The hand of one of the innocents massacred by Herod, although Herod died four years B. C., was, in 1837, still preserved in the Convent at Bethlehem. There also is the pit in which the bodies of the infants were thrown, and also the manger which came down from the constellation of the Crab. Some depraved Christian copped the stone on which the cock crowed when Peter denied his Master, and, in 1837, it was said to be in a church in Rome. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, among other wonders, is a monument erected over the grave of Adam, who never existed, and there is a polished marble bathtub or sarcophagus, which they claimed was the sepulchre hewn out of the rock. See Travels in Holy Land, 2-163.
The fight of the fools and fakirs over the location of the grave of a mythical sun-god is certainly ludicrous, but more amusing was the magic trick of the early Christians who stole the grave of Adam either from Hebron or Mecca and also swiped the grave of Christ from the Damascus Road, north of Jerusalem, and exhibited both, with other shell and three-card-monte games, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the centre of Jerusalem, for the purpose of annexing the coin of the dupes, farmers and come-ons from all over the world.
According to Tichenor, over three hundred years after the crucifixion, St. Helena found the true cross, and also dug up the crosses of the two thieves, and this lumber was sold for centuries to millions of the faithful. Even a splinter will save you from Hell and cure you of what ails you. And the bones, hair and nails of the Apostles have been sold all over the world. You could formerly buy a gunnysack full of St. Peter’s fingers and toes if you had the necessary dough. The people not only worshipped the Mother of God, but worshipped St. Ann, the Grandmother of God. God came unto Mary in the form of Gabriel, and to prove it the monk Eiseling exhibited all over Europe a pin-feather from Gabriel’s wing, which he shed at the conference. Thorns, from the crown of thorns, the blood of Jesus, by the drop or the bottle, and the milk of the Holy Virgin were peddled out all over the world for centimes.—See Tichenor’s Roman Religion.
CHAPTER XV.
The Great King Solomon.
Solomon’s Song is very choice reading and would be eminently appropriate to the foulest book on earth, the circulation of which would be a criminal offense under the law. The Christian compilers of the Bible have asserted in the headings of the Song that it represents the love of Christ and the Church. They were not only wilful liars, but foully besmirched their own church, for that was about 1200 years before their church existed. The whole context shows that it has nothing to do with the Christian Church, but is evidently the hymn book of the church of Ashtoreth, of which Solomon was a deacon. Any institution that foists upon the world such vile obscenity as the inspired word of God, is the Temple of the Devil, the antechamber of Hell, an annex of the Witches’ Sabbath. It should utterly perish from the face of the earth. In fact, the die is already cast, the handwriting is on the wall, the hand of death is on it now.
Solomon was Grand Master of the secret societies. Those things that were esoteric or secret or occult in magic and religion, claimed by the priests to be too sacred for the people, were either criminal or too vile to utter. That was the only reason for keeping them secret.
Solomon had cheated his brother Adonijah out of the throne to which the latter was entitled by birth, and Adonijah thought that he should at least be allowed to have Abishag, the sixteen-year-old beauty that they had put in bed with the dying King David to save his life. And he induced Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, to make the request of the king. When Solomon had heard the petition of Bathsheba he said: “And why dost thou ask Abishag for Adonijah, ask for him the kingdom also.” Abishag is the only jewel in the Jewish crown, the most priceless legacy that King David left. A perfect beauty is more to be desired than the riches of a kingdom. I will not give her up. All the good things in Israel are reserved for the king. Then Solomon swore by the Lord saying: “God do so to me and more also if Adonijah hath not spoken this word against his own life. Now therefore as the Lord liveth Adonijah shall be put to death this day.” What ho! guards, summon Benaiah, Commander of the Knights of the Mystic Shrine of Asherah.
When Benaiah appeared, he bowed low before the throne, and, raising his right hand, made the occult sign of the Witches’ Sabbath. Then Solomon said: “Rise, O beloved of the king, favorite of the gods of the groves and the gardens. The king hath weighty matters to communicate to thee. It is reported that Adonijah, our brother, hath taken refuge at the shrine of that second-rate God Jehovah and doth cling to the horns of the altar. And behold all of Adonijah’s followers are devotees of Jehovah, while all of our partisans and all of you whom the king hath deigned to grace with official rank are devotees of Baal and Asherah. Now the king commandeth that you seek out all of those Jehovah worshippers who have stood by Adonijah and eliminate them from the problem of life. Go in and out among them and slay each one your father and your mother, your sister and your brother, if so be that they be among the rebels. Relieve them of life’s burdens. Do not be harsh with them, show them our royal mercy, shove them gently through the gates of Hell, cutting them with saws and with harrows of iron and with axes, emulating the clemency of our royal father, the bandit chief. As for Adonijah, fall upon him and slay him as he clings to the horns of the altar. It is true that the altar of a god is sacred ground and a refuge as a general proposition, but general propositions do not apply to the king, the king is above the law. What do I care for these imaginary gods, they are all right to scare children with, but they cut no ice with your Solomon.”
Solomon sat in all his glory upon the great throne of ivory and gold, flanked by the twelve brazen lions of the zodiac, and the Knights of the Mystic Shrine of Asherah in dazzling regalia guarded the beloved of the Lord. Around the throne, with naked swords and the three hundred golden shields, stood the Princes of the Tribes of Israel, as the rays of the setting sun, reflected from the jeweled walls of cedar and gold, bathed in dazzling light the royal panoplies of blue and purple and crimson.
And King Solomon’s sacred, hermaphrodite Billygoat, in trappings of purple and gold, wearing ribbons on his horns and ribbons on his tail, stood beside the golden throne with his revered back to the audience in accordance with the law in such case made and provided. And he informed the King in no uncertain words that he did not propose to be the goat any longer, that the Knights of the Mystic Shrine of Asherah, that had been assigned as priests to serve him, one of the highest gods, drank up all the wine sacrificed to him, and thus prevented him from getting as full as a goat, as required by the tenets of his religion. And further, they did not give him exercise enough, they called him Baphomet and Devil and other hard names and took him up out of the pit for a walk around the town only once a month, at dead of night, in the dark of the moon, when Hell yawns, and the graves give up their dead. Upon the conclusion of this divine oration, the whole audience crawled on their hands and knees up the steps of the golden throne and devoutly kissed the back of Baphomet, as we kiss the male and female emblems on the Pax.