The truth shall set you free > Religion
THE WORLD’S Sixteen Crucified Saviors OR, Christianity before Christ 1878
Prometheus:
THE WORLD’S
Sixteen Crucified Saviors
OR,
Christianity before Christ
https://archive.org/details/worldssixteencru00grav_0
CONTAINING
NEW, STARTLING, AND EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS IN RELIGIOUS
HISTORY, WHICH DISCLOSE THE ORIENTAL ORIGIN OF ALL
THE DOCTRINES, PRINCIPLES, PRECEPTS,
AND MIRACLES OF THE
CHRISTIAN NEW TESTAMENT,
AND FURNISHING A KEY FOR UNLOCKING MANY
OF ITS SACRED MYSTERIES, BESIDES
COMPRISING THE
HISTORY OF SIXTEEN HEATHEN CRUCIFIED GODS,
BY
KERSEY GRAVES,
AUTHOR OF “ THE BIOGRAPHY OF SATAN,” AND “ THE BIBLE OF BIBLES,”
(COMPRISING A DESCRIPTION OF TWENTY BIBLES.)
SIXTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.
BOSTON:
COLBY AND RICH, PUBLISHERS,
No. 9 Montgomery Peace.
1878.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 187§>
By LYDIA M. GRAVES,
111 the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Stereotyped at the
Boston Stereotype Foundry, 19 Spring Lane,
an
G ^
/S7*
[ CONTENTS.
PREFACE...............
EXPLANATION.
INTRODUCTION.
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
CHAPTER I.
_ Rival Claims of the Saviors. .
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t
CHAPTER II.
Messianic Prophecies.
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5
CHAPTER III.
Prophecies by the Figure of a Serpent. • •
CHAPTER IV.
Miraculous and Immaculate Conception of the Gods.
CHAPTER V.
Virgin Mothers and Virgin-born Gods. • •
CHAPTER VI.
Stars point out the Time and the Saviors’ Birth-place.
CHAPTER VII.
Angels, Shepherds, and Magi visit the Infant Saviors.
OG
<CT-
CHAPTER VIII.
The Twenty-fifth of December the Birthday of the Gods.
CHAPTER IX.
Titles of the Saviors...............
o 8
VAGI
7
11
18
19
27
38
37
41
49
53
57
62
66
4
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
The Saviors op Royal Descent, but Humble Birth. • • 70
CHAPTER XI.
Christ’s Genealogy................................72
CHAPTER XII.
The World’s Saviors saved from Destruction in Infancy. 76
CHAPTER XIII.
The Saviors exhibit Early Proofs of Divinity. • • • 83
CHAPTER XIY.
The Saviors’ Kingdoms not of this World...........86
CHAPTER XY.
The Saviors are real Personages. • • • • • 88
CHAPTER XYI.
Sixteen Saviors Crucified..............................92
CHAPTER XYII.
The Aphanasia, or Darkness, at the Crucifixion. • . 120
CHAPTER XVIII.
Descent of the Saviors into Hell. • • • • • 126
CHAPTER XIX.
Resurrection of the Saviors...........................128
CHAPTER XX.
Reappearance and Ascension of the Saviors. • • . 135
CHAPTER XXI.
The Atonements its Oriental or Heathen Origin. . . 138
CHAPTER XXII.
The Holy Ghost of Oriental Origin.....................146
CONTEN TS.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Divine “Word” of Oriental Origin............
CHAPTER XXIY.
The Trinity very anciently a current Heathen Doctrine.
CHAPTER XXV.
Absolution, or the Confession of Sins, of Heathen Origin.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Origin of Baptism by Water, Fire, Blood, and the Holy
Ghost...........................................
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Sacrament or Eucharist of Heathen Origin. •
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Anointing with Oil of Oriental Origin...........
CHAPTER XXIX.
How Men, including Jesus Christ, came to be worshiped
as Gods.........................................
CHAPTER XXX.
Sacred Cycles explaining the Advent of the Gods, the
Master-key to the Divinity of Jesus Christ. •
CHAPTER XXXI.
Christianity derived from Heathen and Oriental Systems.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Three Hundred and Forty-six striking Analogies between
Christ and Chrishna.............................
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Apollonius, Osiris, and Magus as Gods. . .
CHAPTER XXXIV.
5
157
162
166
168
175
178
180
197
20?
225
26 3
The Three Pillars of the Christian Faith — Miracles,
Prophecies, and Precepts..................................
273
6
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Logical or Common-sense View op the Doctrine op Divine
Incarnation............................• • • 808
CHAPTER XXXVI,
Philosophical Absurdities op the Doctrine op the Divine
Incarnation.............................• 315
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Physiological Absurdities op the Doctrine op the Divine
Incarnation..............• • • • • 818
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
A Historical View op the Divinity op Jesus Christ. • . 822
CHAPTER XXXIX.
The Scriptural View op Christ’s Divinity. • • • • 327
CHAPTER XL.
A Metonymic View op the Divinity of Jesus Christ. • 339
CHAPTER XLI.
The Precepts and Practical Life op Jesus Christ. • • 342
CHAPTER XLII.
Christ as a Spiritual Medium.................... 357
CHAPTER XLIII.
Conversion, Repentance, and “Getting Religion” op Hea-
then Origin.................................. 359
CHAPTER XLIV.
The Moral Lessons op Religious History. • . . • 369
CHAPTER XLV.
Conclusion and Review.............................372
NOTE OF EXPLANATION.
378
PREFACE.
Inversely to the remoteness of time has been man’s
ascent toward the temple of knowledge. Truth has made
its ingress into the human mind in the ratio by which
man has attained the capacity to receive and appreciate
it. Hence, as we tread back the meandering pathway of
human history, every step in the receding process brings
us to a lower plane of intelligence and a state of mind
more thoroughly encrusted with ignorance and supersti-
tion. It is, therefore, no source of surprise to learn, when
we take a survey of the world two or three thousand years
in the past, that every religious writer of that era com-
mitted errors on every subject which employed his pen,
involving a scientific principle. Hence the bible, or
sacred book, to which he was a contributor, is now found
to bear the marks of human imperfection. For the temple
of knowledge was but partially reared, and its chambers
but dimly lighted up. The intellectual brain was in a dark,
feeble, and dormant condition. Hence the moral and reli-
gious feelings were drifted about without a pilot on the
turbulent waves of superstition, and finally stranded on
the shoals of bigotry. The Christian bible, like other
bibles, having been written in an age when science was
but budding into life, and philosophy had attained but a
7
8
PREFACE.
feeble growth, should be expected to teach many things
incompatible with the principles of modern science. And
accordingly it is found to contain, like other bibles, numer-
ous statements so obviously at war with present established
scientific truths that almost any school-boy, at the present
day, can demonstrate their falsity. Let the unbiased
reader examine and compare the oriental and Christian
bibles together, and he will note the following facts,
viz.: —
1. That the cardinal religious conceptions of all bibles
are essentially the same — all running in parable grooves.
2. That every chapter of every bible is but a transcript
of the mental chart of the writer.
3. That no bible, pagan or Christian, contains anything
surpassing the natural, mental, and moral capacity of the
writer to originate. And hence no divine aid or inspira-
tion was necessary for its production.
4. That the moral and religious teachings of no bible
reach a higher altitude than the intelligence and mental de-
velopment of the age and country which produced it.
5. That the Christian bible, in some respects, is superior
to some of the other bibles, but only to the extent to which
the age in which it was written was superior in intelli-
gence and natural mental capacity to the era in which the
older bibles were penned; and that this superiority con-
sists not in its more exalted religious conceptions, but only
in the fact that, being of more modern origin, the progress
of mind had worn away some of the legendary rubbish of
the past. Being written in a later and more enlightened
age, it is consequently a little less encrusted with mytho-
logical tradition and oriental imagery. Though not free
PREFACE.
9
from these elements, it possesses them in less degree. And
by comparing Christ’s history with those of the oriental
Gods, it will be found, —
1. That he taught no new doctrine or moral precept.
2. That he inculcated the same religion and morality,
which he elaborated, as other moral teachers, to great
extremes.
3. That Christ differs so little in his character, preach-
ing, and practical life from some of the oriental Gods, that
no person whose mind is not deplorably warped and biased
by early training can call one divine while he considers the
other human.
4. That if Christ was a God, then all were Gods.
THE AUTHOR.
Richmond, Indiana, 1875.
