Chapter XII (6)

[705] In a recent work, called the “World’s Sixteen Crucified
Saviors” (by Mr. Kersey Graves) which attracted our
notice by its title, we were indeed startled as we were
forewarned on the title-page we should be by _historical_
evidences to be found neither in history nor tradition.
Apollonius, who is represented in it as one of these
sixteen “saviours,” is shown by the author as finally
“_crucified_ ... having risen from the dead ...
appearing to his disciples after his resurrection,
and”--like Christ again--“convincing a _Tommy_(?)
Didymus” by getting him to feel the print of the nails
on his hands and feet (see note, p. 268). To begin with,
neither Philostratus, the biographer of Apollonius, nor
history says any such thing. Though the precise time of
his death is unknown, no disciple of Apollonius ever
said that he was either crucified, or appeared to them.
So much for one “Saviour.” After that we are told that
Gautama-Buddha, whose life and death have been so
minutely described by several authorities, Barthelemy
St. Hilaire included--was also “_crucified_ by his
enemies near the foot of the Nepäl mountains” (see p.
107); while the Buddhist books, history, and scientific
research tell us, through the lips of Max Müller and a
host of Orientalists, that “Gautama-Buddha (Sâkya-muni)
died near the Ganges.... He had nearly reached the city
of Kusinâgara, when his vital strength began to fail. He
halted in a forest, and while sitting under a sâl tree
he gave up the ghost” (Max Müller: “Chips from a German
Workshop,” vol. i., p. 213). The references of Mr.
Graves to Higgins and Sir W. Jones, in some of his
hazardous speculations, prove nothing. Max Müller shows
some antiquated authorities writing elaborate books “...
in order to prove that Buddha had been in reality the
Thoth of the Egyptians; that he was Mercury, or Wodan,
or Zoroaster, or Pythagoras.... Even Sir W. Jones ...
identified Buddha first with Odin and afterwards with
Shishak.” We are in the nineteenth century, not in the
eighteenth; and though to write books on the authority
of the earliest Orientalists may in one sense be viewed
as a mark of respect for old age, it is not always safe
to try the experiment in our times. Hence this highly
instructive volume lacks one important feature which
would have made it still more interesting. The author
should have added after Prometheus the “Roman,” and
Alcides the _Egyptian god_ (p. 266) a seventeenth
“crucified Saviour” to the list, “Venus, god of the
war,” introduced to an admiring world by Mr. Artemus
Ward the “showman!”

[706] “Khandogya-upanishad,” viii., 3, 4; Max Müller: “Veda.”

[707] “Idra Rabba,” x., 117.

[708] Introd. in “Sohar,” pp. 305-312.

[709] John xiv.

[710] “Les Hauts Phénomènes de la Magie,” p. 74.

[711] Barthelemy St. Hilaire: “Le Buddha et sa Religion,”
Paris, 1860.

[712] “Journal des Débats,” Avril, 1853.

[713] “Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie.”

[714] “Timæus;” “Polit.,” 269, E.

[715] “Timæus,” 29; “Phædrus,” 182, 247; “Repub.,” ii., 379, B.

[716] “Laws,” iv., 715, E.; x., 901, C.

[717] “Repub.,” ii., 381; “Thæt.,” 176, A.

[718] “Laws,” x., 901, D.

[719] “Laws,” iv., 716, A.; “Repub.,” x., 613, A.

[720] “Phædrus,” 246, C.

[721] E. Zeller: “Plato and the Old Academy.”

[722] “Laws,” x., 905, D.

[723] Max Müller: “Buddhism,” April, 1862.

[724] Of the Abbé Huc, Max Müller thus wrote in his “Chips
from a German Workshop,” vol. i., p. 187: “The late Abbé
Huc pointed out the similarities between the Buddhist
and Roman Catholic ceremonials with such a _naïveté_,
that, to his surprise, he found his delightful ‘Travels
in Thibet’ placed on the ‘Index.’ ‘One cannot fail being
struck,’ he writes, ‘with their great resemblance with
the Catholicism. The bishop’s crosier, the mitre, the
dalmatic, the round hat that the great lamas wear in
travel ... the mass, the double choir, the psalmody, the
exorcisms, the censer with five chains to it, opening
and shutting at will, the blessings of the lamas, who
extend their right hands over the head of the faithful
ones, the rosary, the celibacy of the clergy, the
penances and retreats, the cultus of the Saints, the
fasting, the processions, the litanies, the holy water;
such are the similarities of the Buddhists with
ourselves. He might have added tonsure, relics, and the
confessional.”

[725] “Crawford’s Mission to Siam,” p. 182.

[726] Many are the marvels recorded as having taken place at
his death, or we should rather say his translation; for
he did not die as others do, but having suddenly
disappeared, while a dazzling light filled the cavern
with glory, his body was again seen upon its subsidence.
When this heavenly light gave place to the habitual
semi-darkness of the gloomy cave--then only, says
Ginsburg, “the disciples of Israel perceived that the
lamp of Israel was extinguished.” His biographers tell
us that there were voices heard from Heaven during the
preparation for his funeral and at his interment. When
the coffin was lowered down into the deep cave excavated
for it, a flame broke out from it, and a voice mighty
and majestic pronounced these words in the air: “This is
he who caused the earth to quake, and the kingdoms to
shake!”

[727] Plot: “Natural History of Staffordshire.” Published in 1666.

[728] “Die Kabbala,” 75; “Sod,” vol. ii.

[729] “Die Kabbala,” 47.

[730] He relates how Rabbi Eleazar, in the presence of Vespasian
and his officers, expelled demons from several men by
merely applying to the nose of the demoniac one of the
number of roots recommended by King Solomon! The
distinguished historian assures us that the Rabbi drew
out the devils through the nostrils of the patients in
the name of Solomon and by the power of the incantations
composed by the king-kabalist. Josephus: “Antiquities,”
VIII., ii., 5.

[731] There are _unconscious_ miracles produced sometimes,
which, like the phenomena now called “Spiritual,” are
caused through natural cosmic powers, mesmerism,
electricity, and the invisible beings who are always at
work around us, whether they be human or elementary
spirits.

[732] It dates from 1540; and in 1555 a general outcry was
raised against them in some parts of Portugal, Spain,
and other countries.

[733] Extracts from this “Arrêt” were compiled into a work in
4 vols., 12mo., which appeared at Paris, in 1762, and
was known as “Extraits des Assertions, etc.” In a work
entitled “Réponse aux Assertions,” an attempt was made
by the Jesuits to throw discredit upon the facts
collected by the Commissioners of the French Parliament
in 1762, as for the most part malicious fabrications.
“To ascertain the validity of this impeachment,” says
the author of “The Principles of the Jesuits,” “the
libraries of the two universities of the British Museum
and of Sion College have been searched for the authors
cited; and in every instance where the volume was found,
the correctness of the citation established.”

[734] “Theologiæ Moralis,” Tomus iv., Lugduni, 1663.

