§ 5. All the early Greek writers, those living 2000 to
2500 years ago, agree in placing the date of Zoroaster
about six thousand years before the Christian Era. It
is those only, of a more recent period, who claim that the
Iranian prophet came upon the stage only about twenty-
five hundred years ago. It must be noticed that these
late writers seem chained to the theory that the earth is a
recent production, and that man is a late arrival. They
seem to stand in awe of fixing a distant date for the
prophet, lest they collide with Genesis. In some things
Genesis may be right; but its chronology is misleading.

Pliny the Elder (born 23, A. D.), not being thus ham-
pered, speaks of Zoroaster as living and teaching centu-
ries before Moses. In fact, Pliny speaks of two Zoroas-
ters; the first of whom flourished long before Genesis;
 44 ZOROASTER CENTURIES BEFORE MOSES

the latter about the time of Darius Hystaspes. 'Hermip-
pus, who lived 250 years before Jesus, assigns the Great
Persian to a time centuries before the siege of Troy.
Plutarch holds to the same opinion.

Xanthus of Lydia (B. C. 500) thought the great
teacher lived six thousand years before Xerxes. Edward
Clodd, in his childhood of religions, says, we are sure
that Zoroaster lived more than three thousand years ago,
because his religion was established before the conquest of
Bactria by the Assyrians, which took place twelve hun-
dred years before Jesus’ day. Justin makes the direct
assertion that the prophet was a Bactrian priest, and
ruler of the Bactrians. Now, if he is right, then the
Persian antedates, by centuries, both David and Solomon.

It must be admitted that at a very early period Zoroas-
ter’s name had traveled far; for in old Irish history
there is mention of him and of a star, and a strange light
at his birth.9

Ctesias, who lived 400 years B. C., states that Ninus,
with a vast Assyrian army, made war on the Bactrians;
took their Capitol, and that Zoroaster was there slain.
Ctesias, though not always reliable, fixes this event about
nine hundred years before Jesus.

Ancient writers vary considerably as to the period of
the prophet, but they agree in placing him anterior to the
Jewish exile a century before the founding of Rome.
In any event it cannot be considered “extravagant”, as
Dr. West claims, if we place him back to the time, or
even beyond the time, of Moses. For we cannot overlook

9 See Valiancy’s vindication of ancient history of Ire-
land: Vol. 4, p. 202.
 BABYLON AND UR

45

the fact that in recent researches among the rocks and
ruins of the ancient city of Nippur, there have been found
stamped records upon burnt clay, which carry the writ-
ten history of man back beyond Genesis more than three
thousand years.

Old Babylon and Ur, of the Chaldees, are also yielding
up their secrets and telling us of their Gods, their Kings,
and their religions. That part of the world was teeming
with populations more than eight thousand years ago,
and probably more than ten thousand years ago; and is it
unreasonable to suppose that the Great I Am, would, and
did, inspire some devout souls on the banks of the Oxus,
as well as on the Tigris, and the Euphrates, to teach the
Parsees and their progenitors the way to a better life?
The great and renowned leader of that religious throng
was Zoroaster; but for himself he took no "thought of
the morrow”; and so left the world in an eternal contro-
versy, as to the period in which he lived. And to this
day no human being can state the exact time of his
sojourn on earth, although it is highly probable that he
lived before Solomon, and probably before Moses.
 CHAPTER III.

Zoroaster's early years.

It is certain that Zoroaster’s life was one long contin-
ued struggle to build up all that was good; in other
words, to teach his people to hold good thoughts, and
utter good words, and do good deeds to all mankind. But
it is probably a fiction and a myth, as stated in the Vendi-
dad, that Angra Manyu (the Devil), knowing of his
birth, summoned the fiends to assemble at the head of
Arezura—the ridge at the Gate of Hell, because, as he
said, the Holy Zaratust was just born in the house of
Porushaspa.1

Nor shall I write down, as a sober truth, that in his
birth and growth, the waters and the plants rejoiced and
grew, and that all the creatures of the Good Creation
cried out “Hail”. “Hail to us; for he is born the Athra-
ven (priest) Spitama Zarathrustra. He will offer us
sacrifices, with libations, and bundles of baresma; and
there will be the good law of the worshippers of Mazda.
It will come and spread through all the seven zones of
the earth.1 2 Mithra, the Lord of Wide Pastures, will
increase all the excellencies of our countries and allay
all our troubles.”

1   Vend., ch. 20, § 46. We have elsewhere said that
Porushaspa was the prophet’s father.

2   Farvarden Yast, S. B. E., Vol. 23, §§ 93, 94.

46
 ZOROASTER'S MOTHER

47

That other wild statement, that the soul of the Primal
Bull, thousands of years before Zoroaster’s appearance,
obtained a vision of him, is strangely fabulous. So, also,
we must class that later statement, that another gifted
Ox foretold the coming of the prophet.

The safer road to follow is the old beaten path; that
this man was born the same as other mortals; though it
would not be extraordinary if he inherited a predilection
for his future mission. For the tradition is that Dugda-
hova, his mother, was so filled with that divine nimbus,
effulgence, or glory, that her father, thinking her be-
witched, sent her away from home; sent her to the village
of Porushaspa. On her journey thither, as she stands
upon a lofty eminence, surveying with wonder, the beau-
ties of the landscape that stretched out before her, Revela-
tion mentions that she heard voices bidding her go for-
ward. She listened further, and, the voices giving assur-
ance that the village whither she was tending would be
compassionate, she proceeded; and there she met Poru-
shaspa, whom she subsequently married. And this di-
vine radiance, or glory, passed on down to Zoroaster, her
son.3

Another story current among the Iranians at this time
is that the production of Zaratust was caused by his
parents drinking Horn juice, infused with cow’s milk; the
Horn, being a plant or shrub, that grew in the mountains
of Persia, and when pounded and the juice squeezed out
and mixed with milk it became pleasant to the taste. It
was used as a libation in ceremonial worship; and the

3   Dinkard 7, S. B E, ch 2; 7 to 9
 48

DIVINE RADIANCE AT HIS BIRTH

Jews,4 as told in the book of Numbers, probably copied
as to their drink offering from the Iranian Horn juice
worship. But besides pouring “strong wine to the Lord”;
the Jews went beyond this, and poured drink-offerings
unto other Gods.

§ 2. It has been, and will be further noticed, that
there are many parallels and striking resemblances be-
tween what is said of Zoroaster and his religion, and later
moral heroes, and their religions. I shall give dates and
other matters, as far as attainable, that the reader may
judge if one has been, or is, copied from the other.

We may now notice the following: The New Testa-
ment distinctly sets forth that a star came and stood over
the place where Jesus was bom; and that Herod sought
to destroy him. But many centuries before Jesus came
more marvelous things were written and told in the Per-
sian Bible about Zoroaster. For three days before he
was born the whole village where his father lived became
luminous. A divine radiance or light encircled his fath-
er’s house: and the child laughed outright as he came into
the world. Those present, who saw and heard these
strange occurrences, wondered much, and some were
frightened. Thereupon Porushaspa, the father, visited
Durasrobo, an idolatrous priest, hard by, renowned for
his sorcery and witchcraft, and the child was pronounced
foolish. This fatal piece of information so wrought
upon the mind of the father that he gave his consent
that the Karap 5 might at once make way with the babe.

4   See Numbers, ch. 28, V. 7. Jeremiah 19, v. 13.

5   S. B. E., Vol. 47, ch. 3. Those wizards were called
Karaps.
 ATTEMPT TO MURDER HIM

49

Thereat, the wizard sought to compress and twist the
head of the child to cause his death. Instantly an invisi-
ble power stayed his hand—withered it; and it fell
harmless at his side. The Karap, in pain and alarm at
this unknown power, seized the infant and threw him in
front of a herd of cattle that he might be trampled to
death. But an old Ox, at the head of the column, stood
guard over the child while the drove, on either side,
passed him by. A similar attempt was made by throwing
the child in front of a herd of horses, and the leader
stood guard, the same as the Ox. The wizard then un-
dertook to burn the babe, and heaped a great pile of
wood; and put the infant thereon; but the fire would not
bum; thus was the child thrice saved. This story is
many centuries older than that of Herod and Jesus—was
this later story a copy?^

ZOROASTER AND THE WOLF.

§ 3. If the reader can believe that Daniel was thrown
into a den of hungry lions, and there remained over
night, and came out unharmed, it will not be very trying
for him to credit the story of Zoroaster and the wolf.
The Persian legend surely surpasses, if possible, the
Jewish one; both being very improbable. The strange
happenings, above mentioned, have so shattered Poru-

Kavis and Karaps. Of course every one is familiar with
the story that Herod sought to kill Jesus. But outside
of the New Testament there is no mention of Herod’s
order to slay the innocents; nor does history, other than
the Persian Bible or its commentaries, make mention of
this attempt to kill Zoroaster.
 50

FLUNG INTO A WOLFY DEN

shaspa’s mind that he consents that his son may be
thrown into a wolf’s den, her cubs being first killed to
make her more furious. But two angels are on guard,
Vohuman, the angel of good thought; and Srosh, the
angel of obedience; and they close the Wolf’s mouth.6

In the case of Daniel it took only one angel to close
the mouths of a den of lions. But Vohuman and Srosh
did not cease their ministrations with the closing of the
wolf’s mouth; the babe was hungry; and during the night
they brought a sheep, her udder being full of milk, into
the den, and it gave suck to the famished child. At dawn
the mother of the babe ran into the lair, expecting to find
only the bones of her child, but found him safe, and up-
braided her husband bitterly, that the wolf was kinder
to her child than its father.

Here we may consider that if God saved Daniel from
the lions, and if he knows all things, he knew that the
Persian child was born to preach a better religion than
the Karaps and the Wizards were doing. The Persians
being older and a more numerous people than the Jews,
why should they not have a teacher to direct them in
the right paths? The Lord, it would seem, was mindful
of them, surely.

Zoroaster lived long centuries before Daniel, and if
either story is suggested or copied from the other, with
the variations above mentioned, that of the lions is surely
subsequent to that of the wolf.7

Another parallel will be here noticed. Jesus at twelve
is found in the Temple, in the midst of the wise men

6   Dinkard 7, ch. 3, § 16, and Dink., p. 146.

7   Dinkard, Book 7, ch. 3, § 46.
 REVERENCES THE POOR

51

hearing and asking questions.8 Zoroaster at seven years
is engaged in a religious discussion with the Karaps and
declares that he reverences the poor, and the righteous,
but not the wicked. If we may trust the Dinkard, he
early began to manifest wonderful intellectual powers,
and an exalted mind filled with a desire for righteous-
ness.

The same authority speaks of the beauty of his person,
and the grandeur of his character, which fitted him for
the priesthood, or warriorship, and that he was an enemy
to everything vile. Such gifts of heaven, in any age,
stamp their possessor as a born leader of men. If the
warrior spirit predominates, he marshals armies and sub-
dues empires. If devoutly inclined, he remodels and
reforms old religions or establishes a new one.

§ 4. Whether it be true, as stated in the Zartust-Nama,
that Porushaspa placed the future prophet at the age
of seven in charge of a noted teacher for instruction, we
have no certain means of knowing. Educational matters,
at that early period, were highly primitive, and rudimen-
tary; and what he was taught, we can only conjecture.
If he lived only thirty-five hundred years ago it is prob-
able that the learning of Egypt, prior to his coming, had
penetrated to the Oxus, and beyond. As far back as five
thousand years ago the civilization of Egypt was won-
derful. In truth, Egypt was the land of learning, and
her people, as Herodotus mentions, “were excessively
attentive to the Gods.” The Greeks borrowed nearly all
the names of their Gods from the Egyptians. Rome did

8 Luke 2, vs. 42 to 49.
 52

THE SACRED SHIRT

the same. The Egyptians assigned a particular God to
preside over each of the thirty days of the month; the
Iranians, at least in the later Avesta, followed, with
especial care, this example.

It is possible, nay, it is probable, that Zoroaster’s in-
structor may have been a learned Egyptian scholar; for
he could not be very learned, unless he knew much of
that extraordinary people. But that matter will be con-
sidered further along; it being only necessary to here
add that Zoroaster, after the age of seven, like other
Parsee children, was allowed to wear the sacred shirt.
This was a loose tunic, of white, with short sleeves; the
body of it reaching below the waist. Jews, Greeks and
Romans, afterward adopted this form of dress, except
that they made them much longer. The Dinkard calls it
“the Star spangled garment.” At the age of fifteen,
young persons tied it on with the sacred girdle, in token
that sin was ended.9

Whether the putting on of the sacred shirt was in
vogue before Zaratust’s time, is not so clear; but we are
sure that the religious formula of the girdle (Kusti) was
known and practiced long before the separation of the
Hindu Aryans, from the Aryans of Iran.10 The Hindus
called it the sacred cord; the Iranians the sacred-thread
girdle. The former wore it over the left shoulder and

9   Dinkard, Vol. 37, S. B. E., p. 474; also Dadistan, ch.
38, § 22. Isaiah, ch. 59, v. 17. Put on a garment of
vengeance.

10   That separation took place more than 4,300 years
ago.
 THE SACRED GIRDLE

53

tinder the right arm; the Iranians passed it three times
around the waist.

