The Eliminator Part 15

One fact is established beyond all cavil, and that is that the New Testament is the product of an order of men well versed in astronomy, and who by the aid of that science produced, on lines laid down by the ancient Egyptian hierophants, a new version of the old myths and allegories. We have as a fact the actual names and dates plagiarized from an Egypto-Arabic source, which undoubtedly betrays its origin, and the interpretation of this, and numberless instances besides, in strict accordance with the astrological formula and system, with its Graeco-Egyptian zodiacal pictorial representations.

Oxley says: "_Apropos_ to this doctrine, I have in my possession two statuettes-one dating from the twenty-second dynasty, 900 B. c.-of Isis, crowned and nursing the babe Horus. On my return from Egypt through Italy, I obtained a statuette of Mary, crowned and nursing the babe Jesus, which is an exact copy of the Virgin and Child in the church of St. Augustine in Rome. _The figures are identical_."

Face to face with such a fact, who dare a.s.sert that the Egyptian Isis and Horus are a myth, and that the Christian Mary and Jesus are really historical? Some simple-minded ones beguile themselves with the delusion that these Egyptian and other heathen beliefs are prophecies of the real Jesus who in the fulness of time came down from heaven and was born of a virgin. But against this we have not only the actual claim of several Egyptian kings to be the "son of G.o.d according to promise or prophecy"

(sixteen hundred years before Christ was born), but we have the fact of a whole nation _for thousands of years_ resting their hopes of eternal salvation upon a belief that "the son of G.o.d, Osiris, came down from heaven, took upon himself the mortal form, was slain by wicked hands, rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven, where he became the great judge of all mankind."

What adds to the difficulty is that _no dates_ are given in the writings of the early Christian authors, and, what is more, many of their names are evidently _noms de plume_; for instance, the arch-heretic _Arius_ and the great Nicene Council seem to resolve themselves simply into a controversy relating to the sun-G.o.d under the form of _Aries_ (the Ram or Lamb); and as to dates in connection therewith, they are simply Masonic points with an astronomical reference and symbolical meaning. In plain terms, nearly the whole of both the Old and New Testaments is an allegorical record of astral, solar, and planetary phenomena, with personages subst.i.tuted for zodiacal signs; and with this key in hand the Hermetic student can unravel the allegories which are presented in such a form as to read like literal history.

Our English name for the zodiacal sign referred to is the Ram, but in Latin it is _Aries_, and _Nisan_ (which is the month of March). The "sacred year" of all systems commences with this month and sign; hence the _Arian_ heresy and the Council of _Nice_; which resolves itself into a descriptive personified account of a conjunction of planets about the definite fixing of the _first point of Aries_ as a basic point in time in history, and which point is used in astronomical science to this day.

But the appearance of the Cross, with the letters I H S on the planispherical chart, gives the key to the solution of the mystery. The Church interprets these letters to stand for _Jesus Salvator Hominum_-i.

e. Jesus the Saviour of Men. The initiates read them as _numerals_, which stand for 608; which is the exact period of a solar-lunar cycle-i.

e. the number of years which pa.s.s before the sun and moon occupy the same relative positions in the heavens.

According to the astral theology of ancient religious systems, this cycle of 608 (or 600) years represented a Messianic period, at the completion of which a new messiah or avatar or savior was born upon the earth.

The one prior to Jesus was _Cyrus_, who gave orders for the building of the temple at Jerusalem just six hundred years before Christ. Manatheo speaks of a "Cyrus," son of Cambyses, first king of the twenty-second dynasty, but no Cyrus appears in the Egyptian annals. The biblical Cyrus is only another form of Osiris, and is in reality a sun-savior. The Arabs used the same system, for their Mohammed comes in just about six hundred years after Christ, and their era commences with their commencement of a new year, which dates from 622 A. D. Even our latest era-_Anno Domini_-did not come into general use until about one thousand years after the event it is said to commemorate had pa.s.sed. This epoch was introduced into Italy in the sixth century by Dionysius the Little, a Roman abbot, and it began to be used in Gaul in the eighth, but was not generally followed until the ninth century. From extant charters in England it is known to have been used a little before the ninth century, but it did not come into common use for a century later. Time was, for centuries after the alleged birth of Christ, calculated from January 1 in the 4th of the 194th Olympiad, the 753d A. u. c. of the foundation of Rome, and 4714th of the Julian period.

