CHAPTER XXXVI.

The earliest account of its origin we have from Ruffinus, an historical compiler and traditionist of the fourth century, but not in the form in which it is known at present, it having been added to since that time. The most important addition is that which affirms that Jesus descended into hell, which has been added since A. D. 600.[385:9]

Beside what we have already seen, the ancient Pagans had many beliefs and ceremonies which are to be found among the Christians. One of these is the story of "The War in Heaven."

The New Testament version is as follows:

The cause of the revolt, it is said, was that Satan, who was then an angel, desired to be as great as God. The writer of Isaiah, xiv. 13, 14, is supposed to refer to it when he says:

The Catholic theory of the fall of the angels is as follows:

They were driven out of heaven, after having a combat with the obedient angels, and cast into hell. The writer of second Peter alludes to it in saying that God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down into hell.[386:3]

The writer of Jude also alludes to it in saying:

According to the Talmudists, Satan, whose proper name is Sammael, was one of the Seraphim of heaven, with six wings.

Sammael was formerly chief among the angels of God, and now he is prince among devils. His name is derived from Simmē, which means, to blind and deceive. He stands on the left side of men. He goes by various names; such as "The Old Serpent," "The Unclean Spirit," "Satan," "Leviathan," and sometimes also "Asael."[387:1]

According to Hindoo mythology, there is a legion of evil spirits called Rakshasas, who are governed by a prince named Ravana. These Rakshasas are continually aiming to do injury to mankind, and are the same who fought desperate battles with Indra, and his Spirits of Light. They would have taken his paradise by storm, and subverted the whole order of the universe, if Brahmā had not sent Vishnou to circumvent their plans.

In the Aitareya-brahmana (Hindoo) written, according to Prof. Monier Williams, seven or eight centuries B. C., we have the following legend:

The ancient Egyptians were familiar with the tale of the war in heaven; and the legend of the revolt against the god Rā, the Heavenly Father, and his destruction of the revolters, was discovered by M. Naville in one of the tombs at Biban-el-moluk.[387:3]

The same story is to be found among the ancient Persian legends, and is related as follows:

An extract from the Persian Zend-avesta reads as follows:

The Assyrians had an account of a war in heaven, which was like that described in the book of Enoch and the Revelation.[388:2]

This legend was also to be found among the ancient Greeks, in the struggle of the Titans against Jupiter. Titan and all his rebellious host were cast out of heaven, and imprisoned in the dark abyss.[388:3]

Among the legends of the ancient Mexicans was found this same story of the war in heaven, and the downfall of the rebellious angels.[388:4]

"The natives of the Caroline Islands (in the North Pacific Ocean), related that one of the inferior gods, named Merogrog, was driven by the other gods out of heaven."[388:5]

We see, therefore, that this also was an almost universal legend.

The belief in a future life was almost universal among nations of antiquity. The Hindoos have believed from time immemorial that man has an invisible body within the material body; that is, a soul.

Among the ancient Egyptians the same belief was to be found. All the dead, both men and women, were spoken of as "Osiriana;" by which they intended to signify "gone to Osiris."

Their belief in One Supreme Being, and the immortality of the soul, must have been very ancient; for on a monument, which dates ages before Abraham is said to have lived, is found this epitaph: "May thy soul attain to the Creator of all mankind." Sculptures and paintings in these grand receptacles of the dead, as translated by Champollion, represent the deceased ushered into the world of spirits by funeral deities, who announce, "A soul arrived in Amenti."[388:6]

The Hindoo idea of a subtile invisible body within the material body, reappeared in the description of Greek poets. They represented the constitution of man as consisting of three principles: the soul, the invisible body, and the material body. The invisible body they called the ghost or shade, and considered it as the material portion of the soul. At death, the soul, clothed in this subtile body, went to enjoy paradise for a season, or suffer in hell till its sins were expiated. This paradise was called the "Elysian Fields," and the hell was called Tartarus.

The paradise, some supposed to be a part of the lower world, some placed them in a middle zone in the air, some in the moon, and others in far-off isles in the ocean. There shone more glorious sun and stars than illuminated this world. The day was always serene, the air forever pure, and a soft, celestial light clothed all things in transfigured beauty. Majestic groves, verdant meadows, and blooming gardens varied the landscape. The river Eridanus flowed through winding banks fringed with laurel. On its borders lived heroes who had died for their country, priests who had led a pure life, artists who had embodied genuine beauty in their work, and poets who had never degraded their muse with subjects unworthy of Apollo. There each one renewed the pleasures in which he formerly delighted. Orpheus, in long white robes, made enrapturing music on his lyre, while others danced and sang. The husband rejoined his beloved wife; old friendships were renewed, the poet repeated his verses, and the charioteer managed his horses.

