Part 12 (2/2)

It has already been suggested that the gospel of Paul was at the bottom Essenean and Mithraic; and in accordance with that hypothesis the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension would _be solar and astrologic events_. The Essenes, as well as the other Mithras-wors.h.i.+ppers, adored the sun and greeted his rising with invocations and sacred chants. The death and resurrection were ”according to the Scriptures.” In other words, they were duly set forth after the manner of literal occurrences in the sacred books of the Essenes long before Paul was born. The adepts of that fraternity understood the matter, and the hostility which they and the other disciples always exhibited toward the great apostle was because he divulged too much. His writings contained many _dysnoetic_ matters, Peter declared-many matters of higher knowledge improperly expressed, which they that are unlearned and unstable might wrest to their own hurt. According to the scriptures of the brotherhood, the drama of the Gospel had its denouement in the pa.s.sion and tragedy of Jesus. Paul, like a genuine adept, has accepted this narrative as the basis of his gospel; nevertheless, as though aware that it is a figurative rather than a literal occurrence, he nowhere speaks of the crucifixion as a crime.

We use the term _drama_ in this connection from a deliberate purpose, because we believe it correct. It was the designation of the matters represented in the Eleusinian, Dionysiac, and other arcane rites. The theatre of the Greeks consisted of such tragic and other representations, which were performed at the temples of Bacchus and aesculapius. Our modern theatre originated in like manner from the mysteries and mir-acle-plays of the Middle Ages, in which monks and priests acted the parts of the different persons of the Gospel drama.

The ”Pa.s.sion Play,” which excites so much interest in these modern times, is very suggestive, but little understood by sacerdotalists.

The Christian wors.h.i.+p in the earlier centuries was not so unlike or incongruous with the pagan customs as may have been supposed. The emperor Hadrian, when in Egypt, was forcibly impressed with the apparent ident.i.ty of the wors.h.i.+ppers of Serapis with those of Christ. ”Those who wors.h.i.+p Serapis are Christians,” he declared, ”and those who call themselves Christian bishops are devotees of Serapis. The very patriarch himself when he came into Egypt was said by some to wors.h.i.+p Serapis and by others to wors.h.i.+p Christ.”

The same ambiguity prevailed in the case of Christianity where it had been in contact with the arcane wors.h.i.+p of Mithras. Seel endeavors to explain the matter as one of policy. He states that the early Christians in Germany for the most part ostensibly paid wors.h.i.+p to the Roman G.o.ds in order to escape persecution. He makes a supposition as regards the adoption of the secret religion. ”It is by no means improbable,” says he, ”that under the permitted symbols of Mithras they wors.h.i.+pped the Son of G.o.d and the mysteries of Christianity. In this point of view,” he adds, ”the Mithraic monuments so frequent in Germany are evidences of the secret faith of the early Christian Romans.” We are not ready to accept this notion that the Christians paid homage to one G.o.d, meaning another at the same time, except on the hypothesis that they regarded Mithras and Jesus as virtually the same personification. This conclusion seems to be countenanced by Augustine, the celebrated bishop of Hippo.

”I know,” says he, ”that the wors.h.i.+ppers of the divinity in the cap [the statues of Mithras were decorated with the red Phrygian or cardinal's cap] used to say, 'Our G.o.d in the cap is Christian.'”

That the crucifixion of Christ was not a literal historic occurrence seems to require no argument. Besides, the first day of the Pa.s.sover was never a Friday, nor can it be according to the established principles of the Jewish calendar. The account in the three synoptic Gospels is therefore manifestly not correct as a literal occurrence; and the unknown writer of the Gospel of John has lamely attempted to evade the difficulty by placing the crucifixion on the day before the Pa.s.sover.

There was a mystic reason, however, for this statement of the synoptic Gospels. The story of the crucifixion had the same occult meaning as that of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. The forty days in which Jesus ”showed himself alive after his pa.s.sion” corresponded with the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Hence, as the Israelites left Egypt on the first day of the Pa.s.sover, so Jesus was also crucified on that day. Not being an historical event, one actually occurring, the statement was permitted in order to preserve the harmony and ident.i.ty of the myths.

As, however, the story is astrological, we need only explain that the sun crossing the equinoctial line at the 21st of March is thus crucified, the ecliptic and the equator const.i.tuting the real cross in the form of the letter X. On the third day he appears ascending in the northern hemisphere, and so is ”raised again according to the Scriptures.”

