APPENDIX B.

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Commencing at the farthest East we shall find the ancient religion of China the same as that which was universal in all quarters of the globe, viz., an adoration of the Sun, Moon, Stars and elements.[544:1] That the Chinese religion was in one respect the same as that of India, is seen from the fact that they named successive days for the same seven planets that the Hindoos did.[544:2] The ancient books of the Chinese show that astronomy was not only understood by them at a very early period, but that it formed an important branch of state policy, and the basis of public ceremonies. Eclipses are accurately recorded which occurred twenty centuries before Jesus; and the Confucian books refer continually to observations of the heavenly bodies and the rectification of the calendar. The ancient Chinese astronomers seem to have known precisely the excess of the solar year beyond 365 days. The religion of China, under the emperors who preceded the first dynasty, is an enigma. The notices in the only authentic works, the King, are on this point scanty, vague, and obscure. It is difficult to separate what is spoken with reference to the science of astronomy from that which may relate to religion, properly so called. The terms of reverence and respect, with which the heavenly bodies are spoken of in the Shoo-King, seem to warrant the inference that those terms have more than a mere astronomical meaning, and that the ancient religion of China partook of star-worship, one of the oldest heresies in the world.[545:1]

In India the Sun, Moon, Stars and the powers of Nature were worshiped and personified, and each quality, mental and physical, had its emblem, which the Brahmans taught the ignorant to regard as realities, till the Pantheon became crowded.

"Our Aryan ancestors learned to look up to the sky, the Sun, and the dawn, and there to see the presence of a living power, half-revealed, and half-hidden from their senses, those senses which were always postulating something beyond what they could grasp. They went further still. In the bright sky they perceived an Illuminator, in the all-encircling firmament an Embracer, in the roar of the thunder or in the voice of the storm they felt the presence of a Shouter and of furious Strikers, and out of the rain they created an Indra, or giver of rain."[545:2]

Prof. Monier Williams, speaking of "the hymns of the Veda," says:

"To what deities, it will be asked, were the prayers and hymns of these collections addressed? The answer is: They worshiped those physical forces before which all nations, if guided solely by the light of nature, have in the early period of their life, instinctively bowed down, and before which even the most civilized and enlightened have always been compelled to bend in awe and reverence, if not in adoration."[545:3]

The following sublime description of Night is an extract from the Vedas, made by Sir William Jones:

"Night approaches, illumined with stars and planets, and, looking on all sides with numberless eyes, overpowers all meaner lights. The immortal goddess pervades the firmament, covering the low valleys and shrubs, the lofty mountains and trees, but soon she disturbs the gloom with celestial effulgence. Advancing with brightness, at length she recalls her sister Morning; and the nightly shade gradually melts away. May she at this time be propitious! She, in whose early watch we may calmly recline in our mansions, as birds repose upon the trees. Mankind now sleep in their towns; now herds and flocks peacefully slumber, and the winged creatures, swift falcons, and vultures. O Night! avert from us the she-wolf and the wolf; and, oh! suffer us to pass thee in soothing rest! Oh, morn! remove in due time this black, yet visible overwhelming darkness, which at present enfolds me, as thou enablest me to remove the cloud of their dells. Daughter of Heaven, I approach thee with praise, as the cow approaches her milker; accept, O Night! not the hymn only, but the oblation of thy suppliant, who prays that his foes may be subdued."

Some of the principal gods of the Hindoo Pantheon are, Dyaus (the Sky), Indra (the Rain-giver), SÛrya (the Sun), the Maruts (Winds), Aditi, (the Dawn), Parvati (the Earth),[546:1] and Siva, her consort. The worship of the Sun is expressed in a variety of ways, and by a multitude of fanciful names. One of the principal of these is Crishna. The following is a prayer addressed to him:

"Be auspicious to my lay, O Chrishna, thou only God of the seven heavens, who swayest the universe through the immensity of space and matter. O universal and resplendent Sun! Thou mighty governor of the heavens; thou sovereign regulator of the connected whole; thou sole and universal deity of mankind; thou gracious and Supreme Spirit; my noblest and most happy inspiration is thy praise and glory. Thy power I will praise, for thou art my sovereign Lord, whose bright image continually forces itself on my attention, eager imagination. Thou art the Being to whom heroes pray in perils of war; nor are their supplications vain, when thus they pray; whether it be when thou illuminest the eastern region with thy orient light, when in thy meridian splendor, or when thou majestically descendest in the West."

Crishna is made to say:

"I am the light in the Sun and Moon, far, far beyond the darkness. I am the brilliancy in flame, the radiance in all that's radiant, and the light of lights."[546:2]

In the Maha-bharata, Crishna, who having become the son of Aditi (the Dawn), is called Vishnu, another name for the Sun.[546:3] The demon Putana assaults the child Crishna, which identifies him with Hercules, the Sun-god of the Greeks.[546:4] In his Solar character he must again be the slayer of the Dragon or Black-snake Kulnika, the "Old Serpent" with the thousand heads.[546:5] Crishna's amours with the maidens makes him like Indra, Phoibus, Hercules, Samson, Alpheios, Paris and other Sun-gods. This is the hot and fiery Sun greeting the moon and the dew, or the Sun with his brides the Stars.[546:6]

Moore, in his Hindu Pantheon, observes:

"Although all the Hindu deities partake more or less remotely of the nature and character of Surya, or the Sun, and all more or less directly radiate from, or merge in, him, yet no one is, I think, so intimately identified with him as Vishnu; whether considered in his own person, or in the character of his most glorious Avatara of Crishna."

The ancient religion of Egypt, like that of Hindostan, was founded on astronomy, and eminently metaphysical in its character. The Egyptian priests were far advanced in the science of astronomy. They made astronomy their peculiar study. They knew the figure of the earth, and how to calculate solar and lunar eclipses. From very ancient time, they had observed the order and movement of the stars, and recorded them with the utmost care. Ramses the Great, generally called Sesostris, is supposed to have reigned one thousand five hundred years before the Christian era, about coeval with Moses, or a century later. In the tomb of this monarch was found a large massive circle of wrought gold, divided into three hundred and sixty-five degrees, and each division marked the rising and setting of the stars for each day.[547:1] This fact proves how early they were advanced in astronomy. In their great theories of mutual dependence between all things in the universe was included a belief in some mysterious relation between the Spirits of the Stars and human souls, so that the destiny of mortals was regulated by the motions of the heavenly bodies. This was the origin of the famous system of Astrology. From the conjunction of planets at the hour of birth, they prophesied what would be the temperament of an infant, what life he would live, and what death he would die. Diodorus, who wrote in the century preceding Christ Jesus, says:

"They frequently foretell with the greatest accuracy what is about to happen to mankind; showing the failure or abundance of crops, and the epidemic diseases about to befall men or cattle. Earthquakes, deluges, rising of comets, and all those phenomena, the knowledge of which appears impossible to common comprehensions, they foresee by means of their long continued observation."

P. Le Page Renouf, who is probably the best authority on the religion of ancient Egypt which can be produced, says, in his Hibbert Lectures:[547:2]

"The Lectures on the Science of Language, delivered nearly twenty years ago by Prof. Max MÜller, have, I trust, made us fully understand how, among the Indo-European races, the names of the Sun, of Sunrise and Sunset, and of other such phenomena, come to be talked of and considered as personages, of whom wondrous legends have been told. Egyptian mythology not merely admits, but imperatively demands, the same explanation. And this becomes the more evident when we consider the question how these mythical personages came to be invested with the attributes of divinity by men who, like the Egyptians, had so lively a sense of the divine."

Kenrick, in his "History of Egypt," says:

"We have abundant evidence that the Egyptian theology had its origin in the personification of the powers of nature, under male and female attributes, and that this conception took a sensible form, such as the mental state of the people required, by the identification of these powers with the elements and the heavenly bodies, fire, earth, water, the sun and moon, and the Nile. Such appears everywhere to be the origin of the objective form of polytheism; and it is equally evident among the nations most closely allied to the Egyptians by position and general character—the Phenicians, the Babylonians, and in remote connection, the Indians on the one side and the Greeks on the other."

The gods and goddesses of the ancient Persians were also personifications of the Sun, Moon, Stars, the elements, &c.

Ormuzd, "The King of Light," was god of the Firmament, and the "Principle of Goodness" and of Truth. He was called "The Eternal Source of Sunshine and Light," "The Centre of all that exists," "The First-born of the Eternal One," "The Creator," "The Sovereign Intelligence," "The All-seeing," "The Just Judge." He was described as "sitting on the throne of the good and the perfect, in regions of pure light," crowned with rays, and with a ring on his finger—a circle being an emblem of infinity; sometimes as a venerable, majestic man, seated on a Bull, their emblem of creation.

"Mithras the Mediator" was the god-Sun. Their most splendid ceremonials were in honor of Mithras. They kept his birth-day, with many rejoicings, on the twenty-fifth of December, when the Sun perceptibly begins to return northward, after his long winter journey; and they had another festival in his honor, at the vernal equinox. Perhaps no religious festival was ever more splendid than the "Annual Salutation of Mithras," during which forty days were set apart for thanksgiving and sacrifice. The procession to salute the god was formed long before the rising of the Sun. The High Priest was followed by a long train of the Magi, in spotless white robes, chanting hymns, and carrying the sacred fire on silver censers. Then came three hundred and sixty-five youths in scarlet, to represent the days of the year and the color of fire. These were followed by the Chariot of the Sun, empty, decorated with garlands, and drawn by superb white horses harnessed with pure gold. Then came a white horse of magnificent size, his forehead blazing with gems, in honor of Mithras. Close behind him rode the king, in a chariot of ivory inlaid with gold, followed by his royal kindred in embroidered garments, and a long train of nobles riding on camels richly caparisoned. This gorgeous retinue, facing the East, slowly ascended Mount Orontes. Arrived at the summit, the High Priest assumed his tiara wreathed with myrtle, and hailed the first rays of the rising Sun with incense and prayer. The other Magi gradually joined him in singing hymns to Ormuzd, the source of all blessing, by whom the radiant Mithras had been sent to gladden the earth and preserve the principle of life. Finally, they all joined in one universal chorus of praise, while king, princes and nobles, prostrated themselves before the orb of day.

The Hebrews worshiped the Sun, Moon, Stars, and "all the host of heaven."[549:1] El-Shaddai was one of the names given to the god Sun. Parkhurst, in his "Hebrew Lexicon," says, "El was the very name the heathens gave to their god Sol, their Lord or Ruler of the hosts of heaven." El, which means "the strong one in heaven"—the Sun, was invoked by the ancestors of all the Semitic nations, before there were Babylonians in Babylon, Phenicians in Sydon and Tyrus, before there were Jews in Mesopotamia or Jerusalem.[549:2]

The Sun was worshiped by the Hebrews under the names of Baal, Moloch, Chemosh, &c.; the Moon was Ashtoreth, the "Queen of Heaven."[549:3]

The gods of the ancient Greeks and Romans were the same as the gods of the Indian epic poems. We have, for example: Zeupiter (Jupiter), corresponding to Dyaus-pitar (the Heaven-father), Juno, corresponding to Parvati (the Mother Goddess), and Apollo, corresponding to Crishna (the Sun, the Saviour).[549:4] Another name for the Sun among those people was Bacchus. An Orphic verse, referring to the Sun, says, "he is called Dionysos (a name of Bacchus) because he is carried with a circular motion through the immensely extended heavens."[549:5]

Dr. Prichard, in his "Analysis of Egyptian Mythology,"[549:6] speaking of the ancient Greeks and Romans, says:

"That the worship of the powers of nature, mitigated, indeed, and embellished, constituted the foundation of the Greek and Roman religion, will not be disputed by any person who surveys the fables of the Olympian Gods with a more penetrating eye than that of a mere antiquarian."

M. De Coulanges, speaking of them, says:

"The Sun, which gives fecundity; the Earth, which nourishes; the Clouds, by turns beneficent and destructive,—such were the different powers of which they could make gods. But from each one of these elements thousands of gods were created; because the same physical agent, viewed under different aspects, received from men different names. The Sun, for example, was called in one place Hercules (the glorious); in another, Phoebus (the shining); and still again, Apollo (he who drives away night or evil); one called him Hyperion (the elevated being); another, Alexicacos (the beneficent); and in the course of time groups of men, who had given these various names to the brilliant luminary, no longer saw that they had the same god."[549:7]

Richard Payne Knight says:

"The primitive religion of the Greeks, like that of all other nations not enlightened by Revelation, appears to have been elementary, and to have consisted in an indistinct worship of the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth, and the Waters, or rather, the spirits supposed to preside over these bodies, and to direct their motions, and regulate their modes of existence. Every river, spring or mountain had its local genius, or peculiar deity; and as men naturally endeavored to obtain the favor of their gods by such means as they feel best adapted to win their own, the first worship consisted in offering to them certain portions of whatever they held to be most valuable. At the same time, the regular motions of the heavenly bodies, the stated returns of summer and winter, of day and night, with all the admirable order of the universe, taught them to believe in the existence and agency of such superior powers; the irregular and destructive efforts of nature, such as lightnings and tempests, inundations and earthquakes, persuaded them that these mighty beings had passions and affections similar to their own, and only differed in possessing greater strength, power, and intelligence."[550:1]

When the Grecian astronomers first declared that the Sun was not a person, but a huge hot ball, instantly an outcry arose against them. They were called "blaspheming atheists," and from that time to the present, when any new discovery is made which seems to take away from man his god, the cry of "Atheist" is instantly raised.

