with them to Jerusalem, and there was put to death as a false Messiah, who had ttacked the doctrines of the established religion, and the priesthood. It is also oubtful how long he has been efficacious as a reformer; may be only a few, or erhaps twenty years; neither is it known how long he lived. Some believ that he was born before the beginning of the common era. "The fundamental Features of his mind must have been an uncommon combination of strength and meekness, of intellect and tender feelings."* This is evident from he Gospels; besides, only by this supposition the great sensation can be explained which he effected in his contemporaries and in the posterity. His person having become an object of the universal history, he was glorified by miraculous legends; for the biographies of common men no Gospels are composed. There are also, in modern times, critics of the Gospels who assert that their reports are imitations of the Hindoo-mythology, that Jesus Christ is the HindooChrishna, that he has not been crucified, and has never existed, but that the Essens (Thereapeuts) have adopted him as the hero of their sect, and composed the Gospels, which from them were transmitted to the Christians. History of Religions, (See 4.) This opinion is especially supported by Rob. Taylor in his works, "The Diegesis-The Syntagma," etc. Taylor was, therefore, confined to the goal (1829), and kept there for three years as a martyr of liberal views. William Jones says: "In the Sanscrit Dictionary we have the whole story of the incarnate Deity." 12. The Miracle of Pentecost-The Three Principal Festivals of the Christians. Then he Luke tells in his Acts of the Apostles (ch. I, etc.), that Jesus still remained forty days on earth after his resurrection; during this time his disciples saw him, and he instructed them in matters concerning the Kingdom of God. ascended, in their presence, from the Mount of Olives to Heaven, whereafter they returned to Jerusalem. Ten days later the miracle of Pentecost happened. They were all assembled in the same house. Suddenly a sound comes from Heaven, as of a rushing, mighty wind, and shakes the house. There appear to them cloven tongues, like as of fire; they sit upon the disciples, who become full of the Holy Ghost, and begin to speak in foreign tongues. The multitude assemble, for they heard the noise, and all are horrified and ama zed, when every one hears the disciples speak his native language; there were Parthians, Medes, Egyptians, strangers of Rome, of Arabia, etc. Petrus delivers a speech, which affects the assembled multitude so deeply that at once three thousand men agree to be baptized, and to join the Christian association. Soon after, a second discourse of Petrus increases the number to 5,000 men. This would signify about an amount of 20,000 souls; for most of the men probably had wives and children, *A. Wislicenus. who may be su But in contradic rest none dared The Holy G hurricane. Th Testament. Ac Upon Christ the like tongues of f because they gath settled in Palestin ning of the harves even men as sacri to its intentions. ter solstice (which feast of birth of C spiritual sun of ma again the Northern the birthdays of have been born in first day of the we on the during twelve hour who may be supposed to have shared the creed of the husbands and fathers. But in contradiction to this statement, some chapters farther, it is said: "Of the est none dared to join them” (ch. 5, 13). The Holy Ghost, then, comes here from Heaven, to wit, as a roaring urricane. This fiction is still conforming to the notions of the Old 'estament. According to Moses the spirit of God passes over the water. [pon Christ the Holy Ghost descends in the shape of a dove, upon his disciples ke tongues of fire, in order to signify that by this spirit they receive the faculty ▪ speak foreign languages (for they ought to announce the doctrine of Jesus to I nations of the earth): an easy contrivance to teach foreign languages, indeed! Both, the festival of Pentecost and of Easter, passed from the Jewish into the hristian Church. The first was really the festival of harvest of the Jews, -cause they gathered their crops at the time of Pentecost. The Easter feast us by them celebrated in memory of the exodus from Egypt, and of the return om the Babylonian captivity. But primitively (immediately after they had tled in Palestine) it was the festival of the vernal equinox and of the beginng of the harvest, at which they offered the premioes of fruit, animals, and en men as sacrifices. The Christian Church remodled both festivals according its intentions. The same was done with the very ancient festival of the winsolstice (which commences the 21st of December), by transforming it in the st of birth of Christ, because he ought to be the Saviour of the world, the ritual sun of mankind. The celestial sun, which at that time is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, is his model. Several ancient nations celebrated birthdays of the gods of sun at the time of the winter solstice. The r god Mithras, who was worshiped in the eastern part of Asia, was said to -e been born in a cavern. His birthday was the 25th of December. In ypt, on this day, the people collected from all parts of the land to celebrate festival of the sun god Osiris, and cried: "We have found him, let us It!" (Cf. Luke, 2, 10-20) The feast of the nativity of Christ was primely a worship of the sun, adopted from heathenism. Christ's resurrection is in some relation to the worship of the sun; for it happens at sunrise on the day of the week, the Sunday (dies solis), which since ancient time was secrated to the sun, at the time of vernal equinox, when the sun shines perlicularly on the equator, and illuminates equally all regions of the earth ng twelve hours a day. THE END. SECTION THIRD. VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE MODERN SCIENCE. In Questions and Answers. "Nature considered rationally is one great whole animated by the breath of life."