Devil"; that it was their desire "to do the lusts of the flesh "; that, if he were to say that he did not know their Father (God), he would be, like them, a liar (John viii. 42-55). But, had he really preached even one of these things, it is highly probable that he would never have lived to say the others, for blasphemy was a heinous sin in the eyes of a Jew, and he would have been stoned on the spot like Stephen, who is reported to have been stoned to death for simply saying that he saw the Heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God."

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The wrath of the priests was, of course, unbounded; a council was called to consider the matter, and the bold reformer was sentenced to death as a blasphemer and seducer of the people. The Talmud says that he was seducer of the people, and was finally put to death by being stoned, and hung as a blasphemer. The Toldoth Jeschu; or, Book of the Generation of Jesus (Foote and Wheeler) gives a similar account.

The Essene monks declared that the Joshua, or Jesus, who had been hung as a blasphemer and seditionist was in reality the Messiah that was to come; that he was a reincarnation of the popular god Bacchus ; and that the Theban god Yahuh was his father. They proceeded to attribute to him the wonderful performances that had previously been imputed to the young sun-god Bacchus, such as miraculous birth from a virgin, riding in procession on a donkey, rising from the dead after three days, ascending to Heaven, etc., and finally giving him the Phoenician name of Ies, in its Greek form Tesou, Greek being at that time the prevailing language in and around Alexandria. The name Iesous was interchangeable with Ioustos (pronounced Yea-soos and Yous-tos), and Joshua and Jeshua (in Hebrew Yahoshua and Yeshua ; see Nehem. viii. 17). In Acts vii. 45 and Heb. iv. 8 of the A. V. Jeshua is found in the original, and is rendered Jesus; but in the R. V. it is correctly rendered. The name Jesus was sometimes also written Hesus.

Thus arose Jessæanism, which soon spread to the distant monasteries of the various sects of Essenes scattered about in the Eastern and Western Provinces of the Roman Empire; the Essenian Scriptures being adapted to the new Messianic theory, from which were later to be evolved the Christian gospels.

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EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIANISM FROM JESSÆANISM—THE RISE OF THE NEW RELIGION; ITS ARROGANT PRETENSIONS, PROSELYTISM, AND WICKED PRINCIPLES-CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION AND ITS IMMEDIATE EFFECTS -CONVERSION OF PAGANISM INTO CHRISTIANISMEARLY DISPUTES AND CHURCH COUNCILS — CRUEL MURDER OF HYPATIA BY CHRISTIAN MONKS-EVOLUTION OF MARIOLATRY AND MADONNA WORSHIP--POSTCONSTANTINE SCIENCE-CHRISTIAN DIVISIONS-ULTIMATE EFFECTS OF CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION.

OUT of Jessæanism was evolved Christianism; but the Christianism of Antioch was a very different thing to the Roman and African Christianism which commenced with Constantine, and which has since developed into the numerous contradictory religious sects visible to us in modern times. Previous to the conversion of that Emperor the new religion was having a bad time of it throughout the Roman Empire; from a handful of slaves and beggars scattered here and there, waiting for the coming of their Lord and Master, but rendering themselves amenable to the civil law every now and then by their arrogant pretensions and proselytizing tendencies, they suddenly were able to assume an air of respectability.

But the same mistaken precepts which made it the duty of each to make converts of others, and which resulted in the so-called persecutions under the pre-Constantine Emperors, have rendered Christianism a curse, not only to Europe, but to every country in which it has found a home; for, not satisfied with enjoying freedom of religious opinion themselves, as soon as the opportunity offers itself Christians push their opinions upon others, and persist in thinking

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that there can be no morality without a belief in their narrow and wicked doctrines; and societies are formed among them for the express purpose of doing this. Immediately a new bit of territory, however small, is acquired by our country, swarms of missionaries representing the principal different denominations of Christians over-run the country, Bible in hand, interfering with the traditional customs of the natives, producing disaffection, and frequently ending in riot or war. Where ought to be peace and intellectual progress appear bloodshed and superstition. Where ought to be examples of liberty and freedom are demands for blind submission and servitude, the liberty and freedom being only for the missionaries. There is no such society in the world, secret or open-and we must always recognize Christianism as a secret society-which has for one of its main objects such abominably wicked principles as the destruction of domestic ties and the peace and harmony of the family; "Not peace, but dissension," is her motto; "father against son and son against father ;..............husband against wife and wife against husband," etc.; and "The sins of the father," in this secret society, are to be visited upon innocent children yet to be born.

We may trace the future success of Christianism in Europe to the fact of Constantine's conversion. This imperial murderer, from private and imperial motives which. it is unnecessary to enter into, became a convert to the new religion (312 C.E.) in the following manner: During his struggles with his enemy, Maxentius, he dreamed that he saw a flaming cross under the sun in the sky, bearing the inscription, "In hoc signo vinces" (Under this sign conquer). The following night Jesus appeared to him in another dream telling him to take the fiery cross for his standard. It was afterwards called the " labarum," and consisted of the phallic and planetary cross X, the Greek capital letter Chi, and P, the Greek Rho, in combination thus: Fortunately for Christianism as for Constantine, he successfully conquered Maxentius, and drove him into the Tiber; and thus by an accident was Christianism given the lift which was to ensure its future

success.

Under imperial authority and protection the Pagan

religion was rapidly transformed into the Christian religion. Sunday, the great weekly festival of the god Sol "the Invincible," Dies Solis Venerabilis (the venerable day of the sun), became the Christian festival of the Eucharist. The images and festivals of the gods became Christian saints and saints' days; and Pagan temples became Christian churches. In Rome the temples of the Bona Dea (the good goddess), and the Celestis Dea (the heavenly goddess), were transformed into churches of the Christian Virgin. The latter was dedicated by Aurelius, a Pagan high priest, and was converted into a Christian church by another Aurelius, created Bishop of Carthage (390 C.E.), who placed his episcopal chair in the very spot where the stutue of the goddess had stood. The Pantheon or Rotunda has an inscription on it which informs us that, "having been impiously dedicated of old by Agrippa to Jove and all the gods, it was piously reconsecrated by Pope Boniface IV. to the Mother of God and all the Saints." The temple of Romulus and the brazen wolf, commemorating the curious manner in which the founders of Rome were said to have been nurtured, became the church of St. Theodore; and Christian women now take their children, when ill, to be cured by that saint, as Pagan women did of old to the wolf that nurtured Romulus and Remus. And thus was the worship of the new Messiah tacked on to the old worship of the sun. To this day we find traces in Christianism of old sun worship, the glorious nimbus of the sun, produced by his rays when in his summer ascension, and the constant use of the familiar word "glory" in connection with divinity (see Sunday, the People's Holiday).

In Christianizing these Pagan temples free use was made of sculptured and painted inscriptions; in some cases the names were painted over and replaced by others. The mystic Greek letters constituting the monogram of Bacchus, YHΣ or IH2, became the Roman IHS; the Greek capital letter eta being mistaken for the Roman letter H. The Dove of Venus, representing the Pagan “Holy Spirit," now represented the Christian " Holy Ghost." This bird was the ancient Assyrian emblem for the ghost or spirit, and is still so used among Christians.

The inscription, "To Mercury and Minerva, Tutellary gods," became "To Mary and St. Francis, my Tutellaries ";

THE CONVERSION OF PAGANISM.

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"To the gods who preside over this temple" became "To the divine Eustrogius who presides over this temple"; "To the divinity of Mercury, the availing, the powerful, the unconquered," became "To the divinity of St. George," etc., etc. The statues of Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, Orpheus, did duty for the new Christ." Apollo was represented as the "good shepherd," with a lamb upon his back, exactly as Jesus is now represented in Christian art. Janus and his keys became Peter and his keys. Janus, Jonas, and Jona were interchangeable names, Peter's real name being Simon Bar (son of) Jona. Many years ago a bronze statue of the god Janus, with his keys in his hand, was found in Rome, and was perched upon St. Peter's. It has since done duty as St. Peter, under the cupola, and is looked upon with the most profound veneration, the toes being nearly kissed away by devotees. The horned Jupiter, or Jove, became the horned Moses of Mount Sin-ai. Juno, Mars, Ceres, Demeter, Cybele, and Isis of Greece and Egypt became Christian virgin mothers, with such titles as Queen of Heaven," ""Star of the Sea," etc. In the Church of St. Agnes an old statue of a young Bacchus is shown as that of St. Agnes, and is venerated accordingly.

In Greece Olympos was restored and its divinities changed into Christian saints; Dionysios, the Greek Bacchus, becoming St. Denis; and Cosmos, St. Cosmo. Bonwick says: "During the third and fourth centuries of the period of the so-called primitive Christianity, but by no means synonymous with the Christianity of the Gospels, the Christians of Egypt venerated a large number of patron saints."* Frothingham says: "No relic of Paganism was permitted to remain in its casket. The depositories were all ransacked............Devaki with the infant Christna; Maya with the babe Buddha; Juno with the child Mars; now represent Mary with Jesus in her arms...... The musty wardrobes of forgotten hierarchies furnished costumes for the officers of the new prince. Alb and Chasable recalled the fashions of Numa's day. The cast-off purple habits and shoes of Pagan emperors beautified the august persons of Christian Popes. The cardinals must be contented with the robes once worn by senators. Zoroaster bound about

*

J. Bonwick, Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought.