[Footnote A: Josephus' Antiquities, Book I, Chap. 4.]
"Now the first government of Egypt was established by Pharaoh, the eldest son of Egyptus, the daughter of Ham, and it was after the manner of the government of Ham, which was Patriarchal. Pharaoh being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first Patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood.
"Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of Priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah, through Ham."
As the idolatries of Chaldea and Egypt gave marked tone and color to the mythologies of the dominant races of antiquity on the eastern hemisphere, we shall not trace the growth and development of the religions of Persia, Greece, Rome, etc., through their various branches and ramifications. Such an effort would require a volume; but we shall confine ourselves simply to a brief consideration of the doctrine of the atonement, as understood by the ancient Gentile nations; referring only to such other theories and ideas as have naturally a bearing on that doctrine.
As a starting point we believe we may state with assurance of its truth that the expectation of the coming of a Son of God, a Messiah, in the flesh was universal with all the leading nations that flourished in the ages previous to the advent of the Redeemer. This is true of the people of Egypt, Babylon, Arabia, Persia, Hindostan, Greece and Rome; as also of the races that inhabited the American continent. And so strong in certain cases had this idea grown that by gradual stages it became changed into the belief that that expected Son of God had already come, and such a being was reverenced and worshiped under various names. In Greece and Rome this idea became so prevalent that nearly every very eminent man was thought to be a son of one of the gods; and evil designing men sometimes personated these deities on purpose to seduce the virtuous of the other sex, whose chastity they could overcome in no other way than by falsely declaring themselves to be the god for whom such women had particular reverence and esteem.[A] Whilst on the other hand young women who found themselves mothers without husbands would cunningly declare that their children were the offspring of a god; or, to use the words of the historian Grote, when speaking of Greece, "the furtive pregnancy of young women, often by a god, is one of the most frequently recurring incidents in the legendary narratives of the country." To such an extent did this excess run, that at a later period a decree was issued subjecting to a very severe penalty any woman who should pretend that her child was of divine parentage. One writer states: "Many are the cases noted in history of young maidens claiming a paternity for their male offspring by a god. In Greece it became so common that the reigning king issued an edict, decreeing the death of all young women who should offer such an insult to Deity as to lay to him the charge of begetting their children." Whilst on this point Mr. Draper writes: "Immaculate conceptions and celestial descents were so currently received in those days, that whoever had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of men was thought to be of supernatural lineage. Even in Rome, centuries later, no one could with safety have denied that that city owed its founder, Romulus, to an accidental meeting of the god Mars with the virgin Rhea Sylvia, as she went with her pitcher for water to the spring. The Egyptian disciples of Plato would have looked with anger on those who rejected the legend that Perictione, the mother of the great philosopher, a pure virgin, had suffered an immaculate conception through the influences of Apollo, and that the god had declared to Ariston, to whom she was betrothed, the parentage of the child. When Alexander issued his letters, orders and decrees, styling himself 'King Alexander, the son of Jupiter Amnion,' they came to the inhabitants of Egypt and Syria with an authority that now can hardly be realized. The freethinking Greeks, however, put on such a supernatural pedigree its proper value. Olympias [Alexander's mother], who, of course, better than all others knew the facts of the case, used jestingly to say, that 'she wished Alexander would cease from incessantly embroiling her with Jupiter's wife.'"—Draper's Conflict between Religion and Science.
[Footnote A: See Josephus' Antiquities, Book xviii, Chapter iii.]
Returning to Egypt where, as before stated, a priesthood, disowned of God, had been set up, we are informed[A] that those who were initiated into the inner mysteries of its mythology, were taught that God created all things at the first, by His first born, who was the author and giver of all knowledge in heaven and on earth, being at the same time the wisdom and the word of God. The incarnation and earthly life of this important being constituted the grand mystery of their entire religious system. So great was their faith in the advent of this Holy One, that they had chambers prepared in their temples for His nativity.
[Footnote A: See Osborn's "Religions of the World.">[
The priesthood of the Egyptians, though entirely without Divine authority, taught many great truths which they had received from Noah, through Ham and Pharaoh, and it took generations before these Gospel truths were so entirely overlaid and corrupted by falsehood and pagan innovations, that they became undiscernable to all but the initiated. It is an important fact, holding good of other ancient civilizations as well as that of Egypt, that the farther we trace back their religious beliefs and mythologies, the purer does the creed become, the nearer it approaches to heavenly truth, and the stronger and more evident are the traces of Gospel teachings. This fact alone is sufficient to prove that paganism had its origin in the revelations of heaven, from which, in its various diverse branches, it had turned and strayed, and by gradual growth, had become the vile, inconsistent, degrading and loathsome system which is abhorred by all pure minded, honorable and intelligent people. Had the various forms of ancient dominant pagan worship been radically and entirely different, with only those features in common that could reasonably be attributed to accident or the inter-communication of races, the inference would be strong that they had different origins; but when, as is the case, there is a strong family likeness, and that likeness grows stronger the further it is traced back, and continually points to a common parentage, and that parentage is the truth as taught by the early patriarchs and inspired servants of heaven, our conclusions must necessarily be that these correct and God-given teachings were the source from whence the whole sprang, and the differences in development arose from the varied incidents in the history, and the peculiar surroundings of the various races that gave a local hue and tinge to their forms of belief. It is also noteworthy that the fundamental principles of the everlasting plan devised by infinite wisdom, and which were the most widely taught and accepted, are those which prevailed the most extensively in pagan creeds, and which longest retained their hold in the faith of the different races.[A] Amongst these ideas or principles we will mention a few that were so general that they might almost be called universal:
[Footnote A: See writings of Hitzig, Hyde, Faber, Goodsir, Higgins,
Osborn, Levy, etc.]