the sex worship and symbolism of primitive races an interpretation by sanger brown ii., m. d. _assistant physician, bloomingdale hospital_ _with an introduction by james h. leuba_ boston: richard g. badger toronto: the copp clark co., limited _copyright , by richard g. badger_ _all rights reserved_ _the gorham press, boston, u. s. a._ dedicated to my wife helen williston brown preface the greater part of the first three chapters of this book appeared in the _journal of abnormal psychology_ in the december-january number of - and the february-march number of . this material is reprinted here by the kind permission of the editor of that journal. this part of the subject is chiefly historical and the data here given is accessible as indicated by the references throughout the text, although many of these books are difficult to secure or are out of print. for this historical material i am particularly indebted to the writings of hargrave jennings, richard payne knight and doctor thomas inman. most of the reference matter coming under the general heading of nature worship was obtained from comparatively recent sources, such as the publications of the bureau of american ethnology, of the smithsonian institute, and certain publications of the american museum of natural history. frazer's _golden bough_ and other writings of j. g. frazer on anthropology furnished much valuable information. the writings of special investigators, among others those of spencer, and a. w. howitt, on primitive australian tribes, and w. h. r. rivers on the todas have been freely drawn upon. a number of other books and references have been made use of, as indicated throughout the text. i have found two books by miss j. harrison, _i. e._, _themis_ and _ancient art and ritual_, of great value in interpreting primitive ceremonies and primitive customs in general. my main object has been to give the life history of a primitive motive in the development of the race, and to emphasize the dynamic significance of this motive. later other motives may be dealt with in more detail if it is proved that both in normal and abnormal psychology we may best understand the mental development of the individual through our knowledge of the development of the race. i wish to take this opportunity to express my appreciation of the assistance rendered me by my wife. contents chapter page i simple sex worship ii symbolism iii sun myths, mysteries and decadent sex worship iv interpretations references and bibliography index introduction our knowledge of religion receives contributions from every quarter; even the student of mental diseases finds information that is of service to the student of religion. the reverse is equally true: a knowledge of religion sheds light upon even the science of mental disorders. in this short book, a psychiatrist seeks in the study of one aspect of religious practice--the worship of the procreating power--to gain a clearer understanding of the forms taken by certain kinds of mental diseases. his theory is that we may expect diseased minds to reproduce, or return to expressions of desire customary and official in societies of lower culture. this is, as a matter of fact, less a theory than a statement of observed facts; of this, the reader of these pages, if familiar with certain mental disorders, may readily convince himself. but doctor brown's intention is not merely, perhaps not primarily, to draw the attention of the psychiatrist to a neglected source of information, he aims at something of wider import and addresses a wider public. his purpose is no less than the tracing of the history of that great motive of action, the sex passion, as it appears in religion and the interpretation of its significance. those who come to this book without the preparation of the specialist will find it not only replete with novel and surprising facts, but will find these facts placed in such a relation to each other and to life in general, as to illuminate both religion and human nature. this important result is made possible by the point of view from which the author writes, the point of view of racial development which has proved its fertility in so many directions. james h. leuba. the sex worship and symbolism of primitive races: an interpretation chapter i simple sex worship psychiatry, during recent years, has found it to its advantage to turn to related sciences and allied branches of study for the explanation of a number of the peculiar symptoms of abnormal mental states. of these related studies, none have been of greater value than those which throw light on the mental development of either the individual or the race. in primitive races we discover a number of inherent motives which are of interest from the standpoint of mental evolution. these motives are expressed in a very interesting symbolism. it is the duty of the psychiatrist to see to what extent these primitive motives operate unconsciously in abnormal mental conditions, and also to learn whether an insight into the symbolism of mental diseases may be gained, through comparison, by a study of the symbolism of primitive races. in the following discussion one particular motive with its accompanying symbolism is dealt with. a great many of the institutions and usages of our present day civilization originated at a very early period in the history of the race. many of these usages are carried on in modified form century after century, after they have lost the meaning which they originally possessed; it must be remembered, however, that in primitive races they were of importance, and they arose because they served a useful end. from the study of these remnants of former days, we are able to learn the trends of thought which activated and inspired the minds of primitive people. when we clearly understand these motives, we may then judge the extent of their influence on our present day thought and tendencies. it has only been during comparatively recent times that the importance of primitive beliefs and practices, from the standpoint of mental evolution, has been appreciated. formerly, primitive man was regarded merely as a curiosity, and not as an individual from whom anything of any value whatever was to be learned. but more recent studies have changed all this. in order to illustrate this matter of the evolution and development of the human mind we can very profitably quote from sir j. g. frazer:[ ] "for by comparison with civilized man the savage represents an arrested or rather a retarded state of social development, and an examination of his customs and beliefs accordingly supplies the same sort of evidence of the evolution of the human mind that an examination of the embryo supplies of the evolution of the human body. to put it otherwise, a savage is to a civilized man as a child is to an adult; and just as a gradual growth of intelligence in a child corresponds to, and in a sense recapitulates, the gradual growth of intelligence in the species, so a study of savage society at various stages of evolution enables us to follow approximately, though of course not exactly, the road by which the ancestors of the higher races must have travelled in their progress upward through barbarism to civilization. in short, savagery is the primitive condition of mankind, and if we would understand what primitive man was we must know what the savage now is." to properly interpret these beliefs and conduct, certain facts must be kept in mind. one is that with primitive races the group stands for the unit, and the individual has little if any personality distinct from the group. this social state gives rise to what is spoken of as collective thought, collective feeling, group action, etc. miss j. harrison[ ] considers this conception a very important one in primitive religious development. all that the race expresses, all that it believes, is an expression of collective feeling. as a result of this group thought, feelings and beliefs are developed which are entertained by every individual of the community. these racial feelings become a part of the race itself; they are inseparable from it, and they find expression in the loftiest of sentiments and the most earnest of religious beliefs. our study is not primarily concerned with religious development, but since early man's deepest feelings found expression in what later became a religion, it is necessary to search for racial motives in primitive religions. these feelings are in no way comparable to the conscious religious beliefs of later times, which were worked out in many instances by an ingenious priesthood. the period when group feeling predominated far antedated such civilizations as those of egypt and later greece, for example, in which very elaborate religious systems existed. with primitive people these deeper feelings appear to arise unconsciously rather than consciously. moreover, probably as a result of collective thought and feeling, motives and beliefs are developed and elaborated in a way quite beyond the mental capacity of any one individual of the community. beliefs are formulated which have a grandeur of conception and a beauty of expression well worthy of admiration. the beauty and native vigor of some of the earlier myths are examples of this. they live in the tribe as traditions. no one person seems to have written them; in fact, they are added to, changed and improved until they represent the highest expression of national feelings. gilbert murray has indicated this in the _rise of the greek epic_. he emphasizes that there is found an expression of racial feelings, built up from many sources. such sagas are not the property of any one individual. the feelings they express are associated with the unconscious of the race, if such a term is permissible. gilbert murray,[ ] in interpreting this element in primitive literature states: "we have also, i suspect, a strange unanalyzed vibration below the surface, an undercurrent of desires and fears, and passions, long slumbering yet eternally familiar, which have for thousands of years lain near the root of our most intimate emotions and been wrought into the fabric of our most magical dreams. how far in the past ages this stream may reach back i dare not even surmise; but it sometimes seems as if the power of stirring it or moving with it were one of the last secrets of genius." the importance of the collective or group feeling has been emphasized as thereby one sees how a fundamental racial motive becomes an integral part of the mental life of each and every member of the group. in primitive life every individual contributes something to this motive and in turn receives something from it. it enters into the developing mind and becomes inseparably associated with it. in studying the evolution of these motives one is studying the evolution of the human mind. the motive which we have undertaken to explain has to do with one of the most important of instincts, _i. e._, that of reproduction. the feelings associated with this instinct were raised to the dignity of religion, and in this we have the worship of sex. this worship is to be regarded as an unconscious racial expression, the result of group or collective feeling, the dynamic significance of which, from a biological standpoint, will appear later. before proceeding, it is desirable to make reference to some of our sources of information. there are plenty of books on the history of egypt, the antiquities of india or on the interpretation of oriental customs, which make scarcely any reference to the deification of sex. we have always been told, for example, that bacchus was the god of the harvest and that the greek pan was the god of nature. we have not been told that these same gods were representations of the male generative attribute, and that they were worshipped as such; yet, anyone who has access to the statuettes or engravings of these various deities of antiquity, whether they be of egypt, of india or of china, cannot fail to see that they were intended to represent generative attributes. on account of the incompleteness of many books which describe primitive races, a number of references are given throughout these pages, and some bibliographical references are added. * * * * * as will be presently indicated, we have evidence from a number of sources to show sex was at one time frankly and openly worshipped by the primitive races of mankind. this worship has been shown to be so general and so wide-spread, that it is to be regarded as part of the general evolution of the human mind; it seems to be indigenous with the race, rather than an isolated or exceptional circumstance. the american cyclopedia, under phallic worship, reads as follows: "in early ages the sexual emblems were adored as most sacred objects, and in the several polytheistic systems the act or principle of which the phallus was the type was represented by a deity to whom it was consecrated: in egypt by khem, in india by siva, in assyria by vul, in primitive greece by pan, and later by priapus, in italy by mutinus or priapus, among the teutonic and scandinavian nations by fricco, and in spain by hortanes. phallic monuments and sculptured emblems are found in all parts of the world." rawlinson, in his history of ancient egypt, gives us the following description of khem: "a full egyptian idea of khem can scarcely be presented to the modern reader, on account of the grossness of the forms under which it was exhibited. some modern egyptologists endeavor to excuse or palliate this grossness; but it seems scarcely possible that it should not have been accompanied by indelicacy of thought or that it should have failed to exercise a corrupting influence on life and morals. khem, no doubt, represented to the initiated merely the generative power in nature, or that strange law by which living organisms, animal and vegetable, are enabled to reproduce their like. but who shall say in what exact light he presented himself to the vulgar, who had continually before their eyes the indecent figures under which the painters and sculptors portrayed him? as impure ideas and revolting practices clustered around the worship of pan in greece and later rome, so it is more than probable that in the worship of khem in egypt were connected similar excesses. besides his priapic or 'ithyphallic' form, khem's character was marked by the assignment to him of the goat as his symbol, and by his ordinary title _ka-mutf_, 'the bull of his mother,' _i. e._, of nature." this paragraph clearly indicates that the sexual organs were worshipped under the form of khem by the egyptians. the writer, however, has fallen into a very common error in giving us to understand that this was a degraded form of worship; from numerous other sources it is readily shown that such is not the case. the following lines, from _ancient sex worship_, substantiate the above remarks, and at the same time, they show the incompleteness of the writings of many antiquarians. in this book we read: "phallic emblems abounded at heliopolis and syria and many other places, even into modern times. the following unfolds marvelous proof to our point. a brother physician, writing to dr. inman, says: 'i was in egypt last winter ( - ), and there certainly are numerous figures of gods and kings on the walls of the temple at thebes, depicted with the male genital erect. the great temple at karnac is, in particular, full of such figures and the temple of danclesa, likewise, although that is of much later date, and built merely in imitation of old egyptian art.'" the writer further states that this shows how completely english egyptologists have suppressed a portion of the facts in the histories which they have given to the world. with all our descriptions of the wonderful temple of karnac, it is remarkable that all mention of its association with sex worship should be omitted by many writers. a number of travellers in africa, even in comparatively modern times, have observed evidences of sex worship among the primitive races of that continent. captain burton[ ] speaks of this custom with the dahome tribe. small gods of clay are made in priapic attitudes before which the natives worship. the god is often made as if contemplating its sexual organs. another traveler, a clergyman,[ ] has described the same worship in this tribe. he has observed idols in priapic attitudes, rudely carved in wood, and others made of clay. on the lower congo the same worship is described, where both male and female figures with disproportionate genital organs are used for purposes of worship. phallic symbols and other offerings are made to these simple deities. definite examples of the sexual act having religious significance may be cited. richard payne knight[ ] quotes a passage from captain cook's voyages to one of the southern pacific islands. the missionaries of the expedition on this occasion assembled the members of the party for religious ceremonies in which the natives joined. the primitive natives observed the ceremony with great respect and then with due solemnity enacted their form of sacred worship. quite to the astonishment of the white people, this ceremony consisted of the open performance of the sexual act by a young indian man and woman. this was entirely a religious ceremony, and was fittingly respected by all the natives present. hargrave jennings[ ] describes the same custom in india. an indian woman of designated caste and vocation is selected. many incantations and strange rites are gone through. a circle, or "vacant enchanted place" is rendered pure by certain rites and sprinkled with wine. then secret charms are whispered three times in the woman's ear. the sexual act is then consummated, and the whole procedure before the altar is distinctly a form of sacrifice and worship. hodder m. westropp in _primitive symbolism_ has indicated the countries in which sex worship has existed. he gives numerous instances in ancient egypt, assyria, greece and rome. in india, as well as in china and japan, it forms the basis of early religions. this worship is described among the early races of greece, italy, spain, scandinavia, and among the mexicans and peruvians of america as well. in borneo, tasmania, and australia phallic emblems have been found. many other localities have been mentioned by this writer and one seems fairly justified in concluding that sex worship is regularly found at one time in the development of primitive races. we shall now pass to another form of this same worship, namely, sacred prostitution. there is abundant evidence to show that there was a time in the centuries before christ when prostitution was held as a most sacred vocation. we learn of this practice from many sources. it appears that temples in a number of ancient cities of the east, in babylonia, nineveh, corinth and throughout india, were erected for the worship of certain deities. this worship consisted of the prostitution of women. the women were consecrated to the support of the temple. they were chosen in much the same way as the modern woman enters a sacred church order. the returns from their vocation went to the support of the deity and the temple. the children born of such a union were in no way held in disgrace, but on the contrary, they appeared to have formed a separate and rather superior class. we are told that this practice did not interfere with a woman's opportunities for subsequent marriage. in india the practice was very general at one time. the women were called the "women of the idol." richard payne knight speaks of a thousand sacred prostitutes living in each of the temples at eryx and corinth. a custom which shows even more clearly that prostitution was held as a sacred duty to women was that in babylonia every woman, of high rank or low, must at one time in her life prostitute herself to any stranger who offered money. in _ancient sex worship_ we read: "there was a temple in babylonia where every female had to perform once in her life a (to us) strange act of religion, namely, prostitution with a stranger. the name of it was bit-shagatha, or 'the temple,' the 'place of union.'" moreover we learn that once a woman entered the temple for such a sacred act she could not leave until it was performed. the above accounts deal exclusively in the sacrifice made by women to the deity of sex. men did not escape this sacrifice and it appears that some inflicted upon themselves an even worse one. frazer[ ] tells us of this worship which was introduced from assyria into rome about two hundred years before christ. it was the worship of cybele and attis. these deities were attended by emasculated priests and the priests in oriental costume paraded rome in religious ceremony. on one occasion, namely, "the day of blood" in the spring, the chief ceremony was held. this, among other things, consisted in fastening an effigy of the god to a pine tree, which was brought to the temple of the goddess cybele. a most spectacular dance about the effigy then occurred in which the priests slashed themselves with knives, the blood being offered as sacrifice. as the excitement increased the sexual nature of the ceremony became evident. to quote from frazer: "for man after man, his veins throbbing with the music, his eyes fascinated by the sight of streaming blood, flung his garments from him, leaped forth with a shout, and seizing one of the swords which stood ready for the service, castrated himself on the spot. then he ran through the city holding the bloody parts in his hands and threw them into one of the houses which he passed in his mad career." we see that this act directly corresponds with the part played by the female. the female prostituted herself, and the male presented his generative powers to the deity. both the sacred prostitutes and emasculated priests were held in religious veneration. the above references are sufficient to show that a simple form of sex worship has been quite generally found. it becomes apparent as we proceed that the worship of sex not only plays a part, but a very prominent part, in the developing mind of man. in the frank and open form of this worship it is quite clear that we are dealing with a very simple type of mind. these primitive people exhibit many of the qualities of the child. they are quite without sex consciousness. their motives are at once both simple and direct, and they are doubtless sincere. much misunderstanding has arisen by judging such primitive people by the standards of our present day civilization. sex worship, while it held sway was probably quite as seriously entertained as many other beliefs; it only became degraded during a decadent age, when civilization had advanced beyond such simple conceptions of a deity, but had not evolved a satisfactory substitute. chapter ii symbolism as civilization advanced, the deification of sex was no longer frank and open. it came to be carried on by means of symbolism. this symbolism was an effort on the part of its originators to express the worship of the generative attributes under disguise, often understood only by the priests or by those initiated into the religious mysteries. the mysteries so frequently referred to in the religions of antiquity are often some expression of sex worship. sexual symbolism was very general at one time and remains of it are found in most of the countries where any form of sex worship has existed. such remains have been found in egypt, greece, italy, india, china, japan, and indeed in most countries the early history of which is known to man. one important kind of symbolism had to do with the _form_ of the object deified. thus, it appears that certain objects,--particularly upright objects,--stones, mounds, poles, trees, etc., were erected, or used as found in nature, as typifying the male generative organ. likewise certain round or oval objects, discs, certain fruits and certain natural caves, were worshipped as representing the female generative organ. (the yoni of india.) we also find that certain _qualities of animal or vegetable_ nature were equally venerated, not because of their form, but because they stood for some quality desirable in the generation of mankind. thus we find that some animals--the bull because of its strength and aggressive nature, the snake, perhaps because of its form or of its tenacity of life,--were male representatives of phallic significance. likewise the fish, the dolphin, and a number of other aquatic creatures came to be female representatives. this may be shown over and over again by reference to the antique emblems, coins, and engravings of many nations. another later symbolism, which was adopted by certain philosophies, was more obscure but was none the less of distinct sexual significance. _fire_ is made to represent the male principle, and _water_, and much connected with it, the female. thus we have venus, born of the sea, and accompanied by numerous fish representations. fire worship was secondary to the universally found sun worship. the sun is everywhere the male principle, standing for the generative power in nature. at one time the symbolism is broad, and refers to generative nature in general. at another time it refers solely to the human generative organs. thus, the greek god hermes, the god of fecundity in nature, is at times represented in unmistakable priapic attitudes. still another symbolism was often used in india. this was the addition of a number of members to the deity, possibly a number of arms or heads. this was in order to express a number of qualities. thus the deity was both generator and destroyer, one face showing benevolence and kindness, the other violence and rage. in many of the deities both male and female principles were represented in one,--an androgyne deity--which was an ideal frequently attempted. the idea that these grotesque deities were merely the expression of eccentricity or caprice on the part of their originator is not to be entertained. richard payne knight has pointed out that they occur almost entirely on national coins and emblems, and so were the expression of an established belief. we shall refer first to the simpler symbols, those in which an object was deified because of its form. it is perhaps not remarkable that _upright objects_ should be selected because of their form as the simplest expression of phallic ideas. the simple upright for purposes of sex worship is universally found. an upright conical stone is frequently mentioned. many of the stone idols or pillars, the worship of which was forbidden by the bible, come under this group. likewise, the obelisk, found not only in egypt, but in modified forms in many other countries as well, embodies the same phallic principle. the usual explanation of the obelisk is that it represented the rays of the sun striking the earth; when we speak of sun worship later, we shall see that this substantiates rather than refutes the phallic interpretation. the mounds of religious significance, found in many countries, were associated with sex worship. the chinese pagodas are probably of phallic origin. indeed, there is evidence to show that the spires of our churches owe their existence to the uprights or obelisks outside the temples of former ages. a large volume has been written by o'brien to show that the round towers of ireland (upright towers of prehistoric times) were erected as phallic emblems. higgins, in the anacalipsis, has amassed a great wealth of material with similar purport, and he shows that such "temples" as that of stonehenge and others were also phallic. the stone idols of mexico and peru, the ancient pillar stones of brittany, and in fact all similar upright objects, erected for religious purposes the world over, are placed in this same category. we shall presently give a number of references to show that the may-pole was associated with phallic worship and that it originated at a very remote period. we shall now quote from some of the authors who have contributed to our knowledge of this form of symbolism, as thereby a clear idea of their meaning may be set forth. these interpretations are not generally advanced, and therefore we have added considerable corroborative evidence which we have been able to obtain from independent sources. in an essay on the assyrian "grove" and other emblems, mr. john newton sums up the basis of this symbolism as follows: "as civilization advanced, the gross symbols of creative power were cast aside, and priestly ingenuity was taxed to the utmost in inventing a crowd of less obvious emblems, which should represent the ancient ideas in a decorous manner. the old belief was retained, but in a mysterious or sublimated form. as symbols of the male, or active element in creation, the sun, light, fire, a torch, the phallus or lingam, an erect serpent, a tall straight tree, especially the palm or fir or pine, were adopted. equally useful for symbolism were a tall upright stone (menhir), a cone, a pyramid, a thumb or finger pointed straight, a mask, a rod, a trident, a narrow bottle or amphora, a bow, an arrow, a lance, a horse, a bull, a lion, and many other animals conspicuous for masculine power. as symbols of the female, the passive though fruitful element in creation, the crescent moon, the earth, darkness, water, and its emblem, a triangle with the apex downward, "the yoni"--the shallow vessel or cup for pouring fluid into (cratera), a ring or oval, a lozenge, any narrow cleft, either natural or artificial, an arch or doorway, were employed. in the same category of symbols came a boat or ship, a female date palm bearing fruit, a cow with her calf by her side, a fish, fruits having many seeds, such as the pomegranate, a shell, (concha), a cavern, a garden, a fountain, a bower, a rose, a fig, and other things of suggestive form, etc. "these two great classes of conventional symbols were often represented _in conjunction_ with each other, and thus symbolized in the highest degree the great source of life, ever originating, ever renewed.... a similar emblem is the lingam standing in the centre of the yoni, the adoration of which is to this day characteristic of the leading dogma of hindu religion. there is scarcely a temple in india which has not its lingam, and in numerous instances this symbol is the only form under which the god siva is worshipped." in _ancient sex worship_ we read, "as the male genital organs were held in early times to exemplify the actual male creative power, various natural objects were seized upon to express the theistic idea and at the same time point to those points of the human form. hence, a similitude is recognized in a pillar, a heap of stones, a tree between two rocks, a club between two pine cones, a trident, a thyrsus tied around with two ribbons with the end pendant, a thumb and two fingers. the caduceus again the conspicuous part of the sacred triad ashur is symbolized by a single stone placed upright,--the stump of a tree, a block, a tower, a spire, minaret, pole, pine, poplar or pine tree." hargrave jennings, the author of several books on some aspects of religions of antiquity, among them one on phallicism, deals freely with the phallic principles embodied in these religions. as do many other writers, he identifies fire worship with sex worship, and the following short paragraph shows his conception of their interrelationship, as well as the significance of the upright of antiquity. in the rosicrucians he says: "obelisks, spires, minarets, tall towers, upright stones, (menhirs), and architectural perpendiculars of every description, and, generally speaking, all erections conspicuous for height and slimness, were representations of the sworded or of the pyramidal fire. they bespoke, wherever found and in whatever age, the idea of the first principle or the male generative emblem." we might readily cite passages from the writings of a number of other authors but the above paragraphs suffice to set forth the general principle of this symbolism. as stated above, such interpretations have not been generally advanced to explain such objects as sacred pillar stones, obelisks, minarets, etc. it is readily seen how fully these views are substantiated by observations from a number of independent sources. in a book of travel[ ] in india we are able from an independent source to learn of the symbolism of that country. the traveller gives a description of the caves of elephanta, near bombay. these are enormous caves cut in the side of a mountain, for religious purposes to which pilgrimages are made and where the usual festivities are held. the worship of generative attributes is quite apparent. the numerous sculptured female figures, as remarked by the traveller, are all represented with greatly exaggerated breasts, a symbolism which is frequent throughout oriental countries for expressing reproductive attributes. in an inner chamber is placed the symbol which is held in particular veneration. here is found an upright conical stone standing within a circular one. the stone is sprinkled with water during the festival season. the writer states that this stone, to the worshippers, represents the male generative organ, and the worship of it is not considered an impropriety. in this instance we feel that the symbolism is very definite, and doubtless the stone pillars in the other temples of india and elsewhere are of the same significance. a clergyman in the chinese review of , under the title _phallic worship in china_, gives an account of the phallicism as he observed it at that time. he states that the male sexual organ is symbolized by a simple mound of earth and is so worshipped. similarly, the female organ is represented by a mound of different form and is worshipped as the former. the writer states that at times these mounds are built in conjunction. he states this worship is similar to that of baal of chaldea, etc., and that probably all have a common origin. it appears to be a fundamental part of the chinese religion and the symbolism of the chinese pagoda expresses the same idea. he says that kheen or shang-te, the chinese deities of sex, are also worshipped in the form of serpents, of which the dragon of the chinese is a modification. this furnishes a concrete instance in which the mound of earth is of phallic significance, and substantiates an interpretation of serpent worship to which we shall presently refer. hodder m. westropp has given us an excellent account of phallic worship and includes in his description the observations of a traveller in japan at as late periods as and . a temple near the ancient capital of japan was visited by a traveller. in this temple the main object of worship was a large upright, standing alone, and the resemblance to the male generative organ was so striking as to leave no doubt as to what it represented. this upright was worshipped especially by women, who left votive offerings, among them small phalli, elaborately wrought out of wood or other material. the traveller remarked that the worship was most earnest and sincere. the same traveller observed that in some of the public roads of japan are small hedged recesses where similar stone pillars are found. these large pillars unquestionably represent the male organ. the writer has observed priests in procession carrying similar huge phalli, painted in color as well. this procession called forth no particular comment and so was probably not unusual. it is stated that this is a part of the ancient "shinto" religion of japan and china. there are frequent references to certain of the gods of the ancients being represented in priapic attitudes, the phallus being the prominent and most important attribute. thus hermes, in greece, was placed at cross-roads, with phallus prominent. this was comparable to the phallus on japanese highways. in the festivals of bacchus high phalli were carried, the male organ being represented about the size of the rest of the body. the egyptians carried a gilt phallus, cubits high, at the festivals of osiris. in syria, at the entrance of the temple at hieropolis, was placed a human figure with a phallus cubits high. a man mounted this upright twice a year and remained seven days, offering prayers, etc. in peru in the temple of the sun an upright pillar has been described covered with gold leaf, very similar to those existing elsewhere and to which has been ascribed similar significance. a number of writers have expressed the belief that the may-pole is an emblem of ancient phallic worship. we know that may-day festivals are of the most remote antiquity. we are indebted to r. p. knight for a description of what may-day was like about four centuries ago in england. the festival started the evening before. men and women went out into the woods in search of a tree and brought it back to the village in the early morning. the night was spent in sexual excesses comparable to those of the roman bacchanalia. a procession was formed, garlands were added to the may-pole, which was set up in the village square. the puritans referred to it as an idol, and they did not approve of the festivities. until comparatively recent years there was a may-pole in one of the squares of london, and samuel pepys,[ ] writing of his time, speaks of seeing may-poles in the front yards of the prominent citizens of holland. a festival much the same as this was held in ancient rome and also in india. the may-pole properly pierces a disc and thus conforms with the lingam-yoni of india. we also know that the first of may was a favorite time for all nature worship with the ancients. for a number of interesting suggestions the reader is referred to r. p. knight, _worship of priapus_ and hargrave jennings, _indian religions_ (page ). tree worship is frequently mentioned in the religions of antiquity. we are told that the mystic power of the mistletoe comes from the fact that it grows on the oak, a once sacred tree. the pine of the north, the palm and the fig tree of the south, were sacred trees at one time. john newton made a study of tree worship, especially the ancient grove worship of assyria. he shows that the object of veneration was a male date palm, which represented the assyrian god baal. sex was worshipped under this deity, and it is shown that the tree of the assyrian grove was a phallic symbol. palm sunday appears to be a relic of this worship. in france, until comparatively recent times, there was a festival, "la fête des pinnes," in which palms were carried in procession, and with the palms were carried phalli of bread which had been blessed by the priests. richard payne knight tells us that pan was worshipped by the shepherds under the form of the tall fir, and bacchus "by sticking up the rude trunk of a tree." it is shown throughout these pages that sexual attributes were worshipped under both these deities. in reference to other symbols, the writer continues;[ ] "the spires and pinnacles with which our churches are decorated come from these ancient symbols; and the weather cocks, with which they are surmounted, though now only employed to show the direction of the wind, were originally emblems of the sun; for the cock is the natural herald of the day, and therefore sacred to the fountain of light. in the symbolical writings of the chinese the sun is still represented by a cock in the circle; and a modern parsee would suffer death rather than be guilty of the crime of killing one. it appears on many ancient coins, with some symbol of the passive productive power on the reverse; and in other instances it is united with priapic and other emblems and devices, signifying other attributes combined." dr. thomas inman has made a study to show how this phallic symbolism found its way into ancient art, and even into some designs of modern times. thus, many formal designs are studied in which the upright plays a part; likewise, the oval and the circle receive a similar explanation. the architectural ornaments spoken of as eggs and anchors, eggs and spear heads, the so-called honeysuckle ornament of antiquity, and the origin of some church windows and ornaments, are all studied by this writer, and his text is accompanied by illustrations. hargrave jennings has also traced the origin of the symbols of heraldry, the emblems of royalty and of some church orders with similar explanations. we may add that the crux ansata of the egyptians, the oval standing upon the upright, or letter tau, may be shown to be a sex symbol, the union of the oval with the upright being of symbolic significance. the crux ansata is found in the hand of most of the egyptian deities. it is found in the assyrian temples and throughout the temples of india as well. prehistoric monuments of ireland have the same design. priests are portrayed in adoration of the crux ansata before phallic monuments. this symbol, from which our modern cross is doubtless derived, originated with the religions of antiquity. much additional evidence could readily be given to illustrate this prehistoric origin. the present christian symbol affords another example of the adoption by a new religion of the symbols of the old. some reflection will show that the origin of many church customs and symbols, and indeed of a great number of obscure customs and usages, may quite properly be traced to the religions and practices of primitive races. lafcadio hearn has insisted upon this in the interpretation of the art and customs of the japanese. he says,[ ] "art in japan is so intimately associated with religion that any attempt to study it without extensive knowledge of the beliefs which it reflects were mere waste of time. by art i do not mean painting and sculpture but every kind of decoration, and most kinds of pictorial representation--the image of a boy's kite or a girl's battledore not less than the design upon a lacquered casquet or enameled vase,--the figure upon a work-man's trowel not less than the pattern of the girdle of a princess,--the shape of the paper doll or wooden rattle bought for a baby, not less than the forms of those colossal ni-o, who guard the gateways of the buddha's temples," etc. in the above pages, we have given an account of the views of a number of writers upon certain forms and symbols, and at the same time we have offered considerable evidence in substantiation from independent sources. these origins, found associated especially in art and religious usages, have not been generally understood. yet when we reflect upon the fact that many religious customs are of great antiquity; that when once a certain form or custom becomes established, it is well nigh ineffaceable, although subject to great change or disguise throughout the centuries; when we reflect upon these conditions, and realize the fact that sex worship with its accompanying symbolism is found throughout primitive religions, we may then more readily appreciate the entire significance of the above interpretations. it must, of course, be borne in mind that no one now gives these interpretations to spires, minarets, and to the various monumental symbols of which we have been speaking. we are here dealing exclusively with pre-historic origins, not with present day meanings. the antiquity of certain symbols is truly remarkable. the star and crescent, for example, a well known conventionalized symbol, is found on assyrian cylinders, doubtless devised many centuries before christ. the full force and meaning of these various symbols may be very readily grasped by reference to a number of designs, ancient coins, bas-reliefs, monuments, etc., which have been reproduced in plates and drawings by c. w. king, thomas inman, r. p. knight and others. to these we refer the reader. * * * * * a number of _plant and flower symbols_ have a different significance from that which is generally given to them. we are all quite familiar with the grape vine of bacchus and the association of that deity with grapes. according to r. p. knight, this too, symbolizes a sexual attribute. speaking of bacchus, he writes, "the vine was a favorite symbol of the deity, which seems to have been generally employed to signify the generative or preserving attribute; intoxicating liquors were stimulative, and therefore held to be aphrodisiac. the vase is often employed in its stead to express the same idea and is often accompanied by the same accessory symbol." we have often seen in sculptures and paintings, heads of barley associated with the god of the harvest. this symbol would appear to be self explanatory; yet we are told by more than one writer that it contains another symbolic meaning as well. h. m. westropp, speaking of this says, "the kites or female organ, as the symbol of the passive or productive power of nature, generally occurs on ancient roman monuments as the concha veneris, a fig, barley corn, and the letter delta." we are told that the grain of barley, because of its form, was a symbol of the vulva. a great many other female symbols might be mentioned. the pomegranate is constantly seen in the hands of proserpine. the fir-cone is carried by the assyrian baal, and the fig in numerous processions has a similar significance. when we add to these the various forms of tree worship described above, we see to what an extent the products of nature were used as symbols in the worship of sex. among flower symbols there is one which recurs constantly throughout the art and mythology of india, egypt, china, and many other eastern countries. this is the lotus, of which the easter lily is the modern representative. the lotus appears in a number of forms in the records of antiquity. we have symbolic pictures of the lion carrying the lotus in its mouth, doubtless a male and female symbol. the deities of india are depicted standing on the lotus, or are spoken of as being "born of the lotus." "the chinese,"[ ] says the author of rites and ceremonies, "worship a goddess whom they call puzza, and of whom their priests give the following account;--they say that 'three nymphs came down from heaven to wash themselves in the river, but scarce had they gotten in the water before the herb lotus appeared on one of their garments, with its coral fruit upon it. they were surprised to think whence it could proceed; and the nymph upon whose garment it was could not resist the temptation of indulging herself in tasting it. but by thus eating some of it she became pregnant, and was delivered of a boy, whom she brought up, and then returned to heaven. he afterwards became a great man, a conqueror and legislator, and the nymph was afterwards worshipped under the name of puzza.'" puzza corresponds to the indian buddha. in egyptian architecture the lotus is a fundamental form, and indeed it is said to be the main motive of the architecture of that civilization. the capitals of the column are modelled after one form or other of this plant. that of the doric column is the seed vessel pressed flat. earlier capitals are simple copies of the bell or seed vessel. the columns consisted of stalks of the plant grouped together. in other cases the leaves are used as ornaments. these orders were copied by the greeks, and subsequently by western countries. we may ask ourselves, what is the meaning of this mystic lotus which was held in sufficient veneration to be incorporated in all the temples of religion, as well as in myths of the deity. this, too, refers to the deification of sex. o'brien, in the _round towers of ireland_ states: "the lotus was the most sacred plant of the ancients, and typified the two principles of the earth fecundation,--the germ standing for the lingam; the filaments and petals for the yoni." r. p. knight states, "we find it (the lotus) employed in every part of the northern hemisphere where symbolical worship does or ever did prevail. the sacred images of the tartars, japanese or indians, are all placed upon it and it is still sacred in tibet and china. the upper part of the base of the lingam also consists of the flower of it blended with the most distinctive characteristics of the female sex; in which that of the male is placed, in order to complete this mystic symbol of the ancient religion of the brahmans; who, in their sacred writings, speak of brahma sitting upon his lotus throne." alexander wilder,[ ] states that the term "nymphe" and its derivations were used to designate young women, brides, the marriage chamber, the lotus flower, oracular temples and the labiae minores of the human female. the lotus then, which is found throughout antiquity, in art as well as in religion, was a sexual symbol, representing to the ancients the combination of male and female sexual organs. it is another expression of the sex worship of that period. our present conventional symbols of art are very easily traced to ancient symbols of religion. we may expect these to be phallic in their meaning, to just the extent that phallicism was fundamental in the religions where these symbols originated. from the designs of some of the ornamental friezes of nineveh, we find these principles illustrated. on those bas-reliefs is found the earliest form of art, really the dawn of art upon early civilization. here is the beginning of certain designs which were destined to be carried to the later civilizations of greece, rome and probably of egypt. these friezes show the pine cone alternating with a modified form of the lotus; the significance of which symbols we have explained. there are also shown animal representations before the sacred tree or grove, a phallic symbol. from these forms and others were designed a number of conventional symbols which were used throughout a much later civilization. (see _nineveh and its remains_. a. layard.) * * * * * one sees in the religions of antiquity, especially those of india, assyria, greece and egypt, a great number of _sacred animal representations_. the bull was sacred to osiris in egypt, and one special animal was attended with all the pomp of a god. at one time in assyria the god was always associated with a sacred animal, often the goat, which was supposed to possess the qualities for which the god was worshipped. out of this developed the ideal animal creations, of which the animal body and the human head and the winged bulls of nineveh are examples. the mystic centaurs and satyrs originated from this source. at a later time the whole was humanized, merely the horns, ears or hoofs remaining as relics of the animal form. we learn that in these religions the animal was not merely worshipped as such. it was a certain quality which was deified. the assyrian goat attendant upon the deity, was in some bas-reliefs, not only represented in priapic attitudes, but a female sexual symbol was so placed as to signify sexual union. we shall show later that certain male and female symbolic animals were so placed on coins as to symbolically indicate sexual union. an animal symbol which has probably been of universal use is that of the snake or serpent. serpent worship has been described in almost every country of which we have records or legends. in egypt, we find the serpent on the headdress of many of the gods. in africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. the worship of the hooded snake was probably carried from india to egypt. the dragon on the flag and porcelain of china is also a serpent symbol. in central america were found enormous stone serpents carved in various forms. in scandinavia divine honors were paid to serpents, and the druids of britain carried on a similar worship. serpent worship has been shown by many writers to be a form of sex worship. it is often phallic, and we are told by hargrave jennings that the serpent possibly was added to the male and female symbols to represent desire. thus, the hindu women carried the lingam in procession between two serpents; and in the procession of bacchus the greeks carried in a casket the phallus, the egg, and a serpent. the greeks also had a composite or ideal figure. rays were added to the head of a serpent thereby bringing it into relation with the sun god apollo; or the crest or comb of a cock was added with similar meaning. many reasons have been offered to explain why the serpent has been used to represent the male generative attribute. some have called attention to its tenacity of life; others have spoken of its supposed mystic power of regeneration by casting its skin. again, it seems probable that the form is of symbolic significance. however this may be, we find that this universal serpent worship of primitive man was a form of phallicism so prevalent in former times. many other animals may be mentioned. the sacred bull, so frequently met with in egypt, assyria and greece, was a form under which bacchus was worshipped. r. p. knight speaks as follows: "the mystic bacchus, or generative power, was represented under this form, not only upon coins but upon the temples of the greeks; sometimes simply as a bull; at other times as a human face; and at others entirely human except the horns and ears." we would probably be in error to interpret all these animal symbols as exclusively phallic although many were definitely so. thus, while hermes was a priapic deity, he was also a deity of the fields and the harvests; so the bull may have been chosen for its strength as well as its sexual attributes. there are many animals which were symbolic of the female generative power. the cow is frequently so employed. the hindus have the image of a cow in nearly every temple, the deity corresponding to the grecian venus. in the temple of philae in egypt, isis is represented with the horns and ears of a cow joined to a beautiful woman. the cow is still sacred in many parts of africa. the fish symbol was a very frequent representative of woman, the goddess of the phoenicians being represented by the head and body of a woman terminating below in a fish. the head of proserpine is frequently surrounded by dolphins. indeed, the female principle is regularly shown by some representative of water; fire and water respectively being regarded as male and female principles. male and female attributes are often combined on coins for purposes of sexual symbolism. r. p. knight explains these symbols as follows: "it appears therefore that the asterisk, bull, or minotaur, in the centre of a square or labyrinth equally mean the same as the indian lingam,--that is the male personification of the productive attribute placed in the female, or heat acting upon humidity. sometimes the bull is placed between two dolphins, and sometimes upon a dolphin or another fish; and in other instances the goat or the ram occupy the same situation. which are all different modes of expressing different modifications of the same meaning in symbolical or mystical writings. the female personifications frequently occupy the same place; in which case the male personification is always upon the reverse of the coin, of which numerous instances occur in those of syracuse, naples, tarentum, and other cities." by the asterisk above mentioned the writer refers to a circle surrounded by rays, a sun symbol of male significance. the square or labyrinth is the lozenge shaped symbol or yoni of india. the above interpretations throw much light on the obscurity of the animal worship of antiquity. this explains the partly humanized types, and the final appearance of a human deity with only animal horns remaining, as representing the form under which the deity was once worshipped. the satyrs, centaurs, and other animal forms are all part of these same representations and are similarly explained. * * * * * our main object in giving the above account of these various symbols has been to illustrate the wide prevalence of sex worship among primitive races. another end as well has been served; our study gives us a certain insight into the type of mind which evolves symbolism, and so a few remarks on the use of symbolism as here illustrated are not inappropriate. we feel that while this symbolism may indicate a high degree of mechanical skill in execution, it does not follow that it expresses either deep or complicated intellectual processes. in fact, we are inclined to regard such symbolism as the indication of a comparatively simple intellect. it appears obscure and involved to us, because we do not understand the symbols. from those which we do understand, the meaning is graphically but simply expressed. on coins, bas-reliefs and monuments, we find the majority of these simple emblems. if the desire is to express the union of male and female principles, a male symbolic animal is simply placed upon the corresponding female symbol. thus, a goat or bull may be placed upon the back of a dolphin or other fish. this is a graphic presentation but certainly one of a most simple nature. sometimes the male symbol is on one side of the coin and then the female is always on the reverse. unions are made which do not occur in nature, and the representation is not a subtle one. in india, if there was a desire to express a number of attributes of the deity, another head or face is added or additional arms are added to hold up additional symbols. in greece, when the desire was to express the androgyne qualities of the deity, a beard was added to the female face, or one-half of the statuette represented the male form, the other the female. such representations do not indicate great ingenuity, however skillfully they may be executed. chapter iii sun myths, mysteries and decadent sex worship as is generally known, traces of sun worship are found in almost every country of which we have a record. in egypt ra was the supreme sun god where there was very elaborate worship conducted in his honor. in greece, apollo was attended with similar festivities. in the norse mythology, many of the myths deal with the worship of the sun in one form or another. in england, stonehenge and the entire system of the druids had to do with solar worship. in central america and peru, temples to the sun were of amazing splendor, furnished as they were with wonderful displays of gold and silver. the north american indians have many legends relating to sun worship and sacrifices to the sun, and china and japan give numerous instances of the same religion. sun worship is so readily shown to be fundamental with primitive races that we will not discuss it in detail at this time, but rather will give the conclusions of certain writers who have explained its meaning. at the present day, the sun is regularly regarded as a male being, the earth a female. we speak of mother earth, etc.; in former times, the ancients depicted the maternal characteristics of the earth in a much more material way. likewise the sun was a male deity, being often the war god, vigorous and all powerful. we readily see to what an extent the male sun god was portrayed in mythology as a human being. in many myths, the god dies during the winter, reappears in the spring, is lamented in the fall, etc., all in keeping with the changes in the activity of the sun during the different seasons. the moon was associated with the female deity of the ancients. isis is accompanied by the moon on most coins and emblems. venus has the same symbols. indeed, the star and crescent of our modern times, of the turkish flag and elsewhere, are in reality the sun and crescent of antiquity, male and female symbols in conjunction. lunar ornaments of prehistoric times have been found throughout england and ireland, and doubtless explain the superstitions about the moon in those countries. the same prehistoric ornaments are found in italy. in the legends of the north american indians, moon is sun's wife. the full extent of these beliefs is pointed out by mr. john newton in _assyrian grove worship_. here we see that the ancient hindus gave a much more literal relationship between the sun and earth than we are accustomed to express in modern times. he states, "this representative of the union of the sexes typifies the divine sakti, or productive energy, in union with the pro-creative or generative power as seen throughout nature. the earth was the primitive pudendum or yoni which is fecundated by the solar heat, the sun, the primitive linga, to whose vivifying rays man and animals, plants and the fruits of the earth, owe their being and continued existence." it is not possible to discuss sun worship at any length without at the same time discussing phallicism and serpent worship. hargrave jennings, who has made careful study of these worships, points out their general identity in the following paragraph. he states: "the three most celebrated emblems carried in the greek mysteries were the phallus, the egg, and the serpent; or otherwise the phallus, the yoni or umbilicus, and the serpent. the first in each case is the emblem of the sun or of fire, as the male or active generative power. the second denotes the passive nature or female principle or the emblem of water. the third symbol indicates the destroyer, the reformer or the renewer, (the uniter of the two) and thus the preserver or perpetuator eternally renewing itself. the universality of serpentine worship (or phallic adoration) is attested by emblematic sculptures or architecture all the world over." the author of the _round towers of ireland_ in discussing the symbols of sun worship, serpent worship and phallicism, found on the same tablet, practically reiterates these statements. he says: "i have before me the sameness of design which belonged indifferently to solar worship and to phallic. i shall, ere long, prove that the same characteristic extends equally to ophiolatreia; and if they all three be identical, as it thus necessarily follows, where is the occasion for surprise at our meeting the sun, phallus and serpent, the constituent symbols of each, embossed upon the same table and grouped under the same architrave?" by a number of references, we could readily show the identity of all these worships. the preceding paragraphs give, in summary form, the conclusions of those writers who have made such religions their special study. we shall not exemplify this further, but will now point out the general relationship of sun worship to the religious festivals and mythology of the ancients. this relationship becomes important when it is appreciated that the sun worship expressed in the mysteries is also a part of phallicism. on some of these festive occasions the phallus was carried in the front of the procession and at other times the egg, the phallus and the serpent were carried in the secret casket. * * * * * the ancients expressed their religious beliefs in a dramatic way on a number of occasions throughout the year. the festivities were held in the spring, autumn, or winter. these were to commemorate the activities of the sun, his renewed activity in the spring calling forth rejoicing and his decline in the fall being the cause of sorrow and lamentation. as well as the festivities, there were the various mysteries, such as the eleusinia, the dionysia and the bacchanalia. these were conducted by the priests who moulded religious beliefs and guarded their secrets. the mysteries were of the utmost importance and the most sacred of religious conceptions were here dramatized. mythology also gave expression to the religious ideas of the time and we find that the most important myths, dramatically produced at the religious festivals, were sun myths. the annual festivities and mysteries will be discussed together because both were intended to dramatize the same beliefs. both were under priestly control and so were national institutions. the festivals were for the common people but the mysteries were fully understood only to the initiated. while no very clear account of the mysteries has been given, a certain theme seems to run through them all, and this is found in the myths as well. a drama is enacted, in which the god is lost, is lamented, and is found or returns amid great rejoicing.[ ] this was enacted in egypt where the mourning was for osiris; and in greece for adonis, and later for bacchus. all these are, of course, sun gods, and the whole dramatization or myth is in keeping with the activities of the sun. on these occasions, the main object seems to have been to restore the lost god, or to insure his reappearance. the women took the leading part and mourned for osiris, adonis or bacchus. they wandered about the country at night in the most frenzied fashion, avoided all men and sought the god. at times, during the winter festival, the quest would be fruitless. in the spring, when they indulged themselves in all sorts of orgies and extravagances, adonis was found. an underlying motive appears to have been to enact a drama in which the deity was supposed to exercise his procreative function by sexual union with the women. this was an ideal which they wished to express dramatically. in order to realize this ideal obstacles were introduced that they might be overcome; in the old myth, adonis was emasculated under a pine tree, and in egypt osiris was similarly mutilated, his sex organs being lost. but at the festivals it was portrayed that adonis was found, and in the myth, osiris was restored to isis in the form of horus (the morning sun). in a number of myths, the god is said to have visited the earth to cohabitate with the women, an occurrence which was doubtless desired, in order that the deistic attributes might be continued in the race. thus, judging from what we have been able to learn of this subject, the worship expressed in the mysteries revolved about sexual union, the desire being to dramatize the continued activity of deistic qualities. this character of many of the festivals and mysteries is very evident. in the eleusinian mysteries the rape of persephone by pluto, the winter god, is portrayed. the mother, demeter, mourns for her daughter. her mourning is dramatically carried out by a large procession, and this enactment requires several days. finally persephone is restored. the earlier part of the festival was for dramatic interest, and the real object was the union of persephone with bacchus. "the union of persephone with bacchus, _i. e._, with the sun god, whose work is to promote fruitfulness, is an idea special to the mysteries and means the union of humanity with the godhead, the consummation aimed at in the mystic rites. hence, in all probability the central teaching of the mysteries was personal immortality, analogue of the return of the bloom to plants in spring."[ ] the mysteries of samothrace were probably simpler. here the phallus was carried in procession as the emblem of hermes. in the dionysian mysteries which were held in mid-winter, the quest of the women was unsuccessful and the festival was repeated in the spring. the roman mysteries of bacchus were of much later development, and consequently became very debased. men as well as women eventually came to take part in the ceremony, and the whole affair degenerated into the grossest of sexual excesses and perversions. we have stated what appears to us to have been the underlying motives of the religious festivals and mysteries; namely, the enactment of a drama in which the reproductive qualities of the deity were portrayed. the phallus was carried in procession for this purpose and the women dramatized the motive as searching for the god. our account can be regarded as little more than an outline, but it is sufficient for our present purposes. it indicates that the mysteries give an expression of phallic worship, just as do the various monuments of art and religion to which we have referred. it may also be said that this same worship is represented in what may be termed early literature, for much of the early mythology deals with the same subject. the study of origins in mythology, however, cannot be dealt with adequately at present. * * * * * in order to deal fully with this subject it is necessary to discuss another important phase in the worship of sex. we refer to the _decadence_ or _degeneracy of this worship_, which occurred after people had outgrown these simple religious conceptions. the decadence of sex worship is observed during the early centuries of christianity and traces of it are seen throughout the middle ages. in the decadence of sex worship we are able to observe how an important motive in the race finds expression in the thoughts and conduct of people after the underlying promptings which originated it have long since ceased to be dynamic. this decadent stage of a motive is therefore of considerable importance; we shall return to its interpretation in the discussion of analogies of development between motives in the individual and motives in the race. in india,[ ] with the hindus, there still exists an elaborate form of sex worship. the phallus is carried on festive occasions, it still occupies the most sacred spot in the sanctuary, dancing girls are devoted to the service of the temple, and many other customs associated with phallic rites are carried on much as they were centuries ago in the ancient world. it is said that there are thirty million phalli in india and that a phallus is found in nearly every hindu household. whether phallic worship as now practiced by the hindus has the same meaning or value that it had when at its height in ancient civilization is difficult to say; there are evidences to show that this worship in india is now carried out somewhat as a matter of form and custom only, and that its significance is not thoroughly appreciated except possibly by the few. if this observation is correct, the decadent state of sex worship which was so prevalent in western europe during the early centuries of christianity and throughout the middle ages, may be developing in india as well. whatever may be the present condition in india regarding this worship, we are left in no uncertainty as to the condition of sex worship during its decadent period in europe. it is not necessary here to dwell upon the licentiousness and extravagances of conduct which were manifest at this time, as a general outline will suffice for present purposes. we have observed that the mysteries in which phallic principles were taught eventually became degraded in both greece and rome. when these mysteries originated, they embodied serious religious conceptions, respected by all; they were the expression of racial feelings, and however out of accord with present day sentiments they may have been, they can in no way be considered immoral. this cannot be said of the mysteries of a subsequent period. every sort of perversion and practice was indulged in. they were finally forbidden by the state, but were carried on secretly for some time longer. with the coming of christianity they were very bitterly opposed, and finally as national institutions, they ceased to exist. later we shall indicate in more detail why the worship of sex was discarded. it may be stated here that as the development of the race continued these simple conceptions of a deity failed to express all religious desires; primitive phallic principles lost their dynamic value, and longings and desires, the result of higher mental development, found expression in new religious usages. it has just been stated that the mysteries ceased to exist as national institutions. this is true, but while they were discarded by the great mass of the people, certain elements of the race clung to these primitive beliefs and practices for years. when the mysteries were officially forbidden they were carried on secretly in a somewhat altered form. secret societies were formed, or some of the eastern mystic cults were made use of in order to carry out their teachings. these secret societies took over many of the principles of phallicism such as were taught in the mysteries, and so, side by side with the christian religion, the earlier beliefs continued. the gnostics[ ] are an example of one of these societies. they existed in early christian times and the society was probably formed long before the advent of christianity. it is difficult to learn a great deal about the gnostics, but some of their beliefs are known. gnostic symbols consisted for a great part of phallic emblems, it having been shown that their gems and secret talismans were of phallic significance. the gnostics also gave evidences of reverting to a more primitive civilization in other than religious spheres. in their social organization they advocated communal marriage, wives being held in common. this type of social organization is quite general in primitive tribes. with the gnostics we see a reversion to a more primitive form of religious and social life. * * * * * the rosicrucians[ ] of the middle ages are rather better known, although this order also is very obscure. the rosicrucians as well as the gnostics had phallic emblems. they worshipped in a form very similar to that under which priapus was worshipped. moreover, as was the case with a number of these secret societies, they introduced perverse sexual practices. they are said not only to have countenanced homosexuality, but to have made it one of the principles of their belief. at the same time, they scorned all association with women. out of this belief they built up a philosophy in which the fire worship of antiquity played a part, and with which alchemy was associated. in the practice of homosexuality[ ] and in the development of a philosophy in which women played no part, are seen sentiments quite similar to those which existed in the later days of greece. at this time in greece, patriarchy had driven out the last vestiges of matriarchy, female deities had lost their followers to a great extent, and the devotion was paid to male gods and heroes. this change seems to have produced a certain contempt for women. a number of writers have pointed out this reaction, and so probably in the philosophy of the rosicrucians and in their practices, are seen an expression of these same sentiments. similar sentiments were expressed by other secret organizations and in some philosophies of a latter period. in this respect, therefore, the rosicrucians were probably reverting to beliefs and feelings of an earlier date. the knights templar were another secret society of the middle ages of a somewhat later time. the same can be said of them as of the former societies. they carried on the old phallic and mystic rites in modified form, and set up their beliefs in opposition to christianity. when the knights templar were initiated they were made to deny christ and the virgin mary, to spit on the cross, etc. they also were charged with homosexuality, and with them as with the rosicrucians and the gnostics, homosexuality was a part of their teachings. they likewise advocated communal marriage. at their secret meetings and initiations many vices existed; idols were worshipped, phallic features were introduced, and the entire ceremony was similar to the mysteries of antiquity. should there be any doubt regarding the association of these secret societies of the middle ages with the mysteries of the ancients, this doubt is at once dispelled when we read of the practices of a remarkable secret organization described as the "witches' sabbath." any one who has read a description of the ancient mysteries and of the initiation ceremonies of primitive tribes cannot but see in the witches' sabbath a remarkable similarity to the earlier mysteries. r. p. knight[ ] has given us a description of the witches' sabbath and he quotes freely from a french writer[ ] who has given full details. we shall use such parts of these descriptions as are necessary to illustrate these practices during the middle ages. the witches' sabbath is described by these writers as it existed during the latter part of the fourteenth century. it was held on four occasions during the year, being a festival corresponding to the priapiea and bacchanalia of former days. women played the leading part just as in the bacchanalia. there were minor and major festivals corresponding to the lesser and greater eleusinia. pilgrimages were made at this time, which "resembled a fair of merchants mingled together, furious in transports, arriving from all parts--a meeting and a mingling of a hundred thousand subjects, sudden and transitory, novel, it is true, but of a frightful novelty which offends the eye and sickens you." a symbolic representation of satan presided at the festivals, and he assumed a number of disguises, in all of which we recognize priapus in degenerated form. he very often appeared in the disguise of a goat; in fact the meeting place is called "goat's heath." the association of the goat with priapic ceremonies has already been mentioned. at times the meeting was at cross roads, a favorite location for hermes, as stated elsewhere. satan assumed a number of forms on these occasions other than that of the bearded goat. he was at times a serpent, or again an ox of brass. he was also represented as the trunk of a tree, sometimes as the oak. priapus is readily recognized in all these various disguises. on these festive occasions we see remnants of the fire worship of primitive tribes. satan often carried fire in some form or other and the rite of purification by fire, a residual of the earlier need-fire rites, was enacted. particular significance was attached to the generative organs, and it is needless to say that all kinds of sexual excesses ensued. satan was held to be the father and protector of all. some of the women referred to the witches' sabbath as an earthly paradise and they said that the festival had all the features of a wedding celebration. a number of absurd dances and other burlesques were introduced. in these one sees the burlesques and dances of the earlier mysteries and of the still more primitive initiation ceremonies of tribes in various countries. the dance was often held around a stone,--the significance of which has already been explained. if in the above account of these mystic ceremonies in the middle ages a detailed enumeration of all forms of sexual depravities has not been given, it is not because they did not exist. our main object has been to show that sex worship as practiced during the middle ages, was an expression of the decadence of a racial motive. no odium was formerly connected with this motive, but when an attempt was made to associate these primitive feelings and beliefs with a civilization which had outgrown such conceptions, many undesirable features were in evidence. should further proof of the association of the gnostics, the rosicrucians, the templars, etc., with the ancient priapic rites be necessary, this proof is found in numerous talismans, amulets, sculpture on earthen and glassware, which were associated with these societies. these amulets are all plainly phallic in design; r. p. knight shows a number of vases, lamps, etc., on which phallic symbols are found. these articles were probably used at the secret rites. moreover, we find that many of these small phalli were worn for personal decoration; and here we come to a still lower decadence in sex worship,--the period of superstition. a phallus was worn as a charm, somewhat as a fetish to ward off disease. such charms were supposed to bring good luck and prosperity to the owner and they were used particularly as a charm against barrenness in women. a sign which could be made by the hand, the phallic hand, was used as a protection against the evil eye. ancient representations of priapus have been found with the hand in this attitude. as further evidence to show the total degeneracy of these beliefs, it may be said that the phallic hand was adopted as a symbol of prostitution. in this we see the worship of sex degenerated to its lowest form, _i. e._, a superstition to be followed by the lower classes and the ignorant. the phallus which once had been attended with all ceremony had become a mere charm. the conclusions which r. p. knight reaches in relation to these decadent beliefs are worthy of remark. he states:[ ] "we have thus seen in how many various forms the old phallic, or priapic worship presented itself in the middle ages, and how pertinaciously it held its ground through all the changes and development of society, until at length we find all the circumstances of the ancient priapic orgies, as well as the mediaeval additions combined in that great and extensive superstition,--witchcraft. at all times the initiated were believed to have obtained thereby powers which were not possessed by the uninitiated, and they only were supposed to know about the form of invocation of the deities who were the objects of this worship, which deities the christian teachers invariably transformed into devils. the vows which people of antiquity addressed to priapus, those of the middle ages addressed to satan. the witches' sabbath was simply the last form which the priapeia and libernalia assumed in western europe, and in its various decadences all the incidents of those great and licentious orgies of the romans were reproduced." it is little wonder that the persecution of witches by the christians long survived the middle ages. hargrave jennings[ ] has referred to phallic principles in a number of the early chivalric societies of england. he states that the knights of the round table of king arthur had phallic emblems and other features similar to those of the rosicrucians. the same author submits considerable evidence to indicate that the order of the garter is of much greater antiquity than is generally believed and that phallic principles were associated with it. a similar contention was made regarding the symbolism associated with the holy grail, a sacred vessel apparently connected with primitive rites at a time far antedating christianity. associated with the old churches in ireland similar phallic emblems have been found, as well as in europe. these emblems were used as charms by the primitive people. we stated above that the early deities of primitive tribes were regarded as demons during the christian period. in teutonic beliefs phallic deities were developed quite comparable to those of greece and rome. these teutonic deities came to be regarded as hobgoblins during the middle ages. they were supposed to be found in lonely places and in forests, and to emerge at times in order to indulge in all sorts of sexual excesses, much as the fauns and satyrs of antiquity. the english had a similar hobgoblin in robin goodfellow. this fictitious character is represented in priapic attitudes in a number of illustrations of old english ballads. he was doubtless priapus of antiquity transformed into a goblin. why should superstitions of this kind live century after century? frazer[ ] has given us the answer: "superstitions survive because while they shock the views of the enlightened members of the community, they are still in harmony with the thoughts and feelings of others, who, though they are drilled by their betters into an appearance of civilization, remain barbarians or savages at heart ... i have been led into making these remarks by the wish to explain why it is that superstitions of all sorts, political, moral and religious, survive among people who have the opportunity of knowing better. the reason is that the better ideas, which are constantly forming in the upper stratum have not filtered through from the highest to the lowest minds. such a filtration is generally slow, and by the time the new emotions have penetrated to the bottom, if indeed they ever get there, they are often obsolete and superseded by others at the top." chapter iv interpretations having followed the worship of sex through its various phases, it is now desirable to offer such interpretations of its meaning as the facts appear to warrant. what was the significance of this elaborate ritual; why did it develop, and how is it to be interpreted from a biological standpoint in mental evolution. the history of the development of this ritual may be of considerable interest in itself but we wish now to consider the subject from the biological rather than the historical standpoint. it remains to be shown what ends these beliefs serve in the evolution of the primitive mind, or at least what they represent, and what vestiges of them remain in our thoughts and feelings of today. only from this standpoint can the study of primitive motives be of value to the psychologist and the psychiatrist. in order to answer the above questions, it is desirable to refer to a still more primitive form of religious belief, since our understanding of this earlier religion offers a key to the understanding of sex worship. we refer to the various forms of nature worship found in primitive tribes. these nature rites consist of rain making ceremonies, sun dances, and numerous other procedures which are carried out by primitive people because of their supposed service in increasing the products of the earth. fortunately these rites are quite clearly understood. it has been shown by many investigators that they are enacted to increase the food supply. they are actuated by the desire on the part of primitive people to meet nutritive demands. now this knowledge enables us to understand phallic ceremonies. a very distinct parallelism is seen between the nature worship rites and phallic rites. we feel that it is not difficult to show that while the earlier rites were in accord with nutritive demands, phallic ceremonies were an expression of the desire for human reproduction. we shall now digress somewhat in order to discuss nature rites in some detail, as thereby the phallic rites are very readily explained. among many of the indian tribes of north america, the tribes of central africa, the primitive races of australia, the lower hill tribes of india, and others, we find religious ceremonies all of which are carried out in much the same way and with the same object in view. we are all familiar with the rain making ceremonies of the north american indians; we find frequent reference in literature to the various spring festivals of the egyptians at which grain is grown, etc., and in which vegetative nature is deified. a great many of the nations of antiquity had similar rites to increase the produce of the earth. when the meaning of this general type of ceremony is understood, it is found that it has the same significance throughout. as stated above, these ceremonies are enacted to increase the food supply, either directly or indirectly. if it is a dry and arid locality, as is the case with our western indians, a rain making rite is performed. this is a religious procedure in which various processes of magic are utilized. this explains the importance of the thunder god as a deity, so clearly illustrated by miss j. harrison. the thunder rites are to increase the rain fall, and the magic in such procedures is imitative; that is, a sound similar to thunder is produced, as primitive man believes thunder to cause the rainfall since it often precedes it. miss harrison[ ] has given a picture of an early thunder god of the chinese,--a deity surrounded by many objects, which he strikes to cause thunder. rattles made of gourds are used for the same purpose with some tribes; or down, etc., may be used in imitation of clouds, and water spurted about to represent rain. in many instances a secret ceremonial object is used,--a bull roarer in the rain making ceremonies. this is an object which, when whirled about, makes a sound in imitation of thunder. it represents a sort of thunder deity and so is associated with rainfall. it is held very sacred, being carefully guarded from view and kept under custody by the head men of the tribe. in a primitive civilization engaged in pastoral pursuits where the herd is the important source of food supply the ceremony centers about the dairy and the herd. in southern india, among the toda tribes,[ ] where the buffalo herd is sacred, this is quite apparent. certain buffaloes are attended by the priests only, special dairies are sacred, and the entire religious development has to do with the sanctity of milk. the dairy utensils are sacred, and one special vessel, the one which contains the fermenting material, is held in particular veneration. this vessel is kept in a special part of the dairy, its location corresponding to the sanctuary of a temple. if by chance the ferment does not act properly, it is manufactured again by an elaborate rite. here we see that the religious rites have to do with the food supply and fitting sacred ceremonials are performed. when the food supply depends upon animal food a direct analogy in the ceremonies is seen. some siberian tribes[ ] perform a rite to increase the supply of bear meat. a young bear is captured, suckled by a woman, and assumes the aspects of a sacred animal. it is finally slain in a ritual way, and the entire performance is for the purpose of increasing the supply of bear meat. a few references may be given to indicate the views of those who have made special studies of these ceremonies. g. a. dorsey[ ] speaking of the hopi tribe of the southwest, states: "when the hopi are not at work they are worshipping in the kivas. the underlying element of this worship is to be found in the environment. mother nature does not deal kindly with man in the desert. look where you will, across the drifting sands of the plains, and the cry of man and beast is 'water!' and so, to the gods of the rain clouds does the hopi address his prayer. his instruments of worship are so fashioned that his magic may surpass the magic of these gods, and compel them to loosen their stores, full to overflowing. take any one of the great hopi ceremonies, analyze the paraphernalia worn by the men, dissect the various components of the altar or sand paintings, examine the offerings made to the spring and those placed upon the shrines, and in everything and everywhere we see prayers for rain." dr. clark wissler,[ ] in speaking of primitive ceremonies, states: "one striking feature of primitive ceremonies is the elaboration of ritualistic procedure relating to the food supply. particularly in aboriginal america we have many curious and often highly complex rituals associated with the cultivation of maize and tobacco. these often impress the student of social phenomena as extremely unusual but still highly suggestive facts, chiefly because the association seems to be between things which are wholly unrelated. thus, among the pawnee we find an elaborate ritual in which a few ears of maize are raised almost to the status of gods. at a certain fixed time of the autumn the official priest of this ritual proceeds with great ceremony to the fields and selects a few ears, according to definite standards. these are further consecrated and carefully guarded throughout the winter. at planting time the women present themselves ceremonially to receive the seed, the necessary planting instructions, etc. thus, it appears that during the whole year recital, there is a definite ritual in functions associated with maize culture." the primitive tribes of australia afford an excellent example of this type of ceremony, and fortunately these tribes have been very carefully studied. at the puberty initiations of the young men, one of the main ceremonies is a yam ceremony,[ ] _i. e._, a procedure to ensure a bountiful supply of the yams. a special type of yam is secured, and cooked with much ceremony under fixed rules, much care and secrecy being observed throughout. after the cooking ceremony is finished, the yams are cut up and divided among the various members of the tribe. the ceremony is supposed to increase the supply of yams. miss j. harrison[ ] in interpreting australian ceremonies states: "the primitive australian takes care that magic shall not be wanting, a magic of the most instructive kind. as soon as the season of fertility approaches he begins his rites with the avowed object of making and multiplying the plants, and chiefly the animals, by which he lives; he paints the figure of the emu on the sand with vermillion drawn from his own blood; he puts on emu feathers and gazes about him in stupid fashion, like an emu bird; he makes a structure of boughs like the chrysalis of a witchetty grub--his favorite food, and drags his body through it in pantomime, gliding and shuffling to promote its birth. here, difficult and intricate though the ceremonies are, and uncertain in meaning as many of the details must always probably remain, the main emotional gist is clear. it is not that the australian wonders at and admires the miracle of his spring, the bursting of the flowers and the singing of the birds; it is not that his heart goes out in gratitude to all-father who is the giver of all good things; it is that, obedient to the push of life within him his impulse is towards food. he must eat that he and his tribe may grow and multiply. it is this, his will to live, that he _utters and represents_." in a monograph[ ] of the shinto religion of the japanese, r. hitchcock states that the leading function of the female deity is to increase the food supply. she is given the name of the goddess of food, or the producer of trees and the parent of grasses. she is spoken of as abundant-food-lady, and seems to be a personification of the earth. a further description of these rites is unnecessary, as wherever found they are all of the same general type. they have been described in north america, in central africa, in japan, in siberia, in india and they probably exist in many other localities. the above references indicate that they were primitive man's expression of his desire for food, this fundamental motive finding expression in an elaborate ritual. now since in the above rites, where the increase of the food supply is the main motive, the entire development and symbolism centers about articles of food, and since in the phallic rites an entirely analagous development and symbolism centers about the generative organs, it is only reasonable to infer that the phallic rites have to do with the desire for children. in this we have the meaning of sex worship. it is primitive man's expression of his desire for the perpetuation of the race and so it represents a biological necessity, the earlier motive being for the preservation of the individual. fortunately the conclusions which the above arguments would appear to warrant are borne out by the statements of those who have studied these matters in great detail. miss j. harrison,[ ] who also quotes dr. frazer, states: "the two great interests of primitive man are food and children. as dr. frazer has well said, if man the individual is to live he must have food; if his race is to persist he must have children, 'to live and to cause to live, to eat food and to beget children, these were the primary wants of man in the past, and they will be the primary wants of men in the future so long as the world lasts.' other things may be added to enrich and beautify human life, but, unless these wants are first satisfied, humanity itself must cease to exist. these two things, therefore, food and children, were what man chiefly sought to secure by the performance of magical rites for the regulation of the seasons. they are the very foundation stones of that ritual from which art, if we are right, took its rise." there is a very striking parallelism between these two rites. it would be interesting to trace out these analogies step by step, but we shall refer to them only in a general way. the outward form of the two rites is very similar. in both a religious ceremony is enacted. in the development of this ceremony a system, in which a priesthood forms a prominent part, is developed in both instances. the element of mystery runs through both procedures and, as steven d. peet[ ] has stated, the nature worship ceremony of the north american indians bears a remarkable resemblance to the mysteries of the eleusis and of the bacchanalia. in both the nature rites and the phallic rites, a sacred ceremonial object develops, and about this object a very elaborate symbolism evolves. just as in the most primitive form of sex worship we saw that the deity consisted of a rude representation of the generative organs, so in nature worship we find that the ceremonial object is at first a rude representative of the deified animal or plant. this sacred symbol is eventually conventionalized. we have observed this in sex worship, as explained by inman, payne knight and others. in the same way in nature worship, ceremonial objects are conventionalized. spencer has shown this in the case of the australians, the ceremonial objects eventually coming to bear a remote resemblance only to the original animal or plant representation. a. l. kroeber[ ] has observed the same development in the arapaho indians. the buffalo symbol for example, (a very important one in this tribe since the buffalo is the chief food) has become highly conventionalized, and is finally represented by a formal rectangular design. this design now means the earth, and it is also used as a life symbol. again, just as we saw how in sex worship the religious symbol came to be expressed throughout decorative art, and in fact eventually became a leading motive, so it has been shown that in the nature worship of the indians this same evolution takes place. a. l. kroeber and clark wissler, among others, have shown that the decorative art on the moccasins, leggings, tents, food bags, etc., of the indians, all representing a highly conventionalized symbol, expresses religious motives throughout. this symbolism can be interpreted only by an understanding of religious motives. the analogy of this symbolic development to that associated with sex worship is at once apparent. finally, just as in sex worship the motive came to dominate most of the practices and usages of civil life, so it can be shown that in tribes practicing nature worship, the religious motive has a very powerful influence. the performance of rites to increase the food supply are among the most important of primitive man's duties. any man who enters into these rites listlessly is not respected, and the leaders of the rite are the head men of the tribe. in australia, one of the main functions of each totem group is to increase the supply of its own totem animal or plant by magic ceremony. in summing up, therefore, the analogies between sex worship and nature worship, the following features may be reviewed: the outward form is the same, _i. e._, that of a religious ceremonial rite in which a sacred object is the representation of the deity. the symbolism associated with this object develops in the same way in both instances. in the course of time this symbolism becomes conventionalized, and eventually it finds its way into primitive art. it then becomes the leading motive in primitive art and finally the religious motive is forgotten and the aesthetic motive alone remains. were further proof necessary, these analogies alone would be sufficient to enable us to understand the meaning of sex worship. the ritual associated with the worship of sex then, arose in response to emotions which are grouped around the instinct of reproduction. these feelings are so primitive and at the same time so fundamental, that it is difficult for us to realize that early man should dignify them by religious ritual. they stand out as expressions of a biological demand. as stated above, sex worship was not a conscious expression on the part of certain individuals, but it was the unconscious expression of longings and desires on the part of the race. it represents a phase in man's mental evolution, a process of mental development. its dynamic value, from a biological standpoint, is at once apparent. in order to survive man must reproduce his kind, and the emotions associated with reproductive instincts must be of adequate dynamic value. * * * * * it has been stated that sex worship, as practiced during the primitive state of civilization, was a healthy phase in racial evolution. in a higher degree of civilization, however, the reversion to this motive was a regression, and decadent sex worship as it existed during the middle ages was an attempt by certain unhealthy elements in the race to revert to the primitive. in decadent sex worship we are dealing with an instance of faulty mental adaptation in a way in which we had not been accustomed to consider it. it is a case of faulty adaptation in the race, or at least in certain elements of it, rather than in the individual. these general analogies are noteworthy from the standpoints of mental evolution and abnormal psychology. in order to show how sex worship as practiced by a later civilization was the expression of an unhealthy tendency, we must digress sufficiently to show the setting in which decadent sex worship existed. it is necessary to give a chronological outline indicating how primitive beliefs succeeded each other as a result of man's progressive development. the earlier beliefs were an expression of nature worship. this as we have shown, was mostly associated with the question of food supply. it has been shown that during this period of primitive man's existence group thinking predominated, and man thought of himself as part of the group rather than as an individual. at this time, therefore, the idea of the deity which was evolved was not that of an individual god. generally speaking, it was the "vegetation spirit" existing throughout nature which was deified. this was the general period of earth worship,--the forces of nature associated with the earth being man's main interest. the earth at this time was highest in primitive man's regard. during the time of earth worship, the social organization of the tribe was such that the mother was the dominating influence in social structure. descent was matrilinear, and a society known as matriarchy existed, as contrasted to the later patriarchy. the mother was the leading figure in social as well as in family life. at this period a certain degree of sexual promiscuity existed; the mother of the child was known but the father was not and so the descent was in the female line. with earth worship, then, there was mother worship, and the term "mother earth" had a very real significance. with the social state of matriarchy, the mother cults developed. these mother cults evolved the numerous female deities of antiquity, themis, demeter, cybele, and many others being the expression of mother worship. these deities were generally associated with the wild elements of nature,--with the wind, and the hills and the forests. associated with the mother religion in a way which at first does not appear to be very clear arose the phallic cults. it should be here stated that the mother religion was not the religion of the mother alone, but also that of the mother and child. the child was the adolescent,--a youth about to be initiated at the public ceremony, at which he was often circumcised and after which he was able to take up the reproductive functions of the male. miss j. harrison has shown that dionysus was the embodiment of this conception. here the youth was necessary only to the extent that he could become a father. it was his generative attribute which was sanctified, rather than that he was a male being existing as an individual. for this reason, the deification of the phallic principle, _i. e._, the generative attribute, preceded the deification of the male as an individual. at least this is the impression one gains of this development. in any case, we note that the phallic ceremonies were associated with the mother religion. the period in which both existed was mostly prehistoric. we see the beginning of the evolution of the male god in the phallic cults. this was eventually followed by the patriarchal system and here we are on more familiar ground. patriarchy succeeded matriarchy, but whether as a gradual evolution or otherwise is not clear. some writers speak of bitter conflicts in