33931589 Jesus in the Vedas

7/29/2019 33931589 Jesus in the Vedas

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JESUS IN THE VEDAS


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS;OR.

The Testimony of Hindu Scriptures inCorroboration of the Rudiments

OF

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

BYA NATIVE INDIAN MISSIONARY

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANYNEW YORKLONDON TORONTO

1892Printed in the United States


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Copyright 1892 by theFUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS.

The Christian scheniG of salvation is tlinsepitomized by St. Paul: ''Now, therefore, yeare no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household ofGod ; and are built upon the foundation of theApostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himselfbeins: the chief corner-stone. "^ This householdis a "kingdom," and it is a "kingdom preparedfrom the foundation of the world.'" It has alsoa roll or register in which all its members arenoted down, the roll being otherwise called "thebook of life of the Lamb slain from the founda-

* Eph. ii. 19, 20. '^Matt. xxv. 34.


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6 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.tion of the world."' And this discloses thatinscrutable ruling of our Creator and SupremeGovernor that '' without shedding of blood is noremission.'"'This rule or law is above human logic. Into

the policy of Heavenly jurisprudence, it wouldbe a presumption to pry. The finite can nevergrasp the infinite, or examine it like a Ijerry inthe Tiand. Once satisfied that it is God's willand God's decree, and that it meets a humandifficulty and solves a spiritual problem, man'sduty is to accept the solution.To inquire into the/ac^ of His decree and His

declaration is only the exercise of a prerogativewhich has been vested in the human mind by theAuthor of our being. It is both a privilege anda duty to examine the evidence of the fact, butthe fact being found, and the decree beingauthenticated, that "the Lord has laid on him

Rev, xiii. 8. '^Heb. ix. 22.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 7the iniquity of us all," and that " with his stripeswe are healed," we must remember that a decreeis intended for obedience and guidance, not forwrangling and disputation.Such is the Christian scheme. It has for its

corner-stone the Sacrifice of the Lamb slain fromthe foundation of the world. It involves theinscrutable law of Infinite Wisdom and HeavenlyCounsel that without shedding of blood there isno remission. It was available for human sal-vation from the moment that it had becomenecessary for it. The principles of Adam's rel-igion, in the primitive age, were thus the sameas ours, now in the fulness of time. Referencewas made to it on the Fall of our first parents,and the introduction of sin. The seed of thewoman ^ was no other than the Lamb slain fromthe foundation of the world. His sacrifice,though accomplished in him, was commemorated

Gen. iii. 15.


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8 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.and typified from the beginning. The primevalinstitution of Sacrifices is evident from tlie prac-tice of Abel, who ''by faith offered a moreexcellent sacrifice than Cain, by which heobtained witness that he was righteous, Godtestifying of his gifts, and by it, he, being dead,yet speaketh."^ The same was again typified inthe offerings which Noah presented on the altarhe had bnilded, and they met with the sameresult of Grod's acceptance, for we are told, " theLord smelt a sweet savor." ' The identicalpractice under a similar persuasion we notice inthe time of Job, who offered burnt offerings"continually," saying, "It may be that my sonshave sinned and cursed God in their hearts."These are indisputable facts. They manifestthe way in which pious souls betook themselvesto "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sinof the world."" They indicate the hopes which

' Heb. xi. 4. ""Gen. viii. 21. 'Job i. 5. * John i. 29.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 9inspired those "that looked for redemption inIsrael."^We may fairly presume from tliese recorded

instances of Abel' s, Noah's, and Job's offeringsthat they were consequent on the institution ofsuch sacrifices from the beginning under divinedirection, at once commemorative, and prefig-urative, of the great sacrifice of " the Lamb slainfrom the foundation of the world. ' ' Noah was notmany generations distant from Adam, and hecould have introduced and kept ujd in the post-diluvian world what he knew to have beenordained before the Deluge. Speaking now fromthe Christian point of view, we can reasonablyconclude that the sacrifices, acceptably offered bythe patriarchs we have named, Avere typical ofthe great sacrifice accomplished on Mount Cal-vary which they foreshadowed. For "otherfoundation can no man lay than that is laid.

Lukeii. 38.


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lO JESUS IN THE VEDAS.wMch is Jesus Christ." ^ Nor is it possible '^ thatthe blood of bulls and of goats should take awaysins,"" in any age or country. It was, to useand adapt a Vedic expression, only a foresliad-owing of the truly Saving Sacrifice.^Assuming, then, that the offering of sacrifices

was a recognized institution from the early daysof Noah in the post-diluvian world, it might bereasonably expected that the practice would notimmediately die away. If Noah and Job knewwhat they were about, and performed the offer-ings with the solemnity of religious ceremonies,each would instruct his own children and grand-children in what he would necessarily consideras the first and most important duty of thehuman race. The practice would thus be trans-mitted to their posterity as a binding Divine in-stitution. The institution would, doubtless, be

il. Cor. iii. 11. ^Heb. 2:. 4. ^ " Tandya-mSha Brahmana,'vol. i. p. 333.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. IImaintained with the tenacity with which menusually keep up practices derived from theirimmediate superiors and forefathers, and neverallow any to fall into desuetude without validreasons. They would, indeed, be cherished asheirlooms out of respect for their parents, andnothing short of a mental or social revolutioncould account for their entire extinction. Sucha revolution, again, might be expected to be afact as notorious as that which originally causedthe initiation of the practice which it overturned.The institution we are speaking of would as a

fact be therefore capable of proof or disprooffrom the history of Noah's descendants, bywhich we mean the history of mankind. Theperpetuation of the practice would be corrobora-tive of the institution and of the principles whichoriginated it, while its entire neglect, without avalid cause, would tend to damage the presump-tion of its divine origin. If the practice were


