lustral waternowadays called

According to Francis Vasques, the Cibola tribes of New Mexico pay no adoration to anything but water,

believing it to be the chief support of all life. The Hindoo faith and the Greek Christian Church prescribe

"adorations, sacrifices, and other water rites, and hence we find all orthodox clergy and devotees have much

to do with rivers, seas, and wells, especially at certain annual solar periods."

The extent to which these ancient rites are still practiced as part and parcel of modern religious observances is

not realized by those who have given no special attention to the subject. As spring advances, all ranks of

Russians from the Czar to the humblest peasant proceed with their clergy to the Neva, where with solemn

pomp the ice is broken and the water, which is held to be of virgin purity, is sprinkled upon the heads of Czar,

nobles, and other dignitaries. The following is an account given of the worship of Hea not many years ago in

"An Imperial and Archepiscopal procession was formed, consisting of, first, the High Priest of the empire in

all his most gorgeous robes, the two masters of ceremonies walking backwards (probably because not of a

holy enough order), long double files of white and goldrobed bearers of sacred flambeaux or candles, for

Fire must enter into every ceremony, whether it is the male or female energy which is being worshipped.

Following these Religieux came all the sacred relics and fetishes of the Church, as Maya's holy cup for water,

all holy books, crosses, banners, with sacred emblems in their order, and finally the Czar, humbly, and, like

all his people, on foot, followed by courtly throngs. These all proceeded to a handsome pavilion or kiosk,

erected close to the edge of the water, when the Metropolitan of the Church reverently made an incision in

the ice, and took out a little water in a sacred golden cup bearing strange devices. The firing of guns

accompanied these solemn acts in all their stages, and wherever the grave procession moved, it always did so

with measured tread, chanting sacred verses to the old, old Deity of our race, and surrounded with all the

pomp of war; whilst at intervals, peals of Christian bells and the booming of near and distant guns added to

the solemnity of this water pageant. After the filling of the golden cup, which, of course, represents the earth

and its fulness, and, at this season, the now expected increase, the High Priest placed a golden crucifix on the

virgin water and blessed its return from wintry death, invoking the precious fluid to vernal life and

productiveness, when lo! a holy child suddenly appears upon the scene, reminding us that this is everywhere

the outcome of the 'wafers of life' in all animal as well as vegetable production. Boodha in the garden of

Loobim through which flowed a holy stream, and Christ by the brook at Bethlehem, nay, the first pair in the

garden of the four rivers, are all the same ideafertility and creation. The high Russian Pontiff now slowly

and solemnly stooped, and taking up some of the holy water, proceeded to sprinkle the vernal childJesus,

whispered these crowds, but the ancients said Horus. The sacred fluid was then sprinkled on the clergy, the

Czar, and all dignitaries, and finally on the sacred emblems, banners, guns, etc. Men and women, aye, wise as

well as foolish, of every rank, now crowded forward, and on bended knee besought their Patriarch to sprinkle

and to bless them. Finally, the great Czar put the cup to his lips, humbly and reverently, and then filled it to

overflowing with a wealth of golden pieces, for it is the still living representative in the nineteenth century

The symbol of Neith or Muth, Athene or Minerva, the great universal female principle of the Egyptians,

Greeks, and Romans, was the shield and serpent. In Celtic Druids I find that Nath, the Egyptian Neith, the

"goddess of wisdom and science whose symbol was the shield and serpent, was worshipped among the

ancient Irish." The male God associated with her was Naith, and according to Higgins represented "the

In Rivers of Life is observed a reference to the Assyrian Goddess Hea by Lucian. In a note Forlong says that

no doubt Hea is the same as Haiya or Haya. In other words she represents the universal hermaphroditethe

creative principle throughout Nature, which was originally worshipped as female. The actual signification of

the word Haya is "life." In ancient Arabia it was applied to a group of kinsmen.

The Rev. Mr. Davis is of the opinion that Noe or Noah was the same as Deon and that both were Hu or Hea

the mighty, whose chariot was drawn by solar rays. This God was in fact the same as Zeus, Bacchus, and all

the rest of the sun and water Deities. It has been observed that, according to the ancient cosmogonies, within

water was contained the life principle, and as a woman presided over it, or was the only being or entity

present, she must have been the selfexistent Creator. From this woman sprang all creation. According to the

account in Genesis, the Spirit of God moved on the face of the deep and creation began.

By all nations water has been employed as a symbol of regeneration, and as it contained the beginning of

things it was female. The Hindoos regard it as sacred, and in one of their most solemn prayers it is thus

Doubtless it was from these ancient speculations regarding the beginnings of things that Thales, the Milesian

philosopher, received his doctrine that water is the original principle. The ancient Egyptians and the Jewish

people to this day have the custom of pouring out all the water contained in any vessel in a house where a

death has taken place, because of the idea that as the living being comes from water, so does it make its exit

through water. Hence "to drink or to use in any way a fluid which contains the life of human beings would be

The fact is noted by Inman that in all Assyrian mythology the water God Hea is associated with life and with

a serpent. Although Rawlinson declares that Hea is Babylonian rather than Assyrian, may she not, in view of

the facts concerning her, be not only Babylonian, but Egyptian, Indian, Phrygian, Mexican, and all the rest?

It would seem that in this Deity, who is figured in connection with a shield and serpent, as is Minerva, and

who is worshipped near water an emblem which is sacred to her,and whose titles correspond exactly to

those of Neith or Cybele, might be traced the remnants of a once universal worshipa worship in which the

Although it is declared that "great obscurity surrounds the God Hea," no one, I think, whose mind is free

from prejudice, and who understands the significance of the early godidea, and the true meaning of the

symbols used in later ages to express it, can study the myths connected with this Deity without at once

recognizing her identity with the great female God of Nature who was once worshipped by every people on

the globe, but whose worship had become sensualized to satisfy the corrupted taste of a more depraved

Although the serpent Deity was originally portrayed with the head of a woman and the body of a serpent or

fish, after the change of sex in the godidea which has been noted in the foregoing pages had been

completed, it is observed that this figure is represented by the head of a man and the body of a serpent. Hea,

the great goddess to whom water, the original principle, is sacred, and who is suspiciously connected with

Noah, the lifeprinciple which appears at the close of a cycle, has changed her sex. This god is now the

"Ruler of the Seas," "Master of the LifeBoat" (the ark), and "Lord of the Earth." The earth is his and the

fulness thereof. He is the "Life Giver," the "Lord of Hosts," who subsequently becomes the maker of heaven

Minerva, who had been the first emanation from the Deity and the daughter of the Great Mother of the Gods,

now has a father but no mother. Jove, who in course of time came to be represented as a male Creator,

brought her forth from his head. Later, woman is produced from the side of man. The male principle,

symbolized by a serpent, has become "the one only and true God." It is Passion the "Healer of

No unprejudiced individual who carefully follows the results of later investigation, and who attempts to

unravel the mysteries surrounding the ancient gods and the significance of the symbols of worship belonging

to the earliest historic times, will fail to note the attempt which has been made in later ages to conceal the fact

that the Deity worshipped in very ancient times was female. Neither will he fail to observe the modus

operandi by which the attributes and prerogatives of this Deity have been shifted upon malesusually

deified monarchs. After priestcraft and its counterpart, monarchial rule, had robbed the people of all their

natural rights, kings assumed not alone the governing functions, but arrogated to themselves the symbols,

titles, and attributes of the dual Deity. The reigning monarch became not only the temporal ruler and priest,

but was actually God himself, the female principle being concealed under convenient symbols.

Not only were religious doctrines veiled beneath allegories and convenient symbols, but names also had a

We are given to understand that in Chaldea and Assyria every child was named by the oracle or priest, and

that no one thought of changing the appellation which had come to him through this heavenly source.[79]

Inman, in his Ancient Faiths, calls attention to the fact that in the Old Testament kings, priests, captains, and

other great men have had names bestowed upon them, each of which has some religious signification; that

In the ancient names of what are designated as the Shemitic races, children were called after the god alone,

and sometimes in connection with an attribute. Especially were these names applied to royalty or to persons

of distinction; for instance, names were given signifying, God the good, God the just or the merciful, God the

As the higher conception of a Creator was forgotten, and as human beings, or perhaps I should say their

power to control circumstances coupled with the ability to reproduce or create, had become god, they

assumed the titles or names of the Deity; hence, it is not perhaps singular that in later times kings and heroes

We have seen that according to various writers Om or Amm was the holy one whose name in India it was

sacrilege to pronounce. It was the eternal sun, or the Great Mother. As this word stands also for "tribe or

As Om or Amm signifies the Great Mother, so An or On means the Great Father. Concerning the word

"The association of the words signifying mother and father indicates that it is to such conjunction we must

refer creative power. With such an androgyne element the sun was associated by ancient mythologists. Jupiter

was himself sometimes represented as being female; and the word hermaphrodite is in itself a union between

Hermes and Aphrodite, the male and female creative powers. We may fairly conclude, from the existence of

names like the above, that there was at one time in Western as there was in Eastern Asia a strong feud

between the adorers of On and Am, the Lingacitas and the Yonijas, and that they were at length partially

united under Ammon, as they were elsewhere under Nebo or the Nabhi of Vishnu."[80]

Inman relates that once when a friend of his was conversing with a very highcaste Hindoo he casually

uttered this word Amm or Om, whereupon the man was so awe struck that he could scarcely speak, and, in a

voice almost of terror, asked where his friend had learned the word. Of this word Inman says:

"To the Hindoos it was that incommunicable name of the Almighty, which no one ventured to pronounce

except under the most religious solemnity. And here let me pause to remark that the Jews were equally

reverent with the name belonging to the Most High; and that the third commandment was very literal in its

The same writer remarks that in Thibet, too, where a worship very nearly identical in ceremony and doctrine

with that of the Roman papists exists amongst the Lamas, the name of Om is still sacred.

The Iav of the Jews was equally revered, but in the later ages of their career they seem to have lost sight of its

According to Inman's testimony and that of other etymological students, the true signification of the

It is believed by various writers that the story of Jacob and Esau as related in Genesis has an esoteric as well

as an exoteric meaningthat Jacob has reference to the female creative energy throughout Nature, or, rather,

to the great mass of people who in an early age of the human race believed in the superior importance of the

female in the office of reproduction, and that Esau signifies the male. Attention is called to the fact that Esau

is represented as a "hairy" man, roughvoiced and easily beguiled, while Jacob, on the other hand, is

There is indeed much in this myth which seems to indicate that it is an allegory beneath which are veiled

certain facts connected with the struggle between two early contending sects regarding the relative

"My own impression is that Esau, or Edom, and Jacob are mystic names for a man and a woman, and that

round these, historians wove a web of fancy; that ultimately the cognomen Jacob was recognized, and that to

allow the Jewish people to trace their descent from a male rather than a female, the appellation of Israel was

As most of the myths or allegories in Genesis are now traced to a source far more remote than the beginning

of legitimate Jewish history, it is not unreasonable to suppose that this story, too, was copied by the Jews

from the traditions of earlier races; nor, when we remember the true meaning of the cognomen Jacob, that the

entire story should be regarded as an attempt to set forth certain facts connected with the great physiological

The significance of the idols worshipped by Jacob and his family is not for a certainty known, but it is

believed by certain writers that the Seraphim and Teraphim were the usual images which were used to

represent the male and female energies. "Then Jacob said unto his household and to all that were with him:

Put away the strange gods that are among you." In referring to this passage, Inman, in a note, says:

"The critic might fairly say, looking at Genesis xxxv., 2, 'Put away the strange gods that are among you,' that

there were images of God which were not strange, and that in these early times there were orthodoxy and

heterodoxy in images as there are now. In ancient times the emblem of lifegiving energy was an orthodox

emblem; it is now a horror and its place is taken by an image of death. We infer from the context that Laban's

So, also, must have been the stone pillar set up by Jacob at Bethel (place of the sun). From a study of similar

stones, examples of which are to be found in nearly every country of the globe, it is known that they represent

the male energy, and from all the facts connected with the story of Laban's gods it is probable that they were

emblems of this power. We may suppose then that the "strange gods," the unorthodox gods, which Jacob

It seems strange that any person can study the history of the Israelitish Exodus by the light of later

developments in biblical research without recognizing the fact that the "Lord" which brought the children of

Israel out from the bondage of Egypt was the male power, which by a certain sect had been proclaimed the

Although, at the time at which Abraham is said to have lived, the knowledge of an abstract dual or triune God

still remained, yet, during the five hundred years which elapsed until the time of Moses, the grossest idolatry

had come to prevail. Notwithstanding the fact that Moses had learned much from the Egyptians, he seems not

to have risen above a very gross conception of a deity. His god was by turns angry, jealous, revengeful,

vacillating, and weak. He was in fact the embodiment of human passions and desires. We have seen that the

third person in the ancient Trinity had, in Egypt, India, and Persia, come to be recognized in place of the three

principles originally worshippedthat, as it really embodied the essence of the other two, little was heard of

the Creator and Preserver. Doubtless this God was the one which Moses intended the Israelites to worship,

but as they were unable to conceive of an abstract principle he invested it with a personality which, as we

As the Regenerator or Destroyer represented the processes of Nature,the dying away of the sun's rays at

night only to reappear on the following day, and the withdrawal of its warmth in winter only to be renewed in

the spring,so this God portrayed also the beneficent Creator and Preserver of all things, at the same time

that it was the Destroyer. It embodied the fundamental idea in all religions, namely, life and fertility. So also

did the "Lord" of the Israelites represent reproductive energy, but as man being spirit had come to be a

Creator of offspring, while woman being only matter furnished the body, this "Lord" was male. Connected

with it was no hint of the female nature or principle, except the ark or chest in which it was carried about. To

those who have acquainted themselves with the significance of ancient religious symbols, the fact is plain that

the "Lord" of the Israelites, which in their journeyings toward Canaan they carried in an ark or chest, and

which was symbolized by an upright stone, was none other than a "Lifegiver" in the most practical sense. It

was the emblem of virility, and from the facts at hand, at the present time, there is little doubt but that all the

spirituality with which we find this "Lord" invested was an afterthought and comprehended no part of the

belief of the Jews until after their contact with the Persians during the Babylonian captivity.

Doubtless the story in which their journeyings toward Canaan are set forth contains an esoteric as well as an

exoteric significance for ages known only to the priests, and that within it is embodied not alone something of

the true history of this people, but an account also of their struggle against an older religion. At this time the

Israelites had practically commenced the elimination of the female principle from their godidea, and had

begun the worship of the male element, the female being represented by an ark, chest, or box. This ark, as the

Not only among the Israelites, but among other nations of the East, we find the devotees of the male god

beginning to assume a position quite independent of the beliefs of their fathers. At this time great towers or

pillars begin to be erected in honor of this deity, which is figured as the "God of Life," or as the "Lord of

Hosts." Notwithstanding the fact that the story of the Exodus contains much historical truth, it is altogether

probable that the priests have used it, as they did that of the flood, to conceal their religious doctrines.

At the time of the Exodus, the Israelites were ignorant tribes without laws or letters, and while in Egypt were

menials of the lowest order. Hence, the laws written on the two tables of stone, and which it is claimed were

elaborated during their wanderings in the wilderness of Sinai for the guidance of these unlettered slaves,

show the desire of the priests of later times to invest the "chosen people" with the insignia of enlightenment.

Regarding the character of the god which they worshipped, we have ample proof in the Old Testament. It is

plain that at the time of their bondage in Egypt the Jews had become the grossest phallic worshippers, adoring

the emblems of generation, with no thought of their earlier significance as pure symbols of creative force in

The fact will doubtless be remembered that, among the Jews, to be barren was the greatest curse, and that the

principal reward promised to the faithful was fruitfulness of body. The essence of this deity was heat or

passion, and his emblem was the serpent or an upright stone. It has been observed that when this "Lord" was

invested with personality he was subject to all the frailties of his followers. His chief and most emphatic

characteristic, however, was jealousy of other gods, and most of the imprecations thundered against the

chosen people were directed against the worship of the gods of surrounding nations, those which the Israelites

That portion of the Decalogue relating to a jealous god is seen to belong wholly to the Jews, or to the

Israelites, who were descendants of Jacob. The older nations, among which was the ancient family of the

Hebrews, knew nothing of a jealous god. Notwithstanding the fact that the God of the Jews appeared and

talked face to face with Moses, that he exhibited portions of his body to him, and that he thundered his law to

this people from Mt. Sinai, still they were constantly lapsing into the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth, which

fact shows how deeply rooted was the belief in a dual or triune God. It is plain that this "Lord," the fierce

anger of whom was kindled because of their digressions, was none other than the jealous male god which had

Although the angel of the Lord when he came down from Gilgal commanded his followers to "throw down

the altars of the people of Bochim," they nevertheless continued to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and

"followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bound themselves unto them

"And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against

"And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts,

then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and

"Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth and served the Lord only."[83]

The extreme hatred of the schismatic faction for the opposite worship, and the punishments which were

meted out to those who should dare to rebel against the chosen faith, are indicated by the language which

throughout the Old Testament is put into the mouth of their Lorda Deity which rejoices in the title of a

"If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend,

which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not

"Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the

"Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou

"But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand

"And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord

thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

"And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you."[84]

The constantly recurring faithlessness of the Jews, their restlessness and proneness to wander from their

oneprincipled deity which had been set up by their priests for them to worship, was doubtless an

unconscious effort on the part of the people to mitigate the outrage which had been committed against their

Creator. It was but a reaching out for that lost or unrecognized element which comprehends the more

essential force both in human beings and in the conception of a deity. In other words, it was an attempt at

recognition, in the objects worshipped, of that missing female element which had always been worshipped,

and without which a Creator becomes a misnomera meaningless, unexplained, and unexplainable

When the Jews first make their appearance in history, they are sun worshippers, as are all the nations by

which they are surrounded. They are worshippers of Seth the Destroyer and Regenerator; but when the

philosophical truths underlying the ancient universal religion were forgotten, or when through ignorance the

language setting forth these mysteries was taken literally, Seth became identified with the Destroyer, or the

Evil Principle. In the meantime man had come to believe himself the sole creator of offspring. He is spirit,

which is eternal; woman is matter, which is not only destructible but altogether evil. He is heat or

passionthe principle through which life is produced. She represents the absence of heat. She is the simoom

That it was no part of their plan to change their original form of worship for a spiritual conception of a

Creator is apparent from their history. On the contrary, it is plain that they desired simply to eliminate from

the hitherto dual conception of a deity the female principle, which, in their arrogance, and because of the

change which had been wrought in the relations of the sexes, they no longer acknowledged as important in

It is quite true they would worship only one godthe "Lord,"but that lord was, as we have seen, a deity of

physical strength and virile might, a "Lord of Hosts," a god which was to be worshipped under the symbol of

an upright stonean object which by every nation of the globe down to a comparatively recent time has

typified male procreative energy. That the masses of the people, even as late as the time of Jeremiah, had no

higher conception of a God than that indicated by an upright stone, is shown by that prophet when he accuses

the entire house of Israel, "their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets," of "saying to a

That the people could not, or would not, be prevailed upon to renounce the Queen of Heaven, the Celestial

"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood,

and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to

"Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that

stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered

Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken

"But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen

of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings, and our

princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were

"But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we

"And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make

her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?"

That the above represents a quarrel in which the women of Judah openly rebelled against the worship of the

"Lord," at the same time declaring their allegiance to the female Deity, the Celestial Mother, Queen of

Heaven, is only too evident, the curse pronounced upon them by Jeremiah, in the name of the lord, having

"Therefore, hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by

my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all

"Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of

Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them."

The name of one of the oldest deities of which we have any record is Set (Phoenician) or Seth (Hebrew).

Traces of this God are found in all oriental countries; and in the most primitive religions, whose traditions are

still extant, he (or she) appears as the supreme God. After the subjection of Egypt by the stranger kings and

the consequent introduction into the country of Sabianism, the dual creative force residing in the sun is

represented by Seth. We are told that Seth signifies "appointed or put in the place of the murdered Abel."

That there is some deep mystery connected with this subject none who has studied it carefully can help

According to the story of creation as set forth in the Jehovistic account, on Saturday night, after God had

finished his work, and immediately after he had commanded Adam to "be fruitful," he presents him with a

staff, which we observe is handed down to Enoch and all the patriarchs. Here the mystery deepens, for it is

declared that this staff was presented so Seth, and that it was a branch of the Tree of Life.

That beneath this allegory is veiled a contest, or perhaps a compromise, between the worshippers of two

distinct sects, seems altogether probable. That the handing down of this branch of the Tree of Life, first to

Adam, or man, by Aleim, and its subsequent transference to Seth, the God of Nature, the Destroyer or

Regenerator, seems to indicate a victory for the adherents of a purer religion. The translator of Kallimachus

says: "It is well known to the learned reader that the descendants of Cain are distinguished in Scripture by the

name of the sons of man or Adam; those of Seth by the name of the sons of God." Gen. vi., 2.[85] It is stated

in Julius Africanus that all the righteous men and patriarchs down to the Saviour himself have sprung from

Seth and have been denominated as the sons of God in contradistinction to the sons of man.

Doubtless at the time indicated by the transference of the creative agency from Aleim to Adam, the worship

of an abstract principle, or of a Trinity composed of the powers of Nature, was losing its hold on the minds of

the people, and the creative power, or the reproductive energy in human beings, was rapidly taking the place

of the older Deity. These higher principles forgotten, Adam, or man, had become the Creator.

It is not improbable that the terms Adam, Cain, Abel, and Seth have an esoteric meaning which for ages was

known only to the priests. From various facts which in later times are being brought forward regarding the

ancient myths of Genesis, it is believed that these names originally stood for races of men, and that

subsequently certain religious doctrines came to be attached to them. The offering of fruit by Cain, the elder

brother, who was a tiller of the ground, and that of flesh by Abel, who was a keeper of sheep, indicates a

quarrel which ended in the death of the latter. After the death of Abel, or after one of these principles or sects

was subdued, the older religion was revived, and Seth, as the Aleim, or as the creative power within the sun,

It would seem that Seth was appointed to represent the third person in the ancient Trinitythe Destroyer or

Regenerator which had previously come to embody all the powers of the Creator and Preserver. The fact has

been observed that the very ancient philosophers believed matter to be eternal, hence, seeming death, or

destruction, was necessary to renewed life or regeneration. In other words, creation was but continuous

Of the doctrines of the Sethians extant at the beginning of Christianity, Hippolytus says that their system "is

made up of tenets from natural philosophers. These tenets embrace a belief in the Eternal LogosDarkness,

Mist, and Tempest." These elements subsequently became identified with the Evil Principle, or the Devil.

The cold of winter, the darkness of night, and water, were finally set forth as the Trinity. Regarding cold,

"These the Sethian says are the three principles of our system; or when he states that three were born in

paradise Adam, Eve, the serpent; or when he speaks of three persons, namely, Cain, Abel, Seth, and again

of three others, Shem, Ham, Japheth; or when he mentions three patriarchsAbraham, Isaac, Jacob; or when

The same writer says that their entire system is derived from the ancients; that, antecedent to the Eleusinian

mysteries, were enacted by them the ceremonies connected with the worship of the Great Mother.[86]

We have observed that through some process not thoroughly understood at the present time, the adherents of

the older faith had succeeded in reinstating their Deity. The powers of Nature had come to be represented by

Typhon Seth. It was the God of Death and of Life, of Destruction and Regeneration. The simoom of the

desert and the cold of winter were Seth, as were also the genial powers of Spring. We are informed by

various writers that Typhon Seth was feminine. She was the early God of the Jews. In other words, the Jews

were formerly worshippers of a female Deity. Jehovah, Iav, was originally female.

Although the secret meaning of all the allegories contained in the Old Testament is not fully understood, still

the belief that Cain, Abel, and Seth represented the selftriplicated Deity at a time when the idea of man as a

creator had been accepted, or when his power to reproduce was becoming the highest idea of a creative force,

is consistent with what is known of the Cabala of the Jews, or of the esoteric meaning of the Jewish scriptures

formerly known only to the priests. In other words, the ancient doctrines, the true meaning of which was no

longer understood by them, were patched together as a basis for the later developments in Jewish religious

We have seen that six hundred years after Adam appears Noah, another selftriplicated Saviour or preserver

of man, with his ark or seed vessel, beneath which is veiled the female element. Afterward Abraham becomes

the Great Father or Saviour, and later Moses. That, in the time of the latter, the more ancient worship of a

creative force in Nature represented by the Aleim, had, by the masses of the people, been wholly lost, is

evident from the Old Testament writings. The worship of the Father, the male power, in opposition to that of

the Mother, or the female power, constituted the religion of Moses. In the religion of the Jews, Jehovah came

to be regarded as wholly male and as spirit, while Edam (translated "downward tending"), the female

principle, was matter, or woman, which finally became identified with the Devil.

The philosophical doctrine that spirit is evolved through matter, or that matter must be raised to a certain

dynamical power before spirit can manifest itself through it, was no longer understood; only the husks of this

doctrine the myths and symbols of Natureworshipremained; these were taken literally, and thus man's

When man had so far gained the ascendancy over woman as to assert that he is the sole Creator of their joint

offspring, he was no longer of the earth earthy, but at once became the child of heaven. He was, however,

bound to earth through his association with matter, or with woman, from whom he was unable to free

himself. The "sons of God" were united "to the daughters of man." Jahvah, the "God of hosts," who was

revengeful, weak, jealous, and cruel, was worshipped in the place of Aleim the great dual force throughout

Nature. The ethereal, spiritual male essence resided somewhere in the heavens and created from afar, while

In the history of the god Seth is to be found a clue to the way in which the sublime and philosophical

doctrines of the ancients, after their true meaning was forgotten, were finally changed so as to conform to the

Seth or Typhon was for ages worshipped throughout Egypt, and as she comprehended the powers of Nature,

or the creative energy residing in the sun and earth, little is heard of any other god. Strange it is, however, that

Seth is worshipped more in her capacity as Destroyer than as Regenerator. So soon as we understand the

origin and character of the Devil, and so soon as we divest ourselves of the false ideas which under a state of

ignorance and gross sensuality came to prevail relative to the "powers of darkness," we shall perceive that his

(or her) Satanic majesty was once a very respectable personage and a powerful Divinitya Divinity which

was worshipped by a people whose superior intelligence can scarcely be questioned. Regarding this subject

"Persons who have not given much consideration to these subjects will be apt to wonder that any people

should be found to offer adoration to the evil principle; but they do not consider that, in all these recondite

systems, the evil principle, or the Destroyer, or Lord of Death, was at the same time the Regenerator. He

could not destroy but to reproduce, and it was probably not till this principle began to be forgotten, that the

evil being, per se, arose; for in some nations this effect seems to have taken place. Thus BaalZebub is, in

Iberno Celtic, Baal Lord, and Zab Death, Lord of Death; but he is also called Aleim, the same as the God of

the Israelites; and this is right, because he was one of the Trimurti or Trinity.