-Alex. Humboldt. r § 1. Force and Matter. The Force-Imperishable. Teacher. Illustrate the terms "matter and force" by examples! Scholar. Matters are: gold, iron, earth; forces: heat, light, electricity. T. Can force and matter be separated from each other? Sch. No; force and matter are closely united; this can not be imagined without the other, and so inversely. There is no force without matter, no matter without a force. (1.) T. Illustrate this principle by simile! Sch. Matter is not like a vehicle before which the forces can be hitched and unhitched, just as we please. What are the forces really? They are qualities of matter, and forms of its motion. What reciprocal relation does exist between the forces? One force can directly or indirectly be changed into another, e. g., motion into heat, heat into electricity. If we, e. g., rub our hands, the friction generates heat. The rapid strokes of a sledge-hammer can ignite a wooden block. Sealing-wax becomes electric, if it is rubbed with a woolen cloth. The friction of the glass cylinder of an electrical machine elicits sparks (light). Inversely, heat can be transposed in motion, as it may be seen in the pistons and wheels of a locomotive, which are moved by hot steam. Again, in summer, heat excites electricity in the clouds. Electric force magnetizes a bar of soft iron, sets an iron wire melting, etc. Consequently, can forces be lost? No! They can only alternately be changed; they are imperishable, eternal. § 2. Matter Imperishable and Infinite. I. Is matter perishable? Matter, too, is imperishable; that is, not its smallest particle can ever be lost; it only changes for the same. If, e bustion are weig because during elements of wo indestructible; water retakes, if in the Universe diminished. What is the re That the chang tion of matter, is know. The sma guess by taste, co will ever see. I nebular spots, wh tude of stars. T geographic miles, fore, it is rather c What view can This view, that This was, long ag (the monon). (4.) only changes form. The quantity and species of the elements also ever remain the same. If, e. g, wood is burned, and if the products originated by its combustion are weighed, we find that its weight has not diminished, but increased, because during this process it has attracted also elements of the air. The elements of wood (carbon, hydrogen and oxygen) have remained; they are indestructible; only the form in which they appeared has past away. Evaported water retakes, if condensed by cold, its original form, The quantity of matter in the Universe remains always equally great, and can neither be augmented nor diminished. What is the result of this view? That the change between dissolution and origin, between decay and renovation of matter, is infinite. 2. Matter is infinite both in its infinitesimal and largest parts. In the hundredth part of a water-drop we discover through the microscope yet a world of creatures (infusoria), the intrinsic organization of which we don't know. The smallest particle of salt, the existence of which we can hardly guess by taste, contains thousands of millions of particles which no human eye will ever see. In the ethereal space of the Universe there are seen whitish, nebular spots, which, observed through the telescope, are resolved into a multitude of stars. Though light passes in a minute a distance of two millions of geographic miles, it requires 2,000 years to go from the galaxy on earth. Therefore, it is rather certain that the space of the Universe and its matter are infinite. What view can be deduced from the stated qualities of matter? This view, that also matter is eternal, namely, that it has not originated in time. To be sure, the eternity of matter cannot be comprehended; but from nothing, nothing arises; therefore it is more sensible to suppose that matter has always been in existence than that it has originated by creation from nothing. This was, long ago, the view of several ancient philosophers. Physical science, too, holds that matter is eternal and imperishable, because experience so far has never proved the origin or annihilation of the smallest particle of matter. (2.) If a God created the Universe, then, there must have been a time when he commenced to create. Back of this time, what was this God doing? He spent an eternity, so to speak, in perfect idleness! What do they call the hypothesis that matter and force are closely joined? Realism, Monism or Materialism. Why do they call it Realism? Because the Realist considers nature and all its phenomena as they really exist. (3.) Why Monism? Because, according to this supposition, matter and force form only one object (the monon). (4.) Why Materialism? Because Force is inseparable from Matter. (5.) Are the precepts of Morals abolished, or endangered by Realism? (Materialism)? No, for they rest upon the unchangeable nature of man. (6.) (Cf. 2. Sect. Morals, 2.) § 3. The Universe-Uniformity and Necessity of the What is the Universe? The tenor of all what exists. Natural Laws. What is the nature of the laws by which the Universe is governed? They are uniform and unchangeable. E. g., for all celestial bodies the same laws are valid: the law of gravity, the law. of centripetal force, the law of impenetrability of their matter, of the effect which light and heat has on them, etc. Are there exceptions to the natural laws? According to experience, there are no exceptions to them; they are strictly necessary; e. g., every stone falls according to the same law of gravitation; every seed-grain is developed in the same way; lightning is always attracted by metals, etc. What follows from the fact that the laws of nature are invariable? It follows that miracles are impossible. Why are miracles impossible? Because they are exceptions to the natural laws. "No arm grasping out of the clouds can raise mountains, transpose oceans; feed man, etc. All phenomena of nature are stamped by stern necessity." (7.) How is the conservation of the Universe effected? It is effected through the same forces of nature, and according to the same laws, as in the past. "One common, lawful, therefore eternal tie, clasps round the whole, living nature," says Alex. Humboldt. What's the meaning of the term, "Special Providence ?" It means that God for the benefit of some men suspends a natural law; e. g., if by a compassionate rich man he suddenly furnishes bread to a poor man, who is almost dying by starvation. Is there such a Providence conspicuous in life? No, experience refutes the belief in it. E. g., if two solid bodies clash violently together, both are shaken, according to the general law of velocity. Therefore, if two locomotives moved by steam, going in opposite directions on the same road, are propelled, swift as lightning, and then strike each other, the cars, hitched to them, must be crushed, and the passengers in them injured, without any distinction whether they be sinners or saints. The tempest works according to the same law, and consequently by its violence destroys entire fleets which are sailing on the sea. (8.) May, then, man, while in distress, hope for wonderful help of God? No; he must exert his own faculties, he must endeavor to help himself. A proverb says: Help yourself, and God will help you. |