According to the religion of the ancient Assyrians, it was Narduk, the Logos, the WORD, "the eldest son of Hea," "the Merciful One," "the Life-giver," &c., who created the heavens, the earth, and all that therein is.[249:3]

Adonis, the Lord and Saviour, was believed to be the Creator of men, and god of the resurrection of the dead.[249:4]

Prometheus, the Crucified Saviour, is the divine forethought, existing before the souls of men, and the creator Hominium.[249:5]

The writer of "The Gospel according to St. John," has made Christ Jesus co-eternal with God, as well as Creator, in these words:

Again, in praying to his Father, he makes Jesus say:

Paul is made to say:

Again:

St. John the Divine, in his "Revelation," has made Christ Jesus say:

Hindoo scripture also makes Crishna "the first and the last," "the beginning and the end." We read in the "Geeta," where Crishna is reported to have said:

Arjouan, his disciple, addresses him thus:

Again he says:

In another Holy Book of the Hindoos, called the "Vishnu Purana," we also read that Vishnu—in the form of Crishna—"who descended into the womb of the (virgin) Devaki, and was born as her son" was "without beginning, middle or end."[250:13]

Buddha is also Alpha and Omega, without beginning or end, "The Lord," "the Possessor of All," "He who is Omnipotent and Everlastingly to be Contemplated," "the Supreme Being, the Eternal One."[250:14]

Lao-kiun, the Chinese virgin-born God, who came upon earth about six hundred years before Jesus, was without beginning. It was said that he had existed from all eternity.[250:15]

The legends of the Taou-tsze sect in China declare their founder to have existed antecedent to the birth of the elements, in the Great Absolute; that he is the "pure essence of the tëen;" that he is the original ancestor of the prime breath of life; that he gave form to the heavens and the earth, and caused creations and annihilations to succeed each other, in an endless series, during innumerable periods of the world. He himself is made to say:

According to the Zend Avesta, Ormuzd, the first-born of the Eternal One, is he "who is, always has been, and who will be forever."[251:2]

Zeus was Alpha and Omega. An Orphic line runs thus:

Bacchus was without beginning or end. An inscription on an ancient medal, referring to him, reads thus:

Beneath this inscription is a serpent, with his tail in his mouth, thus forming a circle, which was an emblem of eternity among the ancients.[251:4]

Without enumerating them, we may say that the majority of the virgin-born gods spoken of in Chapter XII. were like Christ Jesus—without beginning or end—and that many of them were considered Creators of all things. This has led M. Dridon to remark (in his Hist. de Dieu), that in early works of art, Christ Jesus is made to take the place of his Father in creation and in similar labors, just as in heathen religions an inferior deity does the work under a superior one.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXVII.

The legendary history of Jesus of Nazareth, contained in the books of the New Testament, is full of prodigies and wonders. These alleged prodigies, and the faith which the people seem to have put in such a tissue of falsehoods, indicate the prevalent disposition of the people to believe in everything, and it was among such a class that Christianity was propagated. All leaders of religion had the reputation of having performed miracles; the biographers of Jesus, therefore, not wishing their Master to be outdone, have made him also a wonder-worker, and a performer of miracles; without them Christianity could not prosper. Miracles were needed in those days, on all special occasions. "There is not a single historian of antiquity, whether Greek or Latin, who has not recorded oracles, prodigies, prophecies, and miracles, on the occasion of some memorable events, or revolutions of states and kingdoms. Many of these are attested in the gravest manner by the gravest writers, and were firmly believed at the time by the people."[252:1]

Hindoo sacred books represent Crishna, their Saviour and Redeemer, as in constant strife against the evil spirit. He surmounts extraordinary dangers; strews his way with miracles; raising the dead, healing the sick, restoring the maimed, the deaf and the blind; everywhere supporting the weak against the strong, the oppressed against the powerful. The people crowded his way and adored him as a God, and these miracles were the evidences of his divinity for centuries before the time of Jesus.

The learned Thomas Maurice, speaking of Crishna, tells us that he passed his innocent hours at the home of his foster-father, in rural diversions, his divine origin not being suspected, until repeated miracles soon discovered his celestial origin;[252:2] and Sir William Jones speaks of his raising the dead, and saving multitudes by his miraculous powers.[253:1] To enumerate the miracles of Crishna would be useless and tedious; we shall therefore mention but a few, of which the Hindoo sacred books are teeming.

