Astral Worship

by

J. H. Hill, M. D. 

"Now, what I want is--facts. "--_Boz. _

 CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION 5THE GEOCENTRIC SYSTEM OF NATURE 13 The Earth 13 The Firmament 13 The Planets 14 The Constellations 15 The Zodiac 15THE SACRED NUMBERS 7 AND 12 17THE TWELVE THOUSAND YEAR CYCLE 18THE ANCIENT TRIAD 19GOD SOL 22THE ANCIENT COSMOGONY 30FALL AND REDEMPTION OF MAN 31INCARNATIONS OF GOD SOL 33FABLE OF THE TWELVE LABORS 36ANNIVERSARIES OF SOLAR WORSHIP 40 The Nativity 40 Epiphany or Twelfth Day 41 Lent or Lenten Season 42 Passion Week 44 Passion Plays 45 Resurrection and Easter Festival 46 Annunciation 48 Ascension 49 Assumption 49 The Lord's Supper 50 Transubstantiation 50 Autumnal Crucifixion 51 Michaelmas 56PERSONIFICATIONS OF THE DIVISIONS OF TIME 57 The Hours 57 The Days 57 The Months 58 The Seasons 60 Half Year of Increasing Days 63 Half Year of Decreasing Days 63 Last Quarter of the Year 64ZODIACAL SYMBOLS OF SOLAR WORSHIP 64 The Sphinx 65 The Dragon 66 The Bull 67 The Ram 68 The Lamb 68 The Fish 71SIGNS OF THE CROSS 72FUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS 74 The Oriental System 75 The Occidental System 75 The Second or General Judgment 77JEWISH, OR ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY 79THE PROPHECIES 83ROMAN OR MODERN CHRISTIANITY 88FREEMASONRY AND DRUIDISM 109THE SABBATH 117PIOUS FRAUDS 121CONCLUSION 125

INTRODUCTION. 

In an article, entitled "Then and Now, " published in the Decembernumber, 1890, of "The Arena, " its author, a distinguished UnitarianD. D. Of Boston, Mass. , says. "Astronomy has shattered the fallacies ofAstrology; and people have found out that the stars are minding theirown business instead of meddling with theirs. " Now, while it is truethat modern Astronomy has superseded the ancient system, and peoplehave ceased to believe that the stars are intervening in mundaneaffairs, nothing could be further from the truth than the assertionthat "Astronomy has shattered the fallacies of Astrology;" and those ofour readers who will accord to this work an unprejudiced perusal canhardly fail to be convinced that a large majority of the people ofChristendom are dominated as much by these fallacies as were our Paganancestry--the only difference being a change of name. The dogmaticelement of religion, which was anciently designated as Astrology, isnow known as Theology. 

All the evidences bearing upon the subject indicate that the foundersof the primary form of religion were a sect of philosophers, known asMagi, or wise men, of the Aryan race of Central Asia, who, having livedages before any conceptions of the supernatural had obtained in theworld, and speculating relative to the "beginnings of things, " werenecessarily confined to the contemplation and study of nature, theelements of which they believed to be self-existent and endless induration; but, being wholly without knowledge of her inherent forces, they explained her manifold processes by conceiving the idea that shewas animated by a great and inherent soul or spirit, emanations fromwhich impressed all her parts with life and motion. Thus, endowing man, and other animals, with souls emanating alike from the imaginary greatsoul of nature, they believed, and taught, that immediately after deathall souls were absorbed into their source, where, as "the dewdrop slipsinto the shining sea, " all personal identity was forever lost. Hence wesee that although recognizing the soul as immortal, considering it, notas an entity existing independent of matter, but as the spirit ofmatter itself, the primary religion was the exponent of the purest formof Materialism. 

Being the Astronomers of their day, and mistaking the apparent for thereal, the ancient Magi constructed that erroneous system of natureknown as the Geocentric, and, in conformity thereto, composed acollection of Astronomical Allegories, in which the emanations from theimaginary great soul of nature, by which they believed allmaterialities we're impressed with life and motion, were personifiedand made to play their respective parts. Basing the religion theyinstituted upon their system of Allegorical Astronomy, and making itspersonifications the objects of worship, they thus originated theanthropomorphic or man-like Gods, and, claiming to have composed themunder the inspiration of these self same divinities, they designatedthem as sacred records, or Scriptures, and taught the ignorant massesthat they were literal histories, and their personifications realpersonages, who, having once lived upon earth, and; for the good ofmankind, performed the wondrous works imputed to them, were then inheaven whence they came. 

Thus we see that the primary religion, which is popularly known asPaganism, was founded in the worship of personified nature; that, according special homage to the imaginary genii of the stars, andinculcating supreme adoration to the divinity supposed to reside in thesun, it was anciently known by the general name of Astrolatry, and bythe more specific one of solar worship; and that its founders, arrogating to themselves the title of Astrologers, gave to its dogmaticelement the name of Astrology. 

In studying the primitive forms of religion it will be found that noneof them taught anything relative to a future life, for the simplereason that their founders had no conceptions of such a state. Hence itfollows that the laws they enacted were intended solely for theregulation of their social relations, and, to secure their observance, they were embodied into their sacred records and made part of theirreligion. One form of that most ancient worship was known as Sabaism, or Sabism. Another form of the same religion was the Ancient Judaism, as portrayed in the Old Testament, and more especially in thePentateuch, or first five books; in the Decalogue of which the onlypromise made for the observance of one of the Commandments is length ofdays on earth; and, in a general summing up of the blessings and cursesto be enjoyed or suffered, for the observance or violation of the laws, as recorded in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, it will be seen theyare all of a temporal character only. At the beginning of the Christianera there were still in existence a sect of Jews known as Sadducees, who were strict adherents to the primitive form of worship, and theirbelief relative to the state of the dead we find recorded inEcclesiastes xii. , 7, which reads: "Then shall the dust return to earthas it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. "

For ages the doctrine of soul absorption, immediately after death, constituted the belief of mankind; but ultimately recognizing the factthat the temporal punishments of the existing laws were whollyinadequate to the prevention of crime, and conceiving the idea that theignorant and vicious masses could be governed with a surer hand byappealing to the sentiments of hope and fear in relation to the rewardsand punishments of an imaginary future life, the ancient Astrologersresolved to remodel the dogmatic elements of religion so as to includethat doctrine. But realizing the necessity, of suppressing the beliefin the absorption of all souls, immediately after death, they ceased toteach it, and ultimately it was embodied in that secret and unwrittensystem known as the Esoteric philosophy, in which the Astrologersformulated their own private belief, and which for many centuries waskept from the knowledge of the uninitiated by their successors in thepriestly office. As they were the sole custodians of the Scriptures, they made do change in their verbiage, but, adding the doctrine offuture rewards and punishments to that written and openly taught systemof faith known as the Exoteric creed, they made it the more impressiveby instituting a system of imposing rites and ceremonies, which theydesignated as Mysteries, into which they initiated the neophytes, andin which were portrayed, in the most vivid manner, the rewards andpunishments of the imaginary future life, which they taught were theawards of the Gods for the observance or violation of the laws. Theseteachings were inculcated in the lesser degrees only, but those whowere found worthy of so great a distinction were also inducted into thehigher degrees, in which was imparted the knowledge of the Esotericphilosophy. In both the lesser and higher degrees the initiatesreceived instruction in an oral manner only; and all were bound by themost fearful oaths not to reveal the secrets imparted to them. 

Thus were the votaries of the ancient Astral worship divided into twodistinct classes, the Esoterics, or Gnostics; and the Exoterics, orAgnostics; the former comprising those who knew that the Gods weremythical and the scriptures allegorical; and the latter, those who weretaught that the Gods were real, and the scriptures historical; or, inother words, it was philosophy for the cultured few, and religion forthe ignorant multitude. The initiates into the secrets of these twosystems recognized them as the two Gospels; and Paul must have hadreference to them in his Epistle to the Galatians ii. , 2, where hedistinguishes the Gospel which he preached on ordinary occasions fromthat Gospel which he preached "privately to them which were ofreputation. "

Such was the system of Astrolatry, which, originating in the Orient, and becoming, after being remodelled in Egypt, the prototype of allOccidental forms of worship, was recognized, successively, as the statereligion of the Grecian and Roman Empires; and we propose to describethe erroneous system of nature upon which it was based, and to developthe origins of its cycles, dogmas, ordinances, anniversaries, personifications and symbols, with the view to proving that it was thevery same system which was ultimately perpetuated under the name ofChristianity. We also propose to present the origins and abridgedhistories of its two forms, the Jewish, or ancient, and the Roman, ormodern; and to give an account of the conflict between the votaries ofthe latter, and the adherents to the established form of worship, whichculminated in the fourth century in the substitution of Christianity asthe state religion of the Roman Empire. We furthermore propose to showthe changes to which the creed and scriptures were subjected during theMiddle Ages, and at the Reformation in the sixteenth century, throughwhich they assumed the phases as now taught in the theologies, respectively of Catholicism and Orthodox Protestantism. We also presentan article relative to Freemasonry and Druidism, for the purpose ofshowing that, primarily, they were but different forms of the ancientAstrolatry. We also devote a few pages to the subjects of the Sabbath, and to that of "Pious Frauds. "

Note. --For the matter published in this work, we are principallyindebted to the writings of Robert Taylor, an erudite but recusantminister of the church of England, who flourished about seventy yearsago, and who, being too honest to continue to preach what, afterthorough investigation, he did not believe, began to give expression tohis doubts by writing and lecturing. Not being able to cope with hisarguments, the clergy, under the charge of the impossible crime ofblasphemy, had him imprisoned for more than two years, during whichtime he wrote his great work entitled "The Diegesis, " which should beread by all persons who are investigating the claim of the Christianreligion to Divine authenticity. 

THE GEOCENTRIC SYSTEM OF NATURE. 

In constructing their system of nature, the ancient Astronomersconstituted it of the Earth, the Firmament, the Planets, theConstellations and the Zodiac, and we will refer to them in the ordernamed. 

The Earth. 

Believing that the earth was the only world, that it was a vastcircular plane, and that it was the fixed and immovable center aroundwhich revolved the celestial luminaries, the ancient Astronomers, inconformity to the requirement of the doctrine of future rewards andpunishments, as inculcated in the Egyptian Version of the ExotericCreed, divided it into an upper and an under, or nether world, whichthey connected by a sinuous and tenebrious passage. 

The Firmament. 

The azure dome, called the firmament in the book of Genesis, wasbelieved to be a solid transparency, which we find described, in thefourth chapter and sixth verse, of that collection of AstronomicalAllegories, called the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, "as a sea ofglass like unto crystal. " It was represented as being supported by fourpillars, resting upon the earth, one at each of the cardinal points, which were designated as "the pillars of heaven. " Conceiving the ideathat there were windows in the firmament, the ancient Astronomerscalled them "the windows of heaven" and taught that they were openedwhen it rained, and closed when it ceased to rain. Hence it is evidentthat the ancient Astronomers did not refer to these pillars and windowsin a figurative sense, but as real appurtenances to a solid firmament, as will be seen by reference to Gen. Vii. 11, and viii. 2, Job xxvi. 11, and Malachi iii. 10. 

The Planets. 

Believing that the stars were but mere flambeaux, suspended beneath thefirmament, and revolving round the earth, for the sole purpose ofgiving it light and heat; and observing that seven of these, answeringto the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, hadperceptible movements, in relation to the other luminaries, the ancientastronomers designated them as planets or wandering stars. 

The Constellations. 

Perceiving that the other celestial luminaries maintained the samerelation to each other, and designating them as fixed stars, theancient astronomers grouped those visible to them into forty-eightConstellations; and giving names to these, they also attached names tothe stars of larger magnitude, which was done for the purpose oflocating and distinguishing them with greater ease. 

The Zodiac. 

Through twelve of these Constellations, mostly contained within a beltof 16 degrees in width, and within which the planets appeared torevolve, the ancient astronomers inscribed a central line representingthe Ecliptic, or apparent orbit of the sun, which they divided into 360degrees; and quartering these to denote the seasons, they named thecardinal points the Summer and Winter Solstices, and the Vernal andAutumnal Equinoxes; the former referring to the longest and shortestdays of the year; and the latter to the two periods when the days andnights are equal. An abbreviatory sign having been attached to each ofthese constellations, the great celestial belt containing them wascalled "the wheel of the signs, " or "a wheel in the middle of a wheel, "as designated by that old Astrologer, Ezekiel the Prophet, in chap. I. And 16th verse. But for the reason that, with only one exception, theforms of living things, either real or mythical, were given to them, this belt, ultimately, wad designated as the Zodiac; or Circle ofliving Creatures, see Ezekiel, chap. I. Constituting the essentialfeature of the ancient Astronomy, we present, in our frontispiece, adiagram of the Zodiac, as anciently represented, to which, as well asto Burritts' Celestial Atlas, our readers will be necessitated to makefrequent reference. 

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Recent researches among the ruins of ancient cities have developed thefact that several centuries before the beginning of our era theastronomers had invented the telescope, and discovered the true orheliocentric system of nature; but for the reason that religion hadbeen based upon the false, or geocentric system, it was deemed prudentnot to teach it to the masses. Hence, hiding it away among the othersecrets of the Esoteric philosophy, the knowledge of it was lost duringthe Middle Ages; and when rediscovered, the hierarchy of the Church ofRome, upon the plea that it was contrary to the teachings of Scripture, resorted to inquisitorial tortures to suppress its promulgation; but, in spite of all their efforts, it has been universally accepted; and, in this otherwise enlightened age, we have presented to us the anomalyof a religion based upon a false system of Astronomy, while itsvotaries believe in the true system. 

THE SACRED NUMBERS 7 AND 12. 

In reference to the planets, and the signs of the Zodiac, the numbersseven and twelve were recognized as sacred by the ancient Astrologers, and dedications were made to them in all kinds and sorts of forms. Inthe allegories, the genii of the planets were designated as spirits ormessengers to the Supreme Deity, imaginarily enthroned above thefirmament, which we find described in Revelations iv. 5, as "Sevenlamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits ofGod;" and which were represented by lights burning in seven branchedcandlesticks set before the altars in the temples; the central lightfor the Sun; the Moon, Mercury and Venus on one side; and Mars, Jupiterand Saturn on the other. The seven branched candlesticks seen in allCatholic churches, and in some Protestant ones, are intended torepresent the same planetary system. 