After Zartust brought the good religion the girdle was
put on with a solemn religious ceremony, and was worn
as a sign of worship. The man or woman about to as-
sume the girdle, recites a prayer: “May Ahura Mazda be
Lord, and Aharam (the Devil) be unprevailing, smitten
and defeated. May the demons, fiends, wizards, Kavis and
Karpans, tyrants, sinners, apostates, and enemies, be
smitten and defeated. May enemies be confounded. Or-
mazd is the Lord. I renounce all sin, all evil thoughts,
evil words, evil deeds. For sins of thought, word and
deed, do thou pardon. I am penitent. I have scorn for
Aharman. Righteousness is the best good, a blessing it
is. Perfect rectitude is a blessing. Come to my protection,
O! Ormazd! A Mazda worshipper am I. I praise the
Mazda religion, the best and most excellent of things. I
profess (Ashem-vohu) holiness is the best of all good.” 11

11   The prayer is quite long and I have abridged it
somewhat, but have omitted only repetitions. See p. 383,
Dadistin. The girdle consisted of six strands; each
strand having twelve fine white woolen.
 CHAPTER IV.

79

returned to Nazareth, and was thereafter “subject to
his parents.” Immediately after this episode, he drops
out of sight utterly for eighteen years. (6) No mir-
acles, no signs, no portents of a remarkable and un-
surpassed future follow him. The world moves on
the same as if he were not in existence. His daily
life was probably that of many other young men in
Nazareth, who have now slept for nineteen centuries
in unmarked graves.

Joseph was a carpenter, and Jesus, no doubt, assisted
him in building houses. We wonder if he ever caught
a vision of the mighty future before him. Did Geth-
semane and Golgotha, grim specters, never stalk across
his pathway? Did he ever read Isaiah (n, v. i to 6),
or suspect that He was the rod (7) that should come
out of the stem of Jesse, or that he was the Lord’s
anointed, the Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Coun-
selor, the Redeemer ( ? Was his strange paternity
ever mentioned to him ? Did he know anything about
the “overshadowing” of his mother? Did any one in
Nazareth ever talk to him about the Holy Ghost?
Was the slaughter of the Bethlehem children a house-
hold shudder? Did his brothers and sisters ever men-
tion his escape from it ? Did Mary ever tell him about
wrapping swaddling clothes about him and hiding him

(6)   Luke, ch. 2, v. 45 to 52. Did he visit India in those
eighteen yearsf

(7)   Isaiah 61:1, 2, 44 and 24.

(   Matt. 1:22, says, save his people (meaning the Jews) from
their sins. Matthew was a Jew and his vision is limited to Jewry.
 80   A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

from Herod’s wrath, in a manger? As he grew to
manhood, was he all unconscious that he was to save
his people from their sins? About all these matters
he is silent, and nowhere makes any mention of
his birth and his lowly couch in the manger; nor of his
enemy, Herod, nor of Bethlehem as his birthplace.

(9)   While assisting Joseph, the carpenter, did he ever
suspect that he was to be the Saviour of the world?

(10)

He was undoubtedly of such steady, even deport-
ment that mothers with marriageable daughters looked
upon him with favor. Did those Nazarene girls never
ogle him? Did they never try to get up a flirtation
with him ? Such a thing is not improbable, but we have
no record whatever that those Nazarene people saw in
Jesus anything different from any other sober, modest,
quiet, orderly young man. Why, therefore, should
he not receive the same attention as others of his
age, habits and sex? Both Mary and Martha seem
to have thought much of him. (11) Those Nazarenes
saw him, probably daily, in his carpenter’s apron,

(9)   I have seen it published that Jesus visited India, and
there learned his creed; that he was there from the time he was
twenty until near thirty years of age; but the proof; so far, is
not absolutely convincing, although it is a mystery as to where
he spent those intervening years. With all due respect to his
memory; it would seem that if Jesus was all-wise he would not
have chosen such a lot of wicked men for his apostles; Judas be-
trayed him; Peter thrice denied him (Matt. 20, v. 70); all of
them forsook him.

(10)   Luke 2, v. 11.

(11)   John 12, v. 1 to 3.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   81

toiling at the bench with Joseph. They did not
know, as John, in his wild extravagance, after-
ward said, that this Nazarene boy had made the world

(12)   , and they would not have believed John if he had
gone there and told them so.

Section 4. John would probably have been jeered
at and scoffed at for his absurd and silly assertion

(13)   . Those Nazarenes were not unfamiliar with
Genesis, which says, “In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth.” They would have pointed
John to the very first line of Genesis, which impales
him on a barbed point.

Concerning Jesus’ education we know but little. But
if at twelve years of age he was able to discuss the
Thor (the law) with the doctors in the temple, he must
have given it much attention. Books were not then,
as now, on every hand; they were few; they were cost-
ly; and his poverty precludes the idea that he possess-
ed anything more than a copy of the law of Moses;
but with that law, his subsequent sermons show him to
be thoroughly conversant. Jesus could write, yet he
never wrote a line in the New Testament, but we are
told that when a certain woman, charged with a serious

(12)   John, ch. 1, v. 10, contains one of the most wild and
wicked statements that I ever read. How can any sane man be-
lieve such stuff f Nothing that the ignorant Hindus ever put forth
equals it in exaggeration, and they very frequently excel belief.

(13)   Where did John get this special information about the
creation of the world f Who told himf Jesus himself never
made such a foolish claim; and that silly stuff was not written
until about one hundred years after Jesus escaped from that
Sepulcher. It is even possible that John did not write it.
 82   A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

offense by the scribes and Pharisees, was brought be-
fore him, they cited him to the law of Moses, which
condemned her to death. And they said, “Master,
what sayest thou?” Jesus was more than equal to
the emergency, and stooping down, he wrote with his
finger on the ground. (14)

There was a great audience in the temple, and
Jesus had been sitting there, teaching the people, when
this terrified woman was pushed through the throng
and thrust into his very presence. She is trembling
with fear; terror is stamped upon every lineament of
her face. The scribes insist that the proof of her
guilt is beyond all possible question. Now, if he con-
demns her, they will charge him with cruelty and bar-
barity. If he lets her go, then he himself is teaching
in open defiance of the Mosaic law. Turn which way
he may, the Pharisees think they have him completely
cornered. They look about triumphantly. They ques-
tion him: “Master, what sayest thou?” Jesus is
writing on the ground. They press about him, and
look over his shoulder to see what he has written.
These men claim to be strict keepers of the law; {hey
pay their tithes; they are conspicuous at the Passover;

(14)   I am indebted to Professor Gregory, of Leipsic, Saxony,
for an ingenious solution of this mystery of what Jesus wrote,
though I am not entirely certain that he is right. But Professor
Gregory cannot be far out of the way, for it can hardly be con-
ceived that words less truthful and convicting could have scat-
tered those Pharisees as did those words written on the ground,
for the law violated by the woman, Levit., ch. 20, v. 10, and
John 8, v. 1 to 10,
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   83

they claim to be sinless; they think Jesus is beaten. But
what is he writing?

These are his ominous, convicting words:

“Eldad killed his friend, Modar, in the wilderness.”

“Horan cheated Bunam’s widow out of her house.”

“Arved’s wife was compelled to yield to the power
of Muman.”

Consternation has siezed the woman’s accusers. El-
dad supposed his sin was unknown, and as he reads
of his crime, his face blanches as did the woman’s a
moment before.

Horan, who claimed to be honest and pious, is
amazed to see his fraud written out, so that all could
read it.

Muman’s guilt is even greater than that of the wo-
man he seeks to have stoned to death.

There is a shuffling in the crowd. Eldad is pressing
his way out. Jesus now turns upon the woman’s ac-
cusers: “He that is without sin among you, let him
first cast a stone at her.”

Again he writes upon the ground. Muman is squeez-
ing through the throng to hide; mortification and
fear are stamped upon his face. Horan, crestfallen
and conscience-smitten, is striving to reach the door.
One by one, all the other accusers slink away. Jesus
and the woman are left alone. Jesus looks up, “Wo-
man, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man
 84

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

condemned thee?” “None, my Lord.” “Neither do
I condemn thee; go, and sin no more.” (15)

There is no record that Jesus ever wrote another
line; yet his name and fame fill the whole world with
fragrance.

(15)   John 8, y. 10 and 11.
 CHAPTER VII

Buddha Seeks Religion in the Forest.

Section I. If I could paint Buddha and Jesus as
compared with other men, I would paint two mighty
mountains, reaching from earth to heaven; the top of
one in India, its base reaching the other in Palestine.
On the top of one I would write the word “Jesus,”
on the top of the other “Buddha.” At the foot of
each of these mountains I would raise two insignificant
hills, scarcely perceptible, and on each crest write the
word “self-love.” These men so loved mankind that
they both devoted their lives to the welfare of the race.
The mountains represent their complete unselfishness,
the mole-hills their self-love. One of these men, after
a short and brilliant career, was cruelly nailed to a
cross; the other toiled to his dying hour to guide his
people into a sure haven of rest and peace. No man
can be truly great whose very soul is cankered with
selfishness. Greed of wealth—in other words, selfish-
ness, in one form or another—stains the whole calendar.
Some men, selfishly and unjustly, wring millions from

86
 86

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

the people, and then to gain the name of being generous
and liberal donate a bagatelle to some university or
library. This has been done in America. In truth,
such men are only gigantic robbers under the forms of
law; but,

"Despite their titles, power and pelf,

The wretches concentered all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,

And doubly dying shall go down
To the vile dust from whence they sprung;
Unwept, unhonored and unsung ” (i)

Such men forget that Jesus said: “Love thy neigh-
bor as thyself.” They never heard (nor would they
have heeded if they had heard) that Buddha preached
and urged that “men should be kind and peaceful,
bringing hurt to no one; and that all should be truth-
ful, pure, honest, just.” (2)

Section 2. Both Jesus and Buddha, as we have
seen, are said to have come down from heaven to bless
the race; but I shall treat them simply as men "of the
very highest type; supreme in love and mercy and all
the great moral attributes. (3) 1

(1)   I have changed Sir Walter Scott’s inspired stanzas to hit
the coal robbers, the oil thieves, the steel swindlers, and I might
greatly prolong the list, including all trusts and all unlawful
combinations. There are plenty of the thieving brood in Amer-
ica.

(2)   Vol. 11, Sacred Books of the East, p. 144, and Vol. 13,
p. 95.

(3)   I do not say as a matter of fact that they did not come
down from Heaven. 1 simply affirm that the record seems to
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   87

Their followers have given them many endearing
names. Buddha is called The Great Samana, The
Blessed One, Bodhissatta, Tathagata, Gotama, The
Enlightened One, The Master, The Holy One, The
Lord of the World, The Redeemer, The Great King
of Glory, etc.

Jesus is called The Son of God, The Redeemer, The
Saviour, The Lamb of God, The Prince of Peace, The
Everlasting Father, etc.

As Buddha preceded Jesus r;bout five hundred years,
let us follow his fortunes for a time. We have seen
him at the edge of the forest, where he dismisses
Kandaka, his servant, with the injunction that he tell
his father, the king, to stifle every feeling of affection
for him, as he has entered the mountain wilds, where
he expects to undergo a painful discipline in seeking
true religion. Again we have seen him in that great
struggle for perfect purity of heart. (4) He is now in
the forest, and a new world opens on his astonished
vision. He found men undergoing the most terrible
austerities, hoping thereby to gain, at the end of life, a
birth in heaven. Some subsisted on roots and twigs;
others captured their food and ate it, as did the
birds. (5)

Some were letting water drip continually on their

be faulty. Such proof would not stand a moment in a Court
of Justice. In truth, they were born the same as other children.
Their bodies therefore did not come down from heaven, or go
up to heaven. In fact, Buddha, as we shall see, was cremated.

(4)   Ch. 1, sec. 5, and ch. 6, sec. 2.

(5)   Fo Sho Hing, Varga 7, verseB 513 to 526.
 88

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

shaven heads; while others submerged their bodies in
water and lived as near as possible as the fishes live.

No wonder the prince regarded those men with pity
and was staggered to think that such suffering must
be endured “in quest of heavenly reward”; thus, in the
circle of birth and death, “enduring affliction that they
might attain a felicity not granted on earth.”

Those Hindu ascetics believed that in some former
births great sins had been committed by them, and that
they were thus atoning for them. The Jews, a thou-
sand years before Buddha was born, invented a much
more convenient way of atoning for their wickedness.
Once a year they brought a bullock without the camp
and burned him in the fire to make an atonement for
all their sins. (6)

The Jews were told to wail and moan. They girded
themselves with sackcloth and scattered ashes on their
heads (7). This was common even in Jesus’ day (,
and the Catholic Church has brought it down to a very
recent period.

Section 3. Those ascetics which Buddha found in
the forests went to awful extremes in mortifying the
flesh; they punished it terribly with every kind of afflic-
tion; all in the interest and name of religion. But
Gotama said to them: “If you regulate the mind, the
body will spontaneously go right.” (9) Whether he
uttered those words then, I know not; but they were,

(6)   Levit., ch. 16, v. 27 to 34.

(7)   Joel 1, ?. 13; Isaiah 22:12.

(   Matt. 11:21.