"If I be correct respecting the word Aleim being feminine, we here see the Lord of Death of the feminine

gender; but the Goddess Ashtaroth or Astarte, the Eoster of the Germans, was also called Aleim. Here again

Aleim is feminine, which shows that I am right in making Aleim the plural feminine. Thus we have distinctly

found Aleim the Creator (Gen. i., 1), Aleim the Preserver, and Aleim the Destroyer, and this not by inference,

At one period of their history the Hebrews worshipped Ashtaroth and Baal, they together representing the

great Aleim, the indivisible God, but after the Israelites had chosen the worship of the male principle as an

independent deity, or as the only important agency in the creative processes, as Baal might not be represented

aside from his counterpart Ashtaroth, he was no longer adored but came to stand for something "approaching

the Devil." Forlong has observed the fact that, although in Hebrew Baal is masculine, in the Greek

Jehovah was originally female, so, also, was Netpe the Holy Spirit of the Egyptian Tree of Life. We are given

to understand that Netpe was the same as Rhea, the partner of Sev or Saturn, and that her hieroglyphic name

was "Abyss of Heaven." Osiris was the son of this goddess who was really a Mai or Mary, the Celestial

Mother, he being the only God of the Egyptians who was born upon this earth and lived among men. Of this

Forlong remarks: "His birthplace was Mount Sinai; called by the Egyptians Nysa, hence his Greek name

As the Palm was the first offering of Mother Earth to her children, so Osiris was the first offspring of the

Egyptian Celestial Virgin to mankind. He was the new sun which through the winter months had been

"buried," but which in process of time arose to gladden all the earth. He was also the new Sun of

The female principle for the time being cast out of the Deity, Osiris, the male element, now outwardly

assumes the position of supreme God. It was, however, reserved for a later and more sensuous age to

permanently adopt an absurdity so opposed to all established ideas relative to a creative force in Nature and

in man. Seth, the Destroyer, had been deposed, but, so deeply rooted in the human mind had become the idea

of a female Creator, that Isis, the Queen of Heaven, a somewhat lower conception of Muth, or of universal

womanhood, soon assumed the place of Seth beside Osiris. Later in the history of Egypt, when the gods have

become greatly multiplied, and the original significance of the deity obscured, Horus, the child and the third

member in the later Egyptian triad, not unfrequently appears in her place as one of the eight great gods.

The fact is observed that the history of Osiris is not alone the "history of the circle of the year, or of the sun

dying away and resuscitating itself again, but that it is also the history of the cycle of 600." It has been said

that of the component elements of his hieroglyphical name, Isis is the first, and that the name Osiris really

According to Plutarch, Isis and Muth are identical, but from the evidence at hand it is plain that Muth

comprehends divine womanhood, or the female principle as it was regarded at an earlier stage of human

growth. Muth is not only the parent of the sun, or the force which produces the sun, but she is also Wisdom,

the first emanation from the Deity, at the same time that she comprehends all the possibilities of Nature. Isis

seems to represent the Deity at a time when the higher truths known to a more ancient people were beginning

Renouf informs us that the word Maat, or Muth, means Law, "not in that forensic sense of command issued

either by a human sovereign authority, or by a divine legislator, like the laws of the Hebrews, but in the sense

of that unerring order which governs the universe, whether in its physical or its moral aspect."[89] The same

writer observes further that Maat "is called mistress of Heaven, ruler of earth, and president of the nether

world," and in a further description of the conception embodied in this Deity, refers to the fact that while she

Although Typhon Seth was long worshipped as the sole Deity in Egypt, in later ages the godidea came to be

represented by Seth and Osiris. Toward the close of Typhon Seth's reign, Horus, the child, the young sun,

was represented "as rising from his hidingplace, attracting beneficent vapors to return them back as dews,

Seth and Osiris represent a division of the Deity. Osiris, as the sun, represents heat; as man, or as god, he

stands for desire. Seth or Typhon stands for the cold of winter, the simoom of the desert, or the "wind that

blasts." Seth, Osiris, and Horus constitute a Trinity of which Muth is the Great Mother. Finally, with the

gradual ascendancy of male influence and power, it is observed that Seth appears as the brother of Osiris.

It is the opinion of Bunsen that the fundamental idea of Osiris and Set was "not merely the glorification of the

sun, but was also the worship of the primitive creative power."[90] But, as in Egypt the creative agency was

regarded as both female and male, the former being in the ascendancy, this fact of itself would seem to

In the ideas concerning Seth and Osiris may be observed something of the manner in which the fructifying

agencies of the sun and the reproductive power in human beings were blended and together worshipped as the

Deity; while through the history of these gods are to be traced some of the processes by which the idea of the

In all countries, at a certain stage in the history of religion, the transference of female deified power to mortal

man may be observed. In the attempt to change Seth or Typhon into a male God may be noted perhaps the

The fact seems plain that the Great Typhon Seth, or Set, who conferred on the sovereigns of the eighteenth

and nineteenth dynasties of Egypt "the symbols of life and power," was none other than the primitive

Regenerator or Destroyer, who was for ages worshipped as the God of Nature the Aleim, or the lifegiving

We have observed that when the profound principles underlying the most ancient doctrines had been lost or

forgotten, and when through the decay of philosophy, and through the stimulation of the sensual in human

nature, mankind had lost the power to reason abstractly, Destruction, which was symbolized by darkness or

the absence of the sun's rays, finally became the evil principle, or the Devil. Darkness and cold, which had

formerly been worshipped as the powers which brought forth the sun, or as mother of the sun, in process of

time became the agency which is ever warring with good and which is constantly destroying that which the

We are informed by Forlong that "some derive our term Devil from Niphl or Nevil, the wind that blasts or

obstructs the growth of corn; and it used sometimes to be written th' evil, which is D'evil or Devil."

It was "this Dualistic heresy which separated the Zend or Persian branch of the Aryans from their Vedic

The ancient philosophical truth that matter is eternal, and that the destruction of vegetable life through the

agency of cold was one of the necessary processes of regeneration, or the renewal of life, had evidently been

lost sight of at the time when Seth was dethroned in Egypt. Wilkinson informs us that "both Seth and Osiris

were adored until a change took place respecting Seth, brought about apparently by foreign influence." Sethi

or Sethos, a ruler whose reign represents the Augustan age of Egyptian splendor, received his name from this

Deity. It is said that during the twentieth dynasty Seth is suddenly portrayed as the principle of evil "with

which is associated sin." Consequently all the effigies of this great Goddess were destroyed and all her names

Bunsen tells us that Schelling, who has made a study of Egyptian mythology, although totally ignorant of the

later historical facts which by means of hieroglyphical monuments have been obtained, had arrived at the

conclusion that Seth had occupied an important position in the Deity down to the fourteenth century B.C.

"Schelling had on mere speculative grounds been brought to lay down as a postulate that Typhon, at some

early period, had been considered by the Egyptians as a beneficent and powerful God."

Wilkinson says that the character given to Seth, who was called BaalSeth and the God of the Gentiles, "is

explained by his being the cause of evil." We are assured that formerly "Sin the great serpent, or Apophis the

giant, was distinct from Seth who was a deity and a part of the divine system. But after the recondite

principles underlying sunworship were lost or forgotten; when cold and darkness, or the sinking away of the

sun's rays, which are necessary to the reappearance of light and warmth, came to be regarded as the

destructive element, or the evil principle, woman became identified with this principle. She was the producer

of evil, and came to be represented in connection with a serpent as the cause of all earthly or material things.

She is Destruction, but not Regeneration. She is in fact matter. The cold of winter and the darkness of night,

which are necessary to the return of the sun's warmth and which were formerly set forth as a beneficent

mother who brings forth the sun, became only the evil principlethat which obscures the light. In fact

Darkness or absence of the sun's heat has become the Devil. It is the "cause of evil in the world."

With woman blinded by superstition, with every instinct of the female nature outraged, and with her position

as the central figure in the Deity and in the family usurped, her temples were soon profaned, her images

There is no doubt but this doctrine was the legitimate outcome of the decay of female influence. Through the

further stimulation of the lower nature of man its absurdity gradually increased, until under the system calling

itself Christian it finally reached its height. This subject will be referred to later in these pages.

When we remember that the original representation of the Deity among the nations of the earth consisted of a

female figure embracing a child, and when we observe that subsequently in the development of the godidea

woman appears associated with a serpent as the cause of evil in the world, the history of the God Seth, who,

as we have seen, represented the processes of Nature, namely Destruction and Regeneration, seems quite

There can be little doubt that the facts relating to this Deity indicate the source whence has sprung the great

theological dogma underlying Christianity, that woman is the cause of evil in the world.

"Daughters of Jove, All hail! but O inspire The lovely song! the sacred race proclaim Of everliving gods;

who sprang from Earth, From the starred Heaven, and from the gloomy Night, And whom the salt Deep

nourished into life. Declare how first the gods and Earth became; The rivers and th' immeasurable sea

Highraging in its foam; the glittering stars, The wide impending Heaven; and who from these Of deities

arose, dispensing good; Say how their treasures, how their honors each Allotted shar'd: how first they held

abode On manycaved Olympus:this declare, Ye Muses! dwellers of the heavenly mount From the

beginning; say, who first arose? First Chaos was: next amplebosomed Earth, Of deathless gods, who still the

Olympian heights Snowtopt inhabit. . . . Her firstborn Earth produced Of like immensity, the starry

Heaven: That he might sheltering compass her around On every side, and be forevermore To the blest gods a

So long as human beings worshipped the abstract principle of creation, the manifestations of which proceed

from the earth and sun, they doubtless reasoned little on the nature of its hitherto inseparable parts. They had

not at that early period begun to look outside of Nature for their godidea, but when through the peculiar

course of development which had been entered upon, the simple conception of a creative agency originally

entertained became obscured, mankind began to speculate on the nature and attributes of the two principles

by which everything is produced, and to dispute over their relative importance in the office of reproduction.

Much light has been thrown upon these speculations by the Kosmogonies which have come down to us from

the Phoenicians, Babylonians, and other peoples of past ages. In the Phoenician Kosmogony, according to the

Mokh doctrine as recorded by Philo, out of the kosmic egg Toleeleth (female) "sprang all the impregnation of

creation and the beginning of the universe." In this exposition of the beginnings of things, it is distinctly

stated that the spirit which in after ages came to be regarded as something outside or above Nature, "had no

consciousness of its own creation." Commenting on the above, Bunsen is constrained to admit that it is

usually understood as being "decidedly pantheistic." He suggests, however, that the writer may HAVE

INTENDED TO SAY (the italics are mine) that "the spirit who was heretofore the Creator was the

Berosus, the scholar of Babylon, who, until a comparatively recent time has furnished all the information

extant concerning Babylonian antiquities, in his account of the creation of man and of the universe, says that

in the beginning all was water and darkness; that in the water were the beginnings of life; but as yet there was

no order. Men were there with the wings of birds and even with the feet of beasts. There were also

quadrupeds and men with fishes' tails, all of which had been produced by a twofold principle. Over this

incongruous mass a woman presided. This woman is called Omoroka by the Babylonians and by the

In the Babylonian Kosmogony, according to Endemus, the pupil of Aristotle, the beginning of the universe

was called Tauthe, which being interpreted means "Mother of the Gods." Associated with her sometimes

appears the male principleApason. In the history of Berosus, there is given an account of Oaunesa

mythical teacher of Babylon, who appeared with the head of a human being and the body of a fish or serpent.

This personage brought to the Babylonians all the knowledge which they possessed. Oaunes wrote

"concerning the generation of mankind, of their different ways of life, and of their civil polity." He it was

who gave the above account of creation. He says that finally Omoroka, or Thalatth, the woman who existed

before the creation, was divided, one half of her forming the heavens, "the other half the earth." "All this,"

In the following legend will be observed the groundwork for the story of the flood. Xisuthrus was a king of

Chaldea. To him the deity, Kronos, appeared in a vision and warned him that upon the fifteenth day of the

month Daesius there would be a flood, by which mankind would be destroyed. He therefore enjoined him to

write a history of the beginning, progress, and conclusion of all things down to the present time, and to bury

it in Sippara, the City of the Sun. He was commanded also to build a vessel, and take with him into it his

friends and relations, and to convey on board everything necessary to sustain life, together with all the

different animals, both birds and quadrupeds, and trust himself fearlessly to the deep. Having asked the deity

whither he was to sail, he was answered: "To the gods"; upon which he offered up a prayer for the good of

mankind. He then obeyed the divine admonition, and built a vessel five stadia in length and two in breadth.

Into this he put everything which he had prepared, and last of all conveyed into it his wife, his children, and

"After the flood had been upon the earth, and was in time abated, Xisuthrus sent out birds from the vessel,

which not finding any food, nor any place whereupon they might rest their feet, returned to him again. After

an interval of some days, he sent them forth a second time; and they now returned with their feet tinged with

mud. He made a trial a third time with these birds; but they returned to him no more: from which he judged

that the surface of the earth had appeared above the waters. He therefore made an opening in the vessel, end

upon looking out found that it was stranded upon the side of some mountain, upon which he immediately

quitted it with his wife, his daughter, and the pilot. Xisuthrus then paid his adoration to the earth: and, having

constructed an altar, offered sacrifices to the gods, and, with those who had come out of the vessel with him,

disappeared. Him they saw no more, but they could distinguish his voice in the air, and could hear him

admonish them to pay due regard to the gods. He informed them that it was on account of his piety that he

had been taken away to live with the gods, and that his wife and daughter had obtained the same honor."

It is more than likely that this story, which as we have seen has extended to the remotest corners of the earth,

has an esoteric meaning, and that it embodies the doctrines of the ancients relative to re incarnation and the

renewal of worlds. Doubtless it portrays not only the end of a cycle, but that by it is prefigured the fortunes of

a human soul, which in its ascent, is from time to time forced into a human body.

All the early Kosmogonies are intermingled with the history of a great flood, from the ravages of which an

ark which contained a man was saved. The Gothic story of creation indicates that the Scythians belonged to

the same race as the Chaldeans. At the beginning of time when nothing had been formed, and before the

earth, the sea, or the heavens appeared, Muspelsheim existed. A breath of heat passing over the vapors,

melted them into water, and from this water was formed a cow named Aedumla, who was the progenitor of

There is also another tradition, probably a later, which asserts that from the drops of water produced by the

primeval breath of heat, a man, Ymer, was brought forth. The son of Ymer was preserved in a stormtossed

bark, his father being dragged into the middle of the abyss, where, from his body the earth was produced. The

sea was made of his blood, the mountains of his bones, and the rocks of his teeth. As three of his descendants

were walking on the shore one day, they found two pieces of wood which had been washed up by the waves.

Of these they made a man and a woman. The man they named Aske and the woman Emla. From this pair has

The marked resemblance between the characters of the Gothic Ymer and the Chaldean Omoroka, from each

of whose bodies the universe is created, has been observed by various writers. After referring to Mallet's

"They are indeed evidently the same person, not only in point of character, but, if I mistake not, in

appellation: for Ymer or Umer is OmerOca expressed in a more simple form. The difference of sex does by

no means invalidate this opinion, which rests upon the perfect identity of their characters: for the Great

Mother, like the Great Father, was an hermaphrodite; or, rather, that person from whom all things were

supposed to be produced, was the Great Father and the Great Mother united together in one compound being.

Ymer and Omoroca are each the same as that hermaphrodite Jupiter of the Orphic theology."

We have observed, however, that in all the older traditions this hermaphrodite conception is accounted as

female, it is the Great Mother within whom is contained the male; in later ages, however, it is represented as

The Trinity of the Goths was male; yet as Odin could not create independently of the female energy he is

provided with a wife, Frigga, to whom "all fair things belonged, and who had priestesses among the early

German tribes." Frigga when worshipped alone was both female and male. According to one German

tradition, Tiw (Zeus), which in its earliest conception was female, was the parent of the first man. This man

begat three sons who became the fathers of the three Deutsch tribes. Ish (or Ash) was the parent of the Franks

and Allemans; Ing was the progenitor of the Swedes, Angles, and Saxons; and Er, or Erman, was the

The Kosmogony of the Chinese is similar in all respects to that of other countries. The first man, Puoncu, was

The Chinese say that this eggborn Puoncu, who is identical with Brahm, Noah, and Adam, is not the great

Creator or God, but only the first man. Their great God or Tien is a Unity which comprehends three, and their

human triada triplicated being who is the parent of the human raceis a lower expression of the same

The Kosmogony of the Japanese begins with the opening of the sacred egg from which all things were

produced. This egg is identical with the ark, and from it the diluvian patriarch was born. He was "BaalPeor

or the lord of opening; and, from an idea that the Ark was an universal mother, he was considered as the

masculine principle of generation, and was adored by his apostate descendants with all the abominations of

In the Theogony of Hesiod, Uranus is represented as being the parent of three sons, and the same legend

repeated in the story of Cronus portrays him also as a triplicated deity. According to the Peruvian

Kosmogony all things sprang from Viracocha who is said to be identical with the Greek Aphrodite. Besides

this superior God they venerated a triad which was closely connected with the sun. These gods were called

Chuquilla, Catuilla, and Intyllapa. They say that as their ancestors journeyed from a remote country to the

Northwest they bore the image of their god in a coifer or box made of reeds. To the four priests who had

charge of this box or ark he communicated his oracles and directions. He not only gave them laws but taught

them the ceremonies and sacrifices which they were to observe. "And even as the pillar of cloud and fire

conducted the Israelites in their passage through the wilderness, so this Spanish devil gave them notice when

According to Marsden, the New Zealanders believe that three gods created the first man, and that the first

Among the Otaheitans and various tribes of Indians, the belief prevails that all created things have proceeded

from a triplicated deity who was saved from the ravages of a flood in an ark or ship.

The fact is observed that the Theogonies and Kosmogonies of all peoples have reference to a flood or to the

renewal of life after the destruction of the world, and that the Great Father who is preserved, and who comes

forth from an ark or ship with the seeds of a former world, represents the beginning of a new era. Adam with

his three sons, Cain, Abel, and Seth, Noah with his triad, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Menu and his triple

offspring, and so on, all mean exactly the same thing, namely, the renewal of life at the close of a cycle, or

From the traditions extant in nearly every quarter of the globe, it would seem that, prior to the so called

flood in the time of Noah, man, as a Creator, had not to any extent been worshipped, but, on the contrary, that

the great universal dual principle which pervades Nature and which is back of matter and force, for instance

Tien among the Chinese, Iav among the Hebrews, and Aum among the Hindoos, had been the Deity adored;

but with the decline of virtue and knowledge, this God was gradually abandoned for a lesser one, a deity

In the Elohistic narrative of creation which appears in the first chapter of Genesis, a dual or triune God,

female and male, says, Let us make man in our own image, and accordingly a male and a female are created.

In the Jehovistic account, however, in the second chapter of the same book, a document of much later date,

man is made first and afterward woman. In fact, in the latter narrative she appears as an afterthought and is

created simply for his use; she is taken from his side and is wholly dependent upon him for existence. This

"Thus in the second account of creation, the man is APPARENTLY created first, and the woman is

CERTAINLY created the last, of all living creatures; whereas, in the older story the man and woman are

created last of all, as the crowning work of Elohim, and are created together'and Elohim created man in

His own image, in the image of Elohim created He him; male and female created He them.' This ancient

Elohistic narrative, then, the Jehovist had before him; and he enlarged and enlivened it by introducing a

number of passages recording additional incidents in the lives of the patriarchs before and after the flood, and

Colenso observes that verse four of chapter second belongs to the Elohist, and that it was removed from its

original position at the beginning of Gen. i., in order to form the commencement of the Jehovistic account of

Quoting from Bishop Browne in the New Bible Commentary, the same writer remarks that in the Elohistic

account of the creation "we have that which was probably the ancient primeval record of the formation of the

The oldest or Elohistic portion of Genesis is, at the present time, seen to conceal great wisdom and a

According to Higgins, the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis, if properly translated, would not declare

that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but that Wisdom "formed" the earth and the

planets. In none of the ancient Kosmogonies can there be a word found regarding the creation of matter.

From the facts which have come down to us respecting the speculations of the ancients, it is plain that the

original conception was, that within the primeval beginnings described in their Kosmogonies, in chaos or

unorganized matter, was contained primeval force; no attempt, however, was made by them to account for the

As soon as human beings began to speculate on the attributes of their Deity; when the two principles

composing it began to separate, and the idea was gaining ground that the male was the only important factor

in reproduction, the sun became male, the earth and sea female. Still, even then the doctrine seems not to

have been questioned, that the creative agency had proceeded from matter, or that it was developed in and

through it. The belief that something can be made from nothing was reserved for a later age.

In the oldest Semitic Kosmogonies, we are assured that the selfconscious God who is manifested in the

order of the universe, proceeded out of the great abyss, and out of unorganized, dark, primeval matter. During

the earlier historic period, however, by both Jew and Gentile, the belief was entertained that spirit is material.

It is the essence of firea substance akin to the galvanic or electric fluid. This masculine element, the

manifestation of which is desire, or heat, and which was finally set up as an eternal, selfexistent, creative

force, or God, was originally regarded as a manifestation of matter, and as having no independent existence.

In an earlier age, this socalled creative agency is associated with a force far superior to itself, namely, Light

or Wisdom. Minerva, who is the first emanation from the Deity, "formed" all things. She it is who

discriminates all things and gives laws to the universe. "She represented to the Greeks that spiritual element

which lifts knowledge into wisdom, and talent into genius."[97] But with the importance which began to be

assumed by man when he began to regard himself as a creator, and when through ignorance and sensuality

the principles of a more enlightened race were forgotten, desire, or heat, was separated from matter and came

to be regarded as an independent entity, which itself had created matter out of nothing. Thus is noticed the

extent to which the godidea has been developed in accordance with the relative positions of the sexes.

According to the Grecian mythology, much of which was a comparatively late development, mortal woman

was the handiwork of Vulcan the Firegod, who, being commissioned by Jove to execute "a snare for gods and

man," moulded the beauteous form of woman. This is a worthy example of the contempt and scorn shown by

the Greeks for women during the later period of their career as a nation. That such contempt was a later

development is shown in the fact that woman was originally the gift of Pallas Athene, or Wisdom. When she

first appeared on the scene she was crowned by the gods, in fact she was the first object honored with a

crown. Concerning the conceptions regarding women as held at an earlier age, and those which came to

prevail after she had become "the cause of evil in the world," we have the following from Tertullian:

"If there was a Pandora, whom Hesiod mentions as the first woman, hers was the first head the Graces

crowned, for she received gifts from all the gods, whence she got her name Pandora. But Moses, a prophet,

not a poetshepherd, shows us the first woman Eve having her loins more naturally girt about with leaves

Woman, who was originally the gift of Wisdom, or Minerva, and who when created was garlanded with

flowers as the crown of creation, became, in course of time, an accursed and wicked thing who must

henceforth cover herself with leaves to hide her shame. Tertullian, who, with the rest of the early fathers in

the Christian church, had imbibed the latter doctrine concerning her, could not believe the tradition set forth

by Hesiod; therefore Pandora was a myth, while the corrupted fable, that of Eve as the tempter, was accepted

"Round her fair brow the lovelytressed Hours A garland twined of Spring's purpureal flowers: The whole

Later, however, Pandora herself becomes the pourer forth of ills on the head of defenceless man.

Although earth, air, water, and the sun were long venerated as objects of worship, as containing the life

principle, in process of time it is observed that fire attracted the highest regard of human beings, and on their

altars the sacred flame, said to have been kindled from heaven, was kept burning uninterruptedly from year to

year, and from age to age, by bends of priests "whose special duty it was to see that the sacred flame was

never extinguished." The office of the vestal virgins in Rome was to preserve the holy fire. The Egyptians,

and in fact all the earlier civilized nations, knew that force proceeds from the sun, hence the frequent

appearance of this orb among their symbols of life. Indeed there is not a country on the globe in which, at

The Hindoos, "believing fire to be the essence of all active power in Nature, kept perpetual lamps burning in

the innermost recesses of their pagodas and temples, and in the sacred edifices of the Greeks and Barbarians

The festival of lamps, which was once universal throughout Egypt, still prevails in China. On the evening of

the fifteenth day of the first month in the year, every person is compelled to place before his door a lantern or

light, such lights differing in size and expense according to the degree of wealth or poverty of those to whom

they belong. Light was the symbol of Muth (Perceptive Wisdom). Among the Persians, the Egyptians, the

Mexicans, the Jews, the Etruscans, the Greeks, and the Romans, fire was venerated as the essence of the

Deity; and, at the present time, in Thibet, in China, in Japan, and in portions of Africa, it still forms an

important part of worship. The Hebrew writings show conclusively that not only the Jews but all the

surrounding nations were fireworshippers, and that their sacrifices were not infrequently to the God of Fire.

"When Rome was rearing temples to the fame and worship of Fire, we find the prophets of Israel

occasionally denouncing the wickedness of its worship by their own and the nations around them;

nevertheless, even to Christ's time Molok always had his offerings of children."[100]

It is believed that Abraham introduced fireworship among the Jews from Ur in Mesopotamia, a land in

which lights are still venerated, and fire altars are worshipped as containing the Deity.

