And then we have much more and much stronger proof of this fact than is here furnished. The Christian Mr. Faber virtually admits it, when he tells us, "The devil led the heathen to anticipate Christ with respect to several things, as the mysteries of the Eucharist, etc." "And this very solemnity (says St Justin) the evil spirit introduced into the mysteries of Mithra." (Reeves, Justin, p. 86.) Mr. Higgins observes, "It was instituted hundreds of years before the Lord's death took place." Amongst the ancient religious orders and nations who practiced this rite, we may name the Essenes, Persians, Pythagoreans, Gnostics, Brahmins and Mexicans. For proof of its existence and antiquity among the last-named nation, we refer the reader to the "Travels" (chap. ii.) of that Christian writer, Father Acosta. Mr. Marolles, in his Memoirs (p. 215) quotes Tibullus as saying, "The pagan appeased the divinity with holy bread." And Tibullus, in a panegyric on Marcella, wrote, "A little cake, a little morsel of bread, appeased the divinities." And here we discover the idea which originated the ceremony. It was started, like animal sacrifices, for the purpose of appeasing the wrath or propitiating the favor of the angry Gods. Tracing the conception still further in the rear of its progress, and apparently to its primary inception, Mr. Higgins observes, "The whole paschal supper (the Lord's supper with the Christians) was in fact a festival of joy to celebrate the passage of the sun across the equinox of spring."