Is There A Counterfeit Without A Genuine?
My object in this lesson is to present the myths, the ancient, fictitious and fanciful narratives concerning the gods, in such a manner as to enable you to see the utter absurdity of the idea that the religion of the Bible is of mythical origin. Myths are fictitious narratives, having an analogy more or less remote to something real. From this definition you discover that a myth is always a counterfeit, and as such always appears in evidence in favor of something more or less remote, that is true. Now, if the Bible had a mythical origin, it sustains some analogy to something found in the mythical or fictitious and fanciful narratives concerning the gods, and is therefore the myth of a myth; the counterfeit of a counterfeit. If such be the truth in the case, where do we find the origin of the myths from which “Bible myths” have descended? Is it found in the true God presiding over the elements of nature and the destinies of men, as well as the events of creation and providence? Or, can it be possible that we have many counterfeits without a genuine? Many myths sustaining no analogy, either near or remote, to anything real? It is an absurdity, destructive of the term employed, because myths cease to be myths without some near or remote relation to realities. They must sustain some analogy to something real. And counterfeits also cease to be counterfeits when it is shown [pg 122] that they sustain no relation, through analogy or likeness, to anything that is genuine. In the mythical systems of olden times we have, in the midst of a vast deal of false and fanciful narrative concerning subordinate and secondary gods, evidence of a supreme God presiding over all things; and the secondary gods performing many things which belonged to the province of the “Almighty One,” with many degrading, vile and corrupting habits.
A letter written by Maximus, a Numidian, to Augustin, reads thus: “Now, that there is a sovereign God, who is without beginning, and who, without having begotten anything like unto Himself, is, nevertheless, the Father and the former of all things, what man can be gross and stupid enough to doubt? He it is of whom, under different names, we adore the eternal power extending through every part of the world, thus honoring separately by different sorts of worship what may be called His several members, we adore Him entirely. May those subordinate gods preserve you under whose names, and by whom all we mortals upon earth adore the common Father of gods and men.” In this letter we have a clear presentation of the mythical system concerning the ancient gods, and also the “analagous relation” to the “Master God.” Each god having his particular dominion over place or passion, appears before us as a representative of the supreme, or “Master God;” and by worshiping each member or God they claimed to adore entirely the “common Father of gods and men.” Augustin answers, In your public square there are two statues of Mars, one naked, the other armed; and close by the figure of a man who, with three fingers advanced towards Mars, holds in check that divinity so dangerous to the whole town. With regard to what you say of such gods being portions of the only “true God,” I take the liberty you gave me to warn you not to fall into such a sacrilege; for that only God, of whom you speak, is doubtless He who is acknowledged by the whole world, and concerning whom, as some of the ancients have said, the ignorant agree with the learned. Now, will you say that Mars, whose [pg 123] strength is represented by an inanimate man, is a portion of that God? That is to say, the dead statue controls Mars, and Mars is a subordinate god representing the infinite God, and is, therefore, a part of that God. Augustin adds, Not the Pantheon and all the temples consecrated to the inferior gods, nor even the temples consecrated to the twelve greater gods prevented “Deus Optimus Maximus,” God most good, most great, from being acknowledged throughout the empire. Voltaire says, “In spite of all the follies of the people who venerated secondary and ridiculous gods, and in spite of the Epicurians, who in reality acknowledged none, it is verified that in all times the magistrates and wise adored one sovereign God.” Secondary gods were myths, counterfeits, sustaining the relation of counterfeits. The ancients attributed their own passions to the “Master God,” and had subordinate gods representing passions. They also had a god for each part of His dominion; and these gods they called members of the true God, and claimed to worship Him, by worshiping all the members or gods. Mars was the god of war; Bacchus was the god of drunkenness. They had a god for this and a god for that. The ancient pagans seemed to think that infinite divisibility belonged to the “true God,” for they distinguished between passions, and divided up the universe among the gods until they had it crammed full of subordinate and ridiculous gods, each one a member of Jehovah, and each member a part of the great mythical system.
Now, in order to establish the proposition that our religion is of mythical origin, it is necessary to show, first, that the Bible was written this side of or during the age of myths, and, having done this, it is necessary to show that the Hebrew people were a mythical people; neither of which can be accomplished. It will not be amiss to present in this connection a statement given by Justin to the Greeks. He says: “Of all your teachers, whether sages, poets, historians, philosophers, or law-givers, by far the oldest, as the Greek historians show us, was Moses.... For in the times of Ogyges and Inachus, whom some of your poets have supposed to have [pg 124] been earth-born—that is, to have sprung from the soil, and hence one of the oldest inhabitants—the aborigines, Moses is mentioned as the leader and ruler of the Jewish nation.” He is mentioned as a very ancient and time-honored prince in the Athenian, Attic and Grecian histories. Polemon, in his first book of Hellenics, mentions Moses as the leader and ruler of the Jewish nation. Ptolemæus, in his history of Egypt, bears the same testimony. Apion, an Egyptian writer, in his book against the Jews, says “Moses led them.” Dr. Shaw, a modern traveler, says the inhabitants of Corondel, on the eastern side of the Red Sea, to this day preserve the remembrance of the deliverance of the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. Diodorus, the most renowned Greek historian, who employed thirty years epitomizing the libraries, and traveled over Asia and Europe for the sake of great accuracy, who wrote forty volumes of history, says he learned from the Egyptian priests that Moses was an ancient law-giver.
It seems to us that, no sane man, who is acquainted with the ancient mythicals, can regard the religion of the Bible as a child of mythical descent. It is as deadly in its influence upon those myths, and all mythical worship, as it could be made by an infinite mind.
Voltaire says “the character of the mythical gods is ridiculous;” we will add, it is ridiculous in the extreme. Listen—Hesiod, in his theogony, says: “Chronos, the son of Ouranos, or Saturn, son of Heaven, in the beginning slew his father, and possessed himself of his rule, and, being seized with a panic lest he should suffer in the same way, he preferred devouring his children, but Curetes, a subordinate god, by craft, conveyed Jupiter away in secret and afterwards bound his brother with chains, and divided the empire, Jupiter receiving the air, and Neptune the deep, and Pluto Hades.”
Pros-er-pi-ne, Mella-nip-pe, Neptune, Pluto and Jupiter are all set forth in the mythical writings as adulterers. Jupiter was regarded as more frequently involved in that crime, being set down as guilty in many instances. For the love of Sem-e-le, it is said that he assumed wings and proved [pg 125] his own unchastity and her jealousy. These are some of the exploits of the sons of Saturn. Hercules was celebrated by his three nights, sung by the poets for his successful labors.
The son of Jupiter slew the Lion, and destroyed the many-headed Hydra; was able to kill the fleet man-eating birds, and brought up from hades the three-headed dog, Cerberus; effectually cleansed the Augean stable from its refuse; killed the bulls and stag whose nostrils breathed fire; slew the poisonous serpent and killed Ach-e-lò-us. The guest-slaying Bu-sí-ris was delighted with being stunned by the cymbals of the Sat-yrs, and to be conquered with the love of women; and at last, being unable to take the cloak off of Nessus, he kindled his own funeral pile and died. Such are specimens of the ancient myths. Their character is such as to leave an impassible gulf between them and the character of the God revealed in our religion. No development theory, seeking the origin of our religion in the old mythical system, can bridge across this chasm. It is as deep and broad as the distance between the antipodes. There is no analogy between these counterfeits or myths and the “true God,” save that remote power of God which is divided up and parceled out among them. Their morals were the worst. The whole mythical system is simply one grand demonstration of human apostacy from the “true God.” Homer introduces Zeus in love, and bitterly complaining and bewailing himself, and plotted against by the other gods. He represents the gods as suffering at the hands of men. Mars and Venus were wounded by Di-o-me-de. He says, “Great Pluto's self the stinging arrow felt when that same son of Jupiter assailed him in the very gates of hell, and wrought him keenest anguish. Pierced with pain, to the high Olympus, to the courts of Jupiter groaning he came. The bitter shaft remained deep in his shoulder fixed, and grieved his soul.” In the mythical system the gods are not presented as creators or first causes. Homer says, They were in the beginning generated from the waters of the ocean, and thousands were added by deifying departed heroes and philosophers. The thought of [pg 126] one supreme Intelligence, the “God of Gods,”, runs through all the system of myths. It is found anterior to the myths, and, therefore, could not have had its origin with them. The character ascribed to our God, in our scriptures, has no place among the ancient myths. They hold the “Master God” before us only in connection with power, being altogether ignorant of His true character. They even went so far as to attribute much to Him that was ridiculous. One of the ancients said, “The utmost that a man can do is to attribute to the being he worships his imperfections and impurities, magnified to infinity, it may be, and then become worse by their reflex action upon his own nature.” This was verified in the ancient mythical religion, without exception, and without doubt.