——
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
As but a few months have elapsed since the first edition of
this work was published, and a second edition is called for, the
author embraces the opportunity to lay before the reader a
few thoughts appertaining to the work. He desires, in the
first place, to say the work has been carefully reviewed and
corrected, and some additions made, embracing two chapters
from “the Bible of Bibles,” and some explanatory notes. Ow-
ing to the indisposition of the author at the time the work
went to press, the manuscripts were sent away in a somewhat
defective condition; so that the errors made by the copyist)
who transcribed most of them for the press, were not cor-
rected. And some errors also crept into the work through
the hands of the type-setters. These errors were so numer-
ous, they may have had the effect to create in some critical
10
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
minds an unfavorable impression with respect to the charactef
of the work. But the author has carefully examined the work
since it came from the press, and is now able to place before
the reader a greatly improved edition.
The author also desires to say here, that the many flatter-
ing letters he has received from various parts of the country,
from those who have supplied themselves with the work,
excites in his mind the hope it will ultimately effect something
towards achieving the important end sought to be attained by
its publication — the banishment of that wide-spread delusion
comprehended in the belief in an incarnate, virgin-born God,
called Jesus Christ, and the infallibility of his teachings, with
the numerous evils growing legitimately out of this belief—
among the most important of which is, its cramping effect
upon the mind of the possessor, which interdicts its growth,
and thus constitutes a serious obstacle to the progress both
of the individual and of society. And such has been the
blinding effect of this delusion upon all who have fallen vic-
tims to its influence, that the numerous errors and evils of our
popular system of religious faith, which constitute its legiti-
mate fruits, have passed from age to age, unnoticed by all
except scientific and progressive minds, who are constantly
bringing these errors and evils to light. This state of things
has been a source of sorrow and regret to every philanthropist
desiring the welfare of the race. And if this wrork shall
achieve anything towards arresting this great evil, the author
will feel that he is amply compensated for the years of toil
and mental labor spent in its preparation.
Note. — As the different works consulted hare assigned different dates
for the same event, the author has, in one or two cases, followed their
example, accepting them as authority; as in the date of the birth and
death of the Gods of Mexico. The reader will also notice that the name
of the same God is found in different countries. Example — Adonis and
Bacchus are found amongst the Gods of both Greece and Egypt.
EXPLANATION.
* The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors.” What an
imposing title for a book ! What startling developments of
religious history it implies ! Is it founded on fact or on
fiction ? If it has a basis of truth, where was such an
extraordinary mine of sacred lore discovered? Where
were such startling facts obtained as the title of the work
suggests. These queries will doubtless arise as soliloquies
in the minds of many readers on glancing at the title-page.
And the author is disposed to gratify this natural and most
probable, in some cases, excited curiosity by a brief expla-
nation. In doing this, he deems it only necessary to state
that many of the most important facts collated in this work
were derived from Sir Godfrey Higgins’ Anacalypsis, a
work as valuable as it is rare — a work comprising the
result of twenty years’ labor, devoted to the investigation
of religious history. And although embodying many im-
portant historical facts which should have commanded for
it a world-wide circulation, but a few copies of this invalu-
able treasury of religious knowledge have ever found their
way into this country. One of these copies the author of
this work obtained, at no inconsiderable expense, long
enough to glean from its pages such facts as he presumed
would be most interesting and instructive to the general
reader, some of which will be found in nearly every
chapter of this volume. With the facts and materials
derived from this source, and 200 other unimpeachable
historical records, the present work might have been
swelled to fourfold its present size without exhausting
ll
12
EXPLANATION.
tho author’s ample store of materials and would have
possessed such unwieldy dimensions but for a strict con-
formity to the most rigid rules of eclecticism and con-
densation. A portion of the excluded materials, however,
will be found in another volume now nearly ready for the
press. In the author’s two works just noticed, the claims
of Christianity are presented and contested upon an en-
tirely new ground — that of their historical verity, differing
in this respect from any work heretofore published, ex-
cepting a few brief essays which cover a portion of the
ground only. Encouraged by the extensive demand for
his former work, “ The Biography of Satan,” which has
passed through seven editions, the author cherishes the
hope that the present work will meet with a circulation
commensurate with the importance of the many invaluable
facts which it contains. For he possesses the sad convic-
tion that the many religious errors and evils which it is
the object of this work to expose, operate very seriously
to retard the moral and intellectual growth and prosperity
of all Christian countries. They have the effect to injure
mentally, morally, and religiously the great body of Chris-
tian professors.
JK3T Dr. Prince, of Long Island (now deceased), wrote
to the author, respecting the thirty-fifth chapter of this
work, entitled “The Logical View of the Incarnation,”
after he had seen it in the columns of a newspaper, “ It is
a masterly piece of logic, and will startle, if it does not
revolutionize, the orthodox world. And the chapters com-
prising ( The Philosophical View ’ and 1 The Physiological
View,’ were afterward pronounced specimens of profound
and unanswerable logical reasoning,” We thus call the
reader’s attention to these chapters in advance, in order
to induce that thorough attention to their facts and argu-
ments which will result in banishing from his mind the last
vestiges of a belief (if he entertain any) in the doctrine of
the divine incarnation.
INTRODUCTION.
Prometheus:
Important Facts constituting the Basis op this Work,
Ignorance of science and ignorance of history are the
two great bulwarks of religious error. There is scarcely
a tenet of religious faith now propagated to the world by
the professed disciples of Christ but that, if subjected to a
rigid test in the ordeal of modern science, would be found
to contain more or less error. Vast acquisitions have been
made in the fields of science and history within the last
half century, the moral lessons of which have done much
to undermine and unsettle our popular system of religious
faith, and to bring into disrepute or effectually change
many of its long-cherished dogmas. The scientific and
historical facts thus brought before the intelligent public,
have served as keys for explaining many of the doctrines
comprised in the popular creed. They have poured a flood
of light upon our whole system of religion as now taught
by its popular representatives, which have had the effect
to reveal many of its errors to those who have had the
temerity, or the curiosity, to investigate it upon these
grounds. Many of the doctrines and miraculous events
which have always been assigned a divine emanation by
the disciples of the Christian faith, are, by these scientific
and historical disclosures, shown to be explainable upon
natural grounds, and to have exclusively a natural basis.
13
u
INTRO D UCTION
Some of them are shown to be solvable by recently de-
veloped spiritual laws, while others are proven to be
founded wholly in error. The intelligent community are
now acquainted with many of these important facts, so
that no man of science can be found in this enlightened
age who can popularly be termed a Christian. No man
can be found in any Christian country who has the estab-
lished reputation of being a man of science, or who has made
any proficiency in the whole curriculum of the sciences,
whose creed, when examined by an orthodox committee,
would not be pronounced unsound. It is true that many
of the scientific class, not possessing the conviction that
duty imposes the moral necessity of making living martyrs
of themselves, have refrained from fully avowing or dis-
closing to the public their real convictions of the popular
faith. The changes and improvements in religious ideas
now observable in the most intelligent portion of the com-
munity, are due in part to the rapid progress of scientific
discovery and the dissemination of scientific knowledge in
Christian countries. The explorer in the field of religious
history, however, comes in here for his meed of praise.
New stores of historic facts and data may be reckoned
among the recent acquisitions of the laborious archeolo-
gist; new fountains of religious history have recently
been unsealed, which have had the effect to reveal many
errors and false claims set up for the current religion of
Christendom — a religion long regarded as settled and
stereotyped. For many centuries subsequent to the estab-
lishment of the Christian religion but little was known by
its disciples of the character, claims, and doctrines of the
oriental systems of worship. These religions, in fact, were
scarcely known to exist, because they had long been vailed
in secrecy. They were found, in some cases, enshrined in
religious books printed or written in a language so very
ancient and obscure, as to bid defiance for centuries to
INTRODUCTION.
