The God-Idea of the Ancients Part 18

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 a.s.sured 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)

104) Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. i., p. 219.

The rites and ceremonies observed in the wors.h.i.+p of Baal-Peor 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 than were those of the a.s.syrians or the Hindoos.

These impure faiths arose at a time when man as the sole creator of offspring became G.o.d, when the natural instincts of woman were subdued, and when pa.s.sion as the highest expression of the divine force came to be wors.h.i.+pped as the most important attribute of humanity.

The extent to which these faiths have influenced later religious belief and observances is scarcely realized by those who have not given special attention to this subject.

It has been stated that in the time of Solon, law-giver 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 self-abandonment; 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 G.o.d of fornication were of the grossest nature, and at which the Baccha.n.a.lian orgies were only equalled by those practiced in the religious temples of Babylon.

It is impossible longer to conceal the fact that pa.s.sion, 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, const.i.tuted the G.o.d-idea 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 wors.h.i.+p had not disappeared, under Christianity, as late and even later than the sixteenth century.

Such has been the result of the ascendancy gained by the grosser elements in human nature: the highest idea of the Infinite pa.s.sion symbolized by the organs of generation, while the princ.i.p.al rites connected with its wors.h.i.+p are scenes of debauchery and self-abas.e.m.e.nt.

At the present time it is by no means difficult to trace the growth of the G.o.d-idea. First, as we have seen, a system of pure Nature-wors.h.i.+p appeared under the symbol of a Mother and child. In process of time this particular form of wors.h.i.+p 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 Nature-wors.h.i.+p 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 wors.h.i.+pped as G.o.d, to the days of Solon the Grecian law-giver, 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 G.o.ddess of war her patronage was as nought compared with that of the courtesan Venus, at whose shrine "every man in Greece wors.h.i.+pped."

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 a.s.sume in the wors.h.i.+p of pa.s.sion 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 prost.i.tute 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 G.o.d of pa.s.sion. A similar custom prevailed in Cyprus.

105) See Evolution of Woman, p. 228.

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 wors.h.i.+p, and, if females, educated in the profession of their mothers.(106)

106) Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. i.

That prost.i.tution was a religious observance, which was practiced in Eastern temples, cannot in the face of accessible facts be doubted.

Regarding this subject, Inman says:

"To us it is inconceivable, that the indulgence of pa.s.sion could be a.s.sociated 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 to-day as it was in the Greece and Italy of cla.s.sic times; and we find that 'holy woman'

is a t.i.tle given to those who devote their bodies to be used for hire, which goes to the service of the temple."

The extent to which ages of corruption have vitiated the purer instincts of human nature, and the degree to which centuries of sensuality and superst.i.tion 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 G.o.d-idea. None of the attributes of women, not even that holy instinct--maternal love, can by many of them be contemplated apart from the ideas of grossness which have attended the s.e.x-functions during the ages since women first became enslaved. As an ill.u.s.tration of this we have the following from an eminent philologist of recent times, a writer whose able efforts in unravelling religious myths bear testimony to his mental strength and literary ability.

"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)

107) Inman, Ancient Faiths, vol. i., p. 59.

After thus describing the early Chaldean Deity, who, although a pure and spotless virgin, was nevertheless wors.h.i.+pped as a mother, or as the embodiment of the altruistic principles developed in mankind, this writer goes on to say: "The wors.h.i.+p 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 pa.s.sion has been the recognized G.o.d have gathered about it.

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 Nature-wors.h.i.+p, 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 superst.i.tion. In other words, it was the subjection of the natural female instincts and the deification of brute pa.s.sion during the later ages of human history which have degraded religion and corrupted human nature.

Although at the present time it is quite impossible for scholars to veil the fact that the G.o.d-idea was originally wors.h.i.+pped 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 const.i.tution were wors.h.i.+pped as divine. So corrupt has human nature become through over-stimulation 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 s.e.xual attributes and physical functions of females--namely, their capacity to bring forth, coupled with the power to gratify the animal instincts of males, functions which women share with the lower orders of life.

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 taught as a religious doctrine which to doubt involves the rankest heresy.

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 Supreme Creator was wors.h.i.+pped as female.

One has only to study the Greek character to antic.i.p.ate 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 one-sided 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 G.o.ds which they wors.h.i.+pped, and which they had borrowed from other countries, than is known of them at the present time.

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 pa.s.sion, prejudice, and superst.i.tion have been in the ascendancy over reason and judgment, we may truly say: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth have been set on edge."

CHAPTER XII. AN ATTEMPT TO PURIFY THE SENSUALIZED FAITHS.

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 wors.h.i.+p of images, beasts, or symbols, while they sought to establish the wors.h.i.+p of the only true creative force, or G.o.d--Holy Fire."

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 wors.h.i.+p of images could scarcely be acceptable to a G.o.d 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 wors.h.i.+p 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 wors.h.i.+p in the East there still reside "holy women--G.o.d's women," who, like those in Babylon, described by various writers, are devoted to the "G.o.d of fire."

In a comparison made between the religion of Persia and the doctrines said to have been taught by Moses, Inman remarks:

"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 offspring."(108)

108) Ancient Faiths, vol. ii., p. 64.

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 wors.h.i.+p of "One G.o.d" who was the Regenerator or Destroyer, a Deity which, as we have seen, originally comprehended the powers of Nature--namely 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 wors.h.i.+ppers 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 wors.h.i.+ppers 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 female attributes had not become wholly subject to male power.

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 persons."

In striking contrast to the mild and humane character of Cyrus stands that of the licentious and revengeful David, a "man after G.o.d's own heart."

"As for the heads of those that compa.s.s 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 again."(109)

"Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."(110)

109) Psalms cxl.

110) Ibid., cx.x.xvii.