NOTES TO CHAPTER 3
1. London Tract Society's Commentary, vol. i. p. 472. ALFORD'S Greek Testament, vol. i. p. 412. GRESWELL, vol. i., Dissert, xii. pp. 381-437.
2. GILL, in his Commentary on Luke ii. 8, has the following: "There are two sorts of cattle with the Jews .... there are the cattle of the house that lie in the city; the cattle of the wilderness are they that lie in the pastures. On which one of the commentators (MAIMONIDES, in Misn. Betza, cap. 5, sect. 7), observes, 'These lie in the pastures, which are in the villages, all the days of the cold and heat, and do not go into the cities until the rains descend.' The first rain falls in the month Marches van, which answers to the latter part of our October and the former part of November ... From whence it appears that Christ must be born before the middle of October, since the first rain was not yet come." KITTO, on Deut. xi. 14 (Illustrated Commentary, vol. i. p. 398), says that the "first rain," is in "autumn," "that is, in September or October." This would make the time of the removal of the flocks from the fields somewhat earlier than I have stated in the text; but there is no doubt that it could not be later than there stated, according to the testimony of Maimonides, whose acquaintance with all that concerns Jewish customs is well known.
3. MEDE'S Works, 1672. Discourse xlviii. The above argument of Mede goes on the supposition of the well-known reasonableness and consideration by which the Roman laws were distinguished.
4. Archdeacon WOOD, in Christian Annotator, vol. iii. p. 2. LORIMER'S Manual of Presbytery, p. 130. Lorimer quotes Sir Peter King, who, in his Enquiry into the Worship of the Primitive Church, &c., infers that no such festival was observed in that Church, and adds "It seems improbable that they should celebrate Christ's nativity when they disagreed about the month and the day when Christ was born." See also Rev. J. RYLE, in his Commentary on Luke, chap, ii., Note to verse 8, who admits that the time of Christ's birth is uncertain, although he opposes the idea that the flocks could not have been in the open fields in December, by an appeal to Jacob's complaint to Laban, "By day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night." Now the whole force of Jacob's complaint against his churlish kinsman lay in this, that Laban made him do what no other man would have done, and, therefore, if he refers to the cold nights of winter (which, however, is not the common understanding of the expression), it proves just the opposite of what it is brought by Mr. Ryle to prove viz., that it was not the custom for shepherds to tend their flocks in the fields by night in winter.
5. GIESELER, vol. i. p. 54, and Note. CHRYSOSTOM (Monitum in Hom, de Natal. Christi), writing in Antioch about A.D. 380, says: "It is not yet ten years since this day was made known to us" (Vol. ii., p. 352). "What follows," adds Gieseler, "furnishes a remarkable illustration of the ease with which customs of recent date could assume the character of apostolic institutions." Thus proceeds Chrysostom: "Among those inhabiting the west, it was known before from ancient and primitive times, and to the dwellers from Thrace to Gadeira [Cadiz] it was previously familiar and well-known," that is, the birth-day of our Lord, which was unknown at Antioch in the east, on the very borders of the Holy Land, where He was born, was perfectly well known in all the European region of the west, from Thrace even to Spain! [This is borrowed by M. See NG 2:403.]
6. He is speaking of Jewish Sabbaths.
7. TERTULLIAN, De Idololatria, c. 14, vol. i. p. 682. For the excesses connected with the Pagan practice of the first foot on New Year s day, see GIESELER, vol. i. sect. 79, Note.
8. WILKINSON'S Egyptians, vol. iv. p. 405. PLUTARCH (De Iside, vol. ii. p. 377, B), states that the Egyptian priests pretended that the birth of the divine son of Isis, at the end of December, was premature. But this is evidently just the counterpart of the classic story of Bacchus, who, when his mother Semele was consumed by the fire of Jove, was said to have been rescued in his embryo state from the flames that consumed her. The foundation of the story being entirely taken away in a previous note (see p. 59), the superstructure of course falls to the ground.
9. MALLET, vol. i. p. 130.
10. From Eöl, an "infant." The pronunciation here is the same as in eon of Gideon. In Scotland, at least in the Lowlands, the Yule-cakes are also called Nur-cakes (the u being pronounced as the French u). Now in Chaldee Nour signifies "birth." Therefore, Nur-cakes are "birth-cakes." The Scandinavian goddesses, called "Norns," who appointed children their destinies at their birth, evidently derived their name from the cognate Chaldee word "Nor," a child.
