15. _He will come again sitting on a white horse._ The "second coming"

of Vishnu (Crishna), _Christ_ Jesus, and other Sun-gods, are also _astronomical allegories_. The _white horse_, which figures so conspicuously in the legend, was the universal symbol of the Sun among Oriental nations. Throughout the whole legend, _Christ_ Jesus is the toiling Sun, laboring for the benefit of others, not his own, and doing hard service for a mean and cruel generation. Watch his sun-like career of brilliant conquest, checked with intervals of storm, and declining to a death clouded with sorrow and derision. He is in constant company with his _twelve_ apostles, the _twelve signs of the zodiac_.[498:1] During the course of his life's journey he is called "The God of Earthly Blessing," "The Saviour through whom a new life springs," "The Preserver," "The Redeemer," &c. Almost at his birth the Serpent of darkness attempts to destroy him. Temptations to sloth and luxury are offered him in vain. He has his work to do, and nothing can stay him from doing it, as nothing can arrest the Sun in his journey through the heavens. Like all other solar heroes, he has his faithful women who love him, and the Marys and Martha here play the part. Of his toils it is scarcely necessary to speak in detail. They are but a thousand variations on the story of the great conflict which all the Sun-gods wage against the demon of darkness. He astonishes his tutor when sent to school. This we might expect to be the case, when an incomparable and incommunicable wisdom is the heritage of the Sun. He also represents the wisdom and beneficence of the bright Being who brings life and light to men. As the Sun wakens the earth to life when the winter is done, so Crishna, Buddha, Horus, Æsculapius, and _Christ_ Jesus were raisers of the dead. When the leaves fell and withered on the approach of winter, the "daughter of the earth" would be spoken of as dying or dead, and, as no other power than that of the Sun can recall vegetation to life, this child of the earth would be represented as buried in a sleep from which the touch of the Sun alone could rouse her. _Christ_ Jesus, then, is the Sun, in his short career and early death. He is the child of the Dawn, whose soft, violet hues tint the clouds of early morn; his father being the Sky, the "Heavenly Father," who has looked down with love upon the Dawn, and overshadowed her. When his career on earth is ended, and he expires, the loving mother, who parted from him in the morning of his life, is at his side, looking on the death of the Son whom she cannot save from the doom which is on him, while her tears fall on his body like rain at sundown. From her he is parted at the beginning of his course; to her he is united at its close. But _Christ_ Jesus, like Crishna, Buddha, Osiris, Horus, Mithras, Apollo, Atys and others, _rises again_, and thus the myth takes us a step beyond the legend of Serpedon and others, which stop at the end of the eastward journey, when the night is done. According to the Christian calendar, the birthday of John the Baptist is on the day of the summer solstice, when the sun begins to decrease. How true to nature then are the words attributed to him in the fourth Gospel, when he says that he must _decrease_, and Jesus _increase_. Among the ancient Teutonic nations, fires were lighted, on the tops of hills, on the 24th of June, in honor of the WENDING SUN. This custom is still kept up in Southern Germany and the Scotch highlands, and it is the day selected by the Roman Catholic church to celebrate the nativity of John the Baptist.[499:1] Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, speaking of the uncertainty of the time when _Christ_ Jesus was born, says: "The uncertainty of this point is of no great consequence. We know that the _Sun of Righteousness_ has shone upon the world; and although we cannot fix the precise period in which he arose, this will not preclude us from enjoying the direction and influence of his vital and salutary beams." These sacred legends abound with such expressions as can have no possible or conceivable application to any other than to the "God of day." He is "a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory (or brightness) of his people."[499:2] He is come "a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in him should not abide in darkness."[499:3] He is "the light of the world."[499:4] He "is light, and in him no darkness is."[499:5] "Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, Adonai, and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night."--_Collect, in Evening Service._ God of God, light of light, very God of very God."--_Nicene Creed._ "Merciful Adonai, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church."--_Collect of St. John._ "To thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens, and all the powers therein." "Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory" (or brightness). "The glorious company of the (_twelve months_, or) apostles praise thee." "Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ!" "When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou passest through the constellation, or zodiacal sign--the Virgin." "When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of winter, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven (_i. e._, bring on the reign of the summer months) to all believers." "All are agreed," says Cicero, "that Apollo is none other than the SUN, because the attributes which are commonly ascribed to Apollo do so wonderfully agree thereto." Just so surely as Apollo is the Sun, so is the Lord _Christ_ Jesus the Sun. That which is so conclusive respecting the Pagan deities, applies also to the God of the Christians; but, like the Psalmist of old, they cry, "Touch not MY Christ, and do my prophets no harm." Many Christian writers have seen that the history of their Lord and Saviour is simply the history of the Sun, but they either say nothing, or, like Dr. Parkhurst and the Rev. J. P. Lundy, claim that the Sun is a type of the true Sun of Righteousness. Mr. Lundy, in his "Monumental Christianity," says: "Is there no bright Sun of Righteousness--no _personal_ and loving Son of God, _of whom the material Sun has been the type or symbol, in all ages and among all nations_? What power is it that comes from the Sun to give light and heat to all created things? If the symbolical Sun leads such a great earthly and heavenly flock, what must be said to the _true_ and only begotten Son of God? If Apollo was adopted by early Christian art as a _type_ of the Good Shepherd of the New Testament, _then this interpretation of the Sun-god among all nations must be the solution of the universal mythos, or what other solution can it have_? To what other _historical_ personage but Christ can it apply? _If this mythos has no spiritual meaning, then all religion becomes mere idolatry, or the worship of material things._"[500:1] Mr. Lundy, who seems to adhere to this once-upon-a-time favorite theory, illustrates it as follows: "The young _Isaac_ is his (Christ's) Hebrew type, bending under the wood, as Christ fainted under the cross; _Daniel_ is his type, stripped of all earthly fame and greatness, and cast naked into the deepest danger, shame and humiliation." "_Noah_ is his type, in saving men from utter destruction, and bringing them across the sea of death to a new world and a new life." "_Orpheus_ is a type of Christ. _Agni_ and _Crishna_ of India; _Mithra_ of Persia; _Horus_ and _Apollo_ of Egypt, are all types of Christ." "_Samson_ carrying off the gates of Gaza and defeating the Philistines by his own death, was considered as a type of Christ bursting open and carrying away the gates of Hades, and conquering His and our enemies by his death and resurrection."