(Volume I [867 pages], Volume II
[525 pages])
Universal Pontifical Government—Religion of Tibet—Chartre’s Stone—The Linga—Island of Iona—Feodal or Feudal Tenure—Gavel-kind—Frank-al-Moign—Lands in Demesne—Burgage Tenure—Tenure by Knights’ Service—Origin of Monks and Nuns—Land Tax of India—The Scythians—The Arabians—Mythic Divisions of Countries, with their Officers—Trade, Craft, Ras or Caste—Cathedrals, &c, were Druidical, then Roman, Temples—Ings Lands—Allodial Lands—History of the Island of Ii, or Iona, or Icolmkill—Ceylon—Cal—Vitrified Forts of Scotland—Mystery, Wittenagemote—The Scandinavians—German Rossicrucians—Di-Om, D’Om. Domus, Om—Ceres, Bethlehem—Chivalry—Sea Kings, Runes—Golden Age
The object of the two following books of my work will be to shew, that in very ancient times, of which we have scarcely any notice, a very powerful pontifical government extended its sway over the whole world; that it was learned as well as powerful; and that it must have been the author of the ancient Druidical works every where to be met with, and was probably the empire designated in the Indian books by the name of Pandea. I suppose this was an empire of Saca or Buddha; that it was first established to the north of India; and that it extended itself by sending out tribes or colonies under the command of its own order, which, availing itself of its superior intelligence, easily conquered the Aborigines, (who were a people, as I shall shew, that had escaped from a flood,) and established every where its dominion. I shall shew that the Supreme Pontiff was, in some respects, similar to the Lama of Tibet and the Pope—supposed to be a Vicramaditya or Vicar of God, and probably thought to be a divine incarnation of the Trimurti of India, or Trinity. I shall shew that there were several floods, and point out, probably, the times when three of them happened, and that they were caused by a comet in its several returns.
No person has turned his mind to the consideration of the religion of Tibet, which is the only country in which we have the Buddhist religion in any thing like its original purity, who has not expressed his surprise at the wonderful similarity between its religion and that of Rome. But if we divest our minds of prejudice we shall see that they are, in fact, precisely the same, only disguised by our sectarian nonsense. Jesus Christ was supposed to be the ninth Avatar, (as they had the ninth Avatar in the East,) with the expectation of the tenth, till the failure of the millenium destroyed it; but a remnant of it remains among some persons, such as the followers of Brothers and Southcott, and Faber, Irving, &c., who expect a re-incarnation of Jesus Christ.
… Every where, when we go back to the most remote times, one language seems to have prevailed, and that, the Celtic-Scythic-Saxon-Hebrew; for, in those very early times, they were one. I also beg leave to draw my reader’s attention to the fact, that the name of the crucified Ii, by which the Scotch island is called, which is precisely the name of Jehovah in the Targums, who was believed to be incarnate and to appear in the person of the crucified Jesus Christ, is also the name of the incarnate Bal or Lord Ii, who was the crucified God of the temple of Tripetty, on the promontory not far from Ceylon. It was in the country where we find this God, that we found some persons calling the language Chaldean, and all calling it Pushto or Pushpa, the name of the Syrian tongue; and here it was that we found the story of St. Thomas and the Crestans, and all the mythos of Moses, &c., as described by the Jesuits, and also the story of Robertus de Nobilibus turning Brahmin.
It cannot well be doubted that the stone at Chartres is precisely the same as the Linga in the cave at Bhobanéser, in the Carnatic, forty feet long, as described by Stirling in the Asiatic Researches.* In the dialogue between Justin and Trypho is the following passage : “For Christ is said to be a King and Priest, and God, and Lord, and Angel, and Man, and Captain of the Host, and Stone.”** Now, if the stone here do not refer to the stone in the crypts of the temples and Christian churches, I should be happy to be informed to what it does allude. The equivoque of the stone and Peter evidently refers to the same thing. Trypho is made to say, “Suppose it be true that Christ was to be called a stone.” This alludes to the Stone, Linga or Logos.
* Vol. XV. p.311. ** Sect. xxxvi. Ed. Brown, p.146.
I need not repeat that Delphi means the navel, and that it was called the centre and navel of the earth. In that temple there was a stone pillar to which the priests paid the most profound respect.1 Now can we doubt that here there were the same pillar and navel of the earth as we found at Jerusalem, Chartres, &c. ? As we find the Linga both in the temples at Jerusalem and Chartres were in vaults, so we find the Linga of the Rajahs of Kerasi at the temple of Bhaskaresar, or Bhobanéser, Maha-deo, is placed in a “subterranean vault” as far as possible; but, from its immense size, it projects out to a great height.2 In the adoration of the Linga we have a very remarkable example of the diffusion of this religion—in the Kara-corunus or stone circles and lingas or pillars. We have it first in Tartary, probably its birthplace; then we have it described at Bhobanéser in Orissa,3 in the Carnatic, in the Lingas and the name of the country; we next have it in the Gordyæan mountains; next in Carnac, in Egypt; next in Troy, with its Mount Gargarus, its stone circle and palladium, or sacred stone; next in the temple of Jerusalem, as described by Nicephorus Calistus, with its stone pillar concealed in the cellar;4 next in Rome, with its Etruscan Agrimensorism; next in Chartres, the capital of the Carnutes, the exact picture of that described by Nicephorus Calistus; next in the Choir Gaure or Stonehenge; and lastly, in the Linga and Yoni and Kara-corum of Scotland, with its sacred stone from Scone. To these must be added the fire towers of Ireland, Scotland, and, indeed, many other of the fire towers, as they are nonsensically called, in many parts of Europe, and also the towers of India, of the Callidei, or Culdees, or Cala-Desa, which are almost exact pictures of those in Ireland. …
1 Paus. Bœotic. 25; Const. Vol. II.
p.343. 2 Asiat. Res. Vol. XV. p.311.
3 Ibid. Vol. XV. p.306. Bhobanéser is also called Bhuvanéswars, and also Ekam-rakanuna, or Ekamra, or Ekamber. I have no doubt this was, as the city of the Linga, the city of the generative principle, the city of .,( hkm, the God of Wisdom.
4 See Vol. I. p.832.
Perhaps among the circumstances which tend to shew the ancient connexion between the Eastern and Western nations, and to support my theory, that an universal sacerdotal empire extended its sway over the whole world, there is not one more curious and striking than the existence, in the most widely separated parts, of the same artificial mode of occupying land, called in this country the Feodal or Feudal Tenure or system. This system is found equally in Britain and India. I apprehend it was first brought to the West from the latter, in very remote times, by a tribe of the followers of Xaca,—that is, by the Sacæ or Saxons. As the system is found both in Gaul and Scandinavia, it may have come hither by way of the former, or of the latter country. … Richardson truly says, “the feudal system in Europe is an exotic plant, but in the East it is indigenous, universal, and immemorial. In India, Persia, Tartary, and other Eastern countries, the whole detail of government, from the most ancient accounts down to the present hour, can hardly be defined by any other description than feudal.” D’Ancarville says, “Asia was then a fief depending on Scythia : it was the first governed by this kind of constitution, and here may be discovered the origin of the feudal system, brought into Europe by these very Sacæ.”* … Mr. Patton observes, that Bernier, Manuchi, Thevenot, Chardin, Tavernier, all with one consent assert, that there was no private landed property in India—that the emperor was sole proprietor of all the lands within his empire.** In China, the same appears to have been the case, and only a tenth of the produce was taken; and in Persia or Iran the same. And again, the same in Siam or the Burman empire, which, in the laws of Menu, is called Dhasa-meda. The Dhasa, is the Latin decima, and the Meda the Latin modius or measure, and the whole the tenth measure of the grain or other produce. The first redditio was of the tenth of the produce, as the word asera implies, and this was paid to the patriarch at the head of the pontifical government, or his assigns, by nearly the whole world.