persia, india, greece and elsewhere. in any case the religion of the father replaced that of the mother; the social system changed and the father took his place at the head of the family. during this period we are told[ ] that man shifted his belief from the earth to the sky, the sun was found to be the source of energy and worship was transferred to the heavens. just as formerly the female deity was identified with the earth, so the male deity was identified with the sun, zeus and apollo being two examples of the latter type from a great many. we are now approaching a well known historic period. the religion of the father and the son had replaced that of the mother and child. the age of hero worship had commenced and this hero was often identified with the sun. for this reason, the fact that a myth is in the form of a sun myth does not argue against its being the expression of a very deep religious motive. as has been stated, earlier motives are carried forward, and so while sun worship is a somewhat later development than the phallic beliefs, it is quite natural that many phallic ideas should find expression at this subsequent period. we have now reached a time when sex worship became decadent, for christianity followed sun worship and hero worship; and this brings us to the present day. the religion of father and son remains, and much of the form of the earlier worship has been retained in the modern. the above outline of the changes and evolution of early religions is most schematic. it enables us, however, to see that sex worship was entirely out of place during the middle ages, in a civilization which had long before discarded matriarchy. the questions of the food supply, and of children, were no longer so immediately pressing, and the faith in magical performances had been shaken. man had emerged from the group as a definite personality, and the development of a new religion which expressed other feelings and desires had taken place. what we wish to emphasize at present is, then, that sex worship as it was carried on during the middle ages was a distinctly unnatural tendency in the race. at this time opportunity may be taken to reconcile different interpretations which some writers have given regarding early religious motives. considerable variation and some contradiction may be observed in the writings of different authors in describing a religious development of much the same period. one writer may describe the features of nature worship and quite ignore the presence of sex worship. others may describe only phallic rites. these discrepancies may be understood when the order in which the various beliefs developed is recognized. nature worship developed first, but much of its symbolism was carried into the phallic ceremonies. thus we see the phallus associated with the pine cone and other elements of vegetative life. some of these elements, the pine cone for example, finally came to have a phallic significance, but at an earlier period they probably represented the vegetation spirit. in fact, reproductive attributes of both nature and man were often worshipped at the same ceremony. while we should not as a rule expect to find phallic rites associated with the earlier forms of nature worship, since sex worship developed at a somewhat later period, still in this connection we cannot be too dogmatic; the primitive australians appear to be at the stage of mental development when simple nature worship predominated, yet, from _mutter erde_[ ] we learn that with the australians a ceremony consisting of the throwing of a spear into the earth was of phallic significance. this co-existence of these two related motives is not unnatural since they both equally represent fundamental biological demands on the part of the race. we may now return to the interpretation of decadent sex worship. when we understand the setting in which sex worship was practiced in the middle ages we are better able to appreciate its significance. as stated above, it was the attempt by certain elements of the race to return to more primitive motives, and to derive satisfaction from beliefs which had long been outgrown by advancing civilization. this clinging to an early type of reaction, or the return to more primitive feelings, must be regarded as an unhealthy tendency. moreover, at this time, the motive itself was no longer expressed in the natural and healthy way of primitive times. sex worship during the middle ages became depraved; excesses and perversions appeared and the entire development, as it existed at that time, was biologically undesirable. it also appeared that at certain times in the mental evolution of the race a degree of development is reached from which no further progress is made. at least, we are aware of such an instance in the case of a very primitive community in southern italy. a writer, norman douglas,[ ] in found the existence of a phallic cult in calabria. the women sanctified a crack of one of the walls of the temple, their attitude toward it corresponding to the yoni worship of india. near by was an ancient stone pillar held in great veneration, which was the representative of the phallus. it is observed that in this small community some remnants of phallic belief of a very primitive type have been retained for centuries. the religious development, an index of mental development, has become "set" as it were and no further progress is possible. it is not entirely for want of opportunity that this locality has not taken up higher religious beliefs. the catholic church has introduced its teachings, but the people have represented the images of the saints, of the virgin mary, and of christ somewhat after the fashion of toy dolls. these are used as fetishes to ward off disease and no higher conceptions are grasped. ideas regarding after life and immortality are disregarded in favor of the immediate need of protection against supposed evil influences. with these people, therefore, motives are utilized which satisfy only the most fundamental and immediate desires. * * * * * we have now followed a definite motive in mental development through its rise, its elaboration and its decadence. we therefore have its life history in the race before us; we have been enabled by analogies of other motives and by utilizing the conclusions of various writers, to understand its meaning and to give its interpretation. it remains to be seen what general conclusions regarding either racial or individual development in this sphere may be drawn. it appears that when an important motive of this sort develops in the race, it embodies the expression of fundamental desires. since it carries with it a strong and ever present desire in this way, it is strikingly _dynamic_ in nature. it dominates all social organization, and with primitive people it dominates much of the conduct of the individual. when such a motive is seriously entertained it is pragmatic, _i. e._, it serves a useful end, or at least the conceptions which it embodies are entertained because they are thought to be of the highest value to the race. as mental development continues, these more fundamental and primitive motives cease to be all absorbing. eventually, the subject of the food supply becomes less pressing. races continue to increase and multiply with or without the performance of sacred rites and man begins to question the utility of his imitative magic. higher desires force themselves into consciousness, and earlier motives are no longer outwardly expressed; the form of the early motives is retained however: usages, symbols and practices which have long ceased to be dynamic and whose meaning is entirely forgotten are still observed; so we see evidences of primitive racial motives cropping up in all sorts of ways in later civilization. but to say that the earlier motives are no longer outwardly expressed is not to infer that they do not exist. fundamental as they are in our mental development, they enter into our general personality and become a part of our makeup. how is the motive expressed in sex worship a part of our motives and feelings of today? superficially it does not appear to be present, but a little reflexion shows that it is there. it has become so much a part of us that we scarcely recognize its presence, the instinct to reproduce being common to everyone. every woman feels this to be her duty,--her religious duty if the dictum of the church is to be followed: "lo, children are an heritage of the lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward. as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. happy is the man that has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." _psalm ._ during earlier times barrenness was regarded as a curse, and many charms were in use to counteract this calamity. a sentence from a letter of julia ward howe to her young sister about to be married, affords an apt reference to this sense of duty: "marriage, like death, is a debt we owe to nature, and though it costs us something to pay it, yet we are more content and better established in peace when we have paid it." the feeling associated with the command "to increase and multiply" is so much a part of our innermost thoughts and feelings that further references to it are unnecessary. to what extent may we utilize the evolution of this motive in the race, in understanding certain phases of mental development associated with reproductive instincts in the individual? in interpreting the racial history of this motive we have seen that it is dynamic; it develops in response to biological demands. it is a very elementary and primitive desire to be raised to the dignity of a religion, but none the less it is a very essential one. we have seen that when this motive is replaced by higher ones, a return to it bespoke faulty mental adaptations on the part of those who did so. analogies between the individual and the race in this sphere exist in a general way, and their presence is significant. analogies in the sphere in the normal mental development of the individual may be considered first. in dealing with the developing thoughts of childhood, we shall refer to one particular tendency, _i. e._, that of _day dreaming_. we know that a certain amount of the day dreaming of the child has to do with the feelings and emotions associated with the questions of reproduction, considered in its broadest sense; _i. e._, including fictitious lovers, marriages, children, etc. now probably with the child, the day dreaming associated with these feelings is of biological significance, just as the rituals associated with similar feelings are of value to the race. the little girl who is the mother of her doll, who plays at housekeeping, who fictitiously assumes the responsibilities of married life and what not,--the child by developing this feature of her existence in fancy is probably preparing herself for reality. the little boy who becomes a hero in his own fancy, marries a princess, and who overcomes all sorts of difficulties; or the small boy who in his play enters into all the activities of adult life,--probably this child, by entertaining the thoughts of his future life, prepares himself to some extent for future life. these fundamental motives, therefore, which arise in response to biological demands, are the expression of desires, both in the case of the individual and of the race, and they act not only harmlessly but probably beneficially at a certain stage of mental evolution. again, we have shown how in the race remnants of early and primitive motives continue to appear in various ways long after their outward dynamic value has been lost and when their meaning is no longer understood. is this not true of the individual? do we not all recognize in the moods and mental attitudes and even in some of the actions of the adult, remnants of feelings and forces which were dynamic in childhood? these feelings exist although they are not consciously appreciated. the actual experiences are forgotten but the moods and emotions remain. this is analagous to the influence which primitive racial thoughts, beliefs and usages have on present day civilization. the meaning of these usages and symbols is forgotten in many cases but the outward form still exists. in the individual, a motive of this kind does not become a religion or a ritual as in the case with the race, but it nevertheless is forcefully expressed in that it excites an absorbing interest and forces itself strongly into consciousness, during the phase of its dynamic development. as stated above, just as in the early mental evolution of the race, we find that the question of reproduction comes prominently to the fore, so with the individual we find that at the adolescent period of life the sexual instinct is very fully elaborated. just as with the race reproduction is necessary for the continuation of the race, so with the individual, elaboration of sexual instinct is necessary in order that adult sexual responsibilities may be assumed. this consists of much more than mere physical development. in a complex state of civilization many adjustments in the sphere of sexual indulgence and continence and marriage have to be made. this phase of the individual's life is a very important one. it is the rule for proper reactions to occur at this time, in which case the reproductive instincts assume their proper place in mental life. but if satisfactory adjustments do not occur the consequences may be serious. in the healthy mental evolution of the individual, therefore, just as in the normal mental evolution of the race, we see that motives arise, assume a dynamic character, play their part in the developing mind, and leave lasting impressions. they serve a useful purpose during one phase of mental evolution. we have seen that they may be harmful in the race if utilized at a later period. let us see to what extent this is true of the individual. * * * * * psychiatrists during recent years have come to believe that in certain mental states we see a reversion to a more primitive type of reaction,--a tendency to utilize earlier adaptations, the reactions of infancy and childhood in meeting situations which arise in adult life. if this assumption is correct it is seen that a reversion to something more primitive is an undesirable reaction in the individual as well as in the race. here too we find that the emotions and feelings associated with the reproductive instinct may be inadequately developed. it has been shown above that the day dreams of the child are probably beneficial rather than harmful. is this day dreaming beneficial to the adult? we know from our experience that it is not, and in its relation to the reproductive sphere this is particularly true. the adult who substitutes the realities of life by elaborate day dreams is approaching dangerous ground. the young woman who in adult life is constantly dreaming of an ideal but fictitious lover is deriving satisfaction from unhealthy sources; and the young man who ecstatically becomes a hero or a racial benefactor is equally at fault. in instances where such thoughts are believed in and acted upon as we observe again and again in mental disorders, a serious condition of the mind has arisen. when an attempt is made to gain satisfaction in these immature ways at a later stage of development, or when there is a failure to develop at a certain point, the reaction is harmful in both the individual and in the race. it is during the adolescent period that these failures of adaptation generally occur. at this time, the whole development in the reproductive sphere, particularly in the mental characteristics associated with the sexual instinct, considered in its broadest sense, does not take place. there may be much rumination about this topic, but the responsibilities of adult sexual life, of marriage, of child bearing with the female, are not adequately met. fancies are substituted for reality, and while, as stated above, young women may dream of ideal lovers, they at the same time are shy and unnatural in their attitude toward the opposite sex. young men, instead of taking their place in the life of the adult community, realize adult ambitions only by elaborate day dreams. in abnormal mental states, we see young men in their fancies become important personages, religious benefactors and national heroes. they may shun all association with women but at the same time maintain that they have a cultural mission to populate the earth. we see here how the feelings associated with reproductive instincts have been faulty or inadequate. this return to something more primitive is an unhealthy atavistic tendency and makes for both racial and individual inferiority. a word may be said regarding symbolism of the race as applied to the individual. we have stated that symbolism is a primitive and rudimentary way of expressing thought. it would seem logical therefore that if in some abnormal mental states there is a return to more primitive reactions, we may find a tendency to symbolize. this tendency is frequently observed and the symbolism is often very elaborate. a knowledge of the interpretation of racial symbolism is doubtless of value in the case of the individual. when men's thoughts deal with the same subject and when they tend to symbolize, they are likely to express themselves in much the same way symbolically. if in abnormal mental states thoughts are entertained which have to do with the motives we have been discussing, it is reasonable to suppose that the racial and individual symbolism will show certain analogies. again, in the pages of recent psychiatry, we learn that in abnormal mental states there is a reversion not only to the primitive motives of childhood, but also to the primitive motives of the race. just to what extent this tendency exists remains for studies of the future to show. certainly, striking instances may be cited; for example, let us quote from a recent study in psychiatry:[ ] "one such patient with a very complicated delusional system states that he is the father of adam, that he has lived in his present human body thirty-five years, but in other bodies thirty million years, and that during this time he has occupied six million different bodies. he has been the great men in the history in the development of the human race; he himself created the human race. it took him three hundred million years to perfect the first fully developed human being; he is both male and female and identifies all the different parts of the universe with his own body; heaven, hell and purgatory are located in his limbs, the stars are pieces of his body which had been torn apart by torture and persecution in various ages of past history; he is the father and creator of the various races and elements of the human organization, etc." any one who has done even a cursory reading in mythology cannot but be struck by the similarity in form as well as in thought between this production and what we find in myths. * * * * * the general analogies which we have indicated are such as one would have reason to expect. the history of both the healthy and unhealthy mental evolution of the race is in many respects the history of the individual; in order to understand these analogies it is necessary to understand the mental development of primitive man. recent studies have given us much valuable information in this direction. in primitive usages we find the expression of early man's deepest longings and desires, and so a dynamic interpretation of such motives is possible. it remains for the psychiatrist to learn to what extent the findings of special investigators of primitive races may be utilized in explaining mental evolution, and also the development of abnormal mental states. this study is a comparatively recent one but it already gives indications of offering ample rewards. references and bibliography brand, john: observations on popular antiquities. bryant: system of mythology. cox, rev. g. w.: the mythology of the aryan nations. degubertnatis, angelo: zoological mythology. deiterich, a.: mutter erde. dixon, roland b.: the northern maidu. dorsey, george a.: traditions of the caddo, (carnegie institute.) indians of the south west. frazer, j. g.: adonis, attis and osiris; balder, the beautiful; psyche's task. goodrich, v. k.: ainu family life and religion, popular science monthly, november, . grosse: the beginnings of art. harrison, miss jane: ancient art and ritual; themis. hearn, lafcadio: japan; an attempt at interpretation. herodotus: (rawlinson's trans.) higgins, godfrey: the anacalypsis; celtic druids. hitchcock, romyn: shinto or the mythology of the japanese, (smithsonian institute.) howitt, a. w.: the native tribes of south east australia. jennings, hargrave: the rosicrucians; the indian religions. jevons, f. b.: the idea of god in early religions. judson: myths and legends of the mississippi valley and the great lakes. karpas, morris j.: socrates in the light of modern psychopathology. (journal of abnormal psychology. .) king, c. w.: the gnostics and their remains; hand-book of engraved gems. knight, r. p.: the symbolical language of ancient art and mythology; two essays on the worship of priapus. kroeber, alfred l.: symbolism of the arapaho indians. the arapaho, (bulletin of the american museum of natural history.) langdon, s.: tammuz and ishtar. layard, a.: babylon and nineveh; nineveh and its remains. leuba, james h.: a psychological study of religion. monsen, frederick: festivals of the hopi. (the craftsman, june, .) murray, gilbert: hamlet and orestes: the rise of the greek epic. newton, john: assyrian grove worship. o'brien, henry: the round towers of ireland. peet, stephen d.: secret societies and sacred mysteries. perrot, and chipiez: history of art in phrygia, lidia, caria and lycia; history of art in persia. prescott: conquest of peru. pratt, j. b.: india and its faiths. rawlinson, g.: history of ancient egypt; ancient monarchies. reclus, elie: primitive folk. rivers, w. h. r.: the todas. rhyn, dr. otto: mysteria. roscoe, john: the northern bantu. rocco, sha: ancient sex worship. rousselet, louis: india and its native princes. spencer, b.: native tribes of the northern territory of australia. solas, w. j.: ancient hunters. starcke, c. v.: the primitive family. stevens, j.: central america, chiapez and yucatan. symonds, j. a.: a problem in greek ethics. wissler, clark: symbolism in the decorative art of the sioux. westropp, hodder m.: primitive symbolism. wood, rev. j. g.: the uncivilized races. wood-martin: pagan ireland. index adaptations, faulty, - . adjustment, of individual, . adonis, sun god, . american cyclopedia, . american museum of natural history, . anacalipsis, . analogies between the individual and the race, . ancient grove worship of assyria, , . ancient sex worship, , , . androgyne deity, , . arapaho indians, . bacchus, representative of male generative attribute, . bacchanalia, , , , . bear, sacred animal, . bull, phallic significance of, . bull roarer, nature of, . bureau of amer. eth., . caves of elephanta, . ceremonial objects, conventionalization of, . _chinese review_, . collective or group feeling, importance of, . collective thought of the race, relation to religious development, . crux ansata, . dairy, sacredness of, . dances, at witches' sabbath, . decadent sex worship, , , , ; interpretation of, . deity, female, function of in japan, . deities, teutonic, . dietrich, a., . dionysia, , . dionysus, . dorsey, g. a., . douglas, n., . dragon, relation to serpent, . earth, worship, . egg, , , . eleusinia, , , , . emasculation, a form of worship, . essay on the assyrian "grove," . female deities, . festivals to increase food supply, . fire, male principle, . fire worship, , ; identified with sex worship, . fish, phallic significance, . frazer, , , , , , . gnostics, early secret society, ; phallic amulets of, ; reversions of, . goat, priapic animal, ; symbol of khem, . golden bough, . (see frazer.) group thought, . harrison, j., , , , , , , , . hearn, l., . heraldry, origin of symbols, . hermes, phallic nature of, . higgins, . hitchcock, r., . holy grail, symbolism of, . homosexuality, in greek life, ; practice of rosicrucians, . hopi indians, , . howe, j. w., . howitt, a. w., . initiative magic, . _india and its native princes_, . _india and its faiths_, . _indian religions_, . _indians of the southwest_, . infantile reactions, . initiation ceremony, . inman, t., , , . interpretations of sex worship, . _japan, an attempt at interpretation_, . jennings, h., , , , , , , , . karnac, . karpas, m. j., . khem, description of, . king, c. w., . knight, r. p., , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . knights of the round table, . knights templar, phallic amulets of, ; practices of, . kroeber, a. l., , . layard, a., . lingam with yoni, . lost god, the, . lotus, significance of, - . male date palm, significance of, . matriarchy, . may-pole, associated with phallic worship, , . moon, associated with female deity, . mother earth, , . mother religion, , . _mutter erde_, . murray, g., . mysteries, teaching of, - . nature worship, , , , . newton, j., , , . _nineveh and its remains_, . north american indians and sun worship, ; nature worship, , , . obelisk, phallic interpretation, . o'brien, , , . obscure sex symbolism, . order of the garter, . osiris, . pan, significance of, . patriarchy, , . pepys, s., . peet, o. s., . persephone, . phallic hand, symbol of prostitution, . phallic rites, motive for, . phallic symbols, ; in art, . phallic worship in china, . phallic worship, nature of, , . phallus, as a charm, , ; as a decoration, . plant and flower symbols, . pomegranate, female symbol, . pratt, j. b., . priapiea, . priapus, disguises of, . primitive motives, continuance of, ; reversion to, . _primitive symbolism_, . _problem in greek ethics_, . _psyche's task_, . puberty initiations, , . qualities of animal and vegetable nature venerated, . racial feelings, expression of, in religion, . racial motives, in primitive religions, ; dynamic value of, . rain making rite, . rawlinson, . reproduction, motive of, . rhyn, o., . _rise of the greek epic_, . ritual, motive for, ; related to food supply, , . rivers, w. h. r., , . robin goodfellow, . _rosicrucians_, , . rosicrucians, phallic amulets of, ; practices of, , , . _round towers of ireland_, , . rousselet, . sacred animals, - . sacred prostitution, evidences of, . satan, at witches sabbath, . secret societies for decadent sex worship, . serpent worship, , , , . sex worship: an unconscious racial expression, ; biological significance of, ; as basis of early religions, ; in africa in modern times, ; decadence of in middle ages, ; primitive form, ; influence in present thought, ; part of evolution of the human mind, ; in symbolism, ; where it existed as basis of early religions, . sex worship and nature worship, analogies of, ; relation of, . sexual act, as part of worship, - . _shinto, or the mythology of the japanese_, . smithsonian inst., . snake, phallic significance of, . _socrates in the light of modern psychopathology_, . spencer, . star and crescent, . stonehenge, significance of, , . sun myth, . sun worship, , , , . _symbolic language of ancient art and mythology_, , . symbolism, racial, in the individual, . symonds, j. a., . _themis_, , , . thunder god, . thunder rites, . _todas, the_, , . totem, . tree worship, . upright objects as phalli, . vegetation spirit, . water, female principle, . weathercock, emblem of the sun, . westropp, h. m., , , . wilder, a., . witchcraft, . witches' sabbath, nature of, , . wissler, c., , . _worship of priapus_, , , , . yam ceremony, - . footnotes: [ ] the scope of social anthropology; psyche's task. [ ] themis, introduction page xi. [ ] hamlet and orestes. [ ] quoted by h. m. westropp, primitive symbolism. [ ] j. w. wood. the uncivilized races. [ ] the symbolical language of ancient art and mythology. [ ] the rosicrucians. [ ] adonis, attis and osiris. [ ] rousselet, india and its native princes. [ ] pepys diary. [ ] symbolic language of ancient art and mythology. [ ] japan, an attempt at interpretation. [ ] o'brien: the round towers of ireland. [ ] the symbolical language of ancient art and mythology. [ ] the enactment of a rebirth. [ ] dr. otto rhyn, mysteria. [ ] j. b. pratt, india and its faiths. [ ] r. p. knight, the worship of priapus. [ ] hargrave jennings: the rosicrucians. [ ] j. a. symonds, a problem in greek ethics. morris j. karpas, socrates in the light of modern psychopathology. journal of abnormal psychology. . [ ] worship of priapus. [ ] pierre de lancre, tableau de l'inconstance des mauvais anges et démons. [ ] worship of priapus. [ ] the rosicrucians. [ ] the scope of social anthropology; psyche's task. [ ] themis. [ ] w. h. r. rivers, the todas. [ ] miss j. harrison: ancient art and ritual. [ ] indians of the southwest. [ ] the functions of primitive ritualistic ceremonies. popular science monthly, august , . [ ] spencer, native tribes of the northern territory of australia. [ ] ancient art and ritual, p. . [ ] shinto, or the mythology of the japanese. [ ] ancient art and ritual. [ ] secret societies and ancient mysteries: international congress of anthropology, . [ ] symbolism of the arapaho indians: american museum of natural history. [ ] miss j. harrison, themis, introduction. [ ] a. dieterich: _mutter erde_. [ ] norman douglas: old calabria. [ ] jelliffe and white, diseases of the nervous system, page . transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. the following misprints have been corrected: "barreness" corrected to "barrenness" (page ) "superstitition" corrected to "superstition" (page ) "eleusenia" corrected to "eleusinia" (index) "kroebler" corrected to "kroeber" (index) "rawlison" corrected to "rawlinson" (index) "priapus, disguises of, ." corrected to "priapus, disguises of, ." other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in spelling and capitalization have been retained. generously made available by the internet archive.) ophiolatreia, or serpent worship. ophiolatreia: an account of the rites and mysteries connected with the origin, rise, and development of serpent worship in various parts of the world, enriched with interesting traditions, and a full description of the celebrated serpent mounds & temples, the whole forming an exposition of one of the phases of phallic, or sex worship. privately printed. . _preface._ _our words by way of preface and introduction need be but few. the following volume forms a companion to one already issued bearing the title "phallism." that work, though complete in itself, meets in this a further elucidation of its subject, since, in the opinion of many, ophiolatreia, the worship of the serpent, is of phallic origin. such a view, and others of a contrary nature, have been honestly set forth, and the best and most trustworthy authorities have been consulted for history, arguments, and illustrations by which they may be understood. no attempt has been made to insist upon any one method of interpretation as undoubtedly correct, but simple facts have been stated, and the reader has been left to form his own independent judgment._ contents. page. chapter i. ophiolatreia an extraordinary subject--of mysterious origin-- of universal prevalence--the serpent, a common symbol in mythology--serpent worship, natural but irrational--bacchic orgies--olympias, mother of alexander, and the serpent emblem-- thermuthis, the sacred serpent--asps--saturn and his children-- sacrifices at altar of saturn--abaddon--ritual of zoroaster-- vulcan--theology of ophion--the cuthites--the ophiogeneis--the ophionians--greek traditions--cecrops--various serpent worshippers. chapter ii. supposed phallic origin of serpent worship--the idea of life-- adoration of the principle of generation--the serpent as a symbol of the phallus--phallic worship at benares--the serpent and mahadeo--festival of the "nag panchami"--snakes and women-- traces of phallic worship in the kumaon rock markings--the northern bulb-stones--professor stephens on the snake as a symbol of the phallus--the "dionysiak myth"--brown on the serpent as a phallic emblem--mythology of the aryan nations-- sir g. w. cox and the phallic theory--athenian mythology. chapter iii. mythology of the ancients--characteristics of the pagan deities-- doctrine of the reciprocal principles of nature--creation and the egg--creation and the phallus--the lotus--osiris as the active, dispensing, and originating energy--hesiod and the generative powers--growth of phallic worship. chapter iv. ancient monuments of the west--the valley of the mississippi-- numerous earth-works of the western states--theories as to the origin of the mounds--"the defence" theory--the religious theory--earth-work of the "great serpent" on bush creek--the "alligator," ohio--the "cross," pickaway county--structures of wisconsin--mr. pigeon's drawings--significance of earth-mounds-- the egg and man's primitive ideas--the egg as a symbol--birth of brahma--aristophanes and his "comedy of the birds"--the hymn to protogones--the chinese and creation--the mundane or orphic egg--kneph--mr. gliddon's replies to certain inquiries--the orphic theogony and the egg--the great unity. chapter v. the sun and fire as emblems--the serpent and the sun--taut and the serpent--horapollo and the serpent symbol--sanchoniathon and the serpent--ancient mysteries of osiris, &c.--rationale of the connection of solar, phallic, and serpent worship--the aztec pantheon--mexican gods--the snake in mexican theology--the great father and mother--quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent--researches of stephens and catherwood--discoveries of mr. stephens. chapter vi. mexican temple of montezuma--the serpent emblem in mexico--pyramid of cholula--tradition of the giants of auahuac--the temple of quetzalcoatl--north american indians and the rattlesnake--indian tradition of a great serpent--serpents in the mounds of the west-- bigotry and folly of the spanish conquerors of the west--wide prevalence of mexican ophiolatreia. chapter vii. egypt as the home of serpent worship--thoth said to be the founder of ophiolatreia--cneph the architect of the universe-- mysteries of isis--the isiac table--frequency of the serpent symbol--serapis--in the temples at luxore, etc.--discovery at malta--the egyptian basilisk--mummies--bracelets--the caduceus-- temple of cneph at elephantina--thebes--story of a priest-- painting in a tomb at biban at malook--pococke at raigny. chapter viii. derivation of the name "europe"--greece colonized by ophites-- numerous traces of the serpent in greece--worship of bacchus-- story of ericthonias--banquet of the bacchantes--minerva--armour of agamemnon--serpents at epidaurus--story of the pestilence in rome--delphi--mahomet at atmeidan. chapter ix. ophiolatreia in britain--the druids--adders--poem of taliessin-- the goddess ceridwen--a bardic poem--snake stones--the anguinum-- execution of a roman knight--remains of the serpent temple at abury--serpent vestiges in ireland of great rarity--st. patrick. chapter x. india conspicuous in the history of serpent worship--nágpúr-- confessions of a snake worshipper--the gardeners of guzerat-- cottages for snakes at calicut--the feast of the serpents--the deity hari--garuda--the snake as an emblem of immortality. chapter xi. mr. bullock's exhibition of objects illustrating serpent worship. ophiolatreia. chapter i. _ophiolatreia an extraordinary subject--of mysterious origin--of universal prevalence--the serpent a common symbol in mythology--serpent-worship natural but irrational--bacchic orgies--olympias, mother of alexander, and the serpent emblem--thermuthis, the sacred serpent--asps--saturn and his children--sacrifices at altar of saturn--abaddon--ritual of zoroaster--theologo of ophion--the cuthites--the ophiogeneis--the ophionians--greek traditions--cecrops--various serpent worshippers._ ophiolatreia, the worship of the serpent, next to the adoration of the phallus, is one of the most remarkable, and, at first sight, unaccountable forms of religion the world has ever known. until the true source from whence it sprang can be reached and understood, its nature will remain as mysterious as its universality, for what man could see in an object so repulsive and forbidding in its habits as this reptile, to render worship to, is one of the most difficult of problems to find a solution to. there is hardly a country of the ancient world, however, where it cannot be traced, pervading every known system of mythology, and leaving proofs of its existence and extent in the shape of monuments, temples, and earthworks of the most elaborate and curious character. babylon, persia, hindostan, ceylon, china, japan, burmah, java, arabia, syria, asia minor, egypt, ethiopia, greece, italy, northern and western europe, mexico, peru, america--all yield abundant testimony to the same effect, and point to the common origin of pagan systems wherever found. whether the worship was the result of fear or respect is a question that naturally enough presents itself, and in seeking to answer it we shall be confronted with the fact that in some places, as egypt, the symbol was that of a good demon, while in india, scandinavia, and mexico, it was that of an evil one. it has been remarked that in the warmer regions of the globe, where this creature is the most formidable enemy which man can encounter, the serpent should be considered the mythological attendant of an evil being is not surprising, but that in the frozen or temperate regions of the earth, where he dwindles into the insignificance of a reptile without power to create alarm, he should be regarded in the same appalling character, is a fact which cannot be accounted for by natural causes. uniformity of tradition can alone satisfactorily explain uniformity of superstition, where local circumstances are so discordant. "the serpent is the symbol which most generally enters into the mythology of the world. it may in different countries admit among its fellow-satellites of satan the most venomous or the most terrible of the animals in each country, but it preserves its own constancy, as the only invariable object of superstitious terror throughout the habitable world. 'wherever the devil reigned,' remarks stillingfleet, 'the serpent was held in some peculiar veneration.' the universality of this singular and irrational, yet natural, superstition it is now proposed to show. _irrational_, for there is nothing in common between deity and a reptile, to suggest the notion of serpent-worship; and _natural_, because, allowing the truth of the events in paradise, every probability is in favour of such a superstition springing up."[ ] it may seem extraordinary that the worship of the serpent should ever have been introduced into the world, and it must appear still more remarkable that it should almost universally have prevailed. as mankind are said to have been ruined through the influence of this being, we could little expect that it would, of all other objects, have been adopted as the most sacred and salutary symbol, and rendered the chief object of adoration. yet so we find it to have been, for in most of the ancient rites there is some allusion to it. in the orgies of bacchus, the persons who took part in the ceremonies used to carry serpents in their hands, and with horrid screams call upon "eva, eva." they were often crowned with serpents while still making the same frantic exclamation. one part of the mysterious rites of jupiter sabazius was to let a snake slip down the bosom of the person to be initiated, which was taken out below. these ceremonies, and this symbolic worship, are said to have begun among the magi, who were the sons of chus, and by them they were propagated in various parts. epiphanius thinks that the invocation "eva, eva," related to the great mother of mankind, who was deceived by the serpent, and clemens of alexandria is of the same opinion. others, however, think that eva was the same as eph, epha, opha, which the greeks rendered ophis, and by it denoted a serpent. clemens acknowledges that the term eva, properly aspirated, had such a signification. olympias, the mother of alexander, was very fond of these orgies, in which the serpent was introduced. plutarch mentions that rites of this sort were practised by the edonian women near mount hæmus in thrace, and carried on to a degree of madness. olympias copied them closely in all their frantic manoeuvres. she used to be followed with many attendants, who had each a thyrsus with serpents twined round it. they had also snakes in their hair, and in the chaplets which they wore, so that they made a most fearful appearance. their cries also were very shocking, and the whole was attended with a continual repetition of the words, evoe, saboe, hues attes, attes hues, which were titles of the god dionusus. he was peculiarly named hues, and his priests were the hyades and hyautes. he was likewise styled evas. in egypt was a serpent named thermuthis, which was looked upon as very sacred; and the natives are said to have made use of it as a royal tiara, with which they ornamented the statues of isis. we learn from diodorus siculus that the kings of egypt wore high bonnets, which terminated in a round ball, and the whole was surrounded with figures of asps. the priests, likewise, upon their bonnets had the representation of serpents. the ancients had a notion that when saturn devoured his own children, his wife ops deceived him by substituting a large stone in lieu of one of his sons, which stone was called abadir. but ops and opis, represented here as a feminine, was the serpent deity, and abadir is the same personage under a different denomination. abadir seems to be a variation of ob-adur, and signifies the serpent god orus. one of these stones, which saturn was supposed to have swallowed instead of a child, stood, according to pausanias, at delphi. it was esteemed very sacred, and used to have libations of wine poured upon it daily; and upon festivals was otherwise honoured. the purport of the above was probably this: it was for a long time a custom to offer children at the altar of saturn; but in process of time they removed it, and in its room erected a stone pillar, before which they made their vows, and offered sacrifices of another nature. this stone which they thus substituted was called ab-adar, from the deity represented by it. the term ab generally signifies a father, but in this instance it certainly relates to a serpent, which was indifferently styled ab, aub, and ob. some regard abadon, or, as it is mentioned in the book of the revelation, abaddon, to have been the name of the same ophite god, with whose worship the world had been so long infected. he is termed abaddon, the angel of the bottomless pit--the prince of darkness. in another place he is described as the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and satan. hence the learned heinsius is supposed to be right in the opinion which he has given upon this passage, when he makes abaddon the same as the serpent pytho. it is said that in the ritual of zoroaster the great expanse of the heavens, and even nature itself, was described under the symbol of a serpent.[ ] the like was mentioned in the octateuch of ostanes; and moreover, in persia and in other parts of the east they erected temples to the serpent tribe, and held festivals to their honour, esteeming them _the supreme of all gods, and the superintendents of the whole world_. the worship began among the people of chaldea. they built the city opis upon the tigris, and were greatly addicted to divination and to the worship of the serpent. from chaldea the worship passed into egypt, where the serpent deity was called canoph, caneph, and c'neph. it had also the name of ob, or oub, and was the same as the basilicus, or royal serpent; the same also as the thermuthis, and in like manner was made use of by way of ornament to the statues of their gods. the chief deity of egypt is said to have been vulcan, who was also styled opas, as we learn from cicero. he was the same as osiris, the sun; and hence was often called ob-el, or pytho sol; and there were pillars sacred to him, with curious hieroglyphical inscriptions, which had the same name. they were very lofty, and narrow in comparison of their length; hence among the greeks, who copied from the egyptians, everything gradually tapering to a point was styled obelos, and obeliscus. ophel (oph-el) was a name of the same purport, and many sacred mounds, or tapha, were thus denominated from the serpent deity, to whom they were sacred. sanchoniathon makes mention of a history which he once wrote upon the worship of the serpent. the title of this work, according to eusebius, was ethothion, or ethothia. another treatise upon the same subject was written by pherecydes tyrus, which was probably a copy of the former; for he is said to have composed it from some previous accounts of the phoenicians. the title of his book was the theology of ophion, styled ophioneus, and his worshippers were called ophionidæ. thoth and athoth were certainly titles of the deity in the gentile world; and the book of sanchoniathon might very possibly have been from hence named ethothion, or more truly, athothion. but, from the subject upon which it was written, as well as from the treatise of pherecydes, we have reason to think that athothion, or ethothion, was a mistake for ath-ophion, a title which more immediately related to that worship of which the writer treated. ath was a sacred title, as we have shewn, and we imagine that this dissertation did not barely relate to the serpentine deity, but contained accounts of his votaries, the ophitæ, the principal of which were the sons of chus. the worship of the serpent began among them, and they were from thence denominated ethiopians, and aithopians, which the greeks rendered aithiopes. they did not receive this name from their complexion, as has sometimes been surmised, for the branch of phut and the luhim, were probably of a deeper dye; but they were most likely so called from ath-ope, and ath-opis, the god which they worshipped. this may be shewn from pliny. he says that the country ethiopia (and consequently the people), had the name of Æthiop, from a personage who was a deity--_ab Æthiope vulcani filio_. the Æthiopes brought these rites into greece, and called the island where they first established them ellopia, _solis serpentis insula_. it was the same as euboea, a name of the like purport, in which island was a region named ethiopium. euboea is properly oub-aia, and signifies, the serpent island. the same worship prevailed among the hyperboreans, as we may judge from the names of the sacred women who used to come annually to delos; they were priestesses of the tauric goddess. hercules was esteemed the chief god, the same as chronus, and was said to have produced the mundane egg. he was represented in the orphic theology under the mixed symbol of a lion and a serpent, and sometimes of a serpent only. the cuthites, under the title of heliadæ, having settled at rhodes, as they were hivites, or ophites, the island was in consequence named ophiusa. there was likewise a tradition that it had once swarmed with serpents. (bochart says the island is said to have been named rhodus from _rhad_, a syriac word for a serpent.) the like notion prevailed almost in every place where they settled. they came under the more general titles of leleges and pelasgi; but more particularly of elopians, europians, oropians, asopians, inopians, ophionians, and Æthiopes, as appears from the names which they bequeathed; and in most places where they resided there were handed down traditions which alluded to their original title of ophites. in phrygia, and upon the hellespont, whither they sent out colonies very early, was a people styled the ophiogeneis, or the serpent breed, who were said to retain an affinity and correspondence with serpents; and a notion prevailed that some hero, who had conducted them, was changed from a serpent to a man. in colchis was a river ophis, and there was another of the same name in arcadia. it was so named from a body of people who settled upon its banks, and were said to have been conducted by a serpent. it is said these reptiles are seldom found in islands, but that tenos, one of the cyclades, was supposed to have once swarmed with them.[ ] thucydides mentions a people of Ætotia, called ophionians; and the temple of apollo at petara, in lycia, seems to have had its first institution from a priestess of the same name. the island of cyprus was called ophiusa, and ophiodes, from the serpents with which it was supposed to have abounded. of what species they were is nowhere mentioned, excepting only that about paphos there was said to have been a kind of serpent with two legs. by this is meant the ophite race, who came from egypt, and from syria, and got footing in this island. they settled also in crete, where they increased greatly in numbers; so that minos was said by an unseemly allegory, _opheis ouresai, serpentes, minxisse_. the island seriphus was one vast rock, by the romans called _saxum seriphium_, and made use of as a large kind of prison for banished persons. it is represented as having once abounded with serpents, and it is styled by virgil, _serpentifera_, as the passage is corrected by scaliger. it is said by the greeks that medusa's head was brought by perseus; by this is meant the serpent deity, whose worship was here introduced by people called peresians. medusa's head denoted divine wisdom, and the island was sacred to the serpent, as is apparent from its name. the athenians were esteemed _serpentiginæ_, and they had a tradition that the chief guardian of their acropolis was a serpent. it is reported of the goddess ceres that she placed a dragon for a guardian to her temple at eleusis, and appointed another to attend upon erectheus. Ægeus of athens, according to androtion, was of the serpent breed, and the first king of the country is said to have been a dragon. others make cecrops the first who reigned. he is said to have been of a two-fold nature, being formed with the body of a man blended with that of a serpent. diodorus says that this was a circumstance deemed by the athenians inexplicable; yet he labours to explain it by representing cecrops as half a man and half a brute, because he had been of two different communities. eustathius likewise tries to solve it nearly upon the same principles, and with the like success. some have said of cecrops that he underwent a metamorphosis, being changed from a serpent to a man. by this was meant, according to eustathius, that cecrops by coming into hellas divested himself of all the rudeness and barbarity of his country, and became more civilised and human. this is declared by some to be too high a compliment to be paid to greece in its infant state, and detracts greatly from the character of the egyptians. the learned marsham therefore animadverts with great justice, "it is more probable that he introduced into greece the urbanity of his own country, than that he was beholden to greece for anything from thence." in respect to the mixed character of this personage, we may easily account for it. cecrops was certainly a title of the deity, who was worshipped under this emblem. something of the like nature was mentioned of triptolemus and ericthonius, and the like has been said of hercules. the natives of thebes in boeotia, like the athenians, esteemed themselves of the serpent race. the lacedæmonians likewise referred themselves to the same original. their city is said of old to have swarmed with serpents. the same is said of the city amyelæ in italy, which was of spartan origin. they came hither in such abundance that it was abandoned by the inhabitants. argos was infested in the same manner till apis came from egypt and settled in that city. he was a prophet, the reputed son of apollo, and a person of great skill and sagacity, and to him they attributed the blessing of having their country freed from this evil. thus the argives gave the credit to this imaginary personage of clearing their land of this grievance, but the brood came from the very quarter from whence apis was supposed to have arrived. they were certainly hivites from egypt, and the same story is told of that country. it is represented as having been of old over-run with serpents, and almost depopulated through their numbers. diodorus siculus seems to understand this literally, but a region that was annually overflowed, and that too for so long a season, could not well be liable to such a calamity. they were serpents of another nature with which it was thus infested, and the history relates to the cuthites, the original ophitæ, who for a long time possessed that country. they passed from egypt to syria, and to the euphrates, and mention is made of a particular breed of serpents upon that river, which were harmless to the natives but fatal to anybody else. this can hardly be taken literally; for whatever may be the wisdom of the serpent it cannot be sufficient to make these distinctions. these serpents were of the same nature as the birds of diomedes, and the dogs in the temple of vulcan; and the histories relate to ophite priests, who used to spare their own people and sacrifice strangers, a custom which prevailed at one time in most parts of the world. the cuthite priests are said to have been very learned; and, as they were ophites, whoever had the advantage of their information was said to have been instructed by serpents. as the worship of the serpent was of old so prevalent, many places, as well as people, from thence received their names. those who settled in campania were called opici, which some would have changed to ophici, because they were denominated from serpents. they are in reality both names of the same purport, and denote the origin of the people. we meet with places called opis, ophis, ophitæa, ophionia, ophioessa, ophiodes, and ophiusa. this last was an ancient name by which, according to stephanus, the islands rhodes, cynthus, besbicus, tenos, and the whole continent of africa, were distinguished. there were also cities so called. add to these places denominated oboth, obona, and reversed, onoba, from ob, which was of the same purport. clemens alexandrinus says that the term eva signified a serpent if pronounced with a proper aspirate, and epiphanius says the same thing. we find that there were places of this name. there was a city eva in arcadia, and another in macedonia. there was also a mountain eva, or evan, taken notice of by pausanias, between which and ithome lay the city messene. he mentions also an eva in argolis, and speaks of it as a large town. another name for a serpent, which we have not yet noticed, was patan, or pitan. many places in different parts were denominated from this term. among others was a city in laconia, and another in mysia, which stephanus styles a city of Æolia. they were undoubtedly so named from the worship of the serpent, pitan, and had probably dracontia, which were figures and devices relative to the religion which prevailed. ovid mentions the latter city, and has some allusions to its ancient history when he describes medea as flying through the air from athea to colchis. the city was situate upon the ruin eva, or evan, which the greeks rendered evenus. according to strabo it is compounded of eva-ain, the fountain or river of eva the serpent. it is remarkable that the opici, who are said to have been named from serpents, had also the name of pitanatæ; at least, one part of that family was so called. pitanatæ is a term of the same purport as opici, and relates to the votaries of pitan, the serpent deity, which was adored by that people. menelaus was of old called pitanates, as we learn from hesychius, and the reason of it may be known from his being a spartan, by which he was intimated one of the serpentigenæ, or ophites. hence he was represented with a serpent for a device upon his shield. it is said that a brigade, or portion of infantry, was among some of the greeks named pitanates, and the soldiers in consequence of it must have been termed pitanatæ, undoubtedly, because they had the pitan, or serpent, for their standard. analogous to this, among other nations there were soldiers called draconarii. in most countries the military standard was an emblem of the deity there worshipped. what has already been said has thrown some light upon the history of this primitive idolatry, and we have shewn that wherever any of these ophite colonies settled, they left behind from their rites and institutions, as well as from the names which they bequeathed to places, ample memorials, by which they may be clearly traced out. chapter ii. _supposed phallic origin of serpent-worship--the idea of life--adoration of the principle of generation--the serpent as a symbol of the phallus--phallic worship at benares--the serpent and mahadeo--festival of the "nág panchami"--snakes and women--traces of phallic worship in the kumaon rock-markings--the northern bulb stones--professor stephens on the snake as a symbol of the phallus--the "dionysiak myth"--brown on the serpent as a phallic emblem--mythology of the aryan nation--sir g. w. cox and the phallic theory--athenian mythology._ some persons are disposed to attribute to the serpent, as a religious emblem, an origin decidedly phallic. mr. c. s. wake takes a contrary view, and says:--"so far as i can make out the serpent symbol has not a direct phallic reference, nor is its attribute of wisdom the most essential. the idea most intimately associated with this animal was that of life, not present merely, but continued, and probably everlasting. thus the snake _bai_ was figured as guardian of the doorways of the egyptian tombs which represented the mansions of heaven. a sacred serpent would seem to have been kept in all the egyptian temples, and we are told that many of the subjects, in the tombs of the kings at thebes in particular, show the importance it was thought to enjoy in a future state. crowns, formed of the asp or sacred _thermuthis_, were given to sovereigns and divinities, particularly to isis, and these no doubt were intended to symbolise eternal life. isis was a goddess of life and healing and the serpent evidently belonged to her in that character, seeing that it was the symbol also of other deities with the like attributes. thus, on papyri it encircles the figure of harpocrates, who was identified with Æsculapius; while not only was a great serpent kept alive in the great temple of serapis, but on later monuments this god is represented by a great serpent with or without a human head. mr. fergusson, in accordance with his peculiar theory as to the origin of serpent worship, thinks this superstition characterised the old turanaian (or rather let us say akkadian) empire of chaldea, while tree-worship was more a characteristic of the later assyrian empire. this opinion is no doubt correct, and it means really that the older race had that form of faith with which the serpent was always indirectly connected--adoration of the male principle of generation, the principal phase of which was probably ancestor worship, while the latter race adored the female principle, symbolised by the sacred tree, the assyrian 'grove.' the 'tree of life,' however, undoubtedly had reference to the male element, and we may well imagine that originally the fruit alone was treated as symbolical of the opposite element." mr. j. h. rivett-carnac, in his paper printed in the journal of the asiatic society of bengal, entitled "the snake symbol in india," suggests that the serpent is a symbol of the phallus. he says:--"the serpent appears on the prehistoric cromlechs and menhirs of europe, on which i believe the remains of phallic worship may be traced. what little attention i have been able to give to the serpent-symbol has been chiefly in its connection with the worship of mahádeo or siva, with a view to ascertain whether the worship of the snake and that of mahádeo or the phallus may be considered identical, and whether the presence of the serpent on the prehistoric remains of europe can be shown to support my theory, that the markings on the cromlechs and menhirs are indeed the traces of this form of worship, carried to europe from the east by the tribes whose remains are buried beneath the tumuli. during my visits to benares, the chief centre of siva worship in india, i have always carefully searched for the snake-symbol. on the most ordinary class of "mahádeo," a rough stone placed on end supposed to represent the phallus, the serpent is not generally seen. but in the temples and in the better class of shrines which abound in the city and neighbourhood the snake is generally found encircling the phallus. the tail of the snake is sometimes carried down the _yoni_, and in one case i found two snakes on a shrine thus depicted. in the benares bazaar i once came across a splendid metal cobra, the head erect and hood expanded, so made as to be placed around or above a stone or metal "mahádeo." it is now in england. the attitude of the cobra when excited and the expansion of the head will suggest the reason for this snake representing mahádeo and the phallus. although the presence of the snake in these models cannot be said to prove much, and although from the easy adaptability of its form the snake must always have been a favourite subject in ornament, still it will be seen that the serpent is prominent in connection with the conventional shape under which mahádeo is worshipped at benares and elsewhere, that it sometimes takes the place of the linga, and that it is to be found entwined with almost every article connected with this worship." further on the same writer says:--"the nág panchami or fifth day of the moon in sawan is a great fete in the city of nágpúr, and more than usual license is indulged in on that day. rough pictures of snakes in all sorts of shapes and positions are sold and distributed, something after the manner of valentines. i cannot find any copies of these queer sketches, and if i could they would hardly be fit to be reproduced. mr. j. w. neill, the present commissioner of nágpúr, was good enough to send me some superior valentines of this class, and i submit them now for the inspection of the society. it will be seen that in these paintings, some of which are not without merit either as to design or execution, no human figures are introduced. in the ones i have seen in days gone by the positions of the women with the snakes were of the most indecent description and left no doubt that, so far as the idea represented in these sketches was concerned, the cobra was regarded as the phallus. in the pictures now sent the snakes will be seen represented in congress in the well-known form of the caduceus esculapian rod. then the many-headed snake, drinking from the jewelled cup, takes me back to some of the symbols of the mysteries of bygone days. the snake twisted round the tree and the second snake approaching it are suggestive of the temptation and fall. but i am not unmindful of the pitfalls from which wilford suffered, and i quite see that it is not impossible that this picture may be held to be not strictly hindu in its treatment. still the tree and the serpent are on the brass models which accompany this paper, and which i have already shewn are to be purchased in the benares brass bazaar of to-day--many hundreds of miles away from nágpúr where these valentines were drawn. in my paper on the kumáon rock markings, besides noting the resemblance between the cup markings of india and europe, i hazarded the theory that the concentric circles and certain curious markings of what some have called the "jew's harp" type, so common in europe, are traces of phallic worship carried there by tribes whose hosts decended into india, pushed forward into the remotest corners of europe, and, as their traces seem to suggest, found their way on to the american continent too. whether the markings really ever were intended to represent the phallus and the yoni must always remain a matter of opinion. but i have no reason to be dissatisfied with the reception with which this, to many somewhat pleasant theory, has met in some of the antiquarian societies of europe. no one who compares the stone yonis of benares, sent herewith, with the engravings on the first page of the work on the rock markings of northumberland and argyleshire, published privately by the duke of northumberland, will deny that there is an extraordinary resemblance between the conventional symbol of siva worship of to-day and the ancient markings on the rocks, menhirs and cromlechs of northumberland, of scotland, of brittany, of scandinavia and other parts of europe. and a further examination of the forms of the cromlechs and tumuli and menhirs will suggest that the tumuli themselves were intended to indicate the symbols of the mahádeo and yoni, conceived in no obscene sense, but as representing regeneration, the new life, "life out of death, life everlasting," which those buried in the tumuli, facing towards the sun in its meridian, were expected to enjoy in the hereafter. professor stephens, the well-known scandinavian antiquary, writing to me recently, speaks of the symbols as follows:--"the pieces (papers) you were so good as to send me were very valuable and welcome. there can be no doubt that it is to india we have to look for the solution of many of our difficult archæological questions." "but especially interesting is your paper on the ancient rock-sculpturings. i believe that you are quite right in your views. nay, i go further. i think that the northern bulb-stones are explained by the same combination. i therefore send you the swedish archæological journal for , containing baron herculius' excellent dissertation on these object.... you can examine the many excellent woodcuts. i look upon these things as late conventionalized abridgments of the linga and yoni, life out of death, life everlasting--thus a fitting ornament for the graves of the departed." the author further says:--"many who indignantly repudiate the idea of the prevalence of phallic worship among our remote ancestors hold that these symbols represent the snake or the sun. but admitting this, may not the snake, after all, have been but a symbol of the phallus? and the sun, the invigorating power of nature, has ever, i believe, been considered to represent the same idea, not necessarily obscene, but the great mystery of nature, the life transmitted from generation to generation, or, as professor stephen puts it, 'life out of death, life everlasting.'" the same idea, in fact, which, apart from any obscene conception, causes the rude mahádeo and yoni to be worshipped daily by hundreds of thousands of hindus. brown, in his "great dionysiak myth," says:--"the serpent has six principal points of connection with dionysos: .--as a symbol of, and connected with, wisdom. .--as a solar emblem. .--as a symbol of time and eternity. .--as an emblem of the earth, life. .--as connected with fertilizing moisture. .--as a phallic emblem." referring to the last of these, he proceeds--"the serpent being connected with the sun, the earth life and fertility must needs be also a phallic emblem, and so appropriate to the cult of dionysos priapos. mr. cox after a review of the subject, observes, 'finally, the symbol of the phallus suggested the form of the serpent, which thus became the emblem of life and healing. there then we have the key to that tree and serpent worship which has given rise to much ingenious speculation.' the myth of the serpent and the tree is not, i apprehend, exhausted by any merely phallic explanation, but the phallic element is certainly one of the most prominent features in it, as it might be thought any inspection of the carvings connected with the topes of sanchi and amravati would show. it is hard to believe, with mr. fergusson, that the usefulness and beauty of trees gained them the payment of divine honours. again, the asherah or grove-cult (exod. , ; kings , ; jer. , ; micah , ) was essentially phallic, asherah being the upright. it seems also to have been in some degree connected with that famous relic, the brazen serpent of nehushtan ( kings , ). donaldson considers that the serpent is the emblem of desire. it has also been suggested that the creature symbolised sensation generally." the sir g. w. cox referred to above, in his "mythology of argai nations," says:--"if there is one point more certain than another it is that wherever tree and serpent worship has been found, the cultus of the phallos and the ship, of the linga and yoni, in connection with the worship of the sun, has been found also. it is impossible to dispute the fact, and no explanation can be accepted for one part of the cultus which fails to explain the other. it is unnecessary, therefore, to analyze theories which profess to see in it the worship of the creeping brute or the wide-spreading tree. a religion based on the worship of the venomous reptile must have been a religion of terror; in the earliest glimpses which we have of it, the serpent is a symbol of life and of love. nor is the phallic cultus in any respect a cultus of the full-grown and branching tree. in its earliest form the symbol is everywhere a mere stauros, or pole; and although this stock or rod budded in the shape of the thyrsus and the shepherd's staff, yet, even in its latest developements, the worship is confined to small bushes and shrubs and diminutive plants of a particular kind. nor is it possible again to dispute the fact that every nation, at some stage or other of its history, has attached to this cultus precisely that meaning which the brahman now attaches to the linga and the yoni. that the jews clung to it in this special sense with vehement tenacity is the bitter complaint of the prophets; and the crucified serpent adored for its healing powers stood untouched in the temple until it was removed and destroyed by hezekiah. this worship of serpents, "void of reason," condemned in the wisdom of solomon, probably survived even the babylonish captivity. certainly it was adopted by the christians who were known as ophites, gnostics, and nicolaitans. in athenian mythology the serpent and the tree are singularly prominent. kekrops, erechtheus, and erichthonios, are each and all serpentine in the lower portion of their bodies. the sacred snake of athênê had its abode in the akropolis, and her olive trees secured for her the victory in her rivalry with poseidôn. the health-giving serpent lay at the feet of asklêpios and snakes were fed in his temple at epidauros and elsewhere. that the ideas of mere terror and death suggested by the venomous or the crushing reptile could never have given way thus completely before those of life, healing, and safety, is obvious enough; and the latter ideas alone are associated with the serpent as the object of adoration. the deadly beast always was, and has always remained, the object of the horror and loathing which is expressed for ahi, the choking and throttling snake, the vritra whom indra smites with his unerring lance, the dreadful azidahaka of the avesta, the zohak or biter of modern persian mythology, the serpents whom heraktes strangles in his cradle, the python, or fafnir, or grendel, or sphinx whom phoibos, or sigurd, or beowulf, or oidipous smite and slay. that the worship of the serpent has nothing to do with these evil beasts is abundantly clear from all the phallic monuments of the east or west. in the topes of sanchi and amravati the disks which represent the yoni predominate in every part of the design; the emblem is worn with unmistakeable distinctness by every female figure, carved within these disks, while above the multitude are seen, on many of the disks, a group of women with their hands resting on the linga, which they uphold. it may, indeed, be possible to trace out the association which connects the linga with the bull in sivaison, as denoting more particularly the male power, while the serpent in jainaison and vishnavism is found with the female emblem, the yoni. so again in egypt, some may discern in the bull apis or mnevis the predominance of the male idea in that country, while in assyria or palestine the serpent or agathos daimon is connected with the altar of baal. chapter iii. _mythology of the ancients--characteristics of the pagan deities--doctrine of the reciprocal principles of nature--creation of the egg--creation and the phallus--the lotus--osiris as the active, dispensing, and originating energy--hesiod and the generative powers--growth of phallic worship._ "by comparing all the varied legends of the east and west in conjunction," says a learned author, "we obtain the following outline of the mythology of the ancients: it recognises, as the primary elements of things, two independent principles of the nature of male and female; and these, in mystic union, as the soul and body, constitute the great hermaphrodite deity, the one, the universe itself, consisting still of the two separate elements of its composition, modified though combined in one individual, of which all things are regarded but as parts.... if we investigate the pantheons of the ancient nations, we shall find that each, notwithstanding the variety of names, acknowledged the same deities and the same system of theology; and, however humble any of the deities may appear, each who has any claim to antiquity will be found ultimately, if not immediately, resolvable into one or other of the primeval principles, the great god and goddess of the gentiles."[ ] "we must not be surprised," says sir william jones, "at finding, on a close examination, that the characters of all the pagan deities, male and female, melt into each other, and at last into one or two, for it seems a well-founded opinion that the whole crowd of gods and goddesses in ancient rome and modern váránes mean only the powers of nature, and principally those of the sun, expressed in a variety of ways and by a multitude of fanciful names." the doctrine of the reciprocal principles of nature, designated as active and passive, male and female, and often symbolized as the sun and moon, or the sun and the earth, was distinctly recognised in the mythological systems of america. it will be well to notice the _rationale_ of this doctrine, and some of the more striking forms which, in the developement of human ideas, it has assumed; for it may safely be claimed that under some of its aspects or modifications it has entered into every religious system, if, indeed, it has not been the nucleus of every mythology. the idea of a creation, suggested by the existence of things, was, no doubt, the first result of human reasoning. the mode of the event, the manner in which it was brought about, was, it is equally unquestionable, the inquiry which next occupied the mind, and man deduced from the operations of nature around him his first theory of creation. from the egg, after incubation, he saw emerging the living bird, a phenomenon which, to his simple apprehension, was nothing less than an actual creation. how naturally then, how almost of necessity, did that phenomenon, one of the most obvious in nature, associate itself with his ideas of creation--a creation which he could not help recognising, but which he could not explain. the extent to which the egg, received as a symbol, entered into the early cosmogonies will appear in another and more appropriate connection. by a similar process did the creative power come to be symbolized under the form of the phallus, in it was recognised the cause of reproduction, or, as it appeared to the primitive man, of creation. so the egyptians, in their refinement upon this idea, adopted the scarabæus as a symbol of the first cause, the great hermaphrodite unity, for the reason that they believed that insect to be both male and female, capable of self-inception and singular production, and possessed of the power of vitalizing its own work. it is well known that the nymphoe, lotus, or water-lily is held sacred throughout the east, and the various sects of that quarter of the globe represent their deities, either decorated with its flowers, holding it as a sceptre, or seated on a lotus throne or pedestal. "it is," says maurice, "the sublime and hallowed symbol that perpetually occurs in oriental mythology, and not without substantial reason; for it is itself a lovely prodigy, and contains a treasure of physical instruction." the reason of its adoption as a symbol is explained by mr. payne knight, and affords a beautiful illustration of the _rationale_ of symbolism, and of the profound significance often hidden beneath apparently insignificant emblems. "this plant," observes mr. knight, "grows in the water, and amongst its broad leaves puts forth a flower, in the centre of which is formed its seed vessel, shaped like a bell or inverted cone, and punctured on the top with little cavities or cells, in which the seeds grow. the orifice of these cells being too small to let the seeds drop out when ripe, they shoot forth into new plants in the places where they are formed; the bulb of the vessel serving as a matrix to nourish them until large enough to burst it open and release themselves, after which, like other aquatic plants, they take root wherever the current deposits them. the plant, therefore, being thus productive of itself, and vegetating from its own matrix, without being fostered in the earth, was naturally adopted as a symbol of the productive power of waters upon which the active spirit of the creator acted in giving life and vegetation to matter. we accordingly find it employed in every part of the northern hemisphere where the symbolical religion, improperly called idolatry, existed." examples quoted illustrate the inductive powers by which unaided reason arrives at its results, as well as the means by which it indicates them in the absence of a written language or of one capable of conveying abstract ideas. the mythological symbols of all early nations furnish ample evidence that it was thus they embodied or shadowed forth their conceptions,--the germ of a symbolic system, which was afterwards extended to every manifestation of nature and every attribute of divinity. we may in this manner rationally and satisfactorily account for the origin of the doctrine of the reciprocal principles. its universal acceptance establishes that it was deduced from the operations of that law so obviously governing all animated nature--that of reproduction or procreation. in the egyptian mythology, the divine osiris was venerated as the active, dispensing, or originating energy, and was symbolized as the sun; isis as terrene nature, the passive recipient, the producer; their annual offspring was horus, the vernal season or infant year. the poet hesiod, in the beginning of his theogony, distinguishes the male and female, or generative and productive powers of nature, as ouranus and gaia, heaven and earth. the celestial emblems of these powers were usually, as we have said, the sun and moon; the terrestrial, fire and earth. they were designed as father and mother; and their more obvious symbols, as has already been intimated, were the phallus and kteis, or the lingham and yoni of hindustan. that the worship of the phallus passed from india or from ethiopia into egypt, from egypt into asia minor, and into greece, is not so much a matter of astonishment,--these nations communicated with each other; but that this worship existed in countries a long time unknown to the rest of the world--in many parts of america, with which the people of the eastern continent had formerly no communication--is an astonishing but well attested fact. when mexico was discovered, there was found in the city of panuco, the particular worship of the phallus well established, its image was adorned in the temples; there were in the public places bas reliefs, which like those of india, represented in various manners the union of the two sexes. at tlascalla, another city of mexico, they revered the act of generation under the united symbols of the characteristic organs of the two sexes. garcilasso de la vega says--"that according to blas valera, the god of luxury was called tiazolteuli," but some writers say, "this is a mistake." one of the goddesses of the mexican pantheon was named tiazolteotl, which boturini describes as venus unchaste, low, and abominable, the hieroglyphic of these men and women who are wholly abandoned, mingling promiscuously one with another, gratifying their bestial appetites like animals. boturini is said to be not entirely correct in his apprehensions of the character of this goddess. she is cinteotl, the goddess of maize, under another aspect. certain of the temples of india abound with sculptured representations of the symbols of phallic worship, and if we turn to the temples of central america, which in many respects exhibit a strict correspondence with those of india, we find precisely the same symbols, separate and in combination. chapter iv. _ancient monuments of the west--the valley of the mississippi--numerous earthworks of the western states--theory as to origin of the mounds--the "defence" theory--the religious theory--earthwork of the "great serpent" on bush creek--the "alligator," ohio--the "cross," pickaway county--structures of wisconsin--mr. pigeons drawings-- significance of the earth-mounds--the egg and man's primitive ideas--the egg as a symbol--birth of brahma--aristophanes and his "comedy of the birds"--the hymn to protogones--the chinese and creation--the mundane or orphic egg--kneph--mr. gliddon's replies to certain enquiries--the orphic theogony and the egg--the great unity._ the ancient monuments of the western united states consist for the most part of elevations and embankments of earth and stone, erected with great labour and manifest design. in connection with these, more or less intimate, are found various minor relics of art, consisting of ornaments and implements of many kinds, some of them composed of metal but most of stone. these remains are spread over a vast amount of country. they are found on the sources of the alleghany, in the western part of the state of new york on the east; and extend thence westwardly along the southern shore of lake erie, and through michigan and wisconsin, to iowa and the nebraska territory on the west. some ancient works, probably belonging to the same system with those of the mississippi valley and erected by the same people, occur upon the susquehanna river as far down as the valley of wyoming in pennsylvania. the mound builders seem to have skirted the southern border of lake erie, and spread themselves in diminished numbers over the western part of the state of new york, along the shores of lake ontario to the st. lawrence river. they penetrated into the interior, eastward, as far as the county of onondaga, where some slight vestiges of their work still exist. these seem to have been their limits at the north-east. we have no record of their occurrence above the great lakes. carner mentions some on the shores of lake pepin, and some are said to occur near lake travers, under the th parallel of latitude. lewis and clarke saw them on the missouri river, one thousand miles above its junction with the mississippi; and they have been observed on the kanzas and platte and on other remote western rivers. they are found all over the intermediate country, and spread over the valley of the mississippi to the gulf of mexico. they line the shores of the gulf from texas to florida, and extend in diminished numbers into south carolina. they occur in great numbers in ohio, indiana, illinois, wisconsin, missouri, arkansas, kentucky, tennessee, louisiana, mississippi, alabama, georgia, florida and texas. they are found in less numbers in the western portions of new york, pennsylvania, virginia, and north and south carolina; as also in michigan, iowa, and in the mexican territory beyond the rio grande del norte. in short, they occupy the entire basin of the mississippi and its tributaries, as also the fertile plains along the gulf. although possessing throughout certain general points of resemblance going to establish a kindred origin, these works, nevertheless, resolve themselves into three grand geographical divisions, which present in many respects striking contrasts, yet so gradually merge into each other that it is impossible to determine where one series terminates and the other begins. in the region bordering upon the upper lakes, to a certain extent in michigan, iowa and missouri, but particularly in wisconsin, we find a succession of remains, entirely singular in their form and presenting but slight analogy to any others of which we have in any portion of the globe. the larger proportion of these are structures of earth bearing the forms of beasts, birds, reptiles, and even of men; they are frequently of gigantic dimensions, constituting huge _basso-relievos_ upon the face of the country. they are very numerous and in most cases occur in long and apparently dependent ranges. in connection with them are found many conical mounds and occasional short lines of embankment, in rare instances forming enclosures. these animal effigies are mainly confined to wisconsin, and extend across that territory from ford du lac in a south-western direction, ascending the fox river and following the general course of rock and wisconsin rivers to the mississippi. they may be much more extensively disseminated; but it is here only that they have been observed in considerable numbers. in michigan, as also in iowa and missouri, similar elevations of more or less outline are said to occur. they are represented as dispersed in ranges like the buildings of a modern city, and covering sometimes an arc of many acres. the number of these ancient remains is well calculated to excite surprise, and has been adduced in support of the hypothesis that they are most if not all of them natural formations, "the result of diluvial action," modified perhaps in some instances, but never erected by man. of course no such suggestion was ever made by individuals who had enjoyed the opportunity of seeing and investigating them. single structures of earth could not possibly bear more palpable evidences of an artificial origin than do most of the western monuments. the evidences in support of this assertion, derived from the form, structure, position and contents of these remains, sufficiently appear in the pages of this work. the structure, not less than the form and position of a large number of the earthworks of the west, and especially of the scioto valley, render it clear that they were erected for other than defensive purposes. the small dimensions of most of the circles, the occurrence of the ditch interior to the embankments, and the fact that many of them are completely commanded by adjacent heights, are some of the circumstances which may be mentioned as sustaining this conclusion. we must seek, therefore, in the connection in which these works are found and in the character of the mounds, if such there be within their walls, for the secret of their origin. and it may be observed that it is here we discover evidences still more satisfactory and conclusive than are furnished by their small dimensions and other circumstances above mentioned, that they were not intended for defence. thus, when we find an enclosure containing a number of mounds, all of which it is capable of demonstration were religious in their purposes or in some way connected with the superstitions of the people who built them, the conclusion is irresistible that the enclosure itself was also deemed sacred and thus set apart as "tabooed" or consecrated ground--especially where it is obvious at the first glance that it possesses none of the requisites of a military work. but it is not to be concluded that those enclosures alone, which contain mounds of the description here named, were designed for sacred purposes. we have reason to believe that the religious system of the mound builders, like that of the aztecs, exercised among them a great if not controlling influence. their government may have been, for aught we know, a government of priesthood; one in which the priestly and civil functions were jointly exercised, and one sufficiently powerful to have secured in the mississippi valley, as it did in mexico, the erection of many of those vast monuments which for ages will continue to challenge the wonder of men. there may have been certain superstitious ceremonies, having no connection with the purposes of the mounds, carried on in the enclosures specially dedicated to them. it is a conclusion which every day's investigation and observation has tended to confirm, that most, perhaps all, of the earthworks not manifestly defensive in their character were in some way connected with the superstitious rights of the builders, though in what manner, it is, and perhaps ever will be, impossible satisfactorily to determine. by far the most extraordinary and interesting earthwork discovered in the west is the great serpent, situate on brush creek at a point known as the "three forks," near the north line of adams county, ohio. it occupies the summit of a high crescent-form hill or spur of land, rising a hundred and fifty feet above the level of brush creek, which washes its base. the side of the hill next the stream presents a perpendicular wall of rock, while the other slopes rapidly, though it is not so steep as to preclude cultivation. the top of the hill is not level but slightly convex, and presents a very even surface one hundred and fifty feet wide by one thousand long, measuring from its extremity to the point where it connects with the table land. conforming to the curve of the hill and occupying its very summit is the serpent, its head resting near the point and its body winding back for seven hundred feet in graceful undulations, terminating in a triple coil at the tail. the entire length, if extended, would be not less than one thousand feet. the neck of the serpent is stretched out and slightly curved, and its mouth is opened wide as if in the act of swallowing or ejecting an oval figure which rests partially within the distended jaws. this oval is formed by an embankment of earth, without any perceptible opening, four feet in height, and is perfectly regular in outline, its transverse and conjugate diameters being one hundred and sixty and eighty feet respectively. the ground within the oval is slightly elevated: a small circular elevation of large stones much burned once existed in its centre, but they have been thrown down and scattered by some ignorant visitor, under the prevailing impression probably that gold was hidden beneath them. the point of the hill within which this egg-shaped figure rests seems to have been artificially cut to conform to its outline, leaving a smooth platform, ten feet wide and somewhat inclining inwards, all around it. upon either side of the serpent's head extend two small triangular elevations ten or twelve feet over. they are not high, and although too distinct to be overlooked, are yet much too much obliterated to be satisfactorily traced. an effigy in the form of an alligator occurs near granville, licking county, ohio, upon a high hill or headland; in connection with which there are unmistakable evidences of an altar, similar to that in conjunction with the work just named. it is known in the vicinity as "the alligator," which designation has been adopted for want of a better, although the figure bears as close a resemblance to the lizard as any other reptile. it is placed transversly to the point of land on which it occurs, the head pointing to the south-west. the total length from the point of the nose following the curve of the tail to the tip is about two hundred and fifty feet, the breadth of the body forty feet, and the length of the feet or paws each thirty-six feet. the ends of the paws are a little broader than the remaining portions of the same, as if the spread of the toes had been originally indicated. some parts of the body are more elevated than others, an attempt having evidently been made to preserve the proportions of the object copied. the outline of the figure is clearly defined; its average height is not less than four feet; at the shoulders it is six feet in altitude. upon the inner side of the effigy is an elevated circular space covered with stones which have been much burned. this has been denominated an altar. it seems more than probable that this singular effigy, like that last described, had its origin in the superstition of its makers. it was perhaps the high place where sacrifices were made on stated or extraordinary occasions, and where the ancient people gathered to celebrate the rites of their unknown worship. its position and all the circumstances attending it certainly favour such a conclusion. the same is true of a work in the form of a cross, occupying a like situation near the village of tarlton, pickaway county, ohio. from these premises, we are certainly justified in concluding that these several effigies had probably a cognate design, possessed a symbolical significance, and were conspicuous objects of religious regard, and that on certain occasions sacrifices were made on the altars within or near them. the only structures sustaining any analogy to these are found in wisconsin and the extreme north-west. there we find great numbers of mounds bearing the forms of animals of various kinds, and entering into a great variety of combinations with each other, and with conical mounds and lines of embankments, which are also abundant. they are usually found on the low, level, or undulating prairies, and seldom in such conspicuous positions as those discovered in ohio. whether they were built by the same people with the latter, and had a common design and purpose, it is not undertaken to say, nor is it a question into which we propose to enter. it is an interesting fact that amongst the animal effigies of wisconsin, structures in the form of serpents are of frequent occurrence. some years ago, mr. pigeon, of virginia, made drawings of a number of these, and he stated that near the junction of the st. peter's with the mississippi river were a large number of mounds and monuments, consisting-- st, of a circle and square in combination, as at circleville, in ohio, the sole difference being a large truncated mound in the centre of the square, as well as in the centre of the circle, with a platform round its base; nd, near by, the effigy of a gigantic animal resembling the elk, in length one hundred and ninety-five feet; rd, in the same vicinity, a large conical mound, three hundred feet in diameter at the base, and thirty feet in height, its summit covered with charcoal. this mound was surrounded by one hundred and twenty smaller mounds, disposed in the form of a circle. twelve miles to the westward of these, and within sight of them, was a large conical truncated mound, sixty feet in diameter at the bottom, and eighteen feet high, built upon a raised platform or bottom. it was surrounded by a circle three hundred and sixty-five feet in circumference. entwined around this circle, in a triple coil, was an embankment, in the form of a serpent, two thousand three hundred and ten feet in length. this embankment, at the centre of the body, was eighteen feet in diameter, but diminished towards the head and tail in just proportion. the elevation of the head was four feet, of the body six feet, of the tail two feet. the central mound was capped with blue clay, beneath which was sand mixed with charcoal and ashes. mounds arranged in serpentine form have also been found in iowa, at a place formerly known as prairie la porte, afterwards called gottenburgh. also at a place seven miles north of these on turkey river, where the range was two and a half miles long, the mounds occurring at regular intervals. twenty miles to the westward of this locality was the effigy of a great serpent with that of a tortoise in front of its mouth. this structure was found to be one thousand and four feet long, eighteen feet broad at its widest part, and six feet high; the tortoise was eighteen by twelve feet. mr. pigeon gave accounts of many other structures, tending to illustrate and confirm the opinions advanced respecting the religious and symbolical character and design of many, if not all, the more regular earth-works of the western states. thirty miles west of prairie du chien, he found a circle enclosing a pentagon, which in its turn enclosed another circle, within which was a conical truncated mound. the outer circle was twelve hundred feet in circumference, the embankment twelve feet broad and from three to five feet high. the entrance was on the east. the mound was thirty-six feet in diameter by twelve feet high. its summit was composed of white pipe-clay, beneath which was found a large quantity of mica in sheets. it exhibited abundant traces of fire. four miles distant from this, on the lowlands of the kickapoo river, mr. pigeon discovered a mound with eight radiating points, undoubtedly designed to represent the sun. it was sixty feet in diameter at the base, and three feet high. the points extended outwards about nine feet. surrounding this mound were five crescent-shaped mounds so arranged as to constitute a circle. many analagous structures were discovered at other places, both in wisconsin and iowa. at cappile bluffs, on the mississippi river, was found a conical, truncated mound, surrounded by nine radiating effigies of men, the heads pointing inwards. probably no one will hesitate in ascribing to work just described, some extraordinary significance. it cannot be supposed to be the offspring of an idle fancy or a savage whim. it bears, in its position and the harmony of its structure, the evidences of design, and it seems to have been begun and finished in accordance with a matured plan, and not to have been the result of successive and unmeaning combinations. it is probably not a work for defence, for there is nothing to defend; on the contrary, it is clearly and unmistakably, in form and attitude, the representation of a serpent, with jaws distended, in the act of swallowing or ejecting an oval figure, which may be distinguished, from the suggestions of analogy, as an egg. assuming for the entire structure a religious origin, it can be regarded only as the recognised symbol of some grand mythological idea. what abstract conception was thus embodied; or what vast event thus typically commemorated, we have no certain means of knowing! analogy, however, although too often consulted on trivial grounds, furnishes us with gleams of light, of greater or less steadiness, as our appeals to its assistance happen to be conducted, on every subject connected with man's beliefs. we proceed now to discover what light reason and analogy shed upon the singular structure before us. naturally, and almost of necessity, the egg became associated with man's primitive idea of a creation. it aptly symbolised that primordial, quiescent state of things which preceded their vitalization and activity--the inanimate chaos, before life began, when "the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." it was thus received in the early cosmogonies, in all of which the vivification of the mundane egg constituted the act of creation; from it sprang the world resplendent in glory and teeming with life. faber says--"the ancient pagans, in almost every part of the globe, were wont to symbolize the world by an egg. hence this symbol is introduced into the cosmogonies of nearly all nations, and there are few persons even among those who have not made mythology their study, to whom the mundane egg is not perfectly familiar. it was employed, not only to represent the earth, but also the universe in its largest extent."[ ] "the world," says menu, "was all darkness, undiscernible, undistinguishable, altogether in a profound sleep, till the self-existent, invisible god (brahm), making it manifest with five elements and other glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom. desiring to raise up creatures by an emanation from his own essence, he first created the waters, and inspired them with power of motion; by that power was produced a golden egg, blazing like a thousand stars, in which was born brahma, the great parent of national beings, that which is the invisible cause, self-existent, but unperceived. this divinity having dwelt in the egg through revolving years, himself meditating upon himself, divided into two equal parts, and from these halves he framed the heavens and the earth, placing in the midst the subtil ether, the eight points of the world, and the permanent receptacle of the waters." the above is maurice's translation. sir william jones renders it:--"the sole, self-existent power, having willed to produce various beings from his own divine substance, first, with a thought created the waters, and placed in them a productive seed. that seed became an egg, bright as gold, blazing like the luminary with a thousand beams, and in that egg was born himself, in the form of brahma, the great forefather of all spirits." aristophanes, in his comedy of the birds, is thought to have given the notions of cosmogony, ancient even in his days. "chaos, night, black erebus, and wide tartarus first existed: there was neither earth, nor air, nor heaven; but in the bosom of erebus black-winged night produced an aerial egg, from which was born golden-pinioned love (phanes), and he, the great universal father, begot our race out of dark chaos, in the midst of wide-spreading tartarus, and called us into light." we find this conception clearly embodied in one of the orphic fragments, the hymn to protogones, who is equivalent to phanes, the life-giver, priapus, or generator. "i invoke thee, oh protogones, two-fold, great, wandering through the ether; egg-born rejoicing in thy golden wings; bull-faced, the generator of the blessed and of mortal men; the much-renowned light, the far celebrated ericapæus; ineffable, occult, impetuous all-glittering strength; who scatterest the twilight cloud of darkness from the eyes, and roam'st through the world upon the flight of thy wings, bringing forth the brilliant and all-pure light; wherefore i invoke thee, as phanes, as priapus the king, and as the dark-faced splendour,-- come, thou blessed being, full of metis (wisdom) and generation, come in joy to thy sacred, ever-varying mysteries." we have, according to these early notions, the egg representing being simply; chaos, the great void from which, by the will of the superlative unity, proceeds the generative or creative influence, designated among the greeks as "phanes," "golden-pinioned love," "the universal father," "egg-born protogones" (the latter zeus or jupiter); in india as "brahma," the "great parent of rational creatures," the "father of the universe;" and in egypt as "ptha," the "universal creator." the chinese, whose religious conceptions correspond generally with those of india, entertained similar notions of the origin of things. they set forth that chaos, before the creation, existed in the form of a vast egg, in which was contained the principles of all things. its vivification, among them also, constituted the act of creation. according to this and other authorities, the vivification of the mundane egg is allegorically represented in the temple of daibod, in japan, by a nest egg, which is shown floating in an expanse of waters against which a bull (everywhere an emblem of generative energy, and prolific heat, the sun) is striking with his horns. "near lemisso, in the island of cyprus, is still to be seen a gigantic egg-shaped vase, which is supposed to represent the mundane or orphic egg. it is of stone, and measures thirty feet in circumference. upon one side, in a semi-circular niche, is sculptured a bull, the emblem of productive energy. this figure is understood to signify the tauric constellation, "the stars of abundance," with the heliacal or cosmical rising of which was connected the return of the mystic reinvigorating principle of animal fecundity."