ulfilled her months, her
first-born son came forth like a lamb. There was no bursting,
no rending, no injury, no hurt; showing how wonderful he would
be. Did not God give her comfort? Had he not accepted her pure
offering and sacrifice, so that thus easily she brought forth
her son?"[121:2]

Even the sober Confucius (born B. C. 501) was of supernatural origin.
The most important event in Chinese literary and ethical history is the
birth of _Kung-foo-tsze_ (Confucius), both in its effects on the moral
organization of this great empire, and the study of Chinese philosophy
in Europe.

Kung-foo-tsze (meaning "the sage Kung" or "the wise excellence") was of
_royal descent_; and his family the most ancient in the empire, as his
genealogy was traceable directly up to Hwang-te, the reputed organizer
of the state, the first emperor of the semi-historical period (beginning
2696 B. C.).

At his birth a prodigious quadruped, called the Ke-lin, appeared and
prophesied that the new-born infant "would be a king without throne or
territory." Two dragons hovered about the couch of _Yen-she_ (his
mother), and five celestial sages, or angels, entered at the moment of
the birth of the wondrous child; heavenly strains were heard in the air,
and harmonious chords followed each other, fast and full. Thus was
Confucius ushered into the world.

His disciples, who were to expound his precepts, were seventy-two in
number, _twelve_ of whom were his ordinary companions, the depositories
of his thoughts, and the witnesses of all his actions. To them he
minutely explained his doctrines, and charged them with their
propagation after his death. YAN-HWUY was his favorite disciple, who, in
his opinion, had attained the highest degree of moral perfection.
Confucius addressed him in terms of great affection, which denoted that
he relied mainly upon him for the accomplishment of his work.[121:3]

Even as late as the seventeenth century of our era, do we find the myth
of the virgin-born God in China.[121:4]

All these god-begotten and virgin-born men were called _Tien-tse_, _i.
e._, "Sons of Heaven."

If from China we should turn to Egypt we would find that, for ages
before the time of Jesus of Nazareth, the mediating deity, born of a
virgin, and without a worldly father, was a portion of the Egyptian
belief.[122:1]

_Horus_, who had the epithet of "_Saviour_," was born of the virgin
Isis. "His birth was one of the greates