[501:1] According to this theory, the whole Pagan religion was typical of Christ and Christianity. Why then were not the Pagans the Lord's _chosen_ people instead of the children of Israel? The early Christians were charged with being a sect of _Sun worshipers_.[501:2] The ancient Egyptians worshiped the god _Serapis_, and Serapis was the _Sun_. Fig. No. 11, page 194, shows the manner in which Serapis was personified. It might easily pass for a representation of the Sun-god of the Christians. Mr. King says, in his "Gnostics, and their Remains": "There can be no doubt that the head of Serapis, marked as the face is by a grave and pensive majesty, _supplied the first idea for the conventional portraits of the Saviour_."[501:3] The Imperial Russian Collection _boasts_ of a head of Christ Jesus which is said to be very ancient. It is a fine intaglio on emerald. Mr. King says of it: "It is in reality a head of _Serapis_, seen in front and crowned with Persia boughs, easily mistaken for thorns, though the bushel on the head leaves no doubt as to the real personage intended."[501:4] It must not be forgotten, in connection with this, that the worshipers of Serapis, or the Sun, were called _Christians_.[501:5] Mrs. Jameson, speaking on this subject, says: "We search in vain for the lightest evidence of his (Christ's) human, individual semblance, in the writing of those disciples who knew him so well. In this instance the instincts of earthly affection seem to have been mysteriously overruled. He whom all races of men were to call brother, was not to be too closely associated with the particular lineaments of any one. St. John, the beloved disciple, could lie on the breast of Jesus with all the freedom of fellowship, but not even he has left a word to indicate what manner of man was the Divine Master after the flesh. . . . Legend has, in various form, supplied this natural craving, but it is hardly necessary to add, that all accounts of pictures of our Lord taken from Himself are without historical foundation. _We are therefore left to imagine the expression_ most befitting the character of him who took upon himself our likeness, and looked at the woes and sins of mankind through the eyes of our mortality."[501:6] The Rev. Mr. Geikie says, in his "Life of Christ": "No hint is given in the New Testament of Christ's _appearance_; and the early Church, in the absence of all guiding facts, had to fall back on imagination." "In its _first_ years, the Christian church fancied its Lord's visage and form _marred more than those of other men_; and that he must have had no attractions of personal beauty. Justin Martyr (A. D. 150-160) speaks of him as _without beauty or attractiveness_, and of _mean appearance_. Clement of Alexandria (A. D. 200), describes him as of an _uninviting appearance_, and _almost repulsive_. Tertullian (A. D. 200-210) says he had not even _ordinary human beauty_, far less heavenly. Origen (A. D. 230) went so far as to say that he was '_small in body and deformed_', as well as low-born, and that, '_his only beauty was in his soul and life_.'"[502:1] One of the favorite ways finally, of depicting him, was, as Mr. Lundy remarks: "Under the figure of a beautiful and adorable youth, of about fifteen or eighteen years of age, beardless, with a sweet expression of countenance, _and long and abundant hair flowing in curls over his shoulders_. His brow is sometimes encircled by a diadem or bandeau, _like a young priest of the Pagan gods_; that is, in fact, the favorite figure. On sculptured sarcophagi, in fresco paintings and Mosaics, Christ is thus represented as a graceful youth, _just as Apollo was figured by the Pagans_, and as angels are represented by Christians."[502:2] Thus we see that the Christians took the paintings and statues of the Sun-gods Serapis and Apollo _as models_, when they wished to represent _their_ Saviour. That the former is the favorite at the present day need not be doubted when we glance at Fig. No. 11, page 194. Mr. King, speaking of this god, and his worshipers, says: "There is very good reason to believe that in the _East_ the worship of _Serapis_ was at first combined with _Christianity_, and gradually merged into it with an entire change of name, _not substance_, carrying with it many of its ancient notions and rites."[502:3] Again he says: "In the second century the syncretistic sects that had sprung up in _Alexandria_, the very hotbed of Gnosticism, found out in _Serapis_ a prophetic _type_ of Christ, or the Lord and Creator of all."[502:4] The early _Christians_, or worshipers of the Sun, under the name of "_Christ_," had, as all Sun-worshipers, _a peculiar regard to the East_--the quarter in which their god rose--_to which point they ordinarily directed their prayers_.[502:5] The followers of Mithra always turned towards the East, when they worshiped; the same was done by the Brahmans of the East, and the Christians of the West. In the ceremony of baptism, the catechumen was placed with his face to the West, the symbolical representation of the prince of darkness, in opposition to the East, and made to spit towards it at the evil one, and renounce his works. Tertullian says, that Christians were taken for worshipers of the Sun because they prayed towards the East, after the manner of those who adored the Sun. The Essenes--whom Eusebius calls Christians--always turned to the east to pray. The Essenes met once a week, and spent the night in singing hymns, &c., which lasted till sun-rising. As soon as dawn appeared, they retired to their cells, after saluting one another. Pliny says the Christians of Bithynia met before it was light, and sang hymns to Christ, as to a God. After their service they saluted one another. Surely the circumstances of the two classes of people meeting before daylight, is a very remarkable coincidence. It is just what the Persian Magi, who were Sun worshipers, were in the habit of doing. When a Manichæan Christian came over to the