Part 133 (2/2)
Just so surely as Apollo is the Sun, so is the Lord _Christ_ Jesus the Sun. That which is so conclusive respecting the Pagan deities, applies also to the G.o.d of the Christians; but, like the Psalmist of old, they cry, ”Touch not MY Christ, and do my prophets no harm.”
Many Christian writers have seen that the history of their Lord and Saviour is simply the history of the Sun, but they either say nothing, or, like Dr. Parkhurst and the Rev. J. P. Lundy, claim that the Sun is a type of the true Sun of Righteousness. Mr. Lundy, in his ”Monumental Christianity,” says:
”Is there no bright Sun of Righteousness--no _personal_ and loving Son of G.o.d, _of whom the material Sun has been the type or symbol, in all ages and among all nations_? What power is it that comes from the Sun to give light and heat to all created things? If the symbolical Sun leads such a great earthly and heavenly flock, what must be said to the _true_ and only begotten Son of G.o.d? If Apollo was adopted by early Christian art as a _type_ of the Good Shepherd of the New Testament, _then this interpretation of the Sun-G.o.d among all nations must be the solution of the universal mythos, or what other solution can it have_? To what other _historical_ personage but Christ can it apply? _If this mythos has no spiritual meaning, then all religion becomes mere idolatry, or the wors.h.i.+p of material things._”[500:1]
Mr. Lundy, who seems to adhere to this once-upon-a-time favorite theory, ill.u.s.trates it as follows:
”The young _Isaac_ is his (Christ's) Hebrew type, bending under the wood, as Christ fainted under the cross; _Daniel_ is his type, stripped of all earthly fame and greatness, and cast naked into the deepest danger, shame and humiliation.” ”_Noah_ is his type, in saving men from utter destruction, and bringing them across the sea of death to a new world and a new life.” ”_Orpheus_ is a type of Christ. _Agni_ and _Crishna_ of India; _Mithra_ of Persia; _Horus_ and _Apollo_ of Egypt, are all types of Christ.” ”_Samson_ carrying off the gates of Gaza and defeating the Philistines by his own death, was considered as a type of Christ bursting open and carrying away the gates of Hades, and conquering His and our enemies by his death and resurrection.”[501:1]
According to this theory, the whole Pagan religion was typical of Christ and Christianity. Why then were not the Pagans the Lord's _chosen_ people instead of the children of Israel?
The early Christians were charged with being a sect of _Sun wors.h.i.+pers_.[501:2] The ancient Egyptians wors.h.i.+ped the G.o.d _Serapis_, and Serapis was the _Sun_. Fig. No. 11, page 194, shows the manner in which Serapis was personified. It might easily pa.s.s for a representation of the Sun-G.o.d of the Christians. Mr. King says, in his ”Gnostics, and their Remains”:
”There can be no doubt that the head of Serapis, marked as the face is by a grave and pensive majesty, _supplied the first idea for the conventional portraits of the Saviour_.”[501:3]
The Imperial Russian Collection _boasts_ of a head of Christ Jesus which is said to be very ancient. It is a fine intaglio on emerald. Mr. King says of it:
”It is in reality a head of _Serapis_, seen in front and crowned with Persia boughs, easily mistaken for thorns, though the bushel on the head leaves no doubt as to the real personage intended.”[501:4]
It must not be forgotten, in connection with this, that the wors.h.i.+pers of Serapis, or the Sun, were called _Christians_.[501:5]
Mrs. Jameson, speaking on this subject, says:
”We search in vain for the lightest evidence of his (Christ's) human, individual semblance, in the writing of those disciples who knew him so well. In this instance the instincts of earthly affection seem to have been mysteriously overruled. He whom all races of men were to call brother, was not to be too closely a.s.sociated with the particular lineaments of any one.
St. John, the beloved disciple, could lie on the breast of Jesus with all the freedom of fellows.h.i.+p, but not even he has left a word to indicate what manner of man was the Divine Master after the flesh. . . . Legend has, in various form, supplied this natural craving, but it is hardly necessary to add, that all accounts of pictures of our Lord taken from Himself are without historical foundation. _We are therefore left to imagine the expression_ most befitting the character of him who took upon himself our likeness, and looked at the woes and sins of mankind through the eyes of our mortality.”[501:6]
The Rev. Mr. Geikie says, in his ”Life of Christ”:
”No hint is given in the New Testament of Christ's _appearance_; and the early Church, in the absence of all guiding facts, had to fall back on imagination.”
”In its _first_ years, the Christian church fancied its Lord's visage and form _marred more than those of other men_; and that he must have had no attractions of personal beauty.
Justin Martyr (A. D. 150-160) speaks of him as _without beauty or attractiveness_, and of _mean appearance_. Clement of Alexandria (A. D. 200), describes him as of an _uninviting appearance_, and _almost repulsive_. Tertullian (A. D.
200-210) says he had not even _ordinary human beauty_, far less heavenly. Origen (A. D. 230) went so far as to say that he was '_small in body and deformed_', as well as low-born, and that, '_his only beauty was in his soul and life_.'”[502:1]
One of the favorite ways finally, of depicting him, was, as Mr. Lundy remarks:
”Under the figure of a beautiful and adorable youth, of about fifteen or eighteen years of age, beardless, with a sweet expression of countenance, _and long and abundant hair flowing in curls over his shoulders_. His brow is sometimes encircled by a diadem or bandeau, _like a young priest of the Pagan G.o.ds_; that is, in fact, the favorite figure. On sculptured sarcophagi, in fresco paintings and Mosaics, Christ is thus represented as a graceful youth, _just as Apollo was figured by the Pagans_, and as angels are represented by Christians.”[502:2]
Thus we see that the Christians took the paintings and statues of the Sun-G.o.ds Serapis and Apollo _as models_, when they wished to represent _their_ Saviour. That the former is the favorite at the present day need not be doubted when we glance at Fig. No. 11, page 194.
Mr. King, speaking of this G.o.d, and his wors.h.i.+pers, says:
”There is very good reason to believe that in the _East_ the wors.h.i.+p of _Serapis_ was at first combined with _Christianity_, and gradually merged into it with an entire change of name, _not substance_, carrying with it many of its ancient notions and rites.”[502:3]
Again he says:
”In the second century the syncretistic sects that had sprung up in _Alexandria_, the very hotbed of Gnosticism, found out in _Serapis_ a prophetic _type_ of Christ, or the Lord and Creator of all.”[502:4]
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