these therapeut monks, suggested by necessity, it is impossible to say positively; for there are no really trustworthy records from which a safe conclusion can be deduced. It is, however, probable that such a man did actually exist, for it is not likely that, had he been but an idea, the fact of his having declared one law to be sufficient for man’s moral guidance would have been included among the fabulous performances afterwards attributed to him, as such a declaration was destructive of all priestcraft; besides which, we are told in the Babylonian Gemara to the Mishna that Yahoshua, “son of Pandira and Stada,” was stoned to death as a wizard in the city of Ludd, or Lydia, after which he was crucified on a tree on the eve of the Passover, about B.C. 70, which was the punishment generally inflicted on preachers of heresy and sedition. Whether he had an actual existence or was but an idea, it is an undisputed fact that his name has been, during the past eighteen hundred years, a household word, and that the whole face of European history has been moulded by the various sayings and doings fabulously attributed to him. The reason of this is as follows. The therapeut monks of Alexandria, who flourished in the first and second centuries of our era, in attempting to revive the old mythological systems, and thus to deprive scientists and philosophers of their late rapidly-increasing power, were at a great disadvantage, owing to the length of time that had elapsed since the wonderful feats of the gods had been performed. They well understood the absolute necessity of keeping alive in the memories of the people the older miraculous events by the performance of fresh wonders in their own day; but the difficulty they had to encounter was in finding suitable individuals for the occasion. The Syrian Essene monk, who had infected a great number of the lower classes of society by his heretical and revolutionary teachings, which, at first sight, appeared likely to be damaging to the cause of the priesthood, was quickly requisitioned by these astute monks for the great purpose they had in view—viz., the reproduction on earth of the popular god Bacchus, the Greek Dionysos, and Phœnician Ies. They boldly declared that this man was, when on earth, an incarnate deity, and proceeded to attribute to him all the wonderful performances that had previously been imputed to the young sun-god Bacchus, such as miraculous birth from a virgin, resurrection from the grave three days after death, ascension to heaven, etc.; and, finally, gave him the Phœnician name of Bacchus, Ies, in its Greek form Iesous—Greek being, at that time, the prevailing language around Alexandria. The new religion gradually spread from Egypt over the European provinces of the Roman empire, and soon became such a great political power in the State that the incarnate fiend and Emperor Constantine, in A.D. 312, was induced to place himself at its head, and use its increasing influence to