bibed _Paganism_, their belief on this subject
lent it a more vivid coloring and imagery.

The unanimity which the early Christian teachers exhibit in regard to
_millenarianism_, proves how strongly it had laid hold of the
imagination of the Church, to which, in this early stage, immortality
and future rewards were to a great extent things of this world as yet.
Not only did Cerinthus, but even the orthodox doctors--such as Papias
(Bishop of Hierapolis), Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and others--delighted
themselves with dreams of the glory and magnificence of the millennial
kingdom. Papias, in his collection of traditional sayings of Christ
Jesus, indulges in the most monstrous representations of the re-building
of Jerusalem, and the colossal vines and grapes of the millennial reign.

According to the general opinion, the millennium was to be preceded by
great calamities, after which the Messiah, _Christ Jesus_, would appear,
and would bind Satan for a thousand years, annihilate the godless
heathen, or make them slaves of the believers, overturn the Roman
empire, from the ruins of which a new order of things would spring
forth, in which "the dead in Christ" would rise, and along with the
surviving saints enjoy an incomparable felicity in the city of the "New
Jerusalem." Finally, all nations would bend their knee to _him_, and
acknowledge _him only_ to be _the Christ_--his religion would reign
supreme. This is the "Golden Age" of the future, which all nations of
antiquity believed in and looked forward to.

We will first turn to _India_, and shall there find that the _Hindoos_
believed their "_Saviour_," or "Preserver" _Vishnu_, who appeared in
mortal form as _Crishna_, is _to come again in the latter days_. Their
sacred books declare that in the last days, when the fixed stars have
all apparently returned to the point whence they started, at the
beginning of all things, in the month _Scorpio_, Vishnu will appear
among mortals, in the form of an armed warrior, riding a winged _white
horse_.[236:2] In one hand he will carry a scimitar, "blazing like a
comet," to destroy all the impure who shall then dwell on the face of
the earth. In the other hand he will carry a large shining ring, to
signify that the great circle of _Yugas_ (ages) is completed, and that
the end has come. At his approach _the sun and moon will be darkened,
the earth will tremble, and the stars fall from the firmament_.[237:1]

The Buddhists believe that _B