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If we reply that it was inspired from heaven, they answer back that the two parts of our Bible do not 181 l82 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES agree; that if the okl part (the Pentateuch, etc.) was inspired, then, as God changed his mind, some nineteen hundred years ago, He may change it again. If we insist that the Hebrew Bible is inspired, is there really any reason that can be shown wliy, if God actually spoke to Moses, he should not also speak to the chil- dren of India? Both of these peoples were men and women of His own "making" ; and if He marked out the road to heaven for one race, why leave the other to grope its way in darkness ? As both India and Palestine were once given over to sacrificings to appease God and gain his favor, let us see how things were when Buddha and Jesus came to preach reformation. People living in this twentieth century would think it downright foolishness — absolute idiocy — if they were to witness multitudes of men and women wor- shiping the Sun and the Moon. Yet such were the facts for thousands of years. Even so late as five hun- dred years B. C, Anaxagoras, a Grecian philosopher, was sentenced to death at Athens, the college of Asia and Europe, for teaching that the Sun was only a mass of blazing metal, about as large as the Peloponnesus. And it required all the eloquence of the great Pericles to modify his sentence to banishment. The Hindus, being the Fathers of the race, led in this, to us, useless and senseless ceremony; and our sensibilities are deeply wounded when we consider that Hindu and Hebrew — in fact, all old religions — were, and are, stained alike with human sacrifices. The A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 183 Hindus, in their early savage state, were probably the first to offer such oblations ; they were likewise the first to abolish them. The Hebrews immolated their human victims a thousand years, and possibly much more than a thousand years, after the Hindus had ceased even animal sacrifices, and had fallen back upon rice cakes, milk, barley and butter. The object sought in all sacrifices, and in all religions, was, and yet is, to gain the favor of heaven. The Aryans brought oblations of "first fruits" to their Gods — barley in the Spring and rice cakes in the Autumn. And the He- brews, a thousand years later, brought "first fruits" into the house of the Lord. ( i ) As the powers of nature, the Sun and Moon, were visible objects which brought light and comfort, it is probable that they were the first to receive the adora- tion of the infant world. Afterwards Agni (fire) was added as a Deity, but it must have been centuries later, at least; for Prometheus never stole any fire from heaven for the Hindus. (2) Moreover, they do not have fire in heaven, but in the other place. Fire was obtained either by rubbing the end ©f a hard perpendicular stick through the groove of a softer one, or, perhaps, a bolt of lightning may have struck and set on fire a dry tree. Whichever way it (1) Exodus 23, V. 16 to 19; and Satapatba, Brahmana, p. 369, V. 12, S. B. E. Were both of these peoples inspired, or did th priesta inspire themf (2) Prometheus is the child of a Grecian poet's brain — Hesiod, who lived about 900 years B. C. Besides, later investigations in philology offer the solution that Promantha, in Sanskrit, means * • the fire stick of the Hindus, ' ' p. 808, vol. 19, Br. Ency. l84 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES came, it was shortly elevated to the dignity of a God, by reason, no doubt, of the services it rendered to man. Even now we would almost worship it, rather than have it taken permanently from us. Section 2. The worship of the visible forms of nature was at first simple and informal, but it resulted ere long in giving birth to a sacerdotal class which claimed to be divinely inspired, and thereupon it pro- ceeded to hedge itself about with a cumbersome code of rules which they themselves could only repeat. If the forms and ceremonies of India worship were simply the inventions of men, and as ours follow in their wake, is it not true that ours are only copies ? ( 3 ) Did not the Hindus simply lead the way? For they probably had their new and full moon sacrifices thou- sands of years before there was any Jewish clan or nation whatever. All the stupid details of Indian sacrifices would re- quire a volume of more than seven hundred pages, and offer little to interest the general reader; but as they form a part of the early religious history of the hu- man race, they claim at least a brief notice. When a Brahman led his bride from her Father's house the nuptial fire was brought along, and it be- came the duty of the family to keep it ever burning. Should it at any- time become extinguished, the house- holder must expiate the offense by an oblation to the Gods. The new and full moon sacrifices were more (3) In my next chapter I shall show the old Jewish worship irhen Jesus visited Jerusalem and the Temple. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 185 exacting and more costly. The hearth was first care- fully swept, then lines were drawn at right angles, from East to West, and North to South. There were three fires built, and the Adhvaryu (4) changed them around twice, and when a log was put on any one of the fires the priest muttered a text : "Let there be luster at my invocations, O Agni ! " The garhapatya (householder) and his wife, previ- ous to this, were required to take a vow that they would abstain from meat and all carnal pleasures, and observe strict silence while the oblations were being offered. When about to take the vow the householder dipped his hands into a vessel of water, which was their early mode of baptism, and thereby he became sacrificially pure. He then prayed to Agni, the God of fire, that he might keep his vow. Thereupon the Adhvaryu (Priest) took a blade of grass and flung it towards the South, the abode of the Rakshas (evil spirits), and with that act he said : "Expelled is sin ; this I proclaim at the command of the divine Savitri (God). May the sacrificer be on the vault of heaven ! This I proclaim to fire, wind and earth, O Lord of the world ! Lord of this great universe, we choose thee for our Brahma; wilt thou lead in this sacrifice? " (5) The ceremonies of the full moon sacrifice often lasted two days. Moreover, the devout Brahman, every (4) Adhvaryu is the priest who performs the principal part of the sacrifice. (5) The formula is very long, and I have necessarily abridged it greatly. I have also abridged their formula to expel evil spirits. i86 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES morning before snnrise and every evening after sun- set, made a burnt offering of fresh milk. This was called his Agnihotra, and he was expected to perform Agnihotra every day to the end of his life. The priest's fee for a Hindu's first new moon sacri- fice was a cow or pair of cattle, but if a cow she must be four years old. Section 3. It is beyond question that India pre- ceded Palestine by a great many centuries, in its belief in devils or wicked spirits. And they named them Rakshas and Asuras. Goblins, they said, roamed about in the air, unfettered in all directions, and Hindu goblins could talk. The devils in Palestine later on could also talk. In India they were always on hand to interfere in the sacrifices, and sometimes actually for- bade it. (6) It is said that the Gods perceived that water was a thunderbolt which could be used against the Rakshas, and thereafter it was employed freely as a sort of amulet. (7) The reason, it is said, that the Asuras and Rakshas interfered in the sacrifices was that they were contend- ing for the supremacy. They claimed, as did the Gods, to be the children of Prajapati, and in the two moon sacrifices the Gods entered upon the one that waxes and the Asuras the one which wanes. (8) (6) Satapatha Bralimana, vol. 12, p. 9 and p. 12, Sacred Books of the East. (7) Of course the Gods, in this case, were th*^ scheming priests. (8) Vol 12, page 198, Sacred Books of the Eaat. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 187 This whole matter, ancient as well as later on, re- volves around this central thought : the devils ( Rakshas and Asuras) wanted the earth, and wanted worship. The Hebrew devil, it is remembered, offered Jesus a great many munificent things if he would just fall down and worship him. There has been much speculation as to who created the Palestine devils, but the Hindus had no such trouble.