['9] 



incarnation of one third of a trinity, as were also Horus, Krishna, 

 and Plato's Logos : his day was called the Day of the Sun : his 

 followers were called Christians, and his priests Bishops of Christ, 

 just as were those of Osiris : his priests absolved sins, received confes- 

 sions, and practised celibacy, as did the priests of Bacchus, Adonis, 

 Mithra, Krishna, Buddha, etc. : his feast was called the Lord's Supper 

 and the Mystery of the Night, as were those of Bacchus, Adonis, and 

 Osiris : these suppers became, in course of time, obscene midnight 

 orgies, as did those of Bacchus and Adonis : at these suppers the 

 insignia over the table were the letters I H 3 (the Phoenician name of 

 ^Bacchus, in Greek capitals), surrounded by the rays of light and sur- 

 mounted by a crucifix and a bleeding lamb, precisely as was the case 

 with the Bacchanalian orgies : at the Lord's Supper bread and wine 

 were transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus, exactly as was 

 done in the case of Bacchus and Osiris : and lights were used at these 

 feasts just as they were at the Bacchanalian orgies. 



These fables were carefully compiled together, attributed to various 

 imaginary authors, and finally issued to the people as an appendix, or 

 New Testament, to the volume of the old Jewish Scriptures, or Old 

 Testament. Thus were gathered together by the Alexandrian Eclectics 

 the principal essentials of all the old mythological cults, and thus came 

 into existence the huge and powerful system of religion called Chris- 

 tianism, which has been the great curse of Europe for well nigh two 

 thousand years. From the brutal murder of Hypatia, in a Christian 

 church, by the fanatical mob of a Christian bishop, down to the last 

 poor wretch burnt alive at the stake by the orders of the Church of 

 Jesus, the story of Christian infamy is not relieved by one bright spot. 

 Humanity stands aghast, and shudders at the hideous tale of crime 

 which the history of Christian Europe unfolds. It is one long wail of 

 anguish, poured forth by suffering man, finding relief only in the 

 silence of the grave that stronghold of peace within which neither 

 god, devil, priest, nor tyrant can wreak their diabolical vengeance further. 

 How terrible have been the sufferings of poor Humanity under the 

 ghastly shadow of the Cross is beautifully expressed in Shelley's " Queen 

 Mab," in the dialogue between the spirit of lanthe and the Fairy 

 Queen : 



SPIRIT. I was an infant when my mother went 



To see an Atheist burned. She took me there : 

 The dark-robed priests were met around the pile 

 The multitude was gazing silently ; 

 And as the culprit passed with dauntless mien, 

 Tempered disdain in his unaltering eye, 

 'Mixed with a quiet smile, shone calmly forth : 