Among the numerous dedications to the genii of the planets we mentionthe seven days of the week, the seven stories of the tower of Babylon, the seven gates of Thebes, the seven piped flute of Pan, the sevenstringed lyre of Apollo, the seven books of fate, the book of sevenseals, the seven castes into which the Egyptians and East Indians weredivided, and the jubilee of seven times seven years. Among thededications to the twelve signs we mention the twelve months of theyear, the grand cycle of 12, 000 years, the twelve altars of James, thetwelve labors of Hercules, the twelve divisions of the EgyptianLabyrinth, the twelve shields of Mars, the twelve precious stones, ranged in threes to denote the seasons, in the breastplate of HighPriest, the twelve foundations of the Sacred City, referred to in theBook of Revelation, the twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve tribes ofIsrael, and the twelve Disciples. In the Book of Revelation alone thenumber 7 is repeated twenty-four times, and the number 12 fourteentimes. 

THE TWELVE THOUSAND YEAR CYCLE. 

In determining the duration of the period within which were to occurthe events taught in the doctrines of the Exoteric Creed, the ancientAstrologers dedicated a thousand years to each of the signs of theZodiac, and thus inaugurating the cycle of twelve thousand years, taught that, at its conclusion, the heaven and the earth, which theybelieved to be composed of the indestructible elements of fire, air, earth and water, would, through the agency of the first of these, bereduced to chaos, as a preliminary to the reorganization of a newheaven and a new earth at the beginning of the succeeding cycle. Suchwas the origin of the grand cycle of the ancient Astrolatry, and itmust be borne in mind that its authors made its conclusion tocorrespond in time and circumstance to the doctrines relating to thefinale of the plan of redemption. 

THE ANCIENT TRIAD. 

After conceiving the idea of a primeval chaos, constituted of fourindestructible elements of which fire was the leading one, the Orientalastrologers began to indulge in speculations relative to the agencieswhich were engaged in its organization. Having no knowledge of theforces inherent in nature, they imputed this work to threeintelligences, which, embodying the All in All, they personified by thefigure of a man with three heads, and to this trinity gave the names ofBrahma, Vishnu and Siva. Such a figure, carved in stone, may be seen inthe island Cave of Elephanta, near Bombay, India, and is popularlybelieved to represent the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer; but, indetermining their true signification, we must be governed by theancient teachings that "All things were made by one god-head with threenames, and this God is all things. " Hence the conclusion isirresistible that the first person represents neither the creator nororganizer of chaos, but chaos itself; the second person, its organizerand governor; and the third person, the agent in nature which impressesall her parts with life and motion; the latter being the imaginarygreat soul or spirit inculcated in the Esoteric philosophy. In supportof this opinion it will be found that the Egyptian Triad of Father, Sonand Spirit is virtually the same we have assigned to its Orientalprototype. Thus we see that to the ancient Astrolatry Christendom isindebted for the Trinity of

 "God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit--three in one. "

But, having ascribed supreme intelligence or reason to its secondperson, under the name of the Logos, or Word, and designating its thirdperson as the Holy Ghost, the ancient Triad was usually formulated asthe Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, as may be seen by reference tothe text in the allegories which we find recorded in I John v. 7, whichreads that "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, theWord and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. "

Considered in some forms of Astrolatry as too sacred to attach a nameto the triune Deity, he was called "the One, " and we find him thusdesignated in the 4th chapter of Revelation, where, like Zeus andJupiter, of the Grecian and Roman mythologies, he is represented asseated above the firmament, upon a throne from which "proceededlightnings and thunderings, " and to whom all, the subordinatedivinities were made to pay homage. As the hurler of thunderbolts hewas called "the Thunderer, " and as the opener of the windows of heaven, when it rained, he was designated "Jupiter Pluvius. " Such was theancient Triad made to say of himself, in an inscription found in theruins of the temple at Sais in Egypt, "I am all that has been, all thatis, and all that shall be, and no mortal has lifted yet the veil thatcovers me;" and such was the Triunity referred to as the God Universeby Pliny, the Roman philosopher and naturalist, who, flourishing in thefirst century of the Christian era, wrote that he is "An infinite Godwhich has never been created, and which shall never come to an end. Tolook for something else beyond it is useless labor for man and out ofhis reach. Behold that truly sacred Being, eternal and immense, whichincludes within itself everything; it is All in All, or rather itselfis All. It is the work of nature, and itself is nature. "

Thus we see that, although inculcating homage to a multitude ofsubordinate divinities, the ancient Astrolatry was only an apparentPolytheism; its enlightened votaries, recognizing the dogma of theunity of God, were in reality Monotheists, paying supreme adoration tothe mythical genius of the Sun, to whom we will now direct attention. 

GOD SOL. 

In determining the characteristics of the supreme divinity of astralworship, it must be borne in mind that its founders taught that he wasevolved or engendered by the Father, or first person in the sacredTriad, from his pure substance, which as we have shown was constitutedof chaos or the primeval fire into which they supposed all things werereduced through the agency of that element at the conclusion of 12, 000year cycles. Hence, designating that mythical being as the onlybegotten of the Father, they personified him as God the Son, or secondperson in the sacred Triad; and recognizing the Sun as the ruling star, very appropriately made him the presiding genius of that luminary, under the title of God Sol. According homage to light as his chiefattribute, he is referred to in the allegories as "The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, " John i. , 9; and, although designated as the only begotten of the Father, hisco-existence with him, under the title of the Logos or Word, is shownin the text which reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Wordwas with God, and the Word was God, " John i. , 1. 

Personifying the principles of Good and Evil in God Sol, the ancientAstrologers consecrated the six divisions of the 12, 000 year cycle, corresponding to the reproductive months of Spring and Summer, to himas Lord of Good, and symbolizing him by the constellation of the Zodiacin which the Vernal Equinox successively occurred, as explainedhereafter, they dedicated the six divisions of that cycle, corresponding to the destructive months of Autumn and Winter, to him asLord of Evil, and as such, symbolizing him by the serpent, marked thebeginning of his reign by the constellation "Serpens, " placed inconjunction with the Autumnal Equinox. Personifying in him the opposingprinciples of Good and Evil, he was to the ancients both God and Devil, or the varied God, who, in relation to the seasons, was described asbeautiful in Spring, powerful in Summer, beneficent in Autumn andterrible in Winter. Thus under various names, intended to represent GodSol in relation to the diversified seasons, we find recorded in theScriptures, or solar fables, numerous portrayals of imaginaryconflicts, in which the Evil principle, triumphing during Autumn andWinter, is conquered at the Vernal Equinox by the Good principle, who, bringing back equal days and nights, restores the harmony of nature. 

The eternal enmity between the principles of Good and Evil, asmanifested in the diversity of the seasons, we find portrayed in theConstellations Hercules and Draco, placed in the northern heavens, inwhich the heel of the former, representing one of the most ancient ofthe imaginary incarnations of God Sol, to which we will referhereafter, is resting upon the head of the latter, as referred to inGenesis iii. , 15, which makes God Sol, or the Lord God, say to theserpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thyseed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise hisheel. " The woman alluded to in this text is the Virgo of the Zodiac, aswill be made apparent hereafter. 

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Of all the divinities of the ancient mythology God Sol was the only onedistinguished by the exalted title of Lord or Lord God, for the reasonthat he was made the organizer of chaos and governor of heaven andearth. Hence, having constituted him the lord of light and darkness, aswell as good and evil, the ancient astrologers in composing the solarfables made him say of himself, "I form the light and create darkness;I make peace and create evil, I the Lord do all these things, " Isaiahxlv. , 7. "Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not doneit?" Amos iii. , 6. Besides the title of Lord or Lord God, the solardivinity is also designated in the allegories as the Lord of Lords andthe King of Kings, the Invincible, the Mighty God, etc. 

Subjecting the mythical genius of the sun, in his apparent annualrevolution round the earth, to the four stages of human life frominfancy to old age, the ancient Magi fixed the natal day of the youngGod Sol at the winter solstice, the Virgo of the Zodiac was made hismother, and the constellation in conjunction with her, which is nowknown as Bootes, but anciently called Arcturus, his foster father. Heis represented as holding in leash two hunting dogs and driving UrsaMajor, or the Great Bear, around the north pole, thus showing that theoriginal occupation of the celestial foster father of the young God Solwas that of a bear driver, and that his sons, referred to in jobxxxviii. , 32, are the dogs Asterion and Chara. It will be observed thatVirgo is represented in our illustration with a child in her arms, forthe reason that she is so represented in the ancient Zodiacs, and thefact will be readily conceded that she is the only Virgin who couldgive birth to a child and be a virgin still. 

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THE ANCIENT COSMOGONY. 

Speculating relative to the order in which chaos had been organized, the ancient Astrologers constructed a Cosmogony, which divided thelabors of God the Son, or second person in the Trinity, into sixperiods of a thousand years each; and which, answering to the sixdivisions of the 12, 000 year cycle corresponding to the reproductivemonths of Spring and Summer, taught that in the first period he madethe earth; in the second, the firmament; in the third, vegetation; inthe fourth, the Sun and Moon and "the stars also;" in the fifth, theanimals, fishes, birds, etc. , and in the sixth, Man. 

That vegetation was made before the Sun was not an inconsistent idea tothe originators of the ancient Cosmogony. They imagined that the heatand light, emanating from the elementary fire, were sufficient tostimulate its growth, after which God the Son gathered it together andmade the Celestial luminaries. In the solar fables this imaginaryelement is called the fire-ether, or sacred fire of the stars. 

FALL AND REDEMPTION OF MAN. 

Religion having been based upon the worship of personified nature, itis evident that its founders fabricated its dogmatic element from theirconceptions of her destructive and reproductive processes as manifestedin the rotation and diversity of the seasons. The apparent retreat ofthe sun from the earth, in winter, and his return in the spring, suggesting the idea of a figurative death and resurrection of thegenius of that luminary, they applied these phenomena of the year toman, and composed the allegories relative to his fall and redemption, as inculcated in the Exoteric Creed. In the allegory relating to thefall, it was taught that, after making the first human pair, the Lordof Good or the Lord God placed them in a beautiful garden--correspondingto the seasons of fruits and flowers or months of Spring and Summer, with the injunction, under a, penalty, not to eat of the fruit of acertain tree. When the Lord of Evil, or Devil, symbolized by the serpentand represented by the constellation "Serpens" placed in conjunctionwith the Autumnal Equinox, meeting them on the confines of his dominion, and tempting the woman, and she the man, they ate of the forbiddenfruit; thus, falling from their first estate, and committing theoriginal sin, they involved the whole human race in the consequencesof their disobedience. Then the Lord God, pronouncing a curse againstthe serpent, clothed the man and woman with skins to protect themagainst the inclemency of his, dominion as Lord of Evil, and drove themfrom the garden; after which they were necessitated to earn their breadby tilling the ground. 

In, reference to the plan of redemption, the ancient Astrologersdivided the 6, 000 years appropriated to man, as the duration of hisrace on earth, into ten equal cycles, and taught that at the conclusionof each God Sol, as Lord of Good, would manifest himself in the flesh, to destroy his works as Lord of Evil, and through suffering and deathmake an atonement for sin. Thus having originated the doctrines oforiginal sin, incarnation and vicarious atonement, as parts of the planof redemption, and making its finale correspond, in point of time, tothe conclusion of the 12, 000 year cycle, their successors in thepriestly office ultimately inculcated the additional dogmas of thegeneral judgment and future rewards and punishments, as we have shownin our introduction. 

Having based the fables of the fall and redemption of man upon the ideathat he was impelled, without his volition, to pass from the dominionof God to that of the Devil, or in other words, upon his subjection tothe inexorable necessity which makes the inclement seasons of Autumnand Winter succeed the beneficent ones of Spring and Summer, itsauthors composed the original of the text which, found in Romans viii. , 20, reads that "The creature was made subject to vanity (Evil), notwillingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. "

But for the popular teaching in favor of its being literal history, noone could read the account of the fall of man, as recorded in the thirdchapter of Genesis, without recognizing it as simply an allegory; orfail to realize, the force of the argument of no fall, no redemption, and if no redemption, no God to reward or Devil to punish; no hell tosuffer, or heaven to enjoy. The fact is that these are but antitheticalideas which came in together, and must survive or perish together. Theycannot be separated without destroying the whole theological fabric. 

INCARNATIONS OF GOD SOL. 

Believing that God Sol was necessitated to remain at his post to directthe course of the sun, the ancient astrologers conceived the idea ofteaching that, attended by a retinue of subordinate genii, he descendedto earth through the medium of incarnations at the end of 600 yearcycles, to perform the work of man's redemption and, having made Virgoof the Zodiac the mother of the Solar divinity, they taught in theirallegorical Astronomy, or scriptures, that his incarnations were bornof a Virgin. Hence we find that God Sol, usually designated by thetitle of the Word, "was made flesh, and dwelt among us. " John i. , 14. 

In a discourse upon this text delivered by Tillotson, Archbishop ofCanterbury, in the year 1680, published in the fourth volume ofWoodhouse's edition of his Grace's sermons, in the year 1744, concerning the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour, he explains thenecessity of incarnation by saying that "There was likewise a greatinclination in mankind to the worship of a visible Deity, so God waspleased to appear in our nature, that they, who were so fond of avisible Deity, might have one, even a true and natural image of God theFather, the express image of his person. " It only requires a littlereflection to appreciate the Prelate's covert irony and want of faith. 

Having ascribed to the imaginary incarnations of God Sol thecharacteristics of heaven-descending, virgin-born, earth-walking, wonder-working, dying, resuscitated and ascending sons of God, theancient Astrologers attached to them the several titles of Saviour, Redeemer, Avatar, Divine-Helper, Shiloh, Messiah, Christ; and, inreference to their foster-father, that of Son of Man. Teaching thatthey continued to make intercession for sin, after their ascension tothe right hand of the Father, they were also called Intercessors, Mediators or Advocates with the Father. From teaching their appearanceevery 600 years originated the Egyptian legend of the Phoenix, a birdsaid to descend from the sun at these intervals, and, after beingconsumed upon the altar in the temple of On, or city of the sun--calledHeliopolis by the Greeks--would rise from its ashes and ascend to itssource. According to the civil laws of Egypt, manhood was not attaineduntil the age of thirty years. Hence the earthly mission of incarnateSaviours was made to begin at that age; and for the reason that, relating to the apparent transit of the sun through the twelve signs ofthe Zodiac, it was completed during the period of one year. 