15
the labors of the most indefatigable, profound, and erudite
archeological scholar to decipher it. That obstacle is now
partially surmounted. The recent translation for the first
time of the Hindoo Ye das into the English language (the
oldest bible now extant or ever written) has revealed to
the unwelcome gaze of the Christian reader the startling
fact that “ the heathen ” had long been in possession of
“ holy books,” possessing essentially the same character,
and teaching essentially the same doctrines, as the Christian
bible — there being, as Horace Greeley expresses it, “ no
doctrine of Christianity but what has been anticipated by
the Vedas.” (See Yol. II. Chap. 1, of this work.) If, then,
this heathen bible (compiled, according to the Christian
missionary Rev. D. 0. Allen, 1400 B. C.) contains all the
doctrines of Christianity, then away goes over the dam all
claim for the Christian bible as an original revelation, or
a work of divine inspiration. Bibles are thus shown to be
of heathen and human origin, instead of heavenly and divine
authorship, as claimed for them by their respective dis-
ciples — the Christian bible forming no exception to this
statement. The latter, being essentially like other bibles,
it must, of course, have had the same or a similar origin
— a fact which, though it may be new and startling to
millions, will be universally accepted as truth before the
lapse of many generations, and a fact which confronts with
open denial the claims of two hundred millions of Christian
professors, who assert with unscrupulous boldness that
every doctrine, principle, and precept of their bible is of
divine emanation. How utterly groundless and untenable
is such a claim when arranged by the side of modern dis-
coveries in religious history! Equally unsupportable is
the declaration that i: there is no other name given under
heaven whereby men can be saved, than that of Jesus
Christ and him crucified,” when viewed in the light of the
modern explorations of Sir Godfrey Higgins, which have
16
INTRODUCTION,
disclosed the history of nearly a score of crucified Gods,
and sin-atoning Saviors, who, we have equal proof, died
for the sins of mankind. Thus the two prime articles of
the Christian faith — Revelation and Crucifixion — are for-
ever established as human and heathen conceptions. And
the hope might be reasonably entertained that the impor-
tant historical facts disclosed in this work will have the
effect to open the eyes of the professors of the Christian
religion to see their serious error in putting forth such
exalted claims for their bible and their religion as that of
being perfect products of infinite wisdom, did not the
past history of all religious countries furnish sad proof
that reason and logic, and even the most cogent and con-
vincing facts of science and history, often prove powerless
when arrayed against a religious conviction, enstamped
upon the mind for thousands of years in the past, and
transmitted from parent to child until it has grown to a
colossal stature, and become a part of the living tissues of
the soul. No matter how glaringly absurd, how palpably
erroneous, or how demonstrably false an opinion or doc-
trine is shown to be, they cannot see it, but will still con-
tinue to hug it to their bosoms as a divinely-revealed
truth. No facts or evidence can prove an overmatch for
the inherited convictions of a thousand generations. In
this respect the Mahomedan, the Hindoo, and the Chris-
tian, all stand upon a level. It is about as easy to con-
< vince one as the other of their easily-demonstrated errors.
Religion op Natural Origin.
Among the numerous errors traceable in the history of
every religious sect, commemorated in the annals of the
world, none possesses a more serious character, or has been
attended with more deplorable consequences, than that of
assigning a wrong origin to religion. Every bible, every
INTRODUCTION.
17
sect, every creed, every catechism, and every orthodox
sermon teaches that u religion is the gift of God,” that
it is infused into the soul by the spirit and power of the
Lord.” Never was a greater mistake ever committed.
Every student of anthropology, every person who has
read any of the numerous modern works on mental sci-
ence, and tested their easily-demonstrated facts, knows
that religion is of natural, and not supernatural, origin;
that it is a natural element of the human mind, and not a
u direct gift from God;11 that it grows as spontaneously
out of the soul as flowers spring out of the ground. It is
as natural as eating, sleeping, or breathing. This conclu-
sion is not the offspring of mere imagination. It is no
hastily-concocted theory, but an oft-demonstrated and
scientifically-established fact, which any person can test
the truth of for himself. And this modern discovery will,
at no distant day, revolutionize all systems of religious faith
in existence, and either dissolve and dissipate them, or
modify and establish them upon a more natural and endur-
ing basis, expurgated of their dogmatic errors. Let us,
then, labor to banish the wide-spread delusion, believed
and taught by a thousand systems of worship — Jew, Pa-
gan, and Christian — that u religion is of supernatural or
divine origin,” and the many ruinous errors, senseless
dogmas, and deplorable soul-crushing superstitions so
thoroughly inwrought into the Christian system, will
vanish like fog before the morning sun, and be replaced
by a religion which sensible, intelligent, and scientific
men and women can accept, and will delight to honor and
practice.
2
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
Friends and brethren — teachers of the Christian faith:
Will yon believe ns when we tell yon the divine claims of
yonr religion are gone — all swept away by the “ logic of
history,” and nullified by the demonstrations of science?
The recently opened fountains of historic lore, many of
whose potent facts will be found interspersed through the
pages of this work, sweep away the last inch of ground
on which can be predicated the least show for either the
divine origin of the Christian religion, or the divinity of
Jesus Christ. For these facts demonstrate beyond all
cavil and criticism, and with a logical force which can
leave not the vestige of a doubt upon any unbiased mind,
that all its doctrines are an outgrowth from older heathen
systems. Several systems of religion essentially the same
in character and spirit as that religion now known as Chris-
tianity, and setting forth the same doctrines, principles,
and precepts, and several personages filling a chapter in
history almost identical with that of Jesus Christ, it is
now known to those who are up with the discoveries and
intelligence of the age, were venerated in the East cen-
turies before a religion called Christian, or a personage
called Jesus Christ, were known to history. Will you
not, then, give it up that your religion is merely a human
production, reconstructed from heathen materials, — from
oriental systems several thousand years older than yours,
— or will you continue, in spite of the unanimous and
19
20
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
unalterable verdict of history, science, facts, and logic, U
proclaim to the world the now historically demonstrated
error which you have so long preached, that God is the
author of your religion, and Jesus Christ a Deity-begotten
Messiah? Though you may have heretofore honestly
believed these doctrines to be true, you can now no longer
plead ignorance as an excuse for propagating such gigantic
and serious errors, as they are now overwhelmingly demon-
strated by a thousand facts of history to be untrue. You
must abandon such exalted claims for your religion, or pos-
terity will mark you as being “ blind leaders of the blind.”
They will heap upon your honored names their unmitigated
ridicule and condemnation. They will charge you as being
eilher deplorably ignorant, or disloyal to the cause of truth.
And shame and ignominy will be your portion. The fol-
lowing propositions (fatal to your claims for Christianity)
are established beyond confutation by the historical facts
cited in this work, viz.: —
1. There were many cases of the miraculous birth of
Gods reported in history before the case of Jesus Christ.
2. Also many other cases of Gods being born of virgin
mothers.
3. Many of these Gods, like Christ, were (reputedly)
born on the 25th of December.
4. Their advent into the world, like that of Jesus Christ,
is in many cases claimed to have been foretold by “ in-
spired prophets.”
5. Stars figured at the birth of several of them, as in the
case of Christ.
6. Also angels, shepherds, and magi, or “ wise men.”
7. Many of them, like Christ, were claimed to be of royal
or princely descent.
8. Their lives, like his, were also threatened in infancy
by the ruler of the country.
9. Several of them, like him, gave early proof of divinity
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
21
10. And,' like him, retired from the world and fasted.
11. Also, like him, declared, “ My kingdom is not of this
world.”
12. Some of them preached a spiritual religion, too,
like his.
13. And were “ anointed with oil,” like him.
14. Many of them, like him, were “ crucified for the sins
of the world.”
15. And after three days7 interment “ rose from the dead.”
16. And finally, like him, are reported as ascending hack
to heaven.
17. The same violent convulsions of nature at the cruci-
fixion of several are reported.
18. They wefe nearly all called “ Saviors/7 “ Son of God,77
“ Messiah,” “ Redeemer/7 “ Lord,” &c.
19. Each one was the second member of the trinity of
“ Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.77
20. The doctrines of “ Original Sin/7 u Fall of Man/7
“ The Atonement/7 “ The Trinity,” “ The Word/7 “ For-
giveness/7 “ An angry God/7 “ Future Endless Punish-
ment/7 &c., &c. (see the authors “ Biogrophy of Satan ”),
were a part of the religion of each of these sin-atoning
Gods, as found set forth in several oriental bibles and
“ holy books/7 similar in character and spirit to the Chris-
tian’s bible, and written, like it,by “inspired and holy men”
before the time of either Christ or Moses (before Moses, in
some cases, at least). All these doctrines and declara-
tions, and many others not here enumerated, the histori-
cal citations of this work abundantly prove, were taught
in various oriental heathen nations centuries before the
birth of Christ, or before Christianity, as a religion, was
known in the world. Will you, then, after learning these
facts, longer dare assert that Christianity is of divine
emanation, or claim a special divine paternity for its
author. Only the priest, who loves his salary more than
22
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
the cause of truth (and I fear this class are nutnerous), or
who is deplorably ignorant of history, will have the ef-
frontery or audacity to do so. For the historical facts
herein set forth as clearly prove such assumptions to be
false, as figures can demonstrate the truth of any mathe-
matical problem. And no logic can overthrow, and no
sophistry can set aside, these facts. They will stand till
the end of time in spite of your efforts either to evade,
ignore, or invalidate them. We will here briefly state
Why all the Ancient Religions were alike.
Two causes are obviously assignable for Christianity in
all its essential features and phases, being so strikingly
similar to the ancient pagan systems which preceded it,
as also the close analogies of all the principal systems,
whose doctrines and practical teachings have found a place
on the page of history.