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12 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.found in vogue among mankind for countlessgenerations, and never fallen into oblivion with-out such a counter movement as we have sug-gested, the fact would add no small weight tothe reasons for which we have presumed its di-vine original. If, on the contrary, the practicewere wholly lost sight of after the days of Noah,such an abrupt discontinuance must weakenthose reasons.We must here add that it is only the overt acts,the offerings and ceremonies which, if true, wew^ould expect to find in the history of mankind.The theology, or the doctrine involved, might beinsensibly perverted, or even die away altogether,through ignorance or mental imbecility. Tradi-tion may "keep up a practice or festival involvingovert acts, but it is not adequate for the perpetu-ation of the doctrine or idea which originatedthe practice. The perpetuation of a ceremonyby imitating one's father's practice, patent to


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. I3

the eye, is easier than the psychological processof rightly comprehending and correctly teachingthe dogma or sentiment which initiated the cere-mony.But while ignorance or misconception of the

doctrine or event involved in, or supposed to becommemorated by, a practice, perpetuated as avisible ceremony, detracts nothing from the cor-roborative evidence we have mentioned before,and is therefore no disproof of that doctrine, itsactual transmission, along with the practice,even in a distorted form, adds considerablestrength to that evidence. The institution ofsacrifices was, as we have already asserted, typi-cal of Him who "was once offered to bear thesins of many."' The continued prevalence ofthe practice among the families of men woulditself be corroborative evidence of the originalinstitution, and there could be no detraction from

' Heb. ix. 28.


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14 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.

it, even if it appeared anywhere that it was main^tained in ignorance of the doctrine it was in-tended to commemorate. For people might haveperpetuated the visible ceremony without com-prehending its psychological cause. But if wefind in any place that, along with the perpetua-tion of the practice, there was a traditionalteaching that the ceremony had the mysteriouspower of abolishing sin and depriving death ofits terrors, the fact would add still greater forceto our argument.Men have not been wanting to assail, as far as

they could, the integrity of God's truth, andespecially that portion of it, which is indeed itschief corner-stone, the Sacrifice of the Larrib ofGod which tdketh away the sin of the world.Their weapons of aggression have only been intheories, imperfect in their parts, and too oftenwith hasty generalizations, but those settled re-sults in which the body of philosophers agree,


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far from contradicting Scripture, '^ often confirmand illustrate the statements of tlie InspiredVolume." ^ The direct evidences on which allteaching of God's revelation rests, are in them-selves quite sufiicient for giving an intelligent''reason for the faith" that is in us, as againsthigh-sounding cavils. The palpable and unmis-takable tendency of infidelity to overturn themoral basis on which society is founded, and byvirtue whereof it maintains its sacred institu-tions for the public weal, is also sufficient in it-self to serve as a lesson and warning, which canonly endear the doctrine of the Cross to all loversof purity and order, and impel them to cling totheir ''rock" of defense with greater tenacitythan ever before.We have given above a brief summary of theScriptural account of the institution of Sacrificesand the doctrine therein involved. We need not

Pratt's "Scripture and Science Not at Variance, "p. 371.


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l6 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.repeat that the cardinal teaching of Christianity-is connected therewith ; onr business now is toshow the extent to which the Hindu records tes-tify to the fact of the institution and approxi-mate to the doctrine typified by it.The practice of sacrifices, as a mode of propiti-

ating the^gods or supernatural powers, has indeedexisted among all nations. We do not, however,know of any nation which manifested such anintelligible view of the underlying doctrines asthe jprimitive Hindus did in their early writings.Nor have we seen, outside the limits of Jewrywherein ''God was known," such an approxima-tion to the Scriptural teaching on the subject asis found in ancient Hindu records.The most prominent feature of the Yedic re-

ligion is its sacrifices. Scarcely a hymn is foundin which sacrifice is not alluded to. The veryfirst verse of the very first hymn runs: "I glo-rify Agni, the high priest {purs/tit) of the sacri-


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JESUS IN THt VEDAS. 1fice, the divine ministrant who presents the obhi-tion (to the gods), and is the possessor of greaiwealth." The expression translated by Proi".Wilson, '^high-priest of the Sacrifice," renderedby Dr. Baneryea, tJie foremost minister of theSacrifice. Here Agni is so called. In the firstof the hymns to the Mariits, with which MaxMailer commences his translation of the Rig-vedawe find a similar reference. The eighth versereads: "With the beloved hosts of Indra, withthe blameless heaven-tending (Maruts), the sacri-ficer cries aloud." The separate history of theAryan familywhether Hindu, Iranian, Teutonic,or Keltic can go no further back than thesehymns. In them sacrifices are spoken of as ifthey were coeval with man. They occupy theforemost place in importance, and apparently inage, in the Indo-Aryan worship.There are numerous passages in this most an-

cient of hymn-books, most conclusively proving


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that the ancient Hindus regarded sacrifice as themost sacred act in their worship. It and itssymbol of success, fire, were regarded as the'' navel of the world. ' ' ' The two most prominent

deities in the hymns are Agni and Indra. Andthe importance of both is most intimately asso-ciated with the sacrifice. The first as we haveseen is its chief ministrant, the second its mostregular attendant. The sacrifice undoubtedlyexisted before there were priests set apart for itscelebration, when the householder was high-priest in his own family.Although we have analytically arrived at our

conclusions after due investigation of certainpremises, we shall not follow that system on thepresent occasion ; but shall ^r^^ declare the re-sults and then submit the proofs. A ccordinglywe now enunciate two propositions to be madegood on documentary evidence.

"Rig-veda," i. 59, 12; 1C4, 35.


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The two propositions are :First. That the fundamental principles of

Christian doctrine in relation to the salvation ofthe world find a remarkable counterpart in theYedic principles of primitive Hinduism in rela-tion to the destruction of sin, and the redemp-tion of the sinner by the efficacy of Sacrifice,itself a figure of Prajapati^ the Lord and Saviourof the Creation, who had given himself up as anoffering for that purpose.Second. That the meaning of Prajdpati^ an ap-

pellation, variously described as a Purusha be-gotten in the beginning, as Visvakarman, the Cre-ator of all, singularly coincides with the meaningof the name and offices of the historical realityJesus Christ, and that no other person thanJesus of Nazareth has ever appeared in theworld claiming the character and position of theself-sacrificing Prajdpati^ at the same time bothmortal and immortal.