The real essence of fire which was identical with the lifeprinciple was holy. The "Lord" of the Israelites was

in the fire which descended on Mt. Sinai, Exodus xix., 18. "The bush burned with fire and the bush was not

consumed," Exodus iii., 2. Whether the signification of "bush" is the same as "grove," I know not, but

Josephus assures us that the bush was holy before the flame appeared in it. Because of its sacred character, it

became the receptacle for the burning "Lord" of the Jews. The ark, the religious emblem which Moses bore

aloft, was simply a fire altar on which the fire must continually burn. The fact will doubtless be observed that

although the ark and the bush (female emblems) were invested with a certain degree of sanctity, they were

At the same time that the Jews kept sacred or holy fires continually burning on their altars, they carried about

a serpent on a pole representing it to be the "healer of nations." They also kept a phallic emblem in a box,

chest, or ark which they worshipped as the "God of Hosts," the "Life Giver," etc. It has been observed that

although the Jews frequently lost their ark, they were never without their serpentpole. At a certain stage in

the religious development of mankind all the temples in Africa and Western Asia were dedicated to Vulcan

the fire god or the "Lord of Fire," to whom all furnaces were sacred. The principal festivals in honor of this

Deity took place in the spring, at the Easter season, and on the 23d of August, when it is said that the

licentiousness practiced in the temples compared with those of the "Harvest Homes" of Europe when the sun

was in Libra and the harvest had been garnered in. Vulcan was the "God of fornication" or of passion.

These excesses, which remained unchecked down to the fourth century before Christ, are said to have

Various philosophers of early historic times as well as many of the early fathers in the Christian church

believed that God was a corporeal substance which in some way is manifested through fire.

In Egypt, during the early ages of Christianity, "a great dispute took place among the monks on the question,

whether God is corporeal." Tertullian declared that "God is fire"; Origen, that "he is a subtle fire"; and

There is little doubt that in early historic ages the Persians, who had undertaken to purify their religion, were

the strongest and purest sect of this cult; they were in fact the genuine worshippers of the pure creative

We have observed that force or spirit was originally regarded as a part of Nature, or in other words that it was

a manifestation of, or an outflowing from matter, but so soon as it began to be considered as something apart

from Nature, there at once arose a desire for some corporeal object to represent this unseen and occult

During many of the ages of fireworship, holy fire, although a material substance, seems to have been too

subtle to clearly represent the godidea, hence everywhere the worship of the serpent is found to be

interwoven with it. In fact, so closely are serpent, fire, pillar, and other phallic faiths intermingled that it is

The Persians are by some writers said to have been the earliest fireworshippers: by others the truth of this

statement is denied, while many claim, and indeed the Maji themselves declared, that they never worshipped

fire at all in any other manner than as an emblem of the divine principle which they believed resided within it.

It is probable, however, from the evidence at hand, that they, like all the other nations of the globe, prior to

the reformation led by Zarathustra and his daughter, had lost or nearly forgotten the profound ideas connected

Passion, symbolized by fire, is declared by various writers to have been the first idol, but later research has

proved the falsity of this assumption. It is true that at an early age of human experience the creative processes

were worshipped, but such worship involved scientific and, I might say, spiritualized conceptions of the

operations of Nature which in time were altogether lost sight of. Gross phallicism is clearly the result of

I think no one can study the facts connected with fire and light as the Deity in the various countries in which

this worship prevailed, without perceiving the change it gradually underwent during later ages, and the

grossness of the ideas which became connected with it as compared with an earlier age when mankind "had

In another portion of this work we have observed that in the rites connected with the worship of Cybele

(Light or Wisdom), although phallic symbols were in use, the ceremonies were absolutely pure, and that

throughout all the earlier ages her worship remained free from the abominations which characterized the

At what time in the history of the human race the organs of generation first began to appear as emblems of

the Deity is not known. Within the earliest cave temples, those hewn from the solid rock, sculptured

representations of these objects are still to be observed. Although until a comparatively recent period their

true significance has been unknown, there is little doubt at the present time that they were originally used as

symbols of fertility, or as emblems typifying the processes of Nature, and that at some remote period of the

world's history they were worshipped as the Creator, or, at least, as representations of the creative agencies in

Concerning the origin and character of the people who executed them there is scarcely a trace in written

history. Through the unravelling of extinct tongues, however, the monumental records of the ancient nations

of the globe have been deciphered, and the system of religious symbolism in use among them is now

A small volume by various writers, printed in London some years ago, entitled A Comparative View of the

"Those who have penetrated into the abstruseness of Indian mythology, find that in these temples was

practiced a worship similar to that practiced by all the several nations of the world, in their earliest as well as

their most enlightened periods. It was paid to the Phallus by the Asiatics, to Priapus by the Egyptians, Greeks,

and Romans, to BaalPeor by the Canaanites and idolatrous Jews. The figure is seen on the fascia which runs

round the circus of Nismes, and over the portal of the Cathedral of Toulouse, and several churches of

Of the Lingham and Yoni and their universal acceptance as religious emblems, Barlow remarks that it was a

"worship which would appear to have made the tour of the globe and to have left traces of its existence where

we might least expect to find it." In referring to the "sculptured indecencies" connected with religious rites,

which, being wrought in imperishable stone, have been preserved in India and other parts of the East, Forlong

says that when occurring in the temples or other sacred places they are at the present time evidently very

puzzling to the pious Indians, and in their attempts to explain them they say they are placed there "in

fulfilment of vows," or that they have been wrought there "as punishments for sins of a sexual nature,

committed by those who executed or paid for them." It is, however, the opinion of Forlong that they are

simply connected with an older and purer worshipa worship which involved the union of the sex principles

Regarding the cause for the "indecent" sculptures of the Orissa temples, the same writer quotes the following

"A vitiated taste aided by general prevalence of immorality might at first sight appear to be the most likely

one; but I can not believe that libidiousness, however depraved, would ever think of selecting fanes dedicated

to the worship of God, as the most appropriate for its manifestations; for it is worthy of remark that they

occur almost exclusively on temples and their attached porches, and never on enclosing walls, gateways, and

other nonreligious structures. Our ideas of propriety, according to Voltaire, lead us to suppose that a

ceremony (like the worship of Priapus) which appears to us infamous, could only be invented by

licentiousness; but it is impossible to believe that depravity of manners would ever have led among any

people to the establishment of religious ceremonies. It is probable, on the contrary, that this custom was first

introduced in times of simplicitythat the first thought was to honor the Deity in the symbol of life which it

has given us; such a ceremony may have excited licentiousness among youths, and have appeared ridiculous

to men of education in more refined, more corrupt, and more enlightened times, but it never had its origin in

such feelings. . . . It is out of the question therefore to suppose that a general prevalence of vice would of

itself, without the authority of priests and scriptures, suffice to lead to the defilement of holy temples."[101]

Originally the Ionians, as their name indicates, were Yoni worshippers, i. e., they belonged to the sect which

was driven out of India because of their stubborn refusal to worship the male energy as the Creator. During

the later ages of their history, at a time when their religion had degenerated into a licensed system of vice and

corruption, and after their temples had become brothels in which, in the name of religion, were practiced the

most debasing ceremonies, the Greeks became ashamed of their ancient worship, and, like the Jews, ashamed

It is believed that the Greeks received from Egypt, or the East, their first theological conceptions of God and

"were veiled in symbols, significant of a primitive monotheism; these, at a later period, being translated into

symbolical or allegorical language, were by the poets transformed into epic or narrative myths, in which the

original subject symbolized was almost effaced, whilst the allegorical expressions were received generally in

a literal sense. Hence, to the many, the meaning of the ancient doctrine was lost, and was communicated only

to the few, under the strictest secrecy in the mysteries of Eleusis and Samothrace. Thus there was a popular

theology to suit the people, and a rational theology reserved for the educated, the symbolical language in both

being the same, but the meaning of it being taken differently. In course of time, as knowledge makes its way

among the people, and religious enlightenment with it, much of what had been received literally will relapse

into its original figurative or symbolical meaning. Reason will resume her supremacy, and stereotyped

Although, during the later ages of the human career, the higher truths taught by an earlier race were lost, still

a slight hint of the beauty and purity of the more ancient worship may be traced through most of the ages of

the history of religion. Even among the profligate Greeks, the mysteries of Eleusis, celebrated in the temple

of Ceres, were always respected. Care should be taken, however, not to confound these remnants of pure

Nature worship with that of the courtesan Venus, whose adoration, during the degenerate days of Greece,

Down to a late date in the annals of Athens there was celebrated a religious festival called Thesmophoria. The

name of this festival is derived from one of the cognomens of Ceresthe goddess "who first gave laws and

made life orderly." Ceres was the divinity adored by the Amazons, and is essentially the same as the Egyptian

Isis. She represents universal female Nature. The Thesmophorian rites, which are believed by most writers to

have been introduced into Greece directly from Thrace, were performed by "virgins distinguished for probity

Inman, in his Ancient Faiths, quotes an oracle of Apollo, from Spencer, to the effect that "Rhea the Mother of

the Blessed, and the Queen of the Gods, loved assemblages of women." As this festival is in honor of Female

Nature, the various female attributes are adored as deities, Demeter being the first named by the worshippers.

After a long season of fasting, and "after solemn reflection on the mysteries of life, women splendidly attired

The food partaken of by the devotees at these festivals was cakes, very similar in shape to those which were

offered to the Queen of Heaven by the women of Judah in the days of Jeremiah, an offering which it will be

remembered so displeased that prophet that a curse was pronounced upon the entire people.

As the strictest secrecy prevailed among the initiated respecting these rites, the exact nature of the symbols

employed at the Thesmophorian festivals is not known; it is believed, however, that it was the female

emblem of generation, and that this festival was held in honor of that event which from the earliest times had

been prophesied by those who believed in the superior importance of the female, namely, that unaided by the

male power, a woman would bring forth, and that this manifestation of female sufficiency would forever

settle the question of the ascendancy of the female principle. Through a return of the ancient ideas of purity

and peace, mankind would be redeemed from the wretchedness and misery which had been the result of the

decline of female power. The dual idea entertained in the Thesmophorian worship is observed in the fact that

although Ceres, the Great Mother, was the principal Deity honored, Proserpine, the child, was also

comprehended, and with its Mother worshipped as part of the Creator. Thus we observe that down to a late

date in the history of Grecian mythology the idea of a Holy Mother with her child had not altogether

To prove the worthiness of the ideas connected with the Eleusinian mysteries it is stated that "there is not an

instance on record that the honor of initiation was ever obtained by a very bad man."

In Rome these mysteries took another name and were called "the rites of Bona Dea," which was but another

"All the distinguished Roman authors speak of these rites and in terms of profound respect. Horace

denounces the wretch who should attempt to reveal the secrets of these rites; Virgil mentions these mysteries

with great respect; and Cicero alludes to them with a greater reverence than either of the poets we have

named. Both the Greeks and the Romans punished any insult offered to these mysteries with the most

persevering vindictiveness. Alcibiades was charged with insulting these religious rites, and although the proof

of his offense was quite doubtful, yet he suffered for it for years in exile and misery, and it must be allowed

In Greece, the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries was in the hands of the Emolpidae, one of the oldest

and most respected families of antiquity. At Carthage, there were celebrated the Phiditia, religious

solemnities similar to those already described in Greece. During the two or three days upon which these

festivals were celebrated, public feasts were prepared at which the youth were instructed by their elders in the

state concerning the principles which were to govern their conduct in after life; truth, inward purity, and

virtue being set forth as essentials to true manhood. In later times, after these festivals had found their way to

Rome, they gradually succumbed to the immorality which prevailed, and at last, when their former exalted

significance had been forgotten, they were finally sunk into "the licentiousness of enjoyment, and the

innocence of mirth was superseded by the uproar of riot and vice! Such were the Saturnalia."

From the facts connected with the mysteries of Eleusis and the Thesmophorian rites, it is evident that in its

earlier stages Natureworship was absolutely free from the impurities which came to be associated with it in

later times. As the organs of generation had not originally been wholly disgraced and outraged, it is not

unlikely that when the socalled "sculptured indecencies" appeared on the walls of the temples they were

regarded as no more an offense against propriety and decency than was the reappearance of the cross, the

Neither is it probable, in an age in which nothing that is natural was considered indecent, and before the

reproductive energies had become degraded, that these symbols were any more suggestive of impurity than

are the Easter offerings upon our church altars at the present time. Whatever may now be the significance of

these offerings to those who present them, sure it is that they once, together with other devices connected

with Natureworship, were simply emblems of fertilitysymbols of a risen and fructifying sun which by its

If we carefully study the religion of past ages we will discover something more than a hint of an age when the

generative functions were regarded as a sacred expression of creative power, and when the reproductive

organs had not through overstimulation and abuse been tabooed as objects altogether impure and unholy,

and as things too disgraceful to be mentioned above a whisper. Indeed there is much evidence going to show

that in an earlier age of the world's history the degradation of mankind, through the abuse of the creative

functions, had not been accomplished, and the ills of life resulting from such abuse were unknown.

We may reasonably believe that those instincts in the female which are correlated with maternal affection and

which were acquired by her as a protection to the germ, or, in other words, those characters which Nature has

developed in the female to insure the safety and wellbeing of offspring, and which in a purer and more

natural stage of human existence acted as cheeks upon the energies of the male, were not easily or quickly

subdued; but when through subjection to the animal nature of man these instincts or characters had been

denied their natural expression, and woman had become simply the instrument of man's pleasure, the

comparatively pure worship of the organs of generation as symbols of creative power began to give place to

the deification of these members simply as emblems of desire, or as instruments for the stimulation of

We are assured that on the banks of the Ganges, the very cradle of religion, are still to be found various

remnants of the most ancient form of Natureworshipthat there are still to be observed "certain high places

Here devout worshippers believe that the androgynous God of fertility, or Nature, still manifests itself to the

faithful. Close beside these more ancient shrines are others representing a somewhat later development of

religious faithshrines, by means of which are indicated some of the processes involved in the earlier

growth of the godidea. Not far removed from these are to be found, also, numerous temples or places of

worship belonging to a still later faitha faith in which are revealed the "awakening and stimulation of every

sensuous feeling, and which has drowned in infamy every noble impulse developed in human nature."

Of the depravity of the Jews and the immorality practiced in their religious rites, Forlong says:

"No one can study their history, liberated from the blindness which our Christian upbringing and

associations cast over us, without seeing that the Jews were probably the grossest worshippers among all

those OphiPhalloSolar devotees who then covered every land and sea, from the sources of the Nile and

Euphrates to all over the Mediterranean coasts and isles. These impure faiths seem to have been very strictly

maintained by Jews up to Hezekiah's days, and by none more so than by dissolute Solomon and his cruel,

lascivious banditfather, the brazenfaced adulterer and murderer, who broke his freely volunteered oath,

Of Solomon he says that he devoted his energies and some little wealth "to rearing phallic and Solophallic

shrines over all the high places around him, and especially in front of Jerusalem, and on and around the

Mount of Olives." On each side of the entrance to his celebrated temple, under the great phallic spire which

formed the portico, were two handsome columns over fifty feet high, by the side of which were the sun God

In a description of this temple it is represented as being one hundred and twenty feet long and forty feet

broad, while the porch, a phallic emblem, "was a huge tower, forty feet long, twenty feet broad, and two

hundred and forty feet high." We are assured by Forlong that Solomon's temple was like hundreds observed

in the East, except that its walls were a little higher than those usually seen, and the phallic spire out of

proportion to the size of the structure. "The Jewish porch is but the obelisk which the Egyptian placed beside

his temple; the Boodhist pillars which stood all around their Dagobas; the pillars of Hercules, which stood

near the Phoenician temple; and the spire which stands beside the Christian Church."[104]

The rites and ceremonies observed in the worship of BaalPeor are not of a character to be described in these

pages: it is perhaps sufficient to state that by them the fact is clearly established that profligacy, regulated and

controlled by the priestly order as part and parcel of religion, was not confined to the Gentiles; but, on the

contrary, that the religious observances of the Jews prior to the Babylonian captivity were even more gross

These impure faiths arose at a time when man as the sole creator of offspring became god, when the natural

instincts of woman were subdued, and when passion as the highest expression of the divine force came to be

The extent to which these faiths have influenced later religious belief and observances is scarcely realized by

It has been stated that in the time of Solon, lawgiver of Athens, there were twenty temples in the various

cities of Greece dedicated to Venus the courtesan, within which were practiced, in the name of religion, the

most infamous rites and the most shameless selfabandonment; and that throughout Europe, down to a late

period in the history of the race, religious festivals were celebrated at certain seasons of the year, at which the

ceremonies performed in honor of the god of fornication were of the grossest nature, and at which the

Bacchanalian orgies were only equalled by those practiced in the religious temples of Babylon.

It is impossible longer to conceal the fact that passion, symbolized by a serpent, an upright stone, and by the

male and female organs of generation, the male appearing as the "giver of life," the female as a necessary

appendage to it, constituted the godidea of mankind for at least four thousand years; and, instead of being

confined to the earlier ages of that period, we shall presently see that phallic worship had not disappeared,

Such has been the result of the ascendancy gained by the grosser elements in human nature: the highest idea

of the Infinite passion symbolized by the organs of generation, while the principal rites connected with its

At the present time it is by no means difficult to trace the growth of the godidea. First, as we have seen, a

system of pure Natureworship appeared under the symbol of a Mother and child. In process of time this

particular form of worship was supplanted by a religion under which the male principle is seen to be in the

ascendancy over the female. Later a more complicated system of Natureworship is observed in which the

underlying principles are concealed, or are understood only by the initiated. Lastly, these philosophical and

recondite principles are forgotten and the symbols themselves receive the adoration which once belonged to

the Creator. The change which the ideas concerning womanhood underwent from the time when the natural

feminine characters and qualities were worshipped as God, to the days of Solon the Grecian lawgiver, when

women had become merely tools or slaves for the use and pleasure of men, is forcibly shown by a

comparison of the character ascribed to the female deities at the two epochs mentioned. Athene who in an

earlier age had represented Wisdom had in the age of Solon degenerated into a patroness of heroes; but even

as a Goddess of war her patronage was as nought compared with that of the courtesan Venus, at whose shrine

The extent to which women, in the name of religion, have been degraded, and the part which in the past they

have been compelled to assume in the worship of passion may not at the present time be disguised, as facts

concerning this subject are well authenticated. In a former work,[105] attention has been directed to the

religious rites of Babylon, the city in which it will be remembered the Tower of Belus was situated. Here

women of all conditions and ranks were obliged, once in their life, to prostitute themselves in the temple for

hire to any stranger who might demand such service, which revenue was appropriated by the priests to be

applied to sacred uses. This act it will be remembered was a religious obligation imposed by religious

teachers and enforced by priestly rule. It was a sacrifice to the god of passion. A similar custom prevailed in

Most of the temples of the later Hindoos had bands of consecrated women called the "Women of the Idol."

These victims of the priests were selected in their infancy by Brahmins for the beauty of their persons, and

were trained to every elegant accomplishment that could render them attractive and which would insure

success in the profession which they exercised at once for the pleasure and profit of the priesthood. They

were never allowed to desert the temple; and the offspring of their promiscuous embraces were, if males,

consecrated to the service of the Deity in the ceremonies of this worship, and, if females, educated in the

That prostitution was a religious observance, which was practiced in Eastern temples, cannot in the face of

"To us it is inconceivable, that the indulgence of passion could be associated with religion, but so it was. The

words expressive of 'sanctuary,' 'consecrated,' and 'sodomites' are in the Hebrew essentially the same. It is

amongst the Hindoos of today as it was in the Greece and Italy of classic times; and we find that 'holy

woman' is a title given to those who devote their bodies to be used for hire, which goes to the service of the

The extent to which ages of corruption have vitiated the purer instincts of human nature, and the degree to

which centuries of sensuality and superstition have degraded the nature of man, may be noticed at the present

time in the admissions which are frequently made by male writers regarding the change which during the

history of the race has taken place in the godidea. None of the attributes of women, not even that holy

instinctmaternal love, can by many of them be contemplated apart from the ideas of grossness which have

attended the sexfunctions during the ages since women first became enslaved. As an illustration of this we

have the following from an eminent philologist of recent times, a writer whose able efforts in unravelling

"The Chaldees believed in a celestial virgin who had purity of body, loveliness of person, and tenderness of

affection, and she was one to whom the erring sinner could appeal with more chance of success than to a

stern father. She was portrayed as a mother with a child in her arms, and every attribute ascribed to her

showing that she was supposed to be as fond as any earthly female ever was."[107]

After thus describing the early Chaldean Deity, who, although a pure and spotless virgin, was nevertheless

worshipped as a mother, or as the embodiment of the altruistic principles developed in mankind, this writer

goes on to say: "The worship of the woman by man naturally led to developments which our

COMPARATIVELY SENSITIVE NATURES [the italics are mine] shun as being opposed to all religious

feeling," which sentiment clearly reveals the inability of this writer to estimate womanhood, or even

motherhood, apart from the sensualized ideas which during the ages in which passion has been the recognized

The purity of life and the high stage of civilization reached by an ancient people, and the fact that these

conditions were reached under pure Natureworship, or when the natural attributes of the female were

regarded as the highest expression of the divine in the human, prove that it was neither the appreciation nor

the deification of womanhood which "led to developments which sensitive natures shun as being opposed to

all religious feeling," but, on the contrary, that it was the lack of such appreciation which stimulated the lower

nature of man and encouraged every form of sensuality and superstition. In other words, it was the subjection

of the natural female instincts and the deification of brute passion during the later ages of human history

Although at the present time it is quite impossible for scholars to veil the fact that the godidea was

originally worshipped as female, still, most modern writers who deal with this subject seem unable to

understand the state of human society which must have existed when the instincts, qualities, and characters

peculiar to the female constitution were worshipped as divine. So corrupt has human nature become through

overstimulation and indulgence of the lower propensities, that it seems impossible for those who have thus

far dealt with this subject to perceive in the earlier conceptions of a Deity any higher idea than that conveyed

to their minds at the present time by the sexual attributes and physical functions of femalesnamely, their

capacity to bring forth, coupled with the power to gratify the animal instincts of males, functions which

The fact that by an ancient race woman was regarded as the head or crown of creation, that she was the first

emanation from the Deity, or, more properly speaking, that she represented Perceptive Wisdom, seems at the

present time not to be comprehended, or at least not acknowledged. The more recently developed idea, that

she was designed as an appendage to man, and created specially for his use and pleasure,a conception

which is the direct result of the supremacy of the lower instincts over the higher faculties,has for ages been

The androgynous Venus of the earlier ages, a deity which although female was figured with a beard to denote

that within her were embraced the masculine powers, embodied a conception of universal womanhood and

the Deity widely different from that entertained in the later ages of Greece, at a time when Venus the

courtesan represented all the powers and capacities of woman considered worthy of deification.

To such an extent, in later ages, have all our ideas of the Infinite become masculinized that in extant history

little except occasional hints is to be found of the fact that during numberless ages of human existence the

One has only to study the Greek character to anticipate the manner in which any subject pertaining to women

would be treated by that arrogant and conceited race; and, as until recently most of our information

concerning the past has come through Greek sources, the distorted and onesided view taken of human

events, and the contempt with which the feminine half of society has been regarded, are in no wise surprising.

We must bear in mind the fact, however, that the Greeks were but the degenerate descendants of the highly

civilized peoples whom they were pleased to term "barbarians," and that they knew less of the origin and

character of the gods which they worshipped, and which they had borrowed from other countries, than is

About 600 years B.C., we may believe that mankind had sunk to the lowest depth of human degradation,

since which time humanity has been slowly retracting its course; not, however, with any degree of continuity

or regularity, nor without lapses, during which for hundreds of years the current seemed to roll backward.

Indeed when we review the history of the intervening ages, and note the extent to which passion, prejudice,

and superstition have been in the ascendancy over reason and judgment, we may truly say: "The fathers have

It has been said of the Persians that in their zeal to purify the sensualized faiths which everywhere prevailed

they manifested a decided "repugnance to the worship of images, beasts, or symbols, while they sought to

From the facts to be gleaned concerning this people during the seventh and eighth centuries B.C., it is quite

probable that they still had a faint knowledge of a former age of intellectual and moral greatness, and that it

was their object, at that time, to return to the purer principles which characterized it. That their efforts were

subsequently copied by surrounding nations is shown in the facts connected with their history.

Soon leading Syrians and Jews began to learn from their Eastern neighbor that the worship of images could

scarcely be acceptable to a god which they were beginning to invest with a certain degree of spirituality.

There is little doubt, at the present time, that the attempt to spiritualize the religion of the Jews was due to the

influence of the Persians. However, the length of time required to effect any appreciable improvement in an

established form of worship is shown by the fact that, two hundred years later, little change for the better was

observed in the temples, in which licentiousness had become a recognized religious rite. Even at the present

time, it is reported that in many places of worship in the East there still reside "holy women god's women,"

who, like those in Babylon, described by various writers, are devoted to the "god of fire."

In a comparison made between the religion of Persia and the doctrines said to have been taught by Moses,

"The religion of Persia as reformed by Zoroaster so closely resembles the Mosaic, that it would be almost

impossible to decide which has the precedence of the other, unless we knew how ancient was the teaching of

Zoroaster, and how very recent was that said to be from Moses. Be this as it may, we find the ancient

Persians resemble the Jews in sacrificing upon high places, in paying divine honor to fire, in keeping up a

sacred flame, in certain ceremonial cleansings, in possessing an hereditary priesthood who alone were

allowed to offer sacrifices, and in making their summum bonum the possession of a numerous

It is quite plain that by both these nations the wisdom of an earlier race was nearly forgotten. Seven hundred

years B.C. the Persians had doubtless already adopted the worship of "One God" who was the Regenerator or

Destroyer, a Deity which, as we have seen, originally comprehended the powers of Naturenamely the sun's

heat and the cold of winter. That at this time, however, they had lost the higher truths involved in the

conception of this Deity, is evident. They had become worshippers of fire, or of that subtle igneous fluid

residing in fire which they believed to be creative force. Although the Persiaus like all the other nations of the

globe had lost or forgotten the higher truths enunciated by an older race, there is no evidence going to show

that they ever became gross phallic worshippers like the Jews; that they were not such is shown in the fact

that down to the time of Alexander the women of Persia still held a high and honorable position, and that the

Had we no other evidence of the comparatively exalted character of the religion of the Persians than the

history of the lives of such men as Darius, Cyrus, Artaxerxes, and others, we should conclude,

notwithstanding the similarity in the ceremonials of these two religions, that some influence had been at work

to preserve them from the cruelty and licentiousness which prevailed among the Jews. It is related of Cyrus

that he used to wish that he might live long enough to repay all the kindness which he had received. It is also

stated that on account of the justice and equity shown in his character, a great number of persons were

desirous of committing to his care and wisdom "the disposal of their property, their cities, and their own

In striking contrast to the mild and humane character of Cyrus stands that of the licentious and revengeful

"As for the heads of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them."

"Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up

"Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."[110]

No one I think can read the Avestas without being impressed by the prominence there given to the subjects of

temperance and virtue. In their efforts to purify religion, and in the attempts to return to their more ancient

faith, the disciples of Zoroaster, as early as eight hundred years before Christ, had adopted a highly

spiritualized conception of the Deity. They had taught in various portions of Asia Minor the doctrine of one

God, a dual entity by means of which all things were created. They taught also the doctrine of a resurrection

and that of the immortality of the soul. It was at this time that they originated, or at least propounded, the

doctrine of hell and the devil, a belief exactly suited to the then weakened mental condition of mankind, and

from which humanity has not yet gained sufficient intellectual and moral strength to free itself. This Persian

devil, which had become identified with winter or with the absence of the sun's rays, was now Aryhman, or

the "powers of darkness," and was doubtless the source whence sprang the personal devil elaborated at a later

As the Jews had no writings prior to the time of Ezra or Jeremiah, it is now believed that many of the

doctrines incorporated in their sacred books were borrowed from Persian, Indian, and Egyptian sources.

Resurrection from the dead, or the resurrection of the body, was for hundreds of years prior to the birth of

Christ an established article of Egyptian and Persian faith, while spiritual regeneration, symbolized by the

outward typification of "being born again," was the beginning of a new life and an admission to the heavenly

In the Khordah Avesta we have the following concerning the doctrine of the resurrection and that of future

"I am wholly without doubt in the existence of the good Mazdaycinian faith, in the coming of the resurrection

and the later body, in the stepping over the bridge Chinvat, in an invariable recompense of good deeds and

The Zoroastrians, who led the way in the great intellectual and religious awakening which took place during

the intervening years from 700 B.C. to 400 B.C., sought to purify all things by fire and water, the two

principles which had come to be regarded as the original elements, from which, or by which, all things are

Prior to this time, in Persia, and long afterwards by various other nations, baptism, a rite performed at

puberty, was connected only with the sexual obligations of the person receiving it, but in the age which we

are considering it became especially a cleansing or regenerating process, and was the means by which the

pious devotee became initiated into the mysteries of holy living, or by which she or he was "born again."

As in their religious procedure every act was performed in connection with symbols, so in the matter of

baptism they were not satisfied with the inner consciousness of regeneration, but must go through with

certain processes which typified the new life upon which they had entered. According to Wilford, the

outward symbolization of the "new birth" in the East is manifested in the following manner:

"For the purpose of regeneration it is directed to make an image of pure gold of the female power of nature,

either in the shape of a woman or of a cow. In this statue, the person to be regenerated is inclosed, and

dragged out through the natural channel. As a statue of pure gold and of proper dimensions would be too

expensive, it is sufficient to make an image of the sacred Yoni, through which the person to be regenerated is

Thus at the time Nicodemus is said to have queried concerning the mysteries of the new birth, it is observed

that the outward forms of regeneration had long been in use among the pagans. In passing themselves through

these apertures, the applicant for regeneration was supposed to represent the condition of one "issuing from

According to the testimony of various writers upon this subject, there are still extant, not alone in oriental

countries, but in Ireland and Scotland as well, numerous excavations or apertures in the rocks which by an

early race were used for the same purpose. Through the misconception, bigotry, and ignorance of the Roman

Catholic missionaries in Ireland, these openings were designated as the "Devil's Yonies." Although these

emblems typified the original conception of one of their most sacred beliefs, namely, the "new birth," still

they were "heathen abominations" with which the devotees of the new (?) faith must not become defiled.

The people who executed these imperishable designs, and who have left in the British Isles innumerable

evidences of their religious beliefs, are supposed by some writers to belong to a colony which, having been

expelled from Persia on account of their peculiar religious beliefs, settled in the "White Island," the "Island of

When we closely examine the facts connected with the evolution of religion, there can be little doubt that the

Persians laid the foundation for that great moral and intellectual awakening which a century or two later is

represented by Confucious, Gotama Buddha, and Pythagoras. From the Persians, doubtless Jew and Gentile

alike received the little leaven of spirituality which in later ages crept into their gross conception of a Deity.

By the Persians, the Hindoos, and other nations of the East, it was believed that the end of each cycle of six

hundred years, at which time a new sun or savior was to come, would mark a new era of religious

development. At the close of each of these cycles it was devoutly expected that the "golden age" of the past

would be restored, and that mankind would again be freed from the ills which had overtaken them. As many

of these cycles had passed, numerous deliverers, saviors, or solar incarnations had appeared in India, Gotama

Buddha having been the ninth. In the East, about six or seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, not

Concerning the leader of the reform in Persia there seem to be many conflicting accounts. The learned Faber

concludes that there were two Zarathustras or Zoroasters, the former being identical with Menu, the law giver

and triplicated deity of India, and who by various writers is recognized as the Noah of the Hebrews.

According to Pliny, the former lived thousands of years before Christ. Several writers concur in placing him

five thousand years before the siege of Troy. According to Sir Wm. Jones, the latter Zoroaster lived in the

time of Darius Hystaspes. It is now claimed that in the Dabistan, one of the sacred books of Persia, thirteen

Zoroasters appear. The name of the last great leader, together with a few of his doctrines, and various

scattered fragments in the Gathas, are all that remain on record of a man whose personality stands connected

That this prophet was without honor in his own country is shown by the following lamentation:

"To what country shall I go? Where shall I take refuge? What country gives shelter to the master, Zarathustra,

and his companion? None of the servants pay reverence to me, nor do the wicked rulers of the country. How

shall I worship thee further, living Wise One? What help did Zarathustra receive when he proclaimed the

truths? What did he obtain through the good mind? . . . Why has the truthful one so few adherents, while all

Although the prophet Zarathustra and his companion were first rejected, the fact seems plain that the

monotheistic doctrines which they set forth were subsequently accepted as the groundwork of the religion of

"It is reported that Zarathustra Spitama possessed the best good, for Ahura Mazda granted him all that may be

obtained by means of a sincere worship, forever, all that promotes the good life, and he gives the same to all

"Pourutschista, the Hetchataspadin, the most holy one, the most distinguished of the daughters of Zarathustra,

The fact will doubtless be observed that Pourutschista was not merely a disciple of Zarathustra, but that she

In the 5th Gatha it is stated that among those who "know the right paths, the law which Ahura gave to the

Profitable," is Pourutschista the "Holy worthy of adoration among the daughters of Zarathustra. . . . wise

Ormuzd, or Ahura Mazda, which was the essence of heat or light, was the principle adored by the followers

of the reformed religion in Persia. Throughout the Avesta the most desirable possession, and that which is

"We praise the pure man. "The best purity praise we. "The best wish praise we of the best purity. The best

place of purity praise we, the shining, endued with all brightness."[113] "This Earth, together with the

women, we praise Which bears us, which are the women, Ahura Mazda Whose wishes arise from purity,

The following is a part of the marriage ceremony of the Persians as it is found in the KhordaAvesta:

"Do you both accept the contract for life with honorable mind? In the name and friendship of Ormuzd be ever

shining, be very enlarged. Be increasing. Be victorious. Learn purity. Be worthy of good praise. May the

mind think good thoughts, the words speak good, the works do good. May all wicked thoughts hasten away,

all wicked words be diminished, all wicked works be burnt up. . . . Win for thyself property by rightdealing.

Speak truth with the rulers and be obedient. Be modest with friends, clever, and well wishing. Be not cruel,

be not covetous. . . . Combat adversaries with right. Before an assembly speak only pure words. In no wise

Confucius, the great Chinese teacher and philosopher, who lived probably in the sixth century B.C., may be

said to have been a humanitarian or moralist instead of a mystic. Although he believed in a great first

principle, or cause, which he termed Heaven, we are given to understand that in his philosophizing little

"He said of himself (Analects, vii., I), that he was a transmitter and not a maker, one who believed in and

loved the ancients; and hence it is said in the thirtieth chapter of the doctrine of the Mean, ascribed to his

grandson, that he handed down the doctrines of Yao and Shun, as if they had been his ancestors, and

elegantly displayed the regulations of Wan and Wu, taking them as his models."[115]

The ancient books which Confucius interpreted or rewrote laid no claim to being sacred in the sense of being

inspired; but, on the contrary, were works of wisdom put forth by historians, poets, and others "as they were

moved in their own minds." The most ancient of these doctrines was the Shu, a work which since the period

A number of documents contained in this work date back to the twentyfourth century B.C., and as they are

regarded as historical are considered to be of greater importance than are any others of their ancient writings.

Second in antiquity and importance is the Shih or the Book of Poetry. This work contains the religious views

of its writers, also an account of the manners, customs, and events of the times to which they belong. For

5000 years, in China, Tien or Ti has expressed the moving or creating force in the universe. In later ages it is

observed that this name has been attached to royalty. Hwang Ti is the present title of the Emperor of China.

From some of the texts found in the Shu King, it would seem that the Chinese had in the remote past caught

sight of the scientific fact that virtue is its own reward. "Heaven graciously distinguishes the virtuous. . . .

The principal object of Confucius seems to have been to inculcate those doctrines of his ancestors which,

taking root, would in time bring about a return to those principles of former virtue, a faint knowledge of

which seems still to have survived in China. The following precepts are found among his teachings:

"Knowledge, magnanimity, and energy are the virtues universally binding. Gravity, generosity of soul,

sincerity, earnestness, and kindness constitute perfect virtue. Sincerity is the very way to Heaven. My

doctrine is that of an allpervading unity. The superior man is catholic and not partisan. The mean is partisan

and not catholic. The superior man is affable but not adulatory, the mean is adulatory but not affable."

When asked for a word which should serve as a rule of practice for all our life he replied: "Is not Reciprocity

such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." On one occasion the question was

asked him: "What do you say concerning the principle that injury shall be recompensed with kindness?" To

which he replied: "Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness."[117]

It is recorded by his disciples that there are four things from which the master was entirely free. "He had no

foregone conclusions, no arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egoism." Contrary to the rule of

most reformers or leaders of opinion, he always regarded himself as a learner as well as teacher. It is related

of Confucius that he at one time desired a governmental position, thinking that through its occupancy he

might the better disseminate the ancient doctrines of rectitude and virtue. Offers of individual advantage

could not swerve him from his wellgrounded principles of honor. On one occasion one of the rulers of the

country proposed to confer upon him a city and its revenues, but Confucius replied: "A superior man will

only receive reward for services which he has rendered. I have given advice to the dukeking, but he has not

obeyed it, and now he would endow me with this place! very far is he from understanding me."[118]

The fact seems evident that Confucius had not sufficient strength of character to attempt a change in the

social conditions of his time. He had not that grandeur of soul which enabled him to strike the keynote of

reform. Monarchical institutions and social distinctions he did not rebuke. The brotherhood of man and the

levelling processes in human society were probably never thought of by him; certainly they were never

By certain writers Confucius has been accused of insincerity in a few minor matters; still, the wisdom

contained in his religious doctrines, the philosophical value of his teachings relative to the regulation of

human conduct, and, above all, his purity of purpose, justly entitles his name to be enrolled among the great

The lasting influence which this man exerted upon the minds of his countrymen, and the appreciation in

which his name and works are still held, are shown by the fact that his descendants constitute the only order

"He lived five hundred years before Christ; and yet to this day, through all the changes and chances of time

and of dynasties, the descendants of Confucius remain the only hereditary noblemen and national pensioners

in the empire. Even the imperial blood becomes diluted, degraded, and absorbed into the body politic after

the seventh generation; but the descendants of Confucius remain separate, through all the mutations of time

Laotse, the founder of the smallest of the three sects in China, namely, Confucianism, Buddhism, and

Taoism, was an old man when Confucius was in his prime. The word Taou signifies reason, but the doctrines

believed by the Taoists prove their system to be the most irrational of all the religions of the East. In an

"The tendency in rationalism is toward the utter destruction of a belief in the existence of unseen spirits of

evil. Enlightened reason dethrones devils; but Laotse created devils innumerable, and the chief concern of the

Taouist sect has always been to manipulate these emissaries of evil. Modern rationalists deny the existence of

devils, and relegate them to the category of myths and to personified ideas. Not so the rationalist of the

Orient. He finds his greatest pleasure in contemplating the very atmosphere he breathes as filled with spirits

constantly seeking his injury; and to outwit his satanic majesty is the chief end of life."[120]

At a time when a personal devil was gradually assuming shape, it would have been singular, indeed, if there

had not arisen one who, by his peculiar temperament and natural disposition, was exactly suited to the task of

elaborating this doctrine in all its grim seriousness. That such an one did arise in the person of Laotse is

The growth of religious faith had long tended in this direction. Typhon, "the wind that blasts," "Darkness,"

and the "cold of winter," constituted the foundation of a belief in a personal Devil; and, when the time was

ripe for the appearance of his satanic majesty, it required only a hypochondriac a disordered mental

There is little known of the life and character of Laotse except that he labored assiduously through a long

lifetime for the establishment of certain principles or tenets which he believed to be essential to the

wellbeing of humanity. In the twentieth chapter of his work are found to be some hints of his personality

and of the gloomy cast of his character. He complains that while other men are joyous and gay, he alone is

despondent. He is "calm like a child that does not yet smile." He is "like a stupid fellow, so confused does he

feel. Ordinary men are enlightened; he is obscure and troubled in mind. Like the sea, he is forgotten and

driven about like one who has no certain resting place. All other men are of use; he alone is clownish like a

Of all the various teachers which arose during the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries B.C., none of them were

able to rise to the position of moral grandeur occupied by Gotama Buddha. The efforts put forth by this great

teacher seem to have been humane rather than religious. In his time, especially in India, society had become

encysted beneath a crust of seemingly impenetrable conservatism, while religion, or priestcraft, riveted the

The mission of Buddha was to burst asunder the bonds of the oppressed and to abolish all distinctions of

caste. This was to be accomplished through the awakening of the divine life in each individual. The leading

processes by which the lines of caste were weakened were in direct opposition to the established order of

society. It was a blow at the old Brahminical social and religious code which had grown up under the reign of

Notwithstanding the sex prejudice which had come to prevail in India, it was directly stated by Buddha that

any man or woman who became his disciple, who renounced the world and by abstinence from the lower

indulgences of sense proclaimed her or his adherence to the higher principles of life, "at once lost either the

privilege of a high caste or the degradation of a low one." Earthly distinctions were of no consequence. Rank

depended not on the outward circumstance of birth, but on the ability of the individual to resist evil, or, upon

his capacity to receive the higher truths enunciated by the new sun or saviorBuddha.

"Since the doctrine which I teach is completely pure, it makes no distinction between noble and common,

between rich and poor. It is, for example, like water, which washes both noblemen and common people, both

rich and poor, both good and bad, and purifies all without distinction. It may, to take another illustration, be

compared to fire, which consumes mountains, rocks, and all great and small objects between heaven and

earth. Again, my doctrine is like heaven, inasmuch as there is room within it without exception, for

whomsoever it may be; for men and women, for boys and girls, for rich and poor."[121]

There is little doubt that the religion of Buddha was an attempt to return to the almost forgotten principles of

a past age of spiritual and moral greatness. According to this ancient wisdom, man is an immortal soul

struggling for perfection. The growth of the real man is a natural unfolding of the divine principle within,

such process of evolution being accomplished through the power of the will. As every individual must work

out his own salvation, this willforce must ever be directed toward the complete mastery of the body, or the

lower self. In other words, the development of the higher life depends upon the power of the individual to

overcome or conquer evil. The effect of every thought, word, and deed is woven into the soul, and no one can

evade the consequences of his own acts. All sin is the result of selfishness, so that only when one renounces

self and begins to live for others does the soullife begin. No one who has arrived at a state of

soulconsciousness will lead a selfish or impure life. On the contrary, every impulse of the devout Buddhist

Gotama Buddha was not a "savior" in the sense of bloody sacrifice for the sins of the people. On the contrary,

he was an example to mankinda man who through moral purification and a life of self abnegation had

prepared himself for this holy office. Mythologically, or astrologically, he was the new sun born at the close

of the cycle. He was the great Light which revealed the way to eternal repose Nirvana. The mythical

Buddha was the prototype of the mythical Christ. His mother was Mai or Mary, Queen of Heaven, or the

Vernal Spring. He was a new incarnation of the Sunthe Savior of the world. In process of time his many

miracles were offered as proof of his divine character. Although he taught the existence of a great and

universal Power, he made no attempt to explain the unknowable. The Infinite is to be contemplated only

through its manifestations. Nirvana is not annihilation, as has been erroneously taught by Christian

missionaries. As explained by Buddhists themselves, it comprehends a state of absolute rest from human

strife and wretchedness. It is the absorption or relapsing into the great First Principle, whence all life is

"Lamp of the law! I take my refuge in thy name and Thee! I take my refuge in thy Law of Good! I take my

refuge in thy Order! Om! The dew is on the Lotus!rise, Great Sun! And lift my leaf and mix me with the

wave. Om Mani Padme Hum, the Sunrise comes! The Dewdrop slips into the shining Sea!"[122]

From the Buddhist colleges at Nolanda went forth teachers who, inspired with enthusiasm in the cause of

human justice and individual liberty, endeavored to abolish the abominations which had grown up under

Brahminical rule. The masses of the people, however, were too deeply sunken in infamy, wretchedness, and

ignorance to accept, or even understand, the pure doctrines of the great teacher, and, as might have been

anticipated, priest craft soon assumed its wonted arrogance, and eventually the whole paraphernalia of

Through the various efforts put forth for the elevation of mankind during the six or seven hundred years

which preceded the advent of Christianity, sufficient strength had been given to the moral impetus of

humanity to create in many portions of the world a strong desire for a return to purer principles, and to make

the appearance of a spiritual teacher like Christ possible. The effects, however, of ages of moral and

intellectual degradation, in which the lowest faculties have been stimulated to the highest degree, are not

wiped out in a few centuries of struggle by the few among the people who desire reform. As true reform

means growth, those who have reached a higher stage of development can only point the way to othersthey

Although through a partial revival of the ideas entertained by an ancient people the attempt was made by

Zoroaster, Confucius, Gotama Buddha, Pythagoras, the Stoics, and other schools of philosophy, to elevate the

masses of the people, and, although the unadulterated teachings of the man called Christ were doubtless an

outgrowth of this movement, yet the human mind had not, even as late as the appearance of this lastnamed

reformer, sufficiently recovered from its thraldom to enable the masses to grasp those higher truths which had

While there are doubtless many points of similarity between the religious system elaborated by Gotama

Buddha and that enunciated by Christ, there is little likeness between the teachings of the former and those

set forth by the Romish Church, or by Paul. Seven hundred years B.C., the Persians had grasped the idea that

virtue is its own reward, and that every soul is responsible for its own growth. The fundamental doctrine of

the Christian Church today is that of a vicarious atonementa belief which takes away man's responsibility

By comparing the sacred writings of the Persians with the history of the events connected with the conception

and birth of the mythical Christ as recorded in the New Testament, the fact is observed that the latter appears

to be closely connected with the central figure of Persian mythology. It has been found that the visit of the

Magi, who, following a star, were guided to the spot where the young child lay, was the fulfilment of a

Persian prophecy, which is to be found in the life of Zarathustra as recorded in the Zendavesta, while the

subsequent history of the same personage is seen to be almost identical with that of the Hindoo Sungod

According to the sacred books of the Persians, three sons of the great Zarathustra were to appear at three

successive periods of time. These sons were to be incarnations of the sun, and the result of immaculate

"The first is named Oschederbami. He will appear in the last millennium of the world. He will stop the sun

for ten days and ten nights, and the second part of the human race will embrace the law, of which he will

"The second posthumous son of Zoroaster is Oschedermah. He will appear four hundred years after

Oschederbami. He will stop the sun twenty days and twenty nights, and he will bring the 23d part of the law,

"The third is named Sosiosch. He will be born at the end of the ages. He will bring the 24th part of the law;

he will stay the sun thirty days and thirty nights, and the whole earth will embrace the law of Zoroaster. After

him will be the resurrection."[123] This last named son was to be born of a pure and spotless virgin,

"You, my sons," exclaimed the seer, "will perceive its rising before any other nation. As soon, therefore, as

you shall behold the star, follow it, withersoever it shall lead you; and adore that mysterious child, offering

your gifts to him, with profound humility. He is the Almighty Word, which created the heavens."[124]

Waite notices the conclusion of Faber that this prediction was long before the birth of Christ, and states that

one of the reasons for such a conclusion was, that in the old Irish history a similar prophecy appearsa

prophecy which was delivered by a "Druid of Bokhara." The identity of this Irish prophecy with the one in

the East ascribed to Zarathustra or Zoroaster, is so singular that Faber thinks it can be accounted for only on

the hypothesis "of an ancient emigration from Persia to Ireland by the northwest passage, which carried the

By those who have investigated the origin of the early gospels, it is stated that the story of the Magi and the

star appeared in the Gospel of the Infancy early in the second century, and was subsequently incorporated

into the preparatory chapters of Luke and Matthew. According to Waite, there was a sect of Christians called

Prodiceans whose leader, Prodicus, about A.D. 120, boasted that they had the sacred books of Zoroaster.

"Christ first of all became known from Persia. For nothing escapes the learned jurists of that country, who

investigated all things with the utmost care. The facts, therefore, which are inscribed upon the golden plates,

and laid up in the royal temples, I shall record; for it is from the temples there, and the priests connected with

them, that the name of Christ has been heard of. Now, there is a temple there to Juno, surpassing the royal

palace, which temple Cyrus, that prince instructed in all piety, built, and in which he dedicated, in honor of

the gods, golden and silver statues, and adorned them with precious stones. . . . Now about that time [as the

records on the plates testify], the king having entered the temple, with the view of getting an interpretation of

certain dreams, was addressed by the priest Prupupius thus: 'I congratulate thee, master: Juno has conceived.'

'And the king, smiling, said to him: 'Has she who is dead conceived?' And he said: 'Yes, she who was dead

has come to life again, and begets life.' And the king said: 'What is this? explain it to me.' And he replied: 'In

truth, master, the time for these things is at hand. For during the whole night the images, both of gods and

goddesses, continued beating the ground, saying to each other, Come, let us congratulate Juno. And they say

to me, Prophet, come forward, congratulate Juno, for she has been embraced. And I said, How can she be

embraced who no longer exists? To which they reply, She has come to life again, and is no longer called

There is a tradition which asserts that during the early part of the second century, St. Thomas went as a

missionary to Parthia; that after he had visited the various countries of the Parthian Empire, tarrying for a

time at Balkh, the capital of Bactria, and the ancient residence of the Magi, he went to India. Soon after the

visit of Thomas to Persia and India, there appeared in Palestine and the adjacent countries a gospel of

Thomas, in which were set forth various stories closely resembling the legends found in the Hindoo sacred

writings. After comparing various passages of the Bhagavat Purana with those of the Infancy, and after

furnishing conclusive evidence that the latter must have been copied from the former, Waite says:

"The conclusion must be, that while for some of the salient points of the Gospels of the Infancy, the authors

were indebted to Zoroaster, and the legends of Persia, the outline of the story was largely filled up from the

history of Crishna, as sent back to Palestine, by the Apostle Thomas, from the land of the Brahmins."

Concerning the story of Herod and his order to slay all the male infants, there has been discovered in a cavern

at Elephanta, in India, a sculptured representation of a huge and ferocious figure, bearing a drawn sword and

surrounded by slaughtered children, while mothers appear weeping for their slain. This figure is said to be of

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, like Mai, the Mother of Gatama Buddha, was regarded by certain sects in the

earlier ages of Christianity as an Immortal Virgin whose birth had been announced by an angel.[126] She was

in fact the ancient Virgin of the Spherethe Mother of the Godsthe Queen of Heaven.

As soon as Christ was born he conversed with Mary, as did also Crishna with his mother, informing her of his

Crishna was cradled among shepherds, so was Christ. Cansa, fearing the loss of his kingdom, sought to

destroy the life of the divine infant in the same manner as did Herod in the case of Christ. Both children are

carried away by night, after which an order is issued by the ruler of the country that all the young children

When Joseph and Mary arrived in Egypt, they visited the temple of Serapis, where "all the magistrates and

priests of the idols were assembled." Upon the image being interrogated concerning the "consternation and

dread which had fallen upon all our country," it answered them as follows: "The unknown god has come

hither, who is truly God; nor is there anyone besides him, who is worthy of divine worship; for he is truly the

son of God." And at the same instant this idol fell down, and at his fall all the inhabitants of Egypt, besides

others, ran together.[127] A similar story is related of Crishna. This Indian god, the same as Christ, cured a

leper. A woman, after having poured a box of precious ointment on the head of Crishna, was healed; so also a

woman anointed the head of Jesus. Crishna when but a lad displayed remarkable mental powers and the most

profound wisdom before the tutor who was sent to instruct him. Christ astonished the schoolmaster

Crishna had a terrible encounter with the serpent Calinaga; the infant Christ had also a dreadful adventure

with a serpent. Now this Calinaga which Crishna encountered was a serpent goddess who was worshipped by

the sect in India which was opposed to the adoration of the male principle. The early Christians, however,

being ignorant of the allegorical meaning of the legend, transferred it to Christ literally.

The mother of Crishna looked in his mouth and beheld all the nations of the earth. The same story is reported

of Christ and his mother. Finally Christ, like Crishna, was crucified, and like him was buried. He descended

[129] It will doubtless be urged that I am quoting from the Apocryphal Gospelsthat the genuine books of

the New Testament are silent concerning many of these Eastern legends. We must bear in mind, however,

that during the earlier ages of Christianity, these finally rejected gospels were, equally with the canonical

books, considered as the word of God. The Infancy is thought to be one of the earliest gospels. Justin Martyr

was acquainted with it, A.D. 150 to 160. It is referred to by Irenaeus, A.D. 190.