[735] Tom. iv., lib. xxviii., sect. 1, de Præcept I., c. 20,
n. 184.

[736] Ibid., sect. 2, de Præcept I., Probl. 113, n. 586.

[737] Richard Arsdekin, “Theologia Tripartita,” Coloniæ,
1744, Tom. ii., Pars. ii., Tr. 5, c. 1, § 2, n. 4.

[738] “Theologia Moralis nunc pluribus partibus aucta, à R.
P. Claudio Lacroix, Societatis Jesu.” Coloniæ, 1757
(Ed. Mus. Brit.).

[739] Tom. ii., lib. iii., Pars. 1, Fr. 1, c. 1, dub. 2,
resol. viii. What a pity that the counsel for the
defense had not bethought them to cite this orthodox
legalization of “cheating by palmistry or otherwise,” at
the recent religio-scientific prosecution of the medium
Slade, in London.

[740] Niccolini: “History of the Jesuits.”

[741] “Royal Masonic Cyclopædia,” p. 369.

[742] Imago: “Primi Sæculi Societatis Jesu,” lib. 1., c. 3.,
p. 64.

[743] Anthony Escobar: “Universæ Theologiæ Moralis receptiore,
absque lite sententiæ,” etc., Tomus i., Lugduni, 1652
(Ed. Bibl. Acad. Cant.). “Idem sentio, e breve illud
tempus ad unius horæ spatium traho. Religiosus itaque
habitum demittens assignato hoc temporis interstitio,
non incurrit excommunicationem, _etiamsi dimittat non
solùm ex causâ, turpi, scilicet fornicandi, aut clàm
aliquid abripiendi, set etiam ut incognitus ineat
lupanar_.” Probl. 44, n. 213.

[744] Pars. 11, Tra. 2, c. 31.

[745] See “The Principles of the Jesuits, Developed in a
Collection of Extracts from their own Authors.” London,
1839.

[746] From the Pastoral of the Archbishop of Cambrai.

[747] See “Jerusalem Talmud, Synhedrin,” c. 7, etc.

[748] “Franck,” pp. 55, 56.

[749] Charles Antony Casnedi: “Crisis Theologica,”
Ulyssipone, 1711. Tome i., Disp. 6, Sect. 2, § 1, n. 59.

[750] Ibid.

[751] Ibid., § 2, n. 78.

[752] Ibid., Sect. 5, § 1, n. 165.

[753] “Thesis propugnata in regio Soc. Jes. Collegio
celeberrimæ Academiæ Cadomensis, die Veneris, 30 Jan.,
1693.” Cadomi, 1693.

[754] Michelet and Quinet of the College of France: “The
Jesuits.”

[755] Champollion: “Hermes Trismegistus,” xxvii.

[756] “De Cultu Adorationis Libri Tres.,” Lib. iii., Disp. i.,
c. 2.

[757] Ibid.

[758] “Egypt’s Place in Universal History,” vol. v., p. 94.

[759] Ibid., vol. v., p. 129.

[760] “And God created ... every _nephesh_ (life) that
moveth” (Gen. i. 21), meaning animals; and (Genesis ii.
7) it is said: “And man became a _nephesh_” (living
soul); which shows that the word _nephesh_ was
indifferently applied to _immortal_ man and to _mortal_
beast. “And surely your blood of your _nepheshim_
(lives) will I require; at the hand of every beast will
I require it, and at the hand of man” (Gen. ix. 5).
“Escape for _nepheshe_” (escape for thy _life_ is
translated) (Gen. xix. 17). “Let us not kill him,” reads
the English version (Gen. xxxvii. 21). “Let us not kill
his _nephesh_,” is the Hebrew text. “_Nephesh_ for
_nephesh_,” says Leviticus (xvii. 8). “He that killeth
any man shall surely be put to death.” “He that smiteth
the _nephesh_ of a man” (Levit. xxiv. 17); and from
verse 18 and following it reads: “And he that killeth a
beast (nephesh) shall make it good.... Beast for beast,”
whereas the original text has it “nephesh for nephesh.”

1 Kings i. 12; ii. 23; iii. 11; xix. 2, 3, all have
_nephesh_ for life and soul. “Then shall thy _nepheshah_
for (his) _nepheshu_,” explains the prophet in 1 Kings
xx. 39.

Truly, unless we read the “Old Testament” kabalistically
and comprehend the hidden meaning thereof, it is very
little we can learn from it as regards the soul’s
immortality. The common people among Hebrews had not the
slighest idea of soul and spirit, and made no difference
between _life_, _blood_, and _soul_, calling the latter
the “breath of life.” And King James’s translators have
made such a jumble of it that _no one but a kabalist can
restore the Bible to its original form_.

[761] In “Præcepta Decaloga” (Edit. of Sion Library), Tom. i.,
lib. iv., c. 2, n. 7, 8.

[762] Opinion of John de Dicastille, Sect. xv., “De Justitia
et Jure,” etc., cens. pp. 319, 320.

[763] “Cursûs Theologici,” Tomus v., Duaci, 1642, Disp. 36,
Sect. 5, n. 118.

[764] Name of the highest Egyptian hierophants.

[765] “Crata Nepoa, or the Mysteries of the Ancient Egyptian
Priests.”

[766] See Matthew xvi. 18, where it is mistranslated “the
gates of Hell.”

[767] Humberto Malhandrini: “Ritual of Initiations,” p. 105.
Venice, 1657.

[768] Pages 43, 44, note f. Niccolini of Rome, author of
“The History of the Pontificate of Pius IX.;” “The Life
of Father Gavazzi,” etc.

[769] And begged in the name of _Him_ who had nowhere to lay
his head!

[770] In “Egypt’s Place in Universal History,” Bunsen
gives the cycle of 21,000 years, which he adopts to
facilitate the chronological calculations for the
reconstruction of the universal history of mankind. He
shows that this cycle “for the nutation of the
ecliptic,” arrived at its apex in the year 1240 of our
era. He says:

“The cycle divides itself into two halves of 10,500 (or
twice 5,250) years each.

“The beginning of the first half:

The highest point will be 19,760 B.C.
The lowest 9,260
Consequently the middle of the descending
line (beginning of second quarter) will
be 14,510
The middle of the ascending line
(beginning of fourth quarter) 4,010

“The new cycle, which began in 1240 of our era, will come
to the end of its first quarter in 4010 A.D.”

The Baron explains that “in round numbers, the most
favorable epochs for our hemisphere since the great
catastrophe in Middle Asia (Deluge 10,000 years B.C.)
are: the 4,000 years before, and the 4,000 years after
Christ; and the beginning of the first epoch, _of which
alone we can judge_, as it alone is complete before us,
coincides exactly with the beginnings of national
history, or (what is identical) with the beginning of
_our consciousness_ of continuous existence” (“Egypt’s
Place in Universal History,” Key, p. 102).

