Religion in the Heavens; Or, Mythology Unveiled in a Series of Lectures

by Logan Mitchell

* The mask being indispensable in theology, it is not
wonderful that its votaries should appear everywhere in
disguise.

END OF LECTURE FOURTH. [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]

LECTURE FIFTH. ON THE EARLY EFFECTS OF THE CHRISTIAN SUPERSTITION

"Tis only thou,
Accursed superstition, cans't accord
Thy aids to tyranny, for which alone
She guards thee with the penalty of "Laws".
Endows thee, pampers thee ; and seems to bend
(Mocking herself) in reverence to thy nod.
For this imperial rapine shares with thee
Her gaudy spoil."

In a former lecture, when speaking of the compilation of the New Testament, we promised to show that the first idea of forming that book was drawn from a Pagan prototype; and therefore we resume the subject, in order also to adduce farther proof that the very vitals of our religion originated in heathen polytheism.

Here, it is of the highest importance to draw particular attention to the sacred and mysterious testament of the Athenians, on which they believed the salvation not only of their city, but of all Greece depended. There is now so little said about this famous testament, that it has nearly passed into oblivion; but this is easily accounted for, as the fabricators of the Christian New Testament would, as usual in such cases, do all in their power to suppress the remembrance of a volume which suggested the scheme of their own book of mysteries, in the formation of which St. Paul was not only the principal contributor, but, in point of fact, the real founder of our religion.* We ought not, therefore, to pass without distinct notice, the remarkable deference and respect which he pretended to have for this book of imposture, when wishing to recommend himself to any Grecian state.

* The famous Longinus mentions Paul of Tarsus, whom "he
considered to be the first setter-forth of an unproved
doctrine."

This Testament had a profound influence over those states, which, as well as the Athenians, were kept in reverential awe by its divine authority; and Paul having acquired a knowledge of this in his vagrancies,* shows his dexterity by availing himself of it in his 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians iii., 6, wherein he says, "God hath made us able ministers of the (New) Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit" Now, we defy all our divines and commentators put together, to show that the present New Testament of the Christians was then in existence, that is to say, before the end of the first century, and it is on all hands agreed by church chronologists, that Paul wrote before that period; and, therefore, in writing the above epistle, it was not possible that he could be speaking in reference to any other book than that which the Greeks called "the unspeakably holy Testament." How was it possible for him to speak of a book which we can prove was not compiled into its present form until centuries had elapsed after his time—viz., until the councils of Nice and Laodicea? That this book existed not in all the first century we have the authority of the most learned and orthodox God-well,** who, in his dissertation upon Irenæus, confesses as follows:—"We have at this day certain most authentic ecclesiastical writers of the times, as Clemens, Romanus, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, who wrote in the same order in which I have named them, and after all the writers of the New Testament. But in Hermas you will not find one passage, or any mention of the New Testament, nor in all the rest is any one of the evangelists named." What! our four evangelists entirely unknown to all the five apostolic fathers! Could this have been possible if these gospels had been written when these "authentic" writers lived?

* When Tonstal, Bishop of Durham, burnt the New Testament,
declaring it to be doctrinam peregrinam, he probably meant
that it was-only the doctrine of Paul the rambler.—Vide
Tyndale.
** Dodwell says that it "was not until the reign of Trajan
or Adrian that a collection of the books of the New
Testament was publicly made, the priests having previous to
that time concealed them in the archives, of their
churches." It was then that they made anything that suited
them the "word of God."

Having shown the absurdity of supposing that Paul could speak of a Testament that did not exist in his time, we repeat, that from his vagrant habits he had, in all probability, come to the knowledge that the sacred Testament of the Athenians was, like all priestly writings of the East, figurative, mystical, and would bear either the literal or metaphorical meaning, according to the views of those who used it for the purpose of deception; so he tells the Corinthians of his being aware that "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." He knew also that this book of superlative authority was carefully concealed from the vulgar eye; and, therefore, he has not the presumption to say he had seen it, as that would have given offence; but merely professes to be an humble minister of its spirit, of which he might have learned something, as aforesaid; and forming his texts on the common rumor respecting it, he comments upon them in such a manner as to please his followers in those states, professing a profound awe and reverence towards the spotless sanctity of the original.