The astro-theological foundation of the New Testament being demonstrated, the actual date of the compilation of the matter becomes of secondary importance, inasmuch as celestial phenomena are as true today as they were when first used to symbolize the intellectual and spiritual nature of man. As all nations that have any pretensions to be considered civilized have had the same phenomena for their religious systems, and as the path of the solar orb has been utilized for the history of its various personifications, the question arises, Which out of the many messiahs or sun-saviors are true, and which are false? As has been already noted, the leading incidents in the memoirs of Osiris, Buddha, Chrishna, and Jesus are identical in conception, but more or less varied in expression according to the idiosyncrasies of the writers. The logical and true method is to regard one and all as allegorical symbols, clothed not merely with an eclectic intellectuality, but vested with a moral power that can affect the heart and conscience of men for good.

The parentage of Christianism is in Egyptian Osirianism, while that of what we understand as Judaism is attributable to Chaldean sources, both converging to a common centre and finding a new expression through two diverse orders, yet both equally versed in Cabalistic science, modified by the eclectic influences which were active at the period of their production.

The ecclesiastical party, for reasons which are well understood, never allowed the laity to be taught other than the literal and surface meaning, while the mystic brotherhoods were forbidden by the rules of their orders to make public the real meaning of the symbols, of which only the highest degree of initiates were allowed to know.

Mr. William Oxley further thinks that if it were possible to raise the veil that obscures the historic past it would be found that the divine-human ideal figure of Jesus Christ is the combination of the Western _Hesus_ and Eastern _Christus_. This accounts for the t.i.tle, while the incidents in the life of the historic Apollonius of Tyana would supply material for the personal narrative. In fact, the nervous desire of ecclesiastical reviewers to suppress or explain away the too patent similarity between his and the Gospel life of Jesus is a half admission of there being a substratum of truth in the allegation.

Oxley says: "Against the claim for a very high antiquity in regard to even the Old Testament, we are confronted with the fact that all the Hebrew words used in its compilation have their roots in the Arabic language (or Aramaic, which closely borders upon the Arabic); and what is not less strange is, that many of the so-called apocryphal writings of the Christians are still extant in the same language. As Christian productions this fact is inexplicable, but considered as _Chrestonian_ tales or legends, it is easy to understand, seeing that they relate to the humanized deity of that geographical district."

He concludes that Christianity, considered as a living spiritual truth, is the gradual development of a system of thought, and is the resultant of the highest and best conception of the human mind as an ideal of purity and every virtue that it is capable of expressing; and, further, that this ideal was presented to different nations long before the Christian one was known, and that it was the literalizing or personification of this _written ideal_ that afforded conditions for the superstructure of ecclesiastical systems, dependent on a separate caste of men set apart for the purpose of its support and propaganda. As these men were able to grasp and wield power over the intellect, and even persons, of their votaries, so in exact ratio the spiritual and intellectual ideal (which is not a monad, but universal) was lost, and the a.s.sumed historical personage is exalted at the expense of spiritual liberty and the birthright prerogative of humanity. In short, the supposed Founder of Christianity is not an historical personage, but an old ideal presented in a newer and better and higher form than its predecessors; and, further, this ideal is not dependent upon a past historical, but is held up as the standard of attainment by humanity; and as each realizes the truth within him or herself, then they will find that the real "Christ" is not and was not an historical person, but a spiritual life-giving principle within themselves.

