Book Title: Jainism Christianity and Science Author(s): Champat Rai Jain Publisher: The Indian Press AllahabadPage 26
________________ 16 Here are a few of the allegorical conceptions of the Greeks: JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE 44 Juno is chastity,.. Venus lust, "Ibid. pp. 448 & 451. Paris the understanding And Hercules, who slew the serpent which led and guarded riches, is the true philosophical reason which, free from all wickedness, wanders all over the world, visiting the souls of men, and chastising all it meets, namely, men like fierce lions or timid stags, or savage boars, or multiform hydras. "-(Reference to Appion's speech in the Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 124. ... 64 Cupid is desire, .... With reference to the Jewish Scriptures also it was well known that their language was allegorical. shall only give one quotation from Tertullian who says about the disciples of philosophy who pervert the scriptural text to their own ends: ... and ambitious of glory and eloquence alone, if they fell upon anything in the collection of scriptures which displeased them, in their own peculiar style of research, they perverted it to their own purposes for they had no adequate faith in their divinity to keep them from changing them, nor had they any sufficient understanding of them either, as being still at the time under veil-even obscure to the Jews themselves, whose peculiar possession they seemed to be."(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xl. p. 131. In the Jewish books themselves it is repeatedly pointed out that the scriptures are not to be understood in their plain sense, and Philo Judæus is one of those who tried to lift the veil of allegory from some portions of the sacred writings. He was followed by Moses Maimonides, who, however, declined to reveal certain secrets, e.g., the mystery of creation, fully, but did so only by semi-obscure hints and suggestions. Here are a few of the allegorical symbols with their explanations: (with reference to the raising of Lazarus) "This takes place in the heart of the penitent: whenPage Navigation
1 ... 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219