orthodox Christians, he was required to curse his former friends in the following terms: "I curse Zarades (Zoroaster?) who, Manes said, had appeared as a god before his time among the Indians and Persians, _and whom he calls the Sun_. I curse those who say _Christ is the Sun_, and who make prayers to the _Sun_, and who do not pray to the true God, only towards the East, but who turn themselves round, following the motions of the Sun with their innumerable supplications. _I curse those person who say that Zarades and Budas and Christ and the Sun are all one and the same._" There are not many circumstances more striking than that of Christ Jesus being originally worshiped under the form of a LAMB--the actual "Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." As we have already seen (in Chap. XX.), it was not till the Council of Constantinople, called _In Trullo_, held so late as the year 707, that pictures of Christ Jesus were ordered to be drawn in the form of a man. It was ordained that, in the place of the figure of a LAMB, the symbol used to that time, the figure of a man nailed to a cross, should in future be used.[503:1] From this decree, the identity of the worship of the _Celestial Lamb_ and the Christian Saviour is certified beyond the possibility of doubt, and the mode by which the ancient superstitions were propagated is satisfactorily shown. Nothing can more clearly prove the general practice than the order of a council to regulate it. The worship of the constellation of _Aries_ was the worship of the Sun in his passage through that sign. "This constellation was called by the ancients the _Lamb of God_. He was also called the _Saviour_, and was said to save mankind from their sins. He was always honored with the appellation of _Dominus_ or _Lord_. He was called _The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world_. The devotees addressed him in their litany, constantly repeating the words, '_O Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant us thy peace._'" On an ancient medal of the _Phenicians_, brought by Dr. Clark from Citium (and described in his "Travels," vol. ii. ch. xi.) this _Lamb of God_ is described with the CROSS and the ROSARY, which shows that they were both used in his worship. Yearly the SUN-GOD, as the zodiacal horse (Aries) was supposed by the Vedic Aryans _to die to save all flesh_. Hence the practice of sacrificing horses. The "guardian spirits" of the prince Sakya Buddha sing the following hymn: "Once when thou wast the _white horse_,[504:1] In pity for the suffering of man, Thou didst fly across heaven to the region of the evil demons, _To secure the happiness of mankind_. Persecutions without end, Revilings and many prisons, _Death and murder_; These hast thou suffered with love and patience, _Forgiving thine executioners_."[504:2] We have seen, in Chapter XXXIII., that Christ Jesus was also symbolized as a _Fish_, and that it is to be seen on all the ancient Christian monuments. But what has the Christian Saviour to do with a _Fish_? Why was he called a _Fish_? The answer is, _because the fish was another emblem of the_ SUN. Abarbanel says: "The sign of his (Christ's) coming is the junction of Saturn and Jupiter, _in the Sign Pisces_."[504:3] Applying the astronomical emblem of _Pisces_ to Jesus, does not seem more absurd than applying the astronomical emblem of the Lamb. They applied to him the monogram of the Sun, IHS, the astronomical and alchemical sign of Aries, or the ram, or Lamb [Symbol: Aries]; and, in short, what was there that was _Heathenish_ that they have not applied to him? The preserving god Vishnu, the Sun, was represented as a fish, and so was the Syrian Sun-god Dagon, who was also a Preserver or Saviour. The Fish was sacred among many nations of antiquity, and is to be seen on their monuments. Thus we see that everything at last centres in the SUN. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, had on his _coins_ the figure of the Sun, with the legend: "To the Invincible Sun, my companion and guardian," as being a representation, says Mr. King, "either of the ancient Phoebus, _or the_ new _Sun of Righteousness_, equally acceptable to both Christian and Gentile, from the double interpretation of which the type was susceptible."[505:1] The worship of the Sun, under the name of Mithra, "long survived in Rome, _under the Christian emperors_, and, doubtless, much longer in the remoter districts of the semi-independent provinces."[505:2] [Illustration: Fig. No. 41] _Christ_ Jesus is represented with a halo of glory surrounding his head, a florid complexion, long golden locks of hair, and a flowing robe. Now, all _Sun_-gods, from Crishna of India (Fig. No. 41) to Baldur of Scandinavia, are represented with a halo of glory surrounding their heads, and the flowing locks of golden hair, and the flowing robe, are not wanting.[505:3] By a process of metaphor, the rays of the Sun were changed into golden hair, into spears and lances, and robes of light. From the shoulders of Phoibus Lykêgenes, the light-born, flow the sacred locks over which no razor might pass. On the head of Nisos, as on that of Samson, they became a palladium invested with a mysterious power. From Helios, the Sun, who can scorch as well as warm, comes the robe of Medeia, which appears in the poisoned garments of Deianeira.[506:1] We see, then, that _Christ_ Jesus, like _Christ_ Buddha,[506:2] Crishna, Mithra, Osiris, Horus, Apollo, Hercules and others, is none other than a personification of the Sun, and that the Christians, like their predecessors the Pagans, are really Sun worshipers. It must not be inferred, however, that we advocate the theory that no such person as _Jesus of Nazareth_ ever lived in the flesh. The _man_ Jesus is evidently an historical personage, just as the Sakaya prince Buddha, Cyrus, King of Persia, and Alexander, King of Macedonia, are historical personages; but the _Christ_ Jesus, the _Christ_ Buddha, the mythical Cyrus, and the mythical Alexander, _never lived in the flesh_. The _Sun-myth_ has been added to the histories of these personages, in a greater or less degree, just as it has been added to the history of many other real personages. If it be urged that the attribution to Christ Jesus of qualities or powers belonging to the Pagan deities would hardly seem reasonable, the answer must be that nothing is done in his case which has not been done in the case of almost every other member of the great company of the gods. The tendency of myths to _reproduce themselves_, with differences only of _names_ and _local coloring_, becomes especially manifest after perusing the legendary histories of the gods of antiquity. It is a fact demonstrated by history, that when one nation of antiquity came in contact with another, _they adopted each other's myths without hesitation_. After the Jews had been taken captives to Babylon, around the