The Secret Vault presents: The Christian and Pagan Creeds Collated. Rev. Robert Taylor, A. B. & M. R. C. S.
Aeculapius, Jesus Christ Hercules, Jesus Christ Adonis., Jesus Christ.
By the Rev. Robert Taylor, A. B. & M. R. C. S.
Pagan and Christian Theology
No conviction of our reason could be conceived to be more absolute and conclusive, than that which assures us of the utter impossibility of there being any common features of resemblance between divine truth and human imposture. We are not conscious of our own existence with a greater degree of certainty, than that by which we know, that a religion which has "God for its author, happiness for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter," could have no likeness to the foolish and impotent devices of weak and wicked men. The existence of such a likeness or resemblance between any two religions whatever, however superior the one might be to the other, would itself constitute the surest possible demonstration that both of them were false. In a religion, then, which purports to be from God, we have a right to expect internal evidences of its divinity, and a character as infinitely superior to any devices of men - as infinite wisdom must be superior to human ignorance.
Having, then, obtained the consent of all parties, that the Christian Saviour, if any such person ever lived at all, must have lived and conversed with men in the era of Augustus, that is, eighteen hundred years ago, and that all the facts and doctrines of his religion are contained in the book called the New Testament; [We say not the Old Testament, though the Bible is a term that comprehends both; the Old Testament will never be vindicated and ought not to be attacked by any man.] this great and important question becomes capable of being put to the test? from which, nothing that is honest would shrink - from which nothing that is true, can have anything to fear. -Nothing which can be shown to have been in existence before the alleged time of the birth of Christ, nothing which came into existence long after "his glorious resurrection and ascension," can have any claim to be taken for Christianity. If before the date assigned to Christianity, and in regions and countries where a religion under that name was not known, we shall find all the ideas which that religion involves, pre-existent, and already familiar to the apprehensions of men; there is no alternative but that the conclusion must be endured. To attempt to resist that conclusion, is to resist truth itself; to be afraid to do justice to the arguments that may lead to that conclusion, is to surrender it, without resistance.
THE PAGANS THE CHRISTIANS
Pagans/ Therapeute Christians
1. Apologised for all the apparent absurdities
of it, to their Pagan adversaries to the gross
and revolting rites. 1. Use precisely the same apparent absurdities of their system, to argument in defence of their system, by pleading that nothing in turn, only denying the benefit it was to be understood according to the sense of the letter, but that the whole was to be explained conformably to a mystical allegorical meaning which conveyed the most sublime truths.
2. "For those who preside over the holy Scriptures, philosophise over them, and ex-
pound their literal sense by allegory." - Eusebius, concerning Therapeutan priests. able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit. (2 Corinth. 3,6.) -
Which things are allegory. (4 Gal. 24.) - St. Paul, concerning the Christian priests.
CICERO.
Concerning the Pagan Augurs. THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Concerning the Christian Bishops.
3. "No order of true religion passes over the law concerning the description of priests. 3. And God hath set some in the church - first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers. - 1 Corinth, 12-28.
4. "For some have been instituted for the business of pacifying the Gods. 4. O Lord spare thy people and be not angry with us for ever. - Liturgy [this attribute of being forever angry, is peculiar to the Christian God, and has become, in consequence, peculiar characteristic of Christians.]
5. "To preside at sacred ceremonies. 5. Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge. - 1 Corinth, xiv. 29.
6. "Others to interpret the predictions of the prophet. 6. And let one interpret. - 1 Corinth, 14-27.
7. " Not of the many, lest the number should be infinite. 7. Let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course. - 1 Corinth, 14-27.
8. "But that none beside the College should understand those predictions which had been publicly recognized. 8. Because it is given unto you (the College of Apostles) to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. - Matt, 13-11.
9. "For augury, or the power of foretelling future events, is the greatest and most excellent thing in the republic, and naturally allied to authority. 9. For greater is he that prophesieth, than he that speaketh with tongues. Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophecy. He that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation, and comfort. - 1 Corinth, 14-3.
10. "Nor do I thus think, because I am an augur myself; but because it is absolutely necessary for us to think so. 10. Neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me. - 1 Corinth, 9-15 - Inasmuch as I am the apostles of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. - Horn. 11. 13.
11. "For if the question be if legal right, what is greater than the power to put away from the highest governments, their right of holding counsels, and issuing decrees: or to abolish them when holden? What more awful, than for any thing undertaken, to be done away, if but one augur hath said other-
wise. 11. Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not
before the saints. Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that
pertain to this life? - 1 Corinth, 6-3.
12. "What more magnificent than to be
able to decree, that the supreme
governors should resign their magistracy?
What more religious than to give or
not to give the right of treating
or transacting business with the people?
