MASSEY'S LECTURES
NOTES
(CONTINUED)
Notes to Massey's Sixth Lecture
[465] [In this lecture Massey discusses
darkness on two levels; the primordial darkness that was forever the foe of
early man and typified as a monster, typically in the form of a snake or
devouring dragon, and on another level as the darkness of ignorance in modern
man; having lost the light, he is now prone to the darkness of his own
shortcomings and myopia. The light, the embodiment of truth, is there for all to
see, once the darkness has lifted. Massey now delivers his assessment of the
possible causes behind ignorance, and sheds light on the greatest mysteries to
forever dispel the darkness so that it can never threaten to eclipse our
sight again.
It is here worth noting that once the Roman Empire had
embraced Christianity, making it the state religion in 325 AD, it at the same
time sowed the seeds of its own destruction, and over the following centuries
fell irrevocably, plunging the western world into darkness and the darkness of
the Middle Ages. It was only with the advent of the enlightenment in the age of
reason, and a true renaissance, that the light again began to percolate and
brighten the dim corners of the world through a new invention, the printing
press. After that, man was redeemed, the gnosis now available to all, and the
Lord of Light (or Horus) would reign victorious over the Devil of Darkness (or
Set).]
[466] [Source.]
[467] [Daniel Defoe, The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, p. 223 (of 1808 ed.). 'After this I had been telling him how the devil was God's enemy in the hearts of men, and used all his malice and skill to defeat the good designs of Providence, and to ruin the kingdom of Christ in the world, and the like. "Well," says Friday, "but you say God is so strong, so great, is he not much strong, much might, as the devil?"—"Yes, yes," said I, Friday. "God is stronger than the devil, God is above the devil, and therefore we pray to God to tread him under our feet, and enable us to resist our temptations, and quench his fiery darts."—"But," says he again, "if God much strong, much might, as the devil, why God not kill the devil, so make him no more wicked?"']
[468] [See Bibliography.]
[469] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1, 45. 'To represent the mouth they depict a SERPENT, because the serpent is powerful in no other of its members except the mouth alone.']
[470] [Of Isis and Osiris, poss. ch. 75.]
[471] [Rev. 12:9. 'And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.']
[472] [Bahman Yasht.]
[473] [Paradise Lost, (e.g.) bk. 9,
188-191. 'The devil entered, and his brutal sense,
In heart or head, possessing, soon inspired
With act intelligential; but his sleep
Disturbed not, waiting close the approach of morn.']
[474] [Of Isis and Osiris, poss. ch. 22.]
[475] [This is also quoted in Massey's Concerning Spiritualism, p. 53.]
[476] [Massey's own words. This part of the lecture, and the verses, are quoted in B. O. Flower's study of Massey, 'Gerald Massey: Poet, Prophet and Mystic,' (1895), cached here.]
[477] [Unable to trace.]
[478] [Massey's own words.]
[479] [I have not been able to determine yet who this Bishop of Bedford is, or the source.]
[480] [As above note.]
[481] [For example, see the following
quotes: 'And on the 1st day of January, 1863, the grandest New Year that ever
dawned upon this continent, in accordance with the will of the heroic North, by
the sublime act of one whose name will be sacred through all the coming years,
the justice so long delayed was accomplished, and four millions of slaves became
chainless.' Works, vol. 4, p. 470.
'If these four corner-stones are facts, Nature has no master. If matter and
force are from and to eternity, it follows as a necessity that no God exists;
that no God created or governs the universe; that no God exists who answers
prayer; no God who succours the oppressed; no God who pities the sufferings of
innocence; no God who cares for the slaves with scarred flesh, the mothers
robbed of their babes; no God who rescues the tortured, and no God that saves a
martyr from the flames. In other words, it proves that man has never received
any help from heaven ; that all sacrifices have been in vain, and that all
prayers have died unanswered in the heedless air.' Ibid, p. 498.
'If God governs the world, why should we credit him for the good and not charge
him with the evil? To justify this God we must say that good is good and that
evil is also good. If all is done by this God we should make no distinction
between his actions between the actions of the infinitely wise, powerful and
good. If we thank him for sunshine and harvest we should also thank him for
plague and famine. If we thank him for liberty, the slave should raise his
chained hands in worship and thank God that he toils unpaid with the lash upon
his naked back. If we thank him for victory we should thank him for defeat.'
Ibid., p. 324.
'Why should Christians insist that a God of infinite wisdom, goodness and power
governs the world? Why did he allow millions of his children to be enslaved? Why
did he allow millions of mothers to be robbed of their babes? Why has he allowed
injustice to triumph? Why has he permitted the innocent to be imprisoned and the
good to be burned? Why has he withheld his rain and starved millions of the
children of men? Why has he allowed the volcanoes to destroy, the earthquakes to
devour, and the tempest to wreck and rend?' Ibid., p. 264.]
[482] [Unable to trace, but see above note.]
[483] [Massey also uses this analogy in his study of the poet Tennyson where he says: 'It was a profound saying of Goethe's, and worthy of universal acceptation, that the eyes can only see just so much as they bring with them the faculty of seeing. Thus, a sunset sky seen through the vision of Turner, and transmuted into a picture, with all his sparkling light, glory of colour, and rainbow richness of mingling, shifting, cloud-swaling beauty, may be unappreciated by the mass of men, as not akin to their ordinary sunsets—the painter having seen and brought away more than they can identify; their mental vision being so dim, his so clear and deep-piercing. Thus the lover, because of his love, sees a beauty in the face of his beloved which none other may have ever seen—the eyes seeing only that which they bring with them the power of seeing.' Hogg's Instructor, vol. 5, July 1855, 'The Poetry of Alfred Tennyson.']
[484] [Massey's own words.]
[485] [Caliban Upon Setebos.]
[486] [Massey's own words.]
[487] [Divine Pymander, bk. 4, ch, 27,.]
Notes to Massey's Seventh Lecture
[488] [Massey here uses the symbol of the moon to discuss the nature of mythology and the way in which bad mythologizing leads to misinterpretation. This is brought out in this lecture by contrasting the mythology of ancient times as opposed to modern, that the former, being based on sounder principles was more correct, or closer to the truth, than the latter. Again, here he typifies the primordial wisdom or gnosis as being lost, thus leading to ignorance, in turn leading to gross errors.]
[489] [Introduction to the Science of Religion, p. 101. 'With all this, mythology, as an inevitable disease of language, was terribly aggravated in Egypt by the early development of art and the forms which it assumed. The Power which the Egyptians recognised without any mythological adjunct, to whom no temple was ever raised (as little as there was in India a sanctuary dedicated to Para-Brahman, the Highest Brahman), 'who was not graven on stone' 'whose shrine was never found with painted figures' 'who had neither ministrants nor offerings,' and 'whose abode was unknown' must practically have been forgotten by the worshippers of the magnificent temples of Memphis, Heliopolis, Abydos, Thebes, or Dendera, where quite other deities received the homage of prayer, and praise, and sacrifice. Efforts, however, are visible, in Egypt as in India, to cling to the notion of the unity of God.' See also AE 1:2.]
[490] [HL. p. 251. 'A sense of the
Eternal and Infinite, Holy and Good, governing the world, and upon which we are
dependent, of Eight and Wrong, of Holiness and Virtue, of Immortality and
Retribution such are the elements of Egyptian religion. But where are these
grand elements of a religion found in their simple purity?
Mythology, we know, is the disease which springs up at a peculiar stage of human
culture, and is in its first stage as harmless as it is inevitable. It ceases to
be harmless when its original meaning is forgotten, when, instead of being the
simple expression of man's intuition of real facts, it obtains a mastery over
his thought, and leads him to conclusions which are not involved in the original
premises.']
[491] [See Bibliography for relevant entries.]
[492] [Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757), French mathematician. This quote is borrowed verbatim from Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. See vol. 1, p. 304.]
[493] ['Willie Chalmers,' in Poems of
Robert Burns, pp. 332-4.
Wi' braw new branks in mickle pride,
And eke a braw new brechan,
My Pegasus I'm got astride,
And up Parnassus pechin;
Whiles owre a bush wi' downward crush.
The doited beastie stammers;
Then up he gets, and off he sets.
For sake o' Willie Chalmers.
I doubt na, lass, that weel kenn'd name
May cost a pair o' blushes;
I am nae stranger to your fame
Nor his warm urged wishes.
Your bonnie face, sae mild and sweet,
His honest heart enamours,
And faith ye'll no be lost a whit,
Though waired on Willie Chalmers.
Auld Truth hersel' might swear ye're fair,
And Honour safely back her.
And Modesty assume your air.
And ne'er a ane mistak' her:
And sic twa love-inspiring e'en
Might fire even holy palmers;
Nae wonder then they've fatal been
To honest Willie Chalmers.
I doubt na fortune may you shore
Some mim-mou'd pouther'd priestie,
Fu' lifted up wi' Hebrew lore.
And band upon his breastie:
But oh! what signifies to you
His lexicons and grammars?
The feeling heart's the royal blue,
And that's wi' Willie Chalmers.
Some gapin' glowrin' countra laird.
May warsle for your favour;
May claw his lug, and straik his beard.
And boast up some palaver.
My bonny maid, before ye wed
Sic clumsy-witted hammers.
Seek Heaven for help, and barefit skelp
Awa' wi' Willie Chalmers.
Forgive the Bard! my fond regard
For ane that shares my bosom
Inspires my muse to gie 'm his dues.
For de'il a hair I roose him.
May powers aboon unite you soon.
And fructify your amours,—
And every year come in mair dear
To you and Willie Chalmers.']
[494] [Unable to trace.]
[495] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1, 26. 'When they would denote an opening, they delineate a HARE, because this animal always has its eyes open.']
[495a] [Ibid, bk. 1. 10. 'To denote an only begotten, or generation, or a father, or the world, or a man, they delineate a SCARABÆUS. And they symbolise by this an only begotten, because the scarabæus is a creature self-produced, being unconceived by a female; for the propagation of it is unique after this manner:—when the male is desirous of procreating, he takes dung of an ox, and shapes it into a spherical form like the world; he then rolls it from the hinder parts from east to west, looking himself towards the east, that he may impart to it the figure of the world, (for that is borne from east to west, while the course of the stars is from west to east): then, having dug a hole, the scarabæus deposits this ball in the earth for the space of twenty-eight days, (for in so many days the moon passes through the twelve signs of the zodiac). By thus remaining under the moon, the race of scarabæi is endued with life; and upon the nine and twentieth day after having opened the ball, it casts it into water, for it is aware that upon that day the conjunction of the moon and sun takes place, as well as the generation of the world. From the ball thus opened in the water, the animals, that is the scarabæi, issue forth. The scarabæus also symbolizes generation, for the reason before mentioned—and a father, because the scarabæus is engendered by a father only—and the world, because in its generation it is fashioned in the form of the world—and a man, because there is no female race among them. Moreover there are three species of scarabæi, the first like a cat, and irradiated, which species they have consecrated to the sun from this similarity: for they say that the male cat changes the shape of the pupils of his eyes according to the course of the sun: for in the morning at the rising of the god, they are dilated, and in the middle of the day become round, and about sunset appear less brilliant: whence, also, the statue of the god in the city of the sun is of the form of a cat. Every scarabæus also has thirty toes, corresponding with the thirty days duration of the month, during which the rising sun [moon?] performs his course. The second species is the two horned and bull formed, which is consecrated to the moon; whence the children of the Egyptians say, that the bull in the heavens is the exaltation of this goddess. The third species is the one horned and Ibis formed, which they regard as consecrated to Hermes [Thoth], in like manner as the bird Ibis.']
[496] ['Butler, the author of Hudibras,
asks a shrewd question on this head, which I do not remember to have seen
solved:
"Tell me but what's the nat'ral cause
Why on a sign no painter draws
The full moon ever, but the half?"' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol.
2, p. 351.
See also BB 1:128.]
[497] [See any edition of his Histories.]
[498] [Source.]
[499] [HL, p. 244. 'The short time which is now left will not allow me to enter at length into a discussion of certain questions which have naturally arisen as to the influence of Egyptian upon foreign thought, as, for instance, on the Hebrew or Greek religions and philosophies. It may be confidently asserted that neither Hebrews nor Greeks borrowed any of their ideas from Egypt. It ought, I think, to be a matter of wonder that, after a long time of bondage, the Israelites left Egypt without having even learnt the length of the year.']
[500] [Unable to trace.]
[501] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 18.]
[502] [HL, p. 155, note 1. 'Chonsu is the moon, and one of his attributes is hesb aha, the reckoner of time.']
[503] [Unable to trace.]
[504] [This is also quoted by Forlong in his Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 226, who gives Idolomania, p. 34, as his source. Massey poss. used Forlong for this quote.]
[505] [The Legend of Samson.]
[506] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1, 21. 'To signify the rising of the Nile, which they call in the Egyptian language NOUN, and which, when interpreted, signifies New, they sometimes pourtray a LION, and sometimes THREE LARGE WATERPOTS, and at other times HEAVEN AND EARTH GUSHING FORTH WITH WATER. And they depict a LION, because when the sun is in Leo it augments the rising of the Nile, so that oftentimes while the sun remains in that sign of the zodiac, half of the new water [Noun, the entire inundation?] is supplied; and hence it is, that those who anciently presided over the sacred works, have made the spouts [?] and passages of the sacred fountains in the form of lions. Wherefore, even to this day in prayer for an abundant inundation .... And they depict THREE WATERPOTS, or HEAVEN AND EARTH GUSHING FORTH WITH WATER, because they make a waterpot like a heart having a tongue,—like a heart, because in their opinion the heart is the ruling member of the body, as the Nile is the ruler of Egypt, and like [a heart with?] a tongue, because it is always in a state of humidity, and they call it the producer of existence. And they depict three waterpots, and neither more nor less, because according to them there is a triple cause of the inundation. And they depict one for the Egyptian soil, as being of itself productive of water; and another for the ocean, for at the period of the inundation, water flows up from it into Egypt; and the third to symbolise the rains which prevail in the southern parts of Ethiopia at the time of the rising of the Nile. Now that Egypt generates the water, we may deduce from this, that in the rest of the earth the inundations of the rivers take place in the winter, and are caused by frequent rains; but the country of the Egyptians alone, inasmuch as it is situated in the middle of the habitable world, like that part of the eye, which is called the pupil, of itself causes the rising of the Nile in summer.']
[507] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 31.]
[508] [Judg. 16:7. 'And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.']
[509] [Judg. 16:21. 'But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.']
[510] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 54.]
[511] [Judg. 14:20. 'But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.']
[512] [HL, p. 112. 'Anubis, like his mother, is a deity of a mixed character, partly belonging to the diurnal, partly to the nocturnal powers. It is said of him that "he swallowed his father Osiris." I believe that he represents the Twilight or Dusk immediately following the disappearance of the sun.']
[513] [Ibid., p. 115. 'And he said, "Behold, my eye is as though Anubis had made an incision in my eye." Todt. 112. Although Anubis in the sequel restores the eye, the allusion is clearly to his nocturnal power.']
[514] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 55.]
[515] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 44.]
[516] [Rev. 12:1-4. 'And there
appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon,
having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to
the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be
delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.']
[517] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 54.]
[518] [Pseudo-Matthew, ch. 6.]
[519] [Protoevangelium, ch. 6.]
[520] [Gospel of the Hebrews, from Origen on John, ii. 12. 'And if any accept the Gospel according to the Hebrews, where the Saviour himself saith, 'Even now did my mother the Holy Spirit take me by one of mine hairs, and carried me away unto the great mountain Thabor', he will be perplexed, &c.']
[521] [Rit. ch. 31. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[522] [John 1:30. 'This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.']
[523] [John 1:23. 'He said, I am the
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as
said the prophet Esaias.'
Rit. ch. 148. Cf.
Renouf's tr.]
[524] [John 3:30. 'He must increase, but I must decrease.']
[525] [John 3:29. 'He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.']
[526] [Matt. 11:11. 'Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.']
[528] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 4. 'To represent a month they delineate a PALM BRANCH, or, the MOON INVERTED. A palm branch for the reason before mentioned respecting the palm tree; and the moon inverted, because they say, that, in its increase, when it has come to fifteen degrees, it appears in figure with its horns erect; and in its decrease, after having completed the number of thirty days, it sets with its horns inverted.']
[529] [Rev. 22:2. 'In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.']
[530] [Protevangelium.]
[531] [Rit. ch. 80. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[532] [Luke 13:32. 'And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.']
[533] [Protevangelium, ch. 23.]
[534] [Unable to trace, but see Renouf, HL, p. 155, note 1. 'Chonsu is the moon, and one of his attributes is hesb aha, the reckoner of time.']
[535] [Unable to trace.]
[536] [Unable to trace. See Natural History.]
[537] [Hieroglyphica, bk.1. 11. 'To denote a mother, or vision, or boundary, or foreknowledge, or a year, or heaven, or one that is compassionate, or Athena [Neith], or Hera [Saté], or two drachmas, they delineate it a mother, because in this race of creatures there is no male. Gignuntur autem hunc in modum. Cum amore concipiendi vultur exarserit, vulvam ad Boream aperiens, ab eo velut comprimitur per dies quinque, during which time she partakes neither of food nor drink, being intent upon procreation. There are also other kinds of birds which conceive by the wind, but their eggs are of use only for food, and not for procreation; but the eggs of the vultures that are impregnated by the wind possess a vital principle. The vulture is used also as a symbol of vision, because it sees more keenly than all other creatures; and by looking towards the west when the sun is in the east, and towards the east when the god is in the west, it procures its necessary food from afar. And it signifies a boundary [landmark?] because, when a battle is to be fought, it points out the spot on which it will take place, by betaking itself thither seven days beforehand:—and foreknowledge, both from the circumstance last mentioned, and because it looks towards that army which is about to have the greater number killed, and be defeated, reckoning on its food from their slain: and on this account the ancient kings were accustomed to send forth observers to ascertain towards which part of the battle the vultures were looking, to be thereby apprized which army was to be overcome. And it symbolizes a year, because the 365 days of the year, in which the annual period is completed, are exactly apportioned by the habits of this creature; for it remains pregnant 120 days, and during an equal number it brings up its young, and during the remaining 120 it gives its attention to itself, neither conceiving nor bringing up its young, but preparing itself for another conception; 1 and the remaining five days of the year, as I have said before, it devotes to another impregnation by the wind. It symbolises also a compassionate person, which appears to some to be the furthest from its nature, inasmuch as it is a creature that preys upon all things; but they were induced to use it as a symbol for this, because in the 120 days, during which it brings up its offspring, it flies to no great distance, but is solely engaged about its young and their sustenance; and if during this period it should be without food to give its young, it opens its own thigh, and suffers its offspring to partake of the blood, that they may not perish from want of nourishment:—and Athena [Neith], and Hera [Saté], because among the Egyptians Athena [ Neith] is regarded as presiding over the upper hemisphere, and Hera [Saté] over the lower; whence also they think it absurd to designate the heaven in the masculine, but represent it in the feminine, inasmuch as the generation of the sun and moon and the rest of the stars, is perfected in it, which is the peculiar property of a female. And the race of vultures, as I said before, is a race of females alone, and on this account the Egyptians over any female hieroglyph place the vulture as a mark of royalty [maternity?]. And hence, not to prolong my discourse by mentioning each individually, when the Egyptians would designate any goddess who is a mother, they delineate a vulture, for it is the mother of a female progeny. And they denote by it heaven, (for it does not suit them to say as I said before,) because its generation is from thence [by the wind]:—and two drachmas, because among the Egyptians the unit [of money] is the two drachmas, 1 and the unit is the origin of every number, therefore when they would denote two drachmas, they with good reason depict a vulture, inasmuch as like unity it seems to be mother and generation.']
[538] [Apology, ch. 46. 'So that even they who lived before Christ, and lived without reason, were wicked and hostile to Christ, and slew those who lived reasonably. But why, through the power of the Word, according to the will of God the Father and Lord of all. He was born of a virgin as a man, and was named Jesus, and was crucified, and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, an intelligent man will be able to comprehend from what has been already so largely said. And we, since the proof of this subject is less needful now, will pass for the present to the proof of those things which are urgent.' ANCL, 2, 46-7.]
[539] [Unable to trace.]
[540] [Unable to trace.]
Notes to Massey's Seventh Lecture (Continued)
[541] [W. E. Gladstone. See Bibliography.]
[542] [Max Muller's expression. See the start of the seventh lecture, note 489 above.]
[543] [Unable to trace.]