When Crishna was born, his life was sought by the reigning monarch, Kansa, who had the infant Saviour and his father and mother locked in a dungeon, guarded, and barred by seven iron doors. While in this dungeon the father heard a secret voice distinctly utter these words: "Son of Yadu, take up this child and carry it to Gokool, to the house of Nanda." Vasudeva, struck with astonishment, answered: "How shall I obey this injunction, thus vigilantly guarded and barred by seven iron doors that prohibit all egress?" The unknown voice replied: "The doors shall open of themselves to let thee pass, and behold, I have caused a deep slumber to fall upon thy guards, which shall continue till thy journey be accomplished." Vasudeva immediately felt his chains miraculously loosened, and, taking up the child in his arms, hurried with it through all the doors, the guards being buried in profound sleep. When he came to the river Yumna, which he was obliged to cross to get to Gokool, the waters immediately rose up to kiss the child's feet, and then respectfully retired on each side to make way for its transportation, so that Vasudeva passed dry-shod to the opposite shore.[253:2]

When Crishna came to man's estate, one of his first miracles was the cure of a leper.

A passionate Brahman, having received a slight insult from a certain Rajah, on going out of his doors, uttered this curse: "That he should, from head to foot, be covered with boils and leprosy;" which being fulfilled in an instant upon the unfortunate king, he prayed to Crishna to deliver him from his evil. At first, Crishna did not heed his request, but finally he appeared to him, asking what his request was? He replied, "To be freed from my distemper." The Saviour then cured him of his distemper.[253:3]

Crishna was one day walking with his disciples, when "they met a poor cripple or lame woman, having a vessel filled with spices, sweet-scented oils, sandal-wood, saffron, civet and other perfumes. Crishna making a halt, she made a certain sign with her finger on his forehead, casting the rest upon his head. Crishna asking her what it was she would request of him, the woman replied, nothing but the use of my limbs. Crishna, then, setting his foot upon hers, and taking her by the hand, raised her from the ground, and not only restored her limbs, but renewed her age, so that, instead of a wrinkled, tawny skin, she received a fresh and fair one in an instant. At her request, Crishna and his company lodged in her house."[254:1]

On another occasion, Crishna having requested a learned Brahman to ask of him whatever boon he most desired, the Brahman said, "Above all things, I desire to have my two dead sons restored to life." Crishna assured him that this should be done, and immediately the two young men were restored to life and brought to their father.[254:2]

The learned Orientalist, Thomas Maurice, after speaking of the miracles performed by Crishna, says:

To speak thus of the miracles of Christ Jesus, would, of course, be heresy—although what applies to the miracles of Crishna apply to those of Jesus—we, therefore, find this gentleman branding as "infidel" a learned French orientalist who was guilty of doing this thing.

Buddha performed great miracles for the good of mankind, and the legends concerning him are full of the most extravagant prodigies and wonders.[254:4] "By miracles and preaching," says Burnouf, "was the religion of Buddha established."

R. Spence Hardy says of Buddha:

Prof. Max Müller says:

Buddha was at one time going from the city of Rohita-vastu to the city of Benares, when, coming to the banks of the river Ganges, and wishing to go across, he addressed himself to the owner of a ferry-boat, thus; "Hail! respectable sir! I pray you take me across the river in your boat!" To this the boatman replied, "If you can pay me the fare, I will willingly take you across the river." Buddha said, "Whence shall I procure money to pay you your fare, I, who have given up all worldly wealth and riches, &c." The boatman still refusing to take him across, Buddha, pointing to a flock of geese flying from the south to the north banks of the Ganges, said:

He then floats through the air across the stream.

In the Lalita Vistara Buddha is called the "Great Physician" who is to "dull all human pain." At his appearance the "sick are healed, the deaf are cured, the blind see, the poor are relieved." He visits the sick man, Su-ta, and heals soul as well as body.

