And we have it upon the authority of this same reliable and truthful
writer (Sir Godfrey Higgins) that the author of the Hindoo Pantheon (Mr.
Moor), after having announced his intention to publish it to the world,
was visited and labored with by some of his devout Christian neighbors
zealous "for the faith once delivered to the saints," who endeavored to
dissuade him from publishing such facts to the world as he represented
his book to contain, for fear it would have the effect to unsettle
the faith of some of the weak brethren (some of the weak-kneed church
members) in the soul-saving religion of Jesus Christ, by raising
doubts in their minds as to the originality of the gospel story of the
crucifixion of Christ, or at least of his having been crucified as a God
for a sin-offering. His crucifixion is a possible event. It may be
thus far a true narrative, but the adjunct of the atonement, with its
efficacy to obliterate the effects of sin, connected with the idea that
an infinite, omnipotent and self-existent God was put to death, when a
human form was slain upon the cross--never, no, never. It is a thought
too monstrous to find lodgment in an enlightened human mind.
Another case evincing the same spirit as that narrated above is found in
the circumstance of a Christian missionary (a Mr. Maurice) publishing
a historical account of this man-god or demigod of the Hindoos, and
omitting any allusion to his crucifixion; this was entirely left out,
apparently from design. His death, resurrection and ascension were
spoken of, but the crucifixion skipped over. He could not have been
ignorant of this chapter in his history as the writers preceding him,
from whom he copied, had related it.
Among this number may be mentioned the learned French writer
Monsieur Guigniant, who, in his "Religion of the Ancients," speaks so
specifically of the crucifixion of this God, as to name the circumstance
of his being nailed to a tree. He also states, that before his exit he
made some remarkable prophecies appertaining to the crimes and miseries
of the world in the approaching future, reminding us of the wars and
rumors of wars predicted by the Christian Messiah. Mr. Higgins names the
same circumstance.
We have it upon the authority of more than one writer on Hindoo or
Indian antiquities that there is a rock temple at Mathura in the form
of a cross, and facing the four cardinal points of the compass, which
is admitted by all beholders as presenting the proof in bold relief of
extreme age, and inside of this temple stands a statue of "the Savior
of men," Chrishna of India, presenting the proof of being coeval in
construction with the temple itself by the circumstance of its being
cut out of the same rock and constituting a part of the temple. (Further
citations of this character will be found under the head of Parallels,
Chapter XXXII.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account