1. The primary and constituent elements and properties
of human nature being essentially the same in all countries
and "&11 centuries, and the feeling called Religion being a
spontaneous outgrowth of the devotional elements of the
human mind, the coincidence would naturally produce
similar feelings, similar thoughts, similar views, and simi-
lar doctrines on the subject of religion in different coun-
tries, however widely separated. This accounts in part
for the analogous features observable in all the primary
systems of religious faith, which have flourished in the past
ages.
2. A more potent cause, however, for the proximate
identity extending to such an elaborate detail, as is
evinced by the foregoing schedule, is found in the histori-
cal incident which brought the disciples of the various
systems of worship together, face to face, in the then
grand religious emporium of the world — the royal and
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
23
renowned city of Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Here,
drawn together by various motives and influences, the
devotee of India (the devout disciple of Buddhism), the
ever-prayerful worshiper of u Mithra, the Mediator/7 the
representatives of the crucified Quexalcoate of Mexico, the
self-denying Essene, the superstitious Egyptian, the godly
Chaldean, the imitative Judean founders of Christianity,
and the disciples of other sin-atoning Gods, met and inter-
changed ideas, discussed their various dogmas, remolded
their doctrines, and recast and rehabilitated their systems
of religious faith by borrowing from each other, and from
other systems there represented. In this way all became
remarkably similar and alike in all their doctrines and de-
tails. And thus the mystery is solved, and the singular
resemblance of all the ancient systems of religion satis-
factorily accounted for. (For a fuller explanation of this
matter see Chapters XXX. and XXXI. of this work.) In
conclusion please note the following points : —
Prometheus:
1. The religious conceptions of the Old Testament are
as easily traced to heathen sources as those of the New
Testament. But we are compelled to exclude such an ex-
position from this work.
2. The comparative exhibition of the doctrines and
teachings of twenty bibles which proves them to be in
their leading features essentially alike (originally designed
for this volume), is found to be, when completed, of suf-
ficient magnitude to constitute a volume of itself.
3. Here I desire to impress upon the minds of my cleri-
cal brethren the important fact, that the gospel histories
of Christ were written by men who had formerly been
Jews (see Acts xxi. 20), and probably possessing the
strong proclivity to imitate and borrow which their bible
shows was characteristic of that nation; and being written
many years after Christ’s death, according to that standard
Christian author, Dr. Lardner, it was impossible, under such
24
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
circumstances, for them to separater.(if they had desired to)
the real facts and events of his life from the innumerable
fictions and fables then afloat everywhere relative to the
heathen Gods who had pre-enacted a similar history. Two
reasons are thus furnished for their constructing a history
of Christ almost identical with that of other Gods, as shown
in Chapters XXX., XXXI., and XXXII. of this work.
4. The singular and senseless defense of your now tot-
tering system we have known to be attempted by mem-
bers of your order, by the self-complacent soliloquy u Chris-
tianity, whether divine or human, is good enough for me.”
But such a subterfuge betrays both a weak mind and a
weak cause. The disciples of all the oriental systems
cherished a similar feeling and a similar sentiment. And
the deluded followers of Brigham Young exclaim in
like manner, u I want nothing better than Mormonism.”
“ Snakes, lizards, and frogs are good enough for me,” a
South Sea Islander once exclaimed to a missionary, when
a reform diet was proposed. Such logic, if universally
adopted, would keep the world eternally in barbarism.
No progress can be made where such sentiments prevail.
The truth is, no system of religion, whatever its ostensible
marks of perfection, can long remain “ good enough ” for
aspiring and progressive minds, unless occasionally im-
proved, like other institutions. And then it should be
borne in mind, that our controversy does not appertain
so much to the character as to the origin of the Christian
religion. Our many incontrovertible proofs, that it is of
human and heathen origin, proves at the same time that it
is an imperfect system, and as such needing occasional im-
provement, like other institutions. And its assumed per-
fection and divine origin, which have always guarded it
from improvement, amply accounts for its present corrupt,
immoral, declining, and dying condition, which a recent
number of Zion’s Watchman proclaims is now its real
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
25
condition. And it will ere long die with paralysis, unless
its assumption of divine perfection is soon exchanged for
the principles of improvement and reconstruction. This
policy alone can save it.
5. We will here notice another feeble, futile, and foolish
expedient we have known resorted to by persons of your
order to save your sinking cause when the evidence is
presented with such cogency as to admit of no disproof,
that all the important doctrines of Christianity were taught
by older heathen systems before the era of Christ. The
plea is, that those systems were mere types, or ante-types,
of the Christian religion. But this plea is of itself a bor-
rowed subterfuge of heathenism, and is moreover devoid
of evidence. The ancient Egyptians, also the Greeks,
claimed that Brahminism was a type, or ante-type, of their
religious systems. And Mahomedans now claim that
both Judaism and Christianity were designed by God as
foreshadowing types of the religion of the Koran. And
the disciples of more than a thousand systems of religion
which have flourished in past ages, could have made such
logic equally available in showing, in each case, that every
system preceding theirs was designed by Infinite Wisdom
as simply a typical or ante-typical forerunner of theirs.
How ridiculous and senseless, therefore, is the argument
thus shown to be when critically examined in the light of
history ! so much so as scarcely to merit a serious notice.
6. Here permit us to say that we believe Christianity to
be not only of human origin, but of natural origin also;
that is, a natural outgrowth, like other systems, of the reli-
gious elements of the human mind — a hypothesis which
accounts most beautifully for the numerous human imper-
fections now visible in nearly every line of its teachings.
Those imperfections correspond exactly to the imperfect
minds which produced it.
7. And we believe that the principal teacher of Chris*
26
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.
tianity, “ the man Christ Jesus,” possessed a very exalted
and superior mind for that age in the moral and religious
departments, and in the intellectual to some exteht also.
But his superiority in these respects was not probably
greater than that of Jenny Lind’s of the present age in the
musical department, or than those of Zera Colburn or Henry
Safford in the mathematical department. And all proba-
bly derived their peculiar extraordinary traits of mind
from the same causes — that of strong psychological in-
fluence impressed upon the mind of the mothers prior to
their births. Had these ante-natal influences been as well
understood then as now, we presume Christ would have
escaped the fate of an exaltation to the Godhead.
8. In conclusion, permit us to say that the numerous and
overwhelming facts of this work render it utterly impos-
sible that the exalted claims you put forth for your religion
and its assumed author (that of a divine character) can be
true. And posterity will so decide, whether you do or
not. Cherishing for you naught but feelings of kindness
and brotherly love, and desiring to promote the truth, we
will answer any question, or discuss any proposition em-
braced in this work you may desire.
Your brother,
Kersey Graves.
Richmond, Indiana, 1875.
THE WORLD’S
SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS.
CHAPTER 1/
RIVAL'CLAIMS OF THE SAVIORS.
It is claimed by the disciples of Jesus Christ, that he was of
supernatural and divine origin ; that he had a human being for
a mother, and a God for his father; that, although he was
woman-conceived, he was Deity-begotten, and molded in the
human form, but comprehending in essence a full measure of
the infinite Godhead; thus making him half human and half
divine in his sublunary origin. It is claimed that he was full
and perfect God, and perfect man; and while he was God, he
was also the son of God, and as such was sent down by his
father to save a fallen and guilty world; and that thus his
mission pertained to the whole human race; and his inspired
seers are made to declare that ultimately every nation, tongue,
kindred, and people under heaven will acknowledge allegiance
to his government, and concede his right to reign, and rule the
world; that “every knee must bow, and every tongue confess
that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
But we do not find that this prophecy has ever been or is
likely to be fulfilled. We do not observe that this claim to the
infinite deityship of Jesus Christ has been or is likely to be
universally conceded. On the contrary, it is found that by a
27
23
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
portion, and a large portion of the people of even those nations
now called Christian, this claim has been steadily and unswerv-
ingly controverted, through the whole line of history, stretch-
ing through the nearly two thousand years which have elapsed
since his advent to earth. Even some of those who are rep-
resented to have been personally acquainted with him—ay!
some of his own brethren in the flesh, children in the same
household, children of the same mother — had the temerity
to question the tenableness of his claim to a divine emana-
tion. And when we extend our researches to other countries,
we find this claim, so far from being conceded, is denied and
contested by whole nations upon other grounds. It is met and
confronted by rival claims. Upon this ground hundreds of
millions of the established believers in divine revelation — hun-
dreds of millions of believers in the divine character and origin
of religion — reject the pretensions set up for Jesus Christ.
They admit both a God and a Savior, but do not accept Jesus
of Nazareth as being either. They admit a Messiah, but not
the Messiah: these nations contend that the title is misplaced
which makes “the man Christ Jesus” the Savior of the world.
