123) Quoted by Waite, History of the Christian Religion, p. 168. "You, my sons," exclaimed the seer, "will perceive its rising before any other nation. As soon, therefore, as you shall behold the star, follow it, withersoever it shall lead you; and adore that mysterious child, offering your gifts to him, with profound humility. He is the Almighty Word, which created the heavens."(124) 124) Ibid., 169. Waite notices the conclusion of Faber that this prediction was long before the birth of Christ, and states that one of the reasons for such a conclusion was, that in the old Irish history a similar prophecy appears--a prophecy which was delivered by a "Druid of Bokhara." The identity of this Irish prophecy with the one in the East ascribed to Zarathustra or Zoroaster, is so singular that Faber thinks it can be accounted for only on the hypothesis "of an ancient emigration from Persia to Ireland by the northwest passage, which carried the legend with it." By those who have investigated the origin of the early gospels, it is stated that the story of the Magi and the star appeared in the Gospel of the Infancy early in the second century, and was subsequently incorporated into the preparatory chapters of Luke and Matthew. According to Waite, there was a sect of Christians called Prodiceans whose leader, Prodicus, about A.D. 120, boasted that they had the sacred books of Zoroaster. From an extant fragment of the Chronography of Africanus is the following: "Christ first of all became known from Persia. For nothing escapes the learned jurists of that country, who investigated all things with the utmost care. The facts, therefore, which are inscribed upon the golden plates, and laid up in the royal temples, I shall record; for it is from the temples there, and the priests connected with them, that the name of Christ has been heard of. Now, there is a temple there to Juno, surpassing the royal palace, which temple Cyrus, that prince instructed in all piety, built, and in which he dedicated, in honor of the gods, golden and silver statues, and adorned them with precious stones. ... Now about that time (as the records on the plates testify), the king having entered the temple, with the view of getting an interpretation of certain dreams, was addressed by the priest Prupupius thus: 'I congratulate thee, master: Juno has conceived.' 'And the king, smiling, said to him: 'Has she who is dead conceived?' And he said: 'Yes, she who was dead has come to life again, and begets life.' And the king said: 'What is this? explain it to me.' And he replied: 'In truth, master, the time for these things is at hand. For during the whole night the images, both of gods and goddesses, continued beating the ground, saying to each other, Come, let us congratulate Juno. And they say to me, Prophet, come forward, congratulate Juno, for she has been embraced. And I said, How can she be embraced who no longer exists? To which they reply, She has