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As to the definition of the terms which consti-tute our main question in these propositions,Christianity itself is known tolerably well to alleducated persons. ISTotwithstanding a variety ofdenominations, it is generally understood and ac-knowledged that every one w^ho calls himself aChristian considers it to be a scheme of reconcili-ation of man with God through the meritorioussacrifice of Christ, "the Lamb of God whotaketh away the sin of the world," who is Him-self both God and man. The definition of Hin-duism is not so obvious. On one point, however,all Hindus are agreed. They all refer to theYedas as the sacred oracles of their religion. Wemust, therefore, for the purposes of this dis-course, define Hinduism as the religion of theYedasthe more so, since its records inevitablylead us to the conclusion that both caste andidolatry are later accretions in the simpler s:\^s-tems taught in the Yedas.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 21And as to the idolatrous worship of the popu-

lar gods which now prevails, there is not evenan inkling of it to be found in the primitiveYedas. And the Yeda, where it does in oneplace refer to the four orders, speaks of them asthe creatures of circumstances. The BraJimanswere no other than priests necessary for the cele-bration of sacrificial rites, and the Vaisyas, thethird order, were the laity of Hinduism, theterm itself having the same signification.Whereas the second and fourth orders are ex-pressly declared to have been created afterwardfor the defence and menial service of the Com-monwealth respectively.To do justice to Hinduism, therefore, we mustlook at its original form as disclosed in the

Yedas both in doctrine and in ritual ; the doc-trine as laid down dogmatically, and the ritualas perpetuated practically in illustration of thedoctrine. In this respect it must be admitted


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22 JESUS IN THE VEDA9.that inconsistencies will often be discovered;we shall meet with conflicting doctrines and self-contradictory precepts. But we shall endeavorto present as fair a view as truth and justice canallow. We shall eschew pessimism and avoidundue optimism.In all communities Theology commences with

cosmogony. It is in the dependence of the crea-ture upon his Creator that the religious senti-ment in human nature is founded. There canbe no loyalty without a recognized ruling power,nor can there be any religion in the absence ofan acknowledged supernatural Power as Creatorof the world. And it is from the seen that ideasof the unseen are derived. What the IndianNyaya says is most true : the anumnda or infer-ence must have some pratyaTcsha or perceptionfor its basis. And this refers to things intellec-tual as well as things physical. Externalobservation and internal sensation may each


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 23justify an inference or conclusion. The visibleuniverse leads to the conviction of an invisibleCause of all things. The complicated and curi-ously subtle adaptations we notice all around,their aptitude for certain ends, to which they aredirectly tending, force the conviction on themind that there must be a Creator who made allthese things and adapted them to their specificends. This is the commencement of Theology.The human mind at once detects in the visibleworld, and its adaptation of means to ends, thefinger of an invisible but all intelligent and benefi-cent Creator, whom it invests with infinite good-ness, power, and wisdom, that is to say, with allthe goodness, power, and wisdom which themind itself can conceive. How and with whatmaterials the Deity has created the world is aquestion which the mind in its native simplicity,untainted by the subtleties of a corrupt philoso-phy, does not stop to inquire. It may, in a rude


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and uncultivated state, mistake sometliing, itselfa creature, astoundingly striking to the eye orthe ear, such as the sun or moon, thunder or light-ning, to be the creator of the world, but it neverthinks of launching into difficulties on the sub-ject of the material cause, unless entangled inthe mazes of skepticism, in speculations whichare beyond its own depth, and are only the sug-gestions of human vanity and conceit. We findaccordingly that in the earliest period of our his-tory, as disclosed in the Rig-veda, our primitiveancestors had clear and decided conceptions ofDeity, independent of philosophic speculations,and untainted with the subtle casuistry of a laterage. They did not, indeed, understand the truenature of creationthe calling anything intobeing out of nothingbut neither, on the otherhand, did they deny the possibility of such cre-ation. That question did not arise in their minds,they did not discuss it. But they confidently


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 25declared tliat the heavens and earth were estab-lished by their celestial Yaruna^"- whom, aftertheir neighbors, the Iranians, they styled Asura-pracheta and Asura-visvaveda, which was theSanskrit translation of the Zendic Ahura-Mazda.It is, however, difficult to say that the Yedicdogma was pure monotheism, untainted by poly-theism. At the same time I must confess thatthose, who delight in charging those most an-cient records with the gross corruptions of alater period, forget three important points clearlyinculcated in the Yeda. These three points arethe following

Firstly.The Eig-veda declares in severalplaces ' the existence of one unborn or eternalbeing as different from and superior to Devasand Asuras^ and far above heaven and earth.

Secondly.The same Yeda declares that the> " Rig-veda," i. 24, 7, 8 ; viii. 42, 1. i. 1G4, 6 ; ii. 27, 10 ; x.

82.


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26 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.Devas were originally and by birth mortals likemen, and that they got to heaven by virtue ofthe Sacrifice.

Thirdly.The Rig-veda, again, as if to apolo-gize for an incipient polytheism that was grow-ing up, declares dogmatically that all the gods,though differently named aud represented, arein reality one 7toXXc2v dvojidzGov jiopcpri z^^'*^* " Theycall him Indra, Mitra, Yaruna, Agni ; and (heis) the celestial, well-winged Garutmat. Sagesname variously that which is but one : they callit Agni, Yama, Matarisvan." '

It is not necessary for the purposes of this dis'course to dilate on this point. Some texts ofthe Yedas at least have acknowledged the exist-ence of one Supreme Essence who is above all.There are other texts where speculations with anatheistic tendency may be discovered ; but suchspeculations are everywhere found to be indulged

"Rig-veda," i. 1C4, 46.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 27in by a few forward and generally conceitedintellects. We sliall pass them over here andproceed to consider the religious practices, therites and ceremonies, by means of which ourprimitive ancestors gave practical eifect to theirtheology, and to that sentiment of devotionwhich had distinguished the Indo-Aryans fromthe beginning.Now the first and foremost rites of religion

which they regularly celebrated, and on whichthey most firmly relied as the great cure for allthe evils of life, and the secret of all success inthe world, were sacrificial rites. Not idola-trous worship, not observances of caste, butyajna (sacrifice), and its connectives were thereligious rites cherished by them.The rites of Sacrifice were called ^^the first

9.nd primary rites," and this was because thefirst man after the deluge, whom the Hinduscalled Manu^ and the Hebrews Noah or Nuh^


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had offered a burnt-offering, which was held byall his successors as the first and most importantceremony of religion. The high estimation inwhich the rite of Sacrifice is held in the Yedaswill appear (1) from the date and authorship as-signed for its institution, (2) the great virtuesattributed to its performance, both for spiritualand temporal purposes, (8) the benefit it is saidto have conferred on the gods themselves. Weshall briefly review it under these differentaspects.