They claim to have been honored with the birth of the true
Savior among them, and defend this claim upon the ground of
priority of date. They aver that the advent of their Messiahs
were long prior to that of the Christians’, and that this circum-
stance adjudicates for them a superiority of claim as to having
had the true Messiah born upon their soil. It is argued that,
as the story of the incarnation of the Christians’ Savior is of
more recent date than that of these oriental and ancient reli-
gions (as is conceded by Christians themselves), the origin of
the former is thus indicated and foreshadowed as being an
outgrowth from, if not a plagiarism upon, the latter — a bor-
rowed copy, of which the pagan stories furnish the original.
Here, then, we observe a rivalship of claims, as to which of
the remarkable personages who have figured in the world as
Saviors, Messiahs, and Sons of God, in different ages and differ-
ent countries, can be considered the true Savior and “ sent of
God;” or whether all should be, or the claims of all rejected.
For researches into oriental history reveal the remarkable
RIVAL CLAIMS OF THE SAVIORS.
2S
fact that stories of incarnate Gods answering to and resem-
bling the miraculous character of Jesus Christ have been prev-
alent in most if not all the principal religious heathen nations
of antiquity; and the accounts and narrations of some of these
deific incarnations bear such a striking resemblance to that of
the Christian Savior, — not only in their general features, but in
some cases in the most minute details, from the legend of the
immaculate conception to that of the crucifixion, and subse-
quent ascension into heaven, — that one might almost be mis-
taken for the other.
More than twenty claims of this kind — claims of beings in-
vested with divine honor (deified) — have come forward and
presented themselves at the bar of the world with their creden-
tials, to contest the verdict of Christendom, in having pro-
claimed Jesus Christ, “ the only son, and sent of God twen-
ty Messiahs, Saviors, and Sons of God, according to history or
tradition, have, in past times, descended from heaven, and
taken upon themselves the form of men, clothing themselves
with human flesh, and furnishing incontestable evidence of a
divine :rigin, by various miracles, marvelous works, and super-
lative virtues; and finally these twenty Jesus Christs (accepting
their character for the name) laid the foundation for the salva-
tion of the world, and ascended back to heaven.
1. Chrishna of Hindostan.
2. Budha Sakia of India.
3. Salivahana of Bermuda.
4. Zulis, or Zhule, also Osiris
and Orus, of Egypt.
5. Odin of the Scandinavi-
ans.
6. Crite of Chaldea.
7. Zoroaster and Mithra of
Persia.
8* Baal and Taut, “ the only
Begotten of God,” of
Phenicia.
9. Indra of Thibet.
10. Bali of Afghanistan.
11. Jao of Nepaul.
12. Wittoba of the Bilingo-
nese.
13. Thammuz of Syria.
14. Atys of Phrygia.
15. Xamolxis of Thrace.
16. Zoar of the Bonzes.
17. Adad of Assyria.
18. Deva Tat, and Sammono-
cadam of Siam.
19. Alcides of Thebes.
20. Mikado of the Sintoos.
21. Beddru of Japan.
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
30
*
22. Hesus or Eros, and Brem-
rillah, of the Druids.
23. Thor, son of Odin, of the
Gauls.
24. Cadmus of Greece.
25. Hil and Feta of the Man-
dates.
26. Gentaut and Quexalcote
of Mexico.
27. Universal Monarch of the
Sibyls.
28. Ischy of the Island }f For
mosa.
29. Divine Teacher of Plato.
30. Holy One of Xaca
31. Fohi and Tien of China.
32. Adonis, son of the virgin
Io of Greece.
33. Ixion and Quirinus of
Rome.
34. Prometheus of Caucasus.
35. Mohamud, or Mahomet, of
Arabia.
These have all received divine honors, have nearly all been
worshiped as Gods, or sons of God ; were mostly incarnated as
Christs, Saviors, Messiahs, or Mediators; not a few of them were
reputedly born of virgins; some of them filling a character almost
identical with that ascribed by the Christian’s bible to Jesus
Christ; many of them, like him, are reported to have been cruci-
fied ; and all of them, taken together, furnish a prototype and par-
allel for nearly every important incident and wonder-inciting
miracle, doctrine, and precept recorded in the New Testament,
of the Christian’s Savior. Surely with so many Saviors the
world cannot, or should not, be lost. We have now presented
before us a twofold ground for doubting and disputing the claims
put forth by the Christian world in behalf of “ Our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.” In the first place, allowing the question
to be answered in the affirmative as to whether he was really a
Savior, or supernatural being, or more than a mere man, a neg-
ative answer to which seems to have been sprung (as pre-
viously intimated) at the very hour of his birth, and that by
his kindred, his own nearest relatives; as it is declared,
“his own brethren did not believe on him,” — a skepticism
which has been growing deeper and broader from that day
to this.
And now, upon the heel of this question, we find another
formidable query to be met and answered, viz.: Was he (Christ)
RIVAL CLAIMS OF THE SAVIORS. 3i
the only Savior, seeing that a multitude of similar claims are
no\v upon our council-board to be disposed of?
We shall, however, leave the theologians of the various reli-
gious schools to adjust and settle this difficulty among them-
selves. We shall leave them to settle the question as best they
can as to whether Jesus Christ was the only son and sent of
God —“the only begotten of the Father,” as John declares
him to be (John i. 14) — in view of the fact that long prior to
his time various personages, in different nations, were invested
with the title, “ Son of God,” and have left behind them sim-
ilar proofs and credentials of the justness of their claims to
such a title, if being essentially alike — as we shall prove and
demonstrate them to be — can make their claims similar. We
shall present an array of facts and historical proofs, drawn from
numerous histories and the Holy Scriptures and bibles apper-
taining to these various Saviors, and which include a history of
their lives and doctrines, that will go to show that in nearly all
their leading features, and mostly even in their details, they are
strikingly similar.
A comparison, or parallel view, extended throughout their
sacred histories, so as to include an exhibition presented in par-
allels of the teachings of their respective bibles, would make it
clearly manifest that, with respect to nearly every important
thought, deed, word, action, doctrine, principle, precept, tenet,
ritual, ordinance, or ceremony, and even the various important
characters or personages, who figure in their religious dramas
as Saviors, prophets, apostles, angels, devils, demons, exalted or
fallen genii — in a word, nearly every miraculous or marvel-
ous story, moral precept, or tenet of religious faith, noticed in
either the Old or New Testament Scriptures of Christendom,
— from the Jewish cosmogony, or story of creation in Genesis,
to the last legendary tale in St. John’s “ Arabian Nights ” (alias
the Apocalypse), — there is to be found an antitype for, or
outline of, somewhere in the sacred records or bibles of the ori-
ental heathen nations, making equal if not higher pretension to
a divine emanation and divine inspiration, and admitted by all
historians, even the most orthodox, to be of much more ancient
date \ for while Christians only claim, for the earthly advent
32
Prometheus:
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
of their Savior and the birth of their religion, a period less than
nineteen hundred years in the past, on the contrary, most of
the deific or divine incarnations of the heathen and theii
respective religions are, by the concurrent and united verdict
of all history, assigned a date several hundred or several thou-
sand years earlier, thus leaving the inference patent that so
far as there has been any borrowing or transfer of materials
from one system to another, Christianity has been the bor-
rower. And as nearly the whole outline and constituent parts
of the Christian system are found scattered through these older,
systems, the query is at once sprung as to whether Christian
ity did not derive its materials from these sources, — that is,
from heathenism, instead of from high heaven, as it claims.
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES.
88
CHAPTER II.
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES.
Nearly all religious history is prophetic of the coming of
Saviors, Messiahs, Redeemers, and virgin-born Gods. Most
religious countries, and more than a score of religious systems,
had a standing prophecy that a divine deliverer would descend
from heaven and relieve them from their depressed state, and
ameliorate their condition. And in most cases that prophecy
Was believed to have been fulfilled by the birth of a being, who,
as he approached the goal of moral and intellectual manhood,
exhibited such remarkable proof of superiority of mind as to
be readily accepted as the promised Messiah. We can only
find room for a few citations and illustrations in proof of this
statement. Many texts have been hunted out and marked in
the Christian bible, by interested priests, as prophetic of the
coming and mission of Christ. But a thorough, candid, and
impartial investigation will convince any reader that none of
these texts have the remotest allusion to Christ, nor were they
intended to have. On the contrary, most of them refer to
events already past. The others are the mere ebullitions of
pent-up feelings hopefully prayerful in their anticipation of
better times, but very indefinite as to the period and the agen-
cies or means in which, or by which, the desired reformation
was to be brought about. A divine man was prayed for and
hopefully expected. But no such a being as Jesus Christ is
anticipated, or alluded to, or dreamed of, by the prophecies.
