Sun. That which is so conclusive respecting the Pagan deities, applies
also to the God of the Christians; but, like the Psalmist of old, they
cry, "Touch not MY Christ, and do my prophets no harm."

Many Christian writers have seen that the history of their Lord and
Saviour is simply the history of the Sun, but they either say nothing,
or, like Dr. Parkhurst and the Rev. J. P. Lundy, claim that the Sun is a
type of the true Sun of Righteousness. Mr. Lundy, in his "Monumental
Christianity," says:

"Is there no bright Sun of Righteousness--no _personal_ and
loving Son of God, _of whom the material Sun has been the type
or symbol, in all ages and among all nations_? What power is
it that comes from the Sun to give light and heat to all
created things? If the symbolical Sun leads such a great
earthly and heavenly flock, what must be said to the _true_
and only begotten Son of God? If Apollo was adopted by early
Christian art as a _type_ of the Good Shepherd of the New
Testament, _then this interpretation of the Sun-god among all
nations must be the solution of the universal mythos, or what
other solution can it have_? To what other _historical_
personage but Christ can it apply? _If this mythos has no
spiritual meaning, then all religion becomes mere idolatry, or
the worship of material things._"[500:1]

Mr. Lundy, who seems to adhere to this once-upon-a-time favorite theory,
illustrates it as follows:

"The young _Isaac_ is his (Christ's) Hebrew type, bending
under the wood, as Christ fainted under the cross; _Daniel_ is
his type, stripped of all earthly fame and greatness, and cast
naked into the deepest danger, shame and humiliation." "_Noah_
is his type, in saving men from utter destruction, and
bringing them across the sea of death to a new world and a new
life." "_Orpheus_ is a type of Christ. _Agni_ and _Crishna_ of
India; _Mithra_ of Persia; _Horus_ and _Apollo_ of Egypt, are
all types of Christ." "_Samson_ carrying off the gates of Gaza
and defeating the Philistines by his own death, was considered
as a type of Christ bursting open and carrying away the gates
of Hades, and conquering His and our enemies by his death and
resurrection."[501:1]

According to this theory, the whole Pagan religion was typical of Christ
and Christianity. Why then were not the Pagans the Lord's _cho