* Vall. Coll. Hib. Vol. V. pp. 33, 228,
317. ** Patton, p.200.
…The nature
of the general tenure of land in ancient times is perhaps no where better
exhibited than in the grant of land made by Xenophon to Diana. He gave up to
her the land, reserving to himself the cultivation and enjoyment of it, but
this, subject to the payment of a tenth of the produce to her. Here she was
Lady of the soil, for the use of which she retained the tenth. The land in like
manner was the Lord’s in
Palestine; but for him the Levites received the tenths. Niebuhr says, “So a
tenth is the portion the state seems in general to have levied on corn, as the
Roman republic did whenever it exercised its right of ownership.”* … How the
state of the world which I shall now describe arose, I shall endeavour
hereafter to shew, but I believe that, in very early times the priest and king
were the same, and that all the land belonged to the former. He was jure
divino proprietor of the soil, and received from the cultivators, to whom
he granted it, one tenth or the tithe of the products for the use of it. The cultivators
or Grantees answered to what in India are now called Ryots, and, in process of
time, collectors were appointed who answered to the present Zemindars, who, at
first, collected for the priests, and at last ended in renting the tithes of
districts. The King-priest possessed the soil of the land, was Lord of the
soil, as vicegerent of God. This was before the sword divided from the crosier;
perhaps at the time now spoken of the sword was scarcely known. This might be
the Golden Age of the Poets. The theory was, that the whole world belonged by
divine right to the person who escaped from a great flood, who is called in the
books in the Jews Noah, that he divided it or enfeoffed it to his three
sons, and they to their children. And in subservience to this system, whether
founded in truth or not, the monarchs of the East deduce their pedigrees from
one of his three sons. This system I shall unfold in my next book.
* Niebuhr,
Vol. II. p.136.
The next
tenure I shall notice is that of Frank-al-Moign. When two classes of priests
arose, namely, the Seculars and Regulars, the lands in Frank-al-Moign were the
lands held of the latter—held of the monks—les moines, or al-manni, both still
being lands of Frank or Liber. The Seculars had that name from the Soc or Sac,
both of which had the meaning of aiwnoj. All priests were originally Seculars : the word Frank-al-Moign arose
in time to distinguish the tenure of the Monks, the Regulars, from the tenure
of the Seculars. The whole land was originally the property of the priests, as
vicegerents of the Divine Power, Vicars of God, as the Pope claims to be the
possessor of all lands, and claims the tithes of them as his tribute. … When in
later times the right of the Pontiff was lost sight of and great conquerors gave
away extensive districts to their followers or feodal Barons, in the interior
of which lands occupied by the priests were of course included, the Barons
claimed from the priests a service tribute or acknowledgment of superiority;
but whenever this was granted, it was done through fear, and a mental or verbal
reservation of the rights of the church was always annexed to it; and as the
extent of these rights was unknown, the claim, which in no case was ever given
up, was a source of the most violent animosity. In consequence of this, in
later times, an unceasing strife for power always existed between the Barons
and the Priests; the priests by the terrors of purgatory generally at last
prevailing. The Franks were first heard of on the Rhine as Ale-manni. The word
Frank means free, and is probably a corruption of the word Ffh or Free—Liberi Sacæ. It was the
religious name of the tribe, and in fact Saxons, as all tribes probably were. …
When, as I
have lately said, the kings (as our William the Conqueror for instance) granted
out large tracts to their generals, the latter claimed supremacy over the whole
district; but they could not succeed against the priestly monks, who always
denied the power of the kings to dispose, even by conquest, of the property of
the church. But a struggle took place, whence arose the lay appropriations, in
which the soldiers or laymen succeeded. When scruples of conscience and a
refusal of absolution compelled the laymen to leave the patronage of the
churches to the monks, the monks did not, until restrained by statutes, appoint
rectors, but only curates or vicars keeping the tithes, which they claimed as
the right of the order, to themselves. … Rapin says, the Franci and Saxons were
the same, and he quotes Sir William Temple as authority;1 and, the
languages of the northern tribes were so near, that they could all
understand one another, and that, as might be expected, their laws were all
the same.2 I need not point out how this tends to confirm the whole
of my system. … I feel no doubt that the Franks and Saxons were the same race
of people. Perhaps the Franks might be a tribe of the Sacæ, as the Macdonald’s
are a tribe of the Scotch. … In a very early age I think they may be found in
Italy. Italy had its name from Vitulus a Bull, and every one knows the story of
its Saturnalia; it was the country of Saturn; but the Saturnalia were festivals
of Saca. … When we recollect the striking manner in which the Saturn-ja is
found in North India, and the similarity of his Sacæa to the Saturnalia of
Babylon and Italy, and we consider what Jeremiah has said respecting the king
Sheshach, we cannot doubt, as I formerly remarked, that Sheshach was the
Scythian king, and that the followers of Saturn and the Pallestini were Saxons.3
But from Herodotus we know that the Saxons and Scythians were the same; and in
my Celtic Druids I have shewn that the Celtæ were both Scythians and Galli or
Gauls : … The persons who held lands in Frank-al Moign would have no grants,
charters, or other title-deeds, to shew for them, as their owners were by
descent successors of the first appropriators or possessors; and, in
consequence of this defect of title, they were often exposed to the demands of
the Barons; who, when their consciences would not let them dispute the right of
the church to the seignorage or lord-paramountship, called upon the monks to
prove their right to the usufruct of particular parcels as individuals or
separate bodies by the exhibition of some title; and as the modern principle,
that no title-deed, or immemorial possession, is the best title, was not
established, they were obliged to have recourse to a measure which neither is
nor can be denied, viz. a general forging of grants and charters. This was a
trick easy enough to the liberi, Boc-manni—book men, impossible to be detected
by the Barons, probably not one in a thousand of whom could read. …
1 Vol. I.
p.207. 2 Vol. II.
p.138. 3 Vide Morning Watch,
No. IX.
It is an
important circumstance, that the Saxon kings claimed to have all the lands of
their kingdom in demesne.* This is precisely the Indian system; and in the
claim of the fee or the soil, and the edict giving the tithes to the church, a
compromise seems to have taken place between the sword and crosier. …
* Hallan,
Hist. Vol. II. p.179.
Burdage
tenure is nearly the same as the Soccage tenure, but applicable to towns. In
this, the house of which the family property consisted, went to the
youngest son, the rest having gone off or colonised or enlisted in the military
class. It is a practice strongly marking the identity of the Sacæ of Tartary
and Britain, it being common to both.*
* Vide du
Halde, Hist. of China, and Blackstone, B. ii. Ch. vi.