Some souls wandered in vast forests between Tartarus and Elysium, not good enough for one, or bad enough for the other. Some were purified from their sins by exposure to searching winds, others by being submerged in deep waters, others by passing through intense fires. After a long period of probation and suffering, many of them gained the Elysian Fields. This belief is handed down to our day in the Roman Catholic idea of Purgatory.

A belief in the existence of the soul after death was indicated in all periods of history of the world, by the fact that man was always accustomed to address prayers to the spirits of their ancestors.[389:1]

These heavens and hells where men abode after death, vary, in different countries, according to the likes and dislikes of each nation.

All the Teutonic nations held to a fixed Elysium and a hell, where the valiant and the just were rewarded, and where the cowardly and the wicked suffered punishment. As all nations have made a god, and that god has resembled the persons who made it, so have all nations made a heaven, and that heaven corresponds to the fancies of the people who have created it.

In the prose Edda there is a description of the joys of Valhalla (the Hall of the Chosen), which states that: "All men who have fallen in fight since the beginning of the world are gone to Odin (the Supreme God), in Valhalla." A mighty band of men are there, "and every day, as soon as they have dressed themselves, they ride out into the court (or field), and there fight until they cut each other into pieces. This is their pastime, but when the meal-tide approaches, they remount their steeds, and return to drink in Valhalla. As it is said (in Vafthrudnis-mal):

This description of the palace of Odin is a natural picture of the manners of the ancient Scandinavians and Germans. Prompted by the wants of their climate, and the impulse of their own temperament, they formed to themselves a delicious paradise in their own way; where they were to eat and drink, and fight. The women, to whom they assigned a place there, were introduced for no other purpose but to fill their cups.

The Mohammedan paradise differs from this. Women there, are for man's pleasure. The day is always serene, the air forever pure, and a soft celestial light clothes all things in transfigured beauty. Majestic groves, verdant meadows, and blooming gardens vary the landscape. There, in radiant halls, dwell the departed, ever blooming and beautiful, ever laughing and gay.

The American Indian calculates upon finding successful chases after wild animals, verdant plains, and no winter, as the characteristics of his "future life."

The red Indian, when told by a missionary that in the "promised land" they would neither eat, drink, hunt, nor marry a wife, contemptuously replied, that instead of wishing to go there, he should deem his residence in such a place as the greatest possible calamity. Many not only rejected such a destiny for themselves, but were indignant at the attempt to decoy their children into such a comfortless region.

All nations of the earth have had their heavens. As Moore observes:

Heaven was born of the sky,[391:1] and nurtured by cunning priests, who made man a coward and a slave.

Hell was built by priests, and nurtured by the fears and servile fancies of man during the ages when dungeons of torture were a recognized part of every government, and when God was supposed to be an infinite tyrant, with infinite resources of vengeance.

The devil is an imaginary being, invented by primitive man to account for the existence of evil, and relieve God of his responsibility. The famous Hindoo Rakshasas of our Aryan ancestors—the dark and evil clouds personified—are the originals of all devils. The cloudy shape has assumed a thousand different forms, horrible or grotesque and ludicrous, to suit the changing fancies of the ages.

But strange as it may appear, the god of one nation became the devil of another.

The rock of Behistun, the sculptured chronicle of the glories of Darius, king of Persia, situated on the western frontier of Media, on the high-road from Babylon to the eastward, was used as a "holy of holies." It was named Bagistane—"the place of the Baga"—referring to Ormuzd, chief of the Bagas. When examined with the lenses of linguistic science, the "Bogie" or "Bug-a-boo" or "Bugbear" of nursery lore, turns out to be identical with the Slavonic "Bog" and the "Baga" of the cuneiform inscriptions, both of which are names of the Supreme Being. It is found also in the old Aryan "Bhaga," who is described in a commentary of the Rig-Veda as the lord of life, the giver of bread, and the bringer of happiness. Thus, the same name which, to the Vedic poet, to the Persian of the time of Xerxes, and to the modern Russian, suggests the supreme majesty of deity, is in English associated with an ugly and ludicrous fiend. Another striking illustration is to be found in the word devil itself. When traced back to its primitive source, it is found to be a name of the Supreme Being.[391:2]

The ancients had a great number of festival days, many of which are handed down to the present time, and are to be found in Christianity.

We have already seen that the 25th of December was almost a universal festival among the ancients; so it is the same with the spring festivals, when days of fasting are observed.

The Hindoos hold a festival, called Siva-ratri, in honor of Siva, about the middle or end of February. A strict fast is observed during the day. They have also a festival in April, when a strict fast is kept by some.[392:1]

At the spring equinox most nations of antiquity set apart a day to implore the blessings of their god, or gods, on the fruits of the earth. At the autumnal equinox, they offered the fruits of the harvest, and returned thanks. In China, these religious solemnities are called "Festivals of gratitude to Tien."[392:2] The last named corresponds to our "Thanksgiving" celebration.