First. The authorship of the institution is at-tributed to " Creation's Lord" himself, and itsdate is reckoned as coeval with the creation."Creation's Lord instituted the sacrifice. Heuttered the Nimd (sacrificial formula), allthings were created after it." ' In the post-dilu-vian world, the first act of the surviving patri-arch, whom the Indo-Aryans called Manu (a

Aitareya-'br^hmana," vol. i., p. 48.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 29name not very dissimilar to the Semitic JSfu)^was a sacrificial offering. This latter traditionis confirmed as well by the Bible as also by theaccount found in the Assyrian Inscriptions. Itwill not be regarded as an extreme act of credu-lity if we declare that much consideration is dueto the concurrence of so many curious traditions.With reference to the legend of the institutionof sacrifice being coeval with the creation, v/ecan only interpret the writer's meaning in thesense of that institution having existed fromtime immemorial. The Yedas knew of no timewhen it was not practiced.Second. With reference to the great virtues

attributed to the celebration of Sacrifices, it wasconsidered as the potent remedy for all evilsthe panacea for all distempers. Even the brinyocean and the dust of the earth distill sweets forthe regular performer of the sacrificial ritual.'

^ "Rig-veda,"i. 90, 6.


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The world was called into being by virtue ofSacrifice and is still upheld by its force, beingindeed its '^ navel." '

In it lay all strength against enemies. TheZand-Avasta, too, concurred with the Vedas here.The evil spirit had asked Zarathustra : ''Bywhose word wilt thou smite, by whose wordwilt thou annihilate, by what well-made armssmite my creatures?" Zaratliustra answeredboldly: ''Mortar, cup, Haoma, and the wordwhich AJiuza-Mazda has spokenthese aremy best weapons." ' And these were the im-plements of Sacrifice.Nor was the virtue of Sacrifice less conspicuous

from a spiritual point of view. It was the greatmeans of escape from the pernicious effects ofsin. "Give us, Indra, multitudes of good

"Rig-veda," i. 59, 12 ; i. 164, 35. " Bleeck," i., p. 44.


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horses with which we may offer our oblations.and thereby escape all sins." ^

''Do thou lead us safe through all sins by theway of Sacrifice." '

''Do thou (O Sacrificial Soma), who knowestall things, make us to pass over sin, as a navi-gator ferries men over the sea."

Yaruna, whose name appears the same as theGreek word for heaven (Ovpay6


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The black skin is the good ferrying boat. TheWord is the good ferrying boat. Having em-barked on the Word, one crosses over to theheavenly world." '

It was not unusual in those days for ferry-boats to be made of leather ; reminding us notonly of JN^oah's ark, but also of the words in theBaptismal Service of the Church of Englandthat he *' may be received into the ark of Christ'sChurch, and may so pass the waves of thistroublesome world, that he may finally come tothe land of everlasting life." The " black skin "and the " Word " above mentioned are explainedin the Satapatha-brahmana, where ^'Sacrifice"is represented as retreating from the gods in aMac^ form. They found it and took off its skin,and thence was produced the three-fold knowledge (Veda) which, as a product of the Sacrifice,is identified vfith ''the good ferrying boat."

p. 10.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 33'' Sacrifice was retreating from the gods. It wasgoing about in a black form. Tlie gods havingfound it, tore off its skin and took it. The sameis the three-fold knowledge, Sacrifice." ' Thisaccounts for the "boat" being assimilated with"the black skin" and "the Word"the lattertwo being inseparable from the "Sacrifice,"which is also here declared, "the three-fold.knowledge," otherwise called the Yeda or its"Word." Another reason for assimilating thesaving boat with the "Word" is, that there wasactually a hymn which was called plava^ " raft"or " boat," and it was to be used daily.

Sacrifice offered according to the true waythe right pathhas been held in the Rik,Yajush, and Saman to be the good ferryingboat or raft by which he may escape from sin.It was expressly declared to be the authorized

^ "SatapatM-brahmana," p. 8.(3)


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34 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.means both for remission and annulment of sin.''The animal he offers to Agnisoma is his ownransom." 'That Sacrifice was held as the great means for

procuring remission or annulment of sins ofevery description, is declared in numerous pas-sagesnot only by the figures of saving boats orrafts, but literally in express terms. The follow-ing formula gives the words which were utteredby the sacrificer as he offered each limb to theFire in slaughtering and cutting up the victims:''0 thou (animal limb, now being consigned tothe fire), thou art the annulment of sins com-mitted by gods. Thou art the annulment ofsins committed by the (departed) fathers. Thouart the annulment of sins committed by men.Thou art the annulment of sins committed byourselves. Whatever sins we have committedby day or by night, thou art the annulment

" Taittiriya-samhita," vol. i., p. 089.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 35thereof. Whatever sins we have committedsleeping or waking thou art the annulmentthereof. Whatever sins we have committed,knowing or unknowing, thou art the annulmentthereof. Thou art the annulment of sinofsin." ' In this extraordinary passage it will beobserved that the Sacrifice was regarded in oneword, and that a Biblical oneas '^a propitia-tion for the sins of the whole world." Andthough '4t is not possible that the blood ofbulls and of goats should takeaway sin," it maybe the type or shadow of the blood of the''Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,"which was appointed by God for this expresspurpose. When Ave consider such texts we maywell conclude, even independently of Revelation,that from the beginning men regarded Sacrificeas an act of worship of the highest importance.The Yedic sacrifices were doubtless curious and

Tandya-maMbrahmana," vol. i., p. 55.