(9)   Fo Sho Hing; Varga 7, v. 627.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 89

and are, everlastingly true. The mind is the master;
the carnal body, the servant; and to macerate the ser-
vant is not “regulating the mind.” Paul copied
Buddha five hundred years later, when he said: “The
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but we bring
into captivity every thought.” (10)

There were still other rites performed by those
ascetics, such as sacrificing to fire, sprinkling butter
libations and chanting mystic prayers at the close of
the day; for all of which the prince could see no sense
or reason. They chanted mystic prayers until the sun
went down. (11)

“The law which you teach,” he said, “you inherit
from former teachers; but I seek a law more in accord
with human reason; therefore this is no halting place
for me.” And as he turned to go, the company all
followed him and besought him to remain. There-
upon he was told to visit Arada, a most wise teacher,
a great man, who could explain the laws of life and
death to him. Such was the inauspicious opening
chapter of the greatest religious ferment that up to
that hour this wicked old earth had ever seen. Buddha
himself probably never dreamed that twenty-four hun-
dred years later he would have nearly one-fourth of the
whole religious world in his train.

Meanwhile, at the palace, which the prince had de-
serted, there was great commotion. Kandaka, his

(10)   2nd Corinthian*, ch. 10, ?. S to 0.

(11)   That silly old custom was also prevalent with the He-
brews. It is said they could actually walk through Are. Isaiah
42:2.
 90

 60   A QUESTION OF MIRACLES .

his death bed, sorely troubled over the conspiracy of
his brother, Pheroras, and his son, Antipater. Herod,
it is true, was wicked and cruel enough to have order-
ed the slaughter of the children, for his whole life was
drenched in blood. He murdered his wife, the beauti-
ful Mariamne. He caused Aristobulus, his brother,
to be treacherously drowned. He caused his two sons,
by Mariamne, to be strangled. But his nemesis was
about to overtake him. On his deathbed, tossing in
torments of pain, word was brought to him of the
conspiracy of his son and brother. But his hands
were red with blood to the last, for, while panting for
breath, he ordered the death of Antipater, his son.
This bloody-handed murderer died the year before
Jesus was born, or the very same year. It is certain
that he died between the years 4 B. C. and 3 B. C. He
was alive March 12, 4 years B. C., as he burned some
Jewish Rabbis that day for causing the destruction of
his golden eagle. (22)

Jesus, at this time, may have been six weeks or two
months old. But I find no sufficient proof, outside of
Matthew and some of the Apocryphal gospels, that
Herod, red-handed as he was, ever sought to destroy
him. (23)

(22)   Jos. Antiq. 17:6. 4 and 17:8, 4.

(23)   Matthew, unwittingly now for nineteen centuries, has
held up Herod’s name to the contempt and scorn of the world.
And it will probably go down loaded with execrations, to the
latest day. See also section 2, chapter 5, this work.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

61

Nor was Jesus bom December 25, Christmas (24),
in Bethlehem: for it is not likely that Joseph would
set out to travel with Mary on an ass or mule (25)
seventy or seventy-five miles in a downpour of rain,
merely to be taxed. (26) If bom in Bethlehem, it
must have been late in February, B. C., 3. But, if bom
there, it is strange that the four gospels continually
mention him as “Jesus of Nazareth.” (27)

(24)   Christmas is a Christian holiday, but it was not known
or kept as such, until the third or fourth century A. D., when
it happily succeeded pagan festivals and the saturnalia of Home.

(25)   The book of James, ch. 17, says he saddled an ass and
placed her on it.

(26)   December the 25th, in Judea, is the very height of the
rainy season. Even the sheep and shepherds then seek shelter.

(27)   John 1:45 and 46, mentions him as “Jesus of Nazareth.’9
Matt. 13, v. 54, says “he came to his country” (Nazareth).
Mark 6: “Jesus came from Nazareth to be baptized.” Acts
2:22, “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God.” Acts 3:6,
“Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” Pilate wrote the superscription
on his cross—“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”—John
19:19. Luke 18:37, “Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.” Per
contra, John 7:42, tells us that the scripture saith “Jesus shall
come from Bethlehem.” Matt. 2:1 says Bethlehem. Did Jesus
not live some years in Egypt f Matt. 2, v. 13, gospel of infancy,
chapters 10 to 22, says he was three years in Egypt.
 CHAPTER V

Were There Miracles at Jesus' Birth?

Section i. Jesus was either a God or a man; or he
was half God, and half man; his grandmother at all
events was Mrs. Anna Joachim, and his mother was
Mary Joachim, a fifteen or sixteen year old Jewish girl.
If not half a God, he was simply a very religious man
who sought to give the world a better religion than the
old Jewish superstition. And, all honor to his name,
he succeeded gloriously.

He preached to the Jews the gospel of peace, and
there was sore need of it; yet his audiences have been
millions, in lands to him unknown, and in tongues then
unborn. He preached less than three years, but his
name is upon the lips of more people than that of any
human being; Buddha alone excepted, (i)

These two men (2) began their ministries when
they were each about twenty-nine or thirty years of
age. Buddha preached fifty years, and died in peace,

(1)   Jesus has of Catholics and Protestants about one hundred

and seventy millions of followers. 3uddha has upwards of four
hundred millions of followers.   '

(2)   I call Jesus a man. He was born and grew like any other
mortal from childhood on to maturity.

62
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   63

surrounded by friends; the Jews, more barbarous and
blood-thirsty than the Hindus, condemned Jesus to the
cross, but their very cruelty has only served to empha-
size and immortalize his life. Each of these men
brought a better faith into the world than any their
own people had ever before known. And after their
deaths, most marvelous stories began to gather about
their names.

Of Jesus, it is said some wise men came to Jerusalem
saying they had seen his star in the East, and had come
to worship him. (3)

And “Lo, the star,” it is said, “which they saw in
the East, went before them, till it came and stood over
where the young child was.” Of course, when Mat-
thew wrote that line, he had no conception of what a
star is, or was. He must have supposed that it was
a little luminous lump of nebula, about the size of a
man’s fist. He certainly did not know that the nearest
star to the earth is many millions of miles distant, and
that if it should approach us, as that star is alleged to
have done, there would be such a crash of worlds that
there would be no further use for any religion what-
ever. Jesus and Bethlehem would instantly have been
crushed out of existence. (4)

(3)   Who those wise men were, we cannot tell, as neither their
names nor country are given. Nor are we told whence they
came, nor whither they returned. In fact, they at once drop
as completely out of sight as if the earth had opened and swal-
lowed them.

(4)   I shall be told that it was something that had the appear-
ance of a star. I answer, that the record says “it was a star."
Matthew (ch. 2) would have saved his reputation, if he had
said it had the appearance of a star.
 64

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

Section 2. The Hindus went to even greater
lengths; for they specified the particular star “Pushya”
as the one that came down to welcome Buddha. But
both of these star stories must at once be set aside and
dismissed as utterly improbable.

The wise men, we are told, found Mary and the
baby in a “house,” and they “fell down and worshipped
him,” presented him treasures, etc. They must have
remained over night, for they were warned of God in a
dream “not to return to Herod.” (5) And when they
departed, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in
a dream, wherein he was told to take the child and his
mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there until the
angel brought him word, lest Herod destroy the
child. (6)

The necessity was seemingly so great, that, it is said,
Joseph and Mary fled by night with die child into
Egypt. (7)

We are next told that “Herod was exceeding
wroth” that the wise men did not return* and there-
upon “he sent forth and slew all the children in Beth-
lehem, and the coasts thereof, from two years old and
under.” (

(5)   Matt. 2, v. 12.

(6)   This trip to Egypt is made because Hosea 760 yean be-
fore this, had said, “Out of Egypt have I brought my son.”
(Hosea, ch. 11, v. 1.) Is it not somewhat hazardous to lay the
very foundations of our faith on dreamsf (Matt. 1, v. 20, and
Matt. 2, v. 13.) Who told Matthew of these remarkable dreams Y
I shall mention this again when I come to speak of apochryphal
gospels.

(7)   Matt. 2:14.

(   I have shown in my preceding chapter, section 5, that
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   65

In regard to this monstrous order of Herod, (if he ,
ever issued such a one) it is passing strange that
neither Mark, Luke nor John makes any mention of it
whatever. Is it not reasonable to suppose that a deed
so awful, detestable, and cruel beyond description, com-
mitted against the little innocents, would call from
those writers a stinging condemnation, if such a thing
really happened?

Luke, in his story of the birth, says that some shep-
herds were keeping watch over their flocks, when an
angel came unto them, and gave them a fright; but the
angel told them to “fear not, for he brought them good
tidings.” “A Saviour,” he said, “is this day born in
the city of David” and they would “find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.” (9)

We have seen how the angels sang for joy when
Buddha was bom, (10) and Luke tells us “that sud-
denly there was with the angel, and shepherds, a multi-
tude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying
‘peace on earth, and good will toward men.’ ” And
when the angels were gone away into heaven (11) the

there is a lack of proof that Matthew is right as to “the slaugh-
ter of the children,” but if we can rely upon the Protevangelium,
ch. 18 and 21 and 22, then Matthew does not stand alone. The
gospel of infancy, ch. 9, says Joseph was to start for Egypt at
the crowing of the cock, but it nowhere mentions the slaying of
the babes. But those who hold to the three canonicals, refuse
to credit the Protevangelium, or the gospel of the Infancy.

(9)   Luke 2:8 to 20.

(10)   Ch. 1, sec. 1, ante.

(11)   Luke 2:10 to 21. It is remarkable that neither Matthew,
nor Mark, nor John have anything whatever to say about that
multitude of angels which Luke mentions (Luke 2, v. 15) as
going away into heaven.
 66

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

shepherds went with haste, and found Mary and the
babe, as the angel had told them.

Section 3. Matthew, as we have seen, (12)
hurries Joseph off to Egypt, by night Luke says,
“When the days of her purification, according to the
laws of Moses, were accomplished, they brought Jesus
to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” (13) Forty
days therefore elapsed from the birth, to the time they
brought him to the temple.

Bethlehem being only five or six miles southeast of
Jerusalem, if Jesus’ life was in danger, why did they
bring him to Herod’s very door? If Herod was then
alive, would he not know of this? How easy for him,
even if on his death-bed, to send a trusted messenger
and learn the whereabouts of Jesus. Devout old
Simeon, we are told, was at the temple, and took Jesus
in his arms; and Anna the prophetess was there, and a
pair of turtle doves, or young pigeons, were offered as
a sacrifice. “And when all these things were per-
formed.Luke says, “they returned unto Galilee, to
their own city, Nazareth.” (14)

Here, now, is a flat contradiction between two gos-
pel writers. They both cannot be right. One or the

(12)   Ch. 2:5, 14.

(13)   Luke 2, v. 21 to 25; Leviticus 12:2 to 4. If a woman
bore a man-child, she was unclean seven days, and on the eighth
day, the child was circumcised. After that she must continue
in the blood of her purifying 33 days.

(14)   Luke 2:39. Matthew hurried Joseph and Mary and Jesus
off to Egypt by night. (Matt. 2, v. 14.) Luke and Matthew
seem to have been inspired differently on this point. Does a man
have to be inspired to write down sober facts!
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

67

other is surely wrong. The Protevangelium, ch. 18,
says: “Mary heard the children were to be killed, and
she wrapped the child in swaddling clothes, and laid
him in an ox-manger,” but not a word is said about the
flight into Egypt.

The gospel of the infancy says that “when Jesus was
in the temple, the angels, praising him, stood round in
a circle,” like life guards around a king, (15) but it
makes no mention of the slaughter of the children.

The flight into Egypt, and a residence there of three
years, is set forth in the gospel of the Infancy, together
with many wild and extravagant miracles performed by
Jesus as a child. It is said that a bride who had be-
come dumb, on taking Jesus in her arms instantly re-
covered her speech; (I will mention this more fully
when I come to speak of apocryphal gospels, near the
close of this book ) (16) ; that a girl whose body was
white with leprosy, was cured by sprinkling upon her
some water wherein Jesus was bathed; and a tree,
whose bark was used for healing, bent down its
branches and worshiped him, as he approached it. It
may have been the same species of tree that bent down
in silent adoration to Buddha, at his coming. At

(15)   Infancy, ch. 5. Here we come across the first mention
of the mother as “Lady Mary.99

(16)   Eusebius, a dishonest historian, in writing of these things
about A. D. 325, sets them down as sober facts. He is mislead-
ing about Herod. Acts 12, v. 21 to 23. Josephus says, “Herod
saw an owl sitting on a rope, which he said was an evil omen,
and a severe pain arose in Herod’s belly, and he fell sick, and
said to those who called him a God and Immortal: ‘Alas, I am
soon to be hurried away by death.’ ” Antiq. Book 19, ch. 8,
sec. 2.
 68   A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

Buddha’s advent, we are told that even dead trees put
forth leaves and flowers. There is, no doubt, just as
much truth in one story as the other.

Zoroaster, a great religious teacher, who preceded
both Buddha and Jesus by centuries, was likewise wel-
comed in a peculiar manner. We are told that for
three days and nights before he was born the whole
village became luminous, and a divine radiance, sur-
passing the brilliancy of the sun, encircled his father’s
house. Moreover, we are told that Zoroaster laughed
outright as he came into the world. The Herod of
that day was a wicked Karap, or wizard, who sought to
kill the child by placing him in front of a herd of
cattle. But an old ox, it is said, stood guard over him
until the herd passed by. Failing in that the wizard
sought to burn the child, but the fagots would not take
fire. Then Zoroaster is flung into a wolf’s den, but two
angels, Srosh and Vohuman, close the wolfs mouth,
and he is saved. They seem to have had miracles in
Persia, as well as in India and Palestine. (17)

Section 4. We shall see further along how angels
ministered to both Buddha, Jesus and Zoroaster. In
one place it is said an angel actually held down the
branches of a tree and thereby saved Buddha from be-
ing drowned in the Ganges. We shall be told how
Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness, and that
angels came and fed him. And that an angel actually

(17)   See Whitney’s Zoroaster, chapter 3. And Dinkard, eh. 3,
sec. 16 and 46, and Dialeard, p. 146, vol. 47, Sacred Books ot
the East.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 69

introduced Zoroaster to the Almighty. But now, for
many centuries past, this wicked and perverse world
has not either seen or heard so much as the rustle of
an angel’s wing.

The Bethlehem incarnation and birth, we must re-
member, was preceded more than one thousand years
by the incarnation and birth of the Hindu God,
Krishna or Vishnu. Bhagavat Purana tells us of
Vishnu’s miraculous conception and birth; that he was
bom in a dungeon, the walls of which, at his birth,
were • strangely illuminated; that a chorus of devas
(angels) welcomed his advent, and as soon as born he
had the power of speech and conversed with his mother.
Buddha, as we have seen, possessed at his birth the
power of speech and said to his mother, “I have been
bom to save the world.” Krishna (Vishnu), like
Jesus, was cradled among shepherds.

We are told that Cansa, the ruler of the country,
fearing the loss of his kingdom, sought the life of
Krishna, and the child was only saved by being hurried
away at night and concealed in a distant region. Cansa,
the Herod of the East, finding himself “mocked”
(18) slaughtered all the young children in his king-
dom. (19)

Krishna, even when a child, we are told, performed

(18)   Matt. 2, y. 16.

(19)   I have followed in this matter Rev. Thomas Maurice, in
his history of Hindostan, vol. 2; he insists on the vast antiquity
of the Hindu scriptures. That great scholar, Sir William Jones,
says the birth of Chrisna is many centuries before Jesus. Col.
Wilford puts the time 1300 B. C.; others, several centuries later.

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

color and his voice when he appeared before an audi-
ence. Moreover, he would then make such a pleasing
address that his hearers would ask, “Who is this, a
man or a God?”

Then, making himself invisible, he would vanish
away. (16) His books tell us that by virtue of his
wonderful spiritual power he could not only transport
himself, but a great congregation, dry-shod across a
river. This is just as extravagant as feeding five thou-
sand with two fishes and five loaves.

Did Jesus’ disciples, five hundred years later, copy
from Buddha? Or did the man of Galilee, in fact, pos-
sess this same marvelous power? Or are both stories,
the dreams of extravagant romancers? However that
may be, we are soberly told that when the Jews took
up stones to cast at Jesus, he went out of the temple,
through the midst of them, and thus escaped. (17)
And Luke, ch. 4, 5-30, tells us that when those
Nazarenes were about to pitch Jesus headlong
from the brow of the hill, he escaped through the midst
of them and went on his way. At another time “he
vanished out of sight.” (18) In fact, he could take
another form. (19) Were these strange occurrences
miracles? Or were Buddha and Jesus greatly gifted 16 17 18 19

(16)   Vol. 17, Sacred Books of the East, p. 104.

Fo Sho King, Tsan, King, p. 251. Vol. XI, Sacred Books
of the East, p. 21.

(17)   John 8, v. 59.

(18)   Lnke 24, v. 31.

(19)   Mark 16, v. 12.
 40

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

beyond others? Or were these vanishings the children
of lively imaginations? Are they not from the realm
of dreams? This much is surely true; there are no
more vanishings in India, and there have been none for
twenty-three hundred years; and none in Palestine
for eighteen hundred yearn. And there has been no
case of feeding five thousand people a full meal on five
loaves and two small fishes for more than eighteen hun-
dred years. And there have been no more Mendakas
in India since our friend had his granary filled twenty-
three hundred years ago.



I
 CHAPTER III.

The Miraculous Parentage of Jesus.

Section i. Every man born into this world comes
with clenched fist and a cry of pain. He is born with-
out his asking, and goe6 hence without his requesting.
Buddha and Jesus were no exceptions. They were
born; they lived; they grew; they died. Nature did
not turn her dial either backward or forward when
they came, or when they went.

The physical world turned on its axis at their com-
ing and at their going, with the same regularity that it
would if a mouse had been born, or had died. But the
moral world, by reason of their coming, has been im-
mensely moved and improved. One of these men
was bom in a beautiful grove, amid rejoicings; the
son of a prince, the heir to a throne. The other was
the reputed son of a humble carpenter, and was bom in
the gloom of a cave (i), or the filth of a bam; and
was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a man-
ger. (2) He was supposed to be of an extinct line of

(1)   The Protevangelinm, or book of James, ch. 18, says
Mary was taken to a cave about three miles from Bethlehem, while
Joseph went for assistance.

(2)   Luke 2, v. 7* Mark’s first mention of him (ch. 1, v.
9) is that he came from Galilee. Matt. 2, v. 11, is that the
wise men found him in a ”house.” John 1, 45 and 46; Matt.
13:54; Mark 1:6 and 1:24; Acts, 2:22, designated Jesus of
Nazareth as a man. Acts 3:6 calls him “Jesus Christ of Naza-
reth.” Pilate wrote the superscription on the cross: ” Jesus of

41
 42 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

kings; and if the record be true he was early sought
that he might be slain. (3)

Buddha, as we shall see, lived eighty years and died
in peace, loved and lamented. Jesus did not reach half
that period, and swooned away in agony, an innocent
man (4) nailed to a cross by the very ones whom he
sought to befriend. Both of these men commenced
the great labor of their lives when about twenty-nine
or thirty years of age, Buddha as a hermit, and Jesus
as a preacher of a Gospel new to the Jews.

As we have told of the legends and the miraculous
at Buddha’s birth, those told of Jesus at his coming
must not be overlooked.

There is, and has been for eighteen hundred years
past, an unceasing controversy about the parentage of
Jesus. As no charge similar to that laid against Mary
has been made against any young woman for now nine-
teen hundred years, let us inquire somewhat of her
parentage and youth.

Nazareth, King of the Jews.” John 19:19; Luke 18:37; Micah,
ch. 5, v. 2, 700 years B. C., is doubtful authority. John, ch. 7,
says Jesus came from Nazareth.

(3)   There is no mention, except in Matt. 2nd, of Herod’s
slaying the innocents. Nor does history make mention of it. Mat-
thew, when he made his compilation, followed a wrong author-
ity. Moreover, the family of David had been extinct for more
than 900 years. Luke’s gospel, ch. 3, is fanciful and visionary.
But all his life Jesus was called a Nazarene, and the proof is not
wanting that he was born there.

(4)   It has been claimed that Jesus suffered justly, because hs
antagonized the law of Moses. We shall notice this when we
come to speak of his trial.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   43

The Book of James (5), written probably about the
time of Matthew, sets forth that Joachim was lightly
regarded by the scribes and elders, because he had no
children; and that Anna, his wife, was in grief by
reason of her barrenness. Whereupon an angel an-
nounced that a child should be born to her; and the
child, a girl, being born according to the prologue, was
named Mary. (6)

When the child was three years old she was taken
to the temple, where she remained ten or twelve years,
receiving her food meantime, it is said, from the hand
of an angel. (7)

Section 2. Girls develop early under the warm
skies of Palestine, and the record is that the Lord at
this time told Zacharias, the High Priest, to summon
the widowers with their rods; and the priest took the
rods and went into the temple to pray. On coming
out and distributing the rods, a dove flew out of the
one which Joseph took, and lit upon his head.

This was a sign that Joseph was to take the virgin;
but he objected that he was an old man, and had chil-
dren, and Mary being so young, “he would appear ri-
diculous in Israel.” ( Joseph's scruples, however,
not being hard to overcome, he took the virgin to his
home, and went away to building houses. The priests

(5)   That work is called the Protevangelium, or book of James.
Luke very evidently had that work before him when he compiled
his gospel, and he copies from it very liberally.

(6)   Mrs. Anna Joachim was therefore a grandmother of Jesus.

(7)   Protevangelium, ch. 8 and 9.

(   Chaps. 8 and 9, Protevangelium: Joseph was about eighty
years old and was the father of six children by a former wife.
 44   A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

thereafter selected Mary to spin the purple for a new
veil for the temple. (9)

Matthew says “before Joseph and Mary came to-
gether, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost;”
but Matthew fails to tell us who found her in that deli-
cate condition. (10) The Book of James (11),
however, supplies the missing link, for it says
that Joseph on returning from abroad, found her with
child and reproached her for her conduct. (12) “If I
conceal her crime, I shall be found guilty by the law
of the Lord; and if I discover her to the children of
Israel, I fear lest, she being with child by an angel, I
will be found to betray the life of an innocent person.
I will therefore put her away privately.”

Mary insisted that she knew not how it occurred.

(13)   But Luke tells a different story, for he
says an angel came and told her that she had
found favor with God, that “she should conceive
and bring forth a son,” and the angel added that “the
Lord will give unto him the throne of his father David:
and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.”

(14)   Mary could not understand how that could be;

(9)   Chap. 11, Book of James. If this be true Mary must
have gone back to the temple soon after her espousal.

(10)   Matt. 1, v. 18.

(11)   The book of James is as well attested as either one of
our four canonical Gospels, for in his colophon James says:
“I, James, wrote this history in Jerusalem; and when the dis-
turbance was, 1 retired into a desert place until the death of
Herod. And the disturbance had ceased at Jerusalem.99

(12)   Ch. 13 and 14, Protevangelium. The Protevangelium was
not condemned by Pope Gelasius, who was Pope A. D. 494.

(13)   Book of James, ch. 13.

(14)   Luke 2, v. 27 and 35.
 45

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

whereupon the angel said, “The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee; and the power of the Highest shall over-
shadow thee; and the holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the son of God.” Yet this angel was
wrong; for Jesus never gained David’s throne. More-
over the Book of James also contradicts Mary; for it
says that as she went for a pitcher of water, she heard
a voice saying, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with
thee; blessed art thou among women.” She looked to
the right and left, but could see no one; and, fright-
ened, she went into the house and sat down to work on
the purple. Another version says: “She saw a young
man of ineffable beauty” who said, “Fear not, Mary,
for thou hast found favor with God.” Luke says, “The
angel of the Lord stood beside her” and said, “Fear
not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.” (15)

The High Priest seems to have known of the angel’s
visit to her, for when she finished the veil of the tem-
ple and took it to him, he said to her: “The Lord has
magnified thy name; and all the generations of the
earth will bless thee.” (16) This question here pre-
sents itself: Was Mary living with her parents, or in
the temple, at the time of the angel’s visit to her? In 15 16 *

(15)   Luke 1, v. 30. Here the two narratives are nearly the
same, except that Luke is somewhat longer. Evidently Luke
copies James or James copies Luke. In tms matter I hold with
Dr. Schleiermacher of Germany, that the evidence seems to point
to Luke as the copyist of James. Luke certainly compiles from
4 * many.11 (Luke 1, v. 1.) Was it an angel that saluted Mary, as
Luke has it, or was it a 44young man of ineffable beauty” that
said to her she had found favor with the Lord Godf Which f

(16)   Book of James, chap. 12. Luke 1, v. 28, says Mary is

blessed among women.
 46   A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

either case, how is it that neither parents nor priests
are mentioned as seeing the angel when he called?
True, the High Priest seems to heme known of the
matter, when she brought the veil to the temple; but
how did he find it out ? Was he present at the “over-
shadowing,” and if not, why was he so anxious to
have the widowers call and one of them take this
young girl by lot?

Section 3. We reach here some of the most ex-
traordinary statements in all history. There never was
anything like them before or since. Here is a young
Jewish girl, only about fourteen or fifteen years of
age, who has grown up in the temple or near there,
with the priests and scribes. At this immature age
she is betrothed in a peculiar manner, as we have seen,
to an aged widower. Joseph is not at home when the
angel visits his wife. (17) He knows nothing about
those visits. They are all on the sly, as to him. Mary,
Gabriel and the High Priest only are in the secret.
Nor is Joseph consulted about when the Holy Ghost
shall come upon his wife and overshadow her.

But when he finds her in a delicate situation, he up-
braids her and reproaches her, as we have already seen.
But he does not act rashly; he considers carefully, and
concludes that, as she is so very young, he will not
make her a public example, but will “put her away
privately.” (18) And while Joseph was ponder-

(17)   Neither Matthew, Mark nor John names the angel; but
Luke mentions the angel Gabriel. (Ch. 1, v. 26.)

(18)   Matt. 1, y. 19.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 47

ing those things, he fell into a sleep; and in his
dream the angel of the Lord appears unto him, and
says: “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost.” Whether the angel
awakened Joseph in talking to him we cannot say: but
“on being raised from his sleep he did as the angel of
the Lord had bidden him.” (19) In other words,
Joseph overlooked and forgave what he must have
considered, to put it mildly, a very serious youthful
indiscretion. Dreams are gossamer things to build a
gospel upon: but such is the superstructure of our
religion. “And Mary, it is said, arose in those days,
and went with haste unto the hill country, a City of
Judah” (20) to visit her cousin Elizabeth. The
book of James (ch. 12) tells us that Mary went
to her home and hid herself from the children of Israel.
Which is right?

Section 4. As to the parentage of Jesus, it would
seem that one or the other of the following proposi-
tions must be true: First: he was the son of Joseph
and Mary: or, secondly, he was the son of God and
Mary: or, thirdly, he was the son of Mary and some
unknown father. We have already seen that Chapter
One, Verses 18 to 20, of Matthew, disputes the pater-
nity of Joseph, and sets forth that he was only recon-
ciled to the situation by what the angel said to him in

(19)   Matt. 1:15 to 25. How did Matthew find out that the
angel appeared to Joseph in a dreamt

(20)   Luke 1:39.
 48

A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

his dream. Luke fully and explicitly agrees with Mat*
thew (21), save only as to Joseph’s peculiar dream
and the reconcilation which it effected.

Mark and John are both as silent as the tomb about
Joseph’s troubles and the angel’s visit to him, and the
paternity of Jesus. I can account for this only on the
ground that they were not inspired on that point.
Or they may have been wiser than the others, and be-
lieved that a man is what he is, in and of himself, and
not what his father or mother is or may have been.

Matthew, however, as to the quarrel between Joseph
and Mary, is sustained by the book of James (22),
except that James supposed that Mary was with child
by an angel.

Moreover, if we follow the genealogy given by Mat-
thew, Jesus was not a descendant of David. It is true,
some blind men called him a son of David (23); and
some people, amazed at a cure he effected, said, “Is
not this the son of David?” But Jesus made no reply.

Now, while it is true that Isaiah, some seven hun-
dred years before Jesus was bom, made a prediction
that “there should come forth a rod out of the stem
of Jesse,” he also said that the wolf should dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid, and
the lion eat straw like an ox. Yet twenty-six hundred
years have slipped by since Isaiah made this prediction,
and no part of his prophecy is yet fulfilled. (24)

(21)   Luke 1:26 to 35.

(22)   Protevangelium, ch. 14; Matt. 1, v. 18 to 20.

(23)   Matt. 9:27; Lnke 18:28; Matt. 12: v. 23.

(24)   But Isaiah probably did not write Chapter 11.

 18 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

of the occasion; the child himself adding to the
amazement of every one, by deliberately taking seven
steps, and declaring that he had been “bom to save
the world.” Mary at nine months, took nine steps. (io)

Heaven itself seemed willing to add to the joy of
the moment; for we are told that at the birth of
Buddha two pure streams of water, one warm and the
other cool, spouted forth and baptized the prodigy
without delay.

Malevolence and contentions for a time were ban-
ished from all minds; concord and good-will pre-
vailed; diseases cured themselves without medicine;
and if the angels (devas) did not shout “peace on
earth and good will toward men,” those Hindus pro-
claimed the same sentiment most vigorously. Mara,
the king of the evil world, alone objected. (11)

A seer of renown, in studying signs and portents,
predicted that the boy would either become a mighty
monarch, ruling empires in righteousness; or, as a
heavenly teacher, he would put an end to evil, and
bring universal deliverance to mankind.

Asita, another seer, at that time appeared before
the king, and said, “As I was coming on the Sun’s
way (12), I heard the angels in space rejoicing because
the king had bom to him a son who would teach the

(10)   Protevangelium, ch. 4 and 7.

(11)   Matthew, chap. 2, v. 11, says wise men brought gems of
gold and treasures. Buddha also has treasures and angels at his
birth. Vol. 10, 2nd part, Sacred Books, p. 123.

(12)   That is, from the East. In the days of Herod wise
men saw a star as they came from the East. Simeon visited Jesus
(Luke, 2:25,35). He was the Asita of the East.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   19

true way of emancipation from sin. Moreover, I be-
held other portents, which constrained me to now
seek thy presence.”

Asita thereupon examined the child, and finding nu-
merous birth marks foreshowing a wonderful career,
was observed to sigh and weep. The king, alarmed at
this, and thinking that the seer had observed that his
beautiful son must shortly die, besought him to forbid
it, for his father’s sake, and for the kingdom’s weal.
To this pathetic entreaty, Asita replied: “The king
desires that his son shall live, to inherit his wealth
and his kingdom. But his son is bom to bless all that
lives: he will forsake his kingdom; and he will prac-
tice austerities; he will grasp the truth; and as the
world is led captive by lust and covetousness, he has
been bom to open out a way of salvation.”

Thereupon, the seer, it is said, ascended into space
and disappeared. (13) When the child was ten days
old he was named Siddhartha, and the king ordered
a sacrifice to the gods; Samanas (priests) invoked
blessings from heaven; and, moreover, the king be-
stowed gifts upon all the poor, and opened the prison
doors and set all captives free.

But with all this rejoicing, there was one dark
cloud of sudden grief. Queen Maya, beholding her
son, with a beauty not before seen on earth, died of
excessive joy. Gotami, his aunt, thenceforth took

(13)   Hebrew writers enlarge on this, for Luke tells ns that a
anititude of angels appeared at Jens’ birth. (Lake 2, v. 10
to IS.)
 90 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

and nourished the child as her own. When old
enough, teachers were assigned to him; but at one
sitting, he surpassed them all. (14)

His father, remembering meanwhile the predictions
of Asita that the son was destined to forsake home
and kingdom, become an ascetic, and establish the
law of love and charity for mankind, sought to divert
him from his purpose with every possible worldly
allurement. Therefore, at the early age of nineteen,
he caused Siddhartha to marry his cousin Yasodhara,
the beautiful daughter of a neighboring prince.

Repressing all giddy conversation, he lived with
her a restrained, virtuous, and religious life. It is
said, “he bathed his body in the waters of the Ganges,
but cleansed his heart in the waters of religion.”

The years flitted rapidly by, and the old king was
overjoyed when Rahula, his grandson, was bom; for
he reasoned that Siddhartha would now abandon the
thought of becoming an ascetic, and devote himself to
the succession. Thus would the scepter be safely
handed down, and the glory of the kingdom be en-
larged.

Now if there be such an ungodly thing as predesti-
nation, or fixed fate, then, in Buddha’s case, that
doctrine had a firm root and grew and blossomed, as
never before or since. For at every turn his royal
father sought to allure him from his ascetic notions;

(14)   Jesus, at twelve, disputed with the scribes in the temple.
(Luke, ch. 2, v. 46 to 50.) It must not be forgotten that Asita
and Simeon are both ascetics; and both are represented as being
inspired.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   21

and to that end fixed beautiful gardens for him to
stroll in, musicians to charm his senses, and attendants
to anticipate his every want. But accident, or fate,
easily overcame all this; for one holiday, while riding
in his chariot, he saw at the roadside an old man,
bent and worn, clutching a stick to support his tot-
tering frame. (15) On reflection he knew, as all do
know, that life’s journey, from romping childhood to
wrinkled age, is but a steady tramp to an open grave.
Later on he saw a sick man, then a dead man; and
those objects chained his thoughts effectively. He
might well have said, “All flesh is as grass; and all
the glory of man, as the flower of the grass.” (16)

The king, knowing well that the beauty of woman
and her lustful arts, had brought many a proud spirit
to her feet, now enlisted that powerful auxiliary.
Graceful forms flitted about the prince, sweet faces
smiled upon him, and ravishing looks met him at
every turn. But the Prince remained obdurate. Then
some arranged their light drapery to catch his eye;
while others, half modestly, half amorously, with all
the little crafty arts that beauty is mistress of, strove
to move him. The prince looked on all this with a
clouded brow.

Then came Udaya, smooth of tongue, with argu-
ments unctuous yet deceptive, and urged him to get
pleasures from dalliance; for, said he, “Pleasure is the

(15)   This supposed old man was a deva (an angel) with
changed form to exhibit to the prince the certain lot of all flesh.

(16)   1st Peter, 24.
 as A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

foremost thought of all; the gods themselves cannot
dispense with it” (17) And he cited many cases
where great seers who had undergone long periods
of discipline, yet had been overcome by woman’s
wiles.

“If I were to consent,” replied the prince, “I should
defile my mind and body. It would be a hollow com-
pliance, and a protesting heart. Such methods are not
for me to follow.”

Section 4. The king, learning from Udaya that
all his arguments were unavailing, forthwith set about
devising other means to whet the prince’s appetite for
pleasure. The chariot and prancing steeds were again
brought forth; and, with a train of nobles, his father
sent him beyond the city to see if cool breezes and
charming scenes might not call away his thoughts to
lighter subjects. It was a fatal mistake.

For directly he saw the farmers working in the
fields, their bodies tired and bent, sweat streaming
from their faces, the oxen lashed to compel them to
draw heavy loads, and even young boys and girls
struggling to force from the earth a scanty subsist-
ence. Forthwith he dismissed his retinue; and, under
the shade of a Gambu tree, contemplated the whole
painful scene.

The prince beheld in miniature a picture of what is
transpiring in every part of the earth. Man, confined
on these dark shores, is a prisoner, doomed to trouble

(17)   Fo-Sho-Hing, Section 895,
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLJES

as

and death the day he is born. Neither pleadings nor
prayers will change that inexorable law. With here
and there a glint of temporary sunshine, the whole
world is pervaded with misery and sorrow.

While Gotama was thus pondering his course, it is
said an angel of the pure abode, transforming himself
into the likeness of a Bhikkhu (18) appeared before
him and said, “My name is Shaman, and being sad
at the thought of age,* disease, and death, I have left
my home to seek some way of rescue. I therefore
search for the happiness that never perishes, that heeds
not wealth nor beauty.” And, while he thus spake,
there in the presence of the prince, he gradually rose
in the air and disappeared in the heavens.

This is now the second time this unusual occurrence
has happened, and the reader will no doubt demand
some explanation of it. It is truly unique and un-
precedented; yet in Palestine people frequently as-
cended to heaven, but they generally had some means
of conveyance. Elijah was provided with a chariot
of fire, and horses of fire; and, moreover, he had a
whirlwind to give him a good fair start. (19)

(18)   After Buddha’s enlightenment, and when his ehurdi was
established, he made a rule that anyone desiring to become
Bhikkhu must first have his hair and beard cut off and put on
a yellow robe; he must then salute the feet of the Bhikkhus and
sit down squatting; then raise his joined hands and say, “I take
my refuge in Buddha, I take my refuge in Dhamma (the law),
I take my refuge in the Samgha (the church).” -This he repeated
three times.

Buddha, the law, and the church, were called the “holy triad.”
Afterwards this threefold declaration was abolished, and the
Samgha voted as to whether or not an applicant should receive
the ordination or be admitted therein*

(19)   Kings, cb* 2, v. 11.
 24   A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

And when the angel came to tell Manoah about
Samson, although he had no vehicle to make the
ascension in, the flames from off the altar (20) carried
him up without any mishap. In a very early affair, all
we have of the record is: “Enoch was not, for God
took him.” (21)

In Shaman's case, and in these others, just how
they overcame the law of gravitation I cannot tell;
and as Newton was not bom "to expound that law
until two thousand years later, the law does not seem
to have been in operation, at least in India and Jeru-
salem. I leave this matter here at present, but will
examine it further along.

Section 5. The prince, after seeing Shaman arise
and disappear in space, returned to the palace and
sought his father’s presence; from whom he begged
permission “to leave the world.” “Stop,” said the
father; “stop! you are too young to lead a religious
life. Take this kingdom’s government. Let me be-
come an ascetic. You should first win an illustrious
name, and when life’s flame bums low, seek the soli-
tudes, and devote the remnant of your years to relig-
ious duties.” (22)

“I will remain,” replied the son, “if you will grant
me life without end, no disease, nor withered age, and
the kingdom’s permanence.”

(20)   Judges, eh. 13, ?. 20.

(21)   Gen. 5.

(22)   It had long been the custom in India for the aged to
‘leave the world”—in other words, to close their lives as ascetics.
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   25

“To ask such things provokes derision,” replied the
father, “for who is able to grant them ?” And forth-
with he ordered every avenue of escape guarded; and
sent for the nobles and all the illustrious of the king-
dom, to hasten and explain to his son the rules of
filial obedience.

All this, however, was of no avail. The decisive
hour in the prince’s career had struck. His doors had
been securely bolted, lest he escape; but a deva of the
pure abode, we are told, descended and unfastened
them. “That is something supernatural,” said the
prince; and forthwith he called Kandaka to quickly
saddle and bring him his horse.

The gates also, which were before fast barred, were
found to be broad open. (23) And while Kandaka
stood considering whether he would obey the prince’s
order, the horse came round of his own accord, fully
caparisoned for a rider.

This story, marvelous as it may seem, is not as
wonderful as that told of Peter, about five hundred
years later. Herod had arrested Peter and put him in
prison; and he was sleeping between two soldiers,
bound with two chains. And the angel of the Lord
(possibly Buddha’s deva) came, and a light shone in
the prison, “and the angel smote Peter on the side and
raised him up, saying: ‘Arise up quickly.’ And his
chains fell off from his hands. (24) And the angel

(23)   The Devas, in this instance, were probably some of the
Prince’s friends.