The next
tenure to be noticed is that of tenure by Knights’ service. Probably the Saxons
had tenure by Knights’ service as well as the Romans; but a moment’s
consideration will shew why we hear not of Knights’ service after the Norman
came, except as service to him. There are, therefore, no more old remains of it
now to be found. Those which were not strictly Norman, and at that time new,
merged into the service due to Normans or Northmen. If Saxon knights did not do
their service to the new king, they threw off their allegiance, they forfeited
their lands, and a Norman took them. To do military service to another would
have been rebellion, treason. The only lands in free Soccage or Burnage tenure
left by William, as indeed they probably were before, were lands held of the
Priests. …
Perhaps the
Monks did not exist till the quarrels respecting the two principles began to
arise. Then, as usual in all such cases, the two parties ran into the
most absurd extremes, till they covered the Eastern world with blood. It seems
probable that the war lasted for many generations; in short, I believe it never
entirely ceased till both parties were conquered by the Mohamedans.
From extreme devotion to the male principle, it is likely that both the
Monks and Eunuchs might arise. The last person of the second class perhaps may
be found in the celebrated and learned Origen. On the other side, in
opposition, might arise the Nuns. I believe there are no Monks among the
Brahmins; they are, I think, solely among the Buddhists. The followers of
Buddha affected the male; the followers of Cristna the female.
But it is very possible that in India, as in Europe, after the two sects united
and the cause of their existence was forgotten; still, as the religious
principle of abstinence from sexual intercourse, which had become established
as a meritorious act, remained, monastic institutions of both religions may
have been founded. Nothing is more difficult to eradicate than a religious
principle of this kind, when once established. Monachism is of such a nature,
that if not molested, silently and peaceably, by stealth as it were, it
will, in no very long time, by possessing all real or landed property, possess
itself of the government of every country. Tibet is a striking example of the
truth of this remark. The Papal see is now essentially monastic. I have no
doubt that the first governors of nations were priests—Melchizedeks, Royal or
King-Priests. After a certain time, when the difference to which I have just
alluded between the followers of the two principles took place, the Monks
arose, and, by degrees, got possession of the governments. No doubt, the
ancient priesthood would not like this, and probably petty wars and contentions
would arise between the parties, similar to what we know took place in the
early ages of the European Papacy. But when the male and female
sects coalesced, the Seculars and Regulars, though perhaps hating one another,
would have a common interest against the remainder of mankind. In the dark ages
of Europe we read of great contentions between the Popes and the Monks; but I
think, at last, the Monks prevailed, having first received modern Christian
ordination from the Popes. If we read the histories we shall find that the
Popes, the Seculars, prevailed; but in the imprudent admission of the Monks to
orders, according to their own, i.e. the secular form, they opened to them the
doors of the Vatican.* Once admitted, they soon proceeded to the election of
Bishops, subject, it is true, to the approbation of the Pope, and to
investiture by him; but in a very short time they themselves became Bishops,
Cardinals, and Popes; and although there is yet a good deal of jealousy between
them, yet a common interest always induces them to join against the remainder
of mankind. Thus they both united heartily against the Kings, when the latter
wanted to acquire the appointment of Bishops. …
* The
example of the overthrow of the power of the Seculars in the Papacy by the
Regulars, has not been without effect. The Pope permitted the talented fanatic
Loyola to establish his order; but the monastic spirit shews itself beautifully
in the rule which excludes all Jesuits from the Papacy.
We are told that the first Monks arose, in the second century, in Egypt. The persons who say this, mean Christian monks; and that they were the first Christian because they were the first Paulite Monks. They were, in fact, Essenes or Carmelites, but became followers of the Paulites and Popes. It was held, that no person could be a priest except through the medium of the popes; and once a priest, he could never be unpriested, though he might be deprived of his functions—that is, of the power of performing the offices of religion. But he always remained of the sacerdotal order or caste. In the brawls respecting Origen the true character of the religion may be seen. By our historians we are taught to believe, that the Popes and the Church were established in early times. The fact is, that until Constantine gave a preponderance to the Popes and Paulites, no party had any real superiority. Paul was the teacher of the literal meaning; Origen and the Monks of the Platonic Gnosis or mystery. … We are told that the monks were not priests. The truth is, they ordained one another or initiated their brethren on admission, after serving their noviciate. Ordination is nothing but initiation into the mysteries. We have an example in the Culdees of Iona. When the Popes ordained the monks anew, they said, they admitted them to orders, because they did not allow the legality of the previous ordination. With the admission of the Carmelites, Essenes, Therapeutæ, &c., into the Roman church, there entered all the rites and ceremonies of Gentilism, of which these were sects. … The real origin of the monastic order is unknown; in some instances it probably swallowed up the Seculars, as in Tibet; in others it failed. I am quite of Mr. Cleland’s opinion, that priests were the first governors, kings their generals, who, at last, usurped the supreme power of their employers. A little consideration of the circumstances will suggest a very simple explanation of the way in which the four ancient castes may have arisen. The first must have been the priests; the second the military, their soldiers, who, by degrees, in many countries, got the command of the priests. The caste of trades must have been the dwellers in towns; the farmers would be the shepherds or pastors, having, at first, no fixed habitations, (like the Bedoweens,) and at last settling down as agriculturists. Thus we have the four castes, all jealous of one another; and thus coming, at last, to be completely divided, as they were in Egypt, and are in India. …
The words Liber free, the solar Frh of Egypt, and Liber a book, being, as I have shewn, closely connected—the bookish men, the men of Bac, Boc, Bacchus, were comparatively free from the rule of the warrior class, both in a civil and military point of view, and thence comes our benefit of clergy. If a man could read, it was at once a proof that he was initiated into the sacred order. If the benefit of clergy depends on a statute, it has probably been obtained by the priests to put their privilege out of doubt. It has been a declaratory statute. … It has been said, that the privilege of clergy was granted to encourage learning. I believe it was used as a test, as a proof, that a man of or immediately belonging to the sacred tribe, and therefore exempt from the jurisdiction of the court in which he had been tried. If he were acquitted, he said nothing; if found guilty, he pleaded his order and his reading. I have little doubt that the knowledge of reading and letters was a masonic secret for many generations, and that it once formed a part of the mysterious knowledge of Eleusis and other temples. The triangular staves on which the runes commonly written were called Bogstav, or Buchstab, Book-staves.1 Here is clearly our book.2 A great seminary of learning in North India is called the place or city of the Book—Boch-ara. Rapin3 calls Freelands, Bocklands, thus confirming much of what I have said above. In very ancient times all taxes were paid by a portion of the produce of the land—stamps, excise, and customs, were unknown. … In the early times of the priests and rulers, a tenth was taken form the cultivators of the soil and no more—hence the origin of tithes; and there can be no doubt that, under this arrangement, a country would enjoy great prosperity. Mr. Cleland, as I stated above, is of my opinion, that priests were the first rulers of nations. He says, “It may, perhaps, at first sound rash and unwarrantable, that the words Ecclesiastical, Diocese, Dean, Cardinal, Bishop, Priest, and even Religion itself, do not originally mean any thing purely spiritual; being, in fact, in their origin, all terms of judiciary import, in those times when the law was absolutely blended with divinity, from which the law was proud of receiving its support. The law of the country was also its religion.”4 This was the Druidical system and that of the Jews; it is that of Mohamedism, and was that of ancient India. At first, before the invention of writing, every country had a lex non scripta, of which some remains may every where be found. After the discovery of writing, the religious code was the law of the land. When Sir Henry Spelman calls the feodal system the law of nations of the Western world, he might have gone a little farther; for it was most certainly the law of the extreme East as well as of the West.
1 The island of Staffa is the island of Staves. This can be understood only by those who have seen it.
2 Mallett,
Int. Hist. Den. p.227. 3 Vol. II. pp. 152, 172-174. 4 Specimen, Pref. pp. vii, viii.