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peculiar in themselves. They were not intendedmerely for the gratification of particular gods orsupernatural powers having a relish for thefumes of fat burnt offerings. They seem to havehad a higher object in view. The limb of thevictim as it was thrown into the Fire was ac-costed as the annulment of sinnot only thesacrificer's own sins, but the sins of all gods andmenthat is to say, of the whole world. Andalong with this, we have the self-sacrifice ofPrajdpati., the Lord of Creatures, the Purusha^begotten in the beginning of the world, out ofwhose limbs, as the body was cut up, sprang thedifferent orders of men of which Indian societywas composed.Legends such as these naturally suggest the

question of the origin of such conceptions in theAryan mind. Doubtless, we recognize in thema hazy representation or distorted view of thegreat mystery of Christianity, the Lamb slain


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 37from the foundation of the loorld^ and of tliecliurcli, which was his hody^ the householdof God, the spiritual society comprehending allbelievers. But how came the Aryans to havegot any insight into such a mystery so early asthe age of the Yedas ?

Abel' s and Noah' s sacrifices were acceptedtheformer having been so by reason of the sacri-ficed s faith; and of the latter, it is recorded thatthe Lord smelt a sioeet savor. The last wordsare parallel to the concluding expressions inEph. V. 2 : "As Christ also hath loved us, andhath given himself for us, an offering and asacrifice to God for a sweet SMELLiNa savoe.It is inconceivable that Abel's and ISToah's sacri-fices should be described as we find them to be,unless they were typical of the great Sacrificementioned in the text just cited, and unlessboth sacrificers were cognizant, to some extentat least, of the mystery of the Lamh slain


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from thefoundation of the world. And thereis no reason to suppose that either of them wonldput his candle under a bushel. Whatever theymay have learnt by divine revelation on the sub-ject would he naturally communicated to theirchildren and contemporaries, and thus the teach-ing might somehow be transmitted to the Indo-Aryan familysubject of course to such errorsand distortions as were unavoidable under thecircumstances. The stream of Truth is alwaysliable to be tainted and colored as it flows overthe soil of human tradition.Our ancestors seem to have understood, or at

least suspected, that '' it is not possible that theblood of bulls and of goats should take awaysins." Our ancestors could not be entirely un-conscious of that. And notwithstanding theirhazy conceptions of scape-goat, and of the self-sacrifice of the Lord of Creatures, they felt adifficulty. The sacrificial ritual was more easily


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perpetuated than its meaning or purport under-stood, or communicated. It was difficult forrecollections of tlie unwritten theology, onwhich it may have been originally founded, tobe preserved in their purity from generation togeneration. The conception of the i^rinciiDlesAvhich underlay the institution of the ceremonyhad been, perhaps, well-nigh forgotten. Theritual was held as an opus operatum. Therewould be little difficulty for children to keep itup exactly as they saw their fathers perform it.The underlying doctrine in the absence of writ-ten records could not be so easily transmitted bytradition. The correct learning and correcttransmission of doctrine always requires closerattention, and greater intellectual effort on thepart both of preceptor and pux)il, than the mi-nute observation and imitation of external cere-monies. The ritual itself may have had "ashadow of good things to come, but could not


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with those sacrifices offered year by year makethe coiners thereunto perfect."To what extent the Indo-Aryans had correctly

comprehended the doctrine on which sacrificialceremonies were founded, we cannot easilyguess. But we find they considered it a mysteryor maya. Thus : "0 death ! the thousand myri-ads of thy hands for the destruction of mortals,we annul them all by the mayd or mysteriouspower of sacrifice."^ The doctrine involved,whether the Indo-Aryans rightly understood itor not, is doubtless a ''mystery." Many thingsconnected with the inscrutable will of theAlmighty must be mysterious.

Third. They had the same conception of thismysterious power in the case of the Divas whowere ''originally mortals," who were " in the be-ginning like men," but had been "translated toheaven by the virtue of sacrifice. ' ' Indra himself

Taittiriya-aranyaka," p. 198.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 41was no better at first. He was ' ' our man, ' ' and,as sucli, the ' ' best of men. ' ' But, like other gods,though more excellently than any other, hehad performed numberless sacrifices, and beenthereby promoted to heaven, free from ''want,misery, and death." Again, "by this sacri-ficial hymn the gods had overcome the Asuras.By the same does the sacrificer, whoever hebe, still overcome the most wicked enemy (sin)." ^And it has been expressly declared that as

sacrifice was the way by which the Divas got toheaven, the same is still the way open for man-kind. "Whosoever desires the felicity ofheaven, let him perform sacrifices in the rightway." And such performances were reckonedas the first. acts of religion, the first and primi-tive (^^(2?z?2 a. The i)z?)(25 performed a sacrificeby means of a sacrifice. These were the firstacts of religion. They became glorified and

^ "Tandya-Mahabr^hmana," vol. i. p. 105.


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attained to heaven, where the pristine Sadhyaslive.Now the secret of this extreme importance

attaclied to sacrifice, and the key to the properunderstanding of the whole subject was the self-sacrifice' of Prajdpati^ the Lord or Supporter ofthe Creation, the " PurusTia begotten before theworld," ^'the Visvalcarman, the Author of theUniverse." The idea is found in all the threeYedasRik, Yajusha, and Samanin Samhitas,Brahmanas. Aranyakas, and Upanishads. TheDivine Puruslia who gave himself up as a sacri-fice for the Divas, i. e. emancipated mortals^had, it is said, desired and got a mortal bodyfit for sacrifice, and himself became half mor-tal and Tialf immortal. It is added that hemade sacrifice a reflection or figure of himselfthat the equine body was found fit for sacrifice,

