Forlong - Rivers of Life

364
Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
that thou shalt not pass over this Heap and this Pillar unto me, for harm”; 1 a com-
pact which was made in a similar manner, and with precisely similar significance,
when Abraham told the head of his house to swear by putting his hand “in sectione
circumcisionis meæ.” 2 So also when this Patriarch had become very wealthy, and
wished to ratify an agreement with a neighbouring Prince, he placed or planted an
Esh-El (“Grove “) by a well (Beer), and made the compact, oath or “Sheba,” there;
hence the well was called Beer-Sheba. The god Esh or El-Esh is the God of Love, or
“Keeper of Ish,” that is Esh-wara or Siva, who is often affectionately styled Bāba-
Adām, or “Father-Adam.” Fig. 4, page 39, is exactly such a place as Abraham and
Abimelech probably met at, minus the temple.
That I have not carelessly likened the stories and rites of Christianity to those of
Mithras will be made more clear as we go on; but meanwhile it seems advisable to here
note from the ancient Gospels a few facts which the Churches have long received in regard
to fire or solar effects, and fire-rites. Thus, like Mithras, Christ was born in a cave, in
“the place of bread,” and at sunset, when the cave “was all filled with lights, greater
than the light of lamps and candles,” 3 when the shepherds came towards the cave they
“made a fire, and they were exceedingly rejoiced, and the heavenly host appeared to
them praising and adoring the Supreme God (verse 19), the cave looking like a
glorious temple.” “They circumcised him in the cave” (ii. 1), and when the God
appeared in the temple at Jerusalem, old Simeon saw him shining as a pillar of
light” (ii. 6), that is as the Sun-Stone—Maha-Deva. His coming was, says this
Gospel, in accordance with “the prophecy of Zoradascht”—a name of Zoroaster
commonly written Zardasht. The wise men received from Mary one of the rising
God’s swaddling clothes, and when they returned to their own country “they produced”
this cloth, and instituted a festival on account of it. “Having made a fire they worshipped
it and casting the swaddling cloth in it, the fire took it and kept it, and when
extinguished they took forth the swaddling cloth unhurt as much as if the fire had not
touched it; then they began to kiss it and put it upon their heads and their eyes.” 4
This surprising little miracle (not more strange than that of Daniel in the lion’s den,
an apostle escaping from prison, Lazarus rising from the tomb, or five thousand
persons being satiated with five loaves) shows us that Pallium-loving idea, which
the followers of all faiths, including Hindoos and Christians, have always cherished.
The Prologue to “The Gospel of the Infancy” tells us on the authority of Peter
Martyr, Bishop of Alexandria (3d century), that “the inhabitants constantly burn a
lamp at Matarea about ten miles from Cairo (where Jesus is held to have rested), in
remembrance of the; event.” I could fill volume on the subject of the Fire and Solar
faiths and mutual resemblances of Mithras and Christianity, but must now pass on
to consider a very important phase—Fire-worship in Greece and Rome, which the
1 Gen. xxxi. 45-53. Jacob called the “Heap”
a “Galeed,” or “Circular heap,” that is the Testis.
The Pillar was a Mispeh or Matsebah.
2 Gen. xxiv. 2. Bagster’s Com. Bible, margin.
3 The Apocryphal New Test. Tenth Ed. Lon.,
Reeves & Turner. 1872. Gospel of the Infancy,
I. 10.
4 Ibid., III. 1-9.