“Our consciousness” must mean, we suppose, the
consciousness _of scientists_, who accept nothing _on
faith_, but much on unverified hypotheses. We do not say
this with reference to the above-quoted author, earnest
scholar and noble champion that he is, of freedom in the
Christian Church, but generally. Baron Bunsen has well
found for himself that a man cannot remain an honest
scientist and please the clerical party. Even the little
concessions he made in favor of the antiquity of
mankind, brought on him, in 1859, the most insolent
denunciations, such as “We lose all faith in the
author’s judgment ... he has yet to learn the very first
principles of historical criticisms ... extravagant and
_unscientific_ exaggeration,” and so on--the pious
vituperator closing his learned denunciations by
assuring the public that Baron Bunsen “_cannot even
construct a Greek sentence_” (“Quarterly Review,” 1859;
see also “Egypt’s Place in Universal History,” chap. on
Egyptological Works and English Reviews). But we do
regret that Baron Bunsen had no better opportunity to
examine the “Kabala” and the Brahmanical books of the
Zodiacs.

[771] “The Funeral Ritual of the Deeds of Horus.”

[772] Bunsen: “Egypt’s Place in Universal History,” vol. v.,
p. 133.

[773] Lepsius: “Abth.,” iii.; Bl., 276; Bunsen, 134.

[774] In the eighty-first chapter of the “Ritual” the soul is
called _the germ of lights_ and in the seventy-ninth the
Demiurgos, or one of the creators.

[775] “Ritual,” vi., 44; Champollion: “Manifestations to the
Light;” Lepsius: “Book of the Dead;” Bunsen: “Egypt’s
Place in Universal History.”

[776] We cannot help quoting a remark by Baron Bunsen in
relation to the “Word” being identical with the
“Ineffable Name” of the Masons and the kabalists. While
explaining the “Ritual,” some of the details of which
“resemble rather the _enchantments of a magician than
solemn rites_, although a hidden and mystical meaning
must have been attached to them” (the honest admission
of this much, at least, is worth something), the author
observes: “The mystery of names, the knowledge of which
was a sovereign virtue, and which, at a later period,
degenerated into the _rank heresy_ (?) of the Gnostics
and the magic of enchanters, appears to have _existed
not only in Egypt but elsewhere_. Traces of it are found
in the ‘Cabala’ ... it prevailed in the Greek and
Asiatic mythology” (“Egypt’s Place, etc.,” p. 147).

We then see the representatives of Science agreeing upon
this one point, at least. The initiates of all countries
had the same “mystery name.” And now it remains with the
scholars to prove that every adept, hierophant,
magician, or enchanter (Moses and Aaron included) as
well as every kabalist, from the institution of the
Mysteries down to the present age, has been either a
knave or a fool, for believing in the efficacy of this
name.

[777] See Chap. I., pp. 42, 43, note, of this volume.

[778] See “The Principles of the Jesuits, Developed in a
Collection of Extracts from their own Authors,” London:
J. G. and F. Rivington, St. Paul’s Churchyard, and
Waterloo Place, Pall Mall; H. Wix, 41 New Bridge Street,
Blackfriars; J. Leslie, Queen Street, etc., 1839.
Section xvii., “High Treason and Regicide,” containing
thirty-four extracts from the same number of authorities
(of the Society of Jesus) upon the question, among
others the opinion thereof of the famous _Robert
Bellarmine_. So Emmanuel Sa says: “The rebellion of an
ecclesiastic against a king, _is not a crime of high
treason, because he is not subject to the king_”
(“Confessarium Aphorismi Verbo Clericus,” Ed. Coloniæ,
1615, Ed. Coll. Sion). “_The people_,” says John
Bridgewater, “_are not only permitted, but they are
required and their duty demands_, that at the mandate of
the Vicar of Christ, _who is the sovereign pastor over
all nations of the earth_, the faith which they had
previously made with such princes should not be kept”
(“Concertatio Ecclesiæ Catholicæ in Angliâ adversus
Calvino Papistas,” Resp. fol. 348).

In “De Rege et Regis Institutione, Libri Tres,” 1640
(Edit. Mus. Brit.), John Mariana goes even farther: “If
the circumstances will permit,” he says, “it will be
lawful to destroy with the sword the prince who is
declared a public enemy.... _I shall never consider that
man to have done wrong, who, favouring the public
wishes, should attempt to kill him_,” and “_to put them
to death is not only lawful, but a laudble and glorious
action_.” Est tamen salutaris cogitatio, ut sit
principibus persuasum si rempublicam oppresserint, si
vitiis et fæditate intolerandi erunt, _eâ conditione
vivere, ut non jure tantum, sed cum laude et gloriâ
perimi possint_” (Lib. i., c. 6, p. 61).

But the most delicate piece of Christian teaching is
found in the precept of this Jesuit when he argues upon
the best and surest way of killing kings and statesmen.
“In my own opinion,” he says, “deleterious drugs should
not be given to an enemy, neither should a deadly poison
be mixed with his food or in his cup.... Yet _it will
indeed be lawful to use this method_ in the case in
question (that _he who should kill the tyrant would be
highly esteemed, both in favor and in praise_,” for “_it
is a glorious thing to exterminate this pestilent and
mischievous race from the community of men_), not to
constrain the person who is to be killed to take of
himself the poison which, inwardly received, would
deprive him of life, _but to cause it to be outwardly
applied by another_ without his intervention; as, when
there is so much strength in the poison, that if spread
upon a seat or on the clothes it would be sufficiently
powerful to cause death” (Ibid., lib. i., c. f., p. 67).
“It was thus that Squire attempted the life of Queen
Elizabeth, at the instigation of the Jesuit Walpole.”--
Pasquier: “Catéchisme des Jésuites” (1677, p. 350,
etc.), and “Rapin” (fol., Lond., 1733, vol. ii., book
xvii., p. 148).

[779] Puffendorf: “Droit de la Nat.,” book iv., ch. 1.

[780] “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of
old time, thou shalt not forswear thyself.... But I say
unto you, swear not at all,” etc. “But let your
communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is
more than these cometh of evil” (Matthew v. 33, 34,
37).

[781] Barbeyrac, in his notes on Puffendorf, shows that the
Peruvians used no oath, but a simple averment before
the Inca, and were never found perjuring themselves.

[782] We beg the reader to remember that we do not mean by
Christianity the _teachings of Christ_, but those of
his alleged servants--the clergy.

[783] Dr. Anderson’s “Defence,” quoted by John Yarker in his
“Notes on the Scientific and Religious Mysteries of
Antiquity.”

[784] Epiphanius included, we must think, after that, in
violation of his oath, he had sent over seventy persons
into exile, who belonged to the secret society he
betrayed.

[785] United States Anti-Masonic Convention: “Obligation of
Masonic Oaths,” speech delivered by Mr. Hopkins, of
New York.

[786] John Yarker, Junr.: “Notes on the Scientific and Religious
Mysteries of Antiquity; the Gnosis and Secret Schools of
the Middle Ages; Modern Rosicrucianism; and the various
Rites and Degrees of Free and Accepted Masonry.” London,
1872.

[787] Ibid., p. 151.

[788] John Yarker: “Notes, etc.,” p. 150.

[789] “Proceedings of the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand
Inspectors-General of the Thirty-third and Last Degree,
etc., etc. Held at the city of New York, August 15,
1876,” pp. 54, 55.

[790] “Histoire des sectes religieuses,” vol. ii., pp. 392-428.

[791] “Notitia codicis græci evangelium Johannis variatum
continentis,” Havaniæ, 1828.

[792] This is the reason why unto this day the fanatical and
kabalistic members of the Nazarenes of Basra (Persia),
have a tradition of the glory, wealth, and power of
their “Brothers,” agents, or _messengers_ as they term
them in Malta and Europe. There are some few remaining
yet, they say, who will sooner or later restore the
doctrine of their Prophet Iohanan (St. John), the son of
Lord Jordan, and eliminate from the hearts of humanity
every other false teaching.

[793] The two great pagodas of Madura and Benares, are built
in the form of a cross, each wing being equal in extent
(See Mauri: “Indian Antiquities,” vol. iii., pp.
360-376).

[794] Findel: “History of Freemasonry,” Appendix.

[795] “A Sketch of the Knight Templars and the Knights of
St. John of Jerusalem,” by Richard Woof, F.S.A.,
Commander of the Order of Masonic Knight Templars.

[796] Findel: “History of Freemasonry,” Appendix.

[797] “General History of Freemasonry,” p. 218.

[798] See Gaffarel’s version; Eliphas Levi’s “La Science des
Esprits;” Mackenzie’s “Royal Masonic Cyclopædia;”
“Sepher Toldos Jeshu;” and other kabalistical and
Rabbinical works. The story given is this. A virgin
named Mariam, betrothed to a young man of the name of
Iohanan, was outraged by another man named Ben Panther
or Joseph Panther, says “Sepher Toldos Jeshu.” “Her
betrothed, learning of her misfortune, left her, at the
same time forgiving her. The child born was Jesus, named
Joshua. Adopted by his uncle Rabbi Jehosuah, he was
initiated into the secret doctrine by Rabbi Elhanan, a
kabalist, and then by the Egyptian priests, who
consecrated him High Pontiff of the Universal Secret
Doctrine, on account of his great mystic qualities. Upon
his return into Judea his learning and powers excited
the jealousy of the Rabbis, and they publicly reproached
him with his origin and insulted his mother. Hence the
words attributed to Jesus at Cana: ‘Woman, what have I
to do with thee?’ (See John ii. 4.) His disciples having
rebuked him with his unkindness to his mother, Jesus
repented, and having learned from them the particulars
of the sad story, he declared that “My mother has not
sinned, she has not lost her innocence; she is immaculate
and yet she is a mother.... As for myself I have no
father, in this world, I am the Son of God and of
humanity!” Sublime words of confidence and trust in the
unseen Power, but how fatal to the millions upon
millions of men murdered because of these very words
being so thoroughly misunderstood!

[799] We speak of the American Chapter of Rose Croix.

[800] Pythagoras.

[801] The first _Grand Chapter_ was instituted at Philadelphia,
in 1797.

[802] See Yarker’s “Notes on the Mysteries of Antiquity,”
p. 153

[803] See 2 Kings, xxiii. 7, Hebrew text, and English, the
former especially. In the degree of Kadosh, a lecture is
given upon the descent of Masonry through Moses,
Solomon, the Essenes, and the Templars. Christian K.
K.’s may get some light as to the kind of “Temple” their
ancestors would, in such a genealogical descent, have
been attached to, by consulting verse 13 of the same
chapter as above quoted.

[804] See Eliphas Levi’s “Dogme et Rituel,” vol. i.

[805] Yeva is _Heva_, the feminine counterpart of Jehovah-Binah.

[806] We find a very suggestive point in connection with
this appellation of Jehovah, “Son of ancient Kings,” in
the Jaïna sect of Hindustan, known as the Sauryas. They
admit that Brahma is a Devatâ, but deny his creative
power, and call him the “Son of a King.” See “Asiatic
Researches,” vol. ix., p. 279.

[807] As, for instance, Shaddai, Elohim, Sabaoth, etc.

[808] Cahen’s “Hebrew Bible,” iii., p. 117.

[809] The Greek monks have this “miracle” performed for the
“faithful” every year on Easter night. Thousands of
pilgrims are there waiting with their tapers to light
them at this sacred fire, which at the precise hour and
when needed, descends from the chapel-vault and hovers
about the sepulchre in tongues of fire until every one
of the thousand pilgrims has lighted his wax taper at
it.

[810] The _Rishi_ are identical with _Manu_. The ten Pragâpati,
sons of Viradj, called Maritchi, Atri, Angira, Pôlastya,
Poulaha, Kratu, Pratcheta, Vasishta, Brighu, and Narada,
are euhemerized _Powers_, the Hindu Sephiroth. These
emanate the seven Rishi, or Manus, the chief of whom
issued himself from the “uncreated.” He is the Adam of
earth, and signifies man. His “sons,” the following six
Manus, represent each a new race of men, and in the
total they are _humanity_ passing gradually through the
primitive seven stages of evolution.

[811] In days of old, when the Brahmans studied more than they
do now the hidden sense of their philosophy, they
explained that each of these six distinct races which
preceded ours had disappeared. But now they pretend that
a specimen was preserved which was not destroyed with
the rest, but reached the present _seventh_ stage. Thus
they, the Brahmans are the specimens of the heavenly
Manu, and issued from the mouth of Brahma; while the
Sudra was created from his foot.

[812] To avoid discussion we adopt the palæographical conclusions
arrived at by Martin Haug and some other cautious
scholars. Personally we credit the statements of the
Brahmans and those of Halhed, the translator of the
“Sastras.”

[813] The god Heptaktis.

[814] The sanctuary of the initiation.

[815] “Comparative Mythology.”

[816] While having no intention to enter at present upon a
discussion as to the nomadic races of the “Rhematic
period,” we reserve the right to question the full
propriety of terming that portion of the primitive
people from whose traditions the “Vedas” sprang into
existence, Aryans. Some scientists find the existence of
these Aryans not only unproved by science, but the
traditions of Hindustan protesting against such an
assumption.

[817] Without the esoteric explanation, the “Old Testament”
becomes an absurd jumble of meaningless tales--nay,
worse than that, it must rank high with _immoral_ books.
It is curious that Professor Max Müller, such a profound
scholar in Comparative Mythology, should be found saying
of the pragâpatis and Hindu gods that they are masks
_without actors_; and of Abraham and other mythical
patriarchs that they were real living men; of Abraham
especially, we are told (see “Semitic Monotheism”) that
he “stands before us as a figure second only to one in
the whole history of the world.”

[818] The italics are our own. “The Vedas,” lecture by Max
Müller, p. 75.