history of _their King Solomon_ accumulated the fables which were related of _Persian heroes_. When the fame of Cyrus and Alexander became known over the then known world, the popular _Sun-myth_ was interwoven with their true history. The mythical history of Perseus is, in all its essential features, the history of the Attic hero Theseus, and of the Theban OEdipus, and they all reappear with heightened colors in the myths of Hercules. We have the same thing again in the mythical and religious history of Crishna; it is, in nearly all its essential features, the history of Buddha, and reappears again, with heightened colors, in the history of _Christ_ Jesus. The myths of Buddha and Jesus differ from the legends of the other virgin-born Saviours only in the fact that in their cases it has gathered round unquestionably historical personages. In other words, an old myth has been added to names undoubtedly historical. But it cannot be too often repeated that from the _myth_ we learn nothing of their history. How much we really know of the man Jesus will be considered in our next, and last, chapter.[507:1] That his biography, as recorded in the books of the New Testament, contains some few grains of actual history, is all that the historian or philosopher can rationally venture to urge. But the very process which has stripped these legends of all value as a chronicle of actual events has invested them with a new interest. Less than ever are they worthless fictions which the historian or philosopher may afford to despise. These legends of the birth, life, and death of the Sun, present to us a form of society and a condition of thought through which all mankind had to pass before the dawn of history. Yet that state of things was as real as the time in which we live. They who spoke the language of these early tales were men and women with joys and sorrows not unlike our own. In the following verses of Martianus Capella, the universal veneration for the Sun is clearly shown: "Latium invokes thee, _Sol_, because thou alone art in honor, _after the Father_, the centre of light; and they affirm that thy sacred head bears a golden brightness in twelve rays, because thou formest that number of months and that number of hours. They say that thou guidest four winged steeds, because thou alone rulest the chariot of the elements. For, dispelling the darkness, thou revealest the shining heavens. Hence they esteem thee, Phoebus, the discoverer of the secrets of the future; or, because thou preventest nocturnal crimes. Egypt worships thee as Serapis, and Memphis as Osiris. Thou art worshiped by different rites as Mithra, Dis, and the cruel Typhon. Thou art alone the beautiful Atys, and the fostering son of the bent plough. Thou art the Ammon of arid Libya, and the Adonis of Byblos. _Thus under a varied appellation the whole world worship thee._ Hail! thou true image of the gods, and of thy father's face! thou whose sacred name, surname, and omen, three letters make to agree with the number 608.[507:2] Grant us, oh Father, to reach the eternal intercourse of mind, and to know the starry heaven under this sacred name. May the great and universally adorable Father increase these his favors." FOOTNOTES: [467:1] "In the _Vedas_, the _Sun_ has twenty different names, not pure equivalents, but each term descriptive of the Sun in one of its aspects. It is brilliant (Sûrya), the friend (Mitra), generous (Aryaman), beneficent (Bhaga), that which nourishes (Pûshna), the Creator (Tvashtar), the master of the sky (Divaspati), and so on." (Rev. S. Baring-Gould: Orig. Relig. Belief, vol. i. p. 150.) [467:2] Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 267. [468:1] Preface to "Tales of Anct. Greece." [468:2] See Appendix B. [469:1] Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. pp. 51-53. [473:1] Müller: Origin of Religions, pp. 264-268. [473:2] John, i. 9. [473:3] The Christian ceremonies of the Nativity are celebrated in Bethlehem and Rome, even at the present time, _very early in the morning_. [474:1] Quoted by Volney, Ruins, p. 166, and _note_. [474:2] See Ibid. and Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 236. [474:3] See Chap. XXXIV. [474:4] The _Dawn_ was _personified_ by the ancients--a _virgin mother_, who bore the _Sun_. (See Max Müller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 137. Fiske's Myths and Mythmakers, p. 156, and Cox: Tales of Ancient Greece, and Aryan Mytho.) [474:5] In Sanscrit "Idâ" is the _Earth_, the wife of Dyaus (the Sky), and so we have before us the mythical phrase, "the _Sun_ at its birth rests on the earth." In other words, "the Sun at birth is nursed in the lap of its mother." [474:6] "The moment we understand the _nature_ of a myth, all impossibilities, contradictions and immoralities disappear. If a mythical personage be nothing more than a name of the _Sun_, his birth may be derived from ever so many different mothers. He may be the son of the _Sky_ or of the _Dawn_ or of the _Sea_ or of the _Night_." (Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 108.) [474:7] "The sign of the _Celestial Virgin_ rises above the horizon at the moment in which we fix the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ." (Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 314, and Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 147.) "We have in the first decade the _Sign of the Virgin_, following the most ancient tradition of the Persians, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, Hermes and Æsculapius, a young woman called in the Persian language, _Seclinidos de Darzama_; in the Arabic, _Aderenedesa_--that is to say, a chaste, pure, immaculate virgin, suckling an infant, which some nations call _Jesus_ (_i. e._, Saviour), but which we in Greek call _Christ_." (Abulmazer.) "In the first decade of the Virgin, rises a maid, called in Arabic, 'Aderenedesa,' that is: 'pure immaculate virgin,' graceful in person, charming in countenance, modest in habit, with loosened hair, holding in her hands two ears of wheat, sitting upon an embroidered throne, nursing a BOY, and rightly feeding him in the place called _Hebraea_. A boy, I say, names IESSUS by certain nations, which signifies Issa, whom they also call _Christ_ in Greek." (Kircher, OEdipus Ægypticus.) [475:1] Max Müller: Origin of Religions, p. 261. [475:2] Ibid. p. 230. [475:3] "With scarcely an exception, all the names by which the _Virgin goddess_ of the Akropolis was known point to this mythology of the _Dawn_." (Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 228.) [475:4] We also read in the Vishnu Purana that: "The Sun of Achyuta (God, the Imperishable) _rose in the dawn of Devaki_, to cause the lotus petal of the universe (_Crishna_) to expand. On the day of his birth the quarters of the horizon were irradiate with joy," &c. [475:5] Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. iii. pp. 