(24)   The twelfth chapter of Acts, quoted above, is believed
by many to be actually true, because it is so printed in the
 26   A QUESTION OF MIRACLES

said unto him, ‘Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals’;
and so he did. And he said, ‘Cast thy garment about
thee, and follow me.’ And he went out and wist not
that it was true which was done by the angel; but
thought he saw a vision. And they came unto the
iron gate that leadeth to the city, which opened to them
of its own accord, and they went out, and passed on
through one street; and forthwith the angel departed
from him.” Peter was now certain that the Lord had
sent his angel to deliver him out of the hand of Herod.

I think I ought to add that the Hindu record seems
nearer the truth than the Hebrew record. For the
former says the heavenly spirits caused the barred
gates to open, while verse io, Acts 12, says ‘‘the iron
gate opened of his own accord ”

The Hindu poet would have us believe that four
spirits held up the feet of the horse, lest his trampling
might alarm the castle; and that the Prince was
cheered on his way by a great concourse of angels and
Nagas (demigods) so that when the morning light
streamed up in the East the man and horse were three
Yoganas distant (about twenty miles).

In these cases is it not safer to believe that both
Peter and the Prince escaped solely by the help of
human hands? For how is it possible that Peter’s
chains could "fall off from his hands,” unless those
chains were unlocked or filed off? And four men, not

New Testament. But belief never makes a thing true. Moreover,
if the story of Peter and the angel had been printed in the Hindu
Bible we would discredit it entirely, at once. Are either of these
stories true?
 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES   27

angels, no doubt managed the feet of Buddha’s horse
(padded them, probably) so as not to alarm the king.

God never does for man what man can do for him-
self. Moreover, it must not be overlooked that early
Hindu writers were fully as extravagant as were the
Hebrews, five hundred years later.
 CHAPTER II

Some Hebrew and Hindu Miracles.

Section i. As we have already encountered
miracles, or supposed miracles, and in the further
progress of this work shall be compelled to make
frequent mention of them, let us at once define and
illustrate that wonderful thing, a miracle. But first
let us notice that for nearly nineteen hundred years
past, no miracle, well attested, has ever taken place.
Hence the inquiry arises: Did there ever happen any-
where, at any period of the world, such a thing as a
miracle? And is there any miracle, at any period of
the world’s history, that is well attested?

What then is a miracle? It is a supernatural event,
contrary to the known or established laws of nature.
In other words, those laws must be set aside, or
annulled, for the time being, in order that something
contrary to them can take place. To illustrate: sup-
pose a man were to be decapitated, his head would roll
from his body, his blood would gush forth from his
veins and arteries, his body would soon become cold,
pale, rigid; you would be sworn that the body of such
a man was surely dead. But here comes a Thauma-
turgus, a miracle worker, who puts that man’s head

28

grew up from the earth in such a manner that their arms
rested behind; and their waists were so close together
that it was impossible to distinguish the male from the
female. They were thus fifty years together, but were
not yet husband and wife; but, finally, changed from the
shape of a plant, into the perfect human form, and
breath (nismo, which is the soul), came into them.

The ethnology of the Tibetans is about as sensible as
either Genesis or the Bundahis as to the origin of man.
The three accounts united, and leaving out certain parts
of each, and adding certain things from the others, may
come near the correct solution of that enigma: man’s
creation.

The Tibetans claim (in the legend of Tanjur) to be the
descendants of an ape (sent to Tibet by the deity Chen-
resig) and a female demon. This ape and the demon
became the parents of six children, every one of whom,
as soon as weaned, were abandoned by their parents, .in
a great garden of fruit, there to survive or perish, as best
they might. But they lived, and their numbers multiplied
prodigiously, so that in a short time they increased to
five hundred. The fruits of the garden being all devoured,
they were on the point of starvation, when the Ape, their
ancestor, returned. Amazed at their number, and seeing
their sore distress, he besought Chenresig, for their relief.
That God listens to this entreaty, and promises to become
their guardian and protector. In fulfillment of his prom-
ise, he threw to them, in great abundance, from a lofty
mountain peak, five kinds of grain. Upon this grain the
monkeys fed and fattened; but the eating of it worked
marvels. Their tails began to grow shorter and shorter,
and their hair commenced to drop off. After a time their
 36 MASHY A AND MASHY01 GREW TOGETHER

tails disappeared entirely, and their hair was gone. In-
stead of a wild gibberish, they began to talk, and were
transformed into men and women. They then clothed
themselves with leaves. Adam and Eve, we are told,
made themselves aprons of fig-leaves. The Lord after-
ward, according to the record, clothed Adam and his wife
with the skins of beasts. The poor Tibetans, however,
were not thus highly favored. The Lord did not become
their clothier, nor did Chenresig assist them any further,
but left them to earn their bread in the sweat of their
faces.

§ 2. Those persons who wrote the Bundahis over-
looked the 19th chapter of the Vendidad, which says the
Good Spirit “made the creation in the boundless time.”
Thus, time is not limited to the little span of twelve thou-
sand years. But not to be outdone by Genesis, the Bunda-
his writers set it down that Ormazd (the Lord) appears
on the scene and makes a speech to Mashya and Mashyoi.
In Genesis, the Lord punishes Adam and Eve for eating
of the tree of knowledge, and curses the ground, and
drives them out of Eden, because they disobey Him; and,
lest they get back again, he puts cherubims, with flaming
swords, to keep them out. But Mashya and Mashyoi are
not met with reproaches, and curses, and punishments.
The Lord, in his speech to them, says:   “You are the

ancestry of the world; and you are created in perfect
devotion, by me; perform, then, devotedly, the duty of
the law; think good thoughts; speak good words; do
good deeds, but worship no demons. (Bund., ch. 15.)^

There is another clash at this point, between these
authorities, which must be noticed. Genesis tells us that
the world was created in six days, and that Adam was the
 ADAM CAME ALONE

37

product of the last day. Eve was, as yet, unthought of;
for the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and
then took out one of his ribs and constructed Eve. This
must have been a long time subsequent to Adam, for, be-
fore she came, he had given names to “all the cattle of the
fields and all the fowls of the air, and every living thing”;
and as there were many tens of thousands of “living
things”, it must have taken him years to accomplish this
task. During all which time “there was no help-meet
for Adam” (Gen. 2). The Bundahis makes the time six
thousand and thirty years from the creation to Gay-
omard’s death. His seed, whatever it was, remained in
the ground forty years; then it was fifty years before
Mashya and Mashyoi were changed into the full human
form. It was, therefore, six thousand one hundred and
twenty years when breath came to this Iranian Adam and
Eve. (Ch. 15, Bund.)

But it would seem that even one hundred and twenty
years is a short time for Gayomard’s seed to progress
and develop from a protoplasm into a protozoan, and
thence ascend to the radiates, thence on to the mollusks,
and still higher to the articulates, thence up to the verte-
brates and the full stature of man.

Nature is slow and toilsome in her methods; is never
hurried for time; and had those writers said ten thou-
sand years instead of one hundred and twenty years, or
what is better still, forty thousand years, and many thou-
sands beyond that, they probably would have been more
nearly exact. Dr. James Croll, in his great work on
“climate and time”, puts the age of the earth at sixty
millions of years, and thinks it is probably much older.
Lord Kevlin has furnished abundant proof that the earth
 38

THIS OLD EARTH

has been a solidified body for at least thirty millions of
years. Yet these unscientific Parsee dreamers, and blun-
derers, and those old and unknown compilers of some
ancient and worn out legends concerning Adam and the
creation, ignorant about the very subject upon which
they are treating, write down our globe 5 as a youngster
of only a few thousand years. But it may be said that
chapter 34, Bundahis, only fixes the chronology of the
race after Mashya and Mashyoi make their appearance.
Suppose that be so; how did those writers learn that dur-
ing the first three thousand years creatures were unthink-
ing, unmoving and intangible ? How did they know that
Gayomard and the Ox held sway for only three thousand
years ? How did they know that Gayomard died in tribu-
lation, thirty years after the adversary rushed in? For
he died while Mashya and Mashyoi were yet in the
ground sprouting up, like rhubarb plants. Gayomard,
therefore, could not give this Adam and Eve of the Ira-
nians the word and let them pass it on down to the Bunda-
his writers. We have no proof that the Ox told them,
though we might as readily believe that the Ox did tell
them as to believe that the Ass talked to Balaam. But, if
that Ox was not gifted with speech, how then did they
learn of this wonderful chronology?6 Did they write
it from old and worn out traditions, the same as Ezra and

5   The Jews make our world less than 6,000 years; and
the Parsees make it less than 10,000 years old.

6   In the Iranian Bible the Primeval Bull is even more
loquacious than Balaam’s Ass in the Jewish Bible. For
the Ass, see Numbers 22, for the Bull see ch. 4, Bund.,
p. 20.
 WRITERS OF BIBLES

39

Nehemiah wrote the Pentateuch? How did the writers
of those Bibles learn of the marvelous matters which
they set forth? The answer in each case is the same.
They say they were inspired and the things they write
about are revelations from on High.

§ 3. Instead of trusting to traditions, myths and un-
certainties, let us now take a date that is fixed and un-
impeachable. In the year 585 B. C., the Medes under
Cyaxares were waging war against the Lydians.

It had progressed, as most wars do, with varying for-
tunes, for five years. But on the 28th day of May, in
that year, while a great battle was in progress, the sun
suddenly suffered a total eclipse. The darkness of night
coming on at mid-day, the terrified combatants saw, or
thought they saw, an omen of divine displeasure. In-
stantly the battle ceased, and both sides became anxious
for peace, and peace was at once concluded. They were
not aware that Thales, a Milesian astronomer had calcu-
lated this eclipse and had foretold the same to the day
and hour.7 Here is something that can be disproved or
verified; for God’s laws are uniform and certain. They
are without variableness or shadow of turning. It is a
wonderful science that can reach out into the future and
tell the exact position of the earth or sun, or his satel-
lites, at a certain hour of a certain day. Yet the masters
of astronomy have accomplished this for thousands of
years past, and are doing the same to-day. And on this
28th day of May, 585 years B. C., astronomers, who have
traced backward the path of the King of Day, find that

7   Herodotus 1; 103. Br. Ency., Vol. 18, p. 563; Title
Persia.
 40

ZOROASTER'S FIRST CONVERT

in Asia Minor, where this battle was being fought, there
was a total eclipse of the sun. Here, then, is a reckoning
that is indisputable. Now, if Zoroaster was born only
660 years before Christ, he was exactly seventy-five years
old at the date of the eclipse.

At the age of twenty, we are told by Zad-Sparam, that
Zoroaster, abandoning all worldly desires, and laying
hold on righteousness, went forth on his mission and
commenced his labors by assisting the poor; and it was
ten years before he secured a single convert. This was
Medyomah, his cousin. This leaves him exactly forty-five
years in which to convert the whole Median nation before
this battle with the Lydians. The Medes, we know, pro-
fessed the Zoroastrian religion. But the time here is too
short. Did anything approaching it ever before or since
happen on this earth? The Jews from the time of Moses
down to Jesus, a period of fifteen hundred years, labored
to convert surrounding nations, but did not succeed in a
single instance; and they were, so they said, especially
favored by the Most High.

Who, then, were these Medes, that they so speedily, as
is claimed, adopted the faith of Iran ? They were then a
great people; they were no longer a mere tribe. Genera-
tions before this six tribes became merged into one, and
they called themselves Medes. Their religion, for genera-
tions before this battle, was Zoroastrian. Even before
Zoroaster’s day they sacrificed to the earth, to fire, to
water, to the winds, the sun and the clouds, after the
manner of the Iranians. The latter did not erect temples
or altars; they worshipped in the open air; on high hills
or mountains; and the Medes practiced the same rites.
In fact, the Medes and the Persians were both children
 MEDES AND PERSIANS

41

of the same Aryan family. The Medes were formerly
called Aryans. The Persians wore the Median uniform
in war. The Medes never buried a dead body until it had
been torn by a dog or a bird; the Persians did the same.8

Now how could Zoroaster teach those two nations all
this in forty-five years ? The Medes and Persians of that
period occupied a strip of territory, reaching westward
from the Oxus, more than twelve hundred miles. We
have seen that the prophet was ten years in securing one
convert. How long was it before he captured two na-
tions ?

We shall see further along that surrounding nations
made war on him and his people because of his new reli-
gion. We shall see his armies defeated and driven from
the field; and only at the last rally were they successful,
but at that moment the prophet himself was slain.

It was three hundred years after Jesus' day before Con-
stantine could make the religion of Jesus the national re-
ligion. And even then there were chisms and conflicting
creeds, and bloodshed, and persecutions, before the tumult
ended. And to this day religious factions glare at each
other fiercely. A new religion among a barbarous people,
or any other people, is a plant of slow growth. It would
seem, therefore, that we must search for the epoch of
Zoroaster more than six hundred and sixty years before
the Christian era. Besides this, the Avesta nowhere
speaks of the Persian nation; and the reason is, that it
was composed before there was any Persian nation in
existence. There were only Tribes in that day; and Yasna,

Herodotus i, 140. Ibid. 7, 62.
 42

B EROS US AND BABYLON

33, section 5, speaks of “our tribes”. According to Gos-
Yast, it was the gallant Husravah who united the Aryan
tribes into a kingdom.

§ 4. Now, let us see what Berosus, a Chaldean priest,
bom in Babylonia about three hundred and sixty years
B. C., has to say about this matter. He translated into
Greek a history of Babylon, and there are very many
things in the Jewish Bible so strikingly similar to Berosus’
work that suspicion is aroused that the Jewish writers
drew their inspiration largely from Berosus.

True, his system of chronology will startle staid and
devout believers in the theory that our earth was created
only six thousand years ago; for Berosus makes the rec-
ord of the race four hundred and thirty-two thousand
years old down to the flood, and over thirty-four thou-
sand years since the flood. In connection with his his-
tory he mentions the name of Zoroaster as living a period
twenty-four hundred years before Jesus’ time. Berosus
was not a prophet, predicting the birth of this great teach-
er at some future day. He was simply a chronicler of
facts and events, as he found them stamped in clay or
burnt upon bricks. It happened that Babylonia was over-
run and conquered at that distant period, and Zoroaster’s
name is mentioned in connection with that event. He
must, therefore, have lived before the historian could
write of him.

A still more distant period is set for the prophet by
Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great, and one of
the greatest scholars and philosophers that the world has
ever known, whose masterly mind ought to entitle his
utterances to serious consideration. Aristotle is sure that
 ZOROASTER 6,000 YEARS AGO

43

Zoroaster lived six thousand years before Xerxes. This
carries him back into remote antiquity; back over eight
thousand years; back three thousand years before Gene-
sis. It is a strong utterance, not carelessly made, but
when we consider that this earth is millions, and millions
of years old, and that the Aryans were in Asia, probably
ten thousand years ago, and more likely before that
period, Aristotle’s date for Zoroaster may not seem so
utterly extravagant. Bunson thinks the date set by Aris-
totle is not far out of the way; but adds that whether
the date be set too high cannot at present be answered.

Plato, twenty-three hundred years ago, mentions Zoro-
aster’s religion as being established among the Medes in
western Iran, but does not fix a date for its appearance.
He intended visiting the Medes and Persians to investi-
gate their religious doctrines, but their wars with the
Greeks prevented.

14   The word Ark properly translated means box. It
should be Noah’s box.
 16

YIMA, THE PERSIAN NOAH

a year before Noah and the animals went forth.15 Noah
himself, by reason of his long tossing on the deep, must
have become somewhat demoralized; for in celebrating
the fruitage of his vineyard, “he drank of the wine and
was drunken; and he was uncovered in his tent.” Some
enquiring mind might ask if Noah possessed the ability
to construct a boat 450 feet long and 75 feet wide, and
three stories, why was it that he did not build a house
instead of living in a mere tent?

§ 6. In the Persian Bible, Yima, the son of Vivan-
ghat, “at a meeting of the best of Mortals”, is told by
Ahura that a deadly frost and evil winters are about to
fall upon the world, and that deep snow will cover the
earth, even to the mountain tops. That he, Yima, must
make a vara (an underground abode) to shelter man and
animals, lest they all perish. As with Noah, the Lord
gives particular directions. The vara must be two
hathras16 long on every side, and a great stream of water
must be made to flow through it, one hathra long, to
quench the thirst of man and beast. Thither Yima must
bring sheep and oxen, dogs and birds; and dwelling
places must be fixed for man, and food provided for all.
Before that awful winter, Yima is told that the earth shall
bear plenty of grass for cattle. He is not restricted, like
Noah, to one family; but is told to bring the greatest,
best, and finest specimens of men and women on earth:
and the finest cattle of every kind, and the choicest seeds

15   Gen. ch. 8.

16   A hathra is about 1 mile; the vara, therefore, would
be two miles square, more than one hundred times larger
than the Ark.
 YIMA BUILDS A VARA

17

of every kind of fruit. From all these the earth is to be
replenished. But no hunchbacks, no impotent, or lunatic
or malicious one, or liar; no spiteful one, or leprous, or
jealous one, should he bring into the vara.17 'He was told
to make streets in this underground abode, and a door
and a window. (Noah-had one window.) Yima could
not understand how a window would be of service in this
subterranean retreat, and is told that there are created
lights, and uncreated lights. That the only thing missed
there will be the sight of the sun, moon and stars. But
as a compensation for this, men will live such happy lives
that a year will seem only as a day. Streets are to be con-
structed in this subterranean abode; and in one of the
longest of them a thousand men and women are to be
brought; in another, six hundred men and women; and
in another three hundred.18 And that window, self-
shining within, will give them light sufficient to make it
seem an eternal day. Avarice will not be there; and
gluttony will be so far overcome that ten men can feed
upon one loaf and be filled. With all these instructions
Yima was at a loss to know with what material to con-
struct so vast a place; and was told to “crush the earth
with his heel, and knead it with his hands as a potter
kneads his clay.”

The Avesta is silent as to the exact time of exit from
the vara; but they dwelt there in blissful peace for years,
and until a bird was sent from heaven bearing the reli-
gion of Mazda to its occupants.19

17   Vendidad, ch. 2.

18   Fargard, 2 vend., § 30. See also § 32 id.

19   We must not be shocked that they have birds in
 18 NOAH'S DELUGE—A BABYLONIAN MYTH

§ 7. Concerning these two supposed destructions of
life, that of the Noachian deluge was, as it appears, com-
piled with almost literal exactness from two old Babylo-
nian records, and those records are made up from worn
out old legends.

The first is that of Berosus, and is as follows:20
Xisuthrus, the tenth King of Babylon, noted for his piety,
was warned in a dream,21 of a coming great deluge, to
prepare an Ark, thus to save his family and friends. The
Ark is prepared; they embark, and the deluge comes.
When the waters begin to subside, Xisuthrus, at three dif-
ferent times, sends out doves, the same as did Noah after-
wards. The Ark rested on a mountain, after which those
in the Ark disembark, and Xisuthrus builds an altar, and
offers sacrifice. Thereupon he and his companions all
mysteriously disappear. Perhaps they were translated
like Enoch.22 * This flood story seems to have drifted
even to the Ganges. For Manu, who is called the Father
of Mankind, escapes from a deluge by building an Ark.

the Iranian heaven, for in the Jewish heaven they have
lions and horses and birds, and locusts—plenty of them.
See Revelation.

20   Berosus was a Chaldean priest and historian, living
in the time of Alexander the Great. It is known that he
had access to Babylonian records. Hence the value of
his works. Berosus hits Genesis a very hard blow when
he fixes the period before the flood, at 34,080 years.

21   This is the first recorded instance of any one, in
matters of importance, “being warned in a dream" Vol.
7, Br. Ency., Deluge.

22   Gen., 5, 24. God took Enoch, but just how we are

not told.
 A FISH STORY

19

He is warned of the coming flood, and the necessity of a
ship, by a fish. Manu heeds the warning, builds a boat,
and keeps this loquacious fish, which grows to an enor-
mous size. When the flood comes, Manu uses the fish to
tow his craft about; and the fish, being a skillful pilot,
lands the Ark on the top of a high mountain, where it
rests until the waters subside.

§ 8. In the next deluge story, Tamzi, the hero of the
epic, is warned to build a ship or Ark, and put his family
into it, and all animals; as all flesh is about to be de-
stroyed. He was told, as was Noah afterwards, to coat
the seams of his Ark with pitch, within and without.
The ship being ready, the windows of heaven are opened;
the rain flood pours, drowning every living thing not in
Tamzi’s Ark. The waters, after a time, subside, and the
Ark rests upon Nizir, a mountain.24 Thereafter Tamzi
sent out a dove and a swallow, and they returned. Then
he sent out a raven, but the raven came not back. When
dry land appeared, Tamzi, on coming from the Ark, gave
a thank-offering. In this story, Hea, the God of Waters,
intercedes with Bel, the chief deity of the triad of Baby-
lon,25 that the world be not again drowned.

24   The mountain upon which Tamzi’s Ark rested is
southwest of Lake Urumiah. Mt. Ararat is northwest of
that lake. These mountains are about 400 miles apart.
But there have been no floods there for the past 4000
years.

25   Gen., 8, 20. For the Babylonian deluges see George
Smith’s Chaldean account of Genesis, also Br. Ency., Vol.
7» P- 54.
 20

A FEW PARALLELS

Noah, on leaving the Ark, built an Altar and offered
some of the animals, which he had saved from the flood,
as burnt offerings to the Lord, and “the Lord smelled
them ” and promised that “He would not any more curse
the ground.”26 But even these myths of the Babylonians
were not original with them, for they copied an old, worn,
and faded Accadian legend, which was floating around the
world long before there was any Babylon at all. Whence
the Avesta fable, about Yima and his Vara, started, is
more difficult to trace. Possibly it is simply an exaggera-
tion of the Armenian plan of burrowing, during the win-
ter, in the earth. We know that, about four hundred
years B. C., when Xenophon and his Greeks passed
through Armenia, they found plenty of Varas, or under-
ground villages, filled with people who, there, in security,
defied the biting frosts of winter, and this practice is not
entirely abandoned to this day.

r §9. Let us notice a few more parallels: Thraetona,
the descendant of Yima, divided the earth between his
three sons, Selma, Tura and Airia. He bestowed Turan
upon Tura; to Selma he gave Rum (Europa) ; and Turan
fell to Airia. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and
Japhet; and “of them the whole earth was overspread.”
As we shall hereafter see that Zoroaster talks with Ahura,
so also does Moses with the Almighty.

The Persian Bible tells us that Ahura revealed the law
to Zoroaster “on the Mount of the Holy Conversations.”27
The Jewish Bible sets forth that the Lord gave to Moses,

26   Gen., 7.

27   Ormazd Yast, Vol. 23, S. B. E. § 31 and note 1.
 MIRACULOUS BIRTHS OF ZOROASTER'S SONS 21

on Mount Sinai, the ten commandments.28 The New
Testament, the latest part of the Jewish Bible, tells us
that God’s only begotten son, Jesus, came to reclaim
the world and save man from his errors and his sins.
He is said to have been born of a Virgin. This part of our
Gospel was long preceded by the Avesta, which said that
three unborn sons of Zoroaster were to be born of Vir-
gins, at different periods, to renovate the world. They
were to bring immortal life to the race. Soshyans, the
latest born of these sons, is called the Beneficent One;
for it is said, he will benefit the whole bodily world. He
is also called Aastvat-Erata; for he will cause the resur-
rection,—bodily resurrection, the same as the New Testa-
ment teaches.29 But the Avesta was not followed exactly,
in all things, by the New Testament, for the God of the
Avesta has a son Atar 30 and a daughter Ashi-Vanghui,
who is said to be tall formed, and of such intelligence that
she can bring heavenly wisdom at her wish.31 j
As we shall see numerous other parallels further on, I
will only add that the Avesta, after the death of Zoroaster,
was taught everywhere in Iran, and, thereafter, was
written in gold letters on twelve thousand Ox-hides; one
copy of which was deposited among the archives at Per-
sepolis. This copy was burned by Alexander the Great
when he overran Persia; but it had been previously pub-

28   Exodus, ch. 20.

29   Famardan Yast, Vol. 23, S. B. E., Bund, ch. 22;
Dinkard, ch. 14.

30   Zamyad Yt, §§ 46 to 50.

31   Ashi Yast, Vol. 23, S. B. E., §§ 1, 2, and 3.
 22

LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF ZOROASTER

lished in all the seven regions.32 Plato, an hundred years
before this, had studied and admired the simplicity of the
doctrines of the Great Persian, who taught, and Plato
believed, that good thoughts, good words and good deeds
were sufficient to insure a happy tranquillity in the eter-
nal beyond. Does Jesus’ Gospel go beyond this?

32   Dinkard 7, ch. 6, § 12. The Persians divided the
earth into seven Karshvares or zones.
 PART FIRST

“The Word of the Lord” Came to the
Hebrews by Way of Persia
 
 Life and Teachings

OF

ZOROASTER

CHAPTER I.

ZOROASTER, HIS NAME AND BIRTHPLACE.

Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed, each left
such an indelible impress upon the age in which he lived
that millions since their day have taught, reverenced and
believed the doctrines which they proclaimed. The first,
and earliest of these names, Zoroaster, like a distant and
lofty mountain peak, partly obscured by clouds that hang
about it, is somewhat enveloped in tradition. Yet seeing
the top, we are certain the mountain has a base. And
finding numerous records, supplemented by traditions
almost without number, and, from various quarters, we
are sure that Zoroaster lived and was, and is, in truth, a
great historic reality.

There is no more doubt that he lived and wrought a
great work among the people of ancient Iran (Persia)
than that Moses, or Solomon, or George Washington
lived, and left great names; which blaze and sparkle, upon
the historic page. In truth, the foot-prints of Zoroaster
are so trampled into and indented into old Persian legends,
and history, that we might as well undertake to gainsay

23
 24

WAS HE NAMED FOR A STARt

the existence of any other monumental character, as to
controvert his life, or his personality.

