CHAPTER XXXVI.

PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY.

OUR assertion that that which is called Christianity is nothing more than the religion of Paganism, we consider to have been fully verified. We have found among the heathen, centuries before the time of Christ Jesus, the belief in an incarnate God born of a virgin; his previous existence in heaven; the celestial signs at the time of his birth; the rejoicing in heaven; the adoration by the magi and shepherds; the offerings of precious substances to the divine child; the slaughter of the innocents; the presentation at the temple; the temptation by the devil; the performing of miracles; the crucifixion by enemies; and the death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. We have also found the belief that this incarnate God was from all eternity; that he was the Creator of the world, and that he is to be Judge of the dead at the last day. We have also seen the practice of Baptism, and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper or Eucharist, added to the belief in a Triune God, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Let us now compare the Christian creed with ancient Pagan belief.

Christian Creed.

1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth:

2. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, Our Lord.

3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,

4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.

1 "Before the separation of the Aryan race, before the existence of Sanscrit, Greek, or Latin, before the gods of the Veda had been worshiped, ONE SUPREME DEITY had been found, had been named, and had been invoked by the ancestors of our race." (Prof. Max Müller: The Science of Religion, p. 67.)

Ancient Pagan Belief.

1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth:1 2. And in his only Son, our Lord.*

3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.3

4. Suffered under (whom it might be), was crucified, dead, and buried."

2 See Chap. XII. and Chap. XX., for Onlybegotten Sons.

* See Chap. XII. and Chap. XXXII., where we have shown that many other virgin-born gods were conceived by the Holy Ghost, and that the name MARY is the same as Maia, Maya, Myrra, &c. See Chap. XX., for Crucified Saviours.

5. He descended into Hell; 6. The third day he rose again from the dead;

7. He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

8. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

9. I believe in the Holy Ghost; 10. The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints;

11. The forgiveness of sins;

12. The resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.

5. He descended into Hell ;1 6. The third day he rose again from the dead;2

7. He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty ;3

8. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.4

9. I believe in the Holy Ghost ;5 10. The Holy Catholic Church," the Communion of Saints;

11. The forgiveness of sins;

12. The resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.8

The above is the so-called "Apostles' Creed," as it now stands in the book of common prayer of the United Church of England and Ireland, as by law established.

It is affirmed by Ambrose, that:

"The twelve apostles, as skilled artificers, assembled together, and made a key by their common advice, that is, the Creed, by which the darkness of the devil is disclosed, that the light of Christ may appear."

Others fable that every Apostle inserted an article, by which the Creed is divided into twelve articles.

The earliest account of its origin we have from Ruffinus, an historical compiler and traditionist of the fourth century, but not in the form in which it is known at present, it having been added to since that time. The most important addition is that which affirms that Jesus descended into hell, which has been added since A.D. 600.°

1 See Chap. XXII.

See Chaps. XXII, and XXXIX., for Resurrected Saviours.

3 See Ibid.

See Chap. XXIV., and Chap. XXV. See Chap. XII., and Chap. XXXV. That is, the holy true Church. All peoples who have had a religion believe that theirs was the Catholic faith.

There was no nation of antiquity who did not believe in "the forgiveness of sins," especially if some innocent creature redeemed them by the shedding of his blood (see Chap. IV., and Chap. XX.), and as far as confession of sins is concerned, and thereby being forgiven, this too is almost as old as humanity. Father Acosta found it even among the Mexicans, and said that "the father of lies (the Devil) counterfeited the sacrament of confession. so that he might be honored with ceremonies very like the Christians." Acosta, vol. ii. p. 360.)

(See

"No doctrine except that of a supreme

and subtly-pervading deity, is so extended, and has retained its primitive form so distinctly, as a belief in immortality, and a future state of rewards and punishments. Among the most savage races, the idea of a future existence in a place of delight is found." (Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie.)

"Go back far as we may in the history of the Indo-European race, of which the Greeks and Italians are branches, and we do not find that this race has ever thought that after this short life all was finished for man. The most ancient generations, long before there were philosophers, believed in a second existence after the present. They looked upon death not as a dissolution of our being, but simply as a change of life." (M. De Coulanges: The Ancient City, p. 15.)

For full information on this subject see Archbishop Wake's Apostolic Fathers, p. 103, Justice Bailey's Common Prayer, Taylor'e Diegesis, p. 10, and Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Creeds."

Beside what we have already seen, the ancient Pagans had many beliefs and ceremonies which are to be found among the Christians. One of these is the story of "The War in Heaven." The New Testament version is as follows:

"There was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”1

The cause of the revolt, it is said, was that Satan, who was then an angel, desired to be as great as God. The writer of Isaiah, xiv. 13, 14, is supposed to refer to it when he says:

“Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North; I will ascend before the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."