[ ] in the opinions above mentioned, many other nations of the ancient world, the egyptians, the assyrians, the phoenicians, and the indo-scythiac nations of europe participated. they not only supported the propriety of the allegory, says maurice, from the perfection of its external form, but fancifully extended the allusion to its interior composition, comparing the pure white shell to the fair expanse of heaven; the fluid, transparent white, to the circumambient air, and the more solid yolk to the central earth. even the polynesians entertained the same general notions. the tradition of the sandwich islanders is that a bird (with them it is an emblem of deity) laid an egg upon the waters which burst of itself and produced the islands. the great hemaphrodite first principle in its character of unity, the supreme monad, the highest conception of divinity was denominated kneph or cnuphis among the egyptians. according to plutarch this god was without beginning and without end, the one, uncreated and eternal, above all, and comprehending all. and as brahm, "the self-existent incorruptible" unity of the hindus, by direction of his energetic will upon the expanse of chaos, "with a thought" (say menu) produced a "golden egg blazing like a thousand stars" from which sprung brahma, the creator; so according to the mystagogues, kneph, the unity of egypt, was represented as a serpent thrusting from his mouth an egg, from which proceeds the divinity _phtha_, the active creative power, equivalent in all his attributes to the indian brahma. that kneph was symbolized by the ancient egyptians under the form of a serpent is well known. it is not, however, so well established that the act of creation was allegorically represented in egypt by the symbolic serpent thrusting from its mouth an egg, although no doubt of the fact seems to have been entertained by the various authors who have hitherto written on the cosmogony and mythology of the primitive nations of the east. with the view of ascertaining what new light has been thrown upon the subject by the investigations of the indefatigable champollion and his followers--whose researches among the monuments and records of ancient egypt have been attended with most remarkable results--the following inquiries were addressed to mr. g. r. gliddon (u.s. consul at cairo), a gentleman distinguished for his acquaintance with egyptian science, and his zeal in disseminating information on a subject too little understood:-- "do the serpent and the egg, separate or in combination, occur among the egyptian symbols and if they occur what significance seem to have been assigned them? was the serpent in any way associated with the worship of the sun or the kindred worship of the phallus?" to these inquiries mr. gliddon replied as follows:--"in respect to your first inquiry; i concede at once that the general view of the greco-roman antiquity, the oriental traditions collected, often indiscriminately, by the fathers and the concurring suffrages of all occidental mythologists, attribute the compound symbol of the serpent combined with the mundane egg to the egyptians. modern criticism however, coupled with the application of the tests furnished by champollion le-jeune and his followers since to the hieroglyphics of egypt, has recognised so many exotic fables and so much real ignorance of egyptology in the accounts concerning that mystified country, handed down to us from the schools of alexandria and byzantium, that at the present hour science treads doubtingly, where but a few years ago it was fashionable to make the most sweeping assertions; and we now hesitate before qualifying, as egyptian in origin, ideas that belong to the mythologies of other eastern nations. classical authority, correct enough when treating on the philosophy and speculative theories of ptolemaic and roman alexandria, is generally at fault when in respect to questions belonging to anterior or pharaonic times. whatever we derive through the medium of the alexandrines, and especially through their successors, the gnostics, must by the archæologist be received with suspicion. after this, you will not be surprised if i express doubts as to existence of the myth of the serpent and egg in the cosmogony of the early egyptians. it is lamentably true that, owing to twenty centuries of destruction, so fearfully wrought out by mohammed ali, we do not up to this day possess one tithe of the monuments or papyri bequeathed to posterity by the recording genius of the khime. it is possible that this myth may have been contained in the vast amount of hieroglyphical literature now lost to us. but the fact that in no instance whatever, amid the myriads of inscribed or sculptured documents extant, does the symbol of the serpent and the egg occur, militates against the assumption of this, perhaps phoenician myth, as originally egyptian. "the worship of the serpent," observes ampêre, "by the ophites may certainly have a real connection with the choice of the egyptian symbol by which divinity is designated in the paintings and hieroglyphics, and which is the serpent uraeus (basilisk royal, of the greeks, the seraph set up by moses. se ra ph is the singular of seraphim, meaning semiticé, splendour, fire, light; emblematic of the fiery disk of the sun and which, under the name of nehushtan--"serpent dragon"--was broken up by the reforming hezekiah. kings, , ); or with the serpent with wings and feet, which we see represented in the funeral rituals; but the serpent is everywhere in the mythologies and cosmogonies of the east, and we cannot be assured that the serpent of the ophites (any more than that emitting or encircling the mundane egg) was egyptian rather than jewish, persian, or hindustanee." "no serpents found in the hieroglyphics bear, so far as i can perceive, any direct relation to the ouine myth, nor have egyptian eggs any direct connection with the cosmogonical serpent. the egg, under certain conditions, seems to denote the idea of a human body. it is also used as a phonetic sign =s=, and when combined with =t=, is the determinative of the feminine gender; in which sense exclusively it is sometimes placed close to a serpent in hieroglyphical legends." "my doubts apply in attempting to give a specific answer to your specific question; _i.e._, the direct connection, in egyptian mythology, of the serpent and the cosmogonical egg. in the "book of the dead," according to a ms. translation favoured me by the erudite egyptologist, mr. birch, of the british museum, allusion is made to the "great mundane egg" addressed by the deceased, which seems to refer to the winds or the atmosphere--again the deceased exclaims 'i have raised myself up in the form of the great hawk which comes out of the egg (_i.e._, the sun).' "i do not here perceive any immediate allusion to the duplex emblem of the egg combined with the serpent, the subject of your query. "yet a reservation must be made in behalf of your very consistent hypothesis--supported, as i allow, by all oriental and classical authority, if not possibly by the egyptian documents yet undeciphered--which hypothesis is euclidean. 'things which are equal to the same are equal to one another.' now if the 'mundane egg' be in the papyric rituals the equivalent to sun and that by other hieroglyphical texts we prove the sun to be, in egypt as elsewhere, symbolized by the figure of a serpent, does not the 'ultima ratio' resolve both emblems into one? your grasp of this old and new world question renders it superfluous that i should now posit the syllogism. i content myself by referring you to the best of authorities. one point alone is what i would venture to suggest to your philosophical acumen, in respect to ancient 'parallelisms' between the metaphysical conceptions of radically distinct nations (if you please 'species' of mankind, at geographically different centres of _origins_, compelled of necessity in ages anterior to alphabetical record to express their ideas by pictures, figurative or symbolical). it is that man's mind has always conceived, everywhere in the same method, everything that relates to him; because the inability, in which his intelligence is circumscribed, to figure to his mind's eye existence distinct from his own, constrains him to devolve, in the pictorial or sculptural delineation of his thoughts, within the same circle of ideas; and, ergo, the figurative representative of his ideas must ever be, in all ages and countries, the reflex of the same hypotheses, material or physical. may not the emblem of the serpent and egg, as well in the new as in the old world, have originated from a similar organic law without thereby establishing intercourse? is not your serpent a "rattlesnake" and, ergo, purely american? are not egyptian serpents all purely nilotic? the metaphysical idea of the cosmogonical serpent may be one and the same; but does not the zoological diversity of representation prove that america, three thousand years ago, could have no possible intercourse with egypt, phoenicia, or _vice versa_? "such being the only values attached to serpents and eggs in egyptian hieroglyphics it is arduous to speculate whether an esoteric significance did or did not exist between those emblems in the, to us, unknown cosmogony of the theban and memphite colleges. i, too, could derive inferences and deduce analogies between the attributes of the god knuphis, or the god ptha, and the 'mundane egg' recorded by eusebius, jamblichus, and a wilderness of classical authorities, but i fear with no very satisfactory result. it is, however, due to mr. bonomi, to cite his language on this subject. speaking of the colossal statue of rameses sesostris at metraheni, in a paper read before the royal society of literature, london, june, , he observes, 'there is one more consideration connected with the hieroglyphics of the great oval of the belt, though not affecting the preceding argument; it is the oval or egg which occurs between the figure of ptha and the staff of which the usual signification is son or child, but which by a kind of two-fold meaning, common in the details of sculpture of this period (the th or th dynasty, say b.c. or ), i am inclined to believe refers also to the myth or doctrine preserved in the writings of the greek authors, as belonging to vulcan and said to be derived from egypt, viz., the doctrine of the mundane egg. now, although in no egyptian sculpture of the remote period of this statue has there been found any allusion to this doctrine, it is most distinctly hinted at in one of the age of the ptolomies; and i am inclined to think it was imported from the east by sesostris, where, in confirmation of its existence at a very remote period. i would quote the existence of those egg-shaped basaltic stones, embossed with various devices and covered with cuneatic inscriptions, which are brought from some of the ancient cities of mesopotamia. "in respect to your final inquiry, i may observe that i can produce nothing from the hieroglyphics to connect, directly, phallic worship with the solar emblem of the serpent. in semitic tongues, the same root signifies serpent and phallus; both in different senses are solar emblems." in the orphic theogony a similar origin is ascribed to the egg, from which springs "the egg-born protogones," the greek counterpart of the egyptian phtha. the egg in this instance also proceeds from the pre-eminent unity, the serpent god, the "incomparable cronus," or hercules. (bryant, quoting athenagoras, observes--"hercules was esteemed the chief god, the same as cronus, and was said to have produced the mundane egg. he is represented in the orphic theology, under the mixed symbol of a lion and a serpent, and sometimes of a serpent only.") cronus was originally esteemed the supreme, as is manifest from his being called il or ilus, which is the same with the hebrew el and, according to st. jerome, one of the ten names of god. damascius, in the life of isidorus, mentions distinctly that cronus was worshipped under the name of el, who, according to sanchoniathon, had no one superior or antecedent to himself. brahm, cronus, and kneph each represented the mystical union of the reciprocal or active and passive principles. most, if not all, the primitive nations recognised this supreme unity, although they did not all assign him a name. he was the creator of gods, who were the demiurgs of the universe, the creators of all rational beings, angels and men, and the architects of the world. the early writers exhaust language in endeavours to express the lofty character and attributes, and the superlative power and dignity of this great unity, the highest conception of which man is capable. he is spoken of in the sacred book of the hindus as the "almighty, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible, self-existent being; he who see everything, though never seen; he who is not to be compassed by description; he from whom the universe proceeds; who reigns supreme, the light of all lights; whose power is too infinite to be imagined; is brahm, the one being, true and unknown."[ ] the supreme god of gods of the hindus was less frequently expressed by the name brahm than by the mystical syllable =o'm=, which corresponded to the hebrew jehovah. strange as the remark may seem to most minds, it is nevertheless true, that the fundamental principles of the hindu religion were those of pure monotheism, the worship of one supreme and only god. brahm was regarded as too mighty to be named; and, while his symbolized or personified attributes were adored in gorgeous temples, not one was erected to him. the holiest verse of the vedas is paraphrased as follows: "perfect truth; perfect happiness; without equal; immortal; absolute unity; whom neither speech can describe nor mind comprehend; all-pervading; all-transcending; delighted by his own boundless intelligence, not limited by space or time; without feet, moving swiftly; without hands, grasping all worlds; without ears, all-hearing, understanding all; without cause, the first of all causes; all-ruling; all-powerful; the creator, preserver, and transformer of all things; such is the great one, brahm." the character and power of kneph are indicated in terms no less lofty and comprehensive than those applied to the omnipotent brahm. he is described in the ancient hermetic books as the "first god, immovable in the solitude of his unity, the fountain of all things, the root of all primary, intelligible, existing forms, the god of gods, before the etherial and empyrean gods and the celestial." in america this great unity, this god of gods, was equally recognised. in mexico as teotl, "he who is all in himself" (tloque nahuaque); in peru as varicocha, the "soul of the universe"; in central america and yucatan as stunah ku or hunab ku, "god of gods, the incorporeal origin of all things." and as the supreme brahm of the hindus, "whose name was unutterable," was worshipped under no external form and had neither temples nor altars erected to him, so the supreme teotl and the corresponding varicocha and hunab ku, "whose names," says the spanish conquerors, "were spoken only with extreme dread," were without an image or an outward form of worship for the reason, according to the same authorities, that each was regarded as the invisible and unknown god. the mundane egg, received as a symbol of original, passive, unorganized, formless nature, became associated, in conformity with primitive notions, with other symbols referring to the creative force or vitalizing influence. thus in the hindu cosmogany brahma is represented, after long inertia, as arranging the passive elements, "creating the world and all visible things." under the form of the emblematic bull the generative energy was represented breaking the quiescent egg. encircled by the folds of the agatho-demon, a type of the active principle, it was suspended aloft at the temples of tyre. for the serpent, like the bull, was an emblem of the sun or of the attributes of that luminary--itself the celestial emblem of the "universal father," the procreative power of nature. "everywhere," says faber, "we find the great father exhibiting himself in the form of a serpent, and everywhere we find the serpent invested with the attributes of the great father and partaking of the honours which were paid him."[ ] under this view, therefore, we may regard the compound symbol of the serpent and the egg, though specifically allusive to the general creation, as an illustration of the doctrine of the reciprocal principles which, as we have already seen, enters largely into the entire fabric of primitive philosophy and mythology. thus have we shewn that the grand conception of a supreme unity and the doctrine of the reciprocal principles existed in america in a well defined and easily recognised form. our present inquiry relates to the symbols by which they were represented in both continents. that these were not usually arbitrary, but resulted from associations, generally of an obvious kind, will be readily admitted. chapter v. _the sun and fire as emblems--the serpent and the sun--taut and the serpent--horapollo and the serpent symbol--sanchoniathon and the serpent--ancient mysteries of osiris, &c.--rationale of the connection of solar, phallic, and serpent worship--the aztec pantheon--mexican gods--the snake in mexican mythology--the great father and mother--quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent--researches of stephens and catherwood--discoveries of mr. stephens._ that fire should be taken to be the physical, of what the sun is the celestial emblem, is sufficiently apparent; we can readily understand also how the bull, the goat, or ram, the phallus, and other symbols should have the same import; also how naturally and almost inevitably and universally the sun came to symbolize the active principle, the vivifying power, and how obviously the egg symbolized the passive elements of nature, but how the serpent came to possess, as a symbol, a like significance with these is not so obvious. that it did so, however, cannot be doubted, and the proofs will appear as we proceed; likewise that it sometimes symbolized the great hermaphrodite first principle, the supreme unity of the greeks and egyptians. although generally, it did not always symbolize the sun, or the power of which the sun is an emblem; but, invested with various meanings, it entered widely into the primitive mythologies. it typified wisdom, power, duration, the good and evil principles, life, reproduction--in short, in egypt, syria, greece, india, china, scandinavia, america, everywhere in the globe it has been a prominent emblem. in the somewhat poetical language of a learned author, "it entered into the mythology of every nation, consecrated almost every temple, symbolized almost every deity, was imagined in the heavens, stamped on the earth, and ruled in the realms of everlasting sorrow." its general acceptance seems to have been remarked at a very early period. it arrested the attention of the ancient sages, who assigned a variety of reasons for its adoption, founded upon the natural history of the reptile. among these speculations, none are more curious than those preserved by sanchoniathon, who says:--"taut first attributed something of the divine nature to the serpent, in which he was followed by the phoenicians and egyptians. for this animal was esteemed by him to be the most inspirited of all reptiles, and of a fiery nature, inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit, without hands or feet, or any of the external members by which the other animals effect their motion; and, in its progress, it assumes a variety of forms, moving in a spiral course, and darting forward with whatever degree of swiftness it pleases." it is, moreover, long lived, and has the quality not only of putting off its old age, and assuming a second youth, but of receiving at the same time an augmentation of its size and strength; and when it has filled the appointed measure of its existence, it consumes itself, as taut has laid down in the sacred books, upon which account this animal is received into the sacred rites and mysteries. horapollo, referring to the serpent symbol, says of it:--"when the egyptians would represent the universe they delineate a serpent bespeckled with variegated scales, devouring its own tail, the scales intimating the stars in the universe. the animal is extremely heavy, as is the earth, and extremely slippery like the water, moreover, it every year puts off its old age with its skin, as in the universe the annual period effects a corresponding change and becomes renovated, and the making use of its own body for food implies that all things whatever, which are generated by divine providence in the world, undergo a corruption into them again." nothing is more certain than that the serpent at a very remote period was regarded with high veneration as the most mysterious of living creatures. its habits were imperfectly understood, and it was invested, as we perceive from the above quotations, with the most extraordinary qualities. alike the object of fear, admiration, and wonder, it is not surprising that it became early connected with man's superstitions, but how it obtained so general a predominance it is difficult to understand. perhaps there is no circumstance in the natural history of the serpent more striking than that alluded to by sanchoniathon, viz.: the annual sloughing of its skin, or supposed rejuvenation. "as an old serpent casts his sealy vest, wreaths in the sun, in youthful glory dressed, so when alcides' mortal mould resign'd, his better part enlarged, and grew refin'd."--ovid. it was probably this which connected it with the idea of an eternal succession of forms, constant reproduction and dissolution, a process which was supposed by the ancients to have been for ever going on in nature. this doctrine is illustrated in the notion of a succession of ages which prevailed among the greeks, corresponding to the yugs of the hindus, and suns of the aboriginal mexicans. it is further illustrated by the annual dissolution and renovation exhibited, in the succession of the seasons, and which was supposed to result from the augmentation and decline of the active principle, the sun. the mysteries of osiris, isis, and horus, in egypt; atys and cybéle, in phrygia; ceres and proserpine, at eleusis; of venus and adonis in phoenicia; of bona dea, and priapus, in rome, are all susceptible of one explanation. they all set forth and illustrated, by solemn and impressive rites and mystical symbols, the grand phenomena of nature, especially as connected with the creation of things and the perpetuation of life. in all, it is worthy of remark, the serpent was more or less conspicuously introduced, always as symbolical of the invigorating or active energy of nature. in the mysteries of ceres and proserpine, the grand secret communicated to the initiated was thus enigmatically expressed: _taurus draconem genuit, et taurum draco_; "the bull has begotten a serpent, and the serpent a bull." the bull, as already seen, was a prominent emblem of generative force, the bacchus zagreus, or tauriformis. the doctrine of an unending succession of forms was not remotely connected with that of regeneration, or new birth, which was part of the phallic system, and which was recognised in a form more or less distinct in nearly all the primitive religions. in hindustan, this doctrine is still enforced in the most unequivocal manner, through the medium of rites of portentous solemnity and significance to the devotees of the hindu religion. "for the purpose of regeneration," says wilford, "it is directed to make an image of pure gold of the female powers of nature in the shape of either a woman or a cow. in this statue the person to be regenerated is enclosed, and afterwards dragged out through the usual channel. as a statue of pure gold, and of proper dimensions would be too expensive, it is sufficient to make an image of the sacred yoni, through which the person to be regenerated is to pass." we have seen the serpent as a symbol of productive energy associated with the egg as a symbol of the passive elements of nature. the egg does not, however, appear except in the earlier cosmogonies. "as the male serpent," says faber, "was employed to symbolize the great father, so the female serpent was equally used to typify the great mother. such a mode of representation may be proved by express testimony, and is wholly agreeable to the analogy of the entire system of gentile mythology. in the same manner that the two great parents were worshipped under the hieroglyphics of a bull and cow, a lion and lioness, &c., so they were adored under the cognate figures of a male and female serpent." nearly every inquirer into the primitive superstitions of men has observed a close relationship, if not an absolute identity, in what are usually distinguished as solar, phallic, and serpent worship, yet the _rationalé_ of the connection has been rarely detected. they really are all forms of a single worship. "if (as it seems certain) they all three be identical," observes mr. o'brien, "where is the occasion for surprise at our meeting the sun, phallus, and serpent, the constituent symbols of each, occurring in combination, embossed upon the same table, and grouped upon the same architrave." we turn again to america. the principal god of the aztecs, subordinate to the great unity, was the impersonation of the active, creative energy, tezcatlipoca or tonacatlecoatl. he was also called tonacatenctli. like the hindu brahma, the greek phanes, and the egyptian phtha, he was the "creator of heaven and earth," "the great father," "the god of providence," who dwells in heaven, earth, and hades, and attends to the government of the world. to denote this unfailing power and eternal youth, his figure was that of a young man. his celestial emblem was tonatiuh, the sun. his companion or wife was cihuacohuatl or tonaeacihua, "the great mother" both of gods and men. the remaining gods and goddesses of the aztec pantheon resolve themselves into modified impersonations of these two powers. thus, we have ometuctli and omecihuatl, the adorable god and goddess who preside over the celestial paradise, and which, though generally supposed to be distinct divinities, are, nevertheless, according to the codex vaticanus, but other names for the deities already designated. we have also xiuhteuctli, "master of the year," "the god of fire," the terrestrial symbol of the active principle, and xochitli, "the goddess of earth and corn;" tlaloc and cinteotl, or chalchiuhcueije, "the god and goddess of the waters;" mictlanteuctli and mictlancihuatl, "the god and goddess of the dead;" the terrible mexitli or huitzlipochtli, corresponding to the hindu siva, in his character of destroyer, and his wife teoyamiqui, whose image, like that of kali, the consort of siva, was decorated with the combined emblems of life and death. in the simple mythology and pure sabianism of peru, we have already shown the existence of the primeval principles symbolized, the first by the sun and the second by his wife and sister the moon. that the sun was here regarded as symbolizing the intermediate father, or demiurgic creator, cannot be doubted. the great and solemn feast of raimi was instituted in acknowledgment of the sun as the great father of all visible things, by whom all living things are generated and sustained. the ceremonies of this feast were emblematical, and principally referred to the sun as the reproductive and preserving power of nature. in mexico, where the primitive religion partook of the fiercer nature of the people, we find the raimaic ceremonies assuming a sanguinary character, and the acknowledgment of the reproductive associated with the propitiation of its antagonist principle, as we see in the orgies of huitzlipochtli in his character of the destroyer. the same remarks hold true of central america, the religion and mythology of which country correspond essentially with those of the nations of anahuac. we have said that the principal god of the aztec pantheon, subordinate only to the unity and corresponding to the hindu brahma, was tezcatlipoca, tonacatlecoalt, or tonacateuctli. if we consult the etymology of these names we shall find ample confirmation of the correctness of the deductions already drawn from the mythologies of the east. thus tonacateuctli embodied lord sun from tonàtiuh, sun, _nacayo_ or catl, body or person, and teuctli, master or lord. again, tonacatlcoatl, the serpent sun, from tonctiah and catl, as above, and coatl, serpent. if we adopt another etymology for the names (and that which seems to have been most generally accepted by the early writers) we shall have tonacateuctli, lord of our flesh, from to, the possessive pronoun plural, nacatl, flesh or body, and teuctli, master or lord. we shall also have tonacatlecoatl, serpent of our flesh, from to and nacatl, and coatl, serpent. according to sahagim, tezcatlipoca, in his character of the god of hosts, was addressed as follows by the mexican high priest:--"we entreat that those who die in war may be received by thee, our father the sun, and our mother the earth, for thou alone reignest." the same authority informs us that in the prayer of thanks, returned to tezcatlipoca by the mexican kings on the occasion of their coronation, god was recognised as the god of fire, to whom xiuthteuctli, lord of vegetation, and specifically lord of fire, bears the same relation that suyra does to the first person of the hindu triad. the king petitions that he may act "in conformity with the will of the ancient god, the father of all gods, who is the god of fire; whose habitation is in the midst of the waters, encompassed by battlements, surrounded by rocks as it were with roses, whose name is xiuteuctli," etc. tonacateuctli, or tezcatlipoca, is often, not to say generally, both on the monuments and in the paintings, represented as surrounded by a disc of the sun. the name of the primitive goddess, the wife of tezcatlipoca, was cihuacohuatl or tonacacihua. she was well known by other names, all referring to her attributes. the etymology of cihuacohuatl is clearly cihua, woman or female, and coatl, serpent--female serpent. and tonacacihua is female sun, from tonatiuh nacatl (as before) and cihua, woman or female. adopting the other etymology, it is woman of our flesh. gama, who is said to be by far the most intelligent author who has treated with any detail of the mexican gods, referring to the serpent symbols belonging to the statue of teoyaomiqui, says--"these refer to another goddess named cihuacohuatl, or female serpent, which the mexicans believe gave to the light, at a single birth, two children, one male and the other female, to whom they refer the origin of mankind: and hence twins, among the mexicans, are called cohuatl or coatl, which is corrupted in the pronunciation by the vulgar into coate." whichever etymology we assign to tonaca in these combinations, the leading fact that the great father was designated as the male serpent, and the great mother as the female servant, remains unaffected. not only were they thus designated, but cinacoatl or cihuacohuatl was generally if not always represented, in the paintings, accompanied by a great snake or feather-headed serpent (tonacatlecoatl "serpent sun") in which the monkish interpreters did not fail to discover a palpable allusion to eve and the tempter of the garden. pursuing the subject of the connection of the serpent symbol with american mythology, we remark, the fact that it was a conspicuous symbol and could not escape the attention of the most superficial of observers of the mexican and central american monuments, and mythological paintings. the early spaniards were particularly struck with its prominence. "the snake," says dupaix, "was a conspicuous object in the mexican mythology, and we find it carved in various shapes and sizes, coiled, extended, spiral or entwined with great beauty, and sometimes represented with feathers and other ornaments. these different representatives," he continues, "no doubt denoted its different attributes." the editor of kingsborough's great work observes:--"like the egyptian sphynx, the mystical snake of the mexicans had its enigmas, and both are beyond our power to unravel;" this, however, is a matter of opinion, and the conclusion is one from which many will strongly dissent. in almost every primitive mythology we find, not only a great father and mother, the representatives of the reciprocal principles, and a great hemaphrodite unity from whom the first proceed and in whom they are both combined, but we find also a beneficial character, partaking of a divine and human nature, who is the great teacher of men, who instructs them in religion, civil organization and the arts, and who, after a life of exemplary usefulness, disappears mysteriously, leaving his people impressed with the highest respect for his institutions and the profoundest regard for his memory. this demi-god, to whom divine honours are often paid after his withdrawal from the earth, is usually the son of the sun, or of the demiurgic creator, the great father, who stands at the head of the primitive pantheons and subordinate only to the supreme unity; he is born of an earthly mother, a virgin, and often a vestal of the sun, who conceives in a mysterious manner, and who, after giving birth to her half-divine son, is herself sometimes elevated to the rank of a goddess. in the more refined and systematized mythologies he appears clearly as an incarnation of the great father and partaking of his attributes, his terrestial representative, and the mediator between him and man. he appears as buddha in india; fohi in china; schaka in thibet; zoroasta in persia; osiris in egypt; taut in phoenicia; hermes or cadmus in greece; romulus in rome; odin in scandinavia; and in each case is regarded as the great teacher of men, and the founder of religion. in the mythological systems of america, this intermediate demi-god was not less clearly recognised than in those of the old world; indeed, as these systems were less complicated because less modified from the original or primitive forms, the great teacher appears here with more distinctness. among the savage tribes his origin and character were, for obvious reasons, much confused; but among the more advanced nations he occupied a well-defined position. among the nations of anahuac, he bore the name of quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent) and was regarded with the highest veneration. his festivals were the most gorgeous of the year. to him it is said the great temple of cholula was dedicated. his history, drawn from various sources, is as follows:--the god of the "milky way"--in other words, of heaven--the principal deity of the aztec pantheon, and the great father of gods and men, sent a message to a virgin of tulan, telling her that it was the will of the gods that she should conceive a son, which she did without knowing any man. this son was quetzalcoatl, who was figured as tall, of fair complexion, open forehead, large eyes and a thick beard. he became high priest of tulan, introducted the worship of the gods, established laws displaying the profoundest wisdom, regulated the calendar, and maintained the most rigid and exemplary manners in his life. he was averse to cruelty, abhorred war, and taught men to cultivate the soil, to reduce metal from their ores, and many other things necessary to their welfare. under his benign administration the widest happiness prevailed amongst men. the corn grew to such a size that a single ear was a load for a man; gourds were as long as a man's body; it was unnecessary to dye cotton for it grew of all colours; all fruits were in the greatest profusion and of extraordinary size; there were also vast numbers of beautiful and sweet singing birds. his reign was the golden age of anahuac. he however disappeared suddenly and mysteriously, in what manner is unknown. some say he died on the sea-shore, and others say that he wandered away in search of the imaginary kingdom of tlallapa. he was deified; temples were erected to him, and he was adored throughout anahuac. quetzalcoatl is, therefore, but an incarnation of the "serpent sun" tonacatlecoalt, and, as is indicated by his name, the feathered serpent was his recognised symbol. he was thus symbolized in accordance with a practice which (says gama) prevailed in mexico, of associating or connecting with the representatives of a god or goddess, the symbols of the other deities from whom they are derived, or to whom they sustain some relation. his temples were distinguished as being circular, and the one dedicated to his worship in mexico, was, according to gomera, entered by a door "like unto the mouth of a serpent, which was a thing to fear by those who went in thereat, especially by the christians, to whom it represented very hell." the mayas of yucatan had a demi-god corresponding entirely with quetzalcoatl, if he was not the same under a different name--a conjecture very well sustained by the evident relationship between the mexican and mayan mythologies. he was named itzamna or zamna, and was the only son of the principal god, kinchanan. he arrived from the east, and instructed the people in all that was essential to their welfare. "he," says cogolludo, "invented the characters which they use as letters, and which are called after him, itzamna, and they adore him as a god." there was another similar character in yucatan, called ku kulcan or cuculcan, another in nicaragua named theotbilake, son of their principal god thomathoyo, and another in colombia bearing the name of bochia. peru and guatemala furnish similar traditions, as do also brazil, the nations of the tamanac race, florida, and various savage tribes of the west. the serpent, as we show elsewhere, was an emblem both of quetzalcoatl and of ku kulcan--a fact which gives some importance to the statement of cabrera that votan of guatemala as above was represented to be a serpent, or of serpent origin. torquemada states, that the images of huitzlipochtli of mexico, quetzalcoatl, and tlaloc were each represented with a golden serpent, bearing different symbolical sacrificial allusions. he also assures us that serpents often entered into the symbolical sacrificial ceremonies of the mexicans, and presents the following example:-- "among the many sacrifices which these indians made, there was one which they performed in honour of the mountains, by forming serpents out of wood or of the roots of the trees, to which they affixed serpents' heads, and also dolls of the same, which they called ecatotowin, which figures of serpents and fictitious children they covered with dough, named by them tzoalli, composed of the seeds of bledos, and placed them on supports of wood, carved in the representation of hills or mountains, on the tops of which they fixed them. this was the kind of offering which they made to the mountains and high hills." the mother of huitzlipochtli was a priestess of tezcatlipoca (a cleanser of the temple, says gama) named coatlantona, coatlcué, or coatlcyue (serpent of the temple or serpent woman). she was extremely devoted to the gods, and one day when walking in the temple, she beheld, descending in the air, a ball made of variously coloured feathers. she placed it in her girdle, became at once pregnant, and afterwards was delivered of mexith or huitzlipochtli, full armed, with a spear in one hand, a shield in the other, and a crest of green feathers on his head. he became, according to some, their leader into anahuac, guiding them to the place where mexico is built. his statue was of gigantic size, and covered with ornaments each one of which had its significance. he was depicted placed upon a seat, from the four corners of which issued four large serpents. "his body," says gomeza, "was beset with pearls, precious stones and gold, and for collars and chains around his neck ten hearts of men made of gold. it had also a counterfeit vizard, with eyes of glass, and in its neck death painted, all of which things had their considerations and meanings." it was to him in his divine character of the destroyer that the bloodiest sacrifices of mexico were performed. his wife, teoyaomiqui (from teo, sacred or divine; yaoyotl, war; and miqui, to kill) was represented as a figure bearing the full breasts of a woman, literally enveloped in serpents, and ornamented with feathers, shells, and the teeth and claws of a tiger. she had a necklace composed of six hands. around her waist is a belt to which death's heads are attached. one of her statues, a horrible figure, still exists in the city of mexico. it is carved from a solid block of vasalt, and is nine feet in height and five and a half in breadth. it is not improbable that the serpent-mother of huitzlipochtli was an impersonation of the great female serpent cinacohuatl, the wife of tonacatlecoatl, the serpent-father of quetzalcoatl. however this may be, it is clear that a more intimate connection exists between the several principal divinities of mexico, than appears from the confused and meagre accounts which have been left us of their mythology. indeed, we have seen that the hindu triad, brahma, vishnu, and siva, has very nearly its counterpart in tezcatlipoca, tlaloc, and the celestial huitzlipochtli, the creator, preserver, and destroyer and reproducer. in the delineations of siva or mahadeo, in his character of the destroyer, he is represented as wrapped in tiger skins. a hooded snake is twisted around him and lifts its head above his shoulder, and twisted snakes form his head-dress. in other cases he holds a spear, a sword, a serpent, and a skull, and has a girdle of skulls around his waist. the bull nandi (emblem of generative force), as also the lingham, are among his emblems. to him were dedicated the bloodiest sacrifices of india. durga, or kali (an impersonation of bhavin, goddess of nature and fecundity) corresponds with the mexican tesyaomiqui, and is represented in a similar manner. she is a war goddess and her martial deeds give her a high position in the hindu pantheon. as kali, her representatives are most terrible. the emblems of destruction are common to all: she is entwined with serpents; a circlet of flowers surrounds her head; a necklace of skulls; a girdle of dissevered human hands; tigers crouching at her feet--indeed every combination of the horrible and the loathsome is invoked to portray the dark character which she represents. she delights in human sacrifices and the ritual prescribes that, previous to the death of the victim, she should be invoked as follows: "let the sacrificer first repeat the name of kali thrice, hail, kali! kali! hail, devi! hail, goddess of thunder! iron-sceptered, hail, fierce kali! cut, slay, destroy! bind, secure! cut with the axe, drink blood, slay, destroy!" "she has four hands," says patterson, "two of which are employed in the work of death; one points downwards, allusive to the destruction which surrounds her, and the other upwards, which seems to promise the regeneration of nature by a new creation." "on her festivals," says coleman, "her temples literally stream with blood." as durga, however, she is often represented as the patroness of virtue and her battles with evil demons form the subject of many hindu poems. she is under this aspect the armed phallas. we have seen that the creator of the world, the great father of the aztecs, tonacatlecoatl or tezcatlipoca, and his wife cihuacohuatl, were not only symbolized as the sun and moon, but also that they were designated as the male and female serpent, and that in the mythological pictures the former was represented as a feather-headed snake. we have also seen that the incarnate or human representative of this deity quetzalcoatl, was also symbolized as a feathered serpent. this was in accordance with the system of the aztecs, who represented cognate symbols, and invested the impersonations or descendants of the greater gods with their emblems. these facts being well established, many monuments of american antiquity, otherwise inexplicable, become invested with significance. in mexico, unfortunately, the monumental records of the ancient inhabitants have been so ruthlessly destroyed or obliterated that now they afford us but little aid in our researches. her ancient paintings, although there are some which have escaped the general devastation, are principally beyond our reach and cannot be consulted particularly upon these points. in central america, however, we find many remains which, although in a ruined state, are much more complete and much more interesting than any others concerning which we possess any certain information. the researches and explorations of messrs. stephens and catherwood have placed many of these before us in a form which enables us to detect their leading features. ranking first among the many interesting groups of ruins discovered by these gentlemen, both in respect to their extent and character, are those of chichen-itza. one of the structures comprising this group is described as follows:--"the building called the castillo is the first which we saw, and is, from every point of view, the grandest and most conspicuous object that towers above the plain. the mound upon which it stands measures one hundred and ninety-seven feet at the base, and is built up, apparently solid, to the height of seventy-five feet. on the west side is a stairway thirty-seven feet wide; on the north another, forty-four feet wide, and containing ninety steps. on the ground at the foot of the stairway, forming a bold, striking, and well-conceived commencement, are two collossal serpents' heads (feathered) ten feet in length, with mouths wide open and tongues protruding." "no doubt they were emblematic of some religious belief, and, in the minds of the imaginative people passing between them, must have excited feelings of solemn awe. the platform on the mound is about sixty feet square and is crowned by a building measuring forty-three by forty-nine feet. single doorways face the east, south and west, having massive lentils of zapote wood, covered with elaborate carvings, and the jambs are ornamented with sculptured figures. the sculpture is much worn, but the head-dress of feathers and portions of the rich attire still remain. the face is well preserved and has a dignified aspect. all the other jambs are decorated with sculptures of the same general character, and all open into a corridor six feet wide, extending around three sides of the building. the interior of this building was ornamented with very elaborate but much obliterated carvings. "the sacred character of this remarkable structure is apparent at the first glance, and it is equally obvious that the various sculptures must have some significance. the entrance between the two colossal serpents' heads remind us at once of gomera's description of the entrance to the temple of quetzalcoatl in mexico, which 'was like unto the mouth of a serpent and which was a thing to fear by those who entered in thereat.'" the circumstance that these heads are feathered seems further to connect this temple with the worship of that divinity. but in the figures sculptured upon the jambs of the entrances, and which, mr. stephens observes, were of the same general character throughout, we have further proof that this structure was dedicated to a serpent divinity. let it be remembered that the dignified personage there represented is accompanied by a feathered serpent, the folds of which are gracefully arrayed behind the figure and the tail of which is marked by the rattles of the rattle-snake--the distinguishing mark of the monumental serpent of the continent, whether represented in the carvings of the mounds or in the sculptures of central america. this temple, we may therefore reasonably infer, was sacred to the benign quetzalcoatl, or a character corresponding to him, whose symbolical serpent guarded the ascent to the summit, and whose imposing representation was sculptured on its portals. this inference is supported by the fact that in mexican paintings the temples of quetzalcoatl are indicated by a serpent entwined around or rising above them, as may be seen in an example from the codex borgianus in kingsborough. but this is not all. we have already said that amongst the itzaes--"holy men"--the founders of chichen-itza and afterwards of mayapan, there was a character, corresponding in many respects with quetzalcoatl, named ku kulcan or cuculcan. torquemada, quoted by cogolludo, asserts that this was but another name for quetzalcoatl. cogolludo himself speaks of ku kulcan as "one who had been a great captain among them," and was afterwards worshipped as a god. herrara states that he ruled at chichen-itza; that all agreed that he came from the westward, but that a difference exists as to whether he came before or afterwards or with the itzaes. "but" he adds, "the name of the structure at chichen-itza and the events of that country after the death of the lords, shows that cuculcan governed with them. he was a man of good disposition, not known to have had wife or children, a great statesman, and therefore looked upon as a god, he having contrived to build another city in which business might be managed. to this purpose they pitched upon a spot eight leagues from merida, where they made an enclosure of about an eighth of a league in circuit, being a wall of dry stone with only two gates. they built temples, calling the greatest of them cuculcan. near the enclosures were the houses of the prime men, among whom cuculcan divided the land, appointing towns to each of them. "this city was called mayapan (the standard of maya), the mayan being the language of the country. cuculcan governed in peace and quietness and with great justice for some years, when, having provided for his departure and recommended to them the good form of government which had been established, he returned to mexico the same way he came, making some stay at chanpotan, where, as a memorial of his journey, he erected a structure in the sea, which is to be seen to this day."[ ] we have here the direct statement that the principal structure at mayapan was called cuculcan; and from the language of herrara the conclusion is irresistible that the principal structure of chichen-itza was also called by the same name. these are extremely interesting facts, going far to show that the figure represented in the "castillo," and which we have identified upon other evidence as being that of a personage corresponding to quetzalcoatl, is none other than the figure of the demi-god ku kulcan, or cuculcan, to whose worship the temple was dedicated and after whom it was named. if we consult the etymology of the name ku kulcan we shall have further and striking evidence in support of this conclusion. _ku_ in the mayan language means god, and _can_ serpent. we have, then, ku _kul_can, god--_kul_, serpent, or serpent-god. what _kul_ signifies it is not pretended to say, but we may reasonably conjecture that it is a qualifying word to _can_ serpent. _kukum_ is feather, and it is possible that by being converted into an adjective form it may change its termination into kukul. the etymology may therefore be kukumcan feather-serpent, or kukulcan feathered serpent. we, however, repose on the first explanation, and unhesitatingly hazard the opinion that, when opportunity is afforded of ascertaining the value of _kul_, the correctness of our conclusions will be fully justified. and here we may also add that the etymology of kinchahan, the name of the principal god of the mayas and corresponding to tonacatlcoatl of mexico, is precisely the same as that of the latter. _kin_ is sun in the mayan language, and _chahan_, as every one acquainted with the spanish pronunciation well knows, is nothing more than a variation in orthography for _cään_ or _can_, serpent. kin chahan, kincaan, or kincan is, therefore, sun-serpent. the observation that quetzalcoatl might be regarded as the incarnation of tezcatlipoca, or tonacatlcoatl, corresponding to the buddha of the hindus, was based upon the coincidences in their origin, character, and teachings, but there are some remarkable coincidences between the temples dedicated to the worship of these two great teachers--or perhaps we should say, between the religious structures of central america and mexico and hindustan and the islands of the indian archipelago, which deserve attention. from the top of the lofty temple at chichen-itza, just described, mr. stephens saw, for the first time, groups of columns or upright stones which, he observes, proved upon examination to be among the most remarkable and unintelligible remains he had yet encountered. "they stood in rows of three, four and five abreast, many rows continuing in the same direction, when they collectively changed and pursued another. they were low, the tallest not more than six feet high. many had fallen, in some places lying prostrate in rows, all in the same direction, as if thrown intentionally. in some cases they extended to the bases of large mounds, on which were ruins of buildings and large fragments of sculptures, while in others they branched off and terminated abruptly. i counted three hundred and eighty, and there were many more; but so many were broken and lay so irregularly that i gave up counting them." those represented by mr. stephens, in his plate, occur in immediate connection with the temple above described, and enclose an area nearly four hundred feet square. in the third volume of the "transactions of the royal asiatic society" is an account of the mixed temples of the ancient city of anarajapura (situated in the centre of the island of ceylon) by captain chapman, of the british army. the remarkable character of these ancient structures and the decided resemblances which they sustain to those of central america, and particularly to the group of chichen-itza, justify a somewhat detailed notice of them. according to native records, anarajapura was, for a period of thirteen hundred years, both the principal seat of the religion of the country and the residence of its kings. it abounded in magnificent buildings, sculptures and other works of art, and was, as it still is, held in the greatest veneration by the followers of buddha as the most sacred spot in the island. "at this time," says captain chapman, "the only remaining traces of the city consist of nine temples; of two very extensive banks; of several smaller ones in ruins; of groups of pillars, and of portions of walls, which are scattered over an extent of several miles. the nine temples are still held in great reverence, and are visited periodically by the buddhists. they consist first of an enclosure, in which are the sacred trees called the bogaha; the thousand pillars called lowá mahá payá; and the seven mounds or dagobas, each one of which has a distinct name given it by its founder." the temple of bo malloa, especially sacred to buddha, is of granite and consists of a series of four rectangular terraces, faced with granite, rising out of each other and diminishing both in height and extent, upon which are situated the altars and the sacred bogaha trees, or trees of buddha. the total height of the terraces is about twenty feet and the extent of the largest thirty paces by fifteen. these terraces are ascended by flights of steps. at the foot of the principal flight are slabs of granite, placed perpendicularly, upon which figures are boldly sculptured; and between is a semi-circular stone with simple mouldings let in the ground. upon the east of the building projects a colossal figure of buddha. another similar, but smaller, structure is placed a little to the eastward of that first described. both are surrounded by a wall, enclosing a space one hundred and twenty five paces long by seventy-five wide, within which are planted a variety of odoriferous trees. a few paces to the eastward of this enclosure are the ruins of the "thousand pillars." these consisted originally of pillars, disposed in a square. the greater part are still standing; they consist, with a few exceptions, of a single piece of gneiss in the rough state in which they were quarried. they are ten or twelve feet above the ground; twelve inches by eight square, and about four feet from each other; but the two in the centre of the outer line differ from the rest in being of hard blue granite, and in being more carefully finished. these pillars were said to have been covered with _chunam_ (plaster) and thus converted into columns having definite forms and proportions. there is a tradition that there was formerly in the centre of this square a brazen chamber, in which was contained a relic held in much veneration. a few paces from this was a single pillar of gneiss in a rough state, which was from fourteen to sixteen feet high. captain chapman observes that structures, accompanied by similar groups of columns, exist on the opposite or continental coast. the temples of rámiseram, madura, and the celebrated one of seringham, have each their "thousand pillars." in rámiseram the pillars are arranged in colonnades of several parallel rows, and these colonnades are separated by tanks or spaces occupied by buildings in the manner indicated by mr. stephens at chichen-itza. some of these pillars are carved; others are in their rough state or covered with plaster. in madura the pillars are disposed in a square of lines radiating in such a manner that a person placed in the centre can see through in every direction. this square is on a raised terrace, the pillars rude and only about eight feet high. at seringham the pillars also form a square. the dagobas, occurring in connection with the temple of buddha and the "thousand pillars" at anarajapura, deserve a notice, as they correspond in many respects with some of the structures at chichen. they are of various dimensions and consist generally of raised terraces or platforms of great extent, surrounded by mounds of earth faced with brick or stone, and often crowned with circular, dome-shaped structures. the base is usually surrounded by rows of columns. they vary from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet in height. the dagobas, of intermediate size, have occasionally a form approaching that of a bubble, but in general they have the form of a bell. they constitute part of the buddhist temples, almost without exception. we have, in the character of these singular columns and their arrangement in respect to each other and the pyramidal structures in connection with which they are found, a most striking resemblance between the ruins of chichen-itza in central america, and anarajapura in ceylon--between the temples of buddha and those of quetzalcoatl, or some corresponding character. the further coincidences which exist between the sacred architecture of india and central america will be reserved for another place. we cannot, however, omit to notice here the structure at chichen-itza designated as the "caracol," both from its resemblance to the dagobas of ceylon and its connection with the worship of the serpent deity. mr. stephens describes it as follows:-- "it is circular in form and is known by the name of the caracol, or winding staircase, on account of its interior arrangements. it stands on the upper of two terraces. the lower one measuring in front, from north to south, two hundred and twenty-three feet, and is still in good preservation. a grand staircase, forty-five feet wide, and containing twenty steps, rises to the platform of this terrace. on each side of the staircase, forming a sort of balustrade, rest the entwined bodies of two gigantic serpents, three feet wide, portions of which are still in place; and amongst the ruins of the staircase a gigantic head, which had terminated, at one side the foot of the steps. the platform of the second terrace measured eighty feet in front and fifty-five in depth, and is reached by another staircase forty-two feet wide and having forty-two steps. in the centre of the steps and against the wall of the terrace are the remains of a pedestal six feet high, on which probably once stood an idol. on the platform, fifteen feet from the last step, stands the building. it is twenty-two feet in diameter and has four small doorways facing the cardinal points. above the cornice the roof sloped off so as to form an apex. the height, including the terraces, is little short of sixty feet. the doorways give entrance to a circular corridor five feet wide. the inner wall has four doorways, smaller than the others, and standing intermediately with respect to them. these doors give entrance to a second circular corridor, four feet wide, and in the centre is a circular mass, apparently of solid stone, seven feet six inches in diameter; but in one place, at the height of eleven feet from the floor, was a small square opening, which i endeavoured to clear out but without success. the roof was so tottering that i could not discover to what this opening led. the walls of both corridors were plastered and covered with paintings, and both were covered with a triangular arch." mr. stephens also found at mayapan, which city, as we have seen, was built by ku kulcan, the great ruler and demi-god of chichen-itza, a dome-shaped edifice of much the same character with that here described. it is the principal structure here, and stands on a mound thirty feet high. the walls are ten feet high to the top of the lower cornice, and fourteen more to the upper one. it has a single entrance towards the west. the outer wall is five feet thick, within which is a corridor three feet wide, surrounding a solid cylindrical mass of stone, nine feet in thickness. the walls have four or five coats of stucco and were covered with remains of paintings, in which red, yellow, blue and white were distinctly visible. on the south-west of the building was a double row of columns, eight feet apart, though probably from the remains around, there had been more, and by clearing away the trees others might be found. they were two feet and a half in diameter. we are not informed upon the point but presumably the columns were arranged, in respect to the structure, in the same manner as those accompanying the dagobas of ceylon, or the mounds of chichen-itza. among the ruins of chichen are none more remarkable than that called by the natives "egclesia" or the church. it is described by mr. stephens as consisting of "two immense parallel walls each two hundred and seventy-five feet long, thirty feet thick, and placed one hundred and twenty feet apart. one hundred feet from the northern extremity, facing the space between the walls, stands, on a terrace, a building thirty-five feet long, containing a single chamber, with the front fallen, and rising among the rubbish the remains of two columns elaborately ornamented, the whole interior wall being exposed to view, covered from top to bottom with sculptured figures in bas-relief much worn and faded. at the southern end also, placed back a hundred feet and corresponding in position, is another building eighty-one feet long, in ruins, but also exhibiting the remains of this column richly sculptured. in the centre of the great stone walls, exactly opposite each other, and at the height of thirty feet from the ground, are two massive stone rings, four feet in diameter and one foot one inch thick, the diameter of the hole is one foot seven inches. on the rim and border are sculptured two entwined serpents; one of them is feather-headed, the other is not." may we regard them as allusive to the serpent god and the serpent goddess of the aztec mythology? mr. stephens is disposed to regard the singular structure here described as a gymnasium or tennis court, and supports his opinion by a quotation from herrara. it seems to others much more probable that, with the other buildings of the group, this had an exclusively sacred origin. however that may be, the entwined serpents are clearly symbolical, inasmuch as we find them elsewhere, in a much more conspicuous position, and occupying the first place among the emblematic figures sculptured on the aboriginal temples. immediately in connection with this singular structure and constituting part of the eastern wall, is a building, in many respects the most interesting visited by mr. stephens, and respecting which it is to be regretted he has not given us a more complete account. it requires no extraordinary effort of fancy to discover in the sculptures and paintings with which it is decorated the pictured records of the teachings of the deified ku kulcan, who instructed men in the arts, taught them in religion, and instituted government. there are represented processions of figures, covered with ornaments, and carrying arms. "one of the inner chambers is covered," says mr. stephens, "from the floor to the arched roof, with designs in painting, representing, in bright and vivid colours, human figures, battles, horses, boats, trees, and various scenes in domestic life." these correspond very nearly with the representations on the walls of the ancient buddhist temples of java, which are described by mr. crawfurd as being covered with designs of "a great variety of subjects, such as processions, audiences, religious worship, battles, hunting, maritime and other scenes." among the ruins of uxmal is a structure closely resembling the egclesia of chichen. it consists of two massive walls of stone, one hundred and twenty-eight feet long, and thirty in thickness, and placed seventy feet apart. so far as could be made out, they are exactly alike in plan and ornament. the sides facing each other are embellished with sculpture, and upon both remain the fragments of entwined colossal serpents which run the whole length of the walls. in the centre of each facade, as at chichen, were the fragments of a great stone ring, which had been broken off and probably destroyed. it would therefore seem that the emblem of the entwined serpents was significant of the purposes to which these structures were dedicated. the destruction of these stones is another evidence of their religious character; for the conquerors always directed their destroying zeal against those monuments, or parts of monuments, most venerated and valued by the indians, and which were deemed most intimately connected with their superstitions. two hundred feet to the south of this edifice is another large and imposing structure, called casa de las monjas, house of the nuns. it stands on the highest terraces, and is reached by a flight of steps. it is quadrangular in form, with a courtyard in the centre. this is two hundred and fourteen by two hundred and fifty-eight. "passing through the arched gateway," says mr. stephens, "we enter this noble courtyard, with four great facades looking down upon it, each ornamented from one end to the other with the richest and most elaborate carving known in the art of the builders. the facade on the left is most richly ornamented, but is much ruined. it is one hundred and sixty feet long, and is distinguished by two colossal serpents entwined, running through and encompassing nearly all the ornaments throughout its entire length. at the north end, where the facade is most entire, the tail of one serpent is held up nearly over the head of the other, and has an ornament upon it like a turban with a plume of feathers. there are marks upon the extremity of the tail, probably intended to represent the rattlesnake, with which the country abounds. the lower serpent has its monstrous jaws wide open, and within there is a human head, the face of which is distinctly visible in the stone. the head and tail of the two serpents at the south end of the facade are said to have corresponded with those at the north, and when the whole was entire, in , the serpents were seen encircling every ornament of the building. the bodies of the serpents are covered with feathers. its ruins present a lively idea of the large and many well-constructed buildings of lime and stone, which bernal diaz saw at campeachy, with figures of serpents and idols painted on their walls." mr. norman mentions that the heads of the serpents were adorned with plumes of feathers, and that the tails showed the peculiarity of the rattlesnake.[ ] the eastern facade, opposite that just described, is less elaborately, but more tastefully ornamented. over each doorway is an ornament representing the sun. in every instance there is a face in the centre, with the tongue projected, surmounted by an elaborate head-dress; between the bars there is also a range of many lozenge-shaped ornaments, in which the remains of red paint are distinctly visible, and at each end is a serpent's head with the mouth open. the ornament over the principal doorway is much more complicated and elaborate, and of that marked and peculiar style which characterizes the highest efforts of the builders. the central figure, with the projecting tongue, is probably that of the sun, and in general design coincides with the central figure sculptured on the great calendar stone of mexico, and with that found by mr. stephens on the walls of casa no. at palenque, where it is represented as an object of admiration. the protrusion of the tongue signified, among the aztecs, ability to speak, and denoted life or existence. among the sclavonian nations, the idea of vitality was conveyed by ability to eat, as it is by to breathe among ourselves, and to walk among the indians of the algonquin stock. although central america was occupied by nations independent of those of mexico proper, yet some of them (as those inhabiting the pacific coast, as far south as nicaragua) were descended directly from them, and all had striking features in common with them. their languages were in general different, but cognate; their architecture was essentially the same; and their religion, we have every reason for believing, was not widely different, though doubtless that of the south was less ferocious in its character, and not so generally disfigured by human sacrifices. we may therefore look with entire safety for common mythological notions, especially when we are assured of the fact that, whatever its modifications, the religion of the continent is essentially the same; and especially when we know that whatever differences may have existed amongst the various nations of mexico and central america, the elements of their religion were derived from a common tottecan root. chapter vi. _mexican temple of montezuma--the serpent emblem in mexico--pyramid of cholula--tradition of the giants of anahuac--the temple of quetzalcoatl--north american indians and the rattlesnake--indian tradition of a great serpent--serpents in the mounds of the west--bigotry and folly of the spanish conquerors of the west--wide prevalence of mexican ophiolatreia._ the monuments of mexico representing the serpent are very numerous, and have been specially remarked by nearly every traveller in that interesting country. the symbol is equally conspicuous in the ancient paintings. "the great temple of mexico," says acosta, "was built of great stones in fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the circuit was called coate-pantli which is circuit of snakes." duran informs us that this temple was expressly built by the first montezuma "for all the gods," and hence called coatlan, literally "serpent place." it contained, he also informed us, the temple or shrine of tezcatlipoca, huitzlipochtli, and tlaloc, called coateocalli, "temple of the serpent." says bernal diaz, in his account of the march of cortes to mexico, "we to-day arrived at a place called terraguco, which we called the town of the serpents, on account of the enormous figures of those reptiles which we found in their temples, and which they worshipped as gods." it cannot be supposed that absolute serpent worship--a simple degraded adoration of the reptile itself, or fetishism, such as is said to exist in some parts of africa--prevailed in mexico. the serpent entered into their religious systems only as an emblem. it is nevertheless not impossible, on the contrary it is extremely probable, that a degree of superstitious veneration attached to the reptile itself. according to bernal diaz, living rattlesnakes were kept in the great temple of mexico as sacred objects. he says, "moreover, in that accursed house they kept vipers and venomous snakes, who had something at their tails which sounded like morris-bells, and these are the worst of vipers. they were kept in cradles and barrels, and in earthen vessels, upon feathers, and there they laid their eggs, and nursed up their snakelings, and they were fed with the bodies of the sacrificed, and with dogs' meat." charlevaix in the history of paraguay, relates "that alvarez, in one of his expeditions into that country, found a town in which was a large tower or temple the residence of a monstrous serpent which the inhabitants had chosen for a divinity and which they fed with human flesh. he was as thick as an ox, and seven and twenty feet long." this account has been regarded as somewhat apocryphal, although it is likely enough that serpent worship may have existed among some of the savage tribes of south america. it has been said "it should be remarked that diaz was little disposed to look with complacency upon the religion of the mexicans, or whatever was connected with it, and that his prejudices were not without their influence on his language. his relation, nevertheless, may be regarded as essentially reliable." mr. mayer, in his description of mexico, gives an interesting account of the ancient and extraordinary indian pyramid of cholula, an erection intimately connected with the quetzalcoatl we have been speaking of. this is one of the most remarkable relics of the aborigines on the continent, for, although it was constructed only of the adobes or common sun-dried brick, it still remains in sufficient distinctness to strike every observer with wonder at the enterprise of its indian builders. what it was intended for, whether tomb or temple, no one has determined with certainty, though the wisest antiquarians have been guessing since the conquest. in the midst of a plain the indians erected a mountain. the base still remains to give us its dimensions; but what was its original height? was it the tomb of some mighty lord, or sovereign prince; or was it alone a place of sacrifice? many years ago in cutting a new road toward puebla from mexico it became necessary to cross a portion of the base of this pyramid. the excavation laid bare a square chamber, built of stone, the roof of which was sustained by cypress beams. in it were found some idols of basalt, a number of painted vases, and the remains of two dead bodies. no care was taken of these relics by the discoverers, and they are lost to us for ever. approaching the pyramid from the east, it appears so broken and overgrown with trees that it is difficult to make out any outline distinctly. from the west, however, a very fair idea may be obtained of this massive monument as it rises in solitary grandeur from the midst of the wide-spreading plain. a well-paved road cut by the old spaniards, ascends from the north-west corner with steps at regular intervals, obliquing first on the west side to the upper bench of the terrace, and thence returning toward the same side until it is met by a steep flight rising to the front of the small dome-crowned chapel, surrounded with its grave of cypress and dedicated to the virgin of remedies. the summit is perfectly level, and protected by a parapet wall, whence a magnificent view extends on every side over the level valley. whatever this edifice may have been, the idea of thus attaining permanently an elevation to which the people might resort for prayer--or even for parade or amusement--was a sublime conception and entitles the men who, centuries ago, patiently erected the lofty pyramid, to the respect of posterity. there remain at present but four stories of the pyramid of cholula, rising above each other and connected by terraces. these stories are formed, as already said, of sun-dried bricks, interspersed with occasional layers of plaster and stone work. "and this is all," says mr. mayer, "that is to be told or described. old as it is--interesting as it is--examined as it has been by antiquaries of all countries--the result has ever been the same. the indians tell you that it was a place of sepulture, and the mexicans give you the universal reply of ignorance in this country: _quien sabe?_--who knows? who can tell?" baron humboldt says:--"the pyramid of cholula is exactly the same height as that of tonatiuh ylxaqual, at teotihuacan. it is three metres higher than that of mycerinus, or the third of the great egyptian pyramids of the group of djizeh. its base, however, is larger than that of any pyramid hitherto discovered by travellers in the old world, and is double of that known as the pyramid of cheops. those who wish to form an idea of the immense mass of this mexican monument by the comparison of objects best known to them, may imagine a square four times greater than that of the place vendôme in paris, covered with layers of bricks rising to twice the elevation of the louvre. some persons imagine that the whole of the edifice is not artificial, but as far as explorations have been made there is no reason to doubt that it is entirely a work of art. in its present state (and we are ignorant of its perfect original height) its perpendicular proportion is to its base as eight to one, while in the three great pyramids of djizeh the proportion is found to be one and six-tenths to one and seven-tenths to one; or nearly as eight to five." may not this have been the base of some mighty temple destroyed long before the conquest, and of which even the tradition no longer lingers among the neighbouring indians? in continuation humboldt observes that "that the inhabitants of anahauc apparently designed giving the pyramid of cholula the same height, and double the base of the pyramid of teotihuacan, and that the pyramid of asychis, the largest known of the egyptians, has a base of feet, and is like that of cholula built of brick. the cathedral of strasburgh is eight feet, and the cross of st peter's at rome forty-one feet lower than the top of the pyramid of cheops. pyramids exist throughout mexico; in the forests of papantla at a short distance above the level of the sea; on the plains of cholula and of teotihuacan, at the elevations which exceed those of the passes of the alps. in the most widely distant nations, in climates the most different, man seems to have adopted the same style of construction, the same ornaments, the same customs, and to have placed himself under the government of the same political institutions." is this an argument? it has been asked; that all men have sprung from one stock, or that the human mind is the same everywhere, and, affected by similar interests or necessities, invariably comes to the same result, whether pointing a pyramid or an arrow, in making a law or a ladle? "much as i distrust," says mayer, "all the dark and groping efforts of antiquarians, i will nevertheless offer you some sketches and legends which may serve at least to base a conjecture upon as to the divinity to whom this pyramid was erected, and to prove, perhaps, that it was intended as the foundation of a temple and not the covering of a tomb." a tradition, which has been recorded by a dominican monk who visited cholula in , is thus related from his work, by the traveller already quoted. "before the great inundation which took place , years after the erection of the world, the country of anahuac was inhabited by giants, all of whom either perished in the inundation or were transformed into fishes, save seven who fled into caverns. "when the waters subsided, one of the giants, called xelhua, surnamed the 'architect,' went to cholula, where as a memorial of the tlaloc which had served for an asylum to himself and his six brethern, he built an artificial hill in the form of a pyramid. he ordered bricks to be made in the province of tlalmanalco, at the foot of the sierra of cecotl, and in order to convey them to cholula he placed a file of men who passed them from hand to hand. the gods beheld, with wrath, an edifice the top of which was to reach the clouds. irritated at the daring attempt of xelhua, they hurled fire on the pyramid. numbers of the workmen perished. the work was discontinued, and the monument was afterwards dedicated to quetzalcoatl." of this god we have already given a description in these pages. the following singular story in relation to this divinity and certain services of his temple, is to be found in the "natural and moral history of acosta," book , chap. . "there was at this temple of quetzalcoatl, at cholula, a court of reasonable greatness, in which they made great dances and pastimes with games and comedies, on the festival day of this idol, for which purpose there was in the midst of this court a theatre of thirty feet square, very finely decked and trimmed--the which they decked with flowers that day--with all the art and invention that might be, being environed around with arches of divers flowers and feathers, and in some places there were tied many small birds, conies, and other tame beasts. after dinner, all the people assembled in this place, and the players presented themselves and played comedies. some counterfeited the deaf and rheumatic, others the lame, some the blind and crippled which came to seek for cure from the idol. the deaf answered confusedly, the rheumatic coughed, the lame halted, telling their miseries and griefs, wherewith they made the people to laugh. others came forth in the form of little beasts, some attired like snails, others like toads, and some like lizards; then meeting together they told their offices, and, everyone retiring to his place, they sounded on small flutes which was pleasant to hear. they likewise counterfeited butterflies and small birds of divers colours which were represented by the children who were sent to the temple for education. then they went into a little forest, planted there for the purpose, whence the priests of the temple drew them forth with instruments of music. in the meantime they used many pleasant speeches, some in propounding, others in defending, wherewith the assistants were pleasantly entertained. this done, they made a masque or mummery with all the personages, and so the feast ended." from these traditions we derive several important facts. first, that quetzalcoatl was "god of the air;" second, that he was represented as a "feathered serpent;" third, that he was the great divinity of the cholulans; and fourth, that a hill was raised by them upon which they erected a temple to his glory where they celebrated his festivals with pomp and splendour. combining all these, is it unreasonable to believe that the pyramid of cholula was the base of this temple, and that he was there worshipped as the great spirit of the air--or of the seasons; the god who produced the fruitfulness of the earth, regulated the sun, the wind, and the shower, and thus spread plenty over the land. it has been thought too, that the serpent might not improbably typify lightning, and the feathers swiftness, thus denoting one of the attributes of the air and that the most speedy and destructive. mr. mayer says:--"i constantly saw serpents, in the city of mexico, carved in stone, and in the various collections of antiquities," and he gives drawings of several of the principal, notably one carved with exquisite skill and found in the court-yard of the university. vasquez coronado, governor of new gallicia, as the northern territories of spain were then called, wrote to the viceroy mendoza in , concerning the unknown regions still beyond him to the northward. his account was chiefly based upon the fabulous relation of the friar marco niza, and is not entirely to be relied upon. in this letter he mentions that "in the province of topira there were people who had great towers and temples covered with straw, with small round windows, filled with human skulls, and before the temple a great round ditch, the brim of which was compassed with a serpent, made of various metals, which held its tail in its mouth, and before which men were sacrificed." du paix has given many examples of the carving representing the snake, which he found in his antiquarian explorations in mexico. one found near the ancient city of chochimilco represents a snake artificially coiled carved from a block of porphry. "its long body is gracefully entwined, leaving its head and tail free. there is something showy in the execution of the figure. its head is elevated and curiously ornamented, its open mouth exhibits two long and pointed fangs, its tongue (which is unusually long) is cloven at the extremity like an anchor, its body is fancifully scaled, and its tail (covered with circles) ends with three rattles. the snake was a frequent emblem with the mexican artists. the flexibility of its figure rendering it susceptible of an infinite diversity of position, regular and irregular; they availed themselves of this advantage and varied their representations of it without limit and without ever giving it an unnatural attitude." near quauhquechúla, du paix found another remarkable sculpture of the serpent carved in black basalt, and so entwined that the space within the folds of its body formed a font sufficiently large to contain a considerable quantity of water. the body of the reptile was spirally entwined, and the head probably served as a handle to move it. it was decorated with circles, and the tail was that of a rattlesnake. du paix also found at tepeyaca, in a quarter of the town called st. michael tlaixegui (signifying in the mexican language the cavity of the mountain) a serpent carved in red porphry. it is of large dimensions, in an attitude of repose, and coiled upon itself in spiral circles so as to leave a hollow space or transverse axis in the middle. the head, which has a fierce expression, is armed with two long and sharp fangs, and the tongue is double being divided longitudinally. the entire surface of the body is ornamented or covered with broad and long feathers, and the tail terminates in four rattles. its length from the head to the extremity of the tail is about twenty feet, and it gradually diminishes in thickness. "this reptile," du paix says, "was the monarch or giant of its species, and in pagan times was a deity greatly esteemed under the name quetzalcoatl, or feathered serpent. it is extremely well sculptured, and there are still marks of its having been once painted with vermillion." but the symbolical feathered serpent was not peculiar to mexico and yucatan. squier, in his explorations in nicaragua, several times encountered it. near the city of santiago de managua, the capital of the republic, situated upon the shores of lake managua or leon, and near the top of the high volcanic ridge which separates the waters flowing into the atlantic from those running into the pacific, is an extinct crater, now partially filled with water, forming a lake nearly two miles in circumference, called nihapa. the sides of this crater are perpendicular rocks ranging from five hundred to eight hundred feet in height. there is but one point where descent is possible. it leads to a little space, formed by the fallen rocks and debris which permits a foothold for the traveller. standing here, he sees above him, on the smooth face of the cliff, a variety of figures, executed by the aborigines, in red paint. most conspicuous amongst them, is a feathered serpent coiled and ornamented. it is about four feet in diameter. upon some of the other rocks were found paintings of the serpent, perfectly corresponding with the representations in the dresden ms. copied by kingsborough and confirming the conjectures of humboldt and other investigators that this ms. had its origin to the southward of mexico. the figure copied was supposed by the natives who had visited it to represent the sun. some years ago, large figures of the sun and moon were visible upon the cliffs, but the section upon which they were painted was thrown down by the great earthquake of . parts of the figures can yet be traced upon the fallen fragments. it is a singular fact that many of the north american indian tribes entertain a superstitious regard for serpents, and particularly for the rattlesnake. though always avoiding, they never destroyed it, "lest," says bartram, "the spirit of the reptile should excite its kindred to revenge." according to adair, this fear was not unmingled with veneration. charlevoix states that the natchez had the figure of a rattlesnake, carved from wood, placed among other objects upon the altar of their temple, to which they paid great honours. heckwelder relates that the linni linape, called the rattlesnake "grandfather" and would on no account allow it to be destroyed. henney states that the indians around lake huron had a similar superstition, and also designated the rattlesnake as their "grandfather." he also mentions instances in which offerings of tobacco were made to it, and its parental care solicited for the party performing the sacrifice. carver also mentions an instance of similar regard on the part of a menominee indian, who carried a rattlesnake constantly with him, "treating it as a deity, and calling it his great father." a portion of the veneration with which the reptile was regarded in these cases may be referred to that superstition so common among the savage tribes, under the influence of which everything remarkable in nature was regarded as a medicine or mystery, and therefore entitled to respect. still there appears to be, linked beneath all, the remnant of an ophite superstition of a different character which is shown in the general use of the serpent as a symbol of incorporeal powers, of "manitous" or spirits. mr. james, in his mss. in the possession of the new york historical society, states, "that the menominees translate the _manitou_ of the chippeways by _ahwahtoke_," which means emphatically a snake. "whether," he continues, "the word was first formed as a name for a surprising or disgusting object, and thence transferred to spiritual beings, or whether the extension of its signification has been in an opposite direction, it is difficult to determine." bossu also affirms that the arkansas believed in the existence of a great spirit, which they adore under form of a serpent. in the north-west it was a symbol of evil power. here we may suitably introduce the tradition of a great serpent, which is to this day, current amongst a large portion of the indians of the algonquin stock. it affords some curious parallelisms with the allegorical relations of the old world. the great teacher of the algonquins, manabozho, is always placed in antagonism to a great serpent, a spirit of evil, who corresponds very nearly with the egyptian typhon, the indian kaliya, and the scandinavian midgard. he is also connected with the algonquin notions of a deluge; and as typhon is placed in opposition to osiris or apollo, kaliya to surya or the sun, and midgard to wodin or odin, so does he bear a corresponding relation to manabozho. the conflicts between the two are frequent; and although the struggles are sometimes long and doubtful, manabozho is usually successful against his adversary. one of these contests involved the destruction of the earth by water, and its reproduction by the powerful and beneficent manabozho. the tradition in which this grand event is embodied was thus related by kah-ge-ga-gah-boowh, a chief of the ojibway. in all of its essentials, it is recorded by means of the rude pictured signs of the indians, and scattered all over the algonquin territories. one day returning to his lodge, from a long journey, manabozho missed from it his young cousin, who resided with him, he called his name aloud, but received no answer. he looked around on the sand for the tracks of his feet, and he there, for the first time, discovered the trail of meshekenabek, the serpent. he then knew that his cousin had been seized by his great enemy. he armed himself, and followed on his track, he passed the great river, and crossed mountains and valleys to the shores of the deep and gloomy lake now called manitou lake, spirit lake, or the lake of devils. the trail of meshekenabek led to the edge of the water. at the bottom of this lake was the dwelling of the serpent, and it was filled with evil spirits--his attendants and companions. their forms were monstrous and terrible, but most, like their master, bore the semblance of serpents. in the centre of this horrible assemblage was meshekenabek himself, coiling his volumes around the hapless cousin of manabozho. his head was red as with blood, and his eyes were fierce and glowed like fire. his body was all over armed with hard and glistening scales of every shade and colour. manabozho looked down upon the writhing spirits of evil, and he vowed deep revenge. he directed the clouds to disappear from the heavens, the winds to be still, and the air to become stagnant over the lake of the manitous, and bade the sun shine upon it with all its fierceness; for thus he sought to drive his enemy forth to seek the cool shadows of the trees, that grew upon its banks, so that he might be able to take vengeance upon him. meanwhile, manabozho, seized his bow and arrows and placed himself near the spot where he deemed the serpents would come to enjoy the shade. he then transferred himself into the broken stump of a withered tree, so that his enemies might not discover his presence. the winds became still, and the sun shone hot on the lake of the evil manitous. by and by the waters became troubled, and bubbles rose to the surface, for the rays of the sun penetrated to the horrible brood within its depths. the commotion increased, and a serpent lifted its head high above the centre of the lake and gazed around the shores. directly another came to the surface, and they listened for the footsteps of manabozho but they heard him nowhere on the face of the earth, and they said one to the other, "manabozho sleeps." and then they plunged again beneath the waters, which seemed to hiss as they closed over them. it was not long before the lake of manitous became more troubled than before, it boiled from its very depths, and the hot waves dashed wildly against the rocks on its shores. the commotion increased, and soon meshekenabek, the great serpent, emerged slowly to the surface, and moved towards the shore. his blood-red crest glowed with a deeper hue, and the reflection from his glancing scales was like the blinding glitter of a sleet covered forest beneath the morning sun of winter. he was followed by the evil spirits, so great a number that they covered the shores of the lake with their foul trailing carcases. they saw the broken, blasted stump into which manabozho had transformed himself, and suspecting it might be one of his disguises, for they knew his cunning, one of them approached, and wound his tail around it, and sought to drag it down. but manabozho stood firm, though he could hardly refrain from crying aloud, for the tail of the monster tickled his sides. the great serpent wound his vast folds among the trees of the forest, and the rest also sought the shade, while one was left to listen for the steps of manabozho. when they all slept, manabozho silently drew an arrow from his quiver, he placed it in his bow, and aimed it where he saw the heart beat against the sides of the great serpent. he launched it, and with a howl that shook the mountains and startled the wild beasts in their caves, the monstre awoke, and, followed by its frightful companions, uttering mingled sounds of rage and terror, plunged again into the lake. here they vented their fury on the helpless cousin of manabozho, whose body they tore into a thousand fragments, his mangled lungs rose to the surface, and covered it with whiteness. and this is the origin of the foam on the water. when the great serpent knew that he was mortally wounded, both he and the evil spirits around him were rendered tenfold more terrible by their great wrath and they rose to overwhelm manabozho. the water of the lake swelled upwards from its dark depths, and with a sound like many thunders, it rolled madly on its track, bearing the rocks and trees before it with resistless fury. high on the crest of the foremost wave, black as the midnight, rode the writhing form of the wounded meshekenabek, and red eyes glazed around him, and the hot breaths of the monstrous brood hissed fiercely above the retreating manabozho. then thought manabozho of his indian children, and he ran by their villages, and in a voice of alarm bade them flee to the mountains, for the great serpent was deluging the earth in his expiring wrath, sparing no living thing. the indians caught up their children, and wildly sought safety where he bade them. but manabozho continued his flight along the base of the western hills, and finally took refuge on a high mountain beyond lake superior, far towards the north. there he found many men and animals who had fled from the flood that already covered the valleys and plains, and even the highest hills. still the waters continued to rise, and soon all the mountains were overwhelmed save that on which stood manabozho. then he gathered together timber, and made a raft, upon which the men and women, and the animals that were with him, all placed themselves. no sooner had they done so, than the rising floods closed over the mountain and they floated alone on the surface of the waters; and thus they floated for many days, and some died, and the rest became sorrowful, and reproached manabozho that he did not disperse the waters and renew the earth that they might live. but though he knew that his great enemy was by this time dead, yet could not manabozho renew the world unless he had some earth in his hands wherewith to begin the work. and this he explained to those that were with him, and he said that were it ever so little, even a few grains of earth, then could he disperse the waters and renew the world. then the beaver volunteered to go to the bottom of the deep, and get some earth, and they all applauded her design. she plunged in, they waited long, and when she returned she was dead; they opened her hands but there was no earth in them. "then," said the otter, "will i seek the earth:" and the bold swimmer dived from the raft. the otter was gone still longer than the beaver, but when he returned to the surface he too was dead, and there was no earth in his claws. "who shall find the earth?" exclaimed all those left on the raft, "now that the beaver and the otter are dead?" and they desponded more than before, repeating, "who shall find the earth?" "that will i," said the muskrat, and he quickly disappeared between the logs of the raft. the muskrat was gone very long, much longer than the otter, and it was thought he would never return, when he suddenly rose near by, but he was too weak to speak, and he swam slowly towards the raft. he had hardly got upon it when he too died from his great exertion. they opened his little hands and there, clasped closely between the fingers, they found a few grains of fresh earth. these manabozho carefully collected and dried them in the sun, and then he rubbed them into a fine powder in his palms, and, rising up, he blew them abroad upon the waters. no sooner was this done than the flood began to subside, and soon the trees on the mountains and hills emerged from the deep, and the plains and the valleys came in view and the waters disappeared from the land leaving no trace but a thick sediment, which was the dust that manabozho had blown abroad from the raft. then it was found that meshekenabek, the great serpent, was dead, and that the evil manitous, his companions, had returned to the depths of the lake of spirits, from which, for the fear of manabozho, they never more dared to come forth. and in gratitude to the beaver, the otter, and the muskrat, those animals were ever after held sacred by the indians, and they became their brethren, and they never killed nor molested them until the medicine of the stranger made them forget their relations and turned their hearts to ingratitude. in the mounds of the west have been found various sculptures of the serpent, and amongst them one as follows:--it represents a coiled rattlesnake, and is carved in a very compact cinnamon-coloured sandstone. it is six and a quarter inches long, one and three-eighths broad, and a quarter of an inch thick. the workmanship is delicate, and the characteristic features of the rattlesnake are perfectly represented, the head, unfortunately, is not entire, but enough remains to show that it was surmounted by some kind of feather-work resembling that so conspicuously represented in the sculptured monuments of the south. it was found carefully enveloped in sheet copper, and under circumstances which render it certain that it was an object of high regard and probably of worship. notwithstanding the striking resemblances which have been pointed out, in the elementary religions of the old and new worlds, and the not less remarkable coincidences in their symbolical systems, we are scarcely prepared to find in america that specific combination which fills so conspicuous a place in the early cosmogonies and mythologies of the east, and which constitute the basis of these investigations, namely, the compound symbol of the serpent and the egg. it must be admitted that, in the few meagre and imperfect accounts which we have of the notions of cosmogony entertained by the american nations, we have no distinct allusion to it. the symbolism is far too refined and abstract to be adopted by wandering, savage tribes, and we can only look for it, if at all, among the more civilized nations of the central part of the continent, where religion and mythology ranked as an intelligible system. and here we have at once to regret and reprobate the worse than barbarous zeal of the spanish conquerors, who, not content with destroying the pictured records and overturning and defacing the primitive monuments of those remarkable nations; distorted the few traditions which they recorded, so as to lend a seeming support to the fictions of their own religion, and invested the sacred rites of the aborigines with horrible and repulsive features, so as to furnish, among people like minded with themselves, some apology for their savage cruelty. not only were orders given by the first bishop of mexico, the infamous zumanaga, for the burning of all the mexican mss. which could be procured, but all persons were discouraged from recording the traditions of the ancient inhabitants. so far, therefore, from having a complete and consistent account of the beliefs and conceptions of those nations, to which reference may be had in inquiries of this kind, we have only detached and scattered fragments, rescued by later hands from the general destruction. under such circumstances we cannot expect to find parallel evidences of the existence of specific conceptions; that is to say, we may find certain representations clearly symbolical and referring to the cosmogony, mythology, or religion of the primitive inhabitants and yet look in vain among the scanty and distorted traditions and few mutilated pictured records which are left us for collateral support of the significance which reason and analogy may assign to them. it is not assumed to say that any distinct representation of the serpent and the egg exists amongst the monuments of mexico or central america; what future investigations may disclose remains to be seen. if, until the present time, we have remained in profound ignorance of the existence of the grand monument under notice, in one of the best populated states, what treasures of antiquity may yet be hidden in the fastnesses of the central part of the continent! it has often been said that every feature in the religion of the new world, discovered by cortez and pizarro, indicates an origin common to the superstitions of egypt and asia. the same solar worship, the same pyramidal monuments, and the same ophiolatreia distinguish them all. acosta says "the temple of vitziliputzli was built of great stones in fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the circuit was called 'the circuit of snakes' because the walls of the enclosure were covered with the figures of snakes. vitziliputzli held in his right hand a staff cut in the form of a serpent, and the four corners of the ark in which he was seated terminated each with a carved representation of the head of a serpent. from the sides of the god projected the heads of two serpents and his right hand leaned upon a staff like a serpent. the mexican century was represented by a circle, having the sun in the centre, surrounded by the symbols of the years. the circumference was a serpent twisted into four knots at the cardinal points."