To impress the ignorant masses with the belief that the scriptures wereliteral histories, and the incarnate Saviours real personages, theancient Astrologers caused tombs to be erected in which it was claimedthey were buried. Such sepulchres were erected to Hercules at Cadiz, toApollo at Delphi, and to other Saviours at many other places, to whichtheir respective votaries were induced to perform pilgrimages. In Egyptthe pyramids were built, partly for astronomical purposes, and partlyas tombs for Saviours, claimed to have been kings, who had once ruledover the country; and why should we not recognize that magnificentstructure known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem, asbut another of those tombs of Saviours in which no Saviour was everentombed?

Thus we have shown that it was God Sol, the only begotten of theFather, or second person in the sacred Triad, to whom supreme adorationwas inculcated in all forms of the ancient Astrolatry; and that itscultured votaries, understanding that the doctrines pertaining to thefall and redemption of man were evolved from the figurative death andresurrection of the solar divinity, recognized the doctrine ofincarnation as a priestly invention intended only for the ignorantmasses. 

FABLE OF THE TWELVE LABORS. 

The authors of the original solar fables, having lived in that remoteage in which physical prowess was recognized as the highest attributeof humanity, conceived the idea that God Sol, while passing through hisapparent orbit, had to fight his way with the animals of the Zodiac, and with others in conjunction with them. Hence, designating him as theMighty Hunter, and calling his exploits the twelve labors, they madethe incarnate Saviours the heroes of similar ones on earth, which theytaught were performed for the good of mankind; and that, afterfulfilling their earthly mission, they were exhaled to heaven throughthe agency of fire. When these fables were composed the Summer Solsticewas in the sign of Leo, and making the twelve labors begin in it, thefirst consisted in the killing of a lion, and the second, in rescuing avirgin (Virgo) by the destruction of a Hydra, the constellation inconjunction with her. Upon one of the Assyrian marbles on exhibition inthe British Museum these two labors are represented as having beenperformed by a saviour by the name of Nimroud. In the constellations ofTaurus, the bull of the Zodiac, and of Orion, originally known asHorns, in conjunction therewith, we have groupings of starsrepresenting the latter as one of the mighty hunters of the ancientAstrolatry, supporting on his left arm the shield of the lion's skin, the trophy of the first labor, and holding a club in his uplifted righthand, is engaged in performing the tenth labor by a conflict with theformer. 

[See plate4. Gif]

The fable of the twelve labors constituted the sacred records orscriptures of the older forms of Astrolatry, one version of which, written with the cuneiform character upon twelve tablets of burnt clay, exhumed from the ruins of an Assyrian city, and now on exhibition inthe British Museum, is ascribed to Nimroud, the prototype of theGrecian Hercules, and of Nimrod, the Mighty Hunter of the OldTestament. 

ANNIVERSARIES OF SOLAR WORSHIP. 

The Nativity. 

Applying the anniversaries inculcated in the worship of God Sol to hisimaginary incarnations, the founders of the ancient Astrolatry madethem refer to the several stages of human existence from infancy tomature age. Hence, comparing the first day of infantile life to theshortest day of the year, it would naturally be expected that theywould have placed the anniversary of the Nativity exactly at the Wintersolstice; but, having conceived the idea that the sun stood still forthe space of three days at each of the cardinal points, and making itrepresent the figurative death of the genius of that luminary, theyfixed the date for its observance three days later, or on the 25th ofDecember. The Gnostic adherents to the ancient solar worship, or thosewho were conversant with the teachings of the Esoteric philosophy, knowing that the dramatis personae of the fable of incarnation werepictured with stars upon the azure vault, recognized the woman "clothedwith the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown oftwelve stars, " referred to in Revelations xii. 1, as the Virgo of theZodiac; they also knew that she was the true queen of heaven and motherof God; and that the infant, anciently represented in her arms, andwith whom, in their day, she arose on the Eastern horizon at midnighton the 24th of December, was the same of whom the people were taught tosing at Christmas "Unto us a child is born this day. "

With the knowledge of these facts we can readily see that this is theVirgin and child which constituted the originals of those exquisitepaintings, by the old masters, known as the Madonna and Child. 

Epiphany or Twelfth Day. 

In reference to the twelve signs through which the sun makes hisapparent annual revolution, the twelfth day after Christmas, answeringto the 6th of January, was observed by the votaries of the ancientAstrolatry as the anniversary of the Epiphany or Twelfth Day. In thesolar fables, it was taught that a star appeared in the heavens on thatday to manifest the birthplace of the infant Saviour to the Magi orWise Men of the East, who came to pay him homage, and to present himwith the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, as related in Matthewii. 11. 

The reason for presenting these gifts is explained by the facts that ofthe seven metals dedicated to the genii of the planets, gold was theone consecrated to God Sol; and frankincense and myrrh were the gumsburned in censers in his worship. 

In reading the account of the Magi's visit to the infant Saviour, wehave but to exercise our thinking faculties to realize that it isallegory instead of literal history. 

Lent or Lenten Season. 

In the ancient solar fables it was taught that the persecutions towhich the incarnate Saviours were subjected while passing through thedominion of God Sol as Lord of Evil, raged with greatest fury duringthe forty days preceding the festival of Easter, which period, beginning when the days were perceptibly lengthening, was called Lent, or the Lenten season. It was during this season that the votaries ofthe ancient religion were taught to manifest their sympathy for theSaviour in his imaginary conflict with the Devil by abstaining from allfestivities, and by fasting and prayer; and, as that was the season inwhich the flocks and herds were poor in flesh, while the seas andrivers abounded with fish in good condition, the ancient priests, making a virtue of necessity, enjoined a diet principally of fish, andfor that reason placed the constellation Pisces at the point in theZodiac in which the Lenten season anciently began; which, withoutregard to the day of the week, was always observed on the 15th day ofFebruary, the name of that month having been derived from the Februa, or feast of purification and expiation of the old Roman calendar. 

At the council of Nice the Lenten season was made to begin on thefourth day of the week, and in reference to the ancient custom of themore devout sprinkling ashes upon their heads at the feast of theFebrua, it is called Ash Wednesday. 

Hence we see that all years in which Ash Wednesday does not come on the15th of February, the Lenten season must necessarily contain a greateror lesser number than the original assignment of forty days. 

Passion Week. 

The last seven days of Lent is called Passion Week, in reference to theapparent passage of the sun across the Celestial equator at the VernalEquinox or 21st of March; the ancient astrologers having conceived theidea that the sun stood still for the space of three days at each ofthe cardinal points, and making it represent the figurative death ofthe genius of that luminary, it was observed as the anniversary of theVernal crucifixion or passion of the incarnate Saviours; and incommemoration of their imaginary sufferings and death it was the customto expose in the temples during the last three days of Passion Weekfigures representing their dead bodies, over which the votaries ofsolar worship, especially the women, made great lamentation. It was inreference to one of these images, laid out in the temple at Jerusalem, to which the jealous Jehovah, considering it a great abomination in hisown house, is made to direct the attention of Ezekiel, the prophet, who, looking, beheld "Women weeping for Tammuz" as recorded in theeighth chapter. This divinity was the Phoenician prototype of theGrecian Adonis, to whom the women of Judea preferred to pay homage. 

It was during the last three days of Passion Week that the votaries ofsolar worship performed their severest penance. Besides fasting andprayer, the more devout flagellated and slashed themselves and otherswith knives and thongs, and carried heavy crosses up steep acclivities. In all ultra-Catholic countries the priests, in imitation of theancient custom, expose in the churches figures representing the deadSaviour, over which the laity, especially the women, weep and mourn;and the more devout men cut and slash themselves, and each other, withknives and thongs; and, in imitation of the imaginary tramp of Jesuswith his cross up Calvary's rugged side, bear heavy crosses up steepacclivities. 

Passion Plays. 

Anciently dramas representing the passion of incarnate saviours, calledPassion plays, were enacted upon the stage. The most celebrated ofthese divine tragedies, known as Prometheus Bound, and composed by theGreek poet AEschylus, was played at Athens 500 years before thebeginning of the Christian era. To show that this sin-atoning saviourwas not chained to a rock, while vultures preyed upon his vitals, aspopularly taught, but was nailed to a tree; we quote front Potter'stranslation of the play, that passage which, readily recognized as theoriginal of a Christian song, reads as follows:

 "Lo, streaming from the fatal tree, His all atoning blood: Is this the infinite? 'Tis he-- Prometheus and a God. Well might the sun in darkness hide, And veil his glories in, When God the great Prometheus died For man, the creature's sin. "

The veiling of the sun, as represented in these plays, having referenceto the imaginary sympathy expressed by God Sol for the sufferings ofhis incarnate son, was shown upon the stage by shading the lights. Themonks of the Middle Ages enacted plays representing the passion of theChristian Saviour, and the Bavarian peasantry, perpetuating thiscustom, perform the play every tenth year. 

Resurrection and Easter Festival. 

In conformity to the ancient teachings, the incarnate saviours, considered as figuratively dead for the space of three days at theVernal Equinox, or 21st of March, were raised to newness of life afterthe expiration of that time. Hence, the 25th of March, without regardto the day of the week, was celebrated as the anniversary of the Vernalresurrection. On the morning of this day it was the custom of theastrologers to say to the mourners assembled in the temples, "Be ofgood cheer, sacred band of initiates; your God has risen from the dead, his pains and his sufferings shall be your salvation. " Another form ofthis admonition, quoted from an ancient poem in reference to thePhoenician Tammuz, reads as follows:

 "Trust ye saints, your God restored, Trust ye in your risen Lord, For the pains which he endured, Your salvation hath procured. "

Then would begin the festivities of Easter, which corrupted fromEostre, and derived from the Teutonic mythology, was one of the manynames given to the goddess of Spring. In the observance of thisfestival the temples were adorned with floral offerings; the Hilariessang their joyful lays; the fires upon the pyres, or the fire-altars, were extinguished and rekindled with new fire, or sacred fire of thestars, which the Astrologers taught was brought down from heaven by thewinged genius Perseus, the constellation which, anciently, was inconjunction with the Vernal Equinox; Paschal candles, lit from the newfire, were distributed to the faithful and the Paschal feast, Easterfeast, or the feast of the passover, was eaten in commemoration of thepassion of the incarnate saviours, or, in other words, of the passageof the sun across the celestial equator. In ultra-Catholic countriesthe descent of the sacred fire is represented by some secretly arrangedpyrotechny, and the credulous laity, believing they have witnessed amiraculous display, eagerly solicit Paschal candles lit from it; and inimitation of the ancient festivities in honor of the return of spring, all Catholic churches, and most of Protestant ones, are adorned withflowers, the bells ring out their merriest peals, and "Gloria inExcelsis" and other jubilant songs, similar to the lays of the ancientHilaries, are sung. 

Annunciation. 

The anniversary of the Nativity having been placed on the 25th ofDecember, according to the course of nature, the 25th of March wasanciently celebrated as the anniversary of the annunciation, and isstill observed on that day, and the duty of saluting the Virgin (Virgo)and announcing her conception by the Holy Ghost or third person in theTrinity was assigned to the genius of Spring. In the Chaldean versionof the Gospel story the name of Gabriel was given to thispersonification, and in the Christian version of that story he is madeto perform the same office; see Luke i. 26-35. 

Ascension. 

Celebrating the anniversary of the ascension forty days after Easter, it was anciently observed on the 4th of May, and it was taught that theincarnate saviours ascended bodily into heaven, in a golden chariotdrawn by four horses caparisoned with gilded trappings, all glitteringlike fire in the fervid sunlight. Hence when we read in II. Kings ii. 11, that "There appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, . . . And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, " we must accept thistext as descriptive of the imaginary ascension of one of the incarnatesaviours of ancient Judaism. 

Assumption. 

When the Summer solstice was in the sign of Cancer, the sun was in thatof Virgo in the month of August, and the anniversary of the Assumptionwas observed on the 15th of that month, and is so observed at thepresent time. The fact that the anniversary of the Ascension precedesthat of the Assumption explains why Jesus is made to say to his mother(Virgo) soon after his resurrection, "Touch me not: for I am not yetascended to my Father. " John xx. 17. 

The Lord's Supper. 

In the ancient solar worship the so-called ordinance of the Lord'sSupper was observed just before the anniversary of the autumnalcrucifixion; and consisting of bread and wine, in reference to thematuring of the crops and completion of the vintage, was, like themodern festival of the hardest home, a season of thankfulness to theLord (God Sol) as the giver of all good gifts. Hence being observed butonce a year, it was in reality not an ordinance but an anniversary; andthe fact that Christians partake of these emblems so frequently duringthe year indicates that the original signification of the Lord's Supperhas been lost. 

Transubstantiation, or the conversion of the bread and wine into the veritable blood andbody of Christ, is a doctrine of the Catholic church which was derivedfrom the ritual of the ancient solar worship. 

In the 26th chapter of Matthew we have an account of the Lordadministering the last supper to his Disciples on the eve of theautumnal crucifixion, and in verse 27 it reads that "he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. " Thecompilers of the modern version of the Gospel story must surely haveinadvertently copied this text as it read in the ancient versions ofthat old, old story, which, when observed in remembrance of "Our Lordand Saviour Bacchus, " was called the Bacchanalia, or feast, of Bacchus. At these orgies the participants give thanks for the wine by not onlydrinking all of one cup, but many more; in fact they kept on drinkinguntil they fell under the table. 

Autumnal Crucifixion. 

The beneficent seasons of Spring and Summer coming to an end at theAutumnal Equinox, the 22d of September was made the anniversary of theAutumnal Crucifixion. The vernal resurrection and Autumnal Crucifixion, representing the alternate triumph of the personified principles ofGood and Evil, as manifested in the diversity of the seasons; we findappropriately expressed in two religious pictures. In the one, theSaviour, appealing as a vigorous young man, surrounded by a brillianthalo, representing the rays of the all-conquering Sun of Spring, isrising triumphantly from the tomb, before whom the demon of Winter, orDevil, is seen retreating in the background. In the other, thevanquished Saviour, represented by the figure of a lean and haggardman, with a crown of thorns upon his head, around which appears a fainthalo of the Sun's declining rays, and above which is placarded theletters I. N. R. I. , the initial letters of Latin words, signifying thelife to come, or the eternal life, is suspended upon the cross, at thefoot of which his mother Mary (Virgo) is represented as kneeling in amourning attitude, and by her side is seen a serpent and a skull, theemblems of Evil and of Death. 