In the poetical myths of the ancients the sun is yearly overpowered by cold or by the destructive agencies in

Nature. Astronomically, or astrologically, it wanders in darkness and desolation during the winter months; in

fact dies, and descends into hell in order that he may rise at the Easter season to gladden and make all things

new again. Mythologically, this new sun becomes incarnate; enters again his mother's womb, and is born into

the world in the form of a man whose mission is to renew human life. Hence we have an explanation of the

Eastern Buddhas and Crishnas, all of which were born of virgins at the winter solstice.

The new sun which at the close of each cycle was believed by the more ancient people of the globe to "issue

forth from the womb of Nature to renew the world," now that the truths underlying Natureworship were

lost, became a redeemer or mediator between earth and heaven, or between spirit and matter. It is stated that

at the time of the appearance of Christ not alone the Jews, but the Persians, the Romans, the ancient Irish, and

in fact all the nations of the globe, were anxiously awaiting the event of another incarnation of the solar

Deity; and that maidens of all classes and conditions were in a state of eager expectation, the more pious, or

at least the more ambitious among them, being in almost constant attendance at the temples and sacred

shrines, whither they went to pay homage to the male emblem of generation, thereby hoping to be honored as

"in which the miraculous annunciation, conception, birth, and adoration of Amunoph III., the son of the

Virgin Queen Mautmes, is represented in a manner similar to what is described in St. Luke's Gospel (ch. 1

and 2) of Jesus Christ, the son of the Virgin Mary, and which is found also in the Gospel of St. Matthew (ch.

1) as an addition not met with in the earliest manuscripts,"[130] which fact has caused Sharpe, from whom

the above is quoted, to suggest that both accounts may have been of Egyptian origin.

The titles "lamb," "anointed," etc., which were applied to Christ, all appear attached to former in carnations

of the sun, the first named standing for the sun in Aries. The effigies of a crucified savior found in Ireland and

Scotland in connection with the figure of a lamb, a bull, or an elephant, the latter of which is not a native of

those countries, shows that they do not represent Christ, but a crucified sungod worshipped by the

inhabitants of the British Islands ages before the birth of the great Judean philosopher and teacher.

It is plain that Crishna of India and the Persian Mithra furnished the copy for the Jesus of the Romish Church,

all of whom mean one and the same thingthe second person in the Solar Trinity. By the Jews, who

attempted to ignore the female principle, this God is called the "Lord of Hosts" and "God of Sabaoth," which

astronomically means God of the stars and constellations, and astrologically the creator or producer of the

multitudes. Of this God, ieue, I H S, the author of Anacalypsis says that he was the son of the celestial virgin,

which she carries in her arms; the Horus, Lux, of the Egyptians, the Lux of St. John.

"It is from this infant that Jesus took his origin; or at least it is from the ceremonies and worship of this infant

that this religion came to be corrupted into what we have of it. This infant is the seed of the woman who,

according to Genesis, was to bruise the head of the serpent, which, in return, was to bruise his foot or heel, or

the foot or heel of her seed as the figure of the Hindoo Crishna proves. From the traditionary stories of this

god Iao, which was figured annually to be born at the winter solstice, and to be put to death and raised to life

on the third day at the vernal equinox, the Roman searchers after the evangelion or gospel made out their

Jesus. The total destruction of everything at Jerusalem and in Judeabuildings, records,

everythingprevented them from coming to any absolute certainty respecting this person who, they were

told by tradition, had come to preach the gospel of peace, to be their savior, in fulfilment of the prophecy

which their sect of Israelites found in their writings, and who had been put to death by the Jews. From all

these circumstances he came to have applied to him the monogram of I H S. . . . and to him at last all the

According to Faber, Jesus was not originally called Jesus Christ, but Jescua HammassiahJescua meaning

Joshua, and Jesus, Savior. Ham is the Om of India, and Messiah, the anointed. Commenting on this Higgins

remarks: "It will then be, The Savior Om the Anointed, precisely as Isaiah had literally foretold; or reading in

the Hebrew made, The Anointed Om the Savior. This was the name of Jesus of Bethlehem."

We have observed the fact that at the time of the birth of Christ the entire world was expecting a Saviora

new incarnation of the sun. The end of a cycle had come and the entire earth was to undergo a process of

In a poem by Virgil, who was a Druid, the birth of a wonderful child is celebrated, and the prophecy of a

"The last period sung by the Sibylline prophetess is now arrived; and the grand series of ages. That Series

which recurs again and again in the course of our mundane revolution begins afresh. Now the Virgin Astrea

returns from heaven; and the primeval reign of Saturn recommences; now a new race descends from the

celestial realms of holiness. Do thou, Lucina, smile propitious on the birth of a boy who will bring to a close

the present age of iron and introduce throughout the whole world, a new age of gold. Then shall the herds no

longer dread the fury of the lion, nor shall the poison of the serpent any longer be formidable. Every

venomous animal and every deleterious plant shell perish together. The fields shall be yellow with corn, the

grape shall hang its ruddy clusters from the bramble, and honey shall distil spontaneously from the rugged

oak. The universal globe shall enjoy the blessings of peace, secure under the mild sway of its new and divine

There is no lack of evidence to prove that for several centuries great numbers of Christians regarded Christ as

a solar incarnation similar to those which from time to time were born in the valleys of the Nile and the

Ganges. By the fathers in the church Jesus Christ was named the New Sun, and in the early days of

Christianity the Egyptians struck a coin representing O. B. or the holy Basilisk, with rays of light darting

from his head, on the reverse side of which was figured "Jesus Christ as the New Solar Deity."

The similarity if not the actual identity of the religion of Christ and that of the pagans in the second century is

shown by various writers. The Emperor Hadrian writing to his friend Servianus says:

"Those who worship Serapis are also Christians; even those who style themselves the Bishops of Christ are

devoted to Serapis. . . . There is but one God for them all; him do the Christians, him do the Jews, him do all

It has been said that the head of Serapis supplied the first idea of the portrait of Christ. Before the figure of

Serapis, in his temple, used to stand Isis, the Celestial Virgin, with the inscription "Immaculate is our Lady

As Serapis, or Pan, finally became Christ, so Isis, or the Queen of Heaven, became his mother, and to the

latter were transferred all the titles, ceremonies, festivals, and seasons which from the earliest time had

belonged to the great Goddess of Nature. Subsequently, probably about the close of the second century,

Christianity began slowly to emerge from the worship of Mithras and Serapis, "changing the names but not

Upon the coinage of Constantine appears Soli Invicto Comita"To the invincible sun my companion or

guardian," and when the Greek and Roman Christians finally separated themselves from the great body of

pagan worshippers they apologized for celebrating the birthday of their Savior on the 25th of December,

saying that "they could better perform their rites when the heathen were busy with theirs." We are assured

that the early Christians no less than the Maji acknowledged Mithras as the first emanation from Ormuzd, or

the God of Light. He was the Savior which in an earlier age had represented returning lifethat which

follows the cold of winter. It was doubtless while they worshipped the Persian Mithras that many of the

socalled Christians gathered their first ideas concerning the immortality of the soul and of future rewards

The analogy existing between the festivals, seasons, mythoses, etc., of the various incarnations of the sun

which were worshipped by the early historic nations and those belonging to Christianity is too striking to be

Buddha originally represented the sun in Taurus. Crishna was the sun in Aries. The laborings and sufferings

of Hercules, a god who was an incarnation of the latter, portrays the history of the passage of the sun through

All the principal events of Christ's life correspond to certain solar phases; or, in other words, all ecclesiastical

calendars are arranged with reference to the festivals which commemorate the important events of his life

from his conception and birth to his ascension and reception in heaven. Each and every one of the solar

deities has been born at midnight, on the 25th of December, at the time when the sun has reached its lowest

position and begins to ascend. Macrobius, a learned Roman writer, observes that the early historic nations

"believed that the sun comes forth as a babe from its cradle at the winter solstice." Neith is made to say, "The

The 15th of August, assumption day, the time when Mary, the mother of Jesus, ascends to heaven is the day

when the Zodiacal constellation Virgo, "the Greek Astrea, leaves the European horizon," and the "8th of

September, when Virgo emerges from the sun's rays, is held sacred as the Nativity of the Queen of Heaven."

Of the midwinter festival, Bede says: "The Pagans of these isles began their year on the eighth of the

Kalends of January, which is now our Christmas Day. The night before that (24th Dec. eve) was called by

them the MedreNak, or Night of Mothers, because of the ceremonies which were performed on that

Among Christians as among Pagans the Christmas season was in honor of "returning light," the vernal

In England, among pagan Saxons, the midwinter festival lasted twelve days, during which time light, fire, the

sun, huge stones and other similar manifestations of the Deity were adored. Christian and pagan alike

worshipped these objects. They called Christmas "the birthday of the god who is light." The Savior, or the

New Sun, was the true light which lighteth every man who cometh into the world. According to the testimony

of various writers, the festival held by Christians on Christmas eve used to resemble the Feast of Lights,

celebrated in Egypt in honor of Neith. The tokens distributed among friends were cakes made of paste in the

form of babies. These cakes were called yuledows. Dow means to "grow bigger," or, "to increase."

The Kalends of January at Rome were sacred to Janus and Juno to whom sacrifices were offered. The

Etruscans also worshipped Janus who was the god (or goddess) of the year. Although this Deity does not

appear among the twelve gods it is said to be the parent of them all. It was represented as having two faces.

Upon one were the letters representing 365, and upon the other were the keys of life and death. According to

Bryant this Deity was called Junonius, from the goddess Juno, whose name resolves itself into Juneh, a dove.

In the Hebrew this name is identical with Yoni or Yunithe female principle. On the coins of this god

(which was subsequently regarded as male) is usually figured a boat, although a dove with an olive branch is

Juno is thought to be the same as Jana, which came from Jah of the Hebrews. Diana was Diva Jana or "Dea

Regarding the transference of the midwinter festival of the pagans to the Christian calendar, Forlong says:

"The early Christians undoubtedly selected this Roman Saturnalia as an important period in the life of Christ,

at first calling it the time of his conception, and later of his birth, this last best suiting the views and feelings

of their Solo Christian flocks. The Jews called the day of the Winter Solstice The Fast of Tebet. The

previous time was one of darkness, and on the 28th began their Feast of Lights."[134]

In France the ancient name for Christmas is Noel, a term which until recently has baffled all antiquarian

research. It is now thought that it is formed from Nuadh and Vile which together mean All Heal.

Although every possible effort has been put forward to give to this date (the 25th of December) the

appearance of authenticity as the birth of Christ, still, so far as I am able to find, no one accredited with any

degree of trustworthiness has ever been rash enough to attempt its ratification as a matter of history.

Tylor calls attention to the fact that in the religious symbolism of the material and spiritual sun Augustine and

Gregory of Nyssa discourse on the "growing light and dwindling darkness that follow the nativity," and cites

the instance of Leo the Great who, in a sermon, rebukes the "pestiferous persuasion, that this solemn day is to

On the authority of this same prelate it is found that in the fifth century, the faithful, before entering the

The Roman winter solstice which was connected with the worship of Mithra, and which was named the

"Birthday of the Unconquered Om," was adopted by the western churches some time during the fourth

century. From the west it passed to the eastern churches, where it finally became "the solemn anniversary of

In Ireland the ceremonies attending the midwinter festival were formerly regarded as exceedingly important.

A short time before the approach of the winter solstice, voices were heard throughout the island proclaiming:

"The New Year is at hand! Gather the Mistletoe!" The mistletoe wreaths which formed the principal

decorations of Venus' temple were at first proscribed by the Christian preachers, but, in process of time they

not only found their way into the sanctuary, but were given a place over the altars, their final signification

Although the tokens of friendship which were distributed by the pagans at the season of the mid winter

festival differed somewhat from those which at the present time are exchanged among Christians at the same

season of the year, still, there can be no doubt that the Christmas tree, loaded with gifts, is a remnant of that

worship under which the sun was recognized as the source whence all blessings flow. Down to a late date,

fire was a conspicuous element at the festival of the winter solstice. As the yulelog blazed upon the hearth,

our ancestors set up huge stones and danced round them, thus worshipping the god of fertility.

On the 20th and 21st of March the sun illumines exactly half the earth. At this time the Day has conquered

the Night. Light has dethroned Darkness, a complete victory has been gained over Typhon and the new god

comes forth "with healing in his wings." On Lady's day, the 25th of March, the Virgin conceives. In

Phoenicia numerous fetes were instituted to rejoice with Astarte in her conception. During the months

preceding the birth of the young sungod the Queen of Heaven receives marked homage.

In a former portion of this work we have observed that the festival which celebrated the return of spring was

instituted by the inventors of the Neros thousands of years prior to the beginning of the Christian era, to

celebrate the vernal equinox and to commemorate a return of Nature's bounties; but, after male reproductive

power began to be regarded as the creator, when passion came to be considered as the moving force in the

universe, and when the operations of Nature began to be typified by a dead man on a cross who was to rise

The following is an account given in Ramsay's Travels of Cyrus, concerning the vernal equinox festivals in

the East. When Cyrus entered the temples he found the public clad in mourning. In a cavern lay the image of

a young man (the dying savior) on a bed of flowers and odoriferous herbs Nine days were spent in fasting,

prayers, and lamentations, after which the public sorrow ceased and was changed into gladness. Songs of joy

succeeded weeping (for Tamuz), the whole assembly singing hymns: "Adonis is returned to life, Urania

weeps no more, he has ascended to heaven, he will soon return to earth and banish hence all crimes and

miseries forever." This scene, it will be remembered, was presented 500 years prior to the birth of Christ. In

Rome, throughout the months preceding the winter solstice, Hilaria or Ceres, was especially honored. Apollo

and Diana rose on the 7th of the Julian April and on the 10th their religious festivals began.

On Easter morn, during the earlier ages of the church, the observances of Christians were exactly the same as

were those of the so called pagans, all together hurried out long before the break of day that they might

behold the sun ascend, or "dance" as they called it, for on this morning he was to "make the earth laugh and

sing." Pagan and Christian alike greeted each other with the salutation "The Lord is risen," and the reply was

"The Lord is risen indeed." On Easter morning the peasants of Saxony and Brandenburg still climb to the

In Buckland's Land and Water it is stated that on the first of May all the choristers of Magdalene College,

Oxford, still meet on the summit of their tower, 150 feet high, and sing a Latin hymn as the sun rises, during

which time ten bells are rung "to welcome the gracious Apollo." Formerly, high mass was celebrated here

and early mass for Sol was held in the College chapel, but, as at the time of the Reformation this service was

forbidden, "it has since been performed on the top of the tower." After the hymn is sung "boys blow loud

Perhaps none of the ideas which enter into present religious rites and ceremonies proclaims its eastern origin

more forcibly than do those connected with the veneration of fire. The testimony of all writers upon this

subject agrees that in Europe, down to a late date in the Christian era, fire was still adored, and in some

Upon the subject of the continuation of sun and fire worship to modern times, it is stated that the ancient

bonfires with which the North German hills used to be ablaze mile after mile are not altogether given up by

local custom. In Ireland as late as the year 1829, the ancient Canaanitish and Jewish rite of passing children

through fire as a cleansing or regenerating process was still in operation. It is related that at stated seasons

great fires were lighted in public places, on which occasions, fathers, taking their children in their arms,

would leap and run through the flames. At the same time, two large fires were kindled a short distance from

each other through which the cattle were driven. It was believed that by means of this ceremony, fecundity is

imparted both to man and beast. May, the month in which all Nature revives, and in which life starts anew, is

the time selected for the lighting of those sacred fires. May is the month of the fires of Baal. According to

Maurice in his work on the Antiquities of India, the festival and the Maypole of Great Britain are the

remnants of a religious ceremony once common in Egypt, India, and Phoenicia, which nations all

worshipping the same Deity, celebrated the entrance of the sun into the sign of Taurus at the vernal equinox,

but which in consequence of the precession of the equinoxes is removed far in the year from its original

situation. This festival is thought to be coeval with a time when the equinox actually took place at that time. It

was formerly in honor of the goddess Bhavania, who, under various names, was once worshipped in every

country of the globe. "She is identical with the Dea Syria of Chaldea, and the Venus Urania of Persia."

At the present time there is direct and indisputable evidence that sacred fires once flamed over the whole of

Britain. A few days prior to Bealtine season, every flame was ordered extinguished, to be relighted on the

first of May by holy fire drawn directly from the sun. Of fireworship Toland observes:

"On Mayday the Druids made prodigious fires on these cairns, which being every one in sight of some other

could not but afford a glorious show over a whole nation. These fires were in honor of Beal, or Bealan,

Latinized by the Roman writers into Belanus, by which name the Gauls and their colonies understood the

sun, and therefore, to this hour, the first of May is, by the aboriginal Irish, called la Bealtine, or the day of

Belan's fires. Mayday is likewise called la Bealtine by the Highlanders of Scotland, who are no

contemptible part of the Celtic offspring. So it is with the Isle of Man: and in Armorica a priest is called

Down to a comparatively recent time, in the British Isles, the youth of both sexes used to arise long before

daybreak on Mayday, and in large companies set out for the woods, there to gather flowers, boughs, and

branches, which, on returning at night, were used to decorate their homes. This festival is said to be the most

ancient of any known, and during the earlier and purer ages of human faith was celebrated in honor of

returning spring. In later ages, however, after passion had become the only recognized god, Mayday was

Although the uneducated masses among the Gauls worshipped Apollo, Mercury, and Mars without

understanding their true significance, the Druids, who are thought to be Pythagorians, invoked one great

power, the animating force which pervades the universe, the essence of which they believed resides in fire.

It is related that although after the introduction of Romish Christianity, May fires still continued to be lighted

on Bealtine day, the more impressive ceremonies took place on the 23d of June, on the eve of the nativity of

St. John. The early preachers, wishing to defer to the prejudices and usages of the people, "yet not so as to

interfere with the celebration of Easter at the vernal equinox, retained the Bealtine ceremonial, only

transferring it to the saint's day." Of these fire festivals and their adoption by the Christian church Tylor says:

"The solar Christmas festival has its pendant at midsummer. The summer solstice was the great season of

fire festivals throughout Europe on the heights, of dancing round and leaping through the fires, of sending

blazing firewheels to roll down from the hills into the valleys, in sign of the sun's descending course. These

"It seems as though the same train of symbolism which had adapted the midwinter festival to the Nativity,

may have suggested the dedication of the midsummer festival to John the Baptist, in clear allusion to his

In a description recently given of the "moral, religious, and social disease" which broke out A.D. 1374, in the

lower Rhine region, and which was denominated as the "greatest, perhaps, of all manifestations of

possession," Andrew D. White says: "The immediate origin of these manifestations seems to have been the

Upon this subject Toland observes that he has seen the people of Ireland running and leaping through the St.

John's fire proud of passing through it unsinged. Although ignorant of the origin of this ceremony, they

nevertheless regarded it as some kind of a lustration by means of which they were to be specially blessed.

To every domestic hearth was carried the seed of Bealtine, or St. John's fire, which during the year was not

[139] Although the preservation of holy fire upon every hearth was clearly a religious observance, still, as in

those days there were no matches, the material benefit to be derived from this precaution doubtless had a

According to the testimony of Tylor, the festival of John the Baptist was celebrated in Germany down to a

late date. This writer quoting from a low German book of the year 1859, refers to the "nod fire" which was

sawed out of wood to light the St. John's bonfire "through which the people leapt and ran and drove their

With regard to the worship of Fire and Light it is related that in Jerusalem, at the present time, the Easter

service is performed by the bishop of the church emerging from a tomb with lighted tapers "from which all

On the authority of Peter Martyr, Bishop of Alexandria in the third century, we are informed that the place in

Egypt where Christ was banished, which is called Maturea, a lamp is kept constantly burning in remembrance

of this event. Although the story of this banishment is doubtless borrowed from the life of the Hindoo god

Crishna, the fact is evident that those who appropriated it, and used it in furbishing the mythical history of

Christ, had no scruples against fire worshipa religion which we have been taught to regard as belonging

In the ecclesiastical processions of the Church of Rome is frequently to be observed the figure of a dragon, in

the mouth of which "holy and everlasting fire" is observed to be burning. A boy follows the procession with a

lighted taper, so that in case the fire is extinguished it may be relighted. In referring to this subject the Rev. J.

"The whole ceremony may be considered as a lively representation of an ophite procession as it advanced

through the sinuous paralleiths of Karnak. So that no wonder the illiterate races were deceived into thinking

that there was no harm in calling themselves Christians, for all their dear old faiths are herefire, arks,

Almost innumerable instances are given by various writers upon this subject, showing that the sun worship of

the ancients has been continued to the present time by the so called followers of Christ, in the shrines of the

East, with no change even of names to distinguish it from that of the Christian faith. By those who have spent

much time in investigating the Holy Land, it is related that nearly all the spots in and about Jerusalem, sacred

to Greek and Romish Christians as connected with the life and death of their risen Lord, are equally sacred to

the pagans as commemorating the life and death of their Saviorthe New Sun. Even Gethsemane is marked

by characteristics which prove that it is no less interesting to pagans, or, more properly speaking, to the pagan

followers of Christ, than it is to those of the Greek and Romish churches. Here is a holy tree, and not far

distant is a cave of Mithras. There is also to be seen a trinity of stones "those of Janus (Chemosh), Petros and

Ion, all solar terms and connected with the sitting or sinking down to rest of the Kuros."

Messrs. Maundrell and Sandys, who in 1697 visited all the holy places in and around Jerusalem, state that the

entire city, but especially the sites of Moriah, Zion, and suburbs were hotbeds of fire and phallic worship as

The topography of ancient Delphi, on the site of which was built the village of Kastri, and at which place

excavations are now being made under the direction of the American School of Archaeology, has ever been a

place of peculiar interest to the mystic. Here are to be found all the natural features and objects which

gladden the heart and stimulate the imagination of a solophallic worshipper. The holy Mt. Parnassus, the

fountain of Kastali, the deep cave said to be Pythian, and the remnants of huge sepulchres hewn in the rocks

all conspire to make of this spot a perfect abode for the god, or goddess, of fertility. Here, too, is a beautiful

lake and near it a sacred figtree which has been struck by lightning, or, "touched by holy fire." Of this

"Christianity has never neglected this socalled Pagan shrine, nor yet misunderstood it, if we may judge by

the saint she has located here, for Mr. Hobhouse found in the rocky chasm dipped in the dews of Castaly, but

safe in a rocky niche, a Christian shrine; and close by a hut called the church of St. John; yea verily of Ione,

she who had once reigned here supreme; whilst on a green plot a few yards below the basin, in a little grove

of olive trees, stood the monastery of Panhagia or Holy Virgin, so that here we still have and beside her

sacred form in the cleft, men who have consecrated their manhood to the old Mother and Queen of Heaven,

Doubtless they knew little of what civilized Europe calls Christianity, for I have spent many days conversing

with such men, and seen little difference between them and those similarly placed in the far Eastfervid

Perhaps nothing shows the extent to which the religion of the pagans has been retained by Christianity more

than does the worship of the serpent. It has been said that this reptile enters into every mythology extant.

Ferguson is authority for the statement that "he is to be found in the wilderness of Sinai, the groves of

Epidaurus, and in Samothracian huts." He constitutes a prominent factor in the religious worship of India,

Assyria, Palestine, and Egypt, and, notwithstanding the fact that he is not a native of Ireland, in an earlier age

representations of him appear in profusion among the symbols of that country. It has been said that there is

scarcely an Egyptian sculpture known in which this reptile does not figure. The serpent whenever it appears

as a religious emblem always typifies desirecreative energywhich, proceeding from the sun, is

manifested in man and in animals. Whether it be a veritable snake in a box, a serpent connected with the

figure of a woman, or as a carved representation on monuments or stones, or as chains or wreaths on

The sacred character of this reptile among the Gnostics is shown by the accounts given of their religious rites

and ceremonies. By many of these sects this holy creature was kept in a box, ark, or chest, and when the

eucharistic service was to be performed, he was enticed forth from his resting place by a bit of bread. So

soon as his holiness had wound himself about the offering, the sacrifice was complete and the service was

concluded by "singing a hymn to Almighty God, and praying for acceptance in and through the serpent."

In later ages when the attempt was made to abolish serpent worship from the Christian church, it was

declared by the leaders in the movement that Ophiolatry had been imported from Persiathat it had been

brought in by ignorant devotees who were too weak to renounce their former faith.[140]

The extent to which the symbols representing Serpent, Sun, Tree, and Plant worship are still retained as part

and parcel of the symbolism of Christianity is shown by the following report regarding the adoption of a seal

by the Presbyterian Church which appeared in the daily press only a few years ago.

"After the assembly opened, the committee for the selection of a seal made a report recommending: That the

general assembly hereby adopts as its official seal the device of a serpent suspended upon a cross, uplifted

within a wilderness, in form as represented upon the official seal of the trustees of the general assembly, and

displayed upon a circular field of the same proportions. In addition thereto the figure of a rising sun appearing

above the margin of the wilderness, whose outshooting beams shall occupy the centre of the field. Further,

the decoration of a demiwreath of two palm branches (in the form of the wreath upon the seal of the

Westminster assembly of divines), placed around the margin of the upper hemisphere of the field; and on the

lower hemisphere of the field a demiwreath composed of a branch of oak united with an olive branch.

Further, that the words of the motto, 'Christus Exaltus Salvatar,' shall be displayed in a semicircle upon the

upper part of the field, on either side of the standard of the cross, and, encompassing the whole in a bordure,

the following words, in full or in proper abbreviation thereof, 'The Seal of the General Assembly of the

The origin of the rite of Baptism as performed at the present time in Christian churches, may be traced

directly to the worship of the sun, within which were supposed to reside the reproductive powers of Nature.

All nations have had ceremonies corresponding to our baptism and confirmation rites, such baptism being

either by fire or water. When we remember that for ages fertility, or the power to reproduce, constituted the

idea of the Deity, we are not surprised to find that the original signification of the rite of baptism had, and

still has, in some of the oriental countries, special reference to the child's sexual obligations.

In India, the religious rites performed upon the individual occur at birth or soon after; at betrothal, which

takes place in childhood; at puberty; at marriage, and at death. The fact will be noticed that all sexual

(spiritual) obligations and seasons fall within the domain of priestly supervision and surveillance. The child at

baptism is dedicated to Vesta, or Hestia, the Queen of Hearths and Homes, a divinity who is supposed to

assist him in securing the special evidence of divine favor, namely, fruitfulness of body.