Paul, while referring to these matters as _apparently historical_, never departs from their _symbolic_ import. In fact, he dwells upon this so emphatically that the events are only mentioned for the purpose of indicating his meaning more definitely. ”I am crucified with Christ,”

says he; ”they that are of Christ have crucified the flesh with its affections and l.u.s.ts.” n.o.body will for a moment imagine that this crucifixion meant any physical violence, but only a casting off of those dispositions which are essentially unspiritual. ”Our old man is crucified,” Paul explains again, ”in order that the body of sin might be destroyed;... likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto G.o.d.” This is the real meaning of the death and resurrection as a spiritual matter. The external history which is so much insisted upon by the partisans of the letter vanishes utterly away before the eyes of him who perceives as well as sees, and understands through intelligence rather than by scientific and logical reasoning.

The early Fathers of the Church never scrupled to employ rites, symbols, and other agencies which had been previously used by the various priesthoods of the' pagan wors.h.i.+ps. The entire biography of Jesus, as it is set forth in the Gospels, exhibits unequivocally astrological features, and a resemblance to the narratives of the G.o.ds so close as to be equivalent almost to actual ident.i.ty. The miraculous conception was but a counterpart of many others: Atys, Adonis, Hercules, Bacchus, and aesculapius were fabled to have been sons of G.o.ds by human mothers. The 25th of December was also the birthday of Mithras; and Chrysostom, with characteristic sophistry and equivocation, explains the matter and justifies it as follows: ”On this day also the birthday of Christ was lately fixed at Rome, in order that while the heathen were busied with their profane ceremonies the Christians might perform their holy rites undisturbed.” He adds: ”They call this the birthday of the Invincible One: who so invincible as the Lord that overthrew and conquered death?

They style it the birthday of the sun; he is the Sun of righteousness of whom Malachi speaks: 'Upon you who fear my name the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.'”

At the very outset a serious difficulty is encountered. When the Roman emperor Theodosius, fifteen centuries ago, decreed the universal authority of the Christian Church, he commanded also that all books of the philosophers and others not according to the new faith should be destroyed. This leaves only the collection known as the _New Testament_ and the writings of certain theologians, together with certain Gospels, Epistles, and Apocalypses denominated apocryphal which were extant during the earlier centuries of our era. In addition to this, there is internal evidence in the writings now regarded as canonical that they have been abridged, added to, and changed, so that the sense is more or less obscured and doctrines are affirmed which were not in the original doc.u.ments.

With the exception, perhaps, of some of the Epistles of Paul, James, and First Peter there is no evidence, or even probability, that any other book of the New Testament, whether Gospel, Epistle, or Apocalypse, was written, or even known, by the individual whose name it bears. Indeed, it is well known among students that the practice was formerly common to append the name of some distinguished personage to a letter or treatise and put it forth with this to commend it. ”Our ancestors,” says the philosopher Jamblichus, ”used to inscribe their own writings with the name of Hermes, he being as common property to all the priests.” Very significant, therefore, is the clause ”according to” which occurs in the t.i.tle of every one of the four Gospels. Each of them has been in existence some fifteen or sixteen centuries ”without father, without mother,” or any other voucher or guarantee as evidence of the truth of the statements which it contains. We have no obligation to hesitate in our avowal that not one of the four reputed evangelists had anything to do with the production to which his name is affixed. The works must stand upon their intrinsic merits, and receive consideration accordingly.

Two centuries had pa.s.sed away after the beginning of the present era before the designation of _New Testament_ was used in connection with any collection of writings, and before any special authority was claimed for them. The men who first suggested their canonicity were Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian of Carthage. Neither of these men, so far as is known, made any attempt to demonstrate that any book of the collection was genuine or authentic. Professor Davidson has declared in regard to the scribes who made the copies of the books of the _Old Testament_ that they did not refrain from changing what had been written or inserting fresh matter. The same course has been taken likewise with the text of the New Testament. Heretics and orthodox alike added to its matter in order to establish their peculiar dogmas. The text is nowhere pure. The doctrines of the Trinity, the Nativity of Jesus, his G.o.dhead and equality with the Father, the story of Mary, were all introduced from Egypt and engrafted into the Gospels.