In the
address of my friend Lieut. Col. Briggs to the India Company on the subject of
the Land Tax of India, innumerable facts which he has adduced have
satisfactorily proved that a system, in every respect the same as our feodal
system, must, at one time, have prevailed throughout that country; that the
soil of the country was always admitted to belong to the sovereign, and to be
held by tenants by the render of service in some way or other. The fact noticed
by Col. Briggs, p. 84, from Arrian, of Alexander the Great, on his conquest of
the Sacæ or Saxons, restoring their country to their chiefs, to be held by them
by delivery of standards, (as the Dukes of Marlborough and Wellington hold
their land of our king,) and by their consenting to do suit and service, and to
supply a body of troops when required, is very striking. It sufficiently
accounts for the existence of the feodal tenures in the West, wherever tribes
from the eastern countries, like the Saxons, settled. Feudal lands had seven
incidents—heriot, relief, escheat, wardship, scutage, marriage licence, and
homage. These were precisely the same in India and Europe.* …
* Briggs,
p.90, and Tod’s Rajast’han.
We have yet
said nothing of the Scythians; and it may be properly asked, How, in regard to
time, my Saxons or Sacæ would be related to them ? All difficulties with
respect to them, as in any way opposing my system, are at once done away by a
passage of Herodotus, who declares that they were two names of the same
people.* From this I think there can scarcely be any doubt that the Celtæ, the
Scythians, and the Saxons, were all tribes of the same people, succeeding one
another, with some trifling variations which would naturally arise, in the
lapse of time, from the natural tendency which every thing has to change. It
may now be fairly asked, what has become, in modern times, of the mighty nation
which was so numerous in ancient times as to send off successive swarms or
colonies almost without end or number ? I apprehend we had them formerly under
Alaric, in the Goths, who were driven forwards to the West by the semi-human
Huns, (Semi-human, if fairly represented by their enemies, but this I do not
believe.) Afterward the same race are found in the Tartars, who conquered
China, and they dwelt in the country, a part of which contained the thousand
cities of Strabo, of which mighty ruins, though scarcely any thing but ruins
when compared to their former magnificence, yet remain—the country to the east
of the Caspian, and extending ten or twelve degrees north and south of
Samarkland. …
* Guerin de
Rocher, Vol. I. p.152 …
I believe
that whenever a nomade tribe made a settlement, the mythos of their ancient country
was established, and this is the reason why we have so many Merus or Moriahs,
Parnassuses, Olympuses, Acropolises, &c. They were all Mounts of Meru in
miniature; they might all be said to be microcosms of the great one of North
India. They are very perceptible in Greece; but I think we have the best
examples of the system in Egypt and Syria. In the latter, in the astronomical
names given by Joshua. Gerizim was clearly the sacred mount, the national
cathedral; the twelve tribes were the religious districts or divisions. The
same divisions into twelve prevailed in Attica, in Asiatic Ionia, in
Etrudia, and on the Po, and in several other places. From this we may see, that
the division of the country into twelve parts, was one of the parts of the
mythos. … In Egypt we have the mythic division complete; and the Rev. Robert
Taylor has shewn, that the whole of our hierarchy existed there, among the
Essenes, absolutely in perfection. And as we know that these Essenes existed in
Syria as well as in Egypt, the same system probably obtained in both. I take
the Essenes in each case to have been the professors of the highest order of
the Cabala, the perfecti—the prophets of the Old Testament, and of
Elias, their superior. The Essenes were Carmelite monks. What has become of
them ? When did the order die ? But it did not die : it yet exists in the
Carmelites. When Jerusalem or Mount Moriah was set up against Gerizim, the
prophets of the two mounts got to quarelling.1 The five temples of
Jehovah in Egypt,2 I have sometimes suspected, were cathedrals of
the Essenes. All these were what we call collegiate churches. They all had
temples, and each had its domus templi. These assertions are all proved
by what I have shewn—that every rite, order, and ceremony of the Romish religion
was an exact imitation of a similar institution among the ancient Gentiles.3
Wherever the Pandæan or Catholic religion prevailed, every state had its
divisions, and, if large, its subdivisions; each subdivision had its temple;
and each temple had its domus templi, for the education of youth. In this way,
I believe, arose the corporate towns of Europe, and they were closely connected
with the astrological superstition of the Pandæistic mythos. We are told that
our corporate towns associated to protect themselves against the tyranny of the
barons and military chiefs. This I believe is quite true : but they first
existed under the priests, who joined the people in procuring charters to grant
them privileges and confirm what they had possessed from time immemorial, so
as, in fact, to have no deeds to shew for their lands. In such cases, the
charter granted their lands by name. All these became Liberi, Sockmanni. It is
in consequence of this that we find the mystic Chaldæan numbers to prevail in
all our corporations—the twelve aldermen and twenty-four
councilmen. All this is closely allied to the feodal tenures established by
the first settlers from the East. Wherever these people settled, they
established their temples, their tenures, &c., &c. … Perhaps there is
no more striking point of similarity between the feudal laws and customs of the
East and West, than that of the trial by a jury of twelve persons. Richardson
shews this to have come from the East; that it was common to the Chinese, and
to the Mexicans, which made Grotius say, the Mexicans must have been from
Scandia. … The parishes, &c., were equally common in Egypt and Europe, and
Mr. Taylor’s exposé of them, in the former, is no surprise to me. The
description of Eusebius is incontestible, viz. that the Essenes were
Christians, and the whole together shews the original system most beautifully.
Very justly has Bishop Lloyd observed that Christianity flourished here before
the time of Constantine; but he might have added, also before the time of Christ.4
1 See Vol.
I. p.428. 2 See supra, pp.
15, 16. 3 Supra, pp. 58-75.
4 Attempt
to revive Celtic Lit., p.105.
In India,
every trade was a secret, and called by the word Ras, secret wisdom or
knowledge. Trades in general constituted one great ras or caste;
each trade again a little subcaste; it has its own Ras; each Ras had a
Pontifex. Each trade or craft or caste admitted persons to its ras only
on payment of a fine and serving an apprenticeship. Every trade, as well as that
of Mason, was a craft : thus we have our crafts. This word is found in the cruptoj of the Greeks. When a person was
taught the craft, he was admitted to be a liber or free or soc
man, of that craft. Every man who dwelt in the town was not a freeman; but only
those who understood the liber or craft. All the crafts were originally bound
together by religious ties or initiations; in which the doctrines of the
Trinity, Baptism, and the Eucharist, are generally prominent. Initiation itself
was, in fact, ordination. … These religious rites among the crafts, in their
initiations, have long disappeared in Britain; but they remained till very
lately in France and Germany,* possessing almost all the outward appearances of
Freemasonry, and being constantly objects of jealousy and persecution by their
governments. … I think that almost every very old church, of any magnitude or
grandeur, was the work of monastic masons, built by and for the Monks—for the
Regulars, not for the Seculars; that, originally, the country was divided into
districts, over each of which presided one of these institutions; that these
were the first Parochiæ, called, in the Celtic language, Bareich; and that the
monks possessed the tithes of the whole country. …
* Vide
Dulaure, Hist. de Paris, Tome VIII. Livraison XV.
… At the time of Constantine, the Roman religion was undergoing a radical reform, by changing to what we call Christianity; and, I believe, when the latter tribes of Sacæ or Saxons came, the religion of Britain was pretty much that of the Cullidei of Iona, York, and Ripon, possessing its colleges, formerly Druidical. The latter Saxons probably brought a new corruption or variety from Scandinavia; but we have no evidence that they interfered with the religion of the natives, (except with such of the Druids as were in rebellion,) and the two probably not very dissimilar. When the Romish priests or monks, under Augustine, came, then began the struggle between the Seculars and Regulars, the Cullidei and the Papists—the Cullidei, with their sacraments, denied to be, or at least scarcely allowed to be, Christians, by the Papists. The Cullidei were monks; but yet some of them married. Here we have the remains of the first patriarchal religion. By degrees the Papists prevailed, and from the struggles for mastery between the two parties arose the very great variety which a close observer must see in our ecclesiastical polity : our collegiate churches sometimes without bishops, sometimes with them; the tithes sometimes possessed by Seculars, sometimes by Regulars; Bishops sometimes appointed by Kings, sometimes by the Chapters; the variety of the livings, donatives, peculiars, &c., &c. We have no history of these times except by Romish writers, whose object was to support their own party and to conceal the truth, when it happened to be against them. Before the sixth century, all Monks were Carmelites; but I do not think there was at that time any one head of the order over them all; this, however, is a point involved in darkness. In the dispute, which took place between the Bishops of York and Canterbury for precedence, it appears, that the Archbishop of York grounded his pretensions on an assertion, that his see was founded by Scotch Monks, with which Canterbury, founded by Augustine, had no concern. Here, I believe, we have the Cullidei; and that in the northern parts of the island, the old religion, as we might suppose, was less changed, corrupted, by Romans, Danes, later Saxons, than in the southern; that, in fact, it was the Cullidæan Christian, when Augustine came to Kent and converted the Saxons, whose religion perhaps had become much more Pagan or corrupt, to the Romish Christianity, or to the faith of the seven instead of the three sacraments; the simple and first religion of Abraham, of Iona, in short of Buddha.
It is very
clear to me that the nature of allodial property is not understood by
any one. In India it is called Bhoomia.* This is, ia-b-om, land of Om.
Col. Tod thinks the Bhoomias were the predecessors of the Zemindars, and the
scions of the native princes. The word Allodium is not a Latin word. Littleton
gives the meaning of the word to be a Freehold—to be land for which a man owes
no suit or service. It is al-di-om, land of the the-holy-om. It
is also called Boc-land, that is, book-land,** because it was originally
a part of the land of the priests. … In India the holders of this property have
no title-deeds to shew for it, but hold it without title, from immemorial
antiquity. As it has no suit or service to render, it goes not to the eldest,
but in equal divisions among the children, like our Kentish Gavel-kind lands or
freeholds. Allodial property passed by inheritance, both in India and Europe,
without requiring any relief or investiture, or the performance of homage. …
The Allodial lands were those which the priests did not grant or subinfeudate
to tenants, but which they themselves in part occupied, and in part let their
servants occupy or cultivate.
* Tod’s
Rajast’han, Vol. I. p.168. ** Rapin, Vol. II. p.196.
And this
brings me to an inquiry into the history of the island of Ii, or Iona, or
Columba, or Icolmkill, or Sodor, in Scotland.
The establishment of the island of Iona arose from an ancient Druidical settlement, and probably became one of the most celebrated seats of learning in the western world. Very extensive ruins are yet to be seen upon it. It is singular that this island should be called Iona and Columba, the former meaning Dove in Hebrew, the latter Dove in Latin. The Dove has always been the emblem of the Holy Spirit, of the Anima Mundi. A black dove came from the Hyperboreans to Delos and Delphi, where the priestesses were in a particular manner endowed with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Ghost or Spirit descended upon Jesus Christ, at his baptism, it was in the form of a dove, and always a female dove. I have shewn that Venus was identical with Ceres, Hecate, and she was black—in fact, the Mother of the Gods as such. She had two doves. She was the Nqj Plato, one of the persons of his Trinity, in reality the Holy Ghost. The island of Iona, the island of the Dove, or, in Latin, of the Columba, is directly identified with Jehovah or Ieue, by being called in the annals of Ulster Ii, the identical name by which Jehovah is always called in the Jerusalem Targum. … The word Iona also means the female generative principle or the female organ of generation. …
… I
consider the Iona or Columba of the Hebrides to be the Western sacred isle, and
the island of Ceylon, or one of the Eastern isles, to be the Eastern one.
Lempriere says, “The name of Salice, which we learn from Ptolemy to have been
the native denomination of the island, is preserved in that of Selen-dive
compounded of the proper name Selen, and the appellative for an island in the
Indian language.” But the word dive means God and holy as well as
island. Here, then, we have one word in each island meaning the
generative power, viz. Selen and Iona, and one word in each I or Ii, and Dive,
meaning God or holy; and what is still more remarkable, the name of the capital
of Iona is Columba, and of Ceylon it is Columbo. And if the reader will
consider the word Ceilan or Coilan or Ceylon, another name of this island,1
he will see that it is nothing but the accusative case of the Greek word Koiloj, who was the father of Helen, the
mystical mother of the Roman Constantine the First, and also the Latin name of
heaven. If my reader be credulous enough to believe, that tall these
etymological coincidences are the effect of accident, he had better shut the
book; it is not fit for him. It has been observed by Dr. Townley, that -3" bol, Bal, Baal, Bel, who
was, in so particular a manner, the object of worship with the Irish, (who
probably derived it from the Carthaginians,) was peculiarly the object of
worship in Ceylon. He says, “Traces of this worship are still found in the
island of Ceylon, where it is termed Baliism, a word of uncertain etymology,
but which will remind an antiquary of the names of Baal, Bel, and Bal, given to
the sun by the Chaldæans and other ancient nations, and the Baltan, or
Bealteine fires of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. These Singhalese
worshipers of the Stars are few in number, and generally conceal their
opinions. The worship consists entirely of adoration to the heavenly bodies;
invoking them in consequence of the supposed influence they have on the affairs
of men. The Singhalese priests are great astronomers, and they are believed to
be thoroughly skilled in the power and influences of the planets.”2
Townley knew nothing, when he wrote the above, about the crucifixion and
worship of Bal-iji3 in the promontory of India, not far from
Comorin. …
1 See
Selden de Diis Syriis. 2
Townley’s Diss. on Maimonides, p.44. 3 See Vol. I. p.667.
The Linga
and Yoni are the peculiar objects of adoration in Ceylon. The language of the
sacred island of Iona, of Scotland, is the Gaelic, but it is also called Shan
Scrieu or Sanscrit.* Here we have, most clearly, the worship of the Yoni of
India and its language. …
* While
traveling lately by coach, in the Highlands of Scotland, an old gentleman told
me the Gaelic language was called Sanscrit. On the coach-door being
opened by the waiter, when we arrived at the next inn, the old gentleman asked
him, in English, if he understood the Gaelic, and what was the name in Gaelic
of the language : his answer was, without a moment’s hesitation, Sanscrit ! There could be no imposition here, the old gentleman
was an entire stranger in that part, and had not had an opportunity to speak to
the waiter. He told me he spoke the language very well, as it was his native
tongue, but he never had been taught to write it, therefore would not undertake
to write it correctly; but he wrote it in my pocket book, Shan Scrieu.
