The gospel in the stars Author:Joseph Augustus Seiss Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Herture THE DESIRE OF NATIONS. Isa. 7:14: " Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." THE learned George Stanl... more »ey Faber, rector of Long-Newton, concedes to the showings of certain French skeptics what has often been noticed and remarked by the students of antiquity, that an extraordinary and very particular resemblance exists between the facts and doctrines of the Christian faith and the various theologies and mythologies of ancient paganism. The Ethnic Myths. Gathering up and combining in one view what appears in the various modifications of ancient heathenism, we find it taught and believed, in one system or another, that eternal Godhead, or some direct emanation of eternal Godhead, was to become incarnate, to be born of a virgin mother, to spend his infancy and childhood among herds and flocks, whose lifeshould be sought by a huge serpent or dragon, which was even to slay him, but which he was destined to conquer and crush; that he came, or was to come, from heaven for the purpose of reforming and delivering mankind; that he was mild, contemplative, and good, but still the god of vengeance, with power to destroy his enemies; that he'was a priest, a prophet, and a king, the sacrificer of himself, and the parent, husband, and son of the great Mother, denoted often by a floating ark; that he was the creator of worlds and seons, previous to which he moved on boundless waters; that when slain he was entombed, descended into the hidden world, but rose to life again, ascended the top of a lofty mountain, and thence was translated to heaven. The likeness of these particulars to the scriptural teachings concerning Christ is obvious. How to account for them among heathen peoples who never possessed our Scriptures, and lived befor...« less