And it requires the most unwarrantable distortion to make one
text refer to him. But this perversion has been wrought on
3
34
THE WORLD S SA VIORS.
many texts. We will cite one case in proof. In Isaiah’s “ fa-
mous prophecy,” so called, the phrase “Unto us a child is
born ” (Isa. ix. 6), the context clearly shows, refers to the proph-
et’s own child, and the past tense, “is born,” is an evidence the
child was then born. And the title “ Mighty God,” found in
the text, Dr. Beard shows should have been translated “the
Mighty Hero,” thus proving it has no reference to a God. And
“ the Everlasting Father” should have been rendered, according
to this Christian writer, “the Father of the Everlasting Age.”
And other texts often quoted as prophecies by biased Christian
writers, the doctor proves, are erroneously translated, and have
no more reference to Christ than to Mahomet. It is true the
Jews, in common with other nations, cherished strong anticipa-
tions of the arrival of a Mighty Deliverer amongst them ; and
this august personage some of them supposed would be a God,
or a God-man (a demi-God). Hence such prophetic utterances
as, “ Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness ” (Isa. xxxii. 1),
“And all nations shall flow unto Zion” (Isa. ii. 2). The Hin-
doo Budhists long previously indulged similar anticipations
with respect to the triumph of their religion. Hence their seers
prophesied that at the end of the Cali Yug period, a divine
child (Avatar, or Savior) would be born, who would understand
the divine writings (the Holy Scriptures) and the sciences,
without the labor of learning them. “ He will supremely un-
derstand all things.” “ He will relieve the earth of sin, and
cause justice and truth to reign everywhere. And will bring
the whole earth into the acceptance of the Hindoo religion.”
And the Hindoo prophet Bala also predicted that a divine
Savior would “become incarnate in the house of Yadu, and
issue forth to mortal birth from the womb of Devaci” (a Holy
Virgin), and relieve the oppressed earth of its load of sin and
sorrow.” Much more similar language may be found in their
holy bible, the Vedas. Colonel Wilford tells us the advent
of their Savior Christina occurred in exact fulfillment of proph-
ecy found in their sacred books.
And the Chinese bible also contains a number of Messianic
prophecies. In one of the five volumes a prophecy runs thus:
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES.
85
“The Holy One, when he comes, will unite in himself nil the
virtues of heaven and earth. By his justice the world will be
established in righteousness. He will labor and suffer much,
. . . and will finally offer up a sacrifice worthy of himself” i. e.,
worthy of a God. And a singular animal, called the Kilin (sig-
nifying the Lamb of God), was seen in the yard, with a stone
in its mouth, on which was inscribed a prophecy of the event.
And when the young God (Chang-ti) was born, in fulfillment
of this prophecy, heavenly music, and angels, and shepherds
attended the scene. See “History of China” by Martinus,
also Halde’s “History of China,” and “Putnam’s Maga-
zine.”
We will also give place to a Messianic prophecy of Persia.
Mr. Faber, an English writer, in his “ History of Idolatry,” tells
us that Zoroaster prophetically declared, that “ A virgin should
conceive and bear a son, and a star would appear blazing at
midday to signalize the occurrence.” “ When you behold the
star,” said he to his followers, “ follow it whithersoever it leads
you. Adore the mysterious child, offering him gifts with pro-
found humility. He is indeed the Almighty Word which cre-
ated the heavens. He is indeed your Lord and everlasting
King.” (Faber, vol. ii. p. 92.) Abulfaragius, in his “Historia
Dynastarium,” and Maurice, in his “ Indian Skeptics Refuted,”
both speak of this prophecy, fulfilled, according to Mr. Higgins,
by the advent of the Persian and Chaldean God Josa. And
Chalcidius (of the second century), in his “ Comments on the
Timeas of Plato,” speaks of “ a star which presaged neither dis-
ease nor death, but the descent of a God amongst men, and which
is attested by Chaldean astronomers, who immediately hastened
to adore the new-born deity, and present him gifts.” We are
compelled to omit, for the want of room, the notice of numer-
ous Messianic prophecies found in the sacred writings of Egypt,
Greece, Rome, Mexico, Arabia, and other countries, all of which
tend to show that the same prophetic spirit pervaded all reli-
gious countries, reliable only to the extent it might have issued
from an interior spiritual vision, or have been illuminated by de-
parted spirits. And we find as much evidence that these pagan
36
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
prophecies were inspired, and also fulfilled, as those found in
Jew - Christian bible, thus reducing all to a common level.
The possibility of the interior vision being expanded and illu-
minated by spiritual beings, so as to enable the possessor to
forestall the occurrence of future events, we, however, by no
means deny, since we have abundant proof of it in connection
with the practical history of modern Spiritualism. (See Chap-
ter XXXIV., section 2.)
PROPHECIES BT THE FIGURE OF A SERPENT. 37
CHAPTER III.
PROPHECIES BY THE FIGURE OF A SERPENT.
The Seed of the Woman bruising the Serpent’s Head.
“ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Gen. iii. 15.) This text is often
cited by Christian writers and controversialists as prefiguring
the mission of the Christian Savior, viz., the destruction of
the serpent, alias the devil. St. John calls “ the grand adver-
sary of souls which deceiveth the whole world ” “ the dragon,
the serpent, the devil, and Satan.” (Rev. xii. 8.) The serpent,
then, is the devil; that is, the dragon, the serpent, the devil,
and Satan are all one. The object of this chapter is to show the
origin of the singular figure set forth in the first text quoted,
and to prove that those Christian writers who assume it to be
a revelation from heaven were profoundly ignorant of oriental
history, as the same figure is found in several heathen systems
of older date, as we will now cite the facts to prove. Some of
the saviors or demigods of Egypt, India, Greece, Persia,
Mexico, and Etruria are represented as performing the same
drama with the serpent or devil. “ Osiris of Egypt (says Mr.
Bryant) bruised the head of the serpent after it had bitten his
heel.” Descending to Greece, Mr. Faber relates, that “ on the
spheres Hercules is represented in the act of contending with
the serpent, the head of which is placed under his foot; and this
serpent guarded the tree with golden fruit in the midst of the
garden Hesperides” — Eden. (Origin of Idolatry, vol. i. p.
443.) “And we may observe,” says this author, “ the same tra-
dition in the Phenician fable of Ophion or Ophiones.” (Ibid.)
85
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
In Genesis the serpent is the subject of two legends. But
here it will be observed they are both couched in one.
Again, it is related by more than one oriental writer that
Chrishna of India is represented on some very ancient sculp-
tures and stone monuments with his heel on the head of a ser-
pent. Mr. Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, vol. ii., speaks of
“ Chrishna crushing the head of a serpent with his foot,” and
pronounces the striking similarity of this story with that found
in the Christian bible as “ very mysterious.” Another author
tells us, “ The image of Chrishna is sculptured in the ancient
temples of India, sometimes wreathed in the folds of a serpent
ivhich is biting his foot, and sometimes treading victoriously
on the head of a serpent.” (Prog. Rel. Ideas, vol. i.) In
the Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi., we are told, “A messenger
from heaven announced to the first woman created (Suchique-
cul), that she should bear a son who should bruise the serpent's
head, and then presented her with a rose.” Here is the origin
of the Genesis legend, the rose being the fruit of the tree of
“ the knowledge of good and evil” “The ancient Persians,”
says Yolney, in his “Ruins of Empires,” p. 169, “had the tradi-
tion of a virgin, from whom they predicted would be born, or
would spring up, a shoot (a son) that would crush the serpent’s
head, and thus deliver the world from sin.” And both the ser-
pent and the virgin, he tells us, are represented imaginarily in
the heavens, and pictured on their astronomical globes and
spheres, as on those of the Romish Christian. (See Burritt’s
Geography of the Heavens.) In the ancient Etrurian story, im
stead of “ the seed of the woman ” (the virgin), it is the woman
herself who is represented as standing with one foot on the
head of a serpent, which has the twig of an apple tree in its
mouth to which an apple is suspended (the forbidden fruit),
while its tail is tw’isted around a celestial globe, thus reminding
us of St.John’s dragon hauling down one third of the stars with
his tail. (See Rev. xii. 4.) In the ancient celestial diagram
of the Etrurians, the head of the virgin is surmounted with a
crown of stars — doubtless the same legend from which St.
John borrowed his metaphor of “a woman with a crown of
twelve stars on her head.” (Rev. xiii.) “ The Regina Stellarum99
PROPHECIES BT THE FIGURE OF A SERPENT. 39
(Queen of the Stars), spoken of in some of the ancient systems,
appertains to the .same fable. Also the tradition of Achilles of
Greece being invulnerable in the heel, as related by Homer,
The last clause of the first text quoted reads, “ It shall bruise
thy head ” — a very curious prophetic reference to the savior of
the world, if the text refers to him, to represent him as being
of the neuter gender, for the neuter pronoun it always refers to
a thing without sex.
