worshipers, as it is to call the Christians idolaters. The religion of Persia became corrupted, and so did the Christian. Zoroaster reformed one, Luther, &c., the other.
If we are to credit the history, the religion of Abraham’s descendants by Sarah, became also corrupted whilst they were in Egypt; and was restored to its original state, at least in all its great and leading features, by Moses. That they were addicted to the idolatry of Egypt is evident from their setting up for themselves a golden calf, the image of the God Apis, in less than three months after their escape into the desert of Sinai.
The religion of Abraham was that of the Persians, and whether he were a real or a fictitious personage (a matter of doubt) both the religions must have been derived from the same source. If Abraham really did live, then the evidence both Jewish and Persian shews that he was the founder of both nations. If he were an allegorical personage, the similarity of the religions shews them to have had the same origin. Why should not his family by his wife Keturah, as historians affirm they did, have conquered Persia, as his family by Sarah conquered Canaan? Both worshiped the solar fire,[1] as an emblem of their God, of God the Preserver and Saviour—of that God with whom Abraham made a covenant; the same Jehovah or Lord who Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 21) vowed should be his God, if he brought him back to his father’s house in peace; the same God worshiped by the brother of Abraham, Nahor, in the land of Ur of the Chaldees, (Gen. xi. 29, xxxi. 53,) and of whom it is written, “My Lord said unto thy Lord, sit thee at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Ps. cx. 1; Matt. xxii. 44; Mark. xii. 36; Luke xx. 42, 43; Acts ii. 34, 35.
11. Now perhaps perverseness, bigotry, and ill-temper, will observe, Then you take Abraham and Moses for nothing but Persian magicians and idolaters. I do no such thing. The God of Abraham, of Melchizedek, of the Brahmins, and of the Persians, originally, or about the time of Abraham, was one, precisely the same—the oriental divine Triad or Trinity, three Persons and one God. Why Abraham left his country and came into Canaan may be doubtful: but it is not unlikely that he emigrated because the priests had corrupted the religion, as they always corrupt it when they can; and, that he came into Canaan because he there found his religion in a state of purity, and a priest of the most high God, Melchizedek, at whose altar he could sacrifice, and to whom he could pay his tithes. And it is not unlikely, that he and his family or tribe might have been banished from their country at the time they left it, for endeavouring to oppose the corruption of the priests,—to enlighten or reform their countrymen. Indeed some authors have actually said, and before I conclude this work I shall prove, that this was the case. It is probable, as the Bible says, that the descendants of Abraham, if there were such a man, were induced to take refuge in Egypt for some reason or other; probably, as stated, by famine; that after residing in Egypt for some time, two hundred years or upwards, they were beginning to fall into the idolatrous practices of the people among whom they dwelt, and by whom also endeavours were made to enslave them; that to prevent this or to stop its progress, after a severe struggle, they left Egypt, and betook themselves to the desert, under the command of Moses, who was both the restorer or reformer of their religion, and their leader and legislator; that, after various wars with other Arab tribes, or settled nations, on whose territories they encroached when in search of pasturage, for they had then no country of their own, they at last succeeded in conquering Canaan—where they finally established themselves—though not completely till the time of David. This country they always occupied along with remnants of the ancient Canaanites, till about the
- ↑ Ireneus says, God is fire; Origen, a subtle fire; Tertullian, a body. In the Acts of the council of Elvira it is forbidden to light candles in the cemetries, for fear of disturbing the souls of the saints. A great dispute took place in Egypt among the monks on the question, whether God was corporeal or incorporeal.
