sen_
people instead of the children of Israel?

The early Christians were charged with being a sect of _Sun
worshipers_.[501:2] The ancient Egyptians worshiped the god _Serapis_,
and Serapis was the _Sun_. Fig. No. 11, page 194, shows the manner in
which Serapis was personified. It might easily pass for a representation
of the Sun-god of the Christians. Mr. King says, in his "Gnostics, and
their Remains":

"There can be no doubt that the head of Serapis, marked as the
face is by a grave and pensive majesty, _supplied the first
idea for the conventional portraits of the Saviour_."[501:3]

The Imperial Russian Collection _boasts_ of a head of Christ Jesus which
is said to be very ancient. It is a fine intaglio on emerald. Mr. King
says of it:

"It is in reality a head of _Serapis_, seen in front and
crowned with Persia boughs, easily mistaken for thorns, though
the bushel on the head leaves no doubt as to the real
personage intended."[501:4]

It must not be forgotten, in connection with this, that the worshipers
of Serapis, or the Sun, were called _Christians_.[501:5]

Mrs. Jameson, speaking on this subject, says:

"We search in vain for the lightest evidence of his (Christ's)
human, individual semblance, in the writing of those disciples
who knew him so well. In this instance the instincts of
earthly affection seem to have been mysteriously overruled. He
whom all races of men were to call brother, was not to be too
closely associated with the particular lineaments of any one.
St. John, the beloved disciple, could lie on the breast of
Jesus with all the freedom of fellowship, but not even he has
left a word to indicate what manner of man was the Divine
Master after the flesh. . . . Legend has, in various form,
supplied this natural craving, but it is hardly necessary to
add, that all accounts of pictures of our Lord taken from
Himself are without historical foundation. _We are therefore
left to imagine the expression_ most befitting the character
of him who took upon himself our likeness, and looked at the
woes and sins of mankind through the eyes of our
mortality."[501:6]

The Rev. Mr. Geikie says, in his "Life of Christ":

"No hint is given in the New Testament of Christ's
_appearance_; and the early Church, in the absence of all
guiding facts, had to fall back on imaginatio