Was not the _tomb_ of Achilles to be seen at Dodona,
where Alexander the Great honored it by placing a crown upon it?[510:7]
Was not the _tomb_ of AEsculapius to be seen in Arcadia, in a grove
consecrated to him, near the river Lusius?[510:8] Was not the _tomb_ of
Deucalion--he who was saved from the Deluge--long pointed out near the
sanctuary of Olympian Jove, in Athens?[510:9] Was not the _tomb_ of
Osiris to be seen in Egypt, where, at stated seasons, the priests went
in solemn procession, and covered it with flowers?[510:10] Was not the
tomb of Jonah--he who was "swallowed up by a big fish"--to be seen at
Nebi-Yunus, near Mosul?[510:11] Are not the _tombs_ of Adam, Eve, Cain,
Abel, Seth, Abraham, and other Old Testament characters, to be seen even
at the present day?[510:12] And did not the Emperor Constantine dedicate
a beautiful church over the _tomb_ of St. George, the warrior
saint?[510:13] Of what value, then, is such evidence of the existence of
such an individual as Jesus of Nazareth? The fact is, "the records of
his life are so very scanty, and these have been so shaped and colored
and modified by the hands of ignorance and superstition and party
prejudice and ecclesiastical purpose, that it is hard to be sure of the
original outlines."

In the first two centuries the professors of Christianity were divided
into many sects, but these might be all resolved into two divisions--one
consisting of Nazarenes, Ebionites, and orthodox; the other of
_Gnostics_, under which all the remaining sects arranged themselves. The
former are supposed to have believed in Jesus crucified, in the common,
literal acceptation of the term; the latter--believers in the _Christ_
as an _AEon_--though they admitted the crucifixion, considered it to have
been in some _mystic_ way--perhaps what might be called _spiritualiter_,
as it is called in the Revelation: but notwithstanding the different
opinions they held, they all denied that _the Christ_ did really die, in
the literal acceptation of the term, on the cross.[511:1] The Gnostic,
or Oriental, Christians undoubtedly took their doctrine from the _Indian
crucifixion_[511:2] (of which we have treated in Chapters XX. and
XXXIX.), as well as many other tenets with which we have found the
Christian Church deeply tainted. They held that:

"To deliver the soul, a captive in darkness, the 'Prince of
Light,' the 'Genius of the Sun,' charged with the redemption
of the intellectu