What than to annul a law if it hath not
been duly passed, and for nothing that hath been done by the government,
either at home or abroad, to be approved
by any one, without their authority? [a] -Ie Legibus, lib. 2. 12." 12. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. - Matt. 17-18.
If he, neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man, and a publican. - Matt, 18-17.
PHILO. NEW TESTAMENT.
13. "In addition to these circumstances, Philo describes the order of preferment among those who aspire to ecclesiastical
ministrations, and the offices of the deacons, and the pre-eminency above above all of the bishop." - See chase to themselves a good deal
chap. 10. 1 Philip, 1-13. To all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi with order of preferment among those the bishops and deacons. for they know the office of a deacon well, purchased to themselves a good degree.
If a man desire, the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. -1 Timothy 3-13.
[a] No wonder, then, that such a power was not allowed to be held in separation from the imperial dignity itself. The Jewish Messiah, or Christ, united in his own person the several offices of prophet, priest, and king. The figures of Romulus, the founder of Rome, represent him as clad in the trabea, a robe of state, which implied an ecclesiastical as well as a secular dignity. The lituus, or staff of augury in his hand, is still retained as the crosier of our Christian bishops.]
"This latter mark of distinction (the episcopal crosier) usually attends the representations of the heads of Julius Caesar in old gems and medals, in signification that he was high-priest and king, by the same right as Romulus had been." Bell's Pantheon in loco quo. Augustus, Vespasian, Verus, &c. are in like manner accompanied with the insignia of augury. So sacred were these holy orders, that none who had once been a member of the sacred college, could ever be degraded: the commission of the greatest enormity was not held competent to affect their indefeasible sanctity of character, or to forfeit their title of The Reverend; which their descendants still retain, in a never-interrupted succession of inheritance from their Pagan ancestors.] [LN., it is well said that the bigger and more ornate the Crosier, the further is the carrier from God.] [LN., the author of Bells New Pantheon, is generally quoted as anonymous, however I notice the name John Bell, on the title page.] Litue. A certain crooked staff used by Roman augurs, also a crosier, or bishops staff. 'Evesque d'or crosse de bois, crosse d'or eveque de bois'. The smaller a bishop's staff, the more virtue shines, pomp first corrupted prelacy. Cotgrave.
Royal Priests.
Among the ancient Greeks, the dignity of the priesthood was esteemed so great in most of their cities; and especially at Athens, as to be joined with that of the civil magistrate. Thus Anius, in Virgil, was king of Delos, and priest of Apollo. [b] In Egypt, the kings were all priests; and if any one who was not of the royal family, usurped the kingdom, he was obliged to be consecrated to the priesthood, before he could ascend the throne. At Sparta, the kings, immediately upon their promotion, took upon them the two priesthoods of the heavenly, and the Lacedemonian Jupiter; and all the sacrifices for the safety of the commonwealth, were offered by them only. [LN., it is most obvious in ancient Egypt that the Pharaoh was king and the high priest in one, that was how Akenaton siding with his army was able to close all the temples down and divert all their monies to himself and set himself as the human personification of the Sun god, who ruled all things.]
[b] Rex Anius, Rex idem hominum, Phoebique Sacerdos. - Virg. AEn. 3, v. 80]
Subordinate Clergy
Besides these royal priests, there were others taken from the body of the people and consecrated to the service of religion. These were all accounted the ministers of the gods, and by them commissioned to dispense their favour to mankind. Whoever was admitted to this holy office, was obliged to be of the most exemplary and virtuous character. They were required to be upright in mind and pure in heart and life, as well as perfect in body: they were to live chastely and temperately, abstaining from those pleasures which were considered innocent in other men. After their admission into holy orders, though marriage was not altogether forbidden, they were obliged and expected to preserve the most rigid chastity. They endeavoured to weaken or overcome "all the sinful lusts of the flesh," by drinking the juice of hemlock, and by strewing the herb agnus castus, or chaste lamb under their bed clothes, which was believed to possess refrigerating qualities.
The Priests of Cybele
Who held the dignity of Theotokos, Deipara, or Mother of God, which has since been transferred to the Virgin Mary, so conscientiously cut themselves off from the faculty of sinful sensations, as to deserve the commendation of Christ himself - Matt. 19-12; and to be imitated in so unequivocal a proof of sincere devotion, by the most learned and distinguished of Christian bishops, Origen, Melito, &c.
Parasites or Domestic Chaplains.
Another holy order of priests, was that of the Parasiti, or Parasites, whose office was to gather from the husband-men, the corn that was to be set aside for the services of the ministry. It was at last an office of great honour; the Parasites being by the ancient laws reckoned among the chief magistrates. In every village of the Athenians, they maintained these priests at the public expense; but afterwards, to ease the commonwealth of this burden, the wealthier sort, were obliged to entertain them at their own tables, whence the word parasite, in later times, has been put for a flatterer, who, for the sake of a dinner, conforms to every one's humour. This holy order of Parasites, is continued in our Christian Church, in precisely the same character and function, under the less invidious name of domestic chaplains, who, hanging about the establishment of princes and nobles, generally contrive to worm themselves into the most lucrative ecclesiastical benefices upon the well-known economy.