[819] “Chips,” vol. i., p. 8.

[820] We believe that we have elsewhere given the contrary
opinion, on the subject of “Atharva-Veda,” of Prof.
Whitney, of Yale College.

[821] See Baron Bunsen’s “Egypt,” vol. v.

[822] “Chips,” vol. i.; “The Vedas.”

[823] Max Müller: Lecture on “The Vedas.”

[824] Julian: “In Matrem,” p. 173; Julian: “Oratio,” v., 172.

[825] Lyd.: “De Mensibus,” iv., 38-74; “Movers,” p. 550;
Dunlap: “Saba,” p. 3.

[826] “Westminster Review:” Septenary Institutions; “Stone
Him to Death.”

[827] “Di Verbo Mirifico.”

[828] Idra Suta: “Sohar,” book iii., p. 292 b. The Supreme
consulting with the Architect of the world--his
Logos--about creation.

[829] Idra Suta: “Sohar,” iii., 135 b. If the chapters of
Genesis and the other Mosaic books, as well as the
subjects, are muddled up, the fault is the compiler’s--
not that of oral tradition. Hilkiah and Josiah had to
commune with Huldah, the prophetess, hence resort to
_magic_ to understand the word of the “Lord God of
Israel,” most conveniently found by Hilkiah (2 Kings,
xxiii.); and that it has passed still later through more
than one revision and remodelling is but too well proved
by its frequent incongruities, repetitions, and
contradictions.

[830] This assimilation of the deluge to an earthquake on the
Assyrian tablets would go to prove that the antediluvian
nations were well acquainted with other geological
cataclysms besides the deluge, which is represented in
the Bible as the _first_ calamity which befel humanity,
and a punishment.

[831] George Smith notes in the tablets, first the creation
of the moon, and then of the sun: “Its beauty and
perfection are extolled, and the regularity of its
orbit, which led to its being considered the type of a
judge and the regulator of the world.” Did this story of
the deluge relate simply to a cosmogonical
cataclysm--even were it universal--why should the
goddess Ishtara or Astoreth (the moon) speak of the
_creation of the sun_ after the deluge? The waters might
have reached as high as the mountain of _Nizir_
(Chaldean version), or Jebel-Djudi (the deluge-mountains
of the Arabian legends), or yet Ararat (of the biblical
narrative), and even Himalaya of the Hindu tradition,
and yet not reach the sun--even the Bible itself stopped
short of such a miracle. It is evident that the deluge
of the people who first recorded it had another meaning,
less problematical and far more philosophical than that
of a _universal_ deluge, of which there are no
geological traces whatever.

[832] The “dead letter that killeth,” is magnificently
illustrated in the case of the Jesuit de Carrière,
quoted in the “Bible dans l’Inde.” The following
dissertation represents the spirit of the whole Catholic
world: “So that the creation of the world,” writes this
faithful son of Loyola, explaining the biblical
chronology of Moses, “and all that is recorded in
Genesis, might have become known to Moses through
_recitals personally made to him by his fathers_.
Perhaps, even, the memories yet existed among the
Israelites, and from those recollections he may have
recorded the dates of births and deaths of the
patriarchs, the numbering of their children, and the
names of the different countries in which each became
established under the guidance _of the holy spirit,
which we must always regard as the chief author of the
sacred books_”!!!

[833] See chapter xv. and last of Part I.

[834] “Description, etc., of the People of India,” by the
Abbé J. A. Dubois, missionary in Mysore, vol. i., p. 186.

[835] “Fétichisme, Polythéisme, Monothéisme,” pp. 170, 171.

[836] Against the latter assumption derived solely from the
accounts of the Bible we have every historical fact.
1st. There are no proofs of these twelve tribes having
ever existed; that of Levi was a priestly caste and all
the others imaginary. 2d. Herodotus, the most accurate
of historians, who was in Assyria when Ezra flourished,
never mentions the Israelites at all? Herodotus was born
in 484 B.C.

[837] Dr. Kennicot himself, and Bruns, under his direction,
about 1780, collated 692 manuscripts of the Hebrew
“Bible.” Of all these, only _two_ were credited to the
tenth century, and three to a period as early as the
eleventh and twelfth. The others ranged between the
thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In his “Introduzione alla Sacra Scrittura,” pp. 34-47,
De Rossi, of Parma, mentions 1,418 MSS. collated, and
374 editions. The oldest manuscript “Codex,” he
asserts--that of Vienna--dates A.D. 1019; the next,
Reuchlin’s, of Carlsruhe, 1038. “There is,” he declares,
“nothing in the manuscripts of the Hebrew ‘Old
Testament’ extant of an earlier date than the eleventh
century after Christ.”

[838] “India in Greece,” Preface, ix.

[839] “Chips,” vol. i.

[840] “Egypt’s Place in Universal History,” vol. v., p. 77.

[841] Ibid., p. 78.

[842] “Chips;” “Aitareya Brahmanam.”

[843] Dr. M. Haug, Superintendent of the Sanscrit studies in
the Poona College, Bombay.

[844] Pococke belongs to that class of Orientalists who
believe that Buddhism preceded Brahmanism, and was the
religion of the earliest Vedas, Gautama having been but
the restorer of it in its purest form, which after him
degenerated again into dogmatism.

[845] “India in Greece,” p. 200.

[846] The Asiatic origin of the first dwellers in the Nilotic
Valley is clearly demonstrated by concurrent and
independent testimony. Cuvier and Blumenbach affirm that
all the skulls of mummies which they had the opportunity
of examining, presented the Caucasian type. A recent
American physiologist (Dr. Morton) has also argued for
the same conclusion (“Crania Ægyptiaca.” Philadelphia,
1844).

[847] The late Rajah of Travancore was succeeded by the elder
son of his sister now reigning, the Maharajah _Rama
Vurmah_. The next heirs are the sons of his deceased
sister. In case the female line is interrupted by death,
the royal family is obliged to adopt the daughter of
some other Rajah, and unless daughters are born to this
Rana another girl is adopted, and so on.

[848] There are some Orientalists who believe that this
custom was introduced only after the early Christian
settlements in Æthiopia; but as under the Romans the
population of this country was nearly all changed, the
element becoming wholly Arabic, we may, without doubting
the statement, believe that it was the predominating
Arab influence which had altered the earliest mode of
writing. Their present method is even more analogous to
the Devanāgarï, and other more ancient Indian Alphabets,
which read from left to right; and their letters show no
resemblance to the Phœnician characters. Moreover, all
the ancient authorities corroborate our assertion still
more. Philostratus makes the Brahmin Iarchus say (V. A.,
iii., 6) that the Æthiopians were originally _an Indian
race_, compelled to emigrate from the mother-land for
sacrilege and regicide (see Pococke’s “India,” etc.,
ii., p. 206). An Egyptian is made to remark, that he had
heard from his father, that the Indians were the wisest
of men, and that the Æthiopians, a colony of the
Indians, preserved the wisdom and usages of their
fathers, and acknowledged their ancient origin. Julius
Africanus (in Eusebius and Syncellus), makes the same
statement. And Eusebius writes: “The Æthiopians,
emigrating from the river Indus, settled in the vicinity
of Egypt” (Lemp., Barker’s edition, “Meroë”).