[See plate5. Gif & plate6. Gif]

Michaelmas. 

In the calendar of the ancient Astral Worship, the fourth day after theAutumnal Equinox was dedicated to the genius of Autumn. In the Chaldeanallegories the name of Michael was given to this personification, andcalled Michaelmas, or feast of Michael. In the Catholic calendar thisanniversary is placed an the 29th of September, instead of the 26th ofthat month, while that of St. Matthew, the Christian genius of Autumn, which should be placed on the 26th of that month, is observed on the21st. 

Thus we have shown that the anniversaries of the ancient Astral Worshipwere all fixed, and from church history we learn that they were soobserved by the Christians until the Council of Nice in the year 325, when the Bishops assembled at that celebrated convocation, desiring tohave the festival of Easter celebrated on Sunday, which had been madethe Sabbath by the edict of Constantine, in the year 321, ordered thatit should be observed on the Sunday of the full moon, which comes on ornext after the Vernal Equinox. Hence, converting it into a movablefestival, its allied feasts and fast days were also made movable. 

PERSONIFICATIONS OF THE DIVISIONS OF TIME. 

In the ancient solar fables the several divisions of time werepersonified and made to pay homage to the Triune Deity, supposed to beenthroned above the firmament. 

The Hours. 

The genii of the hours were designated as Elders, and we find themdescribed in the 4th chapter of Revelation as sitting round about thethrone upon four and twenty seats, clothed in white raiment, and crownsof gold upon their heads. 

The Days. 

Each day of the year was appropriately personified, and these genii ofthe days constitute the saints of the Christian calendar. Of these wewill refer to but one. According to the ancient belief that the sunstood still for the space of three days at each of the cardinal points, the 24th of June was made the first of the decreasing days; anddedicating it to St. John the Baptist, he is made to say in referenceto his opposite, (the genius of the 25th of December, and first of theincreasing days, ) "He must increase, but I must decrease. " This text, found in John iii. 30, simply means that the days of the one mustincrease in length, while the days of the other must decrease. 

The Months. 

The fable of the twelve labors having been superseded by others, inwhich the genii of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, corresponding to themonths, were designated as angels, and made to minister to God Solwhile making his apparent annual revolution; but, when constituted theattendants of the incarnate saviours during their imaginary earth life, they were personified as men and called Disciples. Of these genii ofthe months we will refer only to the first and the last. The firstmonth, dedicated to the genius known in the mythology as Janus, andfrom which was derived the name January, was portrayed with two faces, the one of an old man looking mournfully backward over the old year, and the other of a young man looking joyfully forward to the new year. This personification, made the opener of the year, and represented asholding a pair of cross-keys, was called "The carrier of the keys ofthe kingdom of heaven. " Hence, the Popes of Rome, claiming apostolicsuccession from Peter, the Janus of the Christian twelve, wearcross-keys as the insignia of their office. Sometimes a crosier, orshepherd's crook, is substituted for one of the keys, in reference tohis arrogated office of the leader of the sheep! The authority for theassumption that the Popes are Peter's successors is found in Matthewxvi. 18, 19; but its fallacy becomes apparent when we bear in mind thatthe scriptures are but collections of astronomical allegories, and thatthe Peter referred to in the text was not a man, but the mythicalgenius of the month of January. 

In reference to the last month, we find that the authors of the ancientsolar fables, ever doubting whether God Sol, after inaugurating Winterby his supposed retreat from the earth, would return to revivify naturewith his life-giving rays, gave to the genius of the twelfth month thetitle of the Doubter. In the Christian calendar this personification isknown as Thomas, and a more specific dedication of the shortest day ofthe year having been made to him, the 21st day of December is calledSt. Thomas day. 

The Seasons. 

When the cardinal points were in the constellations Leo, Taurus, Aquarius and Scorpio, the astrologers, objecting to the significationof the latter, substituted the constellation in conjunction therewith, which is known as Aquila (Ak-we-la) or Flying Eagle. In the allegoricalastronomy of that remote period these genii of the seasons weredesignated as beasts, and as such we find them referred to inRevelation iv. 7, which reads as follows: "And the first beast was likea lion (Leo), and the second beast like a calf (Taurus, the bull calf), and the third beast had a face as a man, (Aquarius, the waterman) andthe fourth beast was like a flying eagle (Aquila). " In the first chapterof Ezekiel, the prophet, the genii of the seasons are referred to inthe same manner. 

These genii of the seasons, standing, imaginarily, at the four cornersof the heavens, were called corner-keepers, and making them witnessesto God Sol in his apparent annual revolution, the founders of theAstral Worship designated them as Archangels, Evangelists, God-Spellersor Gospel-Bearers, and claiming inspiration from them, composed fourdifferent histories of the birth and earth-life of the incarnatesaviour, to each of which they attached a name, and called theserecords the Gospel story. In its Chaldean version, the names ofGabriel, Michael, Raphael and Uriel were given them; but while thefirst two of these are mentioned in the Christian Gospel story, itsauthors gave to the Evangelists the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke andJohn. Thus knowing the true signification of the Disciples andEvangelists, the very pertinent question presents itself: If they arenot the genii of the months and the seasons, why are there just twelveof the one and four of the other?

[See plate7. Gif]

Half Year of Increasing Days. 

In the ancient astrolatry, the half year of increasing days, extendingfrom the Winter to the Summer Solstice, was personified by thecomposite figure representing the constellations of Taurus andAquarius, which, constituted of the winged body of a bull and the headand beard of a man, was called the Cherubim. This personification wefind portrayed upon the Assyrian marbles on exhibition in the BritishMuseum. 

Half Year of Decreasing Days. 

The half year of decreasing days, extending from the Summer to theWinter Solstice, was personified by the figure, which, representing theconstellations of Leo and Aquila, and composed of the winged body andlimbs of a lion, with the head of an eagle, was called the Seraphim. These last two personifications constituted the Archangels of theancient Astral Worship. 

Last Quarter of the Year. 

The last quarter of the year was personified in the ancient allegoriesas a decrepit old man, who, stung by a Scorpion (Scorpio), and fatallywounded by an arrow from the quiver of an archer (Saggitarius) dies atthe Winter Solstice; and, after lying in the grave for the space ofthree days, is brought to life again. Such was the personificationreferred to in the Christian Gospel-story as having been raised fromthe grave by the mandate, "Come forth, Lazarus. " Thus have we shownthat the elders and the saints; the angels, and the Archangels; theCherubim and Seraphim; and also poor old Lazarus, are butpersonifications of the several divisions of time. 

ZODIACAL SYMBOLS OF SOLAR WORSHIP. 

Having shown that the founders of the ancient astrolatry accordedhomage to God Sol as Lord of Evil, under the symbol of the serpent, andmarked the beginning of his reign, as such, by the constellation"Serpens" placed in conjunction with the Autumnal Equinox; we will nowdirect attention to the symbols under which he was worshipped as Lordof Good, which, corresponding to the form of the constellation in whichoccurred the Vernal Equinox, and which was changed to correspond to theform of the succeeding constellation as that Cardinal point passed intoit, by that process, known in Astronomy, as the precession of theEquinoxes, its explanation becomes essential to a correct understandingof our subject. 

After long observation, aided by the telescope, of which they wereundoubtedly the original inventors, the ancient Astrologers discoveredthat the Sun, in making his apparent annual revolution, did not returnto the same point in the heavens, but fell behind that of the precedingyear, at the, rate of 50 1/4 seconds of a degree annually. At this rateof precession, which modern, calculation has confirmed, it requires 712-3 years for the Cardinal points to pass through one degree on theEcliptic, and 2150 years through thirty degrees, or one sign of theZodiac. The knowledge of this process affording an exact chronology, weare enabled, not only to determine the origin of these symbols, but toapproximate, very nearly, to the respective dates of their adoption. 

The Sphinx. 

From the teachings of Astronomy we learn that the Summer Solstice isnow occupying the point between the signs of Taurus and Gemini, fromwhich we know that that Cardinal point has passed through three wholesigns since it was between the signs of Leo and Virgo, and we have butto multiply 2, 150 by 3 to determine that it has been about 6, 450 yearsago. Hence, the tourist to the Nile valley, when viewing, near the baseof old Cheops, the great Egyptian pyramid, a colossal head and bust ofa woman, carved in stone, and learns that it is attached to a body, inthe form of a lion in a crouching attitude 146 feet long, hiddenbeneath the shifting sands of the Libyan desert; if possessed of theknowledge of the precession of the Equinoxes, he will be enabled tosolve the riddle of the Sphinx by recognizing in that grotesquemonument the mid-summer symbol of solar worship, when the SummerSolstice was between the signs of Leo and Virgo. 

The Dragon. 

When the Summer Solstice was between the signs of Leo and Virgo, theWinter Solstice was between those of Aquarius and Pisces, and thefigure composed of the body of a man with the tail of a fish became themid-winter symbol of solar worship. Such was the form of this symbol towhich the ancient Phoenicians paid homage to the Lord under the name ofDagon. 

The Bull. 

At the same time the Summer Solstice entered the sign of Leo, theVernal Equinox entered that of Taurus, and the bull becoming the springsymbol of solar worship--the Lord was designated in the ancientallegories as the bull of God which taketh away the sin of the world;which, shorn of its allegorical sense, signifies the sun in Taurus, orsun of spring, which taketh away the evil of Winter. Such is thepurport of hieroglyphical inscriptions upon papyrus rolls found inEgypt, and engraved upon obelisks erected in the Nile valley, one ofwhich has been recently brought to the City of New York and set up inCentral Park. In the East Indies this symbol was represented by thefigure of a bull with the solar disk between his horns; and theEgyptians, who were of Hindoo origin, perpetuating it in their "Apis, "it was reproduced in the golden calf of the ancient Israelites. TheAssyrians represented this symbol by the figure of a winged bull withthe face and beard of a man; the Phoenicians, in their "Baal, " by thefigure of a man with a bull's head and horns; and the small silverbull's heads with golden horns, recently discovered by Dr. Schliemannin the ruins of Mycenae, were jewels worn by the women of that ancientcity, when the Vernal Equinox was in the sign of Taurus. 

The Ram. 

By deducting 2, 150 years from 6, 450, we determine that about 4, 300years; ago the Vernal Equinox entered the sign of Aries, and the springsymbol of solar worship, changing from the bull to the ram, wasrepresented by ram-headed figures, two of which, found in Egypt, are onexhibition in the British Museum. Then the text which read the bull ofGod, was changed to the Ram of God which taketh away the sins of theworld. 

The Lamb. 

Ultimately attaching a meek and lowly disposition to the imaginaryincarnations of the mythical genius of the sun, the symbol of the ramwas changed to that of the lamb, and the text in the allegories, whichread the Ram of God, was changed to read "The Lamb of God which takethaway the sin of the World, " John i, 29. The explanation we have givenrelative to the Zodiacal Symbols of solar worship makes the assurancedoubly sure that the originals of the New Testament were composed whenthe Vernal Equinox was in the sign of Aries, as will be shownhereafter. Having adopted the symbol of the lamb, it was represented byseveral forms of what is known as Agnus Dei, or Lamb of God, one ofwhich was in the form of a bleeding lamb with a vase attached intowhich blood is flowing, which originated in reference to the sheddingof blood as a vicarious atonement for sin. But the most comprehensiveform of this symbol in its astronomical signification, was representedby the figure of a lamb in a standing attitude, supporting the circleof the Zodiac, divided into quarters to denote the seasons. At each ofthe cardinal points there was a small cross, and the lamb held in itsuplifted fore-foot a larger cross, the long arm of which was made tocut the celestial equator at the angle of 23 1/2 degrees, the trueangle of obliquity of the Ecliptic. This symbol is still retained inthe Catholic Church. 

[See plate8. Gif]

The Fish. 

By deducting 2, 150 years from 4, 300 we determine that about 2, 150 yearsago the Vernal Equinox entered the sign of Pisces; and although theoriginal version of the New Testament was founded upon the symbol ofthe lamb, it is a historical fact that for centuries after thebeginning of our era, the Christians paid homage to the Lord under thesymbol of the fish; but ultimately going into desuetude, the lamb wasretained as the distinguishing symbol of the Christian religion untilthe year 680, at which date another was substituted, as will be shownunder our next heading. 

SIGNS OP THE CROSS. 

Among the numerous symbols of solar worship, besides those we havealready referred to, there are three to which we will direct attention. Two of these were of astronomical signification: the one adopted whenthe Spring Equinox was in the sign of Taurus and shaped like the letterT, was the model after which the ancient temples were built; and theother, shaped like the letter X, in reference to the angle of 23 1/2degrees made by the crossing of the Ecliptic and the Celestial equator, is known as St. Andrew's Cross. The third, and most important of allthe symbols of solar worship, in its relation to the Christianreligion, which, having no astronomical signification, originated inEgypt, in reference to the annual inundation of the river Nile. To markthe height to which the water should rise to secure an abundantharvest, posts were planted upon its banks to which cross beams wereattached thus +. If the water should rise to the designated height, itwas called "the waters of life, " or "river of life;" and, ultimately, this form of the cross was adopted as the symbol of the life to come, or eternal life; and the ancient astrologers had it engraved uponstone, encircled with a hieroglyphical inscription to that effect, oneof which was discovered in the ruins of the temple erected atAlexandria, and dedicated to "our Lord and Saviour Serapis. "

But, if the water failed to rise to the required height, and thehorrors of starvation becoming the inevitable result, it was the customof the people to nail to these crosses symbolical personifications ofthe Demon of Famine. To indicate the sterility of the domain over whichhe reigned, he was represented by the figure of a lean and haggard man, with a crown of thorns upon his head; a reed cut from the river's bankwas placed in his hands, as his unreal sceptre; and, considering theinhabitants of Judea as the most slavish and mean-spirited race intheir knowledge, they placarded this figure with the inscription: "Thisis the King of the Jews. " Thus, to the ancient Egyptians, this sign ofthe cross was blessed or accursed as it was represented with, orwithout, this figure suspended upon it. 