At a little distance from the Scotch island of Iona, is a small island, called by the sailors the Dutchman’s Cap, which looks exactly like the Calvaries on which the Crosses are usually placed. It has three steps, having every appearance of being formed by art, cut out of the rock by manual labour. In old maps it is called Linga. I have no doubt that in ancient times a linga was at the top of it : whether any remains of it are now there I know not. Here we have the worship of the Linga and Ioni, and the female generative power, called Columba or the Dove, more clearly marked than we have found it heretofore. Thus the worship of the Linga and Ioni was equally prevalent with the Callidi of the East, of Comorin and Ceylon, as with the Callidei of Calidi-onia or Scotland. I suppose that the origin of the name Linga arose from the equivocal nature of the Logos. The idea of word and language cannot be separated. It is very certain that the Deity could not proceed to action in any way of which we could form any idea, except by creating or forming or producing, nor could he do this in any other way than by willing, nor could he exhibit this will except by speaking. He spake the word or he gave the word, and the world existed,—by the Word he formed or created it. Thus the Word or Linga came to be the generative power, or emblem of the generative power. I am persuaded that the dove was a female; and it is remarkable, that the Hebrew name of Dove is always female—%1&* iune. The word Aleim has a feminine termination, and Haggai foretells the promised desire of all nations by a feminine word, the Amid or Om, or Mo-hamed, and the Mohamedan crest is a Crescent, always the emblem of the female generative principle. …
As we might
expect, we have the feudal tenures in Ceylon. Cordiner informs us, that
the possession of the soil was in the chief of the government.* Each corle or district was governed by a coral. Here we have our earls. It means al-corl, chief of the corle
or circle. The officers were remunerated by a portion of the produce of the
land,** called accommodesan, that is, in other
words, by a composition, in lieu of the vectigal. From this comes our word
accommodate. …
* Hist. of
Ceylon, pp. 18, &c. **
Hist. of Ceylon, p.19.
I beg my
reader to refer to Vol. I. p. 709, for the word Bathkol -8;%" betql, and he will find it
explained after the Jews, to mean the daughter of voice. This completely
puzzled all commentators. It is evident that this word may also mean daughter
of Wisdom, the word Cal
meaning both wisdom and voice; from the words to call, as
voice, and calling, as wisdom. Now we come at something like sense. Now
we come to the reason why the votaries of this mythos are every where found
under the word Chaldeans and its variation. These people were the followers of wisdom,
and thus the Goddess Cali, whom we have found near Cape Comorin, was Wisdom;
and the Calidei of Iona or Columkill were followers of wisdom; and the
language of these people was Hebrew, which was Celtic, which was the Gael, of
Scotland and of Singala, and Bengal, and of the kingdom of Orugallu. It was the
Gael-doct and the Sanscrit, Sanctum Scriptum—the Cel* of Celtic and of Cal
changed into the Gel and Gal (as Camel and Gamel). Thus the language of the Gael-doct
would be the language of the learned wisdom, that is, the learned Celt
or Hebrew, the language of Abraham, of South India, and of the Chaldæans; and
this, at last, brings us almost to a conclusion, to which we have come by a
variety of other ways, that the Hebrew was the sacred language, and was
probably the first language into which the mythos was written. I am almost
certain that the Synagogue Hebrew was the universal language of the world when
the syllabic writing was first used, and this, being used only for the mythos
in the temples, remained as it was—but that it was soon deviated from it in
speech, and thus it came to be the secret language of all nations; that the
Jews never spoke it, but that the Syriac was their vernacular tongue. They learnt
it, as we learn Latin, but they speak it no where. It became the dead and
secret language from circumstances; but it never would have been more
different from the Chaldee and Pushto, than the Celtic of Scotland is from the
Celtic of Ireland, if it had not been written in letters of different forms. …
* The
churches were called Kil or Cel : this was house or temple of Kel or
Cel : and as the temple at first consisted solely of a circle of stones,
the word came to mean stones.
The Greek word mujhrjon comes from the Celtic word wist, or wise, though this is rather contrary to the definition of secrecy. It signifies knowledge. It is the radical both of history and mistery. A play was called a History or Mystery, from its being an historical representation. In the middle ages plays, called Mysteries, were performed. This was isteries, with the sacred M prefixed, and originally this was the case with all history. It was a mystery, a representation, in the form of parable or mythos, of the history of the sacred, never-to-be-spoken M or Om. The general assembly of the ancient Britons was called Witt-age-mot or Witten-age-mote or Witt-mote. This is, I believe, Witt, wise—oz, letters, and mote, meeting. This Witte is the same as the first part in the name of the crucified God of India, Witto-ba; and ba is ab—both together meaning father of wisdom. The word wisdom is Witte or Wis-di-om. Wittage-mot is wise-mot. Wittage may be one of the very common pleonasms met with in language. Oga is a name of wisdom or Minerva. Wittage, witt-age or witt-oga, is the same as Cortage—Cor-Cir-age, circle of wisdom. Mr. Cleland, in his Specimen and in the Appendix, in various places, has shewn that the Holy Ghost was well known to the ancient Celts; that their public councils were always opened by an invocation of it, and that their decrees were held to be inspired by it. There was a class or sect or people among the Gentiles called Pneumatomachi.1 The Salic laws were seventy-one or seventy-two in number : they were enacted in a place or field called Salicam, in Latin Salius, or Sali campus. They were proposed by the Saloghast, Wiseghast, Bosoghast, and Undoghast, which meant Holyghost; Wisdom of the Spirit; Voice of the Spirit; Will of the Spirit.2 I think the Sali-ghast is the Ghost of Sali or Suli of Bath, which I have explained in Vol. I. p. 609. But here we have the Trinity and the seventy-two, the microcosm, of which I shall treat in the next book. By the imposition of the hand on the head of the candidate, the Ghast or spirit of authority was conveyed.3 This is literally the Hebrew Gas, spiritual fire, whence comes Ghost—Galvanic, Electric fire, the Magnetic fluid. I am convinced that the emanation of the To On was believed to be a Spiritual Fire.4 … The God of Wisdom was, in a peculiar manner, the God of Abraham the Chaldæan, or of the Callidei, or of Callida of India; it is in connexion with this that we have callidus, meaning wisdom or cunning. Call in Celtic, Cleland says, means learning; whence comes a man’s calling. Cleland says the L is the Celtic præpositive article. This tends to strengthen my assertion that it is the same in Hebrew. The Osci were T’Usci or the Uscans or Tuscans. Cleland, as I have stated in Volume I. p.822, note, explains the word parable to be par-habul by way of fable. Habul gives the word Cabala used in Italy for a fable. He says from this comes the Pythagorean precept—abstineto à fabis. The beans of Pythagoras have puzzled all commentators : when he ordered his disciples to abstain à fabis, he meant from fables, not from beans. In fact, that they were not to take the parables in religion literally. I consider the veil of Isis to be a parable. Under that veil lay hid the book of wisdom. She was called Neith, which meant wisdom.
1 App.
p.32. 2 Cleland’s Sup. to Specimen, p.30. 3 Cleland’s Spec. p.669.
