is same Simeon had two sons of his own, _and we
were all present at their death and funeral_. Go therefore and
see their _tombs_, for these are open, _and they are risen_;
and behold, they are in the city of Arimathaea, spending their
time together in offices of devotion."[231:2]

The purpose of this story is very evident. Some "zealous believer,"
observing the appeals for proof of the resurrection, wishing to make it
appear that resurrections from the dead were common occurrences,
invented this story _towards the close of the second century_, and
fathered it upon Nicodemus.

We shall speak, anon, more fully on the subject of the frauds of the
early Christians, the "lying and deceiving _for the cause of Christ_,"
which is carried on even to the present day.

As President Cheney of Bates College has lately remarked, "_The
resurrection is the doctrine of Christianity and the foundation of the
entire system_,"[232:1] but outside of the four spurious gospels this
greatest of all recorded miracles is hardly mentioned. "We have epistles
from Peter, James, John, and Jude--all of whom are said by the
evangelists to have _seen_ Jesus after he rose from the dead, in none of
which epistles is the fact of the resurrection even stated, much less
that Jesus was seen by the writer after his resurrection."[232:2]

Many of the early Christian sects denied the resurrection of Christ
Jesus, but taught that he will rise, when there shall be a general
resurrection.

No actual representation of the resurrection of the Christian's Saviour
has yet been found among the monuments of _early_ Christianity. The
earliest representation of this event that has been found is an ivory
carving, and belongs to the _fifth or sixth_ century.[232:3]

FOOTNOTES:

[215:1] See Matthew, xxviii. Mark, xvi. Luke, xxiv. and John, xx.

[215:2] Mark, xvi. 19.

[215:3] Luke, xxiv. 51.

[215:4] Acts, i. 9.

[215:5] See Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 240. Higgins:
Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 142 and 145.

[215:6] See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 131. Bonwick's Egyptian
Belief, p. 168. Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 259 and 261.

[215:7] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 72. Hist. Hindostan, ii. pp.
466 and 473.

"In Hindu pictures, Vishnu, who is identified with Crishna, is often
seen mounted on the Eagle Garuda." (Moore: Hindu Panth. p. 214.) And M.
Sonnerat noticed "two basso-relievos placed at the entrance of the ch