[849] They might have been also, as Pococke thinks, simply the
tribes of the “Oxus,” a name derived from the “Ookshas,”
those people whose wealth lay in the “Ox,” for he shows
_Ookshan_ to be a crude form of _Ooksha_, an ox (in
Sanscrit _ox_ is as in English). He believes that it was
they, “the lords of the Oxus,” who gave their name to
the sea around which they ruled in many a country, the
_Euxine_ or Ooksh-ine. _Pali_ means a shepherd, and
_s’than_ is a land. “The warlike tribes of the Oxus
penetrated into Egypt, then swept onward to Palestine
(PALI-STAN), the land of the Palis or shepherds, and
there effected more permanent settlements” (“India in
Greece”). Yet, if even so, it would only the more
confirm our opinion that the Jews are a hybrid race, for
the “Bible” shows them freely intermarrying, not alone
with the Canaanites, but with every other nation or race
they come in contact with.

[850] Prof. A. Wilder: “Notes.”

[851] Moses reigned over the people of Israel in the
wilderness for over _forty_ years.

[852] The name of the wife of Moses was Zipporah (Exodus ii.).

[853] About 1040, the Jewish doctors removed their schools
from Babylonia to Spain, and of the four great rabbis
that flourished during the next four centuries, their
works all show different readings, and abound with
mistakes in the manuscripts. The “Masorah” made things
still worse. Many things that then existed in the
manuscripts are there no longer, and their works teem
with interpolations as well as with _lacunæ_. The oldest
Hebrew manuscript belongs to this period. Such is the
divine revelation we are to credit.

[854] No chronology was accepted by the rabbis as authoritative
till the twelfth century. The 40 and 1,000 are not exact
numbers, but have been crammed in to answer monotheism
and the exigencies of a religion calculated to appear
different from that of the Pagans. (“Chron. Orth.,” p.
238). One finds in the “Pentateuch” only events
occurring about two years before the fabled “Exodus” and
the last year. The rest of the chronology is nowhere,
and can be followed only through kabalistic
computations, with a key to them in the hand.

[855] The Gnostics, called Collyridians, had transferred
from Astoreth their worship to Mary, also Queen of
Heaven. They were persecuted and put to death by the
orthodox Christians as heretics. But if these Gnostics
had established her worship by offering her sacrifices
of cakes, cracknels, or fine wafers, it was because they
imagined her to have been born of an immaculate virgin,
as Christ is alleged to have been born of his mother.
And now, the Pope’s _infallibility_ having been
recognized and accepted, its first practical
manifestation is the revival of the Collyridian belief
as an article of faith (See “Apocryphal New Testament;”
Hone: “The Gospel of Mary attributed to Matthew”).

[856] Hargrave Jennings: “Rosicrucians.”

[857] “Progress of Religious Ideas.”

[858] Lilith was Adam’s _first_ wife “before he _married_
Eve,” of whom “he begat nothing but devils;” which
strikes us as a very novel, if pious, way of explaining
a very philosophical allegory: Burton’s “Anatomy of
Melancholy.”

[859] It is in commemoration of the Ark of the Deluge that
the Phœnicians, those bold explorers of the “deep,”
carried, fixed on the prow of their ships, the image of
the goddess Astartè, who is Elissa, Venus Erycina of
Sicily, and Dido, whose name is the feminine of David.

[860] Dr. Lundy: “Monumental Christianity.”

[861] Lucian, iv. 276.

[862] 1 Kings xviii. All this is allegorical, and, what is
more, purely magical. For Elijah is bent upon an
incantation.

[863] The Talmud books say that Noah was himself the _dove_
(spirit), thus identifying him still more with the
Chaldean Nouah. Baal is represented with the wings of a
dove, and the Samaritans worshipped on Mount Gerizim the
image of a dove. “Talmud, Tract. Chalin.,” fol. 6, col. 1.

[864] Numbers x. 29, 31.

[865] The Bible contradicts itself as well as the Chaldean
account, for in chapter vii. of Genesis it shows
“every one of them” perishing in the deluge.

[866] Numbers xiii.

[867] We do not see why the clergy--especially the Catholic--
should object to our statement that the patriarchs are
all signs of the zodiac, and the old gods of the
“heathen” as well. There was a time, and that less than
two centuries ago, when they themselves exhibited the
most fervent desire to relapse into sun and star
worship. This pious and curious attempt was denounced
but a few months since by Camille Flammarion, the French
astronomer. He shows two Augsburgian Jesuits, Schiller
and Bayer, who felt quite anxious to change the names of
the whole Sabean host of the starry heaven, and worship
them again under Christian names! Having anathematized
the idolatrous sun-worshippers for over fifteen
centuries, the Church now seriously proposed to continue
heliolatry--_to the letter_ this time--as their idea was
to substitute for Pagan myths biblical and (in their
ideas) real personages. They would have called the sun,
Christ; the moon, Virgin Mary; Saturn, Adam; Jupiter,
Moses (!); Mars, Joshua; Venus, John the Baptist; and
Mercury, Elias. And very proper substitutes too, showing
the great familiarity of the Catholic Church with
ancient Pagan and kabalistic learning, and its
readiness, perhaps, to at last confess the source whence
came their own myths. For is not king Messiah the sun,
the Demiurge of the heliolaters, under various names? Is
he not the Egyptian Osiris and the Grecian Apollo? And
what more appropriate name than Virgin Mary for the
Pagan Diana-Astarté, “the Queen of Heaven,” against
which Jeremiah exhausted a whole vocabulary of
imprecations? Such an adoption would have been
historically as well as religiously correct. Two large
plates were prepared, says Flammarion, in a recent
number of “La Nature,” and represented the heavens with
Christian constellations instead of Pagan. Apostles,
popes, saints, martyrs, and personages of the Old and
New Testament completed this Christian Sabeanism. “The
disciples of Loyola used every exertion to make this
plan succeed.” It is curious to find in India among the
Mussulmans the name of Terah, Abraham’s father, Azar or
Azarh, and Azur, which also means fire, and is, at the
same time, the name of the Hindu third solar month (from
June to July), during which the sun is in _Gemini_, and
the full moon near _Sagittarius_.

[868] Cicero: “De Nat. Deo.,” i., 13.

[869] “Herodotus,” ii., 145.

[870] “Monumental Christianity,” p. 3.

[871] Who but the authors of the “Pentateuch” could have invented
a Supreme God or his angel so thoroughly human as to
require a smear of blood upon the door-post to prevent
his killing one person for another! For gross
materialism this exceeds any theistical conception that
we have noticed in Pagan literature.