"Non missura est cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo."
"The leech will not drop from your skin till it is full of blood." - Horace.
Conversion from Paganism to Christianity,
Brought about entirely by a Transfer of Property.
Notwithstanding the conversion of Constantine to the Christian faith, the title, the ensigns, and the prerogatives of sovereign pontiff were accepted without hesitation, by seven successive Christian emperors. Gratian was the first who refused the pontifical robe [Gibbon, vol. 3, p. 499], and threw off the badges of Paganism; for though he retained the title of Sovereign Pontiff, he performed no part of its functions, [Bell's Pantheon. Vol. 1, p 19.] from motives no doubt of the most disinterested piety, "this emperor seized the lands and endowments which had been allotted to maintain the priests and sacrifices of the ancient Paganism and appropriated them to his own use." AD. 382. [Lardner, Vol. 4, p 455.]
We have yet extant, and happily I have here on my table, the celebrated oration delivered by Julius Firmicius Maternus, to the Emperors Constantius and Constans, the sons and successors of Constantine the Great; calling on those holy Emperors, to seize all the remaining property of the professors of Paganism, which his father had spared, and thus by reducing them to beggary, to starve them into salvation. [LN., from Constantine, (Flavius Valerrius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus,) 272 to 337AD, the first emperor to at least pretend to convert to Christianity, there were three more, Constantine the 2nd 316 to 340AD. Constantius the 2nd, 317 to 361AD, and Constans around 323 to 350AD, all three of these offspring were supposed to rule together, but three Emperors and one Empire is three to many.]
oration delivered by Julius Firmicius Maternus, to the Emperors Constantius and Constans,
"Take away, take away, in perfect security, (exclaims this disinterested Christian orator.) O! most holy emperors, take away all the ornaments of their temples. Let the fire of the mint, or the flames of the mines, melt down their gods. Seize upon all their wealthy endowments and turn them to your own use and property. [A] And! most sacred emperors, it is absolutely necessary for you to revenge and punish this evil. You are commanded by the law of the Most-High God, to persecute all sorts of idolatry with the utmost severity: hear and commend to your own sacred understandings, what God himself commands. He commands you not to spare your son, or your brother; he bids you plunge the avenging knife even into the heart of your wife that sleeps in your bosom; to persecute your dearest friend with a sublime severity, and to arm your whole people against these sacrilegious Pagans and tear them limb from limb. Yea! even whole cities, if you should find this guilt in them, must be cut off. 0! most holy emperors! God promises you the rewards of his mercy, upon condition of your thus acting. Do therefore what he commands - complete what he prescribes."
[a] Tollite, tollite securi, sacratissimi Imperatores, ornamenta templorum. De istos, aut monetae ignis, aut metallorum coquat flamma. Donaria universa ad utilitatem vestram, dominiumque transferte, (p. 59.) Sed et vobis, Sacratissimi Imperatores, ad vindicandum et puniendum hoc malum necessitas imperatur, et hoc vobis Dei summi lege praecipitur, ut severitas vestra idolatriae facinus omnifarium persequatur. Audite et commendate Sanctis sensibus vestris quid de isto facinore Deus jubeat. Nec filio jubet parci, nec fratri, et per amatam conjugem quae est in sinu tuo, gladium vindicem ducit: amicum quoque sublirni severitate persequitur, et ad discerpenda sacrilegorum corpora, omnis populus armatur. Integris etiam civitatibus, si in isto fuerint facinore deprehensae, decernuntur excidia. Misericordiae suae vobis Sacratissimi Imperatores, Deus summus praemia pollicetur. - Facite itaque quod jubet, camplete quod praecipit, (p. 63.) De Errore Prof. Rel.]
Nothing can be more orthodox and truly Christian than this oration. It presents us a faithful picture of the genius and character of primitive Christianity. The reader will perhaps think he has enough of it. The Orator of the Areopagus, however he might have transgressed the laws of his country, transgressed not the fair sense of historic fact and license of oratorical figuration, when he said,
"Astonished Paganism grew pale, when she saw the bloodstained banner of the cross, and from her innocent hand, the flowery chaplets of the chaste Diana, and of the hospitable Jupiter, down dropt, and bloody treason triumphed over them!"