One of the most considerable festivals held by the ancient Scandinavians was the spring celebration. This was held in honor of Odin, at the beginning of spring, in order to welcome in that pleasant season, and to obtain of their god happy success in their projected expeditions.

Another festival was held toward the autumn equinox, when they were accustomed to kill all their cattle in good condition, and lay in a store of provision for the winter. This festival was also attended with religious ceremonies, when Odin, the supreme god, was thanked for what he had given them, by having his altar loaded with the fruits of their crops, and the choicest products of the earth.[392:3]

There was a grand celebration in Egypt, called the "Feast of Lamps," held at Sais, in honor of the goddess Neith. Those who did not attend the ceremony, as well as those who did, burned lamps before their houses all night, filled with oil and salt: thus all Egypt was illuminated. It was deemed a great irreverence to the goddess for any one to omit this ceremony.[392:4]

The Hindoos also held a festival in honor of the goddesses Lakshmi and Bhavanti, called "The feast of Lamps."[392:5] This festival has been handed down to the present time in what is called "Candlemas day," or the purification of the Virgin Mary.

The most celebrated Pagan festival held by modern Christians is that known as "Sunday," or the "Lord's day."

All the principal nations of antiquity kept the seventh day of the week as a "holy day," just as the ancient Israelites did. This was owing to the fact that they consecrated the days of the week to the Sun, the Moon, and the five planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The seventh day was sacred to Saturn from time immemorial. Homer and Hesiod call it the "Holy Day."[393:1] The people generally visited the temples of the gods, on that day, and offered up their prayers and supplications.[393:2] The Acadians, thousands of years ago, kept holy the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of each month as Salum (rest), on which certain works were forbidden.[393:3] The Arabs anciently worshiped Saturn under the name of Hobal. In his hands he held seven arrows, symbols of the planets that preside over the seven days of the week.[393:4] The Egyptians assigned a day of the week to the sun, moon, and five planets, and the number seven was held there in great reverence.[393:5]

The planet Saturn very early became the chief deity of Semitic religion. Moses consecrated the number seven to him.[393:6]

In the old conception, which finds expression in the Decalogue in Deuteronomy (v. 15), the Sabbath has a purely theocratic significance, and is intended to remind the Hebrews of their miraculous deliverance from the land of Egypt and bondage. When the story of Creation was borrowed from the Babylonians, the celebration of the Sabbath was established on entirely new grounds (Ex. xx. 11), for we find it is because the "Creator," after his six days of work, rested on the seventh, that the day should be kept holy.

The Assyrians kept this day holy. Mr. George Smith says:

The ancient Scandinavians consecrated one day in the week to their Supreme God, Odin or Wodin.[393:8] Even at the present time we call this day Odin's-day.[393:9]

The question now arises, how was the great festival day changed from the seventh—Saturn's day—to the first—Sun-day—among the Christians?

"If we go back to the founding of the church, we find that the most marked feature of that age, so far as the church itself is concerned, is the grand division between the 'Jewish faction,' as it was called, and the followers of Paul. This division was so deep, so marked, so characteristic, that it has left its traces all through the New Testament itself. It was one of the grand aspects of the time, and the point on which they were divided was simply this: the followers of Peter, those who adhered to the teachings of the central church in Jerusalem, held that all Christians, both converted Jews and Gentiles, were under obligation to keep the Mosaic law, ordinances, and traditions. That is, a Christian, according to their definition, was first a Jew; Christianity was something added to that, not something taking the place of it.

"We find this controversy raging violently all through the early churches, and splitting them into factions, so that they were the occasion of prayer and counsel. Paul took the ground distinctly that Christianity, while it might be spiritually the lineal successor of Judaism, was not Judaism; and that he who became a Christian, whether a converted Jew or Gentile, was under no obligation whatever to keep the Jewish law, so far as it was separate from practical matters of life and character. We find this intimated in the writings of Paul; for we have to go to the New Testament for the origin of that which, we find, existed immediately after the New Testament was written. Paul says: 'One man esteemeth one day above another: another man esteemeth every day alike' (Rom. xiv. 5-9). He leaves it an open question; they can do as they please. Then: 'Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain' (Gal. iv. 10, 11). And if you will note this Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, you will find that the whole purpose of his writing it was to protest against what he believed to be the viciousness of the Judaizing influences. That is, he says: 'I have come to preach to you the perfect truth, that Christ hath made us free; and you are going back and taking upon yourselves this yoke of bondage. My labor is being thrown away; my efforts have been in vain.' Then he says, in his celebrated Epistle to the Colossians, that has never yet been explained away or met: 'Let no man therefore judge you any more in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days' (Col. ii. 16, 17), distinctly abrogating the binding authority of the Sabbath on the Christian church. So that, if Paul's word anywhere means anything—if his authority is to be taken as of binding force on any point whatever—then Paul is to be regarded as authoritatively and distinctly abrogating the Sabbath, and declaring that it is no longer binding on the Christian church."[395:1]