Among Hindoos and Jews, excessive reproduction was the Lord's mark of favor. In India there has been a

special hell provided for childless women, and with Jewesses no curse was equal to barrenness.

Baptism, or the ceremony connected with the naming of children in Christian countries, is seen to be identical

with that performed in Mexico among the Aztecs. After the lips and bosom of the infant had been sprinkled

with water, the Lord was implored to "permit the holy drops to wash away the sin that was given to it before

Among the petitions which are offered to the Deity is the following: "Impart to us, out of thy great mercy, thy

gifts which we are not worthy to receive through our own merit." In their moral code appear these maxims:

"Keep peace with all; bear injuries with humility; God who sees, will avenge you." "He who looks too

From the facts recorded in the foregoing pages, we have seen that true Christianity was but a continuation of

that great movement which was begun in Persia seven or eight centuries before, and whose gathering strength

had been emphasized by the humane doctrines set forth in the various schools of Greek philosophy.

In the first century of the Christian era may be observed among various sects, notably the Gnostics, a desire

to popularize the teachings of an ancient race, and to accentuate those principles which had been taught by

Buddha, Pythagoras, the Stoic philosophers, the Roman jurisconsults and others. In other words the object of

the new religion was to stimulate the altruistic characters which had been developed during the evolutionary

processes, and to strengthen and encourage the almost forgotten principles of justice and personal liberty

upon which early society was founded, but which through ages of sensuality and selfishness had been denied

When we remember the tenacity with which the human mind clings to established beliefs and forms, it is not

perhaps singular that in a comparatively short time these principles were lost sight of, and that the entire

system of corrupt paganism, with Christ as the New Solar Deity, was reinstated; neither is it remarkable,

when we reflect upon the length of time required to bring about any appreciable change in human thought

and action, that the principles which this Great Teacher enunciated are at the present time only just beginning

To one who carefully studies the history of Christianity by the light of recently developed truths, the fact will

doubtless be discovered that the fundamental difference existing between Catholic and Protestant sects is

grounded in the old feud arising out of the relative importance of the sexprinciples. From the days of

Zoroaster to the final establishment of Christianity by Paul, the tendencyalthough slighthad been toward

the elevation of woman, and consequently toward a greater acknowledgment of the female element in the

godidea. Considerable impetus was given to the cause of woman's advancement through the doctrines of the

various schools of philosophy in Greece, and subsequently by the efforts put forth by the Roman lawyers to

establish their equality with men before the law; hence, during the first hundred years of the Christian era the

"new religion" seems to have contained much of the spirit of the ancient philosophy.

By several of the early Christian sects, the second person in the trinity was female, as was also the Holy

In a "fragment of a gospel preserved by St. Jerome, and believed to have been from the original Aramaean

Gospel of St. Matthew, with additions, the Holy Ghost (ruach), which in Hebrew is feminine, is called by the

The mission of Christ was that of a Regenerator of mankind, an office which had been symbolized by the

powers of the sun. He was to restore that which was lost. He attempted to teach to the masses of the people

the long neglected principles of purity and peace. He did not condemn woman. He was baptized by John (Ion

or Yon) in water, the original symbol for the female element, and while in the water; the Holy Ghost in form

of a dove (female) descended upon him. To those who have given attention to the symbolism of the pagan

Because of the peculiar tendency of Christ's teachings women soon became active factors in their

promulgation. If there were no other evidence to show that they publicly taught the new doctrines, the

injunction of St. Paul, "I suffer not a woman to teach," would seem to imply that they were not silent.

The doctrines of the Gnostics were particularly favorable to women. Marcellina, who belonged to this order,

was the founder of a sect called Marcelliens. Of her works Waite observes: "It would scarcely be expected

that the heretical writings of a woman would be preserved amid such wholesale slaughter of the obnoxious

works of the opposite sex. The writings of Marcellina have perished."[143] Not only did women teach

publicly, and write, but according to Bunsen they claimed the privilege of baptizing their own sex. The

reason for this is evident. Before baptism it was customary for the newlymade converts to strip and be

anointed with oil. After the establishment of Paul's doctrines, however, "the bishops and presbyters did not

care to be relieved from the pleasant duty of baptizing the female converts."[144]

Although the utmost care has been exercised to conceal the fact that women equally with men, performed the

offices connected with the early church, yet by those who have paid attention to the true history of this

movement, there can be no doubt about the matter. Notwithstanding the early tendencies of the "new

religion" toward the recognition of women, and toward the restoration of the female principle in the Deity,

the policy to be pursued by the church was soon apparent, for Paul, the real founder of the system calling

itself Christian, and a man imbued with Asiatic prejudices concerning women, arrogantly declared that "man

is the head of woman as Christ is the head of the Church." Women were commanded to be under obedience.

Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man; thus was reestablished and

emphasized the absurd doctrine of the Lingaites, that the male is an independent entity, that he is spirit and

superior to the female which is matter. After this indication of the policy to be pursued under the new regime,

it would scarcely be expected that theefforts put forth by the various sects among the Gnostics toreinstate the

female element either on the earth or in heavenwould be successful, and as might be anticipated from the

factsalready adduced, as early as the year 325, at the council of Nice, a male trinity was formally established,

and soon thereafter, the Collylidians, a sect which rigorously persisted in the adoration of the female

principle, were condemned. At the council of Laodicea, A.D. 365, the 11th canon forbade the ordination of

women for the ministry and the 44th canon prohibited them from entering the altar.

The devotees of female worship, although for a time silenced, were evidently not convinced, and to force

their understanding into conformity with the newly established order, the Nestorians, in the year 430 A. D.,

reopened the old dispute, and formally denied to Mary the title of Mother of God. Their efforts, however,

were of little avail, for in the year 451, at the council of Ephesus, the third general council, the decision of the

Nestorians was reversed and the Virgin Mother reinstated. Upon this subject Barlow remarks: "Well might

those who made this symbolical doctrine what it now is, at length desire to do tardy justice to the female

element, by promoting the mother to the place once occupied by the Egyptian Neith, and crowning her Queen

of Heaven."[145] The fact will doubtless be observed, however, that by the Romish Church the idea of the

godmother differs widely from the Queen of Heaventhe original God of the ancients. Mary the Mother of

Jesus is not a Creator, but simply a mediator between her Son and His earthly devoteesa doctrine only a

trifle less masculine in texture than that of an Almighty Father and his victimized son. The worship of Mary

was adopted by the socalled Christians in response to a craving in the human heart for a recognition of those

characters developed in mankind which may be said to contain the germ of the divine. The masculine god of

the Jews was feared not loved, and his son had already been invested with his attributes. He was all powerful,

hence a mediator, a mother, was necessary to intercede in behalf of fallen man, and this, too, notwithstanding

The Great Goddess of the ancients, Perceptive Wisdom, the Deity of giving, she who represented the purely

altruistic characters developed in mankind, and whose worship involved a scientific knowledge of the

processes of Nature, when engrafted upon the socalled Christian system, although indicating an important

step toward the recognition of the genuine creative principles, was not understood. Although her effigies were

brought from the East and made to do duty as representations of Mary, the Mother of Christ, a knowledge of

By those who have made it their business to investigate this subject, it is observed that there is scarcely an old

church in Italy in which there is not to be found a remnant of a black virgin and child. In very many instances

these black virgins have been replaced by white ones, the older figures having been retired to some secluded

niche in the church where they are held especially sacred by the ignorant devotees who know absolutely

nothing of their original significance. We are assured that many of these images have been painted over,

ostensibly in imitation of bronze, but the whites of the eyes, the teeth, and colored lips reveal the fact that

they are really not intended to represent bronze, but figures of a black virgin goddess and child whose

worship has been imported into Europe from the East. I had been told that one of the oldest of these images

extant was to be found in Augsburg; a thorough search, however, in all the churches and cathedrals of that

city failed to reveal it, but in the museum at Munich such a figure is to be seen. It is in a state of decay, one

arm of the mother and a portion of the child's figure being worn away. Upon this subject Godfrey Higgins

"If the author had wished to invent a circumstance to corroborate the assertion that the Romish Christ of

Europe is the Crishna of India, how could he have desired anything more striking than the fact of the black

virgin and child being so common in the Romish countries of Europe? A black virgin and child among the

We have observed that during an earlier age in the history of religious worship, as the female was supposed

to comprehend both the female and male elements in creation, a belief in the possible creative power of the

female independently of the male was everywhere entertained, and that after the schismatic faction arose

which endeavored to exalt the male, the production of a son by a woman unaided by man, was among the

Yonigas to be the sign which would forever settle the question of the superior importance of the female

functions in the processes of reproduction, and consequently, also, her claim to the greater importance in the

The sacred books of India show that from a former belief in one or the other of the two creative principles

throughout Nature as God, the people had come to accept both female and male as necessary elements in

reproduction, the latter being the more important. In course of time this change seems to have been universal

As the male could not create independently of the female, or, as spirit was dependent on matter for its

manifestations, there arose a necessity for a Savior to redeem man from the evil effects arising from his

relations with woman who was regarded as matter, and who in course of time became the cause of evil.

Concerning the doctrines which prevailed in the earlier ages of Christianity relative to the ancient dual

principle in creation, and regarding the offices which were performed by the two elements, male and female,

in the deity, we have the following from Justinus, who is said to have been contemporary with Peter and

"When Elohim had prepared and created the world as a result from joint pleasure, He wished to ascend up to

the elevated parts of heaven, and to see that not anything of what pertained to the creation laboured under

deficiency. And He took His Own angels with Him, for His nature was to mount aloft, leaving Edem below;

for inasmuch as she was earth, she was not disposed to follow upward her spouse. Elohim, then, coming to

the highest part of heaven above and beholding a light superior to that which He himself had created,

As he enters the Good One addresses him in the following manner: "Sit thou on my right hand." Then the

soaring male principle says to the Good One "permit me Lord to overturn the world which I have made, for

my spirit is bound to men." To which the Good One replies: "No evil canst thou do while thou art with me,

for both thou and Edem made the world as a result of conjugal joy. Permit Edem then, to hold possession of

the world as long as she wishes; but you remain with me." While the father is drawn away from earth to

Heaven, Edem, in the meantime is bringing woes innumerable upon man. Naas, who has received his evil

nature from her, and who is a child of the Devil, has debauched Eve, "Henceforward vice and virtue are

prevalent among men." The Father seeing these things dispatches Baruch his third angel to Moses, and

through him spake to the children of Israel, that they might be converted unto the Good One. But the third

angel, Naas, by the soul of which came from Edem upon Moses, as also upon all men, observed the precepts

Again, after these occurrences Baruch, the angel of the Good One, was sent to the prophets to warn them

against the wiles of Edem, but in the same manner Nass, the Devil, enticed them away, they being allured by

him to their own destruction. Again Elohim selected Hercules, an uncircumcised prophet, and sent him to

quell the disturbance caused by Naas or Edem and to release the Father from their power.

"These are the twelve conflicts of Hercules which He underwent, in order, from first to last, viz.: Lion, and

Hydra, and Boar, and the others successively. For they say that these are the names of them among the

Gentiles, and they have been derived, with altered denomination, from the energy of the maternal angels.

When he seemed to have vanquished his antagonists, Omphale (now she is Venus) clings to him and entices

away Hercules, and divests him of his power, viz.: the commands of Baruch which Elohim issued. And in

place of this power Babel, or Venus, envelops him in her own peculiar robe, that is, in the power of Edem,

who is the power below; and in this way the prophecy of Hercules remained unfulfilled and his work."

As men were still bound by the power of Edem, or the Devil, in the days of Herod the king, Baruch was again

dispatched by Elohim, and coming to Nazareth delivered his message to Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary. Nass,

who, as we have seen, was the evil spirit in Edem, wished to entice away Jesus also. He was not, however,

disposed to listen but remained faithful to Baruch. Naas, overcome by anger at not being able to seduce him,

"He, leaving the body of Edem on the accursed tree, ascended to the Good One; saying to Edem, 'Woman,

thou retainest thy Son,' that is, the natural and the earthly man. But Jesus himself commending his spirit into

the hands of the Father, ascended to the Good One. Now the Good One is Priapus, and he it is who

antecedently caused the production of everything that exists. On this account he is styled Priapus, because he

previously fashioned all things according to his design. For this reason, he says, in every temple is preserved

his statue, which is revered by every creature; and there are images of him in the highways carrying over his

head ripened fruits, that is, the produce of the creation, of which he is the cause, having in the first instance

formed, according to his design, the creation, when as yet it had no existence."[147]

Thus the fact is observed not only that in the time of Paul, phallic worship still existed, but by the writings of

Justinus and others is shown the manner in which the doctrine that woman is the cause of evil in the world

Staniland Wake, director of the anthropological society of London, when commenting on the obscene myths

"The fundamental basis of Christianity is more purely phallic than that of any other religion now existing, and

its emotional nature . . . shows how intimately it was related to the older faiths which had a phallic basis."

After stating that the myth of creation and that of the flood have their exact counterpart in India, the Rev. Mr.

Faber remarks that "there is no rite or ceremony directed in the Pentateuch of which there is not an exact copy

The Christian doctrines as established by Paul, and afterwards formulated into a system by the Romish

Church, were adopted by the ignorant multitude who, being incapable of understanding the higher principles

involved, accepted the allegories beneath which were veiled the ancient mysteries literally, and as the highest

expression of divine wisdom. Hence the comparatively recent observation that the "new religion was

eventually but the gathering in of the superstitions of paganism" is a matter of little surprise to those who

Under the new regime Christ became the New Solar Deity and round him were finally ranged all the myths of

Solophallic worship which had prevailed under the adoration of Crishna at a time when the higher truths

According to the accounts in the New Testament, the wise men of the East, meaning Persia, had foretold the

coming of Christ. The fulfilment of the ancient Persian prophecy as applied to Jesus, together with the

reference to the "star" which the Maji saw, and which went before them till it came and stood over where the

young child lay, furnishes a striking illustration of the manner in which Eastern legends and ancient sacred

In the sacred books of the East it is prophesied that "after three thousand and one hundred years of the

Caligula are elapsed, will appear King Saca to remove wretchedness from the world." We have seen that at

Regarding the introduction of Christianity into Ireland it is claimed by certain writers that the Irish did not

receive the "new religion" from Greek missionaries; but when at the close of the cycle, a new solar deity, an

avatar of Vishnu or Crishna was announced, and when missionaries from the East proclaimed the glad tidings

of a risen Savior, the Irish people gladly accepted their teachings, not, however, as a new system, but as the

fulfilment to them of the prophecy of the most ancient seers of the East, and as part and parcel of the religion

of their forefathers. Therefore when the devotees of the Romish faith, probably about the close of the fifth

century of the Christian era, attempted to "convert" Ireland, they found a religion differing from their own

only in the fact that it was not subject to Rome, and was free from the many corruptions and superstitions

which through the extreme ignorance and misapprehension of its Western adherents had been engrafted upon

Concerning the form of religious worship in Great Britain, and the fact that phallic worship prevailed there,

Forlong writes: "The generality of our countrymen have no conception of the overruling prevalence of this

faith, and the number of its lingham gods throughout our Islands." These symbols were always in the form of

an obelisk or tower, thereby indicating the worship of the male energy. Although emblems of the female

element in the deity were present, they were less pronounced and of far less importance than those of the

These monuments were erected on knolls, at crossroads and centers of marts or villages, and were placed on

platforms which were usually raised from five to seven steps. A few years ago the shires of Gloucester, Wilts,

and Somerset still claimed over two hundred of these crosses, though all of them were not at that time in a

It would seem that in Britain and Ireland the seed of the "new" doctrine, that which involved a recognition of

the mother element in the godidea, had fallen on more congenial soil, for within three centuries after the

birth of Christ, the various original monuments typifying the male principle had all been ornamented with the

symbols representing the female in the deity. The ancient religious structures of the Lingaites still continued

as recognized faith shrines, changed only by the emblems of the new religion which had been engrafted upon

The earliest Greek and Roman missionaries knew full well the significance of these symbols, and we are

given to understand that "a few of the more spiritual of the Christian sects made war upon them and all their

ephemeral substitutes, such as Maypoles, holytrees, real crosses, etc." It is declared also that, as "later"

Christians were unacquainted with the significance of these emblems, "they adopted them as their own,

Although the earliest Greek and Roman missionaries understood the signification of these faith shrines, the

complaints against them seem soon to have ceased, and the "fierce wars" waged over them appear to have left

little trace of their ravages, except that the female emblems with which these monuments had been supplied

by those who had received the new faith direct from the East, were all removed. As the male monuments and

symbols were all permitted to remain undisturbed, this fact of itself would seem to indicate that the "pagan

abominations" against which these pious devotees of a "spiritual religion" thundered their denunciations,

The fact must be borne in mind that the Western Church, which was rapidly usurping the ecclesiastical

authority of Britain and Ireland, had not itself at this time adopted the worship of the Virgin Mary.

A set of iconoclastic monks whom the Christian world is pleased to designate as St. Patrick, and who

probably early in the fifth century of our era amused themselves by chiseling from the Irish monuments many

of the symbols of the female power, removed also the figures of serpents which had for ages appeared in

connection with the emblems of woman, and by this act won the plaudits of an admiring Christian world;

chiefly, however, for the skill manifested in "banishing snakes from Ireland." In addition to this dignified

amusement, we find that the same person or set of persons ordered to be burned hundreds of volumes of the

choicest Irish literature, volumes which contained the annals of the ancient Irish nation, and in which, it is

believed, was stored much actual information concerning the remote antiquity of the human race.

The extent to which the worship of the male emblems of generation prevailed in the Christian Church even as

late as the 16th century, proves that it was not the particular symbols connected with the worship of fertility

upon which the Western Christian missionaries made war, but, on the contrary, that it was the recognition by

them of that detested female element against which, even before the erection of the Tower of Babel, there had

been almost a constant warfare. The rites of Potin, or Photin, Bishop of Lyons, who was honored in Provence,

Languedoc and the Lyonais as St. Fontin, also the rites performed in many of the Christian Churches as late

as the 16th century, prove that the devotees of the Christian system were not at this time a whit behind their

Pagan predecessors in their zeal for "heathen abominations." The only difference being that the Druids, a

people who still retained a faint conception of ancient Nature worship, had not become entirely divested of

the purer ideas which in an earlier age of the race had constituted a creative force.

That the war of the sexes was revived, and that for many centuries much strife was engendered over the exact

importance which should be ascribed to the female element in the Deity may not be doubted.

An ancient homily on Trinity Sunday has the following: "At the deth of a manne, three bells should be ronge

as his kuyl in worship of the Trinitie, and for a woman, who was the Second Person of the Trinitie two bells

should be ronge." Upon this subject Hargrave Jennings remarks: "Here we have the source of the emblematic

difficulty among the master masons who constructed the earlier cathedrals, as to the addition, and as to the

precise value of the second (or feminine) tower of the Western end or Galilee of the Church."[148]

The fact that the religion of the ancient Irish, who, were phallic worshippers, was modified but not radically

changed by the introduction of Christianity, is believed by at least one of the Irish historians of that country.

"The church festivals themselves, in our Christian calendar, are but the direct transfers from the

Tuathdedanaans' ritual. Their very names in Irish are identically the same as those by which they were

distinguished by that early race. If, therefore, surprise has heretofore been excited at the conformity

observable between our church institutions and those of the East, let it in future subside at the explicit

announcement that Christianity, with us, was the revival of a religion imported amongst us many ages before

by the Tuathdedanaans from the East, and not from any chimerical inundation of Greek missionariesa

revival upon which their hearts were lovingly riveted, and which Fiech, the Bishop of Sletty, unconsciously

The conditions surrounding the ancient inhabitants of the "White Island," or Ireland, a remnant of which

people may be observed in the Highlanders of Scotland, furnish an example of the fact that a much higher

standard of life had been preserved among them than is known to have prevailed either among the Jews or the

Greeks. The comparatively advanced stage of progress which is now known to have existed in Ireland at the

beginning of the present era, which even the bigotry and falsehood of Roman priestcraft have not been able

wholly to conceal, is seen to have been a somewhat corrupted remnant of a civilization which followed

[150] It is thought by certain writers that when the Tuathde danaans emigrated from Persia to the "White

Island" they found it inhabited by the FirBolgs, a colony of Celts. After conquering the island they engrafted

upon it the religion, laws, learning and culture of the mother country. In a later age the Scythians, whose

religion was similar to that of the FirBolgs, united with them and succeeded in making themselves masters

Hence the intermingling of races and tongues among the ancient Irish. The Druids adopted, or appropriated,

the religion and culture of the Tuathdedanaans, who, it is claimed, were the real Hibernians. The Scythians

changed the name of Irin to Scotiathe latter being retained until the 11th century. According to the annals

of the ancient Irish, Scotland was formerly called Scotia Minor to distinguish it from Scotia Major, or Ireland.

Because of their isolated position, or for some cause at present unknown, these people do not seem to have

degenerated into a nation of sensualists. It is true they had departed a long distance from the early conditions

of mankind under which altruism and the abstract principle of Light or Wisdom were worshipped under the

form of a Virgin Mother and her child, but they never wholly rejected the female element in their godidea,

nor never, so far as known, attempted to degrade womanhood. Women were numbered among their

legislators, at the same time that they officiated as educators and priestesses. In fact wherever the Druidical

order prevailed women exerted a powerful influence in all departments of human activity. Among the

It is recorded that St. Bridget planted a monastery for women at Kildare and entrusted to its inmates the

keeping of the sacred fire, and that in later times the Asiatic missionaries founded there a female monkish

order. After the establishment of Western Christianity, however, no woman was permitted to enter into the

monasteries, and we are assured that this ridiculous affectation of purity was extended even to the grave.

During the earlier ages of Christianity, in many portions of Ireland there were cemeteries for men and women

distinct from each other. "It had been a breach of chastity for monks and nuns to be interred within the same

Although volumes have been written to prove that Christianity was carried to Britain by Paul, and although

the energies of scores of Romish writers have been employed in attempting to prove that Ireland was in

heathen darkness prior to its conversion by the priests of the Romish Church, yet these efforts so vigorously

put forward seem only to strengthen the evidence going to show that the Christianity of the British Isles

According to Scripture, Claudia, the wife of the Senator Pudens of Britain, was a Christian,[151] as was also

Graecina, the wife of Plautus, who was governor of Britain in the first century. The latter, it is related, was

accused before the Roman senate of "practicing some foreign superstition." Although Lingard, in his History

and Antiquities of the AngloSaxon Church, has endeavored to annul the force of the evidence which places

two Christian women from Britain in Rome during the first century of our era, he is nevertheless constrained

to use the following language: "We are, indeed, told that history has preserved the names of two British

females, Claudia and Pomponia Graecina, both of them Christians, and both living in the first century of our

According to the Romanists, between the years 177181 of the Christian era, a British king named Lucius

sent a messenger to the authorities at Rome, with a request that he with his people be admitted into the bosom

of the "Holy Catholic Church." By those not prejudiced in favor of the Romish hierarchy, this bit of amusing

"evidence" shows the anxiety manifested lest the facts concerning the religious history of the British Isles

become known. Regarding this embassy of King Lucius there is an extant version which is far more in

When we remember the advanced stage of civilization which existed in Ireland prior to the Christian era, and

when we bear in mind the fact that, as in the case of Abarras mentioned by various Greek writers, the people

of the British Isles were wont to send emissaries abroad for the sole purpose of gathering information relative

to foreign laws, customs, usages, manners, and modes of instruction, we are not surprised to learn that the

message to Rome sent by Lucius, instead of containing a request for admission to a foreign church, embodied

an enquiry into the fundamental principles underlying Roman jurisprudence; and especially does this appear

reasonable when we remember that the remodeling of the Roman code on principles of equity and justice had

Concerning the planting of Christianity in Ireland, we have the following from Ledwich:

"Thus Bishop Lawrence in Bede tells us Pope Gregory sent him and Austin to preach the Gospel in Britain,

as if it never before had been heard, whereas the latter met seven British Bishops who nobly opposed him. In

like manner Pope Adrian commissioned Henry II. to enlarge the bounds of the church, and plant the faith in

Ireland, when it had already been evangelized for eight hundred years. The faith to be planted was blind

Of the exact time at which Romish and Greek missionaries first went to Ireland we are not informed, but

there is ample evidence going to prove that a regular hierarchy had been established in that island before the

beginning of the fifth century, and that this religion which had been brought in through the efforts of

missionaries from the East was, by the legendary writers of the later Christian Church, ascribed to Romish

The Jealousy of the Romish priests, and the means employed by them to usurp the ecclesiastical authority of

the Irish people, is shown in the history of their councils. The 5th canon of the Council of Cealehythe

"that none of Irish extraction be permitted to usurp to himself the sacred ministry in any one's diocese, nor let

it be allowed such an one to touch anything which belongs to those of the holy order. . . .; neither must he

administer the eucharist to the people because we are not certain how or by whom he was ordained."

After quoting the above Ledwich queries thus: If St. Patrick had been a missionary of the Romish Church,

would the AngloSaxon clergy have abjured the spiritual children of that see? In the year 670 Theodoret,

Archbishop of Canterbury, decreed that they who were consecrated by Irish or British Bishops should be

It is observed that as early as the fourth century A.D. there were three hundred bishops in Ireland, and to

account for so large a number, it is declared that ignorant legendary writers had recourse to the fable of St.

