Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions / Being a Comparison of the Old and New Testament Myths and Miracles with those of the Heathen Nations of Antiquity Considering also their Origin and Meaning

by T. W. Doane

[46:4] Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 175, 276. See, also, Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology; and Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. and ii.

[46:5] See Myths of the British Druids, p. 300; and Higgins: Celtic Druids.

[46:6] Quoted by R. Payne Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 114, note.

[46:7] See Illustrations in Dr. Inman's Pagan and Christian Symbolism.

[46:8] See Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. pp. 543, 544.

[47:1] Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 177, 178, 317, 321, 322.

[47:2] Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 356.

[47:3] Ibid.

[47:4] We read in Bell's "Pantheon of the Gods and Demi-Gods of Antiquity," under the head of Baelylion, Baelylia or Baetylos, that they are "Anointed Stones, worshiped among the Greeks, Phrygians, and other nations of the East;" that "these Baetylia were greatly venerated by the ancient Heathen, many of their idols being no other;" and that, "in reality no sort of idol was more common in the East, than that of oblong stones erected, and hence termed by the Greeks pillars." The Rev. Geo. W. Cox, in his Aryan Mythology (vol. ii. p. 113), says: "The erection of these stone columns or pillars, the forms of which in most cases tell their own story, are common throughout the East, some of the most elaborate being found near Ghizni." And Mr. Wake (Phallism in Ancient Religions, p. 60), says: "Kiyun, or Kivan, the name of the deity said by Amos (v. 26), to have been worshiped in the wilderness by the Hebrews, signifies God of the pillar."

[47:5] We find that there was nothing gross or immoral in the worship of the male and female generative organs among the ancients, when the subject is properly understood. Being the most intimately connected with the reproduction of life on earth, the Linga became the symbol under which the Sun, invoked with a thousand names, has been worshiped throughout the world as the restorer of the powers of nature after the long sleep or death of winter. But if the Linga is the Sun-god in his majesty, the Yoni is the earth who yields her fruit under his fertilizing warmth.