77:6] Ibid.

[177:7] Ibid. p. 340.

[178:1] Acosta: Hist. Indies, vol. ii. p. 339.

[178:2] Exodus, xxiv. 28.

[178:3] Deut. ix. 18.

[178:4] 1 Kings, xix. 8.

[178:5] Chapter i.

[178:6] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 272.

[178:7] Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19.

[178:8] Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. pp. 197-200.

[179:1] See Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 223.

[179:2] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 370.

[179:3] Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 94.

[179:4] Max Mueller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 279.

[179:5] Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 94.

[179:6] Ibid. According to Genesis, vii. 12, "the rain was upon the
earth forty days and forty nights" at the time of the flood.

[179:7] Genesis, viii. 6.

[179:8] Gen. xxv. 20-xxvi. 34.

[179:9] Gen. i. 3.

[179:10] Numbers, xiii. 25.

[179:11] Numbers, xiii. 13.

[179:12] Jud. iii. 11; v. 31; viii. 28.

[179:13] Jud. xiii. 1.

[179:14] I. Samuel, iv. 18.

[179:15] I. Kings, ii. 11.

[180:1] I. Kings, xi. 42.

[180:2] I. Samuel, xvii. 16.

[180:3] Gen. vii. 12.

[180:4] Exodus, xxiv. 18-xxxiv. 28.

[180:5] See Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 798; vol. ii. p. 402.

[180:6] See Ibid. vol. ii. p. 708.

CHAPTER XX.

THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST JESUS.

The punishment of an individual by crucifixion, for claiming to be "King
of the Jews," "Son of God," or "The Christ;" which are the causes
assigned by the Evangelists for the Crucifixion of Jesus, would need but
a passing glance in our inquiry, were it not for the fact that there is
much attached to it of a _dogmatic_ and _heathenish_ nature, which
demands considerably more than a "passing glance." The doctrine of
atonement for sin had been preached long before the doctrine was deduced
from the Christian Scriptures, long before these Scriptures are
pretended to have been written. Before the period assigned for the birth
of Christ Jesus, the poet _Ovid_ had assailed the demoralizing delusion
with the most powerful shafts of philosophic scorn: "_When thou thyself
art guilty,_" says he, "_why should a victim die for thee? What folly it
is to expect salvation from the death of another._"

The idea of expiation by the sacrifice of a _god_ was to be found among
the Hindoos even in _Vedic_ times. _The sacrificer was mystically
identified with the victim_, which was regarded as the ransom for sin,
and the instrument of its annulment. The _Rig-Veda_ represents the god