When the Roman, or modern, form of Christianity was instituted, thehieroglyphical inscription signifying the life to come or eternal lifewas substituted by a placard nailed to the cross with the letters I. N. R. I. Inscribed upon it, which are the initials of the Latin wordsconveying the same meaning. But if we would learn how the figure of aman came to be suspended upon this form of the cross, we must refer toMediaeval History, which teaches that in the year 680, under thePontificate of Agathon, and during the reign of Constantine Pogonat, atthe sixth council of the church, and third at Constantinople, it wasordered in Canon 82 that "Instead of a lamb, the figure of a man nailedto a cross should be the distinguishing symbol of the Christianreligion. " Now, as this figure is represented by that of a lean andhaggard man, with a crown of thorns upon his head, does it not look asif the old Egyptian Demon of Famine was the model after which it wasconstructed?

FUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 

In the ancient Astrolatry, two different systems of future rewards andpunishments were inculcated; the Oriental or East Indian, and theOccidental or Egyptian; the former, ignoring the resurrection of thebody, taught but one judgment immediately after death, and the latterinculcated an individual judgment immediately after death, theresurrection of the body, and a general judgment at the end of theworld, or conclusion of the 12, 000 year cycle. 

The Oriental System. 

Considering perfect happiness to consist in absolute rest, the Orientalastrologers conceived a state of eternal and unconscious repose, equivalent to soul absorption, to which they gave the name of Nirvana, into which they taught that, by the awards of the gods, the souls ofthe righteous, or those who had lived what they called "thecontemplative life, " would be permitted to enter immediately afterdeath. But, for the souls of sinners, they invented a system ofexpiatory punishments which, known as the Metempsychosis, ortransmigration of souls, taught that they would be compelled tosuccessively animate the bodies of beasts, birds, fishes, etc. , for athousand years before being permitted to enter the Nirvana. 

The Occidental System. 

In concocting the doctrine of the first judgment the Egyptianastrologers, ignoring the Nirvana, inculcated the future sentientexistence of the soul; and, while retaining the Metempsychotialexpiations of the Oriental system, taught that its rewards, andprincipal punishments, would be enjoyed or suffered in the under ornether world, the existence of which they had conceived in constructingtheir system of nature. This imaginary region, known to the Egyptiansas the Amenti, to the Greeks as Hades, and to the Hebrews as Sheol, wasdivided by an impassable gulf into the two states of happiness andmisery which were designated in the Grecian mythology as the Elysium, or Elysian Fields, and the Tartarus. In the lower part of the latterwas located the Phlegethon, or lake of fire and brimstone, the smokefrom which ascended into an upper apartment. 

In this system it was taught that the souls of the two extremes ofsociety, constituted of the righteous and the great sinners, would beconsigned immediately after the first judgment, the one to the Elysium, and the other to the Phlegethon, where they were to remain until thesecond or general judgment; while the souls of less venial sinners, constituting the greater mass of mankind, before being permitted toenter the Elysium would be compelled to suffer the expiatorypunishments of the Metempsychosis, or in the upper region, or "smokyrow" of the Tartarus. Such was the Egyptian purgatory, and its denizensconstituted "the spirits in prison" referred to in I. Peter iii. 19, from which the astrologers claimed to have the power to release, provided their surviving friends paid liberally for their propitiatoryoffices; and, from this assumption, the clergy of the Catholic churchderived the idea of saying masses for the repose of the soul. Thesedoctrines were carried by Pythagoras from Egypt to Greece about 550years before the beginning of our era; and passing from thence to Rome, the Greek and Latin poets vied with each other in portraying Hades andthe joys and terrors of its two states. 

The Second or General Judgment. 

The Egyptian Astrologers, recognizing the soul as a material entity, and conceiving the idea that in the future life it would require amaterial organization for its perfect action, taught that at thegeneral judgment it would be re-united to its resurrected body. Inconformity to this belief, Job is made to say in chapter xix. 25, 26, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latterday upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body, yet in my fleshshall I see God. " The higher class Egyptians, however, fearing thattheir existence would continue to be of the same shadowy and intangiblecharacter after the second judgment, as they believed it would be inthe Amenti, if worms were allowed to destroy their bodies, hoped topreserve them until that time by the process of embalming. 

The imaginary events to occur in connection with the second judgment, which, constituting the finale of the plan of redemption, andinculcated in what are known as the doctrines of Second Adventism, wereto be inaugurated by an archangel sounding a trumpet summoning thequick and the dead to appear before the bar of the gods to receivetheir final awards. At the second judgment, designated in theallegories as "the last day, " "day of judgment, " "great and terribleday of the Lord, " etc. , it was taught that the tenth and last saviourwould make his second advent by descending upon the clouds, and afterthe final awards, the elect being caught up "to meet the Lord in theair" (I. Thes. Iv. 17), the heaven and the earth would be reduced tochaos through the agency of fire. In reference to that grandcatastrophe we find it recorded in II. Peter iii. 10, that "the heavensshall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt withfervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall beburned up. "

After the organization of a new heaven and a new earth it was taughtthat upon the latter would descend a beautiful city, with pearly gatesand golden streets, called the City of God, the Kingdom of God, theKingdom of Heaven or New Jerusalem, in which the host of the redeemedwould, with their Lord and Saviour, enjoy the Millennium, or thousandyears of happiness unalloyed with evil; and such was the Kingdom forthe speedy coming of which the votaries of Astral worship were taughtto pray in what is known as the Lord's Prayer. 

According to the teachings of the Allegories, there were to be no sun, moon or stars during the Millennium, their authors having arranged itso that the light of those luminaries would not be needed, as we findrecorded in Rev. Xxi. 23, and xxii. 5: "The city had no need of thesun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God didlighten it, " and "there shall be no night there; and they need nocandle, neither the light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth themlight. " It must be remembered, when reading the fanciful ideas relativeto the City of God, that they were composed by men who, living in avery ignorant age, gave free rein to fervid imaginations. 

JEWISH OR ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY. 

It is our purpose to present the evidences showing that a system ofAstral worship, which we designate as Jewish Christianity, was inexistence more than two centuries and a half before the institution ofits modern form. In verification of this assertion we must find theinitial point of our inquiry in ancient history, which teaches that inthe division of the Grecian Empire among his generals, after the deathof Alexander the Great, who died 332 years before the beginning of ourera, the governorship of Egypt and adjacent provinces was secured byPtolemy Lagus, or Soter, who, having subsequently suppressed a revoltin Judea, removed from that country a large body of its inhabitants topeople the new city of Alexandria, which had been laid out by order ofand named after the great Conqueror. 

The Egyptian version of the Gospel story, being more appropriate to theNile Valley than to the region from whence they came, the Greekcolonists of Alexandria adopted it, but preferring to pay homage toSerapis, one of the ninth incarnations of God Sol, which they importedfrom Pontus, a Greek province of Asia Minor, they erected to hisworship that celebrated temple known as the Grand Serapium; and, transferring the culture and refinement of Greece to the new city, itbecame, under the Ptolemian dynasty, a great seat of learning; the artsand sciences flourished, an immense library was collected, the variousforms of Astral worship were represented and schools for thedissemination of the several phases of Grecian philosophy and OrientalGnosticism were founded. 

Such being the environment of the Jewish residents of Alexandria, theysoon acquired the vernacular and adopted the religion of the Greeks, who, having ever attached to their incarnate saviours the titlesignifying the Christ, or the anointed, were known as Christians. Encouraged by the liberal policy of Philadelphus, the second Ptolemy, abody of their learned men, who had been educated in the Greek schools, founded a college for the education of their own people, whichinstitution was ultimately known as the University of Alexandria. Underthe auspices of Philadelphus the professors of that institutionrendered their Hebrew sacred records into the Greek language, whichtranslation is known as the Septuagint, or Alexandrian version of theOld Testament. 

Having acquired from the Egyptian astrologers the arts of healing, thaumaturgy and necromancy, and teaching them in their school, theprofessors of the Jewish college of Alexandria assumed the title ofEssenes, or Therapeutae, the Egyptian and Greek words signifyingDoctors, Healers or Wonder Workers. Possessed of the sad and gloomycharacteristics of their race, they adopted the "Contemplative Life, "or asceticism of the Oriental Gnosticism, from which they derived thename of Ascetics. Founding a church for the propagation of theirpeculiar tenets, those who were set apart for the ministry assumed thetitle of Ecclesiastics. Inculcating rigid temperance and self-denialamong their people, they were known as Enchratites, Nazarites orAbstainers; and the more devout among them retiring to monasteries, orto the solitude of caves and other secluded places, were alsodesignated as Monks, Cenobites, Friars, Eremites, Hermits orSolitaries. 

The time having arrived, according to the cyclic teachings of Astralworship, for the manifestation of the tenth and last incarnation of GodSol, or, in other words, to, give a new name to the mythical genius ofthe sun, the professors of the Jewish school of Alexandria is resolvedto inaugurate their own form of worship. While retaining the same titleunder which they had paid homage to Serapis and known as Christians, Essenes or Therapeutae, they substituted for their Christ the name ofthe Grecian Bacchus, which, composed of the letters {Greek:IOTA, ETA, SIGMA}, signifies Yes, Ies or Jes. In composing their versionof the Gospel story, having, like their race, no inventive genius, theyappropriated that of Serapis as its basis and laid its scene in theland of their ancestry, but inconsistently retained the sign of thecross and the phraseology connected there with, which, having specialreference to the Nile River and its annual inundation, had noapplication whatever to the sterile land of Judea. Selecting what theyconceived to be the best from other versions of the Gospel story, andassuming the title of Eclectics, they designated their system as theEclectic Philosophy. In proof of the eclectic character of the Gospeland Epistles of ancient Christianity, we refer to the Asceticisminculcated therein, which, derived from the Oriental Gnosticism, wefind perpetuated in the scriptures of modern Christianity; we alsorefer to the miracle of converting water into wine, taken from theGospel story of Bacchus, and to the statements that the Saviour was theson of a carpenter and was hung between two thieves, copied from thestory of Christna, the Eighth, Avatar of the East Indian astrolatry. Thus we see that, although the scene of the Gospel story of ancientChristianity was laid in the land of Judea, its authors having adopteda Greek version of that story as its basis, given a Greek title andname to their Messiah, perpetuated a Greek name for their sect andquoted exclusively from the Septuagint, or Greek version of the OldTestament, the facts show conclusively that it was not Jews of Judea, but Hellenized Jews of Alexandria, who were the real authors of theancient Christianity. 

THE PROPHECIES. 

The clergy having ever claimed that the prophecies are Divinerevelations of events yet to occur, and having incessantly agitatedsociety by preaching their speedy fulfillment, we propose to expose thefallacy of their teachings by showing that these scriptures are not therecords of future events, Divinely reavealed, but that they originatedwith the founders of Astral worship, who predicated them uponpredetermined events of their own concoction, relative to the generaljudgment, and setting up of the kingdom of heaven, which were to occuras the finale of the plan of redemption and from which were derived thedoctrines of second adventism; and, in determining the exact time whenthen were to occur, we have but to prove that it was coincident withthe conclusion of the last half of the grand cycle of 12, 000 years, which, as we have shown, was dedicated to man as the duration of hisrace on earth. 

As evidence that the founders of the Jewish or ancient Christianitybelieved, like the votaries of other forms of Astral worship, that theprophecies were soon to be fulfilled, we find that the New Testament, of the original version of which they were the authors, is replete withsuch texts as "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, " Matt. Iv. 17; "There be some standing here which shall not taste death till theysee the Son of Man coming in His kingdom, " Matt. Xxi. 28; "The time isfulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand, " Mark i. 15. That theoriginal version of the New Testament was composed when the VernalEquinox was in the sign of Aries we are assured by reason of the factthat it inculcates homage to the Lord under the symbol of the Lamb; andthat it was during the last, or 30th degree of that sign, can readilybe proven by appealing to history and to astronomy, the former of whichteaches that the Jews were removed from Judea to Alexandria twenty-fiveyears before the accession to the throne of Philadelphus, the SecondPtolemy, to whom we have referred in our preceding article, and who, after reigning thirty-nine years, died 246 years before the beginningof our era. By reference to the Celestial atlas we will find that theVernal Equinox will pass out of the sign of Pisces into that ofAquarius, or in the year 1900, and we have but to deduct that period oftime from 2150, the number of years required for the cardinal points topass through one whole sign, to determine that the Spring Equinoxpassed out of the sign of Aries into that of Pisces 250 years beforethe beginning of our era, or about 2, 100 years ago. Now, from theprojections of the astrological science, we are assured that the lasthalf of the grand cycle of 12, 000 years, which was allotted to man asthe duration of his race on earth, was made to begin at a timecorresponding to the Autumnal Equinox, when that cardinal point waspassing out of the sign of Virgo, and that of necessity it had to cometo an end at a time corresponding to the Vernal Equinox, when thatcardinal point was passing out of the sign of Aries; from which we knowwhy, at the last judgment, the office of trumpeter was assigned to theArchangel Gabriel, the genius of Spring, and why it was a ram's hornwith which he was to "toot the crack o' doom"

When the time arrived for the fulfillment of the prophecies we can wellimagine that, fearing the wrath of the Lamb, there were weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth among the terror-stricken sinners, whilethose who believed they had made their calling and election sure werelooking with feverish expectancy for the second advent of their Lordand Saviour; and, doubtless, clothed with their ascension robes, theywatched and waited, with ears alert, to hear the sound of Gabriel'strumpet, summoning the quick, and the dead to the general judgment. Butnot a blast from the archangel's ram's horn was heard reverberatingalong the skies, no Lord appeared descending upon the clouds to meetthe elect in the air, and, in the last act of the fearful drama of"judgment day, " the curtain refused to be rung down upon a burningworld. 

With the non-fulfillment of the prophecies, the more enlightenedelements of society began to scoff at the priests, who were temporarilydemoralized, but true to their deceptive instincts, soon rallying withthe plea of a mistake having been made in the calculations based uponthe prophecies, they undoubtedly concocted scripture to meet that veryemergency, for, to the taunts of the scoffers who, in reference to thesecond advent of the Lord, enquired "Where is the sign of His coming?for, since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they werefrom the beginning of creation, " they answered that "The Lord is notslack concerning His promise, " but "as a thief in the night" he wouldsoon come and all things be fulfilled. See II. Peter, chapter iii. 

