Part 138 (1/2)

In all religions of antiquity the number _twelve_, which applies to the twelve signs of the zodiac, are reproduced in all kinds and sorts of forms. For instance: such are the _twelve_ great G.o.ds; the _twelve_ apostles of Osiris; the _twelve_ apostles of Jesus; the _twelve_ sons of Jacob, or the _twelve_ tribes; the _twelve_ altars of James; the _twelve_ labors of Hercules; the _twelve_ s.h.i.+elds of Mars; the _twelve_ brothers Arvaux; the _twelve_ G.o.ds Consents; the _twelve_ governors in the Manichean System; the _adectyas_ of the East Indies; the _twelve_ a.s.ses of the Scandinavians; the city of the _twelve_ gates in the Apocalypse; the _twelve_ wards of the city; the _twelve_ sacred cus.h.i.+ons, on which the Creator sits in the cosmogony of the j.a.panese; the _twelve_ precious stones of the _rational_, or the ornament worn by the high priest of the Jews, &c., &c. (See Dupuis, pp. 39, 40.)

[499:1] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 505.

[499:2] Luke, ii. 32.

[499:3] John, xii, 46.

[499:4] John, ix. v.

[499:5] I. John, i. 5.

[500:1] Monumental Christianity, p. 117.

[501:1] See Monumental Christianity, pp. 189, 191, 192, 238, and 296.

[501:2] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 283.

[501:3] King's Gnostics, p. 68.

[501:4] Ibid. p. 137.

[501:5] See Chapter XX.

[501:6] Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. i. p. 31.

[502:1] Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 151.

[502:2] Monumental Christianity, p. 231.

[502:3] King's Gnostics, p. 48.

[502:4] Ibid. p. 68.

[502:5] See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 13.

[503:1] Following are the words of the decree now in the Vatican library: ”In quibusdam sanctorum imaginum picturis agnus exprimitur, &c.

Nos igitur veteres figuras atque umbras, et veritatis notas, et signa ecclesiae tradita, complectentes, gratiam, et veritatem anteponimus, quam ut plenitudinem legis acceptimus. Itaque id quod perfectum est, in picturis etiam omnium oculis subjiciamus, agnum illum qui mundi peccatum tollit, Christum Deum nostrum, loco veteris Ayni, humana forma posthae exprimendum decrevimus,” &c.

[504:1] ”The _solar horse_, with two serpents upon his head (the Buddhist Aries) is Buddha's symbol, and Aries is the symbol of Christ.”

(Arthur Lillie: Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 110.)

[504:2] Quoted by Lillie: Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 93.

[504:3] Quoted by King: The Gnostics &c., p. 138.

[505:1] Quoted by King: The Gnostics, &c., p. 49.

[505:2] Ibid. p. 45.

[505:3] _Indra_, the crucified Sun-G.o.d of the Hindoos, was represented with golden locks. (c.o.x: Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 341.)