This breach in the early church, this controversy, resulted at last in Paul's going up to Jerusalem "to meet James and the representatives of the Jerusalem church, to see if they could find any common platform of agreement—if they could come together so that they could work with mutual respect and without any further bickering. What is the platform that they met upon? It was distinctly understood that those who wished to keep up the observance of Judaism should do so; and the church at Jerusalem gave Paul this grand freedom, substantially saying to him: 'Go back to your missionary work, found churches, and teach them that they are perfectly free in regard to all Mosaic and Jewish observances, save only these four: Abstain from pollutions of idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood."[395:2]

The point to which our attention is forcibly drawn is, that the question of Sabbath-keeping is one of those that is left out. The point that Paul had been fighting for was conceded by the central church at Jerusalem, and he was to go out thenceforth free, so far as that was concerned, in his teaching of the churches that he should found.

There is no mention of the Sabbath, or the Lord's day, as binding in the New Testament. What, then, was the actual condition of affairs? What did the churches do in the first three hundred years of their existence? Why, they did just what Paul and the Jerusalem church had agreed upon. Those who wished to keep the Jewish Sabbath did so; and those who did not wish to, did not do so. This is seen from the fact that Justin Martyr, a Christian Father who flourished about A. D. 140, did not observe the day. In his "Dialogue" with Typho, the Jew reproaches the Christians for not keeping the "Sabbath." Justin admits the charge by saying:

There was no binding authority then, among the Christians, as to whether they should keep the first or the seventh day of the week holy, or not, until the time of the first Christian Roman Emperor. "Constantine, a Sun worshiper, who had, as other Heathen, kept the Sun-day, publicly ordered this to supplant the Jewish Sabbath."[396:1] He commanded that this day should be kept holy, throughout the whole Roman empire, and sent an edict to all governors of provinces to this effect.[396:2] Thus we see how the great Pagan festival, in honor of Sol the invincible, was transformed into a Christian holy-day.

Not only were Pagan festival days changed into Christian holy-days, but Pagan idols were converted into Christian saints, and Pagan temples into Christian churches.

A Pagan temple at Rome, formerly sacred to the "Bona Dea" (the "Good Goddess"), was Christianized and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In a place formerly sacred to Apollo, there now stands the church of Saint Apollinaris. Where there anciently stood the temple of Mars, may now be seen the church of Saint Martine.[396:3] A Pagan temple, originally dedicated to "Cælestis Dea" (the "Heavenly Goddess"), by one Aurelius, a Pagan high-priest, was converted into a Christian church by another Aurelius, created Bishop of Carthage in the year 390 of Christ. He placed his episcopal chair in the very place where the statue of the Heavenly Goddess had stood.[396:4]

The noblest heathen temple now remaining in the world, is the Pantheon or Rotunda, which, as the inscription over the portico informs us, having been impiously dedicated of old by Agrippa to "Jove and all the gods," was piously reconsecrated by Pope Boniface the Fourth, to "The Mother of God and all the Saints."[396:5]

The church of Saint Reparatae, at Florence, was formerly a Pagan temple. An inscription was found in the foundation of this church, of these words: "To the Great Goddess Nutria."[396:6] The church of St. Stephen, at Bologna, was formed from heathen temples, one of which was a temple of Isis.[396:7]

At the southern extremity of the present Forum at Rome, and just under the Palatine hill—where the noble babes, who, miraculously preserved, became the founders of a state that was to command the world, were exposed—stands the church of St. Theodore.

This temple was built in honor of Romulus, and the brazen wolf—commemorating the curious manner in which the founders of Rome were nurtured—occupied a place here till the sixteenth century. And, as the Roman matrons of old used to carry their children, when ill, to the temple of Romulus, so too, the women still carry their children to St. Theodore on the same occasions.

In Christianizing these Pagan temples, free use was made of the sculptured and painted stones of heathen monuments. In some cases they evidently painted over one name, and inserted another. This may be seen from the following

In many cases the Images of the Pagan gods were allowed to remain in these temples, and, after being Christianized, continued to receive divine honors.[397:3]

"In St. Peter's, Rome, is a statue of Jupiter, deprived of his thunderbolt, which is replaced by the emblematic keys. In like manner, much of the religion of the lower orders, which we regard as essentially Christian, is ancient heathenism, refitted with Christian symbols."[397:4] We find that as early as the time of St. Gregory, Bishop of Neo-Cesarea (A. D. 243), the "simple" and "unskilled" multitudes of Christians were allowed to pay divine honors to these images, hoping that in the process of time they would learn better.[398:1] In fact, as Prof. Draper says: