) the Fish takes its place in importance as a sign of Christ in his special office of Saviour." "In the Talmud the Messiah is called 'Dag' or 'Fish.'" "Where did the Jews learn to apply 'Dag' to their Messiah? And why did the primitive Christians adopt it as a sign of Christ?" "I cannot disguise facts. Truth demands no concealment or apology. Paganism has its types and prophecies of Christ as well as Judaism. What then is the Dag-on of the old Babylonians? The fish-god or being that taught them all their civilization."[354:1]
As Mr. Lundy says, "truth demands no concealment or apology," therefore, when the truth is exposed, we find that Vishnu, the Hindoo Messiah, Preserver, Mediator and Saviour, was represented as a "dag," or fish. The Fish takes its place in importance as a sign of Vishnu in his special office of Saviour.
Prof. Monier Williams says:
"It is as Vishnu that the Supreme Being, according to the Hindoos, exhibited his sympathy with human trials, his love for the human race. Nine principal occasions have already occurred in which the god has thus interposed for the salvation of his creatures. The first was Matsaya, the Fish. In this Vishnu became a fish to save the seventh Manu, the progenitor of the human race, from the universal deluge."[354:2]
We have already seen, in [Chap. IX.], the identity of the Hindoo Matsaya and the Babylonian Dagon.
The fish was sacred among the Babylonians, Assyrians and Phenicians, as it is among the Romanists of to-day. It was sacred also to Venus, and the Romanists still eat it on the very day of the week which was called "Dies veneris," Venus' day; fish day.[354:3] It was an emblem of fecundity. The most ancient symbol of the productive power was a fish, and it is accordingly found to be the universal symbol upon many of the earliest coins.[354:4] Pythagoras and his followers did not eat fish. They were ascetics, and the eating of fish was supposed to tend to carnal desires. This ancient superstition is entertained by many even at the present day.
The fish was the earliest symbol of Christ Jesus. Fig. No. 33 is a design from the catacombs.[354:5] This cross-fish is not unlike the sacred monogram.