105, and 130, vol. ii. [475:6] Ibid. p. 133. See Legends in Chap. XVI. [475:7] Fiske: Myths and Mythmakers, p. 113. [476:1] Renouf: Hibbert Lectures, p. 111 and 161. [476:2] Ibid. p. 161 and 179. [476:3] Ibid. pp. 179. [476:4] See Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. xxxi. and 82. [476:5] The _Bull_ symbolized the productive force in nature, and hence it was associated with the SUN-gods. This animal was venerated by nearly all the peoples of antiquity. (Wake: Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 45.) [476:6] See Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 229. [477:1] See Chap. XXXII. [477:2] See Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xviii. [477:3] "The idea entertained by the ancients that these god-begotten heroes were engendered without any carnal intercourse, and that they were the sons of Jupiter, is, in plain language, the result of the ethereal spirit, _i. e._, the Holy Spirit, operating on the virgin mother _Earth_." (Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 156.) [477:4] Cox: Aryan Myths, p. 87. [477:5] See Williams' Hinduism, p. 24, and Müller's Chips, vol. ii. pp. 277 and 290. [477:6] See Bulfinch, p. 389. [477:7] See Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, pp. 110, 111. [477:8] Manners of the Germans, p. xi. [478:1] See Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, pp. 81, 99, and 166. The Moon was called by the ancients, "The Queen;" "The Highest Princess;" "The Queen of Heaven;" "The Princess and Queen of Heaven;" &c. She was Istar, Ashera, Diana, Artemis, Isis, Juno, Lucina, Astartê. (Goldzhier, pp. 158. Knight, pp. 99, 100.) In the beginning of the eleventh book of Apuleius' Metamorphosis, Isis is represented as addressing him thus: "I am present; I who am _Nature_, the parent of things, queen of all the elements, &c., &c. The primitive Phrygians called me _Pressinuntica, the mother of the gods_; the native Athenians, Ceropian Minerva; the floating Cyprians, Paphian Venus; the arrow-bearing Cretans, Dictymian Diana; the three-tongued Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and the inhabitants of Eleusis, the ancient goddess Ceres. Some again have invoked me as _Juno_, others as _Beliona_, others as Hecate, and others as Rhamnusia: and those who are enlightened by the emerging rays of the rising _Sun_, the Ethiopians, Ariians and Egyptians, powerful in ancient learning, who reverence my divinity with ceremonies perfectly proper, call me by a true appellation, '_Queen Isis_.'" (Taylor's Mysteries, p. 76.) [478:2] The "God the Father" of all nations of antiquity was nothing more than a personification of the _Sky_ or the _Heavens_. "The term _Heaven_ (pronounced _Thien_) is used everywhere in the Chinese classics for the _Supreme Power_, ruling and governing all the affairs of men with an omnipotent and omniscient righteousness and goodness." (James Legge.) In one of the Chinese sacred books--the Shu-king--_Heaven_ and _Earth_ are called "Father and Mother of all things." Heaven being the Father, and Earth the Mother. (Taylor: Primitive Culture, pp. 294-296.) The "God the Father" of the Indians is _Dyaus_, that is, the _Sky_. (Williams' Hinduism, p. 24.) Ormuzd, the god of the ancient Persians, was a personification of the sky. Herodotus, speaking of the Persians, says: "They are accustomed to ascend the highest part of the mountains, and offer sacrifice to Jupiter (Ormuzd), _and they call the whole circle of the heavens by the name of Jupiter_." (Herodotus, book 1, ch. 131.) In Greek iconography Zeus is the _Heaven_. As Cicero says: "The refulgent Heaven above is that which all men call, unanimously, Jove." The Christian God supreme of the nineteenth century is still _Dyaus_ Pitar, the "Heavenly Father." [478:3] Williams' Hinduism, p. 24. [478:4] Müller: Origin of Religions, pp. 261, 290. [478:5] Renouf: Hibbert Lectures, pp. 110, 111. [478:6] See Note 2. [478:7] See Cox: Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. xxxi. and 82, and Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 229. [479:1] Quoted by Westropp: Phallic Worship, p. 24. [479:2] Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 66. "In Phenician Mythology Ouranos (Heaven) weds Ghe (the Earth) and by her becomes father of Oceanus, Hyperon, Iapetus, Cronos, and other gods." (Phallic Worship, p. 26.) [479:3] Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 64. [479:4] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, pp. 80, 93, 94, 406, 510, 511. [480:1] See Chap. XIV. [480:2] See Dupuis: Orig. Relig. Belief, p. 234. Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 96, 97, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 272. [480:3] Extracts from the Vedas. Müller's Chips, vol. ii. pp. 96 and 187. [481:1] Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 153. [481:2] Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 133. [481:3] When Christ Jesus was born, on a sudden there was a great light in the cave, so that their eyes could not bear it. (Protevangelion, Apoc. ch. xiv.) [481:4] "Perseus, Oidipous, Romulus and Cyrus are doomed to bring ruin on their parents. They are exposed in their infancy on the hill-side, and rescued by a shepherd. _All the solar heroes begin life in this way._ Whether, like Apollo, born of the dark night (Leto), or like Oidipous, of the violet dawn (Iokaste), they are alike destined to bring destruction on their parents, as the Night and the Dawn are both destroyed by the Sun." (Fiske: p. 198.) [481:5] "The exposure of the child in infancy represents the long rays of the morning sun resting on the hill-side." (Fiske: Myths and Mythmakers, p. 198.) The Sun-hero Paris is exposed on the slopes of Ida, Oidipous on the slopes of Kithairon, and Æsculapius on that of the mountain of Myrtles. This is the rays of the newly-born sun resting on the mountain-side. (Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. i. pp. 64 and 80.) In Sanscrit _Ida_ is the Earth, and so we have the mythical phrase, the Sun at its birth is exposed on Ida--the hill-side. The light of the sun must rest on the hill-side long before it reaches the dells beneath. (See Cox: vol. i. p. 221, and Fiske: p. 114.) [482:1] Even as late as the seventeenth century, a German writer would illustrate a thunder-storm destroying a crop of corn, by a picture of a dragon devouring the produce of the field with his flaming tongue and iron teeth. (See Fiske: Myths and Mythmakers, p. 17, and Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii.) [482:2] The history of the Saviour Hercules is so similar to that of the Saviour Christ Jesus, that the learned Dr. Parkhurst was forced to say, "The labors of Hercules seem to have been originally designed as emblematic memorials of what the REAL Son of God, the Saviour of the world, was to do and suffer for our sakes, _bringing a cure for all our ills_, as the Orphic hymn speaks of Hercules." [482:3] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, pp. 158, 166, and 168. [482:4] In ancient mythology, all heroes of light were opposed by the "Old Serpent," the Devil, symbolized by Serpents, Dragons, Sphinxes and other monsters. The Serpent was, among the ancient Eastern nations, the symbol of _Evil_, of _Winter_, of _Darkness_ and of _Death_. It also symbolized the _dark cloud_, which, by harboring the _rays of the Sun_, preventing its shining, and therefore, is apparently _attempting to destroy it_. The Serpent is one of the chief mystic personifications of the _Rig-Veda_, under the names of _Ahi_, _Suchna_, and others. They represent the _Cloud_, the enemy of the _Sun_, keeping back the fructifying rays. Indra struggles victoriously against him, and spreads life on the earth, with the shining warmth of the Father of Life, the Creator, _the Sun_. Buddha, the Lord and Saviour, was described as a superhuman organ of light, to whom a superhuman organ of darkness, Mara, the Evil Serpent, was opposed. He, like _Christ_ Jesus, resisted the temptations of this evil one, and is represented sitting on a serpent, as if its conqueror. (See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 39.) Crishna also overcame the evil one, and is represented "bruising the head of the serpent," and standing upon it. (See vol. i. of Asiatic Researches, and vol. ii. of Higgins' Anacalypsis.) In Egyptian Mythology, one of the names of the god-_Sun_ was _Râ_. He had an adversary who was called _Apap_, represented in the form of a serpent. (See Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 109.) Horus, the Egyptian incarnate god, the Mediator, Redeemer and Saviour, is represented in Egyptian art as overcoming the Evil Serpent, and standing triumphantly upon him. (See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 158, and Monumental Christianity, p. 402.) Osiris, Ormuzd, Mithras, Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, Indra, OEdipus, Quetzalcoatle, and many other _Sun-gods_, overcame the Evil One, and are represented in the above described manner. (See Cox's Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxvii. and Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 129. Baring-Gould's Curious Myths, p. 256. Bulfinch's Age of Fable, p. 34. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. x., and Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176.) [483:1] The crucifixion of the Sun-gods is simply the power of Darkness triumphing over the "Lord of Light," and Winter overpowering the Summer. It was at the _Winter_ solstice that the ancients wept for Tammuz, the fair Adonis, and other Sun-gods, who were put to death by the boar, slain by the thorn of winter. (See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 113.) Other versions of the same myth tell us of Eurydike stung to death by the hidden serpent, of Sifrit smitten by Hagene (the Thorn), of Isfendiyar slain by the thorn or arrow of Rustem, of Achilleus vulnerable only in the heel, of Brynhild enfolded within the dragon's coils, of Meleagros dying as the torch of doom is burnt out, of Baldur, the brave and pure, smitten by the fatal mistletoe, and of Crishna and others being crucified. In Egyptian mythology, Set, the destroyer, triumphs in the _West_. He is the personification of _Darkness_ and _Winter_, and the Sun-god whom he puts to death, is Horus the Saviour. (See Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, pp. 112-115.) [483:2] "In the _Rig-Veda_ the god _Vishnu_ is often named as a manifestation of the _Solar_ energy, or rather as a form of the Sun." (Indian Wisdom, p. 322.) [483:3] Crishna says: "I am Vishnu, Brahma, _Indra_, and the source as well as the destruction of things, the creator and the annihilator of the whole aggregate of existences." (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 131.) [484:1] See Chap. XX. [484:2] _Indra_, who was represented as a crucified god, is also the _Sun_. No sooner is he born than he speaks to his mother. Like Apollo and all other Sun-gods he has _golden locks_, and like them he is possessed of an inscrutable wisdom. He is also born of a virgin--the Dawn. Crishna and Indra are one. (See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. i. pp. 88 and 341; vol. ii. p. 131.) [484:3] Wake: Phallism, &c., p. 55. [484:4] See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 113. [484:5] Ibid. pp. 115 and 125. [484:6] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 157. [484:7] Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 88. A great number of the Solar heroes or Sun-gods are forced to endure being bound, which indicates the tied-up power of the sun in winter. (Goldzhier: Hebrew Mythology, p. 406.) [484:8] The Sun, as climbing the heights of heaven, is an arrogant being, given to making exorbitant claims, who must be bound to the fiery cross. "The phrases which described the Sun as revolving daily on his four-spoked _cross_, or as doomed to sink in the sky when his orb had reached the zenith, would give rise to the stories of _Ixion_ on his flaming wheel." (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 27.) [484:9] "So was Ixion bound on the fiery wheel, and the sons of men see the flaming spokes day by day as it whirls in the high heaven." [485:1] Cox: Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxxii. [485:2] Ibid. p. xxxiii. [485:3] "That the story of the Trojan war is almost wholly mythical, has been conceded even by the stoutest champions of Homeric unity." (Rev. G. W. Cox.) [485:4] See Müller's Science of Religion, p. 186. [485:5] See Calmet's Fragments, vol. ii. pp. 21, 22. [486:1] Nimrod: vol. i. p. 278, in Anac., i. p. 503. [486:2] At Miletus was the crucified Apollo--Apollo, who overcome the Serpent or evil principle. Thus Callimachus, celebrating this achievement, in his hymn to Apollo, has these remarkable words: "Thee thy blest _mother_ bore, and pleased assign'd The willing SAVIOUR of distressed mankind." [486:3] These words apply to _Christ_ Jesus, as well as Semiramis, according to the Christian Father Ignatius. In his Epistle to the Church at Ephesus, he says: "Now the virginity of Mary, and he who was born of her, was kept in secret from the prince of this world, as was also the death of our Lord: _three of the mysteries the most spoken of throughout the world, yet done in secret by God_." [487:1] The Rosicrucians, p. 260. [487:2] Ibid. [488:1] The Sun-gods Apollo, Indra, Wittoba or Crishna, and Christ Jesus, are represented as having their feet pierced with nails (See Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 23, and Moor's Hindu Pantheon.) [489:1] Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., pp. 87, 88. [489:2] Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 32. [489:3] "This notion is quite consistent with the ideas entertained by the Phenicians as to the Serpent, which they supposed to have the quality of putting off its old age, and assuming a second youth." Sanchoniathon: (Quoted by Wake: Phallism, &c., p. 43.) [489:4] Une serpent qui tient sa queue dans sa gueule et dans le circle qu'il decrit, ces trois lettres Greques {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON~}, qui sont le nombre 365. Le Serpent, qui est d'ordinaire un emblème de l'eternetè est ici celui de _Soleil_ et des ses revolutions. (Beausobre: Hist. de Manich. tom. ii. p. 55. Quoted by Lardner, vol. viii. p. 379.) "This idea existed even in _America_. The great century of the Aztecs was encircled by _a serpent grasping its own tail_, and the great _calendar stone_ is entwined by serpents bearing human heads in their distended jaws." "The annual passage of the Sun, through the signs of the zodiac, being in an oblique path, resembles, or at least the ancients thought so, the tortuous movements of the Serpent, and the facility possessed by this reptile of casting off his skin and producing out of itself a new covering every year, bore some analogy to the termination of the old year and the commencement of the new one. Accordingly, all the ancient spheres--the Persian, Indian, Egyptian, Barbaric, and Mexican--were surrounded by the figure of a serpent _holding its tail in its mouth_." (Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 249.) [489:5] Wake: Phallism, p. 42. [489:6] See Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 128. [490:1] Being the most intimately connected with the reproduction of life on earth, the _Linga_ became the symbol under which the _Sun_, invoked with a thousand names, has been worshiped throughout the world as the restorer of the powers of nature after the long sleep or death of Winter. In the brazen _Serpent_ of the Pentateuch, the two emblems of the _Cross_ and _Serpent_, the quiescent and energizing _Phallos_, are united. (Cox: Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. pp. 113-118.) [490:2] Wake: Phallism, &c., p. 60. [491:1] Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 155. [491:2] Wake: Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 72. [491:3] Ibid. p. 73. Squire: Serpent Symbol, p. 195. [491:4] Faber: Orig. Pagan Idol., in Squire, p. 158. [491:5] Ibid. [491:6] Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. p. 375. [491:7] Ibid. [491:8] Squire: p. 161. [491:9] Ibid. p. 185. [492:1] Squire: p. 169. [492:2] Lundy: Monumental Christianity, p. 185. [492:3] "SAVIOUR was a common title of the SUN-gods of antiquity." (Wake: Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 55.) The ancient Greek writers speak of the Sun, as the "Generator and Nourisher of all Things;" the "Ruler of the World;" the "First of the Gods," and the "Supreme Lord of all Beings." (Knight: Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 37.) Pausanias (500 B. C.) speaks of "The Sun having the surname of SAVIOUR." (Ibid. p. 98, _note_.) "There is a very remarkable figure copied in Payne Knight's Work, in which we see on a man's shoulders a _cock's_ head, whilst on the pediment are placed the words: "THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD." (Inman: Anct. Faiths, vol. i. p. 537.) This refers to the SUN. The cock being the natural herald of the day, he was therefore sacred, among the ancients, to the Sun." (See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 70, and Lardner: vol. viii. p. 377.) [493:1] The name _Jesus_ is the same as _Joshua_, and signifies _Saviour_. [493:2] Justin Martyr: Dialog. Cum Typho. Quoted in Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 582. [493:3] Matt. xxvii. 55. [493:4] The ever-faithful woman who is always near at the death of the Sun-god is "the fair and tender light which sheds its soft hue over the Eastern heaven as the Sun sinks in death beneath the Western waters." (Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 223.) [493:5] See Ibid. vol. i. p. 80. [493:6] Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 49. [493:7] Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 223. [494:1] See Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxxi. [494:2] PETRÆUS was an interchangeable synonym of the name Oceanus. [494:3] "Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee." (Matt. xvi. 22.) [494:4] See Potter's Æschylus. [494:5] Matt. xxvii. 45. [494:6] As the Sun dies, or sinks in the West, blacker and blacker grows the evening shades, till there is darkness on the face of the earth. Then from the high heavens comes down the thick clouds, and the din of its thunder crashes through the air. (Description of the death of Hercules, Tales of Ancient Greece, pp. 61, 62.) [494:7] It Is the battle of the clouds over the dead or dying Sun, which is to be seen in the legendary history of many Sun-gods. (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 91.) [494:8] This was one of the latest additions of the Sun-myth to the history of _Christ_ Jesus. This has been proved not only to have been an invention after the Apostles' time, but even after the time of Eusebius (A. D. 325). The doctrine of the descent into hell was not in the ancient creeds or rules of faith. It is not to be found in the rules of faith delivered by Irenæus (A. D. 190), by Origen (A. D. 230), or by Tertullian (A. D. 200-210). It is not expressed in those creeds which were made by the Councils as larger explications of the Apostles' Creed; not in the Nicene, or Constantinopolitan; not in those of Ephesus, or Chalcedon; not in those confessions made at Sardica, Antioch, Selencia, Sirmium, &c. [495:1] At the end of his career, the Sun enters the _lowest regions_, the bowels of the earth, therefore nearly all Sun-gods are made to "descend into hell," and remain there for three days and three nights, for the reason that from the 22d to the 25th of December, the Sun apparently remains in the same place. Thus Jonah, a personification of the Sun (see Chap. IX.), who remains three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth--typified by a fish--is made to pay: "Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice." [495:2] See Chapter XXII. [495:3] Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 260. "The mighty Lord appeared in the form of a man, and enlightened those places which had ever before been in darkness; and broke asunder the fetters which before could not be broken; and with his _invincible power_ visited those who sat in the deep darkness by iniquity, and the shadow of death by sin. Then the King of Glory trampled upon Death, seized the Prince of Hell, and deprived him of all his power." (Description of _Christ's_ Descent into Hell. Nicodemus: Apoc.) [495:4] "The women weeping for Tammuz was no more than expressive of the Sun's loss of power in the winter quarter." (King's Gnostics, p. 102. See also, Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 113.) After remaining for three days and three nights in the lowest regions, the Sun begins to ascend, thus he "rises from the dead," as it were, and "ascends into heaven." [496:1] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 174. [496:2] Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 100. [496:3] Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 125. [496:4] Egyptian Belief, p. 182. [496:5] Ibid. [496:6] Origin of Religions, p. 264. [497:1] Origin of Religions, p. 268. [497:2] Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 384. [497:3] Origin of Religion, pp. 264-268. [498:1] The number twelve appears in many of the Sun-myths. It refers to the twelve hours of the day or night, or the twelve moons of the lunar year. (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 165. Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 175.) Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, had twelve apostles. (Bonwick, p. 175.) In all religions of antiquity the number _twelve_, which applies to the twelve signs of the zodiac, are reproduced in all kinds and sorts of forms. For instance: such are the _twelve_ great gods; the _twelve_ apostles of Osiris; the _twelve_ apostles of Jesus; the _twelve_ sons of Jacob, or the _twelve_ tribes; the _twelve_ altars of James; the _twelve_ labors of Hercules; the _twelve_ shields of Mars; the _twelve_ brothers Arvaux; the _twelve_ gods Consents; the _twelve_ governors in the Manichean System; the _adectyas_ of the East Indies; the _twelve_ asses of the Scandinavians; the city of the _twelve_ gates in the Apocalypse; the _twelve_ wards of the city; the _twelve_ sacred cushions, on which the Creator sits in the cosmogony of the Japanese; the _twelve_ precious stones of the _rational_, or the ornament worn by the high priest of the Jews, &c., &c. (See Dupuis, pp. 39, 40.) [499:1] See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 505. [499:2] Luke, ii. 32. [499:3] John, xii, 46. [499:4] John, ix. v. [499:5] I. John, i. 5. [500:1] Monumental Christianity, p. 117. [501:1] See Monumental Christianity, pp. 189, 191, 192, 238, and 296. [501:2] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 283. [501:3] King's Gnostics, p. 68. [501:4] Ibid. p. 137. [501:5] See Chapter XX. [501:6] Hist. of Our Lord in Art, vol. i. p. 31. [502:1] Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 151. [502:2] Monumental Christianity, p. 231. [502:3] King's Gnostics, p. 48. [502:4] Ibid. p. 68. [502:5] See Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 13. [503:1] Following are the words of the decree now in the Vatican library: "In quibusdam sanctorum imaginum picturis agnus exprimitur, &c. Nos igitur veteres figuras atque umbras, et veritatis notas, et signa ecclesiæ tradita, complectentes, gratiam, et veritatem anteponimus, quam ut plenitudinem legis acceptimus. Itaque id quod perfectum est, in picturis etiam omnium oculis subjiciamus, agnum illum qui mundi peccatum tollit, Christum Deum nostrum, loco veteris Ayni, humanâ formâ posthæ exprimendum decrevimus," &c. [504:1] "The _solar horse_, with two serpents upon his head (the Buddhist Aries) is Buddha's symbol, and Aries is the symbol of Christ." (Arthur Lillie: Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 110.) [504:2] Quoted by Lillie: Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 93. [504:3] Quoted by King: The Gnostics &c., p. 138. [505:1] Quoted by King: The Gnostics, &c., p. 49. [505:2] Ibid. p. 45. [505:3] _Indra_, the crucified Sun-god of the Hindoos, was represented with golden locks. (Cox: Aryan Myths, vol. i. p. 341.) _Mithras_, the Persian Saviour, was represented with long flowing locks. _Izdubar_, the god and hero of the Chaldeans, was represented with long flowing locks of hair (Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 193), and so was his counterpart, the Hebrew Samson. "The Sâkya-prince (Buddha) is described as an Aryan by Buddhistic tradition; his face was reddish, his hair of light color and curly, his general appearance of great beauty." (Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, p. 15.) "Serapis has, in some instances, long hair formally turned back, and disposed in ringlets hanging down upon his breast and shoulders like that of a woman. His whole person, too, is always enveloped in drapery reaching to his feet." (Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 104.) "As for _yellow hair_, there is no evidence that Greeks have ever commonly possessed it; but no other color would do for a solar hero, and it accordingly characterizes the entire company of them, wherever found." (Fiske: Myths and Mythmakers, p. 202.) Helios (the Sun) is called by the Greeks the "yellow-haired." (Goldzhier: Hebrew Mytho., p. 137.) The Sun's rays is signified by the flowing golden locks which stream from the head of Kephalos, and fall over the shoulders of Bellerophon. (Cox: Aryan Mytho., vol. i. p. 107.) Perseus, son of the virgin Danae, was called the "Golden Child." (Ibid. vol. ii. p. 58.) "The light of early morning is not more pure than was the color on his fair cheeks, and the golden locks streamed bright over his shoulders, like the rays of the sun when they rest on the hills at midday." (Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 83.) The Saviour Dionysus wore a long flowing robe, and had long golden hair, which streamed from his head over his shoulders. (Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 293.) Ixion was the "Beautiful and Mighty," with golden hair flashing a glory from his head, dazzling as the rays which stream from Helios, when he drives his chariot up the heights of heaven; and his flowing robe glistened as he moved, like the vesture which the Sun-god gave to the wise maiden Medeia, who dwelt in Kolchis. (Tales of Ancient Greece, p. 47.) Theseus enters the city of Athens, as Christ Jesus is said to have entered Jerusalem, with a long flowing robe, and with his _golden hair_ tied gracefully behind his head. His "soft beauty" excites the mockery of the populace, who pause in their work to jest with him. (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 63.) Thus we see that long locks of golden hair, and a flowing robe, are mythological attributes of the Sun. [506:1] Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 49. [506:2] We have already seen (in Chapter XX.) that the word "_Christ_" signifies the "Anointed," or the "Messiah," and that many other personages beside Jesus of Nazareth had this _title_ affixed to their names. [507:1] The theory which has been set forth in this chapter, is also more fully illustrated in Appendix C. [507:2] These three letters, _the monogram of the Sun_, are the celebrated I. H. S., which are to be seen in Roman Catholic churches at the present day, and which are now the monogram of the Sun-god _Christ_ Jesus. (See Chapter XXXVI.)