In the further exposition of the serpent tradition, we are now
brought to notice, and will trace to its origin, the story of the
original transgression and fall of man — two cardinal doctrines
of the Christian religion. Like every other tenet of the Chris-
tian faith, we find these doctrines taught in heathen systems
much older than Christianity, and whose antiquity antedates
even the birth of Moses. We will first notice the Persian tra-
dition. u According to the doctrine of the Persians,” says the
Rev. J. C. Pitrat, “ Meshia and Meshiane, the first man and
first woman, were pure, and submitted to Ormuzd, their maker.
But Ahriman (the evil one) saw them, and envied them their
happiness. He approached them under the form of a serpent,
presented fruits to them, and persuaded them that he was the
maker of man, of animals, of plants, and of the beautiful uni-
verse in which they dwelt. They believed it. Since that time
Ahriman was their master. Their natures became corrupt, and
this corruption infested their whole posterity.” This story is
taken from the Yandidatsade of the Persians, pp. 305 and 428.
The Indian or Hindoo story is furnished us by the Rev.
Father Bouchat, in a letter to the bishops of Avranches, and
runs thus : “ Our Hindoos say the Gods tried by all means to
obtain immortality. After many inquiries and trials, they con-
ceived the idea that they would find it in the tree of life,
which is in the Chorcan (paradise). In fact they succeeded,
and by eating once in a while of the fruits of that tree, they
kept the precious treasure they so much valued. A famous
snake, named Cheiden, saw that the tree of life had been found
by the Gods of the second order. As probably he had been
intrusted with guarding that tree, he became so angry because
his vigilance had been deceived, that he immediately poured
40
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
out an enormous quantity of poison, which spread over the
whole earth.” How much like this is the story of St. John,
“ And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after
the woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the
flood ” ! (Rev. xii. 15.) The idea of a snake or serpent inundat-
ing the earth from its mouth, as taught in both stories, is so
novel, and so far removed from the sphere of natural causes
and possible events, that we are compelled to the conclusion
that one is borrowed from the other, or both from a common
original. And as facts cited in other chapters prove beyond
dispute that the Hindoo system, containing this story, extends
in antiquity far beyond the time of Moses, the question is thus
settled as to which system borrowed the story from the other.
Before closing the chapter, we wish to call the attention of
the reader to the important fact that three out of four of the
cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith are taught in the two
heathen mythological stories of creation just presented, viz.,—
1. Original sin.
2. The fall of man caused by a serpent.
8. The consequent corruption and depravity of the human
race.
These doctrines, then, it must be admitted, are of heathen
origin, and not, as Christians claim, “ important truths revealed
from heaven.” For a historical exposition of the other cardinal
doctrine of the Christian faith, viz., man’s restoration by the
atonement achieved through the crucifixion of a God, see
Chapters xvi. and xxi.
MIRACULOUS CONCEPTION OF THE GODS. 41
CHAPTER IV.
MIRACULOUS AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OP
THE GODS.
The ancients very naturally concluded that an offspring of
God (a son of God) should have a purer, higher, and holier
maternal origin than is incident to the lot of mortals, and this
was to constitute one of the evidences of his emanation from
the Deity — that is, of his supernatural or divine origin. He,
as a matter of course, must not only have a different origin, but
one in the highest degree superior and supernatural. He must
not only be able to claim the highest paternal origin, but the
highest maternal also. And on the part of the mother, a
sexual connection with the great Potentate of heaven would
evince for her offspring the very acme of superiority with re-
spect to his origin, moral perfection, and authority. That the
Savior was born of a woman could not possibly be made a
matter of concealment. But his paternal parentage was not
so obvious and apparent to general observation, being cognizant
alone to the mother. This circumstance furnished the most
propitious opportunity to concoct the story that “The Most
High ” had condescended and descended to become both a
father and a grandfather to a human being, or a being appar-
ently human at least.
Prometheus:
.
We say grandfather, because, if God (as the Christian bible
itself frequently asserts, both directly and by implication) is
father of the whole human family, then he was father to the
maternal parent; so that her son, though deriving existence
from him, would be his grandson as well as his son. Hence
42
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
the corollary, Jesus Christ was a grandson of God as well as
a son of God,, and Jehovah both his father and grandfather.
Again, to make the origin and character of the God and
Saviour stand higher for purity, and partake in the highest
degree of the miraculous, the impression must go abroad that
he was born of a woman while she was yet a maiden — i. e., be-
fore she was contaminated by illicit association with the mas-
culine sex. Hence nearly all the saviors were reputedly born
of virgins. And the process of birth, too, was out of the line
of natural causes, in order to invest the character of the savior
with the ne plus ultra of the miraculous. And hence it is re-
lated of Jesus Christ (in an Apocryphal Gospel), of Chrishna
of India, and other saviors, that they were born through the
mothers’ side. It is true our present canonical gospels are
silent as to the manner of Christ’s birth; but one of the Apoc-
ryphal gospels, which gives the matter in fuller detail, and
whose authority in the earlier ages of the Christian church
was not disputed, declares that the manner of his birth was
as related above. And, besides, some of the early Christian
fathers fully indorsed the story. The same is related in the
pagan bibles of heathen Gods. The motives which originated
the reports of the immaculate conception of the Saviors, it may
be further remarked, were of a twofold character: —
1. To establish their spotless origin (as the word immacu-
late means spotless).
2. To make it appear that there was a Deific power and
agency concerned in their conception.
And we may observe here that it is not the Saviors alone
who are reported to have been ushered into tangible existence
without a human father, but it is declared of beings known and
acknowledged to be men, as Plato, Pythagoras, Alexander,
Augustus, and a number of others. Of Plato an author re-
marks, “He was born of Pareatonia, and begotten of Apollo,
and not Ariston, his father.” Both the manner, or process, and
the source of the influence by which the Gods and Saviors
were generated, seem to have been different in different coun-
tries, though the idea of “ overshadowing with the Holy Ghost ”
seems to have been most current. Mr. Higgins says that “ the
MIRACULOUS CONCEPTION OF THE GODS. 43
Supreme First Cause was generally believed to overshadow, or
in some other mysterious manner to impregnate, the mother of
the God, or personage” (vol. i. 378). We are told that Py-
thais, the mother of Pythagoras, five hundred and fifty years
B. C., conceived by a specter or ghost (of course the Holy
Ghost) of the God Apollo, or God Sol.
In Malcolm’s “ History of Persia” (vol. i. 494) the author tells
us that “ Zoroaster was born of an immaculate conception by a
ray from the Divine Reason.” The immaculate conception of
Juno of Greece is thus described by the poet: —
tl Juno touched the flower;
Its wondrous virtues such,
She touched it, and grew pregnant at the touch;
Then entered Thrace — the Propontic shore;
When mistress of her touch,
God Mars she bore.”
This case may certainly be set down as the ne plus ultra of
etiquette with respect to sexual commerce or purity of concep-
tion. The sweet odor of an expanded flower, we are here
taught, is adequate to the conception and production of a God.
Here we have “the immaculate conception” in the superlative
degree, and while much more beautiful and grand, it cannot be
more senseless or unreasonable than the conception by a ghost.
It proves at least that the doctrine of the immaculate concep-
tion is of very ancient date. And this fastidious maiden lady
and immaculate virgin, Juno, not only conceived the God Mars
by the touch of a flower, but she also (so the story reads) con-
ceived Vulcan by being overshadowed by the wind — exactly
a parallel case with that of the virgin Mary, as we find that
ghost, in the original, means wind. Thus we observe that
Vulcan, long before Jesus Christ was “born of the Holy
Ghost,” i. e., both were conceived by the “ Holy Wind.” And
the author of the “ Perennial Calendar ” speaks of the miracu-
lous conception of Juno Jugulis, “the blessed virgin queen of
heaven,” and describes it as falling on the 2d of February,
the very day which the early Christians celebrated with a
festival, as being the date of the conception of the “ ever
44
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
Blessed Virgin Mary” Of the ancient Mexicans it is said,
“they had the immaculate conception, the crucifixion, and the
resurrection after three days.” (Mex. Antiq., vol. i.) And in
an ancient work called “Codex Vaticanus,” the immaculate
conception is spoken of as a part of the history of Quexalcote,
the Mexican Savior. “ Suchiquecal,” says the Mexican Anti-
quities, “was called the Queen of Heaven. She conceived
a son without connection with a man” — a very obvious case
of immaculate conception. Alvarez Semedo, in his “History
of China,” page 89, speaks of a sect in that country who
worshiped a Savior known as Xaca, who was reputedly con-
ceived of his mother, Maia, by a white elephant, which she
saw in her sleep, and “ for greater purity, she brought him forth
from one of her sides.” Colonel Tod, of England, tells us in his
“History of the Rajahs,” page 57, that Yu, the first Chinese
monarch, was conceived by his mother being struck with a star
while traveling. In the case of Christ, it will be recollected,
Ihe star did not appear till after his birth. But here the star
is the author and agent of the conception. According to
Ranking’s “History of the Moguls,” page 178, Tamerlane’s
mother (of Bermuda) professedly conceived by having had
sexual intercourse with “ the God of Day.” The mother of
Ghengis Khan, of Tartary, “being too modest to claim that she
was the mother of the son of God, said only that he was
the son of the sun” (History of Moguls, page 65.) Both
Julis and Osiris of Egypt are spoken of by some authors as
having been honored with a divine immaculate conception —
the former being the son of the beautiful virgin Cronis
Celestine, and “begotten by the Father of all Gods.”