The records of history show that a dramatic Christ has come down the stream of time from the earliest periods; from India through Egypt, China, a.s.syria, Babylon, Persia, Arabia, Asia Minor, and Palestine, until the present time-from the Buddha of the Tauric constellations to the Aries and Pisces of the modern Christ; and all his manifestations possess the essential characteristics of the one sun-G.o.d. Midway between Buddhists and the Christians appears the sublimely idealistic mythology of Greece, s.h.i.+ning all over with the glory of the solar legend. Very prominent in this system is the G.o.d-man Prometheus. The name is synonymous with _Logos_, which is used in the fourth Gospel in reference to Jesus, and signifies a demi-deity; and Prometheus means _Providence_, and is represented by the all-seeing Eye. We select him rather than other notable impersonations, for the purpose of referring to the wonderful Greek drama written by aeschylus (_Prometheus Bound_), which was acted in the theatre of Athens at least five hundred years before the Christian era. The plot was derived from material even then of great antiquity, and contains all the essential features of the modern "Pa.s.sion Play" so beautifully portrayed upon canvas in our churches and eloquently described by our ministers of the present day. No author ever displayed greater powers of poetry in supporting through this Promethean play the august character of this divine sufferer. We give a few lines from Potter's translation.:

"I will speak, Not as upbraiding them, but my own gifts Commending. 'Twas I who brought sweet hope To inhabit in their hearts; I brought The fire of heaven to animate their clay, And through the clouds of barbarous ignorance Diffused the beams of knowledge. In a word, Prometheus taught each useful art to man."

He was called upon to explain how his goodness could have brought upon him such extreme suffering, and he says:

"See what, a G.o.d, I suffer from the G.o.ds!

For mercy to mankind I am not deemed Worthy of mercy; but in this uncouth Appointment am fixed here, A spectacle dishonorable to Jove!

On the throne of heaven scarce was he seated, On the powers of heaven He showered his various benefits, thereby Confirming his sovereignty; but for unhappy mortals Had no regard, but all the present race Willed to extirpate and to form anew.

None save myself opposed his will. I dared, And, boldly pleading, saved them from destruction- Saved them from sinking to the realm of night; For which oflence I bow beneath these pains, Dreadful to suffer, piteous to behold!"

None remained to be witnesses of his dying agony but the chorus of ever-faithful women, who bewailed and lamented him. The earth trembled and the whole frame of nature was convulsed, and the curtain fell on the sublimest scene ever presented to human sight-a _dying G.o.d!_ The preternatural darkness was exhibited on the stage, and the most agonizing and heartfelt sorrow manifested by the weeping audience. It was the "Pa.s.sion Play."

Let it be kept in mind that all of the incidents of the Gospels have been acted in the theatres or ill.u.s.trated in the sacred rites and religious ceremonies of pagan peoples from time immemorial. Are not the Gospels a plagiarized and adapted _drama?_

We close this chapter with a further quotation from Mr. Johnson:

"I am not a.s.serting that all this was pure fiction-that no one stood where men imagined they saw a G.o.d on earth. But I do recognize the extreme difficulty of satisfying a free and sincere mind as to how much or how little did 'happen,' and the extreme hardihood of a.s.serting at this day that there was anything in the person or life of Jesus to vest in him the claim to be the enduring definitive centre of religious thought and a.s.sociation under any name or t.i.tle whatsoever. Neither the character of the records nor the manner of their origination authorizes that postulate of perfection through which alone such claim could vest in any being. The veneration of ages for his name deserves respect as the satisfaction of a natural demand during a certain stage of human progress. But it does not prove him an exception to the law that the wors.h.i.+p of personages must give way to the wors.h.i.+p of principles-the centrality of an individual to the centrality of ideas-the divinity or 'lords.h.i.+p' of a man to the deity of the infinitely wise and good. It ill.u.s.trates that law. Christism in due time pa.s.ses, like polytheism, and a larger faith succeeds. Thus the theory refutes itself.

"The Christian idealization demands that all imperfections in the New-Testament Jesus shall be ascribed to the misapprehensions of the disciples and the ignorance of the biographers. It is confident that Jesus must have been greater than the record shows. But we do not know that he was even so great as the record shows. We are confidently told that such an ideal as can be there discerned presupposes its actual-that no man could have drawn such a character except from life. 'Such a grand figure is not hewn out of air.' But it is quite possible to carry this kind of divination too far.

"If a man could be that, why could not a man or an age conceive that it ought to be? All that can fairly be a.s.sumed is, that there must have been an impressive life (or lives) behind all the construction; and this is not denied. But the necessities of the religious life in that time produced Jesus. Why could they not magnify their own product and improve upon it ideally as they developed into new and larger demands? If we are to insist that the idealizing faculty cannot go beyond actuality, no meaning will be left to the word ideal, and no such faculty will remain.

This is the irony to which the old belief comes....

"A pure and simple wors.h.i.+p of the Infinite and Eternal is the necessity of philosophy; it is the goal of science; it is the true ground of trust and prayer and love, of philosophic Theism and spiritual Pantheism alike; it is the parent of prophets, of mystics, of reformers, of all true builders of man's social unity and religious communion."

No reasonable man can doubt that the Christ of Paul and the Gospels is largely, if not altogether, ideal; and in the succeeding chapter we proceed to give more specifically our reasons for thinking so.

CHAPTER XII. JESUS AND OTHER CHRISTS

_"Come now, let us reason together."-Isa. 1:18._

_"Let me reason the case with thee."-Jer. 12: 1._

THAT there should be held so many different views concerning the character and work of Christ is itself a very suggestive circ.u.mstance.

It implies that the evidence in the case is not direct and clear, and that there are grounds for doubt and uncertainty. That honest, well-meaning men should be left in doubt regarding the most wonderful event in history, involving their salvation, is still more astounding.

One would suppose that if so wonderful an event as the incarnation of G.o.d had taken place it would have been made so manifest that the most skeptical could not doubt it. There seems to have been great neglect or indifference regarding the matter. Contemporaneous history takes no notice of Jesus, and the biographies that we have of him cannot be shown to have had an existence until nearly two centuries after he is said to have made his advent; and Paul, who had written concerning him before these Gospels were compiled, was so ambiguous that the most learned theologians differ as to whether he regarded the Christ as an actual person or merely an impersonation. The early records of the life of Christ, if any existed, seem to have been destroyed or lost, and there are no original doc.u.ments nor authenticated copies of such records.

There can be no true faith, no genuine intelligent belief, without evidence; and where is the evidence? To believe without some reason for believing is blind credulity. The most intelligent Christian writers do not even pretend to have any doc.u.ments relating to the existence of Jesus that by any strain of language can be called evidence.

Neander, an eminent Christian writer, author of a _Life of Christ_, acknowledges in so many words his painful consciousness of the utter lack of historic evidence in regard to him, his acts, and wonderful performances. He demands, as an imperative necessity, to be permitted at the beginning to take the most important matters for granted. He asks: "What, then, is the special presupposition with which we must approach the life of Christ? It is, in a word, the belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of G.o.d in a sense that cannot be predicated of any human being, the truth that Christ is G.o.d-man being presupposed." Neander, by making this confession, surrenders the whole question. There is no direct evidence of the existence of such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, and all fair-minded, intelligent Christian writers admit it. What is called evidence is found only in the short sketches of the New Testament, which have been shown to be no evidence at all.

We might rest the case here. It is admitted that it cannot be _proved_ that Jesus existed, and when we undertake to show to the contrary we undertake to prove a negative-a thing which is never required in a court of justice. Yet we do undertake it, and reverently invite the reader to impartially consider the points in our case.

There is in the biography of Jesus an utter want of _originality_. It is a copy of other lives. It is a significant fact that all the princ.i.p.al claims made for Jesus of Nazareth had been made for others long before him. We can only mention a few.

The birth of Buddha, like the birth of Jesus, was announced in the heavens by an asterism on the horizon which is singularly called the "Messianic star." When Chrishna was born his star was pointed out by Nared, a great astronomer.

The birth of every East Indian _avatar_ was announced by celestial signs. Even the Jews have similar traditions regarding Moses and Abraham. Canon Farrar admits in his _Life of Christ_ that the Greeks and Romans always held this idea of the birth and death of great men being presaged by mysterious stars, and Tacitus affirms this regarding the dethronement of Nero. All candid theologians admit that this doctrine of the announcement of the birth of extraordinary persons by the appearance of stars was a universal belief among ancient peoples.