§ 2. Much curious speculation, and many wild guesses
have been made concerning the etymologies of this great
man's name. The Greeks called him Zoroastres. In the
Avesta, his full name is given as Spitama Zarathrustra.
In the Pahlavi, he is called Zartust, and Zardust. Some-
times he is designated as the Spitama; and again as the
Righteous. The appellative Spitama comes, probably,
from one of his ancestors, back several generations. His
name may be a compound, “Zoe” life, and “aster” star.
The latter part of his name, “ustra” (camel), may give us
a hint.1 Some writers have endeavored to trace his line
back to royalty; but for our purpose, it makes no differ-
ence whether that ancestor plowed with camels, or wield-
ed a scepter, or was named for a star. Of this we are
certain, that no scholar, however learned and critical, can
with absolute certainty state either the derivation of his
name or its signification.

§ 3. A more important question presents itself just
here. Was Zoroaster born on the bank of distant Oxus,
in eastern Iran, or did he first see the light in Bactria, or
in Ragha, or was Ardibagan, which lies to the west of the
Caspian Sea, his native place? Rival cities, Cyme and
Smyrna, and others, claimed the honor of giving Homer
to the world. It is possible that they were all wrong.
Let an intellectual colossus appear in any age, and, if

1 Burnouf and Casartelli both have urged that his
name, or a part of it, was derived from the word “ustra,”
meaning camel.
 HIS BIRTHPLACE

25

there be a question as to his birthplace, some land, which
was the scene of his activity, will make haste to appropri-
ate him. It was thus in the case of Zoroaster. He did
not, as did Cyrus, marshal armies and establish a king-
dom. His place, for a time, was less conspicuous. He
became the prophet and founder of a religion, which
taught the hosts of light to wage unceasing warfare
against the powers of darkness. He taught that Ahura-
Mazda (Ormazd) was a mighty God, who created
heaven, earth and man. He gave a new religion to an-
cient Iran, to Media, and to surrounding tribes and
nations. Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds,
were the prime factors in his teachings. Can any religion
strike deeper at the root of evil than this? If the mind
be filled with good thoughts; if the tongue utters only
good words; if the hands perform only good deeds, can
the soul’s aspirations mount higher? Did the gentle
teachings of the Man of Galilee reach beyond these three
cardinal points ? They surely did not, because they could
not. All beyond this is exegesis. Thus it appears that
Zoroaster, many centuries before Jesus was born, an-
nounced the very beginning, and end, of every religion.
It was philosophy, logic and religion, all compressed into
one short, pithy sentence. The most ignorant and the
most stupid could follow the reasoning to the end. The
very pillars of heaven can find nothing better, or beyond
this, to rest upon. Nations and distant peoples saw, un-
derstood, believed and appreciated these short, simple
truths. But we shall see how like another great teacher,
many centuries later, he perished in their advocacy. Jesus
suffered on Calvary for teaching “peace on earth and
good will to all” mankind. In other words, for teaching
 26

Life and teachings of Zoroaster,
by Whitney, Loren Harper,  1905


 
https://archive.org/details/lifeteachingsofz00whit

Life and teachings of Zoroaster, the great Persian
by Whitney, Loren Harper, 1834-1912; deLaurence, Lauron William, 1868-



OF THE CHICAGO BAR
AUTHOR OF

“A QUESTION OF MIRACLES”  1910

PARALLELS IN

THE LIVES OF BUDDHA AND JESUS

https://archive.org/details/aquestionmiracl01whitgoog


THIS WORK ALSO INCLUDES A COMPARISON
OF THE PERSIAN AND HEBREW RELIGIONS
SHOWING THAT “THE WORD OF THE
LORD” CAME TO THE HEBREWS BY
WAY OF PERSIA

PART SECOND

OFFERS PROOF THAT THE JEWS COPIED
HEAVILY FROM THE HINDU BIBLE

SECOND EDITION

Arranged for publication in its present form by Dr. L. W.
de Laurence, who is now sole owner of this wonderful
work, the same to now serve as “TEXT BOOK” NUM-
BER THREE for THE CONGRESS OF ANCIENT,
DIVINE, MENTAL and CHRISTIAN MASTERS.
Published exclusively by
de LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO.

Chicago, 111., U. S. A.
 Copyright 1905

LOREN HARPER WHITNEY

OF THE CHICAGO BAR



TABLE OF CONTENTS

Adam Came Alone......................................... 37

Angels Direct the Prophet............................... 70

Angels Visit the Prophet................................ 87

Animals in the Ark...................................... 15

Apes, The.............................................. 244

Arabs Victorious ...................................... 177

Archangel Meets Zoroaster............................... 62

Ark, The................................................ 14

Aryans 7,000 Years Ago.................................. 78

Astronomy Against Genesis.............................. 231

Atheist, Not An........................................ 197

Avesta Conflicts with Genesis........................... 10

Babylon, Deluge Story.................................  247

Babylon and Ur.......................................... 45

Benda, A Border Chief.................................. 135

Berosus and Babylon..................................... 42

Bibles, Persian and Jewish.............................. 13

Birth, Second or Spiritual One......................... 214

Births, Miraculous.....................................  21

Blind, Healing of...................................... 146

Bodily Resurrection, None.............................. 158

Brahmanism Older than the Flood........................ 192

Brahma’s Day .......................................... 237

Bridge, The Kinvad...................................... 96

Bum the Wicked......................................... 183

Burnt Oblations........................................ 215

Captain Cook and the Nails............................. 189

Casts, Four Great Ones................................. 210

Catholics Take Hamistaken for Their Purgatory......101, 183

Chrisna, the Hindu Savior.............................. 196

1
 2   TABLE OF CONTENTS

Christian Hell, The..................................... 159

Chronology Wrong......................................... 88

Churches Quarrel........................................ 205

Conclusion.............................................. 188

Conflicting Creeds...................................... 205

Convert, Zoroaster’s First One........................... 40

Cows of the Sky.......................................... 81

Creation—When........................................... 230

Creations Final Change.................................. 169

Creators, Two........................................... 113

Creed-makers ........................................... 193

Dante’s Inferno......................................... 183

Darkness in the Ark..................................... 246

Death of Zoroaster...................................... 172

Defeated, If Persia Had Been............................ 176

Deities, Two New Ones................................... 193

Deluge, a Babylonian Myth................................ 18

Destruction of the World................................ 250

Deuteronomy Was Found................................... 253

Devil Tempts Zoroaster................................... 72

Devils as Linguists..................................... 115

Devils in All Religions.................................. 76

Diaglogue with the Serpent.............................. 233

Dives and Lazarus’ Story, The Original.................. 147

Divine Radiance at Zoroaster’s Birth..................... 48

Dualism, Doctrine of...............................105, 187

Early Deities............................................ 79

Earth Is Old............................................. 38

Egoism, What Is It?..................................... 229

Egypt and Zoroaster..................................... 166

Egypt Gave the Soul a Trial............................. 164

Evil, Did the Lord Create It?............................137

^Evil, Why It Exists....................................... 108

Ezekiel’s Vision........................................ 120

Ezra and Ezekiel in Babylon............................. 170

Faith No Justification.................................. 122

Fasts..............................................206, 207

Fire, None in the Ark................................... 241

Fire Worshippers, Zoroastrians Not...................... 155

First Man and Woman...................................35, 36
 TABLE OF CONTENTS   3

Fish Saved Manu.......................................238

Five Senses, Will They Survive....................... 228

Floods, Two of Them...................................236

Future Life Not Taught by Moses...................... 223

Genesis of Hindu and Hebrew Bibles................... 227

God, The God of 1900 Years Ago on Trial.............. 168

Gods, Elect of Animals............................... 243

** Good and Evil Created................................ 34

Gulf, An Impassable One.............................. 213

Hamistaken .......................................... 101

Heaven and Hell Mental States........................ 157

Heaven Has Doors and Rooms...........................184,   185

Heaven of St. John................................... 186

Heaven Promised....................................... 91

Heaven Visited by Zoroaster........................... 63

Hebrews in Babylon...................................169,   170

Hell Beneath Kinvad Bridge............................ 97

Hell of Christians Not a Drop of Water............... 160

Hell of Jesus is Barbarous...........................171,   183

Hell of Persians They Have Foul Food................. 160

Hell of the Perisans................................. 100

Hells, Persian and Jew............................... 103

Hindu Bible..........................................208,   209

Hindu Eve............................................ 238

Hindu Speculation ................................... 257

Hindus Our Ancestors................................. 199

Holy Mountains........................................ 56

Homer and Zoroaster.................................. 140

Horn-Juice............................................ 82

Hushedar to Surpass Joshua........................... 151

Immortality Not Taught by Moses...................... 223

Immortality of the Soul.............................. 180

Indian History ..................................202,   203

Iranians and Hindus Separate.......................... 29

Iranians Older Than Hebrews........................... 58

Jesus Copies Zoroaster............................... 169

Jesus Hell is Barbarous.............................. 171

Jesus Hell the Wicked Bum............................ 183

Jews as Copyists...................................... 11

Jews Found Their Devil in Babylon.................... 119
 4   TABLE OF CONTENTS

Jews Had One. God..................................... 194

Joshua Fable ......................................... 150

Karpans, The.......................................... 136

Kinvad Bridge.......................................... 96

Legends and Myths...................................... 74

Man and Woman Grew from the Earth...................... 35

Many Countries Claim Him............................... 28

Mashaya and Mashyoi.................................... 36

Matthew Copies from Zoroaster......................... 184

Metempsychosis........................................ 251

Milton’s Paradise Lost................................ 221

Miracle, A Great One if True.......................... 143

Miraculous Births...................................... 21

Miraculous Exits, Many................................ 174

Miraculous Release from Prison........................ 86

Mohammedanism......................................... 194

Moon Sacrifices ...................................... 216

Moses and Zoroaster................................... 149

Moses a Unitarian..................................... 226

Oblations, Burnt...................................... 215

Osiris Court 2,300 years B. C......................... 200

Noah’s Orders......................................... 240

Nodites, The...........................................235

Parting of the Tribes.................................. 31

Paul and Zoroaster.....................................182

Persian and Hebrew Bibles............................... 8

Perisan Hell.......................................... 100

Persian Hell, They Have Foul Food..................... 160

Persians on the Oxus................................... 30

Persians Truthful...................................... 55

Peter Copies the Hindus............................... 256

Poor, The, Zoroaster’s First Converts.................. 67

“^Predestination...........................................252

Primal Spirits, Two................................... 109

Prison, In............................................. 85

Purgatory and Hamistaken the Same..................101, 183

Records 4,000 Years B. C.............................. 198

Released from Prison................................... 86

Religion a Matter of Education........................ 162

Religion at Times Depends on Battles.................. 178
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

5

Religion Slowly Changing................................ 167

Religions All Have Devils................................. 76

Religious Wars........................................... 127

Renovated World ......................................... 102

Resurrection of the Dead.................................. 95

Retribution Not Taught in Egypt.......................... 181

Rig-Veda, Its Age........................................ 224

Sacrifices .........................................153, 210

Sacrifices to the New Moon............................... 216

Scoffers Punished........................................ 144

Serpent and the Lord.................................... 233

Seven Thousand Years Ago.................................. 78

Shirt, The Sacred......................................... 53

Sin’s Penalty............................................ 124

Sons to Be Bom to Zoroaster............................... 93

Soul, Immortality of..................................... 180

Souls of the Righteous and Wicked.......................98, 99

Spirits, Two Primal Ones................................. 109

Spiritual Birth.......................................... 214

St. John’s Heaven........................................ 186

Still in Prison........................................... 85

Story, Original of Dives and Lazarus..................... 147

Sudra, His Punishment.................................... 232

Swine Flesh Forbidden.................................... 222

Tanzis’ Ark............................................... 19

Theologies Are Inventions............................... 219

Three Hundred Years Ago................................. 189

Translation of Persian Bible............................... 9

Trinity, The............................................. 195

Tur, the Scanty Giver..................................... 66

Two Creators .............................................113

Visions .................................................. 69

Visions Are Dreams....................................... 148

Visited by Angels......................................... 87

Vistaspa.................................................. 84

Vistaspa Embraces the Faith.............................. 156

-^?War Between Good and Evil................................. 114

War of the Religions . .................................. 133

Wars of Aryans............................................ 80

Where Did Zoroaster Live?................................. 33
 6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Wicked, The Souls of..................................... 99

Wicked, The, to Burn.................................... 183

Window, One Only in the Ark............................. 240

Wolf's Den, Zoroaster Flung Into......................... 50

Woman, The First Hindu.................................. 239

Word of the Lord Came via Persia......................... 12

World, Its Destruction.................................. 250

World Strife............................................ 200

World, The Under........................................ 118

Worshipped on Mountains.................................. 57

Writers of Bibles........................................ 39

Yima Builds a Vara....................................... 17

Yima, The Persian Noah................................... 17

Zend-Avesta............................................... 7

Zerana, Akerana..........................................110

Zoroaster and an Angel Visit Heaven...................... 63

Zoroaster, Attempt to Murder Him......................... 49

Zoroaster Died at 77 Years.............................. 175

Zoroaster, His Faith Tested.............................. 64

Zoroaster in Prison...................................... 84

Zoroaster 6,000 Years Ago................................ 44

Zoroaster Was Named for a Star........................... 24

Zoroaster’s Birthplace................................... 25

Zoroaster’s Doctrines ................................... 26

Zoroaster’s Marriage..................................... 59

Zoroaster’s Mother ...................................... 47

Zoroaster’s Prayer...................................... 128