" "In the Talmud the Messiah is
called 'Dag' or 'Fish.'" "Where did the Jews learn to apply
'Dag' to their Messiah? And why did the primitive Christians
adopt it as a sign of Christ?" "I cannot disguise facts. Truth
demands no concealment or apology. _Paganism_ has its types
and prophecies of Christ as well as Judaism. What then is the
Dag-on of the old Babylonians? The _fish_-god or being that
taught them all their civilization."[354:1]

As Mr. Lundy says, "truth demands no concealment or apology," therefore,
when the truth is exposed, we find that _Vishnu_, the Hindoo Messiah,
Preserver, Mediator and _Saviour_, was represented as a "dag," or fish.
The _Fish_ takes its place in importance as a sign of _Vishnu_ in his
special office of _Saviour_.

[Illustration: Fig. No. 33]

Prof. Monier Williams says:

"It is as _Vishnu_ that the Supreme Being, according to the
Hindoos, exhibited his sympathy with human trials, his love
for the human race. Nine principal occasions have already
occurred in which the god has thus interposed for the
salvation of his creatures. The first was _Matsaya_, the
_Fish_. In this Vishnu became a fish to save the seventh Manu,
the progenitor of the human race, from the universal
deluge."[354:2]

We have already seen, in Chap. IX., the identity of the Hindoo _Matsaya_
and the Babylonian Dagon.

The fish was sacred among the Babylonians, Assyrians and Phenicians, as
it is among the Romanists of to-day. It was sacred also to _Venus_, and
the Romanists still eat it on the very day of the week which was called
"_Dies veneris_," Venus' day; fish day.[354:3] It was an emblem of
_fecundity_. The most ancient symbol of the productive power was a fish,
and it is accordingly found to be the universal symbol upon many of the
earliest coins.[354:4] Pythagoras and his followers did not eat fish.
They were ascetics, and the eating of fish was supposed to tend to
carnal desires. This ancient superstition is entertained by many even at
the present day.

The fish was the earliest symbol of Christ Jesus. Fig. No. 33 is a
design from the catacombs.[354:5] This cross-fish is not unlike the
sacred monogram.

That the Christian Saviour should be called a fish may at first appear
strange, but when the mythos is properly understood (as we shall
endeavor to make it in Chap. XXXIX.), it will not appear so. The Rev.
Dr. Geikie, in his "Lif