Jesus is represented as having been born in a cave or stable at the moment of midnight. At that period the constellation Virgo is cut exactly in half by the eastern horizon, the sun itself being beneath in the zodiacal sign of Capricorn, which was also called ”the Stable of Augeas” that Hercules was set to cleanse. Justin Martyr corroborates this by stating that Christ was born when the sun (Mithras) takes his birth in the stable of Augeas, coming as a second Hercules to cleanse a foul world. Hence the rosary of the Roman Catholic Church has this service: ”Let us contemplate how the Blessed Virgin Mary, when the time of her delivery was come, brought forth our Redeemer at midnight and laid him in a manger.”

By the cave, or _petra_, we may understand the cave of initiation, which was always employed in ancient mystic rites. There was such a cave at Bethlehem, and Jerome affirms that the mysteries of Adonis were celebrated there in his time. Justin has preserved the tradition that Mithras was born in a cave or petra, and Porphyry a.s.serts that his rites were observed in caves representing the vault of the heavens. The famous declaration to Peter owes all its significance to this fact: ”Thou art Peter, and upon this rock (petra) I will build my Church; and the gates of h.e.l.l shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Undoubtedly, this pa.s.sage is an interpolation; nevertheless, it is susceptible of explanation. Jesus having asked the twelve apostles who he was said to be, they reply: the ”reincarnation”

of this or that prophet, as it was believed that such rebirth was usual among men. Peter then avows that he is the Son of G.o.d.

Significantly, Peter is not a Jewish proper name, but relates to function. It is a Semitic word denoting an interpreter of oracles. The priests of Apollo among the Gauls were denominated _pater_, as having the gift of prophecy. The residence of Balaam the prophet was called _Petur_, and there were oracles of Apollo at Patrai in Achaia and Patara in Asia Minor. When, therefore, it is announced that the Church would be built ”upon this rock,” we may understand it to be the apostle's oracular utterance that Jesus was the Son of G.o.d. The Church that was thus established consisted solely of adepts and initiates, the clergy only, and the higher functionaries at that. The laity only _belong to_ the Church: the others _are_ the Church.

The Roman Catholic hierarchy have for centuries caused the fiction to be promulgated that the apostle Peter founded the universal see of Rome.

This is like the mystic utterances of Jesus in speaking to the mult.i.tude in parables. The pope, cardinals, and prelates know the real truth.

There never took place, so far as any historical evidence exists, any visit, and much less the martyrdom, of the apostle Peter at Rome. The pope is not the successor of any Christian apostle whatever, but only of the pagan high priest. Under the republic and emperors the _pontifex maximus_ was the supreme religious dignitary. Julius Caesar held that office. He presided over the wors.h.i.+p and interpreted the sacred oracles.

It was a direction in the secret religion never to change the foreign names. The Chaldaic designation of the supreme pontiff and hierophant was _peter_. When the ancient wors.h.i.+p was suppressed the Roman bishop succeeded to the pontificate; and by this exaltation became vicar of the Lord and successor of the peter or pagan pontiff of Rome.

The tradition of the Magi or wise men coming from the east to wors.h.i.+p the infant Jesus, which was prefixed to the Gospel of Matthew, is pretty well set forth by the names given them: _Kaspar_, the white one; _Melchior_, the king of light; and _Balthasar_, the lord of treasures.

The additional legend that they travelled to Germany and were buried at Cologne grew out of the fact that the Mithraic wors.h.i.+p was prevalent in that region.

It should be borne in mind, while considering the astrologic character of the story of Jesus, that the divis-ion of the apparent path of the sun among the stars into the constellations which form the zodiac was made and known throughout the Oriental world and employed in its religious myths at an antiquity so remote as not to be known when the plan was devised. Astrological correspondences are carefully maintained all through the gospel narrative. The apostles represent the twelve months, each of them being sent or commissioned to announce him (the sun) to the people.

The special events and their dates are commemorated by the Church so as to be coincident with astrological data. The designation ”Lamb of G.o.d”

comes directly from the fact that the crucifixion was placed at the time the sun crosses the equinoctial line in March, and so entered the zodiacal sign of Aries, the Lamb. He was thus ”slain before the foundation of the world,” or year, and takes away the sins or evils of winter. Having descended into h.e.l.l, or the winter period, he rises from the dead. He is now enthroned; the four beasts, denoting the four chief constellations in each quarter of the zodiacal circle-Taurus, Leo, Aquila, and Aquarius-adore him, and the twenty-four elders (or hours) fall down and wors.h.i.+p him. The miracle of turning water into wine is done every year, as Addison has sung,:

”May the sun refine The grape's soft juice and mellow it to wine.”

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