^ "Rig-veda," i. 164, 50. '^ "Tandya-maliabralimana," vol. i.p. 410.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 43and that whenever a horse-sacrifice was solem-nized, it became no other than an offering of Jiirri-self. This idea of the ''Lord of Creatures"offering himself a sacrifice for the benefit of theDi'cas^ who were then but mortals, is also found,but in a more complicated form, in the celebratedPurushasukta. It would not be easy to accountfor the genesis of such an idea except on theassumption of some primitive tradition of the"Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,"who was "over all, God blessed forever."The idea of the sacrifice of a Divine Person is

not found merely in a single isolated passage, inwhich case it might have been explained awaybut in various passages in the different Yedas itfinds expression in different ways, sometimesclearly, sometimes obscurely ; and, taken as awhole, it appears a prominent doctrine, whichgives signification to the frequent exhortationsto the performance of sacrificial rites and cere-


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monies. The same idea tlirows light on the textswhich declare the celebration of Sacrifice to bethe only way of attaining heaven, after theexample of those quondam mortals, the Divas ;and the only good vessel for getting over thewaves of sin, which would otherwise overwhelmmankind. Both the Rik and the Yajush tell nsthat ''When the gods, celebrating the sacrifice,bound PurusJia as the victim, they immolatedHim, the Sacrifice, on the grasseven him, thePurusha^ who was begotten in the beginning.'"There is again an obscure passage in the "Rig-

veda," which Yaska, the author of the "M-rukta," thus expounds : '' Yisva-Karman had inuniversal sacrifice offered all creatures, and theneventually offered Himself also."The Yajush summarizes the same passage by

putting into the mouth of the Divine Self-Sacri-

Taittiriya-aranyaka," pp. 331-333.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 45ficer the words: "Let me oifer myself in allcreatures, and all creatures in myself." ^The obscurity is not removed by these differ-

ent readings. The idea is nevertheless somewhatcleared up by the light of other passages, andby the assistance of the Bible. The world wascondemned, and offered for sacrifice, that is tosay, was devoted to destruction, for sin ; andthe Divine Saviour then offered Himself for itsdeliverance. The Bible says, "If one died forall, then were all dead." The Yeda says, con-versely, Because all were devoted to destruction^therefore one died for all. The one reasonedfrom the consequent to the antecedent ; the otherfrom the antecedent to the consequent ; but bothappeared to concur in the nature of the ante-cedent and the consequent.The Brihadaranyaka, itself an upanishad, says,

^' Prajdpati desired to offer a great Sacrifice.^ " Satapatha-brahmana, " 13, 7, 1.


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46 JESUS IN THE' VEDAS.

He desired :May I have a body proper forsacrifice, and may I become embodied by it."The same npanishad adds ; " Priests solemnize

the sacrifice as if it were an offering of Prajd-pati himself, or the universal Godhead." Again,*^it (the sacrifice) becomes an only Divata, evenDeath," which, to borrow for the moment aBiblical phrase, reigns over all. And then thesame sacrifice eventually "conquers death, norcan death get to it again."The Satapatha-brahmana says with reference

to Prajdpatii\i2it " half of himself was mortaland half immortal."^ Again, "when he hadgiven himself up for them, he made a figure orimage of himself, which is sacrifice. Thereforethey say, Prajdpati is the sacrifice Himself."Prajdpati or PuriisliOj is elseAvhere spoken of

as Atmadd or "giver of self," whose "shadow,^ X. 1, 3. 1. 3lUller's " Hibbert Lectures," p. 297.


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 47whose death, is immortality" (to us).' And thisimmortality, again, regarded not only the soulbut the body also. Thus in the '' Rig-veda" theson of a righteous man was instructed to use thefollowing formula in his last address to his deadfather : ''Depart, depart (0 Father!), where ourforefathers have already gone by the old paths(of the primitive Rishis). See there both thekings, Yama and the Divine Yaruna, enjoyingtheir immortal repast. Unite then in the high-est heaven with Yama and the Fathers, havingyour good works following you. Giving wp yourvile (body) get to your abode and be againunited with a body of great splendor ! " So thatthe overthrow of death was complete.Without going furtherwith quotations and cita-

tions which, from their monotonous character,have, we fear, already become tedious, we may

Rig-veda," x. 121, 2.


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now undertake to declare that the first of thetwo j)ropositions, with which we commencedthis discourse is proved, viz.

*' That the fundamental principles of Christiandoctrine, in relation to the salvation of the world,find a remarkable counterpart in the Yedicprinciples of primitive Hinduism in relation tothe destruction of sin and the redem]ption of thesinner by the efficacy of Sacrifice, itself a figureof Prajdpati^ the Lord of the Creation, who hadoffered himself a sacrifice for that purpose."

All that has just been shown appertaining tothe self-sacrifice of Prajdpati curiously resem-bles the Biblical description of Cheist as Godand man, our very Emmanuel, mortal and im-mortal, who ''hath given Himself for us, anoffering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smell-ing savor," of whom all i^revious sacrifices werebut figures and reflections, Avho by His sacrificeor death hath "vanquished death, and brought


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 49life and immortality to light through the Gos-pel."The Yedic ideal of Prajdpati, as we have seen,

singularly approximates to the above descrij)-tion of our Lord, and therefore remarkably con-firms the saving mysteries of Christianity.We proceed now to discuss the second proiDO-sition: ^'That the meaning of Prajdpatianappellation variously described as a Purushabegotten in the beginning, as Visvakarman theCreator of allcoincides with the meaning of thename and office of the historical reality JesusChrist, and that no other person than Jesus ofjS'azareth has ever appeared in the world claim-ing the character and position of the self-sacri-ficing Prajdpati^ half mortal and half immor-tal."The name Prajdpati not only means "the

Lord of Creatures," but also "the supporter,feeder, and deliverer of his creatures." The

(4)


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50 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.great Yedic commentator Sayana interprets it inthat wider sense. The Lord and Master has tofeed and maintain his servants and subjects.The name, Jesus, in the Hebrew means the same.The radical term stands for Jieljp^ deliverance^salvation. And that name was given Him be-cause He would save His people from their sins.In the iDrophecy cited by Dr. Matthew, He isdescribed as yyovpLEvoi a leader or ruler, who"shall feed (jtoif-iavei) my people Israel." Heis therefore to His people what a shepherd isto his flockboth leader, ruler, and feeder.The same is the import of pati ; the name Fra-jdpati, therefore, singularly corresponds to thename Jesus.Now in order to clear our w^ay to the proper

appreciation of this second proposition, it isnecessary to consider that the doctrine of Sacri-lice, as a figure of Prajdpati (who had offeredhimself as a sacrifice for the benefit of the world),


