In the _Sohar_, the kabalists are told that the work-master, the Demiurge, said to the Lord: “Let us make man after our image.”[504] In the original texts of the first chapter of _Genesis_, it stands: “And the _Elohim_ (translated as the Supreme God), who are the highest gods or powers, said: Let us make man in _our_ (?) image, after _our_ likeness.” In the _Vedas_, Brahma holds counsel with Parabrahma, as to the best mode to proceed to create the world. Canon Westcott, quoting Hermas, shows him asking: “And why is the gate _new_, Lord? I said. ‘Because,’ he replied, ‘he was manifested at the last of the days of the dispensation; for this cause the gate was made new, in order that they who shall be saved might enter by it into the Kingdom of God.’”[505] There are two peculiarities worthy of note in this passage. To begin with, it attributes to “the Lord” a false statement of the same character as that so emphasized by the Apostle John; and which brought, at a later period, the whole of the orthodox Christians, who accepted the apostolic allegories as literal, to such inconvenient straits. Jesus, as Messiah, was _not_ manifested at the last of the days; for the latter are yet to come, notwithstanding a number of divinely-inspired prophecies, followed by disappointed hopes, as a result, to testify to his immediate coming. The belief that the “last times” had come, was natural, when once the coming of King Messiah had been acknowledged. The second peculiarity is found in the fact that the _prophecy_ could have been accepted at all, when even its approximate determination is a direct contradiction of Mark, who makes Jesus distinctly state that neither the angels, nor the Son himself, know of that day or that hour.[506] We might add that, as the belief undeniably originated with the _Apocalypse_, it ought to be a self-evident proof that it belonged to the calculations peculiar to the kabalists and the Pagan sanctuaries. It was the secret computation of a cycle, which, according to their reckoning, was ending toward the latter part of the first century. It may also be held as a corroborative proof, that the _Gospel according to Mark_, as well as that ascribed to _John_, and the _Apocalypse_, were written by men, of whom neither was sufficiently acquainted with the other. The Logos was first definitely called _petra_ (rock) by Philo; the word, moreover, as we have shown elsewhere, means, in Chaldaic and Phœnician, “interpreter.” Justin Martyr calls him, throughout his works, “angel,” and makes a clear distinction between the Logos and God the Creator. “The Word of God is His Son ... and he is also called Angel and Apostle, for he declares whatever we ought to know (interprets), and is sent to declare whatever is disclosed.”[507]