_Crishna_, and the meek and benevolent _Buddha_, came to
be worshiped under the name of _Christ Jesus_. For instance, we have
just seen:
1. That, "orders were given to the chief librarian to buy at the king's
expense _whatever books he could_."
2. That, "one of the chief objects of the museum was that of serving as
the home of a _body of men_ who devoted themselves to study."
3. That, "any books brought by foreigners into Egypt were taken at once
to the museum and correct copies made."
4. That, "there flocked to this great intellectual centre students from
all countries."
5. That, "the Christian church received from it some of the most eminent
of its Fathers."
And also:
6. That, the chief doctrines of the Gnostic Christians "had been held
for centuries before their time in many of the cities in Asia Minor.
There, it is probable, they first came into existence as 'Mystae,' _upon
the establishment of a direct intercourse with India_ under the
Seleucidae and the Ptolemies."
7. That, "the College of ESSENES at Ephesus, the Orphics of Thrace, the
Curetes of Crete, _are all merely branches of one_ antique and common
religion, _and that originally Asiatic_."
8. That, "_the introduction of Buddhism into Egypt and Palestine
affords the only true solution of innumerable difficulties in the
history of religion_."
9. That, "_Buddhism_ had actually been planted in the dominions of the
Seleucidae and Ptolemies (Palestine belonging to the former) _before the
beginning of the third century_ B. C. and is proved to demonstration by
a passage in the edicts of Asoka."
10. That, "it is very likely that the commentaries (Scriptures) which
were among them (the _Essenes_) were the Gospels."
11. That, "the principal doctrines and rites of the _Essenes_ can be
connected with the East, with Parsism, and especially with _Buddhism_."
12. That, "among the doctrines which the _Essenes_ and _Buddhists_ had
in common was that of the _Angel-Messiah_."
13. That, "they (the _Essenes_) had a flourishing university or
corporate body, established at _Alexandria, in Egypt_, long before the
period assigned for the birth of Christ."
14. That, "the _very ancient_ and Eastern doctrine of the
_Angel-Messiah_ had been applied to Gautama Buddha, _and so it was
applied to Jesus Christ by the Essenes of Egypt and Palestine_, who
introduced this new Messianic doctrine into Essenic Judaism and Essenic
Christianity."
15. That, "we he
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