We have, of the same age, a beautiful contrast to this spiritual oration of Firmicius, in an epistle of the Pagan orator, Libanius, in which he discovers at the same time, what the tempers and dispositions of a Pagan were, towards those who left the faith of their ancestors, and embraced the new-fangled doctrines of Christianity. "Orion, (writes he), was my friend, when he was in prosperity, and now he is in affliction, I have the same disposition towards him. If he thinks differently from us, concerning the deity, he hurts himself, being deceived; but it is not fit that his friends should therefore look upon him as an enemy."[c] Alas! since one who had once been a minister of the gospel, but is now prisoner for his conscientious opposition to it, fell into affliction and difference of opinion, concerning the deity, it was not only forgotten that he had once been a friend, but that he had ever been a fellow creature, a brother, or a son.[d] [c] Epistle 730, p. 349, Lardnero, citante in loco quo. + SeeOrigenes Christiana, 18th Letter in " The Lion," vol. 1] [d] See Origene's Christianna, 18th Letter in "The Lion," Vol 1.]
We have also still extant, the petition of Symmachus, the high priest of Paganism, which he presented to the Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, and for having delivered which, the Emperor Theodosius commanded the reverend orator to descend from the pulpit and go immediately into exile - (Oakham!)
But impious and unreasonable as it was held to be in Christian ears, it was not worse than of a piece with the extract which I here subjoin: -
"Does not the religion of the Romans come under the protection of the Roman laws? By what name shall we call an alienation of rights, which no laws or circumstances of things ever justified? Freed men receive legacies, nor are even slaves deprived of the privilege of receiving what is left to them by will - they are only the noble Vestals, and the attendants on the sacred rites upon which the public welfare depends, who are deprived of the privilege of receiving estates legally bequeathed to them. The Treasury detains the lands which were given to the Vestals and their officers by our dying progenitors. Do but consult your own generous minds, and you will not think that those things belong to the public, which you have already appropriated to the use of others. If length of time be of weight in matters of religion, surely, we ought to preserve that faith which has subsisted for so many ages, and to follow our parents, who have so happily followed theirs. We ask for no other state of religion than that which secured the empire to your blessed Father and gave him the happiness of a legitimate issue to succeed him. That blessed prince now looks down from heaven, and beholds the tears of the priests, and considers the breach of their privileges as a reflection upon himself." [Citante in loco, Lardner.]
The Holy Father and Bishop St. Ambrose, strenuously opposed this petition, and ingeniously argued from a text of scripture, which served to carry the point in his days, but which since has become apocryphal, and consequently is no longer to be found; but this it was, "all the earth belongeth unto the righteous! but to the infidels not one penny," (obelus). ["The righteous:" who could that be but the orthodox clergy?]
Lardner is anxious to vindicate the disinterestedness of St. Ambrose, who opposed himself to this unreasonable remonstrance of these poor blind benighted Pagans; and puts in proof, the letter written to the Emperor Eugenius in the year 392, in which St. Ambrose declares, that
"those revenues had not been taken away by his advice, only he had advised that when once they were taken away, they should not be given back again. "That's Christian all over!" as much as to say, "I'll have nothing to do with thieving, but I'll go your halves!"
The reader has only to turn his eye to our table of the Ecclesiastical Revenues at this day, and he may solve as he shall please, the important question - whether, if these revenues were taken away from the church, and transferred to the professors of as false a religion as ever was on earth, our churchmen would not run after the revenues, and leave Christianity to the fate of Paganism.
It is a remarkable fact, that in the Corpus juris, or whole body of Roman law, notwithstanding all the dreadful stories of persecutions and martyrdom, which Christians relate that they have endured from the Pagan magistrates, there never was on record any law whatever, that had been enacted against Christians - while there were and have been the most sanguinary laws enacted for the prosecution and eternal persecution of unbelievers.
By a law of the Emperors Valentinius and Theodosius, whoever had been known to have apostatised from the Christian religion, was debarred from the right of bequeathing property by will - nor was the Pagan religion effectually suppressed, till the profession of it was prohibited under the penalty of death. Thousands suffered that penalty, whom we are not allowed to consider as martyrs.
St. Bartholomew day Massacre
It is well known, that the most holy and truly Christian Emperor Theodosius, put in practice the advice of Julius Firmicius, upon the heterodox citizens of Thessalonica, to the letter. He put the whole city to the sword, and "utterly destroyed everything that breathed, even as the Lord God of Israel commanded." - An example which was followed in like manner, on the ever-memorable day of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 1572, when seventy thousand Protestants, subjects of the most Christian Charles the 9th., were butchered throughout France, at the instigation of his pious mother, Catherine de Medicis. Mr. Higgins, a sincere believer, thus concludes his beautiful work: - [LN., such things, according to Nostradamus France will have future cause to regret, see SV, Nostradamus on France.]
"Look at Ireland, look at Spain, in short, look everywhere, and you will see the priests reeking with gore. They have converted, and are converting, populous and happy nations into deserts, and have made our beautiful world into a slaughter-house, drenched with blood and tears." - Celtic Druids, p. 299.
-o0o-
Next chapter 20. Aesculapius Jesus Christ.