11. SHARON TURNER'S Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 219.
12. SALVERTE, Des Sciences Occultes, p. 491.
13. STANLEY, p. 1066, col. 1.
14. SHARON TURNER, vol. i. p. 213. Turner cites an Arabic poem which proves that a female sun and a masculine moon were recognised in Arabia as well as by the Anglo-Saxons. (Ibid.)
15. In the authorised version Gad is rendered "that troop," and Meni, "that number;" but the most learned admit that this is incorrect, and that the words are proper names.
16. See KITTO, vol. iv. p. 66, end of Note.
The name Gad evidently refers, in the first instance, to the war-god, for
it signifies to assault; but it also signifies "the assembler;" and under both
ideas it is applicable to Nimrod, whose general character was that of the
sun-god, for he was the first grand warrior; and, under the name of Phoroneus,
he was celebrated for having first gathered mankind into social communities.
(See ante, p. 51.) The name
Meni, "the numberer," on the other hand, seems just
a synonym for the name of Cush or Chus, which, while it signifies "to cover" or
"hide," signifies also "to count or number." The true proper meaning of the name
Cush is, I have no doubt, "The numberer" or "Arithmetician;" for while Nimrod
his son, as the "mighty" one, was the grand propagator of the Babylonian system
of idolatry, by force and power, he, as Hermes (see ante, pp.
25,
26),
was the real concocter of that system, for he is said to have "taught men the
proper mode of approaching the Deity with prayers and sacrifice" (WILKINSON,
vol. v. p. 10); and seeing idolatry and astronomy were intimately combined, to
enable him to do so with effect, it was indispensable that
he should be pre-eminently skilled in the science of numbers. Now, Hermes (that
is Cush) is said to have "first discovered numbers, and the art of reckoning,
geometry, and astronomy, the games of chess and hazard" (Ibid. p. 3); and
it is in all probability from reference to the meaning of the name of Cush, that
some called "NUMBER the father of gods and men" (Ibid. vol. iv. p. 196).
The name Meni is just the Chaldee form of the Hebrew "Mene," the "numberer" for
in Chaldee i often takes the place of the final e. As we have seen
reason to conclude with Gesenius, that Nebo, the great prophetic god of Babylon,
was just the same god as Hermes (see ante, p.
25), this shows the peculiar
emphasis of the first words in the Divine sentence that sealed the doom of Belshazzar, as representing the primeval god "MENE, MENE, Tekel, Upharsin,"
which is as much as covertly to say, "The numberer is numbered." As the cup was
peculiarly the symbol of Cush (see ante, p.
49). hence the pouring out of
the drink-offering to him as the god of the cup; and as he was the great
Diviner, hence the divinations as to the future year, which Jerome connects with
the divinity referred to by Isaiah. Now Hermes, in Egypt as the "numberer," was
identified with the moon that numbers the months. He was called "Lord of the
moon" (BUNSEN, vol. i. p. 394); and as the "dispenser of time" (WILKINSON, vol.
v. p. 11), he held a "palm branch, emblematic of a year" (Ibid. p. 2).
Thus, then, if Gad was the "sun-divinity," Meni was very naturally regarded as
"The Lord Moon."
17. MALLET, vol. ii. p. 24. Edin. 1809.
18. Supplement to IDA PFEIFFER'S Iceland, pp. 322, 323.
19. See JAMIESON'S Scottish Dictionary, sub voce. Jamieson gives a good many speculations from different authors in regard to the meaning of the term "Hogmanay"; but the following extract is all that it seems necessary to quote: "Hogmanay, the name appropriated by the vulgar to the last day in the year. Sibb thinks that the term may be .... allied to the Scandinavian Hoeg-tid, a term applied to Christmas, and various other festivals of the Church." As the Scandinavian "tid" means "time," and "hoeg-tid" is applied to festivals of the Church in general, the meaning of this expression is evidently "festival-time;" but that shows that "hoeg" has just the meaning which I have attached to Hog the Chaldee meaning.