Luke is the only evangelist who records the fact that the birth of Jesus was attended with the songs of angels from the heavenly world, and there is good reason for believing that this professed compiler drew his information from the apocryphal Gospel called "Protevangelion." But there is nothing novel in this idea, for the same thing had long before been recorded of Chrishna at his birth, that "the quarters of the horizon were irradiate with joy,"... that "the spirits and nymphs of heaven danced and sang, and at midnight the clouds emitted low pleasing sounds and poured down rain of flowers." It is only necessary here to state that similar demonstrations are alleged to have attended the advent of other Hindoo saviors, and also of Confucius, of Osiris, of Apollonius, of Apollo, of Hercules, and of Esculapius.

It is certainly very singular that all the circ.u.mstances connected with the birth of Jesus are recorded of several other persons long before.

Chrishna was cradled among shepherds, to whom his birth was first announced, and the prophet Nared visited his father and mother and declared the child to be of divine descent. An aged hermit named Asita, like Simeon of our Gospels, visited the infant Buddha and predicted wonderful things of his life and mission, and wept because he was too old to see the day. Not only was the infant Chrishna adored by the shepherds and magi, but was presented with "gifts of sandal-wood and perfume," very like "frankincense and myrrh;" and he was also presented with gifts of "costly jewels and precious substances," very like "gold."

Substantially the same things are recorded of Mithras, the Persian savior, of Socrates, and many of the Grecian and Roman demiG.o.ds.

It must suffice it to say that these incidents are too numerous and circ.u.mstantial to be mere coincidences. King Kansa was jealous of the infant Chrishna, and ordered a general slaughter of the infants under a certain age and in a# certain district, just as Herod is falsely charged with having done when Jesus was born; and as Joseph and Mary were warned in a dream to flee into Egypt to save the young child's life, so the foster-father of Chrishna was warned of danger by a "heavenly voice,"

and he was taken to Mathura; and Canon Farrar, speaking of the sojourn of Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus in Egypt, writes: "Ancient legends say that they remained two years absent from Palestine, and lived at Matarieh, a few miles northeast of Cairo." This seems to be the same legend, but the one regarding Chrishna is sculptured upon the rocks and temples of India, while contemporary history makes no mention of the slaughter of the innocents by Herod; and further embarra.s.sment arises from the fact that Herod was not king at that time, as the taxing under Quirinus did not take place under the reign of Herod, he having been dead for several years.

It would be easy to present more than a score of instances in which persons who came to be regarded as demiG.o.ds and heroes had been obliged to flee from the wrath of the reigning monarch at their birth, as is recorded of the infant Jesus. In all centuries of olden times the reigning monarch has generally been jealous of some mysterious child, whose parents or caretakers were obliged to hide him away in some safe resort.

The long fast and temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, found in the Gospel "according" to Matthew, have numerous parallels in the experience of other Messiahs, even in minor details. The fast generally, as in the case of Moses, the Ninevites, and Jesus, lasted forty days, but that of Buddha continued forty-seven days, and in his weakness and attenuation of body he was tempted by _Mara_, the prince of evil, who promised him all the kingdoms of the earth, "universal empire," on certain conditions; but, like Jesus, he said, "Avaunt! get thee away from me!"

After the temptation and triumph both Buddha and Jesus were ministered unto by visiting angels! Zoroaster, the founder of the Persian religion, had a similar experience with the devil, of which there are fully detailed reports.

Both Chrishna and Jesus were precocious boys, disputing with doctors and astonis.h.i.+ng their teachers with their learning, which had not been acquired in the usual way; and both wandered away from their parents and became objects of anxiety and search to anxious mothers. Both preached a celebrated sermon, wrought numerous and very similar miracles, were hated and opposed by the priests of their day, and both suffered premature violent deaths at about the same age, and then arose from the dead.