And now let us observe how substantially the Christian story of a Savior conforms to the above. Jesus, like the Saviors of India and Egypt, was believed to be a man-God--half man and half God, and reputedly he came into the world, like them, to "destroy the devil and his works," or the works of the devil--that is, to put an end to the evil or malignant principle introduced into the world by the serpent in the garden of Eden; as it is declared "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head" (Gen. iii. 15)--which is interpreted as referring to Christ. And like these and various other pagan Saviors Jesus is assigned the highest and most ennobling human origin--a birth from a virgin. And, as in the instances above named, Jesus had also several encounters with the devil; first in the wilderness, then on a mountain, and finally, like them, falls a sacrifice to his insidious, malignant power acting through the agency and mediumship of Judas Iscariot; for his betrayal is ascribed wholly to Satan, whom John called the serpent, entering into Judas and prompting the act. (See Rev. xii. 3). And thus Christ, like the other saviors, falls a victim to the serpentine or satanic power acting through the instrumentality of a Judas Iscariot; but finally, triumphed, like the Savior of Egypt (Osiris), by rising from the dead--"the first fruits of immortality." And thus the stories run parallel--the more modern Christian with the more ancient pagan. (For a full exposition of the belief and traditions respecting a devil and a hell in all ages and all countries, see the Author's "Biography of Satan.") CHAPTER XXX. SACRED CYCLES EXPLAINING THE ADVENT OF THE GODS The Master-Key to the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Extraordinary Revelations in History and Science. RECENT explorations in the field of oriental sacred history have revealed to the antiquarian some curious and deeply interesting facts appertaining to traditions founded on, and growing out of, astronomical phenomena and changes in the visible heavens, which throw much light on, and go far toward elucidating and furnishing a satisfactory explanation of many of the "mysteries" of the Christian bible. The works which we have consulted, containing the reports and results of researches of this character, tend to elucidate and establish the following conclusions:-- 1. That anciently, in religious countries, time was divided into Cycles, Aetas, or Neros. 2. That these measures of time grew out of, and represented periodical changes, or periodically occurring phenomena in the astronomical heavens.