20. HIERONYM, vol. ii. p. 217.
21. PLUTARCH, De Iside, vol. ii. sect. 52, p. 372; D. MACROB. Saturn., lib. i. cap. 21, p . 71.
22. MACROBIUS, Sat., lib. i. cap. 23, p. 72, E.
23. See the Sanscrit Researches of Col. VANS KENNEDY, p. 438. Col. K., a most distinguished Sanscrit scholar; brings the Brahmins from Babylon (Ibid. p. 157). Be it observed, the very name Surya, given to the sun over all India, is connected with this birth. Though the word had originally a different meaning, it was evidently identified by the priests with the Chaldee "Zero," and made to countenance the idea of the birth, of the "Sun-god." The Pracrit name is still nearer the Scriptural name of the promised "seed." It is "Suro." It has been seen, in a previous Chapter (p. 77), that in Egypt also the Sun was represented as born of a goddess.
24. Subsequently the number of the days of the Saturnalia was increased to seven. See JUSTUS LIPSIUS, Opera, tom, ii., Saturnal, lib. i. cap. 4.
25. If Saturn, or Kronos, was, as we have seen reason to believe, Phoroneus, "The emancipator" (see ante, pp. 51, 52), the "temporary emancipation" of the slaves at his festival was exactly in keeping with his supposed character.
26. ADAM'S Roman Antiquities, "Religion, Saturn." See STATIUS, Sylv., lib. i. c. vi. v. 4, pp. 65, 66. The words of Statius are:—
"Saturnus mihi compede exoluta
Et multo gravidus mero December
Et ridens jocus, et sales protervi Adsint."
27. In ATHENÆUS, xiv. p. 639, C.
28. From "Tzohkh," "to sport and wanton," and "anesh," "man," or perhaps "anes" may only be a termination signifying "the doer," from an "to act upon." To the initiated, it had another meaning.
29. CRABB'S Mythology, "Saturn," p. 12.
30. Berlin Correspondent of London Times, December 23, 1853.
31. OVID, Metam., lib. x. v. 500-513.
33. "Ail," or "Il," a synonym for Gheber, the "mighty " one (Exodus xv. 15), signifies also a wide-spreading tree, or a stag with branching horns (see PARKHURST, sub voce). Therefore, at different times, the great god is symbolised by a stately tree, or by a stag. In the accompanying woodcut, the cutting off of the mighty one is symbolised by the cutting down of the tree. On an Ephesian coin (SMITH, p. 289), he is symbolised by a stag cut asunder; and there a palm-tree is represented as springing-up at the side of the stag, just as here it springs up at the side of the dead trunk. In SANCHUNIATHON, Kronis is expressly called "Ilos" i.e., "The mighty one." The great god being cut off, the cornucopia at the left of the tree is empty; but the palm-tree repairs all.
34. The reader will remember that Æsculapius is generally represented with a stick or a stock of a tree at his side, and a serpent twining around it. The figure in the next evidently explains the origin of this representation. For his character as the life-restorer, see PAUSANIAS, lib. ii., Corinthiaca, cap. 26; and VIRGIL, Æneid, lib. vii. 11. 769-773, pp. 364, 365.
35. From MAURICE'S Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 368. 1796.
36. Baal-bereth, which differs only in one letter from Baal-berith, "Lord of the Covenant," signifies "Lord of the fir-tree."
37. GIESELER, p. 42, Note.
38. In the Scandinavian story of Balder (see ante, p. 57), the mistletoe branch is distinguished from the lamented god. The Druidic and Scandinavian myths somewhat differed; but yet, even in the Scandinavian story, it is evident that some marvellous power was attributed to the mistletoe branch; for it was able to do what nothing else in the compass of creation could accomplish; it slew the divinity on whom the Anglo-Saxons regarded "the empire" of their "heaven" as "depending." Now, all that is necessary to unravel this apparent inconsistency, is just to understand "the branch" that had such power, as a symbolical expression for the true Messiah. The Bacchus of the Greeks came evidently to be recognised as the "seed of the serpent;" for he is said to have been brought forth by his mother in consequence of intercourse with Jupiter, when that god had appeared in the form of a serpent. (See DYMOCK'S Classical Dictionary, sub voce "Deois.") If the character of Balder was the same, the story of his death just amounted to this, that the "seed of the serpent" had been slain by the "seed of the woman." This story, of course, must have originated with his enemies. But the idolaters took up what they could not altogether deny, evidently with the view of explaining it away.
39. For the mystic meaning of the story of the boar, see ante, p. 65.
40. PAUSANIAS, lib. vii., Achaica, cap. 7.
42. THEOCRITUS, Idyll xxx. v. 21, 45.
43. SMITH'S Class. Dict., p. 112.
44. From KITTO'S Illustrated Commentary, vol. iv. p. 137.
45. Times Berlin Correspondent, December 23, 1853.
46. The reader will remember the Sun was a goddess. Mallet says, "They offered the largest hog they could get to Frigga," i.e., the mother of Balder the lamented one. (Vol. i. p. 132.) In Egypt swine were offered once a-year, at the feast of the Moon, to the Moon, and Bacchus or Osiris; and to them only it was lawful to make such an offering. ÆLIAN, x. 16, p. 562.
47. "Iste tibi facietbona Saturnalia porcus."—MARTIAL, p. 754.
48. WILKINSON, vol. v. p. 353.
49. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 380.
50. From WILKINSON, vol. vi. plate 31; and goose on stand, from the same, vol. v. p. 353.
51. JUVENAL, Satires, vi. 539, 540, p. 129.
52. LIVIUS, Historia, lib. v. cap. 47, vol. i. p. 388.
53. From BARKER and AINSWORTH'S Lares and Penates of Cilicia, chap. iv. p. 220.
54. MOOR'S Pantheon, p. 10.
55. KITTO'S Illustrated Commentary, vol. iv. p. 31.
56. The symbolic meaning of the offering of the goose is worthy of notice. "The goose," says Wilkinson, "signified in hieroglyphics a child or son;" and Horapollo says (i. 53, p. 276), "It was chosen to denote a son, from its love to its young, being always ready to give itself up to the chasseur, in order that they might be preserved; for which reason the Egyptians thought it right to revere this animal." WILKINSON'S Egyptians, vol. v. p. 227. Here, then, the true meaning of the symbol is a son, who voluntarily gives himself up as a sacrifice for those whom he loves viz., the Pagan Messiah.
57. AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, lib. xxiii. cap.
3, p. 355, and MACROB., Sat., lib. i. cap. 3, p. 47, G, H. The fact
stated in the paragraph above cast a light on a festival held in Egypt, of which
no satisfactory account has yet been given. That festival was held in
commemoration of "the entrance of Osiris into the moon." Now, Osiris, like Surya
in India, was just the Sun. (PLUTARCH, De Iside et Osiride, sect. 52,
vol. ii. p. 372, D.) The moon, on the other hand, though most frequently the
symbol of the god Hermes or Thoth, was also the symbol of the goddess Isis, the
queen of heaven. The learned Bunsen seems to dispute this; but his own
admissions show that he does so without reason. (Vol. i. pp. 414, 416.) And
Jeremiah xliv. 17 seems decisive on the subject. The entrance of Osiris into
the moon, then, was just the sun's being conceived by Isis, the queen
of heaven, that, like the Indian Surya, he might in due time be born as the
grand deliverer. (See note, p. 96.) Hence the very name Osiris; for, as Isis is
the Greek form of H'isha, "the woman," so Osiris, as read at this day on the
Egyptian monuments, is He-siri, "the seed." It is no objection to this to say
that Osiris is commonly represented as the husband of Isis; for, as we have
seen already (p. 22), Osiris is at once the son and husband of his mother. Now,
this festival took place in Egypt generally in March, just as Lady-day, or the
first great festival of Cybele, was held in the same month in Pagan Rome. We
have seen that the common title of Cybele at Rome was Domina, or "the Lady"
(OVID, Fasti, lib. iv. 340), as in Babylon it was Beltis (EUSEB. Praep.
Evang., lib. ix. cap. 41, vol. ii. p. 58), and from this, no doubt, comes
the name "Lady-day" as it has descended to us.