If we turn from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and take a look still farther West and North, we shall find that the gods of all the Teutonic nations were the same as we have seen elsewhere. They had Odin or Woden—from whom we have our Wednesday—the Al-fader (the Sky), Frigga, the Mother Goddess (the Earth), "Baldur the Good," and Thor—from whom we have our Thursday (personifications of the Sun), besides innumerable other genii, among them Freyja—from whom we have our Friday—and as she was the "Goddess of Love," we eat fish on that day.[550:2]

The gods of the ancient inhabitants of what are now called the "British Islands" were identically the same. The Sun-god worshiped by the Ancient Druids was called Hu, Beli, Budd and Buddu-gre.[550:3]

The same worship which we have found in the Old World, from the farthest East to the remotest West, may also be traced in America, from its simplest or least clearly defined form, among the roving hunters and squalid Esquimaux of the North, through every intermediate stage of development, to the imposing systems of Mexico and Peru, where it took a form nearly corresponding that which it at one time sustained on the banks of the Ganges, and on the plains of Assyria.[550:4]

Father Acosta, speaking of the Mexicans, says:

"Next to Viracocha, or their Supreme God, that which most commonly they have, and do adore, is the Sun; and after, those things which are most remarkable in the celestial or elementary nature, as the Moon, Stars, Sea, and Land.

"Whoso shall merely look into it, shall find this manner which the Devil hath used to deceive the Indians, to be the same wherewith he hath deceived the Greeks and Romans, and other ancient Gentiles, giving them to understand that these notable creatures, the Sun, Moon, Stars, and elements, had power or authority to do good or harm to men."[551:1]

We see, then, that the gods and heroes of antiquity were originally personifications of certain elements of Nature, and that the legends of adventures ascribed to them are merely mythical forms of describing the phenomena of these elements.

These legends relating to the elements of Nature, whether they had reference to the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, or a certain natural phenomenon, became, in the course of time, to be regarded as accounts of men of a high order, who had once inhabited the earth. Sanctuaries and temples were erected to these heroes, their bones were searched for, and when found—which was always the case—were regarded as a great source of strength to the town that possessed them; all relics of their stay on earth were hallowed, and a form of worship was specially adapted to them.

The idea that heavenly luminaries were inhabited by spirits, of a nature intermediate between God and men, first led mortals to address prayers to the orbs over which they were supposed to preside. In order to supplicate these deities, when Sun, Moon, and Stars were not visible, they made images of them, which the priests consecrated with many ceremonies. Then they pronounced solemn invocations to draw down the spirits into the statues provided for their reception. By this process it was supposed that a mysterious connection was established between the spirit and the image, so that prayers addressed to one were thenceforth heard by the other. This was probably the origin of image worship everywhere.

The motive of this worship was the same among all nations of antiquity, i. e., fear. They supposed that these deities were irritated by the sins of men, but, at the same time, were merciful, and capable of being appeased by prayer and repentance; for this reason men offered to these deities sacrifices and prayers. How natural that such should have been the case, for, as AbbÉ Dubois observes: "To the rude, untutored eye, the 'Host of Heaven,' clothed in that calm beauty which distinguishes an Oriental night, might well appear to be instinct with some divine principle, endowed with consciousness, and the power to influence, from its throne of unchanging splendor on high, the fortunes of transitory mortals."


FOOTNOTES:

[544:1] "All Paganism is at bottom a worship of nature in some form or other, and in all Pagan religions the deepest and most awe-inspiring attribute of nature was its power of reproduction." (Encyclo. Brit., art. "Christianity.")

[544:2] In Montfaucon's L'AntiquitÉ ExpliquÉe (vol. i.), may be seen a representation of the seven planets personified. It was by such personifications that the real objects worshiped became unknown. At first the real Sun, Moon, Stars, &c., would be worshiped, but as soon as man personified them, other terms would be introduced, and peculiar rites appropriated to each, so that in time they came to be considered as so many different deities.

[545:1] Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. pp. 14, 49 and 50.

[545:2] Max MÜller: The Science of Religion, p. 298.

[545:3] Indian Wisdom, p. 10.

[546:1] The emblem of Parvati, the "Mother Goddess," was the Yoni, and that of her consort Siva, the Lingham.

[546:2] Williams' Hinduism, p. 213.

[546:3] See Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. pp. 105 and 130.

[546:4] Ibid. p. 135.

[546:5] Ibid. p. 137.

[546:6] See Ibid. p. 88, and Moor's Hindu Pantheon, p. 63.

[547:1] "According to Champollion, the tomb of Ramses V. at Thebes, contains tables of the constellations and of their influence (on human beings) for every hour of every month of the year." (Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 456.)

[547:2] P. 118.

[549:2] MÜller: The Science of Relig., p. 190.

[549:4] See Indian Wisdom, p. 426.

[549:5] Taylor's Mysteries, p. 163.

[549:6] Page 239.

[549:7] The Ancient City, p. 162.

[550:1] Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 1.

[550:2] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities. Though spoken of in Northern mythology as distinct, Frigga and Freyja are originally ONE.

[550:3] See Myths of the British Druids, p. 116.

[550:4] See Squire's Serpent Symbol.

[551:1] Acosta: vol. ii. pp. 303-305.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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