Without enumerating them, we may say that the majority of the virgin-born gods spoken of in Chapter XII. were like Christ Jesus--without beginning or end--and that many of them were considered Creators of all things. This has led M. Dridon to remark (in his Hist. de Dieu), that in _early works of art_, Christ Jesus is made to take the place of his Father in _creation_ and in similar labors, just as in heathen religions an inferior deity does the work under a superior one. FOOTNOTES: [247:1] John, i. 3. [247:2] John, i. 10. [247:3] Colossians, i. [247:4] Hebrews, i. 2. [247:5] Allen's India, pp. 137 and 380. [247:6] Indian Antiq., vol. ii. p. 288. [247:7] See the chapter on the Trinity. [247:8] Oriental Religions, p. 502. [247:9] Lecture iv. p. 51. [247:10] Geeta, p. 52. [248:1] O. M. or A. U. M. is the Hindoo ineffable name; the mystic emblem of the deity. It is never uttered aloud, but only mentally by the devout. It signifies Brahma, Vishnou, and Siva, the _Hindoo Trinity_. (See Charles Wilkes in Geeta, p. 142, and King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. 163.) [248:2] Geeta, p. 80. [248:3] Geeta, p. 84. [248:4] See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 48. [248:5] See Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 35. [248:6] See Davis: Hist. China, vol. ii. pp. 109 and 113, and Thornton, vol. i. p. 137. [249:1] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 259. In the most ancient parts of the Zend-Avesta, Ormuzd is said to have created the world by his WORD. (See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 104, and Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p. 302, Note by Guizot.) "In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God." (John, i. 1.) [249:2] Quoted in Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 267. [249:3] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 404. [249:4] See Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 156. [249:5] See Ibid. p. 156, and Bulfinch, Age of Fable. [249:6] John, i. 1, 2. [249:7] John, xvii. 5. [250:1] Col. i. 17. [250:2] Hebrews, xiii. 8. [250:3] Rev. i. 8, 23, 13. [250:4] Rev. i. 17; xii. 13. [250:5] Geeta, p. 35. [250:6] Geeta, p. 36. [250:7] Lecture ix. p. 80. [250:8] Lecture x. p. 83. [250:9] Lecture x. p. 85. [250:10] Lecture ix. p. 91. [250:11] Lecture x. p. 84. [250:12] Lecture xi. p. 95. [250:13] See Vishnu Purana, p. 440. [250:14] See chapter xii. [250:15] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 200. [251:1] Thornton: Hist. China, vol. i. p. 137. [251:2] Prog. Relig. Ideas, ii. p. 267. [251:3] Müller's Chips, vol. ii. p. 15. [251:4] "C'est moi qui vous conduis, vous et tout ce qui vous regarde. C'est moi, qui vous conserve, on qui vous sauve. Je suis Alpha et Omega. Il y a au dessous de l'inscription un serpent qui tient sa queue dans sa gueule et dans la cercle qu'il décrit, cest trois lettre Greques ΤΞΕ, qui sont le nombre 365. Le serpent, qui est'ordinaire un emblème de l'éternité est ici celui de soleil et de ses revolutions." Beausobre: Hist. de Manichee, Tom. ii. p. 56.