At Vaisali, a pest like modern cholera was depopulating the kingdom, due to an accumulation of festering corpses. Buddha, summoned, caused a strong rain which carried away the dead bodies and cured every one. At Gaudhârâ was an old mendicant afflicted with a disease so loathsome that none of his brother monks could go near him on account of his fetid humors and stinking condition. The "Great Physician" was, however, not to be deterred; he washed the poor old man and attended to his maladies. A disciple had his feet hacked off by an unjust king, and Buddha cured even him. To convert certain skeptical villagers near Srâvastî, Buddha showed them a man walking across the deep and rapid river without immersing his feet. Pûrna, one of Buddha's disciples, had a brother in imminent danger of shipwreck in a "black storm." The "spirits that are favorable to Pûrna and Arya" apprised him of this and he at once performed the miracle of transporting himself to the deck of the ship. "Immediately the black tempest ceased, as if Sumera arrested it."[255:2]

When Buddha was told that a woman was suffering in severe labor, unable to bring forth, he said, Go and say: "I have never knowingly put any creature to death since I was born; by the virtue of this obedience may you be free from pain!" When these words were repeated in the presence of the mother, the child was instantly born with ease.[256:1]

Innumerable are the miracles ascribed to Buddhist saints, and to others who followed their example. Their garments, and the staffs with which they walked, are supposed to imbibe some mysterious power, and blessed are they who are allowed to touch them.[256:2] A Buddhist saint who attains the power called "perfection," is able to rise and float along through the air.[256:3] Having this power, the saint exercises it by mere determination of his will, his body becoming imponderous, as when a man in the common human state determines to leap, and leaps. Buddhist annals relate the performance of the miraculous suspension by Gautama Buddha, himself, as well as by other saints.[256:4]

In the year 217 B. C., a Buddhist missionary priest, called by the Chinese historians Shih-le-fang, came from "the west" into Shan-se, accompanied by eighteen other priests, with their sacred books, in order to propagate the faith of Buddha. The emperor, disliking foreigners and exotic customs, imprisoned the missionaries; but an angel, genii, or spirit, came and opened the prison door, and liberated them.[256:5]

Here is a third edition of "Peter in prison," for we have already seen that the Hindoo sage Vasudeva was liberated from prison in like manner.

Zoroaster, the founder of the religion of the Persians, opposed his persecutors by performing miracles, in order to confirm his divine mission.[256:6]

Bochia of the Persians also performed miracles; the places where he performed them were consecrated, and people flocked in crowds to visit them.[256:7]

Horus, the Egyptian Saviour, performed great miracles, among which was that of raising the dead to life.[256:8]

Osiris of Egypt also performed great miracles;[256:9] and so did the virgin goddess Isis.

Pilgrimages were made to the temples of Isis, in Egypt, by the sick. Diodorus, the Grecian historian, says that:

Serapis, the Egyptian Saviour, performed great miracles, principally those of healing the sick. He was called "The Healer of the World."[257:2]

Marduk, the Assyrian God, the "Logos," the "Eldest Son of Hea;" "He who made Heaven and Earth;" the "Merciful One;" the "Life-Giver," &c., performed great miracles, among which was that of raising the dead to life.[257:3]

Bacchus, son of Zeus by the virgin Semele, was a great performer of miracles, among which may be mentioned his changing water into wine,[257:4] as it is recorded of Jesus in the Gospels.

"In his gentler aspects he is the giver of joy, the healer of sicknesses, the guardian against plagues. As such he is even a law-giver and a promoter of peace and concord. As kindling new or strange thoughts in the mind, he is a giver of wisdom and the revealer of hidden secrets of the future."[257:5]

The legends related of this god state 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 the multitude who followed him were too numerous. They succeeded, however, in capturing one of his disciples, Acetes, 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.[257:6] Here is still another edition of "Peter in prison."

Æsculapius was another great performer of miracles. The ancient Greeks said of him that he not only cured the sick of the most malignant diseases, but even raised the dead.

A writer in Bell's Pantheon says:

Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian, speaking of Æsculapius, says:

He claims, however, that this was the work of the Devil, "who by this means did withdraw the minds of men from the knowledge of the true Saviour."[258:2]

For many years after the death of Æsculapius, miracles continued to be performed by the efficacy of faith in his name. Patients were conveyed to the temple of Æsculapius, and there cured of their disease. A short statement of the symptoms of each case, and the remedy employed, were inscribed on tablets and hung up in the temples.[258:3] There were also a multitude of eyes, ears, hands, feet, and other members of the human body, made of wax, silver, or gold, and presented by those whom the god had cured of blindness, deafness, and other diseases.[258:4]

Marinus, a scholar of the philosopher Proclus, relates one of these remarkable cures, in the life of his master. He says:

Dr. Conyers Middleton says:

Livy, the most illustrious of Roman historians (born B. C. 61), tells us that temples of heathen gods were rich in the number of offerings which the people used to make in return for the cures and benefits which they received from them.[259:3]

A writer in Bell's Pantheon says: