Chapter 114
Ammonius Saccus (a Greek philosopher, founder of the Neo-platonic school) taught that:
"Christianity and Paganism, when rightly understood, differ in no essential points, but had a common origin, _and are really one and the same thing_."[411:3]
Justin explains the thing in the following manner:
"It having reached the devil's ears that the prophets had foretold that Christ would come... he (the devil) set the heathen poets to bring forward a great many who should be called sons of Jove, (_i. e._, "The Sons of G.o.d.") The devil laying his scheme in this, to get men to imagine that the _true_ history of Christ was of the same character as the prodigious fables and poetic stories."[411:4]
Caecilius, in the Octavius of Minucius Felix, says:
"All these fragments of crack-brained opiniatry and silly solaces played off in the sweetness of song by (the) deceitful (Pagan) poets, by you too credulous creatures (_i. e._, the Christians) have been shamefully reformed and made over to your own G.o.d."[411:5]
Celsus, the Epicurean philosopher, wrote that:
"The Christian religion contains nothing but what Christians hold in common with heathens; nothing new, or truly great."[411:6]
This a.s.sertion is fully verified by Justin Martyr, in his apology to the Emperor Adrian, which is one of the most remarkable admissions ever made by a Christian writer. He says:
"In saying that all things were made in this beautiful order by G.o.d, what do we seem to say more than Plato? When we teach a general conflagration, what do we teach more than the Stoics? By opposing the wors.h.i.+p of the works of men's hands, we concur with Menander, the comedian; and by declaring the Logos, the first begotten of G.o.d, our master Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin, without any human mixture, to be crucified and dead, and to have rose again, and ascended into heaven: _we say no more in this, than what you say of those whom you style the Sons of Jove_. For you need not be told what a parcel of sons, the writers most in vogue among you, a.s.sign to Jove; there's Mercury, Jove's interpreter, in imitation of the Logos, in wors.h.i.+p among you. There's aesculapius, the physician, smitten by a thunderbolt, and after that ascending into heaven. There's Bacchus, torn to pieces; and Hercules, burnt to get rid of his pains. There's Pollux and Castor, the sons of Jove by Leda, and Perseus by Danae; and not to mention others, I would fain know why you always deify the departed emperors and have a fellow at hand to make affidavit that he saw Caesar mount to heaven from the funeral pile?
"As to the son of G.o.d, called Jesus, should we allow him to be nothing more than man, yet the t.i.tle of the son of G.o.d is very justifiable, upon the account of his wisdom, considering that you have your Mercury in wors.h.i.+p, under the t.i.tle of the Word and Messenger of G.o.d.
"_As to the objection of our Jesus's being crucified_, I say, that suffering was common to all the forementioned sons of Jove, but only they suffered another kind of death. As to his being born of a virgin, you have your Perseus to balance that.
As to his curing the lame, and the paralytic, and such as were cripples from birth, this is little more than what you say of your aesculapius."[412:1]
The most celebrated Fathers of the Christian church, the most frequently quoted, and those whose names stand the highest were nothing more nor less than Pagans, being born and educated Pagans. Pantaenus (A. D. 193) was one of these half-Pagan, half-Christian, Fathers. He at one time presided in the school of the faithful in _Alexandria_ in Egypt, and was celebrated on account of his learning. He was brought up in the Stoic philosophy.[412:2]
Clemens Alexandrinus (A. D. 194) or St. Clement of Alexandria, was another Christian Father of the same sort, being originally a Pagan. He succeeded Pantaenus as president of the _monkish_ university at Alexandria. His works are very extensive, and his authority very high in the church.[412:3]
Tertullian (A. D. 200) may next be mentioned. He also was originally a Pagan, and at one time Presbyter of the Christian church of Carthage, in Africa. The following is a specimen of his manner of reasoning on the evidences of Christianity. He says:
"I find no other means to prove myself to be impudent with success, and happily a fool, than by my contempt of shame; as, for instance--I maintain that the Son of G.o.d was born; why am I not ashamed of maintaining such a thing? Why! but because it is itself a shameful thing. I maintain that the Son of G.o.d died: well, that is wholly credible because it is monstrously absurd. I maintain that after having been buried, he rose again: and that I take to be absolutely true, because it was manifestly impossible."[412:4]
Origen (A. D. 230), one of the s.h.i.+ning lights of the Christian church, was another Father of this cla.s.s. Porphyry (a Neo-platonist philosopher) objects to him on this account.[413:1]
He also was born in the great cradle and nursery of superst.i.tion--Egypt--and studied under that celebrated philosopher, Ammonius
St. Gregory (A. D. 240), bishop of Neo-Caesarea in Pontus, was another celebrated Christian Father, born of Pagan parents and educated a Pagan.
He is called Thaumaturgus, or the wonder-worker, and is said to have performed miracles when still a Pagan.[413:4] He, too, was an Alexandrian student. This is the Gregory who was commended by his namesake of Nyssa for changing the Pagan festivals into Christian holidays, the better to draw the heathen to the religion of Christ.[413:5]
Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian, in speaking of the Christian church during the second century, says:
"The profound respect that was paid to the Greek and Roman _mysteries_, and the extraordinary sanct.i.ty that was attributed to them, induced the Christians to give their religion a _mystic_ air, in order to put it upon an equal footing, in point of dignity, with that of the Pagans. For this purpose they gave the name of _mysteries_ to the inst.i.tutions of the gospel, and decorated, particularly the holy sacrament, with that solemn t.i.tle. They used, in that sacred inst.i.tution, as also in that of baptism, several of the terms employed in the heathen mysteries, and proceeded so far at length, as even to adopt some of the rites and ceremonies of which those renowned mysteries consisted."[413:6]
We have seen, then, that the only difference between Christianity and Paganism is that Brahma, Ormuzd, Osiris, Zeus, Jupiter, etc., are called by another name; Crishna, Buddha, Bacchus, Adonis, Mithras, etc., have been turned into Christ Jesus: Venus' pigeon into the Holy Ghost; Diana, Isis, Devaki, etc., into the Virgin Mary; and the demi-G.o.ds and heroes into saints. The exploits of the one were represented as the miracles of the other. Pagan festivals became Christian holidays, and Pagan temples became Christian churches.
Mr. Mahaffy, Fellow and Tutor in Trinity College, and Lecturer on Ancient History in the University of Dublin, ends his "Prolegomena to Ancient History" in the following manner:
"There is indeed, hardly a great or fruitful idea in the Jewish or Christian systems, which has not its a.n.a.logy in the (ancient) Egyptian faith. The development of the one G.o.d 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 ident.i.ty 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--_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 consequences as like as are the theological 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._"[414:1]
In regard to the _moral sentiments_ expressed in the books of the New Testament, and believed by the majority of Christians to be peculiar to Christianity, we shall touch them but lightly, as this has already been done so frequently by many able scholars.
The moral doctrines that appear in the New Testament, even the sayings of the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer, are found with slight variation, among the Rabbins, who have certainly borrowed nothing out of the New Testament.
Christian teachers have delighted to exhibit the essential superiority of Christianity to Judaism, have quoted with triumph the maxims that are said to have fallen from the lips of Jesus, and which, they surmised, could not be paralleled in the elder Scriptures, and have put the least favorable construction on such pa.s.sages in the ancient books as seemed to contain the thoughts of evangelists and apostles. A more ingenious study of the Hebrew law, according to the oldest traditions, as well as its later interpretations by the prophets, reduces these differences materially by bringing into relief sentiments and precepts whereof the New Testament morality is but an echo.
There are pa.s.sages in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, even tenderer in their humanity than anything in the Gospels. The preacher from the Mount, the prophet of the Beat.i.tudes, does but repeat with persuasive lips what the law-givers of his race proclaimed in mighty tones of command. Such an acquaintance with the later literature of the Jews as is really obtained now from popular sources, will convince the ordinarily fair mind that the originality of the New Testament has been greatly over-estimated.
"To feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, bury the dead, loyally serve the king, forms the first duty of a pious man and faithful subject,"
is an abstract from the Egyptian "Book of the Dead," the oldest Bible in the world.
Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, born 551 B. C., said:
"Obey Heaven, and follow the orders of Him who governs it.
_Love your neighbor as yourself._ Do to another what you would he should do unto you; and do not unto another what you would should not be done unto you; thou only needest this law alone, it is the foundation and principle of all the rest.
Acknowledge thy benefits by the return of other benefits, _but never revenge injuries_."[415:1]
The following extracts from Manu and the _Maha-bharata_, an Indian epic poem, written many centuries before the time of Christ Jesus,[415:2]
compared with similar sentiment contained in the books of the New Testament, are very striking.
"An evil-minded man is quick to see his neighbor's faults, though small as mustard-seed; but when he turns his eyes towards his own, though large as Bilva fruit, he none descries." (Maha-bharata.)
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Matt.
vii. 3.)
"Conquer a man who never gives by gifts; subdue untruthful men by truthfulness; vanquish an angry man by gentleness; and overcome the evil man by goodness." (Ibid.)
"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
(Romans, xii. 21.)
"To injure none by thought or word or deed, to give to others, and be kind to all--this is the constant duty of the good. High-minded men delight in doing good, without a thought of their own interest; when they confer a benefit on others, they reckon not on favors in return."
(Ibid.)
"Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." (Luke, vii. 35.)
"Two persons will hereafter be exalted above the heavens--the man with boundless power, who yet forbears to use it indiscreetly, and he who is not rich, and yet can give." (Ibid.)
"Just heaven is not so pleased with costly gifts, offered in hope of future recompense, as with the merest trifle set apart from honest gains, and sanctified by faith." (Ibid.)
"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all _they_ did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast all that she had, even all her living." (Mark, xii. 41-44.)
"To curb the tongue and moderate the speech, is held to be the hardest of all tasks. The words of him who talk too volubly have neither substance nor variety." (Ibid.)
"But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." (James, iii. 8.)
"Even to foes who visit us as guests due hospitality should be displayed; the tree screens with its leaves, the man who fells it."
(Ibid.)
"Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." (Rom. xii. 20.)