[872] Denon: “Egypt,” ii., pl. 40, No. 8, p. 54.

[873] Pages 13 and 402.

[874] In Volney’s “Ruins of Empires” p. 360, it is remarked
that as _Aries_ was in its fifteenth degree 1447 B.C.,
it follows that the first degree of “Libra” could not
have coincided with the Vernal equinox more lately than
15,194 years B.C., to which, if you add 1790 years since
Christ, it appears that 16,984 years have elapsed since
the origin of the _Zodiac_.

[875] See cuts in Inman’s “Ancient Faiths.”

[876] Cicero: “De Nat. Deorum,” i., 10.

[877] Virgil: “Æneid,” vi., 724 ff.

[878] The term “coats of skin,” is the more suggestive when
we learn that the Hebrew word “skin” used in the
original text, means _human_ skin. The text says: “And
_Java Aleim_ made for Adam and his wife כתנות עור CHITONUT
OUR. The first Hebrew word is the same as the Greek
χιτων--chiton--coat. Parkhurst defines it as _the skin
of men_ or animals ער עור and ערה, OUR, OR, or ORA.
The same word is used at Exodus xxxiv. 30, 35, when the
_skin_ of Moses “shone” (A. Wilder).

[879] Here, again, the “Masorah,” by converting one name
into another, has helped to falsify the little that was
left original in the primitive Scriptures.

De Rossi, of Parma, says of the Massoretes, in his
“Compendis,” vol. iv., p. 7: “It is known with what
carefulness Esdras, the most excellent critic they have
had, had _reformed_ [the text] and _corrected_ it, and
restored it to its primary splendor. Of the many
revisions undertaken after him, none are more celebrated
than that of the Massoretes, who came after the sixth
century ... and all the most zealous adorers and
defenders of the “Masorah,” Christians and Jews ...
ingenuously accord and confess that it, such as it
exists, is _deficient_, _imperfect_, _interpolated_,
_full of errors_, and _a most unsafe guide_.” The square
letter was not invented till after the third century.

[880] Scorpio is the astrological sign of the organs of
reproduction.

[881] The patriarchs are all convertible in their numbers as
well as interchangeable. According to what they relate,
they become ten, five, seven, twelve, and even fourteen.
The whole system is so complicated that it is an utter
impossibility in a work like this to do more than hint
at certain matters.

[882] See vol. I. of the present work, p. 32. Alone, the Hindu
calculation by the Zodiac, can give a key to the Hebrew
chronologies and the ages of the patriarchs. If we bear
in mind that, according to the former astronomical and
chronological calculations, out of the fourteen
manwantara (or divine ages), each of which composed of
_twelve_ thousand years of the devas, multiplied by
seventy-one, forms _one period_ of creation--not quite
_seven_ are yet passed, the Hebrew calculation will
become more clear. To help, as much as possible, those
who will be sure to get a good deal bewildered in this
calculation, we will remind the reader that the Zodiac
is divided into 360 degrees, and every sign into thirty
degrees; that in the Samaritan _Bible the age of Enoch
is fixed at 360 years_; that in “Manu,” the divisions of
time are given thus: “The day and the night are composed
of thirty _Mouhourta_. A mouhourta contains thirty
_kalâs_. A month of the mortals is of thirty days, but
it is but _one_ day of the pitris.... A year of the
mortals is one day of the Devas.”

[883] See Rawlinson’s “Diagrams.”

[884] In the Brahmanical Zodiac the signs are all presided
over by and dedicated to one of the twelve great gods.
So, 1. Mecha (Aries) is dedicated to Varuna; 2. Vricha
(Taurus), to Yama; 3. Mithuna (Gemini), to Pavana; 4.
Karcataca (Cancer), to Sûrya; 5. Sinha (Leo), to Soma;
6. Kanya (Virgo), to Kartikeia; 7. Toulha (Libra), to
Kouvera; 8. Vristchica (Scorpio), to Kama; 9. Dhanous
(Sagittarius), to Ganesa; 10. Makara (Capricornus), to
Poulhar; 11. Kumbha (Aquarius), to Indra; and, 12, Minas
(Pisces), to Agni.

[885] Moor’s “Hindu Pantheon,” pp. 295-302.

[886] Apollo was also _Abelius_, or Bel.

[887] Halal is a name of Apollo. The name of Ma_halal_-Eliel
would then be the autumnal sun, of July, and this
patriarch presides over _Leo_ (July) the zodiacal sign.

[888] See description of the Sephiroth, in chapter iv.

[889] How servile was this Chaldean _copy_ may be seen in
comparing the Hindu chronology with that of the
Babylonians. According to Manu, the antediluvian
dynasties of the Pradjâpatis reigned 4,320,000 human
years, a whole divine age of the devas in short, or that
length of time which invariably occurs between life on
earth and the dissolution of that life, or pralaya. The
Chaldeans, in their turn, give precisely the same
figures, minus _one_ cipher, to wit: they make their 120
saros yield a total of 432,000 years.

[890] Eliphas Levi gives it both in the Greek and Hebrew
versions, but so condensed and arbitrarily that it is
impossible for one who knows less than himself to
understand him.

[891] See Rabbi Simeon’s dissertation on the primitive Man-Bull
and the horns, “Sohar.”

[892] “The Nuctameron of the Hebrews;” see Eliphas Levi,
vol. i.

[893] “Anszuge aus dem Sohar,” p. 13, 15.

[894] Such is the opinion of the erudite Dr. Jost and
Donaldson. “The Old Testament Books, as we now find
them, seem to have been concluded about 150 years
B.C.... The Jews now sought the other books, which had
been dispersed during the wars, and brought them into
one collection” (Ghillany: “Menschenopfer der Hebraër,”
p. 1). “Sod, the Son of the Man.” Appendix.

[895] “Jost,” vol. i., p. 51.

[896] Burder’s “Josephus,” vol. ii., pp. 331-335.

[897] “Die Kabbala,” p. 95.

[898] Gaffarel: Introduction to “Book of Enoch.”

[899] So firmly established seems to have been the reputation
of the Brahmans and Buddhists for the highest morality,
and that since time immemorial, that we find Colonel
Henry Yule, in his admirable edition of “Marco Polo,”
giving the following testimony: “The high virtues
ascribed to the Brahman and Indian merchants were,
perhaps, in part, matter of tradition ... but the eulogy
is so constant among mediæval travellers _that it must
have had a solid foundation_. In fact, it would not be
difficult to trace a chain of similar testimony from
ancient times down to our own. Arrian says no Indian was
ever accused of falsehood. Hwen T’sang ascribes to the
people of India eminent uprightness, honesty, and
disinterestedness. Friar Jordanus (_circa_ 1330) says
the people of Lesser India (Sindh and Western India)
were true in speech and eminent in justice; and we may
also refer to the high character given to the Hindus by
Abul Fazl. But _after 150 years of European trade,
indeed, we find a sad deterioration_.... Yet Pallas, in
the last century, noticing the Bamyan colony at
Astrakhan, says its members were notable for an upright
dealing that made them greatly preferable to Armenians.
And that wise and admirable public servant, the late Sir
William Sleeman, in our own time, has said that he knew
no class of men in the world more strictly honorable
than the mercantile classes of India.”[900]

The sad examples of the rapid demoralization of _savage_
American Indians, as soon as they are made to live in a
close proximity with _Christian_ officials and
missionaries, are familiar in our modern days.

