2
THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON OREGON, JANUARY 4, 1899.
objects of nature, and especially the
sun, moou, and stars and constella­
tions were living powers and be­
ings, if not actual human gods,
heroes and persons.
Many reminiscents of these old
extatic celebrations and feasts have
come down to us, like so much
driftwood, buried in the root-words
of our Aryan languages. That word
“yell”, we are told, gives the root
of “Yule”, the name of the day, and
also of the Yule tree; and the Yule
“log”, which, when the priest or
father gave the sign, was drawn to
the home,with thechildren trium ph­
ing on it, and made the backlog of
the grand Christmas fire and feast
with all its good food and cheer,
and carol-songs and drinking and
mummings and dances!
Then that Yule tree! In the
South it was the “tree of good
and evil,” with the serpent, and
Mother Eve and her first babe! in
the Saxon and Scandinavian North
the tree was the “Igdrasil,” the ash
and evergreen—the “tree of life!”—
with its four root Fates, and bore
the sacred mistletoe , under which
lovers were permitted a foretaste of
their joy,under the smiles of priests
and parents and kin.
No more time for this revival of
the pre-Christian world nowl But
we can never tire in following the
archaeologists and linguists as they
pass from age to age, and people to
people, in recalling the different
ways in which each one has built
up and conducted these four annu­
al festivals, and especially that of
the “Yule-tide”. Nearly all of the
great gods acquired the most ap­
propriate habit of being born, or of
reappearing on that day, and most
of their festivals were then dated, or
by moon-quarters therefrom. Thus
was it with Buddha, Krishna and
Mythras in the East; Hercules,
Adonis, Bacchus, Cybele, Ceres and
Saturn, in Greece and Rome; and
thus came the Saturnalia aud Bru-
malia—(Lat., “ brum a,” winter)—or
Winter Festival, with its “liberty of
December”, when even the slave
could tell the master what he
thought. (See Horace, Satire VII,
Book II).
Now, so our Gibbon says, this Sat­
urnalia is the one festival on which
th e “ R)inau Christians” fixed the
birth of baby Christ and built their
Christmas. But this was not doue
until by Julius, the Bishop (or
Pope?) of Rome, about A. D. 350,
which was about the time also in
which the Christian Era was in­
troduced. Both changes were in­
troduced to enable the nascent Pa­
pacy and Christianity to absorb
Rome by putting a Christian Era
in place of the Roman Era, and the
birthday feast of its god, Christ, in
the place of the birthday and feast
of the old Roman god, Saturn, the
“ Father T ime ”, the “ Father of
Jove”, the “ Father of Gods and
men!” and of us all?
This fixing of the time and the
place of the birth of “Jesus the
Christ” was a matter of pure fancy.
There is not the slightest evidence
that he was born then , or there ,
or ever at all ! The facts bearing
on the question show decisively
that no man Jesus Christ was eve»*
born or lived, or walked about on
two feet, as we walk. Let us see
about this:—
No grown up, intelligent person
is likely to contend now that the gods
and myths and fancies by which
the human feelings, incident to this
winter festival, have been expressed
by any peoples in the past, are re­
ally true as objective facts, i. e., hist­
orically, actually, scientifically. We
shall have “Santa Claus” and “ The
old Woman who lived in a shoe”
appear before you tonight, but not
one of you will believe that they
ever were actual persons; and no
truthful Liberal, or other person,
will ever so pretend — even to a
child—the present Governor of the
State of Oregon to the contrary
notwithstanding! No person should
ever leave his credibility open to
question, under any motive or pre­
tense,—and least of all to a child?
When you teach fancy as fact,
“ false in one, false in all”, is the
inevitable conclusion. W ith “ this
wand” we may here marry “Santa
Claus” and the “Old Woman,” and
thus account for their flock of
childreu. But the end of the play
divorces them,for symbols are of the
stuff that dreams and myths are
made of and objectively end with
the play.
That is the trouble with our
Christian friends, they fail to dis­
tinguish between fancy and fact
—the subjective from the objective.
But we must distinguish.
We have to ask, therefore, what
is the verdict of Science upon the
birth or origin of Christ and of
Christianity. Science at once gives
us the clue in the inquiry: How did
all of the other similar god-men
and mythologies came into exist­
ence or belief? Prof. Max Muller
has well described the process of
their generation: Originally, he
shows how, in the Animistic or
Fetichistic state of belief, every
thing and body, and family and
tribe, and office , had its spirit,
ghost, or “banshee”, or title. The
name gradually became the soul-
word or myth as well as the title
thereof; and thus the abstract-real­
ity, which never died, remained and
would reappear ,whenever the need,
stress, or craze of the believer, be­
came intense enough to translate
his subjective fancy into an object­
ive “spirit” and image. Thus have
arisen all of the sprites, fairies,
spirits, ghosts, gods, devils, angels,
hobgoblins, etc., etc.—in a word,
to use Goethe’s fine word for them,
all of the “spooks” that have
amused or cursed, consoled or
damned all of the generations of
Man, until the Sun of Science sent
them all fluttering back into the
fearful and fanciful “ limbo” of the A_pocalypses or revelations that
subjective imagination. Many of Christianity and the “Christ Jesus,”
these mythic “origins” are so shad­ the spiritual successor of the Mes­
ed by the darkness before the dawn, siah, Joshua, David and Abraham
and by the loss of records and ma­ was born. In that form he was
terials, that they can now be only tempted by his Anti-Christ, the
partially worked out. But with Devil; in that form he came to the
Christianity, and the Christ title- help of his storm-beset disciples on
myth and apparition, the story has the sea.
Of this “Christ walking on the
come down to us an open flower of
history, with nearly all its petals waters” seance, we have a beautiful
raised by the Sun. The word—i. e., picture by the celebrated French
root or germ-word—out of which painter, Jalabert, aud a fine large
this entire religion had its start, is engraving from it by Sartain,
th elleb rew “ M essiah ,’’which means which I have placed here on the
anointed ; (Latin-Greek C hristus , wall. It is worth tons of books
Old Eng. Crysm.) That is the offic»* about the origin of Christianity, for
title , from the oil or ointment, by it reveals the whole story of that
which priests and rulers of old were “ Divine Revelation.” Notice that
consecrated. J esus is the Greek of diaphanous face shedding rays of
the Hebrew J oshua , which means “spirit-light” through the darkness.
deliverer, savior. Thus we have in Notice its beaming inspiration of
the Bible, “Jesus the Christ,” or power, peace and hope, contrasted
“ Christ Jesus,” and finally,for short, with the wild waters under his feet.
“ Jesus Christ,”as a double title—fin­ Notice how wonder, fear, hope and
ally personified as a character, and faith sweep over the faces of the
poor fishermen in that boat. They
then “ materialized” as a person.
When, as you should read in Jo­ said, behold a “spirit,”—and they
sephus, the craze of the Jews for were«right, for through the din of
a Messiah-deliverer reached its fever winds aud waves they heard the
heat, under Roman oppression, echo of their own hearts: “ Fear not,
many personal Cnrists did really it is I.”
Now look again at the story of
come to deliver the Jews, but the
Roman sw’ord soon killed and weed­ the “Transfiguration,”iu G reek “ me­
ed them out. Finally, this tem­ tamorphosis,” when not only his
poral, personal Messiah title-idea face and form but his very clothes
took on a more “spiritual” form of were translucent, and beamed out
union, with “ the Kingdom of Hea­ iight, when “ Moses and Eiias came
ven” or “ New Jerusalem” in the down and talked with him ;” and
“ firmament above.” For, up there when he charged Peter, James and
their great God, Yahveh, lived and John, the only witnesses, to say
reigned;and thence would come down nothing of the vision. And yet
the new “ kingdom of heaven,” the they told it “in the spirit,” and
New Jerusalem.” For the coming Raphael’s great painting of the
of which “Jesus, the anointed son “transfiguration” is a reflection of
of David and Abraham ” would ap­ its glory? Often did he “appear”
pear and make announcement and as a surprise; and after his “resur­
preparation. Then sprang up en­ rection” often to those in Jerusalem
thusiasts like John the Baptist, as and also to those in Galilee—even
“ forerunners” of this “Jesus the to “five hundred at once;” and
Christ,” inflaming the people with finally he “ascended into the glory
the idea of his actual coming; aud of heaveu,” from whence he was to
then, in “the fullness of time,” he come again! Christianity was in­
did come like one of the Gods and deed a revelation, and at first only
Ghost-heroes of old, by appari­ that. The earliest Christians had
tion—Epiphany, A pocalypse , Rev­ no “gospels,” they believed because
elation; or, as our new Spiritualists they saw and heard!
would now say and believe, by
Next arrange the books of the
“ materialization .” His appear­ New Testament in the order of
ance at the baptism of John was their dates—which would be first?
thus very proper aud natural; then Do you say “Matthew” or “ Mark” ?
“ the heavens were opened” and he No! It would be the Apocalypse,
“saw the Spirit of God,” in the or “ Revelation”, then next the chief
form of a dove, come down aud epistles, or P aul’s, then the Acts,
“ lighten upon him,” with the words: then Mark and Mathew, then Luke
“This is my beloved son in whom I and Johu, and possibly some of the
am well pleased.” This may not bitsof “GeneralEpistles”. In a word,
have been, but probably was, the if we want to know the truth about
first appearance, and it was per­ Christianity, we must read their
fectly normal there in those days. books in an order, the reverse of
There were many apparitions of that in which they are printed.
this “Christ” thereafter, in which “ The Revelations”, of which that of
this “Jesus” sard as John had John was a late specimen, were the
done: “Think and join ye with us first great events of what we know
(not “ repent” ), for the Kingdom of as “Christianity”. Besides that one
Heaven incoming near”—that is,it is to John, we notice how the Christ
now coming down from the firma­ had before appeared to Stephen
ment above, by the will of our [myj when he was stoned to death, then
Father who lives and reigns there to Paul at his conversion, and how
abovel It was by and out of these t Paul went up unto the “ third hea-