Following up the history of this interesting subject, we find that thefounders of modern Christianity, to which we will refer in our nextarticle, in composing their version of the New Testament from that ofthe Jewish, or ancient Christians, made no change in its verbiagerelative to the prophecies; but when Constantine I. , Emperor of Rome, became the patron of the church, her hierarchy, tired of figuring uponthem, secured a long respite from that troublesome subject by claimingto have made other calculations, which put off the time of fulfillmentto the year 1000; and from history we learn when the time arrived thewhole of Christendom was fearfully agitated upon the subject: Sincethen every generation has been vexed with the fallacies of secondadventism; and the facts of the case justify the charge that theclergy, by teaching that the prophecies refer to events yet to occur, are perpetuating a most stupendous fraud upon Christendom, and anearnest and efficient protest should be inaugurated against the furtheragitation of the monstrous delusion of second adventism, which isfrightening thousands of weak-minded people into insanity and causing avast amount of social distress. 

ROMAN OR MODERN CHRISTIANITY. 

Having presented the evidences that the Jewish, or ancientChristianity, originated at the University of Alexandria, under Greekrule, we now propose to show that its modern form emanated from thesame source, under Roman rule; but, before entering upon thisinvestigation, it is important to become conversant with the sentimentsmanifested towards religion by the cultured element of Roman society inthat enlightened era, which, designated as the golden age ofliterature, was adorned by such distinguished orators, philosophers, historians, poets and naturalists as Cicero, Tacitus, Pliny, Horace andVirgil. In reference to this subject, Gibbon, in his history of TheDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. I. , chapter 2, says: "Thevarious modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were allconsidered by the people as equally true, by the philosophers asequally false and by the magistrate as equally useful. Both theinterests of the priests and the credulity of the people weresufficiently respected. In their writings and conversation thephilosophers of antiquity asserted the independent dignity of reason, but they resigned their actions to the commands of law and custom. Viewing with a smile of pity and indulgence the various errors of thevulgar, they diligently practiced the ceremonies of their fathers, devoutly frequented the temples of the gods, and sometimescondescending to act a part on the theatre of superstition, theyconcealed the sentiments of an atheist under the sacerdotal robe. Reasoners of such a temper were scarcely inclined to wrangle abouttheir respective modes of faith or of worship. It was indifferent tothem what shape the folly of the multitude might choose to assume, andthey approached with the same inward contempt and the same externalreverence to the altars of the Lybian, the Olympian or the CapitolineJupiter. " Upon the same subject Mosheim, in his church history, BookI. , chapter 1, says that "The wiser part of mankind, about the time ofChrist's birth, looked upon the whole system of religion as a justobject of contempt and ridicule. "

In determining why such adverse sentiments were entertained towardsreligion by "the wiser part of mankind, " about the time referred to inthe foregoing quotations, it will be found to have been owing to theextensive spread of the Esoteric philosophy, which taught, aspreviously stated, that the gods were mythical and the scripturesallegorical. While attainable only through initiation, it wasnecessarily confined to a limited number, but, ultimately gettingbeyond the control of the priests and vast numbers acquiring theknowledge of its secrets without initiation, it became evident that itwas but a question of time when there would be no respectable elementleft to sustain religion. At this juncture our attention is directed tothe University of Alexandria, which, at that time, was in a flourishingcondition. Having ceased to be an exclusively Jewish school, studentsfrom all parts of the Roman Empire, without regard to nationality, wereattending it, and its professors were drawn from the ranks of bothJewish and Gentile scholars. Realizing the hopelessness of reviving theancient faith among the enlightened clement of society, and theimpossibility of proselyting them to a new form of superstition, theseprofessors resolved to institute a system of worship exclusively forthe Jews and the lower and neglected classes of Gentiles, including theslaves and criminals. To that end they rewrote the scriptures of theJewish or ancient Christianity, which had been preserved among thesecret archives of the University. Retaining their teachings relativeto the finale of the plan of redemption, and its monasticism; also theland of Judea as the scene of its version of the Gospel story, and thename of its saviour, to which they added the Latin terminal "us, " thusmaking it Iesus or Jesus, they perpetuated the Greek name ofBacchus--the same that was ultimately perverted into the monogramwhich, consisting of the Roman letters I. H. S. , is found in allCatholic churches, and in some Protestant ones, is falsely supposed tostand for Jesus Hominum Salvator, or Jesus, Saviour of Men. Conformingtheir version of the Gospel story to the lowly condition of itsexpected votaries, they attached to the saviour the characteristics ofpoverty, and made it teach that he was born in a manger, that hisdisciples were but humble fishermen and that the poor would be the onlyelect in the kingdom of heaven. Dropping the name of Essenes orTherapeutae, and retaining that of Christian, they incorporated athread of real history corresponding to the reign of Augustus, andarbitrarily made the Christian era begin at that time. Having thuscompleted their scheme, they prudently destroyed the original fromwhich they compiled their scriptures, and sending out missionaries toall parts of the Empire commissioned them to preach salvation only tothe Gentile rabblement and to the Jews. 

That the sacred records of the ancient Essenes or Therapeutaeconstituted the basis of the scriptures of modern Christianity we havethe authority of Eusebius, the church historian of the fourth century, from whom we learn nearly all that is reliable of its history duringthe first three centuries. In his Ecclesiastical History, Book II. Chapter 17, he makes the important admission that "Those ancientTherapeutae were Christians, and that their writtings are our Gospelsand Epistles. " As further evidence that modern Christianity is but asurvival of the Eclectic philosophy of the ancient Therapeutae, we haveanother important admission by the same historian, who, in quoting froman apology addressed to the Roman Emperor, Marcus Antoninus, in theyear 171, by Melito, Bishop of Sardis, in Lydia, a province of AsiaMinor, makes that apologist say, in reference to certain grievances towhich the Christians were subjected, that "the philosophy which weprofess truly flourished aforetime among the barbarous nations; buthaving blossomed again in the great reign of thy ancestor, Augustus, itproved to be, above all things, ominous of good fortune to thykingdom. " Thus we have indubitable evidence that it was the Eclecticphilosophy of the Jewish, or ancient Christianity, which "blossomedagain, " in its modern form, during the reign of Augustus. 

From the testimony of Philo, as referred to by Eusebius, and from thewritings of Josephus, the Jewish historian, we learn that, at thebeginning of our era, the descendants of the ancient Essenes were stillobserving the practices and customs of monasticism. But as Josephusrefers to them only as descendants of the ancient Essenes, and makes nomention of Christ or Christians--except in one paragraph which has beenconceded by the best authorities to be an interpolation it is evidentthat, at that time, they had no connection with the University ofAlexandria, and nothing whatever to do with the institution of modernChristianity. It is also apparent that the Jews of Judea had no hand inits organization, for, if they had instituted it, they would not haveattached to the Messiah the Greek title signifying the Christ, but, writing their version of the Gospel story in their own dialect, wouldhave used the Hebrew word signifying the Shiloh (see Gen. Xlix. 10);and furthermore, having conceived the idea that he would manifesthimself as a great temporal prince, who would re-establish the throneof David, and deliver them from the oppression of foreign rulers, theywould not have attached to him the humble characteristics of the Christof the new Testament. Again, if they had been the authors of modernChristianity, it would have been a most surprising inconsistency forthem to turn right about and reject its conceptions of a savior, especially when that rejection resulted in the dire persecutions towhich their race has ever been subjected by the Christians. But theGentile riffraff, attracted by the gracious promises of enjoying in theworld to come the felicities denied them in this, eagerly attachedthemselves to the new sect, which rapidly increased in numbers, and itsvotaries, glorying in the opprobrious epithet of Ebionites, or needyones, made themselves so obnoxious by their aggression and turbulentdispositions that, barely tolerated by the Government and condemned bythe cultured adherents to the established religion, many of them, courting the crown of martyrdom, suffered death at the hands of thecivil authorities; and thus was engendered that spirit of hatredagainst their fancied oppressors which only awaited the opportunity tomanifest itself in deeds of rapine and-bloodshed. 

The fanacticism which prevailed among the earlier Christians was thedirect result of their dense ignorance, and to this sole cause we mayascribe all the trouble which the Roman Government had with them, andto become convinced of this fact we have but to study church history. In reference to this subject Mosheim, in his Ecclesiastical History;Vol. 4, part 2, chap. 1, says: "It is certain that the greatest partboth of the bishops and presbyters were men entirely destitute oflearning and education. Besides, that savage and illiterate party, wholooked upon all sorts of erudition, particularly that of aphilosophical kind, as pernicious, and even destructive of true pietyand religion, increased both in number and authority. The ascetics, monks and hermits augmented the strength of this barbarous faction, andnot only the women, but also all who took solemn looks, sordidgarments, and a love of solitude, for real piety, were vehementlyprepossessed in their favor. " In almost any history of England we willfind it recorded that, even in the ninth century, King Alfred lamentedthat there was at that time not a priest in his dominions whounderstood Latin; and even for some centuries after the bishops andprelates of the whole Christian community were marksmen, i. E. , theysupplied by the sign of the cross the inability to write their ownnames. If the bishops and priests were so supremely ignorant what canhe said in reference to the literary attainments of the laity?

The Christians were alternately persecuted and tolerated by the RomanEmperors until the first quarter of the fourth century, when certainevents occurred through which the Church of Rome became the recipientof Imperial Patronage. Constantine I. , called the Great, having madehimself sole Emperor by destroying all other claimants to the throne, applied to Sopater, one of the priests of the established religion, forabsolution, and was informed that his crimes were of such an atrociouscharacter that there was no absolution for him. Believing that thePhlegethon, or lake of fire and brimstone, awaited him in the futurelife, unless he could obtain absolution, he became very much distressedwhen one of his courtiers, learning the cause and referring him to theChurch of Rome, he at once applied to her Bishop, Silvester, who, readily granting the desired absolution, he added another victim to hisbutcher bill by ordering the death of the honest priest who had refusedto grant him absolution. The Christian sect having become a powerfuland dangerous faction, Constantine conceived the idea of strengtheninghis usurped and precarious position by attaching it to his interest, and to that end he professed himself a convert to its tenets, and, taking the Church of Rome under his especial patronage, elevated herBishop to the rank of a prince of the Empire and gave him one of hispalaces for a residence. 

The Christian hierarchy, knowing that it would be a potent means ofconfirming the faith of the laity in the Gospel story as a literalhistory to have a tomb of the Saviour to which pilgrimages could bemade, and appealing to Constantine to provide one, he sent his mother, Helena, to Judea to find the place and, of course, discovering what shewent to look for, he had erected, under her supervision, over thedesignated spot, that splendid edifice which, known as the church ofthe Holy Sepulchre, remains to this day. Helena, good at finding lostthings, also claimed to have discovered the veritable cross upon whichthe Saviour had been crucified; and her son, worthy of such a mother, claimed, as recorded by Eusebius, that he had seen with his own eyesthe trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, bearingthe inscription: "In Hoc Signo Vinces, " signifying "Under this sign, conquer. " Those were times of remarkable and supernatural occurrences. 

At the time Constantine became the patron of Christianity the bishopsand presbyters of the several churches, seemingly ignorant of theteachings of the Esoteric philosophy relative to the origin of theTrinity, were divided into two factions in discussing the relationbetween the Father and the Son. One party, headed by Athanasius, apresbyter of Alexandria, and afterwards bishop of that see, advocatedthe ancient belief that the three persons in the godhead of Father, Sonand Holy Ghost is but one God, that Christ is consubstantial orco-eternal with the Father, and that he became man to perform hismission of redemption. Such, in brief, is what is known as theAthanasian or Trinitarian Creed. The other party, headed, by Arius, another presbyter of Alexandria, advocated the belief in one God aloneand that Christ, having no existence until begotten of the Father, isnot consubstantial or co-eternal with him. Such, in substance, constitutes what is known to the Trinitarian or Orthodox Christians asthe Arian or Unitarian heresy. Could stronger evidence be adduced thatthis controversy was the result of ignorantly making a distinctionwhere there is no difference, for whether Trinitarian or Unitarian themythical genius of the sun is the God to whom they all paid supremeadoration, although the Christians of to-day would deny it mostemphatically. 

The faction, advocating the Trinitarian creed having converted theEmperor to their belief, and influencing him to enforce it as afundamental doctrine of the Christian theology, he, in the year 325, summoned, at his own expense, a general council of bishops and prieststo meet at Nice, in Bithynia, a province of Asia Minor. When they hadassembled he appeared among them, clad in gorgeous attire, with ajewel-studded diadem upon his royal brow, and, seated upon a gildedchair, presided over their deliberations. A minority of them, holding"most contumaciously" to the Arian heresy, and refusing to change theirviews at the bidding of the Emperor, he banished them from theirrespective bishoprics, while the majority adopted the Trinitariancreed, and appealing to Constantine to suppress the writings of Ariushe issued an edict for that purpose, which we present as follows:"Moreover we thought that if there can be found extant any work or bookcompiled by Arius the same should be burned to ashes, so that not onlyhis damnable doctrine may thereby be wholly rooted out, but also thatno relic thereof may remain unto posterity. This we also straightwaycommand and charge, that if any man be found to hide or conceal anybook made by Arius, and not immediately bring forth such book, anddeliver it up to be burned, that the said offender for so doing shalldie the death. For as soon as he is taken our pleasure is that his headshall be stricken off from his shoulders. " Rather a blood-thirsty, edict to be issued by the "puissant, the mighty and noble Emperor, " anda very inconsistent one, considering that he soon afterwards readoptedthe Unitarian faith and restored the banished bishops to theirrespective sees; but, regardless of his action, the Church of Romesustained the Trinitarian creed and enforced the dogma of the supremedivinity of Christ. 

Thus we see that the history of Christianity, in the first half of thefourth century, cannot be written without incorporating considerablefrom the life of Constantine, whose ensanguined record before hispretended conversion marks him as the most brutal tyrant that everdisgraced the imperial purple; but the appalling crimes he perpetratedafterwards, among which were the scalding his inoffending wife to deathin a bath of boiling water, and the murdering, without cause, of sixmembers of his family, one of which was his own son, justify what alearned writer said of him, that "The most unfortunate event that everbefell the human race was the adoption of Christianity by thecrimson-handed cut-throat in the possession of unlimited power, " andyet Constantine was canonized by the Eastern church. 

During the first three centuries, when Christianity was but a weaksect, her bishops addressed numerous apologies to the Roman Emperors, in which they claimed tolerance from the government on the ground thattheir form of worship was virtually the same as the establishedreligion. But after Constantine's pretended conversion its hierarchybegan to labor for the recognition of Christianity as the statereligion, and to give to their demand some show of consistency theyinsisted that their scriptures were really historical, and that therewas no resemblance whatever between the two forms of worship; whiletheirs was of Divine authenticity the Pagans was purely a humaninstitution. 

For centuries after the convocation of the council of Nice the peaceand harmony of the several churches were disturbed by the rancorousdiscussion of the same old questions of Trintarianism and Unitarianism, the Western church adhering to the former while a majority of theEastern congregations maintained their faith in the latter; butultimately the Trinitarian party, gaining the ascendency, andpersecuting the adherents of the Unitarian faith, the greater part ofthem retired into northern Arabia where they founded numerousmonasteries; and from history we learn that, having impressed theirUnitarian faith upon the populace of that country, it was ultimatelyincorporated into the Koran, the sacred book of Mohammedanism; and, while becoming votaries of that form of worship, still retained thebelief that Christ was but one of the prophets. 

The cultured adherents to the established form of worship, becomingalarmed at the growing power and influence of the Christians and at theprospect of such an ignorant and vicious rabble obtaining control ofthe government, regardless of their pledge to keep the Gnosis secret, publicly announced that the Gods were mythical and the scripturesallegorical, and engaged in a heated controversy with the Christiansupon the subjects. The character of their discussions is well, althoughsupposititiously, expressed by Gerald Massey, in his work entitled, "The Historical Jesus and the Mythical Christ;" page 179, Americanedition, where he makes the Gnostics say to the Christians, "You poorignorant idiots; you have mistaken the mysteries of old for modernhistory, and accepted literally all that was only meant mystically. " Towhich the Christians responded, "You spawn of Satan, you are making themystery by converting our accomplished facts into your miserablefables; you are dissipating and dispersing into thin air our only bitof solid foothold in the world, stained with the red drops of Calvary. You are giving a satanic interpretation of the word of revelation andfalsifying the oracles of God. You are converting the solid facts ofour history into your newfangled allegories;" to which the Gnosticsreplied, "Nay, it is you who have taken the allegories of Mythology forhistorical facts. "

But it was impossible to stem the rising tide; the lessons which thepriesthood had taught the ignorant masses had been too well learned. They were sure that their scriptures were historical; that Jesus Christwas truly the incarnate saviour who had died and rose again for thesalvation of the elect, and that being the elect it would bepre-eminently just and proper that the old Pagan form of worship shouldbe abrogated and theirs recognized as the state religion. Thus theconflict raged until the year 381, when, under the reign of the EmperorTheodosius the Great, this demand having been formally made, and theSenate, fearing the tumult a refusal would excite, with a show of fairdealing ordered the presentation, before that body, of the respectivemerits of the two forms of worship. In that memorable discussion, whichlasted a whole week, Symmachus, a senator, advocated the old system, and Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, the new, which resulting, as a foregoneconclusion, in the triumph of Christianity, a decree to that effect waspromulgated. 

Then the long deferred opportunity having arrived, the vengefulbishops, hounding on a no less vengeful laity, ruthlessly murdered thepriests of the old religion, and, appropriating its emoluments to theirown use, they seized upon its temples, and demolishing some, convertedothers into churches. With iconoclastic hands they destroyed some ofthe statues representing the ancient divinities, or after mutilationexposed others in public places to the derision of the populace. Subjecting the adherents to the older form of worship, whom theydesignated as infidels, to the most diabolical indignities andpersecutions, they destroyed their works of art, burned theirlibraries, suppressed their schools of learning, and either killed orexiled their professors. Among the atrocious acts perpetrated by thesefiends in human shape none was more barbarous than the one committed inAlexandria, in the year 415, when Hypatia, the beautiful andaccomplished daughter of Theon, who had succeeded her father asprofessor of mathematics and philosophy in the Alexandrian University, while on her way to deliver a lecture, was, by order of Bishop Cyril, dragged from her chariot and murdered in a most revolting manner. 

One of the successors of Theodosius justified himself in decreeing thespoliation of the old religion upon the grounds that "It was unbecominga Christian government to supply the infidels with the means ofpersevering in their errors. " Another one of the Emperors, more zealousthan his predecessors, decreed the death penalty against all personsdiscovered practicing any of the rites and ceremonies of the oldreligion. Thus the onslaught of Christian savagery obliterated thecivilization of Greece and Rome, and inaugurated that long reign ofintellectual night known as the Dark Ages, which, materially aiding ineffecting the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, made it possible toerect upon its ruins that Italian Oligarchy, which, since then, hasruled the greater part of Christendom. 

The dogmatic element of the ancient astrolatry, as incorporated intothe Christian creed, underwent no material change until theinauguration of the dark ages, when the bishops of the severalchurches, in the delirium of metaphysical speculation, concocted thepreviously unheard of doctrine of pre-existence of spirit, inconformity to which God was declared to be purely a spiritual deity, who, existing before matter, created the universe of nothing. Being thesole custodians of the scriptures; and changing the six periods of athousand years each to the six days of creation, they altered Gen. I, 1, to read, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, "which in the original read: "In the beginning, when the Gods (Elohim orAlehim) had made (shaped or formed) this heaven and this earth. " Theseradical changes necessitating others, they made two distinct andindependent beings of the principles of Good and Evil personified inthe God Sol; the former they embodied in Jesus the Christ and thelatter in the Christian Devil, thus supplanting old Pluto; thepresiding genius of the under world. 

Rejecting the ancient doctrines relative to the soul, and teachingthat, having proceeded from a purely spiritual deity, it would existeternally as an independent spiritual entity, they substituted for theancient system of limited rewards and punishments the one inculcatingtheir endless duration. These changes in the creed, which wereconfirmed at the general council of Constantinople, in the year 553, necessitating further alterations of the scriptures, the righteous werepromised "eternal life" in the Paradise of God beyond the stars; and, While consigning great sinners to "everlasting punishment" in theTartarian fires of the under world, the less venial were to expiatetheir crimes in the same old Purgatory. Thus, having invented anendless heaven and an endless hell for purely spiritual souls, andneglecting to expunge the doctrines of the resurrection of the body, the setting up of the kingdom of heaven upon a reorganized earth andother materialistic teachings of the ancient religion, they made of thecreed and scriptures such a conglomeration of "things new and old"that, without the Astrological key, it would be impossible to determinewhat they originally taught. 

At the Reformation in the 16th century Luther and his coadjutors, whileprojecting into the Protestant creed all the cardinal tenets ofCatholicism, excepting that of Purgatory, made no change in theverbiage of the scriptures. Thus retaining the awful doctrine ofendless hell, the reformers constructed a creed which they intended forthe government of Protestants for all time; but, doing what had neverbeen done before in the history of the world, they gave the scripturesto the laity, and, whether or not they secured the right of privatejudgment or individual interpretation, it has been taken all the same;and thus opening the door to investigation, it must ultimately resultnot only in the abrogation of hell, but in the relegation to the limboof oblivion of the whole dogmatic element of religion. 

As a fitting conclusion to this article, we again direct the attentionof our readers to the subject of the primary source of religiousdogmas. Prior to the establishment of Christianity as the statereligion of the Roman Empire, the philosophers who wrote against itinvariably made the charge that its theology was derived from theancient Paganism. After its establishment as the state religion of theEmpire, the hierarchy of the church, knowing that this charge wasunanswerable, instigated the Emperor Theodosius I. To promulgate anedict decreeing the destruction of all books antagonistic toChristianity. This edict, directed more particularly against thewritings of Celsus, was carried out so effectually that we know nothingof what he wrote, only as quoted by Origen, the distinguished churchfather of the third century, who attempted to answer in eight bookswhat Celsus had written in one, entitled "The True Discourse. " In oneof his quotations from Celsus' work he makes that philosopher say "thatthe Christian religion contains nothing but what Christians held incommon with heathens, nothing that was new or truly great. " SeeBellamy's translation, chapter 4. During the earlier centuries theChristians were divided into numerous sects, entertaining verydivergent views, and each faction, holding all others to be heretical, charged them with having derived their doctrines from the Paganreligion. Upon this subject we find that Epiphanius, a celebratedchurch father of the 4th century, freely admits that all that differedfrom his own were derived from the heathen mythology. Such was theposition of all orthodox writers during the Middle Ages, and since theReformation the Protestant clergy have uniformly made the same chargeagainst the Catholic; a few quotations from their writings we presentfor the edification of our readers. 

Jean Daille, a French Protestant minister of the 17th century, in histreatise entitled La Religion Catholique Romaine Institute par NamaPompile, demonstrates that "the Papists took their idolatrous worshipof images, as well as all their ceremonies, from the old heathenreligion. " Bishop Stillingfleet of the English church and a writer ofconsiderable eminence in the 17th century, said, in reference to thecomplaisant spirit of the early church towards the Pagans, that "it wasattended by very bad consequences, since Christianity became at last, by that means, nothing else but reformed Paganism, as to its divineworship. " See Stillingfleet's defense of the charge of idolatry againstthe Romanists, vol. 5, page 459. M. Turrentin, of Geneva, Switzerland, a learned Protestant writer of the 17th century, in one of his orationsdescribing the state of Christianity in the 4th century, says "that itwas not so much the Empire that was brought over to the faith, as thefaith that was brought over to the Empire; not the Pagans who wereconverted to Christianity, but the Christians who were converted toPaganism. " Thus, having shown that the Catholics derived all theircardinal tenets from the Pagan mythology, the Protestants must surelyhave obtained theirs from the Catholics, for they teach all of themexcept that of Purgatory. 

FREEMASONRY AND DRUIDISM. 

The rites and ceremonies of Astral worship, under the name of Druidism, were primarily observed in consecrated groves by all peoples; whichcustom was retained by the Scandinavian and Germanic races, and by theinhabitants of Gaul and the British Islands; while the East Indians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Grecians, Romans, and other adjacent nations, ultimately observed their religious services in temples; and we proposeto show that the modern societies of Freemasonry, and ancient order ofDruids, are but perpetuations of the grove and temple forms of theancient astrolatry. In determining the fact that Freemasonry finds itsprototype in the temple worship of ancient Egypt, we have but to studythe Masonic arms, as illustrated in Fellows' chart, in which arepictured, as its objects of adoration, the sun and moon, the sevenstars, known as Pleiades in the sign of Taurus; the blazing starSirius, or Dog-star, worshipped by the Egyptians under the name ofAnubis, and whose rising forewarned those people of the rising of theNile River; the seven signs of the Zodiac from Aries to Libra, inclusive, through which the sun was supposed to pass in making hisapparent annual revolution, and which constitutes the Royal arch fromwhich was derived the name of one of its higher degrees; and itsarmorial bearings, consisting of pictures of the Lion, the Bull, theWaterman, and the Flying Eagle, which representing the signs at thecardinal points, constituted the genii of the seasons. Besides these, we have the checkered flooring or mosaic work, representing the earthand its variegated face, which was introduced when temple worshipsucceeded its grove form; the two columns representing the imaginarypillars of heaven resting upon the earth at Equinoctial points, andsupporting the Royal arch; also the letter "G" standing for Geometry, the knowledge of which was of great importance to the natives of Egyptin establishing the boundaries of their lands removed by theinundations of the Nile, the square and compass, being the instrumentsthrough which the old landmarks were restored, and which ultimatelybecame the symbols of justice. The cornucopia, or horn of plenty, denoted the sun in the sign of Capricorn, and indicated the season whenthe harvest was gathered and provisions laid up for Winter use; thecenotaph or mock coffin with the sign of the cross upon its lid, referred to the sun's crossing of the celestial equator at the AutumnalEquinox, and to the figurative death of the genius of that luminary inthe lower hemisphere; whose resurrection at the Vernal Equinox istypified by the sprig of acacia sprouting near the head of the coffin. The serpent, issuing from the small vessel to the left, represented thesymbol of the Lord of Evil under whose dominion was placed the seasonsof Autumn and Winter; and the figure of a box at the right hand, represented the sacred ark in which, anciently, the symbols of solarworship were deposited; but which is now used by the masons as areceptacle for their papers. 

[See plate9. Gif]

After, the promulgation, in the fifth century, of the edict by one ofthe Emperors of Rome, decreeing the death penalty against all personsdiscovered practicing any of the rites and ceremonies of the ancientreligion, a body of its cultured adherents, determining to observe themsecretly, banded themselves together into a society for that purpose. With the view to masking their real object, they took advantage of thefact that the square and compass, the plumbline, etc. , were symbols ofspeculative masonry in the temple form of Astral worship, they publiclyclaimed to be only a trades-union for the prosecution of the arts ofarchitecture and operative masonry; but, among themselves, were knownas Free and Accepted Masons or Freemasons. In imitation of the ancientmysteries they instituted lower and higher degrees; in the former theytaught the Exoteric creed, and in the latter the Esoteric philosophy, as explained in our introduction. Inculcating supreme adoration to thesolar divinity the candidates for initiation were made to personatethat mythical being and subjected to the ceremonies representing hisfigurative death and resurrection, were required to take fearful oathsnot to reveal the secrets of the order. To enable them to recognizeeach other, and to render aid to a brother in emergencies, they adopteda system of grips, signs and calls; and to guard against the intrusionof their Christian enemies they stationed watchmen outside of theirlodges to give timely warning of their approach. Thus was institutedthe original Grand Lodge of Freemasonry, from which charters wereissued for the organization of subordinate lodges in all the principalcities throughout the Roman Empire. 

Becoming cognizant of the true object of Freemasonry, the Hierarchy ofthe Church of Rome resolved to suppress the order, and to that endmaintained such a strict espionage upon its members that, no longerable to assemble in their lodges, they determined to defend themselvesby an appeal to arms, and gathering together in strongholds, for a longtime successfully resisted the armies of the church; but ultimately, being almost exterminated, the residue disbanded, and we hear no moreof Freemasonry, as a secret order, until the conclusion of the DarkAges, when the Reformation, making it possible, a form of the order, recognizing Christianity, was revived among the Protestants; but theChurch of Rome, true to her traditions, has never ceased to hurlanathemas against it and all other secret societies outside of her ownbody. Thus, having made it apparent that Freemasonry, as primarilyinstituted, was but a perpetuation of the temple form of Astralworship, we can readily see that, while some of its symbols are as oldas the ancient Egyptian religion, it did not, as a secret order, takeits rise until Christian persecution made it necessary. Hence it cannotjustly lay claim to a greater antiquity than the fifth century of theChristian era. 