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 5I

did not long continne in its integrity among onrforefathers ; but had fallen into oblivion evenbefore the age of Buddha. The practice of sacri-fice continued, indeed, but its origin and object,its chief characteristic as the good vessel whichcarries us over the waves of sin, as a figure ortype of a self-sacrificing Saviour, had long van-ished from the conceptions of our countrymenso much so, that to some of us, both Hindus andChristians, it sounds, on first hearing it, asstrange in our ears as the Gospel when firstpreached must have sounded in the ears of thepeople of Athens. But the litera scripta of theYedas, in the providence of God, still remains,and tells us that the practice of Sacrifice, how-ever lifeless, and therefore irksome it might haveappeared in the age of Buddha, had neverthelessthe stamp of universal truth at its commence-ment. We must, therefore, inquire what has be-come of that precious Truth ; what was the per-


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sonality of Prajdpati^ half mortal and half im-mortal, and how, and by what means, at thepresent time,we are to respond to the invitation oithe ' ' Eig-veda ' ' ; and embark on the good vesselwhich will carry us in safety over the waves ofsin ? What has become of those doctrines andpractices now ? We shall first consider the per-sonality of Prajdpati. The appellative has beenapplied in the Hindu Scriptures to several char-acters. But one of these corresponds to the idealof a self-sacrificing Saviour of the world.Not a single character in the Hindu Pantheon,

or in the Pantheon of any other nation, hasclaimed the position of one who offered himselfas a sacrifice for the benefit of humanity. Thereis only one historical person, Jesus of [N'azareth,whose name and position correspond to that ofthe Yedic idealone mortal and immortal, whosacrificed himself for mankind. By the processof exhaustion we may conclude that Jesus is the


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 53true Prajdpati^ tlie true Saviour of the world,*Hlie only Kame given among men whereby wemust be saved." IS'o other character, no otherhistorical personage can satisfy the lineamentsof the Yedic ideal, l^one else has even comeforward to claim that identity.We are now in a position to say that theprecious truth we have been investigating,though lost in India, is not lost to the world.It was in fact a fragment of a great scheme ofsalvation, which was at first partially revealedand has since appeared in its integrity in tliePerson of Jesus Cheistthe true Prajdpati ofthe world, and in His Churchthe true Ark ofsalvation, by which we may escajDe from thewaves of this sinful world. Do you wish to joinin the prayer to Yaruna, the most ancient per-sonality ofGod in the ' ' Rig-veda " : " O illustriousYaruna, do thou quicken our understanding, wethat are practicing this ceremony, that we may


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54 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.embark in the good ferrying boat by wliicli wemay escape all sins?" Do you wish to embarkon that good navigating vessel ? Hear the Yedasthen: '^Sacrifice is the good ferrying boat"Sacrifice, the image of Prajdpati the self-sacri-ficing Deliverer of the world. And if Pi^ajdpatibe found only in the Person of the historicalChkist, it will follow that the good navigatingvessel or Ark is no other than the Church ofCheist.We think we may, therefore, declare our secondproposition to be also demonstrated. Chkist isthe true Prajdpatithe true PurusJia begottenin the beginning before all worlds, and Himselfboth God and man. The doctrines of savingsacrifice the ''primary religious rites" of the"Rig-veda"of the double character priest andvictim, variously called Prajdpati^ Puruslia,and VisvaJcarmanof the Ark by which weescape the waves of this sinful worldthese doc-


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 55trines, we say, wMch had appeared in our Yedasamid mucli rubbisli, and things worse than rub-bish, may be viewed as fragments of diamondssparkling amid dust and mud, testifying tosom^e invisible fabric of which they were com-ponent parts, and bearing Avitness like planetsover a dark horizon to the absent sun of whomtheir refulgence was but a feeble reflection.The gold has become dim by the alloy which

has been mixed up by unholy and impure hands.As far, however, as the original Yedas refer tothe self-devotion of ^'the Lord of Creatures,-'*

' begotten in the beginning, ' ' and to the primevalinstitution of sacrificial ceremonies as a typical"reflection " thereof, in which the sacrificer washimself the victim, they may be held, apart fromsubsequent concretions, to be evidences of ideas,originally pure, but afterwards debased underthe corrupt suggestions of a wild imagination,in the absence of corrective influences. There are


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Avords and phrases among the citations madewhich cannot be accounted for, except as indica-tions of something which underlay all sacrifices,such as those which Noah and Job had accept-ably offeredsomething which related to Himwho gave His life a ransomfor many^ and whow^as Himself the victim and Himself the priest.And so far the original legends of the Indo-Ary-ans are in their pristine purity strongly confir-matory of a fundamental principle of Christiandoctrine.All this may seem a strange saying to some,

and a hard saying to others. But to the Hinduwho reveres his Yedas, and the Christian wholoves his Bible, to all who are friends of truth,it cannot be an unwelcome saying. IS'either theChristian nor the Hindu, nor any sincere loverof truth can repine at this view of the funda-mental teaching of the Yedas, calculated tobridge over the gulf which now separates relig-


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 57ious minds of tlie West and the East. TlieYedas foreshow the Epiphany of Chkist. TheYedas shed a peculiar light upon that dispensa-tion of Providence which brought Eastern sagesto worship Cheist long before the Westerns haveeven heard of Him.The Christian, with the wide sympathy which

incites him to invite all nations to the faith ofCheist can only rejoice that the Jesus of theGospels respond to the self-sacrificing Prajdpatiof the Yedas, and that the evangelist's chiefwork will be to exhibit, before his neighbors, thetrue Ark of salvationtha,t true '^ vessel of sacri-fice by which we may escape all sins." He Avillonly have to exhibit the real personality of thetrue Purusha ^'begotten before the worlds,"mortal and yet divine, "vrhose shadow, whosedeath is immortality itself."The tolerant Hindu, on the other hand, cannot

find any difficulty, any national humiliation, in


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58 JESUS IN THE VEDAS.acknowledging the historical Jesus of the l^ewTestament to correspond to the ideal Prajdpatiof the Vedas, and to strengthen the corner-stoneof the Yedic system, however corrupted by theimpure accretions of ages, and disfigured by therubbish of ignorance and caste-craft.