[544] [Unable to trace clearly. Poss. in Juventus Mundi where he discusses the relationship of Athene and Apollo to the rest of the Olympian pantheon, and suspects there is a greater connection between these two deities in the Hebrew, Syrian and Egyptian traditions than in the Greek. See op. cit. pp. 266-89, especially the latter pages where he says; 'The general result is to render their position grossly anomalous and wholly inexplicable, if the explanation of it is only to be sought in the laws of the Olympian system, or in such traditions as the older nature-worship, or the Egyptian, or Syrian, or Phoenician mythologies could supply.']
[545] [Leyden Museum statue. Unable to identify such a piece as yet.]
Notes to Massey's Eighth Lecture
[546] [Massey here touches on mythology
again, and how certain authorities have misinterpreted the myths of ancient
cultures and primitive races. Having lost the gnosis, man has essentially lost
the deeper part of himself, the soul. With a reduction to types of the primitive
symbolism, through the use of the typological interpretative method, man can
regain his soul.
See also his article, Myth and Totemism as
Primitive Modes of Representation, in conjunction with this lecture.]
[547] [Girogione was an Italian painter born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco in 1477. He died in 1510 after only an output of six significant paintings, with others which may or may not be by him as they cannot easily be identified as his own. The painting Massey maybe referring to here is possibly 'The Impassioned Singer' (c. 1510).]
[548] [Origin of Civilisation, p. 358. 'We cannot fail also to be struck with the fact that the lower forms of religion are almost independent of Prayer. To us prayer seems almost a necessary part of religion. But it evidently involves a belief in the goodness of God, a truth which, as we have seen, is not early recognised.']
[549] [Rit. ch. 166. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[550] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 2. 21. 'A STAG shoots its horns every year, and when depicted, signifies anything of long duration.']
[551] [Rit. ch. 146. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[552] [I can find no mention of the deceased saying he is a Gnostic in the Ritual. This seems entirely unlikely, given that the translator was Birch who would have come up with a different term more befitting the circumstance.]
[553] [Rit. ch. 79.
Cf. Renouf's tr.
Note that no mention of Hermes exists in this chapter and it seems
unforgivable that Massey could have interpolated such an incongruous name in
this text.]
[554] [Unable to trace. Which text of the Apocrypha is he referring to? Is it Old or New? This is a typical example of Massey's laziness.]
[555] [Rev. 10:9. 'And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.']
[556] [I can find no ref. to Paul saying this.]
[557] [Against Heresies, bk. I., chap. xxi. 4. 'But there are some of them who assert that it is superfluous to bring persons to the water, but mixing oil and water together, they place this mixture on the heads of those who are to be initiated, with the use of some such expressions as we have already mentioned. And this they maintain to be the redemption. They, too, are accustomed to anoint with balsam. Others, however, reject all these practices, and maintain that the mystery of the unspeakable and invisible power ought not to be performed by visible and corruptible creatures, nor should that of those [beings] who are inconceivable, and incorporeal, and beyond the reach of sense, [be performed] by such as are the objects of sense, and possessed of a body. These hold that the knowledge of the unspeakable Greatness is itself perfect redemption. For since both defect and passion flowed from ignorance, the whole substance of what was thus formed is destroyed by knowledge; and therefore knowledge is the redemption of the inner man. This, however, is not of a corporeal nature, for the body is corruptible ; nor is it animal, since the animal soul is the fruit of a defect, and is, as it were, the abode of the spirit. The redemption must therefore be of a spiritual nature; for they affirm that the inner and spiritual man is redeemed by means of knowledge, and that they, having acquired the knowledge of all things, stand thenceforth in need of nothing else. This, then, is the true redemption.' ANCL, 5, 83.]
[558] [Ibid., bk. I., chap. xxi. 2. 'They maintain that those who have attained to perfect knowledge must of necessity be regenerated into that power which is above all For it is otherwise impossible to find admittance within the Pleroma, since this [regeneration] it is which leads them down into the depths of Bythus. For the baptism instituted by the visible Jesus was for the remission of sins, but the redemption brought in by that Christ who descended upon Him, was for perfection; and they allege that the former is animal, but the latter spiritual. And the baptism of John was proclaimed with a view to repentance, but the redemption by Jesus was brought in for the sake of perfection. And to this He refers when He says, "And I have another baptism to be baptized with, and I hasten eagerly towards it." Moreover, they affirm that the Lord added this redemption to the sons of Zebedee, when their mother asked that they might sit, the one on His right hand, and the other on His left, in His kingdom, saying, "Can ye be baptized with the baptism which I shall be baptized with?" Paul, too, they declare, has often set forth, in express terms, the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; and this was the same which is handed down by them in so varied and discordant forms.' ANCL, 5, 81.]
[559] [Divine Pymander, bk. 4, 18. Such drugs that have a soporific effect on the mind are also said to 'loosen the girders of the soul' so that one enters a trance and sees onto other planes of existence. This is the primary goal of shamanism.]
[560] [Ibid, bk. 2, 68.]
[561] [1 Cor. 15:51. 'Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.']
[562] [Not in Lubbock or Tylor or Spencer.]
[563] [See Evolution of Theology, p. 303, and note.]
[564] [Not in Lubbock or Tylor or Spencer.]
[565] [Not in Lubbock or Tylor or Spencer.]
[566] [Not in Lubbock or Tylor or Spencer.]
[567] [Not in Lubbock or Tylor or Spencer.]
[568] [Primitive Culture, vol. 2, p. 410. 'The secret of spiritual intercourse thus learnt, he has thenceforth but to reproduce the cause in order to renew the effects. The rite of fasting, and the utter objective reality ascribed to what we call its morbid symptoms, are shown in striking details among the savage tribes of North America. Among the Indians (the accounts mostly refer to the Algonquin tribes), long and rigorous fasting is enjoined among boys and girls from a very early age; to be able to fast long is an enviable distinction, and they will abstain from food three to seven days, or even more, taking only a little water. During these fasts, especial attention is paid to dreams.']
[569] [See Bibliography for relevant entries.]
[570] [Mead, Apollonius of Tyana, p. 66. 'When Euxenus asked him how he would begin his new mode of life he replied: "As doctors purge their patients." Hence he refused to touch anything that had animal life in it, on the ground that it densified the mind and rendered it impure. He considered that the only pure form of food was what the earth produced, fruits and vegetables.']
[571] [The Birds. Chorus singing: 'Near by the land of the Sciapodes there is a marsh, from the borders whereof the unwashed Socrates evokes the souls of men. Pisander came one day to see his soul, which he had left there when still alive. He offered a little victim, a camel, slit his throat and, following the example of Odysseus, stepped one pace backwards. Then that bat of a Chaerephon came up from hell to drink the camel's blood.' Trans. unknown.]
[572] [Not in Various History. Poss. in History of Animals.]
[573] [Bahman Yasht, ch. 2, 4.]
[574] [Source.]
[575] [Rit. ch. 150. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[576] [Lefebure, 'Book of Hades,' RP, 10, 79. See p. 132.]
[577] [Ibid., RP, 10, 79. See p. 133.]
[578] [This is also discussed at greater length in NG.]
[579] [Not in Lubbock or Tylor or Spencer.]
[580] [1 Sam. 28:7. 'Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.']
[581] [Source.]
[582] [Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts,
vol. 3, p. 265. 'R.V. viii. 48, 3. Apdnia somam amritdh abhuma aganma jyotir
aviddma devdn kim nunam asmdn krinavad arutih kim u dhurttir amrita.
"We have drunk the soma, we lave become immortal, we have entered into light, we
have known the gods; what can an enemy now do to us what can the malice of any
mortal effect, o immortal god?"*
(This passage is quoted in the commentary of Graudapada on the Sankhya Karika,
verse 2, and is translated (incorrectly as regards the last clause), by Prof.
Wilson, in p. 13 of his English version.)
* This text may he versified as follows:
"We've quaffed the soma bright,
And are immortalgrown;
We've entered into light,
And all the gods have known.
"What foeman now can harm,
Or mortal vex us, more?
Through thee, beyond alarm,
Immortal god, we soar."'
See also NG 1:388. This is
also quoted by Grant. See The Magical Revival, p. 88 (orig. ed.).]
[583] [Gen. 3:4-6. 'And the serpent
said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.']
[584] [Gen. 3:22. 'And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.']
[585] [Gen. 3:7. 'And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.']
[586] [Deut. 14:25-26. 'Then shalt
thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto
the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:
And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for
oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul
desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt
rejoice, thou, and thine household.']
[587] [Rit. ch. 89. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[588] [Of
Isis and Osiris, ch. 17.
Herodotus, The Histories, bk. 2, 78. 'In
social meetings among the rich, when the banquet is ended, a servant carries
round to the several guests a coffin, in which there is a wooden image of a
corpse, carved and painted to resemble nature as nearly as possible, about a
cubit or two cubits in length. As he shows it to each guest in turn, the servant
says, "Gaze here, and drink and be merry; for when you die, such will you be."
Tr. Rawlinson.
See also BB 1:296, BB 2:107,
etc.]
[589] [Aesop's Fables, Fable 5, 'The
Dog and the Shadow.' 'A DOG, crossing a little rivulet with a piece of flesh in
his mouth, saw his own shadow represented in the clear mirror, of the limpid
stream; and believing it to be another Dog who was carrying another piece of
flesh, he could not forbear catching at it: but was so far from getting any
thing by his greedy design, that he dropped the piece he had in his mouth, which
immediately sunk to the bottom, and was irrecoverably lost.
THE APPLICATION.
He that catches at more than belongs to him, justly deserves to lose what he
has. Yet nothing is more common,
at the same time more pernicious, than this selfish principle. It prevails, from
the king to the peasant; and all orders and degrees of men are, more or less,
infected with it. Great monarchs have been drawn in, by this greedy humour, to
grasp at the dominions of their neighbours; not that they wanted any tiling more
to feed their luxury, but to gratify their insatiable appetite for vain glory.
If the kings of Persia could have been contented with their own vast
territories, they had not lost all Asia for the sake of a little petty state of
Greece. And France, with all its glory, had, ere now, been reduced to the last
extremity, by the same unjust encroachments. He that thinks he sees another's
estate in a pack of cards or a box and dice, and ventures his own in the pursuit
of it, should not repine if he finds himself a beggar in the end.' Fables of
Aesop and Others, trans., Samuel Croxall, pp. 32-3, Derby, 1833.]
[590] [John Wordsworth, Bishop of Salisbury, 1895 till his death in 1911. Poss. in a small pamphlet he addressed the issue of cremation as there are few actual books to his name. But see the biography by E. W. Watson, p. 284, where it is stated. 'In regard to burial, the troubles of the diocese of Salisbury and their solution were in nowise peculiar to it. But the Bishop, following his father, used all his influence against the practice of cremation, and used his knowledge to discourage it.']
[591] [John 6:40. 'And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.']
[592] [Massey's own words.]
Notes to Massey's Ninth Lecture
[593] [Massey here discusses the souls as they are mapped out in the arcana of Egyptian mythology, and not the modern psychoanalytical souls of man, but in a way approaches very closely to the Jungian idea of there being parts of the self that can be brought together in a unity to form the whole man, here symbolised by the spiritual Christ. Jung distinguished his process of wholeness as 'individuation;' Massey sees it as a reaching backwards to absorb all the selves (or souls) through illumination, or rather, gnosis. The spiritual Christ here meant should never be confused with the historical, biblical one.]
[594] [Esoteric Buddhism (Trübner & Co. London, 1883). Sinnett makes no claim himself in this book, but rather it is Massey representing him as such, as many followers and expounders of Buddhism in the west have done so before and after him. Sinnett was a follower of Theosophy, as can readily be identified by the excerpt from this work in the following note below.]
[595] [Ibid., pp. 65-6. 'The
connotations of the present names are more accurate than those of the phrases
first selected, but the explanations originally given, as far as they went, were
quite in harmony with those now developed.
1. The Body Rupa.
2. Vitality Prana, or Jiva.
3. Astral Body Linga Sharira.
4. Animal Soul Kama Rupa.
5. Human Soul Manas.
6. Spiritual Soul Buddhi.
7. Spirit Atma.
Directly conceptions so transcendental as some of those included in this
analysis are set forth in a tabular statement, they seem to incur certain
degradation, against which, in endeavouring to realize clearly what is meant, we
must be ever on our guard. Certainly it would be impossible for even the most
skilful professor of occult science to exhibit each of these principles separate
and distinct from the others, as the physical elements of a compound body can be
separated by analysis and preserved independently of each other. The elements of
a physical body are all on the same plane of materiality, but the elements of
man are on very different planes.']
[596] [See above note.]
[597] [Unable to trace.]
[598] [Rev. 1:16. 'And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.']
[599] [Rit. ch. 17. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[600] [Consult any textbook on the Kabbalah (or Qabalah) for a discussion of the seven souls in this system and their relationship to the qabalistic Tree of Life.]
[601] [Source.]
[602] [Source.]
[603] [Divine Pymander, bk. 4, 48.]
[604] [Gen. 9:4-5. 'But flesh with
the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast
will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother
will I require the life of man.']
[605] [1 Cor. 15:22. 'For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.']
[606] [Ps. 146:3-4. 'Put not your
trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts
perish.']
[607] [I am unable to trace any such quote in Birch's, Renouf's or Pierret's tr.]
[608] [[Rit. ch. 145. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[609] [On Those Who Offer Sacrifice, ch. 4. 'It is testified also by the law
which commands two altars to be prepared, differing both as to the materials of
which they are made, as to the places in which they are erected, and as to the
purposes to which they are applied; for one is made of stones, carefully
selected so to fit one another, and unhewn, and it is erected in the open air,
near the steps of the temple, and it is for the purpose of sacrificing victims
which contain blood in them. And the other is made of gold, and is erected in
the inner part of the temple, within the first veil, and may not be seen by any
other human being except those of the priests who keep themselves pure, and it
is for the purpose of offering incense upon; from which it is plain that God
looks upon even the smallest offering of frankincense by a holy man as more
valuable than ten thousand beasts which may be sacrificed by one who is not
thoroughly virtuous.' Works, vol. 3, p. 233. Yonge's tr.
See also On Drunkenness, ch. 21.
'But whenever it passes over to is in political affairs, then it lays aside the
man's robe and assumes the other embroidered one of a most admirable beauty to
look at; for life being a thing of great variety and of great changes, requires
the diversified wisdom of the pilot who is to hold the helm; and he will appear
in the outer conspicuous altar of life to exercise abundant prudence with
respect to the skin, and flesh, and blood, and everything relating to the body,
in order not to offend the common multitude which gives the second place in
honour to the good things of the body in close proximity to the good things of
the soul; and at the inner altar he will use bloodless, fleshless, incorporeal
things, things proceeding from reasoning alone, which are compared to
frankincense and other burnt spices; for as these fill the nostrils, so do those
fill the whole region of the soul with fragrance.' Works, vol. 1, p. 470.
Yonge's tr.]
[610] [Unable to trace.]
[611] [Source.]
[612] [Primitive Culture, vol. 1, p. 430. 'To understand the popular conceptions of the human soul or spirit, it is instructive to notice the words which have been found suitable to express it. The ghost or phantasm seen by the dreamer or the visionary is an unsubstantial form, like a shadow or reflexion, and thus the familiar term of the shade comes in to express the soul.']
[613] [Rit. ch. 85. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[614] [Gospel of the Egyptians.]
[615] [Gal. 3:28. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.']
[616] [Renouf, 'Tale of the Two Brothers,' RP, 2, 137.]
[617] [Source.]
[618] [Naville, 'The Addresses of Horus to Osiris,' RP, 10, 159. See p. 164.]
[619] [Rit. ch. 78. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[620] [See NG section 9.]
[621] [Rit. ch. 15. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[622] [Birch, 'Inscription of Una,' RP, 2, 1. See p. 8.]
[623] [Divine Pymander, bk. 4, 23.]
[624] [Rev. 13:18. 'Here is wisdom.
Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the
number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.'
Rev. 17:11. 'And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and
is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.']
[625] [Irenaeus, Against Heresies, bk. 1, ch. 1. 'The female Æons, too, became all as Aletheia, and Zoe, and Spiritus, and Ecclesia. Everything, then, being thus established, and brought into a state of perfect rest, they next tell us that these beings sang praises with great joy to the Propator, who himself shared in the abounding exaltation. Then, out of gratitude for the great benefit which had been conferred on them, the whole Pleroma of the Æons, with one design and desire, and with the concurrence of Christ and the Holy Spirit, their Father also setting the seal of his approval on their conduct, brought together whatever each one had in himself of the greatest beauty and preciousness; and uniting all these contributions so as skilfully to blend the whole, they produced, to the honour and glory of Bythus, a being of most perfect beauty, the very star of the Pleroma, and the perfect fruit [of it], namely Jesus.' ANCL, 5, 11.]
[626] [Rit. ch. 125. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[627] [Unable to trace.]
[628] [Unable to trace.]
[629] [Legends of the Sybil (not to be confused with the Sibyline Oracles). Unable to trace this title.]
[630] [John 1:9. 'That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.']
[631] [Cf. Vulgate with AV.
Matt. 1:17. 'omnes ergo generationes ab Abraham usque ad David generationes
quattuordecim et a David usque ad transmigrationem Babylonis generationes
quattuordecim et a transmigratione Babylonis usque ad Christum
generationes quattuordecim.'
Ibid. 'So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen
generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen
generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are
fourteen generations.']
[632] [Source.]
[633] [Gen. 3:22. 'And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.']
[634] [John 11:25. 'Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.']
[635] [Rit. ch. 79. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[636] [Rit. ch. 64. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[637] [Esoteric Buddhism, pp. 67-8. 'The third principle, the Astral Body, or Linga Sharira, is an ethereal duplicate of the physical body, its original design. It guides Jiva in its work on the physical particles, and causes it to build up the shape which these assume. Vitalized itself by the higher principles, its unity is only preserved by the union of the whole group. At death it is disembodied for a brief period, and, under some abnormal conditions, may even be temporarily visible to the external sight of still living persons. Under such conditions it is taken of course for the ghost of the departed person. Spectral apparitions may sometimes be occasioned in other ways, but the third principle, when that results in a visible phenomenon, is a mere aggregation of molecules in a peculiar state, having no life or consciousness of any kind whatever. It is no more a being than any cloud-wreath in the sky which happens to settle into the semblance of some animal form. Broadly speaking, the Linga Sharira never leaves the body except at death, nor migrates far from the body even in that case. When seen at all, and this can but rarely occur, it can only be seen near where the physical body still lies. In some very peculiar cases of spiritualistic mediumship, it may for a short time exude from the physical body and be visible near it, but the medium in such cases stands the while in considerable danger of his life.']
[638] [Faust, pt. 1, p. 198 (of 1900
ed.) 'Ah! even as she sang, there sprang
A small red mouse from her lips of coral.' Latham's tr.]
[639] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 6. 'When they would signify God, or height, or lowness, or excellence, or blood, or victory, (or Ares, or Aphrodite,) [Hor or Hathor], they delineate a HAWK. They symbolize by it God, because the bird is prolific and long-lived, or perhaps rather because it seems to be an image of the sun, being capable of looking more intently towards his rays than all other winged creatures: and hence physicians for the cure of the eyes use the herb hawkweed: hence also it is, that under the form of a HAWK, they sometimes depict the sun as lord of vision. And they use it to denote height, because other birds, when they would soar on high, move themselves from side to side, being incapable of ascending vertically; but the hawk alone soars directly upwards. And they use it as a symbol of lowness, because other animals move not in a vertical line, but descend obliquely; the hawk, however, stoops directly down upon any thing beneath it. And they use it to denote excellence, because it appears to excel all birds—and for blood, because they say that this animal does not drink water, but blood—and for victory, because it shews itself capable of overcoming every winged creature; for when pressed by some more powerful bird, it directly turns itself in the air upon its back, and fights with its claws extended upwards, and its wings and back below; and its opponent being unable to do the like, is overcome.']
[640] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 75.]
[641] [Bundahish, ch. 15, 31.]
[642] [Unable to trace.]
[643] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 62. 'To denote a people obedient to their king, they depict a BEE, for this is the only one of all creatures which has a king whom the rest of the tribe of bees obey, as men serve their king. And they intimate from the honey's .... from the force of the creature's sting .... that ... should be both lenient and firm in ... and administration.']
[644] [Unable to trace.]
[645] [This passage can be read as a summation of Massey's entire life-time's work in which he sought to encapsulate his three great works; BB, NG and AE. It is of benefit to the reader, when reading these works, to always bear this passage in mind.]
[646] [Esoteric Buddhism, p. 60. 'These natural facts are concerned with the premature development in occult adepts of faculties which mankind at large has not yet evolved ; and these faculties, in turn, enable their possessors to explore the mysteries of Nature, and verify the esoteric doctrines, setting forth its grand design. The practical student of occultism may develop the faculties first, and apply them to the observation of Nature afterwards; but the exhibition of the theory of Nature for Western readers merely seeking its intellectual comprehension, must precede consideration of the inner senses, which occult research employs.']
[647] [Gal. 3:13. 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.']
[648] [1 Cor. 12:3. 'Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.']
[649] [Rom. 10:8. 'But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.']
[650] [Unable to trace.]
[651] [Rom. 1:24-32. 'Wherefore God
also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to
dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did
change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their
lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them
over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil
things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy
of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.']
[652] [Wis. 14:12-31. 'They perform ritual murders of children and secret ceremonies and the frenzied orgies of unnatural cults; the purity of life and marriage is abandoned; and a man treacherously murders his neighbour or corrupts his wife and breaks his heart. All is in chaos-bloody murder, theft and fraud, corruption, treachery, riot, jury, honest men driven to distraction; ingratitude, moral corruption, sexual perversion, breakdown of marriage, adultery, debauchery. For the worship of idols, whose names it is wrong even to mention, is the beginning, cause, and end of every evil. Men either indulge themselves to the point of madness, or produce inspired utterance which is all lies, or live dishonest lives, or break their oath without scruple. They perjure themselves and expect no harm because the idols they trust in are lifeless. On two counts judgement will over take them: because in their devotion to idols they have thought wrongly about God, and because, in their contempt for religion, they have deliberately perjured themselves. It is not any power in what they swear by, but the nemesis of sin, that always pursues the transgression of the wicked.' NEB]
[653] [John 11:43-4. 'And when he
thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his
face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let
him go.']
Notes to Massey's Ninth Lecture (Continued)
[655] [See p. 15 of the 'Historical Jesus and Mythical Christ'; also NG 2:419.]
[656] [W. E. Coleman, of Presidio, San Francisco, California. A lecturer of whom little else is known.]
[657] [I have yet to trace a copy of this article myself, but when I do I will post the article in its entirety here.]
[658] [Possibly a reference to Samuel Birch's successor, Le Page Renouf. But see below.]
[659] [The underlining is absent in most copies of the printed version of this lecture. I have added it where I think it rightly belongs, i.e. on the plural possibility of authorship.]
[660] [I.e. that his works, BB and NG in particular, are works of 'reclamation' as stated in the subtitle.]
[661] [Massey's own words.]
[662] [See note 657 above.]
[664] [See note 657 above, etc.]
[665] [Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Handwörtenbuch über das Alte Testament, p. 1388, col. 2.]
[666] [Ibid., p. 1376, col. 1.]
[667] [Is. 9:6. 'For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.']
[668] [Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Handwörtenbuch über das Alte Testament.]
[669] [Rit. ch. 42. Cf. Renouf's tr.]
[670] [Cf. John 7:38 ('He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,'), and 4:14 ('But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life,').]
[671] [John 5:2-4. 'Now there is at
Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue
Bethesda, having five porches.
In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water.
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the
water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made
whole of whatsoever disease he had.' The last verse is omitted entirely in the
RV, although marginalia includes it in the Oxford 1881 edition.]
[673] [Egypt's Place in Universal History, vol. 5, pp. 123-333. See the Ritual.]
[674] [HL, p. 177. 'The most
accurate knowledge of the Egyptian vocabulary and grammar will, however, not
suffice to pierce the obscurity arising from what M. de Rouge called symbols or
allegories which are in fact simply mythological allusions. The difficulty is
not in literally translating the text, but in understanding the meaning which
lies concealed beneath familiar words. Dr. Birch's translation, though made
about thirty years ago, before some of the most important discoveries of the
full meanings of words, may still be considered extremely exact as a rendering
of the corrupt Turin text, and to an Englishman gives nearly as correct an
impression of the original as the text itself would do to an Egyptian who had
not been carefully taught the mysteries of his religion. Many parts of this
translation, however, when most faithful to the original, must, in consequence
of that very fidelity, be utterly unintelligible to an English reader.
The Book of the Dead, I repeat, is essentially mythological, and, like
all other Egyptian books of the kind, it assumes the reader's thorough knowledge
of the myths and legends. It is perhaps hopeless to expect that the legends will
be recovered; the allusions to them will no doubt always remain obscure. But the
mythical personages who are constantly mentioned are the very gods about whom I
spoke in the last Lecture.']
[675] [See above note.]
[676] [See Bibliography for relevant entries.]
[677] [Massey's own words.]
[678] [A literary correspondent writes of this Sahur: 'I know little about Egyptology, but I do know that the fellow deserves a—well, a "serendible good drubbing" for his insolence to you. Should you reply, please give him a kick from me, if only in a footnote.' Here, at least. Massey is able to demonstrate humour, even in the face of such adversity.]
[679] [Religio-philosophical Journal.]
[680] [Cf. the Second Book of Esdras—a pre-Christian book of the secret wisdom. And the Revised Version.]
[681] [Massey's own words.]
[682] [HL, pp. 243-4. 'It may be confidently asserted that neither Hebrews nor Greeks borrowed any of their ideas from Egypt. It ought, I think, to be a matter of wonder that, after a long time of bondage, the Israelites left Egypt without having even learnt the length of the year.']
[683] [See Bibliography for relevant entries.]
[684] [HL, pp. 237-8. 'And this
metaphorical language reacted upon thought, and, as in other religions, obtained
the mastery.
The triumph of the symbol over the thought is most sensibly visible in the
development of the worship of the Apis Bull. This worship is indeed as old as
the age of the Pyramids, but an inspection of the tombs of the bulls in the
Serapeum discovered by M. Mariette under the sands of Saqara, shows how
immeasurably greater the devotion to the sacred animals was in the later times
than in the former.']
[685] [Ibid., p. 251. 'Mythology, we know, is the disease which springs up at a peculiar stage of human culture, and is in its first stage as harmless as it is inevitable. It ceases to be harmless when its original meaning is forgotten, when, instead of being the simple expression of man's intuition of real facts, it obtains a mastery over his thought, and leads him to conclusions which are not involved in the original premises.']
[686] [Ibid., p. 177. 'The Book
of the Dead, I repeat, is essentially mythological, and, like all other
Egyptian books of the kind, it assumes the reader's thorough knowledge of the
myths and legends. It is perhaps hopeless to expect that the legends will be
recovered; the allusions to them will no doubt always remain obscure. But the
mythical personages who are constantly mentioned are the very gods about whom I
spoke in the last Lecture.'
See note 674 above.]
[687] [Unable to trace.]
[688] [HL, p. 30. 'All Mr. McLennan's statements about the ancient nations are based on equally worthless authorities. He goes for his facts to Bryant and to Lempriere's Dictionary.']
[689] [It should be noted here that Massey too is not immune from making such mistakes himself when it comes to spelling author's names. Besides, it is more likely the copyist or publisher's fault. See my intro to this site.]
[690] [HL, p. 30. 'Birch, Lepsius
or Mariette, would at once tell you the age of a statue, inscription or
manuscript, without looking at the text which actually mentions the exact date.
Painting, as understood in these later centuries, was entirely unknown to the
Egyptians, though they had coloured pictures; but the harmony of colours was
thoroughly understood by them, and their employment of colour in architecture or
generally in decoration puts our modern efforts to shame.']
[691] [Ibid., pp. 29-30. 'The authority for this statement is a passage from Chambers Encyclopaedia, to the effect that "Dupuis, in his Origine des Cultes, has, from a careful investigation of the position of these signs, and calculating precession at the usual rate, arrived at a conclusion that the earliest of them date from 4000 B.C. M. Fourier, in his Recherches sur la Science, makes the representation at Esne 1800 years older than M. Dupuis." Mr. McLellan is here more than half a century behind his age. Every tourist on the Nile in possession of Murray's Handbook, knows that both Dupuis and Fourier were ludicrously mistaken. The Zodiacal representations in question, far from being of great antiquity, belong to the very latest period of Egyptian workmanship; they are not anterior to the Christian era or the Roman domination; they were borrowed from the Greeks, and were entirely unknown to the ancient Egyptians.']
[692] [See above note.]
[693] [Prolegomena, pp. 416-7. 'There is indeed hardly a great and fruitful idea in the Jewish or Christian systems, which has not its analogy in the Egyptian faith. The development of the one God into a Trinity; the incarnation of the Mediating Deity in a virgin, and without a father; his conflict and his momentary defeat by the powers of darkness; his partial victory (for the enemy is not destroyed); his resurrection and reign over an eternal kingdom with his justified saints; his distinction from, and yet identity with, the uncreate, incomprehensible Father, whose form is unknown, and who dwelleth not in temples made with hands all these theological conceptions pervade the oldest religion of Egypt. So too the contrast, and even the apparent inconsistencies between our moral and theological beliefs the vacillating attribution of sin and guilt partly to moral weakness, partly to the interference of evil spirits, and likewise of righteousness to moral worth, and again to the help of good genii or angels; the immortality of the soul and its final judgment, the purgatorial fire, the tortures of the damned all these things have met us in the Egyptian Ritual and moral treatises. So, too, the purely human side of morals, and the catalogue of virtues and vices, are by natural consequence as like as are the theoretical systems. But I recoil from opening this great subject now; it is enough to have lifted the veil and shown the scene of many a future contest.']
[694] [Personal communication.]
Notes to Massey's Tenth Lecture
[695] [This last lecture by Massey offers nothing in the way of it title, for as far as he was concerned the coming religion had already been around for thousands of years, only its face has somewhat changed, a surface appearance shaped by bigotry and ignorance, but its deep roots remained very much intact.]
[696] [Horace Greeley, 1811-1872, founder and editor of the New York Tribune. Poss. an article therein.]
[697] [Massey's own words.]
[698] [Massey's own words.]
[699] [Unable to trace.]
[700] [[Unable to identify.]
[701] [[Unable to trace.]
[702] [Not able to determine this ref. or who Mrs. Grundy is. Poss. refers to a mythical, fictional creation.]
[703] [Matt. 5:5. 'Blessed are the
meek: for they shall inherit the earth.'
Matt. 5:7. 'Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.']
[704] [George W. Pendleton was born on 17/04/1851. He died 09/01/1886, being lost at sea. Where this anecdote derives from I am unsure, poss. DNB.]
[705] [Algernon Swinburne was known for his passion for the English vice (i.e., flagellation), and often included it in his poetry, although very much concealed.]
[706] [Christopher Marlowe's Dr Faustus. Mephistopheles seduces Faust into selling his soul.]
[707] [Bon-mots, p. 112. 'A jest ended the conversation in which Jerrold had said this. Somebody mentioned the Jews in connection with Rachel, and Jerrold exclaimed, "as somebody once said in the 'House,' we owe much to the Jews."']
[708] [William Makepeace Thackeray published Vanity Fair serially between 1847-48 in London. It was supposed to be an entertaining satire about corrupt and relentless social climbing, with a bitter humour, full of cynicism, and became the talk of the town, especially regarding the (anti-) heroine Becky Sharp. Where Massey derives this anecdote, I am not sure.]
[709] [Massey's own words.]
[710] [Letter, dated approx. 1822. '... Going to marry her? Impossible! You mean a part of her: he could not marry
her all himself. It would be a case, not of bigamy but trigamy; there is enough
of her to furnish wives for the whole parish. One man marry her! It is
monstrous! You might people a colony with her; or give an assembly with
her; or perhaps take your morning's walk round her, always provided there were
frequent resting places, and you were in rude health. I was once rash enough to
try walking round her before breakfast, but got only half way and gave up
exhausted. Or you might read the Riot Act and disperse her; in short, you
might do anything but marry her!
And when he saw someone stroking a tortoise, he remarked that 'One may as well
stroke the roof of St. Paul's Cathedral in the hope of pleasing the Dean and
Chapter.' From a blogsite as no hard copy of this letter appears to be
available.]
[711] [Divine Pymander, bk. 1, 2.]
[712] [Source.]
[713] [Unable to trace. Not in Miscellaneous Essays, History of Civilization, or Posthumous Essays.]
[714] [Unable to trace.]
[715] [Mahmud the Great, was the Sultan of
Ghazani (c. 1029 AD) who styled himself 'The Image-Breaker.' A tyrant, a
fanatic, a great conqueror, the poet James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) wrote a
poem about him:
'Old events have modern meanings; only that survives
Of past history which finds kindred in all hearts and lives.
Mahmood once, the idol-breaker, spreader of the Faith,
Was at Sumnat tempted sorely, as the legend saith.
In the great pagoda's centre, monstrous and abhorred,
Granite on a throne of granite, sat the temple's lord,
Mahmood paused a moment, silenced by the silent face
That, with eyes of stone unwavering, awed the ancient place.
Then the Brahmins knelt before him, by his doubt made bold,
Pledging for their idol's ransom countless gems and gold.
Gold was yellow dirt to Mahmood, but of precious use,
Since from it the roots of power suck a potent juice.
'Were yon stone alone in question, this would please me well,'
Mahmood said; 'but, with the block there, I my truth must sell.
'Wealth and rule slip down with Fortune, as her wheel turns round;
He who keeps his faith, he only cannot be discrowned.
'Little were a change of station, loss of life or crown,
But the wreck were past retrieving if the Man fell down.'
So his iron mace he lifted, smote with might and main,
And the idol, on the pavement tumbling, burst in twain.
Luck obeys the downright striker; from the hollow core,
Fifty times the Brahmins' offer deluged all the floor.'
From Under the Willows and Other Poems, Boston, 1869, pp. 135-7.]
[716] [Massey's own words.]