According to Masonic annals a Grand Lodge was organized at York, England, early in the tenth century, but, like the lodges of SouthernEurope, was suppressed by the Church of Rome. In 1717 a Grand Lodge wasorganized at London, England, and soon afterwards the old Grand Lodgeat York was revived, and its members took the name of Free and AcceptedAncient York Masons, from which emanated the charter of the Grand Lodgein the United States, which was organized in Boston in 1733. In 1813the rivalry between the Grand Lodges of York and London wascompromised, and the supremacy of the former was conceded. 

From church history we learn that in the year 596 of our era PopeGregory I. Dispatched Augustin, and forty other monks of the order ofSt. Andrew, from Rome to Britain, to convert the natives toChristianity; but, while the Anglo-Saxons embraced the new faith, theBritons rejected it, and, being persecuted by the Christians, retiredto the fastnesses of the country known as Wales, where, for a longperiod, they maintained the observance of the Druidical form ofworship; and although that country has long since become Christianized, the society of the Ancient Order of Druids has existed with anuninterrupted succession at Pout-y-prid, where the Arch-Druid resides, and from, whence emanated the charter of the Grand Lodge of the orderin this country. In reference to the Druidism on the continent, historyrecords the fact that when one of the reigning kings became a convertto Christianity the whole of his subjects were baptized into the Churchof Rome by Imperial decree. 

THE SABBATH. 

In determining the origin of the seventh day Sabbath, we must ofnecessity refer to that source of all religious ordinances, the ancientastrolatry, the founders of which, having taught that God Sol wasengaged in the reorganization of Chaos during the first six periods ofthe twelve thousand year cycle, corresponding to the months of Springand Summer, they conceived the idea that he ceased to exert hisenergies, or rested from his labors on the seventh period, corresponding to the first of the Autumn months. Hence, deriving thesuggestion from the apparent septenary rest in nature, they taught thatGod ordained the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath or rest day forman. 

In conformity to this ordinance the founders of ancient Judaismenforced the observance of the seventh day Sabbath in the fourthcommandment of the Decalogue, which, found in Gen. Xx. 8-11, [1] readsas follows, viz: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six daysshalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is theSabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in sixdays the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath dayand hallowed it. " Thus was the seventh day of the week made the Sabbathof the Old Testament; but the authors of the Jewish or ancientChristianity, looking for the immediate fulfillment of the propheciesrelative to the second judgment, ignored its observance, as may be seenby reference to Mark ii. 23, 27; John v. 2-18; Romans xiv. 5; and Col. Ii. 16; and the founders of modern Christianity, perpetuating thebelief in the speedy fulfillment of those prophecies, made no changerelative to the Sabbath in their version of the New Testament. 

After Constantine's pretended conversion to Christianity, and the timefor the fulfillment of the prophecies had been put off to the year10000, as previously stated, the hierarchy of the church appealed tothe Emperor to give them a Sabbath, and although they knew that theseventh day of the week was the Sabbath of the Old Testament, and thatSunday was the first of the six working days, according to the fourthcommandment, their hatred to the Jews for refusing to accept theirChrist as the Saviour induced them to have it placed on the first dayof the week. Hence that obliging potentate, in the year 321, promulgated the memorable edict, which, found in that Digest of Romanlaw known as the Justinian Code, Book III. , Title 12, Sec. 2 and 3, reads as follows, viz. : "Let all judges and all people of the townsrest and all the various trades be suspended on the venerable day ofthe Sun. Those who live in the country, however, may freely and withoutfault attend to the cultivation of their fields lest, with the loss offavorable opportunity, the commodities offered by Divine Providenceshall be destroyed. " Thus we see that the primary movement towardsenforcing the observance of Sunday, or Lord's Day, as the Sabbath, didnot originate in a Divine command, but in the edict of an earthlypotentate. 

This edict was ratified at the third council of Orleans, in the year538; and in order, "that the people might not be prevented fromattending church, and saying their prayers, " a resolution was adoptedat the same time recommending the observance of the day by all classes. From merely "recommending, " the Church of Rome soon began to enforcethe observance of the day; but, in spite of all her efforts, it was notuntil the 12th century that its observance had become so universal asto receive the designation of "The Christian Sabbath. "

Cognizant of the manner in which Sunday was made the Sabbath, Lutherissued for the government of the Protestant communion the followingmandate: "As for the Sabbath, or Sunday, there is no necessity forkeeping it;" see Michelet's Life of Luther, Book IV. , chapter 2. Lutheralso said, as recorded in Table Talk, "If anywhere the day (Sunday) ismade holy for the mere day's sake; if anywhere anyone sets up itsobservance upon a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, todance on it, to ride on it, to feast on it, and to do anything thatshall reprove this encroachment on the Christian spirit of liberty. "Melancthon, Luther's chief coadjutor in the work of Reformation, denied, in the most emphatic language, that Sunday was made the Sabbathby Divine ordainment; and in reference thereto John Milton, in reply tothe Sunday Sabbatarians, makes the pertinent inquiry: "If, on a plea ofDivine command, you impose upon us the observance of a particular day, how do you presume, without the authority of a Divine command, tosubstitute another in its place?"

During the reign of Elizabeth, Queen of England, a sect of fanatics, known as Dissenters or Nonconformists, basing their action upon thefallacious arguments derived from the fourth commandment, and upon theplea that the Saviour was raised from the dead on the first day of theweek, inaugurated what is known as the Puritan Sabbath, which havingbeen transferred to our shores by the voyagers in the Mayflower, andenforced by those statutory enactments known as Blue Laws, caused thepeople of New England to have a blue time of it while the delusionlasted; and now a large body of Protestant clergy perverting theteachings of scripture, and, ignoring the authority of the Reformers, are disturbing the peace of society by their efforts to enforce thecode of sundry laws, which were enacted through their connivance. Thushave we shown that, originating with the Catholics and adopted by theProtestants, the Sunday Sabbath is purely and entirely a humaninstitution, and, being such, we must recognize all Sunday laws asgrave encroachments upon constitutional liberty; and it behooves theadvocates of individual rights to demand their immediate repeal; forunless a vigilant watch is kept upon the conspirators who secured theirenactment, our fair land will soon be cursed by a union of church andState, the tendency in that direction having been indicated by theunprecedented opinion recently handed down by one of the Justices ofthe United States Supreme Court that this is a Christian Government. 

PIOUS FRAUDS. 

By claiming to be divinely appointed for the propagation of a divinelyauthenticated religion, the priesthood of all forms of worship haveever labored to deceive and enslave the ignorant multitude; and insupport of these fallacious assumptions have resorted to all manner ofpious frauds, in reference to which we quote from both Pagan andChristian sources with the view to showing that the moderns havefaithfully followed the ancient example. Euripedes, an Athenian writer, who flourished about 450 years before the beginning of our era, maintained that, "in the early state of society, some wise men insistedon the necessity of darkening truth with falsehood and of persuadingmen that there is an immortal deity who hears and sees and understandsour actions, whatever we may think of that matter ourselves. " Strabo, the famous geographer and historian of Greek extraction, who flourishedabout the beginning of the Christian era, wrote that "It is notpossible for a philosopher to conduct by reasoning a multitude of womenand the low vulgar, and thus to invite them to piety, holiness andfaith; but the philosopher must make use of superstition and not omitthe invention of fables and the performance of wonders. For thelightning and the aegis and the trident are but fables, and so allancient theology. But the founders of states adopted them as bugbearsto frighten the weak-minded. " Varro, a learned Roman scholar, who alsoflourished about the beginning of our era, wrote that "There are manytruths which it is useless for the vulgar to know, and many falsehoodswhich it is fit that the people should not know are falsehoods. "

So much from Pagan authorities relative to the necessity of deceivingthe ignorant masses. We will now present some Christian authoritiesupon the same subject; and first from Christ himself, who in addressinghis disciples is made to say, in Mark iv, 11, 12, "Unto you it is givento know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto them that arewithout all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may seeand not perceive; and hearing they may hear and not understand. " Paul, in his fourteen Epistles, inculcates and avows the principle ofdeceiving the common people. He speaks of having been upbraided by hisown converts with being crafty and catching them with guile and of hisknown and wilful lies abounding to the glory of God. See Romans iii. 7, and II. Cor. Xii. 16. If Christ and Paul were guilty of deception, their followers had good excuse for the same course of conduct. Uponthis subject Beausobre, a very learned ecclesiastical writer, whoflourished about the beginning of the 18th century, says: "We see inthe history which I have related a sort of hypocrisy that has been, perhaps, but too common at all times; that churchmen not only do notsay what they think, but they do say the direct contrary of what theythink. Philosophers in their cabinets; out of them they are contentwith fables, though they well know that they are fables. " Historie deManichee, vol. 2, page 568. Bishop Synesius, the distinguished authorof religious literature and Christian father of the 5th century, said:"I shall be a philosopher only to myself, and I shall always be abishop to the people. " Mosheim, the distinguished author ofEcclesiastical History, Vol. I. , page 120, says: "The authors who havetreated of the innocence and sanctity of the primitive Christians havefallen into the error of supposing them to have been unspotted modelsof piety and virtue, and a gross error indeed it is, as the strongesttestimonies too evidently prove. " The same author, in Vol. I. , page. 198, says in the fourth century "it was an almost universally adoptedmaxim that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by suchmeans the interest of the church might be promoted. " In hisEcclesiastical History, Vol. II. , page 11, he says that "as regards thefifth century, the simplicity and ignorance of the generality in thosetimes furnished the most favorable occasion for the exercise of fraud;and the impudence of impostors in contriving false miracles wasartfully proportioned to the credulity of the vulgar; while thesagacious and the wise, who perceived these cheats, were overawed intosilence by the dangers that threatened their lives and fortunes if theyshould expose the artifice. " Thomas Burnet, D. D. , who flourished aboutthe beginning of the 18th century, in his treatise entitled De StatuMortuorum, purposely written in Latin that it might serve for theinstruction of the clergy only, and not come to the knowledge of thelaity, because, as he says, "too much light is hurtful for weak eyes, "not only justifies, but recommends the practice of the most consummatehypocrisy, and that, too, on the most awful of all subjects; and wouldhave his, clergy seriously preach and maintain the reality and eternityof hell torments, even though they should believe nothing of the sortthemselves. See page 304. Hugo Grotius, the eminent writer of Hollandin the 17th century, says in his 22d Epistle: "He that readsecclesiastical history, reads nothing but the roguery and folly ofbishops, and churchmen. " In the language of Robert Taylor, from whom wehave taken most of the quotations under this heading, we assert that"no man could quote higher authorities, " to prove "the roguery andfolly of bishops and churchmen. "

CONCLUSION. 

Having presented the evidences in support of the apparently untenableassertion that, notwithstanding the numerous modes in which man hasmanifested his devotional proclivities, the world has virtually had butthe one religion founded in the worship of personified nature, we arenecessitated to recognize the facts that the Christian Scriptures likethe sacred records of other forms of nature worship are, but acollection of astronomical allegories; that the gospel story is truly"the old, old story" which had been told of a thousand other Savioursbefore it was applied to the Christian Messiah; that Jesus is but oneof the many names given to imaginary incarnations of the mythicalgenius of the sun; and that the Disciples and Evangelists are but thegenii of the months and the seasons. Such being the facts, which cannotbe successfully refuted, we must believe that the Christian religion, instead of being of Divine authenticity, as popularly claimed, ispurely and entirely of human origin, and that all its teachingsrelative to a future state are but priestly inventions, concocted forthe purpose of enslaving the ignorant masses. 

When we think of the thousand millions of dollars invested in churchproperties, and estimate the cost of maintaining more than a hundredthousand priests and ministers, in supporting foreign and domesticmissions and in publishing religious literature; besides the taxesapplied to the care of the religious insane, and realize the fact thatall of this vast sum of money is abstracted from the resources of thepeople, we would not have to go outside of our own country toappreciate the fact that religion is the burden of all burdens tosociety; and when we contemplate the great disturbance to the socialrelation, resulting from sectarian strife, and the almost universaldisposition of Christians to persecute and ostracize those who differwith them in opinion, we can readily subscribe to the sentimentaccredited to one of our revolutionary sires, that "this would be agood world to live in if there was no religion in it. "

If the clergy had been laboring as faithfully to impress the observanceof ethical principles as they have to indoctrinate the people with thesuperstitions of religion, we would not now be deploring the greatdemoralization of society. It is a grave arraignment of the clericalsto charge them with being, indirectly, the cause of this lamentablestate of things; but it is a condition that might have been expected, for, when entering the ministry, they engaged themselves, not so muchto teach ethics as to propagate faith in the doctrines of theirrespective sects. Thus hampered they cannot do the good to societytheir better natures might desire. Hence the only hope for improvementis for the people to wholly ignore the dogmatic element of religion, and refusing to longer support it, demand that moral training shall bethe grand essential of education. If this course were adopted andpersistently followed, it would be but a question of time when mankindwould come into being with such a benign heredity that crime would bealmost impossible. 

Then, since religion inculcates a salvation that does not save, let usrise superior to its false teachings and, accepting science as the truesaviour of mankind, find our whole duty in the code of naturalmorality, the spirit of which is embodied in that comprehensive preceptknown as the golden rule, which, being the outgrowth of the discoverednecessities of association, without which society could not exist, itnecessarily constituted man's sole rule and guide long before priest ortemple; and founded in the eternal principles of right, truth andjustice must remain as man's sole rule and guide when priest and churchare numbered among the things that were. Spirit of progress! speed theday when all mankind, redeemed from the bondage of superstition, willrecognize the great truth that nature, governed by her own inherentforces, is all that has been, all that is and all that shall be; andthat, ceasing to indulge in the vain hope of a blissful immortality ina paradise beyond the stars, will make a real paradise of this oldearth of ours. 

----------------------------[1](Editorial note: the original text erroneously attributed thisquote to Genesis 20:8-11; actually it is from Exodus 20:8-11. )