The sun-god Dionysius (Bacchus), son of Zeus and the virgin Semele, daughter of
Cadmus, King of Thebes, was born on the twenty-fifth of December. As he was
destined to bring ruin upon Cadmus, he was, by the order of that monarch,
confined in a chest and thrown into the Nile. Like Moses, he was rescued and
adopted. He performed many miracles, among them being the turning of water into
wine. He had a rod with which he could perform miracles, and which he could
change into a serpent at pleasure. He crossed the Red Sea dry-shod, at the
head of his army. He divided the waters of the rivers Orontes and Hydaspes by
the touch of his rod, and passed through them dry-shod. By the same mighty wand
he drew water from the rock; and wherever he went, the land flowed with wine,
milk, and honey. It is said that while marching with his army in India he
enjoyed the light of the Sun when the day was spent, and it was dark to others.
Like Moses, Bacchus was represented as horned. He was called the Law-giver, his
laws being written on two tables of stone. (See Note 7.)
It is related that on one occasion Pantheus, King of Thebes, sent his
attendants to seize Bacchus the Vagabond Leader of a Faction, as he called
him. This they were unable to do, as his followers were too numerous. They
succeeded, however, in capturing one of his disciples, who was led away and
shut up fast in prison ; but, while they were getting ready the instruments of
execution, the prison doors came open of their own accord, and the chains fell
from his limbs, and when they looked for him he was nowhere to be found.
Bacchus was called the Slain One, the Sin-Bearer, the Only-Begotten Son, the
Saviour, and the Redeemer, His death, resurrection, and ascension were
commemorated in early spring by festivals similar in character to those held by
the Persians, Egyptians, Chaldeans, and others.
The Greeks had their Holy Mysteries. Their Eleusinian Mysteries, or the
Sacrament of their Lord's Supper, was the most august of all their ceremonies.
It was celebrated every fifth year, in honor of Ceres, the goddess of corn,
who, in allegorical language, had given them her flesh to eat ; and Bacchus,
the god of wine, who, in like sense, had given them his blood to drink. These
mysteries were accompanied with rites which were considered to be an expiation
of sin. Throughout the whole ceremony the name of their God was many times re-
peated. His brightness, or glory, was not only exhibited to the eye, by the
rays which surrounded his name (or his monogram, I. H. S.), but was made the
peculiar theme of their triumphant exultation. The monogram of Bacchus, I. H.
S., is now used as the monogram of Jesus Christ, and is wrongfully supposed
to stand for Jesu Hominum Salvator, or In Hoc Signo.
The stories of Prometheus, Achilles, and Meleagros represent the short-lived
Sun. Ixion, bound on the wheel, was the god Sol crucified in the heavens. The
crucified dove, worshipped by the ancients, was none other than the crucified
Sun ; as it is well known that the ancients personified the Sun as female as
well as male.
The ancient Etruscans worshipped a Virgin Mother and Son, the latter
represented, in pictures, in the arms of his mother. This was the goddess
Nutria. The goddess Cybele was another Virgin Mother, and was called Queen of
Heaven and Mother of God. The Galli, now used in the churches of Italy, were
anciently used in the worship of Cybele. They were called Galliambus, and
were sung by her priests. Our Lady Day, or the Day of the Blessed Virgin, of
the Roman Church, was first dedicated to Cybele.
The ancient Scandinavians had a sun-god, or Saviour, Baldur the Good, son of
the Al-fader, Odin or Woden (Heaven), and the virgin goddess Frigga. Baldur was
slain by the sharp thorn of winter, descended into Hell, and rose again to
life and immortality. The goddess Frigga was worshipped, and the night of the
greatest festival of all the year at the winter solstice was called Mother-
night.
The Scandinavians worshipped a triune God, and consecrated one day in the week
to him, the day being called to the present time Odin's, or Woden's, day, which
is our Wednesday. They observed the rite of Baptism. They had a legend of an
Eden, or Golden Age, which lasted until the arrival of woman out of Jotunheim,
the region of giants. They also had a legend of a deluge, from which only one
man and his family escaped, by means of a bark. They had a legend corresponding
to the Hebrew story of David and Goliath, in which their hero Thor (the Sun)
throws a hammer at Hungnir, striking him in the forehead. The hammer was a
cross. They also worshipped a god called Frey, who was fabled to have been
killed at the winter solstice, by a boar (winter) ; therefore, a boar was
annually offered at the great feast of Yule, now called Christmas. (See Note
8.)