58. LAYARD'S Nineveh and Babylon, p. 629.
59. See OLIVER & BOYD'S Edinburgh Almanac, 1860.
60. The Right Hon. Lord John Scott.
61. The name Easter is peculiar to the British Islands.
62. Socrates, the ancient ecclesiastical historian, after a lengthened account of the different ways in which Easter was observed in different countries in his time i.e., the fifth century sums up in these words: "Thus much already laid down may seem a sufficient treatise to prove that the celebration of the feast of Easter began everywhere more of custom than by any commandment either of Christ or any Apostle." (Hist. Ecclesiast., lib. v. cap. 22.) Every one knows that the name Easter, used in our translation of Acts xii. 4, refers not to any Christian festival, but to the Jewish Passover. This is one of the few places in our version where the translators show an undue bias.
63. GIESELER, vol. i. p. 55, Note. In GIESELER the time is printed "25th of March," but the Latin quotation accompanying it shows that this is a typographical mistake for "23rd."
64. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 42, Note.
65. LAYARD'S Nineveh and Babylon, p. 93.
66. HUMBOLDT'S Mexican Researches, v. i. p. 404.
67. WILKINSON'S Egyptian Antiquities, vol. i. p. 278.
68. LANDSEER'S Sabean Researches, p. 112.
69. De Errore, p. 70.
70. ARNOBIUS, Adversus Gentes, lib. v. p. 403. See also what precedes in the same book in regard to Proserpine.
71. OVID, Fasti, lib. iii. 1. 512, vol. iii. p. 184.
72. SMITH'S Classical Dictionary, "Liber and Libera," p. 381.
73. About A.D. 525. [Borrowed by M. See BB 1:276.]
74. GIESELER, vol. i. p. 54. Gieseler adduces as authorities for the statement in the text, G. A. HAMBERGER, De Epochæ Christiante ortu et auctore (in MARTINI Thesaur. Dissertat., T. iii., P. i. p. 241); Jo. G. JANI, Historia Æræ Dionysianæ, Viteb., 1715, 4, and IDELER'S Chronologic, ii. 366 ff. This is the statement also commonly made in all the standard English chronologies. [Borrowed by M. See BB 1:276.]
75. CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS, Protrepticos, p. 13.
76. GIESELER, speaking of the Eastern Church in the second century, in regard to Paschal observances, says: "In it [the Paschal festival in commemoration of the death of Christ] they [the Eastern Christians] eat unleavened bread, probably like the Jews, eight days throughout There is no trace of a yearly festival of a resurrection among them, for this was kept every Sunday" (Catholic Church, sect. 53, p. 178, Note 35). In regard to the Western Church, at a somewhat later period the age of Constantine fifteen days seem to have been observed in religious exercises in connection with the Christian Paschal feast, as appears from the following extracts from Bingham, kindly furnished to me by a friend, although the period of fasting is not stated. Bingham (Origin. Eccles., vol. ix. p. 94) says: "The solemnities of Pasch [are] the week before and the week after Easter Sun day one week of the Cross, the other of the resurrection. The ancients speak of the Passion and Resurrection Pasch as a fifteen days solemnity. Fifteen days was enforced by law by the Empire, and commanded to the universal Church Scaliger mentions a law of Constantine, ordering two weeks for Easter, and a vacation of all legal processes" (BINGHAM, ix. p. 95). [Borrowed by M. See AE 2:748-9.]
77. SOCRATES, Hist. Eccles., lib. v. cap. 22, p. 234. [Borrowed by M. See AE 2:748-9.]
78. Dr. MEREDITH HANMER'S Chronographia, subjoined to his translation of EUSEBIUS, p. 592. London, 1636.
79. GlESELER, vol. i. p. 54.
80. CUMMIANUS, quoted by Archbishop USSHER, Sylloge, p. 34. Those who have been brought up in the observance of Christmas and Easter, and who yet abhor from their hearts all Papal and Pagan idolatry alike, may perhaps feel as if there were something "untoward" in the revelations given above in regard to the origin of these festivals. But a moment's reflection will suffice entirely to banish such a feeling. They will see, that if the account I have given be true, it is of no use to ignore it. A few of the facts stated in these pages are already known to Infidel and Socinian writers of no mean mark, both in this country and on the Continent, and these are using them in such a way as to undermine the faith of the young and uninformed in regard to the very vitals of the Christian faith. Surely, then, it must be of the last consequence, that the truth should be set forth in its own native light, even though it may somewhat run counter to preconceived opinions, especially when that truth, justly considered, tends so much at once to strengthen the rising youth against the seductions of Popery, and to confirm them in the faith once delivered to the Saints. If a heathen could say, "Socrates I love, and Plato I love, but I love truth more," surely a truly Christian mind will not display less magnanimity. Is there not much, even in the aspect of the times, that ought to prompt the earnest inquiry, if the occasion has not arisen, when efforts, and strenuous efforts, should be made to purge out of the National Establishment in the south those observances, and everything else that has flowed in upon it from Babylon's golden cup? There are men of noble minds in the Church of Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, who have felt the power of His blood, and known the comfort of His Spirit. Let them, in their closets, and on their knees, ask the question, at their God and at their own consciences, if they ought not to bestir themselves in right earnest, and labour with all their might till such a consummation be effected. Then, indeed, would England's Church be the grand bulwark of the Reformation then would her sons speak with her enemies in the gate then would she appear in the face of all Christendom, "clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners." If, however, nothing effectual shall be done to stay the plague that is spreading in her, the result must be disastrous, not only to herself, but to the whole empire. [Borrowed by M. See BB 1:277.]
81. Mythology, vol. i. p. 373.
82. LAERTIUS, p. 227, B.
83. Jeremiah vii. 18. It is from the very word here used by the prophet that the word "bun" seems to be derived. The Hebrew word, with the points, was pronounced Khavan, which in Greek became sometimes Kapan-os (PHOTIUS, Lexicon Sillog, Part i. p. 130); and, at other times, Khabon (NEANDER, in KITTO'S Biblical Cyclopaedia, vol. i. p. 237). The first shows how Khvan, pronounced as one syllable, would pass into the Latin panis, "bread," and the second how, in like manner, Khvon would become Bon or Bun. It is not to be overlooked that our common English word Loa has passed through a similar process of formation. In Anglo-Saxon it was Hlaf.
84. DAVIES'S Druids, p. 208.
85. Ibid. p. 207.
86. Col. KENNEDY, p. 223.
87. COLEMAN, p. 340.
88. My authority for the above statement is the Rev. James Johnston, of Glasgow, formerly missionary at Amoy, in China.
89. WILKINSON, vol. iii. p. 20, and PAUSANIAS, lib. iii., Laconica, cap. 16.
90. HYGINUS, Fabulae, pp. 148, 149.
91. From LANDSEER'S Sabean Researches, p. 80. London, 1823.
92. BRYANT, vol. iii. p. 161.
93. In the later Chaldee, the name of an egg is commonly Baiaa, or Baietha in the emphatic form; but Baith is also formed exactly according to rule from Baitz, just as Kaitz, "summer," in Chaldee, becomes Kaith, and many other words.
94. The common word "Beth," "house," in the Bible without the points, is "Baith," as may be seen in the name of Bethel, as given in Genesis xxxv. 1, of the Greek Septuagint, where it is "Baith-el."
95. BUNSEN, vol. i. p. 377.
96. Scottish Guardian, April, 1844.
97. DYMOCK'S Classical Dictionary, sub voce.
98. For proof on this subject, see Appendix, Note J.
99. From BRYANT, vol. iii. p. 276. Bryant gives the title of the above figure as "Juno, Columba, and Rhoia;" but from Pausanias we learn that the bird on the sceptre of Hera, or Juno, when she was represented with the pomegranate, was not the Columba or Dove, but the Cuckoo (PAUSAN., lib. ii., Corinthiaca, cap. 17); from which it appears, that when Hera or Juno was thus represented, it was not as the incarnation of the Spirit of God, but as the mother of mankind, that she was represented. But into the story of the cuckoo I cannot enter here.
100. MERLE D'AUBIGNÉ'S Reformation, vol. i. p. 179.
101. STANLEY'S Sabean Philosophy, p. 1065. In Egypt the month corresponding to Tammuz viz., Epep began June 25. WILKINSON, vol. iv. p. 14.
102. BOWER'S Lives of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 523.
103. BEROSUS, apud BUNSEN'S Egypt, vol. i. p. 707. To identify Nimrod with Oannes, mentioned by Berosus as appearing out of the sea, it will be remembered that Nimrod has been proved to be Bacchus. Then, for proof that Nimrod or Bacchus, on being overcome by his enemies, was fabled to have taken refuge in the sea (see Chap. IV. Sect. I.), When, therefore, he was represented as reappearing, it was natural that he should reappear in the very character of Oannes as a Fish-god. Now, Jerome calls Dagon, the well-known Fish-god, Piscem mœroris (BRYANT, vol. iii. p. 179), "the fish of sorrow," which goes far to identify that Fish-god with Bacchus, the "Lamented one;" and the identification is complete when Hesychius tells us that some called Bacchus Ichthys, or "The fish" (sub voce "Bacchos," p. 179).
104. Wayside Pictures, p. 225.
105. Personal Recollections, pp. 112-115.
106. TOLAND'S Druids, p. 107.
107. Ibid. p. 112.
108. PAUSAN., lib. ii., Corinthiaca, cap. 19.
109. Ibid. cap. 15.
110. Ibid. cap. 20.
111. BRYANT, vol. i. p. 237.
112. DRYDEN'S Virgil, Æneid, Book xi. 11. 1153-1158. "The young Apollo," when "born to introduce law and order among the Greeks," was said to have made his appearance at Delphi "exactly in the middle of summer." (MULLER'S Dorians, vol. i. pp. 295, 296.)
113. HURD'S Rites and Ceremonies, p. 346, col. i. The time here given by Hurd would not in itself be decisive as a proof of agreement with the period of the original festival of Tammuz; for a friend who has lived for three years in Constantinople informs me that, in consequence of the disagreement between the Turkish and the solar year, the fast of Ramazan ranges in succession through all the different months in the year. The fact of a yearly illumination in connection with religious observances, however, is undoubted.
115. PRESCOTT'S Conquest of Peru, vol. i. p. 69.
116. Historia, lib. ii. p. 176.
117. Ibid.
118. HERODOTUS, lib. ii. c. 62, p. 127.
119. WILKINSON, vol. v. p. 308.
120. LAYARD'S Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. pp. 290-294.
121. TAYLOR'S Jamblichus, p. 247.
122. PROCLUS, in Timaeo, p. 805.
123. OVID, Fasti, lib. iv. 785-794 inclusive.
124. COLEBBOOKE'S "Religious Ceremonies of Hindus," in Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p. 260.
125. COLEBROOKE'S "Religious Ceremonies of Hindus" in Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p. 273.
126. DAVIES'S Druids, "Song to the Sun," pp. 369, 370.
127. "I have seen parents," said the late Lord John Scott in a letter to me, "force their children to go through the Baal-fires."
128. See extracts from Legend of St. Peters Chair, by ANTHONY RICH, Esq., in Dr. BEGG'S admirable Handbook of Popery, pp. 114, 115. See also SALVERTE, Essai sur Noms, tom. ii. p. 54.
129. Dionysus, as is well known, is the Latin form of the Greek Dionūsos.
130. PAUSANIAS, Attica, p. 46, and TOOKE'S Pantheon, p. 58.
131. BEGG'S Handbook of Popery, p. 115.
132. Though Dionysus was the proper classic name of the god, yet in Post-classical, or Low Latin, his name is found Dionysius, just as in the case of the Romish saint.
133. See Calendar in Missale Romanum, Oct. 9th: "Dionysii, Rustici et Eleutherii Mart." and Oct. 7th, "Sergii, Bacchi, Marcelli et Apuleii Mart." [This and the following pages till 124 have been borrowed by M. See NG 2:449.]
134. "The corpse immediately arose; the trunk bore away the dissevered head, guided on its way by a legion of angels " (SALVERTE, Des Sciences Occultes, Note, p. 48). In Salverte, the first word of the third line of the above Latin verse is "Quo," but as this does not make sense, and is evidently an error, I have corrected it into "Quern."
135. The statement in the last clause of the above sentence referred to the position of matters five years ago. Probably by this time the rebuilding of the Cathedral of St. Denys is finished.
136. SALVERTE, Des Sciences Occultes, pp. 47, 48.
137. HUMBOLDT'S Mexico, vol. i. pp. 339, 340. For Oannes and Souro, see further in Appendix, Note K.
138. Note to SALVERTE, Des Sciences Occultes, p. 47. [Borrowed by M. See NG 2:449.]
139. BRYANT, vol. ii. pp. 419-423. The very name Orpheus is just a synonym for Bel, the name of the great Babylonian god, which, while originally given to Cush, became hereditary in the line of his deified descendants. Bel signifies "to mix," as well as "to confound," and "Orv" in Hebrew, which in Chaldee becomes Orph (see PARKHURST'S Chaldee Grammar in Lexicon, p. 40), signifies also "to mix." But "Orv," or "Orph," signifies besides "a willow-tree;" and therefore, in exact accordance with the mystic system, we find the symbol of Orpheus among the Greeks to have been a willow-tree. Thus, Pausanias, after referring to a representation of Actaeon, says, "If again you look to the lower parts of the picture, you will see after Patroclus, Orpheus sitting on a hill, with a harp in his left hand, and in his right hand the leaves of a willow-tree" (PAUSANIAS, lib. x., Phocica, cap. 30); and again, a little further on, he says "He is represented leaning on the trunk of this tree." The willow-leaves in the right hand of Orpheus, and the willow-tree on which he leans, sufficiently show the meaning of his name.
140. Georgics, Book iv. vol. i. 11. 759-766, and in original, 11. 523-527. The edition of Dryden, which I commonly quote, has in the first line, "Then with;" but as this does not agree with the construction of the sentence, I have given the passage as it stands in Baxter's London edition of 1807, which is evidently the correct reading.
141. APOLLODORUS, lib. iii. cap. 5, p. 266. We have seen that the great goddess, who was worshipped in Babylon as "The Mother," was in reality the wife of Ninus, the great god, the prototype of Bacchus. In conformity with this, we find a somewhat similar story told of Ariadne, the wife of Bacchus, as is fabled of Semele his mother. "The garment of Thetis," says Bryant (vol. ii. p. 99), "contained a description of some notable achievements in the first ages; and a particular account of the apotheosis, of Ariadne, who is described, whatever may be the meaning of it, as carried by Bacchus to heaven." A similar story is told of Alcmene, the mother of the Grecian Hercules, who was quite distinct, as we have seen, from the primitive Hercules, and was just one of the forms of Bacchus, for he was a "great tippler;" and the "Herculean goblets" are proverbial. (MULLER'S Dorians, vol. i. p. 462.) Now the mother of this Hercules is said to have had a resurrection. "Jupiter" [the father of Hercules], says Müller, " raised Alcmene from the dead, and conducted her to the islands of the blest, as the wife of Rhadamanthus." (Ibid. p. 443.)
142. China, vol. i. pp. 354, 355.
144. PROCLUS, in TAYLOR'S Note upon Jamblichus, p. 136.
145. Orphic Hymns, 28th, p.109. These hymns are thought by some to have been composed by Neo-Platonists after the Christian era, who are said to have corrupted the true doctrine of their predecessors. I doubt this. At any rate, I allege nothing from them that is not amply borne out by authority of the highest kind.
146. PAUSANIAS, lib. iv., Messenica, cap. 33, p. 362.
147. PROCLUS, in additional note to TAYLOR'S Orphic Hymns, p. 198.
148. It is to be lamented that Christians in general seem to have so little sense either of the gravity of the present crisis of the Church and the world, or of the duty lying upon them as Christ's witnesses, to testify, and that practically, against the public sins of the nation. If they would wish to be stimulated to a more vigorous discharge of duty in this respect, let them read an excellent and well-timed little work recently issued from the press, entitled An Original Interpretation of the Apocalypse, where the Apocalyptic statements in regard to the character, life, death, and resurrection of the Two Witnesses, are briefly but forcibly handled.
149. The above paragraph first appeared in the spring of 1855, when the empire had for months been looking on in amazement at the "horrible and heart rending" disasters in the Crimea, caused simply by the fact, that official men in that distant region "could not find their hands," and when at last a day of humiliation had been appointed. The reader can judge whether or not the events that have since occurred have made the above reasoning out of date. The few years of impunity that have elapsed since the Indian mutiny, with all its horrors, was suppressed, show the long-suffering of God. But if that long-suffering is despised (which it manifestly is, while the guilt is daily increasing), the ultimate issue must just be so much the more terrible.