The Washington herald., 1914-07-26

these are among the most salient mark
of the sun-god. The hxity OF the birth
date and the variabieness or the death
date are full of significance, when we re
member that the one is a nxed and tn,
/ other a variable solar position Easter
Il a movable event, calculated by the rel
! ative positions OF sun and moon. an I'm
possible way OF fixing year by year tn,
i anniversary OF q historical event. but Q
very natural and indeed inevitable way
/ of calculating q solar festival These
changing dates do not point TO the his
tory OF a man. but to the hero Of solai
myth.
These events are reproduced in the lives
/ Of the various solar gods. and antiquity n
nIled with illustrations OF them. Isis OF
| Egypt, like Mary of Bethlehem. was our
| immaculate Lady, Star of the Sea. Queen
OF Heaven, Mother OF God. We see her In
pictures standing on the crescent moon.
| star-crowned; she nurses her child Horus.
and the cross appears on the back OF the
seat in which he sits on his mothers
knee. The Virgo of the Zodiac Ii repre-
sented In ancient drawings as q woman
sucking a child-a type OF all future Ma
donnas with their divine Babes. showing
the origin OF the symbol Devah Is like
wise figured with the divine Krishna In
her arms, as Is Mylitta. or Istar. Of Baby
lon, also with the recurrent crown Of
stars. and with her child Tammuz on her
knee.
Date Underterminrd.
The relation Of the winter solstioe to
Jesus is also significant. The birth OF
Mithras was celebrated in the winter SOL
stiee and Torus was also then borus, His
birth being one Of the greatest mysteries
OF the CEgyptian) religion. Pictures rep
resentinE Il appear on the walls OF tenn
pies.
There have been. Il is said. l3s different
dates fxed on by different Christian sects
as the birthday Of Jesus. The matter was
finally Nettled by Pope Julius i in 81
A. D., In order that while the heather
were busy with their ceremonies the
Christians might perform their rites un-
disturbed.
Canon Farrar writes that all attempts
to discover the month and day OF the ma
tlvlty are useless. No data whatever ex-
lists to enable US to determine them with
even approximate accuracy"
From the foregoing II Is apparent that
the great festival OF the winter solstics
has been celebrated during past ages.
and in widely separated lands. in honor
OF the birth OF a God, who is almost in
variably alluded to as Saviour, and
virgin.
The Christmas festival should take on
new elements Of rejoicing and Of sacred
ness, when the lovers Of Christ see in II
the repetition OF an ancient solemnity. see
II stretching all the world over. and far.
far back into dim antiquity. Not in ex-
elusive possession. but in universal ac-
ceptance, is found the hallmark OF truth.
Death Date Not Fixed.
The death-date. as said above. is not .
fixed one, like the birth-date. The date
Of the death Is calculated by the relative
positions OF sun and moon at the spring
equinox, varying with each year. and the
death-date OF each solar hero is found to
be celebrated in this connection. The ami
NAL adopted as the symbol of the hero
is the sign OF the Zodiac, in which the
sun is at the vernal equinox OF his age.
and this varies with the procession Of
the equinoXes. When the sun Is in the
sign Of Aries. the ram or lamb. We have
Osiris as ram, and so also Astarte and
Jupiter Ammon. and IL is the same ami
NAL that became the symbol OF Jesus
the Lamb of God. The use of the lamb
as His symbol. often leaning on a cross,
is common in the sculptures OF the cata-
combs 1T was not until the sixth synod
OF Constantinople. held about the year
$50. that II was ordained that instead of
the ancient symbol OF the lamb the figure
OF a man fastened to a cross should be
represented. This canon was confirmed
by Pope Adrian L.
The death and resurrection Of the solar
hero AT or about the vernal equinox Is as
widespread as his birth at the winter
solstice. Osiris was then slain by Ty-
phon, and He is pictured on the circle
of the horizon, with outstretched arms, as
II crucihed-a posture originally of ben
ediction, not OF suffering. The death OF
TammuZ was annually bewailed at the
spring equinox in BabyIonia and Syria
Mithras' death was similarly celebrated
in Persia, and that OF Bacchus and d.
noysius-one and the same-in Greece. In
Mexico the same idea reappears, as usual
with the cross.
In all these cases the mourning for the
death is Immediately followed by the re-
toicing over the resurrection, and on this
II is interesting to notice that the name
OF Easter has been traced to the Virgin
mother Of the slain Tammuz, Ishtar.
Lent Universal.
It is interesting also to notice that the
fast preceding the death at the vernal
eQuinoX-the modern Lent-is found in
Mexico, Egypt. Persia, Babylon, Assyria.
and Asia Minor, in some cases definitely
for forty days. In the ancient mysteries
the sun god story was lived by the Ini-
tate, and hence the solar myths and
the great facts of Initiation become in
together. So that when the |
Master Christ became the Christ of the |
Mysteries, the legends of the older heroes |
or those mysteries gathered round Him |
and the stories were again recited with |
the latest divine Teacher as the repre- |
Of the Logos in the sun. Then |
the festival Of His nativity became the |
date when the Sun was born |
Of the Virgin, when the midnight sky |
was fielled with the rejoicing hosts
As the great legend of the Sun gathered |
round Christ, the sign OF the lamb be- |
came that OF His crucifixion. as the sign |
Of the WIN had become that Of His |
birth. We have seen that the bull was |
sacred to Mithras and the fish to Cannes, |
and that the lamb was sacred to Christ, |
and for the same reason; II was the sign |
of the spring equinox, at the period of !
history in which He crossed the great
circle Of the horizon. was "crucifed in
space"
throughout the ages, cannot pass unrec-
'gnized by the student. though they may
be ignored by the devotee
When they are used as a weapon to mu-
ilate or destroy the majestic figure Of
he facts, but by understanding the deep
ruths that the legends expressed under
veil.
These are really the stories not Of a
particular individual named Jesus, but
II the universal Christ; of a Man who
Iyrn bOlized a Divine Rafun and uho ran ]