The Catholic theory of the fall of the angels is as follows:

"In the beginning, before the creation of heaven and earth, God made the angels, free intelligences, and free wills, out of his love He made them, that they might be eternally happy. And that their happiness might be complete, he gave them the perfection of a created nature, that is, he gave them freedom. But happiness is only attained by the free will agreeing in its freedom to accord with the will of God. Some of the angels by an act of free will obeyed the will of God, and in such obedience found perfect happiness. Other angels, by an act of free will, rebelled against the will of God, and in such disobedience found misery."

They were driven out of heaven, after having a combat with the obedient angels, and cast into hell. The writer of second Peter alludes to it in saying that God spared but cast them down into hell.'

not the angels that sinned,

The writer of Jude also alludes to it in saying:

"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."4

According to the Talmudists, Satan, whose proper name is Sammael, was one of the Seraphim of heaven, with six wings.

"He was not driven out of heaven until after he had led Adam and Eve into sin; then Sammael and his host were precipitated out of the place of bliss, with God's curse to weigh them down. In the struggle between Michael and Sammael, the falling Seraph caught the wings of Michael, and tried to drag him down with him, but God saved him, when Michael derived his name, -the Rescued. "

Sammael was formerly chief among the angels of God, and now he is prince among devils. His name is derived from Simme, which means, to blind and deceive. He stands on the left side of men. He goes by various names; such as "The Old Serpent," "The Unclean Spirit," "Satan," "Leviathan," and sometimes also "Asael.""

According to Hindoo mythology, there is a legion of evil spirits called Rakshasas, who are governed by a prince named Ravana. These Rakshasas are continually aiming to do injury to mankind, and are the same who fought desperate battles with Indra, and his Spirits of Light. They would have taken his paradise by storm, and subverted the whole order of the universe, if Brahma had not sent Vishnou to circumvent their plans.

In the Aitareya-brahmana (Hindoo) written, according to Prof. Monier Williams, seven or eight centuries B. C., we have the following legend:

"The gods and demons were engaged in warfare.

The evil demons, like to mighty kings,

Made these worlds castles; then they formed the earth

Into an iron citadel, the air

Into a silver fortress, and the sky

Into a fort of gold. Whereat the gods

Said to each other, 'Frame me other worlds

In opposition to these fortresses.'

Then they constructed sacrificial places,
Where they performed a triple burnt oblation.
By the first sacrifice they drove the demons
Out of their earthly fortress, by the second
Out of the air, and by the third oblation
Out of the sky. Thus were the evil spirits

Chased by the gods in triumph from the worlds."

The ancient Egyptians were familiar with the tale of the war in heaven; and the legend of the revolt against the god Ra, the Heavenly Father, and his destruction of the revolters, was discovered by M. Naville in one of the tombs at Biban-el-moluk.'

The same story is to be found among the ancient Persian legends, and is related as follows:

Ahriman, the devil, was not created evil by the eternal one, but he became evil by revolting against his will. This revolt resulted in a 'war in heaven.' In this war the Iveds (good angels) fought against the Divs (rebellious ones) headed by Ahriman, and flung the conquered into Douzahk or hell."4

An extract from the Persian Zend-avesta reads as follows:

Ahriman interrupted the order of the universe, raised an army against Ormuzd, and having maintained a fight against him during ninety days, was at length vanquished by Honover, the divine Word."

The Assyrians had an account of a war in heaven, which was like that described in the book of Enoch and the Revelation."

This legend was also to be found among the ancient Greeks, in the struggle of the Titans against Jupiter. Titan and all his rebellious host were cast out of heaven, and imprisoned in the dark abyss.'

Anong the legends of the ancient Mexicans was found this same story of the war in heaven, and the downfall of the rebellious angels.*

"The natives of the Caroline Islands (in the North Pacific Ocean), related that one of the inferior gods, named Merogrog, was driven by the other gods out of heaven."

995

We see, therefore, that this also was an almost universal legend. The belief in a future life was almost universal among nations of antiquity. The Hindoos have believed from time immemorial that man has an invisible body within the material body; that is, a soul.

Among the ancient Egyptians the same belief was to be found. All the dead, both men and women, were spoken of as "Osiriana;" by which they intended to signify "gone to Osiris."

Their belief in One Supreme Being, and the immortality of the soul, must have been very ancient; for on a monument, which dates ages before Abraham is said to have lived, is found this epitaph: "May thy soul attain to the Creator of all mankind." Sculptures and paintings in these grand receptacles of the dead, as translated by Champollion, represent the deceased ushered into the world of spirits by funeral deities, who announce, "A soul arrived in Amenti."

The Hindoo idea of a subtile invisible body within the material body, reappeared in the description of Greek poets. They represented the constitution of man as consisting of three principles: the soul, the invisible body, and the material body. The invisible body they called the ghost or shade, and considered it as the material portion of the soul. At death, the soul, clothed in this sub

1 Priestley, p. 35.

"Sec Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 411. See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 819. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 215, and Dupuis: Origin of Relig. Beliefs, p. 73.

* See Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 31. S. Baring-Gould's Legends of Patriarchs,

p. 20.

• See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 159, and Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i.