Both Budha and Chrishna, of India, are reported as hav-
ing been immaculately conceived. The mother of the latter
(God) was (as the Hindoo Holy Book declares) over-
shadowed by the Supreme God, Brahma, while the spirit-
author of the conception (that is, the Holy Ghost) was Nara-
an. The mother of Apollonius of Cappadocia, who was
cotemporary with Jesus Christ (according to his history by
Philostratus — and his (Apollonius’) disciple Damis testifies to
the same effect) — gave birth to this God and rival Savior of
MIRACULOUS CONCEPTION OF THE GODS. 45
Jesus Christ, by having been previously “ overshadowed ” by
the supreme God Proteus. For the corporeal existence and
earthly career of Augustus Caesar, the world has ostensibly to
acknowledge itself indebted to the “ overshadowing ” influence
and generating power of Jove, by whose divine influence he
was immaculously conceived in the temple of Apollo, accord-
ing to the statement of Nimrod, his biographer. The virgin
mother Shing-Mon of China furnishes another case of immac-
ulate conception. Possessing a sensibility too lofty and too
refined to descend to the ordinary routine of the world, she
gave birth to the God Yu from previous conception by a water
lily. This case, with respect to the degree of procreative deli-
cacy and refinement evinced, may be classed with that of Juno
of Greece. Here it may be noted as a curious circumstance, that
several of the virgin mothers of Gods and great men are
specifically represented as going ten months between concep-
tion and delivery. The mother^ of Hercules, Sakia, Guatama,
Scipio, Arion, Solomon, and Jesus Christ may be mentioned as
samples of this character. This tradition probably grew out
of the established belief in the ten sacred cycles which con-
stitute the great prospective and portentous millennial epoch as
described in Chapter XXX. Arion, mentioned above, is repre-
sented as being both miraculously and immaculously conceived
by the Gods in the citadel of Byrsa.
In view of the foregoing facts drawn from accredited histo-
ries, the reader will readily concede that the tradition of the
miraculous conception of Gods (sons of God), Saviors, and
Messiahs was very prevalent in the world at a very ancient
period of time, and long before the mother of Jesus was “ over-
shadowed by the Most High.” Indeed, says Mr. Higgins, “ the
belief in the immaculate conception extended to every nation
in the world.” And Grote, referring to Greece, makes the
remarkable declaration, that “ the furtive pregnancy of young
women, often by a God, is one of the most frequently recurring
incidents in the legendary narratives of the country.” And
we find that both the prevalency and great antiquity of the
doctrine of the immaculate conception among the heathen is
conceded by Christian writers themselves (of former ages) in
46
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
their attempts to find arguments and commendatory prece-
dents to justify tneir own belief in the doctrine. For proof of
this, we need only cite the Christian writer Mr. Bailey, who
remarks, “What I have said of St. Augustine, is applicable
also to Origen and Lactanius, who have endeavored to persuade
us of the immaculate virginity of the mother of Jesus Christ
by the example of similar events stored by the heathen.” Here
we have several Christian authorities cited by another writer,
also a Christian, for placing, the doctrine of the immaculate
conception among the heathen legends in ages long anterior
to Christ.
With respect to the degree of credence to be attached to
the story of the immaculate conception of the mother of Jesus,
it need only be observed that there was no other person con-
cerned in the transaction but herself who could possess positive,
absolute knowledge of his parentage. And she, let it be noted,
settles the matter forever, by# virtually affirming that Joseph
was his father in the declaration addressed to Jesus when she
found him in the temple —‘ 1 and thy father have sought thee
sorrowing.” (Luke ii. 48.) No one will dispute that the fa-
ther here spoken of was Joseph, which amounts to a positive
declaration by the mother, that Joseph was Jesus’ father.
Immaculate Conception and Miraculous Birth of the
Christian Savior.
The following considerations exhibit some of the numerous
absurdities involved in the story of the miraculous birth of
Jesus Christ.
1. The evangelical narratives show that Christ himself did
not claim to have a miraculous birth. He did not once allude
to such an event; while if, as Christians claim, it is the princi-
pal evidence of his deityship, he certainly would have done so.
2. His paternal genealogy, as made out by Matthew and
Luke, completely disproves the story of his miraculous concep-
tion by a virgin. For they both trace his lineage through
Joseph, which they could not do only on the assumption that
Joseph was his father. This, of course, disproves his sireship
by the Holy Ghost, ergo, his miraculous conception. It ia
MIRACULOUS CONCEPTION OF THE GODS. 47
the lineage and parentage of Joseph, and not Mary, that is given
in tracing back his ancestry to the royal household — a fact
which completely overthrows the story of his miraculous birth.
3. And the fact that his own disciple (Philip) declared him
to be the son of Joseph, and that several texts show that it
was the current impression, is still further confirmation of the
conclusion.
4. We find the story of the immaculate conception resting
entirely upon the slender foundation comprised in the legends
of an angel and a dream. We are told that Mary got it by an
angel, and Joseph by a dream. And through these sources we
have the whole groundwork and foundation of the story of the
divinity of Jesus Christ.
5. It should be noticed that we have neither Joseph’s nor
Mary’s report of these things, but only Matthew and Luke’s
version of the affair. And we are not informed that either of
them ever saw or conversed with Joseph or Mary on the sub-
ject. It is probable they got it from Dame Rumor with her
thousand tongues.
6. If Christ were a miraculously born God, is it possible his
mother would have reproved him for misconduct when she
found him in the temple, as she must have known his char-
acter ?
7. If Mary was miraculously conceived, why was the im-
portant secret kept so long from Joseph ? Why did she keep
the “ wool drawn over his eyes ” till an angel had to be sent
from heaven to let him into the secret.
8. If she were a virtuously-minded woman, why did she thus
attempt to deceive him ?
9. Why did not God inform Joseph by “ inspiration,” instead
of employing the roundabout way of sending an angel to do it?
10. We are told that “ Mary was found with child of the
Holy Ghost.” But as we are not informed who found it out,
or who made the discovery, or how it was madp, is it not thus
left in a very suspicious aspect ?
11. As the whole affair seems to have been based on dreams,
and was carried on through dreams, and has no better foun-
dation than dreams, why should we consider it entitled to any
48
THE WORLD'S SAVIORS.
better credit than similar stories found in works on heathen
mythology ?
12. And would it not prove that Christianity is rather a
dreamy religion ?
13. Should not the astounding and incredible report of the
birth of a God be based on a better foundation than that of
dreams, and angels, and the legends of oriental myth61ogy, to
entitle it to the belief of an intelligent and scientific age ?
14. Or can any man of science entertain for a moment the
superlative solecism of an Infinite God by any special act
“ overshadowing ” a finite human female, especially as modern
science teaches us that God is both male and female, and as
much one as the other?
15. As history teaches us the ancient orientalists believed
that sexual commerce is sinful, and contaminating to the child
thus begotten and born, and hence had their incarnate Gods
sent into the world through human virgins, can any unbiased
mind resist the conviction that this is the source of the origin
of the story of Christ’s immaculate conception ?
16. And finally, if it were necessary for Christ to come into
the world in such a way as to avoid the impure channel of
human conception and parturition, why did he not descend
directly from heaven in person ? Why could he not “ descend
on the clouds ”.by his first advent, as the bible says he will do
when he makes his second advent ?
17. Would not this course have furnished a hundred fold
more convincing proof and demonstration of his divine power
and divine attributes than the ridiculous story and the inscru-
table mystery of the divine conception, which is not susceptible
of either investigation or proof.
VIRGIN MOTHERS AND VIRGIN-BORN GODS. 49
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