The remarkable "conversion" of the Irish to Romish Christianity, which it is said took place in the latter part

of the fourth century or the beginning of the fifth, is to be explained by the fact that a number of Romish

priests or monks which in later ages came to be designated as St. Patrick, claimed all the monasteries,

bishops, and priests already there as a result of the remarkable power and pious zeal of this miracleworking

saint. It is claimed that St. Patrick founded over three thousand monasteries, consecrated three hundred

According to Ledwich and other writers, this St. Patrick was not heard of earlier than the ninth century A.D.,

and the legend concerning him "was not accepted until the twelfth century, at which time his miracles are set

Nothing, perhaps, which is recorded of this monk will go farther toward proving him a myth than the

While yet an infant he raised the dead, brought forth fire from ice, expelled a devil from a heifer, caused a

"These were but the infant sports of this wonderworking saint. The miracles recorded in holy writ, even that

of creation itself, are paralleled, and, if possible, surpassed by those of our spiritual hero."[155]

"Various Patricks followed from Britain and Armorika, but even the Catholic priest, J. F. Shearman, writes

that he is forced to give up the idea that there ever was a real St. Patrick. Thus the name must be accepted

only in its Fatherly sense, and with the fall of the man Patrick all the miraculous and sudden conversions of

The Irish Church bishoprics differed from the Romish in that they were held by hereditary succession, after

Prior to the introduction of the Christian system in Ireland the Sabian ceremonial had been succeeded by the

Druidical, upon which had been engrafted that of the Culdees, and notwithstanding the fact that the Romish

Church gradually usurped the ecclesiastical functions in Ireland, the last named people who for ages had been

regarded as the depositaries of the ancient faith and the ancient system of laws, were highly respected by the

people for their sanctity and learning. Many of the Greek and Roman writers who have dealt with this subject

agree in ascribing to the Druids a high degree of scientific knowledge and mechanical skill. The principles of

justice set forth in their judicial system, their love of learning, and the standard attained in the sciences and

arts, prove the early people of Ireland to have been equal if not superior to any of the early historic nations.

In referring to the number and magnitude of the monumental remains in Ireland, and while commenting on

"I was present at the erection of the Luxor Obelisk in Paris, and yet I think that I would have felt greater

emotion if I had witnessed the successful performance of the old Celtic engineer who placed on its three

pedestals of stone the enormous rock which constitutes the Druidical altar here at Castle May."

It is believed that this people understood the art of mining and that they were acquainted with the use of iron.

"About the year 1770 the miners, in pushing forward an adit toward the bed of coal, at an unexplored part of

the Ballycastle cliff, unexpectedly broke through the rock into a narrow passage, so much contracted and

choked up with various drippings and deposits on its sides and bottom, as rendered it impossible for any of

the workmen to force through, that they might examine it farther. Two lads were, therefore, made to creep in

with candles, for the purpose of exploring this subterranean avenue. They accordingly pressed forward for a

considerable time, with much labor and difficulty, and at length entered into an extensive labyrinth branching

off into numerous apartments, in the mazes and windings of which they were completely bewildered and lost.

After various vain attempts to return, their lights were extinguished, their voices became hoarse, and,

becoming wearied and spiritless, they sat down together, in utter despair of an escape from this miserable

dungeon. In the meanwhile, the workmen in the adit became alarmed for their safety, fresh hands were

incessantly employed, and, in the course of twentyfour hours, the passage was so open as to admit the most

active among the miners . . . On examining this subterranean wonder, it was found to be a complete gallery,

which had been driven forward many hundred yards to the bed of coal: that it branched off into numerous

chambers, where miners had carried on their different works: that these chambers were dressed in a

workmanlike manner: that pillars were left at proper intervals to support the roof. In short it was found to be

an extensive mine, wrought by people at least as expert in the business as the present generation. Some

remains of the tools, and even of the baskets used in the works, were discovered, but in such a decayed state

that, on being touched, they immediately crumbled to pieces. From the remains which were found, there is

reason to believe that the people who wrought these collieries anciently, were acquainted with the use of iron,

some small pieces of which were found; it appeared as if some of their instruments had been thinly shod with

Through various means the fact has been ascertained that although in the sixth century the buildings in

Ireland were mean and wholly without artistic merit or skilful design, in an earlier age they were magnificent.

Of the causes which produced the decay of architecture, the extinction of the arts and sciences, and the

general degradation of the people of this island the devotees of St. Paul and of the Romish Church are alike

For ages after the subjection of Ireland, in open defiance of the English, the people continued to dispense

The lack of regard shown for English law in Ireland, even as late as the sixteenth century, is set forth by

"It is a great abuse and reproach that the laws and statutes made in this land are not observed nor kept after

the making of them eight days, while diverse Irishmen cloth abuse and keep such laws and statutes which

they make upon hills in this country, firm and stable, without breaking them for any favor or reward."

By a statute of Parliament enacted at Kilkenny, it was made high treason to administer or observe these old

Brehon laws. The two enactments especially obnoxious to the English were Gahail Cinne, and Eiric. The

former of these enactments was that which in opposition to the English law of primogeniture declared that the

estate of a parent should descend in equal proportion to all members of the family. There was another law, or

custom, among this people, which provided that the chief of the tribe or people should be elected by general

We have something more than a hint of the condition of ancient Ireland and its people in a description given

by the Greeks of one of its inhabitants. Abarras, who visited Greece about six hundred years before Christ,

and who was called by the Greeks a Hyperborean, was a priest of the Sun, who went abroad for the purpose

of study and observation, and to renew by his presence and his gifts the old friendship which had long existed

between the Celts and the Greeks. Strabo remarks concerning Abarras that he was much admired by the

"not clad in skins like a Scythian, but with a bow in his hand, and a quiver on his shoulders and a plaid

wrapped about his body, a gilded belt encircled his loins, and trousers reaching from his waist downward to

the soles of his feet. He was easy in his address, agreeable in conversation, active in dispatch and secret in the

management of great affairs; quick in judging of present occurrences, and ready to take his part in any sudden

emergency; provident, withal, in guarding against futurity; diligent in quest of wisdom, fond of friendship;

trusting very little to fortune; yet having the entire confidence of others, and trusted with everything for his

prudence. He spoke Greek with so much fluency that you would have thought that he had been bred or

brought up in the Lyceum and had conversed all his life with the Academy of Athens. He had frequent

intercourse with Pythagoras whom he astonished by the variety and extent of his knowledge."

From the descriptions given of the native country of Abarras by the Greeks, it is evident that it could have

Although at this time in their history, Apollo the sungod was the Deity worshipped in Greece and in Ireland,

still both nations honored Latona his mother. The same as in the mother country (Persia, or Phoenicia), the

oracles, or sybils of Ireland, had prophesied a "Savior," and three hundred years before Greek emissaries

visited that country, its people, through the preaching of Eastern missionaries, had substituted for the worship

of Latona and Apollo that of the new solar incarnationthe third son of Zarathustra, whose appearance had

The identity of the symbols used by the early people of Ireland who were sun worshippers, and those

employed in that country for ages after the Romish Church had usurped the ecclesiastical authority, has been

a subject for much comment. After describing the peculiar form of the early Christian Churches and the

attention paid to the placing of the windows which were to admit the sun's rays, Smedley says: "It is possible,

in an age of allegory and figures, this combination and variety expressed some sacred meaning with which

The similarity observed in the sacred festivals and religious seasons of the ancient inhabitants of Ireland and

those of the early Christians, the extent to which large stone crosses, lighted candles, the yule log and the

various other symbols belonging to fertility, or sun worship, were retained by Christianity, furnish strong

evidence of the fact that the latter system is but part and parcel of the former.

"Throughout all the world, the first object of idolatry seems to have been a plain unwrought stone, placed in

the ground as an emblem of the generative or procreative powers of Nature."[157]

In the language of symbolism the upright stone prefigures either a man, reproductive energy, or a god, all of

which at a certain stage in the human career had come to mean one and the same thing; namely, the Creator.

In the earlier ages of male worship, upright stones as emblems of the Deity were plain unwrought shafts, but

in process of time they began to be carved into the form of a mana man who usually represented the ruler

or chief of the people, and who, as he was the source of all power and wisdom, was supposed by the ignorant

masses to be an incarnation of the sun. Thus arose the spiritual power of monarchs, or the "divine right of

Wherever obelisks, columns, pillars, attenuated spires, upright stones or crosses at the intersection of roads

are found, they always appear as sacred monuments, or as symbols of the Lingham god.

The Chaldean Tower of which there are extant traditions in Mexico and in the South Sea Islands; the Round

Towers of Ireland; the remarkable group of stones known as Stonehenge, in England; the wonderful circle at

Abury through which the figure of a huge serpent was passed; the monuments which throughout the nations

of the East were set up at the intersection of roads in the center of market places, and the bowing stones

employed as oracles in various portions of the world, have all the same signification, and proclaim the

Whether as among the Jews in Egypt, a pillar is set up as a "sign" and a "witness" to the Lord, or whether as

with the Mohammedans these figures appear as minarets with egg shaped summits, or as among the Irish they

stand forth as stately towers defying time and the elements, or as among the Christians they appear as the

steeple which points towards heaven, the symbol remains, and the original significance is the same.

The Lord of the Israelites who was wont to manifest himself to his chosen people in a "pillar of smoke by

day" and a "pillar of fire by night" is said to be none other than a reproductive emblem, as was also the

"Lord" which "reposed in the ark of the covenant." Monuments set up to symbolize the religion of the Parsees

or fireworshippers after they had succumbed to the pressure brought to bear upon them by the adorers of the

male principle were each and all of them, like their great prototype the tower of Babel, typical of the

Notwithstanding the fact that the male energy had come to be recognized as the principal factor in

reproduction, it is observed that wherever these monuments or other symbols of fertility appear, there is

always to be found in close connection with them certain emblems symbolical of the female power; thus

showing that although the people by whom they were erected had become worshippers of the masculine

principle, and although they had persuaded themselves that it was the more important element in the deity,

they had not become so regardless of the truths of Nature as to attempt to construct a Creator independently

Protestant Christianity, probably the most intensely masculine of all religious schemes which have claimed

the attention of man, has not wittingly retained any of the detested female emblems, yet so deeply has the

older symbolism taken root, that even in the architecture of the modern Protestant church with its arkshaped

nave and its window toward the rising sun, may be detected the remnants of that early worship which the

devotees of this more recently developed form of religious faith so piously ignore.

The large number of upright columns, circles of stone, cromlechs and cairns still extant in the British Isles,

bears testimony to the peculiar character of the religious worship which once prevailed in them. Of these

shrines perhaps none is more remarkable than that of Stonehenge, in England. Although during the

numberless ages which have passed since this temple was erected many of the stones have fallen from their

original places, still by the light of more recently established facts concerning religious symbolism, it has

been possible, even under its present condition of decay, for scholars to unravel the hitherto mysterious

significance of this remarkable structure. Stonehenge is composed of four circles of mammoth upright shafts

twenty feet high, the one circle within the other, with immense stones placed across them like architraves.

In ancient symbolism the circle was the emblem of eternity, or of the eternal female principle. Mountains

were also sacred to the gods. It has been said that a ring of mountains gave rise to these circular temples.

Faber assures us that a circular stone temple was called the circle of the world or the circle of the ark, that it

represented at once the inclosure of the Noetic Ship; the egg from which creation was produced; the earth,

and the zodiacal circle of the universe in which the sun performs its annual revolutions through the signs.

Stonehenge is said to be the temple of the water god Noah, who, as we have seen, was first worshipped as

half woman and half fish or serpent, but who finally came to be regarded as a man serpent (or fish) Deity.

On approaching Stonehenge from the Northeast, the first object which engages the attention is a rude boulder,

sixteen feet high, in a leaning posture. This stone has been named the Friar's Heel, but until recently its

Regarding the upright shaft which stands sentinel over the mysterious circles of mammoth stones called

Stonehenge, Forlong says that it is no Friar's Heel, but an emblem of fertility dedicated to the Friday divinity.

It is represented as the "Genius of Fire," not the genius of ordinary fire, "but of the supersensual Divinity,

Regarding these remarkable stones to which the Lingham god is a mere introduction, Forlong says:

"No one who has studied phallic and solar worship in the East could make any mistake as to the purport of

the shrine at Stonehenge . . . yet the indelicacy of the whole subject often so shocks the ordinary reader, that,

in spite of facts, he cannot grant what he thinks shows so much debasement of the religious mind; facts are

facts, however, and it only remains for us to account for them. Perhaps indeed in these later times an artificial

and lower phase of sensuality has taken the place of the more natural indulgence of the passions, for

procreative purposes, which principally engrossed the thoughts of early worshippers."[158]

Higgins is of the opinion that Stonehenge is the work of the same era with the caves of India, the pyramids of

Egypt, and the stupendous monument at Carnaca structure which, it is claimed, must have required for its

Undoubtedly there has never been a religious shrine which has excited more curiosity than has Abury, of

which, unfortunately, nothing now remains, although in the early part of the eighteenth century enough had

been preserved to prove the identity of its signification with other ancient religious monuments both in the

British Isles and in the countries of the East. Perhaps there is no way by which this shrine can be better

understood than by quoting the exact language of those who have written upon the subject. Especially is this

true concerning the testimony of those who, after personal investigation, have given to the public the results

In the History of Wiltshisre, published by Sir R. Colt Hoare, Bart., appears the following from Dr. Stukeley:

"The situation of Abury is finely chosen for the purpose it was destined to, being the more elevated part of a

plain, from whence there is almost an imperceptible descent every way. But as the religious work in Abury,

though great in itself, is but a part of the whole (the avenues stretching above a mile from it each way), the

situation of the whole design is projected with great judgment, in a kind of large, separate plain, four or five

miles in diameter. Into this you descend on all sides from higher ground. The whole Temple of Abury may be

considered as a picture, and it really is so. Therefore the founders wisely contrived that a spectator have an

advantageous prospect of it as he appeared within view. When I frequented this place, which I did for some

years together, to take an exact account of it, staying a fortnight at a time, I found out the entire work by

degrees. The second time I was here, an avenue was a new amusement; the third year another. So that at

length I discovered the mystery of it, properly speaking, which was, that the whole figure represented a snake

transmitted through a circle. This is an hieroglyphic or symbol of highest note and antiquity.

"In order to put this design in execution, the founders well studied their ground; and to make their

representation more natural, they artfully carried it over a variety of elevations and depressions, which, with

the curvature of the avenues, produces sufficiently the desired effect. To make it still more elegant and

picturelike, the head of the snake is carried up the southern promontory of Hackpen Hill, toward the village

of West Kennet; nay, the very name of the hill is derived from the circumstance. . . . Thus our antiquity

divides itself into three great parts, which will be our rule in describing this work. The circle at Abury, the

forepart of the snake leading toward Kennet, which I call Kennet Avenue; the hinder part of the snake leading

toward Beckhampton, which I call Beckhampton Avenue; for they may be well looked on as avenues to the

"The plan on which Abury was built, is that sacred hierogram of the Egyptians and other ancient nations, the

circle and snake. The whole figure is the circle, snake, and wings. By this they meant to picture out, as well

The temple which represents the body of the snake is formed by a circular agger of earth having its ditch

withinside. As this is contrary to the mode adopted in works of defence, it is thought to prove the religious

character of Abury. In a description given of this shrine by Higgins is the following:

"These ramparts inclose an area of 1400 feet in diameter, which on the edge nearest the ditch was set round

with a row of rough, unhewn stones, and in the center was ornamented with two circular temples, composed

The space of ground included within the vellum has been estimated at twentytwo acres, and the outward

circumvallation was computed at 4800 feet. The number of stones that formed this outer circle was originally

one hundred, of which, in the year 1722, there were eighteen standing, and twentyseven thrown down.

In the village of Rudstone in Yorkshire there stands a huge stone, the significance of which, at the present

time, is by scholars clearly understood. Its depth below the surface of the ground is said to be equal to its

height above, which is twentyfour feet. It is five feet ten inches broad, and two feet thick, its weight being

The gigantic rocking stones found in nearly every quarter of the globe are now known to be religious

monuments of remote antiquity. Not long ago I saw a description of one of these oracles in BuenosAyres,

South America, and a few months later there appeared the following account of a similar stone found in

"At first sight it would scarcely attract attention, but a closer observation reveals the remarkable position

which it occupies. The total weight of the immense boulder has been variously estimated at from forty to fifty

tons, and its bulk at from 500 to 700 cubic feet. It is almost perfectly round, much resembling a huge orange,

and so nicely balanced on a table of stone as to be easily set in motion by a single man, providing the operator

exerts his strength on the north or south sides. On either of the other sides the combined strength of forty

elephants would not be sufficient to cause the least oscillation. Although it is easily rocked, we are assured

that as many men as could surround it would be unable to dislodge it from the pivot on which it rests."[161]

The writer of the above, who was evidently ignorant of the extent to which these monuments are scattered

over the earth, seemed to regard it as a singular freak of Nature with no significance other than that of a

The round towers of Ireland, over the origin of which there has in the past been so much controversy, are now

pretty generally admitted to be analogous in their use and design to Stonehenge, Abury, and other extant

Many writers have endeavored to prove that these towers were belfries used in connection with Christian

churches; others that they were purgatorial columns or penitential heights, similar in design to the pillar of St.

Simeon Stylites. Others again have argued that they were used as beacons and others that they were intended

simply as receptacles for the sacred fire known to have formerly been in use in the British Isles. Although

numberless arguments have been brought forward to refute these theories, it is thought that the expensive

architecture alone of the elegant and stately columns known as Round Towers contradicts all these "guesses,"

and that their grandeur and almost absolute indestructibility proclaim for them a different origin from that of

the lowly and miserable huts which in a later age were erected beside them for purposes of worship by the

Romish Christians. The same objection is made also against the theory that these monuments were erected in

memory of the several defeats of the Danes. As an answer to the argument that they were erected by the

Danes to celebrate their victories, it is declared that such is the character of the hieroglyphics upon them as to

make this theory worthless. Besides, throughout the country of the Danes and Ostmen, there is nowhere to be

found an example of architectural splendor such as is displayed in the construction of these columns. In the

north of Scotland was one of these monuments upon which were depicted warlike scenes, horses and their

riders, warriors brandishing their weapons, and troops shouting for victory, while on the other side was a

sumptuous cross, beneath which were two figures, the one evidently female, the other male.

In Cordiner's Antiquities of Scotland is a description of an elaborately carved obelisk. On one side of this

column appears a mammoth cross, and underneath it are figures of uncouth animals. Among these carvings

are to be seen the Bulbul of Iran, the Boar of Vishnu, the elk, the fox, the lamb, and a number of dancing

human figures. In fact all the configurations are not only in their nature and import essentially Eastern, but

are actually the symbols of the various animal forms under which "the people of the East contemplated the

Carnac, in upper Egypt, is a monolith of the same symbolic character. It is hewn from a solid block of black

Henry O'Brien, a cultured Irishman, who when in London became, in his own line of investigation, one of the

chief contributors to Fraser's Magazine while at its best, in response to a call by the Royal Irish Academy for

productions relating to the origin and use of the Round Towers, declared that they were erected by a colony

of Tuathdedanaans, or Lingham worshippers from Persia, who had left their native land because of the

victories gained over them by their rivalsthe Pish dedanaansa sect of Yoni worshippers; in other

words, the sect which recognized the female element as the superior agency in reproduction, and who,

therefore, worshipped it as divine. In the devastating wars which swept over Persia and the other countries of

antiquity prior to the age of the later Zoroaster, the Pishde danaans were victorious, and, driving from the

country the Tuathde danaans, or male worshippers, succeeded in reestablishing, and for a time

maintaining, the old form of worship. O'Brien claims that the Tuathdedanaans who were expelled from

Persia emigrated to Ireland, and there continued or preserved their favorite form of worship, the Round

Towers having been erected by them in conformity to their peculiar religious views. This writer assures us

that the old Irish tongue bears unmistakable evidence of the relation existing between these countries. In

addition to the similarity of language which is found to exist between ancient Ireland or Iren, and Persia or

Iran, the same writer observes that in all their customs, religious observances, and emblems, the resemblance

Much regret has been expressed by all the writers who have dealt with this subject that at an earlier age when

Stonehenge, Abury, and various other of the ancient monumental shrines of the British Isles were in a better

state of preservation, and before bigotry and religious hatred had been aroused against them, more minute

observations of their character and of all the details surrounding them could not have been made; yet,

notwithstanding the late date at which these investigations were begun, it is believed that a fair amount of

success has crowned the efforts which have been put forth to unravel the mysteries bound up in them.

When we remember that every detail connected with the sacred monuments of the ancients was full of

significance that their religious ideas were all portrayed by means of symbols which appeared in connection

with their sacred edificesthe extent to which a thorough understanding of these details would assist in

revealing the mysteries involved in the universal religious conceptions may in a measure be realized.

The identity of the symbols used to express religious ideas, and the extent to which the conceptions of a

creative force have been connected in all portions of the globe, are set forth in the following from Barlow:

"A complete history of religious symbolism should embrace all the religions of antiquity no less than the

Christian, and it would require as thorough a knowledge of their tenets as of our own to explain satisfactorily

Although the sun was formerly worshipped as the source of all good, at a certain stage in the human career it

came to be regarded as the cause of all evil. When Typhon Seth comprehended the powers of Nature, as the

Destroyer and Regenerator she was the author of all good; but later, after the truths underlying Nature

worship were lost, Typhon, the hot wind of the desert, was feared rather than worshipped.

In the history of an earlier age of existence, there is not to be found the slightest trace of human sacrifice to

atone for the sins of the people, or to appease the wrath of an offended God. On the contrary, throughout the

traditions and monumental records of the most ancient nations, sacrifices to the Deity the God of

Natureconsisted simply in the acknowledgment of earth's benefits by means of a freewill offering of the

That the sacrifice either of human beings or of animals was not offered in an earlier age of religious faith is

confidently asserted and, I think, proved by various writers. Of this Higgins says: "I think a time may be

perceived when it did not exist even among the Western nations." This writer states also that it was not

always practiced at Delphi. Mention is made of the fact that among the Buddhists, to whom belongs the first

It was doubtless under the worship of Muth, Neith, or Minerva, the first emanation from the deity and the

original Buddha, that the first book of Genesis or Wisdom was written. In this book may be observed the fact

that the slaughter of animals is forbidden. It is thought that with Crishna, Hercules, and the worshippers of

the sun in Aries, the sacrifice of human beings and animals began. In the second book of Genesis, which is

said to be a Brahmin work, animals are first used for sacrifice, and in the third book, or the book of

Generations or Regenerations of the race of man or the Adam, which was written after the pure doctrines

connected with the worship of Wisdom had been corrupted, they are first allowed to be eaten as food.

It is supposed that the practice of sacrificing human beings and animals took its rise in the western parts of

the world after the sun entered Aries, and that it subsequently extended even to the followers of the Tauric

worship, among whom it was carried to a frightful extent. It is also thought that the history of Cain and Abel

is an allegory of the followers of Crishna to justify their sacrifice of the yajna or lamb "in opposition to the

Buddhist offering of bread and wine, or water, made by Cain and practiced by Melchizedek."[163]

It is now positively known that all over the world, during a certain stage of religious belief, either human

beings or animals were, at stated seasons, sacrificed to the Deity. Of the universality of this practice Faber

"Throughout the whole world we find a notion prevalent that the gods could be appeased only by bloody

sacrifices. Now this idea is so thoroughly arbitrary, there being no obvious and necessary connection, in the

way of cause and effect, between slaughtering a man or a beast, and recovering of the divine favor by the

slaughterers, that its very universality involves the necessity of concluding that all nations have borrowed it

Dr. Shuckford is constrained to admit that the sacrifices and ceremonies of purification practiced by Abraham

and his descendants and those of surrounding peoples, were identical, with only "such trifling changes as

distance of countries and length of time might be expected to produce." The substitution of a lamb in the

place of Isaac would seem to indicate a change from childslaughter to that of animals.

Sacrifices were offerings to the god of pro creation. Certain representatives of the life which he had

bestowed must be returned to him as a freewill gift. In many countries, the victims offered to the deity were

captives taken in war; but, as prisoners of war and slaves were not permitted to join in the battles of their

captors, their lives were of little value; hence, later, it is observed that the sacrificial victim must be a prince

As in all hot countries the heat of the sun is the most destructive agency against which mankind have to

contend, it is not perhaps singular, at a time when superstition had usurped the functions of the reasoning

powers, that the sungod should have been invested with the attributes inspired by terror, and that so far as

possible, mankind should have deemed it necessary to propitiate its wrath, and, by rendering to it suitable

offerings and sacrifices, they should have hoped to avert the calamities incident to its displeasure. Neither is it

remarkable when we remember the peculiar circumstances surrounding the Jews, and the fact that the

offerings demanded by their god was the life which he had bestowed, that the sacrifices offered to Moloch,

the fire god, should have been the members of their own householdnamely, their children.

We must not forget that the reward promised this people by prophet, priest, and diviner for godliness was

extreme fruitfulness of body. We have seen that to obtain this mark of godly favor, or, under pretense of

serving their god, the form of worship prescribed by their priests, and adopted both in their households and in

their temples was preeminently sensual, and calculated to stimulate and encourage to the highest extent their

As the size of a man's family, or his power to reproduce, was an index to his favor with the Almighty the

pleasure of the "Lord" in this matter being but the reflection of his own desires, the result as might reasonably

be expected was overpopulation to such an extent that the means of subsistence within the small boundary of

Judea was inadequate to supply the demands of the swarming masses of "God's children"children which

had been created for his honor and glory. Surely some plan must be devised whereby these difficulties might

be adjusted, and that, too, to use a modern expression, without flying in the face of Providence. As the Lord

had been honored and man blessed in the mere bringing forth of offspring, what better scheme, so soon as

such blessings became too numerous, than to return a certain number of them to the giver, the god of

Moloch? It is true that by this process children were born only to be delivered over to the ravages of the fire

god, but by it, was not their deity both served and appeased at the same time that population was kept within

the bounds of subsistence? That great numbers were thus sacrificed is only too apparent from the accounts in

the Jewish scripturesAbraham's acts and those of Jephtha being examples of the manner in which this god

In Micah, vi. chap., 7th verse, occurs an interrogation which furnishes something more than a hint of the

practice among the Jews of child sacrifice. "Shall I give my first born for my transgressions, the fruit of my

Although there is sufficient evidence to prove the enormous extent to which the practice of child sacrifice

prevailed among the Jews, it is believed that much more proof would be found, had it not, in later times, with

a view to concealing the extent of this practice, been expunged from their sacred writings. Moloch was to the

Jews what Siva came to be to the Hindoos, namely, the Terrible. It is plain, however, that Siva was not

formerly feared in India, but next to Vishnu was the best beloved of all their gods. Siva was originally the

androgyne god who was not only the Destroyer, but the beneficent Regenerator and purifier. It was the cold

of winter and the heat of the sun. It was a conception which was a direct outgrowth of Nature worship or of

The conception involved in sacrifice seems to be that of a payment for services rendered, or desired. The

Amazulus, when going to battle, sacrifice to the manes of their ancestors, who, as older branches of the tree

of life, appear to constitute their godidea. This is done that their gods "may have no cause of complaint,

because they have made amends to them and made them bright." On appearing before the enemy they say:

"Can it be, since we have made amends to the Amadhlozi, that they will say we have wronged them by

At a certain stage in human history the various peoples of the globe depended upon excessive numbers for

their prosperity, hence the most precious offering to the god of procreation was that of human victims.