[ ] the mexican month was divided into twenty days; the serpent and dragon symbolized two of them. in mexico there was also a temple dedicated to the god of the air, and the door of it was formed so as to resemble a serpent's mouth.[ ] amongst other things, peter martyr mentions a large serpent-idol at campeachy, made of stones and bitumen, in the act of devouring a marble lion. when first seen by the spaniards it was warm with the blood of human victims. "ancient painting and sculptures abound with evidences of mexican ophiolatreia, and prove that there was scarcely a mexican deity who was not symbolized by a serpent or a dragon. many deities appear holding serpents in their hands, and small figures of priests are represented with a snake over each head. this reminds us forcibly of the priests of the egyptian isis, who are described in sculpture with the sacred asp upon the head and a cone in the left hand. and to confirm the original mutual connexion of all the serpent-worshippers throughout all the world--the mexican paintings, as well as the egyptian and persian hieroglyphics, describe the ophite hierogram of the intertwined serpents in almost all its varieties. a very remarkable one occurs in m. allard's collection of sculptures; in which the dragons forming it have each a man's head in his mouth. the gods of mexico are frequently pictured fighting with serpents and dragons; and gods, and sometimes men, are represented in conversation with the same loathsome creatures. there is scarcely, indeed, a feature in the mystery of ophiolatreia which may not be recognised in the mexican superstitions. "we perceive, therefore, that in the kingdom of mexico the serpent was sacred, and emblematic of more gods than one: an observation which may be extended to almost every other nation which adored the symbolical serpent. this is a remarkable and valuable fact, and it discovers in ophiolatreia another feature of its aboriginal character. for it proves the serpent to have been a symbol of intrinsic divinity, and not a mere representative of peculiar properties which belong to some gods and not to others."[ ] from what has been presented, it will be seen that the serpent symbol was of general acceptance in america, particularly among the semi-civilized nations; that it entered widely into their symbolic representations, and this significance was essentially the same with that which attached to it among the early nations of the old continent. upon the basis, therefore, of the identity which we have observed in the elementary religious conceptions of the old and new world, and the striking uniformity in their symbolical systems, we feel justified in ascribing to the emblematic serpent and egg of ohio a significance radically the same with that which was assigned to the analogous compound symbol among the primitive nations of the east. this conclusion is further sustained by the character of some of the religious structures of the old continent, in which we find the symbolic serpent and the egg or circle represented on a most gigantic scale. analogy could probably furnish no more decisive sanction, unless by exhibiting other structures, in which not only a general correspondence, but an absolute identity should exist. such an identity it would be unreasonable to look for, even in the works of the same people, constructed in accordance with a common design. it may seem hardly consistent with the caution which should characterize researches of this kind, to hazard the suggestion that the symbolical serpent and egg of ohio are distinctly allusive to the specific notions of cosmogony which prevailed among the nations of the east, for the reason that it is impossible to bring positive collateral proof that such notions were entertained by any of the american nations. the absence of written records and of impartially preserved traditions we have already had ample reason to deplore; and unless further explorations shall present us with unexpected results, the deficiency may always exist. but we must remember that in no respect are men more tenacious than in the preservation of their rudimental religious beliefs and early conceptions. in the words of a philosophical investigator--"of all researches that most effectually aid us to discover the origin of a nation or people whose history is involved in the obscurity of ancient times, none perhaps are attended with such important results as the analysis of their theological dogmas and their religious practices. to such matters mankind adhere with the greatest tenacity, which, though modified and corrupted in the revolution of ages, still retain features of their original construction, when language, arts, sciences and political establishments no longer preserve distinct lineaments of their ancient constitutions."[ ] a striking example of the truth of these remarks is furnished in the religion of india, which, to this day, notwithstanding the revolution of time and empire, the destructions of foreign and of civil wars, and the constant addition of allegorical fictions (more fatal to the primitive system than all the other causes combined), still retains its original features, which are easily recognisable, and which identify it with the religions which prevailed in monumental egypt, on the plains of assyria, in the valleys of greece, among the sterner nations around the caspian, and among their kindred tribes on the rugged shores of scandinavia. this tenacity is not less strikingly illustrated in the careful perpetuation of rites, festivals and scenic representations which originated in notions which have long since become obsolete, and are now forgotten. very few of the attendants on the annual may-day festival, as celebrated a few years back in this country, and very few of those who have read about the same are aware that it was only a perpetuation of the vernal solar festival of baal, and that the garlanded pole was anciently a phallic emblem. chapter vii. _egypt as the home of serpent worship--thoth said to be the founder of ophiolatreia--cneph, the architect of the universe--mysteries of isis--the isaic table--frequency of the serpent symbol--serapis--in the temples at luxore, etc.--discovery at malta--the egyptian basilisk--mummies--bracelets--the caduceus--temple of cneph at elephantina--thebes--story of a priest--painting in a tomb at biban at malook--pococke at raigny._ egypt, of all ancient nations the most noted for its idolatry, was in its earliest days the home of the peculiar worship we are contemplating. a learned writer on the subject says "the serpent entered into the egyptian religion under all his characters--of an emblem of divinity, a charm or oracle, and a god." cneph, thoth and isis were conspicuous and chief among the gods and goddesses thus symbolized, though he is said to have entered more or less into the symbolical worship of all the gods. sanchoniathon describes thoth as the founder of serpent worship in egypt, and he is generally regarded as the planter of the earliest colonies in phoenicia and egypt after the deluge. he has been called the reformer of the religions of egypt, and deane says: "he taught the egyptians (or rather that part of his colony which was settled in egypt) a religion, which, partaking of zabaism and ophiolatreia, had some mixture also of primeval truth. the divine spirit he denominted cneph, and described him as the original, eternal spirit, pervading all creation, whose symbol was a serpent." cneph was called by the priests the architect of the universe, and has been represented as a serpent with an egg in his mouth; the serpent being his hieroglyphical emblem, and the egg setting forth the mundane elements as proceeding from him. after his death thoth was, in return for services rendered to the people, made a god of--the god of health, or of healing, and so became the prototype of Æsculapius. his learning appears to have been great, and he instructed the people in astronomy, morals, hieroglyphics and letters. he is generally represented leaning upon a knotted stick which has around it a serpent. the mysteries of the worship of isis abounded in allusions to the serpent, and montfaucon says that the isaic table, a plate of brass overlaid with brass enamel, intermixed with plates of silver, which described the mysteries, was charged with serpents in every part as emblems of the goddess. the particular serpent thus employed was that small one well know as the instrument used in her suicide by the celebrated cleopatra, the asp. this creature is pictured and carved on the priestly robes, the tiaras of the kings, the image of the goddess. the british museum possesses a head of this divinity wearing a coronet of them. not only so, the living reptiles were kept in her temple and were supposed to sanctify the offerings by crawling about amongst them. as we have said the serpent entered largely into the symbolical worship of all the egyptian deities, and cneph, thoth and isis can only be regarded as three of the chief. deane says there is scarcely an egyptian deity which is not occasionally symbolized by it. several of these deities are represented with their proper heads terminating in serpents' bodies. in montfaucon, vol. , plate , there is an engraving of serapis with a human head and serpentine tail. two other minor gods are also represented, the one by a serpent with a bull's head, the other by a serpent with the radiated head of the lion. the second of these, which montfaucon supposes to be an image of apis, is bored through the middle: probably with a design to hang about the neck, as they did many other small figures of gods, by way of ornament or charms. the figure of serapis encircled by serpents is found on tombs. the appearance of serpents on tombs was very general. on an urn of egnatius, nicephoras, and of herbasia clymene, engraved in montfaucon, vol. , a young man entwined by a serpent is described as falling headlong to the ground. in the urn of herbasia clymene the corners are ornamented with figures of serpents. it is a singular coincidence that the creature by whom it is believed came death into the world should be consecrated by the earliest heathen idolaters to the receptacles of the dead. it is remarkable also that serapis was supposed by the egyptians to have dominion over evil demons, or in other words was the same as pluto or satan. on some of the egyptian temples the serpent has been conspicuously figured as an emblem consecrated to the divine service. thus it is found at luxore, komombu, dendara, apollinopolis and esnay. the pamphylian obelisk also bears it many times--fifty-two it is said--and according to pococke each of the pillars of the temple of gava has it twice sculptured. all writers on the subject have noticed the variations of form under which the serpent has appeared on egyptian monuments, and have laid stress upon it as indicating the great consideration in which he was held. there is little to be wondered at in this when we remember that he was regarded as symbolical of divine wisdom, power, and creative energy; of immortality and regeneration, from the shedding of his own skin; and of eternity, when represented in the act of biting his own tail. one writer says the world was represented by a circle, intersected by two diameters perpendicular to each other, which diameters, according to eusebius, were serpents. jablonski says the circumference only, was a serpent. kircher says that the elements (or rather what were so considered in ancient times) were represented by serpents. earth was symbolized by a prostrate two-horned snake; water, by a serpent moving in an undulated manner; air, by an erect serpent in the act of hissing; fire, by an asp standing on its tail and bearing upon his head a globe. "from these hieroglyphics," remarks deane, "it is clear that the serpent was the most expressive symbol of divinity with the egyptians." an engraving in montfaucon, vol. , p. , calls for notice here, as illustrating the great extent to which the veneration of the serpent once prevailed in egypt. in the year , in an old wall of malta, was discovered a plate of gold, supposed to have been concealed there by its possessors at a time when everything idolatrous was destroyed as abominable. montfaucon says: "this plate was rolled up in a golden casket; it consists of two long rows which contain a very great number of egyptian deities, most of which have the head of some beast or bird. many serpents are also seen intermixed, the arms and legs of the gods terminating in serpents' tails. the first figure has upon its back a long shell with a serpent upon it; in each row there is a serpent extended upon an altar. among the figures of the sacred row there is seen an isis of tolerably good form. this same plate, no doubt, contains the most profound mysteries of the egyptian superstition." it hardly matters where we look in egypt, this same serpent symbol is found entering into the composition of everything, whether ornamental, useful or ecclesiastical. the basilisk, the most venomous of all snakes, and so regarded as the king of the species and named after the oracular god of canaan ob or oub, was represented on coins with rays upon his head like a crown; around the coin was inscribed "agathodæmon." the emperor nero in the "madness of his vanity," it is said, caused a number of such coins to be struck with the inscription "the new agathodæmon," meaning himself. the egyptians held basilisks in such veneration that they made images of them in gold and consecrated and placed them in the temples of their gods. bryant thinks that they were the same as the thermuthis, or deadly asp. these creatures the egyptian priests are said to have preserved by digging holes for them in the corners of their temples, and was a part of their superstition to believe that whosoever was accidentally bitten by them was divinely favoured.[ ] deane further mentions that the serpent is sometimes found sculptured, and attached to the breasts of mummies; but whether with a view to talismanic security, or as indicative of the priesthood of isis, is doubtful. a female mummy, opened by m. passalacqua at paris some years ago, was adorned with a necklace of serpents carved in stone. bracelets, in the form of serpents, were worn by the grecian women in the time of clemens alexdrinus, who thus reproves the fashion: "the women are not ashamed to place about them the most manifold symbols of the evil one; for as the serpent deceived eve, so the golden trinket in the fashion of a serpent misleads the women." the children also wore chaplets of the same kind. we must not omit to notice the caduceus, which forms, it is said, one of the most striking examples of the talismanic serpent. according to montfaucon, kirchen and others, the notion that this belonged exclusively to hermes or mercury is erroneous, as it can be seen in the hand of cybele, minerva amebis, hercules ogmius and the personified constellation virgo, said by lucian to have had her symbol in the pythian priestess. variously represented in the main, the caduceus always preserved the original design of a winged wand entwined by two serpents. it is found sometimes without the wings, but never without the serpents; the varieties consisting chiefly in the number of folds made by the serpents' bodies round the wand, and the relative positions of the wings and serpents' heads. it was regarded as powerful in paralyzing the mind and raising the dead. kirchen says that the caduceus was originally expressed by the simple figure of a cross, by which its inventor, thoth, is said to have symbolized the four elements proceeding from a common centre. "ophiolatreia," says deane, "had taken such deep root in egypt that the serpent was not merely regarded as an emblem of divinity, but even held in estimation as the instrument of an oracle. the priests of the temple of isis had a silver image of a serpent so constructed as to enable a person in attendance to move its head without being observed by the supplicating votary. "but egyptian superstition was not contented with worshipping divinity through its emblem the serpent. the senseless idolater soon bowed before the symbol itself, and worshipped this reptile, the representative of man's energy, as a god." in addition to the temple of the great serpent-god cneph at elephantina, there was a renowned one of jupiter at thebes, where the practice of ophiolatreia was carried to a great length. herodotus writes: "at thebes there are two serpents, by no means injurious to men; small in size, having two horns springing up from the top of the head. they bury these when dead in the temple of jupiter: for they say that they are sacred to that god." Ælian says: "in the time of ptolemy euergetes, a very large serpent was kept in the temple of Æsculapius at alexandria, and in another place a live one of great magnitude was kept and adored with divine honours; the name of this place he called melité." he gives the following story:--"this serpent had priests and ministers, a table and a bowl. the priests every day carried into the sacred chamber a cake made of flour and honey and then retired. returning the next day they always found the bowl empty. on one occasion, one of the priests, being extremely anxious to see the sacred serpent, went in alone, and having deposited the cake retired. when the serpent had ascended the table to his feast, the priest came in, throwing open the door with great violence: upon which the serpent departed with great indignation. but the priest was shortly after seized with a mental malady, and, having confessed his crime, became dumb and wasted away until he died." in hewart's tables of egyptian hieroglyphics we see a priest offering adoration to a serpent. the same occurs on the isiac table. "in a tomb at biban, at malook, is a beautiful painting descriptive of the rites of ophiolatreia. the officiating priest is represented with a sword in his hand, and three headless victims are kneeling before an immense serpent. isis is seen sitting under the arch made by the serpent's body, and the sacred asp, with a human face, is behind her seated on the serpent's tail. this picture proves that the serpent was propitiated by human victims."[ ] it is noteworthy that in egypt as in phoenicia and other places serpent worship was not immediately destroyed by the advance of christianity. the gnostics united it with the religion of the cross, and a quotation from bishop pococke will, just here, be most appropriate and interesting. "we came to raigny, where the religious sheikh of the famous heredy was at the side of the river to meet us. he went with us to the grotto of the serpent that has been so much talked of under the name of the sheikh heredy, of which i shall give you a particular account, in order to show the folly, credulity, and superstition of these people; for the christians have faith in it as well as the turks. we went ascending between the rocky mountain for half a mile, and came to a part where the valley opens wider. on the right is a mosque, built with a dome over it, against the side of the rock, like a sheikh's burial-place. in it there is a large cleft in the rock out of which they say the serpent comes. there is a tomb in the mosque, in the turkish manner, that they say is the tomb of heredy, which would make one imagine that one of their saints is buried there, and that they suppose his soul may be in the serpent, for i observed that they went and kissed the tomb with much devotion and said their prayers at it. opposite to this cleft there is another, which they say is the tomb of ogli hassan, that is of hassan, the son of heredy; there are two other clefts which they say are inhabited by saints or angels. the sheikh told me there were two of these serpents, but the common notion is that there is only one. he said it had been there ever since the time of mahomet. the shape of it is like that of other serpents of the harmless breed. he comes out only during the four summer months, and it is said that they sacrifice to it. this the sheikh denied, and affirmed they only brought lambs, sheep, and money to buy oil for the lamps--but i saw much blood and entrails of beasts lately killed before the door. "the stories are so ridiculous that they ought not to be repeated, if it were not to give an instance of their idolatry in those parts in this respect, though the mahometan religion seems to be very far from it in other things. they say the virtue of this serpent is to cure all diseases of those who go to it. "they are also full of a story, that when a number of women go there once a year, he passes by and looks on them, and goes and twines about the neck of the most beautiful. "i was surprised to hear a grave and sensible christian say that he always cured any distempers, but that worse followed. and some really believe that he works miracles, and say it is the devil mentioned in tobit, whom the angel gabriel drove into the utmost parts of egypt." the bishop is of opinion (in which he is joined by others) that the above superstition is a remnant of the ancient ophiolatreia. chapter viii. _derivation of the name "europe"--greece colonized by ophites--numerous traces of the serpent in greece--worship of bacchus--story of ericthonias--banquets of the bacchants--minerva--armour of agamemnon-- serpents at epidaurus--story of the pestilence in rome--delphi--mahomet at atmeidan._ bryant and faber both derive the name of "europe" from "aur-ab, the solar serpent." "whether this be correct or not," says deane, "it is certain that ophiolatreia prevailed in this quarter of the globe at the earliest period of idolatry. the first inhabitants of europe are said to have been the offspring of a woman, partly of the human and partly of the dracontic figure, a tradition which alludes to their ophite origin. "of the countries of europe, greece was first colonized by ophites, but at separate times, both from egypt and phoenicia; and it is a question of some doubt, though perhaps of little importance, whether the leader of the first colony, the celebrated cadmus, was a phoenician or an egyptian. bochart has shown that cadmus was the leader of the canaanites who fled before the arms of the victorious joshua; and bryant has proved that he was an egyptian, identical with thoth. but as mere names of individuals are of no importance, when all agree that the same superstition existed contemporaneously in the two countries, and since thoth is declared by sanchoniathan to have been the father of the phoenician as well as egyptian ophiolatreia; we may endeavour without presumption to reconcile the opinions of these learned authors by assuming each to be right in his own line of argument." in greece there are numerous traces of the worship of the serpent--it was so common indeed at one time that justin martyr declared the people introduced it into the mysteries of all their gods. in the mysteries and excesses of bacchus it is well-known, of course, to have played a conspicuous part. the people bore them entwined upon their heads, and carrying them in their hands, swung them about crying aloud, "enia, enia." the sign of the bacchic ceremonies was a consecrated serpent, and in the processions a troop of virgins of noble family carried the reptile with golden baskets containing sesamum, honey cakes and grains of salt, articles all specially connected with serpent worship. the first may be seen in the british museum, in the hands of priests kneeling before the sacred serpent of egypt. honey cakes, according to herodotus, were presented once a month as food to the sacred serpent in the acropolis at athens. the most remarkable feature of all in the bacchic orgies is said to have been the mystic serpent. "the mystery of religion was throughout the world concealed in a chest or box. as the israelites had their sacred ark, every nation upon earth had some holy receptacle for sacred things and symbols. the story of ericthonius is illustrative of this remark. he was the fourth king of athens, and his body terminated in the tails of serpents, instead of legs. he was placed by minerva in a basket, which she gave to the daughter of cecrops, with strict injunctions not to open it. here we have a fable made out of the simple fact of the mysterious basket, in which the sacred serpent was carried at the orgies of bacchus. the whole legend relates to ophiolatreia. in accordance with the general practice, the worshippers of bacchus carried in their consecrated baskets or chests the mystery of their god, together with the offerings."[ ] at the banquets of the bacchantes, or rather, after them, it was usual to carry round a cup, which was called the "cup of the good dæmon." the symbol of this dæmon was a serpent, as seen on the medals of the town of dionysopolis in thrace. on one side were the heads of gordian and serapis on the other a coiled serpent. the serpent was mixed up to a considerable extent with the worship of many other of the grecian deities. the statues, by phidias, of minerva, represent her as decorated with this emblem. in ancient medals, as shown by montfaucon, she sometimes holds a caduceus in her right hand; at other times she has a staff around which a serpent is twisted, and at others, a large serpent appears going in front of her; while she is sometimes seen with her crest composed of a serpent. it is remarkable too, that in the acropolis at athens was kept a live serpent who was generally considered the guardian of the place, and athens was a city specially consecrated to minerva. examples of grecian ophiolatreia might easily be multiplied to a considerable extent, but we have space for little more than a brief glance. it is known that upon the walls of athens was a sculptured head of medusa, whose hair was intertwined with snakes, and in the temple at tega was a similar figure which was supposed to possess talismanic power to preserve or destroy. the print in montfaucon represents the face of medusa as mild and beautiful, but the serpents as threatening and terrible. there is a story current, that a priestess going into a sanctuary of minerva in the dead of the night, saw a vision of that goddess, who held up her mantle upon which was impressed a medusa's head, and that the sight of this fearful object instantaneously converted the intruder into stone. the armour of agamemnon, king of argos, was ornamented with a three headed serpent; menelaus, king of sparta, had one on his shield, and the spartan people, with the athenians, affirmed they were of serpentine origin and called themselves _ophiogenæ_. at epidaurus, according to pausanias, live serpents were kept and fed regularly by servants, who, on account of religious awe, were fearful of approaching the sacred reptiles which in themselves were of the most harmless character. the statue of Æsculapius, at this temple, represented him resting one hand upon the head of a serpent, while his sister, hygeia, had one twisted about her. it is reported that the god Æsculapius was conveyed by a woman named nicagora, the wife of echetimus, to sicyon under the form of a serpent. livy, ovid, florus, valerius maximus, and aurelius victor, relate that a pestilence of a violent and fatal character once broke out in rome, and that the oracle of delphi advised an embassy to epidaurus to fetch the god Æsculapius. this advice was taken, and a company of eleven were sent with the humble supplications of the senate and people of rome. while they were gazing at the statue of the god, a serpent, "venerable, not horrible," say these authors, which rarely appeared but when he intended to confer some extraordinary benefit, glided from his lurking place, and having passed through the city went directly to the roman vessel and coiled himself up in the berth of ogulnius the principal ambassador. setting sail with the god, they duly arrived off antium, when the serpent leaped into the sea, and swam to the nearest temple of apollo, and after a few days returned. but when they entered the tiber, he leaped upon an island, and disappeared. here the romans erected a temple to him in the shape of a ship, and the plague was stayed with wonderful celerity. delphi appears to have been the principal stronghold of serpent worship in greece. strabo says its original name was pytho--derived from the serpent python, slain there by apollo. from this story heinsius concludes that the god apollo was first worshipped at delphi, under the symbol of a serpent. it is known that the public assemblies at delphi were called pythia, these were originally intended for the adoration of the python. in gibbon and the _annales turcici_ we have interesting matter about the serpentine column. the former says it was taken from delphi to constantinople by the founder of the latter city and set up on a pillar in the hippodrome. montfaucon, however, thinks that constantine only caused a similar column to be made, and that the original remained in its place. deane says, "this celebrated relic of ophiolatreia is still to be seen in the same place, where it was set up by constantine, but one of the serpent's heads is mutilated." from the _annales_ we get the following explanation of this inquiry. "when mahomet came to atmeidan he saw there a stone column, on which was placed a three-headed brazen serpent. looking at it, he asked, 'what idol is that?' and, at the same time, hurling his iron mace with great force knocked off the lower jaw of one of the serpent's heads. upon which, immediately, a great number of serpents began to be seen in the city. whereupon some advised him to leave that serpent alone from henceforth, since through that image it happened that there were no serpents in the city. wherefore that column remains to this day. and although in consequence of the lower jaw of the brazen serpent being struck off, some serpents do come into the city, yet they do harm to no one." commenting upon this story deane remarks--"this traditionary legend, preserved by leunclavius, marks the stronghold which ophiolatreia must have taken upon the minds of the people of constantinople, so as to cause this story to be handed down to so late an era as the seventeenth century. among the greeks who resorted to constantinople were many idolators of the old religion, who would wilfully transmit any legend favourable to their own superstition." hence, probably, the charm mentioned above, was attached by them to the delphic serpent on the column in the hippodrome, and revived (after the partial mutilation of the figure) by their descendants, the common people, who are always the last in every country to forego an ancient superstition. among the common people of constantinople, there were always many more pagans than christians at heart. with the christian religion, therefore, which they professed, would be mingled many of the pagan traditions which were attached to the monuments of antiquity that adorned byzantium, or were imported into constantinople. chapter ix. _ophiolatreia in britain--the druids--adders--poem of taliessin--the goddess ceridwen--a bardic poem--snake stones--the anguinum--execution of a roman knight--remains of the serpent-temple at abury--serpent vestiges in ireland of great rarity--st. patrick._ it will probably be a matter of surprise to many, but it is a fact that even in britain in ancient times ophiolatreia largely prevailed. deane says: "our british ancestors, under the tuition of the venerable druids, were not only worshippers of the solar deity, symbolized by the serpent, but held the serpent, independent of his relation to the sun, in peculiar veneration. cut off from all intercourse with the civilized world, partly by their remoteness and partly by their national character, the britons retained their primitive idolatry long after it had yielded in the neighbouring countries to the polytheistic corruptions of greece and egypt. in process of time, however, the gods of the gaulish druids penetrated into the sacred mythology of the british and furnished personifications for the different attributes of the dracontic god hu. this deity was called "the dragon ruler of the world" and his car was drawn by serpents. his priests in accommodation with the general custom of the ophite god, were called after him "adders."[ ] in a poem of taliessin, translated by davies, in his appendix, no. , is the following enumeration of a druid's titles:-- "i am a druid; i am an architect; i am a prophet; i am a serpent" (gnadr). from the word "gnadr" is derived "adder," the name of a species of snake. gnadr was probably pronounced like "adder" with a nasal aspirate. the mythology of the druids contained also a goddess "ceridwen," whose car was drawn by serpents. it is conjectured that this was the grecian "ceres;" and not without reason, for the interesting intercourse between the british and gaulish druids introduced into the purer religion of the former many of the corruptions ingrafted upon that of the latter by the greeks and romans. the druids of gaul had among them many divinities corresponding with those of greece and rome. they worshipped ogmius (a compound deity between hercules and mercury), and after him, apollo, mars, jupiter, and minerva, or deities resembling them. of these they made images; whereas hitherto the only image in the british worship was the great wicker idol into which they thrust human victims designed to be burnt as an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of some chieftain. the following translation of a bardic poem, descriptive of one of their religious rites, identifies the superstition of the british druids with the aboriginal ophiolatreia, as expressed in the mysteries of isis in egypt. the poem is entitled "the elegy of uther pendragon;" that is, of uther, "the dragon's head;" and it is not a little remarkable that the word "draig" in the british language signifies, at the same time, "a fiery serpent, a dragon, and the supreme god."[ ] in the second part of this poem is the following sacrificial rites of uther pendragon:-- "with solemn festivity round the two lakes: with the lake next my side; with my side moving round the sanctuary; while the sanctuary is earnestly invoking the gliding king, before whom the fair one retreats upon the veil that covers the huge stones; whilst the dragon moves round over the places which contain vessels of drink offering: whilst the drink offering is in the golden horns; whilst the golden horns are in the hand; whilst the knife is upon the chief victim; sincerely i implore thee, o victorious bell, etc., etc." this is a most minute and interesting account of the religious rites of the druids, proving in clear terms their addiction to ophiolatreia: for we have not only the history of the "gliding king," who pursues "the fair one," depicted upon "the veil which covers the huge stones"--a history which reminds us most forcibly of the events in paradise, under a poetic garb; but we have, likewise, beneath that veil, within the sacred circle of "the huge stones," the "great dragon, a living serpent," moving round the places which contain the vessels of drink-offering; or in other words, moving round the altar stone in the same manner as the serpent in the isiac mysteries passed about the sacred vessels containing the offerings. the golden horns which contained the drink offerings were very probably of the same kind as that found in tundera, in denmark. the sanctity of the serpent showed itself in another very curious part of the superstition of the british druids, namely, in that which related to the formation and virtues of the celebrated _anguinum_, as it is called by pliny, or _gleinen nadroeth_, that is, "snake-stones," as they were called by the britons. sir r. c. hoare in his _modern wiltshire_, hundred of amesbury, gives an engraving of one, and says: "this is a head of imperfect vitrification representing two circular lines of opaque skylight and white, which seem to represent a snake twined round a centre which is perforated." mr. lhwyd, the welsh antiquary, writing to ralph thornley says:--"i am fully satisfied that they were amulets of the druids. i have seen one of them that had nine small snakes upon it. there are others that have one or two or more snakes." a story comes to us, on roman authority (that of pliny), that a knight entering a court of justice wearing an anguinum about his neck was ordered by claudius to be put to death, it being believed that the influence would improperly wrest judgment in his favour. of this anguinum (a word derived from _anguis_, a snake,) pliny says: "an infinite number of snakes, entwined together in the heat of summer, roll themselves into a mass, and from the saliva of their jaws and the froth of their bodies is engendered an egg, which is called 'anguinum.' by the violent hissing of the serpents the egg is forced into the air, and the druid destined to secure it, must catch it in his sacred vest before it reaches the ground." information relative to the prevalence of this superstition in england will be found in davies' _myths of the druids_, camden's _britannia_, and borlase's _cornwall_. perhaps the most remarkable of all british relics of this worship are to be found on the hills overlooking the village of abury, in the county of wiltshire. there, twenty-six miles from the celebrated ruins of stonehenge, are to be found the remains of a great serpentine temple--one of the most imposing, as it certainly is one the most interesting, monuments of the british islands. it was first accurately described by dr. stukeley in in his celebrated work entitled _abury, a temple of the british druids_. it was afterwards carefully examined by sir r. c. hoare and an account published in his elaborate work _ancient wiltshire_. dr. stukeley was the first to detect the design of the structure and his conclusions have been sustained by the observations of every antiquary who has succeeded him. the temple of abury consisted originally of a grand circumvallation of earth , feet in diameter, enclosing an area of upwards of twenty-two acres. it has an inner ditch and the height of the embankment, measuring from the bottom of the ditch, is seventeen feet. it is quite regular, though not an exact circle in form, and has four entrances at equal distances apart, though nearly at right angles to each other. within this grand circle were originally two double or concentric circles composed of massive upright stones: a row of large stones, one hundred in number, was placed upon the inner brow of the ditch. extending upon either hand from this grand central structure were parallel lines of huge upright stones, constituting, upon each side, avenues upwards of a mile in length. these formed the body of the serpent. each avenue consisted of two hundred stones. the head of the serpent was represented by an oval structure consisting of two concentric lines of upright stones; the outer line containing forty, the inner eighteen stones. this head rests upon an eminence known as overton, or hakpen hill, from which is commanded a view of the entire structure, winding back for more than two miles to the point of the tail, towards bekhampton. _hakpen_ in the old british dialects signified _hak_, serpent, and _pen_, head, _i.e._, head of the serpent. "to our name of _hakpen_," says stukeley, "alludes _ochim_, called 'doleful creatures' in our translation." isa. ( v. ), speaking of the desolation of babylon, says: "wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of _ochim_, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there." st. jerome translates it "serpents." the arabians call a serpent _haie_, and wood-serpents _hageshin_; and thence our _hakpen_; _pen_ is "head" in british. "that the votaries of ophiolatreia penetrated into every part of britain is probable from the vestiges of some such idolatry even now to be found in scotland and the western isles. several obelisks remain in the vicinity of aberdeen, dundee and perth, upon which appear devices strongly indicative of ophiolatreia. they are engraved in gordon's _itinerarium septentrionale_. the serpent is a frequent and conspicuous hieroglyphic. from the runic characters traced upon some of these stones it is conjectured that they were erected by the danes. such might have been the case; but the danes themselves were a sect of ophites, and had not the people of the country been ophites also, they might not have suffered these monuments to remain." remains indicating the presence of serpent worship in ireland are extremely scarce, but we must remember the story prevalent in the country, accepted as truthful by a large majority of its inhabitants, that st. patrick banished all snakes from ireland by his prayers. after all, this may mean nothing more than that by his preaching he overturned and uprooted the superstitious practices of the serpent worshippers of his times. chapter x. _india conspicuous in the history of serpent worship--nagpur-- confessions of a snake worshipper--the gardeners of guzerat--cottages for snakes at calicut--the feast of serpents--the deity hari--garuda--the snake as an emblem of immortality._ in the course of this work we have had occasion frequently to allude to india as the home of the peculiar worship before us, and perhaps that country may fairly be placed side by side with egypt for the multitude of illustrations it affords of what we are seeking to elucidate. mr. rivett-carnac from whose paper in the journal of the bengal asiatic society we have already quoted, says:--"the palace of the bhonslahs at benares brings me to nágpúr, where, many years ago, i commenced to make, with but small success, some rough notes on serpent worship. looking up some old sketches, i find that the mahádeo in the oldest temples at nágpúr is surmounted by the nág as at benares. and in the old temple near the palace of the nágpúr, or city of the nág or cobra, is a five-headed snake, elaborately coiled. the bhonslahs apparently took the many-coiled nág with them to benares. a similar representation of the nág is found in the temple near the itwarah gate at nágpúr. here again the nág or cobra is certainly worshipped as mahádeo or the phallus, and there are certain obvious points connected with the position assumed by the cobra when excited and the expansion of the hood, which suggest the reason for this snake in particular being adopted as a representation of the phallus and an emblem of siva. "the worship of the snake is very common in the old nágpúr province where, especially among the lower class, the votaries of siva or nág bhushan, 'he who wears snakes as his ornaments,' are numerous. it is likely enough that the city took its name from the nág temple, still to be seen there, and that the river nág, perhaps, took its name from the city or temple, and not the city from the river, as some think. certain it is that many of the kunbi or cultivating class worship the snake and the snake only, and that this worship is something more than the ordinary superstitious awe with which all hindus regard the snake. i find from my notes that one kunbi whom i questioned in old days, when i was a settlement officer in camp in the nágpúr division, stated that he worshipped the nág and nothing else; that he worshipped clay images of the snake, and when he could afford to pay snake-catchers for a look at a live one, he worshipped the living snake; that if he saw a nág on the road he would worship it, and that he believed no hindu would kill a nág or cobra if he knew it were a nág. he then gave me the following list of articles he would use in worshipping the snake, when he could afford it; and i take it, the list is similar to what would be used in ordinary siva worship. --water. --gandh, pigment of sandal-wood for the forehead or body. --cleaned rice. --flowers. --leaves of the bail tree. --milk. --curds. --a thread or piece of cloth. --red powder. --saffron. --abir, a powder composed of fragrant substances. --garlands of flowers. --buttemah or grain soaked and parched. --jowarri. --five lights. --sweetmeats. --betel leaves. --cocoa nut. --a sum of money (according to means). --flowers offered by the suppliant, the palms of the hands being joined. "all these articles, my informant assured me, were offered to the snake in regular succession, one after the other, the worshipper repeating the while certain _mantras_ or incantations. having offered all these gifts, the worshipper prostrates himself before the snake, and, begging for pardon if he has ever offended against him, craves that the snake will continue his favour upon him and protect him from every danger." in the _oriental memoirs_ by forbes, we are told of the gardeners of guzerat who would never allow the snakes to be disturbed, calling them "father," "brother," and other familiar and endearing names. the head gardener paid them religious honours. as deane says, "here we observe a mixture of the original serpent worship, with the more modern doctrine of transmigration." still more striking is the information in purchas's _pilgrims_, that a king of calicut built cottages for live serpents, whom he tended with peculiar care, and made it a capital crime for any person in his dominions to destroy a snake. "the natives," he says, "looked upon serpents as endued with divine spirits." then there is the festival called "the feast of the serpents," at which every worshipper, in the hope of propitiating the reptiles during the ensuing year, sets by a portion of his rice for the hooded snake on the outside of his house. the deities of india and the wonderful temples and caves, as those at salsette and elephanta, as may be seen in maurice's _indian antiquities_, moor's _hindu pantheon_, _the asiatic researches_, faber's _pagan idolatry_ and numerous other works, are universally adorned with, or represented by this great symbol. thus we have the statue of jeyne, the indian Æsculapius, turbaned by a seven-headed snake; that of vishnu on a rock in the ganges, reposing on a coiled serpent whose numerous folds form a canopy over the sleeping god; parus nauth symbolized by a serpent; jagan-nath worshipped under the form of a seven-headed dragon. hari, appears to be one of the titles of vishnu--that of the deity in his preserving quality--and his appearance on the rock, as just mentioned, is thus noticed in wilkins' _hitopadesa_: "nearly opposite sultan ganj, a considerable town in the province of bahar, there stands a rock of granite, forming a small island in the ganges, known to europeans by the name of 'the rock of ichangiri,' which is highly worthy of the traveller's notice for the vast number of images carved upon every part of its surface. among the rest there is hari, of a gigantic size, recumbent upon a coiled serpent, whose heads (which are numerous) the artist has contrived to spread into a kind of canopy over the sleeping god; and from each of its mouths issues a forked tongue, seeming to threaten instant death to any whom rashness might prompt to disturb him. the whole lies almost clear of the block on which it is hewn. it is finely imagined and is executed with great skill. the hindus are taught to believe that at the end of every _calpa_ (creation or formation) all things are absorbed in the deity, and that in the interval of another creation, he reposeth himself upon the serpent sesha (duration) who is also called ananta (endlessness)." moor says garuda was an animal--half bird, half man--and was the _vahan_ or vehicle of vishnu, also arun's younger brother. he is sometimes described in the manner that our poets and painters describe a griffin or a cherub; and he is placed at the entrance of the passes leading to the hindu garden of eden, and there appears in the character of a destroying angel in as far as he resists the approach of serpents, which in most systems of poetical mythology appears to have been the beautiful, deceiving, insinuating form that sin originally assumed. garuda espoused a beautiful woman; the tribes of serpents, alarmed thereat, lest his progeny should, inheriting his propensities, overpower them, waged fierce war against him; but he destroyed them all, save one, which he placed as an ornament about his neck. in the elephanta cave garuda is often seen with this appendage; and some very old gold coins are in existence depicting him with snakes or elephants in his talons and beaks. destroyer of serpents, naganteka, is one of his names. he was of great use to krishna in clearing the country round dwarka (otherwise dravira) from savage ferocious animals and noxious reptiles. vishnu had granted to garuda the power of destroying his as well as siva's enemies; also generally those guilty of constant uncleanness, unbelievers, dealers in iniquity, ungrateful persons, those who slander their spiritual guides, or defiled their beds; but forebade him to touch a brahman, whatever was his guilt, as the pain of disobedience would be a scorching pain in his throat, and any attack on a holy or pious person would be followed by a great diminution of strength. by mistake, however, garuda sometimes seized a priest or a religious man, but was admonished and punished in the first case by the scorching flame, and was unable, even when he had bound him in his den, to hurt the man of piety.[ ] to rama also, in the war of lauka, garuda was eminently useful: in rama's last conflict with ravana the latter was not overcome without the aid of garuda, sent by vishnu to destroy the serpent-arrows of ravana. these arrows are called "sharpa-vana" (in the current dialect _sarpa_ a snake, is corrupted into _saap_ or _samp_, and _vana_, an arrow, into _ban_) and had the faculty of separating, between the bow and the object, into many parts, each becoming a serpent. viswamitra conferred upon rama the power of transforming his arrows into "garuda-vanas," they similarly separating themselves into "garuda's," the terror and destroyer of the _sarpa_. some legends make garuda the offspring of kasyapa and diti. this all-prolific dame laid an egg, which, it was predicted, would preserve her deliverer from some great affliction. after a lapse of five hundred years garuda sprung from the egg, flew to the abode of indra, extinguished the fire that surrounded it, conquered its guards, the _devatas_, and bore off the _amrita_ (ambrosia), which enabled him to liberate his captive mother. a few drops of this immortal beverage falling on the species of grass called "kusa," it became eternally consecrated; and the serpents greedily licking it up so lacerated their tongues with the sharp grass that they have ever since remained forked; but the boon of eternity was ensured to them by their thus partaking of the immortal fluid. this cause of snakes having forked tongues is still popularly in the tales of india attributed to the above greediness; and their supposed immortality may have originated in some such stories as these; a small portion of _amrita_, as in the case of rahu, would ensure them this boon. in all mythological language the snake is an emblem of immortality: its endless figure when its tail is inserted in its mouth, and the annual renewal of its skin and vigour, afford symbols of continued youth and eternity; and its supposed medicinal or life-preserving qualities may also have contributed to the fabled honours of the serpent tribe. in hindu mythology serpents are of universal occurence and importance; in some shape or other they abound in all directions; a similar state of things prevails in greece and egypt. ingenious and learned authors attribute this universality of serpent forms to the early and all pervading prevalence of sin, which, in this identical shape, they tell us, and as indeed we all know, is as old as the days of our greatest grandmother: thus much as to its age, when there was but one woman; its prevalence, now there are so many, this is no place to discuss. if such writers were to trace the allegories of sin and death, and the end of their empire, they might discover further allusions to the christian dispensation in the traditions of the hindus than have hitherto been published--krishna crushing, but not destroying, the type of sive, has often been largely discussed. garuda is also the proverbial, but not the utter destroyer of serpents, for he spared one, they and their archetype being, in reference to created beings, eternal. his continual and destined state of warfare with serpent, a shape mostly assumed by the enemies of the virtuous incarnations or deified heroes of the hindus, is a continued allegory of the conflicts between vice and virtue so infinitely personified. garuda, at length, appears the coadjutor of all virtuous sin-subduing efforts, as the vehicle of the chastening and triumphant party, and conveys him on the wings of the winds to the regions of eternal day. chapter xi. _mr. bullock's exhibition of objects illustrating serpent worship._ upwards of sixty years ago, there was opened at the egyptian hall, piccadilly, what was described as the "unique exhibition called ancient mexico; collected on the spot in , by the assistance of the mexican government, by w. bullock, f.l.s., &c., &c." the illustration attached to a published description of this collection shows that it contained reproductions of some of the most remarkable of the serpent deities to be found in the temples of the western parts of america, and the following extract will prove interesting to our readers. "the rattlesnake appears to have been the most general object of worship, veneration, and fear; indeed it occurs in some manner combined with almost every other, and is still found in many of the indian villages. it remains at tezcuco, quite perfect at the present time. broken fragments may be met in the exterior of the houses in mexico in several places; the great head placed at the left of the sacrificial stone is cast from one in the corner of the fine building used for the government lottery office, and exposed to the street. it must have belonged to an idol at least seventy feet long, probably in the great temple, and broken and buried at the conquest. they are generally in a coiled up state, with the tail or rattle on the back, but they vary in their size and position. the finest that is known to exist, i discovered in the deserted part of the cloister of the dominican convent opposite the palace of the inquisition. it is coiled up in an irritated erect position, with the jaws extended, and in the act of gorging an elegantly dressed female, who appears in the mouth of the enormous reptile, crushed and lacerated, a disgusting detail withal too horrible for description. "turning to a letter from cortes to charles v., as given by humboldt, we read, 'from the square we proceeded to the great temple, but before we entered it we made a circuit through a number of large courts, the smallest of which appeared to me to contain more ground than the great square in salamanca, with double enclosures built of lime and stone, and the courts paved with large white cut stone, very clean; or, where not paved, they were plastered and polished. when we approached the gate of the great temple, to which the ascent was by a hundred and fourteen steps, and before we had mounted one of them, montezuma sent down to us six priests and two of his noblemen to carry cortes up, as they had done their sovereign, which he politely declined. when we had ascended to the summit of the temple, we observed on the platform as we passed the large stone whereon were placed the victims who were to be sacrificed. here was a great figure which resembled a dragon, and much blood fresh spilt. cortes then addressing himself to montezuma requested that he would do him the favour to show us his gods. montezuma, having first consulted his priests, led us into a tower where there was a kind of saloon. here were two altars highly adorned, with richly wrought timbers on the roof, and over the altars gigantic figures resembling very fat men. the one on the right was huitzilopochtli their war god, with a great face and terrible eyes, this figure was entirely covered with gold and jewels, and his body bound with golden serpents, in his right hand he held a bow, and in his left a bundle of arrows. the little idol which stood by him represented his page, and bore a lance and target richly ornamented with gold and jewels. the great idol had round his neck the figures of human heads and hearts made of pure gold and silver, ornamented with precious stones of a blue colour. before the idol was a pan of incense, with three hearts of human victims which were then burning, mixed with copal. the whole of that apartment, both walls and floor, was stained with human blood in such quantity as to give a very offensive smell. on the left was the other great figure, with a countenance like a bear, and great shining eyes of the polished substance whereof their mirrors are made. the body of this idol was also covered with jewels. these two deities it was said were brothers; the name of the last was tezcatepuca, and he was the god of the infernal regions. he presided, according to their notions, over the souls of men. his body was covered with figures representing little devils with tails of serpents, and the walls and pavement of this temple were so besmeared with blood that they gave off a worse odour than all the slaughter-houses of castille. an offering lay before him of five human hearts. in the summit of the temple, and in a recess the timber of which was highly ornamented, we saw a figure half human and the other half resembling an alligator, inlaid with jewels, and partly covered with a mantle. this idol was said to contain the germ and origin of all created things, and was the god of harvests and fruits. the walls and altars were bestained like the rest, and so offensive that we thought we never could get out soon enough. "'in this place they had a drum of most enormous size, the head of which was made of the skins of large serpents. this instrument when struck resounded with a noise that could be heard to the distance of two leagues, and so doleful that it deserved to be named the music of the infernal regions; and with their horrible sounding horns and trumpets, their great knives for sacrifice, their human victims, and their blood besprinkled altars, i devoted them and all their wickedness to god's vengeance, and thought that the time would never arrive that i should escape from this scene of butchery, horrible smells, and more detestable sights. "'on the site of the church, called st. jago el taltelulco, was a temple, which, we have already observed, was surrounded with courts as large as the square of salamanca. at a little distance from it stood a tower, a true hell or habitation for demons, with a mouth, resembling that of an enormous monster, wide open, and ready as it were to devour those who entered. at the door stood frightful idols; by it was a place for sacrifice, and within, boilers and pots full of water to dress the flesh of the victims which were eaten by the priests. the idols were like serpents and devils, and before them were tables and knives for sacrifice, the place being covered with the blood which was spilt on those occasions. the furniture was like that of a butcher's stall, and i never gave this accursed building any name except that of hell. having passed this, we saw great piles of wood, and a reservoir of water supplied by a pipe from the great aqueduct; and crossing a court we came to another temple, wherein were the tombs of the mexican nobility, it was begrimed with soot and blood. next to this was another, full of skeletons and piles of bones, each kept apart, but regularly arranged. in each temple were idols, and each had also its particular priests, who wore long vestments of black, their long hair was clotted together, and their ears lacerated in honour of their gods.'" mr. bullock then proceeds to describe a cast of the great idol of the goddess of war, which he had brought to england with him. "this monstrous idol, before which thousands of human victims were annually sacrificed on the altar, is, with its pedestal, about twelve feet high and four feet wide, it is sculptured out of one solid piece of grey basalt. its form is partly human, and the rest composed of rattlesnakes and the tiger. the head, enormously wide, seems that of two rattlesnakes united, the fangs hanging out of the mouth, on which the still palpitating hearts of the unfortunate victims were rubbed as an act of the most acceptable oblation. the body is that of a deformed human frame, and the place of arms supplied by the heads of rattlesnakes placed on square plinths and united by fringed ornaments. round the waist is a girdle, which was originally covered with gold, and beneath this, reaching nearly to the ground and partly covering its deformed cloven feet, a drapery entirely composed of wreathed rattlesnakes which the nations call cohuatlicuye or garments of serpents, on each side of which is a winged termination of the feathers of the vulture. between the feet, descending from the body, another wreathed serpent rested its head on the ground, and the whole composition of this deity is strictly appropriate to the infernal purpose for which it was used, and with which the personal ornaments too well accord. from the neck, spreading over its deformed breast, is a necklace composed of human hands, hearts, and skulls--fit emblems of the sanguinary rites daily performed in its honour. "the death's head and mutilated hands, four of which surround the bosom of the goddess, remind us of the terrible sacrifices of teoquawhquat, celebrated in the fifteenth century period of thirteen days after the summer solstice, in honour of the god of war and his female companion, teoyamiqui. the mutilated hands alternate with the figure of certain vases in which incense was burnt. these vases were called topxicalli, bags in the form of calabashes. this idol was sculptured on every side, even beneath where was represented mictlanteuchtli, the lord of the place of the dead; it cannot be doubted, but that it was supported in the air by means of two columns, on which rested the arms. according to this whimsical arrangement, the head of the idol was probably elevated five or six metres above the pavement of the temple, so that the priests dragging their unfortunate victims to the altar made them pass under the figure of mictlanteuchtli. the viceroy of mexico transported this monument to the university which he thought the most proper place to preserve one of the most curious remains of american antiquity. the professors of the university, monks of the order of st. dominic, were unwilling to expose this idol to the sight of the mexican youth, and caused it to be reburied in one of the passages of the college. but mr. humboldt had it disinterred at the request of the bishop of monterey. "a highly curious specimen of mexican sculpture is an exceeding hard stone resembling hornstein, a coarse kind of jade, it is a species of compact tale, of most elaborate workmanship, and the bust of a priest, or perhaps of the idol representing the sun. the head is crowned with a high mitre-shaped cap, decorated with jewels and feathers, it has long pendant earrings. the hands are raised, the right sustains something resembling a knotted club, while the left takes hold of a festoon of flowers which descends from the head; all the other parts are covered with the great rattlesnake, whose enormous head and jaws are on the right side of the figure, while the backs and sides are covered with the scales and rattles of the deadly reptile." our prescribed limits are now reached, and we are able to add but little to what has already been advanced exhibiting the widespread prevalence of this singular form of worship. again and again has wonderment been expressed that it should ever be possible for a creature so disgusting to become an object of worship, but so it has been, and no age or country seems to have been strange to it. very early indeed in history men began to worship a serpent, that brazen one of the exodus, which hezekiah destroyed on account of the idolatry into which it led the people. but if that object was put away, the hope that the worship would cease was vain, for it started up amongst the assyrians, the chaldeans, the phoenicians, the egyptians, and spread into greece, esthonia, finland, italy, persia, hindustan, ceylon, china, japan, burmah, java, arabia, syria, ethiopia, britain, mexico, and peru. such was its extent--wide as the world itself, and vast beyond estimate or description was its influence over the minds of those who came within its reach. let the curious reader who would know more, and who would make himself acquainted with the multitudinous forms in which the emblem was depicted, study the works of such writers as kingsford and montfaucon, with their numerous and well executed plates, and he will meditate with astonishment upon the singular fascination which this repulsive reptile seems to have exercised over the human mind. he is said, we know, so to fascinate the victim he is about to seize as his prey that the unhappy creature is deprived of all power of resistance, a fascination no less overwhelming seems to have paralyzed the human mind and caused it to adopt from some cause or other such a repelling reptile as an object of worship. the spell is broken now, however, and but little remains of what was once so universal, beyond the earth mounds where its temples stood and the half ruined sculptures collected in the museums of civilized countries. the end. footnotes: [ ] deane. [ ] eusebius. [ ] aristoph. [ ] cory's ancient fragments, intro. . [ ] origin pagan idol., vol. , p. . [ ] landseer's sabæan res. [ ] coleman's hind. mythology. [ ] origin pagan idol., vol. , p. . [ ] herrara, hist. america, vol. iv., pp. - . [ ] trav. in yucatan. [ ] clavigero, vol. . [ ] faber. [ ] deane. [ ] mcculloch's american researches, p. . [ ] gesner, hist. anim. p. , citing Ælian. [ ] deane. [ ] deane. [ ] davies' mythol. of druids. [ ] owen's dict. art. draig. [ ] asiatic res., vol. , p. . [ ] moor's hindu pantheon . transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. characters in larger font are indicated by =large=. foonote appears on page of the text, but there is no corresponding marker on the page. bible studies essays on phallic worship and other curious rites and customs by j. m. wheeler "there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." --paul (romans xiv. ). . printed and published by g. w. foote preface. my old friend mr. wheeler asks me to launch this little craft, and i do so with great pleasure. she is not a thunderous ironclad, nor a gigantic ocean liner; but she is stoutly built, well fitted, and calculated to weather all the storms of criticism. my only fear is that she will not encounter them. during the sixteen years of my friend's collaboration with me in many enterprises for the spread of freethought and the destruction of superstition, he has written a vast variety of articles, all possessing distinctive merit, and some extremely valuable. from these he and i have made the following selection. the articles included deal with the bible from a special standpoint; the standpoint of an evolutionist, who reads the jewish scriptures in the light of anthropology, and finds infinite illustrations in them of the savage origin of religion. literary and scientific criticism of the old testament have their numerous votaries. mr. wheeler's mind is given to a different study of the older half of the bible. he is bent on showing what it really contains; what religious ideas, rites, and customs prevailed among the ancient jews and find expression in their scriptures. this is a fruitful method, especially in _our_ country, if it be true, as dr. tylor observes, that "the english mind, not readily swayed by rhetoric, moves freely under the pressure of facts." careful readers of this little book will find it full of precious information. mr. wheeler has a peculiarly wide acquaintance with the literature of these subjects. he has gathered from far and wide, like the summer bee, and what he yields is not an undigested mass of facts, but the pure honey of truth. many readers will be astonished at what mr. wheeler tells them. we have read the bible, they will say, and never saw these things. that is because they read it without knowledge, or without attention. reading is not done with the eyes only, but also with the brain; and the same sentences will make various impressions, according as the brain is rich or poor in facts and principles. even the great, strong mind of darwin had to be plentifully stored with biological knowledge before he could see the meaning of certain simple facts, and discover the wonderful law of natural selection. those who have studied the works of spencer, tylor, lubbock, frazer, and such authors, will _not_ be astonished at the contents of this volume. but they will probably find some points they had overlooked; some familiar points presented with new force; and some fresh views, whose novelty is not their only virtue: for mr. wheeler is not a slavish follower of even the greatest teachers, he thinks for himself, and shows others what he has seen with his own eyes. i hope this little volume will find many readers. its doing so will please the author, for every writer wishes to be read; why else, indeed, should he write? only less will be the pleasure of his friend who pens this preface. i am sure the book will be instructive to most of those into whose hands it falls; to the rest, the few who really study and reflect, it will be stimulating and suggestive. greater praise the author would not desire; so much praise cannot often be given with sincerity. g. w. foote. phallic worship among the jews. "the hatred of indecency, which appears to us so natural as to be thought innate, and which is so valuable an aid to chastity, is a modern virtue, appertaining exclusively, as sir g. staunton remarks, to civilised life. this is shown by the ancient religious rites of various nations, by the drawings on the walls of pompeii, and by the practices of many savages."--c. darwin, "descent of man" pt. , chap. iv., vol. i., p. ; . the study of religions is a department of anthropology, and nowhere is it more important to remember the maxim of the pagan terence, _homo sum, nihil humani a me alienum puto_. it is impossible to dive deep into any ancient faiths without coming across a deal of mud. man has often been defined as a religious animal. he might as justly be termed a dirty and foolish animal. his religions have been growths of earth, not gifts from heaven, and they usually bear strong marks of their clayey origin.* * the contemporary review for june , says (p. ) "when lord dalhousie passed an act intended to repress obscenity (in india), a special clause in it exempted all temples and religious emblems from its operation." i am not one of those who find in phallicism the key to all the mysteries of mythology. all the striking phenomena of nature--the alternations of light and darkness, sun and moon, the terrors of the thunderstorm, and of pain, disease and death, together with his own dreams and imaginations--contributed to evoke the wonder and superstition of early man. but investigation of early religion shows it often nucleated around the phenomena of generation. the first and final problem of religion concerns the production of things. man's own body was always nearer to him than sun, moon, and stars; and early man, thinking not in words but in things, had to express the very idea of creation or production in terms of his own body. it was so in egypt, where the symbol, from being the sign of production, became also the sign of life, and of regeneration and resurrection. it was so in babylonia and assyria, as in ancient greece and troy, and is so till this day in india. montaigne says: "fifty severall deities were in times past allotted to this office. and there hath beene a nation found which to allay and coole the lustful concupiscence of such as came for devotion, kept wenches of purpose in their temples to be used; for it was a point of religion to deale with them before one went to prayers. _nimirum propter continentiam incontinentia neces-saria est, incendium ignibus extinguitur_: 'belike we must be incontinent that we may be continent, burning is quenched by fire.' in most places of the world that part of our body was deified. in that same province some flead it to offer, and consecrated a peece thereof; others offered and consecrated their seed." it is in india that this early worship maybe best studied at the present day. the worshippers of siva identify their great god, maha deva, with the linga, and wear on their left arm a bracelet containing the linga and yoni. the rival sect of followers of vishnu have also a phallic significance in their symbolism. the linga yoni (fig. ) is indeed one of the commonest of religious symbols in india. its use extends from the himalayas to cape comorin. major-general forlong says the ordinary maha deva of northern india is the simple arrangement shown in fig. , in which we see "what was i suspect the first delphic tripod supporting a vase of water over the linga in yona. such may be counted by scores in a day's march over northern india, and especially at ghats or river ferries, or crossings of any streams or roads; for are they not hermæ?" the linga purana tells us that the linga was a pillar of fire in which siva was present. this reminds one of jahveh appearing as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. [illustration: fig. .--the hindu maha deva, or linga-yoni] so astounded have been many writers at the phenomena presented by phallic worship that they have sought to explain it, not only by the story of the fall and the belief in original sin, but by the direct agency of devils.* yet it may be wrong to associate the origin of phallic worship with obscenity. early man was rather unmoral than immoral. obliged to think in things, it was to him no perversion to mentally associate with his own person the awe of the mysterious power of production. the sense of pleasure and the desire for progeny of course contributed. the worship was indeed both natural and inevitable in the evolution of man from savagery. when, however, phallic worship was established, it naturally led to practices such as those which herodotus, diodorus, and lucian tell us took place in the egyptian, babylonian, and syrian religions. * see gougenot des mousseaux's curious work dieu et les dieux, paris, . when the luxor monument was erected in rome, pope sixtus v. deliberately exorcised the devils out of possession of it. [illustration: fig. .--rural hindu lingam.] hume's observation that polytheism invariably preceded monotheism has been confirmed by all subsequent investigation. the belief in one god or supreme spirit springs out of the belief in many gods or spirits. that this was so with the jews there is sufficient evidence in the bible, despite the fact that the documents so called have been frequently "redacted," that is corrected, and the evidence in large part erased. an instance of this falsification may be found in judges xviii. (see revised version), where "manasseh" has been piously substituted for moses, in order to conceal the fact that the direct descendants of moses were image worshippers down till the time of the captivity. the rabbis gave what milton calls "this insulse rule out of their talmud; 'that all words, which in the law are written obscenely, must be changed to more civil words.' fools who would teach men to read more decently than god thought good to write."* instances of euphemisms may be traced in the case of the "feet" (judges iii. , song v. , isaiah vii* ); "thigh" (num. v. ); "heel" (gen, iii. ); "heels" (jer. xiii. ); and "hand" (isaiah lvii. ). this last verse is translated by dr. cheyne, "and behind the door and the post hast thou placed thy memorial, for apart from me thou hast uncovered and gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and obtained a contract from them (?); thou hast loved their bed; thou hast beheld the phallus." in his note dr. cheyne gives the view of the targum and jerome "that 'memorial' = idol (or rather idolatrous symbol--the phallus)." * "apology for smectymnus," works, p. . the priests, whose policy it was to keep the nation isolated, did their best to destroy the evidence that the jews shared in the idolatrous beliefs and practices of the nations around them. in particular the cult of baal and asherah, which we shall see was a form of phallic worship, became obnoxious, and the evidence of its existence was sought to be obliterated. the worship, moreover, became an esoteric one, known only to the priestly caste, as it still is among roman catholic initiates, and the priestly caste were naturally desirous that the ordinary worshipper should not become "as one of us." it is unquestionable that in the earliest times the hebrews worshipped baal. in proof there is the direct assertion of jahveh himself (hosea ii. ) that "thou shalt call me _ishi_ [my husband] and shalt call me no more _baali_." the evidence of names, too, is decisive. gideon's other name, jerubbaal (jud. vi. , and sam. xii. ), was evidently the true one, for in sam. xi. , the name jerubbesheth is substituted. eshbaal ( chron. viii. ) is called ishbosheth ( sam. ii. , ). meribbaal ( chron. viii. ) is mephibosheth ( sam. iv. ).* now _bosheth_ means v "shame," or "shameful thing," and as dr. donaldson points out, in especial, "sexual shame," as in gen. ii. . in the septuagint version of kings xviii. , the prophets of baal are called "the prophets of that shame." hosea ix. says "they went to baal-peor and consecrated themselves to bosheth and became abominable like that they loved." micah i. "having thy bosheth naked." jeremiah xi. , "for according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, o judah; and according to the number of the streets of jerusalem have ye set up altars to bosheth, altars to burn incense unto baal." * so baaljadah [ chron. xiv. ] is eliada [ sam. v. .] in chron. xii. , we have the curious combination, baaljah, i.e. baal is jah, as the name of one of david's heroes. the place where the ark stood, known afterwards as kirjath-jearim, was formerly named baalah, or place of baal (i chron. xiii. ). the change of name took place after david's time, since the writer of sam. vi. says merely that david went with the ark from "baale of judah."* colenso notices that when the four hundred and fifty prophets of baal are said to have been destroyed by elijah, nothing is said of the four hundred prophets of the asherah. "also these same ' prophets,' apparently, are called together by ahab as prophets of jhvh, and they reply in the name of jhvh, kings xxii. - ." that phallicism was an important element in baal and asherah worship is well known to scholars, and will be made clear to discerning readers. the frequent allusion to "groves" in the authorised version must have puzzled many a simple student. the natural but erroneous suggestion of "tree worship" does not fit in very well with the important statement ( kings xxiii. ) that josiah "brought out the grove from the house of the lord."** a reference to the revised version will show that this misleading word is intended to conceal the real nature of the worship of asherah. the door of life, the conventional form of the asherah with its thirteen flowers or measurements of time, is given in fig. . * the "baal" was afterwards taken out of all such names of places, and instead of baal peor, baal meon, baal tamar, baal shalisha, etc., we find beth peor, beth meon, beth tamar, etc. ** verse vii. says, "he brake down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove." a reference to the revised version shows that it was "in the house of the lord, where the women wove hangings [or tents] for the asherah." see also ezek. xvi. . this worship certainly lasted from the earliest historic times until the seventeenth year of josiah, b.c. . we read how in the days of the judges they "served baalim and the groves" (r.v., "the asheroth"; judges iii, ; see ii. , "baal and ash-taroth.) we find that solomon himself "went after ashtoreth ( kings xi. ) and that he builded the mount of corruption (margin, i.e., the mount of olives) for that "abomination of the zidonians" ( kings xxiii. ). all the distinctive features of solomon's temple were phoenician in character. what the phoenician temples were like lucian tells us in his treatise on the goddess of syria. the great pillars jachin, "the establisher," and boaz, "strength"; the ornamentation of palm trees, pomegranates, and lotus work; are all phoenician and all phallic. the bells and pomegranates on the priests' garment were emblematic of the paps and full womb. the palm-tree, which appears both in solomon's temple and in ezekiel's vision, was symbolical, as may be seen in the assyrian monument (fig. ), and which finds a place in eastern christian symbolism, with the mystic alpha and omega (fig. ). the worship of astoreth, the assyrian ishtar, and greek astarte, was widespread. the phoenicians took it with them to cyprus and carthage. in the days of abraham there was a town called after her (gen. xiv. ), and to this day her name is preserved in esther. [illustration: fig. .--asherah.] it is she who is called the queen of heaven, to whom the women made moon-shaped cakes and poured libations (jer. vii. , xliv. .) baal represented the generative, astoreth the productive power. the pillars and asherah, so often alluded to in the bible, were the palm-tree, with male and female animals frolicking around the tree of life, the female near the fleur de lis and the male near the yoni. tall and straight trees, especially the palm, were reverenced as symbols. palm branches carried in procession were signs of fruitfulness and joy. [illustration: fig. .--from layard, culte de venus, plate i, fig. , depicts the mystic signs of their worship, and dr. oort* says of the name ashera, "this word expressed originally a pillar on, or near--not only the altars of baal--but also the altars of jhvh."] bishop colenso in his notes to dr. oort's work remarks, "it seems plain that the ashera (from _ashar_, be straight, erect) was in reality a phallus, like the _linga_ or _lingam_ of the hindoos, the sign of the male organ of generation."** * the worship of baalim and israel, p. . ** asher was the tutelary god of assyria. his emblem was the winged circle. [illustration: fig. .--the eastern christian palm, on which is placed the cross and banners with the alpha and omega.] there can be little doubt on the matter in the mind of anyone acquainted with ancient faiths and the inevitable phases of human evolution, we read ( kings xv. , revised version), that maachah, the queen mother of asa, "made an abominable image for an asherah." this the vulgate translates "priape" and movers _pudendum_. jeremiah, who alludes to the same thing (x. ), tells that the people said, "to a stock, thou art my father, and to a stone, thou hast brought me forth" (ii. ), that they "defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks" (iii. ), playing the harlot "under every green tree" (ii. , iii. , ; see also hosea iv. ). isaiah xvii. , alludes to the asherim as existing in his own days, and alludes to these religions in plain terms (lvii. -- ). micah also prophesies against the "pillars" and "asherim" (v. , ). ezekiel xvi. , says "thou hast also taken thy fair jewels, of my gold and of silver, which i have given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them." the margin more properly reads images "heb. of a male" [tsalmi zachar], a male here being an euphemism. as gesenius says of the metaphor in numbers xxiv. these things are "ex nostra sensu obscoena, sed orientalibus familiaria." these images are alluded to and prohibited in deut. iv. . it is thus evident that some form of phallic worship lasted among the jews-from the earliest times until their captivity in babylon. it is a most significant fact that the jews used one and the same word to signify both "harlot" and "holy." "there shall be no _kedeshah_ of the daughters of israel" (deut. xxiii. ) means no female consecrated to the temple worship. kuenen says "it is natural to assume that this impurity was practised in the worship of jahveh, however much soever the lawgiver abhors it." it must be noticed, too, that there is no absolute prohibition. it only insists that the slaves of desire shall not be of the house of israel, and stipulates that the money so obtained shall not be dedicated to jahveh. that this was the custom both in samaria and jerusalem, as in babylon, may be gathered from micah i. , and hosea iv. . dr. kalisch, by birth a jew and one of the most fair-minded of biblical scholars, says in his note on leviticus xix. : "the unchaste worship of ashtarte, known also as beltis and tanais, ishtar, mylitta, and anaitis, asherah and ashtaroth, flourished among the hebrews at all times, both in the kingdom of judah and israel; it consisted in presenting to the goddess, who was revered as the female principle of conception and birth, the virginity of maidens as a first-fruit offering; and it was associated with the utmost licentiousness. this-degrading service took such deep root, that in the assyrian period it was even extended by the adoption of new rites borrowed from eastern asia, and described by the name of 'tents of the maidens' (succoth benoth); and it left its mark in the hebrew language itself, which ordinarily expressed the notion courtesan by 'a consecrated woman' (kadeshah), and that of sodomite by 'consecrated man' (kadesh)." the succoth benoth in kings xvii. , may be freely rendered tabernacles of venus. venus is plausibly derived from benoth, whose worship was at an early time disseminated from carthage and other parts of africa to the shores of italy. the merriest festival among the jews was the feast of tabernacles. plutarch (who suggests that the pig was originally worshipped by the jews, a position endorsed by mr. j. g. frazer, in his _golden bough_, vol. ii., pp. , ) says the jewish feast of tabernacles "is exactly agreeable to the holy rites of bacchus."* he adds, "what they do within i know not, but it is very probable that they perform the rites of bacchus." * symposiacs, bk. iv., queat. , p. , vol. iii., plutarch's morals, . dr. adam clarke, in his commentary on kings xvii. , gives the following:--"succoth-benoth maybe literally translated, _the tabernacle of the daughters, or young women_; or if _benoth_ be taken as the name of a female idol, from birth, _to build up, procreate, children_, then the words will express the tabernacles sacred to the productive powers feminine. and, agreeably to this latter exposition, the rabbins say that the emblem was a hen and chickens. but however this may be, there is no room to doubt that these _succoth_ were _tabernacles_, wherein young women exposed themselves to prostitution in honor of the babylon goddess melitta." herodotus (lib. i., c. ; rawlinson) says: "every woman born in the country must once in her life go and sit down in the precinct of venus, and there consort with a stranger. many of the wealthier sort, who are too proud to mix with the others, drive in covered carriages to the precinct, followed by a goodly train of attendants, and there take their station. but the larger number seat themselves within the holy enclosure with wreaths of string about their heads; and here there is always a great crowd, some coming and others going; lines of cord mark out paths in all directions among the women, and the strangers pass along them to make their choice. a woman who has once taken her seat is not allowed to return home till one of the strangers throws a silver coin into her lap, and takes her with him beyond the holy ground. when he throws the coin he says these words--'the goddess mylitta prosper thee" (venus is called mylitta by the assyrians). the silver coin may be of any size; it cannot be refused, for that is forbidden by the law, since once thrown it is sacred. the woman goes with the first man who throws her money, and rejects no one. when she has gone with him, and so satisfied the goddess, she returns home, and from that time forth no gift, however great, will prevail with her. such of the women as are tall and beautiful are soon released, but others who are ugly have to stay a long time before they can fulfil the law. some have waited three or four years in the precinct. a custom very much like this is also found in certain parts of the island of cyprus." this custom is alluded to in the apocryphal epistle of jeremy (barch vi. ): "the women also with cords about them sitting in the ways, burnt bran for perfume; but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with him, she reproacheth her fellow, that she was not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken." the commentary published by the s. p. c. k. says, "women with cords about them," the token that they were devotees of mylitta, the babylonian venus, called in kings xvii. , 'succoth-benoth,' the ropes denoting the obligation of the vow which they had taken upon themselves." valerius maximus speaks of a temple of sicca venus in africa, where a similar custom obtained. strabo also mentions the custom (lib. xvi., c. i., ), and says, "the money is considered as consecrated to venus." in book xi., c. xiv., , strabo says the armenians pay particular reverence to anaïtes. "they dedicate there to her service male and female slaves; in this there is nothing remarkable, but it is surprising that persons of the highest rank in the nation consecrate their virgin daughters to the goddess. it is customary for these women, after being prostituted a long period at the temple of anaites, to be disposed of in marriage, no one disdaining a connection with such persons. herodotus mentions something similar respecting the lydian women, all of whom prostitute themselves." of the temple of venus at corinth, strabo says "it had more than a thousand women consecrated to the service of the goddess, courtesans, whom men and women had dedicated as offerings to the goddess"; and of comana, in cappadocia, he has a similar relation (bk. xii., c. iii., ). dr. kalisch also says baal peor "was probably the principle of generation _par excellence_, and at his festivals virgins were accustomed to yield themselves in his honor. to this disgraceful idolatry the hebrews were addicted from very early times; they are related to have already been smitten on account of it by a fearful plague which destroyed , worshippers, and they seem to have clung to its shameful practices in later periods."* jerome says plainly that baal-peor was priapus, which some derive from peor apis. hosea says (ix. , revised version) "they came to baal-peor and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved"; see, too, num. xxvi. , . amos (ii. , ) says a son and a father go in unto the same maid in the house of god to profane jahveh's holy name, so that it appears this "maid" was regarded as in the service of jahveh. maimonides says it was known that the worship of baal-peor was by uncovering of the nakedness; and this he makes the reason why god commanded the priests to make themselves breeches to wear at the time of service, and why they might not go up to the altar by steps that their nakedness might not be discovered.** jules soury says*** "the tents of the sacred prostitutes were generally erected on the high places." * leviticus, p. . ** that even more shameful practices were once common is evident from the narratives in genesis xix. and judges xix. *** religion of israel chap. ix., p. . **** leviticus, part i., p. . kork, die gotter syrian, p. , says the pillars and asherah stood in the adytum, that is the holy of holies, which represented the genetrix. in the temple at jerusalem the women wove hangings for the asherah ( kings xxiii. ), that is for concealment in the worship of the genetrix, and in the same precincts were the houses of prostitute priests (see also kings xiv. ; xv. ; xxii. . luther translates "_hurer_"). although josiah destroyed these, b.c. , kalisch says "the image of ashtarte was probably erected again in the inner court (jer. xxxii. ; ezek. viii. )." ezekiel says (xvi. ), "and of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colors and playedst the harlot thereupon," and (v. ) "thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a high place in every street," which is plainly translated in the roman catholic douay version "thou didst also build thee a common stew and madest thee a brothel house in every street." the "strange woman," against whom the proverbs warns, practised her profession under cover of religion (see prov. vii. ). the "peace offerings" there alluded to were religious sacrifices. together with their other functions the kadeshah, like the eastern nautch girls and bayaderes, devoted themselves to dancing and music (see isaiah xxiii. ). dancing was an important part of ancient religious worship, as may be noticed in the case of king david, who danced before the ark, clad only in a linen ephod, probably a symbolic emblem (see judges viii. ), to the scandal of his wife, whom he had purchased by a trophy of two hundred foreskins from the uncircumcised philistines ( sam. xviii. ; sam. vi. - ). when the israelites worshipped the golden calf they danced naked (exodus xxxii. , ). they sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to _play_, the word being the same as that used in gen. xxvi. . the word _chag_ is frequently translated "feast," and means "dance." in the wide prevalence of sacred prostitution sir john lubbock sees a corroboration of his hypothesis of communal marriage. mr. wake, however, refers it to the custom of sexual hospitality, a practice widely spread among all savage races, the rite like that of blood covenanting being associated with ideas of kinship and friendliness. we have seen that the early jews shared in the phallic worship of the nations around them. despite the war against baal and asherah worship by the prophets of jahveh, it was common in the time of the judges (iii. ). solomon himself was a worshipper of ashtoreth, a faith doubtless after the heart of the sensual sultan ( kings xi. ). the people of judah "built them high places and phalli and ashera on every high hill and under every green tree. and there were also sodomites in the land" ( kings xiv. , ). the mother of asa made "an abominable image for an asherah" ( kings xv. ).* the images of asherah were kept in the house of jahveh till the time of josiah ( kings xxiii. ). dr. kuenen says (_religion of israel_, vol. i., p. ), "the images, pillars and asheras were not considered by those who worshipped them as antagonistic to the acknowledgment of jahveh as the god of israel." the same writer contends that jeroboam exhibiting the calves or young bulls could truly say "these be thy gods, o israel." remembering, too, that every jew bears in his own body the mark of a special covenant with the lord, the reader may take up his bible and find much over which pious preachers and commentators have woven a pretty close veil. i will briefly notice a few particulars. * larousse, in his grande dictionnaire universelle, says: "le phallos hébraique fut pedant neuf cent ans le rival souvent victorieux de jéhovah." without going into the question of the translation of genesis i. , it is evident from v. that god is hermaphrodite. "so god created man in his own image, in the image of god created he him, male and female (zakar and nekaba) created he them." it is not difficult to find traces of phallicism in the allegory of the garden of eden. this has been noticed from the earliest times. the rabbis classed the first chapters of genesis with the song of solomon and certain portions of ezekiel as not to be read by anyone under thirty. the manichæans and other early christians held the phallic view. clement of alexandria (strom iii.) admits the sin of adam consists in a premature indulgence of the sexual appetite. this view explains why knowledge was prohibited and why the first effect of the fall was the perception of nakedness. basilides contended that we should reverence the serpent because it induced eve to share the caresses of adam, without which the human race would never have existed. many modern writers, notably beverland and dr. donaldson, have sustained the phallic interpretation. archbishop whately is also said to have advocated a similar opinion in an anonymous latin work published in germany. dr. donaldson, who was renowned as a scholar, makes some curious versions of the hebrew. his translation of the alleged "messianic promise" in genesis iii. , his adversary, dr. perowne, the present dean of peterborough, says, is "so gross that it will not bear rendering into english." a good hebraist, a jew by birth, who had never heard of dr. donaldson's _jashar_, gave me an exactly similar rendering of this verse--which makes it a representation of coition--and instanced the phrase "the serpent was more subtle than the other beasts of the field," as an illustration of early jewish humor. the french physician, parise, eloquently says: "this sublime gift of transmitting life--fatal perogative, which man continually forfeits--at once the mainstay of morality by means of family ties, and the powerful cause of depravity--the energetic spring of life and health--the ceaseless source of disease and infirmity--this faculty involves almost all that man can attain of earthly happiness or misfortune, of earthly pleasure or of pain; and the tree of knowledge, of good and evil, is the symbol of it, as true as it is expressive." dr. adam clarke was so impressed by the difficulty of the serpent having originally gone erect, that he thinks that _nachash_ means "a creature of the ape or ourang-outang kind." yet it has been suggested that a key to the word may be found in ezekiel xvi. , where it is translated "filthiness." there is nothing whatever in the story to show that the serpent is the devil. this was an after idea when the devil had become the symbol of passion and the instigator of lust. de gubernatis, in his _zoological mythology_ (vol. ii., p. ), says "the phallical serpent is the cause of the fall of the first man." many other difficulties in the story become less obscure when it is viewed as a remnant in which a phallic element is embodied. some have detected a phallic signification in the story of the ark and the deluge, a legend capable of many interpretations. the phallic view is represented in the symbols in fig. , taken from jacob bryant's mythology, vol. iv., p. , in which the rainbow overshadows the mystic ark, which carries the life across the restless flood of time, which drowns everything that has life, and promises that seed-time and harvest shall endure, and the ruach broods over the waters. gerald massey devotes a section of his _natural genesis_ to the typology of the ark and the deluge. m. clermont-ganneau holds that the ruach was the feminine companion of elohim, and that this idea was continued under the name of kodesh the euach kodesh or holy ghost, which with the jews and early nazarene christians was feminine. [illustration: fig. .--the mystic ark.] another point to be briefly noticed is jacob's anointing of the stone which he slept on, and then erected and called beth el, or "house of god," the residence of the creative spirit. this was a phallic rite. exactly the same anointing of the linga is performed in india till this day. it is evident that jacob's worship of the pillar was orthodox at the time the narrative was written, for god sends him back to the pillar to perform his vow (see gen. xxxv.), and again he goes through phallic rites (v. ). when paul says, "flee fornication. know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost?" he elevates and spiritualises the conception which lay in the word bethel. according to philo byblius, the huge stones common in syria, as in so many lands, were called baetylia. kalisch says it is not extravagant to suppose that the words are identical. from this custom of anointing comes the conception of the messiah, or christ the anointed. kissing the stone or god appears also to have been a religious rite. thus we read of kissing baal ( kings xix. ) and kissing the "calves" (hos. xiii. ). epi-phanius said that the ophites kissed the serpent which this wretched people called the eucharist. they concluded the ceremonies by singing a hymn through him to the supreme father. (see fergusson's _tree and serpent worship_, p. .) the kissing of the mohammedan saint's member and of the pope's toe are probably connected. amalarius, who lived in the age of charlemagne, says that on friday (_dies veneris_) the pope and cardinals crawl on all fours along the aisles of st. peter's to a cross before an altar which they salute and kiss. mr. grant allen, in an article on sacred stones in the _fortnightly review_, jan., , says: "samuel judged israel every year at bethel, the place of jacob's sacred pillar; at gilgal, the place where joshua's twelve stones were set up; and at mizpeh, where stood the cairn surmounted by the pillars of laban's servant. he, himself, 'took a stone and set it up between mizpeh and shen'; and its very name, ebenezer, 'the stone of help,' shows that it was originally worshipped before proceeding on an expedition, though the jehovistic gloss, 'saying hitherto the lord hath helped us,' does its best, of course, to obscure the real meaning. it was to the stone circle of gilgal that samuel directed saul to go down, saying; 'i will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings.' it was at the cairn of mizpeh that saul was chosen king; and after the victory over the ammonites, saul went once more to the great stonehenge at gilgal to 'review the kingdom,' and 'there they made saul king before jahveh in gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before jahyeh.'" this last passage, as mr. allen points out, is very instructive, as showing that in the opinion of the writer, jahveh was then domiciled at gilgal. m. soury, in his note to chap. ii. of his _religion of israel_, says: "it is needful to point out, with m. schrader, that the most ancient babylonian inscriptions in the accadian tongues, those of urukh and of ur kasdim, preserved in the british museum, were engraved on clay phalii. we have here the origin of the usages and customs of religion so long followed among the oanaanites and hebrews (y. movers, _die phonizer_, i., , _et passim_)." in the old hymn embodied in deut. xxxii., god is frequently called _tsur_, "the rock which begat thee," etc. major-general forlong believes "that the jews had a phallus or phallic symbol in their 'ark of the testimony' or ark of the eduth, a word which i hold tries to veil the real objects" (_rivers of life_, vol. i., p. ). he does not scruple to say this was "the real god of the jews; that god of the ark or the testimony, but surely not of europe" (vol. i., p. ). this contention is forcibly suggested by the picture of the egyptian ark found in dr. smith's _bible dictionary_, art. "ark of the covenant." the ark of the testimony, or significant thing, the tabernacle of the testimony and the veil of the testimony alluded to in exodus are never mentioned in deuteronomy. the rev. t. wilson, in his _archaeological dictionary_, art. "sanctum," observes that "the ark of the covenant, which was the greatest ornament of the first temple, was wanting in the second, but a stone of three inches thick, it is said, supplied its place, which they [the jews] further assert is still in the mahommedan mosque called _the temple of the stone_, which is erected where the temple of jerusalem stood." this forcibly suggests that the nature of the "god in the box" which the jews carried about with them was similar to that carried in the processions of osiris and dionysos. according to kings viii. the ark contained two stones, but the much later writer of heb. ix. makes it contain the golden pot with manna, aaron's rod, and the tables of the covenant. mr. sellon, in the papers of the anthropological society of london, - , p. , argues: "there would also now appear good ground for believing that the ark of the covenant, held so sacred by the jews, contained nothing more nor less than a phallus, the ark being the type of the argha or yoni (linga worship) of india." hargrave jennings (_phallicism_, p. ) says: "we know from the jewish records that the ark contained a table of stone.... that stone was phallic, and yet identical with the sacred name jehovah, which, written in unpointed hebrew with four letters, is jeve, or jhvh (the h being merely an aspirate and the same as e). this process leaves us the two letters i and v (in another form, u); then, if we place the i in the v, we have the 'holy of holies'; we also have the linga and yoni and argha of the hindus, the isvara and 'supreme lord'; and here we have the whole secret of its mystic and arc-celestial import confirmed in itself by being identical with the ling-yoni of the ark of the covenant." in hosea, who finds it quite natural that the lord should tell him "go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms," we find the lord called his _zakar_ (translated memorial, xii. ). in the same prophet we read that jahveh declares thou shalt call me _ishi_ (my husband); and shalt no more call me baali (ii. ). again he says to his people "i am your husband" (hosea iii. ); "thy maker is thine husband; jahveh sabaoth is his name" (isaiah liv. ). i was an husband to them, saith jahveh (jer. xxxi. . see also jer. iii. and ezek. xvi. ). god even does not scruple to represent himself in ezekiel xxiii. as the husband of two adulterous sisters. taking to other deities is continually called whoring and adultery. see exod. xxxiv. , ; lev. xx. ; num. xxv. - ; deut. xxxi. ; xxxii. - ; jud. ii. ; viii. ; chron. v. ; ps. lxxiii. ; cvi. ; jer. iii. , , ; ezek. xvi. , ; xxiii. ; hos. i. ; ii. , ; iv. , ; v. , ; ix. . in the wisdom of solomon (xiv. ), we read: "for the devising of idols was the beginning of _spiritual_ fornication, and the invention of them the corruption of life." here the word "spiritual" is deliberately inserted to pervert the meaning. let any one reflect how such coarse expressions could continually be used unless the writers were used to phallic worship. further consider the narrative in numbers xxxi., where the lord takes a maiden tribute out of , girls, who must all have been examined. vestal virgins and nuns are all consecrated like the kadeshim to the god, and the god is personified by the priest. in this sense phallicism is the key of all the creeds. [illustration: fig. . fig. ] that some remnants of phallicism may be traced even in christianity, will be evident to the readers of _anacalypsis_, by godfrey higgins; _ancient faiths embodied in ancient names_, by dr. thomas inman, and _ancient pagan and modern christian symbolism exposed and explained_, by the same author; the valuable _rivers of life_, by major-general forlong; a little book on _idolomania_, by "investigator abhorrens"; and another on _the masculine cross_, by sha rocco (new york, ). the sign of the cross, certainly long pre-christian in the egyptian sign for life, is specially dealt with in the last two works. in fig. we see the connection of the egyptian tau with the hermæ. of fig. general forlong (_rivers of life_, vol i., p ) says: "the samaritan cross, which they stamped on their coins, was no. , but the norseman preferred no. (the circle and four stout arms of equal size and weight), and called it tor's hammer. it is somewhat like no. , which the greek christians early adopted, though this is more decidedly phallic, and shows clearly the meaning so much insisted on by some writers as to all meeting in the centre." the custom of eating fish on friday (_dies veneris_) is considered a survival of the days when a peculiar sexual signification was given to the fish, which has such a prominent place in christian symbolism. fig. illustrates the origin of the bishop's mitre. the _vescica piscis_, or fish's bladder (fig. ), is a well-known ecclesiastical emblem of the virgin, often used in church windows, seals, etc. the symbol is equally known in india. its real nature is shown in fig. , discovered by layard at nineveh, depicting its worshipper seated on a lotus. the vescica piscis is conspicuously displayed in fig. , copied from a rosary of the blessed virgin, printed at venice , with the license from the inquisition, in which the holy dove darts his ray, fecundating the holy virgin. many instances of christ in an elliptical aureole may be seen in didron's _christian iconography_, fig. , p. , vol. i. strikingly resembles our figure. [illustration: fig. .; fig. .; fig. .] [illustration: fig. .] circumcision. among the many traces that the jews were once savages i place the distinguishing mark of their race, circumcision. many explanations have been given of this curious custom. the account, in genesis xvii. that god commanded it to abraham, at the ripe age of , critics agree was written after the exile--that is, thirteen hundred years after the death of the patriarch. now, there is evidence from the egyptian monuments that circumcision was known long before abraham's time. this constrains dr. kitto to say, "god might have selected a practice already in use among other nations." if so, god must have had a curious taste and an uninventive mind. why, having made people as they are, he should order his chosen race to be mutilated, must be a puzzle to the orthodox. some writers have absurdly argued that the egyptians borrowed from the jews, whom they despised (see genesis xliii. ). apart from the evidence of herodotus and of monuments and mummies to the contrary, this view is never suggested in the bible, but the testimony of the book of joshua (v. ) implies the reverse. the narrative of the lord's attempted assassination of moses (exodus iv. - ), which we shall shortly examine, has the most archaic complexion of any of the biblical references to circumcision, and from it dr. t. k. cheyne argues that the rite is of arabian origin.* if instituted in the time of abraham under the penalty of death, it is curious that moses never circumcised his own son, nor saw to its performance in the wilderness for forty years, so that joshua had personally to circumcise over a million males at gilgal. let us now look at the various theories of the origin and purpose of circumcision. rationalising jews say it is of a sanatory character. this view, though found in philo, may be dismissed as an after theory to meet a religious difficulty. most asiatic nations are uncircumcised. the philistines did not practice the rite, nor did the syrians in the time of josephus. even if in a few cases it might possibly be beneficial, that would be no sufficient reason for imposing it on a whole nation under penalty of death. the fact is, the rite is a religious one. indeed, upon its retention the early controversy between jews and christians largely turned. the view that it is an imposed mutilation of a subject race is suggested in dr. remondino's _history of circumcision_, and has the high authority of herbert spencer. he instances the trophy of foreskins taken by david as a dowry for saul's daughter ( sam. xviii. ), and that hyrcanus having subdued the idumeans, made them submit to circumcision. this, however, may have been a part of the policy of making them one with the jewish race in being tributary to jahveh. it is not easy to see how a mutilation imposed from without should ever become a part of the pride of race and be enjoined when all other mutilations were forbidden. * encyclopaedia britannica, article "circumcision." i incline to a view which, although in accord with early sociological conditions, i have never yet seen stated. it was suggested to me by the passage where tacitus alludes to this custom among the jews. it is that circumcision is of the nature of savage totem and tattoo marks--a device to distinguish the tribal division from other tribes, and to indicate those with whom the tribe might marry.* if, as has been suggested, the meaning of genesis xxxiv. is "one who is uncircumcised is as a woman to us," this view is confirmed. the jewish abhorrence to mixed marriages and "the bed of the uncircumcised" is well known. * what tacitus says is, "they do not eat with strangers or make marriages with them, and this nation, otherwise most prone to debauchery, abstains from all strange women. they have introduced circumcision in order to distinguish themselves thereby." the hebrew distinguishing term for male--_zachar_, which also means record or _memorial_--will agree with this view, as also with that of dr. trumbull, which associates circumcision with that of blood-covenanting. it seems evident from the narrative in exodus iv., where zipporah, after circumcising her son, says--not as generally understood to moses--"a bloody husband art thou to me," but to jahveh, "thou art a _kathan_ of blood"--i.e., one made akin by circumcision--that this idea of a blood-covenant became interwoven with the rite. it is to be noticed that in the covenant between god and the jews women had no share. dr. kuenen holds that circumcision is of the nature of a substitute for human sacrifice. no doubt the jews had such sacrifices, and were familiar with the idea of substitution; but with this i rather connect the passover observance. if a sacrifice, it was doubtless phallic--an offering to the god on whom the fruit of the womb depended; possibly a substitution for the barbarous rites by which the priests of cybele were instituted for office. ptolemy's tetrabibles, speaking of the neighboring nations, says: "many of them devote their genitals to their divinities." according to gerald massey, "it was a dedication of the first-fruits of the male at the shrine of the virgin mother and child, which was one way of passing the seed through the fire to moloch." westrop and wake (_phallicism in ancient religion_, p. ) say "circumcision, in its inception, is a purely phallic rite, having for its aim the marking of that which from its associations is viewed with peculiar veneration, and it converts the two phases of this superstition which have for their object respectively the _instrument_ of generation and the _agent_." general forlong, who maintains the phallic view, also holds that "truth compels us to attach an aphrodisiacal character to the mutilations of this highly sensual jewish race." this view will not be hastily rejected by those who know of the many strange devices resorted to by barbarous peoples. some have believed that circumcision enhances fecundity. with the exception of the two first views, which i dismiss as not explaining the religious and permanent character of the rite, all these views imply a special regard being paid to the emblem of generation. this is further confirmed by the manner of oath-taking customary among the ancient jews. when abraham swore his servant, he said, "put, i pray thee, thy hand under my thigh" (gen. xxiv. ). the same euphemism is used in the account of jacob swearing joseph (xlvii. ), and the custom, which has lasted among arabs until modern days, is also alluded to in the hebrew of chronicles xxix. . the latin testiculi seems to point to a similar custom. in the law that no uncircumcised or sexually-imperfect person might appear before the shrine of the lord, we may see yet further evidence that jewish worship was akin to the phallic rites of the nations around them. moses at the inn and it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the lord met him, and sought to kill him. then zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, surely a bloody husband art thou to me. so he let him go: then she said, a bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. --exodus iv. - . anyone who wishes to note the various shifts to which orthodox people will resort in their attempts to pass off the barbarous records of the jews as god's holy word, should demand an explanation of the attempted assassination of moses by jehovah, as recorded in the above verses. some commentators say that by the lord is meant "the angel of the lord," as if jehovah was incapable of personally conducting so nefarious a piece of business. bishop patrick says "the schechinah, i suppose, appeared to him--appeared with a drawn sword, perhaps, as he did to balaam and david." some say it was moses's firstborn the lord sought to kill. some say it was at the child's feet the foreskin was cast, others at those of moses, but the targums of jonathan and jerusalem more properly represent that it was at the feet of god, in order to pacify him. the story certainly presents some difficulties. moses had just had one of his numerous interviews with jehovah, who had told him to go back to egypt, for all those are dead who sought his life. he is to tell pharaoh that israel is the lord's firstborn, and that if pharaoh will not let the israelites go he will slay pharaoh's firstborn. then immediately follows this passage. why this sudden change of conduct towards moses, whose life jehovah was apparently so anxious to save? adam clarke says the meaning is that the son of moses had not been circumcised, and therefore jehovah was about to have slain the child because not in covenant with him by circumcision, and thus he intended [after his usual brutal fashion] to punish the disobedience of the father by the death of the son. zip-porah getting acquainted with the nature of the case, and the danger to which her firstborn was exposed, took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son. by this act the displeasure of the lord was turned aside, and zipporah considered herself as now allied to god because of this circumcision. old adam tries to gloss over the attempted assassination of moses by pretending it was only a child's life that was in danger. but we beg the reader to notice that no _child_ is mentioned, but only a son whose age is unspecified. dr. clarke can hardly have read the treatise of john frischl, _de circumcisione zipporo_, or he would surely have admitted that the person menaced with death was moses, and not his son. other commentators say that zipporah did not like the snipping business (although she seems to have understood it at once), and therefore addressed her husband opprobriously. circumcision, we may remark, was anciently performed with stone. the septuagint version records how the flints with which joshua circumcised the people at gilgal were buried in his grave. a nice specimen of the modern christian method of semi-rationalising may be found in dr. smith's _bible dictionary_, to which the clergy usually turn for help in regard to any difficulties in connection with the sacred fetish they call the word of god. smith says: "the most probable explanation seems to be, that at the caravanserai either moses or gershom was struck with what seemed to be a mortal illness. in some way, not apparent to us, this illness was connected by zipporah with the fact that her son had not been circumcised. she instantly performed the rite, and threw the sharp instrument, stained with the fresh blood, at the feet of her husband, exclaiming in the agony of a mother's anxiety for the life of her child, 'a bloody husband thou art, to cause the death of my son.' then when the recovery from the illness took place (whether of moses or gershom), she exclaims again, 'a bloody husband still thou art, but not so as to cause the child's death, but only to bring about his circumcision.'" we have no hesitation in saying that this most approved explanation is the worst. in seeking to make the story rational, it utterly ignores the primitive ideas and customs by which alone this ancient fragment can be interpreted. one little fact is sufficient to refute it. the jews never use the word _khathan_, improperly translated "husband," after marriage. the word may be interpreted spouse, betrothed or bridegroom, but not husband. the revised version, which always follows as closely as possible the authorised version, translates "a bridegroom of blood." but this makes it evident that moses was not addressed, for no woman having a son calls her husband "bridegroom." we may now see the true meaning of the incident--that by the blood covenant of circumcision, zipporah entered into kinship with jehovah and thereby claimed his friendship instead of enmity. in ancient times only the good-will of those who recognise the family bond or ties of blood could be relied on. herbert spencer, in his _ceremonial institutions_, contends that bloody sacrifices arise "from the practice of establishing a sacred bond between living persons by partaking of each other's blood: the derived conception, being that those who give some of their blood to the ghost of a man just dead and lingering near, effect with it a union which on the one side implies submission, and on the other side friendliness." dr. t. k. oheyne, in his article on circumcision in the _encyclopaedia britannica_, takes the story of moses at the inn as a proof that circumcision was of arabic origin. he says; "khathan meant originally not 'husband,' but 'a newly admitted member of the family.' so that 'a khathan of blood' meant one who has become a _khathan_, not by marriage, but by circumcision," a meaning confirmed by the derived sense of the arabic _khatana_, "to circumcise"--circumcision being performed in arabia at the age of puberty. the english of the catholic douay version is not so good as the authorised version, but it brings us nearer the real meaning of the story. it runs thus: "and when he was in his journey, in the inn, the lord met him and would have killed him. immediately sephora took a very sharp stone, and circumcised the foreskin of her son, and touched his feet, and said: a bloody spouse art thou to me. and he let him go after she had said: a bloody spouse art thou unto me, because of the circumcision." here it is evidently the feet of the lord that are touched, as was the ancient practice in rendering tribute, and we see that the foreskin was a propitiatory offering. dr. trumbull in his interesting book on the blood covenant, says: "the hebrew word _khathan_ has as its root idea, the binding through severing, the covenanting by blood; an idea that is in the marriage-rite, as the orientals view it, and that is in the rite of circumcision also." dr. trumbull omits to say that the term is not used after marriage, and consequently that it must be taken as applied to the lord. zipporah, being already married, did not need to enter into the blood covenant with moses, but with jehovah, so that to her and hers the lord might henceforth be friendly. we do not make much of the inn. there were no public-houses between midian and egypt. probably the reference is only to a resting-place or caravanserai. we would, therefore, render the passage thus: the lord met him [moses] at a halting place and sought to kill him. then zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at [made it touch] his [the lord's] feet, and she said: surely a kinsman of blood [one newly bound through blood] art thou to me. so he [the lord] let him [moses] alone. kuenen considers the passage, in connection with the place where it is inserted, indicated that circumcision was a substitute for child sacrifice. any way, it may safely be said that the mark which every jew bears on his own body is a sign that his ancestry worshipped a deity who sought to assassinate moses, and was only to be appeased by an offering of blood. the brazen serpent, and salvation by similars. hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy, is usually credited with the introduction of the medical maxim, _similta similibus ourantur_--like things are cured by like. those who would dispute his originality need not refer to the ancient saying familiar to all topers, of "taking a hair of the dog that bit you"; they may find the origin of the homoeopathic doctrine in the great source of all inspiration--the holy bible. the book of numbers contains several recipes which would be invaluable if divine grace would enable us to re-discover and correctly employ them. there is, for instance, the holy water described in chap. v., the effects of which will enable any jealous husband to discover if his wife has been faithful to him or not, and in the case of her guilt enable him to dispense with the services of sir james hannen. but perhaps the most curious prescription in the book is that recorded in the twenty-first chapter. the israelites wandering about for forty years, without travelling forty miles, got tired of the heavenly manna with which the "universal provider" supplied them. they looked back on the fried fish, which they "did eat in egypt freely," the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic, wherein the jewish stomach delighteth, and they longed for a change of diet. upon remonstrating with moses, and stating their preference for egyptian lentils rather than celestial mushrooms, the lord of his tender mercy sent "fiery serpents" (the word is properly translated "seraphim"), and they bit the people; and much people of israel died. then the people prayed moses to intercede for them, saying, "we have sinned, for we have spoken against the lord and against thee;" and jahveh, in direct opposition to his own commandment, directed moses to "make a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live." moses accordingly made a serpent of brass, we presume from some of that stolen from the egyptians, which had the desired effect. instead of being but one monster more, the sight immediately cured the wounds, and these seraphim sent by the lord, ashamed of being beaten by their brazen brother, skedaddled. of course it may be contended that a seraph is neither in the likeness of anything in heaven above, in earth beneath, or in the water, or fire, under the earth, and that consequently moses in no wise infringed the decalogue. commentators have been puzzled to account for this evident relic of serpent worship in a religion so abhorrent of idolatry as that of the jews. these gentry usually shut their eyes very close to the many evidences that the god-guided people were always falling into the idolatries of the surrounding nations. now we know that the babylonians, in common with all the great nations of antiquity, worshipped the serpent. it has been thought, indeed, that the name baal is an abbreviation of ob-el, "the serpent god." in the apocryphal book of bel and the dragon, to be found in every catholic bible, it says (v. ): "and in that same place there was a great dragon, which they of babylon worshipped. and the king said unto daniel, wilt thou also say that this is of brass? lo, he liveth, he eateth and drinketh, thou canst not say that he is no living god; therefore worship him." serpent worship is indeed so widely spread, and of such great antiquity, that it has been conjectured to have sprung from the antipathy between our monkey ancestors and snakes. in this legend the brazen serpent is benevolent, but more usually that reptile represents the evil principle. thus a story in the zendavesta (which is clearly allied to, and may have suggested that in genesis) says that ahriman assumed a serpent's form in order to destroy the first of the human race, whom he accordingly poisoned. in the saddu we read: "when you kill serpents you shall repeat the zendavesta, whereby you will obtain great merit; for it is the same as if you had killed so many devils." it is curious that the serpent which is the evil genius of genesis is the good genius in numbers, and that jesus himself is represented as comparing himself to it (john iii. ). an early christian sect, the ophites, found serpent worshipping quite consistent with their christianity. it seems likely that this story of the brazen serpent having been made by moses, was a priestly invention to account for its being an object of idolatry among the jews, as we know from kings xviii. , it was worshipped down to the time of hezekiah, that is years after the time of moses. hezekiah, we are told, broke the brazen serpent in pieces, but it must have been miraculously joined again, for the identical article is still to be seen, for a consideration, in the church of st. ambrose at milan. some learned rabbis regard the brazen serpent as a talisman which moses was enabled to prepare from his knowledge of astrology. others say it was a form of amulet to be copied and worn as a charm against disease. others again declare it was only set up _in terrorem_, as a man who has chastised his son hangs up the rod against the wall as a warning. rationalising commentators have pretended that it was but an emblem of healing by the medical art, a sort of sign-post to a camp hospital, like the red cross flag over an ambulance. these altogether pervert the text, and miss the meaning of the passage. the resemblance of the object set up was of the essence of the cure, as may be seen in sam. vi. . in truth, the doctrine of like curing like, instead of being a modern discovery is a very ancient superstition. the old medical books are full of prescriptions, or rather charms, founded on this notion.* it is, indeed, one of the recognised principles in savage magic and medicine that things like each other, however superficially, affect each other in a mystic way, and possess identical properties. thus in melanesia, according to mr. codrington,** "a stone in the shape of a pig, of a bread fruit, of a yam, was a most valuable find," because it made pigs prolific, and fertilised bread, fruit trees, and yam plots. * see myths in medicine and old time doctors, by alfred c. garratt, m.d. ** journal anthropological institute, february, . in scotland, too, "stones were called by the names of the limbs they resembled, as 'eye-stanes, head-stane.'" a patient washed the affected part of his body, and rubbed it well with the stone corresponding. in precisely the same way the mandrake* root, being thought to resemble the human body, was supposed to be of wondrous medical efficacy, and was credited with human and super-human powers.** the method of cure, when the philistines were smitten with emerods and mice, was to make images of the same ( sam. vi. ), and the same idea was found in the well-known superstition of sorcerers making "a waxen man" to represent an enemy, injuries to the waxen figure being supposed to affect the person represented. * gregor, folk-lore of north-east counties, p. . ** see the paper on "moly and mandragora," in a. lang's custom and myth; . many curious customs and superstitions may be traced to this belief. in old medical works one may still read that to eat of a lion's heart is a specific to ensure courage, while other organs and certain bulbous plants are a remedy for sterility. the virtue of all the ancient aphrodisiacs resided in their shape. this notion, which largely affected the early history of medicine, is known as the doctrine of signatures. certain plants and other natural objects were believed to be so marked or stamped that they presented visibly the indications of the diseases, or diseased organs, for which they were specifics; these were their signatures. hence a large portion of the ancient art of medicine consisted in ascertaining what plants were analogous to the symptoms of disease, or to the organ diseased. to this doctrine we owe some popular names of plants, such as eye-bright, liver-wort, spleen-wort, etc. the mandrake, from its supposed resemblance to the human form, was credited with marvellous powers, and anyone who will take the trouble to inquire into the folk-lore concerning plants and disease will find that much depends upon the appearance of the remedy. one of the most curious peculiarities of christianity is its doctrine of a god crucified for sinners. so strange, so repugnant to reason as such a doctrine is, it was quite consonant to the thoughts of those who held the belief in salvation by similars. if paul said, since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead, the development of the doctrine necessitated that if it is god who damns it is also god who saves. any casual reader of paul must have been struck by the antithesis which he constantly draws between the law and the gospel, works and faith, the fall of man, and the redemption through "the second adam." the very phrase "second adam" implies this doctrine, which is summed up in the statement that "christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (gal. iii. ). god, in order to redeem man, had to take on sinful flesh and be himself the curse in order to be the cure. hence we read in the _teaching of the twelve apostles_, chap. xvi., that "they who endure in their faith shall be saved by the very curse." thus may we understand that which modern christians find so difficult of explanation, viz., that the whole christian world for the first thousand years from st. justin to st. anselm believed that christ paid the ransom for sinners to the devil, their natural owner. christ in order to become the savior had to become the curse, had to die and had to descend to hell, though of course, being god, he could not stay there. hence his being likened to the brazen serpent, that remnant of early jewish fetichism which was smashed by hezekiah ( kings xviii. ). john makes jesus himself teach that "as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness [as a cure for serpent bites] even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." so irenæus says (bk. iv., chap. ), "men can be saved in no other way from the old wound of the serpent than by believing in him, who in the likeness of sinful flesh, is lifted up from the earth on the tree of martyrdom, and draws all things to himself and vivified the dead." that is, christ was made sinful flesh to be the curse itself, just as the innocent brass appeared a serpent, because the form of the curse was necessary to the cure. paul dwells on the passage of the law "cursed is he that hangeth on a tree," with the very object of showing that christ, cursed under the law, was a blessing under his glad tidings. the fathers were never tired of saying that man was lost by a tree (in eden) and saved by a tree (on calvary), that as the curse came in child-birth* and thorns, so the world was saved by the birth of christ and his crown of thorns. justin says, "as the curse came by a virgin, so by a virgin the salvation," and this antithesis between eve and mary has been carried on by catholic writers down to our own day. * notice too tim. , where women are said to be saved by child birth, their curse. as the christian doctrine of salvation through the blood of christ has certainly no more foundation in fact than the efficacy of liver-wort in liver diseases, we suggest it may have no better foundation than the ancient superstition of salvation by similars. religion and magic. "new presbyter," says milton, "is but old priest writ large." old priest, it may be said, is but older sorcerer in disguise. in early times religion and magic were intimately associated; indeed, it may be said they were one and the same. the earliest religion being the belief in spirits, the earliest worship is an attempt to influence or propitiate them by means that can only be described as magical; the belief in spirits and in magic both being founded on dreams. medicine men and sorcerers were the first priests. herbert spencer says (_principles of sociology_, sec. ): "a satisfactory distinction between priests and medicine men is difficult to find. both are concerned with supernatural agents, which in their original form are ghosts; and their ways of dealing with these supernatural agents are so variously mingled, that at the outset no clear classification can be made." among the patagonians the same men officiate in the "threefold capacity of priests, magicians and doctors"; and among the north american indians the functions of "sorcerer, prophet, physician, exorciser, priest, and rain doctor" are united. everywhere we find the priests are magicians. their authority rests on imagined and dreaded power. they are supposed by their spells and incantations to have power over nature, or rather the spirits supposed to preside over it. hence they became the rulers of the people. the modern priest, who is supposed by muttering a formula to change the nature of consecrated elements or by his prayers to bring blessings on the people, betrays his lineal descent from the primitive rain-makers and sorcerers of savagery. the bible is full of magic and sorcery. its heroes are magicians, from jahveh elohim, who puts adam into a sleep and then makes woman from his rib, to jesus who casts out devils and cures blindness with clay and spittle, and whose followers perform similar works by the power of his name. the most esteemed persons among the jews were magicians. pious jacob cheats his uncle by a species of magic with peeled rods. joseph not only tells fortunes by interpreting dreams but has a divining cup (gen. xliv. ), doubtless similar to the magic bowls used to the present day in egypt, in which, as described by lane in his _modern egyptians_, a boy looks and pretends to see images of the future in water. the fourth chapter of exodus gives the initiation of moses into the magician's art by jahveh, the great adept, who changes the rod of moses into a serpent and back again into a rod; suddenly makes his hand leprous, and as suddenly restores it. moses and aaron show themselves superior magicians to those at the court of pharaoh, who, when aaron cast down his magic rod and it became a serpent, did in like manner with their rods, which also became serpents, though aaron's rod swallowed up their rods (exodus vii. , ). upon this passage the learned methodist commentator, dr. adam clarke, writing at an age when the belief in witchcraft was almost extinct, after remarking that such feats evidently required something more than jugglery, observes: "how much more rational at once to allow that these magicians had familiar spirits who could assume all shapes, change the appearance of the subjects on which they operated, or suddenly convey one thing away and substitute another in its place." aaron also used his rod to change _all_ the water into blood, a feat which the egyptian magicians also contrived to perform--we presume with the aid of spirits. if you believe in spirits, there is no end to the supposition of what they might do. the magic rod of moses is used to divide the water of the red sea, so that the children went through the midst of the sea on dry ground (ex. xiv. ), and to draw water from a rock (num. xx. ). aaron's rod blossoms miraculously to show the superiority of the tribe of levi (num. xvii. ). the urim and thummin of aaron's breastplate were also magical articles used in divination (see num. xxviii. ; sam. xxiii. , and xxx. , ). casting lots was another method of divination often referred to in the bible. prov. xvi. , says "the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is with the lord." it was because "when saul inquired of jahveh, jahveh answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by urim, nor by prophets" ( sam. xxviii. ), that he resorted to the witch of endor. the ephod and holy plate (ex. xxviii.), and the phylacteries worn as frontlets between the eyes (deut. vi. ), were magical amulets. modern arabs wear scraps of the koran in a similar way. the holy oil (ex. xxx.) and the water of jealousy (num. v.) were magical, as was also the brazen serpent, adored down to the days of hezekiah. the great wizard's ark was also endowed with magical powers, bringing with it victory and punishing those who infringed its tabu; it was taken into battle. his sanctuary was also called an oracle where the priest "inquired of the lord" ( sam. xvi. ; kings vi. ). the teraphim were also magical, as we learn from ezek. xxi. , where the word is translated "images." the prophet hosea, one of the very earliest of the old testament writers (about ), announced as a misfortune that "the children of israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim." laban, although a believer in elohim, calls the teraphim "his gods" (genesis xxxi. , ), and so does micah (judges xviii. - ). the latter chapter shows that the teraphim were worshipped and served by the descendants of moses down to the time of david (see revised version). david's wife michal kept one in the house ( sam. xix. ). it was evidently a fetish in human shape. how comes it, then, one may ask, that divination and sorcery are denounced in deuteronomy xviii.? the answer is simple. the deutoronomic law was first found in the time of josiah, b.c. (see kings xxii. - ), and there is abundant evidence it was not known before that time. josiah, as we learn from kings xxiii. , put away "the familiar spirits, and the wizards and the teraphim and the idols," as hezekiah (b.c. ) had destroyed the brazen serpent. not only had jezebel practised witchcraft ( kings ix. ), but manasseh, the son of hezekiah, "dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards" ( chron. xxxiii. ). these, it may be said, were wicked persons. yet another piece of evidence is derived from the fact that _nashon_, the chief of the tribe of judah and one of the ancestry of the blessed savior, signifies "enchanter." zechariah (b.c. ) shows the great advance made from the time of hosea by declaring that "the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams" (x. ). samuel, like other early priests, was ruler and weather doctor, elijah was a corpse restorer and rain com-peller. elisha not only inherited his mantle, but also raised the dead and multiplied food. his very bones proved magical. jesus christ was a great wonderworker or magician, casting out devils, turning water into wine, healing diseases even by the touch of his magical robe, and finally levitating from earth. the charge brought against jesus by the jews was that he had stolen the sacred word and by it wrought miracles. we read in the gospels that jesus "cast out spirits with his word" (matt. viii. ). jesus promised that in his _name_ his disciples should cast out devils, and peter declared that his name healed the lame (acts iii. ). when the jews asked, "by what power, or by what name have we done this" (acts iv. ), peter answered, "by the name of jesus christ." paul says, "god hath... given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of jesus every knee should bow in heaven and in earth and under the earth" (philip ii. , ). any careful reader of the bible must have been struck with the frequency with which "the name of the lord" is mentioned, and the care not to profane that name. "thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain" is the second commandment, and christians still speak of god "in a bondsman's key with bated breath and whispering humbleness," for no better reason than this old superstition. in leviticus xxiv. and , the word translated by us "blasphemeth" was by the jews rendered "pronounces," so that the son of the israelitish woman was stoned to death for pronouncing the ineffable name of j.h.v.h. the talmud say "he who attempts to pronounce it shall have no part in the world to come." once a year only, on the day of atonement, was the high priest allowed to whisper the word, even as at the present day "the word" is whispered in masonic lodges. the hebrew jehovah dates only from the massoretic invention of points. when the rabbis began to insert the vowel-points they had lost the true pronunciation of the sacred name. to the letters j. h. v. h. they put the vowels of edonai or adonai, _lord_ or _master_, the name which in their prayers they substitute for jahveh. moses wanted to know the name of the god of the burning bush. he was put off with the formula i am that i am. jahveh having lost his name has become "i was but am not." when jacob wrestled with the god, angel, or ghost, he demanded his name. the wary angel did not comply (gen. xxxii. .) so the father of samson begs the angel to say what is his name. "and the angel of the lord said unto him, why asketh thou thus after my name seeing it is _secret_" (judges xiii. ). all this superstition can be traced to the belief that to know the names of persons was to acquire power over them. in process of time the priest displaces the sorcerer, while still retaining certain of his functions. the gods of a displaced religion are regarded as devils and their worship as sorcery. much of the persecution of witchcraft which went on in the ages when christianity was dominant was really the extirpation of the surviving rites of paganism. it is curious that it is always the more savage races that are believed to have the greatest magical powers. dr. e. b. tylor says: "in the middle ages the name of finn was, as it still remains among seafaring men, equivalent to that of sorcerer, while lapland witches had a european celebrity as practitioners of the black art. ages after the finns had risen in the social scale, the lapps retained much of their old half-savage habit of life, and with it naturally their witchcraft, so that even the magic-gifted finns revered the occult powers of a people more barbarous than themselves." the same writer continues*: "among the early christians, sorcery was recognised as illegal miracle; and magic arts, such as turning men into beasts, calling up familiar demons, raising storms, etc., are mentioned, not in a sceptical spirit, but with reprobation. in the changed relations of the state to the church under constantine, the laws against magic served the new purpose of proscribing the rites of the greek and roman religion, whose oracles, sacrifices and auguries, once carried on under the highest public sanction, were put under the same ban with the low arts of the necromancer and the witch. as christianity extended its sway over europe, the same antagonism continued, the church striving with considerable success to put down at once the old local religions, and the even older practices of witchcraft; condemning thor and woden as demons, they punished their rites in common with those of the sorceresses who bewitched their neighbors and turned themselves into wolves or cats. thus gradually arose the legal persecution of witches which went on through the middle ages under ecclesiastical sanction both catholic and protestant." * encyclopedia britannica, article "magic." but the religion of christendom contained scarcely less elements of magical practices than that of paganism. in the early christian church a considerable section of its ministry was devoted to the casting out of devils. regulations concerning the same were contained in the canons of the church of england. the magical power of giving absolution and remission of sins is still claimed in our national church. throughout the course of christianity, indeed, magical effects have been ascribed to religious rites and consecrated objects. viktor rydberg, the swedish author of an interesting work on _the magic of the middle ages_, says (p. ): "every monastery has its master magician, who sells _agni dei_, conception billets, magic incense, salt and tapers which have been consecrated on candlemas day, palms consecrated on palm sunday, flowers besprinkled with holy water on ascension day, and many other appliances belonging to the great magical apparatus of the church." bells are consecrated to this day, because they were supposed to have a magical effect in warding off demons. their efficacy for this purpose is specifically asserted by st. thomas aquinas, the greatest doctor of the church, who lays it down that the changeableness of the weather is owing to the constant conflict between good and bad spirits. baptism is another magical process. there are people still in england who think harm will come to a child if it is not christened. in christian baptism we have the magical invocation of certain names, those of the ever-blessed trinity. the names of father, son, and holy ghost, were used as spells to ward off demons. the process is supposed to have a magical efficacy, and is as much in the nature of a charm as making the sign of the cross with holy water, or the unction with holy oil, as a preparation for death. so important was it considered that the saving water should prevent demoniac power, that holy squirts were used to bring magical liquid in contact with the child before it saw the light! the doctrine of salvation through blood is nothing but a survival of the faith in magic. volumes might be written on the belief in the magical efficacy of blood as a sacrifice, a cementer of kinship, and a means of evoking protecting spirits. blood baths for the cure of certain diseases were used in egypt and mediæval europe. longfellow alludes to this superstition in his _golden legend_: the only remedy that remains is the blood that flows from a maiden's veins, who of her own free will shall die, and give her life as the price of yours! this is the strangest of all cures, and one i think, you will never try. the changing of the bread and wine of the christian sacrament into the body and blood of god is evidently a piece of magic, dependent on the priestly magical formula. the affinities of the christian communion with savage superstition are so many that they deserve to be treated in a separate article. meanwhile let it be noticed that priests lay much stress upon the blessed sacrament, for it is this which invests them with magical functions and the awe and reverence consequent upon belief therein. formulated prayers are of the nature of magical spells or invocations. a prayer-book is a collection of spells for fine weather, rain, or other blessings. the catholic soldier takes care to be armed with a blessed scapular to guard off stray bullets, or, in the event of the worst coming, to waft his soul into heaven. the protestant smiles at this superstition, but mutters a prayer for the self-same purpose. in essence the procedure is the same. the earliest known egyptian and chaldean psalms and hymns are spells against sorcery or the influence of evil spirits, just as the invocation taught to christian children-- matthew, mark, luke and john bless the bed that i lie on. the belief in magic, though it shows a survival in theosophy, as ghost belief does in spiritism, is dying slowly; and with it, in the long run, must die those religious doctrines and practices founded upon it. no magic can endure scientific scrutiny. almost expelled from the physical world, it takes refuge in the domain of psychology; but there, too, it is being gradually ousted, though it still affords a profitable area for charlantanry. lucian has a story how pancrates, wanting a servant, took a door-bar and pronounced over it magical words, whereon he stood up, brought him water, turned a spit, and did all the other tasks of a slave. what is this, asks emerson, but a prophecy of the progress of art? moses striking water from the rock was inferior to sir hugh middleton bringing a water supply to london. jesus walking on the water was nothing to crossing the atlantic by steam. the only true magic is that of science, which is a conquest of the human mind, and not a phantasy of superstition. taboos. viscount amberley, in his able _analysis of religious belief_ points out that everywhere the religious instinct leads to the consecration of certain actions, places, and things. if this instinct is analysed, it is found at bottom to spring from fear. certain places are to be dreaded as the abode of evil spirits; certain actions are calculated to propitiate them, and certain things are dangerous, and are therefore tabooed. from polynesia was derived the word _taboo_ or _tapu_, and the first conception of its importance as an element lying at the bottom of many of our religious and social conventions; though this is not as yet by any means sufficiently recognised. the term _taboo_ implies something sacred, reserved, prohibited by supernatural agents, the breaking of which prohibition will be visited by supernatural punishment. this notion is one of the most widely extended features of early religion. holy places, holy persons, and holy things are all founded on this conception. prof. w. robertson smith,* says: "rules of holiness in the sense just explained, i.e., a system of restrictions on man's arbitrary use of natural things enforced by the dread of supernatural penalties, are found among all primitive peoples." * religion of the semites, p. . the holy ark of the north american indians was deemed "so sacred and dangerous to be touched" that no one except the war chief and his attendant will touch it "under the penalty of incurring great evil. nor would the most inveterate enemy touch it in the woods for the very same reason."* * adair, history of the american indians, p. . in numbers iv. we read of the jewish ark, "the sons of kohath shall come to bear it; but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die." in sam. vi. , , we are told how the lord smote uzzah so that he died, simply for putting his hand on the ark to steady it. so the lord punished the philistines for keeping his ark, and smote fifty thousand and seventy men of bethshemesh, "because they had looked into the ark of the lord" ( sam. v. ). disease and death were so constantly thought of as the penalties of breaking taboo that cases are on record of those who, having unwittingly done this, have died of terror upon recognising their error. mr. frazer, in his _golden bough_, instances a new zealand chief, who left the remains of his dinner by the way side. a slave ate it up without asking questions. hardly had he finished when he was told the food was the chief's, and taboo. "no sooner did he hear the fatal news than he was seized by the most extraordinary convulsions and cramp in the stomach, which never ceased till he died, about sundown the same day." all the old temples had an adytum, sanctuary, or holy of holies--a place not open to the profane, but protected by rigid taboos. this was the case with the jews. it was death to enter the holy places, or even to make the holy oil of the priests. even the name of the lord was taboo, and to this day cannot be pronounced. take off your sandals, says god to moses, for the place whereon you stand is taboo. the whole of mount horeb was taboo, and we continually read of the holy mountain. the ideas of taboo and of holiness are admitted by prof. robertson smith to be at bottom identical. some taboos are simply artful, as the prohibition of boats to south pacific women, lest they should escape to other islands. when tamehameha, the king of the sandwich islands, heard that diamonds had been found in the mountains near honolulu, he at once declared the mountains taboo, in order that he might be the sole possessor. in hawai the flesh of hogs, fowls, turtle, and several kinds of fish, cocoa-nuts, and nearly everything offered in sacrifice, were reserved for gods and men, and could not, except in special cases, be consumed by women* some taboos of animals being used for food seem to have been dictated by dread or aversion, but others had a foundation of prudence and forethought. thus there is little doubt that the prohibition of the sacred cow in india has been the means of preserving that animal from extermination in times of famine. various reasons have been assigned for the taboos upon certain kinds of food found in leviticus and deuteronomy. as we have these laws they seem to represent a rough attempt at classifying animals it was beneficial or hurtful to eat. some ridiculous mistakes were made by the divine tabooist. the hare, a rodent, was declared to "chew the cud" (lev. xi. , deut. xiv. ). the camel was excluded because it does not divide the hoof; yet in reality it has cloven feet. but doubtless it was seen it might be disastrous to kill the camel for food. mr. frazer is of opinion that the pig was originally a sacred animal among the jews. the cause of the custom of tabooing certain kinds of food, which was in existence long before the levitical laws were written, perhaps arose partly from reverence, partly from aversion. it may, too, have been connected with the totemism of early tribes. no less than one hundred and eighty bible names have a zoological signification. caleb, the dog tribe; doeg, the fish tribe; may be instanced as specimens. touching the carcass of a dead animal was taboo, and the taboo was contagious. in lev. xi. -- we find rigorous laws on the subject. whoever carries the carcass of an unclean animal must wash his garments. the objects upon which a carcass accidentally falls, must be washed, and left in water till the evening, and if of earthenware the defilement is supposed to enter into the pores, and the vessel, oven, or stove-range must be broken. touching a corpse was taboo among the greeks,* romans,** hindoos,*** parsees,**** and phoenicians.(v) if a jew touched a dead body--even a dead animal (lev. xi. )--he became unclean, and if he purified not himself, "that soul shall be cut off from israel" (num. xix. ). so "those who have defiled themselves by touching a dead body are regarded by the maoris as in a very dangerous state, and are sedulously shunned and isolated."(v*) doubtless it was felt that death was something which could communicate itself, as disease was seen to do. * eurip. alcest, . ** virgil Æn., vi. ; tacit. annal., . *** manu, y. , , - . **** vendid iii. - . (v) lucian dea syr., (v*) j. gk frazer, golden bough, vol. i., p. . when iron was first discovered it was invested with mystery and held as a charm. it was tabooed. the jews would use no iron tools in building the temple or making an altar (ex. xx. , kings vi. ). roman and sabine priests might not be shaved with iron but only with bronze, as stone knives were used in circumcision (ex. iv. , josh. v. ). to this day a hottentot priest never uses an iron knife, but always a sharp splint of quartz in sacrificing an animal or circumcising a boy. in the boys' game of touch iron we may see a remnant of the old belief in its charm. when scotch fishermen were at sea and one of them happened to take the name of god in vain, the first man who heard him called out "cauld airn," at which every man of the crew grasped the nearest bit of iron and held it between his hand for a while.* * e. b. guthrie, old scottish customs, p. . charles rogers, social life in scotland, iii. . women were especially tabooed after childbirth and during menstruation (lev. xii. and xv.) among the indians of north america, women at this time are forbidden to touch men's utensils, which would be so defiled by their touch that their subsequent use would be attended with misfortune. they walk round the fields at night dragging their garments, this being considered a protection against vermin. among the eskimo, of alaska, no one will eat or drink from the same cup or dishes used by a woman at her confinement until it has been purified by certain incantations. in the church of england service, what is now called the "thanksgiving of women after childbirth, commonly called the churching of women," was formerly known as _the order of the purification of women_, and was read at the church door before the "unclean" creatures were permitted to enter the "holy" building. this should be known by all women who think it their duty to be "churched" after fulfilling the sacred office of motherhood. in hebrew the same word signifies at once a holy person, a harlot and a sodomite--sacred prostitution having been common in ancient times. mr. frazer, noticing that the rules of ceremonial purity observed by divine kings, priests, homicides, women in child-births, and so on, are in some respects alike, says: "to us these different classes of persons appear to differ totally in character and condition; some of them we should call holy, others we might pronounce unclean and polluted. but the savages make no such moral distinction between them; the conceptions of holiness and pollution are not yet differentiated in his mind. to him the common feature of all these persons is that they are dangerous and in danger, and the danger in which they stand and to which they expose others is what we should call spiritual or supernatural--that is, imaginary."* few would suspect it, but it is likely that the custom of wearing sunday clothes comes from certain garments being tabooed in the holy places. among the maoris "a slave or other person would not enter a _wahi tapu_, or sacred place, without having first stripped off his clothes; for the clothes, having become sacred the instant they entered the precincts of the _wahi tapu_, would ever after be useless to him in the ordinary business of life."** according to the rabbins, the handling of the scriptures defiles the hands--that is, entails a washing of purification. this because the notions of holiness and uncleanness are alike merged in the earlier conception of taboo. blood, the great defilement, is also the most holy thing. just as with the hindus to this day, the excrements of the cow are the great means of purification. * golden bough, vol. i., p. . ** shortland's southern districts of new zealand, p. . dr. kalisch says, "next to sacrifices purifications were the most important of hebrew rituals."* the purpose was to remove the stain of contact either with the holy or unclean taboos. a holy, or taboo water--or, as it is called in the authorised version, "water of separation"--was prepared. first, an unblemished red heifer was slain by the son of the high priest outside the camp, then burnt, and as the ash mingled with spring water, which was supposed to have a magical effect in removing impurities when the tabooed person was sprinkled with it on the third and again on the seventh day. it was called a "purification for sin" (num. xix. ), and was doubtless good as the blood of the lamb, if not equal to pear's soap. * leviticus, pt. ii., p. . in the ninth edition of the _encylopedia britannica_, mr. j. g. frazer says: "amongst the jews the vow of the nazarite (num. vi. -- ) presents the closest resemblance to the polynesian taboo. the meaning of the word nazarite is 'one separated or consecrated,' and this is precisely the meaning of taboo. it is the head of the nazarite that is especially consecrated, and so it was in the taboo. the nazarite might not partake of certain meats and drinks, nor shave his head, nor touch a dead body--all rules of taboo." mr. frazer points out other particulars in the mode of terminating the vow. secondly that some of the rules of sabbath observance are identical with the rules of strict taboo; such are the prohibitions to do any work, to kindle a fire in the house, to cook food and to go out of doors. we still have some remnant of the sabbath taboo, and many a child's life is made miserable by being checked for doing what is tabooed on the lord's day. other taboos abound. we must not, for instance, question the sacred books, the sacred character of jesus, or the existence of the divine being. these subjects are tabooed. for reverence is a virtue much esteemed by solemn humbugs. blood rites. "without shedding of blood is no remission," --heb. ix. . there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from immanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. judaism was a religion of blood and thunder. the lord god of israel delighted in blood. his worshippers praised him as a god of battles and a man of war. all his favorites were men of blood. the lord god was likewise very fond of roast meat, and the smell thereof was a sweet savor unto his nostrils. he had respect to abel and his bloody offering, but not to cain and his vegetables. he ordered that in his holy temple a bullock and a lamb should be killed and hacked to pieces every morning for dinner, and a lamb for supper in the evening. to flavor the repast he had twelve flour cakes, olive oil, salt and spice; and to wash it down he had the fourth part of a hin of wine (over a quart) with a lamb twice a day, the third part of a hin with a ram, and half a hin with a bullock (exodus xxix. , numbers xv. - , xxviii. ). but his great delight was blood, and from every victim that was slaughtered the blood was caught by the priest in a bason and offered to him upon his altar, which daily reeked with the sanguine stream from slaughtered animals. the interior of his temple was like shambles, and a drain had to be made to the brook oedron to carry off the refuse.* incense had to be used to take away the smell of putrifying blood. * smith's bible dictionary, article "blood." [illustration: the altar of jehovah.] the most characteristic customs of the jews, circumcision and the passover, alike show the sanguinary character of their deity. because moses did not mutilate his child, the lord met him at an inn and sought to kill him (exodus iv. ). the passover, according to the jews' own account, commemorated the lord's slaying all the first-born of egypt, and sparing those of the jews upon recognising the blood sprinkled upon the lintels and sideposts of the doors; more probably it was a survival of human sacrifice. god's worshippers were interdicted from tasting, though not from shedding, the sacred fluid; yet we read of saul's army that "the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep and oxen and calves, and slew them on the ground, and the people did eat them with the blood" ( sam, xiv. ), much as the abyssinians cut off living steaks to this day. christianity is a modified gospel of gore. the great theme of the epistle to the hebrews is that the blood and sacrifice of christ is so much better than that of animals. the substitutionary sacrifice of jesus christ is the great inspiration of emotional religion. revivalists revel in "the blood, the precious blood": just as i am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidd'st me come to thee, oh! lamb of god, i come, i come! chorus--jesus paid it all, all to him i owe; sin had left a crimson stain; he washed it white as snow. jesus christ says, "he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and i in him," and the most holy sacrament of the christian church consists in this cannabalistic communion. to understand this fundamental rite of communion, or, indeed, the essence of any other part of the christian religion, we must go back to those savage ideas out of which it has evolved. it is easy to account for savage superstitions in connection with blood. the life of the savage being largely spent in warfare, either with animals or his fellow men, the connection between blood and life is strongly impressed upon his mind. he sees, moreover, the child formed from the mother, the flow of whose blood is arrested. hence the children of one mother are termed "of the same blood." in a state of continual warfare the only safe alliances were with those who recognised the family bond. those who would be friends must be sharers in the same blood. hence we find all oyer the savage world rites of blood-covenanting, of drinking together from the same blood, thereby symbolising community of nature. like eating and drinking together, it was a sign of communion and the substitution of bread and wine for flesh and blood is a sun-worshipping refinement upon more primitive and cannibalistic communion. dr. trumbull, in his work on _the blood covenant_, has given many instances of shedding blood in celebrating covenants and "blood brotherhood." the idea of substitution is widespread in all early religions. one of the most curious was the sacrament of the natives of central america, thus noticed by dr. trumbull: "cakes of the maize sprinkled with their own blood, drawn from 'under the girdle,' during the religions worship, were 'distributed and eaten as blessed bread.' moreover an image of their god, made with certain seeds from the first fruits of their temple gardens, with a certain gum, and with the blood of human sacrifices, were partaken of by them reverently, under the name, 'food of our soul.'" here we have, no doubt, a link between the rude cannibal theory of sacrifice and the christian doctrine of communion. millington, in his _testimony of the heathen_, cites as illustration of exodus xxii. , the most telling passages from herodotus in regard to the lydians and arabians confirming alliances in this fashions. the well-known case of cataline and his fellow conspirators who drank from goblets of wine mixed with blood is of course not forgotten, but dr. trumbull overlooks the passage in plutarch's "life of publicola," in which he narrates that "the conspirators (against brutus) agreed to take a great and horrible oath, by drinking together of the blood, and tasting the entrails of a man sacrificed for that purpose." mr. wake also in his _evolution of morality_, has drawn attention to the subject, and, what is more, to its important place in the history of the evolution of society. herbert spencer points out in his "ceremonial institutions," that blood offerings over the dead may be explained as arising in some cases "from the practice of establishing a sacred bond between living persons by partaking of each other's blood: the derived conception being that those who give some of their blood to the ghost of a man just dead and lingering near, effect with it a union which on the one side implies submission, and on the other side, friendliness." the widespread custom of blood-covenanting illustrates most clearly, as dr. tylor points out, "the great principle of old-world morals, that man owes friendship, not to mankind at large, but only to his own kin; so that to entitle a stranger to kindness and good faith he must become a kinsman by blood."* that any sane man seated at a table ever said, "take eat, this is my body," and "drink, this is my blood," is ridiculous. the bread and wine are the fruits of the the sun. justin martyr, one of the earliest of the christian fathers, informs us that this eucharist was partaken in the mysteries of mithra. the christian doctrine of partaking of the blood of christ is a mingling of the rites of sun-worshippers with the early savage ceremony of the blood covenant. * the origin of the mystery of the rosy gross may have been in the savage rite of initiation by baptism with arms outstretched in a cruciform pool of blood. see nimrod, vol. ii. scapegoats. in the sixteenth chapter of leviticus is found a description of the rites ordained for the most solemn day of atonement. of these, the principal was the selection of two goats. "and aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the lord and the other for the scapegoat"--(heb. _azazel_). the goat on whom jahveh's lot fell was sacrificed as a sin offering, but all the iniquities of the children of israel were put on the head of azazel's goat, and it was sent into the wilderness. the parallelism makes it clear that azazel was a separate evil spirit or demon, opposed to jahveh, and supposed to dwell in the wilderness. the purification necessary after touching the goat upon whose head the sins of israel were put corroborates this.* yet how often has azazel been instanced as a type of the blessed savior! and indeed the chief purpose to which jesus is put by orthodox christians at the present day is that of being their scapegoat, the substitute for their sins. * azazel appears to mean the goat god. the goat, like some other animals, seems to have had a sacred character among the jews. (see ex. xxiii. , lev. ix. - , x. , xvii. , jud. vi. , xiii. , sam. xix - , chron. xi. .) the doctrine of the transference of sin was by no means peculiar to the jews. both herodotus and plutarch tells us how the egyptians cursed the head of the sacrifice and then threw it into the river. it seems likely that the expression "your blood be on your own head" refers to this belief. (see lev. xx. - , psalms vii. , acts xviii. .) at the cleansing of a leper and of a house suspected of being tainted with leprosy, the jews had a peculiar ceremony. two birds were taken, one killed in an earthern vessel over running water, and the living bird after being dipped in the blood of the killed bird let loose into the open air (lev. xiv. and ). the idea evidently was that the bird by sympathy took away the plague. the battas of sumatra have a rite they call "making the curse to fly away." when a woman is childless a sacrifice is offered and a swallow set free, with a prayer that the curse may fall on the bird and fly away with it. the doctrine of substitution found among all savages flows from the belief in sympathetic magic. it arises, as mr. frazer says, from an obvious confusion between the physical and the mental. because a load of stones may be transferred from one back to another, the savage fancies it equally possible to transfer the burden of his pains and sorrows to another who will suffer then in his stead. many instances could be given from peasant folk-lore. "a cure current in sunderland for a cough is to shave the patient's head and hang the hair on a bush. when the birds carry the hair to the nests, they will carry the cough with it. a northamptonshire and devonshire cure is to put a hair of the patient's head between two slices of buttered bread and give it to a dog. the dog will get the cough and the patient will lose it." mr. frazer, after showing that the custom of killing the god had been practised by peoples in the hunting, pastoral, and agricultural stages of society, says (vol. ii., p. ): "one aspect of the custom still remains to be noticed. the accumulated misfortunes and sins of the whole people are sometimes laid upon the dying god, who is supposed to bear them away for ever, leaving the people innocent and happy." he gives many instances of scapegoats, of sending away diseases in boats, and of the annual expulsion of evils, of which, i conjecture, our ringing-out of the old year may, perhaps, be a survival. of the divine scapegoat, he says: "if we ask why a dying god should be selected to take upon himself and carry away the sins and sorrow of the people, it may be suggested that in the practice of using the divinity as a scapegoat, we have a combination of two customs which were at one time distinct and independent. on the one hand we have seen that it has been customary to kill the human or animal god in order to save his divine life from being weakened by the inroads of age. on the other hand we have seen that it has been customary to have a general expulsion of evils and sins once a year. now, if it occurred to people to combine these two customs, the result would be the employment of the dying god as scapegoat. he was killed not originally to take away sin, but to save the divine life from the degeneracy of old age; but, since he had to be killed at any rate, people may have thought that they might as well seize the opportunity to lay upon him the burden of their sufferings and sins, in order that he might bear it away with him to the unknown world beyond the grave."* * golden bough, vol. ii., p. . the early christians believed that diseases were the work of devils, and that cures could be effected by casting out the devils by the spell of a name (see mark ix. - , etc.) they believed in the transference of devils to swine. we need not wonder, then, that they explained the death of their hero as the satisfaction for their own sins. the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement, like that of the divinity of christ, appears to have been an after-growth of christianity, the foundations of both being laid in pre-christian paganism. both doctrines are alike remnants of savagery. a bible barbarity. the fifth chapter of the book of numbers ( -- ) exhibits as gross a specimen of superstition as can be culled from the customs of any known race of savages. the divine "law of jealousy," to which i allude, provides that a man who is jealous of his wife may, simply to satisfy his own suspicions, and without having the slightest evidence against her, bring her before the priest, who shall take "holy water," and charge her by an oath of cursing to declare if she has been unfaithful to her husband. the priest writes out the curse and blots it into the water, which he then administers to the woman. the description of the effects of the water is more suitable to the pages of the holy bible than to those of a modern book. sufficient to say, if faithful, the holy water has only a beneficial effect on the lady, but if unfaithful, its operation is such as to dispense with the necessity of her husband writing out a bill of divorcement. the absurdity and atrocity of this divine law only finds its parallel in the customs of the worst barbarians, and in the ecclesiastical laws of the dark ages, that is of the days when christianity was predominant and the bible was considered as the guide in legislation. a curious approach to the jewish custom is that which found place among the savages at cape breton. at a marriage feast two dishes of meat were brought to the bride and bridegroom, and the priest addressed himself to the bride thus: "thou that art upon the point of entering the marriage state, know that the nourishment thou art going to take forebodes the greatest calamities to thee if thy heart is capable of harboring any ill design against thy husband or against thy nation; should thou ever be led astray by the caresses of a stranger; or shouldst thou betray thy husband or thy country, the victuals in this vessel will have the effect of a slow poison, with which thou wilt be tainted from this very instant. if, on the other hand, thou art faithful to thy husband and thy country, thou wilt find the nourishment agreeable and wholesome."* * genuine letters and memoirs relating to the isle of cape breton. by t. pichon. . this custom manifestly was, like the christian doctrine of hell, designed to restrain crime by operating upon superstitious fear. it was devoid of the worst feature of the jewish law--the opportunity for crime disguised under the mask of justice. for this we must go to the tribes of africa. dr. kitto, in his _bible encyclopedia_ (article adultery), alludes thus to the trial by red water among african savages, which, he says, is so much dreaded that innocent persons often confess themselves guilty in order to avoid it. "the person who drinks the red water invokes the fetish to destroy him if he is really guilty of the offence of which he is charged. the drink is made by an infusion in water of pieces of a certain tree or of herbs. it is highly poisonous in itself; and if rightly prepared, the only chance of escape is the rejection of it by the stomach, in which case the party is deemed innocent, as he also is if, being retained, it has no sensible effect, which can only be the case when the priests, who have the management of the matters, are influenced by private considerations, or by reference to the probabilities of the case, to prepare the draught with a view to acquittal."* * in like manner maimonides, the great jewish commentator, said that innocent women would give all they had to escape it, and reckoned death preferable (moreh nevochim, pt. iii., ch. xlix.) dr. livingstone says the practice of ordeal is common among all the negro natives north of the zambesi: "when a man suspects that any of his wives have bewitched him, he sends for the witch-doctor, and all the wives go forth into the field, and remain fasting till the person has made an infusion of the plant called 'go ho.' they all drink it, each one holding up her hand to heaven in attestation of her innocence. those who vomit it are considered innocent, while those whom it purges are pronounced guilty, and are put to death by burning." in this case, be it noticed, there is no provision for the woman who thinks her husband has bewitched her, as in the holy bible there is no law for the woman who conceives she has cause for jealousy; nor, although she is supernaturally punished, is there any indication of any punishment falling on the male culprit who has perhaps seduced her from her allegiance to her lord and master. throughout europe, when under the sway of christian priests, trials by ordeal were quite common. it was held as a general maxim that god would judge as to the righteousness or unrighteousness of a cause. the chief modes of the judicium dei, as it was called, was by walking on or handling hot iron; by chewing consecrated bread, with the wish that the morsel might be the last; by plunging the arm in boiling water, or by being thrown into cold water, to swim being considered a proof of guilt, and to sink the demonstration of innocence. pope eugenius had the honor of inventing this last ordeal, which became famous as a trial for witches. dr. e. b. tylor, whose information on all such matters is only equalled by his philosophical insight, says of ordeals: "as is well known, they have always been engines of political power in the hands of unscrupulous priests and chiefs. often it was unnecessary even to cheat, when the arbiter had it at his pleasure to administer either a harmless ordeal, like drinking cursed water, or a deadly ordeal, by a dose of aconite or physostigma. when it comes to sheer cheating, nothing can be more atrocious than this poison ordeal. in west africa, where the oalabar bean is used, the administers can give the accused a dose which will make him sick, and so prove his innocence; or they can give him enough to prove him guilty, and murder him in the very act of proof. when we consider that over a great part of that great continent this and similar drugs usually determine the destiny of people inconvenient to the fetish man and the chief--the constituted authorities of church and state--we see before us one efficient cause of the unprogressive character of african society." trial by ordeal was in all countries, whether pagan or christian, under the management of the priesthood. that it originated in ignorance and superstition, and was maintained by fraud, is unquestionable. christians, when reading of ordeals among savages, deplore the ignorance and barbarity of the unenlightened heathen among whom such customs prevail, quite unmindful that in their own sacred book, headed with the words "and the lord spake unto moses, saying," occurs as gross an instance of superstitious ordeal as can be found among the records of any people. bible witchcraft. "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (ex. xxii. ). "if there had been no witches, such a law as this had never been made. the existence of the law, given under the direction of the spirit of god, proves the existence of the thing... that witches, wizards, those who dwelt with familiar spirits, etc., are represented in the sacred writing as actually possessing a power to evoke the dead, to perform supernatural operations, and to discover hidden or secret things by spells, charms, incantations, etc., is evident to every unprejudiced reader of the bible."--_dr. adam clarice_, commentary on the above passage. thus wrote the great methodist theologian. his master, john wesley, had previously declared, "it is true that the english in general, and, indeed, most of the men of learning in europe have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions as mere old wives' fables. i am sorry for it, and i willingly take this opportunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent compliment which so many that believe the bible pay to those who do not believe it. i owe them no such service. they well know (whether christians know it or not) that the giving up witchcraft is in effect giving up the bible."* * journal, may , , p. ? vol. iii., works, . the earlier volumes of the methodist magazine abound with tales of diabolical possession. that wesley was right is a fact patent to all who have eyes. from the egyptian magicians, who performed like unto moses and aaron with their enchantments, to the demoniacs of the gospels and the "sorcerers" of the fifteenth verse of the last chapter of revelation, the bible abounds in references to this superstition. matthew henry, the great bible commentator, writing upon our text, at a time when the statutes against witchcraft were still in force, said: "by our law, consulting, covenanting with, invoking, or employing, any evil spirit to any intent whatsoever, and exercising any enchantment, charm, or sorcery, whereby hurt shall be done to any person whatsoever, is made felony without benefit of clergy; also, pretending to tell where goods lost or stolen may be found, or the like, is an iniquity punishable by the judge, and the second offence with death. the justice of our law herein is supported by the law of god here." the number of innocent, helpless women who have been legally tortured and murdered by this law of god is beyond computation. in suffolk alone sixty persons were hung in a single year. the learned dr. zachary grey states that between three and four thousand persons suffered death for witchcraft from the year to .* * note on butler's hudibras, part ii., canto , line . in scotland the bible-supported superstition raged worse than in england. the clergy there had, as part of their duty, to question their parishioners as to their knowledge of witches. boxes were placed in the churches to receive the accusations, and when a woman had fallen under suspicion the minister from the pulpit denounced her by name, exhorted his parishioners to give evidence against her, and prohibited any one from sheltering her.* a traveller casually notices having seen nine women burning together in leith, in . "scotch witchcraft," says lecky, "was but the result of scotch puritanism, and it faithfully reflected the character of its parent."** on the continent it was as bad. catholics and protestants could unite in one thing--the extirpation of witches and infidels. papal bulls were issued against witchcraft as well as heresy. luther said: "i would have no compassion on these witches--i would burn them all."*** in catholic italy a thousand persons were executed in a single year in the province of como. * see the darker superstitions of scotland, by sir john graham dalyell, chap. xviii. glasgow, . ** history of the rise and influence of rationalism in europe, vol. i., p. . *** colloquia de fascinationibus. in one province of protestant sweden , witches were burnt in . stories of the horrid tortures which accompanied witch-finding, stories that will fill the eyes with tears and the heart with raging fire against the brutal superstition which provoked such \ barbarities, may be found in dalyell, lecky, michelet, and the voluminous literature of the subject. and all these tortures and executions were sanctioned and defended from the bible. the more pious the people the more firm their conviction of the reality of witchcraft. sir matthew hale, in hanging two men in , took the opportunity of declaring that the reality of witchcraft was unquestionable; "for first, the scripture had affirmed so much; and, secondly, the wisdom of all nations had provided laws against such persons." witch belief and witch persecutions have existed from the most savage times down to the rise and spread of medical science, but nothing is more striking in history than the fact of the great european outburst against witchcraft following upon the reformation and the translations of god's holy word, this was no mere coincidence, but a necessary consequence. "it was not until after the reformation that there was any systematic hunting out of witches," says j. r. lowell.* * among my books, p. . macmillan, . if the bible teaches not witchcraft, then it teaches nothing. science and scepticism having made christians ashamed of this biblical doctrine, as usual they have sought a new interpretation. they say it is a mistranslation; that _poisoners_ are meant, and not _witches_. now, in the first place, poisoners were really dealt with by the command, "thou shalt not kill." in the second place, not a single hebrew scholar of repute would venture to so render the word of our text. its root, translated "witch," is given by gesenius as "to use enchantment." fuerst, parkhurst, frey, newman, buxtorf, in short, all hebrew lexicographers, agree. not one suggests that "poisoner" could be considered an equivalent. the derivatives of this word are translated with this meaning wherever they occur. thus exodus vii. , "the wise men and the sorcerers." deuteronomy xviii., , , "there shalt not be found among you anyone that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard or a necromancer." kings ix. , "her witchcrafts." chronicles xxxiii. , manesseh "used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards." isaiah xlvii. and , "thy sorceries." jeremiah xxvii. , "your sorcerers." daniel ii. , "the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the chaldeans." micah v. , "and i will cut off witchcrafts, and thou shalt have no soothsayers." nahum iii. , "witchcrafts." malachi iii. , "i will be a swift witness against the sorcerers." the only pretence for this rendering of _poisoner_ is the fact that josephus (_antiquities_, bk. iv., ch. viii., sec. ) gives a law against keeping poisons. as there is no such law in the pentateuch, whiston tried to kill two difficulties with one note, by saying that what we render a _witch_ meant a poisoner. the septuagint has also been appealed to, but sir charles lee brenton, in his translation of the septuagint, has not thought proper to render our text other than, "ye shall not save the lives of sorcerers." but apart from texts (of which i have only given those in which occurs one word out of the many implying the belief), the _thing_ itself is woven into the structure of the bible. not only do the egyptian enchanters work miracles and the witch of endor raise samuel, but the power of evil spirits over men is the occasion of most of the miracles of jesus. the very doctrine of the inspiration of the bible, so cherished by protestant christians, is but a part of that doctrine of men being possessed by spirits, good and evil, which is the substratum of belief in witchcraft. even yet this belief is not entirely extinct in england; and dr. buckley says that in america a majority of the citizens believe in witchcraft. the modern roman catholic priest is cautioned in the rubric concerning the examination of a possessed patient "not to believe the demon if he profess to be the soul of some saint or deceased person, or a good angel." as late as the divines of the associated presbytery passed a resolution declaring their belief in witchcraft, and deploring the scepticism that was general. in the church catechism, explained by the rev. john lewis, minister of margate in kent--a work which went through many editions, and received the sanction of the society for promoting christian knowledge--a copy of which lies before me, published in , reads (p. ): "q. what is meant by renouncing the devil?--a. the refusing of all familiarity and contracts with the devil, whereof witches, conjurors, and such as resort to them are guilty." let it never be forgotten that this belief which has not only been the cause of the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent women, but has sent far more into the worst convulsions of madness and despair, is the evident and unmistakable teaching of the bible. saul's spiritualist stance at endor. "our own time has revived a group of beliefs and practices which have their roots deep in the very stratum of early philosophy, where witchcraft makes its first appearance. this group of beliefs and practices constitutes what is now commonly known as spiritualism."--dr. e. b. tylor, "primitive culture" vol. i., p. . the oldest portion of the old testament scriptures are imbedded in the book of judges and the books of samuel. few indeed of these narratives throw more light on the early belief of the jews than the story of saul and the witch of endor. it is hardly necessary to recount the story, which is told with a vigor and simplicity showing its antiquity and genuineness. saul, who had incurred samuel's enmity by refusing to slay the king agag, after the death of the prophet, found troubles come upon him. alarmed at the strength of his enemies, the philistines, he "inquired of the lord." but the lord was not at home. at any rate, he "answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by urim, nor by prophets." the legitimate modes of learning one's fortune being thus shut up, saul sought in disguise and by night a woman who had an _ob_. or familiar spirit. now saul had done his best to suppress witchcraft, having "put away those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards out of the land." so when he said to the witch, "i pray thee divine unto me by the familiar spirit and bring him up whom i shall name unto thee," the woman was afraid, and asked if he laid a snare for her. saul swore hard and fast he would not hurt her, and it is evident from his question he believed in her powers of necromancy by the aid of the familiar spirit. this alone shows that the jews, like all uncivilised people, and many who call themselves civilised, believed in ghosts and the possibility of their return, but, as we shall see, it does not imply that they believed in future rewards and punishments. saul's expectations were not disappointed. he asked to see samuel, and _up_ samuel came. he asked what she saw, and she said _elohirn_, or as we have it, "gods ascending out of the earth." in this fact that the same word in hebrew is used for _ghosts_ and for _gods_, we have the most important light upon the origin of all theology. the modern christian of course believes that samuel as a holy prophet dwells in heaven above, and may wonder, if he thinks of the narrative at all, why he should be recalled from his abode of bliss and placed under the magic control of this weird, not to say scandalous, female. but samuel came up, not down from heaven, in accordance, of course, with the old belief that sheol, or the underworld, was beneath the earth. christian commentators have resorted to a deal of shuffling and wriggling to escape the difficulties of this story, and its endorsement of the superstition of witchcraft. the _speakers' commentary_ suggests that the witch of endor was a female ventriloquist, but, disingenuously, does not explain that ventriloquists in ancient times were really supposed to have a spirit rumbling or talking inside their bodies. as dr. e. b. tylor says in that great storehouse of savage beliefs, _primitive culture_, "to this day in china one may get an oracular response from a spirit apparently talking out of a medium's stomach, for a fee of about twopence-halfpenny." some make out, because saul at first asked the woman what she saw, that, as at many modern seances, it was only the medium, who saw the ghost, and saul only knew who it was through her, else why should he have asked her what form samuel had?--which elicited the not very detailed reply of "an old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle"--that is, we suppose, with the ghost of a mantle. she did the seeing and he the hearing. but it says "saul perceived it was samuel," and prostrated himself, which he would hardly have done at a description. indeed, the whole narrative is inconsistent with the modern theory of imposture on the part of the witch. had this been the explanation, the writer should have said so plainly. he should have said her terror was pretended, that the apparition was unreal, and that saul trembled at the woman's words, whereas it is plainly declared that "he was sore afraid because of the words of samuel." moreover, and this is decisive, the spirit utters a prophecy--not an encouraging, but a gloomy one--which was exactly fulfilled. all this shows the writer was saturated in supernaturalism. he never uses an expression indicating a shadow of a ghost of a doubt of the ghost. he might easily have said the whole thing was deceit. he does not, for he believed in witchcraft like the priests who ordered "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." one little circumstance shows his sympathy. samuel says: "why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?" this is quite in consonance with savage belief that spirits should not be disturbed. here was samuel quietly buried in ramah, some fifty miles off, taking his comfortable nap, may be for millenniums in sheol, when the old woman's incantations bustle him out of his grave and transport him to endor. no wonder he felt disquieted and prophesied vengeance to saul and to his sons, "because thou obeyedst not the voice of the lord nor executedest his fierce wrath upon amalek." matthew henry and other commentators think that the person who presented himself to saul was not samuel, but satan assuming his appearance. those who believe in satan, and that he can transform himself into an angel of light ( cor. xi. ), cannot refuse to credit the possibility of this. folks with that comfortable belief can credit anything. to sensible people it is scarcely necessary to say there is nothing about satan in the narrative, nor any conceivable reason why he should be credited with a true prophecy. the words uttered are declared to be the words of samuel.* * the seventeenth verse stupidly reads, "the lord hath done to him as he spake by me." the lxx and vulgate more sensibly reads to thee. much is said of saul's wickedness, but the only wickedness attributed to him is his mercy in not executing god's fierce wrath. if it was wicked to seek the old woman, it is curious god should grant the object he was seeking, by raising up one of his own holy servants. why did the lord employ such an agency? it looks very much like sanctioning necromancy. and further, if a spirit returned from the dead to tell saul he should die and go to sheol--where samuel was, for he says "to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be _with me_"--why should not spirits now return to tell us we are immortal? if the witch of endor could raise spirits, why not lottie fowler or mr. eglinton? such are the arguments of the spiritists. we venture to think they cannot be answered by the orthodox. to us, however, the fact that the beliefs of the spiritists find their countenance in the beliefs of savages like the early jews is their sufficient refutation. spiritism, as dr. tylor says, is but a revival of old savage animism. sacrifices. no sacrifice to heaven, no help from heaven; that runs through all the faiths of all the world. --tennyson--harold. the origin and meaning of sacrifices constitute a central problem of ancient religion. it links indeed the stronghold of orthodox christianity--its doctrine of the atonement--with the most barbarous customs of primitive savages. when we hear of the lamb slain for sinners, the very phrase takes us back to the time when sins were formally placed upon the heads of unconscious animals that they might be held accursed instead of man; and to the yet older notion of human sacrifice as a most acceptable offering to the gods. sacrifices were primarily meals offered to the spirits of the dead. it is not hard to understand how they arose. the hindoos who placed upon the grave of an english officer the brandy and cheroots which he loved in life in order to propitiate his spirit illustrated a prominent aspect. just as men were appeased with gifts, usually of substances which minister to life, so were spirits supposed to be, and the general form which the offering took was something in the shape of what the americans call a square meal. the romans never sat down to eat without placing a portion aside for the lares and penates. professor smith, in his _lectures on the religion of the semites_, gives abundant evidence that the early sacrifices of the semitic people were animals offered at a meal partaken by the worshippers. the sacrifice, he holds, was originally a nourishing of the common life of the kindred and their god by a common meal. the primary communion with deity was communion of food. this may not be very poetical, but it is natural and true. eating and drinking together were primarily signs of fraternity. only to his own kin did early man own duty, and his god was always of his own kin. jehovah was, as we are often told, the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob. he was their father and their king. when ruth said to naomi, "thy people shall be my people, and thy god my god," the exclamation showed that taking up new kindred involved a change of worship. professor smith says: "it cannot be too strongly insisted on that the idea of kinship between gods and men was originally taken in a purely physical sense." the modern christian's explanations of biblical anthropomorphisms may be dismissed as unfounded assumptions. the story in genesis of the sons of god going with the daughters of men is one of the remnants of early myths unexplained by later editors. the bible god, as any careful reader will perceive, was very partial to roast meat. one of the earliest items recorded of him is that he had no respect for cain and his offering of vegetables, while to abel who brought him the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, he had respect. he much prefered mutton to turnips. when noah offered a sacrifice, we are told "he smelt a sweet savor" (gen. vii. ). but the lord was by no means content with the smell. on his altars huge hecatombs of animals were continually being slaughtered, and the choicest portions set aside as the lord's. the lord god seems to have been extremely fond of fat, especially that about the rump. as the richest part of the animal, it was reserved with "the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them" especially for the lord (lev. iii. - ). let it be noticed that the lord god required no sacrifices except of eatable animals, oxen, rams, goats, lambs, and kids. fishes he had no regard for, and of birds only turtle doves and pigeons were his favorite dishes. wine and oil he took to wash them down, but never mentioned water. like his ministers, he lived on the fat of the land,* claiming as his own the firstlings of the flock. from his claim to the first born, it appears that jahveh was originally given to "long pig," but in the case of abraham's son, he took a ram instead. he was, however, so partial to blood that he interdicted the sacred fluid to his worshippers, but demanded that it should be poured out upon his altar (deut. xii.) even the early christians made it a fundamental rule of the church that disciples should abstain from blood, and from things strangled (acts xv. ). the blood was supposed to be especially the lord's. * to "eat the fat" seems, as in neh. viii. , to have been a biblical expression for good living. let not the serious reader suppose we are jesting. hear what prof. robertson smith says. "all sacrifices laid upon the altar were taken by the ancients as being literally the food of the gods. the homeric deities 'feast on hecatombs,' nay particular greek gods have special epithets designating them as the goat-eater, the ram-eater, the bull-eater, even 'cannibal,' with allusion to human sacrifices. among the hebrews the conception that jehovah eats the flesh of bulls and drinks the blood of goats, against which the author of psalm . protests so strongly, was never eliminated from the ancient technical language of the priestly ritual, in which the sacrifices are called _lechem elohim_, 'the food of the deity.'"* * religion of the semites, p. . our translators of the passages where this phrase occurs (lev. xxi. , , , ; num. xxviii. ) have done their best to conceal the meaning, but like the phrase "wine which cheereth god and man" (judges ix. ), it takes us back to the time when gods were supposed, like men, to eat, drink, and be refreshed. it was a fundamental rule of the jewish faith that no one should appear before the lord empty handed (exodus xxiii. .) not to take him an offering was as improper as in the east it still is to approach a chief or great man without some present. a sacrifice was as imperative as it now is to put something in the church plate. when god made a call on abraham, with eastern hospitality the patriarch procured water to wash his feet and killed a calf for the entertainment of his visitor. the lord god was not a vegetarian but a stout kreophagist. in numbers (xxix. ) he orders as a sacrifice "of a sweet savor unto the lord, thirteen young bullocks, two rams and fourteen lambs of the first year." from the frequent mention of the "sweet savor," it seems likely that the original idea of the god partaking of the food, developed into that of his taking only the essence of the food. as god got less anthropomorphic he lost his teeth and had, poor spirit, to be content with the smell of the good things offered up to him. we gather from lev. vii. that the kidneys, fat and other delicacies really fell to the lot of the priests, and some people have found a sufficient reason for the sacrifices to god in the fact that the priests liked mutton. in samuel ii. - we are told how it was the custom of the priests that when any man offered sacrifice, "the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand. and he struck it into the pan or kettle, or caldron or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself." in the time of david the lord had a table of shew-bread set before him--that is, a table spread with food in the temple, where he was supposed to come and take it when he desired, just as africans place meal and liquor in their fetish houses. such tables were set in the great temple of bel at babylon, and the story of bel and the dragon in the apocrypha explains how the priests and their women and children came in by a secret door and ate up the things which were supposed to be consumed by the god. while the lord and the priests were certainly not vegetarians, neither did they insist on a vegetable diet for their people. the lord's table of fare is set out in leviticus xi., and a very curious _menu_ it is. the hare is expressly excluded "because he cheweth the cud," although he does nothing of the kind; but "the locust after his kind, the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind," are freely permitted. another divine regulation, and one which throws much light on the divine methods, is recorded in deut. xvi. --"thou shalt not eat of anything that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates that he may eat it, or thou mayest sell it unto an alien." to this day the jews are particular in observing this godly method of disposing of diseased meat. to arrive at the truth in regard to the question whether human sacrifice was at one time a portion of the jewish religion, or whether it was, as the orthodox generally assert, simply a corruption copied from the surrounding heathen nations, it is necessary to bear in mind that every portion of the jewish law is of later date than the prophets. the book of the law was only found in the time of king josiah, who opposed this very practice ( kings xxiii. ), and there is no evidence of its existence before that date. there is reason to believe that the priestly code of leviticus is later still, dating only from the time of ezra. instead of reflecting the ideas of the age of moses, it reflects those of almost a thousand years later. it is therefore only in the historical books that we can expect to find traces of what the actual religion of israel was. there is ample evidence that human sacrifice formed a conspicuous element. ahaz, king of judah, "burnt his children in the fire" ( chron. xxviii. ); mannasseh, king of judah, was guilty of the same atrocity ( chron. xxxiii. ); jeremiah denounces the children of judah for having "built the high place of tophet, which is in the valley of the son of hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire" (vii. ); micah remonstrates against both animal and human sacrifice--"will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams; shall i give my first-born for my transgression; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (vi. ). in the well-known story of abraham and isaac, as in the greek story of iphigenia, and the roman one of valeria luperca, we have an account of the transition to a less barbarous stage in the substitution of animal for human sacrifice. it was natural that this legend should be ascribed to the time of the father of the faithful, but there is, as we have seen, abundant evidence of the practice existing long subsequent to the time of abraham, who was by no means surprised at and in no way demurred to the divine command, "take now thy son, thine only son isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee unto the land of moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which i will tell thee of" (genesis xxii. ). anyone who at the present day should exhibit a faith like unto that of the patriarchal saint would be in jeopardy of finding himself within the walls of a criminal lunatic asylum. that human sacrifices lasted long after the time of abraham we have an instance in the case of jephthah, who vowed that if jahveh would deliver the children of ammon into his hand, he would offer up for a burnt offering whosoever came forth from his house to meet him upon his return from his expedition (judges xi. , ). in order to tone this down the authorised version reads "whatsoever" instead of "whosoever," which is supplied in the margin of the revised version. despite the emphatic statement that jephthah did with her according to his vow, it has been alleged that because his daughter petitioned to be allowed to bewail her virginity for two months, she was only condemned to a life of celibacy. this is preposterous. jahveh, unlike jesus, had no partiality for the unmarried state. he liked a real sacrifice of blood. to lament childlessness was a common ancient custom, and even the greek and latin poets have represented their heroines who were similarly doomed to an early death, such as antigone, polyxena, and iphigenia, as actually lamenting in a very similar manner their virginity or unmarried condition. there is no single instance in the old testament of a woman being set apart as a virgin, though, as we have seen, there are numerous indications of human sacrifices. even in the levitical law sanction is given to human sacrifice. "none devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death" (lev. xxvii. ). jahveh insisted on the sacrifice being completed. david sent seven sons of saul to be hung before the lord to stay a famine. that a party remained in israel who considered human sacrifice a part of their religion is evident also from jeremiah, who says: "they have built also the high places of baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto baal, which i commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind" (xix. ). these strong asseverations were evidently called forth by assertions made by persons addicted to such practices, and those persons had the support of ezekiel, who, in contradiction to the statements of jeremiah, contended that jahveh gave them up to pollution, even as he hardened the heart of pharaoh that they might know that he was the lord (ezek. xx. - ). the passover. "_christ our passover is sacrificed for us_." --paul ( cor. v. .) the passover is the most important and impressive festival of the jews, instituted, it is said, by god himself, and a type of the sacrifice of his only son. its observance was most rigorously enjoined under penalty of death, and although the circumstances of the jews have prevented their carrying out the sacrificial details, they still, in the custom of each head of the family assuming _pro tem_, the _rôle_ of high priest, preserve the most primitive type of priesthood known. the bible account of the institution of the passover is utterly incredible. after afflicting the egyptians with nine plagues, god still hardens pharaoh's heart (exodus x. ), and tells moses that "about midnight" he will go into the midst of egypt and slay all the firstborn. but in order that he shall make no mistake in carrying out his atrocious design, he orders that each family of the children of israel shall take a lamb and kill it in the evening, and smear the doorposts of the house with blood, "and when i see the blood i will pass over you." the omniscient needed this sign, that he might not make a mistake and slay the very people he meant to deliver. one cannot help wondering what would have been the result if some egyptian, like morgiana in "the forty thieves," had wiped off the blood from the israelite doorposts and sprinkled the doorposts of the egyptians. moses received this command on the very day at the close of which the paschal lambs were to be killed. this was very short notice for communicating with the head of each family about to start on a hurried flight. as the people were two million in number and the lambs had to be all males, without blemish, of one year old, this supposes, on the most moderate computation, a flock of sheep as numerous as the people. who can credit this monstrous libel on the character of god and on the intelligence of those to whom such a story is proffered? what, then, is the correct version of the origin of the passover? dr. hardwicke, in his _popular faith unveiled_, following sir wm. drummond and godfrey higgins, says it meant "nothing more or less than the pass-over of the sun across the equator, into the constellation aries, when the astronomical lamb was consequently obliterated or sacrificed by the superior effulgence of the sun." it is noticeable that the principal festivals of the jews, as of other nations, were in spring and autumn, at the time of lambing and sowing and when the harvest ripened. but while allowing that this may have determined the time of the festival, i cannot think it covers the ground of its significance. the story relates that when moses first asked pharaoh to let the israelites go, it was that they might celebrate a feast in the wilderness which was accompanied by a sacrifice (see exodus v. i. and iii. ). this may be taken as indicating that there was known to be a festival at this season prior to the days of pharaoh. and at the festival of the spring increase of flocks the god must of course have his share. epiphanius declares that the egyptians marked their sheep with red, because of the general conflagration which once raged at the time when the sun passed over into the sign of aries, thereby to symbolise the fiery death of those animals who were not actually offered up. von bohlen says the ancient peruvians marked with blood the doors of the temples, royal residences, and private dwellings, to symbolise the triumph of the sun over the winter. the suggestion that owing to peculiarities of diet or of constitution some pestilence afflicted the egyptians which passed over and spared the jews, is a very plausible one, and deserves more attention than it has yet received, since it would account for many features in the institution. but there remains another signification, which seems indicated in the thirteenth chapter of exodus in connection with the institution of the passover. there we read the order, "thou shalt set apart [the margin more properly reads "cause to pass over"] unto the lord, all that openeth the matrix" (verse ). "and every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou will not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem."* professor huxley asks upon this passage: "is it possible to avoid the conclusion that immolation of their firstborn sons would have been incumbent on the worshippers of jahveh, had they not been thus specially excused?"** in one of the oldest portions of the pentateuch (exodus xxii. ) the command stands simply, "the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me." in exodus xii. , xxiii. , xxxiv. ; and numbers ix. , the passover is spoken of as particularly the lord's own sacrifice. * why is the ass only mentioned besides man? one cannot but suspect that his introduction is an interpolation by the reformed jews, who had outgrown the custom of human sacrifice, betrayed by the phrase "thou shalt break his neck." ** nineteenth century, april, . the law proceeds to enjoin that the father shall tell his son as the reason for the festival, how the lord "slew all the firstborn in the land of egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beasts: therefore i sacrifice to the lord all that openeth the matrix being males; but all the firstborn of my children i redeem." evidently here is the notion of a substitutionary offering, although the reason given is not the true reason. in exodus xxxiv. - , the festival is brought into the same connection with immediate reference to the redemption of the firstborn. in the story of abraham and isaac we have the same idea. god commands the patriarch to offer up his only son as a burnt sacrifice (gen. xxii. ), an order which he receives without astonishment, and proceeds to execute as if it were the most ordinary business imaginable, without the slightest sign of reluctance. a messenger from jahveh, however, intervenes and a ram is substituted.* i do not doubt that this story, like similar ones found in hindu and greek mythology, indicates an era when animal sacrifices were substituted for human ones.** * observe that elohim, the old gods, claim the sacrifice and jahveh, the new lord, prevents it. ** it may help us to understand how the sacrifice of an animal may atone for human life, if we notice how in south africa a zulu will redeem a lost child from the finder by a bullock. the legend is of course far older than the record of it which reaches us. in a notable passage in ezekiel xx. , , the lord declares that he had given his people "statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live." and he continues, "i polluted them in their own gifts in that they cause to pass through _the fire_ all that openeth the womb, that i might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that i am the lord." the fact that the very same words are used in ezekiel which are found in exodus xiii. , at once suggests that originally the passover was a human sacrifice, and that of the most abominable kind--the offering of the firstborn--and that the story of the lord slaying the firstborn of egypt was an invention to account for the relics of the custom. we know that such sacrifices did remain as part of the jewish religion. ezekiel himself says that when they had slain their children to their idols, they came the same day in the sanctuary to profane it (xxiii. ). micah argues against the barbarous practice: "shall i give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (vi. ). two kings of judah, ahaz and manasseh, are recorded to have offered up their children as burnt offerings ( chron. xxviii. , xxxiii. ), as upon one occasion did the king of moab ( kings iii. ). chron. xxx., in relating how hezekiah commanded all israel to keep the passover, says that "they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written," and relates how the levites were ashamed and many yet did eat the passover otherwise than it was written. and in the account of how josiah broke down the altars which had been set up by ahaz and manasseh one reads "surely there was not held such a passover from the days of the judges." in other words, it had never been kept in the same fashion within human memory. the keeping of the passover had been different before this reformation, just as until the age of hezekiah the jews worshipped a brazen serpent, which they afterwards accounted for by ascribing it to moses, the law-giver who had prohibited all idolatry. on the eve of the passover, to the present day, the firstborn son among the jews, who is of full age--i.e., thirteen--fasts. this we take to be a rudimentary survival. if then we interpret the offering of the paschal lamb as being substituted for a human sacrifice, we shall understand how it is at once a thank-offering and yet eaten with "the bread of affliction," the motzahs, or unleavened cakes, and bitter herbs, which are the remaining features of the festival, and this may help to explain the accusation which in all ages has been brought against the jews, viz., that once in seven years at least they required their passover to be celebrated with human blood. it is true the accusation has been often brought without evidence, but the jews themselves profess astonishment at the unanimity with which their opponents have fixed upon this charge. further, we shall see that in adopting the paschal lamb as the type of christ, the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins, the christians were simply reverting to the early savage notion that deities are only to be appeased with blood, and to this degraded belief they have added the absurdity that christ himself was god, thus making god sacrifice himself in order to appease himself! the evolution of jahveh. in the beginning when men created gods they made them in their own image, cruel, unrestrained and vacillating, all the early religions give evidence of the savage nature of ancient man. the departed gods, viewed in the light of modern ideals, were all ugly devils. the boasted god of the jews is no exception. although the books of the old testament do not give us the earliest and doubtless still more savage beliefs of the israelites, the oldest portions, such as the legends embodied in genesis and the historical books, sufficiently betray that jahveh was no better than his compeers. it is evident that originally he was only one of many gods. he is always spoken of as a family deity--the god of abraham, of isaac and of jacob. human sacrifices were at one time offered to him (see genesis xxii., leviticus xxvii. , numbers xxv. , judges xi. - , samuel xv. , micah vi. , ). he is anthropomorphic, yet anything but a gentleman. in his decalogue he describes himself as "a jealous god, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children until the third and fourth generation." he delights in blood and sacrifice. he is entitled "a god of battles," "lord of hosts," and "a man of war." he has the form, the movements, and the imperfections of a human being. man is said to be made in his image and after his likeness. it is plain these words must be taken in their literal significance, since, a little further on, adam is described, in the same language, as having begotten seth "in his own likeness and after his image" (genesis v. ). jahveh walks in the garden in the cool of the day. he has come down to see the tower of babel (gen. xi. ). he covers moses with "his hand" so that he should not see "his face"; and while moses stands in a clift of the rock jahveh shows him "his back parts" (exodus xxxiii. ). he makes clothes for adam and eve, and writes his laws with his own finger. after six days' work we are told that "on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed" (exodus xxxi. ). when noah sacrificed we are told that "jahveh smelled a sweet savor" (gen. vii. ). he creates mankind and then regrets their creation--"it repented jahveh that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart" (genesis vi. ). he puts a bow in the clouds in order to remember his vow, and again and again he repents of the evil which he thought to do unto his people (see exodus xxxii. ; numbers xiv.; sam. xxiv. ; jonah iii. ; etc.) jacob wrestles with him; and when things do not go as they wish, moses, joshua, david and job no more hesitate to remonstrate with their deity than the african hesitates to chide the fetish that does not answer his prayers. in the early books jahveh is irascible and unjust. his temper is soon up, and his vengeance usually falls on the wrong parties. eve eats the forbidden fruit and all her female descendants are condemned to pains at childbirth. pharaoh refuses to let the hebrews go and the firstborn child of every egyptian family is slain, and other dreadful afflictions are poured on the innocent people. david, like a wise king, takes a census of his nation, and jahveh punishes him by slaying seventy thousand of the people by a pestilence ( chron. xxi. -- ). he slaughters fifty thousand inhabitants of the village of bethshemesh for innocently looking into his travelling-trunk on its return from captivity ( samuel vi. ). he smites uzzah for putting his hand to save the ark from falling ( samuel vi. , ), and withers jeroboam's hand for venturing to put it upon the altar ( kings xiii. ). he sends bears to kill forty-two little children for calling elisha "bald-head" ( kings ii. , ), and his general conduct is that of a barbarous, bloodthirsty and irresponsible tyrant. we say nothing here of the character of his favorite people. "man paints himself in his gods," said schiller. the captivity of the jews and their consequent contact with other nations led to their own refinement and an enlarged ideal of their divinity. he improves much in his character, tastes and propensities. nehemiah addressed jahveh in the elevated tone the persians addressed ahura-mazda. whereas in the old days jahveh ordered whole hecatombs of sheep and oxen to be sacrificed to him, doubtless because his priests liked beef and mutton (they had the meat and he had the smell)--the prophet isaiah in his first chapter writes, "to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?" saith jahveh. "wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." similarly, micah gives worship an ethical instead of a ceremonial character: "will jahveh be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? shall i give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? he hath showed thee, o man, what is good; and what doth jahveh require of thee but to do justly and love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy god." ezekiel bluntly contradicts moses, and declares that "the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son" (xviii. ). the second isaiah even looks forward to the time when gentiles will acknowledge the jewish jahveh, and zechariah declares "thus saith jahveh of hosts: in those days it shall come to pass that the ten men shall take hold of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a jew, saying, we will go with you: for we have heard that god is with you" (viii. ). jewish vanity did not permit tolerance to extend beyond this. even in the new testament god only offers salvation to those who believe, and mercilessly damns all the rest. "an honest god is the noblest work of man," and theists of all kinds have found great difficulty in supplying the article. herbert spencer, in a paper on "religion" in the _nineteenth century_* well says: "if we contrast the hebrew god described in primitive tradition, manlike in appearance, appetites and emotions, with the hebrew gods as characterised by the prophets, there is shown a widening range of power along with a nature increasingly remote from that of man. and on passing to the conceptions of him which are now entertained, we are made aware of an extreme transfiguration. by a convenient obliviousness, a deity who in early times is represented as hardening men's hearts so that they may commit punishable acts, and as employing a lying spirit to deceive them, comes to be mostly thought of as an embodiment of virtues transcending the highest we can imagine." and so the idea of god developes "till by broad spreading it disperse to nought." * january, . for the process is not simply from the savage to the civilised--it is from the definite to the dim. as man advances god retires. with each increase of our knowledge of nature the sphere of the supernatural is lessened till all deities and devils are seen to be but reflections of man's imagination and symbols of his ignorance. joshua and the sun. savages fail to recognise the limits of their power over nature. things which the experience of the race shows us to be obviously impossible are not only attempted but believed to be performed by persons in a low stage of culture. miracles always accompany ignorance. no better proof of the barbarous and unintelligent state whence we have emerged could be given than the stories of the supernatural which are found embodied in all religions, and also in the customs of savages and the folk-lore of peasantry. primitive man thinks of all phenomena as caused by spirits. hence to control the spirits is to control the phenomena. herodotus (iv., ) tells a curious tale how once in the land of psylii, the modern tripoli, the wind blowing from the sahara dried up all the water-tanks. so the people took counsel and marched in a body to make war on the south wind. but when they entered the desert, the simoon swept down on them and buried them. it is still said of the bedouins of eastern africa that "no whirlwind ever sweeps across the path without being pursued by a dozen savages with drawn creeses, who stab into the centre of the dusty column, in order to drive away the evil spirit that is believed to be riding on the blast." the chinese beat gongs and make other noises at an eclipse, to drive away the dragon of darkness. at an eclipse, too, the ojibbeways used to think the sun was being extinguished, so they shot fire-tipped arrows in the air, hoping thus to re-kindle his expiring light. at the present day theosophists seek to compass magical powers which in early times were supposed to be generally possessed by sorcerers. rain-making was one of the most common of these supposed powers. instances are found in the bible. samuel says: "i will call unto the lord and he shall send thunder and rain," and he does so ( sam. xii. , ). so elijah, by prayer (which in early times meant a magical spell), obtained rain. jesus controls the winds and the waves, walks on the water, and levitates through the air. mr. j. g. frazer, in his splendid work _the golden bough_ gives many instances of savages making sunshine and staying the sun. thus "the melanesians make sunshine by means of a mock sun. a round stone is wound about with red braid and stuck with owl's feathers to represent rays; it is then hung on a high tree." "in a pass of the peruvian andes stand two ruined towers on opposite hills. iron hooks are clamped into their walls for the purpose of stretching a net from one tower to another. the net is intended to catch the sun." numerous other methods are resorted to by different tribes. jerome, of prague, travelling among the lithuanians, who early in the fifteenth century were still pagans, found a tribe who worshipped the sun and venerated a large iron hammer. "the priests told him at once the sun had been invisible for several months because a powerful king had shut it up in a strong tower; but the signs of the zodiac had broken open the tower with this very hammer and released the sun. therefore they adored the hammer."* mr. frazer gives reasons for thinking that the fire festivals solemnised at midsummer in ancient times were really sun-charms. the phenomena of nature were supposed to be at the service of the pious. the thunderbolts of zeus fell upon the heads of perjurers. some people still wonder the earth does not open when a man announces himself an atheist. jahveh just before stopping the sun, pelted the enemies of israel with hailstones (joshua x. ). so diodorus siculus (xi. ) relates how the persians when on their way to spoil the temple at delphi, were deterred by "a sudden and incredible tempest of wind and hail, with dreadful thunder and lightning, by which great rocks were rent to pieces and cast upon the heads of the persians, destroying them in heaps." herodotus too (ii. ) tells how "the egyptians asserted that the sun had four times deviated from his ordinary course." clergymen cite this as a corroboration of the fact that all ancient peoples have similar absurd legends displaying their ignorance of nature and consequent superstition. the power of arresting the stars in their courses, and lengthening the days and nights was imputed to witches. thus tibullus says of a sorceress (i. eleg. )-- i've seen her tear the planets from the sky, seen lightning backward at her bidding fly. and lucan in his pharsalia (vi. )-- whene'er the proud enchantress gives command, eternal motion stops her active hand; no more heav'n's rapid circles joarney on, but universal nature stands foredone; the lazy god of day forgets to rise, and everlasting night pollutes the skies. * the golden bough, vol. i., pp. , . no modern poet would think of saying like statius that the sun stood still at the unnatural murder of atreus. such an idea found its way into poetry because it had previously been conceived as a fact. hence we find numerous similar stories to that of joshua. thus it is related of bacchus in the orphic hymns that he arrested the course of the sun and the moon. mr. spence hardy in his _legends and theories of buddhists_, shows that arresting the course of the sun was a common thing among the disciples of buddha. we need not be surprised to find that men were once believed to be able to control the sun when we reflect that to this day the majority of people fancy there is some magnified non-natural man, they call god, who is able to do the same. seeing the legend of joshua in its true form as one of numerous similar instances illustrating the barbarity and ignorance of the past, we see also that the whole merit and instruction of the story is taken away by those modern christians, who speak of it as poetry, or who endeavor to reconcile it with the conclusions of science. these explanations were never sought for while miracles were generally credible. josephus speaks of the miracle as a literal one, and the author of ecclesiasticus xlvi. says the lord "stopped the sun in his anger and made one day as two." "rationalistic" explanations of miracles are often the most irrational, because they fail to take into account the vast difference between the state of mind which gave rise to the stories, and that which seeks to rationalise them. the hebrew prophets. anyone who has read an account of the mystery men among savages, will have the clue to the original nature and functions of the inspired prophets of jahveh. these persons occupied a rôle somewhat similar to that of brian the hermit, the highland seer described by sir walter scott in his "lady of the lake." they were a sort of cross between the bard and the fortuneteller. divination, though forbidden by the law of moses, was continually resorted to by the superstitious jews. the mysterious urim and thummim clearly represented some method of divination. in kings vi. and psalms xxviii. , the adytum of the temple is called the "oracle." numerous references are to be found in the bible to the practice of casting lots, the disposing of which is said to be "of the lord" (see num. xxvi. , joshua xiii. , sam. xiv. , prov. xiv. , xviii. , and esther iii. ), and also to "inquiring of god," which was equivalent to divination. thus in judges xviii. five danites ask the levite, who became micah's priest, to "ask counsel of god" whether they shall prosper on their way. the ninth chapter of the first book of samuel gives an instructive glimpse into the nature of the prophets. saul, sent to recover his father's asses, and, unable to find them, is told by his servant that there is in the city a man of god, and all what he saith cometh surely to pass. saul, perhaps guessing the lucre-loving propensities of men of god, complains that he has no present to offer. the servant, however, had the fourth part of a shekel of silver (about d.) wherewith to cross the seer's palms; and saul, seeking for asses, is made king over israel by the prophet samuel. the custom of making a present to the prophet is also alluded to in kings xiv. . jereboam, when his son falls sick, sends his wife to ahijah the prophet with ten loaves and cracknels and a cruse of honey, to inquire his fate. later on, micah (iii. ) complains that "the prophets divine for money." see also nehe-miah vi. . as with the oracles of ancient greece and rome (the inspiration of which was believed by the early christian fathers, with the proviso that they were inspired not by deities, but by devils), the prophets were especially consulted in times of war. thus, in kings xxii., ahab consults prophets about going to battle against ramoth-gilead. he is told to go and prosper, for the lord shall deliver it into the king's hand. micaiah the prophet, however, explains that he had seen the lord in counsel with all the host of heaven, and the lord sent a lying spirit to the prophets in order to persuade ahab to go to his destruction. this is quite in accordance with the declaration in ezekiel xiv. , that "if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, i the lord hath deceived that prophet." david on one occasion ( sam. xxiii. ) "took counsel of god," as this divination was called, by means of the ephod, probably connected with the urim and thummim. he sought to know if he would be safe from his enemy, saul, if he stayed at keilah. on receiving an unfavorable response david decamped. inquiring of the lord on another occasion, david got more particular instructions than were usually imparted by oracles. he was told not to go up against the philistines, but to fetch a compass behind them and come on them over against the mulberry trees ( sam. v. ). we read, sam. xxviii. , that "when saul inquired of the lord, the lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by urim, nor by prophets." this, presumably, was because (verse ) "saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards out of the land." he therefore had to seek out the witch of endor to raise the spirit of samuel. the lord is said to have declared through moses, "if there be a prophet among you i the lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream" (num. xii. ). this method of divine revelation is alluded to in job xxxiii. - , "for god speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth his instruction." god came to abimelech in a dream by night and threatened him for taking abraham's wife (gen. xx. ). so he revealed himself and his angels to his favorite jacob (gen. xxviii. ). "god came to laban, the syrian, in a dream by night" (gen. xxxi. ) to warn him against touching juggling jacob. joseph dreams of his own future advancement and of the famine in egypt, and interprets the dreams of others. gideon was visited by the lord in the night, and encouraged by some other person's dream (judges vii.) jahveh appeared also to his servant, sultan solomon, "in a dream by night" ( kings iii. ). daniel, too, was a dreamer and dream interpreter (dan. ii. , vii. ). god promises through joel that he will pour his spirit upon all flesh, "and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions" (chap. ii. ). the original meaning of the hebrew word _cohen_ or priest is said to be "diviner." it is, i believe, still so in arabic. prophets and dreamers are frequently classed together in the bible, as in deut. xiii. : "if there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams." jer. xxvii. : "therefore hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers." zech. x. : "the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams." when religion is organised the dreamers and interpreters of dreams, who are an irresponsible class, fall into the background before the priests. no one can read the account of balaam's falling, and lying prostrate with his eyes open while prophesying (numbers xxiv.); and of saul when, after an evil spirit from god had come upon him ( sam. xviii. ), "he stripped off his clothes also and prophesied in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night; wherefore they say, is saul also among the prophets" ( sam. xix. ), without calling to mind the exhibitions of ecstatic mania among semi-savages. the shamans of siberia, for instance, work themselves up into fury, supposing or pretending that in this condition they are inspired by the spirit in whose name they speak, and through whose inspiration they are enabled to answer questions as well as to foretell the future. the root of the hebrew word for prophet--_nabi_, said to mean a bubbling up--confirms this view. the vehement gestures and gushing current of speech which accompanied their improvisations suggested a fountain bubbling up. insanity and inspiration are closely allied. various methods were resorted to among the ancients to attain the state of ecstacy, when the excited nerves found significance in all around. the brahmans used the intoxicating soma. at delphi the pythia inhaled an incense until she fell into a state of delirious intoxication; and the sounds she uttered in this state were believed to contain the revelations of apollo. in david dancing with all his might and scantily clad before the ark of jahveh, we are forcibly reminded of the dervishes and other religious dancers. from the mention of music in connection with prophesying ( sam. x. , xvi. , kings iii. ), it has been conjectured the jewish prophets anticipated the salvationists in this means of producing or relieving excitement. in the mysteries of isis, in orphic cory-bantian revels, music was employed to work the worshippers into a state of orgiastic frenzy. the passage about saul suggests the nudity or scanty costume of the prophets. isaiah the elder--for the poet who wrote from chap. xl. to lxvi. must be distinguished from his predecessor--alleges a commandment from jahveh to walk naked and barefoot for three years (isaiah xx. ). apollos, or whoever wrote the epistle to the hebrews (xi. ), speaks of them wandering about in sheepskins and goatskins. a girdle of leather seems to have been the sole costume of elijah ( kings i. ). micah (i. ) says "i will wail and howl, i will go stripped and naked." zechariah speaks of the prophets who "wear a rough garment to deceive," and "say i am no prophet i am an husbandman" (zech. xiii. ), which is like what amos (vii. ) says: "i was no prophet, neither was i a prophet's son; but i was an herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit." isaiah (xxviii. ) says, "the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up of wine." jahveh tells jeremiah "the prophets prophesy lies in my name, i sent them not, neither have i commanded them, neither spake unto them; they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart" (xiv. ). further on he says, "o lord thou hast deceived me and i was deceived" (xx. ). the prophets of jerusalem, jeremiah declares, "commit adultery and walk in lies" (xxiii. ). ezekiel too, prophesies against the prophets and their lying divination (xiii. - ). hosea (ix. ) says, "the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad."* * see too isaiah lvi. - ; jer. xxvii. - , xxix. - ; micah iii - . some of the prophets can only be described as silly. such are the two in kings xiii. the prophet who asks to be smitten ( kings xii.); zedekiah, who makes himself horns of iron; and micaiah, who opposes him when a lying sprit comes from the lord ( kings xxii.) to these may be added the man of god ( chron. xxv. ), who made amaziah dismiss his "hundred thousand mighty men of valor," who in consequence fell upon the cities of judah and took much spoil. the student of comparative religion in reading of the hebrew prophets, is forcibly reminded of the hindu sunnyasis and mussulman fakirs. in the east insanity is confounded with inspiration, and dr. maudsley, in his _responsibility in mental disease_, has given his opinion that several of the hebrew prophets were insane. the dread and respect in which they were held is evinced in the legend of the forty-two children who were slain by bears for calling elisha bald-head. their arrogance and ferocity were exhibited by samuel, who made saul king till he found a more serviceable tool in david, and "hewed agag in pieces before the lord" ( sam. xv. ); and by elijah, who destroyed men for obeying the order of their king ( kings ii. - ), and at another time slew for a difference of opinion ( kings xviii. -- ). elisha was unscrupulous enough to send hazael to his master saying he should certainly recover; though at the time he knew he would certainly die ( kings viii. ). judging by such examples we may congratulate ourselves that the race of prophets is almost extinct. it must in fairness be said that some of the prophets used their influence in protecting the people against their priests and rulers, and that the greater prophets like isaiah did much to elevate the religion of israel, which in its modern form is largely their creation. old testament marriage. "marriage," says goethe, "is the beginning and end of all culture." too often the end of all culture, the cynic may say. it may safely be affirmed that marriage is the chief cause and product of civilisation. like other institutions, it has passed through various stages of growth among all nations, the jews included. it has been said "motherhood is a matter of observation, fatherhood a matter of opinion." certain it is that in early society kinship was reckoned through mothers only. of this we have some evidence in the bible. abraham, the father of the faithful, married sarah, "the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother" (gen. xx. ). his brother nahor took the daughter of his other brother, haran, to wife (gen. ix. - ). such marriages could not have occurred except when relationship through males was not sufficiently acknowledged for a bar to marriage to have been raised upon it. jacob had two sisters to wife at once. amram, the father of moses, married his own aunt (exodus ii. and chron. vii. ). even in the time of pious king david marriage with half-sisters was not considered improper, for when ammon wished to force his sister tamar, she said unto him, "speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee" ( samuel xiii. ). brothers by the same mother are specially distinguished (deut. xiii. , judges viii. ). the child, moreover, in early times, was thought rather to belong to the mother than the father. thus we find that ishmael was turned adrift with hagar, and hannah, one of the wives of elkanah the levite, had the right of presenting or devoting her son samuel to jahveh. a survival of consanguine marriage is found in deut. xxv., where it is expressly ordered that when a brother's widow is left childless "her husband's brother shall go in unto her and take her to him to wife"; and in the event of his refusing to do so he has to have his shoe loosed and his face spat upon. of the antiquity of this usage we have evidence in genesis xxxviii. when er, judah's firstborn, died, the father commanded his second son, "go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother." the second son refusing, the thing which he did displeased the lord, wherefore he slew him. judah now putting tamar off from taking his next son, she disguised herself and made her father-in-law do his son's duty, he acknowledging "she hath been more righteous than i." the custom is also referred to in the story of ruth. ewald amends ruth iv. : "thou must buy also ruth the moabitess." the bible reader will remember that the disgusting story of the patriarch lot and his daughters is related without the slightest token of disapproval. the daughters justified themselves by the plea that they would "preserve seed of our father." to understand these narratives, the reader must remember that in the early history of the family it was desirable, in the struggle for existence, that its numbers should not be diminished. many instances are found in the bible of the blessing of a large family. "happy is the man who has his quiver full." the blessing on the typical servant of jahveh is that "he shall see his seed," it was the duty of the next of kin to see that the family stock did not diminish. we find at the beginning of genesis that, when abel was slain, god gave seth "instead." in patriarchal life, as exhibited by the bedouins, the "next of kin," the _goel_, is a most important personage. to him the tribe looks to avenge or redeem a kinsman's death or misfortune. on him the widow and fatherless depend for support. he is, above all, the blood-balancer, who sees that the house is kept in its normal strength, and who seeks to recruit it as far as possible from the same blood--a state of things implying feud with surrounding tribes. job, in his anguish, can find no stronger consolation this--"i know that my _goel_ liveth." according to the morality of that time, not only tamar, but the family was grossly wronged by onan. by refusing to allow shelah to take the duties of _goel_, on the ground of his youth, judah himself incurred the responsibilities of that office. it was his duty to see that seed was raised. tamar resorted to cunning, the weapon of the weak, and judah's confession is the real moral of what, to a modern, must be considered the very disgusting story in genesis xxxviii. all the old testament heroes, from lamech downwards, were polygamists. indeed, both polygamy and concubinage were practised by those hebrew saints who were most distinguished by their piety, faith, and communion with jahveh. abraham not only took hagar as a secondary wife, but turned her adrift in the wilderness when it suited his own goodwill and pleasure. jacob, who lived under the special guidance of god, married two sisters at the same time, and each of them presented him with concubines. david, the man after god's own heart, had many wives and concubines ( samuel iii. - , v. ), while solomon, who was wiser than all men, boasted of seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines ( kings xi. ). jahveh, while denouncing intermarriage with women of foreign races, never says a word against either polygamy or concubinage. on the contrary, both are sanctioned and regulated by the mosaic law (deut. xxi. - ). more than this, god himself is said to have married two sisters, aholah and aholibah (ezekiel xxiii.), and although this is figurative, the figure would never have been used had the fact been considered sinful. a hebrew father might sell his daughter to be a wife, concubine, or maid-servant to an israelite, and her master might put her away if she pleased him not (exodus xxi. - ). women taken captives in war might be used as wives and dismissed at pleasure (deut. xxi. - ). in the case of the midianites only virgins were preserved. moses indignantly asked, have ye saved all the women alive? "now therefore kill every male among the little ones and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. but all the women children, that hath not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." and the lord took shares in this maiden tribute (numb, xxxi.) woman in the bible is treated as merchandise. in jacob's time she was bought by seven years' service, but in the time of the prophet hosea she was valued only at fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley. in the decalogue it is prohibited to covet a man's wife on the same ground as his man slave, his maid slave, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is his. her lord and master could say with petruchio: she is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, my household stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything. by god's law a man was permitted to dismiss a wife when she found "no favor in his eyes," by simply writing out a bill of divorcement. there is no mention of the woman having any similar power of getting quit of her lord and master. if he suspected her fidelity he could compel her to go through an ordeal in which the priest administered to her the water of jealousy, which if guilty would cause her to rot, but which was harmless if she was innocent. no doubt this was a potent means in securing wifely devotion and a ready remedy for any hated spouse. in the hands of a friendly priest the concoction would be little likely to fail, and even should it prove innocuous there was the expedient of writing a bill of divorcement. it is usually said that god "winked at" (acts xvii. ) these proceedings, because of the hardness of the old jews' hearts, and that from the beginning it was not so. in proof of this is cited the passage in genesis which says, "therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." the proper interpretation of this passage illustrates a very early form of marriage still found in some tribes, and known in ceylon as beenah marriage. mr. mclennan, one of the highest authorities on primitive marriage, says: "in beenah marriage the young husband leaves the family of his birth and passes into the family of his wife, and to that he belongs as long as the marriage subsists. the children born to him belong, not to him, but to the family of their mother. living with, he works for, the family of his wife; and he commonly gains his footing in it by service. his marriage involves usually a change of village; nearly always (where the tribal system is in force) a change of tribe, but always a change of family. so that, as used to happen in new zealand, he may be bound even to take part in war against those of his father's house. the man leaves father and mother as completely as with the patriarchal family prevailing, a bride would do; and he leaves them to live with his wife and her family. that this accords with the passage in genesis will not be disputed.* "marriage by purchase of the bride and her issue can hardly be thought to have been primeval practice. when we find beenah marriage and marriage by purchase as alternatives, therefore it is not difficult to believe that the former is the older of the two, and it was once in sole possession of the field."** * the patriarchal theory, p. ; . ** ibid, p. . it was a beenah marriage which jacob made into the family of laban, and we find from genesis xxiv. - that it was thought not improbable that isaac might do the same. in beenah marriage the children belong to the mother's clan, and we thus find that laban says: "these daughters are my daughters, and these children my children." it was exactly against such a marriage as that of jacob, viz., with two women at one time that the text (lev. xvii. ) was directed which is so much squabbled about by both opponents of and advocates for marriage with a deceased wife's sister. the custom of the levirate mentioned in deut. xxv. possibly indicates pre-existent polyandry. lewis, in his _hebrew republic_, says: "in the earliest ages the levir had no alternative but to take the widow; indeed, she was his wife without any form of marriage." casting off a shoe, it may be said, is a symbol of foregoing a right; thus the relatives of a bride still "throw slippers." the arabs have preserved the ceremony intact. a proverb among them, when a young man foregoes his prescriptive right to marry his first cousin, is, "she was my slipper; i have cast her off" (burckhardt, bedouins and wahabys, i. ). among the caribs of venezuela and in equatorial west africa, the eldest son inherits all the wives of his deceased father with the sole exception of his own mother. schweinfurth relates that the same custom obtains in central africa. on the gold coast the throne is occupied by the prince, who gains possession of the paternal harem before his other brothers. thus absalom took david's harem in the sight of all israel before the old man had gone to glory, as a proof he wished his reign to be considered over; and when adonijah asks his brother solomon for abishag, the comforter of david's old age, the wise solomon kills him, as thus betraying designs on the throne. in the custom that widows passed to the heir with other property, and hence that marriage with the widow grew to be a sign of a claim to the deceased person's possessions, we have a reasonable explanation of what must otherwise appear irrational crime. the custom of inheriting widows is adverted to in the koran; and bendhawi, in his commentary, gives the whole ceremony, which consists in the relative of the deceased throwing his cloak over the widow and saying, "i claim her." the mormons always defended their plurality of wives from the divine book, and polygamy has been defended by various christian ministers, from the lutheran divine, joannes lyser, author of _discoursus politicus de polygamia_, and the rev. martin madan, author of _thelyphthora_ to the rev. mercer davies, author of _hangar_, and ap richard, m.a., who urges a biblical plea for polygamy under the title of _marriage and divorce_. such works have done little to bring into favor the divine ordinance of polygamy, but they have done much to show how unsuited is the morality of "the word of god" to the requirements of modern civilisation. surely it is time that the christians were ashamed of appealing to polygamous jews for any laws to regulate social institutions. the song of solomon. although there is no book with which students of divinity are better acquainted than with the "song of songs," there is also none of the same dimensions over which theologians have expressed so much diversity of opinion. its authorship has been ascribed to solomon for no better reason than because that sensual sultan is one of the subjects of its story. it is true it is one of the oldest books of the old testament, and begins by calling itself "the song of songs, which is solomon's"; but the book of ecclesiastes, which is one of the latest in the hebrew collection, is also ascribed to solomon, and possibly with as much reason. it has been credited with unfolding the sublime mysteries of the relation of christ to his church. it has been called an epithalamium upon the marriage of solomon with the daughter of pharaoh. according to a distinguished commentator, de lyra, the first portion describes the history of israel from the time of the exodus to the birth of christ, while from chapter vii. to the end gives the history of the christian church to constantine. the roman catholic theologian, hug, makes it treat of the ten tribes and hezekiah. cocceius, in accordance with his principle that holy scripture meant whatever it could be made to mean, found in the canticle the history of the church from its origin to its final judgment. hahn sees in it a prediction of the victory obtained over the heathen, by the love of israel, and finds the conversion of the negro in the passage which says, "we have a little sister, and she hath no breasts." in short, nearly every possible explanation has been offered of this portion of the word of god except the obvious and natural one, that it is an erotic poem. that there is any allegory in the piece is a pure assumption. the theory was unknown before the time of the talmud. the canticles are never referred to in the new testament. there is not the slightest indication in the work itself that there is any such object. not the most delicate hint, save in the headings of the chapters made by king james's bishops, that by the secret charms of the young lady we are to understand the mysterious graces of the christian church. in all allegories it is necessary the subject should be in some way indicated. the parables of jesus often proved puzzles to his disciples, but they had no doubt they were parables. moreover, the allegory--if it is one--is absurd or blasphemous. why should the church say of god: "his head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven"? or compare his legs to pillars of marble, or celebrate other parts of his divine person which are not usually mentioned in polite society? nor is it easy to see why christ should say to the church: "thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them"; or why he should declare, "thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fish-pools in heshbon, by the gate of bath-rabbim; thy nose is as the tower of lebanon, which looketh towards damascus." of course, to parody a phrase of voltaire's, the holy ghost was not bound to write like alfred tennyson, but, if intended for human guidance, one would think the divine meaning should be a little more apparent. the truth of the matter is, an allegorical interpretation has been forced into the song of solomon in order to relieve the holy ghost from a charge of indecency. grotius ventured to call the song of songs a libertine work. even the orthodox methodist commentator, adam clarke, earnestly exhorted young ministers not to found their sermons on its doubtful phrases. he knew how apt religious people are to mix up carnal desire and appetite with love to their blessed savior, and was perhaps aware that a number of christian hymns might appropriately have been addressed to priapus.* * see rimini's history of the moravians and southey's life of wesley* vol. i. pp. , . in the jewish church no one under the age of thirty was permitted to read the song of songs, a prohibition which may have assisted to give it its sacred character. it is, nevertheless, not more indelicate than many other portions of god's holy word, and viewed in its proper light as an oriental dramatic love poem, although it cannot be acquitted of outraging modern notions of decency, it is not, i think, so much, as some other portions of the bible, open to the charge of teaching immorality. on the contrary, its purpose is commendable. an attentive reading of the revised version, which is without the misleading headlines, and is divided to indicate the different speakers in the love drama, will make this apparent, and show this little scrap of the jewish national literature to possess a certain natural beauty which has been utterly obscured by the orthodox commentators who, from the time of the early fathers to hengstenberg and keil, have sought to associate it with christ and his church. sir william jones, in his essay on the mystical poetry of persia and india, called attention to the sensuous images in which oriental religious poetry expresses itself. this connection will surprise no one who has discovered from the history of religion that women and wine formed important features in ancient worship. the readiness with which ungratified sexual passion runs into religious emotion has frequently been marked by physicians, and finds much corroboration in the devotional works of monks and nuns. but the song of songs has nothing religious about it. even the personages are not religious, as in the hindu erotic _gita govinda_, by jayadeva, which tells of the loves of badha and the god krishna in the guise of a shepherd. christ and his church only appear in the headings given to the chapters. though to be classed among erotic poems, the song of songs cannot fairly be called immoral or obscene. the character of the interlocutors and the division of the scenes is a little uncertain. it is, for instance, dubious whether the first speaker is solomon or the shulamite. if we take the version of m. réville, the piece opens with the yearnings of the heroine, whom "the king hath brought into his chambers," for her absent lover. "let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine." she is black but comely; swarthy, because having to tend the vineyards she has been scorched by the sun. she is a shulammite, or native of shulam, now solma, near carmel--a part renowned for the beauty of its women. it was abishag, a shulamite, who was chosen when they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of israel to warm the bed of old king david. solomon had seen the fair maid of shulam, and, when she went down into the garden of nuts "to see the green plants of the valley," or ever she was aware, she was abducted. in vain, however, does the monarch offer her the best place in his harem. amid the glories of the court she sighs for the shepherd lover from whom she is separated. she tells how early one spring morning her beloved engaged her to go out with him. "for, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come. and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land and now, although she seeks and finds him not," she declares "my beloved is mine and i am his." her constant burden to her harem companions is, "i adjure you, o daughters of jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor awaken love until it please."* love must be spontaneous, she declares, and she refuses to yield to the wishes of the libidinous monarch. when solomon praises her she replies with praises of her beloved peasant swain. she longs for him by day and seeks him in dreams by night. solomon offers to place her above his "threescore queens and fourscore concubines and virgins without number"; but she is home-sick, and prefers the embraces of her lover to those of the lascivious king. her humble vineyard is more to her than all the king's riches. the moral is, "many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love he would utterly be condemned." and a far better one too than most morals to be drawn from the pages of the old testament. * revised version. the authorised version changes the whole purpose of the piece by reading "that ye stir not up nor awaken my love till he please." the song of songs, which is _not_ solomon's, is a valuable relic of antiquity, both because it utterly refutes the orthodox notion of biblical inspiration, and because it deals with the old old story of human passion which surges alike in peasants and in princes, and which animated the hearts of men and maidens two thousand years ago even as it does to-day. sacred seven. it was natural that in the early ages of human intelligence man should attach a superstitious reverence to numbers. the mystery attached to the number seven has been variously accounted for. some have explained it by the figures of the square and triangle, others by the stars of the great bear nightly seen overhead. gerald massey says: "the constellation of the seven great stars (ursa major) was probably the primordial figure of seven. seven was often called the perfect number. its name as hept (eg.) is also the name for plenty--a heap of food and good luck. the seven were the great heap or cluster of stars, an image of plenty, or a lot that revolved together."* my own opinion is that the superstition arose in connection first with the menstrual period, and then with the phases of the moon as a measurer of time. its period of twenty-eight days could be twice divided until the week of seven days was reached, and then further division was impossible. hence we everywhere find the superstition linked to the days of the week and the seven planets supposed to preside over these days. * natural genesis, ii., . the egyptians worshipped the seven planets, and herodotus tells us of their seven castes. so with the babylonians. from them was derived the jewish week. hesiod, according to eusebius, said "the seventh is the sacred day." what he says in his _works and days_ is, "on the seventh day latona brought forth apollo"; and Æschylus, in his _seven against thebes_, says the number seven was sacred to apollo. the moon periods were sacred as measuring time and also in connection with female periodicity. man discovered the month before the year. hence the moon was widely worshipped. the worship of the queen of heaven in palestine is alluded to in jer. vii. and xliv. . the superstition of the new moon bringing luck has descended to our own time. when the year was reckoned by thirteen moons of twenty-eight days, thirteen was the lucky number; but when this was changed for the twelve months of solar time, thirteen became one too many. the parsee bundahisli, according to gerald massey, exhibits seven races of men--( ) the earth-men, ( ) water-men, ( ) breast-eared men, ( ) breast-eyed men, ( ) one-legged men, ( ) batwinged men, ( ) men with tails. section of the kabbalistic sepher yezirah* says, "the seven planets in the world are saturn, jupiter, mars, sun, venus, mercury, moon. seven days in the year are the seven days of the week; seven gates in man, male and female, are two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth." again, section says, "by the seven double consonants were also designed seven worlds, seven heavens, seven lands, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days a week, seven weeks from passover to pentecost, there is a cycle of seven years, the seventh is the release year, and after seven release years is jubilee. hence god loves the number seven under the whole heaven." * trans, by dr. i. kalisch, pp. and . the bible, it has been remarked, begins in genesis with a seven, and ends in the apocalypse with a series of sevens. god himself took a rest on the seventh day and was refreshed, or, as the hebrew reads, took breath. the passover and other festivals lasted seven days; jacob bowed seven times; solomon's temple was seven years in building; the tabernacle had seven lamps, a candlestick with seven arms, etc. in a variety of passages it seems, like , to have been a sort of round number--as people sometimes say a dozen for an indeterminate quantity. thus in daniel iii. the fiery furnace was to be heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated. in proverbs (xxiv. ) we are told a just man falleth seven times and rises up again. one of the psalmists says (cix. ), "seven times a day do i praise thee because of thy righteous judgments" (see too lev. xxvi. , ; dent, xxviii. , ; job ix; psalm xii. , lxxix. ; isaiah iv. , xi. , xxx. ; jer. xv. , matt. xii. ). the week induced reckoning by sevens, and led to such enactments as that the jews on the seventh day of the seventh month should feast seven days and remain seven days in tents. the root idea of the number is that of religious periodicity. we find it not only in the sabbath, but in all other sacred periods. thus the seventh month is ushered in by the feast of trumpets, and signalised by the celebration of the feast of tabernacles and yom kippur. seven weeks is the interval between passover and pentecost. the seventh is the sabbatical year, when bondsmen were to be released and debts go free. with this custom is connected the binding of youths for seven years apprenticeship, and of punishing incorrigible offenders for , , or years. the year succeeding seven times seven is the jubilee. the earliest form, that of the menstrual period, is shown in the duration of various kinds of legal uncleanness, as after childbirth, after contact with a corpse, etc. so we have the sprinkling of the house seven times with the water of purification (lev. xiv. ), the command of elisha to naaman to wash in jordan seven times ( kings v. ). hezekiah, in cleansing the temple, offered seven bullocks, seven rams, and seven he-goats for a sin offering. septuple actions and agents abound. thus the blood of sacrifices were sprinkled seven times (lev. iv. , ; xiv. , , ; xvi. , ). so jacob bowed to his brother esau seven times (gen. xxxiii. ). balak built for balaam seven altars, and prepares seven oxen and seven rams (num. xxiii. , , , ), and abraham employed seven victims for sacrifice (gen. xxi. , ). we are reminded of the lines in virgil's Æneid (vi. ). seven bullocks, yet unyoked, for phoebus choose, and for diana, seven unspotted ewes. the hebrew verb _shaba_, to swear, is evidently derived from _sheba_ seven, and denoted a sevenfold affirmation. herodotus (xiii. ), tells us the manner of swearing among the ancient arabians included smearing seven stones with blood. sheba is allied to the egyptian seb-ti ( - ), the zend hapta, greek epta, latin septem. the pythagoreans said that heptad came from the greek _sebo_ to venerate, but egyptian and other african dialects suffice to prove it is far earlier. the writer of the apocalypse had the mystic number on the brain. dr. milligan has explained the number of the beast, as a fall below the sacred seven john of patmos gives us seven golden candlesticks, (i. ), seven stars (i. ), seven spirits and churches (iii. ), seven seals (v. ), trumpets (viii. ), thunders (x. ), vials (xvi. ), and seven angels with seven plagues (xvi.) the beast has seven heads, horns and crowns (xii. , xiii. , xvii. ). the lamb with seven horns and seven eyes (v. ). there are seven spirits before the throne of god (rev. i. , etc.) like the seven dhyani chohans emanating from parabrahm in hindu theosophy. so christians have kept up legends of seven wise men, seven wonders of the world, seven champions of christendom, seven cardinal virtues, seven deadly sins, seven devils in mary magdalene, etc. of course there is no better reason why there should be seven than the old idea of mystery and completion attached to the number. modern theosophists, too, go in largely for the number seven. there are seven planets, seven rounds on each planet and seven races. every ego is composed of seven principles--atma, buddhi, manas, kamarupa, linga sharira, prana, and sthula sharira. it may seem strange that a lady of madame blavatsky's undoubted powers of imagination should run in the old rut. but the well-worn superstitions work the easiest, although to every instructed person this one carries the mind back to the days when men knew only of seven planets and measured their time by the moon. transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). the original text includes greek characters. for this text version these letters have been replaced with transliterations. the original text contains two symbols that are represented in this version as [symbol]. the masculine cross. [illustration: _god indra nailed to a cross._] [illustration: _buddhist cross._] [illustration: _cross common on ancient assyrian monuments._] [illustration: _ancient heathen,--mexican cross._] the masculine cross or a history of ancient and modern crosses and their connection with the mysteries of sex worship also an account of the kindred phases of phallic faiths and practices. privately printed . contents. page chapter i. the cross chapter ii. the cross (continued) chapter iii. the doctrine of a sacred triad chapter iv. the doctrine of a sacred triad (continued) chapter v. the golden calf of aaron chapter vi. circumcision chapter vii. androgynous deities, sex worship, &c. introductory. _in the following pages certain things supposed to be of comparatively modern origin have been traced back to the remotest historic ages of the world; as a consequence, it follows that the modern symbolical meaning given to such things is sometimes only one acquired in subsequent times, and not that exactly which was originally intended,--it must not be supposed, therefore, that the interpretation belonging to the epoch in which we are first enabled to trace a definite meaning is to be conclusively regarded as that which gave birth to the form of the symbol. the original may have been--probably was--very different to what came after; the starting point may have been simplicity and purity, whilst the developments of after years were degrading and vicious. particularly so was this the case in the lingam worship of the vast empire of india; originally the adoration of an almighty creator of all things, it became, in time, the worship of the regenerative powers of material nature, and then the mere indulgence in the debased passions of an abandoned and voluptuous nature._ _with regard to the symbol of the cross, it may be repugnant to the feelings of some to be told that their recognition of its purely christian origin is a mistake, and that it was as common in pagan as in more advanced times; they may find consolation, however, in the fact that its real beginning was further back still in the world's history, and that with paganism it was, as it had been with christianity, simply an adopted favourite._ _our story is taken up in the middle epoch of the history, and shews the relationship of the things we deal with to prevailing phallic faiths and practices._ the masculine cross. chapter i. _universal prevalence of the cross--mistakes--the cross not of christian origin--christian veneration of the cross--the roman ritual--the cross equally honoured by the gentile and christian worlds--druidical crosses--the copt oak of charnwood forest--assyrian crosses in british museum--pectoral crosses--egyptian crosses--greek cross--st. andrew's cross--planetary signs and crosses--monogram of christ at serapis--cross in india--pagodas in form of crosses--mariette bey's discovery--buddhist and roman crosses--chinese crosses--kampschatkan crosses--american crosses--cross among the red indians--the royal commentaries of peru--mexican ideas relative to the cross--the spaniards in america--sign of the cross--cross as an amulet--hot-cross buns--tertullian on the use of the cross._ the universal prevalence of the cross as an ornament and symbol during the last eighteen centuries in the christian church has led to some great, if not grave, mistakes. it has been supposed, and for various obvious reasons very naturally so, to be of exclusively christian origin, and to represent materially no more than the instrument by which the founder of that religion was put to death; and, spiritually or symbolically, faith in the sacrificial atoning work he then completed. there are not a few people about who, having become imbued with this idea, rush to the hasty conclusion that wherever the cross is found, and upon whatever monuments, it indicates a connection with christianity, and is therefore of comparatively modern origin. history, in consequence, becomes a strange and unfathomable mystery, especially when it belongs to kingdoms of well-known great antiquity, amongst whose symbols or ornaments the cross is plentiful, and the mind finds itself involved in a confusion from which it cannot readily extricate itself. never was there a greater blunder perpetrated, or a more ignorant one, than the notion of the figure of the cross owing its origin to the instrument of christ's death, and the christian who finds comfort in pressing it to his lips in the hour of devotion or of trouble must be reminded that the ancient egyptian did a similar thing. the fact is, there is great similarity between the cross worship, or veneration if you please, of ancient and modern times. christians, we know, are apt to repudiate the charge of rendering worship to this symbol, but it is clear from what is printed in some of their books of devotion that some sort of worship is actually rendered, though disguised under other names. as to the veneration thus offered being right or wrong, we here say nothing; the fact only concerns us so far as it relates to the subject we have in hand. if we open the _tablet_ (roman catholic newspaper) for the th of november, , we read:--"those of our readers who have visited rome will, doubtless, have remarked, at the foot of the stairs which descend from the square of the capitol to the square of the campo vaccino, under the flight of steps in front of the church of st. joseph, and over the door of the mamertine prison, a very ancient wooden crucifix, before which lamps and wax tapers are constantly burning, and surrounded on all sides with exvotos and testimonies of public thanksgiving. no image of the crucified saviour is invested with greater veneration.... the worship yielded to the holy crucifix of campo vaccino is universal at rome, and is transmitted from generation to generation. the fathers teach it to the children, and in all the misfortunes and all the trials of life the first idea is almost always to have recourse to the holy crucifix, the object of such general veneration, and the source of so many favours. it is, above all, in sickness that the succour of the holy image is invoked with more confidence and more eagerness.... there are few families in rome who have not to thank the holy crucifix for some favour and some benefit.... in the interval of the sermons and other public exercises of devotion the holy crucifix, exposed on the high altar in the midst of floods of light, saw incessantly prostrated before it a crowd of adorers and suppliants.... as soon as the holy image of the saviour had appeared on the forum, the holy father advanced on the exterior flight of steps of the church to receive it, and when the shrine had arrived at the base of the stairs of the church of san luca, at some paces from the flight of steps on which the holy father stood, in rochet, stole, and pallium of red velvet, he bowed before the holy crucifix and venerated it devoutly." in harmony with this, the missal supplies us with prayers and hymns in the service for good friday, addressed directly to the cross. "we adore thy cross, o lord, and we praise and glorify thy holy resurrection; for by the wood of the cross the whole world is filled with joy." "o faithful cross, o noblest tree, in all our woods there is none like thee. no earthly groves, no shady bowers produce such leaves, such fruit, such flowers. sweet are the nails and sweet the wood, which bore a weight so sweet and good." "o lovely tree, whose branches bore the royal purple of his gore, how glorious does thy body shine, supporting members so divine. hail, cross! our hope, on thee we call who keep this paschal festival; grant to the just increase of grace, and every sinner's guilt efface." there is something unusually remarkable about the popularity of the cross; we can hardly point to a time when, or to a part of the world where, it has not been in favour. it has entered into the constitution of religions of the most opposite character, has been transmitted from one to another, and though originally belonging to the rudest form of pagan idolatry, is now esteemed highly by those who profess to have adopted the loftiest ideal of civilised worship. after mentioning the fact of its popularity in the pagan world, mr. maurice remarks: "let not the piety of the catholic christian be offended at the preceding assertion, that the cross was one of the most usual symbols among the hieroglyphics of egypt and india. equally honoured in the gentile and the christian world, this emblem of universal nature--of that world to whose four quarters its diverging radii pointed--decorated the hands of most of the sculptured images in the former country, and in the latter stamped its form upon the most majestic shrines of their deities." here we may profitably glance at a few different parts of the world and at some of the past ages, in tracing out the possible origin and meaning of this symbol. in britain there have been found monuments so ancient and with such surroundings that but for certain peculiar marks they would unhesitatingly have been put down as druidical. they are marked with the cross, and in the estimation of some, as we have already pointed out, that is regarded as conclusive proof of christian origin. the inference, however, is a false one, the monuments are too old for christianity, and the cruciform etchings upon them belong to another religious system altogether. it is known that the druids consecrated the sacred oak by cutting it into the shape of a cross, and so necessary was it regarded to have it in this form, that if the lateral branches were not large enough to construct the figure properly, two others were fixed as arms on either side of the trunk. the cross having been thus constructed, the arch-druid ascended and wrote the name of the deity upon the trunk at the place of intersection, and on the extremities of the arms. the peculiar interest attached to this idol lies in the fact that it is described by the best authorities as the gallic or celtic tau. "the tau," says davies in his _celtic researches_, "was the symbol of the druidical jupiter. it consisted of a huge grand oak deprived of all its branches, except only two large ones which, though cut off and separated, were suspended from the top of its trunk-like suspended arms." the idol, say others, was in reality a cross, the same in form as the linga. a few years ago, near the hill of bardon, in the middle of charnwood forest, in the county of leicester, there grew and perhaps still grows, a very old tree called the copt oak. this tree, there is reason to believe, was more than two thousand years old, and once formed a celtic tau. forty years ago, a writer who knew the tree well, said that its condition then suggested very distinctly the possibility of the truthfulness of the story. it was described as a vast tree, then reduced to a mere shell between two and three inches only in thickness, perforated by several openings, and alive only in about one-fourth of the shell; bearing small branches, but such as could not have grown when the tree was entire; then it must have had branches of a size not less than an oak of ordinary dimensions. this was evident from one of the openings in the upper part of the shell of the trunk, exactly such as a decayed branch would produce. the tree was evidently of gigantic size in its earlier days, as shown by its measurement at the date we are speaking of. the remains of the trunk were twenty feet high, the height proper for the tau, and the circumference at the ground was twenty-four feet; at the height of ten feet the girth was twenty, giving a diameter of nearly seven feet. this tree, we have said, was called the copt oak; the epithet copt, or copped, may be derived from the celtic _cop_--a head, and evidently indicates that the tree had been headed and reduced to the state of a bare trunk. the idol, as already described, was formed by cutting away the branches of the tree, which was always a large one, and affixing a beam, forming a cross with the bare trunk.[ ] from time immemorial the copt oak has borne a celebrity that bears out the tradition of its ancient sacredness. potter, the historian of the forest of charnwood, writes that it was one of the three places at which swanimotes were held, always in the open air, for the regulation of rights and claims on the forest; and persons have been known even in late times to have attended such motes. "at this spot," he says, "it may be under this tree, edric the forester is said to have harangued his forces against the norman invasion; and here too, in the parliamentary troubles of , the earl of stamford assembled the trained bands of the district." "these facts," says dudley, "mark the copt oak extraordinary, and show, that notwithstanding the lapse of two thousand years, the trunk was at that distant period a sacred structure, a celtic idol; and that it is illustrative of antiquarian records." still further back in history than the foregoing are we able to trace this singular figure. if we visit the assyrian galleries of the british museum we shall observe life-size effigies in stone of the kings samsi-rammanu, b.c. , and assur-nazir-pal, b.c. ; suspended from the necks of these monarchs and resting upon their breasts are prominently sculptured maltese crosses about three inches in length and width; they are in a good state of preservation, and will amply repay anyone for the trouble of an inspection, should they be desirous of pursuing this enquiry. in the roman catholic dictionaries we find these ornaments described as pectoral crosses--crosses of precious metal worn at the breast by bishops and abbots as a mark of their office, and sometimes also by canons, etc., who have obtained the privilege from rome. it is stated these pectorals were not generally used by the roman ecclesiastics till the middle of the sixteenth century; however that may be, it is a fact, as proved by the assyrian sculptures, that they are nearly, if not more than, three thousand years old, and not the least interesting feature distinguishing them is their perfect similarity of design. it is strange that we moderns--the disciples of christ--should have had supplied to us at that remote period the pattern of an ornament or symbol which we are accustomed to regard as emblematic of essential features of our religion, but it is true. look across now to egypt and we find monuments and tombs literally bedizened with the cross, and that too in a variety of shapes. long, long before christ, the ibis was represented with human hands and feet, holding the staff of isis in one hand, and a globe and cross in the other. here we are in one of the most ancient kingdoms of the world--a kingdom so ancient that its years are lost in obscurity--yet still the cross is found. whatever it may have represented in other countries, and whatever may be its meaning here, from the positions in which it is found and from its constant association with ecclesiastical personages and offices, it was evidently one of the most sacred of their symbols. two forms, among others, are common, one a simple cross of four limbs of equal length, the other that shaped like the letter =x=; the first is generally known as the greek cross, the second as that of st. andrew, both however being of the same form and owing their different appearance only to the position in which they are placed. it is well known, probably, to most of our readers that the astronomical signs of certain of the planets consist of crosses, crescents, circles, and in ancient egypt these were precisely the same as those now used. saturn was represented by a cross surmounting a ram's horn, jupiter by a cross beneath a horn, venus by a cross beneath a circle, the earth by a cross within a circle, mercury by a cross surmounted by a circle and crescent, and mars by a cross above a circle. these may still be seen in almanacs, and on the large coloured bottles in the windows of the druggist. in the hands of isis, osiris, and hermes, corresponding with the venus, jupiter, and mercury of the greeks, are also found the above signs. when the temple of serapis, at alexandria, was destroyed by one of the christian emperors, it is related by several historians, socrates and sozomen, for instance, that beneath the foundation was discovered the monogram of christ; and that considerable disputing arose in consequence thereof, the gentiles endeavouring to use it for their own purposes, and the christians insisting that the cross, being uneasy beneath the weight or dominion of the temple, overthrew it. if we turn to india we find the cross almost as common as in egypt and europe, and not the least interesting feature of the matter is the curious fact that a number of the pagodas are actually cruciform in structure. jagannath is the name of one of the mouths of the ganges, upon which was built the great pagoda where the great brahmin or high priest resided. we were told years ago, by travellers, that the form of the choir or interior was similar in proportion to all the others, which were built upon the same model, in the form of a cross. the pagoda at benares, also, was in the figure of a cross, having its arms equal. after the above, in importance, was the pagoda at muttra; this likewise was cruciform. one of these temples, that at chillambrum on the coromandel coast, is said to be four miles in circumference. here there are seven lofty walls one within the other round the central quadrangle, and as many pyramidal gateways in the middle of each side which form the limbs of a vast cross, consisting altogether of twenty-eight pyramids. there are, therefore, fourteen in a row, which extend more than a mile in one continuous line. what has been called, and perhaps justly so, the oldest religious monument in the world was discovered a few years ago by mariette bey, near the great pyramid. for ages it had lain there, buried in the sand--how many we cannot tell, but very many we know; enough to carry us back to a very remote past. and this, too, like the indian temples, was in the shape of a cross. renan visited it in , and though he found it in many particulars different from those known elsewhere, he described the interior, which much recalled the chamber of the great pyramid, as in the form of =t=, the principle aisle being divided in three rows, the transverse aisle in two. mr. fergusson, the architect, also saw it, and, while admiring its simple and chaste grandeur of style, with some astonishment described the form of the principal chamber as that of a cross. and this was the plan of both tomb and temple in the earliest ages, testifying to the great veneration paid to this symbol. there is a remarkable resemblance between the buddhist crosses of india and those used by the christian roman church. the cross of the buddhist is represented with leaves and flowers springing from it, and placed upon a calvary as by the roman catholics. it is represented in various ways, but the shaft with the cross-bar and the calvary remain the same. the tree of life and knowledge, or the jamba tree, in their maps of the world, is always represented in the shape of a cross, eighty-four yoganas, or or miles high, including the three steps of the calvary. from india we naturally turn to china, and, though its use there is involved in a deal of mystery, the cross is found among their hieroglyphics, on the walls of their pagodas and on the lamps which they used to illuminate their temples. in kamschatka, baron humboldt found the cross and remains of hieroglyphics similar to those of egypt. passing into america, we find that what could only be described as perfect idolatry prevailed with respect to the veneration paid to the cross. throughout mexico and some parts of south america the emblem is constantly found, and in many instances is evidently of great antiquity. some travellers have explained their presence by attributing them to the spaniards, but those people found them there when they arrived, and were greatly astonished at the spectacle, not knowing how to account for it. a lieutenant of cortez passed over from the island of cosumel to the continent, and coasted the peninsula of yucatan as far as campeachy. everywhere he was struck with the evidences of a higher civilisation, and was astonished at the sight of numerous large stone crosses, evidently objects of worship, which he met with in various places. at cozuma an ancient cross is still standing. here there is a temple of considerable size, with pyramidal towers rising several stories above the rest of the building, facing the cardinal points. in the centre of the quadrangular area within stands a high cross, constructed of stone and lime like the rest of the temple, and ten palms in height. the natives regard is as the emblem of the god of rain. the discovery of the cross amongst the red indians as an object of worship, by the spanish missionaries, in the fifteenth century, completely mystified them, and they hardly knew whether to attribute it to a good or an evil origin--whether it was the work of st. thomas or of the devil. the symbol was not an occasional spectacle in odd places, as though there by accident, it met them on all sides; it was literally everywhere, and in every variety of form. it mattered not whether the building was old or new, inhabited or ruined and deserted, whether it was a temple or a palace, there was the cross in all shapes and of all materials--of marble, gypsum, wood, emerald, and jasper. what was, perhaps, still more remarkable was the fact that it was associated with certain other things common on the babylonian monuments, such as the bleeding deity, the serpent and the sacred eagle, and that it bore the very same names by which it was known in roman catholic countries, "the tree of subsistence," "the wood of health," "the emblem of life." in this latter appellation there was a parallel to the name by which it was known in egypt, and by which the holy tau of the buddhists has always been known; thus placing, as has been said, any supposition of accidental coincidence beyond all reasonable debate. in the royal commentaries of peru, we have some interesting allusions to the cross and to the general sanctity with which it was surrounded. in the city of cozco, the incas had one of white marble, which they called a crystalline jasper, but how long they had had it was unknown. the inca, garcillasso de la vega, said he left in the year , in the cathedral church of that city; it was then hanging upon a nail by a list of black velvet; formerly, when in the hands of the indians, it had been suspended by a chain of gold and silver. the form is greek, that is, square; being as broad as it was long, and about three fingers wide. it was previously kept in one of the royal apartments, called huaca, which signified a consecrated place. the record says that though the indians did not adore it, yet they held it in great veneration, either for the beauty of it, or for some other reason which they knew not to assign; and so was observed amongst them, until the marquess don francisco pizarro entered the valley of tumpiz, when by reason of some accidents which befel pedro de candia they conceived a greater esteem and veneration for it. the historian complains that the spaniards, after they had taken the imperial city, hung up this cross in the vestry of a church they built, whereas, he says, they ought to have placed a relic of that kind upon the high altar, adorning it with gold and precious stones; by which respect to a thing the indians esteemed sacred, and by assimilating the ordinances of the christian religion as near as was possible with those which the law of nature had taught this people, the lessons of christianity would thereby have become more easy and familiar, and not seemed so far estranged from the principles of their own gentilism. this cross is again mentioned in another part of the royal commentaries, and two travellers are described as being filled with admiration at seeing crosses erected on the top of the high pinnacles of the temples and palaces; the which, it is said, were introduced from the time that pedro de candia, being in tumpiz, charmed or tamed the wild beasts which were let loose to devour him, and which, simply by virtue of the cross which he held in his hand, became gentle and domestic. this was recounted with such admiration by the indians, who carried the news of the miracle to cozco, that when the inhabitants of the city understood it they went immediately to the sanctuary where the jasper cross already mentioned stood, and, having brought it forth, they with loud acclamations adored and worshipped it, conceiving that though the sign of the cross had for many ages been conserved by them in high esteem and veneration yet it was not entertained with such devotion as it deserved, because they were not as yet acquainted with its virtues. believing that the sign of the cross had tamed and shut the mouths of the wild beasts, they imagined that it had a like power to deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. on both the northern and southern continents of america the cross was believed to possess the power of restraining evil spirits, and was the common symbol of the god of rain and of health. the people prayed to it when their country needed water, and the aztec goddess of rains held one in her hand. at the feast celebrated to her honour in the spring, when the genial shower was needed to promote fertilisation, they were wont to conciliate the favour of centeotl, the daughter of heaven and goddess of corn, by nailing a boy or girl to a cross, and after they had been so suspended for awhile piercing them with arrows shot from a bow. the muyscas, less sanguinary than the mexicans in sacrificing to the god of the waters, extended a couple of ropes transversely over some lake or stream, thus forming a gigantic cross, and at the point of intersection threw in their offerings of food, gems, and precious oils. quetyalcoatl, god of the winds, bore as his sign of office a mace like the cross of a bishop; his robe was covered with the symbol, and its adoration was connected throughout with his worship. there is, of course, no doubt whatever that the spaniards took the cross with them to america, and scattered it about so much in such varied directions that their own became so intermingled with the native ones as to make it difficult to distinguish one from the other; but the fact remains that what there was of cordiality in the reception they met with from the aborigines, was due in no small degree to their use of the same emblem on their standards; when this became apparent the astonishment was mutual. many travellers have told us of these ancient crosses, and some of them while expressing doubts as to their antiquity, have yet supplied us with evidence of the same. mr. stephens is one of these. in his _incidents of travel in central america_, he supplies us with some wonderful altar tablets found at palenque, the principal subject in one of which is the cross. it is surmounted by a strange bird, and loaded with indescribable ornaments. there are two human figures, one on either side of the cross, evidently of important personages; both are looking towards the cross, and one seems in the act of making an offering. the traveller says:--"all speculations on the subject are of course entitled to little regard, but perhaps it would not be wrong to ascribe to those personages a sacerdotal character. the hieroglyphics doubtless explain all. near them are other hieroglyphics which remind us of the egyptian mode of recording the name, history, office, or character of the persons represented. this tablet of the cross has given rise to more learned speculations than perhaps any others found at palenque. dupaix and his commentators, assuming for the building a very remote antiquity, or at least, a period long antecedent to the christian era, account for the appearance of the cross by the argument that it was known and had a symbolical meaning among ancient nations long before it was established as the emblem of the christian faith." near miztla, "the city of the moon," is a cavern temple excavated from the solid rock in the form of a cross, feet in length and breadth, the limbs being about feet in width. other relics have been found in abundance in the same part of the world, proving how well known this emblem was before the advent of christianity. in the mexican tribute tables, we were told a few years ago by a writer in the _historical magazine_, small pouches or bags frequently occur. appendages to dress, they are tastefully formed and ornamented with fringe and tassels. a cross of the maltese or more ordinary form (greek or latin) is conspicuously woven or painted on each. they appear to have been in great demand, a thousand bundles being the usual pueblo tax. the practice of marking the cross on their persons and wearing it in their garments was once common with some if not with all the occupants of the southern continent. the abipones of paraguay tatooed themselves by pricking the skin with a thorn. they all wore the form of a cross impressed on their foreheads, and two small lines at the corner of each eye, extending towards the ears, besides four transverse lines at the root of the nose, between the eyebrows, as national marks. what these figures signified no one was able to tell. the people only knew this, that the custom had been handed down to them by their ancestors. not only were crosses marked on their foreheads, but woven in the red woollen garments of many of them. this was long before they knew anything of the christian religion. the "hot cross bun," eaten in this country on good friday, is supposed by many to be exclusively christian in its origin; whereas it is no more than a reproduction of a cake marked with a cross which was duly offered in the heathen temples to such living idols as the serpent and the bull. it was made of flour, honey and milk, or oil, and at certain times was eaten with much ceremony by both priests and people. there was also used in the pagan times the monogram of a cross upon a heart, the meaning of which was according to egyptologists, "goodness." "this figure," says sir g. wilkinson, "enclosed in a parallelogram, in which form it would signify 'the abode of good,' was depicted or sculptured upon the front of several houses in memphis and thebes." a very ancient phoenician medal was found many years ago in the ruins of citium, on which were inscribed the cross, the rosary, and the lamb. an engraving of this may be seen in higgins' _celtic druids_ and in dr. clark's _travels_. the connection of the cross with paganism originally, and its ultimate assumption by the christian church, is curiously and strikingly brought out by tertullian in his _apologeticus_ and _ad nationes_. these treatises, we may observe, are so much alike that the former has sometimes been regarded as a first draft of the latter, which is nearly double the length. probably, however, they are entirely different productions, one being addressed to the general public and the other to the rulers and magistrates. charged with worshipping a cross, he says:--"as for him who affirms that we are the priesthood of a cross, we shall claim him as our co-religionist. a cross is in its material a sign of wood; amongst yourselves also the object of worship is a wooden figure. only, whilst with you the figure is a human one, with us the wood is its own figure. never mind for the present what is the shape, provided the material is the same; the form, too, is of no importance, if so be it be the actual body of a god. if, however, there arises a question of difference on this point, what, let me ask, is the difference between the athenian pallas or the pharia ceres, and wood formed into a cross, when each is represented by a rough stock without form, and by the merest rudiment of a statue of unformed wood? every piece of timber which is fixed in the ground in an erect position is a part of a cross, and indeed the greater portion of its mass. but an entire cross is attributed to us, with its transverse beam, of course, and its projecting seat. now you have the less to excuse you, for you dedicate to religion only a mutilated imperfect piece of wood, while others consecrate to the sacred purpose a complete structure. the truth however, after all, is that your religion is all cross, as i shall show. you are indeed unaware that your gods in their origin have proceeded from this hated cross. now every image, whether carved out of wood or stone, or molten in metal, or produced out of any other richer material, must needs have had plastic hands engaged in its formation. well then, this modeller, before he did anything else, hit upon the form of a wooden cross, because even our own body assumes as its natural position the latent and concealed outline of a cross. since the head rises upwards and the back takes a straight direction and the shoulders project laterally, if you simply place a man with his arms and hands out-stretched, you will make the general outline of a cross. starting then from this rudimental form and prop, as it were, he applies a covering of clay, and so gradually completes the limbs and forms the body, and covers the cross within with the shape which he meant to impress upon the clay; then from this design, with the help of compasses and leaden moulds, he has got all ready for his image which is to be brought out into marble, or clay, or metal, or whatever the material be of which he has determined to make his god. this then is the process: after the cross-shaped frame the clay; after the clay the god. in a well-understood routine the cross passes into a god through the clayey medium. the cross then you consecrate, and from it the consecrated deity begins to derive its origin. by way of example let us take the case of a tree which grows up into a system of branches and foliage, and is a reproduction of its own kind, whether it springs from the kernel of an olive, or the stone of a peach, or a grain of pepper which has been duly tempered under ground. now if you transplant it or take a cutting off its branches for another plant, to what will you attribute what is produced by the propagation? will it not be to the grain, or the stone, or the kernel? because as the third stage is attributable to the second, and the second in like manner to the first, so the third will have to be referred to the first, through the second as the mean. we need not stay any longer in the discussion of this point, since by a natural law every kind of produce throughout nature refers back its growth to its original source; and just as the product is comprised in its primal cause, so does that cause agree in character with the thing produced. since then, in the production of your gods, you worship the cross which originates them, here will be the original kernel and grain from which are propagated the wooden materials of your idolatrous images. examples are not far to seek. your victories you celebrate with religious ceremony as deities, and they are more august in proportion to the joy they bring you. the frames on which you hang up your crosses--these are as it were the very core of your pageants. thus in your victories the religion of your camp makes even crosses objects of worship; your standards it adores, your standards are the sanction of its oaths, your standards it prefers before jupiter himself. but all that parade of images and that display of pure gold, are as so many necklaces of the crosses. in like manner also in the banners and ensigns, which your soldiers guard with no less sacred care, you have the streamers and vestments of your crosses. you are ashamed, i suppose, to worship unadorned and simple crosses." we give this passage at length because it emphasises what we are urging in connection with this subject, viz., that the cross is common to both christianity and paganism, that the latter possessed it ages before the former, and is therefore more likely to have originated it. we speak with some reserve on this latter point for want of proper and full evidence. it may of course be possible that in a purer and more enlightened age the cross was known and used; we shall probably, however, find our researches stop short in pagan times, in which we shall have to look for the generally recognised meaning of the symbol. it is remarkable in the quotation just made, that tertullian never attempts to refute the charge brought by the pagans against the christians of his time of worshipping the cross; he merely retaliates by asserting that they did the very same thing in a somewhat different manner. "as for him," he says, "who affirms that we are the priesthood of a cross, we shall claim him as our co-religionist.... what, let me ask, is the difference between the athenian pallas or the pharian ceres, and wood formed into a cross?" he further identifies himself and his religion with the pagans in this particular by saying:--"in all our movements, our travels, our going out and coming in, putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down: whatever employment occupies us, we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross." how much all this reminds us of the universality of the symbol in pre-christian times. we can scarcely point to an age or to a century in which it did not in some way enter into its history, its theology, its social and domestic life. again and again have monuments been discovered which put the date of its use further back than had been imagined, and some have been brought to light which carry the story back into very remote antiquity indeed. in the wilds of central india, for instance, a little over twenty years back, the late mr. mulheran, c.e., discovered two of the oldest crosses ever met with. they were granite monoliths, perfect in structure, and very much like those to be found here and there in the western parts of cornwall. one was ten feet nine inches in height, and the other eight feet six inches; each being in the midst of a group of cairns and cromlechs or dolmens, which colonel taylor describes as similar in character to some which he formerly surveyed near the village of rajunkolloor, within the principality of shorapoor, in the deccan. their extreme antiquity is inferred from the fact, as stated by the european officer who first discovered them, that the vicinity of the groups of cromlechs and crosses had, at some remote period, been cultivated; that parts of the hills had been cut into terraces, and supported by large stone banks or walls; but that the country for miles in every direction was, and had been for centuries and centuries, entirely uninhabited, and was grown over with dense forests. it has been estimated that, as this elevated and long-neglected region has been the possession of the low castes, or non-aryan helots, from time immemorial, we may confidently assume that the monoliths in question were erected by the aboriginal population of the soil--a population which was driven, not improbably three thousand years, at the least, before the advent of christ, from the richer plains below by the first aryan invader who had crossed the five streams, and found a temporary refuge in the nearest range of hills to the west of chandar, until another foe--the mogul--appeared upon the scene, and finally subdued both the conqueror and his victims. "here then," says a reviewer, "amongst these now fragmentary people from the débris of a widely-spread primeval race (to borrow a phrase from a recent writer on the non-aryan languages of the continent), we find the symbol of the cross, not only expressing the same mystery as in all other parts of the world, but its erection, doubtless, dating from one of the very earliest migrations of our species." it is impossible to adduce any clearer or stronger proof of its primitive antiquity than this. it has been suggested by some writers, who, for some reason or other, objected to the recognition of the cross as an emblem of great antiquity, that the stone structures which were erected in the british islands by the druids, saxons, and danes, owed their cruciform character to the necessities of the situation rather than to any other cause; that the stones were placed across each other as a matter of mere convenience, and not with the view of forming a cross, and that these monuments, which served as instruments of druidical superstition before the implanting of the gospel in britain, were afterwards appropriated to the use of christian memorials by being formed in the figure of a cross or marked with this emblem. it is admitted, of course, that those cruciform structures were thus appropriated, but of what use will it be to repudiate the antiquity of examples whose age has been far surpassed in other parts of the world. the crosses of india, just alluded to, remain to be accounted for, and even when they have been as summarily disposed of as the british ones, there are the crosses suspended from the necks of the assyrian kings, whose existence cannot possibly be accounted for by the above hypothesis. it was not necessity or convenience that designed a maltese cross, a thousand years before the christian era, of precisely the same form as that which is worn by men and women in this nineteenth century, nor probably was it a merely ornamental taste; we are rather disposed to believe that the secret lies in the symbolical meaning, which has ever been attached to the form. the universality of the cross as a religious symbol is certainly a most astounding fact, and the more so because it has evidently always represented the same fundamental idea in connection with the theological systems, in all ages, of the old and new worlds. if but one of these mythologies possessed it, there might be little difficulty in tracing out the significance of the coincidence between its existence there and in christian theology, but prevailing as it does universally, and destined as it is to retain its connection with the religion of man, it excites feelings of the most profound wonderment and surprise. lipsius and other early writers, in reference to this matter, declared their sincere belief that the numerous cruciform figures to be found on the monuments of antiquity were of a typical character, and expressed a sentiment which looked forward to the cross of christ; a few others doubted this, and suggested difficulties, while gibbon ridiculed the whole matter, as it thus stood, from beginning to end. the belief, however, that the cross in pagan lands was in some incomprehensible manner connected with the same object or idea as in the christian church was not easily got rid of, and was considerably deepened by the testimony of missionaries to the new world that amongst people of apparently different origin and of altogether different attributes, the cross was common as an object of worship and veneration. so universal has the presence of this symbol and its attendant worship been found that it has been said to form a complete zone about the habitable globe, extending as it does from assyria into egypt, and india, and anahuac, in their ruined temples; to the pyramidal structures of east and west, and to those in polynesia, especially the islands of tonga, viti, and easter; "as it appears upon numberless vases, medals, and coins of the earliest known types, centuries anterior to the introduction of christianity; and as its teaching is expressed in the concordant customs, rites, and traditions of former nations and communities, who were widely separated from, and for the most part ignorant of, the existence of each other, and who possessed, so far as we are aware, no other emblematical figure in common." egypt, assyria, britain, india, china, scandinavia, the two americas--all were alike its home, and in all of them was there analogy in the teaching respecting its meaning. chapter ii. _forms of the cross--ancient maltese cross--phallic character of some crosses--offensive forms of the cross in etruscan and pompeian monuments--thor's battle-axe--the buddhist cross--indian crosses--the fylfot or four-footed cross--danish poem of the thors of asgard--legend of thor's loss of his golden hammer--original meaning of these crosses--reception of christianity amongst the britons--plato and the cross--the mexican tree of life--rain makers--the winds--various meanings attributed to the cross--the crux ansata--phallic attributes--coins, gaulish and jewish--roman coins--the lake dwellings--the cross in the patriarchal age._ in studying the origin and signification of the pre-christian cross, we, naturally of course, turn our attention to the forms in which it is delineated; these are both numerous and varied--so varied indeed that a writer, some years ago, in the _edinburgh review_ stated that his commonplace-book contained nearly two hundred representations, which he had found combined as often as not with other emblems of a sacred character, and which had been collected from all parts of the world. we may notice a few of the principal which are really, generally speaking, types of all. most people are familiar with the maltese cross--that consisting of four triangles meeting in a central circle, or as it is generally described, the cross with the four delta-like arms conjoined to or issuing from the nave of a wheel or a diminutive circle. it derives its name from its discovery on the island of malta, and from its adoption by the knights of st. john for their coat-of-arms. there is no doubt it is one of the most ancient forms of the cross we are acquainted with, as it is found, as we have already stated, on the sculptures of the assyrian monarchs long before the christian era, and may be seen on the sculptures in the british museum. in some of the nineveh monuments representing subject-people bringing tribute to the king, it occurs in the form of ear-rings. in assyria, it is believed to have been the emblem of royalty, as it is found on the breasts of the most powerful of the rulers. as it was known originally in malta, it was of a very different character to the ornament worn either by the assyrian monarch or by the modern inhabitants of civilised nations. it was indeed of so gross a character, that the knights of st. john soon set to work to make something more decent of it--something which while not altogether discarding the old form, should yet be inoffensive to the eye of the more modest onlooker. it was made up, in fact, of four gigantic phalli carved out of the solid granite, similar to the form in which it is found in the island of gozyo, and on some of the etruscan and pompeian monuments. the reason why it assumed a phallic character in the locality which gives it its name, is not perhaps clear, but the study of assyrian antiquities has revealed the meaning attached to it in the palmy days of nineveh and babylon; it referred to the four great gods of the assyrian pantheon--ra, and the first triad--ana, belus, and hea; and when inserted in a roundlet, as may be seen in the british museum, it signified sansi, or the sun ruling the earth as well as the heavens. it was therefore the symbol of royalty and dominion, which accounts for its presence on the breasts of kings. on the etruscan and pompeian monuments generally, this cross is as gross and offensive in form as in ancient malta, but it is found in a character as unobjectionable as in assyria, on the official garments of the etruscan priesthood. it has been found in asia minor, cyprus, and sicily; and dr. schliemann discovered many examples of it (with other crosses) on the vases which he dug from the seat of ancient troy. it was also found in what was described as a "magnificent cruciform mosaic pavement, discovered about thirty years ago in the ruins of a gallo-roman villa at pont d'oli (pons aulæ), near pau, in the basses-pyrenees, accompanied by several other varieties of the cross, including the st. george and the st. andrew, all glowing in colours richly dight, and surrounding a colossal bust of proteus, settled in the midst of his sea monsters." the cross generally regarded as the most notable type of that emblem, because it is said to have figured in the religious systems of more peoples than any other, is that known as "thor's hammer," or "thor's battle-axe." it may, perhaps, also be set down as the most ancient of the crosses--how many years back it dates we cannot say, several thousands evidently. it consisted of the last letter of the samaritan alphabet, the tau or tav in its decussated or most primitive form, and may be described, as it has been sometimes, as a _cruciform hammer_. it derived its name from being borne in the hand of thor, as the all-powerful instrument by means of which his deeds recorded in the eddas were accomplished. "it was venerated by the heroes of the north as the magical sign which thwarted the power of death over those who bore it; and the scandinavian devotee placed it upon his horn of mead before raising it to his lips, no doubt for the purpose of imparting to it the life-giving virtues." to this hour it is employed by the women of india and of the north-eastern parts of africa as a mark of possession or taboo, which they generally impress upon the vessels containing their stores of grain, &c. a writer in the _edinburgh review_ of january, , hazards the opinion that this was the mark which the prophet was commanded to impress upon the foreheads of the faithful in judah, as recorded in ezekiel ix. . he gives no reason or authority for this statement, but probably derived it from st. jerome and others of his time, who said that the letter _tau_ was that which was ordered to be placed on the foreheads of those mourners. jerome says that the hebrew letter _tau_ was formerly written like a cross. as to the name of this cross, the popular designation is clearly a mistake, since its origin dates back centuries before the mythology of the north was developed. in india it was known as the swastika of the buddhists, and served as the monograms of vishnu and siva. such are its associations and uses at the present day, and, no doubt, they have been the same from the very advent of the religions of these respective deities. the enquirer has, however, not even here measured the limit of its antiquity, for in china it was known as the leo-tsen long before the sakya-buddha era, and was portrayed upon the walls of their pagodas and upon the lanterns used to illumine their most sacred precints. it has ever been the symbol of their heaven. in the great temple of rameses ii., at thebes, it is represented frequently with such associations as conclusively prove that its significance was the same in the land of the nile as in china. all over the east it is the magic symbol of the buddhist heaven; the chief ornament on the sceptres and crowns of the bompa deities of thibet, who dispute the palm of antiquity with all other divinities; and is beautifully pressed in the artee, or musical bell, borne by the figure of balgovina, the herald or messenger of heaven. the universality of the use of this symbol is proved by its prevalence as well in europe as in asia and africa. among the etruscans it was used as a religious sign, as is shown by its appearance on urns exhumed from ancient lake-beds situated between parma and pacenza. those taken from the lacustrine cemeteries are thought to date back to b.c. on the terra-cotta vases of alba longa the same sign is impressed, and served as the symbol of persephone, the awful queen of the shades, the arbiter of mortal fate; while on the roll of the roman soldier it was the sign of life. on the old runic monuments it is ever present. even in scotland it is found on sculptured stones of unknown age. the most numerous examples of this form, however, are found in the sculptures of khorsabad, and in the ivories from nimroud; here occur almost all the known varieties. it has been observed, too, in persia; and is used to this day in northern india to mark the jars of sacred water taken from the indus and ganges. it is especially esteemed by the inhabitants of southern india as the emblem of disembodied jaina saints. very remarkable illustrations of it, carved in the most durable rock, and inserted in the exterior walls of temples and other edifices of mexico and central america, also occur, which may be seen in lord kingsborough's _mexican antiquities_. it is found on innumerable coins and medals of all times and of all peoples; from the rude mintages of Ã�gina and sicily, as well as from the more skilful hands of the bactrian and continental greeks. it is noteworthy, too, in reference to its extreme popularity, or superstitious veneration in which it has been almost universally held, that the cross-patée, or cruciform hammer, was one of the very last of purely pagan symbols which were religiously preserved in europe long after the establishment of christianity. to the close of the middle ages the stole, or isian mantle, of the cistercian monk was usually adorned with it; and men wore it suspended from their necklaces in precisely the same manner as did the vestal-virgins of pagan rome. it may be seen upon the bells of many of our parish churches in the northern, midland, and eastern counties, as at appleby, mexborough, hathersage, waddington, bishop's norton, west barkwith, and other places, where it was placed as a magical sign to subdue the vicious spirit of the tempest. it is said to be still used for the like purpose, during storms of wind and rain, by the peasantry in iceland and in the southern parts of germany.[ ] this cross is also known as the "fylfot," or "fytfot" (four-footed cross), or "gammadion"--"the dissembled cross under the discipline of the secret." jewitt, who has written in an interesting manner upon the subject, supports what we have already stated in the foregoing pages with the observation that this is one of the most singular, most ancient, and most interesting of the whole series of crosses. some say it is composed of four gammas, conjoined in the centre, which as numerals expressed the holy trinity, and by its rectangular form symbolised the chief corner-stone of the church. we mentioned that it was known in india as the swastika of the buddhists; we note further that it is said to be formed of the two words "su" (well) and "asti" (it is), meaning "it is," or "it is well;" equal to "so be it," and implying complete resignation. "from this the swastikas, the opponents of the brahmins, who denied the immortality of the soul, and affirmed that its existence was finite and connected only with the body upon earth, received their name; their monogrammatic enblem, or symbol, being the mystic cross formed by the combination of two syllables, _su_ + _ti_ = _suti_, or swasti."[ ] the connection of this cross with thor, the thunderer, is not without its signification and importance, in considering the forms and origin of these emblems and their transmission from the pagan to the christian world. thor was said to be the bravest of the sons of odin, or woden, and fria, or friga, the goddess of earth. (from thor, of course, we get our thursday; from woden, wednesday; and from friga, friday). "he was believed to be of the most marvellous power and might; yea, and that there were no people throughout the whole world that were not subjected unto him, and did not owe him divine honour and service; and that there was no puissance comparable to his. his dominion of all others most farthest extending itself, both in heaven and earth. that, in the aire he governed the winds and the clouds; and being displeased did cause lightning, thunder, and tempest, with excessive raine, haile, and all ill weather. but being well pleased by the adoration, sacrifice, and service of his suppliants, he then bestowed upon them most faire and seasonable weather; and caused corne abundantly to grow, as all sorts of fruits, &c., and kept away the plague and all other evil and infectious diseases." thor's emblem was a hammer of gold, represented as a fylfot, and with it he destroyed his enemies the jotuns, crushed the head of the great mitgard serpent, killed numbers of giants, restored the dead goats to life that drew his car, and consecrated the pyre of baldur. this hammer, boomerang like, had the property, when thrown, of striking the object aimed at and then returning to the thrower's hand. mr. jewitt thinks we have, in this, a curious insight into the origin of the form of the emblem itself. he says:--"i have remarked that the fylfot is sometimes described as being formed of four gammas conjoined in the centre. when the form of the boomerang--a missile instrument of barbaric nations, much the shape of the letter =v= with a rounded instead of acute bottom, which, on being thrown, slowly ascends in the air, whirling round and round, till it reaches a considerable height, and then returns until it finally sweeps over the head of the thrower and strikes the ground behind him--is taken into consideration, and the traditional returning power of the hammer is remembered in connection with it, the fylfot may surely be not inappropriately described as a figure composed of four boomerangs, conjoined in the centre. this form of fylfot is not uncommon in early examples, and even on a very ancient specimen of chinese porcelain it occurs at the angles of the pattern--it is the ordinary fylfot, with the angles curved or rounded. ancient literature abounds in curious and sensational stories about the wonders accomplished by thor with the assistance of this hammer. once he lost his weapon, or tool, and with it his power, by stratagem however he regained both. the danish poem, called the "thorr of asgard," as translated by de prior, says:-- "there rode the mighty of asgard, thor, his journey across the plain; and there his hammer of gold he lost, and sought so long in vain. 'twas then the mighty of asgard, thor, his brother his bidding told-- up thou and off to the northland fell, and seek my hammer of gold. he spake, and loki, the serving-man, his feathers upon him drew; and launching over the salty sea, away to the northland flew." greeting the thusser king, he informed him of the cause of his visit, viz., that thor had lost his golden hammer. then the king replied that thor would never again see his hammer until he had given him the maiden fredenborg to wife. loki took back this message to thor, who disguised himself as the maiden in woman's clothes, and was introduced to the king as his future bride. after expressing his astonishment at the wonderful appetite of the maiden, he ordered eight strong men to bring in the hammer and lay it across the lap of the bride. thor immediately threw off his disguise and seized the hammer, with which, after he had slain the king, he returned home. the fylfot cross is frequently found on roman pottery in various parts of england, as for instance on the famous colchester vase, on which is depicted a gladiatorial combat, the cross being distinctly marked on the shields of the combatants. another fine example is found on a roman altar of minerva at high rochester. "the constant use of the symbol," says jewitt, "through so many ages, and by so many and such varied peoples, gives it an importance which is peculiarly striking." to sum up this part of the subject then, we have amongst numerous others the following chief forms of the cross common in all parts of the world. the latin, a long upright with shorter cross beam; the greek, an upright and bar of equal lengths; the st. andrews, in the form of a letter =x=; the maltese, four triangles conjoined to a circular centre; the hammer of thor; and the crux ansata, or handled cross. the question now arises, what was the origin or original meaning of these crosses? uninformed christians are generally under the impression that all refer to one and the same thing, viz., the instrument of the death of jesus christ: historical evidence just produced, however, clearly disproves that, and what we may say further will add additional weight to the argument. it has been noticed that the britons received christianity with remarkable readiness, and this has been attributed to the following among other circumstances, viz., the impression which they held in common with the platonists and pythagoreans, that the second person of the deity was imprinted on the universe in the form of a cross. we have already explained that the druids in their groves were accustomed to select the most stately and beautiful tree as an emblem of the deity they adored, and having cut off the side branches, affixed two of them to the highest part of the trunk in such a manner as that those branches, extending on each side like the arms of a man, together with the body, should present to the spectator the appearance of a huge cross, and that on the bark of the tree, in various places, was actually inscribed the letter =t=,--tau. "some have gone so far as to suppose a celtic origin for the word cross, and have derived it from _crugh_ and _cruach_, which signify a cross in that language, though others suppose these have a much more probable origin in the hebrew and chaldee. _chrussh_, signifies boards or pieces of timber fastened together, as we should say, cross-wise; the word is so used in exodus xxvii. . this seems a very natural and probable etymology for the term, but it may also allude more to the agony suffered on such an erection, and then its origin perhaps may be traced to chrutz, 'agitation.' this word also means to be 'kneaded,' and broken to pieces like clay in the hands of a potter. chrotshi, in chaldee, we are told by parkhurst, means accusations, charges, revilings, reproach, all of them terms applied to jesus christ in his sufferings. pliny shows that the punishment of the cross among the romans was as old as tarquinus priscus; how much older it is perhaps difficult to say. "plato, born years before christ, had advocated the idea of a trinity, and had expressed an opinion that the form of the second person of it was stamped upon the universe in the form of a cross. st. augustine goes so far as to say that it was by means of the platonic system that he was enabled to understand properly the doctrine of the trinity." perhaps, originally, the cross had but one meaning, whatever its form; it is probable that it was so. however that may be, it is certain that as time went on and its form varied, different significations were attached to it. it represented creative power and eternity in egypt, assyria, and britain; it was emblematical of heaven and immortality in india, china, and scandinavia; it was the sign of freedom from physical suffering in the americas; all over the world it symbolised the divine unity--resurrection and life to come. "in the mexican tongue it bore the significant and worthy name, 'tree of our life,' or 'tree of our flesh.' it represented the god of rains and of health, and this was everywhere its simple meaning. 'those of yucatan,' say the chroniclers, 'prayed to the cross as the god of rains when they needed water.' the aztec goddess of rains bore one in her hand, and at the feast celebrated to her honour in the early spring (as we have previously noted) victims were nailed to a cross and shot with arrows. quetzalcoatl, god of the winds, bore as his sign of office a mace like the cross of a bishop; his robe was covered with them strewn like flowers, and its adoration was throughout connected with his worship." we have mentioned that "when the muyscas would sacrifice to the goddess of waters, they extended cords across the tranquil depths of some lake, thus forming a gigantic cross, and that at the point of intersection threw in their offerings of gold, emeralds and precious oils. the arms of the cross were designed to point to the cardinal points, and represent the four winds, the rain bringers. to confirm this explanation, let us have recourse to the simpler ceremonies of the less cultivated tribes, and see the transparent meaning of the symbol as they employed it. "when the rain maker of the lenni lenape would exert his power, he retired to some secluded spot and drew upon the earth the figure of a cross, placed upon it a piece of tobacco, a gourd, a bit of some red stuff, and commenced to cry aloud to the spirits of the rains. the creeks at the festival of the busk, celebrated to the four winds, and according to the legends instituted by them, commenced with making the new fire. the manner of this was to place four logs in the centre of the square, end to end, forming a cross, the outer ends pointing to the cardinal points; in the centre of the cross the new fire is made."[ ] "as the emblem of the winds which disperse the fertilising showers," says brinton, "it is emphatically the tree of our life, our subsistence, and our health. it never had any other meaning in america, and if, as has been said, the tombs of the mexicans were cruciform, it was perhaps with reference to a resurrection and a future life as portrayed under this symbol, indicating that the buried body would rise by the action of the four spirits of the world, as the buried seed takes on a new existence when watered by the vernal showers. it frequently recurs in the ancient egyptian writings, where it is interpreted _life_; doubtless, could we trace the hieroglyph to its source, it would likewise prove to be derived from the four winds."[ ] the buddhist cross to which allusion has been made was exactly the cross of the manicheans, with leaves and flowers springing from it, and placed upon a mount calvary as among the roman catholics. the tree of life and knowledge, or the jambu tree, in their maps of the world, is always represented in the shape of a manichean cross yojanas, or miles high, including the three steps of the calvary. this cross, putting forth leaves and flowers (and fruit also, captain wilford was informed), is called the divine tree, the tree of the gods, the tree of life and knowledge, and productive of whatever is good and desirable, and is placed in the terrestrial paradise. agapius, according to photius, maintained that this divine tree, in paradise, was christ himself. in their delineation of the heavens, the globe of the earth is filled with this cross and its calvary. the divines of thibet, says captain wilford, place it to the s.w. of meru, towards the source of the ganges. the manicheans always represented christ crucified upon a tree, among the foliage. the christians of india, though they did not admit of images, still entertained the greatest veneration for the cross. they placed it on a calvary in public places and at the meeting of cross roads, and even the heathen hindus in these parts paid also great regard to it. captain wilford was presented by a learned buddhist with a book, called the cshetra-samasa, which contained several drawings of the cross. some of these his friend was unable to explain to him, but whatever the variations of the cross were in other particulars, they were declared to be invariable as regards the shaft and two arms; the calvary was sometimes omitted. one of these crosses seemed to puzzle the buddhist completely, or he would not say either what he thought or knew about it. it consisted of the ordinary cross with shaft and cross-bar, pointed at the ends, but with two other bars intersecting the right angles formed by the shaft and cross-bar, thus giving six points. no one can look at this cross, and not at once discern its phallic character. some writers affect to laugh at this, but we have ample evidence that at times such a meaning has been attributed to the cross. in connection with this, dr. inman makes some remarks which we shall do well to consider, whether we receive them or not; there may be nothing in them, and there may be much. he says:--"there can be no doubt, i think, in the mind of any student of antiquity, that the cross is not originally a christian emblem; nay, the very fact that the cross was used as a means of executing criminals shows that its form was familiar to jews and romans. it was used partly as an ornament, and partly in certain forms of religious worship. the simple cross, with perpendicular and transverse arms of equal length, represented the nave and spokes of the solar wheel, or the sun darting his rays on all sides. as the wheel became fantastically developed so did the cross, and each limb became so developed at the outer end as to symbolise the triad. sometimes the idea was very coarsely represented; and i have seen, amongst some ancient etruscan remains, a cross formed of four phalli of equal length, their narrow end pointing inwards; and in the same work another was portrayed, in which the phallus was made of inordinate length so as to support the others high up from the ground; each was in itself a triad. the same form of cross was probably used by the phoenicians, who appear to have colonised malta at a very early period of their career; for they have left a form of it behind them in the shape of a cross similar to that described above, but which has been toned down by the moderns, who could not endure the idea of an union between grossness and the crucifix, and the phalli became as innocent as we see them in the maltese cross of to-day." so many traces of the cross, as used in ancient times in all parts of the world, meet us on every hand that we find it difficult within the limited space at our command even to enumerate them; we have already traversed in our account a greater part of the known world, and still vast numbers of instances remain unnoticed. almost as varied as its principal forms are the explanations offered respecting its origin and significance. we are told by some that for its origin we must go to the buddhists and to the lama of thibet, who is said to take his name from the cross, called in his language lamh. higgins quotes vallence as saying that the tartars call the cross lama, from the scythian lamh, a hand, synonymous to the yod of the chaldeans; and that it thus became the name of a cross, and of the high priest with the tartars; and with the irish, luarn, signifying the head of the church, an abbot, &c. the last form of cross to which we shall here allude is that known as the crux ansata, or handled cross. whatever may be the signification of that instrument, or ornament, it is certain that no other has ever been so variously explained, or has been so successful in puzzling those who have sought to give it a meaning. some have said it was a nilometer, or measure of the rise of the nile; one--a bishop--thought it was a setting stick for planting roots; another said it represented the law of gravitation. don martin said it was a winnowing fan; herwart said it was a compass; pococke said it represented the four elements. others, again, suggest that it may be only a key. "it opened," says borwick, "the door of the sacred chest. it revealed hidden things. it was the hope of life to come." and he continues, "however well the cross fit the mathematical lock, the phallic lock, the gnostic lock, the philosophical lock, the religious lock, it is quite likely that this very ancient and almost universal symbol was at first a secret in esoteric holding, to the meaning of which, with all our guessing, we have no certain clue." this cross has certainly a most remarkable connection with the ancient history of egypt, being found universally represented on the monuments, the tombs, the walls, and the wrapping cloths of the dead; hence, evidently, the idea that it is peculiarly egyptian and its ascription of "key of the nile." from socrates, sozomen, theodoret, and ruffinus, we learn that it was known to the egyptian christians at the close of the fourth century as the symbol of eternal life. later on, dr. max uhlman wrote, "that the handle cross means _life_, is manifest from the rosetta inscription and other texts." zöckler, another german author, notices the opinion of macrobius that it was the hieroglyphic sign of osiris, or the sun, it being a fact that when the ancient egyptians wished to symbolise osiris, they set up a staff with an eye upon it, because in antiquity the sun was known as the eye of god, and then claims that the round portion represented the orb of the sun, the perpendicular bar signifying the rays of the high mid-day sun, and the shorter horizontal bar symbolising the rays of the rising or setting sun. the discovery of this emblem by m. mariette in a niche of the holy of holies in the ancient temple of denderah, points significantly to its importance and peculiar sacredness, and it has been thought probable that it was the central object of interest in the inner precincts of the temple. it seems that the egyptian priests, when asked for an explanation of this cross, evaded the question by replying that the tau was a "_divine mystery_." however varied the explanations offered may be, and whatever the mystery said to surround this object, the feature always remains,--its symbolisation of life and regeneration. from this, its phallic character was very easily inferred--its derivation from the _lingam-yoni_ symbol, said barlow, seemed a very natural process. the junction of the yoni with the cross, in dr. inman's judgment, sufficiently proved that it had a phallic or male signification; a conclusion which certain unequivocal etruscan remains fully confirmed. "we conclude, therefore," says this writer, "that the ancient cross was an emblem of the belief in a male creator, and the method by which creation was initiated." not the least remarkable exemplification of the universal prevalence of the cross both as to time and country, is found amongst coins and medals: here as in other things it is ever prominent. take the ancient gaulish coins, for instance, and the fylfot and ordinary greek cross abound; take the ancient british coins of the age long prior to christianity, and the same thing occurs. "on scandinavian coins, as well as those of gaul, the fylfot cross appears, as it also does on those of syracuse, corinth, and chalcedon. on the coins of byblos, astarte is represented holding a long staff, surmounted by a cross, and resting her foot on the prow of a galley. on the coins of asia minor, the cross is also to be found. it occurs as the reverse of a silver coin, supposed to be of cyprus, on several cilician coins; it is placed beneath the throne of baal of tarsus, on a phoenician coin of that time, bearing the legend 'baal tharz.' a medal possibly of the same place, with partially obliterated phoenician characters, has the cross occupying the entire field of the reverse side. several, with inscriptions in unknown characters, have a ram on one side and the cross and ring on the other. another has the sacred bull, accompanied by this symbol; others have a lion's head on obverse, and a cross and circle on the reverse."[ ] strangely enough, even jewish money is marked with this emblem, the shekel bearing on one side what is usually called a triple lily or hyacinth; the same forming a pretty floral cross. on roman coins the cross was of very frequent occurrence, and illustrations of good examples may be seen in the pages of the _art journal_ for the year . an engraving of the _quincunx_, or piece of five _unciæ_, is given, bearing on one side a cross, a =v=, and five pellets; and on the other a cross only. this is an example of the earlier periods; of course when we come to the later periods the emblem is still more frequent. these coins are often found in ancient graves and sarcophagi, and these latter again supply examples of various familiar forms of crosses of very remote antiquity,--not simply the adornment of coffin and gravecloths, but the actual construction of the tomb or grave-mound in that form. fine specimens of these have been discovered at stoney-littleton, at new grange, at banwell, somerset, at adisham, at hereford, at helperthorpe, and in the isle of lewis. "before the romans, long before the etruscans, there lived in the plains of northern italy a people to whom the cross was a religious symbol, the sign beneath which they laid their dead to rest; a people of whom history tells nothing, knowing not their name, but of whom antiquarian research has learned this, that they lived in ignorance of the laws of civilisation, that they dwelt in villages built on platforms over lakes, and that they trusted in the cross to guard, and may be to revive their loved ones whom they committed to the dust. throughout emilia are found remains of these people; these remains form quarries whence manure is dug by the peasants of the present day. these quarries go by the name of _terramares_. they are vast accumulations of cinders, charcoal, bones, fragments of pottery, and other remains of human industry. as this earth is very rich in phosphates it is much appreciated by agriculturists as a dressing for their land. in these _terramares_ there are no human bones. the fragments of earthenware belong to articles of domestic use; with them are found querns, moulds for metal, portions of cabin floors, and great quantities of kitchen refuse. they are deposits analogous to those which have been discovered in denmark and switzerland. the metal discovered in the majority of these _terramares_ is bronze; the remains belong to three distinct ages. in the first none of the fictile ware was turned on the wheel or fire-baked. sometimes these deposits exhibit an advance of civilisation. iron came into use, and with it the potter's wheel was discovered, and the earthenware was put in the furnace. when in the same quarry these two epochs are found, the remains of the second age are always superposed over those of the bronze age. a third period is occasionally met with, but only occasionally; a period when a rude art introduced itself, and representatives of animals or human beings adorned the pottery. among the remains of this period is found the first trace of money, rude little bronze fragments without shape. "among other remains in these lake-dwellings, pottery has been in many cases found, and these vessels bear, on the bottom, crosses of various forms, as well also curious solid double cones. that which characterises the cemeteries of golasecca, says m. de mortillet, and gives them their highest interest, is this:--first, the entire absence of all organic representations; we only found three and they were exceptional, in tombs not belonging to the plateau; secondly, the almost invariable presence of the cross under the vases in the tombs. when we reversed the ossuaries, the saucer-lids, or the accessory vases, we saw almost always, if in good preservation, a cross traced thereon ... the examination of the tombs of golasecca proves, in a most convincing, positive, and precise manner, that which the _terramares_ of emilia had only indicated, but which had been confirmed by the cemetery of villanova; that above a thousand years before christ, the cross was already a religious emblem of frequent employment."[ ] "there is every reason to suppose that the cross was a symbol of more import in the early patriarchal ages than is generally imagined. it was not only the _first letter_, but it was also the emblem, of taut, the mercury, the word, the messenger of the gods, the angel, as we may say, of his presence, himself a god among the egyptians and the britons, whose god teutates was analagous both in name and nature; a winged messenger. m. le clerc, one of the ablest mythologists who ever wrote, has shown that the teutates of the gauls, the hermes of the greeks, the mercury of the romans, were all one and the same. the ethiopic letter _taui_, or _taw_, says lowth, still retains the form of a cross, =x=; and the samaritan =t=, which the ethiopians are said to have borrowed from the samaritans, was in the form of a =x= cross. in several samaritan coins, says montfaucon, to be found in the collections of medallists, the letter tau is engraved in the form of a cross, or greek chi, and he gives as his authority origen and jerome. the jewish high-priest, we are informed by the rabbis, was anointed on his investiture, while he who anointed him drew on his forehead with his finger the figure of the greek letter chi, =x=."[ ] chapter iii. _heathen ideas of a trinity--the magi--ancient theologies--the indian trinity--the sculptures of elephanta--the sacred zennar--temples consecrated to indian trinities--the greek trident--attributes of brahm--the hindu meru--narayana--the trimurti--gods of egypt._ "many of the heathens are said to have had a notion of a trinity," wrote a contributor to an encyclopædia, some eighty years ago. now that altogether fails to reach the truth, for heathen nations are known to scholars to have had very definite ideas indeed about a sacred triad; in fact, as another writer has said, there is nothing in all theology more deeply grounded, or more generally allowed by them, than the mystery of the trinity. the chaldeans, phoenicians, greeks, and romans, both in their writings and their oracles, acknowledged that the supreme being had begotten another being from all eternity, whom they sometimes called the son of god, sometimes the word, sometimes the mind, and sometimes the wisdom of god, and asserted to be the creator of all things. among the sayings of the magi, the descendants of zoroaster, was one as follows:--"the father finished all things, and delivered them to the second mind." we learn from dr. cudworth that, besides the inferior gods generally received by all the pagans (viz.: animated stars, demons, and heroes), the more refined of them, who accounted not the world the supreme deity, acknowledged a trinity of divine hypostases superior to them all. this doctrine, according to plotinus, is very ancient, and obscurely asserted even by parmenides. some have referred its origin to pythagoreans, and others to orpheus, who adopted three principles, called phanes, uranus, and cronus. dr. cudworth apprehends that pythagoras and orpheus derived this doctrine from the theology of the egyptian hermes; and, as it is not probable that it should have been first discovered by human reason, he concurs with proclus in affirming that it was at first a theology of divine tradition, or revelation, imparted first to the hebrews, and from them communicated to the egyptians and other nations; among whom it was depraved and adulterated. plato, also, and his followers, speak of the trinity in such terms, that the primitive fathers have actually been accused of borrowing the doctrine from the platonic school. in indian theology there is no more prominent doctrine than that of a divine triad governing all things, consisting of brahma, vishnu, and siva. by brahma, they mean god, the creator; by vishnu (according to the sanscrit), a preserver, a comforter, a cherisher; and by siva, a destroyer and avenger. to these three personages, different functions are assigned, in the hindoo system of mythologic superstition, corresponding to the different significations of their names. they are distinguished, likewise, besides these general titles, in the various sastras and puranas, by an infinite variety of appellations descriptive of their office. whatever doubts may arise respecting the indian trinity, they will very speedily be dispelled by a view of that wonderful and magnificent piece of sculpture which is found in the celebrated cavern of elephanta, which has so often been described by travellers, and which has ever been such a source of amusement to them. this, it is said, proves that from the remotest era, the indian nations have adored a triune deity. in this cavern, the traveller beholds, with awe and astonishment, carved out of the solid rock, in the most conspicuous part of the most ancient and venerable temple in the world, a bust nearly twenty feet in breadth, and eighteen feet in altitude, gorgeously decorated, the image of the great presiding deity of that sacred temple. the bust has three heads united to one body, and adorned with the oldest symbols of the indian theology, is regarded as representing the creator, the preserver, and the regenerator of mankind. owing to the gross surroundings of these characters, respectively denominated brahma, vishnu, and siva, any comparison cannot be instituted with the christian trinity; yet the worship paid to that triple divinity incontestably evinces that, on this point of faith, the sentiments of the indians are congenial with those of the chaldeans and persians. nor is it only in this great deity with three heads that these sentiments are demonstrated, their veneration for that sacred number strikingly displays itself in their sacred books--the three original _vedas_--as if each had been delivered by one personage of the august triad, being confined to that mystic number; by the regular and prescribed offering up of their devotions three times a day; by the immersion of their bodies, during ablution, three times in the purifying wave; and by their constantly wearing next their skin the sacred zennar, or cord of three threads, the mystic symbol of their belief in a divine all ruling triad. the sacred zennar, just mentioned, is of consequence enough to demand a fuller notice. its threads can be twisted by no other hand than that of a brahmin, and he does it with the utmost solemnity and many mystic rites. three threads, each measuring ninety-six hands, are first twisted together; then they are folded into three, and twisted again, making it to consist of nine,--that is three times three threads; this is folded again into three, but without any more twisting, and each end is then fastened with a knot. such is the zennar, which being put upon the left shoulder, passes to the right side, and hangs down as low as the fingers can reach. "the hindoos," says m. sonnerat, "adore three principal deities, brouma, chiven, and vichenou, who are still but _one_; which kind of trinity is there called trimourti, or tritvamz, and signifies the reunion of three powers. the generality of modern indians adore only one of these three divinities, but some learned men, besides this worship, also address their prayers to the three united. the representation of them is to be seen in many pagodas, under that of human figures with three heads, which, on the coast of orissa, they call sariharabrama; on the coromandel coast, trimourti; and tretratreyam, in the sanscrit. it is affirmed by maurice that this latter term would not have been found in sanscrit had not the worship of a trinity existed in those ancient times, fully two thousand five hundred years ago, when sanscrit was the current language of india." there have been found temples entirely consecrated to this kind of trinity; such as that of parpenade, in the kingdom of travancore, where the three gods are worshipped in the form of a serpent with a thousand heads. the feast of anandavourdon, which the indians celebrate to their honour, on the eve of the full moon, in the month of pretachi, or october, always draws a great number of people, "which would not be the case," says sonnerat, "if those that came were not adorers of the three powers." mr. forster writing, in , on the mythology of the hindoos, says:--"a circumstance which forcibly struck my attention, was the hindoo belief in a trinity. the persons are sree mun narrain, the mhah letchimy (a beautiful woman), and a serpent, which are emblematical of strength, love, and wisdom. these persons, by the hindoos, are supposed to be wholly indivisible. the one is three, and the three are one. in the beginning, they say that the deity created three men to whom he gave the names of brimha, vystnou, and sheevah. to the first was committed the power of creating mankind, to the second of cherishing them, and to the third that of restraining and correcting them." the sacred persons who compose this trinity are very remarkable; for sree mun narrain, as mr. forster writes the word, is narayen, the supreme god; the beautiful woman is the imma of the hebrews; and the union of the sexes in the divinity, is perfectly consonant with that ancient doctrine maintained in the geeta, and propagated by orpheus, that the deity is both male and female. damascius, treating of the fecundity of the divine nature, cites orpheus as teaching that the deity was at once both male and female, to show the generative power by which all things were formed. proclus upon the "timæus of plato," among other orphic verses, cites the following: "jupiter is a man, jupiter is also an immortal maid." in the same commentary, and in the same page we read that all things were contained in the womb of jupiter. the serpent is the ancient and usual egyptian symbol for the divine logos. m. tavernier, on his entering one of the great pagodas, observed an idol in the centre of the building, sitting cross-legged in the indian fashion, upon whose head was placed _une triple couronne_; and from this triple crown four horns extended themselves, the symbol of the rays of glory, denoting the deity to whom the four quarters of the world were under subjection. according to the same author, in his account of the benares pagoda, the deity of india is saluted by prostrating the body three times, and he is not only adorned with a triple crown, and worshipped by a triple salutation, but he bears in his hand a three-forked sceptre, exhibiting the exact model of the trident of the greek neptune. now here we must allude to some very remarkable discoveries respecting the trident of neptune and the use of a similar symbol of authority by the indian gods. mr. maurice points out that the unsatisfactory reasons given by mythologists for the assignment of the trident to the grecian deity, exhibit very clear evidence of its being a symbol that was borrowed from some more ancient mythology, and did not naturally, or originally belong to neptune. its three points, or _tines_, some of them affirm to signify the different qualities of the three sorts of waters that are upon the earth, as the waters of the ocean, which are salt; the water of fountains, which is sweet; and the water of lakes and ponds, which, in a degree, partakes of the nature of both. others, again, insist that this three-pronged sceptre alludes to neptune's threefold power over the sea, viz., to _agitate_, to _assuage_, and to _preserve_. these reasons are, all of them, in his estimation, mighty frivolous, and amount to a confession of their total ignorance of its real meaning. the trident was, in the most ancient periods, the sceptre of the indian deity, and may be seen in the hands of that deity in one of the plates (iv.) of m. d'ancarville's third volume, and among the sacred symbols sculptured in elephanta cavern, as pictured by niebuhr in his engravings of the elephanta antiquities. "it was, indeed," says maurice, "highly proper, and strictly characteristic, that a threefold deity should wield a triple sceptre, and i have now a very curious circumstance to unfold to the reader, which i am enabled to do from the information of mr. hodges, relative to this mysterious emblem. the very ancient and venerable edifices of deogur, which are in the form of immense pyramids, do not terminate at the summit in a pyramidal point, for the apex is cut off at about one seventh of what would be the entire height of the pyramid were it completed, and, from the centre of the top, there rises a circular cone, that ancient emblem of the sun. what is exceedingly singular to these cones is, that they are on their summits decorated with this very symbol, or usurped sceptre, of the greek [greek: poseidôn]. thus was the outside of the building decorated and crowned, as it were, with a conspicuous emblem of the worship celebrated within, which from the antiquity of the structure, raised in the infancy of the empire after cavern-worship had ceased, was probably that of brahma, vishnu, and siva: for we have seen that elephanta is, in fact, a temple to the indian triad, evidenced in the colossal sculpture that forms the principal figure of it, and excavated probably ere brahma had fallen into neglect among those who still acknowledge him as the creative energy, or different sects had sprung up under the respective names of vishnu and siva. understood with reference to the pure theology of india, such appears to me to be the meaning of this mistaken symbol; but a system of physical theology quickly succeeded to the pure; and the debased, but ingenious, progeny, who invented it, knew too well how to adapt the symbols and images of the true and false devotion. the three sublime hypostases of the true trinity were degraded into three attributes; in physical causes the sacred mysteries of religion were attempted to be explained away; its doctrines were corrupted, and its emblems perverted. they went the absurd length of degrading a creator (for such brahma, in the hindoo creed, confessedly is) to the rank of a created dewtah, which has been shewn to be a glaring solecism in theology. "the evident result then is, that, nothwithstanding all the corruption of the purer theology of the brahmins, by the base alloy of human philosophy, under the perverted notion of three attributes, the indians have immemorially worshipped a threefold divinity, who, considered apart from their physical notions, is the creator, the preserver, and the regenerator. we must again repeat that it would be in the highest degree absurd to continue to affix the name of destroyer to the third hypostasis in their triad, when it is notorious that the brahmins deny that anything can be destroyed, and insist that a change alone in the form of objects and their mode of existence takes place. one feature, therefore, in that character, hostile to our system, upon strict examination vanishes; and the other feature, which creates so much disgust and gives such an air of licentiousness to his character, is annihilated by the consideration of their deep immersion in philosophical speculations, of their incessant endeavours to account for the divine operations by natural causes, and to explain them by palpable and visible symbols." no image of the supreme brahma himself is ever made; but in place of it his attributes are arranged, as in the temple of gharipuri, thus: brahma | power | creation | matter | the past | earth vishnu | wisdom | preservation | spirit | the present | water siva | justice | destruction | time | the future | fire captain wilford in the th vol. of the _asiatic researches_ writes of meru or moriah, the hill of god, and he says:--"polyænus calls mount meru or merius, tri-coryphus. it is true that he bestows improperly that epithet on mount meru, near cabul, which is inadmissible. meru, with its three peaks on the summit, and its seven steps, includes and encompasses really the whole world, according to the notions of the hindus and other nations previously to their being acquainted with the globular shape of the earth." basnage, in his history of the jews, says "there are seven earths, whereof one is higher than the other; for the holy land is situated upon the highest earth, and mount moriah (or meru) is in the middle of that holy land. this is the hill of god so often mentioned in the old testament, the mount of the congregation where the mighty king sits in the sides of the north, according to isaiah, and there is the city of our god. the meru of the hindoos has the name of sabha, or the congregation, and the gods are seated upon it in the sides of the north. there is the holy city of brahma-puri, where resides brahma with his court in the most pure and holy land of ilavratta." thus meru is the worldly temple of the supreme being in an embodied state, and of the tri-murtti or sacred triad, which resides on its summit, either in a single or threefold temple, or rather in both: for it is all one, as they are one and three. they are three, only with regard to men who have emerged out of it they are but one: and their threefold temple and mountain, with its three peaks, become one equally. mythologists in the west called the world, or meru with his appendages, the temple of god, according to macrobius. hence this most sacred temple of the supreme being is generally typified by a cone or pyramid, with either a single chapel on its summit, or with three; either with or without steps. this worldly temple is also considered by the followers of buddha as the tomb of the son of the spirit of heaven. his bones, or limbs, were scattered all over the face of the earth, like those of osiris and jupiter zagreus. to collect them was the first duty of his descendants and followers, and then to entomb them. out of filial piety, the remembrance of this mournful search was yearly kept up by a fictitious one, with all possible marks of grief and sorrow, till a priest came and announced that the sacred relics were at last found. this is practised to this day by several tartarian tribes of the religion of buddha; and the expression of the bones of the son of the spirit of heaven is peculiar to the chinese, and some tribes in tartary. hindu writers represent narayana moving, as his name implies, on the waters, in the character of the first male, and the principle of all nature, which was wholly surrounded in the beginning by tamas, or darkness, the chaos and primordial night of the greek mythologists, and, perhaps, the thaumaz or thamas of the ancient egyptians; the chaos is also called pracriti, or crude nature, and the male deity has the name of purusha, from whom proceeded sacti, or, the power of containing or conceiving; but that power in its first state was rather a tendency or aptitude, and lay dormant and inert until it was excited by the bija, or vivifying principle, of the plastic iswara. this power, or aptitude, of nature is represented under the symbol of the yoni, or bhaga, while the animating principle is expressed by the linga: both are united by the creative power, brahma; and the yoni has been called the navel of vishnu--not identically, but nearly; for, though it is held in the vedanta that the divine spirit penetrates or pervades all nature, and though the sacti be considered as an emanation from that spirit, yet the emanation is never wholly detached from its source, and the penetration is never so perfect as to become a total union or identity. in another point of view brahma corresponds with the chronos, or time of the greek mythologists: for through him generations pass on successively, ages and periods are by him put in motion, terminated and renewed, while he dies and springs to birth alternately; his existence or energy continuing for a hundred of his years, during which he produces and devours all beings of less longevity. vishnu represents water, or the humid principle; and iswara fire, which recreates or destroys, as it is differently applied; prithivi, or earth, and ravi, or the sun, are severally trimurtis, or forms of the three great powers acting jointly and separately, but with different natures and energies, and by their mutual action excite and expand the rudiments of material substances. the word murti, or form, is exactly synonymous with [greek: eidôla], of the supreme spirit, and homer places the idol of hercules in elysium with other deceased heroes, though the god himself was at the same time enjoying bliss in the heavenly mansions. such a murti, say the hindus, can by no means affect with any sensation, either pleasing or painful, the being from which it emanated; though it may give pleasure or pain to collateral emanations from the same source; hence they offer no sacrifices to the supreme essence, of which our own souls are images, but adore him with silent meditation; while they make frequent homas or oblations to fire, and perform acts of worship to the sun, the stars, the earth, and the powers of nature, which they consider as murtis, or images, the same in kind with ourselves, but transcendently higher in degree. the moon is also a great object of their adoration; for, though they consider the sun and earth as the two grand agents in the system of the universe, yet they know their reciprocal action to be greatly affected by the influence of the lunar orb according to their several aspects, and seem even to have an idea of attraction through the whole extent of nature. this system was known to the ancient egyptians; for according to diodorus, their vulcan, or elemental fire, was the great and powerful deity, whose influence contributed chiefly toward the generation and perfection of natural bodies; while the ocean, by which they meant water in a collective sense, afforded the nutriment that was necessary; and the earth was the vase, or capacious receptacle, in which this grand operation of nature was performed: hence orpheus described the earth as the universal mother, and this is the true meaning of the sanscrit word amba. further information respecting the male and female forms of the trimurti has been gathered as follows:-- atropos (or raudri), who is placed about the sun, is the beginning of generation; exactly like the destructive power, or siva among the hindus, and who is called the cause and the author of generation: clotho, about the celestial moon, unites and mixes: the last, or lachesis, is contiguous to the earth: but is greatly under the influence of chance. for whatever being is destitute of a sensitive soul, does not exist of its own right; but must submit to the affections of another principle: for the rational soul is of its own right impassable, and is not obnoxious to affections from another quarter. the sensitive soul is a mediate and mixed being, like the moon, which is a compound of what is above and of what is below; and is to the sun in the same relation as the earth is to the moon. major wilford says:--"well pliny might say, with great truth, the refinements of the druids were such, that one would be tempted to believe that those in the east had largely borrowed from them. this certainly surpasses everything of the kind i have ever read or heard in india." these three goddesses are obviously the parcoe, or fates, of the western mythologists, which were three and one. this female tri-unity is really the tri-murtti of the hindus, who call it the sacti, or energy of the male tri-murtti, which in reality is the same thing. though the male tri-unity be oftener mentioned, and better known among the unlearned than the other; yet the female one is always understood with the other, because the trimurtti cannot act, but through its energy, or sacti, which is of the feminine gender. the male trimurtti was hardly known in the west, for jupiter, pluto, and neptune have no affinity with the hindu trimurtti, except their being three in number. the real trimurtti of the greeks and latians consisted of cronus, jupiter and mars, brahma, vishnu and siva. to these three gods were dedicated three altars in the upper part of the great circus at rome. these are brothers in their calpas; and cronus or brahma, who has no calpa of his own, produces them, and of course may be considered as their father. thus brahma creates in general; but vishnu in his own calpa, assumes the character of cronus or brahma to create, and he is really cronus or brahma: he is then called brahma-rupi janardana, or vishnu, the devourer of souls, with the countenance of brahma: he is the preserver of his own character. these three were probably the tripatres of the western mythologists, called also tritopatores, tritogeneia, tris-endaimon, trisolbioi, trismacaristoi, and propatores. the ancients were not well agreed who they were: some even said that they were cottus, briareus, and gyges, the sons of tellus and the sun. others said that they were amalcis, protocles, and protocless, the door-keepers and guardians of the minds. their mystical origin probably belonged to the secret doctrine, which the roman college, like the druids, never committed to writing, and were forbidden to reveal. as the ancients swore by them, there can be little doubt but that they were the three great deities of their religion. disentangling the somewhat intricate and involved web of indian mythology, and putting the matter as simply as possible, we may say the deities are only three, whose places are the earth, the intermediate region, and heaven, namely fire, air, and the sun. they are pronounced to be deities of the mysterious names severally, and (prajapati) the lord of creatures is the deity of them collectively. the syllable o'ru intends every deity: it belongs to (paramasht'hi) him who dwells in the supreme abode; it pertains to (brahma) the vast one; to (deva) god; to (ad'hyatma) the superintending soul. other deities, belonging to those several regions, are portions of the three gods; for they are variously named and described on account of their different operations, but there is only one deity, the great soul (mahanatma). he is called the sun, for he is the soul of all beings. the sun, the soul of (jagat) what moves, and of that which is fixed; other deities are portions of him. the name given by the indians to their supreme deity, or monad, is brahm; and notwithstanding the appearance of materialism in all their sacred books, the brahmins never admit that they uphold such a doctrine, but invest their deities with the highest attributes. he is represented as the vast one, self-existing, invisible, eternal, imperceptible, the only deity, the great soul, the over-ruling soul, the soul of all beings, and of whom all other deities are but portions. to him no sacrifices were ever offered; but he was adored in silent meditation. he triplicates himself into three persons or powers, brahma, vishnu, and siva, the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer, or reproducer; and is designated by the word om or aum by the respective letters of which sacred triliteral syllable are expressed the powers into which he triplicates himself. the metempsychosis and succession of similar worlds, alternately destroyed by flood and fire and reproduced, were doctrines universally received among the heathens: and by the indians, the world, after the lapse of each predestined period of its existence, was thought to be destroyed by siva. at each appointed time of its destruction, vishnu ceases from his preserving care, and sleeps beneath the waters: but after the allotted period, from his navel springs forth a lotus to the surface, bearing brahma in its cup, who reorganises the world, and when he has performed his work, retires, leaving to vishnu its government and preservation; when all the same heroes and persons reappear, and similar events are again transacted, till the time arrives for another dissolution. after the construction of the world by brahma, the office of its preservation is assumed by vishnu. his chief attribute is wisdom: he is the air, water, humidity in general, space, and sometimes, though rarely, earth: he is time present, and the middle: and he is the sun in the evening and at night. his colour is blue or blackish; his vahan, the eagle named garuda; his allotted place, the air or intermediate region, and he symbolises unity. it is he who most commonly appears in the avatars or incarnations, of which nine in number are recorded as past: the most celebrated of which are his incarnations as mateya or the fish rama, krishna, and buddha: the tenth of kalki, or the horse, is yet to come. it is from him that brahma springs when he proceeds to his office of creation. the destroying and regenerating power, siva, maha-deva, iswara, or routrem is regarded metaphysically as justice, and physically as fire or heat, and sometimes water. he is the sun at noon: his colour is white, with a blue throat, but sometimes red; his vahan is the bull, and his place of residence the heaven. as destruction in the material world is but change or production in another form, and was so held by almost all the heathen philosophers, we find that the peculiar emblems of siva are, as we have already shown, the trident, the symbol of destruction; and the linga or phallus, of regeneration. the three deities were called trimurtti, and in the caverns of ellora they are united in a triune bust. they are collectively symbolized by the triangle. vishnu, as humidity personified, is also represented by an inverted triangle, and siva by a triangle erect, as a personification of fire; while the monad brahm is represented by the circle as eternity, and by a point as having neither length, nor breadth, as self-existing, and containing nothing. the brahmans deny materialism; yet it is asserted by mr. wilford, that, when closely interrogated on the title of deva or god, which their most sacred books give to the sun, they avoid a direct answer, and often contradict themselves and one another. the supreme divinity of the sun, however, is constantly asserted in their scriptures; and the holiest verse in the vedas, which is called the gayatri, is:--"let us adore the supremacy of that divine sun, the godhead, who illuminates all, who recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke to direct our understanding aright in our progress towards his holy seat." it has been said that in india is to be found the most ancient form of that trinitarian worship which prevails in nearly every quarter of the known world. be that as it may, it is not in india where the most remarkable phase of the worship is to be found; for that we turn to egypt. here we meet with the strange fact that no two cities worshipped the same triad. "the one remarkable feature in nearly all these triads is that they are father, mother, and son; that is, male and female principles of nature, with their product." mariette bey says:--"according to places, the attributes by which the divine personage is surrounded are modified; but in each temple the triad would appear as a symbol destined to affirm the eternity of being. in all triads, the principal god gives birth to himself. considered as a father, he remains the great god adored in temples. considered as a son, he becomes, by a sort of doubling, the third person of the triad. but the father and the son are not less the one god, while, being double, the first is the eternal god; the second is but the living symbol destined to affirm the strength of the other. the father engenders himself in the womb of the mother, and thus becomes at once his own father and his own son. thereby are expressed the uncreatedness and the eternity of the being who has had no beginning, and who shall have no end." generally speaking, the gods of egypt were grouped in sets of three, each city having its own trinity. thus in memphis we find ptah, pasht and month; in thebes, amun-ra, athor and chonso; in ethiopia, noum, sate and anucis; in hermonthis, monthra, reto and harphre; in lower egypt, seb, netphe and osiris; in thinnis, osiris, isis and anhur; in abousimbel and derr, ptah, amun-ra and horus-ra; in esné, neph, neboo and haké; in dabad, seb, netpe and mandosti; in ambos, savak, athor and khonso; in edfou, horket, hathor and horsenedto. the trinity common throughout the land is that of osiris, isis and horus. dr. cudworth translates jamblichus as follows, quoting from the egyptian hermetic books in defining the egyptian trinity:--"hermes places the god emeph as the prince and ruler over all the celestial gods, whom he affirmeth to be a mind understanding himself, and converting his cogitations or intellections into himself. before which emeph he placeth one indivisible, whom he calleth eicton, in which is the first intelligible, and which is worshipped only by silence. after which two, eicton and emeph, the demiurgic mind and president of truth, as with wisdom it proceedeth to generations, and bringeth forth the hidden powers of the occult reasons with light, is called in the egyptian language ammon: as it artificially affects all things with truth, phtha; as it is productive of good, osiris; besides other names that it hath according to its other powers and energies." upon this, dr. cudworth remarks:--"how well these three divine hypostases of the egyptians agree with the pythagoric or platonic trinity of,--first, unity and goodness itself; secondly, mind; and, thirdly, soul,--i need not here declare. only we shall call to mind what hath been already intimated, that reason or wisdom, which was the demiurgus of the world, and is properly the second of the fore-mentioned hypostases, was called also, among the egyptians by another name, cneph; from whom was said to have been produced or begotten the god phtha, the third hypostasis of the egyptian trinity; so that cneph and emeph are all one. wherefore, we have here plainly an egyptian trinity of divine hypostases subordinate, eicton, emeph or cneph, and phtha." mr. sharpe, in his egyptian inscriptions, mentions the fact that there is in the british museum a hieroglyphical inscription as early as the reign of sevechus of the eighth century before the christian era, showing that the doctrine of the trinity in unity already formed part of their religion, and stating that in each of the two groups, isis, nephthis and osiris, and osiris, isis, and horus, the three gods made only one person. also that the sculptured figures on the lid of the sarcophagus of rameses iii., now at cambridge, show us the king, not only as one of a group of three gods, but also as a trinity in unity in his own person. "he stands between the goddesses, isis and nepthys, who embrace him as if he were the lost osiris, whom they have now found again. we further know him to be in the character of osiris by the two sceptres which he holds; but at the same time the horns upon his head are those of the goddess athor, and the ball and feathers above are the ornaments of the god ra." nearly all writers describe the egyptian trinity as consisting of the _generative_, the _destructive_, and the _preserving_ powers. isis answers to siva. iswara, or lord, is the epithet of siva. osiris, or ysiris, as hellanicus wrote the egyptian name, was the god at whose birth a voice was heard to declare, "that the lord of all nature sprang forth to light." a peculiar feature in the ancient trinities is the way in which the worship of the first person is lost or absorbed in the second, few or no temples being found dedicated to brahma. something very much like this often occurs among christians; we are surrounded by churches dedicated to the second and third persons in the trinity, and to saints, and to the mother of christ, but none to the father. it has been noticed that while we find inscribed upon the monuments of egypt a vast multitude of gods, as in india, the number diminishes as we ascend. amun ra alone is found dedicated upon the oldest monuments, in three distinct forms, into one or other of whose characters all the other divinities may be resolved. amun was the chief god, the sacred name, corresponding with the aum of the indians, also, probably, the egyptian on. according to mr. wilkinson, the egyptians held kneph, neph, nef, or chnoubus, "as the idea of the spirit of god which moved upon the face of the waters." he was the spirit, animating and perpetuating the world, and penetrating all its parts; the same with the agathodæmon of the phoenicians, and like him, was symbolized by the snake, an emblem of the spirit which pervades the universe. he was commonly represented with a ram's head; and though the colour of the egyptian divinities is perhaps more commonly green than any other, he is as frequently depicted blue. he was the god of the nile, which is indirectly confirmed by pindar; and by ptolemy, who says that the egyptians gave the name of agathodæmon to the western, or heracleotic branch. from his mouth proceeded the mundane egg, from which sprung phtah, the creative power. mr. wilkinson proceeds:--"having separated the spirit from the creator, and purposing to act apart and defy each attribute, which presented itself to their imagination, they found it necessary to form another deity from the creative power, whom they call phtah, proceeding from the former, and thence deemed the son of kneph. some difference was observed between the power, which created the world, and that which caused and ruled over the generation of man, and continued to promote the continuation of the human species. this latter attribute of the divinity was deified under the appellation khem. thus was the supreme deity known by the three distinct names of, kneph, phthah, khem: to these were joined the goddesses sate, neith, and buto; and the number of the eight deities was completed by the addition of ra, or amun-ra," this last, however, was not a distinct god, but a name common to each person of the triad: and, indeed, to all the three names above the name of amun was constantly prefixed.[ ] phthah corresponds with the indian brahma, and the orphic phanes, and appears in several other forms. in one form he is represented as an infant--often as an infant priapæan figure, and deformed. the deity called khem by mr. wilkinson, and mendes by champollion, is common on the monuments of egypt, and is recognised as corresponding with the pan of the greeks. his chief attribute is heat, which aids the continuation of the various species, and he is generally coloured red, though sometimes blue, with his right arm extended upwards. his principal emblems are a triple-thonged flagellum and a phallus. he corresponds with siva of the indians, his attributes being similar, _viz._, destroying and regenerating. he is the god of generation, and, like siva, has his phallic emblem of reproduction; the triple-thonged flagellum is regarded by some as a variation of the trident, or of the axe of siva. he has for a vahan the bull mneuis, as sivi has the bull nandi. the goat mendes was also consecrated to him as an emblem of heat and generation; and it is well known that this animal is constantly placed in the hands of siva. "in short," says mr. cory, "there is scarcely a shade of distinction between khem and siva: the egyptians venerated the same deity as the indians, in his generative character as khem, when they suspended the flagellum, the instrument of vengeance, over his right hand; but in his destroying character, as the ruler of the dead, as osiris, when they placed the flagellum in his hands as the trident is in that character placed in the hand of siva." in the chaldean oracles, so far as they have been preserved, the doctrine of a triad is found everywhere. allowing for the existence of much that is forged amongst these oracles, as suggested by mr. cory and others, we may reasonably conclude that there still remains a deal that is ancient and authentic. they teach as a fundamental tenet that a triad shines throughout the whole world, over which a monad rules. this triad is father, power, and intellect, having probably once been air, fire, and sun. amongst the laplanders the supreme god was worshipped as jumala, and three gods were recognised as subordinate to him. the first was thor of the edda; the second storjunkare, his vicegerent, the common household god; and the third beywe, the sun. with regard to the phoenicians and syrians, photius states that the kronus of both was known under the names of el, bel, and bolathen. the sidonians, eudemus said, placed before all things chronus, pothas, and omichles, rendered by damascius as time, love, and cloudy darkness, regarded by some as no other than the khem, phthah, and amun kneph of the egyptians. the heracles or hercules of the greeks, known as arcles of the tyrians, was a triple divinity, described by hieronymus as a dragon, with the heads of a bull, of a lion, and of a man with wings. among the philistines also we find their chief god dragon, who is the ouranus of sanchoniatho. it appears also that baal was a triple divinity: while chemosh, the abomination of the moabites, and baal peor, of the midians, seem to be the priapæan khem of egypt, the god of heat and generation. the edessenes also held the triad, and placed monimus and azizus as contemplars with the sun.[ ] chapter iv. _the supreme god of the peruvians--assumed origin of the trinity idea in the patriarchal age--welsh ideas--druidical triads--the ancient religion of america--the classics and heathen triads--the tritopatoreia--the virgin mary--the virgin amongst the heathen--universality of the belief in a trinity--the dahomans._ the supreme god of the peruvians, was called viracocha; known also as pachacarnac, soul of the world, usapu admirable, and other names. garcilazo says, "he was considered as the giver of life, sustainer and nourisher of all things, but because they did not see him, they erected no temples to him nor offered sacrifices; however they worshipped him in their hearts, and esteemed him for the unknown god." generally, speaking, the sun was the great object of peruvian idolatry during the dominion of the incas. its worship was the most solemn, and its temples the most splendid in their furniture and decorations, and the common people, no doubt, reverenced that luminary as their chief god. herrera mentions the circumstance that at one of the festivals, they exhibited three statues of the sun, each of which had a particular name, which as he translated them were father and lord sun, the son sun, and the brother sun. he also says, "that at chucuisaea, they worshipped an idol called tangatanga, which they said was three and one." the spanish writers consider this doctrine to have been stolen by the devil from christianity, and imparted by him to this people. by this opinion they evidently declare its antiquity in peru to have been greater than the time of the spanish conquest. those writers and scholars who refuse to believe that the doctrine of the trinity as taught in the christian religion, was known during the patriarchal or judaical dispensations, and therefore will not allow that the trinity of the peruvians had any reference to the dogma of christianity, contend that their trinity was founded in those early corruptions of patriarchal history, in which men began to represent adam, and his three sons; and noah, and his three sons; as being triplicates of the same essential person, who originally was the universal father of the human race: and secondly, being triplicated in their three sons, who also were considered the fathers of mankind. they say therefore, adam and noah were each the father of three sons; and to the persons of the latter of these triads, by whose descendants the world was repeopled, the whole habitable earth was assigned in a threefold division. this matter, though it sometimes appears in an undisguised form, was usually wrapped up in the cloak of the most profound mystery. hence instead of plainly saying, that the mortal who had flourished in the golden age and who was venerated as the universal demon father both of gods and men, was the parent of three sons, they were wont to declare, that the great father had wonderfully triplicated himself. pursuing this vein of mysticism, they contrived to obscure the triple division of the habitable globe among the sons of noah, just as much as the characters of the three sons themselves. a very ancient notion universally prevailed that some such triple division had once taken place; and the hierophants when they had elevated noah and his three sons to the rank of deity, proceeded to ring a variety of corresponding changes upon that celebrated threefold distribution. noah was esteemed the universal sovereign of the world; but, when he branched out into three kings (_i.e._, triplicating himself into his three sons), that world was to be divided into three kingdoms, or, as they were sometimes styled, three worlds. to one of these kings was assigned the empire of heaven; to another, the empire of the earth, including the nether regions of tartarus; to a third, the empire of the ocean. so again, when noah became a god, the attributes of deity were inevitably ascribed to him, otherwise, he would plainly have become incapable of supporting his new character: yet even in the ascription of such attributes, the genuine outlines of his history were never suffered to be wholly forgotten. he had witnessed the destruction of one world, the new creation (or regeneration) of another, and the oath of god that he would surely preserve mankind from the repetition of such a calamity as the deluge. hence when he was worshipped as a hero-god, he was revered in the triple character of the destroyer, the creator, and the preserver. and when he was triplicated into three cognate divinities, were produced three gods, different, yet fundamentally the same, one mild though awful as the creator; another gentle and beneficent as the preserver; a third, sanguinary, ferocious, and implacable as the destroyer.[ ] the idea of a trinity was rather curiously developed amongst the druids, especially amongst the welsh. they used a number of triplicated sentences as summaries of matters relating to their religion, history, and science, in order that these things might be the more easily committed to memory and handed down to future generations. the triads were these:-- . there are three primeval unities, and more than one of each cannot exist: one god; one truth; one point of liberty, where all opposites equiponderate. . three things proceed from the primeval unities: all of life; all that is good; and all power. . god consists necessarily of three things: the greatest of life; the greatest of knowledge; and the greatest of power.[ ] the druids venerated the bull and eagle as emblems of the god hu, and like the jews and indians, "made use of a term, only known to themselves, to express the unutterable name of the deity, and the letters =oiw= were used for that purpose." from herodotus, aristotle, plutarch, and others, we get information concerning the triads amongst the persians, and which were similar in many respects to those recognised by other eastern nations. oromasdes and arimanes were ruling principles always in opposition to each other, viz., _good_ and _evil_, and springing from _light_ and _darkness_, which they are said to have most resembled. eudemus says, "they proceeded from place or time." oromasdes was looked upon as the whole expanse of heaven, and was considered by the greeks as identical with zeus. he was the preserver; and arimanes, the destroyer. between them, according to plutarch was mithras, the mediator, who was regarded as the sun, as light, as intellect, and as the creator of all things. he was a triple deity and was said to have triplicated himself. the leontine mysteries were instituted in his honour, the lion being consecrated to him, and the sun was represented by the emblems of the bull, the lion, and the hawk, united. in the ancient religions of america, a species of trinity was recognised altogether different to that of christianity or the trimurti of india. in some of the ancient poems a triple nature is actually ascribed to storms; and in the quiché legends we read: "the first of hurakan is the lightning, the second the track of the lightning, and the third the stroke of the lightning; and these three are hurakan the heat of the sky." in the iroquois mythology the same thing is found. heno was thunder, and three assistants were assigned to him whose offices were similar to those of the companions of hurakan. heno was said to gather the clouds and pour out the warm rain; he was the patron of husbandry, and was invoked at seedtime and harvest. as the purveyor of nourishment, he was addressed as grandfather, and his worshippers styled themselves his grandchildren. amongst the aztecs, tlaloc, the god of rain and water, manifested himself under the three attributes of the flash, the thunderbolt, and the thunder. but this conception of three in one, says brinton, "was above the comprehension of the masses, and consequently these deities were also spoken of as fourfold in nature, three _and_ one." moreover, as has already been pointed out, the thunder-god was usually ruler of the winds, and thus another reason for his quadruplicate nature was suggested. hurakan, haokah, tlaloc, and probably heno, are plural as well as singular nouns, and are used as nominatives to verbs in both numbers. tlaloc was appealed to as inhabiting each of the cardinal points and every mountain top. his statue rested on a square stone pedestal, facing the east, and had in one hand a serpent in gold. ribbons of silver, crossing to form squares, covered the robe, and the shield was composed of feathers of four colours, yellow, green, red and blue. before it was a vase containing all sorts of grain; and the clouds were called his companions, the winds his messengers. as elsewhere, the thunderbolts were believed to be flints, and thus, as the emblem of fire and the storm, this stone figures conspicuously in their myths. tohil, the god who gave the quichés fire by shaking his sandals, was represented by a flint-stone. he is distinctly said to be the same as quetzelcoatl, one of whose commonest symbols was a flint. such a stone, in the beginning of things, fell from heaven to earth, and broke into pieces, each of which sprang up a god; an ancient legend, which shadows forth the subjection of all things to him who gathers the clouds from the four corners of the earth, who thunders with his voice, who satisfies with his rain the desolate and waste ground, and causes the tended herb to spring forth. this is the germ of the adoration of stones as emblems of the fecundating rains. this is why, for example, the navajos use as their charm for rain certain long round stones, which they think fall from the clouds when it thunders. it is said that all over africa, belief in a trinity of gods is found, the same to-day as has prevailed at least for forty centuries, and perhaps for very much longer. chaldæa, assyria, and the temple of erektheus, on the acropolis of athens, honoured and sacrificed to zeus (the sun, hercules, or phallic idea) the serpent and ocean; and africa still does so to the tree-stem or pole, the serpent, and the sea or water; and this trinity is one god, and yet serves to divide all gods into three classes, of which these are types. important and interesting notices relative to the nature of the deities worshipped by the ancients are to be found in the treatise of julius firmicus maternus, "de errore profanarum religionum ad constantium, et constantem angg." firmicus attributes to the persians a belief in the androgynous nature of the deity [naturam ejus (jovis) ad utriusque sexus transferentes]. no doubt this doctrine has always been recognised, by many writers, as being held by the philosophers of india and egypt, and that it constituted a part of the creed of orpheus, but its connection with persia has not been so generally acknowledged. firmicus, after speaking of the two-fold powers of jupiter (that is, the deity being both male and female) adds, "when they choose to give a visible representation of him, they sculpture him as a female." again, they represent him as a female with three heads. it was a figure adorned with serpents of a monstrous size. it was venerated under the symbol of fire. it was called mithra. it was worshipped in secret caverns. the rites of mithra were familiar to the romans, but they worshipped them in a manner different from the persian ceremonies. firmicus had seen mithra sculptured in two different ways: in one piece of sculpture he was represented as a female with three faces, and infolded with serpents; and in another piece of sculpture he was represented as seizing a bull. classic writers abound with references, not simply to a plurality of gods among the heathen, but to a trinity in unity and unity in trinity, sometimes approaching in the similarity of their broad outlines the doctrine as held by orthodox religionists. herodotus calls the deity of the pelasgians, _gods_, and it is admitted that the passage evidently implies that the expression was used by the priests of dodona. the pelasgians worshipped the cabiri, and the cabiri were originally three in number, hence it is inferred that these cabiri were the pelasgian trinity, and that having in ancient times no name which would have implied a diversity of gods, they worshipped a trinity in unity. the worship of the cabiri by the pelasgians is evident, for herodotus says, in his second book, "that the samothracians learnt the cabiric mysteries from the pelasgians, who once inhabited that island, and afterwards settled in greece, near attica." cicero testifies that the cabiri were originally three in number, and he carefully distinguishes them from the dioscuri. a passage in pausanias states that at tritia, a city of achaia, there is a temple erected to the dii magni (or cabiri); their images are a representation of a god made of clay. "we need not be surprised," said a writer once, "that pausanias should be puzzled how to express the fact that, though it was the temple of the three cabiri, yet there was only one image in it. is not this the doctrine of a trinity in unity?" potter informs us that those who desired to have children were usually very liberal to the gods, who were thought to preside over generation. the same writer also says:--"who these were, or what was the origination of their name, is not easy to determine: orpheus, as cited by phanodemus in suidas, makes their proper names to be amaclides, protocles, and protocleon, and will have them to preside over the winds; demo makes them to be the winds themselves." another author tells us their names were "cottus, briareus, and gyges, and that they were the sons of heaven and of earth: philocrus likewise makes earth their mother, but instead of heaven, substitutes the sun, or apollo, for their father, where he seems to account, as well for their being accounted the superintendents of generation, as for the name of [greek: tritopateres]; for being immediately descended from two immortal gods, themselves," saith he, "were thought the third fathers, and therefore might well be esteemed the common parents of mankind, and from that opinion derive those honours, which the athenians paid them as the authors and presidents of human generation." again, the tritopatoreia was a solemnity in which it was usual to pray for children to the gods of generation, who were sometimes called _tritopateres_. the names of the cabiri, as cicero says, are tritopatreus, eubuleus, and dionysius: this fact is supposed to give us a little insight into the origin of the word _tritopateres_, or _tritopatreis_. philocrus, as we have seen, makes them the sons of apollo and of the earth: this fact will help us to develop the truth: the two last hypostases emanated from the creator: thus in the egyptian trinity of osiris, of isis, and of horus, isis is not only the consort, but the daughter of osiris, and horus was the fruit of their embrace, thus in the scandinavian trinity of adin, of trea, and of thor, trea is not only the wife, but the daughter of odin, and thor was the fruit of their embrace, as maillet observes in his _northern antiquities_ (vol. ii.), there is the roman trinity of jupiter, of juno, and of minerva, juno is the sister and the wife of jupiter, and minerva is the daughter of jupiter: now, it is a singular fact, that in the pelasgic trinity of the cabirim, two of them are said to have been the sons of vulcan, or the sun, as we read in potter (vol. i.) hence we see, it has been contended, the mistake of philocrus: there were not three emanations from the sun, as he supposes, but only _two_: their name tritopateres, which alludes to the doctrine of the trinity, puzzled philocrus, who knew nothing of the doctrine, and he is credited with coining the story, to account for this appellation: the cabiri were, as is known from cicero, called tritopatreus, dionysius, and eubuleus. dionysius is osiris, and eubuleus and tritopatreus are the two hypostases, which emanated from him: the name of the third hypostasis is generally compounded of some word which signifies the third: hence minerva derived her name of tritonis, or tritonia virgo: hence minerva is called by hesiod (referred to in lempriere's classical dictionary), tritogenia: hence came the tritia, of which pausanias speaks: hence came the tritopatreus of cicero: hence came the thridi of the scandinavians. we read in the edda these remarkable words: "he afterwards beheld three thrones raised one above another, and on each throne sat a man; upon his asking which of these was their king, his guide answered, 'he who sits upon the lowest throne is the king, and his name is hor, or the lofty one: the second is jaenhar, that is equal to the lofty one; but he who sits upon the highest throne is called thridi, or the third.'" pausanias has a number of passages which bear upon this subject, and seem to prove conclusively that the greeks recognised the doctrine of a trinity in unity and worshipped the same. in his second book he says: "beyond the tomb of pelasgus is a small structure of brass, which supports the images of diana, of jupiter, and of minerva, a work of some antiquity: lyceas has in some verses recorded the fact that this is the representation of jupiter machinator." again, in book i., when describing the areopagite district of athens, he says:--"here are the images of pluto, of mercury, and of tellus, to whom all such persons, whether citizens or strangers, as have vindicated their innocence in the court areopagus, are required sacrifice." "in a temple of ceres, at the entrance of athens, there are images of the goddess herself, of her daughter, and of bacchus, with a torch in his hand." that the grouping of the three deities was not accidental is evident from the frequency with which they are so mentioned, and other passages show that they were the three deities who were worshipped in the eleusinian mysteries. thus in book viii., ch. :--"the river lado then continues its course to the temple of the eleusinian ceres, which is situated in territories of the thelpusians: the three statues in it are each seven feet high, and all of marble: they represent ceres, proserpine, and bacchus." in another passage (book ii., ch. ) he says:--"by a temple dedicated to all the gods, there were placed three statues of jupiter in the open air, of which one had no title, a second was styled the _terrestrial_, and the third was styled the highest." the learned say, of course, it is clear that the missing title should have been the _god of the sea_, as the others were the _god of heaven_, and the _god of the earth_. another passage in pausanias confirms this:--"in a temple of minerva was placed a wooden image of jupiter with three eyes; two of them were placed in the natural position, and the other was placed on the forehead.... one may naturally suppose that jupiter is represented with three eyes as the god of the heaven, as the god of the earth, and as the god of the sea." it has been remarked that pausanias records the tradition that this story of the three-eyed jupiter comes from troy, and it is known that the trojans acknowledged a trinity in the divine nature, and that the dii penates, or the cabiri of the romans, came from troy. quotations from the translation of the atlas chinesis of montanus, by ogilby, show that the three-eyed jupiter was an oriental emblem of the trinity:--"the modern learned, or followers of this first sect, who are overwhelmed in idolatry, divide generally their idols, or false gods, into three orders, _viz._, celestial, terrestrial, and infernal: in the celestial they acknowledge a trinity of one godhead, which they worship and serve by the name of a goddess called pussa; which, with the greeks, we might call cybele, and with egyptians, isis and mother of the gods. this pussa (according to the chinese saying) is the governess of nature, or, to speak properly, the chinese isis, or cybele, by whose power they believe that all things are preserved and made fruitful, as the three inserted figures relate." in the doctrine relating to the virgin mary as held by the church of rome, there is a remarkable resemblance to the teaching of the ancients respecting the female constantly associated with the triune male deity. her names and titles are many, and though diversified, mostly pointing to the same idea. some of these are as follows:--"the virgin," conceiving and bringing forth from her own inherent power. the wife of bel nimrod; the wife of asshur; the wife of nin. she is called multa, mulita, or mylitta, or enuta, bilta or bilta nipruta, ishtar, ri, alitta, elissa, bettis, ashtoreth, astarte, saruha, nana, asurah. amongst other names she is known as athor, dea syria, artemis, aphrodite, tanith, tanat, rhea, demeter, ceres, diana, minerva, juno, venus, isis, cybele, seneb or seben, venus urania, ge, hera. "as anaitis she is the 'mother of the child;' reproduced again as isis and horus; devaki with christna; and aurora with memnon." even in ancient mexico the mother and child were worshipped. again she appears as davkina gula shala, zirbanit, warmita laz. in modern times she reappears as the virgin mary and her son. there were ishtar of nineveh and ishter of arbela, just as there are now marie de loretto and marie de la garde. she was the queen of fecundity or fertility, queen of the lands, the beginning of heaven and earth, queen of all the gods, goddess of war and battle, the holder of the sceptre, the beginning of the beginning, the one great queen, the queen of the spheres, the virgo of the zodiac, the celestial virgin, time, in whose womb all things are born. she is represented in various ways, and specially as a nude woman carrying an infant in her arms.[ ] the name _multa, mulita, or mylitta_, inman contends is derived from some words resembling the hebrew _meal_, the "place of entrance," and _ta_, "a chamber." the whole being a place of entrance and a chamber. the cognomen multa, or malta, signifies, therefore, the spot through which life enters into the chamber, _i.e._, the womb, and through which the fruit matured within enters into the world as a new being. by the association of this virgin goddess with the sacred triad of deities is made up the four great gods, _arba-il_. we are here reminded of the well-known symbol of the trinity which seems to have been as abundantly used in ancient times, at least in some countries--egypt for instance. this is the triangle--generally the equilateral--which of course symbolised both the trinity in unity and the equality of the three. sometimes we get two of those triangles crossing each other, one with the point upwards, the other with the point downwards, thus forming a six-rayed star. the first represents the phallic triad, the two together shew the union of the male and female principles producing a new figure, each at the same time retaining its own identity. the triangle with the point downwards, by itself typifies the mons veneris, the delta, or door through which all come into the world. the question has arisen:--"how comes it that a doctrine so singular, and so utterly at variance with all the conceptions of uninstructed reason, as that of a trinity in unity, should have been from the beginning, the fundamental religious tenet of every nation upon earth?" inman without hesitation declares "the trinity of the ancients is unquestionably of phallic origin." others have either preceded this writer or have followed suit, contending that the male symbol of generation in divine creation was three in one, as the cross, &c., and that the female symbol was always regarded as the triangle, the accepted symbol of the trinity. the number three, was employed with mystic solemnity, and in the emblematical hands which seem to have been borne on the top of a staff or sceptre in the isiac processions, the thumb and two forefingers are held up to signify the three primary and general personifications. this form of priestly blessing, thumb and two fingers, is still acknowledged as a sign of the trinity. the ancients tell us plainly enough that they are derived from the cosmogonic elements. they are primarily the material and elementary types of the spiritual trinity of revelation--types established by revelation itself, and the only resource of materialism to preserve the original doctrine. the spirit, whether physical or spiritual, is equally the _pneuma_; and the light, whether physical or spiritual, equally the _phos_ of the greek text: so that the materialist of antiquity had little difficulty in preserving their analogies complete. the dahomans are said by skertchley to deny the corporeal existence of the deity, but to ascribe human passions to him; a singular medley. "their religion," he says, "must not be confounded with polytheism, for they only worship one god, mau, but propitiate him through the intervention of the fetiches. of these, there are four principal ones, after whom come the secondary deities. the most important of these is bo, the dahoman mars; then comes legba, the dahoman priapus, whose little huts are to be met with in every street. this deity is of either sex, a male and female legba often residing in the same temple. a squat swish image, rudely moulded into the grossest caricature on the human form, sitting with hands on knees, with gaping mouth, and the special attributes developed to an ungainly size. teeth of cowries usually fill the clown-like mouth, and ears standing out from the head, like a bat's, are only surpassed in their monstrosity by the snowshoe-shaped feet. the nose is broad, even for a negro's, and altogether the deity is anything but a fascinating object. round the deity is a fence of knobbed sticks, daubed with filthy slime, and before the god is a flat saucer of red earthenware, which contains the offerings. when a person wishes to increase his family, he calls in a legba priest and gives him a fowl, some cankie, water, and palm oil. a fire is lighted, and the cankie, water, and palm oil mixed together and put in the saucer. the fowl is then killed by placing the head between the great and second toes of the priest, who severs it from the body by a jerk. the head is then swung over the person of the worshipper, to allow the blood to drop upon him, while the bleeding body is held over a little dish, which catches the blood. the fowl is then semi-roasted on a fire lighted near, and the priest, taking the dish of blood, smears the body of the deity with it, finally taking some of the blood into his mouth and sputtering it over the god. the fowl is then eaten by the priest, and the wives of the devotees are supposed to have the children they crave for." the principal dahoman gods, described by skertchley, are thus mentioned by forlong:-- legba, the dahoman priapus, and special patron of all who desire larger families. zoo, the god of fire, reminding us of zoe, life. demen, he who presides over chastity. akwash, he who presides over childbirth. gbwejeh, he or she who presides over hunting. ajarama, the tutelary god of foreigners, symbolised by a whitewashed stump under a shed, apparently a sivaic or white lingam, no doubt called foreign because ashar came from assyria, and esir from the still older ethiopians. hoho, he who presides over twins. afa, the name of the dual god of wisdom. aizan, the god who presides over roads, and travellers, and bad characters, and can be seen on all roads as a heap of clay surmounted by a round pot, containing kanki, palm oil, &c. "so that we have legba, the pure and simple phallus; ajarama, 'the whitened stump,' so well known to us in india amidst rude aboriginal tribes; and ai-zan, the hermes or harmonia, marking the ways of life, and symbolised by a mound and round pot and considering that this is the universal form of tatooing shown on every female's stomach,--mr. skertchley says, a series of arches, the meaning is also clearly the omphi. mr. s. says that afa, our african androgynous minerva, is very much respected by mothers, and has certain days sacred to mothers, when she or he is specially consulted on their special subjects, as well as on all matters relating to marrying, building a house, sowing corn, and such like."[ ] some years ago a writer, speaking of the sacred triads of various nations, said: "from all quarters of the heathen world came the trinity," what we have already revealed shows that the doctrine has been held in some form or other from the far east to the extreme verge of the western hemisphere. some of the forms of this triad are as follows:--india--brahma, vishnu, siva: egypt--knef, osiris as the first; ptha, isis as the second; phree, horus as the third: the zoroastrians--the father, mind, and fire: the ancient arabs--al-lat, al uzzah, manah: greeks and latins--zeus or jupiter, neptune, pluto: the syrians--monimus, azoz, aries or mars: the kaldians--the one; the second, who dwells with the first; the third, he who shines through the universe: china--the one, the second from the first, the third from the second: the boodhists--boodhash, the developer; darmash, the developed; sanghash, the hosts developed: peruvians--apomti, charunti, intiquaoqui: scandinavia--odin, thor, friga: pythagoras--monad, duad, triad: plato--the infinite, the finite, that which is compounded of the two: phenicia--belus, the sun; urama, the earth; adonis, love: kalmuks--tarm, megozan, bourchan: ancient greece--om, or on; dionysus, or bacchus; herakles: orpheus--god, the spirit, kaos: south american indians--otkon. messou, atahanto. chapter v. _the golden calf of aaron--was it a cone or an animal?--the prayer to priapus--hymn to priapus--the complaint of priapus._ in the thirty-second chapter of the book of exodus we have the following remarkable account of certain israelitish proceedings in the time of moses and aaron:--"when the people saw that moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto aaron, and said unto him, up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for _as for_ this moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of egypt, we wot not what is become of him. and aaron said unto them, break off the golden earrings, which _are_ in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring _them_ unto me. and all the people brake off the golden earrings which _were_ in their ears, and brought _them_ unto aaron; and he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf, and they said, 'these _be_ thy gods o israel, which brought thee out of the land of egypt.' and when aaron saw _it_, he built an altar before it; and aaron made proclamation, and said, 'to-morrow is a feast to the lord.' and they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play." there is no doubt this is a most remarkable, and, for the most part, inexplicable transaction. that it was an act of the grossest idolatry is clear, but the details of the affair are not so readily disposed of, and some amount of discussion has in consequence arisen, which has cast imputations upon the conduct of the ancient jews not very favourably regarded by the moderns. the conduct of aaron is certainly startling, to say the least of it, for when the people presented their outrageous demand, coupled with their insolent and contemptuous language about the man moses, he makes no remonstrance, utters no rebuke, but apparently falls in at once with their proposal and prepares to carry it out. the question is, however, what was it that was really done? what was the character of the image or idol, he fashioned out of the golden ornaments which he requested them to take from the ears of their wives, their sons, and their daughters? the suggestion that anything of a phallic nature is to be attributed to this transaction has been loudly ridiculed and indignantly spurned by some who have had little acquaintance with that species of worship, but it is by no means certain that the charge can be so easily disposed of. that phallic practises prevailed, more or less, amongst the jews is certain, and however this matter of the golden image may be explained, it will be difficult to believe they were not somehow concerned in it. it may be a new revelation to some to be told that in the opinion of some scholars the idol form set up by those foolish idolators was not that of a calf at all, but of a cone. the hebrew word _egel_ or _ghegel_ has been usually taken to mean calf, but, say these gentlemen, erroneously so, its true signification being altogether different. it is pleaded that it was not at all likely that the israelites should, so soon after their miraculous deliverance from the house of bondage, have so far forgotten what was due from them in grateful remembrance of that, as to have plunged into such gross and debased idolatry as the adoration of deity under the form of an animal. also that it would have been inconsistent with their exclamation when they saw the image, "this is thy god, o israel, which brought thee up out of the land of egypt," and with aaron's proclamation, after he had built an altar before the idol for the people to sacrifice burnt offerings on, "to-morrow is a feast to the lord." it is urged from these expressions that the only reasonable and legitimate inference is, that the golden idol was intended to be the similitude or symbol of the eternal himself, and not of any other god. certainly it is, as we have said, remarkable, and presents a problem not at all easy of solution. dr. beke contends that in any case, it is inconceivable that the figure of a calf should have been chosen to represent the invisible god--he concludes, therefore, that the word _egel_ has been wrongly translated. with regard to the etymology of the word, its root _àgal_ is declared to be doubtful, fürst taking it to mean _to run_, _to hasten_, _to leap_, and gesenius suggesting that its primary signification in the ethiopic, "_egel_ denoting, like golem, something _rolled_ or _wrapped together_, an _unformed mass_; and hence _embryo_, _foetus_, and also _the young_, as just born and still unshapen." it is inferred from this, supposing it to be correct, that the primary idea of this and kindred roots, is that of roundness, so that _egel_ may readily mean any rounded figure, such as a globe, cylinder, or cone. "adopting this," says dr. beke,--"a cone, as the true meaning of the hebrew word in the text, the sense of the transaction recorded will be, that moses having delayed to come down from the mount, the israelites, fearing that he was lost, and looking on the eternal as their true deliverer and leader, required aaron to make for them elohim--that is to say, a visible similitude or symbol of their god who had brought them up out of the land of mitzraim. aaron accordingly made for them a golden _cone_, as an image of the flame of fire seen by moses in the burning bush, and of the fire in which the eternal had descended upon sinai, this being the only visible form in which the almighty had been manifested. of such a representation or symbol, a sensuous people like the israelites might without inconsistency say, 'this is thy god, o israel, which brought thee up out of the land of mitzraim;' at the same time that aaron, after having built an altar before it, could make proclamation and say, 'to-morrow is the feast to the eternal,' that is to say, to the invisible god, whose _eidolon_ or visible image this _egel_ was." it is admitted by the advocates of this theory that there are certain things in the english version which appear adverse to it. for instance, it is said that all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to aaron; and he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf, from which it might be inferred, it is said, that the idol was first roughly moulded and cast by the founder, and then finished by the sculptor. it is urged however, that it is generally admitted by scholars that the original does not warrant this rendering, the words "after he had," which are not in the text, having been added for the purpose of making sense of the passage, which, if translated literally, would read, "he formed it with a graving tool, and made it a golden calf," a statement, says dr. beke, which in spite of all the efforts made to explain it, is inconsistent with the rest of the narrative, which repeatedly says, in express terms, that the idol was a molten image. in order to get rid of this difficulty, several learned commentators have interpreted the word _hhereth_ (graving-tool) as meaning like _hharith_, a bag, pocket, or purse, causing the passage to read, "he received them at their hands, and put it (the gold) into a bag, and made it a golden calf." dr. beke thinks this untenable on the ground that as aaron must necessarily have collected the golden earrings together before casting them into the fire, it is hardly likely that express mention would be made of so trivial a circumstance as that of his putting them into a bag merely for the purpose of immediately taking them out again. the root _hharath_, according to gesenius, has the meaning of to cut in, to engrave; and one of the significations of the kindred root _pharatz_ is to cut to a point, to make pointed. "hharithim, the plural of hhereth, is said to mean purses, bags for money, so called from their long and round shape, perhaps like an inverted cone; whence it is that bochart and others acquired their notion that aaron put the golden earrings of the israelites into a bag."[ ] dr. beke remarks:--"if the word _hhereth_ signifies a bag, on account of its resemblance to an inverted cone, it may equally signify any other similarly-shaped receptacle or vessel, such as a conical fire-pot or crucible; and if the golden earrings were melted in such a vessel, the molten metal, when cool, would of course have acquired therefrom its long and round form, like an inverted cone, which is precisely the shape of the _egel_ made by aaron, on the assumption that this was intended to represent the flame of fire. consequently, we may now read the passage in question literally, and without the slightest violence of construction, as follows: 'and all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto aaron. and he received them at their hands, and placed it (the gold) in a crucible, and made it a molten cone;' this cone having taken the long and rounded form of the crucible in which it was melted and left to cool." an argument in favour of this reading is certainly supplied by exodus xxxii. , where aaron is represented as saying to moses, when trying to excuse his action, "i said unto them, whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. so they gave it me: then i cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf" [or cone?]. it is contended that "the whole tenour of the narrative goes to show that the operation of making the idol for the children of israel to worship must have been a most simple, and, at the same time, a very expeditious one, such as the melting of the gold in a crucible would be, but which the moulding and casting of the figure of a calf, however roughly modelled and executed, could not possibly have been." this cone or phallic theory met with a by no means ready reception by jewish scholars; it had not been broached many days before it was energetically attacked and its destruction sought both by ridicule and argument. it has been admitted, however, that philologically there is something in it, more even, says dr. benisch, than its advocate dr. beke has made out. the former goes so far as to state that its root, not only in hebrew, but also in chaldee and arabic, primarily designates roundness; and secondarily, that which is the consequence of a round shape, facility of being rolled, speed, and conveyance; consequently, that it may therefore be safely concluded that it would be in hebrew a very suitable designation for a cone. "moreover, the same root in the same signification is also found in some of the aryan languages. compare the german 'kugel' (ball) and 'kegel' (cone)." the chief objection lies in the fact that there are various passages in the scriptures where the word occurs, whose contexts clearly show that the idea intended was that of a living creature, and that the unbroken usage of language, from the author of genesis to that of chronicles, shows that the term had never changed its signification, viz.: that of calf, bullock, or heifer. in levit. ix. , , ; sam. xxviii. ; ps. xxix. ; isa. xi. ; isa. xxvii. ; mic. vi. , for instance, there can be no mistake that the reference is to the living animal, and a reference to the hebrew concordance shows that the term, inclusive of the feminine (heifer), occurs fifty-one times in the bible, in twenty-nine cases of which the word indisputably means a living creature. dr. benisch therefore asks, "is it admissible that one and the same writer (for instance, the deuteronomist) should have used four times this word in the sense of heifer (xxii. and ; xxi. ), and once in that of cone (ix. ) without implying by some adjective, or some turn of language, that the word is a homonyme? or that hosea, in x. , should clearly employ it in the sense of heifer, and, in viii. , in that of cone? a glance at the concordance will show that, in every one of the more important books, the word in question occurs most clearly in the sense of calf, and never in a passage which should render a different translation inadmissible. on what ground, therefore, can it be maintained that, in the days of the author of the th psalm, the supposed original meaning of cone had been forgotten, and that of calf substituted?" the reply to the objection that one and the same word is not likely to have been used by the same or contemporaneous writers in two different senses, and that the word has a uniform traditional interpretation, is that in the hebrew, as in the english, considerable ambiguity occurs, and that the same word sometimes has two meanings of the most distinct and irreconcilable character. as regards the second objection, says dr. beke, which is based on the unbroken chain of tradition for about two thousand years, it can only hold good on the assumption that the originators of the tradition were infallible. if not, an error, whether committed intentionally or unintentionally in the first instance, does not become a truth by dint of repetition; any more than truth can become error by being as persistently rejected. the doctor contends that when the jews became intimately connected with egypt, and witnessed there the adoration of the sacred bull apis, they fell into the error of regarding as a golden calf the _egel_, or conical representation of the flame of fire, which their forefathers, and after them the ten tribes, had worshipped as the similitude of the eternal, but of which they themselves, as jews, had lost the signification. if this was the case, it is only natural that the error should have been maintained traditionally until pointed out. so stands the argument with regard to the theory of its being a golden cone, and not the figure of a calf that aaron made out of the people's ornaments, and the worship of which so naturally provoked the wrath of moses. there is much to be said in its favour, though not enough, perhaps, to make it conclusive. the propounder of it expressed his regret that he was under the necessity of protesting against the allegation that he had imputed to the israelites what he calls the obscene phallic worship. "most expressly," he says, "did i say that the molten golden image made by aaron at mount sinai was a plain conical figure, intended to represent the god who had delivered the people from their bondage in the land of mitzraim, in the form in which alone he had been manifested to them and to their inspired leader and legislator, namely that of the flame of fire." this is perfectly true, but those who are intimately acquainted with the phallic faiths of the world will find it difficult to disassociate the conical form of idol from those representations of the human physical organ which have been found as objects of adoration in so many parts of both the eastern and western hemispheres. supposing the philological argument to possess any weight--and that it does has been admitted even by those who regret the cone theory,--there are other circumstances which certainly may be adduced in confirmation thereof. for instance, the word _chéret_ translated graving-tool, may mean also a mould. again, it does not appear at all likely that the quantity of gold supplied by the ear-rings of the people would be sufficient to make a solid calf of the size. true, it may have been manufactured of some other material and covered with gold; but the easier solution of the difficulty certainly seems that which suggests that aaron took these ornaments and melted them in a crucible of the ordinary form, afterwards turning out therefrom, when cold, the golden cone to which the people rendered idolatrous worship. the whole subject is surrounded with difficulty, and men of equal learning and ability have taken opposite sides in the discussion, supporting and refuting in turn. passing over the dispute as to whether aaron simply received the ear-rings in a bag or whether he graved them with an engraving tool,--the first warmly argued by bochart, and the latter by le clerc--a dispute we can never settle owing to the remarkable ambiguity of the language, we may briefly notice the question, supposing it was a calf made by aaron, what induced and determined the choice of such a figure? nor must it be supposed that _here_ we are upon undebatable ground; on the contrary, the same divergence of opinion prevails as with respect to the previous question. fr. moncæus said that aaron got his idea on the mountain, where he was once admitted with moses; and on another occasion with nadab and abihu, and the seventy elders. this writer and others tell us that god appeared exalted on a cherub which had the form of an ox. patrick says that aaron seems to him to have chosen an ox to be the symbol of the divine presence, in hope that people would never be so sottish as to worship it, but only be put in mind by it of the divine power, which was hereby represented,--an ox's head being anciently an emblem of strength, and horns a common sign of kingly power. he contends that the design was simply to furnish a hieroglyphic of the energy and power of god. the usual explanation is that aaron chose a calf because that animal was worshipped in egypt. that the israelites were tainted with egyptian idolatry is plain from joshua's exhortation:--"now therefore, fear the lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in egypt, and serve ye the lord" (josh, xxiv., ). also ezekiel xx., and :--"they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of egypt." there is no deficiency of evidence respecting the worship of the ox in egypt. strabo says one was kept at memphis, which was regarded as a divinity. pliny repeats the story and says that the egyptians called this ox apis, and that it had two kinds of temples, the entrance to one being most pleasant, to the other frightful. herodotus says of this idol:--"apis or epatus, is a calf from a cow which never produced but one, and this could only have been by a clap of thunder. the calf denominated apis, has certain marks by which it may be known. it is all over black, excepting one square mark; on its back is the figure of an eagle, and on its tongue that of a beetle." it certainly seems tolerably clear that the worship of the calf came out of egypt, but so much difficulty surrounds the question of whether the egyptian worship preceded or followed that of aaron's calf, that we are inclined to endorse the opinion of a modern writer, and say we suspend our judgment respecting the precise motive which determined aaron to set up a calf as the object of israelitish worship, and conclude that had he offered any other object of worship, whether some other animal, or any plant, or a star, or any other production of nature, the learned would have asked, "why this rather than some other?" many would have been the divisions of opinion on the question; each one would have found in antiquity, and in the nature of the case, probabilities to support his own sentiment, and perhaps have exalted them into demonstrations.[ ] the mention of a cone in connection with the matter now under consideration, and as the form of aaron's idol, suggests other examples of the same figure which are said to have had a phallic form. the paphian venus, for instance, was represented by a conical stone: of which tacitus thus speaks:--"the statue of the goddess bears no resemblance to the human form. it is round throughout, broad at one end, and gradually tapering to a narrow span at the other, like a goat; the reason of this is not ascertained. the cause is stated by philostratus to be symbolic." lajard (_recherches sur la cult de venus_) says:--"in all cyrian coins, from augustus to macrinus, may be seen in the place where we should anticipate to find a statue of the goddess, the form of a conical stone. the same is placed between two cypresses under the portico of the temple of astarte, in a medal of Ã�lia capitolina; but in this instance the cone is crowned. in another medal, struck by the elder philip, venus is represented between two genii, each of whom stands upon a cone or pillar with a rounded top. there is reason to believe that at paphos images of the conical stone were made and sold as largely as were effigies of diana of the ephesians. "medals and engraved stones demonstrate that the hieratic prescriptions required that all those hills which were consecrated to jupiter should be represented in a conical form. at sicony, jupiter was adored under the form of a pyramid." prayer to priapus. delight of bacchus, guardian of the groves, the kind restorer of decaying loves: lesbos and verdant thasos thee implore, whose maids thy pow'r in wanton rites adore: joy of the dryads, with propitious care, attend my wishes, and indulge my pray'r. my guiltless hands with blood i never stain'd, or sacrilegiously the god's prophan'd: thus low i bow, restoring blessings send, i did not thee with my whole self offend. who sins through weakness, is less guilty thought; indulge my crime, and spare a venial fault. on me when fate shall smiling gifts bestow, i'll (not ungrateful) to your god-head bow; a sucking pig i'll offer to thy shrine, and sacred bowls brimful of generous wine; a destin'd goat shall on thy altar lie, and the horn'd parent of my flock shall die; then thrice thy frantic vot'ries shall around thy temple dance, with smiling garlands crown'd, and most devoutly drunk, thy orgies sound.--petronius. hymn to priapus. bacchus and nymphs delight o mighty god! whom cynthia gave to rule the blooming wood. lesbos and verdant thasos thee adore, and lydians in loose flowing dress implore, and raise devoted temples to thy pow'r. thou dryad's joy, and bacchus' guardian, hear my conscious prayer with attentive ear. my hands with guiltless blood i never stain'd, nor yet the temples of the gods prophan'd. restore my strength, and lusty vigour send, my trembling nerves like pliant oziers bend. who sins through weakness, is not guilty thought, no equal power can punish such a fault. a wanton goat shall on your altars die, and spicy smoke in curls ascend the sky. a pig thy floors with sacred blood shall stain, and round the awful fire and holy flame, thrice shall thy priests, with youth and garlands crown'd, in pious drunkenness thy orgies sound.--petronius. a translation out of the priapeia. the complaint of priapus for being veiled. the almighty's image, of his shape afraid, and hide the noblest part e'er nature made, which god alone succeeds in his creating trade. the fall this fig-leav'd modesty began, to punish woman, by obscuring man; before, where'er his stately cedar moved she saw, ador'd and kiss'd the thing she loved. why do the gods their several signs disclose, almighty jove his thunder-bolt expose, neptune his trident, mars his buckler shew, pallas her spear to each beholder's view, and poor priapus be alone confin'd t'obscure the women's god, and parent of mankind? since free-born brutes their liberty obtain, long hast thou journey-worked for souls in vain, storm the pantheon, and demand thy right, for on this weapon 'tis depends the fight.--petronius. chapter vi. _circumcision, male and female, in various countries and ages._ circumcision is one of the most ancient religious rites with which we are acquainted, and, as practised in some countries, there seems reason to suppose that it was of a phallic character. "it can scarcely be doubted," says one writer, "that it was a sacrifice to the awful power upon whom the fruit of the womb depended, and having once fixed itself in the minds of the people, neither priest nor prophet could eradicate it. all that these could do was to spiritualise it into a symbol of devotion to a high religious ideal." bonwick says: "though associated with sun worship by some, circumcision may be accepted as a rite of sex worship." ptolemy's _tetrabiblos_, speaking of the neighbouring nations as far as india, says: "many of them practise divination, and devote their genitals to their divinities." it is not possible, perhaps, to speak with any degree of certainty about the origin of this rite; the enquiry carries the student so far back in history, that the mind gets lost in the mists of the past. it is regarded by some as a custom essentially jewish, but this is altogether wrong; it was extensively practised in egypt, also by the tribes inhabiting the more southern parts of africa; in asia, the afghans and the tamils had it, and it has been found in various parts of america, and amongst the fijians and australians. it has been argued, and with considerable plausibility, that it existed long before writing was known, and from the fact of its having been employed by the new hollanders, its great antiquity may be inferred with certainty. it has been noticed by historians that sometimes a nation will pledge itself to a corporal offering of such a kind, that every member shall constantly bear about its mark on himself, and so make his personal appearance or condition a perpetual witness for the special religion whose vows he has undertaken. thus several arabian tribes living not far from the holy land, adopted the custom, as a sign of their special religion (or, as herodotus says, "after the example of their god"), of shaving the hair of their heads in an extraordinary fashion, viz., either on the crown of the head or towards the temples, or else of disfiguring a portion of the beard. others branded or tattooed the symbol of a particular god on the skin, on the forehead, the arm, the hand. israel, too, adopted from early times a custom which attained the highest sanctity in its midst, where no jest, however trifling, could be uttered on the subject, but which was essentially of a similar nature to those we have just mentioned. this was circumcision.[ ] it was this special character which no doubt gave rise to the idea so common amongst the uninformed that it was a jewish rite. herodotus and philo judæus have related that it prevailed to a great extent among the egyptians and ethiopians. the former historian says it was so ancient among each people that there was no determining which of them borrowed it from the other. among the egyptians he says it was instituted from the beginning. shuckford says that by this he could not mean from the first rise or original of that nation, but that it was so early among them that the heathen writers had no account of its origin. when anything appeared to them to be thus ancient, they pronounced it to be from the beginning. herodotus clearly meant this, because we find him questioning whether the egyptians learnt circumcision from the ethiopians, or the ethiopians from the egyptians, and he leaves the question undecided, merely concluding that it was a very ancient rite. if by the expression "from the beginning," he had meant that it was originated by the egyptians, there would not have been this indecision: and it is known that among heathen writers to say a thing was "from the beginning," was equivalent to the other saying that it was very anciently practised. herodotus, in another place, relates that the inhabitants of colchis also used circumcision, and concludes therefrom that they were originally egyptians. he adds that the phoenicians and syrians, who lived in palestine, were likewise circumcised, but that they borrowed the practice from the egyptians; and further, that little before the time when he wrote, circumcision had passed from colchis to the people inhabiting the countries near termodon and parthenius. diodorus siculus thought the colchians and the jews to be derived from the egyptians, because they used circumcision. in another place, speaking of other nations, he says that they were circumcised, after the manner of the egyptians. sir j. marsham is of opinion that the hebrews borrowed circumcision from the egyptians, and that god was not the first author thereof; citing diodorus and herodotus as evidences on his side. circumcision, though it is not so much as once mentioned in the koran, is yet held by the mahomedans to be an ancient divine institution, confirmed by the religion of islam, and though not so absolutely necessary but that it may be dispensed with in some cases, yet highly proper and expedient. the arabs used this rite for many ages before mahomet, having probably learned it from ismael, though not only his descendants, but the hamyarites and other tribes practised the same. the ismaelites we are told, used to circumcise their children, not on the eighth day, according to the custom of the jews, but when about twelve or thirteen years old, at which age their father underwent that operation; and the mahomedans imitate them so far as not to circumcise children before they are able at least distinctly to pronounce that profession of their faith, "there is no god, but god, mahomet is the apostle of god;" but they fix on what age they please for the purpose between six and sixteen. the moslem doctors are generally of opinion that this precept was given originally to abraham, yet some have said that adam was taught it by the angel gabriel, to satisfy an oath he had made to cut off that flesh, which, after his fall, had rebelled against his spirit; whence an argument has been drawn for the universal obligation of circumcision. the mahomedans have a tradition that their prophet declared circumcision to be a necessary rite for men, and for women honourable. this tradition makes the prophet declare it to be "sonna," which pocock renders a necessary rite, though sonna, according to the explanation of reland, does not comprehend things absolutely necessary, but such as, though the observance of them be meritorious, the neglect is not liable to punishment. in egypt circumcision has never been peculiar to the men, but the women also have had to undergo a practice of a similar nature. this has been called by bruce and strabo "excision." all the egyptians, the arabians, and natives to the south of africa, the abyssinians, the gallas, the agoues, the gasats, and gonzas, made their children undergo this operation--at no fixed time, but always before they were marriageable. belon says the practice prevailed among the copts; and p. jovius and munster say the same of the subjects of prester john. sonnini says it was well known that the egyptian women were accustomed to the practice, but people were not agreed as to the motives which induced them to submit to the operation. most of those who have written on the subject of female circumcision have considered it as the retrenchment of a portion of the nymphæ, which are said to grow, in the countries where the practice obtains, to an extraordinary size. others have imagined that it was nothing less than the amputation of the clitoris, the elongation of which is said to be a disgusting deformity, and to be attended with other inconveniences which rendered the operation necessary. before he had an opportunity of ascertaining the nature of the circumcision of the egyptian women, sonnini also supposed it consisted of the amputation of the excrescence of the nymphæ or clitoris, according to circumstances, and according as the parts were more or less elongated. he says it is very probable that these operations have been performed, not only in egypt, but in several other countries in the east, where the heat of the climate and other causes may produce too luxuriant a growth of those parts, and this, he adds, he had the more reason to think, since, on consulting several turks who had settled at rosetta, respecting the circumcision of their wives, he could obtain from them no other idea but that of these painful mutilations. they likewise explained to him the motives. curious admirers as they were of smooth and polished surfaces, every inequality, every protuberance, was in their eyes a disgusting fault. they asserted too that one of these operations abated the ardour of the constitutions of their wives, and diminished their facility of procuring illicit enjoyments. niebuhr relates that forskal and another of his fellow-travellers, having expressed to a great man at cairo, at whose country seat they were, the great desire they had to examine a girl who had been circumcised, their obliging host immediately ordered a country girl eighteen years of age to be sent for, and allowed them to examine her at their ease. their painter made a drawing of the parts after the life, in presence of several turkish domestics; but he drew with a trembling hand, as they were apprehensive of the consequences it might bring upon them from the mahometans. a plate from this drawing was given by professor blumenbach, in his work _de generis humani varietate nativa_, from which it is evident that the traveller saw nothing but the amputation of the nymphæ and clitoris, the enlargement of which is so much disliked by husbands in these countries. sonnini suspected that there must be something more in it than an excess of these parts, an inconvenience, which, being far from general among the women, could not have given rise to an ancient and universal practice. determining to remove his doubts on the subject, he took the resolution, which every one to whom the inhabitants of egypt are known, he says, will deem sufficiently bold, not to procure a drawing of a circumcised female, but to have the operation performed under his own eyes. mr. fornetti, whose complaisance and intelligence were so frequently of service to him, readily undertook to assist him in the business; and a turk, who acted as broker to the french merchants, brought to him at rosetta a woman, whose trade it was to perform the operation, with two young girls, one of whom was going to be circumcised, the other having been operated on two years before. in the first place he examined the little girl that was to be circumcised. she was about eight years old, and of the egyptian race. he was much surprised at observing a thick, flabby, fleshy excrescence, covered with skin, taking its rise from the labia, and hanging down it half-an-inch. the woman who was to perform the operation sat down on the floor, made the little girl seat herself before her, and without any preparation, cut off the excrescence just described with an old razor. the girl did not give any signs of feeling much pain. a few ashes taken up between the finger and thumb were the only topical application employed, though a considerable quantity of blood was discharged from the wound. the egyptian girls are generally freed from this inconvenient superfluity at the age of seven or eight. the women who are in the habit of performing this operation, which is attended with little difficulty, come from said. they travel through the towns and villages, crying in the streets, "who wants a good circumciser?" a superstitious tradition has marked the commencement of the rise of the nile as the period at which it ought to be performed; and accordingly, besides the other difficulties he had to surmount, sonnini had that of finding parents who would consent to the circumcision of their daughter at a season so distant from that which is considered as the most favourable, this being done in the winter; money, however, overcame this obstacle as it did the rest. from dalzel's _history_ we learn that in dahome a similar custom prevails with regard to the women as that in egypt. a certain operation is performed upon the woman, which is thus described in a foot-note:--"prolongatio, videlicit, artificialis labiorum pudendi, capellæ mamillis simillima." the part in question, locally called "tu," must, from the earliest years, be manipulated by professional old women, as is the bosom among the embryo prostitutes of china. if this be neglected, her lady friends will deride and denigrate the mother, declaring that she has neglected her child's education; and the juniors will laugh at the daughter as a coward who would not prepare herself for marriage.[ ] "circumcision was a federal rite, annexed by god as a seal to the covenant which he made with abraham and his posterity, and was accordingly renewed and taken into the body of the mosaical constitutions. it was not a mere mark, only to distinguish the hebrews as the seed of abraham from other nations; but by this they were made the children of the covenant, and entitled to the blessings of it; though if there had been no more in it than this, that they who were of the same faith should have a certain character whereby they should be known, it would have been a wise appointment. the mark seems to be fitly chosen for the purpose; because it was a sign that no man would have made upon himself and upon his children, unless it were for the sake of faith and religion. it was not a brand upon the arm, or an incision in the thigh, but a difficult operation in a most tender part, peculiarly called flesh in many places of scripture. that member which is the instrument of generation was made choice of, that they might be an holy seed, consecrated unto god from the beginning; and circumcision was properly a token of the divine covenant made with abraham and his posterity that god would multiply their seed, and make them as the stars of heaven."[ ] ludolf, in his history of ethiopa, after comparing the circumcision of the jews with that of the abyssinians, says: "this puts us in mind of the circumcision of females, of which gregory was somewhat ashamed to discourse, and we should have more willingly omitted it had not tzagazabus, in his rude confession of faith, spoken of it as a most remarkable custom introduced by the command of queen magneda; or had not paulus jovius himself, bishop of como, insisted in the same manner upon this unseemly custom. this same ceremony was not only used by the habisenes, but was also familiar among other people of africa, the egyptians, and the arabians themselves. for they cut away from the female infants something which they think to be an indecency and superfluity of nature. jovius calls it carunniculam, or a little piece of flesh; golius, an oblong excrescence. the arabians, by a particular word, called it bedhron, or bedhara, besides which they have many other words to the same purpose. among their women it is as great a piece of reproach to revile a woman by saying to her, o bandaron: that is, o uncircumcised, as to call a man arel, or uncircumcised, among the jews. the jewish women in germany, being acquainted by their reading with this custom, laugh at it, as admiring what it should be that should require such an amputation." chapter vii. _androgynous deities--theories respecting the dual sex of the deity--sacredness of the phallus--sex worship--the eastern desire for children--sacred prostitution--hindu law of adoption and inheritance--hindu need of offspring, and especially of a son--obsequies of the departed._ the phallic idea alluded to again and again in the preceding pages as entering into the heathen conception of a trinity, the practice of circumcision, and the use of the cross as a symbol, branches out in a great variety of directions; at some of these we must cast a brief glance in order that we may form a correct estimate of the subject. reference has been made to the androgynous nature ascribed to the deity by different nations, and here at once is opened up the whole subject of sex worship. it is impossible to say how far back we should have to retrace our footsteps in seeking for men's first ideas upon this matter; many ages, it is certain. forlong, speaking of a remote age and our forefathers, says: "they began to see in life and all nature a god, a force, a spirit; or, i should rather say, some nameless thing which no language of those early days, if indeed of present, can describe. they gave to the outward creative organs those devotional thoughts, time, and praise which belonged to the creator; they figured the living spirit in the cold bodily forms of stone and tree, and so worshipped it. as we read in early jewish writings, their tribes, like all other early races, bowed before ashar and ashe'ra, as others had long before that period worshipped belus and uranus, orus and isis, mahadeva, siva, sakti, and parvati. jupiter and yuno, or juno, or rather the first ideas of these, must have arisen in days long subsequent to this. all such steps in civilisation are very slow indeed, and here they had to penetrate the hearts of millions who could neither read nor write, nor yet follow the reader or the preacher; so centuries would fleet past over such rude infantile populations, acting no more on the inert pulpy mass than years, or even months, now do; and if this were so after they began to realise the ideas of a bel and ouranos, how much slower before that far-back stage was won. their first symbolisation seems clearly to have been the simple line, pillar, or a stroke, as their male god; and a cup or circle as their female; and lo! the dual and mystic = = which early became a trinity, and has stood before the world from that unknown time to this. in this mystic male and female we have the first great androgynous god." alluding to this subject, an anonymous writer, believed to be a roman catholic priest, some sixteen years ago, said:--"the primitive doctrine that god created man in his own image, male and female, and consequently that the divine nature comprised the two sexes within itself, fulfils all the conditions requisite to constitute a catholic theological dogma, inasmuch as it may truly be affirmed of it, that it has been held 'semper, ubique, et ab omnibus,' being universal as the phenomenon to which it owes its existence. "how essential to the consistency of the catholic system is this doctrine of duality you may judge by the shortcomings of the theologies which reject it. unitarianism blunders alike in regard to the trinity and the duality. affecting to see in god a father, it denies him the possibility of having either spouse or offspring. more rational than such a creed as this was the primitive worship of sex, as represented by the male and female principles in nature. in no gross sense was the symbolism of such a system conceived, gross as its practice may have become, and as it would appear to the notions of modern conventionalism. for no religion is founded upon intentional depravity. searching back for the origin of life, men stopped at the earliest point to which they could trace it, and exalted the reproductive organs into symbols of the creator. the practice was at least calculated to procure respect for a side of nature liable under an exclusively spiritual regime to be relegated to undue contempt. "it appears certain that the names of the hebrew deity bear the sense i have indicated; el, the root of elhoim, the name under which god was known to the israelites prior to their entry into canaan, signifying the masculine sex only; while jahveh, or jehovah, denotes both sexes in combination. the religious rites practised by abraham and jacob prove incontestably their adherence to this, even then, ancient mode of symbolising deity; and though after the entry into canaan, the leaders and reformers of the israelites strove to keep the people from exchanging the worship of their own divinity for that of the exclusively feminine principle worshipped by the canaanites with unbridled licence under the name of ashera, yet the indigenous religion became closely incorporated with the jewish; and even moses himself fell back upon it when, yielding to a pressing emergency, he gave his sanction to the prevailing tree and serpent worship by his elevation of a brazen serpent upon a pole or cross. for all portions of this structure constitute the most universally accepted symbols of sex in the world. "it is to india that we must go for the earliest traces of these things. the jews originated nothing, though they were skilful appropriators and adapters of other men's effects. brahma, the first person in the hindoo triad, was the original self-existent being, inappreciable by sense, who commenced the work of creation by creating the waters with a thought, as described in the institutes of manu. the waters, regarded as the source of all subsequent life, became identified with the feminine principle in nature--whence the origin of the mystic rite of baptism--and the atmosphere was the divine breath or spirit. the description in genesis of the spirit of god moving upon the face of the waters, indicates the influence upon the jews of the hindoo theogony to which they had access through persia. "the twofold name of jehovah also finds a correspondence in the arddha-nari, or incarnation of brahma, who is represented in sculptures as containing in himself the male and female organisms. and the worship of the implements of fecundity continues popular in india to this day. the same idea underlies much of the worship of the ancient greeks, finding expression in the symbols devoted to apollo or the sun, and in their androgynous sculptures. aryan, scandinavian, and semitic religions were alike pervaded by it, the male principle being represented by the sun, and the female by the moon, which was variously personified by the virgins, ashtoreth or astarte, diana, and others, each of whom, except in the scandinavian mythology, where the sexes are reversed, had the moon for her special symbol. similarly, the allegory of eden finds one of its keys in the phenomena of sex, as is demonstrated by the ancient syrian sculptures of ashera, or _the grove_; and 'the tree of life in the midst of the garden' forms the point of departure for beliefs which have lasted thousands of years, and which have either spread from one source over, or been independently originated in, every part of the habitable globe."[ ] it is evident that this worship is of the most extremely ancient character and that it was based originally upon ideas that had nothing gross and debasing in them. it is true that it at various times assumed indelicate forms and was associated with much that was of the most degrading character, but the first idea was only to use for religious purposes that which seemed the most apt emblem of creation and regeneration. "is it strange," asks a lady writer, "that they regarded with reverence the great mystery of human birth? were they impure thus to regard it? or, are we impure that we do _not_ so regard it? let us not smile at their mode of tracing the infinite and incomprehensible cause throughout all the mysteries of nature, lest by so doing we cast the shadow of our own grossness on their patriarchal simplicity." it became with this very much as it does with all symbolism, more or less, that is to say from the worship of that which was symbolised, it degenerated to the worship of the emblem itself. but the ancient egyptians exerted themselves considerably to restrain within certain bounds of propriety the natural tendency of this worship and we find them allowing it to embrace only the masculine side of humanity, afterwards, as was perhaps only to be expected, the feminine was introduced. then, as particularly exhibited in the case of india, it gradually became nothing more or less than a vehicle for satisfying the licentious desires of the most degrading of both sexes. it is wonderful, however, the extraordinary hold these ideas attained upon the human mind, whether they entered into the religious conceptions of the people, or pandered to vicious desires under the mere cloak of religion. the tetrabiblos of ptolemy (four books relative to starry influences), speaking of the countries india, ariana, gedrosia, parthia, media, persia, babylon, mesopotamia, and assyria, says:--"many of them practise divination, and devote their genitals to their divinities because the familiarity of these planets renders them very libidinous." nor must we forget the peculiar sacredness with which in the early jewish church these organs were always regarded,--that is, the male organs. injury of them disqualified the unfortunate victim from ministering in the congregation of the lord, and the severest punishment was meted out to the criminal who should be guilty of causing such injury. thus in the book of deuteronomy, chap. xxv., , , we read:--"when men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her." and this was not to be an act of revenge on the part of the injured man, but was to be the legal penalty duly enforced by the civil magistrate. it is very extraordinary, for it appears that such an injury inflicted upon an enemy--and evidently it meant the disablement of the man from the act of sexual intercourse--was regarded as even more serious than the actual taking of life in self-defence. the degradation attached to the man thus mutilated was greater than could otherwise be visited upon him--all respect for him vanished and he was henceforward regarded as an abomination. such mutilation has always been common in heathen nations--similarly regarded as amongst the hebrews, but used as the greatest mark of indignity possible to inflict upon an enemy--some of the egyptian bas-reliefs represent the king (rameses ii.) returning in triumph with captives, many of whom are undergoing the operation of castration, while in the corners of the scene are heaped up piles of the genital organs which have been cut off by the victors. some of the north american indians, particularly the apaches of california and arizona, have been noted for their frequent use of the same barbarous practice on the prisoners taken in war and upon the bodies of the slain. we get a similar instance in israelitish history as recorded in the first book of samuel, where saul being afraid of david, sought a favourable opportunity to get him slain by the philistines. there is the story of the love of michal, saul's daughter, for david, and the use saul endeavoured to make of that fact in carrying out his evil designs. the news that michal had thus fallen in love, pleased saul, and he said, "i will give him her, that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the philistines may be against him." so david was told that the king would make him his son-in-law. but it was customary in those times for the bridegroom to _give_ a dowry instead of as at other times and in other places, to _receive_ one, and david immediately raised the objection that this was out of his power as he was but a poor man. this was saul's opportunity and his message was, "the king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the philistines. but saul thought to make david fall by the hand of the philistines." of course this involved the slaughter of a hundred of the enemy, and saul made sure in attempting such a task, david would fall before odds so terribly against him. in commanding the foreskins to be brought to him saul made sure that they would be philistines who were slain, they being almost the only uncircumcised people about him. this proposal, however, it seems, did not alarm david in the least, he went forth at once on his terrible mission and actually brought back thrice the number of foreskins required of him by the king. this is not the only case on record of such a mutilation; mention is made by gill the commentator of an asiatic writer who speaks of a people that cut off the genital parts of men, and gave them to their wives for a dowry. so sacred was the organ in question deemed in ancient times, especially in israel, that it was used as the means of administering the most binding form of oath then known. it is described as putting the hand upon the thigh, and instances are found in genesis xxiv., , and xlvii., . in the former of these passages abraham requires his elder servant to put his hand under his thigh and take an oath respecting the wife he would seek for his son isaac. in the second passage, it is jacob requiring his son joseph to perform a similar action; in each case what is meant is that the genital organ, the symbol of the creator and the object of worship among all ancient nations was to be touched in the act of making the promise. but, as we have pointed out, there is another side to this matter, the worship of the male organ was only one part; the female organs of generation were revered as symbols of the generative power of god. they are usually represented emblematically by the shell, or concha veneris, which was therefore worn by devout persons of antiquity, as it still continues to be by pilgrims and many of the common women of italy. the union of both was expressed by the hand, mentioned in sir william hamilton's letter, which, being a less explicit symbol, has escaped the attention of the reformers, and is still worn as well as the shell by women of italy, though without being understood. it represented the act of generation, which was considered as a solemn sacrament in honour of the creator. some of the forms used to represent the sacti or female principle, are very peculiar yet familiar to many who may not understand them. indeed, as inman says, "the moderns, who have not been initiated in the sacred mysteries, and only know the emblems considered sacred, have need of both anatomical knowledge and physiological lore ere they can see the meaning of many a sign." as already stated, the triangle with its apex uppermost represents the phallic triad; with its base uppermost, the mons veneris, the delta, or the door by which all come into the world. dr. inman says:--"as a scholar, i had learned that the greek letter delta ([symbol]) is expressive of the female organ both in shape and idea. the selection of name and symbol was judicious, for the word daleth and delta signify the door of a house and the outlet of a river, while the figure reversed ([symbol]) represents the fringe with which the human delta is overshadowed"--this delta is simply another word for the part known as concha, a shell. this concha or shank is one of the most important of the eastern symbols, and is found repeated again and again in almost everything connected with the hindu pantheon. plate vi. of moor's elaborately illustrated work on the indian deities represents it as seen in the hands of vishnu and his consort. the god is represented like all the solar deities with four hands, and standing in an arched doorway. the head-dress is of serpents; in one of the right hands is the diamond form the symbol of the creator; in one of the left hands is the large concha and in the other right hand, the great orb of the day; the shell is winged and has a phallic top. this shell is said to have been the first priestly bell, and it is even now the hindoo church-bell, in addition to gongs and trumpets. it comes specially into use when the priest performs his ceremonies before the lingam; it is blown when he is about to anoint the emblem, like a bell is used in some christian churches in the midst of ceremonies of particular importance and solemnity. the female principle, or sacred sacti, is also represented by a figure like that called a sistrum, a hebrew musical instrument, sometimes translated cornet. inman contends in spite of much opposition from his friends that this represents the mother who is still _virgo intacta_. he points out that in some things it embodies a somewhat different idea to the yoni, the bars across it being bent so that they cannot be taken out, this showing that the door is closed. the secret of this peculiar worship seems to lie in the fact, ever so prominent in all that has to do with the social and religious life of the eastern, of an intense desire for offspring. in harmony with this is the frequent promise in the scriptures of an abundance of children and the declaration of happiness of the man so blessed. one instance may be noted as recorded in genesis xiii., , the promise to abram: "i will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." none the less fervent--perhaps even more so--is the desire of the indian to possess and leave behind him a progeny who shall not only succeed to his worldly acquisitions, but by religious exercises help forward his happiness in the region of the departed. it is said that in this part of the world, a constant topic of conversation amongst the men is their physical power to propagate their race, and that upon this matter physicians are more frequently consulted than upon any other. "not only does the man think thus, but the female has her thoughts directed to the same channel, and there has been a special bell invented by hindoo priests for childless females." some kindred belief seems to be held or suggested by the practices of the mormon community, in which large numbers of women are united in marriage to one man. in genesis xxx., rachel seeing that she bore no children is described as envying her sister, and saying to jacob, "give me children, or else i die." again samuel i., , : "and she (hannah) was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the lord, and wept sore. and she vowed a vow, and said, 'o lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then i will give him unto the lord, &c.'" and so on; instances could be multiplied largely, but it is unnecessary. with many of the eastern women it was a matter of the highest consequence that they have children, as failing to do so it was strictly within the legal rights of the husband at once to put away his wife by a summary divorce, or at any rate to take a concubine into his home in order that he might not go childless; the woman who proved hopelessly barren became an object of contempt or commiseration to all about her, and her life a scene of prolonged shame and misery. and so, in certain parts of the world, arose sex worship, the idea being that by the worship of the organs of generation the misfortune of barrenness might be avoided. the priests were not slow to avail themselves of a ready means of adding to their reputation and influence and increasing their revenues, and women, who for some cause or another had hitherto been without offspring, were encouraged to visit the temples and make their proper offerings, and go through the prescribed ceremonies for curing their sterility. as willing as the women were for all this, were the men, and though sometimes the defect lay in themselves physically, it is said that the arrangements at the temples were such as almost invariably succeeded in making the wives mothers. "if abundance of offspring was promised as a blessing," says dr. inman, "it is clear to the physiologist that the pledge implies abundance of vigour in the man as well as in the woman. with a husband incompetent, no wife could be fruitful. the condition, therefore, of the necessary organs was intimately associated with the divine blessing or curse, and the impotent man then would as naturally go to the priest to be cured of his infirmity as we of to-day go to the physician. we have evidence that masses have been said, saints invoked, and offerings presented, for curing the debility we refer to, in a church in christianised italy during the last hundred years, and in france so late as the sixteenth century,--evident relics of more ancient times." "whenever a votary applied to the oracle for help to enable him to perform his duties as a prospective father, or to remove that frigidity which he had been taught to believe was a proof of divine displeasure, or an evidence of his being bewitched by a malignant demon, it is natural to believe that the priest would act partly as a man of sense, though chiefly as a minister of god. he would go through, or enjoin attendance on certain religious ceremonies--would sell a charmed image, or use some holy oil, invented and blessed by a god or saint, as was done at isernia--or he would do something else." intimately connected with the worship of the male and female powers of generation is the sacred prostitution which was practised so generally by some of the ancient nations, and of which we have details in the classics. the information given by herodotus respecting the women of babylonia reads strange indeed to those who are acquainted only with modern codes of morals, and to whom the special and essential features of phallic faiths are unknown. this author describes it as a shameful custom, but he informs us of it as an indisputable fact, that every woman born in the country was compelled at least once in her life to go and sit in the precinct of venus, and there consort with a stranger. rich and poor alike had to conform to this rule--the ugly and the beautiful, the attractive and the repulsive. a peculiarity of the custom was that once having entered the sacred enclosure, the woman was not allowed to return home until she had paid the debt which the law prescribed as due from her to the state; the result of this was that those who were the happy possessors of personal charms seldom were detained very long, while the plain-featured and unattractive ones were sometimes several years before they could obtain their release. we are told that the wealthier women, too proud to associate with the lower class, though obliged to undergo the same ordeal, would drive to the appointed place in covered carriages with a considerable retinue of servants, there making as much display as possible of their rank and wealth in order to overawe the commoner class of men, and drive them to females of humbler rank; they sat in their carriages while crowds of poorer people sat within the holy enclosure with wreaths of string about their heads. the scene was at once strange and animated; numbers of both sexes were coming and going; and lines of cords marked out paths in all directions in which the women sat, and along which the strangers passed in order to make their choice. patiently or impatiently, as the case may be, the female waited till some visitor, taking a fancy to her, fixed upon her as his chosen sacrifice by throwing a piece of silver into her lap and saying, "the goddess mylitta prosper thee." (mylitta being the assyrian name for venus). the coin need not be of any particular size or value, but it is obligatory upon her to receive it, because when once thrown it is sacred. nor could the woman exercise any choice as to whom she could go with, the first who threw the coin had a legal title to her, and the law compelled her submission. but having once obeyed the law, she was free for the rest of her life, and nothing in the shape of a bribe, however extensive, would persuade her to grant further favours to any one. there is an allusion to this custom in the book of baruch (vi., ), where it is said:--"the women also with cords about them, sitting in the ways, burn bran for perfume; but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with him, she reproaches her fellow that she was not thought worthy as herself, nor her cords broken." strabo in his sixteenth book testifies to the same effect, and he says that the custom dated from the foundation of the city of babylon. the same writer states also that both medes and armenians adopted all the sacred rites of the persians, but that the armenians paid particular reverence to anaitis, and built temples to her honour in several places, especially in acilisene. they dedicated there to her service male and female slaves, and in this, strabo says, there was nothing remarkable, but that it was surprising that persons of the highest rank in the nation consecrated their virgin daughters to the goddess. it was customary for these women, after being prostituted a long time at the temple of anaitis, to be disposed of in marriage, no one disdaining a connection with such a person. he mentions what herodotus says about the lydian women, all of whom, he adds, prostituted themselves. but they treated their paramours with much kindness, entertaining them hospitably and frequently, making a return of more presents than they received, being amply supplied with means derived from their wealthy connexions. the lydians indeed appear to have devoted themselves with the most shameless effrontery, for they not only attended the sacred fêtes occasionally for the purpose, but practised prostitution for their own benefit. a splendid monument to alyattes, the father of croesus, built by the merchants, the artizans, and the courtesans, was chiefly paid for by the contributions of the latter, which far exceeded those of the others put together. it has been asserted by some writers that sacred prostitution was not practised in egypt, but so much is known of the character of certain acts of worship in that country that the statement is regarded as of little worth. the worship of osiris and isis, which was very much like that of venus and adonis, was attended with excesses that indicate a very abandoned state of things. it is known that when the pilgrims were on their way to the fêtes of isis at bubastis, the females indulged in the most indecent dances as the vessels passed the riverside villages, and historians declare that those obscenities were only such as were about to happen at the temple, which was visited each year by seven hundred thousand pilgrims, who gave themselves up to incredible excesses. it cannot be shewn that the motive leading to what is called sacred prostitution was the same in all countries; in india, for example, it appears to have had very much to do with the desire for children which we have described as common with the easterns; so common was it that the one object of woman's life was marriage and a family. this, and the more rapid development of the female in that part of the world than in others, and the impression that dying childless she would fail to fulfil her mission lies at the basis of the early betrothals and marriages which appear so repulsive and absurd to european ideas. there is a further desire, however, than that of simply having children, especially in india; the desire is for male children, and where these fail, it is common for a man to adopt a son, and in this his motive is a religious one. according to prevalent superstition, it is held that the future beatitude of the hindu depends upon the performance of his obsequies, and payment of his debts, by a son, as a means of redeeming him from an instant state of suffering after death. the dread is of a place called put, a place of horror, to which the manes of the childless are supposed to be doomed; there to be tormented with hunger and thirst, for want of those oblations of food, and libations of water, at prescribed periods, which it is the pious and indispensable duty of a son to offer. the "laws of manu" (ch. ix., ), state:--"a son delivers his father from the hell called put, he was therefore called puttra (a deliverer from put) by the self-existent (svayambhû) himself." the sage mandagola is represented as desiring admission to a region of bliss, but repulsed by the guards who watch the abode of progenitors, because he had no male issue. the "laws of manu" illustrate this by the special mention of heaven being attained without it as of something extraordinary. ch. v., , "many thousands of brahmanas, who were chaste from their youth, have gone to heaven without continuing their race." sir thomas strange, many years ago chief justice of madras, wrote very fully concerning the hindu law of inheritance and adoption, and we learn from this great authority that marriage failing in this, its most important object (that is to say securing male issue), in order that obsequies in particular might not go unperformed, and celestial bliss be thereby forfeited, as well for ancestors as for the deceased, dying without leaving legitimate issue begotten, the old law was provident to excess, whence the different sorts of sons enumerated by different authorities, all resolving themselves, with manu, into twelve, that is the legally begotten, and therefore not to be separately accounted:--all formerly, in their turn and order, capable of succession, for the double purpose of obsequies, and of inheritance. failing a son, a hindu's obsequies may be performed by his widow; or in default of her, by a whole brother or other heirs; but according to the conception belonging to the subject, not with the same benefit as by a son. that a son, therefore, of some description is, with him, in a spiritual sense, next to indispensable is abundantly certain. as for obtaining one in a natural way, there is an express ceremony that takes place at the expiration of the third month of pregnancy, marking distinctly the importance of a son born, so is the adopting of one as anxiously inculcated where prayers and ceremonies for the desired issue have failed in their effect. the extreme importance to the hindu of having male offspring, and the desire to get such children as the result of marriage rather than by adoption--a practice allowed and inculcated as a last resort, has led to that extensive prevalence of lingam worship which is such a conspicuous feature in india. in nearly every part of that vast empire are to be seen reproductions of the emblem in an infinite variety of form, and so totally free from the most remotely indecent character are they, that strangers are as a rule totally ignorant of their meaning. we have even known, within the last few years, specimens of the smaller emblems being put up for sale in this country, of whose meaning the auctioneer professes himself for the most part ignorant, volunteering no other statement than that they were charms in some way connected with hindu customs and worship. it is--being a representation of the male organ--represented, of course, in a conical form, and is of every size, from half-an-inch to seventy feet, and of all materials, such as stone, wood, clay, metal, &c. lingas are seen of enormous size; in the caves of elephanta for instance, marking unequivocally that the symbol in question is at any rate as ancient as the temple, as they are of the same rock as the temple itself; both, as well as the floor, roof, pillars, pilastres, and its numerous sculptured figures, having been once one undistinguished mass of granite, which excavated, chiselled, and polished, produced the cavern and forms that are still contemplated with so much surprise and admiration. the magnitude of the cones, too, further preclude the idea of subsequent introduction, and together with gigantic statues of siva and his consort, more frequent and more colossal than those of any other deity, necessarily coeval with the excavation, indicate his paramount adoration and the antiquity of his sect. lingas are seen also of diminutive size for domestic adoration, or for personal use; some individuals always carrying one about with them, and in some brahman families, one is daily constructed in clay, placed after due sanctification by appropriate ceremonies and prayers, in the domestic shrine, or under a tree or shrub sacred to siva, the bilva more especially, and honoured by the adoration of the females of the household. it is rather singular that while many hindus worship the deity of male and female in one, there are distinct sects which worship either the lingam or the yoni; the first being apparently the same as the phallic emblem of the greeks, the _membrum virile_: and the latter _pudendum muliebre_. the interesting ceremony connected with the obsequies which we have just said can be the most effectually performed by a male child, and which gives rise to the intense longing both on the part of husband and wife for such offspring, is called sradha, and is of daily recurrence with individuals who rigidly adhere to the ritual. it is offered in honour of deceased ancestors, but not merely in honour of them, but for their comfort; as the manes, as well as the gods connected with them, enjoy, like the gods of the greeks, the incense of such offerings, which are also of an expiatory nature, similar, it is said, to the masses of the church of rome. over these ceremonies of sradhi presides yama, in his character of sradhadeva, or lord of the obsequies. it is not within our province to give a detailed account of these ceremonies, but owing to their connection with the subject generally of our book, a brief outline will no doubt prove interesting. a dying man, when no hopes of his surviving remain, should be laid upon a bed of cusa grass, either in the house or out of it, if he be a sudra, but in the open air, if he belong to another tribe. when he is at the point of death, donations of cattle, land, gold, silver, or other things, according to his ability, should be made by him; or if he be too weak, by another person in his name. his head should be sprinkled with water drawn from the ganges, and smeared with clay brought from the same river. a salagrama stone ought to be placed near the dying man; holy strains from the veda or from the sacred poems should be repeated aloud in his ears; and leaves of holy basil must be scattered over his head. passing over the ceremonial more especially connected with the burning of the corpse as not particularly relative to our subject, we proceed. after the body has been burnt, all who have touched or followed the corpse, must walk round the pile keeping their left hands towards it, and taking care not to look at the fire. they then walk in procession, according to seniority, to a river or other running water, and after washing, and again putting on their apparel, they advance into the stream. they then ask the deceased's brother-in-law, or some other person able to give the proper answer, "shall we present water?" if the deceased were a hundred years old, the answer must be simply, "do so:" but if he were not so aged, the reply is "do so, but do not repeat the oblation." upon this they all shift the sacerdotal string to the right shoulder, and looking towards the south, and being clad in a single garment without a mantle, they stir the water with the ring finger of the left hand, saying, "waters, purify us." with the same finger of the right hand, they throw up some water towards the south, and after plunging once under the surface of the river, they rub themselves with their hands. an oblation of water must be next presented from the jointed palms of the hands, naming the deceased and the family from which he sprung, and saving "may this oblation reach thee." after finishing the usual libations of water to satisfy the manes of the deceased, they quit the river and shift their wet clothes for other apparel; they then sip water without swallowing it, and sitting down on soft turf, alleviate their sorrow by the recital of such moral sentences as the following, refraining at the same time from tears and lamentation:-- . foolish is he, who seeks permanence in the human state, unsolid like the stem of a plantain tree, transient like the foam of the sea. . when a body, formed of fine elements to receive the rewards of deeds done in its own former person, reverts to its fine original principles; what room is there for regret. . the earth is perishable; the ocean, the gods themselves pass away: how should not that bubble, mortal man, meet destruction. . all that is low, must finally perish; all that is elevated, must ultimately fall; all compound bodies must end in dissolution; and life is concluded with death. . unwillingly do the manes of the deceased taste the tears and rheum shed by their kinsmen: then do not wait, but diligently perform the obsequies of the dead. all the kinsmen of the deceased, within the sixth degree of consanguinity, should fast for three days and nights; or one at the least. however if that be impracticable, they may eat a single meal at night, purchasing the food ready prepared, but on no account preparing the victuals at home. so long as the mourning lasts, the nearest relations of the deceased must not exceed the daily meal, nor eat flesh-meat, nor any food seasoned with fictitious salt; they must use a plate made of leaves of any tree but the plantain, or else take their food from the hands of some other persons; they must not handle a knife or any other implement made of iron; nor sleep upon a bedstead; nor adorn their persons; but remain squalid, and refrain from perfumes and other gratifications: they must likewise omit the daily ceremonies of ablution and divine worship. on the third and fifth days, as also on the seventh and ninth, the kinsmen assemble, bathe in the open air, offer tila and water to the deceased, and take a repast together: they place lamps at cross roads, and in their own houses, and likewise on the way to the cemetery; and they observe vigils in honour of the deceased. on the last day of mourning, or earlier in those countries where the obsequies are expedited on the second or third day, the nearest kinsman of the deceased gathers his ashes after offering a sradha singly for him. in the first place, the kinsman smears with cow-dung the spots where the oblation is to be presented; and after washing his hands and feet, sipping water and taking up cusa grass in his hand, he sits down on a cushion pointed towards the south, and placed upon a blade of cusa grass, the tip of which must also point towards the south. he then places near him a bundle of cusa grass, consecrated by pronouncing the word namah! or else prepares a fire for oblations. then lighting a lamp with clarified butter or with oil of sesamum, and arranging the food and other things intended to be offered, he must sprinkle himself with water, meditating on vishnu, surnamed the lotos-eyed, or revolving in his mind this verse, "whether pure or defiled, or wherever he may have gone, he, who re-enters the being whose eyes are like the lotos, shall be pure externally and internally." shifting the sacerdotal cord on his right shoulder, he takes up a brush of cusa grass and presents water together with tila and with blossoms, naming the deceased and the family from which he sprung, and saying "may this water for ablutions be acceptable to thee." then saying "may this be right," he pronounces a vow or solemn declaration. "this day i will offer on a bundle of cusa grass (or, if such be the custom, 'on fire') a sradha for a single person, with unboiled food, together with clarified butter and with water, preparatory to the gathering of the bones of such a one deceased." the priests answering "do so," he says "namó! namah!" while the priests meditate the gayatri and thrice repeat, "salutation to the gods; to the manes of ancestors, and to mighty saints; to swáhá [goddess of fire]: to swádhá [the food of the manes]: salutation unto them for ever and ever." he then presents a cushion made of cusa grass, naming the deceased and saying "may this be acceptable to thee;" and afterwards distributes meal of sesamum, while the priests recite "may the demons and fierce giants that sit on this consecrated spot, be dispersed; and the bloodthirsty savages that inhabit the earth; may they go to any other place, to which their inclinations may lead them." placing an oval vessel with its narrowest end towards the south, he takes up two blades of grass; and breaking off a span's length, throws them into the vessel; and after sprinkling them with water, makes a libation while the priests say, "may divine waters be auspicious to us for accumulation, for gain, and for refreshing draughts; may they listen to us, and grant that we may be associated with good auspices." he then throws tila while the priests say, "thou art tila, sacred to soma; framed by the divinity, thou dost produce celestial bliss [for him, that makes oblations]; mixed with water may thou long satisfy our ancestors with the food of the manes, be this oblation efficacious." he afterwards silently casts into the vessel, perfumes, flowers, and durva grass. then taking up the vessel with his left hand, putting two blades of grass on the cushion, with their tips pointed to the north, he must pour the water from the argha thereon. the priests meantime recite:--"the waters in heaven, in the atmosphere, and on the earth, have been united [by their sweetness] with milk; may those silver waters, worthy of oblation, be auspicious, salutary, and exhilarating to us; and be happily offered: may this oblation be efficacious." he adds namah, and pours out the water, naming the deceased and saying, "may this argha be acceptable unto thee." then oversetting the vessel, and arranging in due order the unboiled rice condiments, clarified butter, and the requisites, he scatters tila, while the priests recite "thrice did vishnu step, &c." he next offers the rice, clarified butter, water and condiments, while he touches the vessel with his left hand, and names the deceased, saying, "may this raw food, with clarified butter and condiments, together with water, be acceptable unto thee." after the priests have repeated the gayatri preceded by the names of the worlds, he pours honey or sugar upon the rice, while they recite this prayer, "may the winds blow sweet, the rivers flow sweet, and salutary herbs be sweet, unto us; may night be sweet, may the mornings pass sweetly; may the soil of the earth, and heaven parent [of all productions], be sweet unto us; may [soma] king of herbs and trees be sweet: may the sun be sweet, may kine be sweet unto us." he then says "namó! namah!" while the priests recite "whatever may be deficient in this food; whatever may be imperfect in this rite; whatever may be wanting in this form; may all that become faultless." he should then feed the brahmanas, whom he has assembled, either silently distributing food amongst them, or adding a respectful invitation to them to eat. when he has given them water to rinse their mouths, he may consider the deceased as fed through their intervention. the priests again recite the gayatri and the prayer "may the winds blow sweet," &c., and add the prescribed prayers, which should be followed by the music of flageolets, lutes, drums, &c. taking in his left hand another vessel containing tila, blossoms and water, and in his left hand a brush made of cusa grass, he sprinkles water over the grass spread on the consecrated spot, naming the deceased and saying "may this ablution be acceptable to thee:" he afterwards takes a cake or ball or food mixed with clarified butter, and presents it saying, "may this cake be acceptable to thee," and deals out the food with this prayer; "ancestors, rejoice; take your respective shares, and be strong as bulls." then walking round by the left to the northern side of the consecrated spot, and meditating, "ancestors, be glad; take your respective shares, and be strong as bulls," he returns by the same road, and again sprinkles water on the ground to wash the oblation, saying, "may this ablution be acceptable to thee." next, touching his hip with his elbow, or else his right side, and having sipped water, he must make six libations of water with the hollow palms of his hands, saying, "salvation unto thee, o deceased, and unto the saddening [hot] season; salvation unto thee, o deceased, and unto the month of tapas [or dewy season]; salvation unto thee, o deceased, and unto that [season] which abounds with water; salvation unto thee, o deceased, and to the nectar [of blossoms]; salvation unto thee, o deceased, and to the terrible and angry [season]; salvation unto thee, o deceased, and to female fire [or the sultry season]." he next offers a thread on the funeral cake, holding the wet brush in his hand, naming the deceased, and saying, "may this raiment be acceptable to thee;" the priests add, "fathers, this apparel is offered unto you." he then silently strews perfumes, blossoms, resin, and betel leaves, as the funeral cake, and places a lighted lamp on it. he sprinkles water on the bundle of grass, saying, "may the waters be auspicious;" and offers rice, adding, "may the blossoms be sweet: may the rice be harmless;" and then pours water on it, naming the deceased and saying, "may this food and drink be acceptable unto thee." in the next place he strews grass over the funeral cake, and sprinkles water on it, reciting this prayer: "waters! ye are the food of our progenitors; satisfy my parents, ye who convey nourishment, which is ambrosia, butter, milk, cattle, and distilled liquor." lastly, he smells some of the food, and poises in his hand the funeral cakes, saying, "may this ball be wholesome food;" and concludes, paying the officiating priest his fee with a formal declaration, "i do give this fee (consisting of so much money) to such a one (a priest sprung from such a family, and who uses such a veda and such a sacha of it), for the purpose of fully completing the obsequies this day performed by me in honour of one person singly, preparatory to the gathering of the bones of such a one deceased." after the priest has thrice said: "salutation to the gods, to progenitors, to mighty saints, &c.," he dismisses him; lights a lamp in honour of the deceased; meditates on heri with undiverted attention; casts the food, and other things used at the obsequies, into the fire; and then proceeds to the cemetery for the purpose of gathering the ashes of the deceased. so long as mourning lasts after gathering the ashes, the near relations of the deceased continue to offer water with the same formalities and prayers as already mentioned, and to refrain from factitious salt, butter, &c. on the last day of mourning, the nearest relation puts on neat apparel, and causes his house and furniture to be cleaned; he then goes out of the town, and after offering the tenth funeral cake, he makes ten libations of water from the palms of his hands; causes the hair of his head and body to be shaved, and his nails to be cut, and gives the barber the clothes which were worn at the funeral of the deceased, and adds some other remuneration. he then anoints his head and limbs, down to his feet, with oil of sesamum; rubs all his limbs with meal of sesamum, and his head with the ground pods of white mustard; he bathes, sips water, touches and blesses various auspicious things, such as stones, clarified butter, leaves of nimba, white mustard, durva grass, coral, a cow, gold, curds, honey, a mirror, and a couch, and also touches a bamboo staff. he now returns purified to his home, and thus completes the first obsequies of the deceased. the second series of obsequies, commencing on the day after the period of mourning has elapsed, is opened by a lustration termed the consolatory ceremony. the lustration consists in the consecration of four vessels of water, and sprinkling therewith the house, the furniture, and the persons belonging to the family. after lighting a fire, and blessing the attendant brahmanas, the priest fills four vessels with water, and, putting his hand into the first, meditates the gayatri, before and after reciting the following prayers: .--may generous waters be auspicious to us, for gain and for refreshing draughts; may they approach towards us, that we may be associated with good auspices. .--earth afford us ease; be free from thorns; be habitable. widely extended as thou art, procure us happiness. .--o waters! since ye afford delight, grant us food, and the rapturous sight [of the supreme being]. .--like tender mothers, make us here partakers of your most auspicious essence. putting his hand into the second vessel, the priest meditates the gayatri, and the four prayers above quoted; adding some others, and concluding this second consecration of water by once more meditating the gayatri. then taking a lump of sugar and a copper vessel in his left hand, biting the sugar and spitting it out again, the priest sips water. afterwards putting his hand into the third vessel, he meditates the gayatri and the four prayers above cited, interposing this: may indra and varuna [the regents of the sky and of the ocean] accept our oblations, and grant us happiness; may indra and the cherishing sun grant us happiness in the distribution of food; may indra and the moon grant us the happiness of attaining the road to celestial bliss, and the association of good auspices. it is customary immediately after this lustration to give away a vessel of tila, and also a cow, for the sake of securing the passage of the deceased over the vaitarani, or river of hell: whence the cow, so given, is called vaitarani-dhenu. afterwards a bed, with its furniture, is brought; and the giver sits down near the brahmana, who has been invited to receive the present. after saying, "salutation to this bed with its furniture; salutation to this priest, to whim it is given," he pays due honour to the brahmana in the usual form of hospitality. he then pours water into his hand, saying, "i give thee this bed with its furniture;" the priest replies, "give it." upon this he sprinkles it with water; and taking up the cusa grass, tila, and water, delivers them to the priest, pouring the water into his hand, with a formal declaration of the gift and its purpose; and again delivers a bit of gold with cusa grass, &c., making a similar formal declaration, .--this day, i, being desirous of obtaining celestial bliss for such a one defunct, do give unto thee, such a one, a brahmana descended from such a family, to whom due honour has been shown, this bed and furniture, which has been duly honoured, and which is sacred to vishnu. . this day i give unto thee (so and so) this gold, sacred to fire, as a sacerdotal fee, for the sake of confirming the donation i have made of this bed and furniture. the brahmana both times replies "be it well." then lying upon the bed, and touching it with the upper part of his middle finger, he meditates the gayatri with suitable prayers, adding "this bed is sacred to vishnu." with similar ceremonies and declarations he next gives away to a brahmana, a golden image of the deceased, or else a golden idol, or both. afterwards he distributes other presents among brahmanas for the greater honour of the deceased. of course, all this can only be done by rich people. the principal remaining ceremonies consist chiefly of the obsequies called sradhas. the first set of funeral ceremonies is adopted to effect, by means of oblations, the reimbodying of the soul of the deceased, after burning his corpse. the apparent scope of the second is to raise his shade from this world (where it would else, according to the notions of the hindus, continue to roam among demons and evil spirits), up to heaven, and there deify him, as it were, among the manes of departed ancestors. for this end, a sradha should regularly be offered to the deceased on the day after mourning expires; twelve other sradhas singly to the deceased in twelve successive months: similar obsequies at the end of the third fortnight, and also in the sixth month, and in the twelfth; and the oblation called sapindana, on the first anniversary of his decease. in most provinces the periods for these sixteen ceremonies, and for the concluding obsequies entitled sapindana, are anticipated, and the whole is completed on the second or third day. after which they are again performed at the proper times, but in honour of the whole set of progenitors, instead of the deceased singly. the obsequies intended to raise the shade of the deceased to heaven are thus completed. afterwards, a sradha is annually offered to him on the anniversary of his decease. what we have just described, elaborate as it looks, is simply an abridgment of the long and complicated ceremonies attendant upon the funeral and after obsequies of a rich man among the hindus, but it is enough for our purpose. it shows the vast importance attached to those obsequies, and enables us to understand the desire on the part of these hindus to have children who will in a proper and acceptable manner carry out these proceedings. we have already quoted from the sacred books to show that a son was regarded as better able to perform those duties than any other relation, and that failing such offspring in the ordinary course of nature, it was obligatory upon the would be father to adopt one. dulaure and some other writers describe a variety of ceremonies which were taken part in by the women in order to procure the children who would satisfy the cravings of their husbands. it is probable that a good deal of what took place at the shrines of heathen goddesses in other lands, arose from this anxiety, and not altogether from a merely licentious habit of character and disposition. it has been said, as we may have already suggested perhaps, that the priests connected with some of the temples resorted to by childless women for the cure of their misfortune, were cunning enough to provide for what was wanted in a more practical way than by the simple performance of certain ceremonies, and that where the failure to produce children was due to some fault on the part of the husband, means were at hand by which the woman soon found herself in the desired condition. it is rather singular that something very similar was found among the jewish women in the time of ezekiel, as we have found in india; the indian woman sacrificed her virginity at the shrine of the lingam, and in the th chapter of the prophet's book, verse , we read:--"thou didst take also thy fair jewels of my gold, and didst make to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them." the latter, however, was evidently of a very different character to the former, being nothing more or less than the impure worship of priapus as carried on in the orgies of osiris, bacchus, and adonis, the images of the hebrew women being such as the priapi used in those ceremonies; on no account must those foolish and filthy practices be confounded with that act of worship which men in primitively simple condition rendered to the agents employed in the act of generation, which was innocently regarded as only one of the operations of nature. the moral of this part of the subject, and with which for the present we take leave of it, is this, that the eastern, from his views of the future life, deems it absolutely necessary that he should leave offspring, either real or adopted, behind him, to carry out the obligations imposed by his religion, and that in order to attain in the possession of what is to him such a blessing, he is called upon to propitiate in every possible manner the physical agents and powers employed in the process,--hence the rise and practice of phallic worship. the end. footnotes: [ ] see dudley's _naology_. [ ] _edin. rev._, , p. . [ ] jewitt. [ ] hawkins' _sketch of the creek country_. [ ] _myths of the new world._ [ ] jewitt in _art journal_, . [ ] quoted by jewitt, in _art journal_, . [ ] lysons, _our british ancestors_. [ ] cory, _mytho. inquiry_. [ ] cory, _mytho. inquiry_. [ ] faber, _orig. pag. idol._ [ ] meyrick's _cardigan_. [ ] inman, _anc. faiths_. i. [ ] _rivers of life._ [ ] dr. beke. [ ] dr. f. a. cox. [ ] ewald, _antiq. israel_. [ ] _mems. anthrop. soc. ._ [ ] lewis. _origines heb._ [ ] _keys of the creeds_, v.