reat antiquity of the legends referred to in this work is
demonstrated in the fact that they were found in a great measure on the
continent of America, by the first Europeans who set foot on its soil.
Now, how did they get there? Mr. Lundy, in his "Monumental
Christianity," speaking on this subject, says:

"So great was the resemblance between the two sacraments of
the Christian Church (viz., that of Baptism and the Eucharist)
and those of the ancient Mexicans; so many other points of
similarity, also, in _doctrine_ existed, as to the unity of
God, the Triad, the Creation, the Incarnation and Sacrifice,
the Resurrection, etc., that Herman Witsius, no mean scholar
and thinker, was induced to believe that Christianity had been
preached on this continent by some one of the apostles,
perhaps St. Thomas, from the fact that he is reported to have
carried the Gospel to India and Tartary, whence he came to
America."[454:3]

Some writers, who do not think that St. Thomas could have gotten to
America, believe that St. Patrick, or some other saint, must have, in
some unaccountable manner, reached the shores of the Western continent,
and preached their doctrine there.[454:4] Others have advocated the
devil theory, which is, that the devil, being jealous of the worship of
Christ Jesus, set up a religion of his own, and imitated, nearly as
possible, the religion of Christ. All of these theories being untenable,
we must, in the words of Burnouf, the eminent French Orientalist, "learn
one day that all ancient traditions disfigured by emigration and legend,
_belong to the history of India_."

That America was inhabited by Asiatic emigrants, and that the American
legends are of _Asiatic origin_, we believe to be indisputable. There is
an abundance of proof to this effect.[454:5]

In contrast to the great antiquity of the sacred books and religions of
Paganism, we have the facts that the Gospels were not written by the
persons whose names they bear, that they were written many years after
the time these men are said to have lived, and that they are full of
interpolations and errors. The first that we know of the four gospels
is at the time of Irenaeus, who, in the second century, intimates that he
had received four gospels, as authentic scriptures. This pious forger
was probably the author of the _fourth_, as we shall presently see.

Besides these gospels there were many more whi