al fraternity
of mankind, and set apart to the more immediate service and honor of
God.

They had a flourishing university, or corporate body, established upon
these principles, at Alexandria in Egypt, long before the period
assigned for the birth of Christ Jesus.[425:1]

From this body they sent out missionaries, and had established colonies,
auxiliary branches, and affiliated communities, in various cities of
Asia Minor, which colonies were in a flourishing condition, before the
preaching of St. Paul.

"_The very ancient and Eastern doctrine of an Angel-Messiah had been
applied to Gautama-Buddha, and so it was applied to Jesus Christ by the
Essenes of Egypt and of Palestine, who introduced this new Messianic
doctrine into Essenic Judaism and Essenic Christianity._"[425:2]

In the Pali and Sanscrit texts the word _Buddha_ is always used as a
_title_, not as a name. It means "The Enlightened One." Gautama Buddha
is represented to have taught that he was only one of a long series of
Buddhas, who appear at intervals in the world, and who all teach the
same system. After the death of each Buddha his religion flourishes for
a time, but finally wickedness and vice again rule over the land. Then
a _new_ Buddha appears, who again preaches the lost _Dharma_ or truth.
The names of twenty-four of these Buddhas who appeared previous to
Gautama have been handed down to us. The _Buddhavansa_, or "History of
the Buddhas," the last book of the _Khuddaka Nikaya_ in the second
Pitca, gives the lives of all the previous Buddhas before commencing its
account of Gautama himself; and the Pali commentary on the _Jatakas_
gives certain details regarding each of the twenty-four.[426:1]

An _Avatar_ was expected about every six hundred years.[426:2] At the
time of Jesus of Nazareth an Avatar was expected, not by some of the
Jews alone, but by most every eastern nation.[426:3] Many persons were
thought at that time to be, and undoubtedly thought themselves to be,
_the_ Christ, and the only reason why the name of Jesus of Nazareth
succeeded above all others, is because the _Essenes_--who were expecting
an Angel-Messiah--espoused it. Had it not been for this almost
indisputable fact, the name of Jesus of Nazareth would undoubtedly not
be known at the present day.

Epiphanius, a Christian bishop and writer of the fourth century, says,
in speaking of the Essenes:

"They who believed on Christ were called JESSAEI (or Essenes),
_bef