The ancient Germans worshipped a virgin mother and child. The virgin's name was
Ostara, or Eostre, whence comes our Easter. In ancient times this festival was
preceded by a week's indulgence in all kinds of sports, called the carne-vale,
or the farewell to animal food ; and this was followed by a fast of forty days.
This occurred centuries before the Christian era. (See Note 9.)
The ancient Druids of Britain were also sunworshippers.
The idea of redemption through the sufferings and death of a Divine Saviour is
to be found in the ancient religions of China. One of their five sacred
volumes, called the Y-King, says, in speaking of Tien, the Holy One :
The Holy One will unite in himself all the virtues of Heaven and earth. By
his justice the world will be re-established in the ways of righteousness. He
will labor and suffer much. He must pass the great torrent, whose waves shall
enter into his soul ; but he alone can offer up to the Lord a sacrifice worthy
of him.
An ancient commentator says : " The Holy One [Tien] does not seek himself, but
the good of others. He dies to save the world." Tien is always spoken of as
one with God, existing with him from all eternity, " before anything was made."
Lao-kiun, the Chinese philosopher and teacher, born in 604 B. C, was said to be
a divine emanation, incarnate in human form. He was said to have existed
"antecedent to the birth of the elements, in the Great Absolute." " He was
the original ancestor of the prime breath of life, and gave form to the
heavens and the earth." He descended to earth and was born of a virgin, black
in complexion, and described as " marvellous and beautiful as jasper." When
his mission of benevolence was finished on earth, he ascended bodily into the
Paradise above. Since then he has been worshipped as a god, and splendid
temples have been erected to him. He taught the doctrine of One God, who is
also a Trinity. His disciples are called Heavenly Teachers. What is now known
as the Easter celebration was observed in China, and called a Festival of
Gratitude to Tien. (See Note id.)
The Chinese have, in their sacred books, a story of a Golden Age and a
mysterious "delicious" garden, wherein grew a tree bearing "apples of
immortality," guarded by a winged serpent, called a Dragon. The garden was
moistened by four rivers, which flowed from a source called the Fountain of
Immortality. One of the rivers was called the River of the Lamb. In this
blissful abode there was no calamity, sickness, or death.
In one of the Chinese sacred volumes, called the Chi-King, it is written :
All was subject to man at first, but a woman threw us into slavery. The wise
husband raised up a bulwark of walls ; but the woman, by an ambitious desire
for knowledge, demolished them. Our misery did not come from Heaven, but from a
woman. She lost the human race. Ah, unhappy Poo See ! thou kindledst the fire
that consumes us, and which is every day augmenting. Our misery has lasted many
ages. The world is lost. Vice overflows all things, like a mortal poison.
The Chinese have a legend of the Sun standing still, and a legend of the
Deluge. Accounts of the ascent to Heaven of holy men, without death, are found
in their mythology. They believe that in the latter days there will be a
millennium, and that a divine man will establish himself on earth, and
everywhere restore peace and happiness. From time immemorial the Chinese have
worshipped a virgin mother and child. The mother is called Shin-moo, or the
Holy Mother, and is represented with rays of glory surrounding her head. Tapers
are kept constantly burning before her images, which are elevated in alcoves
behind the altars of their temples.
In the mythological systems of America, a virginborn god, or saviour, was not
less clearly recognized than in those of the Old World. Among the savage tribes
his origin and character were, for obvious reasons, much confused ; but among
the more advanced nations he occupied a well-defined position.
The Mexican sun-god, or saviour, Quetzalcoatle, born in the land of Tulan in
Anahuac, was the son of Tezcatlipoca, the Supreme God of the ancient Mexicans,
and the virgin Sochiquetzal, who was worshipped as the Virgin Mother, the Queen
of Heaven. Tezcatlipoca was styled Xiuleticutle, an epithet signifying the Lord
of Heaven. {Xiuletl signifies blue ; and therefore was a name which the
Mexicans gave to Heaven.)