[900] The “Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian,” translated
by Colonel Henry Yule, vol. ii., p. 354.

[901] At the present moment Mr. O’Grady is Editor of the
“American Builder,” of New York, and is well known for
his interesting letters, “Indian Sketches--Life in the
East,” which he contributed under the pseudonym of
_Hadji Nicka Bauker Khan_, to the Boston “Commercial
Bulletin.”

[902] Ecclesiastes xii. 13; see Tayler Lewis’s “Metrical
Translation.”

“The great conclusion here;
Fear God and His commandments keep, for this is all of man.”

[903] See Micah vi., 6-8, “Noyes’s Translation.”

[904] Matthew xvii., 37-40.

[905] “Les Hauts Phénomenes de la Magie,” p. 12, preface.

[906] “History of Magic, Witchcraft, and Animal Magnetism.”

[907] See Draper’s “Conflict between Religion and Science.”

[908] Gospel according to Mark, iii. 29: “He that shall
blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never
forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation”
(αμαρτηματος, error).

[909] Gospel according to Matthew, v. 44.

[910] “Comparative Mythology,” April, 1856.

[911] 1st Epistle of John, iii. 8.

[912] 2 Kings, xviii. 4. It is probable that the fiery serpents
or _Seraphim_ mentioned in the twenty-first chapter of
the book of Numbers were the same as the Levites, or
Ophite tribe. Compare Exodus xxxii. 26-29 with Numbers
xxi. 5-9. The names Heva, חוה, _Hivi_ or Hivite, הוי, and
Levi לוי, all signify a serpent; and it is a curious fact
that the Hivites, or serpent-tribe of Palestine, like
the Levites or Ophites of Israel, were ministers to the
temples. The Gibeonites, whom Joshua assigned to the
service of the sanctuary, were Hivites.

[913] 1 Chronicles, xxi. 1: “And Satan stood up against Israel
and moved David to number Israel.” 2d Samuel, xxiv. 1:
“And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Israel, and he moved David against them to say: ‘Go,
number Israel and Judah.’”

[914] Zechariah iii. 1, 2. A pun or play on words is noticeable;
“adversary” is associated with “Satan,” as if from שטן, to
oppose.

[915] Jude 9.

[916] In the “Assyrian Tablets,” Palestine is called “the land
of the Hittites;” and the Egyptian Papyri, declaring the
same thing, also make Seth, the “pillar-god,” their
tutelar deity.

[917] _Seth_, _Suteh_, or Sat-an, was the god of the aboriginal
nations of Syria. Plutarch makes him the same as Typhon.
Hence he was god of Goshen and Palestine, the countries
occupied by the Israelites.

[918] “Vendidad,” fargard x., 23: “I combat the dæva Æshma, the
very evil.” “The Yaçnas,” x. 18, speaks likewise of
Æshma-Dæva, or Khasm: “All other sciences depend upon
Æshma, the cunning.” “Serv.,” lvi. 12: “To smite the
wicked Auramanyas (Ahriman, the evil power), to smite
Æshma with the terrible weapon, to smite the Mazanian
dævas, to smite all devas.”

In the same fargard of the “Vendidad” the Brahman
divinities are involved in the same denunciation with
Æshma-dæva: “I combat India, I combat Sauru, I combat
the Dæva Naonhaiti.” The annotator explains them to be
the Vedic gods, Indus, Gaurea, or Siva, and the two
Aswins. There must be some mistake, however, for Siva,
at the time the “Vedas” were completed, was an
aboriginal or Æthiopian God, the Bala or Bel of Western
Asia. He was not an Aryan or Vedic deity. Perhaps Sûrya
was the divinity intended.

[919] Jacob Bryant: “Analysis of Ancient Mythology.”

[920] Plutarch: “de Iside,” xxx., xxxi.

[921] Wilkinson’s “Ancient Egyptians,” p. 434.

[922] See “Vendidad,” fargand x.

[923] Salverte: “Des Sciences Occultes,” appendix, note A.

[924] The term πειρασμος signifies a trial, or probation.

[925] 2 Samuel, ii. 5, 15; vi. 1-4. Pliny.

[926] See 1 Corinthians, v. 5; 2 Corinthians, xi. 14;
1 Timothy, i. 20.

[927] 2d Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, xii. In
Numbers xxii. 22 the angel of the Lord is described
as acting the part of a Satan to Balaam.

[928] 1 Kings, xxii. 19-23.

[929] Haug: “Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and
Religion of the Parsees.”

[930] The “Avesta” describes the serpent Dahaka, as of the
region of Bauri or Babylonia. In the Median history are
two kings of the name Deiokes or Dahaka, and Astyages or
Az-dahaka. There were children of Zohak seated on
various Eastern thrones, after Feridun. It is apparent,
therefore, that by Zohak is meant the Assyrian dynasty,
whose symbol was the _purpureum signum draconis_--the
purple sign of the Dragon. From a very remote antiquity
(Genesis xiv.) this dynasty ruled Asia, Armenia, Syria,
Arabia, Babylonia, Media, Persia, Bactria, and
Afghanistan. It was finally overthrown by Cyrus and
Darius Hystaspes, after “1,000 years’” rule. Yima and
Thrætaona, or Jemshid and Feridun, are doubtless
personifications. Zohak probably imposed the Assyrian or
Magian worship of fire upon the Persians. Darius was the
vicegerent of Ahura-Mazda.

[931] The name in the Gospels is βεελζεβουλ, or Baal of the
Dwelling. It is pretty certain that Apollo, the Delphian
God, was not Hellenian originally, but Phœnician. He was
the Paian or physician, as well as the god of oracles.
It is no great stretch of imagination to identify him
with Baal-_Zebul_, the god of Ekron, or Acheron,
doubtless changed to _Zebub_, or flies, by the Jews in
derision.

[932] “Against Apion,” i. 25. “The Egyptians took many
occasions to hate and envy us: in the first place
because our ancestors (the Hyk-sos, or shepherds) had
had the dominion over their country, and when they were
delivered from them and gone to their own country, they
lived there in prosperity.”

[933] Bunsen. The name _Seth_ with the syllable _an_ from the
Chaldean _ana_ or Heaven, makes the term _Satan_. The
punners seem now to have pounced upon it, as was their
wont, and so made it _Satan_ from the verb שטן _Sitan_,
to oppose.

[934] “Vendidad,” fargard x. The name _Vendidad_ is a
contraction of _Vidæva-data_, ordinances against the
Dævas.