named, as we shall see in our chapter
on "Explanation." In the words of Dunbar T. Heath:

"We find men taught everywhere, from Southern Arabia to
Greece, by hundreds of symbolisms, the birth, death, and
resurrection of deities, and a resurrection too, apparently
after the second day, _i. e._, _on the third_."[225:5]

And now, to conclude all, _another god_ is said to have been born on the
_same day_[225:6] as these Pagan deities; he is crucified and buried,
and on the _same day_[225:7] rises again from the dead. Christians of
Europe and America celebrate annually the resurrection of _their_
Saviour in almost the identical manner in which the Pagans celebrated
the resurrection of _their_ Saviours, centuries before the God of the
Christians is said to have been born. In Roman Catholic churches, in
Catholic countries, the body of a young man is laid on a bier, and
placed before the altar; the wound in his side is to be seen, and his
death is bewailed in mournful dirges, and the verse, _Gloria Patri_, is
discontinued in the mass. All the images in the churches and the altar
_are covered with black_, and the priest and attendants are robed in
black; nearly all lights are put out, and the windows are darkened. This
is the "Agonie," the "Miserere," the "Good Friday" mass. On Easter
Sunday[226:1] all the drapery has disappeared; the church is
_illuminated_, and rejoicing, in place of sorrow, is manifest. The
Easter hymns partake of the following expression:

"_Rejoice, Oh sacred Initiated, your God is risen. His death,
his pains, his sufferings, have worked our salvation._"

Cedrenus (a celebrated Byzantine writer), speaking of the 25th of March,
says:

"The first day of the first month, is the first of the month
_Nisan_; it corresponds to the 25th of March of the _Romans_,
and the _Phamenot_ of the _Egyptians_. On that day Gabriel
saluted Mary, in order to make her conceive the Saviour. I
observe that it is the same month, _Phamenot_, that _Osiris_
gave fecundity to _Isis_, according to the Egyptian theology.
_On the very same day, our God Saviour _(Christ Jesus)_, after
the termination of his career, arose from the dead_; that is,
what our forefathers called the _Pass-over_, or the passage of
the Lord. It is also on the _same day_, that our ancient
theologians have fixed his return, or his second
advent."[226:2]

We have seen, th