4 See Vol.
I. p.113.
The traces of the oriental system of the Sacæ are evident in the Scandinavian kingdoms, in their traditions, customs, and names; for instance, in the name of the king, Hakim, the Crymogæa of Arngrimus;1 Thule, that is, The Iule; Finland or Vinland;2 and in the confraternities, which are the sodalitates of Italy, and are but a variety of the monastic establishments of North India, Tibet, or of the Sacæ. The custom of sending round the cup, of saying grace, and of pledging or drinking to the health of each other as the cup goes round, is nothing but a variation of the Eucharistia.3 It is the exact picture of Melchizedek and Abraham. Melchizedek first blesses God or invokes, or addresses a prayer to, God, that is, says grace; then he blesses or wishes blessings to his guests; drinks to his guest, who pledges him. The confrères of Scandinavia were all sworn friends, in sickness and health, in peace and war. They were the Culdees. The Saxons of Denmark had three cups, one to Odin, one to Niord (query Neith or wisdom, the Logos), one to Freya, and a fourth sometimes to Braga, the deity of eloquence and poetry, when the brave boasted or bragged of his exploits, in the presence of the fair—whence comes our word to brag or boast. The Scandinavians had their machinery of Demigods, who arose after the manner of those of the Romans and Greeks, by degrees, as the knowledge of the Trimurti faded away; and they, in like manner, became Christian saints. In fact, there was very little change; they were first crhj-iani Divi; they afterward became Christ-iani Divi. The division into districts is also most clearly to be perceived in the Seigneurs and Seigniories, which came into Britain from them. Mr. Mallet has observed, that the Seigniors or Seigneurs were always members of the confraternities, and that this continued till 200 years and more after the rise of Christianity, and may be seen in a MS. of the 13th century, cited by Bartolin.4 This means no more, in fact, than till the Papists missionaries penetrated into these northern regions. I have no doubt (as Mr. Mallet suspects), that they were the originals of the confraternities of the present Rossicrucians, freemasons, &c., in Germany and many other countries. The Papist convocations and councils, from the earliest time, have always had a most bitter enmity to these societies; but they have never succeeded in putting them down.5 The true reason of this enmity probably was, because they were Christians before the rise of Romish Christianity. In Volume I. p. 106, I explained the origin of our Sir, Sieur, Mon-sieur, Mon-seigneur, from the Egyptian O-si-ris and the Indian Iswara. The Seigniors and Seigniories are all the same, both in name and substance. Seignior is Lord, and Seigniory is Seignior-ia, place of the Lord. The ancient Britons divided the country into tithings, or into districts containing ten Fraternities, with a Lord of a Manor at the head of each; in the towns, ten fraternities of craftmen or ten guilds. The tithing court, the lowest division, consisted of ten heads of families, who were mutual sureties for one another, as each, in particular, for all that were under him.6 The presidents of ten tithings formed a superior court, and were called sapientes and Witan or Wites, i.e. wise men. Rapin observes, that this system is exactly that of China, that is, of Chinese Tartary, or of the Pallestini or Tartars, some of whom we have formerly found at the mouth of the Po; in fact the Sacæ. He adds, “the conformity is so great between the practice of the Chinese and the Anglo-Saxons with regard to these tithings or reciprocal pledges, that one can’t but wonder, how tow nations so remote from one another, should agree so exactly on this point.”7 The Lords of the Manors inherited their power, and I think they were originally ecclesiastical. The very name Lord or Seignior shews it. They were heads of a sacred caste, from which, the persons invested with the functions of religion were elected. They were the original of such establishments as the Prince bishop of Liege, Osnaburg, &c.
1 Mallet,
Int. Hist. de Dannemarc, pp. 169, 170.
2 Ib.
p.173. 3 Ib. p.195.
4 Ib.
p.196. 5 Ib. 6 Rapin, Vol. II. p.156. 7 Vol. II. p.157.
The
Rosicrucians of Germany are quite ignorant of their origin; but, by tradition,
they suppose themselves descendants of the ancient Egyptians, Chaldæans, Magi,
and Gymnosophists; and this is probably true. They had the name of illuminati,
from their claiming to possess certain secret knowledge, and, from their
secrecy, they were also called invisible brothers. They use as a mark of
distinction or monogram the three letters F. R. C., which probably mean Frates
Rosi Crucis. Luther took for his coat of arms, a cross rising from a rose.
They are said to hold that an universal spirit pervades all nature, which they
call Argheus.* Here is evidently the Indian Argha. … They are said to maintain,
that the dissolution of bodies by the power of fire is the only way in which
men can arrive at the first principle of things. Here I think we may perceive
the resolution or reabsorption of all emanations into the First Principle, the
Spiritual Fire, the To On. The word Ros is, in English, dew; by means of the similarity of this
word to the word Ras, or wisdom, they seem to have deceived their enemies, and
sent then upon a false search. But I think there is no doubt that along with
other matters they were also Alchemists. I am quite of opinion that Roger Bacon
was one of them. …
* See Ency.
Brit. voce Ros.
And now I
come to the origin of our Chivalry, which I think is to be found in the
adoration of Freya, the third person of the Scandinavian Trinity, the female
generative power, the Creator and Destroyer, the Cali of India. From Freya, in
the character of Cali, the day dedicated to her, our and the Romish Friday,
become a day of misery, of fasting and humiliation—as Sunday, or day of the
Sun, was a day of rejoicing. But from this lady in her good character came our
Chivalry—exhibited in devotion to the female sex—devotion, as Mr. Mallet has
shewn, existing from a very remote time with the Northern Scandinavians.* Among
that people, this and many other customs were retained, whilst in Britain,
during the stay of the Romans they were in a kind of abeyance, ready to be
restored, as, in fact they were, on the departure of the Romans and the coming
of the Saxons, with whom, in their Scandinavian country, they had continued without
cessation. In the same manner all the Saxon customs and names I have exhibited
above were easily renewed. Chivalry did not first arise, it rose
again, in those times. It flourished, perhaps, the most, when the gallant
but unfortunate Boadicea led her knights, 80,000 in number, to the combat; then
it was, before the brave had fallen, before the city of Iseur was reduced, that
chivalry took its rise. But with the Queen it fell; and with the return of the
Saxons it revived. …
* P. 200.