In India, when a new colony or city was founded, in order to insure its prosperity, large numbers of children

were delivered over as a bribe or offering of reconciliation to the god of virility. The enormous extent to

which human sacrifice has prevailed in India, in Egypt, in Mexico, among the Carthaginians, the Jews, the

From the records of extant history, it would seem that human sacrifice usually accompanies a certain stage of

sunworship. Among the Aztecs in Mexico, a country in which the sun was a universal object of reverence

and in which one of the prescribed duties of the boys trained in the temple was that of keeping alive the

sacred fires, the immolation of victims became the most prominent feature of their public worship. We are

distinctly told, however, that human sacrifice was not formerly practiced in Mexico, but that finally here as

elsewhere, the idea became prevalent that by sacrificing human victims to the god of Destruction, his wrath

might be appeased and the people saved from his vengeance. It is stated that human sacrifices were adopted

by the Aztecs early in the fourteenth century, about two hundred years before the conquest. "Rare at first,

they became more frequent with the wider extent of their empire; till, at length, almost every festival was

Notwithstanding these atrocities, in their conceptions of a future state of existence, and especially in their

disposition of the unregenerate after death, are to be observed certain traces of human feeling and refined

sensibility which are difficult to reconcile with the cruelty practiced in their religious rites, and which bear a

striking contrast to the physical torture, to which after death the wicked are subjected not only in Mexico, but

Of their religious observances, those which had doubtless been inherited from an older civilization, Prescott,

"Many of their ceremonies were of a light and cheerful complexion, consisting of the national songs and

dances, in which both sexes joined. Processions were made of women and children crowned with garlands

and bearing offerings of fruits, the ripened maize, or the sweet incense of copal and other odoriferous gums,

while the altars of the deity were stained with no blood save that of animals. These were the peaceful rites

Prior to the days of Montezuma, the Aztec priests had engrafted upon these simple ceremonies not only a

burdensome ceremonial, and a polytheism similar to that of Eastern nations, but, as we have seen, human

sacrifices and even cannibalism had become prominent features in religious worship. Throughout the entire

ceremonial and religious conceptions of the Aztecs may be observed a display of the savage and brutal

elements in human nature, in close connection with unmistakable evidence of a once higher stage of culture

In the later ages of Aztec history their most exalted deity was Huitzilopotchi, the Mexican Moses, the god of

war. His temples were the most costly and magnificent among the public edifices in the country, and his

image bedecked with ornaments was an universal object of adoration. At the dedication of his temple in the

A Deity which occupied a conspicuous place in the mythology, and which was probably an inheritance from

more ancient times, was Quetzalcoatl, doubtless the same as the Eastern Goddess of Nature, or Wisdom. She

was the "grain goddess," and "received offerings of fruit and flowers at her two great festivals. She also took

care of the growth of corn. She was doubtless the same as the Earth Mother of the Finns and Esths, she who

"undertakes the task of bringing forth the fruits." She is evidently the Demeter of the Greeks, the Ceres of the

Romans, etc. She is also the goddess of Wisdom, for she had "instructed the nations in the use of metals, in

"Earth had teemed with fruits and flowers without the pains of culture. An ear of Indian corn was as much as

a single man could carry. The cotton, as it grew, took, of its own accord, the rich dies of human art. The air

was filled with intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of birds. In short, these were the halcyon days,

which find a place in the mythic systems of so many nations throughout the world. It was the golden age of

We are given to understand that for some cause not explained the beneficent god Quetzalcoatl was banished,

that he (or she) was deposed through the influence of some deity which had become more popular, or, at

least, more powerful; but that when Quetzalcoatl departed from the country "in a winged skiff made of

serpent skins," it was with a promise to return to the faithful, which promise was sacredly cherished down to

The Mexican Mars, Huitzilopotchi, was born of a virgin. His mother, a devout person, while at her devotions

in the temple saw floating before her a bright colored feather ball, which she seized and placed in her bosom.

She soon became pregnant, her offspring being a god, who like Minerva appeared full armed with spear and

Although the exact manner in which the Mexicans sacrificed to their Deity to atone for the sins of the people

differs somewhat from the modus operandi employed in the Christian vicarious atonement, still the likeness

existing between them is sufficient to indicate the fact of their common origin and the similar manner of their

The Mexicans were wont to select a young and handsome man from their midst, whom they invested with the

dignity of a god. After having surrounded him with every luxury, and when they had showered upon him

every attention, crowning him with flowers and worshipping him for a year or more as a Savior, they killed

him, offering him as an atonement or sacrifice, in order that the rest of the people might escape the vengeance

of their great Deity, who, it was claimed, is pleased with such offerings, and who demands sacrifices of this

kind at the hands of his children. Within blood was contained life, hence the offering of a bloody victim was

but the returning to their god, as a freewill gift that which he had bestowed, such sacrifice being regarded as

That the offering of a victim to the Jewish God was deemed necessary to the fulfilment of Christian doctrine

is a fact which is clearly shown by numerous passages in the New Testament. "We are sanctified through the

offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." "By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are

That the Jewish Paschal feasts and the Eucharistic rites of Christians had their counterpart among the

Mexicans is observed in the fact that shortly after the death of their god, cakes which had been prepared and

blessed by the priests were offered by them to the people to be eaten as the veritable body of their sacrificed

The source whence the doctrine of an atonement a bloody sacrifice which lies at the foundation of

Christian theologyhas proceeded is not at the present time difficult to determine, for we shall presently see

that it, like all the leading doctrines contained in this later system, and which are regarded as exclusively

Christian, had its origin in the religion of past ages, a religion which although originally pure, in course of

time degenerated into the grossest phallicism and even into human sacrifice and cannibalism.

Although among the Mexicans as among the Jews, human sacrifices were offered to the Deity, no hint of

gross and sensual rites practiced in the temples of the latter is recorded. Hence, as the Mexicans had not

arrived at that stage of religious progress (?) at which sensuality inculcated as a sacred duty, and at which

moral and physical debasement was encouraged both in public and private life, we may reasonably conclude

that their faith represents a somewhat earlier stage of development than does that of either Jew or Greek. In

point of morality, as judged by the most ancient standards, or by the more modern, the Mexicans compare

favorably with either of these nationalities. Indeed when we compare the social, religious, and civil

conditions of Mexico as we find them under Montezuma with those of the Jews under David or Solomon, or

with those of the Greeks under Solon, or even with those of the Christians during the Spanish Inquisition

when thousands upon thousands, not of captives taken in war, but of the noblest and best of the land, were

yearly slaughtered for "the glory of God," there is quite as much to meet the approval of an enlightened

conscience under the first named system as under that of any one of the other three.

By priests the fact has long been understood that effects may be produced through appeals to the religious or

emotional nature which under other circumstances would be impossible; and as, for thousands of years, it has

been the special business of this class to formulate creeds for the ignorant masses, religious belief and the

ceremonies connected with "sacred" worship, during certain periods of the world's history, have assumed a

grotesqueness in design unsurpassed by the most fanciful fairy tales which the imagination has ever been able

to create, at the same time that they have portrayed a depth of sensual degradation capable of being reached

In Egypt, the cross when unaccompanied by any other symbol signified simply creative energy both female

and male, but whenever a distinctively female emblem was present it denoted the male power alone. The Ibis,

which is represented with human hands and feet, bears the staff of Isis in one hand and the cross in the other.

There is scarcely an obelisk or monument in Egypt upon which this figure does not appear. The symbol or

monogram of Venus was a circle and a cross, that of Saturn was a cross and a ram's horn.

Plato declared that the son of God was expressed upon the universe in the form of the letter X, and that the

second power of the supreme God was figured on the universe in the shape of a cross.

There is little doubt that the early Christians understood full well the true meaning of the cross, and that it

was no new device. In later ages, however, every monument of antiquity marked with this symbol was

It is related that when the temple of Serapis at Alexandria was overthrown by one of the Christian Emperors,

beneath its foundation was discovered the monogram of Christ. The Christians made use of this circumstance

to prove the divine origin of their religion, "thereby making many converts." The Pagans, on the contrary,

were of the opinion that "it should forever silence the claim put forward by the devotees of Christianity." It is

plain, however, that the Christians had the better of the argument for "the cross being uneasy under the

On the coins of Decius, the great persecutor of the Christians, is to be observed the monogram of Christ

which is also the monogram of Osiris and Jupiter Ammon. On a medal proved to be Phoenician appear the

cross, the rosary, and the lamb. There is another form of the same monogram which signifies DCVIII. These

devices although in use hundreds of years prior to the Christian era are all said to be monograms of Christ. At

In the cave of Elephanta, in India, appears the cross in connection with the figure which represents male

reproductive power. Inman relates that a cross with a rosary attached has been found in use among the

religious emblems of the Japanese Buddhists and the lamas of Thibet, and that in one of the frescoes of

Pompeii, published at Paris, 1840, is to be seen, vol. v., plate 28, the representation of a phallic cross in

The Rev. Mr. Maurice adds his testimony to that of other investigators to show the universality of this

emblem. He says that the principal pagodas in India, viz., those of Bernares and Mathura, are built in the

In the museum of the London University is a mummy upon whose breast is a cross "exactly in the shape of a

The true significance of this emblem, and the reason for its adoration are not, at the present time, difficult to

understand; but whence comes the symbol of a dead man on a cross, and what is its true meaning?

Perhaps there is no problem connected with ancient symbolism, or with mythical religion, which is more

difficult to solve, than is the representation of a dying Savior on a cross. It is stated by those who have

investigated this subject, that although the sun, or the fructifying power within it, was adored by all the

historic nations, no hint of a cross is to be found amongst the most ancient Nature worshippers. We must then

look for a solution of this problem to those ages in which the higher truths of an older race were partially

forgotten, and to a time when phallic worship had supplanted the adoration of Light or Wisdom. The cross

doubtless came into use as a religious emblem at a time when the sexes in union began to stand for the

godidea, the lower end of the upright shaft being transfixed to the horizontal bar.

As soon as the male energy became god, the cross gradually grew into the figure of a man with arms

extended. It became the original "life giver," it was Adam, the creator of the race. Doubtless for ages Adam

represented the godmanphallusTree of Life, or cross idea. He was the progenitor of the race. From this

same idea sprang ancestor worship, or the deification of the past vital spark. The adoration paid to the Lares

and Penates, the household gods of the Romans, on the first of May, is an example of this worship, as is also

Of religious emblems R. P. Knight says that one of the most remarkable among them is a cross in the form of

the letter T which was used as an emblem of creation and generation before the church adopted it as a sign of

salvation. To this representation of male reproductive power "was sometimes added a human head, which

Originally the figure of a dead man on a cross typified creation and destruction or the operations of the

creative forces in Nature. Everything dies only to live again. Although man dies, and although the individual

man becomes but a dead branch on the tree of life, still the tree lives. Through the cross phallus idea, or

through man's power to create, existence on the earth continues. Although the sun dies in winter, in spring it

There is much evidence to show that a dying figure on a cross was no new conception at the advent of

Christianity. Crishna, whose history as we have seen is almost identical with that of Christ, and Ballaji, from

whom the thorncrowned figures of Jesus have doubtless been copied, are illustrations of this mythical figure

It seems altogether probable from the facts at hand that the Romans worshipped a cross with a dying figure of

a man upon it. Minucius Felix, a Christian father, in defense of his religion, has the following passage:

"You certainly, who worship wooden gods, are the most likely people to adore wooden crosses, as being parts

with the same substance as your deities. For what else are your ensigns, flags, and standards but crosses gilt

and purified? Your victorious trophies not only represent a simple cross, but a cross with a man upon it.

When a pure worshipper adores the true God with hands extended, he makes the figure of a cross. Thus you

see that the sign of the cross has either some foundation in Nature, or in your own religion, and therefore not

Higgins says that it is proved as completely as it is possible to prove a fact of this kind that the Romans had a

crucified object of adoration, and that this could be no other than an incarnation of the God Sol, represented

An ancient medal found in Cyprus has upon one of its sides the figure of a crucified man with the chaplet or

rosary, the same as those now in use by Romanists. From the style of workmanship it is thought that this

There is little doubt that the early fathers and the bishops in the Christian church recognized in the cross the

ancient emblem of fertility, but as the idea of a spiritual life had begun to take root, it was deemed proper to

conceal its real significance; hence from a symbol representing the continuity of existence on the earth the

cross now prefigured eternal life or existence after death. Henceforward although man was dead in

transgressions, through the cross, or through the crucified Christ, he received eternal life.

That the original signification of this symbol was understood by early Christians is apparent from the fact that

the Emperor Theodosius, between the years 378 and 395, issued a decree prohibiting the sign of the cross

being sculptured or painted on the pavements of churches. Tertullian also, after declaring that the devil made

the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the followers of the Persian Mithra, accused the Christians of adoring

In 280, A. C. Porphyry, referring to crosses, asked why theologists give passions to the gods, erect Phalli and

use shameful language; to which the Christian Iamblichus in the year 336 replied: "Because Phalli and

crosses are signs of productive energy, and provocative to a continuance of the world."

It was not until the second century, or until after the days of Justin Martyr, that the instrument upon which

Jesus was executed was called a cross. But whatever may have been its form, as soon as the myths of former

religious worship began to attach themselves to his history, he became the symbolical dead man on a cross,

the original sacrifice to Mahadeva. He portrayed the same idea as did Crishna, Ballaji, the dying Osiris, and

all the other sungods. He, like each of these, represented a new sun at the beginning of a new cycle. He was

a risen savior, and to him were finally transferred all the festivals, seasons, symbols, and monograms of

former solar deities. That the figure of a dead man on a cross was a familiar emblem throughout Asia and

various portions of Europe, and that numberless crucified godsincarnations of the sunhave been

worshipped throughout the East, is a fact which it has been the aim of the initiated among the Christian clergy

to conceal, but one which no one who has examined the evidence with a mind free from prejudice attempts to

In Italy, on many of the earlier pictures of Christ, may be observed the words Deo Soli, which inscription

Of the various socalled Christian antiquities which cover the walls of the Vatican, we are assured by those

who have acquainted themselves with the signification of pagan symbolism that "they have no more

reference to Christianity than they have to the Emperor of China." The same may be said with reference to

Crishna, who was the equinoctial sun in Aries, appeared 2160 years after the first Buddha, who was the

equinoctial sun in Taurus. According to Plutarch they were both modern gods when compared with the

deities which gave names to the planets. Buddha, or the sun in Taurus, was worshipped in the form of a bull.

Crishna, or the sun in Aries, was adored under the figure of a ram with a man's head. The true significance of

these figures was the fructifying sun or reproductive energy as manifested in animal life, and this meaning to

those who worshipped them was identical with the carved figures on the caves of India, the Lares and Penates

of the Romans, and the stone pillars or crosses in the marketplaces and at the intersection of roads in

Eusebius says that at Elephanta they adored a Deity in the figure of a man in a sitting posture painted blue,

having the head of a ram with the horns of a goat encircling a disk. The Deity thus described is said to be of

This figure, which was one of the representations of the sungod Crishna, was worshipped both in India and

in Egypt. In various of the manifestations of this Deity he appears in the act of killing a serpent. He was the

dead man on a cross and also the sun, which although continually dying is constantly being revived again.

Of the avatar of Crishna known as Ballaji or BaalJah little is positively known. Indeed there seems to be

some impenetrable mystery surrounding this figure, which makes it impossible for scholars to absolutely

prove that which by means of the evidence at hand amounts almost to a certainty.

A print by Moore of this god represents him in the shape of a Romish crucifix, but although there is a nail

hole in his foot he is not transfixed to a wooden cross. Instead of a crown of thorns a Parthian coronet

encircles his head. As all the avatars of Crishna are represented with coronets, this fact has caused several

writers to observe that the effigies of Ballaji have furnished the copies for the thorncrowned Jesus. Through

the ignorance of the early Christians who in the second century adopted the religion of Crishna, the true

significance of this coronet was not understood, hence the thorns upon the head of Christ. In referring to the

effigy of a crucified savior found in Ireland the author of The Round Towers says that it was not intended for

our Savior for the reason that it wore the Iranian regal crown, instead of the Jewish crown of thorns.[171]

Regarding this effigy, Higgins remarks that the crucified body without the cross reminds one that "some of

Moore, who has produced several prints of Ballaji, says he is unable to account for the pierced foot of a

crucified figure in India. He endeavors to prove, however, that this crucifix cannot be Hindoo "because there

are duplicates of it from the same model." As the mould is made of clay, he contends that only one cast may

be made from it. This argument falls to the ground, however, so soon as it is found that duplicates, or copies

of these brass idols which may not be distinguished from the originals, are seen in the museum at the India

The admission of Moore that "great influence was brought to bear upon him to induce him not to publish the

prints of Ballaji for fear of giving offense," serves as a hint in determining the cause for the lack of

It is believed that, were the development of truth upon this subject rather than its concealment the object of

Christian missionaries, the temples of Ballaji would have furnished more important information to the

Christian world than would those of any other of the Hindoo gods; but while numberless pilgrimages have

been made to Juggernaut and other shrines devoid of interest to the student, we have heard little concerning

the shrines of this deity, although at the time Moore wrote, Terputty was in the possession of the English who

On the Brechin Tower in Ireland are two arches one within the other in relief. At the top of the arch is a

crucifix, and about midway from top to bottom on either side are two figures which, according to Romanist

Christians, represent the Virgin Mary and St. John. At the bottom of the outer arch are two couchant beasts,

the one an elephant and the other a bull. The figure on the cross has a Parthian coronet. The appearance of a

crucifix on the towers of Britain and Ireland has in the past led many writers to ascribe to these singular

structures a Christian origin. To the critical observer, however, the first question which presents itself is

whence comes the elephantan animal not found within these countries?and again why should these

beasts have been placed here as Christian emblems? The facts in the case as revealed by unprejudiced

investigators are, that the towers in Ireland are not Christian monuments, and that the crucifix found on them

The fact that the figure of Crishna as a crucified god was found in the ruins of a temple at Thebes in Egypt, is

sufficient to prove his antiquity; still, as we have seen, he represents the godidea at a much later date than

did Buddha. Regarding the evidence furnished by the Rev. Mr. Maurice of the ten avatars of the Indian

"The only fact worthy of notice here is, that Buddha was universally allowed to be the first of the

incarnations; that Crishna was of later date; that, at the era of the birth of Christ, eight of them had appeared

on the earth, and that the other two were expected to follow before the end of the Caliyug, or of the present

With reference to the fact that the Hindoo God originally represented Wisdom or the Logos, the same writer

"Then here is DIVINE WISDOM incarnate, of whom the Bull of the Zodiac was the emblem. HERE he is the

Protagonos, or first begotten, the God or Goddess Mhtis of the Greeks, being, perhaps, both male and female.

Buddha, or the wise, if the word were not merely the name of a doctrine, seems to have been an appellation

taken by several persons, or one person incarnate at several periods, and from this circumstance much

Concerning the religion of an ancient race the following facts have been ascertained, namely:

The first of the Buddhas or Incarnations of the Deity was Minerva, and her mother, who was the sun, was the

mother of all the Buddhas. She was Mhtis, Mubt or Mai, "the universal genius of Nature, who discriminated

In the earliest ages she comprehended not only matter but the moving force in the universe. She was the

Deity which by a very ancient race was represented by the mother ideaPerceptive Wisdom. She was the

sun and the first emanation from the sun. She was the Divine Word, the Logos, the Holy Ghost which in the

time of Christ was again by various sects recognized as female. The allegory of the Greeks concerning Jupiter

taking Mhtis (Wisdom) to wife and from this union with her producing Minerva from his head, is seen to be

closely connected with the doctrine of Buddha (Wisdom) or of the Rasit of Genesis. According to Faber, the

import of the Greek word Nous and of the Sanscrit Menu is precisely the same: each denotes mind or

intelligence, and to the latter of them the Latin Mens is nearly allied. "Mens, Menu, and perhaps our English

mind are fundamentally one and the same word." All these terms in an earlier age meant Buddha, Wisdom, or

Later, with the worship of the sun in Aries, appeared a crucified savior. During the earlier ages of

Crishnaism, the ideas typified by a dying savior were still those pertaining to the processes of Nature. Matter

was still believed to be indestructible and seeming death but a preparation for renewed life, or for birth into

another state of existence Subsequently this dying sungod, which disappeared in winter only to return again

to reanimate Nature, became a veritable mana man on a cross who must be sacrificed to Mahadeva in

order that humanity might be saved. Here we have the origin of the doctrine of a Vicarious Atonement. Later,

under the system called Christianity, woman, who had previously become identified with the evil principle,

became the Tempter. She was the cause of sin in the world and wholly responsible for the evil results arising

from desire. Indeed, according to the doctrines annunciated by the Christian Church, had woman, who was an

after thought of the Almighty, never been created, man would have lived forever in a state of purity and bliss,

free alike from the toils, pains, and temptations of life, and from the crafts and assaults of the Devil.

Through the overstimulation of the animal instincts man had become wholly unable to overcome the evil in

his constitution, hence the adoption of the doctrine of Original Sin and the necessity for an Atonement, or for

a crucified savior, who would take upon himself the sins of poor, weak human nature. By simply believing on

this crucified redeemer, man would be saved, not from sin itself, but from the penalty of sin. To bolster up the

belief in original sin and the necessity for an atonement, the allegory of the fruit tree and the serpent in

The more the religion of the past is studied the more plainly will the fact appear, that not only have the

ceremonies, symbols, festivals, and seasons adopted by Christianity been copied from India and Persia, but

also that all the leading doctrines of the socalled Christian Church originated in those countries. The belief

in a Trinity, the Incarnation of the Deity, a Crucified Savior, Original Sin and a Vicarious Atonement, the last

three having been elaborated after the ancient natural truths underlying sun worship had been forgotten, are

The doctrine of a Trinity is supposed to have been received directly from the Platonists, who had learned it

from the Persians; while that of a Crucified Savior, and also that of the seed of the woman bruising the

Concerning Original Sin, which is the foundation of the doctrine of the "Atonement," it is plain that it was not

known to the earlier followers of Christ, but that it was subsequently copied from the corrupted religion of the

The symbolical meaning of the serpent and the Tree of Life was doubtless understood by the earliest

adherents to the Christian faith; it is not surprising, therefore, that by them there is no mention of the doctrine

of Original Sin. Their theory to account for evil in the world was the same as that of an ancient and almost

forgotten race. The belief that the soul of man is a spark from, or a part of the universal soul, that at the death

of the body it returns to its source, and in process of time appears as the animating principle in other bodies,

was believed by Pythagoras, Aspasia, Socrates, and Plato and, in fact, for thousands of years it was

entertained by the best and wisest of the human race. It was a part of the early Christian doctrine and is still

believed by the followers of Buddha and by the Theosophists of Europe and America.

Doubtless the doctrines of Reincarnation and Karma were set forth by those very ancient philosophers who

were the near descendants of the inventors of the Neros and the Metonic cyclethose who believed in the

indestructibility of matter, and that spirit proceeds from or is evolved through it. It was an effort on their part

to solve the problem of the existence of evil, and was far more satisfactory to the reasoning mind than was the

literal translation of the story of the woman, the forbidden apple, and the talking serpent in Genesis.

Original sin of which woman is said to be the cause, and the necessity for a spiritual (male) savior to deliver

man from the wretchedness which she had produced, are doctrines which took their rise in the grossest

ignorance, and in an entire misconception of the natural truths which had previously been set forth by the

figure of a dying sungod. Original Sin and a Vicarious Atonementdoctrines by means of which man has

attempted to evade moral responsibility and the legitimate results of evildoinghave, by weakening his

moral sense, and by shifting the responsibility of his deeds upon another, resulted in greatly lowering the

Science teaches that the penalty for sin is inherent in it, and that virtue is its own reward; the socalled

Christian doctrines assert that although a man's sins be as scarlet, they may, simply through a certain belief,

become white as wool. It has been claimed that a belief in original sin caused all the human sacrifices in

That the system which has borne the name of Christianity is an outgrowth of Sun, Serpent, and Phallic faiths

is so plainly proven by the facts brought out by later research as no longer to be a matter of reasonable doubt

to those who have given any considerable degree of attention to this subject. The more exalted ideas which

from the time of Zoroaster to that of Jesus had been struggling for existence, and which through various

means had been gradually gaining a foothold, were, by the influx of Crishnaism, soon choked out, and

mythical Christianity, which was but a gathering in of the grosser forms of the prevailing Hindoo faith,

During the nineteen hundred years that have elapsed since the inauguration of this system, little has been

understood concerning the real philosophy of Christa philosophy which is seen to be simply a recognition

The fact is observed in these later times that the altruistic principles involved in these teachings contain the

highest wisdomthat they form the basis of a true social science, and that a high stage of civilization will

never be reached until these principles are recognized as the foundation of human conduct Unselfishness,

purity of life, and the brotherhood of man will never be realized so long as man shifts the responsibility of his

Quite recently the fact has been proved that the progressive principle originated in the female constitution;

that in sympathy, a character which has its root in maternal affection, lies the key to human progress.

Conscience and the moral sense are outgrowths of sympathy; therefore, that which distinguishes man from

the lower orders of life originated in and has been developed through the female organization.

When these plain scientific truths, which are so simple as scarcely to need demonstration, become

popularized, doubtless our present godidea will undergo a process of reconstruction, and the later

development will probably involve conceptions more in keeping with science and human reason. Surely a

scientific age will tolerate no religious conception whose principles are not founded on truth. The worship of

a male god as the sole creator and sustainer of the universe is as unphilosophical as it is unreasonable and

As in many ways at the present time, mankind seems inclined to retrace its steps, and as upon its onward

march humanity is beginning to manifest a willingness to return to truer and more primitive methods of

thought and action, it is not impossible that in the not distant future, Perceptive Wisdom and the altruistic

principles, together with the power to give life, may again be divinely enthroned in the place so long usurped