Part 98 (1/2)

”The Triangle is a sacred symbol in our modern churches, and it was the sign used in ancient temples before the initiated, to indicate the Trinity--three persons 'co-eternal together, and co-equal.'”[352:4]

The Triangle is found on ancient Greek monuments.[352:5] An ancient seal (engraved in the Memoires de l'Academie royale des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres), supposed to be of Phenician origin, ”has as subject a standing figure between two stars, beneath which are handled crosses.

Above the head of the deity is the TRIANGLE, or symbol of the Trinity.”[352:6]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 31]

One of the most conspicuous among the symbols intended to represent the Trinity, to be seen in Christian churches, is the compound leaf of the _trefoil_. Modern story had attributed to St. Patrick the idea of demonstrating a trinity in unity, by showing the _shamrock_ to his hearers; but, says Dr. Inman, ”like many other things attributed to the moderns, the idea belongs to the ancients.”[352:7]

The _Trefoil_ adorned the head of _Osiris_, the Egyptian Saviour, and is to be found among the Pagan symbols or representations of the _three-in-one_ mystery.[353:1] Fig. No. 32 is a representation of the _Trefoil_ used by the ancient Hindoos as emblematic of their celestial Triad--Brahma, Vishnu and Siva--and afterwards adopted by the Christians.[353:2] The leaf of the _Vila_, or _Bel-tree_, is typical of Siva's attributes, because _triple_ in form.[353:3]

The _Trefoil_ was a sacred plant among the ancient Druids of Britain. It was to them an emblem of the mysterious _three in one_.[353:4] It is to be seen on their _coins_.[353:5]

The _Tripod_ was very generally employed among the ancients as an emblem of the _Trinity_, and is found composed in an endless variety of ways.

On the coins of Menecratia, in Phrygia, it is represented between two asterisks, with a serpent wreathed around a battle-axe, inserted into it, as an accessory symbol, signifying preservation and destruction. In the ceremonial of wors.h.i.+p, the number _three_ was employed with mystic solemnity.[353:6]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 32]

The three lines, or three human legs, springing from a central disk or circle, which has been called a _Trinacria_, and supposed to allude to the island of Sicily, is simply an ancient emblem of the _Trinity_. ”It is of _Asiatic_ origin; its earliest appearance being upon the very ancient coins of Aspendus in Pamphylia; sometimes alone in the square incuse, and sometimes upon the body of an eagle or the back of a lion.”[353:7]

We have already seen, in the chapter on the _crucifixion_, that the earliest emblems of the Christian Saviour were the ”Good Shepherd” and the ”Lamb.” Among these may also be mentioned the _Fish_. ”The only satisfactory explanation why Jesus should be represented as a _Fish_,”

says Mr. King, in his Gnostics and their Remains,[353:8] ”seems to be the circ.u.mstance that in the quaint jargon of the Talmud the Messiah is often designated 'Dag,' or 'The Fish;'” and Mr. Lundy, in his ”Monumental Christianity,” says:

”Next to the sacred monogram (the [Symbol: PX]) the _Fish_ takes its place in importance as a sign of Christ in his special office of _Saviour_.” ”In the Talmud the Messiah is called 'Dag' or 'Fish.'” ”Where did the Jews learn to apply 'Dag' to their Messiah? And why did the primitive Christians adopt it as a sign of Christ?” ”I cannot disguise facts. Truth demands no concealment or apology. _Paganism_ has its types and prophecies of Christ as well as Judaism. What then is the Dag-on of the old Babylonians? The _fish_-G.o.d or being that taught them all their civilization.”[354:1]

As Mr. Lundy says, ”truth demands no concealment or apology,” therefore, when the truth is exposed, we find that _Vishnu_, the Hindoo Messiah, Preserver, Mediator and _Saviour_, was represented as a ”dag,” or fish.

The _Fish_ takes its place in importance as a sign of _Vishnu_ in his special office of _Saviour_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 33]

Prof. Monier Williams says:

”It is as _Vishnu_ that the Supreme Being, according to the Hindoos, exhibited his sympathy with human trials, his love for the human race. Nine princ.i.p.al occasions have already occurred in which the G.o.d has thus interposed for the salvation of his creatures. The first was _Matsaya_, the _Fish_. In this Vishnu became a fish to save the seventh Manu, the progenitor of the human race, from the universal deluge.”[354:2]

We have already seen, in Chap. IX., the ident.i.ty of the Hindoo _Matsaya_ and the Babylonian Dagon.

The fish was sacred among the Babylonians, a.s.syrians and Phenicians, as it is among the Romanists of to-day. It was sacred also to _Venus_, and the Romanists still eat it on the very day of the week which was called ”_Dies veneris_,” Venus' day; fish day.[354:3] It was an emblem of _fecundity_. The most ancient symbol of the productive power was a fish, and it is accordingly found to be the universal symbol upon many of the earliest coins.[354:4] Pythagoras and his followers did not eat fish.

They were ascetics, and the eating of fish was supposed to tend to carnal desires. This ancient superst.i.tion is entertained by many even at the present day.

The fish was the earliest symbol of Christ Jesus. Fig. No. 33 is a design from the catacombs.[354:5] This cross-fish is not unlike the sacred monogram.

That the Christian Saviour should be called a fish may at first appear strange, but when the mythos is properly understood (as we shall endeavor to make it in Chap. x.x.xIX.), it will not appear so. The Rev.

Dr. Geikie, in his ”Life and Words of Christ,” says that a fish stood for his _name_, from the significance of the Greek letters in the word that expresses the idea, and for this reason he was called a fish. But, we may ask, why was Buddha not only called Fo, or Po, but _Dag-Po_, which was literally the Fish Po, or Fish Buddha? The fish did not stand for his name. The idea that Jesus was called a fish because the Messiah is designated ”Dag” in the Talmud, is also an unsatisfactory explanation.

Julius Africa.n.u.s (an early Christian writer) says:

”Christ is the great Fish taken by the fish-hook of G.o.d, and whose flesh nourishes the whole world.”[355:1]

”The fish fried Was Christ that died,”