It is remarkable that while the elementary ar-ticles are so much alike, there is no rival hier-archy in India to declare for the ideal of theYedic Prajdpati. The doctrine of a self-sacri-ficing Saviour, who by death overcame Death,appears to have vanished from the Sastras with-out a rej)resentative succession. Although wehave millions of gods in the Hindu Pantheon,yet we have none who proposes to be a substi-tute or successor of Him who offered Himself asacrifice for the emancipation of mortals, andleft the institution of Sacrifice as a ''figure " ofHimself. That doctrine has long become obso-lete. The position of Prajdpati^ himself the


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 59priest and Mmself the victim, no member of thatPantheon has dared to occnpy. His throne isvacant, and his crovv^n without an owner. Noone now can claim that crown and that throne inthe hearts of Hindus, who are true to the origi-nal teaching of the Yedas, so rightfully as thehistorical Jesus, who in name and character, aswe have seen, closely resembles our primitivePrajdpati. We have known good Christianpeople stand aghast at all these ideas. Wedo not wonder at it. Even in apostolic times,Peter was impeached for consorting with "menuncircumcised," and much evidence had to beadduced before the brethren could hold theirpeace and glorify God, saying, "Then hath Godalso to the Gentiles granted repentance untolife." So long have Hindus been classed withinveterate idolators and Gentiles, that some maywell be amazed at finding germs of Christianmysteries in the heathen Yedas. But facts can-


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6o JESUS IN THE VEDAS,not be denied, we cannot slint our eyes to actualrealities. Instead of indulging in mere feelingsof wonder, let us give glory to God, whose mercyand grace cannot be contracted within the nar-row limits of onr puny ideas. N'or is there anyreason here for doing otherwise than extollingGod for having vouchsafed so much light, m^oreperhaps than we could have expected a priori^to certain Indian Rishis. We must rememberthat the distinguished man, so much honoredin the Bible, who bore the title of ^'King ofRighteousness," to whom Abraham himselfgave tithes, and who was an acknowledged typeof Christ, was himself a Gentile.The Yeda tells us of the Ark of Salvation by

which sin may be escaped, and repeatedly ex-horts us to embark in it. The Ark of Salvation,v/ith the Puriisha begotten in the beginningat its head, can be no other than the Church ofChrist. In addition, then, to the exhortations of


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JESUS IN THE VEDAS. 6lChristian evangelists, we liave our own Yedascalling on us to embark on that very Ark, if wedesire to be delivered from the waves of sin.The doctrine which had become obsolete andfallen into oblivion by lurking in the sealedmanuscripts of the Yedas, has been, in theProvidence of God, restored. It appears now asan abiding witness for the Christian faith. Aneloquent preacher once remarked with referenceto the Yedic doctrines already alluded to here,that no person can be a true Hindu without be-ing a true Christian. The relation betweenYedic doctrines and Christianity is indeed sointimate that we can scarcely hold the onewithout being led to the other, much less can wekeep our hold on the one while resisting theclaims of the other.


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An effort to give, within the space of a day,a viYid picture of the Galilean

activity of Jesus.

Of the University of Leipzig.Translated from the Third German Edition,

BY Prop. Geo. H. Schodde, Ph.D., ofCapital University, Ohio.

12mo, 166 pp., Cloth. Price, 75c., Postage Free.

The historical data are taken from the Gos-pels, but consist of not only what is there nar-rated, but also embrace many features thathave hitherto been but little noticed. It is astruly an historical picture of a busy day inChrist's life as could possibly be drawn ; it iswritten with a poetic fervor that holds the atterk-tion to the end ; it is written with such a glow-ing love for the Saviour and faith in His salva-tion, that it warms and enkindles the heart ofall who read its pages.The description of the locaUties as they nowappear is based, although not exclusively, onthe works of Robinson ; their reproduction intheir older form is based on the notices scatteredin Jobephus, the Talmud, and the Midrashim,for which the author was not restricted tothose already collected by Reland, Lightfoot,Schwarz, and Neubauer. The illustrations ofthe times and of the life of the people are innowise the work of fiction ; they are throughoutdrawn from the oldest Jewish literature.

IfUNK & ^tVAGNAJLLS, Publishers,18 & 20 Astor Place, New York.


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The Clew of the Mm;OK,MODERN INFIDELITY

AND HOW TO MEET IT.Also, bound in the same volume, aseries of non - religious papers"The Spare Half Hour."By Rev. C. H. SPURGEON.

12mo, 190 pp., paper, 15 cents ; cloth, 75 cents*

" ' The Clew of the Maze ' means, with Mr.Spurgeon, the interpretatiou which everybeliever in the Bible can find in its pages forthe perplexities of life. ' The Spare HalfHour ' is a series of racy papers suggestedby Mr. Spurgeon's travels when his healthgave way from overwork. They may bedescribed as * Roundabout ' papers, full ofinteresting associations and anecdotes."The Eagle, Brooklyn." Sunday-school teachers and others whodo not find it easy to press commi>n thingsinto the service of the Divine, may gain ahint from the reading of this book." Sun-day-School Times.

FUNK & WAGNALLS, Publishers,18 & 20 Aster Place, N. Y.


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1THETreasury of David,Rev. C. H. Spurgeon'sGreat Life Work.

8to, Cloth, per TOlume, $2.00; per set, $14.00.Complete in 7 toIs. Sold separately

or in the set.Containing an Original Exposition of theBook of Psalms. A collection of Illustra-

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FUNK & WAGXALLS, Publishers,18 and 20 Astor Place, New York.


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33931589 Jesus in the Vedas