Is it not possible that a golden age may really have existed; that is, an age when there were no wars;—that a scientific or learned race of priests, like those of Tibet, holding the system of the renewal of cycles—re-incarnations—which I have shewn existed in every part of the world, may have governed the whole ?—If it be true, that a great flood destroyed the world, except a few fortunate individuals, and these grew into great nations—is it not evident that, by the time they had increased to any considerable number, the earth must every where have been in a situation so favourable for occupancy as almost to have absolutely forbidden strife or wars of any magnitude for the sake of property ? If a dispute arose between two tribes emigrating from the parent hive, it would terminate like that between Lot and Abraham—one, under the mediation of the common father, the head priest or patriarch, would go to the East, the other to the West. The abundance of excellent land would be so great, that it would not be worth contending for. Thus the world, without war, would become peopled. I can readily conceive too, how a privileged and learned order, keeping to itself its mysteries, in such a state of things, might enjoy supreme power for many generations, claiming to be proprietor of the soil, and receiving its tenth, which, in such a state, would be no oppression—but, on the contrary, it would constitute a government to mankind the most beneficial, perhaps, that can be imagined. And I can readily conceive, that this state of things would continue until the land of the world, by being fully stocked, would become scarce; then, and not before, the sword would be invented—then would end the golden age, of which, alas ! we have nothing now left but the tradition—but it is an universal tradition. During this age it was that the circular temples were erected, in cyclar numbers, to do honour to the Deity, and, at the same time, to record in imperishable monuments, as far as human means could avail, the cycles on which all the system depended—the cycles which equally regulated their festivals and the time of the agricultural labours, to which they looked for their subsistence. These labours became of daily increasing importance, as land became scarce, and as the golden age of peace and plenty began to decline—till it ultimately faded away and left no traces of it, but a dream. If we suppose the cyclic system to have been established before the flood which destroyed Atlantis happened, and a few persons only to have been left, why may not all that I have suggested have taken place, and the learned class who must have known the fact by tradition, for many centuries, have adopted the invention of the cyclic temples, to record their knowledge as far as lay in their power ? Look to the remotest period, and every thing tends to support this theory. Insulated facts innumerable meet us at every step, none of which can be accounted for in any other manner, but for all of which this theory accounts. All tradition, all history, sacred and profane, support it—natural philosophy, facts and circumstances, all combine to support it. This was really the golden age; it was the age of Cfhj and Cruj—for there were no wars, and there was no iron. Gold was the common metal—iron was not known—and here we may observe how curiously the truth of the tradition appears. The ages were of Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron ! And it is very evident to me, that this is correctly the order in which the metals were discovered : thus it is actually the fact, that the age of gold would be the age of piety and happiness. If we consider carefully the nature of the animal man, and at the same time the nature of the circumstances in which I have supposed him to have been placed after the flood, it seems to me that, in the state of the world which I have suggested, the golden age would almost necessarily arise. The difficulty we have now, is to believe in the absence of wars, for so great a length of time as my theory requires; but when fertile land was so plentiful as to be worth nothing, the whole world being agrestic, what should men fight for ? Was it not better to move than to fight ?* Trifling border squabbles, no doubt, would arise; but an Abraham or a Lot would easily settle them. In such a state of the world many of our passions and follies would not exist. Would there be such things as the honour of nations ? Would there be any jealousies arising from competition of trades ? Would there be any wars or feuds of religion ? The system of Buddha, of renewed incarnations to end at the remote period of 6000 years, would, for a long time, prevent them. When the first religious war, probably that of the Maha-barat, arose, then ended the golden age—the age of the universal religion. The universal prevalence of Buddhism is a fact, not a theory. I think I may also say the same of the wars of the Maha-barat and the origin of sects. Every where as we advance in time, the remains of a decayed system, in endless variety, display themselves, and support the truth of the tradition of the story of the golden age—the universal tradition of all ancient and profane history. Every where we find the original system, and every where signs of its decay. I think attention to the nature of man will again let us into some secrets—will account for some effects which have hitherto been unaccounted for. We every where find works called the histories—History of Romulus, of Cyrus, of Theseus, of Bacchus, of Hercules, of Cristna, &c., &c.—at the bottom they are all identical, though, at the same time, each pretends to be a real history of a hero of the country where we find it, which, from the general identity, is evidently impossible. How is this ? If one secret universal system, that of Buddha, prevailed, we may be very sure that as man, the uninitiated man, began to advance, by degrees, to his present state, he would begin to inquire into the origins of things—of the temples—of the religion—of the privileges of the favoured caste; and then it was that these mythic histories were produced to satisfy his curiosity, and to silence his inquiries. From various circumstances I think this process began in India, and by degrees became co-extensive with the system. The same policy is every where evident, along with the same system—but the system and its history varied in little matters to suit local circumstances, and to suit every new cyclic Avatar. This theory satisfactorily accounts for their similarity, and, at the same time, for their variety. It is not necessary to suppose a general agreement to account for this. Every where, as the 6000 years advanced, man would have the same curiosity, and, from state to state, the contrivance to repress it (having been once invented) would extend itself. Man, priests, and corruption, in all states, have been the same. As food became scarce, man became more unprincipled and priests more cunning. The earth every day produced more thorns and thistles, Gen. iii. 18, and the very remembrance of the golden age at last faded way with the absolute failure of the Millenium. If we figure to ourselves the first invention of a mythos of an immaculate conception, of an infant exposed, of his escape, of his victory, of his death, and of his resurrection after three days; or, under a parable of this kind, the passage of the Sun, from the winter to the summer, to be described, I think we may very readily suppose how, with the system of renewed cycles, this story would be every where propagated. From the peculiar circumstance, probably in its effect unforeseen, of the renewed cycles, it would require no superintending head to keep it alive. It is in its nature peculiarly calculated for duration; nothing could prove its falsity but time, and almost always a long future time, at least during almost all the time whose antiquities we have examined. Its system of mystery, masonry, and monachism, also tended strongly to its preservation. It also became, after a certain time, the universal test, the profession, the possession and bond of union of a peculiar order, that order in all states, after the union of the Linga and Ioni, having an interest in opposition to the rest of mankind,—every where struggling with the sword for superiority—an order varying in different times and different states in small matters, but in great ones the same. Thus, for several thousand years after the wars of the Maha-barat ceased by the union of the Linga and Ioni, until the Christian æra, whence the system began to be lost, we hear of scarcely any religious wars. About this time the mind of man had outgrown the mythos, the fable, the parable, which, as man improved, deteriorated till it became too bad any longer to be endured : the mystery then assumed a new shape—in the vulgar Christianity, and, after a time, in the vulgar Mohamedism; and in both religions, after the mythos and the mystery have both expired with time, we still cling to the ruins of the system, and look out for the millenium. As long as Buddhism lasted in its full extension, one ecclesiastical head, like the Lama of Tibet, resident somewhere, I think, superintended the whole, and kept it uniform, as I shall shew in the next book; but when the zodiacal cyclic incarnation of the Lamb succeeded to the Bull, and Cristna arose, then arose sects, varieties, and miseries, of every kind. Truly, indeed, so the votaries of Cristna maintain, that he came with the Cali-Yug—with the age of iron ! It comes out at last, that we have a muqoj and a mujhrion. What is the mythos ? What is the mystery ? What is the parable, the fable ? What is the secret doctrine ? The mythos, the parable, is the fable under which the mystery is concealed; the mystery is the secret doctrine taught by Pythagoras, by Jesus, by Mohamed—the renewal of cycles, the inspiration with the holy ghost of persons, in every cycle, to teach mankind the doctrine of a future existence of happiness or misery, according to their conduct in this life. Inspiration by the holy ghost is evidently a mere figure of speech, describing a person more enlightened than his neighbours. Whether this future life was taught by Jesus to be by a hell or by a metempsychosis, and an ultimate absorption in to the To On, I know not. With hope and humble resignation I await the event; and thus, gentle reader, I conclude this book.
* In the
book of Numbers (xx. 17, 19) we have an account of Moses, with his tribe,
asking leave to pass through the lands of the King of Edom, and offering to pay
for what he wanted. Here we have an exact example of what must have taken place
in nearly the earliest times of which I have been treating. The first people
would extend their orders by degrees, till they increased to a great size,
covering a vast extent of country. Then those in the central part would want to
ease themselves of their superabundant population, and would send off swarms in
succession—each succeeding swarm settling as near the borders of the settled
country as it could, and asking leave to pass through the lands of its
predecessors, till at last the swarms would arrive at the ends of the earth. I
think this was what happened to the Canaanites when driven out by Joshua. They
passed through Lower Egypt, along the settled coast of Africa, till they got to
the Straits of Gibraltar, where they erected the pillars described by
Procopius, (vide Appendix to Celtic Druids, p.314,) which forms the best
proof now existing of any act of so ancient a date as the Exod of Moses—a proof
so strangely overlooked by all our priests, an oversight which can only be
accounted for from their absolute ignorance of the nature of historical
evidence. The history stated by Procopius is beautifully strengthened by the
fact, that in the country on the opposite side of the Strait we find the City
of Medina Sidonia.