Part 113 (1/2)
The ”_Sacred Heart_,” was a great mystery with the ancients.
_Horus_, the Egyptian virgin-born Saviour, was represented carrying the sacred heart outside on his breast. _Vishnu_, the Mediator and Preserver of the Hindoos, was also represented in that manner. So was it with _Bel_ of Babylon.[405:1] In like manner, Christ Jesus, the Christian Saviour, is represented at the present day.
The amulets or charms which the Roman Christians wear, to drive away diseases, and to protect them from harm, are other relics of paganism.
The ancient pagans wore these charms for the same purpose. The name of their favorite G.o.d was generally inscribed upon them, and we learn by a quotation from Chrysostom that the Christians at Antioch used to bind bra.s.s coins of Alexander the Great about their heads, to keep off or drive away diseases.[405:2] The Christians also used amulets with the name or monogram of the G.o.d _Serapis_ engraved thereon, which show that it made no difference whether the G.o.d was their own or that of another.
Even the charm which is worn by the Christians at the present day, has none other than the monogram of _Bacchus_ engraved thereon, _i. e._, I.
H. S.[405:3]
The ancient Roman children carried around their necks a small ornament in the form of a heart, called _Bulla_. This was imitated by the early Christians. Upon their ancient monuments in the Vatican, the heart is very common, and it may be seen in numbers of old pictures. After some time it was succeeded by the _Agnus Dei_, which, like the ancient _Bulla_, was supposed to avert dangers from the children and the wearers of them. Cardinal Baronius (an eminent Roman Catholic ecclesiastical historian, born at Sora, in Naples, A. D. 1538) says, that those who have been baptized carry pendent from their neck an _Agnus Dei_, in imitation of a devotion of the Pagans, who hung to the neck of their children little bottles in the form of a heart, which served as preservatives against charms and enchantments. Says Mr. c.o.x:
”That ornaments in the shape of a _vesica_ have been popular in all countries as preservatives against dangers, and especially from evil spirits, can as little be questioned as the fact that they still retain some measure of their ancient popularity in England, where horse-shoes are nailed to walls as a safeguard against unknown perils, where a shoe is thrown by way of good-luck after newly-married couples, and where the villagers have not yet ceased to dance round the May-pole on the green.”[405:4]
All of these are emblems of either the Linga or Yoni.
The use of amulets was carried to the most extravagant excess in ancient Egypt, and their Sacred Book of the Dead, even in its earliest form, shows the importance attached to such things.[406:1]
We can say with M. Renan that:
”Almost all our superst.i.tions are the remains of a religion anterior to Christianity, and which Christianity has not been able entirely to root out.”[406:2]
Baptismal fonts were used by the pagans, as well as the little cisterns which are to be seen at the entrance of Catholic churches. In the temple of Apollo, at Delphi, there were two of these; one of silver, and the other of gold.[406:3]
Temples always faced the east, to receive the rays of the rising sun.
They contained an outer court for the public, and an inner sanctuary for the priests, called the ”_Adytum_.” Near the entrance was a large vessel, of stone or bra.s.s, filled with water, made holy by plunging into it a burning torch from the altar. All who were admitted to the sacrifices were sprinkled with this water, and none but the unpolluted were allowed to pa.s.s beyond it. In the center of the building stood the statue of the G.o.d, on a pedestal raised above the altar and enclosed by a railing. On festival occasions, the people brought laurel, olive, or ivy, to decorate the pillars and walls. Before they entered they always washed their hands, as a type of purification from sin.[406:4] A story is told of a man who was struck dead by a thunderbolt because he omitted this ceremony when entering a temple of Jupiter. Sometimes they crawled up the steps on their knees, and bowing their heads to the ground, kissed the threshold. Always when they pa.s.sed one of these sacred edifices they kissed their right hand to it, in token of veneration.
In all the temples of Vishnu, Crishna, Rama, Durga, and Kali, in India, there are to be seen idols before which lights and incense are burned.
Moreover, the idols of these G.o.ds are constantly decorated with flowers and costly ornaments, especially on festive occasions.[406:5] The ancient Egyptian wors.h.i.+p had a great splendor of ritual. There was a morning service, a kind of ma.s.s, celebrated by a priest, shorn and beardless; there were sprinklings of holy water, &c., &c.[406:6] All of this kind of wors.h.i.+p was finally adopted by the Christians.
The sublime and simple theology of the primitive Christians was gradually corrupted and degraded by the introduction of a popular mythology, which tended to restore the reign of polytheism.
As the objects of religion were gradually reduced to the standard of the imagination, the rites and ceremonies were introduced that seemed most powerfully to affect the senses of the vulgar. If, in the beginning of the fifth century, Tertullian, or Lactantius, had been suddenly raised from the dead, to a.s.sist at the festival of some popular saint or martyr, they would have gazed with astonishment and indignation on the profane spectacle, which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual wors.h.i.+p of a Christian congregation.[407:1]
Dr. Draper, in speaking of the early Christian Church, says:
”Great is the difference between Christianity under Severus (born 146) and Christianity under Constantine (born 274). Many of the doctrines which at the latter period were pre-eminent, in the former were unknown. Two causes led to the amalgamation of Christianity with Paganism. 1. The political necessities of the new dynasty: 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to insure its spread.
”Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently strong to give a master to the empire, it was never sufficiently strong to destroy its antagonist, Paganism. The issue of the struggle between them _was an amalgamation of the principles of both_. In this, Christianity differed from Mohammedanism, which absolutely annihilated its antagonist, and spread its own doctrines without adulteration.
”Constantine continually showed by his acts that he felt he must be the impartial sovereign of all his people, not merely the representative of a successful faction. Hence, if he built Christian churches, he also restored Pagan temples; if he listened to the clergy, he also consulted the haruspices; if he summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the statue of Fortune; if he accepted the rite of Baptism, he also struck a medal bearing his t.i.tle of 'G.o.d.' His statue, on top of the great porphyry pillar at Constantinople, consisted of an ancient image of Apollo, whose features were replaced by those of the emperor, and its head surrounded by the nails feigned to have been used at the crucifixion of Christ, arranged so as to form a crown of glory.
”Feeling that there must be concessions to the defeated Pagan party, in accordance with its ideas, he looked with favor on the idolatrous movements of his court. In fact, the leaders of these movements were persons of his own family.
”To the emperor,--a mere worldling--a man without any religious convictions, doubtless it appeared best for himself, best for the empire, and best for the contending parties, Christian and Pagan, to promote their _union or amalgamation as much as possible_. Even sincere Christians do not seem to have been averse to this; perhaps they believed that the new doctrines would diffuse most thoroughly by incorporating in themselves ideas borrowed from the old; that Truth would a.s.sert herself in the end, and the impurities be cast off. In accomplis.h.i.+ng this amalgamation, Helen, the Empress-mother, aided by the court ladies, led the way.
”As years pa.s.sed on, the faith described by Tertullian (A. D.
150-195) was transformed into one more fas.h.i.+onable and more debased. It was incorporated with the old Greek mythology.
Olympus was restored, but the divinities pa.s.sed under new names. . . .