Quetzalcoatle's birth was heralded by a star, and the Morning-star was his
symbol. He taught metallurgy, agriculture, and the art of government. He was
tempted by the Devil, and a forty days' fast was observed by his disciples. He
was put to death by Eopuco, and died for the sins of mankind, after having been
placed on a beam of wood, with his arms outstretched. He was represented in
some instances as crucified in space, in the heavens, within a circle of
nineteen figures, the number of the me-tonic cycle, a serpent (the serpent,
when represented in connection with a crucifixion, denoting evil, darkness,
and winter) being in the picture. He was occasionally represented as crucified
between two other victims. This denoted the three qualities, or
personalities, of the Sun, as Creator, Saviour, and Reconstructor, the
Trinity. In other pictures he is crucified on a cross of Greek form, with the
impressions of nails on the feet and hands, and with the body strangely covered
with suns. In these pictures many of the figures have black faces, and the
visage of Quetzalcoatle is strangely distorted.
At the death of Quetzalcoatle, " the Sun was darkened, and withheld her
light." He descended into Hell, and rose from the dead. His death and resur
rection were celebrated in early spring, when victims were nailed to a cross
and shot with an arrow.
The cross was said to be the Tree of Nutriment, or Tree of Life, epithets
applied by the Roman Catholics to the cross. The rite of Baptism was observed,
and was believed to cleanse from sin. Infants were baptized, that sin, which
tainted the child before the foundation of the world, might be washed away, and
the child be born anew. The sacrament of the Eucharist was observed, the bread
being made of corn-meal mixed with blood ; which, after consecration by the
priest, was given to the people as the flesh of their Saviour. (See Note i i.)
The Mexican idea of the Supreme God was similar to the Hebrew. Like Jehovah,
Tezcatlipoca dwelt in the ''midst of thick darkness." No man ever saw his face,
for he appeared only as a shade. When he descended upon the Mount of
Tezcatepec, darkness overshadowed the earth, while fire and water, in mingled
streams, flowed beneath his feet, and from the summit. He was omnipresent and
omniscient, a being of absolute perfection and perfect purity. The Mexicans
paid him great reverence and adoration, and addressed, him, in their prayers,
as "Lord, whose servants we are."
In the annals of the Mexicans, the first woman, whose name was translated by
the old Spanish writers " the woman of our flesh," is always represented as
accompanied by a great male serpent, who seems to be talking to her. By the
Mexicans, she is called Ysnextli, which signifies eyes blind with ashes. By
sinning, she lost Paradise, her crime being the plucking of roses, called Fruta
del arbal, the fruit of the tree. They declare that they are still unable to
look up to heaven on account of this fall.
The ancient Mexicans had a tradition of a deluge, from which a person
corresponding to Noah was saved, with six others, in an ark, which landed on a
mountain, a bird being sent out to ascertain when the waters had subsided. They
also had a legend of the building of a tower, which would reach to the skies,
their object being to see what was going on in Heaven, and also to have a place
of refuge in case of another deluge. The gods beheld with wrath this edifice,
the top of which was nearing the clouds, and they hurled fire from heaven upon
it, which threw it down and killed many of the workmen. The work was then
discontinued, as each family interested in the building of the tower received a
language of its own, and the builders could not understand each other. The
ancient Mexicans pointed to the ruins of a tower at Cholula, as evidence of
the truth of their story.
The disciples of Quetzalcoatle expected his second advent. He told the
inhabitants of Cholula that he would return to govern them. This tradition was
deeply cherished by them ; and when the Spaniards, with Cortez at their head,
came to subdue the land, the Mexicans implicitly believed that Quetzalcoatle
was returning, bringing his temples (the ships) with him.
The annunciation of the Virgin Sochiquetzal was the subject of a Mexican
hieroglyphic. In this she is represented as receiving from the ambassador, or
angel, a bunch of flowers. This brings to mind the lotus, the sacred plant of
the East, which is placed in the hands of Pagan and Christian madonnas. The
resurrection of Quetzalcoatle is represented in hieroglyphics. The cross was a
very sacred symbol with the Mexicans.
Heaven they located in the Sun, and the blessed were permitted to revel amongst
lovely clouds. There was a hell for the wicked, and a sort of " quiet limbo for
those who were in no way distinguished." Amongst their prayers or invocations
were the formulas :
" Wilt thou blot us out, O Lord, forever ? Is this punishment intended not for
our reformation, but for our destruction ? " Again : " Impart to us, out of thy
great mercy, thy gifts, which we are not worthy to receive through our own
merits."
" Keep peace with all." " Bear injuries with humility ; God, who sees, will
avenge you." These were among their maxims. Also : " Clothe the naked and feed
the hungry, whatever privations it may cost thee ; for, remember, their flesh
is like thine." A Spanish writer remarks that the Devil had positively taught
the Mexicans the same things which God had imparted to Christendom.
